Christmas on the Prado

There is this FABULOUS annual event in San Diego called December Nights. (It used to be called Christmas on the Prado, but since 'Christmas' isn't so politically correct anymore...whatever.) It is a two-day event at Balboa Park, the 1,400-acre cultural park in the middle of the city. (Also my favorite place in San Diego.) December Nights is kind of like a big carnival and cultural festival in one. There are carnival rides and fair-food stands, stages set up everywhere with varying performers, and most of the park's 15 museums are also free during the event. But the BEST part is at the International Cottages, where you can get food, drinks, and desserts from dozens of different countries while watching traditional music and dance performances from different countries all night. Basically, it's the best community event ever, and I made sure that Josh and I requested a night off for it MONTHS in advance.

First of all, we were rockstars in getting there. Over 300,000 people show up for the event, and getting there/parking can be BRUTAL. Last year, we were not nearly as familiar with the area, and we spent, oh, like 90 MINUTES trying to park. (Yeah, I was cranky.) This year, we avoided the interstates that were jammed with all the newbs and Josh led us on his wild, twisty route that he takes to frisbee golf. Less than 30 minutes later, we were walking into party central. Boo-yah!

Our first mission was to get some FOOD! I had to drag Josh past all the fair-food, promising him that he would feel so much better about trying some new ethnic foods than scarfing down some BBQ tri-tip or a giant turkey leg. (I'm not sure he believed me.) I waited in the Chinese line, and Josh waited in the Lebanese line, and it was awesome.
The best part, though, were our Scottish desserts. My Edinburgh Cloud (lemon fluff with homemade raspberry sauce) and Josh's double chocolate cake were AMAZING!
The most amazing part of the night was when we were watching an Israeli performer play the accordion and sing. When he started playing Hava Nagila, Josh just busted out in song. He knew every word! What the heck?! He said something about learning it in 3rd grade, but seriously, you can't remember how to say 'book' in Spanish, but you can sing an entire song in Hebrew?
The Spreckles Organ Pavilion is a magnificent focal point of the park. Built in 1914, it is the world's largest outdoor organ with 4,530 pipes. It was even more beautiful for Christmas time.
There were some great nativity scenes set up to view. The angel in this one, however, only has one wing...
We stopped by the Timken art museum (it has a Rembrandt! as Josh always makes sure to tell everyone) because I read about a Christmas tree on display decorated entirely with ornaments that were handmade by one woman in the community. They were amazing!
We had time to visit one more museum, so we decided to visit the Museum of Natural History. Looked at some fossils, tried to name the animals without looking at the answer (with ALL our knowledge from the SD Zoo), and as usual, spent WAY longer looking at each exhibit than anyone else did. Josh was most concerned with finding out if sharks really get as big as the one on the ceiling.
On our way back to the car, we passed by the largest tree in the park. It was lit with lights all around that methodically changed colors, creating an eerie effect in the fog. A beautiful end to a wonderful night :-)

Museum of Making Music

Josh and I both had Saturday off, so we decided to find something new to do. (We may not get as many days off together as we would like, but oh, do we make the most of them.) I had purchased a Groupon to the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad. We didn't even know this existed until I saw it on Groupon, and it sounded right up our alley. (Groupon.com, check it out. It's awesome.)

We drove up to Carlsbad expecting to find a big museum-ey building, but the museum was located on one floor of a corporate-type building in the middle of a big corproate-y type building office-park (Chicago suburb style. You know what I mean.) A little odd, but we were still excited.

The museum was separated by decades from the late 1800s to present day, displaying the history of American music. Starting with JP Sousa (did you know he was part of over 13,000 performances?!?) and military band music, to the creation of amplified instruments and radio with the discovery of electricity, to the evolution of the guitar and the creation of the Strat and MTV, it covered it all. Ragtime, jazz, big band, swing, rock and roll, country, psychedelic, latin, there were clips and soundtracks of it all. And we may have done a little swing dancing while listening to some of the clips :-)

Now for my favorite things I learned...

Jazz started in New Orleans and moved up the Mississippi to St. Louis and, hey! Davenport, Iowa! (Ok, I knew that, but I am always REALLY excited to see anything about Iowa, ANYWHERE.)

