Birthday Joys

I don't know where she found it but my sister Lori sent me the best Birthday card. Freaky little church children with the title "Birthday Joys"...I don't think the picture does it justice but I had to try to share this with the world.

The romance continues

It's a good thing it wasn't raining in Seattle when we got back into town last night. I think I would have been driven to a deep dark depression.

Ryan and I went to Cannon Beach this weekend for a little Valentines getaway with our good friends the Hagemans. They live in LA but come up to their family's beach house a couple times a year and for some reason we keep getting invited to join...I like to think it's because we're incredibly witty and easy to get along with.

One thing is for sure, it's great to have rich friends...c'mon people- am I right or am I right?

The weather was great. I got to run on the beach, eat great food, hang out with Ryan, read stupid Hollywood magazines and listen to the LA crew talk about things I would never have the opportunity to discuss with my friends in Seattle. Like Marc Jacob's bags for a "reasonable $1,330". I can't even imagine what it would be like to have a bag that expensive. I could buy a car for that price.

One thing is for sure, I'd leave the price tag on the bag. For all to see.

I got crabs for my birthday

This is a little late but I had the most fabulous birthday and thought I should post some pictures on the old bloggerooo. This year the celebration started a week early when I found out that my dear friend Lynette bought a ticket (after much convincing) to come out for the weekend. When she got here we did it all: had an all girls dance party, played with, dressed up, and ate some live crabs, we had a wine tasting, and did a hard core yoga class led my friend Jodi Wellman in our living room. We also took a few naps.

It should be noted that Ryan went to Uwijamaya to get the live crabs - people looked at him funny, laughed at him behind his back, and maybe even snickered, but he did it- and I love him for that. Such a sweet husband.

So to recap: On my birthday I killed and ate my own food, drank wine, did yoga and spent time with some of my favorite people. I also finally got to hang out with the much adored and talked about Libby. She, Kirsti, and Christy - all new the Elaine and friends group- really represented and got a great many points in my book.

Deliciously funny cookies

The other day Rachel and I decided to bake some cookies. We didn't have the correct tools to cut out christmas trees and wreaths got kinda boring so we decided to tap into our creative genius...and this is the final beautiful result.

Spokane for Christmas

It's Sunday before Christmas and on this night I can be found in Spokane Washington- Home of Bloomsday Race and Spokane's Native son, Bing Crosby. Ryan's family has been dishing out the love, food, warmth and most importantly, has supplied us with electric blankets which may be the greatest invention to date. It's like having a stunt double jump in bed twenty minutes before you jump in, just to warm it up for you. It's a great thing.

Anyway, last night around midnight we put on our parkas and went sledding down a street with a big hill for Jimmy's b-day. Jimmy almost got hit by two cars but other than that, it was everything Christmas should be.

In other news, I'm going to try to figure out how to download pictures onto this blog. Stay tuned - and tell me how.

A little nurse goes a long way

On Tuesday I finished my last exam and halleluhia I'm only two quarters away from being done with school. This last quarter was all about babies and mothers and I'm happy to say I have seen enough of vaginas and babies. I got to see C sections (which were named after Caesar by the way - he was the first one born that way supposedly),vag births, post partum hemorages...all that good stuff.

That reminds me - I had a funny thing happen to me the other day at the hospital that freaked me out. I was in the elevator going to work on the 7th floor, and this guy was in the elevator with me. He said something to me that i dont remember and then he said "i'm on the my way to the er- I feel like my heart is exploding and it's getting worse - I'm pretty sure I'm having a heart attack." (that last line might be my imagination...)
And so what do I do? Well, being the completely capable nursing student that I am - I say "good luck" and jump off the elevator as soon as the door opens. It wasn't even the floor I was trying to get to. I was just so freaked out about what I would maybe have to do and what i didn't remember about my cpr class that i just bailed on the poor man...

oh well, i never did hear a code 199 so he must have made it.

Yesterday was my last day of class for spring quarter. Now just a few exams to tuck under my belt and I'm ready for a week of spring and fun. It's hard to believe that after four more quarters, they're going to let me be a nurse. A real one. One that gets paid and everything...it's going to be glorious.

In other news, I was asked to come into the UW hospital for an interview for a nurse tech position. I guess one is on the Psycho (did I mispell that on purpose or does it prove that I'm too immature to handle the people there?) floor and one on the Neuro floor. I had to look up online exactly what a neuro floor is because though I hear the words "Neuro checks" probably at least once a day- I still have a little twinge of fear that someday someone will find out that I'm not really clear on what a "neuro check" is- much less how to do one. So rather than getting through nursing school without ever really understanding what "neuro checks" are (which you could totally do) , I will try to get a job on a floor where I assume Neuro checks are all they ever do. It's noble. I know..

PS. Neuro floors are where people go when they have brain, SC related injuries and have become too stable to stay in ICU.