What Happened to Summer?

As summer comes to a close, I wanted to look back at what I've done in the past few months, and what's coming up.

It was a summer of travel, albeit expensive, it was awesome!  The first trip was late June to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a friend's wedding and stayed a couple extra days to hang out with my good friend Kate and her gorgeous little girls.  It was a great weekend reuniting with friends I hadn't seen in a while.

I returned home for just enough time to unpack, do laundry, and repack for what would turn out to be my favorite vacation I've ever taken.  My mom, stepdad, and I met up with my mom's best friend and her husband in Vancouver for a couple days before we boarded a cruise ship for Alaska.  Vancouver was great!  It's beautiful!  I wish we had more time to spend there.  Our cruise took us to Ketchikan where we went ziplining through the Tongass National Forest, Juneau where we went whale watching, visited our first glacier, and spotted a little black bear. We then made our way to Skagway where we boarded the White Pass Train which makes its way up through the mountains and features the trail people used in the Klondike Gold Rush.  I biked back down the mountain back into town where I met up with my mom and John for a (rough) boat ride to the Davidson Glacier.  Once in the area, we had a picnic and then boarded a bus up to the glacier made lake/stream.  Along the way we spotted a big grizzly bear.  We got to stop and watch her for a while.  It was one of the highlights of our trip.  We then boarded a canoe and paddled our way towards the face of the glacier.  After a few minutes our guide turned on the motor and stopped paddling and just took in the view.  We got to get out of the canoe and actually walk on the glacier.  It was our first up close view of the melting/calving of the glacier, it was pretty cool and sad at the same time.  On our way back we got to see the grizzly bear again... she was chowing down on some plants.  Our guides took us to see a bunch of stellar seals on the boat ride back to Skagway.

Our next stop was Glacier Bay.  We spent the day on the boat watching glacier after glacier go by.  We spent an hour in front of the Margerie Glacier watching it calve.  That was awesome!!  The noises that it made as the ice shifted and broke away plummeting into the water really cool.  It was such a thrill to see, but at the same time sad.  It's amazing/sad to see how much of the glaciers have receded over the years. As we left Glacier Bay we got quite a show of humpback whales.  At one point it seemed like they were everywhere.  Spouts were coming up all over and there were a few whales breaching over and over and slapping their tales.  It was so so cool!  Another highlight for sure!

We had a couple days at sea, then disembarked the cruise ship in Seward.  We took a long bus ride up to Denali National Park.  The scenery can't be beat in Alaska.  I never slept on any of our long drives because I didn't want to miss anything.  I was on constant look out for animals. We got to Denali in the evening.  Night time is weird because it never gets dark, only dim.  You never really see the sunset  and it pretty much seems like it's about 7-8pm all through the night.  This was most apparent in Denali, although it was only the first night or two of our trip.  We only saw one sunset, and the only time we couldn't see the scenery was on a day with crazy fog.  The ship had to blow it's horn every 5 minutes or so during the fog.  It was a little creepy. We couldn't see two feet out our door.  Thankfully that only lasted a half day or so.  Back to Denali... the next morning Mom, John, and I took a small prop plane up to the top of Denali (Mt. McKinley).  We were nervous that we wouldn't be able to see it, but we got lucky.  It was the most beautiful, breathtaking, spiritual experience I've ever had.  Words and pictures cannot do that experience justice.  It was truly remarkable and something I won't forget.  We were supposed to do a glacier landing with the flight, but the pilot decided against it due to poor visibility.  He mentioned that a plane had gotten stuck on the glacier the week before and couldn't safely leave for THREE DAYS!!  Considering that we were not prepared for a prolonged stay on a freezing glacier, I was quite alright with his decision to keep us safe!  The flight was well worth the money regardless.  We took quite a bit of time weaving through the peaks and valleys of the mountain range and got to see great views of how vast the glaciers are.

After the flight we grabbed some lunch, then boarded a bus that would take us on an 8 hour tour of Denali park.  I was expecting herds of animals, which was not the case.  This was probably my only real disappointment of the whole trip.  We did get to see 3 grizzly bears, 3 caribou, and 3 doll sheep.  The scenery was beautiful despite not being able to see Denali (Mt McKinley) as there were too many clouds.  Only 30% of visitors to the park actually get to see it.  We were thankful we had taken our flight.

