Summertime Beach Bum

Something about me is that I love to cook and bake. Lately I have really been into making cupcakes. The other night since it was my last night at bowling I made cupcakes for the guys. I think It's the frosting I've been wanting haha. But here are the ones I made for the guys up in Raymond. 

So yesterday Mark and I finished moving everything out of my apartment. It is so weird to think that I am never going back there. Even just thinking about it I am getting very sad. It was a life that Mark and I built together, and even though I know this time apart is good, it still makes it extremely hard and I can not wait until we have our own home together. So I guess that means that the chapter of 134 Bowden st. Is officially closed. 

So I have my interview today at 3...it's currently 2:00 and I have ready been at the hospital for fifteen minutes. Looks like I got here a bit too early! Oh well. With how it was snowing today and the roads were really bad I made sure to get here earlier then I needed. I of course am nervous, but I need to remain calm. Getting this job here as a PCT could lead the way for me to have a job as a RN! It would be so nice to have this job at the hospital instead of having to do homecare. 

Well, today went okay. We packed up the car and emptied out the apartment. Once Mark and i got home we went out driving to look at the houses that were on our list. We got the list down quite a bit. Well while we were out my phone died, and for some reason it is not charging. Im not sure if it is an issue with my phone or with the charger. So tomorrow after work i will have to go to Verizon to see if they can help me figure it out. I am sad since when Mark goes to work tomorrow morning, he is actually leaving me. I will not see him again for a few more days. But tomorrow i do have two hours of work in the morning and then i have my interview up at the hospital tomorrow to get my old job back. So i really hope it works out for me! Anyways, its time to go to bed and spend the night with my baby. Night all!

I have been dreading today and tomorrow for quite a while now. Today i have been packing up everything, taking stuff off the walls, and crying. Lots of crying. I really hate having to pack up my apartment and move away from my baby (mark). Its going to be so hard when mark gets home and there is nothing on the walls, and the curtains are down. Plus all the little souvenirs from the things that we have done together are taken off the fridge. Tonight is going to be so hard having our last night together in our home. Then tomorrow morning i have to hand over the keys to my home. I am so depressed, and i know i will be better once i get past these two days, but they will be tough.

Tonight was tough. I just had my friend over for a little while and we chatted and caught up. Well it's the last time she will be coming to my apartment. And plus I'm moving outa state. When I first found this apartment I was still living in ct. Well it was this friend who came over to check it out for me. But anyways, I'm seeing another friend tomorrow to say good bye :( 

So i mentioned before that as i finish a book, i would post about it. So i finished my first book. It was "Hey, Good Looking" by Fern Michaels & here is my review about it. The prologue got me hooked. I liked the two main characters, and was excited to read the book. However when the actual chapters start, i had a tough time getting into it. They didn't mention those first two characters for at least a few pages. So i pushed through those, and then it got better. The author decided to name 3 important characters Dodo, Ducky and Diddy. I couldn't keep them straight for almost the entire book, good thing they are all sisters! This is a classic love story with the difference that it happens to be her male best friend's (who tragically dies) brother. This story does involve an evil stepmother, and the way everyone tries to "fix" their lives in Baton Rouge. One part that i did not care for in the book was how they create this whole scheme to get rid of th

So Mark's favorite show is this show that ended a few years ago called Smallville. Smallville has a grand total of 10 seasons. Each episode is 45 minutes long and there are about 25 or so episodes per season. Well just the other day i finished the last episode. It is actually a pretty good story. With the story line always changing, although always somehow dealing with the main characters true background of being from another planet. If you plan on watching this show, i do suggest starting it from the beginning since all the pieces build on each other. Now that i have watched all of this show for him...now its time he watches Grey's Anatomy from the beginning!

