Memorial Weekend!

I feel like it's been so long since I've posted...and it has! I started work last week and oh. my. gosh. It was so hard getting into "12 hour shift" mode. I had a good first week, but was so exhausted when I got home that I ate dinner and went to bed! I guess I can't say much about the patients I've had in the ICU because of HIPAA, but just know that they have been very interesting! This week I work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It will be 3 really long days, but I'll have 4 great, relaxing days off! And this coming weekend, I'm going to try to get David to Lowe's so we can start looking at paint colors! Wish me luck on that one, haha! ;)

This past weekend though, was David's grandfather's birthday! His family had a birthday bash on Satuday and on Sunday the whole family went to a Braves game! On the way Saturday, I found a kitten on the side of the road. He was so little and lonely and came right to me when I went to get him out of harms way. I wanted to keep him so much, but didn't know how Marley would react and it just wasn't the right time for one. He's going to a humane society and being so small, I'm sure he will be adopted in no time! And David has already assured me that once we are together for good we can get a kitty! :)

On Sunday, we met the family at the Varsity in Atlanta for lunch. The Braves are my team through and through--even through all the down years they've had! So needless to say, I had a great time at the game. They played the Pittsburgh Pirates and won 5-2. And they won thanks to this guy:

Chipper Jones has been one of my favorite players since I was a little girl! (Along with Greg Maddux, Javy Lopez, Andruw Jones, and John Smoltz...) The game was tied and Bobby Cox put him in to pinch hit...and he brought in the "winning" run! It was great!

Here we are at the game! That's David's cousin Van in the background... he thinks he's a character!

We came back home today to do laundry and get ready for our work week. AND I also got my baby boy back! He spent the week at his grandma's since mom and dad went out of town for the weekend. I missed that boy way too much and I'm so glad to have him back:) I've got to go finish getting everything ready, but then I'm getting updated on what you all have been up to this weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

He's too cute for words:)

PS- my first day went really well and I promise to update at some point this week, but I am exhausted and totally not used to 12 hour shifts yet.....

Lasagna!

Uneventful is the word to describe the past few days. And I like it that way! :) I was so tired Friday and really enjoyed sleeping in Saturday and Sunday! I worked on a cute craft but I'm not going to show any pictures until I get it finished! I'm sure you've all seen something like them anyway so it may not even be that much of a surprise! :)

I didn't sleep well last night and I expect it's because I start work on Tuesday! I'm sooo nervous about starting. I don't know what to expect and I think that's what is making me so anxious. I ended up getting up this morning and going to work out and it was such a nice day that I decided to lay out and read some of my med-surg book! It was definitely relaxing!

Unfortunately, when I came in to shower, Marley found a chocolate cupcake wrapper and decided it would make a good snack and ate the. whole. thing. (Just the wrapper, the cupcake had already been eaten by me...) I called Jess (her mom is a vet!) and am waiting on her to call me back to see what she says to do, but do any of you sweet bloggers have any advice for me??! He's acting fine, but I just don't know what to do...

Aside from that mishap, tonight should be a good one. It's now raining outside and I have a homemade lasagna in the oven--sooo good! I hope you guys had a great beginning to the week!! Hopefully I survive my first day!! :)

Grey's Anatomy!

I don't have much to report for the last two days I've been in orientation. They have mostly consisted of things we are required (by law) to hear as well as things we've already covered in our nursing schools! I do know though, after today, that I am about to have some intense learning experiences in the MSICU and ETC this summer! Apparently we are allowed to call codes, do CPR (which actually may happen in the emergency room..) and, lucky me, we can put in foley catheters! I am going to be way ahead of the game for next semesters med-surg class!

I was so exhausted yesterday that I didn't go exercise--I went to bed. I slept so good last night and I really needed it! Oh! I also received my schedule for the next 2 weeks! Next week I work Tues, Thurs, Fri (12 hour shifts) and the week after that I work Tues, Wed, Thurs. I'll get my next 4 weeks schedule sometime later.