The next day we boarded a train for a scenic 8 hour ride to Anchorage.  The train was awesome.  It was spacious and was all glass on top so you could basically seen 360 degrees around you.  We spotted 3 moose, eagles, and swan families.  Once we got to Anchorage we grabbed dinner and took a walk downtown and did a little shopping.  We grabbed a drink at a cool bar, which we had to cut short due to a bar fight.  It got pretty heated, but thankfully no one was hurt too badly.  The nurse side of me does not appreciate seeing a man thrown to the cement ground. Head+cement=no bueno.  We flew home out of Anchorage the next morning.  I didn't realize it was a possibility, but we did get a full view of Denali from the plane.  It was awesome... far away, but an unexpected bonus.  The first 45 minutes or so of the flight was over a mountain range covered in glaciers.  I don't know if you've pick up on it yet, but I am obsessed with glaciers now.  It's amazing how beautiful, powerful, and huge they are.  I think the lady sitting next to me on the plane thought I was crazy taking a ton of pictures out the window of the plane.  Little did she know I had taken nearly two thousand already on the trip... what's a hundred more??

Everyone should take the trip once in their lives... at least everyone that appreciates nature and beautiful scenery.  I look at my pictures ever couple weeks and get sad I'm not still there.  I definitely want to go back!!

The weekend I got back I went to the Basilica Block Party.  It's a fundraiser for the Basilica featuring 3 stages and two nights of shows.  This year's headliners included Matt Nathanson, Goo Goo Dolls, and Matchbox Twenty. Quite a throwback to the 90s, and it was fantastic!

A week later I took a long weekend trip to Chicago.  I hadn't been there since high school, so it was fun to go back and be a tourist.  Got a chance to catch up with some good friends as well.  The highlight and original purpose of the trip was for the Justin Timberlake/Jay Z concert.  It was fantastic!  My only disappointment was that JT didn't dance as much as he usually does.  Instead it was a lot of jumping around.  I'm hoping when he does his tour by himself later this year he'll bring back some dancing!  I'm set to see him again in February.  :)

Two weeks later I flew to DC to help host a baby shower for a good friend.  It also happened to be a going away party weekend for a friend, so two birds+one stone=great weekend!  I always wish I had more time in DC.  I have so many great friends there that I never have enough time to see everyone.  I'm very thankful for my time spent living in DC.  It is a great city that treated me well. I only wish it were closer to the middle!

Two weeks later my former roommates Steph and Kala came for the weekend.  It was fun to spend so much time together.  We ate, we drank, we ran, we shopped, and we sang karaoke.  Fun weekend!!

The following weekend (this past weekend) my brother, Brian came for a visit.  I took him to the great Minnesota Get-Together AKA the state fair.  Brian tried cheese curds for the first time, and I think it changed his life... as they often do.  We had a great time!  It was nice getting to spending the time with him.

This week I start preparing for my next move: Denver.  I will move out of my place on Friday, store my stuff and my moms and gather what I need for the next three months (probably the hardest part of travel nursing).  I'll drive back up to Minneapolis next week to work my last three shifts and stay with a friend.  I finish work Friday morning.  I'll drive straight to my moms, take a nap, then load up my car, and drive to Omaha.  I was lucky enough to get a couple tickets from some friends for the Nebraska-Southern Miss game, so I'll stay in Omaha until Sunday morning when I make my way to Denver!  I start Monday at my new job.  Pretty crazy!  The move is definitely bittersweet.  I've been in Minneapolis for 15 months, and although it hasn't always been ideal, I've made a life here.  I love my job and have made a couple really good friends.  I love being close to home.  But, all this traveling this summer has made me realize I'm not quite ready to stop yet.  I love exploring new cities and doing all the touristy things.  I'm so excited to meet Denver.  I've been through the area many times, but never stayed in Denver.  I'm looking forward to reconnecting with some friends I haven't seen in a long time, and being close to my step-brother and his family as they welcome a their 3rd child into the world.  I'm excited to live near the mountains, to hike, check out breweries and learn to ski again.  I can't wait to see my first show at Red Rocks.  I'm also a bit nervous.  I hate starting a new job.  This place will have a totally new-to-me charting system.  I hate the first two weeks of not knowing where anything is and how their unit/providers like to do things, and I most certainly hate having to prove myself.  Also, I suck at names.  I'm so happy we have to wear badges, but I wish I could remember names.  It would really help when I have to ask a million questions and not just say "hey you... how do I...?"All in all though, I'm pretty excited for this next adventure.  It's a 13 week contract so that'll take me a week into December, then who knows?!

