the Williams family

2.2.2012

2012-02-05T15:32:00.001-05:00

Troy David Williams

7 lbs, 6 ozs

born 2.2.12 at 4:19pm

we already can’t get enough of him!

any day now…

2012-01-18T13:46:00.001-05:00

my time is a-ticking. Although, I have a feeling this little one is going to take after his mom (wouldn’t want to be early and have to wait around, right?)….I can only hope that by posting this I will change his mind…

classic Crystalyn-inspired belly picture :)

(I hope you don’t mind that I copy most of everything you do, Crystalyn. I just think you are pretty much the coolest person I know and want to be just like you.)

I have the best husband ever…

2012-01-02T21:14:00.001-05:00

Today he bought this.

Just for fun.

here’s to 4 years…

2011-12-28T17:10:00.001-05:00

of wedded bliss :)

And 10 points to anyone who can guess the name of our little boy based on this picture:

And no guessing if you already know!! (Ben and Mary!)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-27T12:18:00.001-05:00

Christmas was a little different for us this year – it was my first Christmas spent without any extended family, for one, it was 78 degrees for another. Even though I have lived in Florida and Hawaii for the past 7 years, I’ve always spent Christmas in either Connecticut or Idaho – cold and (usually) snowy places. But this year our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree was fully appreciated! (and not left behind like every other year).

On Christmas Eve we went orange picking,

and floated the Ocklawaha River on our kayak

On Christmas day we went to Little River Spring and grilled some steaks my dad sent us for Christmas, went swimming. We had breakfast in the morning with some fresh-squeezed OJ (yum!) and burnt eggs, toast, and bacon (don’t ask, I don’t know. I DO know, however, that our smoke detector DEFINITELY works).

Florida is beautiful!! As our time here gets shorter (and Dusty’s graduation closer!) we are realizing that more and more, and trying to take full advantage of every moment we have work off together to explore and enjoy the nature around here.

When we got home we made sticky buns, a favorite of Dusty’s family (cinnamon/brown sugar/butterscotch buttery goodness) – but we made 18 buns and ate them all. By ourselves. Needless to say, we both were feeling sick on Sunday night.

Overall, a very merry Christmas!

And…

this was almost 2 weeks ago (34 weeks), so I’m a bit bigger now, but this is a better picture!

this is why I love Ct…

2011-12-11T20:00:00.001-05:00

I love my family! This year Dusty and I headed to Ct for Thanksgiving. It is a “Wargo” Christmas year (we do every other year with each family), but since I will be just about 36 weeks pregnant on the 25th, decided it would be best not to do a lot of traveling then. (well, my doctor decided). Dusty stayed for about 5 days, and I took my Christmas PTO and stayed for about 10. I love being home! Dusty and I even got the apartment all to ourselves, which means we were actually warm for most of our stay (separate temperature control!).

I’m only sad we didn’t get to see the Alaska and Seattle Wargo’s, but hopefully we’ll be seeing them in the summer!

happy birthday love

2011-11-14T08:52:00.001-05:00

11.12.82

(I hope our baby is this cute!)

And in other news, this birthday boy is officially a private pilot! He took me on the maiden voyage a few days ago –first flight with someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing in the cockpit. I’ll admit, the only time I really felt nervous was when I saw this:

It is TINY! But Dusty’s take-off’s and landings were perfect (I thought) and I didn’t feel nervous at all during the flight. Well, that’s a lie…I took control of the airplane for about 45 seconds while we were flying. It was. So. Scary.

See the concentration in my face?

But DUSTY’s flying was great! We went to Cedar Key, walked around for awhile, sat on the beach. I was hoping to break in some new shoes for DC but just ended up getting blisters and having to take them off (and not take them to DC :(. )

Congratulations Dusty! You are awesome. Also, props for not freaking out because this little guy:

hitched a ride back to Gainesville with us. (And seriously, people, this cabin is SMALL!!)

Today I went to the library.

