Happy Happy New Year!
I can't believe 2005 has come and gone! Just last year at this time we had just taken our engagment pics, had sent out our Save the Dates and were frantically getting together all the intricate details of our wedding! Now, we are almost 6 months post-wedding, and all is still fabulous! Just a little update of what we've been doing since July 23, 2005...
We went to Aruba for our honeymoon, and I have to say that that is THE most perfect place on this planet earth. I dream about Aruba frequently and often think of the warm ocean breeze - I can almost feel it on my face! I can still smell the fresh sea water air and see the vibrant colors of the buildings, the white crisp sand and the wonderfully bright green iguannas that met us on our porch each day for lunch. I so miss the sand between my toes and the dinners on the beach. It makes me almost homesick thinking of Aruba - if that makes sense!
Alas, after we had to return to reality, I immediately began my 3rd semester in nursing. It was by far the toughest (even harder than taking 15 hours, working and planning an entire wedding by myself in the spring!). I struggled through psych - it really didn't make any sense to me - and I definitely did not enjoy the psych rotation. I was on an adolescent unit and felt like many were kept there for extended period on unsubstantiated diagnoses like oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder. What teenager doesn't have a defiant disorder? It's called growing up and spreading your wings; testing the water per se. It was extremely frustrating. No, don't get me wrong - there were 2 or 3 girls there that had severe psychological problems (schizophrenia, paranoia, etc.), but for the most part, many of the patients were normal teens whose problem, oftentimes, were messed up parents who didn't or couldn't parent. I just felt it was unfair for them to be there 6 months or more of their life and be supervised by underpaid and undereducated mental health techs who, on this unit, yelled at the patients around the clock. It was very disturbing, and I definitely learned quickly that it was not my cup of tea!
I did finish the semester with a 3.6, which I was happy about. I made it barely. One class I made 0.5 of a percentage higher than a C, so I just barely scraped by with a 3.6! This upcoming semester is leadership and community, so I am hoping it is downhill from here! Plus, I'm excited to start a new semester with so much graduation prep occurring. I just got my class ring, and I take grad pics in a few weeks. I'm also taking a NCLEX prep/review in 2 weeks, and I've been appointed to the Dean's Advisory Council. I'm hoping that this semester will be fun. I'm definitely excited as I will FINALLY have a new career - one I've dreamed of for most of my life - in the medical field!
Right now, I'm also applying for Nurse Practitioner school. I should find out in April whether I'm accepted. February/March are the interviews - so wish me luck!
Miguel's in his last semester of his Master's and will graduate in May with me as well. In fact our universities graduate on back to back days. I'm so proud of him working full time and finishing his master's. He's really put in a lot of hard work!
We just had our first holiday season as newlyweds. It was so much fun. I still pinch myself everyday to make sure I'm not dreaming. I'm really married! :-D We had a great time this year. We went to my grandparents' house on the Eve for brunch and then I fixed a huge spread with my sisters for the Eve dinner. We held it at our house and got to use all of our wedding dishes. So fun! On Christmas, we had a nice and relaxing day opening presents. Miguel got me some Uggs, books, VS thongs and PJs and I got Miguel some ties, a shirt, some model cars, an AM/FM transistor for his Ipod and some other little things. We decided on a $250 budget this year for each since we are still paying off our wedding debt, and it worked out well. My birthday was in November and Miguel surprised me with a BEAUTIFUL Coach purse, which I love!!! So, we definitely had to go small on the Christmas.
Other great news is that we are almost debt free. We paid off both our cars in September, and we are working hard at paying off all our wedding debt and some other extraneous debt we both have. We hope to be completely debt free in May - thanks to the help of Dave Ramsey. His debt free model is so simple but works so well. We've been following his baby steps and sticking to a budget which has really helped us out and solved many of our financial disputes and we both refer back to, "What would Dave Ramsey say?" If you haven't heard of him - please check him out on AM or at Amazon.com or at www.daveramsey.com. He is just phenomenal and it will change your life 180 degrees if you follow his simple, common sense principles!
