Being Present is a Present

I took a yoga class tonight where the teacher had us start the class with a chocolate mediation. This is exactly what it sounds like. We had a piece of chocolate in our hand and had to be aware and mindful of it. How did the wrapper feel? How did the chocolate smell? How did the chocolate taste? Did the flavor linger in your mouth? It was about being present in your life. We often have a lot going on at once. Some things exciting, others stressful, but if we make sure to stop and smell the roses, make sure that we enjoy every minute and not always be looking forward to the future or dreading an impeding appointment, life will always be fulfilling. Okay, maybe not always, but usually.

This is very relevant to me right now. I am planning a wedding that I am so excited about, but once it is over, it's over. So I have been making sure to make everything I do for my wedding fun. I am taking advantage of all the tastings (wine, food, and most importantly, the cake), giving myself the full treatment (hair, nails, dress), and enjoying the time I get to spend with people along the way. That way my wedding won't be just about the day, but about the process, and of course, the best part is that I get to be with my best friend for the rest of our lives :)

On the other side of the spectrum, I am in school right now.  I have to miss out on important events because I either lack the time to go there or have to be cost conscious for our wedding, and worst of all, I have to study, yuck. I could look at it that way, or I could be present in the moment and realize that I get to live in a place with beautiful weather 95% of the time, I am meeting new people, I get to explore a new city without the hassle of flying, and I am learning new and interesting things everyday. In fact, this semester we get to dissect a cadaver. How cool is that? Well at least I find it fascinating. We purposefully tore a muscle and I got to suture it back up. Then I got to test how strong a freshly sown muscle really is. Eye opening, it is not very strong and can easily tear. Okay enough about cadavers. I think it is cool, but most people find it disgusting.

What are some wonderful things that are happening in your life right now?

I will leave you with some funny animal pictures.

                                             

Chocolate and Wine!

My month of April was a break from the clinic and school and was dedicated to sleeping (are you starting to see a theme in my life?), seeing friends and family, and doing things for my upcoming nuptials. This blog post is picture heavy, but I hope you enjoy!

The weekend right after my internship ended my family along with Chris and his family headed up to Harrison Hot Springs for some soaking in the hot springs, to show my parents the resort, and to do some wedding stuff.

The weekend was a success. Chris and I figured out our menu and it was a great way to relieve my stress from the past 12 weeks of pretending to be a physical therapist. Plus the sun came out and the weather was absolutely beautiful.

The view from the Hotel

My parents enjoying the sunshine and the view

Chris's parents

The soon-to-be in laws and my parents

Chris and I standing at the location he proposed

I met Sasquatch in town

The following week was spent exercising, organizing, relaxing, seeing friends, and sleeping. The weekend was fun, but nothing too notable. Over the weekend I went to a friend's birthday party and my mom and I took a 10 mile run from Enatai Beach into Medina.

The following weekend was a little bit more exciting. I woke up early on Friday morning (and by early I mean 8:30 or 9am) and took a short run. I was all packed up and ready to head out to Eastern WA, Lake Chelan to be exact for my bachelorette party! I had never been to Chelan and I thought this would be a perfect place to celebrate my last few (months) moments for singledom. I didn't want anything crazy, just wine tasting and to hang out with my girlfriends; Chelan was the perfect pairing. I wish all of my girlfriends could have made it, but it was the perfect time.

The view from our place

Vicki standing in the huge doorway

Dinner and Drinks on Friday night

Our sweet ride for the day

My sister and I

Mimosas before wine tasting

All the girls at winery

Wine tasting at Karma Winery

Cheers

My Tippy Cup

These were the appropriate pictures to show ;) but I couldn't have asked for a better time.

The following week, Rebecca was available during the day, so we decided to take the Theo's Chocolate tour. This tour entails learning about how chocolate is harvested and created into the delicious chocolate bar that you can buy and enjoy in the store. The best part of the tour is they give you a lot of chocolate to sample. I think I had at least an entire candy bar throughout the entire tour (I'm not complaining),

 This is how they roast the cocoa beans, it is a similar process to how they roast coffee.