2011-10-06T15:21:00.001-04:00

Lately when I go to the library, I seem to know exactly what I’m looking for and head straight to the Young Adult section. Today I thought, “I bet this book will be in the (normal) fantasy section…it’s pretty popular..” So I headed instead to the grown-up section (feeling really grown-up). No such luck, so I meandered back to my familiar nook of the library, thinking that SOMEday - I will graduate to that section, but not today. Sometimes I even feel weird in the YA section – like an imposter, or maybe I’m just not smart enough to be interested in something in the normal book area. Ah well, I barely see people I know in the library anyway…

But today I got to my nook, and could NOT find Harry Potter. Yes, I’m re-reading all the Harry Potter books, because I only read the first 4 (or 5?), a VERY long time ago (like before college – I know I’m so old) (but not grown-up, haha) and I’ve been wanting to finish them for awhile now. But when I asked for help to find them, I learned they are in the CHILDREN’s section (duh, Julie!). I’ve never been to the Children’s section of our library – it’s downstairs and I’ve never had a reason to go there….and it is awesome. Who knew!! First of all, the decorating is much better than upstairs. And they have all these cute little miniature sofas and chairs for kids to read in, and I think I spent at least an hour sitting on the floor reading children’s books – that were so good!!

And I realized, I will NOT be graduating any time soon - I might actually be reversing in my literature interests in the next few years… and I’m so excited!!

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

2011-08-29T13:11:00.001-04:00

Meet the newest addition to our family,

A baby BOY arriving sometime at the end of January 2012 :)

He had the hiccups today during the ultrasound, it was so cute I started crying.

I already can’t get enough of him!

I need a mom…

2011-07-26T19:03:00.001-04:00

close to me. Geographically. I have been blessed by TWO (not one, but two!) of the greatest moms I EVER could have custom asked for. Really – I’ve always know that my Mom was the best – the person I look up to, the advice I ask for, she is compassionate and generous, has character and integrity, she’s always serving other people, she loves with her whole heart, and she’s always there for me when I need her to be. For example, on a particularly bad day a few weeks ago, I called my mom. She bought a plane ticket – that day, and I got to spend last weekend with her. It was wonderful :)

And a few years ago, I got really lucky and married the man of my dreams, whose mother then became my amazing mom #2 – I really don’t know why my life is turning out so good! I wrote down a list of words that describe my Mom Williams: crazy, open-hearted and open-minded, generous, adventurous, spontaneous, joyful, energetic, full of love. She came to visit the weekend before my (original) mom, so I got two weekends of good momma TLC. There are now 6 home-cooked frozen dinners in my freezer, not including leftovers. My house is clean, and my shoulder/neck muscles are actually not sore OR tight. Yes, I’m spoiled. And I’m ok with that :)

(really? this is the last picture of my mom and I that I can find, it was taken almost 2 years ago! We need to take more pictures!)

Now I just need to actually live NEAR one of them, so all this goodness doesn’t have to be condensed into two weekends!

family

2011-05-31T13:07:00.000-04:00

Last week Dusty and I got to spend some quality time with these munchkins,

and these ones too

(that’s my mom’s, “I thought I lost you in New York” face – it’s always good to be home!)

PLUS a lot of other awesome people, like my Dad, Gee, Jen, Matt, Jenean and Derek…but…they didn’t squeeze into any pictures of Penelope or Piper so I’m sorry to say I don’t have so many of those guys!

Matt and Jenean got in this one - we celebrated my birthday,

(there is a candle in that cup…25 of them, actually…)

And I already miss them like crazy. Again. Well…time to start planning my next trip!

local

2011-04-26T16:29:00.001-04:00

Last week, I walked into our friendly neighborhood Food Lion (aka Lucky Tiger, whichever suits you best) to buy some treats for my mutual activity. I came across one of the workers, who said, “Do you need any help, ma’am?” To which I replied, “no thanks.” And she said, “Yeah I didn’t think so – you come here enough you should know where you’re goin’ by now.” Then she yelled at me because I stepped on her clean floor. I laughed after her first comment, but it turned into one of those 1/2 nervous laughs after the second…

Gotta love G’ville.

flying

2011-04-20T21:54:00.001-04:00

I don’t know if the above video will work – if it doesn’t, go to:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoMt-kDe_Ls

