10 days 'til X-Mas...

This past weekend was Jeff's company x-mas party at the Madonna Inn. I'm sad to say this is the first time I've actually been inside the pink landmark despite living in SLO for so long. They did a wonderful job creating a winter wonderland, with shades of frosty blue and silver everywhere. They even took pictures like at prom which were ready for us by the end of the night, and had a musician/comedian. Here's our non-professional version...


And I also won our table's centerpiece. Meet Frosty!


Tomorrow I'll be heading back down to T.O. You'd think I'd have things packed up by now, but no. I've been running errands, wrapping presents, and being in complete denial that my time here in SLO is already over. I hope everything will fit!

Well, I guess I should get to packing. But I will leave you with this jewel of a video. For your holiday entertainment...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Catching up...

...and getting into the holiday spirit. So I know I kind of disappeared off the face of the earth for a little bit there so I'll try to catch everything back up.

Thanksgiving was spent with Jeff's family. 32 people and 3 turkeys with all the side dishes and lots of dessert. Coming from a small-ish family, these get togethers are often hard for me to wrap my head around simply because of the large head count. They always end up being a lot of fun and never seem to stress anyone out...or at least they hide it well. :) I must say Susie pulled off an amazing schindig and everything went off without a hitch, in spite of the 90º weather! Way to go Susie!


The rest of the holiday weekend was spent at Jeff's parents' house in Murrieta with Melissa, Derek and Grady. We even took Grady out to experience his first Black Friday, even though none of us scored any awesome deals. We tried to keep Jeff's dad company as he was recovering from his recent eye surgery. Hope you're feeling better Mike! And of course a lot of time was spent crawling around on the floor with that cutie of a nephew of ours.


Jeff and I also helped set up the (fake) christmas tree. Pre-lit trees sound like a good idea, but finding all the little cords to attach together again is not so easy! Nevertheless, it was a good way to jump start the holiday season.

Since I last posted, I have finished my second rotation. I can't believe how quickly these past 8 weeks flew by! I learned a lot and know that my manual techniques have vastly improved. I also got invited to the company xmas party, which was this past weekend. Of course I brought my camera and didn't take any pictures...story of my life. Being the 2nd student ever to be invited, I took this as a huge honor. I got a bunch of really sweet cards and presents from my patients too. All in all, I would consider this rotation a success, no matter which way you look at it!

My next rotation will be at a pediatrics clinic in Cypress near Knott's Berry Farm. I'll be staying with an alumni from our program who also helps teach some of the labs at school. He and his wife have generously offered to let me stay in their guest bedroom. They live about 20 minutes from the clinic, and I am so grateful for not having to find a place to live.

So this week I've been a lazy bum, and have been loving it! I could get used to not working! And it's been a good thing that I haven't had to go anywhere with the crazy downpours we've been having! I'll be heading back to T.O. sometime next week, schlepping all my stuff back down. Jeff's company xmas party is this weekend, so maybe I'll actually take pictures this time! :) So sad we're missing Bake Day again this year! I'll just have to bake on my own to make up for it.

Hope everyone is getting into the holiday spirit and getting all their shopping done...only 2 more weekends left! Since I don't get a tree up here in SLO (because I "won't be here to take it down"), I guess decorating the blog in holiday cheer will have to suffice. Happy December everyone!

Happiness is...

peet's coffee, a hot-out-of-the-oven cowboy cookie, wearing a t-shirt and driving with the windows down...




a week before thanksgiving...




how i love the slo life...

TLC, Triple-booking and Trojans...

This week by exceptionally slowly for some reason. It may have been due to Jeff being home sick until Thursday and me taking care of him until then. Lots of TLC on my part to try to get him better, including making German Pancakes. It may have been due to work being insanely hectic and being triple booked at times. Too many patients to see and not enough time to see them! Maybe I'm still adjusting to the time change...plus the 15º temperature drop. Who knows. But boy was I happy when Friday rolled around.

Speaking of work, my schedule is completely filled until after Thanksgiving. Not a single opening. In fact, we're double and even triple-booked at times. Talk about busy! I guess I should be thankful because it does make time go by faster. But I sure have been exhausted! I also can't believe I only 2 1/2 weeks left. I've been working on my inservice (kind of), which I'll be giving a week from tomorrow. Yuck.

We also had a moment of spontaneity yesterday. The owner of Jeff's work had tickets to the USC vs. Stanford game that he was giving away. And we happened to get some of them. So we headed out early Saturday morning with Jeff's roommate (Ace/Marc) and went to the game. Talk about sweet seats...11th row! The actual 11th row. Check out our view...


And that's not zoomed in either since the zoom on my camera has decided to stop working. It was a lot of fun, although it would have been nice if USC had decided to actually play and not get smashed into the ground by Stanford. Way to lose your Homecoming game! Oh well. Still fun, and better yet FREE!



