All good things must come to an end...

So we decided to take the month "off" and be "home" for the month of December.  Although we have not been working in the hospital we have been on the go and not really at our house in Durham.  After getting home from Connecticut on Thursday December 3rd we unpacked the car and repacked our bags to head to Asheboro, NC for the weekend for Brian and Jen's wedding!  They had a beautiful wedding and we had a blast hanging out with friends and family!  So after getting settled in from the wonderful wedding weekend we unpacked those bags and repacked our bags with shorts and sandals and headed to Ft. Lauderdale for a 10 day cruise to the southern Caribbean.   Our 10 day cruise had 6 ports of call.  First port was at Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.  This was Holland America Cruise Line's (the cruise line we were on) private island.  So the only people on the island consisted of the people from our cruise boat.  We had fun here horseback riding on land and in the ocean!  This was an experience for me since I had never been on a horse before.  I survived!  After the horseback ride, we relaxed on the beach and went swimming!  Our second port of call was Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.  We were supposed to go kayaking but it was cancelled so we did an island sailaway.  This consisted of sailing on a catamaran to Norman Island and went snorkeling in the caves and then we sailed to a private beach and then we sailed back to the port.  This was a WONDERFUL day!  3rd port of call was Martinique.  We didn't do an excursion at this port we just shopped around and hung out on the beach and did some more swimming!  4th port was Barbados...MY FAVORITE place that we went to!!!!  Even though I didn't get to go swimming with the sea turtles (it got cancelled b/c of a swell the night before)  I loved it here.  You will never see prettier beaches or clearer water!!!  So instead of swimming with the sea turtles we snorkeled around a couple of sunken ships.  After snorkeling we went to the beach and I did the banana boat and water tubed.  It was an awesome adventure, but I do wish I would have gotten the chance to swim with the turtles :( Our 5th port of call was St Lucia.  At this port we did a zip line through the rain forest.  This was an awesome adventure!  There were 10 different stations set up throughout the rain forest and we zipped to each station.  Our final port of call was in St. Marten.  This was my second favorite port.  At this port we were supposed to go deep sea (bottom) fishing at noon and our boat got there at 10 so we thought it would be a good idea to go to the beach at the airport to watch the planes land about 50 feet overhead but what we didn't know was that there is a lot of traffic in St. Marten so we pretty much drove out to the beach (in a taxi) and had to turn around and go right back to port b/c it was time for our fishing trip.  We got back just in time for our fishing trip which by the way we both caught 3 fish but mine were bigger!  This was another fun port that I would like to go back to as well as Barbados!  We had fun at our ports of call and we relaxed on our sea days.  Overall it was the BEST vacation I have ever been on!  

Sadly enough all goods things must come to an end...we came back to NC to 14 inches of snow on the ground...BOOOO.  Yet again we got home from the cruise to unpack and repack to leave for the NC mountains for the holidays.  We are spending 5 days in the mountains with Patrick's parents and 5 days at my parents in good ol Bladen County.  

Today is the 25th (or at least it was when I started typing this)  it was a wonderful day and a very sad day.  My parents dog Roxy passed.  She was a WONDERFUL dog and will be greatly missed.  She was loved and lived a happy life of an (un)typical farm dog.  I couldn't think of a better life for a dog than riding in the back of the truck, hunting and taking walks around the farm with her mom.  Roxy fought and won several battles...she was struck by lightening and hit by a bullet but I guess there are some things a super-dog just can't beat :(  We love you and miss you Roxy!

So many things to be thankful for...

As our time here in CT draws to a close, we were so excited that Mama could come visit us this past week. Mama arrived on Monday evening as I was heading to my last day of work before I had 3 days off. So Tuesday morning when I got off work we looked up a good breakfast spot since we were all ready to eat. Funny thing was I had found a magazine at work with "the best of CT" and there were several breakfast spots. So we picked out the closest one to us and headed down the road. It was about 30 minutes away but well worth the drive. On our way back to Hartford we stopped in little towns to see if we could find anything to get into. Not much found, but once we got back to our area we took Mama to Stew Leonard's which is a grocery store. But it is the craziest grocery store you will ever go to. It's kinda like a carnival with singing and dancing figurines and foods to sample that is made in the store! After all that excitement we headed over to the mall to eat dinner at Rainforest Cafe. That was an experience too b/c our waiter was crazy. I guess he was an actor and he sure played the part well. After dinner we headed back to the room to get ready for the next two days. We got up Wednesday morning at 4am to catch the bus to NYC. We ended up getting into the city around 8am and headed over to Good Morning America. On this particular morning the final 3 sets of contests for Dancing with the Stars were there which was cool. We got to see Kelly Osborne, Mia, and Donnie Osborne. Emeril was also there cooking a Thanksgiving feast! After hanging out there for a bit we headed over to Roxy's for breakfast. After breakfast we went to Radiocity to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular! This was an AWESOME show!!! I suggest if you are in the city around the holidays to go see this. Before the show we did have a couple of minutes to kill so we took a peek at the Christmas tree and ice skating rink behind Radiocity. I just wish we could have seen the tree all put together. Oh well, maybe next year. After the show, we went over to Central Park and did a carriage ride through the park. Before the carriage ride we showed Mama FAO toystore and while we were in there Joan Rivers was in there buying her grandson something. It was funny b/c you knew she was a star just looking at all the plastic surgery she has had. After you get across that then you can look and see WHO it is. Finally we checked into the hotel after carrying our bookbags (belongings) on our back all over the city. Lucky for me Pinkberry was right down the street from our hotel so we stopped in to have some after 6 looong months of living without it. It was a sweet reunion! After realaxing a bit we headed over to the inflating of the parade balloons. We did dinner afterwards at Toloache our FAVORITE mexican food spot to have dinner. And of course it was GREAT! We told the waiter that we were repeat customers and he ended up giving us 2 free desserts!!! So after dinner we walked a little around Times Square and then headed back to the room to get some rest considering we were getting up at 4:30 the next morning to get a good spot for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade!!! Thursday morning we woke up at 4:30am and we were out and in our parade watching spot buy 6am. We stood in place til 9am when the paraded started. The wait was well worth it. The parade was AWESOME!!! I would definalty do it again!!! I hope that I do get the opportunity to do it again. We had a front row view and it was really cool! I was so sad when the parade was over, but we had more fun stuff to do afterwards! We were needing a little snack before lunch so we had spotted this cupcake place "Crumbs" the day b4 so we stopped in to check it out. BEST cupcakes EVER!!! I got the pumpkin, Mama got the carrot cake and Patrick go the chocolate. Sooooo good!!! We went to Madame Toussaud's the walked to the Empire State Building. We then proceded over to Ted's Montana Grill to have lunch. After lunch we headed over to Ground Zero and got a "far-away" look at the Statue of Liberty. We were about out of time so after grabbing a couple of souvniors we headed to the bus station to head back"home". All in all it was a GREAT trip and a GREAT Thanksgiving!!!Now I'm back to work :( but I only have 6 more shifts/days left here in "wonderful" Hartford, CT. It's not going to be fun working 6 in a row but it will be fun being home in 6 days....I guess I can officially say 5 more days now!!! So until next time....(We'll be in NC!!!!)



