Last Hurrah!

As our last hurrah before nursing school and to celebrate our one year anniversary, we decided (more like I decided and did a lot of persuading...) to take a cruise from Puerto Rico.


I don't want to bore anyone with a play by play of our awesome vacation (that would probably make you jealous and sad too) so I'll just run through some highlights.

LAX>JFK>SJU (what I like to call the scenic route.)

Sketchy, sketchy cab that wasn't a cab ride to our hotel in San Juan. Thought I would die. Honest.

Explored Fort San Cristobal which was crawling with iguanas.

Boarded the Caribbean Princess.

Walking Dead marathon until 2am...what can I say? I love zombies. Really.

Snorkeling in 80 degree beautiful waters of Aruba with the Jolly Pirates. Saw sunken shipwreck of WWII ship and found 2 conch shells.

All you can eat pizza on board discovered and exploited.

Bonaire was sticky hot. Tried to rent 2 mopeds which ended up in an epic failure. Whitney is a danger to herself and others.

Movies in the hot tub.

More snorkeling in Grenada aka Isle of Spice. Hung out on Anse beach with Canadians. Islander Miguel sang me a song and tried to rub aloe on my body...would have been flattered, but I think he wanted me to pay him.

Pool and pina coladas.

More free pizza.

Room service USA.

River to ocean kayaking in Dominica. Luke and Whitney aren't such great kayak partners.

Ferry from St. Thomas to St. Johns. Most beautiful beach ever: Trunk Bay. Underwater snorkel trail.

Russian lady telling me I'm too old for school and that I should make babies.

Long, long plane ride home. Long enough to watch Pearl Harbor.

The End to the most perfect vacation ever.

(P.S. Despite this being our 2nd cruise in 2010...we are not cruise people. We swear!)

Oak Glen

At what point do we become our parents? I remember growing up being forced to help weed the garden, pick green beans every morning and being dragged to Oak Glen every year. I think I enjoyed it as a younger child, but when you are the oldest child, I think you grow out of activities that your younger siblings still enjoy. So you suffer.

But guess who had the urge to go to Oak Glen this fall? Me. Guess who wants a space for a garden? Me. Guess who likes to make weekly menus and grocery lists just like my mom? Me. When does the switch happen? I don't know, but I'm on my way to becoming my parents.

What is Oak Glen? Basically, its a ton of apple orchards east of Redlands, CA. That's it. Apples. Stores with pies, apple butter, apple cider, apple blossom honey, apple patterned aprons...you get the idea. I begged Lukie to take me there for a romantic fall getaway.

Friday night we headed up to Riley's Farm for a theatrical dinner production of Sleepy Hollow. (The video is totally worth the watch! )

The food was great, there was dancing, a seed spitting and pie eating contest. Cheesy, yes. But it was a great night!

Saturday was spent picking apples straight from the orchard. Perhaps you'll notice in the picture, a sign that says, "No Stealing Apples" meaning you are not allowed to eat apples in the orchard. Apparently Luke did not read the rules and I caught him eating apples and rejecting apples after he'd picked them and tossing them on the ground. He pretty much broke the 10 commandments of apple picking. I would say we narrowly escaped confrontation with the apple police.

It was a wonderful trip! I'm just sad we didn't buy 3 dozen caramel apples. I'm pretty sure this will become one of our yearly traditions.

News just in....! (sort of)

Well, for months and months, I've had to be slightly secretive about my eduational plans. But now that I've let my employer know that I'll be leaving soon, I can FINALLY let the cat out of the bag.

I got accepted to 2 nursing programs!! (after starting pre-reqs in 2008, I feel like its a been a huge battle to get this far, so I'm pretty stoked.)

Originally, I got my letter to Drexel University (located right in Philadelphia.) We went and check out the school, looked for apartments, paid the deposit and were ready to move to Philly. While I was very excited for this plan, I could never get over the fact that this program was $40k for a one year program. We'd worked it out, but it always bothered me.

Just a few weeks ago, a second option presented itself. Ventura College accepted me to start in January. At first, I was really angry when I opened the letter, but after praying we know this is the right choice. While this is a 2 year program, the $5,000 tuition seems much more reasonable. And Luke gets to keep his job. 10 points to Gryffindor!

