Endless Summer

Im looking forward to flying home tomorrow to celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary on Saturday.  I'm going going to catch up with friends and other family for a good 10 days! Hopefully my elderly dog Winston is up to the visit.

These past few weeks Ryan and I have been enjoying breakfast (and occasionally dinner) on our patio, and going on at least one hike every weekend.  We also stop at City Cakes about once a week for cookies, and a taco truck often as well.  They are so good and dirt cheap!  I've been hitting the gym quite a bit and really enjoying the Zumba, Barre, and Lift classes that are offered.  I've also started dabbling in alcohol inks as an art form.  See pictures below.

 Last weekend we crossed the valley and went to the other side - to the other mountain range who's name escapes me.  We hiked right next to the copper mines.  There were a lot of atvs going up and down the dirt road to the trail head, once hiking we saw several hunters with guns and crossbows which made me kind of nervous.  Good thing I had my rainbow scarf around my shoulders, not many elk wearing those this season.

Work has picked up just a little.  I've been asked to be on the SPinal Cord Injury Team - which is a new initiative the company is starting with the U.  It's still in its infancy, but it sounds like it will be really interesting and I'll learn a lot.

I also got my hair cut!  Bangs!  There's a picture on facebook.

These are all on 6x6 inch ceramic tiles:

Be Well Utah

Ryan is on call this weekend, so our Friday night was spent just hanging at home.  It worked out since we were up early for the Be Well Utah 5k for A-fib.  Apparently Dr. Oz was there kicking it off, but I didn't see him.  The run was good, and we ran together.  There were hills and it was pretty warm, but I took advantage of the downhills to make up time.

Afterward, Ryan volunteered at the Dental booth of the health fair while I walked around.  I painted my nails at the sun safety booth (the nail polish changes color in the sun!) I got a freehand massage, blood pressure reading, memory assessment, had my freckles looked at by a dermatologist, free common allergy test (dust mites and grass are not my friends).  I also grabbed a lot of loot, jar openers, magnets, pens, temporary tattoos, pencil cases, stress balls, lip balm, bag clips, aromatherapy spray, and snacks like carrot sticks, almonds and fruit cups.  The reason I went all out is because Ryan put in about 4.5 hours at his booth, which was 2.5 more than expected.  By the end of the day the vendors were looking at me like "what is this chick still doing here?!"

We had lunch at the Red Iguana, a popular Mexican restaurant in Salt Lake.  We both ordered from the "Mexican Marvel" section of the menu and really enjoyed our meals.  

Ryan had to report to the ER from 7-11 as part of his call, so I made a grocery list, watched a move and went to bed.  The movie was "Divorce Invitation" and I give it one star.  

This morning. We had pancakes on the porch, got the grocery shopping done and watch a little gymnastics on tv.  

Not a bad weekend :) 

Sun reactive nail polish and a temporary tattoo 

Ryan at his dental booth talking to kids about their teeth 

Ready for the 5k to start

Shooting Stars and Sizzling Maseca

I can't believe it's the middle of August already.

I really enjoyed the health screening clinic for one week.  The pay was good and the work was easy, and I got to meet a lot of people. The room we were in had a really nice view of the mountains.  Unfortunately these screening clinics arent on any kind of regular schedule, so quien sabe (who knows)  when the next one will be.

I finally received a job offer from a home care agency with which I interviewed last month.  I've started training and should be out on my own within the week.  I'm happy to start working with some regularity.

Ryan has really been enjoying the GPR.  He's learning a lot and really just enjoying dentistry and getting more efficient at his procedures.  He is on call again starting Wednesday for one week.  He's also been listening to spanish lessons in the car on his way to and from the clinic.  I listen when I'm in the car with him and I'm getting a little better with it too!

We hiked to Lake Blanche on Saturday and came back down in time to see The Tour of Utah road bike racers go by, flying down Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It was really neat to see.  We finished off our day with gluten free pizza from The Pie near the U Campus.

Sunday morning found us waking with the nighcrawlers.  We got up at 4 and made it up to Guardsman Pass by about 4:45.   We were looking for shooting stars/meteors.  Ryan got an excellent shot of one with our camera.  We each saw about 4 or 5 go by over about an hour period.  We came home and got back in bed for a couple hours.

I've been making tortillas and arepas with the masa (maseca) flour I picked up a couple weeks ago.  Both recipes are basically just corn flour and water with maybe a little lime juice or salt and tossed onto a frying pan.  I use very little oil and we always have home made tortillas now, the arepas make a good bun substitute for burgers or sandwiches.

I've started dabbling in alcohol inks on yupo paper as well as ceramic tiles.  I'm still learning how to use them, but I'm having fun doing a little art work.

