Snow + Game Night + Valentine's Day = A Fun 4 Day Weekend

Well, I'm back in Tuscaloosa again :)

I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week at the hospital. I put in some pretty long hours....10 hours Tuesday, 10 hours Wednesday, and 8 1/2 on Friday. I'd rather do that though and get more days off! Work is going pretty good so far. I'm getting the hang of the computer systems we use, and I'm getting more comfortable doing "nurse" things without somebody watching over my back all the time.

I drove down here Thursday afternoon and got here around 5:30 PM. Travis and I warmed up some meatloaf for dinner, and then we watched our Netflix movie, The Proposal, later that night. It was pretty funny for the most part!

Yesterday, we woke up to find NO snow...even though they'd been predicting 2-4 inches. However, I checked online, and Alabama had still cancelled classes for the day, anticipating that snow would fall later in the morning and afternoon. Yay for snow days :)

The snow started falling around 9 AM or so, and it fell pretty hard, but it just didn't stick very much...at least, not around our apartment. Around noon, we drove to Publix, Walgreen's, and CVS, and the roads were fine. Typical Alabamians overreacting about winter weather! Oh well! I just hope UA doesn't make them make the day up later in the semester...

Speaking of Walgreen's, I got a free 8x10 collage yesterday online by using the code VDAY at checkout. The code may still be working, so try it out if you want to make one too! I made mine with pictures from our trip to Pasadena, and it turned out really cute!!! You can upload pictures to Walgreen's website, and it shuffles them around for you into a collage. Can't beat a free picture...I didn't even have to pay tax when I picked it up :)

Last night was supposed to be the Valentine's Day scavenger hunt, but Alisha decided to postpone it because of the snow/cold weather. I think we're going to have a St. Patrick's Day scavenger hunt instead in a few weeks! Once we found out the scavenger hunt was cancelled, I decided to invite everyone over for a game night. Jess, Alisha, and I played Yahtzee, and Travis, Jason, Tyler, and Caleb played Settlers of Catan. We all had fun! We also made hot chocolate and coffee for everyone...yum :)

Tonight, I think Travis and I may cook something together for Valentine's Day (a day early). I'm not sure what we'll make yet though...any suggestions?

I'm in town until Monday afternoon, so I'm really excited. I wish I could have a 4 day weekend every weekend until May...but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much! 12 weeks until Travis graduates!!!!! We can do this :)

I CAN be spontaneous...sometimes :)

Long time...no post. Sorry about that. I've been spending most of my free time when I'm not working either: a) working out at the gym, b) writing in that journal about the Pasadena trip, c) driving to or from Tuscaloosa, or d) hanging out with Travis. Doesn't leave much time for blogging, unfortunately.

Right now I'm here in Tuscaloosa, and I've been here since late Wednesday night. I was supposed to work all week (Monday through Friday), but Wednesday afternoon around 4:00 PM, my boss called and told me things were going to be slow on Thursday and Friday and asked if I wanted to have a long weekend in Tuscaloosa. I almost cried when she asked me that because I was so excited! I tried to call Travis and tell him, but he wasn't answering his phone. After two or three tries, I decided that I would just surprise him instead...

So, after dinner with Cheryl, Emily, and Melissa, and church that night, I called him on my way back to Baugay's. He thought I was going to bed around 8:30, so I let him continue to think that, so that I could have an excuse to get off the phone and finish packing and get on the road. I told him goodnight when we hung up and hurried to get all of my stuff together. I got on the road around 8:45 PM for the 2 1/2 hour drive to t-town. I had to stop and get gas AND caffeine (to keep me awake...after all, I'd woken up at 4:30 AM that morning!). But, I made it to Tuscaloosa a little before 11:30 PM. I figured Travis would still be awake since he's been staying up late a lot lately to work on homework and/or his senior design project.

I called him while I was getting out of the car in the parking lot. He answered after a ring or two, and in my sleepiest voice possible, I said, "I can't sleep."

"Why not?" he replied.

"I just miss you too much," I answered.

"Oh, well, that's not a good reason to not get to sleep. You need your sleep since you have to be up so early.

"I just really wish I could see you right now." (At this point, I was walking toward the front door of our apartment).

"Well, I wish I could see you too..."

