we're H O M E.

I'm really too exhausted to say much else. Christian was gone 40 days and I was gone 11. Being home feels good. Chris swears I changed a ton of things in the house and I could hear him shouting from the back this morning, "What did you do while I was gone??!" Umm...nothing, silly. The kitchen has curtains and the tub has a shower mat. I think he's losing it (although I'm so tired, I may be the one losing it at this point).

I'll sum up the trip later when I'm a little more lucid,  but I wanted to post the second of a four post series - First day of school!

Post 1 - July 2010
First day of medical school. MS1.

Post 2 - August 2011 (This morning!)
First day of school. MS2!

Holy smokes. I can't believe I'm halfway done with taking first day of school pictures (what the heck?!). It's been a crazy first year and we're both really looking forward to the next. I start school on Wednesday and the best thing about my school is that I can wear pajamas (at least on the bottom). So much to do today to get ready for that and there are so many things to get sorted out after us both being gone for so long, not to mention picking up our VIESA BABY up from Tucson! We miss that girl something fierce. However, I don't think I can do anything without a nap.

Peace out, peeps.
Ash

Google.

Today, I was invited to have lunch at work with one of the roommates, Julie. Julie works at Google. Google's main facility is about 45 minutes away in Mountain View, CA (which I've heard is a sight to behold itself), but the San Francisco office is equally cool and full of smart/awesome people. Google feeds its employees delicious meals (umm...a fantastic idea for productive and happy employees) including dessert (homemade ice cream?!) and drinks and delicious snacks. All provided gratis. And did I mention it was delish? Plus, everyone I met there was really nice.

They also allow dogs in the office (3 per floor at a time), have a massage therapist on staff for the employees, and they have a slide. Yep. A slide. 

I didn't want to be creepy and take photos during my visit, but here are some I pulled from the web. Yes this is real life. I saw it with my own two eyes. :)

Who even needs those stupid stairs anyway?

Doggie in the office!

Uh, free sushi? Every day for lunch?

Pizza! (I ate this.)

Patio

Did I mention there was a slide?

Pretty cool stuff. After our delicious lunch, my hostess decided to take a day-long break from work (she's a hard working lady...deserves a break sometimes!) and took me around the east bay for the afternoon. We saw Berkley and walked around the campus. Julie is not only an amazing hostess/roommate, but an incredible tour guide and fantastic company. Amazing. Day. I know I keep using that word a lot, but it's true. 

Tomorrow we're off to Vegas. More then.

Bedtime!

Love,

Ash

the san francisco treat.

I finally have a few minutes of down time that isn't at three in the morning and thought I'd share a random photo journal of our time in the bay area so far. Bottom line: we've been to San Francisco many times before but this was my first time "living" here for a bit, in a real person's house, out of a tourist-heavy district and I have to say that I'm in love.

I've been so apprehensive at the thought of pursuing a possible match so far away from our cozy home in Arizona that when Christian mentioned to me some months ago that he was interested in spending time in San Francisco to find out more about the program, I was a little scared. I mean, that's getting pretty real actually going out to see the place and to look into it. As far away as the match seems (3 more years!), I know how quickly this past year flew by and I wasn't even going to school yet. However, spending time out here has given me some peace of mind that I could live here (and love it). Now, us liking it here and Christian doing research here really has little to no affect on whether or not we're coming here. As I may or may not have mentioned here before, the match is sort of like witchcraft (not the cool Harry Potter kind) and based on how well he does on his Step 1 exam, how well he interviews at various places, his preferences and the schools' preferences all mixed in with a little chance and luck, the voo doo people will determine our placement. Which is another reason I'm not getting too attached to the idea of San Francisco either. But it's here. And we love it.

Among all our days doing AMAZING stuff with 'our' locals (we claim them), we did a solid tourist-y day at the Pier 39/Fisherman's Warf/Embarcadero.

Eeew...squid. Gross. 

We're staying with our friend Quin who lives in an amazing house in the Mission with four amazing roommates (who are all brilliant and work at little internet companies like Google and Twitter and Scribd...smarties). Quin's roomie Julie is a fantastic cook and made us Sunday morning breakfast (amazing).

Quin, hard at work at Scribd. Being bothered by some crazy guy. 

We spent a day at the SF MOMA and saw some amazing stuff!

These sculptures, called "Lick and Lather" are made of chocolate and soap, with which the
artist licked and bathed herself with (respectively). 

This is a urinal on its side. Yay for modern art!

Warhol! Got to see a bunch of his stuff at the MOMA in NYC, this is his Liz Taylor piece.

This is looking out a window in the museum to a building across the street.
See anything unusual...?

Look closer...   :)

We spent a night bowling and having dinner at Off The Grid at Fort Mason, a giant collection of some of San Fran's best food trucks and live music. It was packed and cold and AWESOME. We had Tikka Masala burritos from Curry Up Now! (best idea ever, by the way), followed by some macaroons and tiramisu cupcakes. Oh my goodness.

