Uptown Living & Visitors

I had promised myself to keep up with this blog like I used to when we were in med school, as I feel is the best family "diary" I have. But of course, days get busy and Nolan is turning out to be a little energizer bunny, and just keeps going, and going, and going! Which leaves me with very little time to write or do anything extra. Still, I adore his tiny face, so I'm soaking it all up before he turns into a full fledged toddler! Which, he is turning into, an is making me so saddd! but that's for another post. 

A week ago our friends from Dallas came to visit! It's always so fun to have family and friends from Dallas come down for the first time to New Orleans, I love getting their reaction to this city! New Orleans is CHARMING, but it's OLD, and broken down! It's definitely not shiny and new, but to me, it has really captured my heart! There's something really amazing about such a historic rich city! In fact, I never understood people when they would talk about how much they love "their city" whatever city that was, usually New York or California, I just never got the whole "love the city you live in" thing because to me, Dallas was just a city that I love because the people I love live there, the city could have been any city really. And then, I met New Orleans! 

New Orleans is unique to say the least. It's like a mix of the store Anthropologie mashed up with a dumpster = New Orleans. Truly. I love that it's not perfectly manicured, and I love how each cafe or park looks like they could belong in a movie. The architecture and little shops and bakeries make it feel like I could easily be in Europe.. the homes are dreamy and it feels like you are stuck in another time period in the past but not really. We love living in Uptown for those reasons and because I feel Uptown is the heart and soul of New Orleans.

Anyway, back to our friends visiting! We went to the 'Lafayette Cemetery' with the Moreno's a and we took too many pictures! But these are the ones that I thought were creepiest! 

Open grave! ^ :O

All over New Orleans you will find gorgeous trees like these! I don't know why, but I just love taking pictures of them, I have too many pictures of trees on my phone, so here is another one of a tree outside of the kids school.

Alison and I in Jackson Square! We loved the music and magic shows street performers put on!

Lots of Art in the French Quarter!

yummy beignets! 

French Quarter! The verdict was in! The Moreno's enjoyed their trip here! They ate a ton of food, good food, so it was OK, but we pigged out!  

OK, how creepy cool is this pic?! ^ we woke up to the thickest fog the other day, and again, it feels like i could easily be in a vampire movie! New Orleans is definitely a cool backdrop for my stupid day dreams.... 

So, yeah, NOLA is cool, we are loving the city living here and are currently open to more visitors! I think as far as NOW, we plan on living here for the next 10-15 years... thank goodness we like it this much! 

Jazmin

'Blues Clues'

Based on this post title, I wish I was referring to the kids show with the blue dog, but sadly I'm referring to my current emotional state. This pregnancy has been really tough. Tonight I spoke to a friend about third trimester depression and she totally understood what I was going through. Being pregnant is a blessing, and one that I didn't think I would get to experience again. I know that if you know me in person you know, I tend to be happy, and bit sarcastic on the regular, but lately I keep seeing shades of blue in my daily life and it's not because I have a baby boy on the brain. Some of you know that this pregnancy wasn't necessarily planned. Truth be told, I had been thinking of a having one more baby for awhile,  since the only reason we stopped having babies was because of circumstance not desire.  Being on a resident salary, and our kids growing, we just could not afford having another kid, it would have been super irresponsible of us to have added another kid when we started residency because we BARELY scrapped by with a new house, and kids activities and school costs that kept going up as the kids got older. So, for 5 years we put it on the back burner, and then we just felt like it would never happen again. Then, we finished residency and thought it would be a good idea to maybe add one more baby. But then we moved to Colorado, we started to do hikes, and go on adventures with the kids, and we decided that we didn't want to add a baby. Of course, four weeks after moving here, I find out we got pregnant. I should have been super happy, except I wasn't. I felt like we were in a groove with the kids, and this was going to be hard. I knew I was going to get morning sickness that lasts for awhile. And six weeks into it, it happened. Morning sickness hit me like a ton of bricks and it lated until 25 weeks. I was miserable, and was trying REALLY hard to just go with it, which went well for a bit, but now, as I count down to my due date, the fog has come back to haunt me. I'm depressed and anxious. So many things are contributing to this. For one, we are getting close to finishing fellowship, which has been hard for me, as things have not gone as expected. I have anemia, and I'm exhausted 24/7. To top it all off, this pregnancy has given me pains and aches that I didn't even know were possible while being pregnant. At least I didn't experience these types of pains with the other kids. Throw a good dose of anxiety to the mix, and I can totally be  the poster girl in a depression meds commercial.

