It's been TOO long!

My apologies for not blogging more, and I am going to try to be better about it!! Here's a little update on the past couple months - I'll try to include lots of pictures.

- - - SEPTEMBER- - -

My friend Alice from nursing school is in the Army and she was in Boston for a conference, so we met up for dinner. She brought a friend she met that day, Heath, who is also a nurse and in the Air Force. We had a lovely Italian dinner in the North End. It's always so good to meet up with friends from California!

Brian's dad came to visit and stayed for a week. Although I had to work a lot, we enjoyed having him here and Brian loved spending quality time with him. We wandered about Boston...




...we napped on Bunker Hill
(my first time here! Brian went when Daniel visited in May)






...and we walked the Battle Road in Lexington and Concord. (A first for us all!)

Brian & his dad also visited the Adams National Historical Park/House, which they really enjoyed.




- - - OCTOBER- - -

We started off October by heading to Cohasset, MA for a retreat for Theology doctoral students and their spouses/significant others'. The retreat house is right on the water and is the coziest house ever! There is nothing like drinking wine and sitting by the wood-burning fire, talking to wonderful friends. It was a beautiful weekend with some beautiful people. We were very thankful that I was fortunate enough to get 3 days off in a row, allowing us to retreat for the entire weekend.

The picture on the left is me with two of our favorite couples - Conor & Kate, and Ben & Tara. We spent Saturday afternoon walking around the small town of Cohasset town and this is a pic of us eating some whoopie pies!

We came across a little obstacle in our path on the way back to the retreat house - the tide had come in, blocking the one road that leads to the house.













It was a wonderful weekend of relaxation, prayer, and fellowship. I really enjoyed getting to know some of Brian's classmates too. At the end of the retreat, we were helping clean things up (part of our youth ministry nature I guess) and we stumbled upon the biggest book ever! Look at that thing!







The wonderful Wintheiser's were visiting a friend in Cape Cod, so we drove down and had dinner with them. It was our first visit to the Cape and it was a memorable one. Mike & Angie drove us around a bit and gave us a little tour of some of the Cape. It's beautiful down there and the beach was perfect (although it was quite windy and cold!). Here's a picture of us at the Chatham Lighthouse.

We went back to the house (which is the vacation home for Angie's childhood friend, Bev) and she and her husband were making a perfect lobster dinner. They had a lobster for everyone and one of them was a biggie! We held it while it was still alive and it was heavy!!! I want to say it was about 5 lbs? That was our first time holding a live lobster - thankfully his claws were still banded together!




Here is Mike with the lobster after it came out of the hot tub.

And the beautiful dinner table (by the way, she made the best homemade Caesar salad dressing EVER!)

After dinner we sat by the fire in the back - it was so peaceful and it felt like we were in the middle of the woods. It was such a wonderful evening!!!
Brian got sick the following week, which resulted in a trip to the ER one evening. He's been having chronic headaches for a while now and we were worried about meningitis when he woke up with fatigue and stiff neck. The ER ruled out meningitis and sent him home with pain meds. The next day he had nausea and vomiting all day but thankfully started to feel better at the end of the night. He woke up the next day - still with the headache, but no more flu-like symptoms, so he headed to the airport to pick up Dick, our long time friend from youth ministry who came to spend the weekend with us. I worked the first day, so Brian took him around town. I was off the next couple days, so the first day we drove to New Hampshire to see some fall colors. We just picked a random place on a map, drove there and found somewhere to have lunch. Then our friend Conor, who's from NH, suggested we drive to Mount Monadnock, so we went there and did some hiking. This is a picture from the top of the mountain...on the other side you could see Boston on the horizon. It was a beautiful place for hiking and we saw some great fall foliage there. Afterwards, we headed to the Boston Seaport for seafood.
We had a great day.

The following day we went to see the Head of the Charles Regatta - an annual world rowing race that takes place on the Charles River in Cambridge. I was super excited because there were lots of vendors handing out free stuff/food, which ended up being our lunch that day. It was fun and I just love checking out events like this around Boston!

