Me and my girls   
Well, I'm done with work. I'm very happy about this. But that happiness is overshadowed by the time of year that this is. I don't know exactly how to describe what I feel one year later. I'm sad, but have hope. I miss Dave terribly and cannot quite comprehend how time has passed so quickly yet so slowly at the same time. I think about things that will never be and about a voice I will never hear again on this earth. I wonder will I wake up sometimes and this will all have been a bad dream, but I know I won't. Even this does not fully describe how I am feeling even closely. I'm leaving for Austin in the morning to spend a few days with friends and then am on to New Orleans to be with my sister for Thanksgiving. Hopefully, since I'm am again unemployed I will be able to devote a little more time to the internet :) I can't wait to see my family out in California next weekend. I'm so looking forward to that. That's all for now. Know that I am thinking of all of you as I know you are thinking of me tomorrow.
 I hate painting because of this closet.....there are more shelves behind me.  Master bathroom  Master Bathroom demo  Pocket doors in the Den  french doors in the Den  Den with actual walls!!!! and my pocket doors  Nick and Dad  The clean up crews  Taking a break to have my picture taken  Sunrise on Padre Island National Seashore
So I've had actually a great week at work. Patients and staff have all gotten along. Maybe it is that I'm finally in the groove. I don't know. If that is the case I wish it hadn't taken me so long to get there. Not that I am considering staying on at this point.....lol. I'm looking forward to a break. The house is coming along. I think I might actually see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Still a lot of work to be done, but it is progressing. I have new pictures of the house to put up but I have to figure out how to shrink their size a bit.....I love my new camera! We are finally getting relief from the hot weather today. A cold front blew threw last night and temperatures are hi's in the mid 70's. I'm so ready for winter.....yeah! Alright, I will work on the pictures and hopefully get those up soon. I have one more night of work and then I'm going to be working on the house hard for 5 days. Have a great weekend.
 living room construction  the pups looking in on the chaotic world that is their house  playing with the hummingbirds in the backyard  the doors are in and painted! Finally!   Guest bathroom vanity  front bathroom constuction.  sanding the front bathroom cabinets
 Christian playing with my shoes before leaving for the airport.
 The runner's and the race route map  Squirrel  Lounging at Starbucks  Lunch with Steve, Jackie, the boys and Will (who drove down from NY and stopped in on his way to see Nayda in FL)  My friend Jackie with her boys who are stationed at Bowling AFB  Arlington  Arlington  Dinner on Friday night with the Skoglund's and Nordberg's  What would be a trip to D. C. without shopping
 Last minute needs at the expo
Okay, I'm off to DC this morning. Bright and early. Feeling good. I'll be back Sunday night and will try to get pics up between working and sleeping next week. Love you all. Thanks for the support!
Okay 9 miles in 1 hour and 50 minutes.......I ran out of water so I had to stop. It is just too hot down here to run without enough water. I'm ready for next Sunday though. I will leave on October 3rd and return on October 5th. It's still not too late to donate to my run in honor of Dave and in support of TAPS. Here is the website link below
https://taps.kintera.org/army10miler/rachaelalvarez
I'm really looking forward to seeing the girls (Meka and Liz) again. Oh I miss them so much. I have to work tonite, but only 5 more weeks to go (so I'm feeling a little better about that). I know I haven't posted any pictures as of late, but I haven't been taking so many. Not to mention my camera is on the fritz ( I think technology hates me this week). Nothing I touch seems to work. I struggle a little more at times lately with the 1 year anniversary of the crash quickly approaching. I don't really feel like it should be called an anniversary (that should be left for a happy occasion, but I wasn't in charge of naming dates I suppose). Hope everyone is doing well. I will work 4 out of the next 5 days until I leave. The dogs are going to the vet on Thursday (Leah hasn't had any problems with her pancreatitis flaring up, but I just feel more comfortable with her being looked after by the vet). Mom, Dad, and Nick are going on a cruise on Monday and will be gone for a few days. Well, that is about all from here for now.
Well, between working 5 of the past 6 nights and the computer being on the fritz, I've been tired to say the least. The Army 10-Miler is set for October 5th. I'm flying out on the 3rd and will return on the 5th. Training is going well and my goal of completing it within the set time looks very positive. I have learned that I am much stronger (physically and mentally) than I ever thought I was. I have 5 more weeks of my contract at the hospital and am looking forward to the end. I plan on doing a little traveling during the month of November. First to Austin for my friend, C's house warming party. Then on to my sister's house in New Orleans for about a week. Then I'm going to be flying from NO to Northern California. Dave's hometown of Lathrop, CA is dedicating their Veteran's Park on November 15th this year. They began this project with a ground breaking ceremony on Veteran's Day last year shortly after Dave died. Then I will fly back to New Orleans and stay their thru Thanksgiving. After that anyone knows. As I am finding out, I wouldn't call myself flighty, but my plans have a tendency to change very quickly. I would like to start a fulltime job back in the ICU, but I really enjoy the time off that contract nursing affords me right now. Only time will tell......for now the job continues, the house renovations continue and that is about as much as I can say for sure.
