2014 to date

To see such an extensive lapse in my blog is such a bittersweet feeling. I miss being able to write 20-30 posts in a year and enjoy looking back on changes both big and little in the last few years. Yet, these long voids in posts means my life is busy and full. Both good and bad, always, but still full and in constant motion. 

So what has happened in my life over the past 6 months? 

Well first of all, my family has continued to grow. I mentioned Clara in my last post, the sweetest, loudest deaf cat you ever will meet. Well she's continued growing from a measly 1.5 lb kitten to a full grown 10 lb cat and celebrated her first birthday at the end of March. My baby is a baby no longer! *sniff* 

However, Clara's birthday wasn't the only big event last month...she also got a brother! I've become really accustomed to having more than one pet over the years and always felt bad that I have to leave her alone for 14 hours a day when I work, not to mention nights when I'm out with friends, or running errands, etc. So I've very much wanted to get her a sibling. I've spent weeks on petfinder.com searching rescues. Normally I gravitate to the older, more 'needy' animals that I know may not get adopted otherwise, but with Clara being so young, I wanted to find her a companion she could bond and live out her life with. Yet not one so young she could boss around (which she would definitely be prone to do!). 

So I knew I was looking for males between the ages of 2-5 years. Plus, I knew I was partial to orange tabbies after Peanut, but wouldn't make that a deal breaker. I went out to shelters a few times and found some promising cats, but none that I felt were "the one." Finally, one weekend my sister came down and she, Nate, and I devoted the entire day to visiting rescues. We had no luck at the first few places and decided to make one last stop at the Clearwater Humane Society. There we found this sleepy, orange guy making his bed by holding the blanket in his mouth and purring away. He took to all three of us right away and we knew the decision had been made. The only problem was his name...Chuck just wasn't going to cut it. Nate pointed out he was a bit 'two-faced' because of the line running down his nose. This of course made Nate think of the Batman character Two-Face who's real name is Harvey Dent. So now our little guy had a new name...Harvey! It's been about a month since he moved in and it was a bit rough at first but now he and Clara are openly curious and tolerating each other and I can only hope that they'll be best buds in the near future!

view of the city from my hotel room

Two months ago, one of my best friends Tiffany turned 30 and her husband planned a surprise trip to New York for her. Of course there was no way I was going to miss this trip, but I wanted it to be a genuine surprise! I spent a month convincing her (with some outside help!) that it wasn't possible for me to come, only to receive a "talk" from her the day we were supposed to leave that she was really disappointed that she had figured out I wasn't coming and how she thought out of everyone I would be the one person she knew would come. It was all I could do not to give in and tell her right then and there! But when she burst into tears after seeing me as she was coming through the security gate at the airport, it was all worth it. We met two more of her friends in the airport and a few others in the city and had a blast of a weekend! We shopped (almost literally until we dropped), ate the most amazing food, deciphered the subway, visited the 911 Memorial, went to Broadway, and did a few authentic New Yorker activities like the equally cool and creepy Sleep No More interactive show. Plus, I got to see my amazing friend Diana who recently made the brave decision to drop everything and move to the city - I miss her so much!! It was freezing, but an absolutely blast and I was so glad to be there to celebrate with Tiff!

You caught that I mentioned Broadway, right?? Aka #28 on my 30 Before 30 list? And we didn't just see any show, we saw THE show. THE show that I have wanted to see since I heard the first notes of the soundtrack at age 11: Phantom of the Opera. It blew my mind and almost brought me to tears. Definitely an amazing experience I wouldn't trade for anything!

You couldn't wipe the grin off my face that night if you tried!

Other than that, life has been pretty status quo, mainly revolving around work and school. At the end of next week I will officially be at the half-way point in my ARNP program. I am astonished and proud to admit, barring anything crazy happening in the next 1.5 weeks, I will have continued to maintain a 4.0 so far in the program, far surpassing my academic achievements when pursing my BSN. It's such a great feeling to have made it this far in the program, but its also terrifying because next semester begins what I have been dreading for awhile now...clinicals. Don't get me wrong, once I get in a groove, I actually think clinicals will be great. And I'm not that nervous about interacting with my patients in a student-ARNP role, but what I am concerned about is meeting my preceptor. I feel so confident about some of my skills and like I know practically nothing in other areas...I just hope that I get someone who is passionate and smart and empathic and really values their role as a preceptor because I very much want to learn. And besides being nervous about meeting my preceptor, I'm anxious about handling my time management. I have 180 clinical hours I am expected to complete within 2.5 months, all while working and taking class. I've already dropped down to part-time at work to help compensate for the time I will be 'working' for free...but then that adds on the added stressor of money management. So I guess goal #18 Make a Budget is going to become a critical factor in my life soon. Lets just pray I can manage it all while still being a healthy, happy, functioning human being!

