Looking forward to....

....our upcoming vacation in December to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic!


For an entire week we will be staying here:

...and it's all-inclusive!

After our first semester living apart (Justin moving to another city for his first year of medical school, me sticking around for three more semesters of nursing school), I think this romantic, alone, study-free, school-free time away will be much needed.


SO EXCITED!!!


NPR

A random conversation

After returning from the farmer's market today...


Justin: Oh, look at you with your little basket! What did you get?
Me: Some herbs, strawberries....and OH MY GOSH! 
Justin: What??
Me: Okay, the kid who sold me these tomatoes....well, he was a dead-ringer for Peeta Mellark.
Justin: As in, the actor who plays Peeta in the movie or what you've imagined him to be in your head while reading?
Me: The actor. The actor from the movie. 
Justin: .....You wanted to kiss him, didn't you?
Me: --silence--
Justin: You didn't say anything! YOU WANTED TO KISS HIM, DIDN'T YOU?!
Me: No! I didn't want to kiss him...I mean, I just wanted to say, 'Has anyone ever told you how much you look like Peeta Mellark?'
Justin: You should have! That probably would have made his day!
Me: No, uh uh, the kid was like, 18...would have creeped. him. out. 


Oh, I love Peeta. And the farmer's market.


That is all.


NPR

Aaaaand we're back?

Well, so much for blogging.


Seriously.


I'm terrible with this thing! I can't seem to stay consistent or keep up with this as I get busier, most notably during the school year. Considering the spring semester has been over for at least three weeks now, I really don't have any excuse for why I haven't returned other than that I've been relishing in my free time and indulging in other desires...


...cooking, baking, exercising, sewing, cleaning, organizing....just to name a few of those things.... 


So, here I am. 
Again.
Trying to write.
Again.
Trying to keep up and updating to keep up with life.
Again.


Let's dive right in, shall we? 


Lately...


- I was incredibly stubborn and refused to go to the eye doctor regarding blurriness and impaired vision in my right eye. After a couple of weeks of complaints, Justin finally got so fed up with said stubbornness that he drove me to go to Urgent Care the Saturday before exams week, where I was diagnosed with corneal kerititis. Justin documented the whole ordeal quite well, which you can read about here. I had to push back all of my exams, which resulted in taking all four in one day = so ridiculously stressful. Lesson learned: TAKE OUT YOUR CONTACTS AT THE END OF EVERY DAY AND DON'T LEAVE THEM IN LONGER THAN EIGHT HOURS AT A TIME. Period. Done. I refuse to go through that ever again!


- The Saturday after finals week ended I co-hosted a baby shower for my dear friend Jamie at our church. It was so nice to celebrate the little nugget of a guy who will be making his appearance in just over a month now! Since I'm still learning how to operate my camera (another summer item on the to-do list), I'm  more than slightly ashamed of the quality of the few photos I managed to capture so I think I'll be refraining from posting any of those...


- Working at a retail store downtown when a certain annual festival is going on is hectic....very hectic. I don't recommend it...especially when you're super duper OCD very organized and anything out of order drives you completely bonkers. I'm fairly certain my customer service skills just plummeted that week due my blood pressure skyrocketing through the roof as people rifled through hangers and racks and stacks of clothing. Sheesh. Good thing I'm not going into the retail industry permanently and rather into a field where attention to detail and having your ducks in a row is basically a necessity.


- Justin and I celebrated our third anniversary this past weekend! It's amazing how quickly the years go by! We started off the celebrations by taking the day off on Friday and heading to the beach and acting like tourists, riding the chain ferry across the river and walking through the quaint town of Saugatuck in and out of various shops. The next day, Justin drove us down to good ol' Ohio to visit a particular outlet mall that housed a certain brand of purses that I just happen to be quite fond of...where Justin, being the fantastic and utterly amazing husband that he is, allowed me to choose one to take home! Considering the fact that the third anniversary's traditional gift is leather, this choice of a gift was quite appropriate and made me one extremely happy wife. He also surprised me with the purchase of two new dresses and a pair of earrings, making me feel all the more spoiled! This was followed by a trip to the Bose store, leading to the early-birthday-gifting for the husband of a pair of a noise-canceling headphones to aid in his med school studies starting in the fall. We drove to a city an hour away (since the FOUR hotels in the outlet mall's city was completely booked) and stayed the night at a hotel that was oh-so-conveniently located just a mile down the road from an IKEA (another store whose website I happen to stalk and dream up decorating ideas about on occasion). We made more than a few purchases the next day to outfit our apartment and returned home late that night. Tomorrow we will have a low-key celebration of homemade breakfast and a relaxed morning, perhaps going through our wedding photos and reminiscing our big day from just three years ago...I love you, Justin! Thanks for a memorable and wonderful last three years - here's to many more to come!!!


Until next time (which who knows when that will be...hopefully sooner rather than later!)...


NPR

A smattering...

Apologies for the lack of posting! This semester actually has really been keeping me busy with so much going on ....whiiiiich is probably even more reason why I should be regularly updating...aaaand therefore you can disregard my previous post where I mentioned having time to breathe (it's barely there, I swear!)...

