one down, two to go

Today I finally finished my first semester of grad school! It was a bit of a hard adjustment to figure out how to study again, etc, but to be honest, the most frustrating part of it all has been trying to find preceptors for the spring! Oh, my goodness, this has kept me half-crazy and stressed for a while. Hopefully, I think I might have gotten it all nailed out, but we'll see.
The semester wasn't that bad, but it was definetly a challenge trying to balance full-time school and full-time work and be a wife inbetween. However, with all the traveling that Mike has been doing, as well as the frequent trips to Nashville I've been making, I've had more time to study and focus than I had thought.
I'm VERY much looking forward to some down time these next couple of weeks with my hubby.

Thankful...a little late

What I am thankful for....a little late.
- my supportive husband who has been a sounding board and incredible source of strength for me this past semester- very patiently letting me look in his ears and eyes with my new fancy tools
- the fact that he is quite handy- he's done a tremendous job on our house this past year and I'm so thankful for his talent!
- my sweet friends- b/c of school and traveling, neither Mike and I have been regular attenders to our community group this semester. But I am truly thankful for each one of them, asking how we are, how things are going, how they can be praying for us.
- my supportive family- several taxi rides to and from DFW/Love Field, home-cooked meals when life was crazy, my mom spending about 5 hours helping me clean my very dirty hardwood floors right after the kitchen was done and I hadn't had time to clean b/c of studying and school
- a flexible manager- allowing me to take tons of PTO to go back to school and for letting me go quasi-part-time in January so that I can get my clinical hours in
- sweet Bella- she should also get a masters degree b/c she watches all the lectures with me and likes to snuggle while I'm writing papers. I think that I should've had a cat in undergrad- it would've decreased my stress level a lot!
- legal forms of caffiene- coffee, lattes, lots of hot tea....so very necessary to get by

I've been tagged...

I've been tagged in the blogger world and now have to share 7 things that you may not know about me!
1. My nickname growing up was "Snaggles" because I had this weird crooked front tooth. I later had it removed (that was a disasterous event- one of those childhood memories that people recount to therapists or something-I still hate going to the dentist to this day).
2. Mike and I spent the longest time together in the same place AFTER we got engaged! We spent the majority of our dating relationship long-distance.
3. I was Bob the Tomato when I worked for Family Christian Stores in high school. I got this job because I was (and still am) 5' 1" and you had to be 5' 2" or less to fit into the costume. The costume was quite the outfit- air conditioned, had a microphone that converted your voice into Bob's voice...
4. One of my favorite foods EVER is queso. I don't know if you can consider it a food, but it is one of my favorites and I would eat it every day if it were healthy enough to eat.
5. There was a time a couple of years ago when I thought I wanted to leave the nursing field, go to culinary school and become a pastry chef. And now I'm getting my master's degree in nursing. Go figure.
6. I am half- Hispanic and often check "Hispanic" on all those forms where you have to fill out your ethnicity. My dad is from Monterry, Mexico and became a citizen when I was in 9th grade.
7. Bella the cat only sleeps on my side of the bed. She is partial to her mother. :)

I now tag Monica, Aunt Donna, Melissa D, Katrina and Allison. :)

The Right Place at the Right Time

So, I arrived in Nashville on Tuesday night and had heard that the CMA (Country Music Awards) were going to happen on Wednesday night in Nashville. I thought, "Oh, that's cool to be in the same city while that's going on." I'm not a huge country fan, but I like it occasionally.

My friend, Hayley, is staying in a condo a couple of blocks from where the CMAs were taking place and got woken up at 3am in the morning by Mylie Cyrrus practicing her act- her condo was so close that she could hear all the rehursals over the loud-speakers. So she came to class the next morning and said, "We've got to hang out tonight and listen to the CMAs from my condo- you can hear everything! And you can see where the red carpet is, etc." So, after class on Wednesday, we headed down to her place, and decided to go to the arena where the CMAs were to people-watch. There's all these fancy cars and people dressed up in tuxes, ridiculous dresses, high heels, cameras, media, etc...very cool. As we're standing around watching, this lady comes up to us and says, "Do you girls have tickets to the show tonight?" We said no and she said, "Here, have mine. I don't need them. I already have some more." We're like, "Are you sure??!!" She goes, "Yes. Take them." So we do! $100 tickets!! Now mind you, we're in jeans and sweaters. (but I did grab some lipgloss on the way out the door instead of chapstick- good thinking!) I called Melanie to see if she thought that I should change (she was going with her family that night as well) and she didn't think we needed to, so Hayley and I grab dinner and then go to the CMA awards, jeans and all!

