One Last Time

I realise I’m much more excited than I should be, but this morning I registered for Fall classes and I realised it’s the last time I’ll be registering for classes FOREVER! I won’t have to fight with the stupid computer program that always blocks my registration because it thinks I don’t have all the required classes. I’ll be paying my tuition for the last time.... I’ll be waiting in line for hours for my student for the last time... I’ll be buying school supplies for myself for the last time. It’s all so exciting!

I said “Yes to the Dress” and other updates

I bought my wedding dress yesterday! Just like when I met Mr. Perfect, I knew instantly it was the one. Awww, how corny am I? It’s a second-hand find which makes it even more “me”. Hah! Now it feels like it’s all very real. :-) Unfortunately, you won’t get a sneak peak at the dress since my husband-to-be happens to be an avid reader. I guess you’ll just have to wait another 9 months.

5 shifts to go – the countdown begins.
I’m almost done my LAST clinical rotation. I can’t believe the end is almost here! Once September hits, I’ll only have 5 classes left, plus my preceptorship and then I’ll be a real nurse. Crazy how time flies, huh? My current rotation is in critical care. For the most part it’s like any other rotation with the exception of a killer exam and a few shifts in the ER and in ICU. My teacher is the evil nurse who made me cry my first semester in nursing. So far though, I seem to have gained her respect and haven’t been yelled at. I’m keeping my fingers crossed! I also hate to admit it, but I'm actually learning a lot from her.

Save the date... or maybe not

We had chosen a date, a ceremony location and a reception venue... but that seems to have gone out the window. A few days ago we had chosen August 20, 2011 with the ceremony at the Free Meeting House (local historic house) and a reception at home. I was all set to reserve the ceremony venue.... but then we started thinking. Damn brain. August is awfully far away and we have plans for a family ASAP, so we began evaluating the possibility of a May wedding. We had chosen August because the odds of nice weather seem to be better. However, after checking the weather for a variety of dates for the last 10 years, even August isn’t a safe bet. In fact, it has rained as many times on August 20th over the years as it has on many dates in May. When it comes to weather, there’s just no planning! So as of this morning, we have chosen May 28, 2011 as our new wedding date. We would have liked May 21st, but I forgot there’s the little matter of my graduation ceremony. OOPS.

Mrs Perfect? I like the sound of that!

That’s right; Mr Perfect popped the question last night.

So how did he do it? Well, the short version is, I went to the washroom and when I opened the door to come out, he was down on one knee with the open box. Hah! I think he said, will you marry me and I said ABSOLUTELY!

Here’s the longer version of the story. We spent the day working outside in the sun; me in the garden, him on his car. By the time supper rolled around we were both exhausted from the day so we decided to go out for supper. There was a multicultural festival downtown so we thought we would head there for some international cuisine. The options weren’t much so we ended up at a pub. Well, the beer was damn good last night and we both had two. After we paid the bill and were almost ready to leave, Mr. Perfect said, you know, I would totally have another beer. Too bad we have the car, I added. He said, screw the car, we can come pick it up tomorrow morning – so we had another beer... and another... and another... and a pitcher of beer. It was completely spontaneous and fun! At one point he asked me, if we were to get married, when would it be? From there, we talked a lot about our “hypothetical” wedding. By the time we finished our last beer and literally stumbled home (we walked), we were giggling and giddy. Most of the way home I was complaining I had to pee so as soon as we got home I ran upstairs to the washroom and when I came out, there he was. I kept saying, but what about your plan? He said this was better than his plan and totally felt right.

He was planning on proposing later on this week. His plan had been to put rose petals and candles from front door to our bedroom. There, I would have found a letter telling me how much he loved me and at the end of the letter it would have said "turn around, and he would have bee there. The half-drunken bathroom proposal was even better and so us.

Here are a few pictures of my absolutely gorgeous ring! It’s white gold with a center diamond and 8 sapphires on each side. It also has some gorgeous detailing on the sides. The big day will be next year - later summer/early fall. :-D






We shared the news with family and friends yesterday (and half the Internet, of course). Everyone is overjoyed for us. If we're facebook friends, please don't mention anything just yet. Mr. Perfect's brother is coming home on Friday and we want to share the news in person.

