Blog Therapy

A couple posts ago I mentioned that I am loving this adventure we are on (moving from Nashville to Dominica to Miami to who knows where next). Even though that's true, there are things about this that are hard. I don't know what to do with myself right now. I still have not found a job. I know that the economy is in terrible shape and that there are many people who are having trouble finding a job, but this is literally driving me crazy! For the first several weeks we were living in Miami I was studying about 10 hours a day for the CPA exam. I took it this week and now that it's over I really need a way to fill my time (and make some money)! I thought I had found the perfect job opportunity and I was really excited about it. I was talking with my potential employer (who I could tell really liked me) and he asked me what made me move from Nashville to Miami. I told him that my husband was starting hospital rotations here and when he asked how long we would be here I kind of froze. I wanted to be completely honest, but we honestly don't know how long we will be here. We could end up doing all of the core rotations here, or we could leave Miami at the end of the summer. Who wants to hire somebody who might be leaving in a few months? Not that guy. So, the search continues.
Thankfully, we have had a wonderful experience at church. We met a couple who is preparing to go to Ross this fall, so we have a lot to talk to them about! A few weeks ago we went to lunch with several people from church and as we were talking we realized that one of the girls is the sister of one of our friends from Lipscomb! What a small world. Yesterday the "young married" couples had lunch in someone's home after church. Ryan couldn't go because he has a big exam coming up, but I decided that I would go anyway. I'm glad I did. Everyone is very outgoing and welcoming.
What else should I update you on? Well, we went to dinner at South Beach for Rabbi's birthday. There were about 16 people and we had to pay per person (so Ryan and I couldn't share or just order an appetizer or anything like that). Want to know what our bill for the night was? $125. And we drank water! Ryan wanted me to point that out because we always have diet coke with our dinner but we were trying to spend less money. That price includes $15 for parking. Holy Cow!!! I mean, we had a really fun night with our friends, but Miami can get really expensive really fast! A few nights later we had a surprise birthday party for Adam. Karen had the party at her parents' home. Her family is originally from Colombia. Her parents and grandmother speak a little English and her brother and sister-in-law speak fluent English. When we walked into their home we were all greeted with kisses on each cheek. I kind of love all of the cheek kissing that goes on here. The meal was Colombian and was very good. We had salmon, coconut rice, a baked dasheen dish, and salad for dinner and a huge flan for dessert. We sang Happy Birthday to Adam in English and Spanish. It was definitely a unique experience that we would probably not have in Tennessee.
I want to brag on Ryan a little bit now. He printed off directions to the place where I would be taking the CPA exam and drove to it (30 minutes out of his way, an hour all together) so he would know exactly how to get there. He actually parked and went in the building and checked everything out. The morning of my exam he woke up at 5:30 AM and drove back to the Prometric center with me. He led, and I followed. My test was at 8, but I wanted to have at least an hour to review a few notes in my car and I was worried about traffic (plus it was about 30 min away). So when we got to the testing center it was still dark outside and Ryan wouldn't leave me in a dark parking lot so he sat in his truck for over an hour while I sat in my car and studied. What a sweet husband!
I just published this post and then remembered that I forgot to write about Valentine's Day. Oops. We went to a restaurant called The Knife in Brickell on the water. It is an Argentinian steak house. At the end of the meal our waiter brought me a long stemmed red rose, only I was in the bathroom so he had to give the rose to Ryan. Ryan said it was kind of funny and awkward because when the waiter made his way through the crowded restaurant he couldn't tell that I was not at the table until he actually got to the table. He told Ryan that the rose was not for him and he just laid it in my seat. :) My favorite part of Valentine's Day was my gift. I love Broadway shows and of all of them, Les Miserables is my all-time favorite. I have seen it 4 times I think. I haven't seen it in years because they took it off Broadway for a while. It's been back for a while, but I've been busy living on a tiny island in the middle of the Caribbean. Anyway, there is a theater on the Miracle Mile that we walk past all the time and Les Mis is showing there beginning March 5. Ryan got us tickets and I can't wait!!! He's never seen it, but I'm betting he'll be humming "not on my castle on a cloud..." the next morning. :)