L'aventure américaine

So, my blog fans, I am afraid that I'm going to have to close one of my very favorite chapters in this blog. Things have been going so well here in sunny Phoenix: two of my dear friends had incredibly joyful and healthy babies. Sterling closed on a fixer-upper down the street that will be the newest project. And I received an acceptance letter from my first grad school. Wonderful news and great reason for celebration. However, yesterday afternoon I was tearful for most of the day because of my dog. Two weeks ago, I was eating breakfast in a restaurant and Odie was tied up around back. When Sterling and I went to pick him up, a very angry young woman told me that my dog bit her and lunged after another staff member. I was, of course, extremely apologetic and gave her all of my information and took a look at the bite. It was really just a nick, but it did break skin. And while I think that she was silly to try to pet a dog that is tied up out back (he was far enough away from...

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...