From NC to Houston to Milwaukee

 Last Wednesday I flew into Houston.  My reason for going to Houston was for a consult with MD Anderson.  Dr. S and her team were wonderful...More on my consult in another post.  That afternoon my cousin Ben had his friend pick me up and take me to his house.  He came home from work early and then we went to dinner.  It was great to visit with him and so good to see him.

That evening Ben took me to spend the weekend with my friend Charleen.  She moved from Nampa 3 years ago.  She surely is missed, especially on pool days at my moms.  We spent 2 days at the pool which was so nice and relaxing.

Friday night on a whim we went to The Lion King on Broadway.  I've been wanting to see this for a long time.  It didn't disappoint.  I loved it. Before hand we had some delicious Texas BBQ.  I can never get enough BBQ.

Monday we went to the one and only Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory.  I mean what else do you do when it's hot?  It was such a fun place and the ice cream was of course delicious.

Monday evening I flew to Milwaukee; Check off Wisconsin on my states to visit...only 8 more states to go.  I went to visit my friends Emily and Antonio.  We have been friends since I moved to Charlotte.  It has been 6 years since I've seen them when we both moved from Charlotte.  Oh how I have missed the times Emily I sat and chatted for hours at Panera.

The fourth of July was super fun.  I think I've worked every 4th of July for the past 14 years.  We first went to a parade, probably the best parade I've been to.  It was 2 hours long, they threw lots of candy and there were 2 camels in the parade, but only 3 horses.  The weather was amazing!  After we had delicious pancakes for lunch.  Emily made the most delicious coconut syrup.  I'll post the recipe as soon as I have her send it to me.  We then went to a pool party and then watched fireworks from the top of a parking garage.

Wednesday we did some touring of Milwaukee.  It is an awesome city.  All of the houses are old and beautiful.  We first went to brunch, then to the Art Museum.  Tony and the kids met us at the Milwaukee Market where we bought some spices, balsamic veniger, a coconut lemonade that I'd never had and a lobster roll that was almost as delicious as the ones in MVY.  I couldn't leave without getting some fresh cheese curds.  Oh, yummy!

 It's been so fun to travel and see all of my amazing friends.  I'm so blessed to have many fabulous riends.  Coming back to Phoenix and home is always wonderful.  It was so fun that Pam was driving through to her new home in Kansas.  So of course we had to do some shopping, eat some ice cream and sushi.  Phoenix is home and I love being in my home, in my bed and enjoying the beautiful sunsets that we have here. 6 days home before I go back to Nampa and another adventure awaits.

 

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!