Catching Up

Sooo a lot as happened since I last blogged in January. I am ashamed I haven't been keeping up with my posts. Time just seems to be slipping by. So this post will be bring you up to date on all that has happened since January.

On April 22, 2011 I graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. The graduation day consisted of a pinning ceremony in which each student got to choose the faculty member that would "pin" them with a nursing school seal pin. I choose my pediatrics professor Bonnie Webster. She was my favorite professor and I learned so much from her about nursing and life. Mrs. Webster was genuine and sweet and truly invested in her students. During the pinning I was surprised with a special award. I was chosen out of the graduating class of 140 students to receive an award for outstanding clinical performance. The award was called the Clinical Excellence Award. All of the faculty voted on the student that stood out to them in all areas of clinical practice. I was completely surprised when my name was called. It didn't hit me that this award was an awfully big deal till later that day. And of course my Mom & Dad were sitting as proud parents in the stands as I accepted the award. The second part of the day was the graduation ceremony. It felt amazing to finally walk across that stage to receive my diploma with my family cheering me on from the audience. Truly a moment in my life I won't soon forget.

A few days before graduation I interviewed and accepted a job with Texas Children's Hospital on the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit......More about this to come.

After graduation I went on a MUCH needed vacation with my parents, grandma, & aunt and uncle. We boarded a cruise ship in Miami and set sail for a trip to the West Caribbean. We had so much fun. We visited the Bahamas, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk. On the ship we did lots and lots and lots of eating !! OOooo and they had a chocolate buffet one afternoon. Yummy ! We listened to live music and watched movies on the deck. I was forced into doing karaoke... in which I blew all the other singers and audience member away. Gets them every time. LoL. We got "tattoos" to show off when we got home. We took lots of pictures and of course did lots of shopping. Overall it was a well deserved fun vacation.

After the cruise I was back in full study mode preparing for my state boards nursing licensing exam. It is sooo overwhelming to study for a test such as the NCLEX. It was information overload. But I got through it and passed the exam on the first try. So its official I am now a licensed registered nurse !!! Now I can breath..... Inhale....Exhale.

There is no song for this blog. I couldn't come up with a good one that would cover all these updates. But you can enjoy this slideshow of pictures from my graduation and cruise.