The joys of wedding planning...

I have been very productive the last two days! We have tuxes and flower girl dresses picked out, and flowers as well! I was surprised by how picky Derek was when it came to the tuxes! I guess they gave him too many choices! He wanted them to be different and didnt want to be too "boring" if thats even possible. The flower girl dress is so cute! I cant wait to see the little ones in it. The flowers were probably the most frustrating part. According to the experts, teal isnt a very easy color to work with. They originally wanted me to have all white flowers... umm...white dress, white flowers?! I finally convinced her that I wanted at least a little bit of color, but they are going to be a lot different than what I originally thought I'd have. They will hopefully still look great. Who would've known that choosing flowers would be such a process!!!

Other news.. Derek and I have been looking online at houses for sale in NW Rochester. Just to see what was out there and what to expect for prices in our area. We hadnt found anything that we really liked, until last week. Derek fell in love with a house and had to show me the pictures right away. It was a very nice house and pretty much had everything we were looking for, except the price was quite a bit higher than what I wanted to spend...and...its in Byron. After growing up in a small town, I did not plan to live in a town any smaller than Rochester. I was even thinking about moving to a suburb of the cities at one point. If I ever moved out of Rochester, I just assumed I'd be moving to a bigger city, not a smaller one. Our lease isnt up until the end of July, so we have just been looking online to get an idea. But now Derek wants to live in Byron. Part of me thinks its because he moved so much growing up, that this is the longest he has spent in one town and hes getting bored. Hes even talking about his sons playing sports for small town schools.. this boy has so many dreams!!! There are so many changes happening in my life right now I feel like I can barely keep up! So many decisions to make. Buying a house is a big step. And as easy as it is to keep renting, we're paying almost as much as we would for a house payment, and everyone keeps telling me that now is the time to buy.

Planning a wedding, saving up for a honeymoon, buying a house, going to school...what am I getting myself into!?

Christmas

I had a great Christmas this year. Even though I had to work Christmas Eve, we were still able to make it to my Grandmas house for a while. Some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were still there, so it was nice to see them. The we went to church, and then back to Rochester since Derek and I had to work in the morning. After work on Christmas day, we went to mom and dads and opened presents, ate some great food, and hung out with the family :) I got a lot of great stuff this year...a new camera, dvds, a bunch of books, clothes, scrapbook stuff, etc. It was Mara's first Christmas this year, and she was so cute opening her gifts and playing with her toys. I was amazed that she stayed awake so long and was happy the entire time. Such a cute little girl!

I missed out on the McNamara Christmas this year since I had to work, but I was thrilled to get a 12 hour EA (excused absence) on Sunday! The hospital census is very low, so there werent enough patients for all of the nurses, so some of us were able to have the day off! That meant I was able to watch the Vikings game! Derek had invited a lot of his friends over for the game, and he failed to mention that to me until I told him I was going to have the day off!! Typical guy. We had a lot of fun though, and the Vikings won! After the game, the guys played some guitar hero, and then later that evening Derek and I went to see Four Christmases! Such a good movie! We'd been wanting to see it since it came out. Yesterday was a great day! :)

Now today I'm hoping to get wedding stuff organized and maybe pick out flowers. I'm clueless when it comes to this stuff so I have a feeling I'll be giving my sisters a call at some point! ;) I know I want lilies and daisies, but I'm unsure what colors to choose. And I'm having a hard time finding anything that matches my bridesmaid dresses...apparently teal isnt a very common color for wedding decorations!! I'm off work now until Friday, so I'm hoping to get a bunch of stuff done this week. And I need to pick up my dress, order flowergirl dresses, and choose a veil as well! So much for a relaxing week off! ;)

Is it spring yet?!

