Happy Birthdays!!!

Three of my favorite people in the whole world are having birthdays this week!

Today is my mom's birthday! I have the greatest mom in the entire world!! I know a lot of people say that about their moms, but with mine it's really true! My mom is one of the most giving, caring, loving (insert adjective here) people I know. My parents got divorced when I was 10 and my mom was a single mother to me and my brother. I'd say she did a pretty good job of raising us, too! I think we turned out pretty darn good! If my brother, my niece or I ever needed anything, she would do whatever it took to make sure we got it. I know it's hard for my mom having all her kids live so far away, but I love her more than she will ever know and I hope she has the best birthday ever!!

Tomorrow is my cousin Carrie's birthday. Where to begin about Carrie......I most certainly would not have made it through nursing school without her! She has always been behind me when I needed support and has given me numerous gems of infinite wisdom! Carrie is one of the most fantastic cooks ever!! I miss living just down the street and going over for dinner or dessert or just to bs. Carrie's always there when I need someone to talk to or laugh with. She is the one who I can tell anything to! It has been entirely too long since I have seen her and I am grateful that we have still managed to stay close despite being seven hours apart.

And last but most certainly not least, my niece Amaria. She is going to be 7 on Friday and I just can't believe it! Amaria is one of the smartest, sweetest, most well adjusted kids I have ever met. She never wants to hurt anyone's feelings and is always making cute pictures and fun crafts for the people she loves. I love talking to Amaria on the phone and giving her a hard time until she laughs. She loves science and reading and pink and purple and the littlest pet shop, among other things. I am so lucky to have such an amazing thoughtful beautiful little girl to call my niece! The only thing wrong with her is that she is growing up too fast! I can't wait to see her again, hopefully soon. I hope she will always think that all the fireworks on the 4th of July are for her, because she deserves them!

A HOLE lotta progress!!

Can I just say how glad I am that my hole has finally been dug so that I can use the title of this post? I seriously thought of it like a month ago. Yes, I am lame and apparently have too much time on my hands. But seriously, there is a hole in the earth where my house is going to be!!!! I am so freakin excited that I can hardly stand it! It actually seems real now and it makes me hopeful that they started exactly when they said they would. Hopefully that means they will be finished when they say they will be! I never thought I would be so excited about a simple hole in the ground, but it's amazing how real it all is now! They are supposed to start framing next Tuesday, so more pictures to come soon!

Pictures, Pictures, and more Pictures!

As promised, here are several pictures from my birthday bash!! Top picture is me and Ralph, middle picture is me and Erin, and bottom picture is Ralph, Glad and me. And here is me and Caroline! Erin, Ralph and Amber. Some of the best friends a girl could ask for!! My cake!! Not sure what the heck that dress is the princess is wearing, but it sure tasted good! Oh yeah! I can blow out candles with the best of them! It's a good thing that it was just a 3 and a 0. That's probably all these old worn out lungs could handle!! My IHC peeps. Me and Tessa. Isn't she cute!! Glad's chillin like a villian in Eric's jeep. Me and Levi are the bomb.com at karaoke! oh yeah! Yes, I tipped my chair over. All those years of my mom telling me to quit tipping in my chair obviously had no effect. And do you think I learned and stopped tipping so that I wouldn't fall over again? Of course not. I took Ralph and Glad to the Training Table (a Utah original!) before they left on Sunday. They were so excited that we got to order our meal from the phone at the table.

And of course, the parting shot in the parking lot.

Oh so much fun!! Thanks again to everyone who came out!

Marija arrived to spend my birthday with me on Monday morning. It was a laid back awesome day!!! We went to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack (I highly recommend the seafood enchiladas!) We went to the mall, where I lost my car key in Nordstrom! Fortunately I had just left it at the shoe counter. How ironic! We went up to Park City for a bit and Marija insisted on buying me a birthday gift even though her coming up was more than enough!

Is that the cutest bag you have ever seen! Yeah, I have the greatest friends ever. After our little shopping excursion, I took Marija out to see my home builder's model and my lot. Kinda fun even though the lot is looking exactly the same as it always has. After that, we went and got a hotel downtown. We stayed at the Salt Lake Plaza (I think). It was right across the street from temple square. This is the view from our room. Pretty freakin sweet!! We had dinner at the Olive Garden and went back to the hotel and watched TV. I think I was passed out by about 11:30. I know, I am a party animal. I dropped Marija off at the airport on Tuesday morning. I was so sad that the weekend and my birthday were over. Back to reality! But, I did finally get to see an actual model and not just a drawing of the house that I am building! Some guy is building the same house over near Thanksgiving Point and they let me go in and take a look around. Of course I was too dumb to actually take my camera in the house, but I did get a picture of the front. My elevation is a bit different and I have rock instead of brick, but I think the color of the stucco is pretty close to what I picked. I'm so excited!!!!! And if all goes as planned, I will even have a hole on Monday! (fingers are crossed). SO.....I guess that's it for now. I have to work this weekend. Blech. But I am headed to Yuba Lake next weekend with the Bingham clan and Erin. It's going to be a blast, I'm sure! If I actually have a hole on Monday, I will be sure to post pictures!

Going Out With a Bang!

