My husband brought up an interesting point…(I know, what a crazy way to start this post!) Anyway, he was asking what will make us happy? When will we finally be happy? Well, I thought we were kind of happy already….but I got his meaning. We are both so busy trying to get to the next thing…whether that is school, work or something we want to buy. What will finally be enough? These are pretty tough questions. I thought about it a while and I think I don’t know what will eventually make me “happy.” I am still in school, working on my master’s degree. I will have my Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner’s license when I graduate in December, but I have already been thinking about what is next. I would like to be a Certified Nurse Midwife as well. This will mean more school and time commitments. Will I then be happy? Or will I want to get my doctorate? When can I stop and enjoy the life that my family is living around me? These questions really made me think.

I think that just because I still seek out challenges does not mean that I am ignoring what is happening around me. I want to give my children the best life I can….though this means that I am not always home when I would like to be. I hope that by going to school and having more autonomy in my profession that I will eventually be making my own schedule and can spend as much time with them as I want. I know children don’t always understand the sacrifices we make in hopes of a better future for them…all they know is that you are not there watching them when they look up at gymnastics practice as they finally get that flip just right…

I got the biggest compliment of my life the other day. My little boy who is 10, was playing with his neighborhood friend who crashed his bike. In they come, neighbor kid with a bloody knee and a nice case of road rash. My little boy looked at his friend and smiled then said “My mom is a nurse, she can fix anything.”  I giggled, knowing good and well I wish I could fix anything. We got the injured knee all washed, cleaned and bandaged and out the door they flew only to take on the days challenges that were left.

My little boy was so sincere when he was talking to his friend. It really made me stop and think how wonderful children are and how they look up to us for so many things. It by no means had to do with the fact that I’m a nurse he feels that way, he also feels that way about his dad who is a laborer. It’s the fact that he looks up to us all for guidance and has every ounce of confidence we as parents and step parents can “fix anything”. His dad has taught him so many things, the man literally can fix anything.

Even though we are divorced we are fortunate to have put are children first. I’m by no means saying we haven’t had our knock down drag outs, but we did the best we could.   We are both now with other people so my crew of 2 kids turned into 4. His crew of 2 turned into 5. Our children are so lucky to have step parents that love them like their own. Now being the proud mom/step mom of four, the laundry load has certainly increased but, I love every minute of it!

I know this has nothing officially to do with being a nurse but, I just wanted to share with you the biggest compliment of my life. Sometimes it’s nice just to slow down, take a look around and truly appreciate what God has bestowed upon you.

When a girl gets married, it is expected that she will take her husband’s name. This may seem romantic to some, like ownership to others. The process though can be quite complicated. The level of complication has a lot to do with where you are in life at the time of your marriage. A young girl just out of high school maybe has to change her driver’s license and social security card and that is it. A woman that is older may have a bit more trouble.

My first marriage was right after high school and I had no problem changing my name…7 years later I was divorced and everything I had accomplished, college, nursing degree and license, certifications, maybe a few credit cards, numerous bills, my four children…well they were all attached to that name. I did not change my name back to my maiden name after divorce for that reason. Then 6 more years passed…and I was married again. I have been married about a month and a half…and still not everything is changed over to my new name. Every week I try to change my name with one of the various agencies that knows me. It has begun to seem like it will never end. I couldn’t change my name at work until my nursing license was changed….so I had to use my old name there, my new name on checks, my old name at school, and my new name somewhere else…it was confusing! Many times at work I signed a medication record with two different initials. I finally changed my name at work, but all my logins to the med pyxis and supply pyxis and computers all still use my old last name…yet another thing to change…

All the while, my new husband has no similar distress to worry about. His name is his name. Some women decide not to change their name with marriage and I think that is understandable, and some men are accepting of that. Though I do know of a woman that kept her ex husband’s name even after 20 years of marriage to someone else…I have already told my new husband that he cant have his name back! This is the last time I am changing my name….not just because I love him with all my heart and am so happy to be with him, but well….it is just too much trouble!

