PERFECT MOMENTS

Friday the 13th

• Good day today.....Tina and Sharmila working with us. Arlene was off yesterday and today but we missed her though.
• I gave Recie the traveling bag from Eddie Bauer that she can sling over her shoulder.
• Recie treated us (Tina, Sharmila, me and Lizette) for nurse's week to a yummy Japanese lunch in Balboa Teriyaki!
• The deep fried tempura green tea ice cream was delicious.

Specialty Clinic Christmas

Potluck @work...I have brought in Chicken Empanadita from Valerio's as my contribution to the party and we had to bring a $5 gift to exchange....here are some pictures I took

Margaret's Retirement

After 22 years in the VA, our wonderful Margaret is finally retiring! She is a very caring and awesome colleague to work with and that's why we gave her a party and I made her a mini album of that party. Here are some of the pics I took...

Our Module I's clerk...

 

The retiree in her office....

OUr Module II Clerks...

Our Module III clerks....

 

 
         
 
 

Boston Day 3

Last day of our class. Got up the same time to have breakfast. I forgot to tell you how freakin' COLD/FREEZING the classroom was. I guess that's to keep us awake coz' when it gets too warm people get restless and sleepy like me. We actually got to finish the class around 3pm and we were happy with that. Brenda suggested us to go to the Foxwood Resort and Casino in Connecticut (it's about 1 hr and 30 min w/out traffic but with traffic it's about 2 hours away from Boston) The drive was beautiful. It would've been more beautiful if it was on the Fall (October) when the leaves starts changing colors as I was told.

We even drove through Rhode Island which looks beautiful from the freeway. I would love to explore this more,too but maybe next time with Nelson. He would love it.

All through out our drive was all these beautiful trees. I have never seen so much green trees on the freeway it was gorgeous.

Here is the casino...Foxwood Casino Resort. It was totally humongous and the inside was just spectacular!

Yes,there is an MGM Grand Casino there which was equally beautiful...can't believe how gorgeous the casinos are there in Connecticut. 

Britney Spears Costume display in the HardRock Cafe.

Bon Jovi! Yeah,baby!

Chris Isaak costume

This was infront of the buffet restaurant we ate @where Brenda treated us called Festival Harvest. I loved the Bread pudding with the vanilla sauce drizzled on top! The statue changes colors and it turns.

The dessert section my very favorite!  

 

Yes, a small M&M's store.

Ms. B gave this to us as a balato for being a big winner @the Keno Slot!  

 

Boston Day 2

Lou and I both got up @6am so we can have breakfast before our class which the registration opens @7am. First day of our class. It was an 8 hours class..I was so sleepy becoz' I did not have a good night's rest becoz' of the darn pillow being so soft. We had the AC on for the whole time becoz' it was so HOT!

 

This is like a glass fountain thingamajig. It's a divider. I really like their restaurant.

 

Solarium very nice...

The lobby with the restaurant in the background.

My folder for class.

This is what I have for our breakfast break...yummy blueberry yogurt with Granola (I am totally loving this now!) and then fruits in addition. Lotsa H20 i drank!

Pretzel with mustard. Pls. remind me not to eat with mustard,yucckkk. I guess it's popular there to eat with lotsa mustard. One of our seatmate who is an LVN (named Jacqui from the Florida VA--she works in one of the CBOC's there. Then Tabatha (who works in the HR dept. from the Tuscaloosa VA) This was a class for our LVN boards so we can learn more about being a board member and how to handle appointments and etc. Everything for our trip, airplane,hotel and food was paid by the VA! And we were able to use our AA.

 

After our class, Brenda drove us to downtown (this really nice Cadillac SUV). It was too funny becoz' she was freaked out by the keyless car and all this technology and gadgetry on this SUV. I don't like it,too coz' it's so weird and still have to get used to it. Driving in downtown is a pain in the tuckus. We just parked in the parking garage for $12. We arrived in downtown around 6pm na yata. Here you will find the pictures of our walking tour of downtown Boston.

 

 

   

This is a restaurant now but it used to be the First City Hall but it's a Ruth's Chris Steak house.

Isn't our food awesome? Yes, the steak was so good....! The price was very reasonable,also. Brenda noted that in the back of us was the cemetery (I did not know until she pointed it out.) I did not like my crab and corn chowder coz' it was salty but the rest was great.

Zambiki Bridge in the distant. The Bridge is unbelievably gorgeous! I love it.

