graduation day!

Sunday was graduation day!

Our families were here & made it such a special day for me...

thanks guys!

It felt so good to walk across the stage & pick up my diploma (although it was a "dummy").

My mom has the best of the pictures on her camera, but here are a couple...

It feels good to be done with school!

Several people have already asked when I'm going back for my PhD...

it'll be a while people, it's time for a break!

countdown...

2 days until graduation...wahoo!

It is amazing to me how quickly 7 semesters have flown by!

Even Chris' 5 years seem to have gone by so quickly (not sure how much he believes me on that :-))!

Mom & dad will arrive tonight &

the rest of the crew will be here tomorrow evening.

We're looking forward to celebrating our educational accomplishments with our families!

we have a new home!

After a whirlwind trip to Nashville this weekend,
we officially have a home waiting on us when we move!

We left here Friday @ 5 p.m.,

drove to Knoxville,

slept for about 6 hours,

drove from Knoxville to Nashville before 10 a.m.

We found the house,

drove around the block and beyond several times,

met with our new landlord (Robert),

toured the inside of the house,

decided we could make it work,

met with Robert's wife to make things official,

grabbed lunch & hit the road home and made it back about 10:30 last night.

Whew!

It was a quick trip, yet productive so we're happy about that.

The house...

*sits on a corner lot

*has a perfect front porch---I'm picturing 2 black rocking chairs with throw pillows, a fern hanging basket, and rectangular planters with gorgeous flowers!

*2 bedrooms---one for us & one for an office/room with a sleeper sofa for guests

*1 bath---pretty decent sized with a linen cabinet
*large eat-in kitchen---I'm a little nervous about not having a dining room, but it was a concession we had to make

*large foyer---I think we'll put our piano there along with my tiny black Pedestal table which should fit perfectly

*lovely fenced-in backyard---it's rectangular with a tall fence so it feels pretty private. I'm invisioning lots of garden parties! We'll be on the look-out for some small storage building to put yard tools & camping gear in.

It's not perfect by any means, but we're not buying it-just renting.

This is what we keep telling ourselves over & over.

We're too used to being in buyer's mode!
The biggest downfall of the house is the lack of storage.

There is no pantry, but lots of cabinets & drawers in the kichen so hopefully that will work out.

The are 2 closets in the master bedroom & 1 in the 2nd bedroom, however they are teeny, tiny.

There is a large shelf in the cabinet where the washer & dryer will be so that will give us a bit of storage too.

Because of the lack of storage, 2 things will happen...

#1: A massive purging operation will soon be under way.

We have plenty of things that we don't need.

What better excuse to consider what we really use & need & part with the rest!

#2: We're going to have to get creative with how we store things in our new place...I've already got some ideas (some of which Chris is skeptical about)!

We're also entertaining the idea of renting a tiny storage unit for larger items that we just won't have room for would like to have in close range.

I was bad & took no pictures of the inside of the house while we were there.

However, here's one shot of the kitchen from the internet.

Overall, we're very excited!

Please just continue to pray along with us that our house here will sell soon.

We will feel far more excited & ready for the move when that happens!

2nd interview.

I have a second phone interview today with the Dean & Associate Dean of the school of nursing at Belmont.

Say a prayer for me, keep your fingers crossed, whatever you can do...

I'm ready to have a job lined up!

is this it?

Could this be our soon-to-be Nashville home?

From what we can tell in pictures of the house inside and out as well as the surrounding area, we love it!

We've spoken with the landlord & will be headed to soggy Nashville Friday night to check it out in person.

Assuming we love it, we'll negotiate lease terms & hopefully sign a lease very soon.

Now, if we could only sell our house :-(...

Let's hope this works out!

time flies!

Today was my students' last day in clinical.

It's hard to believe that I had been their instructor since the middle of January.

I remember their anxious faces on the 1st day of clinical (I was nervous too!).

They've each come so far, and now I see much more confidence in their faces and their actions.

Teaching this semester has been a wonderful experience for me.

The students challenged me constantly and taught me so much about teaching in a clinical setting---far more than I could have ever learned in any book about nursing education.

Working 2 jobs while finishing school has been trying and exhausting.

Yet, it's been the best thing I have done in a long time.

I have found that teaching is far more rewarding than I had ever imagined.

Good thing, since in 18 days I'll have an MSN in Nursing Education! :-)

My wonderful students even brought me a gift...

a Williams Sonoma cookbook---"Breakfasts & Brunches",

a set of 4 individual deep-dish pizza pans,

and some Williams Sonoma utensils.

So thoughtful!

After this experience, I am certain that pursuing teaching jobs in Nashville is the way to go.

