white elephant party

before heading back to texas for christmas, matt and i were invited to a christmas party by our friends tim & erin which was hosted by kevin & lindsey (for those keeping track, kevin's brother ryan was the one who got me my job at MCE). the party was so much fun with lots of food, drinks and a white elephant gift exchange. some of the most coveted items at the exchange? a 1980's playboy, a leopard print snuggie, and a gift that included mittens, a trucker hat, beer coozies and beer mugs...
matt and i ended up with a hot cocoa gift set and a bottle of everclear...yes, everclear! after the gift exchange the group headed out to buca di buppo for a very tasty italian dinner and *lots* of drinks. i don't mean to say that everyone got drunk, but rather, that for the 16 people in attendance (4 of whom weren't drinking due to pregnancy or a detox diet!) there were 8 pitchers of beer ordered. yes, EIGHT! needless to say, despite the guys' best efforts, some of the beer had to be left behind. after dinner a small group of us headed back to the house for some board games before calling it a night. the bonus for the night? i got to see my first *real* snowfall with substantial accumulation! it was *so* pretty driving home!

white elephant 2009

a lexi update

the obligatory fire hydrant at the park.
classic.



our cute little girl has been pretty good since the move to ohio. matt and i were both very concerned about her initially, but she seems to be adjusting to colder weather and apartment life quite nicely. we did have an unfortunate incident involving the tree skirt and one of my new scrub tops, may they rest in peace. matt and i attribute this to her feeling lonely in her new surroundings and these being things that she wasn't used to having out, so they *must* have been new toys for her, naturally (her thinking, not mine). but other than that, she has been quite understanding of our new home, new schedules and lack of backyard.
in previous posts i've mentioned that we've been taking lexi with us to heather's house and tim & erin's house to play with other dogs, but this week lexi got a *real* treat. our friends tim and erin thought it would be a good idea to take our dogs to the dog park here by our new home, and i think lexi forgot about her old backyard! lexi ran and played to her heart's content! by the time the sun was going down she hardly had enough energy left to run to the car...yay! not to mention, she got to play with her doggie friends, emma & charlie, and a host of other new and exciting smelling dogs! after the dog park we dropped the pups off at our apartment and the bipeds headed to panera for a yummy dinner. thanks to the bates family for a fun day!

the doggie park!


tim, erin, charlie, emma and matt


emma fights with her muzzle


don't be fooled, she wasn't trying to go thru that,
there was water in the bottom of it!


the agility course


emma tries out part of the course

ohio rocks!

quite literally...that is to say, i went to a concert! ;)

shinedown & bowling for soup concert

on wednesday, december 9th my wonderful sister-in-law heather treated me, her son miah and his friend justin to a concert in downtown columbus featuring bowling for soup, shinedown and a local band sighlo. now, if you don't already know, i am a *huge* bowling for soup fan, and one of their songs is actually the reason i met my amazing husband! matt and i also really like shinedown, so the concert was wonderful! oh, and the local band sighlo...they were pretty good, too!
before the concert we enjoyed dinner together, then stood in line for entrance. the concert was general admission, but we lucked out by getting an area near the front of the balcony, so we had a pretty good view of the whole show. it was a great concert, and we even got to enjoy some snow on the way home! thanks, heather, for a great night out!

two years!

two years ago on december 1st matt and i said our vows at heritage ranch in fairview, texas. fast forward to this year and we're living in columbus and trying to figure out what to do to celebrate....

two year anniversary

we eventually decided on a combination of dinner, movie and zoo. i know, you're thinking "zoo?!" but the columbus zoo is pretty awesome as far as zoos go (rated number one in the country), and i had never been. not to mention, i have a small affinity for christmas lights and the columbus zoo has a program every year called wildlights, where they decorate the whole zoo in thousands and thousands of christmas lights....amazing!
so we started the evening off with a free movie (thanks for the giftcards!) at the amc at easton (huge outdoor mall near our apartment). we saw planet 51, but neither of us were very impressed. it's certainly no shrek or the incredibles. then we walked around easton and enjoyed their spectacular luminary engineering (read: pretty christmas lights). we even stopped and splurged at the godiva store for some anniversary gifts for us....yum! after that we headed to the zoo. it was amazing! i don't think i've ever seen so many christmas lights in one place like that! and we even got to see some animals. i know, now you're thinking, "duh, you were at a zoo!" but i forgot to mention that while we were strolling around looking at the pretty christmas lights, it was a frigid 25 degrees outside. eek! yes, it was chilly, and considering most animals at zoos are from, well, warmer places i didn't know if we'd get to see any animals. but we did and they were a nice bonus ;)
after the zoo we went to olive garden for dinner and enjoyed the warm restaurant and tasty food. then we drove home and watched some movies. yay for fun anniversaries!