We were in the nose-bleed section, but still had a great view and had a FABULOUS time! My favorite was Kidd Rock's "Alabama" song- I was blaring that song all summer long and it was awesome to hear it live!

We saw Nicole Kidman, Reece Witherspoon, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride, Reba, Brooks and Dunn, Hootie, Sugarland, Keith Urban, etc.....it was so cool!

We kept looking at each other saying, "I can't belive we're here! This is crazy!"

My favorite new group was Lady Antebellum....they were awesome.

So, you never know what will happen....always carry your lip gloss. You just might be going to an awards show.......

Lake Livingston

We spent the weekend with Mike's college roommates and their spouces/children. It was a blast! Here are some pictures from the weekend:


Shelley and Dave- the newleyweds!

So, Parker had this fabulous life jacket- you can see his enthusiasm.

Ali and Parker

Marshall and Parker- he looks a little happier here

Shelley and Grace Anne

The Robertsons

Us

Grace Anne

Calm before the storm

Mike and I are so excited about our upcoming weekend with old roommates and their spouces (and kids!) This will be our calm before the storm. Here's the storm:

- Mike leaves at 6:00am on Monday to go to DC.
- I leave on Tuesday afternoon for Nashville for my last week of classes for the semester
- Our 4th anniversary is on Thursday- I'll be in Nashville and he'll be in DC. BOOO
- Mike comes home on Friday morning to take a test for one of his classes, go to class on Saturday morning to do a presentation and then flies back to DC Saturday night.
- I come home Sunday afternoon
- I have 3 tests the next week
- Mike comes back Thursday night

THANKSGIVING BREAK!!
then....

- Mike travels to New Mexico on Monday, Dec. 1
- Mike flies home on Dec. 5 to take another test and do another presentation- finishing his semester!!
-Mike flies back to New Mexico on Dec. 6th and comes back to Dallas on Friday, Dec. 12
- Mike graduates on Dec. 13 from SMU!!

AND THEN HE TAKES A MONTH OFF OF WORK!!!

We were talking last night and I said, "Babe, I'm glad that we're normal."
He goes, "we're not normal."
"Why?" I asked.
He said, "Because we're the only people that we know that only have one weekend off this semester."
"Oh," I said.

Mike said that when we're both finally done with school, we're taking a year off and doing nothing. Sounds like a plan to me.

mental health day

Today I went shopping with my mom and Meredith, a life-long family friend who was in town visiting. It was great! We went to lunch at Jason's Deli (I had my favorite turkey wrap- so good!) and we went to the Allen Outlet Mall. Fabulous. I definetly did a little stress-shopping and got some cute, more professional clothing for clinicals in the spring. And, I got those cute, trouser-like dark denim jeans....

I've been wanting some of these for a while, and I got a great deal at Banana Republic Outlet.

Anyway, it was a great and much-needed break from school....

And, I did not get tempted at the Coach Store. :) At least, not much....

deep thoughts

During yesterday's lecture about growth and development:

Professor: "We start in diapers when we're babies and end up in diapers when we're old and gray."
My thought: "We'd better enjoy the underwear we're in now while it lasts!"

fabulous

Do not yield to the temptation of looking at everything at once, as if everything would happen at once, and all the events of the day be crowded into an hour.
Do not thus forecast, but take each thing as it comes to you, and look upon it as the present expression of the will of God concerning you;then regard the rest in the same way, and thus receive your day piece by piece from Him who will remember always when He gives you work to do,that you need strength to do it.
-Priscilla Maurice

the new normal

So, I've been trying to figure out what the new "normal" is. I don't think I've quite figured it out, but I do know that it consists of a lot of reading and studying, drinking lots of coffee, working, trying to figure out when to do laundry, go to the grocery store, clean the bathrooms, etc.
I think it's a juggling act and I'm in the circus.

I used to have a pretty normal and regular routine, where on my days off, I'd get up, go work out, go to the grocery store, come home, clean, do laundry, run other errands, etc.

