A year gone by...

Yesterday was our 1-year anniversary! We celebrated by eating a 4-course dinner at a fondue restaurant on 280 called The Melting Pot. It was a lot of fun! My favorite part, of course, was the dessert. They gave us brownies, pound cake, cheesecake, marshmellows, strawberries, bananas, and Rice Krispy treats to dip in the melted chocolate. It was awesome! All in all, it took us close to 3 hours to eat, which was probably a good thing, since we couldn't have eaten that much food in the amt of time you spend eating at a normal restaurant.



When we got back from the restaurant, we ate some more! Actually, only a bite more. My mom had frozen the top tier of our wedding cake last year, so we pulled it out of the freezer Sunday night to let it thaw out on the counter. I was afraid it was going to taste nasty, but it was actually really good! It tasted pretty much the same as it did on our wedding day.



We decided to reenact the wedding day by put a bite in each other's mouth. This time around, there was no smearing icing and cake crumbs all over each other's face though!



Then, we watched our wedding video, which we'll probably do every year on our anniversary. I never get tired of watching it! We also watched the video of my parents' wedding. It was fun to see how different people looked back then and to hear some of the advice they gave "the new couple." I'm sure in twenty years all of the things we wore and said will be outdated too! That will be weird...

All in all, it was a great day! Hopefully we'll have many more anniversaries to celebrate together :)

Yay!!

It's so great to be home!!!

Over the next week and a half, we're planning to:

- Be professional bums (no studying!!!)
- Go look at Christmas lights around town
- Finish Christmas shopping
- Buy Travis a coat and some new jeans (he left the only coat he has in t-town somehow)
- Spend time with my family
- Watch several Christmas movies on TV
- Go running several times - Alisha, you better be running too! :)
- Watch lots of football
- Etc. Etc. Etc.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Finals are upon us...

Well, I've already taken 1 final out of 3, and Travis has taken 2 out of 4. We are so close to being through for the semester!! I've done a lot of things BESIDES studying this week, so it hasn't really been that bad. Alisha and I have been running and working out almost every day recently (including a 4 MILE run on Sunday afternoon)! I can tell that I'm slowly getting back in shape!

Today I ate lunch at Cypress Inn with a big group of people from my mom's extended family. We were celebrating my great aunt's 90th birthday! You would never guess she is 90 years old from the way she looks though. She's in great health! I need to figure out her secrets so I can start putting them into practice...haha :)

We had fun watching the SEC championship game this weekend. Nate came into town, and several of us watched the game at Mollie's. I spent 4 or 5 hours on Friday baking cookies, brownies, and fudge to take with us! Needless to say, we still have fudge and cookies left over. And Travis isn't helping me eat it...AAHH! Even though we lost, we're still excited that the team did so good this season. We'll find out tomorrow whether we get the chance to buy tickets to the Sugar Bowl, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. Football, baking, running...anything to distract me from studying sounds really good right now!

We love the holidays!

Last week was great! We only had 2 days of class (well, I only had 1), and then we were able to go to Trussville for a few days to spend time with my family. Of course, the food was amazing. Anyone who hasn't had my mom's sweet potato casserole is REALLY missing out. She also tried Paula Deen's dressing recipe this year, and it was really good.

We also discovered an awesome new store called Garden Ridge in Irondale. Mom told us about it, so Jenn, Daniel, Travis, and I went to check it out. They had a TON of Christmas stuff....rows and rows of ornaments organized by color! I bought some gold and red balls for our tree, plus a couple of cute snowmen ornaments. They also sell furniture, artwork, lamps, candles, books, etc. It is an amazing place! It's in a building that used to be Walmart, so that tells you how big it is!

Travis and I got up at 4 A.M. Friday morning to take part in the Black Friday madness. I always dread going when I think about getting up that early, but it's always worth it after the fact. We bought a bunch of movies that were only sale for $5-6 or less. We also bought a few Christmas presents, so at least we've gotten started!

We came back to Tuscaloosa Friday night in time to beat the traffic coming for the Iron Bowl. Wow, what a game it was! Probably the best game I've ever been to! Everyone was so excited! Now, we're all looking forward to the game this weekend against Florida. I think Mollie and I are going to try to decorate a cake in a Houndstooth pattern, so that should be fun. It may just turn out looking like black and white polkadots...who knows!





