August already?

Not only is it August, it's also more than halfway through the month. 2014 is flying by so rapidly.

For instance, I can't believe that today was the first day of school for my little first grader! I vividly remember first grade (probably the first year that I really truly remember most things) and I can't believe that my little boy is now that age.

It's the Circle of Life and all that jazz.

Anyway, it's been a whirlwind of a summer. When I last published a blog post, we had just returned from a trip to San Diego. Since then, I've worked a LOT of overtime, and in between that, I've been trying to make the most of summer with the family before September rolls around and I head back to the insanity that is nursing school.

In July, the kids and I took off to Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit my BFF, her husband, and her new baby (aka my unofficial niece)! It was my son's first flight, and he loved it. According to him, when we were above the cloud cover, we were in Antarctica.

I just have to say that I love New Mexico. I know that's not a popular opinion, but I really liked the Albuquerque area. I'm already actively earning frequent flyer miles in order to go back next summer and hopefully explore the area a bit more than we were able this time.

Then, after we got back from visiting them, my BFF+family happened to come back to California for some adventures, so I got to spend my birthday with them too. It was wonderful to be able to spend so much time with them since we're living so far from each other. We used to be fairly inseparable during high school and (my first time around) college.

So that fast-forwards us to now. Time to get back to the school grindstone. Classes start on September 2nd (!!) in our brand-spanking-new Science and Nursing Building, and I, for one, am ready to get back to it. It's been a long transitional summer for me, and it's time for Second Semester.

Summertime!

Hotel del Coronado. One of my lifelong dreams is to stay there.

How is the summer going for everyone out there in cyberspace? It's been heating up here (and I mean literally... the 100+ degree days have been beginning).

I can't believe it's almost July! I still have two more months before I head back to school at the beginning of September. It's strange because I'm champing at the bit to get back to that insanity. I'm ready to move forward and get closer to that RN licensure.

We just got back from a sojourn in beautiful San Diego. Although the purpose of the trip was sad (my grandpa's memorial service), I was very glad to spend some time with my grandmother and the rest of my family. We stayed a few extra days and went to Legoland and the San Diego Zoo, as well as spending some time bumming around the beach.

I miss it already. However, I can live without the 12 hour car ride (hah).

Coming back to real life has been a jolt. We're having some issues with Mike's car and we spent part of today looking at car-buying options. I'm not going to lie, I am TERRIFIED about buying a new car. I've been totally overwhelmed at all the options, not to mention the sticker shock! Yipes!

Anywhoodle, just thinking out loud a bit. See ya later!

Oh. Em. Gee.

It's been one of those days in the ER! With the beginning of Memorial Day Weekend and the start of the lake season, it leads to seeing some interesting injuries and hearing some crazy stories.

However, my favorite thing today is that my son lost his first tooth!

Bummer that I had to work and missed out on it, but I'm so excited to play Tooth Fairy for the very first time tonight. He's growing up so fast. (And that was his very first tooth that ever came in *sniff*)

Five Things Friday: 5/23

Hello Internet world!

Time to get back into a posting habit, so here's five things about today.

1. Today was my only day completely off this week, and it worked out perfectly that it was Michael's day off too.

We did have a day date! We went out to breakfast together after we dropped off the kids at their schools, and just spent the day enjoying each other's company and getting errands done (plus Dutch Bros and a nap).

2. I bought my first roll of washi! (as pictured above) I've been seeing the cute patterned masking tape around for a bit, and I decided to finally buy a roll for funsies. I think I might get a few more rolls, because the kids (well, at least the six year old) seem to get a kick out of it too. This is just Duck Tape brand I found at Walmart, but I know some people get it from Etsy, eBay, and other places.

3. This little girl is sixteen months old today!

I was trying to get a picture of her cute little pigtails she has in today, but she's at that age where she just won't hold still. This picture was actually taken with PhotoBooth while Daddy was playing peek-a-boo behind the computer!

I can not believe she is already sixteen months. I was looking at pictures from her first birthday, and the difference in just four months is staggering!

