Monday, January 31

STL recap:

Currently itting in essential baking company in Fremont with a goat cheese/pear sandwich [incredibly good!]. A perfect time for a recap:

Such a wonderful time with my sister. On Sunday we went contra dancing. To be honest, I was quite apprehensive about going and almost begged off going [my last contra experience was interesting to say the least]. I am so glad I went. Such fun! A few girls from bible study go frequently in the Seattle area, and I am now thinking of going on a regular basis myself.

Monday morning/early afternoon included a snowy walk of Covenant Theological Seminary, a STL arch and Busch Stadium visit, some wondrous greek grub, and some grocery store visits. Monday evening was pho/Fiddler on the Roof night with J's neighbors [an odd combination, I know]. So good. One of my favorite films with one of my favorite foods.

On Tuesday, I chopped my hair off. Not really.... but a 1.5 inches makes my curls SPRING, thus making a much shorter do than I'm used to. Lunch at a completely authentic Jewish deli [matzah ball soup goodness], and then prep for Joelle's golden 25th birthday party, complete with golden gilt, a yellow devil's food cake, paper chain decorations, and a Taio Cruz music playlist. It was such a joyous evening celebrating Joelle.

Wednesday I flew back to SEA, finally got a work out in, and then back to the work life. An education day and then a day scrubbed into the OR. I was once again faced with a patient in a spica cast. I held it together until I saw a single tear slide down the side of the 20 month old's face in the PACU. It hurts to see these little ones hurting.

All in all, I wish I was back. I wish I could romp in the snow. I wish I could spend more vaca days with Joelle. I wish I could write more, but I have a car full of "junk" to drop off at my NEW apartment. Real life has begun once again.

Thursday, January 27

Just a few:

Pictures of the gloriously snowy STL:







Sunday, January 23

st. louis thus far:

Excitement all around... everywhere I go, even the airport. Sitting by my gate in Seatac, I was scanning through the latest posts from the blogs I follow. Winner winner! I won a $25 gift certificate to Simple Thrift [http://www.etsy.com/shop/simplethrift] from one of my favorite blogs, Cakies [http://mycakies.blogspot.com/]. Ready for some vintage shopping.

The flight was perfect. Thanks to an underbooked southwest flight, I had an entire row and an entire can of soda to myself.

St. Louis greeted me frigidly, snow piled high on the sides of the road. Joelle had dinner ready for me. I quickly got settled, and then we were off to a German pub with some of her seminary friends. Back to J's house for cups of tea and glasses of wine with more friends. While the age group of seminary students are quite a bit older than the age group of undergraduate students I've hung out with in years past [obviously], I couldn't help but be reminded of the egg-nog parties and get togethers I loved so much at SPU.

Church this morning was lovely, and then lunch with Joelle and Luke. A quick stop at Whole Foods for some groceries and beverages for Joelle's upcoming golden birthday party. And now some down-time until an evening of dancing.... yikes. Better rest up. More to come, and hopefully pictures.

Saturday, January 15

sniffle.

I can count on three fingers the number of times I've been sick since December 2009. I credit my yearly [required] flu shots to that fact. I work in hospitals, but hardly get sick. My daily purell baths also might have something to do with it.

But now..... sniffle. Not a cold, not the flu... an achy combination of the two, minus the temperature. The nurse in me almost wishes I did indeed have a temperature. I could then just picture the bad little bugs burning up and wasting away inside my body. But instead, I have spent my day laying on my bed/couch like a baby, hoping I'm not worse tomorrow. I'm usually able to go about my day when I'm not feeling so hot, but I've surrendered to the awfulness of this little bout. Headache [I never get headaches], continuous sneezing, a faucet for a nose, aching body. Boo. These past few weeks I do admit to running myself a bit thin. I was telling someone the other day about how I've never been so tired as I have been these past three months. In college, there were many a late night, with many a horrendous finals week. But, working as I have been with few days off, there are no time for naps, no chances to skip class, no instances in which procrastination could lead to some needed rest. It's work. Get up and go to work. No other option.

Anywho, tea, broth, some of my sister's hazelnut bread, sleeping for 13 hours, and seasons of ER have been my day. And tetris. I do admit to playing a bit of tetris.

Here's hoping I'm feeling better soon. I have the luxury of having 5 days off; the first of which I spent laying in my bed sick. I had great plans of working out, organizing, crafting, and baking. I was able to work out only twice this past week, which has made me grumpy. I'm hoping that I can hop on an elliptical at the very least tomorrow [possibly] or I will continue to be very grumpy. Not working out is in the top 5 of things on my "trigger card." Being hungry is another. I don't like having a faucet for a nose either... sniffle.

Friday, January 7

changes.

Change is good. It helps us learn. These were the words my manager was telling me and 5 other brand new NICU Staff RNs when she simultaneously told us that 18 NICU positions were going to be cut in January. Being the low man on the totem pole, I didn't have much hope. I applied to a few positions; got called for a last minute interview. I found out that I officially lost my FTE the day before said interview. Not a week later, I was offered a full time position as a Staff RN at Seattle Children's.

In the span of 2.5 weeks, I worked three holidays (willingly), finished up my scheduled NICU shifts (on a run of five 12s) and started full-time orientation at Children's the following day. I lived out of the trunk of my car for the week and was at the mercy of some dear friends as I begged for a bed. I'll be moving to a beautiful living space in Interbay at the end of January. What a Nov-Jan it's been. My dad had two knee operations and two hospital stays. My parent's house almost caught on fire. Sheesh. A proverbial rollercoaster.

Where I'm currently at: I am now a surgical nurse at Seattle Children's. I did my senior pedes practicum on this unit. The acuity is high and the population spans newborn to 21 yrs. The surgical unit houses 11 services including general surgery, ortho, urology, GI, neuro, and EENT. It'll be a whole new arena of spinal fusion and bladder augmentation patients while I still get my beloved gastroschisis and diaphragmatic hernia babies. While l love the NICU and am sad to leave the critical care setting, I am so blessed for this experience at Children's. I did not go one day without work. In fact, I worked several extra days in Dec/Jan thus far. God is good. Children's as an organization is something great. While it may sound cliche, they do great things. I am excited for the opportunities of growth there. And, I have the privilege of double dipping as I work on-call in the NICU at TG. My 6 months in the NICU will not go to waste. There are bigger things at work than I could have imagined.

Being the wimp of a person that I am when it comes to traffic, I refused to commute to Seattle five times this week. I packed up my car with some clothes, a pillow, a towel, and bags of trail mix and was on my way. My four nights of couch surfing were perfect. I lived the highlife. Two nights were spent in a beautiful three story Queen Anne townhouse with a walk-in glass encased shower. One night was spent in a boat on Lake Union: hello Seattle skyline. Beautiful. My friends were so, so hospitable. Living out of my trunk was not as bad as I had foreseen it.

2010 was a whirwind, and the first 7 days of 2011 are proving to be more of the same.

More to come [perhaps a little more consistent than merely monthly updates...:)]