28 more days.

01. In 28 more days I will be done with nursing  school. I will officially graduate in 34 days. The only things still left to do are: one paper, three exams, three presentations, three projects, thirteen clinical logs, four precepted clinicals, and three school nurse clinicals.  So much to do but the end is so near!

02. Whilst driving to my school nurse clinical on the other side of Houston last week, I spotted this beautiful church off the highway. And since I love exploring new churches I knew I was going to have to stop on the way back. I highly suspected it was a catholic church but you never know. And it turns out it is Our Lady of Lourdes Vietnamese Catholic Church! The parish I regularly attend is half Vietnamese so I was so so excited to find a whole Vietnamese out in the Hispanic suburbs on Houston. Gotta love the culturalness of Htown.

03. Upon arriving in the parking lot of the church after my school nurse clinical, I discovered that this church had a life size Our Lady of Lourdes grotto. Can I get a heck YES! I might never make it to France but since this beauty is practically in my backyard I think I'll be perfectly alright for a while. 

04. Of course, they have life size stations of the cross surrounding a lake as well! You better know I utilized the iPhone at a time like this and swiped out my Laudate app to follow along. 

05. Tonight after a day full of classes and a test, the friends and I (plus Kailin's boyfriend, Ben, who was our official photographer for the night) headed down to Discovery Green to eat some dinner. Discovery Green is a super neat urban park in Houston that, while among many neat things, has free exercise classes every night! We also checked out the new B Cycle bikes we've seen popping up all over town lately. For $5 you can rent a bike (that has a BASKET) for the whole day. I can't wait to try it out!

06. The roommate introduced be to my new favorite song tonight, take a listen:


07. Well I'm off to spend some time with my new favorite book - "The Better Part". Looking for as new devotional type book? Or something to dive deeper into the Gospel readings with? Hit up this book people. Here's an example of part of the meditation for today's Gospel reading (Luke 1:26-38):

"We can learn no greater lesson than how to say yes to God. Mary's 'yes' reversed Eve's 'no,' and paved the way for Christ's undoing of Adam's fall. Likewise, when God disrupts our lives - through the voice of conscience, the normal responsibilities and demands of our state of life, or the indications of Church teachings - our 'yes' can echo Mary's and make more room for Christ in this fallen world. But our 'no' - even our 'maybe' - can easily shut him out."

picture overload, prepare thyself.

01. Tomorrow is Monday, so of course I have a test, presentation and paper due - bamm, welcome to your last semester of nursing school. My community nursing textbook told me to break from studying so I must obey. I can't wait to sell these books on Amazon in less than 45 days!

 

02. During this break, I got dressed and baby powdered my hair up.  I'm trying to go three to four days in between washes and this is day four - so ready to shower tonight! 

03. Off to my favoritest grocery store I went. Just stocked up on the basics like multiple kinds of chips and salsa and minature dark chocolate peanut butter cups. Lent is over so watch out sweets!

04. Last Tuesday, I went to the Chrism mass at the Co-Cathedral. Definitely ranks in the top five of my favorite yearly masses. Why you ask? All priests of the archdiocese (over 300) in attendance, my favorite Cardinal in charge, beautiful music, and Missonaries of Charity spottings! I loved all the neat conclave details the Cardinal shared, did you know that he high fived Pope Francis?!

05. Cardinal DiNardo was super excited to see me and we might have even high fived. This is his "everyone get inside the church so we can start this three hour" mass face. We're pretty much besties. 

06. I had another job interview this past week! Totally the craziest interviewing experience I've ever been to before though. There was over 400 people (I forget that I go to school and live next door to the largest medical center in the world) toughing it out for just a few positions. We were interviewed in groups which was honestly pretty weird. I haven't heard a yes but I sure haven't heard a no yet. I loved sharing this experience with my friend Ashley though!

