Catch up: You may want to read this in installments....

Well, it's been about 2 years since the last blog post......I guess it could have been worse.  The hiatus corresponds with the time that JP has had a job, so it's either that he's been too busy or too distraught with the fact he works in (well, near really) Times Square to continue writing.  Or that he's just become so accustomed to living in NYC that nothing seems blog-worthy anymore.  You decide.

But.... yours truly now has a 2 month break from the ER and instead of studying or working on work-related activities (you know, being productive), I figure I have time to fill in the 2 year absence.  And maybe keep this thing alive.  If anyone is listening anymore.....

In case you haven't heard, we are officially headed back to the Wenatchee Valley come June 28th!!!  That is my official last day of residency and at some date in July I will begin my first official adult job (coming at the young age of 35) at the Central Washington Hospital ER.  Yay is a big understatement.

Here's a picture to prove how excited we are to come home to the PNW:

That's our cluttered room, as well as our paperlink count down chain.

This is June 28th:

Don't be fooled, that is an ironing board, but I don't iron that often.

So we're coming home!

Other newsworthy events that have happened: I got an iphone in order to take that panoramic picture of our paper chain.   And I have four plants.  John keeps getting raises at his job but he doesn't want me to talk about that so that's just between you and me.

Okay, now on to pictures!  I could tell you in words what we've done in the last two years, but you all kind of know already: we live in New York and we have jobs and sometimes go to restaurants and other states like New Jersey.   Besides, this isn't a fiction novel where you get to make up the pictures in your head, this is real life b#$*&es!



Well lets start things on a happy note: the Seahawks crushed the Giants at MetLife stadium and we were there to see it thanks to an awesome cousin of mine.   Thanks Liam!

Christmas came next, in fact our first xmas as a married couple.  I made John pose in front of our fake 2 foot xmas tree, wearing the scarves my mom knit us.  Hearts on the wall by Annie.  Amazingly arranged xmas lights by me.   It was a really special xmas.

The next thing we did was go back home.  It was a great trip to see family and friends:

We were out on Vashon Island and had other visitors besides family, but I can't find those photos.  So thanks for coming to see us Alyssa, Sparkle, Seth, and Laura!

And then we went to celebrate Easter with the DC Carrs:

We got to share Annie's first time dying Easter eggs.  She hated it, as you can see.

John was more worried about his hair and posing for pictures than Easter eggs.

Easter Sunday picture.  I think Annie is mostly worried about finding the rest of the hidden eggs...

Then we had more visitors!!!

And got to take more pictures in subway stations!!! 

Somehow I finagled three days off while on a very time-intensive SICU rotation to go to Mexico for Nicky and Cam's wedding.  Shortest trip to a foreign country I have ever taken, but SOOOOOOO worth it.

 Wouldn't be a wedding without the special occasion Snapple shirt

 I only got one or two pictures with the bride and none with the groom......Sorry Cam.  But we all know you were there.

Also I can't help noticing I have really bad posture in this picture.  Where was my mother to tell me to sit up straight!

 It was an okay spot to have a wedding.  Just sort of pretty.

Yeah, those were a good three days.......  

Then some more visitors!:

 So of course more subway photos

 And we went to see the White House, Ahhgain (in case you don't get it, which you probably don't, that's a Forrest Gump line.  See, it's funny!).

Then another visitor:

 Duh, of course we're taking a picture in the subway with Kate.  And you thought I was lying about visitors and the subway.

And a little hiking trip to celebrate our one year anniversary.  Nice to get out of the city.......

I've said it before, one of the joys of NYC is the amount of visitors we've had.  It was great to see Matt and Jodi:

 Don't be fooled, Vanessa lives here.  Also, don't be fooled, I'm not trying to choke JP, that was my gentle, loving arm around my husband pose.  I'm very gentle.

 Subway picture!  Jodi's pregnant belly is now a beautiful little girl.  Man time flies.  Also, the other title to this picture is "College roomies yay!"  

Then we went home again, jiggety-jig

 The view from my father's boat/home in Friday Harbor is one of the many things I love about the Northwest.  What an amazing break from the chaos of NYC.

 Wheeee!!!!!

 Hike up Minotaur Lake with family.

 Team Grrrrr!  Or something like that.  I think we won the football game that day.  Julia knocked her teeth out before the game, I swear.

And then to Camp Goodtimes.  Ahhh, so much fun.......and good times.

 Sparkle!!

 I think this was the Disney dance.  King aka Matt dressed as Triton?  Lizard aka me dressed in leopard print as an attempt at a Lion King costume.  Not the actual king, just one of the extras or something.  Obviously I'm doing a feline pose in this picture.

