Quicky

So, May has flown by. I am taking my Nationals this afternoon at 12:15 (I'll know if I passed right afterwords). I have my last class at school tomorrow and take my school test Wednesday morning with graduation Wednesday afternoon. To top it all off, I don't believe I've mentioned yet that we are moving on Saturday to a location closer to Asheville (yeah, moving on my birthday-yay...). We found someone to cover the rest of our lease here and found a condo to rent in town that will work great for us. (Big plus, there is a tennis court and swimming pool at the complex which is at the end of dead end road. The balcony even has a view and all you can see is trees, we lucked out). Anyway, just a quick update there so that I don't stop updating all together....

The Fun and Crazy Month of May

Talk about a lot of crossroads coming together in the next month or so!!!

The two weeks (or was it three?) between my parent's visit and my sister's arrival this coming Tuesday has literally slipped through our fingers. The end of school is so close that I can practically taste it. I have scheduled to take my national exam on May 24 and will take my final exam at school and graduate on May 26. If all goes as planned, the license application will then be in the mail on the 27th and-hopefully-I will be able to start practicing 30 days later! Wow.

Noah's aunt and uncle stopped by this week for a quick overnight visit on their way down to Florida for a vacation. It was good to see them and has been fun having visitors. As I mentioned, my sister will be arriving this coming week and will be here for 10 days, which will be a blast. Among all the visiting I am somehow finding time to study, study, study for my national test...

Noah regular schedule at the new Pack's Tavern in Asheville has set in and we are both adjusting to the odd schedule. He is working from 9 pm-2 am 4-5 nights a week and going into the office a little later in the morning and staying through the evening. Other than the schedule, the job is pretty easy and even a tad boring (he is a doorman, but the place is more of a restaurant than anything else), which is nice. Plus, the paycheck feels wonderful to both of us. As has been the story of the last several weeks, he seems to be right on the edge of a few placements daily, but nothing has landed home yet. May is a lucky month (I was born :)), so I am feeling optimistic about a few of the almosts becoming for sures over the next couple of weeks.

Among working, studying, playing a little tennis, enjoying the sunshine, studying, and playing with visitors we have started looking into the possibility of moving into Asheville sometime in the next couple of months once I am done with school (before our lease is up). We have actually found someone who wants to take over our lease in Mars Hill and the last week or so has consisted of me spending a lot of time scanning craigslist and the classifieds for potential new homes that are in Asheville, closer and more convenient to where most of our life is becoming centered. It is fun and exhausting. We went a looked at a bunch of places yesterday and saw a few we liked, but are not quite in a place to make a final decision just yet. I am not sure how it is or will all fit in over the next couple of months, but I know everything will somehow manage to.

We are loving the weather and the area as we move further away from winter, it is definitely beautiful here and the temperatures are agreeing with us quite well. As of now, it seems like the perfect place for us to call home for the near future, which feels sort of crazy saying. I mean, it's been years since I have spent more than 8 months in the same place! But, I think we both feel good about grounding ourselves here for the next while as we continue to work on moving forward and growing to where ever it is we are heading.

Ahh....

To begin with, my parent's visit last week was wonderful. I'm not sure I could have enjoyed it more. The weather was beautiful all week, the company good, and the visitors welcome. The week was almost a mini at-home vacation for Noah and I because we went and did things we don't normally do (like going out to eat and visiting destination sights around the area). Over the weekend we visited Biltmore Estate for the first time-it was incredible. It is the largest private residence in the U.S.; I would characterize it as a modern day castle. We spent a good 1 1/2-2 hours just walking through the house itself and I'm sure there was plenty that we "missed." The gardens were in spring bloom with tulips and early flowering trees in full bloom. We now have an annual pass and I am greatly looking forward to returning several times over the next year!

Other than having a fun filled week with mom and dad, things are about the same here. School is getting closer and closer to being done. I both ready and slightly terrified for it be over, but would say I am counting the weeks. At best, it will still be at least another month from the day I graduate to the day I will be licensed and can start practicing. I am starting to tackle all the paperwork that process involves now though in order to have it run as smoothly as possible.

