Christmas Wishlist

This year, Jess and I are not exchanging gifts. I know I know its sad.. thats what we keep hearing. But, really.. we dont need or want anything. Well... I need a lot of stuff for nursing school.. so we are focusing on that. The orginal plan was to buy a new 46" flat screen tv for our living room, but when I was accepted to school, our plans were thrown off track. The only other 2 things Jess wanted was

this

and this

But we got them both on Black Friday!

So back to my list...

I need these

[caption id="attachment_704" align="aligncenter" width="367" caption="Nursing Books"][/caption]

And these

And seriously think I need one of these



Or one of these

Ya know because every serious nursing student needs an iPad or Kindle.. strickly for educational purposes, of course ;)

Dear Santa,

Please read my blog and get me the things I need for school.

K thanks!

 

A few of my favorite things! ~Christmas~

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner. And shortly after that I will be starting nursing school (WARNING: You may get sick of hearing about nursing school.. BUT I don't care, I worked very, very, VERY hard to get it in ;) )... wow... time flies.

After weeks of studying and working... we finally have a break. At least from school.

So these are a few of my favorite *Christmas* things!

We finally found time to put up our Christmas tree the other night. As we were dragging out all of our Christmas decorations, I started thinking about how long we have been together. I mean we had 4-5 boxes of Christmas stuff, plus our tree. I also realized how many traditions of our own we have. We always watch one (if not, all) of The Santa Clause Trilogy. I bought them for Jess last year.

 The best part about getting out all our decorations is 1. reminiscing about our childhood since we have most of our childhood ornaments. :) 2. Remembering what I bought last year at craft stores at 75% off!! Love after holiday sales! Plus I found the personalized ornaments I bought last year but didn't get to put up!



 

[caption id="attachment_684" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Our family 2010"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_682" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="The ornament we bought our first Christmas 2008"][/caption]

A couple of years ago, we found the cutest chihuahua ornaments and they fit Kiwi & Mango perfectly!!
 Moving on down the list...

My Christmas playlist!

1. Christmas in Dixie -Alabama (it's a family thing!)

2. All I want for Christmas is you -Mariah Carey (an obvious choice)

3. Christmas (Baby please come home) -Mariah Carey

4. All I want for Christmas is a real good tan -Kenny Chesney (because its fun!)

5. This Christmas -Chris Brown (because he though I hate Chris Brown and wish he would never release another album again.... I love that movie!!)

6. My only wish -Britney Spears (reminds me of being 15 :) )

7. Christmas in Dixie -Kenny Chesney & Alabama (love it so much it has to be mentioned twice! plus its with Kenny!!)

8. Hard Candy Christmas -Dolly Parton (I just like it!)

9. Hanson's entire Christmas album (dont judge.. makes me 10 years old again!)

10. NSYNC's entire Chrismas album (again dont judge... 1. its good. 2. makes me feel 12.)

I will spare you the others, but I assure you there are more. Yes, I listen to this playlist EVERY year!! Almost everyday ;)

Continuing with the list...

Hallmark Movies. I love the holidays when they air new movies almost every week, with almost the same story line... sad girl meets handsome man in some small town :)

Last thing.. I love going home for the holidays. Every year, (except when I wasnt working) I have closed on Christmas Eve. I usually offer too because I dont have kids. After work, I drive home to help mom cook... (usually I just taste test! :) ) It doesnt matter what time I get home, she wakes up and we talk for hours! Even if she has to work early on Christmas day. We try not to wake her up but we use her bathroom (its bigger) so it just sort of happens. This year, when we got there for Thanksgiving we sat on her bed talking till almost 5am! AND she had to get up at 630 haha. Good times!



 

 

Nursing Orientation Pt 1 & 2

Today, was my second orientation for the nursing program. I closed last night and got in bed around 2am?? ... then I got up at 530am and drove an hour and half. :/ The meeting didn't start to 9am but I was nervous about being late and knew I was have to stop for breakfast! :) When I got there, I had an hour to kill so I watch Netflix on my iPhone (caught up on my new fav show Hot in Cleveland haha) in the car. Man, I love this phone!

So the first hour of this meeting was letting us know just how much our lives were about to change. AND more importantly how much our "significant other's" lives were about to change as well. People have been telling me lately to kiss my life goodbye... because for the next two years, nursing school would own me. Well that seems to be the truth. They explained to us how to make sure our families and friends understand everything that is about to happen. They informed us that we made it to our goal of getting in the program and everything we all had worked for was here. And now everything else must come second. They showed us a full PowerPoint on how to help our families understand and adapt to these changes. They addressed a few "support" people in the room that came with students, husbands/parents. I wished Jess had been there to hear all this first hand, so she will understand why she has to pick up all the slack and clean the house more. (Our biggest issue is cleaning! ;) ) I keep asking her if she is ready for this because this will affect her too... A LOT! She says yes and they we will be fine. I'm sure we will be, I just wanted to make sure to have the conversations that the instructors told us to have with our families.

The second hour we discussed nursing professionalism including we have to wear at clinical and standards to abide by. We discussed jewelry we can wear, and found out my earrings, my cartilage that I have had since I was 13 :( and my tragus which I love. :(   Im super sad about this but I guess I will deal. Small price to pay.

