Life Happenings Lately

Hello Hello! It's been a while since I posted. Life has been a little bit crazy lately.

I thought I would catch you up on recent travels and a few of my meals (because homegirl has been eating gooood!). Two weekends ago I traveled to St. Louis with my boss to check out two inpatient eating disorder facilities, McCallum Place and Castlewood, and to attend an eating disorder conference that Castlewood was sponsoring.

It's nice for me to be able to visit various facilities so that I can better understand their structure and approach for whenever I may have a client that needs a higher level of care. Thursday my boss and I arrived in St. Louis and visited McCallum Place and then had the rest of the afternoon to explore. St. Louis has this massive park that has their zoo, a science museum, boathouse, playground, museum, tennis courts, along with a bunch of other things. If I had kids, I would totally take them there for the day.

That night we got dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was dark outside, so I didn't get to take a picture of my meal, but I had a delicious kale salad with goat cheese, fresh fruit, walnuts, and grilled chicken. I wanted a shrimp dish, but recently discovered that I think I'm allergic (I've been offered shrimp dishes multiple times these past two weeks and it's KILLING me!!!). 

The next day we went to Castlewood for various sessions on eating disorders and treatment as well as got to tour their facility. Let me tell you, the food was incredible!! I took a few pictures of the meals, but the lighting and such did NOT do the food justice.  Those roasted sweet potatoes though....

We headed back to Tulsa on Sunday and I prepared for another short week of work. Thursday morning I flew out to Arizona to visit another inpatient facility, Rosewood. The resort we were staying at was about an hour and a half from the airport. I could NEVER live in Arizona. It's way to hot and dry. And not enough green. However, I could live at this resort ;-). They had incredible golfing greens, horse rides, nature trails, tennis courts, and a pool. Not to mention the cutest little cottage rooms!

The afternoon that I got there, I had some extra time before anything was scheduled. So I checked into my room, hit the pool for a little bit, and then freshened up for the evening. That cactus below was just one of MANY massive cacti in their landscaping.

The next morning I woke up super early (my body was two hours ahead) so I went for a run. It was INCREDIBLE!! Somehow, it was cool, the sun was rising, there were mountains in the horizon, there were bunnies and deer, and the golfing greens were so lush and green. It was such a great run! And then it wasn't. A little advice to new runners: don't go for a run in a new place without mapping it out first. I got a little lost and ended up running WAY longer that I wanted!!

I got back late, showered, and then headed to breakfast. The hotel's breakfast and lunch buffet were spot on. Have you ever been offered dragon fruit or baked oatmeal at a hotel?? I got some freshly made scrambled eggs at the omelet station too :-)

After breakfast, we toured both their inpatient/residential facility and their partial treatment facility. I was really impressed with both their facilities and how their staff approaches treatment. Once we got back, we had lunch at the hotel and I made a delicious salad with a bunch of veggies served with a sandwich on the softest roll ever and a little fruit. They had a really great selection at the dessert bar, but I was too full to eat any.

That afternoon they had staff come in and explain more about their facilities and approach to medicine, therapy, and nutrition. Afterwards, we packed up and headed back to Pheonix for the evening.

On our drive back, I remembered that a friend from college lives nearby, so I called her up and we ended up getting together for the evening. She was having dinner at her parents house, so I just joined in. Her mom made a halloween themed dinner, complete with jack-o-latern stuffed bell peppers, frankenstein cheese dip, and apple, peanut butter, and marshmallow mouths. Beyond cute. 

It was so great getting to catch up with my sweet friend. She took me back to the airport and I headed to bed for an early flight. Saturday morning I woke up super early and headed to the airport for my flight. I got uber hungry once I was there and thankfully found the BEST airport coffee shop ever. Seriously. They make legit coffee there. You really should try it :-)

I got back that afternoon and was finally reunited with my husband after being apart for 10 days! It was a great trip! Anything exciting coming up for you all?