NorCal Trip

Sunday Sam and I are road tripping to Northern California with Hunter for a week-long vacation.  It will be his second trip to our hometown and our first big trip home of 2012.  We'll be up North for the longest time since residency started.  It will be good to getaway from Orange County and get some perspective on what's important- loved ones!

I am really looking forward to seeing my family, especially my Mom's side.  I haven't seen my Auntie Annie, Aunt Kathy, or cousin Alicia since we had my grandfather's memorial in July 2010.  Wednesday I'm meeting up with the three of them for lunch and I'm looking forward to catching up!  I'm also really looking forward to them meeting Hunter since I named him after my grandparents on that side of the family. 

I'm also looking forward to having some free time to catch up on reading.  I am deep into the Game of Thrones books and I need to get motivated to ready book 4, which I've started twice and keep getting distracted from.  I also have a Facebook marketing book that Raleigh lent me months ago which I need to finish or give back to her, and about 20 marketing podcasts I would like to listen to while I'm driving around visitng friends or walking the dog.  

I will also get to see some girlfriends I haven't seen in ages.  Reunion time!  I haven't seen Lindsay in so long I forget when we were last together- she's never met Hunter so it's been at least a year.  In addition to that I'm going to see the Seto family and Jackie on Wednesday... depending on how the evening goes I may even be crashing at Jackie & Joe's place.  Exciting news: Jackie and Heidi were in San Francisco last weekend and picked out my bridesmaid dress.  I will get to try it on for the first time when I see her on Wednesday afternoon!

I plan on doing some work while we're vacationing- mostly just maintaining our social media sites and drafting future blogs, but I will also be on-call in case something happens.  Thank goodness I am very mobile as long as I have my cell phone, laptop and internet service.

Sunday can't come soon enough...

Black Friday 2012

Last year was my first experience with Black Friday.  My mom took me out to Fashion Island and we had a pretty good time- not a whole lot of clothing purchased, mostly homegoods and eletronics.

This year, Sam and I got up and too Hunter for a walk on Black Friday before heading to South Coast Plaza.  Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! 

We definitely had to stand in some long lines, but more often than not we just avoiding the places with the crazy lines and chose to shop where there were less crowds.  Here is Sam being a trooper in front of the three story Christmas Tree near Macy's.


When we got home, it was time for another new traditon: changing out the holiday decorations and switching from Fall to Christmas! 

Last year, I did this with my parnets while Sam was at work and he called us "Team Disney" when he came home to the decorated tree, wreaths, candles, etc.  This year, he and Hunter got to be part of the magic...

Or at least keep me entertained while I decorated.

First Sam thought it would be funny to put Hunter into the Santa hat.  Then I got the idea to put the tree skirt around him like a cape.  I was pretty sure Hunter was not going to be a big fan of Christmas by the end of the day.

Luckily he and Sam ended up taking a nap on the couch and he got a little break from our torture.  By Friday night we were sipping Peppermint Hot Cocoa with Peppermint Marshmallows and listening to Christmas Carols amid our decked halls.  Very festive!

Since we'll be gone the first week of December I wanted to make sure our decorating was finished this weekend.  By the time we get back, our first weekend home in December will be the 15 and that's already half-way through the month!  We will be busy with holiday parties and getting together with family and friends. 

Feeling Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving from our little family!

This year I am incredibly thankful for these two boys who complicated and enrich my life in ways I could have never imagined. 

I am also thankful for the friends who have become our Southern California Family.  Nick and Amy stopped by on their way to a family dinner, and Sohrab, Jenners, and Kanwar came for dinner. 

Having so many people to spend the holiday with certainly made it more enjoyable and festive. 

My mom usually helps coordinate the side dishes, but she and my Dad stayed in NorCal for Thanksgiving and this all came down to me.  For the first time, I made the entire Thanksgiving dinner without any assistance.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely!

I will admit the turkey was a little more dry than it has been in years past, and the stuffing could have been drier- but when all was said and done it was a pretty great meal.  And when feeding residents the bar is pretty low thanks to the UCIMC cafeteria, so I think everyone was satisfied! 

Most impressive, was that I had all the dishes in the dishwasher (which was running) or hand-washed and drying on the counter by 9:30 Thanksgiving night.  As Sam pointed out to me the following morning, I really did the whole thing- start to clean up- on my own.  I even found time to take Hunter on an hour walk and make it to the 9:15am Spin Class at the gym on Thanksgiving before I started cooking!

