Ready for Vacation time

Just a positive, hopeful saying to start off the week :) I'm so amazed I have a love that found me! Alex is a wonderful husband and we are enjoying our first year of marriage! The only I would change would just be more time together. We actually rarely see each other with our busy schedules so sometimes it feels like we are roommates passing each other by (sometimes literally passing each other on the road near our house, while he is on his way to work and I'm on my way home) But these are just our schedules right now so we look forward to extended days together and upcoming vacations like our trip to the Black Hills with my family in July and our trip to the Dominican Republic in January for Kyle and Dacey's wedding that is WAAAYY too far away!

256 (ish) Days!!!

Hope you have a great week and remember to stay Positive!!!

Painting!

Well Alex and I have been busy and finally found motivation to paint our bedroom. We went to Sherwin-Williams during their 40% of sale and got 6 gallons of pain for our bedroom and guest bedroom. I randomly got called off of last Saturday which was a great opportunity to get started painting. I taped off everything and cleaned the walls. Alex and Jack helped too but I think I did most of the work ;) I put the final coat on last night and it turned out great! It really brightens up the room and gives it character. Now we just have to find time to paint the guest bedroom. We chose a grey and dark orange color for that room. Here are some before and after pictures!






Sorry for the messy bedroom, I had literally just got done painting and was really excited to take "after" pictures!

Last night Alex's parents came over to help us paint our guest bedroom. It didn't take too long because Alex's mom was taping, Dave was painting the trim and I was rolling. Alex was helping with the painting and also helping outside with our neighbor who was putting down seed for our lawn. After a few breaks and waiting for the first coat to dry. We managed to get the whole room and hallway done! The main color is a light grey and the accent wall is a darker orange color. I don't know how I feel about the orange color yet but I think once I get the decorations on the wall and paint our small desk white. I also want to do a burlap border for the small mirror we have. I work the next two days some maybe I can do some of those projects Wednesday or Thursday night.

Bring on Spring..For Real!

I haven't been running outside lately because it has been so chilly! Who would have thought that during the middle of spring we would have SNOW! yuck! But I have gone to the gym to take zumba classes and also done a video at home that I really like! It is an HIIT video and I marked down how many reps I did each interval and will see if I can beat my reps next time around. I thought I would recap the week since I got called off tonight which worked out great since we got the paint for our bedrooms. Tonight we have already painted a bunch and just need to put one more coat on the accent walls. The blue is very bright. More bright than expected but I think we will get used to it. Alex said "What are we painting a nursery?!?!" Which we probably could use the extra paint in a few years for a nursery because the color is so bright and youthful. It is really modern looking against the tan walls and it is a much needed update from the boring beige walls. Jack came over to help us and move furniture. Alex and him went for a McDonald's run while I slaved away painting ;)
My big story to share happened at the pregnancy center on Tuesday night. It was the last appointment of the night and was supposed to be pretty quick because we weren't going to do an ultrasound because she was only 4 weeks along (we do an ultrasound at 5 weeks 1 day). But during my time with her I realized that her last period may not have been a true period which would push her back to the previous month and making her possibly 8 weeks along. She really wanted an ultrasounds in order to find out how far along she was because if she was less than 8 weeks she was going to have an abortion by taking a few pills, but if she was over 8 weeks they would have to do a procedure and she did not want that at all. It is odd how two different effects that cause the same outcome can be rationalized so differently in the mind of a troubled woman. But I have never been in that situation so I can not judge and everyone's perception of that incident is different. So we went ahead and set her up for the ultrasound as I prayed and prayed that she was farther along than 8 weeks. The ultrasounds was taking longer than expected and I was waiting to hear the sound of the heartbeat because sometimes that is enough to sway a woman's decision. When the sonographer finally was finished I was notified that she was only 4 weeks along....however instead of seeing the typical solo yolk sac there were TWO!! The woman's exact words were "this changes everything". Abortion was no longer an option and although the woman was in tears and very shook up, there was hope for those two little babies! The advocate helped the woman by getting down on her knees and praying for the woman and the big changes that were coming her way. I have been praying for this woman and her boyfriend, that they continue with their choice to carry these twins to term! Please pray for them too! It is a remarkable story that was truly at the hands of God! With goosebumps and tears in my eyes I felt that I was surely being the hands and feet of God and that his work was being fulfilled through me!
It was the best night so far at the pregnancy center and in just my short time working there I have so many wonderful stories! I know I have said it many times, but It is a wonderful place to work and I'm blessed to have landed a job there! It is a job that I look forward to going to and is so amazing for the community of North Omaha.
Thursday night after I woke up Alex, Jack and I went to Lot 2 in Benson. It is a little restaurant and bar that is open pretty late each night. They have "boards" that are large scale meat and cheese platters. It has a great atmosphere and luckily we all ordered the cheeseburger because it was Delicious!!! The meat is ground there in house and they put American swiss on it which just makes it so good! Alex said that the burger was so good that it was like a desert...a meat desert! I can't wait to take my dad there because I know he would love it. After dinner, Alex went home to bed since he had to work the next morning (like normal people) and Jack and I went to a midnight movie. "A place beyond the pines" just came out with Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper. I was pretty good and had a lot going on in it.
Last night Alex and I went to the Funnybone Comedy Club with Josh and Bailey because they invited us. Bailey got tickets and we met there to eat and have a good laugh. It was good to do something out of the ordinary and we all had a great time. I laughed non-stop! There were 2 opener comedians and the headliner was Bert Kreischer. I had never heard of him but he has been on Comedy Central. He opened the night by dancing and lip sinking shirtless to Keisha's song "Die Young". Here is a link to his stand-up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpespZ7UmBg

Tax Day 2013

{ This post is linked up @ Home Stories A to Z}

Hey everyone! I just got done working at the pregnancy center which was a pretty jam packed day! We had probably 7 positive tests and a handful of repeat ultrasounds. It was another great day working with those wonderful ladies and helping women in need. And there is exciting news at the pregnancy center..For the banquet they had they raised close to $300,000 which is enough money to open the new clinic out west on 144th and L. This is a great population we can serve because there are many high schools right in that area! I'm really excited and I hope that I can work there in the future but they may be choosing people based on seniority. This weekend was a lot of fun because I went home for several reasons.

