The One with All the Football!

It seems like the only thing on tv these days is football! I'm a HUGE girly girl and football has just never been my thing. I don't even think I knew anything about it until I went to college ha! (Shh, don't tell anyone, that's kind of embarrassing!) But I went to a football school and I have become a fan. Well, really just a fan of college football. I've still got a ways to go with pro ball! Okay, but really the point is that Clemson won their bowl game a few days ago! GO TIGERS!! And then Georgia (David's team since he was a kid) won their bowl game! Although I've got to say that my favorite part of that game was when they showed their interim bulldog "Russ"!! (Their mascot Uga 7 died earlier in the season!) I think Russ is a great name for a mascot though! They should really consider changing Uga's name ;) And finally, I watched the last few minutes of the BGSU and Idaho game and OMG what an ending! I was thoroughly impressed with the 2 touchdowns in 30 seconds and a 2 pt. conversion that won Idaho the game! All I'm going to say about Leach and Texas Tech is that it's a shame that everything had to happen like it did, for the coach and the player and his teammates.

*David and I went to see some christmas lights with his cousin and girlfriend. They gave out free hot chocolate!*

It's been a pretty normal day today. I've been having some pain in my right scapula for the last few weeks and since it isn't getting any better I went to the doctor this morning. He thinks it's just a muscle thing so he's given me some anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers so hopefully those will help!

*This is one of my favorite christmas pictures! Marley looks SO excited about seeing what is in his stocking!*

David and I went to the mall to walk around a bit and oh my lord there were a LOT of people there! I don't get claustrophobic but I sure felt it there today! We didn't stay long:) David decided he wanted to head back home today so we packed when we got home and headed that way. We wanted to finish cleaning up the house before our friends came tomorrow to celebrate the New Year with us in the new house! I can't wait:) I hope you all have had a wonderful day and a great New Year's Eve tomorrow!

*This is another of my favorite pictures. My granddad was cutting up turkey. Needless to say, Marley found a new best friend in granddad:)*

Erin

The One with Christmas 2009!

*These are the best cousins you could ever ask for! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family!*

Merry Christmas everyone! I've enjoyed reading about your nice holidays you have had:) It sounds like everyone had a great time with family and friends...me included! (I've also thoroughly enjoyed my time off from nursing school! I still have another week and a half so I'm going to enjoy it even more ha!)

I ended my first semester of nursing school with all A's (I'm proud of myself!) and headed straight to move David into his new home! It is still kind of a mess, but it looks so good! I even put up a few christmas decorations;) He was busy setting up the tv and blu-ray/xbox/speakers and turned around to see what I was doing and he laughed at me because I was putting up christmas decorations! He said that "it figures" that I would be putting up Christmas stuff, but I wasn't going to let his first christmas in his new home go by without at least some decorating!

*My family all dressed up on Christmas Eve!*

I came home on the 23rd and has spent the last few days with my family. My mom and I, aunt, uncle, and cousins all trekked over (the whole 5 minutes of trekking...) to my grandparents house (like we do every year!) for christmas eve! We had a wonderful dinner and stayed up late putting a puzzle together and watching christmas movies. Christmas morning was just plain rainy and cold, but it was warm and cozy inside:) We woke up around 9 (it seems to get later each year...!) and had our annual christmas morning breakfast of cinnamon rolls and bacon! We all seemed to have been pretty good boys and girls this year because we got a LOT of stuff! There was a huge pile of wrapping paper in the center of the room by the time we were finished! I got a lot of clothes, a new pair of boots that I'm in love with, a chi hair straightener (yea!) and a lot of other wonderful things. It was such a great christmas!

*Here's our big pile of wrapping paper!*

We let Marley open his stocking a night early so he would have some toys to play with! Then we stuck him IN his stocking....he didn't like it very much! But I thought he was precious:)

David came up on the 26th so we could have our own christmas. Wow, all I can say is that I am dating the best guy in the world:) He is amazing and really knows how to please a girl! I got some amazing stuff from him the year that I have been wanting!

*My stocking from David was this cute oven mit! How creative!*

*I got some Spode platters for my collection and David got a whole box of wall flowers for his new home! Oh the things you get excited about as you get older.... :)*

*My new pj bottoms from J. Crew! I had been wanting these for a long time and I finally got them! They are soooo comfortable!*

*I know this is wayyy too close up of my face, but I wanted a close picture of my necklace! This was another (my favorite!) gift from David this year! Isn't it beautiful?!*

New years will be spent in the new house with a few good friends and family. I can't wait! What are your new years plans?