     
   

        
  
 

Boston Day 1

My dear Nelly was the one who brought me to the airport @6AM. Our flight leaves @8:34 am with United Airlines. Lou wasn't there yet so I decided to have breakfast @Lori's diner. Our gate was supposed to be 90 they changed it to 82 and then 84 yata. It's a good thing that Lou was there to let me know kung hindi I wouldn't have known. Plus there was a 30 minute delay for the flight due to the weather then mechanical problem. In spite of that I got to check in my carry on for free!  The seat I got was 21E (window seat) which turned out well naman coz' I only peed once for that almost 6 hours flight. The plane was very full. I slept and listened to my music thank god for the i-phone coz' I was able to wile away my time. Traveling is nice but the flight kills me. We arrived @the Logan Airport in Boston around 5:30pm na.

Welcome to Boston. I took this picture at the airport. 

My awesome breakfast of Omelet (bacon,mushrooms,green onions),sourdough bread and Hashbrowns.

Here I am @the T station (Blue LIne--after checking in @the Embassy suite)-Lou and I decided to venture out. I wish I did a little more researching about Boston. Next time. One of the worker's that was fixing the ticket machine helped us with the tickets (they call their card Charlie Ticket) for the round trip was $6.80. You really can tell that you're in Boston becoz' of their accent. They sound tough but they were all very helpful,actually. We haven't encountered anyone being rude to us.

 

This is the shot of their train station very modern but kinda confusing with the inbound/outbound.

There were virtually no traffic in downtown. Parking here is hard so a lot of the people walk. Boston is a walking city.

Interstate 93 is like Highway 101 it's a straight through freeway that goes to a lot of States. Their speed limit is 55mph (there is some freeway that are 65mph). Their carpool lane is called HOV. Our fastrack is called Express Pass or Ipass. Their toll is $3.50. Their sales tax is $6.25. Gas is $2.77.

 

This is near the wharf....one of the buildings intrigued me becoz' of the architecture of it. I think it's their aquarium this is near the restaurant we ate at.

This is the restaurant we ate at....it was totally delicious BUT getting our food took a long time (more than 20 minutes!) They were really busy there. One of the hostess told us their restaurant was one of the top there. 

This clam chowder is the best I have ever tasted! Lou and I both ordered it.

Me and my yummy cioppino!

Lou with her Fish Market dish.

Boston @night time....that's my co-worker walking the streets of Boston. It was very hot at this time note no jacket for us SF girls.

 

Me,@the Faneuil Marketplace, a famous shopping place.

 

This is the hotel where we stayed at in East Boston. If you take the train it's only 10 minutes from Dowtown (you have to stop @the Aquarium station)

King bed....$231 per night government rate. Lou had me used this bed while she stayed at the living room with the pull out bed from the couch. Free breakfast in the morning!!!

Here is the living room suite with a small kitchenette and it has a microwave and ref.  

This made my day...

Lil' mama Fatima made this drawing for Recie and I for belated Nurses week. Even Recie loved it and paste the drawings on her cabinet.

   

Hawai'ian Potluck

Since my nursing Supervisor Boss is leaving our ACS to move on to become the supervisor in the CLC here @work. We threw her a Hawai'ian Theme party.  It was a lot of fun and she really liked it a lot. My co-workers brought awesome food and helped set up for the party. I brought Aram sandwiches and Sushi from Costco as my contribution. We even had Hawai'ian music!

The delicious Tres Leches cake from Safeway for only $22!

With our boss!

Ahhh,glorious FOOD.

The mini album I made for our boss planked by the 2 Hawai'ian Hula girls I borrowed from my mom's collection of dolls to serve as props for our party.

Beautiful Lillies from our backyard courtesy of my mommy!

Yay!! I love this group picture of us!

My beautiful co-workers ready to dig in look at all of us with our plates pero syempre we had to take pictures first. We love our pictures!

Okay last pictures of food...the healthy kind I just love the color together. The deviled eggs was good!

A beautiful Orchid that we gave to our boss. She loves purple.

Hawai'ian mini album

My boss who is leaving our specialty clinic to take up the position in the CLC I made her a mini album coz' I know she would like this and she told me b4 that she wanted one. Of course, I was inspired becoz' of our Hawaiian theme party that we r throwing for her this Thursday so I will post those pics. I really enjoyed doing this mini album

Louie's

First time that Beth and Gina went out with us for lunch @work. WE didn't have Chest clinic at that time so we decided to go out for lunch @Louie's near our work but you had to walk down and walking up for me was a killer as I was not feeling well already. I was so short of breath and I didn't know that I was already anemic at that time. Thank God--that I had an appt. with the MD after lunch. But in spite of that we really had a great time talking about our impending holiday off with our family and how we are celebrating it. Food was awesome and of course, Recie and I shared! Beth forwarded these pictures of us. We waited at least 20 minutes to be seated--the restaurant have an awesome view of the ocean. Love it.