San Diego #2

Remember our San Diego trip a while back? Well, Aus just posted an awesome entry on his blog and you must check it out here. Check out those pictures of our resort - is he awesome or what? My husband is so talented!

Also, people were always asking me about his job and it was so hard to explain exactly what he did.  He posted a few pictures so you can get an idea of what he did while he traveled on those meetings (this is his old travel-every-week job).  He recently took a new one so he didn't have to leave me every week. Ain't he sweet?! Enjoy his super fun post!

P.S. Do I look like some sort of bug in all those pictures or what?

This and That

Happy Wednesday! I am already anticipating the weekend - we have a bridal shoot on Sunday that I am super excited about!  We can't put the pictures online until after the wedding is over (July 3rd) in fear that her beloved may see her in her white dress. I'm thinking I may be able to sneak a few on here though so stay tuned next week. 

Last weekend Aus and I went out for dinner and drinks at The Chop House and you all know that was a good meal!!! We rewarded ourselves since we hadn't been out to eat all week - this is huge for us. I had crab cakes and Aus - take a guess?!? Steak? You know it! He even ate his flower! :)

We are getting better though, much better, and actually started our its-getting-warm-out-summer-is-near diet.  We are using an app on our phone called 'My Fitness pal' to log everything we eat and count calories.  I'm eating 1250 and Aus is eating 1890. It's pretty tight but we are motivated!  I've gained about 12 lbs since our wedding and Aus, ehhh 25? No worries, we will be back and ready for our bikinis in no time! Yea right, who is ever ready for that?!

I gave my boss my letter of resignation this week and my last day in the SICU is officially April 27th. It's bitter sweet. As much as I bitch and moan about this place, I'm definitely going to miss it and the girls I work with. It was my first job in my nursing career and I'll never forget how much it taught me. They say this is the hardest/fastest ICU in the hospital and Duke is one of the top hospitals in America, so you can image what I've seen and endured in this place. I'm glad I made my roots here; I will always appreciate the experiences and education I've been given.

 Molly is doing well, getting bigger and stronger each day.  She keeps us on our toes that's for sure.  She still pees every 30 minutes, in the house or not, chews on any and everything, at all times, terrorizes the cat and rarely listens to a damn word we say. :)  We're working on it though! When we went for our normal trail walk on Saturday we decided to put her in her kennel instead of riding in my lap.  We want her to get use to it as a pup.  She does pretty well in the house but she cried the whole ride to the park!

We have paid the deposit on our fence and it should be going up next week. We. can. not. wait! It will help things so much, and allow her to get out all this crazy energy she builds up. I will post pics when it's finished!

Sorry these pictures are dark.  I also just learned you can click on pictures and they will come up real big! Nice!

DIY Easter Jar

I made this little decoration the other day and although I do like it, it didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped. I think a bigger apothocary jar would be the answer. It all looks a bit smushed wouldn't ya say?

You will need an apothocary jar, (a larger or fatter one would of been better) reindeer moss, eggs and then I got this nest at Pottery Barn.  The eggs came from PB as well, but lots of stores have them right now.

I had to cut a lot of the branches on my nest to get it to fit in the jar. The branches were super hard to cut, notice the broken scissors in the picture above!!! 

My not-so-impressive kitchen table. :( I will do better next year!

A New Adventure

I finally heard from UNC this week and unfortunately I don't have good news to report.  They told me they went with another candidate but would have a few more opening this summer they would like to consider me for.  I interviewed for two jobs the end of February and have been torn as to which I would take, so this makes my decision easy. I was leaning more towards the UNC position as a Documentation Specialist just because it was something completely different (no more direct patient care) with a totally new schedule. I am still excited though and will be taking a new position at WakeMed and will start in the next month or so. I will be casual staff in the float pool, meaning I'll work all over the hospital in various ICU's. This position has some mega perks compared to the job I have now. No more holidays, EVER, no weekends, I can work days or nights, and I decide the shifts I want to work THE WEEK OF.  That is huge for me.  I have no commitment and can decide on Sunday evening the shifts I want to work for the following week. I will work 2-3 12 hour shifts per week and won't know where I'll be working until I get to the hospital each morning. The other perk - major salary increase!! Since I am casual (not receiving benefits) the rate of pay much higher.  Now that Austin and I are married, I can be on his health insurance and don't really need my own. So, in exchange for benefits, most hospitals have an option for nurses that don't need benefits and compensate them with a higher rate of pay.  I am very excited for this new journey (and challenge) since I won't have a home base unit anymore and won't really ever know anyone I'm working with since I float between 9 different ICU's!! The thoughts of working in Neuro or Cardiac ICU's scare me a bit but I am ready for the new adventure and to broaden my knowledge base past surgery and trauma. I will keep everyone posted about when I'll officially be starting and blog (of course!) about my new journey. :)