VOTE FOR MARLEY...PLEASE!! :)

Hello blogger friends! I know it has been a while (I seem to say that every time don't I?!) but nursing school keeps me busy! I should have some time here in the next few days it being Thanksgiving and all so hopefully I'll be able to update you on life! :)

But I have a HUGE HUGE HUGE favor to ask of all my blogging friends! You all know how in love I am with my puppy Marley. Well I entered him into the Hallmark cutest dog picture contest and I need YOUR help voting! Everyone can vote 1 time each day until December 15th and I would be so grateful if you guys would go and vote for Marley each day! We have a ways to go in getting up to the front runners, but I think we can do it! Thank you guys so much and I look forward to writing more about this wonderful Thanksgiving break coming up!

Here's the link to vote for Marley! Thanks again!

VOTE FOR MARLEY!

The One with Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

This weekend, Jessie and Jake came up and we all went to Scarowinds! We got there around 7:30 pm and rode about 4 rides before the park closed! (There were a LOT of people there!) They had really spooked up the place with lots of people dressed up in scary costumes that jumped out at you from everywhere!

There was a new ride there called the "Carolina Cobra" that takes you forward and then takes you backwards on the same loop. I DID NOT want to go on that ride! It didn't look fun to me at all and I was so nervous to go on it! But David, Jessie, and Jake dragged me on because they all wanted to go on it....and who am I to be the party pooper?! Well we went on it and God really has a sense of humor because we were FIRST IN LINE. So of course everyone in line is staring straight at me and I am like about to throw up on this ride! Not because I get motion sick, but because I was so nervous!! :)

Well I had the FUNNIEST look on my face when they snapped the picture so David bought it:) As soon as I get it scanned into the computer I'll post it on here and you guys can make as much fun of me as my friends did!! :)

This morning we got up and went to breakfast at this place called Eddie's. They have really good breakfast food! I got chocolate chip pancakes, but unfortunately I wasn't very impressed with them. I usually get the cibatta french toast and that's really really good! So I think I'll stick with that when I go next.

It's been overcast here all day, and finally about 6:oo pm it started raining. So needless to say, we haven't had many trick-or-treaters here tonight! :( I always like handing out candy and seeing the cute outfits that kids have! Oh well, maybe next year?

The guys watched football all day and Jessie and I worked on homework. I hope you all had a wonderful day! And if it's been nice weather where you are, I hope you've seen some very cute outfits for halloween:)

P.S.- The tigers won today! So in honor of their win, here is the pumpkin carving David and I did:)

*This is the pumpkin in the light!*

*And below is the pumpkin in the dark! Goooo Tigers!!!*

Erin

The One with Extra Time!

Yes, it's true! I've gotten ahead in my reading and work so I actually have a little down time tonight to update my blog! It's great huh?

Well, obviously I have been really busy working on my nursing classes. Man, it keeps me so busy. But things have been going really well and we are all getting along great:) I'm really enjoying getting to know the girls in my class. Our very first clinical rotation ended last Thursday. I'm not sure if I told you guys or not, but it was at an assisted living facility so the majority of the people there were elderly with dementia or Alzheimer's. I wasn't really keen on taking care of the elderly. It just upsets me to see someone who, at one point in life, was just as vivacious and outgoing as I am, and is now basically bedridden and can't remember anything. But I actually enjoyed the rotation more than I thought I would! The people were all so sweet and just wanted attention.

We start a new rotation tomorrow in the TCU (transitional care unit). As far as I know, that's more rehab stuff. I'm interested to see how that goes because the clinical groups that were there before us said that the patients really don't want anything to do with the student nurses! I haven't had to deal with someone confrontational yet, so I'm a little nervous as to what the next few weeks will hold!

As this is the time of year for weather changes (dramatic weather changes! I'm talking cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon!) people have started getting sick. Unfortunately, last week I was one of those people! I woke up Tuesday with a little bit of a sore throat and by Wednesday night I was just so sick. I had to get up at 4:30 am for clinical on Thursday and basically thought I was going to die! Haha...but I went to the doctor on Friday and was "diagnosed" with a bad sinus infection. She put me on some high powered antibiotics and I'm feeling a lot better now:)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to get the H1N1 flu vaccine through my school. (How do you all feel about getting that vaccine? I know a lot of people have differing opinions!) Well the nurse stuck me and starting pushing the vaccine into my arm and apparently something was wrong with the cap (the screw on part of the needle) and instead of getting vaccine inside my arm...it was running down the outside and onto the floor! They wouldn't give me another one because they didn't know how much I had actually gotten. Hmm... I'm going on Friday to my Dr. to get another one:)

How have you all been doing? I've been reading your blogs every chance I get and they definitely keep me grounded!!

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks!

*Marley was playing hide and seek! He picked a good hiding spot! :)*

*This picture is a little late, but for David's birthday, we went to Outback and they waiters and waitresses sang to him! *

*For the Wake Forest vs. Clemson game, we went out to dinner with my bff and her boyfriend! Here are Jessie and Jake at dinner!*

*And here are David and me at dinner! Sorry about the red eyes....I forgot to fix them ha!*

*And of course, the best picture of all! The score of the game! WF was expected to win, but we ran them into the ground! Go Tigers!* (And ps- in case you didn't watch, we BEAT #10 Miami AT Miami last weekend!!!!!)

