The Ochse's

we've moved!

2011-07-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

blogspaces that is.

http://loveochses.wordpress.com

see you there!

global warming.

2011-07-22T12:06:00.001-07:00

heat index 123 :(

fall please come soon this is awful!

off to family time with olintos cant wait.. love!

holy updates.

2011-07-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

weekend in 'bburg - hiking of course and lots of gillies, summertime bbqs with friends, legwarmer 80s action with bates, annual 70 mile bikeathon (yes those are farms), babysitting celia jane (playing at the park, painting nails, running in the baby pool - pure joy and exhaustion), trip to indy (might have stolen the babies all weekend).. phew and lots more to look forward to.. might be already counting the days till the beach :) happy summer!

some blogs..

2011-05-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

i found this article on No Meat Athlete so funny.. "the anti-diet success story" because prolly i can relate to balance the desire btwn a size zero, my need to drink pizza and beer like boys, and lack of motivation to drag one hungover ass to the gym.. priceless.

leota and i are set to start our marathon training here soon. i'm a bit nervous. well that's understatement. i need to get some jillian michaels muscles and then we'll see how i feel. i mean i know it's on my bucket list, but i have no idea what it'll do to my body and how i'll fit in the training. unicorn tears willing, i'll do it.

wednesday's letters

2011-05-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

dear blog - i'm sorry we've neglected you, but it's been wonderful weather and frankly i'm unsure if it's day or night sometimes.

dear running buddy, bff, L.B. - thank you for letting me talk nonstop on our weekly runs. i swear most of my jibber jabber is for entertainment value.

dear hair stylist - i asked you to cut my hair with a picture, thanks for making me look like a boy. ugh.

dear husband - thanks for saying i still look pretty with my new haircut. thank you for dealing with trifecta of terribleness last friday. you look super cute in your new glasses.

dear family - thanks for letting us stop in all the time. i swear we are adults and know how to cook and feed ourselves.

dear work - stop being so crazy and give me cute babies who just need love and some snuggle time.

dear blacksburg - we might be friends again here soon. i miss you gillies.

anniversary weekend

2011-05-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

pics are not in order.. i hate technology!

four years ago. time sure does fly! we had a wonderful weekend.. started off with bike ride together and long walk to dinner at founding farmers in dc with incredible mascarpone/proscuitto/fig ciabbatta and cedar smoked fish not to mention fabulous drinks.

a granola pretzel creation. holy crap.

day one off.. wine tasting all day (willowcroft, chrysalis, and tarara - tarara was amazing) and delicious eats in old town leesburg

day 2: runamuck 5k (if you couldnt tell from the pics), walk/picnic at iwa jima park, biked to bethesda and ended at baked and wired of course in georgetown (must try: OMG and soccer mom bars, not to mention coffee is superb)

day 3: no pics.. ran/explored rock creek park and grilled out with johnson parents
day 4: rented city bikes and headed to the zoo after some great eats at open city

last but not least, cant forget the several snacks and coffees and end of evening wines spent outside at northside social (and they freaking have nutella poptarts, i had one for breakfast. breakfast of champions!)

dear husband

2011-04-13T21:12:00.001-07:00

dear husband, it is well past your bedtime and i hope you are having sweet beddy-byes. i had a hug-mungus amount of time off, but it seems like it was a little off. we did do lots tho.. bought a car, ran a race, ate awesome food, saw the caps win. all that was great, but i still miss ya. i'll try better next time to squeeze in a romantic date aside from silly things like insisting that i clean up the trail of crumbs that remain from your dinner plate or folding 5 million loads of the old underwear (might i add that you insist on wearing) at midnight. love ya to the moon. xxx, yours

idiots.

2011-04-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

i dont usually partake in anything political, let alone vocalize my opinion.. but i had to post this hilarious video courtesy of stephen colbert regarding Planned Parenthood. the politicians had the audacity to say that PP is only for abortion.. completely neglecting the fact that it provides STD tx, womens and mens general health care, counseling and body image education, referral services, etc. i know i'm liberal, but i wish people would get their facts and realize that this organization helps aLOT of people in a lof of DIFFERENT ways.

who are we?

2011-04-12T10:06:00.000-07:00

shamrock half marathon

cherry blossom 10 miler

gw classic 10 miler

all in less than a month.

now i would begin to say that we have lost our minds, but i'm not the part of this twosome that is running sub 7 min miles.. i'm more the one who goes to chat it up with my friends while we drool over what brunch items we're going to get at the end of this race.. and who can forget mimosas!

we are also heading to chicago soon for a mini getaway plus seeing family and running another half marathon. by then i would say yes, we have lost our minds.. but i'm dreaming of delicious dinners and fabulous walks in chitown.

i was going to buy the proofs and share them BUT theyre a billion dollars.. what a shame!

why husband rules.

2011-04-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

because he listened, actively listened.. to lots of complaining from my five shifts of insanity... as i mentally and emotionally went through the frustrations of just trying to give the best possible care but dealing with resistance and ignorance from ahem.. others. that's the best way to put it. you try the best you can each day, but when you have lil peanuts around you.. it's hard not to get frustrated because when you cuddle with them and get to know them, you cant help but melt and want to do it all..

so in true husband fashion.. he leaves me love note.. saying that i had a tough week and deserve to go to my favorite yoga store to grab something for our cherry blossom race this weekend. i am tickled pink over the name.. "unicorn tears" hahaha.

love relationship with food

2011-03-24T09:36:00.000-07:00

we finished the weekend off with another run (we have lost our minds) from our apt to capitol hill to visit we the pizza. pizza by the slice, nostalgic fountain sodas, good company. we walked back (again we are nuts) and completed the evening with a glass of wine sitting outside at northside social with zoey. it was GREAT.

birthday!

2011-03-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

we did a birthday celebration at churchkey and birch&barley in dc.. 500+ beers available and delicious food with killer atmosphere..

birthday boy! my family got him a lovely cake from Swiss Bakery and it was delicious - doesn't he look so cute and excited?

shamrock half marathon..

2011-03-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

We completed the Shamrock half marathon in VA Beach this weekend :) We did the race last year and coaxed some of our mates to join! The race has some DJ's along the course, beautiful scenery and terrible St Pattys jokes haha.

We were able to meet up with some of Lo's friends and baby W - he's precious!

View from our hotel room - gorgeous.. I think the Bates and their Cabana view might not compare to ours :)

My friends are such sports - I was determined to get one picture with our St Pattys tiaras before we braved the 20 mph winds and 37F temps! I love these girls!

Brotherly love, look at these handsome men! Ow ow!

green monster.

2011-03-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

somehow i stumbled upon the concept of the "green monster" because i originally found this blog (which also has some great recipes and women rule power .. of course i'm obsessed).

recipe for the green man:

2 c spinach

1 c almond or soy milk (def get vanilla)

1 banana

ice

blueberries (rec of champagne bubbles and good idea)

blend. tastes lots like banana and it's punched. no yuckiness of spinach. just do it. like nike and tiger-blooded folk (couldnt resist sheen)

i love friends.

