30 Random Things

For my pregnant lady friend: (I won't soon be able to say that...)
(Update: This is actually kind of fun....I started with 25, and have since added to it...we'll see how many I end up with.)

1. Even though I have never given birth, I feel like a mother to my two dogs. I miss them a lot when I leave them with my parents for a trip. I call to check in on them just like a mom would. When I'm home alone with them, and even if I'm not alone, I talk to them, probably more than I realize.
2. I love Grande, Nonfat, Extra hot, light foam, Caramel Macchiatos from Starbucks.
3. I have a radio in my head. I will hum or sing a song, and then move on to another. Often I don't know where the song came from, it just comes to me.
4. I love an ice cold glass of water. Water tastes so much better cold, to me.
5. I prefer Coke Zero to Diet Coke, and really don't like Diet Pepsi.
6. Popcorn is probably the best snack food in the world.
7. I believed in Santa until I was about 13 years old. My mom (and dad) were that good. Santa has a different handwriting, and different wrapping paper, and he always surprised me on Christmas. Even though my friends didn't believe in him, I just said "You guys just don't know...obviously you were bad this year..."
8. I have never finished a scrapbook for myself. I have 3 started, but none finished. I have done a couple for others though.
9. I love playing video games, especially RPG (Role playing games). If you don't know what that means, it is a game where you get to choose the characters responses, and often you get to name them etc. Final Fantasy is an example of an RPG. And yes, I realize how nerdy this makes me.
10. I missed math classes in college. IF I had room in my schedule, I would have minored in Math, and/or taken a few classes for fun.
11. I can handle looking at blood, pee, poop and most vomit. But cough up a loogie in front of me, and I gag. I do not handle snot or respiratory secretions well. I could never be a respiratory therapist/respiratory RN/or an ICU RN because of this.
12. I get incredibly grumpy if I do not eat regularly, or if I don't get enough sleep. (It's best to not talk to me if I'm both tired and hungry).
13. My torso is disproportionate to my legs. My torso is incredibly short, and I have pretty long legs. Makes me nervous for the 8 and 9th months of pregnancy, where will that baby go?? Either all the way out, or down into my pelvis, crushing my bladder...or perhaps both?
14. I have very detailed, strange, and realistic feeling dreams. Often I wake up and think part of my dream was real...in one dream, Jamaal had either cheated on me, and/or done something that was not quite loyal to me. I knew that it was a dream, but it felt so real I had to ask him to make sure. (It doesn't make him happy when I do that, because he doesn't like getting in trouble for things I've made "him" do in my dreams...)
15. My mom was going to name me Shannon Aubri, but since I was a "surprise" (they wanted to have me 2 years after my brother, but I ended up coming 7.5 years later...) by the time she had me, she no longer liked the name Shannon, so I ended up with Aubri Elizabeth. Elizabeth is my great grandma's middle name. I think Shannon Aubri sounds funny...
16. I think it is silly to name a child something like Christopher, while having the intention to call him Chris. If you want to call your child Chris, I think you should name them Chris. Sometimes nicknames arise later on, and that doesn't bother me. But if your name is Christopher, that is what you should be addressed as...
17. I have a hard time pronouncing "Jeremy" it always comes out as "Germy."
