Mag-Pie, Races & Teething

Hello?!?! Is anyone still there? Its been a few months since my last post and things have been coo-coo for cocopuffs over here in the good 'ol Coady-Millar household.

With the apparent drought in nursing jobs, I took a job working for a young family's 8 month old baby girl. I absolutely love kids and if I can't find a job as a nurse, well then a nanny is the second best option... With the exception of the poor child teething like crazy, she is precious and a pretty chill little human.

We finally had family come visit! Chris's parents and aunt came out to visit for a week and Chris and I managed to get off work too. We were non-stop the whole week-- going to see the seals at Children's Pool, the Gaslamp District in San Diego, staying in the beachside villas on Camp Pendleton, visiting Chris's new squadron, day trips to Balboa Island in Newport Beach & Laguna Beach. To top it all off, me, Chris & his aunt, Mary, ran the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon! The course was nothing but hills!! For this Florida girl who is used to humidity and a flat landscape, lets just say it wasn't my best time but I had a blast! It is the best feeling when you cross the finish line and that is what makes races so addictive. That was my long race in almost 2 years and I am already looking for another one to sign up for- I have the race bug again!

Oh and one last little tid bit, WE GOT ANOTHER PUPPY!! I know what you're thinking- are y'all crazy?! The answer is yes. Haha With Chris and I both working full time now, we needed someone to keep our crazy, hyper pointer, Red, company. (Well, that was the idea that I pitched Chris and it worked... lol Actually, I just have always dreamed of having a little girl golden retriever for as long as I can remember!) After a week of surfing petfinder.com & Cragislist, we found our little Maggie May! Let me just tell you, she is the ying to Red's yang! She is calm, independent & sweet but is sassy enough to not let Red be too rough with her. We took Red with us when we went to pick her out and she was the only brave puppy to approach him while he was jumping all over the place. (Well that, and she was the only one with curly haired ears which is so freaking adorable!!!) Red was a little jealous and apprehensive at first, but now they are best buds and inseparable.

 

Until next time y'all! :) 

Ironman 70.3 California

Growing up in the South, you are constantly surrounded by a love (or slight obsession) with sports, especially college football! It is more like a religion... But really more than the sport of it, I was always more compelled by the competition and mental challenge of it all. I think that is why I love endurance sports so much! From the training to the actual event, it is not only a test of preparedness, athletic ability, but also, mental perseverance. 

I started watching the Ironman triathlons many years ago and have followed the athletes' careers, like Chrissy Wellington, Craig Alexander, Andy Potts and Mirinda Carfrae. So when I found out that there was an Ironman 70.3 in Oceanside that needed medical volunteers, I was a little but overly excited... Not to mentions that it was the first chance that I would have been able to practice my nursing skills in many months! 

Just a little background, an Ironman 70.3 (or half Ironman) is a race that consists of three sports: swim, bike and run. This particular distance consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run. If you total that up- its 70.3 miles traveled all in one race! Total craziness! The cutoff time for this particular race was 8.5 hours.

It was such an amazing experience to work behind the scenes at this race! I got to dust off the old nursing skills and had some amazing mentors help teach me about triage and care in an event such as this. (Not to mention it was the first time I got to tell people I was an RN... hehe! Although I made it clear I was a baby nurse still...) 

Hopefully one day I will make it make it that starting line, but for now I am more than content being behind the scenes! 

Over One Hurdle and On to Another...

Well y'all, I finally did it- I passed my boards and you are now looking at the newest California registered nurse! It has taken so long for all of the paper work through the state to be processed and so many hours have been spent studying, but it is all worth it now! The next hurdle is to find a job... Easier said than done. What many people that aren't in nursing don't understand is that although there are tons of nursing jobs available and we are in a nursing crisis, it is so hard for a new grad RN to get their foot in the door and someone to give them a chance. I hear it all the time from people about how easy it should be to get a job in California as a nurse and sadly, it is just not the case. The best way is to get into the RN residency programs that some of the teaching hospitals in the area offer but those are only available three times a year. So while most of my friends from nursing school have jobs and are thriving in their new careers, I still feel a little behind the curve, but you can't say I'm not trying (35 applications in one week...)! Other than applications, I have been trying to stay busy to keep myself from going bonkers! I have been trying to make our house more "homey" by decorating the walls and doing little crafts. Its a work in progress....

