Rants, Recipes, and Running

In the next few weeks we're heading on a mini-vacation. Because of that - I decided it was time to treat myself to a little retail therapy. I used to love shopping. I could've done it for an entire day. Yesterday, it was overwhelming & almost stressful. For the following reasons: I am so out-of-touch with the "fashion world". I don't even know what is "hip" or "in" these days. My time is most spent with a 24 year old male (my husband). When I'm not with him, my time is spent with predominantly geriatric clients on a cardiac floor. I wear "Galaxy Blue" scrubs to work every day. My method of "spicing" up my outfit is to wear fun styles of socks with my scrubs. (My favorite is my orange argyle plaid socks) Malls are irritating. Period. That's a blog in itself. My favorite outfit to wear is running shorts and a race-back tank paired with a nice pair of Mizunos. While some people refer to media such as mag...

We are on the house hunt....again. We have been in this "limbo" for about 1.5 years now searching for the right home. We get aggressive for a while..... Then we get frustrated & take a few months off. We even started building a house a year ago. But the builders screwed that one up. (PS...that house is still on the market! In fact...every house in that development is on the market. Yep. I sure am glad we went with our guts and got out of that money trap!) May I also say that I feel like I know every home for sale in the Oro Valley area? Which there's a lot . Like...hundreds. I also feel like I can know within the first 5 seconds of standing in a home whether it's a foreclosure or not. The indicator? Weird paint colors. Seriously! It seems all the foreclosures we look at have "multi-colored walls". It's like people turn their home into a rainbow when they get that letter from the bank...... In 2 weeks, we have looked at 26 homes. The ...

The good, the bad, and the ugly. I remember my sister Lisa doing this post, and I thought it was fun! And I have nothing exciting to talk about since for the past 60 hours all I've done (seriously) is run, work long days, and sleep! The Good...... I am finally free until Monday!! Ryan comes home from California today! I'm making home-made pizza tonight with a pesto sauce (with basil from the garden). I'm having a glass of wine while I'm cooking dinner tonight! Tomorrow we look at more houses (we're house hunting.....again...........I know...)!! The Bad........ It's friggin humid & hot all over the country. For 4 days this week, I found myself explaing about 40 times/day to a patient that they are in the hospital, in Arizona, and their daughter would be coming to visit in a few hours. I also had my confused patient who was a former engineer completely disassemble the "chair alarm" (an alarm that goes off when the patient stands up, alar...

1st I need to relish in the joy that it was 80 DEGREES on our thermometer this morning at 6:30. Burrrr! My run was amazing. (Usually it's well into the 90's) So Happy Tuesday. 1. When you are on a plane and the kid behind you is kicking your seat, what do you do? I have to admit, that I'm not very considerate or sympathetic when this occurs. It's not my kid. So why should I care if I'm rude? I typically will clear my throat in a very "matter-of-fact" manner. "Mm MMMMM". Then I'll turn around and just look. Not a dirty look. Just look. It's my way of saying "Yes. I see that someone is kicking my chair, and now I've made eye contact with you. You should feel uncomfortably & embarassed now" 2. What food that you KNOW is bad for you and you shouldn’t have, but you love/eat it anyway? I'm really not too bad about foods...but I know beer is bad for me. And I shouldn't drink it. But it's good, and I drink...

  Thank you.... Monsoon. Monsoon means "seasonal reversing winds accompanied by corresponding rainfall". In other words, it means "heavy winds and raining buckets on southern Arizona". I. Love. It!! My garden is finally getting the nutrients it deserves. Thank you.... Cliffbars. Especially the mint chocolate flavored ones. Thank you..... Husband. You're my favorite person to spend time with always. I consider myself pretty lucky to be married to someone I enjoy so much! Thank you........ Sunday. If I didn't have you off, I would probably have seriously freaked out! 50 hour work week got the best of me. My sleeps have been highly consumed by nightmares. Thank you..... Mom & Dad. For being amazing role models in my life. I hope you both realize how much I adore you. Thank you...... Kindle. You've rekindled my love for reading again! I quit reading while I was in school, because I was reading text books. Then I continued to no...

As we go about our lives, and we got used to the common little luxuries that come from technology...we get used to. You even find yourself saying, "How did I survive before I had......_________ (cell phones, blackberries, ipods, DVR). You find yourself saying things like, "How did I ever cook rice before I had my rice cooker????" "How did my washing machine stay fresh before it had the self cleaning mode" "How could I STAND watching any tv show before it was dvr'd and I could just fast-forward through any commercials?" Well, this week, I'm focusing on the simpler things in life. Such as light. Fan. Yep. As I've explained, it gets HOT in Arizona during the summer. So on Monday it was a hot afternoon for the 4th of July. As we were driving home from a BBQ/pool party, I was complaining about the heat. And I said to Ryan, "I hope it rains SO hard and SO intensely that our backyard absolutely floods." I wish I could ...

Well, let me start by saying my trip home to Minnesota for our exteneded weekend at the lakes was everything I imagined & dreamed for it to be! The weather was great! People kept saying "Too bad it's not warmer for you guys"....but we LOVED it. It's been seirously 112 EVERY SINGLE DAY here in Arizona. In MN it was in the 70's every day. Amazing!! We did tons of fishing. I wakeboarded. Went tubing with my nephews. Ryan did some water skiing. And wakeboarding. (I cannot water ski) Many hours were spent visiting & laughing with our family out on the deck. Ate many delicious meals including the best rotisserie grilled turkey ever. It put Thanksgiving to shame. I lounged on our raft in the sun. I actually turned a little pink, which is surprising with my AZ-bronze skin! (Apparently I'm not used to that *hot Minnesoooota sun*) My nephews took quite a liking to Ryan - and he spent many hours out on the dock fishing with the boys (and helping u...