Florence

Six years ago, in between semesters in college, I took a job as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at an assisted living center in Logan, Utah.  It was not glamorous or high-paying, and no one got the jealous sparkle in their eye when I told them what I was doing... "Gross, I don't know how you wipe old people butts all day long!" was a {rude} comment I grew accustomed to hearing.  And although I experienced maybe more than my fair share of less then appetizing situations, the inspiration that seemingly "came out of no where" really changed my life.  I worked there for a few months and left with increased compassion, a bigger heart, a deeper love for an incredible generation, and new life goal: to become a Registered Nurse. I also gathered quite the collection of stories; funny, sad, heart-wrenching, spiritual, gross and scary.  It was the best job I ever had, and it set me on a path that I never doubted was the right one for me.

College, internships, moving across the country, marriage, travel and pregnancy happened in those last six years but in May I was pinned with the rest of my class as a Registered Nurse.

And oh boy, words can hardly express how wonderful that felt.

The history of the pinning ceremony actually dates back to the Crusades of the 12th century, when new monks would come to serve the ill of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist and take an oath to serve the sick & injured. They were presented with a cross, the symbol of Christianity, and vowed a vow dedication.  Over the years, the cross became of coat of arms and has since morphed into an emblem of each nursing program.  The modern ceremony is also heavily influenced by Florence Nightingale  as each student is given a white candle that is lit from the main, burning candle to represent "the Mother of Nursing" and signify the passing of the flame to each new nurse.  We are also presented with a pin from our instructor- symbolically a cross to bear, to show a nurse’s dedication to his/her patients, to advocate for the patient and to serve “long after others have given up hope and gone home”. 
Together, we recite the nursing pledge, blow out our candles and leave the ceremony "registered nurses" (of course we don't talk about the looming NCLEX we need to pass).
It's a beautiful ceremony and very emotional.  

Our Florence Nightingale candle & beautiful flowers.
Getting pinned by one of my favorite professors, big grin! She whispered in my ear when she hugged me, "I hear you have a little secret." It was cute, and a fun moment to be receiving my pin and confirming our happy news of a baby coming our way.

My very best friend for those two incredibly intense years of school, Joy.  Her name suits her perfectly, she is an amazing person, I could go on for days about her special qualities, having 'joy' only scrapes the surface.

And this picture! I cannot even look at it without all sorts of emotions welling up inside of me.  My greatest supporters & three of the people I love very best.  I couldn't have done it without them, I guess I probably could have done it without them, but then again I could live a life without them, and it just wouldn't really be any life at all.  Same with this experience, they were my biggest cheerleaders and it just wouldn't mean as much to me if I didn't have them to share it with.

Love that pin!

I could go on & on about how wonderful this experience of nursing school was (& it truly was, I loved nearly every second of it) and how incredible and dedicated my instructors were (I will owe them forever, for being so invested in me) and how blessed I am for this opportunity, and so many others (Heavenly Father is so good to us).  But I can't, I have to study for the boards :]

On pregnancy

Today I am 15 weeks pregnant, and what an accomplishment that feels like!

We found out we (correction: I. Mckay's pet peeve is when husbands and wives are both pregnant. But I think he's learning that husbands and wives are both pregnant) were pregnant on a Saturday in March. It was the best. We cried and were giddy and kind of just sat there for about an hour with these feelings of awe pouring out of us, it felt surreal and exciting and wonderful and strange.  

Then around six weeks I started to feel some mild nausea. It was uncomfortable but bearable, and not really an inconvenience.  In all my primi-gravida naivety I thought, "This isn't awesome, but totally manageable.  I can totally do this, and do it with a good attitude." And then week 7 hit. And all of a sudden I actually kind of wanted to be put out of misery. I was intensely nauseous all the live-long day. And around week 9 I started throwing up, and getting even sicker at night. All this while somehow managing to keep my eyeballs above the shark infested waters of nursing school.

