Its November!....
I am not totally sure from where or how we got to this point in the year, but here we are mid month and only a matter of time before we must begin the annual Polar Vortex #3...
There is something about this time of year that is somewhat significant to my everyday life. November is Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness month. PH is high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery and places a lot of pressure on the right side of the heart. This in turn causes the heart to overwork and get bigger and weaker, thus creating right ventricular heart failure, difficulty breathing, tachycardia, swelling, fainting, and untreated- death.
Normal pulmonary artery pressures are typically between 10-25mmHg. My number on diagnosis was 56. That's double what it should be. I know many patients that are much higher and into triple digits. Its a pretty relentless disease to have. There is also no cure at this point, only medication to help maintain and hopefully lower pressures. Now at this point in the blog post, I am done laying out all of the cold hard facts, because it sounds pretty pessimistic. And it would be if Western Medicine wasn't so amazing! The realm of PH therapies has grown exponentially in the last decade. It's a good time to get diagnosed with PH because there are over 10 different types of meds, in the 1980s there was 1.
Now you're probably wondering, how did this all start? Well here is the skinny version of the last almost 6 yrs:
Let's hop back to January 2010: I went to visit Joey in South Korea over winter break my junior year of college. We hike, climb mountains, walk, and climb some more stairs. I can't quite seem to catch my breath most of the 2 wks I am on Jeju Island. I have always been active, but maybe it was the mountains on the island that I wasn't used to. Fly back to America. 5 days later attend a YMCA bootcamp extreme class with my very good friend Jess. Faint and face plant after running up 4 flights of stairs. Wake up to find multiple people in the class hovering over me thinking I had a seizure. The entire time this is happening the "Waking up in Vegas" song by Katy Perry is playing. This song has permanently scarred my well being ;) Go to ER-CT scan-observe overnight-cardiologist on call was smart enough to order an echocardiogram with a bubble study- boom diagnosis.
boom- death sentence. do yourself a favor and skip any website on a google search unless its provided by the PHA or mayoclinic. Transfer care to specialist in MKE. Started meds. Fight with Carroll University nursing program because the dean of the nursing program is a freaking dingbat and decided for me that I didn't need to be spending my last 2 years of life in nursing school. Achieved the sweetest justice the day I graduated 1 1/2 yrs later. Eat it Angie, you are so lucky we didn't take you to court for medical discrimination. (If you couldn't tell, my family and self included are a little bitter to Carroll Nursing...!) Heart remodels itself from the miracle drugs I am on. Move to Milwaukee. Work for my cardiologist for 3 years. Meet some incredible friends. Get engaged in the Swiss Alps. Adopt the world's most adorable puppy. Start work at the Milwaukee VA. Continue the Slattery tradition in getting married in the UP. Honeymoon in Thailand. Enjoy every aspect of my life that I am capable of. etc, etc, etc :)
Now it sounds pretty fluffy, especially once you get to the last part. Let me fill you in on some of the details of this past year.
I was mentioning how awesome modern medicine is in the the above paragraph, well I was maintained on inhaled therapy for about 3 yrs solid. Then Orenitram (oral version of the same inhaled drug) came on the market. I was trialed on this pill for about 4 months and came to find out I had experienced rebound. This means my pressures were maintained around the mid 30s for more than 3 yrs and they shot up to the 80s in that short time span. I got the phone call from my cardiologist on December 4, 2014 after finishing my yoga class that my heart had "deteriorated." I had lost 2/3rds of my normal heart function. That pretty much destroyed any zen I had going :P I had to be admitted to the hospital to be started on IV drugs if there was any hope of saving my right ventricle. My body just never quite took to the Orenitram like it needed to.
After getting this news, I felt like the world's largest failure. I had been so rock solid for those 3 years. My doc would ask me to talk with newly diagnosed patients, interviews with various media, etc- I felt like I was somewhat of a poster child for PH. To have that all taken away in a matter of 4 months... really hurt... deep. This meant I had an activity restriction for the foreseeable future and anyone who knows me knows how difficult that is for me... The hardest part was that it took only 4 months to have my heart completely fall apart and a much longer time to get it back to where it was.
Now there is nothing ideal about being on continuously infused IV medications. I am tethered to a machine all the time. It is an extreme medical emergency if my pump ever stops running. I have a central line coming out of my chest AKA "boob tube :)" I am constantly fighting the risk for central line infections. Showering is much more complicated. I can't swim in water. I have to perform alchemy (mix my drugs) every 2 days because the drug half life is so short. My drugs and supplies are over $25,000/month. A month! The drug being infused directly into my heart is a systemic vasodialator. This means it causes my blood vessels to be extremely open, thus side effects create lots of wicked headaches and bad flushing. Sounds like fun, right?! This is my cons list.
Here are the pros:
I have life again.
This IV miracle drug turned my huge, floppy, and hot mess of a heart into the healthiest its every been in a little less than a year. Pressures 12/14 were 80. Pressures 8/14 were 34. That is better than my normal when on inhaled therapy. I can run at the park with my dog. I can walk up the big hill at work for my 12hr shifts. I could start road cycling again. Joey and I went to Eastern Europe for 3 weeks a few weeks ago and averaged walking about 12 miles and climbing 70 flights of stairs a day. I feel like I did when I was a teenager, in my pre-PH days. Insane amounts of energy. I never realized how sick I was until I had gotten better. Some moments I forget that I even have PH. I am the strongest I can ever remember being.
I am once again back to PH living with me, and not I with it. I will always acknowledge how insanely blessed I am that my heart responds to the drugs. I also know how blessed I am to have my medical team, family, co-workers, and friends. These are the people I know will always have my back and provide support.
I have also learned a lot in the year of 2015. The biggest lesson is to always appreciate what you can do. Tonight, I went to hot yoga and my focus was on staying balanced in warrior 3 because I am strong enough that my heart isn't racing at 170/beats a min trying to go through a single flow. This was a first, and a wildly healing moment for myself :)
Well if you've gotten to this point in the blog post, you probably know way more personal stuff about me than you could ever want to, but that is also kind of the point of raising awareness. This is the first time I am publicly opening up about my past year, daily experiences, and successes. There are only a few select people that even know I have PH because that is how I like to keep it. However the point of raising awareness, is sharing your story.
So basically,
Thanks for reading. Thanks for supporting. Thanks for putting up with my shenanigins :)
And if you were confused about the "Periwinkle" comment in the title, thats the official color of the PH ribbon.
http://www.phassociation.org/AboutPHA
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Back at it...
In case anyone has been wondering if I am still up to no good (after more than a year being exempt from blogging) the answer is yes. That is the would possibly be the most outlandish question I've heard in awhile.... :P
Anyways, hey world. I would love to give the excuse and say that life has been super busy, but that would be the longest reigning lie, because life is never not busy. So let's just say that I've been living it rather than writing about it. I am on an early evening coffee break and decided to pop down across the street to the good ole Stone Creek to publish some of thoughtlings.
I like 2015 so far. The winter months scooted by and left the world with that strange cross of 70's one day and 45 and snowy the next. Regardless of whatever mother nature wants to toss around in the month of April, there is green grass and the hope of May in just a few weeks. May is such a glory month. It brings back nostalgic thoughts of walking around the fox river at the end of spring semester or pick up ultimate frisbee games on Carroll's football field. More so, I've learned to love May for the fact that it kind of marks the beginning of temperate outdoor cycling season. Also, I love romping with the dog in the woods to watch everything bud and turn bright green. Ah, so enlivening.
We made it on another international adventure about a month ago. This year's tropics trip was the with the Slattery women. We found ourselves in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica for a glorious week. I usually get pretty stir crazy and crispy the few weeks prior to leaving. CR came just in the knick of time, like I didn't even have the chance to realize how badly i needed it until we returned...
It was the perfect week of sunshine. It was pretty much upper 80s-90s everyday. Its considered dry season March-September. We didn't rent a car this trip, so it was back to the good ole fashioned walking barefoot on the beach to get anywhere... yeah, it was as awful as I am making it sound. My favorite morning activity was waking up and hanging out on the balcony for hours. Hear and feel the breeze, enjoy the warmth but not be directly in the line of the UV rays. To me there is nothing more glorious than waking up, sipping local coffee, and dancing to Pitbull on the 5th floor condo balcony. Total.Soul.Rekindling.
We had a few excursions planned as well. On Friday afternoon of our week there, we found ourselves in the rain forest canopy ziplining through the treetops. That is a pretty fantastic to see the coast line from a distance in addition to appreciating the jungle. One of the groups ahead of us had this huge, burly guy that looked like he must've been some sort of athlete. I later found out it was the Miami Dolphins center, Mike Pouncey. To say the least, I am not a fan. Anyways, I would highly recommend anyone in a rainforest to check out the ziplines. It helps a lot if you don't have a fear of heights, its easier to appreciate the scenery around you rather than freak. Don't worry, by platform #6, my mom had nailed it.
Another activity we partook in was ATV tours through the back country side/jungle. We had our own private group of just us. It is an awesome way to check out the country side. We came across a lot of farmers harvesting a ton of things: avocados, palm oil, bananas. Missy (my SIL) had pointed out a neat fact, the brahman cows looked so happy, proportionate, and healthy. CR lacks the human growth hormone in their drinking water that America is so abundant with. Our guide was freakin awesome. He took us to a waterfall to explore around and dip into before we headed back. This time of excursion also helps if you are comfortable on ATVs b/c those machines are work horses and need a lot of respect. As stated above, with it being dry season, there was a TON of dirt kick up. They prepare a rider well with face shields on the helmet, sun glasses, and face masks. Much needed. I haven't been that dirty in awhile. The roads were pretty steep on the open end, often times the valleys deep below you b/c we were riding on the mountain sides. Amazing panoramics. We stopped at a roadside bar along the river for a few local brews before hitting up the last lag of our journey home. We stopped at an overlook to see all of Jaco Beach at sunset. Its probably the view we had of the whole beach all vacation.
We walked a ton, probably close to 5-8 miles a day just because anytime you wanted to do something, eat, shop, etc it required us to walk from our far end of the north beach to town. Town was 2 miles round trip. On Saturday morning, my mom and I walked the entire length of the beach and back, it was probably at least 2 hrs of walking. I think I actually walked so much on the sand that it started to eat my feet raw. I was uber excited to break in a new pair of chacos this trip as well. The last ones had to be retired after Thailand this past October.
We ate really well this this vacation too. It was pretty easy to figure out which places to check out. Ask around or hit up tripadvisor and see what the top 5 restaurants were- this served us well at least. The evenings in Jaco were the best: 75 degrees with no humidity. Our favorite place ended up being this place called "Side Street Bistro" which was a specialty sandwich shop. I could've sucked down way more Strawberry Mint Moquitos than i allowed myself to. It was awesome because this shop had a sister restaurant we went to our last night in CR. This was the most expensive evening for food. At this point, its not about cost and its the enjoyment of company and appreciation for the food and how eclectic it really was. I mean really, coffee and cacao encrusted steak tenderloin. Oh baby. This is exactly why I could never be vegetarian.
It really was an awesome girls trip and I am so glad I got to experience it with my mom and Missy. It was awesome b/c we would wake up in the morning and decide what we wanted to do for that day (unless it was a day we had our excursions planned). Most of the time is was just walking the beach, hiking along the coast while the tide was out, or just hanging at the pool next door. CR is such a neat place to experience. There was one early evening we were in the pool I heard some sort of bird overhead and I looked above and there are two scarlet macaws. What we have in the great gray squirrel, CR has in all types of iguanas/lizards. The last full day we had in CR, we went hiking up along the mountain side and heard some rustling and screaming in the trees. Next thing I know, there are 2 monkeys playing tag in front of us! Sweet.
I will not lie, the way back the MKE was probably my most memorable time traveling through the airports... We left for San Jose around 10:30am for a 2pm flight. We made it through all of the airport stuff and to our terminal by 11:30AM, so we stopped at the airport Quiznos for a sub. My mom and I stopped to grab some munchies for the plane ride at the convenience store and spent $40 on 3 granola bars, a bag of twizzlers, trail mix, and some chocolate covered almonds. I forgot to mention above: Costa Rica is a little more pricey than I expected, although any airport is gonna kill you with their prices. This will come into play later on.
San Jose-Charlotte NC was suppose to be a 4 1/2 hr flight. This is truly no problem when your last trip was 19 hrs. In the bag. I talked with a man in his late 60s pretty much the entire flight. His name was Forrest the snowbird who lives in Indianapolis 1/3rd of the year, AZ 1/3, and CR the last 1/3rd. He had been traveling to CR for more than 20 years. It was fun discussing culture and culture with him. He ended up going to visit a friend his first trip ever and met a ton of locals through all the road cycling he did. He had some pretty amazing stories of riding the mountain roads in CR. Forrest was sitting on my right. On my left was this 17yr old Canadian boy that preceded to tell me about his love story with this Austrian girl he met 5 days prior. "Her name was Angelica, which means from the heavens. And she had the bluest eyes of anyone I've ever met." I then asked him, "so blue, they were creepy??" He didn't quite get or appreciate my sarcasm. That's ok, I remember being his age and being on my 1st independent international excursion. Its pretty mind blowing in the best possible way :) I just let him jabber his guts out about his few weeks surfing and first love. It was mildly entertaining. He also look like he hadn't showered in about a week, however he didn't smell. I think I appreciated that about him the most.
