Weaving the golden thread

Baby on the brain

2011-02-04T22:57:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the congratulations on my big news. We are so excited about this new addition to our family! I have wanted this for so long and it seems that things just kept coming up that prevented us from taking the leap. I'll be honest, I've had baby fever since I was about 24 when friends around me started having babies....and I wasn't even married then! Ever since I was little I had pictured myself as a mother, and I knew without a doubt that I wanted kids. I had always wanted a little girl, and even kept a running list in my head of my favorite girl names prepared for the event. I'm pretty sure I started this list when I was 7! Of course, my favorites have always changed throughout the years, and eventually I started thinking about boy names I liked. Right now I still have list of girl names, should this little one be a girl, but Jon and I haven't really talked about our favorite ones. He's already shot down my top pick, #1 name (maybe I can convince him later?). We have already decided what we would name our peanut if it's a boy. It was a really easy decision to come to--we are naming him after Jon's grandfather.

Baby names aside, from the very beginning I've been a worried mom. Because I have wanted this so much and for so long, I have been scared of losing our little one. It's been a fear in the back of my head for the majority of my first trimester. Every time I went to the bathroom I would check my underwear for any signs that could point to miscarriage. I was orienting on my unit then and was super busy, but every time I felt any gush of fluid (sorry, it's kind of gross), I'd freak out, run to the bathroom and check. For the most part all thoughts of miscarriage are out of my head, and I have yet to get around to empty out my emergency stash of feminine products from my purse, but I still worry about baby's health. I pray everyday, plead with God to please let my baby be healthy. Nothing has given me reason to believe otherwise, but that is just the kind of person I am. Heck, until this pregnancy happened I had almost convinced myself that I wouldn't be able to bear children, just because I wanted it so bad!

The ultrasound we did when I was 11 weeks really solidified the reality. Until then, it was hard to believe that there was actually somebody living inside me. But seeing baby wiggle around like crazy during the ultrasound was indescribable. I instantly fell in love

Omigosh it looks like a real baby!

I'm still not showing much, just a little bump protruding about hip level. It really pops out when I have a full bladder. I'm so impatient to start showing. I've tried on maternity clothes already, but there's no reason to yet. I'm just really excited! And I can't wait to feel him/her kicking around!

My Monday

2011-01-31T14:08:00.000-07:00

It's 1:30 here and I'm still in my pajamas. I woke up at 11:30 to the sound of soft rain, got up to eat something, fed the dog, let him out, and went back to bed. So goes my life these days. I've been working nights in our local hospital's postpartum unit for a couple months now and tonight is a dreaded work night. I've got no problems sleeping during the day (other than neighbors' annoying dogs barking nonstop), no problems staying awake at night, and so far no scary moments on the 40-minute drive home, but I absolutely hate this! I wake up, eat a piece of fruit because anything more will set off the nausea, and suffer stomach issues the whole night. I've had a few lucky days where I've been able to eat and felt great, but those nights aren't enough to offset the bad nights. Digestive issues have always been a problem for me whenever I stayed up too late, so none of this surprises me.

Other than the shift itself, I love my job! I'm so happy to be working with healthy patients. Most of the time the situation is also a happy one. And of course I love working with the newborns! I'm getting more and more comfortable with handling them (you should have seen me when I was a student--so scared to break them!) and yes, I will occasionally cuddle them. Heel sticks for blood tests are also easy now and I actually like to do them now. Don't worry, they get a pacy with sugar water and sleep through it for the most part. My biggest challenge? Breast feeding! I think I get more frustrated than mom or baby when it's just not happening. I stress out when a baby won't eat. I'm not a breast feeding expert, nor do I have any personal experience with it, so just how am I supposed to be helping these moms breast feed more effectively? I am getting better at it, but I have to admit I get relieved when a mom comes in just wanting to formula feed. I know I'm horrible.

All this and more that I haven't mentioned are great preparation for me. In a few months time I will be that exhausted mom trying to get baby to latch on. I'll be the patient the nurse will walk in on, holding the baby and just gazing at him/her (I really do love walking in to that scene). Hopefully, I'll be better prepared than your typical first-time mom, but somehow I doubt I'll have less questions and I will be just as scared! I am so excited, hopeful, antsy, impatient, all-of-the-above and more. But for now, I need to rein in all this emotion and get to bed. Goodnight and happy Monday!

Time flies when you're having fun!

2010-12-06T22:44:00.000-07:00

Or even when you're not! Nursing school flew by, that's for sure! I still can't believe that I'm expected to be on my own eventually. I'm still in student mode, still feel like a student, and probably still think like one too. I'm working on our hospital's postpartum unit. I'm the nurse for both mom and baby, which I have to admit I didn't know was the case when I asked for this unit because when I was a student here baby had his own nurse and mom had her own.

It's been quite a transition from student to nurse. The first time I had to go medicate a patient on my own, I checked, double-checked, and checked again to make sure of the dose and that it was OK to give it at that time. As I pulled the medicine out and walked to the patient's room to administer it, I felt like I should have my preceptor there with me watching my every move. I'm just so used to having someone over my shoulder all the time! Well, I've been at it for 3 weeks now, and I have to say I'm loving it! I went from following my preceptor around to taking the majority of her assignment on my own. I have even had the opportunity to call doctors a few times (I was so nervous about this when an awful anesthetist came and talked to our class and scared the crap out of me--our doctors aren't really that evil!) I've been struggling with how exactly to help a mom breast feed when she's having trouble. I mean, after all, I haven't had my own children yet, never breast fed in my life! I have a lot to learn and three more weeks until I really am on my own. This week I start nights. Right now I'm just trying to stay up as late as possible and gearing up to become a vampire.

What am I doing at night when the rest of the world sleeps? Knitting, crafting, making stuff with my hands. I missed this part of my life when I was in school, so I've been living it up and taking advantage of my free time. That is all for now, must go and finish Christmas presents!

New beginnings

2010-11-08T21:19:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a long time since I last wrote. I started missing the old blog yesterday and so stayed up late last night modifying my layout. I decided to change the name of my blog (but not the url) because I feel like the last name didn't really reflect the whole me. It was just a silly name I decided on a couple years ago when I was just going to write about my knitting projects and share pictures. Since then, this blog has been a mishmash of everything in my life, hence the new name. I love it! I've decide to try to post more now that school is over. I feel like I've finally found my "golden thread" in life. Will post more later!

A Little Taste of Walla Walla

2010-06-03T13:52:00.001-07:00

As the last semester was winding down I was wondering what I was going to do with myself for a full month until the next semester started up again when I decided I was going to try to make it back to my hometown for a visit. I hadn't visited since last August and I hadn't gone to the annual Balloon Stampede in so long (plus it was on Mother's Day weekend) I decided it was a good time. So I booked a (relatively) cheap ticket home on Allegiant and was off a day after school let out. (Side note: This airline has really cheap flights. I found a one-way ticket home for $19.99!)

As we flew closer to our destination I could see from my window seat the vast expanses of agricultural fields. The patchwork layout and the colors were just beautiful. I couldn't help but fill with pride as I looked onto the landscapes where I had grown up. I didn't grow up in the country per se, but it was a small town. The airport is surrounded by wheat fields, but the city is right there. As we were touching down I noticed that these wheat fields began (or ended) right at the runway. There was even a coyote hanging out there as we taxied in. (A fat coyote compared to the ones we have in Arizona!)

Usually, I dread going back to the small town. I vowed I would never live somewhere like that once I escaped to the big city of Seattle. That is how I felt, as if I escaped Walla Walla. I saw a lot of people that had stayed behind. They hung out with the same people in high school, did the same things every weekend at the same places, and married people that went to the same school. That's all fine, but that's not what I wanted. I wanted to get out and see the world. This visit was different. For the first time I could see myself moving back here and raising my family. My mom would love this as well so she could be involved in her grandchildrens' lives. There are things that are lacking there, such as a lack of a mall and no Target (this is a HUGE deal since Jon and I go there at least once a week), but those are things that are just 45 minutes away in the Tri-Cities. I could go live in Tri-Cities, but it's just not as pretty. Here's what I mean

Just a short drive from my old elementary school.

Continuing on the road. Every time I go out for a drive out in the country I go on a whim, accepting the fact that I just may get lost with the convoluted roads that seemingly lead to nowhere. It's been years, but I always find a way back into town.

Walla Walla had always been a sleepy town. That is, until it was discovered as the newest destination for wine tasting. Since then, every spring it awakens into a tourist town. I still don't know how I feel about this. It has changed so much since I lived there and I don't want it to! While I'm glad that the wine industry has brought in a lot of money and has cleaned the place up a bunch, I always roll my eyes every time we pass a new winery. Our wheat fields have been replaced by vineyards.

On to the balloons!

Every year on Mother's Day weekend balloons from everywhere converge in Walla Walla for the Balloon Stampede. We used to always go when I was young. I remember waking up at the crack of dawn, throwing on some long pants and a heavy jacket, and piling in the car to watch the balloons take off. That ritual stopped when we got older and lost interest, but it had been so long since I last went that I wanted to see it again. I missed the first launch since it was the morning after I arrived and I was exhausted. I was able to wake up in time to watch them fly over my house, however. The next day it was rained out (and too windy), but I did get to run in the annual Balloonsday run. It's a 5K and I did it in 28:03! Not bad for me. There was a Nite Glow on Saturday night where the balloons stay tethered to the ground and "light up" to music, but we ate too much and drank too much wine so we missed that too. Finally, on Mother's Day we made it! I was a little late getting there and about a third of the balloons had already taken off, but I got some pictures.

The Spirit of Walla Walla taking off.

Setting up

Sometimes when the balloons got up they would have to move them because they'd be bumping into each other.

Not quite upright yet. There's an interesting shape of a balloon in the background. Never seen anything like it.

Balloon chase vehicle. I always wanted to do this when I was little. Now I just want a hot air balloon!

I have so many more pictures, but this post is already getting too long as it is!

Musings on last semester and summer break

2010-05-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while (again) since my last blog post. I have no excuse! Just laziness. Pure laziness.

Last semester went by pretty quickly once we got done with the actual classroom time. I got to spend time on the med-surg floor (again), a psychiatric hospital, and the NICU (my favorite!). I was really disappointed to learn that we would be spending 5 more weeks on the same floor we were on the previous semester. I was beyond bored there, and was looking forward to the promise of an ICU rotation. I spent all of 2 days in the ICU. I did love it, though. I only wished I could spend more time there.

I surprisingly really enjoyed the psych rotation. I was really nervous and just dreading it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was really fun talking to the people there and getting to know their stories. I admit, I was a little nervous going into their acute unit. There were some pretty creepy people there and I was told to watch my back at all times!

The NICU was the best! I really don't know how I'm going to go back to big people after having these little patients for 2 weeks! I'd much prefer changing full, itty bitty diapers to the huge blowouts that adults can have! Honestly, I was a little nervous walking into the unit on the first day with all those alarms going off and seeing such fast heartbeats, respiratory rates, etc. I almost freaked out about the frailty of these babies and just how little they were! That all went away when I fed my first baby, got to hold her and listen to her make little baby noises, and that smell! I can smell babies forever! Another thing I liked about being on this unit was the pace and the environment. It is much slower paced than the med-surg floor we are used to. But that gives more time for the nurses to give special attention to the babies and their parents. I got to do several things that I've never done on an adult before, such as dropping an NG and OG tube (those babies are always pulling them out!). The whole concept freaked me out and I only vaguely remembered the technique when we learned the skill on a dummy. But the nurses I was with were able to talk me through it, and I was really surprised by how easy it was! I also got to pull an umbilical vein catheter out. I had a tough time cutting those sutures that held it in place!

All in all, I really enjoyed last semester. Where do I see myself working when the time comes? Most definitely the NICU. We'll see where I end up, though.

As for now, I've been enjoying doing nothing, relaxing, baking, and knitting. Break started on May 6 and I don't have class until June 7! Yay! So, I've been making things like this

Cranberry Orange Scones

and this

Strawberry and Mascarapone Filled Cupcakes

and this

Whole Grain Quinoa Bread

We've been eating well! (And I've been working out to compensate for this).

Later I'll post some pictures from my visit back home to Walla Walla.

Happy April!

2010-04-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

Rather than having to cope with scenes like this from back home

(Mountain pass that connects E. WA and W. WA)

I get to wake up to weather like this

On a side note, Jon took it upon himself to rent (another) non-mainstream chick flick. If you watched Desperate Housewives when it first started, then you'll see a familiar face. The acting was not so great and the story line was very predictable and unrealistic.

But I still loved it! (Isn't the female lead gorgeous?)

Some Dairy Queen, cheesy chick flick, and snuggling on the couch....I call that a great Thursday night! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Working it out!

2010-03-29T13:18:00.001-07:00

I'm so proud of myself. I worked out 5 days last week (6 if you count giving the house a good scrub down)! I'm dreading when I have to work those 3+ twelve hour days. On those days I won't have time to do anything but work, eat, and sleep!

I've been running semi-regularly, and have actually switched over to running on the treadmill. It's just so much easier than driving to the park where I run and then driving to the gym for the weight-lifting class that I like to do now. I can tell you if I were doing that, most days I'd be taking a detour home! Another nice thing about the treadmill is that you can keep track of your mileage and speed. I honestly have no idea how fast I run on pavement, and mileage is just an estimate for me. I'm thinking I need an app for my iPhone that tells me how far I've run. Anyone know of any good ones?

Back in the day when I was running regularly and doing a long run every week, I was able to run a mile (on a treadmill mind you) at a 7:30 pace. So last week I decided to see if I could still do what is my fast mile. Fail. I only made it 3/4 of a mile, but that might have been because I ran 3 miles prior. When I tried it again, I did a warm up mile first. I was able to do it, and was so happy with myself! I really don't think I could do that on pavement.

I have Mondays off so I'm just sitting around now, wanting to go to my weightlifting class. But I promised Jon that I would go to a Seder dinner with him tonight on post. So I was planning on going for a hike at my favorite state park here (since we never made it during the weekend because Jon had a ton of homework to do), but I didn't do that either. Instead, I had to take Dakota to the vet because I was seriously worried about a skin issue that seemingly flared up. I'm thinking that when we got him shaved they accidentally nicked one of his little nipples and he's been picking at it. The vet was nice enough to squeeze us in since I can't take time out from clinical during the week.

So this is what we have to do for him. We got orders for an antibiotic ointment that is to be applied twice daily and this T-shirt for 5 days. He's such a good sport, and doesn't even fight me when I was putting the T-shirt on. Go SU! :P

What I did on my spring break

2010-03-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

(Sounds like an essay elementary school-aged kids are made to write.)

I took advantage of all that free time and just relaxed!

But I also got to do a little baking, including this yumminess.

I've worn this lovely cowl (finished last month) as much as I could and started knitting this. Can't wait until next winter when I get to wear them! (Although I'm enjoying this lovely spring weather!)

I've been hitting up the gym for the usual cardio kickboxing, running, and a new weightlifting class. I've gotten over my aversion to running on an incline and can maintain a decent pace now.

I acted the part of domestic housewife and was consistently cleaning and cooking. (This, unfortunately, has been the first thing to go since I've started clinical again.)

I finally planted some flowers to bring some "springiness" to our backyard. My goal is to one day have a garden like my mom's. She has an amazing rose garden, numerous peony bushes, and many other flowers....so much I can't even list it all.

This weekend?

Hopefully, I can get out for a hike. Wildflowers have just exploded out of the ground in the past week! (Thank you rain!)

Happy almost weekend!

Missing my blog friends!

2010-02-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

I've been a horrible blogger. I'm not quite sure I can call myself a blogger anymore! I feel like I've lost touch with everyone that I've met--I don't write and I don't even read anymore. Google Reader is full of "new" blog posts!

I think maybe that I'm a little boring now, not to say that I was so interesting in the first place. What would I be blogging about if I had kept up with it? Probably nursing school and the stress it brings into the home....and that doesn't make for very interesting reading. Besides, I've been commiserating with my classmates.

I've managed to squeeze in some knitting--I just finished a cowl that I'm totally in love with! (I still have to take pictures.) I've been running for 2 months now, and have been consistently exercising. I decided in December to give up my perfectionist ways and to sacrifice a bit of reading for a bit of exercising and I feel great!

This weekend, with a big paper out of the way, didactic classes completed, and the first concept map done, I'm free! I'm so glad that this semester that we even get Mondays off! What do I do with myself? Even with all the extra time, I doubt I'll blog much. I've just missed out too much on the things I used to enjoy doing like knitting, baking, exercising, and keeping the house clean (I don't love this, but I love a clean house)! Unfortunately, my first weekend of freedom will be spent without Jon, who will be stuck in the house writing his final paper. He started an MBA program in January. I don't see him much!

Well, I'm very grateful for this extra time. Things are definitely winding down. I can't believe I'm almost done! August 12 is the big day! So....I'll be around. I hope everyone is doing well! And I miss you!

Little tidbits about Malaysia

2010-01-07T08:10:00.002-07:00

I hardly knew anything about the country before we visited. I had absolutely no time to research before the trip....I even forgot to look up suggested vaccinations, etc. on the CDC website! Hope I didn't get malaria or anything else that can be transmitted through mosquitoes--I got bit 10 times!

Anyways, I thought I would make a list of some things I observed. Keep in mind that Malaysia's official religion is Islam.

We got our fill of chicken ham, chicken sausage, chicken....

There were a couple of radio stations that played pop songs from the States (for the expats there). We were listening to Katy Perry sing "I kissed...................I like it"

Jon's sister-in-law never saw Baby Mama so we were watching it one night on satellite TV. Many scenes were cut out, such as Amy Poehler peeing in Tina Fey's sink. Cleavage was also blurred out on certain shows.

They drive on the left side of the road. I freaked out for a while there until I got used to it.

The currency used is the ringgit. The exchange rate we got was about 3.34.

The drivers there are crazy! Lots of scooters weaving through traffic, people going extremely slow/fast, cutting people off. But strangely, very few accidents. They are just very attentive and not aggressive.

Clean bathrooms are a rare find there. Toilet paper in the bathrooms even more so. I might have used the squatter toilets a time or two when I couldn't hold it anymore (I did not use that gross hose!) It grossed me out because the floors in all the bathrooms were always wet! I will never complain about the bathrooms here ever again. Except I probably eventually will...

The official language is Malay. I didn't know they used the Latin alphabet and was expecting not to be able to read anything.

I did learn some words in Malay. Keluar (exit), selamat datang (welcome), dilarang (prohibited), anda (you), tanda (toilet), jalan (street), pulau (island)...

There are also some words in the language that sound like the English translation: teksi, farmasi, polis, bas, restoran, sens, basikal...

And that's your lesson for the day! Hope you all have a good day!

Malaysia in one post

2010-01-05T14:00:00.002-07:00

I'm suffering horribly from jet lag! We got back on Saturday morning at midnight and I've had trouble sleeping on a normal schedule. I try to go to sleep at my normal time and I manage sleep a couple hours, but I spend most of the night tossing and turning and don't get back to sleep until about 6. Only then do I get my real quality sleep, as it is about 9 pm in Malaysia at that time. Hopefully I can overcome this soon.

So that is my excuse for taking so long to upload pictures from our trip and for writing a blog post about it. I swear I've been a zombie lately!

We left for Kuala Lampur on the night of December 20. From Tucson we flew to LAX and from there to Taipei and Kuala Lampur. LAX's international terminal was a nightmare! The lines were so long you couldn't tell where one began and one ended. We waited an hour at the check in counter and another at the security line, all the while silently thanking the extremely helpful woman who checked us in at the Tucson airport. You see, we bought two separate tickets, as it was cheaper that way. One ticket from Tucson to LA and another from LA to KL. We would have to collect our bags in LA and recheck them. It would have been another hour to do that, since there was a separate line for that after you were done at the check-in counter. This angel of a women checked our bags all the way through to KL. Now that's what I call Christmas spirit!

Our trip was uneventful and the 14.5 hr flight to Taipei wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. This is coming from somebody who is pulling her hair out at the end of a 3 hour flight (seriously....I would rather drive 10 times as long than fly that long). I'm really a sucker for sunrises and saw one of the most beautiful ones from the plane. I made Jon take a picture.

From Taipei it was a 4.5 hour flight to KL.

Jon and I adjusted to the new time zone relatively easily. KL is 15 hours ahead of Tucson time. The trip went by really fast!

My in-law's condo had the most amazing view of KL. Look at all the cranes...there is crazy construction constantly being done.

We went to a market with the most amazing fruit

We celebrated Hanukkah with our niece Matilda

We witnessed some of the most amazing Christmas displays in the local malls and hotels

We had the best breakfast at one of aforementioned hotels. Here's Matilda modeling her new dress and backpack she got for Christmas. She's such a doll!

We saw what used to be the tallest buildings in the world and what are now the tallest double towers in the world, the Petronas Twin Towers at KLCC

I wish we could have gone up to the podium, but they only give a limited amount of tickets and you had to stand in line at 6 am to ensure you got any. Nothankyou, not on my vacation!

We visited the port town of Melaka where we didn't visit any of the historical tourist attractions. Instead, we went to their Chinatown for some shopping. It's a running joke in the family how my FIL plans his trips around shopping malls and now, local Chinatowns. At least we saw some beautiful rickshaws! Makes for a good picture

We visited Pulau Penang where we stayed in the most beautiful hotel, The Eastern and Oriental Hotel, which was founded in 1885. I heart the stained glass windows on the doors to the bathroom and I'm now a huge fan of black and white bathrooms! The hotel still has the original lift, although it is out of commission now. So many famous people have stayed here throughout the years, including Tony Blair, Charlie Chaplin, and Rudyard Kipling.