"Well, then could you come to the front door?"

"What?"

"Could you come to the front door please?"

"What are you talking about? You better not be pulling my leg!"

"I'm not, I promise."

A few seconds later, the door opened, and a very shocked Travis was staring at me.

"What in the world are you doing here?" he demanded.

After I told him that I had the rest of the week off from work, he started going into what I call "excited guy mode." You know how when a group of guys get really excited about something, they start high-fiving each other and shoving each other? Well, that's exactly what Travis started doing. He started shoving me across the room and giving me high five after high five, whooping and hollaring. (I promise I wasn't injured in the process.) It was hysterical though...the perfect reaction that I was hoping for.

He said that when I asked him to come to the door the first time, he thought I must have been talking in my sleep or something. After the second time though, he believed me! He said that it was something he'll remember for the rest of his life :)

So, we're having a great long weekend together so far! Last night, Ashley and Seth came over, and I made chicken tortilla soup and cheddar bay biscuits for dinner, and chocolate chocolate chip cake for dessert. We played cards after dinner and had a great time.

Today, we're going to go pick up my ring from Kay Jeweler's. I took it in about 3 weeks ago to get it inspected, and they told me the center stone was a little loose. So they sent it off to get tightened, and I can't wait to get it back! We're also supposed to go eat dinner with two other couples from Northwood tonight, so that should be fun.

I was originally planning to drive back to Huntsville tomorrow afternoon, but my boss AGAIN yesterday afternoon, telling me I could have Monday off too, so I'm sticking around town here until Monday evening. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She also told me that the days I do work, she's probably going to have me stay longer (like 10 hours instead of 8). Staying longer on the days I am there = less days I have to work hopefully = very happy Erin and Travis.

Things are working out, as always! :)

On the road again!

I think I have lived in my suitcase for the past month and a half. Correction: I KNOW I have lived in my suitcase for the past month and a half! That's one reason why I haven't updated in several weeks...it's just been too crazy!

Our Christmas break was lots of fun for the most part. We enjoyed spending time with my family in Trussville and Travis's family in Huntsville. We also drove to Russellville one weekend, and I got to meet one of Travis's closest childhood friends, Jonathan, and his wife and son.

The tough part of the break was my cousin Robbie passing away after having an aneurysm out of the blue at his apartment in Florida. It was such a shock to all of us when we found out a few days before Christmas. What makes it even harder is that it hasn't even been a year since Lindsey, his sister, passed away. I just can't even imagine how hard it is for Uncle Bill and Aunt Gale. We drove up there for the memorial service with my family, and I'm really glad Travis got to come this time. The service was especially touching, and Uncle Bill and Aunt Gale were such an encouragement with their positive attitudes and their faith in God.

Our trip to California for the Alabama/Texas game was an adventure to say the least. I'm in the middle of writing a detailed journal entry about it, so I may post it in this blog when I'm finished. Just a warning though...it's already 5 typed pages, and I'm only about halfway done!

I also accepted a job in pre-op at Huntsville Hospital where I worked the past two summers. I started orientation last week, and this week I actually got to spend a day in the recovery room and a day in the OR. I watched two surgeries today, so that was pretty cool! It's definitely been tough being away from Travis for several days at a time, but I can definitely attest to the truth of the saying that "absence makes the heart grow fonder." I really look forward every week to making to the drive to Tuscaloosa to see him, and it makes the time that we spend together even more special. The countdown to graduation for Travis is on though! Less than 4 months to go! I think we can do it :)

I just got into Tuscalooosa a few hours ago, and I'm staying until Tuesday night! Hooray! I'm going to be doing a good bit of cramming for the NCLEX since I take it a week from today. It'll be nice to be in one place for a few days though! I even unpacked my suitcase!

Home Sweet Home :)

I'm finished with school FOREVER! Completely done...no more clinicals or projects...and only one more test--the NCLEX. I will probably be taking that sometime in January though. I have to wait for the school to send my transcript to the board of nursing in Montgomery, and then they have to send me an "Authorization to Test" number before I'm allowed to schedule a test date. If I get a job (fingers crossed) before I take the NCLEX, I can go ahead and start working with a temporary license as long as I take and pass the NCLEX within 90 days, I think. I took an NCLEX review course last week, and it was a good review of a lot of the material I learned in nursing school, so if I can just motivate myself to go over that before I take the test, I think I'll be ok.

