Something That Says... I Was Here

Finally Made it to Boston!

2011-11-09T01:20:00.007-05:00

Well I'm a bit late on this but bear with me...I worked a loooooong stretch of days while being sick so I was not all about blogging my adventure.

At the end of October Theresa came to visit which was so fabulous! I love having visitors...makes me not miss home so much for the time they are here!

So anyhow she was here for about a week and the three of us had never been to Boston so we took a lil road trip...

Friday we took the train from Boston to Salem to see what their Halloween witch fun was all about...

It was quite interesting to wander around the town and hear about all the witch happenings...the middle picture there is from the Dungeon Witch Museum showing the convicted witches being hanged.

That Friday night we met up with our friend Beth for a Halloween party...the band what was playing was all dressed up too...the drummer was my fave...he was Chunk from the Goonies!

Then came Snowtober.....

We woke up on Saturday morning to a freak October snow storm that pretty much ruined our day of sight seeing! Instead we slept till 2pm and then found the OSU bar and navigated the T and the snowstorm to make it to the bar. Luckily it was all worth our while and OSU won!!

It was a snowy slushy mess when we left and I proceeded to slide down the sidewalk and land in a puddle...

I can't even blame it on the alcohol...

Sunday we tried to do a whirlwind tour of Boston and found out it really is a pretty city...with some really friendly squirrels!

We ended the trip trying to park and walk around Harvard but it was a bust...Harvard outsmarted us and we couldn't figure out where to park or what to do...

Thankfully we made it back to CT without running into fall power lines or snapped trees and the best thing of all is we had power when we came back which is more that a lot of people could say! Some people in Mass and CT are STILL without power!!

Theresa is long gone now and I'm done with the crazy work stretch and looking forward to our next adventure...NYC in about two weeks!!! CANT WAIT!!

Keene New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival!

2011-11-02T20:33:00.006-04:00

Well ladies and gents I finally got my wish of going to the Keene Pumpkin Festival that Brittany and I were going to go to last year...It was quite different then Circleville's Pumpkin Show but still a pretty good time...

Circleville really focuses on all kinds of fun pumpkin food and carnival rides and crafts, etc, etc...Keene is different in that they are trying to break world records on the number of lit jack-o-lanterns in one place at one time...I mean they have a ton...

They also had some pumpkin bowling for the youngsters...

Annnnnd then there were the Jack-O-Lanterns...here are some of my faves...

It was quite the fabulous time...still think I like all the pumpkin food that Circleville has to offer but this was still a good taste of fall!

What Happens in Vermont Stays in Vermont...Except Nothing Really Ever Happens...

2011-10-16T21:17:00.007-04:00

Well ladies and gents Erin and I have completed our first New England weekend adventure. Destination....Vermont! I have wanted to go to Vermont for quite sometime so I was super happy that we had one of our first weekends off and that Erin agreed to go with me! I wanted to troll around my dad's old stomping grounds and take in some of the amazing scenery. It did not disappoint; aside from the pouring down rain on Friday night we had a great time!

We made some pit stops along the way to Montpelier on Friday but nothing to really talk about since it was rainy and we didn't end up doing anything. Friday night we found our way to McGuillicuddy's Irish Pub for some dinner and drinks. Nothing terribly exciting but just fun to be in the small adorable town.

Since Montpelier isn't dotted with Holiday Inn's and Best Western's we were at the mercy of the town and found ourselves paying $178 to spend the night at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in the middle of town. Thanks fall foliage for bumping up the rates in small town New England!

Anyway we got some great sleep in our cozy expensive beds and woke up to a cloudy but rain free day. First stop...the nations prettiest capitol...

Absolutely beautiful I tell ya!

We stopped by a coffee shop owned by one of my dad's high school friends, hit up the farmers market, wandered by the Capitol Theater, and just took in the adorableness of this town...take a look! I just love the church steeples and the amazing backdrop of the town!

After tromping around town we took my dad's directions and found our way to the house my grandpa built and that my dad lived in for about 7 years! It was at the top of a ridiculous hill that they got to walk up and down all the time...good thing they moved before I came along because I would want no part of that game...one time up and down that hill was enough!

Do not let that picture trick you...that hill might look small but my calves are telling me another story!

After we recovered from our workout we found another one of my dad's high school friend that owns a jewelery shop on the corner of Main and State street...presh right! I chatted with him for a bit (as he told me a fantastic tale of my dad's high school shenanigans) and he gave Erin and I a FABULOUS deal on some amazing Christmas gifts :)

And with that we were in and out of Montpelier, VT and had pretty much seen the entire city! The ride home included some pretty leaves (think Bob Ross and his happy trees), a quaint little winery in New Hampshire (Adorable!), and a stop in Brattleboro, VT to buy the best VT souvenir (a bottle opener magnet in the shape of a moose!) and watch the OSU game (YEAH! Way to beat undefeated Illinois!).

And I leave you with this...the best thing we saw...a car with three tires...that belongs to a diaper company...who logo is an acorn with a diaper! FABULOUS!

Up next...a pumpkin show in New Hampshire this Saturday! For now it's off to stay up late and tackle my first night shift tomorrow night!

I Made It!!

2011-10-09T20:34:00.003-04:00

Well folks I have made it to my home for the next three months! It was a fantastic drive...perfect weather, only one gas/food/potty stop needed, and it only took 8 hours instead of the 10 hours I thought it would take! I couldn't have asked for better!

Our digs are pretty nice and I think we will be just fine living here for 3 months...I'll take some pics later this week and post them so all my faithful readers out there can see where I'll be shacking up for 3 months.

We did the official hospital drive by today and its smack in the middle of downtown Hartford...about 15 min without traffic so hopefully it's not too bad when we get started on night shift.

Sorry for the boring post but just thought I would let everyone know that I made it and I will update again once we start at the hospital!

Peace out kiddos!

Lovely Friends I Have!

2011-09-15T11:10:00.003-04:00

Nights like last night are what makes it so hard to just pack up and leave again in a couple weeks! My lovely friend Erin has starting dipping her toes into the world of online dating and has been blogging her progress along the way. My roommate Erin, Korri, and I all met up at the dating Erin's abode last night for some snacks, wine, and online dating gossip!

This was our spread and it was amazing! We ended up hanging out till about 1:30am catching up on new teevee, cashing 4 bottles of wine (and 4 bottles of cider for me), doing nails, and gossiping about boys. The PERFECT girls night in!

This is definitely what I will miss come October when we peace out Connecticut!

Let's Try This Again

2011-09-12T20:48:00.005-04:00

Ok my friends we are gonna attempt to reactivate my little piece of the interweb again...

Since we've last talked I've finished up my time in Austin, TX and loved just about every second of it! It really is a fantastic city and let me tell you if it was closer to home and not like the surface of the sun in the summer I would would def consider moving there. That's the pretty awesome thing about this traveling deal is that we get to move to these awesome places no strings attached and potentially find an incredible place to live! Although I will say that I'm still banking on Columbus as my forever home...

Next on our list is this lovely little place...

Hartford Connecticut! My New England in the fall dream is coming true! We won't be there until Oct 10th so I prolly won't get as much of the fall as I had dreamed of but I still can't wait! We are already talking about planning trips to Vermont, NYC, Boston, and New Hampshire! So excited to get on the road again...and stop paying rent! Its been nice to be back in the bus for the summer so it will be hard to leave again but this is my dream man! The other super sucky thing is we have to work Christmas which is a huge downfall. I'm sure it will be a big sob fest for me on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but I'm sure to survive!

This summer has been full of catching up with peeps, trips to do fun things, pool time, new friends, old friends, and fabulous times all around. The time has now come for my favorite time of year...FALL! Football, jeans, sweaters, pumpkins, boots, scarves, hoodies, candy corn, pumpkins, pumpkins, and PUMPKINS!

Also during my blogging absence two birthday have passed...

My dad and sister Hannah both had birthdays and I was so glad I was able to celebrate with them!

Well my friends I must start paying attention to this movie...its no chick flick and actually needs my undivided attention...I will promise to keep up more often for my many faithful readers out there!

I'm a Follower Let's Face It...

2011-04-28T00:52:00.000-04:00

Welll I will admit..I a big ole copy cat...

I'm leaving behind blogspot for awhile and trying out tumblr...just like my pal Britt...

It just seems easier to work with and maybe I'll post a bit more...or maybe I won't...we shall see...

Check out my little space... http://somethingthatsays.tumblr.com/

Peace out kids :)

Happy Happy Birthday!!!

2011-03-28T20:42:00.003-04:00

I prolly should have written this earlier today but I've been trying to get my life in order so I can hang out in Texas a little longer...

Today is the birthday of hands down one of the most fabulous people in my life! The one and only bthompchomp aka Britt Thompson!

I got the most fantastic phone call from her last night after her celebration. She reminded me multiple times that she is in fact 27 and I will be following in that path in a few short months. I am so glad she was able to get out and celebrate cuz let me tell you if anyone in the world deserves a good celebration right now...its her!

We have been friends since the days of Perry Township and her little green geo and I don't see it ending anytime soon. The pic above was taken at my going away party before California and now even living in Texas we are still talking, tweeting, texting, you know the usual :) She makes me laugh all the live long day, is one of the smartest and wittiest people I know, and is going to change so many lives with her future...I have no doubt!

Happy Birthday B! I hope 2011 will take a turn for the better and give you the 27th year you deserve!!

St Patty's Day Austin Style!

2011-03-25T16:32:00.012-04:00

Well kids my fave holiday has come and gone yet again and let me tell you...Austin did not disappoint! It was a very successful day and let me just tell you that I got about 70 people to wear my shamrock mask...including the police chief of Austin!!

Here are some of my fave pics...

Annnnd here are some of my fave shamrock pics!

The greatest cab driver in all of Austin! Joe!!

Police Chief of Austin!! This was my best one to date!

My sister Holly's personal fave...

This guy had a shamrock mask too!! Him and his wife were fun times at the bar!

Bagpipe player!

Platypus??

Lovin the green mustache!

There are tons more that you can check out here if you want!

Thank goodness Austin didn't disappoint when it came to my favorite day of the year! I guess I could get used to this city!

T-Minus 1 Day

2011-03-16T01:03:00.002-04:00

One more day...including one more night of work stands between me and St Patricks Day 2K11...Austin Style!

I am loaded up with my accessories, green mani/pedi, energy drinks (since I work Wed night) and some awesome travel nurses to celebrate with!

Let's just say I'm beyond excited and counting down the hours!

I also realized I really need to start writing here more...I'm sure all of you are dying to know about plans for my next travel nursing adventure!

It's Almost Hereeeee!!!!

2011-03-06T03:46:00.007-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with St. Patrick's Day...and if you don't know me just take a looksie back at this post and you will soon realize how amazing I think this day is! Why St. Patrick's Day is Fabulous!

This year will be quite different as I will be spending the best day of the year in lovely Austin Texas. It's also the weekend of South by Southwest, a HUGE music festival downtown. I won't be with my favorite people ever...the people that don't judge me when I make everyone in the bar wear this...

Or when I want to start my day when the sun comes up...or when I bring along everything green that I own and end up a bit like this...

My fabulous Columbus people understand all that about me and join in most of the time! Will Austin do the same??? Will I find fabulous people to hang out with??? Will they be as amazing as these people...

I HOPE SO!!!

Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T20:02:00.003-05:00

Well my friends Happy Valentine's day to ya! Not one of my favorite holidays, but I'm also not one of those huge haters. I like stars more then hearts and green beer more then heart shaped pizza but nonetheless an excuse to eat some chocolate is fine with me!

I am coming of 4 straight nights work so my Valentines day will be spent with the roomie, some pizza, diet coke, dvr, and a piece of red velvet cake......and that my friends is totally fine with me!!

Hope yours is fabulous tooooo!! :)

Pope Came to Texas!

2011-02-10T01:22:00.004-05:00

I got a week break from work just in time for the snowpocalypse....annnnnnd Stephanie's visit to Texas! It was a surprise she even made it considering her flight got canceled because of the THREAT of snow in Houston. That's right folks...she was leaving from Cleveland, connecting in Chicago and landing in Houston. Cleveland and Chicago were fine with their real snow and Houston said NO because of their impending threat of an inch of snow...bananas!

Anyhow she made it...we hung out...fabulous time had by all! I miss that friend when shes not here I tell ya!

When they arrived in Austin we went to check out the capitol building downtown. Super big. Super pretty. Steph really liked the huge pic of G.W. Bush and Riz liked Davy Crockett...I just liked the cannon outside...

On Sunday before the Super Bowl we went to the biggest outlet mall I have ever seen in. my. life. Seriously. Huge.

Just a glimpse...this is a Prime outlet and Tanger outlet connected and it is pure heaven.

I went back to Houston with the girls and hung out for a couple days and relaxed since I didn't have to work.

Tomorrow starts a 4 day in a row stretch and I will be work the next 6 out of 7 days...awesome...here I go to prepare...

Texas Snowpocalypse!

2011-02-10T00:38:00.002-05:00

Well friends you should all be happy to know that I have survived the snowpocalypse 2011 in Texas!