I have also been doing a lot of training for the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in June. Chris's parents are coming in town and his aunt is running the race with both of us too. It is gonna a blast! Red and I have been going on a lot of training runs around Temecula. I have done two marathons and a half marathon in the past, but with the craziness of nursing school, I let my running fall by the waist side. I have really enjoyed getting back into my groove and I have really missed training. It so funny how therapeutic running can be, even through the agony of getting back into shape! haha Its nice having Red as a running buddy too (not to mention, it is one of the few things that wears his butt out!). 

Until next time lovelies!

  

Our California "Winter", Family Visits & Meeting Mr. Red

Why hello there lovelies & happy Friday! Well I don't know about y'all but this 70 degree weather is killing me, when is it going to by 85 again?! ;) If I ever though that we didn't have season in Florida, let me tell you, there are absolutely NO seasons in southern California!! But I am not complaining in the slightest... Let that dust keep collecting on all my long sleeves and puffy coats! 

Chris is finally flying on a regular basis and is as busy as every but we have been trying to make the most out of our weekends with visits with friends. Chris's college friends, Ryan and Dylan, who are also in the military and stationed in SoCal come over to the house and visit often. Our humble abode gets turned into a frat house for the night with those crazy boys but it is always full of laughs, craziness & fun. I love hearing all their crazy stories from college. We also have made new friends from Chris's squadron that live out in Temecula too. Keith and Aubrey are this adorable couple from Georgia (it's nothing like some southern accents to give you a taste of home!) and we have completely hit it off! It has especially been nice for Aubrey and I to have a girlfriend to have girls nights with and that can relate to the craziness of this military life. Not to mention, we are both winos, have a slight obsession with Bravo shows and have the same silly sense of humor... :)

A few weeks ago, Chris's cousin, Sean, and his girlfriend, April, made a trip down here from Seattle. We had such a blast with them and it was SO refreshing to have family visit. We managed to squeeze in a trip to the Rogue Brewery for a tour, going on base to see the helicopters that Chris flies, the farmers market, hiking and going out to a local bar for some live music, fire pits and playing corn hole (any of y'all that don't tailgate in the South know what corn hole is? haha)! My favorite part was coming home and all of us were sprawled out in the kitchen stuffing our faces and singing along to Chris playing the guitar until that wee hours of the morning. :) Chris and I are going to have to repay the visit and see them in Seattle soon!

We hiked up the Temescal mountains that are right down the road from our house. 

All of the Millar men

 

Sean and April were just too adorable for words...

I feel like this is as good a time as any to fill all y'all in on Mr. Red Man Chew too. For those of you that have not had the pleasure to meet this wild animal, Red is our crazy 7 month old German Shorthaired Pointer. Now, mind you that many people warned us about the insanity and energy that this breed had but we ignored them and got our precious little puppy child anyways. He is a incessant barking, backyard digging, attention hungry, bird hunting, never ending ball of energy but he is also the most loyal and loving puppy ever. He is a lot to handle and he has no manners but we love his craziness and the entertainment he brings. Bless his heart, in the past few weeks the poor guy has gotten neutered, had a big old hole in his shoulder from getting bit at the dog park (notice the bandage on him in the pictures) and had a reaction to one of his vaccinations that left a big hard lump in his other shoulder, but none of this bothered him. He was just as crazy as ever though...

He still managed to ripe this bandage off but we tried!

 Our live will never be the same with this crazy thing, but we like it that way! :)

Making the Most of It

One of the things that comes with the territory of dating a man in the service is that you have to learn to be ok with being by yourself- A LOT! Sometimes this means spending holidays all by your lonesome, which I am slowly getting used to. I'm not gonna to lie- it's pretty tough when you're a self proclaimed social butterfly and Momma's girl (and all of your friends and family are 2,000 miles away). My first taste of being solo was spending Christmas Eve alone (Chris had a 24 hour watch on base, which meant that even when he got home at 9am on Christmas morning that he slept most of the day). 

Well, Valentines this year was no exception! Chris had another all day watch and I was left trying to find something to do that would keep me preoccupied. Since we have only lived in our house for a little over 3 months and my Pinterest boards are overflowing with design ideas for it, I decided to dust off the old sewing machine and finish decorating our bedroom! Being that I am on an EXTREMELY tight budget, I had to get creative and think outside the box a little. 

