One Week

I haven't taken a full week off running since probably living in Delaware.

There was the toe pain last week (naturally Sunday was BEAUTIFUL and perfect for running, but I was still feeling my toe and decided to continue giving it a rest).

Woke up Monday feeling like crud; worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Today was a 'skills fair' at work, and I woke up early to meet up with two coworkers for breakfast at the Awful Waffle (and yes it was awful....my coworkers' eggs looked better than my waffle; at least the coffee was good, and the breakfast was deservedly dirt cheap.

picture from the internets, not my own

All that followed by my second post exposure lab draw, lunch at home, an afternoon with my kindle, tea, candle, cats on my lap, and a nap. It's a little too easy to become that homebody crazy lady with her cats and candles.

Forgetful

So this blog. I've forgotten how to use it. What to write?

I could write about work, but you might think of me as this negative, miserable person, with green skin and a black pointy hat. I'm beginning to wonder if that's how my co-workers picture me. Twice in the past two weeks, I've had other nurses on my floor ask me if I like working there.

uh, NO.

But I can't say that. Especially at work. But it's obvious. The care for patients is often substandard. In Delaware we complained about being short staffed. But that wasn't necessarily an every day occurrence. However, that's every day at my hospital.

So again, I'm going to try and keep work out of my blog.

Things to focus: running. cooking. reading. and maybe pictures (I'm nowhere near photography).

This morning was first longish run in about 4 weeks and I'm working on my way to feeling (and looking) human again. Hopefully a new recipe for dinner (not yet sure what I'll make...), a new book to read (my first) on the Kindle, and maybe a picture of dinner with the hot camera.

The camera is so hot and so intimidating. I just look at it. Too much to handle. I'm desperate for a book on how to use it. Clearly, the camera doesn't make the picture. Any suggestions for a good website or book?

Resolute

Resolution #1: To actually use this thing called a blog.

For real.

To make it something better than wasted space.

Because between a hot D-SLR, a Kindle, and a Longchamp bag, there is a lot I can do with this thing called blog.

But first....I need to quit whining (& make life my bitch-work was bad BAD BAD today) and finish reading my book (Devil & the White city). (great book...you're doing yourself a disservice by NOT putting it on your 'to be read' list and ACTUALLY READING it).

stay healthy, stay out of the ER, and enjoy your loved ones. Till Monday-

Coming Soon...

why group runs are the way to go

and

new hospital job woes.

Have a great weekend!

Excuse me, Are you my husband?

"You were a chemistry major?!"

And you can imagine how the rest of the conversation went, over dinner, with my....

husband.

How is it possible that I've known him for about 12 years, married for 7, and NOT known he was a chemistry major? (granted he was only a chem major for either one semester or a year, he's doesn't remember)

Tangent....I hated chemistry. It was a massive class, with a professor who was always late, rushed, and obviously annoyed that he had to teach true undergrads. Chem lab was almost worse than the lecture. Walking near the chem building began to get my heart going, and NOT in a good exciting kind of way. But by far, the most awful part of chemistry was after the exam. First you felt like you bombed it. Then, a day or two later, you walked to the chemist yr lecture hall, and looked for the last four digits of your SSN in the glass enclosed bulletin board out on the side of the building. You found your grade. And then your curved grade. And then you cried (not tears of joy, either)....and eventually dropped the class and changed majors and..ok, so I see why he dropped the chem major. But I digress...

I couldn't help but wonder what else? After all, the previous evening we were eating waffles for dinner when I noticed that he ate his waffles tiny square by tiny square. (he swears he's always done this; I've just been too tired in the morning to notice).

Note, it's not like I eat my waffles strip by strip, but i certainly don't cut them into perfect squares either.....

with the move coming up, I can't wait to learn more peculiarities...we'll certainly be spending enough time together!

Last Minute

Who decided at the last minute to run a half marathon this past weekend?

More to come...just finished two 8s and a 12 (topped with a glass of wine), which is making me sleeeepy.

Red Alert

No, that's not some image of a a TarJay Bullseye or flag of a certain country in Asia.

it's what my nose looks like, right now, after finishing a box of tissues in 24 hours. DayQuil isn't working one bit. well, not really at least. If I cough, my nose starts running. if I move to a different room, my nose starts running. And if I sneeze? you know the answer.

clothing dilema

ok. for the pick up, need What To Wear Advice (husband is coming for dinner, that's who!).

basic black (BCBG dress...which I think lost 70% of the fabric around the waist in the sale)

or

Mad Men meets Miami: high waisted leopard skirt with black tee & high waisted thick black belt.

