OH HAPPY(/exhausting) DAY!

Exhausting because:
 I just got off my second night shift and I have to get up to go to a TOPS training (boo 3 hours of sleep).

Happy because:
First of all, I have to point out that if you're reading this blog you're very close to me and Chris. As in, we don't post this blog link to Facebook for a reason. We just have too many "friends" (452 on my last check) that we are still happy to keep up on FB with mixed in with all those real friends and family that we truly want to involve in our day to day. I point this out, because what I'm about to say is bursting out of me like a crazy thing that bursts out of things and I bring to you all gladly, however is not quite Facebook-worthy yet.

Just like Chris' acceptance to med school, this dandy little email came to me early this morning. I am OFFICIALLY accepted as a student at Georgetown University for their May 2011 cohort in the Midwifery and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner program (MSN)!!!

"But wait!" you say. "Georgetown is too far away!"
Dry your tears! This program is by correspondence and I will be able to take most of the course work at home, requiring trips out to DC two or three times during the program.

I am thrilled to be going back to school for something I TRULY love and cannot WAIT to make a career out of! I am blessed (especially in this economy) that this is a dual track program which means at the end I will be able to sit for both the Certified Nurse Midwife exam as well as the Women's Health NP exam, hopefully certifying me as both. I will be able to finish a year and a half before Christian finishes medical school, giving me a great opportunity to gain some experience in the field before making the big move to residency (wherever that may take us).

The reason this is not Facebook news is because I have to send in official paperwork, deposits, work out financial aide and decide how long (if at all) I'll stay with my ICU job at Maryvale. This is an intensive program that the counselors informed me would be unwise to work simultaneously through. That means my boss doesn't know yet. Some of my co-workers. You get my drift. But if you're reading this, I love you and want you to share in my excitement.

With that being said, I have to say thank you so much for your support during the "jobless months". Those will go down in our history as the most crazy and trying months for both of us and I couldn't have made it through without your constant encouragement and your hugs and tear-drying. Back when I was looking for a job, this opportunity did not exist (there was only one correspondence program for midwifery I was looking at and it required a year of nursing experience to apply). But I have to believe that even though I found this program only four months after finding my blessed job, that I was meant to gain the amazing experiences that I've gained in the ICU. It gave me time to find my TOPS job, which I LOVE and feel so grateful to be a part of (and will keep throughout school as it averages out to about 10 hours a week). I cannot help but have this overwhelming feeling that this is the right thing for me (for us!) and that I was meant to be everywhere I've been to make it here right now. Even through 8 months of job hunting! I learned more about my own strength and my relationship with Christian. I am SO thankful for everything that transpired and everyone who was by my side.

WHEW. I'm gonna start crying.....JEEZE.

Bottom line: I love you. I can't wait to share with everyone the details of this next adventure for us.

All our love,
Ash + Chris + V

P.S. Hope you're ready to start sporting one of these babies!!!

what are you doing at 3:25 AM?

I'm at work! I actually got no where near as much precious sleep as I did before my last night shift, but a few cans of Coke and I'm off to the races. I cannot tell a lie: the night time environment is WAY better. And getting up in the afternoon > getting up in the morning. So in general, nights is actually better. If only it didn't screw up your human-being-life schedule so dang much.

I hope all of you are having the sweetest of dreams - especially my darling husband and equally darling pup.


Love,
Ash

just one of those days...

Poor Alaska-man.

So, since my ONE night shift, I've felt super off with sleeping/eating habits. Actually yesterday evening/today has been the first time I've felt right. Just in time for me to do it again tomorrow night.  I hate to be a complainer. I'm hoping it gets better.

I had another class today. Last week ended my 12-week new graduate RN classes but marked the start of the 4-week "ICU Bridge" program (which I am still not quite sure about). 8AM - 4:30 PM of straight lecture.....GAHHHHHHHHH. It doesn't help that they drop the temperature of that room to around 50 degrees. And many of the lectures aren't applicable to me at my hospital. :/ Lame. Theoretically, in three weeks I'll be done with this class (thank goodness) and I'll be off orientation and on my own. I feel like things would get so much better at that point because:

• It sucks being on someone else's schedule all the time (ie: preceptors!)
• They hover, you can't truly do everything by yourself with someone who is used to doing their work themselves.
• NO MORE CLASSES. Just work.

