Washington, DC

I spent 10 hours in the car driving to Our Nation's Capitol and it sucked. The drive, that is. Around dusk it began to rain, and it rained for the next 4-5 hours. Do you know what it's like to drive in the dark while it's raining? You can't see any road lines because of all the glare from the car lights. Then when you arrive into the big city, you can SEE NOTHING. Plus you have a proclivity for getting lost, so that happens too.

It's a life skill for me: I get lost. I have to ask for help. I suck at asking for help. Therefore, the life skill I'm still learning is admitting I can't figure it out on my own and then asking for help. I make the stinky cheese face just typing that.

So I called MegB who knows I get lost and giggles at me because she has a superpower when it comes to knowing where she's going.

Then I arrived and we cuddled. BFF cuddles for life.

[the back porch of casa de Megan and friends]

They live right in the midst of the Capitol Building, but we didn't go see any of those touristy things. Because THEY WERE ALL CLOSED. So, we found other things to do. Things like eating, buying things, walking around, drinking coffee, laughing, and lounging at the naked spa.

On Saturday night, someone [MegB] convinced me to put in my contacts, slather my face in makeup, and go out after midnight. There was dancing and karaoke involved. Yeah, I don't know who I am either.

It was fun even though 3am Amy wears grouchy pants. 

Then I came home and got back to business studying.

Could someone help me with that skill too? 

love you people. 

when I dream, I dream in Fall

You know what people don't say? 

No one, not one person I know at least, ever says "I don't like fall." You know why? Because it is beautiful. Bee-you-tee-ful. 

Trees that are green and yellow and orange and red and purple! [There is a PURPLE tree in my neighborhood. It's amazing.] If you don't find that to be stunning, I don't even know you. 

Autumn is an riot of color and color makes me happy. 

Today I got an email that said, "Say goodbye to fall...blah, blah, blah." I stopped reading because NO. I am not saying goodbye to fall, you moronic company who sent me this email.

I need, I want, I beg for one more month of fall. 

Two weeks? 

Pleeeeeeeease? 

Here are some fall pictures of a family of my favorite people. Please note the ginger babies that I did not take and keep for my very own. Even though I wanted to.
Sometimes I have a leeeeetle bit of self-control. 

Sometimes.  

I love you, Fall. 

I love you, people. 

etsy LOVE: candles

Oh, hey etsy. It's been a couple of years...what's up?

If you didn't know, once upon a time I started going through the etsy categories alphabetically. I'm going to admit something to you today: I skipped the Books and Zines category. I just didn't want to do it.

I skipped right over to candles. Candles was a difficult category for me. If I have candles in front of me my nose is shoved right up in their business and I'm all about it, but if I have to guess what they smell like? I'm lost. I cannot make a decision.

The control-freak in me tried to roll with the punches. (-:

Cheapest Item:

Daisy Candle Melts 

$0.20 

from HarvestMoonCandlesLL

Most Expensive Item:

Beautiful 925 Sterling Silver Candlestick, Antique Roman Glass Candlestick Pair OOAK 
$2188.00 
from DavidShamayJewelry

A few randomly selected items:

Philosopher's Stones 
$5.00 
from geekylittlethings

Halloween candle - I Spy Pumpkin Pie soy wax Halloween candle 4 ounce 
$12.50 
from themefragrance

[Their other candles are in Weck jars...or something that looks like Weck jars?! This shop is so cute! Go do some exploring. (-:]

Angular Aspen Wood Tea Light Candle Holder Rustic with Contemporary Styling 
$40.00 
from coresthetic

Carved candles - green candle 
$24.00 
from primacandle

[Doesn't this remind you of corn? It's almost too pretty to burn!]

Eco friendly floating cinnamon scented acorn cap orange candle Halloween decor Thanksgiving decor Birthday Candles Baby Shower Decor Favors 
$1.00 each 
from LessCandles

[WHAT IS THIS BRILLIANCE?! So stinkin' cute!]

Outdoor Mason Jar and Wood Candle Chandelier 

$29.87 

from Reconsiderit

So, those are the items from the candles section that caught my eye. Have you gotten anything from there? What'd I miss? 

xo

Disclaimer: I don't know anyone affiliated with any of these items or etsy itself, I just like to peruse the site from time to time.

Star Wars and me

I sit here eating sweet potato chips watching movies on TV and declare before the world on this Sunday, October 6th, I have never seen Star Wars.

Not five minutes of any of the bajillion seven? six? movies.

I'm sure I'm about to sound very intelligent with my Star Wars knowledge most of which I have gleaned from things on Pinterest and IMDB. They seem to be good sources. Better than the movies?
Mmmmmm....probably not.

So, not watching Star Wars has become my "thing."