wildlights concert at the pond! sorry for the not-so-great video, i wasn't really prepared and didn't know how much memory it would take up, hence the two videos.

a girls day!

the craft fair...view from the stage


my wonderful in-laws invited me to the huge craft fair in columbus after thanksgiving. i went last year but was so overwhelmed by the huge-ness of it all that i didn't really get any pictures. i did slightly better this year, taking a few pics and attempting to not spend a bunch of money on all the extremely cute home-made and hand-made decorations, jewelry, foods and other not-so-necessary-but-fun-to-buy type things. i was accompained by pat & heather and matt's grandma, nan, and her friend, shirley. we had a wonderful time browsing around the various vendors, picking out christmas gifts and just spending time together.
after we had exhausted ourselves at the fair, we headed into gahanna for lunch. i had never really been into downtown gahanna, and i didn't know how cute it was! it was even better on this day because the city was having a holiday fair for their tree-lighting that evening. there were horse-drawn carriges, live music, an ice-skating area and pretty decorations everywhere! so festive! we walked around a bit....mostly because the whole area was closed to parking and we had to park in a garage far away.....and finally decided to have lunch at the old bag of nails pub. tasty!
thanks for the great day, ladies!

shopping!


heather laughs at a tressel-dog pic


resting after walking around for 2+ hrs


the fountains in gahanna


the decorations


the big christmas tree


carriage rides!


at the pub


heather, nan, shirley and pat

turkey day 2009

thanksgiving 2009

our first holiday after moving to ohio! because we weren't having to fly in to celebrate this year, we actually got to spend time with both sides of matt's family. we also were very good and woke up early to do our workout before spending the day filling our bellies with tasty food! after the workout, we showered, dressed and loaded up with lexi into matt's car and headed to urbana. we dropped lexi off at heather's house so she could play outside with becky, then drove to matt's grandma's house, the traditional thanksgiving place. we ate, enjoyed the great turnout of family and extended family, and watched the first half of the cowboys game. we also got to enjoy the intermittent snowfall while eating turkey! it was so pretty, but really only exciting for me.
at halftime during the cowboys game we loaded up again and drove out to matt's uncle butch's house to spend time with matt's dad's side of the family. i was able to meet several family memebers i had only heard about and was able to watch the rest of the cowboys game. we enjoyed some dessert and good company before leaving to go pick up lexi and drive back to columbus. unfortunatley, lexi and becky had decided to make muddy messes of themselves while we were gone, playing in the snow and the rain. our yellow lab was barely recognizeable under all the mud! it took a little cleaning and a loaned blanket for the backseat before matt and i finally felt we could safely put her in the car. fortunately, she slept all the way home because she was *so* exhausted. we were definitely thankful for that!
hopefully your thanksgiving was filled with good food, family, friends and great memories! we are thankful for the many blessings in our life, and appreicate each and every one of you and the fact that you are in our lives!

happy thanksgiving!