Jon loved the bathrobe and slippers

While there, we shopped at the night market in Batu Ferringhi. Check out the link, as I have no pictures of that. We even at on that ship that advertises "The Best Steak in Town".

We also visited the beautiful botanical gardens where we saw monkeys! There were tons of them, jumping all over the cars in the parking lot, carrying their babies around, grooming each other, and following the humans around because they know we carry food. Carrying any food is strictly advised against, as is carrying plastic bags because the smart monkeys know we keep food in there! I even got attacked by ornery little guy--he just swatted my foot, nothing more.

And here's a picture of me just to prove I was there, since I was usually behind the camera this whole trip. Man, I really need to get back on an exercise regimen

We went up to the Genting Highlands one day. It was a must-see for Jon after it was featured on one of the shows on the Travel Channel. It boasted casinos, a theme park, and a snow land for Christmas. Unfortunately, it was a flop. After over an hour of driving, half of that on a 10% or more incline amongst crazy Malaysian drivers, we were ultimately disappointed. It was pouring the whole time, the whole place was kind of run down, and it was just an absolute zoo full of locals and tourists. Nevertheless, I had to take a picture to document the experience. That's Jon and his brother Chris with his wife, Josie, and Matilda looking away from the camera

We even got to fit in a little karaoke. Chris really got into it and got one of the employees to sing with him

Jon liked to hog both mikes

It was a great trip. It ended too soon. I was really enjoying the weather: in the 80s and humid, but not too humid. Just enough for my skin to glow and not require so much lotion. I enjoyed walking around in shorts and dresses with flip flops, being able to take cold showers and feel refreshed. Now it's back to the land of dryness and itchiness. Nevertheless, it's still good to be home.

Selamat Hari Natal from Malaysia!

2009-12-26T05:06:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to wish all my blog friends a Merry Christmas! (Does anyone even check this thing anymore?)I'm lucky to be able to spend the holidays with my husband by my side and to have this opportunity to travel somewhere I've never been before. I'm truly grateful for this experience!

My inspiration for posting out-of-the-blue? Jon's sister-in-law (who is also visiting Malaysia) is documenting this trip on her brand new blog and I feel I have no excuse for neglecting my blog any longers since I'm on break from school for the moment!

Dokor

2009-08-13T09:05:00.004-07:00

That's the nickname we gave Dakota. And the "R" is silent. Here's how we came up with it.

Jon loves to sing songs about the dogs in our life. It used to be Sammy and now it's Dakota. We will turn literally every song into a dog song. With Dakota, Jon has been singing along to the tune of the Oscar Mayer balogna song. You know the one, right? Jon's version:

"My doggie has a first name. It's D-O-K.....O....R"

Spelling is not his strong suit. That's as far as he got because I started laughing. "Doko?" I asked, thinking he said D-O-K-O-A. The name stuck, but you spell it "Dokor", with the "R" being silent of course. Here are some "Dokor" pictures

They were edited with iPhoto. The program really makes it too easy! Photoshop is way too intimidating to me.

I mentioned yesterday how much I miss knitting. I also really miss baking! Some classmates of mine had a BBQ a while back to celebrate a birthday and I made some cute little lemon tarts

The recipe called for sweetened condensed milk and I still have leftover. I'm leaving for Washington tomorrow and was wondering how to get rid of this leftover. I really hate throwing things away! My solution? Dulce de leche brownies! They look too good! The idea planted into my head last night as I was watching a program on Bolivia and they were talking about alfajores. I really didn't want to make alfajores because they are way too time consuming for me. Anything I have to roll out, really. A quick search led me to the brownies. The recipients? My old co-workers as I plead for them to water my plants while I'm gone!

Nursing school level 1....check that off my list

2009-08-12T14:21:00.003-07:00

Summer semester is finally done. Well, I shouldn't say "finally" because session 2 flew by! Time seemed to go quicker while we were out and about in our various clinical settings. It definitely did when you compare that to sitting through lecture all day!

I started the summer off in OB. I was so excited for this, but wanted to have it last so I could end the semester with the babies! We only had two weeks in OB and two weeks in LTC (long term care). My very first day in OB I got to go to labor and delivery and watch babies being born. To be honest, I thought I would have a problem with it because everyone is right there all in mama's business. But it wasn't bad at all. As long as mom was fine with me being in there, I had no problem.

The whole process amazes me. It was beautiful. Watching mom see her baby for the first time, baby taking her first breaths and screaming, and mom holding her baby. The nurse I was following was a great teacher. I suppose she remembered what it was like to be a student--she looked very young. I was able to watch her do the Apgar's on baby, listen to the heartbeat, I even picked up the placenta!

After that was mother & baby. We did a lot of assessments and some teaching, which I totally felt under-qualified for seeing as how I have zero children! Being fluent in Spanish, especially medical Spanish would have been extremely helpful because all my patients spoke very little English. I had a harder time with this unit, main reason being that I really hate bugging people. All us students had our own patients who, of course, also had a real nurse. I felt like we were really bothering them. Us going in to do our assessments and vitals with our instructor and the nurse coming into the room in between--I would have been going crazy if I were the patient! Poor sleep-deprived, sore mothers had to put up with us and our learning.

Nursery was my favorite. All day babies would be coming in. We were busy with vitals, heel sticks, Ballard scoring, first baths, and swaddling. All of us, even those who had zero interest in babies initially, fell in love. It made me want a baby that much more!

The last half of my semester was spent in LTC. It was somewhat of a downer coming from OB, going from one developmental stage to the complete opposite in the life timeline. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it was still hard for me. Can you imagine your life changing all of a sudden, being told when to eat, bathe, sleep, smoke (for some), who you're friends with? There are very limited choices here. As a resident, any modesty you once had will have to go, since you rely on others to bathe, change, and clean you. What got me the most, though, were the two younger men in the facility. Both experienced situations that left them unable to talk, walk, and eat/drink without assistance. I cried at the end of my first week, thinking about it in bed one night. I'll never forget...and I don't plan on going into that field. It really takes a strong person.

So that was my month! Full of projects, presentations, and clinicals. I'm glad to say I'm done! Yesterday, I realized that I really miss blogging. Not just the writing, but even reading and commenting. I feel extremely out of the loop!

You know what else I miss? Knitting! I had to take one of the cars in for an oil change. I fully prepared myself for two hours of sitting. I toted along Sara's Elefante, fully determined to finish the darned thing already! However, on that day of all oil-change-days, the Volvo mechanics decided to fly through it and I was in and out in less than 40 minutes. But don't fret! When I got home I planted my butt on that couch until I was done! I even neglected dinner duty and had leftovers instead. Behold the results

These projects have been eating away at me! Originally, I had planned on whipping them out before nursing school even started, but then Sammy passed, and you know, life got in the way. I can now move on to the next project.

So many changes in such a short time

2009-07-08T15:13:00.005-07:00

I finally have a little bit of a break! Time to eat these yummy Rainier cherries that my wonderful husband picked up for me at the grocery store because I couldn't tear myself away from my books and notes. Time to watch those dark monsoon clouds roll in over the mountains, bringing thunder, lightning, and the promise of rain. Just a few days to savor, to do my own thing and maybe even bake a little! Perhaps I should even work on those knitting projects that I've promised! Come Monday, I go to the hospital to start my clinicals and I couldn't be more excited! For now, I'm quite content with the view out my window, laptop on my lap. Because I'm such a horrible writer, here are the changed we've experienced this past month in bullet form:

Losing Sammy. It's been a huge adjustment getting used to living without a demanding, needy pup.
Nursing school. It's been a time-consuming, not to mention, life-consuming change. Poor Jon is on his own for the most part on the weekends. I also have not chopped a single onion, used the garlic press, or turned on the oven since the second week of school.
We moved! We are new homeowners of a Southwest style house. We've been wanting a house of this style since we moved to Arizona. You can't have a house like this back home in Washington (especially for the price we got it for)!
We took in another dog. I really wasn't happy about this and felt really pressured to agree with it. But over crying many tears of frustration I decided to agree to it, since it would be helping out my father-in-law. Jon's parents moved to Malaysia at the beginning of this month and couldn't take the dogs. The airline wanted $6000 for one dog! I'm still not crazy about the dog, but I've warmed up a little to him. I just feel like it's WAY to soon after Sammy died. Right now I feel like I can't love another dog the way I love Sammy. This dog is also SOOO different from him. Here's the mutt, Dakota:

Well, that's all for now. I promised myself not to make a long post. I hope to share more later this week!

Nursing school: Week 1

2009-06-12T13:59:00.004-07:00

I survived my first week! Let me tell you, it feels WAAAY longer than a week. It seriously feels like it's been at least two! And....only 55 weeks left.

We're going through so much, so fast. I've read sooo much already, much more than I'm accustomed to reading, especially since it's been 7 years since I went to school full time. We had to read several chapters to prepare for the first lectures. It's been nonstop since then.

Another thing is learning all the lingo. The professors forget they're talking to (some) people with no nursing experience at all. Much like in the Army, nurses love to use acronyms. It would have been nice to get an explanation the first time a particular idea was talked about. Unfortunately, I was so overwhelmed with reading and didn't want to take too much time to look something up that I pretty much just guessed with some words. After a week though, I've learned the meaning behind NANDA (North American Nursing Diagnosis Association), NOC (Nursing Outcomes Classification), NIC (Nursing Interventions Classification), and SBAR (format followed when speaking to a physician about a situation that requires immediate action). I really had no idea there was a standard language in nursing. I am so grateful that SBAR exists, though, because I'm soooo intimidated doctors! I think I would always feel like I was bothering them since they're always go go go!

I'm also (finally) getting comfortable with the actual process of diagnosis, outcomes, and interventions. We have a health promotion contract using these skills due on the 25th and I think I'm about to get started on that. I've already "interviewed" Jon and had him fill out a wellness profile. Now that I looked over a sample, I feel that this can be accomplished easily.

As for actual skill, I've had 2 labs this week and can now take vitals (temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure) and perform a shift assessment. We were just introduced to the shift assessment today and will be tested over it next Friday already! Lots of practice in my future. Oh, and modesty is really not an option. After just a week of knowing each other, we had to strip down to our skivvies and get assessed by our fellow students. Unexpectedly, I had no problem with it. All for a greater cause, right? We're not here to judge!

And there's my week! Now, I need to do some reading ahead of time to avoid another meltdown (there was already one this week). Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Bury My Head

2009-06-05T18:19:00.006-07:00

I almost feel like it, but really, it's just Kate Walsh's song that I'm obsessed with at the moment. I can listen to it on repeat for hours! I love her :)

Today was spent at my orientation for my accelerated nursing program. The program has yet to start, and I'm already feeling a little overwhelmed! Orientation itself wasn't bad, and I really enjoyed meeting my fellow cohorts. One little example of how accelerated the program is just scared me. The same skills for nursing assessment that traditional students complete in one semester will be done in 2 weeks! And this is why I'm not working.

I thought it would be fun to show you all the book stack I have going on for this program. When I got the book list I had a little panic attack, thinking there would be more lists like this in the future. Fortunately, we will only be required to purchase a couple more books throughout the program, according to the nice women in the medical bookstore

Tuition for nursing school: $28,000

Nursing textbooks: $1000

Health and background clearances: $100

Having to lug big-ass textbooks around for 14 months: priceless

Right?

Nevertheless, I'm excited.

In other news, we're moving soon. We made an offer on a house way out in Vail and should close on it by the end of the month. It's a beautiful Southwest style house and is 2200 square feet. Being out in the middle of nowhere has its advantages. I really do miss being able to sit out in my backyard and watch the stars and the space station occasionally make an appearance. Dark skies outside the city make this possible again. Plus, this backyard is huge. A big pile of dirt until we do something with it, but huge nonetheless. A picture from the real estate agent's website

Jon is just ecstatic about the 3-car garage, a major selling point for him. :)

We've been in a major battle with the property management company that's managing the house we're renting. The house is up for a short sale and they didn't want them to let us out of our lease because the owner "really needs that money." We just didn't like being stuck in a house that may go into foreclosure. Nothing we could do there, signed contract and all. But the management company went overboard wanting us to show the house for them. Excuse me? Don't they have people whose jobs are dedicated to doing this? Did you just ask us to get off of work earlier just so we could show the house that you are selling? Am I getting your 3% cut for this? Because you certainly aren't doing a thing to get this house sold! How is a renter obligated to have his number on the MLS and to receive after-hour calls from real estate agents who want their clients to see the house, like, now? They wouldn't take our number off the MLS as a contact number. After a couple screaming matches between Jon and the landlord, we finally were offered a month-to-month lease in exchange for showing the house. They don't know we made an offer on a house. Shhhh!!!

They also don't know about Sammy. They still think we have an awful, fear-aggressive dog that prohibits them from putting a lock box on our door. My poor baby. At least he's home now. The last picture in my "Sammy" album.....too sad.

Yes, I've decided I don't care if you know my name.

I can't help but still expect to see that furry face greet me when I come home. Or see a pair of puppy eyes boring into me as I stir from my sleep. Just typing that out is making me cry. But overall, thinking about him makes me happy. Call me crazy, but I still talk to him. I feel like he hasn't left because I just feel him. It's not always enough though, when I want more than anything to give him a great, big bear hug and a nice loud kiss. Then I laugh when I think that he hated that. I love my Sammy just the way he was.

The recent loss is the reason I took it so hard when my mom told me last night that she's putting my aunt's dog down. He's an old boy, blind and deaf and barely able to walk. It's time. I could hear the hurt in my mom's voice as she told me though. My aunt's been crying a lot about it and it just kills me how hurt everyone is. It's all too fresh for me.

I didn't mean to end on a sad note. Just so much that's been going on. And my absence from the blog community has been long. Looks like I'll be in and out because I'll have a lot to do come Monday! Oh wait. What am I talking about? They already gave us a ton of reading to do in preparation for our first class on Monday! Have a good weekend all!

In loving memory

2009-05-28T05:09:00.006-07:00

I want to thank everyone for their kind words. I can't believe it's been 4 days without Sammy and I'm already getting used to not having him around. I guess it's because we've been forcing ourselves to adjust to life without him. The day after Sam-dog passed, Jon already put his bowls away, washed his bed cover and blankie and put them away, put all his toys away, and picked up his poop. For me it was too early....I wanted to hang on to him as long as I could. It's clear that we have different ways of coping. Where Jon wants to put everything away so he doesn't think about him, I wanted all of it around to remember him and, I suppose, to wallow in my grief for longer.

I still have my moments, though. Not a day goes by where I haven't cried for my baby. Random things will be too overwhelming for me, such as doing yoga yesterday morning. The last time I did yoga Sammy was still with us. I would get up early and take Sammy out to the living room with me so his daddy could sleep in. He would be right under my feet as I was in a pose and I'd have to move him because I couldn't go into the next pose. Anytime I was on the floor, he would come up to me and lie down right next to me, with his head on me. He'd look so cute as he looked at me expectantly this way. I remembered all this yesterday and was overcome with sadness and emptiness. After I was done I went to his bed, which still smells like him, and cried and talked to him and God. I still feel him around me.

I'm definitely healing, but I'm afraid of forgetting. So I've decided to compile a list of my favorite things that made Sammy who he was:

He's always been demanding and persistent. Jon and I lost a lot of sleep when he was a puppy because he would not stop barking when we put him in his crate for the night.
He slept underneath the bed until he absolutely could not fit under there anymore.
Without fail, he hid whenever he heard the shower go on. When he was younger when we wanted to bathe him, he would hide under the bed and we would have to drag him out of there. This was a two person job!
More recently, if he knew bath time was imminent he would forego the hiding and immediately jump into the bath tub. The day Jon came home for R&R he wanted to take a shower after the long trip. Sammy thought it was his bath time even though he had just had one and without any indication on our part, he jumped into the shower, bandanna and all. He just sat in there while Jon took his shower.
He's the only dog I've had that actually plays fetch. He used to bring the ball back and actually drop it on to our laps for us to throw it for him again.
He kicked his little feet up after he went to the bathroom.
The way he used to bark softly when he was ready to come back in.
He used to watch TV and especially loved the Dog Whisperer.
How he hated when mommy and daddy would lift his top lip up to mock him baring his teeth. When he saw me getting ready to do this he would yank his head away.
He used to go into his "box" (crate) on command. Sometimes he'd even go in there when he knew that mommy was angry with him.
How submissive he was whenever I greeted him when I came home or even in the mornings when we woke up.
When I caught him doing something naughty, all I would have to do was point at the evidence and say in a low voice, "What is this?" for him to hang his head down and be submissive.
When he was submissive his ears would lie flat on his head and he would lick his little chops.
He was never an affectionate dog, but he knew mommy loved getting little kisses from him and I actually trained him to give them when I asked for them!
He tolerated hugs from mommy.
He wasn't a little pig when it came to eating. He would eat a little bit of food and drink water, then lie back down. In a little while he would go back and eat.
He used to eat when we left, which we thought was weird. Later, he didn't eat when we left.
He didn't eat his own food until he knew for sure that he wasn't getting any table scraps.
When we did give him table scraps, he would sit down while we were putting it in his bowl and would sit there, even for up to a minute, until we told him "Eat".
He turned around 3 times before plopping down on his bed.
Sometimes I'd wake up in the middle of the night and I'd see him up and looking at himself in the mirror.
He used to look at me through the mirror. When I caught him doing this I'd always start acting crazy, causing him to turn around and look at me. Who says dogs don't recognize reflections?
I'd sometimes wake up in the morning to find him behind the bedroom curtain, looking out the window.
He figured out pretty soon that when mommy got in the shower he could lie on the bed without her knowing, as long as he jumped off when she got out. I knew because of all the fur it left behind, and if I smoothed the covers there would be puppy imprints on the quilt.
He wouldn't jump on the couches if we put pillows, magazines, or blankets over them. The day before he died, though, we found that he had actually moved the blanket over so he could lay in his favorite spot.
Whenever he heard the laptop snap shut he would jump up and look at me expectantly, knowing it was bed time.
Whenever I got the laptop out in the mornings and sat down to breakfast he would immediately look up at the ceiling, looking for the reflective light that he loved to chase around.
How he'd give me "crooked lip" when I said key words such as "walk", "roof rack", or other random words.
His "hole chest". (Just his fur pattern there)
He was always waiting at the door when we came home.

My dear, sweet Sammy

2009-05-24T04:23:00.006-07:00

I regret to write that Jon and I have lost our sweet, furry baby, Sammy, yesterday afternoon. It came with no warning and so all of a sudden. I still don't understand why. Jon and I had left the house for only a few hours to wander around the mall and get some lunch. By the time we came back home, my Cham-Cham was gone.

When I opened the door to the house there was no one there peeking his nose out the door and wagging his tail to welcome me home. Of course, I was immediately worried and confused because he's ALWAYS there to welcome us home. With great trepidation, I slowly stepped my way into the house, afraid of what I was going to find. I found him in the living room but I froze before I got to him, my vision blurry and I not fully comprehending what I saw. I called out to Jon behind me, my words falling before I could get it all out as I finally understood what was going on, "I think something's wrong!" We ran forward at the same time, hoping for the best but knowing better. I heard myself start to scream, but I felt like I had no control over myself. This was my worst nightmare coming into play--my mind in it's darkest place during Jon's deployment would wander to this possibility.

As Jon pulled it together enough to prepare the car and call the vet, I stayed with my dog, weeping over his lifeless body and stroking his fur. I told him how sorry I was for the bath that morning, for not letting him up on the bed and couch more often, for not giving him enough walks, or giving people food to him more often. But mostly, I told him how sorry I was for not being there for him in his greatest time of need, and how much it hurt to know that he passed while he was all alone. I told him how I loved him and I hoped he knew just how much.

I'm really going to miss my baby. I still can't believe he's gone. This wasn't how things were supposed to work out. I had planned on watching him grow into an old boy, seeing how he would have been with the babies when they came. I had planned on many doggy birthdays to celebrate

Many years of his hiding every time we turned the shower on and giving him baths

Many years of him grabbing every opportunity to get up on the couch or bed when Mommy wasn't looking or when Daddy snuck him on

So to my dear, sweet Sammy, your Mommy and Daddy love you very much. We always joked about what a pain you were, but all that was well worth it to have you in our lives. We know now that no matter what we have planned out for our lives, all that doesn't matter because God has his own plans. God sent you to us for a purpose, and you have fulfilled that purpose and now are back at His side. You have gone to somewhere we could not follow and that hasn't been easy on us. We miss you greatly and it's going to take a while to heal from this emptiness we both feel. We're going to miss how you used to chase "the light," how you used to steal Daddy's dirty socks from his boots and happily hop around the living room, how you used to jump up on the bed when Mommy got in the shower and promptly jumped off as soon as the water was turned off, the sound of your eating and drinking, your demands for a walk, and how you used to stare at us in the mornings when we stirred, as if willing us to open our eyes and get up to let you out.

To all of you that have pets, please go hug them a little longer, spoil them a little bit more, and never take for granted any moment you have with them. Life is short and should be lived to the fullest.

Winding down

2009-05-20T16:39:00.003-07:00

Wow, it's really been a while since I last even logged into my poor blog account. I've just been unmotivated to blog, but I've been trying to keep up with everyone else's blogs, hence the scattered comments. I've also been really busy.

