Cruisin'

Well, it's about that time. Tomorrow we leave for the port in Miami and by dinnertime we'll be setting sail on our first cruise!! We are both happy for some vacation time. It will be a nice long week, May 18th-25th. It will be great to spend so much time with Brad alone, trying new things, exploring and eating! Yummmmm. :-) And I can't wait for Dawn's wedding! We dropped her and Dave off at the airport this morning and I am so excited for them.

Also I will have my birthday on the cruise! It's a week from today. It's kinda exciting and weird all at the same time. It doesn't feel like my birthday is so close but it is and it will be weird to not celebrate it with everyone like I'm used to. But Brad is making special dinner plans and I'm sure it will still be a great day! And what a memorable birthday, at sea! And the next week we'll have a "rockin" party where we can really do it up right. Woo hoo!

As far as work goes, there have been some crazy shake-ups and I'm not sure what's going to happen with it. I can't really say too much about it, but I will say I'm not nearly as sure about this job as I was before . . . . (and I wasn't all that impressed before!) I do like being a nurse practitioner, though. It's a great job and I feel suited to it. I'm happy to finally being doing this job, even if I'm not completely sure about the environment I'm doing it in.

Anyway, I'm going to try and take LOADS of pics while we are away. Hopefully there will be some of me I don't hate that I can post for everyone's viewing pleasure. We'll miss everyone! See you next week!

~Layne

Working 9 to 5 . . .

Well, not really. But I have finally started my new job! And just as I predicted, when it finally came time to start I got a whooping 2 days notice. Called on a Tuesday to come in on a Thursday. Oh well.

So far so good. The unit is very small and that's hard to get used to. Also I feel like I've been doing WAY more newborn nursery stuff and not a whole lot of NICU stuff. I'm kinda hoping for more of a role with the kids in the NICU but I guess we'll see. Most of my orientation has been on days so far and I'll be working nights. So I'm not sure if I'm really getting a good feel for what it will really be like. Tonight is my first night shift there and I'll be shadowing Don, the other NNP. He's a nice guy and pretty funny to talk to so hopefully the 16 hours will go by quick.

In other news, Dawn's bachelorette party was last weekend and we had a blast!! And Brad and I will be leaving for our cruise in about a week! I can't believe it's already here! It came so fast. I can't wait, though! And then my birthday is here! May has been a big month for us!!

~Layne

Ever get the feeling. . .

. . . that you are being completely jerked around?? Well, I am definitely getting that vibe. This whole job business has probably been one of the most trying and frustrating things I've ever had to deal with. I mean this thing has definitely tested the last shred of patience and tolerance that I didn't even know I possessed.

I won't go into the details but needless to say I'm frustrated. And at this point I'm SUPER nervous about starting. I'm hoping all the crazy will calm down once I just start. I know I love this job. I really do. I'm also trying to remember the butterflies and the excitement that I felt as I was finishing my clinicals and passed my boards. I've just been away from it so long and the bureaucratic side of this business has not been treating me well lately. I'm just looking forward to getting back to where I started, the medicine and the babies.

::breathe:: ::breathe::

~Layne

Week of goodbyes. . .

Well, I did it! I've made it to my last week at Shands. Tomorrow I'll be driving up to Gainesville for work for the last time!! (Well, probably not, but it will be the last time for a little while at least!!) And I will have a small goodbye dinner at La Fiesta (yummmm) with my girlies at Shands on Tuesday before I head back to Orlando. I really loved working in the NICU at Shands. I learned so much there and made really great friends who I will miss so much! :'-(

Also tonight is the goodbye party for Alan, a really good friend I met in high school, and Jenn, his wife. They have taken (crazy) jobs in South Korea to teach elementary school kids english. FOR A YEAR!! Yes, they know everyone thinks they are crazy. And, yes, they are going to do it anyway!! I will really miss them and I hate that they are leaving. [BTW, I think it's funny that I just moved back to Orlando and a month later one of our best friends here leaves the country!! What does that say about us!?!] So, lots of goodbyes this week.

The one thing that isn't sad this week is that I'm starting a new job in the interim, while I wait to start working as a practitioner. For those of you who don't know, I have a cousin who just gave birth to 33 week twin boys!! (That's about 2 months early for you obstetrics- challenged folks.) Anyway, they stayed in the NICU for about 2 weeks and then were released home on apnea monitors that have to be attached to them constantly to monitor their breathing and heartrate.