Once we landed in Charlotte, I didn't realize how late we really were landing. We had an 1hr 20min before our plane to MKE. Pretty much everyone on our flight had another flight to catch within the same amount of time. We all got off with the feeling of rush at its finest. We got off basically running to immigration to get the passport stamped (which pretty much took forever), then bolted over to the baggage claim. Missy got her bag- had it rechecked and ran over to security. Good ole American security which requires taking off of shoes and pretty much all clothing as a general rule. While we waited in line, I could just feel the adrenaline pump through my veins. This is my domain. I love this shit. Unfortunately, i have been in this situation more times than I care to admit, but you learn to love and laugh at them because what else can you truly do?! Also, we were already in the US, so what is the worst that could happen? My mom was just a nervous wreck (she's a newbie ;)) We hiked our way through security and checked our boarding pass, which was entirely wrong on Terminal and Gate numbers. In the heat of the moment, we kept running on the fumes of epinephrine and ran to the gate our tickets said without checking the screen. Well, there was no "A12," in fact we were on the entirely wrong end of the airport and we literally had 8 minutes get back to the other end. Those people you see running through airports like ridiculous fools, yeah that was us. I forgot how fast you fly on those walking conveyor belts when you reach the end of them. By the time we finally made it to our rightful gate, it was 10min after take off time. We would've known that our flight had been delayed an additional 30 min if we would've checked the screen, but it was so much better after all that sweat and rush to find out upon arrival to the gate. We made it. I can honestly say, I didn't give up hope once. The very moment I found out our flight was delayed I was dripping sweat and so filled with joy. This is the best kind of natural high a person can experience. Screw the illicit drugs, become an airport runner. Boomshakalaka.
While I am on my high, we had to walk out on to the tarmack like in the 1970s to board out plane. This means we were outside, where in Charlotte it was a gorgeous 65 degrees and breezy. I facetimed Joey while piling our bags on to the tram and waiting to board. I don't think he heard a word i said but at that very moment I felt the most empowered I had in quite sometime with that wind blowing through my hair. Winning. Thank God, the woman ended up sitting next to was as chatty as I am. Fastest 2 hrs ever.
Once we landed and had all of our things collected, it was close to 1AM and all the Slattery women were STARVING. The only thing we had was subs at 11:30am, a granola bar a piece, and a tid bit of trailmix. We preceded to eat twizzlers and chocolate covered almonds at these wee morning hours. Then the idea of breakfast struck our fancy. We found ourselves on the eastside eating omelettes at Ma Fisher's with the regular colorful Tuesday morning crowd. Joey was even there to meet and greet us.
After all was said and done, I gave my puppy the biggest hug and fell over asleep.
All in all, an amazing vacation from start to finish.
Since then, just been living the dream. Saving lives to pay the bills. Enjoying married life a lot. Watching the loved ones around me grow up with us. A few are starting to have kids on purpose. Taking advantage of time off and appreciating life's happenings. Its funny how blogging always gets me reflective, puts me in a good place to remember that I am a pretty stinkin blessed individual to be living the life that I do. That being said, its time to peace out. Its date night and we're making mussels and drinking good german reisling.
Later world. Thanks for always bringing me back to that happy place. :)
Anyways, hey world. I would love to give the excuse and say that life has been super busy, but that would be the longest reigning lie, because life is never not busy. So let's just say that I've been living it rather than writing about it. I am on an early evening coffee break and decided to pop down across the street to the good ole Stone Creek to publish some of thoughtlings.
I like 2015 so far. The winter months scooted by and left the world with that strange cross of 70's one day and 45 and snowy the next. Regardless of whatever mother nature wants to toss around in the month of April, there is green grass and the hope of May in just a few weeks. May is such a glory month. It brings back nostalgic thoughts of walking around the fox river at the end of spring semester or pick up ultimate frisbee games on Carroll's football field. More so, I've learned to love May for the fact that it kind of marks the beginning of temperate outdoor cycling season. Also, I love romping with the dog in the woods to watch everything bud and turn bright green. Ah, so enlivening.
We made it on another international adventure about a month ago. This year's tropics trip was the with the Slattery women. We found ourselves in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica for a glorious week. I usually get pretty stir crazy and crispy the few weeks prior to leaving. CR came just in the knick of time, like I didn't even have the chance to realize how badly i needed it until we returned...
It was the perfect week of sunshine. It was pretty much upper 80s-90s everyday. Its considered dry season March-September. We didn't rent a car this trip, so it was back to the good ole fashioned walking barefoot on the beach to get anywhere... yeah, it was as awful as I am making it sound. My favorite morning activity was waking up and hanging out on the balcony for hours. Hear and feel the breeze, enjoy the warmth but not be directly in the line of the UV rays. To me there is nothing more glorious than waking up, sipping local coffee, and dancing to Pitbull on the 5th floor condo balcony. Total.Soul.Rekindling.
We had a few excursions planned as well. On Friday afternoon of our week there, we found ourselves in the rain forest canopy ziplining through the treetops. That is a pretty fantastic to see the coast line from a distance in addition to appreciating the jungle. One of the groups ahead of us had this huge, burly guy that looked like he must've been some sort of athlete. I later found out it was the Miami Dolphins center, Mike Pouncey. To say the least, I am not a fan. Anyways, I would highly recommend anyone in a rainforest to check out the ziplines. It helps a lot if you don't have a fear of heights, its easier to appreciate the scenery around you rather than freak. Don't worry, by platform #6, my mom had nailed it.
Another activity we partook in was ATV tours through the back country side/jungle. We had our own private group of just us. It is an awesome way to check out the country side. We came across a lot of farmers harvesting a ton of things: avocados, palm oil, bananas. Missy (my SIL) had pointed out a neat fact, the brahman cows looked so happy, proportionate, and healthy. CR lacks the human growth hormone in their drinking water that America is so abundant with. Our guide was freakin awesome. He took us to a waterfall to explore around and dip into before we headed back. This time of excursion also helps if you are comfortable on ATVs b/c those machines are work horses and need a lot of respect. As stated above, with it being dry season, there was a TON of dirt kick up. They prepare a rider well with face shields on the helmet, sun glasses, and face masks. Much needed. I haven't been that dirty in awhile. The roads were pretty steep on the open end, often times the valleys deep below you b/c we were riding on the mountain sides. Amazing panoramics. We stopped at a roadside bar along the river for a few local brews before hitting up the last lag of our journey home. We stopped at an overlook to see all of Jaco Beach at sunset. Its probably the view we had of the whole beach all vacation.
We walked a ton, probably close to 5-8 miles a day just because anytime you wanted to do something, eat, shop, etc it required us to walk from our far end of the north beach to town. Town was 2 miles round trip. On Saturday morning, my mom and I walked the entire length of the beach and back, it was probably at least 2 hrs of walking. I think I actually walked so much on the sand that it started to eat my feet raw. I was uber excited to break in a new pair of chacos this trip as well. The last ones had to be retired after Thailand this past October.
We ate really well this this vacation too. It was pretty easy to figure out which places to check out. Ask around or hit up tripadvisor and see what the top 5 restaurants were- this served us well at least. The evenings in Jaco were the best: 75 degrees with no humidity. Our favorite place ended up being this place called "Side Street Bistro" which was a specialty sandwich shop. I could've sucked down way more Strawberry Mint Moquitos than i allowed myself to. It was awesome because this shop had a sister restaurant we went to our last night in CR. This was the most expensive evening for food. At this point, its not about cost and its the enjoyment of company and appreciation for the food and how eclectic it really was. I mean really, coffee and cacao encrusted steak tenderloin. Oh baby. This is exactly why I could never be vegetarian.
It really was an awesome girls trip and I am so glad I got to experience it with my mom and Missy. It was awesome b/c we would wake up in the morning and decide what we wanted to do for that day (unless it was a day we had our excursions planned). Most of the time is was just walking the beach, hiking along the coast while the tide was out, or just hanging at the pool next door. CR is such a neat place to experience. There was one early evening we were in the pool I heard some sort of bird overhead and I looked above and there are two scarlet macaws. What we have in the great gray squirrel, CR has in all types of iguanas/lizards. The last full day we had in CR, we went hiking up along the mountain side and heard some rustling and screaming in the trees. Next thing I know, there are 2 monkeys playing tag in front of us! Sweet.
I will not lie, the way back the MKE was probably my most memorable time traveling through the airports... We left for San Jose around 10:30am for a 2pm flight. We made it through all of the airport stuff and to our terminal by 11:30AM, so we stopped at the airport Quiznos for a sub. My mom and I stopped to grab some munchies for the plane ride at the convenience store and spent $40 on 3 granola bars, a bag of twizzlers, trail mix, and some chocolate covered almonds. I forgot to mention above: Costa Rica is a little more pricey than I expected, although any airport is gonna kill you with their prices. This will come into play later on.
San Jose-Charlotte NC was suppose to be a 4 1/2 hr flight. This is truly no problem when your last trip was 19 hrs. In the bag. I talked with a man in his late 60s pretty much the entire flight. His name was Forrest the snowbird who lives in Indianapolis 1/3rd of the year, AZ 1/3, and CR the last 1/3rd. He had been traveling to CR for more than 20 years. It was fun discussing culture and culture with him. He ended up going to visit a friend his first trip ever and met a ton of locals through all the road cycling he did. He had some pretty amazing stories of riding the mountain roads in CR. Forrest was sitting on my right. On my left was this 17yr old Canadian boy that preceded to tell me about his love story with this Austrian girl he met 5 days prior. "Her name was Angelica, which means from the heavens. And she had the bluest eyes of anyone I've ever met." I then asked him, "so blue, they were creepy??" He didn't quite get or appreciate my sarcasm. That's ok, I remember being his age and being on my 1st independent international excursion. Its pretty mind blowing in the best possible way :) I just let him jabber his guts out about his few weeks surfing and first love. It was mildly entertaining. He also look like he hadn't showered in about a week, however he didn't smell. I think I appreciated that about him the most.
Once we landed in Charlotte, I didn't realize how late we really were landing. We had an 1hr 20min before our plane to MKE. Pretty much everyone on our flight had another flight to catch within the same amount of time. We all got off with the feeling of rush at its finest. We got off basically running to immigration to get the passport stamped (which pretty much took forever), then bolted over to the baggage claim. Missy got her bag- had it rechecked and ran over to security. Good ole American security which requires taking off of shoes and pretty much all clothing as a general rule. While we waited in line, I could just feel the adrenaline pump through my veins. This is my domain. I love this shit. Unfortunately, i have been in this situation more times than I care to admit, but you learn to love and laugh at them because what else can you truly do?! Also, we were already in the US, so what is the worst that could happen? My mom was just a nervous wreck (she's a newbie ;)) We hiked our way through security and checked our boarding pass, which was entirely wrong on Terminal and Gate numbers. In the heat of the moment, we kept running on the fumes of epinephrine and ran to the gate our tickets said without checking the screen. Well, there was no "A12," in fact we were on the entirely wrong end of the airport and we literally had 8 minutes get back to the other end. Those people you see running through airports like ridiculous fools, yeah that was us. I forgot how fast you fly on those walking conveyor belts when you reach the end of them. By the time we finally made it to our rightful gate, it was 10min after take off time. We would've known that our flight had been delayed an additional 30 min if we would've checked the screen, but it was so much better after all that sweat and rush to find out upon arrival to the gate. We made it. I can honestly say, I didn't give up hope once. The very moment I found out our flight was delayed I was dripping sweat and so filled with joy. This is the best kind of natural high a person can experience. Screw the illicit drugs, become an airport runner. Boomshakalaka.
While I am on my high, we had to walk out on to the tarmack like in the 1970s to board out plane. This means we were outside, where in Charlotte it was a gorgeous 65 degrees and breezy. I facetimed Joey while piling our bags on to the tram and waiting to board. I don't think he heard a word i said but at that very moment I felt the most empowered I had in quite sometime with that wind blowing through my hair. Winning. Thank God, the woman ended up sitting next to was as chatty as I am. Fastest 2 hrs ever.
Once we landed and had all of our things collected, it was close to 1AM and all the Slattery women were STARVING. The only thing we had was subs at 11:30am, a granola bar a piece, and a tid bit of trailmix. We preceded to eat twizzlers and chocolate covered almonds at these wee morning hours. Then the idea of breakfast struck our fancy. We found ourselves on the eastside eating omelettes at Ma Fisher's with the regular colorful Tuesday morning crowd. Joey was even there to meet and greet us.
After all was said and done, I gave my puppy the biggest hug and fell over asleep.
All in all, an amazing vacation from start to finish.
Since then, just been living the dream. Saving lives to pay the bills. Enjoying married life a lot. Watching the loved ones around me grow up with us. A few are starting to have kids on purpose. Taking advantage of time off and appreciating life's happenings. Its funny how blogging always gets me reflective, puts me in a good place to remember that I am a pretty stinkin blessed individual to be living the life that I do. That being said, its time to peace out. Its date night and we're making mussels and drinking good german reisling.
Later world. Thanks for always bringing me back to that happy place. :)
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Merry-belated-Christmas!
Greetings fellow stalkers!
yeup, no exaggeration. Your welcome :)
Just wanted to take a quick moment and wish everyone a belated Merry Christmas and happy, healthy start to 2014.
It has been somewhat of a massive challenge to really feel like I accomplished much these past few months. I feel like its been a mega marathon since getting back from Europe. I've been working, adjusting, and accomodating a lot the past few months-so i appreciate a lot of the slack that has been cut towards me. Thus being said, I had a slight spare moment to write some life thoughts with me, Lauren Slattery.
First off lets start by talking about the weather, because that is a great start to any opener conversation... We have gotten so much stinkin snow it makes my face hurt from smiling so much :D I can't remember a winter in the last 3 years that has had this much, which makes for fabulous snow walks with the puppy, cross country skiing, and overall marveling at the snowflake dancing beauty. Its been great working 2nd shift too, because I've been able to soak up the sunshine of the morning. No seasonal affective disorder for this chic!