Anyone have anything I need to put on my Must Do list for Denver and the surrounding area?

Also, if your looking for pictures of Alaska, check out my fb album.  It's worth your time, promise! I'm too lazy to pull some highlight pics off my external drive.

It's Not The Holidays Without Bell Ringers!!

On December 10th, the morning after over a 10" snowfall in Minneapolis, and also the coldest day of the winter thus far, I volunteered to be a bell ringer for The Salvation Army... you know the ones outside of every Target and grocery store that you try to avoid eye contact with so you don't have to donate because you would be poor if you donated to every one that you passed in December?

I too have been guilty of this on a number of occasions, but I have a whole new prospective now.  I knew when I signed up last week that it was going to be cold today, so I thought I was being smart by picking a location in a parking garage connected to Lunds (grocery store).  I didn't realize that the parking garage was not sealed, and actually was open to the sky near the entrance that I was standing, and I also didn't realize that what I imagined as cold... 20-30 degrees was in reality 8 (!!!!) degrees.  I haven't felt 8 degrees in at least two years, if not four.

My trip to Lunds started off with me wildly underestimating how much it had snowed and how difficult it was going to be to get 10+ inches of snow off my newer to me SUV (I'm not that tall) which was also surrounded by about a 2 ft perimeter of 10+ inches of snow on the ground... goodbye dry shoes and socks.  Why did I think tennis shoes were a good choice??  After some cursing and questioning of why did I move to Minnesota I was on my way, but only after dominating the pile of snow that the plow left behind my car- yay for having a car that's high off the ground and AWD!!!

I arrive a few minutes late to Lunds, but really, who is surprised by this?  I put on my Salvation Army apron and get right to work ringing the bell.  It was a while before my first donation.  I quickly realized that they're are a few different reactions you get as a bell ringer:

Cold Shoulder- Really, they act cold and squish all their limbs to their body and tuck their head down b-lining it to the door, sure not to make any eye contact.

Sympathy- They look at you with sympathy that you're freezing your arse off.

Friendly Folk- Look you in the eye, say hi, and sometimes even add to the conversation.

Prepared- They've heard the bell from their car and have their money in hand ready to donate.

I tried to make eye contact, say hello and how are you to everyone that passed.  These are couple of my favorite responses to "How are you?"

"Never had it better!" -no donation

"I'm cold." -no donation (Seriously??  I'm standing outside ringing a bell, are you're cold?!?!)

The friendly folk were great!  One guy told me that he "finally made it downtown, or at least close enough."  I have no idea what he meant, maybe because of the roads/traffic from the snow?  Another lady came back and forth a couple times commenting that she forgot butter!  When she came back out she said she would bring me back cookies.  I left 40 minutes later, so I don't know if she was good for her promise, but I like to think she did, and some other bell ringer was there to enjoy them!

The Salvation Army has you sign up for 2 hour blocks.  This was great because I think I would have had frost bite on my toes if it had been any longer.  It's hard to shake a bell and stand in one place for two hours... especially when it's below freezing!  There is a science in how you shake the bell without your hand getting tired or frozen.  You have to keep the ringing at least rhythmic if the workers inside are going to have to listen to it all day.  After a little bit of trial and error I went with the hitting it against your thigh method, alternating hands every 5-10 minutes.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to wake up with bruises on my legs tomorrow from the bell!

You are allowed to go in the store for a short break to warm up, but I tried to push through.  I kept trying to think of all the homeless people out there that don't have the option to go inside to warm up.  I was doing it for them.  I lasted 90 minutes before I truly concerned that my feet were going to have some problems.  I walked inside for a minute and realized a "short break" was not going to help them feel any better, so back out I went and thankfully the last half hour went fast.