I've got some fun things planned for my 30 Before 30 list coming up and one more thing will be checked off this weekend! So stay tuned for that!

Until then....

Love,

KayCee

30 Before 30: California Edition!

9. Visit California

I could probably write a whole series of blogs about my trip to California, but I won't bore you with too many of the minute details. My friend and I decided to celebrate having a spring break again by planning a last minute trip to California. We spent time in both San Francisco and Napa Valley, as well as a couple days with her aunts who live just south of Napa in Petaluma. I definitely felt right at home on the west coast where so many people are as green-thinking and liberal-minded as me. And her aunts were a hoot! We began our trip with a hike up the coast and ended it in the city. I have to say, the rural areas we saw were by far my favorite parts of the trip. San Fran was a fun experience and I'm so glad we did it, but I guess I thought it would be less of a typical big city than it was. But it was fun to see all the winding streets and ride the trolley nonetheless. Here's a mini album of our adventures: 

 Tiff calls this my So You Think You Can Dance moment

 Tiffany and I after our 8 mile(!) hike to the coast

 beautiful views!

 first trip to the Golden Gate

 Lombard Street was a little terrifying to drive down!

 riding the trolley on our last day in San Fran!

 view of Alcatraz from on the trolley

Fisherman's Wharf

But of course thats not all we did! One of our main reasons for going to California in the first place was:

22. Go Wine Tasting!

The wino in me was in heaven in Napa Valley! This has been a top reason for me to want to travel to California for years and, looking back, Tiffany and I both agree that we would've been perfectly content for our entire trip to have been spent in Napa. We spent two full days exploring and were able to hit up about 6 wineries, plus some delicious food stops (ahi burgers!) and get our very first mud baths at the end to boot! I love all wines but tend to prefer more sweet (though not dessert) wines or, at the very least, the less dry wines. So I was kind of surprised to find that probably 70% of the wines featured at the wineries were red and a significant portion of the white wines featured were Chardonnays...which is usually among my least favorite of the whites. Not one to discriminate though, I tried a bit of everything and happily expanded my palate to include many more reds. 

The wines weren't the only great thing about Napa though. The people and the scenery were amazing too. We made friends with one of the sommeliers at the Robert Mondavi winery and at the end of the shift, he gave us the unfinished tasting bottles for free! And how to describe the views... my pictures will not even come close to doing it justice, but it was one of my favorite landscapes to date. Needless to say, I don't think a trip to California in the future will ever be complete without a day or two in Napa.

 the wine wall at Rutherford Ranch Winery

 V. Sattui Winery

 Robert Mondavi Winery

 the wine caves of Del Dotto Winery

 the castle of Castillo di Amorosa Winery

gorgeous view from atop Sterling Winery (you had to take a cable car to get there!)

12. Go Whale Watching

From the very beginning when Tiff and I were planning this trip to California, I told her my one non-negotiable thing I wanted to do while there was go whale watching. First, because it just seemed like such an amazing experience and second, because whales have meaning in my family. So this was the first thing I researched and booked, even before the hotels. Our first morning waking up in San Francisco, we were up by 6 am, in time to get coffee and cab it down to Pier 39 to meet with our tour. I was practically bouncing off the walls I was so excited. It was cold and windy and the sun was hiding, but I didn't care - I was going to see some whales! The trip started off normal enough, they told us what to expect, pointed out the 'sea sick' corner of the boat, and away we went. 