Thanksgiving this past year was wonderful. I had a full 4 days off and was able to spend all of it with the family in Chicago for Slatteryfest 2013. We had optimal location right off Michigan ave, by a Gino's East. It was 45 degrees and little wind in the windy city... how bizarre. It was our 7th year dining at Joe's Stone Crab. We were talking to our waitress about our tradition and apparently "7"is the lucky number around that place because we got every dessert on the menu for free. My mom and I took our annual walk down to the Caribou coffee for our "sip and city stroll,: only to find out that Caribou was going out of business in this location and will only be found in Minnesota in the next year. Very bittersweet. Joey and I proposed to Brian and Melissa to be in our wedding party via the piano player at "Howl at the Moon." He played my request of "Blurred Lines" and announced our message. Missy was all grins, it was cute. Apparently my mother was confused and thought that she won a giant fish bowl of booze... good guess Patty. It was a really rejuvenating little weekend get-away. Also, our report from Jordy's dog sitter was that he only humped another dog when she wasn't looking. So proud of my little mutt.
Christmas was as good as it could be. I worked both the 24th and 25th. I got home at 1AM on Christmas Eve and came home to an entirely spotless apt with tea lights lit, foliage hanging, and mistletoe hanging, and two happy boys awake with hot chocolate ready. Perfection :) Especially after a night at work and giving enemas. This moment of being home quickly brought me back to the reality of the Christmas presence. Praise the lord. We got up and went to church and then made brunch. Totally rocked out the bacon wrapped turkey filets, cheesy potato casserole, fresh biscuits, homemade cranberry sauce, and peanut butter brownies (sorry Greg!). It was as good as it could get working the holiday. We put our tree up late this year and decided we're not taking it down until after my family's Christmas in late January. Its either keep the tree up longer to enjoy or throw it in the backyard and let the mice invade. Meh, we'll skip that.
Speaking of rodents, I am very proud of Jordy. Last week I was in the back porch of our flat to let him outside to pee when he started to scurry all over the place. I was down a flight of stairs and couldn't see what he was into, but I ran up to see what was going on to find a giant dead rat. Jordy's a stud. I was pretty grossed out having to take it outside after that, but at least I didnt have to finish it... I texted the landlord who had the exterminator come out the next day to check thing out. It was a single "Norway Rat." All was clear, just said sometimes in these old houses this time of year, you can find those suckers. So now everytime we go out the back door, the dog gets all squirrely and begins to hunt. Good boy.
I am really looking forward to 2014. I will be going broke on the 9 weddings we were invited to, but I guess its feast or famine. Maybe we can just regift the toaster on our registry list. ha. I still have to actually write my goals for the year, but for now will just say I am excited to start anew. That being said, hope everyone continues to have a safe and happy Christmas season. Remember to stop and remember what keeps you going and say thanks for that.
yeup, no exaggeration. Your welcome :)Sunday, October 20, 2013
I am still of earthly existence!
Let me begin this blog by saying, "HI!" because I know its been forever and a day that i've actually taken a moment to sit down and yack through my fingertips.
Its October :) Really I feel like that is all I need to say. There is no time of year that defeats October in the Wisconsin: bonfires, the colors of upper michigan, football, pumpkin spice lattes, leaves that sound like potato chips under your toes, jeans&sweatshirts, corn mazes, AH! What's not to love?! It kind of blows my mind that we are already at this time of year. However, if i recall that last 6 weeks or so, it sort of fits together...
Back in 2010, Joey had shown we Jeju Island, South Korea and I promised him I would show him what i know of Europe. We spent 3 weeks scampering around a few different countries, seeing new things, and visiting old friends. I can honestly say it was by far the exactly what I needed. I missed the amazing bread, meetings of fellow international travelers, that true sense of feeling tiny as you stand amongst the Austrian Alps, complete independence, waking up every morning knowing that adventure was just a few steps away- talk about rekindling the human spirit :)
Oh, I suppose I should probably mention that I am now ENGAGED too!... I couldn't have pictured a more perfect place for it to happen as well. We were in the heart of the Swiss Alps overlooking the city below us and next to this gorgeous green-blue lake. I was taking pictures over the edge and I turned to Joey and he was one knee... all I could do was smile and hug him. The coolest part was hearing the Swiss cow bells echo against the mountain walls from the valley below us :) Friday the 13th, on the side of Mount Titlis (pronounced as it appears ;), how romantic ) Recalling it still kind of blows my mind.
I would never have enough time or finger strength to type all the details of our European adventure, but I can recap a little bit. Oktoberfest is by far the most FUN party I have ever been to. Brooke and I traveled down a wooden slide in the world's oldest salt mine at 30.7kilometers per hour in Hallstatt. You never realize how small the world is until you get out into it, we met 4 fellow Wisconsinites at the Augusteiner Brauhaus in Salzburg. The doner is still by far the best and cheapest street food I have ever eaten. Lattes in Switzerland cost the equivalent to $10. Every time i hear the new Avicci song all I can think of is zipping on the autobahn. The best place to meet fellow world travelers is the hostel bar. We were so stinkin fortunate to have such great hosts every place we stayed!
Its almost a teaser to come back to the real world after such an adventure. I thought working swing shift for the first year and a half of my nursing career would've kind of prepared me... ha, no. It took all of our strength to stay up to 8pm after 29hrs of travel and 3 hrs of sleep the night we left Munich. We slept a solid 9ish hrs the first night and were awake by 0430 the following morning. We ended up walking to the beach to watch the sunrise and await the grocery store's opening to get food for breakfast... ha :) how ridiculous does that sound!?
If it wasn't enough to backpack Europe, get engaged, be challenged by jetlag, and catch up with everyone back home- Joey and I both accepted new jobs to begin once we got back as well. Holy life explosion, batman! Its a healthy type of explosion, which sounds somewhat oxymoronish. My first day as a new staff RN at the Milwaukee VA was on October 7th, my 25th birthday. I am oh so thankful for the gift of employment (and couldn't have picked a better time to join the federal system with the government being shut down and all-ha!). Its been going pretty stellar so far. It is so cool to see the approach everyone within the system takes in truly thanking the veterans. It is usually the 2nd thing EVERY employee will say, "Welcome to the VA. Are you a vetran? Yes? Thank you for your service." So freakin honoring!
Life has been pretty dang good to me at my quarter of a century mark. I love waking up in the morning and accepting the challenge of trying to figure out where the road wants to take me. What I think and what actually happens is so far beyond what I am capable of guessing. It usually ends up being a major laugh-fest because life's irony kicks in. But all in all, it keeps things trucking along.
I must be skedaddling along, my bed has been summoning me for a little while now. Hope everyone's week starts off just rockin and the coffee's nice and strong :)
Here's a song I've had in my head for about 4 weeks now, to help you get started.
Its October :) Really I feel like that is all I need to say. There is no time of year that defeats October in the Wisconsin: bonfires, the colors of upper michigan, football, pumpkin spice lattes, leaves that sound like potato chips under your toes, jeans&sweatshirts, corn mazes, AH! What's not to love?! It kind of blows my mind that we are already at this time of year. However, if i recall that last 6 weeks or so, it sort of fits together...
Back in 2010, Joey had shown we Jeju Island, South Korea and I promised him I would show him what i know of Europe. We spent 3 weeks scampering around a few different countries, seeing new things, and visiting old friends. I can honestly say it was by far the exactly what I needed. I missed the amazing bread, meetings of fellow international travelers, that true sense of feeling tiny as you stand amongst the Austrian Alps, complete independence, waking up every morning knowing that adventure was just a few steps away- talk about rekindling the human spirit :)
Oh, I suppose I should probably mention that I am now ENGAGED too!... I couldn't have pictured a more perfect place for it to happen as well. We were in the heart of the Swiss Alps overlooking the city below us and next to this gorgeous green-blue lake. I was taking pictures over the edge and I turned to Joey and he was one knee... all I could do was smile and hug him. The coolest part was hearing the Swiss cow bells echo against the mountain walls from the valley below us :) Friday the 13th, on the side of Mount Titlis (pronounced as it appears ;), how romantic ) Recalling it still kind of blows my mind.
I would never have enough time or finger strength to type all the details of our European adventure, but I can recap a little bit. Oktoberfest is by far the most FUN party I have ever been to. Brooke and I traveled down a wooden slide in the world's oldest salt mine at 30.7kilometers per hour in Hallstatt. You never realize how small the world is until you get out into it, we met 4 fellow Wisconsinites at the Augusteiner Brauhaus in Salzburg. The doner is still by far the best and cheapest street food I have ever eaten. Lattes in Switzerland cost the equivalent to $10. Every time i hear the new Avicci song all I can think of is zipping on the autobahn. The best place to meet fellow world travelers is the hostel bar. We were so stinkin fortunate to have such great hosts every place we stayed!
Its almost a teaser to come back to the real world after such an adventure. I thought working swing shift for the first year and a half of my nursing career would've kind of prepared me... ha, no. It took all of our strength to stay up to 8pm after 29hrs of travel and 3 hrs of sleep the night we left Munich. We slept a solid 9ish hrs the first night and were awake by 0430 the following morning. We ended up walking to the beach to watch the sunrise and await the grocery store's opening to get food for breakfast... ha :) how ridiculous does that sound!?
If it wasn't enough to backpack Europe, get engaged, be challenged by jetlag, and catch up with everyone back home- Joey and I both accepted new jobs to begin once we got back as well. Holy life explosion, batman! Its a healthy type of explosion, which sounds somewhat oxymoronish. My first day as a new staff RN at the Milwaukee VA was on October 7th, my 25th birthday. I am oh so thankful for the gift of employment (and couldn't have picked a better time to join the federal system with the government being shut down and all-ha!). Its been going pretty stellar so far. It is so cool to see the approach everyone within the system takes in truly thanking the veterans. It is usually the 2nd thing EVERY employee will say, "Welcome to the VA. Are you a vetran? Yes? Thank you for your service." So freakin honoring!
Life has been pretty dang good to me at my quarter of a century mark. I love waking up in the morning and accepting the challenge of trying to figure out where the road wants to take me. What I think and what actually happens is so far beyond what I am capable of guessing. It usually ends up being a major laugh-fest because life's irony kicks in. But all in all, it keeps things trucking along.
I must be skedaddling along, my bed has been summoning me for a little while now. Hope everyone's week starts off just rockin and the coffee's nice and strong :)
Here's a song I've had in my head for about 4 weeks now, to help you get started.
Friday, January 25, 2013
90s type-o-afternoon
Last Friday Evening i was out with a bunch of my fave nursing babes. We were having drinks at the wicked hop catching up and talking. The dj started to play a major flashback from the 90s included with music videos and all. Jaclyn, baur, and I immediately diverted our attention to this highly entertaining ambiance we were engulfed. I suddenly was brought back to moments when I was in grade school listening to eifel 65 while roller skating at the RolaRena. I feel as though I was slightly too young to truly appreciate the 90s music at that tender age, so I brought it back like 20+ yrs post era. Dang is there some quality stuff!
Needless to say, I got out of bed around 1:30 this afternoon. I worked close to 14hrs yesterday and was pretty wiped. Highlight of my day yesterday, Joey drove to the south side to have breakfast for dinner with me at Omega at 9:30pm after be both hadn't eaten for 8hrs. Totes slept like a queen.
I couldn't find any energy to peel myself out of my amazingly cozy bed so I spooned the dog and watched movies until close to later afternoon. I got up to find myself completely tickled pink and grinning like a fool because I was able to attack the massive pile of laundry in the comfort of my old creepy basement for the first time since August. The old tenants that moved out brought their machines with them, leaving us to hang at the laundromat at least 3xs a month, which gets old and expensive rather quickly. We bought ourselves a gently used washer and dryer for Christmas... Talk about getting old. Long story short: I was completely content spending the the entire late afternoon cleaning, playing kitchen diva, doing laundry, sipping coffee, talking with Cassius (roommate), and jamming out to the new 90s playlist. It is these ridiculous and productive afternoons that are so relaxing to me.
As much as i would love to keep blabbing my face off, I am going to get my butt over to the y and get some cardio and spin this fine Friday evening. Thank you for reading this rather pointless post, i guess its my way of sharing the little things i am thankful for! now,i have a 3day weekend to take advantage of! So for my closing thoughts, I will leave you beautiful people with this mystical song....
Needless to say, I got out of bed around 1:30 this afternoon. I worked close to 14hrs yesterday and was pretty wiped. Highlight of my day yesterday, Joey drove to the south side to have breakfast for dinner with me at Omega at 9:30pm after be both hadn't eaten for 8hrs. Totes slept like a queen.
I couldn't find any energy to peel myself out of my amazingly cozy bed so I spooned the dog and watched movies until close to later afternoon. I got up to find myself completely tickled pink and grinning like a fool because I was able to attack the massive pile of laundry in the comfort of my old creepy basement for the first time since August. The old tenants that moved out brought their machines with them, leaving us to hang at the laundromat at least 3xs a month, which gets old and expensive rather quickly. We bought ourselves a gently used washer and dryer for Christmas... Talk about getting old. Long story short: I was completely content spending the the entire late afternoon cleaning, playing kitchen diva, doing laundry, sipping coffee, talking with Cassius (roommate), and jamming out to the new 90s playlist. It is these ridiculous and productive afternoons that are so relaxing to me.
As much as i would love to keep blabbing my face off, I am going to get my butt over to the y and get some cardio and spin this fine Friday evening. Thank you for reading this rather pointless post, i guess its my way of sharing the little things i am thankful for! now,i have a 3day weekend to take advantage of! So for my closing thoughts, I will leave you beautiful people with this mystical song....
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Big day!
Well today is the day that I am suppose to be dead. On January 15, 2010 I was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, which was basically a death sentence. I can remember hearing those words so vividly in my mind from a cardiologist that didn't know much about the condition and he basically replied with ,"I'm so sorry. All I can do is refer you to a specialist."
Being a young, naive nursing student I whipped open my med/surg nursing text book and looked up the topic. Big mistake. It said I was going to live at max 2.9more years without treatment. I then closed my book told myself that there has to be more to the picture and sought out the help of a fabulous specialist.
