A Busy Spring. To Say The least.

Finsters happy at the beach

 Where to begin... Our little Dutton trio has had quite the spring so I am going to do my best to play catch up, while attempting to keep this somewhat readable as well :)

As many of you know, Friday, March 16th was the nation-wide Match Day for all fourth year medical students. Pasi and I had been anxiously awaiting this day for a variety of reasons. I met Pasi during the spring of his first year of medical school and have constantly been in awe of his ability to prioritize and balance the level of time and effort he puts towards his friends, his studies, his research as well as towards Finn and I. Anyone that ever met or worked with Pasi has been impressed by him so none of us were really worried about him becoming and amazing doctor, but behind the scenes we were a bundle of nerves. The chances of Pasi being able to match in an Orthopaedic residency program were slim, not because of his skills, but due primarily to the fact that there just were not enough spots for all of the people that wanted to go into Ortho. On Monday, March 12th Pasi was notified that he matched in an Orthopaedic Program, but seven of the thirteen medical students at UCSD that wanted to match in Ortho did not. Needless to say we were over the moon excited. Pasi had once again beaten the odds and was now able to follow his passion towards becoming an Orthopaedic surgeon. On Friday, we arrived at UCSD and anxiously awaited the moment where we could open our envelope to find out where our new home for the next 5-6 years would be. We knew it was going to be either San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Iowa. I'll let the pictures tell you how it all worked out :)

When we arrived all of the envelopes were laid out across the tables. Every part of me wanted to grab ours and open in, but instead I not-so-patiently waited for the speeches to finish.

We came home to this sweet surprise from our sweet friends the Bledsoes

Once Match Day was behind us I began the fun task of finding a new job in San Francisco. Due to the timing of Match Day, I was a little late in the game, but my friends Jen and Erin were super helpful in passing along my resume, cover letter and class blog to  anyone and everyone they knew. After a few weeks of interviews and applications I accepted a kindergarten teaching position at The Hamlin School in Pacific Heights. It will be a big change for me professionally, but I am looking forward to it.

Spring Break!

For my Spring Break Pas and I had the most amazing road trip up and down the coast. Our days were spent catching up with close friends and family, revisiting our wedding site(s), our favorite spots in Big Sur and wine tasting with our dear friends the Bledsoes. It was yet another amazing adventure that I hope we will never forget and always try to recreate.
We began the week(end) in Santa Ynez with six other couples in a huge house that our friend Antonella found for us. It was truly spectacular and perfect for our group. Our days were spent wine tasting, lounging by the pool or sitting in the hot tub while our nights were spent sharing family style meals and playing the oh-so-sophisticated games of Can-disco and beer pong.  I wasn't the best at photographing during this time, but here are the few I did take.

Sarloos & Sons

Cupcake and wine pairing @ Sarloos

The Santa Ynez House

The Nudlemans at Bridlewood

After our weekend in Santa Ynez, the Nudlemans, Shaughnessys, Heifferons, Bledsoes, Pas and I headed to El Capitan Canyon for a few nights of glamping. It was Pas and my first time back there since our wedding last year and it was so nice being there without being in wedding planning mode! Our first night there we spent our day relaxing by the pool, hiking to see the llamas and cooked dinner on the fire, played Can-disco, listened to the boys play guitar and made S'mores.

"Hiking" to the llamas. Pasi and his Posse

The following day we did more of the same and headed into Santa Barbara for dinner at Pas and my favorite spot, Arigato Sushi. I like to think of myself as a adventurous when it comes to food, but Eric brought sushi eating to a whole new level. Below are a few snapshots of the interesting things he ordered.

Quail egg and oyster shooter

Jelly Fish!

I actually ordered this, a seared ahi roll.

A Quial egg! Nothing else! Not even cooked!

Needless to say, Eric did not partake in the sharing of sushi that night!
After our two nights at El Cap our friends took off in different directions, the Bledsoes headed to Yosemite, the Nudlemans headed to San Diego while Pas and I stayed at El Cap for another night. We treated ourselves to a BBQ basket and braved the rain in our tent cabin before hitting the road and heading up to Big Sur for the night.

Bones and vino

The best part of our BBQ Basket

Our delicious dinner before the rain came

Big Sur was nothing short of spectacular. Every mile or so we would pull off to the side of the road to take photos of the breathtaking views. Hopefully Pasi will post some of his because mine don't capture the beauty nearly as well as his do. We spent the night in our favorite little motel that was recommended to us by our dear friends Kelsey and Raleigh. We stayed there the night after our wedding weekend and hope to visit each year.

Ahh, my handsome husband

 After Big Sur we met up with the Bledsoes for the most amazing day of wine tasting ever. Our sister (Jaisy) got us an unbelievable rate at The Fairmont Sonoma for Friday night and we hired a car through Blue Dot to take us around to some of the Sonoma vineyards. Our first stop was the Silver Oak winery where Jeremy and Julie treated us to the most amazing wine tasting experience we had ever had. The wine was amazing, the food was delicious and Julie made sure that we were well taken care of in every way possible. After two and a half hours there we headed to the Twomey wine cellars and finished up our day at the J winery.

J Vineyards

J opening a bottle of J

Overall this spring has been nothing short of amazing. Pasi and I are truly blessed to have such wonderful families and friends in our life. We are both so lucky to be pursuing our passions in our careers as we continue to reap the benefits of a healthy active lifestyle. And of course, life is always that much better with our bundle of love Finn. 

Our Finn.