My nursing class had a small get together to celebrate the end of the semester. Oh, what a relief it is to be done for a few weeks!

The girls wanted to have a Secret Santa gift exchange this year so in the middle of exam week we took a break and spread some holiday cheer.The whole house! (minus three)

Holiday dinner party

This is just one of the reasons why I love being a house mom.

As we were decorating the Christmas tree, some fraternity pledges stopped by to perform a little ditty.

Our Christmas tree is better than yours. It twirls.

The girls decorating the tree

We have Christmas PJ's!

Saturday before the football game the UVA peer health educators held a "4th year 5K" which was a race open to the community, so I participated. A ton of kids took off and sprinted through the whole thing but I took my sweet time and pushed through at 32:20. It was freezing...somewhere below the 32 degree mark and I couldn't feel my feet for the first mile. But eventually the blood got down that far and by the end I was nice and toasty.

Another loss. What are they thinking? Well, the last UVA home game of the season is over and so are my tailgating weekends until next fall. Saturday was a great day for football though...about 30 degrees, clear skies, all the BBQ smokers were out in the parking lots. Mmmmmm, smelled like pigskin to me. Unfortunately, our team forgot to show up. Thank goodness our friends Jim and Jack made it or the game against Clemson would have been really tough. Time to pack it up for the season though. I wonder if our team will even be able to find Blacksburg next week or if they will go straight to the locker room to watch the tape. I'm really harsh, I know, but this is the ACC people. You can't just run around the field picking flowers and flailing your arms up and down to get the crowd to cheer for you without cause. You actually have to play football which means throwing, catching, running, and oh, scoring. Needless to say, I am not the quietest fan in the stands nor is my mouth the cleanest. But it's okay, I go to church on Sundays. Here are the pictures of the band and team before the game.

Lindsey brought me a dazzling and sparkly bottle to accessorize my outfit. Don't worry, there is vodka inside.Lindsey and I at the Clemson game

I'm an Aunt!!! Well...kind of. Not to any children of Brad, but my old boss at E&Y and his wife had a baby on Friday. They wanted to be surprised in terms of the baby's gender which meant that I had to wait and be surprised too. I was very distraught about this long waiting period, but at last, two days after her due date, Mandy gave birth to a little girl! They named her Mercedes Cherie, a name they had picked out far before they were officially pregnant. And here she is......
My nickname for her is Sadie Rice and I can't wait to meet her. What a precious addition to the most deserving parents in the world!

So cute

Nursing School Stuff

There are a couple of things going on in school right now that are kind of exciting for me. First, on Wednesday night, my CNL class was invited to a dinner with the UVA Chief Nursing Officer, Dean of the School of Nursing, and several prominent clinicians and managers from different units at the hospital. Everyone was there to dote on us and tell us how wonderful we are so that we will come and work on their unit. It was a great opportunity to mingle with some very important people and represent a positive face for the program. As it turns out, there appears to be lots of support for our program and it was really wonderful to feel recruited for a night. I am also on cloud nine because Pam Dennison, a wonderful nurse and educator who I admire very much, awarded me the best and most creative impromptu introduction speech. Thank you, Pam.

I am also very excited about the national CNL conference that is to be held in New Orleans this January. I will be submitting an abstract of the project I completed this summer while I was working with the Teen Health Center. Let's hope it is accepted so that I can present my project at the conference (and get a free ride).

Finally, I am eagerly awaiting the results of my final clinical placement. We have the opportunity to complete a six month rotation in a field of interest before graduating. I have requested to go to the Women's Place at UVA which includes all types of women's services like labor and delivery, newborn nursery, postpartum, and gynecology/oncology. I know that there are several other students in my class who share my interests in women's health, but I am hopeful that my written request and fabulous speech on Wednesday (in the company of the L&D managers) will be enough to secure my spot on the floor. I am told that we will know of our placements by Christmas Eve. Let the countdown begin.