After three and some change months on the ICU, I can truly say that although I really enjoy learning new things every shift and the fantastic nurse:patient ratio (I  feel overwhelmed in different ways, better ways in my opinion, than drowning with a team of 6!), I don't think that ICU is for me. I think it would be pretty correct to say that I may be hunting around for a transfer in my future, hopefully OB. The jobs exist and I'm hoping that this was just the foot-in-the-door that I needed. I appreciate the ICU for giving me a shot and if I knew I wanted to continue to work with sick adults in ANY way, I'd stick with them for at least a year, but because my path will take me in a different direction, I don't see the merit of staying for a year or longer. It was, however, the best new grad job for me considering I had a choice between medical, surgical, cardiac, and intensive care units. I'm lucky I got the chance to be there.

I'm waiting to hear on another possibility that should help clear up my future with Abrazo Health Care. I've created a few options for myself, all of which are exciting in their own way. It's really odd moving around and making decisions in the career word. You don't want to do anything that will hurt you later on, but there are really no rules. It's not like school. I'm trusting and praying that everything will work out as it should (and that it happens to also be what I want). If you don't mind sending good feelings my way, I'd appreciate it.

Doesn't this feel like it happened five minutes ago?

Chris is almost done with his first year of med school and it's nuts. He has done an AMAZING job!!! He has one last block left to pass (and then he'll have passed every block first year) with only two exams left. He's gearing up for his awesome July research in San Francisco, which we found out will be EVEN BETTER because.......




THIS FAMILY IS GOING TO BE THERE!

Our very favorite Janiecs (including our VERY FAVORITE nephew) are moving to San Francisco! What can possibly come from our favorite family moving to one of our very favorite cities? Constant vacations. It's the only logical conclusion. Toby got an amazing and well-deserved promotion with Levi Strauss (we are so proud of him!) and we can't wait to visit them in San Fran, which will luckily be sooner than any of us imagined! I'm so glad to have a place to stay when I come to visit Chris and Lindsay and Reese and I can spend the quality time we've been missing. We love you guys and are so proud of you.


SO: I supposed I'll hurry up and wait to figure out what's going on with me/us. We have a lot going on, a lot to look forward to, and a lot to be thankful for. In this moment, I'm just happy to be on the couch with my doggy.

Happy Wednesday to everyone.
XO,
Ash + Viesa

Cosmo Dog Park!

I have quite a bit of cleaning to do today, as I've kind of let things fall by the wayside the last week or so. Because I'm feeling so off-kilter with my schedule, I decided I needed a little motivation to get going. My motivation right now (and for the last month?): OUTSIDE! I'm kind of obsessed with being outside right now while we're still in the double digits. Can you blame me? It's been really nice lately and I've been enjoying taking advantage of it. We've been doing Tempe Town Lake lately, but I've been DYING to take Miss V to the dog park.

Viesa, the wonderful, smart, amazing dog that she is, has a problem. Namely with other dogs. And small children that grab at her face (can't blame her about that last one). The whole reason we were lucky enough to add her to our family was because she had a hard time not fighting with her dog-sister Bella. We've been working a lot since we got her to expose her to all things Phoenix (we take her EVERYWHERE we go) and she's getting a lot more comfortable with the busy traffic of downtown and barks way less at those dang neighborhood cats. One reason that I've been avoiding the dog park is the possibility that a dog with (yes, I'm going all Cesar Millan on you) the wrong "energy" would come in before I had a chance to leash her and that there would be trouble.

But today I got brave and, realizing she'll be bored while I clean the rest of the day, decided to go for it. Then I thought, if we're going to go, we should go to the best park in Phoenix!!! So, despite being 40 minutes away in Gilbert, we packed a bag and hopped in the car to .... Cosmo Dog Park. Cosmo happens to be the fourth best dog park in the whole country according to Dog Fancy Magazine (so fancy!) and it seems to be the favorite among doggy people in Phoenix. We got there around 10AM and I saw why the fancy magazine likes it so much!

Yes, it's a DOG LAKE!!! JUST FOR DOGS!!!