JP aka Timber (or is it the other way around) as Prince Charming.  This is exactly the image I've had in my head since I was a little girl.  sigh.....

And this is what we came home to.......

But all is not lost, we also came home to cousins!

 After cheering on Olivia I made everyone take a cousin photo.  What can I say, I love my cousins!  From left to rigth: Lindsey, Ashley, Olivia, me, Alyssa.  And Brieda in Ashley's arms.

Mike and Maria's wedding in Bilbao really deserves an entry all to it's own.  It was an amazing trip and so many good memories made.  Here's a little taste:

 Having coffee was a highlight.  No to-go cups in Spain.  In Spain we sit and enjoy the coffee.

 This was my attempt at a cute picture of the happy couple.  Fail.

 This was my attempt at a puppy face.  Not a fail!

 Exploring Bilbao with this handsome guy

 Mike, Jerry, mom enjoying the night life.  

Family photo in the hotel

Exploring Mundaka, a nearby world renowned surfing spot and cute little village.  

At a church older than anything we have in 'merica, overlooking the sea 

 Night before the wedding with Maria's family.  They were fantastic.  Maria speaks English, but overall her family's English was so-so, but we were in Spain so it was really on us.  Our Spanish goes from fluent (I hope Mike is fluent if he's marrying a Spaniard) to high school level "I know how to say hello and where's the bathroom and beer" (Patrick).  Four (at the time) year old Annie also knows how to say these things.  And she also knows how to say cucumber.     

 Brothers!  Special occasion t-shirt, check.

 I cannot even begin to explain how much Annie loved this gigantic dog made of flowers.  LOOOOOVED. 

 Cousins!  How awesome that Kathy made the trip to see her cousin get married in Spain.  She's pretty cool like that.

 Soccer ball shaped cheetos.  I know, very fun.

 Not often enough do we get to be together

 I got a speaking role at the wedding.  In English.  That most people didn't understand.  It was my big chance to say something like "fart" or "poop" in a church wedding.  I blew it.  

 Married!  Casados!

 There were some really great outfits at the wedding.  So much color!

 This new friend of ours dubbed John "El Diablo" through the course of the night.  The language barrier was high but the language of brotherly love and alcohol was easily shared.  His wife is sitting in this picture.  She was a few months pregnant, so she could only drink "a little" alcohol that night.  Free of judgement, I might add.    

 Kathy asked for water (in spanish) and the waiter said "okay", then came back with a glass of whiskey.  Which she happily drank.

Sisters!!

 Great night, great wedding, great trip.  Can't wait to go back to Bilbao.

I think they'll have us too.

So we had that lovely adventure to Spain, then got back and I left JP all to his own (don't worry I came back and he had survived) for a few days while I had a med school reunion.  Love these girls!

And then came Surprise Friends Thanksgiving!!  Johns friends are awesome for coming out to surprise him, because John LOVES surprises......

.....almost as much as he love Elmo in Times Square

But he does love chicken and waffles, which is what we ate right before this picture was taken.

After the NYC surprise, we headed to the Jersey shore where some of us did a run....

Some of us were hung-over without shoes......

Some of us had a foot race.......

 Thanks Jersey Shore and Surprise Friends Thanksgiving!

 And then we took another xmas photo.  Less than a year to go until we're caught up.....

Day trip to Montauk, the easternmost point on Long Island.

 John got to look at rocks and be away from people so he was happy!

Here's some New York things we did that winter:

Saw my good friend Domenica!  Don't worry, she's been before and we've already taken a subway picture.....

 Went to a Blazer game at Madison Square Garden.  Blazers won, of course!

 Checked out an old historic home.  Just another historic house in NYC where George Washington stayed once.

 Found John's Fried Chicken.   That was really exciting.

 Took a walk to Astoria, Queens.  There are no pictures of us in Astoria, so this picture of the walk there will have to do.  We did find a great little brewery in Astoria called SingleCut Beersmiths which I highly enjoyed.  I just now looked them up and found out they now bottle their beer, so if you ever see it, buy it and drink it.  Although you probably won't see it unless you come visit us in NYC, so I feel sorry for you.

 The walk included going over a bridge, so I took a picture of another bridge.  

And Nicole came to town so we went out for drinks!

Savannah, spring 2014:

 I have always wanted to go to Savannah, GA ever since I watched Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  Strange, I know, but I really wanted to see the the Spanish Moss in person and wander around a charming southern town. 

 We found Perry St.