Next time – certification? Thinking about it…. :)

I think great minds think alike, because my Mom and Dusty both suggested this great plan: Dusty flies the plane up, and I jump out of it! (quite the dramatic exit, I think)

Speaking of which – Dusty is (most likely) flying solo for the first time this weekend! NOT that he needs it….but everyone maybe just send a few prayers this way… :)

(Sunshine update: Sunny-girl seems to be doing much better -the vet said that she (probably) has pemphigus, an auto-immune disease (rare, of course). We figured this out after she didn’t respond at all to 2 weeks of antibiotics and antifungals (and a hefty bill). And the vet STILL wants to do a skin biopsy to confirm the diagnosis, which costs about $300… our vet-school friend Judd said that the type of pemphigus she has is actually the most mild type, and we’ve been treating her with some OTC hydrocortisone, and we’re seeing our old Sunshine come back! Now let’s hope it keeps working!!)

mangy cat

2011-03-06T18:54:00.002-05:00

In my last post I said our cat is “broken” – I’ll explain! Broken probably isn’t the right word for it, “sick” is a better one. We actually have 2 cats, Sumo is hyper-allergenic to everything – she literally steps outside and comes back with hive-type scabs on her neck and back. But Sunshine has always been the healthy one, the cat that acts like a cat (the “I’ll come to you when I’m ready” type cat). But lately, she’s acting SUPER weird, and I THINK, according to pictures on the internet, that she has mange. She is breaking out in scabs all over her ears and some of them are filled with pus, and it’s spreading over her nose, chin and over her eyes. It’s really painful for her if we touch it (accidentally, it’s kind of gross), and more so, she is acting really somber, like if we move her she doesn’t even try to get away or fight it, she’ll just lay wherever we plop her down. And she’s shedding a LOT. And I’ve noticed during the days I’m home she just lays in the corner, which makes me feel like I have to check to make sure she’s not dead (because cats hide to die?). I would think maybe it was some type of bug, but Sumo doesn’t have any of the symptoms, plus they are both indoor cats. AND, according to the internet (if my research is right, and if any of you know more about cat illness I’d love your input!) cats don’t get mange unless their immune systems are weak..like they have cancer or something :(. So needless to say, I’m worried!! And our car being broken, it’s kind of hard to carry a cat on a bike…I’m thinking. BUT as of yesterday, our car is no longer broken! (knock on wood) Dusty replaced the starter – apparently he took it in to Advance Auto to have them test it and it blew up their testing machine…probably akin to what it’s been doing to our alternators and batteries!! So Dusty replaced the starter, and yesterday and today it hasn’t acted up. So this week I am taking Sunshine to a vet.

This is her right now, curled up against my leg, and although I love the snuggliness, she normally would not have any part of this. And if you’re wondering, that’s catnip all over her – Dusty’s way of comforting her (she perked up when he got it out but didn’t have the energy to actually go to it) - (and, I asked our vet student friend if maybe it’s an effect of too much catnip, like she’s a crack addict or something, he said that’s a negative).

broken

2011-03-02T19:30:00.003-05:00

our car.

our dryer.

our dvd player.

our plants.

our cat.

Well that list doesn’t look so long when I write it down…I really do have a lot to be grateful for, huh? Plus, when our car is broken and I am stranded at home on my days off, I have been exploring some bike trails around our house.

AND, we are getting some extra exercise by riding our bikes to work. Lucky us :).

DOUBLE plus, I took this picture as Dusty was saying, “lucky me! I get to go spelunking under the car!” I was there for moral support.

I really have a great husband :)

“There should be more to life than rolling the dice and going in circles”

2011-01-25T10:34:00.001-05:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/24/AR2010112404140.html

I found this article awhile ago, and started this post awhiiile ago, but just opened up my windows live writer and was reminded of it! I love technology’s little reminders, there’s so much I would forget without them.