I passed my first HESI test that I took this morning. HESI is an exit exam we have to take at the end of every semester. It doesn't count as part of our grade, but if you pass, you get 3 points added to your average. It also helps you get the preceptorship you want in 5th semester if you've passed all your HESIs, so I'm excited. I have another one to take on Thursday, so hopefully I can do good on that one too.

We're almost through with classes, and then it's on to Christmas break! I can't wait!

A weekend full of fun!

We had a lot of fun this past weekend! Here's the recap:


Friday: My clinical instructor let us leave the hospital early, so I was home by 12:30 instead of 2:30!! Yay! I also got to go down to the OR and watch a surgery (it was something called a pericardial window where they drain excess fluid off of your heart to help it pump easier). That night, Travis and I went to Chili's with Josh, Bonnie, Meagan, Jason, Nate, and Mollie. It was a long wait for our food, but it was definitely worth it. Then we played Cranium over at Josh and Jason's house. It was girls vs. guys...and the girls won, of course! We had a blast!

Saturday: Being able to sleep past 5:45 AM automatically makes any day better. My parents came down for the game, so we went to a tailgate with them over by the Quad. My mom made taco soup and her famous fudge, and it was awesome! The game wasn't until 6:45, and it was COLD! Actually, cold is an understatement. I can't ever remember wearing more layers to a football game. We still had fun though! Bama is now 11-0, and I can't wait for the Iron Bowl in 2 weeks. Hopefully we can snap this 6 game losing streak!

Sunday: We decorated our Christmas tree!! I bought some colored lights at Walmart and a tree skirt, so we decided to go ahead and decorate since we'll only be in t-town a few more weeks before we leave for the break. It looks pretty good! I was lucky to have an ornament shower last fall, so we probably have about 20 ornaments already on the tree. We're planning to buy a new ornament every year that has the year on it, so we still need to get a 2008 ornament. We also hung a wreath on our door and put "Christmas bears" in our window. I'm definitely feeling the Christmas spirit, and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet! Now I just need to start my shopping...

Nearing the end of the semester...

I can't wait until Travis gets home! He's been gone since Monday night, but it feels like forever! He went to a Coldplay concert last night in Atlanta with Nate. They got to go backstage before the concert and watch the band warm up. I think they had a lot of fun, and he said he got some good pictures!

Yesterday, I went shopping to finally spend some of my birthday money, but I didn't have very much luck. I bought one shirt from The Limited that I really like, but I was hoping to find some "winter" dress clothes. Guess I'll just have to keep looking!

We didn't get tickets to the SEC championship game in Atlanta. We were really hoping to go too! Apparently, there were only a little over 1000 tickets available to UA students, and each student got 2 tickets, so only about 500-600 students got tickets. I heard someone saying that their friend who has 152 hours at the University didn't even get tickets, so I guess Travis and I didn't even have a chance (they gave tickets to the students with the most hours taken at UA). I checked online to see what tickets were going for, and the cheapest I saw was $300 a ticket. That equals us watching it at home on TV. Although, we had a lot of fun watching the LSU game here at the apartment with friends. I made several snacks, and we crammed about 9 people in here somehow!

Celebrating with our sparkling grape juice after the big win!

Girl picture (someday we'll get Emily to wear a UA shirt!)

I only have 2 more weeks of clinicals this semester! I'm so excited!!! Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here soon!!!!

ROOOOOLLLLLLL TIDE ROLL!

The bonfire and Halloween party were a lot of fun last weekend! My costume wasn't very original...but, at least it was free!

Here we are at the bonfire on the Quad

The two nurses at the party...Jess and me!

I didn't realized until AFTER the party that Travis and I didn't even get a picture together as doctor and nurse. Oh well :(

In other news, tomorrow is the big game with LSU. We're having a few friends over to watch the game and eat some good food. On the menu: gumbo (courtesy of Alan), rotel cheese dip and Tostitos, Chex Mix, Hello Dollies, and jalapeno poppers (I think). Should be a lot of fun...especially if we're 10-0 by the end of the night!! SEC championship game...here we come!!!

Homecoming and Halloween all in one week!

Well, it's been a busy week, and I think it's going to be a pretty busy weekend! I've started running again...3 times this week! Woo hoo! I wouldn't be motivated to do it alone...luckily, I've been going with Kathryn and Alisha! Maybe we'll be in shape enough to run the Mercedes half marathon in February...that's our goal, at least!