On the job front, I actually had an interview yesterday for a PRN position at Huntsville Hospital Women and Children's on the 3rd floor med-surg unit. I think it went really well, and I liked the nurse manager a lot. She said that she will be interviewing a few other people for the position, and she wants to decide something by the end of next week. If that doesn't work out, I guess I'll end up working in pre-op where I worked the past 2 summers, which would be fine with me. I already know everybody there and am familiar with the way things work, so that part would be easier at least. We'll see! At least things are looking more positive than they were about a month ago. For a while there, I never thought I'd get an interview!

Right now, we're spending time with my family in Trussville. It's great to be home for more than just a day or two at a time. I've pretty much been a bum the past few days, and it's been really nice. I guess once I start working I'll wish I could be a bum again! Travis has been working really hard to help me set up my new laptop. It's got Windows 7 on it, so we're having to learn that together since my old laptop and his laptop have XP. I'm really really hoping that we can get my pictures, emails, and documents off my old hard drive, but it's not looking good. Travis tried to use an external hard drive to get everything off, and it wouldn't work, so now we're going to have to take it somewhere and pay someone to try. It'll be worth it though if I can get those pictures back....it's pretty much all of the pictures I took since I've been in college...or at least, since the last time my hard drive crashed!

We've also got a big trip to California planned for January 5th - January 8th to see the football team play in the national championship game. We're going to stay in Long Beach which is on the other side of Los Angeles from Pasadena and take the metro everywhere we need to go (hopefully). I've been having a lot of fun researching cool things to do while we're there, and I think it would be really fun to try to get in the audience of The Price is Right one afternoon. It's free, and we could end up being contestants! Even if we don't get to do that, there's plenty of other stuff to do in LA and Long Beach....so much that I'm sure we won't have time to do everything! It's going to be so much fun though....we can't wait! :)

Here's some pictures from the past few weeks:

Travis and me excited about the big win in Atlanta!

The group we went to the game with...

My closest friends in nursing school...Lauren W, Stephanie, Laura, Lauren A, and Amy

Us in the front of Bryant Denny

Graduation pictures in our apartment after lunch

:)

My new purple dress!

November 29, 2001

8 years ago today was a day that changed my life forever. It was the day that I had surgery to correct/stop the progression of my scoliosis. At the time, I don't think I really understood how serious of a surgery it was, but I definitely did after the fact. Let's just say that 8 hours in the OR is no walk in the park. I had an awesome surgeon, Dr. William Horton, and some really great nurses who took care of me while I was at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. And, despite a complication the night after surgery that almost took my life, I was able to leave the hospital after only 5 days. I guess God decided that it wasn't my time to go.

So, at age 15 I learned a lesson about appreciating life and good health while you have it. Every day is a gift, and I try to constantly remember that. I'm blessed with a wonderful family, awesome friends, the chance to get a college education, 2 warm and cozy places to live, and so much more. And, after seeing so many people that I care about get sick and struggle with illnesses like dementia and cancer, I'm reminded about how lucky I am to be in good health right now.

I guess in a way I'm lucky to have the 13 inch long scar on my back because it helps remind me to be thankful for everything I have.

Graduation is right around the corner!

So much has been happening over the past month, and I'm not doing a very job of blogging about it...sorry! We've enjoyed a lot of great Alabama football games. The LSU game was one of the best we've seen as students I think! We had a few friends over to watch the Mississippi State game, and that was a lot of fun. I made my mom's white chili and hello dollies, and they both turned out really good.

Yesterday was the last day of my preceptorship. It went by SO FAST! I really enjoyed working with Carmon, my nurse, and I definitely learned a lot. Tuesday, I finally got the chance to start an IV. I've started several IVs on adults in past semesters, but this was my first chance to try on a child, and she was 2 years old! It was a great opportunity. Last night, I worked the evening shift (3PM - 11 PM), so that was a little weird. Every other shift that I worked was 7AM to 3PM, so I was used to waking up at 5:45 A.M. I'm glad to be finished, but I'm really going to miss the nurses on the unit. They were great!

