37 hrs til take-off

two weeks of classroom orientation and a few hours in the transplant clinic down...time for another week off i guess.  leaving for puerto vallarta sunday morning and am super excited!  promise i will be a total work-horse again as soon as i get back.

back from the northwest...

I am back from Seattle and had a great time! I will post some of my pics soon but for now here is a little list of some of the things I did in the Northwest (not necessarily in order) and pics I stole from google images:

• drank a latte at Starbucks on Lake Washington
• walked up and down many "hills"
• watched recent episodes of the Colbert Report
• saw the space needle, sci-fi museum and music experiment (but did not go in any of them)
• walked on the boardwalk
• visited Volunteer Park and Conservatory
• looked at many mountains (Oympic and Cascade ranges, Mt. Baker & Mt. Rainier)
• took a ferry to Bainbridge Island

• wandered around Pike Place Market
• had a couple lattes at Amy's favorite cafes
• wore a lot of jeans and fleece with no make-up
• met Mary, Julie and Jason for a pitcher of microbrew at the Elysian
• baked cookies and lemon bars
• ate Phu soup in the college district (skipped bubble tea-too full)
• had a cranberry-apple piroshky for breakfast

• went to the aquarium- very cool fish, otters and octopus
• made ravioli bake for dinner
• drove to Bellingham with Amy and Cecilia
• ate ice cream at a sweet homemade ice cream shoppe
• attempted several crossword puzzles
• had a Midwest nostalgia dinner night- complete with iceburg lettuce salad (with crouons and ranch dressing), beer cheese soup, tater tot hotdish "totdish," lemon bars and miller high life (the champagne of beers of course)
• ran along Lake Washington in the rain
• hiked around Seward Park

• had cocktails at 22 Doors
• re-learned to crochet hats
• visited Snowqualmie Falls and Mt. Si (weather too bad to hike to summit)
• drove down to Olympia
• looked at starfish, mussels and lots of boats in the bay
• shared yummy seafood and had a glass of cabernet at Anthony's
• bought salmon steaks at Pike Place Fish to bring home
• had a Plymouth Hefeweizen and turkey sandwich while waiting for my flight at Sea-Tac
• arrived an hour late on a flight that left 15 mins early

Just Chillin'

Well, turns out when I no longer have anything to study for and I'm not working Monday through Thursday I get pretty bored. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining I just don't know what to do with myself some days. I've done some reading for pleasure, gone to the YMCA, cleaned out old papers, shopped online a bit, slept a lot and tried a few new cooking endeavors. Good/Bad news is that this "boring" phase of my life is coming to an end this coming week.

Schedule for next few weeks:

February 16-22nd:

• work Mon, Thurs, Friday
• appt. Tuesday with employee health
• Molly's Bday party and Jenny's shower Saturday

February 23-March 1st:

• work Monday
• fly out from MSP to Seattle to see Amy Wednesday

March 2-8th:

• fly back from Seattle to Msp Thursday
• work Fri, Sat, Sunday

March 9th:

• start my RN orientation!

I passed the NCLEX!!!

wahoo!  I'm a real live Registered Nurse!

it's the final count down

Boards tomorrow morning at 0800!

bad news- good news

Bad News:

• I almost passed out twice when giving blood yesterday
• I was told earlier this week that I would not be able to start training as an RN until March 23rd (Day 2 of my trip to Mexico for Ryan's Bro's wedding)
• which translates to me being really disappointed because I'm going to be working at the desk and as an aide for a month and a half with a NURSING liscense
• and put off getting paid a nurses salary during that time
• I had a really huge zit on my chin

Good News:

• I take my boards on Tuesday
• which translates to NO MORE STUDYING for a while
• I am going to have a lot of free time so...
• I booked a flight to Seattle to go spend a week with my BF Amy!!!
• I was also informed today that I will actually start training March 9th (2 wks earlier than previously told)
• which will work much better because I will start earlier and will still get my scheduled vacation

job offer

I got a job offer today in Solid Organ Transplant at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.  This is the same place I've worked for 4.5 years and am really excited to work there as a RN!  The appointment is not what I had hoped for (it is the same number of hours I've been working while I was in school) but at least I will have my foot in the door and the pay is good.  I am not sure when exactly I will start orientation yet but I am excited none the less.