7 quick takes Friday

--- 1 ---

Studying is not fun. I have been trying to cram for my CCRN exam (to become certified as a critical care nurse) and to put it plainly... it sucks. I have not been doing well on the practice exams which is incredibly frustrating because I only have a week or so left before the test. At this rate I honestly wonder how in the world I even made it through nursing school. I promise I'm not a horrible nurse, I'm just a horrible test taker.

--- 2 ---

I decided recently that I was going to go back to school for my bachelors degree. (As of right now I only have my ASN) Originally I had planned to go through Cal State Domniguez hills because its online and its geared for nurses who work full time. The program is about 3 years long if you take classes part time which is what I was planning on doing. Luckily my wonderful bff Bethany discovered a program through UT Arlington that offers the same degree with the same credentials but with half the amount of units required. End result = I only have to go to school for 15 months instead of 3 years. (Which I guess is the norm and Cal State DH is just unusually long) Yay for me!

--- 3 ---

I have discovered that the root of all evil is lack of sleep. Seriously there were two days last week were I got over 5 hours of sleep both nights and I literally felt like a different person. A less angry, less irritable, more energetic version of myself and I really enjoyed it. I'm pretty sure my co-workers did too.  Now this week.... a whole different story... back to grumpy Andi :P

--- 4 ---

This week we are trialing new TB isolation room masks. I was the lucky one stuck in the TB room for two days straight which meant that I got to look like a storm trooper for two days.. either that or one of those super sick kids who has to live in a bubble.

--- 5 ---

I finally joined the rest of the iphone user world and got the instagram app and I love it. Took this picture on a drive a few weeks ago and it makes me smile. I love where I live :)

--- 6 ---

This week I have officially met my favorite patient of all time. Him and his wife are truly the cutest and sweetest people I have ever met and they will be getting a post all of their own soon.

--- 7 ---

And since I have nothing else for you I will wish you all a wonderful weekend. My goal is too study and sleep like mad. YAY it's Friday!

 

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A Week in Pictures

The Pumpkin Patch!

Chris and I have decided to start getting creative with our date time. He decided to claim the name "Date Master" (which he states should be in all caps with the date master wearing a wizards hat and robe... my boyfriend is crazy cute)

So for my first pick I decided that we should go get pumpkins and carve them. We ended up taking one of his little brothers with us and it was super fun... we never did get to the carving part though... maybe if we get lucky, sometime before Halloween we will. :)

One of the fun things about it was driving through a huge corn field/maze to get to the entrance. Really glad we decided to go in the daytime. >_<

Then this weekend I ran a half marathon in Chris' hometown. (possibly my last one for the year)

The course was surprisingly gorgeous with lots of golden rolling hills and a lake that looked like glass.

 
The best part of the race though was the fact that I convinced Chris' little sister to run it with me.
This is her probably wanting to kill me at mile 7. haha poor thing. I was so proud of her for toughing it out though... 13.1 miles of rolling hills and with a hip injury at that!
The truly amazing thing about it was that this was her first half marathon and she finished with me at 3:01! I have a feeling this won't be her last race.

And everything else in between was filled with work and lots and lots of studying for my upcoming CCRN exam... more on that to come later.

Happy Tuesday Folks!

Control- and the lack thereof

*One of my favorite pictures from Ireland. The definition of slowing down to me is an Irishman strolling down a country road in the middle of no where. 

Life has been a little nutty for me recently (let's face it... when is my life not nutty these days?) I have had my fair share of meltdowns these past few months but recently for some reason my life (or really my to-do list/schedule) feels totally out of control. I have always known that I am a complete and utter control freak. Certified, Type-A, cannot trust anyone with anything Control Freak. It isn't healthy and I know this but I have found ways to channel it that are 'normal' and somewhat healthy and in the environment I work in.... being a control freak is expected and actually highly valued. When you are dealing with someone's life it doesnt hurt to be able to control your environment (or at least most of it).

I think this need for control comes from a lot of different factors. I think it is a big part of American culture to be this way and particularly in the area I live... control over your finances, your home, your schedule, your career, control over people... all of those things are sought after. I also think for me in particular... most of my life has been lived in chaos. Most of my life I have been in survival mode... scraping by with a below poverty level income and working insane hours just to get by. When I settled into nursing it took a while to let go of that "OMG one wrong move and it all goes to hell" mentality. 

And while the addition of a relationship in my life has been one of the best things that has happened to me this year... I have to admit that it has proven to be difficult in ways I didn't imagine. Learning to balance time with family, friends and Chris has been tough. Really tough actually. When I was single I had fine tuned the world around me to fit together really well. I had found ways to control my environment... invested in everything enough so that I had just enough time alone, a lot of time with my closest friends and I began really investing into running and marathon training. I excelled at work enough to make me feel secure in my job and excited about the challenge that being in the ICU offered. Now I have to re-organize it all again. I have to find where it all fits and it hasn't been easy. 

What has surprised me more than anything about being in a relationship though is that I think in many ways it has magnified just how much I thrive on having that control. I have never been a fan of having to rely on people... for the most part (minus my friends) people have never been reliable. Now here I am in a serious relationship and the control freak in me is screaming "THIS IS NOT SAFE!" It's tough folks... I just don't quite know where the balance is. More often than not I tend to lean on the independent side of things more than the co-dependent side. Still, emotionally sometimes I feel like if I can't keep everything (people included) packaged up in the nice, neat little box I placed them... I'm afraid it will all fall apart... and so will I for that matter. Trusting that people will be there... trusting people in general is not a strength of mine to say the least. 

One of these days I will hopefully figure it out... but in the meantime I will lace up my shoes and go for a run. After all... there are few things in this world that a good run can't fix. 

Vintage Bridal Shower

A few weeks ago I hosted a lovely bridal shower at my house for one of my favorite co-workers who just got married. It was really fun and I enjoyed being able to host everyone and decorate for the party. I have been loving all of the vintage inspiration thats out these days and I was eager to use some of my ideas for the shower. I'm learning that you don't have to do a ton of work to make things look good... its really about being creative with what you have.

 

I collect glass bottles and I love using them as vases and centerpieces. 

The Happy couple :)

I saw these letters in a blog post by one of my favorite bloggers Lola B's. 

I found which place made them and just had to get them. You can't really tell but the letters are glittery and super cute. You can order your own at Paper Co Designs on Etsy. 

I love my girls. Its always a bit easier to stay sane when you have silly co-workers. :)

It was a great night and I just love how easy it was to put it all together. Congrats again to Jen & Cole :) <3