Depression ruins things for you. It really does. I mean, I have great friends here! Seriously, I got SO LUCKY with finding friends the first Sunday we attended church here! Not to mention, we already had some friends that lived here, and were super welcoming and helpful with our transition. And yet, I have days where I look out the window, and feel so alone. That's how I know its baby blues. When you look around and instead of seeing your blessings you can't help but to look at the world with warped lenses. 

I know this is something that is hard for me. I was wired with some sort of brain chemistry that is prone to anxiety, so when you add hormones, and life circumstances that have a hefty dose of stress, this is bound to happen. It's a trial for me. I don't know why, but I know that I was meant to go through this. Perhaps is to help me appreciate the happy that is to come once the baby gets here? or appreciate my blessings even more? I just hope by the grace of God to be able to give my kids the mom they deserve, because currently, I'm just trying to survive the day. And I guess I'm writing this because I have friends back at home texting me, or calling me asking me how I'm doing, and I realize it's because I have been putting up this front like things are OK, but maybe they sense it's not? And the one thing that I don't like, is to be is fake or pretend like my life is all rosy, because I just don't roll like that. I rather put some of my things out there, even if I get judged, than to act like life is perfect. Currently, it's not, but I guess that's OK, and part of life. And It's nice to write down your trials, and not just when things are good, right? I mean part of our human experience is to go through trials, so that you can grow from them, and maybe even look back and see how far you've come. So here is mine. I have antenatal depression and anxiety. 

 I hope that I can look at this post with fresh eyes at another time, but for now, this is me. Blue, and waiting for things to pass. All I can do is wait, pray, and hope for the rain to cease. I hope to feel uplifted this Easter Sunday. I know Jesus knows how I feel, and is lifting me up, even when it feels like I walk alone, I know he's there. 

“If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” ― Percy Bysshe Shelley

Jazmin

Our 1st Disney World Experience! Part 1

We are BACK from Disney World, and I can honestly say, it was the BEST family vacation of our lives! 

Well, considering, we don't really do many of those, but of the few vacations we've done, this is the BEST one, and we hope to repeat it in the future! 

I wanted to do a blog post about it, simply because I felt so overwhelmed planning it, that I wanted to share what I learned on this trip. We absolutely went the 'EASY' route, and not the 'save money' route. I say this because I now see and know that you could probably do Disney World on a better budget, but since this was our first time coming, and doing this big vacation, we went ahead and booked through the Disney World website, and decided to buy a package deal to make it easy on us. I will say, it was TOTALLY  worth the money for sure! And maybe next time we will tweak a few things, to save a few bucks, but in all honesty, Disney World KNOWS how to do family vacations WELL!

When we booked our vacation, we received their "MAGIC BANDS" in the mail which is basically a wrist band, that has all of your hotel, park, and credit card linked to it, so that you don't have to carry anything with you! This magic band opens your hotel room, pays for your meals, and has all of your reservation info in it to enter the park! When you buy a Disney World package deal, you have an option of also purchasing their 'Memory Maker' pass which basically is taking pictures at the park by photographers that are strategically placed all over the park, so you can get iconic shots at the right spots, like in front of Cinderella's castle for example. This was something I purchased, not knowing too much about it, but so glad I did, and it's one way to save money, as you don't have to get it. Getting the memory maker photo pass does guarantee all the shots from the rides though, so that's fun!

*So we booked a Disney Resort Hotel, Park Hopper tickets (you can visit more than one of their 4 parks), Dining plan (Deluxe Plan) and the Memory Maker photo pass.

