10 Things you may have not known we were up to...

Hey ya'll.  Totally just realized the other day that it's been....well...way too long since I posted last!  My apologies to our faithful followers!

Well, it's finally starting to feel like FALL around here...cool mornings; brisk sweatshirt type of afternoons.  I know I shouldn't be complaining because a lot of our fellow midwesterners have been dealing with some cold stuff lately...but I have to tell ya....you don't know how much you appreciate the four seasons until you aren't living in them anymore!!  I think I'm really going to miss not having snow come winter time.  Although, the locals around here tell me that it gets "cold" here.  Sure..., I say.  But they like to argue that it's a different cold and that someone from the Midwest won't be able to handle it.  What I say to that is...Are you kidding me?!?!  We grew up bundling ourselves in 5 layers just to walk out of the house like the Michelin man to play in the white stuff for about 30 minutes, freeze to the bone, and then come in and warm up as our sweat from those 5 layers poured down our faces.  COLD?!?!  We'll see about this...no way is it going to be worse than a Nebraska winter day with 30 below temperatures and wind.  I'm not buying it.

Anyways..

For this rendition/update...I figured...why not update you on things that maybe we haven't thought about talking about or letting you in on!  So here you have it...the top 10 things that we're up to right now, that you may not have known about! (I could probably work on the title...but roll with it)

10.  We're contemplating getting a dog.  And by contemplating I mean it's more of a thought in the distance.  Sounds like a good idea at some point in time...and then when we get really close to going through with it...we end up copping out...usually finding some reason not to do it.  Top on the list is a boxer. (although in a very CLOSE second...I would totally get a cocker spaniel)  We probably would have done it months ago...but it seems like we keep debating about a good time.  (Plus we're not really supposed to have one, according to the landlord...but he never comes by to check on things...) It almost seems like that debate of when to have kids...which if it's like that..there's never a perfect time for that...right?



9.  We've added workouts to our daily/weekly regimen.  Insanity seems to be the workout of choice, and part of our regular Saturday rituals (around the Husker games, of course).  I like to change it up during the week and go to the gym.  We are really enjoying it!

8.  Speaking of Saturdays...we actually get to spend them together now!!  I'm loving my new schedule of M-Friday!  It's actually giving me a little more sense of peace being able to spend some quality time with the hubby!

7.  Chad's job is getting into the "intense" part of it....as they have about 3 buildings in the works right now...and will continue as they begin more of the workload!  It's some exciting stuff...but also means that he will most likely be putting in long days/weeks filled with lots of meetings!

6.  We've been experimenting with quinoa.  Not sure if I'm a fan yet.  So far the best thing that I've found is rinsing it...and cooking it in chicken broth.  But even that has become a task..and a little discouraging.  I would say it's not a staple around the house yet...but something we're trying to work into a "healthier" lifestyle.  But somehow we find the beer/football ruin that most weekends!

5.  We're hoping to start a fence for the backyard in the near future.  Still waiting on the landlord to approve that one.  He seems to think there's no reason to...but we're pretty much the only one's on the block that don't have one and we have people walking through it, with animals, on occasion...and we really just find that odd!  But....now I'm thinking it may be a spring project....

4. I've been studying for my vascular boards for yet another certification.  I'm currently taking an online class to help with that and earn some last few credits toward the Bachelor's.  Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll be taking the boards by the end of the year (or shortly after) and then will only have one more class left to take...putting me at a May 2013 graduation with the BA.  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. 

3.  Just passed the one week mark with my eye, LASIK, surgery!  Probably one of the best things I have done for myself!  The surgery went great, and my eyes FEEL great!! There is still some moments where the clarity isn't quite perfect...but they tell me that's just from the "roughing" up they did during the surgery.  As my eyes heal it will get better...and truthfully it seems like every day is just a little bit better and better!

2.  We watch the Husker games every Saturday...and support the Big Red with our attire every weekend.  Whether that be grocery shopping, working out, yard work...you name IT, we support it!  Have also been watching the Husker volleyball team whenever we can!  Gotta love that you can get the B1G Ten Network ANYWHERE (for the right price of course).  We are really missing the fact that we haven't made it to a football game.....almost to the point we consider going tailgating for the LSU games from time to time, just so we can be in that atmosphere...but ALMOST!!  It's amazing how much you enjoy being a Husker when you aren't in Huskerland anymore!


