Monday, May 26, 2008

Pirates

Matt and I were sitting in my room Friday night trying to decide what to do... I wanted to do something exciting!! It was my day off and our last weekend together before we both go our separate ways for vacations for a couple weeks. So... we decided at 4:00 to go to Pittsburgh to the Pirates Game. Laura and Zach were going and Laura told me that day when we went to look at more bridesmaids dresses that they were going and I thought it sounded like fun. So matt and I got online and bought will call tickets and got in the car and left for Pittsburgh. I love being last minute and random like that. Matt helps me with that so much. You see.... I am a planner. I love to have things planned far ahead in advance. I try to be very organized. I like to know what's going to happen in the future... as much as possible (sometimes too much). Matt is the complete opposite. He takes his time and he doesn't care if he knows whats going to happen in 10 minutes. I like that... it helps me be more spontaneous... but sometimes it makes us clash.

ANYWAYS...
We left for Pittsburgh and ended up going through the Pittsburgh tunnels right behind Laura and Zach. She called and said "Are you stalking me!?" It was pretty funny, we ended up parking right close to them and walking to the game with them. They were on the opposite side of the field than us.There they are..... tiny little ants across the field from us... They're a couple rows from the top.. anyways you get the picture.
The Pirates lost to the Cubs awful that night, but it was okay because it was fireworks night and they were AWESOME as always!!! :-)
I guess I forgot to touch up my makeup or something before we left in a hurry because I look a little rough in these pictures... at least I think so...
HAHA! I love ball park food.... It's great. This is Matt's french fry face.. I suppose. LOL!! Mine is a little scarier... prepare yourselves...The Pirates ended up beating the Cubs 2 nights in a row.... LOL!! Real cool Pirates... I guess we were bad luck for you.


It was nice to spend some time with Matt and have fun before we go on our vacations. He is taking off Thursday for Las Vegas with the guys that he is in the wedding with the week after. They are flying from Vegas to Montana for the wedding and then he will be home on the 10th.

I leave Friday for Washington D.C. with my roommate Emily. :-) I'm so excited to get to spend time with her! I haven't seen her since before school let out for the summer almost a month ago!!! It's been over a month since I've seen her! We're gonna be tourists for a few days and stay with her sister. More on those adventures soon....

Then I get back and work a few days and head to Ohio with my family for my cousin Lydia's graduation and my cousin Chase and his fiance's wedding shower. It'll be a busy weekend but I am anxious to see my cousins and aunt and uncle.

So I am pretty pumped about my time off from work and my vacations... I will update when I can!!! :-)

Hope all is well!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Summertime!!!

It's summer! Well.... you wouldn't know it from the weather we've had lately... rain rain rain and COLD! I guess it's not "officially" summer yet but for me it feels like it should be since I've been out of school for almost a month now. I can't even believe that it's been almost a month!!! It's going by too fast!!! SLOOOOOOW DOWN SUMMER BREAK!!!!

So I haven't updated lately because well... quite frankly my life lately has been... work, eat, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep, eat, work, sleep... day off!... work, work, sleep, work. LOL! Not even kidding that is how I feel. I've been working a lot if you didn't figure that out... I work evening shift at a rehabilitation hospital as a rehab nurse tech. Evening shift is 2pm-10:30pm. That's such a weird and quite frankly sucky time to work. I feel like I come home and catch up with the world, go to sleep and wake up at like 10:30 and eat, get ready and go back to work. I like my job and I love most of my patients and people I work with. I love being able to help people and just give someone the opportunity to smile and laugh. To give them the since that they can get better and be able to go home and manage themselves. I love my job, but at the same time I'm kind of bummed that I am working so much over my summer break. I am going on a few little vacations this summer though! I'm pretty excited about them!!

My roommate, Emily, and I are going to Washington DC next Friday for a long weekend. Her sister lives there so we are going to go have some fun and be touristy for a few days. I'm really excited to get away for a few days and just relax and have fun. I'm excited to see Emily too because I haven't seen her since before I came home for the summer.

The next weekend I am going to Ohio with my family to my cousins graduation and my cousin's fiance's bridal shower. I am really looking forward to seeing my family and just spending some time with them and seeing my cousin Lydia graduate high school. :-)

Then at the end of June I am going wtih Matt and his family to Tennessee to the Smokey Mountains for a week. I think we're going to Dollywood and a few other places in Tennessee. I'm really excited to spend the week with him and his family. I don't get to see him too often.. just on my days off and when I get off work once in awhile.

