Last Post of 2006

So its 10:48 and I am sitting here waiting for my hunnie to get home from work, we are so bummed out that he had to work late tonight and we may not be able to ring in the new year together...but such is life, right? :o(

I cant believe 2006 will be over in an hour...the year has just flown by, and I wanted to reflect on it a little before I crawl into bed and pass out

In 2006 I...

-Started Nursing School

-Went on a fabulous Caribbean vacation with Michael and his family

-GOT ENGAGED :o)

-Got a new job that I love watching the cutest baby ever

-Got a $1,000 scholarship, yay for free money!

-Re-connected with a life-long friend that I am so happy about

-Gained 10 pounds

Ok so I am not so happy about the last one, but late nights of studying, fast food, and no time for the gym will do that to ya I suppose, I have gotten my butt back in gear and I think Michaels as well, so it will come off in no time. 2006 was a great year for me, my favorite year yet...I feel like right now my life is filled with so much happiness and love, as well as a sense of accomplishment with all I have done in nursing school, its been a really rewarding year and I hope 2007 will be even better.

Here is what I predict and hope for 2007...

-I will graduate Nursing School

-Michael and I will save up as much money as possible

-I will pay off my credit cards

-Michael and I will purchase our first home

-I will use my endless supply of scrapbook stuff!!

So how do you feel as you reflect on 2006 and what do ya'll hope for 2007??

Wishing all of you a safe and happy New Year!!!!

Arizona here we come

What a crazy couple of weeks!!!

I am in Arizona right now, spending the week with Michaels parents, and its soooooo nice! I havent thought about school ONCE, its been so long since I have been able to do that!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, I know we did. We spent Christmas Eve with my moms side of the family like always, about 60 people, all family and friends that we call family, all go to my aunts house and we eat dinner and open gifts, its really fun and my favorite time to get together. Christmas morning we spent with my parents and my sister, and then hopped on a plane and flew to Arizona and have been here since. We went house hunting yesterday and saw the most BEAUTIFUL homes that I wanted to buy right there...all under $300,000....in California, we cant find anything under $500,000, and what we are looking for would be well over that...so its nice to dream while we are here, and look at what we like and dont like. Its just amazing what you can get for your money, I am so so so excited to seriously start looking in June of next year, since we will be here in December 2007!!!

Something super exciting (and kinda sad), I saw snow for the first time this weekend!! We took a road trip for the night to Sedona and Flagstaff and it was snowing, it was soooo beautiful, I will post pics when I get home!!

Just a quickie post, hope everyone has recooperated from the holidays!!!!!

FINAL-ly

So today is my final for this semester, woo hoo!!! I admit I didnt study all that much, but I justified it by getting really good grades on the previous exams, so I am not losing sleep over it. Hopefully after the final I can get some Christmas shopping done, I havent really done all that much, so hopefully I can put a big dent in it today.

The ugly sweater party this weekend was a blast! I only have a couple of pictures, I am waiting for my cousin to e-mail me better ones and I will post them, there were some pretty funny sweaters! I drank a little too much wine, but other than that it was fun! I think we will make it a family tradition, its another excuse for us all to get together around the holidays, which is always so much fun, I just love a house filled with family and friends, and good food too!!

This week is going to be kinda crazy, and then the following week we will be in Arizona! My parents bought us plane tickets for Christmas to go out to Arizona, we were planning on driving, so it will be SO nice to not have to be in the car for 7 hours, the flight is just about an hour long, and the airport is only 30 min from our house. I cant wait. Michaels mom thinks we are driving in the day after Christmas, we are totally going to suprise her by flying there ON Christmas...and we are going to play an evil trick and call her on Christmas day and say the car wont start and we wont be able to make it...when she sees us she will be so happy, I cant wait!

Hope everyones having fun with last minute Christmas shopping, I know thats what I am doing this week!!

From the fabulous Nichole W...