2011-03-16T07:08:00.001-07:00

i'm glad to have met such great people at work. they like fun and they also have affinity for good food esp milkshakes. milkshakes are nostalgic and remind me of childhood. we hit up capitol hill on our day off, the some perusing of antiques. perfect day. i might love them.. alot.

a whole new meaning to monday.

2011-03-15T06:07:00.000-07:00

we had quite the awful monday yesterday.

mike got into a car accident

luckily no one got hurt

we are still waiting to hear about whether the car is totaled or not :(

of course being the worry wort i am, i've been a mess too

we are thankful for good friends too to pick up stranded mike as our sad car was towed away

dont worry... it's perfect timing too (sykkkkke) as this weekend is our half marathon race down in VA beach and Mike's bday.

really hope the rest of the week is uphill from here and that good sleep starts occuring.

meep.

2011-03-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

Wasnt planning on having such fun days off because let's face it - constantly working weekends and everybody (ie nurse friends) with different schedules during week can be tough esp when you always seem to have days off during the week. I wanted to play and enjoy my days and smile. A lot. Luckily my brothers were off - yipee! We did things I've been dying to do and I love them. A lot.

Ted's Bulletin is an amazing modern-ish diner joint with burgers, fries, shakes,.. also tomato soup/grilled cheese.. black/white films.. and fantastic milkshakes ie s'mores awesome hell yes (yes i'm still lactose intolerance haha).

Next days.. I convinced these lazy bums to jog with me.. I figured I needed to get out of house (the babies made me sick, very sicky) and I needed some fresh air. The jogging team and I went on a run, then hit up my fav local joint northside social for some snacks, coffee, tea, beer/wine. I love this place.

blip.

2011-03-01T00:37:00.001-08:00

i would call tonight off as a blip or blink. lots of night shifts then one night then more night shifts.

highlight-> jogging with husband and pup, whole foods for organic meats and cheese, making homemade dinner and hanging out. perfect brief rest to a very exhausting week.

crazy.

2011-02-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

we must be in crazytown in this house.

we signed up for the MCM.

marine corps marathon.

just crapped the pants.

goal: to finish.

hiccup: high risk of injury and possibly not doing it

friends/fam: say lots of prayers and fingers crossed

love list

2011-02-21T22:53:00.000-08:00

sleep

lunch with parents

tea at northside with husband

beers (well too many, ask husband) with friends

brunch with friends

more tea

guacamole and movie night (despicable me is ahhh-mazing!)

long, slow run with husband (we are rockstars, 10 miles!)

lululemon yoga store

probiotic frozen yogurt with pomegranate seeds

so much fun! <3>

Weekend. I think I love you.

2011-02-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

when this is the only photo you have from a night out on the town, you know it was fun.

what is not as fun, hangovers in your late 20's.

<3 href="http://www.galaxyhut.com/about/">http://www.galaxyhut.com/about/

that is all.

my valentine

2011-02-15T22:46:00.000-08:00

so despite being away in NC during valentine's, husband sent me the most amazing chocolate covered strawberries!

then after the long drive home.. i came home to a sweet card and flowers. j'adore husband. xx

cuddling, snuggling, and smiles in wilmington

2011-02-15T21:16:00.000-08:00

how can you resist these sweet pics?

i enjoyed a few days catching up and meeting the newest edition to the Steiner Fam. the lil peanut is certainly growing so fast and is a happy, healthy lil one! thanks again to my wonderful friends for having me stay with them and stealing their lil one for a few moments. xx

F is for Fun and F is for Friday

2011-02-05T16:25:00.000-08:00

Can we just start with.. we LOVE family, esp the Hermans.

We had an ahhhhh-mazing Friday evening with my favorite people. The night literally was filled with delicious food/drink, laughter, fun, and man-crushing (sorry mike - people need to know haha). Thanks for having us - always so much fun. I think next time I'll borrow a diaper from Celia because I laughed so hard I thought I peed my pants.
Literally.

*i snagged these pics, just playing with some camera filters

night shift is cancer-ific?

2011-02-04T06:57:00.001-08:00

the WHO (for those dont know WHO that is - World Health Organization) has just announced that night shifts are actually carcinogenic to the human body... wonderful.

smoothie prep.

2011-02-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

So in the middle of my research toward health, happiness, wholeness, and holistic well being... i've been reading the benefits of starting the day off right with a smoothie of goodness.. i have this thing against bananas that arent green but have found they make deliciousness in a smoothie.. so prep 1) the goods (frozen fruits, almond milk, bananas)
2) adorable mason jars husband found :)

3) prepped some great smoothies of mango/almond milk, berries/cherries/almond milk/bananas.

dont they look like they're smiling at you to slurp them down :)

* i've stopped buying soy milk for several reasons. Fact: Too much soy inhibits the absorption of calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin b12 harms female/male fertility, and actually promotes the growth of breast cancer cells (which can affect males and females).

dinner of champions plus i heart denver.

2011-02-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

Dinner of champions at our house last night...
- endive with TJ's chipotle and cilantro hummus. endive in general is ahhhmazing. they make little lettuce wrap goddess'
- fill me up salad. walnuts, dried cranberries, fresh pineapple, chickpeas, tomatoe, blue cheese, homemade salad dressing (balsamic + EVOO), and the front man - avocado.
- roasted sweet potatoe with sauteed spinach + garlic/old bay
last but not least. great divide brews. a little taste of heaven.

horridly awful terrifying ...

2011-02-01T07:55:00.001-08:00

and i never thought i'd say this.. i hate you whole foods in addition to walmart, safeway, costco, USDA, and monsanto (i've always hated you, so dont feel special).

hate you.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_22449.cfm

husband.

2011-02-01T07:33:00.000-08:00

why i love husband... because he finds amazing websites that he knows ill love (currently at 2 hrs of reading it haha)
http://www.nomeatathlete.com/

so i fell off the veggie bandwagon.. dark and deep.. very deep... went to denver baby and had a bison burger. Yes it was amazing. I adore those warm fuzzy creatures on my plate. butttttt.. i'm also reading this: Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Karr http://crazysexylife.com/2011/crazy-sexy-diet/ which is kind of making me rethink my dark and dangerous side.

basic summary of the book = meat causes an inflammatory/stress response to your body (stress in addition to my stinkin thinkin? heck no people. plus stress is 90% of cause related to most illness. only 10% of cancers are related to genetics. 10 percent.) plus uncle sam doesnt have to tell you if they use chemicals, pesticides, hormones, or just plain funky junk on our products. Cow eats genetically modified corn (not normal, what happened to grass people!) --> you eat cow --> you eat genetically modified yuck. I've always struggled with these facts and how to eat right without dying of starvation or going on a bender (guilty.).

so meet this new website of no meat athlete from yours truly - mike. really interesting because they coincide with crazy sexy diet book.. basically as americans we eat way too much protein. not so good. remember atkins? too much protein --> kidney problem, leeching of calcium from your bones, liver problems, increased risk of cancer/diabetes, higher saturated fat.

Much celebration!

2011-02-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

Belated post.

A very happy bday to this stuff muffin - 19 years young that kid... who wouldn't want to date this green machine? He's living it up as those kids say at VT and having a blast.

