So, we're getting ready to take a family trip down to Tucson and Miss V is excited to see Gina and all her family back in Tucson. She decided she needed to look her very very best, so she asked her mom and dad to get her all schnazzed up and we were happy to oblige. :)
Wag n' Wash!
There is a fantastic shopping district only a few minutes from our house called The Melrose District. Nestled among the adorable antique and vintage shops and boutiques is this fantastic place! Wag n' Wash Healthy Pet Center sells tons of pet treats including organic and natural dog foods, organic dog/cat treats, home baked organic dog biscuits, and other pet supplies. But that's not even the best part. Wag n' Wash is also a self-service dog washing facility with all the equipment and space needed to give your dog a fantastic bath without the mess and hassel of fighting your dog in your own bathtub. Let me tell you: worth the money!!! Washes are VERY reasonably priced and our pretty pupper got the full spa treatment, including natural oatmeal shampoo, a hot aloe conditioner for dogs with ::ahem:: shedding issues, and a shiny coat leave-in conditioner. They have awesome steel basin tubs, temperature controlled sprayers, and all the brushes/scrubbers/towels needed. They even have a commercial groomer-style blow dryer (which she did NOT like, but was also worth it in the end).
BEFORE
For those of you who don't personally know Viesey, she's kind of a scared-y cat about new/loud/weird things and we expected this to be no different. Here she is looking kind of pissed at us for whatever we're about to do to her. She was slightly skittish but she got the hang of it eventually. She looked like a sad, wet coyote once we got going.
poor baby.
Then, OMG!!! What a surprise, but not only moments after she debuted her fresh new look did we run into another Shiba!!! This handsom Shiba boy was black and soft and wonderful and she did pretty well with him! His mom and me/Chris sat in the corner and traded Shiba stories for almost 30 minutes. She couldn't stop exclaiming how beautiful Vies was (we know) and how sweet and love-y she was (yes!) as she rolled on her back in my lap for a scratch. We loved hearing other crazy Shib-ey stories (because they are quite quirky/peculiar dogs) and Viesa made a new friend (Buko).
A few home-baked organic peanut butter treats later and we were off. Bottom line: Phoenicians (I know none of you are, but oh well)! Wash your dog here! It's easy and awesome and a great place to meet pet friends.
Although I have to be honest....it is kind of no where NEAR as cold up here as it is in Tucson. :D Right now on weather.com, Tucson says 22 degrees, feels like 9. Gulp. Phoenix = 37 degrees, feels like 31. Still frigid, but not arctic like Tucson. Good luck with that, peeps.
I did remember to cover our little vine on the porch! It survived the night, as did our neighborhood cats.
I think we might stay in bed a bit today as well. We have some errands to run but Chris has school and is studying all day for a Friday exam so it'll be just us girlies today.
Ahhhhh....bed. We love bed.
So happy Thursday, friends. We'll probably post again later...since we have the day off and, well, we can. :)
Yesterday, I remembered a random acronym from day one of orientation and was for some reason awarded two Harkin movie passes! Score! We've been hankering to see The King's Speech, especially since we watched the Oscar hullabaloo (12 nominations!) and the SAG Awards where it won for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and Collin Firth won for Best Actor.
Bottom line: We loved it. Really well done. Besides the fantastic Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush, the movie also had Albus Dumbledore and Peter Pettigrew (I mean Michael Gambon and Timothy Spall). I love true stories. Especially ones of overcoming the odds.
So go see it! Go! So when it wins a bunch of Oscars you can say, 'Those were so well deserved.'
Oh, and we are still snuggling on the couch. It's SO COLD.
Holy Guacamole. I would just like to take a moment to tell everyone in the world that my little city is confused. Average high for Phoenix, AZ on February 2nd = 70 degrees. Temperature right now is 34 degrees (according to weather.com, feels like 21). Yes. 21 degrees. I'm not quite sure what to do. Viesa is in a super weird mood and I blame the weather. I had to stop her this morning from roughhouse-ing with the neighbor's 90-year-old yellow lab that shares our yard. Poor thing can't see or hear and was kind of early-morning-assaulted by my hyper Shiba.
Bottom line: I'm off today so I don't think we'll be moving from these spots.
I was thinking of blogging a bunch about day two of orientation (which was pretty average). In fact, I'll go ahead and say that I learned a lot about Maryvale, did some nurse-y stuff (cool!), and got an official badge (that says RN AND BSN on it....because I busted my butt for that second part!). I'll post photos and more later. But for now I have to share a story that I have been keeping up with for a bit now. As a nurse and now a wife (and a someday mother), I feel so engrossed in her experience.
