My new favorite wedding picture

Every now and then I choose a new wedding picture for my computer's desktop background and yesterday when I was looking for a new one, I came across this one:

I LOVE it!! Love the angle...love the memory of that moment....just LOVE it!!

Even though Kevin and I have been married now for 8 months and have looked through my pictures hundreds of times, I feel as though I've never seen this one before - crazy, huh?!?

Just thought I'd share. ;)

Our Rainy Weekend

I don't know about you but we had some pretty rainy weather. At first I was pretty bummed that after a few days of beyond gorgeous weather our weekend was going to be gloomy....BUT it actually turned out to be a good thing.

Friday Night we had our own little date night in partly because of the weather and partly because we are trying to save money. For our dinner I made the Pioneer Woman's famousAsian Noodle Salad - and btw, it was A-MAZING!! Now, I luuuvvv her recipes and have made quite a few but seriously, I might have a new favorite!!! Huge bonus - Kevin loved it too! Yay! While we scarfed down our salads we watched Traitor.

It's an international conspiracy thriller type of movie....so I was thinking it would be "BourneIdentity"-ish well...it wasn't. It was ok, I'm not sure I recommend it though.

Saturday, because of the rain, we just kinda hung out for the majority of the day. We made it to Saturday evening mass and then did a bit of shopping after - we even bought our Mom's and Grandma's their Mother's Day presents - yay!!

Sunday morning we slept in - how great is sleeping in?!? When we finally rolled out of bed I made us the perfect (perfect for us anyway) Sunday morning breakfast - pancakes & coffee. By Sunday afternoon it was back to reality for me...I had homework, studying and a group meeting - ugh!

All in all, I'm kinda glad it ended up being a rainy weekend - it definitely gave Kevin and I some really good down time. Don't get me wrong though....I'm ready for some sunny poolside summer days!

Hope you all had a good weekend too!!

Happy Arbor Day

In honor of Arbor day I thought I'd make my blog green...or at least make the font green. ;) Until I moved here, I had no idea Arbor day started in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

Here's a little history of Arbor Day for ya -

The first Arbor Day took place on April 10, 1872 in Nebraska. It was the brainchild of Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902), a Nebraska journalist and politician. In the years following that first Arbor Day, Morton's idea spread beyond Nebraska with Kansas, Tennessee, Minnesota and Ohio all proclaiming their own Arbor Days. In 1970, President Richard Nixon proclaimed the last Friday in April as National Arbor Day. Which brings us to today....

Here in Nebraska, there are tons of celebrations and activities going on today....yay! Growing up my family would always plant a new tree (usually a fruit tree) on arbor day. I love this tradition, it's one Kevin and I know we want to carry on when we get settled somewhere.

Happy Friday & Happy Arbor Day!!

What was I thinking???

After a few days of being in a "funk" I'm so happy to report that I'm a wonderful day!! Last night, my BFF and I had a 2 hour conversation and did some much needed catching up and then today's weather has been just perfect!

So today my friend Tessa and I decided to go out to lunch at one of our favorite places, Jimi D's. We love this place because not only is it super close to campus but, the food is yummy and they have a cute little outdoor patio....which happens to be where we sat since today's weather is so nice! Yay! I ordered ordered their famous P.L.T sandwich (which stands for Pancetta, Lettuce and Tomato - um yeah, it's delish!). Since I was really hungry I gobbled it up at lightening speed. Around, 1:15 I looked down at my watch and realized I would need to leave asap to make it to my 1:30 class on time....my next class which was Power Yoga....oh yeah. I was seriously struggled all the way through class today!! I seriously thought I was going to loose my P.L.T. sandwich if you know what I mean..... The best was when the instructor looked my way and asked if I was going to make it - so embarrassing.

What was I thinking?!?! Lol!!! The moral of my story - don't have a huge meal right before yoga. :)

Happy Wednesday Ladies!!!

Going Away Party

Yesterday was our friends Lindsay and Jeremy's going away party. Thankfully, they aren't leaving just yet (which is good because I'm not ready to say goodbye to Lindsay) but, they are heading to Europe for a month long honeymoon - how cool!! Even though we are sooo sad they are leaving we are also very excited for them because...they are moving to the gorgeousMonterey, California!! Yay!! We can't wait to visit them there! The Air Force is sending Jeremy there to go to graduate school and Lindsay says she is going to become a "beach bum" - lol! ;) I am so happy for them that God has blessed them with amazing opportunity.

Here's us with our buddies Lindsay & Jeremy( Sorry about the horrible red-eye)

How cute do these boys look in their flight suits?!?!? ;)

....Other than this little outing I've been a pretty busy girl. This weekend I spent the majority of the time typing papers - blah. But, I am very happy to report that I have almost all of my end-of-the-year projects done! Woo Hoo!! I can't even tell you what a relief it is to be able to say/type that!!

Here's my little to-do list:

ICU Reflection Journal - Done
Theology Prayer Paper - Done
Personal Nursing Research Project - Done
Group Nursing Research Project - Done
Theology Final Project - 1 & 1/2 pages left to write - seriously having writers block
Theology Take Home Test - Not yet posted - so frustrating

Hope everyone else's weekend was fun & productive! :)


P.S. I'm sorry I haven't been a very good commenter lately - I love receiving comments and usually try to be good about leaving them but lately with school things have just been so crazy....I know, excuses, excuses.... :)

This just made my day....

Yesterday was SUCH a nice day that Kevin and I decided to go for an evening walk. During the walk we stopped at a little burger place to get chocolate milkshakes (yum!). While we were waiting for them I saw the cutest baby boy (really, absolutely adorable) across the room - so I pointed him out to Kevin. A few moments later, a man (that looked familiar) was walking toward me with the baby. It turns out he and his wife attended one of the child birth education classes I taught and wanted to introduce their son to me. What a blessing!!! I just love when God blesses us with little experiences like this one - aren't they just the best??? Anyways, I was just thrilled to meet their little one and to hear that their little family was doing well.

