The Traveling Kind

Part I was the biggie. Having a positive working experience greatly effects overall satisfaction with travel nursing. In this post I'm going to list a few other things you can do to ensure you have the best possible time seeing the states! HAVE REALISTIC HOUSING EXPECTATIONS You really can't expect to live in luxury housing everywhere you go. In my four assignments I've taken my company's housing 3 times. The first was great! the second was eh, and the third was average. Every apartment we had was safe, clean, and close to the hospital. And to be honest, the second place was probably better than "eh" but the first apartment set high expectations. Those'll get ya. It'll all depends on what city you're in and the cost of living. The cost of living in a "luxury" 2 bedroom apartment in Texas is the same month's rent as a grungy studio in LA (note: we did not live in a grungy studio in LA). START MAKING FRIENDS RIGHT AWAY Sometimes t

Obviously, as with every job, there are ups and downs to travel nursing. Let me start off by saying there are TONS more ups, but the downs can weigh kind of heavily sometimes...mainly if you're home sick, it's a holiday, or your girlmones are going cray...or all of the above. Ha! During my second assignment in Los Angeles I completely changed my attitude towards traveling and it has really helped me become a happier traveler and happier person in general. I just got news that the last two weeks of this assignment I'll be switching to night shift (boo). So excuse me while I talk it out and give myself a pep talk. I'll let you in on some ideas that will make your travel experience exponentially better. LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS A LITTLE   and BE REALISTIC (this doesn't mean work is going to suck) Negative Nancy:  If you've been an inpatient nurse for any length of time you've probably worked with a traveler. Did you see their assignments? Yeah, the

Gah! We've been so busy! Except today. Today we watched TV and I played on the internet for a lot of the day. What?! Don't judge me, it's my Saturday. In the last two weeks we've flown to Texas, seen tons of friends and family, been in a wedding, cleaned up a wedding, more family time, flown back to San Diego, put up our Christmas tree, and lots of good ol' working. Let me just say that with every trip to the Lone Star State it's gets harder to leave. I love how comfortable home feels. I love traveling and we get settled in new places but they never become home. It was so good to get to attend so many family functions! We got to see most of my family at Thanksgiving and most of Ryan's at the wedding. Speaking of the wedding, it was so beautiful!! And so fun!! I'm so glad I got to be apart of it. The next three professional photos are by  Brian Shofner Photography out of San Antonio. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL bride and quite dapper groom. I

WARNING: This post only has one picture...but it's a funny one. When I think about when I started getting serious about traveling I remember being so overwhelmed and having no idea where to start. Luckily, I had worked with a travel nurse at Scott and White and he gave me his recruiter's number. Then, multiple anxiety attacks, lots of stress, and two months later I finally got my first travel gig with a completely different recruiter and travel company. I thought it would be nice to write out a nice, simple list to help y'all that are thinking about traveling get started with the process. 1. Have a travel nurse friend? Ask them for the name, number, and email of their recruiter.  This is by far the fastest way to getting on the road. Who's mine? Oh, her name's Cait (comment/email/text me for her info)  and she works for American Mobile . She's seriously the best recruiter EVER. Once you get in contact with them they'll tell you specifically what to do a

All this running is gettin' hard y'all. Some runs make me feel strong and confident while others get me down and make me feel like poop. Sunday was my long run day-7miles in an hour and a half. It was great. I felt good I ran a faster pace than I expected and didn't get the slightest headache. It was on this run when I decided to change my eating habits. It's real hard to eat healthily when you're surrounded by the best baja mexican food on our side of the border. So I've pretty much been stuffing my face with ALL THE FOOD! I realized it's probably gonna be a least a little easier if I can clean up my eating habits and lose some of these pounds that have been hiding in my street tacos and making their way to my thighs. Ha! I wasn't totally sure if I wanted to post the rules. I've been in the health and fitness circle for a few years now and every single person has a different idea of what a healthy diet looks like. It is an eating plan that I

Well y'all, karma got me back. You remember way back when last week when I ALMOST hit a girl on my bike ?? Well, today I was just running along on the boardwalk listening to my music and minding my own business and BAM! I get hit from behind by this guy riding a bike. Now I realize that I ALMOST hit someone while riding a bike BUT I wasn't just riding along a straight, 12 ft wide path where it was just me and the pedestrian. Really. I don't know if he was texting or what but he was going slow enough to not knock me down. So he was either texting or thought it'd be funny to hit the fluffy girl bouncing slowly down the fast side of the right lane. I know, I know slower people to the right. But there's always sand on the right side of the path and that makes it harder to run and more likely for me to slip and fall...I mean, hello! I AM one of the clumsiest people on the planet. Do I need to refer to the last post again? PLUS there are other people that run in the left

They say that riding a bike is something you never forget. Once you learn how, you're good to go. Today, I call BS on that. In my defense I've never biked in the city and the seat needed to be adjusted down a few inches but still, I almost died and took a innocent lady down with me! If all I had to do was keep going I'd be good to go.  But when you bike in town there's lots of stopping. And when the bike seat's too high bad things happen when I have to stop. And that's when as I started to go at a cross walk I couldn't get going and there we just too many people. So in order to not hit the lady in the pencil skirt and killer nude wedges I basically fell off my bike and everybody laughed at me. Meanwhile Ryan rides off into the sunset and never knew what happened until I caught up. Me. At every. single. stoplight. I think the worst part about all of it is I was laughing at myself to keep from crying all the while never saying I'm sorry to girl

