I got tagged...

So I read my sister's blog tonight and now I have to write I have to post six weird facts/insights/etc about myself for other people to read. If you are a person that was tagged looking at this, then do the same on your blog!

1. This time two weeks from now I will be in England TOO. WOW!
2. I do NOT want to be cremated (apparently I'm the only one in my family who doesn't want to be). Who wants to go visit the river where your mother's ashes are, or the cliff your father blew off of...
3. I save things, lots of sentimental things. But last night I threw a lot of them away... because I'm MOVING!
4. I will only use Arm and Hammer toothpaste. Every other kind is disgusting.
5. My second favorite color is green... or maybe a deep burgandyish red... you all know what my favorite color is...
6. The first thing I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a librarian... come on... you know why... where else would you be able to be around thousands of books all day and have a never ending reading supply!

Sabbath at the RiverWalk

On Sabbath we went to the TN RiverWalk with the Heilmans to spend the afternoon. After all the rain this week, it was wonderful to finally get outside in some sunshine.

Carrie really should learn how to behave in front of cameras...

but she does look like she's having fun...


Who will play catch with me once Carrie and Ryan are gone?


The circle of frisbee... well... most of it...

Finishing a paper/project that is 30% of my grade in a class today. It's actually going better than I thought. That is if I actually start doing it this morning. Tomorrow ends it for this semester and I CAN'T WAIT. I'm just checking off the list for these masters' classes. I don't think I'm looking forward to a single one of them. Also some are the lesser of two evils...

The rain came down, and the floods went up... and the pollen in the air went splat!

Well, the rain came, and its decided to stay for a week. I've successfully made it through a day with no allergy medicine and despite feeling generally sleepy I'm ok. Plus the sleepiness could be because I worked the last two days an it's rainy...

Tuesday is D-Day for my schoolwork. I have a project/presentation and a test that day. And then this semester is over! So I'm trying to make myself do all of that. It's not much fun. The week after is the move everything out and have fun week. Carrie, Ryan, and I are going to the GA Acquarium using some free tickets I got from work as a reward for all those 3-7 shifts I've been working and for finishing my BSN. Plus we're going to try to go to a Lookouts game one night that week. I can't wait... bright spots in an otherwise dreadfully busy future.

Rain, rain, come again, pollen go away!

The pollen has been killing me! I think I'm overdosed on Allegra but there is still green stuff coming out of my head and I feel like a zombie... And has anybody seen my car? Somebody took it and gave me back a yellow one...

Here's a few pictures from alumni weekend and from my "free day" with Carrie. I posted different pics from our day downtown than she did for those of you that check out both blogs. So look at hers for a few more pictures!

Those of us from the class of 2001 that were present for the picture. There were at least 5 more that were around during the weekend. (Does our class look ethnic or what?)

Me playing the dreaded electronic organ for church. It was probably good for me to conquer my fear of switching instruments but... wow... what a difference between our mammoth tracker and MPA's organ! And I used to think this organ was a beast...

Carrie and I both had Monday off so we spent some time downtown shopping and seeing the sites. We both got a few unexciting necessities at the outlets along with a few good buys, walked along the water front, put our feet in the fountains, got sicker from icecream than we already were from the pollen, and enjoyed our own personal showing of Ice Age 2.

Enjoying the view while Carrie gets ready to run into the picture. We are becoming good at taking pictures of ourselves without assistance. (To see the picture with her in it, check out her blog).

Pre-butt-wet- crazy Carrie

One more week and I'm ALL DONE for the semester! Too bad I have to take two more classes this summer...

Homemade Photobooth

The rollercoaster begins

Apparently Chattanooga is being infested with various viruses that are incapasitating a good portion of the populace. After working my alloted two days this week and staying over to help the night shift since they had 7 patients apiece, I got called at 10PM to come in for the 3rd straight day on Friday because THREE nurses called in sick in one day. However, I did get a dozen pink tipped roses mixed with some other flowers on Friday from the nursing students we've had on our floor on Friday. AND the bright spot in my three days was having this little Russian lady who came to visit her family in America. Customs didn't let her bring her blood pressure and diabetes medicine into the country so her BP went thru the roof and she had a small stroke. Over the three days I had her, she got confident enough to try to talk in English and we could carry on conversations although I felt myself reverting to broken English to help her understand. She was an economics professor at a university in Russia.

Needless to say, after 3 12+ hour days in a row working the longest hall, I was exhausted yesterday. It must be 1/4 of a mile to walk one way to the nurses station from the end of that confounded hall. We call it "the hole" because it also has a reputation for getting the worst patients. I seriously need to invest in a pedometer. I turned off my alarm clock on Sabbath morning, went back to bed, went to church and came back and fell asleep on the couch while Carrie made lunch. The whole rest of the day I layed on the couch and reread Joseph. About 6:30 I finally felt better and went for a walk, then came back and watched a silly romantic comedy with Vasti and Sharon. I can't believe how it feels to work like that, it took all day for me to feel better. You just don't feel good, not any one thing or part, just everything. I felt like just laying the floor and staring at the ceiling, not sleeping, just laying...

Now it's on to the week ahead. I have a big paper/project to finish and a big test in assessment to do before years end. Strangely I don't really care about either thing. During all of this I have to keep working and move all of my stuff to Kari Shultz house (including myself for the last few days before graduation), have my car packed with Stephanie's room, being ready to head for home on a detour to DC where we'll fly to London the day after graduation. Then I'll come back the next Thursday, spend the weekend at home, come back, move in and start two summer classes. Life is looking awfully busy.

It's starting to hit me... all this change about to happen in my world. I've delayed it for awhile staying around here, living in student housing, Carrie still in school. But this is it. The real world is about to hit me in the face. I'm about to live alone. In some ways I think it will be nice to not share a kitchen with 4 other people, to be able to burn candles in my living room, and decorate how I want to... but in some ways I will miss this crazy school thing. And I'll probably never get to live with my bestest girlfriend again... and that is sad...

Big Decisions

Mom came to visit this weekend, yet ANOTHER Sunday off for me! It as nice to have her here but it's always so busy when she is here I never get to really enjoy it. We went to my cousin's house and saw my mom's family on Saturday night. My cousin taught us how to play a new rendition of UNO that was fun and we ended the night with Carrie's new PIT game. Sat. night Carrie and I stayed at the Heilmans and got up in the morning to a big Hawaiian waffle breakfast.

Sunday afternoon was spent apt. shopping for me since Carrie has decided to work at Highland Academy. I spent some time last week setting up appointments to look at places this Sunday. Long story short, I signed a lease last night for an apt. on College Dr. which is within walking distance of the church (and the organ ;-) and the school. That was a big drawing feature: its location. It is also a duplex so I won't be in a basement and have people walking over my head. It has two bedrooms and has a couch, loveseat, chair, and kitchen table furnished. It is older but I think it can be fixed up nicely. I will move in when I get back from Europe I think.

Today I planned out my schedule of graduate classes. Looks like I'll be taking 1-2 classes this summer and starting to work on my project in the fall in conjunction with this new patient education program starting at Memorial (that is, if Memorial administration gets the ball rolling). My projected graduation date is May 2008. Sounds so far away but when I look at my class loads... all summer long both times... it looks a bit overwhelming. If I decide its just taking too long I can always crunch and try to graduate in December again.