no thanks

You know what? Today was dumb.  I'm not gonna sugar coat it with any of that rhetoric...it just sucked.  For real, Renae and I had a bike route all planned out, 60 miles, break at 35ish for a margarita at a place she loves and then a loop on back.  You know what we did instead?  We biked in the wrong direction for eight miles, then backtracked for eight,  then weaved in the traffic of a busy road crossing over an interstate and finally found our way onto the very trail we had taken last weekend.  We got about 22 miles out (including the hub bub of being lost) and realized it was 5:00.  Directly after making an adult decision that it would be best to turn around, we got a flat tire.  Booooo.  Changing commenced and we headed home.  We took a break five miles from home so we could lay in the grass and motivate ourselves.  Climbing towards the idea of happy hour at irish snug we sucked it up and grappled the tiny hill back to her house.  I promptly plopped down and broke my favorite sunglasses.  40 miles on the books and our muscles feel like we trekked at least 70.  If it was too much sun I suppose we shouldn't complain, but can we complain about the wind?  11mph and feeling like dying is no way to start a ride.  Nevada? You've left me bitter to any suggestion of wind.  I hope you're happy!

on bicycles and leaving

Not so long ago, leaving Denver wouldn't really have meant all that much because I didn't really have any connections at all, I was just floating on by studying and doing my own thing.  Now though, I actually have an amazing friend that I hang out with every day and bike with and work out with and drink mimosas with and commiserate with!  And now I am sad!!  I know I get to move to a city that has built in friends, and will spend the next two years with a family of sorts as 50 of us students struggle side by side to learn medicine, and that is going to be awesome in its own way.  I am just remembering how incredibly heart breaking it was to leave Minneapolis just a few years ago.  Eric, Pigeon, and I drove down the highway while tears just streamed out of my eyes for miles and miles.  IT WAS SO HARD.  I know this time is different in a million ways, but this time will be hard too I think in ways that I haven't yet considered.  BUT luckily I am bringing my best friend with me on this adventure, and our two ridiculous dogs are great for comforting even if all four of us will be smooshed in the cab of a u-haul for hours on end!  I think perhaps most big changes must be mourned and then let go so that the memories can live on however they will.  In any case, this is a sappy post and I am okay with that.

Now I will tell you that my friend Renae is raising money (soon) for a ride she is doing in August.  She is biking her first century (100 miles) in the Rockies no less for the Tour de Cure raising money for diabetes research!  Once she gets a donation site up I will plaster it up here and ask you all to support her, but for now you are off the hook.  We have been training together, and it has been so nice to ride my old training routes and do them with someone else!  I didn't realize how lonesome my training was when I was by myself!  In any case, Renae and I got out on Saturday for a 35 mile ride in 78 degree weather along Clear Creek and it was absolutely lovely.  She didn't even mind when I kept making her stop so I could take pictures, even when one of the was mid-climb..  Hope you all are having as beautiful weather as we are!

the search continues

You know what?  Picking a new place to live from afar is hard.  We are extremely lucky to have eyes on the ground that are checking out the places we find and finding places for us that they can check out.  It's a pretty good scenario all things considered, but if you know me, you know that I need to get my hands right up in there and see for myself.  It turns out that in the face of stress, control is a HUGE thing for me.  Hahaha, who would have guessed?  With moving day coming up in..err yikes, two and a half weeks, we are starting to feel the stress a little bit more.  Aside from the whole not having a place to live issue, the realization of both of us being unemployed is starting to become more real.   HA.  I don't know why that makes me laugh, but I think it's more of a nervous-isn't-it-hilarious-that-we-are-so-blindly-forging-ahead kind of laugh, and I am doing it more and more often.  I know I always "have faith in the bigger plan" and really do believe things happen for a reason, but as with most people I wish I knew all of the reasons ahead of time all the time so that I could be prepared.  See what I mean about the control?  So, I am trying to take moving across the country with so many unknowns yet to be answered as an exercise in trust and patience.  The reality of the situation is that we are doing as much as we can from where we are, and that is just about all we can do.  We are closing in on the end of our jobs here (one week for me and two for him), and then the next adventure will begin!  Don't think for one minute that this anxiety is raining on our parade over here.  I am the queen of powering through, and both JP and I (and hell, probably Oliver and Yin too) are extremely excited to call Portland home.  The weather has been great for grilling here, and I have been peppering JP with Portland facts and information, showing him beaches and lighthouses we can visit and looking up the google street views of all the apartments we have considered. I think it's safe to say that Maine is going to be very different than Colorado, but we've done the Colorado thing for a few years and now it is time to try Maine on for size.  JP's first purchase for the move was just a few days after I was accepted, and it was an insulated hat/facemask/warmer thing from REI so he will be ready for whatever cold nor'easter blows his way.  What a trooper this Louisiana boy is!

