Frustrations

I have struggled with my desire to be in a new job, pretty much since I started this current job. For those of you that don't know the abridged version of my career history is this. When I was in college I wanted to be an ED nurse, I even had a window into the ED of the hospital I was working in Rhode Island as a student nurse; the largest ED in the state (I know I know small state but still it was a level one trauma ED with almost 100 beds, much bigger than even the biggest ED in San Diego).

But Kyle got on one knee (which I knew he would) that April before graduation and everything changed. I quit my job in Providence and moved with him to San Diego. Out here in August of last year there were NO ED jobs ANYWHERE so I started applying for med-surge jobs because I needed the work. I got hired onto my unit at the end of August and have been there ever since. Now I have a year of med-surge experience and am looking to transfer to the ED. I know that, my manager knows that, everyone knows. They say it's only a matter of time - but they don't quantify how long exactly is a "matter" of time.

Tonight one of the other nurses I work with (who started as an RN AFTER me) told me that her transfer to the ED got approved. Now I guess since she was a student nurse on my unit for a year before she passed her NCLEX-RN makes her senior to me????? Even though she has only been on the floor as an RN for 6 months? WTF is up with that?

It is much more difficult to get into a specialty in Nursing now because of the economy. No one wants to hire someone with no experience in the field because it costs so much to train them. The entire ride home from work I was fuming, when am I going to get a break? when is my turn for career advancement?

The more I thought about it, ironically, the calmer I became. This is in Gods hands, he will find the right job for me. This is the ONLY time I will have to wait like this, once I get experience I won't have this problem anymore. My time will come, and in the meantime I still have a job that I am learning from. Everyday I get more experience as a med-surge nurse I can use later. I can keep building my resume. I can do this..

Next month we are voting on 12 hour shifts. If that passes and I get on days that will be so much better for when kyle gets back, and I will be able to tolerate staying on the unit for a few more months.

Man I am frustrated.......

The Deal of a LIFETIME

My friend Brian has been getting into photography over the last year and has been thinking about updating his camera body. I asked him if he was thinking of trading in his old stuff that I would like to buy it off of him. Originally I was thinking about getting only the camera and the kit lens, but he kept adding things.

This is what is coming in the box that he hopefully shipped today

1) One Canon Digital Rebel xsi camera with kit lens Amazon Retail Price $750
2) One Canon EF 50mm f1.4 lens Amazon Retail Price $520
3) One Canon EF-S 55-250 f/4.0-5.6 IS zoom lens Amazon Retail Price $299.99
4) One copy of photoshop 7 Amazon Retail Price $699.99
5) One gig bag (retails at $100.00)
6) Two extra Memory cards and an extra lithium ion battery
7) A tripod

Total price to buy it retail - around $2300. I'm buying everything for $1200 including shipping. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!

Anyone else out there into photography? I want some suggestions as to where to start. I want to take an online class at BetterPhoto.com and get some books. But I guess what's really going to help me is pratice pratice pratice!

Look out for ALOT more pictures on this blog!

A Wicked Fun Sunday Night

Tonight was GIRLS night! One more goal to strike off my list.

At the beginning of the summer I was surfing the web and saw that the musical Wicked was coming to the San Diego Civic Theater. I have herd nothing but good things about this show and I really wanted to go see it. I had mentioned if off hand at work and before I knew it I had 4 girlfriends wanting to go. I bought the tickets in June and have been looking forward to it ever since.

Well the show was tonight, and I have to tell you, It was AMAZING! The show opened on Broadway in 2003 and went on to win 3 Tony awards (nominated for 10). It has gone on to break several box-office records for ticket sales and is still quick to sell out now 6 years later.

It tells the story of the two witches from the Wizard of Oz. Glinda, the good witch and Elphaba (a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West). The plot was based on the book with the same title, written by Gregory Maguire (now something else to add to the book list).

So three of my girlfriends and I went to the show tonight and went to dinner beforehand (the 4th girl was going to come and ended up not being able to because she forgot that today was the day she was leaving for Hawaii...whoops!) We went to dinner at Anthony's Fish Grotto, a really quaint restaurant right on the San Diego harbor. We sat in a booth over looking the water, the view was incredible and the food was great

some pictures from the night...


Me, Brooke, Kim (second time ever I got my hair to curl nice. FYI mousse helps haha)




Mary-Anne, Brooke, Kim




Cool Picture of the backdrop they used before the show started and during intermission. The green light illuminating the Emerald City was pearlescent and twinkled! So Pretty!