Dude – Chill! You’re Stressing me Out!

I’ve been working at the hospital as a student nurse for over a month now and so far it’s been fairly good. I’m still finding it very difficult to change departments almost every shift, but it’s getting better. It’s great that I’ve been getting more comfortable with the environment and my role as a nurse. Hopefully it will pay off during my next clinical work that starts in a few weeks.

My big issue with working at the hospital is realising just how stressed out everyone is! It almost doesn’t matter what floor you are working on, they are always short-staffed and over worked. Last week, while working on the maternity ward, all the nurses had worked double shifts in the last few weeks... that means working 24 hours straight. 8-0 Working a double every couple of weeks appears to be the norm for most of the hospital. It’s freakin’ scary. Yesterday, while working in paediatrics, one girl started to cry because she was over-worked. The horror stories just keep coming. Ugh. It’s been stressing me out but I’ve been too afraid to mention it because people might say: “I told you so” or “You can’t freak out now... you haven’t even started!” I didn’t sleep much last night or the night before because all of this has been on my mind... this morning it caught up to me in the form of a migraine. Even though I tried my best to push through it (medicated, showered, etc.) I just couldn’t and ended up calling in sick. It has me a little freaked because I’m not even two month into it and already calling in sick?! Gah!

Anyway, there’s not much point to this post other than needing to get this out.

Sowing the Seeds of Love

I’ve had the Tears for Fears song, Sowing the Seeds of Love (gotta love the 80s), in my head the entire morning as I weeded and worked in my garden. The vegetable garden is coming along nicely even though we’ve had to replant our beans. Today we planted extra seeds where the initial ones hadn’t taken.

Here are a few pictures of our crops






I also worked in my flower garden and have some new flowers to share.


I have no idea what these flowers are, but they are pretty funky!





I’m really excited about the plants I started all on my own this year because you can really see the progress in the last month.

As you can see there is a significant difference from my previous post.



Finally, here's a pic of my purrrrty unknown flowers in a vase




I think I'm officially a gardener. :-)

Turning Over a New Leaf

For most of my life, I’ve been known as a plant killer. Black thumb does not even begin to describe my evil appendages. Well, that was until now... or so I’m really hoping.

The former homeowners of my house were avid gardeners and since buying the place three years ago I’ve pretty much been of the “live and let live” state of mind. This year, I decided to tackle the weeds and hope to salvage at least a few plants. I started weeding in the early spring and did my best not to pull out the potential flowers. So far, it looks like it has paid off. The spring started off with some gorgeous pink phlox (the picture doesn’t do them justice as it was taken when they weren't as full).


In May I was inspired by Mr. Perfect's Mom to try my hand at my own gardening. Armed with a book she lent me, I started planning out a flower bed that was all my doing. I realise it’s small, but my book says it’s better to space out your plants in the beginning. :-)

Here's a picture I took right after I finished planting them. It's hard to tell from the small image but I identified them in the picture: Purple Cornflowers, Hosta, Dianthus, Artemisia and another Hosta


A slightly nicer shot


These days I’m delighted to report a myriad of interesting flowers have appeared around the house including:

Wild Roses




Yellow Irises


Some kind of small yellow flowers on a green shrub


Cute little purple flowers


AND, I’m still not done! This weekend, Mr. Perfect and I planted a vegetable garden! I would never have attempted this without the careful direction of Mr. Perfect. He grew up always having a garden and has even had a few himself. We started yesterday by cutting out the grass and turning the soil. Mr. Perfect’s parents even dropped by to give us a few pointers and test the soil’s pH level. Once we were done our hard labour, we parked ourselves in front of the soon to be garden and enjoyed a few beers while admiring our pile of dirt. :-) Today, Mr. Perfect tiled the soil (with a mechanical tiller so it was a one-man job), then we formed rows and planted our seeds. Well, we started planting... that’s when a torrential rain storm started. We tried to keep going, but we could barely see anything and our hands were so muddy you couldn’t pick up the seeds. We tried waiting it out in the shed (very romantic, might I add), but then decided it was best to let it dry before continuing. After supper we picked-up were we left off. Here is the final product:


You might not be able to read the names, but we planted: yellow and green beans, onions, peas, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, green peppers, cucumbers, corn and spinach!