ACE hotel.

So these past couple of weeks have been a bit hectic and crazy. I started my last semester and boy, has it consumed me. The first weeks are always busy because we have extra days in the skills lab, etc. I had my first official critical care rotation last week. I got to go in the Cath lab and watch angiograms. However, this was cut short because we had to go back to school for our lab class. This week, I will be in the MICU for 12 hours. I am very excited and am looking forward to all that I will learn.

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So, for one of the first weekends in January, my husband and I were finally able to take our mini vacation. Instead of buying gifts for one another for Christmas, we decided to put the money towards a night away. We chose to book a night at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. All I can say is WOW. The drive wasn't too long, and we left pretty early to make sure that we could really enjoy ourselves and the time away. The check in time wasn't until 3pm, but we got there around 11:30 to see if there were any rooms ready earlier. Luckily, there were and we got to settle down in our room before 12! We walked around the property and ended up sitting down at the pool for a couple of hours. We relaxed in the sun, with food and drink in hand. There was a DJ playing music due to the weekend holiday, which added to the relaxing environment. Later, we rented out a tandem bicycle to ride around Palm Springs. This was something that we had never done before, but we loved it! Later, we went back to our room and got ready to grab some dinner at King's Highway Diner--which is connected to the ACE and used to be an old Dennys. While eating in the diner, we got to play Bingo as this was their usual Monday night special. Although we didn't win anything, we had so much fun and got to see into the future of our retirement Bingo nights. The next day, we woke up, went and laid out by the pool, took a walk, and then sadly, had to check out. On our way out, we stopped by the downtown area and ate at this delicious restaurant called Palm Greens Cafe. It had so many vegetarian and vegan options and the food was amazing. We will definitely be going back to this place.We also were able to stop by "The world's biggest dinosaurs" on our way home. Pat had never been there before, so we stopped and took pictures and walked around.

Here are some pictures of our trip.

During our drive to the ACE

The lobby

Our amazing room

The walls are covered in canvas!

Lounging by the pool

Community fire place

Pat picking cuties

What a babe

Our successful bike ride on the tandem

Pat's dream of seeing the "world's biggest dinosaurs" has been fulfilled

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Overall, the Ace was fabulous. The ascetics and feeling of the hotel were just amazing. It was actually an old Howard Johnson that was fixed up and beautified, and they did a great job. The staff was really helpful and friendly and we were both able to relax and enjoy ourselves. We would recommend this hotel to anyone. The location, food, decor, and experience were all worth it and we will be making another visit here ourselves as soon as the time allows--That or visiting one of the other locations!

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Have a great week!

XO

Mini Muffin Madness

Over the break, my sister introduced me to this super easy muffin recipe that I tried out this week. Basically, there is one main ingredient and then you can experiment by using anything you want. So I have made two batches thus far and Pat and I are loving them! The best part about them is that they are SUPER healthy.... or let's just say that we can eat a bunch of them and not feel badly about ourselves. Basically, the main ingredient is whole wheat pancake mix from Trader Joe's. I use about two cups of this and then go crazy with all sorts of fresh ingredients.
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Our first batch were apple-banana-zucchini muffins. 

The ingredients we used included:

Apple sauce

A whole banana

A whole zucchini and a half

Greek yogurt

Fresh ginger

Cinnamon

Grapeseed oil (2 Tbs)

Rice milk (1/3 cup)

Agave
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Our second batch of mini muffins were Blueberry-Carrot-Ginger.

We experimented with:

Apple sauce

Blueberries

A whole carrot

Fresh ginger

Greek yogurt

Agave

Cinnamon

Vanilla Extract

Grapeseed oil (2 Tbs)

Rice milk (1/3 cup)

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They are delicious and relatively healthy. 

**NOTE TO SELF: Make these again!

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XO

It's that time of the year.

I can't believe 2012 is here already. Pat and I had a great time celebrating the holidays with family and friends and are sad that it is over. This past year went by so fast! I gained a new, extremely long, last name & I still feel like we just got engaged, which happened in 2010--jeez! Pat and I had fun coming up with our new year's resolutions for 2012 & we are going to hold each other accountable! God was so good to us during 2011 & we can't wait to see His plans for us this year.

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Here are some pictures from the holidays:

This is what happens when you pick out a tree with a Prius...

 Pat bringing the tree in

Our decorated tree!

Our first married Christmas morning

Bright & early Christmas morning before going over to the parents

We put up some lights on the porch to show some holiday spirit

The "Tallcott" girls on New Year's Eve

Christmas night at my mom's house

Hanging out with Bryden at the Spectrum

Bryden's second Christmas at his grandma's house

Mom and Pat being wacky waiting for the ball to drop

Lastly, our handsome nephew on our way home from the petting zoo in San Juan

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So this week, I started my last first week of my undergraduate career (assuming that I pass all of this semester's classes). I am in critical care and my preceptorship and I am super nervous and excited. Pat and I have so much going on this year. To name a few events: we have our one year anniversary (yay!), my graduation from nursing school, a potential job as an RN, my sister's wedding, some good friend's weddings, moving to New York, etc. This year is going to be very eventful! However, we will have to make sure we focus on the here and now and not get too caught up in the exciting events to come.

Overall, 2011 was magnificent mostly because of OUR MARRIAGE (& we still can't believe we are husband and wife!)....

(Picking up our marriage license)

(Gettin' hitched in Carlsbad, CA)

(Our traditional Thai wedding in Bangkok, Thailand)

...and we look forward to 2012!
XO