Since I've been so very bored and this job doesn't seem to be starting any sooner, I was looking for something to do with myself. Maybe a job at my mom's office or a friend's work. Part-time. Nothin' big. Well, my mom heard that my cousin was looking for some help with the twins. I called her and we talked and ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom . . . I'm their nanny. She liked that I knew preemies and work with them all the time and understood their issues and could handle whatever came up. I'll be taking care of them at night so she can get some rest. I started last Thursday and it went great. The twins (Aiden and Avery) are adorable!! It's so nice to be working with babies and will be a great way to spend my time waiting to start this new job!

That's it for now! Take care, peeps!
~Layne

I'm official!!!!

To all who care: it's official!!! I'm an ARNP!!! Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner, for those of you who are non-medical. I just checked Florida's Department of Health website and they posted my new license number!! Big step for me, people! I'm a dork and very excited and thought I'd share. :-)

Layne out!

Bummed and tired

Okay, so all my posts are depressing. And, really, life's just not that bad but it has been pretty frustrating lately. Anyway, I found out Thursday that I was NOT going to get my car back on Friday. So I could NOT go to work this week either. And, you guessed it, I was NOT happy about this!! I hate missing work. It makes me feel so guilty and lazy, even though I really couldn't help it. . . we only have one frickin' car!! I really hope that it's done this week but, at this point, I'm not holding my breath.

We moved the rest of our stuff out of the condo yesterday. It's completely empty now and that is officially our last trip to Gainesville. It was kinda sad to leave it. It was our first place, we got married there, I got Raina while I lived there. Lots of memories. So we took a moment to say good bye. Yes, we really did . . . don't laugh! And of course we had a bunch of crap to do while we were there (turn in our cable box, pick up my framed diplomas, etc) and we forgot a bunch of stuff that we needed and it rained off and on the whole day . . . In other words, what we expected to be about 2 hours in Gainesville turned into almost 5 hours. It was a mess and we were a mess and it was a very long, exhausting day. But I'm glad it's done. Just two more weeks of traveling to Gainesville to work and then I'm done!! :-)

Alright, I'm done whining. I promise. We have a bunch of stuff that we brought back this trip so I have projects now to keep me busy. Believe it or not, I'm very grateful for that. And it was Easter today and it was very nice! We had lunch with my mom and grandma and ran some errands and set up the house a little. We even went to dinner to this (great) sushi place that just opened across the street from us!!

Overall, it was a good week and a very productive weekend. Anyone who knows me, knows that being productive makes me very happy!! :-)

~Layne
Anal-retentive and proud!

Zzzzzz. . . . bored . . .

Alright, so I've been in Orlando almost 3 weeks and I've done very little of what I really wanted to do after moving here!! Meeting Brad and my mom and friends for lunch, exploring the area, shopping for stuff for the new place. Instead, I'm sitting on my bum staring at walls. Egh! You know, I really underestimated how much I love having my car. I knew that not having a car would be a pain in the butt . . . I guess I just wasn't thinking about how bored and lonely I would be!! ::sniff sniff:: :-(

Anyway, I've tried to get out a little by driving Brad to work and then I get his car for the day. But that's kind of a pain in the butt. I'd love to hang out with friends and go shopping and go out to lunch. Unfortunately, most of them have stupid jobs that they do during the day and they can't come play with me. I've been able to convince a few people to play hookie with me, though, even if it's just for a couple of hours. ;-)

I think I'm done whining now. . . I don't really have much to report because, honestly, I haven't really been doing anything. I'm still waiting to get my ARNP license number. I sent everything off last week but my license number still hasn't been generated. Until that happens, my NP job is on hold. Other than that I've really just been unpacking but I've done about as much as I can do without the rest of the furniture. What did I tell you?? Really, really bored!! I get my car back this Friday, though, which is awesome!! And my mom is taking a half day to come play with me and then we do Easter dinner with Brad's family. YAY for PLANS!!!!

Alright chickies, nothing left to talk about . . .
~Layne

Welcome to Orlando . .