A very happy anniversary to my two favorite lovebirds - the parentals! They had a lovely weekend (so I hear - been in hospital cave for many days) celebrating 28 years! I love this oldie but goodie picture. So precious.

life is too sweet to be bitter.

2011-01-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

Meet Kris Carr. Meet Zoey. Queen of our lives.

Meet my stud muffin. Date night.

Off work = amazing salad. Holy goodness!

my mom gave me this great article from the magazine, Real Simple. 9 ways to improve your inner smile.

1. chill out. studies show that cold temps improve your mood. EXCELLENT. Denver anyone?

2. remember whence you came. comfort foods, old movies, dates with husband. Oh yes

please.

3. don't dwell. quit the stinkin' thinkin' (thx kris carr). reroute and distract = definitely more smiles.

4. spread the wealth. help a friend at work, buy you and a bud some yummy tea/coffee.

5. eat a snack around 2 pm. or should i say 2 am in the life of a nurse? no energy = bad moods people.

6. get a move on. get your groove on baby, shake it. exercise 30 mins 5-6x/wk.

7. limit your options. too many choices = stress wins. no thank you!

8. start baking. or learn to hula. new hobby: homemade cards, discovering wellness warriors.

9. make your bed. shows that we are happiest when we feel as tho a task has been completed. now sure what i think of this one, considering 5 am is really early to be making mine.

these ideas are really great. so i decided to make my own list.

1. strive for more balance - mind body spirit of course. yoga, i miss you. see you soon.

2. eat more veggies and fruits. i fell off the vegetarian bandwagon - fast and dark. it takes time to make something delicious, so time i will invest.

3. spend more time with husband. he's my bff, soulmate, P-I-to the C, and he makes me smile lots.

4. new hobby-it-up. homemade cards are fun.

5. stop stinkin thinkin. those negative energies wear me out and are not helpful.

6. rid of toxicity - toxic people are the worst. they're themselves miserable so they say and do things to bring you in their dumpy bucket of gloom. i say you get your gloominess on elsewhere!

7. outdoors. spending more time and any time outdoors ie during the thundersnow last night we took a family walk and it was ahhhhmazing! laughter, snowballs, and running around. bliss.

8. wellness warrior. discovering and learning more about the food we eat and what is best for us to feel ready to conquer each and every day.

9. love. giving love, sending love, realizing glass is half full, and of course snuggling with my itty bitty patients

to smiles and health.

jordan elizabeth steiner

2011-01-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

This week a beautiful little girl was born .. Miss Jordan Elizabeth Steiner. She and her mommy are beyond gorgeous and I love every picture I get from Ash. Ash is one of my dearest best friends and I could not be happier for them! xx

a very merry

2011-01-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

we had a nice holiday.. times two really. in two weeks.. we have seen, heard, done lots.

volunteered.
banned starbucks (forever).
cook/bake/drink (lots).
presents (even vintage ones). santa. elf. love actually. grinch.
brunch. dinner. lunch. beer. tea. love.
sleep. run. balance.
acquired the best quilt known to man (or anthropologie).
exercised. a wee bit.
ate, drank some more.
visits with family up north and kisses from little jack.
waiting for miss jordan to arrive. miss titus is ridiculously adorable and i cant wait to squeeze some cheeks.
burgers x 2 (did i tell you i eat meat now?). burgers with my brothers and kelly and my squeeze.
basically i love the holidays. (and mike)

lots of photos to come.

half weekend.

2010-12-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

Our half weekend together was busy as ever.. dad's company christmas party with lots of german food ie fried goodness, jingle all the way 10k with friends and our friend "sleet", then followed by a surprise party for becky - she was so surprised and it was a lovely party! we got to see ed and becky at the 10k and the party, it was nice to catch up and eat more delicious food.

things one should never do.

2010-12-10T00:44:00.000-08:00

watch the victoria's secret fashion show when having a fat week. EVER.

and dont worry i watched it twice. one on re-run. efff.

o christmas tree.

2010-11-30T09:01:00.000-08:00

finally after almost 5 years i convinced mike that a real christmas tree was completely necessary in the whole holiday experience. last night we walked 1 mile to whole foods to purchase the perfect one. i wish someone could have seen us lugging this 8 foot tree home. i stopped halfway in supporting the tree because let's face it i have no arm muscle. so we are letting it sit in our office for now until we can decorate it and show the final product. the only thing that stinks is we really wanted to cut down our own tree but i worked all last weekend and the next few weekends. boo. it takes me so long to recover from working nights too.. who sleeps 4 hrs after work, wakes up at 2 pm, goes to bed at 12 am and sleeps till 11 am. this kid. wow. must be the rain :D

weddings and long chats.

2010-10-31T11:43:00.001-07:00

congrats to mr and mrs nathan poumade! we had so much fun at their wedding weekend! we headed up to jersey with my parents and got some delicious food, then drinks and dancing later. they had a photo booth. me and 4 girls got our pics done with the priest in the photo booth. i almost died laughing.

we had long chats too. chats about future.. where we are and where we are going. we've decided that it is probably best to withdraw from courses in the masters program. with my new internship and the tests, presentations, online trainings while working nights + grad classes. it's too much. i'm not feeling balanced and we never see each other (literally EVER - went 4 days without ever seeing face-face). we just want to enjoy each other more and it is okay to put the grad school on hold, it is still something i want to pursue. this is a really difficult thing to admit because i am really hard on myself and feel lucky to be in such a good program, but i have known for a while in my gut that things need to slow down. plus we have been talking more about starting a family and dont want to have grad school and too much on our plates, looming over our heads. so with that said, i dont really want to talk about the decision because i'm pretty upset about it but just wanted to let you know that that was decided by us this weekend. it's not fair to mike having all this going on.. it's been years of craziness for us. haha.

bar.

2010-10-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

dear silly man at bar who doesnt believe in love. i'm sorry you wanted to argue about babies with me, but i work in the baby unit. obviously i'm a little strong opinionated in this. i give you this gift. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWxhIiwNvwc

what a week.

2010-10-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

working nights, never seeing each other, too many vitamins. gross. i think even when we have kids i am not gonna be a night person. i'm so dysfunctional that i used words like "relax-a-cation" at my tutoring session today.

at least we have tonight and to see this brilliant man..http://elewrockjazz.com/
here's to hoping he plays some cold play again.

weekend was success, school work was not

2010-10-11T19:41:00.001-07:00

we had a great weekend... sports pub for drinks/food, italian family dinner and cozy nite at northside with wine and cheese, apple picking, local burgers, dinner with friends, lunch with friends, running and swimming and lots of sleeping.

weekend well done. wish it wasnt another work week. bummer.

weekend offfffffffffff.

2010-10-07T16:56:00.001-07:00

after 4 days of school, 5 days of work, one work exam, one school exam.. one more shift for the weekend.. and now changing to nights..

i have all weekend off. you'll find me at the bar with a tall dirty. ciao.

hello.

2010-08-29T04:49:00.000-07:00

hello insanity, nice to meet you. i'd like you not to make me lose my mind in the coming months, so i'm going to do some yoga to prevent you from taking my sleep away.

so starting school and work. wow. can't make it to my first courses. no good. i love that instead of progressing to a start it's like a tractor trailer smacked me in the face.

thank god for that husband of mine. xo.

hello julia child.