Everything went to the dogs. My house especially took a beating. It was disgusting. Mckay was in massive amounts of trouble when he actually invited our home teachers over immediately after church one Sunday to a home that looked like wild hyenas had made camp. This wasn't just my-house-is-fairly-clean-but-I'll apologize-and-pretend-it's-disgusting-because- it's-normally-sparkling-and-aromatherapy-ized, this was dirty clothes strewn about, moving boxes, piles of junk, food on the floor, dishes in the sink dirty. It was so bad they actually excused themselves for a minute so we could "tidy up" and I could try and cool my burning red cheeks. 

I didn't cook. I didn't clean. I literally did not grocery shop for over six weeks. I went to class (sometimes) and then came home and got right into bed and Mckay would bring me food that I would try and eat (in bed) and then I'd fall asleep. Or cry and then fall asleep. Or watch "Call the Midwife" and fall asleep.

It really felt like it would never end. As horrible as this is to admit, some days it was incredibly difficult to be happy & grateful. Some days I wondered what the heck we'd been thinking.  Other days were so sweet and even through the nausea and misery there were only tender feelings and happy emotions- like when Mckay would be speeding down I-95 and then hit the breaksand say, "Woah, I better slow down, I'm gonna be a Dad!" or when he'd talk to our little blueberry sized embryo through my softening tummy. Or one morning when my Mom sent us our first teeny-tiny baby outfit with little elephants on it and I thought my heart would burst. 

The weeks slowly but eventually passed, the nausea lifted, and pregnancy amnesia set in because now I think this whole things is practically perfect in every way.

I even did (ahem, attempted) a prenatal yoga video today... and the deep breathing at the beginning felt so good and relaxing that it made me sleepy and then I had to do some pose where my hands were reaching up and I'm squatting down (awkward tree?) and I was like this.is.not.relaxing.only.uncomfortable. So 7 minutes into it I quit and took a nap. But I gave myself a break because I haven't done a stitch of exercise since becoming pregnant. That's on my to-do list. I also threw my only organic, increased fruits & veggies, lean protein, no sugar/white flour pre-pregnancy, pregnancy diet idea out the window reaaaal quick. Because when only grilled cheese sandwiches and watermelon sound good, I only eat grilled cheese sandwiches and watermelon. 

Ch-ch-ch-changes:
There's actually a bitty-bump now which I kind of love.  
I'm still waiting on the super-thick gorgeous hair that is rumored to come, so far I haven't been the recipient of that pregnancy blessing. 
Ever increasing bust size. Some call it curse but I can't for the life of me figure out why.
Fatigue that hits like a ton of bricks (especially when I attempt yoga or house cleaning or reading).
Some pimples, which are as unwelcome now as they were at 15.
Aversions; no salteens, Crest toothepaste, gingerale, teddy grahams or spinach ever again please.  

Things are good. We {three} are very happy.

Our beautiful, talented and smart child at 9 weeks. Look at those cute arm buds!

B is for Baby.

Coming in November & we couldn't be more thrilled.

That time we saw Ben Stiller

It was March 17th.

We were somewhere warm, soaking up the sun during our spring break.

We were eating a delicious & gluttonous steak dinner at about 9:00pm when he walked right through the archway into the back room of the nearly empty restaurant. He had a big smile on his face and was walking fast & before my brain even processed what was happening I blurted out, "Hello Ben Stiller!" in a this-isn't-real-so-he-won't-hear-the-ridiculous-tone-of-my-voice sqeak/squeal.

But it was real.

He sat down for dinner with only an empty table separating us.  

We decided not to be "those fans" and bother him during dinner.

So we finished, paid the bill & went back to our room (for our better camera).  And I maybe put a quick swipe of mascara onto my bare lashes before we went back to camp outside of the restaurant and wait for him to reemerge.  (& get a picture with him on our better camera with my eyelashes standing out!!!).

Much less annoying and creepy.

He came out, but I was freaking out about not being stalker-ish so we hung back and only saw him sitting in the front seat of the car ready to drive away.  