I was brought to st.lukes medical center and under the great care of Diane Zwicke. Just for a second, try and imagine yourself a 21yr old young, thriving college student being having to consider giving up everything you worked so hard for with limited amount of time to even use any of your knowledge and skills. Yeah I choose not to have to consider that either because I understand that life will never give me more than I am capable of handling. Once you can look past the dark details, it only motivated me to become more optimistic. Optimism+Lauren slattery= time to start rockin at life. That is exactly what has been done in the last three years.
I am proud of myself for multiple reasons:
The whole time this was happening, my boyfriend was able to stick it out with me while he was in South Korea for another 8 months. He could've easily broken it off with me, but we both chose to keep it going because honesty and communication are the groundwork of our relationship.
i was kicked out of Carroll's nursing program temporarily because I was an inpatient at the hospital and accidentally missed computer training for clinical. Tell me that's fair. My mom (RN), aunt Karen (professor of journalism with emphasis in ethics), and uncle mark (attorney) all help fight the injustice of the nursing board and bought me right back in to where I was originally. I felt targeted and anxiety stricken the whole rest of the semester because I felt as if I had to perform at an incredibly high level because of my "inconvenience" of rejoining clinical. I passed the semester by a 0.6%. Boy, was I all smiles after that-and talk about a huge confidence boost!
I completed 110 miles of the MS150 bike tour with my mom (due to weather reasons) to celebrate a healthy heart.
I have been able to attend two national PHA (pulmonary hypertension association) conferences in CA and FL and meet other PH fighters of all ages. This doesn't even begin to touch on the support system I have built through. I have meant some incredible individuals that can directly relate.
I was asked by my cardiologist to take a job working with her on the same floor I was a patient on. Good old 10T :) I have been able to connect with so many distressed patients of all ages. Its rather ironic and sort of funny when you are 24yrs old and pep talking a 70yr old about how they are getting the best care and they will make it through. I have found more satisfaction and made more personal connections through working as an RN the last 2yrs than some nurses have in their entire career. I adore my coworkers and am so blessed to have scored such a great job opp right out of college.
I have been able to speak out in awareness on many occasions. My two biggest being in a video for Aurora Healthcare and being interviewed in the quarterly cardiovascular newsletter. I have recently been asked to help try and start up a PH walk for the surrounding milwaukee Area to get the word out there. There is nothing more I love than getting the word out there and telling my story!
There are multiple more reasons as to why I am proud of the development of myself the last few years but these are just to name a few. One of my patients once told me that I am a 24yr old going on 70 because of all the life experience that has exploded in my short time span. I would say its less of the actual experience and more of your reaction to it. There are far too many people in this world that are Debby-downers, I take those individuals as my challenge. I will do my best to not be a pessimist because life sucks when your in a bad mood. It's all perspective. There is always someone out there who is far worse off than yourself... Trust me, I've seen a lot of different situations, or talked with professionals who deal specifically with the broken. Everything really be ok, I promise :)
I always become estatic for the new year as well because I love seeing at the end of it the journey you have gone through, the people you met along the way, and all the things that made you laugh. The sooner one learns to laugh at themselves, the sooner the world begins to uproot its irony and greatness.
You might ask me how I am celebrating and I will say by practicing my civil responsibility of participating in jury duty. Yes, two full 6+hr days at the milwaukee county court house with whatever the law wants to throw my way. It has been a very good experience to me because of the awesome, down to earth people I have met. These past few days have sort of reminded me that even though the world does have crime and injustice, there are still a good number of great hearted citizens out there that believe in doing good things in the world. Not really your typical response when people ask how jury duty was, but then again then there are few people in the world named Lauren Slattery. I guess that's what keeps the world spinning: variety.
Everyone there reading this can celebrate with me too, all you have to do is close your eyes, look upward, inhale deeply, and exhale confidently. Happy rockin at life everyone!!
Being a young, naive nursing student I whipped open my med/surg nursing text book and looked up the topic. Big mistake. It said I was going to live at max 2.9more years without treatment. I then closed my book told myself that there has to be more to the picture and sought out the help of a fabulous specialist.
I was brought to st.lukes medical center and under the great care of Diane Zwicke. Just for a second, try and imagine yourself a 21yr old young, thriving college student being having to consider giving up everything you worked so hard for with limited amount of time to even use any of your knowledge and skills. Yeah I choose not to have to consider that either because I understand that life will never give me more than I am capable of handling. Once you can look past the dark details, it only motivated me to become more optimistic. Optimism+Lauren slattery= time to start rockin at life. That is exactly what has been done in the last three years.
I am proud of myself for multiple reasons:
The whole time this was happening, my boyfriend was able to stick it out with me while he was in South Korea for another 8 months. He could've easily broken it off with me, but we both chose to keep it going because honesty and communication are the groundwork of our relationship.
i was kicked out of Carroll's nursing program temporarily because I was an inpatient at the hospital and accidentally missed computer training for clinical. Tell me that's fair. My mom (RN), aunt Karen (professor of journalism with emphasis in ethics), and uncle mark (attorney) all help fight the injustice of the nursing board and bought me right back in to where I was originally. I felt targeted and anxiety stricken the whole rest of the semester because I felt as if I had to perform at an incredibly high level because of my "inconvenience" of rejoining clinical. I passed the semester by a 0.6%. Boy, was I all smiles after that-and talk about a huge confidence boost!
I completed 110 miles of the MS150 bike tour with my mom (due to weather reasons) to celebrate a healthy heart.
I have been able to attend two national PHA (pulmonary hypertension association) conferences in CA and FL and meet other PH fighters of all ages. This doesn't even begin to touch on the support system I have built through. I have meant some incredible individuals that can directly relate.
I was asked by my cardiologist to take a job working with her on the same floor I was a patient on. Good old 10T :) I have been able to connect with so many distressed patients of all ages. Its rather ironic and sort of funny when you are 24yrs old and pep talking a 70yr old about how they are getting the best care and they will make it through. I have found more satisfaction and made more personal connections through working as an RN the last 2yrs than some nurses have in their entire career. I adore my coworkers and am so blessed to have scored such a great job opp right out of college.
I have been able to speak out in awareness on many occasions. My two biggest being in a video for Aurora Healthcare and being interviewed in the quarterly cardiovascular newsletter. I have recently been asked to help try and start up a PH walk for the surrounding milwaukee Area to get the word out there. There is nothing more I love than getting the word out there and telling my story!
There are multiple more reasons as to why I am proud of the development of myself the last few years but these are just to name a few. One of my patients once told me that I am a 24yr old going on 70 because of all the life experience that has exploded in my short time span. I would say its less of the actual experience and more of your reaction to it. There are far too many people in this world that are Debby-downers, I take those individuals as my challenge. I will do my best to not be a pessimist because life sucks when your in a bad mood. It's all perspective. There is always someone out there who is far worse off than yourself... Trust me, I've seen a lot of different situations, or talked with professionals who deal specifically with the broken. Everything really be ok, I promise :)
I always become estatic for the new year as well because I love seeing at the end of it the journey you have gone through, the people you met along the way, and all the things that made you laugh. The sooner one learns to laugh at themselves, the sooner the world begins to uproot its irony and greatness.
You might ask me how I am celebrating and I will say by practicing my civil responsibility of participating in jury duty. Yes, two full 6+hr days at the milwaukee county court house with whatever the law wants to throw my way. It has been a very good experience to me because of the awesome, down to earth people I have met. These past few days have sort of reminded me that even though the world does have crime and injustice, there are still a good number of great hearted citizens out there that believe in doing good things in the world. Not really your typical response when people ask how jury duty was, but then again then there are few people in the world named Lauren Slattery. I guess that's what keeps the world spinning: variety.
Everyone there reading this can celebrate with me too, all you have to do is close your eyes, look upward, inhale deeply, and exhale confidently. Happy rockin at life everyone!!
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Ready for 2013...
Soo, i know its a day or two early, but I honestly will not get around to it if its not done now... So this is my last blogging post of 2012!
Its been and interesting year to say the least- much experience with "getting my feet wet" in the real world. I can say that I am much better at dealing with budgeting, dealing with insurance, paying bills, working full time, and attempting to still live a rather exciting life on top of being a "lame adult." There are a few less boring things I accomplished this past year, including, but not limited to:
-Celebrate NY's eve in another country
-Become addicted to pinterest
-Road trip the great river road with Joey
-Travel with my big mama
-Take "me days" and not feel guilty about it
-Save the house from being burnt down... please refer to most recent blog
- Develop my skills for thrifting
-Take my cooking skills to a whole other level
-Become completely and utterly obsessed with my dog
-Start jogging
-Live and thrive closer to the lake
-Become an even bigger coffee snob
-Catch every episode of "the new girl"
-Be confident in my RN skills
-Do 2 preceptorships with my cardiologist to raise awareness for Pulmonary Hypertension
-Dance my heart out in the night life of Boston with two of my best friends :)
-Begin to realize that its to lower some of your expectations
-Get a little bit more sleep
I think thats a pretty summary of what i've been able to do to attack for 2012. I am proud of myself for many things, but know that as a person there is always so much more room to improve all around. I haven't quite developed my list for 2013, but its more of a continuation of this past years accomplishments, just taking them to the next level.
Its always interesting to see where life's irony will lead my next. I'm ready-- lets go 2013!
Its been and interesting year to say the least- much experience with "getting my feet wet" in the real world. I can say that I am much better at dealing with budgeting, dealing with insurance, paying bills, working full time, and attempting to still live a rather exciting life on top of being a "lame adult." There are a few less boring things I accomplished this past year, including, but not limited to:
-Celebrate NY's eve in another country
-Become addicted to pinterest
-Road trip the great river road with Joey
-Travel with my big mama
-Take "me days" and not feel guilty about it
-Save the house from being burnt down... please refer to most recent blog
- Develop my skills for thrifting
-Take my cooking skills to a whole other level
-Become completely and utterly obsessed with my dog
-Start jogging
-Live and thrive closer to the lake
-Become an even bigger coffee snob
-Catch every episode of "the new girl"
-Be confident in my RN skills
-Do 2 preceptorships with my cardiologist to raise awareness for Pulmonary Hypertension
-Dance my heart out in the night life of Boston with two of my best friends :)
-Begin to realize that its to lower some of your expectations
-Get a little bit more sleep
I think thats a pretty summary of what i've been able to do to attack for 2012. I am proud of myself for many things, but know that as a person there is always so much more room to improve all around. I haven't quite developed my list for 2013, but its more of a continuation of this past years accomplishments, just taking them to the next level.
Its always interesting to see where life's irony will lead my next. I'm ready-- lets go 2013!
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Puerto Rico
Recently back from the tropics!
So if you are so inclined to dig back in the archives of this blog--I took a trip to a trip to the great great wilderness of Canada on a 6 day canoeing trip, the lessons I learned were put into list form, which truly worked out fabulously. I recently (November 1-8) was visited the potential 51-st state, Puerto Rico. Talk about a drastic choice in vacation destinations! ha, guess it keeps a person well versatile.
My mom and I always talked about traveling once I was done with the horrendous act of the nursing school situation... well a year and a half after, we made it happen. It was kind of a fluke that we decided on PR, but when tix are $300 round trip, its fairly hard to pass up :)
Instead of me blabbing my faces off with the deep details (which typically happens) I will recap in numbered fashion-- ready, set, bazinga--
1. There is a significant difference between a junebug and cockroach. First night unpacking I was washing my face, as i was drying my face with the towel I saw something large and brown squirming in the corner of the back bathroom. I called my mother in the room to help of observe with me- she educated me that this bug was much too large to be a those buzzy buggers that hit your windows on summer nights. Mom flipped in her own way, while i threw on my super girl cape and grab some tissue to squash the thing. Yeup, much more crunchy that a junebug.
2. I always fail to bring either my pjs or toothbrush with me on trips. I did my absolute best to ensure all needs were fufilled... Uh-huh still forgot a toothbrush. So i just didnt brush my teeth for a week, let the natives get a real good look at the typical American ;)
3. Mariachi music gets old quickly...
4.There is nothing more awesome than going to bed hearing both ocean waves and the coquey (island frog).
5. The cabana boys on the beach specialize in deep tissue massage, serving long islands, and looking like Ryan Lochte... maybe more like cheesy hawaiian shirts serving overpriced alcoholic beverages, and speaking with puberty.. how sexy.
6. Salt water on freshly shaven legs makes you want to scratch your epidermal layer off- until you convince yourself its just an amazing sensation of island life.
7. Don't be alarmed by long curly haired individuals with feminine build not wearing a shirt, its just a Puerto Rican man who looks like Tony Little from the Gazelle commercials! (check pix to right for reference)
8. There is little to no sidewalks on PR roads and when you got to cross a busy road-- being over precautious gives your identity as extreme tourist away. If you want to look natural, just walk in between the cars at any given time you will.
9.The language barrier makes it impossible for any puerto rican to pick up on my hilarious sense of humor... their loss.
10. You CAN mix fresh pineapple juice, lime, rum, and jalepeno into a shot glass and make it taste amazing!
11. Fresh PR espresso is like a multitude of choice angels singing to and hugging your tastebuds-- and it is a really good idea to drink at 9:30pm at night. Leaves for a rather exuberant late night....
12. Life's irony hits me in the strangest places- last bus back to Ocean Park (where we stayed) had 4 different people from Wisconsin, and 3 were from the milwaukee area... rock on cheeseheads!
13. I have how pantented the accronym "ADC" as "after dinner coffee."
14. If you don't keep Patty Slattery entertained for long enough her attention diverts to hunting dirty bus station rats in the shadows.
