A little R&R ...

Michelle & I recently spent a wonderful week visiting family & friends in NY. Our trip started off with a fun-filled trek to Manhattan where we caught up with friends in Central Park West. The weather was perfect for relaxing & schmoozing on the grass. Later that afternoon we headed cross-town to the Upper East Side to catch some roof-top scenery, and see Michelle's cousin Shoshana and her newborn son Gabriel a block over.



The following day we attended Mike & Lori's wedding at the Woodbury Country Club (literally 5 minutes from my house). It was awesome! We ate, drank and danced to our heart's content. Familiar faces were in attendance, including friends from college & my high school orchestra teacher! (first cousin to the groom's mother). We wish the newlyweds a liftetime of health and happiness ...



Monday was spent with family in upstate NY (Schenectady), where I hadn't been in quite some time. Always great to see the Meyers clan ... thanks to Uncle Bernie for treating us to a delicious Japanese dinner!

The following day was my father's 64th birthday. We celebrated with more delcious Japanese food at a nearby Osaka restaruant. I also got to spend some time with my aging french poodle, Coquette, who is sadly a shell of her former self ;-(

The rest of the week was spent relaxing, eating, relaxing and ... oh wait, more eating! :-) Many thanks to the wonderful hosts. Our batteries are now energized for the home stretch!

Moving Onward

Lots has happened since our last post regarding our move to Michigan. We made an offer on a condominium in a town called Novi (about 20 minutes from our hospital). Click here for a closer look! It's beautifully located in a private development, literally right off a golf course. A bit larger than our current place, with a full basement and carpet throughout. Visitors are welcome anytime! We're driving up there June 24th, closing June 26th, and officially starting work July 1st. Not much time to settle in, unfortunately, but we'll make do.

We also received an offer to purchase our home in St. Petersburg several weeks ago, very close to what we were seeking. For those of you who have seen our home, it's sad to leave behind. But we didn't want the responsibility of managing this property being 1,000 miles away. In all everything is working out according to plan. Next up is hiring a moving company ...

Doggie Heaven

Ginger remains a constant source of joy and endless fun. Michelle & I took her to the nearby Crescent Lake dog park early Sunday morning. She had a blast (as usual) running around in the dirt chasing other dogs, cooling off by laying belly-down in the mud. It's pretty much a given she needs a bath after such a workout (which she's not a huge fan of). Here's a pic of her panting away ...

She continues to love chewing on wooden furniture, eating toilet paper from the bathroom roll, and running laps in our house after having a little "accident." All in all quite a handful, but still a joy to play with and love ...

Summer is acomin'

Hi web-land. I appreciate the comments that people have been sending our way about the blog site. I'm glad, mostly, that it is keeping everybody up to speed. I get a lot of calls now because, "I saw the site ..."
Well, as you know we're in the midst of looking for places in Michigan to move and then selling our home down in Florida. It's tougher than we thoughts to coordinate all of the things that go into a move. A week ago we we in Michigan looking at all sorts of places to live: apartments, condos, houses. We're still up in the air.
As far as work is going, we are both getting very excited about finishing up our Internal Medicing residency and starting on a whole new adventure in Fellowship. We are taking our Board certification for Internal Medicine in August but will already be in the midst of our subspecialties. Mine (pulmonary & critical care) and Justin's (gastroenterology). Lots of fun stuff. We're really looking forward to meeting new people in Michgan and getting to know our hospital better. We're sad about leaving Florida ('cuz we love it here... sorry Justin).
In a few weeks we're going to be going to Justin's friend's wedding - Mike Fettner and Lori. We can't wait. Very excited!! Plus we're spending the whole week in Long Island with Justin's parents. Hopefully we'll be able to hook up with my cousins and some friends while we're up there.
Those are the highlights of the past few and the next few weeks. We'll keep you up to date.
Ciao!

Trimmin' Slimmin' Ginger

About every two months we try and cut Ginger's hair. Recently she's become quite testy in the process, especially her face and near her eyes. So I had to cut her facial hair first, before doing the rest. Before-shot: During-shots:

(She was very thristy at this point, and loved drinking from our kitchen sink!)









And after-shots:

Unfortunately the Benadryl we gave her before-hand (with peanut butter) did nothing in terms of sedation, so we had to bribe her towards the end with Cheerios & dog-treats. All in all a nice trim ...

Happy Passover!

Many thanks to Spencer & Hazel for hosting a beautiful sedar in Clearwater last night! Being the youngest present I read the four questions, something I haven't done in years. It was great seeing everyone and catching up, we talked for hours and got home pretty late. The food was delicious, and their new 4,000 sq foot house is amazing! We hope to see everyone again soon. Happy Pesach everyone ...

Hosting Beth & Jerry

Michelle & I had a wonderful time hosting Beth & Jerry this past week! Beth arrived on Tuesday, meeting Ginger for the first time while enjoying the warm Florida sun. Jerry arrived from Atlanta late Friday night; we all piled into our car Saturday and drove to Sarasota to unwind and explore. The weather was gorgeous, we had a picnic in a nearby park and walked by one of the marinas for hours. There was this huge statue of a sailor landing one on his girlfriend, apparently a tribute to WWII vets. On the way back home we cruised the outlet malls in Ellenton, wrapping up with a yummy dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.

Sunday we all rented bikes and cycled the Pinellas Trail for nearly 30 miles. It was awesome, we made it all the way north to Clearwater and back. And of course, another picnic lunch to break things up ... packed with love by Beth :-) Later that night we were treated to Cheesecake Factory dinner in Tampa, where Beth had a surprise serving of dessert cake for a belated birthday.

Jerry & Beth spent the next two days in Orlando enjoying Epcott & Disney World, while Wednesday letting Ginger run wild at Ft. De Soto Park (sorry, no pics).

And that's all folks. We'll try and swing a West Coast trip in the fall, schedules permitting. Thanks again for a wonderful week!

2 yrs ago today... ahhh

It's been exactly two years to the day that we've been married. It's felt like just seconds. :) We both are working together this month at the hospital. We got a chance to get out a little bit earlier than normal to enjoy a beautiful dinner in Tampa, a section called Ybor City. Very old. The restaurant - Columbia - is known for fabulous food and entertainment with Flamenco dancing. Below are a few pictures. What a GREAT time!!!

Heavenly Anniversary ...

Almost two years to the date, many of you traveled to sunny Florida to help celebrate our wedding in St. Pete Beach. Having done little exploring of the Sunshine State since moving here, we decided to venture to south Florida for a long weekend and get away. What better way to relax than stay at the comfy Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa in Hollywood, FL?




Upon arrival Friday morning we ventured into Hollywood by foot exploring all the beach bistro shops adjoining Broadwalk. Later that night we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the hotel restaurant Cafe (very chique, btw).









The next day was all about pampering and relaxing. Michelle & I slept in on the heavenly Westin bed and hit the beach for some serious sun (bad sunburns as proof).

Later that afternoon we took a courtesy shuttle to the Diplomat Country Club for an hour-long Swedish massage. It was awesome, and included all the perks and amenities for the true spa experience. Later that evening we went back into downtown Hollywood to eat dinner and enjoy an Artwalk expo, along with some live street-music. This one guitarist happens to be Colombian, we purchased his CD and enjoyed his upbeat tunes on the drive back today.



In all it was a lovely weekend getaway ... the weather was perfect, we got some sun, and enjoyed this four-star resort to its finest! Next year Michelle suggested a cabin retreat in wintery Michigan .... hmmm ....