Yesterday I was sitting down in the club house at my apartment watching TLC. Which might I say I am obsessed with that channel. But anyways Little People Big World was on. I had watched that show many years ago when it first started. Well now on the show they are hosting weddings on their farms. I watched 3 episodes and 3 weddings. Then watching the weddings got me thinking about my own wedding someday down the road. And I got on Pinterest planning it! Even though I've only been with mark for 7 months and we are no where near getting married. (I'm not saying he's not the one) but I was on the site planning my wedding as if I was engaged and already had a date picked out! Oh boy...

So i tried something new today. I am normally not into anything that is just plain cranberry. I will do cranberry raspberry, or cranberry grape, or anything like that. But my client had a bunch of this soda and i decided to try it today, and i LOVED it! Def something i want to look for at the store from now on. It had the fiz, along with a sweet cranberry that was not overpowering like cranberry juice.

So i finally pass the nursing course at Fitchburg State, however....to take my boards in CT i need to be awarded my degree. FSU only awards degrees in December and May. So that means that if i want to take my boards in CT then i have to wait until i get my degree. They are awarding them on May 17th. Then it would take a few weeks to get my transcript stating i received my degree. Then i can send in my paperwork, wait about 10 days and then go online and pick out a date. By that time it will be the end of June. Um no thanks. I need to take it ASAP. So now even though i have made the hard decision to move back home, now i am dragged back to Mass because that is the only way i can take my test somewhat soon. So i dont know where i am going to work now or what is going to happen with me trying to save money. I thought i was finally clear of this type of stress, but it looks like i was wrong. Def taking my Ativan tomorrow, and possibly the next few days. I dont want to turn into a grump mon

Well of course, Monday morning, time to go to work. Only it's freezing out!! Feels like 7?!?! Great! I though it was supposed to be spring time here. Now I'm not asking for 50's or 60's but atleast 25-30's in the morning would be nice. This seems to be the winter that just won't quit! Which makes getting up and going to work so much worse. Let's hope for a little warmer days in the near future 

So today mom, mark and I went out with my realitor Jeanne. She scheduled 6 houses for us to see. Out of the 6- we narrowed it down to three. Now these houses may not even be available when it comes time to buy one but atleast I've been inside incase they are. All 6 houses were all within the same beach area. I could sit here and list things about each house but no worries, I won't do that. But just saying that I am starting to get very excited about this whole process. 

Tonight my boyfriends father took all of us out to dinner to celebrate his wife's bday. We went up to Hampton beach and ate at this very yummy place called Rons Landing. We sat right by the windows overlooking the beach. Just beautiful. Here are the pics of mine and marks meals.  This meal was mine. It was a Mac and cheese with scallops, shrimp and lobster. It was so good! Although I took most of it home. We also started with appetizers- bruschetta, fried calamarie, and scallops wrapped in bacon. Then I had a clam chowder soup, which was also delish. So by the time I got my meal I was stuffed!  This was marks meal. He got steak tips, lobster, asparagus all in a butter sauce with tortellini. Our night ended with a beautiful homemade lemon cake that Cassandra made. My fav! All in all it was a great night spent with his family :) 

So i know i mentioned how i have lost weight before and i want to do it again. Well this time, instead of having my goal just be weight loss, i decided to have a larger goal. The weekend in september right after my birthday (weekend of the 12-13th) i will be running a half marathon. My goal is to work towards completing this, and then the weight will come off during the process. Below is the training schedule i found online and all the reviews i read said it was a very good one. I am starting the week i move home to CT which is april 1st. Wish me luck! 

So between rent, and driving a v8 truck...I'm broke. My credit card is maxed out. So I opened a walmart card so I could buy groceries and get a cash advance so I could get gas. I have to pay my apartment to leave since I'm breaking my lease. Well I don't have that money so I need to get it from my walmart card. Plus they will take my security deposit to make up for the rest of it. Oh and I also owe money for my taxes this year, which I am not sure how that worked out especially while I was still claiming exempt. The longer I am in mass, the longer my credit card goes unpaid- which in turn means that my credit score is still tanking. Awesome. That is exactly what I need when I am trying to get a nursing job and getting approved for a mortgage for a home of my own. So I'm going a bit crazy but hopefully soon things will get better. 

