Sadie

More shots from today with our new camera...

Here are some pictures of Sadie doing her favorite things: smiling at us, sleeping while keeping guard at the front door, and shaking hands!

Fresh cut grass & flowers to share...

Chris cut the grass yesterday a.m. I love the smell of freshly cut grass.

Here are some pictures I shot this afternoon of flowers blooming in our yard. Our tulips are on their way out, but I did get a lovely shot of my favorite yellow one. We have 4 different varieties of azaleas in our yard so there are shots of some of those too!

Love the new camera!

FINALLY...

FINALLY...

We bought our camera today...hooray! It was quite a decision for me & I actually ended up getting a model one step down from the one I had originally planned on, but that's all for the best.

We ordered it online & will pick it up when we're out this evening...I can't wait! Here's a picture of my new toy!

Look for new pictures to be up soon...

A new find...

Recently I have discovered McDonald's Premium coffees....they're delicious and reasonably priced!

I have totally fallen in love with everything I've tried. I think so far my favorite is the iced vanilla latte. The vanilla cappuchinos are great too. An iced mocha is next on my list to try.

They make a nice treat...try one out!

things to share...

We're hoping to get our new camera next Saturday. When we do, I'm going to be taking photos like crazy. I have so much to share...

the flowers blooming in our yard

the lamp on my desk in the office-it's so adorable

my new black & red toile tote bag

new photos of Sadie-she's such a photogenic pup!

the arbor we built a few weeks ago for our flower garden

updated photos of our house-it's been a while since I took new shots

the metal 'T' hanging by ivory ribbon on our front door

the adorable yellow taggie blanket I'm working on

the herbs I potted 2 weeks ago-basil & oregano...yummy!

It won't be long either & I'll have photos to share of my parents visit (less than 2 weeks!), our vegetable garden, our 2 new upholstered chairs for the den (my parents are delivering them to us), & so much more!

what a day

Whew!

What a day it was! I worked again today after having just Monday off from the conference Thursday & Friday & working Saturday & Sunday...not enough of a break I must say.

I had a patient that went "bad" quickly today. It makes for a bummer of a day. It is days like this that make me appreciate my co-workers even more though. We all work so well as a team & while I spent the hour & 1/2 in my patient's room before I transferred him to the MICU they managed to keep an eye on my other patients and help our transition to the MICU be as smooth as possible. Go team!

I feel that nursing is my "calling", however there are some days that make me feel more like my calling is a blessing. Today was less like one of those days. My calling is by no means easy, but more often than not is rewarding, even when the patient's outcome is not for the best. Days like today force me to remind myself that there are patient success stories and that no matter what happens there is a reason I have been placed where I am.

I have a calling to fulfill...

playing with the templates..

I'm playing with my blog templates, colors, & fonts...what do ya think???

past updates & future plans...

It's been a while...

Our tulips in the front yard are blooming. They're red & absolutely lovely next to my white and purple hyacinths! If only I could post a picture of them...

Speaking of pictures...we got our tax return $ today, nearly $2500! We're using most of it to open a roth IRA and the rest to buy a new camera. I've been doing quite a bit of research on different cameras so hopefully next weekend we can go to Wolf Camera and check my faves out in person. I can't wait to have a camera again. Then I'll have sooo many shots to catch up on.

Only 3 more weeks of this semester left...thank goodness! I'm ready for new classes and different types of learning opportunities. I'm hoping to have my research proposal paper wrapped up by the middle of next week & it should all be downhill from there.

I'm headed to a 2-day seminar tomorrow with some of my coworkers on caring for patients at the end of life. Not exactly a fun thing to talk about but a very important thing for us to be able to do well. It'll be refreshing to get go to a class while getting paid. Such a change of pace from a typical work day.

Next Saturday I have to go to a scientific writing course from 9-4 for a 1-hour class I'm taking. Then I have to write about it & I get credit for the course...a pretty sweet deal! Unfortunately that Saturday is Chris' 25th birthday...bummer. But to make his day special, I'm planning a little surprise birthday party at his favorite Mexican restaurant with a few of our friends. It should be fun!

My parents will be visiting us towards the end of April. I'm so excited. It's been almost a year since they were here last. We have a lot of new things around the house to show them & fun things planned for their stay!

That's all for now...off to get ready for bed so I can get up before 0600...good night!

busy times...do they ever end?

I feel like I have been so busy lately...I think it's an ongoing cycle!