18. I am incredibly ticklish. I can barely stand to have a pedicure, because it tickles so much. There are very few places that I am not ticklish...
19. I rarely sneeze once at a time. And yes, I sound like a small dog when I sneeze several times in a row.
20. I was 19 years old when I had my first kiss. It was not my favorite moment in time. My first kiss with Jamaal, about 7 months later, was much better. :)
21. I'm not a big "hug" person. I hug family, and close friends, but feel awkward hugging most anyone else. I don't like others to touch me either, really. So I refuse to get massages for this reason. It's okay if it is someone close to me, but strangers, acquaintances, and/or people I don't know that well, I'd rather they not touch me.
22. I often think something, and realize a little later that it was a stupid thought, but still say it anyway. For example, Lamar (Jamaal's brother) parked his car in the Bellagio parking lot in Vegas, which was close by where the rest of us had walked to. I thought "How will we get Lamar's car now, will we walk back here later to pick it up?" When really he parked there, and we would all pile in, and get driven back to our hotel down the strip....I realized this was the case but still said "I see why Lamar parked here! We can drive back to our hotel!" Everyone looked at me like I was ridiculous...I should have kept it to myself...
23. Thunderstorms freak me out. I do not like them at all...if I wake up it is very difficult for me to fall back asleep again because I think about all the terrible things that could happen, like a tree falling on my house, or a fire being started etc.
24. In elementary the firefighters used to come in every year to tell us about fire safety. They often had a little "house" set up to have us practice escaping if our house caught on fire. For 1 week after they came, I would have nightmares that my house caught on fire, and would wake up freaked out. I would think that every noise I heard was a fire starting, and/or someone in my house. I would lay there wide awake for what felt like hours, until I finally had the courage to tip toe into my parents room and squeeze into their bed with them. Once in bed with them I would shiver...and my mom would say "Aubri, stop that shivering!" but I couldn't help it....
25. I am a side sleeper, and usually drool or sleep with my mouth wide open. I am a very deep sleeper and it takes a lot for me to wake up. Jamaal often finds himself near the edge of the bed because he isn't as aggressive as I am, and lets me push him around. ;)
26. I hate shaving my legs. It takes way too long. However, I love having nice smooth legs. But since it is cold, nearly all the time, pretty much immediately after I shave I get goosebumps, which makes my hairs grow, and I'm back where I started. It is so frustrating!
27. I dislike cleaning, but I also hate messes. I feel like I can't think straight when I have a cluttered work space. But I hate actually doing the cleaning. It is so futile.
28. I am not a very strong swimmer.
29. I always take a half a stick of gum, a full stick is too much. Jamaal is irritated by this, he hates having a half a stick left over, floating around in the pack. Sometimes I will take two half sticks and chew one on each side of my mouth and see how long I can go without mixing the two. :D
30. I love baking. I also love cooking. I love creating food, and getting to see people's reactions to my products. I have made up many more recipes than is actually on my food blog...most of them are just kind of "okay" so I don't feel up to sharing them, and a couple of them I just forgot to share, and now I don't know if I have the recipe anymore.

