pretty palm springs

Oh Palm Springs! 

You are without a doubt one of my favorite places in the world. When I realized that this city was so close to our planned visit to Joshua Tree, I knew that we had to make a side trip here because Palm Springs has always been on my wishlist. But what was meant to be a half day detour quickly turned into two full days. 

I've posted here and there about some of the things that we did while in Palm Springs, but I wanted to do one full post with everything from our time there because I love this posh laid back city.

drowning in dentures

Be careful what you wish for. For months, I was feeling upset that I hadn't yet had the opportunity to fabricate any dentures for patients. I was really starting to get worried about it because at my dental school, dentures are one of those procedures that slows people down with being able to graduate. 

Havana-Day 3

By our third day in Havana, we were starting to get such a great feel for the culture and people and way of life in Cuba. I was loving every minute of it and was ready for another full day in the city. 

july 2018//

Oh wow, have these summer months been getting away from me. So before we get too much further into August (as in it's almost over), I need to recap my July.

And on a general note, please excuse the crazy all over the place path of the blog these days. Life is flying by at warp speed and making the time to sit down and document it all has been tough. I still have so much to share coming soon--the itinerary/budget for our west coast trip, our new loft waterfront apartment (once it's a bit more settled), details about my Dominican Republic mission trip, and a few more posts from Cuba. As you can see, I've been busy and it's a lot, but I'm determined to catch up soon. In the meantime, here is a glimpse at the best month of July.

friday favorites-cuba edition 08.24.18

Happy Friday Dear Ones. 

This week has been a crazy one with starting the one month countdown until I leave the dental school and head off on my away rotations. On a more relaxing note, I got to spend the first part of this week in Cuba. Since that was clearly a highlight of the week, I thought I'd share some of my favorite parts about Cuba. 

sunset at el morro castle

How often do you watch the sunset? Like really watch it. For me, evenings are normally a time swamped with doing all the last minute things before the day ends. I rarely take a moment to pause like this, which made it extra special to watch the sunset over Havana.

This was the perfect end to Day 2 in Havana. We had been running all over the city that day, fitting in all the adventures. This was a chance to take a moment to pause, wait, and just enjoy the bustling city from afar. 

Havana-Day 2

We were so excited for Day 2 in Havana and hit the ground running. This was our first full day in the city and with our delay on getting the trip started, it just felt so nice to have things finally moving along. We packed everything into this day and may have overdone it a little. In fact, I think that I'm going to have to break Day 2 into two different posts so that there isn't a complete photo overload. 

Havana-Day 1

There we were, standing at our gate, visas and passports in hand...ready to fly into Cuba---only to be turned away. We had planned to spend 5 days in Cuba, but lost an entire day with getting stuck in rainy New Jersey for 24 hours. Don't worry though, this story has a happy ending.  

The East Coast has been flooded with rain and storms over the last couple of months and we got caught in one. Our initial flight to New Jersey was delayed by several hours, but we still made it there in time to catch our connecting flight to Havana. Only, the airline had assumed that we wouldn't make it in time and had already removed our names off the flight passenger list. Tom was fuming and I just wanted to burst into tears as we stood there on time for our flight, but still had to watch it take off without us. And the nightmare wasn't over yet. We had to spend 2 hours on the phone with the airline and hours in lines at the airport before we finally got everything sorted out and were guaranteed a flight for the next day. In fact, I'm still dealing with the airline now, but let's not talk about that frustration. Instead, let's focus on the moment when we finally arrived in Cuba, so thankful to be in Havana.  

the great debate about visiting Cuba

I can remember the exact moment when I decided to go to Cuba. 🇨🇺 Tom and I were at a Cuban Restaurant in Philadelphia and I looked up from my plate and said "you know, we should go to Cuba while we still have a chance. Who knows how long the borders will be open to Americans". Tom nodded yes as he put a forkful of food into his mouth. And just like that, it was decided. 

friday favorites 08.10.18

This first full week of August has been a crazy good one that was so great to celebrate. 

Touring Tennesse

In my mind, there is no better way to celebrate than with a trip. Anyone else agree? We pretty much travel to mark every good occasion. And last week was one worth celebrating.

After presenting and defending his doctoral thesis, Tom put the finishing touches on his dissertation last Wednesday, which means that he is officially finished with his PhD in finance. Woohoo! Then on Thursday, we hopped in the car and made the 8-hour drive to Nashville Tennessee because first thing Friday morning, I took the first half of my dentist licensing exam and PASSED! We have so much to celebrate and be grateful for after all this stress being melted away, so instead of driving straight home Saturday-we decided to make a trip of it and add in a few stops through Tennessee with camping and hiking our way through some of the state parks there. It was only 24 hours, but we made the best of this time and took the opportunity to see something new. Here’s a glimpse of our time Touring Tennessee.

PASSED!

I’ve been waiting and hoping to share this post for months. 

just keep swimming

Feels like I barely have time to come up for air these days. Between moving to a new state, my international dental mission trip, and prepping for some pretty big things with grad school (more on all of this to come)-these last few weeks got away from me.