It was a close one but I managed to get through it!

The people up north would have just laughed at the news just like I did with these crazy Texans and their fear of any kind of white precipitation or temps below freezing! The news had called for the possibility of a half to one inch of snow and two days before the "big storm" was suppossed to hit they were already closing schools and panicking! They even activated the cities emergency preparedness plan! And this is pretty much all they got...

I mean seriously the news was giving lots of winter weather driving tips. Since they don't have much salt they were telling us all about the "deicing" mixture they were creating with sand and gravel. Car batteries were flying off the shelves to enable people to winterize their cars.

Straight bananas. Especially considering the fact that by noon the day of the snow it was already above freezing and the little bit of white on the ground was melting away!

So glad the there were no major casualties and the southerns didn't turn into popsicles!

I Heart Texas...Except...

2011-01-26T16:20:00.004-05:00

Welll It's been a couple weeks here in Texas and I must say I am liking it a lot more then Cali! I feel more at home here and being only a 2 day drive and one hour time difference away from my family makes me feel much closer to them!

We have gone out downtown a couple of times to experience the fabulous Austin night life and it is pretty fantastic...I mean look how awesome it looks!

As far as the real reason that I am here...to work..it could be better. The hospital actually isn't too bad. Same types of patients...similar equipment...just one HUGE downfall...

PAPER CHARTING!!!

I mean seriously?!?! It is the year 2011 and I am working at DELL Children's Hospital..Dell like those computer people...and we are PAPER charting?!?!?! RIDICULOUS!!

And some doctor thinks this is safer??? Let me just tell you sir that this is ludicris and just completely bananas! I can't even read the writing of the nurse before me to see what happened with my patient during the day...how is that safe??? People calculate the intake and output wrong all the time...how is that safe?? When you order a new medication someone just hand writes it into the medication chart and we all hope it is right...how is that safe??? BANANAS!!!

But such is the life of a travel nurse....

At least I have some FABULOUS peeps traveling with me and suffering through the writers cramp after a 12 hour shift along side me!

That is all for now...I must gear up for another 12 hours of novel writing!

Peace out kids!

Travel Nursing Stop 2!

2011-01-15T23:22:00.003-05:00

Well I survived Cali and the holidays at home and have moved on to my next stop...Austin TX!

I am already loving it more then I did Cali...I think Texas is much more my style!

For now let me just show you our absolutely amazing apt!

2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, huge bedroom with walk in closets (yes there are 2!) and a huge bathtub!!

LOVE IT!!

Tomorrow night is our second night of orientation so I will update more about the job after that!

I have a feeling it's gonna be an amazing 13 weeks!!

Happy Happy :Late: Birthday!!

2010-12-11T21:09:00.002-05:00

Mama Monaghan...who I just happen to think might be the greatest woman on the planet...had her special day yesterday!

She seriously is amazing and I scored a Kitchenaid mixer with my Chase rewards points and my family gave it to her yesterday for me! I was so excited to get that for her and was super sad I wasn't there to be with her on her birthday!

I can't wait to get back to Ohio and spend time with her!!

Happy Birthday Mama!!

Super Quick!

2010-11-19T06:07:00.003-05:00

Hey folks!

Still in Cali here...till Dec 15th...

Christie and Theresa came to play and we had a BLAST...I wanted to go back to Columbus with them!

I'm so sad I didn't get to see the Harry Potter movie tonight! I can't wait till Sunday!

I miss Ohio sooooo much right now and can't wait to go home for Christmas!

Biggest news.....

I'm moving to Austin, TX in Jan!!

Look how pretty my new skyline will be!

CAN'T WAIT!!

Annnd I'll be living a measly 3 hours away from Houston where Miss Rizzo lives!! YAYYY!!

I'll be there from Jan 10th to April 10th so anyone that would like to spend St. Pattys in Austin or come see the rodeo is welcome to!!

That's all for now kids!

Peace out!

Here I Am!

2010-10-25T02:11:00.002-04:00

Well all you loyal readers I know you have probably been dying to know what I've been up to...

I've been work work workin and let me just tell you that I do love this travel nursing deal and I have no regrets doing what I'm doing...buuuut sometimes I feel like this hospital is just bananas!

Let me first say that the people at the hospital are freakin awesome. Super nice and extremely helpful. They have really welcomed us and showed us the rope and let us ask tons of questions. It's also nice that California has these staffing laws in place. There are never any crazy unsafe assignments and people are almost always available to help when you need it. They have these things called a buffer nurse who's sole job is to help with admissions, get people out on breaks, help you with patient care, etc, etc. Children's in Columbus was also starting to implement this but sometimes we just didn't have the staff available to make it happen! Let me tell you it makes a huge difference!

With all that being said I still don't know that I could see myself ever staying at this hospital. I just don't understand how they get by doing some of the things they do and not having some of the standards of practice that Columbus has...even just for simple things like trach and g-tube care. It just baffles me. I can't be that girl that goes around comparing LPCH to Columbus Chilren's so I just bite my tongue and do things the way they want me to, but a big part of me cannot wait to get back to Columbus to my unit and they way I like things.

We are however looking into jobs for January and right now are hoping for something in Ft. Myers Florida! We will see what happens!

Enough rambling though...I got some teevee to catch up on after my weekend in Vegas!

An update on that will come tomorrow!

For now..peace out kids!

Fill In The Blank Friday...again already?!?!

2010-10-16T05:35:00.002-04:00

Holy crap I haven't posted on this thing in a week!?! It feels like just yesterday I answered some Friday questions! Here we go again!

1. Blogging is a fun way to keep track of people and see a peek into other people's worlds...my mama likes to read mine to see what I'm up to on my adventures...

2. A current fashion trend I wish I was brave enough to wear is maybe sweater dresses with leggings and boots?? Or is that so last fall??? Regardless it seems so comfy and fall like and my body just doesn't agree with it...

3. My greatest accomplishment in life thus far is thus far I think it would be going back to school for nursing and jumping out of my comfort zone into the world of travel nursing...nothing super fantastic but it's an accomplishment for me nonetheless!

4. If I had to choose between a mountain or a beach vacation I'd choose right now I'd say mountain...I still think about going back to Salt Lake City after driving through it and not getting to stop...it looks amazing!

5. A talent I wish I had is running...I want so badly to be good at it and like it and wake up on crisp fall mornings and go out for a long run before my day starts...ok maybe just do that last part like once but I really would like to be a good runner...or more athletic in general

6. A talent I do have is man I dunno...it's almost 3am and I can't think of a single talent I have...wow...well I can sing really well when I'm in the car or shower! Does that count?!?!

7. This week is is almost over and will end with a trip to San Fran to visit the OSU bar...and thanks goodness it's almost over cuz I'm Vegas bound next weekend!! WOOOO!!!

Fill In The Blank Friday!!

2010-10-08T17:19:00.002-04:00

1. The first thing I do in the morning to start my day is welll I'm a night shifter so my days don't normally start in the morning...I usually get up and sit around and eat and stuff before I actually get ready for work...

2. Today I wish I was going on another Cali adventure but it's my first weekend to work here :(

3. If I had an extra $100 in my bank account today I'd transfer it to my savings account...I need to build that back up after my road trip!

4. Tomorrow I get to sleep all day and go back to work tomorrow night!

5. Two things that don't go together are warm weather and the Fall...This California Fall is weirding me out!

6. Something I can never pass up at the grocery store is the frozen food aisles...I'm a sucker for frozen pizza...hence the reason I weigh what I do!

7. The last time I tried something new was almost a month ago when I decided to drive across the country and become a travel nurse! Craziest thing I've done!

Big Basin Redwood National Park

2010-10-04T01:27:00.011-04:00

Another adventure on our 6 nights off was heading up to the Big Basin Redwood National Park. It was a crazy winding road up to the top of the park complete with random mailboxes hanging out for who knows who to use...

We got to the park headquarters and picked a trail that was supposed to be an "easy" 4 mile round trip to a waterfall...And so the adventure begins...

We stopped quickly for a couple photo ops of just how ginormous these tress were!

Then it was off to more hiking and huge tree seeing...

When we made it to the waterfall it definitely was not as cool as we thought it would be...

We headed back the way we came to park headquarters and decided to go ahead and checked out the half mile redwood trail and check out some landmarks of the park...

Like this circle of trees...it was made by a huge "mama" tree that ended up dying and leaving behind these "younger" trees that sprouted up from the roots of the old tree....they remain in a circle around the spot where the big tree used to be...

Another cool tree was the Chimney tree...it was completely hollowed out by fire and only the outer rings remain. You can stand under it and see right up to the sky!

The last really interesting tree was the "Father of the Forest"...Super tall tree...with quite a phallic growth coming out of the front of it...do you agree???

Exhausted and driving out of the park we were still able to stop and take one last pic of the amazing scenery in Northern Cali...

So far I am just loving living here!!

You can also check out more pics of this adventure on facebook...

Nite kids!

Monterey Bay Aquarium and Carmel

2010-10-04T01:09:00.008-04:00

So let's face it...for the next couple months this blog will pretty much be about my adventures in Cali...

Erin and I are in the middle of a 6 night stretch off work and have planned a couple short adventures...the first of which was to visit the Monterey Bay aquarium and take a peek at the city of Carmel...

Monterey is an adorable city...

The aquarium was pretty cool...not as completely awesome as it was cracked up to be but awesome nonetheless...here are some of my faves...

The octopus that hung out in the corner the whole time we watched it...

The adorable sea otter lounging in the water

The awesome jellyfish!!

Dori!!

Penguins and Sea Turtles!

And a beautiful sunset in Carmel!

We saw lots of other animals at the aquarium too and can't wait to go back to Carmel during the day to see the adorable town!

Of course you can all (and by all I mean the 3 of you that read this) check out the rest of my pics on facebook!

Peace out kids!

Weekend in Cali!

2010-09-27T00:57:00.008-04:00

So this weekend we ventured out a bit to explore the cool stuff around us!

Saturday we watched the OSU game at the OSU bar in Palo Alto...not very exciting especially since the score of the game was 73-20. The bar wasn't really what I expected but still fun nonetheless. We need to check out the San Fran OSU bar for a bigger game!

Today Erin and I got together with the other traveling girls and headed to Santa Cruz to the beach boardwalk to have some fun in the sun!

It was the PERFECT day for our outing! ANDDDD I got to put my feet in this....for the first time!

THE PACIFIC OCEAN!!! WOOOO!!! Toes in the water and toes in the sand baby!

We wandered up and down the boardwalk and scoped out the amusement park...

Took some scenic portraits...

Found some Sea Lions...

And hung out on the beach in the sun!

All in all it was a great first weekend in Cali...

Tomorrow starts our first days on the unit and I have to say I'm kind of freaking out inside but at least I have someone here with me to complain to and get through this with!

Wish me luck peeps!!

The Finest Fro Yo in the World!!

2010-09-23T21:49:00.003-04:00

Let me introduce you to Tutti Frutti...the worlds greatest frozen yogurt! Like seriously amazing!

Erin and I stumbled upon the grand opening of this place on the Sunday after we got here. It's on adorable little historic Murphy St.

It's self serve so you get your bowl....choose from about 8 different fro yo flavors and then make your way down the ridiculous toppings bar with anything from red velvet cake pieces, nuts, berries, cereal, candy, sauces, etc, etc, etc...

Heaven in a bowl I tell you!!

Come visit and we will get some!

California Here We Are!!

2010-09-21T00:31:00.006-04:00

Well kids we officially finished our 4 day cross country road trip and have settled in to our awesome townhouse in Sunnyvale, CA!

What an adventure this was!

I started the journey crying before I even left the driveway...just thinking about all that lay ahead and all that was being left behind...holy emotions batman!

But alas we were on our way and before we knew it were leaving Ohio!

I didn't get a pic of Indiana's sign but by the middle of day one we made it to Illinois!

This is where we hit a bump in the road...I was driving down highway 74 talkin to my good friend Riz when all of the sudden I heard this crazy noise and looked in my rearview mirror to see this black circle thing roll across the highway. It couldn't be a piece to my car now could it?!?! Although my a/c was starting to feel a little warm....I called Erin to see what she thought and she wondered if it was a piece of my car too. Rut Roh...now I gotta call my dad...and get lectured about how I should have pulled over and found the piece...blah blah blah...long story short I just happened to find a Midas in the middle of nowhere Illinois and met Chris who tole me that I lost my clutch face...he could fix it but not till tomorrow...We decided to forge on to Iowa...

We found a Midas there and met Matt who got my car in first thing in the morning and thankfully had me fixed up and on my way by 1pm! Thanks Matt!

After spending the night in Iowa City we were on the road again heading into the awfulness that we call Nebraska...The Welcome to Nebraska sign was in the middle of construction so all I could get was Welcome to Omaha...

I have to say that I really dislike Nebraska...Don't get me wrong...all the people (even the Huskers fan mechanic that checked out Hank Jr and told us to go buy some University of Nebraska merchandise at Walmart) were lovely...I mean just over the top nice...but the state...terrible! The most awful 8 hours of my life that I will never get back! Thank goodness we made it through and Hank Jr didn't break down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere America!

