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

Ben in the BIG APPLE!

We are lucky to have Ben spending a couple of weeks with us in New York City while doing a rotation in Long Island. We have tried to show him some things in the city that we have enjoyed. We spent the day in Manhattan and had a really fun day full of plenty of fun and things tourists would LOVE to do!!
We spent most of the day walking around the city and navigating the bus and subway system. Luckily, Richie had a good sense of direction. I tried to help, but couldn't really help with directions! It was fun! I think Ben saw all he needed to see of the city...LOL.

Livin' in the City...

We have just come to realize that life is busy and that's how its going to be! We have been fortunate to have some downtime on the weekends when Richie isn't on call and I'm not working. We went to Leon's apartment on Roosevelt Island with a bunch of our friends and headed into the city for a night out! It was fun and a nice break from our hectic work weeks!
Because I have to work for Valentines Day, Richie and I decided that we would head into the city to spend a day together. We had never taken the bus and train into Manhattan without Cesar as an escort but it wasn't a bad as we thought it could be. The only problem is that the 7 train is under construction on the weekend. So...we changed our route and made it with a little help from our i-phone application! We LOVE LOVE LOVE the village so we headed into the village for lunch and to "explore."
One of my friends from Amite was working at a conference in Manhattan this week so we met her for dinner in Times Square! We went to a recommended Pizzeria and had a good time! Its always so comforting to see familiar faces from home! After dinner we walked into the heart of Times Square and just watched the many many sites. NYC has such an eclectic group of individuals its never a dull moment! We had a great time and LOVED catching up with Lynne!

Our First Visitor in NYC!

Before Brandon headed out to England for his clinicals, he came and spent a few days with us in NYC. It was his first trip to New York! Unfortunately Richie had to be at the hospital during the day, but luckily Cesar was available to hang out with us and put up with us. We had a fun time! We spent one day just hanging out and showing Brandon around where we live and one day we went into the city. It was really cold the day we headed into Manhattan! We rode the bus and subway the entire way....which is a big step for me! Before this, I hadn't been on the bus or subway yet since we moved here. Richie takes the bus to his hospital daily but I hadn't had the experience yet! Thank goodness Cesar was with us! We had a fun time with Brandon in town! I was the photographer of the day...as you can tell by the pictures! I made Brandon take some of these pictures as he was refusing...LOL! I couldn't believe that part of the Hudson was frozen where there was no current. It made me even more sympathetic for all of the airline passengers that were standing in the water several days ago waiting to be rescued.

We took the subway all over the city! We went to Ground Zero, Battery Park to see Lady Liberty, NYU campus, Grand Central Station, Bryant Park, and Times Square. We had a BUSY BUSY day! We ended up having lunch at Juniors in Times Square. They have the best cheesecake ever! Bobby Flay did a throw down with the original Juniors in Brooklyn. It was yummy!
Hope everyone is doing well! We're slowly but surely finding our way in NYC! Richie is busy in the hospital and I'm working again. We are both busy and loving it! I'm so proud of Richie...he's learned so much in just a few short weeks. Keep in touch! WE MISS YOU!
Love,
Candace and Richie

Candace Meets the NYFD...

Richie had his first day of call on Saturday so he was gone EARLY that morning! I luckily had a day off from work so was just resting up and relaxing. All of a sudden I heard a fire alarm going off. I wasn't sure if it was from the upstairs apartment or not. I quickly checked for signs of fire but none were present. Then I heard water....lots of water. I opened our closet door and there was water leaking from the ceiling, LOTS of WATER! It came rushing out all over me and our clothes! I called my building manager first. At first, I thought that the neighbors upstairs had a tub or toilet overflowing. (Lets just say that they are new to this country from Africa and are still finding their way around!)

I called 911 and tried to explain to them that it was "raining" in my apartment and our fire alarms were ALL going off. After several attempts, they dispatched the fire truck. As I was waiting on them, I wanted to keep as much as I could dry so I started throwing down anything I could find to soak up some of the water that was now coming through the kitchen, over the dining table, and closet. I quickly placed trash cans, buckets, Tupperware all over to get the fastest leaks.

Then I went outside to join my neighbors and wait on the firemen to come. It was freezing and I was in crocs with holes because in an attempt to grab other shoes, it was raining on them and all of my socks were soaked! I was also soaked because I had been drenched trying to keep all of our clothes and bedding from getting wet. It was not snowing at the time, but it was FREEZING outside! I didn't feel so retarded when my neighbor had on flip flops...LOL. I texted Richie at the hospital just to let him know that I had called 911 and it was "raining" in our apartment but that I was doing okay. I also called Cesar hysterical since Richie wasn't home.

The firemen showed up and busted down a couple doors, shut off the water valve, and quickly figured out that there was a busted pipe on the 3rd floor in the attic. I was blessed that Richie's resident let him come home for the day so he was there to be with me! And of course, Cesar came over too! So, it was a PARTY! The manager of our building was great during this mess! The electrician, plumber, and builder showed up within minutes. They came with buckets and mops and quickly started helping us get the water out so the wood floors wouldn't be damaged. They checked all electric outlets before they turned the breakers back on. Reggie was out of town so Richie kept checking on her place to make sure it was okay and it was. They took all of our soaked clothes, blankets, and towels and sent them to the cleaners for us. They came over yesterday to check on this and today they are coming to fix all of the problems (repaint, fix the sheet rock, etc.) Lets just say that I am very impressed with them!

If medical school isn't enough to "wrap our heads around" we always seem to have more things going on in our life. I know its just to keep us on our toes!!! Just thought I'd share another one of our adventures! I of course went from crying to laughing hysterically that this actually happened to us. I had to take a few pictures to share! Fun times in NYC!
Love,
Candace and Richie


P.S. My neighbors upstairs thought it would be a great idea to take the buckets of water and dump them out to help. The only problem is they felt it was another great idea to dump it down the stairs in 15 degree weather. Richie was cracking up about this. Our manager Steve then had to shovel the ice off of the stairs and salt it. But there were icicles left as proof!