I didn't know it was possible...

...to be a bum after school starts back! I haven't had this much free time during school since my first semester of nursing school (fall 07). This week, I've gone to my classes but done very little studying outside of class. Usually, by the second week of school, I've already had a test (or two), but this semester I don't have a test until February!

Next week, I'll be going to the RISE school for clinicals. The RISE school is a school for kids with special needs, but it also has kids who are developing normally. I think the kids are anywhere in age from infant to 5 years old. I'm really excited!

Travis is still hanging in there with his classes. He's starting to understand the material in several of the classes a lot better than he was at first, so I think that's helping his confidence that he'll make it through. Just don't ask me what his classes are about...he's taking thermal physics, electronics, modern physics lab, and a couple of other classes I can't remember right now. All of that stuff would go right over my head! I guess after we graduate, he'll be the one responsible for wiring everything once we buy a house, and I can be the one who nurses him back to health should he electrocute himself! I knew we'd make a great team :)

Tonight, we watched the Bucket List, our latest movie rental from NetFlix. We both really liked it! It's about two guys with cancer who get stuck rooming together during their hospital stay, are told they both have less than a year to live, and then decide to make a "bucket list", a list of several things they want to do before they "kick the bucket". I thought it was a cool idea, although I don't think that knowing I had less than a year to live would ever make me want to go skydiving! I got sweaty palms just watching that part in the movie!!

Tomorrow night, we're supposed to go to the UA gymnastics meet with several friends. I'm really excited! It's a great way to spend a Friday night (for free!), and it's really amazing to watch all the flips and things the gymnasts can do. As for the rest of the weekend, I'm planning to do as little studying as possible. If it's not too cold, I'd like to go running outside. I've had to resort to working out at the Rec Center this week since it's been SO cold! 12 degrees is way to cold for Tuscaloosa, Alabama!

The first week back...

Well, we've made it through our first week of classes...yay! I had OB yesterday and pediatrics today. I also have one class, community health, that meets on Monday. I think it's going to be a fun semester and hopefully not too hard! I'll also have clinicals on Tuesdays and/or Wednesdays every week throughout the semester in 5-week increments. The first 5 weeks I'll be in clinicals for peds, then OB, and then community health. After this semester, I'm hoping to have a better idea of what area of the hospital I want to work in.

Travis survived his first week too! He's going to have a much tougher semester than I am, I'm afraid. He's taking 17 hours, and I've only got 12. He's got a couple of foreign professors again this semester, but hopefully they'll be better than the one he had in the fall. His big problem this week was making it to his classes on time. He's got 3 classes back-to-back on MWF with only 10 minutes in between. That's one good thing about nursing classes...you don't have to worry about having back-to-back classes. All of my classes meet once a week for 2 1/2 hours at a time.

We're still running several times a week. Yesterday we ran 2 miles, and I finished in 15:28! I'm still not in the shape I was back in high school, but I'm okay with that. I'm just happy to be running again at all because it makes me feel so much better throughout the day.

Tonight, we're going to the quarterly singing at Northwood, and then I'm hoping we'll get to watch our Netflix movie (The Bucket List) afterwards. I don't have much of anything to study this weekend, and it's a really nice/weird feeling. Usually, I'm swamped with stuff to do after the first day! Guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts :)

Back to real life...

Well, we're back in Tuscaloosa after our 3 1/2 week hiatus. It was really nice to get away for a while, but it's also nice to get back to our apartment and not have to live out of a suitcase! As always, I think we came back with more than we took with us...A LOT more. Now, we just have to find a place for everything.

Tomorrow morning we're going to sign a lease at Rivermont, the apartment complex we're going to live in starting in August. I'm so excited! I'll never take a dishwasher, washer and dryer, carpet, or a bathroom counter for granted after living somewhere without those things. Not that I hate living in Presidential, but it will definitely be nice to be somewhere a little nicer.

Another project for this week is taking down our Christmas decorations. I hated to take them down before we left because it was only December 12th, and who wants to take down Christmas decorations two weeks before Christmas??

I get an extra day of Christmas break than most everyone else. My first class isn't until Thursday, and everyone else (including Travis) starts on Wednesday. Can't say I'm ready to start back (it's been so nice to be a bum!), but I'm sure it will go by fast just like all the other semesters! Speaking of semesters, this is my 2nd to last semester of college. I can't believe I'm almost through! :)

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!