15. Melvin (our PR tour guide) knew who Aaron Rodgers was and quoted "discount double check."
16. Our condo is crawling with kitties because the owner rescues them and lets them live on the premise. I named the gray tiger cat that greeted us each and every time we were out of the gate "Doggy." One of the few cats i considered cool.
17. Celebrating Election Day in PR is as follows- all businesses close, everyone is given the day off to hang at the beach, drink booze, and soak up the beach scene. Its almost like a giant Superbowl party. My apologies to anyone who had to endure the infinitely crabby and pissed off tone that America gives on the same day.
18. Ever wanted to become an awesome driver? PR will teach you quick... minimal road signs, "suggested speed limits," small street perimeters, etc. What should have taken 40 min took the Slattery chicks close to 2 1/2 because of the political caravans and such driving conditions. Political Caravans: everyone hanging out the windows, blasting latin pop, waving flags, honking in celebration all at 65mph. Simple solution: gps--couldn't detect local positioning. Smart phone navigator: same problem. Fail. We made it, just soaked up the scenery a little more so than the average. At least people are happy.
19. PR are about a decade or 3 behind in their local fashion. Big trends in island fashion: fanny packs, boom boxes,rat tails, and crocs. Triple threat: Guy at beach with rippling biceps with full sleeved tats strutting his stuff rocking out to his music coming out of his brown leather fanny pack, pulls out a beer from same pack, walking the beach in his green crocs, finally an 8 in rat tail to wave goodbye to you as he walks past. Bad ass.
20. Two words of advice: crack kills. No matter what culture you live in, put that business under some threads. Yes, I am talking to you waving blonde locks pretty surfer boy with freshly shaven legs. yuck.
21. Cop lights flash green and blue, no obnoxious red. Also they may have them off while following you, but you are not required to pull over until you hear the siren . Nobody was pulled over in the discovery of this finding, i promise.
22. The potholes in the road have to be similar to what people consider moon craters are like. One should never attempt to conquer or you're guaranteed flat tires, hurting noggins, and frustrated emotions.
23. Puerto Ricans are genuinely the most friendly people of almost any country I've visited... however you can escalade from friendly-creepy rather quickly. For example: Christian is a guy I met while swimming in the ocean. After 7 min I already knew he studied at anthropology at a Christian Science school in Illinois, his profession is a "natural athlete" (whatever the hellz that means!), he's in favor of Obama, his dad lives in Florida, we stayed at a nice condo, it is very impressive I am a nurse, I look a lot like my mom, I do have strawberry blond curly hair, yes my swim suit is ralph lauren, and i apparently have a nice smile. No, i don't need you to catch me when a crasher takes me under water- i can handle a little salt H20 in the face. El Creepo- bleh :P
24. Way to go Green Bay-- our condo was fully stocked with all Georgia Pacific Products. Thank you for all your hardwork and service Uncle Dave and Tom.
25 Church's chicken doesn't just exist in the Northern midwest.
26. Someday I will marry myself and spend a week at the Pommerosa Coffee Hacienda for my honeymoon. It will be a week spent sipping amazing coffee grown and processed on the same plot of land, listen to the coquey sing, eat bananas from the trees, walk around the lush rain forest, listen to Kurt from Dusseldorf (owner) talk about coffee for hours, and soak up the mountainscapes. How Romantica.
27. I made it the entire vacation without falling on my hind end-- highly impressive.
28. Do not not attempt to take booze through security-- instead save yourself the money and confiscation and buy yourself liquor at the duty free store on the other side of security. They even throw in a sweet free travel bag.
29. Popping my ears for 7 days: in a plane, in the ocean, or drivin gin the mts.
34. Conch is not just a giant shell you make loud noises with, but a classic PR seafoodyou eat ina massive heap of mofongo.
35. When looking for souvenirs for your loved ones back home, "Condom World" is not the wisest of places to purchase some fine PR gifts.
36. It took almost a whole week, but we did finally spot a coquey.
37. Never let Patty Slattery convince you to walk over a mile and a half (1 way) to the grocery store to get $40 of fresh produce and a gallon of water. We didnt even touch the sweet potatoes that were purchased.
38. It is ok to drink the water. Its not worth sweating over.
I would do this all over in a heartbeat. I am so proud of my mom and I for making this happen as we had always dreamt of doing. I am oh so blessed to have not only a a great mom, but an extraordinary best friend. Also, I am so fortunate my health allows me to travel so much. I say it on a daily basis, on it never gets one-suck it pulmonary hypertension! I feel as though I am not only traveling the world, but dominating for all PH people alike when I can stand at the base of Punta Serra and sip great coffee and breathe with ease and think to myself, "life is sooo beautiful." Always hanging on to hope and faith.
Well I am in the process of making an early turkey day meal for two of my fave boys so I should get back to the kitchen, but this was a great way to reminisce just a few short weeks ago. Gotta get back to work on those cornish hens and loaded mashed potatoes.
Do yourself a favor today and think about your favorite vacation. Close your eyes and think about the memories. Be thankful for those.
PS- for more pix, check out FB.
So if you are so inclined to dig back in the archives of this blog--I took a trip to a trip to the great great wilderness of Canada on a 6 day canoeing trip, the lessons I learned were put into list form, which truly worked out fabulously. I recently (November 1-8) was visited the potential 51-st state, Puerto Rico. Talk about a drastic choice in vacation destinations! ha, guess it keeps a person well versatile.
My mom and I always talked about traveling once I was done with the horrendous act of the nursing school situation... well a year and a half after, we made it happen. It was kind of a fluke that we decided on PR, but when tix are $300 round trip, its fairly hard to pass up :)Instead of me blabbing my faces off with the deep details (which typically happens) I will recap in numbered fashion-- ready, set, bazinga--
1. There is a significant difference between a junebug and cockroach. First night unpacking I was washing my face, as i was drying my face with the towel I saw something large and brown squirming in the corner of the back bathroom. I called my mother in the room to help of observe with me- she educated me that this bug was much too large to be a those buzzy buggers that hit your windows on summer nights. Mom flipped in her own way, while i threw on my super girl cape and grab some tissue to squash the thing. Yeup, much more crunchy that a junebug.
2. I always fail to bring either my pjs or toothbrush with me on trips. I did my absolute best to ensure all needs were fufilled... Uh-huh still forgot a toothbrush. So i just didnt brush my teeth for a week, let the natives get a real good look at the typical American ;)
3. Mariachi music gets old quickly...
4.There is nothing more awesome than going to bed hearing both ocean waves and the coquey (island frog).
5. The cabana boys on the beach specialize in deep tissue massage, serving long islands, and looking like Ryan Lochte... maybe more like cheesy hawaiian shirts serving overpriced alcoholic beverages, and speaking with puberty.. how sexy.
6. Salt water on freshly shaven legs makes you want to scratch your epidermal layer off- until you convince yourself its just an amazing sensation of island life.
7. Don't be alarmed by long curly haired individuals with feminine build not wearing a shirt, its just a Puerto Rican man who looks like Tony Little from the Gazelle commercials! (check pix to right for reference)
8. There is little to no sidewalks on PR roads and when you got to cross a busy road-- being over precautious gives your identity as extreme tourist away. If you want to look natural, just walk in between the cars at any given time you will.
9.The language barrier makes it impossible for any puerto rican to pick up on my hilarious sense of humor... their loss.
10. You CAN mix fresh pineapple juice, lime, rum, and jalepeno into a shot glass and make it taste amazing!
11. Fresh PR espresso is like a multitude of choice angels singing to and hugging your tastebuds-- and it is a really good idea to drink at 9:30pm at night. Leaves for a rather exuberant late night....
12. Life's irony hits me in the strangest places- last bus back to Ocean Park (where we stayed) had 4 different people from Wisconsin, and 3 were from the milwaukee area... rock on cheeseheads!
13. I have how pantented the accronym "ADC" as "after dinner coffee."
14. If you don't keep Patty Slattery entertained for long enough her attention diverts to hunting dirty bus station rats in the shadows.
15. Melvin (our PR tour guide) knew who Aaron Rodgers was and quoted "discount double check."
16. Our condo is crawling with kitties because the owner rescues them and lets them live on the premise. I named the gray tiger cat that greeted us each and every time we were out of the gate "Doggy." One of the few cats i considered cool.
17. Celebrating Election Day in PR is as follows- all businesses close, everyone is given the day off to hang at the beach, drink booze, and soak up the beach scene. Its almost like a giant Superbowl party. My apologies to anyone who had to endure the infinitely crabby and pissed off tone that America gives on the same day.18. Ever wanted to become an awesome driver? PR will teach you quick... minimal road signs, "suggested speed limits," small street perimeters, etc. What should have taken 40 min took the Slattery chicks close to 2 1/2 because of the political caravans and such driving conditions. Political Caravans: everyone hanging out the windows, blasting latin pop, waving flags, honking in celebration all at 65mph. Simple solution: gps--couldn't detect local positioning. Smart phone navigator: same problem. Fail. We made it, just soaked up the scenery a little more so than the average. At least people are happy.
19. PR are about a decade or 3 behind in their local fashion. Big trends in island fashion: fanny packs, boom boxes,rat tails, and crocs. Triple threat: Guy at beach with rippling biceps with full sleeved tats strutting his stuff rocking out to his music coming out of his brown leather fanny pack, pulls out a beer from same pack, walking the beach in his green crocs, finally an 8 in rat tail to wave goodbye to you as he walks past. Bad ass.
20. Two words of advice: crack kills. No matter what culture you live in, put that business under some threads. Yes, I am talking to you waving blonde locks pretty surfer boy with freshly shaven legs. yuck.
21. Cop lights flash green and blue, no obnoxious red. Also they may have them off while following you, but you are not required to pull over until you hear the siren . Nobody was pulled over in the discovery of this finding, i promise.
22. The potholes in the road have to be similar to what people consider moon craters are like. One should never attempt to conquer or you're guaranteed flat tires, hurting noggins, and frustrated emotions.
23. Puerto Ricans are genuinely the most friendly people of almost any country I've visited... however you can escalade from friendly-creepy rather quickly. For example: Christian is a guy I met while swimming in the ocean. After 7 min I already knew he studied at anthropology at a Christian Science school in Illinois, his profession is a "natural athlete" (whatever the hellz that means!), he's in favor of Obama, his dad lives in Florida, we stayed at a nice condo, it is very impressive I am a nurse, I look a lot like my mom, I do have strawberry blond curly hair, yes my swim suit is ralph lauren, and i apparently have a nice smile. No, i don't need you to catch me when a crasher takes me under water- i can handle a little salt H20 in the face. El Creepo- bleh :P
24. Way to go Green Bay-- our condo was fully stocked with all Georgia Pacific Products. Thank you for all your hardwork and service Uncle Dave and Tom.
25 Church's chicken doesn't just exist in the Northern midwest.
26. Someday I will marry myself and spend a week at the Pommerosa Coffee Hacienda for my honeymoon. It will be a week spent sipping amazing coffee grown and processed on the same plot of land, listen to the coquey sing, eat bananas from the trees, walk around the lush rain forest, listen to Kurt from Dusseldorf (owner) talk about coffee for hours, and soak up the mountainscapes. How Romantica.27. I made it the entire vacation without falling on my hind end-- highly impressive.
28. Do not not attempt to take booze through security-- instead save yourself the money and confiscation and buy yourself liquor at the duty free store on the other side of security. They even throw in a sweet free travel bag.
29. Popping my ears for 7 days: in a plane, in the ocean, or drivin gin the mts.
34. Conch is not just a giant shell you make loud noises with, but a classic PR seafoodyou eat ina massive heap of mofongo.
35. When looking for souvenirs for your loved ones back home, "Condom World" is not the wisest of places to purchase some fine PR gifts.
36. It took almost a whole week, but we did finally spot a coquey.
37. Never let Patty Slattery convince you to walk over a mile and a half (1 way) to the grocery store to get $40 of fresh produce and a gallon of water. We didnt even touch the sweet potatoes that were purchased.
38. It is ok to drink the water. Its not worth sweating over.
I would do this all over in a heartbeat. I am so proud of my mom and I for making this happen as we had always dreamt of doing. I am oh so blessed to have not only a a great mom, but an extraordinary best friend. Also, I am so fortunate my health allows me to travel so much. I say it on a daily basis, on it never gets one-suck it pulmonary hypertension! I feel as though I am not only traveling the world, but dominating for all PH people alike when I can stand at the base of Punta Serra and sip great coffee and breathe with ease and think to myself, "life is sooo beautiful." Always hanging on to hope and faith.Well I am in the process of making an early turkey day meal for two of my fave boys so I should get back to the kitchen, but this was a great way to reminisce just a few short weeks ago. Gotta get back to work on those cornish hens and loaded mashed potatoes.
Do yourself a favor today and think about your favorite vacation. Close your eyes and think about the memories. Be thankful for those.
PS- for more pix, check out FB.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Ridiculously Thankful
Somedays I feel as though my life experience should put me in an exhibit at the Milwaukee County Zoo for everyone to gaze upon and see what the wild "Lauren Slattery" is getting herself into now...
November is the month about being thankful, it should not be singled in on just one day that you eat turkey until you enter a trytophan-induced sleeping coma. Let me enlighten you as to why today was a fabulous reminder to be thankful for the little things, but first a little background...
Once upon a time,
When we signed our lease in May, the landlord stated he was going to be putting in a new front stoop because the one that was present was a death trap to anyone who did not to the deep nooks and crannies of the sunken concrete mess. Well, it took until this past week for the contractors to show. Today was the day they were actively pouring and laying the concrete.