These days, that's not the case... I'm just trying to figure out when I can fit in stuff I have to do to keep the house up and running and make sure that I'm doing everything I need to do for school.

I'm not complaining, I'm just trying to figure out how I should organize my time and what gets into the high priority spots of time.

So if you come over to my house and the bathrooms haven't been cleaned in a couple of weeks or you notice that the floor isn't as clean as it should be....well, wait until next year. I might have some free time then. :)

Our New Kitchen!!!

We still have a few things to finish (backsplash and lighting)....but, everything is moved in and I have already started cooking again!! I LOVE how it turned out!

kindness expressed with stickers

I was at Walmart this afternoon, in the card section looking for a birthday card for Paige. I overheard this mom and her two girls at the sticker section. The mom said, "Now remember, we're getting these for the soldiers, so there are probably going to be more guys than girls....let's pick some that would be good for both." I about lost it, I started to tear up...I wanted to go over and thank her for doing that for the troops and that my brother had just left for Iraq, but I was afraid that I would loose it....

Even though that mom had no idea I could hear what she was saying, it was so impactful to know that kindness does still exist...

hummph

So, I'm feeling overwhelmed with everything I have to do....not doing as well as I wanted to on 2 of my 3 tests last week...wondering what more I need to do to do well- I mean, with the amount of studying I did last week, I feel like I should have done better. And I don't know what else I could've done better, study-wise. It overwhelmes me that I feel like I'm going to need more studying time- and I truly don't have that much more time to give, between work, school and having a small life.
I dunno....I wonder sometimes if I've bitten off more than I can chew. I would love to have a day off and not worry about school and not study...
And then I'm reminded that I'm not supposed to worry..."Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication present your requests to God and the peace of God will transcend your hearts and minds..." so, I wish that would be the case. I don't feel peaceful. I feel like something is always hanging over my head in regards to school.
I just want to do well on tests. I've never had a problem doing well and now, all of a sudden....I feel like I'm treading water.
But then I think, "This is only for a year. Really, it's less than a year at this point. Most programs are 2-3 years. So be greatful that you can do this program!"
So, please pray that God would give me peace and that I would figure out the swing of things....

fun things...read sarcastically

So, this week class has been a little interesting. Here are the highlights so far:

- on Wednesday, doing a male genitalia exam on a "surrogate"- basically a guy that gets paid to let us learn on him what we're supposed to know. Ya know, "drop your drawers." Fun. VERY awkward, especially when you're married.

- on Thursday, doing a female genitalia exam on a "surrogate" - see above for definition of surrogate, but insert female. I mean, this poor woman (granted, she's getting paid), but seriously- 45 minutes in stirrups?? And 9 different people examining her while we're all standing and watching?? You could not pay me enough money. However, I would say doing this exam was much less awkward than the male. And, props to my OB/GYN for being fast. I now truly respect that.

- Thursday afternoon, we learned how to look in each other's ears and eyes with our new toys (otoscopes and opthalmoscopes)- so, all through out life, I've had a problem with wax accumulating in my right ear- it's had to get removed professionally, etc. So, as my friend was looking in my right ear, she goes "Wow, there's this huge piece of wax down there. I mean, I could just reach in there and get it. It's huge." Great. So embarassing. So, after she removes the otoscope, my hearing has significantly diminished. I mean, significantly. So, I go to my director, Terry, and tell her what happened. She looks in my ear and sees this giant wax mass and goes, "She probably pushed it closer to your ear drum. Let me try and remove this." So she takes some q-tips (NEVER use q-tips to clean your ears, btw) (we didn't have the special ear wax removal things) and got some out, but there is still some left. Then she told me not to let anyone else look in my right ear. It was fun.

Oh, the joys of PNP school- there is never a dull moment!

New member of the family!

Marcos came home a couple of weeks ago and brought his new wife, Paige, to meet us. She is so sweet and we all loved getting to know her. She seems perfect for my brother! We are hoping that after Marcos gets out of the Marines that they will decide to move back to Dallas and live closer to us. :)
Marcos and Paige

Serna tradition is for each girl to have a ceramic parrot... so, we inaugurated Paige with her own parrot, fresh from San Antonio, courtesy of Elena

Jack C. Binion Elementary School

My Granddaddy was the first principal of Glenview Elementary School in Hurst, TX, when it opened in the 50's. He was a long-time educator and was known and loved by so many. Right before he passed away in 2003, the school board decided to re-name the school to Jack C. Binion Elementary School.
Since the school was over 50 years old, they decided to tear down the school and rebuild a new one. In August, we all attended the grand re-opening of Jack C. Binion Elementary School!