1.  ENJOYING US time!  We've now been married a little over a year now, and we have to say...marriage is pretty cool!  Although we've been through some interesting adventures already (i.e. moving to the BAYOU)....it definitely puts into perspective how amazing it is that we get to spend every day with our special someone.  Even though we didn't forsee moving to Louisiana in our future, we really do feel fortunate that we have been able to do this together.  It makes for an interesting story down the road for the kids (and no this is NOT a hint of anything).  We aren't perfect at that marriage thing  by any means...but I say, recognizing that you have to work on things together, for each other, for yourself....that's half the battle!  There are days we can't stand each other.  There are more days that we really do enjoy each other's company...and we really are getting to know each other even better!  But...in all honesty, this move has probably made us closer to each other! Hard to believe you can continue to learn more about a person as time goes on...but we aren't complaining!!  Crazy to think about how far we've come!!

        

Hope this update finds everyone doing well!  Probably won't be home for Thanksgiving...and are currently planning out our trip home for Christmas!  We would LOVE to see anyone and everyone!  And if not, we always like updates....so fill us in!! 

Chad and Kristin

Huskers in the Bahamas

After one of our "Hurricane Workouts"

Well...even with all the commotion of Hurricane Isaac making his appearance just days before we were scheduled to leave for our honeymoon....we were still able to fly out as planned without any hitches.  Hurricane damage wise, we really faired well.  We were out of electricity for only about 5 hours on Wednesday afternoon...a few tree branches in the yard....no shingles anything that need to be fixed, and only some minor flooding in the street and the ditch behind the house....Our overall time was spent studying for my Physics boards I was supposed to take on the day the storm it (it was cancelled on account of the 100mi/hr winds), working out, rating the quality of the areas meterologists and lounging. (P.S. I passed the test when I took it today ☺)

Making our living room into a workout space...

Our overall time in Exuma, Bahamas and the Sandals St. Emerald Bay resort was wonderful.  Some major R & R with blue skies, great weather, not a storm in sight...some sand in our toes, ice cold drinks in our hands...we really enjoyed our time.  With our time there, we became quite the resort reviewers on the food, staff, rooms, alcohol, activities....etc.  Here is some of our thoughts.

FOOD:
We really enjoyed the fact that it was all inclusive...allowing us to try multiple things from multiple places.  We liked that there were about 7 different places to choose from with each meal...but by the time we got to the end of our stay...we were starting to lose options.  Overall, the food wasn't A-MAZING.  Either we had too high of expectations...or our taste pallette was yearning something differently.  They did fairly well...but nothing we would ever miss or anything that we couldn't try making at home (and maybe even tastier).  We enjoyed dining at their French and Italian restaurants.  The "Drunken Duck" pub was okay (not top notch bar food....and no Husker game showings when we got there).  The "buffet" place always had awesome selection of salad bar and fresh fruit....and then each night they had a different them...Mexican, Chinese, Mediterranian).  The low key beach restaurant (shoes optional) had fairly good selection.  We really enjoyed their cocnut chicken soup and their lobster.  The dessert, however, was always scrumptious...no matter where you tried it!

Rating: ☺☺☺☻☻ (3/5)

ALCOHOL:

We LOVED the all inclusive aspect of this!  Our room mini bar was always stocked (for the most part...depended on what time of day they came to replenish)  The beer selection was lacking...with only Guiness or their Bahaman version of a Budlight on tap....and not always was the Crown Royal available at every bar. (Chad would ask for a Crown Royal/Coke almost every time...and faired somewhat unsuccessful most of the time....they would even try and just bring Jack/Coke without saying anything...but we could always tell right away).  We especially enjoyed the swim up bar and them bringing around drinks they would mix up to try while we sat by the pool.  It seemed as though we drank wine pretty every time we ate...(aside from breakfast)

Rating: ☺☺☺☻☻

SCENERY:

 Who could complain about waking up to blue waters, a beach, lounging by the peaceful lull of the ocean, beautiful sunrises and hardly any clouds in the sky for 7 days?!?! Not us!! Although the water was a little choppy the last couple of days...we loved the atmosphere. The golf course had beautiful views, which we LOVED (almost more than the golfing!)