Important Wedding Updates

Saturday night I worked a 12-hour night shift. That means that on Sunday I got home at 0800, and went to bed shortly after. I had to drag myself out of bed at 1230 because I had an appointment at 1400, and a second one at 1700.

It turned into an exhausting Sunday.

The first appointment was with two photographers. They are a woman/man pair and they shoot the wedding together. My dad has worked with the man before, his name is Tom. The woman's name is Lynne and they do really good work. They both work for Boeing and do photography as a side gig. A lady my dad and Tom worked with used them for her daughter's wedding and she told my dad that it was wonderful. They were really happy with the photos.

So after meeting with them, and embarrassing myself many times r/t (sorry I just realized that perhaps you don't know the abbreviation for "related to") a lack of sleep, we decided that we would go through them for our photography. Such a weight has been lifted! :D

I am loving them because they have some really awesome photos, and are the cheapest I've seen , only because they do not make prints. However, Costco does a fabulous job, and we have the liberties to the photos so it will do just fine! :D AND they are throwing in our engagement photos for free!! :D I am so excited. I had decided that we didn't need to have any engagement photos, because of the cost. But I'm glad we will be having some now! :D

View their work: McRob Photography

So that appointment lasted about an hour. We had 2 hours to kill, and because the next stop was a caterer also located in Renton, we decided to stop for a snack somewhere. Mom and I were really hungry, neither of us had eaten. (The boys both don't really eat regularly so they were fine) We settled on Round Table Pizza, and us girls had salad bar, and we all had a drink. (soda) We sat and chatted to kill time, and arrived a little before 5 at the caterers. It was an "open house" taste test. They should have required a sign up for a time slot, because it was really crowded and there weren't a lot of chairs! We got there early enough so that we had four chairs together. It was pretty good food. We enjoyed the prime rib, and the pork roast. They were very very juicy! We also liked the green beans. Jamaal liked the salad (I would have if it was a different dressing because it was balsamic vinaigrette, and I'm not a fan...). I found out that I like salmon! It was a huge event for me. Mom didn't like it, she said "it tastes like fish." Usually I say the same thing but I really liked it this time. I'm kind of excited about cooking some later, and getting it at restaurants... :)

We wouldn't have had salmon at the reception anyway, mostly because of the price, but also because of the fact that many people do not like salmon! Including Jamaal, and my parents. (Well, my dad does like salmon, it just has to be cooked on the grill for him to like it) Since it was free, though I wanted to try it. And I'm glad I did! :D

Anyway, I'm not sure that this caterer is what I am looking for, but they are an all inclusive caterer, which means that they don't add on the price of plates, linens etc...it is already figured into the price. I am finding that caterers like to add on charges and fees for many different things. It is very frustrating.

We are meeting with them on Thursday to get an estimate of the price and figure out what we want to serve.

After that my parents dropped Jamaal and I off at home, and we were both very tired people...

Officiant, Caterer, Videographer?, Tuxes (I do have a plan, but haven't picked them out), Flowers, Decoration rentals, Sound equipment (a friend of Jamaal's dad will be our DJ), Invitations, Honeymoon accommodations, Dress, Venue, Wedding party, DJ, wedding cake, White lights for decorating the venue, Photographer

"When are you due?"

The elderly man said to his nurse.

After she wiped the shocked look off of her face, she said "I'm not."

"Oh, so did you just have a baby then?" he calmly replied.

After looking down to examine her abdomen, and finding herself unchanged, she stated "No, I have had no children."

She paused, then continued "I do have a lot of things in my pockets though" and she shook her scrub top pockets around to emphasize her point. She did not think herself ridiculously overweight. Nor did she imagine that she looked even remotely pregnant, except perhaps if she purposefully bulged her belly out.

He responded with "You're just like me, I always have lots of stuff in my pockets."

He said nothing more on that subject, but went on to talk about something completely unrelated without a hint of remorse or embarrassment.

------------

Nothing like a blunt old man to keep you humbled at 1 am. Oh the things I endure on the job....

Every nurse I told that story to agreed with me: I do not look pregnant, nor do I look like I just had a baby...I give him the benefit of the doubt: it was dark, I did have a lot of stuff in my pockets and they were bulging out a bit, and he is 81 years old...

Get back to work...

Cute, confused, elderly patients make my job exciting. Because my patient (yes, singular...) has been confused and getting up and down out of bed, I am the nurse, and nurse assistant and constant observer. (constant observer, or CO basically means you need to stare at the patient and watch their every movement. I'm right at my patient's doorway, listening and watching for any movements.) It's a good thing I took keyboarding in junior high, so that I can type and look at something else at the same time!

Tonight is my first night back. I'm now on nights officially until February 1st. I'm dreading this month of night shifts, only because I get so exhausted and lazy. I sleep the day away and don't go to the gym very often.

I have a new thing I'm trying though. I drew little circles on my calendar on the days when I have no excuse to avoid the gym. This means that if I am only working an 8 hour shift, or not working at all, I really should go to the gym for at least 30 minutes. The days when I work a 12 hour shift, I have an excuse and don't have to go to the gym... ;) So far so good, two circles have been successfully marked off. My trainer gave me a 3 month goal setting sheet, that I'm supposed to fill out, and look at it everyday. He was excited for me when I told him I was engaged, and he said "this 3 month goal sheet will be perfect for you!" It is scary how close June really is....

