42 down, 18 to go.

i am officially DONE with finals, marking completion of 5 months and 42 credits of nursing school. now just 5 months and 18 more credits (i know, they don't even it out very well). so that means that in may i will *hopefully* pass the nclex and *hopefully* be working full-time as an RN here in New York! i am completely excited, albeit completely terrified, which is probably a good place to be as a new nurse-- no one wants an over-confident new nurse, right?

we've played a lot lately, so here are a few pictures of our recent parties:

"Super Classy Holiday Party"

this is where they started calliny me bree from desperate housewives
because i made 3 pies and was dressed "classy."

Lauren's Birthday Party

birthday girl is front and center in the blue and green.

now just 2 days at clinical stand between me and the california sun (or fog...). it's wonderful to sit back, enjoy my newly purchased glee soundtrack, and dream of christmas...

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...

last wednesday after clinical, three of us changed clothes and headed straight down to Rockefeller Center to stand with 100,000 other people and wait for the tree lighting ceremony. we ended up right in front of Dean and Deluca-- we stood for 3 hours waiting in the rain, in which time we ate, chatted, and made friends with the girls next to us and officer pete standing behind us. my favorite moment waiting was a woman shuffling by us proclaiming, "why do these people need Christmas lights?! God is the light, and if you believe in God, you wouldn't need Christmas lights!"

the show started at 7, and of course it rained harder. we couldn't see much (since the stage was facing a building and not the crowd), but we watched on the big screen and it was fun to be there anyway. there were performances by barry manilow, rod stewart, aretha franklin, shakira (ugh...), rob thomas, the rockettes, alicia keys, and michael buble **girlish sigh**.

waiting with sarah

the four of us that went: jenn, sarah, me, and amy.

with officer pete-- we made a love connection for him with one of
the girls next to us, including a phone number exchange. he was happy.

us with the tree in all its lit up glory.

i learned that the public transportation system really is incredibly efficient, that jane krakowski does not appear to be different at all from her character on 30 rock, and that good friends can be made when you're forced into each other's personal space for 5 hours in the rain. we left full of christmas (or hanukkah) spirit, a little wet, and a lot more in love with michael buble (at least i was...).

turkey trot = more pie.

for thanksgiving this year, i declared back in july that i was going to arizona and pretty much invited my entire family to my cousins' and grandma's houses for the holiday. lucky for me they didn't seem to mind and about half of my family made it.

i was able to go for an entire week thanks to a much-needed break from school (thank you, columbia!). the first couple of days were spent watching my cousin, taylor, at a horse show in scottsdale (which she WON in her division), eating out at chipotle, rosa's, and cheescake factory, catching up with one of my besties, becca (and i got her all to myself since bryce was out of town), lunch-date with becca to sushi, a free haircut from becca, and relaxing with mom and grandma.

everyone else showed up on tuesday and wednesday. we ate pizza and played a new game called quelf. it's been a long time since i laughed so hard i cried. pictures courtesy of paige's and rachel's blogs since i don't have a camera (santa?!).

my dad getting his game face on.

fierce gamesmanship.

preston won-- and it shows-- he was COMMITTED. he had to keep his hands on his head while drawing and running, and could only move his piece with his elbows.

quelf game 2, thanksgiving night. paige wearing a helmet just makes me laugh.

thanksgiving day started out for me with the mesa 10k turkey trot with my aunt alison and cousin rachel, since my family all bailed. my parents were very supportive anyway :) my goal time was an hour, which works out to about 9:40 miles-- i came in at 1 hr and 15 seconds! thank you arizona heat and dry air. i was pretty sure i was going to die of dehydration the last 1/2 mile. oh well, i guess i'll just have to do it AGAIN!

rushing to the start thanks to some very long bathroom lines

catching up to the crowd just after starting (thank goodness for chip timing!)

crossing the finish line with aunt alison with a dry mouth and much less pep in my step.

all done! so much fun to run with them-- we stayed together the whole time. next time i'd like to run with some immediate family-- yes?!

the thanksgiving feast was delicious and enjoyable thanks to seventy-something degree weather and a light breeze. we spent the evening playing volleyball, eating pie, playing with the six dogs that were there, eating more pie, and playing more games.
friday, i went to a car show in downtown phoenix with my dad, uncle gary, and robert-- it was a lot of fun, but i was definitely the girl of the group because the only comments i could make were "ooh, i like that color" or "that's pretty." either way i scoped out some cars for life post-graduation. we got the chance to go see my aunt wendy and grandma schwendiman in phoenix and ate some lunch and played cards with them. it was great to spend time with them. friday night was spent with a traditional jones card tournament, in which i lost miserably and eating MORE pie!

thanks for hosting joneses! it went by way too fast and i missed rachel and the boys and the bindrups, but less than 3 short weeks til christmas break! now back to the grind!

you know you've been studying too much when...

1) you ditch one class to study for another one, and

2) you have a permanent pencil print on your finger. it doesn't go away these days.

now there's a problem i didn't have when i went to byu...

autumn in new york.

i had today randomly off of school, so i decided to pack a little lunch and take a stroll through central park to see the leaves before fall is over--the air was crisp and the smell of dry leaves filled the air. i crunched through the leaves as loudly as possible, and i was once again reminded of my developing love for new york. the pictures really don't do it justice (and are a little fuzzy), but what's a girl to do with just an iphone camera?

i started in the strawberry fields around 72nd: rip john lennon.

soooo pretty...

betheseda fountain:

the mall:

ice rinks already...

the plaza. no biggie.

if anyone is planning on visiting me ever, might i suggest fall?? who could say "no" to all of that?

the MoMA.

after my walk through central park, i ended walked down fifth ave for a while because that just never gets old. i ended up in the museum of modern art. thanks to my columbia id, i got in free! i was surprised at (1) how crowded it was for a monday afternoon and (2) how much i enjoyed it considering i struggle a little with modern "art." i think i can credit my enjoyment with the fact that i stuck with the "paintings 1880-1940" and "paintings 1940-1970" galleries and avoided rooms with titles like "contemporary sculpture." highlights:

Van Gogh:

probably my favorite painting EVER. i have a huge poster of it in my
room. so cool to see it up close.

Seurat:

Picasso:
Dali:

NOT my favorite, but still interesting. this was only about a foot wide--
every time i've seen it, it's been huge.

Wyeth:

Pollock:

Mondrian:

Warhol:

my day was complete with a starbucks pumpkin spice steamer and walk back to columbus circle. it totally beat 7 hours in class like a normal monday. i LOVE mondays off!

halloween.

i didn't do much of anything on halloween since i pretty much abhor dressing up and didn't much feel like participating because we all know "halloween is the one night a year a girl can dress like a total slut and no one can say anything" (thank you, mean girls), but i did celebrate a week early with some school friends. we met upstairs in what we call the "skylounge" to make our crappy student lounge sound glamorous. the night was complete with pumpkin carving, pumpkin cookies, roasting pumpkin seeds, and even some pumpkin ale for everyone but me!

getting started...

kelly:

stephanie:

cassie:

nicole:

christina: named norma, after one of our teachers

jenn:

crista:

and mine!

i'm usually such a scrooge about halloween that i forgot how much fun pumpkin-carving is-- if this whole nursing thing doesn't work out, i may be taking that up as a career!