Catching up!

Things have been wonderfully crazy since my last post - in JULY!!  Many fantastic things have happened since then...

First - August. We decided to take a cruise to Alaska for our summer vacation! It was an incredible experience.  We biked through Juneau, and meandered through Sitka and Ketchikan. We stopped for an evening in Victoria, British Columbia, and had a few "days at sea" that allowed us to see the famous Hubbard Glacier.  It was amazing, huge, and wow. (Coincidentally, Mayor Tom Menino of Boston was also on our boat!  Of course, I insisted on introducing myself and probably looking like a dope!)

Just before leaving for vacation, my sister welcomed into the world her first BABY!!! Baby Natalie was born on August 10, 2011. She is absolutely adorable, and such a sweet little thing!  We finally were able to visit them in Thanksgiving.  Even Chris is in love!

Despite the fact that August held a trip to Alaska and my gorgeous niece, September was equally exciting.  In September, I started the first semester of my 3-year program to become a Nurse Practitioner! I am attending Regis College in Weston, MA. I love, love, love it - but I have never in my life spent so much time studying!  The semester is already over and I can't believe it.  I not only learned many basic nursing skills, theory, and health assessment - I learned just how extensive the role of nurses is, and I have much more respect for them.  (I've never not had respect for nurses, but the amount of responsibility they have is incredible.)  We're required to earn at least 80% in our courses in order to continue the program, and I managed to pass with a very comfortable cushion in all three of my classes!

Now, I'm relaxing on Winter Break... trips to Florida, Minnesota, Arkansas and maybe even North Carolina are squeezed into my 30 days of relaxation... ahhh...

I'll try to be a more regular Blogger... but who knows how crazy school will be next semester! Up next: Psych Nursing and Acute Care Nursing, plus 20 hours of clinicals (in hospital work) per week!