I like my job but I love my off-days

I feel blessed to have a job that on most days makes me feel happy and satisfied. The perk of being a nurse(or working with a nurse for the summer) is that you only work three days a week. Obviously our shifts are 12 hours and you are exhausted by the time you get home, but you have four days off. I have been enjoying my off-days so much since I discovered that I can reserve books online on the library website. Yes, I am so nerdy. I reserved 11 books at one time and happily started going through them. So far I have read almost four of them in the last week. 

I have also gone to the high school pool and Troy has joined me for swim workouts. Today I swam 800 meters and he did 500 meters. It's lot more fun and less embarrassing to have someone there with me. I always feel like I'm trying to escape the Arizona summers and hide inside my house with A/C on and it feels great to actually enjoy the heat while swimming.

I also met up with one of my nursing school friends at the Reid Park Zoo. She was babysitting so I tagged along for some animal watching.  We got there around 9 am and I was shocked to see how many moms/grandmas and few dads were there that early with their kids.  It must be the place to be!

Elephants used to be my favorite animal, but I'm thinking that Giraffes are ever cooler. I haven't seen a live one for few years and I had forgotten how beautiful they are. Two of the giraffes were doing some hugging and "dancing" with their necks. They have some flexible necks. 

Something Little Different

About a month ago, I went to ophthalmologist because my far vision seemed very blurry. I was thinking that the doctor will tell me to wear glasses while I'm driving or in class. Surprisingly enough, I have astigmatism and I will be wearing glasses all the time. So finally after four weeks of waiting, my glasses arrived this morning and I have been trying to get used to them all day. I keep thinking they are sunglasses and try to put them on top of my head when I do things. Now I just have to figure out if I should do something different with my make-up when wearing glasses? So all ladies with glasses, give me some tips:)

So far I'm liking them. I just hope I won't get tired of them too quickly. At least I can get new glasses every year:)

This picture is really not the best because after our swim workout, I decided to go with the t-shirt and no make-up look for the rest of the day. 

"LIttle" sister's Visit

Since I have been out of "home" for more than five years now, I tend to think of my youngest sister as a little girl when in reality she has grown into a beautiful young woman. Aino and her friend Sonja came to visit us for few days and we tried not to be too boring for these 16 year olds.  As you can see, Aino likes tanning so we tried to take advantage of the Tucson weather to improve her tan. Of course, it happens to be the monsoon season and we saw more rain than sun that week.  We shopped, ate great food and saw "Made of Honor". It ended up being a pretty cute comedy. However, it did have some unnecessary inappropriate comments and humor, which seems to be the case with almost all the new movies. 

Aino and Troy making some Chicken Enchaladas for dinner
Girls excited about eating brownies while watching So You Think You Can Dance.

Aino's comments from her visit were "Troy, I didn't know you were so stylish" and while talking to dad on the phone, she encouraged dad to follow Troy's example with dressing up. She also told us that our kids would be so lucky since we cook such good food. We loved having her here for few days and were reminded again of how nice it would be to be closer to my family.

I'm a Land Mammal

I decided to try swimming as a workout so I bravely went to the local public pool by myself and jumped into the water. I went during the "adult lap hours" so there were only few other people. which didn't make me feel any better. I happened to be the only girl among the middle age men who were getting their workout in. Also I think my bathing suit with Zebra print took away any attempt to look like a serious swimmer, but I sure love that bathing suit. Thanks Janae:)

I find it funny that I can run 400 m(1/4 mile), which is one lap around the track, in one minute while it took me at least 10 minutes to swim 400 meters. I just do the breast stroke because I have not figured out my breathing rhythm for freestyle. 

I will enjoy my swimming workouts; however, I won't be trying to switch from running races to swimming races anytime soon. 

World of Workout Videos

For the past week, I have been enjoying workouts in my living room as I follow the cheerful commands of the perky model girl on the TV. "Eight more; feel the burn" she says as she doing lunges on some beach in Mexico. I do have to confess that I used to think of these workout videos as silly way to exercise; however, right now I am finding them to be perfect way to stay in shape when even the thought of going outside makes me break into sweat. Plus Troy thinks it's entertaining when I'm trying to hold my pilates poses since I have lost much of my flexibility since my gymnastics and track days. What is everyone else doing during those months when working out seems impossible?

Of course to balance this new exercise regimen, I am now eating Ben&Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie. 

Sweetness of Babies

I absolutely love babies and I have not even had one of my own yet. Since I'm working at the mother-baby unit, I get to witness the sweetness of new families and the joy these babies bring to their parents. I love to hold them and talk to the parents about them and see the transformation that takes place when they welcome their babies into this world. It never fails to amaze me how incredible the human life is. It is such a pleasure to work with the moms and the babies because most of the time, they are so appreciative of your help and teaching and it really is a happy time in the hospital. Below are pictures of some fabulous moms that I get to hang out with on my free time:) 

Janae and I went to visit Lili who just had her baby girl few weeks ago. Again and again, I am reminded of what a blessing it is to have good friends. 
Heather had Mr. James in March and he never was very small:) The picture is from our last night together before they moved to California. We miss them terribly and hope that somehow we will live in the same area in the future:) 

Trip to the Home Land

We went on a quick week and half trip to Finland for my brother's high school graduation. As always, it was wonderful to be in Finland. We made a daily trip to the candy store with at least 50 bins of different candy to choose from and ate finnish pastries and rye bread with the delicious Finnish cheese. The weather was perfect (in the 70s) and we spent hours outside. The highlight was obviously Mio's graduation and the graduation party and it was fun to see our family friends. 

Dad and I before our 10 K run on a saturday morning, The luxury of running on trails that are lined with green trees and overlooking the sea. 

Our silly family after Mio's party. Notice the different graduation cap. 

Anna and I sitting in the graduation ceremony. 

We hope to be able to live in Finland for few years in the future though it would definitely be a change. Here are some of the adjustments that would happen when moving to Finland

-Troy needs to learn Finnish

- gas prices of 9 dollars/gallon

-no mexican food

-move from a 1500 sq ft house to probably a 800-1000 sq ft apartment(due to expensive house prices)

-more expensive food prices

-far away from Troy's family

-long, dark winters

-Troy probably wouldn't make as much as money and I for sure as a nurse would make much less money.

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What we would gain from our move

-daily access to the best chocolate and candy in the world(obviously on the top of the list!)

-free health care

- excellent public transportation

-great schools for our kids and free college education

- close to my family

-access to sauna

-ability to take trips to different European countries for cheap prices

-sun setting around midnight during summer time

-swimming in the CLEAN lakes during summer

-ability to walk to places and miles and miles of great running trails

OK, both lists are obviously much longer but those are some of the big differences between the two countries. I really love living in both countries though Mexico..I mean Tucson is not that close to my heart.  How do other people feel about living in different countries?