matt's big birthday

well, it finally happened....matt turned the big 3-0 on november 21st! luckily, i was not scheduled to work that day, so i was able to spend the entire day with my birthday boy. the 21st also happened to be the date that ohio state played michigan, the biggest game of the season because the two are huge rivals (for those of you in texas, think red river rivalry!) . so we started off the birthday by attending an OSU beat michigan party at a friends' friend's house :) tim and erin had invited us to a party that some friends of theirs were having for the game. we had a great time watching the game, meeting new people, eating great food and enjoying their beautiful new house and ginormous back yard. oh, we also enjoyed watching OSU beat the smithereens out of michigan!
after the game, we headed back to tim & erin's house where we had left our lexi-dog so she wouldn't be lonely all day in our apt by herself. we stayed at tim and erin's for a while to let the dogs play in the back yard and run off some energy. lucky for lexi, i think she's made two new friends in charlie and emma!
we left tim and erin's and headed to urbana, where we met up with matt's family at a cute little italian restaurant in the town square. the dinner was great and everyone enjoyed the live piano music while we were there. after dinner we headed back to matt's mom's house where we stayed the night so we wouldn't have to drive back to the apartment. oh, and lexi got to stay at heather's house with their dog, becky so she wouldn't spend the night by herself.
i would love to say i had planned a big surprise party....or even a little one... for my husband's big milestone birthday, but this year i claim the "we-just-moved-and-have-barely-settled-in" excuse. and fortunately, i have a husband who is fairly low-key and doesn't like a lot of fuss about him. matt says he enjoyed his birthday very much, and appreciates all the birthday wishes. hope the next 30 are even better!

happy birthday, honey!

matt's 30th birthday!

a new job

my new badge :)

my vacation is over! as of tuesday, november 10th i was no longer unemployed (which lasted all of 11 days, technically). i accepted a position at mount carmel east (MCE) located about 20 minutes from our apartment. i will still be working as an ER nurse, and actually it's a hospital very similar to MCD (funny name coincidence, i know...next i suppose i'll have to work at an MCF). their hospital has fewer inpatient beds, but more ER beds (50 as opposed to 40), and this hospital treats mainly adults. it is a chest pain and a stroke center, just like MCD, and is not a trauma center, just like MCD. the people all seem very friendly and helpful, and the place seems pretty organized thus far.
i had to attend hospital orientation on monday & tuesday (nov. 16 & 17), and today i was in the ER learning their computer system, mainly their charting/ordering/bed navigation system. i go back friday for my first 12 hour shift with a preceptor. for the first few weeks they won't let me orient on night shift, but they have compromised with me and are scheduling me for 12p-12a (noon - midnight) instead of 6a-6p. we all know that i'm very much *not* a day person, and waking up at 4am is not condusive to my person. so for this, i'm appreciative.
it's very awful being the new person all over again, espeically after being at a facility that i was assisting in running! while i never had all of the answers (and never expect to), i knew where things were and how the system worked. now i'm back to square one and i feel like a new grad all over again.....*sigh*
i will say that one of the most intimidating and weirdest things i have learned about here is how they handle severe weather. if you're from texas, this means thunderstorms and possibly tornadoes. here it means tornadoes and possibly blizzards. we were instructed on what to do in a "snow emergency" (which just seems so bizzare to me...coming from the land of no-snow!), it goes something like this, the county you live in is declared to have roads as one of the following:
level one: be cautious while driving, roads might be icy or slippery. i'm supposed to "allow extra time to get to work" per my employer.
level two: roads are hazardous, leave your house only if absolutely "necessary" (yes, i'm so special, my job is considered absolutely necessary). allow extra time to get to work, and if you are "already on shift, anticipate an extended shift" (yay)
level three (i know, how does it get worse than level two?!): roads are awful, they probably aren't even there. i assume at this point you use your snowshoes or snow-mobile to get to work, neither of which i have. the actual policy states "All roadways are closed to non-emergency personnel. No one should be driving during these conditions....Those traveling on the roads may subject themselves to arrest." uhm...hopefully my badge will keep me from getting arrested! i think you can all assume that the same "allow extra time" and "expect an extended shift" policies are in place here.

we'll see how it goes....


the main hospital, this is the original building built in 1972


my new home...the ER


the heart center at MCE

housewarming party!