I took the BSL for Health Care Providers class last week. It started bright and early at 8 am and we didn't get out until 1 pm....one hour late. It was a pretty full class and there was only one instructor, who happened to be a hot EMT :) So now I'm fully certified. Funny, I've never taken a CPR class in my life.

Last night I stayed up until almost 1 am making those wonderful color flow insignia patches I made for Jon's cake when he came home for R&R. Looking at that picture now I see how crappy those two are that I made last night. Whatever, I was waaay too tired to care. Do you know how your legs and feet hurt after standing in an all-tile kitchen for three and a half hours straight? (Don't ask me why it took that long). I must really love my husband to do this for him! These patches will go on the cake we are taking to his change of command ceremony. He asked me if I wanted to do the cake and I told him to just buy my "blank canvas." If I weren't working, I'd be more than willing to dedicate my time to making him a yummy, pretty cake. But for now we're settling on a Costco cake.

Speaking of work, I'm in my last week....yay! My last day is on Friday. I've taken special note of many "lasts" that I've had in the last two weeks. My last group lab meeting presentation, my last lab meeting, my last Western blot I did yesterday. I wipe my hands clean! I have to be honest, though. I did get a little sad when I didn't see my name in the new schedule of presenters for group lab meeting, and this is something everyone begrudgingly does to our PI's request.

I'm not actually leaving for good. I've agreed to stay on part time as a "consultant" since we have no money to hire someone to pay me. Our grant didn't get funded the first time and my PI has to apply for bridge funding so I'm leaving at a good time! My poor PI has confessed to sleepless nights as a result of my resignation. I feel bad, but it's time for me to move forward and the lab will go on without me. I'll only be working 1-2 hours a week, and only agreed to this because I'll quite literally be right next door.

OK, I always end up writing more than I intended. I will be getting yellow roses for Jon's change of command. Guess who has to go buy them? :) Hope everyone has a good evening...I've missed being a part of the blogging community!

Pima or Egyptian? Maybe just some nice china!

2009-05-07T23:15:00.002-07:00

The big news here in Tucson is how we broke 100-degrees. Whoopty-do....that only means we've got a long summer ahead of us. Where did spring go?

Well, bloggy friends, I feel like I'm teetering on the edge of the blogosphere. I just don't have as much time to keep up with this! So, unfortunately, posts most likely will be few and far between. Priorities really change when you're actually sharing your living space with your spouse! When I get home from work I mainly want to unwind with my husband and get dinner taken care of as soon as possible since the guy is going to bed at 9 every night! I still feel like I don't get much time with him, even though things were about the same before the deployment. It's been 3 months since Jon came back home and I still can't get enough of him! How am I supposed to get myself to the gym after work when he's at home waiting for me? I'm just going to have to do it.

Speaking of gym, my physical therapist is going to try me out running on the treadmill next week. It's been about 3 months since I last run (gulp!) so my aerobic fitness is waaay down. We've been working on my core strength and strengthening the muscles in my legs. The exercises that once caused pain, no longer do or barely do so. I hope I'll be able to run!

In the meantime, Jon and I have been recovering from a bad cold. This past Tuesday was our 2-year anniversary, hence the title of my post! Can you believe my wonderful husband actually took the initiative and looked up the traditional gift for 2 years? I didn't even think of that! We exchanged gifts the Saturday before our actual anniversary and were supposed to go out for dinner, but ended up eating a huge lunch that day. I got a set of "china." We've been eyeing a set at Crate and Barrel, but have been hesitant about dropping the money for it. So Jon went to the PX and got me a nice white set that I liked, just so we'd have a nice complete set if we ever have company (highly unlikely with our Sammy). He also got me a nice Patagonia dress that I fell in love with when I saw it at our local outdoor supply store.

Isn't it pretty? I never really expected to find a dress at this store. I'm just not into outdoorsy clothes to wear on an everyday basis. This dress has made me rethink this. I think I'll be wearing it at Jon's Change of Command in a couple weeks.

So, what did I get my husband? I bought a nice organic cotton sheet set and he also got a nice pair of comfy shorts at the same store we got the dress. Nothing too exciting. We'll be going out for dinner this Saturday to celebrate.

OK so another reason I will be making few appearances here is because I've been trying to knit more. Remember my giveaway? I just barely started Sara's Elefante. I've had the yarn for a while now, but I've been wanting to finish one before starting hers, so she doesn't end up with a piece of poo. I finally finished my "test" Elefante after the setback due to my cold. Even before I started it, I had decided that it would go to our niece, Tilly. So I didn't want any cold virus laced into this cuddly little elephant.

Success! Well, I think so at least! I think Tilly will love it!

I just have to add here, I wanted a collage of all these shots but didn't know how to do it with no Photoshop on the Mac. I'm so glad that I checked back with Picasa because they now have a Mac (beta) version! I love this version waaaay more than their first one! Like in the previous version, you can make a picture pile collage, but you can now move your pictures around the way you want. In the previous PC version you didn't have much control and it was really frustrating, hence my boring straight collages.

All right. Off to join my hubby in bed. I love how he hates going to bed without me. I started going to bed with him after going to bed my usual time and he declared after a week that he was "sick of going to bed alone." I let him down tonight to post on my blog, but I just couldn't sleep when I went to bed so early last night....and I really miss watching Jimmy Kimmel! With that, hope everyone has a good night!

Pictures from Seattle

2009-04-28T18:45:00.014-07:00

The husband is fed and the kitchen is sparkling so it's time to share pictures from my two and a half days in Seattle!

We got in really late Wednesday night, rainy, cold welcome and all. As luck would have it, when we woke up the next morning, we were greeted by blue skies and the rare sun. Looks can be deceiving, though, because it was still plenty cold for these desert converts!

We decided to spend the day in Seattle, Jon's dad eager to show us how they remodeled the formally ghet-to Southcenter Mall. I only did a little shopping, visiting the MAC store and H&M. I didn't even get through half the H&M and Jon was ready to go. I did, however, walk away with a pretty red print chiffon-y dress.

Next, we headed to our alma mater, Seattle University, or more affectionately called, SU or Seattle U. It's been years since we visited so we wanted to see the beautiful campus.

Here we are in front of one of the campus entrances. I always loved these purple flowers in my college days, and I've taken many a picture here with my friends during my freshman year!

The fountain in the Quad, where the yearly Senior Streak takes place. Oh and there's Quadstock! The building in the background is where I practically lived, it being the science building, Bannan.

My handsome husband posing outside the bookstore where we dropped over $90 (!!!) on school t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other souvenirs. You can see our cute little Chapel of St. Ignatius in the background. I miss going to Mass there!

My favorite walkway on campus. It's just so pretty--I was also a fan of GREEN!

After our short campus visit (hey, it's a small campus!) we headed downtown and made our way to Pike Place Market. We definitely played the part of tourists!

I love this picture. I wanted to take a picture of the famous Pike Place Market sign when my mother-in-law decided it would be a good picture if my father-in-law and Jon joined her in front of the sign. They weren't interested, but these SPD officers were more than happy to jump in the picture!

These always tempt me! Aren't they beautiful?

That night I met up with my sister and brother at McCormick's downtown for happy hour. I'm so not used to paying so much money for food and drinks! They have a great happy hour though. I'm sad I didn't take any pictures that night. It didn't even occur to me.

The next day, Jon's brother and sister-in-law went down to visit from Bellingham. I was really excited to see our niece, Matilda. I hadn't seen her since she was about 2 months old! We had a lot of fun with her, listening to her talk, watching her eat and sign for more (I'm totally teaching my babies to sign...it's too cute to watch them!) Tilly and her dad stayed the night while her mama spent the night in Seattle.

The next morning I was just getting out of the shower and getting dressed when Jon hollered out to me, "Hey Tania, can you come out here? Chris (his brother) is taking a shower and I don't know what to do with Matilda!" Seriously? To be honest, I knew he would react this way when left alone with his baby niece. He has zero experience with kids and this was too hilarious to me. But I obliged and went out with my dripping hair and played with the baby for a while until I absolutely had to leave to blow dry my hair (we can't have it air dry now!) "What do I do with her?" Jon asks. I yell back from the bathroom to just play with her. It's not that hard! So he blew some bubbles for her and read her a story until her daddy was ready. My husband is so cute!

Here's little Tilly with her Uncle Jon. She looks like her daddy, but with her mama's eyes, hair color, and complexion. She's such a beautiful baby!

Out time in Seattle was, as always, very short. It kills me to be so far away from family! I also really miss the city itself! We'll see where we end up :) Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Pictures from Colorado

2009-04-27T16:35:00.007-07:00

With this job comes certain obligations, and I was off fulfilling one last week in Denver. It all started when my boss came up to me last November and asked me if I wanted to present a poster at the upcoming AACR annual meeting. I had it pretty easy. One of my co-workers, a post-doc in the lab, wrote the abstract, submitted it, and made the poster. All I had to do was stand there for three hours and address any questions passing scientists may have had. Too bad my poster was on the very last day of the conference and situated in a corner section! Oh well.

Among mini-symposia and various other talks I attended in addition to posters, I spent a couple hours circulating the vendor booths and snagging free stuff. I got free cappuccinos, cookies, pens, Starbuck's gift cards, iTunes downloads, reusable shopping bags, a free timer, and other cool souvenirs fitting for a science nerd.

Pictures weren't allowed at all (although I saw plenty of cameras out in poster sessions and symposia), but I caught a couple snapshots of the cute bear that stands outside the Colorado Convention Center.

Here he is from inside. He's peeking inside at all the goings-on in the convention center. The first time I looked up, it looked like he was in the process of attacking the innocent people sitting in the chairs directly below him.

Here he is from the outside. He looks so harmless and curious!

In the evenings I was able to sneak away for a couple of road trips with Jon. Poor guy was so bored throughout the day! We went up to Boulder one day and down to Colorado Springs the next. Boulder was too extremely hippie for me. I guess it didn't help that we were there for 4/20. No pictures from the town itself, but we took some on the way when we got closer to the mountains

Ugh, I look pregnant in this picture! Anyways, I really miss big, snow-covered mountains! The field behind me was full of prairie dogs scampering around. I wanted to take one home they were so cute!

I was more excited for Colorado Springs. That's where Jon's grandfather was living when he passed away and he also attended the Air Force Academy there for a year, so there was more of a connection with this city. We visited the Garden of the Gods Park, which made me feel like I was back in Arizona with all those red rocks!

We also went to eat at the German restaurant that Jon used to go to with his family when he was visiting there, Edelweiss. This boy loves German food, which surprises me considering how picky he is. This was my first taste of the cuisine, and it was a lot better than I thought it would be. I just pictured greasy sausages and sauerkraut and it was more than that, although not much more, I have to admit. I had the zigeunerschnitzel, which I liked probably because of the sauce it came with. Jon had the weinerschnitzel and, while good when eaten in small portions, I don't think I could have handled the whole thing all on its own!

Here is my handsome husband looking sooo happy that he's eating German food! I've resisted for so long! Poor guy!

I wish I could have snapped a picture of him eating Peruvian food just so you could compare the two pictures. That boy is no fan of Peruvian food! I was so happy there was a restaurant so close to the convention center. Lunch buffet for $8.95....you can't beat that! I was stuffed when done, filling my stomach with some refreshing chicha morada, ceviche, aji de gallina, seco de cordero that was very comparable to what my mom makes, and various other dishes that were all out on display, all for me! Ahhh...if only there were a good Peruvian restaurant in Tucson! I'm craving all this food just remembering it!

That is the wrap up of the Denver trip. We next went on to Seattle, but I'll share pictures of that part of the trip tomorrow, unless I feel even more sick then. I'm still feeling under the weather today and I got out of work early because of it. Poor Jon will be eating leftover matzo ball soup, as I'm not feeling well enough to cook. Have a good night!

Back home

2009-04-26T18:12:00.002-07:00

My absence is explainable this time! For the past week I've been in Denver for a conference and in Seattle visiting family. I really wished I could have spent more than two days in Seattle. Every time I go back, I realize how much I miss it. But this short trip was to visit my in-laws, as they are moving to Malaysia in June. I also got to see our niece who we last saw when she was only 2 months old. She's 19 months now!

It's good to be home now, though. But I also caught a bug while in Seattle. Probably from my MIL who was sick the whole time we were there. How about that swine flu? Nah, I think it's just a cold.

I'll post about our trip later when I'm feeling better. I've spent the better part of today sleeping.I could still use some more! I have a lot of catch up reading to do, but I'll have some pictures to share with you all as well!

♥♥♥Phildar love♥♥♥

2009-04-17T20:53:00.005-07:00

For a while now I've had this obsession with a little knitting magazine called Phildar. It has such amazing patterns and I want to knit everything. Seriously. I even went as far as purchasing one of their magazines, which are written completely in French I'll have you know, just for this sweater. Believe me, those French knitting designers really know their fashion! Here is a sample of some patterns I'm drooling over currently...well actually, it's quite a large sample.

Oh my goodness! Congratulations if you made it through all that scrolling through those pictures! These alone are motivation to learn French! Hey JLC, can you translate these patterns for meee?

Miss me yet?

2009-04-16T21:34:00.005-07:00

I think blogging has slowly taken a back burner in my priorities as of late. I've been wanting to write all week, but have not found the time to. Did I mention I'm never going to get sick of lounging around with my husband? I really think that will be never!

I just wanted to share some pictures of my most recent baking attempts. I've been neglecting my blog, my baking, my knitting, and exercise (although involuntarily). What am I doing you may ask. Well....nothing! Up to now.

I got the urge to bake something on Easter so I ventured over to a nearby Walmart to get some Peeps and candy eggs. I had seen a picture floating around the internet of some really cute Easter cupcakes, but wanted to wait to buy the candy for it when everything was on sale. Here is what resulted from my flour-fest

They just scream SPRING!! to me. I personally hate Peeps, but I think they're adorable and actually feel bad for them when I see all those unwanted pink, blue, yellow, and purple chickies and bunnies. There are always so many left over after Easter! The cupcakes are carrot and the frosting is of the necessary cream cheese variety, dyed green of course to represent grass. While these look cute, I wasn't too crazy about them. I messed around with the frosting too much, which resulted in an over-whipped goopey mess. No amount of refrigeration or pushing it through a small pastry tip would alleviate this problem, so I had to abandon my plans of piping "grass" with my special tip. I had to resort to the spatula. The cupcakes themselves, weren't all too tasty for me, especially after an hour of hand grating baby carrots (I had no normal sized carrots on hand!) Too much work for less than spectacular results. I will not be making these again, and handed the recipe I used to a girl at work that loved these cupcakes. Maybe I'm just not that big of a fan of carrot cake??

So after that failure and in need of something satisfyingly scrumptious, I searched dessert recipes on trusty Martha's website. Realizing that I had over a pound of Costco strawberries left that were about to go, I settled on some strawberry shortcake, which I've never made before. It was sooo good!

Drool! I didn't add as much sugar to the strawberries as the recipe called for and it was plenty sweet. Mmm....way better than those Peep cupcakes. I've been redeemed!

In Elefante news, I finally figured out a way to sew on the head without the stitches looking all gross and ugly. I just have to sew on two more feet, eyes, and the tail and she's done! I will post pictures as soon as I'm done and get my lazy butt to uploading them. Seriously, pictures will stay in my camera forever!

Good night everyone! I've missed you all!

Ending a long absence

2009-04-10T16:36:00.004-07:00

It feels like forever ago since I last posted something. It's been a week! I've been so uninspired to write anything.

Anyways, I've been to two PT sessions so far, and I'm hopeful they'll be able to help me overcome this ITBS. Their approach is interesting, to say the least. I first met with John, who runs the place as I later found out from my boss. He was really friendly and nice and I instantly felt comfortable around him. He explained to be that we would be working on strengthening my core. In strengthening my core I will be putting less stress on my IT band while I run. He also noticed that my left ankle is not as mobile as the right, which is weird considering I injured my right ankle in '04.

For all my prescribed exercises to do at home, I have to first activate my transverse abdominis muscle. It's a muscle often ignored and can be felt if you place your hands just inside your hip bones while you laugh or cough. The way he taught me to activate this muscle? He told me to do a Kegel. A what?! Are you serious? Aren't those for you-know-what? I wanted to laugh.

So apparently doing Kegels are the key to curing my ITBS. Who woulda thought? Yeah if only. I have a lot more work to do than that. That's just the first step.

Meanwhile, I've been trying out some yoga. I tried Cardio Burn Yoga this week. I'm happy to say that I loved it! Yoga doesn't have to be boring! If you don't know by now, I like to kick my own ass with any workout I do, be it yoga, running, group exercise classes. If I have to put forth little to no effort to complete the workout, it's not worth my time. It's all or nothing, and that's my downfall.

It's amazing how sore I was two days after doing the full 50 minutes. I liked how challenging this workout was for this yoga novice, but I can do without the "soft smile" she keeps insisting on having us do. If I'm having a difficult time keeping a pose, the last thing I want to do is put a "soft smile" on my face, thankyouverymuch! I was cursing under my breath. Overall, I'm satisfied with this DVD and am ready to purchase!

On to knitting! I was going to keep it a secret, but I've been working on Elefante (no, not Sara's yet...just a test knit). It didn't take me that long to knit her up, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to sew the head on. Once I figure it out I'll post pictures! For those of you who were interested in buying one off of me, I looked at the pattern and she doesn't want it used for profit. I would still be happy to knit one up for those who are really interested. I may ask that you contribute to yarn prices, though, if you decide on some swanky stuff. Just know that it might be a while until I get to it.

Good Friday is almost over, and I haven't forgotten about not eating meat. I've forgotten every other Friday this Lent. I'm so proud of myself! Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

Totally a slacker post...

2009-04-04T09:07:00.003-07:00

....but I ♥ this commercial.

Sorry....it's sooo hard keeping up with blogging and keeping up with reading all your wonderful blogs with husband home. Lately he's started commenting (not complaining....yet) on how much time I spend reading blogs. I'm not even posting that often!

I've also been knitting. Hopefully I will get some pictures up soon....as soon as I finish this little cutie that is.

Yoga DVD's among other things

2009-04-01T06:13:00.004-07:00

Well, I broke the news to my boss yesterday that I would be leaving my job late May. He took it very well and I'm relieved to finally have the news out in the open!

My sleep schedule is going through some changes. Jon has gone back to work and is back to waking up at 4 a.m. This means that I'm going to bed around 10 and probably just getting up at the same time he does. For some reason while he's on this sleep schedule I don't sleep very well, and wake up multiple times a night. I also can't go back to sleep after that alarm goes off. Anybody else have to change their sleep schedule due to their spouse's?

Side note: I hate that Jon's back at work. No more lunch meet ups and no husband waiting for me when I get home from work. I miss him already! When did I get so dependent on him? I've never been like this! Seeing him in evenings isn't enough for me....I'd be very happy having him with me 24/7. Is this unheard of? I'm blaming it on the last 15-month deployment and years of separation before we got married. We have a lot of catching up to do!

This morning I got up around 4:30 and popped in my yoga DVD after brushing my teeth and changing out of Jon's old PT shirt I use for PJs. I've decided to try out some DVDs on Netflix before committing to buying them so I wouldn't regret my purchase later. I have Yoga Conditioning for Weight Loss at home right now. I really don't like it, but it's nice to do some yoga....it's been a while. Plus, the setting is in Sedona and the backdrop of red rocks is so beautiful!

I did this workout on Monday as well and yesterday I was SORE! My upper back, shoulders, and obliques. I was really surprised to feel this because as I did the workout it felt effortless. It really didn't feel like I was doing anything at all. I decided to give it another try this morning, and I've come to the conclusion that this DVD is going back out today and I'm going to try another. I didn't like the poses too much and it didn't seem to incorporate that many in that 40-minute session. I took a suggestion from Somebody's Princess and put Cardio Burn: Yoga next on my queue. I'm also looking forward to trying out The Biggest Loser: Weight Loss Yoga, but there's a long wait on that one.

I've finally accepted the fact that I can't run, or do my cardio kickboxing. I miss it though! I'm really looking forward to my PT session on Monday. I have high hopes they will be able to help me out with my ITBS so I can get back to doing what I love! However, I appreciate that this injury has opened up my stubborn mind to other forms of exercise. Yoga being one of them, and bike riding being the other more recent one. Jon had been obsessively shopping of the perfect road bike and finally found a Trek one he was happy with. Of course, he didn't want to go solo on his excursions so he got me one too! I just hope I can accompany him soon!

On another note, I need to find some time to catch up on blog reading. I miss one weekend and I'm just overwhelmed with all the catch up reading I have! I have to read them all at once, for some reason. Must be that all or nothing mentality I have. When I feel like this, I just don't even attempt it. That's why I haven't been commenting lately, but I'll get to them eventually! Happy Wednesday everybody!

Next trip to Sin City will be in a plane!

2009-03-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

There was SO much traffic on the way up! It took us 9 hours to get there when it should have taken 6! We took the shorter way that was also supposed to be the faster way, but it turned out otherwise. Can somebody tell me why every single highway in the state of Arizona has some sort of construction work being done? I'm serious when I say the whole way there was slow! Slow traffic at Picacho Peak, slow going through Surprise, almost standstill at Wickenburg, and then it took us 1 1/2 hours to cross the Hoover Dam! That's right....1 1/2 hours to go 10 frickin' miles! Jon was cursing up a storm that whole time, exclaiming that this was a bad idea and why were we even going. I simply responded, "You were the one that wanted to go to Vegas so bad. We could have been in San Diego by now." That got him to stop, but we were both so tired and hungry by the time we got there.