What I took away from this experience was that I will never be a "cold shoulder" passerby again.  I will say hello and if I don't have cash... EVEN CHANGE is much appreciated, I will at least thank them for standing out in the cold.  I really enjoyed volunteering and will do it again, but will perhaps pay better attention to the forecast next time.  :)

Hotel Living

As most of you probably know, I took an 8 week assignment in Minneapolis and I'm now living in a hotel downtown for the duration of the assignment.

Best things:

Blackout curtains- I slept for over 12 hours my first night after three 12hr shifts in a row... not that it's difficult for me to do that, (I'm an excellent sleeper) but those things are magical.  Can't wait for night shift!

Continental breakfast- It's not the best spread I've ever seen, but I get fruit, cereal, muffins, yogurt, and a variety of drinks for free every morning.

Room service- This might need to be on the worst things list...

Housekeeping- It took me several days to get up the courage to let them come when I was at work to clean... trust issues.  It was pretty great coming home to a tidy room.  Not that I've been able to get it all that messy in just a few days.


Worst things:

Only 32 tv channels, and no DVR-  I think this is going to be a good thing, but I'm still in a little withdrawal.

Space- I think this is also going to be a good/bad thing, with lack of living space I think I'm going to want to get out of my room a lot and hopefully explore more.

Knives- I didn't realize how bad knifes could really be.  Cutting apples has proved to be quite interesting.

Satellite Cable- goes out when it snows... I live in Minnesota.  This is going to be a problem.  Thankfully it's wasn't out for the whole day... with the first measurable snow.

Mini oven- it's maybe 1 1/2'x 1 1/2'... I don't think many pans will fit in it.  Guess I'm going to have to scale back on the fancy dinner parties I host. ;)

Oooh right... I have a blog!

Well helllooooo!!!  It's been a while, again!  I've been at my latest job for almost 8 weeks now.  I like it a lot- well parts of it anyway.  :)  It's a busy unit, so I have many shifts with two deliveries.  I feel like a real nurse again after two "slower" assignments.  I'm not a big fan of the charting/paperwork, it's a bit excessive, but that's the trend these days.  Ugh.  The part I like the best is being back to 12 hour shifts 3 days a week!  I'm not going to lie, many days I would love to go home at 3 with everyone else, but I'm quite happy with more free days.

Over the past several weeks I've been back to Omaha twice for my 10 YEAR(!!!) high school reunion and a wedding/camp reunion.  I've also had numerous quick trips to Iowa to see my momma.  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be able to be at my mom's for dinner or whatever in two short hours.  If only I could just drive down the street... that won't happen though, no small town Iowa living for this girl... on a permanent basis anyway- sorry Mom!

About a month ago I drove up to Duluth and the North Shore.  I drove up north of Duluth to Split Rock Lighthouse, hiked a little at Gooseberry Falls, and spent the night in a "cottage" near Two Harbors and then spent the next day driving the scenic byway in Duluth.  It was an AWESOME trip!!  I only wish I had someone with me to enjoy it with.  The fall foliage was gorgeous!

Split Rock Lighthouse

Gooseberry Falls

View of Lake Superior from the Scenic Byway in Duluth

I've also had the pleasure of attending the Renaissance Festival.  It was a day packed with extremely entertaining people watching capped off by a "Men in Tights" contest that... lets just say it wasn't for children.

In one week I had several friends in town.  Monday I got a random text from my friend GJ from DC.  He was in the area visiting family and wanted to go to Grizzly Bear (band) perform at First Avenue, which is a well known club/small music venue.  The concert was fantastic.  The venue is awesome.  I'm keeping my eye out for my next show there.  It was great to see GJ too.

Grizzly Bear at First Avenue

On Friday another friend from DC, Nate was in town for the weekend.  A group of us went to dinner and then to celebrate Oktoberfest at Gasthof Zur Gemutlichkeit.  It happened to be one of the first really cold nights in Minneapolis, so the huge tent they had set up was absolutely packed.  We made our way inside to the bar in the basement for dancing and a couple of rounds with Das Boot.  I won... twice.  Just sayin.

