Ft. Worth Zoo

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Since we only have about 3 months left in Dallas before we move, Jason and I have a "to-do" list of things we want to do before leaving. One of the places that topped my list was the Ft. Worth Zoo! I have always heard that it was a great place, so we decided to go on Sunday. We had a great day in Ft. Worth, starting with breakfast at Ol' South Pancake House..."a Ft. Worth tradition since 1962." Next, we spent the next 3-4 hours at the zoo. They had a ton of animals, and since we were there in the late morning, all of the animals were out and about. As usual, I was camera-happy and took lots of pics of the animals. After the zoo, we hit the mall for a while. Finally, we had an early dinner at Joe T. Garcia's, another "famous" Ft. Worth restaurant (since 1935). It was nice to have a relaxing day! Too bad everyday can't be that much fun! :)

Lata's Bachelorette Weekend

This weekend was Lata's bachelorette weekend!! Lata is one of my best friends. Lata, Emily (see above), and I have known each other since we were 6 years old!!!! Lata and Emily were bridesmaids in my wedding, Lata and I were Emily's bridemaids, and now it was our turn to help Lata celebrate! We all met up in Austin, Texas, and the group included several of her friends from her undergrad years at Emory University in Atlanta, GA (where Lata currently resides). First, we met at our hotel (Embassy Suites) to catch up and watch Lata open bachelorette gifts. Then we headed to an AMAZING restaurant on Lake Travis called Oasis. We had a beautiful view over the lake, and our 45 min wait turned out to be a 45 second wait...seriously! After yummy Mexican food and drinks, we went back to the hotel to freshen up. Then we headed out to Sixth Street. This is a street in Austin that is known for being a huge entertainment area...with bars, restaurants, music, etc. Saturday happened to be the last day of a huge music festival called South by Southwest, so the street was extra-packed. When we found a place with good music and drinks, Lata had to start completing her bachelorette "tasks"...some more embarassing than others! She was a great sport! Several of the girls danced at the bars, and Emily and I (the non-dancers) were able to catch up a little more. We finally made it back to the hotel very late. It was a lot of fun, and we were certainly excited to help Lata celebrate. Only a few more weeks until her wedding!! (This should be interesting...I have to wear a Sari!)

Ashley's Wedding Weekend!!

This weekend, my good friend from pharmacy school, Ashley Higginbotham, got married!!!! I was part of the House Party, along with some other close friends from pharmacy school, so we were able to be present for all of the festivities! The rehearsal was on Friday night at the church, then the rehearsal dinner was at Blue Mesa (a yummy restaurant in Dallas). We all had such a good time. On Saturday, we arrived at the church early to watch Ashley get ready for her special day. She looked absolutely BEAUTIFUL and her bridesmaids' dresses were so elegant! Her niece was the flower girl, and she was so precious. She did a great job walking down the aisle. Ashley's groom is named Matt Gonzalez. He is so wonderful and good to her! God definitely had his hand in their relationship. To see the crazy story about how they met, click here. Their reception was at Gleneagles Country Club in Dallas, and it was amazing as well! Here cake was beautiful, and the groom's cake was a Mexican Chocolate cake to celebrate his Latino (Puerto Rico) heritage. Most of our friends from pharmacy school, including Ashtin, Alycia, Alicia, Sarah, Brittan, and Leah were able to make it (plus husbands and children). Luckily, we found a few seconds to sneak a pic with the bride. We had such a wonderful time. Congratulations Mrs. Ashley Gonzalez!!!!

Kitty Update!

At the request of my friend, Lisa, here is an update on the kitties...Mia and Caesar! They are both doing well and are as feisty as usual. They spend most of the day sleeping (i assume), and they play a lot in the evenings. Caesar's favorite thing is for us to turn on the water in the bathtub to a little drip so he can drink fresh water. EVERYTIME Jason or I go into the bathroom, Caesar is right behind us with his quiet little request (meow). Mia really likes to cuddle with Jason in the morning. I usually have to get up before Jason, so I let Mia in the room. She jumps right up on the bed and lays on top of Jason's back. It doesn't even phase him! Mimi and Cici (as we call them) are still best of friends and like to spend lots of time together (see pic above), but they also have their times of playing/fighting...they are brother and sister ya know! :)

Flower-Rama

I just couldn't resist capturing the beauty of the flowers I was fortunate enough to receive on Valentine's Day. My hubby brought me a beautiful pink rose with baby's breath. Unfortunately, Mia and Caesar liked the baby's breath too...that's why it looks a little sparse in the pic! My mom was sweet enough to send me flowers as well! They were red, white, and pink tulips in a red glass vase. This pic is from a few days ago, but they still look great! Thanks mom and Jason! I love you both!