Before diving into yet another dry, overcooked holiday fowl this week, I am going to give thanks for getting to attend an old fashioned, rockstar-worthy, hotel-room-destroying party last Sunday night.

We arrived kind of late and the two other party goers with me kept staring out the car window pouting because they thought we’d arrive too late to join in the fun. But after pushing my mommy-mobile close to the speed of sound, we finally made it to the parking lot of the hotel. The girls composed themselves admirably as they walked past the front desk trying to affect a bored, nonchalant look. “Who us? No, we’re not yet another group going up to room 213. Please don’t call the police or the fire marshal……”

Through the hotel room door, I could hear muffled screams and giggles which were quickly squelched when we knocked. The door was slowly opened a crack as the hostess peeked out to see who was in the hall. She swung it open wide when she saw us saying, “oh, good it’s you guys! I thought it was the hotel manager, telling us to be quiet….again.”

We walked in to chaos. There were empty pizza boxes littering the tables, half eaten and abandoned pieces of pizza and drinks lying on every other available space in the two bedroom suite. TVs were blaring, ignored, while the guests ran around jumping on the furniture, acting like they were wired for sound.

Despite being late, we arrived just in time to catch the chauffeured car over to the hotel next door, where the management, in deference to the star of the gig, let our group swim in their heated indoor pool, since it was about 40F outside. After the pool takeover, the ensemble then headed back to the room, where the party continued late into the night with everybody eventually crashing on the floor.

You may well ask why I’m thankful for such a wild bacchanal at the almost rocking-chair worthy age of 41. Didn’t I get the memo that drugs and wild parties were sooooo 1980′s? Yeah, I did, but when the drug of choice is leftover Halloween candy and all the crazy party people in the house are under 4 feet tall, I’ll make an exception to the rule.

You see, this party was to celebrate my five year old daughter’s best friend finally being finished with treatment for a scary tumor her mom, a doctor just finishing her training, found accidentally back in February. Both of the girls had a little cold, but when our little friend had some nausea in addition to her headache, her mom took an x-ray of her stomach and found an advance-stage cancer in her four year old little girl. Nine months later her chemo/surgery/radiation are completed and her blonde hair’s just starting to grow back in. She describes her scalp as feeling like a horse’s nose, soft and a little fuzzy.

So this Thanksgiving I want to pause and appreciate the miracle of a little life saved by modern medicine. I am thankful for all the people who slave away doing unheralded bench-work in basement labs to create medications that heal us. I am thankful for specialized hospitals that have the knowledge and trained professionals to support us when the bottom falls out from under what we thought- just that morning!- was an otherwise normal life. I am thankful to have friends like the moms in our little group, who have never thought twice about doing many special things, big and small, for a family faced with the ultimate horror. And last, I am thankful for my two daughters and the reminder not to take them for granted. Every smile, every pout, every lost tooth, every trip to the principal’s office, every dance recital, all the trips to the overpriced doll store, the long car rides with 50 potty breaks, the weekday mornings filled with frantic searches for books and folders. I am thankful for each and every one.

Well, blogworld has ended and we all made it back to Texas in the same condition in which we departed. Actually, now that I think about it NOPE, we didn’t! @nursewendy came back a married woman, @lipodoc came back with a couple of new bruises due to her stair dive and I have a nice bump on my head (ironically from the same stairs that attacked @lipodoc). I think those stairs might be a LAVO conspiracy (the club at our hotel). Lots of fun was had, my liver is still shaking but, I am so glad to be home! I met so many wonderful people and, learned so many new things about the world of social media that I did not even know existed.