In DG news, the house has been and will continue to be very busy over the next few days. Last weekend was parents weekend and I was lucky enough to dress up and attend the formal dinner and dance at the Boar's Head Inn. Saturday we tailgated and went to the football game and Sunday we hosted a brunch and silent auction. I really loved meeting so many parents. They were very grateful that I am here with their girls, but I am equally as thankful that they have raised such wonderful women who are polite and respectful and who keep me company. Today, the girls hosted "Anchorman," one of the philanthropic events they put on to raise money. A member of each fraternity participated in a male pageant of sorts and I got to judge! Most of the boys were very funny and only slightly inappropriate in my presence (I'm getting older and am very protective of my girls). Sunday, we will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Epsilon Gamma chapter. In honor of this event, I baked 120 cupcakes last night. Good thing I enjoy cooking in our new kitchen. I think I might open up a bakery after this. Lastly, the girls are having a date party called Bonfire on Thursday. I'm not sure what really goes on here, but I assume there willl be some drinking and debauchery around a large fire. I am supposed to go chaperone and make sure we don't lose anyone in the woods.

Things are very busy right now, but I am keeping a handle on as much as I can. I'll keep you all updated!

UVA/UNC weekend

I witnessed one of the best games in UVA history last weekend. The Hoos were down the entire game but ran the ball down the field to score and tie the game in the last seconds. We held UNC to a fieldgoal in overtime and then we scored a touchdown to win! No one expected such a fantastic finish. Of course, after a win like that, severe celebration is in order and we definitely lived up to the expectation. Here are the pictures I'm allowed to post....

Rushing the field

Barbie brought some black gummy worms...this was the result

And the cameras come out....
Me and Wags


Me and Travis

Me, Brian and Lindsey

Back in the Saddle

After a summer of outpatient clinic work and fall clinicals on the psychiatric unit, I am thrilled to be going back to an acute care setting, the coronary care unit. I went up to the ICU yesterday to meet my preceptor and was overwhelmed by my excitement to get back to the bedside. There are machines to learn, complicated diagnoses with comorbidities, and a wealth of medications to master once again. The acute settings are just much more my style right now. I hated sitting around talking to psych patients about how they were feeling (emotionally) without really being able to do anything about it because I was not on their primary medical team and there were no psychiatrists to be found. I really missed the acute nursing care that is required in places like the CCU. I've heard wonderful things about the unit on which I will spend the next seven weeks and am so ready to get back to working with heart patients!

O.A.R. twice in one summer! How lucky am I? Last night a group of us went downtown to see the show. We forgot how much concert-going makes people want to make out and hang all over each other. We also forgot that college boys are stinky (literally). We began weaving our way through the PDA and grody boys to get to the front of the crowd. In the end, smelly boys prevailed, pumping their sweaty pit stained arms all over the place and passing gas to kill a cow. But the music was amazing and we had a blast!

Um, I'm peeing my pants. Watch this if you missed it.

Last weekend I celebrated with Greg and Amanda as they tied the knot in St. Michael's Maryland. Amanda and I went to William & Mary together, lead Young Life, and lived in the infamous 902 house. She moved to New York and I to Colorado. We stayed in touch and visited one another a few times. Then about a year and a half ago we both called each other and said simultaneously, "I'm going to nursing school!" Now she is studying at NYU and I love that we are sharing this experience together. The entire wedding weekend was a blast and I think some of us are already planning a Collison wedding party reunion sometime soon.

I almost forgot to post pictures from my trip to Denver last month! I spent a fantastic week in the glorious capital city with great friends. Mandy and I went to the New Belgium brewery in Fort Collins and got all of the beer below for free. Four free glasses every time you go in to the bar. You don't even have to go on the tour. It is almost worth moving to Fort Collins just for the daily happy hour.

Here is the day 2 crew at the mile high music festival. Two days. Tons of bands. Gorgeous weather. It was incredible.