2010-08-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

julia -

please help me roast my first organic chicken in fresh rosemary and make it delicious. there's always a first and here we go!

side note: i'm a meat-a-tarian now. went to MD and was told to lose some lbs from nursing school and that being a veggie-tarian had too much fiber for me and i need low residue (aka opposite you tell a geriatric patient).. sooooo... low residue = loads of lean meats. well really for us - it's buying from sustainable, organic farms who focus on treating animals fairly and open environments. yay!

favorite quote...

2010-08-03T05:20:00.000-07:00

from my favorite book... sometimes it's ok to be human and embrace it :)

"when i get lonely these days, i think: so be lonely Liz. Learn your way around loneliness. Make a map of it. Sit with it, for once in your life. Welcome to the human experience. But never again us another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings."

and most importantly .. MEDITATE... and move on :)

fitness challenge of the century? say what?

2010-08-03T05:14:00.000-07:00

Yup. You're reading it. The little icon guy. Nope it's not a joke. We're looking for a new challenge, something to keep us motivated in our working out together, and something to get us through what we anticipate a brutal, blood, sweat, and tears kind of year. I mean between both of us full time, Jenn in school part time, and our beloved child aka furry creature ie Zoey... we will be swamped. Not sure if we can do it, but goals are good and this is a good one :) Reading more about it here: http://www.pikespeakmarathon.org/
There's loads of testimonials and stories. We hiked 9.5 miles down in 4 hours and obviously uphill is more difficult, but we think we can do it. We did 8.5 uphill to about 10,000-12,000 feet in about 4 hours too.. so we figure it's a good start. Did we mention we loved Colorado?

Colorado - our future home!

2010-07-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

Our life in pictures... we visited boulder, golden, denver, colorado springs.. we biked 3 hours, hiked 8.5, hiked 9.5, and toured rocky mtn national park, we fell in love with boulder and already pictured our dream house, we had a fabulous time and are counting down the days till we return again. we left our hearts in colorado. jenn tried bison burger. whoa. we also plan to return next summer - for jenn's clinical rotations (fingers crossed) and to conquer the pike's peak ascent (half marathon up pike's peak). we also loved loved pike's peak. can we leave now?

camping.

2010-07-21T06:19:00.000-07:00

had a great weekend camping and getting out of town.. me, zoey and 4 boys haha. it was a trip. we hiked some great trails along the AT, grilled a nice dinner, and of course made s'mores. it got mike and i so excited for our trip on friday to denver!! we can't wait and are really going to scope out the area ;)

earthquake in dc?

2010-07-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

yikes. mother nature definitely hates our guts and it's only getting worse! :(

bikeathon complete..

2010-07-12T07:26:00.001-07:00

had a great weekend in NJ for the bikeathon from Philly to NJ - 70 freaking miles.. surprisingly i dont hurt that much and am contemplating walking to yoga here soon.. it was soooo fun though and I was really excited to join the petrillo/poumade bunch on this annual feat.. i hope to return next year for sure and plan on inviting myself just as i did this year haha.. maybe we'll convince mike! it was a blast and i def recommend it!
post race lunch...

post-race beer.. very necessary! finish line.. PHEW!

super awesome rest stops along the way. ate my way through it :)

trying to get motivated for the next leg of the race.. and karoke singing to steph all along the way for some motivation. she should hire me for her wedding, i have a beautiful voice hahaha. JK.

starting bridge in philly.. over 5,000 participants, great energy and vibes all around!

steph getting pumped!

right before we start - ahhhhhhh!

lance armstrong watch out .. you have been warned.

2010-07-10T04:39:00.000-07:00

I am heading out to a bike race that goes from Philly to Buena, NJ... 70 miles. I am doing this with my friend steph (mom's coworker) and nathan (fiance) + lots of steph's family. I'm ubber excited and hope for some good weather.. puhleaseeeeeee! Hopefully I come back in one piece! Mike is having a boys weekend of sports, beers, and world cup finals... he'll have a good one too but I will miss him!!

hi.

2010-07-09T06:09:00.000-07:00

having time off aint it's all cracked up to be when there's no one around. tough day.

holiday weekend fun.

2010-07-06T09:27:00.001-07:00

fun filled weekend together... jazz in the garden, vintage shopping, wine tasting, peach picking, eastern farmers and crafts market, lunch at matchbox with awesome table decor and greek yogurt, family visit / swooning over baby will, microbrew lunch, traveling, giggles, love, fun, hiking, swimming, sleeping, movies. jam packed.

Graduations.

2010-07-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

in no particular order.. 4 graduations in all. phew. i'm tired just posting these.

ready for round two mike? yup grad school bound.

fun days make summer worth it.

2010-07-01T13:54:00.001-07:00

i knocked out the urban outfitters sale with several new outfits that have a vintage flair. i'm pretty much loving vintage and am still on the look out for a vintage chalkboard and belt. dah. spent a lovely day shopping and having lunch with mom. then baked some goodies at home and dinner. followed with the twilight movie. eclipse. i actually have never seen any of the movies before or read the books but i did some googling before to get up to date. holy moly was it good and the men were delicious. i didnt tell mike about that part yet haha. had a blast with lo and her friends.

Best Day Ever.

2010-06-30T06:16:00.000-07:00

I got a lucky day to spend all of it with husband on Tuesday.. we went to my favorite store World Market.. in search of chalkboards, mason jars, and vintage. Followed by a yummy homemade salad - plus avocado of course. Next stop thrift stores in Georgetown - we absolutely love walking there! We tried the new Ice Berry probiotic yogurt... def a must do.. you can be ubber healthy and get fruits (mangos, berries, etc) or my usual fav gummi bears. After a long day of walking and enjoying the day.. it was a good one and I was of course passed out first :) Love days husband is home! xo

Triathlon.

2010-06-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

Ah triathlon weekend.. how much I rocked you. Friends and I went down to Richmond for our big event.. lunched and dinner with my brother Chris and his gf Kelly (adore her). Then prepared for the 500 m swim, 18.8 mi bike, and 5k run. What seems like not much is quite challenging when you start changing activities. It was a blast.. Chris was our cheering section (he even was there before 7 am! a much appreciated feat).. and as the race begun we all became separated.. but as I turned in to finish the biking.. my husband was there to surprise us! He is my biggest fan and I adore him.

Came home to these gorgeous flowers! I love summer and more importantly love husband. Thank you love.

And I kind of love you alot too miss zoey.

All in all blissful weekend. So much fun. Must do it again. Is it monday already? boo.

Note to self...

2010-06-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

working out in the sun is never fun.. i usually never commit myself to such things but for some reason today i thought biking would not be so bad... it was 100 degrees, i melted, and almost passed out. don't tell mike :)

GW Classic 10 miler done and BSN almost done!

2010-04-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Today we ran the infamous GW classic with a full morning of rain and humidity.. only to find that immediately when we finished the glorious clouds were gone and I'm annoyingly sitting in the office studying for finals tomorrow.. good news though - we had fun running and had a great time with Phil and Terri preparing a pasta pre-race meal and meeting up before the run this morning. Between Mike and I's 5 million pee breaks before the run - I'm pretty sure our friends think we have urinary tract infections! Haha. So proud of us - what a great run!