This is what got me through most of Nebraska...and the whole road trip in general...note the tissues, snacks, cooler with diet coke and water, walkie talkie to talk to Erin, cell phone, and overnight bag...

Oh and I forgot...Grand Island Nebraska did have an awesome pizza place that I can't forget about!

After a not so awesome stay in Sidney Nebraska (just yucky hotel...nothing major) we were off to Wyoming!

Wyoming is just beautiful! The mountains are hell to drive through with my car but looking out the windows is just fantastic!

After Wyoming we were on to the great state of Utah...

Utah was breath taking! Amazing!

We tried to stop in Salt Lake City so I could see the Mormon temple. Kate even gave me detailed instructions on how to get off the highway and park...let me just tell you that the sun setting behind the mountains makes it really hard to read the highway signs! And then there was tons of construction around the temple and lots of traffic so needless to say we got a bit frustrated and ended up back on the highway westward! It was also weird when some little kid picked up our radio signal and came across my walkie talkie! Freaky!!

Anyhow we stayed the night in a city about 2 hours west of Salt Lake and came the "back way" into Nevada so I didn't get a cool welcome to Nevada sign...it wasn't too exciting of a state...lots of hot dry desert and a some ok mountains...

There was a place called Pumpernickel Valley and if it wasn't in the middle of nowhere I prolly would have wanted to stop! lol

No more stops after this! It was onward and upward from the end of Utah on! Tpp bad Cali had some construction too...it was hard to get the sign...this was the best I could do...

Cali had some awesome scenery too!

After what feels like literally flying through the California mountains we hit some traffic and finally made it too our little abode! A lovely 2 bedroom 2.5 bathroom townhouse! So far so amazing!!

I have very good feelings about this decision so far and I can't wait to see what the next 3 months has in store for me!

I will say that this past weekend we went to Stanford to walk around and found the best fro yo place in all the land...blogs to come about those things tomorrow!

Peace out kids!

QUICK Update...like super quick!

2010-09-15T10:57:00.002-04:00

Welp let me just start off by saying I am safe and sound in Iowa City, IA. A little piece of my car however is back on the side of highway 74 in Illinois.

Hank Jr is in having some minor surgery as I type this...it will set us back like 4 hours or so....hopefully we can make up some of it when we are driving down the long boring stretch of highway in Nebraska.

The piece that fell off only seems to be vital to my air conditioner and lucky for me it is covered under warranty by Midas where I had it fixed. My luck if I would have just kept driving the whole underside of my car would have been on the side of the highway!

We also turned on the teevee this morning to find that we have tornado warnings all through Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming! LORDY!

Well so far it could be worse, could be better....we will see what today holds for us!

All you people out there that pray need to keep us in your prayers PLEASE!!!

Happy Happy Birthday!!

2010-09-11T10:43:00.004-04:00

Happy 19th Birthday to my FABULOUS little sister Hannah!

She is spending the weekend with her church friends up at Beulah Beach so I know she is going to have an amazing birthday weekend!

She is such an stellar person and I want her to have the bestest birthday ever!

Can't wait to see ya again Hannah!

Love youuuu!

Update!!

2010-09-10T10:38:00.003-04:00

Well kids here we go...t-minus 4 days till the road trip of the century!!

This past weekend I went home to hang with the fam for a couple days before the big departure. It was a nice relaxing couple days complete with...

People watching with my ma at the Stark County Fair

Watching Charli the cat and Lily the cat annoy the crap out of each other

Lunch with Gma

Happy hour with Ma and two of my cousins

Lots of sister time

Hanging out with Tim and the cutest thing ever...baby Ella!

And of course I can't forget a ride on my dad's Harley! Scariest thing everrrr!!

Annnnd now I'm back in Columbus for a jam packed 4 days of OSU football watching, errand running, dinner with friends, packing, test taking, fax sending, contract signing, snack buying, worrying, party having, and bar hopping. It will be fabulous and sad and awesome and terrible allllll at the same time!

Sometimes I think I act like I'm leaving forever when in reality I will see most of these peeps again at Christmas. I gotta stop freaking outttt!!

This is gonna be the experience of a life time and I need to take advantage of it man!

That's all for now...

Peace out kids

Cali Baby!!

2010-09-03T16:21:00.004-04:00

Well kids I didn't want to post much about my travel nursing stuff until it was more official...and it now IS!!

I'M MOVING TO CALIFORNIA!!!

Palo Alto CA to be exact...here's where it's located...

It's about 45 minutes from San Fran, 2 hours from Napa and right near San Francisco Bay! It seems like a lovely place and I have only heard good things about it!

Stanford University is located here and I will be working at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital which is associated with Stanford University Hospital systems. Look how pretty!

I'm excited, scared, sad, and happy allllll at the same time! Erin and I will be packing up our measly belongings that aren't in storage and making our cross country trek starting Sept 14th! We are making it into a 5 day trip and hoping to stop at some awesome places along the way.

Our job will be in the PICU and will start Sept 20th. This will make us finish our contract the week before Christmas so we can hopefully road trip it back to Ohio in time for Christmas with the fam!

We have a jam packed week and a half left in Columbus filled with 2 days of work, Canton time to see the family, going away party, hanging out with friends, packing, planning and gearing up for our new 3 month life!

I'll be sure to update as often as I can about my travels!

Peace out kids!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POP!

2010-09-02T01:04:00.003-04:00

This is a pic of my dad with my youngest sister Hannah at Holly's wedding. I couldn't find another one of my dad and I and he looks super handsome in this pic anyhow!

Today, Sept 2nd my dad turns 57! I can't believe he is that old because he doesn't even look 50 to me!

I'll be going home on Monday and will get to hang out with him a bit...he works today but I hope he has a fantastic birthday!

HE DESERVES IT!

Love you dad and can't wait to see ya!

Life....Oh Life...

2010-08-30T22:26:00.000-04:00

That was a song that we heard at a karaoke bar in Aachen during our European adventure...It was fun to sing along to...

And right now it's all I can think off....

It's really stressing me out that I don't know what is going on with my life after today. Tomorrow Erin and I fly out to Cali to get our nursing license taken care of. We will be out there for a grand total of 25 hours. After that our fingers are crossed that we get a job there!!

This weekend I went home to hang out with the fam just incase we have to up and leave at the drop of a hat. It was super nice to go home!

On Sat I got my hair did by my lovely middle sister at the fantastic family discount price! It's soooo nice to have my dark hair back! I missed it so much!

Sunday was spent getting Hannah all geared up for her first day of college! Holy crapola my youngest sister started college! Nuts!!

On Sunday we also got a sister tattoo! Holly had the idea awhile ago and we went through with it on Sunday before I left and Hannah started school. We got this puzzle piece...shaped similar to an H for our first names...

We just got a black outline of it. I got mine behind my ear where my hair covers it and Holly and Hannah got theirs in different spots on their feet. I love it! I'll show pics when Hannah get them posted online!

As for now I need to get my ass in gear and make sure everything is packed for tomorrow's quick trip out west!

Hopefully I'll update sooooon!

Big Suck-O!

2010-08-18T22:48:00.003-04:00

Well ladies and gents...I suck!

My running did NOT happen...

I did however become the proud recipient of an iPod touch courtesy of one of my fave people in all the land...Theresa!!

She is most definitely the bomb.com and bought a MacBook and received a free iPod touch with the computer. Since she already owned one and felt bad for me she gave me her free one!! How freakin amazing is she!?!?

So my new iPod is now all charged up and synced...I connected it right to the computer and good ole iTunes made it up just like my old one!

I plan to start up in the middle of C25K and get this ass back in gear!

That's all for now...my life has been boring as of late...

I Neeeeeed This Back!!

2010-08-12T18:06:00.002-04:00

So I went on that lovely trail today with Christie and her dog Chloe for a little afternoon walk.

I told Christie that we should try to jog a little too and she agreed so we set off to jog around the little pond that was just around the bend...

LORDY I SUCK!!

I made it probably 3-5 minutes (I didn't have my watch on) before we stopped. I maybe could have made it another couple minutes if I pushed myself, but we thought Chloe was gonna jump into the pond so we both freaked out and stopped running.

What happened to 25 minutes???

I mean I know I've been a slacker and I will have to work back up but I don't even think I could have done half of that!

Now I just feel terrible about myself and need my iPod touch back so I can have British Susan get me back a running!

Blah

Peace out...

Slacker McSlackerson!

2010-08-10T16:54:00.003-04:00

While I have not been blogging, I have also NOT been running! Just slap this pin on me and tell me to get the heck off the couch!!

Christie has a fantastic running/walking/biking/rollerblading/get moving kinda trail right in her backyard that I have full free access to! Like literally right now I looked out the patio and saw some kids biking and skate boarding along that lovely path...

Why am I not running down that lovely path huh!??!

I feel so yucky because I haven't kept up with my running...oh and hey there goes some old lady walking down the path...I mean it's popular people!

My vow for the next couple days that I have off work is to get at least 3 good runs in. I have a total of 6 days off so that is completely doable...

Someone call or e-mail or facebook or something to make sure I am working on my goal!

Come on people help me out here!!!

I Promise to Get Better!

2010-08-09T15:32:00.004-04:00

Wow I really do suck at this blogging thing lately! I don't know what is wrong with me this summer but I'm terrible!

Hopefully I will get better and start keeping up with this thing some more!

So what's been going on with me and my fabulous life??

First of all I got this...I talked about it before but here it is! And please note that this is just a pic of what the car looks like...it's not my actual car but it's exactly the same as what Hank Jr looks like!

I still really love him, although we have hit some bumps along our short time together already...his air conditioner went completely out and I had to spend buco bucks to fix it! It turns out that it is a known CR-V problem so I am not in the midst of working with Honda to get some kind of repayment for my troubles! We'll see how that works out...

In other news I'm all moved out of Runaway Bay and hanging out at Casa de Strayer with Christie! I have to say that it is going smashingly! I was quite nervous to live with someone again cuz we all know how much I LOVED living by myself but this is going fab! It's nice to live in an actual house with a driveway and backyard and everything...makes me really want one! BUT I do miss the Bay's pool quite a lot...makes me kinda sad sometimes...

In ravel nursing news I'm crossing my fingers that we are making some progress and MIGHT be heading here...

Fabulous San Diego, CA!! I don't want to get my hopes up yet but hopefully they will call today or tomorrow for an interview! IF it all works out I would be starting Sept 7th!

I've just been kind of going week to week at work with scheduling shifts and such...still so lucky to have an awesome boss that will let me do this!

That's most of the major things that have been going on in my fabulous life...I've been home to visit the fam in Canton a couple times and trying to hang out with my friends here as much as I can just in case I do leave soon!

I'm gonna try my bestest to update this little piece of internet way more often so everyone watch out for posts!

Off I go to get ready for work!

Peace kiddos!

I am Terrible!

2010-07-23T13:15:00.002-04:00

To all my crazy loyal fans out there I apologize for being a terrible blogger...I have been crazy busy and just haven't sat down to tell you all about my life lately!

Let's hit some highlights...

1. I have NOT been hanging out at the Runaway Bay pool as much as I would like...and I only have a week left before I don't get to be there anymore!!

2. I have to pack up all my crap by next Saturday and move out of the Bay into Casa de Strayer for awhile because....

3. I am moving forward with this travel nursing thing! It is the most terrifying and exciting thing in my life right now. I'm traveling with another girl I work with and at this point we still have no idea where we are going or when we are leaving. This REALLY stresses me out. I like planning. I like knowing what I'm going to be doing in the next couple weeks and right now I don't. And its FREAKIN ME OUT!!! To the point that I want to just vomit...lol

4. I have to find a foster parent for my lovely lil cat Charli. I can take her with me when I travel if I need to but the friend that I'm moving in with doesn't really want her living there. This is also stressing me out. I have a week to find a home for her!

5. Some good news is that I GOT A CARRRRR!! A brand spankin new used Honda CRV!! It's a lovely 2004 Black lil number with working windshield wipers, automatic locks, and a heating/cooling dial that works! I still have to find a name for him but I'm definitely in love! I did however just get socked in the gut with how much my car insurance will be going up! Yuck!!

I think that is a lot of what is goin on right now...I will post pics of my car tomorrow and keep everyone updated on where my travel nursing takes me.

Sorry kids for the lack of blogging! I'll try to be better but my life isn't slowing down much so don't get mad if my posts are still lacking!

First 5K!

2010-07-10T09:46:00.004-04:00

Well ladies and gents I didn't run the full 5K, but it was a solid attempt!

I finished somewhere around 43 min or so...on slow side but hey it's the first one and I'm still not up to par after Europe!

This is definitely one of my favorite 5K's that I have participated in...This is my second year doing it and both times I've gotten teary eyed during the opening parts of the race.

Being a pediatric nurse, organ donation is super important to me...I've seen it touch so many lives...both the donor family and the recipient families...

I wish I would have had time to stick around and cheer on my co workers that ran the half marathon, but tonight is the 1st of 4 nights of work so I'm off to nap away the day!

Night kids!

European Adventure Part 4...Berlin

2010-07-05T22:43:00.009-04:00

After Amsterdam we took the train on to Berlin which was the last stop on the European adventure...