We then just wandered about Boston, looking in antique shops, strolling through the peaceful Public Garden, and eating Italian dinner in the North End. After dinner, we went to the Top of the Hub, the 52nd floor of the Prudential Center for drinks...but we soon discovered that we could just get pictures of the view (what we really wanted) without spending a dime. So instead, we headed to Finale, our favorite dessert place. A lovely ending to a lovely visit! :)

The last week of October was going to be spent with my grandparents visiting, but my grandma got sick and they couldn't make it afterall. :( So, this pretty much sums up September and October! We keep ourselves busy and are enjoying all that Boston has to offer (which is a lot!).

My 28th Birthday

For my 28th birthday, Brian and I drove to Ipswich about an hour away, North of Boston. We have heard that Crane beach (in Ipswich) is very beautiful and have been wanting to check it out, so we headed there for the day. The picture above is of us sitting on a log where we stopped to do some people watching. The sand was very soft! And the depth of the sand

Then we walked along the beach, finding several of these (on left). Some research tells me that these are dead jellyfish ~ interesting!! Brian enjoyed squishing them with his feet haha.

We walked along some of the trails off of the beach and came across some beautiful cliffs and also Castle Hill & Crane Estate from the early 1900's. We just walked around the property, enjoyed the views and continued on the trails. Some wildlife we saw were a beaver, turkeys, and a snake.

After the beach we drove to the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary for some hiking. We walked the Drumlin Trail, which was about a mile around. It was about 5 pm, cooling off, and getting dark, ~ we were the only people in sight. It was so peaceful and beautiful! We saw several frogs, which would jump right out from under our feet, and a few white-tailed deer. We will have to go back there one day when we have more time to hike.

Then it was time for dinner. Brian made reservations at the 1640 Hart House, which was founded in 1633 and is one of the oldest houses in the country. The dining areas are in different rooms of the house, including the upstairs. We sat in what appeared to be a living room. It's a neat place and the food was great!

To end my beautiful birthday, we went to Finale for dessert. It's this amazing desserterie not too far from home. It was a spectacular finale for a wonderful day!!

For some more pictures of my lovely day, check out my online album:

My 28th Birthday

Summertime!

At the Harpoon Brewery

WOW! I just realized I haven't posted anything in almost 2 months!! It's definitely time for some updates:

VISITORS - 2 of our groomsmen, Ed & Eddie, visited us for a week in August. Unfortunately I had to work almost every day, but Brian was able to go out exploring and touring with them. On my day off, we drove down to Newport, RI to see the Newport Mansions there, which were quite amazing. Here is a little slide show of their visit:

Then, the weekend after the guys left, our good friend Joe stopped by to visit. He was on his way to Bermuda for work, so he stopped here for the night and met us for dinner. We went to the North End for some amazing Italian food. :)

OUT & ABOUT: We went to the Harpoon Brewery with some friends a few weekends ago. That was my first brewery experience (Brian has been to the Sam Adams brewery twice now) - neither of us are big beer people, but it was still fun to sample and learn about/see the process. My favorite was probably the raspberry beer or cider, but they also had pumpkin and several other beers.

After the brewery we went to watch a cliff diving competition that was being held in the harbor. They were jumping off of a high building (the Institute of Contemporary Art) and landing in the harbor. It was very impressive! Here are a few pics from that event:

WORK - things are going very well at the VA and it is looking like they are going to be hiring us all (new grads) on full time! That's wonderful!! I have been working independently for about 2 months now and it has been such a wonderful, challenging experience. I am still working my per diem mental health jobs whenever possible, but that isn't too often. I usually work 5 8-hour (evening) shifts a week at the VA, which keeps me busy enough.

SCHOOL - Brian took German this summer - he has to learn how to read German and French (the latter will be next summer's course). He is anxiously awaiting for the semester to start after Labor day...such a good student. I love that he loves school/learning so much. :)

Lately

Last month my step-mom's aunt and uncle (Jim & Fran) were visiting Cape Cod, so they drove into the city to meet us for lunch. We ate at the Union Oyster House, which is America's oldest (still-operating) restaurant - really cool place with good food. The Kennedy's ate there often and we sat right across from "The Kennedy Booth". This is a picture of us at lunch - Jim and Fran are next to me and their traveling buddies are next to Brian.

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We had a picnic and went hiking in the Arnold Arboretum with our friends Ben and Tara.