Anyways.... it's been awhile since I've updated and I thought I would even though I seriously don't think anyone ACTUALLY reads this... but I Could be wrong. LOL! I still haven't taken a picture of myself to show everyone my new haircut but I will get around to it sometime.... LOL! It may just be when I post pictures from Emily and I's vacation to D.C.

Well... I'm off to bed... I have the day off tomorrow so I am going to catch up on all my shows I've missed lately (Grey's Anatomy and Samantha Who?) and then probably go to Barnes and Noble and get a coffee and read lots of magazines and then Matt is coming to hang out after he gets off from work in the afternoon.

Hope everyone is doing well!!!

Monday, May 5, 2008

What I Learned in my First Year of Nursing School...

So, I've been promising this post for quite some time now. I know everyone has just been sitting by the computer for the last month awaiting this in intense anticipation. Some people say the anticipation is the best part though ;-). ANYWAYS, a little update before I start... I've been so busy since I've been home. The first couple days I got here, I just wanted to lay around and be with my family.. so no post... and then Thursday I started my new job. That morning though... I went and waited for an hour and half in the rain and a huge crowd of people to meet our former president, Bill Clinton, who in my opinion was one of the best presidents of all time... but I don't talk politics on this blog.This is how close I got to him.

Okay... so back to the topic of this post.


What I learned in my first year of nursing school.

When I first arrived at Wesleyan and got all my stuff moved in, and my parents and Matt drove off... a little bit of excitement and a lot of sadness came over me. I was overwhelmed... but at the same time I was ecstatic for what was to come. I started unpacking and getting to know my new roommate about the school and the nursing program and people... I started to feel a little less worried and more excited. I was ready to get to know people and make new friends. I did make friends this past year, but I learned a life lesson. Sometimes I tend to change who I am in little ways to get to be better friends with people. It's not a bad thing I guess everyone does it in some way or another, whether they want to admit it or not. I found it really hard to get to know people at Wesleyan this past year. It's almost as if you have to be in a sorority or fraternity to make friends... but even with that it's almost as if you are buying your friends (sorry to those who are in sororities and fraternities out there reading this). That's just the way I feel about it. I don't want to have to pay a lot of money to sing songs and be out all hours of the night just to hope that these girls accept me?! No thanks!

I learned a lot about being a nurse as well. I knew that nursing school was going to be hard... but I had NO IDEA it was going to be as hard as it actually is. I cried so many times in the 8 months I was at school from being stressed out and overwhelmed with work. I don't believe I have ever cried that much in my entire life. I learned a lot medically, I learned a lot about compassion and being culturally competent. I learned a lot of procedures and what I'll be doing as a nurse. I learned to jump at the opportunity to do something and not be afraid to try new things.

Mostly, I learned a lot about myself. I finally figured out that I don't need people to make me happy. I tend to be easily offended and easily get upset. I don't like conflict. I hate the thought of someone not liking me, but I've learned that is not important. It doesn't matter if people don't accept me as long as I am being myself. I made so many great christian friends at Wesleyan. At first I wasn't very involved with CRU, and for awhile I thought there was no Christians on campus to be found. I started going to more CRU events, and I made so many amazing friends. I miss them already this summer. They are so great! They encouraged me in my faith, held me accountable, and Lauren even tried to whip me into shape physically! LOL! I just love her! Ginny held me accountable and we talked many late nights. She's so great!

These are just a few things I have thought of while planning out this blog. I've been pondering all these things I've learned for awhile now, and I'm sure I'm not thinking of everything.. but so far this is what I have thought of.

I know I have a lot more to learn in the next 2 years of Nursing School... and there will be good times and some low points.. but I know that in the end it will all be worth it. I know that in the end, I will be doing something that I can make an impact on someones day and help others. That is what matters.



In other news.... I got my hair ALL cut off. It's REALLY short! The shortest it's been in years. I love it! I will post a picture later.. I haven't taken one yet with my camera and right now it's lookin' AWFUL... so I'll get on that later!

I have the day off from work today.. so I'm headed to GOODWILL and then going on a date with Matt tonight! FINALLY! :-) Mexican and going to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall! :-) YAY!!!