Ryan will be headed off to Montezuma, Utah in a couple of weeks for the entire month of September.  I'll be visiting Canfield for the first week he's gone, and I plan on meeting him half-way one weekend while he's down there.  He's bringing his bike and is looking forward to mountain biking is that area.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone back home, including celebrating my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.  I'll also be going to se Train in concert at the Canfield Fair with mom  :)  Fun times ahead!

We've spent quite a bit of time in the Wasatch since moving here

Mint Limeade at the Pioneer park farmers market

Ferguson Canyon

Check out that meteor!

Hike up to Lake Blanch

Lake Blanch

The Tour of Utah bike racers

Alcohol ink on tiles, nevermind the TP!

A Birthday, more salt, job search and a Nevada Taco Truck

Lets start with some good news (not that there is any bad news, really.)

On Sunday night I'll be going in for a training so that I can start as a wellness screener at health clinics.  The hourly pay is very good, and I am scheduled M-F next week.  The work won't be consistent, but I'm happy to have something while I look for permanent positions.

Last weekend (my birthday weekend) we drove to Stansbury Island in search of petroglyphs.  We couldn't find them.  This marks the second time in my life in which a petroglyph search yielded no return (see Panama 2012).  

Since we were half way to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah, we decided to go.  They were pretty neat, and we were able to take our shoes off and walk in the salt (which was under about 3 inches of water.)  We took a few pictures and headed back to the car (it was pretty hot, with no shade).  

Since we were right on the Nevada border we decided to drive across.  We immediately saw a casino, liquor store, and XXX lingerie store.  Luckily there was a taco truck in the parking lot of said underwear store, so we each had two before heading back to Salt Lake.

The following day we drove up to Park City to have a look at their Sunday Market.  We bought 2 iced coffees while we walked and an avocado-pistacio popsicle.  It was pretty good.

We then drove to Kamas, ate lunch at a little diner, then walked around Mirror Lake.  It was a nice day. (any time a hike is not "uphill", I typically have a good time ;)

The birds have been plowing through the seed in the feeder like its going out of style.  Every so often I'll skip a day of filling it, but I always feel bad when I see them looking for the seed.  

Ryan is taking is ACLS test right now, he studied a lot last night.  While he studied I made our favorite soup...Rachel Ray's Corn and Salsa Tortilla Soup.  We make it every summer and it never disappoints.  

And thats about all thats new so far!  Ill be coming back to Canfield the first week of September to celebrate my Grandparents' 60th Wedding Anniversary.  Looking forward to it!

Salt Lake so far

We've been in Salt Lake a good three weeks now.  We were fortunate to have a solid week before Ryan had to start his residency.

We've done quite a bit outdoors despite the triple-digit temperatures we had for a while.  We've enjoyed  some moose-spotting near Silver Lake.  We hiked to Grandeur peak among others.  The wildflowers are really something in the mountains.

My loyalty card to City Cakes (a vegan bakery with lots of gluten-free stuff) is almost full already!  

Our flowers and oregano are surviving pretty well on our little balcony.  A heavy rain did, however, knock a bunch of petals off of the geranium.

Birds have enjoyed stuffing their faces into our bird feeder and flinging seed absolutely everywhere.  We rectified this by getting a bracket at home depot and hanging the feeder about a foot out from the balcony.

The balcony has been really nice for breakfast.  We promised ourselves that we would use it - nice 2 apartments ago we had a balcony and only went out there to cut Ryan's hair.  Now we eat breakfast out there and have had a dinner out there as well (you were right mom, its nice not to be facing traffic).

I applied to several jobs, and I should have by Utah nursing license by the end of the day.

I've been learning my way around little by little while Ryan is at work.  There is a mexican grocery store here that I really like, Smith's and Ream's have been pretty good for basics, and Whole Foods is very close.  Got the library down the street, and Sports Mall (a gym I joined) has some really good group fitness classes.

I had an interview with a homecare company a couple days ago, so I'll call them today to follow up.  Seemed like they were going to take me on.

Ryan's been enjoying his residency.  Some of the days are a little long, but we knew they would be.  He spent 4th of July weekend on call, and had to go in a few times, but at lease he isn't on call for Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Thats all for now - I know this post a is a little scattered.  Looking forward to my friend Stef visiting this week.  I'll blog more after that.  :)

Tall Glass of U

After arriving home safe to Ohio after our month in SA, we were ready for some R&R. 

I went down to Canfield and stayed at my mom and Greg's while Ryan hung with his parents. He came down one night for Kaleigh's commencement and Graduation dinner. 

