Dikiy Muzchinaaaaahhhh

Well - my dress arrived!  And its the PERFECT green.  Its fits like a glove (although I can't be completely satisfied now can I?  No.  But I will refrain from mentioning the problem I have with my belly sticking out too much and my endless battle to find the ultimate control top undergarment that doesn't show through the back of the dress! :::pant...pant:::) 

ANYWAY - moving on.  The dress rocks, now I just need to find a hair-do that works.  Michael Paul says leave it down, but I think if I do I will look more "first-day-of-eighth-grade" and less "Russian-sex-kitten-on-the-prowl."  Oh are my grandparents in for a treat.

In non-showcase news:

Ryan's been trucking away and finally got his first crown patient in clinic.  It felt like he was never going to get a crown there for a while. As his third year comes to a close, we are being forced to look more seriously at our future.  He wants to do a one-year General Practice Residency.  These are programs all over the country at hospitals and universities that rotate residents through procedures on medically compromised patients.  Where will we go?  Colorado?  California?  Florida? Utah?  Stay here?  It's a little stressful because these decisions are going to need to be made very soon due to the application requirements, match program, etc.

It's left me wondering what do with MY future.  I am still at Trillium on the weekends, and I'd like to stay there as long as I can.  It will be 3 years in July and I really love the residents and my coworkers.  Between Trillium and the surgery center, I end up pretty close to full-time hours, if not slightly over sometimes.  But what happens if we move?  What happens if we stay? 

About 6 weeks til Panama.  I can't wait to leave it all behind and snorkel, hike, and eat tons of fruit on tropical shores.

Till next time!

Showcase is coming!

In about a month I will be strutting my stuff in cha-cha form to anyone who cares to shell out the dough for a ticket. The showcase itself is going to be great - there are a bunch of really good dancers preforming to all kinds of great songs.

My fear is that...every performance will be great except for mine. What if I loose my balance and stumble? What if I blank completely? What if everything goes right, but the over all dance is lackluster? I'm scared. The embarrassing part is, Michael Paul and I have been going over it at every lesson - if I'm not dancing it with my eyes closed by now - will I ever have it down?

Don't get me wrong, I know the dance. I just can't preform it with finesse and pizazz just yet. My dess should be here by April 25 and I'm hoping it fits and won't need altered. Ugh, I will be nervous enough about the dancing, let alone worrying about an ill-fitting dress showing every girl scout cookie I've eaten lately.

It will cover me up a little more than this:


Speaking of fat rolls and cookies....I've started running! I know, I know...I've "started running" about 20 times now, but I'm up to 3.6 miles at a time! That's personal record! I am also really trying to lift more. Ryan is always on my case about how I don't do enough strength training, and I'm really trying to do it now at least once a week. I am also passing on drug-rep food at work.

Maybe I will feel better in my swim suit in Panama when that rolls around. 2 months away!

Spring has sprung

Pardon the trite heading - but the weather has been great around here and Ryan and I have had tons of fun checking our some parks we've never been to. We checked our blackhand in Newark, a new area of John Bryan State Park, and stopped by familiar blendon woods to look at some birds and practice our new "steadicam".

I subbed my friend's Zumba class 3 times and wow! It was really tough! I was drenched and didn't know if I could make it through, but by day three it was a lot more fun and I felt pretty good teaching.

We've been planning our Panama trip little by little, and I'm starting to get really excited, only 2 months till we go!

Michael Paul and I have been practicing our showcase dance at every lesson - I really hope it comes together by May - we have it, but its still has a lot of kinks. My dress will be here in a couple weeks for it :)

Zumbahua

Zumbahua was the name of a town we biked thru in Ecuador :)

Speaking of Zumba - I'm subbing 3 classes next week for my friend like I did in July! So excited :)

Panama planning: we have an appt on Tuesday to get a yellow fever vaccination and some anti-malaria pills.

Looking forward to a dance showcase in May - learning some very difficult choreography for it (well, its difficult for me, anyway).

Hope everyone is doing well!

Panamaniacs!

I know, I know, we just got back from Ecuador. Another trip already? Well....yes!

We are going to Panama for 2 weeks in June! We are still in the early planning stages - but I'll keep you posted as we plan!

Happy Valentines Day!

Last night we had a big dinner at Banana Leaf. They had a special Valentines Day meal, the Dr. I work for told us about it. We both over ate. I am off today so Ryan is making omlettes while I blog.

On Friday Ryans mom is having surgery. He'll be going back home this weekend and we've both been thinking about her all week. I know everything will be fine. It's not anything high-risk, but not just a tooth-extraction either (sorry Ryan). Ryan is going to keep me posted with phone calls while he's there.

Did I mention there is a showcase in May that I will be dancing at? Michael Paul and I are dancing to Dikiy Muzhchina - a Russian cha cha. I think the choreography is hard, but I'm slowly catching on and I think its starting to look better.

Last week we tried a Peruvian restaurant called Garcia's on High Street with our friends Alex and his wife Emily. It was really good food and we'd like to go back sometime soon.

Here are a few Ecuador pics:

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is starting the new year happy and healthy. Ryan and I rang it in by having his parents over yesterday. His mom made a chicken tetrazzini casserole and boy was it good. They also brought our Christmas presents over. Lots of goodies from his mom's gift shop (scone mix, seasonings, delicious tea that we opened last night, some pasta) and some gift cards to our favorite places. One of our favorite gifts is a cookbook full of recipes from south America. It was nice to have them over for the evening, and we are looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks. *edit - we've made several of the recipes from the book - delicious!

The holidays were fun this year. The whole family was together on Christmas, and the food was delicious. My mom and Greg made beef tenderloin and it had to be in at least the top 3 best Christmas meals in our family's history! Christmas morning my mom and Greg gave us some awesome PJs - rock climbing ones for Ry and dancing for me. Lots of other gifts that we are enjoying too.

Unfortunately my dad had to spend another Christmas in the hospital. We paid him a visit and exchanged some gifts, and now he is in a skilled nursing facility.

I should try to post about our Ecuador trip, but we all know how blogging about Vietnam turned out! Many pics are on facebook, and I'll try to get some on here soon :)

Buckets of fun

My post about the dance competition got me to thinking about bucket lists. I've never seen the movie...but I like the concept. I think a bucket list helps to ensure you are living life to the fullest. It keeps goals visible so that day to day life doesn't get in the way of some really great experiences.

I'm going to list mine out, it will be short to start. I'm going to include some things that have already been accomplished.

• Teach a Zumba class -Thanks to a good friend, this dream came true over the summer. I was able to sub 3 of her classes. It was so fun. I couldn't believe I had done it. Me. Standing - dancing, really - up there on a stage all by myself, leading the class. Wow!! So thankful to have a friend who trusts me to lead a class that she built herself.
  
• Learn to dance - This is on-going. Learning to ballroom dance has been so fun. Competing in a dance competition...and actually placing!? Well, that was just the icing on the bucket :)
• Be a nurse. - done!
  
• Travel the world - on-going (Ecuador in a week, woo hoo!)
• Have a baby - hopefully when Ryan's done with school.
• Be in a musical production. Local theater counts.
• Change a life - oh I know, small acts of kindness can change lives everyday, and yes, that's quite special and should be valued. But, I'd really like to change at least one life (in need of changing), directly, irreversibly, and for the better.

More to come...what's on your bucket list?