On Saturday my friend/former roommate Ash and her fam came up to watch her sister run in the Twin Cities Marathon and a little b'day celebration for Ash.  It was a blast!  I had so much fun showing the girls around the cities.  Hopping from spot to spot on the marathon route was a great way to see the city.  Makes me want to run it next year!  Well, maybe not, but you never know!  I like the idea of running Grandma's Marathon in Duluth as well, but considering I haven't run more than 5 miles in a very very long time, I've got some work to do!  Anyway, we had a fabulous weekend trying new restaurants and just spending time with old friends.  After spending the last nearly 8 months constantly meeting new people and familiarizing myself with the unfamiliar it is so so nice to be with people I can completely be myself around without hesitation.  The weekend also made me assured of how much I love Minneapolis.  I was very proud as my friends commented on how cool/pretty the cities were.

Last night a fellow traveler on the unit and I went to dinner and then open mic night at Joke Joint comedy club.  It was a lot of fun.  The stand up was, well some of it was really funny, a lot of it was incredibly incredibly awkward.  The crash and burns were made even more awkward because it was a small crowd.  I'm happy to report that the women did waaaaaaay better than the men.  Made me miss going to the Funny Bone in Omaha.

I still have my hesitations about the city, mostly it's due to the fact that the majority of the hospitals hire people into 8 hour positions, and ultimately my fear of commitment.  I've also been talking to a fellow traveler who reminds me of how fun traveling nursing can be.  Her stories remind me of how awesome it can be to move to a totally unknown city and throw yourself into it.  Meet new people and have some crazy adventures.  On the other hand, I want to be settled in one place, with lots of friends, and a place to call home.  Part of me also wonders if I should take this opportunity to start something new with nursing.  I just don't know what that would be.  I just feel all sorts of unsettled.  If anyone has any advice or suggestions I'm all ears.

In the next 5 weeks, I'm hoping to get out and about as much as possible.  Last weekend I was able to get my winter gear out of storage, so although I am not mentally ready for winter to start, I at least have my ski coat if necessary.  In a couple weeks I'll make my way to be a bridesmaid in my friends, Sharon and Billy's wedding in Virginia.  I'm really looking forward to seeing them.  It's been a really long time.  I met them on my first travel assignment in DC.  We had a fantastic summer together that year.

As of right now, Dec 1st is my last day of this contract.  I've told the manager I'd be interested in extending my contract for a couple weeks.  She said she was hoping not to need me, so we'll see.  I hope to extend just so I'm not out of work for a whole month.  I don't want to start another assignment right before Christmas.  For once I'd like not to have to worry about my work schedule over the holiday.  I'd like to get another assignment in MN for January.  I don't want to make a permanent move anywhere in the middle of winter!  Travel assignment moves are much easier than big moves! As for right now, I just have to wait and see what the opportunities are for the new year come December.

Wrapping Up Another 3 Months!!

I haven't had many posts this summer, honestly because having an exciting and spontaneous life while working 8 hour night shifts has proved to be quite tricky.  After almost 3 months,  still haven't figured out how to sleep correctly, much less fit in exciting day trips to new places.  Don't get me wrong, I've managed to have some fun!

Last weekend my friend Lauren and I headed to my mom and step dad's house (one of the places I've found myself the most) to join my mom and brothers for a 5k.  Lauren and I managed to shave off about 3 minutes off our first 5k race we did together.  It was the first race I've ever done with family, so that was pretty cool.  Everyone finished!!  I had high hopes to medal as this was a significantly smaller race than I've ever done before, but it turns out slow in DC/Minneapolis is still slow in small town Iowa! :)

Sunday we went to the Minnesota State Fair.  This was my first state fair outside of the Iowa State Fair... yep, I grew up in Nebraska, but have never been!  I don't think many Nebraskans have been... at one point I think it was going to get shut down.  I'm not even sure if there is still one.  Anyway, we always opted for the home of Butter Cow!  Although smaller than Iowa's, the Minnesota State Fair did not disappoint in the amount of fried goodness on a stick!  I tried cheese curds for the first time-- they're HUGE in Minnesota, and for good reason.. they're DELICIOUS!  Yummy salty fried cheesy goodness that should probably just stay at the fair for me for only once a year indulgence.

