work hard, play hard

In the last six days I worked 60 hours of night shift. (For you non-nursing friends, that means five 12 hour shifts with a day off somewhere in the middle.) Christopher cooked and cleaned as I did my level best simply to take the dog for a short walk each day.

At work though, where I usually just do my job and clock out, I finished up a small project (on how to swab for influenza), did some staff education on another project (about difficult airways) that I've gotten involved in and completed several mandatory on-line modules with names like "Emergent Gastrointestinal Disorders" and "Integument Disorders." Yep ... riveting. In fact, I brought home my notes on "Pediatric Emergencies, Part II" thinking that I would finish it at home. 

Holy over-achiever Batman!

But that is not meant to be. 

Because I'm leaving for Arizona in about an hour to join my family for my cousin's wedding on Saturday. I'm leaving Christopher and Loki and single digit temperatures to spend three days in seventy degree Tempe with a bunch of people that I love. Truth be told, I am the most excited that both my brothers will be there. How is it that we live so far away that we have to fly to AZ to spend a weekend together?!? When did we all grow up?

So, here's to a bunch of work hours that allows me to take a long weekend without PTO and to celebrating with family down South where it is warm. 

Hope you have a nice weekend, whatever it bring you!

Five Minute Friday: Dive

Two posts in one night?!? Linking up over here with the Gypsy Mama.

Dive {Start 0112}

Several years ago we were merely acquaintances with out a clue about how our lives would intertwine. We were both invited to a friend's cabin. It was summer but the night we decided to go swimming, the water was cold.

I dove under the calm/freezing water, not knowing that I was really diving into a relationship that would shape my life.

And afterwards, we sat on the end of the pier, each wrapped up in a towel, looking at the stars. We sat there til we couldn't feel our toes and our breath turned to steam. We sat there long enough to know that we both wanted more.

{Stop 0117}

Happy {almost} three years, baby! 

Goal wrap-up

My 2012 Goals: 
Make bread. Yep, I did this well and will continue to make bread. My favorite recipe is this one for sandwich bread.

Make a quilt. Nope, this didn't happen. Maybe I'll try again this year....

Have one internet free evening a week and one internet free day a month. This worked out great as long as I could remember to do it. Writing "internet free day" on my google calendar wasn't all that helpful since my reminder was on-line. I will continue this during this year with a paper reminder system.

Increase our giving. Check, did this.

Continue our "state of the union" weekly updates. We did this about 50% of the time in some form. It is really important for us.

Research CSAs and hopefully find a good fit for us. Done and done. I LOVED our CSA and we did well at cooking all the veggies. We may look for a farm that has a work share as Christopher is interested in working at a farm in exchange for our boxes. (Hopefully I'll tag along a few days but we think it would be too big of a commitment for me to do the whole thing.)

Finish memorizing Colossians. This did not happen. Will try again this year.

Be more intentional about building relationships. While this is a really vague goal, I think I did what I intended to do. 

2013 Goals: 
Record all credit card purchases. Per my husband's request as sorting out the budget is pretty difficult when the item simply says "Amazon" -- gift? household? misc? 

Plant and tend a vegetable garden. It doesn't have to big or grand ... just a garden.

Finish memorizing Colossians. I will try this one. more. year. 

Complete 12 projects, one each month. Finding and scheduling time to be creative is important and reflects positively on the rest of my life. 

Find a cleaning schedule that works for us. Working random days does not lend itself to consistent ... well, anything. Cleaning usually gets dropped off the list first although I know there is enough time in my week to clean, I just choose to do something else instead. 

Begin using a daily planner. I'm going to try this one first.  This does include a place for a gratitude journal also which will be a nice practice to start up again. 

Read a book a month. Specifically read the Chronicles of Narnia series and a book or two by Wendell Berry (any suggestions about where to start?). 

There you have it. 

Vacation 2012

Some pictures and memories from our road-trip vacation:

- We drove through 11 states down to Florida and back with Christopher's entire family.

