Words of Wisdom Wednesday

Source: wholesaleinsurance.net via Sara on Pinterest

Another Weekend to Celebrate

Happy February! I'm so excited for this weekend! My dad and his wife are flying out to attend a co-ed shower our friends Lizy and Zach are throwing for baby Grace this weekend. We'll also be stopping in the rowdy Phoenix Open golf tournament at TPC Scottsdale and enjoying Super Bowl Sunday! 

What's the Phoenix Open  you ask? You may have heard of it in the news recently because famous golfer Vijay Singh withdrew from the tournament because he was using a banned substance....antler spray (What???). Also, Tiger Woods has not participated in this event for a handful of years because he didn't like the party atmosphere of the event. He once had a cup thrown at him and he never came back. Oops. Essentially you see everyone you know from college, randomly run into people that live out-of-state, enjoy the nice weather, wander the beer tents, and watch golf the crowd. Obviously I'll be hitting up the water fountains this year.

I'll let Wikipedia do further explaining.......

"The 4-day attendance of the tournament is usually around 500,000. The most popular hole for spectators to watch is the 16th hole due to the "Amphitheatre" atmosphere of the hole, created by the stands erected every year before the tournament. The hole could be described as "one big party", with many students from the nearby Arizona State University. Poor shots at the 16th hole receive boos, because the hole is very easy by the PGA's standards. Good shots, however, are cheered for loudly. Famous moments at the 16th include Tiger Woods' hole-in-one in 1997, which caused the gallery to erupt, throwing cups and other objects in celebration, and Justin Leonard giving the finger to the gallery after a poor shot. The most popular golfer at the open is unquestionably Phil Mickelson, an Arizona State alum. In addition to the golf, there is a concert/party held in the Scottsdale area called the Birds Nest, at which music artists like Huey Lewis and the News play."


BUMPDATE: Almost 30 weeks!

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Sara Cate

A Family Affair

The anticipation for Dashing and me to go on family outings with our own little one is growing every day. This weekend, we spend some time with his parents in Tucson. We went site seeing, went on walks, ate at great restaurants, and of course, made a pit stop in Buy Buy Baby. Spending time with family fills me with warmth and love. I can’t believe it will be on us to soon provide that for our own child. Here were some of our adventures this weekend.

More on the bump tomorrow!
Sincerely,
Sara Cate

26 Weeks!! Look at that bump..where did it come from!

Dinner at the historic Arizona Inn

Getting ready to enter the Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita, AZ.

Dashing and his dad at the Titan Missile Museum.
Read up on the history!

Titan Missile (replication). Over 120 ft. tall!

Fog is NOT Cloudy

This morning, I drove to work in a thick, grey blanket of fog.

Let me show you......

Here's what I saw driving down the road today.......

Here's what I typically see.......

BIG DIFFERENCE. I think typically we think of fog as clouding our vision - blocking us from what we want to see. Well, it occurred to me that I was actually a better driver this morning because I wasn't distracted by all of the scenery, businesses, cars, police clocking speeders, or traffic up ahead. I simply had my complete attention focused on what was happening right in front of my face. I thought about this all the way to work on my 40 minute drive.

It's so easy to get wrapped up in life responsibilities, the mundane work at work, time stuck in traffic, finances and bills, and so on. Especially now with Christmas, and the holidays in general, it feels like sometimes it engulf me into a giddy spirit. One of "Everything is so wonderful, so great" when it may not be, and may suggest for me to go crazy to become the perfect Giada, Martha, Tori, Kate, Jackie O [insert your own holiday idol of perfection], ensuring I have the perfect holiday decor that rivals any home magazine, and making every effort to visit every Santa/snow machine around town. It can be stressful, and I can stuff that feeling down inside like we did to the turkey and the stuffing on Thanksgiving last month as it secretly eats away at my happiness. These distractions may blind me. I may lose sight of what is actually important - things that are right in front of my face.

This all reminds me of this Words of Wisdom post a few weeks ago.

Always, and especially with the holidays, life should be about family. About friends. About relationships. About blessings. About celebrating faith, God, Jesus. [Santa, step aside]

 I pledge that I will not let distractions get in the way of all that I have, love, and am blessed with. I will see the wonderful family, friends, and faith that are and have always been right there close beside me. I will look at everything that life is offering right now, and embrace it, wrapping it up in a big grey blanket of soft fluffy clouds cotton.

Bring on the fog!

Black Friday

This past Wednesday, I had my 5th chemotherapy treatment - I can't believe it! I've been responding well to treatment and am still in the best of hands with my friends and family. I have to say that I've gotten used to being the patient in all sense of the word - at home and in the hospitals. However, I got a taste of what it's like to be on the other side of the hospital bed this Thanksgiving's Black Friday.