Anyways – I love Settlers of Catan. We played it over Christmas break with the Williams family, and while it is one of the longer games/has a tendency to spark…healthy debates among players…(although not as long as monopoly or risk – I’ve never played Risk but that’s what Dusty’s dad says), it’s still one of my favorites. Definitely on my list. (of things I potentially want when we have enough money to buy things we don’t need) (although, I seem to have a way of forgetting things that are on that list…or they are replaced by other, more expensive things, like skydiving, trips to Miami and/or London, etc.) (and Ct, but that’s more on my “need” list).

Here’s a few pictures for you. They will have nothing to do with anything, but that’s kind of just how this post is turning out.

December: Merry Christmas from St. Augustine! We found wax figures of the “Seinfeld” cast, which were actually pretty creepy looking.

January: It’s kind of hard to tell, but that’s a manatee! (And us, looking at the manatee)

one amazing lady.

2011-01-03T21:14:00.002-05:00

For those of you who don’t know Crystalyn, she is amazing, and today is her birthday. Here is a list of words I think describe her (including but not limited to!):

creative, funny, optimistic, self-less, generous, stylish, kind, gives good advice, a good listener, a good talker (seriously, she will talk for hours if no one stops her), loving, a good mommy, awesome friend, beautiful, cheery (even when she says she’s grumpy) (or when she picks you up from the airport at 4am), loyal, honest, determined, artist (of every kind – drawing, sculpture, sewing…etc, etc), and epic rapper, tree-hugger, (and a good hugger!), original, and….OLD this year!! but forever young at heart :)

No matter what kind of mood you are in, Crystalyn will make you laugh. Or think of something crazy to talk about, which will inevitably put you in a better mood. (even if your mood was already good to begin with.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Crystalyn! I love you!!

missing husband

2011-01-01T21:28:00.001-05:00

I. hate. being. alone.

Dusty comes home tonight from Idaho -

6 more hours…

the hint mix 1

2010-12-07T21:38:00.001-05:00

I was going through some of my old stuff the other day, the couple of boxes that I salvaged when Mom and Dad brought ALL the stuff from my old room down to FL when Dusty and I got married – Dusty made me throw most of it away (there was a LOT of stuff…mostly stuffed animals…) and I found a cassette tape titled “The Hint Mix I”

(sorry my camera isn’t better – I was trying to get the handwriting – is that yours Ben??)

I have no recollection of making this mix tape, which doesn’t really surprise me – I was the 4th kid to move into the much coveted (smaller) corner bedroom in my parent’s house, sometimes things just surfaced out of nowhere. This tape made it all the way to Florida, AND survived the strict save-nothing-our-house-cannot-be-cluttered hand of Dusty! (this is good – we balance each other) So obviously I was curious what was on the tape. I popped it into the tape deck player in our car (the only one we have, who has cassette players anymore?). And it. Is AWESOME. It’s a lot of Paul Simon, Jimmy Buffett and other random awesome artists/songs, plus every other song is an old commercial tune, like this one:

And I really don’t think I’ve ever heard this tape before now. Who made this tape??? And if you want it back…is there still a way to copy tapes? Because I’m really loving this one :)

By the way, I owe this random digging up of my past to my sister-in-law Natalie’s recent gallivantings around Europe, looking at her amazing pictures has inspired me to find my pictures and souvenirs from France (I’ve had them in a shoebox all this time!) and put them (rightly) in a scrapbook.

So whose tape is this?

i’m thankful for

2010-11-26T14:21:00.003-05:00

my husband. Sometimes he drives me crazy (like when he reads by blog posts as I’m writing them and tell me to make sure I sound cool…), but he makes up for it by being amazing, brilliant, patient, honest, handsome, the MOST sincere person I know, and just downright perfect for me. And, he says things like, “Last night I dreamt that I had an affair, but the woman I had an affair with was a clone of you!” :)

my family. In Connecticut, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, London, Arizona – I’m so blessed!! My family is the most amazing/smart/talented/loving bunch of people I know.

my health - and my family's. After working as a nurse for a short while, I’ve realized I’ve been SO blessed with my health.

my job. I love being a nurse! Although, I’m also grateful that I got cancelled from 7-3 today, which meant I got to sleep in after eating all that turkey AND spend more time with the Bryans!

avocado pie, and the people who make it for me. ;) (see above..)

nature/the world.

the gospel.

laughing.

friends! Friends I talk to all the time and friends I haven't spoken to for months (or years...) I've been incredibly blessed by so many people in my life!

movies that make me feel good-

babies,

Christmas trees,

relaxing,

Sumo and Sunshine (our cats),

loans,

showers,

comfy couches,

and…

love!

adventures.