Tomorrow I will officially be done and done with finals for my BSN! I only hope this means good news from GW university and just as successful of a masters program. I'm kind of feeling like it's all meant to be - met a great nurse practitioner who has invited me on a unique opportunity to help establish programs in Kenya next spring and global health is the first course of GW's MSN program. Fingers crossed that this week brings good news (we know Mike is dying for me to stop checking my email and the mail incessantly!

Happy Birthday Mike!

2010-03-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to our most favorite person in the whole wide world! We are celebrating two weekends in a row haha.. this weekend for dinner/drinks with family followed by a half marathon in va beach with hopefully some beautiful weather! Then next weekend I made reservations for this fabulous bar in DC near John and Lo's where a bunch of us are getting together for some awesome drinks and food! Happy Birthday Mike - we love you xoxoxoxo

- Jenn and Zoey :)

food inc.

2010-01-16T12:25:00.000-08:00

after watching the much anticipated "food inc." movie.. our new house project is investigating CSAs and researching more about the US food industry.. we highly recommend this movie as it was incredibly eye-opening and definitely a pledge for many to join the green leafy group! it's amazing how much power there is in knowledge. now let's hope the gov't can pass some bills to let us know what they are putting in our bellies!

Friends..

2010-01-11T04:56:00.000-08:00

Had loads of fun the rest of break... visited with lots of friends from nursing school, labor and delivery, katie from chicago (sorry best nickname ever), miss petrillo, rach, and our all friends in the area who we've been mia with during the school year.. mike's resolution this year is to be mister social butterfly again :) and i will hopefully get school/work figured out. we have lots of fun ahead and cant wait!

Happy Birthday CJ!

2009-12-30T06:14:00.000-08:00

Happy 22nd Birthday to my brother- wishing you a wonderful year filled with grad school opportunities in Colorado! We celebrated at a brewery of course where he enjoyed beers made with 18% alcohol and lots of silly conversation. Today we are going indoor rock climbing for his birthday gift from mike and i :) I will be joining him on this adventure while I think Mike opted out, but maybe there's still room to convince him hehe.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

Say hello to our little burrito Zoey. She loves it when I dress her up and bother her :)

We had a fun and relaxing holiday - filled with loads of delicious food! We start the festivities at Camille's house for a visit with the Olinto's and extended family - Camille is so wonderful she made dishes that I could eat and they were amazing!!! We had a great time catching up with everybody and I'm slightly obsessed with Princess Phoebe :) haha. Congrats to Mel and Jon on their new addition that will be arriving soon after April, but we're crossing our fingers for March on Mel's behalf :) we miss you already!

We went to xmas eve mass in downtown DC which is always really beautiful and hosted xmas eve with surf and turf per the usual tradition.. then had a relaxing and movie filled xmas day and stayed over at my parents for the night (who knew that apples to apples game could be so intense!) haha..we also opened some presents from family that could not be with us.. we definitely were spoiled this year (santa brought me a new wardrobe - he is too good to me!). Following xmas - we did a family movie day and celebrated cj's 22nd birthday last night at a pub of course!

mom and the boys (left), cj and his ridiculous hat (right)

we attempted to go rock climbing but the computer hated me and ended up not signing us up boo.. so we opted for lost dog lunch instead! also on the 23rd - cj and i took GREs, i got my hair done, we did a soup kitchen, and ended with dinner at our favorite french family style restaurant bistro du coin!

Snow Blizzard 2009!

2009-12-19T17:02:00.000-08:00

We had loads of fun spending the weekend snowed in together. Here are some hilarious videos of Zoey frolicking in the snow and where I accidentally told her that her boyfriend Eli was outside (well one of two boyfriends, Casper did not make an appearance yesterday). She absolutely lovess lovessss the snow and so do we! It was a gorgeous winter wonderland filled with yummy wine and tasty guacamole! xoxoxo

We are done... finally.

2009-12-14T08:19:00.000-08:00

So we have finally finished the dreaded semester and Mike is officially done with his school program forever! Congrats!!! It was a doozy - 14 hour days of studying for me and long work days followed by late nights that ended in the wee hours of the AM for him.. I'm pretty sure we'll both be sleeping as much as possible for the next month or so.

We also ran a half marathon together (Mike's first!) on Sunday. It was joyously filled with sleet/freezing rain, monster hills (or as we call mountains), and a twisted ankle at mile 1.5 (I am pretty sure the only reason I continued running was because I couldn't feel my feet 10 minutes into our run). We finished it nonetheless and that was our goal. We celebrated with pizza and beer obviously :) and a job well done.

Now onto the rest of the holiday season - it will be filled with lots of GRE studying and application completing on my end (I can hardly hold back the excitement), soup kitchen service in DC, and some relaxation and fun times since we've been missing in action forever and a half. For now we're gonna recoup and loosen up from yesterday haha. Cheers xoxo.

PS Happy Birthday Becky - I hope you have a wonderful day filled with loads of fun and smiles :) xo

So Thankful...

2009-11-28T15:13:00.001-08:00

Thankful for wonderful friends, family, and health and happiness!

Today was a tough day - just lots of things going on and not enough time. It reminded me of how thankful I personally am for my husband because he always believes in me and helps take the load off of cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping even though he has no more time than me. And my friend Katie who has supported me throughout nursing and put me in contact with wonderful opportunities and not to mention helped make me smile a little more today. Lastly, for my cousin Chrissie who is truly an angel and one of my biggest supports throughout nursing school - she was so kind and compassionate to provide me with experiences before nursing school to make sure I wanted to become a nurse and during nursing school to observe and volunteer with nurse practitioners. Not to mention - we had the most amazing time with her and her husband talking over beer and wonderful food. I look forward to my graduation day because I know she will be there for me and has been such a positive impact in my life and I am forever grateful.

Just thankful and smiling big :)

What a few weeks...

2009-11-18T13:12:00.000-08:00

Haven't been on here in a while.. it's been insane (that is a VERY nice way of saying it).. I kind of am spinning and dying at the same time between doing well in school, applying to school, applying for jobs, keeping with training for a half marathon.. basically this picture describes me in more ways than I can count.

So this would be the appropriate expression a few weeks ago as I was utterly and most definitely shocked to find a birthday surprise party for me.. and I generally had the most awkward expression ever as people who know me well know that I don't usually like the attention on myself like that but I wholeheartedly welcomed it! I have a wonderful and amazing husband who invited all our friends and even my brothers came (not to mention cooked, decorated, etc).. I felt so loved and it was truly an amazing weekend after such a horrible week!

The following weekend one of my best friends from college came to visit and we went running, visited Georgetown and got crazy on the town and my brother Chris came too :) My good friend Leota was amazing and made reservations for food and drinks and the whole night - I owe her a mani/pedi haha.. she showed us THIS AMAZING bar.. that I highly recommend - think speakeasy back in the prohibition period meets cozy, sexy, outdoor firepit bar with homemade spirits and drinks, amazing.. check it out: www.thegibsondc.com

We ended the weekend with brunch with the parents and Rach.. they treat her like another daughter!

birthday pants.