Before I went to college I loved reading books/novels. As I read I almost felt like I was part of the book. Then as i started my nursing education as a freshman in college that all went away. I didn't have enough time to read all the required chapters for my classes let alone read for fun. Although last year I did manage to find some time to read the 50 shades of grey trilogy. And boy I am so glad I did! Well I have found a library up by me where they have a bunch of discarded library books. All they ask is if you take a hardcover, you donate $0.50. And if you take a softcover book you donate $0.25. Not a bad deal. So I between my clients when I have extra time I have been going and picking out books. Well now my back seat is full and I can not wait to start reading. As I finish a book, I'll post it on here as a way to keep track of all alternate universes. 

So while I have been up in mass I have worked for a homecare company. I will keep them nameless. It certainly has been interesting. They have gotten better (sort of) as time has gone on. But in the beginning I was doing their job for them. I would get my schedule for the next week. They would have me with a client from 8-11. Then the next client would say 1030-12. Ummm...how do you not even proof read the schedules? It didn't just happen once either. So needless to say, it gave me anxiety! Now I have grown to like my clients. All but one that is, and now that I have my two weeks I am sad about moving back home and leaving them. But fortunately for me today, it is a short day. When I get home I will be contacting the hospital I used to work for regarding my old PCT job. She told me she was going to contact me last Friday (a week ago) so I am going to call and check in since I move home very soon. Fingers crossed about emailing her. I would really love to get that job back! 

Let me first say that i never, ever, thought this day would come. But after studying for that test i mentioned last night, i passed today. With flying colors. I need to get an 850, and this time i ended up getting a 1062! Much higher then what i needed. When it came time for me to press submit, i pressed the button, and then i closed my eyes. My professor stood over my shoulder and let me know that i passed. I started to cry and she gave me a hug! I am now officially done with the nursing program and i am a graduate nurse. Now all i have to do is take my boards, then i will be a registered nurse, ready to take on the world of hospitals and the healthcare system. Plus now i am even closer to summer and the beach :)

So I have kinda a big test tomorrow for nursing. It's not my boards but it's the last step I need to complete before I am allowed to take them. Essentially this test determines how much longer I work for crappy pay and how many more nights I have to spend studying. So no pressure, right?! It would be so nice to not have this hanging over my head. Not to mention every time you take this test it costs money which I am seriously lacking at this moment in time. So for anyone out there who would like to say a little prayer, or keep me in their thoughts- it's much appreciated. I guess it's ultimately time to read a few more things then shut off the lights and call it a night.

So i have two other loves of my life besides mark, and their names are Zoe & Lex. Zoe is an Orange tabby, born on July 5th 2013. I got him on Aug 16th when he was just a baby. Then mark and i found Lex. He was born on December 14th, 2013, and we got him on February 9th. At first the two did not get along. Zoe would growl if Lex came anywhere near him. Now they are the best of friends. Every night Lex will sleep with mark, and zoe either with me or in his bed. I love my babies.

So I mentioned living in lowell. This is my apartment building. So far I have enjoyed being here. The only reason I am leaving is because of how expensive rent is for my little studio. They have a fitness center which mark and I have used often And during the summer months they also have an inground pool and hot tub. Something else we got to use quite a bit is the BBQ area with grills. I really am sad to be leaving but it will always be a chapter of my life. 

Hello My name is lauren. I am currently 22 y/o and living in Lowell, MA. The top 5 things you should know about me: 1) I just finished nursing school, however i am waiting to pass my boards 2) I am moving back home to CT where my parents live on the beach to save money for a house 3) I am dating the most wonderful guy in the world (mark) 4) I have been able to lose 50+ pounds twice now, and i am going to try and do it again, but keep it off this time around 5) I love spending time with my family