2010-11-22T21:59:00.001-05:00

Crystalyn! This post is for you :).

Crystalyn and Shaun are coming for Thankgsiving this Thursday (so excited!), and are looking for possible adventures for Friday – I have to work, boo. I was thinking, we really haven’t done all that much, but we did make a list awhile back that has been on our fridge, of things we want to to do while we’re here in the sunshine state.

Just in case you can’t read that, I’ll transcribe here. (keep in mind, we don’t have any babies, so I’m not sure all these will be Juniper-safe)

but – I’ll start on the one you totally should do, because it is

-JUNIPER spring!! We canoed the spring run, but it takes a reaaally long time, and I’m not really sure you’d want to take a 2 year old on a canoe…for 6 hours…but the spring itself is really cool, too.

-Wild Waters – did that on a 1/2 price day, actually not that cool. (and not open now…)

-Ride bikes on the Canaveral sea shore – this was SO fun! But you do need a little person bike/rider…we don’t have one. Sorry :/

-Payne’s Prairie – in Gainesville! It’s pretty cool, but mostly just a prairie. People say there are buffalo and wild horses there, but I’ve never seen them – only lots of alligators.

-Cedar Key – this is a cool old fishing town about an hour away from us – good sea food :)

-Weekiwachi springs/water park – probably not open, but this was pretty fun. They have mermaids!

-Homosassa Springs

-Miami (very far, need hotel/money/time…needless to say, we haven’t done this one in awhile) (but Miami is really cool!)

-Shired Island – we are THINKING about camping here this weekend – I have to work Friday but not Sat. or Sun! Maybe we should collaborate??

-Caladesi Island/Honeymoon Island – mangroves! Really cool.

-Rock Springs Float – no idea what this is. Probably a spring run float…duh, but we haven’t done it yet.

-Volusia Blue Springs – in the winter this is a Manatee Reserve, no swimming allowed, but we really want to go see the manatees!

-Busch Gardens - $78 per ticket!! we haven’t done this yet…

-Florida Caverns State Park – in the Panhandle, kind of far, again, haven’t done it yet, but it sounds cool.

-Go back to Englewood to get more shark teeth!! I liked this adventure :) But I wish Katherine and Pete were still there :(.

-Three Sisters Spring – super awesome spring!!

-actually, all the springs are pretty awesome. Rainbow and Little River are a couple of our favorites. this is Little River-which is free:

(and by the way, this is pretty much my idea of an adventure right now: the sun, water, and a good book.)

And last but not least…Crash-O-Rama…Carnival of Carnage - http://www.crasharamaseries.com/

Dusty went to this a few years ago and thought it was pretty awesome (guy.). I think it is insane, but in a southern redneck-kind of funny but mostly shocking-are they going to kill themselves-why is this even happening sort of way….that I kind of want to go. And I have to admit that I’m guilty of this:

(don’t ask. I don’t know. but in our defense, no one was inside the monitor, unlike the cars in crash-o-rama.)

Anyways, it’s this Friday, and (boo!) I’m working!

So, I hope this gave you some ideas, we’ll talk Wednesday! I’m excited!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I’m pretty sure that only a select few people read this blog, and I LOVE you all!! I wish Dusty and I could be with ALL of you this Thursday :)

blogging pays off.

2010-11-19T22:13:00.001-05:00

I checked the mail yesterday (something I never d0 –for some reason Dusty has become the mail-getter in our family) and look what was in my mailbox!

My wonderful sister-in-law lent me her copy – all the way from Arizona :)

THANKS MEAGAN!!

hope you have fun in London…/Belgium, France, etc. etc….I wish I were with you guys!!

waiting.

2010-11-14T22:30:00.001-05:00

I’ve had this book on hold at the library for about 2 months now. I’m 28 of 57 in line.