~m

Making our way around New England

Since the last time I wrote, Patrick and I have ventured to Cape Cod and Plymouth and then another trip to Boston and Salem. We started off our two day vacation in Plymouth a couple of weeks ago. We visited the Plymouth Plantation and then headed over to a recreation of the Mayflower (called the Mayflower II) and this is where you could see Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock a was little bit of a disappointment. It was a lot smaller than I had imagined it to be. We also took full advantaged of being on the coast and ate a lot of seafood!

Our 2nd day on the Cape we headed up to P-town (aka Proviencetown). On our drive up there we made a pit stop at a deserted looking beach house on the ocean and let the puppies out to run around on the beach and stick their feet in the ocean! P-town reminded us a lot of Key West. Very laid back. We had some really good seafood here too at the Lobster Pot! I decided here that I like clam chowder, yum! After walking around P-town we created our own tour of the Cape's Lighthouses. We actually got to see about four of the lighthouses before we ran out of daylight. After the sun went down, we found another seafood restaurant to have just one more delicious seafood dinner!

So about a week later we took a trip to Salem and Boston for Halloween weekend! I have to say that everyone needs to experience Salem for Halloween at least once. I have never seen so many crazy costumes! We had a blast in Salem. We did a ghost boat ride which was a lot of fun. Not too scary but the boat ride was fun! After that we enjoyed walking around the town looking at all of the costumes. In the evening hours we went to the Witch Museum and after that we went to The House of Seven Gables. That was my favorite. It was a walking play. You walked to all of the rooms in the house and there was a character in each room telling their story. It was really neat! After that we were beat so we headed to the hotel to get ready for Boston the next day. So on Sunday we did one of those hop-on-hop-off tour buses. So we got a pretty good tour of Boston in a day. We really enjoyed Boston. By far one of our favorite places we have gone and we definatly have to go back because there were several things that we did have time to do that we would love to do. But while on the tour we got to visit the Old North Church and Paul Revere's house. We stopped off at the USS Constitution. We also got to eat dinner at Cheers!! After dinner we sadly headed back to Hartford, already looking forward to our next trip out of town!

So until next time...

~m

Life in New England

So we have been living in Connecticut now for a little over a month and we have a little over a month left.  Hartford is not quite what we had in mind when we thought about moving up here, but we have had some fun times in the surrounding areas.  

The first week we were up here there was a fair called the "Big E".  It was by far the biggest/best fair I have ever been to.  It was in Springfield, Mass and it celebrated all 6 New England states.  We got to this fair at 10am and didn't leave until 8pm!  That's just how big it was!

Maple Syrup Cotton Candy from the Big E!

The good thing about the states up in the northeast is they are small so you can cover one state in 1-2 days.  A few weeks ago we took a trip up to Vermont.  We covered most of Vermont in those two days.  Thank goodness for Travelzoo.  For most of the places that we have visited/are going to visit while up here we have gotten really good deals for one night stays through travelzoo.  Anyway, we stayed in Chittenden, VT at the Mountain Top Resort.  We got there early that day (before check-in) but the lady let us check in and she gave us a few ideas of what to do/ where to visit while we were in the area.  So our first day we headed to Woodstock, a cute little town, and walked around to the little shops and stuff there. There was also a covered bridge.  Covered bridges are a big thing in Vermont.  We went to Sugarbush Farm after Woodstock to check out how maple syrup is made and to get some for ourselves.  It was a really neat little farm that had a really good video on how they harvested and made their own maple syrup.  They also made cheese there.  We got to sample some of the cheeses and the flavors of maple syrup.  So of course we had to buy some to take home with us!  After this we went to the Quechee Gorge, which we were told is the "Grand Canyon of Vermont".  It was really neat.  There were also some shops in the area that we checked out.  Our second day in Vermont we had to check out Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory, of course.  This was one of the main reasons that we went up to Vermont.  It was really cool to see where the ice cream is made and it was really really cool to get an ice cream cone at the end of the tour!!!  After the ice cream, we went to Lake Champlain, Green Mountain Coffee Company, and an Apple Cider Press Mill.  We also went to one more maple farm and got some maple syrup ice cream!!! YUM!  So needless to say we had an awesome time in Vermont.  Not only did we see and do a lot but the leaves were changing and it was absolutely gorgeous!!!  Vermont has been (so far) my favorite state!