For anyone planning on staying at the Planet Hollywood, please valet your car! We found out later that it's complimentary. Don't go the cheap way and self park because you are going to have to go trek through the Miracle Mile shopping center. It was awesome....with all our bags. We wait in line to check in and when we get there, they have limited rooms with a king size bed. Would we like the smoking optional room or the handicap room? Ugh! We pick the handicap room and it's complete with rails all over the place. We were going to stay there, but it looked like the room hadn't been occupied in a while. The furniture was dusty and the sink and shower drains were SLOW. Taking a required bath....I think not. Good thing we were able to switch rooms after the first night!

Other than that, we had a blast! The Strip was crowded to capacity and everybody was WASTED! The yard long margaritas were really prevalent and I wanted one, but never got one. Maybe next time! Jon was actually meeting up with a friend from high school so we hung out with his group. Jon went along with the group, which happened to be Jewish, and went with the "what's cheaper" theme. Yes I'm stereotyping, but yes that's the way it was. They do it to themselves! :P We went to Bill's Casino and I drank up four 99 cent margaritas which weren't half bad! I barely got a buzz off them, but there definitely was tequila in there.....they were just so small!

The next day was set aside for shopping. Unfortunately, I had a bad headache and wasn't in the mood so I left Vegas empty handed. I didn't find anything I needed at H&M, which was a disappointment, but I'll hit it up again when it opens up in Scottsdale. That night we went to Toby Keith's I ♥ This Bar and Grill. Don't ask me why this group wanted to eat there! It was fun though! I got a mason jar of electric lemonade which was all I needed, believe me! Some drunk girl just sat down at our table mid meal to ask us about Earth Hour, which I had no idea was happening that night. Sure enough, as we were walking back to our hotel I noticed that all the marquee signs were off. To be honest, I couldn't even tell because at ground level all the casino lights were on and it was still bright. You had to look up to notice that any lights were on.

All in all, it was a good trip even though we only really spent a day there. Next time we're flying!

Dinner time now. And I have a big day tomorrow. I have to break the news to my boss that I'm leaving my job in May. I'm so nervous! We're going through a grant renewal now so it's really bad timing. How am I supposed to tell my boss that I went behind his back and applied to nursing school?

Vegas bound....again....and I'm not complaining here!

2009-03-26T21:50:00.004-07:00

We're heading out tomorrow morning EARLY. We hope to leave by seven, drop the dog off at the kennel and make the drive up. It's going to be a short trip, but should be fun nonetheless. I just found out at lunch today where we were going. I knew it was either Vegas or San Diego. Vegas won out with Jon! We got a great military discount for a hotel right on the strip. While we're there we'll probably meet up with Jon's best friend from high school--I don't think he's seen him for a couple years!

One highlight for this trip for me....H&M! I've never been, and when they opened one up in Seattle I was sooo jealous. I'm so mad that you can't even shop their clothes online unless you live in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, etc. So I've been holding out for a trip that could take me to a city that has one of these coveted stores. Too bad I'm 5 lbs heavier now...grr!!! I check their website periodically and found out that Scottsdale is getting one this fall, so I'm excited about that! Anyways, husband has been warned....and he's fully prepared for the shopping frenzy (window or otherwise) that will ensue! Happy weekend everybody!

Knee woes

2009-03-25T19:21:00.003-07:00

There still hasn't been much progress on the whole ITBS situation. It's become bad enough that I called the doc, telling him my situation and how it's pretty much unchanged. Result? I'm going to spring for PT sessions now.

Jon and I went for a nice 3 mile walk around Reid Park last night. Let me tell you, it was really hard watching all those people run by, while knowing full well it would be a long while until I could do that again. What made it even harder was that I wore my running shoes for this walking session. They only have about 6 miles on them now, so they were nice and springy! Jon tells me, "Why are you walking so fast?" It was just so hard to hold back with such nice, new shoes!

A little over half way through, my knee started protesting. I couldn't believe it! I didn't know plain ol' walking would aggravate it! So we slowed it down as Jon got a phone call, and finished at a more leisurely pace. By the time I got back to the car, I was limping.

I had also done my kickboxing class last Saturday, and the result was the same. Had I done it for half an hour instead of the full hour, I think I would have been OK. One whole hour was too much for it! However after that and after my walk last night, I iced it for a good while and was almost symptom free the next days. The fact that I got sore just from walking, though, was the last straw. So tomorrow I will be picking up the prescription the doc wrote me and scheduling my first PT session. I really want to nip this problem in the bud.

In the meantime, I've decided to try out some yoga DVDs. I have some in my Netflix queue...I don't want to go out and buy one only to find out later that I hate it! Anybody have any suggestions for good yoga DVDs? I'm also going to start lap swimming. As soon as Jon goes back to work (because it's hard to stay away when I know he's at home all alone), I'll try to hit the pool in the mornings before work. Jon was also surprised me today by buying me some 10-lb hand weights so I can keep up with light strength training if I don't make it to the gym.

Slowly, but surely, I'm adapting to my situation. I've finally leveled off with my weight gain, topping off at a 5-lb gain. I'm not happy about it, but it could be worse! I'm determined, anyhow, to lose all that. Hopefully swimming and yoga will be enough to accomplish this. My body really likes to hold onto its fat stores!

And the winners are....

2009-03-21T11:51:00.005-07:00

Yeah so after I drew the first name, I felt sorry for everyone else not getting anything so I decided to do a first, second, and third place! I did this the old fashioned way and cut pieces of paper and drew them from a bowl. Jon was the one doing the actual drawing, so if you get mad, get mad at him! :P

So without further delay, here are the results

First place goes to Sara, second place to Leslie, and third place to Casey! So ladies, make your choice on what you want and get back to me! We'll be in touch to decide color choice and yarn. I'll be working on the first place project first and then go on from there. Seeing as how I'm taking off some time between work and school I should have plenty of time to finish these three projects before classes start! And for those of you that didn't win, this won't be that last knitted giveaway I'll be doing so there's always next time!

Yawn

2009-03-20T23:26:00.003-07:00

I'm sooo sleepy! Jon and I went to the drive-in tonight. I've forgotten how much I enjoyed this environment for movie watching! I mean, how long ago have you all been to a drive in movie? My last time was sometime in high school, but the good memories are from my childhood. Back in the day, you didn't listen to the movie through your car radio. There were speakers which you could mount inside your car. I remember walking to the snack stand and being able to watch the movie the whole time because the sound was audible anywhere you walked in the area. The nachos and the popcorn were the best! We would sit in our cars with the windows rolled down, watch our movies and enjoy the cool summer evening. I remember battling heavy eyelids through the duration of the second movie....sleep always won out! Anyways, tonight seriously was a nostalgic trip for me!

It was an awesome date, and very economical too: $6.00 per person for two movies. The movie snacks were cheaper than in a regular movie theater as well. It was great....we watched Escape to Witch Mountain and Confessions of a Shopaholic. I wanted to see both and Jon wanted to see Witch Mountain. Can you guess which movie he liked better? That's right...my very dear husband preferred the chick flick! To be fair, Witch Mountain wasn't all that great and was a letdown to the both of us. In all, the experience was a very good one and we will be going back!

Since I got home so "late" (I have Jon's sleep schedule now) I'm not doing the drawing for the giveaway until tomorrow. I've already got everybody down, but the actual drawing is taking place TOMORROW! It will most likely be in the afternoon because I'm going to try out my cardio kickboxing class in the morning (!!!) Check back to see if you won!

A little something about the giveaway

2009-03-19T20:22:00.002-07:00

I'm getting ready to pick a winner--I'm doing it tomorrow actually! However, before I do I just wanted to mention a few things about the items to be won.

With the exception of the bear and the glittens (which I knit myself), all the knitted items are just examples. They are simply there to show the outcome of the pattern and the appearance. So it's not going to look exactly like in the picture. The elephant for example, isn't necessarily multi-colored, but it can be if you really want it to! Like I said before, the winner will be able to pick the color she wants. I tend to stick with what works so I was planning on getting the yarn for the project from Knit Picks. I love this website--the yarn is super cheap and really good quality! I think for the cloche hat, though, I'm going to try to find a similar yarn that is shown in the picture because I love the effect--but it's ultimately up to you of course!

So the way I'm going to do this is to enter everybody that commented on that post, regardless of whether or not you specifically said you wanted in. I noticed I have a few new followers as well and to you all I say WELCOME! I love "meeting" new people and having more blogs to read! If any new followers want in, you have until tomorrow at 11 pm Arizona time to enter. Just click on the little button on the right and leave me a comment under that post

With that, I'm off to enjoy the rest of the evening with my wonderful hubby. Good luck everybody!

The sacrifices I make...

2009-03-18T22:26:00.004-07:00

I just got done watching Step Brothers with Jon. Now I'm normally open to this type of movie that my husband is typically drawn to, but this one was just.awful! I'm sorry, Babe. Yes I like Blades of Glory, Old School, and a lot of Will Ferrell's other movies (although I'm disgusted by the fact that he has to take his shirt off in every.single.movie), but this was a no go for me. I should have stuck to my stance that I had no desire whatsoever to see it. And I'm sorry I ruined it for you by not laughing at every single line uttered--I just didn't think it was funny!

So what movies have you put up with that your significant others wanted to see so badly?

I'm game: I love me some etsy!

2009-03-17T22:20:00.009-07:00

Since I borrowed this cute little button from Becca I thought I should participate!

I pretty much took some of my favorites from my favorited etsy items. I tried to mix it up some because 80% of my favorites are jewelry! And much like the pretty things I posted about yesterday, these won't be going in my shopping cart anytime soon, save for the earrings, which I already purchased.

The first item comes from muntedkowhai. I didn't used to like crocheted jewelry, but I can't get enough of it now!

Next up is a gorgeous cup set I've been coveting for quite a while now. I can't help but think twice about getting these with the $107 price tag, but I've got to give props to bailey doesn't bark....these are the prettiest cups I've seen! I love the gold touch!

Now if I had $675 to spend on a whim, this dress from Makool would be top on my list! I don't care that I would have hardly any ocassion to wear it....it's just soooo pretty!

These earrings are beautiful! I've been wanting some feather earrings for a while and didn't want to go the peacock route because that's all I was seeing for a while. These macaw feather earrings from Global Goddess Goods were just what I was looking for. They even have a little Peruvian seed so I feel like an Amazonian princess when I wear them! :P

Last is a print from Ancient ArtiZen. The photo is of the rooftops of some houses in Cusco, my mother's home town. Well, she's actually from a smaller town, Limatambo, which is about 2 hours away, but close enough. Anyways, Cusco was by far my favorite city on our trip to Peru back in 1999. I really want to go back and this print is a nice reminder to myself. Jon has even expressed interest to visit, so it's definitely on our travel list!

There are my contributions! Sorry they're so late in the day, but this is pretty much the only time I can blog. Having Jon home makes it a lot harder to find time to do this and keep up with reading! Have a good night!

I ♥ Free People

2009-03-16T22:44:00.004-07:00

I go through cycles of drooling over their catalog and then forgetting about them altogether. I just thought this was interesting

Sabino Canyon Dress

Reid Park Lace Up Top

Tucson inspired, the former being a favorite hiking spot amongst locals, the latter being the park where I (used to) run. I must check out their spring collection.........later. Husband is already sleeping soundly beside me. Good night!

Some news from my corner of the world

2009-03-15T19:43:00.005-07:00

Twenty four hours ago, Jon and I were sitting at the Cheesecake Factory in Scottsdale, having dinner amongst the beautiful well-bred denizens of this upscale town in Arizona. We had done a little shopping around at Kierland Commons and needed some dinner to fill our empty stomachs before making the 2-hour drive back down to Tucson. Little did we know what awaited us at home.

In search of those bright sprays of wildflowers prevalent this time of year, Jon and I made the drive up to Picacho Peak. To our disappointment, there was little of what we were looking for. It was not a waste of a trip, however, as the day was perfect for a light hike. We took a 1-mile hike up a peak to an overlook, and although there were no flowers I still snapped a few pictures of the desert vegetation (will share later). The hike was steeper than I expected it to be, and towards the end my IT band was protesting the inclines. I made it back down, though, and changed into some more presentable clothes for shopping up in Chandler and Scottsdale.

Mainly, we were looking for furniture. We're redoing our whole living room: coffee table, end tables, and entertainment center. In the end we decided on this, this, and that, some of which are on backorder. Jon is in the living room right now putting the media stands together. Mission accomplished!

We both were exhausted when we got home, yet not too exhausted to check the mailbox. You see, the walk to the mailbox this past week has been full of anxiety and anticipation, hoping to see that envelope with "University of Arizona College of Nursing" logo on the envelope. Well, last night it greeted Jon when he opened the box.

I had gone inside to let Sammy out and drop some bags off. When I came out Jon was flipping through the mail stack feverishly (I swear he's been more anxious than me!) He pulled out that coveted envelope and handed it to me. It looked a lot smaller than I hoped and my heart sank.

"It's here, but I don't think the news is good."

I take it in my hands and assess its bulk. Hmm. I got a couple rejection letters from them twice already and this one is a little thicker than I remember. Maybe, just maybe it holds good news.

Surprisingly calm, I carefully rip open the envelope, hold my breath, and unfold the paper containing our future.

I gasp "I got in!"

"Oh you did? Yes!" Jon exclaims.

Aaaahhhhhh!!!! Finally!!!! I'm still in disbelief but I'm so so so happy! What does that mean for us? We're definitely here for 4 years, as opposed to two with Jon's Army commitment. We're probably staying in Tucson for the remainder of Jon's Army career (sorry Baby). I get to quit my godawful job. Most of all, though, I told Jon that he barely escaped having a baby anytime soon by this much! Yeah that's right. If I hadn't got in, he knew I would have been pressuring him for a little Jon or Tania in the very near future and he's not ready yet!

Spring is here!

2009-03-14T07:36:00.004-07:00

I hope wherever you all are that spring is around the corner for you too!

In hopes of finding a little splash of color, Jon and I are heading to Picacho Peak today. Around this time the Sonoran Desert explodes with wildflowers. Lupine, poppies, sand verbena and more become plentiful among the cactus. It is all dependent on the rain we receive in the winter and while we didn't get too much of it this year, I'm still hopeful. The fact that we got some rain earlier this week puts my hopes up higher!

Jon is already pushing me to get in the shower because he wants to leave NOW! (eyeroll) I'm hoping when we get to the park we'll be greeted by this

and this

(all images courtesy of www.tucsonazrealestateblog.com)

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! You still have some time seeing as how I'm not as frequent in posting as I would like to be. Six posts left!

Friday morning blahs

2009-03-13T08:13:00.004-07:00

I just put on a pair of jeans and they're getting a bit snug....and they aren't straight out of the dyer, Loqui! At this time last year these jeans were barely hanging onto my hips and I constantly had to pull them up! This no exercise thing is really getting to me!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-11T21:55:00.004-07:00

I never do this, but I've got nothing. So here's a random picture from my photo folder. Jon and I went to Cabo San Lucas October 2006 after he got back from his first deployment. I spent hours swimming in the 80 degree water each day while Jon napped on the beach. I think we'll be going back to Vegas for our vacay this time. Next time, who knows? Jon just told me today that there's a possibility for another deployment next year. Yeah! OK honey, let me just enjoy this time right now and not even think about that thank you!

So do you like it as much as I do?

2009-03-09T19:59:00.007-07:00

Nine more posts until I pick a winner for my giveaway! Don't forget to leave me a comment on the original post to be entered! I noticed I have a couple new followers. Would you like to be entered as well?

Like I promised I'm going to share with you all some pictures of my new haircut. Overall, I'm really happy with it! Lately I've been going to this place and coming back less than enthused about the resulting haircuts, but I've been trying somebody new each and every time. I think I finally found my stylist! Here is a before picture to compare. So without further ado, here is my new haircut

Don't mind my weird facial expression :P When I got home, Jon didn't even really notice a difference from before the cut. I added some side-swept bangs, which I think is noticeable, but people at work didn't say anything today either! For the rest of my hair I just got an all-over trim and my usual texturizing. Love it! Sammy seems to like it too!

In other news I resigned myself to the elliptical, realizing I was limited in my exercise options (no kickboxing either). Unfortunately, even that irritates the injured IT band so I stopped after only a couple minutes. All I could do was lift weights and do 2 (!!) pull-ups. Looks like Sammy will be getting more walks now!

Two hundred post giveaway

2009-03-06T21:51:00.012-07:00

I like how so many bloggers are having their own giveaways to celebrate bloggy milestones, so I'm following suit! I haven't been posting as frequently as some ladies out there, but 200 posts is my milestone. I felt that in honor of one of the initial purpose of this blog and one of my oldest hobbies to date, I will be giving away something custom-knitted. The beauty of this giveaway is that the winner will be able to get what she wants. So here are the options (pictures courtesy of ravlerers):

The first one is a teddy bear. I've knitted two of these and they are a super quick knit. It can be tailored for a girl or boy, i.e. instead of a sweater this little one can come with a dress.

I'm also offering up and elephant stuffed toy. I've never knit this before, but it looks quick and easy!

Next up are the hats. I haven't knitted either of these patterns before, but upon a quick scan of both patterns they look pretty simple!

For something a little more feminine, I'm giving away some fingerless mitts. These two patterns incorporate just the right amount of lace or cable work. Simple patterns that result in beautiful mitts!

If your digits require more coverage I'm offering a pair of glittens. I've knit two pairs of these, so I've got them down!

Keeping up with the cold weather trend, here are a pair of the cutest, prettiest legwarmers I've seen yet. I'll be knitting some up for myself one of these days! I've knit one legwarmer to date, and it looks great so I know I can handle the intricacy of the stitch pattern.

Lastly, the most simple pattern of all.....some ear warmers. I have no excuse to knit this living where I do, so I need somebody to give me one!

So there you have it! Hopefully I've given plenty of options for everybody! I want to get as many people involved in this as possible to make for an interesting, unpredictable result. So....much like other giveaways leave me a comment if you want to be entered. You will get an additional entry if you post about this giveaway somewhere on your blog. And while at first I wasn't going to include this one, what the hell, if you become a follower, that is another entry for ya! But be sure to leave me a comment expressing interest!

You will have until the day I post number 200 (this one is 190). We'll see how long it takes for me to get there!

Off to bed now! I'll post pictures of my haircut soon!

Finally facing the shears!

2009-03-05T21:59:00.003-07:00

I'm finally getting a hair cut tomorrow! It's been so long I don't even remember when I last had it cut. Pretty disgusting.....my ends really need it.

A while ago I posted about possible hairstyles I was looking at, but since then have decided that I wanted to grow it out longer. I kind of miss my long hair and Jon likes it when it's long :) I found a really cute haircut, though!

I love her bangs! They're not too long so that they are in her eyes, which I would not be able to stand for a minute! I just don't know if I could pull it off. I've had bangs once in my lifetime and they didn't look good. Probably because my mom cut them herself and they were super blunt. One concern I have about bangs is my hair will probably fight falling that way. I hate battling my hair part and it seems to prefer to fall more on one side than on the other. I have forced a part on the opposite side, but I have to do it when it's sopping wet and I have to blow dry like crazy. Even then it doesn't really lay like that easily.

As for the rest of her hairstyle, I don't know what's going on with the rest of her hair. I wonder if the bangs would look OK with a "fuller" hairstyle.

In terms of face shape I've been going back and forth on trying to decide which one I have: square or round? Sometimes it looks square, sometimes it looks round. Here's a picture I snapped tonight. Squarish/rectanglish?Please excuse....I have already washed my face for bed and I look tired!

And here's a picture from R&R (you've seen this one before.) I really don't take pictures of myself. Hate 'em!
Ah well, we'll see what I end up with. As long as I don't hate it! I usually need to let the cut grow out a little bit before I'm OK with it.

I'll be posting about my giveaway options tomorrow. I promise you'll love it! There will be an option for everybody. So far, I have seven knitted options, all small because I'm awful at completing projects before moving on to another. I'm still working on a sweater I started in October! Come back tomorrow for my reveal!

Thank you, thank you!

2009-03-04T22:02:00.005-07:00

Thank you everybody for the encouraging comments about my goal accomplished! I'm sorry....I'm so awful at responding to comments! I have a hard enough time posting since Jon's been home. He seriously hogs the computer! Even when it's free, I'd much rather snuggle up on the couch and watch How I Met Your Mother with him--he's been watching that while deployed and we just bought the first two seasons on DVD.

When Jon's alarm went off at 5 I was wide awake. I couldn't get out of bed until 5:30, though, because somebody fell asleep with his arm around my waist and I didn't want to wake him up! Poor guy...he didn't get home until 11 on Monday night and had to get up at 2 the next morning to prepare for the second round of soldiers coming home. Now he's going in every day and in charge of reintegration classes, meaning he will also being working this weekend. Boo! He's so ready for his block leave!

Anyways, I got up and did my Turbo Jam DVD workout, determined to keep up with working out and losing weight. It went OK, but I didn't get nearly as sweaty and out of breath as I do in my cardio kickboxing class on base. Unfortunately, my IT band was bugging me even during this workout so I don't think I'll be able to make it to my class tomorrow if it's still inflamed. I'll just have to suck it up and jump on the much dreaded elliptical trainer.