A-Available or single: neither!
B - Best Friend: Michael, Sara, and Michelle
C - Cake or Pie: Cupcakes!
D - Drink of choice: Diet coke
E - Essential item you use everyday: cell phone, lip gloss, flat iron
F - Favorite color: pink
G - Gummy Bears or worms: regular gummy bears and sour gummy worms
H - Hometown: Simi Valley, Ca
I - Indulgence: hhmmmm....at the moment truffles from costco!
J - January or February: Feb because of Valentines Day :o)
K - Kids & Names: We would like 3-4 kids, and the names...First born child will be Mathew or Madelynn (depending on the sex), and I love too many other names!
L - Life is Incomplete Without? The love of my life and my family
M - Marriage Date: May 17, 2008...sooooo long away!
N - Number of Siblings: 1 sister
O - Oranges or Apples: apples with peanut butter please
P - Phobias or Fears: Car accidents, a fire in my house, and losing someone I love
Q - Fave Quote: "I'm in love I'm in love and I dont care who knows!!!!!"- buddy the elf
R - Reason to Smile: its the holidays!
S - Season: I have to agree with Nichole...summer!! I love sandals, cute pedicures, blonde hair, a TAN, shorts, etc etc...
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Michelle, Kat, Jody, and Araxi
U - Unknown Fact about Me: I ratted out my best friend in 5th grade for lighting a match in class. who does that?
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: brussel sprouts
W - Worst Habit: biting my nails, cutting people off when they are talking
X - Xrays: never broken a bone
Y - Your Fave Food: everything :o)
Z - Zodiac Sign: Libra

I just like to smile, smilings my favorite

Ok if you have never seen the movie Elf, you should be shot. I just love that movie, and I think I quote it at least once a day!!

So basically there is like less than 2 weeks left until Christmas, and the list just keeps on growing. I work today and tomorrow, and Thursday is a girls day out that I am super excited about and could care less about working on my "to-do" list, and then I have clinical Friday and Saturday, and a final on Monday that I will be studying for. That leaves me less than a week to do all my shopping, gotta love waiting til the last minute!

We picked up our Christmas Cards last night at Costco, I would post it but some people that read this will be getting one in the mail and I dont want to spoil it, it came out super cute!!

My poor little Nathan (the little guy I babysit for) had surgery yesterday and has his arm in a full cast, he had a ganglion cyst on his wrist and so they removed it, hes only 14 months old, so babysitting him today should be interesting to say the least!

I had the healthiest breakfast today...chocolate truffles from Costco, they are soooo good!! You get 2 huge boxes for like $10 or something, and they are really really yummy!

I know you all want to run out and buy this lovely holiday sweater, so sorry to break the bad news, but I won it on ebay and will not be selling it as it is so beautiful. This is the sweater I am wearing this weekend to the bad sweater party, what do you think???

Weekend Woes

This week was such an odd week in clinical. First, I had a patient who was only 27, which is really rare for a medical-surgical unit like the one I was on, its almost always people over 60. The weirdest part...he was SO CUTE!!!!!! I have never ran into something like that, but I almost felt like I was blushing everytime I was in his room. Now dont get me wrong, I love Michael more than anything in this whole world, and would NEVER do anything like that, nor would I ever be un-professional as a nurse, but it was just so odd. The whole 2 days I took care of him he had his shirt off, and he had abs of like steel and arms that were to die for!! My other guy was such a sad story, he had Alzheimers so bad that he didnt even remember his own childrens names, I just felt so sad. He didnt know where he was, who he was, or what he was doing there. It just broke my heart into a million pieces to see his kids come in and he had no recollection of who they were. I really feel that when that happens to people, their spirit is already in Heaven, and that is why their memories are gone. Ugh it was just so hard. I also had a patient whose wife recently passed away, on the day of their 60th wedding anniversary, and he was crying the whole day, it made me so so sad. Ok enough nurse talk.