One of the main things that stood out to me from all of the different seminars I attended was stay true to yourself in your writing. Not only did I find this to be the most powerful message, I found it comforting as well. I am by no means a professional journalist or grammar expert. I am a nurse, a crazy one at that! Life is a blast, people are the most entertaining creatures and, laughing is my favorite thing to do. I am blessed, truly blessed with four crazy babies that, I must say are the most beautiful people on earth! A fiancé who takes great pride in his children, treating me like a princess and taking great care of his patients all while maintaining an unbelievable sense of wit, he is the king of the double entendre.

So, the fact that my writing reflects my outlook on life as a nurse may not be the most beautifully written piece doesn’t really matter. It’s just simply, what I feel and how I think. This may be scary to some. Let’s just hope not too many psychiatrist end up reading my posts, as I might be taken away! For those who actually met me at blogworld, I think they would agree with my above statements. I just am who I am. I got one of the biggest compliments at one of the afterpartys. A gentleman walked up to me and said, “You were that girl with your twitter name on your back @nursejennifer right?” I started laughing and said “Yes, I am that nerd.” He smiled and said “I remember you because every time I saw you, you were always smiling.” That was so nice to hear! That’s so much better than you are that girl who is always crying or always frowning, it would so suck to be “that girl”.

Thank you to all of the wonderful people that talked to me, who answered my thousands of questions. A super special thank you to all of the experienced bloggers who took the time to review my post and offer me wonderful advice, trust me, I was hanging on your every word. A big, kiss my ass to those who were rude… thank God there were not many. I have made some new friends, learned a ton and, am already totally stoked about blogworld 2010. Hope to see you there! (unless, you were one of the rude people, you should just stay at home or maybe attend a how not to be a dick convention). Thanks again for your help everyone, cant wait to see you next year!!

Blogworld is upon us come this Wednesday and, I have found myself in quite a dilemma. First off, I’m going to be at a huge conference, to learn as much as I possibly can about something I really know nothing about. This means, I actually have to pay attention to what is being said. This would not be a problem other than the fact the conference is in Las Vegas and, I have a proclivity for partying like a rock star. Now you see my problem. Some people would just say, well that’s an easy fix, just don’t party and pay attention to your courses. To them I say IT’S LAS VEGAS!!! I actually think it might be illegal to be there and not partake in the festivities. I don’t want to be a law breaker because I take pride in being an upstanding citizen, after all nurses are great role models.

So here is my solution to the predicament at hand. I will be drunk as a skunk no doubt. I will attend all of the needed conferences. I will meet as many people as I can that can teach me what in the world I am doing. I will follow the rules listed below to alleviate my hangover. After all I have lots of practice in this field.

1. I will keep myself hydrated with as much water as possible prior to getting my drink on.

2. I will make sure I have a light meal before I start drinking. This will reduce the puking factor.

3. I will slam a 5 hour energy shot before I start drinking because they are loaded with b12 which affects hangover symptoms in a good way.

4. I will stick to the same type of liquor. You go mixing tequila with whiskey and gin you are going to have yourself an exorcist projectile puking scene on your hands.

5. I will substitute water, occasionally in between rounds. The headache the next morning is due to dehydration. Prevention is the key to drink with me.

6. As I prepare to pass out here’s what I do. I eat a very light snack, usually a couple of saltines.

7. Now that I have crackers in my belly I take 3 ibuprofen (it’s better to have something on your stomach with the med). Last but not least, I slam as much water as possible before the pass out.

So there’s my pre pass out routine. Now here is my post OMG I actually have to get up at seven AM advice.

1. a bottle of water before even getting out of bed

2. slam a 5 hour energy

3. lay there for 5 minutes awake and move slowly when getting out of the bed

4. get coffee pot going

5. head to shower, stand under hot water and hold onto shower wall until awake

6. get coffee

7. get dressed (avoid putting on your high heels until walking out the door)

8. place visine in eyes

9. get more coffee

10. do hair and makeup

11. find keys, put on high heels, grab cup of coffee to go and bring on the day!

