better late than never

how can five days go by so fast!!!
once again we had our giant christmas eve polish fest!!! i love tradition, and i love when my family is all in one place...even if some ( one the most important members) can't make it, i understand. We went to a church that was not my gram's and it was not at all the same...but we tried...this year there was not a christmas hooker on Michigan ave., no coffee from telway and no "church of the divine midgets," but tony and i got to be home and still have our family dysfunction after church!!! that is the best part, when people get together and holler "SAUZA!!!" at 3am!!! not to mention the fighting cock....but alas we were together!!!
i also got my ring ( although not techincally) from tony!! and i LOVE IT!!! but i don't want to give it back to wait for the 'real' proposal!!! at least i got to wear it through the holidays and show my family and friends!!!!
the day after christmas we ( me and all my fantastic beautiful bridesmaids) went to get fitted for dresses...holy cow that is a bad day to do something like that...but we all had fun! and then we headed over to sarah's to celebrate the holidays!
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man i have been so lazy!!!! this is three weeks old! anyway we are back in tucson and FINALLY getting out on the town! tony and have been working our asses off nonstop-no days off from the time we got back until just a few days ago...
so since we had to work on new year's eve and day we decided along with our new midwestern friend Corrine, that we were going to celebrate on Jan 3...
so we got as decked out as you can in the southwest on a tuesday ( which means jean and not sandles) and went to a few bars...picuterse to follow-since we also got a new camera (HOORAY) i liked the old one, but this one rules!

anyway we planned on seeing the grand canyon today and tomorrow, but then we both got sick _BOOOOOOOO!!!! so we stayed in all day yesterday and i got my fill of classic movies, while tony played his game until his eyes crossed!
feelin a little better today ( partly because my mom and dad are coming to visit soon!!!! YAY, and partly because i think i may have found the wedding dress of my dreams: not to mention that i got more sleep than i have in years) we are going to go to the desert museum today!
so i PROMISE that i will write more soon, and not just once a month!

and the effects of the best gift!

Sooo...here is what happens when you decide to "off road" and forget to eat before you go for a bike ride....
you get a little dizzy and totally BIF!!! here is my knee...and my elbow...man, it hurt so friggin bad...but i still got on my bike and rode home!!!
I was telling Tony that i don't know how my dad let us do all the things that we did when we were little...and i remember swearing that no matter what i would let my kids climb trees and ride their bikes in the street and all the stuff that moms say no to, but i changed my mind!!!
Oh well..on another note . I AM COMING HOME!!! in two days!! i can not wait...My dad is going to pick us up from the airport, i can't wait to show him my 'war wounds" in person!!!
see you all in a few days!

The best christmas gift ever!!

So tony and i went shopping today to get my christmas present..originally i wanted an mp3 player to take to the gym, then i wanted a personal trainer...but when my bike was declared dead, i decided i really wanted a new one...although i will miss my old bike...it was like 6 or 7 years old and i loved it, i love my new one even more...you would too...take a look...

The only thing that would make this better would be if it were in red or green..but the basket and the bell that says "i heart my bike" and the lever on the back so i can lug things around makes this bike RULE!!!! and the store we got it from let me ride it around outside and in the store to see if it was the right one for me AND IT IS!!! and i love it!!! if only i had a puppy to put in the basket...then it would totally rule !!!!

THANKS TONY!!!

why you shouldn't argue in the car

So tony and i went to get my bike fixed today....turns out it is unfixable for less then like 140 bucks..thanks to its age and the driving through snow and heat and the sun etc.. so i think that my christmas present from him will be a new hybrid bike..one that is made for light mountain biking and a lot of city riding... we are going to get it tomorrow! yay...anyway while we were at a stop light, this cadiliac was stopped, then goes into reverse and nails the car BEHIND it!!! so hard that we could hear the crash from four lanes over with the windows shut...oohhh they f'ed up the other car sooo bad!!! it was terrible that we both giggled a little, but the way that the two people in the car were acting ( as soon as it happened the dude in the front seat started waving his hands in an 'i-told-you-so" kinda way) it seemed like that would be the only way to stop the arguing.... we almost back tracked so we could see the damage to both cars, but feared that karma would get us for laughing, so we just continued our shopping!!
Now we are just sitting around the house, cleaning and then i think we are going to rent some christmas movies since there is nothing good on tv...and we don't feel like going to a bar...
what we really wanted to do was bike ride tomorrow-but now we have to wait!!! nuts!!
on another note i get to come home in 7 days and i can't wait!!! i mean i am sure that as soon as i see the snow, i will have had enough, but i miss my family!!! we have been working so much that we haven't found too much to do yet, so it doesn't feel like home yet...this is the part that i hate about traveling...waiting for people to buy their tickets to visit us!!! and waiting until it feels like home....boston felt like home right away, but i think because so many people came to visit so fast...so DAD, SARAH, BARBIE!!!! let me know when you'll get here!!!

