Delanders visit :o)

I'm happy to report that things are on the upswing in Virginia! After our weekend get-away to Texas, we came back to a full week with the Delander ladies! Tara's friend from high school (and former roommate), Sarah came with her sister, Abby and mom, Laurie.

Sarah is a teacher, so she is off in the summer. I first met her when she was living with Tara in New Richmond and I would be working ambulance and we would have date night which included popcorn, movies, her husband, Sarah and me! Haha! She's a load of fun, and so is her family!!!

Tara and I live in Hampton which is "on the other side of the water" from Virginia Beach. VB is definitely the hot spot and has much more to do than our lil' area with a Catholic Hospital. So we went to VB to beach it, shop and PARASAIL! See pics below :o)

We also checked out a murder mystery dinner theater, the ladies went to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum and had a blast staying in playing cards!

At murder mystery dinner theater, of course guests guess the murderer and our table was dubbed, "The stupidest table in the room!" Tara guessed a lady that wasn't even in the play!

Team Parasail: Abby, Tara and Laurie

Our Captain Chad! Very fun guy who Tara and I have hung out with since this excursion. He even taught Tara how to surf! I love this pic, look at how serious she is taking him!

Sorry Laurie but this picture is just too funny!

800 feet in the air! Sarah and I stayed back and opted for extreme motion sickness instead :o)

Gettin dipped!!

Aw! Miss you ladies!

Extremely balanced!

Missing all our friends but sending love from the East!!

Long time...no Blog

First and foremost...I know I have not been blogging. Based upon the stares, hate mail and my friend Theresa taking me off of her links list, I can tell people have given up on me. BUT just when you have all given up hope....WE'RE BACK!!!

Texas is difficult to summarize; how do you summarize seven months of constant good times?! Tara and I were able to work Sunday through Tuesday the majority of weeks at Presbyterian of Denton. We were fortunate enough to have A LOT of visitors!! It was so nice to share our Texas experience with family and friends. Now that we're not there anymore, we miss the two-steppin, the country bars, Texas music and our friends!! We both miss Danny and Jana, Chloe, Sadie and Gracie (the poochies!), our friends at work, Janice, Lorie, John, Chris and all the friends that we made in Texas.

It was hard to leave Texas, but Tara and I wanted to do a different experience as we have told ourselves that we would do traveling nursing for a year. Seeing how the only two places we had been were Seattle and Texas, we thought it was time for a change. But change, although necessary, is not easy. Texas was a place I started off DESPISING, and ended up feeling like it was my second home. It's hard to go from seeing people you care about every day to just Tara and I staring at each other. :-) Fun huh?

It's also different to adjust to a new hospital, Mary Immaculate, is smaller than any other hospital we have worked for and, to a large surprise, is a Catholic Hospital. Now we're both Christian women, but we both aren't exactly the picture perfect children of God. We showed up for orientation last Tuesday to this small room with crosses on the walls. We took a break for lunch and Tara said, "That parking sign says Clergy only. What are clergy?" Knowing this was going to be quite the experience, we resumed orientation when someone from pastoral care came to speak to us newbies. Tara wrote me a note on my folder, "So because this is a Catholic Hospital, does this mean we have to pray with patients?" LOL!! So we're adjusting to a different environment but it has proven to be entertaining!!!

Our first few days were spent in a hotel because our apartment wasn't ready yet. It was directly across from Bailey's, a bar and grill, so naturally after a long 8-hour orientation that is where we went. This is where we discovered that it is mostly military people here. There are a couple of large military bases and some soldiers are actually living in the hotels for months at a time. So, we're not all that different being from a different state, because everyone is!

Lastly, our drive out here was fast. Tara and I have found ways to entertain each other for the 20 hour drive and it goes by quick...especially when Tara drove 15 of the 20 hours. Thanks Tara!!

It's a ritual to take pictures of signs at each state:

This is where I stopped driving and didn't start again for the rest of the trip :-)

This is where it gets tricky, I94 bends around Lake Michigan, up towards Michigan. This is NOT what you want to do. You want to stay on I80-E. This is what happens when you don't pay attention:

We were in Michigan for about 10 minutes, but definitely worth a picture :-) No more wrong turns from here on out!

2AM and exhausted, we stopped in Toledo, Ohio. I made Tara leave the first hotel we found and go to another one because it didn't look like it was clean. I heard her mumble "picky b*tch" LOL!

Well rested, we (Tara) resumed driving and headed into Pennsylvania. This state is boring. Pretty, but boring.

General rule of thumb: if a storm watcher truck is going the same way as you...not a good sign.

This is the last state I have a photo of, believe it or not, the ONLY state I don't have a photo of is the one that we are currently living in.

But...we're here! Let's eat in Virginia Beach!!

Fish tacos at Mahi Mah's!

Mmmm...sushi!

A dual bike we rented to stroll along Virginia Beach. This is A LOT harder than it looks and only Tara could steer, my steering wheel did nothing. No control=Char no likey. Good way to experience the beach since it wasn't nice enough to lay out.

That's it for now, I PROMISE to keep ya'll updated. That's right, that was a ya'll...still missin my Texans! Sconi's, no disrespect to you...WE MISS YOU TOO!! Take care :-)

Our new address: 210 Garris Drive, Hampton, VA 23666

Fair warning.....