I planned to my Christmas break enjoying life and being very lazy. I wanted to watch all my new dvds from (Black Friday!) and play our new Wii and Wii games.. (More on that later!) BUT... we have 8 chapters of reading to do before classes start in January. That sucks! I wanted to enjoy doing nothing for a few weeks before I give my life to nursing school.

The instructors kept asking us "Are you sure you still wanna be a nurse?!"

Yep. I'm sure! :)

[caption id="attachment_667" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Excited to get my scrubs in!"][/caption]

Thanksgiving & Black Friday

I love the holidays. And I love being home at my mom's. We were off 3 days from work and spent it all at moms. Love that!

[caption id="attachment_674" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Thanksgiving 2011 (Idk why its so blurry!)"][/caption]

This year, Black Friday shopping started at 10pm. I was really excited about this because I hate getting up early. Although, I didnt realize it would interfere with my nap after Thanksgiving dinner. We got to Walmart around 530pm. We were on a mission to get the new blue Wii. We already have a Wii in our bedroom that we use mostly to stream Netflix. But we needed Netflix in the living room as well. So instead of buying a streamer for $60-$80m, we decided to just buy the new Wii. We also wanted some of the $20 600 threadcount sheets, which Jess got trampled over. But after elbowing her way back up.. she got our sheets! ;) Some guy tried to take them out of her hands by reaching over her and she BIT HIM! haha kinda gross but hey dont put your hands in someones face just because you are bigger than she is! Asshole. Mom wanted the 19" tv for $100 to go in the guest room (mostly for us :) ) so she stood in line in the freezer section for 7 hours to get one! She was number 1! But turns out they had plently and the next morning they still had over 100. She was pissed. Ha Ha.

We got great deals on dvds, and Wii games. So thats always a plus for me. (seriously addicted to dvds.)

DVDS- Pretty Little Liars (dont hate!), The Vampire Diaries 1 & 2 (2 sets for gifts), Planet Earth, The Big Bang Theory Season 4. $10 each!

[caption id="attachment_678" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Black Friday Shoppers"][/caption]

While we were eating our dinner, I told my brother all about my nursing expenses and how much I had been spending on vaccines and physicals etc. When dinner was over, and he was leaving, he handed me $100 and told me to get my shoes ($60) and stethescope or whatever. I was super excited, hugged him and told him I loved him :) Even though, he gave me the money for shoes, I also had $115 nursing kit to buy to I put the money up for that instead. He called mom later to tell her to make sure I didnt spend it on Black Friday shopping. She informed him I already put it aside for my nursing kit because it cost more. Well he said for me to buy both and he was send me more money in the next week. YAY! I never ask him for money. I try to do it on my own, because I know if I ever get into a bind he will be there for me. Im super excited he is helping me out.. one less thing I have to worry about. :)

What Bake's Thankful For

So since usually Shell is the one to blog I decided write a blog about what all I am thankful for!

I am thankful for my wonderful girlfriend and all she does for me. She is the best. She has always supported me in anything and everything I have ever wanted to do. Even though she is not the biggest sports fan, I am thankful that she has learned to enjoy the sound of college basketball in the background!  I am thankful that she is always trying to better herself and our life together! She has always wanted to become and nurse and Im so thankful that she never gave up on her dream, and all the hard work paid off, she just got accepted to nursing school to start in January!

I am thankful to almost be done with school! Only one more month of classes and then my internship starting in January! I cant wait. And I recently got some good news about Grad school. I found out that I have been nominated for recieve a scholarship from the athletic department so that my Grad school will be free to me! I could have a batchelors degree and a masters degree by May of 2013! I am thankful that I was blessed enough to have the athletic ability that allowed me to go to school completely free and may even allow me to get my masters degree free as well.

I am thankful that I have a job. Even though Im sure I complain about work alot, Im very thankful that noth Shell and I have jobs that allow us to not need or want for anything. We have the ability to live a pretty nice life while being full time students and supporting ourselves with no help from family!..(well her mom helps us out sometime :) )

I am thankful for our fur babies! They bring so much joy to our lives. You cant possibly be in a bad mood for long when you see those precious faces that just love you unconditionally. Kiwi and Mango make everything better! They are the best fur babies in the world (yes i know evryone thinks this about their children) but mine really are!

Thanks for listening!

Bake

BIG NEWS!! :)

On October 27, 2011, I came home from work on my lunch hour, to eat with Jess. She said the mail was on the counter.. I saw an envelope from my school's nursing department. I held it up and said "Look a letter saying I didn't get in" and laughed it off.

I opened and started screaming to Jess... "IT SAYS CONGRATULATIONS! IT SAYS CONGRATULATIONS!!" She stared at me all confused and started smiling "what?!?" I said I GOT IN! I GOT IN!! So there you have it... I have been accepted into the nursing program!! :)

And since that day... It has been a whirlwind of things to do to prepare for the program in January 2012.

