d.c.

Me and one of my best gal pals went on a little trip to Washington D.C. this past weekend.

It was lovely.

We slept in, ordered room service for breakfast, and rode bikes all over that town.  We also squeezed in some serious life chats, which are a must for any girls' weekend. (Ladies, am I right?)

All in all: my kind of weekend.

Carlie and I (and two of our other best friends-Caroline and Sam) were college roomies. First in a dorm, and then in a cute little house in Hyde Park in Austin our senior year of college.  Man, oh man, that house.  Talk about some memories. Someday I'll do a memory lane post about that house. {Yeah, right, I blog once a month.  Someday...} This picture pretty much sums it up.

Gets me every time!

Anyway, as luck would have it, Carlie is a fancy important engineer for the CIA NASA, and she currently is working in Virginia! Lucky me, because D.C. is a nice little meeting place for the two of us.

We both took the train in Friday night from our respective cities. By the time we got to the hotel, we were so starving we thought we would die a little hungry, and all of the restaurants were closed! So, we opted for a glass of wine (or two) and a late dinner at the hotel's restaurant. We had our requisite "let's plan our lives" conversation, which was accompanied by a good amount of giggles (and maybe some tears.  I mean, maybe...but if that's weird, then maybe not...I'm not telling).  FYI if anyone needs a good hotel recommendation for D.C., we stayed at the Hyatt right by Union Station, and I'd highly recommend it. It was very reasonably priced, super convenient, and if you forget your slippers or your teapot or your Woolite, Marion will send you some.  She won't be happy about it, but she'll send it to you.

I digress.

Anyway, Saturday morning, we slept in a little bit, ate a really yummy breakfast, and then we were off! I'm totally owning up to this now, but we definitely did the double-decker goofy tour bus.  It was a nice way to see the city, and if you want to hear the tour narrated in Spanish or Russian, there are headphones for that.  Hello, options. Not that I did that or anything. I mean, that would be weird right? :)

We stopped at the Washington Monument.  That thing is surrounded by about a million feet of scaffolding, due to the earthquake that happened in 2011, I believe.  Got to make sure it doesn't pull a total party foul and crash, apparently.

All of these pictures were taken with my phone, so I apologize for the Instagram-quality we have going on.

Now, lucky for us, there was a little bike stand right by the monument.  I call that: winning.

We rode our bikes for a little bit, and then had a late Lebanese foodtruck lunch of hummus and pita bread. It was pretty yummy.  The baklava, not so much. So, clearly, we needed some actual dessert after that! Hello, root beer floats! See the Capitol in the background?

#selfieforthewin

I can't tell you the last time I had a root beer float.  I distinctly remember making a Diet Coke float a time or two when I worked in the PICU (seriously, all of you PICU peeps get this. This was back in the good days before they took away the Goldfish and Diet Dr. Pepper).

Y'all, it was delicious.

After our snacky break, we then rode around some, turned my bike in, walked around in the rain like weirdos for 30 minutes trying to turn Carlie's bike in, turned Carlie's bike in, and got back on the bus. We went to the Holocaust museum late that afternoon, and may I just say: amazing.  It was incredibly moving, and also a little unnerving to think that the Holocaust happened fairly recently. I'd highly recommend going to that museum if you get the chance.

That evening, we went out to Georgetown for some dinner. Y'all, I could live there.  Such a cute area, great shopping, great restaurants. We ate at this yummy cute little Italian restaurant, Il Canale. It was SO good.  We had our fair share of wine and pizza at dinner, took the Circulator back to downtown, and then someone got the bright idea to go find a bike again.

Suffice to say: this idea surfaced around 11:00 pm or so, and we went to sleep at about 3:30 am Sunday morning.

If you are ever in D.C., and you go to Il Canale, do NOT drink their coffee with your tiramisu or you will be wide awake for hours.  It's like that book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

If you give Libby and Carlie jet fuel coffee at 10pm, they will end up wired and inspired.

