San Francisco!

Well, I'm back from San Francisco! We had a great time! The counseling competition went really well, but I didn't make the top 10. There were 93 people competing, so there was quite a bit of competition. It was a great experience though, and I plan to try again next year. We were able to have a lot of fun while we were there! We went to Alcatraz Island, and toured the building where they kept all of the prisoners. We also got to sample real San Francisco Sourdough at Boudin Bakery in Fisherman's Wharf (a bayside section of San Francisco). At Pier 39, a big shopping and restaurant area, we got to shop and see the Sea Lions. One day, we went to Napa Valley and spent time visiting different wineries. We went to Andretti Winery (the yellow building in one of the pics), Sterling Winery (we saw the wine barrels on our tour), Mumm Winery (known for Sparkling wines). For lunch, we were able to eat at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. This was quite a treat because one of our friends knew someone that worked there and we got to take a tour of the culinary school and teaching areas (normally not open to visitors). Back in San Francisco, we spent time in Chinatown, on Lombard street (the crooked-est street in the world), and in Ghirahdelli Square sampling chocolate (yum!). On Saturday night, we had an amazing evening! One of the girls we were with had a brother that lived in Orange County. The man that he lived with was an older gentleman who did not have family. He took us all out on Saturday night, and treated us to dinner, drinks, etc. to celebrate our friends Lori's b-day. We went to McCormick and Kuletos, this AMAZING seafood restaurant right on the bay. After that, he took us to Buena Vista, a little bar that is known for their Irish Coffees, then we got to ride the trolley (and hang off the side). Finally, to top of the evening, he took us to the Westin Hotel in San Fran where we were able to ride up 32 stories in a glass elevator! This was so beautiful because you could see all of San Francisco! Here are some memorable things that happened:
-Driving to Napa Valley in our rented Impala....singing "Wanna be a Bulla"
-Hanging off the trolley while the driver slammed on the brakes to watch us almost fall off! (it really was funny!)
-Getting Godiva chocolate bunnies from the special man that took us all out!
-Seeing Calla Lilies AND Aggapanthus (my wedding flowers) growing all over!
-Going to Andretti Winery (it looked like it came straight from Tuscany)
-Bill, the wine guy at Andretti
-Going across the Golden Gate bridge
-Jamie doing her sea lion imitation
-Seeing Alcatraz (and the actual cell of Al Capone)
-Going to Ghirhadelli and seeing the big chocolate mixing machine
-My amaretto sour at McCormick and Kuleto's with REAL lemon juice (not Sweet and Sour mix)
-The Irish Coffee bar tender who made 9 Irish Coffee's in like 30 seconds!
-Seeing LOTS of homeless people who were always asking for change
-Eating at Sears Fine Foods (for the World Famous Swedish Silver Dollar pancakes)...and cucumbers in the water
-Going to Chinatown and getting a fake Coach purse for $25 (when the real thing is like $300-$400)
-Hiking up Lombard street to the twisty part (it was a steep climb!)
-Spending time with Alicia and acting goofy
-Our big hotel room at the Travelodge with 2 bathrooms (I've never seen one hotel room with two bathrooms)
-Seeing all of the San Francisco style houses (tall, narrow, and 1 inch apart due to earthquake regulations)
-Almost being late for our exam!

Well, that's all I can think of now! It was an amazing trip...oh yeah, the convention was nice too! :)

Visitors!

Mia and Caesar had a great time this weekend! They got to hang out with Aunt Amber and Uncle Kurtis! They loved playing and cuddling with both of them. This weekend was Amber's birthday, so she came to celebrate in OKC. Amber and Kurtis stayed at my house, and the kitties got to sleep in bed with them. They were so excited because they don't get to sleep with Mama. They were sad when our visitors left, but are excited for them to come back soon!

Playing

Today, Mia and Caesar helped get ready for Amber and Kurtis to come and visit. I completely made the bed while they were under the fitted sheet, and they chased each other around. Then, Caesar relaxed in the dirty sheets, and made a little "nest." Later, Mia decided to relax with Jason. She was tired!

Helping hands...well, paws

Mia and Caesar were very helpful while I was trying to fold laundry. They made sure that nothing jumped up and ran away. They were so cute becuase they cuddled under all of the rags and socks. Unfortunately, I had to shoo them away so I could put everything up.

Roses are red..

Awww...isn't my honey the sweetest! Here is a pic of the beautiful bouquet of red roses that he got me for Valentine's Day. Aren't they gorgeous?!