We visited Rhode Island for the day last week.  When we 1st got into the state we went to Warwick, RI to check out the TAPS headquarters.  TAPS does the show Ghost Hunters on Syfy. We accidentally ran into Jamestown, RI.  We were about to go over a toll bridge and were trying to find a Bank of America to pay the toll, since we never carry cash, and the BoA ended up being in Jamestown.  Funny thing is Jamestown was my favorite place in RI.  It was a super-cute little seaside town!  We were walking the docks and one of the men fishing offered to let us catch a couple of fish.  It was fun.  I actually caught 3 fish!  So after this stop we headed to Newport to check out the cliff walk and the mansions of Newport.  All of the mansions were amazing.  We wish we could of had more time here to look at all of the houses.  After Newport we headed to Providence.  I wasn't too impressed with this place but we looked around and had a really good dinner here.  After dinner we went to Roger Williams Park Zoo, for the parade of jack-o-lanterns.  A part of the zoo was blocked off and they had over 1000 decorated pumpkins!  It was really cool or should I say cold.  This pretty much ended our day so we headed back to good 'ol Hartford.

Like I said before we are not big fans of Connecticut so we try to get out of town as much as possible.  We have trips planned to the cape Cod area, Maine and NYC (for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade)!  So I will keep you posted on where we go touring next!

Until next time...

~m  

4 days, 12 states...East Coast Bound!

Maggie hanging out at the Great Salt Lake

Mormon Temple, Salt Lake City, UT

We are finally back on the east coast!!!! After 4 days of being in the car and covering 12 states we are now in Hartford, CT. We are so glad to be back on the east coast! We left Reno last Friday morning and drove about 12 hours a day to get to CT on Monday night for me to start work Tuesday morning. I have a week of work completed (11 more weeks to go!) Patrick has been given the opportunity to work at the same hospital I am at (Hartford Hospital). He starts work Monday. So we are excited about this! He is per diem so hopefully we can keep the same schedule. We are excited about all of the touristy things to do around this area so we will keep you updated as we go....12 more weeks til home sweet home! Until next time...

A few of the 12 state signs we passed!

~m

Our time here is coming to a close!!!

We are so excited that our time here in Reno is almost over!!! We have 12 more days here to be exact!! Reno has not been our most favorite place, but I do have to say that we have fallen in love with Lake Tahoe. Funny thing Reno has been our least favorite and Lake Tahoe has been our most favorite! We have taken advantage of been so near Lake Tahoe and have gotten away as much as possible. I think since the last time I have written we have managed to go up to the Lake a couple of more times! We have also visited Virginia City. VC is an old western/mining town up in the mountains. It was a fun experience...we did a trolley tour of the "city", a train ride, a tour of an old mine, and old school, the opra house and a museum of "the way it was". It was a nice day trip activity! We have about exhausted all of the activities to do in Reno. This week the state fair is in town so we are going to go to that and I am hoping that they have heard of fried candy bars out here in Nevada!!!

At our swim spot in Lake Tahoe

I also got some great news last week...I got a job in Hartford, Connecticut!!! So we will be jetting across the US in 4 days. We will be on the road for about 11-12 hours a day to get to CT by September 8th. We will be there until the first of December!!! I am so excited that we are going to be on the east coast again! So we will be just a short cheap plane ride away so come visit! This will be my last travel assignment...we have decided to settle down and be "normal". We are going to take the month of December off and hopefully become staff in the beginning of January. Patrick has also decided that he wants to go back to nursing school so hopefully he will be able to start that adventure in January!

Rafting down the Truckee River in Lake Tahoe

I think that is about wraps up our lives for the past month or so. So until next time...

~m

"The Biggest Little City in the World"

So we have been in Reno for about a month now and I have failed to make any postings. Not because we have been so busy but because we have not been busy at all. I have been working for the most part of our time here. I did have a couple of nights off so we went camping one night at Lake Tahoe.

We were supposed to go for two nights but we called it quits after one night because I was freezing the first night and Patrick was having a hard time sleeping. So we packed up camp, took the dogs down the the water for a few hours to swim and then headed back home. It was beautiful there and we are planning on going back there to camp for Patrick's birthday. So hopefully we will be a little more prepared! We still have a lot of exploring to do here in Reno. For the most part there are a lot of casinos, but there seems to be a lot of hiking activities to do also. Gambling is not really our thing so we are trying to find other things to do. We did go downtown one night with a couple of my coworkers to play Blackjack. Well, that lasted about 5 minutes (literally). I lost $20 and we were done. So good thing we learned our lesson quickly and not to expensive either. Hopefully we will be doing more exciting things to come. I will try to keep ya'll posted....until next time...

~m

So long California!!!

So it's been way to long since my last post. After we got back from home Patrick's Mom and Larry came to visit us for a few days. With them we went to an Oakland A's game, went down to Monterrey and Carmel. Patrick and I went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium which is one of the top 5 aquariums in the US! We also went down to Fisherman's Wharf. We also ate at the Melting Pot one night. There is also a HUGE flee market in San Jose so we went there one of the days Jackie and Larry were visiting. We had a blast with them!

So the next weekend Diana finally came to visit us! We had a TON of fun with her. The first day she was in San Jose we took her to San Fran to Orpheum Theatre to see Wicked....awesome show! The next day we got up and went to the San Fran Zoo and hiked through Muir Woods. One day we did a tour of Napa and that night saw the Avett Brothers at the Filmore!! That was also an awesome show!! Then on Sunday we went down to Monterrey and did a whale watching tour. That was awesome too. We saw a total of 4 humpback whales. After the whale watching we ate some really good seafood on the pier.

In between family and friends coming to visit we adopted and other kid. Ella and King Charles Cavalier! She is beautiful and is still learning the family.

So our last couple of weeks in San Jose were pretty awesome. We got to do a lot of things that we had not done and share some things that we had already experienced.

So I finally got another job after San Jose.....Reno, NV! Not my first choice but with the way the economy is theses days jobs were far and few between. We are actually here with a friend, Melanie, I met in San Jose. So on our way to Reno we decided to camp our way through Yosemite National Park. This was my 1st camping experience. I actually had a good time and would do it again. Good thing since Lake Tahoe is about 45 minutes from Reno! Anyways this was the perfect time of the year to go to Yosemite because the snow is starting to melt and the waterfalls and rivers are rushing! It was absolutely gorgeous there and I am so glad that we had the opportunity to go there.

So now we are trying to settle down in Reno. We finally got to our apartment but we are still waiting on our furniture...which won't be here til Tuesday so we are still "enjoying" the aerobed. I think we are going to enjoy it here and I can't wait to make my first trip to Lake Tahoe.

~m

Back Home in NC

Patrick and I travelled home to NC this past week. We were home for a week and divided our time with friends and my family. We got home on Wednesday night late. On Thursday Patrick and I had a lot of errands to run and then we celebrated at Top of the Hill with Diana and other friends for her birthday. It was nice getting to hang out with our friends! On Friday Patrick, Kendal, Diana and I all went to Charlotte for the Avett Brothers/DMB concert. We also met Laura and John there and Meagan and Dusty, and Tate. It was great getting to see them. We really miss you guys. Then on Saturday was Karriann and Nathen's wedding in Henderson. That was also a lot of fun and a very beautiful wedding. By the way Karriann if you are reading this hands down you had the BEST wedding cake I have ever eaten! I ate my piece AND Patrick's! No resting after all of this fun. On Sunday we drove down to Mama and Daddy's for the rest of the time we were in NC. As always we had a great time here. Sunday afternoon Jerri-Lynn and Ricky brought over Cramer Belle so I could meet her. She was born in December and this was the first time I had gotten to meet her. So cute and so happy-go-lucky! John David also came to visit and was so much fun to play with! Monday Patrick, Mama and I rode to Wrightsville beach to eat a Bluewater and then shopped around Wilmington. Tuesday was a chill day so we hung around Bladen County and went fishing in Daddy's ponds in the evening. Tuesday night after everyone had decided to go to bed we headed back to Durham to catch a flight the next morning. We had a blast in NC, stayed very busy but we were very excited to get back to our babies. Thank you to Melanie for babysitting for us...I owe you! So it's back to the drawing board. I am working the next 6 out of 7 nights so fun, fun. I think that about wraps up this week so until next time...

~m

Road Trip to L.A.

Maggie and Henry joined us too...

Chinese Theatre

Hiking up Runyon Canyon Park overlooking LA

On the "set" of Friends

Meeting Mickey in Disneyland

Disneyland

March 25th, 2009

So Patrick got tickets to the Elton John and Billy Joel "Face to Face Tour" concert in Anaheim, CA so that gave us a good excuse to take a few days to explore southern CA. Ideally enough it was in the same time frame that Brian came to visit! After working 4 nights in a row (myself) and Patrick and Brian exploring northern CA we packed up and headed down to LA for a few days. We left on Wednesday after I got off work and got there around 3. Patrick had gotten us tickets to see Jimmy Kimmel Live so as soon as we got to our hotel in Downey we changed clothes and headed to LA. Downey is about 20 minutes from LA if you can find a way to avoid traffic (but that is impossible). Any ways if you were watching JKL that night you would have spotted Me, Patrick and Brian in the audience. We actually made it on TV...we were at the John Stamos, Dr. Drew show. AND Guerrmo was there!! If you don't know who he is then you should look him up on Youtube (esp the red carpet clips)! It was pretty awesome getting to go to a studio taping. The stage and everything is so much smaller than it appears on TV. After the interviews we went to the concert stage out back where Blue October was playing. After the show we were starving so we went to this Italian place which was really good. After that we were pooped so we headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

March 26th

We decided to sleep in a little this day because of all the travelling the day before and my sleeping pattern was so off. After we decided to finally get up we put on running clothes and headed down to Venice Beach. But before we went there we made a stop at White House Black Market for Brian to pick Jenn up an outfit to surprise her when she got there that night. (Only later did I find out the real reason why he got the outfit!) So when we got to Venice Beach we took an hour to run/walk around the boardwalk. It was a really pretty beach and great place to go for a run. After that we headed back to the hotel to shower and pick Jenn up from LAX. After we picked her up we went and ate dinner at the Abbey (which is good for star spotting) in Hollywood. We actually did see Janice Dickinson there. Actually Patrick and Jenn saw her...I just saw her back. But I would have not recognize her anyways if we would have come face to face. Our waiter told us that Calvin Klein and the Kardashions (sp. right?) were there that night too. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to get ready for another fun filled day!

March 27th

This day we had a reservation for the WB studio tour. This was the first studio tour I had ever been on and it was awesome! Patrick wasn't feeling well so Brian, Jenn and I went. It was a lot of fun! I got to see where Ellen is taped!! But they were not taping this day so I didn't get to see her :( We tried to get tickets to her show but of course that is impossible. There were a few stars wondering around Lindsey Price, Angus (from 2 and 1/2 Men) and the girl with the long blonde hair from that John Ritter show. The tour was about 2 1/2 hours and the guide took you around the whole lot and you got to see where shows and movies have been/are being taped/taping. It was really cool. This was about all we did this day because traffic was so horrible going back to the hotel to pick up Patrick I refused to drive back to LA. So we had dinner in Downey that night and watched the Carolina game. Go Heels!