Spent the day today making Pumpkin Butter, and its sooo good. Especially on a slice of hot toast, YUM! We are sending goodies to Michaels family back east this year (like we did last year), and we gotta get them out this week, so its crunch time. I have half the pumpkin butter done, and then we will be making Bannana Walnut bread as well, yum!

Sooooo much Christmas shopping to do! I dont even want to think about it thats how behind I am.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, happy thoughts to Arleena who may be having her baby boy this weekend, so happy for her and her hubby!!

Last one.

I promise.

If you have not tried these cookies, please leave your house immediatly and run and buy 5 boxes. They are seriously SO good...a mix between a thin mint girlscout cookie and an oreo, but even BETTER!!!!!! (in case you cant see they are Trader Joes brand)

p.s.

Please tell me I am not the only one who is obsessed with these cheap cookies??

Oh Christmas Tree

Where the heck are you??? Its almost Christmas and we dont have a tree yet, my parents need to get the ball rolling around here!!! We have been super busy with work, school, my dad got in a car accident (hes totally fine) and totalled his truck, and then the next day he took the spare car and broke that too! Hopefully decorations will be up this weekend, I cant wait to have my own house to decorate, I LOVE the Holidays!!!!!!!!!

My favorite part...The family bad christmas sweater party, its next weekend and I am soooo excited!! This is the first year we are doing this, but I think its going to be an anual thing, I cant wait!! I just bid on the most hideous sweater on e bay, so cross your fingers for me that I win!!!

TWO weeks left of school this semester, I cant wait!!!!!!! I have a 3 week break that I am super excited about, the week after Christmas we are heading to Arizona and I get to hang out with Michaels parents, and also see Erins house and hang out with my girl Shanna who will be a NEWLYWED!! shes getting married next Saturday and I am so happy for her!! (check our her blog, www.mynextthirtyyears.com ) And then I might be going to Vegas for a few days to visit with my girlfriend Krista who just had a baby in October, hes so cute, check him out. How cute is that outfit?!?! He looks just like her, I cant wait to meet him finally.

I have no Christmas shopping done, seriously, none. I am so behind its not even funny, and I have no time!!! ahhhhhhhh

Mi Vida Loca

Ok so why is it that this time of year always seems so overwhelming?? Between school, and the various Holiday to-do's, my job, Michaels parents being in town, etc etc...it never ends. I totally forgot about making home-made goodies to send to his family back east this year...I think instead of 20 different cookies like we did last year, I am going to make this yummy pumpkin spice bread with a little 8 ounce jar of apple butter, it will make it much quicker and easier than last year (last year I also wasnt in school so I had tons of free time!). I hope they like it (if not then tough!!).

Here is another cute photo from our photo shoot with Michelle, I love this one!!

Shouts to my girl SHANNA who is getting freakin MARRIED in two weeks!!! Cant wait to see her when we go to Arizona the week after Christmas, so super excited to see her girls again and her new hubby!

Michaels parents are in town this week, its been so nice to see them. Michael took them along with my mom yesterday to see the place we want to get married (I had to work). They all loved it, my moms only concern is that its outside and it will be in May, but hello, its California! It barely rains all year let alone in May. So...there is a possibility that it may get changed to June or July, we shall see. That may work out better for us considering I am going to apply for the RN residency program at Childrens Hospital and hopefully will get in at the begining of the year...if thats the case then we would push it back for sure. Who knows, its still all up in the air. It bums me out, but in the scheme of things, whats another month or two??

Meeting Michaels parents for breakfast this morning, if he can ever get his a$$ in gear!!!!!! I swear waking this boy up in the morning is impossible sometimes, he doesnt want to even see the light of day before 10am. Then Clinical this afternoon and again tomorrow morning...after this weekend we only have TWO weeks left of clinical, and then I am officially half way done with nursing school. I cant even believe how fast time has gone, blows me away sometimes. Just cross your fingers I make it through this Clinical rotation, this instructor is a killer!!