We're already getting busy!

Well, being able to relax in our new apartment didn't last long! We hit the ground running in my classes last week and haven't looked back. I feel like all I've done is study, do homework, type notes, and go to class since August 19th. I even study while I'm exercising on the treadmill! They weren't kidding when they said this semester was intense, that's for sure. I'm just trying to hang in there until October 2nd, which is our first time that we take the HESI this semester. We get 3 chances to pass it, but I'd really like to pass it the first time so I don't have to worry about it anymore after that. My preceptorship starts October 13th, which is the Tuesday after fall break, so by October 12th I will have already taken all my finals and everything. The preceptorship lasts until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and after that, all I'll have to do is a group presentation the week after Thanksgiving and an optional review course. So, basically I'm just holding on for dear life and trying to take it one day at a time until things slow down a little bit.

Travis's classes have gotten off to a good start as far as I can tell. He seems to like all of his professors (minus maybe one), and they all speak pretty good English (which is a major plus!) I've been lucky not to have to worry about understanding mine...I've never had a professor here at UA who wasnt from the U.S.! He's about to start teaching the high school class at church with Tyler on Wednesday nights, so that will keep him busy on top of his schoolwork.

Next weekend, we're going to Atlanta for the first Alabama game, so that should be fun. ROLL TIDE!! :)

Well, I gotta get started studying....hope everyone has a great weekend!

Pics of our new place!

We are loving our new place! We finally got everything set up on Friday afternoon, and it is so awesome! We are especially enjoying having carpet, a dishwasher, washing machine and dryer, and extra counter space in the kitchen and bathroom! We've had people over the past two nights, and it's been really nice to have the extra room. Here are several pictures so you can all see what it looks like:

Our front door and hallway

Standing at the front door looking in

Our living room

Another angle of the living room

The entertainment center

Different angle again...

The Daniel Moore wall!

The new microwave cart we bought!

Dining room...

Another angle of the dining room...

My new canisters from Target that I love!

The lovely kitchen...

Other side

Head on shot

Our bedroom!

Looks similar to Presidential...

Travis's desk

Our closet!

Linen closet and opening to the bathroom

Inside the linen closet/extra food that won't fit in the pantry

Bathroom

Shower curtain

Other angle...

Laundry closet...

Our patio and extra storage closet

Soon to move again...

This is our last week in Huntsville for the summer. I'm really going to miss everyone here...we've got a lot of great family and friends here! Here are some pictures of a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment in Rivermont (the apartment complex we're going to be living in this fall and next spring in Tuscaloosa). It's not our exact apartment, but it's set up exactly the same:

One picture of the bathroom (with Travis taking the picture!) Behind the mirrored doors is the washer and dryer area...

Bathroom!

One view of the bedroom

Our bedroom (we'll have a walk-in closet...yay!!)

Our kitchen (with a lot more room than Presidential!!)

This is our dining area off of the living room...

This is the living room (the door leads out to the back patio), and there's a fireplace on the left wall!

This is the view when you walk in our front door (you're seeing part of the living room and the hallway where our bedroom and bathroom are).

My poor forgotten blog needs an update!

Today, I bought all of this stuff at CVS for $8.69!!! My receipt says I saved $51.44!!! Woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just had to share! Couponing is helping us save money and buy better stuff at the same time....I love it!

The summer is flying by. In another month and 2 days, we'll be moving back to Tuscaloosa for the school year. I can't believe it's going by so fast!

This weekend is the Dvorak family reunion, so we're looking forward to that. We'll actually be staying in town (well, in North Alabama) for the weekend. That's practically a first for this summer. We tried out a new homemade ice cream recipe (strawberry) last weekend with my family at the lake, and it was pretty good, but we're going to make some changes to hopefully make it over-the-top good!

Travis found out yesterday at work that he got a 6% raise, so that was really good news! I'll brag on him since he never brags on himself :) He hasn't had a whole lot to do this summer at work, so that's been kind of frustrating for him, but it's not for lack of trying to find something...I think it's just hard since he's only there for a few weeks at a time out of the year. Whenever he starts work full-time after graduation, I'm sure it will be much different!