March 28th

This was the day of the concert so we got up early this day and went to LA to be tourists. We went to Hollywood Blvd and saw Kodak Theatre, the Chinese Theatre, Roosevelt hotel and the Hollywood walk fame. After taking some pics we heading up to Runyon Canyon Park to get an overview of the city. You had to drive up into the Hollywood Hills to get there. The view from the top was awesome! After we got some pics there we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night. Patrick and Brian went to the concert and Jenn and I got dressed up and went to dinner. So anyways we got ready and wanted to take pictures (of course) so we headed to the front entrance of the hotel (we parked at the back). There was a limo out front so we thought it would be a good idea to get a pic in front of that as a joke. So we asked the driver to take our pic. He agreed but said that if his clients came he would have to give the camera back. Anyways so he took the pics and after he did Patrick opened the limo door and told me to get in!! I didn't believe him at first but he and Brian had planned the whole thing! That is why Brian wanted to get Jenn an outfit. The guys had got the limo to take them to the concert and then they arranged for us to go to dinner at Koi! Needless to say Jenn and I were shocked and speechless! It was the best surprise. So we dropped the guys off in Anaheim and headed to Hollywood for dinner. The BEST dinner I have ever had (besides when Patrick cooks for me ;) ). We started off with edamame and shared the salmon and tofu!!! YUM!! After dinner we picked the guys up and headed back to the hotel. Great Day!

March 30th

Patrick and I went to the Happiest Place on Earth! Disneyland! And we got to meet Mickey Mouse!! People said that if you have been to Disney World then you shouldn't even go to Disney land because DW is so much better...well I beg to differ. We had a blast. And I would love to go back sometime! They had Patrick's favorite ride there the Nemo submarine one that is no longer at DW. And Space Mountain was so much better at DL! Although I don't think the mother and son sitting in front of us thought so. The picture of them that was taken during the ride showed the mother laying on the son. When the ride stopped the son looked super mad and the mother couldn't even get off she was so sick. The Dad had a blast though! We got there that morning and stayed til closing that night at 11...oh how we love Disney!

March31st

Our last day in LA we spent doing studio tours. I would love to go back and do more. They are so much fun. We went to WB and Sony. We redid the WB tour since Patrick didn't get to go on the first one. Since every tour is different it worked out for me too. This tour was actually so much better than the first WB tour I went on. The guide was better and he gave more behind the scenes info! We got to go on the set of Friends on this tour which was awesome! We even got to see Ellen's car. If we would have been a minute quicker we may have gotten a glimpse of her! Oh well maybe next time! After the WB tour we did the Sony tour. This was Patrick's favorite because he got to see one of the sound stages where the Wizard of Oz was filmed and even helped our tour guide lift up the floor where the wicked witch of the west appeared in munchkin land. We saw Adam Sandler's car on this tour and Patrick thinks that he heard him laugh as we were walking up to the building where his car was. The tours were a lot of fun and if we go down to LA again we will def. have to do some more.

That about concludes our trip down to LA. We had a great time and the only thing I don't miss about that place is the traffic. It is HORRIBLE down there. So watch out if you ever go down that way...

I don't know where our next adventure will take us but until next time...

~m

Brian Came to California!

So Brian finally made it to California this week! Fortunately I got to hang out with the guys a little but I am working for the most part so I can have days off to go to LA on Wednesday! Before I get to that. Brian arrived Thursday night at SJC around 10:30PM so Patrick and I picked him up. After catching up for a few hours we headed to bed for a big day on Friday. Brian's first day in California we took him to where else but Napa Valley. So beautiful! We did a Wine Train for lunch. It took us through Napa Valley and back and during the ride they served us lunch and you could sample wines if you would like. It was really fun and we had a great time. The food was great and Patrick let me eat his dessert (as well as mine...mooo!) The weather was beautiful! After the train ride we decided to venture off and visit a few wineries on our own. Because you can't go to Napa Valley and not tour a couple of wineries! After a long day of site seeing we headed back home. Now this is where I had to become un-fun (is that a word???...well it is now) and work the next 4 nights. So I will have to leave it up to Patrick to fill in the spaces of the next 4 days. I did get up early today and went to dinner with the guys at Aqui's...it is a California-Mexican place...organic/healthy....VERY good. We enjoyed it a lot!! I defiantly want to go back there! Afterwards I introduced Brian to Peet's!!! I think he liked it...at least I hope he liked it! I know I LOVE it!!! Anyways...LA in a few days! Until next time...
~m

Well, we have had an exciting few of days. I had a stretch of 5 days off so we tried to stay busy. waQw (Henry had to type a word there) The first day I was off we were lazy since I had worked the night before. But we still continued with our boot camp. After running we set out to Whole Foods to try and find some yummy fish. We had been looking around for fish but there aren't any good choices around the apartment. At Whole Foods we hit the jackpot! We got 5 days worth of fish and chicken!! On Friday we ended up doing boot camp, cooking and then headed over to Santana Row. We walked around down there and went to Pinkberry for dessert. My new obsession! We are going to have to open up a Pinkberry when we move back to NC because I don't think I can live too long without it! Saturday we took the BART train up to San Francisco. The BART train is like the metro in DC. We can drive up the road about 15 minutes and ride it up to San Fran. This way we don't have to worry about traffic, parking or parking tickets in the city! So we explored around the city all day. We started out by going up to see the Painted Ladies and the park where Donna Jo and Stephanie Tanner had picnics. They were having a St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival. We walked through the festival area and watched a portion of the parade. It was a very long crazy parade. After the parade we walked around the shopping district. We resisted the temptation to eat but I couldn't resist Peet's. I don't know if I have mentioned Peet's previously but it is absolutely the BEST coffee ever. Trey works at at Peet's in LA and was actually the person that introduced us to Peet's! I have no desire to ever go back to Starbucks. I guess I should add opening up a Peet's to the list of things we have to bring back to NC! After a long day of sightseeing we headed back home and cooked some yummy fish! On Sunday we did a food and wine tour in Sonoma County. We rode the BART train to San Fran again and rode a bus out to Sonoma County. So beautiful out there. Oh yeah and we finally got to see the Golden Gate Bridge and we even rode over it!!! Unfortunately the weather was too bad to get a good picture :/ We started the tour out at Mayo winery and proceeded on to a cheese tasting, another winery, olive oil tasting, chocolate tasting and then ended the day at another winery. It was such a great day! We had so much fun. We even met another travel nurse on the tour! We got her number and plan to eat dinner one night with her in the city. That brings us to today. After having two days off of boot camp we were at it again today. Today was the hardest we had done. We had to run for 5 min and walk for 1 for a total of 30 min. You might not think this is that hard but we have not really worked out for a long time so we busted our butts today! We are done with our interval training and we will start running the full time tomorrow. We are excited about this! I think that about sums up our weekend. I have to work tomorrow night and then I am off for another 2 days. Not sure what we are going to be doing those days. But I do know Brian is flying in Thursday night so we are getting excited about that. Until next time...