*Funny story: I bought Marley some Christmas pajamas yesterday and wanted to try them on him! Usually whenever Marley wears clothes, he goes somewhere. So when I put his pj's on him, he went and SAT BY THE DOOR and WHINED because he thought we were going somewhere! He wouldn't calm down until I took him on a walk so he would think he "went somewhere"!!! He is so cute haha!*

Have a great week guys! :)

The One with the Good News!

Hey everybody! It's been a while hasn't it? You guys know why.

I am currently NOT studying for a pathophys. test I have tomorrow afternoon. My brain just cannot function anymore haha! I've done about as much as I can tonight and I'll study some more tomorrow during lunch with some friends. I'll fill you in on the weekend and what's been happening this week so far!

This past weekend was David's 24th birthday! (Happy birthday, babe!) We traveled to his hometown of Athens, GA (Go Dawgs!!...can't believe I just said that....). We went out to dinner Friday night with his immediate family...mom, dad, and sister. We went to Outback and they sang to him! It was great because he was so embarrassed!! Saturday, some of his extended family came up to enjoy a home-cooked lunch with us! We watched the Georgia game, ate some good southern cookin' and had a great time visiting.

I know I said I would take some pictures this weekend, but I just didn't get around to it. Sad, I know. And I'm so sorry! I did take one picture though, and it has a story behind it, so here goes:

Marley loves to play outside and David's backyard at home is not fenced so I decided to take him on a little walk around the neighborhood. And by "little walk around the neighborhood" I mean down to the end of the street and back, because...you know...he has little legs. Well we were walking along, looking at all the pretty nature things, turned around at the end of the street and headed back up to the house on the opposite side of the road we came on. Before I knew it, Marley was ON TOP of something. THIS SOMETHING:

Talk about heart attack!!! I freaked out and picked my little angel up, just sure that he was going to be eaten or I was going to be bit. That's how much I know about snakes. I realized the snake was dead and went to get David to show him and he said, "you know, Marley would be dead if that thing had been alive...that's a copperhead."

Well then.

I'm glad that snake was dead. It was gross looking and my puppy almost met instantaneous death. Fabulous.

This week has been full of nursing school (what else?!) but some extraordinary good news! We have bought a house! Well. David has. But he says it's "our house" and technically it is. We both looked, we both liked this one, and it's the one we will be in once I graduate. I'll help him move in around December and get settled, I'll live down there this summer and work, come back to finish school, and move down for good after graduation. I'm SOOOO excited! It's a beautiful home and I am so happy for our future:) Here is a sneak peak of our new home!

Everyone, have a wonderful, wonderful rest of the week! It's supposed to be really rainy and cold here so if you live around here, be careful the next few days! As for me, fall break starts tomorrow after my test! 4:00pm can't get here soon enough! :)

The One with well...Studying!

I bet you guys can't guess what I've been doing all weekend?

Studying!

Yep, I know, you never would have guessed. I've been extra busy this weekend because I'm trying to get ahead in all my work so I can go with David next weekend to visit his family for his birthday! I've tried to get ahead in my reading and getting all my assignments done and as of 9:30 pm tonight, I have pretty much everything done. Now all that's left this week is working on a paper that's due next week and studying for a few tests I have this week! Hopefully this is something I can handle haha:) And assuming I get all of that done, I'll try to start reading for next week so I won't have *too* much to do over David's birthday weekend!

I seem to have it all planned out don't I?? We'll see how well that plan actually works out this week haha;) Even though I have it all planned out, I still feel stressed to the max! I'm sooo looking forward to fall break in a few weekends! It will definitely be well deserved by my whole class!

I know I haven't posted too many pictures lately, so I'll try to take some this weekend and have something nice to post sometime next week when I get a chance! Although there is something so very cute that I want to share with you guys today! I saw this video on America's Funniest Videos the other day and it just made me laugh because it was so precious! I'm not a big Barry Mannilow fan...in fact, I'm not really a fan at all, but this little kid just cracked me up:) I hope it makes you laugh too!

Kids Make Me Laugh:)

Hope everyone has a great week!

The One with the Request!

Well I've had a request for an update. Okay, so the request was from my mom, but still...it was a request, ha! Things have been so busy lately! I guess for starters, I ended up with a 98 on my second test- YEAH!!! I was stoked about that. Over the last few weeks, I've done a ton of work, started clinicals, and been to a Clemson football game. Anndd....it got rained out...again:) Ha!