My mom and I enjoyed doing a little shopping and visiting with my grandparents. We went out to lunch a few times, and got gluten free biar hill pizzas one night. We ran "up and back" on the Mill Creek trail 3 times. 

I drove up to Cleveland Thursday afternoon to go to Gates-Mills for an early  Friday start out to Utah. My mom and Greg flew out Friday morning and saw a little of SLC until we got there Saturday night. 

The drive was loooong. Ryan drove most of the way, I probably drove about 7 or 8 hours total of the two days. We stopped a night in Lincoln, Nebraska. It felt good to be done and sleep in the nice condo of a friend of Ryan's family. 

My mom and Greg joined us the next morning. We rode up to Brighton area and hiked up to a couple small pretty lakes. We went on to Park City for lunch and some walking around. 

Being Sunday, a lot of places were closed. We ended up eating some prepared foods and salads from Whole Foods for dinner. They were really good!

Monday morning we were at the leasing office at 9am only to realize they don't open til 10. We unloaded the cars to the front door, and my mom and I went on a coffee run to sunset coffee shop nearby. 

At 10 Ryan and I signed the lease and got our keys. The move was underway. The ABF pods with all our stuff were delivered soon after. We got some cafe rio for lunch after the pods were emptied. 

All the help was invaluable. Greg unloaded the pods, Ryan and his dad brought everything upstairs, and the women organized and unpacked. We were ready for our Thai dinner by the time we were done for the day. 

Tuesday we finished up the move. My mom, Greg and I stopped at a couple of fish stores while the Williams were at Lowes. We picked up lunch from Cafe Zupas. 

We celebrated being in Salt Lake with a bottle if Dom Perignon that his parents brought along and some fresh watermelon. Fun was had by all. 

We had a delicious meal at Mazzah in Sugarhouse area for dinner. 

Wednesday morning we had breakfast with everyone at a Belgian Waffle House nearby. We drove up to Wasatch National Forest for a fun hike to Donut falls. Really pretty spot. We had some iced teas at Silver Fork Lodge on the way back. It was here that my mom and Greg  had to leave to catch their flight home. Lots of hugs and a few tears later they were on their way back to Ohio. 

We walked around the University with Ryans Parents and saw the Creek City Center shopping area. Ryan forgot his suit in Ohio, so bought a shirt and pants to wear to a dinner we have on Wednesday. We had dinner with the remainin parents at Vertical Diner. Great vegan fare. 

Thursday morning we enjoyed breakfast at Blue Lemon before splitting off. Ryan, his mom and I went to SugarHouse while his dad spent some time at the genealogy library downtown. 

After a tasty dinner at Neopolitan pizzeria we met back up and rested a bit before heading up to Sundance. 

We had time before dinner to ride a lift up a ski slope and get nice mountain views. This was followed by dinner at The Foundry. Delicious wine and roasted portobello mushrooms!  It's a really beautiful resort. 

Friday morning we woke up and decided to do our first load of laundry. 

Our washer began violently and loudy shaking during the agitation and spin cycle. We thought maybe something broke during the move. After racking our brains and Ryan's parents' brains, we called a repair man. 

50 bucks later we find that it's not the washing machine but the unstable flooring under it. There's some kind of pan under the washer where the floor should be. 

We were off to Lowe's to buy a piece of wood to put underneath. We also picked up a bird feeder. 

Success! The board worked!  Thanks Ryan and Pop Williams for screwin it in!  

This ate up a big chunk of our morning. We had lunch at Cafe Zupas and went on a hike along the pipeline trail in Mill Creek canyon. 

We enjoyed dinner at Asian Star restaurant with a nice view if the mountains. 

The next morning we had Blue Lemin for breakfast again and enjoyed a short hike in Snkwbird ski area before heading to the airport. More tearful goodbyes.  

It felt weird driving back to the apartment knowing both sets of parents had gone. So we threw a big keg party. Just kidding. 

Really, it was a strane feeling being "alone" in the city. It really felt like we are far away. 

Happy to report that cell phones and Skype and Internet in general have help us to keep in touch just like it was before. 

A HUGE thanks to our parents for coming all the way across the country just to help us. The amount of effort you put in to making sure Ryan and I are settled and comfortable in our new place...well we could never ask for more. From driving and flying out, unpacking us, organizing us, treating us to countless meals, running to the store for another odd or end, and of course the love and support. THANK YOU!!! We love u 

Donut Falls

Huge dandilions in Mill Creek Canyon

Our mantle area above the fireplace. 

On the ski lift!

