The Traveling Kind

Welp, we made it back into the great state of Texas. I know it's been a while, and yes, we're all still alive. Transitioning to a new place is pretty hard and at least for the first few weeks lots of time is dedicated to getting to know our new area and my new hospital. OUR PLACE is way bigger than our last few spots and it's only 1.5 miles from my hospital. Being back in Texas certainly has it's perks, like a bigger apartment, free covered parking, and cheaper groceries! Whoop! Oh...and Blue Bell...Lord, have mercy on me, the Blue Bell. I lost count of how many pints I've eaten all by myself at number 7. I'm not proud, but it happened and it's out in the open now so I must move on and try to do better! Haha! I'm not proud, but I'm not sorry. Pearl likes the new apartment too, especially the low windows. MY HOSPITAL is seriously the biggest hospital I've worked for. It's 19 stories!! Of sick kids!! Holy cow it's so stin...

I figured I'd do a little race recap before I got all caught up in the whole moving to Texas thing. It's kinda already started but I don't feel like packing so here I am. Ha! So Friday morning I got off work and Ryan and I went down to the beach for a little while, gotta soak it up while we have the chance. Also, no sleep for me, in order to make sure I could sleep that night I stayed up all day after my shift to ensure that I was real good and tired that night...it worked. I was pretty much sleep walking by 5. That night I took a relaxing hot bath, laid out my clothes for the next morning, and hit the hay. The morning of the race I was pretty nervous, I'm not sure why. I had already run 12 miles three different times so what was one more mile? I don't know. I guess I was afraid of getting hurt or of just how badly that extra mile was going to suck. But once we got to the park with all the people and vendors I started getting more excited and more than...

T MINUS 3 DAYS! Holy Moses y'all. It's here. I can't believe it! I'm so excited...and nervous! But mainly excited. But also still nervous.  BUT MAINLY EXCITED! SO FREAKIN' EXCITED! Ryan and I will be heading down a day early so that we don't have to wake up so early on race day. Riverside is a little over an hour away and the race starts at 8 so that wouldn't make for a fun morning otherwise.  I really can't believe it's happening. I know it's not some huge life event like buying a house or having a kid, but if/when (don't wanna jinx anything) I finish on Saturday, it will be for me. I've got my outfit all picked out and mostly packed. Got my little 13.1 charm that Ryan bought me all tied into my shoe laces and my 13.1 sticker ready to be placed on the car just as soon as I cross the finish line. What?! I said I was excited. On the other hand I'm so dang nervous. I've worked so hard for this and I'm so scared some...

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...