Better late than never!

Yesterday was the first day of summer! And today we finished our patio by planting our urban garden and plants.  J and I were not planning on having so many vegetables, but once we got started planting we realized that we had more room for our garden than we thought! So we planted several types of squash, tomatoes (I transplanted my three plants that were previously in planters), a watermelon, strawberries, several types of peppers and some herbs.  I'm pretty excited to see what we grow. Technically we were a bit late in the planting season, but now that the patio and planting areas are finished we can get a jump start next year and add beans and cucumbers next year.  For now, I plan to nurse my urban garden to fruition.

It's been so amazing to see the patio transformation. J started with a giant dirt pile and brought in limestone rocks from the local crusher yard. The patio is sloped ever so slightly so the water drains into the alley (through the cool drain system J put in).  Before he put in the drain system, we got a huge storm that dropped 8 inches of rain.  So the patio looked like this...

After the drain was finished, J laid the pavers and created our patio.  There were LOTS of pavers to be laid.

Finally, it was time to create the planting areas. J brought in some good black dirt and enriched dirt to mix in with it, so eventually they were built and ready for planting! We're really excited with the final product.

Family time!

As a newlywed and new grad nurse, I've been pretty busy over the past 9 months with work and adjusting to all the changes in my life.  But alas, summer is here and the hubby and I agreed we were determined to enjoy our summer this year.  Part of our summer enjoyment includes some family time. So last weekend we went camping with J's brother and his family, which includes the wife and four kids. It was so much fun! We tent camped at a cart-in site, which required us to walk about 10 mins into the woods to our site, on the North Shore at Tettagouchee State Park. We did lots of hiking to several waterfalls, as well as combed the beach on the North Shore of Lake Superior for agates (the kids are really into agates right now).  We encountered some fun surprises, like crawdads (mostly little guys) and actually found a few agates.

I brought my camera and enjoyed taking a few candid shots, as well as some scenic pictures of our beautiful views. There's really nothing like the North Shore, even if the trip is just a few days.  On Saturday, we went up to road to Wolf Ridge ELC (environmental learning center) for their open house. It was really cool! We did the ropes course, which ends by you taking a zip line back down to the ground, and (excuse my dorky pun) rocked the rock climbing wall. Wolf Ridge has several raptors and a porcupine (very cute!) to check out. We also did lots and lots of hiking (in the pouring rain at times) and some canoeing.  I was surprised at how fearless the younger kids were (1st/2nd graders doing the crazy ropes course and zip line).  It was awesome to see. We brought the dog along and he enjoyed our hiking adventures to the point of being in a stupor by the end of the day from exhaustion!  :) 

Needless to say, it was a great trip.  In a few weeks our family time resumes with my side of the family, as we venture to ND to do some fishing with my dad & brother and play with the nephews!

Summer camping adventures

So as promised, I'm following up with a quick summary of our camping adventure last weekend.  Our dog went camping with us for the first time, which proved to be pretty entertaining.  We camped at Sibley state park for most of the trip and enjoyed some fishing and hiking.  Canoeing is our water vehicle of choice, thus the dog went in the canoe fishing with us.  He actually did really well, probably because he's 10 years old and pretty mellow.  The very first stretch of paddling was challenging because he kept moving from one side to the other and sticking his face in the water, but eventually he calmed down and laid in the middle of the canoe. The fishing was great! We caught largemouth bass, sunfish, bluegills, northern pike, catfish and one walleye!  That's a pretty impressive mix for one trip. We did lots of bird watching, delicious cooking over the campfire and some fabulous hiking.  Overall, I it was a wonderful camping trip and I definitely recommend Sibley state park!  And camping with the dog is pretty fun too :)

Summer is here!

After working a stretch of 7 out of 8 days in a row, I finally had a weekend of summer fun! Before a weekend of camping with the hubby, I had myself a little fun in the kitchen.  First I made my favorite healthy snack for our camping trip: puffed corn trail mix (recipe to follow...it's delicious).

Next I tried a new recipe posted by my friend, Katie, with a few variations in the dressing.  Creamy Quinoa salad was delicious!! My version included artichoke hearts, edamame, cherry tomatoes, raisens, sunflower seeds and feta cheese.  Mmm!

Lastly, I tried my hand at dehydrated watermelon.  It was actually quite tasty! Mind you, it took about 12 hours because it's watermelon, but it was really good nonetheless!

