One rotation down...

Richie is finished with his first rotation, Internal Medicine! We had a weekend full of friends and going out. It was fun! Its always nice when we both have time off together, especially on the weekends. Richie is very busy working in the hospital and trying to soak it all in! He learned a lot during his internal medicine, but the best lesson was how not to treat people. Gotta love NY...

As for me, I can't wait to get back home...I'm totally homesick. NYC is definitely better than the island for me but its nothing like the south. We went Saturday night to supposedly a "southern" restaurant and the food was okay but the service was terrible. We were told that the sweet tea was "disgusting" and that pecan pie was "gross" by the owners daughter, our waitress. The waitress was rude and we were asked to leave before we finished our drinks...RUDE...RUDE...RUDE! Can't wait to get home! They have no idea what southern hospitality is here.

The pictures were taken at Smokin Al's in Long Island Friday night. Richie and I go to Long Island as much as possible to get out of NYC. Theres actually grass and trees there...go figure!

Much Love,
Candace and Richie

Our Belated Valentines Day!

Richie and I weren't able to celebrate Valentines Day on the actual day because I had to work. Luckily for us, we both had off the past weekend so Richie planned a fabulous dinner in Manhattan. We spent our night out at Ben Benson's Steakhouse. It was seriously the best dinner but my company was even better! I love every minute that I am able to spend with Richie and consider myself a very lucky girl! He's the best!We hope that you are all doing well! We are staying busy and counting down the days until we are able to move back home closer to all of our friends and family! We miss you all and love you very much!

Love,
Candace and Richie

Snow, Snow, SNOW!

We have been staying busy and cold to say the least in NYC! For me, jobs up here in NYC are few and far between. I talked with one of my nursing recruiters and she wanted me to go to Rochester for my next assignment...which is 6 hours away...so NO CAN DO! I ended up extending my contract at Long Island Jewish until mid July. This job is totally crazy and at times quite unsafe...but at least I still have a job! It has certainly helped pass the days while Richie is slaving away at the hospital and we are still waiting on our student loans...I know, ridiculous but apparently part of it!

Richie is doing really well and saying super busy! He has been quite lucky with his call schedule or lack there of. He changes interns today so hopefully we will this coming weekend off together! We still haven't celebrated Valentines Day officially since I worked! Richie is learning so much. He has definitely learned that Internal Medicine isn't for him...he's pretty bored. I'm SOOOO proud of him!

Ben is still here with us and we get daily updates on what is going on inside Flushing Hospital from Richie. Ben leaves on Thursday and we are going to miss him...but I'm sure Jill misses him even more! We have been lucky to get to see the girls and Jill when Ben video chats with them! Its so crazy how much they have grown!

Unfortunately, I had to work over the past weekend. This is the part of medicine that I don't like...the 24 hour deal 7 days/week. Yucky! The weather here has been cold and really cold but now I'm freezing! We did actually have a week that was really warm, but of course, it didn't last! It seems like the weather forecasters have missed the weather for the past several days, but not last night! I got off work at midnight and it had been snowing for several hours...I mean really snowing! The ER has windows in the patient rooms so I watched it very nervously. It was the thickest snow that we have seen since we have been in NYC. My 10 minute commute from the hospital took me over 45 minutes. Multiple cars were hydroplaned on the interstate. I did get lucky...I finally ended up behind the snow plowers so I just stayed back and enjoyed the newly plowed interstate :) These pictures are from this afternoon. Luckily for us, our apartment owner came when the snow stopped and plowed our walkway.

Much love,
Candace and Richie