On the train to Berlin we met visually impaired Iranian swim team....it was quite interesting to say the least...they were very sweet and friendly and I hope they did well in their competition in Berlin!

We found our hostel pretty easily once we got to the city and found that it was quite nice...much better then Paris! And there was free WiFi!

Look how excited we were to use it!

That night we started off our time in Berlin with a visit to the Brandenburg gate...it was just completely stunning at night with all the lights shining on it!

Across the street from the gate was a small memorial dedicated to a few of the people that attempted to get to the other side of the Berlin wall, but didn't make it...it gave me chills...especially at night...

That night we also got to check out one of the German parliament buildings. It was also beautiful at night. As visitors you are able to go up inside the glass dome and "watch laws being made". Courtney liked hanging out by the German flag...a bit of a traitor maybe???

I kid I kid...

We did all show our German pride by busting out the glasses Courtney got us...

After wandering around parliament for awhile we got quite thirsty and found a fantastic brewery with some delicious brews! My brew of choice was a cherry wheat beer...TASTY!!!

Steph was excited about her liter of beer, but low and behold she turns out to be the only one that doesn't finish!

The next day we hopped on a double decker bus and took an amazing tour of the city...

Berlin is full of old and new...since much of it was destroyed during the war it is still in a state of rebuild...you see new apartment buildings right next to old domes and cathedrals...

We hopped off the bus tour at Berlin's famous TV tower to attempt an OHIO picture...we also found a fountain out front which strangely resembles King Triton...

We hopped back on after hanging out at the TV tour for a bit...driving around we got to check out a beautiful dome, a Holocaust memorial, the Brandenburg gate in the daylight, and also the parliament building in the daylight...

Even the train stations in Berlin are amazing looking! And this one even had a beach set up next to it!

Also on the bus tour was this church...it was destroyed in the war, but the city left it standing as a reminder of what war can do to a place...

We hopped off the bus again to visit one of the world's largest department stores...amazing place for 3 girls to explore!! It was fantastic and we managed to find the most amazing tiramisu ever in the food court!

Look how excited we were to hop back on the bus and see more sights after our tiramisu recharge!

We saw some more sights of Berlin back on the bus including checkpoint Charlie, a beach set up to watch the world cup, a piece of the Berlin wall thats still standing, colorful apt buildings, and a hot air balloon that you can take a ride in (just straight up for 15 minutes)...

Next up was the Pergamon Museum where you can see cool things like that Pergamon Alter and Ishtar Gate...I know the stuff is from Turkey and the Ishtar Gate is the Gate to Babylon..by this time in the trip I was finding it very difficult to remember museumy things...I suck...

To reward myself for my museum time I got a big ole pretzel with cheese...DELISH!!

We took off down the street to explore some more and met one of the Berlin Bears...they're decorated bears that are allllll over the city...I guess ber in German is bear??

Later that night we took off to grab some grub and watch the world cup game for that night...but first we stopped to check out the Checkpoint Charlie museum...that was a museum I could handle! It was really awesome to read all the stories of people trying to get around that damn wall! Annnnnd the pretend solider standing guard posed for an OHIO pic for us!

We ended the night hanging out in the sand freezing our tushes off to watch the world cup! It was a great night despite the cold!

The trip to Berlin ended with a stop at the remaining pieces of the Berlin wall...

Our time in Europe was pretty much over after Berlin...We headed back to Aachen to have a cookout on our last European night. Courtney's friends were nice enough to let us come visit and we grilled out German style! Steph manned the grill for a bit while th boys sat around which was scary! Steph and I also supported the whole world that night by wearing our French berets, German glasses, Holland lei, and American flip flops! It was a FANTASTIC end to the trip of a lifetime!!

All in all it was the best trip I have taken thus far in my life...I will say that I was exhausted and ready to get back to America but I would love love love to go back to Europe and check out everything else that continent has to offer!

I miss your face Courtney!

European Adventure Part 3...Amsterdam!!

2010-06-29T12:59:00.022-04:00

After our last night in Paris we had to wake up crazy early to catch our train to Amsterdam at 630 in the morn!

We all made it and we were super excited to ride on into the lovely Amsterdam!

We only had about 24 hours in Amsterdam so we had to pack a lot into our day...

We started by visiting this huge I Am Sterdam sign...which is Amsterdams little slogan...It was fun to see...

After walking around the Van Gogh museum it was lunch time and Courtney was super excited to show us her favorite place to eat in Amsterdam!

It was a delish!!

After lunch we hopped on a boat and took a nice canal tour....We learned that many vehicles each week fall into the canal because all they have to stop them from going over is that little tiny metal bar....They even have a special branch of their police and fire departments that handles getting cars out of the canal!

We also learned that the homes in Amsterdam had pulley systems attached to the top of house. This was used because with the homes being so narrow it was difficult to get furniture up stairs. You could then attach it to the pulley and hoist it right on up! See the pulley's at the top of the houses???

They also have a lot of houseboats along the canal...

Some of the other landmarks of Amsterdam were a cool looking watch tower, Anne Franks house, houses with cool shutters, and even a bike parking garage!!

Farther on in the tour we went out to bigger waters and got to see a pirate ship, cool chapels, and a drawbridge...

After the canal tour we realized that Holland won their World Cup game that day so everyone was in this little square celebrating! It was like Hiney Gate but orange! We even bought some orange leis from some guy for a Euro!

We wandered around the city a bit after that taking in the sights...including the amazing tulip market they have! I wanted to bring back a wooden shoe full of tulip bulbs but I was assured that it would not make it through customs....stupid...

We even got to sit in a wooden shoe outside of a souvenir shop!

Courtney told us she had a big surprise for us after the big shoe. She said it was a fantastic place...and this is where she took us to...

A condom shop! It was nutso!

Steph and I broke off from Courtney here and went to tour Anne Franks house...outside of the house is a statue of her...Steph and I took our pics in front of her...I felt weird smiling but Steph didn't!

The house was incredible to see...I can't believe it's all still there...it was pretty eerie to walk through...

Steph and I hung out by the canal to wait for Courtney after we were done...we got to see a tulip museum house boat, and a party boat floating down the canal complete with a generator, TV, and stereo!

The night ended hanging out, having some drinks...across the street from a "special" coffee shop, and wandering around taking in the night life...including the infamous Red Light district...which I will say was quite the experience!

We found a fun bar to go into...all in all it was a great night in Amsterdam!

We rounded out our trip the next morning by going to a pancake place across the street from our hotel...We got pancakes with bacon and they baked the bacon into the pancakes! It was DELICIOUS!!! Completely amazing...I should have taken a picture!

I think Amsterdam was my favorite stop on our adventure...I wish we could have spent a little more time there. We has the most amazing weather, the people were super nice, and it was just all around lovely!

Next up...rolling on into Berlin!!

European Adventure Part 2.,..Paris!!

2010-06-26T11:17:00.013-04:00

So I left us on the train to Paris right??? Sit back and relax cuz we spent 4 nights there kids!

Well the train ride went off without a hitch...no real issues on the train...and we thought we could hop off the train and just wander the couple minutes to our hotel. We were a little mistaken.

The streets of Paris are a little difficult to navigate so it took us a little longer to get there then we thought. Since it was getting a little late and we were a little tired from our train ride we decided to just go hang out near our hotel at the Sacre Coeur which is a church in a part of Paris called Montmartre. It's on top of a HUGE hill and overlooks the whole city. Just beautiful!

Our first full day started off with the Louvre. Just walking into the entrance was awesome! Just like the pictures with the huge glass pyramid!

I found out that I'm not a huge museum person, but it was pretty cool to see some of the art there. Stephanie loved it a lot...here are a couple of the things I thought were the most fab...

After a rousing afternoon at the Louvre we were on our way through the beautiful gardens called the Tuilleries on our way to Eiffel Tower!

The Eiffel Tower was of course amazing! Too bad the line to ride the elevator to the top was a 3 hour wait! Steph stood in line to walk up to the first level but Courtney and I couldn't handle the 50000 steps and hung out on the lawn instead...

Once Steph came down from her adventure we all hung out on the lawn for a bit...

That night we decided to stop by Notre Dame...BEAUTIFUL!! Especially because of the sky at night and the rain that was coming in...made the colors in the sky amazing!!

Then we ate dinner in the Latin Quarter which was just delightful! Courtney had frog legs and said they were tasty...I'll just take her word on that. I had my camera set on a weird setting so it looks like everything was stained red!

On the way home we walked by Miss Rizzo's cafe...

The next day we were off to the Arc de Triumph...it was amazing! You have to walk through an underground tunnel to even get over to it. We climbed the stairs all the way to the top and got a great view of Paris!!

Later that day we went back to Notre Dame to see the inside and see it in the day light. It was a little odd because there was an actual mass going on at the time we went in see it and I felt like I was invading...but it was quite beautiful inside! It also holds one of the oldest crucifixes on earth...or so I'm told...

That night we found a pub and watched the USA England World Cup game. It was a pretty good time. The cheeseburgers were definitely European and it wasn't the same as watching it in a bar in America but still fabulous! After a tied game we decided to head back to the Sacre Coeur to hang out a bit, drink some wine, and take in the sights of Paris at night. We bought cheap wine at the store, and then decided we also need a couple beverages to quench our thirst during the walk up there...we had to put them in plastic bags to walk down the street...

We thought we would have a perfect night hanging out, drinking wine, and watching the Eiffel Tower go "Razzle Dazzle"

It was hard to take pics up there that night for some reason, but let me just tell you that the night ended like this....man throws beer bottle at another mans head...crowd runs away...we come back...meet Parisian man from Morocco that tells us it was actually a staged fight by the Algerians to get all the things like wallets and cameras that the tourist leave behind when they run away...genius but awful!...continue to chat with guy from Morocco...then guy proceeds to ask Steph "So how much for just a little bit?" ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!? "Yeah you know how many Euros for just a little??" Holy crap balls we have got to go!

And there ends our lovely 3rd night in Paris...

Day 4 began with a very uplifting tour of the catacombs. When a plague hit Paris and they were running out of places to bury people they started digging them up and moving them stories below the Paris streets into the catacombs....and we got to go check it out...creeeeepy!!!

To lift our spirits after all the skulls and bones we decided to hit up the Saint Chappelle which is a chapel that has the most beautiful stained glass windows you will ever seen in your life! And they depict stories from the Bible. Some of the windows were being restored but the ones that were available to see were just breathtaking!

After the stained glass we decided to go see more art at the Centre Pompidou. It's a cool place...and you can head straight to the roof top and take in the sights of Paris...

You could also hang out in front of the museum and see all the artist and performers at work...some were quite interesting...like so guy with a box on his head pretending to be a robot??? A gypsy like couple playing some awful sounding music??? A guy deciding to wrap peoples hair just??? I thought they hung out at Cedar Point...not Paris... Stephanie thought they were all nuts!

The rest of the night consisted of stopping by the Moulin Rouge, going to a cafe to watch the Germany Australia World Cup Game where the waiter bought us roses...and Stephanie shoving multiple bananas in her mouth at one time... :)

And finally let me just show you our living quarters during our stay in Paris...our lovely little closet, desk area that we used as a "kitchen", and the comfy beds we got to sleep in...

And that ladies and gents is my lovely Parisian trip...If you made it this far your're pretty freakin awesome and should stand by for the Amsterdam leg of the trip!!

We only stayed there for one night so it should be short and sweet!

Stay Tuned!

Eurpean Adventure Part 1...Aachen and Cologne

2010-06-22T14:06:00.012-04:00

Well ladies and gents...I know you are all just DYING to hear about my lovely Eurpoean adventure. I bet you have all been stalking this site just waiting for my post since I came back!

I have decided to make my post in parts because let's face it I don't have the attention span to sit and write one loooong post about the whole trip...

We will start with the first part of the trip in Germany...

Steph and I flew out of Toronto Canada on our direct flight to Dusseldorf...We were in LOVE with our plane...and the fact that we got our own individual tv screens to watch movies!

Our flight went off without a hitch and we arrived safely in Dusseldorf where Courtney's boyfriend Enno was going to pick us up...when we walked out of the airport we noticed that all the taxi cabs were Mercedes! Holy crapola!!

We wandered around Dusseldorf for a bit and saw that city, ate some food, and finally took the train to see Courtney in Aachen!!

Steph and I were SUPER jet-lagged but we forced ourselves to not nap and to stay awake to try and adjust...what better way to stay awake?? Take a walking tour of Aachen! Steph was in LOVE with Charlamagne and everything to do with him...she even read aloud to us from the walking tour book...and had to pose with his statue...

Aachen is a very cute city with lots of character. It was a struggle that first day to wander around because of how tired we were but we made it through and Courtney ended the day by making us a lovely German meal...complete with Schnitzel and noodles that I forget what they are called...notice the box of schnitzel called Weiner Art...cute huh??? We also tried to make America shots...the pics make it look like they turned out all cutsy but I'm here to tell you they did not!

Day 2 was just a day hanging out in Aachen...Courtney had a test in her German language class...she said it was hard...and her day was made worse when she got hit by a car while riding her bike on the way home! That definitely called for some day drinking!

