L'aventure américaine

Sterling and I traveled to Michigan this weekend to let them borrow some of our sunshine and check out the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor. It was a wonderful, fun-packed weekend of family and tourism! We started in Ann Arbor and visited Ron, Belita and Sarina's beautiful home. I also went to the admitted student day at the school, but decided with Sterling, that Baltimore might be a better fit for me. I loved Johns Hopkins and we really loved the school, so we decided officially to head east in July! I will be starting at the Bloomberg School of Public Health on July 2nd. But, on with the trip... We had an amazing Sabbath dinner, great conversation, and even an impromptu talent show in Ann Arbor with the Jochim-Cowan clan before heading to Detroit the next day. Sterling took me to see some of his favorite parts of Detroit like Belle Isle and check out some fantastic buildings that could be the potential next renovation project. We then met Mark...

Sterling and I made a pact not to complain about being busy because it was certainly all self-imposed. But, as we whirlwind our way through 2012, it's hard not to get a little tired from time to time. However, we have to make sure to appreciate all of the fun things that we're doing lately. For starters... January: We headed to Flagstaff to celebrate Sterling's birthday in a great little hotel and stumbled upon a fantastic, tiny church. We had originally gone to replant our live Christmas tree, but decided it was too cold for the little fella and that his home would be Phoenix. We later found a perfect spot (see picture below). At the end of the month, my friend Jon came for a visit and we galavanted around Phoenix together. The buy of the month, however, was Sterling's Coronado home up the street (see Christmas tree photo). A real beautiful thing with great potential. Secondary buy of the month? 6 chickens (who now live with the tree and the house). February: ...

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...