When it comes up [why does it always come up?!] I tell a new friend, "Oh yeah, I've never seen Star Wars" and I'm met with a moment of silence and a judgmental smirk. Then a "Why not?" Basically, it's the thing that's shocking about me. I'm quite scandalous.

I have no real reason.

I would like to call these laser-beam swords, but I remembered at the last minute they're called "Light Sabers." [Is that one word or two? lightsaber? light saber?]

His name is Han Solo? I swear it was Hans...

Today, I'm deciding I shall remedy this. If Star Wars was culturally significant enough to warrant a mention in Pitch Perfect, I should watch it. Plus, all my nerdy friends are simultaneously rolling their eyes at me and shaking their fists at me while saying "WATCH THESE FILMS, WE WILL MAKE JOKES WITH REFERENCES TO THEM!" I'm an outlier in the nerd community, I need to at least make this step so I can move closer to the inner sanctum. I will not play RPGs. I will not play RPGs.

Time. Place. Company. TBD.

Is Star Wars the bible for all things nerdy or something? What's the deal, yo?

last night I went crazy

That means I stayed up past 10:30pm.

Manchester-acappella-teacher friend Sarah [not to be confused with former-roommate-wedding friend Sarah] texted me on Monday to see if I wanted to go see Jon McLaughlin this week. "Oh, she probably means at IWU on Friday." I follow him on instagram, so I knew he'd be close then. [That's totally not creeper behavior.] Then she said Thursday in Bloomington. I don't know if you know, but Thursday is a school night. I'm not usually allowed to stay out late on a school night, my self-inflicted curfew has been 11:00pm since I turned 28. The concert didn't even start until 9:00pm.

I was screwed.

But, let's be real, there are only about 5 people who I'd like to see in concert. [Concerts just aren't my thing: large crowds-ugh; standing for hours-ugh; drunk people-ugh; being shoved by drunk people-ugh and get out of my personal space. I'm quite the social butterfly.] Mr. McLaughlin just happens to be one of those people who I want to see in concert. I did see him at Connor Prairie a few years back, so that is a testament to my fan-dom. In other news I'm a terrible fan because I'm easily distracted and forgetful.

Here's the song from the end of the night:

via snolanator

The full version. (-:

This song...I love it. Seriously. LOVE. 

So, it was a great concert. I have no complaints except the standing. In my ideal world, all concerts happen in rooms with stellar acoustics, no instruments are plugged in for sound [only for fancy-schmancy sound effects used minimally], there are seats for all [and people actually use them], and there are espresso beverages readily available. 

Happy Friday, friends! 

xo

stuck in my head.

I am a terrible dancer. 

I can find the beat. I have rhythm. I just don't have coordinated movement between what is happening in my mind versus what my legs and arms are actually doing. It's very unfortunate. 

I also white-girl snap like a cham-peeeeeeee-yone. If you don't know what I mean by "white-girl snap" it's from an old, old Ellen clip where she talks about people who don't know what to do with their hands when they [I] dance so they [I] end up just snapping their [my] fingers. 

I am plagued by the snaps. 

And duck lips. 

Basically when I dance my body betrays me. 

Isn't that how it should be? 

xo

things I'm learning

***I'm in my first semester of nursing school. I am at the bottom of the totem pole...exactly where I belong. Sometimes I think thoughts that are irrational and a little bit odd when we learn things. I might tell you about them.***

Skills, skills, skills. I'm gathering skills like I'm in a strawberry patch at the beginning of summer. mmmmmm....strawberries.

We're starting off with some basics: I can take a BP! I can make a bed! I can put on sterile gloves! I can wash my hands! [And some of the more difficult: Nursing diagnosis? Uhh...]

Last week we learned about catheters. See, the thing is, as nurses/nursing students we tell patients, "Your physician has ordered a catheter for you, I'm going to place it." "Will it hurt?" "It's uncomfortable and you'll feel pressure, but it shouldn't be painful."

I don't know if I believe it. I want to, but in my imagination it doesn't sound merely "uncomfortable." Obviously someone has been catheterized and has shared how it feels, and this is the information I'm being told to provide. The thing is until I experience the tube going through my urethral meatus up my urethra and into my bladder, I will not be convinced that it's just an "uncomfortable" procedure. Of course, I can't wait to get out of lab and work on a non-plastic, real-live, heart-beating human. Or at least watch the procedure because we all know I'm not just going to get directly in the saddle on this one; I shall carefully observe first.

So, I kinda want to be catheterized so I can know for sure. I'm all about experiential learning.

What's new with you?

PS: This is the catheter kit that I received to practice sterile technique at home. Since it's opened, it's not sterile rendering it unacceptable for actual catheterization. [i.e. I can't use it on myself.] The balloon you see holds the catheter in place when you inflate it in the bladder. If you want to see more just YouTube it.

PPS: Everything is on YouTube.