We tried to have a cook out with people from Courtney's class but the weather did not cooperate...at least we were still able to go out that night to the karaoke bar and hang out with Courtney's awesome friends! And in Germany you can just walk down the street drinking on the way to the bar! We loved it! Courtney loved it so much that it looks like she peed her pants at the end of the night...

The next day it was off to Cologne to explore another part of Germany...we saw the huge cathedral, the bridge where you buy a lock for you and your significant other...or for the Twilight characters...and just wander down the adorable little streets of Germany...

After Cologne we took the train back to Aachen...and went to the grocery store to pick up some snacks for the train to Paris...I think we should have gotten the teddy bear shaped lunch meat...but alas it stayed on the grocery store shelf...

After loading up our suitcases...or in Steph's case backpacks...

We were off on our train to Paris!! Complete with wine and delish sammy's!

Stand by for part 2 where we explore the lovely and sometimes awful city that is PARIS!!

Helllllllo Canada!

2010-06-05T00:56:00.002-04:00

Well we have made it to the first country on our adventure...lovely Canada...

Tomorrow it is off to the Ontario Science Center to see the traveling Harry Potter exhibit! I can't waittt!!!

The car ride was long and I'm pretty sure I way over packed for Europe but such is life...

Nothing else to report at this moment so peace the heck out kids!!

Oh yeah I'm super grateful for my awesome friends who are taking care of Charli!! I feel so much better knowing she is being taken care of!!

I'm Freakin Out!!

2010-06-04T01:37:00.002-04:00

I am just a big ball of emotions right this second...

I am SUPER excited for my trip in the morning!!

I'm terrified of going to new countries for 2 weeks and being away from home and my friends and family for that time...

I'm mad at myself for not being more open with people...

I'm sad that Charli will be mostly by herself for 2 weeks...

I'm just a mess....

But soon I will be on my way to another world and I'm sure all these feelings will be different!

Peace out America!!

It's Getting Closer!!!

2010-05-31T15:37:00.003-04:00

Sunday is the big day kids! I'll be flyin on a plane heading over the big blue ocean to begin my European Adventure!!

I am BEYOND excited!!

Pretty much everything is set aside from packing...which i'm still struggling a bit with...but it will get done!

I need to try to get 3 good runs in this week before I leave since I won't be running for probably about 2 weeks...that is going to be tough since I work the next 3 nights, volleyball on Thursday and then leaving for Cleveland on Friday!

I'll try to keep you peeps updated on my adventure!

Running Update...

2010-05-26T00:40:00.002-04:00

So my running today was not quite this big of a fail but it surely was not my best run at all...

I tried my 25 minute run at Lane Rd. park this afternoon. I made it through 15 minutes and then had to walk for 1 min and 20 seconds. To be honest I didn't consciously stop running it's like my body just quit...I don't know what's wrong with me but damn is it frustrating!

B. Thomp made me feel a bit better afterwards by telling me I'm in fact not a failure. I still ran 15 solid minutes! She told me to try switching up my running stop which is some solid advice that I am definitely going to try on Thursday's run!

In the meantime I am going to rest up by watching DVR and working tomorrow night!

Peace out Kids!

My New Faves!

2010-05-26T00:36:00.000-04:00

Let me just rave about two new beauty products that I have been using...numero uno is this beauty...

This eye make up remover is the best best best I have EVER used! I love the fact that it is a lotion instead of an oily liquid. I just dab a bit on a cotton ball, rub into my eyes and badda boom everything is gone and my eyes are nice and hydrated. It's simply lovely!

This Olay Clarify and Cleanse has become my new daily face wash. I use it in conjunction with Olay daily moisturizer. My face has started randomly breaking out (prolly due to stress and masks at work and all that fun stuff). This gem of a product has given me a noticeable difference in my skin and it doesn't dry it out like some blemish fighting products do! I just love it!

No Ice Cream From This Truck!

2010-05-26T00:08:00.004-04:00

Let me just show you what I saw on my last day in Canton while waiting at a stoplight...

Really??? I don't think I would ever let my child buy ice cream from a van that looks like this! I'm pretty positive that there is a child molester inside. He just slapped on some grey spray paint and some pics of ice cream and called it a day....freaky!!

Weekend Failure!

2010-05-24T00:54:00.002-04:00

So I came to Canton on Saturday... (was supposed to come Friday but couldn't turn down a trip to the Big Bang with some cool work peeps!) But yeah my sister was graduating high school on Sunday and I had to be there for her big day!

All in all the weekend was a success...

Pa and I did a lil car shoppin and I found a lovely Honda CR-V that I want to be allllll mine!

There was minimal family drama...it can never be fully drama free of course

Hannah graduated and the ceremony was not as awful as it could have been although someone did shake a baby at one point and I kind of freaked out...

I got to eat Handels cotton candy ice cream

Got to get a haircut and manicure by my sister Holly

Did some shopping and bought some cute new shirts

Got to watch my sisters play softball

Got to spend some QT with the ma....

With all that awesomeness there was one major FAIL....my run...

It sucked...big time...

Last time I tried to run in Canton, I went through the neighborhood and it did not go well...so this time I decided to drive down to Sippo lake and try out one of their trails...BAD IDEA!

I wasn't at all familiar with the trail which sucked....there were ugly hills...it was wicked hot outside...and I was running alone so I had no one there to push me and make me keep going...

I have discovered as we get into the longer runs that I suck at running by myself. I quit too easily and have a very hard time pushing myself!

Today I ran about 13 minutes and then quite aside from little like 20 seconds bursts of energy I got...I was supposed to run for a solid 25 minutes :(

Again...I can't let this discourage me...I work tomorrow night so Tuesday I WILL GO RUNNING AGAIN! And I WILL RUN 25 MINUTES!! I think I need to start chanting "Pain is temporary...quitting lasts forever..." I read it in another blog and like the sound of it...I need to stop being a quitter gosh darnit!

I think that is all my ranting for now....Gots to get some sleep so I can drive back to the bus tomorrow before work!

Peace out kids!

I Feel Fan Freakin TASTIC!!!

2010-05-17T15:03:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was MONUMENTAL for me! Well for both B and I!

WE RAN 25 MIN!!! 25 MIN!!

Who knew that two of the biggest couch potatoes you have ever met would be running 25 minutes without stopping?!?! Seriously...B and I both have a very unhealthy relationship with our couches...and I don't think either one of us is afraid to admit it...B if you are I'm sorry I just outed your secret!

BUT we can now say that we are runners...so It's ok to love our couches cuz at least we are getting off them to get moving!

I could go on and on and on about how much I love this couch to 5K program but that would just get boring...If you know me and you hear that I ran for 25 min you would know that this program is just amazing...never have I ever been able to stick with any kind of exercising before and I have been doing this program now for going on 7 weeks!!

The numbers on the scale are saying I haven't lost any weight but frankly right now I'm ok with that...I feel soooo much better about myself! I don't feel like I don't get tired as much doing things anymore and I'm able to recover better after my runs. Yesterday my legs were EXHAUSTED after that run, but I wasn't gasping for air and on the ride home aside from the tired legs I felt great! I did walk for a couple seconds here and there...especially up the steep inclines, but gosh darnit I did it!!

I got to celebrate my awesome run by going to see these awesome peeps sing last night!

Nothing like some fabulous live country music to start off the summer season and end my monumental day! LOVEDDDDD IT!!! And so happy that B and I are doing it together!

Now it's back to reality getting laundry done and preparing for my 3 night work stretch!

Peace out Kids!

The Universe Loved Me Yesterday...Kind Of...

2010-05-12T19:16:00.002-04:00

Sooooooo yesterday upon walking into work I was greeted with the most fabulous surprise EVER!

I WON THE LOTTERY!!!

At work we play the pick 3 numbers...you tell the unit secretary the number you want to play...pay her each month (25 cent per day)...and she checks the numbers in the afternoon and evening against the real pick 3 lottery and if someone's number comes up...they win!

We have about 27 people that are currently in the lottery and we hadn't had a winner in awhile so I won 581 buck-a-roos!!!

Remember that plane ticket I had to buy to get out of Texas???? PAID FOR BABY!!!

Not exactly what I would have liked to spend most of my winnings on but hey now it's paid for!

So I thought the universe loved me....until I got my patient assignment...and then at 1am when my patient went down the crapper and I proceeded to run my arse off and not get to leave work till 9am I knew the universe was laughing in my face...

Thanks universe...

But thanks even more pick 3 lotto!! I'm still a happy happy girl...just with really tired legs...

Just a F%&^$ Manic Monday...

2010-05-10T23:11:00.001-04:00

Alright kids sit back and get ready to hear about my crazy manic monday...or my whole weekend for that matter...let's just make it a list of the good bad and ugly...

The Good

~I got to visit Riz who I haven't seen in like a year
~I got to lay by the pool in Texas when everyone in Ohio was miserable in the rain and wind
~Riz and I reminisced about all the amazing college memories we had...while drinking a variety 6 pack of beer.
~Linds and I got nice relaxing mani/pedi's on our little vaca
~I made it back to Columbus in time to see some fab gals from nursing school...along with a delish Panera lunch
~Britt and I OWNED our run today even though we both weren't feeling it at first...we even did 2 hills...my legs are sleeeeepy.
~And just to list again that I got to see Riz...I freakin miss that girl and even though the trip ended with a terrible airport experience I can't wait to go back and see her again!

The Bad and Ugly

It's really just one thing...AirTran royally screwed me over this morning at the Houston airport...

Riz dropped me off at a very reasonable time for my 6:25am flight...as soon as I walked in the door I knew it was gonna be downhill from there...the security line was the longest I have ever seen in all my life...

Needless to say we (and by we I mean the 5 other people right around me in the security line that were also on my flight) got put to the front of the security line and hauled ass to our gate...

We get to the gate and an AirTran employee comes lumbering up the tunnel and out of the door closing it behind her to inform us (and by us I mean the now 15 passengers that all just got to the gate including a couple with a baby!) that we have missed the flight and it is policy to close the door 10 minutes before the flight is due to leave...

UMMMM LADY THE PLANE IS STILL HEREEEEEE!! OPEN THE EFFING DOOR AND LET US ONNNNN!!! (This is what I was SCREAMING in my head)

Instead she proceeds to tap tap tap away on her keyboard to try...and fail...to get us out of Houston in a timely manner...never making eye contact with any of us...as we wave goodbye to the plane that we should be on....because yes we stood there for a good 5 minutes staring at the plane before it actually left the gate...

Needless to say AirTran could not get me back to Columbus today and I went to the amazingly nice Southwest people, handed over my credit card, and cried as they swiped it and I paid double the price of my roundtrip ticket for a one way ticket back to the Bus...

There was a lot of crying involved, lots of phone calls back and forth to the parents and Riz, and lots of wandering around the airport...

It's over now and I can't dwell on the fact that my credit card payoff plan just got set back 4 months...I'm home and can get to work tomorrow and I will still go visit Riz...I'll just fly Southwest next time...

Now I have to work on my complaint to AirTran so I can get some comp for this mess...

BUT did I mention that I ran 2 miles today?!?!?

Glad to be back in the Bus but I do miss ya Riz...Can't wait to come visit you again!! Please come to Columbus this summer and play some volleyball with me...

That is all...these tired legs are going to sleeeeeep! Sorry for the rambling...I just needed to vent!

Peace out kids!

Happy "Late" Mother's Day!

2010-05-10T22:54:00.004-04:00

My mama is awesome...that's the only way to put it...

She has put up with way more than she ever should and does it...for the most part...with a smile on her face :)

She will drop everything she's doing to do something for someone in her family...

She's taught me more in life than she will probably ever know and no amount of greeting cards or gifts will ever truly express how much she means to me.

Love ya ma and I'm sorry I wasn't there to spend the day with you!

I'm A Runner!!

2010-05-06T21:28:00.003-04:00

Ladies and Gents according to my nice British running coach I can now consider myself a runner!

I ran for 20 minutes today! She said that since I did that much time without interruption I can call myself a runner...

I will admit I walked up some of the steep inclines and and randomly walked for about 15 seconds at one point but still something around 18 min is impressive for me!

I was dying by the end and I have no idea how fast I actually ran but I don't care...I DID IT!!!

I just can't rave about this program enough...If it can work for B and I (no offense B) it can work for just about anyone! I would have never thought we would be to a point where we are running for 20 minutes at a time!!

Next week its back to a couple 8 and 5 min run so we will see if I can work up some speed...

Until then I'm off to pack for Texas to see one of the faves for the weekend!!

8-5-8 Baby!!

2010-05-03T23:41:00.002-04:00

I DID IIIIITTTTTT!!!

I was super nervous that I wouldn't be able to last 8 min but holy crap I did it!

B. Thomp and I went to a lovely park and took off around the perimeter. I think B found out that it was about 1.5 miles around and we did about an 11 min mile...

GO US!

I felt completely FABULOUS afterwards and cannot believe how far I have come since week one!

This program is just fantastic!