On Thursday, the entourage headed up to northern Arizona to spend Thanksgiving in the high country. Thanksgiving was moved to Saturday to accommodate every one's schedules. When you're with a medical family - you learn to change the date of holidays frequently. Dashing's sister, Miss E, then started having complaints of stomach pains, and by Friday morning, Dashing and his Dad had determined that Miss E would be appendix-less by the end of the day. Yes, Miss E had a head on collision with appendicitis. This was the start of Black Friday. We headed over to the emergency room (which luckily Dashing's dad runs) and Miss E was prepped for surgery after a positive CT scan. As she was lying in the hospital bed, I started to understand what my family and friends feel as I am going through my treatments.

The uncertainty overwhelmed me and I felt quite helpless. I tried to find ways to keep the Miss E's spirits up with the little things, like loaning her socks and reading magazines. I felt like this was my opportunity to give Miss E support like she has been giving me for the past few months.

As a medical student, Dashing was able to actually stand in and watch Miss E's surgery, which was a success. I am happy to report that Miss E is recovering fabulously and demanded to go out to a Mexican dinner only a few hours after surgery. What a trooper!

So, this Thanksgiving especially, I want to THANK every friend, family, and blog friend for your support and love. It makes all the difference.

And the race is on....

Dr. Dashing and I went to see my family in Indianapolis over Memorial Day weekend. We explored the rejuvenated downtown canal area as well as attended the famous Indianapolis 500! Check out some of the photos!

Ashley Judd's husband is on the right!

And the winner is.....Helio (also known as Dancing with the Stars cast member)

Family addition +

Dr. Dashing and I rolled into our loft's garage around 11pm last night after a fun filled family day (Celebrating Norwegian Constitution Day as another reason to get together) to find a curious little creature waiting in our parking space. A small cat sat there staring back at us as if to wonder why we were invading it's garage - who knew we would be breaching a cat's homeland security boundaries! Now we were curious whether the cat was friendly, so we slowly rolled down the window and simply called "kitty??" To our surprise, it ran up to the car and began to meow as if it was ready for us to exit our vehicle to greet it. So, we followed directions and jumped out of the car, and again called "kitty?" Immediately it frolicked over to us and in one brisk leap, jumped into our arms.

Now I've had cats before, but have never seen a house cat (let alone a lost cat) be so attention hungry from strangers. Most cats irritate me as the run and hide for what seems like days.

So now we're wondering, where the heck did kitty come from? We keep the kitty happy with petting only to notice it's turning our hands quite dirty. We begin to walk away, wondering what it would do. Well, it followed us into the building, took a ride on the elevator, and when the elevator door shot open, the cat sprinted down the hallway to our door. Bizarre to say the least.

After a midnight run to the local grocery store, we set up a little area for kitty in the bathroom to keep her for the night. (We think it's a she). We're making "Cat Found" posters for around our building, but secretly hoping she'll be our. Dr. Dashing is convinced she is our cat and doesn't seem to have any intention of giving her up. He has already been sucked in by her pretty green eyes and cuttles with her every chance he can get.

After a bath and some more petting, she crawled into bed and had a great long night's rest.

Goodnight, kitty!

The Adult Spring Break Revisited

Throughout college, I embraced the word "spring break." The mere thought of a week out of school and sunshine brought that happy/tingling feeling to me. I'm sure that a smile drew across my face every March to look forward to a week of friends, fun, beach, drinks, photos, and road trips....a mere delight. In March of 2006, I went through a mourning period saying a fond farewell to the days of spring break as college came to a close. I buried the idea and wrote 'good times' on the tombstone. However, spring break has risen from the dead!

Last week, I, with my spring break cane as I'm now an old spring breaker, headed out to San Diego to enjoy 7 whole days of break. This adult spring break actually not all that different in a few ways....let me paint you a picture.

College spring break: Crammed 5, 6, 7 or more people into a small beach hotel room with one bedroom and one bathroom - we had to get the most bang for our buck - we were cheap college students!

Adult spring break: Crammed 7 adults ranging from ages 24-85 in a one bedroom one bath condo on the beach (Me, Dashing, and his family)

College spring break: Drinking games and late nights.

Adult spring break: Euchre (card game) that lasted all night.

Are you seeing the parallels here? Well it was a great break from work and school, but in a weird way, the adult spring break revisited has proven to be just as much fun!

Once upon a time

Dear readers,

I've decided to embark on the blogging journey as I navigate my life as a mid-twenty mid-westerner living under the sun in Arizona. I'm progressively opening up new doors, closing others, discovering new meanings to life, and growing into my grown-up high heels.

So now, let me introduce you to the leading man in my life: Dr. Dashing.

Dr. Dashing is currently a medical student. A former fraternity boy turned future doctor. We met in college, and I've been with him through the MCAT studying to medical school acceptance to his upcoming first year of medical school rounds. So although he is not an MD yet, he's like my own personal therapist and pharmacist (don't get the wrong idea - he tells me whether I should take asprin or IB profin, or wheather the generic brand is the same product) which makes him a doctor of all trades to me.

Soon I'll be the girlfriend and roomate of a 3rd year medical student wearing a pager (to be called into the hospital at the drop of a dime), a first year PhD student(myself) while taking stabs at being a working girl. I can only imagine the waters I'll have to tread navigate in the next few years. Stay with me as I sail the waters of my life - hopefully these waters include a view of sandy beaches!