mondays...boy i hate mondays...they make me-e so steamed...

JUST KIDDING (check that super-famous song about Mondays by Satan...I mean, Will Ferrell). Well, usually Mondays suck but this one was about as great as they get. Today was my very first day at Abrazo. Nothing earth-shattering (just corporate orientation) but it was so nice to get going on something new after so many months of stagnation. Gross. Plus, I sat at the cool table with all the cool new grads. I mean, where else would I sit? After orientation (which got out early WHICH ROCKS) I had to go back to occupational health to get another TB skin test. :/ Gross x2. Some big dummy forgot to go back the day she was assigned to get it read. Oops. I have to go back now on Thursday. If you talk to me before Thursdsay, please remind to go get it read (after 3PM)...please and thank you.

My dude's handiwork.

Then, I came home to my schweet sheebey puppy (baby talk for Shiba...I know...) and my schweet good-looking husband. I have to say, this is why Mondays (and this Monday in particular) rock. Actually, this is why pretty much every day rocks. :) Chris cooked me a delicious sausage/cheese/veggie/potato dish for dinner and it was fantastic. So cheesy. We sat down and chatted about orientation and what he did in class (um...held in his hand and studied infant hearts with congenital heart defects....med school is boss). I think I am going to cook something this week. I cooked dinner TWICE (count it, TWICE) this past week. Wait...Okay...now that I count it myself I may be realizing I only cooked one and a half times as I just put the chicken in the crock-pot for the amazing tacos we had friday night (and that is where my contribution ended). But I did make low-cal cheesy potato soup that was awesome (so says my husband and he's no liar) and it lasted a few days for lunches. We have a pretty sweet deal of delicious meals in exchange for clean dishes and I don't mind being on the dishes end of that situation most of the time. Did I mention it's fun to watch the cook do his thing? Especially because he's really-ridiculously-good-looking?

Only daredevils cook with no shirt on.

After food we decided to tackle the unholy mound of clean laundry that prevented anyone from sitting on our already tiny couch. This includes poor Viesey who had to nap on her perch instead of snuggled up with mom/dad on the couch. Yes, I am too embarrased to post a photo of said mound, but I can say it is GONE! Although I realized we need to severely thin out that closet (and by we I mean me) ASAP.

Girlfriend is irritated that her spot is taken by laundry.

In conclusion (always a great way to wrap things up in my opinion) I'm just about ready for bed. Tomorrow is day two with hospital-specific orientation, which I'm excited for. I'm ready to get a good look at my home for the next whoknowshowlong. Chris will probs stay up a bit longer and study. Right now our super cool/super-smart-with-bikes neighbor is helping him with a tune up (I don't know how one tunes up a bike).




Until next time, America.
Ash + Vies


P.S. We are also nursing a serious addiction to the Royal Crown. God help us.

Like crack. 

family love.

Kyle's birthday is coming so Megan decided to treat him with tickets to the Suns v. Celtics game on Saturday night. Chris and I have been meaning to check out a game (since we live right down the way!) so we decided to see if we could score a deal on Craigslist. We did and we had a great time! We had Meg, Kyle, and some of their friends over for soft tacos and then we headed off to United Airways Arena (or Planet Orange, as they call it).

[almost] birthday boy.

hooray for craigslist tickets!

Suns win (hooray!), Meg and Ky and the gang were bummed, Megan tried to fight a guy and I threatened to NOT bail her out of jail. We came back to the house and hung out and snuggled Viesa until bed.

Today was Fashion Square. Tonight is dinner at Bloom, Kyle's choice! Looks AWESOME. Megan and Kyle might be some of our fave out-of-towners. And we love birthdays, soooo....yeah! 

Woo Hoo!

Ash

how on earth do you sleep like this...?

one of the many questions we wish you could answer for us.

another chapter.

How cliché, right? Well, regardless...that is where we are. I have finally come to the end of a ridiculous 8 month long job search. This will be my new home until further notice:

Maryvale hospital, about 7 miles from the house, has offered me a job as part of the Abrazo Health Care new graduate program in the Intensive Care Unit.  I'll train for 12 weeks until I begin taking on some patients of my own and will be precepted until I feel comfortable! Anywhere from an extra month or two to six months. I love this cushion of comfort they're giving us...such a necessity when you're a new grad! Some of you may be realizing that ICU is not quite the direction I hoped to go with my nursing career, but I am so thankful for the learning opportunity I've been presented with and cannot WAIT to master the ICU! What better foundation to build a diverse nursing career on? Then someday, I'll be here and it will be perfect. It's only a matter of time. :)

Of course I have to say thank you to everyone who has been so incredibly supportive of both me and Christian the past 8 months. From graduation, Christian's master's defense, engagement, moving to a new city, planning a wedding, and having said wedding, I know I personally have been an emotional wreck and probably not the best friend/sister/daughter/fianceé/wife that I could or should have been. But through all of this, you all never stopped supporting us or picking me up after every rejection and set back. Your confidence in me is relentless and humbling and I am so grateful to have you in my life.

But above all people and all things, I have to say (while trying not to make you all puke) how my partner made it possible for me to stay sane during all of this; how he was there for me at every step and every turn, encouraging me, cursing the new grad climate with me, laughing with me, crying with me, and ultimately pushing me to not give up despite the OBVIOUS obstacles and their obvious affinity for beating me down! I learned to delete rejection emails instead of holding onto them, cry and kick and scream when I was upset and then move on, and most of all I learned to count my blessings every day and realize that no matter how sorry I felt for myself, there was someone out there dealing with something harder. Counting your blessings helps every time. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I can't wait to be the MASTER OF NURSING (which ICU will inevitably prepare me to be). 

