One Year Anniversary

So June 12th, 2011 has come and gone. I can't believe that we got married one year ago already. Time has truly slipped away from me. I believe it was the amount of change that took place all at one time that made it seem like the last year has flown by. People ask me all the time: "How's married life?" At first I was like huh? It was hard to believe that I was actually married to the man I had been planning on marrying since 2006. For the first few months we felt SO spoiled. Well, we actually do still feel really spoiled to this fact. We didn't have to say goodbye every time we saw each other anymore. When we would visit my family, we left together. When we visited his, it was the same thing. It took a while to get used to this because we were so used to the few hour visits throughout the week as our only time together. Well, and the phone calls every evening before bed. It has spoiled us so much to be able to spend so much time together. Its the time together that we had been excited about for such a long time that finally had come upon us. We were doing it. We were living together! There were some extremely hard moments at first because we were away from everything else that we knew and had been used to for 20+ years: our families, our homes, and the comfort of being in our families homes. Through time we got over that more quickly than we thought we even would. There were (and still are occasionally) random moments where something will come up and bring on a sense of "homesickness." That is part of the process though and I don't know how I would have ever been able to do it without Ryan by my side going through it with me. We've grown so much as individuals the last year but most importantly as a couple. I love Ryan more now than ever. He takes such good care of me (and Lilly!). I know he is going to make an absolutely amazing father someday in the future. We have come a long way this past year as far as growing up goes and growing closer. And I know we have so much more growing up to do together in the future. We don't ever want to take on that "we've arrived" perspective, as if we have gone through enough to know everything. We will never know everything and always want to be humble with what knowledge and experience we do have because we know God still has a lot to teach us.

So on to the festivities of our anniversary weekend!

The Saturday night before our anniversary (which was on a Sunday), we went to Downtown Disney, one of our favorite places to go, and saw the show by Cirque du Soleil "La Nouba." It was absolutely incredible in every way! My parents bought us the tickets as a gift. We had front row seats. And believe me, we could see make-up and all being that close! It was a ridiculously awesome experience and I highly suggest the show!

On our actual anniversary started out with a very nutritious, healthy artery-clogging breakfast. Home made chocolate chip waffles from scratch!

Then we decided to pick up a new hobby: canoeing! I would love to start doing more outdoor-sie things, especially when we get our house and can have a garage to store some hard core bikes, as well as a canoe or kayak :). We went to Wekiwa Springs State Park and canoed there for a few hours. It was so relaxing, especially when we got away from the other canoers and off to ourselves for a while. We even saw a Florida gator!

We came back home to have a picnic lunch here and spent some time with Lilly before going out again for the evening. For dinner, we went to P.F. Chang's (I know, some people are like what's so special about that?). Well, I had actually never been there before and it was THE best Asian food I have ever had! It was up in the ranks with Kobe's in my book.

Then we went to see Kung Fu Panda 2... Skadoosh! a movie afterwards. Haha, I'm not embarrassed to say we loved the first Kung Fu Panda and couldn't wait for this one in 3-D. Its fun to be kids sometimes!

When we got home, we did the traditional cutting of the top layer of wedding cake that had been frozen for a year. All I have to say is: WOW. I have to say my hopes were semi-high about the cake having a descent taste. There was no part of it that tasted like anything besides freezer burned grossness! But it was tradition and we had to eat a bite. We got out our wedding toasting glasses and cut the cake with our wedding day cake cutters. In this case, it was definitely the thought that mattered! We felt bad for just tossing the whole layer of cake that we had waited a year to dig into... All that waiting for pretty much nothing. So we picked off each sugar rose (which were so delicately created by an awesome cake chef!) and decided to put them in a Ziploc bag to keep them in our freezer forever and ever for a while longer :).

