Oh the places I went

It's so cliché, but time truly does fly when you're having fun. This past chunk of time has been one of the longest two months, but the fastest 60 days I've experienced in a long time. That hardly seems possible, especially when I type it into words.. those are two opposite, practically an oxymoron.. but my legs are long, and I walk really fast, so *shrug* that's enough logic for me! Especially since that's exactly what the end of May through the beginning of July have been in the wild life of Al, here, there, and everywhere.. with the brain in my head and feet in my shoes, I can steer myself in whatever direction I choose.. or however that Dr Seuss quote goes (seems like I've already butchered two in this blog post.. I better get it together!).

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Rewind back to the end of May, and I'm still in Phoenix, AZ. I'm still a nurse at Valleywise, floating around the hospital, in a different place each shift.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a night shift nurse ask me, "are you back tomorrow?" I might not even need to be a nurse anymore! It is such a glimmer of positivity in all the nonsense to look forward to simply giving "updates" about your patients to the same nurse at the end of your shift instead of giving a full report to a new nurse. My last few shifts, I got to be that glimmer of positivity for the night shift nurses as I worked four shifts in a row on the same unit to round out my contract.

After finishing my last shift, I couldn't be that glimmer for someone else. Instead, I held on to that glimmer for myself as I looked forward to a month of adventures before the start of this next contract. I found even more of a glimmer as Shel picked me up from my last shift and took me to our favorite Tuesday spot (which turned into our favorite spot period as we frequented it no matter what day of the week it was.. my last shift was in fact on a Monday). We enjoyed one last round of margs from our favorite bartender with my darling youngest sister who flew out to help me drive back east. I could not have done it without her channeling her inner Momma Gwen by playing Tetris to pack up everything into my CRV.

We drank, we hugged, I cried, and the next morning Liz and I were off. “Peace out, Phoenix!” We loved ya, and we’ll definitely be back.. probably again in the winter, that summer heat of yours is a little scary.

Liz and I spent the next three days driving across the country, Arizona to Maryland. I’m not entirely sure how we managed to haul it as quickly as we did, but we made it home to my parents’ by Thursday afternoon fueled primarily on adrenaline, music, podcasts, and of course, snacks.

The next morning, we were back in a car (thankfully one that my mom was driving) and we were en route to..

📍Buffalo, NY for my (now) cousin-in-law’s bridal shower! I I always appreciate any excuse to get dolled up with my sisters, but I think my mom especially appreciates the photos we take. She specifically calls out the fact that she now gets an updated Lock Screen, which often only happens at Christmas anymore.

As much as I would be plenty content with a campfire for dinner or dessert just about every night, we couldn’t stay past the weekend in New York. It was back to Maryland, because the next morning, I had to catch a flight to..

📍Aruba, Jamaica, ohhhh I wanna take ya.. actually just to Aruba. Awake before the sun, and out the door as it was rising, we we were all en route to the airport which is a place that never seems to sleep. The "we" in this scenario is, naturally, dream team Shel and Al, but also included Shel's two younger sisters and her soon to be brother-in-law! We made it to sunny sunny Aruba and just about immediately knew we’d have a great week. We walked across the street to the local spot for lunch and enjoyed our evening at the pool before drifting off to dreamland where we dreamt about the wonders that would be the rest of our trip.

Day 2 (which was kinda just our official first full day but also was the first day of JUNE-- crazy to think about thaaaat) included breakfast at Linda's, another dip in the pool, exchanging our substitute rental van for our originally promised rental jeep (it's a whole thing, we're still tender about it.. don't even ask), and exploring the down town area.

Up next was a day at the beeeaaach! More specifically Palm Beach. We discovered this one in our adventures downtown the night prior since our last stop was a beach bar. The beach is a little hard to enjoy in the pitch black dark of the night, so we knew we’d have to venture there in the daylight when it would be more enjoyable. The (different) beach bar we found ourselves at in said daylight was also more enjoyable. This was largely because of our amazing bartenders who made us specialty drinks and napkin roses, shed a tear when we left to freshen up and cheered when we returned, and sang and danced with us (even when we requested "Lip Gloss" and completely ignored them while we sang and danced in our own little world).

The following day was our first true adventure day where we went off-roading in jeeps to the natural pools where we got to jump off the rocks and snorkel! Magic Mike and Uncle Johnny were the absolute best tour guides showing us all the cool stuff, taking all the cool pictures, and allowing us to have a grand ol time. Aruba is the world's happiest island, partially because of people like them, and partially because of all of the tequila (according to Uncle Johnny haha). Shel and I decided to see what all the hype was, but ended up drinking "Aruban Orange Crushes" and left all the tequila shots to Shel's future brother-in-law.

Ohhhhh baby the next day was also wonderful as we started off relaxing on Baby Beach-- this was largely in part due to my excitement for my watermelon kini, earrings, and *not pictured* towel. The only way it would have been any more wonderful would have been if our fancy dinner after the beach could have included Tiramisu.. but alas, they ran out before we ordered. All in all though, it was plenty wonderful, I mean heck.. we were in Aruba for crying out loud!

Any tears that were shed for the missing dessert the night before were quickly wiped away as we boarded our breakfast boat complete with an open bar and snorkeling.. not necessarily in that order. Shel and I ended our day with a little nod to our Phoenix adventures at a rooftop bar enjoying the sunset, "a shark coochie board," specially made cocktails, and of course espresso martinis.

One last full day meant one last beach, 117 steps up to the top of the lighthouse, and one last time for Al to give Shel's future brother-in-law a little look and nod before he steps right up to pose for another silly picture.

