Happy Anniversary!

Today I am celebrating not one but two anniversaries!

Today Braden and I are celebrating 3 years of marriage! We have had an amazing three years, and lived in three (going on four) different states! Time is flying by.  It's definitely fun remembering all the fun we had with family and friends! Here are some of my favorite pictures from our wedding:

He put frosting on my nose

Today is also the one year anniversary of traveling. Exactly one year ago today, we began this marvelous adventure and I officially had my first day at my first travel assignment in Kerrville, TX. This past year hasn't been without difficulties, but has been AMAZING. Traveling is definitely one of the best decisions we have ever made, and we have gotten to meet so many amazing people and seen some beautiful parts of the country.  So Happy Anniversary Advanced Medical, I'm glad I don't have to eat year old cake. Gross. I have learned a lot in my year of traveling, so here are the top 10 things I've learned:

10. You need a lot less than you think:
I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff I thought I couldn't live without. The truth is it's just a pain to pack and carry around all the time. The hardest for me is cosmetic/hair product samples! I am a hoarder of those things. But seriously, if you haven't used it in a few months, you probably won't ever.

9. Make time for exercise:
It's a pain finding a new place to work out every few months, but it's worth it. If working out at a gym isn't your thing, find an at home work out program to do (I did Insanity for awhile). I feel so much better when I am exercising! Eating well (whatever that means to you) is also a biggie for me. It's easy when you're traveling to eat terribly- don't let it be an excuse!

8. Take opportunities when you have them:
Go explore wherever you are! You never know if your assignment will end unexpectedly (like one of mine did) and you won't get to do everything you wanted to do because 'there's always another time'. One of my biggest regrets this year was not driving through the Grand Canyon on our way to California. It would've been a few extra hours out of the way and we decided not to go because we were tired of driving. Turns out we never did get to go back.

7. Challenge yourself:
Stretch yourself professionally. You'll develop more skills and be a better clinician. With my background in geriatrics, I was terrified taking a job with pediatric autism. It was difficult but I grew so much as a professional and became a better SLP.

6. Get involved at your company:
I love Advanced Medical! I have really enjoyed getting involved with them more than just working for them as a therapist. I serve as a New Grad Mentor, help with marketing,  write guest blogs, and anything else I can do. It has made my already wonderful travel experience even more spectacular.

5. Make a difference:
As a traveling therapist, your circle of influence is increased dramatically. Strive to make a difference wherever you go!

4. Make friends:
When you travel, you might think it would be easier not to make friends since you aren't in anyplace too long. But I disagree. We have met some of our best friends on our travels! It's hard saying goodbye, but it just gives you another reason to go back!

3. Get involved where you work:

Don't be afraid to get down in the trenches. Participate in events. Help plan things. Go above and beyond. Really care for your patients. Investing in where you work seems counter-intuitive since you are only there a short time, so what's the point? But really and truly, I get back so much more than I give and it makes my work much more rewarding.

2. Be nice to the staff:
As a therapist, you work with lots of different professionals such as nurses, house keepers, CNA's, administrators, and doctors. Be nice to them! Get to know them by name, say hello, and tell them you appreciate their work.


1. BE THE STANDARD:
This picture was posted by my alma mater, Baylor University, during spring football training under the caption "Another perfect day to get better"

I believe as a clinician you should always try to be better and strive to Be The Standard wherever you are. Being the standard means being the best. This is my professional motto: wherever I go I want to set (and be) the standard. As my favorite football coach Art Briles said, "You can find opportunity anywhere. It's hard to find places where you can accomplish something." As traveling therapists we have lots of opportunities. Let's try to leave accomplishments.

Quarter Century

In case you missed it, last week was my 25th birthday! It was a pretty fun day. My coworkers threw me an awesome party with all my favorite things: pizza and twizzlers! They were so sweet and thoughtful, and of course my patients were super sweet as well. That night Braden took me out to a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory! It was so yummy but I was so full I couldn't even get cheesecake for dessert. Our nice waitress did bring me a little birthday sundae though! 

Braden and me!

Ice cream and Blueberry Mojitos

We had already celebrated my birthday (and my mom's) with family last weekend at an amazing restaurant in Houston called Tony Mandola's which is so so good and we had so much fun with the whole family.
This past weekend we were in Houston, again, and were able to go to one of our favorite places- the outlet mall! We were able to get a few good deals- I am obsessed with J Crew shorts right now, the Columbia rain jacket I wanted was on sale (a must for Washington!), and I was able to find 2 large Vera Bradley duffels for traveling for only $25! I love a good deal. I also got to go out to the barn on Sunday which was great. I am not ready to not be riding again. I've REALLY enjoyed getting back into riding consistently!
I can't believe we are down to less than 2 weeks left in Texas! Now we have to get down to the packing, the sorting, and the leaving. It's crazy that our time here is almost to a close- I feel like we just got here! Goodbyes are always hard, but that's one of the things I love about travel: my circle of influence is so much bigger than if we stayed in one place. I can really make a difference anywhere we go.
Cheers to making these last few weeks count before heading to WASHINGTON!

