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....