It's pretty sad that I'm not really looking forward to Christmas as much this year... not because I dont love this time of year, but because I have to work during the majority of it. BOO. I work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I miss my moms family Christmas, and I also work 12 hour day shifts on the weekend, so I miss the McNamara side too. Luckily, my family decided to have our immediate family Christmas on the 25th after I get off work, otherwise I'd be pretty depressed this year I think! Derek works day shifts on Christmas too, so at least we'll be able to see each other. It wouldnt be so bad if I had missed out last year too when we went to Missouri to spend the holidays with Derek's family. At least there will be snow this year! There wasnt any snow in Missouri and it was warm out! Didnt feel like Christmas at all! (until we had to stay a couple days later because of the blizzards back home!)

I decided to finish my Christmas shopping after work Saturday morning since the mall opened at 8am. I was hoping to beat the snow, but I didnt. The snow was blowing everywhere and I almost got rear-ended on the highway because you couldnt see the person in front of you. This is exactly why I hate winter. I had one more gift to buy, but at the time I just wanted to make it home! Needless to say, I havent left the house since!

Snow, snow, go away!

I'm finally feeling better! :) I luckily only missed two nights of work, even though I've been sick since last weekend. I'm a little nervous about being at work overnight tonight with all of the snow we are supposed to get. I'm hoping I dont get snowed in! Some of the nurses said that a couple of years ago, the weather was so bad that none of the day shift people could come in, and the night nurses had to stay overtime and have twice as many people as we are usually allowed to have. YIKES. It sounds like we may only get 5 inches or so, which is better than the 6-10 inches they were talking about earlier. Sounds like the worst of it is supposed to come this weekend..when I'm supposed to be Christmas shopping! ugh. As long as we have snow for Christmas, I'm happy. It can all go away after that. I HATE snow, and I especially hate driving in it. Derek and I dont have very reliable cars for the winter either, so I avoid winter driving as much as possible. He really wants to get a truck, (along with the huge house, hot tub, and pool that he dreams of! ;) Ha! He apparently thinks we're made of money all of a sudden. A boy can dream though I suppose!

I'm getting really excited about our honeymoon now that the weather is so crappy here! Sounds like we may be going to Mexico. I have never really been anywhere fun, other than California to visit Danielle over a spring break one year. So I'm definitely looking forward to it. We've been looking a lot and have found some decent priced honeymoon packages. I let Derek be in charge of the honeymoon. I get to do all of the other wedding stuff, so thats pretty much his only job. We both really wanted to go to Hawaii, but we're obviously not made of money, so we cant quite afford that right now. We are definitely going somewhere with a lot of beaches and blue skies though! :)

Since I've been doing the Biggest Loser at work, I've lost about 5 pounds. About 1lb a week. Not too bad. Better than gaining a few pounds a week like I have been doing! Some of my coworkers have been losing 4-6 pounds a week! These are the people that can spend 2 hours at the gym everyday. I'm a bit on the lazy side! :) My original goal was to be down 20 by our wedding, but I'd be happy with 15. We'll see! My dress came in this week, so I'm excited to go in and try it on! :)

Blah

Yep, still sick. I was supposed to work tonight, but I had to call in. Derek's friend Andrew from Sandstone is in town for the night, and while they're in Owatonna with some of our other friends having some drinks and playin games, I'm stuck at home. Grr. When am I going to start feeling better? This is getting old really fast...

Nothing else exciting to write about. Workin on finishing another book..since theres nothing else to do when you're stuck on the couch all day!

On a happier note, the Vikings kicked ass yesterday! That cheered me up fast! Apparently they struggle to beat the bad teams but sweep the good teams! How does that work?!

Sick

I have spent the entire day on the couch today... I worked overnight last night, even though I didnt feel very well. It was too late to call in, so I didnt have much of a choice. I came home and slept this morning and Derek and I have been watching movies, and are having a Friends marathon now. He takes good care of me when I'm sick :) My throat is so sore and I just feel achy. I hope I'm not getting the crud that everyone at work has had...yikes.