Pack's Tavern had it's grand opening this week and Noah will be working there 2-4 nights a week on into the summer. So far is seems like it will be a fairly low-key door job, although the hours are something we will both have to get used to. Recruiting is still going well and we both believe the first placement is right around the corner, but until both parties sign on the dotted line, nothing is final.

Spring continues to be beautiful and the trees are all starting to fill in. We can hardly see any of our neighbors from our house anymore and the world has a bright green quality to it that I am really enjoying. The weather has actually been uncharacteristically warm the last few weeks with little to no rain-the opposite of this winter; we definitely aren't complaining but it does seem that having a little more rain over the next few weeks would benefit everyone. Who knows anymore these days though.

Other than that, hope all is well elsewhere and there are new pictures up!

Spring Has Sprung

Well, as tough as this winter was for everyone in the area, I am SO glad we are not still in Driggs! I hear they are in the middle of the first real big winter storm and we have been experiencing weather in the 70-80s the last several days...it has been such a treat. The temps are a little warm for this time of year, but I don't know anyone who is complaining. It has been incredible to watch how quickly everything is coming to life. Flowers are blooming, trees are budding, birds are chirping...it has been a while since I have actually been able to experience "spring." We are both enjoying it fully.

My parents are coming for a visit next week and we are so excited to have them. Hopefully the weather holds! It is hard to believe that it has been so long since we last say any family, time has been moving so quickly.

School is still going well, two more months left. It sounds like a lot but feels like a little! We are into the "fun" part of the curriculum now and have a new class every two or three days rather than day after day of Anatomy and Physiology etc. Some of what we have left to cover the next two months is aromatherapy, reflexology, energy work, oriental medicine, business and marketing, neuromuscular therapy-to name a few. It's a lot of varied information over a short amount of time, but every day is interesting!

Noah is settling into his recruiting job and has started having a lot of "bites" on different recruits and is only getting better every day. We both keep crossing our fingers that he'll land his first deal soon, it does feel like it is right around the corner now. In the meantime, he has found another job at a new restaurant/bar opening up in down town and will start part-time there in a week and half.

I am starting to try and get a handle on what exactly I will do after graduating. It is a bit stressful and exciting at the same time. I have a feeling things will start coming together as I keep working on it- I am greatly looking forward to getting started on the new career though!

A couple of weeks ago in clinic I had my first experience with someone who came in and said they had been in intense pain for the last 2 1/2 weeks and could hardly move their head to the right or left; they had never had massage before and were referred by a chiropractor. I worked only on her neck, shoulders, and chest during our 45 minutes session. After the session, she was gushing, she said her pain had greatly subsided, that her whole body felt like jello, and she was able to move her neck to at least 80-90% of normal range of motion without pain. It was the coolest experience ever. She came with a tremendous amount of pain, and left with a lot less. It was powerful and really fulfilling.

Just a few more months now!

Until I am done with school that it is! Our anatomy and physiology final is this coming Monday which, in terms of classes, is the last big class we have. From there on out, the schedule flies. It is rather exciting. My experiences at our student clinic continue to be positive and I have left each day reinforced that this is what I want to do. Man, who knew that would ever happen? (Deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up.) There are days this realization hits me and I almost don't know what to do with it!

It has stopped snowing (fingers crossed) finally and, while not as warm as normal, is starting to smell a little like spring here which makes me wiggle just to think about. Our world will change once all the trees and flowers start to bloom.

Mainly we are working and studying hard these days with few adventures or big stories. The most exciting part of our week (at times) is the delivery of our net netflix video (we have been hooked on the TV series "How I Met Your Mother" the last several weeks). Sometimes it's the simple things in life. Like, I don't think I've mentioned yet how eternally grateful I am to have a washer and dryer at my house. I do have moments where I am unenthusiastic about the endless laundry aspect of this profession, but then I think about some of my classmates who have to go to the laundrymat for all their laundry-so many sheets!!!

Busy Busy

Well, as a friend of mine at school said, "March came in like a lion, maybe it will go out like a lamb..." Phew! She was referring to the weather, but it pertains to most everything else also.

