Update... Life

Life has been busy.  Good, full, and busy.


I'm finally off of orientation at my new job.  This has probably been the longest, most thorough orientation I've ever received since I was a new grad!  It was nice to have an "easier" pace of things for awhile, have someone right there to answer questions, and just not feel the pressure of being thrown into a new job with very little training (which is what I'm used to).  I'm still very happy at this job, and although I know I'm in that "honeymoon phase," it's certainly the happiest I've ever been in any job I've had prior to this.


My massage therapist told me the other day that she has noticed a huge change in me since I've had this new job.  She told me she could often see the stress on my face when I would come in, but that it has gone away now.  I definitely can feel it, but it's pretty crazy that my old job was that stressful that it showed on my face even when I wasn't there.  And we all know that stress = BAD for your health!  I'm so happy I made this change.


So obviously work has taken up much of my time lately, as has training.  Thanksgiving week threw me off a bit as I was traveling (got go see Bela-- yay!) and eating more (ok... A LOT more!) junk food than I'm used to.  But I got back into it this week a little better-- and with a body that was well-rested-- albeit fueled by a few extra slices of pie.  I've taken some pressure of myself as far as getting workouts/runs/spin class/swims in 6 days a week.  If I only make it 4-5 days, that's ok.  The shifts I'm working make it difficult to get a workout in every single day between shifts.  And sleep and recovery are important factors in training.


I'm still quite happy with the pace of life these days.  I'm really wishing I could make a trip to Florida sooner rather than later.  Been feeling a little homesick for much of the familiarity that my hometown offers.  I don't know if I'll make it back before the end of next summer, which is sad because at that point it will have almost been two years since the previous visit.  I often feel very disconnected from everything and everyone there.  And this is partially my fault, as I haven't been good with keeping up with people.  Life gets busy and time gets away... I hate that it's like that.  I feel entirely disconnected from my life before travel nursing, in fact.  It makes me sad.  I don't know if that's just the way life is, or if maybe I've caused most of that myself.  The past year and a half have had me dealing with some depression and emotional issues... it's been very easy to become disconnected because of that.  :(  I'm doing much, MUCH better now, of course.  But the consequences of all of that are far-reaching.


So, yes... life has been good.  In two weeks I will be off to celebrate Bela and Tim's wedding, which I am SO excited about!  And as I finished writing that sentence, I realized I leave in only a little over a week!  How time flies!

Overdue Update

I have somehow managed to go all of June and all of July without one post.  This blog has definitely fallen to the wayside, which I hate as I would like for it to be a way for me to keep friends and family updated.  Although Facebook and instagram allow for that, I find that I love the idea of sitting down and taking the time to actually think about how I am doing, what I have been doing, what direction I am/would like to be going, etc.  A blog is just more personal.  And as most introverts tend to do, I just express myself best in writing.  Not to say I am a good writer.  Far from it, but I do enjoy it.

But when life gets full and busy, these things do take a back burner to the rest of it.  I don't even know if it's worth trying to give any sort of update, but in a nutshell, summer in Spokane has been awesome!  We found a place in town (we were previously living pretty far outside of town) back in June, and being close to work as well as just the rest of the city has been great.  Since May I've visited Montana, North Dakota, started dating an awesome guy (eventually perhaps you will find out more... but I like to keep things somewhat private), moved into Spokane, turned 27, taken a trip to Portland, highlighted my hair for the first time, (my hair actually has blonde in it now!) visited Silverwood Theme Park (largest theme park in the Northwest), biked the Route of the Hiawatha, worked A TON, and oh yeah... traded my car, Ron, in for a new Rav4!

So there you have it, a condensed version of my summer so far.  I'm still loving it out here in Washington.  A life of not dealing with humidity, constant (CONSTANT) oppressive heat, daily thunderstorms, or keeping one eye on the weather channel for hurricanes is quite foreign to me.  We have had a few weeks of surprisingly hot weather, but without the humidity it is still somewhat bearable.  Learning to live with it and not having central AC is another story!  I'm ready for some cooler temps, and soon!  Heat is 80% WHY I left Florida!

I will make attempts to actually keep up with this blog.  In the meantime, I'm really enjoying my time out here in the Northwest!

Quick Update

I'm officially the worst blogger in the world.  Oh well.  I will (once again) try and be better at it.

I'm definitely too tired tonight to give too much of an update or upload pictures.  The past month has involved a 2-week trip to Florida, a trip over the border to Ainsworth, BC, Canada, and a trip to Portland and Vancouver.  Whew!!!  I'm definitely exhausted and need a major break from touring around, but it's been a BLAST!!  Traveling is simply one of my favorite things, that's for sure.  Eventually I will try to post about those trips, but no promises at this point.