First you should know: I have a slightly unhealthy obsession with Mormon housewife blogs. One could argue many reasons, like this self proclaimed 'feminist obsessed with reading mormon housewife blogs'. Maybe we enjoy a break from our lives by watching amazingly sweet photos of joyful motherhood in an Anthropologie catalog unfold before our eyes. Maybe we enjoy seeing people have so much fun being married, since (and as a newlywed, I think I have the authority to say this) people have nothing but NOT nice things to say about being married these days. Maybe I like trolling for new styles and outfit ideas ('cause these ladies are CUTE). For whatever the reason, I follow a few (including that of our AMAZING wedding photographers, the Langs) and really enjoy reading them.
One day, while enjoying this new hobby of mine, I came across the blog of Stephanie Nielson or 'Nie Nie' as she affectionately refers to herself in the blogisphere. A Utah/Arizona (Mesa) resident, her blog, The Nie Nie Dialogues, was started in 2004 as a cutesy mommy blog and chronicled her life as a young (first one at 20, four by 23, mormonnormal) mommy and wife. I read through the old stuff first and read posts about her life with beautiful pictures of her and her family. In August 2008, she and her husband were flying in a small private plane in Arizona with a friend from church piloting when the plane crashed. Their friend and pilot died. Her husband, Christian, suffered burns on his face and neck, while Stephanie was severely burned over 80% of her body. They were both treated for months at Maricopa Medical Center, right down the street from my house. It houses the only burn center in Arizona and acts as a regional burn center for severe cases from Utah and New Mexico. They were treated there until they could return to their home in Provo, Utah and to their four lovely children.
It has been about two and a half years since their accident and Nei Nei still blogs faithfully about her life, her adorable/hysterical kids, her wonderful husband, her treatments, her pain, her joy, her faith, and what a blessing it is to be able to wake up each morning next to the people who mean the most to you. I feel like I went through a definite period of self-loathing during my 8 month job hunt and found it far too easy to forget about the miracles that were staring me in the face every day: getting to marry my everything, having found a beautiful and affordable home to live in, my soon-to-be-husband having the opportunity to fulfill his dream of serving others through medicine. I watch her story and read her blog and as a nurse I can truly appreciate the ongoing process that is both physical and emotional healing. Stephanie will have surgeries for years and years to come and will deal with pain every day. However, watching her enjoy decorating her house with her kids for Valentine's Day and taking snuggle naps with her husband gives me so much pride in what I have chosen to do with my life. Patients go home and enjoy life and it's the BEST! I also feel so much humility as I have no grounds to declare my life a struggle. Even if it feels that way sometimes.
Reading Stephanie's words is like taking a look through a new pair of glasses. When I read her words I see a moment in life that was nearly missed and is thus savored all the more completely. I feel so grateful to have a chance to experience life. I feel honored at the thought of being someone's mother someday, to have the privilege of enjoying my children and watching them grow (which is what motherhood truly is to her). I hug my husband every day and kiss him square on the mouth. Every day. And tell him I'm in love with him. Every day. I feel like I savor moments on the couch with the dog now like I might savor a day in Disneyland before, because it is a chance to be and feel and love that I have! What a gift! A chance that was almost taken away from Stephanie and that she savors every day, on the good days and the bad.
You can read (and fall in love with...I DARE you not to) Stephanie's blog here. I hope that no matter what your religious beliefs are, you can appreciate a story about love and strength and miracles and hope and a different outlook on life. I know her blog found me right around the time that my attitude needed a swift kick in the pants. I hope maybe she can kick you in the pants too.
And please remember (and never forget)...
That I love you. And Christian loves you. Very much. Thanks for being the people we love and loving us back. We are thankful.
XO,
Ash
Watch Stephanie's story below. Despite its intention as a mormon message, it comes across to me as a faith message. And a people message. And a love message.
P.S. The part that makes my nurse heart shiver every time I hear it is near the beginning of the video. "I am Stephanie Nielson, and I am not my body." We all are so much more than that and as healthcare workers patients should always be treated accordingly. Thanks for the reminder, Nie Nie.
A few home-baked organic peanut butter treats later and we were off. Bottom line: Phoenicians (I know none of you are, but oh well)! Wash your dog here! It's easy and awesome and a great place to meet pet friends. 
