Interim

In a few short days my 2+ weeks of vacation will be ending and I will officially be entering the workforce at my new job!

I can hardly believe it is here! And while I am kind of wishing I took that extra week off, I think I will be glad to be out there doing what I've trained so hard to do.

The past few weeks flew by! I enjoyed the first weekend of my graduation spending time with my family. My parents left Saturday but my brother and his girlfriend Lindsey stayed until Monday. We took some time exploring Kalona and the cheese factory, downtown Iowa City, and some of our local restaurants.



Enjoying our last meal together at Bluebird Diner

I spent some time working on a few projects around the house. My MIL and SIL ever so kindly assisted me in the prep-work and painting of my dilapidated porch.



You know you need a vacation when something like cleaning the oven makes you happy happy happy!

 

I was surprisingly busy with work related tasks. It took me about a week to have most of my loose ends tied up at my old job as well as for my new job. I was able to finally get my PALS (pediatric advanced life support training) completed. And luckily it appears all of my licensure, permits, etc are settled and ready to go for Monday.

I also spent some time doing things that I wanted to do: things like going to movies, lunch with friends, walks to Dairy Queen, shopping, and a lot of napping.

New lamp we bought for our Anniversary

I celebrated my birthday during a terrible thunderstorm. And was grateful when our basement stayed dry!

We've had some beautiful unseasonably cool weather and a LOT of rain. This is one of our city parks completely underwater.

Birthday sushi --delicious even in dangerous thunderstorms.

Marisa and I went to brunch like "real people" i.e. not residents would do. We couldn't help but wonder, "What do all of these other people do that they can come to breakfast on a Monday?"

I received multiple bouquets and enjoyed the smell of fresh flowers. I bought organic local produce at the farmer's market and tried a few new recipes including what I would consider a fancy beet salad. And probably got fat over trying all sorts of new things in my new blendtec blender -- milkshakes every night are so good but probably not so smart!

I wish I had taken pictures of all of the beautiful flowers I received the past few weeks.

I had a few sick days lounging around home with some kind friends who brought me dinner when they found out and mowed our lawn.

And a few dates with my husband. A holiday squeezed in for good measure with a BBQ and watching fireworks and fireflies on a blanket.

Late night on-call dinner dates at the hospital

All in all, a pretty good break.

Now I just hope I am really ready for real life!

 

Abe made me this awesome wall hanging out of a photo we took in Japan of the cherry blossoms