Thank you everyone for your support and for listening to me rattle of pros and cons of my options. I just hope to survive the next two years!

Philly

I got an acceptance letter to Drexel University's Accerlerated Nursing Program back in June. We gave it serious thought and decided to head out there to check it out before committing to moving out there.



The absolute best part of traveling is the planning. I love to read about the history, culture, attractions, and FOOD of a place before I go. I spend weeks gathering information before I selectively plan my time. I make lists and schedules and print out obsessive maps/guides on public transportation. I consult people who have been, yelp, off the beaten path suggestions, touristy to the extreme suggestions. I'm a freak.

Sadly, we only had about 2 days in Philadelphia and our purpose of the trip was scouting out Drexel, so my schemes for sightseeing were cut short, but we did do some really cool things. Mostly involving food. Go figure.

We stayed in the cutest part of town. I almost died at the cuteness. Tall, brick buildings everywhere with old churches on every corner and nice places to eat. Not to mention Rittenhouse Square. Rittenhouse is just piece of green in the city with park benches, people playing chess, walking their dogs, reading or pushing strollers. Adorable.

I received a couple recommendations to go to a restaurant called Alma de Cuba. I would describe it as a very hip, sexy, restaurant/lounge serving Cuban food. Luke was definitely out of his element, but I loved experience. (I've been pretty spoiled with eating at fancy pants restaurants through work.) I got some delicious duck with a currant sauce....so good. And dessert was even better. Luke got Banana Tres Leches and I got a chocolate almond cake in the shape of a cigar (remember...Cuba.)

We'd planned on going to Pat's and Geno's (two rival Philly cheesesteak joints across the street from eachother.) But on the plane ride over, I sat inbetween two black cops, both named Calvin from Jersey. They were HILARIOUS! They said to forget those places and go to Jim's. So we took a cab and had some great sandwiches. And Diet Dr. Pepper....amazing. I'm pretty sure Luke was in heaven.

If you know me, then you know I have an unnatural obsession with 21 Jumpstreet. I was born in the wrong decade...sigh.

I loved Philly! I'm such an urbanite at heart. I'm really glad I got the chance to go.

I'm lost...help me out?

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Retroactive Blogging: Missouri in a nutshell

Way, way back in September, the Erickson clan gathered together for a family reunion in Missouri to celebrate the safe arrival of Luke's brother, Karl home from Iraq. Let me break it down for you:

The Good:
-Family
-Cupcake Contest
-Gun Shooting
-Lambert's (Home of the Throwed Roll)
-Sorghum (a delicious, honey-like substance)
-A Plethora of Diet Dr. Pepper


The Bad:
-Humidity (try having your glasses fog up when you walk outside!)

The Ugly:
-The bugs (I am still trying to google a photo of the bug Luke and I saw on our car...the biggest, ugliest bug I have ever seen and I have no idea what it is...probably a new species discovery.)

Lately

Summer has come to a close and school has started, but we've still be busy, busy, busy trying to pack as much fun (oh yeah and work and church and chores) as we can in our spare time. Just some of our latest adventures:

We've been working on my "Things to do while still in the LA area" list, so we arranged a double date with our friends, the Brazees to the Hollywood Forever Cemetary for a viewing of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In my mind, it was a perfect outing...picnic dinner, fun movie with friends and lots of candy! The night nearly turned into a diaster when we got separated from our friends. We dropped them off to wait in a line while we went to park the car. Luke and I ended up getting a parking spot in the cemetary which granted us instant access to the movie. Sadly, our friends had to wait in line for over an hour and I was so worried they wouldn't get in at all. They only let 2,000 people in, which sounds like a lot, but the place fills up! I was trying to save them a seat and was so anxious, of course Luke was laughing at the whole situation. Eventually they made it in and we had a good time.

We also hosted a "create your own pizza + games" night which was sponsored by Papa Low's pizza. Everyone brought their own toppings and created their own masterpieces.

I sent Luke to the store that morning to get our toppings and he came home with a 1.5 lb bag of pepperoni. I still don't know what we're going to do with all that pepperoni...

I love, love, love cooking and entertaining. I just wish we had more space so I could throw a real party.