I have been enjoying my summer break so much. I’m still working full time, but just working and not having classes feels like such a relaxing break from this past semester! I know that if I don’t enjoy life now, while I’ve got the chance, then I’ll really regret it in the fall when classes start up.

I’ve been reading a lot which is something that I’ve really missed. There’s just nothing like curling up on the couch with a blanket, a cat or two, and a good book. I’ve started reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels this month and I’m really enjoying them. I’m working my way through True Blood season 1 at the same time (I love Netflix!). I hope Amazon hurries up with the box set of the novels so that I can continue reading the books asap!

My husband got me the Sims 3 as a surprise so I’ve been playing some of that as well. It’s a dangerous game for me though because I never realise how much time has passed until it’s several hours later. I’ve been thinking about renewing my World of Warcraft account but if I do that, I worry that I won’t see any sunlight this summer except for my drive home from work!

I’m working on growing cherry tomatoes, basil, oregano, and green bell peppers out on our deck. I definitely am NOT a green thumb and I hate touching dirt, but all of the plants are alive still and that’s a pretty big accomplishment for me! I’m looking forward to having lots of yummy salads this summer

I also started the Couch to 5K running program last week! It’s been my goal to get in shape and lose some weight before school starts. I have a desk job and unfortunately, I’ve gained weight because of this, so I’m worried that I might not have the stamina to run around the hospital when it comes time for clinicals. The idea of running has always appealed to me. I like the idea of being out there running, alone with my thoughts and my music. After the first few days of Couch to 5K I felt great and the stress from the day had pretty much melted away! I really hope to continue running and to use it both as a way to exercise during school (and long term) and as a stress reliever. I’m pretty out of shape so moving to week 2 yesterday was pretty tough, but I made it! I’m now sitting here typing this with a bag of frozen peas on my shins so that I can keep to my schedule of walking/jogging/running every other day and go out tomorrow morning. I’ve also been doing exercises with my 5lb dumbbells on my non-running days. Hopefully I’ll start seeing results in a few weeks!

This time next month is my nursing school orientation and I’m so excited! I’ve been starting to gather some of the documentation that I know I’ll need for school, but I can’t really buy anything until I know the rules on what type of things we can and can’t have for school. We also have to be fitted for uniforms on that day and ugh, not looking forward to that!

Time to get back to my busy schedule of lounging on the couch with a book. Gotta savor every minute of this free time!

So far I’ve bought two books for nursing school. One for the beginning – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0803618948/ref=ox_ya_oh_product - Test Success: Test-Taking Techniques for Beginning Nursing Students. This book just came in the mail today from Amazon, so I’ve not gotten to read it yet, but I’ve seen it recommended by other nursing students so I figured it’d be a good thing to go over this summer and during school.

And then, the first book I bought, only about an hour after getting my letter – http://www.amazon.com/Saunders-NCLEX-RN%C2%AE-Examination-Silvestri-NCLEX-RN/dp/1416048502/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244323868&sr=8-3 – Saunders Q&A Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination. I’ve read that doing questions from an NCLEX review book while preparing for regular nursing school tests is a really good idea, and I’d read that Saunders was really good as well.

I also bought this clipboard a few months back at the uniform sale at work – http://www.allheart.com/pm3309.html I’m guessing it’s the same one that I own, but since I didn’t buy it from that company, I’m not certain. It’s got tons of information printed all over the clipboard so I figured it’d be nice to have as a reference. It also has a calculator on the top.

Finally the acceptance letter from the school campus that is only a few miles from my house came so now I can relax and celebrate for certain! It took a great deal of weight off of my shoulders to know last Friday that I’d been accepted somewhere, but to know for sure that we won’t have to move and I won’t have to drive 750 miles a week for school is fantastic!

I’ve started to gather my vaccine records, however, I won’t know for sure what I’ll need until after the information meeting in mid July. Mid July?! Don’t they know that obsessive planners like me want to know this stuff asap so we can get started?! At least people at the other campuses can tell me what their campus requires, so that’s something at least.

Now this means I really need to kick the “I need to exercise” attitude into high gear! I’ve got uniform fitting in 6 weeks!

I got an acceptance letter from one of the campuses I applied to today! This one is about 75 miles away from my house, so it’s my second choice, but hey, I’m finally going to be an official nursing student! I hope to hear from my home campus soon, because I’d much prefer to go to school here in town, but at least I have a huge weight off of my shoulders now. Two years of hard work and perserverence are finally paying off!

The first thing I did was go out and buy an NCLEX-RN review book!

Some people that attend other campuses of my school are already beginning to get their acceptance letters in the mail! The wait is driving me up the wall though. I’ve pretty much been having mild anxiety attacks every day during my last half hour of work because I know I’ll be going home to check the mailbox soon. The very real chance that I might not get in is starting to hit me and if that happens, I am just completely unprepared. I really hope the letters for the two campuses I applied to go out soon because otherwise I might just have a stroke!

(Please please let me get a letter tomorrow *because* of writing this whiny post, please!)

Final grades are in and my 4.0 remains intact! I’ve got to remember to never be this lazy again though, I don’t like cutting it that close!

