West Coast Recovery.....

Finally back in San Diego after a 6 hour flight....straight.....ugh

I had SO MUCH FUN during my trip to Rhode Island. I will back post the week during the next couple of days.

Time for a lunch of pesto cheese tortellini with sun dried tomatoes and garlic bread. Then back to work tonight....ewwww

I missed the readers last week. Hope you guys had a nice weekend!

Flight home again....

Goodbye R.I.....

Hopefully I'll be back in September!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday

Saturday I drove up to Providence to meet my friend Brent for lunch on Federal Hill (apparently the "heart-beat" of Providence, who knew?). This historic street is jam packed with Italian restaurants. They are like Starbucks in Manhattan...there are pasta bars inside bigger pizza restaurants. I mean legit hole in the wall Italian eateries with dark smoky corners that have large Italian men slipping unmarked manila envelopes to delivery boys with whispered instructions on where to make the "drop." -well- I didn't exactly see any manila envelopes but you get the idea.

We ended up at Venda Ravioli for lunch. It is a fresh deli and cheese shop which also has a cafe where they sell fresh pasta dishes. I had their classic ravioli and Brent had their ravioli surprise which is a 6 different ravioli's and each one was different, and delicious!

The outdoor area where we ate.

Brent is a very old and dear friend (we share the same birthday, he's one hour older then me...jerk haha!) I was really happy to see him because is August he is moving to Japan to teach English in a small rural area on the south coast of Japan. I am so excited for him!!!!

Good Luck Brent!!!!

Cape Cod Love and Jimmy's Saloon!

Today drove back to Rhode Island to meet my in-laws for dinner before meeting all of my old girlfriends from Nursing School for drinks. On my way back home I stopped at Haley's and Chris' place. the Haley of Cape Cod Love haha! I couldn't stay long but it was nice to visit for a little while.

That night my in-laws took me out to coddington brewery for dinner, after that I met with a bunch of my old friends at Jimmy's Saloon on memorial blvd in Newport for Drinks!!

Some "shots" from the night haha!

Me, Taryn, Kate

Mary-Beth, Kate, Rob & Lisa

Shots!

The Whole Group!!!

Cape Cod Day 2

Today we woke up early and went up to Provincetown to walk the streets and go shopping. We met my aunt and uncle for lunch at Bubala's By the Bay, an harbor front resturant that has awesome sandwiches. I had a turkey foccica sandwich which was A-mazaing. They make the foccica bread from scratch at the resturant and it was served piled high with turkey, sprouts fresh tomato and chiplote mayo. Delicious!



We spent the afternoon browsing the shops and enjoying the sunshine.

5 Months

Cape Cod Day 1

Today I woke up early and we were on the Road to the Outer Cape by early lunch. My Mom and Dad drove together in my mothers car and my brother and I drove up in my brothers/my old car. We are big believers in Toyota cars and everyone in my family owns one (except my husband, but we’ll convert him haha). When I was in college my parents bought a 1997 Toyota Corolla and I drove it all through college, it was my first car. It always got me from here to there with no problems. Now it has about 140,000 miles on it and my brother is having a good time improving it and tinkering with it. Now it has a huge subwoofer in the trunk and a new sound deck in the dashboard.

Anyway we made it up to Cape Cod around 2:00 and met up with my Grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle. We always stay at the Even'tide Motel which is a motel with cottages in Wellfleet, MA. My grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle had cottages and my parents and I stayed in a suite. It was nice and comfy. We went to Arnold's Clam Shack for dinner. It is a Cape Cod staple for FRESH fried seafood....delicious!

I took some photos of the greenery I saw at the motel, I miss maple leaves!

Scraggly Tree

Maple Leaves!