I was busily playing my second life's role as "kitchen diva" and making some quinoa and fish dinner later tonight. I turned the burner on to the high setting to get the water to boil faster. The contractors have been using our power source through an extension cord running from the 2nd story front window and we've been paying frequent visits to the fusebox in the creepy basement because my kitchen appliances can't keep up with the worker's power tools. So, our flat was built in the 1940's and still has very much of the same old charm, which can sometimes mean you need to keep doors shut in order to keep the place warm. I attempted to get my coffee pot to brew my normal cup o joe and it wouldnt turn on, therefore I knew it was time to run to the basement and check the fusebox. I left the quinoa on the burner to boil and closed the door behind to keep the heat in and ran down the stairs to fix the power. By the time i got back upstairs, to my chagrin, the kitchen door was locked. Oh joy.
Puppy was loose in the house, pot was at a steady boil, and there i stood helpless outside the door. I no cell phone, shoes on, and i looked as though i rolled out of bed. My immediate reaction was to knock on the neighbor's door downstairs. No answer. I went outside to talk with the contractors to see if i could barrow a phone. They were up to their knees in concrete and the most help they could provide was letting me barrow one of their cell phones. So i have a phone, now what?! I haven't memorized any phone numbers since I was in 3rd grade talking to my friends on the landline... Luckily I talk with Joey frequently enough that I do know his phone number in my memory. He was working so all I could do was keep calling, hanging up, and recalling. After 9x's i decided to try and figure out the next plan of attack.... try to break into the neighbors garage and see if they had a ladder. FAIL. They are smart people for locking their doors!...
All i could think at this point was the fire dept would let me into my black and crispy kitchen from the burnt quinoa.... and poor Jordy probably would've been so afraid of the smoke and fire alarm he would've took a dump on the couch....i guess i was smart enough to have renter's insurance at this point... as i stood in the front yard in my socks watching the contractors pour concrete God sent me a sign. There was big white van with a large multistory ladder on atop the roof across the street driving slowly past the coffee shop. I think adrenaline took over cuz I don't know where I mustered up all the energy to do so, but i ran across the street on the cold Wisconsin November pavement and knock on the ladder man's window. He was on his phone. I will never once again take advantage of the midwestern folk's friendly charm! He rolled down his window, hung up on his current phone call, and asked me what the matter was. I explained to him I locked myself out and the only option at this point was to try and crawl through the front window where the extension cord from the contractors snaked up into our indoor outlet. I can only imagine he felt so very compelled for me with my squirrel's nest hairdo, muddy socks, and anticipation to NOT burn the house down. He parked and brought his magical ladder to the front yard with no hesitation aside these contractors. I ran to the garage to grab a baseball bat, just in case.
I am so very thankful I did not inherit my dad's fear of heights because this would've been the most opportune time to be set up for failure. Also, I was thankful for having recently hiked at Wyalusing State Park and their very steep trails filled with ladders along the western Wisconsin bluffs. The magical ladder man offered himself to climb up and I said, "No thats ok, I will take care of this one!" I hiked my sweats up, put the bat through my front pocket on my hooded sweatshirt, hoisted myself up the ladder to the window. Luckily, i did not have to break a single thing, the screen and window slid smooth as butter right on up. Also, thank you to my mother for instilling the love for cardio within me because I was able to fit through the window. I did accidentally knock the fake tree by the window on to the chair , but thats the most damage done. Once I was safely within the window, i waved down to the ground and thanked the wonderful, magical ladder man for his services and bolted for the kitchen to get the quinoa off the burner.
To my surprise, the grains were cooked to perfection! Holy sheisse. I ran to my phone because i was receiving a call from Joey simultaneously. I plopped myself on the couch to take a breather and voice the whole story to my boyfriend. Wow, how freakin ridiculous. We both agreed it is necessary to have an extra set of keys made and placed for safe keeping for such instances. I think Joey was proud of me for:
1. not breaking any glass
2. not breaking into the neighbors garage
3. not burning down the house
I decided to finish up my original cooking and share my "being thankful" story for you fine people out there because it is something that can never be emphasized enough. I think this whole 15 minute time of panic, my little brother was smiling upon me from up above when that ladder miraculously appeared. I often times tell my patients "its never over, till its over- you have to keep fighting and hanging on to hope." I felt as though I actively lived what i preach this afternoon.
As I am taking a break at work later this evening, I am going to enjoy the hellz out of my quinoa and fish while i inappropriately giggle at myself for the whole story of how my dinner came to be. Amidst a sigh of relief, I am so very thankful that there is someone up there keeping an eye out for my ironic and ridiculous antics. Someday when i meet God i know its going to go a little like this: we'll be at a slight distance from each other and we will both throw our heads back in hilarity. He will then proceed to tell me, "you were one of my special humans that brought many a smiles to my face." Story of my life.
Ultimately, my never-ending thanks to that random magical ladder man for not questioning my motives and spotting for me as I climbed up 2 stories to a flat just as I had left it.
Whew.
Take a moment and see what Mr Harry's class is thankful for (take special note of Jacob's illustration of his dog)
Monday, October 22, 2012
lounging
I am going to make this a quick and happy little post because it is getting a lil later and i do work early... Let my just recap how the perfect Sunday goes:
1. wake up at 11:30AM, after getting close to 12 hrs of sleep.
2. Make brunch with your best friend. Even better, its pancakes and bacon.
3. Watch an the Packers dominate, after attending the Badger game the day prior. Gosh i love wisconsin football.
4. Meander around Kohls with your 30% off coupon and go. to. town. Note: i NEVER go shopping- this is the first time since probably May and i only saved $150.
5. Froyo :)
6. Hug my two fave boys.
7. Recipe hunt on foodgawker and pinterest.
8.. Go to bed reminding myself that theres only 9 more days until i will be lying on the beach with Patty Slattery in another country :D
The older i get, the more i realize how much i enjoy lists. They are just so practical and really make a logical flow of thoughts. I very much have Hillary Johnson to thank for this one. If she could have her whole wall be a giant white board, she would fill it from ceiling to floor. There is just so much satisfaction is crossing off things from a list-- just such a visually stimulating pleasure. Sometimes i wake up and make a to-do list and i'll put tasks such as "brush teeth" and "enjoy coffee." It is completely and utterly setting yourself up for victory! Win-win-win-win-win.
A little smile cracker that happened today amongst the daily insanity of being a cardiac RN, one of the nephrologists called me specifically to tell me "You are a good nurse." Made me grin like kindergartener who just secretly stole 2 birthday treats and got away with it.
Ah yes, last inkling-- I am very proud of Joey. He took a job as the assistant HS boys swim coach at a school in Tosa. Can't wait to see the swim meets and watch him in his true element!
Well, if you've made it this far in the post, you are doing much better than i would've anticipated. I have a cute yellow lab lying on my feet and snoring away with another early morning to come. Good night world, you sure are a beautiful place, filled with beautiful people.
1. wake up at 11:30AM, after getting close to 12 hrs of sleep.
2. Make brunch with your best friend. Even better, its pancakes and bacon.
3. Watch an the Packers dominate, after attending the Badger game the day prior. Gosh i love wisconsin football.
4. Meander around Kohls with your 30% off coupon and go. to. town. Note: i NEVER go shopping- this is the first time since probably May and i only saved $150.
5. Froyo :)
6. Hug my two fave boys.
7. Recipe hunt on foodgawker and pinterest.
8.. Go to bed reminding myself that theres only 9 more days until i will be lying on the beach with Patty Slattery in another country :D
The older i get, the more i realize how much i enjoy lists. They are just so practical and really make a logical flow of thoughts. I very much have Hillary Johnson to thank for this one. If she could have her whole wall be a giant white board, she would fill it from ceiling to floor. There is just so much satisfaction is crossing off things from a list-- just such a visually stimulating pleasure. Sometimes i wake up and make a to-do list and i'll put tasks such as "brush teeth" and "enjoy coffee." It is completely and utterly setting yourself up for victory! Win-win-win-win-win.
A little smile cracker that happened today amongst the daily insanity of being a cardiac RN, one of the nephrologists called me specifically to tell me "You are a good nurse." Made me grin like kindergartener who just secretly stole 2 birthday treats and got away with it.
Ah yes, last inkling-- I am very proud of Joey. He took a job as the assistant HS boys swim coach at a school in Tosa. Can't wait to see the swim meets and watch him in his true element!
Well, if you've made it this far in the post, you are doing much better than i would've anticipated. I have a cute yellow lab lying on my feet and snoring away with another early morning to come. Good night world, you sure are a beautiful place, filled with beautiful people.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Shifting from the Graveyard
Just so everyone knows, I am aware that the title of this post does sound slightly morbid/halloweenish, but let me explain, this is my night off from working night shift the last 3 weeks. This only slightly skews your normality of what time of day it truly is...So what does one do when they have been awake for 6 hrs and its midnight???! Umm, of course you make a ranch pork loin in a dutch oven while watching reruns of 30 Rock :) Also note, I have to limit my movement because it is hard to keep quiet in a 1940's, creeky floored upper flat while your best friend and boyfriend are attempting to sleep. Oh life's challanges...
Now, what could i possibly blab to all you fine people out there about that is more exciting than going out and rocking out a great autumn Thursday?? I recently read my friend, Katie's, blog that talked about how narcissistic the idea of blogging is. So true. However, I choose to write about my life experiences to hopefully enlighten my loved ones that they are in fact, very normal people when compared to Lauren Slattery. In layman's terms, i write to make people smile. And so it goes :)
I woke up on Sunday with a strange feeling of maturity. Maybe it was the fact that I am now in my "mid twenties" vs. the early??... The big 2-4, ha. I am still an infant in most of my everyday life. Have to wait one more year to legally rent a car. It was most definitely a type of birthday I learned something from. One of those that reminds you of how freakin fortunate and truly blessed person is. Without too much detail, a greater part of the weekend was spent on the road to attend a funeral and visiting family in the hospital. Tends to put a good perspective another year of life.
Individuals are all so hardwired to keep on the crazy, busy lifestyle-- and for what??! This is a huge pitfall of mine that I have been working on very intently since this summer. Let these words sink into your mind, "Stop the glorification of busy." Kinda says it all. Why does my 2-do list for the week have to get accomplished in 4 hours? I know I am fully capable, but is it worth it? What did I solve? Yes I felt so very productive, but the next day I end up lollygagging around and get nothing else done, pretty much because I have nothing to finish at that point in time. When you lay it out in words like this it makes my mind boggle. Maybe its the fault within my inner RN thinking (as well with many of my co-workers and friends), you get so involved with the care of other people- you can't remember the last time you peed. Why did I ever make myself that busy, I enjoy things so much more when there's no pressure. Guess its will continue to be a work in progress--! at least its one I can seen myself advance in doing so.
There's some of my inner crainial inklings of my mind. I did get to celebrate a little birthday time on Friday night... actually it was how perfectly how I envisioned it. It was me, Melissa, and the boys. There was no for sure plans until about noon of the same day-- but it was the old Whitewater crew hanging out and just talking. We eventually meandered our way down the street to the British pub- it was perfect. Dancing with Mitch Kroll to Mungo Jerry, everyone toasting to good times and your birthday, constant laughter, my cuz Aaron's failed ipad, the typical 0300 Toppers delivery.... awesome memories.
I was at the dog park one afternoon and was talking with my posse of regulars. One of the guys adopted his puppy around the same time we got Jordy and we were discussing how impossible it seems to envision your life a month prior, without the pooch. There's nothing that makes me giggle more than watching a cold, wet dog nose make a shirtless Joey squirm... or memories of the first vet trip with Jordy being batted in the face by a cat and followed by taking a dump in the corner of the exam room. My favorite is coming home after a long work day to a dog who wags his whole body and can't even stay on his feet cuz he's so happy to see you. I sincerely hope I am as cool as my dog thinks I am :)
That's all i got for now. Do my a favor, and make sure you get out there and enjoy the orange and yellow trees. Its so flippin gorgeous this time of year!!
(just to make you crack a smile)
Now, what could i possibly blab to all you fine people out there about that is more exciting than going out and rocking out a great autumn Thursday?? I recently read my friend, Katie's, blog that talked about how narcissistic the idea of blogging is. So true. However, I choose to write about my life experiences to hopefully enlighten my loved ones that they are in fact, very normal people when compared to Lauren Slattery. In layman's terms, i write to make people smile. And so it goes :)
I woke up on Sunday with a strange feeling of maturity. Maybe it was the fact that I am now in my "mid twenties" vs. the early??... The big 2-4, ha. I am still an infant in most of my everyday life. Have to wait one more year to legally rent a car. It was most definitely a type of birthday I learned something from. One of those that reminds you of how freakin fortunate and truly blessed person is. Without too much detail, a greater part of the weekend was spent on the road to attend a funeral and visiting family in the hospital. Tends to put a good perspective another year of life.
Individuals are all so hardwired to keep on the crazy, busy lifestyle-- and for what??! This is a huge pitfall of mine that I have been working on very intently since this summer. Let these words sink into your mind, "Stop the glorification of busy." Kinda says it all. Why does my 2-do list for the week have to get accomplished in 4 hours? I know I am fully capable, but is it worth it? What did I solve? Yes I felt so very productive, but the next day I end up lollygagging around and get nothing else done, pretty much because I have nothing to finish at that point in time. When you lay it out in words like this it makes my mind boggle. Maybe its the fault within my inner RN thinking (as well with many of my co-workers and friends), you get so involved with the care of other people- you can't remember the last time you peed. Why did I ever make myself that busy, I enjoy things so much more when there's no pressure. Guess its will continue to be a work in progress--! at least its one I can seen myself advance in doing so.
There's some of my inner crainial inklings of my mind. I did get to celebrate a little birthday time on Friday night... actually it was how perfectly how I envisioned it. It was me, Melissa, and the boys. There was no for sure plans until about noon of the same day-- but it was the old Whitewater crew hanging out and just talking. We eventually meandered our way down the street to the British pub- it was perfect. Dancing with Mitch Kroll to Mungo Jerry, everyone toasting to good times and your birthday, constant laughter, my cuz Aaron's failed ipad, the typical 0300 Toppers delivery.... awesome memories.
