Sigma Theta Tau Induction

Tonight, I was inducted into the nursing national honor society, Sigma Theta Tau.

I am now a proud member!

The ceremony only lasted an hour. I was so thankful it didn't drag out.

Incase you are behind, my parents flew in yesterday for the occasion.

They served a light dinner so we decided to grab a real dinner afterwards.
We attempted to go to bed early because we are headed to Washington DC tomorrow morning. 5:30 AM wakeup call.

Meadow Lights

My parents landed at RDU around 2:30 and we were all starving. Our first meal was at Noodles & Company.

Mom's

Dad's

Mine

We spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

I had heard about a town called Meadow that had an amazing restaurant and a light display that could not be missed. We decided to head out on an hour drive to the town of Meadow, NC.

The Meadow Village Restaurant was located across the street from the Volunteer Fire Department. We had the pleasure of hearing the "delightful" sounds of men firing off guns every minute or so. 

waiting in line

After we waited for 45 minutes in line, I thought we would be in for a real treat. We were a bit disappointed. Nothing in the buffet looked appealing to me, so I went for the burger. In all fairness, the burger was good...I just wouldn't ever wait 45 minutes for it.

We headed towards the lights and rode on a little train to get a view of them.

The night was fun, but I wouldn't drive an hour to do it again. If you live within 30 minutes of Meadow...I say go for it.

Speed Bump

I've had a weekend full of ups and downs. I'm glad to say it is over with and I survived!
When I arrived home after my last 12 hour shift, I turned on the downstairs light.
No lights came on so I figured I would turn the switch off and try turning some of the bulbs to see if that was the issue. I turned the switch back on and one of the bulbs exploded. Now, only can I not see, but there are 1000 pieces of glass over my living room. Awesome. 

part of the bulb on my table

I cleaned off the table and began to vacuum the floor. As of today, I have only had 3 pieces of glass get stuck in my foot since the explosion. 

I got up Saturday and went shopping for some nice Winter clothes. I was successful and I'm happy with what I picked up.

I finished up the afternoon with a run.

Sunday was my last eight hour shift of the semester. My very last shift of the year! It didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked and ended up having my first breakdown in nursing school. Can you believe it was on my last shift of the semester? Erg. It ended up being over a big misunderstanding too. I've calmed down and I'm ok.

Yesterday was the day that I had to do my exit simulations for Peds and Maternity. We worked in groups of four and were put in four different scenarios. The first one was over postpartum hemorrhage. I had the role of the medication nurse. As a team we worked really well and we did fairly well for it being our first one. The second scenario was over preeclampsia. I chose to be the primary nurse in this one because I was confident after doing my mind map on the subject. It happened to be the one that they recorded with a camera. We made it through that one and then two Peds ones. My group passed and I was on my way out the door before 5 pm. 

I went bowling around 8 pm with Stesha, Garrett, and Ann. Ann is the mother of a girl in the class below us. Her daughter was stuck studying for her Patho final, so we invited her mother to join us bowling. It was a $5 cover, $1 for shoes, $1 per game, and $1 for draft beer. I needed to let loose after my roller coaster of a weekend. We played two regular games and then played one left handed.

I won the first game.

I lost the second game =(

We went to a bistro place afterwards to hang out. They had a lot of TVs to watch sports games.

We were the lasts ones there.

I loved all the trees that were decorated with lights near Bull Durham.

I woke up this morning and finished my last Maternity quiz =)

I went for a run and it was 72 degrees outside. I had sweat running off me during my run.

Tomorrow starts my last week of classes. My parents are flying in Thursday and I can't wait to see them.

Back in Durham...Thanksgiving teased me

It took me all week, but I got my mini tree for my room up and running.

Monday was my mother's birthday and we celebrated at Babe's Chicken.

It was decorated like a little Christmas village.

My dad finished putting up the Christmas lights on the bushes and I "helped" by taking cute pictures of Hal.

My Mom and I had hit Bath and Body works a couple of days before and bought some new candles. I am in love with this scent.

After our food settled from our enormous lunch, we dug into some cake!

mmmmm

all of my Mom's cards

 I hope you had a wonderful birthday Mommy! I love you!

Unfortunately, I had to get up the next morning and pack up.

Alley practically slept on my head all night. 

I hated to part with her.

My parents and I ate Which Wich for lunch and then we headed for the airport.

I was flying American Airlines the day AMR (their parent company) filed a chapter 11 bankruptcy. I don't really know all the details on what that means, but they have reassured people that their miles are safe. The employees didn't seem bothered and they were joking around behind the counter. One was showing off her pantyhose to one of her coworkers...

The airport was decorated for the holidays...something that was not done when I flew into DFW a week before.

Stesha's flight from LA landed the same time mine did. We met while waiting for my luggage. I gave her a ride home and then grabbed my hungry belly some food.

I jumped into bed and talked to Lance for 3 hours. We talked while watching the VS fashion show together haha.

My alarm went off yesterday morning and I was out the door for class.

We learned about infertility and discussed artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization. 

I skipped my first class of the semester to go home and write my research proposal. I thought I would get a bit of it done before I tired out.

I worked for 2 hours and then took a break to go run. At that point, I had only picked my topic and written an introduction to my paper.

They have completely ripped out all of the trees in that "tree protection" zone that I posted about weeks ago. Someone didn't do their job and protect the trees...they are all gone. It looks so different running down that street now.

I found a pretty wreath at one of the apartment complexes I run by.

I ran 2 miles and walked 1. I was worn out.

I started back up on my paper and actually FINISHED it!

15 pages in 5 hours.

I was so relieved to have finished it.

Today is World AIDS day and I found it fitting that we had our lecture on HIV today in Community Health. 

In Peds we had a guest speaker talk to us about Sickle Cell Anemia. Then 4 people with sickle cell joined our class to tell us their stories and let us ask them questions. I loved hearing their stories and cannot believe what they have gone through and are still going through.

The DUSON is all done up for Christmas and we couldn't pass up a chance for a picture with Santa!

I came home after class and attempted a nap. I only got about 30 minutes in and relaxed for a bit. I did end up getting out and running. I walked half of the time. I am really sore from yesterday's run.

I plan on relaxing the rest of the evening.