I found 2 of the cutest fabrics at Walmart that had my favorite color and knew they'd make the perfect pillows! Not to mention- together it was a steal at $15!

BEFORE

(Please excuse sleeping beauty :)

AFTER

Next, it was time to tackle the curtains... The house came with these awful black curtains that just made the room feel like a dungeon. Not wanting to spend an arm and a leg on new curtains or all those yards of fabric, I decided to try something a little different! I had seen on Pinterest how to turn a plain 'ol flat sheet into curtains and we just so happened to have a bunch of extra sets of white sheets. They turned out great! I even had some fabric left over from the pillows and made a little border on the bottom!

BEFORE

AFTER

I even had some fabric left over to make little mats for the dresser and night stand. We bought our bedroom furniture on Craigslist, so there were a few scratches and scuffs and these were the perfect way to cover them up!

I eventually want to make a headboard (can't decide if I want to do one out of pallets or plywood and fabric...) but that is for another post at later time.

The next morning, Chris came home from his 24 hour shift to a new & relaxing bedroom that was perfect for him to sleep half the day away in. Meanwhile, I headed out for my new favorite Saturday tradition- the Old Town Temecula Farmer's Market! I promise to take pictures next time I am there! My favorite purchase of that day were these peonies hybrids. Aren't they just divine? There is just something about fresh flowers that just makes ya so happy- doncha think? 

After Chris woke up, we decided to venture the hour long drive west to Dana Point. My only request for our Valentine's make-up day was to see the ocean. After growing up on the beach, I was dying to see the water, smell the salt air and get my toes sandy! It was exactly the mini getaway that we needed! With all of the stress of Chris's job as a helicopter pilot and my crazy roller coaster ride in trying to get my California nursing license (4 months of waiting!!!), it was the perfect way for both of us to recharge and refocus on each other.

Let's Catch Ya Up to Speed

I figure before we go any further, I should really catch you up on just how this girl from a small beach town in Florida somehow found herself on the other side of the country! Oh Lordy, well I guess this means that we will go back to the very beginning of "us"... 

After graduating from the University of Florida in 2011 and taking a year off to figure out what the heck I wanted to do with my life, I started a one year, accelerated bachelors of nursing program at the University of South Alabama in July of 2012. I'm not gonna lie, I really needed that year off. How many other times in your life do you have a moment to breathe and take a step back to look at your life and figure out what direction you want to take, right?! After a crazy year of ups and downs, I was finally starting a new chapter in the rest of my life by taking the steps towards a career and passion for nursing. I was so excited and was very adamantly telling everyone that I was going to stay single and focus solely on school! NO BOYS! Well.... that lasted for a week. (Hehehe) I was studying for my first test in the local Starbucks in Gulf Breeze, when this cute guy sat down at the table next to me and asked me for a pen. Little did I know that after a few study dates (Chris was studying for flight school for the Marines) which led to a date which led to dating, falling in love, moving in together, getting a puppy, graduating from nursing school, getting his wings and getting stationed at Camp Pendleton, California! Whew- all that happened in a little over a year! Talk about a whirlwind! 

One of our first dates :) Sept, 2012

Getting to see the "mighty" T-6 trainer jet

Marine Corps Ball, Nov. 2012

5 day hike on Appalachian Trail, Feb 2013

Nursing School Graduation, July 2013

Chris's Winging Ceremony, Sept. 2013

Officially with his wings! (Ain't he handsome ;)

We got our German Shorthaired Pointer puppy, Red! Aug. 2013

Ninja Turtles, Halloween 2013

Heading to Cali! Nov 2013

Red the co-pilot

The mountains in New Mexico

Finally in San Diego! Childrens' Pool in La Jolla, Nov 2013

Red enjoying the dog beach in Del Mar

Finally in our new house in Temecula! Thanksgiving, 2013

Made a quick trip back to Pensacola to be the maid of honor in my best friend's wedding :) Dec 2013

Hiking Palomar Mountain (Red is getting bigger by the day)

Christmas Puppy, Dec 2013

Day hike & camping the Pacific Crest Trail (Red's first overnight hike!) Jan 2014

25th Birthday! Took a trip to LA to get Georgetown Cupcakes and see the Hollywood Walk of Fame Jan., 2014

Found Marilyn Monroe's prints!

Whew! Are we all caught up?! What a wild ride! Well now that we have all of that covered, we can focus on the new adventures that we are having while exploring our new home!