I got a foam roller today and tried it out on my injured leg. Owowow!!! I could barely put any weight on it while I was able to put a lot more weight on my uninjured leg. But the injured IT band feels looser and more stretched out. I really hope this helps!

In other news, I feel like knitting something pretty for somebody! I just noticed that I'm almost to 200 posts (so behind a lot of you!) I'll be having a giveaway much like Loqui's. Mine will be knitted, and I will give the winner a pick of what they want, and of course, what colors she wants it in. I'm so excited about this! And it gives me an excuse to buy some more yarn.....

Stay tuned!

I did it!

2009-03-03T19:27:00.002-07:00

I did a pull up all by myself! I hadn't even tried because I'm so self-conscious when people are around, but somebody was using the assisted pull-up machine. The whole point of me getting there early was so I could do some pull-ups before my cardio kickboxing class, so I ventured outside where it was nice, warm, and breezy. I was able to do one (and a half) pull-ups. I can also do one dip. Yay!

Weekend wrap up

2009-03-02T19:45:00.014-07:00

I'm exhausted! I've been going nonstop this whole weekend. I had volunteered to bake cookies for the soldiers of Jon's battalion that are finally coming home. In fact, as I type many families are enjoying the company of their loved ones after a long 15 month separation. I'm going to be watching the coverage that the local news station is putting on at 10 tonight and I know I'll have tears (of happiness)! I wanted to go to the ceremony, but didn't want to take time off work I didn't have and post is 75 miles away....plus, like I said, I'm exhausted.

There were a lot of soldiers to be accounted for (600+), but as much as I would have liked to, I wasn't able to have enough cookies for all of them. I ended up with 97 baggies when all was done.

I started making the cookie dough last Wednesday night because I was going to try to bake them all for Friday so Jon could take them in to work with him. With homecoming information constantly changing, though, I found that I would be able to have them done in time and as fresh as possible by Monday (today). They were all simple recipes. I didn't want anything too complicated if I had to bake a large volume; no rolling out of dough, no cookie cutters, no rolling in sugar/cinnamon/etc......nothing like that. I baked Almond White Chocolate Chunk Cookies, a tried and true recipe I've made several times. I also made my Lime Meltaways for a different flavor, and Alton Brown's wonderful Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Almond White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Lime Meltaways

Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hadn't made the chocolate chip cookies before, but I had made Alton Brown's chewy cookie version and that one turned out soooo good! I ate 7 in one day! The reason I made the puffy one this time was because I didn't have enough butter! I had gone to the commissary that day and bought one pack of butter, thinking that would be enough since I already had 5 sticks in the fridge at home. Wrong! I remembered the puffy cookie recipe used shortening, but since shortening grosses me out to no end, I decided to use half shortening half butter. They turned out awesome! Even my official taste tester (and his wannabe) thought so! Jon ecstatically exclaimed "They taste just like Mrs. Field's!"

After all that baking I had to package the cookies. I ended up putting one of each of the chocolate chip and almond white chocolate chunk cookies and three meltaways per baggie. I got done late because I started late as a result of weekend traveling.

Don't worry, Jon wasn't left out. I made some Cream Cheese-Lemon Bows for him (and Sammy). These cookies are staying put here!

I was discouraged when Jon later told me that lemon wasn't his favorite, but he actually liked these! I hadn't planned on the dusting of powdered sugar since I pretty much considered it decorative, and come on.....guys don't care about presentation! But Jon wanted it, so he got it!

And I couldn't deprive him of his obvious favorites, the chocolate chip cookies, so he got a few surprise ones this morning. He took the cookies in to work for me.

Those Target bags were heavy! I didn't know what else to put them in. I hope they got to the soldiers in decent shape!

OK...gonna finish watching The Bachelor now. I ruined it by reading about the whole controversial ending so I know what's supposedly going to happen. Stupid reality TV! What I heard better not be true! I liked Jason so much.....

ETA: Ugh! Yeah it happened. Jason dumped Melissa after proposing to her and wants to try things out with Molly. I don't care if Molly didn't know about this but if I were her, I would drop his ass! Who does that? Probably scripted like people have been speculating. I think I'll watch the next Bachelorette since Jillian will be the one.....then I'm done.

Body image issues

2009-02-27T06:14:00.004-07:00

I think I've already touched on my body image issues in one of those "about me" posts. It was in fourth grade that I actually became conscious of my body, and in my opinion that's too young, although this happens a lot earlier to children today (not even getting into that).

That being said, I've been feeling humongous lately. I haven't been getting the exercise my body needs and since Jon came home, any semblance of a healthy diet has gone out the window. I've been eating out more because I actually have someone to eat with! While Jon was gone, I wouldn't go out to eat very often because I refuse to eat alone. That left me with having to deal on those nights when I couldn't cook because I came home late from the gym or was too busy baking. Those nights I ate a bowl of cereal or threw some cheese into a couple rolled up corn tortillas. A guy cannot eat like this, so we sometimes resort to outside sources. Last night it was Pizza Hut's dinner buffet. And no, I didn't even go to the gym last night. Neither of us felt like cooking.

It doesn't make matters any better that I can't even run. I think that is probably the only reason I'm upset about it right now; the injury couldn't have come at a worse time because when I'm feeling bad about my body I like to strap the running shoes on and pound out my frustrations. Even when I'm injury free it's really hard for me to stay motivated enough to go out for a run here because I need pretty scenery while my mind wanders. The city of Tucson (and most cities in Arizona) aren't very pretty cities. I don't know who decided that miles and miles of strip malls and mini-highways for streets were a good idea. Back in Seattle, I'd be happy running in the city because no matter where I lived, there was always a good place to run! I was so against driving to my running destination and that is just what I have to do here. On top of that, I think I just need trees and greenery.

Running is so easy because all you need is a good pair of shoes and you're good to go. There's no equipment needed, you don't really need to drive anywhere, and it's free! Don't even get me started on cardio machines! I've done it all (thanks to previous injuries): stationary bike, stair master, treadmill, elliptical trainer, rowing machine, you name it. I have one word for you: B.O.R.I.N.G!! I'd be happy doing something else, but I just checked the schedule for group classes at the AFB and there really isn't much to pick from. The only class in the morning I can go to is Spinning at 7, which is a little late for me and to be honest, I have zero interest in spinning. Then the next class isn't until 11! Evening classes are sparse too! Do a lot of these AF wives not have jobs that the majority of the classes are during the work day? I wonder the gym on post is any better. Probably not, and it is 75 miles away so it's not even an option. I might need to cave for another gym membership.

OK, so the result of all this is the general unhappiness I feel towards my body. I do not like what I see in the mirror. Well, I've come to accept and love my muscular legs, when at one time I hated how big they were. I've got the arm wave down to a minimum--my triceps are actually stronger than my biceps now and they are my favorite part of my body I like to develop. My butt is the second. My genes have decided that I'm not supposed to have an ass. What little I do have is a result of hard work. It's the whole middle part of my body that I hate. I've been battling the back fat and the fat around the midsection for a long while now. I'm just genetically predisposed to gain weight in those areas! Let me just list what I hate about my body:

Back fat--I can seriously grab a handful at each side

Stomach fat--another two handfuls

Fat right above the hips--you guessed it....two more handfuls for ya

I just measured myself yesterday (tape measurers don't lie!) Looking at the actual numbers, it doesn't look that bad, but looking at my reflection, I really don't like! Thankfully, I don't gain weight in my hips. They're 37 inches right now (Latina hips!) My waist is 29.5 inches, but I've never had a small waist. I think I wouldn't be able to get smaller than 28, maybe 27 inches. Jean sizes don't lie either. Speaking of sizes, I really wish they would universalize them! If I buy a pair of junior's pants, depending on the brand, I'm anywhere between a 7 and 11. No joke, if the brand says I'm a size 11 I don't buy them! Women's sizes, I'm between a 6 and 8. The sizes themselves don't sound too bad either, but I'm 5'4" and remember I do have issues with my body! I fully admit that right from the beginning.

Bottom line, I just want to get leaner and I don't know how to do that right now. There's just nothing like burning lungs and rhythmic pounding of pavement to help me feel better about myself, and that's just not happening right now. All I need to be happier, I think, is a good workout!

How I know he loves me

2009-02-26T17:33:00.004-07:00

I should totally be in kickboxing class right now, sweating it out with the other milspouses, but I'm not. It took one call from Jon to change my mind. Well, that and yet another headache. I've had a bad headache for the past week and was forcing myself to go to class until Jon called. He didn't in any way try to talk me out of going. He just asked if I was going and that was all it took for me to change plans so I can see him sooner. He was just 40 miles out on the interstate and I was leaving work, yet we got home at the same time. Crazy commute I have here!

So yes, Jon has an influence on me, I'd say. Although he's not the most romantic, he has his ways of letting me know he loves me.

I love when he'll call after PT just to see what I'm doing and to tell me he misses me. Love that!

The day of my nursing school interview he washed the car for me before I left, washed the other car and wanted to clean the house while I was gone. I got home earlier than he expected so he didn't get the chance to vacuum and mop.

He's done dishes on several occasions and even though he hates it.

He hates going to bed without me and asks me to join him even when it's 9 pm (too early for me, but I still go).

Sometimes he'll accidentally wake me up because he has to kiss me good-bye every morning before leaving for work.

He just wants me around all the time, and I love that!

Work break

2009-02-24T18:05:00.005-07:00

I'm in the middle of a timecourse experiment right now and my next time point collection is at 7. Sooo I'm sitting around waiting for another hour. How I love science!

I just checked back in my archives and I got that GC shot in my knee on 30 January. Wow I hadn't realized it's been that long! The doctor had advised me to skip out on running for a week, which I followed, no problem. I've learned not to run through injuries! Then, Jon came home, making it easier for me to put it off even more.

On Valentine's Day weekend, I went out to get a new pair of running shoes. I decided on the Saucony Grid Hurricanes because I loved them so much when I wore them last in 2004. I don't know why I didn't just keep getting those! I just got fitted for a new pair of shoes every time I had to go in for new ones. So I went back to those, but unfortunately, they didn't have my size. The store ordered them for me and they just got in last week.

So yesterday I was super excited to run again! I had been stretching my IT band as best as I could and keeping up with my cardio kickboxing class as much as I could (last weekend's interview didn't make that easy). I went to my favorite running path after work, happy with the 80-degree weather, thinking this was the perfect day to run. I decided I would take it really easy, running my 3 mile loop at about a 10-minute mile. Well, I got to mile 2 and, like in my last run, I started experiencing that dull throbbing in my left knee. Actually, I felt it towards the beginning of the run and just kept going, not too bothered by it. I stopped running at about 2 miles and walked. I was really raring to go so when I couldn't feel any more pain I started running fast. When this injury first popped up in 2006, I noticed that if I ran fast I didn't feel the symptoms during the run so I felt I could keep running. I thought maybe my gait was that drastically different when running fast as opposed to when I was just doing an easy jog. Of course it hurt after the run, but I was dumb (and stubborn) back then to keep doing it. So I decided to give it a shot yesterday. It was not the case. Rather than a dull pain, I experienced an intense throbbing pain within a few seconds! I gave up and walked the rest of the way.

I stretched really well when I was done. I didn't feel any pain in my knee at all, which just frustrated me because only a small amount of running aggravated it. I ran the length of the parking lot back and forth a few times, trying to get it to hurt again (I was trying to find anything wrong with my gait). The only time it hurt was when I stopped and turned to go back. It felt good otherwise. But I'm hobbling today and taking the stairs like a two year old.

This is the most frustrating injury I've had. Granted, when I hurt my ankle it took two years for me to be able to run without recurring pain, but at least it hasn't happened in a while! It did flare up last weekend for the first time in two years, but switching out my boots for good supportive shoes for a couple days put it back in its place! To think my main concern in '04 when training for my marathon was shin splints. I'd take shin splints over ITBS any day! I feel like I can't make any progress with this stupid IT band! What more can I do? I stretch, but is that enough? I find it difficult to stretch. Are there any good stretches out there for it? How long should I stretch it for each day? Should I invest in one of those foam rollers? Will that really help? A lot of questions that I'm asking any runners to help me answer. Any advice?

Sigh of relief....it's over!

2009-02-22T07:38:00.004-07:00

I can breathe again without hyperventilating! I've done everything I can and now all that's left is to sit patiently and wait. I'm just going to try to forget about it so the weeks don't drag by!

I wasn't nervous driving to the interview. I had left the radio on the public radio station the night before and was pleasantly surprised by the music when I turned the car on. What was on was something I call "bayou music." I heard the likes of it a few years ago when Jon and I ate at New Orleans in Seattle. Anyways, the music made me feel good, on top of the cloudless sunny day and warm weather at ten in the morning.

I got to the place a lot earlier than planned so I decided to drop off my old toaster oven at my office. It's been sitting in the trunk of my car for a week and I work really close to where I interviewed at. Can you picture me in my suit carrying around a toaster oven? I think I was just putting off the interview because come on, that didn't need to be right at that instant!

I still wasn't nervous when I arrived to check in and turn in my ranked choices of hospitals. I even drank some orange juice and ate a small apple pastry thing. Interviewees were gathered into a room to wait until they were called, so I sat down and listened to what everyone else around me was chatting about and talked to a couple people. Then the volunteer pre-nursing undergrads came to round us up and we made the small trek to the building where the interviews were being held. We were all in groups of three and all three of us would go in at one time. I got nervous as we sat outside our room and waited until the interviewers were ready.

I got really nervous when the interview started. Thankfully, I wasn't the first one who had to answer the first question! My heart was pounding so fast and I was shaking! It had nothing to do with the demeanor of the interviewers--all three of them were so nice and friendly! It was just a lot of pressure to make a good impression on them and watching them jot down notes as we all gave our responses. I think I remember all the questions that were asked, but I may be missing one.

What career are you transitioning out of and why did you decide to go into nursing?

Why the U of A? Why Arizona?

What are your plans if you don't gain acceptance into the program?

I don't remember the other part of the question and what specialty are you interested in going into?

What words would you use to describe yourself and what will you bring to the College community?

What does a two year work commitment mean to you?

We each alternated on who answered the question first and the interviewers also alternated on who asked the questions. Looking at them now, they're cake. I know the answers to these questions! I could have gone on and on answering most of them, but when put on the spot I completely forgot what I wanted to say! I hate to admit that I stumbled on one question: the one where I had to talk about myself. You see, I hate talking myself up. I'm not good at it and I had a hard enough time doing it on my statement! I could have totally quoted myself on what I wrote for my statement because that's what was asked! But like I said before, everything I wanted to say was forgotten. For the last question, I even brought up TMC's inability to offer jobs to all the students they sponsored. One of the interviewees was from TMC! Yeah, that one just slipped out. I was kicking myself about that one as I walked back to my car later.

After the interview was over we were led back to a room where current students of the accelerated program were waiting for us. We were given the opportunity to chat with them and ask them questions about the program and just unwind. That was fun....if only I were able to talk to the interviewers with the ease I talked to the students.

Thanks everyone for the well wishes. We should be finding out the decision mid-March. Now I should be able to catch up on blog reading with this out of the way! I've missed blogging!

I'm all nerves!

2009-02-21T07:27:00.005-07:00

I've been up since 6 this morning, tossing and turning in bed. I've been waking up sporadically throughout the night as well. I can't sleep!

I finally got up at 7 and took the mutt with me so Jon could get some more sleep. I definitely could sleep more, but my mind is racing, contemplating what questions will be asked during the interview. I don't know if they will have all our information in front of them, so I don't know how specific these questions will be. I read over my papers last night, just in case they ask me about them. It's highly doubtful, but wouldn't that look awful if I couldn't tell them what they were about? I am one of the authors after all! I also made sure I remembered all the steps in the nursing process of care, since I mentioned it and compared it to the scientific method in my statement. Thank you to my friend Sandra for pointing out this similarity to me! I really don't think they'll ask me anything too in depth, but I want to be prepared!

I went to an info session last night after work. The purpose was to hear from representatives from all the sponsor hospitals and to ask questions, so that we can rank them in order of preference. We were greeted with bad news right from the very beginning. One of the sponsor hospitals had completely dropped out. It happened to be my number two choice. I guess the day right after the associate dean sent out those letters inviting candidates to interview, the hospital contacted her and informed her that they were unable to sponsor anyone. I wanted to bang my head on the table when I heard this because I knew this hospital offered the most slots in the past. They are the ones who stepped it up in the program. Soooo.......available slots went from 96 last year to 48. You should have seen the dropped jaws and uncomfortable squirming in the auditorium when the news was announced. The hospital that dropped out had 40 slots to offer last year, down to 24, then down to a big fat zero. Stupid economy! I figured maybe that the number of slots had gone down, but not by that much! Hospitals in the area are hurting right now. My top choice hospital has eliminated raises indefinitely. My (now second) choice hospital is unable to offer jobs to all the newest grads they've sponsored. It isn't looking very good for new RNs.

I've been reading message boards about the whole process at the UA and went into that info session almost confident. My impression was that the majority of those who interviewed got accepted into the program. The interview is a way for them to see how well you communicate and if the program (and nursing itself) is the right fit for you. I think I communicate fairly well and I know this is what I want to do! But last night discouraged me. I got there early so I was able to watch people as they filtered into the room. When we got started I could see the auditorium was filled to capacity. The woman sitting next to me and I were trying to count how many people were in the room, since these are all the people interviewing. We were told that 130 were invited to interview. And now from those 130, only 48 would be granted admission. The program went from being competitive to being really, really competitive. I'm sure if the hospital dropping out had let the nursing school know earlier, not as many people would have been invited to interview. I don't know that I would have been.

With that, I have to get ready. The recently purchased suit and shoes are sitting in the closet, ready for action. Off to the shower I go. Hopefully in a few weeks you will be reading the thoughts of a newly admitted nursing student!

This is my reality

2009-02-16T19:51:00.002-07:00

I love coming home after work to find my husband intently working on one of his little projects in the garage. I love how he put everything down to grill some hamburgers and bratwurst for dinner. I love having my husband home. I feel like a different person now. The neighbors around me only knew me as the one whose husband was in Iraq. But I'm part of a couple and now they need to get to know the other half.

I feel different. The house feels different. The days feel different. When I first open my eyes and am fully conscious in the mornings, I'm just happier, warmer, content. I don't remember feeling this way for a long time. I like it! But, man do those weeks drag by now!

We celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday. I had a couple rib-eyes for the occasion and Jon had bought a 14 oz. lobster tail at Costco that day. It was sooo yummy! I had maybe two bites of steak and I ate that whole lobster tail all.by.myself......with lots of butter! Yeah that started off a weekend of horrible eating!

On Valentine's Day we tried eating at our favorite Italian restaurant, but everything was super crowded. So we just grabbed a couple Hot N Ready pizzas from Little Caesar's and noshed on that. We followed that with a glass of port for dessert. Jon promptly went to bed at 9:30 while I stayed up and watched SNL while knitting.

This coming Saturday I have my nursing school interview. I'm so nervous! I really hope I get in! If I don't, I've got a back up plan. I'll be happy either way. Because the night he came home, Jon told me if I don't get into nursing school we can start thinking about having kids within the next year or two. Yay!!!! I never thought I'd hear those words out of his mouth! I've been expressing a really strong desire to have kids now and I'm so happy!

Blogging will remain sporadic, as I share the MacBook with Jon now. I literally have to pry it out of his hands when I get home! I'm still catching up on all your blogs! Well, wish me luck on the interview!

Savoring every moment

2009-02-10T21:11:00.003-07:00

Pinch me--is this real? Jon got in on Sunday night at 9:30. Unfortunately, the whole ADVON group was able to get on that plane, so we had to wait until midnight for the other flight to come in. From the airport we made the 75 mile drive down to Ft. Huachuca, Jon riding in the van that came to pick them up. There was no ceremony, just a few encouraging words. From there we had to drive back up to Tucson. We didn't get home until past 4 a.m. We're still recovering from that long night.

Life has returned back to normal for me, but it doesn't feel normal. That'll take a while. But I'm so, so in love with Jon! It's so hard to go to work when he's staying at home. Granted, he only got one day off and went in today. But on Monday, I only went in to work for a couple hours. No one was going to pry me off my husband easily! Today, I even considered skipping out on my kickboxing class, just so I could get home and see Jon sooner. Good thing I didn't because as I was driving home after the class, he called me to tell me he just got home! When at one time I dreaded weekends, they cannot come fast enough now. It still hasn't really sunk in that he's staying this time, even though I see his toothbrush by the sink and his shampoo in the shower. This will all take some time.

Well, it's off to bed for me. I'm not going to be so much of a night owl now with Jon home!

Playing the waiting game

2009-02-08T16:19:00.002-07:00

I got a phone call from Jon at 5:30 this morning. I'm so glad I made him take his cell phone with him this time! He had just arrived in New Jersey. He had to run off and take care of things, telling me to "Go back to sleep." HA! After that! I was so excited how could I go back to sleep?! I did eventually fall back asleep, only to be waken periodically by the F-16s flying overheard (why does the AF have to schedule their training exercises so early on a weekend?) Got another call at 9:30 with some flight information: ETA past 11 p.m. They are flying into the airport here and driving down to Ft. Huachuca in vans. I will be following. Who knows when we'll get home finally? God forbid the Army does things at a decent hour! :) Updated flight information puts him arriving earlier, but we still have to wait at the airport for the others to get here.