Mind you, I already have my dress and it fits me now (well except a few alterations, but where it counts, it fits. So I'm not really trying to loose 10 inches...but I would like to feel better about myself in my bathing suit. (and my dress is a corset style so it ties up in the back, meaning that if I did lose a little, all will not be lost!) Mostly my goals are to go to the gym when I don't have a decent excuse not to go. To drink lots of water. And to eat a few more vegetables and fruits on a daily basis. When I come to work I always have (unless I need to grocery shop) a banana and perhaps a citrus fruit or apple. I don't always eat them, but they are there. I don't typically eat veggies except for those in my frozen meal, or in my left overs from the night before. My goal is to buy and eat salad close to daily. If not salad, then something else like carrots etc.

I am going to make a veggie soup, with some meat and barley later this week. (at least I hope to) So stay tuned for the recipe and the review. It might end up being next week depending on whether I am up to cook on my 12 hour nights.

Jamaal was sick on Tuesday, he came home early even! so he had soup on Tuesday night, and yesterday (Wednesday) I asked, do you want tomato soup? and he said no, I can eat real food now. So he might not be up to some homemade soup later tonight. We'll see. It sounds really good to me right now, because I am freezing cold! I have a jacket on, and grabbed a warmed blanket to wrap up in...and still I am getting chills. There is air blowing on me, and that is the problem right now. But it can also be the fact that I'm not used to being awake at this hour!

I really should have taken a nap...I've been awake since 10AM 1/7!!

--------------------------------------

On the wedding front, I realized yesterday that perhaps some stores still had Christmas lights for sale, and perhaps they had white only lights....perfect for decorating our reception site. I asked my mom if she had seen lights at any store lately, and she said she didn't know, but she would check later on.

I got a call later from her, and she said that she didn't find anything at Target, found some lights at Joann's in the wedding aisle (which she noticed were white lights with white wiring) but they were $3.99. She thought about going to Fred Meyer, but changed her mind and went to good ole Walmart instead. There, she said, she found tons of lights. She was piling them in her cart. Then she realized that the wiring was green on the white lights, and asked my dad to help her find lights with white wiring. Which they found. She said she bought close to 25 strings of lights, a couple red ones, and one multicolored, all with white wiring for $0.60 a piece!! :D What a great deal!!

Officiant, Caterer, Photographer, Videographer?, Tuxes (I do have a plan, but haven't picked them out), Flowers, Decoration rentals, Sound equipment (a friend of Jamaal's dad will be our DJ), Invitations, Honeymoon accommodations, Dress, Venue, Wedding party, DJ, wedding cake, White lights for decorating the venue,

The Expo...

So previously I said that I was planning on going to the wedding expo today...but well I better start from the beginning I guess...
. . .

Well on New Year's eve, I worked for the first time in 7 days! It was different because our unit got moved temporarily to 7SE to try and save money. (Surgeons don't much like scheduling knee and hip replacements over Christmas and the holidays, and most people don't want to have their surgery done either. So, our unit sometimes has to close down. This year we combined with 7SE who also sometimes empties out.

So while I had my ortho patients, it felt like a float (for you non-nursing peeps, floating is when a unit has too many nurses, and floats a nurse to a unit that is short staffed. It is different to float, because 1. you don't know where things are, so it takes you longer to find materials. 2. you aren't used to that type of patient so it takes longer to assess them and 3. you aren't familiar with the staff or the way things are run. )

The staff on 7SE are nice, but I think they feel like we (the staff from 6SE) are intruding on their turf. But anyway it is hard on us all...

While I was at work they asked me if I wanted New Year's Day off ahead of time, and I agreed. Fortunately Jamaal had the day off too, so we spent it together, and did a few errands in F-dub.

Friday, I worked a 12 hour shift, and floated, this time for real, to 4SE, which I have been to before. The patients I was assigned were quiet and simple, and while the nurse assistants weren't as helpful as I hoped they would be, it wasn't that bad.