So....yeah. Great right? Sarah, I think you might have to bring Brodie up here for a play date. Anyway, the park is split into three parts. The first and most awesome looking part is the lake section. This is for all dogs (mostly the big and excited dogs). There is a small grassy section for the mellow/shy/old doggies. So nice. The last part is a large area up against the lake area with a bunch of agility obstacles in it (the last photo in the bunch).

I was so relieved to see that the last section was empty! Big and empty! Just for Viesa! She ran around like a crazy dog and had a great time. Two other dogs came in during the time she was there. The first she sort of sniffed and ignored until his owner took him back to the lake side. The other was a big mellow dog that actually ran around with her for a while. His owner was really nice and he was such a good dog for her to socialize with. When she gave him attitude, he ignored her and trotted off (which is exactly what she needs to avoid doggy fights). Then....she saw the agility stuff and started...I don't know...being agile?? Apparently she was a dog agility superstar in another life!

We had a really great time. We looked longingly for a while at the lake side. Hopefully, someday, she can get a little better with rough and tumble dogs and can enjoy the lake with the other pups. The drive home was long, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Happy Tuesday.
Ash + V

V, you're famous!

It's been really cute watching the news the past few days and seeing Shiba Inus making headlines!!! So funny!! The mispronunciations and descriptions of the breed alone have been worth the quick spots (the story even made it's way to the Today show this morning).

The hulabaloo is all surrounding a Shiba mommy Kika who's puppies are on display via live webcam. This is her third and final litter of puppies and her first litter went up on webcam back in 2008. We didn't have the pleasure of being with Vies when she was a puppy and it's fun to watch them do very 'Shiba' things that Viesa still does (like sleeping on their backs).

SO CUTE.

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

P.S.
Here's a baby picture of our baby (thanks, Gina!!!!) :

pssssttttt.....

Guess what?! It's 1:38 AM and I'm at work!!!! What the heck?! What kind of witchcraft is this?!

I can tell you that I'm surviving. That's good news. Around 10:30ish I started feeling sick to my stomach (like serious nausea). I felt like I was on the verge of yacking, mention it to my co-workers, and they inform me it's all part of the new-to-night-shift thingy. Who knew?

Started feeling better around midnight...almost like a second wind. I think I'll really be needing that second wind come 3/4AM. Maybe a coke will help (I still can't really get behind non-cold-weather coffee drinking).
Bottom line: it's 1:43 AM and I'm surviving.

Thanks to everyone who was encouraging/advice-giving. I appreciate you.

Love,
Ash

PS - Don't bother me tomorrow. I'll be sleeping.

HAPPY EASTERS!

Sorry, but ever since Nacho Libre, I don't know how to say Easter without the 's' at the end. I have to make this a quickie, because.....GULP.....I'm about to leave for my first night shift. I hate to be a complainer, but this is just not right!!! What kind of weirdo-vampire-psycho actually ENJOYS this craziness. I feel all sorts of upside down. Luckily my gem of a partner decided to stay up with me to help me out. I love him.

We went to the zoo yesterday and saw everything! Tons of walking, tons of fun. We came home just in time for a nice afternoon nap (two or three hours). We were up again by 7 or 8PM. We decided to take Miss V out as, shockingly, sweet Shiba-dogs named Viesa aren't allowed at the zoo. Can you believe it? A late night stroll around Tempe town lake and Mill Ave. (we had to leave quick, Vies was disgusted by those ASU girls). This put us to around 10 - 11PM. We watched a few movies that got us all the way to 3AM and I decided that was nuts. We went to bed, I slept in till around 11:30 AM (as late as possible, according to a friend from high school that works night shifts at a hospital in Flag), got up, did some stuff, and back to nap at 2:30 PM. I slept until 4:30 and now I have to leave in about thirty minutes. My shift starts at 7PM and ends at 7:30AM. I think this is all wrong and should be illegal. Just so you all know.

Luckily, we were able to squeeze in an Easter egg hunt for our girl today. One of her new and hysterical party tricks, as taught to her by the Shibas at the Arizona Shiba Inu Association meet up, is the egg hunt. She learned (in a mere few hours, because she is so dang smart) how to sniff out the eggs, use her mouth to pop them open and to get the treats out. The Shiba people said they love this because it mimics some of their natural tracking behaviors. All we know is that she LOVES it and we've taken to only giving her treats this way, making it harder every time. We've started to hide them all over the place. Today, she got a traditional backyard Easter egg hunt. I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter. We miss and love you guys in Tucson very much and hope to see everyone soon.

