a year ago today...

something big happened a year ago today.

i added a piece of jewelry to my repertoire. it's hard to believe. at just about the exact time as i am writing this post, michael proposed in that cute, little character-filled gazebo. i still look down at the gorgeous ring on my finger from time to time and have to look away from all the sparkling; i still have to convince myself that, yes, it is true and yes, that is your ring with a pretty good lookin fella attached to it. 

it is our official one year engagement. damn. 

so, less than three months to go until the actual wedding. i'm still very calm and getting more excited. the closer it gets, the happier i get. don't get me wrong, there are still things to be done, but from here on out, the fun continues to build. 

i went back and read the engagement post i wrote one year ago today and it's quite surreal. enjoy my friends and  can't wait to see you all july. 

the movie

30 more days. i'm not sure i can wait that long.

i've never been this excited about a movie. and what better timing than to have all four of my favorite celebrity women on Oprah. 

holy shit. i'm freaking out.

final countdown

and, it starts.

after one of the longest weekends of my life at work, i finally got a day off to allow my brain to recuperate and my body to recover from the brutal beating :)

so, this whole buying a house thing is kind of a big deal and definitely can be overwhelming. did some more house shopping today to get a better idea of what we want and the whole house jargon and mortgage mumbo jumbo is already starting to get old. but, onward we go. i will not give up until we have made sure that we have found the right house...oh boy. have i mentioned that this is pretty large city in a gigantic state? yea, i think i have once before.

as for that countdown....the number of  weekends i will be in houston from now until the end of july i can pretty much count on my fingers. for those other weekends, i will be via birmingham, nashville, jackson, and pitching a tent in terminal 23C at houston's finest airports. my traveling starts this weekend when me and The Fiance head to Jackson to spend the weekend with the family and get some matching jewelry :)

as for the immediate future, tomorrow night i will be taking advantage of this wonderful town and all the live music it has to offer.  handful of my co-workers are meeting at an amazing live music venue and it couldn't have come at a better time. 

so, is it July yet????

good day, mate.

house hunting

a house? wow.

it looks like a house may be in our near future. as crazy as it is to hear myself say that, it scares me and excites me all at the same time. of course, i'm sure all of you have heard that now is the time to buy a house. well, i'm going to be totally honest with you, i'm about tired of renting. it looks like me and michael have found a great community of unbelievable houses here in houston and we might just take the plunge. 

i think that fully committing to buying a house takes a lot of courage. well, the houses that we are looking at, i'm pretty stoked at where our next place of residence may be :)

trust me, there will be many house parties to break it in.

so, keep us in your prayers that the good Lord will show us the right house to buy. hope you guys are having a great weekend.  two more days of work to go for the week, then wedding stuff all next week. happy saturday.

90 and counting

holy smokes. 

three months away.  once the month of april finishes, all hell will break loose.

the parties, the showers, and all the traveling will commence...and i can't freaking wait.

on another note, this weekend i'm going to be at the hospital for the next three days.  it's going to be a long one folks. 

so, i'm sure you've noticed that i have been experiencing a lot of major life changes with the engagement, graduating from grad school, getting a j.o.b., and moving away from my beloved Deep South roots. there isn't a day that goes by that i don't miss the smell of that alabama grass or the feeling i get when i walk around nashville on an early fall day. it's kind of amazing how attached you get to places and people when you spend some time appreciating it. and there definitely isn't a day that goes by that i don't miss new york city. 

in a couple of weeks, i'll be heading back to my beloved nashville to actually "walk" across that proverbial stage for commencement. and, of course, gets me one day closer to a very important day :)....my bachelorette party. kidding :) 

hope you guys have a fantastic weekend. i will be at the hospital. be jealous. 

peace out.