I had the most fantastically fun birthday party last night! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to post because I was busy mingling and I left Gladhes in charge of the picture taking. I'm sure she will get them sent to me soon, but for now I just want to say that I really have the greatest family and friends anyone could ask for. Erin and my cousin Allison (who I am living with until my house is done) threw me the best party ever last night!! I really can't think of a better way to have spent my birthday than with all of my good friends and some bbq! Anyone who is here in Salt Lake knows the weather has been CRAP for the past couple of weeks and yesterday was really no exception. It rained pretty hard earlier in the day but it cleared up in time for the party. Although it was a little chilly, we only got sprinkled on once and it was dry the rest of the night. I have to say that the entire night was made by one of my bestest friends from nursing school, Gladhes and her brother Ralph. They completely surprised me and drove all the way from Las Vegas to come to my birthday party! They are two of the coolest people I know! Funny as can be and everyone just loves them! I am so lucky to have them for friends and for them to go to such an effort for me was awesome! Close to twenty or so other good friends showed up and I so appreciate everyone putting up with the cold to come out for my birthday! There were burgers, dogs, pasta salads, cobblers, cookies, fruit, chips and salsa from Chili's (YUM!!! thanks Sara!!) and Erin's dad made the most fantastic baked beans ever! Of course there was birthday cake, a fire, makeshift karaoke. Really, I couldn't have asked for a funner night. I cannot believe that I am going to be 30 in just over 4 hours! I thought I might be a little sad, but I had such a fabulous birthday party with the best friends in the world that it helped me realize that my life is just getting started! Marija is flying in tomorrow to spend the day with me (I mean really, I don't think anyone's friends are anywhwere near as great as mine are!!) I am feeling a little nostalgic thinking about the last 30 years and all the things (good and bad) that have happened in my life. But I really am blessed. I have a great career, I am building my first house, I have a hot car! And of course I really have the best, most loving family and friends ever. I couldn't have hand picked each and every one of you any better if I had been able to see into the future. I am so lucky to have so many great people who care about me in my life. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who came out to help me celebrate and to everyone who has been a part of my life at all. I truly am blessed! And my 30th birthday has been awesome!! (Although technically I am still 29.) Sorry for such a mushy post, but I guess that is what happens when you turn 30....you turn into an old sap! I love you all, and I promise to post photos of the fabulous night as soon as I get them from Gladhes.

The Neverending Waiting Game

Well, I finally have news from Westminster. Unfortunately, it is not what I was wanting to hear. They called me on Friday and told me that I have been put on the waiting list. Really?? I mean, I guess I am okay with it but it is so frustrating to me that I waited this long and now the answer is basically no. Obviously I knew it was a possibility that I wouldn't be accepted, but I can't help but wonder why I wasn't good enough? If I would have said or done something different in my interview or if my grades or GRE scores were just a little bit better, would that have made any difference? I guess wondering isn't going to do me much good. Like both of my parents pointed out, perhaps it is for the best. Now I can concentrate on getting settled into my house, work on getting a few things paid off and not be under so much pressure to feel like I need to work so much at the same time I am in school. So....technically there is still a very small chance that I will get into the program this fall but I am really not couting on it. But I am still stuck waiting because I guess you never know, right?

To conter the crap news I got from Westminster on Friday, I finally got some good news on the house later that same day! I went out on Thursday to see if any progress had been made. I was very frustrated to see that my lot looks the exact same as it did 6 weeks ago when I put my earnest money down. How annoying!!! I stopped into the model to see if I could get some dates and find out what the heck is going on, but of course the girl who I have been working with wasn't there and the guy who was there didn't have any idea what was going on, although he was pretty cute! So I got a phone call on Friday and finally got some dates! They are not going to dig until June 22!! What?! Apparently, everyone has been having trouble with the construction loans and that is what is holding my start up right now. But barring any unforseen complications with the bank (cross your fingers) they will dig on the 22nd, pour my foundation on the 29th and start framing on the 30th!! Wooo hoooooo!! Happy late birthday to me, right! She gave me an estimated close date of September 9th or 10th which is kind of what I had been thinking it would be from the beginning. So, even though we are being held up by the lame bank, things should move along quite quickly once they get started. I am so excited and can't wait to see any sort of progress!

As for the job situation, I have been out of week for three weeks now! What a pain in the rear! Who ever thought that a nurse would have a hard time finding a job?? I guess technically I could get a job if I wanted a crap staff job that paid next to nothing, but I really don't want to have to do that. The agency that I was originally working with really seemed to be dragging their feet so I sent my resume out to a few other places last week and got a call from another agency. This one seems to have a lot better idea of what is going on. They already tried to get me to work on Thursday night but unfortunately I didn't have all my required education complete so I couldn't do it. Hopfully it is a sign that there are a lot of available shifts! I am also taking the HCA charting class on Wednesday so that should open up more options as well.

So, there you have it. Even though I have an "answer" from Westminster I am still technically stuck waiting. I do have a lot more info on my house now, but I am obviously still waiting on that. My life is just one big waiting game right now. I am excited for my birthday bash next weekend! Can't believe I am going to be the big 3-0! Crazy! Marija is coming to spend the day with me on my actual birthday. Sure to be a good time! I guess my life consists of a lot of waiting for the next little while, but I have all sorts of fun things planned this summer and I'm sure it will fly right by!