Our actual last day was mostly spent at the airport which included a ton of lines and lots of waiting, but hey, at least we made friends with this fun lizard guy who matched the lizard guy on my shirt, so that had to count for something!!

As sad as we were to be leaving Aruba, we all agreed that it was the perfect amount of time spent there. Shel and I also felt like we had gotten the perfect tan! We owe a little to all of our time spent in the Phoenix sun prior to Aruba, but lemme tell you.. the Aruba sun is absolutely no joke. The island is practically right on the equator, so the UV index averages well above 10.. meanwhile, I thought 10 was the max! We grossly underestimated how much sunscreen we would use during the trip, but made quite a point to apply and reapply to keep our skin happy, which was definitely the move because then I had a nice golden glow for my next trip up to..

📍The Finger Lakes for my cousin’s wedding! I made my way up there by way of Lizzy’s apartment to ride with her, and I’m so glad she drove so I could play paparazzi for the artwork that displayed all across the sky at the end of our drive.

Shan and I also got to spend some quality time together as we rehearsed how to eat dinner after indulging in a little DIY wine tasting at the cutest little bed and breakfast I ever did see. It felt like it was straight out of an episode of Gilmore Girls! What character do you think we'd each be?

Mom ended up with even more options for a Lock Screen with this wedding! The ceremony was on the incredibly photogenic Keuka College campus and my goodness I simply cannot get over those greens and blues! I think that's what I missed most when I was out in Phoenix. Don't get me wrong, there are truly some beautiful sights out west, but nothing beats the colors on the east coast.

The girls and I (unofficially) won the awards for "cheapest dresses" (shoutout to our love of thrift stores) and "best on the dance floor!" As soon as the DJ opened up the dance floor, you probably only had to take one guess as to where us girls were. We sure do know how to have ourselves a good time, and are available for hire if you need someone to spice up your next wedding or party. We did not win the prize for most photos with the bride and groom.. they were pretty popular, but we did snap some pretty great ones in the photo booth! And naturally, I snuck off the dance floor for a moment to snap a pretty great photo of the sunset.

I cannot wait to see the professional photos from this wedding, especially ones from the dance floor.. I always end up with at least one of me dancing or channeling my inner Whitney belting my heart out to "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" or the like. I was definitely pretty sore and tired after a full night of singing and dancing, but only had a moment to rest before driving back home and then switching gears and driving to..

📍Charleston, SC.. but only for a quick moment. Surprisingly, I didn't take any pictures, not even of the deeeelicious chicken sammie I got! I know.. so not like me. I think I will blame it on the fact that I experienced my first Charleston summer thunderstorm in my less than 24 hours here. The air felt incredibly thick and humid on the way into the shop and it became clear why as I was walking back out.. in a torrential downpour. I bolted into the hotel clutching my sammie, but it was all worth it once I took a bite. After becoming a member of "clean plate club," I showered, curled into bed, and drifted off to dreamland. My alarm woke me up before the sun because I was back en route to another airport.. only this time I was en route to..

📍Salt Lake City, Utah!!!

As much as I love a good sunset, I'm such a sucker for a good sunrise.. especially from the window of a plane. And even more so especially when that plane is on it's way to my one of my best friend's weddings!!!! Which I should note is also the location of the debatably most famous high school in all of the land!? Or at least the most musically inclined one ;) You can bet on it we started something new and fabulously broke free while we bopped to the top because it was now or never to do a whole photoshoot outside of East High! (...if that meant nothing to you, I'm so sorry, because my inner DCOM kid was having a the time of her life with her pals). Aim and I also did a real photoshoot, camera and all, at sunrise in a park just a mile down the road from our airbnb. It only felt fitting to break out the dress used I wore in the sneaky surprise engagement photoshoot during wedding weekend.

It also had just been far too long since I had gotten in front of Aim's camera and I am oh so glad we decided to do this. Maybe I'll do a whole post about mine and Aim's adventures, especially as they often tap into one of my deepest loves, dance. (a topic I have already written a little about, if you missed it, tap here!)

Aim brought her camera back out at the rehearsal dinner in the groom's parent's backyard where we all kinda accidentally coordinated our outfits, but not so much coordinated ourselves to all look at the camera at the same time.. well except maybe once.

Aim got to put her camera away and finally be on the other side during a wedding thanks to Mags. Also thanks Mags for letting us wear birks instead of heels so we could tear it up on the dance floor!

Alllllso need to send a thanks to our two pals, Pat and Hai. While Aim and I were tending to the bride and groom and making sure they always had a glass of booze in their hands, food in their bellies, and a smile on their faces.. the boys were doing the same for us.

It wouldn't be an Al trip without seeking out a sunset too, so of course I immediately said yes when asked if I wanted to join Pat on a hike to a cool lookout at sunset before catching my redeye back east.

The redeye allowed me to catch the sunset on the west coast and the sunrise on the east coast ..

..where I changed into my "nurse costume" in the airport bathroom, something I didn't really think would ever happen, but am not surprised did less than a year into travel nursing. After changing, I boarded my connecting flight and next thing I knew, I was back in..

📍Charleston!

While the first day in Charleston was mostly spent in the hospital, I found some moments away from MUSC throughout the week and enjoyed exploring the place we're calling home for the next little while!

Unsurprisingly, our first few weeks here have been filled with food, booze, sunsets, friends, and.. well we're in Charleston.. so the beach!

I will be sure to have another post (hopefully with less lag time between posts this time) about our Charleston adventures, especially since we just got bikes and have been much more efficient in bopping around town.

Until next time,

Xo, Al