How many of you guys watch Grey's Anatomy??? I am stoked for tonight's season finale! I am one of the people who looked at the "leaked" video footage earlier this week so I already know who the killer is (I don't think people will be that surprised actually!) but I'm hoping no one actually dies. (Like in Private Practice last week?? I'm not ashamed to say that I cried at the end of that show...I still can't believe it!) It's about to come on so I'm going to go watch it, but if you do watch it, leave me a comment after and tell me what you think!!! :)

Marley is Angry.

Today I had my second day of my internship orientation. It was the last day of the general hospital orientation (thank goodness!) and it was soooo boring! I hate to say that, but it was all stuff we have heard may times before but they are required to explain to us because of OSHA and JCAHO regulations. So it was a long day, but tomorrow starts the extern program orientation! I'll find out my schedule for the next 3 weeks and I'm so happy about that! :)

I did learn a few things today though:

1. When you haven't run in a week (b/c of sickness!) definitely don't start by running up and down a hilly neighborhood! My arches in my feet are killing me today! I had no idea that would happen, but it hasn't been fun walking around the hospital with hurting arches, ha!

2. Marley is angry at his momma and daddy. Marley is so not used to being locked up for long periods of time during the day. My class schedule has been good enough to me that the longest he's ever been locked up is like 8 hours max. But yesterday, between David's schedule and mine, he was locked up for about 11 hours. (*I say "locked up" but we moved his bed into the bathroom, which is big, left him food and water, toys, and a potty pad so he had ample room and lots of things to do!) He was so excited when we got home yesterday and kissed us and whined and it was wonderful! As the night wore on though, he started acting up. He was biting our feet and when it was time for bed, he did not want to lay down! He paced and jumped off the bed a few times before he finally settled down. This morning, I took him out to go potty and he just would not go and I had to come back in and get ready to leave! Well. Marley went and peed. on. the. floor. And then proceeded to give us the most dirty look and wouldn't even kiss us goodbye!

Obviously he's having some adjustment issues ;) Luckily, I got out of orientation early today and he's been a happy camper ever since! He even made a new friend in the dog next door.

Tonight, David added me to his gym membership at a small gym near where he lives. I'm so excited because I've really been wanting to start some of the cycling classes I've heard about and they even have yoga classes and I loved my yoga classes in high school:) Also- just for my own benefit years from now- I ran 3 miles today without stopping!!! I'm proud of myself because I've been working really hard at continuing my running and like I said--my arches hurt haha!

Tomorrow will be my first day in my scrubs, so if I remember, I'll get David to take a picture!

Hope you all had a great day, any interesting stories??!

Internship Day 1!

I am finally feeling better! I never thought it would happen. I ended up with a sinus infection and I've still got a cough, but I am feeling so so much better. And not a minute too soon! I started my summer nursing internship today! This week is all orientation. This morning, I got to the hospital at 7:20am and after being there for about 15 minutes, this is what happened:

(Apparently, I have bad luck with fire alarms? First the graduation weekend and now my first day of orientation?! )

The fire alarm went off and as of now we still don't know what happened! We ended up losing about 45 minutes so we were rushing through our morning meetings! Today and tomorrow are the general hospital orientation and Wednesday through Friday is dedicated to our nurse extern program orientations. Apparently we are going to be there until about 5:30 pm everyday! Bye, bye summer! :)

Towards the end of the day, we actually were able to find out where we will be placed during the summer! I have been placed in the ER (emergency room) and that has been split up into two different rotations: MSICU (med-surg intensive care unit) and ETC (emergency trauma center). I'll be completely honest with you. When I first found out that's where I'd be, I was really extremely nervous about what I was getting myself into. I have had a lot of experiences throughout nursing school and even before then, but none have been in the ER (unless it was me in the ER...ha!) and that makes me kind of nervous. I have no idea how I'll handle "emergency" situations and that scares me a bit! I do think I'll be able to handle it, I just hope I know everything I need to know! :) The one thing I keep reminding myself is that this is a learning experience and that's why I'm here-- to learn!