MNF with Kaepernick

So what can I say?  Today I worked a 9.5 hour day, went shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner (turkey, stuffing, & cranberries down; sweet potatoes and asparagus to go), and got dinner started in time to watch the Niners Monday Night Football Kickoff.  Oh the life of a modern woman! 

We're almost to the 10 minute mark of the 3rd quarter and the Niners lead the Chicago Bears 27-0.  Boo-Yeah Bears! 

Colin Kaepernick is looking really good tonight, and it's his first pro start so I'm proud of him.  In fairness, the Bear's quarterback is out tonight as well so both quarterbacks are backups. 

I should really start folding Sam's laundry, but I just don't feel like doing housework tonight.  I already cleaned up everything from dinner... can't that just be enough tonight?  LOL.  He has a very light workload this week (thank you Thanksgiving!) and he was home by 6:30 tonight.  MNF is so much better when I have Sam to watch with instead of just Hunter.

Hunter, by the way, is doing much better since his run-in with my underwear.  I think he's completely back to good in fact.  We all went to Hunter's obedience lesson last night, followed by Chinese food take-out because we were craving soup.  :-)

I'm so excited to have the long weekend off, even if I have to work a few hours to keep from getting behind, it will be so nice to be able to go to the gym during the middle of the day, take Hunter on some longer walks (the poor guy hasn't had too many since the time change), and get some quality time in with Sammy.

SB Boys Reunion- IE

There are some things that will never change... like the love we have for Sam's college roommates.

Nate, Ryan and Kevin have all recently moved, and we are overdue to visit all three of them.  This weekend we drove out to Upland (the Inland Empire) to visit Ryan.  Through the grapevine, Nate and Kevin found out about our trip, and they decided to make a weekend of it. 

So we ended up having a mini college reunion at Ryan's new apartment.  We also got to spend some more time with Ryan's girlfriend and meet Kevin's new girlfriend- both are really, really sweet.  One of the boys' post-college roommates happened to be town as well, and our favorite of Ry's dental school friends came out as well.  We had 6 adults sleeping in Ryan's living room Saturday night and I really wish I had a photo.  Kevin and Jo were on one air mattress, Sam and I shared another with Hunter, and Nate and Backer each had a sofa. 

I really wish we lived closer to those boys.  They are such great friends, truly they are always there for us.  Hunter got to come with us and it was so cute seeing them all interacting with him and realizing that someday they will be like that with our kids.

Ryan was just saying this weekend how lucky we are to have each other as friends, and I couldn't agree with him more.  These boys are more than friends, they are our family.

Mommy's Little Pervert

Mommy's little pervert ate a pair of panties on Saturday afternoon when he wasn't properly secured in his crate... Mommy's fault.

Things seemed to be passing naturally until this morning when Hunter woke up at 3:30 AM and was projectile vomiting on our bedroom and bathroom floor from 4-5.  I haven't seen him so uncomfortable since he was neutered!  He was sitting beside me cowering, shaking, whimpering.  Luckily, I was working from home today, so I was able to call our amazing veterinarian and they got him into see one of the doctors at 8am.


We have an amazing staff at our vet office and today it was Dr. W. who helped us out.  She told me she wanted to keep him at the office for a set of x-rays (first set above) to determine whether he had an obstruction.  If he did in fact have a blockage, we would pump his stomach with barium to flush out the obstruction.  If that failed, Hunter would go in for emergency surgery.

Initially, I didn't hear back from Dr. W. and I found out later that the barium was sitting in Hunter's stomach without passing the blockage (x-rays above).  She had been debating whether he would have to do surgery when, miraculously, it began trickling through his GI tract! (x-rays below)

Dr. W. called me ecstatic that Hunter would not need surgery after she saw the x-ray above.  She wanted to keep him for a few more x-rays just to be sure that everything came out okay.

 

While I was in my meeting, Dr.  W. called to say that I could come and pick Hunter up after she took the last images at 3pm... nearly 12 hours after we got up to address his upset stomach.  Between the x-rays above and the one below, Hunter passed a 6-inch long thick accumulation of fabric.

Little Hunter came home and has been napping with his head in my lap ever since.  He's on a special diet while his tummy adjusts, and he is to have some R&R.

Dr. W. sweetly offered to send me home with the images for Sam to check out.  She also put in our insurance claim while I was at the office and she told me that if it gets denied (which is very doubtful) she will personally write a letter to justify her medical judgement.  I could not ask for better care providers for Hunter!  We will certainly be sending one of our holiday cards to the office this year.