I was at the dog park one afternoon and was talking with my posse of regulars. One of the guys adopted his puppy around the same time we got Jordy and we were discussing how impossible it seems to envision your life a month prior, without the pooch. There's nothing that makes me giggle more than watching a cold, wet dog nose make a shirtless Joey squirm... or memories of the first vet trip with Jordy being batted in the face by a cat and followed by taking a dump in the corner of the exam room. My favorite is coming home after a long work day to a dog who wags his whole body and can't even stay on his feet cuz he's so happy to see you. I sincerely hope I am as cool as my dog thinks I am :)
That's all i got for now. Do my a favor, and make sure you get out there and enjoy the orange and yellow trees. Its so flippin gorgeous this time of year!!
Friday, September 28, 2012
feelin warm and fuzzy
Here are a few things during today that i immensely enjoy....
1. waking up at 11:30am
2. Talking with my mom on the phone
3. Going on a sip and stroll with the pooch with my pumpkin spice coffee
4. Enjoying the beautiful autumn colors on lake drive
5. watching the waves crash from up on the bluff in Joey's arms
6. Dark chocolate sea salt caramel bars from Trader Joe's
7. The count down on my smart phone says "35 more days" until vacay in Puerto Rico
8. a quiet afternoon house nap
If you couldn't tell, last night was my day off. Gosh, I sound so pathetic when i go to work for one day and all i can think about it my next day off, maybe thats called being fully adjusted to being an adult. Nonetheless, life is going just peachily. I can't believe its almost October, that means my birthday is a little over a week away. You're talking to a soon to be ancient aged woman here, the big 2-4. I still remember the day of my 10th bday. I had a great day at school, brought dirt cups for my bday treat, get off the bus with a big grin on my face to come home to my mom's note that said i had to mow the lawn.... on my double digit birthday.... i was only mildly depressed. Hopefully my 24th bday is a little better than my 10th. Thanks a lot mom, you're such a punk.
I don't understand how people could not love this time of year. I went camping at Gov Dodge State Park with my college crew last weekend and it was gorgeous out! Afternoon hikes with the dogs, gorgeous colors, grilled food, sitting by the fire at night, everyone attempting to stay warm... so relaxing. And just to make the week more exciting, nothing beats catching up on all the new season premieres of Grey's and The New Girl with a tie blanket and cup of warm chai :) booyah.
Overall, its been a pretty chill week just hanging at the crib. I am slowly developing my little posse of people at the dog park during the afternoon. Everyone there is so down to earth and in love with their dog, you know your always in good company. We've had Jordy almost 3 week too. He's a pretty darn well behaved pup thus far. He met his brother, Reggie, last weekend. Good times. Its so easy to tire him out and he sleep so well at night after that. I always hear "a tired dog is a well-behaved dog." No taking for granted! At this point, i am just blabbing so i am going to curl up on the couch and catch a snoozer here, but hope everyone's enjoying their day, stoked for the weekend, and at ease with life. If not, you can follow my rules as a nurse. I always tell my patients my 3 simple rules:
1. No falling
2. No fires.
3. Keep your clothes on.
Bottabing-bottaboom.
Peace out :)
1. waking up at 11:30am
2. Talking with my mom on the phone
3. Going on a sip and stroll with the pooch with my pumpkin spice coffee
4. Enjoying the beautiful autumn colors on lake drive
5. watching the waves crash from up on the bluff in Joey's arms
6. Dark chocolate sea salt caramel bars from Trader Joe's
7. The count down on my smart phone says "35 more days" until vacay in Puerto Rico
8. a quiet afternoon house nap
If you couldn't tell, last night was my day off. Gosh, I sound so pathetic when i go to work for one day and all i can think about it my next day off, maybe thats called being fully adjusted to being an adult. Nonetheless, life is going just peachily. I can't believe its almost October, that means my birthday is a little over a week away. You're talking to a soon to be ancient aged woman here, the big 2-4. I still remember the day of my 10th bday. I had a great day at school, brought dirt cups for my bday treat, get off the bus with a big grin on my face to come home to my mom's note that said i had to mow the lawn.... on my double digit birthday.... i was only mildly depressed. Hopefully my 24th bday is a little better than my 10th. Thanks a lot mom, you're such a punk.
I don't understand how people could not love this time of year. I went camping at Gov Dodge State Park with my college crew last weekend and it was gorgeous out! Afternoon hikes with the dogs, gorgeous colors, grilled food, sitting by the fire at night, everyone attempting to stay warm... so relaxing. And just to make the week more exciting, nothing beats catching up on all the new season premieres of Grey's and The New Girl with a tie blanket and cup of warm chai :) booyah.
Overall, its been a pretty chill week just hanging at the crib. I am slowly developing my little posse of people at the dog park during the afternoon. Everyone there is so down to earth and in love with their dog, you know your always in good company. We've had Jordy almost 3 week too. He's a pretty darn well behaved pup thus far. He met his brother, Reggie, last weekend. Good times. Its so easy to tire him out and he sleep so well at night after that. I always hear "a tired dog is a well-behaved dog." No taking for granted! At this point, i am just blabbing so i am going to curl up on the couch and catch a snoozer here, but hope everyone's enjoying their day, stoked for the weekend, and at ease with life. If not, you can follow my rules as a nurse. I always tell my patients my 3 simple rules:
1. No falling
2. No fires.
3. Keep your clothes on.
Bottabing-bottaboom.
Peace out :)
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
New love
Soo, ever since I was a teeny tiny little girl, i have had one dream. Unlike wanting to become an astronaut or artist like most children, I just had one simple desire. That was to own a dog. I adore my parents to no end and I couldn't have asked for a better up-bringing, but they severely lacked in the Fido Dept. They always told me as a child, "you can get a dog when you are an adult." Lamecakes. When you're 5 yrs old, being 20yrs old does not seem possible in such a simplistic mindset. I decided to rebel. In my own brilliant mind, I had a scheme to get a furry, happy, and tailwagging dog. Now, I am about to share a secret from my childhood that I am not particularly fond of, but I am told its freakin hilarious. Ready? Ok.... My grand Plan: Go outside, stare into the direct sunlight for a long period of time, go blind, and get a seeing eye dog. Bingo, its flawless. I remember being out on the front porch and my mom came up and shook my shoulders saying, "LAUREN! Why on earth are you doing that?!" Yeup, never got my pooch.
Well, it finally happened... no i didnt get a seeing eye dog, but I did do my good deed and rescued a pup from the humane society. I was very close to love at first sight. I had been looking at just about every HS in the Milwaukee area, on what seems to be an hourly basis. Joey and I debated names for awhile and finally settled on either "Driver" or "Jordy." We love our GBP. I texted 5 random people for a vote, and "Jordy" won. I saw Jordy online at the Rock County Humane Society on Saturday night, and was at the shelter the following afternoon to pick him up. I was nothing but smiles ALL trip long. I had dreamt of this day for so long! I went to the local petstore to pick up all the supplies. It got to be rather pricey because I decided to prepare for the worst because I had not a clue on what this 50lbs and 1yr old lab/terrier would be like in my house. I bought all all my dog supplies for their sheer strength. Kong toys, an indestructible collar, leash for a dog up to 80lbs....
The whole ride home i couldn't stop petting him. We got home and I showed the puppy around the house and then we set out for a stroll in the neighborhood. OMG. I woke up Monday morning with shin splits and sore arms, Jordy has the exact attention span from Dug the dog in the movie "UP." I guess I hadn't fully put it together that this dog had never really seen the outside world aside from the limited trips to the running pen at the shelter. Squirrel! Bunny! Little Kid! Water! Tree! Tree! Tree! Squirrel! Football being thrown! Uf da. I literally had to make the dog sit and hold him so he would stop wheezing from choking himself for our 2 mile walk. I wish i could get that excited about anything in life....! ha. Ok, so we have to work on a leash to do.
I was waiting for Joey to get home to introduce him to our new addition. I was baking pumpkin bread, I decided to become distracted by the dog and sliced my pointer finger on the rim of the can, leaving my with a bleeding finger for over an hour. I waited and waited and waited, and still bled. Ok-- maybe its time to get it checked out. We went to the ER and saw the waiting line. I was rather hesitant knowing it would be till at least 1AM... while checking in at the front, I asked an EMT standing next to me if my finger needed stitches. He stated, "no." that was that, joey and I agreed to head out and go get frozen yogurt instead.... I guess this is where my life's irony steps in... I wait nearly 24yrs to get a dog, slice my finger super deep that same night so I can't pet my puppy, call it a false alarm at the ER, and got delicious frozen treats instead. Just a little "Lauren twist" on the evening....
Joey broke him into swimming at the beach yesterday. Apparently, he took off after a seagull shadow and was hard to catch after that. He also came across another female dog on an empty beach, did his little dance on her hind quarters, and stole her ball right after. Typical guy :P
Its been a learning experience everyday since bringing Jordy home. Today we took him for his first trip to the dog park for some doggy socializing...what a great place to meet other dog lovers. And he only humped 7 other dogs... we're sure proud of our boy...
You could probably call me an insane dog woman or just simply infatuated with my puppy...Whatever the case, I am stoked to finally know that there is a creature out there that can keep up with my boyfriend's energy level. Yeeesssss.
Well, it finally happened... no i didnt get a seeing eye dog, but I did do my good deed and rescued a pup from the humane society. I was very close to love at first sight. I had been looking at just about every HS in the Milwaukee area, on what seems to be an hourly basis. Joey and I debated names for awhile and finally settled on either "Driver" or "Jordy." We love our GBP. I texted 5 random people for a vote, and "Jordy" won. I saw Jordy online at the Rock County Humane Society on Saturday night, and was at the shelter the following afternoon to pick him up. I was nothing but smiles ALL trip long. I had dreamt of this day for so long! I went to the local petstore to pick up all the supplies. It got to be rather pricey because I decided to prepare for the worst because I had not a clue on what this 50lbs and 1yr old lab/terrier would be like in my house. I bought all all my dog supplies for their sheer strength. Kong toys, an indestructible collar, leash for a dog up to 80lbs....
The whole ride home i couldn't stop petting him. We got home and I showed the puppy around the house and then we set out for a stroll in the neighborhood. OMG. I woke up Monday morning with shin splits and sore arms, Jordy has the exact attention span from Dug the dog in the movie "UP." I guess I hadn't fully put it together that this dog had never really seen the outside world aside from the limited trips to the running pen at the shelter. Squirrel! Bunny! Little Kid! Water! Tree! Tree! Tree! Squirrel! Football being thrown! Uf da. I literally had to make the dog sit and hold him so he would stop wheezing from choking himself for our 2 mile walk. I wish i could get that excited about anything in life....! ha. Ok, so we have to work on a leash to do.
I was waiting for Joey to get home to introduce him to our new addition. I was baking pumpkin bread, I decided to become distracted by the dog and sliced my pointer finger on the rim of the can, leaving my with a bleeding finger for over an hour. I waited and waited and waited, and still bled. Ok-- maybe its time to get it checked out. We went to the ER and saw the waiting line. I was rather hesitant knowing it would be till at least 1AM... while checking in at the front, I asked an EMT standing next to me if my finger needed stitches. He stated, "no." that was that, joey and I agreed to head out and go get frozen yogurt instead.... I guess this is where my life's irony steps in... I wait nearly 24yrs to get a dog, slice my finger super deep that same night so I can't pet my puppy, call it a false alarm at the ER, and got delicious frozen treats instead. Just a little "Lauren twist" on the evening....
Joey broke him into swimming at the beach yesterday. Apparently, he took off after a seagull shadow and was hard to catch after that. He also came across another female dog on an empty beach, did his little dance on her hind quarters, and stole her ball right after. Typical guy :P
Its been a learning experience everyday since bringing Jordy home. Today we took him for his first trip to the dog park for some doggy socializing...what a great place to meet other dog lovers. And he only humped 7 other dogs... we're sure proud of our boy...
You could probably call me an insane dog woman or just simply infatuated with my puppy...Whatever the case, I am stoked to finally know that there is a creature out there that can keep up with my boyfriend's energy level. Yeeesssss.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Hi fall, i've missed you.
Happy Saturday all you gorgeous people out there-- soooo,
You are probably welcome to call me more nutzo than i normally am, but I just got home from work after being paid to creepily watch people sleep and returned to my house where the temperature was close to 58 degrees. Typically, that is ridiculously chilly for a house, but this morning I can't wipe this big goony grin off my face because I have finally settled into my passion for fall. It comes at a different time every year, but I believe after such a fabulous weekend in the UP for Labor Day, I have finally came to the conclusion that summer is done. I know more hot days will be on the way, but right now I am completely and utterly content sipping my warm chai and marveling the morning sunshine through the dining room windows listening to the wind chimes.I have a very exciting and hot date with myself planned for later today. You know those afternoons alone where you belt your guts out to Stevie Knicks' "Edge of 17," wear comfy clothes that don't match, get sidetracked by 5987439 separate things, clean everything, light candles, watch "Night at the Roxbury," and eat yourself completely silly on freshly baked dark chocolate espresso cookies. Oh wait, I'm the only one that considers that the ideal day alone! If your name is Lauren Jean Slattery, this is utterly heaven. Ahh :)
At this point I should probably attempt to get some sleep so I can be a normal human later tonight and the rest of the weekend. I guess in general it doesn't matter that much because I have never been "normal." Because really, what is "normal?" This question has been pondered by many theologians and philosophers without answers. That's ok, its better unanswered. Ha.