Jimmy Buffet

wasting away in margaritaville with some of my favorites.

a few weeks ago, one of my coworkers invited me and michael to the jimmy buffet concert, which took place last night in The Woodlands.  Fabulous setting, fabulous people, and fabulous artist.

of course, the concert started at 8 and it would take us about 30 minutes to get there, so we would be leaving during rush hour in houston.  now, if you've never lived in as big a city as houston or new york, then you have no idea what traffic is. so, until you have taken residence in one of the four biggest cities in the country, then don't talk to me about traffic.

anyways, we ended leaving around 4:30 and put us there in awesome time; so, what would any person do going to a jimmy buffet concert....drink. 

my and my handsome fiance were meeting our group at landry's, so we got started.  of course, once our huge and extremely fun group showed up, they had made a huge batch of margaritas to pregame as well. well, if you have hung out with me just once, you would have found out that i am certifiably the cheapest date on the face of the planet.  let's just say that those margaritas were the best drink i have ever had and they put me over the edge. 

i had one of the greatest times of my life. hands down. jimmy buffet puts on a hell of a concert. and the collection of people that showed up to that concert was just as entertaining as jimmy himself. once we reached the end of the concert, jimmy didn't want to ever leave the stage so he just stayed up there and kept playing; it was really great. the weather and the atmosphere were absolutely fantastic and if you're not a parrothead after going to that concert, then you shouldn't be allowed to ever leave the house again. 

next up, Dave Matthews.  :)

the movie of my LIFE

oh sweet Jesus.

the greatest movie EVER....May 30, 2008. i'm freaking out.  

Obsessed with NYC and Sex and the City.

freaking out.

Astros 4.08

As said in my previous post, Philly natives rock my face off.

this weekend, one of my best friends in houston had her dad in town from Philly this weekend and it was one of the best weekends i've had in houston. we went to an astros game friday night with the whole gang and it was quite the game. i came straight from work, so, i of course, was not dressed to the nines like my good looking fiance :)

thank you kel for the awesome picture and a great weekend!

the entire time i was sitting at the astros game enjoying the unbelievable minute maid park and the fabulous company, i couldn't help but constantly glance at the yankees getting pounded by the orioles.  oh lord, please let the yankees have a good year...i may lose my mind.  

g'night mate.

96

Let the craziness begin.

Spent the last week in bama, which is what i seem to be  doing a lot lately, going to meetings with people helping with the wedding and really having the time of my life. Me and my unbelievable mom got to spend a lot of time together going to the meetings together and making decisions to make this the most wonderful day of my life. I couldn't be happier. 

Probably the most favorite part of my trip was my first dress fitting. WOW. have i mentioned that i am absolutely obsessed with my dress? actually having it back from the designer in my size and to realize that this is the actual dress that i will be wearing on my wedding day was very overwhelming. Of course, me and my mama were hand in hand and couldn't quite believe how awesome the dress looked. one fitting down, two more to go :)

more importantly, got to spend a lot of time with both of my wonderful parents and celebrate my papa's birthday while i was home. i don't think i tell them as often as i should how lucky i am to have gotten a pair of parents like them and how happy they make me. at work, i see parents losing children and children losing parents and put myself in their shoes and i find myself trying to get out of those shoes as quickly as possible. the devastation that i see come into people's family every day at work puts my life into perspective and shows me how so very lucky and blessed i continue to experience the company of my parents every day. i love you both very much.

as always, the trip is always too short; with things still left to do and came back to texas with a longer list than i took to bama. nonetheless, it's an excuse for me to have even more fun planning this wedding...or, "party" as my brother likes to call it. well, a party it will be my friends.

hope you guys had as good as a weekend as i did....philly natives rock my face off.  

peace.

i heart ny

have i mentioned that i love ny? 

i believe obsessed is a more appropriate word :)

i believe it is time for a little bit of rest. seriously, goodnight.

thoughts 4.12.08

purpose?

does it ever cross your mind that you are doing what you are supposed to be doing with your life? do you ever wonder if you majored in theatre instead of finance where it would lead you? or if you moved to seattle on a whim?

