A Much Needed Warm Up!!

I would love to say I have been sooooo busy that I haven't had time to blog over the last six weeks, but that just isn't true. Although I have been working regularly, I have had some time for fun.

Just two weeks ago, I was in San Diego and Los Angeles for 7 days. As much as I have enjoyed the opportunity to experience winter at it's coldest, it was nice to be back in the warm southern California sun for a few days.

After getting my rental car, "The Hooptie" as Diana so loving referred to it, I headed to my old roommate Stephanie's apartment for some much needed sleep. (Note to self, when booking a flight on an airline that has recently been bought out and has been so lovingly referred to as 'America's Worst,' check that your seat assignment does not change when they combine their flights with the new airline.) After 2 hours of sleep before heading to the airport, I was looking forward to my window seat, so I could rest my head and go to sleep!!! Unfortunately, I got stuck with the middle seat and proceeded to fitfully attempt to sleep for the next 4 hours!!

I drove down to San Diego on Thursday and had lunch with my friend Michelle. We enjoyed Margarita's and mexican food under the warm afternoon sun - it doesn't get much better than that!! I then met Diana at our hotel in the Gaslamp district. We headed to happy hour at a local bar to start the night off. From there it was back to the hotel for a quick nap. Our friend Kelly joined us for dinner and a night out on the town. The 3 of us met last summer when we were all travel nurses at Tri-city Medical Center - we had a great summer. Since then, Kelly has moved back to Kansas, gotten married and is now back in San Diego for another assignment while her husband is finishing up officer training school in Virginia. Diana has traveled to Tacoma, WA, Pheonix, AZ and is currently on her way to Palo Alto, CA. It was great to catch up!!

Dinner was a lot of fun - my friend Julia, who is currently finishing up her Pediatric residency in San Diego was even able to join us for dinner. I have known Julie since college - it was great to have dinner with her too - she is still trying to get me to move back to Cali.

On Friday, I got up and met my cousin Brent for brunch. His son Brendan is 6 weeks old and I got to meet him for the first time. Unfortunately I had a bad cold and the NICU nurse in me allowed me only to admir him from a distance. He is a wonderful little boy and I think I even managed to get a little smile out of him!!

From there, it was time to head back up to LA. I was meeting Diana near the Petsmart, where she had boarded her cat for the night(whom she travels with) and we where going to follow each other to my friends house in LA, dropping the cat at a kennel of the way. Easier said than done!! On my way to meet her, she called to say the cat was very upset and was refusing to come out of the cage. When Diana would get close to her, Shiner would hiss and attempt to bat at her. It took over an hour to get her out of the cage and into her crate. With this development it was determined it was best for Diana to get a hotel room for the cat!! That's right - the cat!! She and I were staying at my friend Lisa's place because it was more centrally located to the things we wanted to do. So we checked the cat into the LaQuinta Hotel near LAX, where she enjoyed a weekend of luxury!! The funny this was that in the 3 months since Diana last stayed at the hotel they have gone through a complete remodel - meaning they no longer allow cats!! We had no other options, Diana didn't think she would do well around lots of people, since she was still pissed off from being lock in a cage for 24 hours, so we snuck her into the hotel. Set her up with food and water!! She did great and when we saw her on Sunday she seemed much happier!! The things we do for our pets!!!

Well - more to come in the next post!!