The Serna Kids and spouces
Grandmommy cutting the ribbon

Grandmommy with Granddaddy's picture (the pencil sketched picture at the top)

seriously?!

While reading my nursing theory book (I know, you're so jealous you don't have one to read!), I came across this sentence and thought, "There is no way." Here is the quote:

"Epistemology is the study of the theory of knowledge."

Really? Is that really necessary? And, who stays awake while trying to theorize knowledge? I would need loads and loads of coffee to try and stay awake while trying to attempt that feat.

And that is why I am not a nursing theorist.

i'm fine

So, as I was watching The Italian Job at Melanie's house tonight, one of the quotes in the movie struck me as true/funny in regards to this past week: "I'm fine. What does fine really stand for?"
F: freaked out
I: insecure
N: neurotic
E: emotional

Love it.

I made it through week one....

I am officially a Vanderbilt grad student. My back hurts, my eyes are tired, I've eaten at SATCo, and I walk about 15 minutes one way from the parking garage to class.
So far, so good, (minus a breakdown on the phone with Mike on Wednesday night) just overwhelmed at the amount of work and tests I will have between now and Dec. 17th.
So very thankful for Melanie, letting me borrow her otoscope/opthamoscope, books, bedroom, house, letting me practice my reflexes on her and picking her and Anna Brown's brains for the best way to be successful this year.
Today we had to do physical assessments on one another in front of the faculty. It was a bit nerve-racking, but we could use notes, so that was helpful. I feel like in undergrad, they taught us all these different types of assessment skills, but you don't use every single one of them in real life, so I had to try to remember how do to certain parts of assessment that I haven't had to use in over 5 years. It will come. At the end of October, though, we have to perform a full physical exam on a child infront of faculty without notes, so I'll be a little stressed out when that comes around.
So, if you have children and you are my friend, I might need to assess your child so that I can remember all these little things I have to know how to do. :)
And, if you see me with otoscope in hand, please let me look in your ear :)

stupid honking

I feel that this is the calm before the storm. I have this feeling that once I get back from school next week, there's gonna be so much that I need to do/study/learn and so I've been trying to enjoy these next 4 days off.
So, today, I decided that I would sleep until I woke up, which I did. I had my quiet time, cleaned two bathrooms, did laundry, took a shower and then was going to Ikea and Seconds and Surplus to pick out kitchen cabinet hardware.
So, on the way to Ikea, I was hungry and decided to stop at Wendy's. The drive-thru line was way too long, so I went inside and got my food, went back to my car,then turned the car battery on to eat quickly. Once I was finished, I couldn't get my car to start. When I could kinda get it to work, the horn/alarm system went off uncontrollably and I was "that person" in the parking lot whose car alarm wouldn't stop. Talk about humiliating.
I frantically called Mike, who didn't have his cell phone on him. I kept hitting the unlock button, which would silence the alarm, but then the car wouldn't start. So, I called Alison to see if she could pick me up. While she was on her way, I called the Toyota dealership and described the symptoms and they thought my battery was dead. Lovely.
Then, my car started freaking out again with the horn going, but it was a really weak horn- it was pitiful- and I couldn't stop it. Finally, after about a minute, it stopped.
Thankfully, Ali arrived and we went and ran some errands and she brought me back home.
Mike had been planning for over a week to take me out on a date, and tonight was the night. So, he came home from work, picked me up, took me to Wendy's to jump-start the car, only we couldn't find the jumper cables. So, off to Auto-Zone where we bought the cables. Back to Wendy's to jump-start the car, then we go back to Auto-Zone where they hooked up the battery, and it was indeed low.
The great thing about Auto Zone is that they guarantee their batteries. We had actually bought the battery a year and a half ago, and their warranty is good for 2 years, so we got a free new battery! Mike did a great job of quickly changing out the battery in the parking lot (with the added safety feature of the car horn honking obnoxiously whenever you try to disconnect the battery- scared the life of out of me!) I'm sure the Auto Zone people were laughing at me as I was trying to turn off the honking by using the key fob like a magic wand or something. Greatness.

