An End to Limbo?

The last year of my life has not been exactly what I'd had in mind before it started. You see, at this time last year, Michael was about to graduate from BYU with a degree in Actuarial Sciences. Shortly thereafter, he was going to take and pass the first Actuarial exam, and get a great job on the northwest coast. I was going to get a great travel job in the same city and we were going to live rent free for 3-6 months (travel nurses get free housing), save-save-save- and buy a house where we would live happily ever after.

Didn't happen... We are still living in a basement apartment in American Fork, UT. Michael did graduate from BYU with a degree in Actuarial Sciences last April, but the rest is yet to work out. He is employed at 1-800 Contacts and I am working at a Dialysis Clinic. We are NOT living rent-free. Michael did pass the exam in November and is currently in the process of applying for a job. We are learning that it is not easy to get a job if you are not a nurse. Entry level positions are the hardest to get because the experience field on the resume is basically blank. Not to mention having to send applications via email. Oh, and there's that economic recession (shhhhh, don't tell Pres. Bush, he doesn't know). So needless to say, this is taking longer than we thought it would.

It might sound like I am complaining... I'm not (Although 2 months ago I was). It has been a lot of fun to have so much time to spend together and to live so close to both of our families. I know someday we will look back on these responsibility-free days and wish we could have them back.

It's just that for a lot of this year, it's felt like we've been living in a state of limbo. Should we buy tickets to that concert? I don't know... Will he have a job by then? If he does, we won't be around to use them. Should we take that vacation we've been wanting to go on? I don't know... Will he have a job by then? Which airport should we fly out of? I don't know... Where will we live by then?

So, about a month ago, I decided that we had to get out of limbo and just start living our lives. We bought those concert tickets (Ben Folds, April 23, 2008, SLC) and we planned that trip (Costa Rica, April 8-16 2008- flight departs out of SLC). The funny thing is that since we've done this, Michael has had 3 companies call him wanting to interview him. One in California, one in Texas, and one in Illinois.

So, is there an end to Limbo? I don't know yet, but things are looking up. I'll let you know after we get back from Costa Rica :)

New Hobby

For many years, I've wanted to learn how to draw. A few years ago, when I was in Ecuador, my friend Ashlee lent me her "teach yourself to draw" book. I learned how to draw basic shapes such as cubes, cones, and cylinders. Once, I even drew a feather, but I didn't do much with it.

Then nursing school happened... no time to learn to draw.

Then the awful nursing job at VA happened... too stressed/depressed to care.

Then I quit that awful job and started working at my current job... University of Utah Dialysis Program... ahhhhhhhh. It is a lovely job. I only work three days a week, Mon, Wed, Fri. What should I do with those other four days? Tues: ski, Sun: church, Sat and Thurs: DRAW (among other things).

About 6 weeks ago I bought my very own "teach yourself to draw book" called Drawing for the Utter and Absolute Beginner. Above are my first two drawings which were an assignment in the book. Since then, I've been practicing by drawing some household items. I have a long way to go, but at least I'm on my way. Here are some of the household items I've done:

Weekend Getaway to Bryce Canyon National Park

A couple of weeks ago, we were feeling the travel bug. We couldn't really go anywhere for more than a weekend because I can't get work off because my manager is on maternity leave, so we decided to go on a little mini trip to Bryce Canyon National Park. We left Friday after work, met my sister Carlie and husband Danny in Lindon and started driving. After 4 hours including a stop at the fine establishement of Arby's (I had the roast beef), we arrived at Ruby's Inn where we crashed for the night. Saturday morning, we got up and went on a 7 mile hike around the park. It was fun hiking in the snow, although we all took a few spills on the trail when our feet would get stuck in knee-deep snow. After the hike, we drove to the scenic town of Tropic, Utah where we dined at the General Store. We wanted to go see Grosvener Arch (Michael had been there before and knew how to get there) so we drove to Kodachrome Basin State Park where this arch was supposedly located. Well, it wasn't there, so we ended up visiting Chimney Rock. On our way out of $6 visit to a rock, we asked the park ranger where the arch actually was. He told us (it wasn't too far off), but we couldn't get there because we needed a truck to drive through the muddy river that crossed the dirt road that led to the arch. We had plans to do some more hiking on Sunday, but we woke up to a blizzard. So we checked out of the hotel, had Sunday brunch and headed home.

The Fast

Last week I completed a 5 day juice fast. My purpose in doing this was to be more conscious of what foods were going into my body. I have tried fasts before and usually (not always) give up at the end of the second day because I am so consumed by hunger. This time was different. I decided to take it one day at a time. I would finish one day and if I felt like I could keep going another day, I would. The first two days were the hardest. Michael helped me get through these days by fasting with me. We pretty much just stayed away from food and kept busy. Day three was a breeze. I didn't even want food. I had great energy and I just felt really good. Day four was great until the evening. I really wanted to eat, but the desire to hold out for one more day was greater than my desire for food. The fifth day, all I could think about was protein. I was craving chicken and nuts. My favorite craving was for Lunchables... I don't know when the last time I had Lunchables was, maybe fifth grade, but the meat and cheese were very alluring.

So the juice fast was comprised of fresh vegetable and fruit juice that I would put through my juicer when it was time for a "meal." My favorite juice was a pineapple-orange-strawberry mix and the worst was anything with celery. I took a picture of all the fruits/veggies before I started the fast. This amount of food only lasted me three days. I had to go back for more on the morning of the fourth day.

My greatest reward from this fast is that I haven't had a single headache since I started. I usually get really bad headaches 4-5 days out of the week. I had no refined sugar for over a week and limited amounts since then. I don't know for sure, but I think it was sugar giving me the headaches. I am also more conscious of what I put in my body. Portion sizes have decreased significantly as I listen to my body telling me when to stop. I've also had a desire to eat much healthier foods. I'm glad I did this and I'm glad it's over.