What's next you ask? Oh well, surprise!  I've already been in MSP for 3 months!  My assignment ends Saturday and I am moving (AGAIN) on Sunday to Bloomington so I can be closer to my next assignment that I will start on Tuesday!    I have four more night shifts this week, then I will be back to 12 hour shift bliss!  I'm so excited!  I'll definitely miss the people I have become close to here, but I'm excited for my next adventure!  It'll take me to December 1st, then who knows after that!

July in MN/IA

I'm sorry for lack of posts.  I'm having a hard time keeping up. Since I last wrote I've kept myself busy.  My 4th of July was very low key, borderline sad.  I had to work that night at 11p, but tried to at least go to my pool and was disappointed to see that is was completely filled with college kids slamming beers and being obnoxious.  I'm pretty sure 3 of the 50+ people at the pool actually lived there.  I lasted about 20 minutes sitting in an upright chair because all the lounge chairs were taken before I got too annoyed.  I spent the rest of the day watching Moneyball and relaxing.

That following Saturday I went to the Basilica Block Party.  They have three stages around the Basilica, which is gorgeous.  We saw The Lumineers, Fitz and the Tantrums, and O.A.R. It was super fun!  Made me realize how much I miss seeing live music!  I can't remember the last big concert I attended.

O.A.R.

Sunday night I went to dinner and a movie with my new friend Lauren.  We saw Magic Mike.  I'm not even ashamed.  I was there to see some dancing abs, not a plot.  I got what a wanted.  :)

Tuesday I met up with two friends from high school who live in the area and their significant others.  We spent the evening on a boat on Lake Minnetonka.  It was so great to catch up with them and sooo nice to be on the water!! 

Sunset on Lake Minnetonka

Friday I headed to Iowa to my mom's for a family reunion (step family side) for the weekend.  I also stopped at the DMV to get a license and register my car.  Yep, you read that right.  The population of a small town in Iowa just got a bit bigger.  I was really sad to give up my DC license.  She practically had to pry it out of my hand.  You might be wondering why in the world I got a license in IA instead of MN... well, I don't have a permanent address here in MN and I certainly don't want to have to change it every 3 months until I settle somewhere.  It's much easier and less risky to have everything sent to my mom's house than have things accidentally get sent to an old address and missed.

The family reunion was a lot of fun... a little overwhelming at times with about 40 people in the house all of which were new to me except my immediate family, but fun none the less!  It consisted of lots of food, booze, crafts for the kids, kickball, slip-n-slide, and a fireworks show.  The slip-n-slide got to be quite to competition amongst the adults.  It was a great weekend and made me so thankful that it's so easy for me to be around for events like that now.  One of my brothers and I stayed a day extra and made a trip to Greene, IA where my grandparents built their dream home when we were young.  It was an acreage complete with barn, windmill, and for some time horses.  My grandma had an apple orchard, grapevines, and a HUGE garden.  We spent countless hours as kids driving the riding lawn mower around, climbing the windmill, snooping around the barn, playing with the animals (dog, cat, horses), or just playing in the dirt.  Easter egg hunts outside, making chocolate chip cookies with Grandma, bingo nights (complete with prizes), and fireworks shows were just some of my favorite childhood memories at that house.  My grandpa bought us two go-carts and made a large track out in one of the fields for us to race around.  We would also drive up and down the gravel roads with them for hours on end.  The town was so small our visits as kids would make it into the newspaper.  It was also here that my grandpa would let me sit on his lap and drive his car.  I guess you could say I learned to drive several different things here before I could drive!  Grandpa also had a tractor he would carry us around in the front loader.  Needless to say driving past the acreage brought back a lot of great memories.  We were driving by slowly and taking pictures, then noticed the current owner in the window taking pictures of us, lol.  So we pulled in and knocked on the door to explain our history.  The guy thought it was weird, but was relieved to know we weren't crazy, but he unfortunately did not invite us in for a tour.  Dang!

Adults and kids love the slip-n-slide!!

Grandpa's Acreage

Wednesday, Lauren and I took part in the Aquatennial's Torchlight 5k.  I haven't been running much since I've been here, so my pace wasn't the best, but it was great to get out and run!  Thankfully the weather had cooled down a little for the 7:30pm race.  It was followed up by a parade, although we only managed to see the last couple floats.

