Love

Saturday is probably the best Valentines Day that I have ever had because I got to spend it with my girls! I made us food and lit candles all romantic like and we just sat around and talked for a while and then went out dancing. It was awesome.

But I don't know how to get these pictures so not go all crazy so I am just going to leave them like they are. Top is my roommate Miranda and my intern friend Katie Jo. Middle is the attempt I made at making us delicious food. (Ignore the pretzels...I didn't make those) Fourth down is the precious box of chocolates my mom sent me...and the other two, well you can figure them out.

Page Me

My pager is a blessed present I got once I started at the hospital. At first it was just cool to have it because I look official with it on my hip and because...well who really has pagers anymore? But now I am starting to see the beauty of it.

The number one job of my pager is to figure out when the other interns are going to lunch. And I believe it holds that importance for them as well.

The second reason is to send random pages to my roommate about how frustrated I am with my job that day. And getting the random response back that makes me laugh and usually makes me feel better for about half an hour until I get a new page.

Occasionally we will use our pagers for the real purpose. Communicating with doctors or dietitians or nurses about important patient stuff...but not often does this happen.

And the last reason I like my pager... because on Valentines Day I can give people candy hearts that say "page me" and almost really mean it...

Oh Happy Day

Today is the first day that I have taken a jog since I hurt my knee on April 12th 2008. It was amazing. I think I only ran about 3/4 of a mile and I limp-ran but it was still awesome. It has been two hours since then and my knee isn't hurting too much so we will see how it goes in the morning.

Today I did my first diet education to patients in the hospital. One was on a Coumadin diet and the other on diabetic diet. My preceptor thought I did a great job even though I kinda rushed through it. It was kind of fun to do it but frustrating when the patients are too out of it to comprehend or just don't care.

This is the second day in a row that the lunch cashier has made me put something back because I went over my spending limit for lunch. It is a little embarrassing when all the people in line see that, yet I keep trying to see how much food I can take from the hospital since I am working for free. I have no shame...

For Real This Time...

K I really did fix it so anyone can comment now...

A Sleepless Night

I have not been able to sleep for the past two nights for an unexplainable reason. This used to be the norm for me but I actually sleep pretty well out here in Virginia. Since I hate laying in bed thinking about how much I wanted to sleep I thought I would just fill ya'll in on my weekend.

Friday night we went to a birthday party at Beanie's house for her niece. It was your typical family party-loud conversation, witty banter, junk food, cake, and some sleeping on the couch. The only weird part about it was it wasn't even my family but it felt like it was. After spending years of trying to come up with crazy things to do on the weekend it is nice to relax. Afterward, Miranda and I played with our neighbors cat named Fats for an hour and turned in early....

Saturday I awoke with the anticipation of finally getting a new old couch! We made a big production of getting Beanie and her husband and her niece over with their truck to pick the couch up, to only get laughed at when they saw the size of our hallway compared to the size of the couch. So that means Miranda and I are spending another week squeezing bums onto our single chair when we try to watch episodes of the office on my computer. This is the part where I would sigh and say, "the life of a college student..." only I don't fit into that category anymore.... so I just sigh.

Sunday I went to the singles ward for the first time here in Richmond. It was kinda far away but had more people than I thought it would. There is one person I know there from Utah State and all the rest are friends that I get to know for the next year. It was nice to talk to people outside the hospital.

Illuminated by the glow of my computer in the dark, a box elder bug just flew at my face which is not helping my insomnia because now my heart is beating furiously and I am searching my bed to find out where it landed....

HIV, Liver Cirrhosis, schizophrenia, and Renal Disease

I know I was supposed to blog about other things this time around but I have kinda had an unexplainably bad last few days at the hospital. I am not sure why or what but I have been in a little funk there and haven't wanted to go.

Despite this, I have been feeling very grateful for all that I have as I go home each day. I am grateful that I don't have HIV, Liver cirrhosis, schizophrenia, or Renal Disease. I am grateful that I have a home to go to, that I have food to eat, and that I actually have an appetite to eat it, sometimes too much of an appetite. And even though I just moved out to a strange city, I already have a handful of people...no change that to a few handfuls of people out here that I can turn to if I get into trouble or need anything. I truely am blessed in my life.

And thanks to all my friends and family back at home who are still watching out for me!

My New Apartment

So the plan for this weekend was to clean my room and take pictures of my new apartment so everyone could see it finally but you all probably know me well enough to know that didn't happen. Sleep and other more fun things ranked higher on my list. Instead I will just give you a poetic description and you can pretend like it is in the olden days.

My apartment sits on a street called Park Avenue (sounds like monopoly right?). It is nice to finally have a street name after living on the grid in Utah. The street is quiet and lined with trees, one of the more calm streets in Richmond. Like most houses here it is old, and charming, and quaint...but old. The floors are wood, with arched entrances, and high ceilings. We have two fireplaces that we arent supposed to use, but they are fireplaces nonetheless. We have a neighbor downstairs who is in her late twenties and is very nice to us. Her cat named "Fats" comes to visit often, he looks like a small bear. We live in an area of town called, "the fan" because Richmond streets make a fan formation starting from downtown going out. This makes me get lost a lot... The fan is where most college students live and is supposedly full of youth and energy although I don't experience it much going to bed here at 9:30 usually. Driving down my streets I almost getting in accidents often because all the houses are beautiful and I see a knew interesting one that I had noticed before everytime I drive. It is a place that I am happy to call home for the next year.

And for those who wanted visuals, this is me and my roommate out for a night a couple of weeks ago with our two other intern friends Katie and Anna:




























Coming Soon: My experience at "The Byrd" and discovering a beautiful message...

Side Note to Michemily: It's okay you didn't recognize me because I didn't recognize you at first until Amanda reminded me so we will call it even. Keep reading!