So last summer, I decided I wanted a new job. I’ve been in my current area for four years in March, and stagnation has set in! I start applying for jobs and hitting up every contact I had in my chosen area – the work paid off, and I am starting a new job tomorrow!

Its a very high-census ICU that has some majorly sick patients (hem/onc) which should be incredibly challenging. I’ve never worked intensive care – I’ve worked trauma surgery and on a step-down unit, but ICU is a whole new game for me. I’ve always said that my best days as a nurse could be described as hair-raising, but now that I think about it, I was young in those days and I drank a lot…lol

Passing the time waiting for a trauma case!

But anyway – I bought navy blue scrubs in size Tent and more of my favorite Smartwool socks, dug my white Birkenstocks out of the closet – and tomorrow is my first day! Cue the nervous diarrhea, and I’m crossing #19 off the list!

Max is our sweet Lab/Golden cross – when we adopted him five years ago, he was a spry 10 year old – but now at 16 his face has gone almost completely white, and he’s gotten arthritis in his back legs and hips. We’ve been worrying about his decline, as he’s had more trouble with the stairs and going from sitting to standing. He really liked his new memory foam bed, but he still was very stiff – so I decided that some how I would find a way for Max to get a massage.

Marmot and Max on Max's memory foam dog bed!

I had heard a rumor that there was someone in town who did canine massage, so I Googled it and found her, and she came out to the house a week later. She spent over an hour with him and the next day, he obviously felt fabulous because he was running in the yard again! We’re thinking that with how great he seemed to feel afterwards, we might do regular visits with her!

So for #68, I wanted to go out to a nice restaurant with Marmot, and have the server take a picture. We went out for an anniversary dinner to a really nice seafood restaurant (oysters on the half shell, ooh la la!) and had an amazing dinner. And as a total romantic bonus, the couple one table over got engaged while we were having dessert. Totally adorable.

#44 – Order the completed Family History scrapbook. When my Gram died in 2006, I had one request- I wanted her pictures! I’ve always been obsessed with my family history, and so getting the pictures after she passed away was a huge gift. And by huge, I mean there were over 2,000 pictures! I sent them all away to get scanned, and a year later got them all organized into a scrapbook- and its sat on the Interwebs for another four years, because I couldn’t quite stomach paying $100+ for this 100+ page monstrosity of a scrapbook. But it was important to me to have it, so I worked some overtime, bit the bullet, and ordered it!

#45 – Finish the 2010 Scrapbook. I do realize that its the end of 2011, but really, I got it done so whatever.

Scrapbooks! Oh wow I'm turning into my mother...lol

#50 – Plant 100 tulip bulbs. Tulips are my most favorite flower. If I hadn’t gotten married in January in the godforsaken Arctic tundra, I would have had tulips in my wedding. However, tulips are totally cheap when you grow them yourself. So last night, my darling husband dug the holes so I could plant my 100 tulip bulbs! Have to wait until the spring to see them, but I’m so excited!

Tulips from last year, that we didn't know we had!

My first 1001 in 101 challenge has been completed! So #41 on my 1001 in 101 list was a modest challenge, but something I certainly wanted to do sooner rather than later: organize all my photos in iPhoto.

I got a Mac last spring when my sister-in-law was selling hers. Its a couple years old, but at $450 it was a perfect way to dip my toes into the Mac pond and see how the water felt. As it turns out, I’m a fan. Over the summer I worked on moving everything from my old PC to the Mac- and its done!

Now I’m not overly familiar with iPhoto, but like so many Apple products its pretty instinctive to use. Once I moved my 3k pictures (yes I seriously had 3000 pictures, not including my wedding pictures which I think is another 1000) it was very simple to sort by date and put photos into Events. And voila!

This is definitely going to make #’s 45, 46, 47, and 48 (scrapbooks for 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013) easier!