After the bean is roasted, the bean is broken up into someone called nibs, which is a little bitter, but definitely edible and can be used for cooking.

 Rebecca and I in the factory with a chocolate worker behind us. We had to wear hair nets. Sexy ;)

 My kind of pipeline

 There is a whole lot of chocolate in those holding tanks - HEAVEN!

 He he, stoner.

At the end of the tour, they take you to their confection room where they make little bite size chocolates and beautiful pieces of work like the ones pictured in the above picture. Yes those sculptures are made of pure chocolate.

I am currently back in Orange, CA and back in school. The first week is over of my second to last semester in the actual classroom! It was really good to see everyone, I just wish it wasn't in this situation. To celebrate completing the first week back, a couple of us girls went out for some beers! It was a nice way to end a long week.

One Step Closer

I am currently sitting at John Wayne airport in Santa Ana drinking a glass of wine to officially kick off my Spring Break. Fifth semester down, four more to go!

I finished my 12 week rotation at my Orthopedic Clinic at Total Body Physical Therapy in Anaheim hills and I am off to Seattle to enjoy the…um…Sunshine? Well to definitely enjoy my friends and family! The experience was amazing and I really connected with my co-workers and patients. I must have done something right because I received a few gifts and thank you cards. Plus I learned a lot (that I have a lot to learn).

Lovely flowers and thank you cards from my patients

A bottle of Perfume

This past weekend was spent with the faux family, the Corre's. Monday was Passover so all the Corre kids were in LA for the weekend. I work late on Monday and I was not able to head up to LA for the Seder, but I needed some fam time so I headed up to Brentwood on Saturday afternoon. I had an amazing time hanging out with everyone, a lovely dinner on Saturday, and a wonderful walk Sunday morning.

Melissa and Brandie sleeping after our delicious meal on Saturday night

I guess that all the excitement from the weekend made me finished up my last week at the clinic by sleeping in (by accident) on Monday and showing up to work an hour late. Oops. I was so good the whole 12 weeks.

These next three weeks at home is going to be a blast. Tomorrow my family and Chris's family is heading up to Harrison Hot Springs for some R&R and to tie up some loose wedding ends. It should be  amazing.

More to post later in the week.

Partying Like it's 2003

One of my best friends Nichole flew into town on Friday night. We started the night off right with a bottle of pinot and a taste of chocolate wine. After getting a slight buzz on, we headed out to the Orange Circle where I was able to show Nichole all the local watering holes. We started at Gastropub with a martini and fries, sauntered over to O'haras to play pool, and then finished the night dancing at the District.

I believe this picture was taken at the District. The rest of the night may or may have not been a blur ;)

Saturday we woke up at a leisurely hour and headed out to Balboa Island, which is a tiny island in Newport Beach that is accessible by a little bridge or a $2 ferry ride. We ate lunch and then walked around the island (which is about 2.5 miles around) recovering from our hangovers enjoying the fresh air, sunshine, and beautiful houses on the water.

Signs in people's front lawns.

Someone made this? Crazy!

Don't worry Nichole, I will save you from the T-rex!

The afternoon was perfect and I finally felt normal again once we headed home.

Later that night we went to an awesome Dive Bar in Orange called Chaser's Lounge with some of my PT friends. We tried to keep the PT talk to a minimum, but we did do a lot of Karaoke (one of Nichole's and my favorite past time). We each sang two songs, Nichole performed Adele: Someone Like You and Shoop by Salt and Pepa both flawlessly, while I sang Somebody to love by Queen and This is How we do it by Montell Jordan (one of my all time favorite songs).

Saturday was a much earlier night and we fell asleep to Clueless.

Sunday morning, after a wonderful nights sleep, I showed Nichole the town by a) running through it on a 4.5mile run and then b) eating at the Filling Station and walking around the Circle, all while dressed in Green (hey it was St Patty's Day).

The whole weekend was perfect, just too short!

