Feeling better...until I looked outside...

I have been feeling better. I applied for a new job - haven't heard anything on it yet, though. I hung out with my friend, Sarah, on Friday - had a great time. And then went to Threadbear with my mom yesterday. Signed up for the Central Park Hoodie class that starts in January - can't wait to start it! We had to order our yarn, so it'll be about a week or so before we can start anything. My hoodie is going to be a kind of burnt orange color:


Mom's hoodie is going to be a pretty charcoal color:


But, in the meantime, I'm knitting a pair of awesome mittens! My first foray into fair isle knitting...it's going well so far. I got the cuff done last night:



They should look like this when they're all done:



I love the colors, even though they don't really go with anything else that I have - they're still totally cute!

I'm really hoping I get called off today. 1) It's snowing and I just want to stay inside and knit, and 2) I just really don't want to work tonight. So there. (Now that I've said that, I'll be working all night, and we'll be busy...)

And, just because I have to mention it in pretty much every blog post - TWILIGHT PREMIERES IN FOUR DAYS!!! I saw a few days ago that Summit had bought the rights to New Moon and Eclipse - YAY for sequels! I've been online pretty much every day watching interviews of the cast. Rob Pattinson seems like such a nice, humble guy. I just love listening to his voice!

Ok, well, I'm going to go knit some more, then take a shower...and hopfully get a call from work - pray for me!!!

Blech...

I've been feeling incredibly lazy and gross lately. I've been sleeping a lot and just hanging out on the couch for about a week. Blech. I'm not even sick! I think it's the weather - all cloudy and snowy. You know, the first snow of the year isn't suppose to stick...and it did...and it was depressing...




I was actually going to do stuff today. But, instead, I watched an hour long video of the Vanity Fair photo shoot featuring the Twilight cast. I didn't even realize it was an hour long until about 30 minutes in to it! Something is seriously screwing with my internal clock...

Anyway, I applied for a position in Surgery today. It's an 80 hour per pay period, 7am to 3:30pm every day position. Nights, weekends and holidays are rotated on-call - meaning I wouldn't have to work unless I was the one on-call and someone needed emergency surgery. I always shied away from going to days because I really like getting a $2.50 shift differential! But, working an extra 8 hours a pay period kind of takes care of that. I'd be making, like, $40 more per paycheck.

But I'm not doing this for money, or because I don't like where I work. I love my co-workers. They've become great friends, and have gotten me through a lot of stressful times. And I'm the first one to admit that working on Pediatrics is a cake-walk compared to regular med/surg floors. But, working with some of the families and patients we get is emotionally draining. I really respect those nurses who can do that day in and day out, and who have worked at the hospital for years and years.

I always knew going into nursing that I could never work in a hospital for my entire career. I'm a person that thrives on routine - a daily routine. I think high school was such a cake walk to me because I had such a good routine that I didn't have to think about things like when I should go to bed to be able to get a good amount of sleep before work, or having to lay out my schedule months in advance to be able to make one freaking dentist appointment, or burdening my family with making holiday plans revolve around my schedule. (Which DID allow me to over-worry about everything else - hence, all the anxiety during my high school years. But, dammit, I got good grades!)

I think that's the biggest reason why I'd like to switch over to a normal, every day schedule - my family and my friends. It kills me when I'm sitting alone at work on the holidays. I hate it. All I want to do is be with my family and not have to worry about work. I want to be able to go to at least SOME of the parties my friend's throw, especially now that we're all split up and can't get together very often. I'd love to be able to have a job like my parents, who usually take the week of Christmas off.

I feel bad, kind of like I've betrayed my unit and my friends/co-workers. But at the same time I'm super excited. I probably won't get the position - if anyone with more seniority than me wants it, they'll get it. But I think a lot of my anxiety and weight issues have to do with the wacky schedule I work. My schedule, and the fact that I'm the least self-disciplined person on the planet makes it so that I just eat when I'm hungry and sleep when I'm tired and never exercise - all very unhealthy habits. I NEED a routine to be healthy.



Wow, that was kind of a depressing post...sorry. But it feels good to get some of this stuff off my chest.

Much More ROCKSTAR!

Well, today my hair looks much better. They key is less. Less is ALWAYS more...




Also, I'm getting very, very excited about Twilight...EVERYTHING is making me think TWILIGHT! Case in point:



I almost wanted to pull up beside the car and see if Edward was in it...





...you say I'm obsessed like it's a bad thing...

HA!

I'm sorry, but I thought this Piece of Flair was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time...

Obviously not smart enough...go back to school and learn the difference between "to," "too," and "two" dumbass!

Rock Star Hair

Not really lookin so Rock Star. It was lookin great last Wednesday, but I didn't take pics cause I had to rush to work. Here's some from today...I tried to flip it like I did Wednesday, but it just wasn't cooperating...

