America!!

[heck] yeah!

(I can't drop the F bomb on the blog, it just feels wrong.)

We had a fun 4th of July in our nation's cap-i-tol (channeling F. Gump).

We had brunch at our current (only) fave brunch spot in DC - Founding Farmers - and then we were off to see what there was to see. We caught a part of a super lame parade whose participants looked absolutely miserable (and who can blame them? It was HOT!), and then we walked all the way to the Jefferson memorial since it was Independence Day and such. Between the trek to Jefferson, back to Lincoln, to nowhere, back to Lincoln, to the national mall - WOOF! Andrew mapped it later, and we probably covered about 9 miles on foot. In flip flops.

To say I had back pain at work the past 2 days would be an understatement. Oh the joys of being old and crooked.

The firework show at night was AMAZING - best I've ever seen. And honestly? The rush back to the metro was not that bad, and the 15 minutes of squishing uncomfortably close to a bunch of strangers on the train was not enough to turn us off to the whole thing. Everyone told me "HA! Good luck" when I told them we were going into DC for the 4th, but I didn't think the crowds were anything to write home about!

Oh, and I made pie.

I thought using frozen puff pastry (Dufour brand - worth every penny! Amazing) would make this an easy process, but I was wrong. Maybe I'll give a rundown of the recipe later.

Other news: Harry Potter and Winnie the Pooh both come out next weekend. WE. ARE. THRILLED! I don't think we're doing the midnight premier, but we'll be getting in on the HP action next Friday or Saturday.

Other other news: I'm thankful to live with someone who willingly gives excellent back (and foot!) massages when I need it. I was so tired after 3-in-a-row at work last week that I cried at the pressure to decide where we were going to eat. Who am I?! I get a little wacky when I'm tired and starving.

I'm halfway through my orientation at work, which is kind of terrifying. Time flies! I've gotten comfortable taking 2 easier patients and keeping up with all the workload and documentation, but now we need to start getting sicker patients with more complication, more drips, whatever. I know there will be tons of things I won't get exposed to during orientation, and that makes me really nervous for the day I'm on my own. Everyone helps each other so much, so that won't be an issue, but YIKES! Some of these people are so, so unbelievably sick, I don't want to miss something. My preceptor continues to be ultra supportive - she is even switching her schedule around to go with me for my nightshifts coming up. My hired schedule is 50% days 50% nights, but I only have to do like two weeks of nights during orientation - the first two nights being next week! I'm glad that she'll be making the switch with me - it helps having consistency. Being with somebody else sets me back for half the day because of their tendency to take over before they know where I'm at.

BUT, regardless of all my worrying, I really like being in the ICU. I like being able to focus on two people and having so much information about them at my fingertips, and I like learning how to take care of people that are, essentially, trying their hardest to die.

That's all for now friends. I have a blind girl-date tomorrow with a friend of Pat's from law school. I miss all you girls back in Austin - still working on meeting people out here! I hope all is well in yall's worlds!