L'aventure américaine

I just returned from a marvelous visit home and I planned on blogging about my spelunking adventure immediately after it happened. But a tragically slow internet connection and an incredibly entertaining niece and nephew kept me busy the whole time. So, belatedly, I will tell you about the caving adventure... Sterling stated that he always wanted to find a cave when he was a kid and Dad informed him that we, as luck would have it, had our own bonafide cave behind the garage! I was roped in by the fear of my dad and Sterling down in the cave together without a conversation facilitator and because I'd obviously forgotten how terrifying it was. What follows is a step by step of our Christmas Spelunk: 1) Stering is lowered/climbs down by a rope into the darkness. 2) I follow... sliding down the rope like a fire pole because the knots are tied too far apart. All the way down, I am thinking, "What the hell am I doing?!" 3) Dad gracefully descends after us. 4) We hang out in ...

You know, I planned on posting for posterity's sake on the day when more people think of me than on my birthday. But, I had also planned on having a giant party on 11/11/11 or getting married on 11/11/11 or doing something momentous on 1111 11th Street from 11:11am to 11:11pm. After all, 11:11 only happens twice a day and 11/11/11 probably only happens once a lifetime. But, I didn't do any of those things... However, I did seize the day and had a wonderful time doing it. My 11/11/11: Called my mom when my clock digitally ticked those four great numbers and sang her the "11:11" song. Sterling and I drove to the Queen Creek Olive Mill where we enjoyed sandwiches and wine and meandered thru the olive groves and then enjoyed a lecture about extra virgin olive oil (buy extra virgin!) and a tour of the mill. Drove to the arty theatre in Scottsdale and watched "Like Crazy," while marveling at the similarities between Sterling and I and the film's protagonis...

Science confirms that I really am in love. We've been together for 6 months now and my feelings have only blossomed and grown. Ahh... Read about science confirming my love here.

October is coming and not a moment too soon. While it has been a good summer and many good things are in the works, it has been a long stretch as well. Firstly, the weather. It's so hot and I have been tired of it since mid-June. I sighed as my seatbelt burned me today and look forward to a trip home to Indiana where I can bring out the scarves and feel goosebumps on my skin outdoors. Secondly, our BMT unit. I have been working on the bone marrow transplant unit since January, which is really such a short time compared to most of my coworkers. But, in these last few months, I have fallen in love with the patients and the nurse practitioners, the style of work, the coworkers, and the passion that everyone brings to the unit. Banner Health (the company that Good Sam, my hospital, belongs to) is opening a new cancer center outside of the city and their BMT program is not open yet. This means that our patients have to transfer to the Mayo Clinic, our doctors and NPs and nurses a...

VA.CA.TION... I believe that an extended period of time can consist of just one weekend and thus, I packed up again and headed north with my dog and new buddy, Sterling Engine (hereafter: Sterling). Tick, tick, tick went the thermostat as we drove away from Phoenix and yip, yip, yip went Odie in the backseat as he realized where we were headed. And a grin settled on my face as sweat stopped rolling down my back. 80 degrees is goooood. Top 5 Moments: 1. A harvest moon lent an air of daytime to the night... Pre-fantastic thunderstorm, that is. (Thank you, tent, for keeping us dry.) 2. Hobo dinner of vegetables and sausage and bacon and eggs in the morning... Oh so delicious. 3. Eating nectarines with Humphrey's Peak in the background and the distant Grand Canyon in the foreground in the middle of The Abineau/Bear Jaw Trail. 4. Not having cell phone service for 36 hours. 5. Signing the date, "9/11" in the hiking log yesterday and paying homage to the event, through me...

