E-session

So we just got one of our pics from our e-session and I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! Its such a tease though! I cant wait to see more!! Our photographer is absolutely the best

April Events

Well so far April has been an insane month and there is even more to come!!

Events so far this month:

1. JC and I purchased our 1st house.

2. I graduated from PA school.

3. Took a mini vaca to CO and UT. We went 4x4 jeeping and hiking!!

4. Attended an exhausting 5 day review course for the PANCE (Physician Assistant National Certification Exam). Which Ill be taking May 7th.

5. Working on sending out wedding invitations.

6. Did food tasting for the reception.

7. Just signed escrow papers. (get keys tomorrow!!!!)

While April has been a busy month its also been really exciting for both JC and I and we are really looking forward to our new life that is quickly evolving.

As for the house...we close tomorrow and should get the keys tomorrow afternoon. JC has to be out of his apartment by friday and is working nights this week (which is NOT a good combination). I am leaving for MT on Friday for my bridal shower and bachelorette party. So hopefully we will be able to get everything done!! Yikes its gonna be a busy one!!! But very exciting none the less :)

House = OURS!!!

JC by the SOLD sign...its official!!

Our little house :) That we love and cant wait to paint so its not blue anymore!!

Welp everyone's well wishes and prayers paid off (thanks everyone!!)...the house is offically ours!!!

The sellers agreed to the fixes (ALL of them) and JC's loan went through, so we are in the clear. Now we just have to do is wait till closing which is April 28th!!! Hopefully we can close on time. We are so excited!!

Now comes the fun stuff; painting and decorating and making the house ours!! Cant wait until everyone can come visit us!!

HOUSE UPDATE

Well as many of you know we placed an offer on a house and the seller agreed!!!!! We were soooo excited!!!!!!

So we just had the inspection and they unfortunately found some water in the crawl space, along with a few other issues. The crawl space is the main problem since there is about 4" of water in some places! So we are asking the sellers to fix the problems before we purchase it. Now whether or not they will agree to do that is another story! So we are just keeping our fingers crossed that they will because if they dont we cant afford to fix them ourselves (and its something that HAS to be fixed otherwise the house would get moldy and rot) and therefore would have to pull our offer and not buy the house :(

We are really hoping that they will agree to fix the problems because JC and I LOVE the house!! Its perfect for us!!

Struggles

Well folks it is done...not officially BUT today was the last day of my last rotation!! So now whats left you ask....Graduation on April 17th and then taking my Boards (yikes!!!).

It seems like just yesterday that I had graduated from Carroll, JC moved to Tucson to start his new job and I moved back home to WA. I thought my live was over!! I have never been so miserable! I didn't know when I would see JC next because we were both too poor to afford airline tickets and I wasn't accepted into PA school and I was stuck back at home living with my parents with literally $50 to my name. I think I cried daily for about 2 months and I would physically hurt I missed JC so much....but my dad always told me when he found me crying in my room..."Christie all this pain and misery will be well worth it one day. You will be a successful PA, JC will have a great job as an engineer and you two will once again be in the same town again". While I appreciated all my Pops efforts to cheer me up I always felt like that day would never come. Well, despite a long and at times unbearable past two and a half years, that day that I use to dream about is quickly approaching!!! It is hard to believe because these past few years were the hardest Ive had to deal with ever, but JC and I survived and now I have a ton of wonderful things to look forward too: I'm graduating, I start work soon, JC and I are working on buying our first house together. Plus the wedding is quickly approaching!! While trying to survive PA school and maintain a long distance were by no means easy....they are doable if you put your mind to it!

So I guess the ol'man was right after all!!! All the hardship that JC and I have gone through will finally we worth it! We cant wait to be married, living together and looking forward to a long life of happiness (with no more distance or school involved:) ).

Family

We had a patient today who was in her late 80s and had several medical problems. She had lost her right leg to an infection, recently broke her left hip (her daughter broke it when she was trying to bathe her) and is completely immobile. On top of several chronic illnesses. Despite all of these hardships she came into the office and was smiling and happy and in just wonderful spirits. It is nice to see people enjoying life rather than dwelling solely on the negative things.

Not only was the patient just lovely, her family was even better. This poor lady could have just been dumped in a Nursing Home and her family could not even had to visit her or take care of her. But instead this family is doing everything in their power to take care of their mother and keep her at home. They do everything for her and are as happy as can be. They dont complain, they dont bitch and they dont ask why me. They know that this is their mother and they are going to take care of her the way that she took care of them when they were young and there is just not another option.