2009-11-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

so this year brought a very unmerry birthday filled with studying and clinical all day which makes for a very tired birthday girl.. mike did make dinner which was super nice but it just all felt off.. however he did buy me the best birthday i have ever seen...

"happiness is like peeing in your pants. everyone can see it - but only you can feel its warmth. it's your birthday - let your happiness show"

and you know what sometimes i need a little more sunshine so maybe i'll try peeing in my pants. i'm not sure many would be surprised :) haha

thanks all the birthday love - sorry i am ridiculously unavailable (i'm pretty sure my parents were going to call the police considering they didnt hear back from till 830 pm last night). xo.

Tips for a Better Life...

2009-10-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

from the "skinny bitch" diva....

1. don't say "yes" when you mean "no" - it'll make you resentful, say what you mean and mean what you say.

2. when driving, if someone wants to get in front of you, let them. And do it with a smile. It'll make their day better and it'll make you feel good - you just changed the world

3. try to make a gratitude list each day - include big and little things. invite your friends to make their own lists; you can email one another each day, sharing your gratitude

4. don't be a problem solver when a friend just wants you to be a listener

5. call your family. sometimes, a 5 minute phone call is all they need to feel loved.

6. be a good neighbor: be considerate inside and outside your home/apt so your noise doesn't bother those around you. that includes opening and closing your front door quietly.

7. pee in the shower. if we each did this once a day, it would save an enormous amount of water and toilet paper (trees).

8. write a "fan letter" - tell someone you know or you've never met, why you admire them. you'll make someone's day.

9. curve your jealousy. be happy for others.

10. be willing to be wrong. if someone has a grievance with you, really try to see their point of view. if called for - apologize. it's hard to do but it feels really good and makes life so much easier.

11. if you are in a room with someone you don't know, introduce yourself right away. it takes away the social discomfort immediately.

12. pick a cause close to your heart and get involved. you don't have to quit your job and dive in headfirst. just get involved on some level and do what you can when you can. go slightly beyond your comfort zone but don't overextend yourself.

13. be a good friend to your friends. tell them what's good about them, that you appreciate them, and make the effort to spend time with them.

14. go vegetarian. animals raised and slaughtered for food suffer immeasurably.

15. do your best to think good thoughts. they affect your health, happiness, and the people around you.

16. do something frivolous for someone you love (doesn't have to be extravagant). it feels so good to do nice things for other people, it's almost selfish!

17. practice accepting compliments. the person complementing you is giving you a gift - receive it graciously, even if it is difficult.

18. be generous with your compliments - don't blow smoke up anyone's ass. just say nice things when they occur to you.

19. forgive those who have wronged you. holding onto anger and resentment poisons your body and your life. there are no benefits in staying mad. let go. it's okay.

20. forgive yourself. it's okay to be imperfect and to have made mistakes. try to do better, that's all.

Happy Birthday Zoey!

2009-10-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to our little Zoey! She officially turned 1 years old yesterday and of course Mike bought her special cookies from Dogma bakery to celebrate. We can't believe a year has flown by!

Run Down..

2009-10-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Some days I think most of us would just rather lay in a field of sunflowers as we get easily bogged down and drained by all the insanity of our daily lives. Today is one of those days. Not enough sleep, long clinical day followed with another full day of studying like crazy for exams, attempting to continue my training for the half marathon in December (who gets mad at themsevles at 5 am when they only could run 4 miles?), pretending to be awake to hang out with Mike and Zoey..blah.

Just when I thought I had room to complain I researched around this website and found this truly inspiring story of a young woman suffering from an incurable form of cancer.. only to find hope, peace, and love. Her stories reads to many - finding balance in our lives, bringing the ying and yang back, eating only natural foods (ie. vegetarian - did I tell you I'm back on the band wagon?), loving with all your heart, and being happy. It was amazing, a must read/watch.

http://www.crazysexylife.com/

Keep on running..

2009-10-15T16:16:00.000-07:00

My husband and mom are so fabulous.. we all know that ... but little do many know that they are such avid sportsfans! They spent the entire weekend a few weeks ago now cheering us on at running events! Kyle had a varsity cross country meet (the man's got legs that go for miles haha) and then they cheered me on at the 30,000 participant army 10 miler (they both were so kind to get up at 5 am with me - thankssssss)! i did much better than i expected (8:40 min/mile - i am very proud of that considering all the binging related to stress i had been doing haha)..and who could possibly end a bog without a picture of our little zoey bug.. who turns 1 years old soon! yikes! she currently loves destroying paper towels :) ... next up world cup soccer game and fun with my brother chris and his gf! yay! xoxoxo - j, m, z

Whitlow's on a Wednesday...

2009-10-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Mikeo's birthday at Whitlow's last night... nothing screams happiness and birthdays like a nice beer on a cold Wednesday night... we enjoyed some delicious beverages and some wonderful company!

Happy Birthday Mikeo - welcome to the dirty 30's.

Quote.

2009-09-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

"Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90% chance or a 50% chance or a 1% change, but you have to beleive, and you have to fight."

- lance armstrong

nursing potluck (and mike and zoey and tim!)

2009-09-16T04:13:00.000-07:00

mac mcanally concert with chrissie and the fam!

2009-09-07T17:55:00.000-07:00

so lucky to have been called by chrissie this past week to attend the mac mcanally concert at the state theater. mac plays in the coral reefer band with jimmy buffett and was absolutely amazing! it was soo good to catch up with chrissie and the rents over some amazing music! thank you so much guys - what an awesome way to start the weekend!!! xo

erin and dave's blissful weekend

2009-09-07T17:19:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was amazing and the pics speak for themselves.. unfortunately I am beyond too tired to be putting these in order so I'll provide play by plays haha... erin and dave saying their bows, amazing scenery at the veritas vineyard in charlottesville...
Erin's dad walking her down the aisle.. she looked gorgeous and despite hair run through fiascos, her hair of course was to die for amazing!!!

Well as we all know the wedding started with a fabulous weekend two weeks ago to vineyards with a bunch of girls... definitely trouble ;) but also an amazing weekend!

here comes bride and groom to their grand exit from such a fun filled and gorgeous evening (couldnt have been better weather)..

Dave, erin, jenn and mike

nice dance paty going on.. yup im married to the guy on the right with the bullwinkle horns, real sexy.

friends! jenn, katey and lo xo

mikeO, jeff, and craig - obviously having fun :)

all the boys together sans the groom..

us outside the vineyard.. mike had the most expensive pee break earlier that day.. basically he went to the bathroom and when he came out leota and i found a nice little pink dress for me to buy hehe :) now doesnt he wish he had just waited!

katey, jenn, and Lo outside.. so gorgeous

buds..

Thanks to Mr and Mrs Bates - we got our picture before the wedding outside their cabin..

In her crate she goes....