i wish i knew where these thoughts come from, but i always find myself self-evaluating my current situation and where i am in this young life of mine. of course, it is never too late to change what you are doing with your life. never. i don't care if i'm 94 and i want to be in a movie, i will try and put myself in a situation that would give me every opportunity to accomplish that goal.

am i making sense?

no. 

just rambling.

it just makes me wonder why He put me here. why now. why here. why this profession and why this atmosphere. i'm glad i'm not in charge. i wouldn't do a very good job and i would probably end up screwing something up. 

what led me to study to medicine? was there some sort of intestinal fortitude that made me like gruesome facts about the body better than the Dow Jones? why are we so different from one another?

or are we just so similar?

is there a certain reason why all of us didn't become doctors or artists or stock brokers? sure. i'm almost positive the balance in the world would be obsolete. 

life. He knows my every move and my every step. He knew that i would apply to vanderbilt; He knew that i would get accepted; He knew that i would eventually move to texas (Lord, have mercy); and He knew that an amazing man would enter my life. 

shouldn't there be a manual for this? a manual that we could read before we left the womb. i know it would have helped me out...a lot. 

life. death. life leads to death. i'm sure this isn't going to come as a shock to you, but i'm not a real big fan of death. it doesn't sit very well with me. and, i know what you're thinking..."well, it doesn't sit too well with me either, boo!" in my 24 young years on this earth, i have seen more death that could probably fill up 20 people's lifetimes. i am in the trauma room every day and i witness families being broken apart by death. i sit there motionless, emotionless. a few hours later, it hits me like a brick. i self evaluate my life, my parents' lives, my brother's life, my sister's life, my fiance's life, and i could go on and on. 

where is the happiness? sure, we could sit here all day and say that there is a certain weird level of happiness with death, but i guarantee you, happiness is not the first emotion that people feel when they lose someone. 

i miss my family. i miss them more than words can describe. i admire my mom. she left her home country; her entire family to give us a better future; a better life. i'm not sure i have that strength. if i have heroes, they are my parents. they put their wants/desires/life goals on hold the minute we were born. i guess that is what parenthood is all about. 

i wonder...will i be a good mama? will i be able to raise my kids in a healthy, Catholic, stimulating, intelligent, loving environment? will they grow up to respect and love us as we have loved our parents? i take care of teenagers every day who have either failed at an attempted suicide, suffered injuries from a drug-induced car crash, or sustained a gun shot wound from trying to rob a convenience store. it discourages you about the youth of this country and what i will leave this country to when i am finally with my Maker.

how do you know that you are fulfilled? does a light switch go off? does a warm, fuzzy feeling come over you? i have a feeling most people in this world walk around self-convincing themselves that they are content with the way their life has played out when in reality, i'm sure they would change some of the decisions they had made, or not made. 

i guess it all comes down to trust. i have to trust in Him. if i try to analyze every move i had made or that i think i will make, i will drive myself crazy. He knows what He is doing. if He didn't, then I wouldn't be here right now. none of us would. 

thank you for your patience with me. i am very difficult to handle and even more difficult to understand. but, then again, you already knew that. ilyL.

g'night mate.

commencement....soon

VU Commencement 2008. 

in a few weeks, i will be flying back to nashville to actually partake in the "real" graduation that Vanderbilt has every year.  since the nursing school finishes in August, we have a pseudo-graduation, which they like to call the Pinning Ceremony. they cannot have a full blown graduation because Vanderbilt will not allow it. Vandy has a very unique commencement ceremony...outside on the lawn under the gorgeous, yet blazing hot, sun with graduates from all undergraduate and graduate programs at Vandy. 

i was flipping through some of my pictures and i ran across this picture of me and my brother at his VU commencement ceremony and it made me think about how happy that time was in his life and in our family's life. i couldn't be prouder of my brother and of all that he has accomplished. i've never met someone with so much potential and so much upswing to his career.