It was a special anniversary for the following reasons:

1. Well, it is our first wedding anniversary, period!
2. We picked up a new hobby: canoeing! Next time we will do a kayak :)
3. We watched a hilarious cartoon movie in 3-D, and got to keep the awesome glasses!
4. We spend time with our Lilly girl, who has brought something extra to our lives :)
5. We spent the entire day together without seeing anyone else, having all the time together in the world dedicated only to each other... it was a beautiful thing :)

New Job and House Hunting

I know there has been a big gap in between my last blog and this one. There is a reason why and I will explain it! I have recently changed positions at Florida Hospital. I'm still working at the south campus (the best one!) but have moved 7 floors down. I have transferred from the fracture care unit to fracture care surgery. This is where I initially wanted to be when I first graduated nursing school last year, but God had a different plan. Don't you just love when that happens? Well, after-the-fact at least. So after having spend 8 long months as a floor nurse, I hopped on the first opportunity I could to get into the operating room down in fracture care to live on the other side of things. We have 3 surgeons in fracture care: Dr. Dean Cole, Dr. Brian Vickaryous, and Dr. Michael Hawks. Dr. Cole is the one who owns the "empire" and is world renown for his surgeries. He has invented a lot of the hardware and devices that they use in fracture care and has patents on many things. He has a waiting list of at least 6 months for patients who need scheduled surgeries (total knee, hip, shoulder replacements, limb lengthening procedures, etc.) on top of the trauma patients that come in everyday from accidents of any sort and broke a bone (or a few!) Its a whole other world being down in the OR all the day long. Its fun, its challenging, it can be super easy at times and it can be stressful in complex, long cases. It definitely has more consistency than working on the floor did, and that is a breath of fresh air. I still get to interact with the patients and their families before the surgery for a few minutes... just enough to have some small talk and comfort them that their loved one is in the best hands possible :). I love not having to manage 5 different patient's pain med schedules for 12 hours at a time plus giving a cup full of meds to each patient every morning and throughout the day. We do get meds for the patient but its usually just surgery related meds (antibiotics, numbing for local injection, etc.) Its very technical and task oriented. There will be days when we work the normal hours of 6:45am-7pm, and then there are days when the surgeries aren't finished until midnight. It just all depends :). I am liking it so far though!

On another note, we are in the process of buying our first house. All I can say is AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! We were prepared in the sense that it is not like buying a car... go to the dealership, say "I want this one", give them money and drive off with the car. We did know we were coming into a waiting game. We did not realize how difficult short sales can be, which happens to be what we are dealing with currently. I really do not want to give out details yet in case something falls through. But I will request prayers for God's favor on us as we go through this process. We are praying for this one particular house that we have put an offer on. But if God has something better, we are praying for a clear sign that says "THIS IS NOT THE ONE!!!" as much as we would love for it to be. Thankfully, we have saved all year long for a down payment and can patiently stay in our apartment until we find the right home to move into. Basically, we've got nothing but time. And that is a good thing to have in this market since there is so much waiting involved. So please keep us in your prayers!

I will post again soon. I'm sorry for the delay in between posts. I promise I will try my best to keep up with it as things happen.

Blessings,
Ashley

Back to the Blog!

Hello friends!
I am so happy to be blogging again. I blogged up until April 2010 about getting ready to endeavor into the world of marriage and healthcare. SO much has happened since last summer! 2010 was the biggest year of my life. It held the best times of my life as well as some of the scariest times. I believe my very last blog was about "marriage planning" and getting the apartment ready for us to live in. Shortly after that time, I graduated nursing school. It flew by and was the most absolute, surreal time in my whole life. I can't believe that chapter of my life is OVER forever! It taught me so much more than I ever asked to know (haha) but also that I could do whatever I set my mind to if I gave 100% of myself (and 95% of my time to studying!) It was the happiest day of my life until my wedding day. So I'll separate the two below so I don't confuse myself anyone :).

