Back to the grind...

That's right. School is back as of Monday. Honestly after just a few weeks off I was glad. I thrive off routine and busyness. Maybe a little too much....Mom would ask "Why are you getting up at 5:30 to workout/run when you have nothing else much to do the rest of the day?" Yes, this does seem a little off. But if you were going to run outside you had to run that early, however it was still miserable. 78 degrees and 89% humidity... and if I didn't do it that early, well then I'd sleep till 8, have coffee, have breakfast, mess around, and well then it would be time for "The View". I couldn't miss the ladies of "The View" right?! What if that was THE day that Elizabeth's empty head fell to the force of gravity and she fell off her chair. ; ) Then working out might just get scraped all together. That's why I like to workout when it's still dark out.

Luckily now I have to get up early and have no option. This semester I have Behavioral Health and Microbiology/Lab. Micro is the last non nursing class I have to take and I already feel like it's going to be a thorn in my side. It's and hour and a half of class and then an hour and a half of lab twice a week. blah. Those same days I have two hours of Behavioral lecture and then two days a week I have 6 hours of Behavioral clinical. However I do not have the 6:30am start time for clinical that I had for peds over the summer. Woohoo! I think it's the latest clinical start time I'll ever have so I shouldn't get used to it. It's just the first week so it's hard to tell, but I might really like this class. After your 101 class you have 5 8 week intermediate courses in a random order. So I'm mixed up with kids who could be on their first intermediate or nearly their last. I have Behavioral the first part of the semester and then I'll have Maternity the second half. However, micro will run their entire semester....Each nursing class is considered 4 hours of credit. After you are done with the intermediates you have your 202 class which includes your preceptorship (where you basically work as a nurse under a nurse) and then you take the NCLEX and become a nurse! This spring I will have adult health 1 and 2 and then I'll have my intermediates behind me. Crazy how fast it goes.

My clinicals will be at the county mental health facility. I'll be working with a variety of people in different areas including, substance abuse, adult and pediatric inpatient, med clinics, detox, and the emergency department. We have one of only six cities that have psychiatric ED's in the country. I can't imagine what this will be like! We are learning all types of therapeutic communication and therapies to help people with various mental illnesses. The instructors are great and I think we will be well prepared and supervised. This will be so different from giving iv meds and checking vitals. We aren't even to bring our stethoscopes or give meds for privacy reasons. They said to bring in your car key, black pen, and id badge. Sometimes in the main hospital I am carrying so much stuff in my scrub top's pockets I can barely bend over! You'd be surprised how much you can carry in those things! Also they seem to want us to be able to eat lunch, drink water, AND get to go to the bathroom! Purse craziness. FYI I went 9 hours once in peds without a potty break. But if you don't drink any water then you don't need the breaks! Too much info...sorry. I know it won't be like the characters in fiction novels but I have ALWAYS loved reading books about people with mental health issues. I think the first one I ever read was Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar". If you haven't read it you should! "I Know This Much is True" and "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb and "The Glass Castle" by Jennette Walls are a few good ones that come to mind. I wish I could remember more...ah the days of pleasure reading.....

However it is great to be back in the swing of things. I have actually been in a great mood and love seeing all my school buds. For the first time we aren't the newest kids. See they don't offer a 101 class in the summer, so this influx of "new kids" are the first since we came on the scene in January. If my friends are any reflection of the future of nursing we are in great hands! They are a smart, caring, and conscientious crowd. I'll try not to fall off the face of the blogging world this semester, but of course I can't make any promises! Also sorry for no pictures. The only thing I thought to photograph was the infamous pug that sleeps 98% of the day, but thats probably getting old by now.

Paisley's tagline

A few months ago a friend of mine shared the site www.fetchingtags.net with me. I shared it with another friend and he ordered a tag for our friend Buster who won the tagline of the month contest. The prize was a free tag! Paisley got to be the lucky recipient of said free tag. After a few weeks of deciding what her "tagline" should be we finally decided on "pug in the junk". See Pais likes to sleep close....Real close. While putting on her new tag, I noticed how ratty her collar was getting. That's Paisley, never one to complain. Ha! My little snoring diva. Maybe she'll get one next month for her birthday.