Thursday Lauren and I continued our participation in the Minneapolis Aquatennial by going to see the Twin Cities River Rats perform.  It's a waterski show with acrobats on the Mississippi River.  It's a free show and they do it every Thursday.  The MC and skit stuff was a little corny, but the stunts were cool!

Now it's off to work night 5/7 which will bring me right toThursday morning when I will fly out to DC for a long weekend.  I can't wait!!!!!!

It's Been A Month!

I've been here just short of a month.  It's crazy for me to think that my guaranteed time here is 1/3 over. It's starting to put more pressure on me to get myself out in the city and meet new people.  I feel like for being here a month I haven't made a whole lot of progress in exploring.  I have, however become quite familiar with several highways/interstates and car dealerships.  After weeks of research and searching I finally bought a new (to me) car.  I love it, and more importantly I am so relieved to be done searching. I am NOT a fan of car shopping!  I absolutely loath the "typical" car salesman... probably because I don't appreciate condescending people.  Anyway, I bought a 2010 Mazda CX7.  The sales guy was showing me another car and I saw it across the lot and said "I want to drive that one!" It was sorta fate.  I'm pretty happy.

You may remember that my first day off orientation at work was a little crazy, well that really hasn't changed.  I've developed a black cloud.  I've never really had one before!  It's exhausting!  Every day I work is busy.  I have yet to have a normal patient (mentally), with a normal pregnancy, with a normal labor, and a normal delivery.  Weird things happen on the unit when I'm there.  I've heard more than once "that never happens".  It's a joke (reality) that it's me.  I keep telling them things will go back to normal and calm come September when my contract is up.  Although, for some reason the staff seems to want me to stay.  We were talking about the craziness the other day and one of the nurses said "Yeah, but the nice thing is, is that you can handle it." and another nurse in reference to me wanting 12 hour shifts if I were to take a permanent job said she told our manager to "Give her whatever she wants."  The job has been a little exhausting between the 8hr shifts and being constantly busy, but it sure helps when I feel like the nurses respect me and like me enough to want me to stay.  I say that not because I worry about people liking me, (I think I'm pretty easy to get along with) but as a traveler and learning a new unit you inevitably feel like you need to prove yourself.

This past week I met two new people.  Both are friends of friends.  I met each girl for dinner in Uptown.  I really liked both of them and hope that we will be able to hang out again.  I am dying for a social life.  It was also so nice to get out and explore.  Both restaurants were fun and I love Uptown.  Super cute and reminds me of places I would go in DC.

I've also started two weeks of going "gluten free".  I'm on day 4 and it's going pretty well!  It takes a lot of planning ahead and is quite expensive, but I'm surviving!  I went grocery shopping the other day and it took forever because I kept having to google whether something was gluten free or not.  I probably looked like a smart phone addicted crazy person.  There are several things that are clearly marked, but many things that are not.  I'm giving it two weeks to see if it makes a difference in how I feel.  I've been told that 2 weeks is enough time to notice a difference.  We'll see!

Today I went and walked around Lake Harriet.  It was pretty humid and hot, but it was nice to get out.  The lake has great paved paths for bikers and runner/walkers, separated which is nice so no one gets in each others way.  I would have loved to run it, but I didn't think I was in good enough shape to run in the heat.  After a lap around the lake I found a shady place to read until the free outdoor concert at the lake started.  They have free music or movies every night during the summer, which is AWE-SOME! Basically means even if I never make any friends there's always something easy/free to entertain me.  It was slightly annoying at the concert as I had found a nice spot clearly by myself and this woman with her two children comes up (with plenty of space around) puts her blanket down like two inches from me and then proceeds to summon her friends and their children to put their blankets down all around me.  Now let me preface this by saying, I love kids and I like people, but these people were not friendly.  The couple in front of me barely watched their kids, although I do have to say they were well behaved, but it was just weird.  I didn't appreciate the invasion.  It was fun though, to take in some Minneapolis culture and get some good people watching in.

I anything planned for this week except on Tuesday I get to see my friend Katherine from DC.  She's originally from Minneapolis and is in town visiting family.  She's actually the one that put it in my head to move here.  I'm so excited to see her!!  Other than that, I've got several days of work.  Hopefully the Labor Gods will be kind and take my black cloud away.  Please?!