Mom, You Were Right!

Growing up, there's a lot of things that our moms tell us that are met with rolling eyes, folding of the arms, pouting, and maybe a good stomp out of the room. (Or was that just me?) But as we grow older, we realize our mothers are actually pretty wise individuals and if we had listened to them in the first place we might have saved ourselves from some heartbreak and trouble. So Mom, remember all those times growing up when you told me I would understand someday? Well, you were right. Here are some of the things you were right about:

1. Will it still matter in 10 years?

Whenever I would get mad, my mom would always ask me if it would still matter in 10 years. I always hated hearing it, and I usually would answer yes just to be stubborn, but guess what. All those things she asked me about? They don't matter today.

2. Don't let anything steal your joy!

Another little phrase that has a lot of truth. Your attitude is a choice. Don't let the little things get you down.

3. The "Red Apple Treatment"

Be kind to those who are mean to or mistreat you. You know, the whole "love your enemies" and "kill them with kindness" thing. 

4. Don't worry too much about the opinions of people. Chances are you won't keep in touch with them anyway.

At the time, middle and high school seem like such a big deal and the place where you meet all your life long friends. While this might be true for some people, it definitely was not true for me. I have a couple friends that I still keep in touch with from that time, but I wish I would not have worried so much about what other people thought of me.

5. You need to make priorities

I was the kid involved with everything. Horseback riding? Check. Volleyball? Check. Track? Check. Basketball? Check. Band? Check. But when I wanted  to do something new like dance or cheerleading, my mom would say "of course you can do that, but you would need to quit something else". I hated making the decision at the time, this really taught me about making priorities and about what I really enjoyed doing.

6. "I'm checking on you because I love you, not because I don't trust you"

I always hated when my mom insisted on calling to make sure where I was going really was where I said I was going. I dreamed of a mother who would trust me enough to never check up on me. I wanted her to be a "cool" mom. Now, I'm thankful that my mom loved me enough to care where I was. And let's  be honest. Once you get older you realize that the "cool" moms were really just "bad" moms. 

7. Don't pierce your belly button

Even though all the "cool" girls did it, mom wouldn't let me get mine done. I wonder why. I'm so glad she didn't! 

8. "You can cry out the door, but once you leave you're only allowed to look forward to the next adventure"

This little nugget is especially applicable to traveling. Whenever you leave somewhere, it's difficult. You are allowed to be sad until you leave, then you are only allowed to be happy about where you're going. Then you won't be busy comparing you past and present situations. This is one of my traveling mottos!

9. Always go to church

Growing up, no matter what we did on Saturday nights, we always had to get up for church on Sunday. I hated it (mom picking me up early from a birthday party because I had church? So embarrassing!) but it really established the habit. Now that we are traveling, we actively seek to find a good church everywhere we go, not just because we want to "go to church" but because we want to be connected to others and continue to develop our relationship with Christ. 

10. No short shorts!

Whenever I would go shopping and buy something, my mom would make me try it on for her before I was allowed to keep it. If it was to short/tight/revealing it went back to the store. At the time I thought my mom was determined to make me the biggest loser- but everyone shows their stomach, Mom! But now as an adult I'm really glad she wanted to protect me and teach me good clothing habits. 

 

11. Be a best friend

Mom has always taught me, from a young age, that people are more important than things. There's nothing more valuable that you can do with your time than invest it in people. This means being willing to show up, loving people in spite of themselves, and being willing to be the pursuer. My mom taught me how to be a best friend. 

12. Marriage is the union of two forgivers

As Mom likes to say, "Divorce is never an option- murder, yes, but divorce, never!" My parents have been married for 36 years, and while no one is perfect, growing up watching my parents has taught me so much. Marriage really is about forgiving. 

13. "Garbage in, garbage out!"

Ok this technically wasn't her phrase originally, but she said it all the time! Mom was very careful about what she let us watch on TV, movies, and listen to in music. It was so embarrassing when I wasn't allowed to see a popular movie or listen to the cool music, but Mom realized the truth of this little phrase: if the information you're consuming is bad (ie lots of cussing, nudity, etc) then in turn you will be affected with the things you say and do. 

14. Nothing good happens after midnight!

I always had to be home early because "nothing good happens after midnight". It's true, nothing good does happen after midnight. 

