Back down south...way south!

Now that the holidays are over, and we got used to being home, we have packed up again and are in southern FL (again).  We are in Plantation until April/May.  We came down south to be warm for the winter but as of now it has been COLD!  Well supposedly that is to end this week so I am counting down the days til I can bring out the shorts, skirts and flip-flops.  Until then we are trying to stay warm.  We haven't really done anything exciting just yet but I'll keep you updated when we do.  We were excited to find out that our favorite sushi restaurant has a branch out our way so we have already taken advantage of that!  So if you come to visit us you will get to eat there I am sure at least once!  YUM Lemongrass! We have been down here for a week now and we are still trying to adjust to our housing...so far it's not working out for us and we are looking for another (better) place to stay and hopefully closer to the beach.  So far the hospital seems good, I haven't even been on the unit yet and I still have 3 more days of orientation.  This has been the longest orientation for a travel assignment that I have ever gone through.  But that is cool it's a paycheck.  I am ready to start back on my night shifts!  Until next time...

~m

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