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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Blog!

Blog turned three this month!!!


Happy Birthday
Awesome MySpace Comments & Myspace Layouts



Saturday, January 10, 2009

Late Christmas Letter

Sent these out to some people and spaced out sending them to other people for who knows why (insert own commonly used excuse here).
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Wow, I can’t believe it, I am done! I finally have a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from Montana State University! This final year has been extremely busy. Beginning in January, I rotated through different floors in Missoula’s bigger hospital. I really enjoyed being in the E.R. and the Intensive Care Unit.

In May, I attended the graduation ceremony. My grandma and my dad came up from Las Vegas to celebrate with me and Nate. Also in May, I bought a motorcycle, a 1975 Yamaha 125. After I got used to riding it and riding in traffic, I upgraded to a 2009 Kawasaki 250. When gas was $4/gallon, it was relieving to fill up its gas tank for $6 and be able to ride around for two weeks.

In July, I accompanied my dad to Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Even though Missoula’s elevation is 3500 ft, I had a hard time adjusting to the altitude which ranged from 6500 - 14,000. The course was extremely dangerous, and living in the mountains has taught me that windy mountain roads are not to be challenged by driving up them as fast as you can. Thankfully, my dad delivered me to the top of Pike’s Peak in one piece.

August came and Nate and I ventured across the country to visit Minnesota. It was his first time there, and he loved it! However, when you spend 20 hours driving through eastern Montana
and North Dakota, I don’t know how anyone could think that Eastern Minnesota is not beautiful! Nate and Rob golfed at both of Giants Ridge’s courses, while my mom and I drove the carts. We also went fishing and caught several Walleyes (which we later devoured). Being a good tour guide, I gave Nate a North Shore tour, complete with stops at Split Rock Lighthouse,Betty’s Pies, Canal Park, and finishing up with a trip to Red Lobster (not very unique, but enjoyable). With the help of Emily and Maria, we also gave Nate a tour of Biwabik’s finest establishments, and made him listen to Da Yoopers “Second Week of Deer Camp”. Nate promised we could come back often – as long as we fly or take the train!

During this last semester, I have been busy juggling school, work, and more schoolwork. I’m excited to start a more normal schedule. I plan to take adult education classes and hopefully I’ll learn how to knit, speak Spanish fluently, and become a ballerina. I also hope that Nate and I will be able to take a trip to Belize (or some other tropical location) within a year.

Since I have been working at St. Patrick Hospital, I was able to transfer to an R.N. position on the cardiac/respiratory floor. I’m very excited to get this opportunity, and I know every day will be a learning experience. I’ll probably take the NCLEX in February, but I’ll be able to work as a Graduate Nurse from January until then while earning the same amount of money.
Happy Holidays!

I also included several pictures that I have already posted on here, which you can find by searching the tags for "pictures".


Nate and I at the Split Rock Lighthouse.


Rob bringing in the boat off of Lost Lake.


My mom and Rob at Giants Ridge.

Late but relevant post

(I wrote this on December 20, and yes, am posting it now.)

Fresh from my pinning ceremony, I am experiencing so many different and overwhelming feelings. This may be the result of 5 ½ years worth of stress finally releasing from my body or the “single” shot of celebratory-tequila Heather poured for me. For the first time, I am saddened by the sudden loss of my 23 classmates. Even though I had no family at my pinning ceremony, I still felt surrounded by people that I have grown to love as if they were family. It feels so surreal, as if nothing has really changed, and we’ll all see each other again on Monday or after break. But, tonight was probably the last time that I’ll see many of my classmates.

At these things, it is always said, “Stay in touch,” “We’ll get together,” “See you around,”….but, the likelihood of these events ever happening is very slim. It is more of a nice way of saying, "You are a good person, but I'll probably find any excuse in the book because I'm afraid of connecting up with you because I don't know what we'll talk about." I'm still every bit of a skeptic even after finishing school. Maybe this is just my own altered reality. I know I'm the one that is scared, maybe it is a bit of social anxiety, who knows.