15. Someday, you'll want to be a mean mom too

"Mom, you're soo mean!!" Mom always told me that someday I would understand why she was so "mean" and that someday I would want to be a Mean Mom too. Well guess what? Someday if we have kids I do want to be a Mean Mom. And I hope that I'm half as good of a Mean Mom as my mom was because that would mean I would still be an amazing mom. 

My mom wasn't right about everything though, she did promise me that since I inherited her terrible teeth I would get her good eyes as well (she didn't need glasses until she was in her 50's). Well that promise was shattered in the fifth grade when I started complaining that I couldn't see the blackboard at school and I've worn glasses or contacts ever since. I'm not bitter at all! But hey, nobody's perfect. 

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the world! 

Drum Roll Please....

We officially have our next assignment!
After a few frustrating weeks of waiting for news and looking at different options in several different states, licensure headaches, and interviews, we are going to.....

WASHINGTON! 

The job is in a nursing home in Shelton, WA, outside of the capital of Olympia. I had submitted for the job last week, and unexpectedly got a call for an interview on Wednesday. I was extended the offer late last week, but my company needed to negotiate some things about the contract. We heard back today that my new placement accepted all our requests so I signed the contract! I start June 2nd and we will be there until the end of August.

My last day at my Huntsville job is May 23rd, and we will leave that next week to head up to Washington. It's a long drive, so I will welcome any music or audiobook suggestions! We are getting to make a stop in Denver for a few days in route to Washington, where Advanced Medical has an office. I am so excited to get to see the office and especially excited that I will get to meet my recruiter, Amy, for the first time in person! We have been working together for a year and a half and are finally getting to meet!

I am so excited to be back in Washington. I grew up near Seattle, and it will be so great to get to see old friends and best friends! We are also excited for all the outdoors activities that we can do in Washington! The summer is the best time to be in Washington.

We are very excited about our new adventure!

Happy in Huntsville

This past month has actually been pretty great. Last month we moved into our little apartment- it's an apartment that used to be a garage on a property about 4 miles outside of Huntsville, but still within 10 minutes of my work. It is really cute and it has been fun living in a little house instead of one room. There are lots of animals that live on the property, a donkey, miniature horse, and goat all serve as the lawnmowers. Macie loves growling at all the animals! It really does feel like home, even though our only furniture is two chairs, a small table, and an air mattress. It's the little things that make it feel like home- for me, it's my pictures and the magnets and pictures on the fridge. Putting them up is one of the first things I do whenever we get to a new place.

Macie has adjusted to life in the country. She loves running around and just generally being cute.

...Except when I come downstairs at my parent's house to find her on the kitchen table. There wasn't any food or dishes, or anything, she was just chilling. I guess she wanted to know what it's like to be tall!

On the weekends we have still been going down to Sugar Land and staying with my parents. It's been great getting to hang out with family, as well as getting to go ride at my barn. I have been getting to help bring back my instructor's mare Charisma who has been on a maternity leave of sorts for 7 years. It has been so much fun getting to ride again! I have been getting to ride on Wednesday's and again on the weekends. I didn't realize how much I missed getting to ride consistently. It's something I definitely hope to continue even after we move again.
This past weekend we were able to go up to Dallas to spend Easter with my family. My brother and his family were there as well which is always fun. I was able to work Sunday-Thursday last week so getting the three day weekend was awesome. On Friday we went to Top Golf. It was pretty fun I guess, but seeing as I have never played golf in my life, it was kinda more frustrating than fun.

I was so excited to get to meet my friend and former roommate Charissa at In-N-Out! I hadn't had In-N-Out since we had left California, so that was obviously yummy, and it was even better getting to catch up with a dear friend. We talked for like 4 hours! It was great getting to catch up before we both leave Texas.

On Saturday, we were able to go to an outlet mall, which is one of our favorite things. We just so happened to hit J Crew on a 50% off the whole store day, so I was able to get a few cute things for work/play. For lunch we went to a DELICIOUS German restaurant in downtown Plano called Jorg's and it was so so yummy. I love schnitzel.  I was also able to meet up with my friend Hannah, who I hadn't seen in almost a year! It was so much fun catching up.

Sunday was obviously Easter, so we went to church and then had an Easter egg "hunt" for JT. He was pretty into it for the first twenty or so eggs, but then the adults had to pick up the remaining 40!

It was great getting to see everyone! Work has been crazy busy, but it's so nice to be busy instead of not busy. It's a good thing I love my job so much! Speaking of work, we are starting the process of finding our next placement! Hopefully we will find out this week..!! We joined a gym for the last month we are here, and it was nice to be able to work out again, although I'm sure I will be sore tomorrow! There are no signs of life slowing down for this Jones family!