Go rock your weekend.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Down and Dirty Weekend
Greetings to all you fabulous readers who find my life slightly more exciting than attempting to get yourselves motivated for another work/school week after another way too short holiday weekend :)
My father told me this weekend that I should blog more because apparently its the talk of his work day with his co-workers. Boy, talk about a bunch of boring, old fogeys ;) (Note: all the fellow Pioneer Credit Unioners know how fond of them I am) Anyways, I decided now would be an appropriate time write because I am tucked away in the beauty of the back in the woods in the UP during a massive rain storm. Bingo. Plus, its now 9:53PM and i have just started to begin to sip my coffee-flavored liquid motivation. Here goes.
Friday: I decided it was the perfect night to take some PTO (i.e.- night shift+full moon= nutzo patients that dislike sleeping). The Labor Day weekend plans were for the Slattery's to host the Janzen's for their first ever weekend living the yooper life. Slept the day away to prepare for a rather filled evening. We hit up Waterloo for Joey's youngest brother's high school football game. Sitting on the bleachers watching all the teeny boppers made me miss that time of my life for a split second-- No worries, hang out with your friends, mom has dinner ready on the table every night, no bills, no rent $ due, so little responsibility. However, i would never trade what I have now for being 16yrs old again. Ohh, to be so naive and inexperienced in my sheltered sweet little high school life. The night ended with a Waterloo HS victory and road tripping into the wee morning hours.
Timing:
We hit the road from Waterloo, WI at about 11:15PM.
Arrive Bark River, MI at 2:45AM
Official bedtime: 4AM
Saturday: Woke up with heavy eyes and a big ole grin. There is no better feeling than waking up to the glorious sunshine in Michigan woods. I slowly meandered along the trail between the two houses to greet my parents before everyone else woke up. The set up had the kids in one house on the neighboring property to the original place we built where the "old folks" resided. We started off the day with some breakfast and made a quick run into to town to buy groceries for brunch the following day. My cousin Eric had shown up with one of his buddies to hang out for the afternoon. The parents happily took the day to four wheel while leavingthe kids to kayak and swam the great Lake Michigan.
Twas an absolutely gorgeous day to be out on the water. Official head count for the kids: Joey, Greg, Matt, Eric, Adam, and me. That equals loads of testosterone and Lauren. Seldom do I ever have an afternoon that I wade in the river to catch crawdads, attempt to dig up a shipwreck in Lake Michigan, have mud fights, and sing Rhianna. My mom professed about a year ago that she purposely never bought me dolls while i was growing up, she said its more fun hanging with the boys. Rock on mom, you're right. After close to 3 hrs of hanging in the water we headed back to shore. My dad had impeccable timing because right as we paddled in, he pulled up with the trailer.
Dinner was a complete delicacy. Grilled food galore. Ribs, corn on the cob, veggies, and beergaritas all brought together with great company. The evening closed with a classic sit down around the fire pit telling embarrassing childhood stories and ridiculous jokes. Quick and easy to fall asleep that evening.
Sunday: Woke up to eat another fine meal to power our afternoon. Matt went hard to work cooking the tequila shrimp as it is traditionally prepared at La Estacion in Waukesha. I was not warned the first time he set the pan on fire with the blow torch, therefore the screaming can not be totally blamed on me :) Pile on the fresh fruit, swedish pancakes, and garlic scrambled eggs and call it a power meal. We all discussed options for the afternoon activities. The parents proceeded to road trip to Munising to tour the pictured rocks while the kids four wheeled.
The "Janzmen" and i were pretty upset about being forced to fourwheel on a beautiful 70 degree day. Let me just begin by mentioning how difficult and painful it was to move this morning. I felt like i had aged 70yrs overnight. I must have been so tense in my hands and wrists while driving that it even hurt to button my pants while getting dressed. The pain was oh so worth the 5hr round trip! It was so exhilarating flying over the moguls into the dust trails. We made it to our halfway mark to the Cedar River tavern where we got something to drink and threw some horse shoe for a bit. I road with Joey for about half the ride back. It was a slight break for my sore back, except my abs started to hurt because i was laughing so hard. In all, it was a 55mile + round trip that left us all dirtier than ever. Each of the guys looked like they were growing five oclock shadows that started at their eyebrows. ha. And i look like i attempted to snort campfire ash.
I hadn't felt that good after showering since our 6-day Canadian boundary waters trip last summer. Mustered up enough energy after that eat rare steak, play light up frisbee in the dark, and sit by the fire with everyone. Boom. Another successful day.
Monday: Today was bittersweet in knowing that summer is ending, but freakin sweet being able to hang on to the memories made this weekend. It was the most perfect type of day to lay low. It began to pour outside and we spent some of the later afternoon watching it come down on the front porch, as well as nap my brains out. I would once again like to thank the Janzen clan for making the drive to hang out for a rather boring and losery weekend with the Slattery's at the Simpson Place....
Tomorrow's back to the mothership (commonly known as Aurora St. Luke's), but as long as I am awake tonight I am going to soak up that of my childhood roots and familial upbringings of the northern woods. There's something about this place that will always keep my coming back, every time I am up here I realize how much i adore it. There is so much of my little brother that is alive up here, especially in the summer. Brings one back to home plate before the at bat begins again. Now I just have to try to bring some of this inner peace back to the south. One more relaxing sleep ahead of me, now that is has taken me close to 3 1/2 hrs to finish this post.
I also would like to thank all of those people out there who were working today including the all branches of the armed forces, firefighters, emts, docs, RNs, health care workers, cooks, etc. You guys are rock stars. For as bad as the world may seem to be, I will forever remain a glass half full kind of individual, partially because living a life without that mentality sucks, but also because it would mean that i would berunning low on coffee, and that would be horrendous. Yeah, we'll just skip the pessimism altogether :)
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Easy Breezy Beautiful Saturday Afternoon
There is only one way to wake up on a Saturday post a 13hr day the night before, and thats SLOWLY. Today was perfect :) I woke up at around 0900 for a bit to hug Joey before his 12 hr day and then that awesomely restful sleep part 2, where all my dreams are beyond me in strangeness and you wake up completely refreshed. Done and done.
I woke up around noon to the ever so relaxing whistling of my "don't worry be happy" ringtone. The first thing i noticed when i opened my eyes was a wagging black tail. Aww, Reggie. I walked through the dining room into the living room to wake up a bit and the breeze and sunshine through the windows was so perfect, it didnt take me long to get my butt out the door. I had left with the intentions of walking the dog and soaking up the weather. Along the way, i ever so easily convinced myself to swing by my fave alterra to replenish by soon-to-be-deceased coffee stock at home. I parked Reggie around a tree just outside and went inside to get my beans. I was checking out and ordering my iced coffee, when i bunch of people sitting at the bar next to the window got up and started looking concerned. The lady sitting outside where I tied Reggie was also out of her seat. I quickly ran outside to see what the ruckus was, praying that it wasn't something the dog did. I saw a man sitting awkwardly on the curb next to the tree and dog with a bunch of people asking if the old man was ok. For a little bit i thought he tripped over the dog leash and went plummeting to ground where hit gluteals caught him.... I was relieved when i was informed that he had just gotten to close to the curb and stumbled over his own feet. ok, partial problem solved. The real problem was getting the man up. He reminded me of a few of my elderly patients that have difficulties using their hands to pull themselves up. Before i knew it, i was snapping quickly into "RN-ACTION!"
With the help of two other people we easily got this man to his feet. My first question for him after he was stable on his feet was, "are you ok?" He informed me with a smile that he was. My second question to him was, "are you lying to me?" He looked at me with the same goofy grin and said "yes." The woman whom was with the man informed me that he probably was lying, but i further assessed the situation. He walked fine, and just had a couple scrapes. Mission accomplished and closed. I felt like a good Shorewood citizen and proceeded to smile as the dog and i kept moving along.
It was super peaceful strolling among the beautiful neighborhood houses. Thats one of the charming qualities about Shorewood, every house is so unique and unlike the next one. We ended the walk with a trip to Atwater Park and we sat on the grass and watched the sailboats do their thing over the bluff as i sipped my iced coffee. Gosh, what a perfect way to start a day... wait, there's one other thing that Reggie informed me would make the day just a smidge better. This big black dog rolled all over in the grass and then proceeded to shake off all the excess grass clippings all over me. Icing on the cake :) Thanks, pooch.
A lot of the walk i was running thoughts through my head. I feel so gosh darn lucky to be where I am at this point in my life. The endurance, stamina, motivation, friendships, profession, etc. I have been told a number of times by my father, that i have my Grandma Slattery's perspective of life. I wish I would've gotten to meet her at a point in my life i remembered. From what i understand, she was nothing but love to the world. Nothing was ever as good or as bad as it seemed. She was a pediatric nurse that continued to work through her diagnosis of metastatic bone cancer until about a week before she was promoted to full time angel. What a woman :)
I kept thinking to myself how awesome it feels to breathe, and feel the lakeside breeze. Maybe this is just a calming before the storm when i start work at 3pm?! hahaha- whatever the case, i will take it and run.
One last comment before i close today's session of "What on Earth is that Slattery girl thinking?!" is how proud I am of a friend of mine. She received a double lung transplant at the end of June. She has been making leaps and bounds in rehabbing since then. One of the greatest sources of joy this life can offer is watching people get stronger in any and all aspects of their lives. Keep rocking Katie, you're amazing! :)
So as i end this random, yet light hearted post I would like to include a song to get stuck in your head so every time you sing it, you will think of me... please enjoy. And also, go rock the day.
I woke up around noon to the ever so relaxing whistling of my "don't worry be happy" ringtone. The first thing i noticed when i opened my eyes was a wagging black tail. Aww, Reggie. I walked through the dining room into the living room to wake up a bit and the breeze and sunshine through the windows was so perfect, it didnt take me long to get my butt out the door. I had left with the intentions of walking the dog and soaking up the weather. Along the way, i ever so easily convinced myself to swing by my fave alterra to replenish by soon-to-be-deceased coffee stock at home. I parked Reggie around a tree just outside and went inside to get my beans. I was checking out and ordering my iced coffee, when i bunch of people sitting at the bar next to the window got up and started looking concerned. The lady sitting outside where I tied Reggie was also out of her seat. I quickly ran outside to see what the ruckus was, praying that it wasn't something the dog did. I saw a man sitting awkwardly on the curb next to the tree and dog with a bunch of people asking if the old man was ok. For a little bit i thought he tripped over the dog leash and went plummeting to ground where hit gluteals caught him.... I was relieved when i was informed that he had just gotten to close to the curb and stumbled over his own feet. ok, partial problem solved. The real problem was getting the man up. He reminded me of a few of my elderly patients that have difficulties using their hands to pull themselves up. Before i knew it, i was snapping quickly into "RN-ACTION!"
With the help of two other people we easily got this man to his feet. My first question for him after he was stable on his feet was, "are you ok?" He informed me with a smile that he was. My second question to him was, "are you lying to me?" He looked at me with the same goofy grin and said "yes." The woman whom was with the man informed me that he probably was lying, but i further assessed the situation. He walked fine, and just had a couple scrapes. Mission accomplished and closed. I felt like a good Shorewood citizen and proceeded to smile as the dog and i kept moving along.
It was super peaceful strolling among the beautiful neighborhood houses. Thats one of the charming qualities about Shorewood, every house is so unique and unlike the next one. We ended the walk with a trip to Atwater Park and we sat on the grass and watched the sailboats do their thing over the bluff as i sipped my iced coffee. Gosh, what a perfect way to start a day... wait, there's one other thing that Reggie informed me would make the day just a smidge better. This big black dog rolled all over in the grass and then proceeded to shake off all the excess grass clippings all over me. Icing on the cake :) Thanks, pooch.
A lot of the walk i was running thoughts through my head. I feel so gosh darn lucky to be where I am at this point in my life. The endurance, stamina, motivation, friendships, profession, etc. I have been told a number of times by my father, that i have my Grandma Slattery's perspective of life. I wish I would've gotten to meet her at a point in my life i remembered. From what i understand, she was nothing but love to the world. Nothing was ever as good or as bad as it seemed. She was a pediatric nurse that continued to work through her diagnosis of metastatic bone cancer until about a week before she was promoted to full time angel. What a woman :)
I kept thinking to myself how awesome it feels to breathe, and feel the lakeside breeze. Maybe this is just a calming before the storm when i start work at 3pm?! hahaha- whatever the case, i will take it and run.
One last comment before i close today's session of "What on Earth is that Slattery girl thinking?!" is how proud I am of a friend of mine. She received a double lung transplant at the end of June. She has been making leaps and bounds in rehabbing since then. One of the greatest sources of joy this life can offer is watching people get stronger in any and all aspects of their lives. Keep rocking Katie, you're amazing! :)
So as i end this random, yet light hearted post I would like to include a song to get stuck in your head so every time you sing it, you will think of me... please enjoy. And also, go rock the day.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
spontaneity
Woke up this morning, clocking around 9 hrs of sleep. jackpot :). Not only did i bank a solid night's sleep, but i woke up next to a big ole pair of brown eyes. Brown eyes and big ole happy tail. I have since the beginning been in love with my brother and sis in laws lab/great dane mix, Reggie. We're dog sitting for the next 2 weeks. This is a huge teaser because once we have to give him back its only a matter of a month or two before I am going gung-ho in rescuing a fido. Can't wait :)
Its my midweek weekend and couldn't come at a better time. Last night had my sprinting on my toes, playing "Super RN" in every direction that I past (E.I. 9 hrs of sleep). Its sooooo nice to wake up slow, enjoy some hot coffee, open the windows, and soak up the start of the day. I keep running through my head what i would like to accomplish today, but i am not going to make my typical list because then there's no disappointment or expectations for the day ;) Well thought out. ha
I will take care of a few bills- but thats pretty much mandatory. Otherwise the rest of the day is planned to take Reg for long stroll by the lake. Spontaneity is sort of the theme of the day. We'll have to see where it takes us. With that, I believe that is all my mind has to state at the moment.
Take care people, be more productive than I ;)
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