07. On Friday, my friends Kristen, Kailin, and I attended my favorite Good Friday event -  walking the Way of the Cross from the University of St. Thomas to the Co-Cathedral downtown. Kristen was interviewed and was on the news later that evening! 

08. Oh my goodness, taking pictures of myself with my iPhone is quite tricky! This is my Easter vigil outfit  and everything is from Target. Viva la Tarjay!

Linking up with the funniest blogger: Camp Patton!

09. Ahh, Easter vigil. My favorite night of the year. I like to try out a different version every year, what can I say, I'm definitely a church hopper when it comes to special masses :) Holy Rosary's was such a different experience this year than the Co-Cathedral's last year. Firstly, I was able to sit down and secondly, only a few people came into the church opposed to the hundreds down at the Cathedral. And all the music was in Vietnamese this time which was SO fun. And if there is ever a shortage of incense in the world, it could probably be soley pinpointed back to Holy Rosary.

facts on a early wednesday evening:

sweater, dot dress, lace top
floral skirt, ruffle top, wrap dress,
dot button up, mustard top, dot top
vintagey dress, floral skirt, chambray dress

01. 54 days of nursing school left, say what? I should be studying for my final HESI exam this upcoming Monday but online window shopping sounded like so much more fun. Obviously I am a fan of florals, polka dots, chambray, lace, coral and mustard yellow - who knew?

02. POPE FRANCIS! I love him. One day I'll write a post more about my love but for now I'll just keep watching this video on repeat and praying for him! Did y'all sign up for the Pope Alarm text message system from FOCUS? So fun. I am so grateful that I was able to watch the beginning of the conclave (so fun to see Cardinal DiNardo, our very own Texas cardinal, in the Sistine Chapel) and the announcement of white smoke and our new pope this spring break with my sister and one of my best friends. History was made!

03. Ahh, back to nursing school. Things are getting crazy. I have to make a website in two weeks. I'm not sure when I'll be making a website in my future nursing career but my professors feel it's necessary! I also have a giant community assessment group paper due Friday, we're talking an 86 page paper. Turns out writing a paper in a group is pretty tricky. Case studies, multiple tests, online modules, literature reviews, poster presentations and a lung cancer patient care study are among the various other things due in the next six weeks.

04. I'm still loving my precepted clinical in the ER at the veterans hospital. The place is straight up crazy. One day my nurse and I had 14 patients throughout the day. Stretchers were totally in rows in the hallway. If I learn nothing else from this experience, I can officially say I can put an IV in just about anybody. Quite a valuable skill up in the ER.

05. Oh exciting news - I'm going to Ecuador in June on a week long medical mission trip with a group of doctors, dentists, optometrists, nurses, teachers, engineers, priests, and other volunteers through the archdiocese! Ever since my parents dragged me to a Doctors Without Borders refuge camp presentation in downtown Houston in ninth grade, I've wanted to use my nursing skills around the world. But to say I'm nervous would be an understatement. They asked me to help with triage and in the recovery room after surgeries, so this should be interesting! Let the spanish learning commence! Honestly though, I'm looking forward to the pastoral home visits with the sisters and priests in our group more than anything medical. Daily mass on the beach, last rites to the terminally ill in villages around the area, and bringing Jesus to those who don't get to go to mass more than once or twice a year is going to be such a blessing.

06. I had my first big girl job interview two weeks ago at my favorite cancer hospital. It was quite fun to dress up and look all professional for a change. But I must admit, I'm looking forward to some new Grey's Anatomy scrubs in my future. I haven't heard back yet about the job but I'll be sure to let everyone know when I do!

07. I went to visit my sister in Seattle this spring break, my last spring break EVER. We had such a wonderful time. I'll blog about it sometime soon. Maybe this summer? Luckily, my ultra organized sista just happens to be sharing the details of our trip over on her blog for y'all.

P.S. I got an iPhone. Oh my goodness, I feel like the whole world is at my fingertips. I need to work on my self control and have officially implemented a no phone in bed rule as of this evening! Share your favorite apps with me!

something tasty for the start of the week.