School keeps me really busy. I go from about 9:00 am- 4:00 pm most every day. Except on Thursdays which are clincial days and I've got to be there around 7am! Then I come home and work out for about an hour, eat dinner, and then get back in the books. I read and study until time for bed which is sometime around 11pm. So as you can clearly see, I have limited time to write blogs! :) I've got a few tests coming up next weekend and a HUGE paper due on Oct. 14th that I'm going to try to start on this weekend. We'll see how that goes ;)

Clinicals started last Thursday, but we had no patient contact, although we were assigned patients. Tomorrow will be our first time having contact with people and I'm so nervous! I'm scared I'm going to do something wrong- so keep your fingers crossed for me!

That's really all I have to post about tonight! (Unless you guys want to hear about the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis or how to calculate medications??! No takers huh? Ha.) I'll post some pictures for your viewing pleasure of the last few days:)

*When Marley doesn't get what he wants, he gets as high up as he can!* (and yes..he did end up with that last bite of pizza!)

*David and I were on our way to dinner with my grandparents! It was the first pretty day in a while so I made him take some pictures:) *

Okay! It's time for bed, night y'all!! :)

The One with the Love:)

Hello friends!

Well, Clemson won on Saturday (yeah!) but it started storming in the 3rd quarter so we packed up and headed home. We had fun while it lasted though! Here is a picture of us in our ponchos!

I got a few more pictures of this weekend, but none of them were very good ha!

Today we had my grandparents and aunt and uncle down for dinner! It was my grandmother's birthday dinner so I cooked maple-ginger chicken with couscous, sauteed veggies, and salad! It was really good and everyone seemed to enjoy it! She opened presents and we all had dessert (cake and ice cream of course!). I just really love my family. They are some of the best people and I am just so blessed to have them in my life!

It has been a great evening, and even better is that I did a lot of nursing work yesterday so I didn't have to do any today! But when I got home this afternoon, I went ahead and got the rest of my work done for the week, so now I have nothing to do but study! :) Such a relief!

I hope everyone has had a great day!

Erin

The One with the Break Down...

First of all, I just wanted to say I'm so glad that some of you out there know where the titles for my posts come from! (For those of you who don't know, the titles of "Friends" episodes all start out the same way!!) It makes me happy to know that you guys understand what I'm talking about haha ;) And that you share my love of Friends because it really is just a great show!

Now what follows next you better not laugh at. It is going to seem very trivial to some of you, but just realize this is where I am at right now haha:) I realize it's stupid, but I just can't help it. I know I told you in the last post that I have 1. been really stressed and 2. just finished with my first 2 tests in nursing school. Today we had a day off and do you know what I did? More nursing work. So I was already really bummed about spending my day off doing work and I know it was my choice and all but....it was just one of those days!

One of my test grades posted tonight. (As of the post, the other hadn't been put up yet.) I made a 90.5. Before I go any further, let me explain the grading system at my school, some of you may know what I'm talking about. A 93-100 is an A; a 91-92 is an A-; an 88-90 is a B+ and so on and so forth. It's a terrible scale and I really prefer the 10 point scale haha! Oh, and they don't round up:)

SO. I made a 90.5 on my test. Y'all, I cried. I bawled my eyes out. I have been so stressed with trying to get all my chapters read and studying whenever I had the time, mainly I was just working my butt off. See?? I know this is the most trivial thing ever. I should be happy with a B+...I mean on any other scale it would be an A. But I hate b's. I'm not against them like I am C's, but I mean I just really don't like B's. Especially those that are soooo close to an A, can't be rounded up to an A, and after I put in so much effort. I'm just really irritated at myself for getting a 90 and plainly stated...I just feel stupid.

Plus I think all the stress just came to a head when I got that grade and well, the waterworks came. (I'm not really sure the pathophysiology of how tears are created just yet, but I'll work on it and let you know what I find out haha!!)

Anyway, I have one more test grade to wait on and I am just praying that I at least got an A- on that one. I need some good news right about now. So keep your fingers crossed for me!

On another note, I'm going tomorrow (after I take my health assessment quiz...) to Clemson for the BC game. Yes, I'll be bringing my books and all to study from, but I'm hoping for a little relaxation time to just get away and have some form of a life for a bit haha! :) I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful weekend and I can't wait to read about everything you do!

Erin

The One with Hallelujah

I've been in nursing school for a month. Wow. I can't believe it. I have studied, read, and studied some more. And I had my first 2 nursing tests this week. I think I have gotten a total of about 9 hours of sleep over the last 3 days because I was studying the whole time. But *hopefully* it paid off. I think I did okay on my first nursing tests- and let me tell you, they were not a walk in the park! By the time the day was over, we were all completely drained, only to find out that...God heard all of our prayers and just so happens to be on our side!

As we were leaving we learned that our classes were canceled tomorrow!!! :) God knew how much we needed a break and it was granted! I don't have to get up at 5 am, drive 40 minutes for clinical and then head straight to class until 4pm! (Instead...I get to sleep in, and catch up on all the work I've put off because of studying haha! - but at least I get to sleep in!)