When I got home I changed into some work out clothes, put Marley on his leash, and went for a run. Today was the first time I've run since I've been sick and boy did I feel it! My lungs really took a beating haha:) But it felt good to get out and exercise again:) When we got back, I just happened to look at our front porch and saw this:

I mean they really look like they are cuddling to me...

My first thought was..."Aww, I've never seen two lizards hug!"....and then I realized what they were really doing and just cracked up. For some reason I though it was hysterical that these lizards were procreating on my front steps. David and I have seen the "top" green lizard before (we named him Frankie), but apparently we have a family of lizards living with us because his mate was with him today and I saw another one run by my feet while I was taking pictures! I guess everyone thing needs love:)

Once David got home, we made quesadillas for dinner and since it was so nice out, we decided to go on a walk! It was so nice getting to spend some time talking with him about our days! I think I'm really starting to settle in to this crazy summer:) I hope you guys had a great day too!

PIcture Perfect

I honestly don't think I'm ever going to get better! I wasn't sick at all this whole past semester and now that it's over I've been sick 3 times! First I had a stomach bug, then I had strep, and now I have a sinus infection. I'm just completely miserable:( Hopefully though, my antibiotics will kick the sinus infection in the butt too, like it did the strep. But that's why you haven't heard much from me lately. I do have some stuff to talk about tonight, though!

First things first, Katie over at The Adventures of Katie and Josh tagged me in a fun little picture game! Katie has a great blog and an especially fun iPhoto Friday which I just love, so you should go check her out when you get a chance! Here are the rules:

1. Go to your photos files and select the 8th photo folder.

2. Select the 8th photo in that folder.

3. Post the story behind that picture.

4. Challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same!

Okay, so here is my picture:

This was 2005, my freshman year of college! I rushed fall semester and was invited to join ADPi (ps- love all my sisters out there!) In ADPi, your big sister is called your "diamond" and for our diamond reveal we were given a key in a parking lot full of cars with the windows blocked out so we couldn't see in them! We had to take the key and go around to all the different cars and our key led us to are diamond! And this is my diamond--isn't she beautiful? Meg was such a great diamond! And I'm dressed up because we had a mixer that night! Such fun memories:)

I'd love to see the pictures for the following bloggers!

Anna

Beth

Ashley

Aimey Michelle

Southern Cinderella

D.A.R.

Laura

Becky

Okay, on to another topic. I pretty much laid around all day because was just not feeling very well. David invited one of his work buddies over for dinner tonight so we cooked out steaks, zucchini and onions, and corn. It was so delicious and the weather was so nice! Dennis (David's friend) brought a soccer ball so the boys (including Marley!) went out to play!

After we finished dinner, I cleaned up and made some chocolate chip cookies while the boys kicked the soccer ball around in the yard some more! Marley wasn't invited this time, but no worries, he found his own "boy" stuff to do. I'm sorry if you think it's vulgar, but I just think he's so cute so I had to video him:) He got a little embarrassed...which I think is self-explanatory after you watch the video!! Ha!

PS- the tiger is my stuffed animal!

Now we are just all laying around watching Family Guy--well the guys are--and I'm updating my blog! (Which I know y'all are all so appreciative for right?? Ha!) I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend and I can't wait to hear all about it!

It's All Random

Well, it turns out my sore throat didn't get better yesterday, but worse. I ended up going to the doctor since I was headed to Greenville today for the summer. Unfortunately I have strep. I haven't had strep in....I don't know how long! I used to get it all the time and haven't gotten it in probably around 10 years! So needless to say, I'm feeling pretty crummy, but luckily I've already got antibiotics in me so hopefully they start kicking in soon:)

Just a few things: Ashley over at My Carnival Ride gave me an award a few weeks back! She's such a sweet girl so you should definitely go over and check out her blog! The rules say that I have to nominate 10 people (that's half of my readers, ha!) and comment on their blogs to let them know they've won the award! :)

So I'm passing this award along to:

Anna Beth

D.A.R. Laura

Southern Cinderella Katie

Sarah Shanna

Jessica Joanna

Okay, on to other business now:) I did move to Greenville today, I came early for a TB test from the hospital, and wouldn't you know that they are closed all day today?? What is that about?! They told me to come today but didn't mention they wouldn't be there! Hmm...