Rating: ☺☺☺☺☻ (Chad says he would have given it a 5/5 but the water was just too blue...haha)

ROOM/ATMOSPHERE:

Overall, we really enjoyed our room. The beds were SOOOO comfortable....and spent every day with a good nap. We had lots of space and was at ground level, where had a little patio to enjoy coffee in the mornings or sit in the evening and enjoy the cooler temperatures looking into the gardens. The atmosphere of the resort was very calm and the staff was always very accomodating. However, some of them didn't enjoy their job...and weren't always willing to answer our questions. Nothing ever got too crazy at night...and you could be as involved or secluded as you wanted to be. We were probably more the latter.  Every restaurant and facility had it's own unique ambience...where we were able to just spend some time together... And the fact that our cell service was very limited and you had to pay for your daily usage of internet...we were able to spend more time without our cellphones in our pocket and focus on each other.  We spent most of our time at the pool or beach...which neither of us had complaints about!

Rating:☺☺☺☺☺

ACTIVITIES:

One of the greatest highlights of our trip was the golfing.  Although it was a little warm for our liking...and we lost a lot of balls....we had a great time!  The views were pretty unbelievable....and the course was pretty nice.  The greens were slower than we expected...and we compared it to some of the nicer course we would go to from time to time in Colorado.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

 

 Aside from golf we also spent a morning at the spa, a few times at the workout facility and some time enjoying kayaking in the ocean. 

Rating: ☺☺☺☺☻

TRAVELING:

I have to say, although the trip itself and the time spend at the resort were very relaxing...traveling and going through customs was too stressful.  On the way there we connected twice to two flights in "tin cans".  Customs was not an experience I liked...things were not clearly marked and you never knew where you had to go to do what. Going there AFTER we had to claim our bags and go through customs, we had one more flight to catch where we had to re-check in, go through security and wait in their "terminal" which was an un-airconditioned place about as big as our living room...and our flight was delayed. Once arriving in George Town...the baggage claim was literally everyone standing in the parking lot where they pulled the cart up and it was free for all for who could reach their bags.  That was Chad's job...I kept our place in line for the taxiing to the resort. Coming back we were delayed in Miami....and had to do the whole claim your baggage/customs thing again (they really need a new process).  As much as traveling internationally is appealing...I would SOOO pay to not have to do the whole customs process to do it!  And because of the flight situation both ways....we missed the Husker games (which would have worked out that we got to watch them if flights weren't delayed and worked out as planned).  It was lots of traveling/transferring that just wore us out!

Rating: ☺☺☻☻☻

OVERALL RATING: ☺☺☺☺☻

Although some of the trip didn't meet our expectations....we would definitely do it again and recommend a trip that lasts a week with that special someone distraction/interruption free... to EVERYONE!! 

Here are a few more pictures from the trip!



Hope all is well with everyone!  Thanks to everyone for the Anniversary wishes!  Can't believe it's been a year already!  Until next time! 

Hurricane Isaac Chronicle Day 2

Well, we made it through the night.  From the sounds of it, it really blew in about 12:30am.....spurts of hard winds and powerful rains.  We slept lightly....waking up as the winds got heavy.  We have a little debris in the yard from tree branches and such...but nothing real serious.  We woke up and were surpised we still had power-they were making us believe it was going to be knocked out in the middle of the night.  Sounds like the worst of it should be blown over by late this afternoon....with rain continuing into tomorrow.  The current track seems to be heading west, jutting nort, heading west, jutting north....with some concern that it just continues to stay over us and build strenght from the Gulf...instead of continuing north as orginally projected.  The worst of the flooding is all very south of us in Slidell, and New Orleans. 

Today we'll just be hanging out.  Probably make our living room a little workout area and pass some time with that, along with packing for our upcoming trip this weekend!! 

