long week...

i have once again been a terrible blogger this week. surprise surprise. it has been a long and busy week though. two tests and work and school and just the usual. getting back to town after sarah's wedding and trying to get back into the groove of things just threw me off a little bit. that and just getting out of bed in general is sometimes tough.

i took two pharmacology tests this week and actually did pretty well on them. one is a dosage calculations test and it is just pass/fail and i passed so thats a relief. the other test was pretty tough, lots of memorizing, but i did better than i thought i was going to do. and they are over so thats all that i really care about in the grand scheme of life.

work was good all week - we are short staffed so things have been a little crazy, but it makes the hours go by quickly. i cant believe tomorrow is already friday. that is insane to me. i dont have to work again till monday...also insane. i am not sure how i worked that out to be honest. i have to do a phlebotomy class thing tomorrow for a few hours in the afternoon, but other than that, i am home free.

although i did manage to really overbook myself this weekend. i am doing dinner tomorrow night for jillians birthday and then onto the feeding5000 show to do my usual selling cds and tshirts thing. then on saturday i was gonna ride with the feeding5000 boys to dallas for their concert, but i am actually going to michelles lingerie/bachelorette shower so i am going to drive down with kathryn and then just meet the boys at the show. i am really looking forward to the bachelorette good times and meeting everyone out and i think it is going to be a lot of fun. and its a good thing i am off work on sunday because i am pretty sure i will be exhausted when i get back.

the weather here has turned beautiful and i am loving the 70 degrees every day. it puts me in such a good mood. i am ready for spring. i cant believe its pretty much march already. nuts.

i really need to get to cleaning up my apartment because alli and nicole come in town 2 weeks from today and at this point, i cannot have house guests stay here, i would be too embarrassed. i mean, its okay for me to not be able to see the floor in my bedroom, but i dont want it to be like that when they come here. and i know myself, it will probably take the entire 2 weeks until they get here to actually get the whole thing cleaned between picking up a few things and going back to watching my tivo. dang tivo...distracts me all the time!! but i cant wait...i wish the 2 weeks was now, we are going to have the best time. seriously...the best time.

and then there was one...

one being me. being not married. hahahaha. the weekend is over and its sad per usual. what a great great time i had. it was a weekend full of all things wedding related. saturday was the bridal luncheon and a day jam packed with girlyness. the bridal luncheon was at the secret garden tea room which i love. i went there for the first time ever with sarah and kat years and years ago and so it always reminds me of them. lunch was great and everyone was there. then we all went our separate ways to get nails done and hair done and dressed up.

i went home and hung out with my mom for a bit and then i had to head to get my hair done. it was a whirlwind of primping as soon as i got there. eyebrows waxed, hair done, spray tan. crazy. i hated my hair and the girl that was doing it seemed to not have any idea what i was trying to get her to do, so i ended up just taking matters into my own hands (literally, hahaha) and sweeping it all into a low side ponytail and calling it a day. thats right, i am bringing back the side ponytail. hot. then my mom had convinced me to get a spray tan, i was super leery at first because i didnt want to look orange, but they talked me into it and i did it. i actually loved it, i couldnt, and still cant get over how tan i am. and the funniest part about it was that the tan gets darker over the next few hours so as the night wore on, throughout the wedding and reception, i just kept getting tanner. hilarious.

then i went over to do adrienne's hair and we were a bit late to the church, but we made it before all the hoopla began. got some make up on, did the pictures...wedding time. the ceremony was beautiful and sarah looked stunning. i cried...cause i always do. sarah and ryan just both looked so happy and it made me so happy to see the joy on their faces. ta did a great job officiating the ceremony. everyone looked amazing.

then onto the dance party, i mean, reception. we tore it up. the reception was amazing. if you walked into it in the middle of it, you would have never known it was a dry wedding. we were dancing up a storm. the highlight of the night easily was when mammie felt led to do the splits in the middle of the dance floor. i had to walk off and go sit down and cross my legs for fear of peeing myself because i was laughing so hard. i couldnt stop laughing, it actually started hurting. it was unbelievable. the dj played some jams - low by flo rida is my song!! i got so excited. and seriously, a wedding where they play soulja boy...priceless. so we ate, we danced, we sang...it was perfection.

the reception ended and we werent quite ready to call it a night so a few of us just picked the first bar in the GPS and headed to the iron horse pub. let me just tell you, wichita falls knows how to have a rocking good time. hahahaha. we did have a good time. didnt stay out too late cause it had been a long day. then a quick stop by taco bueno on the way home (obviously) and into bed. i couldnt wait to go to sleep.