Cutie Pies

Isn't this picture adorable?! The kitties love their "daddy"......(and I think he might even like them too!

Exciting news!

I have exciting news...!! I just found out that I won the Patient Counseling Competition for the OU College of Pharmacy. I will get to compete nationally at the American Pharmacist's Association Annual meeting in San Francisco, March 17-20. I am really excited to go to California because I was only there for a very short time during the Rose Bowl! The first part of the competition is videotaped, and the finalists are announced on Saturday night. Then, they compete live on Sunday. I will be so nervous! I think that my friends Brittan and Alicia are going to go just for fun because the trip is during our Spring Break. We want to go to Napa Valley, see the Golden Gate Bridge, possibly Alcatraz, and who knows what else! It will be a nice vacation! Don't these pics I posted remind you of Full House????? Anway, Mia and Caesar are completely back to normal...they recovered perfectly!

Sneak peek

I caught the kitties taking a break from playing with their mouse. They were enjoying the view of the street from one of the second floor bedrooms. Shhhh....they didn't know I was spying on them! :)

Green thumb

I am so excited because I finally got a house plant to actually bloom! I bought an amaryllis bulb before Christmas because I always thought they looked so pretty. I followed all of the directions on the package, but I was beginning to think that it wasn't going to grow. The bulb had already sprouted when I bought it, but it was taking a long time to grow any more. Finally, over the past few weeks, the stem has shot up. Two days ago, it decided to bloom! It is absolutely gorgeous! I have it in my bedroom, away from the cats, because I heard that they can be very poisonous if the kitties decide to eat it. So far, they haven't even noticed it. I don't know if they even realize it's a plant.
Anyhow, I've included a picture so ya'll can see how beautiful it is!!!!

My honey

Jason was looking at my Blog and pointed out that I only talked about my kitties, and not about my fiance. Sorry sweetie! I have just been caught up in taking care of my new babies! Here is a picture of us in Red River, NM. We went skiing there this past January with Amber and Kurtis, Marc and Alicia, my brother, Alan, and the Davids. We had a great time even though there wasn't much snow. This is the second year we got to go and stay in my mom and stepdad's timeshare condo. I am sad b/c I don't know if we will be able to go next year. I will be on rotations, and Jason will be working. Maybe we can work something out. The day after we got back (January 8th), we celebrated 6 months until our wedding day! I love you sweetie!

Look how cute they are!

I know that I am obsessed with my kitties! I just can't stop taking pictures of them because they are constantly being adorable! Here are a few from today. They are recovering nicely!

Recovering kitties

After MUCH contemplation and consideration, I decided that I needed to get Mia and Caesar declawed. Mia was doing okay when she was alone, but it is hard to keep two kitties under control. Neither one would purposely scratch the furniture often, but when they ran around playing, they couldn't help "hanging" on. I called several places and ended up taking them to MacArthur Blvd. Animal Clinic. I was really nervous because I didn't know if the place was reputable or not. Luckily, the morning I took them in, there was a little old lady in the lobby with her little dog. She was really nice, and admired the cats while I was waiting. She was very talkative, and told me that I chose a great clinic. She said that they would be well taken care of. That was just what I needed to hear, and I felt better about it. When I went to pick them up, both of the nurses told me how sweet they were! They were both very impressed that they were so nice to each other, and to people that they didn't even know! When I brought them home, they pretty much went right to sleep. They were probably tired from their long day on Friday. Caesar is recovering fine, but Mia is acting like one of her paws is a little sore. I almost started crying several times, but I know that this decision will be better for all of us. I will be a happier Mama, and they will be happier because they won't get scolded as much. I posted a picture of them comforting each other after they got home.

A note from Mia...

Hey guys! I want to introduce my brother, Caesar! He came to live with Mama and I yesterday. I went with her to go and get him, but I didn't have fun at all! It was so scary to ride in the car and to go to a house I wasn't used to. I didn't feel like meeting anyone!!! Well, Mama brought Caesar home anyway. I did not want him to be at my house, and I made sure he knew it. Even though I lived with him for the first three months of my life, I have changed since then! After a little while, Mama let him out of his carrier. I wanted to show him who was boss, so I gave him a hard time. He was so curious to investigate his new surroundings, so I just followed him and smelled him. After a while, I realized that he wasn't that bad. By bedtime, we were playing and having a great time. Here are some pictures of him. He is the one with the white nose and the black collar. We like to hang out together and keep each other company while Mama is gone. And look....he loves me too...he even gave me a kiss!

Meow, Mia

Another new cat!

