This Is The Training That Never Ends...

It could go on and on my friends. Please tell me if you're interested enough in what I write, you're born before 1990 and get my Lamb Chops reference!

Image of Lamb Chops and Shari via Puppetville

If not, Wikipedia it, then come back here for more reading. Now that there are only people reading this post who understand who Lamb Chops is, I'll move on never to mention it again.

This post is about my work. I've been in training for one thing or another since I started working. There's always something new to learn. In the world of organ and tissue donation, things are real intricate around here.

I'm training right now to be in charge of placing organs with recipients according to the national donor list. This is an amazing responsibility and I feel so blessed that they've chosen me to undertake this.

The only thing is this training is taking forever!! We're understaffed right now (if you want to work in donation, Google will direct you to how to apply for my company without me having to publish that info on this blog. I won't do it!), so most of my shifts are spent answering phone calls from hospitals, coroners, and funeral homes. When I'm not doing that, there's the occasional talking to the families of donors.

Time to learn who to send a kidney to is few and far in between. They've come up with a solution. They want to put me on call. Visions of my life as a harried resident fresh out of med school flash in mind. But this is different than that. I'll still work 40 hour weeks, I just won't know weeks ahead of time which days I'll be working.

If I agree to it, I get a pager in the form of a blackberry. So I'll have two blackberrys I'll have to carry with me everywhere I go. It will be like I'm a drug dealer. A fancy schmancy Blackberry-carrying drug dealer.

Imagine him black, female, and wearing fancy schmancy Blackberry owning clothes.

Once I go on-call, my training should be completed rather quickly. And then once I get that done, I can start training to place the other organs. Soooo much to learn.

But it's worth it. I love that I save lives without having to stick my finger up anyone's butt. I love that I make a difference. I love my job and when I get up to go to work, I'm happy. Well, except when I have to leave Easy, we've barely seen each other during the week since he started working.

So I'm training. And training. And saving lives. And training.

A Big Big Day At Work

In the world of organ and tissue donation, there are some big stories, like the time we ended up on ESPN. That was big for us because it generated a lot of goodwill for donation. But on a regular day, it's the little victories that add up and make the work worthwhile.

I'm in training, so every day there are new things to learn and do. Early this morning, I took a giant step forward. This morning was the first time I called the family of a potential donor to request they go through the donation process.

It was very hard for me to do this. Anyone who knows me will tell you how much I don't like asking anyone for anything. It's literally the one part of my job I've been dreading since I got hired.

Luckily, the family I approached was pleasant. I can't go into too many details, but it was relatively painless on my end to get the paperwork completed. I really sympathize with this family and I pray they get peace for their situation.

Even though my hands were freezing as all the blood in my body ran screaming from my extremities, I got through it. Now that I'm on the other side, I can only think about the good that family's gift can do. I was so appreciative of the choice they made in such a difficult time.

It takes a big person to think about someone outside themselves even when they're hurting and grieving. I'm truly blessed to have the job I do.

Bonding With Co-Workers

Last night was a kind of busy night at work, but there was still time to chit and chat at work. There was an organ placer working who I'd never met and we hit it off.

We bonded over pets and sports.

She and her husband take care of rescue cats and dogs and she shared some amazing stories about that. I've since decided I really have to go ahead and spend the money to get an automatic litter box cleaner. I shared with her some of my favorite recent pics of our cat Belle.

And the bonding over sports was really great. We're both baseball nuts and have had the pleasure of getting amazing seats at US Cellular Field to see a Sox game. In my post about the best weekend ever, I talked about us going to the game. She and her husband are going this weekend. We had 4th row seats on the first base line. They're getting 3rd row behind the plate. Good times. So I showed her more pics.

Read the scoreboard on this one. It's from when their pitcher got taken out in the 4th inning. Priceless.

I love bonding with co-workers. That is, when they are worth bonding with. 'Nuff said.

Back On The Exercise Bandwagon

I've been getting back in shape, y'all. Cue pleasantly surprised applause. Crickets? Darn.

Well, I haven't been doing it for very long, so there's a chance I'll fall right back off again, but I have hope. The other bride bloggers on weddingbee.com have inspired me to not neglect my fitness just because I've got more demands on my time right now. Here's what I've been up to:

Diet

I haven't been eating the best diet, but I haven't been eating too badly and I certainly haven't gained any weight. I do have the lucky (I think?) benefit of the opposite of stress eating. When I'm stressed, like I've been with planning this wedding, I don't eat. I will go all day and night and then it occurs to me to eat. It's not that I even get hungry, it's that it crosses my mind that it's been 15+ hours since I've eaten.

