A Graduation Celebration!

The day after graduation, Ken had an exciting celebration planned.  It was not a surprise, but he did plan the entire thing, which was super sweet of him.  I may not have been excited about the graduation, but I was certainly excited about my gathering with friends.

The celebration was held at Somerset Ridge, a place that we have been hanging out at since 2008.  It was such a fun day filled with friends, family, wine, and cake.  It was a great time.  I will let the majority of the pictures do the talking.

Everyone enjoying wine and the charcuterie plate.

Michelle and Jill having fun

Katie and me

One of the big things that day was the discussion of scrotal edema.  You see, it seems to follow me all over the hospital.  No matter where I go, I come across a patient with scrotal edema.  The discussion started that day when Scott insisted I open my presents because he had written scrotal edema in his card.  He was pretty proud of himself.  Katie said we should make bets on how many cards mentioned scrotal edema because she knew of at least two...ha, ha!  Our friends I tell ya!

Michelle demonstrating an uncircumcised penis with scrotal edema.  You cannot make this stuff up!

With our good friend Scott.  Scott and I worked together at Oakwood and I had no idea when I met him over 10 years ago that we would be such good friends.  I miss seeing him every day.

Ken says that this is one of the funniest pictures of the day because no one is that excited for cake.  Well, this girl is!  I love me some cake, especially chocolate on chocolate cake!

This was such a delicious cake from 3 Women and an Oven

Getting ready to blow out my candle and being super embarrassed about some of the jokes about me blowing out a candle.  I am explaining that I am a modest young lady!

Jill and me.  Jill was my very first friend in Kansas City and I am so glad that we met over 11 years ago!

With my three besties.  I love these three to pieces.

A great representation of the day!

All of us girls

Our friend Jane and me

Linda and Bill celebrated with us and were super proud of their new nurse!

A great picture of Michelle and Rob.  

After the winery, it was determined that none of us had any food at home so Rob, Michelle, Mike, Katie, and us decided to go to Tanners for dinner and more drinks. Joe and Laura, who could not make it to the winery, met up with us too.

Mike and Katie at Tanners

Katie, Laura, Michelle, and me

There is so much going on in this photo.  Mainly, Michelle had made it rain Kleenex earlier and she is getting one back!

Joe and me

If you know Michelle and me, you understand this photo.  Drink your water girl!

The entire weekend was unbelievable.  I received so many wonderful gifts, all of which were completely unexpected.  I feel so grateful for all of the wonderful people in my life.  Ken really out did himself with such a great weekend and celebration.  He sure knows how to spoil his girl.  Oh, he finished the weekend off with breakfast at IHOP.  Nothing says love to me quite like pumpkin pancakes.  

One of my gifts from my mother in law.  

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Graduation Day...

My graduation day started of with brunch with two of my nursing school besties.  We talked about the upcoming day and made plans that we will be meeting up for brunch/cocktails or something at least once a month.  I am so sad thinking about not seeing them every week!  

When I got home, Ken told me he had a present for me.  I was absolutely clueless as to what it might be because I had not asked for anything and I am quite difficult to shop for.  He handed me a wrapped box and I almost died.  I could not believe that he had wrapped a present for me.  It could have been a cat toy at that point.  My heart had already melted.  I opened the present and my heart melted even more.  It was a new stethoscope that was pink.  It was a far nicer stethoscope than I would have ever purchased for myself.  He had put so much thought into and made sure it was pink.  It absolutely made my day.  I pulled it out and listened to Ken's heart beat so that his heart would be the very first one I would listen to with my new stethoscope.  That husband of mine is so sweet!

Saint Luke's College of Health Sciences BSN class of 2016

I did not realize the girl next to me was so tall until I saw this photo, ha, ha!

My friends Amy and Amanda

Beth and I with our signature pose.  Beth and I were clinical partners for complex care in the ICU. We had so much fun together and we found that she would always stand just behind my shoulder when I would chart, but I would have no idea she was back there.  She was the best clinical partner I could have ever asked for and not only because she took care of the eye drops for me since I have an eye thing.  She is going to be working in the ICU as well in the float pool, so I know at some point we will be able to work a few shifts together.  We found that we both get the giggles around 4:00 am on night shift, no matter how much coffee we drink.

