Merry Christmas!

Well I'm happy to report that I am still alive and kicking. I have survived Phase One of holiday craziness and am currently back in Boston for a few days to work, unpack, and repack, before we travel to Atlanta for post-Christmas craziness and New Year's. It was really nice to visit with my mom, my stepdad, and my two little sisters in Louisville, KY. My little sisters (well, they are actually half-sisters, but I always call them sisters because that's what they are to me) make me feel older every year. They are ages 16 and 12, and every time I see them (usually only about twice a year), I think about how much they have grown up since the last time I have seen them, which is such a grandma-like thing to think or say. I look at their outfits and often wonder if I will ever be that cool again. Actually, I'm pretty sure I never was as cool as they are, and probably never will be. Oh well, it's been neat to watch them grow up, and I wonder what they will turn out to be like when they are adults. Unfortunately, right now they are both kind of in that whiny, teenage/preteen phase, where they complain about everything and seem to take everything for granted. My stepdad is really bad about spoiling them, and I am afraid that they will have a rude awakening once they leave the house for college. I suppose it will be around that time that I step in and give them some wise, big sisterly advice that will make them realize the sacrifices that my parents have made in order for them to have what they do. Either way, I still enjoyed getting to see everyone for at least a few days.

Tonight I was supposed to work, but somehow I felt very ill when I woke up, and didn't think I could possibly work this evening. Honestly, I was quite impressed with my dramatic interpretation of a person with strep throat, as I called in sick to work this afternoon. If the nursing gig doesn't work out, I definitely think I should pursue an acting career. I do feel a little guilty about calling in sick, but not guilty enough to be unable to enjoy the day off. (If you think I'm a bad person for calling in sick on a holiday, then you should read my previous post, somewhere around the third paragraph down.)

Anyway, this has turned out to be one of the best Christmas Eve's I have ever had. Dave and I slept in, lazed around for a while, exchanged gifts, and made a lovely broiled steak dinner together (OK fine, he pretty much made it, and I helped a little). I would not have given the day that I have spent with him today up for any stinking old job. So maybe we won't be able to spend today or tomorrow with our friends or family, but we at least we got to spend it together. And to me, he is the most important person to spend it with. In fact, I have been so happy to not be at work today, that I have burst into several songs and dances, coupled with cheesy Christmas music. That's always a good way to gauge my level of happiness: how many songs and dances I do in a day. It's strange, I know, and perhaps I have now revealed too much, but after a bottle of wine and a few beers, I'm not sure I care.

All I know is, if I had worked today, I would have been totally bitchy and grumpy all night, knowing that I wasn't able to spend the holiday doing something fun. I have realized that it's really important to me to make a point of celebrating the holidays in one way or another with someone (or with those) that I really care about. It sucked having to go through so much (working four days straight and then driving fifteen hours to get there) just to see my family, but the fact that I was even able to go to Louisville meant alot to me and made it worth the stress in the end. And maybe today wasn't actually Christmas Day, but the fact that Dave and I got to have our own day to celebrate made it special. And maybe it wasn't very traditional: we didn't have a real tree or decorations or a huge turkey dinner. But we made do with what we had, and we both still had a really great day together.

And speaking of making do with what we had, here's what our Christmas tree looked like:

(In case you can't tell, I made the shape of a tree on our wall in the living room with a strand of Christmas lights. And everyone thought my older sister was the the creative one in the family. Ha! I sure showed her!)

Anyway, here's to making do and appreciating what you have in life. Cheers and Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays to all!

And the Marathon Begins!

About a month ago, I realized that the time of year that I have now come to dread was almost here. That time of year, of course, is the holiday season. I think that it's really sad that I have come to dread it. The reason why is because every year I bust my ass, running around like a crazy person, trying to buy presents for my large family at the last minute. Meanwhile, the hospitals don't close, so of course I have to try and juggle working, buying presents, and visiting with both my mom's side and my dad's side of the family, who live in two different states. Just thinking about it is exhausting. And it's like this every year. Now that I am in Boston, the matter is further complicated by distance. Again, I am wondering why I ever thought the travel nurse thing was a good idea.