Valentine's Weekend in Wichita

Last weekend, Jason and I went to Wichita, KS to look around. I had a job offer at the Wichita VA hospital, and we wanted to visit the city once more before making a decision. Since it also happened to be Valentine's Day weekend, we decided to make it special! We stayed at the Broadview Hotel, which is an historic hotel located in downtown Wichita. For V-Day dinner, we ate at Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill in Old Town (an area similar to Bricktown in Oklahoma City). The food was great, and we couldn't pass up the "Campfire S'Mores." They brought a little hibachi grill right to our table, and we were able to make s'mores! It was a lot of fun, although Jason scared me a few times when his marshmallow caught on fire! Luckily, we made it out of the restaurant safely. It was a great weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

I just couldn't resist posting this adorable picture of Audrey, all dressed up in her Valentine's day outfit!! She just turned 8 months yesterday! Her mama and daddy are so lucky to have such a precious little angel!

Ashley's Shower

I'm a little behind on updating my blog, so it may take a few posts to catch up, but I'll start with Ashley's Shower!! It was actually supposed to be a wedding/baby shower (wedding for Ashley and baby for Alicia), but Alicia wasn't able to make it. Her sweet little boy, Cole, was born about 8 weeks early. He was in the NICU for a few weeks, but was able to come home earlier than expected! His discharge date happened to be the day before the shower! It was too late to change the cake, so we celebrated for Alicia anyway (we just had to call her on the phone to celebrate :)

This shower was so awesome because it was the first time us "pharm girls" have gotten together since graduation in June 2007! I can't believe how fast time has gone, but is was great to that everyone is doing so well. Since graduation, my friends Brittan, Amanda, Lindsay, and Alicia have had babies...Brittan is pregnant with her 2nd!! Alycia is successful and doing well working in Omaha, NE with her hubby and Ashtin is staying busy in Norman (she recently won a "Biggest Loser" contest at her gym). Ashley has since met the love of her life, Matt, and is getting married in early March. Click here to check out their "story."

We had a great time celebrating Ashley's upcoming wedding with a shower and a bachelorette party. Brittan was nice enough to host the shower at her beautiful house. Sarah got the cake and it was super yummy (white with lemon filling on one side and chocolate with chocolate filling on the other). Ashtin thought up some great games, and Ashley got lots of fun gifts off of her registry. Afterwards, we headed out for the bachelorette festivities. She was a super trooper and participated in all of the embarassing "bride-to-be" acts that Sarah and Ashtin thought up for her! :) We were also able to have a great dinner at "Bourbon Street Cafe," complete with sexy, fun presents.

Hopefully we can keep up this tradition and have a yearly get-together with the girls. It seems like there is always something exciting going on! :)

Yes, I'm still around...

Sorry that it has been so long since I've blogged! This past month has been incredibly hectic at work! When I got back from Red River, I started a new quarter of rotations. I have a different clinic every day of the week, and I have been busy trying to keep up with all of my learning issues...especially in Heme/Onc and HIV clinics. I also have 2 students on rotation with me right now, so I stay busy with their assignments and other teaching responsibilites. No to mention, I have another job interview coming up next week (that requires a presentation). I really hope that things will die down SOON!!! This weekend, I will be heading to Norman to celebrate a baby shower for one friend from pharmacy school (Alicia) and a wedding shower for another friend (Ashley). I am super excited! This will be the first time that all of use "pharm girls" have gotten together since graduation in June 2007! I know we'll have a great time! Stay tuned for pics! :)