today i had lunch with my dad and then headed back to austin. i was so glad to get back to town...the drive was easy and there wasnt any traffic. i did have a tragedy though - my ipod officially died today. like, dead. it flashed a picture of an ipod on the screen with a sad face and then it shut off. i tried all the troubleshooting tips on the internet and nothing worked. i think its time to retire it. i was/am very sad about it.

now i am home, just had some dinner and i am ready to get in bed and sleep for hours and hours. this week is gonna be a busy one too...school, tests, birthdays, concerts, lingerie showers...more driving to dallas. here we go....

rehearsing is always a good time.

so tonight was sarah's rehearsal dinner and it was a shin dig indeed. i am home in wichita falls for the much anticipated union of sarah and ryan. its gonna be quite the weekend. i got up in austin this morning and ran around like a crazy person trying to get last minute things done before hitting the road. i got on the road around 11 and made it to wichita falls around 3:30. just enough time to come home and say hi to my mom and start a load of laundry, hop in the shower and get ready to go. i went over and fixed kat's hair for the rehearsal dinner and then we were on our way. before i headed to the church i had this brilliant idea of surprising keaton at work. he didnt know i was in town, i am not sure how he didnt know, but regardless...he had no idea. so i went up to his work and just walked in a surprised him. totally worth being late to the rehearsal because he was so excited and surprised. it was adorable.

then onto the rehearsal...the same ol' same ol'...walk down this aisle, stand in this order...that whole thing. not a big deal...moving on to the more important thing - dinner. dinner at the country club, always a good swanky time. it was so fun to see everyone again and have all the laughing and the speeches - funny and touching and sweet. the food was awesome, i had the best salmon ever...so good i had to go back and get more. i got to see all my cute pregnant friends - apparently there is something in the water that makes everyone have girls these days. lots of laughing and photo ops and just all around good times.

we called it an early evening because we are all old...and some are pregnant, and most are married. i went over to my dad's house and hung out with my dad and keaton and his new girlfriend, madison. we just sat around and caught up and hung out - it was a good time. i love my little brother so much, what a great person he has turned out to be. seriously.

and now i am back at my mom's...about to call it a night. i have a bridal luncheon starting in about 8 hours that i have to at least look somewhat presentable for. then its a long day of hair and makeup and pedicures and dresses...pictures and being at the church early. then an awesome night of dancing and eating and seeing people i love. yea for weddings!!

so sleepy.

this should be a mediocre post at best because i just got home from work and i am exhausted. i came home and sat on my couch and cant seem to get off of it. i really only meant to sit down for a minute because i need to get some things done before hitting the road in the morning, but alas, i do not seem to be making any progress. i think i am just gonna go to sleep right now and then wake up and throw some clothes in a bag and hope for the best when it comes to seeing what i actually managed to pack.

i head out in the morning to go home to wichita falls for the weekend. pretty excited!! i am ready to get sarah's wedding weekend underway. i am looking forward to seeing everyone again and getting to hang out and have fun and wear pretty clothes and take pictures and dance the night away with my best friends. always, always a good time. plus i am excited to see my mom and dad and brothers. i want to meet keaton's new girlfriend...i hope she is around this weekend.

today was okay...i had two tests and i am not really sure how they went. i dont think all that great. hahahaha. but ya know what?? they are done and over with and seriously thats all i care about at this point. i was just ready to get this week over and finish work tonight so i can start my 3 day weekend. no school, no homework, no work. its gonna be great. plus i love spending a few hours in the car by myself so i am excited about dance party '08. which reminds me, i need to get up right now and update my ipod. dang it.

a silly string kinda night...

so, yesterday when i left work, i asked veronica what i could bring her to make her smile. she thought about it and then answered "silly string." well, silly string i could definitely do. always have to oblige her anyway, and who can say no to silly string!?? so, like the good worker i am, skipped my first class today to go on a city wide search for silly string. and it was more than worth it. when things slowed down tonight at work, i went into veronica's room and her and me and her sister diana were ready. we each had our own silly string and we began to lure people into the room, only to attack them!! it was hilarious. vero had the best time and was smiling so big. it was nice to see her laughing and having fun after such a long and tough day. plus i love playing tricks on people...

that was easily the highlight of my day/night. it was a rough rough day at work today. many things going on, lots of news and changes and busy things happening. i was so happy and so ready to get off and go home tonight. i am hoping tomorrow is a little more calm.

