round two.

it has been a long week. but guess what, it's ok, because i'm outta here!
yosemite or bust! that's right, round two at yosemite baby! i randomly had five days off in a row, and my parents were planning a trip this weekend, and so i just went ahead and invited myself [can you blame me? yosemite= my favorite place in the world].

so i am so excited to get away for the weekend, and to spend some time with my parents, it has probably been a good ten years since i have been camping with them. so, peace out los angeles. i'll see ya sunday, i have a much overdue date with the great outdoors.


[source]

thankful: picking up where you left off.

so, i know, i am pushing it for thankful thursday considering it is almost friday, but better late than never! and give me a break, i had my first day of work today, and went to a new life group tonight but more on both of those later, i have had a busy day.

for my dedicated readers, you might remember me talking about my friend charissa in this post last summer. she is an old friend//roommate//kindred spirit from my biola days. she has a wandering spirit, so since graduation, she has been traveling the globe korea, europe, australia... and the last time that i had seen her was last august when she was visiting the states [for those who aren't paying attention, that's a year people. i haven't seen her in an entire year. and i have been really bad about skyping].

anyway, i got to see her on tuesday!! she had a few hour layover at lax on her way to, wait for it, antarctica [told you she had a wandering spirit]. i went and picked her up from the airport and we went and got in n' out and walked around target for a bit, and then i dropped her back off.

i know what a lot of you must be thinking, was it weird seeing her after such a long time? and my answer is, no. it wasn't weird at all. charissa is one of those amazing friends, that even though it has been months since you spoke, she sucks the truth out of you. you have real conversation. your friendship picks up, right where you left off. it was like i hadn't seen her in a day, not a year.

tuesday night was such a blessing to me. it was such a blessing to spend quality time with an old friend. it was such a blessing to simply be able to share my heart with someone someone who really wanted to hear it. halfway through a conversation, i had paused, and laughed and apologized for word vomiting all over her for the last 20 minutes. she smiled, and simply stated, i can't do surface friendships anymore. i didn't come see you to have a fake conversation with you for an hour...i want to hear about what's real in your life.

so we sat in in n' out for another hour. talking about our struggles, love, our future plans, theology, family, friends, what we are excited about, etc. etc. etc. and when the evening was coming to a close, i felt like i could take a deep breath again. i felt comforted by her friendship. i felt comforted knowing that her friendship and love was never going to waiver. i am so thankful for charissa, for her wandering spirit, and the ability we have to pick up right where we left off.

hope you can find something to be thankful for today. happy thursday!


[dropping charissa off at lax for her to begin her journey to antarctica! love you so much friend!]

thankful: grace.

today, i am thankful for my dear friend grace. grace and i met about a year and a half ago, when she transferred into my nursing cohort. we became friends pretty much right away, and she quickly became a rock that i would turn to when i was struggling. then last fall, when we went through our rehabilitation and mental health rotations, we became extremely close, because the two of us had been put in a different clinical group than the rest of our close group of friends. it was during last fall that we really leaned on each other, and supported each other when we both thought we were going to fail out of school.

with grace, i can tell her what is really going on there are very few people i can do that with. if i ever need a shoulder to cry on, i know grace will be there. whenever i need honest advice, i know grace will give it to me she is definitely not afraid to hurt my feelings. and whenever i need someone to just be goofy with, i know i can count on her.

yesterday, grace and i met up in westwood, and went scrub shopping! she got a job offer right after graduation at northridge hospital medical center in the intensive care unit, and starts working next week. it was such a joyous time to be able to celebrate the ending of one chapter, and the beginning of another with her.

after we each found a few pairs of scrubs, we went and got dinner at california pizza kitchen it was absolutely delicious, and then just wandered around westwood and caught up with each other and our lives.

i am so grateful for grace, and i am so excited that we are both starting our working as a nurse journey at the same time. i know there are many more adventures in store with this girl, and i can't wait!

love you westmore!!

white collared shirt.