Hallelujah haha!

Erin

ps- thanks for sticking with me even though I haven't posted much at all over the last month. And even though I don't comment much anymore due to lack of time, I still read your blogs and they bring me back down to earth haha:)

September 11, 2001

Obviously there doesn't need to be an explanation about this post. We all know what happened on this day 8 years ago. I spent pretty much my whole morning watching videos on youtube of footage from that day. Some people never want to see that ever again. And I don't blame them. But I want to watch because I never want to forget how I felt that day, when I was 14 years old, as our country was attacked. There really isn't anything else to say except thank you to everyone who was there that day, who lost their lives for us, and who fought to save those who lost their lives. And thank you to those who are still fighting for us today. America loves you.

The One Where the Tigers Win!

*The Fabulous Four!*

What a fabulous weekend this has been! Before I forget...happy labor day everyone! I didn't have much of a labor day. I drove home (amid the thousands of police that were out today. They were literally lining up on the highway to catch speeders!), did some P90X, and started back on my nursing work. I feel really, really behind since I didn't do any work over the weekend. But I'm on my way to catching up and I only have 3 days of class this week so I'm sure I can handle it!

Well I know you are all anxiously awaiting the outcome of the very first Clemson football game of the season! And....drumroll please...It's a TIGER WIN!!!

Friday after David got off work, we headed down to Clemson. There was a soccer game that David wanted to go to so he headed off to that and I went to dinner with my old roommate Jess, her boyfriend Jake, her parents, and our friend Meredith. We went to this awesome mexican restaurant called "Los Amigos". If you are ever in Seneca, SC you should DEFINITELY check it out:) On Saturday we woke up at 9:30 and got ready to go tailgate! We tailgated from 12:30 until game time (which was at 6 pm!). I had a great time catching up with everyone and really being in Clemson for the first game as an alum!!

*Roomies*

*The most exciting 25 seconds in football!*

*Our first extra point after the touchdown 10 seconds into the game!*

The very first kick-off of the game, we ran back for a touchdown! So it was a good start for the Tigers! We had a great time for the first 2 quarters and even got up on the big screen! You know it's always exciting to get on the big screen!! Ha! :) But around half time it started raining! Yes, you heard me right! Raining....even though the weather channel said there was only a 10% chance of rain all day and night! I even checked the weather website on my blackberry and it STILL said only a 10% chance of rain! We sat through about as much rain as we could but Jess had on a white dress, it was getting chilly, and we were winning by a bajillion to like 14 so we decided to go on home.

Since there was no school today, I stayed Sunday night with David. I really enjoyed that because I don't feel like we have gotten much time by ourselves lately. We don't get to talk much during the week because I'm soooo bogged down with schoolwork, reading, and studying and during the past few weekends we've been around people. (Which is totally okay! We love all of you! Ha!) But I do like to have some time that we can spend just the 2 of us. So Sunday night was enjoyable.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend and Labor Day!

Erin

The One with College Football!!!

I had some free time so I thought I would let you in on a biggg secret! IT'S COLLEGE FOOTBALL TIME!!!! And I really don't care about college football all that much. But I love talking smack about other schools and I love Clemson Tigers!!! I don't think we are supposed to be that great this year (woops...did I just out my school like that?!) but it's okay because I just love being in the Clemson atmosphere:) Here is a picture of me and one of my good friends Laurel at homecoming one year!

And even better news than the beginning of the college football season is that I am Clemson bound this weekend! I have the best roommate in the entire world and she got me tickets to the very first game of the year for Clemson! They are playing Middle Tennessee...and to be honest I've never even heard of that school so I *hope* we beat them! We aren't ranked this year (bummerrrr.) but I have a lot of faith in Dabo! Yabba Dabo dooooo!!! Okay anyway.

In my haste to pack for Clemson, I left my camera charger at home so I'm hoping my camera stays charged for the weekend because it's bound to be fun!:) Here are some of my favorite pictures from past Clemson football seasons!

David and I tailgating before one of the games!

Parachuters brought the game ball into the stadium!

I don't know if you can see it, but Marley is in his Clemson shirt! Only 2 months old and already supporting the tigers!! :)

Amy, Mary, and me before the game began! All decked out in our Clemson dresses that Mary's mom made!

And what would a picture post from me be without a family shot? Marley looks so little!

As for tomorrow, I will be reading and studying for nursing. Sigh. Until it's time to head to Clemson:) GOOOO TIGERS!!!!!

