Piping these cupcakes brought much joy to my heart. When I lined them up on my cooling rack, I almost did a little dance around them. Food and Wine didn't lie, these are fabulous batter and frosting recipes, especially if you are a butter cream frosting kind of person... and I am.

One last week of "classes", except it is unlike any class I've ever known. Filled with medical etiquette, financial planning, medical license... it is thoughtful, practical, applicable, and most importantly, skippable. The strange thing is, my class makes its best effort to make a presence. We fill most seats, bring our computers, ask questions... it's like we all realize this is our last chance to be a student.

A beautiful tart was made for a special birthday last Wednesday night. It was my first time attempting a tart and a wonderful Emeril recipe with a pressed on almond crust means my friend and I didn't have to roll any dough. It was as refreshing as it is beautiful, especially when chilled overnight in the fridge.

I went to my first wedding yesterday! Can't believe I've never been to a wedding either... but it is true. The ceremony took place in a downtown New Orleans Jesuit church, as breathtakingly beautiful as the most beautiful of New Orleanian churches. Pristine and ornate, with rows of wooden pew marked with iron cast Fleur De Li's at each end. Higher than it is wide, the space commands a hushed regalness that only churches can. The bride, walking down the isle with her dad, didn't feel like my classmate at all... but some ethereal creature enshrined in a glossy white gown, so beautiful I can only admire from a far. It is neither cheesy nor cliche, neither ordinary or predictable, but a singularly moving rite of passage that makes me wonder how anyone experienced it could ever consider the d word.

My new apartment has yellow walls, darker than lemon, lighter than dijon. It's the color of sunny egg yolk when whisked with sugar. I looked at three complexes before making a prudent, economic decision to rent not the newest or the largest, but a good compromise of all the things I'm looking for, while still fitting for a poor, heavily in-debt, over worked intern. Yes, that is the role I am all ready to play.

I almost bought a house today.

"Almost"... as in I got on the phone with a realtor, asked around about the interest rate, calculated some down payments, looked at floor plans, and seriously tried to imagine myself the owner of a piece of land (plus more).

As it turns out, my soon to be new city does not have a good rental market at all, esp close to the hospital. My friend, who was so damn determined to live in the same apt complex with me, was there for 2 hours before she called a realtor and bought a house in ONE day. She said to me -- I suggest you do the same. Simple as that... like buying a windbreaker. She couldn't begin to understand (and I can't begin to explain to her) how UNprepared I am to buy a house. It's not even about the lack of money in my bank account, or that I've only spend 48 hours in the city, or that I've never even paid for my own electricity let alone a mortgage...

No... it's not about that about all. It's about the deep unsettled feeling of dread that I am sure is what people refer to as the 6th sense. It's about needing to know that I am, still, free and unattached. It's about knowing that I am not ready to be attached... to a house... to a city... before I find someone special to share that house and city with. It's about not tearing down my back up plan-- when times get really bad I can always say to myself, it's only three years. I don't need a lawn and real neighbors and extra bedrooms to remind me that I own more than a kitchen aid in my new city

Also, when I do buy a house, I want to be over the moon excited, not feel like someone just enlisted me on death row...

To make a long story short, I am not buying. I talked to people and lined up a couple of places to look. If there is anything I have more of now than one month ago, it is faith. I have no doubt that things will work out just fine.