Okay - well enough of my preaching! ;-) I just wanted to drop off a note since I've been gone for soooooooooooo long! I plan to stop by again this week to drop off some pics of Aruba and some other random ones from this past fall.
Hope everyone is healthy and happy and had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
We went to Aruba for our honeymoon, and I have to say that that is THE most perfect place on this planet earth. I dream about Aruba frequently and often think of the warm ocean breeze - I can almost feel it on my face! I can still smell the fresh sea water air and see the vibrant colors of the buildings, the white crisp sand and the wonderfully bright green iguannas that met us on our porch each day for lunch. I so miss the sand between my toes and the dinners on the beach. It makes me almost homesick thinking of Aruba - if that makes sense!
Alas, after we had to return to reality, I immediately began my 3rd semester in nursing. It was by far the toughest (even harder than taking 15 hours, working and planning an entire wedding by myself in the spring!). I struggled through psych - it really didn't make any sense to me - and I definitely did not enjoy the psych rotation. I was on an adolescent unit and felt like many were kept there for extended period on unsubstantiated diagnoses like oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder. What teenager doesn't have a defiant disorder? It's called growing up and spreading your wings; testing the water per se. It was extremely frustrating. No, don't get me wrong - there were 2 or 3 girls there that had severe psychological problems (schizophrenia, paranoia, etc.), but for the most part, many of the patients were normal teens whose problem, oftentimes, were messed up parents who didn't or couldn't parent. I just felt it was unfair for them to be there 6 months or more of their life and be supervised by underpaid and undereducated mental health techs who, on this unit, yelled at the patients around the clock. It was very disturbing, and I definitely learned quickly that it was not my cup of tea!
I did finish the semester with a 3.6, which I was happy about. I made it barely. One class I made 0.5 of a percentage higher than a C, so I just barely scraped by with a 3.6! This upcoming semester is leadership and community, so I am hoping it is downhill from here! Plus, I'm excited to start a new semester with so much graduation prep occurring. I just got my class ring, and I take grad pics in a few weeks. I'm also taking a NCLEX prep/review in 2 weeks, and I've been appointed to the Dean's Advisory Council. I'm hoping that this semester will be fun. I'm definitely excited as I will FINALLY have a new career - one I've dreamed of for most of my life - in the medical field!
Right now, I'm also applying for Nurse Practitioner school. I should find out in April whether I'm accepted. February/March are the interviews - so wish me luck!
Miguel's in his last semester of his Master's and will graduate in May with me as well. In fact our universities graduate on back to back days. I'm so proud of him working full time and finishing his master's. He's really put in a lot of hard work!
We just had our first holiday season as newlyweds. It was so much fun. I still pinch myself everyday to make sure I'm not dreaming. I'm really married! :-D We had a great time this year. We went to my grandparents' house on the Eve for brunch and then I fixed a huge spread with my sisters for the Eve dinner. We held it at our house and got to use all of our wedding dishes. So fun! On Christmas, we had a nice and relaxing day opening presents. Miguel got me some Uggs, books, VS thongs and PJs and I got Miguel some ties, a shirt, some model cars, an AM/FM transistor for his Ipod and some other little things. We decided on a $250 budget this year for each since we are still paying off our wedding debt, and it worked out well. My birthday was in November and Miguel surprised me with a BEAUTIFUL Coach purse, which I love!!! So, we definitely had to go small on the Christmas.
Other great news is that we are almost debt free. We paid off both our cars in September, and we are working hard at paying off all our wedding debt and some other extraneous debt we both have. We hope to be completely debt free in May - thanks to the help of Dave Ramsey. His debt free model is so simple but works so well. We've been following his baby steps and sticking to a budget which has really helped us out and solved many of our financial disputes and we both refer back to, "What would Dave Ramsey say?" If you haven't heard of him - please check him out on AM or at Amazon.com or at www.daveramsey.com. He is just phenomenal and it will change your life 180 degrees if you follow his simple, common sense principles!
Okay - well enough of my preaching! ;-) I just wanted to drop off a note since I've been gone for soooooooooooo long! I plan to stop by again this week to drop off some pics of Aruba and some other random ones from this past fall.
Hope everyone is healthy and happy and had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!