I've also been staying away from junk food and fast food for the most part. It's just that pesky home-made baked goods that get to me. I can't help it, I like baking for my man. Easy appreciates it, so I'll keep doing it, just maybe a little less.

Exercise @ Home
My Wii Fit Plus is my best friend. I want to keep it up, but it's hard to find the time when there's so many other things I could be doing at home. But I took some time out of my day yesterday to exercise, and I hope to keep it up the on my next day off. Wish me luck!

Exercise on a Date
Easy and I took a long walk after dinner the other night. It was romantic and sweet. And it was a good exercise. I felt great after that walk. I wasn't tired like I usually am after a big dinner. I'd love to make that a routine to get in some exercise on date nights. At least while it's still warm. I'm not going for a one hour walk in Chicago past October. Maybe by then we'll go jogging instead.

Exercise Away From Home
Starting today, I'm going back to yoga classes. I figure if I go right when I get off work to the early morning class, I should be able to work it into my schedule without losing sleep or anything else. I'm going to try it out this weekend since I work three days and see how it goes. If it goes well, it will be my new plan. Toned thighs, I will welcome you back to my world shortly.

Future Hobby/Plans
I miss rock climbing and ballroom dancing. They were great ways to exercise and have fun. I'll work them into my schedule at some point. Sooner rather than later, I hope.

Engagement Party For The Ages

Our engagement party was amazing!!!!

There were all these little details there that I can't imagine how my mother pulled off. It was this fantastic party that brought together all the people Easy and I love all into one place.

It alleviated my fears of how well our two families would mix. It also set the stage for a rocking party come February.

I definitely want my wedding to be a big party. Now I really believe that's a possibility.

Up next is writing all the thank you notes for the party. I hate writing thank you notes, but I'm really so grateful to everyone for coming, I will just suck it up and go for it.

Although the party went well, I'm really glad the next event isn't until December. I'm interested to see how that will play out with so many women from my family and Easy's will fit together into one event.

Trying to keep down the stress in life isn't as easy as it usually it. Wedding planning stress, plus short-handed-at-work-whilst-also-training stress, plus settling into life with the fiance stress is a lot. We're trying to stay grounded, and so far it's working.

What should I do to deal with the stress that doesn't involve alcohol or something reckless?

Back From The Dead!

My phone is back! Oh yeah!!

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I'm feeling very happy because I don't have to shell out unexpected money to get a new Blackberry. I already had to do that last month for my car breaks. Goodness, this being an adult thing isn't all it's cracked up to be.

I knew that, but I prefer to focus on the positive. And I'm positively happy my phone decided to just start working again.

I miss my friends. I need to catch up with them. I've barely updated <a href="http://quitethelovelife.blogspot.com/">my other blog</a> with info on their love lives.

And my parents would normally be concerned I'd fallen off the face of the earth. But their new son, Easy is waaay better at keeping in touch than I am. So they know I'm alive 'cause they both talk to him a couple times a week. I think it's pretty sweet actually.

Even though there's so much going on all the time with friends, family, work, romance, and wedding, I finally feel like I can breathe. Maybe it's because I"m getting in a groove. Maybe it's cause Easy and I finally settled an issue that's been hanging out in the background for a while. I'm not sure entirely, but I feel good.

I'm tired as hell cause I only got 3 hours of sleep last night, but I feel good.

I have a very busy weekend coming up with this engagement party, but I feel good.

My apartment still isn't completely unpacked, but I feel good.

Smile!

Missing My Mister

Easy is a musician. Did I mention that? Well, he plays the alto saxophone and he has a music group called Quatuor de Force, a jazz quartet.

He's been writing music and this past week he's been practicing with his group to record a CD. That's right, he put together an album. His music is amazing, and if you like jazz or neo soul or just good music, you'd love what he's written.

While he was working on actually recording the music, I didn't see him for days. He and I haven't gone too many days without talking since we decided to date exclusively last October. Even when he was in Europe for a month, between gmail and video chat, we still spoke almost every day.

Though Easy has been busy recording his album, it didn't take 24 hours of each day. I worked Wed-Fri though and slept almost the entire time I wasn't at work. Add to that the fact that my BlackBerry has given up on cooperating with my desire to use it for any purpose other than an alarm clock, and we have no way to communicate.

