Summer is in full force here in Spokane!  With highs of 106 today  (and highs of 100 for most of the rest of the week) I can honestly say that I have rarely experienced temperatures like this.  Not even in Florida.  Of course one must clarify that in Florida you deal with humidity which automatically means that even 85 degrees there feels worse than this.  But either way... this weather is absolutely brutal and today I will be staying inside as much as possible.  Yes, I have become one of those.  Thank goodness today happens to be a rest day in my training.

I forgot just how hard it is to exercise in the heat.  My friend Haley and I went for a run last night.  We decided to wait until after 8:00 in order to avoid the worst of the heat.  Yeah, it was still 99 when we started.  And for the first time in awhile, I hit a wall.  I'm talking slow... tired... and nauseated.  Amazingly I finished without walking but only because I was with someone else.  We both agreed it was a good idea we ran together!  Haley is training for a marathon and so I've done some of her long runs with her (she's still 15 weeks out so not too far up in the mileage).  I joked that maybe I should join her for the rest of her training... ha!  No, no marathons for this girl.  I think I might do the half marathon though.  We shall see.

Triathlon training is still going strong.  Only two more weeks to go!  I saw great progress this week with swimming.  I had been incredibly discouraged and felt like I wasn't going to be able to do the triathlon because of it.  I'm still pretty nervous about the swimming portion but not nearly as much as before.  I just need to make sure to get in a couple more good swims before the next two weeks is up.

Training has continued to be truly enjoyable.  I can't say it's always fun.  There are certainly days I just feel exhausted and unmotivated to do any of it.  But I am really loving the challenge and the sense of accomplishment when I finish a hard workout.  It's certainly been very therapeutic for me... taught me many things about my body, fueling it, and then taking care of it for recovery.

Anyway, besides that, I was able to make it out to Seattle this week to visit a friend who was there visiting some of his friends!  It was lots of fun and a very nice getaway.  Living out here, I do miss having old friends around, especially ones who somewhat understand what and where you come from. The Northwest and the South are two very different places, and often there are things about me that people out here just don't quite "get" as a result.

I'm right in the middle of 8 days off, enjoying my time.  I don't go back to work until Thursday, which I am most excited for!  Happy summer!

More Thoughts on Whole30

I think one of the most important factors for me in my Whole30 journey has been doing it with a friend.  My friend Julia was the one who first mentioned it to me on New Years Eve.  When I heard about it, I thought it sounded like a huge challenge, but told her I thought I was interested (hm... looking back, this was probably two or three drinks into the night...).  We had planned to start on January 22.  Suddenly that day was only about a week away and I realized I hadn't done any planning, or even read the book yet.  I knew I couldn't just jump right into Whole30 blind.  It was becoming apparent that you have to be very intentional about doing this.

So we set our start day for February 2.  I read the book, did my research, collected recipes.  I was VERY overwhelmed, but knew I had committed to this and I was going to do it.  I spent a day cooking a bunch of recipes (a MUST, especially if you work long hours).

February 2 rolled around uneventfully.  I woke up, made some eggs with avocado over spinach, and drank some water.  It didn't feel hard, of course, because it was only the first meal.  I went for a run, took a nap, and later that night ate my dinner.  It was at work that the headaches began... and I knew it was from the lack of processed carbs and sugar.  I already was regretting the decision.  But a cheerful text message from Julia, excited that we had completed our first day, and suddenly it didn't seem so hard.

We work together, so we've shared meals, exchanged meals, and last week even spent the day cooking together.  This made a HUGE difference for me because I had reached the burn-out point for all that cooking.  Honestly, I feel like if I could cook each day what I need it wouldn't be so bad.  But the long hours I work mean that I have to prepare a lot of food ahead of time, especially if I want there to be variety.  I did that twice by myself, and just reached a point where I was frustrated and tired of it.  So doing it with a friend, music turned up... it was so much better than doing it alone!  Plus it's just fun to do anything with a friend, so it's win-win!

I'll admit, today I'm actually pretty frustrated with it.  Not exactly having a good day.  So it isn't all easy and awesome (well, it's never actually been "easy" per se).  I am starting to get a little bit tired of not being able to have ice cream or bread or even a damn tablespoon of half and half in my coffee (especially considering the circumstances... it would kind of make me feel better right now).  But I'm reminding myself, thirty days just isn't that long of a time.  It's really not!  And I've already made it more than half-way through, which at the beginning seemed pretty insurmountable!

Finally Seeing SF

Well, tonight it's back to work.  But I've had a good few nights off.  The first day, as it always is with night shift, was spent mostly being lazy in front of the computer with Netflix on.  Yesterday Bela and I decided to drive my car into San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge, and visit Muir Woods to see the Redwood trees!  Definitely one of the coolest experiences I've had yet!

