Tales of a night shift worker

During my orientation at Children's I was working day shift.  Having been working nights for over a year, I had no idea how lovely my body would feel back in the normal light of day.  No more nausea, crankiness gone, sleeping a normal amount of hours each week . . . it was lovely!  That being said, I am now back to night shift.  Just three days in and all the memories of a night shift worker are back.  I mean it's healthy to stay up for almost 24 hours straight every other week right? 

Slow Going

The good news is, Steve and I are in NO hurry to sell our home.  The bad news . . . our home has not yet sold.  Apparently the housing market is down (insert sarcasm here) and we have had very little interest in our condo.  So far, we have had 4 open houses and the total number of visitors who were not neighbors is ZERO.  The house has only been shown a few times outside of that but as Steve said . . . it only takes one buyer. 

We are still keeping with the plan and will keep it on the market until the end of August so keep your fingers crossed. 

Having a puppy . . . similar to a baby?

I have decided that having a puppy is somewhat similar (or good practice at least) to having children on a much smaller scale.

So here are my comparisons:

• In the early stages there is the random night time wake-ups
• My husband and I now talk about pooping and peeing as one of our main topics of conversation
• Rearranging schedules in order to take care of the dog
• Taking the puppy for play dates and trying to find my puppy "friends" to play with
• Unsolicited advice from strangers on how to raise my puppy

These are just some of the things I have noticed since having a puppy . . . oh how things changed since Nellie came along.

Here is an updated pic of Nellie at 14 weeks.

Tales of Home Sales

Steve and I have decided to put our condo on the market and see what happens.  It was officially listed yesterday but getting it ready was SO much work!  We did an intense spring cleaning, including the garage.  We painted, we cleaned the carpet, we cleaned out EVERY closet.  Check out our listing and cross your fingers for a fast sale.

http://www.redfin.com/WA/Issaquah/23700-SE-Issaquah-Fall-City-Rd-98029/unit-2-4/home/55367

Nellie . . . Growing up

Steve and I decided it would be a fun adventure to adopt a puppy.  After a LOT of research we decided on a chocolate labrador which are surprisingly difficult to find.  I finally found a litter of pups from a lovely family in Enumclaw who had bred there family dog.  We made the trek out to Enumclaw and picked out Nellie when she was 5 weeks old.  It was love at first sight for me and then Nellie picked Steve as well so the decision was easy.  We got Nellie at 7 weeks old and approx 10lbs.  She is now 12 weeks old and 23 lbs.  What a change.  She is much more like a small dog then a puppy.  We love her to death and continue the training daily.  Enjoy the pics of her growing so far!



Holy Cow!

My friends have inspired me and so I am going to do a brief overview of the last NINE months!  Yes, I have been a bad blogger but I am getting back in the game!

Steve and I continue to be happily married and I can hardly believe it is almost nine months from our wedding day.  We have celebrated birthday's, Christmas and all the holidays in between.  Our biggest news is our job situations!  Steve is now working at Starbucks Corporate offices in supply chain management.  I left my job at Overlake Hospital and have just started working in the pediatric ICU at Seattle Children's.  So far we are both truly enjoying our new jobs although its always a challenge to start something new!  We both look forward to all the new possibilities these opportunities present.

Steve and I traveled up to Whistler and down to Las Vegas.  The biggest change so far is our new puppy.  We adopted a chocolate labrador at 7 weeks and she is now 12 weeks old. I never realized that raising a puppy was so much work but she is doing so well and I am amazed at how much she has changed. (More on Nellie in another post.)

More updates to come!

Honeymoon Pictures

I am on a roll for catching up on my blog. Here is a slideshow of photos from our honeymoon. What a fabulous time, wish we could go back tomorrow! Enjoy!

Professional Wedding Photos

Finally, as promised, here are a few professional wedding photos.  I stuck them in a brief, unexciting slideshow but enjoy!

Delicious New Recipe!

I had roasted some red and yellow peppers for the first time and wanted to find a recipe that used them so I found the recipe below.  I adapted it a bit to serve just Steve and I, those changes are in parentheses but the real recipe is there.  Enjoy!  I couldn't find fresh chipotles so I got a can of chipotles in adobo sauce and used about three peppers.  Steve can't stop talking about it!  It was pretty delicious.

Blazin' Short Rib Tacos with Roasted Peppers

Recipe courtesy Aaron McCargo Jr.
Cook Time: 2 hr
Serves: 4 servings (Adapted version, 2 servings)

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 (6-ounce) boneless short ribs (1.5lbs of short rib before bone removed)
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
1 onion, sliced (small onion)
3 tablespoons minced garlic
2 chipotles, minced (Chipotle in adobo, three peppers)
1/2 cup hot salsa (1/3 cup medium salsa)
1 quart beef stock (1 container 24 oz beef stock)
1 jar fire roasted whole red peppers, drained and patted dry (used own roasted red/yellow peppers)
1 jar fire roasted whole yellow peppers, drained and patted dry
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Flour tortillas
1 lime cut in wedges, for garnish

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the oil. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper, to taste. Add short ribs to pan, 1 at a time, and sear on all sides until nicely browned. Remove them from the pan to a platter.
In the same Dutch oven, over medium-high heat, add the onions. Cook until the onions are well caramelized, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and mix well. Stir in the chipotles, salsa, stock and salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil, then add the short ribs and cover. Put the pot in the oven and braise the ribs until the meat is fork tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Remove the ribs from the oven and shred the meat with 2 forks. Slice the peppers into thin strips and put them in a bowl along with the cilantro. Warm the tortillas in the oven. Assemble the fajitas with the desired amount of short rib meat and top with peppers.

Garnish with lime wedges and serve.

Wedding Festivities

I finally thought it was time to post some pics from the wedding.  Steve and I had the best time we could imagine and can hardly believe all the fun and fun stories that resulted from the wedding!  Thank you to all of our family and friends for making our wedding so special.  I could post millions of pictures but I think these will give a broad representation of the fun from rehearsal dinner through the wedding.  All of these are pictures that we got from our lovely friends and family (thank you all).  I will post professional pics soon.  Enjoy!


Pedicures prior to the rehearsal

Rehearsal/ Rehearsal Dinner

Bonfire after the rehearsal dinner

Getting Ready

Boys getting ready

The ceremony

What a wonderful disaster my flower girls were.  Couldn't have been cuter or more real!

Walking down with my dad

My beautiful bridesmaids

The handsome groomsmen

Russ singing!

First Kiss!

Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey

The Reception

First Dance

Honeymoon pics and professional photos will be up soon!