I was missing my man like crazy! Getting home from work on Saturday morning after my shift ended made my heart swell. Being away from him sucks!

Back To Your Normally Scheduled Programming

Hi people! Welcome to the first blog post I've written in weeks that has nothing to do with my wedding planning! If you want to read about my wedding planning, you can click my weddingbee icon on my blog page or <a href="http://www.weddingbee.com/author/kettle/">click here</a> or see my wedding blog (which has all the same posts) <a href="http://misskettlewedding.blogspot.com/">here</a>.

Moving on. So, my life has been interesting outside of the wedding. I've been training furiously at work. They moved up my training timeline so I was training for three different parts of my job, with three different trainers, all at once. It was a lot. A LOT.

But I finished one part Friday morning and another part Friday night. Two down!! I got hired to do a job that requires three phases of training. I'm now officially signed off on everything except the last phase.

This last phase is very involved and will take a couple months. But we dove in head first at work Friday night and I'm very excited to be started on this. I want to learn as much as possible. Every part of the job of the tissue and organ donation process is important. But every piece I am involved in makes me feel like I'm doing just a bit more to make a difference in peoples' lives.

If I had to decide today, I would definitely make a career out of the job I currently have. There are so many options for career paths that the choices would keep me interested throughout my career. And the opportunities for advancement are vast as well.

Right now, I'm leaning more toward applying for Master's Programs in Health Administration. I've been wavering back and forth between that and getting and MPH. It feels really good to finally have some direction in mind. Score one for figuring out my next step in life!

I Say It Will Be So, I Reeeallly Hope I'm Right

Since the only internet access I have is during work hours, I'm writing this post in advance and hoping things will work out and I'm not forced to correct my assumptions with my tail between my legs.

But I have faith. I have picked a wedding venue. I had already picked it. If I were paying for my own wedding (which would mean I had the money to do so), I would have already put down the deposit.

My mother and Easy both make decisions slower than I do. So now, my mother and I have a plan that should have been enacted by the time this post publishes.

We have a meeting with the good people at Chateau Bu-sche to put down a deposit to hold a space for February 11, 2012. I'm so excited for this to finally be settled. Settled in my mind is one thing.

Settled in reality is quite different. The date was still available as of Monday afternoon. I hope it will still be available on Wednesday evening. Cross your fingers for me that it went well. I won't be back at work until Saturday, so you will be in suspense if I got my wedding venue secured or not.

Cause I know you all care soooo much. Narcissism fail.

Pandora Radio Is My New Best Friend

I've recently started listening to Pandora Radio my entire shift at work. I only stop it when my phone rings and I'm taking/making phone calls. I take my work very seriously, but when I'm not working, I'm jamming to music.

My favorite channels are my Michael Jackson channel, Neil Diamond channel, and Tony!Toni!Tone! channel. It's having a personal DJ and it's awesome.

I don't know why I never used this so much before. Actually I do know.

Before, I had a laptop and therefore used iTunes. I had most of the music I liked to listen to regularly. But things are different now as I spend 12 hours a day in the office.

Also, we eat at our desks. That's a lot of chewing to listen to. And some of my co-workers like talking with food in their mouths. The music helps drown all that out.

But how do I love Pandora? Let me count the ways. Oh wait, I just did.

Do you love Pandora? What are your favorite channels?

And also, should I go ahead and get Pandora One? Are the commercials really that bad?

Adjusting to Work, aka, Lots O' Personality

I've decided that I like my job. I like it a lot and I could make a career out of it. I use my degree, there's room for advancement. And depending on the direction I go, the salary cap is really really high (adopt 6 kids? sure I can afford it).

So, the only thing about this job is the adjustment to all these different personalities. I like most everyone at the job, but they all have really strong personalities. It's hard to find that balance of friendliness and professionalism.

Professionalism doesn't seem to be high on the list of priorities. That makes for some moments, like when we broke into a game of catch. But it also makes for awkward moments when personal business of co-workers is being discussed behind their backs.

I'm still trying to find the tone I want to set in terms of how friendly (aka gossipy) I'll be at work. I don't want to be the stick in the mud. But it's not really in my nature to engage in all this conversation with co-workers. When I worked at Forever 21, I was there for a year before I ever went out with the co-workers who hung out every weekend.

I think I expected more of a work-ier environment because this is my "first real job." Like I said, it's an adjustment.