I think I know which I'm doing. but need opinion.

Have other options, but one dress is too Mojitos in Miami and the other dress I'm pretty sure he will hate (too 70s, watercolor free flowing pregnancy hiding dress). (not pregnant!)

I could wear jeans and a top, but let's face it...he'll see all that soon enough.

What do you think?

Guess....

who's coming for dinner tomorrow night???

RIBA

RIBA: "Robot for Interactive Body Assistance"

It's innovative for sure, but I wonder where this will be used? the robot is designed to move someone who is less than 135 lbs. I imagine this might be useful at a pediatric hospital, but certainly not a hospital in the states.

When I think about the patients I cared for (a total of 7 different people throughout the week), only one weighed less than 135 lbs.

Thank goodness for ceiling lifts.

Catching Up...

Somehow, I forgot I had my own blog!

Best news: Husband is coming home soon :) It's about time...the cats are dying of loneliness and the yard is looking a little sad. Me? I'm missing talking and sleeping next to my best friend. Sure, I'm sleeping with the things I love (clothes and books have taken over your side of the bed hun), but things can't replace a living, breathing friend & lover.

Work has been...well, stressful I guess. I'm finally on my own, off orientation. For a while, I was gaining a reputation for all the RRTs I had. This week, I may have actually avoided an RRT. Hopefully some sort of nursing intuition is being to develop, although no doubt it will take a few more months to kick into gear. I'm still asking a ton of questions, probably to the annoyment of the other nurses. Not sure I've found my niche quite yet, but getting there. It's incredibly stressful and at times, a little scary.

Running....is getting HARDER. I'm going to try for 14 today. in fact, I better get moving or it'll be rained out! wish me luck...

I am...

....sexually deprived for your freedom.

Coming up...

• posts about work


• post about new necklace


• post about newest (and best) 5k


• post about being not so pretty in pink

In the meantime, I'm off to run in my first 10k. runners, take your mark!

Vignette

In one month...

....put up a tree, awoke to a tree on the ground, picked up tree, accepted new job offer, signed paperwork for new job, opened presents, flew first class(!), visited family, celebrated xmas, stayed warm, drank tea, read books, shopped, flew home (econo class), visited more family, stayed home, was invited to sign up for a 1/2, debated on 1/2, postponed signing up for 1/2, spent New Year's with new friends, ate a Nu_tella sandwich at the start of the year (hope that's not a sign of weight gain to come), bought new shoes, bought more new shoes, finally bought cold weather running gloves, ran with new gloves and debated their effectiveness, saw a movie, shopped some more, went back to school, nearly missed being vomited on, turned in license application, put together presentation, presented presentation, got fingerprinted, went out for sushi, ran some more, signed up for 1/2, regretted signing up for 1/2, still ran some more, started class, ran some more, froze a bit....to be continued
:)

Weekend in Review

Too much to say, too little time (need some sleep!)

• Friday night Trivia: we rocked it with 2nd place! Followed by a very cold & brisk walk to other local bar for karaoke, followed by brisk and colder walk to friends home for some shut eye.
• Saturday: gourmet breakfast at friend's house, grocery shop, class project, Gator Game (um, YAY!!!!!!!!!!), Scrabble
• Sunday: NY Times @ local coffee shop, Costco (we bought a vacuum), lunch, try vacuum. In disbelief at amount of hair/dirt sucked up by vacuum. Empty canister. Repeat vacuum in same spots. Begin to wonder if the vacuum comes with dust bunnies that are to be released into canister or if vacuum is sucking so hard that the carpet will disappear before our very eyes. Finally, more lazy reading, purchase Xmas tree (complete with ice chips!), decorate, cook, eat, etc.
• Monday: Xmas tree is on floor, in horizontal position. cats are wisely hiding out and no where to be seen.

I Say It's Great...

To Be...a FLORIDA GATOR!!!!!!!!!!!!

(now why couldn't the Gator's do this when I was there??)

Product of the 80s

Proof:

I just bought a pair of pseudo-stirrup leggings. What is that..the 3rd pair of leggings I've purchased recently?? About a year and a half/two years ago, while living in SC, I bought a pair of black leggings. Then I bought a few fun colorful pairs: green, yellow, and white. I only wore the green pair once and that was for St. Patty's day....(I realized that I'm too old for the other colors)

Then a few months ago I bought those shiny latexy leggings. They were a hit and I honestly can't wait to wear them again somewhere.