These three ladies make my heart so happy.  I know nursing school would not have been the same without them.  I am so proud to say that all of us will be critical care nurses and received our first choice of units.  I will be in the ICU, Brittnee will be in the ER, Madison will be in the NICU, and Amanda will be in the ER.  I love these girls to pieces.

Grateful is the only word that really comes to mind when I look at this picture.  I think all girls should be as blessed as I am in the husband department.  He is my biggest cheerleader in everything that I do. 

After graduation we went to Spin Pizza with Ken's parents and Mike and Katie.  It was the end to a perfect day!

I Graduated...

One week ago today I graduated from nursing school with my BSN.  Graduated.  From nursing school.  I am still a little surprised that it is over with, but am thrilled that I am getting ready to start my career.

I have given it a lot of thought about what I should write/say about my graduation and it has taken me a bit of time to wrap my head around this accomplishment, because it is quite the accomplishment. If you had asked me last week if I was excited, my answer was just, meh.  I was excited, but for different reasons.  I was most excited about getting my first choice nursing job and not so much about the actual graduation.  I will try to explain my way of thinking the best that I can.

In our house if you say you are going to do something, you do it.  No excuses, no questions about it, you said you would do it, so you do it.  End of the story.  I know, we sound really hard core at our house, don't we?  In my mind finishing nursing school was just me finishing something I set out to do.

It wasn't until we were talking with our friend Joe last week that I realized how difficult it is to accomplish such a thing as an adult and that my completing a BSN was indeed a big deal.

I know that my graduating nursing school should be my proudest accomplishment, but it is not.  My proudest accomplishment is what it took me to get there.

If I am being completely honest, I have always felt like sort of a failure for not going to college right out of high school.  I am not tooting my own horn here, but I am too smart to have not gone to college.  At the time, I did not know what I wanted to do, so I started working and eventually fell into sales jobs, which do not always require a degree.  Still, anytime someone would ask me about college I always felt like a failure.

I knew in 2007 that I wanted to be a nurse.  I had plans to go back to school, but the timing was just not right for me.  I received a promotion at work and felt satisfied with what I was doing so I carried on and did not really think about it again.  The thought of taking classes as a 26 year old non-traditional student seemed quite daunting at the time.  Boy was my 30 something self in for a surprise later!

I was satisfied and happy up until I finished Ironman Louisville in 2012.  Actually, when we hiked the Grand Canyon for the first time in 2011, I met my friend Molly who was a nurse, and a seed was planted in my mind to consider school.  I quickly put the thought out of my mind rather quickly because I was satisfied at work.  I always kind of thought "what if" though.

During Ironman Louisville I met a girl named Anne during the bike portion.  We started talking and I learned that she was a nurse.  The thought crept into my mind again, but I quickly pushed it out again.  It was 90 something degrees and I had an Ironman to finish.  I never forgot about Anne though and her being a nurse.

After I finished Ironman Louisville I was met with a great deal of disappointment, which is quite common after such an achievement.  I was pretty depressed and felt rather lost.  What was I going to do next?  I sure as hell was not going to do an Ironman again...yet.  Suddenly the thought of Anne came into my mind as well as my friends Molly, Heather, and Jamie who are all wonderful nurses.  I knew it was time to make a career change.

Fast forward to a few structural changes at work and I felt like I had the flashing sign I needed to make me pull the trigger.  I really felt that if I could work full time and train for an Ironman, that I could put that extra training time to classes.  Fast forward to January, and I was taking 13 hours of classes while working full time.  I also trained for a marathon that year, because that is how I roll.

My very first day of class in January 2013.  

Some how, I managed to complete a BSN degree, which is a four year degree, in exactly four years.  Those first two years I worked my butt of to do so.  I took a full load of classes, worked full time, and was either training for a marathon or an Ironman, all while maintaining the house and being a wife.  I am not exactly sure how I did it, but I did.  That right there is what I am most proud of.  I did it, and I have myself and Ken to thank for it.

BSN graduate with the RN pending

Chicago!

Last week Ken and I went on a mini trip to Chicago!  It was my birthday gift and a way to celebrate my upcoming graduation.  Our main focus was to visit the Chriskindlmart that is held each year.  You see, I am desperately wanting to go to the Christmas markets in Germany.  Desperately.  We mentioned this to a friend, and he suggested the market in Chicago.  It is authentic German as you can get here in the States, so we had to try it out!