along with commencement, i am looking forward to all of those familiar faces that i suffered with through the grueling program. it amazes me how much people bond in critical situation or in a crisis. it will be extremely interesting to hear about everyone's jobs and how life is post-vanderbilt. 

and, of course, i get to be back in nashville. 

go 'dores.

sweet home :)

sweet home alabama. where the skies are so blue.

oh boy.  it's getting so close. i can remember that April afternoon we got engaged. you couldn't slap the smile off my face. i remember when we set the date of the wedding. i remember thinking to myself that we are going to have an amazing engagement and that we would enjoy every single minute of it.

this weekend, i'm headed back to bama to meet with all of the amazing people that will be making our wedding as amazing as we had imagined it. every time i think about getting on a plane to head back to bama, i start to get excited. you never learn to appreciate home until you're gone. 

it seems that every time i head home, there is a laundry list of wedding things to do and get done.  i have a slew of meetings, and most importantly, i have my first dress fitting.  you have no idea how happy this makes me.  if i haven't told you already, i'm absolutely obsessed with my wedding dress. obsessed.

so, i will be leaving houston, once again, for another state and lots to do.  i have a feeling that this is going to become a trend....work in houston during the week, leave on the weekends for other states :)

just living the dream.

nyc 4.08

Officially my favorite place on the earth.  

I went to New York this weekend and met my parents up there for a fun weekend in The Big Apple.  By far, one of the greatest weekends of my life.  This was the first time I actually had time to enjoy and experience all that New York had to offer.  I am sold.  Once again, my favorite place on Earth.  Here are some of the pictures that I took while I was up there.  These pictures do not do NYC the justice it deserves.  If you've never been, book a trip today.  I promise, you will never regret it.  I'm already working on my next trip :) 

Enjoy the pictures!

welcome to new york :)

times square.

nbc studios.

new yankee stadium.

yankee stadium :)

me and the parents at yankee stadium

perfection :)

mom and me in times square

ground zero.

SOHO.  My favorite spot in NYC.

tiffany's on wall street.  can you see the smile on my face :)

brooklyn bridge.

papa and me at the brooklyn bridge pier.

mom and me at the brooklyn bridge pier

so, this is just a snapshot of what we did.  There were so many more pictures that I had taken and so many more places we went (i.e. broadway, statue of liberty). Like i said, go to new york. you will fall in love with it just like i did.  

have a great week!

Post-NYC

Just got back from New York City.  

I will be posting some pictures and stories from my trip.  I am absolutely obsessed with NYC. Details to follow :)

Rough Day

Work. Work. Work.

Well, I had a rough day at the hospital today. Let's just say that I don't do very well with people who do not show me or any one else respect.  It absolutely burns me to where words cannot describe how angry I am.  Of course, this little "episode" happened first thing in the morning so it took me a good two hours to put out the flames that were emerging from my ears and count all of the not-so-good words I had used.

What is with people these days?  Do they wake up in the morning with the sole intention of screwing every person they see that day?  I have come to realize that it comes down to one thing...inadequacy. People who refuse to show respect to their peers, or strangers for that matter, are completely inadequate with themselves and their abilities and insecure beyond description.  

One thing I am so thankful for from my upbringing is the constant pressure from my family to give respect to everyone you come in contact with.  Of course, we were warned that the respect we give will sometimes not be answered with respect, but respect them anyways. This is very hard sometimes.  There are times where I want to lash out and describe how I truly feel; respect or no respect.  

I was beyond mad this morning.  At work, I treat everyone with respect. For one thing, I am definitely not the smartest person in a room and I am trying to learn everything I can from every person in that room.  But, I will say this...I am one of the hardest working people on staff; no doubt in my mind.  I will bust my ass to learn as much as I can as fast as I can and make it my own.  

Respect.  It goes a long way.  You should try it sometime.