I'm still waiting to hear from Belmont, so fingers crossed.

In the mean-time, I've applied for a faculty job at Nashville State as well.

Now that I'm done with teaching & school, I'm ready for a little "me time" before it's time for the big move and our next "adventure".

D-O-N-E!

My final semester of graduate school is O-V-E-R!

24 days until I officially graduate...can't wait!

urban girl???

We visited Nashville a couple of weekends ago on a housing-scouting mission.

First & foremost, I have to admit that I (we) was (were) slightly disillusioned regarding just how urban Nashville is.

I know it's a "big city", but I still didn't have the mental image of crowded city streets with crazy traffic and such.

We have never lived in a "big city" & I quickly learned as I was navigating through 5 p.m. Friday evening traffic that this "adventure" is going to be interesting!

We did lots of driving around town---over 250 miles in & around the immediate city limits.

While we're driving around, I'm realizing just how much I'm going to miss suburbia...like a Target & a Kroger 5 minutes away.

Looks like 20 minutes to a Target or Kroger is going to be my new norm.

We were able to isolate a few specific areas of town that we would like to live in and several more areas of town to definitely avoid.
We made careful notes and have now catered our Craigslist searching to more specific areas.

So...all in all, a good trip.
For now I'm going to keep enjoying my suburban life until I have to become an urban girl!

gotta start somewhere...

Even the largest tasks must start with a small step.

And so it begins...packing up all of our stuff.

I finally put away our Easter decorations last week.
I figured I would go ahead & wrap everything up and box it for our move.

1 box down, a ton more to go...

P.S.- I picked up 4 rolls of clear shipping tape on clearance at Kroger last week for $1.38/each.

Clearly, little things excite me!

girly giveaway

What girl doesn't want to win a set of 7 lip glosses?

Head on over to V & Co. and enter to win a set of What's Your Virtue lip glosses.

They come in great colors and were designed to portray a positive image to women...gotta love that!

Hurry...the giveaway ends Thursday @ 10 a.m.

simple & delicious.

We tried this for the 1st time last night & both loved it.

Thanks to my dad for sharing the recipe with me.

Italian Tortellini Soup

1 lb. ground Italian sausage

1 can of stewed Italian tomatoes

1 can of beef broth

2 cups of water

1/2 head of chopped cabbage

8 oz. package of refrigerated three-cheese tortellini

Brown sausage in a skillet.

Combine tomatoes, broth, water, and cabbage in a large soup pot.

Add in cooked sausage.

Simmer until cabbage is tender.

During the last 15-20 mintues of cooking, add the tortellini.

Ladle into bowls and top with fresh Parmesan cheese.

It makes for a simple & delicious meal!

love it!

I love, love this lima bean wreath.Who would have thought to use limas for front door decor?

Check out V & Co. for more great crafts from her recent link me up party...lots of great ideas out there!

GOOOO Duke!!!

Congrats to the Duke Blue Devils Men's Basketball team...

2010 National Champions!!!

It's been a great week to be a Duke fan!

I think it's fun that in our time here in the Triangle,

we were able to be a part of UNC winning the National Championship in 2009 & now Duke winning in 2010!

Chris says it would have been far better to see UNC win it both years,

but then I kindly remind him that his beloved Tar Heels didn't even make the NCAA tournament this year & couldn't win the NIT title either.

That's usually enough to quiet him down.

(Honestly, our rivalry is a friendly, civil one...I promise!)

I didn't care a thing in the world for college basketball when we first moved here.

College football was our thing.

In our almost 5 years here, we've fallen in love with college basketball.

What fun!

GOOOOO Duke!!!

phone interview!

After much denial about the fact that I must leave the 2 jobs I love here & find a new one in Nashville,

I finally took a leap & applied for a job.

I submitted my online application last Monday

& drum roll, please...

I got called for a phone interview next Monday!!!

I really feel that I'm taking a big leap by applying for this job, so I'm super excited that they seem atleast a little interested in me.

If I get the job, I would be an instructor/assistant professor at Belmont University, a private Christian-affiliated college in downtown Nashville.

Considering I have not applied for any further jobs, I'm hoping and praying that the phone interview goes well and that I get called for an on-campus interview.

Chris & I are planning to peruse around Belmont's campus next weekend when we make our 1st trip to our new home-city!

It looks like a gorgeous place...

Hopefully more good news to come!

house update

55 days on the market,

111 web hits,

23 showings...

still no SOLD sign :-(.

Our only offer thus far fell through after a couple of rounds of negotiations.

It's easy to get discouraged.

We keep reminding ourselves that we still have time.

In the meantime, I'm trying to enjoy everything I love about our home and this awesome spring (sometimes summer-like) weather!