If You're Not Laughing...Who Is Laughing Now?

While every one was out enjoying their Halloween party weekend I had the pleasure of working night shift. Now I'm not mad about it because to  be honest I'm not very big into Halloween and dressing up anyway. Call me a fuddy duddy if you want to but I just kind of suck at coming up with costume ideas. Oh- and it's always cold at Halloween time and I can't bring myself to wear a costume at the expense of my warmth. I think the last time I actually dressed up was some time in college. I wore a big warm man's flannel shirt, hot glued popsicle sticks together and held it in front of my face saying "Hi-dee ho neighbor!" every time someone came up to me......No one got it. Have you ever dressed up and no one got who you were? Embarrassing.

Wilson-Home Improvement

Anyway- this weekend of work was a regular old shit show anyway. I mean-not LITERALLY but it definitely put me in the holiday spirit. One patient would be sleeping but when I would tip toe into his room to give him medications with the lights off he would wake up and scream bloody murder followed by yelling some garble that made him sound like a pirate. My heart would stop and I would almost shit my pants. EVERY TIME! So, naturally I would bribe co-workers to go into his room to give him medications so they wouldn't miss out on such a spook-tacular opportunity. I'm pleased to say, he didn't disappoint. Meanwhile, patient B was threatening to spiral in a panic attack for no reason whatsoever. While trying to calm him down and telling him to think happy thoughts he very seriously claimed that if he did that he would "turn into Peter Pan and fly away and that's NOT something that I would want him to do!" Actually-I wouldn't hate seeing Peter Pan in person, and really at that point in the night, I would had given anything to escape to Neverland and get in a fake food fight with a bunch of the lost boys. Seriously. Bangerang!!

I can't say that Sunday night was one of the craziest nights I've ever had as a nurse but after hanging out with Peter Pan and a pirate it left me feeling pretty snarky. So after our morning huddle up with the day shift and our manager reprimanding us for swearing too much in the break room I had to get the F$%K outta there and hit the hay ;)  

On the positive: One of my favorite bands was playing a small show downtown. NEEDTOBREATHE is an amazingly talented band that definitely didn't disappoint last night! After I woke up and got ready my sister B and I headed downtown where we were able to enjoy a few de-stressing beers and dance our butts off to some great music! I only wish every Monday could end that well! #iheartmusic

We are the outsiders ;)

Very much so, thank you :)

                                                               

                                                         

Follow Your Arrow Wherever it Points

This entire week I've known that I need to write a new post because lets be honest...I'm well overdue. So lets see..where do I start? I should probably start by talking about my riveting weekend off that started with a shopping day with some of my favorite co-workers last Friday. Our co-worker Lia is a born and raised Californian that moved to Iowa last February with nothing more than a light jacket. With the weather drastically dropping in temperature, she was in DIRE need of some winter clothes ASAP. I would have to say the day was a success! Lia stocked up on long sleeve tees, sweaters, hats, and even the  mittens with "the cute little hats on them" --->

I got a few more long sleeve tees to fill my oh so exciting closet as well as a new brand new shiny pair of spanks for the winter while my glitzy glamorous co worker Melissa picked up a adorable sparkly cocktail dress with matching hand bag. From there it was on to happy hour at the newly opened Cheddars (throwback to the Oklahoma days) where we hashed over work drama, crazy coworkers, and general nursing stories filled with pure comedy before continuing to drink the night away.

Saturday was a pretty important day in terms of wedding planning. I drove to Des Moines to meet with my beautifully talented designer friend Amber to discuss my wedding dress. Yes- that's right. I'm not doing the big "Say Yes to the Dress" extravaganza. I'm doing one better (in my opinion anyway). My wonderful friend Amber over at AV Clothing Design  will be designing my wedding gown. After spending the day with her looking through wedding gowns and giving her the likes and don't likes as well as checking out fabrics that we like I couldn't be more excited for my wedding gown!

After stopping by the mall to meet up with our friend Kalli and her little one year old cutie, Amber and I went back to her place and made a duck tape bust in place of her just taking my measurements....to an onlooker it pry looked like she was kidnapping me but at the same time I felt like I was being fitted for my superhero outfit :)

My new super hero costume!

All it needs now is to be stuffed!

The great weekend quickly came to a screeching halt when I woke up Sunday morning with a running faucet for a nose, knives in my throat and a terrible cough. The first terrible cold of the winter is officially upon me. And let me tell ya, its a doozy.  Oh well, I digress---

You've got to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you've got, and remember what you had. Always forgive, but never forget. Learn from mistakes, but never regret.

Anyway- go check out Amber on Facebook and like her page! She has some really cool project in the works (I mean, aside from my fab wedding dress ;))


                                    Peace and *cough cough* blessings ;)

   

Ozzie Oswald

Today is a great day because today is my little nugget Oswald's BIRTHDAY!! Today my fur baby turns a whopping 3 years old, or in doggy years the BIG 2-1!!  

First ever cup of vanilla ice cream

Now I've never been very good at keeping plants or goldfish alive so today is not only the Oz-man's birthday, its very much a personal victory for ME! I've managed to feed and water a living creature nearly every day for almost 3 years, and have always left him in the hands of trusted friends and family every time I've had to/wanted to leave town and couldn't take him with me.

Isn't he freakin' adorable?!!

"Nugs" as he sometimes goes by, is by far my most prized possessions. Raising this little one has been a true adventure. Through all of the potty training woes, chewing up all his stuffed toys and cute doggy beds, as well as spilling the bathroom garbage and dragging it all over my apartments, and using my kitchen cupboards as his teething toy--he's always kept me on my toes and drove me to my limits. I don't know how many times I've been so frustrated with him I wanted to just chuck him over the balcony and be done with him!