All that's left before graduation is a group presentation during dead week and an NCLEX review course during finals week. Then....it's time to walk across that stage at Coleman Coliseum! I can't decide if I'm more excited or nervous about graduating...I think it's about equally both. I'm excited to finally be finished with all of this work. Nursing school has definitely been a lot more work than I ever thought it would be. I don't even want to know how many hours I put in studying! So, it's a good feeling to almost be finished with all that work. The past 6 or 7 weeks have definitely been A LOT less stressful. I've kind of gotten a little taste of the "real world" since I've mostly been working and not done very much school work. That's one thing that I'll definitely enjoy about being finished with school....LESS STRESS! But...it's also scary to be graduating at the same time. Pretty soon, I'll be an RN with a lot of responsibility that I don't know if I'm ready for. I feel a lot more confident than I did before I started this preceptorship, but I'm still nervous. It's a good thing that most hospitals have a pretty long orientation for newly graduated nurses because I'll need it!

Speaking of hospitals, the job search is not going very well. I've applied for 6 jobs at Huntsville Hospital, and 5 of them have been filled by other applicants. I haven't been called for any interviews either. I've also applied for 2 jobs at Crestwood and haven't heard anything about those. I guess maybe I'm not being proactive enough...maybe I need to start calling and bugging people?? I've also considered trying to find a job at a doctor's office here in Tuscaloosa for the 5 months next semester that we'll still be here...but I don't know how likely it would be that anyone would want to hire me for that short amt of time. We'll see. I also have the option (I think) of working in pre-op at Huntsville where I worked the past 2 summers. Cheryl told me before I left in August that she would hire me PRN (as needed) after I graduated if I couldn't find another job. It wouldn't be a full time job, but it's definitely great hours and I already know the ropes there (for the most part). I may call or email her here shortly...

Travis is staying busy with his classes as usual. He has a big test in quantum mechanics coming up on Tuesday. He's hoping to do a lot better on this test than he did on the first one so that he can pass the class. I think he can do it :) I feel like I've barely seen him at all in the past 2 weeks because I worked the past 10 days, went to bed by 9 PM and was getting up at 5:45 AM. He, on the other hand, was staying up til 1 or 2 AM and sleeping late, so we were on totally opposite schedules! It'll be nice to be able to stay up a little bit later now that I'm done with my preceptorship.

Tonight, we are going to decorate for Christmas finally! I wanted to do it a couple of weeks ago because we won't be here for most of December to be able to enjoy it, but we were just too busy. I'm so excited!

Tomorrow is our last Alabama football game as students at Bryant Denny...and it's supposed to rain all day! I hope that it will hold off during the game, but we'll see. We survived a monsoon at the Arkansas game, so I guess we can survive another one tomorrow if we have to!

We're excited about seeing everyone at Thanksgiving next week! :)

Our busy October...

Well, a lot has happened since I last updated this blog. On October 2nd, I took the HESI and passed. Yay! It was such a relief to get that over with. I also took my final exams and did fine on those, so no more tests for the rest of the semester!!! WOOHOO! The only thing left to do this semester (besides the preceptorship, of course) is a group project that we have to present the week before finals week. I started my preceptorship a week and a half ago on the pediatric unit at DCH. I worked 8 days in a row (64 hours!) and survived, and it actually wasn't at tiring as I thought it might be. I feel like I'm learning a lot, and I really like my nurse. She even got my a birthday present! By the way, I had a great 23rd birthday on Tuesday. Thanks for all of the cards, gifts, and well wishes!

Travis is staying busy with his classes too. He's spent the last week writing a formal lab report and has been busy with homework for his other classes too. He didn't do very good on a quantum mechanics test last week, so he's worried about not passing that class. I keep telling him that he'll do just fine. He's pretty ready to be done with school and just start working.

Well, Alabama is still undefeated...BARELY. We both almost had a heart attack at the end of the game tonight! It was definitely an exciting finish! I hope we'll play better against LSU in 2 weeks though.

Here are some pictures from the past month:

This is my cap and gown picture :)

Picture from the Ole Miss game in Oxford

Our group of friends that went to the Ole Miss game

Picture with some of the girls from Northwood before the South Carolina game

Gary, Tyler, and Travis before the South Carolina game

Us before the Tennessee game today