Well, after much decision, I decided to get another cat. I really try to play with Mia a lot, but I really think that she is bored since I am gone all of the time. I got her brother (he looks a lot like her...he's an orange tabby, but doesn't have the extra toe). I was REALLY nervous when I went to go get him because I took Mia with me and she was NOT excited to see her brother and sister. They came running after her and she had her tail was extremely puffy! Mia hissed and batted at them. The foster parents said that it was because Mia was not on her home turf, and she wasn't comfortable with the surroundings. When I got home, I put him in one bedroom and let them sniff each other under the door. Mia was clawing at him, and I started getting really scared. I thought "What did I do!!!!" I called Tara, the girl who runs the shelter, and she gave me a lot of comfort. She said that any time you have more than one animal, they have to establish who will be dominant. Usually, that is the female with cats. It is very true in this case. Mia is DEFINITELY the boss. Tara told me to let them out together, she said not to keep them separated, so I let him out. He explored the house while Mia followed. Now everything is quite a bit better...we'll see how tonight goes!

By the way...his name is Caesar! (we wanted to keep with the Italian theme :)

New CVS store

Well, after 3 & 1/2 years at the CVS store in Norman, I quit so that I could work at a store closer to my new house. Now, I will be working at the store on 50th and May, across from a Target. I was sad, but I know that I will go and visit the Norman store a lot. Today was my second day to work at my new store, and it is so nice! It is 10 times slower than my old store and I love it! Also, there is no drive-thru which is a huge blessing. The customer population is mainly elderly, but they have been pretty nice so far. This store is also a rotation site for the OU College of Pharmacy, so there will be students there each month. It's kind of nice to see the familiar faces. Hopefully I will make many good memories like the ones I made in Norman.

...and this!

My bouquet will be a combo of this...

Wedding flowers!

For those of you who don't know, I'm getting married on July 8th, 2006! I am getting really excited, but I'm also realizing how fast this semester is going to fly by. Last Saturday, I met with my florist to decide what flowers I'm going to use in the wedding. I'm kinda going with a theme of Calla Lilies, so they are used quite a bit. My bouquet will be a mix of Calla lilies, pink and white roses, bear grass, and grape hyacinth. The bridemaids will have arm bouquets of white calla lilies, light pink gerber daisies, ruscus (a type of greenery) and bear grass...maybe some roses too...I can't remember. The candlelighters will have wrist corsages of roses with ribbon that will match their dresses. The rest of the flowers for the groomsmen, servers, guestbook attendant, mothers, fathers, etc. will be either white or pink roses. Hopefully everything will look good together...it's pretty hard to imagine it without seeing pictures. I did have some pictures to get my ideas, but I think that the flowers for my wedding will look different. Also, I am excited because I found a really good deal at Tom's Formal Wear. They were at the OKC Bridal Show, and had some specials going on. If we get our tuxes there (and they are very reasonable), we can get our invitations for free! (Any price...up to 300...I won't need nearly that many!). Also, we will get a free 3 day, 2 night vacation (hotel only) to one of 90 locations. It even includes Hawaii, Mexico, and Canada. We will probably save that for a getaway weekend.As for our honeymoon, we are still trying to decide between NYC and a western Caribbean cruise. I really want to do both, and we are trying to determine which would be a better "honeymoon" trip. Right now I'm leaning towards the cruise, but I don't want to be seasick the entire time. Well, that's about it for wedding stuff right now. I added some picture of my "inspiration" bouquets.

Mia helping take down Christmas decorations! 

Welcome Mia!

Here are some pics of my new baby! Her name is Mia, and she is a female, orange and white tabby. I got her from Safe Haven Animal Rescue in MWC. Some teenage boys found her and her sister and brother abandoned by Lake Overhulser. She is a polydactyl cat..meaning she has extra toes on each foot. She only has one extra toe on each foot (some can have 2 or 3!), and she looks like a little lion! She is so precious and very sweet. She was in a foster home when I went to look at her, and I picked her out because she was the runt of the litter, and she was more submissive. I think that she'll become more dominating now that she doesn't have any competition. Her favorite toy is one that Grandma Donna (my mom) got her for Christmas. It is a stick with a fuzzy ball on the end. She absolutely loves it! She sits by it a lot and "meows" because she wants someone to play with her. Her Aunt Ashley and Aunt Sarah played with her while I was in New Mexico, and she is very grateful! Hopefully she will meet Aunt Amber soon! She really wants to hang out with her cousin Zoe (Amber's cat), but we're not quite sure about that yet. We don't want them to have a bad introduction. :)