Senior 2

So... this semester is an odd bird.

I don't like to talk grades, but I'm going to for the sake of blogging. I have a 4.0. Many are amazed by this. I'm not really sure how it happened and I don't take credit for it happening, but it did. My first B on a nursing test happened last semester, but I was able to pull the grade back to an A average before the semester ended. This semester, my test grades in my three classes are the following: 88, 80.03, and 83.75 (that last one isn't officially posted yet, but I'm pretty sure that is the name it will go by).

I have senioritis in its deepest form. In fact, I have already figured out that if I pull all Bs this semester, I will still graduate Summa Cum Laude (3.90845) and I'm ok with that. You see, I think an employer will look at that and see about the same thing as they would see with a 4.0.

If you know me, you know this peace is a weird one. I have been so grade obsessed my entire college career. I'm not highly competitive with others but I am when it comes to myself. I'm finally losing to past-Kaelyn and I'm ok with that and I know why...

I finally feel like a nurse. I love my clinical rotations this semester. For one of them I am with a school nurse and for the other I am at Parkland on a step-down ICU/telemetry floor. I feel like I may have what it takes to eventually be trusted with a patient one day. It is an AMAZING feeling that trumps any feeling that a grade can give me. I am going to be a nurse and a good one, at that.

Still, I'm frustrated with my slackerness lately. I don't study. I can't force myself. I won't force myself.

I feel so dumb because I'm so close to the end (69 days and 11 hours from my last undergraduate final exam EVER). This is very comparable to the last 400 meters of a long run. You're so close to the end. If you sprint that last 400 meters, it will suck. You will hurt & your body will probably hate you for the time being. But at the end, you will be so proud of yourself & your body will reward you with endorphins.

This is me. Unable to recognize that there will be endorphins at the end of this if I just suck it up. No, I'm ok with a little shortness of breath and some sweat. Who needs endorphins?

This morning...

I realized that most often, my blogs are kind of down and whiny. Not this morning. I have a test in 2 hours and 20 minutes over things I know not. :) (I should know them. I just haven't chosen to learn them.. It is for my leadership & management class)

But I won't let this test get me down. I am completely blessed in life & I want to shout it from the rooftops today!

I am absolutely and completely in love on 2 accounts:

The first is with Jesus. I haven't been this close with him in years. I finally feel like I'm at the point that I've been searching for since I left it years ago. I have a relationship with Him & He just gets me.

The second is with the love on earth He has provided me: Seth. :) He makes me laugh when I think that is the last thing I want. He always knows what I need--be it to cry, laugh, mope, complain, etc... He can turn my day completely upside down (in a good way) from 1441-ish miles away. Today I am reminded of how lucky I am and how wonderful life will be in 102 days when I am his wife. Everyone tells me that this is just the honeymoon phase. They tell me that it will change and to wait until we see each other everyday. I say NO! We have been this way for most days of the past 4 years (our 4 year first date anniversary was last Friday, February 18th on Seth's 22nd birthday), what is 50 more when you've already done 4?!? I know it will be hard. I am in no way saying that our marriage will be all sunshine & giggles. But why can't that be the majority of it? We are given so little time to love on the people in our lives the way God wants us to.. Why not do it with all of our hearts everyday?

Today I am in a good mood (even if I'm about to go fail this Leadership & Management test). If you have ever had senioritis after 17 years of school, you must understand.

I hope you can be in a good mood today, too. Just think of all of the ways in your life that you are blessed. I've only mentioned two, but this list could literally go on and on until Jesus comes back.

:)

Wintery Mix

I revised my 'What is Nursing School?' post and you can find the new & improved version here.

I have gotten so much wedding planning done in the past 3 days. You see, in Texas we started having a "wintery mix" on Monday night. At first, I didn't take this seriously. Boy, was I wrong. It has been 20 degrees or less for the past 3 days (ok, maybe it crept up to 22 a couple of times..). I busted my butt on Thursday's sidewalk. It had about an inch & a half of solid ice on me. My Lucchese boots never new what hit them (by the way, yes I just name dropped. I have a pair of Lucchese's and they're wonderful. They are also about 30 years old. They were my Dad's!). I'm pretty sure my 21 year old hip is now well aware of the dangers of frozen sidewalks. Last night, snow started falling. It is BEAUTIFUL! I'm no weatherman, but I think about 5 inches or more has fallen.

