All the same

"Here's a big f*ck you to the calls I waited for, the dates I hoped for, the love I wanted, the tears I cried, and the Heart you broke, asshole."

Hope

"I believe everything happens for a reason. People change so you can learn to let go. Things go wrong so that you can appreciate them when they’re right. You believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself. And sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together"

Military Life: Part 2 Uniforms

One night while Amy was here, she walked into my room and saw me with an ironing board, my uniform, a ruler, and a book. She laughed at me and asked me what I was doing. I guess I didn't realize how funny this looked and said "I'm getting my uniform ready for work tomorrow." The ruler and book was to make sure I had my ranks, ribbons, and pins on correctly. Instead of wearing scrubs to work, I rotate between my khaki uniforms and the new blue cami's. Being a nurse in the military is much different from the civilian sector and we have a lot more responsibilities. Making sure our uniforms are squared away is just one part of it.

This week, we had a command wide uniform inspection for our new cami's. It was pretty crazy walking out and seeing a huge sea of people in blue cami's. Sometimes when you work in a hospital, the military aspect gets pushed aside and you focus only on your job. Uniform inspections always give you a nice smack in the face to remind you that you are a military member and you're held at a higher standard, especially as a Naval Officer. We lined up at 0700 outside in ranks. I've been sick for a couple weeks now and haven't been feeling too good. Standing at attention outside in cold weather was not fun. Times like these make me really happy though, since I'm in San Diego and 40 degrees is considered freezing instead of being back home in MD where it's in the 20-30's. It's always intimidating when the Captain steps in front of you and looks you up and down to see if there's anything wrong with your uniform they can pick out. Luckily there were so many of us, they didn't go into too much detail and got thru all of us pretty quickly. I spent an hour the night before ironing and cutting off loose threads on my uniform. All that for a 30 second up and down look from the Captain. Good times. NOT! I wish I had gotten a picture... hopefully they will post some up and I can post them here later.

**EDIT**
As promised, here are pics!

Thanksgiving

Been way too long since I posted. Does anyone even read this thing anymore? I always check once in a while to see if anyone's posted anything but am usually sad to see inactive blogs.

Anyways, I've been going thru a lot of things lately and a lot of heartbreak especially with Dia Oi passing. I started writing a blog about it and all my feelings but decided not to post it. It's been hard dealing with a lot of things on my own and I wasn't looking forward to spending the holidays alone but this Thanksgiving I got to welcome Amy and John over!!!

I have to say, after trying to cope with things on my own, it was so wonderful having family around. We even got to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal and went shopping. It was a much needed break and I can't say how happy and rejuvenated I feel after spending a little time having fun with family. It really got me to take my mind off things and I feel so much better.

Some pics:

There was this man downtown who had a talent for balancing rocks. Crazy!



We got to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner complete with Champagne. I can't tell you how nice it is to come home after work to food and family!


Instead of going out, we spent one night in putting up a tree!! And we did a lot of damage shopping at the outlets!

If tears could build a stairway,
And memories a lane,
I'd walk right up to Heaven
And bring you home again.

To the beat of the salsa

Summer is making one mean comeback! Just when I thought summer had said goodbye and fall was on its way with lower temperatures, it jumped up to 113 degrees on Monday! I slept thru most of the day since I worked the night before but when I got up, my buddy and I went to the beach to catch some waves. I hadn't been to the beach/swimming in the longest time, let alone surfing. I've been so busy lately and working night shifts doesn't work so well for getting things done during the day. It was so nice and refreshing to actually be up when the sun was still out! The waves were pretty huge but luckily we caught a break and they settled down enough for us to paddle out. Before long, we were out pretty far and that's when I saw fins in the water! They were rounded fins and I'm almost 100% positive they were dolphins but I was still totally freaked out, especially ever since shark week! So, we decided to paddle back in a little lol. After catching a few waves, we decided to call it a day, we were both pretty wiped out. What a workout! I got out just in time to watch the sunset too! It really was a great day to de-stress from all the craziness of work lately.


Caught the chopper as it was passing by (looks like a dot in this small pic tho)!


Ever since Rob left on deployment, I've been having a lot more free time and a lot more time alone too (at least when I'm not working). It's been rough, so I've decided to try new things and explore the area more, hopefully meeting new people in the process or at least help pass the time faster. The other week, I finally made my way down to the outlets close to my place. Though I didn't buy anything, there were some pretty nice stores down there and it was nice to explore a new place. This week, after surfing I decided to try something I never thought I would try: Salsa dancing!! My co-worker had been asking me several times to go with her and I finally decided to go. What the heck, why not? Since we were both running too late to show up for lessons, she went over the basic steps with me beforehand. I felt very intimidated and out of place when we got to the club; everyone was so good and they all knew what they were doing! The good thing about being a girl, however, is that all you have to do is look cute, tell the guy you have no idea what you're doing, and follow his lead. =) The guys at the club were all so good and they were pretty patient too. Surprisingly, I had an awesome time and was able to catch on (somewhat) hahaha. I was glad to say that I was able to step out of my comfort zone and try something fun and new! It's definitely something I would try again. I could probably use a lot of lessons and practice though. haha I would love to be like one of these professionals on Dancing with the Stars! hahaha


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNAOCphVTAQ&feature=related

Phone calls!

Super happy today cuz I got a phone call from my marine over in Afghanistan. Glad to report everything is going well so far. :)