So, I've kept busy up to this point, vacuuming up after the mess the dog is shedding around the house after his bath yesterday. I've done the dishes, swept, organized everything, and even weeded out our mini forest out in the rain! I got the car washed yesterday and of course it's raining today. Doesn't it always work that way?

With this late arrival, I'm thinking I'm calling in sick to work tomorrow. I wasn't planning on taking any days off since I have zero vacation left and Jon has to go right back to work (no block leave until the rest of the battalion comes home). If anything, I'll go in for a couple hours. They won't be able to pry me off my husband so easily!

As this deployment winds down....

2009-02-06T23:21:00.005-07:00

I'm nervous! I've been forced to adapt to having my husband gone for over a year, and within a couple days I'm expected to throw that all out the window and carry on with normal life. As sad as it is, I consider my life right now as normal! It's going to be hard deviating from my deployment routine and having to actually take somebody else into account in daily decisions now!

That doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to it! I do have the slightest of little butterflies in my stomach when I think about Jon coming home, but I think Sara described it best: most of all I'm just relieved that it's almost all over. Even if I wanted to, I cannot get genuinely EXCITED. I don't even feel like he's coming home yet. It's a nice idea, a much awaited dream come true, but it almost sounds too good to be true. My survival mechanism won't be shut off so easily.

Last but not least, I just wanted to give a big hug and thank you to all my blog friends out there! You all have helped me through this deployment in ways other people couldn't, mainly because I'm much more open writing here than I am talking to "real-life" people.

It started one day in April when I just lost it and went on a search for other milspouse blogs. This blog wasn't initially started to connect with new people...just with people I already knew (shout out to Rae, Cheryl, and Drea--study buddies and detractors in college)! But I am so glad that I found you all! I feel so blessed to have you all as a part of my life and truly consider you all friends, even though we've never met in real life before (although I hope we can eventually)! Thank you for the camaraderie, for the supportive words, for all those virtual hugs....this is a sisterhood I'm grateful for being a part of!

More fun, courtesy of JLC!

2009-02-05T21:59:00.005-07:00

1. What were you doing before you started this post?
Watching Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice and (already) getting nervous about my interview.

2. What is the last thing you read/are currently reading?
A book that one of my bloggie friends wrote :)

3. Do you nap a lot?
No way....my job doesn't pay me for that!

4. Who was the last person you hugged?
Does Sammy count?

5. What is your favorite TV series?
Right now I'd say The Bachelor or Desperate Housewives. It use to be Grey's hands down, but I've been disappointed these past two seasons.

6. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"I love you. 'Bye" (Talking to husband on the phone).

7. What websites do you always visit when you go online?
Work email, Gmail, Blogger, Facebook lately.

8. What was the last item you bought?
Some macaw feather earrings with Peruvian seeds from etsy.

9. What is your most challenging goal?
Getting through my interview and getting into nursing school!

10. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished- anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I can't answer that question right now....I haven't traveled enough :) I guess I'd move back to Seattle.

11. Favorite Vacation spot?
Anywhere tropical with nice warm water to swim in!

12. Say something to the person who tagged you:
JLC, you're always so upbeat and cute! You are my motivation to keep a sunnier outlook in life! I also love whatever you're wearing in the pictures you post on your blog! :)

13. Name one thing you just can't resist no matter how bad it is for you:
French fries!

14. What is your favorite item of clothing?
All my boots!

15. What would your American Gladiator name be and why?
OMG I don't know...

16. Name one thing you can not live with out:
Moisturizer!

17. Has a celebrity's haircut ever influenced you on your own hairstyle?
I love a particular picture of Lucy Liu's hair.

18. What is your drink of choice.
Water! Can't get by without it here! Almond mochas if I want something warm, and I've been obsessed with Three Olives cherry vodka lately.

19. What would you eat for one meal, if you could eat anything and not gain the calories or fat grams, etc?
Plain ol' spaghetti and meatballs at the awesome local restaurant, Mamma Louisa's (it's all homemade)!

20. What are you wearing right now?
My whale t-shirt and grey leggings (dressed for bed!)

21. What's your favorite room in your house?
The bedroom....I don't get as much sleep as I want!

22. If you were to have a baby boy and girl tomorrow, what would you name them?
So easy since I've had them picked out for a while now: boy would be Samuel and girl would be Amelie...like the movie <3>

Now for the 8 tags:

Navalgazing

R&R Adventures

Afloat in a Lonely Sound

The Ever-Changing Life of a Military Wife

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage...

The Life of the Wife

Lovely Yellow Ribbons

When in Rome

Good news!!!!

2009-02-05T20:01:00.003-07:00

Besides the fact that my husband should be in my arms Sunday afternoon.....

I GOT AN INTERVIEW FOR MY PROSPECTIVE NURSING PROGRAM!

It's the next step in the application process, and in the two other times I applied to this very program I was never offered one! Happy dance!!! Happy dance!!! Happy dance!!!!

OK....settle down. Must settle down to watch Grey's Anatomy.

The story of how we met, Part 3

2009-02-04T11:32:00.001-07:00

Picking up from the somber point I left you with....

In the end, I decided I couldn't break his heart, not when he was away at war. That's just wrong. Common sense told me that all I was feeling (and not feeling) was due to absence. God knows I still loved him, but I had forgot what Jon had brought into my life. So I decided to give the relationship a second chance before killing it. I knew things wouldn't get better if we were still living apart, even though he would be back in the States, so I decided to move to Arizona. Call it dumb, call it risky, call it whatever you want but I felt it was necessary for the survival of this relationship. I was at my breaking point and knew I wouldn't be strong enough to endure more long distance. I was so sick of that! That doesn't mean I wasn't scared. I felt it was incredibly risky, dedicating myself to this move when I was feeling so unsure about this relationship. I put all confidence in the fact that when we were together in the past, it was like nothing I'd ever experienced, and I wanted to see if it was still there.

As you well know, it was. When Jon got home, it was as if we were picking up where we last left off before he left. All the emotions resurfaced and, once again, I was unable to keep myself away for very long.

I've already wrote about Jon's knack for hiding things, including the engagement ring. I never did get a real proposal, though. On our fourth anniversary of dating we were getting ready to go out for dinner. There were no plans, no reservations, and I'm not a high maintenance girl so we decided to go to the Chinese buffet in town. He insisted that we open each other's presents before leaving. I had just got him a Bluetooth headset for his cell phone so he could talk on the phone while he was driving around the post. I already knew he got me something from Tiffany's after spotting that little blue bag earlier, but I was totally caught off guard when I opened it and saw the ring.

"What is this?" I asked him. After all, he didn't get down on one knee and say something like "Tania, you are the most amazing woman I've ever known and I can't imagine not having you in my life. Will you marry me?"

Instead, he says "You know what it is. Do you want it?"

Now I was trying to get something out of him, understand, so I asked him again what it was. He answered my question with the same question, "Do you want it?" We went back and forth that way for a little while until I finally gave up and said "Yes, of course I do!" During that whole ordeal he was acting all shy and nervous, which I thought was really cute, so I let him slide!

After all that he tells me "Now you can just tell your friends I took you out for a hot air balloon ride and proposed to you that way."

"Uh-uh," I said, "you should have done that if that's what you want people to think. Nope, everyone will know how you proposed to me!" And now that includes my blog readers :)

We got married May 5, 2007. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Not too exciting a story, but it's ours. I'm looking forward to more memories in our future together. And that all starts on Sunday when he comes home!

The story of how we met, Part 2.

2009-02-03T22:01:00.004-07:00

Jon was in his junior year when he had to leave for Advanced Camp in Fort Lewis for a big chunk of the summer. I, on the other hand, had graduated and had a job lined up in the lab I did my work study in. Jon took to calling me his "suga mama" during his last year of school.

While he was gone, I spent a lot of time with a girl whose boyfriend was also away at Camp. Her boyfriend was actually one of Jon's good friends. We went out to dinner, shopped, and lamented about how much we missed our boyfriends. We would go to our appropriate apartments and go straight to the mail box to see if we got a letter that day. We had a little contest going on, seeing who got the most letters! I don't even remember who "won."

I was so excited when Jon got done. Only thing is, he didn't stay in Seattle during the summers. He still worked in the lab, but he stayed at home with his parents who lived about 45 miles away. Let me tell you, that's at least a two hour commute! I hated saying goodbye to him and he usually stayed late. Poor guy....he was so tired because of me! It didn't last too long, though, as school started out in September for him.

We just grew closer during the course of the school year. I practically lived at his place and he took me to see his parents pretty early in the school year. We spent so much time together I started to have little disputes with my friends. But whatever....isn't everyone like that with a new relationship? It didn't help that I was about the only one in a relationship. Jon and I endured, though, and in the end I didn't lose any friends over it. :)

As the school year drew to a close, I started to prepare myself for what was next. Jon was set to move God knows where in July and I felt that there was a possibility he would break up with me. If you knew him, he is such a manly-man and I really believed that he didn't want to be tied down as he started out on his career. So I was taking it one day at a time and enjoying everything I was sharing with him. I was in it for the long run, unsure about where he stood, but not wanting to crowd him too much. He surprised me, obviously, when we sat down to talk about it and he revealed to me that he wanted to stay together. He was surprised I was thinking the way I was. I was so relieved, even though I was prepared to say goodbye! Throw that tough skin out the window! He listed his preferred posts: 1) Hawaii, 2) Washington, 3) Arizona, etc. etc. We all know what he got....we're still here!

July came around real fast. I decided to make half the drive with him to Ft. Gordon where he was doing OBC. That put my stop at Phoenix where his aunt lived. I would take a flight back to Seattle from there and he would continue on to GA. We took the fastest way: down I-5 all the way down to LA. We did make a stop in Anaheim to go to Disney Land (I had never been!) Then it was on to I-10 over to Phoenix, 6 hours away. I cried a lot when I had to say goodbye to him. It was so hard, knowing I wouldn't see him for a while.

I saved all my vacation and money for flights to GA and then AZ. Every 3-day weekend I took an extra day off and jumped on a plane to Phoenix or Tucson. We had a commuting relationship for 2 years. That is, until he deployed in October 2006. He came up for a visit in August before he was set to leave. That wasn't enough for me! My friend and I went for a road trip in September to Avila Beach, CA to spend some time at a real beach. Spur of the moment, we decided to make the drive to Phoenix where Jon was visiting his aunt one last time before he deployed. It was a great couple of days we spent there....and it was really hard to say goodbye to him. I wanted so badly to be there when he left, but by that time I had used up all my vacation and I had a tyrant of a Russian PI who was very strict with work hours.

That first deployment I kept busy taking courses at the local community college. I had a whole year of prerequisite courses to take before I could even apply to nursing school. I joined a gym and worked off all the weight I had gained as a result of my boyfriend loving to go out to eat. I ran, did turbo kickboxing, yoga, latin dance, just so Jon could come home to a leaner and more confident girlfriend.

But as the deployment wore on my weariness grew. I didn't get to talk to Jon as frequently as I do now, and even back then my phone had the nasty habit of dropping calls like flies. The same problems existed back then, as they do now. Jon isn't very fun to talk to, bottom line! That goes especially when he's miserable and wanting to come home. Being that we weren't married at the time, a nasty thought worked its way into my mind: this is all too much for me--maybe I should break up with him. I had my own life in Seattle and made new friends that I spent a lot of time with. Whenever I was out with them and Jon would call and not say anything (much like he does now), I would get really annoyed. We had a lot of fights this way and the relationship was very strained. Worse yet, I felt that I didn't need him anymore, since I was perfectly happy with my friends in his absence. My life had not stopped just because he was gone.

I feel too much...and the story of how we met

2009-02-02T22:44:00.001-07:00

As I was watching The Bachelor, I felt a horrible pang of homesickness. The episode was filmed wholly in Seattle.....during the fall, which happens to be my favorite season. Jason stayed in a houseboat off of Lake Union during the visit, so I know or a fact that is not where he really lives since he's on the other side of Lake Washington, in Kirkland. But where they were staying....that is my neighborhood. Many miles were run along Lake Union, I walked to and from work everyday, I walked by that REI to go to my gym every Monday and Wednesday for my group fitness classes. I miss it so much!

Perhaps another reason I miss the city so much is because it's where I met my husband, while we were both still in college. I have many memories of us driving around in his VW Jetta up and down all those steep hills, walking around downtown, and braving the constant drizzle to shop at the outdoor shopping center by the UW (it just ain't Christmas without all the lights and rain!) Some mornings we would get up early while it was still dark out to go run....and sometimes when we got to Green Lake we decided we didn't want to get drenched that day and skipped out on the run for some warm coffee (for me) and hot chocolate (for him).

How did we meet? Random fact: Jon went to the Air Force Academy for a year. He quit and went to our university to do Army ROTC. I always tell him I'm so glad he did because I would have never met him and where would I be now? Anyways, we went to a small Jesuit university and I saw him walking around campus from time to time. Jon was a political science major and I was a biology major, so our paths never crossed in the classroom. While he did catch my eye, I was in a long term relationship at the time. He was just my eye candy in the beginning! Coincidentally, he was also in a relationship. My roommate worked with him in a nearby lab and would come home and tell me about her friend Jon unsuccessfully trying to break up with his girlfriend.

Then, after four years together off and on, I broke up with my boyfriend. We had started dating in high school and he went to a university nearby in Kirkland. Our paths just went in different directions and I was seriously sick of him giving me crap for not being more social and out-going. I was really quiet around people I didn't know and maybe not "fun" enough for him and his friends. I remember waking up one morning and thinking, "Enough!" I needed time to be myself, to grow, to discover who I really was without somebody else there telling me. It was over. I felt so free!

So you can imagine my unwillingness to budge when my roommate came up to me three months later, announcing that Jon had finally broke up with his girlfriend. "No way!" I told her. "It's only been three months of being single! It's too early!" She kept pushing and pushing, relentless in her efforts, saying Jon wanted to meet me too.

I just gave up one day. "Fine! I'll go with you to his 21st birthday so you can introduce us." No big deal--just a casual meeting.

He was already a little inebriated when we got to the nearby bar. There were a whole bunch of other ROTC guys and girls there buying him drinks, and I only got to talk to him for a little while--I don't even remember what was said. We didn't stay long because they were going to move on to a different bar, so we parted ways and that was that.

I was walking to a nearby drug store the next morning when I saw none other than Jon walking towards me with one of his friends from the night before. There was no one else around, but I was one of those people that waited for people to acknowledge me first. He walked right past me! Well, I thought to myself, either I didn't make much of an impression on him or he was too drunk to remember me!

Some time passes and I'm eating dinner one night after school and work when my roommate comes barging into the apartment. She yells, "STOP! He's going to call you to go out for dinner! Stop eating!" I was already done....and full! But when he called, I still went anyways. Our first date was at Red Robin. I sat and talked to him and ate an occasional fry from his plate while he ate. I got a report back from my roommate the next day, "He thinks you don't eat!" Bah! I'm sooo not that girl! I had to show him!

Details are fuzzy at this point--it all happened 6 years ago! There were lots of group get togethers with his friends and mine and we started to get to know each other that way. There was one group meet-up in particular at a bar for a Thirsty Thursday where I definitely felt the chemistry. Dinner plans were made for the next night. At the end of the night and a few drinks, Jon, ever the responsible guy, hands his keys to the DD and gets in the back seat with me. I was a little tipsy as well....and sleepy. So without thinking, I lay my head on his shoulder. He reciprocated, laying his head on top of mine and we rode like that in silence the rest of the way back up to campus.

There was a lot of Norah Jones in the early part of our relationship, considering that was one of the only CDs Jon owned. "Come Away With Me" was our soundtrack, and one of those songs will definitely be our song whenever we have our "real" wedding. I digress. Things just took off after that night. Jon went from being shy and unsure of what to say to me to being incredibly affectionate and silly. I never felt this way with anybody before and I didn't want to let him out of my sight! We became absorbed with one another and went on that way for the remainder of the year until summer came and it was time for Advanced Camp.

Story to be continued. Bed time for this girl. I'll finish the story later! Oh and a quick note: Jon is now in Kuwait! I figured as much, considering I haven't heard from him in two days and he calls every night like clockwork! I got a quick little phone call as I was writing this....we're getting close here!

Spring in January

2009-02-01T01:06:00.010-07:00

My knee was definitely feeling better today (well, yesterday by the time I post this)! Like DAR said, it was just a little stiff--stairs were still the enemy today, but I definitely felt an improvement once I woke up at (cough) 10:15.

It was beautiful today! It was 74 degrees when I left the house this afternoon. So I turned off the AC in the car, rolled the windows down, and opened the sunroof on my way to our local outdoor shopping center, La Encantada (which quite literally translates to "the enchanted one"--I love living in the SW with all its cutesy Spanish names). I very understandably have spring fever so went on a little shopping spree....just a little one, but enough damage that husband will ask: why? I'm sure he's already seen the bank account ;)

Here are my purchases

This sweater just says spring to me with its light green color and its lightweight texture. I can totally picture wearing this on a spring beach excursion. Now if only we had a beach....closest one (in the US) is 6 hours away in San Diego!

I got this shirt at my favorite store, Anthro. If I could afford it, I would buy this store out--I LOVE it! Well, I swore I would never buy a shirt from there again because averaging at $58, their knits are very disappointedly short-lived, no matter if you follow the care instructions. I got holes and spots where the fabric wore down on every single shirt I bought there. The quality just isn't worth that money. But then I saw this shirt, I had to get it! I really wanted the white one, but being brown, I can't wear white too easily without my bra showing through. I need a good nude-colored bra! Oh and while looking for this online, I saw that it was also available in pink. Boo!!

Spur of the moment, I wandered into L'Occitane. I had dug up a bottle of Lavender Body Milk recently and used it up pretty fast, so I decided I wanted to look for some more. Well, being that the milk I used was from 2004, the formulation had changed. It wasn't much, and I was still going to buy it until I saw this bottle of Cherry Blossom shimmer lotion. I love the way it smells! It's very soft and feminine.....and springy! After trying it out and confirming that it wasn't too shimmery, I was sold! It was $24 for a 250 mL bottle and $32 for a 500 mL bottle so I sprung for the better deal.

I went home after all this, but I wasn't done yet! I've been keeping a shopping cart at Ruche and after losing a few items due to being sold out, I just checked out today.

I love this store! It's very similar to Anthro but with limited stock and items....and WAY better prices. I got a 10% discount from Cheap Chica's discount code (you can get one from various blogs and myspace as well). Since this is the first time I ordered from here, however, I cannot testify about the quality of the merchandise until I receive my package. I'm so excited and will let you all know how satisfied I am with it. I have all confidence that the report card will come back all good!

I know if I shopped elsewhere I would have got a lot more for $2oo (wince), but I think I still did pretty good for all I got!

What I did on a Friday night

2009-01-30T21:37:00.002-07:00

Thanks for the comments on the previous post girlies! DAR, I can't believe you didn't get numbed up first! Ouch! And yes, that's a huge needle! I couldn't help but wonder how big the needle would be for an epidural! You still amaze me with how much you run what with all the injuries you had to endure in the past! That's part of the reason I'm so stubborn with keeping up with running--you still manage to keep up with it even after the setbacks. Tough girl!

Well, I still haven't picked up those darn knitting needles. I was half watching 20/20 and was intrigued by anthropologist, Helen Fisher and her theory of why we pick the people we do for our life mates. She attributes it to certain "chemical factors" that are distinct among four different personality types: the Explorer, the Builder, the Negotiator, and the Director. Naturally, after the show, I immediately went this website to take her test. (Warning: it's a pretty long test, but hey, I had nothing better to do!) Here are my results.

I had to take screen shots, hence the little print. I thought it was pretty interesting, and it did a fair job in describing me. Now if only I could get Jon to take the test!

Gimp for a day (or two)

2009-01-30T18:02:00.004-07:00

This morning I went to see an orthopedist that specializes in sports medicine. After 3 years of chronic illiotibial band syndrome, I find out that I just need to stretch more to avoid this! Well, I'm not surprised by that, but I thought I was stretching it sufficiently. I do have a hard time stretching this part of my legs, though. When doc was checking my range of motion, he noticed that my IT band and my hamstrings in particular were really tight. My quads are pretty flexible, on the other hand. The runners knee, he informed me, was most likely from tight hammies, resulting in the quads having to work more to propel the leg forward. My X-rays turned out normal, thankfully. At times my runner's knee was so bad I was afraid that maybe my cartilage was breaking down. Not so (whew)! My joints fit together beautifully! As for the IT band, I didn't know how bad it was until he started pushing on it! I don't notice it when walking, except when I finish a run that irritated it. Then it can be sore/painful for a couple days.

So, I'm going to stretch more. To take some of the edge off of the inflammation, I got an injection of Depo Medrol, an anti-inflammatory glucocorticoid. I was so scared of the shot because I know a fairly big needle is used. But after he sterilized the injection site, he numbed it with some ethyl chloride (super cold!) and injected me with some lidocaine first. Then came the big needle. I was numb, but I still felt quite a prick! At work I hobbled around a little because the injection site was really tender and swollen. I was notified that I might experience a steroid flare, and that is exactly what I'm dealing with now! I can barely walk! It started after lunch and got worse through out the day. I honestly didn't think I would make it to my car and had to stop a couple times during the walk (it's over a quarter mile away to free parking). So instead of going out with my neighbor friends, I have a date with the couch and a nice pack of ice. I'll be picking up the long-ignored needles tonight and working on my sweater. :) I really hope once this side effect inflammation wears off, the drug actually works!