Impromptu Visit

Well kind of. It was slightly more planned out than that, but only slightly…Chris flew down to see me. I know I saw him the weekend before at home and mid February, but I did not get enough alone time with him, so we didn't tell anyone that he was coming down.

Chris flew into Orange at 10:30 on Friday night. The next morning we woke up late to a beautiful day and decided to walk around town. We happened upon a new cafe called Mead's Green Door Cafe. It is right on Chapman Ave near the circle. Check it out, it is really cute and they have great coffee. With coffee in hand, we walked around the circle, looked at antique shops, and attended the Saturday Orange Farmer's Market.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Saturday night, Chris and I dressed up and headed out to eat at one of our favorite local restaurants in the area, Chapter One. This restaurant offers some unique and delicious options. The prices are on the higher end, but their food is wonderful. For dessert Chris and I ordered a red velvet cake doughnut. This is not just any ordinary doughnut, it was gourmet.

Plated beautifully with cream filling and a strawberry chocolate sauce, it tasted just as good as it looks.

The next day was just as sunny and beautiful as the last. We took advantage of the sunshine by playing tennis. Later that evening we made Pad Thai and coconut curry soup from scratch and got a drink at the Gastropub in the circle. Nothing too exciting, just good eats and delicious beer.

Monday was not as fun for me (I had a 12 hour work day), but Chris enjoyed it by playing bball and cooking me a wonderful dinner. I walked into the apartment after my long day to the table set for two and bruschetta apps waiting for me.

 There were more on the plate, but I ate them before I thought of taking a picture.

Dinner was just as wonderful. Chris made Chicken on a bed of eggplant cooked in balsamic vinaigrette, topped with sauteed tomatoes, capers, and olives, garnished with basil.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner and evening together.

I have a half day of work on Tuesday, so to my surprise, when I got home around lunch time, Chris had put together a picnic basket and we headed out to a park to enjoy our lunch.

Leftover chicken chopped with greens, red pepper, cucumbers, mushrooms topped with a balsamic vinaigrette. Yes, we also had a beer in the park. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

The weekend was too short, but it was a wonderfully relaxing and romantic. Chris flew home that night :( 

I only have two more weeks left at the clinic but I have another visitor coming into town this weekend! 

It has been a busy but fun couple of weeks but they have been wonderful.

One last thing…I have decided to sign up for the OC Half Marathon that is on May 5th. Today is the last day to register at the cheaper rate. I promised myself that I would run a half before the end of May and 4 total by the end of the year. Let me know if you want to run this one as well. It is flat and along the beach. Not too shabby.

Exciting Times

My exciting adventure from last week was my trip home for our 4th annual Girls Weekend!

Since I don't have work on Thursday, I woke up at the crack of dawn and flew back to Seattle. Chris picked me up from the airport and we spent a wonderful day together watching TV, taking a walk in the rain, napping together, and cooking dinner. It was a gloriously relaxing day. I didn't tell anyone that I was going to be home (in Seattle) because it was for such a short amount of time, I knew I couldn't fit everyone in.

The next morning I headed to Victoria's house and we started our 3+ hour adventure to Moclips (the coast of WA). We took all the necessary stops: Costco, gas station, Top Food Grocery Store (bulk food) and we made it to the coast at around 4pm. Chelsea and little Jayden were already there, so we broke out some beer and started our vacation right.

People trickled in throughout the night. And the rest of the weekend was filled with wine, running in frozen rain, eating cheese and crackers, gossiping, naked pillow fights (just kidding), and catching up.

Jayden and Mommy (Chelsea)

Rainbow after the frozen sideways rain

Lots of this beverage to go around.

Chillin' on the beach

So NW

It wasn't raining the entire time (plus the view from our place)

Celebrating Chel and Chrissy's bdays!

Before our run, we all wore red and or blue!

The picture we take before we leave :(

Being goofy (Sorry ladies, couldn't resist)

On Sunday I had to fly back to Orange because I had work bright and early Monday morning.  But I had such an amazing time, it was worth all the travel!

Can't wait till next year!

Do you take any annual trips with your friends or family?