Catching up

Ok, ok, I'll admit it. We've been shirking our blogging duties. Both of us say "I'll write one today" and then never get around to it. But since we've been reprimanded and told that our friends need a "fix" here's the newest post for your reading pleasure!

I'll discuss what we did the last two weekends because Jason really wants to write about what we did this last Friday night.

So two weeks ago we went on our first hike. The weather is (usually) pretty mild around here, so it is possible to go hiking in January. Jason looked up a few places and we decided to trek out to McAfee's Knob. It's approximately 4 miles one way. We brought along our water bottles, a couple of granola bars, and a few cuties so that we could keep up our energy. Turns out we really needed it! We have hiked way longer trails with 40-60 pound packs and have not come out so sore (well except for the time we got lost on the North Country Trail in Brule, WI for 6 hours). Of course, being from the Midwest we are used to a pretty level terrain with a mild incline from time to time. This trail, however, was the definition of uphill. The last 1.5 miles was the worst. Rocky, wet from the previous night's rain, and by far the steepest incline. My legs were burnnning by the end. We did keep up a pretty good pace and reached the summit in about 2 hours. The pain was SO worth it!! The views were amazing. We were also lucky enough to have the summit all to ourselves for awhile. This is a pretty well-traveled part of the Appalachian Trail, so there are usually people hanging out up there. Here's a picture of the view:

And hereʻs a couple to give you a little vertigo:

How cool is that?! We determined we would definitely hike back after we invested in some hiking boots.

Last weekend we decided to be a little more low-key and just had a date night on Friday. We went to a local restaurant called Bull and Bones which also boasts a brewhouse. They have quite the eclectic selecion including a seasonal whiskey brew that had us feeling like we were sipping on a glass of Jameson. The food was also good, but their forte is definitely their drafts. 

Jason enjoying his beer flight. Yum!

I promise weʻll be better at updating more frequently! This weekʻs agenda includes the concert we went to on Friday and Jasonʻs new recipe of Oricchette. Stay tuned!

Virginia is for...Godʻs country!

The Loft

My sisters have been wanting to see where we live so without further adieu I present you...The Loft!! note: this post is very picture heavy.

Our little kitchen! I brought our Christmas cards to make it feel more like home. :)

Jason standing by our tiny stove for comparison

The view from our front door/kitchen. This is our living room/guest room.

The "stairs" to our loft. This is actually a creaky ladder that wakes me every time Jason climbs on it. 

More kitchen

View from our living room into kitchen/front door

Our beds. Yes they are twin mattresses on the floor. Sigh. Good thing we're both chiropractors. :)

Other end of our loft.

So...there you have it! You may be thinking "doesn't seem like much" and you'd be right! We're living lightly so we can afford to travel around the area. Plus, it's only the two of us for a short amount of time. We actually have come to love it. Jason loves reading upstairs and I can usually be found sprawled on the futon. The downside to such a small space is that it gets cluttered up and messy very quickly. The upside to a small space is that it's easy to clean. :)


Virginia is for...cozy.

Recipe #1

Yay! We have followed our New Year's resolution for a whole week!

Our clinic schedule this week got rearranged a bit, so we had to alter our menu a little bit. Jason wound up cooking 3 nights this week (yay!) and I only had to cook one. It's ok though, he's actually a better cook than I am. I enjoy baking much more than I enjoy cooking. 

The new recipe we tried this week was from the Spanish cookbook that I bought Jason for Christmas from World Market. Ever been there? It's awesome! The recipe is simply titled: Chickpeas with Tomatoes, Spinach, & Almonds. Very imaginative. ;)

We decided to make this Monday night because we both wound up working until about 6:20 and wanted something that we could throw together quickly. We didn't have the spices that the recipe called for (all we have at The Loft is salt and pepper) but we found that we still loved it! It is so flavorful and actually quite filling. We decided that its a definite keeper/make again.

yum!

Virginia is for...fiber. 

The Weekend is Almost Here!

Today (Thursday) is my day off so I'm getting after it and making a new post so Bree doesn't have to get on my case.

Things at clinic have been going well.  Our docs are awesome and willing to let us adjust and try new things.  My goal is to try and bring some new aspects to the clinic such as GT, rehab, and to do a bit of taping.  Rehab is something that sort of comes and goes for Dr. Chris because he gets busy with other stuff so he is excited about bringing it back.  He is a great business man and gives me hope for the future as he started his own clinic right out of school - a tough thing to do.

We are excited for the weekend and are really getting settled in.  Everyone suggests all these places to eat so we will probably check a couple of them out.  Apparently one of them serves a drink that is a mix of all the alcohol on the rail.  Yuck, probably will have to stay away from that one unless I'm buying it for someone else ha!

This weekend we are planning to explore Roanoke.  It is about 40 minutes away and quite a bit larger than Blacksburg.  It is sort of the hub of the New River Valley and actually the home of Foot Levelers! Dr. Chris used to work for them but apparently they are pretty secretive and don't give tours sadly.  We are excited to spend time in the city and see all that it has to offer.

Thats about it for now, look for another post from Bree as I'm sure her posts are more exciting than mine!

Virginia is for... Fun Weekends!

