Picture Recap

Country landscapes whizzing by.

Dark clouds overhead, make us question the weather that awaits us.

The city by the bay blanketed with a patch of blue overhead.  Not engulfed in fog as it often is.  What awaits us?

Delicious dim sum, that's what!  Savory small bites.  Mmm...mmm....

City streets, bustling people, cars humming past.

An unmarked door that leads to a time long forgotten.  Bourbon & Branch.  A speakeasy, reminiscent of the prohibition era - passwords, a dark bar, quiet hushed tones, great cocktails, cloth napkins.  Shh.... don't tell.

The bay is calling.

Waiting for the ferry.

View from inside the warm cozy ferry.  Outside - cold and windy.  Reading the paper and people watching our way to Angel Island.

We rushed off the ferry to buy our tour tickets for the immigration station.  Little did we know that there would be less than 10 people on our tour.  Dad on the hike to the station.  ~1 mile hike - little did they tell us that 0.5 mile was nearly straight up!

View from our hike.  

What is left of the immigration station.  Picture taken from the footprint of the old administration building that burned down.  The building in the picture is the old detention building.  Angel Island misnamed the "Ellis Island of the West."  Similar in the fact that they were both islands and had immigration stations.  Vastly different in that most immigrants spent hours to maybe 1-2 days on the island while at Angel Island, some stays weeks to months.  Longest stay was 22 months.  

Conditions on the island were often overcrowded.  People from all over the world came through Angel Island, but the main group was Chinese.  Due to the Chinese exclusion act, it was mainly the Chinese who had prolonged stays on the island.  The law was designed to keep out Chinese laborers.

In this building the walls speak.  Poems and graffiti in multiple languages express emotions of defeat, disappointment, and hope.

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Happy Birthday Mom!

Per her request - we waited in line for over an hour at the best breakfast place in town, Mama's.  

Delicious french toast sampler - brioche, banana walnut, and cinnamon swirl breads.

Crab and spinach eggs benedict.  Delectable!

And what is a birthday without champagne?!

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Back in Tucson.  We had our family medicine retreat and I got to spend the day at the resort below :)

Lounging by the pool all day.  Tough life.

My beau happy to have me home.  

Vacation Continues

My vacation continues. I have managed to attend 2 graduation parities and no graduations.
Start and finish a craft project. (pics to come later).
Mom & I have kicked some butt in bowling - beating Jeff (firefighter student living with my parents x4months) & my dad. 2/3 games. Go girls!!

Next up is San Francisco. I need to get my fill of dim sum and the sad city by the bay. Poor Posey.

I'll be MIA for the next couple of days. I will try to take lots of pics to post later.

What did you do on your last vacation?

The Drink of Summer!

The Mojito

Ahh...my favorite drink of summer (well nearly all year round), but even better in the summer.  Sweet cool, citrusey mint - what could be better?

-  1 tablespoon simple syrup*. 
-  Mint leaves - 6 or so per drink.
-  Tonight we added strawberries

Next - muddle, muddle muddle (esentially mush mush mush - to get the minty flavor out of the leaves)



Then add 2.5oz of Rum.  Yes I said 2.5 oz.  And yes that is PER drink.  Trust me it doesn't taste strong at all.



-  The juice of 1 lime


-  Fill glass with ice and club soda.   And..... Ta Da.  Summer in a glass.


*simple syrup:  1-to-1 ratio of sugar to water heated on the stovetop so the sugar will dissolve.  You can make this beforehand and save in the fridge until ready to use.

Taylors Graduation

Sunday - My cousin Taylor graduated from Chico State University. Lucky me - I was home for her big day. Even luckier me - I volunteered to make lunch while everyone else (aside from my sous chefs - Gma & Rachel) went to graduation. graduation for 1,000+ students when I only know one!
I think I made a smart decision.

The happy graduate and her proud mother!

Our family of girls!

It's hard for me to believe I'm one year out from graduating medical school and soon a new class of interns will be joining my residency - looking to me for advice and guidance!

A link to my med school graduation post.


What did you do on your graduation?

Doxie Luau

Several months ago Sief found out from some LOL (little old lady) who befriended Buster that every October there are dachshund races in Tucson.  I got online and found... Meetup which has a Dachshund Lovers group.  I've been following the group now for several months, but due to my schedule have been unable to go to any of the events.  Sief was able to go to a dinner fundraiser with Buster while I was on my rural rotation - they had a Doxie fashion show and had their picture taken together.

Well, today I was finally able to make it to an event (after changing my plane ticket as I also flew home today for vacation). 