as far as the rest of my day goes it was basically just school...the usual. i went to lab and regretted it because it was so dang boring. i have two tests on thursday that i really need to get on the ball about studying for. i have pharmacology homework due tomorrow that luckily i already did yesterday at work during some down time. that means i can just get in bed right now, which is amazing because i am exhausted.

its only 3 days until i get to go home for the weekend and until sarah gets married. insane. i am really looking forward to the weekend in wichita falls and getting to see everyone. its going to be so much fun. i just have to make it through 2 more days of class and tests and work, then its me and the open road for 5 hours on friday. better charge my ipod!!

sometimes i just dont understand...

and today is one of those days. veronica has relapsed and i am really sad. her doctors dont understand why and so therefore, we cant be made to understand either. i am sad and frustrated by it. she is a fighter and she is tough, but i hate to watch kids go through this. i hate that she has start all over and be sick and be miserable. ugh. pray for her and think about her because i love her. i love her entire family so much. she makes me smile every day. as do her sisters - i have never seen anyone drink so much milk in my entire life. thats me and diana, she is the oldest sister and she is great. if i had a sister, i would definitely want her to be like diana. what a sweet spirit she has.

other than that, the day was pretty good...somewhat uneventful. i slept so late today - i think working that night shift and then this weekend has me all turned around. i definitely have my days and nights mixed up at the moment. i didnt go to bed till after 3 last night and woke up for the first time today at like 12!! thats way too late. so i am gonna head to bed soon and hopefully get back on a normal schedule. i cant be sleeping half the day away every single day. i even got some homework done at work tonight which was really nice.

i am looking at my valentine flowers and they are making me smile. i am looking at my apartment and thinking it needs to be cleaned. i am actually all caught up on my tivo. no more 'one tree hill' to watch...now i actually have to wait each week for a new episode. rude. same goes for 'lost'. i watched all three seasons this time last year, one episode after the other for 3 weeks in a row and it was amazing. having to wait a whole week to see the resolution to a cliffhanger is horrible!! plus, i got hooked on 'rescue me' this weekend and watched the whole first season and started the second and now i dont own it and i am so curious whats happening in the lives of those firefighters.

have i really gone on for a whole paragraph about tv?? thats too bad...i need to get out more. tomorrow is boring class day and then work. i am on a mission to find silly string for veronica. that or a tiara, we will have to see what i can come up with before work. i applied to be a counselor at camp discovery today. its a camp for kids with cancer thrown by the american cancer society every year. its for a week in july and i really hope i get accepted and picked to be a counselor because i think it would be so amazing.

monday monday monday...

how is already monday again!?? where does the weekend go?? well...when its miserable and rainy outside and hailing and you dont get off the couch all weekend, it tends to go by faster than it should. and thats okay, i just want it to come back fast too.

the weather has turned right around and now its beautiful outside again...i think its going to be a really nice week. i am glad, i am very much ready for t-shirt weather. actually, i am ready for sundress weather, but i would settle for a t-shirt. i really just hope it stays nice through the weekend because i want it to be semi-warm for sarah's wedding on saturday.

i cannot believe that sarah is getting married this weekend. i mean, its not like it snuck up on me or anything, i remember when we were planning her engagement party. it is just so crazy that its here and that its time. i am looking forward to her wedding, its going to be so much fun. now thati dont live in wichita falls, but i live close to it, i get really excited about going home. i love getting to see my family - they crack me up. and i love all the people that are going to the wedding...we had such a blast last weekend at the bachelorette shower, so i am super excited to get to spend a little more time with them this weekend. there will be dresses and dancing and lots of pictures - definitely my kind of event.

this week is gonna be a little crazy, a lot busy, and maybe a little stressful. i have two tests on thursday and homework due on wednesday. plus i am working every night and then leaving friday morning for wichita falls. sounds like not a lot of time for playing or sleeping. thats okay, i can sleep and play all weekend i guess.

i am already making big plans for when alli and nicole come to town - i am so freaking excited. i think when they get in town on thursday, we are gonna go out in the dallas/ft. worth area and just spend the night there and then drive to austin on friday morning. nicole really wants to ride a mechanical bull and i know there is one up there, i am sure there is one in austin, i just have yet to find it. regardless, its gonna be an amazing weekend and i cannot believe its less than a month away!!!

valentines day...