Big Day!

Today is such a big day! Not only for America - GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

But for me too...Twilight soundtrack - totally AWESOME!!! The album has totally reminded me why I love soundtracks - lots of different songs all in one great package! BTW, here's Paramore's "Decode" video, which is on the soundtrack:

Paramore - New Music - More Music Videos

I really like her hair...hehe. I also LOVE Rob Pattinson's voice...so sweet. There's just a lot to love on this album. It'll definatley be playing almost 24-7 here in my apartment!

Also, I'll be getting a few packages in the mail today! One is the new Laurell K. Hamilton book for the Merry Gentry series. I'm looking forward to it, but also dreading it. LKH was once a great writer, but for the last few years, she really seems to want to be writing erotica...and bad erotica at that. She hasn't been quite as bad with the Merry series as she has with the Anita Blake series though. We'll see.

Second, I'm getting Photoshop Elements 6, the "Twilight" Cullen Crest keyring, and a new little Swiss Army knife that also has a USB thumb drive in it. Why Photoshop Elements 6, when there is a Photoshop Elements 7? Cause Photoshop Elements 7 had gotten crappy reviews - lots of crappy reviews. Elements 6 has been reviewed very well, so I went with that one - plus, it's cheaper! So, I'll be having fun doing crazy things to my photos tonight.

Well, I have lots to do today! Shower, vote, get Dune food/treats/new water bottle, bookstore for the next Jaz Parks novel, Walmart for TP, phone calls/appointments to make, then off to mom's to print photos. Maybe I'll get some Starbuck's somewhere in all that...yum.

BTW: Did you guys hear the storms Sunday morning!? They were shaking the whole hospital! It was sweet!

And, I'll eventually get my new haircut pictures up here...it just needs to get clean first! :-)

I'm Back!

So I'm back from my weekend in Indiana! We had fun this weekend, even though it was pretty rainy and cold!

Friday, mom drove us down to Indiana so we could go to a hair appointment with Tobi's stylist. I got my hair cut - again. This time I have full bangs and LOTS of shag. It's a cool 'do. She couldn't do more color though, cause we were only signed up for cuts. That kinda sucked, but it wasn't that big of a deal. Then mom and I went to Panera for lunch and hung out at Target until Tobi got to work. I took a nap there (seeing as I worked Thrusday night until 7am that morning...). I got up and did a little shopping at Pages - I'm slowly getting in to scrapbooking...! We finally headed home around 1am. We actually went to bed before 4am!

Saturday, we helped Von clean the carpets. Then went out to Michael's, Hobby Lobby and (of course) Starbucks. Tobi needed some stuff for her Scrap Real class on Sunday. We got back around 6:30pm and Tobi and Von went out with their friends who were visiting from Indy. (Oh - plus, MSU BEAT U of M! YAY!!!) Mom and I watched the kids. Mom and Kien watched movies and made crocheted flowers (well, mom did...). Kien wasn't feelin too good. Emma, Ethan and I watched Scooby Doo 1 and 2 on TV. They were still awake when Tobi and Von came home! After that mom and I helped Tobi put her Scrap Real kits together. I think we went to bed around 2:30am. I woke up later in the morning cause my stomach hurt. I think I got about 4 hours of sleep, since we woke up at, like, 10am so we could all get ready for Tobi's class.

Sunday was Tobi's class day, which was really fun. I like scrapbooking in class form. I'm really bad at taking paper and embellishments and coming up with something on my own. I like how Tobi does all the designing and then you just sort of copy it. You can always substitute different paper and embellishments and just use the overall layout if you want. Unfortunatly, I never have any pictures and always end up having to print them there. I need to start taking my memory cards to Meijer or Walmart or something and printing them there. Plus, I really want to get Photoshop, but I don't know if I can justify spending that much on a program that I might not use very often! After Tobi's two classes, mom and I drove home. Why is it that the drive home always seems to take longer than the drive there? Maybe becasue we were both really tired, and it was nighttime...

I got home, put all my Move Over Martha meals in the freezer (YAY, they all fit!), unpacked my bags and caught up on my weekend TV - Trueblood. I love that show...even though I know what's going to happen, since I read all the books. Unfortunatly, it's on HBO, so not many people I know have been watching it! Grr.

I went to bed at 11 Sunday night and didn't wake up until 5:30 MONDAY EVENING! WTF?! That's 18 hours of sleep, if you were wondering. I don't know why the hell I slept that long - I didn't take anything, and I haven't been sick! Good thing I didn't have to work tonight! However, I had things I wanted to do today. Like laundry. And shopping. And photo printing. I guess that can all wait for another day.