as i mentioned in my previous blog, my brother came and stayed with me for a couple days. it was so much fun getting to spend some time with him especially since that isn't something that happens that often! the main reason that he came up was because the two of us were riding out with lacofd fire station 14 in south central los angeles. this is one of the stations that i have been running with during my time with mccormick, so it definitely was fun being on the other side of things! the ride along was awesome. all of the guys were so helpful and so enthusiastic about having us there. it ended up being not that busy of a day, which was very surprising, so we ended up having a lot of time to drill at the station. we got to practice throwing ladders, putting on scba's [air tanks], etc. the day really got to expose nathan to the fire service, which is what i wanted to do [since he is thinking about pursuing firefighting]. and it was also just a great day to get to know the guys from station 14 better. i have been working alongside them for 2 1/2 years, and it was just awesome to actually get to have time to talk to them and hear more about their life stories. so, fire station 14, thank you. thank you for a great day and some awesome memories! i am so glad that i still get to see you guys when i am working as a nurse!
that reminds me, side note. i got my official start date for my new job. my first day as a nurse is going to be august 18th. which makes my last day at mccormick august 12th. eeeeeee. so. many. mixed. emotions. but more on that later. here are some photos from the day...enjoy!


[nathan at fire station 14.]


[nathan's first time throwing ladders!]


[ffpm duran and ffpm montgomery showing him the ropes.]


[my turn to practice throwing a 14ft ladder one man.]




[nathan with engine and squad 14.]


[top: nathan and i with ffpm montgomery.]
[bottom: nathan and i with ffpm duran, ffpm montgomery, ffpm conner, and captain gus. thank you guys! it was great!]


[nathan and i sporting our new 14s t-shirt!]

greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
john 15:13

emergency room nurse.

when i graduated from nursing school, i knew what i wanted to do. i wanted to work in the emergency room. i wanted to serve the uninsured and underinsured people of los angeles particularly those of south central. this population is sick. they need good patient care, education, and someone to care about them. i wanted to be a person to help meet this need. when i graduated, my dream was to work at harbor ucla. harbor is a county facility and serves the population that i wanted to work with.
over the last 2 1/2 years of working in inglewood, i have taken the majority of my patients to the hospital in the middle of inglewood, centinela hospital medical center. i had always said that i didn't want to apply there, because i wanted to be pushed out of my comfort zone. i wanted a change. and i didn't see much of a change working 1 mile away from my current station.
but then i started thinking. and praying. and talking to people inparticularly detoy. yes, i wanted to work at harbor. but how long would that application process take? and what if i didn't get a job? meanwhile, i have the nurses and friends at centinela pestering me like no tomorrow to apply, and that they would put in a good word for me.
so, during one of my shifts near the end of june, whether or not i should put in my application to centinela was all that detoy and i talked about. for 24 hours he was such a good friend that day. i sent him a text the next day thanking him for his advice, and he replied saying:

"you deserve to use your skills and knowledge to help others and right now you are limited. its not your dream but you'd be able to make a difference."
to tell you the truth, i think that text message was the thing that really convinced me, and so i submitted my application to centinela 4 days later.

i had an interview on friday, and was offered a position in the emergency room.
the hospital isn't magnet. it isn't in a nice city. it doesn't have brand new equipment. but i will be able to make a difference. all of my reasons for wanting to work at harbor apply to working at centinela. i get to serve incredibly sick patients. i get to serve incredibly undereducated patients. i get to be incredibly busy. i get to gain a ton of experience. and i am already really familiar with the population.
was this my dream when i graduated from school? no. definitely not. but slowly, it is becoming my dream. but most importantly, i know that i am going to be able to make a difference there. and for that reason, i couldn't be more excited.

hump day.

bam.
so. today was p r o d u c t i v e. why? you ask. well, more than likely, kara and i found our new home. we fell in love. the place is beautiful [definitely the most beautiful place i have lived post high school]. and our address would be on pch [it's ok, you can be jealous]. perks: townhome, 2-story, hardwood floor, our own washer and dryer, dishwasher, tons of storage, and an optional accent wall [kara, i will be more than happy to pay the $100]. more details to follow, but i am ecstatic.

check it out! we are in love.

city of angels.

i love good days. you know, those days when things just seem to go your way. do have days like this? well, today, i had one of those days. a good day. clinical today was...refreshing. as sad as it sounds...but there are very few days that i leave the hospital feeling encouraged and motivated. but today was one of those days. i was on 4 south today, the cardiovascular thoracic intensive care unit. my patient had so much going on, and i was running around the entire day...which is such a good feeling. i absolutely love being busy. and to make my day even better...we got a tour of los angeles county usc. and that just made my day. we got to see the brand new [gorgeous] hospital, and got to walk through the historical hospital. it was just awesome. the head chaplain gave us a tour, and he was just the sweetest man ever! i wanted to adopt him as a grandpa. the only downside to the tour was that we didn't get to see the er [i guess people had been abusing the privileges...boo people]. so i guess i am just going to need to transport a patient there...