So this year, I tried to take at least a little stress out of the picture, and I emailed my family, pleading with them to send me wish lists, so that I wouldn't have to spend extra time trying to guess what everyone wants. It's sad I know. I wish I had time to try to think of something special on my own, but it's just not feasible. Anyway, the good thing is my family complied, and after two days (9 total hours) of shopping, I came home triumphantly with presents for 10 people. For me, being the wishy-washy, constantly-worried-about-buying-something-that-someone-might-not-like type of shopper, that's pretty darn good. And I only spent one whole paycheck. Ouch.

Now that I have the shopping out of the way, all I have to do is work, pack, and travel. Sounds easy, right? Well here's my schedule for the next two weeks:
--Starting tonight, I'm working 4 days in a row. (That will be roughly 50 hours in a 4 day time period.)
--As soon as I get off work Wednesday morning, we'll catch a train to Providence to meet up with my sister, to leave right away to drive 15 hours straight to Louisville, KY (where my mom, my stepdad, and my two little sisters live)
--Saturday evening, we'll fly back to Boston. I'm scheduled to work the 24th, 25th, and 26th. However, I'm pretty sure I'll be sick on the 24th (cough,cough). As a side note, don't you think it's pretty bitchy to schedule someone to work Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas? When I questioned my manager about my schedule, she was like "Yeah, I did that on purpose." Well all I gotta say is f*ck you biatch, especially since our unit is going to be closed for construction that week, and we'll just be floated to other units to work anyway. That's why I'm pretty sure I'll be sick on the 24th. Maybe even the 25th, just for good measure.
--So after Christmas, we'll be flying back to the ATL on the 28th to spend Christmas with Dave's family, and then my Dad's side of the family. Plus we will try to squeeze in as much QT with all of our friends as we can. Finally, we'll top it all off with a fun Funkle New Year's Eve!

And now you see why I dread this time of year. It's just too much. But year after year, it's starting to become the trend. I guess I shouldn't be so pessimistic about it. It could be a lot worse. On the bright side, I am sooo excited about getting to see everyone that I've been missing so much. I mean, that's what it's supposed to be all about, spending time with the people that you care about, and letting them know that you appreciate them. I just hope that I'm not too exhausted to enjoy it. I think it will be all good though. I think I'll just be so happy to see everyone that I'll forget about being tired. As my dad always says, "Sleep when you're dead." I'll have to try and remember that.

After we get back to Boston, it will be back to work again for me. I'll then work 6 out of 7 days (72 hours in 7 days), and then I'll get a vacation for a week and a half. After I'm done working, we'll be leaving that afternoon to go skiing for 5 days. (Yay! I can't wait to go skiing!) When we return from skiing, I'll have 5 blissful days of nothingness before I start my next contract. So there you go, that's what I'll be doing for the next month. I'll apologize in advance if my blogging suffers, because I know it will. I will definitely try to stay on it as much as I can though. Wish me luck! (And if you can't find me, just go outside and scrape my squished remains up off the sidewalk.)

Hey Ya!

There's nothing like a Peanuts cartoon to cheer you up when you are blue. (Perhaps a little known fact about me is that I love anything having to do with Snoopy.)

Familiar Faces

This weekend was so much fun! We finally had some ATL peeps come up to visit for the weekend, and it was so nice to see some familiar faces again. We had three visitors: two of my friends from nursing school, one of whom brought her husband. They arrived Thursday afternoon, and the weekend took off from there.

Thursday night we went to what I think has become our favorite casual seafood place up here. It's a cute little crab shack that's on the waterfront called Barking Crab. It's one of those cozy, casual, good food, good beer, good friends types of places. Plus, it has an old wood burning stove in the middle of the room where they make fires in the winter. Pretty much any place that has a fireplace has me sold! Anyway, I think I decided that I like lobster OK, but crab legs are sooo much better!