~m

Finally Settled...

So we have finally gotten settled and have already made a couple of road trips to San Fran and Sacramento. So the first weekend we were here we went up to San Fran to check it out...and learned one important lesson...next time we go there we will be taking the train! Traffic was crazy which in part cut our trip short. We were there for just a few hours and I managed to get a parking ticket!!! It was only $45 but still, gosh! My first ticket ever!!! It said that I was not in a marked space. Funny thing is I was in the lines and there was a meter in front of the car. Oh well. We were in Fleet Feet at the time getting new running shoes. We are on our way to a healthy lifestyle! We have started eating well and next week we are starting our boot camp training so we can get back in shape and start running regularly. Our goal before we leave here is to run a 5K! While we were there we drove down Lombard Street which was an experience. It was a straight up drive to it and a VERY winding road down...crazy (that's it in the picture above). We didn't get to see the Golden Gate Bridge on this trip but I'm sure we will visit there again since it isn't very far from San Jose. We looked for Donna Joe Tanner's house and didn't find that either;) It was a fun quick trip and I can't wait to go back. On the we passed by San Fran's airport which is the biggest airport I have ever seen AND had the biggest planes I have ever seen. There were two- story planes!! That is the kind I would like to get on!

After San Fran I started work that Monday...which it was there that I found out that the hospital is pretty much in the ghetto...it is a trauma hospital that has a lot of shootings and stabbings to come in...I guess this will be an experience! Our apartment is on the outskirts of this activity. So far we have felt pretty safe though.

So after orientation we had to ride up to Sacramento to the Board of Nursing so I could get my temporary license. We were supposed to go the Friday before but in order to save money the state of California closes all state mandated businesses every 1st and 3rd Friday of every month. The BON is included in this. When I found this out I thought I was going to lose my contract because I would have to start work without a license. But anyways...I worked it out and I have officially worked for 2 weeks now. OK..got off track there. Anyways for the trip to Sacramento we pretty much went to the BON and Marshall hopped all the way back to San Jose with the Jelly Belly factory in between. So I guess I should explain. Patrick and I are obsessed with Marshall's when we were in Fl we went to every Marshall's between West Palm Beach and Miami. So we got in the mood again and did the same between San Jose and Sacramento. I didn't have much luck but Patrick found a lot of Vineyard Vines stuff and he has this new obsession with Molton Brown Products (we discovered this product at the hotel that we stayed in in Beverly Hills) and he found some of that stuff too. I am still looking :( I guess there is always outlet shopping! Anyways we also went to the Jelly Belly Factory which was a lot of fun too. We got a tour of the factory and got a free bag of Jelly Bellys! They had a sample bar there where they had every flavor imaginable. They even had skunk, earwax, pencil shaving, vomit and the list goes on. Patrick tried the skunk one. It made his breath horrible. It smelled just like a skunk. And he said it taste like it too!

After all that excitement, Patrick has been sick for the past week but I think he is finally getting over that. We think he had a touch of the flu and are hoping I don't get it. But I think I am in the clear! So I am working the weekend off Monday and then working Tuesday and Wednesday nights then off for 5 days so I should have more things to talk about soon! Until next time...

-m

We have officially driven across the US!