Anyone have to get over reality being different than expectations of a new job?

Meeting My Future In-Laws And Being Late To Work

Since my family had an early Father's Day, I was free to spend time with my fiance. I was worried about his family getting sick of me being around all the time and having no time with him without me there too.

Easy assured me that they weren't sick of me. Also, there were family members he was going to hang out with that I hadn't met yet. He felt it was essential that I accompany him to the family BBQ so that I could meet as many of them at once as possible.

I put on a cute dress and natural looking (but still super flattering) makeup and off we went. He drove to my house and I drove the BBQ so I could head to work after dinner.

When I arrived, his family was all hugs and greetings. He did have a girlfriend of 5 years who only went away last year, so I was a bit worried about their reception (but I didn't tell him that). Turns out I was worried for nothing. They were so sweet and kind.

One of his aunts is the one who's opinion is strong and important to Easy. He came up to me after we had been there a half hour or so and informed me that she loved me. I was excited because I had liked her too. Some people just give off a good vibe, you know? I'm glad she liked my vibe like I liked her.

Easy has a much larger family that he spends time around regularly than I do. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better over time. And I'm feeling much better about having to invite all 109 of them to our wedding.

I ate some lovely Latin food, and then headed to work. Did I mention half of his family is Hispanic (Honduran by blood plus Mexican by marriage)? So there were elements that only seem to come in abundance from certain ethnicities (shout out to Greeks, Hispanics, and Caribbean Islanders!): music, great food, lots of laughter, never-ending amounts of children running around. It was fantastic.

When I finally left for work, I had just enough time to get to work. When I was just 5 miles away (around 7 min), there was a train. The world's longest train. Seriously. Someone from Guinness World Records should have been there to witness the occasion. I sat there for a very long time, called into work to let them know I'd be late, and then began people watching.

All the motocyclists were de-biking and meeting each other and making new friends. People were not only putting their cars in park, but turning the engines off. A couple people fell asleep and started snoring. These people had time to reach deep sleep and probably begin dreaming.

After the 200+ car train finally passed, I sped down the road, going 60 in a 30 mph zone. I didn't want to be too late to work. I made up those 5 miles in under 5 minutes. Don't judge me, I hate being late to work for something that's not my fault.

I love having eventful days and it seems every day is like that these days. Yay!

Father's Day, Playing Catch, And Growing A Second Head

Saturday wasn't a particularly eventful day, but three interesting things happened that I wanted to share with the blogosphere.

The first thing was my family celebrating Father's Day a day early. My family is all about holidays. All about them, okay? And my father spends the time the holidays focus on him saying things like, "you really really shouldn't have gotten me anything," the rest of us still enjoy celebrating in his honor.

We all gave him our gifts Saturday and had a great meal of jerk chicken, beans and rice, and cabbage. Then I had to rush off to work. Why did we do this a day early? My father leaves for Reno at 10:00 am to go to a bowling tournament.

 

Want to see what I got him as gifts? They're great gifts, if I do say so myself. What makes it even better is that I paid for these gifts with money I earned from work, without input or help from anyone (except payroll, bahaha).


Great Gift Idea: The Knot Wedding Shop



Lennox Tuscany Decanter at Macy's



 I do love my Daddy so much. I was glad that my first gift purchases with my all-grown-up-and-working money went to him.

After I left for work, my second interesting thing happened. I found out that all my co-workers are just as incredibly silly as I am.

It started because one of my co-workers threw a ball of paper at another one. It quickly devolved into us throwing swag from previous employee meetings around the office.  It was like this:

Well, except in an office not a pool. And with those little hackeysack balls, not water balloons. But it certainly felt that festive. We had fun and then the phone range and we got back to work. It felt like some flash mob that breaks into dance and then resumes life as if it hadn't just happened. Or any musical ever. It was awesome.

The third thing is actually two moments that feel like they are exactly indicative of my life right now in this point in time. Easy brought his stuff back from St. Louis (that means he's officially moved back!!!!) and put it into my storage unit. Nothing says all grown up and standing on your own like sharing a storage locker with your fiance.

The other thing is I got some snacks from Wal-Mart before work. I finally pulled out an apple to eat it because I was hungry for something sweet. That's when I noticed it was the hugest apple ever! I mean, genetically altered, gonna-grow-a-second-head-if-you-eat-that-growth-hormone-pumped-fruit, big as a baby's head apple. And of course I ate it. It was either that or a Snicker's bar.



imagine this but like three times the size



In conclusion, my Daddy's Father's Day was early (and awesome!), my co-workers are buckets of fun in downtime, and I'm quite the adult in this genetically altered 2011 summer!