Well, the tour itself was 6 hours and it took us 2.5 to reach the Farrallon Islands, which was supposed to be our best bet of seeing any whales. I had never been seasick in my life and cruised along just fine for the first two hours, so I never gave taking any medicine a second thought. Unfortunately, after 2 hours of staring at grey seas and skies, I decided to go inside to rest until we got to our destination. That was my biggest mistake. The enclosed area added with the very rocky boat finally caught up with me and I joined the half of the boat who were already turning green. By the time we made it to the Islands, most of us on the boat had been sick at least once. The sun was finally out and we floated for a bit keeping our eyes peeled for any sight of a whale. The captain came on the loudspeaker a few times exclaiming about seeing a tail or two, but to be honest, maybe only a handful of people actually caught the tail. All in all, I managed to see a few spouts and the last few inches of a few tails before they entered the water and that was it. And then back around we turned for the 2+ hour journey back, while once again, most of us hung over the side of the boat, our stomachs losing the battle against the 20 foot swells we were fighting. 

The view on the way back was gorgeous, with the sun finally out and getting to see views of the coast as we got much closer to land, but unfortunately we were barely able to enjoy it. We passed a number of giant buoys in the water with countless sea lions on them that I wish I'd gotten a picture of. And it was cool to see the Golden Gate from underneath and cruise by Alcatraz. (Side note, every time I go to write 'Alcatraz' I almost always think 'Azkaban' first. Ah, the Harry Potter fandom runs deep in me apparently) We finally made it back around 2 pm and it was all Tiffany and I could do to wave down a cab and crawl back up to our room. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon in bed, while she spent it desperately trying to get enough fresh air outside. So all in all, whale watching...not exactly the experience I expected. But would I do it again given the opportunity in different conditions? Absolutely. I'm still determined to see a whale in my lifetime!

 So pumped!! Little did I know...

 I came up for air long enough to snap one photo of the Farrallon Islands

 view from under the GG

 Azkaban I mean...Alcatraz!

one pic to summarize our experience

So that was my trip! I had a great time with my girl and was able to cross 3 more things of my list. I can't wait to go again, but next time: San Diego and southern California!

Love,

KayCee

Picture-Heavy July and August Recap!

I've been a busy busy bee lately and haven't had much time to update, so lets recap whats been going on for the last month in my world!

During the last week of July I made my inaugural trip to Las Vegas, Nevada! The main purpose of the trip was to see the beautiful Tiffany Sloss compete in her first National Figure Fitness Competition, but of course there was lots of additional fun to be had as well! We stayed two nights at the Encore and three nights at the Venetian, both of which were a blast. We hit up a few night clubs, did a ton of sightseeing, saw Zumanity (the "sexual side of Cirque du Soleil"), ate tons of amazing food, laid by some beautiful pools, and got to see Tiffany place in the top 5 at her first National show. Overall, it was an amazing trip! 

Me, Tiffany, and Laurin on our first night!

Carissa, Tiff, me, and Laurin in the Encore pool

 Brent was either a really lucky or really unlucky guy this trip for putting up with all of us!

 Laurin and I at Tryst Nightclub VIP

 In the Palazzo, on our way to see Zumanity

 visiting Sigfried and Roy's Secret Gardens to see the tigers, lions, and dolphins

 Our beautiful competitor!!

 So proud of my best friend!!

 Bellagio Gardens on our last night

Bellagio Fountains at night, a la Ocean's Eleven

So after the success that was Vegas, I got to spend a relaxing 5 days in Tallahassee, visiting my family, catching up on my sleep, and seeing some friends. Definitely much needed! Then it was back to Tampa to celebrate my 27th birthday Tampa style! Birthdays have always been a big deal to me. I love celebrating mine and I love making a big deal out of other peoples. I'd gone all out for my 25th birthday, but had a really low key 26th birthday because even though I'd been in Tampa a year, I felt like I was still settling in. This year, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, but Tiffany took it upon herself to make it an amazingly special day for me. I love that girl more than words! We just did the basic dinner and drinks outing, but everyone I wanted to be there showed up and it was just one of those all around fun evenings. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who helped make my night!

 the most amazing cake EVER with all my favorite things: books, tiger stripes, and Seminole colors!!

 my sister Katie came down to celebrate!!

 Alison, Tania, Tiffany, and Christy at dinner

 some of my favorite 9A Neuro RNs!

Diana, Alison, Tiffany, Ashton, and me

 with two of my FAVORITE girls in VIP at Martini Republic

 with the sissy <3

 Marlene, Bridget, and Laurin

 besties for 13 years and counting!

 Katherine, me, and LeAnne

 obligatory birthday SHOT picture

 me, Tiffy, and Dawn

 Katie, me, Laurin, and Emily

beach day with Tiff and Katie on my actual birthday

27 is going to be a GREAT year, I can feel it. I'm even going to bring back the reason this blog was originally created. But instead of doing a year bucket list, I'm going to make a bucket list of everything I want to accomplish by the time I'm 30. I'm currently researching and planning the list, so stay tuned for that!