2009-08-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

sometimes we have to remind ourselves why we have a dog... especially when it's a monday and zoey has decided that she wants to eat and shred up an entire roll of toilet paper.. and youve been up since 530 am at the pediatric unit... ah gee

Boston

2009-08-21T13:15:00.001-07:00

We snuck in a quick photo when we went to Great Falls just before I left for Boston... we had a quick visit to the falls but fun nonetheless! :) My two favorites xoxo
I had a great time catchin up with Mel, Jon, Baby Jack, and Bacci this past week... we spent the time playing at the park, visiting the beach, delicious lunches, pedicures, running along the river, kickboxing class, yummy dinners, and lots of Dunkin Donuts coffee (currently my vice to get through a day filled with lots of activities and lots of running around with baby Jack haha - so much fun). I had this grand plan to take all these pics but we were having too much fun that I forgot! So here is all I have :) Thank you guys so much for letting me stay with you, definitely was a great visit and so happy to catch up and play with baby Jack! xoxoxoxoxo

Summer Beach Trips 2009

2009-08-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

Well we definitely had an amazing beach trip this year - between Emerald Isle, Carolina Beach, and Wrightsville Beach.. I'd say we had enough beach for a while (at least our freckled pale skin says so haha). We were lucky enough to bring Zoey along for the exciting times to the beach house my parents rented and let me tell you the girls LOVES the beach. She makes a bee-line and drags you there whether you want her to go there or not. We had many good times with the family and it was good to finally catch up considering how awfully busy and insane our summer school sessions were. After Emerald Isle, my parents and Kyle were kind enough to watch Zoey for a few days while we visited with our friends Ashlee and Reid! CJ came with us and as you can tell there was much fun had by all! We really had an awesome time :) Can we go back now? xoxoxo

Beach bums...

2009-08-07T04:22:00.000-07:00

Well well well.. we are concluding our time here in emerald isle, nc and on to visit our best friends ashlee and reid for what is now looking to be an extra day with them.. yay! a nice 4 night visit will do the trick haha :) we had fabulous times in emerald isle filled with delicious seafood, mini golf, beautiful beach days, walking zoey around for miles in the water, running, etc.. zoey absolutely loved the beach.. she always made a bee-line for the beach in the morning.. it'll be sad to go but definitely a great week! thanks mom and dad :) cj, mike, and i will be headed in the car this morning while my parents and kyle are so awesome that they decided to babysit our pooch for a few days.. thanks guys! xoxoxo

update..

2009-08-01T19:46:00.001-07:00

lots to catch up on... pics from top to bottom - cathy's birthday, bbq with nursing friends, trip to charlottesville, mom's birthday with the girls, and trip to richmond... i mean we did have some fun despite all this school :) (and a very LONG semester it was - i think we did a good 2 weeks with no meals together boo)

next up in store for us is some much needed R&R at NC beaches then I'm lucky enough to go for a visit with Mel, Jon, baby Jack, and Bacci - such an exciting break I can hardly contain myself! Mike gets to the beach on Tuesday and Zoey and I as well as the rest of the fam are counting the days till he gets here - cant wait! xoxoxoxo

Blog slacker...

2009-06-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

So must to post since summer sess has started... we went to Charlottesville, visited Richmond (my fav place - enjoyed PB and banana wraps for breakfast = awesome), celebrated Katie's graduation, spent time with the Olinto's and Guryansky's, wished Mommy a very wonderful 50th birthday, and moved into our new place in Arlington. Pictures to follow soon!

By the way - summer school is AWFUL. We are both even more busier than before, who would of thought? We are counting down the days till graduation even if it is a year away and then some. Haha.

We made it!

2009-05-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

So far we have received 3 out of 5 grades and have passed with better than expected grades. When I say we I mean nursing girls. We have been suffering from eating too many carbs, creating ulcers in our tummies, and releashing our frustration on our dearest ones these past few weeks. Needless to say this much needed mini vacay to C-ville is starting tomorrow and it cannot come soon enough. Wine tasting, hiking, yummy b-fasts, comfy sheets.. can't go wrong.

In other wonderful news.. a new baby was welcomed into this world... Mister Hayden Titus of Indy! Beautiful baby boy that we cannot wait to hug and kiss ASAP (ruth are you reading this??? ASAP!!! :) hahaha) we cannot wait to meet the little guy!

xoxoxo till wed which i hope brings good news for 2 more classes.. :)

Miss them...

2009-04-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

so the countdown begins.. exactly 7 days from now I should be able to breathe for once in a very long time.. i have been spending 12-18 hour days it seems taking last minute exams, studying, and just plain drowning in nursing material. mike and zoey luckily have each other because i have been home beyond my bed time most nights for a long time. so ready for a break and most importantly sleep.

for now i'll keep my eyes barely open in class and dream of sleeping here and celebrating our 2nd anniversary very soon on our mini get-a-away - charlottesville! we just thought we'd take care of our hearts really well by enjoying lots of wine on our break :)

last but NOT least! gw classic 10 miler this weekend with CJ - wish us luck because it's the 1st very long run he and i have done since the infamous knee injury. yikes!

new favorite website...

2009-04-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

a nursing school friend recommended this website and i am obsessed: http://www.alwaysorderdessert.com/
while sitting in class (obviously not paying attention to class) - they have this picture and i am dying for some pancakes, dont worry my diet always starts tomorrow (as my dad would say):

i so agree with the title of the blog, when in doubt dessert is always a good choice - especially these days with stress.

Zoey's day full of fun.

2009-04-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

Zoey girl before..
The little fluff ball afterwards.. couldn't help but hysterically laugh at the naked dog we own. I don't know if that is rude to groomers or not, but I couldn't help myself. She did get a cute bandana out of it, which I'm never taking off.. although Mike might feel de-masculated with the bandana dog, but I try to remind him that he does own a labradoodle. I mean Perez Hilton owns one, how can manly can we be?

Lastly, we finished the day with a nice big vaccine from the vet. Thinking she would be tired and ready to lounge, I got out her bed. Nope. She's been digging into the pillow for 30 minutes while I'm trying to read about people's colons. Awesome.

That's all. Back to colons.

Oh Celia you're breaking my heart...

2009-04-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

Mom and I spent the afternoon with the most gorgeous baby girl - Miss Celia Jane Herman. Momma Chrissie and Celia make a perfect pair of Herman ladies. It was sooo wonderful to meet her and catch up! I probably held Celia for oh 50% of the visit hahaha.. I did not want to let the little peanut go.. she is adorable and I had to post pictures! Can't wait to see Chrissie and baby Celia very soon - thank you so much for letting us visit! xoxoxoxoxoxo

Holistic NP program...

2009-04-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here tickled pink with excitement because after researching holistic NP programs (nurse practitioner), instead of studying pathophysiology (yes I'm so burned out my priorities are lacking this week).. I found out that Tennessee State offers it ONLINE! Praise the lord. Mike and I have been talking about what the future holds and how I'll stay in school another year to do my NP and how the only program I'm really excited about is found at NYU and Tennessee. So it is so awesome to hear that I can do it online - miracle willing that I get through the BSN program now! I cannot wait to see what the future holds, and am so excited. Holistic care all the way! Yay!

Thank You - Cath and Max!