And of course, we had our eyes peeled for any pictures of Bix Beiderbecke. (Oh we miss the Bix. I'm not sure anything in San Diego can quite compete with sitting by the river at the Le Claire bandshell listening to endless jazz on a sultry summer night.)
So apparently the Zildjian family (of Zildjian cymbals of course) is Armenian. The company was founded in the 1600s in Istanbul (Constantinople) when Avedis the alchemist began making cymbals with a unique fusion of copper, tin, and silver. The sultan was so impressed, he gave Avedis the surname Zildjian, meaning cymbalsmith. And now that's the family's name! I just thought that was crazy. Do you think they were sitting around that night saying, "Do we seriously have to take that name?" (And Josh was excited that he actually has this cymbal here.)
When Fender came out with the infamous Telecaster, it was actually called the Broadcaster. However, the name Broadkaster was already registered for a line of drums by Gretsch. Fender removed the name Broadcaster from the guitars, and 60 were released with no model name before they came up with Telecaster. These no-name guitars are known as No-Casters.
Taylor guitars (based on El Cajon, actually, where Josh works) created 400 guitars known as the Liberty Tree Guitars. They were made out of a more than 230 year old tulip poplar from Maryland known as the "Liberty Tree," where patriots rallied before, during, and after the Revolutionary War. Each colony had a liberty tree, and this was the last surviving one. It was blown over during Hurricaine Floyd, and Taylor was able to give it new life in the form of guitars. Very cool. (I've actually seen one of these somewhere else, because I knew the story, but I can't for the life of me remember where!)
And then there was a room at the end with lots of normal and unique instruments to play (including guitar hero!) We were in that room for a while... And yes, I beat Knights of Cydonia on hard when Josh could not. My work here is done.
Ok, the Chargers game is on, and since I live in San Diego, I feel like I should care.

Iowa Comes to Arizona

We miss Iowa football. A lot. So when the Hawkeyes made a trek out west to play in Tucson, Arizona, of COURSE we had to go! Josh, Luke, and I road-tripped it to the desert. It was great to be back at a Iowa football game and see so many Iowa people! In case you missed the game, here's how it went.

Yep, this is the car thermometer on the way to Tucson. That's for real, and it should have been a sign that this was going to be a bad day. (Seriously, we're coming from San Diego. Overbearing heat? Yeah, that doesn't exist to us.)
In case you can't tell by our faces, I will walk you through the game, score by score.

This is when Arizona scores a touchdown after blocking our punt.


This is when Arizona scores a touchdown after an interception.


Iowa scores a touchdown, and we feel a bit of hope.


Arizona returns the kick off for a touchdown. More disappointment and dejection set in.


Arizona kicks a field goal. It just keeps getting worse.


Arizona kicks another field goal. And that completes a just spectacular half, down 7-27. As you can see, by this point we almost stop caring.


The marching band was pretty good. They lifted my spirits a bit.


DJK scores a touchdown.


McNutt scores a touchdown. We're coming back! 21-27. This might be about when Josh got in a minor verbal fight with some ridiculous Arizona fans.


We intercept the ball and return it for a touchdown! We go up by 1!! Wait, we miss the extra point and it's tied. That was horrible.


Arizona scores a touchdown to go up 34-27. Stanzi gets sacked like 52 times, and we go down in flames.

So...that was our trip. It was a very depressing game, but we walked out of that stadium with our heads held high and said to Arizonans, "We may have lost, but you live HERE." And we drove back to San Diego.

They Should Have a Reality Show About Walgreens

So Josh had a customer at Walgreens that was asking him about 'Flaxseed Oil: Cold Pressed,' and she said, "This is for colds, right?"
Josh said no.
And she said, "But it says cold on it."
And he said, "It says cold pressed."
She said, "So you don't know what that means?"
Josh said, "No, but I know it doesn't mean it's for a cold!"

Then she grabbed a bottle of cod liver oil and said, "But this is for a cold right?"
He said no.
She said, "But it's cherry flavored!"
Josh just looked at her a little dumbfounded, unsure of what being cherry flavored had to do with anything, and told her to just go talk to the pharmacist.

I thought this was pretty hilarious :-)

Signs of a Normal Life?

I was on my way to church Wednesday night for orchestra practice. It was the first time I had the chance to break out the old oboe in years!

Anyway, I was driving down the 8 on my way to College Avenue Baptist Church, stuck in a little bit of traffic, when I realized something. This orchestra practice was the first commitment I'd had, on my own without Josh, that was not related to work, in the entire year I've been here. Seriously! Most places that I HAVE to be (church music or volunteer event, softball game, uh...that's about it), I'm with Josh. Otherwise, If I'm leaving the house by myself, it is almost always pharmacy-related or to hang out with my pharmacy-friends.

It was just kind of crazy to think how unbalanced my life has been over the last year! Basically, I'm either working, hanging out with people from work, or having fun with Josh which may or may not involve other people. It's just so different from back home where I was so involved in so many different things. It's been a little bit of pharmacy overload this year, that's for sure!! But I decided that this orchestra practice was a sign that a more normal life is just ahead, peeking over the horizon at me! It will be nice to be able to get involved in some other things in the upcoming months.