Update From The Lone Star State

It's hard to believe that we have been in Texas for a month.
Time goes by so fast when you're a traveler! We are already 3 weeks into a 13 weeks assignment, but it still feels like we haven't moved. Our housing situation has been a little bit tumulus, but I'm happy to say that this week we will be moving into our "forever" home- a small apartment attached to a house. The price is right, and it's a really nice apartment! In the meantime, at first we had rotated between family members, and for the last 2 weeks have been staying at a local hotel in Huntsville. The main problem is it doesn't have a kitchenette and only a mini fridge and microwave so we have been getting meals from a health food store called My Fit Foods which you refrigerate and then microwave. It's been nice having good meals that are healthy too- minimal clean up as well! Huntsville isn't exactly a "happening" place so we are usually in Sugar Land on the weekends where my parents live. It's been nice getting to spend time in a house and get to do our laundry for free! It's the little things when you're a traveler. We've enjoyed spending time with family, my parents, aunt/uncle/cousins, and grandparents live here, and Braden has an aunt/uncle and cousins who live near us as well. I am really enjoying my job at a nursing home in Huntsville. It's nice to be back in geriatric care, as it is comfortable for me. I have a full caseload so it keeps me busy! I adore my patients and my coworkers are really nice and helpful as well. I'm very glad to not have to worry about not getting 40 hours anymore!

Hopefully this week once we get settled we will be able to get back into our workout routine. It's something that I've really missed! I am also excited to have our mini dachshund, Macie, back living with us again, as our current hotel doesn't allow pets. She has been living with my parents and we have only been getting  to see her on weekends. 

This week is looking like it will be a busy week, but we are glad to be moving into something more permanent, or as permanent as things ever get in travel!

We are also hoping to get to go to the Houston Rodeo this week. It is always a lot of fun!

Los Angeles Top 10

Ok, I know that we left LA almost a month ago, which is hard to believe, but it's never too late to post about my favorite things! Here are my favorite things we experienced in LA (or the area)

 

 

1. Las Vegas- I know this isn't technically LA, but since we went when we were on assignment there it counts. Vegas was SO MUCH FUN. We went with some friends from church, and stayed at the Luxor, which is the big pyramid. One of these days I'll get around to posting a full post about Vegas...

 

2. Disneyland- Do I even need to explain this one? Disney is the best.

 

3. Hollywood hike/Griffith Observatory- Absolutely beautiful views when there isn't tons of smog!

 

4. La Jolla beach- This is just a short drive down the 5! Beautiful cove and lots of cute little shops

 

5. Santa Monica Third St Promenade and Pier- I love Santa Monica, it's my favorite part of LA. Going down to the pier is fun, and I love shopping at the promenade. My Favorite restaurant, Barney's Beanery, is located there.

 

6. Lakers game- sporting events are always fun! Especially when there's a chance you might rub shoulders with a celebrity..

 

7. Snowboarding- This would be higher on the list, only they didn't have a lot of snow this year so we only got to go once before we left. It's awesome to be so close to the beach and the mountains!

 

8. Restaurants- There are so many great restaurants in LA that haven't made it to the main stream US yet. Like Pieology (it's like Chipotle, but for PIZZA. How has this not made it nationwide yet?!) and Bruxie (a gourmet waffle sandwich place). In-N-Out is also really awesome.

 

9. Hollywood- Hollywood is kinda gross, and sketchy to be honest, but I feel like you have to go see it. At the very least you need to take your picture with the Hollywood sign and with your favorite movie star's hand and foot prints!

 

10. The People- we loved our church and our small group when we were in LA. In fact, they are what we miss the most.

 

 

NOT Top 5

Here are the things we don't miss about LA:

 

1. Everyone freaking out when wet stuff (AKA rain) falls from the sky and a massive freak out ensues:

 



 

I wish this was an exaggeration, but it is completely true. Earthquakes? Not a problem. Fire? Whatever. But rain? No freaking way.

2. Being able to see the air you're breathing. The issue is real. Smog is no joke.

3. The traffic. Every time I hear somebody complain about traffic here in Texas, I feel the need to say, "I just moved from LA, believe me, this is nothing."

4. CRV- I love not having to pay an extra 5 cents on every bottle and can I buy

5. Prices- gasoline is routinely around 50 cents a gallon cheaper, and pretty much everything else is too.


We loved our time in California, and definitely will be back to visit! Some of the things we never got to do but really wanted to were to go to a taping of a TV show and go wine tasting. It just gives us something to do whenever we go back! Update from Texas coming soon!