Fun Couple Date

Dan and I had a fun date the other day while the kids were in school. We biked to the ferry into Seattle and biked to the REI store. If you know about this store than your thinking how lucky I am to have one so close. The 'out door lover' of any kind could browse for hours....
We went to buy some warmer bike accessories for me b/c the mornings have become quite chilly. This day happened to be a absolutely beautiful fall day.
This is one of the ferrys we ride. It's hard to see but cars load on the bottom and the side of the middle deck. I think its four stories.
This is a picture of my hubbie...we were waiting to board. The next is a picture I took from the ferry on our way back. In the distance you can see faintly Mt. Rainier...can you see it?
Lastly, this is me on our ride back. I had Dan take this picture b/c this is part of my ride to the ferry on working mornings....its called the Grand Forest...funny it's only about 2 miles, but very pretty and strangely serene at 5am in the dark:)

Work

This picture makes me giggle.....it looks so fake professional. It was taken after a very, very long day b/c Noah needed a picture of me in work clothes for a project he was working on.
So, my typical work day is this: I'm on a 8 week orientation, currently working 12 hour day shift w/ a preceptor, 36 hours a week. It's my 5th week on the unit and I finally feel like maybe I can do this. Not only have I not been in this kind of acute care in about 10 years but it seems like everything is different....meds, how they do things....only computers for charts.... even noting your orders on computer. Not to mention that I thought I was taking a position in Coronary Intensive Care and it turns out....(silly me)...that its a Medical Intensive Care Unit. So....I'm learning Renal, Neuro., and lots of Septic Shock, and updating my cardiac, hemodynamic monitoring skills. They get everything and ladies do I have some really yucky, grody stories to tell you over a good meal of course:) The work people are really nice, but the job is fast ....and sometimes I feel like I'm going so fast, I would like to stop and think about some things. Any way, a huge learning curve....and I have to take an ICU exam in about 3 weeks to complete my orientation. So, I will eventually be on nights and hopefully sleep more. Sounds funny, but right now I get up at 4am....leave on my bike at 4:45am....get to the 5:20 ferry....arrive in Seattle @ 6am...bike to Virginia Mason Hospital by 6:15...clean up, on the unit @ 6:30.....work till 7:30pm....catch the 8:10 ferry home...again bike....and walk in the door @ 9:15pm. Wow....I'm exhausted thinking about it. But its 3 days a week...and Dan has offered to pick me up whenever I want. But, I love the money were saving...the hopital pays for 75% of my commute and so it only cost me $37 a month to travel to work and back. And, its sometimes amazing to me to see all the bikers that get up early to ride to the ferry every morning and scurry off in all directions when we arrive in Seattle down town. It's dark and b/c it's fall now those 3 days of work I only see daylight through my patients windows.
It's all so new....I feel like my life is comepletely changed....it's not bad, its just very different.
Miss you! If you think of me, pray for me:)

Haircuts

It was a bit painful to get the girls haircuts. They both had such long pretty hair....but they both insisted that they wanted short hair. They no longer wanted to attempt to grow it out like Rapunzel. It is easier now ...they can wash it themselves, which is a great help to Dan when I'm at work...and I have to admit they still look so cute!