First off I just had to see Addy because she is getting so big already and I know she will grow out of her puppy stage soon! And of course I wanted to see my family. My sister was back from college and I hadn't seen her since right before Easter. And it was Diane and Johnny's Wedding reception so a lot of my friends were in town like Trisha and Anna. Kelli was also there with Brady and he was wearing a cute little Hawaiian shirt with a Hawaiian necklace. It was an open bar for awhile and they were making the drinks very strong so it didn't take long for me to start dancing and talking loud, haha! We all danced and then went to the Panhead afterwards. It worked out pretty nice since my parents left the bar at the same time I did and I had a ride home. Sunday we just chilled and played with Addy and then it was time for Kobe and I to make our long trek home.

I picked up supplies to make homemade chili and cornbread so Alex and I could have it for a late supper. It turned out delicious and I will post the recipe I used. The corn bread was just a Jiffy box mix.

Simple Chili

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 1 (10¾ oz) can condensed tomato soup
• 2 cans Bush’s chili beans, undrained
• ¾ cup chili sauce
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. In a large pot, brown beef with onions until beef is no longer pink. Drain off any excess grease.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the beef mixture and stir to combine.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes until thickened. Serves 6

I also had to post about a big tragedy that happened today. At the finish line during the Boston Marathon today there was 2 explosions that left 2 people dead and more than 50 injured. Some of the pictures from the scene were pretty hard to imagine and Brian Prunty ran in the Marathon today! I knew he was running in it because he posted a photo of his number so I checked out his facebook page to make sure he was ok. He said that he finished a few hours before the explosions and was perfectly fine. I guess they are evacuating some of the big hotels in Boston, stopping some of the transportation and have cleared out Pennsylvania Ave in front of the White House. They still don't know who caused the explosions but it is pretty serious! I just hope that everyone that is injured comes out of the hospital ok. Those people had no idea that running 26.2 miles would be the least of their worries that day! So keep praying for those families and pray that whoever did this is found and never has the ability to do something like this again!

April Thunderstorms?!?!?!

Hey everyone! Here I am bored at work again and I thought I would post a little something. It has been a long stretch of work days with working 3 in a row last week, the short weekend off and another 3 in a row from Monday till Wednesday but I'm almost done and then I will have a big chunk of time off. I have been trying to focus on eating right and exercising. I'm trying to get in at least 3o minutes a day because I hear that consistensy is better than longer workouts here and there. Yesterday I slept really well because of all the rain and tonight the thunder has been interesting to listen to especially on the 9th floor! Plus with our big windows in the patient rooms the whole room lights up with every spark of lightening. I love spring storms and I just hope my car isn't dented by any hail! Last weekend Alex's cousin Ethan came to Omaha to participate in a basketball tournament with Alex. They had a fun time and on Saturday Debbie and her boyfriend came over and we ended up just watching a movie. It's always nice to have house guests and I know Alex enjoyed time with Ethan.
Tonight since I only had 3 patients I started looking at comforters for our bed and I was showing Alex some of my favorites I realized how different our tastes were. He did not like one of my 10 choices so we will probably end up choosing a solid comforter. Alex's mom is going to help me tape and paint the bedrooms this weekend so that will be a lot of fun :) I am excited to finally have something different than ivory walls! But the paint color will probably be the same story as the comforter because again Alex and I don't agree on much when it comes to decor. I wanted a navy or a mocha brown but Alex shot both of those down. I would also love to do a design or something but that will also take A LOT of convincing.

Easter 2013

This year my Aunt Julie's 50th Birthday fell on Easter so we celebrated at her house on Easter Sunday. It was also my uncle Dan's birthday too so 2 cakes later and lots of great food we had a wonderful Easter celebration. We were going to have a surprise birthday party for my aunt but someone let the cat out of the bag and it ended up not being a surprise but still a lot of fun. My parents and Mike came down and brought Addy with them! It was so much fun to have her here to play with. She spent the night at our house along with Mike. She did such a good job and is really close to being fully trained. She slept in her kennel all night and waiting to go to the bathroom til she got out. Kobe had mixed feelings though about Addy being in his house. At first Kobe's tail got really huge and he was arching his back so you knew he was really mad and confused. But then after they got used to each other they were chasing each other around the house. For dinner Saturday night we went to Cheddar's and it was really delicious. I of course ordered a coffee to drink because I had worked the night before. We had to wait awhile for our table but the food was really great. I ordered a Hawaiian Chicken salad and had leftovers because it was just too much to eat. We went back to Julie's and had dessert. Then Sunday we went back to Julie's for Easter dinner. It was good to celebrate with everyone and I was grateful to have Saturday night off so I wasn't so tired. Sunday I had to go to work but it was still a fun weekend.