Gosh its been awhile

Yes, it has been a while since I blogged, but I said in the beginning that I usually slack off on things like this.

Since my last post, I have completed painting the living room. As we speak (or type), I am starting into the dining room, kitchen and our back room (I don't know to call this room, its just there).

I have been busy today taking off all the outlet face plates and washing down the walls, so they will be ready to be painted on Wednesday or Thursday.

I am doing a goldish/yellow color on the back wall that runs the entire back of the house and brings the 3 rooms together. I was going with an burnt orange in the dining room, but my token decorator Todd, pointed out that the color is very close to the rust in the living room and you might not see too much of a difference. Point taken.

So, I am switching up the colors again, I HATE WHEN JUAN IS RIGHT. I let Juan pick all the colors, because he hit it on the head in the living room. He had selected a periwinkle blue, a plum and an mango color along with the gold/yellow. I hate the mango, to crayola for me. But he had originally said that the periwinkle should go in the dining room and the plum in the back room. But I thought, that orange for the dining room. So, alas, the periwinkle will go in the dining room and the orange in the back room. The plum is a very bright purple and I like it but on 4 walls in the back room would be too much. So, the plum will go in the kitchen. There is very little wall in there and I really think I am going to love it.

Here are a few shots of the living room. Ignore the porkie lounging on the couch.

Ignore the "porkie" I can't go anywhere in the house without him following.


The paintings against the wall on the left are for the dining room.

Okay, that is the update on the house stuff.

On the wedding front...I have purchased a dress. It is everything I didn't know I wanted. I don't want to post a picture because I don't want Juan to see. I can be a traditionalist at times. The great thing is that it was 1/2 the price of what I had budgeted. So, I could actually go buy another dress if I wanted. (I was thinking about it) LOL.

We also are going this week to put down a deposit for our photographer. This like I can provide. We are going to be working with Krista from Impressions Photography. The funny thing about this, it turns out that she photographed our friends Melissa and Dan's wedding, several years ago.

Originally, we were torn, or I should say I was torn between 2 photographers, their work is very similar in the style and details, but one would have cost a whole hell of a lot more, I am talking thousands more. I was going to go that way and figure out where to get the money from. Then last night I was thinking to myself, that extra money is flowers, a limo, a DJ, that second dress.

Right now I am really excited. We are getting married in less then a year, so now is the countdown time and everything is going to come together.

Next on the list, a DJ and a steel drum player.

I will try not to go too long between posts next time.

Painting

Why does it always seem like painting your house is such a good idea. "It won't take long", "roll, roll, roll". Every time I decide to paint, I think it is going to be fast and simple and it never is. But, when it is done the end result is usually worth it.

My house as been sage green since we moved in 3 1/2 years ago. We have changed furniture and lighting and with the dogs, it has just become dingy and dark and I have been itching to repaint for a couple of months now.

Finally, I told Juan, I am painting whether you want me to or not. One day you are going to come home and I will have started, and then there will be no turning back.

Well, I didn't have to go that far, he finally agreed to let me paint.

The other bad habit I have is I tend to go for dark colors. Since I wanted to lighten things up, this could be a problem. I asked my friend Todd to help me because I think he has a great eye for color and combining them.

Well, we went with 3 colors. An aqua blue (Acapulco Cliffs) a cream (Cape Honey) and a rust (rum raisin) color. The living room is aqua and cream, the colors are on the 4 walls opposite each other and the rust is around the doorway. I like the cream, it definitely lightens it up, especially with a brown leather couch. I like the rust too, which is no surprise since I like dark colors and it is very close to the color in my bedroom. The aqua is going to take some getting used to. I don't have it, I like it, but it is really bright. I will have to see how the room looks once all the furniture is back in. That will make a huge difference.

I am going to bring the colors into the dining room next and reverse the pattern.

Wish me luck. Looks like Wednesday and Thursday, I will be painting.

We Booked a Date

Well, we finally booked a date for our wedding. November 21, 2009. The Saturday before Thanksgiving.

We wanted to do it in November, so it wouldn't be too hot. It's hard to avoid the heat in FL. We wanted to do it on either the 19th of a month or the 22nd. The reason....well, Juan's birthday is the 20th of the month and mine is the 21st (not of November). We just thought it would be funny to have all our dates, 19,20,21 or 20,21,22. Whatever, I am strange. I also wanted to get married on leap year. I have always wanted to do this. I proposed back in February but obviously this didn't happen and I don't want to wait another 4 years, 4 years of dating 3 of living together is enough.

So, here is the unusual part. Being from NY, it is taking some adjusting to how laid back weddings are here, not in terms of being elaborate or not, but more in terms of what you get for the dollar. I come from the land of big over the top catering. In NY, you get a cocktail hour which is what is a buffet reception down here and then some. At my first wedding (yes, I have been married before), people from FL thought our cocktail hour was the reception. After that you walk into a 4 or 5 course sit down dinner, all with open bar and your cake is included. Down here, everything is extra. They even charge you to cut a cake. Give me a knife, I will cut it.