Did anyone else have an interesting day?

Making Adjustments

I've made a couple adjustments recently to handle all that's going on in my new life. They're all over the spectrum, so I have no great introduction. I'm just going to jump right in.

1. Missing sleep for various reasons
When I leave work at 7 am, I'd like nothing more than to go right to sleep. That almost never happens.

There's always something. Between Easy's mother, my mother, my friends, etc., there's always something to do. There's a conversation to be had or plans and obligations to fulfill.

Easy is starting to get really upset at people for not being considerate of my need to actually sleep during the day. I don't want him to worry, but I appreciate that he worries. Also, he gets the brunt of my crankiness when I'm sleepy, so he's also got the most vested interest in me getting rest, ha ha.

But I'm hoping to come up with a plan to get sleep and do favors after that. If anyone has suggestions short of asking people to stop needing me (which I don't want to do), let me know.

2. Thinking about more than just what I want
I am kind of indecisive and there are a lot of things that I don't have strong opinions on (okay not a lot, but there are some). The point is, I don't do so well with stressing what I want when it concerns more than me.

Easy really encourages me to focus on what I want and to not be over-accommodating. My friends Top and Bad have been encouraging that for a while.

Planning this wedding is starting to make that really sink in for me. I still have decisions to make that are heavily influenced by what others might want, but some decisions are all my own. Our wedding colors will be a group decision with my vote counting the least (even though I have the "final say"). But my wedding dress will be my choice even if everyone else hates what I pick.

Baby steps, CeCe, baby steps.

3. Adjusting diet to suit metabolic needs
My job is now a sedentary job. I spend 14 hours a day basically sitting down and moving only minimally. I work a 12 hour shift and it's an hour to and from work.

And when I get sleepy, the only thing that keeps me up is caffeine or food. I can't drink coffee all day because I will be completely on edge. So I eat. And I eat. I've magically not gained a single pound, but I'm only 3 weeks in.

I'm worried that one day I'm going to suddenly jump up 10 pounds. It doesn't happen that suddenly, but unexpected and unnoticeable-until-it's-already-happened weight gain has happened to me before.

We moved forward on getting our apartment sooner than expected, so the money I thought I'd have to get back on the exercise bandwagon won't be there until next month probably.

I could work out at my job's workout facility, but 7 am just doesn't work for me, plus being in this building an extra hour isn't really my thing. I want to go back to yoga and ballroom dancing and rock climbing. I want to not turn into a fat ass.

Basically, I have noticed some things about myself that are requiring adjustment as my life changes. I just hope I'm able to handle the adjustments because the last thing I want to do is be a capitulating sleepy fatty.

Putting Together A Wedding Binder

Seeing as how I don't want to pay money for a wedding planner, just a Day of Coordinator, it's imperative that I stay very organized while putting together the details of my wedding.

I'm not sure if anyone who reads this blog has planned a wedding, but it's no joke. Seriously, it's not funny at all.

The only details I have finalized seemed like big decisions at the time. I was so proud of myself for getting these thing accomplished.

Then five minutes later, I think about everything thing else left to do and that one item checked off seems like nothing. I feel this way every time.

The one thing still leaving me with a sense of accomplishment is putting together my wedding binder. Between Russel + Hazel and Office Depot, I'm able to keep a grasp on all the details and decisions to be made that are piling up daily.

Russel + Hazel has this wedding planner that will be my best friend (once it is delivered). Here it is.


Wedding Organizer



And from Office Depot, I got a calendar, page protectors, highlighters, colored gel pens, and a briefcase.

The briefcase has a dual purpose. This wedding binder will have to be carried with me everywhere I go from now until February 11th, so I wanted something to carry it in that wasn't my purse. Plus, I'd like some training materials from to be able to travel with me as well.

Keeping up with my work schedule, Easy's practice/gig schedule, plus appointments and meetings for this wedding is the biggest task with the binder, but with the highlighters, I have color coded our calendar.

Just writing this all out seems like soooooooo much to me. But it will be worth it to stay organized and on top of things. Or am I just crazy? Probably a little of column A and a little of column B.

Another Fast Forward For My Life

After feeling like I was standing still for a year, it's really nice to have things move forward again so soon. But first, I will recap everything else.