Erin

The One with the Princess

Wow. I don't remember the last time I posted. It feels like ages ago. The reason? Nursing school. If you had asked me 2 weeks ago if I thought nursing school would become my life I would have told you no, I still plan to go out, have fun, pretend like I'm still in college! Rigghhhhtt.....well those days are over. I now eat, breathe, and sleep nursing. I have not stopped reading since last Wednesday- my very first day. And surprisingly I love it:) I love everything I read about nursing. Don't get me wrong, some of it is very, very boring....and very, very grotesque...but I love it! Unfortunately, it has left me no time for anything else- including blogging. How completely terrible is that? :(

Not only that, but I haven't been keeping up with dates and stuff. Like today. 13 years ago today, Princess Diana died in a horrible car accident. I was 9 years old and in love with the idea of being a princess:) My grandparents took me to London and I got to walk by her house, see where she lived, walk where she walked and fell absolutely in love. I remember hearing the story unfold on tv and watching the funeral procession, crying my little heart out. I made my mom buy Elton John's Candle in the Wind memorial cd for Princess Di and I listened to it over and over and over again- crying every time. Some little girls loved Cinderella or some other disney princess. But Princess Diana was my princess growing up:) It's still strange for me to think it's been so long, but I suppose that's what time does!

Anyway, on another note, I started this P90X workout thing. Have you heard of it? It's this exercise routine you do for 90 days and it's supposed to just absolutely transform you. I started today. It was horrifying! If I work out like this for 90 days I better be transformed! This man is crazy, but it was awesome! I'm sure I'm going to hurt in the morning, but I just hope I can keep this up because I think it will really work! If you've heard of it or how well it works, leave me a message because I'd love to know if torturing myself will be worth it in the end or if I'm just dying for no reason, ha! :)

Sorry I have been MIA the last week or so, but I've loved catching up on your lives!! Happy Monday night ha!

Erin

The One With the Nurse!

I had my first official day of nursing school today!  I was sooo worried about parking and when I arrived on campus....45 minutes early.... there were plenty of spots to choose from!  I was so relieved and the rest of the day just went so smoothly:)  My first professor for my "Concepts of Professional Nursing" class is so energetic!  She was really nice and talked us all in to not worrying about everything and just taking it day by day!  There are about 42 of us in the fall BSN class and I have to say that everyone I met today was really nice.  I hope it stays that way:)  I really hope we will all get to be great friends over the next few years....as we will be in all the same classes together ha!  We got out of class really early so a few of us found a table and sat around, talked, and had lunch.  

Then we had Pathophysiology.  This is exactly what the professor said, "This class is going to be boring.  So I'm going to try to make it fun and hopefully it will be fun for you.  Also I really want everyone to pass.  But not everyone will. Because this is a hard class.  But I'm really rooting for you to pass."

Great!  There went all the non-worrying thoughts haha!!  I'm going to bust my butt to keep an A in that class, hopefully I will succeed with that goal!:)  A few of us have already decided we are going to have a study group and get together a lot.  I don't know about you, but it helps me to be able to talk to someone about what I'm learning.  I feel like if I can explain it then I understand it!  And I'm going to HAVE to understand all of this.  I mean...you wouldn't want a nurse working on you who got C's all the way through nursing school would you??  I know I wouldn't....

Anyway, I'm excited about tomorrow because we will be assigned a clinical day (either Tues. or Thurs.) and we get to order our uniforms, stethescopes, and BP cuffs!! Yayyyy!! I can't wait to get all of that stuff and get the ball rolling with this!  I've already got homework assignments and bookoos(sp??) of chapters to read.  I suppose this will be my life for a while!  I'll let you know how the uniform stuff goes tomorrow:) 

Did everyone have a good Wednesday?  Can't wait to hear about them!

Erin

The One Where School Begins!

The day has finally come!  I start nursing school tomorrow and I'm excited and nervous ha!  I'm not nervous about the school part but I hear parking is awful there (I actually had the chair of the nursing department tell me today that she would get there at 7:30am for a 9:00am class because parking is so bad....omggggg.), I don't know anyone, and I really don't know what to expect!  But I'm more at ease tonight because I went over to the campus today to "walk my schedule."  Don't laugh at me ha!:)  All through college I walked my schedule the day before the semester started so I wouldn't get lost and make it easier the next day! 

While I was walking I ran into two professors of the nursing school and actually found out that they will be 2 of my professors this semester...how exciting!  I was talking to them about how I recently graduated from Clemson and one of them had actually graduated from Clemson as well:)  Obviously we have an automatic bond now haha:)  It's always exciting to find someone who went to Clemson and shares my love of my school!!

Now if you weren't laughing about me walking my schedule you might laugh at this:  I have already set out my outfit for tomorrow as well as packed my lunch!  I have the cutest little ADPi lunch bag that I'm using:)  I figured it would be in my best interest to go ahead and get everything ready so I'll be on time since I apparently have to get to campus at 7:30 for a 9 am!!

I hope you all had a great day and look for an update on my first day of class tomorrow!! :)

Erin

The One Where Amy Goes to College!