Enough about that. We went on Thursday to place a deposit at Rumrunners. I was completely prepared to give the $750, but I was surprised, we met with the Managing Partner, not the manager who I had met with previously. He told me he didn't want to take our money until we get closer to the date. He said to hold on to it, put it somewhere else, or put it in a CD to gain interest.

Who does that?

On one hand it was very nice of him. On the other the NY'er in me doesn't trust it. I kept asking if I could have it in writing. He told me, if I want him to take my money he will, but he has been in business for over 20 years. So I am happy with that and we recieved an email confirming the date. My good friend Michelle is helping us plan the wedding (she is interning with a highend wedding planner) and she said we will touch base again in about 6 months.

Rumrunners does have the ability to have the ceremony there, but we really want to get married on the beach. My only concern is what if it rains. How do I have a backup plan then? Michelle says with the length of time the ceremony usually is, even if it is a light rain it can still happen. Worse comes to worse, we will get a lot of umbrellas, maybe it will make a cool picture.

You gotta love her, she finds the positive in everything.

So now I feel like I don't have anything to do, but there is still so much to do. I guess people down here don't book things until 6 months or so before. Again, in the land of NY, you book things ASAP in order to not miss anyone. I had booked my wedding 18 months before the date the first time.

So, now it will be research and finding the best vendors where I can get the best bang for my buck and looking through magazines for ideas.

Suggestions are always welcome

I'm Going Back To School

There was a time when I thought I would never be able to go back to school. I had my opportunity right out of H.S. My parents were paying my tuition, but I had no idea what I wanted to do or what I wanted to be and I was wasting my time and their money. Many, many years later, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

After leaving college I worked for a long time. When you start to work and you have your own money, you tend to start life and forget about the long term and that is exactly what I did.

Over time, my parents moved out of state and I moved into my own place. I had bills and responsibilities, nothing that would allow me to go back to school. I worked in Manhattan 9-5, without the time that wouldn't really allow me to get to an evening class on time. I was stuck in a dead end job. Life wasn't the best, but I thought I was happy. Funny, how you don't know how miserable you are, until you find happiness. But that's for another blog.

Finally, I took the step and moved to Florida to be closer to my parents. I was going to be living at home and the main reason was so I could go back to school. Finally, and after 5 years, I graduated with an ASN (Associate of Science, Nursing). I passed my NCLEX, the longest, hardest test, I have ever taken (5+ hours and 265 questions later) I was a licensed RN.

When I first decided to go to nursing school, my goal was to become a Midwife, well after my OB rotation, that was all out the window. Then I figured, I would graduate, get a job on a unit and that would be it. Well, a year + after graduating, and working as an RN in a pediatric unit, I have applied to Edison State College to complete my studies and my BSN.

I think, I would ultimately like to teach. With my BSN, I will be able to be a clinical instructor. I will be able to take nursing student's into the field and teach them. When I was working days these past few months, we would have students come to the unit to do their clinical work. I really enjoyed teaching them and explaining why we did things the way we did and why it was different from the rest of the nursing world, which is adult oriented.

Of course sometimes doing this was to my own detriment. I was one nurse with 2 sometimes 3 students and 4-5 patients, depending on the day. It is very challenging to teach a student and still care for all your patients. It was stressful but I did it to myself. That is when I realized, that I would really enjoy being a clinical instructor. This way, I would be able to focus my attention on the student and their patient. Teach them the right way and not the lazy way.

This past Spring, Edison College announced that they would be launching their BSN program in the Fall of 09. This is the perfect opportunity for me to complete my BSN. From the way it sounds, the program will be bridged. Meaning that there will be classroom and online courses. The classes should meet about once every 5 weeks or so.

So today, I went to Edison, and re-applied. I will start taking courses in the Spring to finish up my pre-reqs for my BSN. I will be taking statistics and chemistry. 2 subjects I am not excited about at all. But, I will do my best.

WATCH OUT FUTURE NURSES OF AMERICA, HERE COMES PROFESSOR BELLET!!

Sick

I'm sick and I don't feel well. I have a cold, which I probably caught from one of the sick kids I take care of. I have a particular thought on which one got me sick, but I will keep that to myself, since that could be a HIPAA violation.

I have a cold, I was hoping it was just allergies, but I was wrong. My nose is stuffed up, I have a headache, and my body aches. I really just want to go to sleep and not get out of bed for 2 days, but I have to work and I can't rationalize not working because I am not exactly on my death bed. Plus, it took me so long to build up my PTO again from the Summer of Econ, that I don't want to waste it. I am off tomorrow and that is a plus, so hopefully, I will survive the night.

I am living off of Dayquil and 4 Way nasal spray. If I can keep the headache away and I am able to breath, I think I will survive.

Here's wishing me good luck for the night.

