I Wish They All Could Be California Girls....

I've had that song running around in my head ever since I drove to California on Monday for some R&R (I know, rough life, huh?). I was thinking about it because of spending time in California, but it also now will be my theme song when I live there for the summer. Yes, you read that right! But, more on that in a minute... First I'll tell you all about my mini-vacation.

That's right, I got to spend a few days hanging out with some of my favorite people, who happen to live in California! Here in Phoenix I've been scheduled for four weekends in a row, which isn't so great, but it means that I have my weekdays a little more free. (Gotta love 12-hour shifts!) So, this past Monday after I slept a little, I packed up and headed to Cali! Since I've actually gotten to spend quite a bit of time there in my life, I didn't have any "California" goals, only "hanging-out-with-family goals". These goals were met wonderfully!

Leaving Phoenix, it was 101 degrees out. I was looking forward to cooler weather in Cali!


The drive takes about 5 hours, and it's across the desert with mountains on either side. When I lived here from 1999-2001 I made that drive quite a few times, and was pretty amazed at how quick it seemed to go. I could leave Friday afternoon after work, and arrive at friends or family's places that evening, spend all day Saturday and part of Sunday hanging out, then head back again. It's funny how you associate music with certain things, and for me, listening to Fernando Ortega always reminds me of driving across the desert. His CD "Breaking of the Dawn" was my standard CD choice and it was fun to listen to it again this week! (He talks about the Arizona desert in the CD.)


On Monday night, I arrived at my Uncle Jim and Aunt Marilyn's house! I have been missing them ever since they moved away from Fergus so Jim could become pastor of Calvary Community Church in Fullerton, CA. It was really hard for me to have them leave Fergus, so really wonderful to see them again and spend some good time with them! They are two of my favorite people, and their opinions are two that I value almost more than any other. I was really looking forward to talking with them about a couple of specific things.

On Tuesday afternoon I left Fullerton to head to Pasadena to see my mom's cousin, Penny. She is another "favorite person" and I've been so looking forward to spending time with her! Her husband, Chuck, needed to be out of town for the night, but Penny and I had a lot of fun catching up. She invited my cousins, M&B, over for dinner that night, and it was great to see them again. It had been a few years, and while keeping in touch through blogging is one thing, it's always better in person! It's really fun that they live nearby, and I'm so excited to spend some good time with them this summer!


Here Penny and I managed to get a pretty good picture using the camera timer! We had enjoyed a wonderful omelet and fresh fruit brunch before I took off for Fullerton again. THANK YOU for hosting me, and I can hardly wait to see you again soon!


When I got back to Jim and Marilyn's on Wednesday, we had a delicious dinner and then got ready for the weekly Bible Study that they host at their home. It was fun to meet some of the people from the church, and so good to be at a Bible Study again.


On Thursday morning, I drove to Jamie and Krista's home to see them, and meet their new little boy, Jayden! He's over a month old, and such a cutie! They have a wonderful home and it was really fun to catch up a little with them, and see how much they love being parents! Jayden is really blessed to be born into his family, with loving parents who have been praying for him, and will teach him about Jesus. I'm going to really enjoy watching Jamie be a dad!


I've been missing David a lot while I'm gone, so even though I'm a pediatric nurse and get to be around kids every day at work, it was so much fun to cuddle with Jayden! He's a great kid with a great smile. I know, he's not smiling in this picture, but you can see better shots at his parent's blog!



On Thursday afternoon I headed back to Fullerton where Uncle Jim was gone but Marilyn and I had a fun "Girls Night". We had a wonderful salmon dinner, did a few other things around the house, then watched a fun movie I ordered from Netflix, called "On A Clear Day". British humor can be different from American humor, but it was a cute movie I'd recommend.

Friday morning I had to pack up and get back to Phoenix so I could work that night. It was a good drive, and I even met a guy from Burnsville!!! who was riding his motorcycle to California to go visit his first grandchild. He was asking me questions about my RAV-4, and it was fun to realize what a small world we live in!

THANK YOU to some of my favorite people for the fun week, great conversation, good food, and for helping me feel at home again!! I'm so excited to spend more time with each of you this summer!

That leads me to my next assignment. Last Friday I interviewed with Torrance Memorial Medical Center in Torrance, CA and was offered the job over the phone. Since I never count on anything until the contract comes, it was really fun to receive it and get that signed on Monday and have it be a done-deal! Torrance is located 3 miles from the beach, so that's right, I get to spend my summer on the beach in California! Who wants to join me??

(I tried to copy and paste a Mapquest map of Torrance -so you could see how close to the ocean it is, and to show that it's only 25 miles from Jim and Marilyn and 35 miles from Chuck and Penny -but I couldn't figure it out. Anyone know how to do that?)

I had my application in at a few different hospitals, and I thought it could be pretty fun to be in CT or MA for the summer, hanging out with friends there, or in my favorite state of Montana, or of course back near home again, but after one of the harder months I've had, I'm really excited about spending the summer at the ocean!!

I'll be working 12-hour nights again, this time on an adult med-surg floor. I'll miss pediatrics for the summer, but I enjoy working with both adults and kids so going back and forth is something I plan to do. In fact, I enjoy the assignments where I get a little bit of both. California has staffing ratios that are mandated by law, so working adult med-surg should be okay -better than some places where you end up with too many patients. I'll never have more than five, and that's very manageable.

So, my standing offer still stands. If you want a vacation to California this summer, you'd have a place to stay! Let me know when you're coming!