It is done.

Much of the past four years has been dedicated to Dashing's successes with medical school. Hard work, sacrifices, long nights, early mornings, study sessions, you name it - we made it happen - together <3. But it all kind of came together as of yesterday - the deadline to submit Residency Program Rank Lists. For you sorority gals out there, this process is EXACTLY the same. They interview, rank the programs 1, 2, 3, etc. The programs have an A list and then a B list in ranked order. If your your #1 program puts you on the A list....MATCH! Then, at a later date, they will receive an envelope to open with the name of the program where they matched.

This date will be March 17 - ironic that this is a lucky day, St. Patrick's Day! The other twist is that my job is actually to plan this event for the medical school. Pretty sweet. I cannot wait to post pictures of this moment (also to show you my endless event planning talents - hehe). So, I've now been asked if a weight has now been lifted off my shoulders. The answer is no. There is still a lot of waiting to do.....

February = Hearts

Whether you choose to celebrate Valentine's Day or not (Dashing considers it is a Hallmark ploy), it seems to be a month of red and pink hearts galore. I think it is a great reminder to celebrate the ones you love. Yes, I said that plural. I mean whatever relationships you love - including pet babies - celebrate and relish them. So, as the month goes on, I plan to discuss a few "heart" topics.

My first topic, the traditional escape of the newly married couple...the honeymoon that is. Regardless of its potential historic beginnings, I  We want one, and we haven't had one.

Photo from e-how

Dashing and I lived together (at his place) before we were married on July 10, 2010 . We had been together for 4 1/2 years at that point. Our finances were muddled together. We shared ownership of a car. We weren't moving into a place of OURS. So the vision of a honeymoon was one that whisked me off my feet - not that the wedding didn't, but I guess I always put the two together. It was like a round 2 of the wedding in my mind. Dashing doesn't quite see it the same way, but appreciates the opportunity to spend time together doing out-of-the-norm vacation-y things. However, due to Dashing's medical school schedule, he went back to the wards the Tuesday after we were married. This is just one of the small kinds of sacrifices medical families make.

Now, we are looking for that special spot to travel to to celebrate our marriage (1 year out). This will be our first full blown vacation together as we have always taken family vacations. So what's the problem? We are on a budget and have no idea where to go! We love tropical places (I'm not talking about the jungle, more like resort style tropics with an day adventure option). We live in Phoenix, can travel in late March or late May/early June, and are open to suggestions. Hawaii, the Islands, the unknown......

Dear readers......please share with us where you have been or suggestions for a fabulous vacation on a budget!