The Black Crowes brought a handcrafted drum with them this year.

Brad has officially moved to Richmond. He stopped by my place in Charlottesville to pick up a load and later had this to say on why he needs a mini fridge: "My apartment is like a block long, Linz. I can't be getting up and walking to the refrigerator every time I want a beer." And then this on unpacking the boxes I gave him: "I found this round thing that has holes all over it and I can't figure out what it is. It has a blue disc on top and then holes everywhere." Me: "oh, it is a salad spinner. You put your lettuce in it to wash and then spin out all the water to dry it off." Brad: "Why can't you just wring out your lettuce by hand?"

Do I look like I could be a real nurse?

This weekend I attended Annie Kirchman's wedding. Annie and I lived together in the 902 house and led Young Life on the same team at Bruton High School. I must say that I was more than pleasantly surprised to see so many of my college friends at her wedding. I thought that I might know one or two people, but I had no idea that the afternoon would be such a wonderful reunion for all of us. Thanks Annie! PS - you look gorgeous!

Annie walking down the aisle

The newlyweds!

First dance

William & Mary ladies
From W&M to UVa - Stephanie and I

My turn with the bride

Tribe gang with husbands

It looks like I'll do just about anything to see a baseball game these days. I caught up with Ann who came all the way from France to see the Richmond Braves on the 4th of July. I must have spent the entire time asking her "do they do this in France? do they have that in France?" but it was really great to see her again. Happy Independence Day!

Amanda and her bridesmaids at the Jersey shore last weekend....sorry I'm the only one who forgot to take my sunglasses off. Whoops. We had such a fabulous weekend, I can't even stand it. These girls are awesome.

This Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon-Mobile is one smart cookie. This video from the Today show one year ago illustrates just how well he can steer each of Matt's questions to his advantage (His most recent apperance is not as exciting). The crazy part is that it actually does give me a whole new perspective on the big oil companies. Maybe they don't have a responsibility to anyone other than their shareholders. Maybe we should all just buy stock in these companies and make as much money as they are. Unless they become regulated by the government, they are not going to lower prices just to give us all a break. They are in the business of making money for their shareholders just like any other public company and they happen to be doing a very good job. The problem is that we depend on gasoline to go about our daily lives. Who cares if Marriott or Sony records record profits. But when it comes to filling up our tanks, we can only pay so much. Here's the video. It makes you think. Something still needs to be done, but I think I agree that it would not be right for the gas companies to lower their prices without being forced by a stronger hand.

http://video.msn.com/dw.aspx?mkt=en-us&from=truveo&vid=ff00584c-2c8b-4956-a73d-42897bd23f2a

I'm taking in all I can during our two weeks off. We went to the new Nationals stadium on Friday and enjoyed sitting just a few rows from the field. Not sure the two guys in front of us enjoyed it, but we had a great time.

Stephen, my Denver friend and Robin my life partner.


Ryan, me and Robin

Batter batter batter

The self photag. Clearly he is on the wrong side of the camera

Robin and I

Robin prides herself on being able to take the best self/group pictures with one arm. Ummm.... this was the best of about six...still needs practice.

On my way back from Nags Head, I stopped in Williamsburg and then in Richmond to catch up on old times. The college looked gorgeous as everyone prepared for graduation. Four years ago I toasted all of the buildings around campus right before I graduated. I almost did it again, but thought that might be weird.
Isn't this a Microsoft screen saver? The walk outside Tyler now the Mason School of business.

This says Class of 2004 participation 65% which happened to be higher than most of the years prior and all of the years following.

Catching up with Jen Ramsey in Richmond! We lived together in the Young Life house. Now she has been nominated as Teacher of the Year at her elementary school!

Trent and Nicole's beach wedding

Pre-wedding

Jerry and Jaime singing the entrance song

Here comes the bride!

The I do's

Cutting the cake

The blushing bride

The Darnells