They will get the brilliant idea to rent bikes by the White House and ride them to the Capitol, to the Vietnam War Memorial, to the Lincoln Memorial, to the Korean War Memorial, through a park or two, down by the Reflection Pond, to the Washington Monument, and back again.

Yeah.  That happened.

On our midnight travels, we met some ladies who work at the White House, we rigged a setup on my bike so we could jam to No Diggity while we zoomed around, we met some friends by the reflection pond, and we climbed up on the Einstein statue to rub its nose for good luck, to name a few.

Yep. We earned our beauty sleep that night.

Sunday, we made a quick jaunt to another museum, walked around in some gorgeous weather, bought a coffee mug with a mustache on it, and then-sadly-I had to hop back on my train to Philly.

All in all, it was a wonderful and fun weekend.  Zoomie, thanks for always making me laugh, and thanks for being my partner in crime.

I feel immeasurably blessed beyond belief to have the friends I do, and I must say that life would be awfully lonely without them. There is no greater gift, than the gift of friends.

Isn't that so true?

Have a great rest of your week, everybody!

xoxo

Libby

Philly: One Month

Well, hot diggity dog.

I've been in Philly for a month!

I've done a lot in the past month. Moved to a totally new place, learned out to dress in the chilllllly weather, walked an average of 20 miles in the past week, tried a new church, met some nice folks, and learned that everyone who has a dog also has a dog walker, among other things.

Here's a lil' recap for ya:

1) My sis and I drove {yes, drove}  1,600 miles in two days.  It was a long trip.  Like, loooooong.  We switched off sleeping, so it made for some interesting quiet time while driving.  Like, I had time to contemplate the state of my manicure (abysmal), the color of my hair (legit), the oddity of Instagram (seriously, how does it make phone pictures look so good?), AND the fact that my sister and I share DNA even though we are two totally different people (like, I could give her a kidney if I had to)...all in one three-hour stretch of driving.

{Yep, these are the things that go on in my brain.  It's fun in there.}

I sure am glad she did the trip with me.  I would have ended up moving to Slidell, Louisiana or some such joint if she hadn't. {No offense to Slidell.  They had a nice clean gas station.  Also a Chick-fil-A. It could've worked out.}

I'm not the best with road trips, fyi.

Charlie B. rode with us and was a real trooper.  Love that dog.

2) I moved in to my apartment.  Clearly.

Thank goodness for moving companies and dads who get on airplanes.

For serious. With the help of my sister and my dad, we had this place pretty much done in two days. I haven't gotten around to taking pictures of my apartment yet, but I will.

The three of us had such a fun visit, too.  We got to walk around Philly and do some exploring.

(This is a text I got from my dad after he left. Ha.)

Emily is a moving beast, fyi.  Like, maybe she should open a company.  Pretty quickly, my dad and I became simultaneously stir-crazy and bored, and we were clearly being as obnoxious as possible.  She kicked us out and sent us to go run some errands.  We come back...and next thing I know she has this whole place unpacked.  Like, moved in.

Boom. Suffice to say I don't ever plan on moving anywhere without her doing everything help. 

Don't tell her.

3) I got to experience the wonders of the PA Board of Nursing.

I was supposed to start my job a week after I moved here. That didn't exactly happen.  And by that I mean...it did not happen at all.  Fail.

Apparently when you go to grad school in one state and apply for licensure in another, it gets real. So, I had a two week license-delay-vacay.

I can't exactly complain.

I got my apartment totally set up, had a fun visit from my fave New Yorker, got my nails done, and stalked stayed in constant communication with the board.

Here is a little preview. It looks a little different now, as I've added more stuff to the wall.  Like I said, I'll eventually get around to pictures.

I also slept a lot and watched Jeopardy everyday. {Why, yes, I am a geriatric. My gran doesn't even watched Jeopardy everyday, and she stays up till 2AM. She also has a particular affinity for music videos. You wish you were that cool.}

Ahem.  Anyway...

Then I got cabin fever.

