Ohana and Aloha in Hawaii

Adjusting to Life in Hawaii

2010-07-13T02:28:00.000-07:00

The first of my Hawaii blogs:

We've been here about 6 weeks now and are finally finishing settling the last few items into our rental house. We found a nice-sized home in a smaller (50K population) town on the windward side of the island called Kailua. It's gorgeous here. We're surrounded by the Ko'olau Range and are less than 5 minutes from Kailua Beach.

Fall Updates

2009-10-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well to catch up from my last blog...

I actually COMPLETED the Half-Marathon in September! Although the last several weeks of training were seriously sketchy, I crossed the finish line in 2 and 1/2 hours. That's one more box now checked off the old bucket-list. Needless to say, I'm no longer running! I'm taking a break from running and my new fitness routine includes something that's near and dear to my heart: dance.
I starting taking an adult hip-hop dance class once weekly and I started doing Zumba (a mix of modern dances such as salsa set to a fairly vigorous beat). For now, I'm enjoying fitness thoroughly. It may help you understand why dance is so near and dear to my heart if I tell you that I was a cheerleader my last year of high school and throughout college at USF. I am also somewhat well-known for my ability to get down on any dance floor (after a few beers and with some loud music there's no telling what my skills will reveal). You can understand, then, that as I age I need to find appropriate ways to let the beast out of this bod.

My husband returned from Tacoma in one piece and was fairly excited about the potential residency location upon his return. Actually, I went to visit him in Tacoma and spent a long weekend getting to know the area. Tacoma was beautiful with many parks and attractions with restaurants overlooking Puget Sound. We took a day trip to Seattle and I fell in love with it -- the view was unbelievable from the Space Needle. I learned post-trip that the Space Needle was actually built for the World Circus that took place in Seattle around 1960. Interesting - a tidbit from one of my surgeons who actually attended the grand event.

Now, my husband is in San Antonio doing an ENT rotation. He loves the weather and he's happy there. We'll see what happens. He'll be there for 2 more weeks and then we get to take an entire week off of work and school to travel to Chicago and Toledo. Can't wait!

And tidbits from work...

Today I not only got to close fascia after a hand-assisted colectomy, I practically performed a simple subcutaneous mastectomy on my own (with my surgeon's assistance/guidance/and very close supervision that is!) from the initial incision to final closure of the wound. :)

Life is Good.

Husband update, Work thoughts, Run update

2009-08-08T06:34:00.000-07:00

My Adam is currently in Tacoma, Washington for a total of 4 weeks. He is completing an elective general surgery rotation at Madigan Army Medical Center. Therefore, I am once again temporarily living alone. He's been gone just one week now and I'm definitely starting to miss his funny face (translation - I miss having him around to make me laugh - his face is actually quite attractive). I'm reminded of the time I spent living alone in Toledo... I'm missing the close network of friends I had there. Thankful for the beginning of new friendships here -- and realizing that you don't just make friends overnight.

Work. Still liking what I do, but beginning to live the good weeks and then get through the bad weeks. Learning the details of office and hospital politics/drama. I'm feeling much more confident and competent now, although I still have miles and miles to go. Had an interesting encounter with one of my surgeons. This surgeon tends to give me a hard time, which doesn't bother me but admittedly gets me a little stressed at times. He took me aside at the end of last week (a bad week) and gave me some reassuring words and acknowledged the progress he's noticed I've made. That's something.

For those who don't know, I have been training to run a half-marathon... Now, this is a funny idea in the first place, given I am an aweful runner. I have recently discovered that I do not run 10 minute miles as I had once thought -- It's worse. It actually takes me more than 11 minutes to run ONE mile. Now, if I didn't have any self-esteem, I would say that's pathetic. Regardless of how slow I am, I had been making some decent progress up until this week. I've worked my way up to being able to run 7.5 miles, which I just completed Monday (8/3/09)... but I have suddenly lost all my motivation! Hopefully I will overcome this rut and the next time I post you will hear about my progress.

My Week...

2009-06-18T20:11:00.001-07:00

After Adam's car broke down for the 2nd time in 5 days on Sunday... things turned around.

My Tuesday off started with a noon run along the river followed by a nice shower and a 30 minute massage (heaven). Adam and I met Ben for a mini celebratory birthday dinner at Jimmy John's (happy b-day Chad). The rest of the night I chilled with my hubby.

Wednesday we took a stroll downtown during Automania, indulged in some fair food, and enjoyed some great conversation (and some HOT/HUMID weather...followed by rain, which brought a stop to that party). We then headed to the primary Smith household for some healthy DQ ice cream cake -- we celebrated Levi's (my bro-in-law) 18th birthday and caught up with the fam.

Today, I met up with a couple of great girls from church for a quick pedicure -- granted it was borderline painful and I couldn't understand my pedicurist -- I still came out with some pretty sweet-looking french-tipped toenails! Thanks for inviting me Sarah and Becky! Megan met me at Hy-Vee next for a culinary lesson on the art of broiling chicken. We left with satisfied stomachs after a tasty meal. Now I'm chillin over an iced coffee and catching up on TV and email:)

Thankfully, the week isn't even over yet! Tomorrow we plan to eat at Spezia's with Adam's aunt and uncle and afterwards we hope to have time to join game night... Saturday I'm helping pass out candy at the Tea Pot Days parade... and who knows what Father's Day will bring.

Here's to having good weeks. Cheers.

Life is good.

finally trying to catch up with technology before it passes me by

2009-06-07T12:26:00.001-07:00

I decided to get on the blogging train...

I have been remiss in allowing the latest technology trends to pass me by and am now making an attempt to redeem myself. I'm uncertain what I will use this blog for, but time and trial and error will hopefully reveal this to be a successful outlet.