Windy Day

Eli and I ventured out of the apartment complex today to find the hospital/where my orientation is tomorrow. Both look very nice. I'm feeling a little nervous, not sure why--I think it might be that I'm in a much bigger city than I ever have been before. Like I've said though, nursing is nursing no matter where you do it. We also discovered a park by us--a nice change of pace if we don't feel like running on the treadmill. The two of us have really been taking advantage of the fitness room--there's lots of cardio and lifting equipment. Today is very windy--usually you can see all the way to the horizon and right now it's very hazy and hard to see. And I can't stop sneezing. Bad part of being dry, lots of dust to blow around. It's even blowing down our chimney! I wonder if lots of dust in the air will make for a better sunset because we have a pretty good view of those! (Apartment pictures, sunset from our balcony)

Drive to New Mexico and Moving In

It has been a busy few days for us! Our drive down to New Mexico was somewhat eventful. The wind was pretty gusty the first day and we were driving straight into it. The tumbleweeds were crazy!! Sometimes 15 or more would blow across the interstate at once--Pearl did great though, no chipped paint or twigs stuck in the hood. The only time we hit flurries was driving through the only mountain pass we had to--it was funny, as we were driving up I saw one of those animal crossing signs. Upon closer inspection it was a bear crossing--Eli and I thought that was pretty funny, what would we do if a bear crossed?!?! When we arrived in Albuquerque the weather was sunny and in the 50s!

The first few days here have been great. We've been settling into our apartment (which is fabulous!) and getting a layout of the immediate area. A Target, large Trader Joe's, and a grocery store just across the road is a great change from the locations we've been to. We celebrated moving in last night with a bottle of wine from TJs. Tomorrow or Thursday we're going to check out where I'm working. My first impression is great--everyone we've met is very nice, and yesterday when we went to Panera we got free chocolate chip cookies--nice welcome to a new area! (Leaving Omaha, Bear Crossing, State Sign)

The Night Before...

Eli and I spent the day running errands and packing up the car. We also got our route finalized. My mom and I went and got our nails done--I picked turquoise!! The weather looks great for tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing our new apartment in New Mexico. We're hitting the road early--and side note, 3 months from tomorrow we get married!!!!

Exciting!!!

Eli and I are so so excited that we get to go to New Mexico. I was in for a few jobs prior to getting this one and they had closed-I thought that we were going to be traveling somewhere else. Then low and behold this job came open, and they took me! We found our apartment complex and holy moly are we psyched to move in there. It has two pools, hot tub, and a fitness facility! I figured this close to the wedding I want to lay out and work out. There's also a Trader Joe's right down the street!! That will be a nice change. This week Eli and I are getting a lot of our winter stuff put away and reigning everything in, I swear stuff explodes when we move home! (Throw back--packed up for Washington!)

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/southwest/albuquerque/sights

And The Next Stop Is.....

Albuquerque New Mexico!!!! Oh my gosh Eli and I are excited--he really had his heart set on going to the Southwest. I'm excited because I get to try an entirely different kind of nursing than I've ever done before. We've also decided to take on the adventure of finding our own housing--fingers crossed! This assignment is crazy for two reasons:

1. It will complete everywhere we wanted to go this year of traveling: Washington (check), Northeast (PA was close enough), and now New Mexico
2. When the two of get home, it's wedding time!!!!!!

As per usual we've already started planning/looking at things we can fill our time off with. We don't have as much free time because I've got a few trips planned, but we've come up with the following New Mexico Bucket List:

Spend a weekend in Santa Fe

Buy a piece of awesome pottery

Visit the Grand Canyon

   Experience Petroglyph National Monument

Eat delicious authentic Mexican food

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The holidays have been very fun for Eli and I this year, we had several family Christmases to attend between Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota. I feel lucky that I'm able to take so much time off to enjoy this time of year. We celebrated New Year last night by playing cribbage on our new cribbage board and watching Parks and Rec. 2014 will be very fun :) We woke up this morning to SNOW on the ground. Eli and I still have a pretty long to-do list, but it's going to slow down a little bit now that the holidays are over!