Now, I would have thought that that was fuzzy math before I spent a weekend camping in Flagstaff, but when I woke up one morning, it was 46 degrees. It has often been 96 degrees in the early morning when I walk before work. I could see my breath in Flagstaff. It was glorious. Flagstaff highlights: Odie and I hiked to the top of Humphrey's Peak: the highest point in Arizona at 12,600-ish feet. It started to get a bit stormy as we descended from the peak and note that my hair is starting to stand on end due to the electricity in the air. We booked it to tree line, obviously. Julia, Rich (friends from Phoenix and Odie's surrogate parents during my vacations), and Amigo (Odie's best friend), Odie and I hiked in a mile long lava tube near Flagstaff. We sat in the darkness and enjoyed the cool temperatures (32-42 degrees). We had to crouch in some places, but there were 30 foot high cathedral ceilings in others. Pretty fantastic! (Especially since I had just learned abo...

I have not posted in a bit because I have felt like I don't have anything to say. This is somewhat ludicrous, since I've been gone nearly every weekend this summer. (Yet the heat is still too oppressive for me... Good god... it's terrible.) So, here is my vacation recap: I went to Laguna Beach in June to visit my friend, Jana. We used to work together and she moved there last January. It was an unbelievably delightful weekend with some camping and beaching and great food and happy hours. It was a beautiful visit. Highlight: Spending the afternoon on the beach with Jana, reading, walking, and getting slapped in the face by some pretty impressive waves. Two weeks later, I flew to Dallas for a quick weekend visit. I saw my friend, Kirsten, whom I lived with in Telluride. We reminisced and played in the backyard pool and ate our way through the weekend. She is one of those friends that I can go ages without talking to, but man, if it isn't easy t...

And Odie said to me, "I'm feeling a little bloated... Do you think we could work out more?" So, I responded, "Odie, my dear, it is so hot here. It's 90 degrees at 6am and 107 when I get off work. We just can't do our hikes during the summer!" But, he's so defensive and responded, "You won't *#&%-ing love me when I'm chubby!" I reassured him that I would love him more if he were chubby, but he kept insisting. So, here we are: Sorry about the camera angle...

Having been raised in the Midwest, I love thunderstorms. So, when I see that it's windy and stormy outside, my first reaction is to go outside and enjoy in the storm! May it be noted that this is not a good idea during a dust storm. Especially if one wears contacts. Life lesson #693 learned.

You can eat yogurt with walnuts for breakfast and salad for lunch, but you then may find yourself finishing a bag of Cheetos whilst standing in the middle of your kitchen at 4:41pm.

...since I've posted a Jon Stewart clip. I don't watch regularly anymore, but I did catch this clip, which made me laugh out loud. Granted, the whole Anthony Weiner saga is funny enough as it is, but this is just the icing on the cake. Watch this clip from The Daily Show. Weiner is just a funny word.

The Journey One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice -- though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. "Mend my life!" each voice cried. But you didn't stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voices behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do -- determined to save the only life you could save. ~ Mary Oliver ~ I was reciting my e.e. cummings mantra for my friends, Danny and Jean Ellen, the other night and we all commenced discussing po...

Yesterday when I got my mail and along with some junk mail and my "New Yorker," an "US Weekly" arrived as well. Because the previous two tenants never filled out "Change of Address" forms, I often get mail that isn't mine, but the "US" was addressed to me. What's more, it looks like it is going to be coming to me for a whole year! I would like to say that it went on the stack with the other magazines that I mean to read when I have the time, but no, I voraciously devoured it. I thought that I should read a "New Yorker" article after to negate the smutty effects of the "They're just like us!" section, but, of course, I didn't. Talk about guilty pleasures... So, where'd this magazine come from? It's a mystery. A delightfully smutty mystery.

I have been reciting this poem daily to myself, just as a happy reminder of good things. i thank You God for most this amazing day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes e.e. cummings *I just googled this and saw that there was more to the poem. More to memorize!