First, I had to tell my store manager that I could no longer be full-time in January because of my acceptance. He asked me if I was completely sure this is what I wanted to do (haha DUH! I busted my ass for this moment!) and he said he was happy for me but this would hurt the office.. (3 of our 4 full timers are leaving in Jan.) but he understood.

When I received the letter, I had just a few days to reserve my seat in the program by paying $100 toward my tuition. I was worried if I mailed it would of course be lost and I would be immediately drove it all the way to school.. 1 hour and 15 min away... to hand deliver it. Last Friday, I had Part 1 of orientation for the program. I was informed all the expenses that would be due over the next few weeks, including criminal background check, immunizations shot records, hepatitis shots, flu shot, physical, uniforms to order, shoes to buy, medical equipment to get, CPR certification class to attend.. and the list goes on and on...

In a few weeks, I have part 2 of orientation. This should be more information on class times and clinical sites. I'm super excited and feel like this is the beginning of the rest of my life :)

I leave you with these fun pics..

Happy Monday!

:)

Kim K. And Nikki & Jill

Sooo its been a while.... we have so much to catch up on... but first...

So remember The Real L Word season 1...



Remember the cutest couple... Nikki & Jill?

[caption id="attachment_632" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jill & Nikki"][/caption]

Well..... I MET THEM!! The other day, they came in the store, grocery shopping with Jill's mom (she lives around near us!.. the ladies live in LA) I was so excited! It was time for me to leave but we were slammed.. so like a good employee, I stayed. And then.. Jill walked up and asked me for a lottery ticket :) I just stared at her and was like "Are You Jill?... I love your show!!" They were super sweet and I am glad I stuck around for those extra 15 minutes. I tried to tell my co-workers but no one knew who they were.. We so need more gay people in this tiny town. :)

Anyways.. recently, we all saw the end of Kim Kardashian's marriage to Kris Humphries. I was disgusted by this, of course, because I am a lesbian. I am denied the right to marry because my marriage will obviously ruin the sanctity of marriage. However, Kim K., Britney Spears, and even Kenny Chesney, are allowed to legally marry for less than a year (or even less than a week!) for whatever reason they see fit.

Well, I guess Nikki & Jill had the same reaction to news of Kim K. as well. This was their public letter to her in the magazine "The Advocate".

Dear Kim Kardashian,

Like much of the world, we were made aware of the news of your impending divorce from Kris Humphries after just 72 days of marriage. We are sorry for any personal anguish this is causing you. No one likes to hear about hardships when it comes to matters of the heart.

That said Kim, we can’t help but wonder if your “sacred union” was indeed a ploy to boost the ratings of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, while earning millions of dollars from the media in the process.

That thought greatly disturbs us.

As businesswomen, we respect your entrepreneurial spirit. But using a wedding/marriage as a catalyst to further your brand recognition, your celebrity, and your wallet is truly hurtful to those of us who so deeply value the union and yet are unjustly denied the right.

Did you know that gays are denied more than 1,000 federal protections as a result of not being allowed to legally marry? Are you able to understand how devastating it is to love someone dearly, want to spend your life with them through a legally recognized and respected union, only to be denied that civil right because people in position of political power don’t think it’s “right”?

We were unlawfully wed in the State of California on October 9, 2010, where amongst dear family and friends, we vowed to love, honor, cherish, and respect one another. It was truly the most magical day of our lives. Yet despite how meaningful and genuine our commitment to one another was, that “I Do” was not enough to protect our relationship. We had to take countless measures to ensure that our honorable bond was guarded, in areas of healthcare, parenting, benefits, and taxes—just to name a few. We wonder if you appreciated just how many rights your marriage with Kris was afforded when you collected all those profits.

Kim, we have no doubt that a woman as smart, savvy, and beautiful as you will find love and marriage again. But for the respect of the millions of people who hear about it at every turn (many of whom you rely on to build your brand) please do take into consideration the uphill battle that so many of us have to fight for marriage equality. Perhaps you can demonstrate a bit more respect for the union next time around, instead of using it as a business gain.

We leave you with this idea: Why not take a portion of the millions of dollars you earned on your wedding and donate it to the Human Rights Campaign to help fight for marriage equality? It would speak very loudly.

This was very well said I think.. I noticed on their Facebook page, a lot of people were commenting saying "people shouldnt judge Kim because we don't know the details, and she deserves privacy!!" Umm.. hello?! She is on several reality tv shows depicting her life, and she is only famous because of the details of her life. If she wanted privacy, then she should have had a quiet wedding without all the camera crews!

Here are some recent fb status favs of mine..

"Dear E now that Kim and Kris are getting a divorce please stop playing her fairy tale wedding! Does she know how bad the economy is?"

"Dear Mr. President, if i promise to stay married longer than Kim K, can I marry my girlfriend and it actually be legal in all 50 states? :)" (this was on mine and a friend's)

And this pic was on fb as well...



I will also include the NOH8 pics from both The Real L Word & The Kardashians.... I love NOH8 pics!

[caption id="attachment_635" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Real L Word"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_636" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Jill & Nikki"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_637" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="The Kardashians"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_638" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil... Kardashian style."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_639" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Kim K."][/caption]