NC Summer Visit

I had such a fabulous time in NC for 10 days.  I haven't been out there that long for a good while.  I actually had only planned on being there for 1 week, but then things came up and I was able to extend it a few more days. 

I spent time with many friends, including some I worked with.  I did some shopping at Vera Bradley, spent time sitting around the pool, having lunch and dinner with friends, catching up, drinking lemonade and relaxing.  We even planned a girls trip to Destin Beach for the end of September!

On the last night I was there I Nick drove by this beautiful field of Sunflowers. 

Teal Rose Society

This past weekend I attended the Teal Diva retreat in Boone, NC.  It was at a beautiful place called The Art of Living.  The food was all vegetarian without garlic or onions, as they said they were dark or something like that.  It was pretty good, but we all agreed we like a little meat in our diet, hence the tray of chick fil a nuggets we devoured the last evening.

The Teal Diva retreat involved 14 mostly OVC, but a few uterine and cervical cancer survivors all diagnosed under the age of 40.  Some were even 15 and 16 when diagnosed.  Only 2 of us were having treatment and only 3 of us were actually currently not in remission.  There were also 3 ladies who were on the Teal Diva Board and one who is a NP at Dana Farber whose mother and sister both passed with OVC. 

All of these ladies are amazing and their stories are incredible.  I came away from this retreat fully energized, full of hope and a desire to keep up the fight.  One of the girls had a mother and sister diagnosed with OVB and passed away before she was 16.  On her 16 birthday she underwent surgery for OVC.  Unbelievable.

For the most part we spent the entire time relaxing.  The time went by so quickly.  Nick took me to my friend and fellow nurses Kendra's home Thursday morning.  It was so good to see her.  She had a re-occurrence in April and had her first chemo treatment 4 weeks ago.  We had such a great time together and I'm so happy she was healthy enough to attend even though she had times when she didn't feel well.  We drove together and met the other ladies in Boone.  There were 3 of us in each room.  After dinner we gathered together and one of the girls talked about writing about our experiences.  Um, yeah, I think I have covered that.  But I did write about something that I had been wanting to for a while and this gave me a chance.  (I still need to work on it before I publish the post.)  Saturday evening we gathered and shared what we had written over the past few days.  Every single one was amazing.  I especially appreciated the NP's.  She talked about what a typical day is like when she has to tell a patient that they aren't in remission anymore.  I could totally relate.  Remember the lady I had to tell this to just after I started chemo again in MVY?

Each evening we would gather together and talk or have a presentation.  When anyone was talking, they would have to speak into the Teal Rose (which is more of a joke that anything.)  Hence we dubbed us the Teal Rose Society.  We all stayed up late and got up rather early.  Needless to say I didn't sleep much, but it was worth little sleep.  

We each had a time where we took a pottery class.  I'm so not into art like that, until I got working on it.  I actually had so much fun and can't wait to receive my finished product in a few weeks.

We also had an amazing massage.  I had a lot of time to relax, read and enjoy Boone.  One day we went to Woodlands BBQ, my very favorite in Blowing Rock.  It being blackberry season, we stopped to I could get me some Carolina blackberries, yum!

All in All we had a fabulous time.  I can't wait for the next one!

The sunrise was beautiful!

I Love Summer

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Summer.  I don't love summer in Phoenix since it is something like 115 today, but Idaho Summers are fantastic, especially when the nights cool off.

I Love Popsicles, I especially love these lemon lime ones!

I Love my Summer Reading Program.  Right now I'm reading Rebel Mechanics:  All is Fair In Love and Revolution By Shanna Swendson.  If you love magic and the early 1900's, you will love this one.  I'm just about to start listening to Faithful by Alice Hoffman.  I hope its good.  One of my favorite reads while I was in Bali was Walk On Earth A Stranger.  It is so good.  I'm on the waiting list for the next book in the series. You should see my book list, it's pretty big.  I wonder how many I will get through this summer.

I Love Flip Flops, especially my sperry's and vionics.

I Love Summer Vacations!  Tonight I'm taking the red eye to North Carolina.  I hate red eye's but I love my peeps in NC.

I Love this soup recipe that we made in Bali.  I use grated lime rind instead of lime leaves and when

it calls for lemons, it is really limes.  They call lemons limes there.  Weird.

I LOVE that I can wear my hair up and that it finally looks normal, even though for some odd reason it has been falling out excessively lately.  Maybe I'm shedding my winter hair.

I LOVE licorice, especially the new California bags of redvines.  Look for them in your local candy isle.

Today I especially LOVE my dad and all he has done for me.  Happy Father's Day Dad!

Tony's Idaho Reception

I flew home to Idaho from Hawaii.  Since it was the first 90 in Idaho we had our first pool party for the summer.  The water was a little cold, but we still had a great day.

 One evening I had a most enjoyable 4 hour dinner with my girlfriends.  We had so much fun celebrating our friendship at the Melting Pot.  I haven't been there in many, many years.  I think I need to go more often.

Tony's Idaho reception was super fun.  The weather was kind of messy, but not during the 2 hour reception which was fantastic.  That morning we had brunch with Grandma Betty and the ladies.  It was fun as always.

 The Italian Soda's and mom's sloppy joes were a hit and always delicious.  The boys sure had fun making all the fun concoctions.

 We all went to church the next day and then the party was over and everyone left.  Until the next party...

Kauai, Hawaii

The Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend I flew to Kauai for 10 days!  I'm pretty sure I've worked the last several Memorial Day Weekends, which are always busy.  It was nice to be on vacation again!  I met my cousin Misty, her daughter Sadie and my cousin Marie and her husband Nick.  They picked me up and since it was after 10, we chatted for a few minutes before heading to bed.

The view that I saw Sunday morning from our balcony room was amazing.  Oh, how I love a tropical view.  We attended early morning church services and then drove to Glass Beach where the waves were amazing.

We also saw spouting horn which was cool, but we never really got a good picture of it.

Monday morning we boarded a boat for a tour of the Napali Coast.  I did this 10 yeas ago the same
week and remember it being one of my favorites.  This didn't disappoint.  I love the dolphins that swim around the boat, the amazing blue water, and the green and red cliffs.  We did a little snorkeling, but it wasn't the greatest.  Oh, it was such an amazing morning/afternoon though.

After our tour we went straight for the shaved ice, which was refreshing.

That evening and before Marie and Nick flew out, we had a delicious dinner at the Lemongrass Grill.

Misty's son Kade flew in Tuesday evening.  On Wednesday we went Kayaking (something I've never done).  We kayaked to a trail where we hiked to see a water fall.  I finally checked swim under a water fall off my bucket list.  It was crazy loud  and windy.  Completely different than I expected, but super fun.

To be honest, we pretty much had lazy mornings, at ice cream, snow cones, delicious fish tacos and spent most of the time in the pool or at the beach.  It was so delightful and very relaxing, exactly what I like in a tropical vacation wonderland!

One day we went to the North shore, because we stayed on the South Shore, which I actually really enjoyed.  We saw so many turtles and fish on the North Shore while we were snorkeling.  It was so awesome.  I love snorkeling.

The last day we stopped by and saw another waterfall and picked a coconut.  Oh, the beauty of Hawaii!

 And of course, one last snow cone, which was my favorite, sour cherry, sour pineapple and coconut.