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Thankfully I had the weekend of our anniversary off. So, we celebrated our 1st anniversary by taking a little trip (in our fabulous new car) to Portsmouth, NH. It's a cute little town on the harbor, right next to Maine. We just walked around the town, shopping in the cute stores, went to Kittery, Maine for a lobster dinner (for Brian), and got hour long massages the next day. We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel and they left us some nice chocolate covered strawberries and champagne. On our way home, we drove through New Castle, NH, which is apparently the smallest town in NH and is entirely on islands. We saw some of the cutest houses there - I could move there in a second! Unfortunately we were focused on driving and I didn't get many pictures though. To end our trip, we stopped to have dinner at Hibachi Japanese Steakhouse. It was just like being back home :) We are certain there are places like these in Boston - we just haven't found them yet. Here are some pictures from our anniversary trip:

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I had to work on the 4th of July in the evening, so we had a picnic lunch in the park with our friends Chris and Cate. We also were housesitting the beagles, Lily & Molly over the weekend, which is A LOT easier to do with a car now. Their house is about 15 min walk from the subway stop, so it was kind of a pain getting there before.

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Lastly, I've been working a ton! After our anniversary weekend, I worked 8 days straight (between VA and Whidden) and then had 1 day off before starting a row of 12 work days. On my day off, we went downtown and wandered around as usual. We went to a cupcake shop that we've heard lots about and got mini cupcakes which were amazing. Then we walked on the bridge over the Charles River - it was a beautiful summer day in Boston. To end the fun on my day off, we had dinner at a nice modern restaurant in Newton (something we couldn't do before because we didn't have a car). So, now I am on day 3 of my 12 day stretch. Things are going really well at work - I am officially working on my own, no more orientation at the VA. I am working as an RN for real now - 2.5 yrs after getting my license! HA! And I only have 3 more days of orientation at Whidden and then I will be working per diem there. So, things are going very well over here!!

Work Life

I have been working at the VA for a month now and things are going great. I really love the unit I am on, which is a surgical/telemetry unit. Everyone is so nice and helpful which makes all the difference. It is a full time job and has been quite exhausting. The past few weeks I have been on day shifts, but next week I will start on evenings. Because I won't get out until midnight, we needed to get a car so that I can get home safely. So, on Saturday we went car shopping with our friends Angel and Dan, and we got a 2011 Subaru Legacy. It has all wheel drive which was what made us so interested. We wanted a sedan with AWD, but they are hard to find (especially ones within our budget). Brian picked the car up on Monday while I was at work and it was such a great feeling to drive it to work on Tuesday! I am able to sleep in an extra 1.5 hrs and get home 1.5 hrs earlier - I was taking 3 different buses to/from work! So, the car is going to make working much easier, especially with my 4 jobs.

Last weekend I was off from the VA so I worked at Whidden to start my evening shift orientation. Therefore, tomorrow will be my 11th day of work in a row!!! That's insane in my book. (Although, I think I did 12 in a row a couple months ago). I really like having the variety of nursing experiences among my 4 jobs and I am trying to keep them all for the time being. Soooo thankful for these opportunities!!

Recent Visitors

Brian's mom came to visit us and stayed with us for 10 days. The day after she arrived, our friend Daniel came for the weekend. The first day I was working, so Brian took them along the Freedom Trail, and then we went to our first Red Sox game that night. On Saturday the guys went to the Samuel Adams Brewery and I wandered around town with my mother-in-law. We met up with the guys and toured around some more, stopping by Harvard. Daniel left the following day and we just went all around the different areas of Boston with Brian's mom. We had such a great time with them!! And the following week I received a message from a friend back home saying he and his girlfriend were in Boston for a few days, so they came over one night for dessert. It was such a nice, unexpected surprise visit! As I am sure I have mentioned before, we have met some really wonderful people here, but we also miss our California friends and family a LOT! Thus, it was so great being able to spend this time with them and we look forward to having more visitors this summer!

Things I Miss...

Besides my family and friends, there are a few other things I miss about living in California:

1. When I ran for exercise rather than to catch a bus.
2. When Johnnie was a person's name, not a hospital gown.
3. I still am trying to figure out where "pocketbook" came from...how is that the same as a purse?!
4. When streets were given names other than Harvard and Washington, and where traffic lights/intersections actually had street signs so you knew where you were going. Oh, and they lit up there too!
   