Our new place

And yet another post all in the same night... i thought that if i broke them up, it wouldn't suck so bad...
so we FINALLY Moved in sorta...we have worked like a million days in a row and on one of my only days off i had to renew my cardiac certification...so i finally get to post-ALL AT ONCE!!!
we have sorta moved in, but it still doesn't feel like home...probably because we have no junk food...since i am going to be trying on wedding dresses soon and buying one pretty kinda soon, i am trying to work out as much as i can and eat much better!!
anyway we have moved in and there will be photos once we get everything in it's place...we have to work tomorrow and i think the weekend we will put some photos up...
so we only live two miles from work, which was exciting, because i figured that we could bike to work ( even though we work 3pm-3am) i thought that it wouldn't be a huge deal...until one night while we were driving home, and noticed a coyote eating a deer...and not a little bit, it was friggin tearing it up and draggin it around the street...so we nixed the bike thing, and decided that that would be for daytime only!!!
but i couldn't ride my bike even if i wanted to...because we drove through the arctic circle of new york on the way home and then through the freezing road of missouri and then finally the heat of arizona, my flippin tire has dry rotted!!! so i have to get a new bike tire and have not had a minute to do so.. although i can't wait, because we like by a lot of mountains!!!! so i can put on my helmet and ride like crazy!!!!
The hospital that we are working at it much bigger than the last...and so far people are nice..but it seems a but LA out here.. a lot of people live here, but NO ONE is from here...
oh well
and i have noticed that the traffic could not move ANY slower...although i guess that is what i get when i move to the state that has about 95% of the people over 65 from the midwest living here this season!!!
oh well...i have to wrap some gifts so i can mail them off this week...although it is hard to get in the spirit when there is no snow and it is like 70 degrees!!

"hey i've never seen the sun come up in the west"

So we finally headed out the door at like 7:30pm, although we had planned to leave super early...I guess it was a good thing...we missed all the chicago traffic!!
We drove for like 8 hours and got a little tired, so we stopped in Lincoln, Il...and right as we were about to get a hotel for the night, we realized that we did not lock the bikes up...Nothing terrible happened, but we didn't want to sleep somewhere and not have them locked up, so we tried to find a place to buy a bike chain...at that point i was so tired i was even willing to go to wal-mart ( not my first choise of places to shop) but the only thing that was open was a 24 hour kroger...we were pretended we were Macgyver. We made a make shift bike lock out of a dog leash and a padlock!!! i guess it worked, because when we woke up, our bikes were still there...
I have no problem with cheap-ass hotels when i am traveling, but i must say this one was the pits!!!
We got a smoking room, because i felt bad...it was so cold and windy that i asked tony not to smoke in the car ( it was making my windows rattle, and my ass freeze off) anyway this room STUNK like someone had locked themself in there for a year and did nothing but smoke cowboy killers all night and day!!!
so it was pointless to shower there, the stench would have only stcuk to my hair...so we woke up and left! Got a little breakfast and drove almost all day!!!
We drove through St.Loius which looked pretty cool-although because of the weather it was really gloomy looking...but we got a few good pictures...
So we drove straight through Missouri and part of Oklahoma...We stopped just shy og OK city to have dinner with Kristine and Scott!!! It was really nice to see them!! and might i say that her house is soo cute.. i expected nothing but from her :)
anyway, after dinner, we both got really tired and with her great kindness, Kris offered to let us shower and take a nap at her house...which we graciously accepted.
SO we took a nap until like 4am, then headed right out for a long drive...
We spent all day Sunday driving...from 4am until midnight...and might i add...it was a long freakin' drive...
Oklahoma, texas and a lot of New mexico are REALLY boring to drive through!!!!
We did see some cool wildlife...a pack of wolves...a lot of dead coyotes and deer..and one dead armidillo.but other than that...giant sleeping pill!!!
We did see a cross that you could see from 7 miles away on the highway...and took note that every gas station in texas also sells a lot of fried stuff!! everytime we stopped for gas or a potty break in texas, we would leave smelling like fried stuff!!!
Anyway we finally got into our place at like midnight and fell right asleep!!!

home sweet home

So i have been meaning to post for two weeks, but i have been so busy with the move and the holidays coming up and a million more excuses....
so let's get to the good stuff...
we came home for one week, and it was so fun but crammed full of stuff to do. i really felt like i got a ton of stuff done and then we left for arizona, i felt like i had accomplished nothing...
here is a quick low down of the week ( although it is two weeks later)
i went to my class reunion, which was interesting... there were a lot of fun people there, but i spent most of the time making stupid small talk to people that i was friends with, but not like "life-long friends" with. None of those people were there, except for adriana, carina, and jeff...well a few more..i was happy to get back in touch with people, but the folks that i was really looking forward to seeing must have been, once again "too cool for something like that."
OH well..
the rest of the week is a giant blur...i know that i got to see a lot of my friends-but not all of them, and i did not get to spend nearly enough time with them!!!
Tony and i finalized a lot of wedding plans-which was exciting...it really didn't feel real until we started paying people ( go figure.) We hired a photographer, a dj, and possibly a florist!
anyway the weds before we left, the boys came over and we all made pierogi... which takes a super long time, but it is a tradition that i love-and with a few bottles of merlot/beer/whiskey ( insert drink of choice here) it is so much more fun!!!
I know that it had only been like 4 months since i was home, but i have to say, it is fun to visit home ( especially when my mom puts chocolate on my pillow) like a hotel, owned by people that you love...there;s something about being home that makes me really lazy...like i had a sick day fromwork or school-only all week...all i wanted to do was sleep in, watch the today show with my mom and hang out in my jammies!
i loved it!!!

i'm out the Doah

So tony and i planned on leaving michigan at like 2pm...alas it is 5 and we are still here...
there will be more posted on our week home as soon as we get a connection in our apartment, along with photos of our new place...until then...take care...and we will call everyone that we know on the long ride, ahem, homeish :)