So, a short updated post in photo-form:

Twilight hairbrushes.
Found in the Best Buy sale section when we went to pick out our new flat screen television earlier in February.
...because every girl wants to style her hair after Rob Pattinson...

This is how our dog regularly sleeps.
In front of the front door, head shoved up against the shoe crate.
Comfy, eh?
(and she looks really happy to see me, too)

Valentine's Day!
I had to work but Justin surprised me by giving me an hour-long massage on our rose-petal-covered bed. He also fed me chocolates during the massage and gave me more roses (see above photo) afterward. 
What a guy!

So I went to go visit my best friend who's a teacher and lives smack dab in the middle of the state. She and her boyfriend (pictured) took me to this somewhat-janky local restaurant that is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. He ordered this nasty thing called a "hot beef" or something vague like that. 
His expression says it all.
This is the only picture I got of my weekend visit.
That is sad. 

Aaaand finally, our nearly five year old dog has stopped caring about being obedient while we're away and has chosen to rifle through the trash TWICE now in search of leftovers and various scraps. 
Ugh.

This week I start my first round of clinicals for nursing. I'm scared and nervous and excited and apprehensive and feeling so not prepared to start this all at the same time... Wish me luck!

NPR

...mmm....doughnuts....

I just finished eating dinner about a half hour ago and turned to Justin and said, "Ooooh, I want a doughnut right now. That sounds sooo good, doesn't it?"

So what does the man do? 

Gets up from the table, heads toward the shoe rack, and states, "I am going to go get you a doughnut."

What.

Best. husband. EVER.

This whole readily-willing-to-get-up-to-fetch-me-the-foods-of-my-hankerings thing makes for at least one good thing to look forward to one day when I have a little bun in the oven...

Update: He brought home EIGHT of 'em so we "can have a nice breakfast tomorrow."

Observe:

Yes.

NPR

Slow Cooker Spectacular!

So as I previously mentioned, I've been hoping to add a bit more variety to the blog...hence, I've decided to add a new theme: slow cooker recipes! Due to Justin's and my more than slightly abnormal schedules, eating dinner together has become a luxury for which we have become very grateful when we get the chance. During our first year of marriage (...when I didn't have a job...), I had lots of time to experiment with food and ease into the job of preparing meals for us. I look back fondly on those times when I would spend literally HOURS preparing and experimenting with various elaborate recipes. Sadly, since returning to school, I haven't had as much time to dedicate to making meals, so things have gotten more basic around here (think sandwiches, casseroles, and oh so many Crockpot creations).

However, I when I stumbled upon this recipe, I jumped at the chance to attempt making such an elegant main course, Crockpot-style. For the heck of it (and with the excuse of sort-of-not-really-but-really-yeah celebrate Valentine's Day), I also threw this creation on the menu with the intention of healthifying (yup, that's a word) the entree up with some easy steamed green beans and plain baked potatoes. 

This seriously was not at all difficult.

It took probably 20 minutes max, and that was only because Justin came home from running errands right in the middle of me mixing stuff....and was talking to me....and I have great difficulty multi-tasking in the kitchen so I there were many pauses and re-thinking what I had just done throughout the process.

Thus was my attempt at creating a nearly-completely-slow-cooker-prepared meal...

Why, hello there.

Much to the behest of my husband, here I am writing a blog post. 

Confession: I am a terrible keeper of memories. 

Justin and I have had at least 9874525374 conversations in the past few months regarding this here little blog o' mine - mostly him reminding me that many years from now, when I want to remember what was going on at this point in my life, I will smack myself in the rear for not documenting things. 

And he's right.

Right now I'm married. 

Have been for nearly three years (!). 

My husband went back to college for pre-requisites for medical school.

He already has been accepted into the incoming class of a particular school for fall 2012 (yay!). 

I'm also in college. 

Again.

However, I've traded my Spanish literature textbooks for stethoscopes and scrubs in pursuit of a future in nursing.

I also worked for nearly two years at the local hospital as a receptionist, navigating my way into the world of healthcare and all that it involves, only to end up back at my alma mater in search of earning a BSN. 

That job ended this past January, when I literally could not fit in enough hours of the day to keep working that job along with a full-time academic schedule.

So, I started working at a retail store downtown...and I love it.

We also happen to live downtown in a loft - and it. is. AWESOME (I share this feeling with Justin on a nearly daily basis).

Justin and I have weekly "donut dates," during which we walk to a local coffee shop / bakery / restaurant, order coffee and a baked good / breakfast food, do a little devotions, and catch up with each other. 

Sometimes we also walk our dog down the streets of downtown late at night when nobody else is around.

Due to my schedule and lack of extra time to cook, my beloved 6qt Crockpot has become one of my greatest material possessions. 

That's just the general idea of life these days. Sadly, I've really missed out on documenting the little memories that are too soon forgotten because I haven't been keeping up on this blog. I know I've written several times about making theme posts, writing on a more regular basis, etc. but I haven't followed through.