Well, to start off, let me say I absolutely love our new place. It's HUGE and pretty and I love it. We are a little far from some things but can walk to others, like the grocery store, bank, pizza, etc. And they are putting a bunch more stuff in the plaza in front of our apartment complex so it will just keep getting better!

Here's the bad part . . . On Monday (3/3/08), my mom and I went shopping for a couple of things for the new place and we were on our way back to my apartment when we got into a horrible accident on the 528. I was in the middle lane and a semi who was in the fast lane merged over into my lane, right on top of me. All of a sudden I felt a huge thud on my driver's side back quarter panel and since he hit the back corner of my car so hard, he spun my car around and before I knew it we were going backwards in the fast lane. We slammed into the concrete divider between the east and westbound sides and slid along it for several feet before the car finally stopped.

Once we stopped, we were sitting facing the wrong direction, half on the left-hand shoulder and half poking into the fast lane. So I looked behind me to see if the semi pulled over and he hadn't. The guy completely took off and no one who saw the accident stopped to see if we were okay. My mom called 911 and it took 45 minutes for the cop to get there. The ambulance got there right away but they couldn't do anything to help us get out of the middle of the road. They were just there to make sure we were okay, which we were. But that whole time we were sitting backwards in the road praying that nobody hit us.

Once the cop got there, he stopped traffic so that we could move off to the right side of the road out of the way of traffic. About 5 minutes later, some guy rode past us rubber-necking and caused 3-car fender-bender right next to me. At that point, the cop walked over to those cars and started helping them. Now, I'm sorry if this sounds completely horrible but I had been waiting for an hour totally shaken up and really wanted to go home. Couldn't he have radioed some more cops to come and finished my paperwork and let me go first?

I have never been in an accident before and I was completely scared out of my mind. My mom and I are okay, except that we are a little sore from tensing up during the accident. Honestly, it's an absolute miracle that no one hit us while we were spinning out of control. My car has
over $5,000 worth of damage. And I'm more than a little peeved that I'm stuck paying my deductible to have it fixed while that a**hole semi-truck driver gets off with nothing!! We could have been really hurt and he didn't even slow down!! Thank God we have good insurance and my deductible is only $500, which really isn't bad.

Anyway, that all happened 2 days after we moved into town. Welcome back, right? :-) Oh well, it's just a car and I am so grateful that my mom and I were able to walk away without a scratch. Again, I know Someone up there is looking out for us.

~Layne

Moving Day

I absolutely cannot believe that we are actually moving! I have been missing home ever since I left for college and now that I'm about to move back tomorrow it seems so unreal! I packed as much as I could this week and, as we "speak," Brad is on his way up from Orlando to help me finish things up before the movers come tomorrow morning! Again, I can't believe it's really happening. I'm going to really miss this house. I've made so many memories here and it's going to be sad to leave. :-(

But I'm trying to look forward and I'm so excited about our new apartment and it's been so long since I've been able to decorate someplace new that I can't wait to get started on this place. I already have some great ideas that I think are going to look amazing!! After we move in and get settled I'll make sure to post pics of the new place! Stay tuned!!

~Layne

Long time, no blog. . .

So I've been a lazy blogger lately but I've been studying my little butt off! And the good news is on Friday I passed my nurse practitioner boards!! I'm official. It's just one more step to starting my new job which I can't WAIT to do!!

So now I'm moving on to, well, the big move. We should have spent this entire weekend packing but we ended up getting a late start. Brad is currently whining because I'm taking a minute to blog my life-changing experience (passing my boards) while he cleans out the office. Oh well. He'll get over it. I'm not looking forward to the move or the packing but I'm really excited to be in Orlando with Brad, even though he can be a royal PITA! ;-)

In other awesome news, WE HAVE A CONTRACT ON THE HOUSE!! I actually found out that we had an offer Friday after passing my boards, talk about a great day!! Anyway, we were thinking of counter-offering but the offer was pretty decent and we just wanted to be done with the stress and worry. The best news is that we close in late March!! I can't believe that we are closing so early that we only have to pay double rent for 1 month!!

Everything is really working out so well for Brad and I, I really feel blessed. Some may call it luck, but we have both gone through a lot, paid our dues and worked really hard to get were we are right now. I do have to say, though, that sometimes I feel like Someone is really looking over us. :-)

~Layne