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!

Keep Movin'

and we're back on the train again.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind with no hope of slowing down.

Last week was my last day of work at an incredible hospital and I feel fortunate to have had an opportunity to work at and with such an incredible group of people. There is a group of people that I work with that make up an incredible team: the Rock Star Nurses.

They are the ones who are always calm, always willing to help, and always seem to know just what to do. The are great with patients. What can I say...they are my idols. There are also a few nursing students that work on the floor who I know will make fantastic nurses, and I hope to keep in touch with everyone.

No rest for the weary, after the last day of work, I had a minor surgery. As a nurse, I hate being a patient. It might not be the actual act of being a patient as much as the fear factor: completely out of control and aware of the worst possible outcomes (real and imagined).

And I can't really go jogging right now as it's still too close to post op. Bother.

But the day after the surgery I met up with some former classmates, aka sexy, zany nurses. Drinks, dinner, more drinks, delicious desert, wonderful laughs. Could I ask for anything more?

Well....maybe.

A house to move into would be nice. And a job.

The movers come in less than one week to pack up the house and lock all my belongings into a truck (and then move it into storage).

As for the job front....I've applied to three or four, and have only heard back from one. My "salary requirement" is about $8 per hour than they can offer me. The application (for all the jobs) requested that I fill in my current salary or salary requirements. I had figured that I would be taking a pay cut, but I feel like I was blown off.....I don't need to make the same dollar amount; but not even an interview. At least call me. I hate how impersonal the internet can be.

Just keep movin'...it will all come together.

Booking It

How many of you remember the reading program at school that was sponsored by a particular pizza restaurant that has a red roof?

I loved that program. First you got a button (one year it was a very cool hologram) and you would get a yellow star to put on the button for each month if you made the monthly quota for the number of books or book reports you were supposed to complete.

So in today's 'retro' style of Bringin' Back the 80s, I'm going to book it.

Just finished reading Sex With Kings

It was a cheap find at one of my favorite book stores, The Strand in NYC, and I'm glad I picked it up. There is so much juicy gossip on each page, I'm on information overload and can't even pick out the one juiciest moment. Scandal? yes. Sex? yes. Education? yes.

It's the not-so-trashy-trashy beach read for summer. Weird looks while reading it? quite possibly. For someone who doesn't appreciate and enjoy history, I would say this is a history book worth reading. Sometimes the writing gets a bit cheesy...and I would be lying if I said that I could keep all the characters (er, make that kings and mistresses) straight.

Next up The Girl Who Played With Fire. Diversity at its finest :)

Lesser of Two Evils

Would you rather follow a per diem nurse and have a 45 minute plus dressing change? or follow the nurse who gives poor reports and leaves things incomplete or incorrect?

I chose the latter. (tired of all these dressing changes we've had!) Tomorrow should be interesting. oye vey.

Fool

You'd be a fool not to try this panini for lunch.

The first time I made this sandwich, I actually had nearly all the ingredients (I needed bread, tomato, and a lemon). The olives and artichokes can be purchased for cheap at Walmart or your commissary. I've purchased the ciabatta bread at Walmart & at the local grocery store...sadly, the bread from Walmart made for a better sandwich. I obviously recommend purchasing the bread from a specialty shop if you're lucky enough to leave near one.

The first time I made this sandwich, I was amazed that I was eating something made in my kitchen and not at a sandwich shop.

Trust me, your mouth & taste buds will thank you for the flavor burst.

Bit

by the apple bug....

I broke down and got a new laptop...a mac book!! I'm so excited to be using it right now. Trying to figure out all the features. Not exactly looking forward to sitting down with my old laptop to transfer everything onto this new baby.

I love it.

I want to name it.

Opening it out of the box? so sexy and sleek. Strangely enough, I'm digging the backlit keyboard. It's the little things that get me going....

In the same way in which buying new exercise clothes motivates me to hit the gym, maybe it's a macbook that will motivate me to join the blogging world again. Then again, a PCS is just 4 weeks away, which means lots of lots of fun stories. (be forewarned, the stories have already begun...)

Ok, so I lied

I said I would update soon, and well, since school ended I've lost my blogging mojo. Not sure if it's because of work or what. But here goes the 1/2 marathon story (motivated by DAR who is running her own half this upcoming week).

After running the Marine Corp Marathon in October (which, oops, I 'accidently' signed up for again), my running became thready. I kind of expected that to happen, but it couldn't have happened at a worse time: the beginning of the coldest, snowiest winter I hope to ever experience.

Let's just say this place is windier than Chicago (you want wind farms? we've got the land), and absolutely horrible about clearing out snow. This Florida girl learned how to run in cold weather last year. She didn't however, learn how to run on frozen over snow. The snow storms (there were three) literally put a freeze on my running.

And when hubs casually questioned why I hadn't signed up to train for any sort of race, I knew I was in trouble. I was officially in that dark and crazy place known as "I WILL NOT go on meds seasonal affect disorder"

I had to train. A friend had asked me to consider doing the 13.1 marathon in NYC with her. She asked in December. It was now February. I half-heartedly began training for the half that was scheduled for the first weekend of April. I told my friend 'Maybe." (6 weeks of training, pshhh)

I skipped weeks in my training plan. then on my birthday, I ran 10 miles. Oops. I told friend I would do it. But I still didn't sign up for the race. It was pretty likely that my friend wouldn't be able to run the race....she had this little thing called an ADOPTION to take cafe of. (she was waiting for some travel dates...)

As expected, friend received the call to pick up her baby in a land far far away. She gave me her bib number. I ran 10 miles once more. it was horrible. I still didn't know. But then....it was going to be a GORGEOUS WEEKEND in NYC. Hubs was going to be out of town. And really, what was I going to do in for a three day weekend in this windy state?

Yeah, it was a no-brainer. Arrangements were made. I found a friend to travel up with me (granted I would have traveled alone, that's how crazy I was). Next thing I knew, i was driving through Times Square looking for our hotel on Lexington Ave.

Pre Race Meal: Mussels and beer with nursing school classmate and a high school classmate that I haven't seen since high school graduation.

Race Day: Bagel, juice, and coffee for breakfast. Subway to Queens. Use of porta potty (no trauma).

Race: course...super flat except for a few overpasses. and hello circles. lots of loops and figure eights...crossing the start line 3 times is not cool. Crowds were sparse to non-existent. Entertainment...plentiful along a 3 mile spread, but overall, lacking. I only Gu'd twice (much less than my first half marathon. Overall? with the knowledge that I had at one point trained and completed a marathon, the idea of running a half was in the category of "eh, just another long run. here goes"

Final time? 2:05 something what, did you get that? my first half was slow and easy, and included goofing off, singing and dancing at a 2:16 something time.

I was thrilled

Post Race: stretch, subway ride. shower. walk walk walk. We walked and shopped the entire city. Middle eastern food for lunch on the upper west side....traditional Jewish pastries to snack...books stores, wine stores, massive pillow fight in Union Square (!) and then food at my high school classmate's apartment, plus more shopping, and finally, a deliciously expensive margarita (and yes, dinner) at a snazzy Mexican restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. we didn't get in until midnight. Between the wine, tequila, and oh yeah, the 13 mile run, let's just say it was more than the white noise of the city that put me to sleep....

Good Luck DAR!!!!