Anyway, this is my busy week at work. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday...boo. Although, if it's anything like last week, I may work about half those days. I can't really afford that though. Either money-wise or vacation day wise. Between being sick and getting called off, my vacation bank is pretty low. I may have to work some extra days and just put those 12 hours directly in to my vacation bank instead of getting payed for them! That just plain sucks.

I just realized that it is now, officially, one week to Election Day! That's pretty exciting. Good thing I don't have to work that night!

I hope everyone has a great week - I probably won't post again this week...so see you all next week!

Quickie

Thought I'd write before I went in to work tonight. I got called off Sunday AND Wednesday, so I'm sorta sweatin the bills a little. Thankfully we get paid three times this month, and we get our new contract raise and signing bonus this month too...

Getting ready to go down to Indiana tomorrow...hopefully I'll get some sleep in the car! Looks to be cold and rainy all weekend - boo.

Read the first Jaz Parks last night - very cool. Much better than other people give it credit for. Starting the next one at work tonight.

That's all for now...stay tuned for a new post next week sometime!

Bookstores are fun

I don't know why I don't go to bookstores more often - they're are always a treat.

I went to Schuler's today (both Schuler's I might add...) to get the last Southern Vampire Mystery book and grab the first book in the Jaz Parks book series - Once Bitten, Twice Shy. I seriously have something about Vampires...I don't know why I'm so obsessed.

The Okemos Schuler's had the Southern Vampire book, but not the Jaz Parks book, but the girl said that maybe the other store did. So, with nothing better to do tonight, I drove out to north Lansing, hoping like hell they had the book I wanted. Thankfully, they had ONE left! Ah, sweet success. I was so overjoyed that I bought the next two books of the Jaz Parks series and a cool notebook.

I love looking at all the cool novelty items they have at Schuler's. It's a great place to buy gifts for your office Christmas parties and what-not. Plus, the atmosphere is just nice and calming. I could spend hours there just looking at all the cool things and books...

By the way, the Southern Vampire Mystery books are very good. They get better with every new story! (Unlike the Anita Blake books, which were great up until about book 12, then goes downhill into bad erotica very quickly. Keep in mind, there are a total of 24 books...) So now I'm reading the last one (well, newest one...) I can't really seem to put it down. They're about a southern waitress, who is telepathic by the way, who meets a dark and beautiful vampire one night and gets pulled (or kind of pushed) into the supernatural world. Yes, the main character's name is Sookie Stackhouse (I still don't know where the author came up with that!), and she is a little too sweet and innocent in the first few books, but she has definitely matured a lot. Definitely recommend these books! (And like I said before - NOTHING beats Twilight, but, unfortunately, I can't very well read only Twilight for the rest of my life...)

The Jaz Parks series looks to be fun too. It's kind of in the vein of spies and vampires. The main character (Jaz) is a CIA agent/assassin whose boss is a vampire. Of course she has some supernatural gifts of her own, and kick ass martial arts training to boot. (Kind of like Alias if Sydney were involved with vampires...) I've read the reviews of the books and the first one only had a luke warm reviews. But the other books have had great reviews...I'll let you know how it goes.

So, two nights of work and then off to Tobi's for the weekend again!

See ya!

Obama is my Home Boy!

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Yay!

Work just called to let me know they're closing - YAY! Hopefully, I can get some stuff done around the apartment before I get called back in - because I ALWAYS get called back in. (Oh well, making time and a half ain't so bad...)

So, off to take out the trash and do a load of laundry!

P.S.

My hair has REALLY faded from that first day. Now it's sort of a copper/red color. I know that that happens with hair color, and red especially, but even in the first week it faded dramatically. Hopefully, Tobi can get me in to see her stylist and she can make it "stick" a little longer and cut my hair a little funkier!

I know...

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I'm lazy, and I kind of think my life in uninteresting right now. I go to work, I come home. I occasionally see my friends, but since we've been doing Stitch and Bitch less and less, I've seen them less and less. (Though we did make some party plans last week, which was good. However, I'm still friggin working New Year's Eve, even though I specifically asked for it off this year! Grr, I might call in sick just to spite them!)

I've watched a lot of movies lately. Just watched You Don't Mess With the Zohan. It was ok...overall funny and enjoyable, but not a movie I would buy. I saw Baby Mama too, which was fairly predictable once you got into it, but it was cuter than I thought it would be. I really like Amy Pohler and Tina Fey - they're so cute together.

There are a bunch of movies I would like to see in the theater, but I never go anymore. I think it's just a pain now. I like going to the really late movies so people won't be there, but I don't really have people to go with. Nick and I used to go, like, three times a week during the summer. It was awesome. So, because I'm behind with the times, my Netflix account is on overdrive trying to catch me up!