Easters love.
Ash, Chris, and Viesa

Woo woo.

Busy busy busy. Kind of. I think my mind is maybe busier than my body. Not because there is a lack of things to do. Hmmm. 

Me and Dad at the D-Backs game.

I miss all of you guys. A lot. Josh has a basketball tourney this weekend up here so we get to see them again. Yay! 

We're cooking up some serious business up here. And I hope it all goes down soon. As planned.

I NEED TO START BRINGING MY CAMERA OUT AGAIN. I know you guys are missing pictures of Viesa. She's missing being a model. We shall rectify this soon.

<3

Ash , Chris, and Baby V

it's been a while.

So, I suppose it's been a while! I haven't posted in a solid week and a half. Maybe two? Jeeze. Well, there has been so much going on and today is one of our first catch up days in a while.

Since we spoke last:


Two U of A basketball games: One ending in pure, satisfaction-filled success and one ending in bummer-filled sadness. At the end of the day, it's easy for me to move on because I love my Wildcats (come rain or shine) and am already geared up for next season.

These were from the Duke game. Obviously.

Weekend trip: Grammy and Mom came up and spent a weekend with us and we had a really great time. We saw a movie, went antiquing, and (most importantly) hit up the Casino with Aunt Joanne and Uncle Don. We all lost. Everything. Which is actually kind of surprising considering myself, Chris, Grammy, Mom, Uncle Don, AND Aunt Joanne all spent an okay amount of money. We had a good time, though, and my mom learned she likes roulette (thanks to Christian). We also got to spend a day at the Forbis spread in Queen Creek enjoying burgers with some of our favorite cousins.

Cousin Trevor's horse, Bandit.

Shibas!!! Inspired by my sister-in-law's dachshund meet up group she found for our niece-dog Zoe, I went a-looking and I found the East Valley Shiba Inu Meet Up! Don't make fun of us. We love our dog. Through them, we connected with the Arizona Shiba Inu Association (ASIA....bhahaha!) and met up with everyone at the Japanese Kite Festival. There were probably 15 or 20 Shibas and it was SO awesome to meet people who understand our dog!!! They really are possibly one of the most odd ball breeds that exist because of their mannerisms and temperament and while we LOVE our Shibey baby, not everyone 'gets' her. We could've swapped stories with this group for days...each one ending in, "Yours does that tooo?!" It was awesome. Plus the weather was gorgeous and Vies learned a party trick. Well, it's more behavior practice so it's great for her, but I think it makes a great party trick. Next time you see us, ask her to show you. It involves food so I know she'd love to. :) I'm hoping she will get better each time socializing with the other dogs and they owners gave us some great advice on how to get all of the big yard's dogs to live in harmony. Hopefully we're on our way!

[NO PHOTOS. BAD MOM.]

Atomic Comics: Our great friend Caitlin Burns (and by great friend, I mean she booked it from her own college graduation ceremony to make it to our wedding-great) was in Chandler yesterday at Atomic Comics where her way cool boyfriend, Eric, was signing copies of a comic book he wrote for a band. Now, I knew Eric was a pretty awesome up-and-coming comic book author, but I guess I was unaware of how popular he is!!! He was signing autographs and taking photos with people...it was rad. We bought a comic book from him to start our Eric Esquivel collection (and he signed it for us....watch out people). We'll be proud to say we knew him way back when!

Teen Outreach: I signed new hire papers and have one of my first trainings this weekend. I am beyond excited to start teaching.


Other things: There may be other things. Exciting things. I'm not sure yet, but we'll let you know when we know. No, I'm not pregnant. And we didn't win the lottery. DANGIT.

We hope everyone has been enjoying their past week or so. It is officially almost summer here in Phoenix (won't be real until  we break 100). I highly recommend you come see us before it gets hot and you all refuse on basis of inhospitable weather.

Love you all and Happy Sunday.
<3
Ash, Chris, and Viesa