The whole point to this rambling nonsense, is that often we forget how much our family, especially our parents, do for us. This family was a perfect example of how we should treat our parents when they need us the most, but sadly this often is not the case. Parents sacrifice everything for their kids and often the kids "forget" this piece of information. The least we could do for our parents is take care of them like they do unselfishly took care of us for 18 years of our life (or in my case 25 years....haha).

I often take my family for granted (never intentionally), when I should be thanking them for all they have done for me and my brother. Like many, I feel I have the greatest parents in the world and do not know what I would do without them! They would do anything for me and I do not tell them often enough how much I appreciate them. I wouldnt be half the person I am today if it wasnt for my incredible parents and family.

Often, we (I) take for granted the things that are most important in life......family. This patient and her family were a perfect reminder as to what really matters.

Entire Bottle Wine Glass

A couple of weeks ago, JC and I went to Leavenworth for a little getaway trip. While there we saw the coolest wine glass. It was so large that it could hold an entire bottle of wine! It was awesome!!! I wanted it so bad, but it was super pricey!! So we decided to wait. Yesterday I was wandering around Marshalls, when JC found the huge wine glasses that I had been looking for!! They were perfect and they were 6 for only $15!!

We tested them out last night and poured a half of bottle of wine between two glasses and it looked like there was only 2 sips in each glass! They are so fun and I absolutely LOVE them!!

Oops.....

So I knew it wouldnt take long before I started neglecting my blog, but I was hoping I would hold a little bit longer. Oh well I am going to try and jump back in!!!

Not to make excuses or anything but life currently has been a tad hectic. I just finished my Internal Medicine Rotation and learned so much! It was such a great expereience!! Now I am currently down in ABQ, NM for a week of testing. While yes this is extremely miserable, it is also extremely exciting. This will be my last trip down here (well except for Graduation, but that doesnt count because it will be an exciting trip!!) AND it means I am that much closer to graduation!!! In approximately 7 weeks I will be graduating PA school!! I have waited for this day for a LONG time and now that it is here it doesnt seem real. Weird how that works!

While most people know I am not a huge fan of ABQ but there are a few things down here I do miss! For example Hatch green chili's. They are INCREDIBLE!! The are grown and roasted locally and are so delishious. They also have THE BEST enchilada sauce! Unfortunately this is one of the only places they sell it. Needless to say my suitcase will be packed with cans of green chili on the flight home :)

They also have some of the best wine! It is made at a local winery called St. Claire's and it is wonderful! Not to mention some good sushi (I know sushi in NM??) and Ayleigh's and my favorite restaurant Il Vacino. Its our lunch time tradition: margarita pizza with a side house salad. These are just a few of my favorites...funny how it all revolves around food!

While I bitch and moan about ABQ and having to spend the majority of the last 2 1/2 years of my life here, there are good memories here and it will be missed (well lets just say A FEW things will be missed). :) None the less I am excited to close this chapter of my life and open a new one: being thrown head first into the "real world".....yikes!!! I think I am up for a rude awakening!

Wedding Update

Things are going so well on the wedding planning front!!

Last week we got the DJ and the florist taken care of. Last night we picked out the bridesmaid dresses and I got to pick up my veil. Next week we going to go pick out the Tux's...everything is just falling into place and its incredible!! Table arangments are coming together.

Next big project.....wedding invitiations....trying to avoid that one because I cannot bear to see how much that is going to cost us...if only I had time to save some money and make them myself!!! Maybe I can find good deal somewhere! Also need to go pick out the food for the reception and figure out the floor plan for the tables for the recepetion. But with under 150 days to go...its finally becoming a reality that soon I will be a MRS!!!! Cant wait!!!

Wedding Shoes

Now that all the major things are done for the wedding one of my newest dilemma has been trying to find out what shoes to wear on the big day. Now dont get me wrong Id love to get a pair of Christian Louboutin Pumps or a fabulous pair of Manolo Blahniks. But I obviously cannot spend hundreds of dollars on a pair of shoes even though it is my dream to own a few pairs of these incredible shoes one day.

So Instead I am stuck looking for a more reasonable but equally as fabulous pair of shoes. I know I am going to wear a pair of flats during most of the reception, but I gotta find a great pair of pumps for the ceremony. I want something bright and a little bit out there because you cant really even see them so why not get something fun!!

So here are a few I like. Part of me wants to get purple to go with the bridemaid dresses and then there is a part of me that wants to get fun sparkle ones... so I just dont know, I love shoes so much maybe Ill just buy a bunch and then pick the perfect pair the day of!

I love these Kate Spade slingbacks!!

But I also think it would be fun to wear some cut purple pumps, like these, to go with the girls' dresses!