On Monday, Noah was rear-ended in a four car accident on his way to work. Thanks to his good defensive driving skills he didn't hit the car in front of him and minimized the impact on him/our car (the car who hit him also hit the car in front of him-yikes!). That shook us both up a bit. Gratefully our car is still drivable, although the bumper is duct-taped on and we can't open the hatch back door. Noah suffered a pretty bad whiplash type accident and spent Monday, Tuesday, and even Wednesday recovering. He is still sore and not quite normal, but working on getting there. We are now waiting on the insurance of the guy who started it all to get our car fixed. All in all, not the best thing that has happened to us since being here, but could have been SO much worse, we are counting our lucky stars.

Winter is still giving spring a run for the money, but it looks like we may finally be moving into a warmer weather trend and at least rain instead of snow over the next week or so. I'll believe it when I see it, but am optimistic. We have been enjoying the extended daylight hours as sunrise and sunset move further apart from one another.

Last week was my first day of clinic (I went again today). Overall, it was a good experience. We have 5 massage slots to be filled and only 3 of mine were filled both days. I've had some great feedback though and continue to learn just being in the new environment and working on new bodies. It makes me even more anxious/excited to be done with school and start doing so on my own for money.

Beyond the normal, life is busy now. I am looking for work and Noah is still enjoying the executive recruiting job, suffering through the weekends at the photo company and hoping for something new to work out until his first placement is made. As it is now, we are going day by day and they just keep flying by.

February

Today finds me-and the rest of Western North Carolina-in a very good mood. It has warmed up to above 40 degrees for the first time since the end of January and is even supposed to be up in the 50s (the avg for this time of year) over the weekend. Did I mention the sun was shining too?? Life just seems better than it did a week ago.

We didn't do much for Noah's birthday last Sunday (he actually worked 5 hours), although I did make pancakes and bread and soup and we got to sleep in. I like that his birthday can trump Valentine's Day, I've never liked the holiday much myself (shouldn't every/any day of the year be Valentine's Day? It shouldn't take a holiday for us to tell our loved ones that we love them...) but, problem solved! From here on out the 14th is a birthday celebration.

On Wednesday we went and redeemed an anniversary gift at the Laughing Seed Cafe in Asheville-a popular and scrumptious vegetarian restaurant. It was one of my top 10 experiences of the last four months. We were both a little grumpy and out of it because we needed to eat when we got there, it was the perfect remedy. I am still shocked at how much we ate (our waitress was too). It was all really satisfying and tasty. In fact, we ate so much delicious food that we were both in a food coma for about 24 hours. (We even forgot to bring the groceries in from the car when we got home. I remembered after we'd been in bed about 20 minutes...).

The last few weeks of school have been a bit of struggle for all of us in the course. We are at the midway point of the course; apparently the "burn out" is really common at this stage. They tell us we'll all get over it. I'm sure we will. Clinic hours start this coming week which will add a new dimension to the whole experience. Despite being a little "over it" the last week or two, I am still loving that I will get to do this as a job in four months.

Noah's schedule is now very busy with him working the full-time commission only job and a part-time job at the mall on the weekends. I am starting to consider finding work for the short-term to help us get by until Noah's first placement happens at Thurmond and Co. We both know that it will work out how it needs to though, whatever way that may be.

We are both readjusting to the schedule change and, although I am immensely enjoying more alone time at the house throughout the week, it is a different reality for us. Since meeting, the majority of our time has been spent with one another. I think we were ready for a change though and are both feeling good about where things are headed.

During my hours at home last week, I sat down one day and started another blog called Throw-Together Meals: Cooking stories, tips and recipes from my free-for-all kitchen. I'm not 100% sure where it will go, but have already put a few posts up and would love for you to look at it and/or pass it along to others if you think they may like it. Noah and I always talk about how I need to write down some of the stuff I make, so I figured I would try. If anything, it is sort of a fun project.

That is all for now. My forearm flexor muscles are getting a bit sore from being on the computer the last few hours. Guess it's time to go study for awhile...