Initially I planned on using break to review micro (which I am terrible at) but by then end of the semester I was so burnt out that I wasn't even stressed about my inability to motivate myself to study for finals. Not the greatest place to be. With that in mind, I decided I needed a serious break. I didn't look at any school related email, didn't touch my computer, and most importantly, didn't crack a single book. Would there have been a benefit to me doing some studying over break? Sure, but it probably would have come with the greater cost of being totally and utterly burnt out by the end of second semester, i.e.: Step I prep time so I opted to take a much needed vacation from school.
I did not take a vacation from wedding things. My fiancé came down after Christmas and we jumped head first into wedding planning. My goal was to, by the end of break, be in a place with all of my vendors (and my mother) where everyone knew what I wanted and we could essentially run on autopilot with little to no input from me. I'm happy to say, we got there. Aside from finalizing the guest list and sending out save the dates, everything is pretty much under control. This would be my second major tip to anyone who is busy and planning a wedding:
Med School Wedding Planning Rule #2: Pick vendors that you trust to do a good job, then let them do what you are paying them to do.
I am very fortunate to have wonderful vendors (and a wonderful mom). The intention was to use this trip to make sure they understand my vision. I did this mainly with Pinterest (discussion for a later post). My planner showed me some great pictures that improved on my initial ideas (some pulled from my Pinterest, some from her archives), the florist seemed to "get" what I was going for, the tasting with the caterer was a home run, the wedding venue was as nice as I remembered, and the rehearsal dinner venue got a full approval from the fiancé. Mission accomplished. I think the main indicator that my major work on the planning front is done is that I haven't looked at a single wedding idea themed image on the internet since our return.
