Why Do I Blog?

A year ago I began blogging. My first post was a summary of the year 2009. This year I don't think I really need to do that summary because I posted 37 times in 2010! My goal was 2 times a month and some months that's really all I had to talk about and other months I had more to say. 2011 will bring lots of changes with finishing up school and looking for a new job so I hope that I will be able to blog more than last years goal! I don't really feel that I can publicly blog about many of my experiences at the hospital, but if you just ask me in person, I have plenty of funny/gross/interesting stories with lots more to come!

As the year has begun to come to a close, I've asked myself, why do I blog and why should I continue to blog. I don't have a huge following and writing is really not my thing. I think the answer to that is because it's a like a picture I get to look back over and over to remember my experiences, where they took me,  and see how far I've come. To be able to look back at a time when I was having a hard time and see how God led me through it. To look back over all the wonderful times I had and see all the many blessing in my life, no matter how small. In summary, I blog to give myself hope. Hope that better days are ahead or hope that my life is already filled with blessings. I look forward to 2011 and may God bless your coming year!

End of Another Semester and a Few Random Things

• A week ago, I took my finals, concluding the end of another semester. Last week I was feeling two things. First, excited because I'm done with another semester and that means there's only one left! Second, scared because I only have one semester left. Scared to start applying for jobs, interviewing, and taking the NCLEX.  Lots of things are passing through my mind right now. Will I get the kind of job I want? Will I have to travel far? Will I get a job at all? Will I pass the NCLEX? However, the excitement is still a pretty strong feeling!

• I'm also excited for the cruise we're going on that is coming up very quickly! We leave in two and half weeks and that is pretty much the only reason why I'm not severely depressed about the winter and snow that started ridiculously early this year.

• Friday my parents and brother are coming to my house for Christmas for the 3rd year. It's really nice not to have to travel and wake up in your own bed on Christmas morning. So I have to cook, but I don't really mind that.

• I am also coming up on a year of blogging! Wow- never thought I'd be able to keep up my quota of at least 2 blogs a month. But I think it's really been great for my friends far away to be able to keep up with my life (Niki and Amanda)!

• Merry Christmas ya'll and thanks for reading!

Last night of Clinicals

My last night of clinicals was Thursday. We had so much fun together! There are 10 of us plus our teacher and we've really grown very close this past semester. 6 of us we still be in the same group next semester but 4 will not :( I can't imagine being in a group that will top this one. So for our last night, we came to the hospital but we didn't really do any patient care. We brought Christmas cheer to all the departments that have allowed us to learn from them. We gave 7 departments a cake and a tray of candy, brownies and cookies. They were thrilled. Then we all sat down together to enjoy a potluck dinner. It was a great night.

ACC Championship

Justin and I decided to go to the ACC Championship game this year since it was only 2.5 hours away in Charlotte, NC. We left around 2 on Saturday, the weather was terrible the first couple of hours! It was snowing and sticking to the road and many people were still driving like maniacs around us (even though we passed a bunch of cars in the ditch!) I was driving and it was terrifying especially where the mountain road gets all windy with so much fog I could barely see! But God was with us and we got to the stadium safely with plenty of time to spare. It rained about the first 10 minutes of the game but we didn't really get wet. My feet and hands were pretty frozen the last hour, but overall it was a great game experience (especially since we schooled FSU)! The drive back home didn't take us nearly as long and we got back home around 2:15 Sunday morning. The rest of the day I studied madly for my last Pharmacology Test today. Not only did we have a nice 2 hour delay this morning, but I only missed one question on my test! Wednesday I have my last test in Med-Surg and then Wednesday and Thursday nights are my last days of clinicals (and no paperwork this week :)). The semester is finally almost over...I'm so excited to almost be done and get ready for Christmas fun!