Really. Bad. Apparently, you can't subsist on Jeopardy and the Wheel Watchers Club alone.  You have to actually see other human beings from time to time. Otherwise you end up having House of Pain dance parties in your living room everyday.  (What? That didn't happen...) Also, I had like three subsequent days of not wearing makeup, and THAT had to stop.

Ain't nobody got time for that.

This little friend slept a lot, too. 

4) But, don't worry! (I know you were.) I did start my job!  Woo to the hoo.

And may I just say-that place is legit. I have a good feeling about it. And not a "I just ate some pie on Thanksgiving" good feeling. Even better than that. Which says a lot :)

It's gonna be a good thing.

I think that hits the highlights!!

Here are a few pictures of the view from my balcony.  My apartment faces west, so I get to see the sunset every night.

Yep.  I could get used to this.

I hope all of my Texas lovies are doing well.  Come visit, y'all!

xoxo

Libby

the countdown

The move is getting closer and closer.

What's that, you say?

I'm not ready?

Well, you're right.

I have so much to do.  

Some of which are logistics.  Packing, de-cluttering, calling approximately one million companies to set up cable/internet/electricity, etc. Finishing up my last few days at work. Organizing things at the hospital in Philly.  Poring through a small mountain of paperwork. Familiarizing myself with a map...of the entire East Coast. Eating as much Mexican food as possible. The list goes on...

Of course, there is a whole 'nuther thing I have to do.

Say goodbye.

Gulp.

There are a whole lot of people I love, love, love in this great state of Texas.

As excited as I am about my new job, I am here to tell you that leaving ain't easy. Easy...is staying right here where I am comfortable.  Where I have a good support system.  Where I know my way around.  Where I can jump in a car and drive a few hours in any direction and see people I love.

Leaving that will be hard. Leaving my family, my friends, my coworkers. Leaving my city...Austin, you mean so much to me. Leaving my church, my job, my apartment (as crazy as THAT sounds). 

I want to say goodbye the right way.

Whatever that is.

And so, I thought I would write an open letter.  To the meaningful people and things in my life, you know who you are.

To my family: Mom, Dad, and Emily,

I love you. So much. I know it is hard to see me go, but I appreciate your support of me leaving.  As important as it is for me to move, for this job, this experience...it is equally important that you send me.  You have always supported my brain, my education. And I love you for that. I know you want to tell me to stay, to tell me that it's too far away.  And so I appreciate you not saying it, as funny as that sounds.  I appreciate you encouraging me to go, because you know how important this is to me. Being away from you will be interesting, to say the least. The family group texts promise to be hilarious...I solemnly swear to attempt to document every funny thing that happens to me.  So, yes, you will know when I fall on my rear in snow, probably in front of a large crowd.  Or when someone says something funny to me-alriiiiiiiight! And, Em, if I see CraigChristoLiz in a crowd...you know what's going to happen. HEY CRAIG-EE!!

To my friends, my pups, my soul sisters,

Ironically, almost half of us will be together. Zoom and Samsies-see y'all very soon!  The old maids of the East Coast, reppin' it! Windies-I miss you so much and can't wait to see you hopefully soon.  Tish-I have loved getting to spend my last few weeks in Austin with you.  Thanks for being my bucket list buddy...and for that trip to Ikea. Lisa and Caro-I miss y'all already.  So much. Knowing you are a car trip away does good things for my soul.  Leaving that will be hard, but I know airplanes are flyin' each direction. To all of you: I love each of you so much. I will miss our weekends in Austin at my apartment, air mattresses in abundance, giggling after Vino Vino...but it will make our time together that much better, whenever and wherever that will be. I have had y'all in my life for eight years, and our friendship is irreplaceable. Go play with the big dogs...I'm staying here with my puppies! Also, you come visit me...and I will produce some monkey bread and cheese ball.  Just sayin'.  :)

To my coworkers, my partners-in-crime,

Y'all are nuts.  Period.  It's why we are friends. I can honestly say I don't think I've ever had a day at work where I didn't laugh at something.  And I can guarantee it was related to one of you.  We have single-handedly kept the cell phone companies in business with our text messaging.  I am a better nurse because of each of you.  Thank you so much for all you have taught me, it means more than you know.  Thank you, also, for being who you are. No one understands an ICU nurse better than another ICU nurse/RT/CA. Take care of one another and please don't go hungry :) Oh, and I fully expect photographic evidence of the GWT. 