And then he was gone to who knows where, his private villa or something.

Still, a pretty cool story, even with no picture as proof.

So funny to see a celebrity in person.  Even if you think you'll be cool and not even care because Hollywood is so removed from actual society and totally corrupted with too much money for their own good... you will not be cool if it's Ben Stiller.  

He's the best.

We also-

Read books: Outliers (Fascinating!), These Is My Words (Positively heart warming and wonderful), The Glass Castle (Pass; could barely finish it, too depressing) &  Freakonomics (Like).

Explored/took walks and admired the pretty scenery. 

Lazed around next to & swam in the turquoise blue ocean.

We really didn't do much more than that.  Mckay got the worst sunburn of his life on Day 2, so that kind of put a damper on things.  I'll spare you the pictures, just know that a week later he still looked like a ripe tomato, it was so sad.  We also ate too much food (specifically dessert) and stayed up too late watching TV.  It was four days of nothing productive and everything relaxing and leisure and we loved it.

Cap Cana, Dominican Republic

March 16-20, 2013

03.02 happy birthday to me!

This year my birthday was on a Saturday, obviously the very best day of the week on which to have your birthday land.  Mckay gave me the best gift ever, him! All to myself doing everything I love for the entire day. It was the best.  He's been spending most Saturday's at his office studying so it really was such a treat to get to spend the entire weekend together, completely ignoring the books.

He gave me a "card" he'd made that had a sweet birthday note on one side and on the other was our schedule for the day, with pictures for every activity he had planned (all of it was a total surprise to me!).  I believe he made it on PowerPoint, which is so Mckay.  It made me laugh.
 
After making and eating a yummy breakfast together, we got pedicures!  It was awesome.  Once all was said and done, he did not love it. He especially hated them filing his toes (that's what is going on in the above picture).  He also had a lady doing his pedicure, which everyone knows is always second string to a man.  But he wasn't letting a man near his feel, quite the conundrum!  There were a few ladies there, I don't know what they were thinking, but they were staring.  I loved it and thought it was so sweet of him to be a good sport.  Plus, his toes look better than ever and he got to speak a little Korean with the employees.  Later that week he had a dermatology appointment and said, "Do you think if she see's my feet she'll know I got a pedicure?"  :]

After our pedicures we hopped in the car and drove into the city for lunch at one of my favorite places, La Bonne Soupe.  It's this wonderful, cramped, authentic French place that has become pretty popular since we first went in 2010 (when everyone was speaking French & we couldn't read the menu).  They have the best "onion soup" I've ever tasted.  The food is delicious and the service is quick.  We were too full for dessert after the soup, ham & swiss crepe (me) & lamb burger (him) and I was bummed because I wanted the chocolate tart... next time!

Once we were sufficiently stuffed, we saw a play!  I love being able to see a Broadway every now & again.  Chicago has been on my list for some time and after getting the green light from a friend, we went for it!  I thought it was great and had really great music, and the girl who played Roxie was adorable!  Mckay didn't love it like I did, but I didn't really expect him to.

The show ended and we raced back to Connecticut for sweet Tillie Rose's 1st birthday party.  We absolutely adore that little lady & think her parents are pretty great too.  We blew out birthday candles together and got to hang out with some of our favorite people. 

It was a birthday that was practically perfect in every way!

Blog-to-book help!?

Has anyone ever turned their blog into a book? 

I took a stab at it tonight and wanted to yell curse words and smash things...

I downloaded BLURB and didn't find it user-friendly at all.  I didn't do the auto-build, I tried putting the posts in myself, which messed up layouts and cut out titles and all other sorts of ridiculousness.  

Advice? What have you used that has worked?

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While I'm on here:

Nothing too exciting going on in our lives. 

I started school and have been completely invigorated after being positively burnt out, that was a pleasant surprise.  I cannot believe it's my last (last??!*&#$*@) semester! Just this last hurdle and then the NCLEX.  I am so looking forward to being done.