Sewing

One of the last things on my summer to do list was to make a window treatment for my bathroom. It's one of my favorite rooms. My house was built in 1945 so it has lots of "character" if you will. About two years ago I got my friend Eliot to redo the bathroom ceiling and moulding, paint, and put in an updated light fixture. The ceiling was peeling and cracking so I had bead board put over it and since the walls are so uneven a fairly wide molding had to be put up. I love it! It made me want to redo all of my ceilings...sigh, I'll be living with crooked walls forever. I'm ok with it. Also a previous owner put in an amazing (for the small space) vanity. It gives me so much more room than the original pedestal sink would have. The bathroom is tiny and has one small window, but the space is designed so efficiently. Personally I'm good with small bathrooms because it means less to clean! It was painted yellow when I bought it and when I had it repainted I decided (after much debate) that I liked the yellow with the subway tile, but it needed to be toned down a bit. When Eliot redid the molding and pulled off the old he said there was no less than 13 layers of wall paper undneath. If only these walls could talk. I had the hardest time finding a shower curtain. Even though I've had this one for a while, I've never loved it. I knew when I purchased the material for the window treatment the end result would be me disliking the shower curtain even more! You can't see it well, but it's just a cheap black with little daisies that have green centers instead of yellow. I got the PUG painting at a home goods, which is so funny because I had been eyeing it on Art.com for a few months. It was also super cheap! Yesterday I went to a huge cloth store that is in a nearby town and found the damask black and green print material. It was perfect and only $8/yard. Since I didn't have a pattern or really even a design in mind for said window treatment I just got a yard. Also I have never made a window treatment...but I mean how hard could it be right? : ) For once in my life that was true. I just measured my window and drew a picture of what I wanted it to look like (thanks interior design degree!) and figured out what the proportions should be considering how far down I wanted it to come on the window. Very scientific. ha! I finished the edges and bottom hem, then put a casing up top for the curtain rod to go through and voila! This morning I went to Hancock Fabrics and bought the pom pom tassel trim. Originally I was going to put it on the bottom, but I decided that I liked it better just a few inches above the hem. The one thing left to do is get a curtain rod...you'd never know it's currently being held up with push pins would you? ; ) Hey it's better than duck tape.

Tara and Jimmy get hitched!

Last weekend my good friends Tara and Jimmy got married. I was a bridesmaid and had a blast! I hear that after this wedding I could go pro. As in having that many bridesmaid dresses in my closet would qualify me. Rent a bridesmaid perhaps? There was one summer in the mid 80's where I swear my mom rented me out to various relatives as a flower girl. Good thing I don't mind. I LOVE being in weddings! This was the first wedding I've been in that it wasn't a college or high school friend. Tara and I met over 4 years ago in a running group at the Y. That's actually where I met Becky too. Its crazy because none of us run at or even go to that Y anymore. I think we have a great friendship story and "Runners World" or the newspaper should do a feature on us sometime. ; ) Now the three of us live within a quarter mile from each other and still meet at ungodly hours in extreme temperatures to pound the pavement a few miles.
This is a picture of the original group. Kelli, me, Tara, Megan, and Becky. Kelli just had a baby in June and lives in another area so we don't get to run together anymore, but stay in touch. Megan moved to LA with her husband and we were so glad she got to be in town for the wedding! We all met the summer before Becky got married and since then all have gotten married but me! Actually everyone has had a baby too....ha! I just think the world of these ladies. It goes to show that you can make friends before 6am with no make up and a sports bra on. Actually it was sort of weird the first time we all got together and were clean and dressed!
Jimmy and Tara met on our kickball team a few years ago. Such a great couple. They get it honest because their families are incredible as well. I so enjoyed getting to know Jimmy's family and spending more time with Tara's. It's just a fun loving crowd. Thursday night they had a little gathering for everyone getting into town at a local restaurant/bar. Friday morning the bridesmaid luncheon was at a club up at the lake. Luckily it was beautiful, but so hot so we sat inside and enjoyed the view. It was definitely a busy day. I got home and had a little time to get rested and ready for the rehersal. The wedding was uptown at a catholic church and the dinner was at the City Club which is on the 31st floor of a building uptown. Great views! The food was incredible and we enjoyed hearing the toasts and stories about Tara and Jimmy. One of Jimmy's sisters said something that stuck with me. In part of her toast she said "Put God first, your spouse second, and yourself last". I thought thats was sweet marriage advice. Afterwards Jimmy's dad hosted a cocktail party at the Westin where the out of town guests were staying. It was as nice as some wedding receptions!