Oh man has it been a while since I've written!  I have been so busy this past weekend and I'm just now getting time to write...and I better do it fast because I am exhausted!!  So the BIGGEST news this past weekend is that my cousin Amy moved in to college!!!  I have lots of pictures so I'll show them along the way!  

Friday night, my family and I went out to Firebird's, a nice restaurant down the street, for Amy's last meal at home.  It was so good!  I asked the waiter to take a picture of us and he happily obliged!  

*From left to right: Uncle Mike, Aunt Diane, Amy, Tyler, me, and my mom!*

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning (we were on the road by 7:30am!!) to hit the road to school!  Amy and Tyler rode with me and my mom because her car was completely full of stuff!!  Here are some pictures of all of us on the road!

*This is an awful picture of the photographer*

*Here is mom driving the car*

*Amy and Tyler all cuddly in the backseat:)*

*Aunt Diane and Uncle Mike in the next car!*

When we finally arrived, we had to unload both cars onto the sidewalk and then go park the cars a mile away! (Well it seemed like a mile...)  You would not believe the piles of stuff all these kids had!  Even the boys brought a lot of stuff!

*Amy's pile!*

Amy is rooming with one of her friends from high school, so they already knew each other and the families got along great- which is a good thing because there were 11 of us total...in a teeny tiny dorm room!  Oh it was definitely crowded...but the finished product looked awesome:)  She's pretty pleased with it!  Not to mention that just outside her dorm is the football stadium, and on the other side of the dorm is the baseball field!  Talk about lucky:)

*Amy lofted her bed and Hope cornered hers right under Amy's!*

*Amy found a cute place to put her picture frames, fridge, and microwave*

*I loved her desk area:) *

We left around 7:00pm and didn't get home until about 10:15ish.  We were all so tired, but so glad to have gotten Amy all moved in.  She starts tomorrow so keep her in your prayers!

Aside from that just a few things:  

1) When we got home Saturday night, I spilled astringent aaalllll over my phone.  Joyous way to end a day I think!  It quit working.  I got a new one.

2) I start school on Wednesday and I am soooo nervous.  Why?  It's not like I just finished 4 years of school and graduated or anything....

3) Happy Birthday, mom!  I love you!

Erin

The One With Friday Faves Week 3

This week's Friday Fave is to blog about your favorite music you are listening to in your car!  This was a tough one for me because I really enjoy a lot of different types of music and have favorites in each one!!  Right at this very moment I have the new Brad Paisley cd in my car, the new Gloriana cd in my car, and a plethora of christmas cd's in my car...because we all know how I am about Christmas:) But I also really love Michael Buble and MercyMe.  Aahhh decisions are so hard ha!

I suppose though, I'll go with Gloriana since that is exactly what is in my cd player in my car at this very moment.  The whole cd is good, although most of the fast songs are at the beginning of the cd and the slower ones at the end...I kind of find that a tad irritating because when I'm driving an hour and a half to see David I get kind of tired when the slow songs come on ha!  My favorite song of theirs is "Wild at Heart"- and it's also their most popular song out right now!  This is my favorite line from the song--"Stick your hand into my back pocket

Light me up like a bottle rocket
I just wanna free fall for a while"  

I just love the part about being with someone, walking with your hand in their pocket on a summer's night...just such a great song:)  I hope you guys will listen to it!!  Here it is on youtube!  Enjoy!!

              Gloriana- Wild At Heart Video

Erin

The One Where She's Watching Friends:)

I am currently piled up on the couch watching...wait for it...FRIENDS!  Yes, my favorite show of all time.  I've gotten so used to spending the evenings and nights with David and since tonight is my first night without him, I've decided piling up and watching Friends will make me feel a little better:)

My summer is officially nearing it's end.  I have started my yearly lack of sleep that starts the week before school.  It seems that stress takes over my body and just wreaks havoc on it.  I haven't slept well for the past few nights and last night I think I got a total of 3 1/2 hours.  David got up at 6:30 to get ready for work so I just followed suit and left for home around 7.  I'm so exhausted now that I hope I'll be able to sleep tonight! :)

Once I got home I headed up to my mom's school to help her finish setting up her classroom, had a doctor's appointment, and had the pleasure of spending the rest of the afternoon running errands with my grandparents!  It was great to spend time with them.  They are getting ready to spend their 53rd wedding anniversary on a trip to Nova Scotia!  How awesome will that be?!  They love to travel and I'm afraid to say I've inherited that love as well:)

I also headed to the mall tonight because my mac laptop has started acting up.  About a year after I got it, my hard drive just...died.  It just up and died.  I lost everything because, well...I didn't know about backing things up.  I'm really not that computer-literate.  They shipped it off, fixed it, and shipped it back.  It worked great for about a year and has recently started having issues coming on and turning off...just taking a rreeallllly long time!  Well I found out tonight that I'm having "processing errors" and that I have to uninstall and re-install the leopard program cd....WHAT?!  Are you kidding me?  Everyone I know who has a mac just raves about them and I love my mac too, but it's just my luck that I get the crazy messed up one.  Aargh.  And right before school starts.  Lovely.