Are you saying what I think you're saying?

2009-01-29T23:10:00.005-07:00

This made me laugh. Jon likes to email me random things....from cars he wants to houses we can't buy. I found out that he also likes to forward me anything Williams Sonoma emails him as well. So I get a forwarded email for the following product last night

It's called a Beaba Babycook, newly available in the US apparently, and it is a baby food maker that steams and purees anything for baby.

I honestly didn't know what to think of the email. Is he really planning that far in advance? I thought to myself. I immediately flashed back to his comments about our new-to-us station wagon: It even has the child booster seats for when we eventually have kids, he had told me to sell me on the idea of a station wagon (I hate station wagons...the only way I agreed to it's purchase is if I got to keep driving the S60 and he had to drive the V40. We are a Volvo-loving family now!) So I email him back and ask him "Why are you forwarding me something we would only use for baby? Are you telling me something here?" To which he replied, "I didn't read it. I just forward you anything I get from Williams Sonoma."

It was nice to think, even for a split second, that my husband was ready for a baby. I don't think he'll ever be ready, to be honest, but it will happen sometime! I've got some crazy baby fever now!

Just for that, Jon, you have to buy me this! I've been wanting this set for a while now (even more because of the citron color they've just added), but for obvious reasons, I have not bought it.

OK...off to bed now. I have an appointment with a sports medicine orthopedist at 8 am tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Lovely, intoxicating buttercream

2009-01-28T23:30:00.008-07:00

My new hobby started off by chance. By chance, one insanely hot summer Saturday I decided to traipse over to my local Michael's in search of some relief from my monotonous weekend. Some yarn perhaps? Or maybe to take in the vision of all that pretty paper I wanted but didn't need? By chance, I happened upon a table of fliers and an eager, friendly voice that drew me in. Would you be interested in a course in cake decorating? I've always been curious about the techniques one uses for those fabulous cakes that I've encountered throughout my life. What? It's only $17.50 to register? And you have a $5 off coupon? I'll think about it. By the time I wandered through out the store, I had made my decision. Why not? It was nothing I was set on learning, or was passionate about, like knitting, but what else do I have to do? Now would be a perfect time to pick up a new hobby, considering my husband is, and will be gone, for many more months now. Why not?

So began my tutelage. I jumped right in, buying the essential student kit and receiving a 40% off coupon. That's how Michael's gets you to come back, by the way. You can't just waste that coupon! You have to use it! Fortunately enough for me, there was always something else I needed to buy for this new obsession, so this dilemma of deciding what to use it on was avoided. That's how it is when you first start out. Every weekend I went to class, I had to buy something for the next one, so those 40% off coupons saved me a lot of money! I need another kit for the next course and it costs $32?! Fugedaboutit. I'll use the coupon! That handy dandy carrying case for all my cake decorating supplies is $40?! Psh! I have a coupon! Yeah....Michael's got a lot of money out of me!

Tonight was my last class ever. It was momentous. While I am happy that I will no longer need to stay up until 1 am Tuesday nights frosting and covering a cake with fondant for class the next day, I'm also sad that it's over. In previous courses, I kind of half-assed my final cake, since our instructor is so lenient. Because this was my last class, I actually picked a cake from the course book and set to work. It took me 2 hours to make all the petunias and leaves for the cake I picked. Petunias....grrr!!! They were one of my least favorite flowers to make because mine didn't even remotely resemble petunias. Until I realized the cake I really wanted to make required 18 of them! I'm a master now!

I'm so proud of how this one turned out. I actually tried, and while not perfect, it is quite honestly the most elegant looking cake I've made. So without further ado, here are a few snapshots.

The course book with the picture of Wilton's very, VERY perfect cake is in the background. I really wanted that peachy color for the flowers because I just fell in love with it! After a few minutes of lamenting the fact that I had no peach coloring, I realized I had pink and yellow from last week's lesson and would end up with something close if I mixed them together. Yay!

Here's another view.

A close up of the dots. Oh, the dots! They more resemble Hershey's Kisses. I was too lazy to let them dry a little to flatten them with my finger tips and by the time I decided to do it, the buttercream had already crusted. I'm sure I'll be the only one to notice the imperfections. This one will go to my starving scientists!

This motivates me to do more. I would love to make a wedding cake!

Up for grabs

2009-01-26T21:55:00.001-07:00

I feel like I'm so putting myself out there right now. I'm so scared of rejection! Will you like it? What is "it" you ask? It's a little t-shirt number I knit last summer.

One day, possibly due to boredom, possibly due to having just completed a dreaded lab meeting presentation, I felt in need of an emotional release and hit up my favorite Tucson yarn store, Kiwi Knitting Company. Like I've said before, I love it for it's ambience, helpful staff, and location. I haven't been since summer, but I really need to work on this endless stash I have.

Anyways, on to the tee. At the time, I loved the color choice for it. After all, it was picked to help pick my mood up, hence the name I gave it: The Anti-Moping Deployment Tee. It served its purpose and now it's time for it to move on. I just can't picture myself wearing it. While I love the pattern, I'm not too crazy about the color anymore. I do plan on knitting another one up in a different color. So my question to you is, do you know anyone who would find use for it?A fiber junkie like me that can appreciate the work put into it? Perhaps somebody who would fall head over heels in love with it? I honestly don't know anyone this would suit. I mean, I DO work with conservative dressing scientists!

Just thought I'd put it out there and maybe find a home for it. What do you think? Wearable or no?

Dinner and The Bachelor

2009-01-26T20:36:00.009-07:00

Considering I've been eating crap over the weekend (what do you mean Goldfish crackers and a can of olives isn't a meal?), I figured I should cook dinner tonight. So after work I drove over to the running store to return the ouch-inducing shoes and raced home so I can prepare dinner before The Bachelor started. Didn't quite make it, but I was able to sit down and eat for the last half of it.....and I'm watching it now as I type! I must multi-task!

So on the menu tonight was the lemon-olive chicken, recipe courtesy of Real Simple and presented by Half Assed Kitchen. The first time I saw this blog, by the way, I laughed out loud. I especially love the description: "Eh...it's edible." So here are the pictures protraying the recipe.

I must chop all the veggies beforehand, especially the shallots. I really need to invest in those onion goggles! Tears galore! Can't you just picture me rocking those sexy things?

Fry up those little buggers! I just read that the onions have these enzymes that, in a multi-step reaction, eventually produce sulfuric acid in your eyes! No wonder they, along with my throat, were in agony! Read about it!

A shot of the browned chicken. The coating had cumin in it, so I was drooling the whole time I was cooking! It was all I could do not to bite a chunk of the chicken with it looking so pretty and smelling so delish right there!

Throw the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer for a while. We're almost there!

Time to eat! Can you tell I eat on the coffee table in front of the TV? Did you also catch the Turbo Jam in the corner of that picture?

This was really good, even though I accidentally bought cilantro instead of flat leaf parsley. Don't ask me why, but the last couple times I meant to grab parsley, I've made this mistake!

cilantro

flat leaf parsley

Am I crazy? Do they not look similar?

Oh my, I'm so excited for next week's Bachelor. They're going to Seattle!! If you saw the preview, those sea planes were a constant in my last two years living there. I had a view of Lake Union from my lab and watched those sea planes take off all throughout the day. I could hear them from my apt. less than a mile away. Oh, homesick!

OK, nevermind...on to tonight's show. I've been rooting for Melissa, although she initially annoyed the crap out of me. I don't know why, maybe I was in a bad mood when I watched the first episode? I know she is Jason's type and she's soooo cute. And....bouncy. And appearance-wise, she kind of reminds me of Deanna. Shannon creeps me out. She's psycho! Megan is kinda tough girl bitchy and while I couldn't stand her before, I warmed up to her on this episode. Too bad she's off, though. Stephanie is really sweet, but she looks way older than her age and I don't see any chemistry between her and Jason. Nikki is beautiful and I've been feeling so bad for her because she's so walled off. I guess I can just relate to her because I'm so shy and if I were in her shoes, I totally wouldn't be aggressively going after Jason. That's just not me! So she's off as well. Naomi reminds me of Eva Mendes (I think it's the lips) and I don't like Eva Mendes much. So that's my two cents. Who's your favorite? We're getting down to the wire here!

Odds and ends

2009-01-25T11:52:00.005-07:00

Well, I went out and bought my running shoes yesterday. These are what I ended up getting

They are the Asics Gel Cumulus. I was so excited to try them out! When I got home I threw on my new running skort, sports bra, and bright pink shirt that I got from Target last night and hit the road. It was beautiful out: 70 degrees with scattered clouds and a light breeze to help cool me off. I had some hip hop/reggaeton mix on my trusty iPod nano to help me keep pace. I was concentrating on my breathing and running as comfortably as I could. It was an easy run overall that should have totaled about 3 miles. But about a mile short of getting home I started feeling that persistent aching on my left lateral knee--IT band. I groaned to myself and immediately started to walk (fast). I was hoping worn running shoes were the problem, but not so. To top it off I have matching blisters on both my feet, right below the ball of my foot and today I have some soreness in my right knee, which I've experienced before, but not for a while. Runner's knee maybe?

I hate how touchy my knees have been these past three years. If I sit down too long when I'm running regularly, they get a little stiff. When I go out to see a movie, it sometimes takes some hobbling around when I first get up to walk that stiffness off....and I'm fidgeting throughout the movie! I'm so stubborn. I can't quit running! I love it too much! I'll take shin splints over these more touchy, persistent injuries any day. That's all I had to worry about when I first started running seriously. Then I started training for the Vancouver Marathon and decided to help alleviate the problem since I would only be increasing mileage. Went to a physical therapist and discovered I had weak joints when a simple exercise had me writhing on the ground in pain after what felt like a tendon slipping in my ankle. I limped the entire day at work. It was over the next day when I stubbornly insisted on running....I only made 6 of the 12 scheduled miles, but I'm sure more damage was done to the poor ankle.

So the chronic injuries persist today. I'm going to schedule an appointment with a sports medicine doctor because I'm done with self-diagnosing. The last orthopedic doctor I saw had no interest in even figuring out the problem and told me to just quit running. If my joints were OK with running before, I really think that with some guidance from a professional and some rehabilitation I will be able to figure this thing out. I want a doctor to examine my gait, my leg anatomy, and tell me what is wrong and what I can do to fix it. I haven't got a straight answer yet, and that's all I want.

In other news, Jon is probably coming home in a couple weeks. He told me the beginning of last week and is scheduled to fly to Kuwait next week! That's one month early! Maybe, just maybe, I will have my husband home with me on Valentine's Day! I'm still not getting my hopes up too much because we all know how the Army can just pull the rug out from under you in an instant! I'll be asking him every day if plans have changed. :)

Well, I'm off to clean now. I don't do this enough, and I've dedicated my Sundays to cleaning. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everybody!

Because it's Saturday....

2009-01-24T11:36:00.003-07:00

I turned off my 8 a.m. alarm, skipped out on kickboxing and yoga, and slept in until 10:30.

I woke up with a headache, even in my eyes, so I immediately popped 3 Excedrin.

I'm watching Kenny Chesney on palladia.

I'm skipping breakfast since I gorged myself at Sweet Tomatoes last night.

I'm skipping out on the morning shower because I got up so late and it takes me so long to get ready. I hate blow drying my hair! What? My hair still smells clean!

I'm going out to get running shoes even though I've already spent a lot of my paycheck. I'm charging them so husband won't see! :P

I'm going to try running since I skipped out on my workout this morning. If I were to shower in the morning I wouldn't do it because worse than having to blow dry my hair is having to do it twice in one day!

To be honest....

2009-01-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Sara tagged me to dish 10 honest things about myself. These are getting harder and harder to do! What more do you all want to know? :P

I'm not going to tag anybody because everyone has done this already!

So here goes!

I've been insecure with my body ever since the fourth grade. A little Mexican boy, Sergio, and his friend whom I ended up graduating with made fun of me at recess one day. They were laughing and pointing at me, saying "Panzona!", which quite literally means "large-bellied girl." I vaguely remember looking down at my stomach and thinking to myself, Hmm....I guess I do have a big stomach. Starting then, I started to suck my stomach in. I did it for years so I have some pretty strong abs now! :) I don't suck it in anymore, but for the most part I'm always contracting those muscles when I'm upright, or riding in a car (for balance). Is that weird? Oh yeah, Sergio's friend confessed to me our senior year that Sergio had a huge crush on me back then, hence the teasing.
I have a horrible memory when it comes to movies. Somebody will ask me if I saw X movie and most of the time my answer is no. They go on to describe the movie to me, and sometimes somewhere during their description I'll realize that I did, in fact, see the movie.
The furthest distance I've run is 13 miles (that close to half marathon distance). I have yet to run a half or full marathon, although it is one of my goals.
I understand a lot of Spanish, but have a hard time speaking it. The words just get stuck in my head! My vocabulary is mainly limited to that of my parents. They also threw in a little vocabulary in Quechua so I grew up thinking words such as chuma and karkas (sp?), were Spanish. I found out later they weren't. My aunt can speak Quechua and goes off if I ask her to. :)
Milky Way Midnights are my favorite chocolate candy. I usually buy the bag of fun size and can be satisfied eating 2-4 of those for dessert.
I'm a contributing author of four scientific articles. If you knew my last name you could look me up on PubMed.
I played the flute in high school. I picked it back up my senior year in college to play in the SU orchestra. I was a little rusty!
I have super dry skin so living in the desert can be torture. Lotion is a must after every shower. If I do a lot of cleaning with hot water, the skin on the palms of my hands will start to flake, but not all the way off. I have to use a pumice stone to slough it all off. Yuck!
I only call Sammy by his name when I want his attention. His more often used nicknames include Babe, Cham Cham, Sam-mutt, Chammy, Chamo, and Bubbo.
I'm so excited to see what our kids are going to look like. They will be half-Peruvian, one quarter Thai, and one quarter Caucasian. Well, almost. My grandmother on my mom's side was (?)% Japanese. Half of Jon's lineage is Jewish. That's about all I know. We're all mutts, right? I'm hoping for some blue eyes in the mix: Jon is definitely a carrier because his dad has blue eyes and my grandfather had blue eyes. Hopefully my mom passed that on to me and we'll get a surprise.

This one is more for myself

2009-01-18T23:32:00.005-07:00

I have these days where I just feel totally sorry for myself, and I just HATE it! I've been super moody lately and really grouchy with Jon on the phone. I'm always looking forward to his phone call, but when I get the same questions and same monotone expression on the other end of the line, I just roll my eyes and get frustrated. "Hey. How are you? How was your day?" Never fails--those same questions. It just aggravates me.

Well tonight, Jon tells me he hopes I feel better because he doesn't like it when I'm so grouchy with him because it doesn't make him feel good. That angered me further and I thought to myself How about how I feel? (I did not voice this out loud). After we said our I love yous and hung up the phone, I turned to good ol' Google to look for a way to improve on our conversations. Yes.....I was that desperate. I was interested in how other couple's deal with this. This is what I found. I have to say, it really put me in my place. Granted, there were other websites just for this subject and they all explained how to cater to your soldier and his needs. This was not what I was looking for. Yet, when I read it on aforementioned blog post, I really took it to heart. I guess having it come from a real person who had gone through it made it more legitimate in my mind.

From here on out, I'm resolving to never feel sorry for myself because it could be a hell of a lot worse. I am going to be more supportive and encouraging towards my husband and try to make the best of things as they are. He doesn't need something else to worry about.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

2009-01-18T13:45:00.005-07:00

I didn't realize how late it was when I was crawling into bed last night/this morning. Three a.m.! Last night was girls night, so I spent it eating horribly, and drinking too much. The eating part, I certainly planned since we were dining at Claim Jumper, but as for the drinking part, I was done after 2. My friend and I were getting ready to leave and we went back to say hi and bye to one of the girl's brother, who also happened to be the bartender. He gave us all a large shot of something with Jagermeister, Malibu, and who knows what else. Then another too fruity drink and I was really done.

I almost didn't go because my body was so exhausted! Washing that car shouldn't have taken that much out of me, but it did! A two hour nap did me good. For me, I just wanted an excuse to wear these babies

Today, I'm hurting. My back and legs are sore, probably from a combination of too much alcohol and wearing 3 1/4" heels all night (I rarely wear heels). I usually stay up and drink water when I drink like that, but I was too tired. I skipped out on flossing, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and fell right to sleep under my comfy down comforter. I did not feel like eating anything when I woke up this morning at 10, a result of my binge (eating).

So right now, I'm curled up in my leggings and sweatshirt, with a bowl of low-sodium-but-still-not-good-for-you Top Ramen and a glass of blueberry pomegranate juice, watching the Arizona Cardinals vs. Philly Eagles game (go Cards!). It doesn't look like I'll be getting much done today. Thank goodness for the holiday tomorrow! My house is in desperate need of a cleaning!

Guilty

2009-01-17T10:34:00.003-07:00

I bought those boots! They were just sitting in my Nordstrom cart, anxiously awaiting a further discount. Then, a friend of mine at work told me that Dillard's was having a sale on shoes and it was all over! Forty percent off and no shipping....how could I not get them? I really don't know what I'm going to wear them with, but I don't think I could pull them off with pants. I think I would like them better with skirts or dresses.

OK....I have to go wash the car now. It's been at least a month before she's had a bath. Husband is going to kill me!

Working hard or hardly working?

2009-01-16T13:42:00.005-07:00

I am at work right now and am so, so bored. I've been working on one thing and need a break from it, but have no other responsiblities. Well, other than the one thing a co-worker and I need to finish (I can't do it by myself). I'm waiting for him to get back so we can get started.

For now, I see lots of lovely blogs on everyone's blogrolls. My question to you is how do you keep up? There are so many out there that I would love to read, but I'm already having a hard time reading all my frequent ones AND getting stuff done. How do you all do it?

Lusting, drooling, obsessing over....

2009-01-14T23:07:00.004-07:00

No, it's not my husband! I mean, him too, but that just goes without saying!

It's these boots!
I have been lusting over these boots since early fall when the boots first came out. These caught my eye from the beginning because I love the color of them, the slightly distressed finish, and the little heel. I didn't buy them because I figured I wouldn't find a good reason to throw these on enough to pay $160 for them. So I never tried them on. That is until I saw that they were on sale. Macys didn't have my size, but I was so ready to buy them anyways...they were so comfy. But I held off and found my size on Nordy's website. Not 40% off, but 35% off and I have to pay for shipping. Please tell me it's not worth it and that I should save my money for the running shoes I so desperately need. They're just hideous.....right?

Done and done

2009-01-14T22:31:00.002-07:00

I just submitted my nursing application today! I had one of my friends, a new nurse practitioner, read over my two statements for me and give me suggestions on how to improve them. I'm so glad I did because they sound so much better now! I really wasn't happy with what I wrote before all the editing, mainly because I really am not too fond of playing myself up and writing about just how AWESOME I am. It's quite embarrassing to me, really. But you are really suppose to sell yourself in these things, and the main reason I didn't get an interview last year, according to somebody on the committee, was because I didn't address this enough. So it helped for somebody who knows me well to tell me what she saw in me that would make me a successful nurse. I found that a 250 word limit was just not enough for me, so a lot of cutting and editing followed.

Even though I was very happy with the results, I was still extremely nervous hitting that "Submit application" button. I had my hand over the mouse for a while, finger hovering over the button as my co-worker who was in the room at the time encouraged, "Do it! Do it" So click I did. It is out of my hands now. Now I sit and wait....and obsessively check the status of my application (my transcripts better be in their hands already!)

Why so nervous? Well I am so ready to move on. Cancer research was just suppose to be a stepping stone, but it turned into 6 years of my life (!!!) As glamorous and noble the profession may sound, I am just so sick of all the politics involved and many a jaded grad student and post-doc has confirmed my feelings towards it. Did you know that a new post-doc, who just went through at least 5 years of grad school and has a PhD, makes just about as much as me, who only a has bachelor's under my belt? Pure ridiculousness! You really have to love research (or hate yourself) to even plan on staying in this field long enough to make some real money.....like enough to be able to support your family.

So I'm waiting for my turn, for my career to start going the way I want it. This is my third time applying. I've tried for three years to get into this program! It's great for me because I already have a bachelor's degree in another field, so it only takes 14 months to complete. The real perk, though, is the fact that you are matched with a participating hospital in Tucson and they pay for your tuition. We also get a stipend for books, uniform, and equipment. In turn, you dedicate three years of work at your sponsor hospital. Guaranteed job after graduation? Check! In this economy, entry-level positions are getting harder and harder to come by in this state, despite the nursing shortage. Newbie nurses just take more money to train!

So keep your fingers crossed for me! Third time's a charm, eh?

Go hug your pets

2009-01-12T23:48:00.000-07:00

I was getting ready to leave work today when one of my co-workers made me watch this video. I'm so glad she left the room because I started crying! I am seriously emotional lately.....get a hold of yourself, Tania! At any rate, this video made me want to hug my Sammy.

It's all about me!

2009-01-10T14:07:00.001-07:00

When isn't it? Just kidding! Lindsay over at And we'll just laugh along the way... tagged me!

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you

2. Post the rules on your blog

3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself

4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs

5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Ahhh! This is going to be hard, especially since I have a whole list on the sidebar. I want to try to list out some different ones. Oh well, here goes!