The lobby of the motel from my Grandparents Cottage

Tuesday

Today I woke up late and met Laura for an afternoon of shopping and pedicures. It was a nice afternoon to just hang and get adjusted to East Coast time. That night my in-laws came over and we had wonderful time talking and sharing my mom’s chicken potpie. My sister in law just graduated from high school so I enjoyed hearing about the commencement and her college plans. She is going to start at Gettysburg College in the fall as an English major. After they went home I went out to O’Brien’s pup and had a nice time catching up with all of my old college friends.


Cape Cod tomorrow

Flight Home

I clocked out of work at 7:45 Monday morning and my vacation officially begun!

I drove my car over to my friend Jared’s house to leave it there for the week while I was gone. I changed quick at his house so I wouldn’t have to fly in my scrubs. He dropped me off at the airport and I made it through security fairly quickly. My flight was scheduled to leave at 11:20 so I had about an hour and a half to wait before getting on the plane. Unfortunately I was going on 15 hours overnight of no sleep and I was so wired and awake that I couldn’t even close my eyes!

I crashed and burned right after the plane took off and didn’t wake up until we landed in Chicago. I had a long enough layover to get some food then I was back on the plane to Providence. I couldn’t sleep on the second flight and I just ended up reading until I landed around 10pm east coast time. My mom and dad were waiting at the baggage claim, yay! After hugs and kisses and a 20 minute car ride I collapsed into my old bed and slept for 12 hours straight.

Feels good to be home…..

One More Day

T-minus 24 hours until I am on my way home....in the meantime I leave you with this song (which I will be singing on the plane ride, when i'm not sleeping of course)

I just got home from work after a 12 hour night shift....time for bed...nighty night

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!

Splurge Purchase

My Sunglasses are a old pair of fossils that I got on sale for $10 around two years ago. The left lens has several scratches in the upper right corner.

It was time for an upgrade!

I bought these beauties today. Maui Jim Lagoon sunglasses. Finally sunglasses worthy of a Southern California beauty....(that's me haha). I have always had black shades but the brown actually fits my hair and skin tone better.

11 months of Nursing....are we having fun yet?

I have been a medical surgical RN for around 11 months now, and I am ITCHING for a change.

It became clear to me last night, while I was charting after I gave report. We have a computer charting system at our hospital which in some ways have made our lives even harder because instead of taking 15ish minutes of paperwork per patient, it now takes more like 20-30 minutes per patient times 5 patients if there are NO admissions, discharges or transfers (which on PM shift never happens. So on average we are charting for 25 min for around 6 people per shift which is a total of 2.5 hours of charting on top of everything else we have to do during a shift. Pass meds, check sugars etc. Plus it is common-place for our CNA's to have a 15:1 ratio which means half the time the RN's are changing and positioning patients as well. It is a freaking miracle to get through the shift and go home on time. Most of the time 75% of us are still there long after 2330 has passed, finishing our charting.

I have herd through the grape vine that this is more common then not on a medsurge floor. We are chronically understaffed, under-appreciated, and over-worked. And the worst part of it is that it is burning me out already. I HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN AN RN FOR A YEAR YET. that's not OK by me. I didn't go into this career to dread going to work every day. I need to make a change and I need to make it soon.

The hardest part is that I knew from day 1 that I never wanted to be a med-surge RN but I took this job because I needed to work. I have made good connections through this job and I have thought about transferring to the ER in the fall. But now I don't know if I really even want to do that anymore. I know that was what I wanted to do in college but the more I think about it the more unsure I feel. A lot of the things I don't like about my med-surge job will follow me into the ED (ex. the patient population) I feel guilty about it but I don't get the enjoyment out of my job that I feel I should

I am thinking again about going back to my original thought of Labor and Delivery. I am just frustrated because I don't know what I want, I just know that what I am doing now is not it.

BBQ Poolside

hey guys!

Today was really fun. I actually took advantage of the nice San Diego weather and invited everyone over to my apartment to BBQ poolside. It was so much fun! we have a BBQ area near our larger pool and we grilled kabobs and burgers while we talked and soaked in the sun. Definitely a southern California Sunday.

