This is me procrastinating!

I'm trying to get motivated to study for the HESI on Friday....but it's been a long day! For the past week, I've been studying and working on a group project. This morning, our group gave its presentation on ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome). It had to be 50 minutes long! I was really nervous about it, but it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Public speaking is probably my BIGGEST fear, so anything that involves me getting up in front of the class is enough to make me want to run away! Luckily, I only had to talk for probably 7-10 minutes of the presentation since we had 9 people in our group. I'm just glad it's over now! Tomorrow, I have my last two clinical days ever!!! I can't believe it! Then, Friday I take the HESI (for hopefully the last time). It's from 9 AM to 1 PM on Friday. If I don't pass, I have two more chances to take it again, but I'm planning/hoping/praying to pass the first time! After that, I have one final next Wednesday and another final the following Monday. Then, it's time for my preceptorship! Yay!!!! I can't believe graduation is so close!

Travis has his big proposal tomorrow for his senior design class. Unfortunately, he's done pretty much all of the work on their presentation because his other group members are pretty unreliable. I'm sure he'll be glad to get that over with tomorrow afternoon!

This weekend, we may go camping at Tannehill on Friday night with some of the college kids and adults from Northwood. I don't think we'll spend the night, but we may at least go and be social for awhile (for once!). Then, Saturday, we're planning to have a few people over to watch the Alabama-Kentucky game on TV. It will be nice to actually hang out with people again....I feel like all we've done this semester so far is stay home and study!

Quick Update

Well, it's time for another week of classes! I survived midterms...and I've got finals week after next. My clinicals are going really well. I got to extubate my patient on Thursday, so that was pretty cool! Travis has been sick for almost the past week with congestion and coughing. Hopefully he'll start feeling better soon!

We had fun at the game on Saturday. It rained on us walking to the stadium, but once we got there, it stopped and didn't start raining again til we got home after the game. Perfect! I actually got sunburned pretty bad on my face...I guess I just wasn't expecting to get any sun since it was so cloudy and nasty outside. Speaking of rain, I'm ready for it to stop raining for a while. It's rained here every day for the past week and a half at least!

We had a pretty good shopping trip at Publix today. I got 3 free reusable Publix shopping bags with some coupons I had, and they had chicken breasts for $1.99/lb so we stocked up! I'm going to make an apple pie tomorrow afternoon to take to Gary and Alan's apartment tomorrow night for dinner (they're cooking for us!), so that should be fun. It's been a long time since I've made an apple pie, but I think I've found a pretty good recipe online. Well, that's about all that's been going on...hope you have a great week!

Our Fun Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was a blast, and it sure did go by fast! I had clinicals last Wednesday and Thursday at Princeton in Birmingham, so those mornings I had to wake up at 4:20 AM. Not very much fun...but at least the clinicals went well. I got to help take care of a patient on a ventilator one day, so that was pretty cool. Needless to say, I was pretty worn out by the time we left for Atlanta Friday, and we stayed up late both Friday and Saturday night at Jason's house. I finally got some good sleep Sunday night when we got back to Tuscaloosa. We had a lot of fun at the game though! I ended up sitting with Mollie, and Travis sat with Nate. We were in sections that were right next to each other though, so we could still see each other. We had a huge group that stayed at Jason's, so it was definitely an adventure trying to get showers and get ready on Sunday morning for church. Somehow we all made it on time though! :)

This week I'm back to studying like crazy...I've got a midterm this Friday and another one next Monday! How crazy is that? Seems like school just started! Travis is busy with lots of homework as usual and a group project that takes up a good bit of time. It will be nice to stay in town this weekend so we can get more done.

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!!