Well, there's my quick update. Hopefully it won't be another month before I update again...but who knows, with time flying so fast! Hope everyone is having an awesome week!!

Busy, busy busy!

Well, so much for the summer being slow-paced! Seems like we have something to do every night after work, and we're traveling a lot of weekends too. It's still better than being in school and having to study so much though!


Week before last we went to Fripp Island with my family. We had a BLAST! That's one of the weeks I look forward to most out of the whole year. We went kayaking this year...so that was something new I'd never done before. It was really hard, but lots of fun too. We're planning to go again next year at Fripp if we get a chance! We also did lots of swimming, body surfing, reading, Wii fitting, and eating. It was a wonderful week!



This past weekend we visited Elijah and Leisha, two of our friends from Tuscaloosa. They live in Atlanta now, and this was our second time to spend a weekend with them. We really enjoyed spending time with them. We ate at a neat little restaurant for lunch Saturday, played foosball, Rummikub (wow, someone else knows about that game too!), and grilled out for dinner. Sunday we were able to eat with them and Dan and Alicia and their kids for lunch after church!
This weekend, we don't have to go anywhere, so that will be kinda nice!

Our Super Fun Break So Far

Well, it's been a month since I updated this blog last. I'll blame that on being entirely way too busy for the last 2 weeks of school and then being entirely way too lazy for the past two weeks. We are really enjoying our summer break so far! We successfully got everything in our apartment packed up and stored away in storage (thanks to the help of our friends, Ashley, Seth, and Paul....and my mom). We also got all of the food planned and bought for Aaron's bachelor party. Travis and the guys had a lot of fun...and ate pretty good too while they were there!

Aaron and Emily's wedding went off without a hitch. Everything was beautiful, and I got some pretty good pictures while we were there. It'll be great to have another married couple our age in t-town for the upcoming year!

I went to work at the hospital for one day last week (only for a few hours). I had to take some tests online and get caught up on things since I'd been there last August. I may not really start work until after we get back from the beach next week (but there's a small chance I may work this Thursday or Friday or both).

We've gotten summer memberships at Anytime Fitness, which is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Baugay's. We worked out almost every day last week, and we're enjoying getting in shape together (or trying to anyway!).

This weekend we spent time with my family at Smith Lake. It rained almost the entire weekend, but we still had a blast! We made homemade ice cream (which I've decided after completely leaving one ingredient out of the recipe that it's impossible to really mess homemade ice cream up), played Yatzee, watched Madagascar and Bedtime Stories, and ate some really great food. I hope we'll get to go back to the lake several more times before the summer's over.

This week we have a lot of little things to take care of. I'm making ravioli for one of our dinners at the beach, so I have to get all of the ingredients for that sometime before we leave. We'll also be making more homemade ice cream...yum! Travis also has to get his driver's license renewed, and I have to get a TB skin test done at the hospital.

We're leaving for Fripp Island this Saturday morning. Leaving from Huntsville instead of Birmingham adds an extra hour or two onto the total drive, so it may take us about 9 hours to get there! Next week is going to be so much fun! We'll be there until the following Saturday (June 6th), so we also get to celebrate Travis's 23rd birthday while we're there. Yay! Let the fun continue!! :)

Summer...

...is almost here!!

In the meantime, though, I've got 6 tests in the next 2 weeks. The 3 next week are my big exit exams (the HESIs), and then I have 3 finals the week after next. I also have one more clinical day next week. AAHHH!! And, Travis has a couple of more lab reports to write, a project due next week, and 6 finals to take.

We also:

• Have a gospel meeting at church next week
• Are moving out of our apartment in about 2 weeks (which means boxing everything up beforehand)
• Are trying to buy all of the food and get last minute details planned for the bachelor party (which starts on the same day we're moving!!)

Double AAHHH!!
All of this equals "way stressed out Erin and Travis" until May 11th.
Please pray for our sanity!!! :)
That's all for now...back to studying!