 The dogs...being dogs.   Watching the hummingbirds in the backyard this morning.  Shopping trip to Home Depot.  Made some headway in putting in the french doors.....to far to turn back now!  The only room completely done....a guest bedroom.  Master Bedroom.....painted  Computer Room....almost done  Guest bathroom after removing all cabinetry.  Guest bathroom renovations....
 This was the first day of paint color on the wall......this is after we retextured and primed so we were so happy to get to this point!  Putting up the ceiling fan in my old bedroom. I know it's a green room Liz, but it is not as bad as your green room...hahaha  Crown molding is up and we are almost finished. The big unpainted space on the wall is where the french doors are going to lead out onto the patio. It's hurricane season right now, so we have to make sure we don't have to rush when we knock that wall out.  2nd bedroom. I need to finish the trim in here and then it will be done. I do the trim at night when I can't sleep. Not sure what the neighbors think about people being there and up at all hours of the day and night.  Guest bathroom...demo day. Keeping the cabinets and refacing them. They are really solid cabinets.  Another view of the guest bath....the hamper wall cupboard is going to be replaced by glass floating shelves coming out of the wall.
 Me being rescued out of the mud (it was like quicksand)  Exploring the Athabascan Glacier, Columbia Icefields  crevase on the Athabascan Glacier---scary  The Saffleur Falls  above the Saffleur Falls  the gorge by the Saffleur Falls  Bridal Veil Falls  this is where we were camping on the Kootney Plains  more hiking pictures  view of Lake Abraham--it looks tropical  small waterfall on our hike   magic Kootney wood fires
Work, Eat, Sleep, Eat, Work.......This is my schedule right now. I slept until 4pm today. Now I'm getting ready to go back to work. Off Monday and Tuesday. I'm hoping to start putting up crown molding in one of the bedrooms and I need to go buy some french doors. I was very disappointed on the whole door thing. I went to a custom shop and actually found some great doors and a fairly reasonable price. The problem is most doors built at custom shops are new build doors and they are bigger than the ones from the 60's or so. So to have them fit into the existing spaces (which I cannot change due to structural stuff that I definitely do not want to do at this point) would be CRAZY expensive!!!! So I'm settling on prehung doors from the home depot that are cheaper, but easier to put in and will already fit. I guess in the future if this is where I'm going to stay forever I can always put the other ones in........they were very pretty! Anyways, that is my plan for the beginning of this week. Also gonna go by my friends flip house tomorrow to get some ideas maybe. Till next time......... Okay, I know it's been a few days since I've blogged. Here is what is going on. I started work this week and have been at orientation every day for like 4 hours. It would have been nice to go one day and that was it, but that is not how it worked out. I start my regular night shift tonite on my own. I feel like I'll be okay on the floor. It is definitely fast paced, but not terrible (so far). Then also we started renovations on the house. (my mom and dad's that I am buying). We close next Tuesday or so I am told that is when they want their money....hehehe! I have pull all of the existing shelving out of the closets and the walls in the back 2 bedrooms. Dad and I textured the walls in my old room and we are deciding what to do with the other one at the moment. In the guest bathroom I have taken most of the fixtures down and am at a standstill there until I get the bedrooms done. My old room looks out on the patio, so I have decided to put in french doors to that room and also replace the doors that go out to the patio from the den. That is my job today. To decide on which doors I want to put in. I've been to Home Depot and Lowes. I haven't fell in love with anything yet (and of course price matters). So I'm off to door shop today. Then to the gym and work. Tomorrow I have off so I will sleep in the morning and do house stuff in the afternoon, evening. Being a homeowner really makes one busy, huh? Bella and Leah are doing fine.....sleeping as usual. Other than that the family is just on the same schedule it always is. Nick is a little concerned how me working is going to affect him. He seems to thing that everything has to be scheduled around his activities. He is quite funny, even though he is not trying to be. Alright, I'm off to make small decisions that cost a lot of money.
So I have spent the morning in orientation with 6 other travel nurses. I forgot what a bad attitude some of them have. They so think they are getting taken advantage of by the hospital and the full time staff. Honestly, I've never felt that way anywhere I've been a contract nurse. It is really sad that people are that way, it brings you down man! Anyways, the way I see it, I'm getting paid more than any nurse there at the hospital and if that means I am pulled from floor to floor then that makes sense to me. Anyways, I have to go back to enjoy the rest of my orientation this afternoon and then tomorrow again. Hopefully, there will have been some attitude adjustments by then (it's a good thing I don't have to work with most of these people, just today)
 The Houseboat crew  Partying with the neighbors  Me watersking   Sunset on the Shushwap    Black Bears on the beach  Alba Falls hike
 Houseboat
 Looking for a prince?  Romance in the Hottub.....Carol Anne & Lyn  Our responsible captain!  Jay and Marlo  Shivers on the slide
 Swimming in the Shushwap  Getting organized and ready to leave
 Our Houseboat....Amigo's Only!