wow...today totally went different than i thought it was going to. i woke up at the amazing hour of 10am...per usual. then i had to go to class which i was definitely dreading, but it actually wasnt so bad. i survived. i came home and got flowers!! i got an awesome day at the spa...life is good. i was just pleasantly surprised all day. i didnt really give much thought to valentines day to be honest...not in a negative way, just that i didnt have anyone to spend it with - and that was fine. i had class, i had to work...i knew that going into the day and it wasnt a big deal.

so, tonight is my first night shift at work - i was a little nervous, a little dreading it, but it is currently 4:30am and therefore i only have 2 and a half hours to go and i am done! i am basically in the homestretch now. i havent really gotten tired yet, although i think i will be excited to go home and sleep. i got to work and everyone stopped me immediately as i got on the unit...it was strange. they were all asking who my flowers were from and i was so confused what they were talking about. it turns out, my dad had sent me flowers up to my work and they had arrived around 3 and so everyone was so curious who they were from. it was such a surprise to me and so sweet...i felt very special and i think it was so thoughtful and awesome of my dad to do that. he is a good dad.

i am going to go ahead and say that night shift was a success...as was valentines day. i am going to go home in a few hours and sleep away the day. well, i hope not sleep away too much of the day, i need to get up and shower and do laundry and get on with my weekend. no work all weekend...oh happy day!!!

when five becomes six...

well, i know for so long i have had my five favorite girls...and then i met yazmin. and so the group must expand from the 'fab five' to the 'super six'. yazmin is a 16 year old new diagnosis. she is beautiful on the outside, like, stunning and she is even more amazing on the inside. she makes me smile and she makes me laugh and i love her attitude about life. she does whatever we tell her or ask her because she is determined to beat cancer and just go back to living her life. she doesnt do the 'what ifs', but she is still logical and real. she acts 16 and goes to the mall and has an adorable boyfriend and loves to buy shoes and text message and talks about her weight. she lost her hair very quickly, but she is okay with it. she got a gorgeous wig made of real hair and we have so much fun with it. i tried it on and we decided that i am definitely not meant to have dark black hair. i looked very goth...

she has been in the hospital for 8 days this round of chemo and will get her last dose at 4am tonight and go home in the morning. she will come back in 3 weeks for her next round which is 5 days. we have gotten to hang out and be silly and eat chocolate cake and compare notes on everything in our lives. tonight she made me a valentine and it was the sweetest gift. she decorated a glass for me with hearts and beads and filled it with all kinds of fun candy and roses. i have already put it on my bookshelf because i want to see it everyday. i will be sad to get to work tomorrow and know she wont be there, but i am happy that she is fighting this disease so fiercely and i know i will see her in a few weeks. i am glad she can go back to her normal life for a few weeks and just be a junior in high school for a while.

she is so sweet, she goes around and she has introduced herself to our other teenagers with cancer on the unit. her upbeat personality and her energy is contagious and i think its great that she is sharing it with everyone. i have never heard her complain, even the day she was diagnosed she told her entire dance team when they came to visit her and she was calm and collected and straight forward. yazmin refuses to let cancer define her and that is what i love and respect about her.

reality check.

so, today i get to work and i find out that after about 30 minutes of being there, one of our patients passed away down in the intensive care unit. whenever something like this happens, we have to take out our employee directory and call everyone who works on the unit to let them know. well, no one has died since i have worked on this unit so this was my first experience with it...and because at the time of the news, i was the least busy person, i was elected to make the phone calls. the patient was only 3 months old and never really had a fighting chance. a death is still tragic and sad and heartbreaking because no one should have to lose a baby, but because she was so young and such a new diagnosis, she was often too sick to stay on our floor for more than a day or two. so for the most part, no one really knew her. i was able to take care of her personally a few times and so my heart breaks for the loss that her family is experiencing and for her short life and how miserable she must have been.

it just really puts things in perspective. it makes me feel blessed and lucky and it was the first time i have seen the tough part of my job. the fact that you have to take a death as a death and move on. people would hear the news and just say 'thanks for letting me know' and that was it. and i guess when it is something that happens regularly, the phone list, the getting the call, you have to take it in stride. sure, different people will be affected by different kids and some will be more heartbroken, but i guess the risk of this job is knowing that the outcome of death is always a possibility, and that is really hard.

so, tonight my heart just goes out to the little baby's family...i know they must be hurting more than i could ever fathom. watching your baby go through that must be gut wrenching and knowing there is nothing you can do. i am grateful that her fight is over though because no one that small and that young should have such horrible things happening to their little body and not be able to understand the pain or fight it off. i pray for all of them and mostly i pray for my kids who are still fighting this disease every day and who refuse to give up and who beat cancer and go on to live normal, long, healthy lives. wow...i love my job.

