Happy 2016!

Sorry blog followers! I've lagged so much on keeping this updated :( Life has just been a roller coaster since i've moved. One day I feel like i've accepted having to live 1800 miles away from my friends and family, the next day I feel like curling up in a ball and crying (such a baby, I know!) I really have to keep myself busy and occupied to distract my mind from missing home so much. Anyway, enough of this boo-hoo-ness, here's cliff notes of what i've been keeping myself busy wth these past few months.

The Snow!

It has snowed twice so far this winter season. Contrary to what everyone back home thinks, it only snows for like 1 day, but the snow stays for weeks until it melts away, It does NOT snow continuously for days and days where we are snowed in and cannot go and drive out. Locals say this winter is a very light one, so I am very thankful for that since I have to commute to work. 

While the snow is lovely, the cold is not! My Californians would not do well in this single digit weather. Even though the temp is, say 5 degrees, it could really feel like -10 degrees because of the wind! it is not pleasant at all, but everyone manages to keep exercising in this weather because everyone is running to and from point A to point B to get out of the cold as quick as they can :)

Thanksgiving!!!

This was the first Thanksgiving at Casa de Sur and we totally went all out even though it was just the two of us :) 

I made my first turkey! So easy and soooo yummmmy! We also had ham, corn bread muffins, corn (duh!), mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie (of course!) and strawberry bavarian cream. To say the least, the feast lasted us weeks, We still have ham in the freezer, lol.

We celebrated Thanksgiving the weekend before the actual holiday because we wanted to do something special since I had a 4 day weekend. The SURS went to...... MINNESOTAAAAAA!!!!! 

Minnesota is beautiful and has a lot to do. We did so much in the short time we were there. We visited the giant spoon and cherry, shopped the Mall of America, visited a few breweries, hiked to a waterfall and tried the famous Juicy Lucy. 

Christmas and New Years

We spent the holidays back home in California <3 We crammed as much as we could in the 10-ish days we were home, but still couldn't do everything we wanted and visit everyone. What we did cram in was sushi, kbbq, boba, a trip to Legoland with my niece, 

My nieces during Christmas with my side of the family.

Vegas with these cool peeps :)

Legoland with Jazzy and Rog

Had to say hello the to California coast while we were there too! Oh how we missed you and the fresh ocean air!

New Years with some of our bestest friends ever! <3 so good to see all of you!

Dinner with both parentals :)

It was so sad to hit the road again back to Iowa :( :( :( We did not want to leave our family and friends and good ol' California. We had the greatest time in such the short span of time and can't wait to be home again. 

So these were the happenings in the Sur life for the past few months. New years resolution is to try to keep this thing updated at least once a month.. haha. ;)

Love Yourself.

First and foremost, I need to apologize for the lack of postings! I've been utterly busy --- actually, trying to stay busy so that I don't miss home too much. :( I've actually been in a rut lately, emofied, mad, sad .... I just missed home so much and started to hate having to be here. 

I've been having to drive out to Davenport once a week for Basic Traning for work. Davenport is about an hour away, East towards Chicago. I've never been to Davenport, so I was excited when we were let out early on the first day because I love exploring new places! 

The funky panaromic view from the Sky Walk. Davenport is one of the Quad Cites between Illinois and Iowa. Across the river in the picture is actually Illinois. 

Sky Walk

Also in Davenport, I found a large asian grocery store that had these gems :). 

Good to know we won't have to drive 1.5 hours to Des Moines for Filipino goodies. 

Although I had a great time sight-seeing, on my way home, just about a couple miles onto the main interstate, I got a flat tire :( I had to pull over on the interstate and had to call ToyotaCare for roadside assistance. I was alone, an hour away from home, in an unknown area, and it was dark and to top it off, it started to rain --- not even a soft sprinkle, it really started to pour. 

At first, I was like, no problem, this is nothing. It could be worse, LOL. But then, I started watching all the cars in my rear-view mirror. There were TONS of big rigs and those gigantuan monsters scare the pewp outta you when you are sitting in a helpless car as they speed by at 60-70 miles per hour. Then you know all those shows that show cop car dash cams happen to catch an accident happen -- most times a driver runs into the car parked on the roadside? I kept imagining that would happen to me... so I was scared out of my mind! 

About an hour later, ToyotaCare arrived and changed my tire. Thunder and lightning wanted to ruin my night even more (I HATE thunder and lightning) and I drove all the way home going 55 mph cause of my dummy tire with my hazards. There were times it was raining so hard that the windshield wipers could not keep up to wipe all the water away and I couldn't see anything in front of me. At some point, I started crying (mostly because I was so scared I wouldn't make it home), but also because I missed home. I was crying and saying, "eff this, i hate it here, i want to go home". LOL... you would've laughed at me, seriously, I was being such a baby. 