I made the tastiest lunch on Saturday. And it made enough for 8 more lunches/dinners. And I haven't gotten sick of yet so I think this recipe needs to be shared!

Honey-Lime Enchiladas 

Adapted from 71 toes.

1 rotisserie chicken (or 4 chicken breasts)
2 jars of Trader Joe's salsa verde (or any green enchilada sauce would work)
2 cups of cheddar/mexican blend cheese
6 tbsp of honey
6 tbsp of lime juice
1 1/2 tbsp of chili powder
12 wheat tortillas
optional: bell peppers, onion, cilantro, spinach, black beans

01. Shred chicken into bowl and mix in honey, lime juice and chili powder. Put this mixture in the fridge for awhile to marinate.

02. Turn your oven to 350. Spray two 9X13 pans (or any random assortment of pans) with cooking spray. Use one jar of the salsa verde to coat the bottom of both pans.

03. Chop up some veggies to make these babies healthier. I used bell peppers, onion, cilantro, and spinach in mine.

04. Take chicken mixture out of the fridge and add in your veggies and 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Mix well and then start adding the mixture to your tortillas, when placing a tortilla in the pan make sure the fold is on the bottom. Once all your tortillas are filled and rolled, pour the other jar of salsa verde on top of both pans and add the other 1/2 of cheese (or more).

05. Bake for 30-40 minutes depending on the amount of crispyness you prefer. Enjoy!

thoughts on a friday night.

Oh my goodness, I have so much to blog about! I still need to do my monthly year in review posts, talk about my third semester of nursing school, and share pictures and stories of my Christmas break trip to China and Hong Kong (I know!). Well I'll start with baby steps and just ramble about what I've been thinking about tonight.

01. Today marked the end of the second week of my final semester of nursing school, only 14 more weeks to go. Wow, that's scary and exciting to type out! I feel like I just started college yesterday and now I'm almost done. I want to soak up every moment of this semester. Let the soaking begin!

02. I just found out this week that I'll officially be at the VA hospital in the Emergency Room for my FINAL nursing school clinical ever! I am so so excited. Our last clinical placement is way different from our past experiences because now we've been assigned a preceptor (a designated nurse) and we work their schedule. I met my preceptor today, she looks tough but fun and actually graduated from TWU a few years ago. The VA holds a lot of memories for me, during my clinicals there last semester, I had my first patient die right in front of me there, I put my first IV in all alone there, and it was at the VA when I had my first experience of being in the room with a patient when they were just diagnosed with cancer. The VA is a crazy place but the nurses are great teachers, veterans are the best patients, and I kind of secretly love old people so this should be a awesome experience. Maybe I'll become an IV pro after this experience?

03. Today I went back to daily mass for the first time this semester. Did you know that I went to 7am daily mass everyday of Lent last year? Oh daily mass, how I've missed you so! I went to a church near the medical center and it was a pretty neat experience seeing so many patients, wearing masks of course, in attendance. I love that we specifically prayed for the cancer patients at my hospital as well.

04. I signed up to be the peer tutor for the pediatrics class this semester and I'm totally excited about. I took this class last semester so now I'll tutor the class behind me of nursing students once a week. I really love pediatrics (specifically babies and angsty teenagers) but I'm not sure if pediatric nursing is my calling. My first tutoring session is this upcoming Tuesday, let the big bucks start rolling in (kidding)!

05. The roommate/best friend and I had an adventurous week and went out to eat three times! WAY more than we have done before but I've been enjoying the tasty restaurant leftovers this week. On Wednesday we went to the movies, something we never do, and saw Les Miserables! I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. Have you seen it? I'm ready to see it again already!

06. Tonight I'm trying out a new face wash called PanOxyl found out my local and friendly Walgreens. It comes highly recommended from a nurse at work so I'm counting on it to work wonders of my face. I'll keep y'all updated!

