Who dat? Who dere?

So....it's been a little while.

School is still in full swing. I'm fully into specialties at this point, the last leg of my journey through nursing school. I'm in my second rotation, Labor and Delivery. So far it's pretty interesting...most of it I already knew, but there is quite a bit I have picked up. We have our first clinical day tomorrow--we've been in the classroom all week learning everything so we don't look like idiots in front of the parents.

We're also starting to get everything ready for graduation! We elected(after a VERY heated debate) which uniform we'll be wearing at graduation. Sounds trivial, but you gotta keep in mind that when 35 women are together day in and day out...it gets a little catty. Sigh.

Troy and I are doing well. We're excited for the holidays--my father and his family are coming down from Indiana for the week following Christmas. I'm super excited about that. My mom and stepdad just adopted my new little brother, Jay, who's 3, this past weekend after a 2 year struggle with the system. We're going to visit them this weekend and meet Jay.

Well, that's the basics for now. Hope everyone's doing well. Except for my stalker...that's just plain sad. If you want to know something about me, to talk to me, or just want to tell me off, then be a big girl and just send me an IM. Pretty simple.

Move Along

The cheerleading competition was a blast yesterday. Erica's team made it to the finals, and then came in 6th out of 18 teams. Not too shabby. The team that won ended up being the HS that is our school district--where our kids would go if we still live here when we have kids. Interesting.

Next weekend is the competition on home turf--my old high school. Troy and I were planning to attend POC's next weekend up at JMU(the big HS marching band competition), but now I really want to go see Erica cheer again. We're thinking about doing a double header. Harrisonburg in the morning/early afternoon then Roanoke for the evening. We'll see. That's a long day with A LOT of driving. 2.5 horus to H-burg, then 1.25 to Roanoke, then 3.5 back.

I have my big final this week. I mean, we have tests everyday, and then a final every other week, but this is the big culmulative final. We had one I think two months ago, and it was crazy. If you don't pass, you don't come back. They actually have us take it, then kick us out of the building and don't let us come back until they grade them. You see your grade...if you passed, you stay and go over the test, if not, bye bye. It's a little harsh. We started out with 50 students, we're down to 40 now, and expecting to drop down to 35 with this next final. Fun times. I have absolutely NOTHING to worry about, but it's just interesting. I also love that we're having a speaker come on Wednesday to talk about how to effectively take tests. We have been in school for 13 months! Why didn't we have this back at the beginning????? Haha. Retards.

Anywho, I'm going to go finish cleaning the kitchen. I've been trying to unpack stuff still from our first wedding shower....well, rather trying to rearrange stuff so we have room for the new and better stuff. ;-)

Ok....

We're married now. NEWSFLASH! I think everybody knows now, just making sure. So to commemorate that, I'm changing my blog back to a "general" blog. Yay. We're still having the "big" wedding next year, so you're all still invited.

School's alright. Hard to believe I've been in school for 13 straight months now. Seriously. 6 more left. End of March. I. Can. Make. It.

I only have one more week left of Med-Surg 2. Then we start specialties. Yay. Orthopedic rehab first for me, then Labor and Delivery. Man, I can't wait to be done. I'm SO sick of school! I can't believe I'm going to go through school again...I'm an idiot. Then again, I'm sure that as soon as I graduate, I'll miss it and forget about how horrible it was. Nursing school amnesia.

I'm going to see my sister compete with my old HS's cheerleading squad this weekend. She's a flyer. Hopefully I'll have some good pics to post next week.

Weekend after Troy and I are attending POC's in Harrisonburg--Parade of Champions for those who don't speak geek language. And I'm sure Troy is just THRILLED beyond belief.

I might be getting a job at Outback Steakhouse. Should be interesting. I have an interview tomorrow. Yay for me. Yay for steak.

That's about it. Almost bedtime and Troy'll be home soon. Test number 2/3 tomorrow morning, so I must go fall asleep in my book inbetween the section about colonoscopies and people who put gerbils up their butts. Yum.

Bridal Show Fun

I really should've brought my camera for the fun(madness) that was had today. We gots tons of business cards, flyers and brochures. Had some yummy cake and spreads and dips, and I even won a 100 dollar gift certificate for a wedding planner. Too bad I already have one for free!!! It was fun though, though there were a lot of undesireables there....if you know what I mean. I did get a cool "Bride to Be" heart shaped pin, and free Godiva chocolate. Can't beat that. And I know that if for some reason, ANY one of my vendors doesn't work out, I have about 432 other backups.

We also had our engagement photos taken on Saturday evening at the beach in Sandbridge. I so cannot wait to see them. Becca was our photographer, and as soon as she has her site up and running, I'll link her. She's doing some color, some black and white and some a mix of the two. Can't wait!!!!

That's about it on the wedding front right now. Very overwhelmed with school right now...so I think I'll sign off with a plea for luck wishes for my big Cardiac final on Tuesday. Ciao!

INTERNET!

I have been without internet for quite some time now. Of course, it comes and goes in spurts, so some of you might have seen me online. I just got it restored, and it's about 5 times the speed it was before--and it's FREAKIN' storming--BAD. I'm just waiting for the power to go out.

School's going good. Killing me, but it's going good. It feels so awesome to have nothing to focus on BUT school. At the same time, that can really suck. I go to school ALL day, then come home and study my butt off until I collapse in the bed at 8 pm. Yes, 8. I get up at either 4:30(when we're at the hospital) or 5(when we're at school), so I'm pretty tired at night. And the working at the hospital? It's great--but it's just like working(but so much more stressful--more on that in a minute), but you're not getting paid. I was literally getting sick to my stomach(Kim, I'm sure you'll remember what I mean from swim team back in the day) twice a day from nerves. This is our first time "working" in a hospital, and we're just thrown in. The very first day I performed these tasks ALONE: vital signs, bathing a patient in their bed, changing their bed while they were in it, feeding the patient, doing a doppler on the distal pedialis pulse, checking the patient's blood glucose level. Not to mention constantly having a very overbearing scary Wicked Witch of the West teacher coming in to ask you questions like "Why is your patient on this drug? What are the side effects? What is the effect of a patient having a high level of creatinine on their skin?" AHHHHH! I did well though. I finished my first rotation in the Cardiac unit with perfect scores all around. The only thing she requested of me was that I be less nervous. She even asked me if I was already working as a nurse(CNA, a step lower than what I'm in school for), because she said I seemed to really know what I was doing and had a real rapport with the patients and their families. That made me happy. :-) I think I might have actually found something I'm good at!

In wedding news, I met with my wedding planner/coordinator on Sunday, and that went well. She's awesome, in fact. I also discovered that our reception site is too small to hold the number of people we want to invite, so I need to find another place, which makes me mad. I loved our reception site. Any ideas would be fabulous! Also, we're having FREE engagement photos taken weekend after next! Yippee! At the beach, as well! Annnnnnnnnnndddddddddd, I'm picking up my dress this FRIDAY! WOOOOHOOOO!!! I can't wait!

Soooooo.....only one other thing to say, and that is.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIM!