there's a total art to packing. the trick is to start at a timely manner so you're not running around last minute trying to shove everything into a suitcase all willy nilly. but if you start too early then you can't pack half of your stuff because it's either yet to be cleaned or used. i usually start making a list mentally about a week in advance, and then sit down to actually write it about three days later. since our flight is tomorrow night, i started taking out the stuff i needed already on Friday when i packed to go away for shabbos, but that was really so i felt like i was getting ready. this morning i went over my list one last time and then took everything out and packed it all. and it looks like i won't even need to sit on my suitcase to close it. then again, i haven't yet packed all the things I'm taking for other people, like the four pounds of jelly beans for my brother in law, or the Utz potato chips for my friend's brother in yeshiva. it looks like Mr. FCG might actually be packing more than me :)

so I've cleaned out my fridge, made sure i don't have anything due at the library, checked my passport, gotten instructions from my grandparents (we're staying at their apartment) and brushed up on my Hebrew. and we're off to Israel! going as a married person will probably be a wholly different experience than going as a seminary girl or on a family vacation with my siblings

why i love facebook

there comes a time when you have to grow up and step out from under your parents wings. I'm not talking about getting married and moving out. that i mastered pretty well. I'm talking about paying your own phone bill.

like most families, we had a family plan from Verizon, so it paid for me to stay on my parents plan, because it was cheaper than any single line plan i could find. but when sister2 needed a phone, someone had to get booted off the plan. so i was left to searching for a phone plan that would give me what i wanted without being too expensive.

i looked at Verizon, Spring, AT&T, Boost Mobile, Orange, and virtually every other phone company I'd heard of. but the plans were either very limited, way too expensive, or didn't have good service where i live.

so i networked. i updated my Facebook status to express my desire to join someone else's family plan. within ten minutes my friend commented on my status that she had an extra line that wasn't being used and was more than happy to add me to her plan. that was Sunday night. by Monday evening i was on a new plan, and sister2 could start shopping for a new phone.

even if I'd emailed everyone i knew, i don't think i would have gotten such quick results.

of course the three and a half hours i spent on the phone with a very inept woman named Julie who kept hanging up on me and didn't understand what i was trying to tell her is another story...

there's a certain comfort in routine.

as Succot was drawing to a close, everyone was lamenting the end of the holidays and the forced return to "normal life"

i think i was the only one who was looking forward to it.

not that i didn't enjoy the family, food, more family and more food. it's hard to get adjusted to a school regimen when every three days I'm missing class. so now I've gotten my schedule all worked out. I've figured out exactly how much time i need in the morning so that i can sleep until the very last second and still have time to grab something to eat before i run off to the hospital. I'm managing to balance preparing in the morning before i leave for class so that i have everything i need to make dinner when i get home in the evening. and I've discovered that if i do laundry on Sundays, I've got the whole afternoon to do it so I'm less rushed and there's less of a chance that I'll lose a sock or turn an undershirt gray. (and if i do it on Sunday, Mr. FCG folds it :) )

the last day of camp is always somewhat surreal to me. everyone walks around in a slight daze, mumbling, "i can't believe the summer is ending" we had started packing everything up in the nurse's office already at the beginning of the week, but Friday was when it all really got packed up. the by midday the room had the empty look of summer's end. the walls that had been covered with the kids drawings were totally bare. the refrigerator that was previously stocked with Gatorade and ice packs was emptied out and unplugged. the water cooler and pretzel barrel were cleaned out and put away for storage, leaving two large rings on the counter. the door of the medicine cabinet banged against the empty shelves, clanging loudly. reminding me that my summer vacation is quickly drawing to a close.

i said goodbye and pulled out of the camp for the last time, reflecting on what I'd learned over the past eight weeks, still not believing that I'm going back to school in a week.

time to pull out my drug cards and go reserve my spot in Starbucks.

i'm resurfacing!

yes i know, it's been like three months since my last blog post, my apologies for that (i found couches by the way. yummy microfiber couches from Bob's Discount Furniture, and i love them)

so a lot has happened since April. i passed my finals, finished furnishing my apartment, got married, made it through sheva brachos, started cooking dinners and doing laundry, got a summer job working in a nurse's office in a local day camp, and celebrated my seven-week anniversary.

whew!

married life is great, blah blah blah, nobody's really interested in hearing about my philosophy, especially since a great chunk of my readers have been married like 18-20 times longer than i have.

now that it's already august (where did the summer go?) I've started working on my schoolwork. this semester i'm doing labor and delivery, oncology, immunology, and respiratory. i know i'm going to have a full plate, but i do plan on blogging every now and then.

shopping for a couch is not as easy as i thought it would be.

i never realized how many different couches are out there. reclining or non-reclining, leather or microfiber, different sizes and shapes, firmer cushions or softer cushions. and I'm not even going to mention the different colors.

the first stop was Ikea, probably the funnest furniture store, but not the best place to look for a couch. i know the store has like Swedish roots or something. aren't Scandinavian people supposed to be tall? because all the couches were very short and compact. i think it's designed for little squishy apartments. and not so much for comfort.

so off i went to Raymour and Flanigan. once i managed to dodge an overly friendly saleswoman, i was free to roam around and flop down on couch after couch. we happened to be in the store on the day of an extended sale, but the prices weren't that exciting.

and another thing i forgot to calculate-Mr. FCG (for those of you who didn't like the moniker, you should know that he has no problem with it) is a good 10 inches taller than me. so i need to find a couch that will be comfortable for him as well. so we grabbed a relatively tall frum guy and asked him to try out the couches. and we did the same thing yesterday to a poor unsuspecting 17 year old boy in a small sidewalk furniture store.

but i may have found something. slowly but surely, I'm getting there. last final is in a week and a half. then i can focus more on wedding plans and less on renal failure.

summer vacation, here i come!

as part of my psychiatric nursing clinical experience, my class conducted a screening in the college for anxiety disorders. we set up in a large room in the student union, and put up signs for free pizza. that's the only way to attract the attention of the college students.

we had the participants fill out a questionnaire about stress levels and anxiety. then based on that we discussed the possibility of anxiety disorders, stress management skills, and if needed, introduced them to student counselor on campus, so they could make an appointment to speak with her. once they finished talking we gave them a ticket which was redeemable for a free slice of pizza. the counselor running the screening explained that she knows a lot of the students only come for the free pizza, but it's worth it if she gets at least five or ten students to talk about their anxiety.

i think some of the students thought they couldn't get the pizza if they didn't have anxiety issues. so they made some things up. which made it very hard to keep a straight face when talking to them:

me: so you checked off that sometimes you have spells or attacks when you get anxious or frightened?

student: yea. sometimes, I'll wake up in the middle of the night, and then i can't fall back asleep for a little bit

me: is there something that causes these attacks?

student: well if i think about something bad that happened to me, it makes me have trouble sleeping

me: did something happen to you?

student: ummm....well my friend was sick, like last year

me: and is she OK now?

student: oh yea she's fine...

(at this point the conversation kind of deteriorated, so i gave her the ticket for pizza)

or take another conversation that my classmate Stephanie had with a student:

student: sometimes i get really anxious, and then my heart starts beating fast and i sweat a lot

Stephanie: what happens to cause these attacks?

student: like when i see mice

Stephanie: well i think everyone gets a little anxious when they see mice

I'm not making fun of people with anxiety disorders. it just amazed at how stupid some of the stories seemed.