My So Called Nursing Life: August 2013

Saturday, August 31, 2013

5 years of college, 2 years in nursing school, graduation, NCLEX, now what? A job????

Its been a few weeks since my last post but since then I've been kind of in a slump, I was still waiting for any news on the job front and in the mean time still applying for several jobs a day and trying to find any network connections to maybe help in the job hunt process. So in the last two (almost three) weeks I've spent a good portion of my time laying in bed watching private practice on netflix, by the way if you like grey's anatomy you really should check out private practice. I interviewed in early August in Tennessee and was told they would contact me on August 26th with their decision regarding the position. I'm an incredibly impatient person so waiting 2+ weeks for an answer was really worse than waiting for death. So while waiting impatiently for the news I continued to apply for jobs and hope for the best. Early morning on the 26th (remember TN is 2 hours ahead of my time) I woke up to my dogs running along the bed jumping on my legs. As my daily ritual includes I woke up and checked my phone, twitter, facebook, email, instagram, ect. I wasn't expecting them to have an answer to me till at least the afternoon so to my surprise I already had an email from the hospital around 0730 my time (0930 there).

And to an even bigger surprise.... I GOT THE JOB!!!!! I was so ecstatic but I was still half asleep (and had a full bladder) I told my mom let the dogs out, used the restroom, ate breakfast, gathered my thoughts and finally called them back to accept the position. I accepted a full time position, night shift, on a mother baby (postpartum) unit. I'll be starting at the end of September but will be moving out there in just about a week to have paperwork and screenings completed.

I had a great idea for a post about going back to nursing school and what I think are important things to know/remember/have. I spent this past week scheduling my stuff to be shipped out there, moving my stuff into the box to have it shipped and trying to find a place to live. I had to pick a place off of reviews, photos, and speaking to the management. I think I picked a nice place, great for the dogs, plenty of space and in a good area of the city. I'm hoping in the next week before I leave I will be able to get the back to nursing school post up if not I will do it in the 10 days between my screenings and my official start date.

I'm excited for this opportunity, it feels like all my insane hard work, dedication, and stress has finally paid off. I will be working for a great hospital with great credentials and a great program for new grads. I am very thankful for this upcoming new life, its a bundle of anxiousness, excitement, fear, and joy all rolled into one. I can't say it has been an easy road but I can say it was worth it!!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Hidden gems of the internet shopping world: online boutiques

I promise I didn't forget about y'all I just havent really been "all there" in a sense these last few weeks, between packing up my entire apartment, moving everything into storage, moving back into my parent's house, flying half way across the country for my first interview, and still job hunting I just haven't really had blogging in the front of my brain. Any way since I'm still not working I spend a good portion of my day scrolling through pinterest, ok lets face it I would do that even when I was in school and working but I really like pinterest, its almost like a way to de-stress (if ya wanna find me on pinterest you can do so here: http://pinterest.com/elliemay2/).

So you know when your scrolling through pinterest and find something just too adorable to pass up but when you click on the link it leads no where so your stuck with maybe a great outfit or DIY project but nothing more (I hate that by the way). Well I seem to come across this problem mostly when looking at clothes, it seems that most of the pins lead no where but they always have such cute outfit ideas. Well recently I have discovered what I think is the hidden gem of the online shopping world: online boutiques. Now it may just be the area I live in, we tend to shop more at local malls and chain stores (don't get me wrong, I love forever 21) so small hometown locally owned boutiques aren't very common in the great state of New Mexico. But when searching for a graduation dress (and yes I turned to pinterest) I ended up finding all these amazing boutiques from cities like Athens, GA or Houston, TX. And with a little help from social media I found even more stores that seemed to carry amazing clothes, at reasonable prices, and its kind of like shopping locally more so if you live in the area.

I'm sure there are tons and tons of stores across the US that may be very similar this is just a collection of stores I've found & have fallen in love with their clothes! Majority of these stores also carry accessories like jewelry, bags & even shoes. Another thing I love about so many of these stores is they have new arrivals almost daily so you can always find something new and different. Many offer look books as well, the common theme right now seems to be game day, which is appropriate since college classes are starting up again and that means football games and tailgating. If you live locally many of these stores have physical store fronts you can stop by and shop at as well as the online shopping for those of us who dont like close to their store fronts. Make sure you click the links below the photos so you can visit their sites and see what they offer.
*None of these images are mine & are all property of their respective boutiques, please do not steal*