If you want to check out any of the local weather....here is a link to one of the channels. http://www.wdsu.com/weather. 

We have yet to find a meteorologist we enjoy to listen to.  Most stumble and do not have clear, concise thoughts.  Here is a link to our least favorite....if he didn't have visual aids behind him, I don't think we would know what he is talking about.  (He's been consistently like this....any time he explains anything we feel more confused then before we listened)  This is from one of the updates last night.  See how long you can listen to him!
Bob: Isaac 7:00p.m. update: Bob: Isaac 7:00p.m. update

Here is a little video Chad made this morning of our current weather conditions.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Iu_JUoG8szQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Until later...Happy Wednesday everyone!

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best....our Hurricane Issac chronicle...

Hey there friends and family!

Well, it's official....a HURRICANE is coming our way.  This tropical storm that we've been watching so closely for about 3 days now has just been upgraded to a category 1 hurricane about 2 hours ago.

Right now, it's basically the calm before the storm.  The air is super nice and cool, a slight breeze and sporadic cloud cover.  We were just in a tornado warning over the last hour due to the circular winds that were being produced....but that has come and gone.  It's starting to hit in the very little tip that juts into the Gulf of Mexico.  The heaviest of the showers should be moving in this evening sometime...and overnight will start changing. 

On Sunday, we went out and got our hurricane preparedness all together.  Bottled water, non-parishable foods, batteries, flashlights....and a little alcohol.  (Have to find the silver lining in this...right?)  Going out on Sunday was an interesting/eye-opening experience.  I thought because we were going out so early that we would be laughed at for getting our hurricane items....but remarkable a lot of the water on the shelves was gone, gas pumps were full of lines and dried up by the end of the night. 

At first, we had talked about leaving and heading up to Nebraska....but the more we talked to people that live here and observed the actions of our neighborhood....it seems as though many people are not all too concerned.   It seems as though when hurricanes get to a strong categrory 2 into a category 3 is when most people decide to leave.  This hurricane will not be to the effect of Hurricane Katrina...but seems to be following that same tract and will be hitting almost exactly to the day that it hit 7 years ago.

We went and worked out last night and this morning, outdoors, to take advantage of this enjoyable weather!  It was a little windy, but still very nice out!  Who knows if we'll get outside over the next couple of days!

On Saturday, we're expected to leave on our week long vacation/.honeymoon to the Bahamas....and will plan on still going as long as the airport still has planes flying out of here.  Which, as we have talked to many "experts" and people that live around here....they seem to think that we'lll still be going...which is encouraging.

Everything is pretty much shut down all of today and Wednesday.  Really, its very comparable to when a big blizzard is expected to hit, with how they are cancelling school, businesses, etc.  The one positive thing about a hurricane is that it slowly makes it's way here and allows for preparation.  On the other hand, I almost wish we were experiencing a "tornado" watch and Nebraska weather...because at least you're only in a watch for 4-6 hrs rather than 4-6 days. 

Chad went into work for part of the day yesterday to help bunker down the work site and get all of the electronics/server from the trailer out of there.  I'll still be planning on going to work on Thursday and Friday...but am on call if need be before hand! Friday will be last day at Ochsner full-time, as I have found another job working Monday through Friday at a clinic....which is something that we are both looking forward to with a new, NORMAL, schedule...and have the weekends to spend time together and experience this area we are living in! 

That's all for now...we'll try and update as frequently as possible.  We may have limited electricy/internet/phone access by late this evening and tomorrow.  But we'll defintely keep everyone as posted as possible!  We took some video of all the before stuff.....and we'll take some after video....and will hopefully be able to post on it so you, too, can experience the hurricane :)  Let the drinking begin....haha

Love you all!!

Day 122

Well boys and girls....today marks the 122nd day of us staking our claim into Slidell, LA.  Crazy, huh??

Not much to report on our end since our last post.  It is hot, HOT, HOTT here....but from what I hear, not something we can really complain about when talking to our Nebraska friends/family.  It's really sad how dry it is up that way...and how badly the crops could really turn out this upcoming harvest.  Prayers go out to all you dealing with this!