Must be good – the first 2 of the series were! I would break down and just buy the book, but luckily I bought a ton of books at the friends of the Library sale this year that I’m still making my way through :)

Have I mentioned that I love not being in school??

(For now, at least -I will go back at some point…when I figure out exactly what it is I want to do in nursing, but right now it’s really nice not writing papers and stressing over exams. Although I do have to take an ECG test tomorrow…that is after I take the class, so…I guess it never really does end, huh?? But it is definitely less stressful after graduation!)

26.2

2010-10-31T20:09:00.001-04:00

A few weekends ago, I flew up to CT for the long-anticipated Hartford marathon – I know, for those of you who keep up to date on my far and few between facebook status updates (Lia), I’ve said before that only crazies run marathons. I was referring to myself, sister, and mom. And Pheidippides. According to the legend/historical account/wikipedia, Pheidippides (not actually sure if that was his name) ran from the Battle of Marathon to Athens (a distance of 26.2 miles) to announce that the Persians had been defeated – he ran the entire time (they didn’t even set up water stations for him), then burst into an assembly and yelled, “Nenikekamen", transalation, “We have won”, collapsed, and died.

I can’t tell from looking at this picture if the people are afraid of him, trying to help him, praising him, or just shocked at the sight of him. Pheidippides, though, sure looks like how I felt after running 26.2 miles, except that he’s naked. (which…I’ve got to wonder what happened here? Maybe he was in battle garb and at about mile 15 thought, “This is not working, something’s got to go…” and took off all his clothes? Kind of awkward…but then again his battle garb was probably not light)

Anyways, so this all took place in 490 B.C., and it wasn’t until 1896, with the first modern Olympic games, that the race became an actual sporting event, males only- but see this article about women’s marathoning. I like Stamatis Rovithi, who, despite the head officials telling her she was excluded from the marathon, she went and ran her own marathon on a different day (same course). And also a woman named Melpomene, who was also denied entry but ran along the side of the course. When she got to the finish stadium (4 and a half hours later) it was empty and locked, so she finished with a lap around the stadium. Hero. Here is a picture of some guys running the 1896 Athens marathon:

And in 1908:

So…(drumroll) on October 9th, 13th, and 16th, my mom, sister and I did it! My mom and sister followed in the footsteps of Melpomene and ran against all the odds; Mom developed a sciatic nerve issue the week before, then Mish was sick the night before…so they ran the marathon a little late, but if you ask me I think what they did was AMAZING (because they are amazing, it shouldn’t surprise me ;). I had live entertainment, lots of strangers cheering me on, lots of strangers suffering alongside me, and lets face it, misery loves company. Mish and Mom had family (yes, better than strangers) but just watching people who are riding bikes (and complaining...) while you feel like you’re dying for 26 miles, kind of puts you in a sour mood…for anyone who Mish told she was going to punch in the face – that was the marathon speaking. Promise :)

my mom, ever the optimist!! :)

I promised Dusty I’d do a cartwheel for him at mile 20 – here it is :)

And she’s just too cute to not post this picture :)

After all this, I kind of feel like Pheidippides just might be looking at all us marathoners and saying, “Don’t y’all have cell phones? Email??” I mean, the man died – shouldn’t we have learned a lesson there? But we didn’t, and every year more people put their bodies through hell and back (excuse my language, but it seems pretty accurate, coming from an amateur) to honor ancient Greek civilization…or maybe just to prove that we can do pretty much anything we set our minds to, even if it defies logic, sense, sane-ness and gravity (I thought gravity was going to win around mile 23-24, but I conquered). And, of course, get super hot bodies. WE. ARE. MARATHONERS. Congratulations Mish and Mom, we did it!!!

album test

2010-10-28T20:04:00.001-04:00

I have a bunch of photos I want to put up, so this is a test :)

View Full Album

listerine ZERO?

2010-09-24T17:57:00.001-04:00

Today as I walked into Walmart, I saw this: Listerine Zero, and not seeing the “Zero Alcohol” on the top, I thought, “listerine ZERO? Like, Coke Zero as in zero calories? Are people DRINKING listerine here??” Crazy. But rest assured, now we can all wash our mouths without having to worry about accidently swallowing 21.6% alcohol. Not fun, folks.

good news!

