Blessed

Hello everyone! I am still traveling to Jacksonville during the week. It was just supposed to be for the first 2-3 weeks but unfortunately I have a few meetings and orientation type things coming up that I need to be in Jax for that fall at just the wrong times. This makes transitioning over to the 24-hour shifts very difficult. So two more weeks of dayshift for me and then I will go to the on-call shifts. This will be SO much nicer because it will mean no more packing up food and clothes and no more checking into hotels and no more being away from home for long periods of time. Instead, I'll drive up to Jax, put in my 24 hours and drive right back home. And I'll get a good 3 to 4 days in-between shifts. Sweet! Can't wait!

Other than my scheduling woes, everything is still going well. Every job has it's pros and cons but I'm finding this one seems to fit me well. I love most of the people I work with and they make working there fun. (SO important!) I'm also loving the actual work. The patients are more complex and interesting, I'm doing more procedures and getting more experience and learning something new every day!

In addition to feeling so blessed to have this wonderful new job, I was also blessed recently to receive two (not one, two!) awards from some lovely blogger ladies whom I respect and adore. The first award if the Beautiful Blogger Award from Bethany over at BeeMusings. She is another spunky D-blogger who has an adorable family and takes beautiful pictures. The rules for this award are to thank the person who nominated you for this award and insert a link to their blog, share 7 things about yourself and then pass on the award to 10 other bloggers who you recently discovered and think are great!

The second award is the "Your Blog Makes Us Smile" award from my new friend Christi over at Believing in Blessings. I just recently found her blog through another D-blog that I visit. Then I saw that we lived in the same city! Finally! Someone in the DOC who actually lives in the southeast!! So we've been talking and getting to know each other and it has been such a blessing to find someone so close to share things with and learn from and vent with. We met for the first time recently and it was really fun. So it's ironic that she gave me this award because she really has made me smile!

The rules for this award are similar to the first. Pass this along to 7 bloggers who make you smile and then make a list of 7 things that make you smile. Easy enough!

I'm going to cheat a little on this one. First, I'm going to pass both awards on to the same people. There are tons of blogs I read that both make me smile and are written by beautiful bloggers. So if you are listed below consider yourself double-awarded!

1. Ashlee from Ash Is Fit is a very inspiring cook and blogger. By day, she is an accountant and by night she eats wonderfully healthy, delicious meals and exercises her little butt off! She also recently moved to Jacksonville, FL (yes, the city I work in).

2. I love Sarah from Becoming Sarah. Her baby is adorable and I've enjoyed following her through her first year of motherhood. Plus her philosophies on life and parenting and cloth diapers and breastfeeding just crack me up!

3. Suzanne is a self-described "born-again diabetic" who has gone through a lot to get her diabetes under control and I can't say how much respect I have for her for that. Currently she is being rewarded for efforts with a growing bundle of joy due in a couple of months! YAY!

4. Karen was one of the first DOC-er's whose blog I started reading regularly. She is an absolute sweetheart and can knit a mean, well, anything from what I can tell. :-) Her up's and down's with diabetes seem so familiar to me and I really enjoy reading her blog.

5. Robin is one of my favorite ex-co-workers ever! She is hysterical and an absolute joy to be around. We worked together in a NICU in Orlando and had a blast whenever we were on together. She makes me laugh harder than I probably should at work but I loved every minute. One of my favorite parts of her blog is the 5 things she's thankful for everyday. her faith and gratitude are inspiring!

6. Another wonderful co-worker of mine from that NICU was Amber, a child-life specialist. She always had a smile on her face that made her patient's day just a bit brighter. In addition to this, she is a wonderfully talented crafter. From scrapbook pages, to cards she can do amazing things with glue, glitter and ribbon.

7. and 8. I'm also going to give back the awards to the two lovely ladies who gave them to me in the first place! Christi and Bee are both so sweet and are definitely deserving of both awards.

Okay! On to the 7 things about me and 7 things that make me smile. Again, I'm going to cheat and just combine this into one list:

1. My pup, Raina. She can be a little turd but she is so sweet and makes me laugh every day.

2. My wonderful husband, who is so supportive and patient. I seriously don't deserve him. He is my best friend and I love him THIS MUCH!

3. The new entertainment center we bought with half of our tax refund. It's so purty!

4. It also makes me happy that I got the aforementioned entertainment center on sale and saved over $400!!

5. Hello, my name is Layne and I'm a cheapskate.

6. My new pump is pink and pretty and I'm liking it way more than I thought I would. (One month review coming soon!)

7. Finally, it makes me smile to think about how happy I am with my life, husband, job, family, dog, etc. I feel very luck and count my blessings every day.

~Layne