I was supposed to go to Heathers today to make Christmas cookies with a few girls we went to high school with, but I had to stay home. I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow so I can get something done before my long week of work. We were planning to go to Whistle Binkies tomorrow to watch the Vikings game with a bunch of guys Derek works with. Looks like I may be watching the game on my couch! Oh well.

Books

Well my dreaded final is over! Such a relief! I think I did pretty well, but I wont know for sure until Sunday. One class down, and only 8 more to go before I have another degree! Woo hoo.

After sleeping for most of the day on Wednesday, it was no surprise that I was unable to sleep last night. I didnt feel the best, and tossing and turning was getting me nowhere, so I thought I'd read...reading has always put me to sleep in the past, so I was sure I'd be asleep in no time! I started reading a book that I was borrowing from my sister, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I've read two other books by her and loved them, and so far this book isnt any different! I started reading in attempt to fall asleep, and its now 8:45 am and I'm still awake! Yes, I'm a very slow reader so most of you would probably have the book finished by now, but I'm not quite done yet. I am amazed that I havent been able to put it down since 4 am! And I will be even more amazed when I'm able to read the entire book today! My sisters would be impressed ;) I really havent really read much other than nursing textbooks and lately its been art history books! (BORING!) Now that I'm done with classes for a few weeks, maybe I'll get the other one read that I borrowed from Katie as well! Haha!

busy week

Hmm, where to start?

After my long weekend at work, I had been planning to visit mom and dad on Monday and see the damage of the fire for myself. Unfortunately we got a ton of snow and the roads were nasty so we stayed home. Finally, on Tuesday Derek and I were able to go home. The pictures on the news and in the paper did not do it justice. Wow is all I can say. Dad was super busy running errands that day and said another day would be better, but since I was going to be in town meeting with our wedding photographer anyway, I had to at least stop and see the damage. Dad was outside blowing snow and came to my car as soon as we pulled into the driveway. I immediately gave him a huge hug and he shed a few tears and then reassured me that everything was going to be okay and we'd get through this. I was so happy to see him in positive spirits. I didnt know what to expect when I saw him, but I guess he had had plenty of time to think about everything so it was finally time to move forward. I love my dad so much, and I've only seen him cry twice in my life, so it was hard to see tears, but he told me he was happy we came over. Its so great that Derek has an interest in some of the same stuff as my dad, so they had a lot to talk about. And Derek really wants to help build the new shop when the time comes, since he used to work in construction and loves that kind of stuff.

Dad went on to fill me in on all of the insurance stuff and seemed very happy and surprised by the amount of money he should be getting back. It sucks that its going to take weeks before he gets the answers he needs, but he has a positive attitude about the whole thing, which makes me feel a lot better about it. Its hard to really understand the damage until you see it for yourself. But more than anything, I wanted to be there for my dad, since I'm one of the few people that hadnt had a chance to stop over since it had happened. As we were leaving, Troy, one of his good friends, stopped over and gave him a hug. I'm so happy everyone has been so supportive of dad. :)

My work schedule is crazy this week, so I havent had time to study for my final yet, which is TONIGHT. Yikes. I worked a day shift yesterday after working overnight last weekend, and I was so exhausted that I came home and took a nap after work, and meant to only sleep for an hour so I could get stuff done, and ended up sleeping until this morning!!! Holy crap! Of course Derek took a nap with me and he turned the alarm off, so we both got like 14 hours of sleep! I didnt think that was possible! So now I'm hoping to get a lot of studying done today. My work Christmas party is tonight too, I'll miss the food, but I might get there just in time for drinks and karaoke. Then I'm back to a night shift on Friday. Not sure how I managed to get scheduled 2 different shifts over 3 days, but I guess I should be used to craziness by now!