The last few weeks have been spent adjusting, yet again, to the new schedule, we me starting my new shift of Thursdays 3-11pm, call, Friday 7am-11pm, call and then Saturday 7am-11pm, call.  It's been a little overwhelming to say the least.  So far, it's not so much the workload, or the radiologists, or the people I work with that is the overwhelming part of it......it's the adjustment to when I see my husband, feeling like we hardly see each other, and then overwhelming feeling of not having much of a "life" with basically working and staying home waiting for the husband.  I really didn't think it would be much of an adjustment....however, it seems I'm taking it harder than I could have imagined.   I'm trying to optomistic about it....and give it some more time before I make any opinions about it.  There's a lot of great things about the shift too.  I have most of the week off.  It's only a few days a week. It's right down the street.  And it's not forever.  Plus, I'm taking a physics boards at the end of August for my vascular certification I'm trying to achieve by the end of the year and I'll be wrapping up one more semester of school for my bachelor's....so those days off really lend to some great study time.  We'll just have to see....

Our 4th of July was pretty laid back.  We grilled/cooked some spare ribs and some munchie dips, drinks and swung by the Slidell fireworks at the end of the night.  It was great to just hang out and be lazy together!!

We finally booked our honeymoon!!!  And we are very much looking forward to having a week to ourselves and not have to worry about work or school or anything else!  We'll be making our way to St. Emerland Bay in the Bahamas!!!  All inclusive....all fun, adventure, golf and relaxation.  CAN. NOT. WAIT!! (37 days and counting)  Which also means in a little less than two months we'll be celebrating our 1 YEAR ANNSIVERSAY!  :-)

I joined the Slidell Athletic Club in the last couple of weeks.....and boy does it feel good to have that outlet during the week! I love it!! the classes are great, I enjoy going and forgetting about everything for an hour and leave it all on the treadmill or in the weights.....really feels good...and I think it's helping with the adjustment of my schedule of working on the weekends...and getting out of the house and socializing a little bit!

We're excited to have some visitors here in the next few weeks.  some good friends from Colorado Springs will be joining us for a weekend....and we can't wait to enjoy some time catching up with them.  Chad has known them a little while longer than I....having met them in Rapid City during college...and we've grown close to them over the years and enjoy their company!!  So we'll do some touristy things along with grilling and just enjoying each other's company!!

 Hope everyone's summer is going well!! 

Visit to the Good Life

Hey there, loyal followers!

As promised, I am posting our pictures from our trip back to Nebraska!  It was sooooo good to be back home, and honestly, very bitter sweet.  It was so good to see all of our family and spend some quality time together....and by the end of it, it was sad to leave and ever more sad to think of all the little things we miss by not being around all the time!  It really puts things into perspective and makes me count the days until we can move back and have random bbq's with our family, instead of having to plan out an entire weekend!

We enjoyed lots of eating, drinking, and golfing (27 holes :-) ).  Arriving in Omaha was great-we both looked at each other and said it FELT like we were home.  There's just something to be said about the Midwest!!  And best of all, we had a car load of family coming to greet us!!  Nothing like a big hug from Izzy and Easton!! First things first when we landed in Omaha was going to Pepperjax!!  Although it may not be many people's first choice....we miss it ALL the time!!

Once we got back into town, I was able to go enjoy some girl time and join Peggy at women's league and get in a quick 9!!  It was lots of fun--shots and golf and GORGEOUS weather!  (Nothing like the 90% humidity and HOT AS HELL of Louisiana!).  We got to see Dad on Friday and enjoy some lunch in Norfolk with him.  Then, we were able to get in a lunch on Saturday with my Grandma Koehler (it just wouldn't be a trip back without going to her house--she insisted we come eat with her....and to be honest....who can say no to Grandma's cooking and hospitality....not this girl!

Saturday afternoon Peggy, Alec, Matt, Chad and I went out to golf 9 holes and then were later joined by Bruce, Derek and Brandy for another 9.  We had a little best ball tournament--which was lots of fun....even if I was on the losing team (sorry Bruce you had to carry us!! haha)  I still stand by saying I would have performed better with my own clubs...next time the clubs are coming with us!  Congrats to Peggy, Chad, Derek and Matt on winning.