my in-laws were nice enough to ("insist") on throwing a housewarming party once matt & i got settled into our new apartment here in columbus. at first, i felt that it was really unnecessary, since matt and i don't really need anything for our new apartment. but as we continued to talk about it, i got more and more excited about just being able to host people in our cozy new space. after all, we've spent the last several weeks trying to make this little apt home, so it was a nice thought that we'd have the chance to show off our hard work. of course, i also loved the opportunity to spend time with family and friends.
the party was sunday, november 15 (of course, scheduled around the cowboys game). we had a very good turn-out, and even though i wasn't really thinking there was anything we'd need for the apartment, our guests surprised us with the very best gift for us....a brand new dyson vacuum! this was probably the only thing that we actually did need and it was the model i had been eyeing, one specifically designed for homes with pets (read: big hairy, shedding labs!). our old vacuum is still in working condition, but it's smelly and doesn't work very well. and if you know me and my stance on cleaning...well, i don't really have to explain any more ;)
we also received some other very nice gifts and enjoyed great food and company. thanks to all our friends and family for making us (esp. me!) feel so welcome in columbus!

housewarming november 2009

buckeye saturdays

pictures of actual buckeyes....or, rather, the nuts from the buckeye tree.
i include this because until i had relatives here, i never knew what a buckeye actually looked like.

the last few saturdays we have spent doing what every good citizen of columbus should do: watch the ohio state buckeye's football games*.
this past saturday was no different, and we watched an amazing game between OSU and iowa that ended with OSU winning by a field goal in OT. the last few weeks we've gone to urbana to watch the games with matt's dad and fiance at their home. steve & jacquie are big buckeye fans, and it shows! here are a few pics from this past saturday.

*for those who don't already know, the "deal" when matt & i got married was that he would glady cheer for the cowboys, if i would cheer for the buckeyes. now, this doesn't mean i'm not a texas fan....but since the two teams hardly ever play, it makes it quite easy for me to cheer for both.


ready for game time!


a buckeye couple (see below)


yes, steve gave lexi her very own buckeye necklace!


and an OSU "jacket"


yes, those are cupcake cookies with "scarlet & gray" sprinkles

4549 candlewick circle

a view of the main office


our floorplan, and this is actually the exact orientation of our apt in the building


yes, the pics you've all been waiting for! these are the pics that show the apt the night we moved in and then after we finished unpacking, getting rid of (more) stuff, decorating and attempting to turn this little rented space into a home. i have to say, i'm more pleased than i expected to be! i actually really like this little apartment and the way our stuff fits in it. of course, after i finished captioning all the pictures i realized that i haven't taken any of the outside of the complex or our patio...eek! and sorry! i will have to take some tomorrow when the sun is up and add them to this post so you can see the apartment(s) from the outside, too! i went ahead and stole some from the internet so you could get an idea for now :)


one of the pretty pathways we can walk lexi on


view from the clubhouse/fitness area

i've also included the very few other pics i took when i wasn't busy unpacking boxes. among those that are noteworthy: i recevied my nursing license and we had the chance to hang out with tim & erin at buffalo wild wings where we watched the dallas cowboys defeat the philadelphia eagles! go cowboys!
enjoy the pics and let me know what you think!

4549 candlewick circle

journey to ohio

thursday night, we spent the night at my parent's house while matt's mom & step-dad stayed at a nearby hotel. friday morning we waited and waited to find out what time our closing would take place....very long story, but it ended up being at 4pm. this actually turned out to be a blessing because it gave me the chance to have lunch with my mom & brother, pick up lex with matt so we could say goodbye to ryan & carrie, and see my dad & mom one last time right before we drove out of texas. we ended up driving onto highway 75 at about 8pm. we were *very* thankful that matt's parents had decided to take the two rental trucks and leave early in the day so we only had to take their car and my car and meet them in st. louis at a hotel.

we drove all night friday night and finally reached the hotel around 5:30am. to my surprise, we were met in the parking lot by pat & david (matt's parents) who were loading their stuff as we were unloading ours. they had reached the hotel around 8:30pm, so they were rested and ready to go! it was actually a good thing that they were so far ahead of us, because we had other family and friends meeting us at the apartment on saturday afternoon to help us unload the trucks. so, matt and i stayed at the hotel with lexi and slept from about 7 - 11am (we had to enjoy the free breakfast first!) before loading up the cars and heading back onto the road.

it took us the rest of the day to reach columbus, i think we finally made it to the apartment sometime around 8:30pm. but to our surprise, everything was completely unloaded and in the apartment when we arrived! there were even roses on the table and sheets on the bed! for as messy as the apartment was, with boxes and such everywhere, it was so beautiful after two days of driving and 2 days of having everything packed up before that! we were so thankful that we could just come in and rest and talk with all of the great people that were willing to help us.

journey to ohio

goodbye, 31 brewster court!