Monday I spent all day running errands & catching up on things like taking Sadie for a pedicure & taking my car in for an oil change & brake service. I filled the rest of my day with catching up on school work. I worked Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday.

Friday I spent the morning running a couple of errands and donating a few hours of my time to help set up for a Relay for Life Hot Dog Fundraiser lunch we were having a work. Friday afternoon I spent a few hours with Chris watching UNC play in their ACC tournament game-somewhere in all of our lives' craziness we know it's important to spend time together doing things we enjoy! I agan spent the rest of Friday doing school work.

Yesterday we spent all day building the arbor in our garden we've been planning. It turned out sooo great! I so wish I could post pictures of it here, but without a camera I'm out of luck. Hopefully soon I can remedy that though! We got finished with it just before it started storming. We had dinner with friends last night & I came home & again did school work until midnight.

We went to Sunday school & church today & I came home to again, you guessed it, do more schoolwork while Chris headed to lab for a few hours. It's been a productive weekend, but one without much time for a breather.

The upcoming weeks are looking just as busy, if not more so! The end of the semester is nearing & that's always stressful. I have more than usual going on with work & I'm also trying to squeeze in time to study for the OCN exam as well...I don't think it ever ends!

spring has come & company has gone...

I'm back...

Chris' grandparents from Lake Hartwell visited us this weekend. They came in Friday evening & left this afternoon after church & lunch. It was rainy & very windy the entire time they were here, but we got out a bit anyway. Yesterday we took them to the Duke Gardens. It's a bit early for most stuff to be blooming, but we got a glimpse of the daffodils, pansies, and hyacinths. The cherry trees are blooming too so they were beautiful. There were even a few tulips in bloom. I think Chris & I will plan to head back in a few weeks when the tulip will be in full bloom. They took us out to dinner last night at Macaroni Grill (one of my favs!). Chris & I of course had to watch the Duke vs. UNC game last night & they even watched part of it with us. They came to church with us this morning & then we stopped by Panera (another of my favs!) for lunch. We had a great time with them & are so glad that they had the chance to visit us.

Speaking of flowers....spring has sprung at our house....yeah! I can't remember when I've ever been so ready for spring. Our quince, camelia, forsythia, and daffodils are in full blooms & are sooo pretty. I have about 20 hyacinths in the front yard that should all start blooming later this week. I have about 30 tulips that look to be ready to bloom very soon too. It's going to so lovely! Chris' grandmother is sooo sweet & brought us 4 little baby rosebushes this weekend. They're small, but are of a fast growing variety so we got them planted this afternoon & I can't wait to watch them grow!

The ad below thrills me to no end...I have a dear friend at work who sells Longaberger products. I love their products, but rarely buy them. I can't turn this offer down though. I love to drink coffee but only out of coffee mugs, I've never been satisfied with a travel cup made from plastic. I'm definitely going to buy 2 of these, I just have to decide what color to order them in. I can't wait for them to come in!

This week is spring break from classes so I'm excited about that although I'm going to try to get ahead on a couple of big assignments coming up in the near future as the coming weeks are looking busier & busier!

We have a big project planned for this upcoming weekend...we're building a garden arbor to replace the one currently in our yard. The current one is made of bamboo & a rather sad excuse for an arbor. We're going to buy a new vine to start on it after we get it built & stained. We bought the lumber this weekend & got to use a $5 off coupon I had from Home Depot (I love using coupons!) so we'll be all ready to get started on Saturday morning. I can't wait to see it in it's new garden home!

Boston & Ribbon blankies

I'm sooooo excited...I leave next Thursday @1100 headed to Boston to visit Cameron, Lyndsey, & to meet baby Scarlett. Scarlett will turn 3 months old while I'm there. I'll get to stay until that Sunday. I can't wait to finally meet the little one & hold her for myself. I've got some fun goodies that I've collected to take to her. If only my camera worked I could take pictures of the little gifts to post...bummer! As soon as I can, I'll post pictures of them. I can wait to post pictures of my visit too!!!

Before Miss Scarlett was born I was introduced to the Taggie blankets. I absolutel love them! They're such simple little things that babies seem to love. I've decided that I'm going to try my hand at making them myself. I don't have a sewing machine, but figure I can handle it by hand as I'd only make little blankets. If I have time tomorrow, maybe I'll head to Walmart to by some fleece material to get started. Who knows...I might even pick up some more ribbon, although I know I have enough for several of these blankets! Maybe, just maybe I can get it finished before heading to Boston, but if not, I'll mail it to the little one. If it turns out well, I'd like to make several as we have 3 friends that are pregnant now. I might even make a couple of extra just to put away for our own little one someday! I got this picture off of Etsy.com of a tag blankie someone has for sale. (Thanks to Hollie for introducing me to Etsy-I'm in love with it!)I'm off to fold a load of laundry & take advantage of a more normal feeling back!

worker's compensation...me???...ahhh!

