Ode to St Jude

Even though it is much belated, here are some pictures from my last days of work on 2 Main, the ortho/neuro "catch all" floor (those who work on the floor know what I mean!). I miss all the friend I made there. Yes, there were crazy days, but there were amazing people to help you through those days!

My great Manager, Tracey!

Susan, Me, Rosa...amazing nurses I must say...especially with the big "RN" tags!
This is Leslie, the amazing, beautiful Colombian who makes wonderful coffee and threatens to steal my "handsome" husband. =)
So these are some of the main "clowns" of 2 main!

Just a normal day at the monitor bank and nurses station!

The amazing Khanh and Raj!

Just some photo-op time at the nurses station. Yes, we are taking care of the patients!

Khanh, me and my amazing preceptor and "Mom Julie."

The Oregon Trail. =)

Well, we have successfully driven "The Oregon Trail," i.e. I-5 up to Medford. We drove up on Wednesday December 5th, the approximate 12 hr drive that it was. It was a good, uneventful drive. I enjoyed the "California CD" both leaving LA area and entering Oregon, and Tobin and I had fun talking over our two-way radios (thanks Andy).

I will add photos and more storied soon, but just didn't want my "avid readers" to go wanting of the newest story! We are alive and thriving and loving the grey, cold, wet climate we have now entered. It actually feels more like the Christmas season. =) We do miss our friends from LA. Though the traffic and craziness of life can get you in So. Cal. the people down there are great. And we miss you! Ok, well more to come later once I download my fun pictures.

Top 10 of So Cal

Top 10 Things I'll miss about So Cal:

1) Never worrying to check the weather before heading out the door - because 90% of the time it's either sunny or partly cloudy
2) Being able to run in shorts and a tank top in November!
3) The convenience of being able to pick from 5 Targets, 2 Walmart, 3 Trader Joes, etc to do my shopping at-all within a few miles of each other! (but just maybe it's a little bit of an overkill don't you think?)
4) In Long Beach-being one block away from the ocean!
5) The variety of food and restaurant choices
6) Leaving our windows open...the entire year long!
7) Being able to surf, swim, and boogie board in the ocean without feeling like your toes will freeze off.
8) Using my 1st grade Spanish, that may have graduated to 2nd grade Spanish at the Medical Clinic.
9) The memories, laughs, support, and "family" that I've made with other nurses on 2Main- "the Orthopedic/Neuro/Whatever-else-the hospital-doesn't-have-room-for-Floor"
10) The runs, laughs, memories, and good times I've had with friends I've made from all of Tobin's classmates

Top 10 Things I won't miss about So Cal:

1) Driving on the Crazy Freeways!
2) Breathing in smog laden air
3) Seeing views of only skyscrapers, cement, and buildings
4) In Pomona, Fearing for my life every time I went outside.
5) The fact that I can never wear my sweaters or down jacket
6) That everything shuts down and everyone stays inside with a slight "drizzle" here
7) Only being able to see one star in the sky at night. Oh wait, that's the moon I see...so pretty much seeing no stars at night
8) The price of rent and living in general
9) The constant sounds of cars, trains, traffic, machines, etc
10) Needing to drive hours to "get out of town"

Top 10 Things I've learned in So Cal:

1) Leaving just a mere 10 minutes later could mean an extra 30 minutes in commute time, due to traffic.
2) The best time to drive on the freeways is on Saturday and Sundays between 6-8am, after that who knows!
3) To get anywhere you have to be an aggressive driver; it's the only way to survive!
4) People keep their cars VERY clean and washed around here...and I secretly think it's because they almost live in them, they feel better when the car looks good!
5) So Cal looks at Oregonians as very remote, forest loving, slow paced individuals...even those from Portland, and believe me, even compared with Portland the pace down here is fast!
6) From a good friend, "If you hear gunshots, Hit the deck!"...instead of what I did-look out the window. Thank you Boom!!
7) The definition of "cold" apparently is below 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
8) To survive here you don't "cook" because life is too "busy" instead you either go out all the time or cook quick dinners.
9) Driving anywhere more than 15 minutes is considered "Far!"
10) Interstates or Highways are NOT called I-5, I-10, because you'd be saying "I" way to often. Instead the lingo is: "The 10, to the 57, to the 60, to the 55, to the 71, to the 710, to the 605, to the 91, to the 215, to the 15." And you must know the difference between all these to get anywhere!

One Year Older

My roomates surprised me when I got home from work.