31 brewster court

on wednesday morning (following my last shift at MCD on tuesday night), i went to bed with the happy knowledge that when i woke up my husband would be there! he arrived wednesday afternoon, and my friend jerimey was nice enough to pick him up at the airport and then take him to get the rental truck. the only sad thing about this was that our hello's were somewhat brief since we had to finish packing up the entire house, and try to coordinate it around my fabulous going-away party. so, that evening several friends and family members came over to help us load our heaviest pieces of furniture into the truck (and some extra stuff, too!). on thursday, i dropped lexi off at ryan & carrie's house so she could play with their two labs (dax & bailey) so she could 1) be out of the way, and 2) burn up some energy before being in the car for almost 20 hours. after that, we finished packing up the house and drove away from brewster court for the very last time :(

if you've never seen my house, see it here!

31 brewster court

going away party...."that's what SHE said"

on wednesday, october 28th my work friends threw me a going away party at dave & buster's in dallas. there was a great turnout and i had the opportunity to say goodbye to my work friends before spending the next 4 days moving across 5 states and 1100+ miles. we enjoyed dinner and drinks and i was dressed in a pink boa, tiara and wand...princess for a night! i also recieved a very special gift from my coworkers, a scrapbook of funny phrases, inside jokes, encouragement and praise with each page from a different person. it was a perfect gift, and it was so touching that i refused to read it at the table....so i wouldn't cry! after the dave & buster's party a few of us headed to pete's piano bar, and then to ihop :)



thanks to everyone who made the party possible, and for everyone who came!
thanks to everyone who helped us move all of our heavy furniture *before* the party!
thanks brandy & natalie, for making me laugh, and cry, during my last night out in dallas!
everyone has been so wonderful, that i could make an entire post just listing names and then what i am grateful that person did, but i won't, because i'm afraid i'll leave someone out...so i'll just say a big thank you to everyone!

going away party

adios, medical city!

my last clock-out at MCD


my badge...finally with a decent pic!

my last 36 hours at medical city dallas were sad, but about as fun as they could be as i watched the clock tick down on my time as an employee there. i worked saturday, monday and tuesday nights before matt flew in to dallas on wednesday to help me finish the packing and start moving our stuff. i was able to see my work friends, enjoy several inside jokes and reminisce about all the ups and downs over the last 28 months of my employment there. tuesday night we had a mini-party in the ER with *tons* of really, really tasty food. everyone was so wonderful and supportive and said so many nice things to me about my work at medical city. it was so sweet, but it made it harder than ever before to think about having to leave behind this awesome group of coworkers.
tuesday night i met ryan & carrie for dinner at the corner bakery before heading to work to make assignments for the last time. on wednesday morning, i said goodbye to my night shift friends and to the day shift that knew me first. i clocked out for the last time at 0717 and cleaned out my locker (and gave it to robin...it was a nice locker!). then, a small group of us night-shifters headed to our favorite bar, o'reiley's, for a last round of after-shift drinks. it was, most definitely, the best last shift and goodbye i could have hoped for. thanks, guys!

my favorite sign posted in the dept. after i announced my 2 weeks

adios, medical city!

last sunday funday in texas

october 25, 2009...my last texas sunday funday with my family for a while :(
fortunately, the day was so full of fun times and smiles that i hardly had a chance to think about the bitterswee-tness of it all. i worked my last saturday night shift at MCD before heading home for a quick nap. i woke up around 1100 to meet my family at our church and head to the arboretum for the fall festivities. i got to spend time with my family, see all the pretty flowers and pumpkins, the tree house exhibit and my cute-as-can-be nieces and nephew dressed in their winnie-the-pooh themed costumes! after the arboretum we headed to mom & dad's house for the dallas cowboys game (go cowboys!!!) and some dinner and going-away cake :)
i had a great time, but was sad on my way home for obvious reasons. thanks, wonderful family, for an awesome sunday!

sunday funday