^^^Just driving through SF, I thought all the wires were really interesting.

 ^^^We went to a cool place called Fred's Coffee Shop in Sausalito.  Here is a spinach and feta cheese omelette with potatoes and toast.  Delish!

^^^We went to Muir Woods and got to see the Redwood trees!  Something that has always been on my bucket list, and I'm glad I can cross that off!  I think I'll definitely go back to see them again sometime.  Beautiful.  And so quiet and peaceful. 

^^^We got to see the Golden Gate Bridge!  We walked about half of it, and drove over it as well.  Pretty cool!

We went to a cool coffee shop called Philz Coffee.  Not the greatest service, but I think I had the best coffee I've ever had in my life there.  It was called Philtered Soul.

So, things with work are still pretty stressful.  I'm still really anxious about going in tonight, and have had some interesting and somewhat unpleasant experiences with some of the staff there.  But we are definitely trying to make the most of our days off, and that is honestly what travel nursing is about.  We knew it would be stressful going in... maybe not quite as stressful as it's been.  But we definitely were preparing ourselves for the worst when we started this.  Somehow it has still been more stressful than I expected.  Anyway, after tomorrow night I'll have completed my first full week on my own, and maybe I'll feel better about things then... we shall see.

A Great Week Indeed!

I am coming off of a great week!

First of all, I finally, after four years of being a nurse, got my ACLS certification!  That stands for Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support.  I feel all nursey and ready to save a life now!  Just have to keep myself refreshed on the material so I'll remember it.

Second, I spent a few days in Orlando at Universal Studios with my wonderful friends Bela, Priti (and her husband Brad), and their mom Miss Gita.  Bela is my best friend from nursing school, one of the few I've kept in touch with.  She has become one of my very best friends for life, and we had such a great time hanging out in Orlando!  I was sad to come home, but there are always lots more good times to come!

We picked a great time of the year to go.  The crowds were minimal (for a theme park) and the weather was hot but not too hot with very little rain.  You can't win with Florida weather even in September, so you take what you can get.  I have to say, after this week I can finally say I love Universal Orlando.  I am a Disney girl through and through, so it was difficult for me to love Universal even though I've been three times before this.  I was always comparing it to Disney in the past, but I think it takes being with the right people to learn to love something like this.  I had a blast!

Here are some pictures from our time there.

 The first night, at the hotel getting ready to go to dinner.

 Me and Miss Gita, Bela and Priti's mom.  One of the most genuine, sweet ladies I have ever known!

 A pretty typical moment for us.

 Enjoying yummy nachos and queso.

 Miss Gita, Bela, and me.

 All aboard the Hogwarts Express!  The conductor declared us to be his wives, upon which Bela and I were excited to discover we are now sister wives!

 Flying brooms.  Or trying to.

 In front of Hagrid's Hut

 On a ride (similar to Teacups at Disney) with Miss Gita.  I got called out over the loudspeaker on this ride to put away my cell phone.  It was worth getting this picture!

 Hogsmeade.  Wish this was a real-life place!

 I feel like I could join the Ministry of Magic with this hat.

 Just goofing off

 I've always wanted to take a picture with these since the first time I went to Universal.  So we took one.

 Getting photo-bombed by a t-rex

 We went to the Animal Actors show.  It was pretty cute!

 Just before the Despicable Me ride.  It was one of my favorites!

 We got to meet Lucy Ricardo!  She was slightly drunk.

 We had tons o'fun at Universal Orlando!

Our last meal out before leaving at Pastamore at City Walk.

Over The Weekend

I had a pretty good weekend, I'd say.  Saturday I spent the morning with Lauren at the beach for her birthday.  We went to Cruiser's Grill afterward, and enjoyed great hamburgers, chips and queso.  I've never been to Cruiser's Grill but apparently it's a really popular spot at Jax Beach.  And now I know, and you do too.  Try it out!

Later on, I got together with Bela at Starbucks to catch up.  We have tried again and again for six months to find time to get together, but it didn't work out until now.  It was great to catch up, an afterward we met up at Olive Garden for dinner with her sister Priti and her mom Miss Gita.  It was such a great time!  We laughed a lot.

Post-beach shot with Lauren at Cruiser's Grill.  GREAT hamburgers! 

Seeing Bela was lots of fun! 

This picture was retaken several times because I had a tree sticking out behind my head.  Turns out that tree was just my hair.

Friends! 