I should go get some studying done I suppose...wish me luck! ;)

A huge loss

Today was a rough day. My dad's shed burned down last night and he lost everything. It's really sad because he worked so hard to save money for that shed and he was really proud of it. Not to mention its his business and now his job is gone. :( My dad is by far one of the hardest workers I know. And some nights he stays out late in the evening just to get everything done. Luckily he wasnt in the shed at the time. I'm happy that no one was hurt, and I hope to God that this wasn't an intentional fire. I was so shocked when I heard the news. I feel so bad for my dad :( Why do bad things have to keep happening?

Derek's grandma also had a stroke last night. She seems to be okay and was released from the hospital today. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and it will all have been a dream.

Now I have to work tonight and all weekend...and thats the last thing I want to do. I guess I just need to be thankful that I have a job...

Busy, Busy

Aw, I just love her! :) Mara is my first niece, & I am also her godmother! :) These pictures were taken a while ago, but are some of my favorites! She is such a cutie!

The past couple of days have been busy, to say the least. I hate that it feels like there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done! I was so exhausted after working overnight on Tuesday, that I slept most of the day yesterday. The fact that it gets dark at 5 pm definitely doesnt help anything. I have two classes left until the end of the trimester, so you know what that means...its almost final time. I'm trying to stay focused, but art history is by far the most boring class I have ever had to take! I cant wait until its over!

Derek is working today and its my day off, so I'm trying to be productive. So far I've done a little bit of studying, but I get easily distracted by the computer!

We are doing the biggest loser competition at work, and so far I'm doing okay. I was pretty shocked that I've gained almost 20 pounds since I met Derek, so I figured I better do something about it. I'm afraid I wont fit in my wedding dress if I keep this up. I have a very bad habit of eating when Im stressed...and with everything I have going on right now, I find myself eating whatever is convenient. I tell you, living with a boy doesnt help the whole dieting situation. Lets just say Derek isnt the healthiest eater...and before I lived with him I didnt buy much junk food, and now it's always around. Its quite frustrating! We've been getting better at cooking the last couple of weeks, but it's pretty lucky if we're able to eat meals together since our schedules are so different.

I better go get some studying done...I have class tonight and then work 12 hour overnights this weekend. Blah.

The beginning of something new

Hello! It's been a LONG time since I've had a blog, but thought I'd start up again! It's hard to believe I'm actually finding time to do this with everything I have going on, but I'll try to keep up with it!

My life is pretty crazy right now. Derek proposed to me in June, so I've been busy with all of the wedding planning, and I'm learning very quickly that weddings are not cheap! Along with the wedding planning, I'm working full time as a registered nurse on a monitored cardiac surgery floor. I love my job, and although it can be very busy at times, I know that I have the perfect career for me. My coworkers are great, which definitely helps! :) It's hard to believe I've been a nurse since February already! Time sure does fly by!

Also, for those of you who havent heard (if you've seen my facebook or myspace site, it would be extremely difficult for you not to know!) I became an Auntie for the first time this April! Maralyn Elizabeth Booth is by far the happiest baby I have ever met! Not to mention the CUTEST! ;) I never knew how great it would be to be an aunt! I absolutely love it! It's so fun to watch Mara grow up, and its hard to believe she is 7 months old already! I'll post pictures of her later! As if I didnt want to be a mommy enough already, she definitely makes me even more excited to have my own little one someday :)

Other than that, I'm also back in school. Yippee! I decided I better just get it over with! I currently have my 2-year nursing degree, so I'm finishing my bachelors degree now. I figured since Mayo is paying for it, I cant really pass it up! Plus, if I ever wanted to work anywhere else, it's definitely a plus to have a 4-year degree. I apparently really enjoy being super busy all of the time. My days off of work are rarely relaxing, since I have a million other things I need to be doing! Oh well, keeps me out of trouble I guess! ;)

Besides the craziness, I cant really complain. I never dreamed I'd be where I am at 23 years old. I found the one I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, I have a career that has a million possibilities, and pretty much guarantees me a job for life, and I have the best family and friends a girl could ask for. I am so blessed.