According to the program I'm supposed to run for 20 min next however I just don't know that I'm ready for that and don't want to disappoint myself yet so I think I'll do another 8-5-8 on Thursday...

As for right now I'm using my night off to be lazy and catch up on some DVR so peace out kids!

One Step Closer...

2010-04-29T15:03:00.002-04:00

That's me lately! Running the river!

Today was another step in the couch to 5K...

I did my 5 min warm up walk...run 5 min...walk 3....and repeat twice! 3 five minute runs!

I finished it! The last 2.5 min of the whole thing was quite brutal and I started at my clock quite a bit and prolly sounded like I was dying...BUT I FINISHED!!!

I work the next 4 nights so I won't be able to run again until Mon...and that's gonna be a killer for sure! 2 eight min runs!

Britt and I also have a running date next Thurs where we may...I repeat may...attempt the 20 min run!

Time to go feed my face and get ready for work!

Peace out kids!

Working 9-5???

2010-04-28T21:49:00.003-04:00

Well tonight is my last night off before working 4 on, 1 off, 2 on. I know I know let's not be jealous of me now! I can't complain too much...I had a week long vaca, work about a week, and then get to hop on a plane to Houston to see one of my faves...Miss Rizzo!

Today on my day off I went to visit my old job at the OSU housing office, babysat for a couple hours, and headed to burger nite...

It got me thinking...

Sometimes....now this is only sometimes...I almost wish I had a nice 9-5 mon-fri office job...

I heart my job big time and love not being run by an alarm clock and the extra dollars made on nights...but I have to admit that at times it really cramps my life...

It would be nice to have all my weekends and nights free and not have to worry about finding people to work for me when people have weddings, showers, parties, etc...or having my nights free to hang out with friends and grab drinks or watch every episode of the bachelor...lol

Writing this out really makes it not seem so bad...I think I'm just being selfish, but I just go through these phases every now and then when I get to feeling like this...and since this is my blog this is where I shall vent :)

I'm sure if I had a 9-5'er I'd find lots to complain about as well...like working 5 days a week, waking up early, being stuck at a desk for most of the day, missing out on the kiddos, etc etc...

Looks like the grass isn't always greener now is it...

Back in the Bus!

2010-04-27T16:57:00.002-04:00

Well I made it back to the bus from my lovely weekend home!

I really do love my trips back to Canton...I just really really hate the drive to and from...

This time coming home I just felt like a TERRIBLE kitten mother! I walked in and poor Charli was prolly dying of thirst! One of the bowls of water was bone dry and the other bowl was tipped over! I just felt awful!

Anyhow...my weekend was quite laid back and included hair coloring, movie watching, and shopping with Ma...lovely for sure!

And now the time has come for my second run of the week....Britt and I are going on a run and hoping to have a better one then Sunday!

Maybe I shall blog more tonight...

It's FRIDAY!!!!

2010-04-23T09:58:00.004-04:00

And I have a week off work!! WOOHOO!!!

Aside from the fact that my nose is not cooperating with the rest of my body I am in a FANTASTIC mood today!

Britt and I had a GREAT run yesterday down by the river....and today is outlet shopping day!! We got our paychecks today that include our extra hours so it's time to do some shoppin!

Over at The Parade there is a tradition of Fill In The Blank Friday. Today is all about music so I think I shall give it a go...

1. One song that always takes me back to my youth is Definitely any NSYNC song! I mean I was to the point of crazy obsessed in high school and anytime I hear an NSYNC song I go right back to years '99-'02 :)

2. My first concert ever was Matchbox 20 with Kaylan and Erin at Blossom Music Center. We went with Erin's mom I think and we sat on the lawn and used binoculars to try to see Rob Thomas singing up on stage...I bought a t-shirt...we thought we were super cool!

3. If I could create my dream music festival I'd want these bands to be there: NSYNC for sure, Sugarland, Something Corporate would get back together and come play, Journey, Andrew Varner, Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon, and let's throw in Blessed Union of Soul just for fun :)

4. The best make-out/"boot knocking" song ever is I am not at liberty to discuss that...that Rude Boy song though could be fun...lol

5. The best concert I've ever been to was NSYNC put on a FABULOUS concert...even if you don't like their music their concerts were amazing...as of lately though I love any show where I can go hang out on the lawn outside somewhere and listen to music with my friends and drink some beers...

6. A memorable musical moment for me was A musical moment??? hmmmmmm maybe going to Walmart at midnight for the release of an NSYNC CD with my friend Tim and Britt and her cousin were there and Britt gave me one of the dirtiest looks ever...like I was stealing her boyfriend or something lol Tim didn't even want to be there...he lied to people and said he was there for the Cake CD!

7. The song on my iPod that's getting the most play these days is anything on my Running playlist cuz that's what I've been using my iPod for these days...specifically Naturally by Selena Gomez, Numb/Encore by Jay Z and Linkin Park, and Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit

And that's that kids...its time to get ready to go spend some dollas!!

Me Legs Are Sleeeeepy!

2010-04-19T00:15:00.002-04:00

Today was a tough run man!

5 min warm up walk...3 min run...1.5 min walk...5 min run...2.5 min walk...and repeat!

That's 16 minutes of running incase you don't want to add it all up for yourself

I BARELY finished the 5 minute runs...my feet barely made it off the pavement.

It was nice to run down by the river as a change of scenery.

This week may definitely need to be repeated...

Big 200!

2010-04-16T02:10:00.004-04:00

Well friends this is my 200th post and let me warn you that it is going to be a big hodge podge of stuff...

I just got home from Dave and Buster's a bit ago and have lots of little things running through my mind...one of them being that the mac and cheese at Dave and Buster's is TO DIE FOR! Crazy delish! I want to eat it every day!

I haven't shown any pics of Charli lately...here she is hanging out in her favorite spot...under my covers...if you ever can't find her in the apt just pull back the covers and there is a 97% chance she will be there! Even though this is a dark pic she's still super adorable!

This was my tasty dinner the other night...completely made by moi! Yes the pizza dough is store bought but I put the whole BBQ pizza together and it was DELICIOUS!! If you know me at all you know I love me some BBQ chicken pizza and I'm so excited to find an easy way to make them at home!

Another random thought...my last PIP shift at work has been completed...these are shifts they offer when we are super busy so we can get paid extra for extra hours and they get the extra staff they need. The PIP check will be put in with next weeks pay check so it's gonna be a fantastic payday!! Can't wait!!!

Big new! I finished another book for the year...A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown...FABULOUS! It was hard to put down and although I always seemed to find something better to do at home and only really read at work, the book was amazing! True story of a girl who's mom dies at age 12 and she is forced into the foster care system. She turns to drugs, alcohol, prostitution, gangs, you name it...in the end she turns her life around and is now an awesome lawyer in San Diego. I highly recommend it!

I can't wait to head back to Canton next weekend. I have an entire week off work and am super stoked to see the fam! Feel like I haven't seen them in forever!

My Christmas lights are finally taken down from my porch...B. Thomp made me feel like a horrible person for having them up still, so I braved the spiders and yuckiness and got them down!

I think that might be it...Im gonna head to bed and sleep all day tomorrow before work...I just love working away my weekends!

Sorry bout all the randomness but thats how my mind works at 230am!

Peace Out kids!

So Sad!!

2010-04-12T01:46:00.002-04:00

This is little Shiloh Pepin. She's the "mermaid girl" and I have watched her on TLC a couple of times. She seemed like such a sweet girl and i just found out that she died...back in October no less!

I had no idea!

It just breaks my heart...I'm watching the show on TLC about her last 6 months and shes just a precious little thing!

She came down with pneumonia and ended up in the PICU and just seemed to lose her battle....

Just so sad...

Just Keep Running...Just Keep Running...

2010-04-12T01:34:00.002-04:00

Well kids I know you are probably all wondering if I am keeping up with my couch to 5k program...

The answer is a big fat YES!

I have to brag for a bit and just say that I am so beyond proud of myself for sticking with this...I think it really helps that B. Thomp is doing it too. We are doing fabulous at encouraging each other and it's nice to having a running buddy sometimes!

I found a GREAT app on my iPod touch that correlates with the couch to 5k program. I used it for the first time on my run today and fell in love!

The lady that narrates the program has a lovely British accent and is the most encouraging lady ever! You can turn on your running playlist and then start this app and she will interrupt when she needs to so she can tell you when to run and when to walk. She also interjects very encouraging words and coaches you on all the way though the run!! It is just fantastic and has helped me to not stare at the stopwatch through my runs.

My legs were EXHAUSTED today and I barely made it through the second 3 min run but dammit I did it and I can tell that I am slowly getting better!

I will be a runner yet!

Worn the Heck Out!

2010-04-07T16:05:00.002-04:00

I'm in the middle of my 3 night work spree and am already worn out...

Last night I would bet money that my patient was completely possessed...We gave him a dose of every medication possible that has any kind of sedation effect and he was still rolling around in the bed screaming!

At one point I threw up my hands and walked away from the bedside while the charge nurse was in the room to help me...I had no idea what to do and just wanted to cry!

And then what happens at 7am? The docs decide he can have some milk and he gets all cuddly and happy with the day shift nurse...that little jerk! If he wasn't adorable I'd be super pissed...

In other news running is going well...I'm hesitating on moving up to the 3rd week of the program...2 minutes seems like a loooooong time to run!

I did buy an iPod app about the couch to 5k but I can't figure out how to change the dates since I already started the program and am on week 2 instead of week 1...I'll have to try and finagle a way to make it skip to week 2...

Ladies and gents that is my life lately...I can't wait for this weekend to get out a little bit and have some drinks and not think about work!

Peace out kids...

I Don't Wanna Work...I Just Wanna Play All Day...

2010-04-02T16:33:00.006-04:00

Today is a beautiful amazing glorious completely fabulous sunny day...

And I sit here on my couch just waiting to go into work...awesome...

Anyhow...let me just tell you about a few things...

I went to see Train in concert and it was AWESOME! Check out some of my fave pics...

Jenna, Korri and I before the show began...in my pretty new Target dress!

I know it's hard to see in this picture but that man on the right in the green shirt (he's in the opening act) looked so much like my dad it was driving me nuts!

These pics are some of my faves...he sang a beautiful song and looked beautiful doing it in the first couple pics...then he brought these adorable little girls on stage to sing She's on Fire with him...that little girl in the middle just had no idea what to do!

The last two I'll post are one of Pat Monaghan (yeah I think we are totally related) crowd surfing and changing shirts on stage...sooo pretty!!

The concert was a FANTASTIC time and you can see all the awesome pics on my facebook page if you wanna...

In other news...

I'm still trying to run...not getting in all 3 days a week every week like I should but dammit I'm really trying!

Britt and I have a running date on Monday...can't wait...really I can't...I'm not being sarcastic...

I feel like I have more to update about but my tummy is growling sooooo bad and I gots ta feed my face before I go save some babies...

If I get free time at work maybe I'll try to think of some awesome things to write about...

Peace Kids!

Oops....

2010-04-01T16:48:00.001-04:00

I had big plans to update the blog today...big plans!

BUT they were foiled!

I had to go buy a wireless router cuz whoever I stole internets from has either moved or disappeared!

JERKS!!

Of course it didn't get hooked up right so I had to call Time Warner and spend a gazillion hours getting it right...

Moral of the story I promise to all my thousands of faithful readers that I will update tomorrow about my crazy awesome life and thoughts!

Tonight...it's off to save some lives...

Save Me San Francisco!

2010-03-29T15:29:00.001-04:00

In just a few hours I'll be rocking out these guys at the Newport Music Hall! Soooo excited!!

I love their old faves like Drops of Jupiter and Meet Virginia and their new CD Save Me San Francisco is completely fabulous as well!

It's a nice end to my work vaca and it should be a fantastic time!

In other news I had a completely awesome weekend with all my birthday celebrations! I wish my right mouse button would work so I could steal some of Britt's pics from her epic birthday bash and show them to ya'll!

Take a look at her lil blog for a peek at our fabulous night!

Celebration Extravaganza!

2010-03-27T06:44:00.002-04:00

Tonight is a big night my friends! I have 3...count em 3...birthday celebrations to attend!

Three of my favorite people in the world were born this weekend and I'm super excited to celebrate with them!

The night shall begin with a tasty feast complete with delish drinks at El Vaq to celebrate M. Shaffe and her 30 years on this earth. Shaffe is a nursing school gal and definitely one of the reasons I survived those 13 months!

I'll then head off to Level to hang with the one and only B. Thompson who, let's face it, is pretty much one of the most fabulous people in my life! We will both be dolled up in our professional makeovers and are bound to have a fantastic time!

Hopefully the night will end at the Piano Bar where Miss Erin will be partying the night away with her twin sister. Erin is a fairly new friend but absolutely amazing none the less! We got along from the second we met and hanging out with her is NEVER boring!

It would be awesome if everyone was in the same place but I don't mind a little party hopping! At least everything is in very close proximity to each other...

It is SURE to be a fantastic night!!

First Stamp in my Passport!

2010-03-27T06:24:00.003-04:00

It's official now! I will have stamps in my passport come June!

