"How did you end up here?"

There isn't anything major to report since I last posted, but lots of little victories and happy moments have added up to lots of positivity! Work always comes with some level of stress, but I can safely say that I finally feel like a real nurse on a regular basis, and I can almost always walk away at the end of the night feeling proud of my work! I've gained more confidence facing tasks like drawing blood and inserting catheters (I never said it was glamorous), I finish my charting before the end of the shift 90% of the time (and anything left over doesn't take very long), and I even oriented a new employee! She's been a nurse for 2 years, so she actually taught me more than I taught her, but I was glad that the manager trusted me to show her the ropes. I've also been told multiple times from my coworkers that they would never guess that I'm a new nurse and they're impressed by how quickly I learn and how well I fit in. Multiple patients have told me how ...

It happened. It snowed. It snowed back in Aril when I was just visiting, but this was the real thing where it stuck all over the trees and cars and ground. September 23rd, first snow of the season, and I lived! Plus, it had melted by the next day. The mountains are GORGEOUS though! After that random bout of winter, fall took over. It doesn't get warmer than 50, the leaves are changing color and falling, and it's raining more often than not. I'm not gonna lie...I've really been enjoying my new stylish coats and drinking chai tea lattes on a regular basis. Cory and I took a short drive to Birchwood where we explored Beach Lake and caught these views... If only this season would last longer than a month. The freezing cold (aka the age of darkness) is on it's way, but I'm doing my best to take in my surroundings now without dwelling so much on what's to come. I still find myself stopping now and then thinking "Holy crap, I actually live he...

It hasn't even been 2 weeks since I got back from Phoenix, but I miss it terribly. I miss my friends. I miss my family. 6 days there was such a teaser. It wasn't long enough and I didn't quite get to see everyone and do everything I wanted, but I loved every minute of it. God welcomed me back with a lightning show as my plane descended. Flashes of illumination throughout the dark cloudy sky over the city lights. This happens to be one of my favorite things in all of nature. He knows me well :) It was nearly 11pm when I landed and Mom and Joanna picked me up, but we stopped by Laura and Ben's house anyway to see them and Brynley (who was sound asleep, but it was worth it). As I expected, I was very emotional that night. If you haven't guessed, I have a very tight-knit family. I never pictured myself living so far away from them. It was such a relief to be near them again. It felt really good knowing I was missed just as much! My week was not particularly ev...

I’m typing this on my flight from Minneapolis (layover from Anchorage) to Phoenix to visit home for the first time since my big move! It’s a shame that I can’t sleep when I travel because I worked Tuesday night to Wednesday morning, went home to finish packing, then spent time with Cory before he dropped me off at the airport at 11am. Besides dozing off here and there during the first 4 hour flight, I’ve been awake for 27 hours and counting. I just cannot get comfortable enough to sleep sitting up no matter how tired I am. 2 more hours of this flight left. Good thing I’m on vacation!   Never thought I’d be vacationing in Phoenix and looking forward to summer heat! This is the best part of summer for Phoenix though. Thunderstorms and heavy rain that drop the high to a cool 90 something degrees. Although, 60 feels pretty warm to me now. I haven’t felt anything above 85 since May. My fear is that I’m gonna miss the brief fall period in Anchorage and it’ll already be winter when...

Have you ever been so focused on learning something new that you long for something familiar that you're already good at? I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Although I'm getting better at this craft of nursing, I'm still insecure most of the time and constantly striving to keep up with my peers (I can officially take on 5 patients all by myself now, by the way). Even in my free time, the hobby I've chosen to pick up is teaching myself to play guitar. I've barely started and I know this is something that take LOTS of time and practice, but again, it's discouraging at times and much more easily said than done. It's time to do something I'm already good at. Something confidence-boosting that comes naturally. Like singing. This is something that has always been a part of me that I've done my whole life with ease. For the first time, I don't have an outlet for it besides busting out to iTunes in the car. I miss making music with others ...

Hello again! I always find it hard to start off a post by saying something other than "It's been a while since my last post." So...I'll work on that. Any who, I'll just pick where I left off. Work update: feeling much better! That first night was by far the roughest. The following week was a little easier since I only had 3 patients, but they were still difficult. I had lots of help throughout the night but stayed about an hour and a half after each shift to finish charting. It helped to work with one of my preceptors who reminded me that every single nurse started out this way, it will get easier, and I'm doing a good job. I'm so thankful for coworkers who don't "eat their young" like many nurses do. This past week was the smoothest yet since I worked on the med/surge floor with more stable patients. By the third night, I took care of my 4 patients pretty much on my own AND finished my charting by 8am this morning! I felt very accomplish...

It's been a busy 2 weeks since I've posted! Especially with Joanna coming to visit!!! We had such a fun and refreshing week together that flew by too quickly. We got to do a lot of fun activities, but we made sure to spend quality lazy time together just hanging out and watching TV/movies that we miss out on now. On top of that, we hiked in town, visited the zoo, took a cruise tour to view Portage Glacier, hiked to Exit Glacier in Seward (about 2 miles south of Anchorage), explored downtown, went horseback riding, went shopping, and biked along the coast, downtown, and around the neighborhood trails (where we saw a beaver!). Such a blast! We took a lot more pictures on my phone and her camera, so we'll have to just get those onto Facebook. Needless to say, I hated sending her back! I was really tempted to look into a last minute flight to visit home for a few days to see everyone else including my uncles and cousins who are visiting, but...