Tomorrow is the pep rally and bonfire, and we're also supposed to be going to a Halloween party with our friends from church. Since I've been slacking, we don't have costumes yet. But I think I've got a pretty good idea that won't cost much if any $$. Then Saturday is the Homecoming game. And somewhere in the middle of all that I've got to study for a test on Monday. Not to mention, I've got to wake up at 5:45 in the morning to go to DCH for the day. I miss Mrs. Johnson and Northport. Maybe I'm just tired of school in general. Oh well, I'm sure the last few weeks will go by fast just like the first half of the semester did!

Hope everyone has a happy & safe Halloween!!

I'm getting old!

I'm officially 22 years old as of yesterday. I don't feel any older....but that's probably a good thing. Travis got me an iPod Nano for my birthday. I've taken it to the Rec twice already, and I love it! Now I just need an armband so I can wear it around easier.
Alisha and Emily surprised me last night by decorating the outside of our door and making me cupcakes. It made my night! The Ole Miss game this past Saturday was fun but stressful. I really thought we were going to lose it at the end. Hopefully we can pull it out this weekend against Tennessee without Terrance Cody.


On Thursday, I start the 2nd half of my clinicals at DCH. I don't think we'll actually be doing much but orientation, so that will be nice. I'm trying to get a paper for my online research class out of the way this week, so I won't have to worry about it later. Travis has been really busy with a programming project lately. We're hoping to both have time to watch P.S. I Love You that we rented from NetFlix on Thursday. It's sad that we don't even have 2 hours of free time to spend together anymore!!

It's FRIDAY!!

Well, I'm already falling behind on updating this thing...

The last part of last week was fall break, and it came at a much needed time! I'm starting to get burnt out from all this studying. We went up to Huntsville last Wednesday afternoon and stayed until Saturday morning when we left for Six Flags. Saturday was a long but fun day. We woke up at 5 AM, left at 530, got to the park around 10:45 AM....rode a ton of rollercoasters and other rides, ate funnel cakes, turkey legs, pizza, ice cream (all this healthy stuff..NOT!)...and ending up not leaving the park until after 10 PM!! Luckily, our hotel was only 2 miles away! Tonight we're supposed to be going to the Hoover-Vestavia game and then to a haunted house (either Sloss or Atrox, I'm not sure). But it's raining outside, so I don't know if we'll end up going or not. I can't believe it's supposed to get down into the 40s tonight....BRRR!!!!

A Day of Football

Well, we won the game against Kentucky....BARELY. I hope we play better after having a week off when Ole Miss comes to town. Auburn just lost....so that makes everything better, of course!! My parents came for the game...so it was great to see them!


Next week is fall break, and I can't wait. We are leaving on Thursday to go up to Huntsville. Then Saturday we're planning to go to Six Flags with Travis's mom and sisters. It will be nice just to have a break from schoolwork and studying for a few days. Tomorrow is the beginning of our gospel meeting at church. We're having a potluck tomorrow night after church, and I made some cookies to take. I make cookies almost every week! :)
Tomorrow I'm playing Travis in fantasy football. I'm hoping I don't get killed!!! We shall see...

AHH...nursing school!

It's not really that bad. I do study a lot, but I think it will be worth it when I graduate and have no problem finding a job. (Knock on wood). I had to do a presentation today in my front of the girls in my clinical group and my instructor, Mrs. Johnson. This was our last day with her, and in 2 weeks, we'll have a new instructor for the last half of the semester. We had a lot of fun with Mrs. Johnson, so it's kind of sad that we have to switch. Hopefully we'll like Mrs. Berryhill just as much! Here's a picture of our group. We took it this morning after our presentations:




This afternoon I'm going to work out with Kathryn I think. I'm trying to do better at exercising this semester than I did in the spring! Travis has been busy studying for a physics test he has tomorrow. Studying is pretty much all he's been doing lately...

It's been over 9 months...

I can't believe it's been almost a year since Travis and I got married. The time has really flown by! We've had a lot of fun this year together, and we've learned a lot too...about each other and about life in general. Life gets pretty stressful sometimes between both of us studying for tests and trying to find time to spend with each other, but it's teaching us how to prioritize I guess. Here's a quick timeline in pictures of our past year together:

One of my favorites :)

The wedding party

At Fripp Island, SC (Me, Trav, and Jenn)

My family this summer

Us with Travis's mom and sisters

Summer 08

Before the Alabama-Clemson game in Atlanta

AFTER the Alabama-Clemson game (looking a little sweaty but VERY excited!)

Me and Alisha during the Western Carolina game at Bryant Denny