Our school was cancelled for every day this week except for Monday. Seth is jealous. He says it snows all the time in New York but their school never gets cancelled. In fact, he swears West Point has never cancelled school on account of the weather. NEVER! To which I reply: "Well, maybe you should've gone to a regular college."

It never gets old. NEVER!

The one task that I intended on doing with my newly acquired spare time--writing my Community Health 10 page paper-- is yet to be done. I can't bring myself to write this paper. They pushed the deadline back from 2/7 to 2/14. They wanted me to procrastinate.

I have indeed been productive. I booked a hotel for the night before & of the wedding and blocked off rooms at a hotel for our wedding guests & solidified a group rate! The only detail I lack that could be done right now is getting our invitations printed. I think I may be putting it off. I'm afraid they won't turn out the way I want them to which is exactly why I am waiting until they have to be done to print them. Because that makes sense.....

Seth is getting anxious. He has been REALLY busy this semester & can talk right now and, alas, I am blogging. I guess I can stop for now. :)

Have a great weekend! Or, if you have been out of school this whole time, enjoy the rest of your week off!

Post Night

Tonight is Post Night at West Point.

Although Seth and I were lucky enough to find out around November where we would be (he is branching Aviation and the only place to do Army flight school is in Fort Rucker, Alabama), our other friends were not. Tonight was their night to find out where they would start out the lives in the "real" Army, as they like to call it.

I'm a little surprised with how emotional this feels right now. Seth's best friend Sam is going to be in Kentucky at Fort Campbell. That is a 7 hour and 15 minute drive from where we will be in Alabama. These two guys have spent their last four years on the same floor. They have even spent two semesters--the equivalence of an entire academic year--in the same room. Sam has been such an important part of Seth's life at West Point and it is hard to think that he will not be in Seth's physical presence as much....

Other friends of Seth's (and now, mine) are going to be with Sam in Kentucky. Some in Colorado. Some in Hawaii. Others in Australia.

We're almost done with West Point. Four years has almost past. If you would have told me 3 years and 7 months ago on July 2nd, 2007 that it would go by this quickly, I never would have believed you. But we're almost there. We've almost made it past the biggest hurdle in our short lives, to date.

I'm not going to let myself get too emotional. Surely I can't start being sad about starting my life four months (to the date) before my first day as Mrs. King....

Don't get me wrong. I'm CRAZY EXCITED about waking up every morning next to Seth. He and I have spent so many nights missing each other, we have a lot of making up to do. That day will mark my last day as a child. That is what it will mean in my mind, at least. I know one could argue that you only grow up when you let yourself. But how much more grown up can you get than as a married college graduate?

I'm not going to get sad yet. I'm not quite ready to wave 'so long' to my immature and irresponsible years. Not yet...

Farewell, January!

Hello! Long time no see!

A lot has happened since I blogged last! I went to Ireland from January 9th-January 17th. It was AMAZING! My mom went with me and it was her first time to ever be out of the country! I would've stayed if I could have stayed there by myself without the group of 52 other people. We saw some very neat things and had a blast! It was BEAUTIFUL and I think the cold January Ireland weather traded continents with us while we were there. However, it did rain every day. I guess I should have expected this....

My Blarney Stone kiss!

Mom at the Cliffs of Moher. It was SOOO windy!

The Ring of Kerry

The Ring Fort!

This thing is OLD! It was built in 2000 B.C.!

(To date it, it was about the same time Jacob (who was later named Israel) was born which is also about 500 years before Moses led God's people out of Egypt!)

We got back from Ireland and the semester was ready and waiting to slap me in the face. The big challenge this semester is not the scheduling, but the enormity of it all. We have to study for HESI (the test we have to pass to graduate) which is on March 28th, apply for jobs, interview for jobs, and somehow fit our clinical hours & class work in there somewhere. When you add wedding planning to the list, it becomes a huge mess!