But alas, nothing matters right now because Friends is on:)  So I'm letting go of all my worries for the night and catching up on my show.  Night y'all.

Erin

The One Where We Say Goodbye :(

Today is the day I have been dreading all summer.  Yes, I am a worrier, and yes I have been thinking about this day for months.  I am leaving David's today to head back home to start school...meaning I don't know when we will see each other again.  This coming weekend I'll be taking my cousin Amy to college (ahh!!) so I won't be able to see Dave, and then I start school.  All in all, I don't think the first week will be very stressful- I mean it's just a few days of the new school year and they don't normally pile on the work so early.  But I also have to try to find a job.  I'm really nervous about that because 1) it has to be a CNA job to help with my "practice" in hospitals 2) most CNA hires are through people you already know...it's all politics! and 3) I don't like politics!  I'm going to have to go up to the hospital and just ask for CNA jobs.  For some reason that's hard for me and I'm really dreading doing that.  REALLY dreading.  But I have to find a job, and once I do...well so long weekends and so long time to see David.  I know everything will be okay and we'll see each other more than I am imagining right now, but it still sucks.

Marley thinks it sucks too....that makes me feel a little better haha:)

So David and I said goodbye today when he left for work and that was that.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Erin

The One with the Blog Award!!

When I got home I was excited to see that Katie had given me an award! 

I'm honored that Katie thought to give me the "It's a Major Award" award!  Hopefully I can do it justice:)  I think I'm supposed to write about 10 things I love.  Katie wrote about 10 things she loves about christmas and gave me the award because I love christmas too!  I'm going to write about 10 things I love about Clemson University!  That's my alma mater and since everyone is moving in this weekend and classes begin on Wednesday, I think it only fitting!  So here goes:

1. I suppose first and foremost, I love Clemson because that's where I met David!  We lived right next to each other my sophomore year and met when he was coming back from soccer one day:)  Ahhh the memories....

2. I also love football season!  Clemson may not have the best football team, but we have the absolute best fans!  I hear all the time about how surprised everyone is that we have the most crazy fans!  But we do, and I love it!

3. I love the fact that Clemson is a "college town".  It's small and everything is all about Clemson all the time!

4. Purple and orange are, aside from pink, my most favorite colors!  Any time I look for clothes, I look first and foremost for orange and purple!  I mean, you have to have outfits for football games right?!

5. I love the fact that Bowman Field always has something going on!  From ESPN's game day, to animal shelters bringing their pets out for adoption, to girls laying out on the first "warm" day in March (ha!) and guys playing frisbee!  Bowman is always so interesting!

6. I love Historic Riggs Field because- that's the soccer field!  I've seen my share of soccer games there because of David and, ashamed to say, but I've yelled at my share of refs! (I was even recognized as the girl who yelled some profanity at the refs one time by some man who sat next to me at a game...woops!)

7. I love the TIGER PAW.  Everything it stands for, everything it is.  The paw rocks.  Simple as that!

8. I love the friends I've made at Clemson. I can't imagine what life would be like without Jess especially!

9. The cadence call!  1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, C-L-E-M-S-O-N T-I-G-E-R-S! Fight Tigers, Fight Tigers, Fight, Fight, Fight!

10. 31-14 (Clemson vs. South Carolina) NUFF SAID. :)

Now I'm passing on the award torch to:

Anna  

and

D.A.R

Thanks again, Katie!!  Hope y'all enjoyed my trip down memory lane haha!

The One Where Time Marches On

Let me start by apologizing that I haven't written in a few days!  These are my last few days with David before I start school and won't be able to come down every week/weekend!  So I've been spending as much time as possible with him:)  This past weekend, we met Jess and Jake for dinner at Nami.  Nami is probably my all time favorite restaurant!  It's only in Anderson, SC but it has the BEST food I have ever eaten.  We went out to eat for Jake's birthday and then headed down to spend Sunday on the lake!  It started out kind of rainy but turned in to a beautiful day!  We got out on the innertube and got plenty of sun.  The puppies had a good time too!  Jess has a dog named Marley also and little Marley and big Marley are the best of friends!  Here are some pictures from our weekend! 

Me and Jess were the first to ride on the innertube!

This was Jake's first time on an innertube!!  He looks so nervous ha!

I tried a new move...no hands haha!

Jessie and Jake!

David was the only one who could drive the boat, so he was "captain" for the day!

Me and the pups!  The Marley's liked to sit on someone's lap when the boat was moving!!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Erin