Stephanie and I purchased our tickets to Germany yesterday and I could not be more excited! I have to admit that I really didn't think this trip would ever go through so the fact that the tickets are bought makes me incredibly happy!

We are driving up to Canada and staying with Stephanie's boyfriend's parents for a night and flying out of Toronto...for 2 reasons...one it was about 400 bucks cheaper...and the flight is NONSTOP!! No lost luggage or foreign airports to deal with!

Of course I'm terrified of being cramped in a tiny seat for 8 hours and getting a DVT, but I'll get over that!

We will be flying in to Dusseldorf Germany and staying with Courtney in Aachen for some of the time. We are also gonna go to Paris, Amsterdam, and where ever else our hearts desire and our 2 weeks time limit allows us to!

Stephanie and I decided that we are gonna travel like we are on the Amazing Race and tell all the cab drivers that we are in a race, and wear big backpacks on the plane...it will definitely be awesome!

So now the countdown begins! June 6th is the BIG day!!

Can't wait to see you Courtney!

M.I.A.

2010-03-22T22:53:00.003-04:00

Isn't that pic just adorable! It's Kelly's dog Miles and was from my second St. Patty's celebration...I love it!

I know I've been missing lately...I'm sure everyone was sad cuz my blog is just so exciting!

Well I've been working the past 4 nights and when I have that long of a stretch I do nothing but eat sleep work and repeat...

We've been pants dropping busy lately and I've picked up lots of extra hours to make some extra dollas for these trips I have planned!

Speaking of which does anyone know how to book an international flight? I tried simple little expedia and travelocity and it's not workin! I just want to see how much I need to save up for this lil trip to Germany I'm takin!

Sadly I don't have a lot to report in life...

I work the next two night and then have a fabulous weekend full of birthday celebrations to commence!

Maybe I'll try to make up another blog entry tomorrow before work but for right now it's back to Secret Life of the American Teenager and I'm not afraid to admit that!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

2010-03-17T08:44:00.004-04:00

My favorite day of the year is upon us!

I can't wait to get some brunch, do some day drinking (green beer of course) and hang out with fabulous people!

I hope everyone has a SUPER FABULOUS day...even if you aren't Irish..everyone can pretend today!

PS Britt...I think you should get this for Watty...

Quest to be a Runner...Day One!

2010-03-15T13:36:00.002-04:00

This is how I feel about running...

I've always wanted to be a runner...my body just doesn't really cooperate...plus my couch and bed are just soooo comfy!

Well it's time to get my ass in gear...

I have tried the Couch to 5K plan once before and lasted 2 days...Britt is now doing it and I have decided that I need to be inspired by her and try it again...

Today was day one...I survived...

I even forced myself to go despite there being a couple in the gym with me...

I bet they made fun of me after I got off the tredmill and took my jello legs out of there...

I felt like I was making A LOT of noise pounding away on that machine...BUT I did it!

And I will do it again on Wednesday before my day drinking!

I WILL!!

Oh My Happy Day!

2010-03-15T00:51:00.006-04:00

Well yesterday was celebration numero uno and I do believe it was quite a success!

Our day started around noon with some delish pre-drinking food at Bob Evans...Bob's was complete with some shamrock mask pics and temporary tattoo applying...

Then we made our way across the street to the big Flannagan's St. Patrick's Day bash!

There were lot of friends that ended up coming which just made the day so much better! I got to hang out with work people, high school friends, and college friends...it was super FABULOUS!

In college St. Patty's day was also a huge celebration day with all my OSU friends...since those days lots of the people don't live in the area anymore but we did get a mini reunion with Tony, Steph and I....

Also Kaylan came to play...we don't celebrate St. Patty's day together often so I was really excited she came!

One of my biggest priorities this year was to see how many people I got get to wear my shamrock mask...

I got just over 50 pics which I think is pretty impressive!

Here are some of my faves...

It was really fun to make people wear my silly mask and I'll try to get more people to do it on Wednesday!

The night ended with a ride downtown and changing my mind before I even got there...going back to Flannagans...dancing like a fool...taking a taxi ride to Giant Eagle to buy a frozen pizza...walking in the rain back to Erin's apt...Tony passing out 3 different times and missing out on the pizza...Erin sliding down her steps on accident of course...and finally passing out on Erin's couch only to wake up to an infomercial at 7am about a 6 week body makeover program...

All in all it was of course a fantastic celebration and I couldn't ask for better friends to celebrate with!

Of course I missed the ones I didn't get to see and wish I could celebrate with EVERYONE!!

Bring on Wednesday!!

Me Likey

2010-03-10T16:38:00.003-05:00

Me likey a couple things right now...

~This BEAUTIFUL weather...even though I sleep through most of it...

~Hearing live bands and dreaming about the summer when I can listen to them outside!

~Listening to country music with the windows rolled down...especially this song...

I love that video too!

~LOVE that St. Patricks day is RIGHT around the corner and the big par-tay is this weekend! Saturday calls for thunderstorms but that can't stop me!

~And right now I just love the fact that I get to get ready for two nights of work...at least I have the whooooole weekend off!!

Peace out kids...

Mystery Neighbor

2010-03-10T15:57:00.002-05:00

So living here at the Bay I have lot-o-neighbors...

I'm not quite social enough to make friend with them but I do recognize them and notice when they come and go...

The neighbor right next to me, I'm convinced, is either dead or has been kidnapped right under my nose...

I haven't really investigated much but here is what I know...

Her car (or I'm assuming it's her car) has not been touched since the first of the past 2 big snow storms. It sat there with snow on it until it all melted away and still has snow piled around it...

She had a package from Amazon sitting outside her door for weeks that has since disappeared...

The rent statements that were put in our door knockers by the managers sat on her door for approx 3 weeks...

Her welcome mat is still there but I have not seen her come or go for months...

This morning I come home from breakfast and get into bed when I hear all this racket...obviously I go stare out my peephole and watch as these men are taking things apart and walking out of the building...

So maybe she's not dead and hasn't been kidnapped...I guess she's just moving out???

OR these men just broke in and took her stuff apart and stole it...

Who's to say...

Maybe I should stop trying to be an investigator...I don't think I'm very good at it...

Happy Friday Ya'll!

2010-03-05T16:20:00.003-05:00

Well maybe happier for you then for me...

I have to work allllll weekend so it's not really a Friday for me...

Such is life...

At least last night was a BLAST! I highly suggest everyone make an appearance to a Cocktails at the Conservatory event!

It was super fun and made even better by the live entertainment of Andrew Varner and the Square Miles. They played everything we wanted including Miley Cyrus, the electric slide, the Goo Goo Dolls, and everything in between. We danced around like fools surrounded by beautiful foliage and blown glass...all in all a FABULOUS night!

At the end of the night I got a gift from one of my faves Kelly...look what she got me!

I love love love it and will probably end up keeping it hanging up in the living room for the rest of the year!

Thanks Kelly!!

Other then that I really have nothing new to report in life...

Oh wait...my DVD player sadly broke...he's been with me since I won him senior year in high school at after prom...I think he's had a good long life and I'll be sad to go to Target to replace him...so long friend!

And with that I'm off to work the next 3 nights...don't expect much from me...

Cocktails Anyone??

2010-03-04T14:52:00.002-05:00

Tonight a couple friends and I are going to experience Cocktails at the Conservatory at the Franklin Park Conservatory!

This is definitely one of the reasons that I love Columbus...there are so many random awesome things to do!

My friend Kelly and I have wanted to go to this event for awhile now...They hold it just about every Thursday and each month has a different theme...

This month...Clovers and Lucky Charms!

And even better...My love from the piano bar will be the live entertainment! What could be better!!!

I hope it looks like this...

I'm sure it will be a lovely time and I can't wait!!

Happy Anniversary!!

2010-03-03T15:32:00.002-05:00

I just realized that there is another reason to LOVE March!

It's my lil blog's anniversary!

My very first post was March 1st 2009...

One year later here it sits still going strong...with my 3 lil readers :)

Aren't you all so glad I've kept this going!

Happy Anniversary to me!

Addiction!

2010-03-03T01:24:00.003-05:00

So I have a new addiction...it actually it's that new...I've been playing it for a couple months now...

I came across the website addictinggames.com in nursing school...prolly not the best time to find a website like that but nonetheless that's when it came into my life...

Since then I have visited it a couple times and a couple months ago I found this game...Bubble Spinner...and haven't let it go since!

I sucked at it when I first started and now I am getting quite good at it...at least I think so!

Just thought I should let the world...cuz the world reads this...know what takes up some of my spare time lately...

That is all...

St. Baldricks Anyone???

2010-03-02T23:24:00.002-05:00

So we all know I LOVE LOVE LOVE St. Patrick's Day...and I love to support Pediatric Cancer organizations...and this cleverly combines the two! (Although let's face it I don't know that I will be shaving my head anytime soon)

There is a patient at the hospital right now battling cancer...surprise...but through a couple links from their caringbridge website I found out about this org...

Check out the St. Baldrick's website.

I think it is incredibly clever!

Instead of locks for love if anyone is willing to shave their ENTIRE head I think this is the way to go!

Fado Irish Pub at Easton is holding an event on March 13th this year...if you or anyone you know wants to shave your head and have some delicious beers while doing it I think you should make an appearance!

I'll come watch if any of my friends agree to shave their head!

I'm Old Vol 2.0

2010-03-02T20:37:00.003-05:00

Not only did I purchase a humidifier this winter (and got a lot of slack for it by some people) but yesterday I bought this gem from Target!

My old vaccuum was passed down from my parents and started sounding...and feeling...like it was going to blast off into outer space whenever I turned it on...it shook and sounded super loud...

Low and behold in the Target ad on Sunday they had this guy on sale! 37 bucks!

I thought it was a steal!

I have used it multiple times already and love it...especially the bagless feature because I can see alllll the nastiness that I got out of my carpet...it's definitely yuck-o!

Call me old and crazy but I love these things!

Oh March

2010-03-01T22:17:00.003-05:00

I couldn't find a pic...so I made my own in Paint...

It looks a bit like a 3rd grader but it does the job...

One of my favorite months has finally reached us!

Only 17 more days till St. Patrick's day...and hopefully the weather will be fabulous for it!

YAYYYY March!!

PS I'm watching the Bachelor and want to just vom....ewwwww

So Completely Done!

2010-02-26T16:54:00.002-05:00

I'm very much over this snow business!

Don't get me wrong I love winter and love the snow but I just feel like we have been buried in it this year...

AND IT JUST KEEPS COMING!!

I'm ready for pool days, flip flops and skirts for sure!

In other news I really hope tonight is better than last night at work...I at least hope I don't have 3 patient again.

On Sunday or Monday I REALLY want to go to Noodles and Co and go see a movie...that is my wish...

Someone make it come true!

Blah de blah blah blah

2010-02-25T16:39:00.003-05:00

My week long vaca has come to an end and I must return to the real world for the next 3 nights...

All I have heard about work lately is how insanely crazy busy it has been which makes me just want to stay in bed and not go in!

However one little light at the end of the tunnel is that...

A. St. Patrick's day is right around the corner and my apartment is decorated in honor of the upcoming occasion

B. This came in the mail today...

I plan to read it in the next couple days and do lots of research...

I have to stay here until the middle of summer to fulfill my lease but I really could use a change of scenery for a bit...

Who knows what will come...

Bring on 3 long nights of work PICU!

Dread With a Capitol D!

2010-02-23T22:13:00.002-05:00

Well tomorrow at 2pm I'll be doning these bad boys and trying to figure out if it's...better here or here....number 1 or 3...3 or 2...how about number 1 again...better then number 8...is number 12 blurry...what about back to number 3...is that better then 7...

I mean the eye doctor freakin stresssssssses me out! It's just a lot of pressure to get these right so my eyes aren't all jacked up for a year!

I mean they are already pretty jacked up and I'm pretty much blind without some sort of help so anything is better then what I have

BUT STILL!!! THE PRESSSSSURE!!

Sheesh...that's all I got for now

At least American Idol and Big Love are taking my mind off of it for now!

Jade is the New Black

2010-02-23T00:25:00.003-05:00

So while hanging out in Canton Holly took me to Mally's Beauty Supply store. She gets everything there at cost so I was super excited to see that the OPI nail polish was only $4.25!!

I snagged this super fun color and could not be more excited. It's all over my fingers and toes and just makes me get all warm and fuzzy inside....can you guess what it makes me think of?!?!

You're right if you guessed...

ST. PATRICK'S DAYYYYY!!!

The holiday is just right around the corner and I'm keepin "Jade is the New Black" on until the big day arrives!

Ohhhh it just makes me so happy!!

Home Sweet Home Columbus Style

2010-02-22T23:34:00.005-05:00

This is Caddie...he's my furry nephew and was super excited that I went to visit him today!

This is Charli...she's super happy that I arrived back to our Columbus Home Sweet Home today...

And me...well I'm still having mixed reviews about being back...

I love my lil abode here in the bus and am happy to be all back and unpacked, and my apt clean, and home cooked left overs in the fridge, and even a load of towels in washer...

However I do still miss my Canton home...squeaky futon and all! (In my dad's defense he did fix it up and make it comfy...only one side squeaks!)