OK lets talk our resort. We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside Disney Resort, and it's themed after New Orleans/Princess and the Frog, Bayou sort of situation. It's subtle though, so it feels nice, and not over the top Disney. We loved the scenery, and the rooms! We stayed at one of their deluxe rooms and it was simple, cute, and had just a bit of whimsy for Olivia and Matthew. We had two queen beds, and a pull out bed that had the character 'Louie' from Princess & the Frog on it. We could have gotten a more "theme-y" room, but you don't really stay at the room much, so we opted for their more basic rooms. Another little thing, was since this was our first time at Disney, they gave us some buttons to wear at the hotel that say "1st Time Here!" and tons of people at the park help you answer questions, give you a ton of info, and are just super nice and ask you how your visit is going. It's just little things like that, that made us really comfortable asking questions.

Little details in the room made this stay special. Like the Mickey towels being folded like this! When we showed up at the hotel, our check in time was at 3PM but because Steve was already in FL for the conference  and our tickets for the park started the day of check in, we called to see if we could check in at 7am instead of 3pm. Now we were told this was not a guarantee, but the moment we showed up, our room was READY! They got our room together so fast, and made it really easy on us to get ready for our first day at the park! Staying at a Disney Resort is super nice, because they have free transportation to the park each day! There are buses that run every 10 min to and from the park all day, so we just got ready, and went to the bus stop! This is also a great convenience because PARKING LOOKED LIKE A NIGHTMARE!

OK, this was the 'Memory Maker' thing I was talking about, or "photo pass" when we showed up at Magic Kingdom, we saw a bunch of photographers taking pics, so I asked if we could jump in, and they asked me if I had the "photo pass" so I said, 'yes' and then they told us, that the pictures will appear on our online account, and we had a month to download. After they take your photo, they scan your wristband, and two minutes later, you can see your photos online! The online thing also has an app, called 'My Disney Experience'  that allows you to view it, and has all of your dining reservations logged, so you have your itinerary handy. Also the app tells you how long the wait is in certain rides so you can plan your day. It includes maps, and descriptions of things, so you know how to navigate around the park. It makes your day SO EASY! Again, very well organized, and easy to follow! 

Oh, and having the photo pass also gave you access to getting photos with your favorite characters! This was Olivia after our late lunch at 'Be our Guest' restaurant! She loved all the character encounters!

The Disney Dining Plan was pricey and probably the best spent money in our opinion! You could totally go the cheap route, and take your food with you like sandwiches and sodas, but by buying a dining plan, you can eat at their sit down restaurants, and buying a Deluxe Dining plan gives you 3 meals a day, and two snacks. Each sit down meal includes an appetizer, entree, and dessert! We ate like KINGS! The food is not average by any means, in fact we ate at 'Be our Guest' Restaurant (probably the best restaurant at Magic Kingdom) and had an AMAZING 5 star meal! Steve could not believe how good the food was! This restaurant is themed after Beauty & the Beast, and it looks just like the Beast's castle. From the decor, you think it's all about atmosphere, but when you get your food, you realize they actually put thought into their menu! I had the BEST onion soup I've ever had in my life at that place! And then ate the BEST steak, followed by a delicious cheesecake/cupcake type thing. Matthew and Olivia were so impressed too! Matthew just kept eating, and eating. This is the restaurant that is ALWAYS booked! in fact, it was booked until the day we showed to the park! but by using my phone Disney app, I was able to book a dining reservation on a cancellation! It was the perfect situation, because it was the best place to eat.

Another place that we liked that was not super exciting as far as decor and atmosphere, was Tony's restaurant. It's Italian food themed after the Lady & the Tramp. Anyway, this is where we did dinner on our first day, and after having lunch at 'Be our Guest' we thought the food would go WAY downhill, but it didn't! this restaurant had amazing pizza, and great dessert too! I had some chocolate cake that was so good, I forced my full self to eat it, because it was so creamy and sweet! The only negative of the dining plan, is that it does NOT include gratuity  so you do spend on average about 15-25 dls tipping. But the dinner themselves are amazing!

The snacks that you get with the Deluxe Plan are 2 a day. This can be anything from a soda, fruit, to a pretzel, ice cream, or smoothie. The kids LOVED this! Matthew ate too many Mickey shaped ice cream sandwiches! No tipping is involved, and you just scan your magic band to get them! Easy!

