Pictures from Oct - Dec

Walking around the lake near the Clark's house. Beautiful weather! (End of October)




This is what people without kids do! Haha! This is at the Clark's house. The jewelry is Thelma's (Derek's Grandma who had the stroke and was moved to Indiana). We had to clean out her condo and go through all the things that were left behind. There was lots and lots of jewelry as you can see. (End of November)





At the Silver Strand in Coronado with my parents, Wollitz Grandparents, and my Grandma Maxine. We had a great time! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Wollitz for letting us use the mini motorhome! (Middle of November)

Mayo in Scottsdale

Quick Update:

Derek's interview at Mayo in Scottsdale went GREAT! He LOVED the program. We were so shocked because we didn't think he'd like it very well because we thought it would be too small of a program. But it wasn't and he loved it. So crazy. Not that this means too much until he's finished interviewing everywhere but it is nice to have another program that he is very interested in. As of right now Pittsburgh and Mayo in Scottsdale are his two favorites with Cleveland Clinic a close third.

P.S. UCSD interview is on Friday

Arizona

On Thursday afternoon we headed out to Arizona in our "home" also know as our car. Derek had an interview at the University of Arizona in Tuscon on Friday. Needless to say he didn't like the program and neither of us liked the area. So we pretty much scratched that off our list of favorites and traveled up to Scottsdale where we got to spend the entire weekend.


We LOVED Scottsdale. The town is so cute and has a small town feel but has tons of stuff to do. We had lunch our first day there at a super cute restaurant called Olive and Ivy. This is the view from our table. The other picture is the canal that runs through downtown that we walked over on a cute bridge to where we had lunch! I was in love!


We split a pizza (that gave our favorite pizza from Soho's in Charleston a run for it's money!) and a breakfast burrito that was delicious! I also had a grapefruit mimosa which was surprisingly WAY better than an OJ mimosa!
We walked around the town and found they have a huge mall (including a Nordstroms, Neiman Marcus, Barneys - which I had never been in before!, and TONS more).


We also went to a winery called Su Vino, that was also a wine bar and met some very friendly locals. They told us all about the town and places to live. We also found out that we can drive to snow in less than 2 hours! The place was super cute and had surprisingly great wine. The streets were so cute at night as well with lots of twinkle lights.


We stayed at a Courtyard Marriott that was right next to the Mayo Clinic and the views were amazing. The mountains and sunset were beautiful. We really enjoyed our time here and talked about someday retiring here or at least wanting to visit here again if we don't end up living here. We absolutely loved Scottsdale!



I wish I could have captured the scenery better but of course forgot my camera! The colors were amazing. All these pictures are taken from my phone (which I guess isn't so bad considering it was a free phone)!

P.S. Derek is at his interview right now at the Mayo Clinic at Scottsdale so I will update how that went later. As for now, we loved the city but don't know much about the program...which obviously is a big factor!! I will update about that soon!

Still on the road...

It has become harder and harder to remember to take time and write here because I feel as though I blink and a week or two has already passed!

We got back to Orange County a little over a week ago and Derek finished his Opthomology rotation there. It was awesome - they only said he had to come in the first week (so he hasn't had to go in at all this week)! Which was perfect considering he would have had to miss a lot of the second for interviews anyways. Sunday we flew to Cleveland, Ohio for Derek's interview at Cleveland Clinic (and just got back home yesterday). The hotel they put us up in was AMAZING! Absolutely beautiful and they were the most hospitable and helpful hotel staff I've ever experienced. It was wonderful. The room was beautiful...the bathroom was huge....and even had a great tub which I took a lovely bubble bath in!!


Derek really liked the hospital and they treat their employees amazingly. It is the top 4 hospital in America and everything they have is top notch. They completely take care of all their employees and their families as well. There is even a group (made up of the residents wives) that meets every other week for coffee. Other than the location being a bit farther than we would like from California, Derek loved it. It currently is tied with Pittsburgh for his favorite program so far (of the places he's interviewed at so far - Colorado, Ohio State, and WVU are below them).

Right now I am sitting in our Rav4, which is packed to the brim (literally you cannot see out the back it is packed to the ceiling) with all of our belongings, with the dogs, outside of Starbucks in Dana Point using their WiFi & drinking a Mocha, while Derek is having a dental appointment down the street. When he's finished we are continuing down the freeway to San Diego to drop the dogs off with my parents and spend one night at their house before we drive to Arizona tomorrow. He has an interview at The University of Arizona on Friday in Tuscon, and an interview at The Mayo Clinic at Arizona in Scottsdale on Monday. Then we will drive back to San Diego!

Oh - a few health updates. About 3 weeks ago I had a massive growth pop out on my face. It basically was about the size of a half dollar, was discolored with shades of red, blue, and purple, and was extremely painful. The Clark's neighbor is an oral surgeon and he gave me two antibiotics to take (which I am still on), and drained it for us about a week ago (and yes I fainted during the procedure). It got better for a day but then puffed back up. Then last Friday we went to a dermatologist who injected it with an antibiotic/steriod and it has since gone way down. It is still pretty discolored but is much smaller. Prayers that it would go away completely would be much appreciated!!

Also health related - Derek got very sick in Cleveland so that was a very fun trip back on the plane. Especially since we had two lay overs! We think he had the flu but started taking some of my antibiotics as soon as he felt badly and is doing much better now. He could barely even talk during his interview! Needless to say we are both hopped up on antibiotics and both feeling better now. Sure will be nice once he can prescribe it himself!!