Cusco to Lima to Home

We woke up around 5:30am to get some breakfast before getting a cab to the airport. The kid that told us he would make breakfast for us at 6:30 apparently slept in. We got our own tea with jam and bread (like the Sound if Music!) and ate a passion fruit and a banana that we had with us. 

The kid (I say kid because he looked like a teenager) was sleeping in the reception area and woke up in time to call our taxi. 

We arrived at the airport around 7:20. They told us out flight was delayed until 9:30...then 10:15.  We had some coffee and Ryan got eggs at a little airport cafe. There is a store in here that sells really beautiful and expensive retablos. I keep thinking about ours in my bag with a piece rolling around inside. I'm going to open it as soon as we get home. 

The flight went smooth and our driver was waiting for us with a sign when we walked out if baggage claim. We decided to splurge on our last night in Peru. Our driver took us to Hotel Runcu in the Miraflores district of Lima. It's a nice area of town and the hotel is a hotel - not a hostel. 

We stored our luggage there since our room wasn't ready and walked around Lima. We were starving and were growing increasingly grouchy as we tried to find a place for lunch. It was almost 3:30 by the time we ate our sandwiches at a cafe by Parque Kennedy (named for JFK!). We had a strawberry juice toothat we sucked down in about 2 minutes. 

We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts afterward on our way to the handicraft market. It was all the same stuff we'd been seeing. Ryan wanted alpaca slippers but his feet are too big to fit in any if them. 

The highlight of Lima was walking upon some fruit stands and buying the most delicious oranges we'd ever had. I also bought 2 passion fruit- my new favorite treat. We bought one other green fruit that we don't know the name of, but it was really good. 

Back at our hotel we enjoyed nice hot showers before having dinner in the hotel restaurant. The ceviche was really flavorful, our first time having fish ceviche (we had shrimp cheviche in Ecuador). My veggie Tacu Tacu was tasty, as was Ryan's aji de gallina. We went to bed after packing some pb an banana sandwiches for our flight in the morning. 

We woke up at 3:30 to leave at 4:30 for the airport with our boxed breakfasts. We are now in the Miami airport delayed at least one hour d/t weather. 

At least we are in the US of A!  The customs official let out a big yawn when we held up my passport and compared it to my face. I said "Wow, am I really that beautiful?"  He laughed.  Then he made some joke about Ryan and a Snickers commercial and we didn't really get it but laughed anyway. When someone is holding your passports, you laugh at their jokes. 

Miami airport

Eating our sammies

A treat from the hotel in Lima

Last day in Cusco

We began our last day in Cusco with breakfast in the hostel, this time with the other half of our avocado from last nights dinner added in.  After breakfast we went back to the San Pedro market for some mango orange juice.

We wanted to buy a thermos like the ones we'd been seeing all over South America.  They are glass inside and plastic outside and they keep things hot or cold for a really long time.  The thermos vendor wasnt open yet, their stuff was still covered by a tarp.

 We walked up to the San Blas area to look at a restaurant Joe had suggested for dinner.  It had high reviews,  but was a little pricey.  We walked back to the market, had 2 more juices (carrot mix for Ryan and Mango mix for me), and by that time the thermos lady was open.  We bought a 1.8 liter vacuum thermos, dropped it off at the hostel, and ate our left over dinner for lunch.

After lunch we met for a free walking tour of the city at one of the Plazas.  There was a really large group.  We walked through some of the streets to lookouts, tasted alpaca filet, chicha drink, and sampled chocolate tea at a chocolate museum, and learned a little about how silver jewelry is made.

We met Joe at 3 at the Plaza de Armas.  We sat in Starbucks for a while and talked before going to look at a large fancy hotel with a church connected that dates back to incan times.  We saw an art gallery that had painting by a man from whom Joe commissioned a paiting.  Lastly  we headed in to Jack's cafe for dinner.  Just outside the door a young kid with paintings to sell was telling me he knew Barak Obama and cornering me into promising to buy a painting on the way out.

Joe ordered a strawberry juice and Ryan and I ordered lemonade with mint.  WOW did this lemoade have a strong minty flavor!  It was the best lemonade we've ever had.  I could have drank another glass.  Ryan and I split a huevos rancheros and a veggie burger, Joe ordered mango pancakes that looked more like a decadent dessert.

We talked a while, Joe ordered a lemonade for himself, and we split a piece of the best carrott cake ever.  So good.  Luckily Obama's friend was gone when we came out.

We snapped a picture of us in front of the plaza, then Ryan and I headed back to the hostel to pack for our flight tomorrow morning.  Next stop - Lima!

juice area of market

incan bricks

ryan ponders the inca

like a puzzle

san blas plaza

overlooking cusco

with joe in the plaza de armas