With a little help from my friends...

Thanks to Mike, Sergei and Mike Sr, our kitchen now has walls!!! Mucho progress! So, the next steps are to tape and bed the areas that will not be covered with cabinets, paint, fix and paint the ceiling and then install the cabinets!!!

A Terrible Prayer

One of my favorite books of all time is Ragamuffin Prayers. I picked it up again last week and wanted to share one of the poems with you.

I have always been terrible at praying.

I forget.

My mind wanders.

I fall asleep.

I don't pray enough.

I don't understand what prayer is

Or what prayer does.

If prayer were school...

I would flunk praying.

But prayer isn't school.

It is mystery.

Maybe the mystery is...

Jesus loves terrible prayers.

Maybe...

When I can't think of anything to say, He says what I can't say.

When I talk too much, He cherishes my too-many words.

When I fall asleep, He holds me in His lap and caresses my weary soul.

When I am overwhelmed with guilt at my inconsistent, inadequate praying

He whispers, "Your name is always on My lips."

I am filled with gratitude, my soul overflows with thankfulness and I...

I... find myself saying over and over again, "Thank You."

Praying the mystery.

I feel like I can so relate to this poem- so many times I feel like I don't pray enough, get mad at myself for my wandering mind or falling asleep while I'm praying....

I find comfort in our God who knows that we are human and not perfect and loves us despite our inadequacies.

useful information

In case you were wondering how much caffeine you could ingest before it would kill you in one day, check this out:

http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine

According to the website, I could have 93 tall Starbucks lattes before I died in one day.

Good information to know for my upcoming semester! :)

working from home...

Poor Mike. He's sickly. Woke up this morning, thinking that he was just constipated, but possible constipation/abdominal pain turned into a nice GI bug (and all that it implies), followed by fever. He bought himself a ticket to stay home tomorrow. And, so I will be working from home! :) Poor guy- he looks miserable. But, so far, he's kept down applesauce and some jello...

the heat

I just can't take it anymore. I'm so tired of the TX heat. I'm SO ready for it to be cold. It shouldn't be over 100 degrees. Anywhere. Mike asked me if I would ever move to Houston. I said "only if you could change the weather."
I looked at the Nashville temp averages yesterday and the average highs are in the high 80s, low 90's for August. As much as I'm anxious about starting school, I'm SO ready to be where it's at least a little cooler for a week or so!

school days

"I would give you a bouquet of freshly-sharpened pencils"- quote from my favorite movie, You've Got Mail.

So, as I'm gearing up to start school in about 3 weeks, I went to Target (pronounced, "Tarjay", makes it sound more French and exotic) and bought some school supplies. This trip secretly made me very happy because I love organization (although from the looks of my house at its present state, you couldn't tell) and I love the fall. I love new binders, new spirals, new planners, new pens...

And, I found some new pens that are AWESOME! Sharpie makes a very fine-line pen that is permanent, but doesn't bleed through your paper nor can you get high off the fumes! AMAZING! AND, they won't explode on an airplane- even more important!

jackhammers in the morning

For about a year, we've wondered if our pool had a leak. We (mainly Mike) have had to keep adding water, more than we thought we should. So, we had a pool leak guy come last week and it was determined that we did, in fact, have a leak in our pool.
So, about 9:30am, we had two guys come and jackhammer our deck, scoop out the mud and plaster and fix our pool leak.
And now, no more leaks. :) Yay!

Termites and cat puke

So, my very chill, relaxing evening turned into a disgusting end of the day. Picture this: soft, cozy bed, about to spend some quality time in the Word, when all of a sudden you see these little bug-fly-like insects on your bedside table. You squash 3 or 4 with your finger, expect not to have any more problems. Not the case. Several more bug-flies appear, and you continue to squash them, until your finger gets a little goopy. More bug-flies appear, to my disgust, and then I look down on the window sill by my bed and see a swarm of these bug-flies. I got the vacuum cleaner out and sucked up all the remaining bug-flies, but to my dismay, they reappeared- I looked out the window and saw a swarm on the other side of the window. I quickly called Mike, who is an hour's time difference in DC (so 11:30pm his time) and ask him what termites look like. I spent the next hour on the phone with Mike- I took pictures of these fabulous creatures and sent them to him to see if he could ID them. Ended up that the bug-flies looked like grown termites. Great. So, Mike tried to call our bug-man friend at 11:30pm at night (he didn't pick up) to see what they were/ what we should do. I decided to spend the night in the guest bedroom so that I wouldn't get swarmed with critters. We then came up with a plan to call Terminix in the morning.

