I have a weakness for puppies.

Mini-Vaca Recap

A couple of weekends ago Alex and I had our first weekend get-away since our honeymoon back to Charlotte, NC. As I mentioned in a previous post, we stopped in Atlanta on the way to Charlotte to go to the Coca-Cola museum--fun, as always. We were hoping there wouldn't be very many people since it was Friday afternoon, but boy, were we wrong. There were a lot of kids! It was still fun though.

We got to our hotel in Charlotte and realized that two NCAA tournament games were being played that weekend in Charlotte and one of the teams was staying at the Hilton as well. We didn't see anyone, or atleast I don't think we did. I don't think I would have known if I had seen anyone from the team, but cool nonetheless. For dinner, Ruth's Chris was on our list for Friday night. It was a little more awkward than the last time we ate there because I had made the reservation on the phone, so every time the waiter came to the table he addressed me, which was annoying after a while. Getting dressed up for dinner though is always fun! This trip to Charlotte was much warmer than in December so we spent more time walking around downtown.

The next day we had "Young Frankenstein" on the schedule for the afternoon, so we checked out of the hotel and headed out to walk around and eat lunch before the show. Little did we know, there was a St. Patrick's Day Festival and Parade going on. It was very crowded, but an awesome surprise. We caught a glimpse of the parade (Stormtroopers wearing kilts was our favorite) and walked amidst the booths of wood carvings, Guinness and fried foods gallore. The weather was gorgeous and this really was a fun surprise before the show. It was a good way to pass the time. "Young Frankenstein" was...amazing. I vowed not to listen to the music beforehand and was really entertained. We love Broadway shows and this one makes it into the top of the list, granted we have seen some really good shows. Personally, I've seen Wicked on Broadway in New York, Jersey Boys, Chicago, Rent and Cats (all traveling shows). It surprised me how much I liked "Young Frankenstein." There's a video posted of my favorite song. What I like most about this song though is the dancing. I love the dancing.

Saturday on our way home we decided to pit stop in Atlanta again and stay there Saturday night which was fun. We played putt putt and ate out some more. It was Alex's idea to spontaneously prolong our mini-vacation which turned out to be a good one. Our next opportunity to take a trip together won't be until after the summer so we took advantage of the time we had.

Alex and I had a lot of fun and it was a great time of relaxation and time to ourselves after the busy months we've been through.

Here's the video! This is our favorite song, but not the best part of the show--it gets so much better! This is from the Today show Halloween edition 2007.

Yes, I'm still awake.

I watched this movie tonight, and I loved it! I love Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford (love that we share a last name now!), and they do a wonderful job in this movie. I love Rachel's character, and her success in this movie. I've started to dream about what kind of job I'd really like to have, and I liked watching her success happen. It made me feel like I can succeed in whatever I end up doing! I wish I could have her clothes.

I ended up staying up late enough to watch Jay Leno. Then I saw a commercial for Jimmy Fallon's show and guess who was on it?! Tiger Woods. I don't think he's done very much as far as talk shows since the whole affair thing and I was curious. He still acts pretty stuck up. He discussed his new house which has a huge amount of property, in which he has different kinds of sand-one for each different golf course he competes on....please, Tiger. Anyway, Amy Poehler was also on and she was pretty funny. Jimmy Fallon has gotten funnier! His stand-up bit before his guests was hilarious, and his banter with Tiger was pretty funny. Congrats, Jimmy for still being on the air and keeping your show alive! At the beginning, it was looking rough. I will gladly watch it now on nights like these where I'm up late enough to watch.

I'm super sleepy as you can tell by my rambling. Goodnight!

What's going on?

If my lack of blogging didn't clue you in, I have been pretty busy the last month and a half. It's starting to slow down I think...atleast right now it is. This week is spring break, plus Alex is gone, so I've had a lot of time to spend with friends. I'm sure many people thought Alex and I had fallen off the face of the earth or just didn't want to be their friend anymore. Our schedule's haven't changed a whole lot but I am done with my hospital rotation which takes a load off. The days I had to be in the hospital (for school) would go like this: wake up around 5:15 am, leave as Alex was waking up, be on my feet the whole day, get home around 7:30 pm when Alex was usually practicing with the band or CRU band, go to bed around 10:30 pm only about 30 minutes to an hour after Alex got home. The days I was not at the hospital I was either at my actual job, class, or spending time with Alex. Sometimes we had the weekends, but a couple of times I had to use those days to get my hospital days in (my schedule there depended on the nurse's schedule I was placed with), and one weekend the boys had a gig in Alabama. February was SMB's slow month as far as gigs go, but Alex and I had a lot less time together than I expected. And as you can assume, my husband got first dibs over my free time since our time was limited. I feel like I'm back in the real world though now. My clinical days usually only last from 8 am to 3 pm, which is so much better than 7 am to 7 pm. What stinks about Alex's schedule is that he is free in the middle of the day when everyone else is at work, but he works early in the morning and at night when people are free and want to hang out...