Well folks.  My health took a turn for the worse after my last post. My sinus infection nastiness made its way into my chest and lived there for a week and half!  Not cool.  Then Ryan caught a little bit of it. Ha! So, I guess really not that many things have happened.  Ryan and I laid around the apartment until I had to go to work and then I worked...and worked...and worked...and ate my weight in candy, cookies, and other sweets.  Thanks Halloween.  Can I just say to all you parents out there, if you don't want your kid to have tons of candy cut 'em off a couple houses short!  Don't bring all that extra candy to work for the poor souls who have no self discipline and will power issues. Geez. That's just not nice. Really, who can say no to that?! Before all the sugary yummy nastiness made its way into my mouth hole I slouch-ran my way down 6 miles again.  Naturally, I can never keep moving forward when it comes to anything fitness goal related. I used my illne

Not really, what happened in San Antonio is what this post is all about! So much happened! A little bit of running, family and friends seeing, Bachelorette partying, and lots of eating (and drinking) ! First of all, I would like to refer back to my previous post .  This bill included FOUR adult beverages AND we left completely stuffed. Case and point. Texas is awesome and Chuy's creamy jalapeno ranch dip is forever delicious. Less than 25 bucks!! Holy cow!! Lauren drove an hour+ to hang for a few! After Chuy's we finally got on our way to San Antonio.  We checked in to our room at Hotel Valencia and were immediately greeted with chips, salsa, and beer.  Reason #324 why Texas is awesome, and why Megan is awesome since she snagged us the room :) I just want to take time right now and brag a little.  My friends, I do not workout on vacation. I sleep in, I eat horrible, and I fast when I get back home.  Such is the ugly cycle of R&R for me. NOT TH

I honestly can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing with my life than moving to a new place every few months and experiencing living in different parts of the country (or just mostly California) . But the longer we stay away from our beloved state the more I start to miss it. You know what they don't have in California? Dance halls -well, they do but they are few and far between and none of 'em can stand up to the Broken Spoke-plus they only play pop country-no George Jones here. Texas country music -Where are you Aaron Watson!? I seriously cried the other day on the way home from work cause "Fiddlin' Around" popped up on my iPhone.  Cheap food -Ryan and I can't leave a restaurant without spending more than $40, in Texas we could stuff ourselves with Mexican food AND beer and still leave under $20. Cheap beer -You want me to pay $5 for a bottle of Bud Light?! Nope. Not gonna. Westphalia noodles -I'm obsessing about these

Oh. My. Gosh. Let me tell you right now-6 miles is a looooong way. HA! And I'm going to have to run over twice that distance in just a few short months.  Holy Moses what did I get myself into? The day before I had already decided that we were going to wake up early and head to the boardwalk. It was a Saturday and I didn't want to be bobbin' and weavin' outta pedestrian traffic the whole way. Well NATURALLY I slept in and made breakfast and lolly gagged around the apartment until Ryan finally asked if we were even going to run at all.  So we get to the boardwalk in prime running time, the dead heat of midday. Awesome. But I did it to myself and the place was packed. MILES 1 and 2- Feeling awesome, it's a little hot and there are people walking everywhere.  I CAN DO THIS! MILE 3 - Ok, getting tired, finish this mile and I can turn around. This isn't TOO bad. MILE 4 - Ohmygosh, I might die before I finish.  I can't breathe and I can't keep my upper

THIRTEEN POINT ONE stinkin' miles.  Do you even know how far that is!?  Really. stinkin. far. What in the world am I thinking?  If you've worked out with me you know that I pretty much hate all exercise.  I do it, but I kick and scream the whole way.  So why would I WANT to run for probably about 2.5 hours straight (and that's being optimistic---thunder thighs are hard work to move people!) ?? Sometimes I think Girls was written about me. If you would've told my high school self that one day I would be able to run 3 whole miles without stopping, she laugh right in your face. I didn't continue to play volleyball into high school because they said we'd have to run a mile.   A mile...just one, just one mile.  Holy moses!  What a weeny !  I've been on a very long, very frustrating journey to health.  I've altered my eating habits, I've done every weight workout, joined gyms, joined a bootcamp, and I've probably done 5,000 squats and lung

Can I just say that I stinkin' love almost every bit about travel nursing!? Before I graduated college I jumped around jobs like it was no tomorrow. I realize that's the case for almost all college kids, but liking one position enough to stay for the 30 year tennis bracelet and retirement check seemed highly unlikely for me. After I graduated and worked at the ol' Ess and Dub (Scott and White) for a couple of years I started getting antsy...I'm surprised myself that I lasted that long. (Side note: I loved working for S&W, promise!) Travel nursing seemed like the way to go. Yes, I sure will move somewhere new every 3 months. Yes, I sure will let my company pay for my housing. Yes, I sure will move to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. This blog actually got it's name from my travel nurse experiences.  Let me tell ya, if anyone comes to work in California be prepared to ask, and get asked that question a lot.  The staffing laws h

Oh my gosh y'all it's my first blog!!  I'm so nervous!! What if it's boring?! What if no one reads this!?  If they do, then what if they hate it!?  What if all those grammar nazis call me out on run on sentences and the correct use of there, their, and they're?!  You know what I have to say to you people?  It's probably going happen so I'm just gonna need you to deal with it!...Just kidding, don't hate me please. I've been wanting to start a blog for a while, you know, because I think I'm so interesting the world needs to know what's happening in my life  I think it's a super neat way to get ALL THE THOUGHTS out of my head and it's way better than writing in my anablog aka journal.  (I feel like I've got a lot of run on sentences already...oops...) Also, I can't just sit back and let Ryan have a blog all by himself. I have my own side to our story! From what I've learned from reading and enjoying other blogs, it'