I'm in the process of applying to nursing school right now. The fact that I can complete a BSN in 14 months and that it's free are large motivators! That being said, I'm scared I won't like my career choice when I finally get into it. I am a person who gets bored by routine. I can't listen to the same type of music for so long, I don't order the same things off of a menu like my husband always does, and I hate relying on only a few techniques that my focus of research relies on. I'm afraid that it will be the same way with my career. I've also looked into pastry school since I've discovered a new love of baking. I love creating pretty things for people (not me) to eat. The more challenging, all the more fun for me as I try to figure it out! I'm afraid that a degree in this field would be far too much money out of pocket--money I don't have.
I am working on being a more laid-back person. I am easily flustered, am impatient, and get worked up easily. I'm happy to say that I've made significant progress in this area. Although you can't exactly call me laid back now, I'm scores better than I use to be. I give credit to my regular workouts and, surprisingly, my dog, Sammy, who happens to be the most high-strung, un-confident dog I've ever encountered! He taught me patience--A LOT of patience. When Jon first left, I would call him (back when I could) in tears and at one point I seriously considered getting rid of the poor baby. I couldn't bring myself to do it, knowing that he would probably be put down because he is so fear-aggressive to all strangers. I took Cesar Milan's advice and demonstrated calm and assertive leadership and found that this worked way better than yelling at the top of my lungs. Sammy respects me now, but I'm still working on the fear-aggression.
I'm obsessed with The Bachelor right now and even before it started! I think it has more to do with the fact that he is from Kirkland, a suburb of Seattle. Once hating reality TV, I find myself watching more of it. I think I can blame the writers strike for this one.
I want to do something like the Peace Corps, preferably in a South American village somewhere. I don't see this happening anytime soon. I'm almost 28 years old, still wanting to go back to school and switch careers while still wanting children before I get too old. I would want to take Jon with me, of course, but he has zero interest in going abroad again after his two tours in Iraq.
I get irritated when the phone rings too much, especially at work and I'm the only one in the lab to answer it and I'm in the middle of something. It's more annoying than a buzzing alarm clock.
I like to scratch raised letters and smell books, magazines, newspaper....any paper products really. I'm glad to say I'm not the only weirdo that likes to do these things! I have a friend that once scratched the letters off of a page and my sister shares my love of smelling books. I got her the second and third books in the Twilight series for Christmas and her boyfriend got her the second book as well. She decided on which book to keep by smelling them and keeping the best-smelling one!

So there you have it! I maybe included facts that weren't non-important and I have a repeat from my perma-list, but it was hard!

Now for people to tag. I'm trying not to re-tag anyone who's done this recently.

Rebecca at [Almost] A Designer

Loqui at Loquita's Blog

Sara at When in Rome

Melissa at New Girl on Post

Miss Rae at Raecatherine Almost on the Water

Oops that's only five! I think everyone's done this already! Oh well, looking forward to reading responses!

Time to work off those tamales and holiday sweets!

2009-01-06T22:52:00.005-07:00

I have to say, I'm hurtin' right now. A month and a half of nearly no exercise took it's toll on me yesterday and today! I went for a run yesterday, finishing my usual 2.8 miles. No, wait. I couldn't finish it because my left knee started bugging me. I felt the pain on my lateral knee about 3/4 of the way through. I stopped and walked for a bit and stretched it out a little, but to no avail. I had to finish the loop walking, which is just torture to me. My lungs had a lot more left, but my leg couldn't take it anymore. I think it might be my IT band, which I injured 2 years ago. At least I think it was my IT band. I never saw any sort of doctor and self-diagnosed. I did have that pain walking downhill and down the stairs, though. I don't know what to do! I don't want to quit running, but my body is really against me here! Is there any way I can continue running and eventually accomplish my goal of running a marathon? I saw an orthopedist who did nothing for me, so what's next? A podiatrist? There has to be some way!

Anyways, after my run and a good stretch, of course, I went home and did a whole bunch of side leg lifts, sit-ups, crunches, tricep dips, and a few push ups. My arms are so weak now--I use to be able to do triangle push-ups! All that and I was walking around with sore hips/but today.

Not bad, but then I went to my cardio kickboxing class on the Air Force base. I could barely move after class! The instructor is intense! When we all are getting sloppy with our punches and kicks, she's jumping around and dancing around to the music. She has endless energy! But I need a class like that, because I'm horrible at pushing myself until I can't go anymore. There's this sequence that she does and when she starts it, everyone in class acknowledges it with a groan. On each side, we do side knee lifts while bringing arms down toward the opposite side. Doesn't sound too hard, right? But she has us do 16 facing one corner of the room, rotate, do 16 more facing the next corner and then continue for the rest of the corners. Oh we're not done there! We then go 8 per corner, then 4 per corner, 4 per corner two more times, and then she has us hold it until she makes us stop and switch legs. Then we do that all over again for the other leg. My poor hips and butt! Here's a video of the move I just described. Just ignore the cheesy music and it's the move shown at 2:56.

It's a pretty good video of basic cardio kickboxing moves, but she's so slow compared to my crazy instructor! After the cardio part of the workout, we do arm strengthening and abs. Endless, I tell you! So yeah, I could barely move after all that! I did manage to squeeze in a few pull-ups and dips, though. I'm up to lifting about 80 lbs of my weight. Hopefully one of these days, they'll be unassisted!

I'm skipping out on the running until my knee feels better. I'll be skipping out on the Wednesday night runs for a month, though, because I just signed up for my final cake decorating class! You ready to see more cake decorating action? It just might be all you see of my baking because I don't want junk food hanging out in my house! But then, I can't really go that long without baking. ;)

Fun with Photoshop

2009-01-03T00:54:00.010-07:00

What do you all do when you're bored with nothing to do? I tend to lean towards crafty projects such as baking and knitting. Photography is another skill I want to perfect--I've been wanting to take the digital photography course that is offered at the local community college, but things keep coming up like continuing cake decorating classes, or Jon coming home, or even the holidays! The class is a whole semester long and I would have to take the five hour course offered on Saturday afternoons....there's just no other way with my full-time work schedule! But I couldn't even enroll for this next semester because Jon will be coming home in the middle, and I want to keep my schedule open for weekend getaways (no vacation left after R&R).

So for now I'm putzing around on Photoshop CS2. I've always wondered how people altered their photos to black and white with those splashes of color. A little Googling goes a long way. The process is a lot more complicated than I thought! Well, it's actually pretty simple, but it wasn't just click-a-button-and-you're-done sorta thing. I'm lazy, what can I say?

I don't have very many photos where I can actually utilize this skill. Most of my pictures look best in color. But I found a few:

Tulips from the Mount Vernon Tulip Festival (2004). Not sure if this one works! Too bright?

Jon and I at one of his best friend's wedding (2004). Again, not sure if this works. Jon's vest really isn't a focal point in this picture--I just like the color of it.

Sammy as a puppy. Que precioso!

Sammy's first Christmas

Our wedding cake. The color of the flowers are gorgeous!

I wanted to do more than one picture just so I could get the process down. Mission accomplished! Photoshop is just so overwhelming to me--all those possibilities! And to think when I first started using it I was just making collages! I have a lot to learn!

For your entertainment

2009-01-03T00:47:00.008-07:00

So Jon won't miss out and because he's our only baby for now, I've taken to recording Sammy doing various things. Here are a couple of the more entertaining videos (please excuse my knitting mess in the background). I'm such a mean mama!

Video of Sammy chasing the light reflected off of the glass of a picture frame

Typical behavior of Sammy after a much-dreaded bath

I seriously need to learn how to do this!

2009-01-01T23:54:00.002-07:00

A stitch and a half per second! I wonder if her joints hurt like mine after a marathon knitting session!

Beautiful, wintry Walla Walla, Washington

2009-01-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

I only snapped a few photos while at home, and most of it was of the snow. I didn't get any pictures of the family, which I always regret not doing. I just get so lazy, and most of the days we were just lounging around in our lounging clothes. My family wouldn't have appreciated those pictures showing up on this very public blog! So here are my favorite pictures!

Snow accumulation as shown on the carport

Berries covered in snow on neighbor's tree

My favorite shot. I love the contrast between the blue sky and the red berries!

Poor mailman!

I loved these tire tracks in the snow--so perfect

Crazy dangerous icicles on the house

Those same icicles at night

Downtown Walla Walla

And here's the lovely bruise I have today as a result of trying to put my camera back in it's bag while trying to walk over compact snow in my slouchy, no-traction boots! Why do I have to bruise so easily? Well, it was worth it.

And of course, as frequent readers of this blog know by now, I can't go that long without baking something. So my sister Teresa and I headed to the local Kmart to get some sugar cookie mix. This time it wasn't all about the baking, but the decorating. And I came prepared: wintry cookie cutters, disposable pastry bags, decorating tips, my favorite gel coloring. I even whipped up some royal icing and packed that in the suitcase because my mom doesn't have a stand mixer. And I wasn't about to beat it for 8 minutes with a hand mixer--no thank you! So here are our favorite cookies!

Hope everyone's new year started off great! Here's to an even better year!

Air travel woes

2008-12-30T21:52:00.002-07:00

I actually made it to E. WA the day I was suppose to. I was suppose to get in at 9:10 that night, but I actually made it in around 1 a.m. OK, so maybe it was the next day.

Because it was $200 cheaper and I wouldn't be spending close to that much on gas driving there, I bought a ticket out of Phoenix. It's about a 2 hour drive to Sky Harbor Airport from my house so I picked an afternoon flight out so that I would have enough time to drop Sammy off at the kennel (poor baby!), get to Phoenix, find parking, and get to my gate. It was no problem getting out, as I was only flying into Las Vegas. When I got there I realized that my other tickets didn't print out because they were from a different airline. Let me tell you, McCarran International Airport was confusing! In the terminal I came in my connecting flight wasn't shown on the displays so I didn't know what gate it was departing from. Frustrated, I decided just to go down to ticketing and go through security again. I was cutting it close, but the guy at the counter told me the flight to Seattle was delayed a little. I made my flight because it was delayed 2 hours! That's more than "a little" delayed, don't you think? Because of that, I wouldn't make my flight to Walla Walla. Only one airline flies there and I was on the last flight of the night. I almost cried. If I missed it, there weren't any available flights until Christmas morning (2 days later). Flying standby might have been possible, but I'm sure all the flights were full, due to the catch up of all the canceled flights due to the weather.

Seattle wasn't even that bad. I think all their runways were open by the time I came in, but it was something seeing all the snow piled up alongside the runways! I've never seen so much snow there! By the time I walked into the airport I had come to terms with the fact that my flight was long gone, having taken off 40 minutes prior. Just a quick look on the monitor on my way to the bathroom, you know, just in case. To my surprise, my flight had been delayed until 11:25! I had been ready to call one of my friends and visit one of my favorite watering holes.

I was nervous waiting there for those 2 hours. My terminal was a nightmare, full of frustrated people, garbage littering the seats and floor, flights being canceled left and right after having been delayed for hours, and the would-be travelers filing into a never-ending line to rebook. The more time I sat there the more I felt it a possibility that I would be in those people's shoes. But I made it on and landed in cold, snowy Walla Walla 4 hours later than planned. Did I mention only the runway was clean and there was ice everywhere else? We even got stuck in the airport parking lot. My mom had taken to keeping a tiny little shovel in her trunk for those situations, so that along with some muscle power provided by my younger sister and I and we were on our way.

I'll save the rest of my visit home for another post because I have some pictures to upload and share! I got back to Tucson this morning at 2. The TSA in Walla Walla is to blame for that one. One terminal, one gate, arrival time one hour prior to flight departure and I still managed to miss that flight. There were four TSA guys working that one security checkpoint. Four! Yet, I, along with 5 other passengers, were left behind because those guys were excessively thorough and unbelievably slow. I did make it through once. After having my purse scanned....and rescanned (watch out for that fragile Christmas ornament in there!), I was pulling on my boots when one of "them" came up to me to tell me they couldn't get my suitcase open. I didn't know a lock was set for it! Frustrated because I had to take all my belongings with me and go through all that again, I walked out of the "safe" zone to deal with the suitcase. Remind me to thank my husband for that....I really had no idea! I got it open by lucky guess (I know my husband too well) and went back into the security line. I was two people back when they closed that one gate. I was fuming for maybe 5 minutes, but my mom had some words for the security people. Why can't TSA work together with the airlines? It just doesn't make sense to me.

So I got into Phoenix at 10:15, had to take a bus to the right terminal to claim my bags that got there before me, and find that my suitcase wasn't there after all! The slow-cooker from my brother was there, but suitcase was not. I didn't leave the airport until 11:30 and proceeded to get lost trying to navigate the highways of Phoenix. I was ready to wring the neck of the guys who designed their freeway system. Doesn't it make sense that if you get off at a certain street exit, there should be an entrance back onto the highway there as well? Not in Phoenix! It was awesome.

Wow, that was boring! I apologize. Oh well, at least I only had to do without my makeup and favorite clothes for one day because my suitcase just got here!

Back in the desert

2008-12-30T02:06:00.002-07:00

I made it home...finally...5 hours later than planned. Back from the snow, and cold, and wind. And the stupid airline lost my luggage. Figures. It's a long story better told later. For now I'm eating something small and going to bed. Hope everyone had a good holiday!

I'll never take these for granted!

2008-12-22T18:55:00.004-07:00

This is what I saw on my drive home from work today. It got cloudy today so it was dreary and grey. Until, that is, it came time for the sun to set. The faintest of pinks started to color the clouds, making them look like cotton candy. As the sun sank further and further below the horizon, I could watch the most eastern once-pink clouds extinguished of their color while those closer to the retreating sun started to blush. This continued until the clouds closest to the sun got their chance to shine. It was the most intense pink-orange. The picture below was taken five minutes too late (I can only drive so fast!), but it's still beautiful nonetheless, don't you agree. So this is what I'll be leaving behind tomorrow. Farewell my dear sun. I fear I won't be seeing you much in the next week! Hello 11 degree highs and snow-covered ground! Now if only I had a decent warm coat....

Getting nervous

2008-12-21T23:51:00.002-07:00

I just read on the Seattle Times that Alaska and Horizon Air canceled all their flights today at Sea-Tac. I fly out of Phoenix on Tuesday and am supposed to fly into Seattle. We'll see if that actually happens. Seattle is supposed to get more snow even on Tuesday. Even if I get into Seattle, my flight to Walla Walla might get canceled. That whole state is just getting slammed.....perfect timing!

Story of my life

2008-12-19T22:43:00.002-07:00

Ain't No Sunshine

These two are amazing for their guitar-playing and singing abilities. This is what a loser like me does on a Friday night--waste time on YouTube watching random videos. My favorites are of people (with talent) singing and dancing. This search started out with Eva Cassidy. I just love her song "Songbird." If you've watched Love Actually, then you know what song I'm talking about. I only watch that movie during Christmas and I always rediscover that song and become newly obsessed with it. It is one of the few songs that, alone, moves me to tears, I think it's that beautiful. Anyways, this video popped up because these guys are playing her arrangement for the song, as she covered it in one of her albums.

Now this is what winter is supposed to look like

2008-12-17T23:30:00.005-07:00

How can one get into the Christmas spirit when it hits 70 during the day? A cold front is coming in and it's barely getting down to freezing tomorrow night. High will be a little below 60. Here's a picture that makes me miss home

That's a picture (courtesy of Steve Ringman of the Seattle Times) of the mountain pass I had to cross each and every time I wanted to visit my parents back in Walla Walla. Seattle got gypped out of snow this week, but Snoqualmie never escapes it. I wouldn't ever attempt crossing after Thanksgiving because I really hate putting chains on. And nothing scared me more than having to pull over to the chain-up area off of I-90 to put them on just before the pass. Images of cars losing control and slamming into me were very vivid in my head. Before I had my own car my dad would pick me up and drive me back. More than once he got stuck on that pass because they had to close it due to snow level--he had to sleep in the car. No siree, not for this girl! But I do miss the snow....

Las Vegas pictures

2008-12-17T20:12:00.005-07:00

As promised, I'm posting our pictures from our trip to Las Vegas. After looking through them, I realized that I don't have much. I don't have a camera bag for my camera and I really didn't like looking like the stereotypical tourist carrying my camera with me everywhere, so the pictures are limited. I was also sick, so I wasn't on top of my game, but here they are!

One of my favorite things about Vegas. I saw the Bellagio fountain show 3 times (I know, just 3, but I was sick!) My favorite show was to Andrea Bocelli's Con Te Partiro. This version literally brought tears to my eyes.
My handsome husband being a good sport and posing for me in the Venetian.

He saw a gelato stand and attacked! I'm so glad he found it because it was the best spumoni gelato I've ever eaten!

Hopefully next time we go (there will be a next time!) I'll be healthy and want to do more! We did see two Cirque de Soleil shows, Love and Mystere. I loved both! Love, obviously, had more dancing and music than Mystere, but still had plenty of acrobatics. Jon put up the money to buy the Love CD, even though you probably would just have to go to Walmart and buy a Beatles best of CD. Mystere had more audience involvement, which made it more fun. One girl from the audience even got to participate in some scenes after being handpicked by the "baby." There was one scene that was my favorite involving two dancers--their movements were just so beautiful and portrayed the love between the characters so well--but then I do love ballet.

I also got to see the Bodies exhibit, which Jon saw without me in Seattle when it was in town. It was amazing! Then there was the delicious steak dinner at Morton's. We got some keepsake menus and a picture in celebration of Jon's homecoming. They also gave us a complimentary glass of Port. I love Port!

Not too exciting a visit, but still memorable! Las Vegas was never on my travel list, but now that I've gone, I definitely want to go back!

'Tis the season

2008-12-16T13:41:00.002-07:00

There's definitely something going around and I've caught it. I'm so mad that I'm sick....again....so soon. It's the reason I've stayed home from work for two days now and why I haven't posted Vegas pics yet.

I got sick the day Jon got home and I had to spend the time I was looking forward to most this year coughing and dragging because I had no energy.

I'd like to claim a strong immune system. I exercise regularly and don't eat horribly, and I rarely get sick like this. For the past two years when I felt that tell-tale tickle in my throat or I was just dragging a little more than usual, I would immediately forego my exercise routine, eat well, and sleep more than usual. That's usually enough for me to drive away the evil viruses.

Not this time. While Jon was home, he had to deal with my low energy levels while we were in Las Vegas. All he wanted to do was show me everything, since it was my first time there...he's so sweet! But walking down the Strip proved too much for me and I had to go back to the room and recuperate. Then there was the endless, annoying hacking. Good thing he's a heavy sleeper because he wouldn't have been able to sleep at night otherwise! The week after we got home I started complaining about the left side of my rib cage hurting. I couldn't sit up or lay on my back or on the side that hurt and I screamed out loud every time Jon forgot and put a little too much pressure there. I think I tore something there, I was coughing so hard.

So last Friday I felt that annoying tickle in my throat again and immediately popped Zicam. I had grand plans of baking batches and batches of cookies for family and friends, but I only baked what I wanted to send out. At least the family got theirs. I don't think people here would appreciate the virus-laced cookies they would have ended up with, had I went on with the plan.

I started coughing on Saturday. I get this horrible need to cough and no matter how hard I cough or how much, it doesn't go away. This leaves me gasping for breath, eyes watering, and Sammy so worried about mommy. I didn't sleep well that night and I may have had a fever. On Sunday I coughed so much I threw up (gross, I know, and TMI). And now my ribs hurt again. Every cough and sneeze is excruciating. I can't wait till this passes. A lot of people I know are getting the same thing. Do you know anyone with this superbug? I'm so ready to try anything to kill it!

Weaving the golden thread

Baby on the brain

My Monday

Time flies when you're having fun!

New beginnings

A Little Taste of Walla Walla

Musings on last semester and summer break

Happy April!

Working it out!

What I did on my spring break

Missing my blog friends!

Little tidbits about Malaysia

Malaysia in one post

Selamat Hari Natal from Malaysia!

Dokor

Nursing school level 1....check that off my list

So many changes in such a short time

Nursing school: Week 1

Bury My Head

In loving memory

My dear, sweet Sammy

Winding down

Pima or Egyptian? Maybe just some nice china!

Pictures from Seattle

Pictures from Colorado

Back home

♥♥♥Phildar love♥♥♥

Miss me yet?

Ending a long absence

Totally a slacker post...

Yoga DVD's among other things

Next trip to Sin City will be in a plane!

Vegas bound....again....and I'm not complaining here!

Knee woes

And the winners are....

*Yawn*

A little something about the giveaway

The sacrifices I make...

I'm game: I love me some etsy!

I ♥ Free People

Some news from my corner of the world

Spring is here!

Friday morning blahs

Wordless Wednesday

So do you like it as much as I do?

Two hundred post giveaway

Finally facing the shears!

Thank you, thank you!

I did it!

Weekend wrap up

Body image issues

How I know he loves me

Work break

Sigh of relief....it's over!

I'm all nerves!

This is my reality

Savoring every moment

Playing the waiting game

As this deployment winds down....

More fun, courtesy of JLC!

Good news!!!!

The story of how we met, Part 3

The story of how we met, Part 2.

I feel too much...and the story of how we met

Spring in January

What I did on a Friday night

Gimp for a day (or two)

Are you saying what I think you're saying?

Lovely, intoxicating buttercream

Up for grabs

Dinner and The Bachelor

Odds and ends

Because it's Saturday....

To be honest....

This one is more for myself

Lazy Sunday afternoon

Guilty

Working hard or hardly working?

Lusting, drooling, obsessing over....

Done and done

Yawn