Clinic

Our first day of clinic was yesterday!

We both woke up early, made breakfast and coffee, and were ready to go well before our departure time. We looked at the clock and determined it was way too early to leave. It was only 8:05 and we had to be at the clinic by 8:45. Our clinic is only about 15 minutes away. Finally, we decided to leave stating "it's better to be early than late," went out to the car, and it woudn't start! AHH! We had been driving the car around all weekend with no problem. Of course it wouldn't start on Monday morning; our very first day of clinic.

Luckily, our landlord is a wonderful lady and tried to jump us. When that didn't work, she drove Jason down to AutoZone where they determined the battery was dead. Perhaps the drive out here was just too much for the 8 year old battery. Everyone was saying that it was because it was "so cold" here. ha! They don't know how cold MN gets (which anyone who's been up there this past week can attest to--negative 50 degrees with wind chill?! Sick!). This is the coldest weather they've had in a long time though. Everyone blames us for bringing it with us. Anyway, Jason bought a new battery and we headed over to clinic.

We arrived about an hour late to clinic and observed the flow. Dr. Belluzzo runs a great clinic. He allowed us to adjust a couple of patients on the first day which is usually unheard of. Most preceptors like you to get to know their patients and their style of adjusting first. I think that we're both going to really like being here due to the freedom that he gives us.

We were both there until 6 p.m. and came home to make dinner. One of our new recipes which I'll post later! :)

Right now we both work MWF mornings and split the evening shifts. After this week I should have all day Tues off and Jason will have all day Thurs off. We'll be done by 1 p.m. on Fridays so that we can get our weekends started early! How nice is that?!


Virginia is for...cold weather! (didn't we come down here to get away from that??)

Safe and Sound

Our route! 

We made it!  After two long days of driving we arrived at our new residence on Friday night.  However, the drive was treacherous.  When we left Wednesday morning and the roads were great, but as we approached our stopping point things got icy.  Let me also make it known that Hoosiers are not skilled at driving in bad weather.  Our last 100 miles took about twice as long as it should have, but we are mostly thankful we arrived safe.

Once we arrived in Anderson, IN we were greeted by my grandmother and aunt Jan.  They had soup and sandwiches waiting and I enjoyed introducing Bree and catching up with the two of them.  I couldn't believe it had been three years since we had last seen each other.  It was an early night as we had jumped ahead an hour in the time zone and the driving really took it out of us.

Grandma and Aunt Jan

Friday, grandma made us breakfast and we said our goodbyes at about 8 AM.  The second leg of the trip was much more enjoyable as there was some scenery and the roads were great.  West Virginia is always a neat state to drive through and I would love to take a fast car through it some day!  The drive went rather quick and we rolled into Blacksburg at about 4 PM.

We were initially apprehensive pulling up the driveway to our new place, but after meeting our landlord and getting moved in it is great!  Her name is Kayla and she is a modern day Hippie.  We are happy to be saving so much money by staying here although it may not have all the glitz of other places.  It fits the two of us great.

The last two days we have spent exploring the area and getting food, lots of food.  We went to BWW the first night here thanks to Mom and Dad and had to have a beer and some wings.  Yesterday we met our supervising doctor, Doctor Chris at South Main Chiropractic.  He is energetic, excited, and obviously is a smart doctor and business man.  I think we are both looking forward to learning from him this trimester.  I get the feeling he is excited to teach us things as well, he had a list of learning objectives for our first week already put together.  The clinic is amazing.  It is clean, organized, and welcoming.  There is no question we are going to love being there.

Today we plan to go to Big Al's, a local sports bar and watch the Packers Game.  Hopefully there will be a couple of other Packer Backers there and we can make some new friends.  People are truly friendly here and I feel we will have no problem fitting in.  In all, it feels good to be settled in and we can now officially call Blacksburg HOME.

Virginia is for... Packer Backers who lost their way.

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it is 2014 already? Tomorrow is the big move! Jason and I are so excited. We're getting up early and hitting the road to Virginia. We have packed, hauled, stored, and finally squeezed our belongings down to one little car load. But we'll discuss that later.

First, we have decided to share some of our New Year's resolutions.

I know that some people dislike resolutions because they are just setting you up for disappointment. I disagree, however. I think that it's a good thing to have goals and to try to aspire to be better. We each have our personal resolutions but we also have shared ones. Here they are:

To eat out less. (it is expensive and usually way more unhealthy than what we would make for ourselves)

If we do eat out, to try to go to a local place. (we'd prefer to support our community instead of Applebee's or other "big box" restaurants. Plus, that means we get to explore our city!)

To try a new recipe once a week. (Jason and I both got cookbooks for Christmas this year and we intend to put them to good use!)

Figuring out the next step in our careers (we graduate in April people!! We need to determine if we will be opening a clinic, working as associates, finding our "spot" to live, etc. Exciting times!)

Making new friends (this isn't really a resolution...more of a necessity since we know no one in VA)

Less tech time. (both J and I really love the outdoors and the Appalachian trail is basically in our backyard. It's also nice to have some human to human interaction.)

  Those are the big ones! Lets hope that 2014 is a wonderful year!

Virginia is for...new beginnings!