We're moving..... to Alaska!

 

Here's how the conversation started:

Guy: "We could always do travel nursing for a year"

Michelle: "yeah, maybe so... where?"

Guy: Portland, or Chicago, or New York City or something, maybe

Michelle: Chicago would be fun for a bit.... (unenthusiastic silence)...

Guy: or we could go to Alaska, they have positions there

Michelle: I'm in!

Christmas

This year we learned:
How to plan a wedding
The many steps to changing a name
How to sedate a cat when moving
What it means to share... EVERYTHING
The value of true friendship
How to live without a dishwasher =)
To count our blessings

Warmest greetings from the Einig house. We got married on June 13, took a honeymoon trip to Greece for two weeks, and have been enjoying married life since. Greece is breath-taking. We soaked up the culture of the islands of Santorini and Naxos, then took in the ancient ruins of Athens.
We are now living in Loma Linda, a few blocks from the University where Guy works at the Medical Center as a Registered Nurse in the ER. I am teaching clinicals at the School of Dentistry part time, and practicing as a Registered Dental Hygienist in a family dental office the other three days.
When not working, we spend time planning little getaways to the mountains, beach, desert, or our big move from southern CA next summer. We have enjoyed building our careers and friendships here, but look forward to hopefully living closer to family soon.

Giving Thanks

Tourists in our own city

Most people today think of Los Angeles as the home of movies and celebrities, but before the stars lined the walk of fame, LA's history was first born of Spanish and Mexican influence, the railroad, citrus and GOLD!

We set out to explore downtown LA via the public transit system, avoiding the hassle of parking and weekend traffic.

This is the Bradbury Building, built in 1893. Has an amazing glass roof and is one of the many prized architectural history wonders in the downtown district.

Downtown LA is separated by several districts.  The fashion district is basically where wholesale clothing is unloaded from the docks of the harbor (primarily from ships coming from China, but could be from anywhere really) and are sold here at rock-bottom prices.  This is a great place to find yourself a great looking knockoff handbag or sunglasses.  Many of these shops are along Wilshire Blvd, where the great historic movie palaces of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s still stand.

This is the downtown LA Library, and it is H-U-G-E.  If you look way into the background of the photo you can see 4 levels of staircases, and this is only a small corner of the building.  Good luck reading all those books!

Sitting for a moment in the rose gardens on the campus of USC. Walking downtown LA is lots of leg work.  After this we went to the natural history museum and saw the mummy exhibit - very interesting.

Stopping for some miso Japanese soup in Little Tokyo is a great way to end the weekend before getting back on the train headed for home.

The happiest place on earth, even if you're only a kid at heart

For my birthday Guy took me to Disneyland. We had a magical day, but can only imagine how much fun it would be to visit with the nieces and nephews, enjoying the wonder through their eyes.

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11052 Evans Street

CA Wedding Reception and kitty crisis

This is the view of smoggy Loma Linda from our reception at the home of a friend of a friend.

Okay, so it was fun to get all dressed up in our wedding getup again.  The way I see it, the dress cost 50% less now that it's been used for two occasions. (Admittedly that logic may be flawed)

Photo Booth = lots of goofy self-expression had by all

Line dancing lesson courtesy of Christina's brother

I treasure this picture.

On a much less festive note, a certain furry member of the family decided that her new home life was highly unsuitable.  We didn't even notice for hours that Sammy had slipped out the door, and when we called she was nowhere to be found.  We put up fliers around the neighborhood and called for her to no avail.  Finally after two weeks, we'd all but lost hope when we saw her sitting under a car across the street, only two houses down from ours.  She was skinny but alive, and now seems particularly thankful for the comforts of home.  Although she's never gone on record as saying so, we believe this was in protest to being hauled across town without warning or informed consent.  As you can see, she has since adjusted.