07. This summer I had a student nursing externship at a cancer hospital here in Houston and I have luckily been able to keep working at that hospital during the school year. I absolutely love it there. When I worked last weekend, one of my patients asked me what the hardest part of my job was. And after thinking about it, I realized that my favorite part of my job is actually the same as the hardest part. You see every once and a while, we get patients sent over from the ICU that have run out of insurance money, it turns out when you have cancer, it's pretty easy to run out of money. These patients stay on our floor until they're well enough to go home or until cancer takes their life. Sadly, they don't usually get to go home. But you see these patients usually stay on our floor for at least six months, sometimes even a year. And in this time the nurses get to really know these patients, I mean you spend every shift with them for months. You learn about their families and their life before cancer. You look through old photo albums with them and decorate their rooms for every holiday. You think of special things to do with them to try to brighten up their day, like wheeling their bed outside to enjoy some sunshine or letting their wife wheel them off the floor for a secret one hour coffee date downstairs. You learn to understand what they need even when they can't talk anymore. You call the doctor and persuade them into letting the patient's dog come visit because you don't know if they'll ever see it again. This patient was the patient I had every shift I worked since the end of August and he died this morning. It was an honor to get to work with him this year. He taught me so much about listening, and love,  and suffering. He taught me that just being in the room is enough. He taught me that there is always time for hand holding and a little bit of tv watching. Working with him was the hardest part of my job but it was my favorite too. I think there are some patients we'll never forget and he was definitely one of mine.

christmas decorating.

we decked out the apartment with decorations the weekend after thanksgiving but in typical allison nursing school student/blogging is at the bottom of my to-do list fashion i am just now sharing them.

almost all of our decorations were kindly donated by Kailin's mamacita. i think the stockings are my favorite element of the mantle display - probably because two of the stockings are my parentals and they remind that they'll be returning from their new home in CHINA in less than a week. we have two nativity scenes and strangely both of them are extremely miniature. of course, my personal nativity scene is the smaller of the two. it's actually really funny how small it is. i bought it when i studied abroad in Ireland from the gift shop in one of the many cathedrals we went to. and i love is despite it's smallness. 

my extra small nativity scene topped with a lovely homemade aluminum foil star. 

don't you just love our tree? it might have been an impulse buy at target one late night in November. but in my defense, it was on sale and came with lights already wrapped around it. i love don't hate studying now when i can turn our trees on and bask in the glow of christmas lights. 

Saturday was the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and i just love this quote:

"Mary’s greatness consists in the face that she wants to magnify God, not herself." 

- Pope Benedict XVI

i think i need to memorize this little gem. more about what this feast day is all about can be found over here on the lifeteen blog. 

study break.

this question reminded me once again that nursing, this future career and vocation of mine, is so more than just a job. and for that, i am so thankful. 

back to blogging.

clinicals are over, i only have two more weeks of nursing school this semester, and i cleaned up our room today - so i blogging i am this afternoon! 

kailin (the roommate/best friend) and i share a room this semester and it has been tons of fun. i think we both a bit hesitant about the situation but it has really been a big blessing for our friendship PLUS we combined our furniture and decorations and created a cozy little room together. my bed is on the right and kailin's is on the left closest to the window. and i just realized we have matching pillow cases - gotta love goodwill! 

i kind of love our collage of frames and randoms above our beds. we actually just finished decorating our room last week (better late then never) and it was a wee bit stressful figuring out how to combine our separate collections into one masterpiece - so we just started hanging stuff up randomly - and i love how it turned out. 

we don't usually have flowers in our room but a certain boy dropped some off for a certain roommate of mine so we're both getting to enjoy them now! we both have vintage quilts and kailin made most of the throw pillows that are on both of our beds, she's a crafty one. 

we share a dresser that was in my room growing up - i shared it with my sister then - and now kailin and i enjoy cramming our stuff into it. 

