Well, Bear and our SUV are on their way to St. Simons Island, Georgia right now. My mother-in-law flew in last night to take both of them home. I’ve touched on this before, but I may not have been very clear. We aren’t shipping our cars to New Zealand, and we aren’t taking Bear. In… Read More Bye, Bye, Bear
Big congrats to my sister Valerie, who recently ran her first mini-marathon. She is awesome! She did it in under 2 hours and she did it without any formalized training plan. Can you believe that? This girl is good! I’d like to think that my Facebook “good luck” message helped, but who am I kidding?! … Read More My Sister, the Mini-Marathon Maven!
We had a fabulous time on our vacation in St. Thomas. It was wonderful, sunny, relaxing… everything that a vacation should be. We are now spending the next week with my side of the family before we make the big move. My father is a family practice physician. As a registered nurse, there are times… Read More Who Doesn’t Like Pearls?
Today is National Nurse’s Day! If there’s a nurse in your life, give him or a her a shout-out and let them know how much you appreciate what they do. To celebrate, I thought that I would share 5 things that I love about being a nurse {these are in no particular order}: The level… Read More Happy Nurse’s Day!
I never win anything. Well, I take that back. I’ve won 1 or 2 giveaways, but when it comes to live drawings, I usually don’t win. That changed on Monday night at our resort’s poolside raffle. There was a grand prize, and I won! They called 2 other names before they got to mine, but… Read More More Fun in St. Thomas
There are twelve days until we move to New Zealand. Twelve days, people. As in, less than 2 weeks. Gulp. We’re still basking in the St. Thomas sunshine, but in preparation for this move, I’ve stocked up on some essential travel items: 1. Clothing – comfort is key, combined with the ability to layer. I… Read More 12 days…
I was tagged by the lovely Juli over at Wellington Road {another expat American living the life in New Zealand} to post 7 thing that I like. I love stuff like this! Right now, I’m really liking my dark chocolate digestive biscuits. I may have made menacing noises at Chris when he took one. He… Read More 7 Things
Happy Friday, my lovely readers. We are having a wonderful time in St. Thomas – lots of fun and sunshine 🙂 Last night was spent down at the beach bar, listening to my husband and father-in-law give various karaoke renditions of “Daydream Believer”, “Super Freak”, “Love Shack”, “Kokomo”, and I think something else. My husband… Read More Book Giveaway Winner!
Hello, my lovely readers! If this post-scheduling thing goes according to plan, then about the time that you read this, Chris and I will be on our way to lovely St. Thomas for the next 10 days. Aaaaaah, sunshine, sand, and seawater! Photo Credit: Me, taken during our last vacation to St. Thomas! Once again,… Read More On My Way to St. Thomas!
Hello, my lovely readers! All of our things have been boxed up and are on their way to California, where they’ll be loaded into a shipping container and sent across the big, blue ocean. We should see them again in about, oh, 8 – 10 weeks! In the midst of packing, I’ve found that organization… Read More Conversations Between Me + Chris
Hello, my lovely readers! I was surprised to find time for this month’s book review + giveaway, but I’m so glad that I did. I’ve had this book on my nightstand for the last 3 weeks. I was incredibly lazy one day and read the whole thing through without stopping, except once for a little… Read More Francine Rivers: Book Review + Giveaway
I have loved working at my current hospital, and I’m very sad that tonight is my last night there. When I first started looking at jobs in South Bend (this was when we were still in Massachusetts), I knew that I wanted to work in an ER. I was one year post-nursing school and had… Read More 10 Things That I’ve Learned in the ER
Our New Zealand visas have arrived! Praise God! This means that the university is now able to schedule the movers, purchase our plane tickets, arrange our rental housing, and set up the rental car. Saying that I’m ecstatic might be an understatement!
These are Dutch Kiss Cookies. They are delicious. Why are these cookies Dutch? Two reasons: (1) this recipe is from my mom, and her grandparents were Dutch, and (2) the “secret ingredient”, almond paste, is used in several traditionally Dutch desserts and pastries. So I started calling them “Dutch Kiss Cookies”. Seemed to make sense… Read More Dutch Kisses Are Always Sweeter
Here’s the scene: the laundry has been folded by yours truly prior to heading off for work. One request: that Chris put the clothing away before going to bed that night. It’s now several days later and I have another day off (translation: I’m actually looking around the house as opposed to just passing through… Read More Old Trash vs. New Trash
I stole this from the lovely Miss Ally over at Life’s a Beach! I enjoyed reading her answers so much that I wanted to answer them, too 🙂 Thanks, Ally! Question 1: Where were you 5 years ago? About 2 months past having withdrawn from my PhD program Working full-time as a personal assistant/secretary to… Read More 5-5-5 Questions
I had such a horrible night last night. I got in my car after work, was halfway home, and burst into tears. When I walked in the front door I was close to sobbing. I scared poor Chris half to death. He had woken up about 5 minutes earlier and was sitting at the kitchen… Read More What a Horrible Night
Hello, my lovely readers! I hope you’re having a great day and and that you enjoyed the gorgeous weather (it was beautiful here in South Bend, IN). Today was my measly day off out of a total of 72 hours working. Blech. Needless to say, I was strongly tempted to spend it doing absolutely nothing,… Read More Busy Day!
My sister-in-law and I are more alike than I thought: we both forgot our cameras when we went to Boston. To make it even worse, Becca had told me that she forgot her camera and I was all, “Well, I’m going to be extra careful and make sure that I don’t forget my camera!” And… Read More Boston: Shopping, Eating, Walking, and Friends
Hello, my lovely readers! I’m working from 6p – 6:30a in the ER tonight, and then Chris is picking me up to take me directly to the South Bend airport. I’m flying into Boston to spend some time with my lovely sister-in-law, Becca, and my two fabulous friends Obi and Keisha. I’ll be staying at… Read More Ah, Boston…