This upcoming weekend is Labor Day and I've got a busy weekend planned. I will be out celebrating Diana's 28th birthday on Friday and I'm super stoked about that. Then Saturday and Sunday I'm off to Orlando to see some friends I haven't seen in awhile. And Monday I'll be picking up Tiffany from the airport after she completes her final figure fitness competition ever (!) and we're having a 'Kris and Tiffy' day. I'll also be trying to work a lot on my room. I'm finally ready to have a more 'grown-up' room and have bought all new furniture, will be painting the walls, and just giving myself a fresh start. The furniture was officially ordered yesterday and will be coming in next week! I can't wait to see it all. And next weekend my parents are coming into town to spend a few days catching up and helping me put everything together. I'm really excited to spend time with them and see it all come together. I'll definitely be posting before and after pictures once everything is put together! I hope everyone has a great Labor Day planned too!

Love,

KayCee

Chi-town escape

I've had a busy couple months lately, with little time to write, but that time has been littered with lots of mini vacays and escapes so its been a nice break from the blog world. Currently, I'm home in Tally celebrating Mother's Day weekend and visiting family. It's been a busy, but fun weekend. Gorged ourselves on some yummy mexican food Saturday night and a delicious brunch Sunday morning. Got the title of my car (which is officially paid off and MINE) put entirely in my name. Introduced my family to Game of Thrones and watched most of the first season. But the best part of the weekend was my sister's mother's day gift to my mom. Instead of dressing up in spring dresses and doing something classy, we put on older clothes, grabbed a bottle of wine, and went to Painting with a Twist. What a better way to spend the day celebrating mom than getting a buzz while painting your pet, right? None of us are particularly artistic on our own, but with the help of two instructors, I think we got some pretty good results!

A few weeks ago I took another mini vacay...to Chicago! I had been there once before when I was 12, but I was so anxious to return and get to experience the city as an adult! I went with my roommate and coworker and we met with my roommate's friend Kelsey that she met while they were living abroad in Australia. We got there early in the morning on Thursday and didn't leave until after 8 pm Sunday night so we got a full 4 days of fun and boy did we pack every second of it!

We spent an unnecessary amount of time shopping, if I'm being honest, but we did so much authentic Chicago sightseeing as well. We spent the first day walking around downtown, seeing where Kelsey worked, walking through Millennium Park, and taking pictures in front of the famed 'Bean' before going to a Speakeasy that night. Friday was spent working up an appetite on Michigan Ave and then gorging ourselves on some authentic deep dish pizzas! Chicago food at its best. That night we got dressed up and spent the night at one of Kelsey's favorite downtown bars, Rockit. Saturday was the day we all had been waiting for: the Chicago Cubs game and visiting Wrigley Field! I grew up a Cubs fan so I was super excited to put on some red and blue and cheer on the Cubbies against the Cincinnati Reds. I was not let down, Cubs won! We ended the evening frequenting a few bars and having some drinks in Wrigleyville before calling it an early night. Sunday was our last day and we wanted to make the most of it, so Tiffy and I packed up our stuff early so we had all day to finish sightseeing. We walked around downtown a little more and then went to the top of the Hancock Building for some views of the city. Last stop on our city tour was Shedd Aquarium. We had such a blast seeing the otters and belugas and penguins but the best part was walking out afterwards: we had the most breathtaking view of the city! We must have stood there for 30 minutes having our own mini-photo shoot. It was such a fun, amazing weekend and definitely a place I would love to visit again! Here's a few snapshots from the weekend:

in front of the Bean

Tiffy and I before our first night out

Meagan and Kelsey with their deep dish pizzas

the whole group in front of Wrigley Field

cheering on the Cubs!

view from the Shedd Aquarium

So two fun weekends down, but I've already got 3 more mini getaways planned for this summer! In June I'll be spending 5 days in Orlando with my family celebrating Father's Day and my sister's 23rd birthday. I have a tentative weekend planned to Vegas (my first time!) for the end of July to watch Tiffany's national figure fitness competition. And then I'm planning on renting a condo in August for a long weekend to celebrate my birthday with a few friends. So many things to look forward to!

Love,

KayCee