Life is Always Changing

I hate having to readjust. I know that life is always changing, and you have to roll with the punches. But, I don't like it.

Since TP left Fort Myers, I have had Juan all to myself. I would go to work and he was here, I would come home and he was here. I liked having him home with me and we were able to spend time together.

Then in May I started helping out the day shift and I was there for 4 months. That was an adjustment, and I found that I liked it better for my lifestyle when I was not working. Unfortunately, I cannot afford to stay on days. There is a huge difference in the hourly from nights to days and it comes out to be able $1000 after taxes a month. That's a whole lot of money. I don't mind working nights, I love the people I work with, they are a great group. I just would rather be at home. But since I like to live in my house and eat and drive my car, I will go to work so I can pay "The Man".

Finally, the time came when it was time for Juan's mini vacation to end and time to go back to work. So, now he is working, I am working and on top of that he is going to school. I come home in the morning, he is sleeping, I give him a kiss and crawl into bed. He leaves for work a couple of hours later and kisses me goodbye. Now, I won't see him again, until I come home in the morning.

Of course I only work 3 days a week, but it is hard when I don't get to spend time with him. I am really trying not to work on Wed. or Thurs. these are his days off and he only has school, so I get to spend some time with him. When I was working days, I would come home, he would come home and we spent a couple of hours together before going to sleep together.

Since I am coming back to nights during this schedule, I am trying to not live my life the way I did last time I was on nights. Last time, I would stay on a night schedule whether I was working or not. Which means that if I was off, I would still sleep all day, maybe get up around 2 or 3, then I was up until 4 or 5 in the morning. In fact I often had to take Benadryl to help me go to sleep.

This time, I am trying to actually sleep at night and be awake during the day when it is my day off. It can be challenging especially when you don't have a long stretch of days off together. Like right now. I worked Friday night, I was off Saturday and I work on Sunday. I only slept about 4 hours on Saturday and then woke up. Went out to Gulf Coast with Juan and some work friends and came home and went to sleep at 2am. I forced myself to sleep late because I have to work tonight. So I got up at 2pm.

It is hard to keep flip flopping back and forth and I wonder the toll it is really taking on my body. I know it will be okay, I just have to readjust and get used to the change. It just seemed easier when we were leading a "normal" life.

If there is any such thing.

I'm getting married

So, as most people know, Juan and I are getting married. He proposed back in April and it was really a shock because we had been having a very serious discussion at the time.

Apparently, we are in no rush to get to the alter and are planning on next October or November (2009). At least that will give us time to save and we won't have to charge the entire thing. I don't want to start out further in debt then I all ready am (isn't that the "American way"?)

We had been talking about what kind of wedding we both wanted and have gone back and forth between having it here in Florida, or doing a destination. We even went so far as to contact a company that specializes in destination weddings and got all the numbers and locations that were appealing to us. But in the end, we decided to do it here because we wanted everyone to be able to celebrate with us. I also felt kind of weird asking people to drop a grand to go to my wedding, even though they were getting a vacation out of it too.

Because this is my second marriage, I don't want to repeat what I did before and I don't want anything too BIG. Juan would prefer low key anyway. We haven't gone to many places maybe 5 in total. But we have decided what we are doing.

I am really excited now. My friend Michelle is asking as our wedding planner. She has been interning with a high end planner in town for about a year now and with my budget and her knowledge, it was the perfect match.

She suggested that we personalize it. So we were thinking about what we like to do, what could make it personal. Then we decided to have a Caribbean theme. Since we wanted to have a beach wedding and we enjoy going on cruises, this seemed perfect.

My thought was to have a ceremony on the beach and then the reception in a restaurant. That should keep costs down since it isn't specifically a wedding venue. We visited a couple of places on Fort Myers Beach that could host a ceremony and reception but the prices were crazy or the room was run down. I also looked into the Cape Yacht Club and Cape Harbour. I also looked at a country club. But because I did the whole country club thing, I really don't want to do it, but the prices were very appealing. We also looked at Rumrunners. This is a restaurant at Cape Harbour that is right on the water. They have a room that is part of the restaurant but it has doors and can be closed off from the main dining area.

Well, we went and had dinner there last night. WOW, it was so good. Plus the decor and menu are Caribbean themed. Can you get any better? So that is were we will host our reception.

We are planning on getting married on Fort Myers Beach and I went today to look at a location. Because it is a public beach, we can have the ceremony there at no charge, we just have to leave the beach the way we found it. Hopefully without a lot of birds. I also looked at the Cape Coral Beach, they are pretty much the same. The only thing that worries me is if it rains. Being in Florida, the rainy season should be over by then, but it can still rain. If we do it on the beach we have to figure out a back up plan.

We can have the ceremony at Rumrunners too, but we really wanted to do a beach wedding. So we will have to talk about it.

I guess most importantly, we have to set a date. Before we do anything else.

Well, more informtion to follow.