[my nursing class and instructor with chaplain manly at lac usc]




the chaplain spoke a lot about the population of people you see at county, and that excited me. he spoke of being a missionary as a nurse, right here in the city of angels, and touching the lives of the underprivelaged citizens of the city. that is what i yearn to do. i want to serve and touch the forgotten people of this city. much like jesus, i long to live my life among the poor. i long to serve, educate, touch, protect, and bless the citizens of los angeles...and today reminded me of that desire.


and now i am working on CASE STUDY #2 at coffee klatch. and heading to my super awesome yoga class in an hour. it has been a good day.

the pacific northwest.

i just got back from a fabulous trip with my dear friends devon and steve to the gorgeous state of oregon to visit our friends beth and eric. beth and devon were my roommates when i was at biola, and it is always so great to spend time with them [and their husbands!]. we got there on wednesday, and came back sunday morning, and i cannot describe how amazing it was to simply get away from the hustle and bustle of life, and spend some good quality time with old friends.

wednesday:

[getting on our flight to portland!]

thursday:
on our first full day there, we explored the beautiful city of portland. for quite a long time, i was determined to move to the northwest after i graduated from nursing school, and being back there definitely reminded me why i wanted to move in the first place. it is just so beautiful, calm, and peaceful there...and there is a coffee shop on every street corner [definitely my way of life!]. however, the few times that i shared about work, i was reminded why i have decided to stay in los angeles after graduation. people talk about the need and poverty overseas, however, they have no idea the need there is right here in los angeles. the community of south central los angeles is one that is full of hurt, hate, anger...and it is one that has been forgotten about. and even though it is something that can drive me crazy at times, i feel called to serve the people of this community. so pacific northwest, i may come reside in one of your beautiful states someday...but i have a job to do first. anyway, that was a tangent, getting back to thursday [our first full day there]. beth had a nursing interview in the morning, so she dropped devon, steve, and me off and we explored the city for a few hours. she then met up with us and we went HAPPY HOUR HOPPING. i had never done it before, but it was so much fun! good [and cheap!] food, good friends, and delicious drinks...yes please.


[at a cute little cafe called vivace's...the food and coffee was delicious]






[this bookstore was HUGE! we were in here for a really long time...it was awesome]


[happy hour 1: jake's bar and grill]


[happy hour 2: henry's tavern]




[happy hour 3: portland city grill. it was 30 stories up! it was awesome!]

friday:
we spent our second day at cannon beach on the coast. words cannot describe how beautiful it was! there is just something about lush beautiful trees going right up to the water line...it simply takes your breath away. after we walked around and took pictures on the beach we went and got lunch at a little cafe in town that was just delicious. it was another great day...







saturday:
on saturday we had a nice slow morning at beth's house, and it snowed!! it was so much fun, especially since none of us see snow on a regular basis. beth's older brother had gotten married in hawaii 2 weeks ago, so her and eric had his wedding reception to go to, so steve devon and i spent the afternoon in a shopping center and found our way over to a small pub called mcmenamins. here we enjoyed some delicious sweet potato fries, drank some really bad spanish coffee [but made a come back with delicious ruby beer], and simply shared our hearts with each other. i was reminded this afternoon how blessed i am. not many people can sit in a small pub in the middle of nowhere for hours and simply share and listen the thoughts and feelings with good friends. devon and steve, thank you for letting me share my heart with you, i am so grateful to have you in my life.




[beth and eric's HUGE beautiful house!]


[at mcmenamins]

sunday:
on sunday, we woke up really early for our flight, and we back in los angeles by 0900, which was good since i had a million things to get ready for school. overall, it was a great trip. beth and eric, thank you for your hospitality, we were all blown away with the love that you showed us. devon and steve, thank you for being my traveling buddies...i enjoy the trips we take together. beth and devon...thank you for still being in my life even though our college days together are over. you two have been such a huge blessing to me over the last 4 years, i love you both dearly [and your husbands are pretty cool too]. this was a perfect way to end winter break and gear up for the LAST semester of school...nursing, bring it. i am rested, refreshed, and ready to go out with a bang.




[on our very early flight back to los angeles]

and on a side note, please go listen to THIS SONG. it is my current obsession right now, and it is kind of awesome.