i love our simple room decorations. we just used what we had already. luckily we both have really similar decorating styles so it was easily to combine things. i love our globes and colorful prints. shout out to macey for the mama t statue from india! 

 welcome to our little seating area! these are both kailin's chairs and when they were in her old room we referred to them as the counseling area. i am so glad we were able to fit them into our room this year. the lamp was a goodwill find that i had a slew of pinterest ideas for but for right now i like it just the way it is. it's actually a super nifty lamp, it gets dimmer every time you tap it.

kailin's closet is behind the door with the bags on it. and then we both have a sliding door closet by out bathroom too. and then i have another closet by our laundry room too - i definitely love the surplus of closets in our apartmento. 

the bookshelf and cabinet below used to be in my room last year but now they've found a home in the hallway outside our room. that yellow cabinet is probably my proudest craft accomplishment ever! and i can't to recycle all those binders when we're done with nursing school. 

here are our last years room posts: kailin's and mine. it's fun to look back and see how we combined things from both of our previous rooms. and just to think about how different our lives were then. oh what naive nursing students we were!

happiness is:

colorful notes for upcoming psych exam. 

hair that stays straight because fall arrived in houston today and the humidity went into hiding. 

yummy study smoothies that use left over spinach.

a clean room with freshly made vintage quilt covered beds.

saint sunday.

"Jesus tells us very clearly that if we don't help the poor, we're going to go to hell. Period. There's just no doubt about it."

- Archbishop Charles Chaput

five things on a tuesday night.

i promised my roommate that i'd be working on my capstone (you'll be hearing that word a lot around here this semester) tonight so this will be the quickest post ever.

01. i became an american citizen this summer (may 16th to be exact) and i have been called to duty - jury duty that is. i was tots excited to vote in november but i kinda forgot about the whole civic duty part my new citizenship. after reading the small print on my summoning letter i found out that being in nursing school actually has some perks, a.k.a i can skip out this time.

02. since my psych and icu clinicals have been postponed till further notice (the end of october?) i now have lots of extra time to pick up shifts at my favorite hospital. is it weird that i watch this video to pump me up before i go to work?

03. i kind of have a weird obsession with grocery stores. as in, i love them. i think it runs in my family. so the roommate and i ventured out to the new trader joe's last night. they repurposed an old vintage style movie theater into the new store which is so hipster like. i love trader joe's (mainly due to their large selection of dark chocolate covered snacks) but it was so busy and crowded. i think it will be more of a special occasion/fun activity to shop there and i'll stick to krogers for my weekly trips.

04. people, i have a car. well technically i'm just watching it since my family just up and moved to china this summer. anyway having a car is so wonderful. i don't really use it too much since the light rail (basically the biggest love of my life. i can hop on this train at 6:40am and be at the co-cathedral by 7am mass for just 60 cents. i love it.) picks me up right outside my door. anyway in the past three weeks i have driven just a total of 28 miles (mainly to chick-fil-a, the grocery store, and the rice catholic center) so at this rate i should need to gas up around december. back to the point of the story, i heard this song on the radio today while i was driving and now i can't stop listening to it on repeat. try it out folks.

05. during my nicu rotation this past week, my nurse was teaching me about ventilators and we visited a baby that was only 23 weeks old. she weighted less than a pound. this baby has down syndrome and a multitude of other hard things it will have to overcome. this baby had parents though that made the choice to accept the baby they had been given. they knew she was going to be born sick. they knew that this would be the hardest trial of their life. and they chose to love. that being said, 40 days for life starts tomorrow. i'll be praying outside the largest planned parenthood in the country this saturday. let's all pray for some mamas and babies together. and read this. 

life lately in bullet points.

