End of '09 / Start of '10

To send off 2009 Derek, my dad, and I started the day off with golfing! It was my first time ever and I actually enjoyed it very much! Derek and my dad have been golfing a lot during his time off but I had never tried it. A fun random side note is that there was mistletoe growing in the trees all around..it made for a very good photo op.






That evening for our New Years Eve celebration we had Dave Stockton and his fiancee, Shelly down to my parents house for a night of games and hanging out. My parents went to a party so it was just the four of us for a nice relaxing evening. We started the evening with the boys having beer and cigars out in the jacuzzi while us girls sat inside by the fire with champagne for girl chat time. Afterward, we all played the board game Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and had a blast. (The girls won of course!) It was a great way to bring in the new year with good fun and great friends.











The following day, January 1st, we flew up to Oregon for Derek's interview at OHSU. Very convieniently we had to change planes in Oakland and my grandma was on the flight with us from San Diego! We flew Southwest and to our surprise they offer free drinks on holidays. So we all three had a bloody mary (their New Years Day free drink) together!




We dropped my grandam off at the baggage claim in Oakland and continued onto the next plane for our last leg. In Oregon we stayed with my girl friend from high school (Kristen Schwartzentraub - now Baxter), her husband, and her cute two year old - Jack. They showed us all around the city, let us borrow their car, and took us to many yummy restaurants. We had a great time reconnecting and she did a great job of convincing us to live there! Thanks again for a wonderful time, Baxters!! Derek loved the program and the hospital. We also really loved the city.


After Derek's interview in Oregon we flew down to Oakland for his interview at Stanford. We stayed with my grandma Maxine and got to see Lauren and Stephanie for dinner. The day of Derek's interview I hung out with Janelle for a few hours while her sweet mom watched the girls so we could have quality "us" time. I don't think it's been just the two of us hanging out since before Belle was born! It was SUCH great catch up time and it made me miss our college roomate days! (Just the part about being able to see Janelle all the time!) After lunch we went back to the house and got to play with the girls. They are so adorable. Belle loved the treasure chest of jewelry I brought her and Juliette was smiling and cooing up a storm. I had an amazing time with them.




Derek is finally finished with all his interviews and now we have to rank them all in order of preference. The list is not due for about another month. We are still praying about what the exact order will be. We find out March 18th where we "match" and that will be where Derek will be doing his residency and where we will be living for at least the next 4 to 5 years! Please pray for us as we make this decision of ranking schools!

Christmas time!

Things have finally settled down a bit now that we are halfway into January so I thought I'd recap our Christmas finally!



We had our 4th annual Christmas party with the Jones' and Richardsons (who we used to be in a couples bible study with from when we lived in Oceanside), the Sepps (who Derek has known since high school), and this year we got to have new additions - Dave (who we knew from our church back in Oceanside) and Shelly - soon to be Stockton! We had a great time!


We then had a wonderful time at the Hotel Del Coronado with the whole Wollitz side (my dad's side) of the family for the traditional Christmas Eve celebration. We enjoyed quality time with everyone at my parents house afterwards for the "Christmas Program" part of the evening where everyone does a "talent" or reading.








We drove up to Derek's parents house in Orange County on Christmas day to celebrate with them. We went out to dinner at Chart House with the whole family which was a nice change to be able to relax and chat without having to cook or clean! I ordered a Merry Christmas themed cake from cold stone and that's EXACTLY what we got! Yes, the cake literally says "Merry Christmas Theme." Too funny! Also, Derek had a bet with his mom that she wouldn't wear these very interesting pants out to dinner...she won!

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!!