 

Well, so you don't think that all we do over here is worry and wring our hands in desperate pleas for assurances (mom, don't worry, I am remembering to breathe occasionally), I will tell you that we have been shedding our anxieties with some slurpee filled scooter rides lately.  We also dragged our butts to the midnight movie release of the Hunger Games last night, and after working a twelve hour shift prior to the shenanigans, I think I am maaay just be getting too old for that kind of fun.  That, or I really should just give up once and for all on believing that any film version of a book I love will ever live up to the expectations I desperately want them to.   So there you have it.  Apartments, working, hand wringing and some hunger games.   That's life here!

And for the record, Oboe is really trying not to let the stress get to him too much.

the ups and downs, and portland

Hello again,  I have been drowning with work lately and have had little time for any other activity.  Twelve hour shifts three days a week sounds like a pretty good deal most of the time, but sometimes it spaces out wrong and you end up working six twelves in eight days and you want to fall asleep on the floor without even taking off your nasty scrubs.  Lucky for me I have crossed that off my calender and have four cloudy stormy days spread out before me with no obligations except spin classes with Renae and whipping up a few new recipes.  Now that's how life should be! I am nearing the end of my time at the hospital, and as my sister reminded me, I only have nine more shifts to work for the next two years!  Scary and exciting to think about!  Let's get those financial aid checks in the mail please and set me on the road to piles of debt!  I am hoping to secure a rather competitive scholarship if I can.  The odds are long, as with most things involved in the entire PA school process, but you can't get there if you never try.  The scholarship is from the National Health Service Corps, and awards the recipient with full tuition for two years as well as a monthly living stipend while in school.  In exchange, you are obligated to practice medicine for two years in a medically under served area or population.  This would work out perfectly for me, as I want to work in those areas already!  Clearly this opportunity is the holy grail of financial options, but even if I don't get the scholarship they have a loan repayment option after graduating that is pretty similar and would be extremely beneficial as well.  In fact, my dad knows the benefits all too well as he had his loans repaid while working his first and only position as a PA at Min No Aya Win Human Services with Native Americans in the Fond du Lac tribe.  I have high hopes of following the great examples my dad has shown me in his practices!  In any case, mulling over financial possibilities and looking for apartments are the things I have been squeezing into my day, and probably doesn't make for the most entertaining post.  I was looking for a picture of the dogs to send to a rental management place in Portland (who require a dog interview in person.. or in dog I guess? either way it's weird to me), and I realized I still have pictures from our p-town trip in January to share!  So here you go, you can join me in my all-portland-all-the-time mentality for a few moments:

 JP and I before heading out to the meet and greet the night before the interview.  Props go to Renae for helping me figure out my outfit, Joe for loaning JP a shirt at the last minute and Em for her fancy grown up jacket!

 I kind of look like a bug in this picture, but this is me in my fancy suit right after the interview, pre-mimosa time/ lobster roll eating/ napping celebration!

Shots of the amazingly amazing pulled pork that Emily made us.  Ohhhh my word it was so good.  I even had some the next morning for breakfast before heading to the ice rink!

JP getting in the the cooking action, making some shrimp as a side to the pulled pork.  Yes, we Walshes sure know how to take down (or as Joe would day, "house") a good meal.  With our limited time in the state, we basically made everything we were craving, and jammed them into meals that might not make the most sense.. but were delicious!

And what sort of Walsh gathering would it be without games?  We played some ping-pong at a local dive bar to end the night. Can't wait to move there!