Anyway, this week has been pretty rough at times. The SMB left last Wednesday to go to Virginia, drove home all night Saturday to get back just in time to play Sunday morning, then head out for Kentucky where they'll be until Thursday right as I'm going to work. If I didn't have a midterm and a test last Thursday I could have gone with them to Virginia...and this week (Spring Break of all weeks!) I needed to stay here and work. It hasn't been terrible being by myself, especially at night; I thought it would be worse. I just hate that we're in two different states during my Spring Break! I can't complain though...this weekend we're getting away--just the two of us! We're driving through Atlanta, stopping at the Coco-Cola museum, and then up to Charlotte where we went for the first part of our honeymoon. We're staying in the same hotel and will probably revisit a favorite restaurant we found in December, Ruth's Chris Steak House. Saturday afternoon we're going to see "Young Frankenstein" and then we'll head home. I'm really looking forward to it. It's the first trip since our honeymoon that we've been on and I've been craving a get away ever since we left Cancun!

January 2009--our first visit to the Coca-Cola museum together.

Hilton in Charlotte, NC.

As you can see, this is the steak house we really liked.

And the show we're seeing!

Sometime soon I am going to make a slideshow of some of our wedding pictures and some of our honeymoon pictures. Be looking for that!

NICU

I've mentioned before that my preceptorship for this semester ended up being in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which was my dream come true! I have now worked with my nurse for 7 days and thought I should give an update!

It is absolutely wonderful being in the NICU. I love it and I think I'll really like it if I get a job there. It doesn't scare me and I actually look forward to going. I miss the babies when I'm home, or I wonder about them. That doesn't happen as much as it did when I first started but every now and then I'll just want to call and make sure they're ok. Don't worry--no attachment problems. After my first day, I did fall in love with one of the babies but it's been long enough to where I've gotten over that and I've realized I can't do that with all of them! This particular baby is still in the NICU and we've taken care of her/him (not supposed to say, HIPPA and all that jazz) every day I've been there. Hopefully this little one will be going home soon, and until then we get to love on it!

Everyone asks me what will I do if one of the babies dies. You would think with them being so small that would be a thought always going through your mind, but it's not. You're very much aware of the ones who will be ok and the ones who are really, really sick. We've just had intermediate babies so no worries unless something just came up which I pray does not. The more common thought is, "What will the baby's life be like?" Some of them will have developmental delays and developmental problems and their quality of life will be undeterminable, but the parents still want everything done. And can you blame them? Technology is so marvelous now-a-days that we can save a baby born at 22 weeks old. They may not be able to function on their own, but they are alive. Some of me wonders if what we do to them is beneficial or just making them suffer through life.

Ultimately, it is God's will. God is sovereign and His word shows it. My life shows that God is sovereign. I go in every day and pray that God will use my hands to show the baby and their family Jesus. I love on the babies hoping that one day Jesus will be their Lord. I hold them and swaddle them hoping that when they have a bad day when they're older or when their family goes through a hard time or even if they fail a test at school, that they will remember they are a child of God, and there is a better Kingdom coming than this earth we live on.

I have learned so much more than skills and knowledge about tiny babies than I ever thought. The hours may be long and it may exhaust me, but for right now I think the NICU is where I'm supposed to be. Thanks be to God!

Valentine's Day

I have to brag...I made a sweet dinner for Alex last Friday night when we celebrated Valentine's Day. I have yet to cook this big since we've been married and I'm still pumped about it.

I grilled steaks on our George Foreman, made honey balsamic green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and chocolate covered strawberries. I had some cocktail shrimp out because we both love it so much. It turned out really well. We were both impressed!

The past two years (this year makes 3) we've gone to the Big Band Fever that the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra does every year for Valentine's Day. They create a "big band" from members of the symphony orchestra and they play big band hits, while you dance on the stage. It is a blast and we love going! I'm really glad we got to go this year, and there weren't any conflicts with the SMB. If you live in Chattanooga, you should check it out next year.

We were treated by our newly engaged friends, Drew and Addie! Drew proposed prior to coming to Big Band Fever and since that was the night we were going (by coincidence) we got to see them. Lucky us! That time after you get proposed is so precious and we're special to have been able to see them while they were floating on Cloud 9! Too cute!

Procrastination through Disney!

So I found my ultimate procrastination tool on Disney's Weddings Blog!

"Wall-E" wedding cake!!!

Pirate-themed wedding.

Glad Alex and I jumped on this trend's band wagon. :)

"Under the Sea" Wedding Cake

This cake is modeled after a bridal store! It's gorgeous.

If you want even more cute-ness, check out this blog post! "Top 10 Proposal Ideas at Disney" --gah!! So adorable.