Well I'm going to take a nap and hopefully feel better when I wake up, but first I'm going to tell you about the last surprise from this weekend! Obviously we had a wonderful graduation Saturday and we were all so tired that night! We climbed in bed and I think most of us were asleep before our heads hit the pillow. At 4:30 am, while we were fast asleep, the fire alarm went off! It was the craziest thing! We were on the top floor of the hotel and they kept saying, "please proceed down the nearest exist..." and we were running around trying to pick up our most important possessions to take with us! (Disclaimer: that is probably not the safest thing to do in an emergency...just a thought.) Everyone was filing out of their rooms in pajamas, bathrobes, and totally unkempt hair. By the time we got to the stairs, they were majorly crowded and believe me, those people were not moving fast enough. Lucky for the slow walkers, the fire alarm appeared to be a "false" alarm. They had some technical fire or something and it was easily put out. As we made it back to our rooms, the speakers came on and said, "you may now return to your previous activities." (I'm sorry... my "previous activity"?? I'm fairly positive that the majority of the hotel was asleep....) Anyway, it was an adventure to say the least:)

Okay, nap time is for real calling my name. Hope you guys have a better Wednesday than me :)

Graduation Weekend

I posted last night (wasn't that video just so sweet??) just to let everyone know that I'm home! I felt fine then, but I woke up this morning and my throat was hurting:( Bummer. I'm hoping it will go away overnight because I'm really counting on some mexican food with my momma tomorrow night since I'm moving Wednesday!

This weekend, my whole family traveled down to Atlanta for my cousin Scott's graduation from Ga Tech.

We got to the hotel Friday in time to go out to dinner and then hit the hay for an early start on Saturday! The graduation started at 9:00am and my grandmother loves front row seats to anything special involving grandkids so she got ready and headed to save seats at 7 am!! Crazy, but we got awesome front row seats:)

We were sitting right where the students walked by to line up on stage...see how close we were? The whole thing took about 2 hours and it was really great getting to see my cousin graduate from such a prestigious school. He and I (and Amy) have basically grown up together (in the same neighborhood for 22 years...) and have a great friendship, so I'm glad I could be there for him on his special day!

It was such a beautiful day so after the actual graduation was over, we stood around outside and took pictures!

*Proud momma:) They make a great looking family, don't you think?*

*Of course we had to get a shot of the whole family!! We were all so proud of him!*

*If you know anything about GA Tech, you know about the "Ramblin' Wreck"...of course we had to get a picture!*

Scott's wonderful girlfriend Kylie came to the graduation, as well as her brother and her mom! It was so nice of them to come and I know Scott really enjoyed having them there.

We finished the graduation celebration at a fantastic Atlanta restaurant called Bones. (If you're ever in Atlanta, please please go by and eat there!) It's one of the best steakhouses I have ever been to and every single person who worked there was so incredibly nice. They had a table all set up for us when we got there with graduation confetti all over the table! Even better though, they had a menu printed out that said, "Congratulations, Scott!" on the top with a picture of the GA Tech mascot! Scott was so surprised and we all were just as equally thrilled about the effort the restaurant went to making this such a special day!

Dinner was so wonderful and it was great getting to just sit and talk. It took us 3 1/2 hours to eat because we were having such a great time!

*Amy and me at dinner!*

*And I of course had to have a picture with the graduate!*

One of the last surprises of the night was for dessert! They brought out a "congratulatory" cake with a candle on it in recognition of Scott's big day. It was an ice cream cake and it was a huge hit! Everyone loved it!

The weekend was so much fun and I'm so glad we all got to help Scott celebrate his accomplishments. One last crazy surprise happened at 4:30am on Sunday morning, but I'm going to save that story for tomorrow ;) I hope you all had as great a weekend as I did! And now I'm going to try to start feeling better for some mexican food tomorrow! :)

Christian the Lion

I'm home! I have lots of pictures from the weekend! And I'm exhausted! :) So my big "weekend" post will have to come tomorrow as I'm about to go to bed now! I do have something I want to share with you all though. I'm sure some of you have seen it before, but if you have, I definitely think it's worth watching again:) It's just such a sweet video! Hope you enjoy!