So, today I had an appointment with Employee & Occupational Health to see about my back pain. Luckily, the FNP feels it's just a muscle-related injury. Although I wouldn't say just because my back is still killing me. He gave me a prescription for 800mg Motrin tablets & a mild muscle relaxer for pain. I now have a 25-lb. lifting restriction for a week until I follow up with them again. I can still work though, thank goodness! He told me I could expect it to heal up in 1-2 weeks.

It's all filed under worker's compensation so we have to pay nothing for it, I just have to follow up with them & follow their specific instructions. It's weird thinking that I will be getting worker's compensation. I feel like that is for people who have serious on the job injuries. I'm thankful that it's in place though for any injury so we don't have to worry about paying ourselves.

I do feel somewhat better after taking the muscle relaxant this afternoon after I got back from my Aveda salon appointment (I think that made me feel better too-I definitely was in need of a haircut). Hopefully the pain will just keep getting progressively better & then disappear. I will never take a healthy back for granted again!

ouch...

Tuesday morning after I got off work I noticed that the left side of my back felt very sore. Sometimes after working, especially at night, I'm so worn out that I do notice little aches but they disappear pretty quickly. This ache in my back is only getting worse...ahhhh. I'm a bit scared to know what's going on. I've e-mailed my boss so she can get me an appointment in Employee Occupational Health. For now, I've just returned from Target where I bought a gel heating pad and a bottle of Aleve to see if that will help.

I'm always petrified of hurting my back at work because we do so much lifting & pulling on sometimes heavy people. I hope that this is just a little muscle pull that will quickly resolve, but I suppose I better have it checked out.

I'm going to go lie down with my Epidemiology book (great reading, I tell you!) & my heating pad and hopefully get some reading in while I rest my back.

I went skydiving...

Are you hearing the Tim McGraw song "Live Like you Were Dying" playing in your head? You know..."I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain Climbing, I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu...". As you all know, skydiving is on my "bucket list". So...

Saturday, my mom, my sisters & I headed to Rockmart, Georgia to a place called Skydive the Farm for an adventure of a lifetime. I've wanted to go skydiving for some time now & Chris has made it evident that he will never go with me. My mom celebrated her 50th birthday 2 weekends ago & decided she wanted to do something bold & daring so we talked her into skydiving with us!

It was a beautiful day & despite a few butterflies in all of our stomachs, we had an amazing experience. It was about 60 degrees on the ground, but obviously much colder at 15,000 feet when we jumped. It was very windy when we were free-falling as you can see in the pictures from the wind in my cheeks. After we pulled our parachute the wind and our speed slowed & we drifted down checking out the scenery. I was amazed at how quiet it is at that altitude. Once the parachute was pulled, I could hear my instructor talking to me just like we were face to face in a room alone & you could have heard a pin drop.

It was such an amazing day & experience for each of us. I am so glad I had the opportunity & took the chance to skydive! I'm crossing it off my "bucket list" right now!

We each had our own videographer/photographer jump with us so we have our own amazing videos & still shots to prove our adventure. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Work news...

I love my job!

I am so blessed to have a job that I love getting up to go to and, even when I'm exhausted afterwards, feel that I have accomplished something great for the day.

This week after 2 shifts of orientation to the charge nurse role, I was the day-shift charge nurse yesterday! I am honored that my boss thinks that I am capable of such a role and trusts me charging her unit for the day. I'll be in charge again for my 3 shifts next week. It's my job as the charge nurse to round with the physicians on each patient (which is fun because then I know something about all 31 patients on our unit), manage the flow of admissions & discharges, assign admissions, serve as a resource for the staff nurses, make the staffing assignment for the following shift, pass along unit report to the oncoming charge nurse, and keep the unit running smoothly. I think that overall the day went well. I'm looking forward to continuing to learn how to be a better charge nurse and how to best help everyone on our team!

Early in May I will be taking the OCN, Oncology Certified Nurse, exam. My boss encouraged me to take the exam and I registered back in December. I received confirmation a couple of weeks ago that I can secure a test date sometime in May. Somewhere between work, school work, and household stuff, I'll have to squeeze in some time for studying for the OCN.