2009-04-05T05:05:00.000-07:00

Last night we enjoyed a delicious dinner at our favorite Cafe Asia in Rosslyn/Arlington area with Cathy and Max. It was sooo nice to finally catch up and enjoy some of their yummy food! Thank you both so much, it was such an awesome night and what a treat! (we continued the infamous celebration of Mike turning 27 also hahaha).. cheers!

xoxoxoxoxo

Updated pics of our furry child :)

2009-04-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

So let's start with the most recent because there are a lot on here :)
Zoey enjoys games like "I will make you chase me because I have your socks" or "I will get your flipflop if you do not pay attention to me"

Zoey didn't want to me study any more pathophysiology and I agreed.

As you can see, she has decided that the word "off" has no meaning to her

This pic is hilarious because we discovered that she is set in her schedule of 10 pm bedtime and when I had a million tests and had to stay up till midnight most nights she would get really bitchy when it was her bedtime and we were not ready.. so every time we walked to the bathroom she'd jump in bed and look at us like "okay people what we are doing here, it is bedtime, i am ready. if you dont go soon i will start barking. i warned you." hahaha

She hearts peanut butter. So do I. I am currently competing with an animal for the peanut butter stash in the house. Awesome.

She also hearts many different forms of shoes. She decided the Mike shouldn't run that day haha

I am studying hard and Zoey is sleeping as usual. Lucky.

Snow day! She is obsessed with the snow and since she was hurt it was like a living hell to prevent her from galloping around.

She also enjoys making her presence known to the poor joggers around our lake.

She has had to endure organic chicken and organic rice meals when she is sick. Somehow none of it gets in her stomach.

Mike said he accidentally left the dryer open and go figure t-minus 10 seconds later we have...

We will be charging mike's client for reimbursement for the following services. Just kidding.

In honor of earth day...

2009-04-04T09:56:00.001-07:00

we are going green! we celebrated earth hour last weekend by turning out our lights for an hour and what a difference it made. most know i love this kind of stuff hahaha. but in honor of earth day coming up, i am hoping to convince mike and i to attend the national mall event that is coming up. if you're ever in dc you should really check it out - they have demos, information, skills, etc.. so coool. check out the envirolink website because it has stuff for everyone to do something on earth day: http://earthday.envirolink.org/

another funny story is that I signed up for PETA one day because I wanted to join this raffle to win the Skinny Bitch workout dvds.. haha. I know bad reason, so PETA sends me some "interesting" articles and the latest is these home address stamps with my name on them. Look out for them in the mail because they are hilarious - with little animals that have sad faces.. or maybe I shouldn't send them in case the mailman comes after me.. oh bad joke :)

Mike's Face and Zoey are famous!

2009-03-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well not really but they made the breeder's website as they should because they are both pretty damn cute if I do say so myself...

http://virginialabradoodle.com/previouslitters.html

now back to writing a paper on nursing "shit" work.. yes i realized i had a major typo well before turning it in.. thank god!!!

Weekend...

2009-03-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

So Mike and I were busy busy this weekend as usual.. but we did get to participate in something most would never guess I would go back to.. a soccer practice! Unfortunately I threw out my cleats when I tore my ACL so I am contemplating getting kids ones again we shall see. It really was more of a social thing because my two friends from nursing school found a VT alumnae team and we go there and Mike ends up knowing a few people even from growing up! It turned out to be a good time, but I definitely was like a deer in the headlights for some of it. On other news - I have not been able to work at L&D for a few weeks now and told them I need to be off the schedule until school simmers down which is looking like in between semesters. I am super bummed, but I really had no choice. This program is by far the most insane thing I've ever done - 14 hour days between class, clinicals, and studying on my own.. not to mention I must read at a snail's pace. Other than that we are doing well, same old here. Enjoying being home a little more to see each other because during the week is definitely not happening! Have a good week :)

2009-03-28T17:11:00.001-07:00

Risk for impaired social life related to nursing school commitments as evidenced by lack of time to have friends or do anything with the words f-u-n in them.

End note.

Update..

2009-03-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

So I have survived three weeks of several tests each week and am currently trying to get done 4 papers this weekend.. instead of doing them I am writing in the blog.. because I wanted to say a few things:

- I did not nor try to go to law school for a reason, much appreciation to my friends who are lawyers because you definitely rock at doing papers.. I on the other hand die at the thought of it
- I hate ants and any sort bug. I am supposed to be studying in the library but am instead flicking ants to far corners of the library which is probably a 100 degrees in here as well. Ugh.
- I am addicted to red bull. I will throw out a "what the efffffffff" saying because those of you who know me well.. know that I am a freak about organics, don't eat really any animal products, loathe fake sweetners and will tell you all the facts I have learned about them.. I mean for crying out loud Zoey has only had organic dog food and when sick organic chicken AND organic rice..
- I don't see anybody besides nursing students. I haven't had a single meal at home this week besides my nightly binge because I'm so stressed that the cortisol in my blood is making me crave carbs. Ok I'll stop.
- I am sick of the competition that school brings some times. I started this thing before class where you laugh out loud really loud because it makes you feel good and get good energy... it was hilarious.. because girls did a presentation on it the day before and it was ironic that we started doing it in class before our exam this morning.. watch the video.. you will pee your pants -->
•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eB3ISAYE-I&feature=related

Happy Birthday Mike!

2009-03-20T06:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Mike! (belated post) We had a great dinner out last night to celebrate Mike's birthday and it was nice to finally get out without the pooch! Hahaha. Unfortunately, I was ridiculously consumed with exams this week (very brutal - don't ask, I might cry) that he got a card, beer, and freshly baked scones for his birthday. Poor guy. Then he has birthday shenanigans this weekend of dinner, drinks with friends, and birthday lunches.. so the weekend is looking fun!!!!! Well I kid because I'm sure I'll be studying tonight and beyond.. ugh.

Say some prayers for me in nursing school because yesterday's exam almost cost me to start growing grey hairs. Yikes. But for now.. a very happy birthday to my favorite person in the whole world :) hehehe.

PS we ended the night with Grey's Anatomy, what awesome husband wouldn't do that! :)

MIA

2009-03-15T10:35:00.001-07:00

school is killing me.

Spring Break!!!

2009-02-27T14:12:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo spring break is finally here.. that means I at least will not be driving to Arlington every day... I will hopefully be playing with some friends and catching up since I've been such a hermit.. possibly convincing some people on sleep overs! hahaha... I am excited well somewhat, it also includes endless work and preparing for exams.. I got ubber excited about break then looked at my calendar for the next two months and sure enough it includes at least two exams per week not including papers and presentations.. that'll be a doozy but for now.. Im going to enjoy it :) and nurse my pooch.. yay!

We just can't win...

2009-02-25T07:16:00.000-08:00

lately these past two weeks Zoey has been on the outs with.. last week the vet basically overdosed her on vaccines and she had a severe adverse reaction... and just as she was getting better.. we were playing around last night and she got ubber excited and rammed her left shoulder in the corner of the wall and probably sprained it.. it was the most awful screams I have ever heard in my life.. we are starting to feel like bad doggy parents to our doggy toddler who is definitely rambunctious... ugh... so hopefully this week she will heal and no other problems!

I have spring break next week so I can stay home with her :) but I tell ya between all our stress with school and work and then this.. we need a good night's rest and some relaxation..