baby cokes!!

i love tiny cokes. i think they are so cute and the perfect size. it is definitely a perk of my job because all we have are the little baby versions of cokes. a huge benefit for someone like me, working in a childrens hospital, is that everything is in mini-form. so cute.

i am so exhausted i feel like i might want to cry. i dont know why, i think maybe the weekend just caught up to me. i got up this morning and had to take a test so i wasnt really able to sleep in. then just the usual running around and showering and getting ready before work. now i technically should be watching a video lecture for my pharmacology class, but i just dont think i can get motivated to do so. i will fall asleep in the middle of it and then it will defeat the purpose.

work was super boring tonight, which i guess in the grand scheme of life is a good thing because the floor was really empty and that means not a lot of sick kids, but it makes the hours just drag by. i did a lot of staring at the computer and reading magazines...i should have studied there. dang it. hindsight...

i am already really ready for the weekend - i am not sure that anything exciting is really even going on, but i am off work all weekend i just want to be able to go back to the quiet life. i had so much fun this past weekend, but none of it was my own and we all know that i need my katelynn time. i need to catch up on my tivo!! now that the writers strike is over, i am going to have so much more tv to watch on a regular basis. a blessing and a curse...hahahaha.

tomorrow is a busy day, school and work and then lots of homework, but it is one day closer to friday...phew.

and then its over...

and it is sad. i hate when a great thing comes to an end. in this case, its the weekend. i hate when any weekend is over because it means back to life and school and work, but its even worse when you have a particularly great weekend. i went out on friday night with the girls from work and we had the best time dancing the night away. we went to 'the marq' and the dj there was incredible. i think i got excited about 90% of the songs that he played. he would fade from justin timberlake into journey, into rihanna, into michael jackson, into tina turner, into tag team. it was amazing.

the weather has been perfect all weekend - it makes me so happy to live in texas when it is 78 degrees in the middle of february. i was able to run around in a tank top and be so warm and take lexi on long walks and turn my AC on even!!

saturday i spent the first half of the day in bed with miserable cramps and i was getting sad because i thought it was going to ruin my day and the fun plans i had for the night. it only put me behind schedule a little bit and that was okay. we had sarah's bachelorette party/lingerie shower and i had the best time. i love getting to see all the girls that come together for those events and getting to catch up with everyone and hear about the new things going on in their lives. we laughed so much about everything and made inappropriate jokes and comments and it was so great. i cant wait for the wedding in 2 weeks so i can see all of them all over again. i have been blessed with some great friends.

so, the weekend is over and alas, i am going back to work. i dont mind working on sundays, but for some reason today i am having a hard time getting motivated to get up and get dressed and get moving. i am just comfortable at home and i am dreading real life starting back again tomorrow. i want to go for a bike ride because it is so lovely outside.

2008...

wow...why do i suck at blogging?? i think i mean really well and then i get too busy to actually want to sit down and write things out. plus i think i have it in my head that i need to write something meaningful and worthwhile. i am gonna go ahead and let go of that feeling and just move on with trying to write something...anything.

i cannot believe its already february. how on earth have i lived in austin for 10 months already?? it doesnt even seem possible. i am still telling people that i am new to town - i think that expires after a year of living here so i need to be prepared to stop saying it.

school is crazy this semester...last semester it just came to easy and i didnt even have to go to class really. this semester has already had me studying far more than i ever wanted to and i have a test every other week it seems. i guess it is pretty much just all downhill from here...

still love my job. camryn is cured!! she is done with her chemo which is amazing. and means i will have to make the drive out to her family's house to be able to see her and all of the siblings. i am going to miss them being around our unit. kathy is going to get her transplant in about 3 weeks...crazy. it was such surprising news and so exciting!! i am switching over to the night shift and going to be working 7pm-7am. this sounds crazy to most people, but i think i can do it. you get paid more at night and now i will only have to work 3 days a week as opposed to the 5 i am working now. i just hate being so busy and never being home for lexi or being around to even see my best friends.

speaking of best friends, sarah is getting married on the 23rd. i cannot believe her wedding is only weeks away. i remember planning her engagement party. this weekend is gonna be awesome though because everyone is coming in town for her lingerie/bachelorette shower. we are going to have so much girly fun - i cant wait!!

things are good...life is great. i am already accomplishing my goals for the year and i just made them a few days ago. looking forward to march when alli and nicole come to town to hang out with me.

i will put up pictures and details from all the madness of the penis pinata and the weekend of underwear!!