Lauren Donnelly RN, BSN, MBA!!

Well school is finally over.  I really do NOT know what to do with this thing that everyone else knows as free time.  I am sitting at home right now bored stiff, as I have been most of the day, because without any homework, what is one supposed to do?  I am seriously considering a 'fun' job, one that I get to go to a couple days a week just use the money for fun :)

The next chapter awaits, so I guess this is the first entry, now on to look for my dream career.  I hope to work in management or IT or computers but who knows, its all about the adventure right?  So I will keep everyone updated!

What Happened to Summer?

Well the Summer absolutely snuck right past me before I could even blink.  Between a couple weddings, school, 2 vacations, and work, I don't know that I even had time to sleep!

So Lets see how much I can recap:

June:  Mexico was absolutely amazing!  There was hardly anyone at our resort and we enjoyed every relaxing moment that we had there.  The food was fantastic.  It was a 5 course meal each night at the restaruants and the last night we were there we ate at the Tappas bar which had exquiste cuisine.  We even had time for an outing to Xcaret - which I highly recommend if you are looking for something to do and we ventured to Playa del Carmen for an afternoon of sightseeing and shopping!

After Mexico - I went to Elizabeth's wedding (a friend from high school) which was beautiful and Congrats to her and Michael!  Oh!  And mom and dad moved out of our house and into a 3-bedroom duplex not too far away while they build a new house in Stonecreek!

July:

  This month was pretty uneventful other than the family reunion in New York with the Donnelly family.  It was really nice that most everyone got to come at least for a few days!  It was nice to get together since we hardly ever see that side of the family.  Victor of course made a great meal for us while we were there - I think I just need him to move close so I can eat at his house every night!!

Katie's wedding was at the end of the month and it was so much fun to help her get ready for the big day and to be a part of it.  She looked amazing and had a great party!  I am looking forward to going to visit St. Louis sometime soon and catch up!

August:

  Wow what the heck happened in August...Nothing that I can recall other than working on my business plan to get things wrapped up!

September:
   This month totally flew by.  Yesterday seemed like Labor Day and now its the last day of the month.  My birthday was great - turning 25 was just as exciting as I had hoped.  Danica came to visit for my birthday - which I think may have just been one of the greatest presents ever!!  Lots of friends and family to celebrate with and my car insurance rates went down and now I can rent a car all on my own anywhere that I want to!  Ha ha you know you are old when things like this are exciting!  Dad turned the big 5-0 and all he wanted was Young's Chocolate Stout - for those of you non-gross beer connoisseurs this is a really thick coffee tasting beer that Mom and I had to look all over the face of the Earth to find.  We ended up finding it in Lawrence at one of the bigger liquor stores and it was quite a challenge hiding the 12 bottles since they are your average beer bottle size or shape!  I got a Kindle for my birthday and I am looking for the next 3 weeks of school to fly by so I can start reading for enjoyment on a regular basis again!  Well hopefully after school is out I will be able to update this thing more regularly!  Alissa had her first homecoming dance this year - Dang if that doesn't make me feel old!  She looked beautiful!  Unfortunately thanks to work I missed the big event, but I did get to help in picking out the dress and such!  According to Alissa she had a great time!  More to come...Homework all day tomorrow so no post for sure!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun....

Well I am barely making my goal of updating this thing before 3 months...its not even been 2!  I guess I am busier than I thought!

Lets recap:

   March:  Not much happened in March that I can recall - so that tells you how much I do.  I did apply for a new position with Saint Lukes that at this time I have not heard any further news on but the interview experience was great and hopefully will pay off once I am done with school and really am serious about finding a project management position.  I feel like I work all the time even though I only work 3 days a week.  I'm not sure where all of my time goes!

   April so far:   April Fools day was totally uneventful - which is good because I usually don't come up with any good tricks but usually get one played on me!  Otherwise the month is going very well - the weather has been BEAUTIFUL.  I actually have a sunburn right now from sitting at Alissa's soccer game last weekend.  So as stated Alissa has started track and soccer now - which is always my favorite time of the year to get to watch her play - she is such a stud!!  