Is he the worst dog or the best dog? Today on our hike, Odie ran up behind me with a big glob of brown stuck to his collar and the left side of the neck. It was in such an odd place that I assumed that it couldn't be poo, that he had to have been digging... But, of course not. Somehow, he had gotten poo stuck on his the buckle of his collar and the front, left side of his neck and NOWHERE else. I still don't understand how this happened, but I spent the remainder of the hike wondering how I would get this off and drive him home in the climate that I live in: one without water. Fortunately, there were several plastic bags at the end of the hike for poo clean-up on the hike (or at the end, in my lucky case). So, I "gloved" up with some plastic bags and took his collar off, then proceeded to dump a 1/3 full water bottle on him repeatedly, since the weak water fountain would only fill it up that much. I strapped him into the car and prayed that he didn't jump a...

I didn't really want to wake up at 3am in Phoenix this morning and truly attempted to go back to sleep, but I thought of Clara, happily teaching at noon in her international school and Charles and family, probably trying to get Daniel to eat a good lunch and then take a nap and I got up to look at pictures. I made it home last night after a fairly smooth day of traveling. It's always so surreal to say goodbye to a friend in Milano and hello to friends in Phoenix, but it's good to be back and it's warm here with chirping birds outside. It was such a wonderful last leg of vacation and I felt giddy the entirety of my stay in Milan. It had been five years since Clara and I had seen each other, but it was literally like yesterday. Non-stop conversation and laughter and fun commenced as soon as I saw her smiling face at the train station. I was quickly immersed in a little family gathering of the Gallina's (the family of her boyfriend, Filippo) with delicious food and...

Karma has been good to us these past two days that forecasted rain, but seemed to just miss us. It was a serendipitous day as we started in the nearly empty, but absolutely fabulous Museo del Duomo, where we saw Michelangelo's Pieta and Donatello's Mary Magdelene among others. When the line to enter the Duomo was too long, we decided to have an early lunch, which turned out to be one of the best meals we've had so far. After we finished, the Duomo had no line and few people inside. Perfetto. We caught a train to Milan this afternoon and are currently in our biggest room yet! Mom flies out tomorrow morning and I return to the city to see my dear friend, Clara. I will meet her Italian boyfriend's family and go to an Italian improv show, so it will certainly be a change of pace! But, as I miss my brother and his family, I will miss Mom as well. What a wonderful traveling companion!

It was sad sad sad saying goodbye to Charles, Elisabetta, Daniel and Josephine, but luckily Mom and I had more vacation to go! So, we hopped on the train for Florence and have been trekking around the city since. We're staying in a lovely B&B near the Duomo where we've enjoyed delicious cappuccinos and the best yogurt ever. It only took a few minutes to walk to the Uffizi Gallery yesterday morning where we saw priceless works of art (I.e. The Birth of Venus) and priceless people-watching. Of course, the most memorable part was when I didn't realize that the windows overlooking the Arno River were double-paned and very forcefully slammed my head into the window. A picture of grace... That's me. We also visited the ever-impressive, always stunning David at The Accademia. We interspersed these activities with some delicious pasta and wine and lots of very successful shopping at the Straw Market! The day prior we had hiked up to Piazza Michelangelo to get some views of ...

This will be my last post with pictures as this will be the last time that I can usurp my brother's computer. We are loathe to leave Vigolo Vattaro, even though beautiful Florence is ahead of us. I don't want to miss Daniel's cry of "Bia!" when he reaches for the ball. I don't want to miss Josephine's sweet sucking sound and the way she curls up her legs and is in the shape of an egg. I don't want to miss Daniel's faces and [he's the only one allowed to do this] the way he calls me "Kathy." I don't want to miss conversations with Elisabetta nor her risotto. And I don't want to miss Charles's puns and jumping on his back, despite his T6 compression fracture. It has been another excellent couple of days. Charles and I hiked La Marzola yesterday, which was quite the challenge but well worth it. It was super steep and we climbed 1000 meters; they don't seem to believe in switchbacks here, so it was pretty comical a...