Doxie Luau

Penny and Buster got to make many friends - I didn't count but probably at least 30 dachshunds.  Short hairs, long hairs, wired hairs, dapples, and 1 piebald (that's Penny)! 

 

doxies, doxies, everywhere

 U of A fan!

 We nicknamed this one "shorts" or captain America - you choose.  

Notice the puka shell necklace.

The highlight of the luau was doxie games.

1.  Relay race

Rules:  2 separate teams, you have to tie a small piece of cloth around your doxie's tail, run to your other teammate across the lawn and trade off the piece of cloth with that doxie - run back and forth switching until it's over. 



Penny & Buster were on different teams and.... Penny's team won!!!!

Below is a clip of Penny's victory lap with her prize - a squeaky hot dog toy.



2.  Doppleganger - or something like that -basically find your twin
No wiener looked like Penny.  But Buster found a twin!  She is a small 8 year old female named Holly.

 

They looked even more alike from the top.

 
 Sadly they didn't win either.  Poor Buster.


3.  Bobbing for Biscuits!
Rules:  treats were put in the bottom of a bucket with water, some treats float, some sink - first doxie to finish all their treats wins!
 
Well, well, well....this sounds like its right up one of my wiener's alley.
Buster - he is crazy for food!   

There were 3 heats.  Buster won his heat and....he won the CHAMPIONSHIP!!!  Go my little piggy.

Happy Spring!

Get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather!  Sunshine :)

and flowers!

Love the Wieners!

Back to the Big City!

Last month I spent working in small town Arizona - near double-sized reflection of my small little hometown.  Let me say that little place kept me busy and on my toes for those 4 weeks.  I have learned and seen sooooooooooo much in my one month there - it has been amazing.  I spent the month working with a group of 3 family physicians in their private practice.  They deliver babies, do c-sections, and see their own patients in the hospital.  Most days I would see any moms and babies in the hospital and then round on the sick patients in the hospital.  After which the physician from the practice on call would come and review the patients with me.  Then we would head off to clinic for the day - heading back to the hospital as needed to check on laboring patients or patients on the hospital floor.  It was busy to say the least.
 
Since I wanted to gain as much experience as possible, I spent every night on call - mainly for the OB patients.  Waiting for them to deliver.  Let me tell you - those first few weeks, my sleep pattern was all awry.  Even though OB was the most exciting part of the rotation, the best part though of the entire month was the continuity.  I would see moms in clinic for routine OB checks, then in the hospital for delivery, and then a week later in clinic for their post-partum check along with the new little addition to their family.
It was the same for some of the patients that ended up in the hospital - I saw them in clinic, in the hospital for multiple days and then again for a hosptial follow up.  That was a large part of why I went into family medicine - to see and care for patients over time.

The month was a breathe of fresh air - reminding me of the way family medicine can be practiced.  To see family docs "doing it all."

I'm glad to be back in Tucson (and have been for 3 weeks - I'm a little delayed in my posting) - to be back with the people I care about, but I will miss my small town Arizona and their clothing optional hot springs.  haha

Below pictures from a hike nearby where I worked!

They liked me!  My goodbye cake! :)

Revival of my blog

Sooooo for the majority of intern year my blog has been neglected.  No real big surprise there.  Well - I'm tired of that and so many other things.  For most of the year I have just been go go go go.  No time to look up, no time to take in a moment to breathe or even reflect on what has happened the past year.  Seriously - I feel like I put my head down and just go through the motions.  Knowing it's supposed to be tough, knowing I'm supposed to be pushed, to work harder than I've ever worked in my entire life.
Don't get me wrong there are some good times, patients I enjoy, etc.  But it's the same - keep moving.  Have fun when you are off, because they're won't be time for it later.
Well - I'm back.  I've decided I deserve 5 minutes of me time everyday and my blog deserves a little TLC.

So here you go - post 1 of the revival of my blog.

While I was away on my rural rotations, Sarah came to visit and I took her to a local hot spot.  That's where the attendings told me I had to take her.  "It's one of the reasons people come here to visit."  Ok I said.

The locale?  Natural hot springs.  The choice? A nicer place with tiled bottomed floors and chlorinated water or ... a hippie place where it's a more natural feel with free flowing water, private clothing optional rooms.  Where did we go?  The choice was easy!

Hippie Place - HERE WE COME!

Interested little gift shop - kind of reminds you of grandma's house.

Our little Asian themed hot spring room.  That black painted PVC pipe would be the handrail to the steps inside the pool.

Sarah enjoying the hot spring.  Ok - maybe more like a sauna.  It was not the best planned out trip as it was 90 something degrees that day!

Now for the full effect - this is what the little rooms look like from the outside.  Oh so nice!

More...um...yeah - you get the picture.