2010-08-05T15:12:00.001-04:00

Julie Williams, RN, BSN – it feels really good to write that! After possibly the longest 48 hours of my life, I got onto the Florida Dept of Health website and thought I’d look myself up, kind of for kicks since they say the DOH is slower than Pearson, and Pearson hadn’t posted my results yet. And to my surprise, I was there! Julie Wargo Williams, professsion: Registered Nurse! (Well, the exclamation point wasn’t there, I added that in) With my home address so I knew it was really me! I even have a license number. I swear, that test (the NCLEX) will rip any ounce of confidence you have to shreds. 170-something questions, I don’t know because it just shuts off after you’ve passed or failed with no warning. Actually, now that I think about it, that might be a good thing – you know at the end of a test you kind of start getting ancy for it to just be over? I do, anyway, so maybe the no warning thing is good. But still, I was in there for almost 3 hours, and I had a sinking feeling of doom when I walked out – very close to “failing-the-HESI” feeling, which I know all too well. But today – all is good! And I have a job offer at Shands, and my family is coming to visit next week, and I can RELAX, for the first time in a loong time!

Yesterday Dusty took the day off to help me get my mind off the test, and we went here:

I was cold – a miracle, really.

the sweetest spud

2010-07-18T21:06:00.001-04:00

While in Idaho, I (finally?) tried an Idaho Spud candy bar. No potatoes involved. Only marshmellow-y…stuff, and coconuts- not exactly what I was expecting!

But I found this great recipe online!

Chocolate Cream Spud Pie

“Be elegant - easily! Fill your favorite cooked pastry shell or crumb crust with a rich and light, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate filling.

In a microwave melt 8 Idaho Spuds and 1 1/2 cups of milk. Whip 1/2 cup of heavy cream, saving some for decorating the top. Add to slightly cooled mixture. Pour into pie shell and refrigerate.

Serve with pride!”

We ALSO did a lot of other cooler things, like spending the 4th of July in McCall with family,

Rafting,

camping, more rafting, laying in the sun,

and biking to the top of Bogus Basin – happy birthday, Mom-in-law!!!

We ate Mexican food,

And mostly just enjoyed being with family :)

life is good!

It’s been awhile..

2010-06-14T23:22:00.001-04:00

Blogging has been slow lately, sorry folks :).

Mr. Dusty and I have been going a bit crazy with school, Florida heat, and more school, but some things have happened in the past few months! Here’s a quick synopsis:

I pseudo-graduated in April:

And I really graduate this Friday! :)

(also – update – I finally passed the HESI…the third time I took it. I better pass the NCLEX is all I have to say)

And our kitties got spade: Sumo hiding behind our nintendo, giving me her evil eye. I don’t blame her.

My big brother got MARRIED!!

And we got to spend time with family :)

I love the DC Temple!

And we squeezed in some sight-seeing in DC too

(I love the Red Cross!)

Of course, we happened to be there the same day as about 20,000 bikers…happy memorial day!!

Mr. Dusty’s favorite place in DC…there were NO PEOPLE. anywhere to be seen – kind of eerie if you ask me.

This was my (almost) favorite part of the day. I got yelled at by a security guard right before this picture was taken. :(

It’s been a good few months!! And we found this spring back home in hot hot florida (it’s 85 degrees at 11:15pm! that’s not right.):

so beautiful!!

HESI…

2010-04-17T02:39:00.001-04:00

Not passing the HESI today sucked, but a good facebook-chat late at night with an old friend, and this song, made it a little (a lot) better. Thanks, Crystalyn. :)

happy (late) Easter!

2010-04-05T21:08:00.001-04:00

hope you all had a lovely Easter :) Dusty and I went on a picnic, where we were (almost) completely eaten by mosquitos (and remembered why we don’t do so many picnics in florida anymore..) but ate good food and appreciated our state – it really is beautiful.