Saturday was another day of go, go, go! I had a hair appointment at 10, where I achieved my "Alabama" aka big hair look of the night. No offensive to the state of Alabama, but ya'll like big hair! Then it was more wedding related errands before I met the rest of the girls at the church around 1:00. The wedding was at 3. Here if you get married at the Catholic church your options are 11 or 3 because of mass times. Luckily it was somewhat cooler than it had been, but I was in a little bit of a hydration deficit due to that very nice open bar the previous night. Ha! Operation hydration. No one wants to be the bridesmaid that hits the deck! The ceremony was nice. Longer than us protestants, but at least we were seated through a lot of it. It was a good bit of up and down but I just did what Becky did. I forewarned everyone it was only the third Catholic wedding i'd ever been to, much less been in. Mid way through the ceremony I started feeling poorly. I hadn't felt bad during the day, but maybe the dehydration was hitting. Tara busted me in a big yarn and they started cracking up from their seats up front. I kept feeling worse and worse. By the time the family was taking pictures I thought I was going to die. There is one bathroom room thin this church. One. It's the size of an airplane bathroom. I. Kid. You. Not. I thought the ring bearer had died in there he was taking so long. lol. Then there was a hand dryer left on that was all kinds of blowing my Alabama hair and worsening my sweat marks. I made it through pictures outside thanks to a breeze (aka gift from God). Apparently I looked fine, so I was determined to be fine. We walked to the Westin and I bought some crackers and vitamin water. Yes, I was now THAT bridesmaid. Everyone else was cracking their bud lights on the trolley and I was trying to "revive". At least thats the flavor of vitamin water I choose to bring me back to life. The reception didn't start until 5 so after pictures we rode around a bit and stopped at the park where we played kickball, where J&T met for a photo op. At this stop I though I was dying. Tara, I love you, but that trolley ride was one of the top five most miserable experiences of my life. I started looking for a bag. The only empty container I could spy was the beer case holding the empties. I made it to the reception site....barely. This is prob all to much information. But it has a good ending. Best rally ever.

After the start of the reception (I made it through being introduced) I was nearly in tears I felt so bad. I thought I was going to have to leave. Luckily after a failed attempt at drinking sprite the demons were released if you will. I was racking my brain about what could have made me sick (besides the open bar). Then I remembered. The mayonaise. It's always the mayonnaise. If it says "best by 08" it is "best by 08". As I type that I cannot believe that I ate something that was best by 08! The owner of these condiments shall remain nameless. He does not believe in an expiration date. I guess in his mind it's a loose suggestion? Anyway he DID chunk the mayo. I had eaten it on a sandwich around noon and I think thats what the culprit was. Guess we'll never know. I am so thankful I felt better, because that was one of the best receptions ever. Tons of my best friends were there, great music, flip flops for sore feat, shrimp and grits, cake! It was a miraculous recovery that involved liquor drinks and shrimp and grits. The stomach of steel was back! woohoo! We danced and laughed and took tons of pictures. I didn't take pictures, I leave that up to Becky. I have to give her and her awesome camera credit for all the photos on this post. Afterwards we all went back up to the Westin and hung out a bit, but my mojo was gone. It had been a long, fun day and like many others I couldn't hang anymore. By midnight I had turned into a pumpkin and gone to bed. I had a blast and I can't wait to watch Tara and Jimmy as husband and wife for years and years to come.













At Pearl Street Park where we played kickball



My current neighborhood running group. Six girls from six different states.
April, Brooke, Colleen, Tara, Becky, and Me. Love chasing them!

Look who came to visit????

Murphy and I aren't sure why, but his parents and little sister went to the beach and forgot to take us! We'll teach them to leave us behind. He loves to be close to whoever he's with and stays underfoot constantly. I told him that I love him, but if he causes me to break a leg we're gonna have some issues. Looking forward to enjoying a big doggie for a few days!

My first Bootie!

Today I made my first baby bootie! Well it was maybe 1/3 done and after studying today I went by my yarn store so they could help me at the part where I had to pick up stitches. It was easy and worked up so fast.
Tomorrow is my pediatrics exam. Man this has been a long, hard, and time consuming class. But I do feel like I've learned SO much! Back to the books.

Yesturday I went to my final shower of the month! My sweet friend Meredith is due September 8th with her first child, a yet to be named boy. It was held at a cute restaurant nearby and we enjoyed a yummy lunch and cupcakes. Although Meredith went to UNC she is a Duke fan. Both she and Tara! It's hard to be their friend in March...esp last year. I'm a UNC fan. With life being so crazy (and Kelli's baby blanket still not finished), I had to go a different route with my gift other than knitting. I think it turned out so cute! I had purchased some Duke fabric a while back and I was going to do a onesie outfit for Tara's daughter Norah, but nursing school happened and the outfit did not (yes I see that this is becoming a theme with my projects...). Norah, I will get you one ready for basketball season this year I promise! So I dug out the Duke fabric and created this little cutie, perfect for a boy! I just cut out the Duke logo and stitched it on, bordering it with blue ribbon. I also made the two burp cloths. The soccer ribbon is for Meredith's husband Jay and the monkey fabric and polka dot cloth because it was just so sweet! I really enjoyed doing the onesie. That is definitely on the baby gift rotation now. Seems like I have some panthers fabric that never got made into anything left over from last year....