Bela with her mom and sister Priti

Yesterday I had a reunion with my best nursing school (really, one of my best ever!) friends Bela.  We became friends on the first day of orientation when we happened to be in line together at the cashier's office, along with another friend Tatyana.  We ended up sitting together the rest of that day at orientation, and became inseparable for the next two years.  I remember our first conversation being about our faith, and being so glad to have met a friend who shared the same beliefs that I did.  It turned out she was living with her aunt in the same town I was, and we decided to carpool together as well.  Those car rides were what solidified our friendship over the next few weeks, but due to her propensity for not being *quite* as early as I was, we decided to not ride together anymore.

The first time I remember really feeling comfortable with her was that we had to park in the farthest parking lot from the campus.  We both bought the cheapest parking passes.  And we got these books in these huge boxes that we had to carry out to our cars, and couldn't stop laughing because they were so heavy and we could hardly carry them.  I was so glad to meet someone who laughed at something so silly with me.

It isn't often that I, as an introvert, meet someone who is so accepting of me and some of my personality quirks.  She really brought me out of my shell in a lot of ways, and has ended up one of my best friends for life.  Even though we don't see each other that often, when we get together it's like we can just pick up where we left off.  This time we have decided that we won't let so much time go by in between seeing each other.  But it is just good to know that you have friends like that.  

Catching up last night was really great.  Probably one of the most refreshing evenings I've had in awhile.  Just having someone to listen to, and you can listen back.  Here's hoping that we have more time in our busy schedules to hang out!  She only lives an hour and a half away.

Also... please excuse the horrible sense of style I had in college.  I was poor and had no money for things like clothes.  But I had a lot of fun!

Cleveland: A Week of Fall-tastic Fun

On our first night there, we decided to take a trip to Target. We especially enjoyed browsing through the Halloween section.

Day 2: Fall foliage!  As a Floridian, this is something I rarely see.

Me, enjoying the scenery on our hike.

Lindsey's grandpa told us about this awesome place called Gervasi Vineyards.  Yes, this  is in Canton, OH.  Beautiful, isn't it?  Complete with wine-tasting and dinner at the bistro, it was an awesome experience!  Thanks, Mr. Grandpa Glorioso!

I took a picture with fall colors every chance I could get.

Day 3: A visit to Amish country!  It wasn't everything I hoped for, but I did get to see some Amish people.  The Amish guy using a leaf blower made the experience- we were trying to figure out how he justified that when they aren't supposed to use modern technology.

On our way back from Amish country, we passed a pumpkin patch.  And, since we don't have *actual* pumpkin patches in FL, we had to stop!

Before our pumpkin carving.

The finished product.  Lindsey's on the left, mine on the right.

Day 4: I got to see one of my oldest friends, Sarah Micklewright!  It was awesome catching up.  She came with us to a rainy fall fest, one of the coldest days I was there.  See, even the Clevelanders were cold on this day.

Here we are again!

We had to take pictures here... what are friends for if not being huge dorks together?

We went to Trader Joe's to pick out our perfect pumpkins.

Our pumpkin family.  Sarah's, the one on top with the monocle, is still my favorite.  Mine are the bottom left two... the simplest ones, but they do look happy, don't they?

Day 5: After dinner with Lindsey's family because her sister was in town, we took the train downtown to Cleveland and walked around seeing the sites.  It was also freezing this day.

The tower.

Day 6: A trip to the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame and Museum!  Necessary picture with a guitar out front, of course!  I picked this one because it reminded me of palm trees in FL.

Me with the Rock Hall

And, it's time to go home.  I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures the last day... but I did take pictures on the plane when I left.  This is flying over Lake Erie toward Chicago.  Bye, Cleveland!

And to end my trip on a high note, I ran into my sister at the Chicago airport!  Surpised?  It wasn't as random as it sounds, but still, it was about as random as it could possibly get in an airport like that.  She was on her way to India, and that morning texted me to tell me she'd be in the O'Hare airport.  Lo and behold, so would I!  She sat with me at my gate (her layover was much longer than mine) until I boarded my plane.  We laughed a lot and had fun, and I think people around us were quite amused.  Allison looks quite fresh in this picture, just embarking on her great international ventures, and I look quite gnarly as I am exhausted from a week of touring.

Ah, friends... for me, the word "friend" is not one I use lightly.  I've never considered myself a person with friends in great quantity, but one with friends in great quality.  Unfortunately, many of them have lived long distance and so I don't get to see them often.  Lindsey is a friend that even if we don't talk for months, can just pick up where we left off the last time.  Sarah, one of my first friends, has been awesome to re-connect with.  We hadn't seen or spoken with each other in years, yet we randomly reconnected when she happened to live in the same city as my other friend!  Now both of them hang out without me... but it's ok, I forgive them.

To the good times!