So many shoes to choose from its so difficult. I guess when it comes down to it nobody really sees them, but despite this I still think it would be great to have a fun, totally fabulous pair of shoes!! Maybe one day Ill just find a pair and know that those are the ones!

Or...maybe Ill just splurge.......

Ahhhh.....LOVE!!!!!!!

New Favorite Food

Ok so this friend of mine from PA school got me hooked on this new veggie, jicama and I absolutely love it. It is really good for you too! It is full of Vitamin C, fiber and even has some protein in it! Since it is similar to a potato you would think that it is really starchy, which it does have some carbs but is not terrible. I just cut it up and eat it raw and its delish!!

Tips on how to pick it: Look in the veggie area of the store and try to find small to medium sized ones that are firm and dont have any mushy spots. Then you just peal the outside off and cute into little sticks and you got yourself a tasty and healthy snack. Not to mention its super easy!

So for those of you that have never tired jicama I would highly recommend it.

Wedding Flowers

Peonies....one of my fav's!!!

So one of the things I have been most excited for during this entire wedding process is picking out wedding flowers. I think that gorgeous flowers can completely transform a room into something magnificent and completely fabulous.

So the last couple of weeks I have been meeting with various florists determining what we were going to do for our wedding. Oh man were the ideas flowing!! It was so fun!! I could just picture it in my mind. Absolutely incredible!! Although I would love to splurge and just go crazy i decided to try and do some things that would decrease the cost (i.e. adding lots of pretty greenery, or hydrangeas which are very full and take up lots of space while still being wonderful, taking the flowers from the ceremony and use them at the reception, etc.). After all of these things I figured, oh flowers cant be that expensive. I even thought that after our meetings we would be so far under our budget that I would be able to add more.

So a few weeks pass and I keep looking at pictures and trying to come up with new ideas, since after all its not going to be that expensive and I will be able to add tons more. Oh no, no, no!!! Was I soooo wrong.....talk about sticker shock!! I got the estimates back yesterday and I have to CUT things out, there will be absolutely no adding! Its just insane to imagine paying so much for something that is just going to die in a few days. So sad, but the wedding will still be wonderful no matter how many flowers we have.

Current Chaos

One of my fav's: The night JC proposed

This week has been an insane one filled with happiness, laughter, sadness and frustration.....

It started off with..... JC and I deciding to put an offer in on a house that we found for a great price and absolutely fell in love with. It had everything we wanted: a fabulous location, big enough for us to grow into, and something that we could work on: updating and making our own. It was a very rushed and scary process (I mean you are basically signing your life away) but in the end we were so excited and could not wait to hear if they would accept our offer. Owning a house has been a dream for both of us our entire life.

After that crazyness I started my 7th out of 8 clinical rotation for Physician Assistant (PA) school. It was really exciting because we had just come off a 4 week vacation and I was ready to get back out there doing what I love....helping people. It was also exciting because I am finally in the home stretch of my clinical rotations.....only 3 months left!!! Graduation id April 17th and I can't wait!!!

On top of those two fun things, I am also trying to plan JC's and my wedding. I just found a DJ and am working on choosing a florist (have it narrowed down to two). I have absolutely loved picking out flowers and working on the design of the reception and ceremony. So fun!!! I am also trying to send out STD's and work on collecting reception decor. Here is a sneak peak at some of the pictures I took my inspiration from:

Ok well maybe not since I cannot figure out how to put pictures on this dang thing. Maybe you will be lucky enough to get a sneak peak in the future ;)

So after that fun start to my week it ended on a very different note....

We heard that they did not accept our offer on the house and actually accepted someone elses. JC and I are both very disappointed as we both loved the house! But we figured if it didnt work out then it was not meant to be and we will find something that is even better than this one.

Then I had a very challenging and frustrating week with my rotation. It is a inpatient internal medicine rotation and the patients are all very sick and had several issues making their diagnosis and treatment very complicated. It made me realize I still have a long way to go in what is going to be a life long learning process. Medicine is something that you learn to perfect through out the years, not something that a text book or a class can teach. Like everything in life it is unfortunately a trial and error process. It was a very humbling week and helps to remind me that I still have a long way to go in my education.

Then after all that frustration, I learned that we are still having issues with my wedding dress. It is a very long story and I wont get into it now, but lets just say it is very very frustrating and annoying and the LAST thing I wanted to have to deal with this week. Especially after we had thought it was over with.

As everything in life, some days are good and others not so much, but its each day that makes us a stronger and better person than we were the day before.

Post #1

So I have been reading other peoples blogs for awhile now and I finally I decided that I wanted go ahead and try this out. Now I am hoping that I wont just post one or two things and then never touch it again....but here goes nothing!!!