Love from Phoenix (and doggy kisses. and doctor kisses.)

Ash

I know I need to post our honeymoon blogs.....

.....but I haven't had a chance. Maybe today after work? :)

However, I leave you with our newest addition, Viesa. I think she's getting comfortable with us, don't you?

Love and doggy kisses from Phoenix,
Ash

WE'RE MARRIED!!!!

On December 18th, we had an AMAZING wedding that we will never forget. We can't wait to share all the photos and details with you very very soon.

We just got back from our honeymoon about 4 hours ago and, believe it or not, it feels so good to be home!  Again, photos galore and.....just for you wonderful folks.....we blogged the entire honeymoon for you! We wanted you guys to share the fantastic-ness with us, as many of your wonderful gifts allowed some of the best parts of our trip to become a reality! Once I get the photos organized (just a day or two, I promise) I'll have it up. All 13 days of it!

Here's a sneak peek of what our photographer has done so far! Incredible! And Happy New Year!!!!!!!!

need an update up in here.

So sorry I've been so delinquent in updating lately (not that anyone reads this besides my mother). I've been busy busy busy. Still no job (don't get too excited), but working away on that there little wedding of ours and it's putting right along. Let's see...where did we leave off? Nov. 5th? Okay.

We got our engagements done (can be seen on facebook or our wedding website) and they turned out amazing. Our photographers are so nice/funny/laid back/reasonably priced!! I love them more every time I look at their work. They're so excited to come down for the wedding (they're based in Gilbert) and we're equally excited to have them.

our spooky porch

Christian has been taking test after test after test. He had a string of like three weeks where he had a test every single Friday. It sucked. Poor guy got pretty dang stressed out. But he's doing well on the exams and pulling through. A lot of fellow classmates and people on his student-doctor forum online say that this first year is the hardest, mostly due to getting used to the schedule and taking some of the tougher classes. If this is as bad as it will get (as far as material goes), I think we might be able to handle this med school thing! I'm super proud of him. He has an exam tomorrow (yes, on Saturday...he can test Fri-Sun) and then his schedule looks like this: Thanksgiving week he's off on Wednesday (so am I!) and goes back on Monday. Then that next week he has has an anatomy exam, the week after is one last neurology exam and he made it though his first semester!!!! His last day of the semester is December 10th. Then he has jury duty December 12th (what the heck) for which he will kindly explain that he can't be chosen for a jury because...he's getting MARRIED the next week!!!! That is how close we are...29 days. It's really nuts!

my horse friend

Christian's mom, Ethan, and Savannah came up to Phoenix last Friday for some hang out time. It was so nice having siblings and a mom to hang out with. We went out to dinner and saw Megamind (sooo funny). I love it when our family comes to visit. December 11th is when Lindsay and Reese get here and I'm SOOO excited to see them. Chris stayed in Phoenix with his family, while on Saturday I took the car down to Tucson to go to my friend Denise's baby shower. Denise and I have been friends since the 6th grade, so it was really fun celebrating this new adventure with her. She looks so beautiful and she and her husband are going to make amazing parents. Can't wait to meet you, Baby Terrance. :) The rest of the weekend was spent in wedding overdrive. Ordering, making decisions (that seems to be the hardest) and trying to tie up some loose ends. Then, on Sunday night, I was having sooo much fun hanging out with my dear mom that I insisted she came up to Phoenix with me for a few days. We had so much fun (and got a few things done, I guess)! We took care of bridesmaid's gifts, ordered sparklers for our 'getaway' and bought a few accessories for my dress. We also took some time to go to the Phoenix zoo (it was my first time!) and it was fantastic. It's really spread out but they have a lot of neat exhibits. And a petting zoo! With a pretty white horse that I befriended. She was so nice to come up and keep me company/help me with wedding stuff. And she showed me how to scrub out my bathtub the right way (I couldn't seem to get it clean for the life of me). What a nice lady. :)

me and mama at the zoo

Coming up next for us: a weekend in Phoenix for once, thank goodness. We went to Harry Potter at 12:01 AM (yes, it was amazing!!!) and spent much of today catching up on sleep. For the evening, I've been cleaning up while Chris studies for his test. Frankly, we spend a lot of Thursday/Friday nights this way...kind of embarrassing...we are incapable of acting our age. BUT: my house smells like lemon furniture polish and the Pandora Christmas station is ROCKIN'! And you can't ask for much more than that. For those of you that don't know the joys of Pandora, get with the program! Pandora.com will take you to Pandora radio where you can pick a station based on genre, a particular artist, or song and it will play song after song like that. And their Christmas station is bomb. Just sayin'.

Well, I think that begins to scratch the surface of what's been up with us. The next few weeks will be so insanely crazy. I think I'll try to do my best to blog so that I can keep it all straight (and have a record of our last few weeks as not-married people!!!!!!). Wow. Kind of reminds me when we bought our wedding bands, the lady told me to she wanted to fill it out with my married name so the protection plans are in our correct names. SOOOOOO WEEIIRRRDDDD! Good weird, but weird just the same. :)

Love you all. Thank you for your help/support/patience while I try (and my mom tries) to keep from going nuts.
MWAH. XO.
Ash