 We did not.  But we did eat the alligators.  Rubbery.

 Examining the Forrest Gump bench at a museum.  

Savannah at night, spooky.  We did lots of walking around, during the day and at night, and we saw plenty of night time walking tours which went by cemeteries and other haunted spots.  I vetoed that idea.  Not for me.   I don't believe in ghost, but they do freak me out.

 There are 22 (I could be a little off here) squares in Savannah.  They were all very nice, but this was one of our favorites.  Overall, Savannah did not disappoint and I would recommend it highly.   

Then we had more awesome visitors over Memorial Day.  So glad Adam and Joy made it and that we finally got to meet Isaac:

Central Park, check.

 Brooklyn Bridge, check.

Statue of Liberty, check.  I have been wanting to go to the Statue of Liberty since I was five and visited my aunt in NYC.  My older brother got his choice that trip of going to some big, boring navy ship that my Cabbage Patch doll and I had no interest in.  I was bitter about that until the moment this picture was taken.  My Cabbage Patch doll, wherever she may be, is still bitter.

Still not done with our NYC checklist, so we headed to Coney Island:

 This is the Coney Island beach where we, I kid you not, saw people having sex on the beach.  The gentleman very modestly covered his behind with a medium sized towel.  Who we think was their child played in the water about 20 feet in front of them.  I think we're good on Coney Island forever.

Governors Island, a much more family friendly affair, with Ashley, Terence, Brieda, and Aunt Heather:

 While on the island John found a Washington truck.  Happy day!

 Through John's job, we got to go skeet shooting about 1.5 hours north of the city.  I had to wear the shoulder pad because apparently I am a wussy when it comes to shooting shotguns.  I will not tell you the percentage of skeets I hit, but I will say it was not zero percent....

 Finally the long, hot summer ended.  Summer this last year was not fun mostly because my work schedule was long and tiresome and I had little break from the ER.  I know, I know: I will be working in the ER for the rest of my life, but as much as I have lots of gratitude for Lincoln and the training it's given me, it will not be the Lincoln ER and for me that's a good thing.  I love summer in general, but this summer, for the first time in my life, thought, "I can't wait for summer to be over".   It did finally end and off to Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia National Park we went in the early fall for vacation.  It was glorious.

 Montpelier, VT.  Smallest state capital in the union.  I made us take a detour so we could go here.  

Highway 2.  East coast style.  John made us take a detour so we could drive this route.

 Where we camped you could walk out to this point and just sit and take it all in.  This was our every morning spot, and many evenings as well.

Had a grueling hike up to the top of Cadillac Mountain (by the way you can drive up there too, but we are really tough...), something about the highest point on the eastern seaboard, but I don't remember because it's hard to take eastern mountains seriously.......

 Pretty view and so many islands to see!

Dusk at our spot.  

 Enjoying the rocky coastline. 

 We were basically recreating a trip John had taken with his parents and brother 16 years earlier, so also on the list was a requisite stop at Perry's Nut House in Belfast, ME on the way back.

So you remember how I got a job?  Well, we had to go home to get said job.  We were not sad about this.

 This was pre-interview facial warm-up

 Then burning things up the canyon

 Then hanging with these cute nieces and nephews of ours

Since we were forced to come back to NYC, it was nice to have a familiar face visit us the following week:

 If anyone cares, Michelle is winning the most times visiting us in NYC race.  I might make her a ribbon after it's all over. 

While she was here we went to this awesome restaurant where we got to sit in the wine cellar.  First time in NYC that I haven't thought the restaurant was over-priced and over-rated.  Well, lets be real, it was still over-priced........ 

Then it was off to Chicago for me to spend time with my co-residents at a medical conference:

This was at the opening party that was thrown for the conference.  We found out a week after we got back that they used it for their promotional flyer.  Yep, famous.  In a certain limited circle emergency medicine circle, but famous nonetheless. 

 Happily, my good friend Colleen who I hadn't seen in years lives in Chicago, so we went to the art museum.....

 and to the 95th floor of the John Hancock tower and watched the storm.......

 and went to Wrigley Field!  Colleen was a fantastic Chicago tour guide if I do say so myself.

Remember how I got an iphone?  Yep, it was so John could take this cool panoramic photo during our recent NYC exploring day out.

Wow, you made it!  All the way to today where you are now caught up on most aspects of our life in NYC.  I know there weren't a lot of good subway or street life (cuz we keep it real) stories, but I think maybe some more will be coming your way, soon.   So I leave you with this most recent update in our lives: John pulled out his Filson jacket today for the winter.  Life is good.