After I gave report, I didn't get back to the floor until 3:45, so I was a tad late. I was assigned a patient who had just arrived at 1500 (and therefore had nothing done) she had critical lab values, and her doctors hadn't written orders yet. It was irritating, stressful and sucked all my time. The HAs (from 7SE) kept calling me and telling me my other patients were calling and weren't very helpful about the fact that I was busy with other things.

It was a day that I almost cried during. If it were a year ago, or perhaps less only 7-8 months ago, I probably would have cried. But I sucked it up and bared it. 4 hours flew by and I stayed 1.5 hours after to chart.

I was exhausted. The night before I only got about 5 hours of sleep, and by the time I settled down for bed, I again was only going to get another 5 hours of sleep.

On Saturday, the day after my 4 hours of "hell," I was called again by work, but this time I was nearly there, but since I was so exhausted from the night before, I decided to go back home and rest.

Now I am back where I started...
Since I had Saturday off, I decided to ask my mom if she wanted to go to the wedding expo instead of waiting until Sunday. She agreed, and we got there around 1230.

The first thing we did, was look at wedding gowns. They were on sale, and I tried on a total of 3 and settled with the 3rd. It fit me perfectly and made my curves look so natural, and my waist appear narrow. I was happy with it immediately and my mom said "oh Aubri, that is beautiful"

For $500...it was more than I expected to have.

It was a fun day, we had plenty of opportunity to taste cake samples. I got a total of 10 pens, some candy, and many many pamphlets of wedding vendors. I am most freaked out about the flowers now, because they are so freaking expensive, and I honestly don't really care about them...we plan to check out Safeway and Costco...because they both do flowers. I plan on making my own invitations, and so got a few ideas from people, but mostly have an idea in my head about what I'm going to do. I entered my name in a million drawings, and I hope to win something. But I doubt I will...

Things are slowly getting checked off of the list....

Dress, Venue, Wedding party, officiant, caterer, photographer, videographer?, DJ, wedding cake, Tuxes (I do have a plan, but haven't picked them out), Flowers, decoration rentals, sound equipment (a friend of Jamaal's dad will be our DJ), invitations

I'll have to add to this list as I remember things I need to do....I apologize in advance because you'll see a lot of this list...

First Post of the New Year!

So I had a very uneventful new year...

I grilled chicken breasts and had some pretty awesome fettuccine alfredo, with some garlic bread (frozen kind cooked...because it is easy). We played some rock band, and then I started reading "Mulan" (Memoirs of a Geisha). When the previews were out for the movie, I thought that it was a human version of Mulan the Disney movie...Jamaal still makes fun of me for it. You know how the title of the movie is at the end, well the preview reminded me of Mulan, and I said "They're making another Mulan!?" and got REALLY excited...so Jamaal and I call it Mulan still...

I read up until about 11:30pm, and had to set my book down because I was tired. Jamaal was playing games on his phone. So I made sure to check the time periodically. I happened to check the time at midnight exactly, gave Jamaal a kiss, and went to sleep. I was out quick too: I missed a text I got at 12:08...that is ridiculous I think...

______________

Wedding updates:

I have settled on June 6th, 2009. It is the only date that means anything to us. It will be our 4-year anniversary. That means that I have about 5 months to get things done...

I know I want to make my invitations, I don't know that it will be much cheaper this way, just more personal. I have my mom, aunt, and sis-in-law (at the very least) to help me make them.

I have been registered at theknot.com for a while now, and a day after Jamaal proposed, I got an email saying: "save $2 and get a free gift if you buy your wedding show tickets now" so I quickly asked my mom if she wanted to go with me. It's this Sunday that we are going, so how perfect is that??!

We have reserved a place to have the ceremony and reception at, it was a very stressful event, but my mom and I went and looked at the place first, it was the first and only place we checked out...but for the price it is a pretty good deal.

My mom said that we could rest until after the wedding show, which I agreed to, because we want to see the deals people have to offer.

I just wish I had unlimited funds, it would make this wedding thing a lot easier...