To Casa de Campos,

You two.  What would I have done without you? For serious. Watching y'all as newlyweds has been one of the joys of my life. I can think of no better friends, but then, you are really my family. I love you both, and I'm crying, so I'm going to stop. :) Lolita, you are my sister from another mister. Eventually, we're going to have to find a way to work together again. Until then, if your patients need anything, just give them a little pancake or something. For their leetle hunger pains. 

To my city, Austin,

Austin, TX, you have changed my life.  I first came to you as an eighteen-year-old pipsqueak, and spent four-and-a-half years havin' the time of my life.  I came back to you as an adult, and the past two years have being very different from my expectations, but no less life-changing. I have learned so much about myself in Austin.  My life has transitioned greatly from new nurse, to experienced nurse, to now a new nurse practitioner. Graduate school was a pivotal time for me, personally and professionally. I have learned the importance of balance in life.  I have learned the impossibility of "doing it all" and have experienced the joy of "having it all," because God gives freely of His grace. I have learned what it means to be a young single woman in a transitional period of life, and I am so grateful for my health, independence, and youth. Austin, you have prepared me for Philly.  You have given me such an abundance of joy, and I truly believe there is no greater place on Earth.  I will miss the sunny days on the lake, the abundance of breakfast tacos, the feeling of being alive, which permeates this whole city. But I know I take it with me, wherever I go.  This isn't goodbye to the great city-it's see you later.

To all of you goes all my love.  I can't wait to see what's in store for me in Philly. 

Robert Frost said it better than I.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

today...is all about pancakes

I took a little blog hiatus.

For, um, a few weeks.  

{Except for #letsgetpraisy. Clearly.}

I was a busy little bee there for awhile. But...I am happy to report that I'm donewithclinicalsomgwhat.

And...I'm back in the game! {name that movie}

Yeah, you read that right.  Boom. And this time, it's for real.  As in, I'm actually for realz, I-really-mean-it, done. 

It feels good.  

...and it also feels really weird.  Like, what am I supposed to do all day?  (Besides study for boards, plan a cross-country move, train for a half marathon?)

You gotta remember that I don't work that nine-to-five.  I'm workin' three days a week. 

Suits me juuuuuust fine.

It also gives me lots of rootin' tootin' free time. 

Rootin' tootin' free time...a good problem to have.  But I can't just sit around on my hiney all day.   

Honestly, what's a girl to do? 

Dream of pancakes, that's what.

Mmm, pancakes. 

Pancakes.

Pancaaaaaaaaaakes. 

Ahem.

Excuse me.

I just drooled a little.

Because of these little babies

I recently had brunch with my sister at one of my favorite restaurants.  They served these lemon poppyseed pancakes that were so darn yummy.  We're talking, stop-traffic-make-you-speechless-holy-Julia-Child-yummy.

They were that good.  And the funny thing?  These yummies weren't overly lemony.  It was incredibly subtle, which was perfect. They were actually just simple old-fashioned pancakes, with a slight twist.  And man, that twist was just right. So I said to myself, "Self-you better make these pancakes."  

And I did.  Now, I will tell you: call me a kitchen fraud if you want, but I used a good quality, unprocessed, pancake mix.  It's so easy to let the grocery store mix your dry ingredients for you.  I just don't pay any mind to the instructions on the package.  

I do what I WANT.

Did I mention these are whole grain? Boom.

Here's how I did it:

...

Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Buttermilk Pancake & Waffle Whole Grain Mix

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

4 teaspoons coconut oil, warmed to liquid consistency

3/4 cup slightly warm milk

1 heaping teaspoon lemon zest, about half of a large lemon

Juice of half a lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not vanilla flavoring)

1 tablespoon poppyseeds

1 tablespoon honey or all-natural cane sugar

Butter or coconut oil, for the skillet. 