So, after waking up several times last night, dreaming of what the Terminix man would say, I woke up this morning to find a lovely pile of cat puke. I decided to ignore it until I had some coffee in me. I then called back our bug-man friend (Mr. Mac) and I described what the bug-flies looked like- he said not to worry because apparently termites have long narrow bodies and these bug-flies had a narrowing around their midsection. Yay. No termites.

So, no termites...now on to cleaning up the pile of cat puke.

Relaxing and some thoughts...

So, Mike's in DC and I'm enjoying time at home, catching up with friends over lunches and dinners. Liz and Mom and I hung out today in the pool for several hours- it was nice- I'm enjoying the time that Liz and I have together before she starts school. Fortunately, she won't be that far away for college (UNT!) Tonight I enjoyed reading a book (figured I should get one enjoyable book in before school starts), had Indian food for dinner (gives Mike heartburn, so I figured I could get it while he's gone), enjoyed a glass of wine, and had Bella sit next to me while I read....it was nice.
I got the first two of five textbooks in the mail today. Not gonna lie, it's overwhelming to see the content that I'll be responsible for knowing. I hope that I can study and learn well this year- I haven't had to do this in 4 years!
On another tangent, I'm so ready for the TX heat to change to fall. I've lived in TX all of my life (minus college) and have never been a fan of summers here. Way too hot. Seriously, today was the 20th day that it was over 100 degrees. It helps to have a pool, but as I've been watching TV and seeing "summer's almost over" commercials for back-t0-school ads and going into Hobby Lobby seeing fall, yes, and even CHRISTMAS decorations, I'm longing for the day that the high is in the 50's or 60's.

Continued Progress....my kitchen is a mess

Hopefully, it'll be done in about 6 weeks. We were able to visit our new cabinets the other day and the workshop where they're being made. Matt, the builder, had the carcases all constructed and laid out the way our kitchen will be laid out-I was totally excited!! It's going to look awesome! So, we'll keep pressing on, installing the electrical this weekend and picking out countertops. We had the plumber come this week and put in a gas line for the cooktop and Best Buy delivers our microwave and dishwasher this afternoon....YAY!!!

FrizzAway #8- Dave and Shelley's Wedding

So, this past weekend we and the Treadaway family (including Parker!) traveled to Houston for Dave (the 4th roommate) and Shelley's wedding. We had a blast! Parker was a trooper, traveling all over the place, in the heat.

Here he is with Ali and Landry's in the Baby Bijorn. So cute!
We stayed at Ali's sister's house for most of the weekend- the guys had a lot of hang-out time with Dave and the rest of the groomsmen (several really late nights!). Kristin, Ali's sister, took us to Kemah, TX, which is a cute little beach town close to their house. Saw lots of cool boats and had some fabulous seafood.


Mike and I at the rehursal dinner.
The Roommates the the Wives
Ah, yes, the traditional prank. Since Dave was the last roommate to get married, there was a little bit of revenge to be had. Instead of standing quietly while the bride and groom walked up the isle, Mike passed out Ultimate Frisbees and the wedding party formed a sort of arch as the couple left the stage. Quite cute! Yay, Betsy, for running over town quickly to get the frisbees at very short notice. :) Congrats, Shelley and Dave!!!

Weddings- An Oldie, but a Goodie

So, in honor of the next two weekends worth of weddings that we'll be going to, I found this clip from when James and Betsy got married, like 3 years ago. Mike and Marshall were lonely groomsmen who decided to spice up the processional after the wedding. Ali and I sat in the audience in disbelief/embarassement, at the time, but then, now looking back, it's pretty funny.

