Long Awaited Update (or what I've been doing in all my spare time)

Time flies and I definitely didn't realize it had been so long since I last updated.  This is not to say that I haven't had things to write about.  Mostly I have been busy with working and school and trying to fit in exercise as often as I can.  I have been taking spin classes at a great studio called Biker Barre and barre classes at a studio called Pure Barre.

Beth and Ellie flew in to visit me the weekend of April 11-14.  We had a great time touring DC, walking like crazy, and checking out the cherry blossoms.

Beth, Ellie, and I playing tourists in DC

On Sunday, we participated in the George Washington Parkway Classic 5K.  I had not really trained as much as I had wanted to, which actually means I really didn't train at all.  My training involved procrastinating as much as possible, finally getting out on the Wednesday before the 5K to run, only to realize I probably should have been taking my training a little more seriously.  I had been doing quite a few spin classes and barre classes up to this point, however, I could take as many spin classes as I wanted and this would not prepare me to run the 5K.  I had to admit to myself that I had pretty much failed my training program but was not going to let this stop me from enjoying the 5K. 
I was pleased with my results. I managed to walk/run, although I did walk way more than I ran.  My time was 49:40 with a pace of 16 minutes/mile.  This surprised me because my time in the Boston 5K was 50:16 with a pace of 16:10 minutes/mile. 

Me, Ellie, Beth, and their cousins

 

I finally finished up this semester last week and have a long awaited Spring Break week off from classes.  I have officially finished two semesters.  I talked to an academic advisor on the phone today and was a little discouraged to hear that my anticipated graduation date is November 2015.  I feel like I've made progress with 2 semesters down but so many more to go. 

Since this is my first real spring break since graduating from nursing school in 2001, I decided to make it a real spring break and take the week off work.  And where does everyone go for spring break??  Florida!!!
My Mom has been doing a nursing travel position in Maryland since February.  She is living about 25 miles from where I live in Alexandria.  It's been nice to be able to see her a little more often.  She was supposed to finish up her travel position and head home on April 26.  I decided to ride with her down to Florida and then fly home.  As things never go as planned, she decided to extend her position in Maryland at the last minute but still took this week off to come back to Florida for a visit with my sister and nephew. 

We left Virginia early on Saturday morning, heading to Florida.  It was two hours into the trip that I realized that I had left a bag at home that contained medicine, my toiletries, including my contacts, and some gifts for Graesen.  Cue emotional breakdown in the parking lot of Cracker Barrel.  Even as adults, sometimes we just have to get in a good cry before we can pull up our big girl panties and get down to the business of figuring out how to solve the mess we've put ourselves in.  Thankfully, the nice folks at CVS and Visionworks were able to hook me up with the medicines I needed and a new pair of contacts.  I will admit that I complained incessantly about wearing my glasses and was the happiest girl today when I finally got my contacts.   

As a little treat for all the hard work I've been doing in school, I arranged a little side stop in St Augustine before heading over to St Petersburg where my sister and nephew are.  I have a little obsession with lighthouses, especially climbing them.  I love lighthouses of all sorts but I especially love the tall ones.  Maybe it is the challenge of climbing them and the amazing view you get from the top.  I also have a Lighthouse Passport.  All the participating lighthouses have a stamp and you can get a stamp when you visit a participating lighthouse.  I'm determined to get 60 stamps, which would fill an entire passport.  As of now, I have 4 stamps, so I have a little more work to do.

My Lighthouse Passport

I have really been wanting to go to St Augustine to see the lighthouse there for a while.  About a year ago, I had planned a 3 day lighthouse tour that included visiting 3 of the Atlantic Coast lighthouses in Florida (I know, exciting right!!).  That trip fell through so I was excited to get to plan this little side trip.  I planned it out so we could see the St Augustine lighthouse and another lighthouse called the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse.  Both lighthouses were amazing.  The St Augustine lighthouse had 216 steps to the top and the Ponce de Leon lighthouse had 207.  I was proud of my Mom that she was able to climb the St Augustine lighthouse with me and made it to the top.  The Ponce de Leon lighthouse was narrower and the steps seemed more steep.  It was much more challenging for me and my Mom tried and made it about halfway up.  I'm proud of her for trying.   

I must have the picture at the top as photo proof I made it!!

 

 

For those of you whose eyes glaze over at the mention of climbing lighthouses as a form of vacation, I will say that my Mom and I had a great time at the outlet mall in St Augustine too.  I indulged my love of purses and bought 2 new purses at the Kate Spade and Dooney and Bourke outlets.  

 

Now I am in St Petersburg and have a busy week planned.  My sister finished up her Bachelor program last week and we are having a party for her on Saturday.  We are also planning on getting in some beach time and family pictures.  I'm hoping I can also get in some pool time and exercising.  Tonight my sister and I got in some fun time and exercise, playing with a 7 year old in the pool.

It's back to school and work starting next week.  I have some big things coming up in my life soon.  These are not things that I can talk about right now but I will as soon as my plans are finalized.  Lets just say that the title of my blog, Changes, very well describes my life this summer.  I will need all the love and support of my friends and family to get me through.  So stay tuned friends, I promise to let you in on the Changes as soon as they come!  Or maybe I'm just trying to increase the readership of my blog.  Either way, you'll have to read to find out!! :)