5. Missing R's (such as "cah" =car, "ova"=over) and Added R's - the one that kills me the most is "Idear"=idea, but I've noticed the extra R on a lot of things ending in A (including my last name). They also add R's to words that are already difficult to say, such as "withdrawral", "drawrers" (drawers). It's like learning a whole new language sometimes! haha
6. When things were just "really good" instead of "wicked good", or "wicked weird"
7. The over-usage of "All Set" in Boston - there is always a place and time for "you all set" or "I'm all set". I kinda miss the chill/surfer Cali "I'm good".

Springtime

Easter Brunch Sangrias

Life's been busy (which is good!), so I haven't had much time to blog. We hope you had a very nice Easter! Our Easter was very nice - it was a beautiful day out, and we went to mass at a chapel downtown, where we had never been before. Then we met Angel, Dan, Amanda, & Josh for a tapas brunch. Soooo good!

Brian enjoying the bone marrow - his favorite tapas

The best corn on the cob ever!!!

Springtime here on the East Coast is gorgeous!! It truly is a wonderful symbol of resurrection and new life! The trees are no longer bare and now it is a lovely green all around. And the flowers are out of this world! I wish I had taken more pictures because some of the flowery trees have already lost a lot of flowers from the rain and wind. Here are a few pictures, but it is nothing like seeing it in person - the best part was watching the transition from naked to "dressed" trees. Quite amazing.

Boston Marathon

Marathon Monday was on April 18, Patriot's day here in Massachusetts (a holiday - no orientation for me or school for Brian). So, we headed down to Coolidge Corner to watch the marathon with some friends. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and there were a ton of people all over the streets - lots of support for the runners!! We had a lot of fun and witnessed the two best marathon times ever! So neat! Here is a slideshow of pictures:

4 jobs?!

We've been so busy - Brian's working on papers for the end of the semester and I have been working a lot. I started orientation at Whidden Hospital in Everett on April 4. The first week consisted of classroom style nursing orientation to learn the computer systems, policies and procedures, etc. After that week, I began orientation on the unit and have worked 4 days there. I am orienting to the unit with a nurse named Dawne and she is a really great, fun nurse.

There are some similarities to the Arbour Hospital, but also a lot of differences. From what I have seen the Whidden population seems a little bit less acute than what I see at Arbour, but I am sure that varies. The nurses at Whidden get about 8 patients and we have about 13 at Arbour. So far the commute to Everett hasn't been too bad either.

I've only worked 1 day at Arbour in the past couple weeks because I have been busy with orientation at Whidden, and I am working shifts at Bay Cove here and there when I can.

On April 5 I interviewed for a summer full time paid externship at the VA Hospital and I got it! I didn't prepare at all for the interview, which probably was helpful actually because I was way more relaxed. So, my externship starts May 9 and will be on a surgical floor (in neuro I think) - I am really looking forward to it (especially for the hands-on experience)! They hired 15 new graduates and there is a possibility of being hired at the end of the externship (maybe per diem or part time, depends on what's available).

So, things are good and I am very grateful for these job opportunities! I am going to try my best to keep the 3 per diems while doing the externship, hoping to work maybe a couple per diem shifts a month just so I don't forget everything I just learned in my orientations - haha. We will see how it all works out. I continue to put this all in God's hands!

I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed on Monday after my first day orienting on the unit at Whidden. I had thoughts of letting that job go since I had just started, but I really like that it is part of a hospital and I can move to other units later on as an internal employee. I also really like the staff I work with, which is huge. So, I am going to stick with it, but while I was on my way home, feeling overwhelmed, I decided to pull out my Lenten prayer book and do my afternoon prayer, which was this:

"Living God, I don't know why it keeps surprising me
that I can always endure more than I thought possible. ...
God, my friend, let me understand that - to live -
I must break myself up, or be broken, to share the pieces."
from More Daily Prayers for Busy People by William O'Malley

I felt it was so perfect for me that day and it reminded me that God has me right where I am supposed to be. And even though I have been wanting to have just 1 full time job for ease and convenience, God has provided me with 4 jobs to allow me to share myself with them all. :)