So what do you guys do? Any advice here? One more thing that I think works better than all of the above. The good ol’ saying chew on the hair of the dog that bit you, holds so true. A bloody mary in the morning works like a charm if you don’t have to go to work. Unless you have a job where you can drink at 8 am I don’t recommend this tactic. All I know is that at blogworld I will be in Vegas, I will be partying like crazy and I will use the above listed rules and the bloody mary recoop!

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS BY NO MEANS, MEDICAL ADVICE OF ANY SORT! I’m just a nurse that is a good drinker! My momma didn’t raise no quitter. Hope to see you in Vegas.

While my buddy @nursewendy is terrified of blogworld I have just the opposite thoughts. I am stoked!!! I am by no means a computer wiz, I get excited if I send an email with an attached picture correctly. All I know is I’m going to be in Vegas with my best friends and, am going gain some awesome knowledge and, meet a ton of intelligent people. My biggest fear will be the hangovers and trying to absorb what is being said while in that state of mind. Here’s what I plan to do while I’m there.

I will order a vodka/redbull for @nursewendy on the flight to vegas. She is scared to fly so I figure I’ll just get her drunk to settle her nerves. Of course being the wonderful friends that we are @lipodoc and I will also have to drink in order to support @nursewendy. I know, I know, we are so selfless.

We will continue to order vodka/redbulls while in flight until @nursewendy is not nervous. Then we shall drink as much water as possible because we will have a long night of power drinking, dancing, laughing, gambling and debauchery ahead. So we must pace ourselves.

Arrive at the hotel, unpack and put on some well…….”hey we are here” clothes!

I have to immediately hit the craps table just to see what happens before we head out for the evening. What can I say, I have all the vices.

Then we will set off for fine dining and entertainment followed by: more adult beverages and more adult beverages. Who knows what time we shall return to the hotel. Seeing as how we will have to get up early in the morning to attend blogworld maybe we will be in by 4 or 5 am. All I can say is thank God for bloody Marys because that’s what I will be drinking to recover.

First thing the next morning blogworld starts, I can’t wait!! There will be so many awesome people there, that are amazing bloggers and computer wizzes. I am looking forward to picking their brains, in hopes that I can learn as much as possible. I am not shy so, I have no problem at all asking someone I don’t know about something I want to learn. I just hope these are nice people because if I run into someone who is rude or mean I will probably cry and then have to punch them in the face. Just kidding about the punching thing, I have never been in a fight in my life. Ohhhhh Wednesday is almost here….I’m sooooo excited!! All this drinking talk got me thinking about writing a super short blog on hangover tips. Make sure you watch for that post because my liver is a trained professional and I have some good advice.

So nurseWendy’s kind’ve scared of the techies and I fear for the hosts of the “unlimited vodka party” (details here) since nurseJennifer’s liver is wired for vodka-sound. But I’ve been to Vegas many times (this year alone) and I’m neither scared of flying nor searching for the ultimate hang-over cure. What’s a cynical Vegas veteran such as myself to do when not attending the admittedly fabulous Blogworld talks?

(1) Assuming that the talks will be over by about 6pm every day, that leaves between 4-6 hours of shopping to be had. One of the many great things about the LV strip is that the stores within the big casino hotels stay open LATE to capture that I’m-so-drunk-and-just-hit-the-jackpot crowd. So I can actually go to all the medical track lectures and then luxuriate in the heavenly trifecta that is Barney’s NY/ Jimmy Choo/ Christian Louboutin over at the Venetian. Salespeople are also exponentially nicer in Vegas than elsewhere (where they can be asshat snobs, but that’s for a different post) since anybody could have just won big at the tables. Jeans and a gimme cap do not automatically mean you get snubbed at Chanel like you would in NYC.

(2) Get rubbed with aromatic oils. The spas in Vegas are (not to abuse a cliche) world-class. There is a just-remodeled Canyon Ranch Spa branch at the Venetian, a fairly new massive spa complex at Caeser’s (Qua), and the Bellagio and THEHotel (their capital letters, not mine) host stunning hot bath rooms you’ll want to haunt after death.