Then we spent the night at Ace/Marc's parents' house in Valencia, and headed back up to SLO today. Sad that tomorrow is Monday already, but I'm happy that it's almost Thanksgiving! Yay for holidays that revolve around eating! :) Hope you're all staying warm!

A Week of Birthdays...

So this past week has been filled with a bunch of birthdays. Sunday was Jeff's Grandpa's birthday...sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate with you on your big day! Monday was both Jeff and my cousin Megan's birthdays. And then Tuesday was my dad's birthday...wish I could be there to celebrate today Daddy-o! And there are more birthdays yet to come in the rest of the month. Sheesh!

For Jeff's birthday he pretty much got spoiled rotten all weekend by me. He thinks he get's a "birthday week", which in his book means the week before AND after his birthday. I beg to differ and consider him lucky if he gets a week total of celebration. Anyway, I made him a baked pasta concoction that I whipped up on Saturday night. (Note: we did not have a single trick-or-treater) I also gave him his present early (the new Guitar Hero), and we played it all night and Sunday too. Sunday morning I made him monkey bread for breakfast, which was very tasty and in no way, shape or form healthy. I channeled my beloved Paula Deen and used a whole stick of butter (gag!), and enjoyed every bit of it too! Sunday night we went out to dinner at Tahoe Joe's with a couple of his friends. And on the big day I baked him a cake after I got home from work and he was still at his soccer game. And sadly, I have no pictures of all the spoiling either. Oh well.

Since then, said birthday boy has had a root canal (happy birthday to him!) and today is achy and not feeling well. Do I hear a flu coming on? So perhaps he'll get another weekend of spoiling out of me too.

The past two days at work my CI was not in the office so I had a schedule of my own. I was a little nervous about how it would all work out, but it ended up going very smoothly, even with double bookings! In fact, at the end of Thursday, the director of the clinic (whose wife happens to be the president of the company), told me that I did an outstanding job. To top that, he told me that he told his wife that he would hire me! Say what?! All resumes go through her to start the application process, and then are passed on to the directors of the clinics. Basically, that means that should I submit a resume after I'm finished with school, my resume would go to the top of the pile. Woohoo! I must say, I was floating on cloud nine for the rest of the day. Considering the number of PT clinics in the area, this is a HUGE deal. So now I just have to keep wowing him my last 4 weeks here.

That's this week's wrap-up. Hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather still. Who would've thought it'd still be in the 70's and 80's in November?! Love it! Time to get back to taking care of the sicky...Stay healthy out there!

Happy Halloween!

Alright, so another two weeks went by even though I said I wasn't going to wait so long to post again. What can I say, I've been busy. And my schedule wipes me out by the end of the week. So here goes...


Last weekend, Jeff and I headed up to Monterey for our anniversary trip from July. Our first stop was the aquarium, which is always a lot of fun. They have a special exhibit on seahorses right now. Some of them were pretty funky looking! My favorite is always the otters, and even though I know they can be really mean, those cute little faces get me every time! And yes, we even went through all the little kid sections too. How can you not feel like a kid at the aquarium!





After we were finished there, we walked around Cannery Row for a while before checking into our hotel. Our hotel ended up being only 2 blocks from Fisherman's Wharf, so we headed over there for dinner and had some delicious seafood...well I did anyway. We didn't stay up late...in fact, I apparently was out cold and snoring by 9:30. The next day we slept in (I believe I got 11 hours of sleep), enjoyed our complimentary breakfast, and then headed back to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch before heading out of town.


We decided to take the long way home along Highway 1. The water was absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful shades of turquoise blue. Even though it took us about an hour and a half longer, I'm glad we went that way. We stopped to see the elephant seals too. None of the big (ugly) males were there, but there quite a few juveniles who were in no rush to move further south. I wouldn't mind be lazy and laying out on the beach all warm and toasty in the sun. Sounds pretty nice to me. Although, I'll pass on being chased by killer whales and great white sharks! All in all, it was a terrific weekend and a fun getaway, and I'm glad we finally got to do it.




My rotation has been going well. I can't believe I've already finished 3 weeks. I've been taking more and more patients on by myself, and this next Thursday and Friday I'll have my own schedule while my CI will be out of town. I'm really enjoying this rotation (I was pretty sure I would), and I know I'm learning a lot and having to challenge myself...which is always good, although it sure does use a lot of my energy.

For Halloween, we've carved our pumpkins and bought candy, although we're not expecting any trick-or-treaters. We dressed up on Friday at work, with most of the staff dressing up as different color crayons. They even made a giant crayon box to pose with. Very cute. I bought a $5 trick or treat shirt from Target, and made a sign at work that said "Starving Student: Will give joint mobilizations for food."