Extras: 

I mean there are so MANY things NOT included with your Disney vacation package. These are all optional, and you can save by simply not doing them. Since Olivia's bday is in January, I wanted to do something special for her, so I booked a Fairy 'makeover' at the Bibbidi Bobbidy Boutique. This was totally separate from our package, and it was $60 dls. the crazy thing, is that it was the CHEAPEST package available! But well worth it! She got her hair, makeup, and nails done at the boutique, and got a sash, and a little backpack filled with make up stuff for her to keep. The boutique is inside Cinderella's castle, and she had a "fairy godmother" assigned to her. They also took tons of pictures that I now have from the Memory Maker pass. She REALLY felt special, as each person there is in character, and make the little girls feel like a million bucks. She was really appreciative of this experience, and that made it the more worth it to me.

So, our first day at Magic Kingdom was MAGICAL. Even Matthew who can care LESS about Princesses or anything girly, LOVED the lighting of Cinderella castle! They did a performance where Elsa from Frozen lights up the castle with her powers, and it's like a mini show, then the whole castle lights up, and there are fireworks!

The castle turns ice blue, and then all the "icicles" appear and it's really special. 

This is Steve and Matthew before the lighting of the castle. They bought lights because they got all excited. I'm sure they regret spending cash on those things! Again, for this park being so girly, the boys had a ton of fun! They did 'Splash Mountain', and several other boyish rides, that filled their cup for manly entertainment. 

Magic Kingdom was simply AMAZING. I could have spent the entire 3 day stay there! The next day we did Disney Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom on our last day. I will write about those two parks later, but in all honesty, the magic of Disney is in this park for sure!

So, just to review on how to save: 

-Book your tickets through a travel agent or look for discounts on websites for park tickets (that's if you aren't doing a resort) just keep in mind that you will probably have to rent a car, and pay for parking.

-If you are doing a resort, you can save by not getting the photo pass, and not doing a dining plan! But the dining plan is worth it to me!

Jazmin

Denver Apartment Pics

Denver Digs. 

Here are so pictures of our little apt here. I love it so much mainly because it gets a TON of light! I will do a "tour" once it's all done, I feel like the living room and the kids room is in progress, but for the most part we feel pretty settled. 

We ended up getting a storage unit because we had so much stuff! We went through our storage the other day and took several boxes to Goodwill making me feel a little better. 

Anyway, I have bought a few things here and there, and I wish I could get some rug and other accessories, but then I remember that this is a very temporary situation, so I don't think I'm going to add much more. 

Anyway, here are some pics. 

This is what you see when you first come in^ The apt is super open and airy.

If you turn around you will see our dining room/ "flex space" which has some shelves and I don't know what other things you would use that for. 

The apt has a to of little nooks that are useful, like this desk/entry table. We use it for keys, mail, and to put sunscreen and lip balm on. That's a ritual now, because this sun really dries our skin. 

The kitchen is kick butt! It's pretty big, and has great new appliances and granite countertops, which is really nice. We use this island as a breakfast space for the kids, and the dinner table for dinners or just to work on. 

This half wall is off of the kitchen taking you into our bedroom, but I needed some extra shelves for work stuff, so I found this shelf at Ross and it's working perfect! I didn't even measured but it works and keeps our office stuff in one place.

Our bedroom has awesome floor to ceiling windows! It gets the most light and I really like to spend time there.

This is in the kids room...and I'm still trying to figure out how to arrange it all. It's bigger, but has big windows, and we just got another dresser for Olivia because we didn't have enough storage, so once I get that room organized i'll take pics. 

Anyway, we like it here, and the neighbors are really nice! We already used the s'more pit and invited friends over, and the kids really like the park across the street, which is nice. 

Overall I'm happy we went for this place even though is a bit higher in price that we wanted. The central location makes it so nice for the kids and for Steve's job. Did I mention there is a Target within walking distance? Yeah, Steve should of thought of that detail before moving me here!

Jazmin

Life Happenings

Life is a bit hectic right now, and I'm trying to absorb it all, but man is it kicking my butt!