Veteran's Day

Today, Sam's schedule was really light at the hospital so he asked me to come up and go to lunch with him.  We took a short drive to Downtown Orange and split the shrimp tacos at Gabbi's.  So yummy!  Then we walked around and enjoyed the brisk fall weather.  We ended up in an antique shop looking at beautifully carved china cabinets, wardrobes, and liquor cabinets.  It was all so beautiful.

Then we went back to the hospital and Sam took me up to the Ortho department where I got to meet his day-shift nurses, who were all really sweet, and see his workroom (where we often FaceTime when he's on call).  Finally, we went up to the 7th floor and looked out on the landscape.  It was actually really neat, and a little surreal that I saw where Sam works.  The nurses totally call him Dr. Galle (which is so funny to me because they are so serious about it) and they told me that he's always very nice and does whatever he can to make their jobs easier.  I told them that if he gets out of line they just need to let me know.  :-)  Hopefully they will get to share the pumpkin muffins I brought along and left in the work room. 

 Then, in honor of Veteran's Day, I watched the HBO Documentaries "Alive Day Memories" about the day that 10 soldiers got a second chance at life when they should have died, and "Section 60" about the area in Arlington National Cemetery where they bury the soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Both were incredibly touching and make me so proud of our troops.  Whether I believe in the wars the US has fought or not, I have the highest respect for the men and women who fight for our freedoms so that I can live in the 'land of the free & the home of the brave.'

Here are some quotes I found that resonated with me today:

"Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die." -G.K. Chesterton

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy

"Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul." -Michel de Montaigne

"In war, there are no unwounded soldiers." -Jose Narosky

Hunter the Hoover

Yesterday I left Hunter at home when I went to get my hair done and then celebrate Jen's 29th birthday.  As I was sitting in the chair, I totally had a moment where I wondered if I had locked him in his crate or not.  At that point, though, I wasn't going to do anything about it.

Around 6:30 Sam and I left Jen and Ryan's house and headed home.  You can imagine our surprise when Hunter greeted us, tail wagging & yelping for joy, in the entryway.

I was terrified that I would find he'd had accidents all over the house, or that he would have chewed up our furniture & destroyed the leather couches.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  The only thing he had done was go into the hamper and steal a pair of my underwear and eat half of it.  Wonderful, Hunter. 

I would have liked to have asked Sam's opinion but he was already in bed and asleep getting ready for his Sunday on-call.  So I turned to the internet and read online that pureed pumpkin can help dogs avoid and pass bowel obstructions when they've eaten things they shouldn't have.  Therefore, last night Hunter ate pumpkin puree for dinner.  Luckily, he slept just fine and by midday he had begun passing some of the fabric. 

Hopefully this will continue and he won't have any obstructions!  I am a little anxious and nervous about missing the signs of a bowel obstruction because they are potentially fatal and I don't want anything to happen to Hunter!

Luckily tomorrow is a holiday for UCIMC so Sam should be home by noonish and he can take Hunter out and re-assess the situation before I get home from work. 

Hair Cuts & Birthdays

I am getting my first haircut since June! A friend of mine was sporting a really cute 'do over the summer and she gave me the number of her stylist and I set up an appointment for today. I will report back as to how it all goes...

I'm kind of at a loss what I want to do. Sam doesn't like the dark hair, but it's so much easier to maintain! He prefers the blonde highlights, but I don't want to deal with the up-keep associated with being an 8-week bottle blonde (someone who has to have their roots touched up every 8 weeks to the tune of $90 or so).

Last weekend over dinner Sam seemed okay with the idea of me going red, and I'm thinking that might be my "in" to going brunette.  If I splash some red color in there he might go for it more so than he did last time I went dark.

We'll have to see where this lady takes me!

I get to debut the new 'do at a friend's birthday part right after my appointment... wish me luck!

Holidays

So the holidays are upon us!  I'm not someone who skips over the Pilgrims & Indians, Thanksgiving is still a VERY big holiday in our home.  In fact, I don't decorate so much for Halloween as I do for Fall in general.  We have lots of pumpkins and colorful leaves around the house, and cornucopia candlestick holders.

This year, Sam's on call the day before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  I have my fingers crossed that he's got Thanksgiving-Saturday off completely, but even if he just has to go in for the morning and then gets to come home early that would be okay too.

It's kind of nice that we would be able to spend the holiday together since Sam will probably have to work Christmas Eve/Christmas since the residents try to switch off.

