The Traveling Kind

Well, maybe not quite. Ha! In fact we're far from it. Ryan's adjusting well but I need a little bit more time I think. We left Texas a week ago today and made the 26ish hour trip in mostly 2 days. We only drove to Jersey on the second day so we didn't have to drive much on move in day and get there early as possible. On the way we hit up Graceland and had lunch at Rendezvous in Memphis, TN. We split the ribs, beans, coleslaw, and potato salad and I must say it was uh-mazing. The first day we made it through Texas, Arkansas, and ended up in Nashville, TN for the night. The second day we finished getting through TN, went through Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, a bit of Pennsylvania, and then finally made it to Jersey (and I can call it just "Jersey" since I'm a New Yorker now :)) Got our car all packed and we could see out of the back! WIN! Graceland! Got into bad weather on the way. The purple and white trees along the way were beautiful! A...

Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin'...as we sit here in traffic trying to get back to our apartment...that just so happens to be at the same exit as the rodeo. Not cool Houston. Ryan and I both had off today so we took a day trip to Galveston! We started the day on the strand, did a teeny bit of shopping and day drinking, had lunch at a great brew pub, then went to the beach!  Highly recommend Brews Brothers on the Strand I mean, why isn't drinking on the sidewalk legal everywhere?! Taffy making at La King *** Have I mentioned at all that I LOVE the beach!? Even dirty Texas Gulf Coast water where the "sand" is mostly crunched up shells. I don't know what it is exactly but I just love it. I honestly think I'd be equally as content living in a beach house in Galveston as I would in Pacific Beach, San Diego. I love the smell, the atmosphere. I love the sound of the waves and the beach town vibe. It must be something about...

So naturally, instead actually applying for New York licensure I decided I should blog instead. Wait...what?!?! Yep! You heard (read?) me correctly! WE'RE HEADED TO NEW YORK CITY !!! Holy dang, I'm so excited and so nervous. Yeah, LA was big and all but it was so spread out and the little suburb we lived in kept it feeling small town, if that's even possible in LA. New York City, specifically Manhattan, is, like, a real city. Where people walk to get to places and shopping centers go up and not out. --OMG. Side note: I just realized that I'm going to get to see the Statue of Liberty!! WHAT?!-- We always talked about wanting to go to NYC but I guess I never thought we'd get there in reality. There are so many things on my to do list! I hope three months is enough time! Kelly and Michael, Times Square, Statue of Liberty, SNL, Jimmy Fallon, and the TODAY Show!! I won't technically know exactly where we'll be living until a week before we move in but ...

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...