Friday was the absolute coldest day I've experienced up here! With the wind chill factor, it was all of 5 degrees! But it was cool because it snowed a little bit, and I was glad that my friends got to see a little bit of snow. Since it was all cold and snowy, we figured it would be appropriate to go ice skating in the park. It's funny, I don't remember ice skating being so difficult or so painful last time I went. I think part of the problem was the rental boots that I'm pretty sure were the same ones they were using when the rink opened in the 1960's. But hey, what do I know?

Anyway, we had a little excitement just before we were about to leave, when my friend's husband decided to take a nose dive directly onto the ice. Unfortunately, the ice bit back, and he emerged with a deep gash on his head. Lucky for him, he had three nurses on hand! We bandaged him up, and sent him to the ER, where he had to wait 4 hours and got seven stitches! Poor guy. I feel slightly responsible because the only reason he was taking this one last run around the ice was because I made everyone skate around one final time so I could take some pictures. My bad.

Saturday was history day. We decided to walk part of the Freedom Trail, which proved to be quite interesting. We saw the U.S.S. Constitution (AKA "Old Ironsides"), complete with the extremely hot Navy tour guides that us three girls totally drooled over. Then we checked out Copp's Hill Burial Ground, the Old North Church , and Paul Revere's house. After all that walking, we had a lovely Italian dinner in the North End, and then stopped by Mike's Pastry for some cannoli. I hadn't ever had cannoli before, and I thought it was pretty good, but I'd still take cheesecake over it anyday! That night just the girls went out to a bar nearby. It was fun to catch up with each other and have time without the boys.

After a quick lunch this afternoon, it was time to say goodbye. The weekend just went by a little too fast for me! It always does.

After they left, I went back to the apartment. I was alone, and it felt so quiet. I was watching the weather channel, and they had a picture of Atlanta on there. It looked like such a beautiful clear day. As soon as I saw the picture, I realized how homesick I am. I love it here, but I can't wait to go back to Atlanta and see all my friends and my family. I can't wait to hang out with everyone, play games, and drink beer. I can't wait to eat Chick-Fil-A and Pancho's. Most of all, I can't wait to give hugs to everyone I care about and tell them how much I miss them.

Just a Dusting

I am here to announce that we have officially survived our first snow in Boston! I'm not gonna lie, I was kind of hoping for something a little more dramatic, but I'm sure there's more to come. I worked Sunday night, and when I came out of the building Monday morning, it was "snowing." It was really kind of half-assed though, because it was probably right around 32 or 33 degrees, so it was half-snow, half-rain, mostly melty slush.

One thing is for sure, scrub pants are entirely too thin to be braving that kind of weather in. It might not be so bad, except for the fact that umbrellas are useless in this town due to the constantly blowing wind. So cold + wet + wind + thin scrub pants = loss of feeling to Bean's legs. But hey, I guess it's not so bad after I can't feel them anymore. On another note, my ski jacket is turning out to be one of the best investments I have ever made.

I'm not really sure how long it snowed, but probably only for a couple of hours. There was maybe one inch of accumulation on the ground, but most of it melted right away. It was coming down pretty hard though for a while there. But by the time Dave left for work, he said it had pretty much quit. Oh well, I guess it's not time for snowmen yet. Anyway, here are some pictures I took right when I got home, for your viewing enjoyment:


If nothing else, I think this weather was a good test run. Now I know to expect delays on the train I take to and from work. I guess all the people that might just normally walk, decided they would crunch everyone else in on the train. In doing so, the commute home took almost twice as long. I think partly because of a higher volume of people, and partly because there is a new system for payment of your fare, involving the swiping of your T pass when you get on. Apparently, this was proving to be entirely too complex of a system for some people.

Despite the slush, the freezing my ass off, and the train delays, I will admit that walking through the snow gave me this fun, giddy feeling. Maybe I felt a little bit like a kid again, getting all excited that we might have one little inch of snow in Atlanta. Or maybe the snow reminded me of the three months I spent in Denver. I think more than anything, it reminded me of one of the most looked forward to times of the year for me: ski season!!!