But I must say, I am incredibly lucky to have a husband that I seriously don't mind spending ALL my time with :-)

PETCO Park

Go Padres! 1st place in the division! Not that being first place in the NL West has meant that much over the past few years...

We went to a game tonight on a whim. $5 tickets! We had to sneak into the seats we wanted-we've mastered getting by the guy that checks your tickets. We were sure he had us pegged for a while because he kept looking up at us suspiciously, but we just sat there looking innocent, and he left us alone.

Josh got me a hot dog because I was STARVING. I went to put ketchup on it, and when I pushed the ketchup lever, mustard came out. I rather despise mustard, so I had to wipe it all off and then used the mustard lever to get ketchup. The guy behind me did the same thing. Then we noticed a worker standing against the wall laughing to himself as he watched. I'm pretty sure he switched the labels on the ketchup/mustard machine. It was pretty hilarious.

32 Days and Counting

Josh and I will have gone 34 of 36 nights without sleeping in the same bed. Sad. Very sad. He worked for 8 nights. (Then a night together! Yay!) Then I went to N.Carolina for 5 nights. Then he worked for 8 nights. Then he went to Iowa for 5 nights. (Then a night together! Yay!) Then he works for 8 nights. And that is where we are now. Almost done! Josh working nights has its schedule perks, but I am NOT going to complain when it's over. (Watch, I'll probably get a job where I have to work nights for the first year or something. Wouldn't that just be cruel.)

Soccer vs. Football

I found this rather funny!

"If you forget the space, my name spells Vile"

Ah, I love these girls. My co-residents. I increasingly feel like that is a strange thing to call them, though. They are so much more than just my "co-residents" in this crazy pharmacy residency journey; they are 3 of my dearest friends. I think we must get along better and have more fun than any group of residents anywhere, ever. And on Thursday we all get to go to Charlotte together for 5 days! Oh, the memories we'll make...as we sit through 7 hours of lecture a day and freak out about our upcoming project presentations...At least we'll be together.

We have all had our share of hard times over the past 10 months since we met, and we've all been there to help each other out. Through car troubles, boy troubles, student troubles, preceptor troubles, project troubles, health troubles, computer troubles, interview troubles, being-forced-to-go-to-drug-dinners-too-much troubles, talking-about-the-same-simple-things-over-and-over-at-every-meeting troubles ...shall I go on?

I have been so blessed to be surrounded by amazing people through each new life journey. It's crazy to think about how, a year ago, I didn't even know some people who are now such a huge part of my life.

Vi, Vivian, and Silvia are just 3 of the reasons that I frequently say to myself, "Wow. I'm really, really glad I didn't end up in Milwaukee."

DMV Woes, Or Not

I was totally, totally, TOTALLY going to be responsible tomorrow and go wait at the DMV for hours so I can finally register my car and get a driver's license in this crazy state. Yes, it was supposed to be done within 10 days of moving here...but I was totally going get it done tomorrow! But...as I was collecting all my needed documentation this evening, I realized that I don't have the title for my car (I am counting on it still being somewhere at home in Iowa, I hope, otherwise I have a bigger problem.) So...I guess I can't go spend half my day at the DMV tomorrow. Can't say I am disappointed, but I was kind of excited to show Josh how responsible I was :-)

Amazing Grace

"When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Then when we've first begun"

Wow. I need to think about heaven more. When I actually sit and sing words like this, I wonder why I live so many of my days for nothing. Seriously. If I only had a heavenly perspective everyday, who knows what would happen.

That's it. Nothing more profound. I think it will take me long enough just to wrap my mind around that.

Happy Birthday Josh!

It's Josh's 25th birthday! Yay! He can finally rent a car without being charged extra! :-)

So Josh's family loves their DQ ice cream cakes. I'm pretty sure everyone gets one on their birthday in his family. Jesus gets one on his birthday, too. (Some excuse to eat more ice cream cake, right? "Yeah...this is for Jesus... :-) ) So they get about 7 ice cream cakes a year. Sadly for him, there has been no ice cream cakes for us since living here. He told me many times to get one for his birthday. And this morning, I got a text message saying, "I can't wait to eat ice cream cake tonight!" I think it was just another hint for me, making sure I wouldn't forget.

He slept most of the day as this is his week on for 3rd shift, and then we had our softball tournament tonight! We've been playing on Monday nights for a few months. We signed up as individuals and were put on a team with other random people that had just signed up by themselves, and it's been a blast! We finished #4 in the regular season so we made the tournament! We won our first game against the #1 team, which is all that Josh wanted for his birthday :-) (Oh, and MLB 2K10. I guess he wanted that, too.) We didn't win the championship game...or even come close...but 2nd place isn't bad for a random team :-)

I took a nice whizzing line drive right to the hip in our first game and thought I was going to be spending the night in the ER with a broken pelvis or leaky spleen or something bad...that wasn't so fun. Ouch. Double ouch. But after screaming a bit, I think all that I'll end up with is a REALLY big bruise/welt/nasty looking mark with the ball seems in it. Happy birthday Josh...