We left on Thursday and came home on Saturday.  That is the perfect amount of time in Chicago if you are not running the marathon, in my humble opinion.

This is how I will be rolling until further notice.

Apparently Ken wanted in on my NCLEX action and started reviewing questions.  He got more correct than I thought he would given the bizarre wording of nursing questions where every answer is technically correct.

We arrived in Chicago, dropped our bags, and made our way to the Chriskindlmart.  

A few of the darling stalls adored with Christmas goods

Many of the vendors come in Chicago from Germany.

We wandered around the market to get the lay of the land and then stopped for a little German fare.  We then made the most important stop of the evening, for gluhwein!  

Ken and his first experience with gluhwein.  Spoiler alert, he is a fan!

I adored the Christmas market and the gluhwein!

We did not stay long at the market, as our plans were to spend more time there on Friday.  We left the market and made our way back to the hotel with plans to stop somewhere along the way.

Beautiful Chicago

We ended up stumbling across CH Distillery and stopped for a few drinks.  This place was so adorable!  It was fully decorated for Christmas and the theme was all things A Christmas Story, everything from the decor to the drinks.

The themed menu.  All of the drinks were named after something A Christmas Story.

Enjoying my BB Gun drink, which was lovely.

We ended our night with a little deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati's.  This was Ken's first experience at Lou's and he was indeed a fan.  

We woke up on Friday and I went for a quick run around downtown.  I cannot possibly explain just how annoying it is to run around downtown Chicago with all the stoplights and people commuting to work.  I will take my suburbia running any day!

We got ready to go for the day and did a little morning shopping.

Macy's really goes all out with the decorations.

We stopped by Macy's so I could visit the Christmas Lane area and buy a few ornaments.  It was glorious.  

It is like a Christmas Explosion!!

After Macy's we made our way to Michigan Avenue and stopped for lunch at The Purple Pig.  We had both always wanted to go here for a meal, so I am glad we were finally able to.  This place is busy!  We arrived around 12:30 and still had to wait about 30 minutes or so to get a table.  Not to fret, we enjoyed cocktails on the heated patio and talked the time away.  

The seating arrangements are communal and we were seated with a group of ladies from Iowa.  They were a hoot!  We had so much fun with them.  We had no intention on staying for as long as we did, but we were enjoying talking and laughing (and sharing food) with our new friends.  

I do need to take a moment to speak of how wonderful and friendly I think people from Iowa are.  Iowa people are amazing and so is their loyalty to all things Iowa such as Hy Vee and Scheels!

With our new friends at the Purple Pig.  PS, the lady on the far left is a farmer.  

We shopped around Magnificent Mile for a bit before stopping off at the Kerryman for a drink.  We made our way back to our hotel and relaxed for awhile.  After that, we bundled up and made our way back to the Christmas market!

The Chicago Christkindlmart

All bundled up (I am wearing two scarves) and with our gluhwein!

Shopping around the Munich vendor to find my perfect ornament.

I really have this Christmas market thing down.  Who wants to go with me to Germany?

Festive shoppers

I bought a set of four nutcracker men ornaments to bring home.  I really want a nutcracker, but Ken and I both agree that this is best purchased in Germany.  We also snacked on some candied pecans.  Let's just take a moment to discuss how delicious the market smelled.  Yankee candle should definitely make one and call it Christmas Market.  It shall smell of candied nuts, schnitzel and gluhwein!  Seriously, the smell of the market was unbelievable.

Freezing, but having so much fun together!

Some of the hand painted ornaments I liked

We had a few refills on the gluhwein!

I enjoyed my gluhwein

Our first ever Christmas market was a success!

The market view from the street

The market was definitely a lot more crowded on Friday than it was on Thursday.  If you dislike crowds, I suggest a week night visit.  

We left the market and stopped at a little bar that ended up having last call at 8:50 pm.  Ken and I looked at each other in shock.  I mean, our local Talk of the Town in Leawood stays open until after 1:00 am.  Strange.  

We decided to go to a local brewery that was near our hotel for one last drink before wrapping up our trip.

Ken and me at Haymarket Pub

We left the following morning, just a day shy of getting to see the snow.  I can only imagine how crazy I would go if I got to walk around a Christmas market in the snow.  That might be too much joy in one place.  Alas, even without the snow, we had an amazing time.

Thank you Ken for taking me on a wonderful little trip!  I love our time away together.