Life is still pretty awesome... I'm still loving travel nursing!!  We have actually renewed for another four weeks in Spokane, which I am STOKED about!  We love this assignment and we love our co-workers!  It's just too good of an assignment to give up at this point.  I'm excited to start hiking some of the trails more... we've been getting to know some of our co-workers and had a few kind invitations for dinner from some awesome people.  It's so nice to be making friends.  Castro Valley was tough because that just didn't happen as easily.

It has been good to be back in Spokane, back into the swing of things.  Will try to be better about updating!

life of excitement... or, not

I keep getting on here to give some sort of an update, but every time I just feel like I have nothing to say!  Life has settled into a (very) normal routine here.  And so unless we are on a rare day in SF, there just isn't much to update on that is very exciting.

I've even gone fifteen minutes since writing that paragraph and can't think of anything to say.  So, I'll just go with a really boring, update-you-with-my-mundane-life kind of post.  Gotta satisfy the readers, y'know?  ;)

I feel like I work, eat, and sleep, then do it all again.  That's the cycle my life is in right now, and that's ok.  They have taken to canceling me at least one shift out of each week, but even when they do it doesn't really benefit me much since I have already slept all day long in preparation for work.  So the cycle still feels the same.  They did cancel me tonight, which is of more benefit since I am off tomorrow as well and now have an entire day to do with what I want!  Christmas shopping, it is!

We haven't gone into SF since the last time I posted about it.  It kind of sucks to be in such close proximity to an awesome city like that and not be able to go in very much.  But we have our fingers crossed that maybe Bela will get canceled tomorrow, and if she does we plan on going into the city!  Typically if we get days off together, it's after I've worked all night and have had to sleep a good deal of the day.  So we usually go see movies.  So far we've seen Thor, Ender's Game, Frozen, and Catching Fire (twice).

So my time lately has been spent watching a lot of Netflix or Hulu.  I was excited to find season 7 of Doctor Who on Hulu!  Now I know what I'll be doing tonight!  Since, y'know, I slept all day, drank three cups of coffee, and THEN got canceled.  Ah, the life of a night nurse!  You gotta love it!

Well, an all-too-expected MTO from work (our census has been low for a couple weeks) and a torrential downpour (that has yet to let up for two days), and I now have a nice quiet evening to myself.  Jacob, a friend of mine, suggested the book The Woman in White a few weeks ago and I have yet to pick it up.  Seems like the perfect time to do so (along with a glass or two of wine)-- I'll just make sure to leave the weather channel on in the background so I know if any tornadoes are headed my way.  Actually, it's the floods I'm more worried about at the moment.

I haven't had a whole lot to say lately on here.  Well, lately as in the past week and a half.  But I really wanted to try to be better about blogging more often, with more than just boring updates on my life.  I have had a lot about women's issues bouncing around my head for awhile now that I can't seem to articulate into words very well, which has kind of given me writer's block in that particular subject.  I'm still trying to get over caring about what people think about me and truly writing my thoughts on the matter... so give me some time.

I have a trip planned in a few weeks to visit family up north and go to a friend's wedding.  Looking forward to that.  It's come a lot faster than I was ready for-- it feels like I just bought my plane ticket and now here it is just around the corner.  I'm hoping that work doesn't feel the need to cancel me multiple times between now and then.  Although I can't complain about a little more time to myself, I still like to get paid, y'know?

My little sister Hannah also graduated college last week.  Now me and all three of my sisters all have college degrees-- something to be pretty proud of!  Hannah plans on going to grad school, which does inspire me to possibly think of doing that for myself.  But it will be a few years before that is even possible.  I am beginning to think I might actually be able to do the nurse practitioner bit.  We'll see.  It's a lot of work and a lot of school, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that.  But at times I do find myself looking over what I've accomplished so far, and wondering-- what's next?

Welcome Aberforth!

So now that you know I'm a Feminist, we can move on with things.

Since I am wanting to blog about more than just my boring old life, I felt like that was something I needed to get out there.  I want to be honest about the issues that I care about.

Now back to my life, since I believe I do owe somewhat of an update since I've been gone for most of the new year thus far.

I have added a new addition to my family: a kitten named Aberforth!

I have had him now for two weeks.  Aberforth has been an awesome little brother for Albus.  At first it was difficult, and I honestly thought it might not work out for me to keep him.  They hissed and fought, and Aberforth would hide under my dresser and not let me come near him for the first couple of days.  Of all the cats I've had over the years, I've never had one that was afraid of me.  But finally, things settled down and they are best friends.  I am glad that Albus does not have to sit at my apartment all alone while I work.  He now has a buddy to play with when I'm not around.  Aberforth is a sweet kitty.

And yes, my cats are named Albus and Aberforth.  What of it?  I like Harry Potter and now my cats do too.

Go ahead and call me the crazy cat lady.  I don't care!