Us girls.

 The winning team....this is one of the putts that pulled them ahead of us.....

 I actually really like this picture........

Oh and I got a nice little souvenir...my dear brother-in-law Alec hit a nice slicer off the tee box on hole 1 and got me right in the calf! 

Saturday night was LOADS of fun, with a little "open house" BBQ with drinks by the fire and family and friends!!  It was another GORGEOUS night--we couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

Until next time....hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe 4th!!!  Love you all!!  (there are other pictures...but for whatever reason they are not uploading....but hopefully you get the jist of all the fun we had!)  I'll have to post some of the others on another post!

Hey Ya'll

Well....we've officially been Southerner's (mostly meaning dwelling in the South....not adapted to the South)  now for about 10 weeks ....crazy how that works! (We still bleed Husker red :o)  )  I've been meaning to get on here and let you ya'll know just how things have been going over the past week or so...and then before you know it it's been about 2 or 3 weeks.  Anyways....I have a great friend who is a GREAT blogger....and she's inspired me to document what we've been up to time and again in pictures. She is an up and coming photographer and she has challenged me (and her readers) to document our week in 5 pictures.  This might be cheesy...but at the same time I feel like this is a great goal to make sure I'm updating more often than just once a month of our things. 
 
So shout out to  Brooklyn's Photography....if you are ever in need of a great photographer, check her out in the Omaha area!  I would also like to try and feature some recipes and DIY things from time to time to....so maybe this blog will get exciting!  haha

Okay...so this more or less is what we were up to this last week or so in 5 or more pictures:

We went "exploring" and driving around Slidell on a cool evening a couple weekends ago and drove across Lake Pontchartrain....the sunset made for beautiful scenery!





I've been hard at work studying to take yet another boards test, on top of doing online classes for the summer.  My goal is to take the SPI (Sonography Principles and Instrumentation) test by the end of the summer...and then the Vascular portion by the end of the year....and add RVT to my credentials. (aka pay raise!! yaya!!...and more expertise :-)) And then I'll have my bachelor's in Radiological Science/Healthcare by May 2013. 

We went golfing, also a week ago on a warm but BEAUTIFUL Slidell day...it had rained crazy the night before so it made for great golfing weather.  Although we both played....um...er....at about our handy cap....we enjoyed our little date...and ended the night at this pretty delicious cafe called "Southside"....a Slidell orginial!  You should check out Southside's website! We'll definitely be going back!

In other breaking news.....I started my job last week at Ochsner!  This is what I'll look like EVERY DAY....because we only get to wear ONE COLOR!  So...whooohoo!  I spent Monday and Tuesday last week in "new employee orientation"....which in all honesty was the easiest and longest 2 days of pay in my life!  Although it was interesting learning about the company I have become a part of....some of that stuff becomes a little redundant!  But all part of starting a new job!  A little known fact about Ochsner.....it began with 5 doctors who couldn't get a loan because of low equitty....and so on a house call that happened to be for a banker's wife by one of these doctor's, his quality of care of compassion brought the banker to grant this group of doctor's the money to start the health system that no one thought would work.....and now in the Southern Louisiana area there are 8 hospitals and 35 clinics!  Pretty cool! huh?!?!?

The weekend before last we took a jaunt out to the "Save our Lake" festival...which included live music, festival food (burgers, nachos, funnel cake (yum), pretty much anything fried on a stick....beer), a classic car show and a party out on the cove of the lake!  This was fun for about 2 hrs....and then we were SCORCHED from the heat/humidity...and the beers just weren't cutting it...so we called it a day! 

So....that's all "she wrote".  Our next post will be featuring our time in NEBRASKA as we come back to the "good life" this coming weekend for a quick visit with the family.  And I am SOOOO looking forward to it!  If you are in Northeast Nebraska Saturday night....get a hold of us for some drinks/backyard fire/catching up!

Until next time! 

C&K