Mckay is surviving, that's really the only word for it.  He is so busy between school, work and studying for the CFA.  He manages time to play a little basketball and football and love on his cutie wife, which makes us both happy.

I got really sick two weeks ago and ended up in the hospital after puking my guts out for 5 hours.  That was a fun way to spend my winter break.  But I was in and out so fast, just needed some magic Zofran in my veins and 2 liters of fluid and I was good to go. At least back to bed where I would lay for three days and not move a muscle.  This "flu" (it was some GI virus anyway) does not mess around.

It snowed today which made us both sad.  We were having a "warm", sunny and bearable winter up until last week when the temperature dropped to below 20 and today the snow came.  This is our last winter here!  We say that every year.  Frigid temperatures aside, we truly love it here in Connecticut.

Mckay's parents just got their mission call to Finland, which is where his Dad served 50ish years ago.  We are excited for them and hoping we get a chance to visit.

I watched the latest episode of Downton Abbey tonight while Mckay was at class and cried so now I have puffy eyes and a headache, but so worth it.  I absolutely love that show.

We love 2013 so far.

2012

she

studied a lot & finished 75% of nursing school

turned 23

survived a year of ctr 4 and fell in love with 12 little ones

spent a solo week in utah with her fam

decorated a new apartment

he

turned 30 and celebrated in style with a night of korea-town karaoke

was accepted to NYU, started his MBA program & finished his 1st semester

played a basketball &/or football game at least once a week, three times if he was lucky

passed level 2 of the cfa

watched the bachelorette & abandoned all sense of pride to read people magazine in broad daylight

we

moved into our second apartment and made a new home in darien

explored and tasted all that italy has to offer

went to virginia, massachusetts, maine, illinois, indiana, texas, utah, california, maryland & italy

lived without electricity for a week & helped clean-up after sandy

had the best summer guest ever

celebrated two beautiful years of marriage [with creme brulee of course]

spent a grand christmas in texas playing with nieces & nephews

pulled off a surprise christmas trip to utah 

& had family pictures taken 

2012 was far from a perfect year but it was definitely a sweet one.  lots of growth, lots of pulling together, lots of love, lots of fun! 

cheers to 2013!

Closing time

December is coming to a close. 2012 flew by, but the end has also been slow in coming... Here's what we've been up to this month, the last month of the year! (& the pictures are out of order and refuse to change)

Finished my last clinical day at the hospital! We celebrated with a "fancy" lunch at the "fancy" hospital cafe, it was delicious and the company was lovely. Just one more semester to go, and although this one was no walk in the park, I'm looking forward to getting my motivation up for the final four months that are around the corner. Getting close!

Annual night in the city to see the Christmas festivities! The tree is always so beautiful to me, and breathtaking when you get us close to it, it's just massive and so sparkly, what's not to love? 

Mckay's brother Jared came to town to celebrate his birthday and we got to hang out with him all weekend (we were supposed to go to the Killers concert, which ended up being canceled).  We had brunch at Sarabeth's, a "chick" place, but I think they both ended up really liking it. Jared liked it more than his face in this picture shows.

Our sweet neighbor baby Tillie (who we absolutely adore) came to play one night when her Mama needed to run an errand. Lucky me got to soak up her darling baby-ness for a few hours.

Birthday desserts for the birthday boy! Toasted marshmallow milkshakes -the best milkshake I've ever had in my life!

Mckay's flag football season ended, don't worry, I believe another one has already started up again.  They shall not go without.  I said, "give me a tough face".

We had dinner with our wonderful friends, the Francia's and laughed for two straight minutes at their baby stuck in this foam toy.  It was hilarious watching him try to escape. 

Stars changing colors to Christmas music at the Time Warner Center.

Red 

My milkshake from the birthday dinner. I kid you not when I say it was the milkshake of ALL milkshakes. Toasted marshmallows aren't even my favorite thing and I couldn't shovel this into my mouth fast enough. If that + our wonderful company isn't enough to get you to visit I don't even know what is.