a little of this.

//The gorgeous Shenandoah National Park//

and a little of that.

Sorry I've been MIA... These past two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind in our household. The night Dave returned from Panama, I was sick. And I mean sick. Fever of 103, chills, sweaty type of sick. I was supposed to pick Dave up from the airport that night but just couldn't bring myself to leave the couch and he ended up taking Metro home.  The poor guy returned to me waking him constantly through the night asking for water, a cool washcloth, and to take my temperature. He was so tired (and used to speaking Spanish from the trip) that at one point in the middle of the night when I woke him, he responded to me in Spanish.

The next day, I was feeling better so I went to my first day of work! Yes, work! Can you believe the day finally came?! That first week was orientation... sitting in a large lecture hall learning all about the hospitals policies, procedures, and what you need to know as a nurse. After a few hours of sitting there that first day, I started to feel icky again. I was sent to occupational health to get checked out and was then referred to urgent care. Off to Kaiser's urgent care I went. I was pretty quickly placed in a hospital bed having blood drawn and being pumped full of fluids and antibiotics. The nurses there were incredibly kind, bringing me food to eat and helping me maneuver the tv. Even though he had been on vacation for a week, work allowed Dave to leave early so that he could be with me while I waited for the ok to head home. When it finally came, we went home and I once again parked myself on the couch to recuperate. Luckily for me, I started to feel better and was able to go back to work for the rest of the week. Again, I was just sitting in a lecture hall so it wasn't like I was doing anything crazy intensive yet.

Last week was the second week of work and I finally got to be on the unit to really take care of patients. It's going to be a learning curve... especially since with the way my nursing program went, the last time I was in a clinical setting with adults was in November 2010 (in case you forgot, it's now August 2012... that's 21 months of not assessing adults). By the end of last week, it felt like normal. Now comes learning all of the stuff I didn't have to deal with as a student!

Besides getting sick and working, I've been exploring more of DC. I still can't believe how many things there are to do on a daily basis. Goodness I love living out here! Even though I still long for California and anxiously await the day we move back, I wouldn't trade this experience for anything and am not ready to move just yet.

On another note... Dave and I make a really good team! After I started feeling better, we hit up the kitchen. Homemade pesto and guac were on the menu. We then used the pesto to make yummy pasta and pesto cream cheese. Yummo!

We also got a new toy! My love for cameras is ridiculous. Fuji Instax, we welcome you to our home. :)

Oh, and just in case getting sick wasn't bad enough... I got my first bee sting while exploring Shenandoah National Park the other weekend! That sucker hurt! How I made it 26 years without one beats me... Now I'm just waiting for Dave to get stung since he still hasn't had one!

I also got at least 10 mosquito bites last night... two of them on my forehead.