Time to get ready for the Lost season finale now!

My Advanced physiology class was yesterday morning. I studied really hard for it because I knew deep down I just wasn’t going to be happy if I took the lazy way out and only worked for a B instead of an A. (My lab final was the previous Saturday and I got a 98% on that. Lab is always easier for me.) I sort of waffled back and forth with my studying for the lecture final because I was really tired all week and I just wasn’t getting some of the small details of the renal system. The night before the test I only ended up studying for like 45 minutes and then going to bed early. Then yesterday morning a few hours before the test I managed to accidentally meet up with a girl from my class (I sadly don’t even know her name) and we had complementing weak/strong points on the test material so we studying together for the final few hours. It was like the study group of legend because we actually got work done and never strayed off topic! Well anyways, I went in, took the test and the teacher said he would grade them when everyone was done. I was expecting to have to wait for my report card to be able to find out so this was pretty awesome.

I ended up getting a 98% on the lecture final too and I immediately started crying my eyes out. I’m so glad that I’d put in the extra work and really buckled down. I’m so glad that I didn’t settle for that B! This means I have an A for the class and I am so relieved! I should get an A in my other class unless I get less than 119/200 on my final paper which shouldn’t be a problem. I’m glad that now that I got into Phi Theta Kappa, at least I didn’t blow it on my first semester ;P

Now I’ve got to start getting ready for my husband’s graduation, I’m so proud of him And now it’s SUMMER BREAK!

This morning I got my exam grade from last week back. Eek. 78%. And what’s scarier is that my 78% was the second highest grade in the entire class. Not a single person got an A. Maybe they should start thinking that there’s either something wrong with the lectures, or that there’s something wrong with the test. I still have an 88% in the class, but getting that A seems more difficult every day. I have a lab exam next week and then another lecture exam the week after and that’s it. If I score well on the lab exam like I did on the previous one, that’ll be a big help, but I’m going to really need to buckle down on my studying for the final exam. Luckily it’s not cumulative.

I’ve also got a final paper due in my other class in about a week and a half. I’d really like to get as much of that out of the way as possible tomorrow. THen I can just focus on this class and maybe I can scrape by just barely. Every time I procrastinate I hate myself for it. This is no different.

For some reason I’ve been ridiculously obsessed with planning stuff for the first day of nursing school (17 weeks and 2 days from now) IF I get in. And like stupid stuff like what to wear and what to bring for lunch that day. It’d be really nice to not think about stupid mundane things like this but clearly my brain is desperate for some distraction every day while I’m at work. Maybe I need to go back to listening to more books at work, that always makes the time go by a lot faster.

Two weeks from right now I will be home from school and I will be FREE for the summer!

I’ve had my head in my Physio notes all week and have been listening to my lecture recordings all week at work. I am so excited for this semester to be over with already! Only 4 more weekends including this upcoming Saturday and I am free all summer! I mean, I still have to go to work 40 hours a week, but it’ll feel like freedom! I hope I do well on my test this weekend. I really do want to make an A but if I end up with a B I’ll take that. It’s just such a hard class and to be honest, I’ve been a total slacker this semester, so if it ends up as a B, well I brought it on myself!

I found another awesome Nursing podcast that I thought I’d share. I’ve listened to the first 6 or so episodes so far and I think I’m really going to love it. It’s called The Nursing Show (iTunes link).

I’ve been saving links to helpful medical sites for the last year or so, so I’ll make a whole post with all of these good resources after my test this weekend. Time to go and hang out with one of my friends and talk about Lost! At least since this season has been so awesome, I spend most of the week anticipating the next episode and it makes time go by a lot quicker!

There’s only 4 more weeks of classes left for this semester, thank goodness! I’ve got 3 tests in one class and a final paper in the other. In my online class I have a paper due this evening. I’ve written the whole thing already this week, all I need to finish is the stupid APA citations. I rarely work ahead on papers like this, so that’s a pretty nice feeling. I do have a Physio test next week though and I’ve not studied much since the week before the last unit test in that class. It’s like I’ve got senioritis and I’m not even a senior! I plan to finish my paper this morning and then spend the rest of the day studying for my test. I really need to buckle down this week because I have a low A in the class, and I would really like to keep it. I just need to stop procrastinating and get down to business.

I sent off my registration for Phi Theta Kappa on Friday and that was pretty exciting. I really don’t know if I’ll be able to maintain their standards while in nursing school (if I get in) but I’m going to try my hardest. And even if I can’t, it’ll be nice to know that I got to be a member at least for a while!

I’ve decided that I’m going to really focus this summer on trying to get in shape because I am horribly and embarrassingly out of shape. If I get into nursing school, I want to have some endurance. I’ve lost it all with my desk job that I’ve had for the last year and a half. I want to be able to have the energy to be running around the hospital all day without feeling like I’m going to keel over after about 20 minutes. I’d like to get to the point where I can maybe start running. The solitude of running has always appealed to me. The horribly out of shape part of me has always turned me away from trying running though.

48 days until school is able to start mailing out acceptance letters!