a promise kept

As I'm sitting here, attempting to put into words something to fulfill my promise to write more, I have no words. With all that has happened lately, I still can't find the words to put it all down.

I guess I'll start with what I've been doing in between shifts in the ICU. Mostly, I just sleep. It usually takes me a full day after 3-12s before I feel normal. The past two weekends, I have been busy, however.

The weekend of July 10, 11, and 12th, I was busy with all the festivities involved in Valarie's wedding. It was worth all the lack of sleep. That Friday, we got our nails done and had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The dinner was at Maggiano's in the Galleria area. It was SOOO delicious, but way too much food. I went to bed that night (crashing at Jasmin's, who graciously allowed me to spend the night there so I didn't have to travel back and forth so much) feeling very full. Saturday was the wedding. But first we needed to get our hair done. So all the bridesmaids, the mother of the bride and mother of the groom, and of course the bride, hung out all morning getting pretty. Unfortunately, the photographer was there. Whoops. Oh well, it was a lot of fun. The ceremony itself was beautiful. So sweet, and not overly long. Okay, really, it was just so beautiful that I didn't notice the time. It might have gone on for years for all I knew. The reception was a blast. The food (more italian) was so delicious. I had such a fun time dancing and partying with Valarie, and my other friends. Valarie made the most beautiful, stunning bride I've ever seen. And she and Brandon were so happy. It was wonderful.

This past weekend, I flew out with Rita to Florida, for Kenna's wedding. Kenna is a good friend from high school that moved to Florida after college to live with her Fiance, Adam. Adam has made Kenna so happy and I couldn't be more thrilled for her. The weekend turned into a bit of a friends reunion, with Kayliegh and Amber flying out from California. Rita and I got in just in time for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, which was low-key but fun. We all had a few drinks, and just relaxed. Back at the hotel, we sat around the pool for a while catching up. I've never had so much fun just hanging with my friends. The day of the wedding, we took out Kenna and her parents for breakfast before Kenna had to whisk off to her hair appointment. While she was doing that, the rest of us got ready and got out of the hotel. Then it was wedding time! And just in time for the rain to start! But we all made it, albeit with slightly frizzy hair. The wedding was short and sweet, but so perfect for the two of them! After a few pictures and mingling around the church, Rita and I took off with everyone's stuff for the hotel in Daytona Beach (where the reception was, about 40 minutes from the church). We got us checked in and ran a few errands while waiting for the wedding party. When everyone arrived it was cocktails then the reception. The dinner was good, the speeches short, and the dancing so much fun. Okay, so the "guys" (I'd call them more of little boys for the amount of maturity they showed) weren't that great of company, but I had a blast with Rita, Kenna, Amber, and Kayleigh. After the reception we all hit the beach for a while, then turned in (way way too late considering our morning flights home). We did sleep with the curtains open so we could watch the sunrise over the beach though.
Flying home sucked. It was bad enough leaving our friends, but our flight was terrible. I shouldn't complain too much though, as we were lucky to get on that flight. Rita and I were flying Stand-By, and by some luck we got the last 2 seats on the plane. Since I had to work the next day, it was too important to me to be picky about the seats or flight. It was turbulent though. Terrible. I'm surprised I didn't ralf.

Other than that, I've pretty much just slept or watched TV. I swear, soon I'll get used to my work schedule and will have a full life again.

Dear Blog

Dear blog,

I'm sorry for ignoring you lately. I promise to try to write more crap to fill up all this empty blog space. I promise to write more crap, more often.

Please forgive me.

Linnea

long overdue

I swear eventually, I shall put out a proper blog filling in the cyber world on my life as of late. [Of course the lack of emails begging for a new post would suggest that very few people, if any, really read this, and it has become just a creative outlet for me, and me alone] Nonetheless, I shall continue writing, for the time being at least.

This weekend was Valarie's wedding. She was quite possibly the most beautiful bride I have ever seen in my life. Seriously, she was beyond stunning.

The whole ceremony was beautiful. Tons of people cried, myself included (it was all Brandon's fault...he had to go tear up when he saw his bride-to-be walking down the aisle). I did feel a little lost in the ceremony, as I have never been to a catholic mass let alone a Catholic wedding. I survived it alright and the ceremony flew by. After many, many pictures, we finally made our way to the reception. The hall was gorgeous. Valarie did an amazing job planning it all.

I had so much fun dancing with everyone, drinking wine, scarfing down food, eating cake, making toasts, and hanging out. I don't think I've had that much fun in a LONG, LONG time.

I wish I could say that pictures are to come, but as I left my camera at home, you won't be getting any from me. But I'm sure soon pictures will be surfacing all over Valarie's Facebook page.

Aside from the wedding stuff, I've just been working and being busy.

I'm trying to find time to celebrate my birthday that's coming up, but so far it doesn't look like there'll be much of a celebration. It's getting to be impossible right now to meld my schedule with anyone else's so that I can just hang out with my friends, let alone have some sort of celebration. But right now, I think (and it'll probably change soon) I'm just going to have a small dinner sometime around my birthday that hopefully at least one friend can come to. I think maybe the 29 or 30 is what I'm aiming for. Or maybe the 31st since that's a Friday and seems more likely for people to come then. We'll see. I don't want a huge party like last year (okay maybe I kind of do cause that was fun, but that's not possible this year). I'd just like to celebrate with someone. No gifts are necessary, just finally getting to hang out with my friends after not seeing anyone for several weeks thanks to work.