- Loki spent most of the 45+ hours of driving on the lap or on my feet. A little too much togetherness.

- We spent a little bit of time helping Christopher's sister's family moving into their new home. They live in a little lake community in rural Orlando.

- Chris and I drove to Satellite Beach to visit my cousin and his family. We ate at the same taco place we went to when we visited for their wedding several years ago. We went to the beach and played with their little boys.

- Then we left Loki with our family (who graciously watched him the week we were gone) and sailed away on a cruise ship to visit the Western Caribbean.

- We went snorkeling in Honduras and learned that isn't the best activity for us because I can't see much without my glasses and Christopher's beard made it hard for his mask to fit properly. We also kayaked that day which was a nice redemption for that excursion.

- We had ice cream ... every afternoon. Ice cream, in my mind, is within the definition of vacation. Usually not everyday but poolside ice cream overlooking blue waters quickly became our standard afternoon activity.

- We spent a lot of time walking around the promenade deck and talking about various things in our life. Being removed from the responsibilities of our daily life and the stress of work and school really helped us connect and see things clearly.

- We went to Altun Ha, Mayan ruins in Belize. We were a little too early for the end of the Mayan calendar, though!

- We met a couple on the cruise who invited us to drive with them around Cozumel, which was my favorite day of the cruise. The beaches were beautiful and we ate fresh seafood in the sand at a little Mexican restaurant on the ocean.

- And then, at the end of the week, Christopher's parents brought Loki to the port to pick us up. We were pretty excited to see him. =) ... Oh yeah, and the rest of the family, too.  But, who are we kidding, really Loki.

- We celebrated an early Christmas with our family in Orlando and we enjoyed spending time with them. Christmas with kids around is decidedly more fun than with just adults. The three dogs also added to the fun.

Since coming home, we've been doing a little bit of Christmas-y things and are keeping with the low-key, relaxed vibes that came from our vacation. Our shopping is done, our little tree is up and decorated and only a little bit of snow would make it feel more like Christmas.

Hope you are enjoying the holiday season with your family and friends!

These last two months ...

So in the last two months ...

- We welcomed my brother John's long-time girlfriend and short-time fiance into our family. They had a beautiful wedding and a fun reception at Lindsey's parents' ranch. I'm excited for them as they begin their marriage and look forward to many future memories.

I wish the horse in the background showed up in this picture!

- Christopher gave a presentation at a conference in New York and finished studying for his Qualifying Exams which he passed last week. Yay! I'm proud of his hard work and dedication and excited that he has this milestone behind him. Per our agreement, I took over much of the housework, cooking and Loki duties - tasks that we usually split or he just does (like the cooking). I've enjoyed cooking new things using the produce from our CSA box and I've learned that no one really cares if the dust bunnies swirl around another day ... or two ... or three.

Roasted Pepper Soup. I can't tell you how many times the fire alarm went off while I was roasting the peppers. Probably wouldn't have been a big deal it is wasn't in the middle of the night. Not my best Susie Homemaker moment.

A lot of this happens in the mornings.

- In the midst of DQE studying we entertained Christopher's family in Milwaukee for a weekend.

And I went to Chattanooga with a friend to attend a conference. Maybe more on that later - let's face it, I haven't been the most consistent blogger. But there are several idea floating around my head ...

- After a relatively small accident our taurus was considered "totaled" so we bought a car. More specifically, a 2007 Prius which we named "Gorgeous" but I call him "Geo." Although it was a little sooner than we intended, we were glad to pay for him outright and make Dave Ramsey proud. It was great to see the rewards of our frugal-ness. 

- I canned lots and lots of apples with friends, adding to our zombie-apocalypse cellar.

So, what's next? We are going on a road trip-vacation. The road trip part is with Christopher's family and the vacation part is the two of us on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. Here's to a week of relaxation, good food and spending time together!