Busy Busy Bees Posted on Sunday, October 11, 2009 |

Yep, working as a full time RN plus classes plus normal errands has completely flooded my schedule the past week. As of now, I have worked two full 12 hour shifts (soon to be three tomorrow) as an RN and almost completed my new grad classes. All I have left for now is an EKG competency class on friday and finishing an online certification for stroke specific assessments. It's still daunting for me to be fully aware of my nursing license and responsibility associated with that. My preceptor (the nurse who is my teacher/guide/lifeline on my unit until she deems I am ready to practice on my own) had been so "confidence-building" for me lately and keeps reminding me that I have a license & can make necessary decisions in my nursing practice. I know she will be a big part of my life for the next couple of weeks, preparing me for my first days without her.

When I first learned that my hospital was almost 20 miles away from my apartment, I cringed and worried about timeliness and how it would affect my sleep. Fortunately, the 25 minute commute so far has been a great way to drain my large coffee, rock out to some sweet jams and really get pumped up for the 12 hour day ahead. Plus because my hospital lies east of my home, the sun has just started to rise as I drive on the I-8 at 6:15 in the morning. It's really great having that time to really wake up and feel (hopefully) mentally prepared for the long day ahead.

While not at work or in class, I have been going on very long runs recently. At least an hour and even up to an hour and a half like today; I can't really put into words how calming and stress relieving these runs have been for me lately, except I really feel the endorphin rush soon after I get home (it's sooooo great). A goal I have been seriously considering lately is running a half marathon in January (13.1 miles!). I ran the Charlottesville 10 miler in April and had the time of my life, so I am looking for a new challenge to work towards in the coming months. The half marathon I have been researching is in Carlsbad, about 30 minutes north of me, and the home of Legoland, Tony Hawk, and some excellent outlet shopping.

Today has been an excellent day to cap off the weekend. Amy and I have been connecting with the UVA Club of San Diego recently and they had an event at the Bernardo Winery connecting all the alums out here. Apparently there are at least 2000 (!) alums living in the southern california region; this was so shocking because as far as I know, Amy and I are one of the few people from the class of 2009 who moved out here. Who knows though, there are probably a ton others that we have yet to meet. What was really neat was the CEO of my hospital is a UVA alum, and meeting her in person was so great in such an informal setting. With all of the wineries in Charlottesville, you would think that I would be an expert on wine tasting, however today was my first real tasting experience. I absolutely loved it; it made it even better talking with alums and future events.

This week should be pretty mellow, with working tomorrow and then trying to studying for my EKG test on friday/finagling my schedule...yeah that's actually tough. anyways, hopefully I'll get some more photos up soon!