I just thought I'd share my little story....Hope everyone is having a good weekend!!

My Day at the Oncology Clinic

Today I had the privilege of shadowing an oncology nurse. Even though I can’t quite articulate what they were, I know I must have had some preconceived ideas of what an oncology clinic would look like, none of which were very aesthetically pleasing. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Despite the cloudy Omaha weather, the clinic was so bright and cheery. Three of the clinics four walls were windows, which aided in the brightness and enhanced the openness of the room. Thankfully, the morning began slowly giving me time to get a “feel” for how the clinic functioned. Although I was involved with quite a few patients there was one in particular that stood out.

Around 10:00 am a group of about five people breezed their way into the clinic; they must have involved in an absolutely hilarious conversation because they were all laughing – it was the kind of infectious laugh that made you wonder what they were talking about. About this time, my nurse was busy charting but pointed their way, announced that “she” was our next client and with a chuckle mentioned that I would really like her. Well…I automatically assumed that the “she” my nurse was referring too was the elderly lady in the group. But no, she wasn’t pointing at her. She was pointing to the absolutely drop dead gorgeous young twenty-something year old girl.

I was just shocked. I was just sure I had heard wrong or maybe my nurse had pointed in the wrong directions; I mean she was charting. So when we approached their group I was surprised to see the young girl stand up, hug my nurse and tell her that they had so much to catch up on – it was as if they were old friends getting together for a cup of coffee not nurse and client meeting for another round of chemotherapy. After starting the infusion, my nurse and I went back to the nurse’s station, handed me the client’s chart and said that I should “definitely” read it.
Talk about an emotional experience! For obvious reasons (privacy) I’m not going to go into details. I will say that in comparison, I am so incredible ashamed that I had the audacity to complain about having a respiratory infection for three weeks. Seriously, ashamed. I’m pretty disgusted with myself that I complain so much about my petty complexion “problems.” I just could not believe the spirit of life flowing through this young woman, to say that I was inspired would be such an understatement. I was just in awe of her positive spirit. I was able to spend a while talking to her and her family; I feel so blessed and very fortunate that I was able to help care for them today.

One of the aspects I enjoy most about nursing is the opportunity we have to interact with our clients. I was so pleased that I had lots of time to talk to each of the clients, I really feel as though I was able to get to know a little about each of them. At the beginning of the shift, one of the first things my nurse said to me was – “You should know that we really think of ourselves and the patients as one big family.” She was definitely right; they really are each other’s extended family.

Shadowing

Today I have the opportunity to shadow an oncology nurse....and to be honest I have no idea what to expect. Well...ok, I have obviously researched the position and we have covered lots of cancer related illnesses but as far as actually working with a cancer patient....haven't done it yet. So, I'm both nervous and excited (mostly excited) about this opportunity. Anyways, I hope everyone has a great Thursday! Who's excited that it's almost the weekend?!?! ***raising my hand and screaming "I am, I am, I am!!!***

Catching Up

I have soooo much catching up to do! I feel like I haven't been on blogger in for-ever! ....I guessing this feeling probably stems from the fact that I haven't really been on (except for my super quick Easter Post) for two weeks now. I signed in tonight and read a few peoples blogs and realized I have missed A LOT! I feel like a such a bad blogger. I want to send a HUGE thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments - I promise I will get back on top of things reallysoon.

I hope everyones week is going well.....is anyone else beyond excited that it's already Wednesday?!?! The weekend is almost here - YAY!!!!

Hope you had a Happy Easter!

I know I'm a day late but I just wanted to say that I hope everyone had an absolutely fabulous Easter!!

Yup...this picture pretty much sums it up!

Ok, so I have to vent about the cold/flu/respiratory infection or whatever it is that's wrong with me.....

I rarely ever get sick - honestly, I mean never. I've been blessed with one a-mazing immune system. Seriously, the last time I was "sick" was in 1999 (such a long time ago) so I feel like I've been hit out of left field with this whole thing. It's been crazy, just crazy. I haven't been able to get anything done - I've been so super unproductive which has only made me feel worse. :( The funny thing is that a few times I have felt as though I was getting better but then end up worse - so weird! I've been to my doctor twice in the last week and each time it seems as though I've acquired a new diagnosis - which hasn't exactly been "comforting." And of course I have a project due tomorrow, and a HUGE test next week that I have GOT to start studying for like yesterday.

Well, I'm dosing up and heading back to class.

Thanks for reading my vent....blogging is so therapeutic!! :)

I hope you ladies have a lovely week!

I *heart* HGTV

I saw these pictures on HGTV's "Rate My Space" (one of fav places in cyberspace) and just had to share them....

Such a great inspirational space!

Elf Makeup for $1

Hello Ladies!

A friend told me about this amazing deal and I just had to pass it on to all of my wonderful blog friends! Nordstrom bought out E.L.F and they have to get rid of all their elf stock. They are selling most everything for $1!

When checking out, enter coupon code "mummy" and get an additional 50% off (up to $15).

Here's the link to the their website.

Happy shopping!

I'm still really sick (no more fever though - yay!) so I'm heading to my doctor's office - hopefully she will have a magic pill that will make me feel better asap! I'd love it if you kept me in your thoughts and prayers though. Thanks everyone. :)

My new favorite nail polish!!

I just discovered "Princesses Rule" by OPI - Oh my goodness, I love it!! I think it's gonna be awesome for summer! Great pink shade with sparkles - perfect!! What are your favorite summer shades?