Anyway, here we are gearing up for the holidays and to celebrate, we've invited all of the residents we know in SoCal to Thanksgiving dinner at our home.  We'll see how it turns out... good, I hope!  We went with a Pilgrim & Indian themed evite and I'm going to make some cool hats like in elementary school so we can take a fun photo of the festivities. 

Obviously, even if it's just Sam, Hunter, & I we will have a great time.  :-)

One Year

Today is my one year anniversary with my company.  Woohoo!  I was thinking about it, and I am so much happier in Marketing than I was in Sales. 

Insert big THANK YOU to Sam who pushed me to find something I am passionate about and make a career of it.  I am so thankful, in hindsight, for all his hounding while he was in medical school.

Also, I realized that I am incredibly lucky to have such a flexible boss.  Today I had to pick up some prescriptions and get my blood drawn to test whether I'm on the right dose of thyroid.  It was no big deal, I put it on the calendar that I'd be leaving at 4 and I left at 4.  There are so many companies that would never let their employees do that!

Everything really does happen for a reason, and I am so thankful that this job, this company, these amazing coworkers are a part of my life!

Pumpkin Spice Happiness

Yesterday we had some proof of global warming: November 4th and 92 degrees at the hottest point yesterday.  Good God, Sam and I were running errands and it got REALLY warm.  We ran to Costco & Ralph's and when we made it back to the apartment we hunkered down to cool off for a while.  Just after 3 PM we decided to take a walk with Hunter to get him (and us) some fresh air and exercise. 

It was fun to walk with Sam for a change- usually it's just me and Hunter after work because Sam doesn't get home until after it's dark.  That, and he is so unreliable that it's better for me to take Hunter ASAP when I get home and then it's out of the way and we have the rest of the night to hang out. 

But we took advantage of having Sam home, and after the walk, which only lasted about an hour, the boys did something that Hunter and I rarely do post-walk. 
They passed out on the floor.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging, but boy can those guys sleep!  From about 4:30-6 they were out cold.  I was okay with that though, I got to do some journal writing and got Sam's laundry through the wash-dry cycle so that he just had to fold it all before dinner. 

 

We had friends over for dinner, another couple who went to UCI for both medical school and residency.  I always forget, until the 11th hour, that he keeps Kosher.  Thankfully, a quick call to Sam's mom and she had some great tips- go with a vegetarian and dairy menu.  Luckily we'd been to Costco and I had a bunch of carrots and asparagus which I baked with oil, salt, and pepper.  Then I baked sweet potatoes and yams, and made white rice.  We also had breaded chicken, which wasn't Kosher, so the fourth chicken breast got split in four and stuck into tupperwares with white rice, potatoe, and the baked veggies.   Hello packed lunch!  Anyway, I think maybe next time we'll make homemade veggie pizza or something, Sue said that is a great go-to for Kosher meals that she's used time and time again.

 

Oh, and JACKPOT, I found the Coffeemate Pumpkin Spiced Creamer at Ralph's which means that this morning, when I got up at 4:30 with Sam thanks to "Fall Back", I enjoyed a delicious Pumpkin Spiced Latte that was only 4 points and cents on the dollar which is really great when compared to the Peet's version (medium is 6 points, and it's $4).  YAY!

Fall Back

Sam, Hunter and I have been enjoying the extra hour today.  We all slept in (Sam slept the longest because he is the most sleep deprived) but even Hunter managed not to wake too early.  And because the 49ers have a bye this week, we were able to really take advantage of the extra hour.

To celebrate our first Golden Weekend (where Sam has both days off) in town since September, I made bacon and toast for breakfast and cleaned the kitchen while Sam was sleeping. 

After breakfast, we headed to Costco where we stocked up on the essentials (TP, paper towels, dishwasher soap, etc.) and then stopped at Ralph's on our way home for the non-bulk grocery items.  It's funny how much more I enjoy running errands when Sam's with me. 

When we came home, we and made BLTs and strawberries for lunch and started a massive laundry project.  Good God, it is unbelievable how much laundry Sam amasses between Golden Weekends.  He has dress clothes, gym clothes, scrubs, you name it!  I have some laundry to do myself, including our bath towels.

We're having friends over for dinner tonight.  So now we're going to take Hunter out for a walk and then finish up our cleaning/laundry so that we can start prepping our dinner.  I'm excited!!!

Hi Mama

I have a extraordinary Mom.  She is a great role model as a wife & mother.  I only hope that someday I can be as great a person as she is.

Happy

Birthday

Mom!