After two weeks of driving, flying, packing and unpacking we have FINALLY made it to our new home for the next three months...San Jose, CA! We started our adventure on Feb 6th. We left San Antonio after I got off work that morning. I got to sleep in the car for about 4 hours while Patrick started the driving. Then after I woke up and got some coffee in me we took turns driving. And we had to stop very often to let the puppies out since they were stuck in their crates for so long. After driving for 14 hours we stopped in Phoenix, AZ for the night. Note to self don't stay in an EcnoLodge. They have the most uncomfortable beds ever! We got up the next morning and drove about 6 more hours to Los Angeles, CA and stayed there for three nights. I am so glad we took this break because I don't think that I could have stayed in the car for another minute! I was sad though because the puppies had to stay at Petsmart because we stayed in this really nice boutique hotel in Beverly Hills that didn't allow puppies :( It was so hard to leave the puppies there. I felt like I hadn't seen them at all with all the driving we were doing. But the hotel we stayed at was really nice and the bed was defiantly better than the bed at the EconoLodge. The drive to LA was beautiful...but we were ready to be out of the car! We actually stayed in LA for those few days so we could visit Trey and see him perform at the House of Blues in Anaheim, CA at downtown Disney. The day we got to LA was the day of his concert. So after we got there, Trey picked us up and we headed to the HOB. After Trey got all checked in we ate at the Rainforest Cafe, which was pretty gross after I think about it. I thought it was really good at the time because we hadn't eaten all day, but in reality what we got gross. After the yucky food we got to see an awesome performance by Trey and his band Qwiksand. You should check them out if you get the chance! Trey has an amazing voice. We did some sightseeing in LA for two days and didn't see one star...AND it was Grammy weekend. I was so disappointed :( The hotel we were in was one block away from Rodeo drive. We walked that a couple of times and still no stars. Oh well maybe on our next visit there. I did find two wonderful things in LA that we have here in San Jose that I am sooo excited about. The first thing would be Pinkberry. The best yogurt place...the plain yogurt really tastes like plain yogurt not like the yogurt you normally get at places. And they have toppings like Captain Crunch! The second love I found there was Peet's Coffee. THE BEST... I love it and was super excited about finding one in San Jose. Trey actually introduced us to Peet's as one of his places of employment. So we headed to San Jose on the 10th. This was another 6 hour trip. When we got to San Jose we dropped the puppies off at Petsmart (again...and I was sooo sad), the car was parked in a storage garage (with ALL of our belongings inside) and we stayed in a hotel that night to get up the next morning to fly home to Durham. Yes, that's right...we drove from TX to CA to end up in NC at the end of the day. I think we are a little crazy! But I would like to say a couple of things about our stay in San Jose. We stayed downtown, which was beautiful also. We ate sushi that night and on the way back to the hotel is when I discovered there are Peet's Coffees in San Jose. Needless to say I just had to get one. My favorite is the blended dark chocolate caramel! YUM I want one now! We had to stay in another boutique hotel because Patrick is obsessed. Which I am glad of for this particular stay because they had "Raid the Pantry" starting at 10pm. A heffer's dream. So at 10pm we ran downstairs to find any sandwich fixin' you could think of and COOKIES and milk and tea and coffee! So we raided the pantry! I defiantly recommend this hotel to anyone visiting downtown San Jose (Hotel de Anza). So the next morning we woke up at 9 to catch our noon flight heading home. The flight to Houston was smooth but I can't say the same for our flight into Raleigh. Raleigh had just had a wind storm and was having wind gusts up to 27 knots. I don't know exactly how fast that is but believe me when I say it was a very bumpy ride landing into Raleigh. We stayed at the house in Durham that night. After flying for about 7 hours on the 11th, needless to say we slept til 2:30pm the next day, only to get up and drive 4 more hours to visit Patrick's family. Between all the driving, time changes and flying it has taken us until now (Feb. 19th) to catch up on our sleep! We tried all week in NC to catch up but it never seemed to happen. We had a wonderful week in the NC mountains even though I was sick for most of it. I think being away from the puppies made me sick to my stomach...really. The first night we got there we met up with Patrick's dad and had Mexican. For Valentine's day we had dinner with Patrick's mom and stepdad at Bonefish. It was so yummy...we don't have those out west. We got to visit with Nanny Greene! We even got to see snow while we were there! It was awesome getting to visit family and getting to eat some of Mamaw's homemade dumplings...YUM! Our last night there Mamaw made dumplings, biscuits, dressing, yams and homemade coconut cream pie. By far the best pie (or meal) that I have ever had. I'm sure Patrick would not mind if I spent a week there learning her cooking tricks and recipes. If I lived next door to her I would not be able to fit through a doorway. After spending a week there we went back to Durham for the night on the 17th. We cleaned a little around the house, went to bed early and woke up at 3 am to catch a 6 am flight back to San Jose. I was sooo excited to get back to my puppies. I missed them sooooooo much. I think they missed us too ;) After getting the puppies and the car we found our new apartment and got everything in and mostly put away. It was so relaxing to finally get back to our bed. Even though it is really a new bed we have a memory foam (which I also recommend getting) which sleeps like nothing else. Patrick told me this morning that I did not move all night. I believe him because I have felt great all day! It is nice to finally be settled down again...even though it is only for a few months.

.....what a crazy week.  Marla and I are still trying to deal with the fact that we are in Texas when we would rather be in California.  Although today, I read some unsettling news from Fox News that California is long overdue for a catastrophic earthquake...yiiiiikes!!!!  Marla and I were discussing earlier today though that you can't live your life in fear because there is so much one would miss out on.  This weekend turned out to be very relaxing even after all the stress of last week.  We were suppose to go see Jeremy Camp in concert on Sunday at Cornerstone church, but Marla ended up having to work and the concert started right when she was suppose to arrive at work, so no concert for me either.  We finally got caught up on our Bible reading this weekend too.  Marla and I started reading the Bible together on December 1st and plan to finish December 1st of this year.  We kinda got a little behind over the past couple weeks with all the packing and planning, but seeing as we didn't plan on being in Texas at the moment, and now have a lot of free time on our hands, we have been able to catch back up.  We just finished up Numbers and are about to start on Deuteronomy.  For those of you who have never read the Bible in its entirety....I definitely recommend it.  We have only read the first three books of the Old Testament, but there is so much information and we have found it very interesting thus far.  At times the reading can get difficult and repetitive, but to think influence this book has on our lives as christians encourages us to read chapter for chapter and word for word and really meditate on what God is trying to tell us. (That last sentence may have been a run on, but oh well...10th grade english was a long time ago....)  Speaking of concerts...if you ask Marla she would probably tell you that I have a slight, how should I say this...."addiction" to them.  Marla would rather spend her money on clothes, purses and jewelry, but I would rather go hear good musicians play good music.  I have always had a thing for live music...especially those hot summer days and those outdoor pavilions.  So far this year we have gotten FLOOR SEATS to see Elton John and Billy Joel at the Honda Center in Anaheim (not outdoors, but still really excited), great seats to see Fleetwood Mac at HP Pavilion in San Jose (again not outdoors, but excited) and lawn seats with friends to see DMB and the Avett Brothers in Charlotte (OUTDOORS!!!)  Hopefully there will be others, but this is it so far.  Oh wait there is one more....we are going to see Trey and his band Qwiksand play at the House of Blues Anaheim in a couple weeks and Marla and I both are looking forward to seeing that!!!  Treyshawn on stage at the House of Blues....he has come a long way since the days of the Granville Towers talent show in the Agora.  On top of getting to see Trey sing, we are planning to spend a couple days in Los Angeles to visit with him, sight see and do the touristy stuff before driving to San Jose and heading home for a week.  The biggest task will be keeping Marla and Trey off of Rodeo drive so she doesn't end up spending our lives' savings....I guess I have rambled on enough for tonight...it is late and I am beginning to doze off, so until next time......