Just a short update today:) I know, you guys can thank me haha! I got up this morning and went on a run. Um, just in case you didn't know--it's HOT outside! I ran around 10 and it was already blazing! Then I took Marley to get groomed. He needed to get his hair cut for the summer and he looks so much tinier now! (I'll have to get a picture later, he's a little camera shy tonight--I don't think he's used to his new 'do yet, ha!)

I also laid out at my grandparent's house today! My grandfather has literally spoiled my family rotten with his pool. He keeps it soo incredibly clean and the water is just crystal clear! It was *almost* (but not quite!) warm enough to get in, but I did get some sun for my base tan:)

Tomorrow I'm heading down to Atlanta for my cousin Scott's graduation! My best friend Jess and her boyfriend Jake came up to take care of Marley and Macy this weekend for us! Aren't they awesome? We are taking it easy tonight just hanging out and we're going to watch Grey's and Private Practice later, just like old times when we roomed together:) I don't know if there will be internet free internet at the hotel or not so I don't know if I'll get to update! If I don't, rest assured I'll update when I get back home:) (I know, you guys can breath easy now...!!)

Anyway, congratulations to all of you who are graduating this weekend (or next!) and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

*Marley enjoys digging holes in the backyard. This is what happens after it rains.*

*And this is the dirty bathtub after his bath. Yes, that is his rubber ducky.*

Help Needed for Nashville!!

I don't know how many of you all know about the mass flooding in Tennessee, but they need our help! People are stranded all over Nashville, food supplies and medical supplies are running low, and no one in the rest of the US seems to know about it. They are not getting any help from outside sources and we've (the blog world) been called to action! Because no one seems to know about this terrible situation (for some reason, no media outlets are focusing on the devastation??) please create a post dedicated to getting the word out to all your bloggy friends about what's going on! Go visit Beth's blog to find out more information!!

All you need to do is post about the flooding and let your readers know what's going on. Knowledge is power y'all!

New Blog Look...Yes? No?

What do you guys think about my new blog look? Is it a keeper or should I find something else? I'm also considering changing the title but I have no idea to what haha! :)

1st Year Nursing School = Done!

Yes, that's right...I'm officially done with my first year of nursing school! Hallelujah! I finished my last final on Friday morning and have literally been going through the days thinking, "Okay...what do I need to do next? What is due next week that I should do now?" (Obviously, it hasn't sunken in yet that I actually have nothing school related to do.)

I have a couple more weeks until I'm with David for good for the summer, but I'm down here now because I had an "employee physical" today. It took about 45 minutes to complete and they even had to take blood! I'm a nursing student and I can stick people with needles and even take other people's blood without even flinching...but when it comes to my own...no thank you I do not want to watch you pull it out of my vein! And yes I still have the band-aid on :) (You know...in case it starts to bleed again??)

Friday night was an absolute. blast. I kid you not, we had such a good time! It was so nice to relax and not worry about anything:) We danced, and danced, and danced some more! I think I'm still catching up on my sleep, ha!

*The love birds:) PS- I looove V's hair like this:) *

*All of the girls who came out on Friday night! We're so perrtty...I'm not biased or anything ;) *

*I realize this picture needs an explanation: School makes you crazy. The end. Okay, but things to note about this pic (aside from my facial expression.) 1. My crazy arm moves. There are about 5 other pictures with my arms flailing in all directions-apparently I think that is called dancing. 2. V's face is priceless- she looks like she about to say "come and get me". 3. Kelly (hot mamma in the background) just looks, well, like a hot momma!*

*You already know I love these girls. And if you don't well...now you can read it for yourself:)*

Well, I'm off to have lunch with Jess! She is coming up on Thursday to take care of Marley boy while I go out of town to my cousin's graduation. Isn't that so awesome of her? Her Marley (Big Marley) and my Marley (Little Marley) are bff's so I'm sure they will have a great time:)

Erin