And finally today I couldn't pass up the pseudo-stirrup leggings from Macy's. They were ON SALE. On Sale PLUS a 20% off discount.

I love how the new stirrups are more like extra long leggings with a whole cut out for the ankle. Remember when they looked like true stirrups (pants with a a piece of elastic hanging off the bottom)?

What's next...sliders/biker shorts underneath skirts? slap bracelets? goony bracelets? hypercolor tshirts???

Bullets

Today's blog is in bullet form (because I'm just too lazy to write coherent sentences)

• It snowed here a couple of times this past week. That's two times too many.


• I ran 3 miles today with hubby and I'm so happy he helped me get back out there (of course it doesn't hurt that the winds were only at 6mph instead of the 18 mph we tend to have...)


• I had a GREAT med/surg 2 rotation. My instructor was witty, sarcastic, and sassy without coming across mean or vicious. That said, this med/surg rotation left me thinking a lot about health care in America. One of these days I will organize my thoughts and explain...


• We spent part of the weekend at the King of Prussia mall. I finally broke down and am getting a North Face jacket for the holidays. Black, waterproof, ending just above the knee with a zipper and belted waist, it's sporty and feminine. And better keep me warm (especially for the price, although the jacket was an unheard of 40% off at Nordstrom)! I'm beginning to wonder if I hate winter because I don't have appropriate clothing. PS....King of Prussia mall has the best Nordstrom with the best sales. It's the second year in a row that I've gotten something sweet, luxurious, classic, yet trendy for a reasonable price.


• The Lucky Store. I've never purchased anything from the actual Lucky store (too pricey), but a few years ago I purchased a pair of peace earrings from Belk (the earrings are Lucky brand). Using a Belk coupon with a sale, I got the earrings for yet another ridiculously low price. For some reason this past weekend, I wanted to go into the Lucky store. Bad idea. I found a purse that I can't forget about.

I have thought of this bag every day hour since I saw it (yesterday). Here's the deal with me and bags: I rarely buy them. I'm using a used bag right now because my brown bag (which was a holiday present 2 years ago) broke. The bag before that was again, 2 or 3 years old and cost less than $100. I'm not the type to buy a new bag every couple of months or for every season. So part of me says that the bag is a definite buy. Scratch that. I KNOW the bag is a definite buy. It's just that it's $268 ($267 on Zappos) and I don't have a job yet (oh, please won't someone offer me a job??). I tried explaining to the hubs that that if I used this bag every day (which is reasonable when you think that I've used the same bag for 2 years straight), the cost per wear is less than a dollar a day! A serious bargain!!

• final bullet: I need to study for tomorrow's exam. please please please send well wishes that I get this bag do well on my exam. I really need the good vibes!

Much Better....

Shiny Leggings

I have shiny latex looking leggings (black) that I found at Target for $12.99. I was PSYCHED to find these, because the ones at Expressess were around 30-40 dollars.

Tonight is halloween. the party I'm going to is a halloween party, but nobody is dressing up (what the hell is up with that??) AND it's BYOP...bring your own pumpkin to carve. huh? why are we carving pumpkins on halloween??? In my humble opinion, the BYOP party should have been last weekend and the halloween party WITH COSTUMES should have been tonight. (although I am super excited about tonight anyways!)

so I am insisting on wearing something that's different, but not a costume. I think I'm going ot wear my shiny leggings, my skull & crossbone "diamond" studs, and possibly a black wig (only if I can get my makeup to look good...dark dark eyes, possibly with fake eyelashes).

The problem is the shirt. What to wear with leggings? One classmate wears leggings all the time with cute shorter tops (tops that end at her hip bone/above her butt). she looks adorable in them. I feel if I wear a shorter top, people will be looking at me.

Although let's face it...that's kind of what I'm going for (isn't that why we get dressed and wear what we do? we can wear jeans and t-shirt and blend in, or have fun with sylish and edgy outfits and express ourselves (cue Madonna). I'm always much more energetic when I'm wearing something fun that I love)...back to problem:

I don't want to people to think I look slutty (When I first showed the husband the leggings (the express pair), he said that if I wore those people would think I worked on the corner). I'm going to run to Kohls now to see if I can find some sort of knit long shirt that ends below my butt. My dresss are all dark and I want something lighter color to offset the leggings. tell me what you think...I love it and would wear it in a heartbeat, but the whole working on a corner comment....please please please give an honest opinion....