...

Heat a skillet on medium heat.  

Mix everything until it just comes together.  It should be wet, but still lumpy.  The less you mix it, the fluffier your pancakes will be.

Butter your skillet between pancakes.  Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup makes your pancakes even in size.  

Serve with warm maple syrup and berries. 

...

Happy Tuesday, y'all

~Libby

HILARITY

Just had to share...

http://whatshouldwecallnursing.tumblr.com/post/22146376449/during-codes

That is quite possibly the funniest thing I have seen in a LONG time. I was legit cry-laughing on my couch for an hour.

Enjoy :)

Happy October, Friends! Pumpkiny things coming soon!

city of brotherly love, pt. 2: the search

Ah, the job search.  It's such a party, isn't it?  (That wasn't sarcastic at all. Riiiiiight.)

It was not a party. To clarify. Unless your idea of a party is something that involves stress, computer problems, and the month of April.

You must be a tax accountant. Welcome to a place where you are guaranteed to feel uncomfortable.

{snickers}

I apologize. We'll talk about spreadsheets later and make you feel warm fuzzies, mmkay?

For now, back to the job talk.  To talking shop. About how I'm going to CHOP.

Bam.

Poet.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Aaaaaand, starting over. I just can't help myself sometimes. Seriously, though, here's what I actually did. It was a pain in the patootie labor of love!

Spending hours upon hours updating my resume, only to have my computer refuse to save a PDF. Boo. Emailing my dad back and forth only forty or one hundred times to address this problem. Phew. Dad and Adobe Business something-or-other to the rescue. Ok...now I have to find a job. So I spend many different hours on many different days poring over job options.  Researching different hospitals.  Talking to coworkers about options. Word of mouth, world wide web, carrier pigeon.  I swear, I think I did it all. 

Then, one particularly boring day in class last Spring (oops), I realized my laptop was in my school bag.  Being the...multitasker...that I am, I pulled that baby out and proceeded to do an excellent job of pretend-notetaking. Basically, I applied for about ten jobs in in hour.  All over the country, all different types of NP jobs (but they were all acute care jobs at children's hospitals).

And then...

...{crickets}...

Literally.

Nothing.  For a few weeks, I was sweating a little. (Why, no, that's not my makeup giving me that...glow.) Until I started getting phone calls! Turns out, my job application spree actually worked. I told myself I would stop applying for jobs, interview for the ones in which I was currently interested, and then I could always go back later and apply for more if needed.

There were a few standout places, which then narrowed down to 3-4 potential options. Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Philadelphia.

I interviewed in Dallas, San Diego, and Philadelphia. I did some phone interviewing with Houston, but they don't currently (or didn't at the time) have positions available for the type of job I'm interested in.

Now, all of those hospitals are great.  All have great cardiac programs, teaching hospitals, high surgical volumes, good patient outcomes. So, what's a girl to do?

There were several a few late night phone calls to my sister and friends. Some praying. Some research. But, I got a really good feeling about CHOP the second I walked in the place. Something about it just clicked. I remember talking on the phone with my sister the night after my first day of interviewing and saying, "It would be so cool to work here, but..."

Lots of "buts."

But...I am fresh out of school and have no NP experience.

But...it's, hello, in Pennsylvania.

But...I don't want to leave Austin.

But...there's all these schedule conflicts with my current job and school requirements.

...

And then they kept calling me. I would call them back, and they were so nice.  All of the people I met there were so nice. You can tell everyone really takes pride in the hospital, and you can tell all of the people who work there like what they are doing.  Is it perfect? No. It will be a lot of long hours, hard work, weird scheduling. Lots of sacrifices of my "free time."

But, it will also be amazingly good experience. Working with innovative people, innovative technology. It is the #1 children's hospital in the country. Gulp.

I'm so excited to work there. Like, full on, nerd-out excited. I am also quite excited to buy some new clothes. Can't go walking in a place like that, looking like a scrub.

 I also want to vomit. I think someone forgot to tell them that I am a twenty-six year old duckling. Shhh...

