i'm a bad blogger

I've been a very bad blogger. Laying around on this lazy Sunday morning, I thought to myself "wow, it's been forever since I've blogged!". So here goes, my crazy busy life...

First of all, has anyone had Sweet Frog frozen yogurt? OMG best new hot spot in Richmond, hands down. They have this amazing wall of frozen yogurt that you can mix and match whatever you like... my most recent was peach and chocolate mixed :) Then, you get to add whatever toppings from the amazing options. I personally LOVE the fruit/chocolate/nut/reese's pieces combo :) It's all I can do to ONLY indulge maybe once a week, but YUM!

So I have also been working on my DIY wedding goodies the past few weeks, including my shell frame which I painted a off white then glued shells that John and I have collected over the past few years and this will be over the picture frame "guest book" for our guests to sign at the wedding! I love love love this idea to showcase the "guest book" frame as something to hang on the wall, instead of the traditional guest books that get put away and never looked at again. It also makes me feel very crafty to do things like this for the wedding and putting my personal touches here and there :) There are a few others but life has been CRAZY the last month with the new J-O-B!
I have also gotten hooked to making granola all the time, even John has developed a love of it, too! He has been snacking on that more than he does on sweets now, choosing that for desert sometimes instead of ice cream... SO incredibly proud of him and the lifestyle changes that he has been making recently... including QUITTING SMOKING! We hit the one month Thursday that he has quit and I couldn't be more proud! He has become a gum-o-holic, but I'll take that any day over cigarettes! He is also working out with me at least 2 times a week and about to run his first race with me in a month at the Ukrop's 10k. SO proud I could burst! :)
So, my new job is amazing and I love love love going to work every day :) I have been working for 5 weeks now as a registered nurse and couldn't be happier with my life decisions I made to make it where I am now in my life. Over the past few weeks, we went through computer charting training, hospital orientation, and super preceptor where we got to practice all the skills that we didn't have the opportunity to do in nursing school. Of these, I got to place foley catheters, straight cath, NG tubes, OG tubes, IV starts, blood draws, central/PICC line pulls and dressing changes, Code Blue, tube feeding, blood administration, PCA pumps, and much much more. It was a great experience and I feel like just practicing and watching those things over the last few weeks will help to give me the confidence I need when I hit the floor for real starting TOMORROW! My first week of work and I am scheduled for 44 hours! Hit the ground running I suppose :) 3 12 hour shifts await me, along with a basic arrhythmia class to perfect my knowledge of EKG strips and recognizing different heart rhythms since all patients on my unit are on telemetry monitors. Needless to say, this is part of why I have been such a slacker on blogging, because I have been brain dead after work from the mass knowledge being crammed in ;) Did I mention that I LOVE my job?!
And to top everything off, only 69 days until the wedding! It's been rather cute to see Prince William and Kate's count down on TV since theirs is one week before ours :) Bet she hasn't done ANY DIY stuff for theirs! We started marriage counseling a few weeks ago and it has been very helpful and eye opening and I really think it is going to help us to be a better couple. We are both getting so excited about the wedding and I can't wait for it to finally get here! I had my first dress fitting yesterday and got all pined up for my alterations to be made and will pick up my dress April 1st! We also got a necklace yesterday for me to wear with pearls and shells that I fell in love with. The bridal shower is next Saturday and I am so excited to see all my girl friends that I haven't seen in forever :)

So back to my lazy Sunday... seems like everyone is napping except for me in my house! I think I'll catch up on some reading until John wakes so we can go for a run... Happy Sunday everyone!

wordless wednesday: key west butterfly gardens :)

yes, I'm a dork :)



These pictures just bring a calm happiness to my heart :) Hope it does the same for you!

oh cheese and rice

It's been a long couple of days. My man is sick so my world has all but come to a halting stop. I spent most of my evening (prior to the Thera Flue and Motrin kicking in) convincing him that he really didn't need to go to the hospital and that he had his own personal RN to care for him. Until his fever disappeared, it was getting testy whether I was going to remain nice and caring, but thankfully, he is FINALLY on the mend :) Yes, there is a God! Anyways, I made my first delicious hummus today! SO EASY! I have discovered yet another wonderful vegan website Fatfree Vegan and found this:

Hummus

2 cloves garlic

1 can chickpeas, drained

1/8 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp cumin

1 tbsp tahini

In food processor, chop garlic. Add chickpeas and lemon juice and pulse until blended. Add water until it becomes a smooth paste. Add cumin, paprika, tahini and pulse until smooth. Garnish with parsley and paprika. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours to let flavors blend and become delicious :)

Yum and YUM! I'll have to hold myself back from eating it all so I can enjoy the chicken cooking in the crockpot....

ALSO, I made these delicious no-bake yummies from my favorite website, Oh She Glows, last night because I was craving sweetness in the stress of caring for my sick man...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chews

1 cup crisp rice cereal

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

3 tbsp organic brown rice syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp dark chocolate chips

Line plate with parchment paper. In bowl, mix peanut butter, rice syrup, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Microwave on high 35-45 seconds and stir well. Immediately add cocoa powder. Add rice crisp cereal until all coated. Wet hands and make 7 golf-ball sized balls and place on parchment paper. Place in freezer for 5 minutes. Let stand 5 more minutes and enjoy! Delicious little yummies!

Anyways, we went to Washington D.C. last weekend to chat with an old friend about marrying us, and she said YES! We officially have her, as long as we go to our 3 more meetings and work on us as a couple ;) I think the counseling will do us a lot of good, especially in communicating with each other and finding out what we can do to bring out the best in each other and grow as a couple together :) Back again in 2 weeks!

I start on my floor tomorrow at the hospital! I have completed my computer training for our electronic charting and now have to do unit and hospital specific orientation, then preceptorship, but I am LOVING it so much :)

Does anyone else HATE running in the cold, because I sure do. This winter seems SO much harder to run outside than I remember experiencing last winter. I'm trying SO hard to make it to the gym at least 2-3 days a week and running outside at least once a week. I did have an awesome workout today though, running intervals on the tredmill at 6.0 mph for .25 miles then up to 7.5 mph and repeating until I had completed 3 miles. GOOD LORD did that beat me up! I then did my upper body and abs workout, but I need something new because I'm getting rather bored with my regimen. I heard that Jillian Michael's 30 day shred it pretty awesome and I'm considering purchasing it... Any user reviews out there???

Off to finish cooking dinner...

P.S. I have a severe obsession with taking pictures of my sleeping puppy :) He smiles in his sleep.