Italy remains idyllic for us and it seems as though the Trentino-Alto-Adige region is posing for a tourist's brochure. We continue to take walks around Vigolo Vattaro and visit the playgrounds with Daniel. I made some new friends yesterday and have decided to meet enough people in this small town as to always recognize one when I leave the apartment. Charles said that that should take about three days. On Friday, Charles, Mom, Daniel and I went to il Giardino Sigurta near Lago di Garda. We missed Tulip Mania by a week, but no one told the tulips and the day was perfect. Beautiful tulips blooming all around amidst perfectly groomed grass that we were allowed to walk on. We visited the Didactic Zoo (the petting zoo), but Daniel really wanted to throw rocks in the water as opposed to touch any animals. We played in some ponds, enjoyed a picnic and ran barefoot in the grass (a new thing for Danielino, but he quickly became a fan... Good barefoot Hoosier genes!). It was a perfe...

It's another beautiful spring day here in Vigolo Vattaro and we are all enjoying the sunshine and temperate weather. As well as the delicious risotto and pasta that Elisabetta has been making for us between Josephine's meals. Daniel is delightfully charming and is full of fantastic facial expressions. He is quite the tease, but it's hard not to laugh at him when he misbehaves, since he's so darn cute about it. Their little town is so gorgeous and I have wanted to burst into song every time I've walked out the door ("Little Town" from "Beauty and the Beast" seems so apt.), but so far, no one has appreciated my singing. Charles and I did go to BimboSplash this morning and it was just as fun as I'd imagined: 5 babies and Daniel swimming around with their parents and an Argentinian swim instructor named Esteban. Add to that swim caps for everyone and it was a blast. Daniel is a good little swimmer, er, walker in water and didn't even min...

Mom and I made it senza problemi yesterday and loved seeing Charles at the old Trento train station. We made our way up to their lovely village of Vigolo, which is unbelievably picturesque. The weather is gorgeous, the mountains are snow-capped, the apple trees are blooming and the forsythia is a radiant yellow. Josephine is delightfully beautiful and spends her time eating and sleeping, with some good watching time in between. Daniel has decided that he does indeed like me and we're having a wonderful time playing together. It's a happy family here in Italy and I am thrilled to be here. Pictures to follow.

Goals for this trip: 1) Improve my Italian... Again. 2) Get my nephew to love me, er, at least let me hold him. 3) Go to "BimboSplash" and swim with a swim cap (and brother and nephew), because doesn't that sound hilarious? Incidentally, my brother asked me to bring my swim cap. Ha. That will be my favorite souvenir, I can already tell. Trip commence!

I recently started a new relationship... it's only been a month so far, so I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I am pretty sure that I am in love. He's so charming and pretty; sleek, one might say. He's full of incredibly useful information: as much trivia as I want as well as personal stuff that he always remembers. He's so great at directions and is even teaching me Spanish. He's willing to go wherever I want to go and I love showing him off to people. Granted, he always wears purple, but his thin frame can really pull it off. Have I mentioned that he vibrates? Oh, iPhone boyfriend... How I love you. (On an unrelated note... does my hand look weird in this picture? I think that it's monstrous.)

You are such an enabler, my friend. But I still never wish my glass to end. Your heavy layer is stirred up with ice and fizzy tonic makes it oh-so-nice. A lime is squeezed around the rim and delicious is your synonym. And as I flop on the couch and describe my day, I'm so glad that you came my way. It should be noted that I do not have a drinking problem, but it has to be said that after three straight, painful days at work, a gin and tonic last night was... nice.

My friend Jean Ellen is probably my hippest friend here in Phoenix. She always has the scoop on the most interesting events and activities around. And she did a bang-up job this weekend by taking me and another friend of ours to the Brides of March Pub Crawl: an event that you can only attend dressed in wedding dress, whether or not you are male or female. She shopped for us in a thrift shop in which there were only three wedding dress and bought all three. We were fated to go to this event as each dress found its perfect match in one of us. And so we started in Tempe and took the Light Rail to Phoenix with around 50+ beautiful brides marched around with drinks in hand. There was chest hair and make-up and earrings that were hot-glued on. There were long skirts and veils and white satin galore. It was fantastic. If you happen to live in a city that does this annually, I guarantee that this is an event not to be missed!