The Yummy Fruit Tart we had! Yum!!

Well, on October 24, 2007, I (Christy) became one year older. Now I am a young (yep still young), wiser, more experienced 26 year old. But wow, do I ever have more learning and growing to do! =) My birthday was more of a week long celebration, which was very nice. I was surprised on Monday morning. I came in for work at the clinic to find my coworkers singing "Happy Birthday," and cinnamon rolls for breakfast (yumm!). Then at lunch time they took me out to Olive Garden. It was a day that was very sweet (between the cinnamon rolls and chocolate cake at Olive Garden...I think I need to run more miles!).

On my actually birth-day, I worked at the hospital, which was a nice day. The special thing there was one of my patients an 84 year-old male, who in the morning thought he was a doctor and was roaming the halls because he thought he needed to go to work (yes, he was very confused). Well, he sang Happy Birthday to me. The sweetest thing was when he got to the part with my name, he sang this: "Happy Birthday, whatever your name is, Happy Birthday to you!" And boy did he sing it with all gusto. This act of song was brought on by his daughter who had said, "Dad, did you know it's your nurses birthday today?" (She had overheard someone wishing me happy birthday in the hallway). So that patient definitely made me smile. After work, I was able to be treated to dinner by some of my co-workers. It was a nice to relax. Then when I got home around 9:30pm that night, I opened our apartment door to all my roommates and Tobin wearing Happy birthday hats and singing again! Then I opened a couple wonderful gifts from Tobin and my sister, and we had this Fruit Cream Pie...Yum!!!!

I definitely have felt very loved. Thank you all for you birthday wishes, phone calls, text messages, emails, etc. Man, there are so many great ways to keep in touch these days!

Now on to the next milestone....packing and moving to Oregon in one month! We'll keep you posted. =)

A Flexible Weekend

This past weekend was planned to go camping all weekend, but the Thursday and Friday prior things changed a bit. First off we found out the campsite hadn't been booked and now it was full...so plan B: So our Long Beach Apartment decided to have a roommate bonding weekend.



Saturday: Mountain Bike Ride
Sunday: Drive to Carlsbad/Encinitas, surf and then camp
Monday: Sea Kayak/Snorkel/Swim/Have fun



Well, then on Friday I find out that I'm working on Sunday, so Plan C...


Saturday: Mountain Bike Ride - Amazing, fun, 15 miles of up (try to ride up, fall off, and then walk the bike up) and barrel down the hill, while riding both brakes the entire time. The grade downhill was such an incline that I had to lean backwards over my seat to not flip forward!

At the very top!

Mani (one of our roomates), me, and Tobin

Sunday: Work a 12 hr shift, that ended up being one of the most difficult/busiest shifts I've worked, had no lunch break, ate a granola bar and a few bites of chip/salsa, then drove down to Carlsbad meet my roommates, Tobin, and another Friend Jana who is also a Fellow - who had been surfing and playing in the sun all day (just slightly jealous, but still ok because they had mallows and s'mores waiting for me!). Slept in tents in the campground set with the Pacific Coast Hwy just in our backyard and the beach/ocean in our front yard. =) It was an experience, and lots of fun!

Yumm, S'mores! I think one might be burning...

Tobin slept in a hammock!

Yumm, pizza for breakfast. Breakfast of Champions!

Monday: We drove to beautiful La Jolla and went sea kayaking and snorkeling. I swam with Leopard Sharks!!! And I heroically saved Tobin from them.....just kidding, they were harmless! It was beautiful and incredible fun to be out on the ocean in a kayak for 3 1/2 hours. Mani, one of our roommates, snorkeled the entire time!!! His fingers were like prunes by the time we were done. Anyways, definitely makes me want to go to Hawaii and see more beautiful reefs and fish, but I've got to learn how to unplug my ears, and how to properly blow water "OUT" of my snorkel rather than suck "IN." =)

-disclaimer: sorry no pictures of the sharks or snorkeling...didn't want to get the camera wet. But believe me it was be-a-U-TI-ful!!!


So despite plan A failing, plan B failing, plan C turned out to be wonderful! And now since I've worked this next week won't be as crazy for me! Shows that God's plan is better to trust in and not be bitter when things change. =)

Praising our Rock and riding some rocks...