Anyway, I think this day triggered my almost-depressive state. For a few weeks I was sad, I was letting every little thing bother me, I would complain a lot, I would come home from work and just lay in bed and sulk. I even rescheduled my NCLEX-PN exam because I didn't care to study enough and was not ready at all. I blamed myself for everything. I felt like i was not a good friend, a good wife, a good employee, a good person -- a good anything. You'd hate being around me if you were here, LOL. I felt so bad for the hubs, but he is so focused on school and a very strong person --- he knew I was in a rut and he knew I would come out of it on my own. 

Last Tuesday I was out in Davenport again. Long drives give you lots of time to think. I was browsing Facebook during my drive (I know -- bad habit, but I only do it when there is no cars around me and its a straight road) and I came across an article that a FB friend reposted about loving yourself. I read it and I loved it. Although it talked about loving yourself first before you can fall in love with someone else, I took it as, I have to love myself ---- right now, right here, in order to love LIFE.

i came home that night with a different mindset.

I'm going to close it at that and create a separate post with more updates and pictures :) 

Sweet TWOth

As you know, I was able to join the Iowa CIty Farmers Market and introduce Sweet TWOth to Iowa :) Since it wouldn't be practical to sell full on decorated fondant cakes, I decided on something more Iowa-ish and transport friendly ---- CAKE JARS! Ready-to-eat cake layered with frosting and toppings, in a pretty, little Mason Jar! For my first day, I made 4 flavors: Birthday Cake, Chocolate Overload, Smores and Cookies&Cream. I also made some fondant sugar cookies in lips and mustache shapes, and some white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. People have never seen a cake jar, so it was something very new to the Farmers Market. One shopper said the idea was "Genius!" LOL. I got tons of kudos for my display :)

(Pictures are not the best. The Farmers Market is located on the first floor of a parking structure, so the lighting is not the best)

I will be at the Farmers Market every Saturday through October. It only runs from May-Oct every year. We'll see how it goes. 

Work. Work. Work.

Fortunately, I was able to transfer to a new role in Iowa instead of move and search for a new job. I have been training to be a Patient Care Tech for the Cedar Rapids DaVita clinic for about 3 weeks now.  The techs do a lot at the clinics. They are not only constantly checking up on the dialysis patients during treatments, but they are also in charge of testing the water throughout the day, mixing bicarb, checking in patients, setting up and cleaning dialysis machines, etc, all while on your feet, with little time for breaks, working anywhere from 8 to 14 hours! My feet and back hated me after my first 12 hour shift on the floor. 

(First 2 weeks was book and online training)

(in my scrubs)

I don't know what it is about scrubs, but I actually like wearing scrubs. No fuss, takes no thought, just put them on and bounce. LOL. Black is my go-to color and I purchased all dark colors. Little did I know that we would be working with lots of bleach... LOL. One patient said, "It'd be kinda scary being married to someone who works here, you know how to clean up a bloody mess". LOL.

I've met some great people already, both teammates and patients. 

I do miss my MP peeps though. I was glued to my Outlook during online training, trying to hold on to what was left that connected me to my team back home. Being on the floor, I rarely have a need to be on the computer, so have been absent on work e-mail. :( 

1800

1800.

That's the # of miles that separate this new life from the one I left behind. Crazy me (and for those that know me, certainly not surprising), I decided to get married, graduate school, move my entire life across the country, start a new job, and sell my car in a span of 4 months! 

Crazy. I think so. 

I promised a large group of people that I'd start a blog, to keep everyone in the know. It's been almost a month since the big move and I am barely getting situated enough to start it up. Many things have happened in the past month. Here's a cliff notes version and I promise.. i'll try to keep this up as best I can :)

First off, Rog and I have some really great people in our lives. My BFF Michelle and cousin Jen braved the 24+ hour drive from Cali to Iowa with me and the babies. I love them to death for doing this with us. 

(Us in our jam packed vehicle)

(Our first photo all together, finally in Iowa)

More great people flew into Iowa in the next few days. Chase flew in a few days after we arrived, and Steph and Adell flew in and surprised Rog :) Rog thought the knock on the door was the pizza we fake ordered, when it fact, it was Steph and Adell. Rog was speechless when he opened that door. 

Contrary to what many people think, we did a lot in Iowa the first week and half of the big move since it was Michelle, CHase, Steph and Adell's first time in Hawkeye nation. 

We were on a mission to take pictures with any Herky we saw in town. For those that don't know, Herky the Hawkeye is University of Iowa's mascot. 

We also went to WIlson's Orchard (best apple cider EVER!)

(Apple cider slushies, apple cider donut, apple turnover with cinnamon vanilla ice cream, and freshly picked Honeycrisp apple)

Also visited Herbert Hoover's birthplace.

We hope Iowa treated our guests well :) We already miss these people, plus all our family and friends back home.. TONS! Love you guys! 

(Iowa well-represented! Missing Jen! LOL)

Time needs to fly so that we can all be reunited once again. Iowa misses you guys, LOL. For the first time, Iowa had 4.5 Filipinos roaming the streets all together. LOL.