One year ago, I made the decision to leave medical school and it was pretty much downhill from there.

I was looking for a job doing research and I couldn't find one.

I was dating a man I really like and the future of the relationship was always more promising than reality in the moment.

My parents were freaking out at the limbo I had thrown my life into.

My friends weren't sure what to make of the situation.

But then I met Easy and after a roller coaster, things settled out and suddenly my romantic life improved.

Once I settled into life without heading towards an MD (for the first time in over 10 years), I was a person that my friends wanted to spend more time around and my friendships grew.

My parents finally accepted I wasn't going back to medical school and that withdrawal was just a formality.

Then April-May happened and everything flew forward. I got this job that I love and has promise to turn into a rewarding career that lets me be in an industry I love in a capacity that suits me much better than practicing medicine.

My wonderful boyfriend Easy is now my wonderful fiance Easy. He proposed and now we're in full swing of planning our wedding for February 11, 2012.

But the latest fast forward? We got an apartment! It's in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago. I have to be honest, I never thought I'd live in Hyde Park and I kind of didn't want to.

It wasn't until Easy and I were looking at apartments Thursday afternoon that I suddenly decided that I absolutely definitely had to live in Hyde Park.

The second apartment we were shown was perfect and I was done looking. Easy made me look at one more, but my mind was made up. We filled out the paperwork Wednesday afternoon and signed our lease Thursday morning. By the time this posts, we'll be the proud renters of a lovely 2 bedroom apartment. And we'll be moving in in a couple weeks.

We have appointments Friday and Saturday to look at wedding venues and wedding gowns.

It's just amazing when I look back to the not-so-distant past where things were compared to now.

I have the most amazing fiance, job, friends, and family. I feel so blessed and I cannot even believe this is my life. Eventually, things will slow down and I'll have time to catch my breath, but I'm liking that for right now, everything just keeps getting better all at once.

Gonna Get Married, But There's More To My Life, Part 3

The first two posts (parts 1 and 2) covered the first two topics. This one is all about #3. 1. Men I used to date who still don't know I'm engaged yet. 2. Looking for an apartment. 3. Settling into this new job and the financial situation that goes along with it.

3. This job seems like it will be pretty amazing. Once I'm settled and doing the work, i.e, done with training, I will love it. At least I think so thus far.

That's a great thing, but there is this extra part to getting work done. Getting paid for it! Whoo! I still have to have my gainful employment party, and I can't wait for it.

But being gainfully employed means car insurance, rent, heating bills, cell phone, student loans, saving for the future, as well as supporting my own habits (more ballroom dancing than meth, what were you thinking?).

Coming up with a budget of how to cover all these expenses worries me a bit. This will be the first time in my life that I'm covering all my expenses. I have to say, I'm not looking forward to it. I'd like to set a goal of having my budget all written typed out by the end of the month. If I can accomplish that, I'll feel better.

The one thing I'm leaning on right now is that my work salary and life budget doesn't also have to include wedding costs. My wonderfully traditional parents and future in-laws are taking care of most of the wedding associated costs! Yay for them. Easy and I will be returning the favor in terms of helping with retirement and throwing awesome retirement or 50th year anniversary parties.

Remembering How To Live Life

In the two weeks since I've started working, the adjustment has been to working nights, having demands on my time, and not being able to do every thing I wanted at the time I first wanted to.

But there is a new world emerging (now that I"m getting used to working nights). In this new world, I have to schedule things. Sure, there's less spontaneity, but there's also more resources.

As I inch closer to the weight ceiling I'm allowing myself, I worry that I won't get back to yoga before I cross that line. But I have a resource for that. My workplace has a pretty nice workout room. We have 24/7 free access to it. I packed up my workout bag and got myself a locker. Friday morning when I got off work, I went to the room and got back on the exercise bandwagon. I want to be fit and healthy, and right now I feel like I have more control over that situation.

As my friends plan events, I can't go to all of them, but I can go to some. And starting next Friday, I'll actually be able to fund my time out. Having my own spending money is something I had forgotten about. Well, I didn't forget, I just tried not to think about it because it wasn't a part of my happy place.

And vacations, oh vacations. Easy and I plan to go to NYC this summer, and I think we may just be able to pull it off!