Excuse me, but I have to vent

Tonight I went to an event sponsored by my employer, Scripps Health, a large hospital group in San Diego. It was a San Deigo Padres game that over 12,000 Scripps employees went to. There was a nice BBQ beforehand with free hot dogs and drinks, peanuts and cracker jacks. This was NOT what I am writing to vent about, just so you know. The game was really fun and it was fun to see so many fellow Scripps people there. We we all wearing white t-shirts for the event so the entire 300 section of the stadium was a wall of white. (One of my friends was watching the game at home and he asked where I was sitting, I told him I was the one in the white shirt haha)

Okay there were several things that kind of depressed me about the game

1) Kyle really likes baseball, and was bummed he wasn't here to come to the game
2) I went with my friend Brooke and her fiance
3) There we met up with
**Justine and her boyfriend
**Helen and her husband
**Kim and her almost boyfriend
**Natalie and her boyfriend
(this goes on)

yeah, so I was pratically the only person there without a significant other....I felt like the last person picked for kickball, no one wanted me.....I wish kyle was there so much. The fact that I haven't herd a peep out of him in three days hasn't helped.

I guess most people know what that's like...what most people don't know is what it feels like to be the single person when you are actually married...just so you know...it REALLY SUCKS.

Little Rhody Girl is the Super Duper Bridesmaid!

Four weeks ago one of my Bridesmaids, Becca, got engaged and asked me to be one of her Bridesmaids. Three weeks ago my other bridesmaid, Kate, got engaged and asked me to be one of her Bridesmaids...

One wedding is next June in Connecticut, the other is next July in Iowa.

keep in mind that I am living in California at the moment, but DANG it I am going to BOTH weddings! I want to maintain these connections with people, with my close friends, with my other life.

My husband might not be able to go to both but I am determined to spend my next year being bridesmaid extraordinaire!

CONGRATS TO BECCA & CHRIS (AND) KATE & MATT!!!!!

Renewals and Reflections

Tonight when I got home from work I went to the mailbox and found my renewal notice for my RN license. I have officially been a RN long enough for my first license renewal. It seems really hard to believe that a year has flew by since I graduated from Nursing School.

So much about my life has changed
So much has changed for the better

I remember back to the semester before I graduated. I used to fantasize about singing RN after my name. I wanted to sign my checks with RN at the end, I was so excited about having that designation at the end of my name. Now I sign RN 100 times a day at work, it's been starting to loose it's grandeur. So I think it's a good thing that I am looking back and reflecting on that. So that tomorrow when I am at work and writing RN for the 50th time that day after my name I will pause for a second and really feel proud and accomplished for all of the hard work that I did to get myself to this point

I am a working professional, a Registered Nurse!

Nursing Flashback-Taken from a 1963 Magazine

$ 70.00 a WEEK! HOT DAMN WHERE DO I SIGN????

Mondays

The Monday after my back to back 12 hour shifts over the weekend is always kind of sad. I think it's the combination of the lack of sleep, the sleep during the day and the fact that most monday nights after I wake up I can't sleep again until 3 or 4 Tuesday morning so I spend a lot of that time alone, alone with my thoughts.

These are the days that I miss my huband the most. I want nothing more then for him to walk through the front door, it had been especially difficult because over the last few weeks it seems like everyone around me had been nothing but happy happy happy. It sort of feels like being single on Valentine's Day....everyone around you is sickinly happy when you are nothing but miserable.

I just want time to speed up and for it to be November already. I want to be able to see my husband again. I want a new job.....ugh I want this so much.

The thing is that this weekend is the over the hump party for Kyle's ship. We will officially be halfway through the hellish existance that is this deployment. Right now I am so far deep in the tunnel that it's pitch black, in a couple of days I hope that I can start seeing a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel, and each day it will get bigger and bigger, until we are together again.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

One of my Husband's groomsman (and also a dear friend of mine) Julien, is deployed with a naval ship out of Everett, Washington. He has been gone for awhile and I decided to send him a care package. In it I have put letters, some dried fruit and some of his favorite cookies!

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
source:The New Best Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but cool
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups raisins

1. Adjust the oven racks to the low and middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt together in a medium bowl
3. Either by hand or using an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time
4. Stir the dry ingredients unto the butter-sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in the oats and raisins.
5. Working with a generous tablespoon of dough each time, roll the dough into 2-inch balls and place on baking sheets, spacing them at least 2 inches apart
6. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through the cooking time. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer the cookies with a wide metal spatula to a wire rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes.