Meghan's Birthday Weekend!

last weekend we went to Charlotte to celebrate Meghan's 25th birthday!!!

even though we were only there for one night and didn't really see much of the city

we kind of fell in love with it

the celebrations started at Meghan and Ryan's house

which is just too adorable

she has done such a good job of decorating and making it a home for them

and I got to meet my newest fur-niece! 

Miss Sadie, Meghan and Ryan's lab pup

we headed to UpTown Charlotte after playing some corn hole and catching up

we bought tickets for a party bus to take us to the Lady Antebellum concert and then back to UpTown

after a few pre concert drinks we loaded up on the bus to make the trek to Concord for the show

the black light on the bus made for some fun colored pictures

 I think we can all agree Meghan and Ryan just need to get engaged already :) 

we aren't really huge fans of Lady A like Meghan is, but the show was really fun

minus the 16 year old girl blowing chunks after drinking too much Captain Morgan and PBR...

can't believe the Happy Meal is 25!

I am so lucky to have had these lovely ladies in my life for 12+ years 

and even though we all live in separate cities we still remain the best of friends

side note.

look at these pups mini horses...

thank goodness for only 2 days of work this week for me

we are going to Wilmington for a long weekend to celebrate Will and Julia finally tying the knot!!

I can hardly wait for the wedding, it had been a long time coming

Work Flow

four on, one off, three on

I will never over schedule myself again

I remember complaining once about being bored on my days off...

yeah, missing those days now 

this paycheck better be worth all this over time haha

anyways

I had one day off, a gorgeous Monday of course, and this is how I spent it

came home to this after work. heart melted.
[Maverick is really not that dirty...blame the low light trying not to wake Jared]

then the beautiful sunny day was wasted on errands

but some were fun ones to do

went to the final fitting for the bridesmaids dress for Gwyn's wedding in May

thank goodness for iced coffee splurges to pull me through the day

is there a better dinner to be had? 

beers, chips & salsa and ridiculously big jalapeño cheese burgers

delicious

I love all this outdoor cooking/eating weather

my favorite

now back to work

my work wife brought me some homemade Indian food

yes is was amazing and so is she

yesterday may have been one of my favorite days at work in a long time

no nothing crazy or ridiculously gross happened

I got to give the best and most unexpected news to a patient

sometimes you need little reminders of why you love your job so much

happy Wednesday! 

looking forward to a whole weekend off 

Hoppy Easter Weekend!

usually this holiday is spent with my family

however, working at a hospital and having all the other previous holidays off

it is my turn to work this weekend again

middle of my 4 day bender at work

since Jared had off Friday we went to the Greensboro Grasshoppers game for Thirsty Thursday

Jared was such a good sport

he grilled all the food and had to put up with a large group of nurses

not an easy task but I think the drinks helped with that

he's just so great

 the story behind the mustaches

the EMS guys are in a mustache competition with each other and are all growing these ridiculous ugly staches

we wanted to prove to them that MoCoHo ED nurses can do it way better than them

thank goodness, our favorite summer brews are out!

the Shiner Ruby Redbird is my personal go to with grapefruit flavor, so perfect on a hot night

 last night we thought we would try out the whiskey that Jared has been aging since January

the kit was part of his birthday present and he has been so good about not messing with it

but when he went to put some in the glass it was all gone!

seriously there was nothing left in the barrel

weirdest thing ever.

we are going to have to call the company and figure this out

because that thing was not cheap

anyways

hope y'all have a fabulous Easter 

think of me wiping butts while your eating yummy brunches and celebrating with family

Garden Party

this past weekend the pups and I spent four glorious days in Wilmington

the weather was absolutely perfect 

gotta love filters because even though the beach day was wonderful I am still just as pasty as ever

I took Beau and Maverick to walk the loop which was challenging but I think they loved it

historically last weekend is a big one in the books for Wilmington because it is the Azalea Festival

there are all kinds of parties, concerts, street fairs, and parades to celebrate a flower blooming

google it.

it is a little absurd but makes for a fun tradition

this is Caitlin and I in high school dressed as Azalea Belles
case and point about the ridiculous traditions of Wilmington

this year I did not get to attend any of the events that were part of the festival

but I did get to go to Julia's bridal shower

it was held by her soon to be sister in law

above are the gifts I got for the bride to be

my mom makes wine and I just took four bottles and hand wrote personal labels for her

the "gift bag" is dual purpose. it is a laundry-blanket-towel-beach-store-crap-where-ever-bag.

I stuffed it with a pizza stone, make your own pizza dough kit, and the wine of course! 

 Julia and I have been friends since the summer before starting college

even though she went to ECU and I went to State we remained close through mutual friends 

she started dating her soon to be husband, Will, just a few months after Jared and I did in 2008

it has been so fun to watch their relationship grow over the years

I can't wait for their wedding the first weekend of May

[I saw a picture of her in her wedding dress and starting crying. I will be a hot mess the day of]

I was so inspired by my mom's garden and all of the garden festivities of the weekend that we decided to start a garden of our own

my mom was so excited we were interested that she bought us all the essentials to get us started

[yeah, she is the best]

the people that lived here before us made planter boxes so we thought it would be a piece of cake to repurpose those babies for our garden adventure

thank goodness my mom let us borrow her tiller to break up all that over grown crap

first box has 5 different kinds of tomatoes

second box has peppers, spinach, and carrots

third box had watermelons, cucumbers and onions

Beau enjoyed helping show off the beautiful work we did

we had to fence around the boxes to make sure the two of them didn't go Godzilla on our plants

however, the fence proved to be no match for them since this morning I found two destroyed tomato plants and a half dug up box of dirt...

[I truly almost sobbed, but I also hadn't had my coffee yet.]

it has since been stabilized and and is now (hopefully) puppy proof

then we just have this adorable pot of basil sitting neatly on the kitchen window

[I would be very impressed if they could get to that and rip it to shreds]

today was back to "work"

it was one of our professional group days

basically we get together we other new grads/hires from the floor and ICU to complain about how our jobs can suck at times but we love what we do...

they call it "networking within the health system"

but really we get paid to eat out, gossip, vent and do things like this:

yeah, it is pretty awesome.

but now I have to work a crap ton of days in a row

boo. 

I Love My Job.

really, I do.

most days. 

after three in a row this weekend with only one day off in between working another two in a row

opened up my eyes to a few things

one.

it brought me back to the reason why I am doing this:

to help people when they are at their lowest

to touch lives 

to make people feel better 

to bring support

to share my compassion

to spread the love

two.

my job is hard

you see people when they are at the absolute worst place in their lives

and somehow have to dig up ways to help them cope

for example

sometimes you have to go with a doctor to tell a patient they have cancer

not just any cancer, a cancer that is very hard to treat and will likely take the life of that patient very soon

it is truly heartbreaking at times

three.

my job is very entertaining

in the emergency room I get to see a huge variety of patients

in one room I can have a patient on their death bed

while the room next door the patient's main compliant is dizzy after smoking pot

or when a patient requests to wear sunglasses so they can look cool while throwing up

at the end of the day I really love my job

even though it can be very difficult at times 

it is one of the most rewarding things in my life 

and I am lucky to work with such a fantastic group of people

Spring. Sprang. Sprung.

hallelujah, SPRING!!!

you have finally decided to show your beautiful face

& I could not be happier

the colors of spring are just gorgeous and new blooming flowers make everyone happy

well, except for Jared

he is deathly allergic to pollen that comes with this season

bring on the stuffy nose, sneezes & red-swollen-tearfilled-itchy-glasseswearing time. joy.

that didn't stop me from filling the house with flowers snipped from our yard

with spring comes grilling time!

my absolute favorite way to cook

and with grilling comes porch drinking!

my absolute favorite way to enjoy a yummy cocktail

and with porch drinking comes puppy neglect around the grill and this happens...

Maverick covered in grease from trying to lick it up. 

[don't worry, he wasn't injured, he fully enjoyed himself]

white puppy fail.

spring also brings outdoor activities 

which mainly leads to drinking outdoors

like the Greensboro Grasshoppers game!

it was Thirsty Thursday when I went with a group of friends from work

 [$1 beers and ball park hotdogs, need I say more?]

not sure who won or even how baseball is played really

but we sure had fun

I love that I work with such a great group of people

I love them so much that I am spending all weekend working with them in the ED!

boo. because the weather is freaking gorgeous today. 

oh well, someone has got to save the people of Greensboro from themselves

[stubbed toes, paper-cuts, UTIs, and hangovers won't cure themselves...]

Weekend Review

first things first

this is how my morning started:

this weekend I went to Raleigh for a bridal shower for Gwyn

she gets married May 9th and has asked me to be one of her bridesmaids

her longtime family friend threw the cutest shower for her

in Susan's words "I used the Pinterest to decorate."

too cute

Gwyn wore the veil that Susan's daughter wore in her wedding, way back in 1989, for the shower

after the shower it was time for some much needed catch up time with my girlfriends

and my fur-nieces of course

we started the night with drinks outside at cala vela

I just cannot get enough of those damn spicy pineapple margaritas

drool worthy

made with jalapeño simple syrup 

need I say more?

do yourself a favor and get one

we had dinner at Oak City Meatball Shoppe

seriously best balls I have ever eaten

[pun-intended. you must see their menu]

my recommendation: 

spicy pork balls with mushroom sauce and the mac&cheese 

heaven in your mouth

obviously, a moscow mule in an adorable copper mug is a must as well

we finished off the night with lots of dancing and running from the rain

such a fun weekend

sad it is over

I miss those lovely ladies already

on another note

I got this sweet email from my director last week

yes, I am "tooting my own horn." 

but, I work really hard and love taking care of my crazy ass patients

a thank you and hearing that you're do well is nice to hear every once and a while

really, I love my job.