Last weekend (10th) was so much fun; Alissa and Mom went to OK to go to Hannah's confirmation, Dad and I were at home, & Eric had drill.  I made chicken salad for dad and I  and went to the soccer game for moral support.  They played really well and hopefully next weekend they will be able to beat the team since they play them 2 weeks in a row.  Saturday night I went to a benefit for the free clinic in Leavenworth with dad and it was so much fun!  They had a silent auction (i got some great stuff) and a draw down raffle (in which I won the grand prize!!!!!!!)  The food was fantastic and the company was great as well - I am trying to talk him into letting me go next year too!!

  Sunday was family day for the marines so we all met in Topeka and bowled with Eric for awhile - it was fun and kind of nice to see some of the guys Eric has made friends with in his platoon.

That's about all for now but there are some great things coming up:

3 WEEKS UNTIL GRADUATION!!!

8 WEEKS UNTIL MEXICO!!!

12 WEEKS UNTIL NEW YORK!!!

I have the most fun summer planned ever - I just hope I can stay skinny!!!

Hopefully updates soon...:)

The beginning to a new year...

So once again the beginning of this year/end of last year proved to be a challenge to sit down and actually update this thing. I guess I could have made it a New Year's resolution to at least type something weekly, but that usually makes it worse when I do something like that. I figure that once I get finished with school I will be able to sit down and do this more often...however on the other hand I may not have anything to write about since I won't be quite so busy :o) So lets recap since the last post:

November:
To grandmother's house we go - in Chicago - mom, dad, Alissa, & myself all hopped in the car the day of Thanksgiving and went and spend a few days with Grandma & Grandpa Donnelly. Nothing too spectacular but it was nice to get away for a few days and see some family that we don't see very often. I also started my new job back in the hospital and it was much harder to get back into the routine than I expected!

December:
The month around Christmas is always crazy crazy crazy! Work was crazy busy and I had to work Christmas eve, luckily that day we sent most of our patients home and I got to leave about 4 pm. Which is a darn good thing because we were predicted to get a TON of snow and in Overland Park it hadn't started to do much, but by the time I got to mom and dad's house it was already sleeting wildly and the snow had begun to fall. Had I not got to leave when I did I am not sure I would have made it home at all. When we woke up Christmas morning we had several inches of snow and the roads were closed in OK so unfortunately we had to wait until about noon to head down to see Grandma & Grandpa Mueggenborg! I had to work the Sunday after Christmas as well so it was a short trip for me to OK but it was still wonderful as always! I love being able to see most of the family when we go down there.

January:
So I also had to work New Year's Eve, but still managed to have a game night with Alex, Bekah, & Kodi at Alex's house. As always we had a great time just hanging out. Alex made chocolate fondue and frozen pizza and I brought queso - so of course that's all we need to have a good time: a deck of cards, the 4 of us, & food! Work is still going and I have just been released out on my own. I am a little terrified as I still don't quite feel like I have my footing under me, but I have wonderful co-workers who are tons of help!

February:
Well work is going well - I have had lots of crazy experiences over the last few months and things are starting to get easier and feel a little more comfortable. As for the rest of life - my bathtub had been leaking for awhile and by the time I had a plumber come out and look at it, it was too late much to my dismay. I apparently have a washer-less faucet (who knew?) and had I called sooner it wouldn't have been quite so bad, but they ended up having to sweat in a new shower valve into the pipes after cutting a hole in my wall to get to them. No big deal right....yeah right $900 RIGHT! So I went home that day because I also had a horrible cold and strep and for Alissa's bball tournament that weekend. When I came home Sunday for work I showered in my other bathroom because all my stuff was already in there and I didn't feel like moving it. I also had to work Monday and was so excited to shower with my new facet - it was great until I walked to the top of the steps and heard...drip drip drip....yes the shower had leaked the whole time the water was running right into my living room creating an indoor pool! I immediately called the plumbing company and made sure they came and fixed it! So now here we are at the end of February - all caught up - and I am waiting on the general contractor to come fix my ceiling and to have another company come clean my carpets.

March:
TBD!

That's all for one night - maybe there will be an update before 3 months this time!

~Lauren