And to boot, I seem to be attracted to adding more & more on to this huge mess! I am now the Senior 2 Student Government Association class representative. :)

I scheduled my bridals, sent out MOST Save the Dates, scheduled 2/3 wedding showers, and scheduled the fitting for my wedding dress! AHHH! It is really going to happen and it will be coming much faster than it seemed before Ireland.

I'm also faced with a major decision that is not one that has to be made too soon, but will eventually have to be made. Do I want to start out working at a smaller (131 beds) hospital in a Medical-Surgical unit [meaning 4-6 patients who are fairly stable] or do I want to work at a bigger hospital (420 bed) in an ICU internship [meaning I have 2 patients and start out learning before training for my job]?

A little background on me: During the course of my nursing career, I hope to work in an ICU, ER, and Labor & Delivery along with possible working as a float nurse (works all around the hospital wherever she is needed while getting paid much more than most nurses) at some time. Medical-Surgical floors are great floors to learn on, it is just taxing as there are so many patients to the nurse. I, of course, know the only way to find out which one is right is to apply and pray but I would also appreciated any suggestions/advice.

Oh, and did I mention that with the Medical-Surgical job, I might be able to get 2 months with Seth prior to starting work whereas with the internship there would be a set start date?

Oh wedding, how I am ready for you to be here. If you want to check out our wedding website, it is http://www.mywedding.com/mrandmrssethking/ .

Thank you for any advice I might receive & I hope all of your weeks start off beautifully!

My current countdowns:

10 days until I see Seth

24 days until I get to dress up for Seth's last West Point ball

39 days until Spring Break

102 days until my very last undergraduate final EVER

109 days until Seth's graduation

122 days until I marry my best friend!

Wedding Frustration

I've listed many wedding things that are frustrating but I've figured out the most stressful part of wedding planning. Ready??

DRUM ROLL

The Guest List.

I really wish I could invite everyone. I would if I could. This is what happens when you book a facility before you get your hard and complete guest list. We said "250? That is so many. We could never come up with that many." Ha! That was only 9 months ago and I can tell you that we were young & dumb.

I'm so terribly sad that we cannot invite everyone we know. I'm sad that we can't invite all of the people that have helped me make decisions or been incredibly excited with us along the way. This sucks.

So this takes the cake as the most incredibly frustrating part of this wedding planning (as of yet). Please, please don't be upset if you don't get an invitation. Most of my blog followers will not. That makes me sad. It would be a lot more fun with you guys there. Please don't hate me. Please don't be sad. It has nothing to do with how I feel about you guys. It just comes along with booking a facility before you're ready.

So wedding tip of the day: Don't book your facility until you have seriously considered your guest list. (I'm sure no one else in the whole world has made this mistake.)

Hello 2011

I have done a lot since I posted last! I finished my semester, had our 1 year anniversary of being engaged, went to Florida for the first time, went on a cruise to the Bahamas (first time cruiser!), had a WONDERFUL Christmas, registered for wedding presents, and rang in the New Year with my best friend and favorite person, Seth!

I think too much has been done to be able to post about everything! The cruise was spectacular! We had such a blast even though 4 people were confined to a space the size of my closet for 9 hours of the day (at least!) for 4.5 days. I love Seth's family and it was great to see his cousin, Amber, marry her husband, Trey, and to celebrate with the whole family.

Registering for wedding presents was.... difficult yet fun! It is so hard to pick out things for people to give you. I don't want anyone to feel like they have to get us something, and yet that is what registering feels like asking. It was fun to plan our new life together and to figure out what it was important for us to have in our home. Today marks 5 months to our wedding. The time is flying so quickly! I cannot wait! I love him more and more every second and I am so glad God gave me Seth!

This break has been lots of fun & I can't believe it is my last Christmas break. That is so sad. From now on, I will be working. Sadly, nurses are still needed on holidays and the hospital can't close for Christmas.

In 6-ish days, we leave for Ireland. My mom still has not warmed up to the idea of going, but it is inevitable. She will have fun (hopefully). I'm excited, but wish I could give her some 'chill out' that could make traveling with a group easier! Hopefully it is just a fear of the unknown and when she sees that it isn't scary, she'll be much better! Hopefully.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a safe and fun New Years! Hello 2011! This year, I will graduate, get married, and move to Alabama! Bring it on!