Vacations suit me, I believe. I am having a wonderful time playing in the snow and taking my OWN snow days, since I haven't been lucky enough to have any in Phoenix yet. I have had a wonderful time with friends and family, hiked, babysat, and skied! My first day of skiing was at Molas Pass as seen in this picture. Clay, Shirena and I hiked up to one of those rocky outcroppings and skied down. Er, they skied down. I panicked, skied horizontally, yelled at myself repeatedly for being such a wimp, and tumbled/skied down the mountain. My skiing day in Crested Butte was a little better and I plan to continue my solid mediocrity as a skier tomorrow in Vail. Bring on the snow!

I think that it's eyeliner karma that led me to this weekend's Honor Ball to benefit Scottsdale Healthcare. It was an invitation from The Good Doctor that allowed me to experience my first black-tie affair since prom. And at this event, there was an open bar and better food. Also a lot less crying in the bathroom (that I could see) and a lot more schmoozing. The evening was a great one though because I got to wear my newest love... a vintage Ceil Chapman dress circa 1950. It was a mad-dash to get ready for this event in three days and I had at least two melt-downs in the Scottsdale Fashion Mall due to shopping fatigue. However, I could have stayed at the vintage dress store for hours and I loved how the staff and the customers gave me their opinions on whichever dressing I was trying on (i.e. "Too tight... too short... Not enough 'pop'... Perfect"). As soon as I tried it on, I had a feeling that this was the dress I would go home with because I love...

I can be fairly cheap when it comes to everything aside from food, liquor and... well, that's it. Today, I learned about eyeliner. I couldn't handle the consistent problem I have with eyeliner getting all over my upper lid prompting people to ask me why I have a black eye and if someone has been beating me. Nope and nope... Walgreen's is my make-up supplier, I reply. Today I spent $22 on eyeliner, which made me want to cry, which would have smudged my eyeliner from Walgreen's except that it had already smudged all over my face. I put it on in the car and 7 hours later, it's perfect. Lesson #852: Spend a little bit more money on make-up. I realize that this is quite inane for a blog-post and most of you won't care and Mom will say, "That's right. You should sometimes put a little more effort into your appearance," but I was just so amazed and pleased that I decided to buy more expensive shoes immediately after. It's a slippery slope, thi...

Have you guys missed Odie? It has been almost a month since I have mentioned him, so I thought that you probably did. Odie and I sat down the other day and made our new year's resolutions, so I wanted to include some of his: "1. I resolve to master the treadmill (videos to come when Katherine can let go of the leash and videotape... we're not to that level yet since I learned how to jump off without rolling). 2. I resolve to cut down on my poop intake. I eat far too much of it. 3. I resolve to stop stealing Amigo's bed (my friend the Weimereiner-Lab mix who has a much bigger bed). Actually, no, if he's silly enough to give it up to me, I'm going to go ahead and take it. 4. I resolve to get at least 15 hours of sleep per 24 hour period and to stop waking up at 5:24am." Now, I had to correct some of spelling when I was transcribing, but those are the only changes I made! Oh, and I had to cut out expletives. Odie swears like a sailor.

I just watched Obama's speech about the shootings in Arizona last weekend. I am so proud to have him as our president. It has amazed me how people have not talked about the shootings here in Arizona. I have discussed it with just a handful of people, but for the most part, it has not been mentioned. After September 11th, we all talked about the attack. We were brought together as a country and we united behind our leaders. After the shooting in Tucson, few people are talking about the aftermath. We are still as divided as ever and there has been no unity, but only increased anger this week. I work with nurses who care for dying patients every day. I watch people struggle with their impending death and how this affects their family and friends. I spend time with people on the very worst day of their lives. But what did we discuss in our last staff meeting? Scheduling and coffee carafes and water bottles. Our president asked us to live up to our children's expectation...