Oh, Just Take Me Now

Today is one of those days.

1) Find out Josh's boss has ruined our highly-anticipated summer vacation plans
2) Come to work to work on a never-ending project that I never wanted to do in the first place
3) Listen to exactly 1.5 songs before MP3 player dies on me
4) Attend an entirely pointless meeting
5) Have to sit around and listen to people AFTER the entirely pointless meeting continue to talk about just as pointless stuff--for like an HOUR!!!
6) Find out my most memorable and heart-grabbing patient of the year passed away much too young
7) Couldn't find a fork and had to eat my spaghetti with a spoon

I decided that I just couldn't take any other frustrating moments in my day or I might explode. Consequently, I canceled a meeting with someone who was bound to give me more annoying work. And I feel much better :-)

Although I now have to meet with him in the morning...

Responsibly Irresponsible

I'll admit, I skipped some class in college. Mostly in undergrad, when classes were often a waste of my time. I didn't skip IMPORTANT classes, only classes where I knew the professor was going to blab on about something I'd already learned or could just read about on my own. I was very responsible about skipping. I only missed classes that I knew would have no effect on my grade if I wasn't there. I mean, seriously, chem discussion? Biggest waste of my time, ever.

I was much better in pharmacy school, when I actually needed to know what I was learning for my job one day. Although there was the occasional Friday afternoon class that was REALLY hard to go to...

I kind of miss skipping classes. It was such a great feeling, to be out golfing, or driving back to Davenport, or sitting at home hanging out with roommates, or at the mall, or out biking, or sleeping in, and knowing that you COULD have been at class right now but you're NOT! I loved that feeling. I can't really have that feeling anymore. It's not like I can just "skip" work. Work is just a bit more important than a 50 minute microeconomics class. But I do look back with fondness on my college days where the occasional missed class was like a mini-vacation in the middle of the day. *sigh*

Here's to Last Minute Getaways

I called Josh one Friday morning and said, "Let's go somewhere for the weekend." I think we both just needed to get away. You know what I mean. We decided to head to Julian, a tiny historic mining town in the mountains known for its apple pie and for taking visitors back in time. I put Josh in charge of finding a place to stay and things to do, and I was in charge of working hard so I could get out of the hospital early!

Josh found us a quaint little bed and breakfast. Our room was so cozy, and we had a wood-burning fireplace in our room. As the innkeeper was explaining things, he said, "Here's the wood. You guys are from Iowa so I'm sure you've built plenty of fires." I'm not really sure why being from Iowa means we build lots of fires. Does he think our houses are heated with wood burning stoves? Anyway...
Breakfast was oh so excellent, and I was sure to leave with the recipe for those poached pears! We talked with the other guests and the owners for a while, learned a lot about Julian and even more about the rest of California. I love bed and breakfasts,We spent the morning walking down Main Street (all 3 blocks of it), browsing the stores, sampling apple ciders and jams, and watching the horses and buggies roll down the street. And of course, we had some apple pie. After exploring Julian and eating our apple pie, we went for a hike on Stonewall peak trail: 4 miles round trip and a 900 ft climb in elevation.
And there was snow!! Me and my tennis shoes weren't quite ready for a trail covered in snow, but we survived. It was quite an invigorating hike for 2 people that are not in the best shape of their lives...but the view at the top was worth it!
It was a nice weekend away, and while I usually like to plan trips way ahead so I can enjoy looking forward to them, this last minute thing isn't so bad either. Might have to do more of it :-)

End of a Hiatus

I received a sweet email from my grandma yesterday, and she subtly hinted her disappointment that I had abandoned our blog. Truthfully, I have been rather disappointed in myself for not having the discipline to regularly write, and her little prod must have been all I needed to pick it up again. (And maybe the fact that I just watched Julie&Julia.)

It is shame to not chronicle this time of our lives and all of our new experiences in this new place. I know I would love to have a journal of this time during which we are seeing so much and growing so much. However, I am not convinced that I have much to write about that anyone would really care to read.

My life right now is made up of working way too much and doing outdoor activities during a time of year when in all my past years, the weather would not have dreamed of allowing it. I am pretty sure no one wants to hear about the life of a pharmacist, and I am VERY sure that few people back home want to hear that we spent the afternoon at the beach in February.

So I must resign myself to the idea that I am writing for myself and Josh, and not for anyone else. If anyone finds an interest in our ramblings of southern California life, wonderful. If not, I must still write for I will regret it otherwise.

Thanks, grandma, for the motivation!