Speaking of Nick, I was just thinking about how I hadn't heard from him in long time. And, of course, speak of the devil and he shall appear. He bought a house in Canton and is having a house warming party. He texted me to ask if I would go if he invited me. Of course, his girlfriend isn't going to be there, and he's not telling her that he invited me. I'm sort of disgusted by this whole mess that I got myself into - well, ok, he had something to do with it too...but I should have been more clear - or maybe he needs to be more clear - about our relationship...I don't know. He's constantly flirting, which really isn't nothing new - Nick flirts with everyone. But, he's making suggestions and innuendos that make it seem like he's totally into cheating on his girlfriend - again. I thought that the last time we were both drunk (me more than him) and he felt bad about everything that happened. Now, I'm not too sure... Anyways, the whole relationship is toxic, and any point I have is moot, since I have to work the weekend that he's having the party. Still, every time he talks to me it's like I list the pros and cons of having him as a boyfriend, and the con list is getting pretty big..at the same time, it sure would be nice to have a boyfriend again, although, not one that cheats. *sigh*

Anywho. I have a cold, yet again. I was sick in September and now I'm sick again. I haven't been this sick in the past 4 years! They all told me I would be sick all the time in my first year working in Pediatrics, but I hardly ever got sick that year! Now, I'm sick all the time - tell me how that works? I got my flu shot Wednesday night - hopefully it will actually work this year and defend against the right viruses. Not that that made a difference last year - I didn't get sick last year.

Work is getting busy again - I'm kind of dreading it. I really, really, REALLY, want a day job...atleast then I'd be on the same wake/sleep cycle as 90% of the planet. Maybe I'd actually lose weight! My doctor seems to think so. So, I've been keeping my eyes open. Evey once and a while there is a position that opens up in surgery that's from, like, 7am to 3:30pm everyday. That would be awesome! (No, I wouldn't actually scrub in on surgeries. I'd just be in the background recording stuff and what-not.) Every time I saw that job something held me back from applying for it. I think it's cause I really do have it easy on Peds, and I really like the girls I work with, it's just those damn hours! I think the next time I see something like that, I'm going to apply for it. I'm getting sick of being up at 3 am with nothing to do but sit and watch TV or go to Meijer!

I'm go take some cold medicine and go to bed. Peace out.

(P.S. Tobi - I pre-ordered the Twilight soundtrack from Amazon. iTunes isn't even listing it yet! Boo!)

New hair cut...

So, here it is: my new hair. I really LOVE the color, but I think I want much thicker side-swept bangs. I'm debating whether or not to go back and have her add more... (BTW, I know the picture is dark, but this atleast shows you the length...)



I went brunette and added some bright red to the front and bangs. I never know why I grow out my bangs...I look so much better with them!


The girl I went to didn't cut my hair as funky as I wanted it - I think she thought I was joking when I told her I wanted bright red highlights. Seriously, I know what I want - just chop it already!



Overall; very happy with the color, not as happy with the cut. We'll have to work on that.

Bored

Ok, so, I already sort of have a blog on MySpace. But, it seems that only people from work ever actually check their MySpace, so here I am. I guess this is just my way of keeping in touch with my family since we never answer our phones...

I'm getting my hair cut today, and also getting some funky highlights. For some reason I always want to get my hair cut in the fall. I think it's because everthing else is changing (the leaves, the weather, kids are back at school, etc.). I'm super exciited. I always feel awesome after I get my hair cut - it's a mood altering act.

I need to branch out a little from my recent reading materials, which consists of the Twilight series, and read something new. It's hard to do - I feel like I'm betraying Edward and Bella. I honestly don't think I've ever been so obsessed with a book in my life. If I was stranded on an island and only given 3 books to read, it would be Twilight, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn...yes I know I left out New Moon, but that one just makes me sad (and I just skip the middle part anyway...). So, to start my Twilight rehabilitation, I'm reading a new book series - the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. The new True Blood series on HBO is based off these books and both the show, and the book are surprisingly addictive. I've known about the books for a while now - ever since Laurell K. Hamilton started writing pure smut instead of interesting novels. I was at the bookstore Saturday night, so I decided to give these books a try. So far so good. (Obviously not as good as Twilight, but I don't think anything will ever be as good as Twilight...) I'll let you know when I finish it.

This week is my busy week at work - boo. It's that time of the year when I really wished I had a regular day job like most people. I envy not working weekends and holidays, of getting to wear normal clothes to work, of having a regular schedule... I seriously think that that's the reason I've gained so much weight - the irregular schedule of college, and then the irregular schedule of work. I would even settle for just working days instead of nights! But, that's not going to happen any time soon. *sigh*

Well, enough with the bitchiness - time to get my hair done! (I'll post pics later!)