These tasty treats were a great reminder that summer is here! This lovely realization was solidified by my camping adventure with the hubby and pup.  Preview...my 10 year old dog went camping and canoe fishing for the first time in his life.  It was a fabulous trip! Pics and stories to come soon.  For now, enjoy yourself some tasty summer treats  :)

Time flies!

I haven't posted anything for a while! So it's my day off and I thought I'd update on how things are going. The census has been up at the hospital and thus we are BUSY. But things have been good. I feel like I've really been learning a lot lately.  I think several things have been contributing to this. After I returned from vacation, I had a long stretch of 6 days of work. Six days in a row tends to take a toll on me and I dread it, but I think that during my long stretches, I actually learn more and develop my big picture planning skills. I generally have the same patients for most of my long stretch so I get to see a weeks worth of change (good and bad) and help the patient plan ahead. It's pretty cool, especially when I take care of patients who are admitted for scheduled chemotherapy.  I see the patient full circle through their treatments, as sometimes I am the one to admit and discharge them, as well as take care of them during their treatments.  It's pretty cool for me, and I think it helps the patients because they have consistent care throughout their hospital stay.  Anyway, this has happened several times and I really enjoy it. 

There was one other exciting thing that's contributed significantly to my learning of oncology patients.  I attended a workshop about BMT (blood and marrow transplant), which was so cool.  I learned SO much that applies to our patients and the big picture view of their care and (hopefully) cure. Many of our patients will need a BMT and understanding the process, the timeline for transplants, the indications, medications, risks and side effects is a HUGE part of being an oncology nurse.  I feel like so many of the dots were connected after this workshop!  It's amazing what a difference feeling knowledgable in one's work place can do for self confidence.  I still have SO much to learn, but it's slowly coming together. 

That's it for now! I have been spending most of my free time enjoying working in my yard and playing around with photography.  If you want to check out some of my pictures, click here! You'll probably see more photography updates than nursing blog updates in the next few months.  :)

Enjoying a break!

My last 4 day stretch of work was a beast! But I survived (as usual) and today I'm blogging from Nashville, TN, where the hubby and I are on vacation.  It's been so great to have a break from work and sleep soundly...no dreaming of patients while on vacation.  Just a little R & R. I've been also enjoying my new camera.  It's amazing how much of a difference there is between a dSLR and my old point and click camera.  We visited the Arch in St. Louis yesterday, followed by a tour of the Budweiser brewery before we hit the road to TN.  It was an amazing day with beautfiul weather and exciting sight seeing!  We finished the day off by visiting a good friend of mine from nursing school who is doing a nurse residency program at Vanderbilt's Children's hospital.  We swapped nursing stories quite a bit (talking shop is inevitable with nurses) and enjoyed dinner at 12 South Taproom.  It was delicious!  Excellent beer on tap (of course) and a beautiful night on the patio. Aww, this is what vacation is like! We're looking forward to touring the Children's hospital in the next few days here and more sight seeing! Of course we're planning a night out on the town too!  :) 

Taking care

I'm learning more and more that a big part of my personal happiness comes from taking care of myself first.  In the past few weeks, I've had 2 unexpected days off from work.  One EA (excused absence) and one on-call shift.  These days are the result of the hospital trying to balance the patient census with the number of nurses scheduled to work.  It saves the hospital money while offering time off for people who would like it, but not mandating people to stay home (although that still happens occassionally).  It's funny because I've always worked myself so hard because I'm always trying to make ends meet.  So time off needed to be paid time off.  Now I take an occassional day to myself without pay (scary) and it's still ok.  I feel conflicted about taking time for myself (afterall, I've always worked 40+ hr weeks), but I'm learning that I really need it to stay grounded and healthy.  Not only do I give better patient care when I return to work, but I am more patient and happy in my daily life.

My last few days off were so great, last night especially. It was a beautiful evening so I went for a 5.5 mile run, which was amazing. I felt energized and refreshed and hit a good stride, which resulted in a faster pace! Sweet! After my run, I stopped at the gym to swipe my card (I need those 12 visits for insurance reimbursement) and do some stretching.  On my way in I ran into some friends that I haven't seen in a few months since I started to work evenings.  I joined them for a bite to eat and caught up on girl time.  Short and sweet, but necessary.  It was really nice!

Moral of the story:  take time to take care of yourself.  Daily, weekly. The little things add up and can make a huge difference in the long run.  For me, it's taking a night to go for a run or go to the gym.  Or maybe a night to veg on the couch and read or watch a favorite movie.  Whatever the little things are for you, make time to do them.  I promise, you won't regret it.