I'm excited to have plans for the next few days before I head back to work...including lunch and dinner dates, eye dr apt, and hopefully a burger/bar night!

In other exciting life news I have found a new sweet tooth love!

Introducing the Panera Chocolate Chip Bagel!

I have no idea who could start the morning off by eating a whole one but let me tell you how delish a half one is after din din! AMAZING!!

On my lunch date tomorrow to Panera I must buy a couple!

Well thats life as of right now kids...got some more DVR to catch up on before I call it a night!

Home Sweet Home

2010-02-21T23:53:00.003-05:00

Welp it's my last night here in Canton for this trip...as long as the weather cooperates tomorrow and I'm able to drive back to the Bus...

Leaving Canton is always so bittersweet...I love being home with my fam and that drive back just ALWAYS sucks! Once I'm back and settled in Columbus I'm ok but all the in between stuff like saying bye to the fam and driving back just sucks!

This trip home was pretty typical and not super exciting...we did some eating out, shopping, eating home cooked food, and just hanging out.

There is still a to-do list for tomorrow before I leave including:

Lunch with ma and sisters
Passport getting
Having dad give Hank the Honda a once over
A trip to the beauty supply store with Holly along with some other shopping
Packing
On the road around 4pm

I'm already dreading leaving and think about my next trip home in almost exactly a month...I'll be going with ma and Hannah on a trip to Indiana Wesleyan University for a college visit...

Welp I think that's all for now...

Nite kids...

Finally Friday!!

2010-02-19T14:28:00.003-05:00

Could not be more excited that it is Friday!

Even though I don't work the typical 9-5 I still do love my weekends...prolly more because I don't get every one of them off...

This weekend is super fab...I finally get to go home and see the fam for a couple days

We will also be celebrating my sister Holly's 22nd birthday....she's a leap year baby so we can pretty much celebrate whenever we want :)

The weather had better cooperate so there are no glitches in my plan! It would also be nice for it to cooperate and allow miss Britt to come to Canton to play too!

Talking about Canton and the weather reminds my lil brain of two things...

A. I just read here that the lil city I call home is one of America's most miserable cities! Now don't get me wrong I mean growing up there was pretty boring but I wouldn't say miserable...I also had no idea that only 18% of the adult population has a college degree...crazy!! I know the city could be better but what place couldn't improve a little...especially the way the economy is right now...even stil...I'm pretty pumped to be going back to visit America's #9 most miserable city!

B. With all this cold weather I keep seeing these allllll over...

I don't know if everyone knows this about me but I've got a fear of these bad boys...I had a very traumatic experience with an icicle back in the day.

I was with my sister and we were out playing in the snow...for some reason I had my big wheel with me too...we went to the neighbors house and saw this awesome icicle hanging from their porch...I wanted to play with it so my sister held the big wheel while I stood on it and proceeded to bat at the icicle with my mitten...staring straight up at it the whole time! DUMB!! The thing came crashing down right onto my face and next thing I know I'm running back home with my mitten pressed right between my eyes to hold in the blood! My of course said it was fine and made me sit in the chair holding a towel on it....until mama came home and took me down the street to the hospital where I proceeded to get 7 stitches and a blue popsicle. To this day seeing the huge frozen water daggers gives me chills and makes the scar between my eyes burn....kinda like Harry Potter...

Welp now that I have entertained the world I'm off to clean up this apt and pack for home...

Catch ya on the flip side...

Look What I Helped Do!

2010-02-15T16:52:00.002-05:00

Check this out!

I know my contribution was small but I like to think that I helped in this huge number!

Makes my heart happy!

Brrrrrrr!!

2010-02-15T16:05:00.002-05:00

So I stole this pic off Britt's blog. I know I live in Ohio and technically it's still the middle of Winter but COME ON!

I don't get snow days anymore...

Even if the world starts caving in and the big man upstairs dumps feet of snow upon us Hank the Honda and I are still expected to brave the horrible Columbus drivers and the terrible road conditions to make it to the hospital...

Hank is quite the reliable car and I trust him to get me to work safely but I'm really sick of white stuff being everywhere when I have to go out and drive in it!

This is my plea to the weather gods above that they let this be the last snow of the season...and so help me God if any of this hinders my travel plans to Canton this weekend someone will be going down! I miss ma family!!

Oh Silly Day...

2010-02-14T14:36:00.002-05:00

Personally I am not a huge fan of Valentine's Day...

Could it be because I've been single for all of them? Maybe....

But alas I would still love to wish all my fabulous friends and my super awesome family a very happy Valentine's Day!

I will be celebrating tonight with some awesome gals watching Valentine's Day at the movie tavern where you can do dinner and a movie at the same time! Genius!!

Maybe I'll post about it lata...

St. Jude's

2010-02-13T15:13:00.004-05:00

I'm sure you all know by now how much I hate cancer and how much I love St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. They just do amazing things and it doesn't matter what your race, profession, income or any of that is. They will treat your child no matter what.

Yesterday on the way to go babysit I was listening to WCOL, the country radio station here, and realized they were doing their annual Angel of Hope marathon. During this marathon parents tell stories of their time at St. Jude's and they play heart wrenching songs in the background at the same time.

I was just driving to Powell bawling like a baby. I just think about all the lil kiddos I see at work fighting cancer and want someone out there to find a cure and make it all go away.

St. Jude's is run mostly on donations...I read that it takes, on any given day, 1.5 million buckaroos to run the hospital and 1.34 million of that is paid for by charitable foundations. Last year during this marathon I said that next year (meaning this year) I would become a partner in hope...so I did...

I called in and am now donationg $20 a month to St. Jude's. A couple weeks ago I was contemplating joining a gym to get my ass in shape and that was going to be $40 a month. Now gave half of that away and will just have to work out at the Bay's gym here...the kids need the money more than Urban Active does. How can you say no to a face like that lil girl up there??

Take a listen to James Otto and the song he wrote about St. Jude's. They played that on the radio and just caused me to have a breakdown!

Everyone give thanks for all the healthy kids in your life...

Ok...I'm hopping off my soapbox now...

Trash Dilemma

2010-02-12T15:03:00.002-05:00

Dear Trash Bag Makers,

My small kitchen does not allow me to have the standard 13 gallon trash can. I have a neat and tidy 8 gallon trash can under my counter. It works well for me seeing as a live alone....aside from one issue. I CAN NEVER FIND TRASH BAGGGGSSSSS!!! Your companies all make a lovely variety of bags in the 13 gallon size...one with handles, ones with ties, ones with stretchability, ones with odor block, etc, etc...

I would like this same variety please. The only ones I have been able to find lately are the ones that tie at the top and have the awesome stretchability. I have some issues with this choice however. I do not like how I have to stretch the dickens out of the top to fit it over my can and I do not like the ties on it. I prefer nice handles.

If anyone in the universe finds a good stock of 8 gallon trash bags please let me know and I will buy every box!

Thank you and have a nice day.

A frustrated thrower awayer in Columbus Ohio,
Heather

In other news I bought all the fixens to make some delish chili on Sunday and I cannot wait!

Wow I'm Lame...

2010-02-11T22:11:00.002-05:00

I realize my life is nothing exciting by any means but I quite enjoy it...

I treasure the night after working 3 in a row...it is my time to sleep alllll day, be lazy and catch up on my DVR!

If that's lame then so be it...

Tonight is one of those nights.

Slept till 5, cleaned my apt from top to bottom, and am now happily lounging on the couch catching up on some of my fave shows...what could make this night better you ask?

The new pepperoni due hand tossed pizza from Donatos!

I wish I had taken a pic of the pizza before I broke into it...I thought I could find one online but couldn't!

Everyone should see try this lovely creation!

I have now fallen in love with Donatos hand tossed crust and the double pepperoni made it even tastier!

Made my night 10 times better...

How sad is it that this what I have to blog about lately...I need to get out more for sure!

Me No Likey!

2010-02-11T21:59:00.002-05:00

I have to say that this season of The Bach has no been my fave

I think Jake is totally adorable but his niceness is gettin my nerves a bit...and so is this chick!

She's completely obnoxious and def seems much different then little Jakie...

She just seemed very trashy on her hometown date and I was not a fan...

I liked Ali and she peaced out...although I'm sure she will be back before the season is up...

Tenly is next on my list!

I just love me some reality teevee!

Vegas Vaca!

2010-02-02T15:43:00.016-05:00

This was the view from our hotel room on my fabulous Vegas Vacation!

This was by far one of the best vacations I have ever taken with friends! I was sooo nice cuz there was no fighting, no drama, no one person wanting to do this while someone else wanted to do that, and no jail time!

There were some awesome, and not so awesome parts about Vegas...here is my Vegas top 12 list (I couldn't get it down to 10!)

1. Theresa's birthday celebration...meeting her soul mate and then a couple hours later proceeding to puke all down the hotel hallway and on the room service cart! And in her drunken stupor still being the princess that she is and having us put on her PJs, socks, and covering her up!

2. Me finding a boy in a club and in 20 minutes somehow him thinking we got married, in a fight and broken up! The typical Vegas whirlwind marriage!

3. Finding out that Theresa knows the words to absolutely NO songs! Like thinking that Lady Gaga says "Papa...Papa loves me" instead of "Papa...Paparazzi!"

4. Theresa and Amy dancing on the bar at Coyote Ugly for Theresa's birthday. Amy showed off the chicken wing dance moves and they both coordinated their drop it like its hot move so they didn't fall off stage!

5. Me getting some great hands on video poker...like this one...

And a not so great moment was then losing all the money I won!

6. Getting to see the inside of just about every hotel on strip...they are all sooo pretty inside and out! Here are some of my faves...

(first is the Mirage where we stayed, then the Paris at night, inside the Wynn, and the Bellagio which is beautiful day and night!)

7. Going to see Zumanity, the Cirque du Soleil show...it was an AMAZING show with an AMAZING cast...including this scary fella...

8. Amy putting aside her fear of little people and taking a pic with the little Elvis for her daughter...

9. Having a bathroom therapy session with strangers and then taking a group picture afterwards...

10. Erin trying so hard every night to get drunk and just never meeting her goal! lol BUT looking hot trying!

11. DRINKING ON THE STREET!!!

It was so nice! If you didn't finish your drink at a club or restaurant just get a to go cup and be on your way!

12. Riding this...

The big roller coaster on the top of New York New York. It was a blast! I rode in the front car with Amy and would have ridden it more if it wasn't $14 a pop!

While the city and vaca were completely fabulous I did hate some parts of Vegas...including...

The damn card flappers that stand allllll along the street making comments to you and trying to give you cards to call for a hooker! I am a girl! I don't want a girl hooker! STOP FLAPPING YOUR CARDS AT MEEEEE!!

The way you had to go up and down steps, over bridges, down elevators and escalators, over the river and through the woods just to cross the stupid street!

Losing my money just as fast as I won it...

All the smoking in the casinos (Erin I'm glad your a considerate smoker and don't blow it in our faces!)

And for those of you that are actually still reading this here are a couple of my fave photos of us on the trip...

And lastly I leave you with a video of the Bellagio fountains...I loved them and could have watched them for hours!

I had such a blast with these girls and want to go back and do it all again!

My Mind's a Racin!

2010-01-26T16:52:00.004-05:00

I haven't blogged in awhile...I suck

Whenever I work (especially 3 in a row) all I can think about it eating and sleeping so not much else gets done.

Today I have lots of random thoughts and in the spirit of one of my fave blogs I'm just gonna let y'all know whats on my mind...

Too bad it won't look as pretty as hers. (I need to learn how to add color and stuff to this thing)

Here we go

I CANNOT wait to leave for Vegas in 2 days! All that's left to do it pack, and pick up some last minute things from Target...and find someone to share Charli responsibility with Britt (even though I haven't even told Britt that I'm accepting her offer!)

I just spent about $30 on new music to travel with including the Hope for Haiti and randomly the newest Train album. I haven't listened to Train since about high school but I really enjoy their new song and the previews I heard of the others! I can't wait to listen to the whole thing!

In the past two months I have finished reading the Lovely Bones and Dear John and I want someone to go see both movies with me! My sister saw The Lovely Bones last night with her hubs and said I should not go see it alone cuz it's a little creepy. I'm sure I'll hate both movies cuz they won't be as good as the books but I still want to see them!

The new shows Life Unexpected and The Deep End are super fabulous and I can't wait to watch more of them!

I went to the bank today and took $800 out of my savings account. It was sad to see the money leave my beloved account and it was also scary to be holding a large wad of cash. The whole time I had it I felt like I was going to be robbed at any second!

My new boots from Nordstrom came in the mail yesterday and I'm so sad cuz my left one fits beautifully, but my right bum foot is all big and fat and the boot doesn't fit! I'm so disappointed and need to find a way to shrink that right calf!

I don't want to go to work tonight...I'm tired...and CVVH (I know you don't know what the means) but it's exhausting! Although the upstairs neighbor just started playing super loud music and the bass is shaking my ceiling so maybe it's good I'm going!

I think that might be most of the random thoughts...sorry if it's boring but such is my life...my next post will probably be about Vegas baby!

Peace out kiddos!