We went from a relatively plain/ boring life to all of the sudden, too many changes in very little time that has my head spinning. 

For example: After 5 years of residency, Steve finally graduated! He honestly has been super busy, and will continue to be busy until he finishing taking the BOARDS.. does it ever end? Apparently, it does! And I'm NOT ready!

Here are some pics of the last few weeks.. more like days really.

Graduation! Steve is DONE being a resident, and is we are off to Denver in about 2 weeks! 2 WEEKS people!

Matthew turned 11 yesterday! I have a VEEEERRRRYYY long post on him, but I need to sit down to really put it all together... I just can't believe he's a pre-teen! And growing up too fast, which is giving me all kinds of anxiety.

Last week was probably the longest week of my life. I volunteered to help at the kids school, and even though it wasn't too difficult, I had lots of stuff and emotional baggage to get through add all the end of school parties and graduations.. I was barely hanging on!

Here is a pic of some props i made for Matthew's graduation photo booth.

The end is here! Again, more pictures of Steve's classmates as full blown Orthopedic surgeons! It was a loooooooooonnnnnnggggggg road for everyone.

 At Steve's class "ROAST" celebration. Basically a fun celebration with all residents and new comers. They are passing the torch sort of speak, and it's a fun time for everyone. Steve and his class made a super funny video for the party, and it was a hit! Funny, stuff for sure!

 We SOLD & CLOSED on our home! 

WHAT A BLESSING THIS HAS BEEN! The whole process was a packaged in a pretty box with a bow! Super fast process of selling, and closed on the house without any issues. I don't think this will happen again for a long time, but glad this was super smooth for us!

Oh, and Olivia fractured her wrist too... oy!

Yeah, I just feel all sorts of emotions. From wanting to move, only because I want to feel settled, but not wanting to move because I will miss all of our dear friends and family.. but I'm also excited to get going with our last year of "school" and I just don't even know how I feel about renting our house for a few weeks and officially giving up the keys.. just so much! I just need to pray and try to stomach it all. I will say though, that we are feeling soo blessed, and it feels almost like we don't deserve it!

I'll get back to you, when I feel l have my grip on things!

Jazmin

House Hunters: Denver

Last week was fun/stressful. Steve and I were excited to finally fly into Denver to pin down a place to live. At first, and due to all of our research we knew that we were going to have to downsize to a condo, or town-home. We were set on the area, and wanted to rent a town-home from an owner instead of a apartment community but Denver's real estate is booming so much, that there was hardly any rental properties on the market, as most decided to sell. So, we had to look into an apartment community in our target area. 

First of all, can I just say, that Denver is really pretty but it's also surprisingly pricey for Texas standards. We knew that we were going to pay more, but expected more space or storage than what we got. Thankfully, the area and schools really make up for it. We will be in the suburb of Aurora in Denver. It's a carefully planned community with tons of kid activities, great schools, and super safe streets. Bonus, is only about 10 min away from Steve's work! Steve is SUPER excited to cut his commute down! He's been known to sit in traffic for an hour on really bad rush hour days. So, off we flew early in the morning and arrived to some scheduled showings. 

Our criteria was the following: 

2 bed 2 bath

At least 1000 sq feet

First floor/ preferably

Had to belong to amazing schools

Needed to have lots of light (apartments can be so dark sometimes, I didn't want to be stuck in a place like that all day)

Dog friendly complex, so that we didn't have to worry about taking Riley. 

No. 1

The first place we saw was great, and immediately felt like that was THE apartment we should go for. It's a new complex, and all apartments had tons of windows. There was a lot of light, and was very airy. These are pictures of their 2 bed, 2 bath model, and if we wanted something like this, we needed to be on the second floor, as there is no 1st level floor plan like this... No bueno.

I love this little desk nook off of the entry. Perfect place to place keys, or even use as a desk for my laptop since I would have to sell my actual desk! Yep, not enough space in any of these properties.

LOVED how bright it was! And I also loved that had laminate floor, because I was dreading carpet during the snowy months, when we will have to take off shoes, and leave a slushy mess everywhere.