4. We picked up The Nut Job from Redbox for family movie night. It's cute so far! This little guy is enjoying it at least, plus it has Will Arnett in it (GOB love for life).

5. So it looks like a group of coworkers are going to apply for entry to the Nike Women's Marathon, and I'm thinking I'm going to join them and apply for the half-marathon! I've been picking up my running mileage again since school ended (going from um... zero miles per week), and I should be in half marathon shape by October. 

In the meantime, I'm running slow. Very slow. If I don't start seeing a lot of improvement soon, I'm definitely going to have to readjust my very ambitious goal time for my first half. Today's run was two miles at a blistering 10:23 min/mile pace. However, it was a recovery run, and I'm up to seventeen miles so far for the week. I've been using Hanson's Half-Marathon Method's "Just Finish" plan to gradually build up my mileage.

And there we go. Sitting down to actually blog, rather than surf the web, is the hardest part.

I have a weird type of paralysis when it comes to blogging.

I have so many ideas and things I want to write about and then I stumble upon articles about the business of blogging and pictures and Pinterest and SEO and all that jazz and I feel... inadequate. I don't know how to grab attention and monetize and have my ish go viral, and so then I don't do anything.

All I want to do is write fun blurbs about stuff that interests me, like I used to back in the Dark Ages (read- late 1990s/early 2000s, when Blogger first came into existence) of the Internet. So I am.

I still can not get over how much FREE TIME I feel like I have during this school break. After a full semester of fitting in classes, clinicals, and homework around our family's schedules of work, school, and (trying to) maintain the household, subtracting all the school stuff leaves a gigantic amount of free-feeling time.

I spent the first week just enjoying ONLY having to go to work. All the rest of the time, I've been enjoying being able to spend time with my kids and my husband without having the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that I always need to be doing something school-related. It's been amazing.

Now, I'm systematically trying to reorganize the entire house and restart my running routine to prepare for a half-marathon in October, and I'm beginning to get bored and ready to go back to school and learn more nursing stuff.

C'est la vie? I always want what I can't have.

Hmm. I've been neglectful again.

Trust me when I say that it's not you. It's me. Nursing school was zapping the life out of everything around here! However, finals are over, everything is turned in, and I have officially completed the first semester of the nursing program. *fanfare*

Back it up a bit, and let me tell you, world, a lot has changed in the past three months.

So where did I leave off last?

Oh yeah, nursing school.

I am officially a student nurse! (as of a week ago...)

I even have a badge to prove it!

So at first, I was like...

All Nemo-style.

But after I walked into my first class with a syllabus that was half-an-inch thick, I was feeling more...

ACK! (btw, picture from goofing off with Photo Booth, but it summed up my feelings perfectly.)

We've hit the ground running.

My buddy (from the class above ours) presented me with a nursing school survival kit.

 It included such essentials as:
-Airborne (bump up that Vitamin C)
-Goldfish crackers (because they are the snack that smiles back)
-Sour Patch Watermelons and Peanut M&Ms (because they're awesome)
-Monster (caffeine, for sure)
-Pencils (pens are verboten in skills lab)
-Notecards (for learnings, of course)
-and Purell. Because hand washing is the best way to prevent the spread of infection! (x infinity)

She also wrote a really sweet note. Definitely brought a smile to my face.

So, it has begun. We (as a family) have signed up for two and a half years of insanity, but it will be so, so worth it in the end.

In family news, little miss J can officially be called a toddler!! She took five consecutive steps yesterday.

She's been flirting with the walking idea for two months now, at least, but would take a step and then chicken out and drop to her knees (always with a huge smile as we would try and encourage her to take a few more steps). But yesterday, when I set her down on her feet, she stayed stable for a few minutes and then stepped cautiously toward me while I encouraged her. When she fell into my arms, she had the HUGEST smile as we all clapped for her. So stinking cute.

I can NOT believe she is turning a year next Thursday! The year has just flown on by, and I'm scrambling to plan a small family party for her. As long as there is cake, we're good, right?