ten things

Alternately titled: 10 things I didn’t tell you that happened in the not too distant past.

ONE: For graduation I gave myself a trip to South Carolina. For years, I’ve wanted to do a solo-adventure and I thought that this would be a great opportunity to give myself that experience.

I hated it.

I mean, I LOVED South Carolina and the beach. But, I definitely hated being by myself. My sweet friend, Theresa from massage school, connected me to her Aunt-in-Law who generously offered to let me stay at her beach condo for ten days [what is this life?] and it was amazing. I was literally 20 steps from the beach. Theresa came down from Durham and I spent the weekend with her and her partner, Sara’s, family. It was so good to see them! Then they left. I was alone. On the beach. Errrrry day.

Alone.

Also, we went out one evening before they left to the end of the pier and saw sharks swimming around. My imagination may have run wild and I freaked myself out about swimming in the ocean without anyone by my side to get eaten first.

Lesson learned: I’m going to need to vacation with people. Alone vacations may not be for me.

Second lesson learned: I'm going to need to try to make that waffle pictured above.

[Did I just write a whole post on number 1?]

TWO: The Niece eating ribs:

THREE: I made this:

This was the collage I did for my graduation cards. I’m a little proud that my vision actually came together, but mostly I really like it. (-:

FOUR: I was on Match.com and OKCupid for approximately one month. It was awful. Why is online dating so terrible? Where are the normal men? Please help. I say this every time and yet, I can’t stop, I keep going back. It’s because I think I’ll meet someone in a better [i.e. real life] way, but that doesn’t happen so I resort to the interwebs. The internet seems like it should be filled with people, but where are the normal people? I’m [fairly] normal. There have to be some [fairly] normal men out there too, right?

FIVE: This summer, I totally loved that the venti Starbucks cups matched my sunglasses and I’m pretty sure I took a selfie every time I got an iced coffee.

SIX: I love this:

[No clue where it’s from, otherwise I’d give some credit.]

SEVEN: These are two of my favorite pictures I took this summer…and I took them with my iPhone because I hardly ever get my big camera out any more.

EIGHT: My current favorite place to walk in Indianapolis is a cemetery. SarahB and her family told me about it and it’s lovely. I mean, it’s a cemetery, so dead people…but it’s also quiet and filled with trees and has interesting sculpture and there aren’t [many] cars to run you over.

NINE: I started meal prepping. It’s AMAZING. I know, meal prepping is a pain in the butt and takes a bunch of time and…UGH. Do I really want to eat the same thing for multiple days in a row? YES. Do you know how awesome it is to grab your little container out of the fridge and be ready to go with your packed lunch? Totally worth it. Especially if your chosen [or allergy friendly, for that matter] diet is a pain in the bum.

Veggie patty, 1/4 of an avocado, halved cherry tomatoes, salsa, and a handful of arugula with the juice from half a lime over everything. So tasty.

TEN: THIS WALL. I want to take everyone’s picture by this wall. It’s so graphic and geometric and those colors! Gaaaah. I love it. Come to Indianapolis and let me take your picture!

Other people see a corn cloud, right?


xoxo

week one down [many weeks to go]

So, I’m one week into my first grown-ass nursing job.

I’m happy to report that I haven’t killed anyone yet. It’s my daily prayer, and I feel like God is totally with me on this one. [You think I’m joking, but I’m not.]

I have two preceptors for day shift. [I’ll have a night shift preceptor too, but that’s not for a few more weeks.] Preceptors are experienced, partner nurses who teach you things and help make sure you don’t kill anyone. They are beautiful, smart, patient, delightful people. I grovel at their feet and revel in their wisdom. They make sure you learn things you may not know.

The things I don’t know are plentiful.

I mean, I pretty much feel like I learned NOTHING in nursing school. It’s definitely painful to the ego. I spent quite a few hours in this exact same Emergency Department, but I’m pretty sure something in my brain has been cleaned out between then and now. That’s the only logical reason, right? It’s not because I’m spending 95% of my time comparing myself to nurses with years and years of experience and I have, oh, a few weeks of experience, right?

It IS probably because I spent most of school saying, “I’m going to be a midwife, that doesn’t matter to me! I’ll know a little and that will be enough!”

Well, that joke is on me.

I’m still reading my textbooks.

Now it's [past] time to get down to business.

That’s my quick update on life. I’m only working three days a week and I still feel like I have no time. I’ll get used to it eventually, right? My poor brain is having a rough go.