Having my hobbies and travels and friends were important to me before. They kept me sane when I felt directionless for a year. But now they are an integral part of my life that keep my life full of more than just my job. So far, I love my job, but I'm also loving starting to plan for the days I don't have to work. And since it's summer, the plans are going to be quite interesting. If I have any say, it will be very interesting.

My Mom Beating Me To The Punch

Yesterday, I posted about the differences Easy and I have in tastes for setting up an apartment. This led me to thoughts about my parents' and their sure-to-be-bad reaction to us living together before we're married.

Aside from leaving medical school and a few other big mistakes over the years, I generally agonize over the thought of doing something my parents won't like. This is a particularly sensitive situation because I don't want to make them angry right before I want them to pay out thousands of dollars for a wedding in the near future.

The decision Easy and I made to wait until we're engaged to talk about this with my parents makes me feel better, but it still won't be easy I don't think.

My mother said something to me Thursday morning that really made me feel quite a bit better. She said she was becoming less and less against the idea of Easy and I living together before we were married. She cited many of the reasons Easy and I had already come up with.

1. If we're getting married in less than a year, someone would have to break a lease for us to begin living together after we're married.

2. Doesn't make sense to pay two sets of rent. Could save lots more money with only one lease.

3. We'll be married so soon anyway, it's only a few months (her words, not mine).

4. Living with my parents isn't going well so far since I've started my job.

I was so happy to hear her reasoning. I didn't tell Easy yet, though I probably will by the time the post publishes. But it really makes me feel better that she won't go through her usual process of approval, then disapproval, then manipulation, then anger when we tell her our plans.

I feel as if I should explain #4. I love my parents, I like their house. But it's just weird for my old ass to be living at home when I have gainful employment. Plus, there's so much going on in the house all day and all night cause 4 adults (one of whom has too much time on his hands) lives there.

These two weeks that I've been working have shown me that it's not a good idea to still be living there. I can't expect everyone else to go around on eggshells because I have to sleep to get back up for work. I'm the only one in the house who works nights. If I were living with Easy, it'd be much easier for just him to be accommodating of my sleep needs.

And I knew this day would come. Even if Easy and I had never met, I'd be itching to move out once I had steady income. But it does make me feel a world better to know that my mom has an increased chance of being on board with my plan.

Another Long Day/Night, But I Think I'm Getting Used To It

When I got home from work, my mother was still home. Her stomach pain was still there and her doctor had instructed her to come into the office at 3 pm. Going into the doctor's office certainly beats getting put to the back of the line in the emergency room. The back of the line is exactly where you go when you walk in with stomach pain unless you start coughing up blood or re-enact the dress-shopping scene from Bridesmaids.

Before I got a chance to go to sleep, my mother asked me to go to Walgreens and pick up some pharmacy stuff for her. Still no prescription, just ibuprofen. Apparently not only is the doctor's office closed on Wednesday, they also treat it like a sabbath at that place. But I was happy to go because it was a very reasonable request. Plus, my brother was still sleep, so it's not like he could go.

When I got back, I set my sights on my bed. My cat Belle was already snuggled up under the covers as if she knew it was sleepy time. But I could go to sleep yet. My girl Camille is about to fly to Barcelona for a class tomorrow and I promised her I would have her Snuggie embroidered by then. In case you don't read the blog in which I discuss my friends' love lives and this is news to you, I really did just type Snuggie and embroidered together. I embroidered a Snuggie.

Well, I start a while ago, but I hadn't finished. So I stayed up to finish it because I wanted to keep my word. I hid my cell phone so I had no idea how much sleep I actually got. I seriously don't know. And I know that it might be my new trick for sleeping between work shifts. I'm not tired like I should be considering I didn't get even close to 8 hours of sleep. My brain is fully unaware of how much sleep I got, and that works for me.

I finished the Snuggie, curled up with Belle, who woke up only long enough to give me a look that said, "finally, now you can stop moving and we can both get some good sleep," and took a nice restful sleep. And now that I'm back at work (on break, yay!), I'm thinking about this weekend.

What are your weekend plans? Mine involve a birthday party, spending time with Easy, hopefully some Memorial Day barbeque, and of course, the most important... seeing Hangover 2!

I love movies, especially comedies. I love movies with sexy men in them. I love sequels. I love American movies shot in foreign countries. There are so many reasons to be super excited about this movie. It's one I've been looking forward to for sooo long. It's been a couple years since I was excited about several movie line ups for a whole summer movie season. It was back when Hancock, Iron Man, Dark Knight, etc. all came out. Good times.