In other news, my good friend Jocelyn and her husband Shaun just found out that they are expecting another baby. Congrats Wharton family! Abby will make a terrific big sister!

That about wraps things up. Don't forget to change your clocks tonight. Woohoo for an extra hour of sleep! Hope you have a fun and safe Halloween. Can't wait to see pictures of everyone's costumes!

The SLO life, and much more...

I am officially moved up to SLO and am living the grand SLO life. I moved up 2 weeks ago (sorry for the delay), and had a few days to run errands, unpack, and get used to living in the area again. I had forgotten about the onramp/offramp situation, which for any of you who have visited up here know what I'm talking about. It didn't take me long to get used to it again though.

The first weekend up here we went to Oktoberfest at the Old Vienna Restaurant in Pismo. I recognized a lot of songs from all the Oktoberfests I attended as a kid. They had this awesome polka band of 3 older guys called Trio Internationale that played traditional polkas, as well as covers of such songs as "White Wedding", "Shout", "Lowrider", and "You've Gotta Fight For Your Right...To Polka!" You can check out their myspace page here. I've gotta say they kept the dance floor packed all night. They definitely were the highlight of the night.




Then I started up my 2nd 8-week rotation at San Luis Sports Therapy. My commute is now only 30 minutes, with guaranteed no traffic. Sweet! My schedule is less than ideal, working 10.5 hours on Mon/Wed/Fri and 5.5 hours on Tues/Thurs, but the half days sure are nice!. My CI used to work with professional athletes in the Chicago area, and definitely has a lot of things to teach me. I have homework almost every night, which I'm not a fan of, but I know it's only making me a more well-rounded therapist. I can tell I'm going to gain a lot from this rotation, and should soon have my own schedule of patients. 1 week down already!

This past weekend my mom came up to look at a couple wedding locations and attend the Central Coast Bridal Fair/Expo. We visited two sites: Santa Margarita Ranch and Spanish Oaks Ranch, both in Santa Margarita. I had high hopes and good feelings about these two, so my fingers were definitely crossed on our way out to see them. I've been in contact with these two locations for quite some time now. Spanish Oaks ended up being a lot smaller than it appeared online (again, pictures are deceiving), and wasn't quite what we wanted despite being beautiful.

Santa Margarita Ranch (SMR) on the other hand was amazing! I really can't describe this place in its entirety, because you really just have to see it yourself. The ranch was a resting place between missions way back in the day, as well as a stop for the Wells Fargo Stagecoach. The barn (which can fit up to 300 guests) has the original stone walls inside, and has been built up/around it. There's an old movie theater sign, windmill, wishing well, oh yes...and a railroad...with old train cars from Disneyland! There's a gorgeous garden area to have the ceremony in, with a giant oak tree. SMR is actually a working cattle ranch and vineyard too. I really didn't think Jeff was going to like it because I'll admit, it's pretty darn country. But he actually said he liked it! Woohoo! The layout, history, and natural beauty of it all is sure going to be hard to beat, and to be honest, I'm not sure I really want to look at any other places. Now we just have to figure out if we can afford it. Ah, the life of budgets! My mom took pictures, but an old friend from dance, who now happens to be a photographer in the area (that we ran into at the bridal fair), recently shot a wedding there, which you can see the photos here: Chloe : Mike Larson Photography, Inc: Home on the Range: Andrew & Sara to give you a better idea of what it's like.

At the bridal fair/expo there were over 120 local vendors including DJ's, coordinators, locations, bakeries, caterers, photographers, florists, etc. A little overwhelming, but very nice to have it all in one spot. I found a DJ that I like a lot (in fact, after 2 other ones I stopped talking to the other DJ's because none of them seemed to compare...plus other photographers and caterers raved about him. SOLD!), a bakery with amazing cake (yes, there were some with not-so-amazing cake, which I think is a crime), and a florist who stood out from the rest. As far as caterers and photographers, well I'm just not going to worry about that yet. Too many options that I'll slowly have to filter through.

We also went to the pumpkin patch at the Avila Valley Barn, which is full of tractor rides, animals, home-made ice cream and pies, a hay maze, and produce (most of which you can pick yourself during the year). Jeff and I both said how much fun it would be to take Grady here. All the kids (big or small) love it! It was way too crowded when we went on Saturday, so we went back on Sunday morning when there were much fewer people. It's a popular place this time of year!


Alright, I should probably wrap this up. Lots to talk about. This should teach me not to wait so long to post next time. And the reason this is being written in the middle of the day is because I'm home from work with a cold. It's been a battle against a sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, and cough and I didn't really want to get the patients and co-workers sick. I'll go in tomorrow no matter what, but this morning when I still couldn't breathe and felt like my head was in a fog, I decided it was best that I stay home. Back to resting up, studying, and doing laundry...