Anyhoodle, that's how it happened! Crazy to think about sometimes. My sister and I are going to Philly in a few weeks! We'll be doing some fun things, some job things, and some apartment things. Can't wait!

city of brotherly love pt. 1

Well, here it is...the long-awaited explanation of how I decided to move to Philadelphia (which will happen in the Spring). When I say long-awaited...I mean, by me, of course.  I'm pretty sure I'm talking to myself :)  Honestly, though, in a few--months? years?--I'm sure I'm going to look back on the whole move-across-the-country thing and wonder how.did.i.do.that?  So I figured I should write it down. Because it's sort of a big deal. You know, moving to a place where I know no one. Also: where it is freezing.  Also: where they don't sell Rotel at the grocery store. (I know. Omg.) Also: where they don't say "y'all."

Y'all.

Holy moly.

Now, let's clarify something. Well, two somethings.

Number one: It's not that I don't know how to be away from home.  Hello, Summer 2007 in Spain. I actually think I won't be seeing much less of my Houston family. We're on a sporadic visit schedule anyway, punctuated by a whole lot of phone calls.  (Trust--AT&T wasn't looking at us when they decided mobile-to-mobile minutes would be free. Suckers!)  At any rate, I see my parents every few months, and it works.  All this to say: being away from "home" (Houston) is something I've done for ~8ish years. I can keep up with them, no prob :) Lots of phone calls and the occasional care package <cough cough MOM>

Buuuuuut, then there's my sister. Also known as my sometimes boarder.  I say "sometimes" because I'm her sometimes boarder, too.  Basically, we have joint custody of each other. (What?) Every other weekend and holidays, yo.  That's what's up. And then there's my friends. The ones who live here, and the ones who are a mini-roadtrip away. We are also on a sporadic visit schedule, but it largely involves one having the ability to drive somewhere (relatively close) for a weekend.

Being away from Austin will be hard. I would be lying if I said I could keep that schedule up.

Yikes.

Now for number two...

Number two: Texas is like a piece of my soul. Now, maybe I'm wrong, but you just don't seem to hear people talk like that about South Dakota. Nothing against South Dakota, I'm sure it's lovely and very...Dakotish. But, it's no Texas.  Trust me when I say, you had to have been raised here.  Seriously. Warm sunshine, open hill country road, Randy Rogers on the radio...heaven. Truly, one of the best things in life.  If you've never experienced it, then...fail.  Big fail, player. Get on it. You'll be glad you did. :)

Ok, with the somethings in mind, let's think about this: why would I willingly choose to move a few bajillion miles away from people and a city and a state I love?

Enter: The j-o-b.

Oh, hey, j-o-b! It's about time you showed up!

Now, those of you who know me (i.e...all of you, ha) know how I am about my job.  More specifically, about what I do.  It's purty important to me.

I mean, lots of people go to work everyday, and then they go home, and that's that.  They like their jobs just fine, but those jobs don't really define them. Their jobs give them good careers and enable them to have good lives. Other things are more important. Like being a good spouse, or parent, or volunteer.

Ain't nuttin' wrong with that, honey. That's some good stuff.

But, that's not me.  Because, you see, I get serious personal fulfillment out of my job. If I were to define myself in a few words, some of them would definitely include "ICU nurse." It's part of who I am.  Daily, I am reminded God called me to this job, called me to this career. From my first job as a sixteen-year-old nurse aide in an adult cardiac unit, I knew God wanted me to be a nurse practitioner. It's hard to explain how I knew.  I just knew.

So, when it was time for me to make some decisions about life after grad school, I knew I wanted a job in which I would feel fulfilled. In which I would feel satisfied. In which I would feel like what I was doing mattered. I also desperately wanted the right job.  Not a perfect job.  But a job that's perfect for me.

After much searching, resume editing, phone calling, and interviewing (and praying)...I think I've found it.

Here's how I did it (how God did it, really):

Stay tuned for part 2: the job search.

(And Happy Tuesday. I ended my Tuesday with some super delish crockpot tacos. Mmm tacos. More on that later).