 Even so, he's always been with me through every move I've made, he's been my comfort through the sad times, someone to get excited with during the happy, and been one of my favorite partners for my day time dance parties (he's got moves like jagger ;)). This little dude has been able to warm so many hearts with his quarky personality and I can NOT imagine life without him!!

...except when he farts.

birthday present collage

Oz and his new dog-car seat

Mini photo real:

Playing wore the boys out!

Attention whore-can't let mom work out without playing tug of war at the same time!

Loves spending time in Aunt B's room

Birthday morning sleepy eyes

             Peace and blessings ;)

So Wake Me Up When It's All Over; When I'm Wiser and I'm Older

This week I've had several things weighing on my mind and it may get kind of rant-ish. I've noticed since Derek and I moved into our new place in August that I've been losing a crazy amount of hair. I'm talking clog my drains, decorate the bathroom floor, wadded up in my comb, pulls out in clumps...disgustingly amounts of hair falls out. I've been through this hair falling out phase before...in college...when I was stressed to the max in nursing school. Stress apparently = major hair fall out.

So what's causing my hair to fall out? Why am I so stressed? I mean-We are all moved in to our new place, I've been at my job for over 8 months now and completely have the swing of things, and wedding plans are coming along smoothly (is there such a thing as TOO smoothly?!). Things are going incredibly well. So I've been thinking...

Since I graduated nursing school three years ago I've worked on 4 different type of nursing units, in three different hospitals (in three different cities), and have moved to six different apartments/homes. Kind of crazy huh? I guess you could say changing it up is kind of my thing. I usually don't like to stay in one place for to long....I get the itch to change things up and try new things...and looking back at it (and forwards), I think its because I haven't quite found the right fit. Nursing adds a level of stress all its own, but knowing in the back of my mind that it isn't quite it for me, yet I don't know what is goes above and beyond the stress of nursing.

The unknown=stressful. So, I've been searching and searching. Looking high and looking low. Spending any free Derek-less, Rebecca-less time looking and contemplating things I'd be good at. Whatever it is that I decide to do next I'm sure it will involve more schooling (school=stress). And maybe that's why I'm losing my hair. Or maybe its the fear of going to school to be something/do something and I end up liking even less than what I'm doing now?  AAAAAHHHH!!!! Decisions decisions....anyone reading this blog have any ideas for me? thoughts? comments? I mean-c'mon. Help a girl out before she loses all her hair!!

Speaking of school though---an Upworthy.com video that popped up on my newsfeed this week spotlighting the people who mold our minds into the educated people we are~>
Thank a Teacher

Which teachers would you thank? Several teachers that come to mind. But the one that sits at the top of my list is my high school Chemistry/Physics teacher Mr. Dralle. It's not the chemistry or physics lessons that I remember the most from him though. It's the life lessons that he took the time to teach us. His most valuable life lesson? "The world doesn't owe you anything." Are you broke? Get a job. Even if that means flipping burgers or cleaning dishes in a kitchen. You are not above it nor better than the people who do those jobs for a living. You deserve what you earn. Its your responsibility to make your way through life. No one else's.

I'm thankful for that lesson and do my best to live by it. I'm also thankful for every single bit of help I've been blessed with along the way. Sometimes I catch myself taking things for granted and getting angry that I don't have something someone else has and have to remind myself of this lesson. It's pretty amusing working in the service industry and how many people you meet that don't understand that concept. So, thank you Mr. Dralle~ you'll probably never realize the impact you've had on my life and I hope you're still teaching this lesson to your students!

Well that was fun....but my blogging partner looks  a little on the bored side so I best wrap it up for the day~

                                     Peace and blessings :)

Ladadadee We Like to Partee

When you graduated from college and entered the "real world" what did you start doing with your free time? I mean, if you had any free time here in the real world. 3 years ago I graduated college and entered the real world and found out without having any homework and study sessions how much free time shows up. Well thank God for Pinterest y'all!

Now I can't say I'm the most crafty or creative person; I'm probably not even that good of a cook or a home decorator, but that has never stopped me from trying my new recipe, or craft, or do it yourself-home-made this or that. And to be completely honest- lots of times they are total flops. Most recently, I found a recipe that I wanted to make for a sugar wax to remove body hair. This interested me because my eyebrows grow into caterpillars behind my big rimmed glasses without me realizing it, I can't stand tweezing my eyebrows because it hurts, makes my eyes water, and sneeze like crazy (I'm a big baby). I prefer getting them waxed but I'm always so embarrassed how hairy those creatures above my eyes are that I procrastinate and put it off....oh- and I swear a lot when I get them waxed which is SUPER embarrassing when it comes to being around new people and public (my cosmetologist friend Loren can attest-I swear like a sailor).

So-sugar wax it was...it's a pretty simple recipe (found here). Being my first time it took me a little longer than the recipe calls for to get the right color and it was pretty late by the time I wrapped the "making it" part up and opted for bed before it cooled. No worries though--with my rotating shift sleep schedule I was wide awake circa 3 AM and took it upon myself to try this sweet little gem of a recipe out....

Proof:Late night wax sesh:with myself.

Yummay!

An absolute sticky mess.

Who's the hottie with the caterpillar eyebrows and sugary stache?! Yowza ;)

Long story short? #pinterestfail, and my sugar waxing skills need work...and I still have caterpillar eyebrows....and Lo Lo Jones would probably be ashamed. Oh welp! On to the next Pinterest disaster...*sigh* I'm a mess.

                                                           Peace and blessings and happy weekend ;)