Progress

Before the demo...
Mike working hard!
The very nasty insulation that fell.
Post-Demo

So, here's some pictures from last weekend. We've started demo-ing the kitchen (Thank goodness!!!). Mike worked so hard- it was pretty gross and disgusting, but he did a great job! I've said this before, but I am so thankful that he is such a handy-man. I didn't know that he was so great with stuff like this until after we got married and we were working on our first house- he's great!

So, we'll continue this weekend with demo-ing the kitchen. I've been packing up the kitchen in anticipation today! So, plastic plates, cups and utensils for us until early September.

Dust

My house is quite dusty, and so are the floors. It doesn't help that Margarite, the Roomba, is broken, therefore the floors aren't clean. Oh, well. I feel like with the amount of saw dust coming from the garage (Mike's working on the dresser) and the dust in the kitchen from the process of removing cabinets and soffits it's just not worth it to try and keep up with keeping stuff clean. So, I'm not. Just trying to keep clutter down to a minimum. I figure once the new kitchen is in and the dresser is finished, then I'll care and actually clean. :)

All's Vanity

Living in Dallas has a way of my vanity rearing it's ugly head occasionally, probably more frequently than I'd like, especially when you have NorthPark or the Allen outlet within 15 minutes from your house.
For instance, take the Coach outlet in Allen. I would love to own a Coach bag. However, they cost anywhere from $150-$300+. That's just not in the cards. Same scenario with clothes, shoes- the list goes on and on. Sometimes, it can be hard for me to be content with what I have, which is retarded because I have been given what I need, more than I need and I should be content.
So, maybe the goal should be to a) be content (obviously!) and b) find a less-expensive purse to like. :)

Fabulous weekend!

We had a great weekend- babysat Parker, had Liz's friends over for a very casual pool shindig, then had some of our good friends and their kiddos over for an evening pool party. Sunday, after church, Mike and I leveled the garden on the side of our house that we hadn't touched since last summer. I truly have a black thumb when it comes to gardening (I wish I had Granddaddy's genes!), but we're going to try it again- I love using fresh herbs when I cook, and I really want some rosemary and basil...Mike actually bought a rosemary plant but said that I couldn't touch it until it was big enough to survive me whacking at it. :)

Mike also spent a long time out in the garage working on the chest of drawers and got tons of saw dust everywhere and all over himself. He made our nightstands a couple of years ago and has been working on the matching chest of drawers for the past 2 years- his project got interrupted by moving and fixing up our current house. The dresser already looks amazing! He does great work!!

Sunday afternoon I talked with a nursing school friend of mine, Anna Brown, who is currently in Vanderbilt's PNP program that I'll be starting in the fall. She gave me some great advice about which books to buy, what to get, what not to get, etc- very valuable info!!
More than anything, she was good to remind me that the program is do-able, even with working- something that I was a little worried about- how to manage it all over the next year.
So, I was very thankful to spend some time chatting with her.

Here's some pictures from the weekend:
Marsh and Parker

Mike and the sawdust in his pockets



Parker got his feet wet!



The Saugiers!

Babysitting/pretending to have a child

Last night we babysat Parker, Ali and Marsh's 7 week-old baby. He is just so cute! It was fun to hold him, feed him, play with him, etc, even if he was a little on the grouchy side.
It's weird- when I was in college, I wanted to get married and have kids and stay home as a stay-at-home-mom. I feel like my perspective has changed a little- and quite honestly, it has surprised me that it has changed because I thought that I'd always have that picture-perfect baby/babies, would be staying at home, especially almost 4 years into marriage.
All this to say, it's nice to babysit babies and get my "baby-fix" while I have at least two more years before we have kids (grad school and actually working as a PNP for a year). With all the people that we know having babies right now, it's easy to get baby fixes right now! :)
I do love being with kids of all ages at work, which is why, I think, that I've been okay with waiting a little longer to have kids- I see them all the time!
I dunno, just not exactly what I had imagined my life to be at this point in time, but I'm excited about the possibilities, just curious what the next two years will be like....

Celebrations!

May was a crazy, busy month for us, as we had 2 graduations, 5 birthdays, 3 Mother's Day events....not to mention finally getting my braces off. Seriously, that was a huge celebration!

So, here's a few pictures from May- below is the Serna Clan at Lane's graduation from Trinity University:

Liz, Lane and myself and Liz's high school graduation.