Today was a beautiful day that Tobin and I were able to spend together! We were blessed with an oppotunity to go to a new church we've found, for the second time! Now, because of my job is at a hospital where it's open 24/7 I rarely seen to get a Sunday Off. Anyways, we've found a church that will be probably where we'll attend until we move in December. It's called Bethany Baptist, and the body of believer's and the pastor seem to be grounded well in the Word. So it's great encouragement! It's a blessing to be in fellowship and be encouraged!





After fellowship, we decided to enjoy the Rocks outside! The day today was 70-80 degrees and nice and sunny (sorry to those up north in the rain). We took our new (to us) mountain bikes up in the Palos Verde area! Beautiful!

The Mountain Bikers!

We basically climbed straight up....well, it felt that way!

We got to see some paragliders take off! It looked like fun!

Hmm.....Maybe someday. =)

Rain in LA???

"Rain, rain, come today...stay and wash our smog away!!!"

So I can now FINALLY, after 1 1/2 years of living in So. Cal., say that I LOVED getting REAL rain today. Yes, there has been some form of slight precipitation or "mist" come out of the air, since living here. However, it definitely could not have been classified as rain. Unfortunately, people down here don't know how to deal or react to such "stormy weather." Tobin, my roommates, and a couple other friends decided to enjoy the elements and go to the REI buy-back sale! Which if some of you don't know what that is are definitely missing out on great deals of a lifetime on outdoor gear! Anyways, the "rain" was so startling that one REI cancelled their sale! Oregon or Washington could never do that, or they would never have a sale!

Here's some photos of the storm:

So the rain deterred some people from the amazing sale at REI, but definitely not the crazy Oregonians. It was even nice to break open the rain jacket and actually use it! I bet I may not be singing the same song once we move to Medford and I'll be reminded what cool, wet, windy, snowy elements actually are, and I'll be thankful for the beautiful sunshine. But honestly, I love all the different weather elements, it just reminds us more of God's beauty...here's some that was apparently in Ventura after the storm! Amazing!

Snippets of Summer Fun

Well, Summertime seems like it's always filled with lots of things whether your truly on summer break or...like I've recently entered, the working world. I will have to say it was different not getting my summer off, but I've also been working "on the side" since I was about 16 years old. Anyways, so here's some fun things we did this summer.

June/July: Tobin finished his second year of med school, and did his first rotation in Portland. Then at the end of the rotation (1 month), I went up to meet him where we saw family and friends. We even play the "Wii" game together, and I got a "Wii Injury" Tennis elbow! Crazy, people will soon be flocking the ER with "Wii" induced injuries...seriously!

<-Tobin, Jono, Brian, Andy (not pictured) on top of Mt. Hood

<-Meeting the new RedHead-Zoey!

Skipping Rocks & Redheads growin' like cornstalks!

July: Tobin and I drove from Oregon to California in our new cars and camped in San Francisco area at Mt. Diablo for our 1st year anniversary!

Our New Cars!!!

Camping Fun!

Beautiful Sunset, Beautiful Outdoors!

My Cousin Lily (you can guess who she is), her husband, and son (my second cousin)

August: Climbing, Surfing, and more climbing:

Climbing with friends

Ocean Fun & Surfing (or trying too)

A "Fellows" activity, of course we had to go climbing for our first activity! "Fellows" are the other people who became part of the teaching assistantship at Western with Tobin.

Whew! Now I think I've caught up. Maybe a bit more than snippets, but I'm getting used to the fun of posting on this things. Probably won't hit two nights in a row like this, much ever again. But hey, it's a start!

Beginnings

Well, I've decided that Tobin and I should enter the adult world and get a blog! Plus, we will be moving around so much, I have no idea how we'd keep in touch with everyone. So here's a way people can look if they want to see how we're doing. I've been feeling the "urge" to start a blog but couldn't commit to thinking I might keep it up. Well, no promises, but I'll do my best to keep things interesting and fun...so that you can get a glimpse of our lives and what God is doing in our lives! So I thought I should start off with where we live....

This is the outside of our apartment complex. It's in a beautiful neighborhood.

What a change from East LA =)

We moved to this beautiful beach just this past May, and we have both loved being 1) Away from Pomona and 2) Near the beach where we've been swimming, surfing, boogie boarding, and running. It's great!

This is our living room with the REI Rack =)

Kitchen and Dining Room

Our inheritance from the Helix (our previous apartment)

The fun Equipment Deck

Our nice big room, that's about the size of our entire apartment at the Helix

So this is just the first of many posts. I look forward to keeping this up to date and being able to express myself with words and pictures. =)