Wedding:
Once upon a time, I GOT MARRIED! I married my prince on June 12, 2010. I had been waiting for that day for almost 4 years, officially for 11 months since we had gotten engaged the previous summer. The day itself was perfect! My maid of honor, Emily, was down here and shared in the celebration with me (how it should be!) I woke up that day, showered, got ready, went and got my hair done, did my OWN makeup, and headed to the church. Kristy, our wedding coordinator, made sure everything was take care if so I could have fun getting ready. (as well as my parents, my bridesmaids, and the amazing catering company.) I felt like a princess that day and I loved every second of it! The moment when we were all standing up to walk out and form the line is when the tears started coming, but I kept them from falling because I really wanted to stay composed. All the girls had gone up the aisle already and Kristy came to let my dad and I know that it was our turn to line up. This is the moment I had been waiting for for so long... I tried my best to absorb every second of it. The doors opened at just the right moment in the song (yes, there was part in the song that went best with the doors opening!). I saw my future husband waiting for me up the aisle in his white tux. I did not lose it, like I always swore I would. I honestly don't know how I kept my composure. I think people who think they will fall apart don't, and people who think they won't fall apart DO. Its just the way of the world. The wedding was beautiful though and the reception was a blast! Everyone says the bride and groom barely have time to eat and might get a piece of their own cake. Well I made sure we ate (well, as much as my corsett would allow) and got cake. The honeymoon was absolutely amazing and I'm addicted to cruises now! I can't wait for our future vacations together. I love facing life with this man. He takes care of me like nobody's business!We have a blast together. We have date nights as often as we can. We both are doing our best to feel like newlyweds forever! I couldn't be more proud to wear a wedding set. On our honeymoon, I couldn't flaunt it enough! I still can't flaunt it enough! I love being married to this man. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us. I'm so excited to endeavor into the adventures of buying our first house, having a family, and facing everything in life together.

Nursing:
Oh goodness. Where do I even start? Being a nurse makes me want to rip my hair out of my head brings pure joy to my heart! Haha. Actually, it does both. The day I found out I passed the NCLEX and was officially a registered nurse, "RN", it was pure bliss. The moment that I had been preparing for the last 4 years was finally in my grasp. I couldn't be happier with my profession. I love taking care of patients. Where I really want to be working is in the operating room, which I will be coming up in March. But for the last almost 8 months I've been working on the floor please help me! I really do have a love/hate relationship with nursing. And honestly, I believe most other nurses feel the same way. I work on the fracture care floor, so we get patients who have been in accidents ("missed" a step, tripped over my cat, motorcycle accident, car accident,) OR patients who come in specifically for Dr. Cole to replace things (hips, knees, attitudes). Its been an amazing floor to learn on because if you learn to work on this floor, you will be able to work anywhere. You have 4-5 patients each shift. A nurse basically is the conductor of everything that happens with the patients while they are in the hospital. We don't just follow doctor's orders and pass out meds. We carry phones around and chart pretty much everything we do with the patient on our toughbook (the laptops you see the nurses carrying around.) And on our floor, we basically give out narcotic pain medications like candy. Everybody is in pain. Dilaudid, morphine, oxycodone, oxycontin, percocet, vicodin, etc. You name it, we got it and give it. A lot. There will be a doctor calling your phone while you're in a patient's room administering meds, while another patient's family member is outside of the room waiting to ask you about the plan and is ready to give you an ear full about how the ball isn't rolling fast enough, while another patient's family member is asking when the discharge paperwork will be finished, while another patient is waiting on pain meds, while PACU (aka recovery) is calling through on the other line to give you report on your other patient who is out of surgery and coming back to the floor shortly. Not to mention the days when one patient has a low blood count and needs blood, and another patient has a blood sugar of 40, and another patient is confused and trying to crawl out of bed, despite restrains and a broken hip. And all this is barely even scratching the surface of being able to describe the intensity of it. Its a floor that nurses really can get burnt out on easily. The bad days really make you think about how badly you need/want to keep your job. But when you get good patients who appreciate you, it works as a buffer to help you keep going. I'm actually getting ready to move to surgery though in March, where my heart originally was. I'm transferring from fracture care on the 7th floor to fracture care surgery on the 1st floor... Woohoo! I'm already back in school as well for my bachelor's degree in nursing... not for a huge increase in pay, but for credentials and marketability. Its ethics, management, research type classes, not medical. So far one class at a time has been like a couple hours of work a week. Nothing like getting my RN degree! I am very excited to be a new nurse though and I love answering the question "so what do you do for a living?" I proudly get to say "I'm a nurse."

So what is going on right now?
We are in love with our puppy Lilly. She is soooo good! So full of life and energy. Everyone in our apartment building knows here and we've been asked by MANY people what kind of dog she is, because they want one just like her. We are endeavoring on the journey of house hunting. So much fun! I'm so happy to be blogging again. More to come in the near future.

Blessings,
Ashley Cannon