-p

p.s. GO HEELS BEAT FSU!!!

the life and times of -m and -p

....so Marla has taken it upon herself to create a blog for us, which I think is an awesome idea and I am not sure why we didn't think of doing something like this sooner.  I think it will be pretty cool to record our travels and adventures over the next couple years, if not for everyone else's enjoyment, then for ours.  We all know it is fun to read everyone else's business, so we will definitely be broadcasting ours for everyone.  We have been very blessed and fortunate to have this opportunity to see the country before we settle down and Oliver, Samuel, Lillian and Emma come along.  As Marla said before, or I think she said, things have been crazy this past week with the whole California situation, but she received a call today and we should definitely be there by the end of February.  I am really excited about going to California as is Marla seeing that we have both never been.  I am also looking forward to traveling home the middle of February to see friends and family for a week and drink some sweet tea.  Believe it or not...I didn't think it got any more South than Texas and they don't serve sweet tea here...ahhhhhh.  It's probably a good thing though because for the first time in my life I made a new year's resolution to lose weight and start running again.  I haven't ran since high school, so believe me when I say that there is a difficult task ahead, but I seem to be making good progress.  I have lost 13 pounds since January 1st, which means I am definitely having to get used to sweet tea made with splenda.  Well I guess I have rambled on enough, but I thought I would get on here and let you know a few things that are going on....

-p

Stop #4: San Jose, CA

...Well we are planning on going there next. If everything works out, we will be heading to San Jose in Febuary. We are planning a trip home to the mountians Feb 11th-18th!!!!

I'll keep you posted on our next stop!

-m

New Camera

I'm so excited that we got a new camera!!!! Now we can take really good pictures of the places we go. I am so excited about it and wish we had gotten it earlier. It is a Canon 40D!

-m

Stop #3: San Antonio, TX

Spurs Game
Still wearing shorts in December at Sea World

...the great state of Texas. We are in the 7th largest city in the US...San Antonio. We have been here since the end of Sept. and we are ready to move on. For some reason I keep having to extend my contact for two weeks at a time (I'll get to that story later). San Antonio has been fun. The best thing here is the mexican food...YUM!!! We have been to Sea World, a Spurs game, underground Caverns, Wurstfest, Downtown, the River walk and of course the Alamo. We have also eaten at the BBQ Capitol of Texas. I guess that it was good...I wouldn't know, but I think Patrick enjoyed it! I got to spend my birthday here in TX so we went up in the Tower of the Americas for dinner and that was a pretty awesome view of San Antonio. The weather is crazy here. One day it's 80 degrees and the next it's 50 degrees. The wind blows like crazy. While we were here we had some awesome guests. Brian was the first to come out west to visit....as a matter of fact Brian is the ONLY friend that has come to see us every place we have been. Thanks Brian...I hope to see you soon in Cali! Patrick's Mom and Larry also came to visit and we had an awesome time with them...I think they will fly out next time though ;) Larry seems to have a lead foot once he gets past the Lousiana border ;) It was nice to have my parents and brother out here for Christmas!

One of the coolest things we have discovered here is Oak Hills Church, which happens to be the church Max Lacado is the senior pastor. For those of you who don't know who Max is, he is one of today's best selling Christian authors. We have really enjoyed this church!

-m

The Big Purchase!!!

We made the decision that it was time to head west. It was a hard decision but we were ready. Since driving the Honda was not an option and my Explorer has 120,000 miles on it we made a purchase. The most expensive purchase we have made together as a couple...we bought a car. Very wise decision considering it is a Tahoe and we can pack a lot of stuff in there and it has a DVD player....very handy when traveling halfway across the country.

It took us two days (19hours) but we finally made it to Texas!

-m

Stop #2: Boynton Beach, FL

Henry Airing it out after the A/C went out
Our Little Piece of Heaven
Jaxon's with Mama, best ice cream!!!
Key West, FL

We thought we were going to spend the summer of '08 in Durham but quickly learned that would not work out so we headed to southern FL in June '08. Boynton Beach to be exact. We decided to be smart and drive Patrick's little Honda down there since gas was so expensive and since I have so many miles on the Explorer. Ironically the A/C went out in Georgia...so we drove pretty much all the way (~10hrs) without an A/C in 90 degree+ weather. Needless to say when we got the A/c fixed and the gas was $4.39/gal we did not complain about that anymore. But we did learn on the way back to NC (at the end of the contract) the Honda was wayyy to small for all of our stuff and the kids. We lived there all summer...right on the beach, aka A Little Piece of Heaven. Loved FL, loved the beach, but the hospital could have been better. We spent most of the summer hanging out at the beach but we also ventured down to Key West with Brian for a few days. We also we on a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel and lived through Tropical Storm Hannah. We actually drove down to Miami the day she came through...haha. Maggie and Henry discovered the ocean while we were there. We would sneak them down to the beach at sunset and Henry would bark and pounce at the waves :) Ahh, how I miss south FL and those white sandy beaches and that crystal clear water...


-m