(3) Get my ass kicked by the machine of death. The last time nurseWendy and I worked out in Vegas, she got on the assisted pull-up machine and promptly went crashing to the ground (she’s a great runner, but at the time had sorta weak lats). We lovingly christened the machine “the machine of death” and she has feared it ever since. At each of the faboo spas, there’s a faboo gym with every machine/cable/weight rack you could ever want. Canyon Ranch even has a rock wall to climb.

(4) Craps. Craps. Craps. My many trips to LV this year ending each day at the craps table is why their local economy has not completely failed despite the recession. I’m a terrible if very enthusiastic player

(5) Eat gobs of stinky cheese. There are an amazing number of divine restaurants on the strip, many of which have cheese plates or cheese boards which is one of my all time favorite indulgences. I gained 10 lbs on my 10 day honeymoon in France from cheese and bread alone. There is also a lot of wonderful wines to go with the cheese as LV is home to more master sommeliers than even LA. Since cheese and adult beverage cover two of the three essential food groups, that leaves…..

(6) Chocolate. On the ground floor of the Forum shops sits Vosges chocolate shop, a company run by a female chocolatier who was one of the first wide-spread artisan chocolate makers to combine unique ingredients to make ambrosia like truffles and bars. NurseWendy likes the milk chocolate/Goji berry/sea-salt combination, I like the Naga bar with coconut milk and curry. There’s everything from dark chocolate + bacon to dark chocolate + ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds. This is heaven on earth and a great place to sit and rest your tired, aching tootsies that have been strolling around on the 4″ Jimmy Choo heels.

What are your favorites? I’m always looking for new indulgences in Sin City?

I am a bit nervous about my upcoming Blogworld experience….

7. There is a flight involved in getting there. I am so very scared about flying…this will only be my 3rd trip in a plane…I just don’t believe it will ever seem ok to be that high up in the air…

6. It is in Las Vegas. There are so many wonderful things to do in Vegas, so many shopping opportunities, so many bright lights, so much to distract from the Blogworld experience….

5. There will be sooo many people there. I am not one to be comfortable in a packed room with hundreds of people. This will make me incredibly nervous and paranoid….are you looking at me?

4. These super smart people might try to talk to me. You may not believe this, but I am very shy around groups of strange people I do not know, especially really smart computer people that know so much more about the topics of Blogworld than I do.

3. I may be expected to know something about computer stuff… This is very scary to me. I know how to turn on a computer and get to the internet…anything else I need technical support team and a few hours to spend on the phone to get anywhere.

2. Just looked at the online schedule…sooo much information and it starts soooo early for Vegas. There is a lot of information to be covered at Blogworld….how will we get it all in?? And all the big computer words about marketing and such? I am going to be really lost…I see myself sitting in a conference room staring blankly at a pretty floral pattern on the far wall…..just over the speaker’s head…

1. Oh yeah, gotta get back on a plane to get home… Dang!!

I had an awesome day!!! I have not smoked in 17 days, well let me rephrase that. I have not smoked a real cigarette in 17 days. I have been smoking my e-cig. LOVE IT!! The only down side of the day is my man has to work late so I don’t get to wrap my arms around him for another hour and he had to spend a fazillion dollars on a crown for my tooth. I think they should give me a crown for my head too as much as it costs, geez! That totally sucks but, it could have been worse. I didn’t have to have a full extraction or anything along those lines.

So, that being said I just wanted to pop in and say hope you had a great day as well. This is super short because the children are starving, the laundry is piling, the dog is barking and the vodka is calling. I swear that pile of laundry over there is actually staring at me like the geico money stack. No, I am not drunk yet either. Ok, I’m off to make some dinner. Did I mention the fact that I am a horrible cook? The goal of the night is don’t smoke up the kitchen and if all else fails there is pizza hut! Wish me luck!!