MLK Weekend in Tulsa

This weekend Jason and I went to Tulsa to visit our good friends Amber and Kurtis. We spent a lot of time playing with their adorable little girl (see above). I couldn't believe how fast she is growing! She's able to sit up, jump in her bouncer, and "talks" all of the time! (baby talk, but we thought we heard her say "uncle" to Jason...haha! We also were able to go to dinner with our friends Sarah and Grant, and Marc and Alicia. I went to pharmacy school with Sarah and Alicia, and I hadn't seen either of them in a long time! Marc and Alicia (see pic above) just had a beautiful baby boy, and we were able to see him. He arrived a little early, so he was in the NICU, but he is doing really well! I can tell that Marc and Alicia are completely in love with their little sweetheart. After dinner, we got to go over to Sarah and Grant's beautiful new house! It was so pretty and well-decorated :). I can't wait to get our first house...hopefully soon! We ended up coming back to Dallas Sunday night because Jason had to work today. Luckily, I get MLK day off from work. Yay federal holidays!

BOOMER SOONER!!!

I am watching my Oklahoma Sooners play in the BCS National Championship game as we speak! My brother and brother-in-law were lucky enough to attend the game! Boomer Sooner!

Red River, NM

Last night, we made it safely to Red River, NM! Although, it took FOREVER to drive the last 45 miles because were were in the middle of a huge snowstorm! Thanks SO MUCH to mom and Chuck for allowing us to use their Chevy Tahoe...with 4 wheel drive. We saw several cars stuck in the snow along the way. After we arrived, we checked the snow report and found out that Red River got 22 inches of new snow on Sunday! That is amazing! When we came with our friends Brittan and Brant in 2006, we got 14 inches of snow and we thought that was a lot! Needless to say, all of the ski lifts and trails are open. Jason is up on the slopes right now, but I decided that I probably won't ski this year since I recently hurt my ankle. Also, I'm not the best at skiing, and tend to be content on the bunny slope. However, we're going on a snowmobile tour this evening and I am super excited about that. The first pic above is of one of the ski slopes, the second pic is showing how high the snow is around our condo (some drifts are almost covering the entire first floor windows!), the third pic is of our condo building, the forth pic is Jason getting ready to ski (and bundled up like a marshmallow), and the last pic is me, bundled up to take Jason to the slopes.

Happy New Year!

We were able to ring in 2009 with my good friend Ashley, and her fiance Matt. They are getting married in March, and her sweet friends hosted a New Year's Eve party/Couples Shower. Jason and I were able to visit with Ashley, get to know Matt, and meet several of Ashley's friends from high school. Everyone was so nice and we had a great time! We stayed late enough to ring in the New Year (in New York :), then we headed back to Irving. The shower was in Rockwall, a suburb about 30 miles outside of Dallas. By the time we hit downtown Dallas, it was midnight! We were able to see all of the fireworks downtown! They were spectacular! Another sight to be seen was the huge number of cars PARKED along the edge of I-35 in both directions! I have never seen such a thing...especially on a major interstate in the middle of a major city! I guess that the police allow this sort of thing on New Year's. They must have other problems that they're worried about. Although it would've been nice to actually be downtown, I definitely was grateful that we could avoid the crowds and celebrate with friends. HAPPY 2009!!!

Bumper Bummer!

Isn't it crazy how things can be rolling along smoothly, and trouble can come flying your way? (I know...a cheesy metaphor :) Last week, I was heading to work on Monday morning, just minding my own business. Traffic wasn't very heavy, but I was driving in the middle lane of the highway so the crazy drivers could pass everyone at 90mph in the left lane. Anyway, out of nowhere, I saw something quickly fly into my lane. I couldn't tell what the object was, but I knew that the car in the left lane must have hit something in the road. I heard an EXTREMELY loud bang, and I felt the object hit my car. My first thought was that the object blew my tire. I thought about continuing to drive, but I thought it would be best to pull off of the highway and see if my tire was damaged. When I got out of my car and walked around to the front, I saw pretty good-sized crack in my bumper and a chunk of my bumper missing!! This came at a very inopportune time because I knew that I would have to file an insurance claim to get the bumper replaced. It had not even been 1 week since Jason's fender bender on an icy bridge! The insurance company probably really loves us right about now. Luckily, it wasn't my fault and there really wasn't anything I could do (it happened so fast). I was really upset about the damage, but my dad reminded me that I should be thankful. If the object would've been a little bit higher, it could have flown through the windshield...or even hit me! I guess that I should try to look at the bright side. What lesson did I learn from this incident? No matter how calm things may seem, things can change in an instant!