In other news the Pastor at my church's last Sunday was today. Her parents are getting older and she wanted to take family leave in order to have more time to take care of them which I respect a lot. I will miss her on the pulpit but since I have a close connection with her and her family through my husband I am not worried about not ever seeing her again. Every Monday night she has dinners at her house and I always go when I'm not working. It's fun to just spend time with them!

Only one week exactly until I am setting my feet on my home ground, Little Rhody. My mom has pretty much every second of the trip planned but I am so excited to see everyone. I am hoping that I will have a chance to get together with my girls from Nursing School! But first, unfortunately a long work week. Straight until Thursday. Then Friday I am going to pack for Rhode Island and maybe buy some new clothes for the trip! (gotta have an excuse)

When I get home and I am going to start seriously starting to plan our Hawaii trip next spring. Kyle and I have decided to spend our first anniversary running around Hawaii since neither one of us have ever been (well he stopped in Pearl Harbor, but never got to get off the Ship, so that didn't count) Does anybody have any advice, ever been? I really don't even know where to begin

25 Goals For Kyle's Deployment

So I have Decided to make a list of Goals for myself for the Deployment. You can find them






wait...






wait for it....








right....





there!

First Wedding Scrapbook Page

This is my first scrapbook page for my wedding scrapbook that I made quick while I caught up with my friend Becca on the phone (she's the girl on my right in the photo). Very simple page but I didn't want any extra stuff to overcrowd the photo.

Lazy Day....

I don't work today and it is overcast and cloudy so I have been spending most of the day working on my blanket and relaxing. It was my grandma's birthday today and I called my parents then conference called my grandparents to sing happy birthday. It just happened to the the exact moment that my grandma was lighting the candles on her birthday cake. So she got sung happy birthday by my parents in Rhode Island and me in San Diego at the same time. It was really cool.

Cheers to lazy days....in my opinion they are few and far between

Alex crawled onto my lap while I was knitting and fell asleep. I caught this pic with my iphone right before he woke up

My First Bravo!

At work we give the patients and employees the opportunity to recognize an employee for a job well done with a certificate called a Bravo. It comes with a $5.00 gift certificate for the cafeteria too which is pretty much a complete meal down there.

Today I got one (my first one) from a manager!

Here's what it said:

"While rounding on a post op patient both the patient and family stated that you were amazing! Thank you for providing and promoting a commitment for great patient care"

Signed TF, Manager - OR

I started out my shift with that and had a wonderful day, all of my patients were wonderful, thankful, and stable! (most important) one of the days I am happy to be a Nurse!

Sesame-Orange Shrimp and Chicken Stir-Fry

I made this last night to take into work with me. We were pot-lucking because it was Tracy's last night (sad! Tracy we will MISS you!!!)

Anyway The Ladies enjoyed it. I hope you do as well....

Sesame-Orange Shrimp and Chicken Stir-Fry
Source: Cooking Light Magazine ~ June 2009

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I didn't have ground so I substituted fresh and minced it)
• 1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Red (Cayenne) Pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (14 oz.) can fat-free low sodium chicken broth

Stir-Fry

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
• 12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 2 cups chopped broccoli florets
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 1 cup snow peas, trimmed
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, cooked and peeled
• 3 cups hot cooked long-grain rice

What now?

1. Whisk together all ingredients for the sauce together in a medium size bowl. Set aside.
2. To prepare stir-fry, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a LARGE (I used the largest skillet I had) non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add Chicken to pan, stir-fry for 5 min or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove cooked chicken from pan, and set aside
3. Add another 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Add chopped broccoli, carrot, peas, onion and garlic and cook for 5-8 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
   
4. Add cooked chicken and shrimp to skillet, and add prepared sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce thickens to desired consistency.

Serve Immediately over Cooked Rice

Movie Review - The Hangover

Last night I went with a bunch of people from my church to see the new movie The Hangover directed by Todd Philips who also directed Old School. When I originally saw the previews for this movie I passed it off as another senseless guy comedy with no substance that wasn't worth the money to go see.