Check me out! I amost beat Quin. Warho = Christan....long story.   :)

Quin and his lovely lady, Julie (not to be confused with roomie Julie who is also very lovely). 

The band, rocking it out. It was really packed.

The entrance to one of the hospitals Chris was doing work at (San Francisco General). They're doing construction at the moment, but I think it still makes the hospital looks like Hogwarts.

Took a drive up to Tiburon and found a little private beach. This place is heaven.

We still have three days!!! AHHH! I am enjoying myself so much it's kind of hard to explain. And I'm enjoying not sleeping by myself anymore. This is the good life.

More to come when I can catch a free second. Quin/Julie are cooking us pasta and we're watching Minority Report to get pumped for Defcon (my husband is a future doctor/HUGE nerd). I love me a good conspiracy!

All our love,
Ash & Chris

photo bombed.

FIRST - we're having the most amazing trip. Like, so much fun I'm waiting to get hit by a bus or something. Probably illegal amounts of fun. Visiting anywhere with the locals > visiting as a tourist. I have tons to share but this is my second night in a row going to bed at 2:30 AM so I'm going to put it all on the back burner for tomorrow.

In the meantime, I leave you with a classic Chinatown photo bomb....

He even asked me if it was a good picture afterwards. I showed it to him and he laughed hysterically.


Here's to Saturday.
<3
Ash & Chris

My first body scan.

Good morning! I'm writing you all from Phoenix Sky Harbor, waiting to board a plane to see my Christian. As of today, he's been gone for 31 days. Verdict? It sucks! I'm way done with being apart and can't wait to see him! Although our reunion has been bumped back 55 minutes due to heavy fog in the bay area, he'll be a little less rushed to meet me at the BART station and I have a smile on my face because the countdown has dissolved to hours from weeks and days.


I received my first full body scan today. I knew a lot of airports were making sure everyone gets one now, but the last time I flew out of Phoenix it was only for a select few. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about it. I mean, I'm all for safety and I believe there is a balance that must be struck between liberties and regulations for safety's sake. But I guess I'm not positive how I feel about the TSA dude checking me out in all my glory:

TSA body scanner images. Source.

I do also realize I have the right to refuse to be scanned in exchange for an intimate pat down. Today I opted for the scanner. When I was planning my wedding my favorite blog and most helpful online resource, Offbeat Bride, posted an interesting article about couples who were changing their honeymoon plans to avoid flying because they were opposed to the scans and scanning policies. When we went on our honeymoon in December of last year, Sky Harbor wasn't making everybody get scanned yet. What do you think about the TSA body scanners?

Anywho....I am a self-proclaimed procrastinator and yesterday I had the bug BAD. I wanted to get so much done before leaving and still get good sleep last night and for some reason I wasn't into it. I blame it partially on being without Vies (I left her at my parents' house in Tucson for her own mini vacation) and not having her barking at me and reminding me to get my butt in gear. Ask anyone who knows her and they'll tell you she speaks English. Instead I puttered around, ran an errand at the Teen Outreach office, took 5 hours to do one load of laundry, and watched a lot of Law and Order SVU. So it was little surprise when I awoke this morning, not to my alarm that was set for 4:00 AM allowing for time to finish a bunch of stuff before I left, but at 5:50 AM with my ride calling to tell me she was outside in her car. Thank God I'm low maintenance in the getting ready department. [Note: Hey, Mom? When you get to my house on Sunday would you mind vacuuming? It's the only thing I didn't get to. Thanks, buddy.]

I can't wait to be in San Francisco. I can't wait to see my husband. I can't wait to sleep on the airplane.

Happy Wednesday, all.
XO,
Ashley

i'm hooked.

Get it? Hooked?! The guy makes meth....hooked....like....oh okay, not funny. Thanks, Jeff, for leaving the disks for me and hanging out with me tonight.

Speaking at the huzband's school tomorrow and sharing all of my spouse-ly knowledge. I'm stoked! Wish me luck.

<3
Ash & V

help from my friends.

Everyone knows (especially my poor mom, who I call whenever I'm feeling crappy about it) that it's been kind of rough being by myself up here with Christian in San Francisco. It's been really nice to be able to road trip down to Tucson whenever I'm feeling blue for some quality family/friends time, but sometimes it's nice to be at home for an extended period of time.

I'm unbelievably lucky to have had many amazing friends in high school. Crazy enough, I am lucky enough to still have [most of] them in my life! 

Oldie! (AHHH SKINNY ME!)

Disney! (College)

Everyone at our wedding!!!

A handful of said friends decided to drive through ANOTHER STINKING DUST STORM (what gives, Phoenix?) to spend to evening with little old me (and Viessey). Robert worked today until 3:30 PM and both he and Nick had work early tomorrow morning yet they still made the 2 hour trek to hang out. Gosh, I love them. And Viesa REALLY loves them, every time they're here. 

Viessey and Nick

Viesa, Nick, and Nick's girlfriend Julie :)

I am so thankful for old friends and I'm thankful that they know how to raise my spirits. I love you guys.

Happy Monday. I know mine sure was. :)

XO,

Ash & Vies