 shopping in Ft. Langley, B.C. 19 July  The gardens at Stanley Park  Me and the redwood, Stanley Park  At the Aquarium gift shop 18 July Aaron & Devon.....goofs!  Totems near Stanley Park 18 July  View of Vancouver downtown 18 July  Carol Anne and I at Stanley Park, Vancouver, B.C. 18 July  Landing in Seattle, WA 17 July  Mt. Reiner, from the plan 17 July
Well, I made it back to TX on August 6th. My trip to Canada was AWESOME! I wasn't quite ready to come home from the Rocky Mountains. So beautiful Yesterday I just relaxed and tied up some loose ends before my new job starts on Monday. Today, I'm back at running and starting to work on the house renovations/painting. There is alot to do. Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed. Anyways, I'm going to start posting pictures on the blog it may take a few days because I took like 300! So here goes.....
Okay, everyone.....I'm signing off until around 7 August. I'm going to Canada for the next few weeks and will be almost totally removed from technology......yipppeee! Okay, really I'm not that excited about being removed but I'm looking forward to being on vacation again...hehehe. Alright, hope everyone has a great rest of July and first part of August. Till then, I'm signing off.
5 miles baby!!!!!! Woo-hoo!!
Okay, I just got back from a wonderful restaurant here in Corpus Christi, Mama Mia's. It was an Italian restaurant owned by a full Italian. I was curious to know where the owner was from and he came around and said he was from Lago di Garda just 4 hours away from Aviano. He also served in the 3rd infantry of the US Army. It was a wonderful meal. We told him about David and how he had died in the crash at San Lucia di Piave. He was moved and kissed me on the forehead 3 times. He also shared his grapa with us (which has not happened in 8 years). Then to top that the whole meal for three of us was on the house!!!!! I am speechless! It is a humbling experience to meet someone who recognizes the sacrifice of my husband. I am so honored! He asked me to bring a picture of David back to his restaurant so he can display it on his wall of American Heroes. I will do it for certain next week! If this doesn't sound quite right it's because of the grapa.
P.S.
Dad says hugs and kisses to my other daughter Rachel!
 View of the Harbor Bridge.....nice pic for Corpus  Mom and Dad fell in love again over baseball!   Leah after her haircut and bath......beautiful!  Che Bella!!
Got up late this morning 9:30am (I'm suprised the dogs let me sleep in, that is not like them). Ran around and did some errands. I had to by dog food which has become considerable more expensive since the mama dog now has ailments. She is doing perfectly fine though and loves her new wet food diet. I ran out of Bella food this morning, so she got wet food also. She was so excited! She sit there while you are making Leah's food and looks at you longingly. She is such a drama queen. Anyways, I finished working on my sewing chest yesterday. All except the final coat of tongue oil. I went to run today.......4mile in 44 minutes. I probably could have run 5 but just didn't feel like it. 5 tomorrow!!!! I had to go to the gym out on the base because it is just too hot to run outside. The humidity is like 100% right now....uuugghhh! I was actually suprised that I was able to get a treadmill. I went at like 11:15am and thought that it might be hard because of the lunch crowd. Actually, there was hardly anyone in the gym. That's the NAVY for you though. I guess they swim....hehehe. Just kidding to all you Navy folk. Alright, going to a Hooks game with the family tonite. We have seats behing the pitcher--8th row. My dad's friend gave them to us (they are his company tickets) so we have been told to behave ourselves. Us not behave ourselves......nahhhh.
I've been busy catching up on paperwork today. I had to take the car in for 20,000 mile maintenance. Can you believe I drove over 5,000 miles on my vacation to NNY. Oh my, that was a long trip! I faxed back my job acceptance letter, so I'm locked in to an August 11th start date at the hospital. I'm both nervous and excited about returning to work. I really do love nursing. I spoke with the manager last week and she seems very nice. She is actually an Air Force reservist, so she has some idea about the whole military thing. I think I was meant to work on this floor to start. I had to explain what had happened (mainly because I had a lapse in employment). She was so understanding that it really put me at ease. Yesterday, I worked all day on refinishing a sewing chest I bought in NY at the auction. I'm very excited on how nicely it is turning out. Tomorrow I will go to home depot for some gloves to stain it and some moss baskets to plant my geraniums that I bought in NY. They are the vining kind that we had in Italy. I was so happy to find them, because I've never seen them here. My run today went well. Only 2.5 miles running and 2 miles walking because it was so hot. Tomorrow I'm going to run in the morning or at the gym (depends on when I get up). It rained this evening and has actually turned really nice......no humidity. I love the rain :)
 I'm going to take her home :)  Kathy and Hailey.   Kathy on the seadoo.
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