I was right on all accounts except the last, this movie was absolutely hilarious! Definitely worth the money!

The plot is simple. Guy getting married in two days, Guy and three friends go to Vegas for a night of drunken foolishness, Guy's friends wake up the next morning in a trashed apartment and no one can remember what happened the night before, oh and said bachelor is no where to be found!

The 4 main actors in this movie play beautifully off of each other, and Heather Graham has a cameo as (you guessed it) a Vegas Stripper.

If you have any interest in seeing this movie I would recommend seeing it in theaters. I think that sitting in a theater with 50ish other people all laughing their butts off makes the movie even more enjoyable. Go into to it prepared. It is a GUY's movie, drunk nights in Vegas with everything that goes along with it.

Bring a sweater, it came in useful when I had to muffle my laughter because I was laughing so hard!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

I made these yesterday to bring to work tonight. One of my good friends at work is leaving to move home closer to her parents with her husband. I wanted to bring in something sweet for her and I know she likes peanut butter. The "cookie base" is different than what I usually use for cookies but it was good just the same. If you like peanut butter, you will love these cookies!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Source: Heather Drive

Ingredients:
- 2 cups + 2 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 12 tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
- 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 - 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ~ I used 2/3 c.
- 1/2 - 1 cup peanut butter chips ~ I used 2/3 c.

Directions:

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

4. Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (18 minutes was WAY too long for mine), rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.

Makes approximately 18 large cookies.

My Good Friend Brian and his Photography

I have known Brian pretty much FOREVER. He was the guy that introduced me and my husband back in 7th grade (yes people, 7th grade) and he was Kyle's best man at our wedding *picture below*

He had just told me that his photographic hobby has become a real passion for him! Since the beginning of this year he had talked to me about photography and he said that he wanted to start taking more pictures and experimenting with different techniques. Last month he got a really nice camera (Cannon Rebel XSI...nice!) Now I would love to someday get a SLR camera and learn a little more around taking good quality pictures. (for some reason that goes hand in hand in my head with "I want to be able to take beautiful pictures of my babies, when i have them!). But for now I am good with my Cannon point and shoot that kyle got me for Christmas (it's pink thank you very much)

Anyway I am excited to see what he comes up with this summer. I will post some of his work as soon as he sends me some to look at. He did some engagement sessions for one of his friends last month and he is taking some photography classes this summer.

Good Luck Brian!
*I'm like a proud mom haha!*

It's nice when someone you love is happy and passionate about something, in some way it makes me more happy and passionate about life!

Final Blog Redesign

*PHEW*

I have finally settled on a blog design that I really like, thanks to the good people at Our Blogger Templates. This is the uniting of everything that I needed in a layout. Now I will just change the colors and the header as time goes on.

I want to start updating my recipe index. Is there anything you guys want to see on the blog?

Thank You Card

This is my first *real* card project. I made some other Cards when I got my cricut expression a few weeks ago but since I have been spending more time on the internet researching different techniques I decided to try a new card (especially since I wanted to try my new stamp) I haven't decided to send this one out or to keep it for posterity, since I count this as my first *real* card.


Ta Da!

*this is my "signature" for the back of the card*

New Work Space

This was my weekend project. I needed something new to store my scrapbooking supplies and my desk was in dire need of replacement. It came from Rhode Island and even then I didn't really like it. It was one of those computer desktop desks and since I have a laptop there was a lot of unused space. Plus Kyle put a few holes in it when he was putting it back together, but that's another story. ha ha. So ikea got a lot of my money but I am VERY happy with the wardrobe, it has a lot of space, looks good and is really sturdy. I think it will last me awhile. The table was another ikea purchase. I just wanted a large workspace and this fit the bill perfectly.

This is the Wardrobe Closed....




and OPEN!!!!!



Wardrobe and table. My next task is getting a decent chair,
that is a stolen kitchen chair and isn't tall enough