The kitchen was on point! But I think that's all properties in that area, because all of the places we looked at had a ton of counter-space and updated kitchens. Did not expect that from an apartment.

LIGHT AND WINDOWS! Yes, this place really impressed me! I loved the windows everywhere! I think I get seasonal depression when it's all cloudy, so I told Steve that we HAD to get a place with light, or I was going to be miserable. This apt had all of that.

 This complex was really dog friendly! Had a little doggy run and washing station, the only thing is that the doggy run, was truly tiny. The picture makes it look big, but it was more like a large bedroom size. Still is better than nothing for exercising Riley on really cold days.

Again, we loved the property, but still wanted to see if we could find a better deal. 

No.2

Second place we looked at was a 3rd floor 2 bed, and 1 bath. Was slightly cheaper than the first place, but not by much, and we would have to give up one bathroom. 

Already, I was like: "NO." I mean, 3rd floor?!

Apparently, those are the nicer ones, because you get a vaulted ceiling and a large porch that wraps around the place. And are slightly less expensive. 

I kept an open mind, but I was already thinking how miserable it was going to be to take Riley out to pee everyday, going up and down 3 flights of stairs! The bathroom thing didn't bother me, because Steve leaves really early, and we all have different times that we shower, that don't conflict.

I did like that the floor plan was very open, and bright.

The only bathroom was pretty nice size, so it wasn't going to be hard to share. 

The kitchen (not pictured) was long and narrow, but very nice and had a lot of cabinets, but not enough counter space. The apt lady suggested we add a little cutting board counter or something. 

This place had a GREAT dog run! More like a doggy park! and was closest to Steve's work, 5 min to be exact, that would mean we could take the kids out for walks, and bike rides as a family, which is what we are planning to do.

No.3

The third place we looked at a 2 bed, 2 bath in another property, but was at the very tippy top of our budget, and that made me feel uneasy. I mean, to just be moving to Denver for a year, I wanted to really enjoy all that the city has to offer, and not worry about budgeting, and feeling house poor, so I was kind of not even interested in looking at it, but it did offer the most square footage, and storage.

The pictures don't do it justice, but it was light and spacious. 

The master bath was HUGE!

This place had the most spacious dining room, and I liked that because I would be able to put my desk and dining room table along that wall. Again, it was pretty large, but my pics aren't very good.

The laundry room was nice. The other apartments have small dryer and washers. These were full size and brand new!

This was a small bathroom, but it was nice for the kids.

This place was nice, but it felt a little dated and the price was too much in my opinion, but they did have the first floor option.

So, which one did we choose?...

We chose No. 1! 

We will be in the second floor, which was not really what I wanted, but that promised the most uninterrupted light and a little nook that made all of the difference in the world to me.

Basically, the first level apt was exactly as the pictures above for the first option, but it didn't offer a closed off balcony, and didn't have this nook below:

This nook was only available on the second floors, and was only $50 dls more added to the rent. Now, that was important, because this is where we will have our dining room table/desk for me to work, plus it offers those little shelves ^ and a large corner closet (not pictured) for winter stuff, so those $50 bucks made it worth it to me for storage, and to not sale my dining room table, which would have bummed me out. It also saves us a storage unit that we were thinking of getting, saving us more in the long run.

Also, because it was a new apt complex, the rent is more on level with what we wanted to pay as they are just being introduced and had more available options.

So, although it's not huge place it feels open, and nice. We also plan on selling even more furniture, and that alone has really made me think of how I live and what I truly find to be necessities, which are giving me a whole new perspective on clutter and living within our means.

Remember, visitors are WELCOME! We can fit an air mattress in the living room, or there is a hotel 2 min from our place if your prefer to spread out.  The other plus about this complex is that we have a whole shopping and movie theater withing walking distance, and the rent includes the Stapleton Community Card!< that's huge, because Stapleton offers a Community Garden, 6 resort style pools, and dog parks that can only be accessed with that card! If we didn't have that, we would have to pay a membership for our family and that would have been a lot of $$$! 

So, it was an awesome deal in the end! 

Can't wait to start decorating the place! I really hope to make it feel homey and enjoy our year there. 

Jazmin