Things are good here in G’ville…just plugging along, still doing the school thing. I’m almost done (I can’t believe it!) and had a few job interviews already – we’ll hear if I got anything at Shands next week…keep your fingers crossed for me! Dusty has a new MOTORcycle (well, WE have a new motorcycle -Dusty drives it), and he planted a garden in our backyard too :) He is my biker-horticulturist-neuroscientist-husband :) What else could I ask for?

G-ville Half Marathon in 2:07:49 – yeah baby!

2010-02-17T22:47:00.001-05:00

On Valentine’s Day I ran a half marathon with my friend Lisa (it was very romantic). My goal was to do 10 minute miles, and I did it! I’m happy.

Pretty spanish moss – one thing I genuinely like about Florida.

I don’t run with my eyes closed all the time…

Approaching the finish line.

I look confused – I don’t know why.

We finished!! We can still move! – and we have Krispy Kreme donuts :))

Dusty told me to pose for a picture, so I started dancing? lol

And..a little more normal :)

Lisa – you are awesome!!! Thanks for being my running/venting about Nursing school/eating really awesome home cooked meals and lots of chocolate buddy :)

I think I should also add that it was 32 DEGREES when we started this run…and I’m pretty sure it only got up to about 40 during the run. THAT IS COLD! I am not really enjoying El Nino.

cool! look what I can do

2010-02-13T12:49:00.001-05:00

So Dusty downloaded this program that supposedly makes it easier to blog, and it totally DOES! And I can do all these cool things, like put a map in or a picture album. Although the photo album feature isn’t working, so…not that awesome, I guess. Also, I don’t know why I’ll ever want to put a map on our blog.. Anyway, I’m just messing around with it and want to see how it looks on the blog so I’m posting it.

This is cool. Thanks Dusty :)

I like rounded corners.

I know it's late, but it's still January!

2010-01-23T18:36:00.001-05:00

Christmas! This year we went to Connecticut to hang Wargo-style. I feel like I'm copying Meagan's blog, but I also made a list of everything we did. I wrote it in my journal when we got home as kind of a "condensed journal entry", because writing about everything would just take too long - so here is our list!

-hung out with Grandma & Grandpa because they live with my parents now! (so cool)

-played in the snow and in the (new and improved) basement

-went hiking to Torries Den

-had snowball fights

-the Bryan's came over! (it was just like old times, plus Shaun and Juniper)

-went to the Wood's wedding

-played 'Moods'

-ate a lot of eggs

-got sick (not from the eggs - the eggs were good)

-saw 'Avatar' (totally awesome movie)

-watched The Sound of Music and Up

-shoveled the driveway (a little bit of it...)

-celebrated our 2nd Anniversary! :)

-did Pilates with Adam

-went running with my mom

-ate at Friendly's

-went caroling on Christmas Eve

-went to New York City and ate breakfast

and homemade pie on New Years day with Tom & Bob

-went to the Museum of Natural History

table and UF game

2009-11-22T17:28:00.001-05:00

I (almost) finished my sewing machine table :). Now all I need are 4 knobs (one was missing, or else I'd just put the old ones on) and some grease for the sewing machine. I already have a request to fix someone's gloves from church!

AND...Dusty and I went to my first UF football game! here's proof:

(I think these glasses are a little scary...)

'the best day'

2009-10-24T19:22:00.003-04:00

I like this video :)

2009-10-09T20:29:00.000-04:00

It worked!! So this is the table, and the sewing machine that goes in it. It's awesome.

starting fresh

2009-10-09T16:32:00.000-04:00

Hi Lia!! I created this blog a LONG time ago, and I know you are the only person who knows it exists. Sharon may know about it, too...Hi Sharon, if you are reading this! When I think of something awesome to blog about, I'll REALLY start blogging...I know! I'll tell you about my newest project. I got this sewing machine table from craigslist for really cheap - only $30! and I'm refinishing it. The only thing I've refinished before were our kitchen counter stools, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do them completely right. Well, this will hopefully look awesome when it's done - I'll keep you updated. Right now, it's stripped and sanded, my next step is putting the stain on :))

ok - this is getting ridiculous. My pictures have been uploading for about the last 30 minutes, so...no pictures today, until I figure out how to upload pictures a little faster....