• i'm five weeks into my senior year of college. wow. and not just any type of higher education, nursing school to be exact. so far this semester has been quite rigorous, like 9-5 classroom lecture and skills lab days all day everyday. but clinicals (my favorite part of school) finally started this week, yay!
• yesterday i had my first pediatric clinical at texas children's. i spent the day taking care of three tiny babies, oh dream come true. one of my babies had just started drinking from a bottle so multiple feedings and cuddling occurred. my nurse was a great teacher and was always looking for "teachable moments" for me so i practiced my sterile dressing, ng tube, and iv putting in skills. 
• i have an adult II test (ICU nursing type stuff) this upcoming Monday and i'm hoping to do well on it. maybe i'll reward myself with one of these if i do. 
• the roommate and i treated ourselves to a Panera breakfast this morning. i vote we do it more often. remind me not to order the pumpkin bread bagel again though, definitely over-rated. 
• speaking of roommates, we actually have a new apartmento mate. she is super sweet and just starting off in nursing school. i am loving the livelyness of our home these days, there is always someone to talk to!
• during a study break tonight, i watched the latest episode of Parenthood (the only tv show i keep up with but that might be changing now that my summer roommate introduced me to the guilty pleasure of Vampire Diaries). and gosh, the ending was so so sad. someone is diagnosed with cancer. and i immediately hoped that that this fictional tv character would come be treated at my favorite cancer hospital. oh the things that nursing school does to you.
• i just signed up for an NCLEX (the test we take to become real licensed RN's) review course. is it weird that i'm actually really excited about it? i can't believe that this time next year i'll be a nurse - working independently, keeping people alive - it all sounds so grown up. 
• i have been loving pandora lately. ben rector, john mark mcmiillian, and mumford and sons are my three current favorite stations. try them out, i promise you won't be disappointed.

saint sunday.

"Friends, I again ask you, what about today? What are you seeking? What is God whispering to you? The hope which never disappoints is Jesus Christ. The Saints show us the selfless love of his way. As disciples of Christ, their extraordinary journeys unfolded within the community of hope, which is the Church. It is from within the Church that you too will find courage and support to walk the way of the Lord. Nourished by personal prayer, prompted in silence, shaped by the Church’s liturgy you will discover the particular vocation God has for you. Embrace it with joy. You are Christ’s disciples today."

- Pope Benedict XVI

Melanoma.

At my hospital part of our externship experience involves rotating through the outpatient clinic of our choice on Thursdays. I chose the Melanoma clinic knowing it is a cancer that I have a high risk of developing (you see having red hair, pale skin, freckles, more than one severe sunburn in my childhood, and growing up in the South makes me the ideal candidate) and that it strikes more young people than any other type of cancer. With Melanoma, a normal freckle or mole can just change overnight and then your whole live is turned upside down.  Melanoma, if not detected early, spreads quickly and doesn’t respond to treatment very effectively. On Thursdays, the patients we see are very scared and full of questions – they have just been diagnosed and they don’t know what lies ahead. And for most of these young people their lives are just starting – they are in high school, the middle of college, newly married, or have small children. They all come to our hospital because they want to be treated by the best Melanoma surgeons in the world.

Working in the clinic is quite different than the floor and at first I did not like it. I missed the fast pace of the floor and I liked seeing the immediate results of my actions – the patient is in pain, you give them medicine, and then they feel better. It sounds strange but in the clinic setting you see the patients more as normal people because they come in wearing their regular clothes and aren’t in a hospital bed. But these normal people have been diagnosed with Melanoma, a cancer that spreads aggressively and needs immediate surgery. However, I now see that the clinical staff that I work with, from the schedulers, to the nurses and the doctors, has the opportunity to give these patients hope. They have time to sit down and talk to the patient and their family, the can calm their fears and answer their questions, they make a treatment plan and the patient leaves knowing they have a whole team behind them that wants to fight this disease just as bad as they do. 

the texas medical center.

oh you know, the worlds largest medical center. 

i live a block away, it's where i go to school, and now i can't believe that i get to work here. 

everyday i'm excited to wake up and go to work. i hope this feeling lasts forever.