An Apple A Day...

So what have I done to begin the last year of my 20's? First, I celebrated by going out with my dear girlfriends for dinner. I surprised them with pearls to spruce up their outfits for our night out on town. The hostess referred to us as the "Pearl Girls." The title was most fitting, and I'm sure we'll never let go of it either. After a delicious seafood dinner we walked around the bay and to our surprise there were mass amounts of jellyfish. We enjoyed watching them pulse within the surface of the water. I don't think I have ever seen so many in my life; you could see the trail way out into the sea.


On my actual birthday I celebrated by going on an adventure. Jay's family and dear friend Nancy and her family have been going to Oak Glen for years to visit the apple orchards and I have wanted to be apart of the tradition. So for my birthday we took a trip up to the mountains for a day in the apple orchards. Jay, my inlaws, Nancy, and my mom joined me for my birthday adventure.

It was a bit warmer then we had hoped, but so refreshing to be in nature and at a slower pace of life. It's amazing and a little frightening to see how much different fresh apples look from those purchased at the grocery store. We purchased fresh apples, pumpkin butter, apple cider, and of course apple pie! For those of you concerned about my little trip to the mountains, I fared well. I got a headache in the latter part of our trip, but after getting down the mountain, I felt better.


The following evening we celebrated by going out to dinner with my family and then enjoying the apple pie at home for dessert while we watched a movie and I opened presents.


The birthday celebration continued throughout the month. I met up with friends for meals and enjoyed the annual Oktoberfest as well as meet up with my high school girlfriends to celebrate October birthdays.

Yeah October birthdays.

The old saying may be true; and apple a day keeps the doctor away. Not only indulging in the deliciousness of fresh apples, but immersing yourself in the orchards, breathing fresh air with the sweetest sent of apples is perhaps just as appetizing, healthy, and healing, if not more. Thank you for my birthday adventure!

Retreat

While Jay was off resting in the mountains, I too was on a little hiatus. I joined my mom for her church retreat. This marked the first retreat I could attend with my former church because this year it was in low altitude.

The retreat theme was "God's Peace for your Overwhelmed Life" based on the book When Women Long for Rest by Cindi McMenamin. If you click on the book title it will send you to her website. Cindi was the retreat speaker and God used her to speak through to the women. The speaker, the book, and the workshops made for a very enriching retreat. Here is us with Cindi.

I knew that since my mom was in charge of putting on the retreat, the weekend wouldn't be as relaxing for her. So I made an attempt to not only help out when I could, but also setting aside time to pamper ourselves. Don't ask me how we did it, but we managed to hop onto the double sink no counter bathroom counter where we exfoliated our feet, and soaked them in soothing fizz. We then resorted to the bed where we massaged each others feet. It was a great time, and very relaxing! The following evening during free time mom rested while I stayed up with some women to play Catch Phrase which turned out to be a quite competitive rousing game. I saw a whole other side to some wonderful Godly women; it was a blast!

Rest

It was time, Jay need a rest. Jay jumped at the opportunity to go camping with his father and brother's family without hesitation in mid October. He has been working hard and accumulated so many PTO hours it was time he took a vacation. Jay headed up to the mountains on a Tuesday with his father to set up camp before the rest of the family arrived on Thursday. Jay enjoyed hiking, bike rides, skipping rocks, shooing away raccoons, and shivering. Well, maybe not the latter part. The weather which was supposed to be 90 made an unexpected turn to 27! Yep, that's right. Friday and Saturday evening it snowed. Granted it wasn't more then for 30 minutes and the snow didn't stick, but as you can imagine, they froze. Thankfully they headed home Sunday, but only after drying out their tents before packing up. Enjoy the pictures posted below.

Rest pictures

Heart Healthy

It's that time of year again. Today we spent at UCLA for my annual Echo and biannual routine cardiology appointment. Everything continues to look good and my heart remains healthy. We discussed more of what to expect for my pacemaker battery change. Unfortunately we still have a vague time line, but at least we have a better understanding of how it will go. He did say that for me since my pacemaker is placed at a more unusual and complicated location that I would have to spend a day and a half at the hospital for the operation. Usually if the surgery is done in the morning people can go home the same day. But, as I expected I will need to stay overnight. He also doesn't think there will be a problem getting authorization from my insurance to have it done up there which is what I would prefer. So all in all it was a good visit.

During our break in between appointments Jay and I grabbed some lunch and then went to check out the new UCLA Ronald Regan Medical Center/Hospital. This will be where I have my operation and also the hospital that the company my dad works for has been working on. We were amazed, it's beautiful! Everything is modern looking; white walls, marble floors, beautiful glass. A lot nicer then what I imagined it to be and ten times better then the old hospital! We got a feel for the layout of the place: admissions, waiting room, cardiology unit, and of course social work and the large cafeteria! :) We don't know what the rooms look like, but if it's anything like the lobby, they should be nice as well. It was neat to finally see the end result of the hospital. We've watched the progression with each visit up there. From the large hole in the ground, to structural beams, to this magnificent building. The entire UCLA facility has come a long way since my first visits there when I was six. Check out the spotlight section for photos of the new hospital. http://www.uclahealth.org/default.cfm