Tara and I are done with our current contract at Presbyterian of Denton Hospital in Texas. However, they have offered an extension of this contract to us and we have decided to take it. The economy has even taken a hit on traveling nurses!! So due to the lack of other opportunities, we nabbed at this one since we have grown a liking to it and have settled in nicely. We will be staying here in Texas until June.

BUT....we are coming home for 3 weeks!!!!!! We'll be home late Wednesday, March 11 and home until April 1st. My bday is on that Thursday (the 12th) so if you feel like getting your party shoes on and cutting a rug let me!!!

See you in 'sconi!!!!

What's in a name?

Tara and I went back to Post Time (a bar...duh!) with a few friends on Tuesday night after eating a BIG excellent Mexican meal. We had a few beers to finish off the night. There were bands playing live music, a fun atmosphere and this older gentleman asked me to dance. This is how it went:

Older guy (OG): "Will you dance with me?"
ME: "Sure, but I don't 2-step too well!"
OG: "Me either!" "What is your name?"
ME: "Char, yours?"
OG: "Char? Like Charlotte? I had a horse named Charlotte."
ME: "Oh really?"
OG: "Yeah, I had to shoot her."

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Not too sure about these Texans!!

#*^%)@ cowboys...

I don't have a picture of this, so I will paint one for you...

--Tara and I are walking out of the house to go to work...
--I'm delirious, not paying attention and Tara gasps loudly and says words I can't post on the blog...
--I (uninterested) ask her what the matter is...

Only to look down to see eggshells by her car. The neighbor kids (obviously cowboy fans) egged Tara's Packer license plates.

Just as we're discovering this, half laughing, half astonished a couple of boys ride by on their bikes. Tara looks up and shouts "It was you wasn't it!?" again half laughing... I live with a crazy woman ;-)

Dang cowboy fans...

Mardi Gras!

Now, it may not seem as such, but Tara and I have been very well behaved and needed a fun night out. Fat Tuesday seemed like the perfect opportunity!



To be honest, I don't even know what Fat Tuesday means, but I found out what its like! Wowza!

Best beer ever.

Tara, how did you get all those beads??

How did I get that hat?

How did you get those shirts? These are the guys that Tara plays softball with, the bar handed out these shirts to girls and I'm not sure how they ended up on these guys but I'm sure they look better on them!
Almost time to go home!


It's been super nice out! A shot from our back yard! I heard that it's a blizzard back home...we miss you all but not that!!

Parent Palooza

Chad and Dawn have been planning to come to visit the 19th-22nd of February for sometime now. My parents have had a hard time trying to figure out when they can come and planned their trip about a week before coming. Somehow, they ended up on the SAME flight here! Tara and I were offered the night before our parents came off in exchange for picking up an extra night the next week. So we were ready to go when we went to pick them up at 8AM on Thursday morning. My parents rode with Tara and I, and Dawn and Chad rode with Jana.



Tara looked at my dad since he had never rode with her before, she said, "Randy, I'm a fast driver and although it may not look like I'm going to stop, I will stop." My dad laughed, agreed and I'm pretty sure looked the other way. However, about 30 seconds later we hit a HUGE pot-hole that could ruin the average car's suspension. The car ahead of us hit it and then we did too, sending us all soaring through the roof and LAUGHING hysterically. At least she warned him!

Welcome!! Do you like our signs?

I had wanted to check out the JFK exhibit in Dallas. The Holldorfs went to check otu historic Fort Worth in the Stockyards where they did a cattle herding demonstration. Above I had to take a photo of the touristy look!

We're going in!

This is where Oswald shot Kennedy, the window all the way to the right, second from the top. A great exhibit!

By the time we all met up again, we went for a quick dinner and back to the house for a few night caps :-)

The next day we all went to downtown Grapevine for a little shopping.

...and happy hour :-)

What winter? Lovin the patio!

I think my roommate Tara is pretty funny and entertaining. I think her and Chad together could have their own reality show.

Friday night we went to the Stockyards for dinner and Billy Bobs to watch some two-steppin!

If you're a Meat n' Potatoes type of a person, this is the place for you!

Cowboys everywhere... well and my dad Randy

A great country band and a great familiy weekend!

Dawn and Tara

(Groupies)

Our favorite groupies Danny and Jana

Danny, how did that happen to you, TARA?!

Aw Cute!

Tara, why do you have 3?!

I don't care how old you are, Mom time is the best time!

Danny is Dawn's first cousin. They haven't seen eachother in about two years!

One more family photo...where is Trisha, Nate and Zaiya!? Can't wait to see you soon!
Who needs a disco ball when you have a saddle?

We watched the two-steppin for hours! There was a 7-year old girl who could do circles around me! I was trying to upload the video but it wasn't quite working. I'll try again soon...

The next day I had to drive my parents back to the airport, only to pick them up again because their flight was delayed! But they had to leave :-( I can't wait to see them again in a few weeks! That day, John, Tara, Danny and Chad went golfing (or were in the club house, we're not quite sure!?) We had a big family dinner that night with filet mignon wrapped bacon and a BIG salad! So great! John and I learned how to play euchre with Chad and Tara. It really was a laid back weekend, very relaxing but fun!

John joined the fun!

Heeeey Laadies!