First week back :)

As promised, here I am. Well, this past week has been as crazy as usual. Work has been going well, the days and weeks at work seem to be flying by. I have met and worked with a lot of interesting families since I started working at Parkland Hospital. This past week, I lead a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Parent Support group for the parents of the babies in the NICU. It was amazing. It went so well. There were veteran moms there whose babies had been in the NICU for 3-6 months and there were also very new moms whose babies had just come to the NICU about a week ago. The new moms were so sad and were crying and were asking for advice on how to make it through this tough time. I gave them some support, but since I am not a mom and my baby is not in the NICU, it is not the best support they can get. Fortunately, the veteran moms started giving support to the new moms. It was amazing to see. Anyway, it was a good Friday at work because a few of my veteran moms were getting to go home with their babies. It was a good feeling to see that. Also, in the support group, a few of the veteran moms thanked me for all my support. That was also a good feeling since this job can be very thankless at times.

Life outside of work is also going very well. The wedding planning is coming along great. All the vendors such as DJ, cake baker, florist, photographer, have all been picked out and contracts have been signed for the big day. The invitations are all done. My mom has so very kindly addressed all the envelopes and all we have left to do is stuff, stamp, and seal them. Michael and I have met with Dr. Cobb, the officiant and one of our old professors at UTA. We are currently working on how we want the ceremony to go and what we want Dr. Cobb to say. We have also spoken with Rabih, the manager at the Fadi's in Frisco, and we have the date set for the rehearsal dinner. He is going to close the whole restaurant and just have it for us. It is going to be quite a fun evening. So, there is still a LOT left to do for the wedding, but most of the major things have been taken care of. My mom has been a life saver when it comes to help with the planning.

I am taking my first official Paid Time Off (PTO) day at work this week. I am taking Friday off to celebrate Michael's birthday. I am so excited. Miriam is coming into town and Marla is going to join us to party it down. I can't wait, it is going to be a blast.

Friday night, Michael and I checked out this new sushi place, Lava Asian Grill, that one of Michael's coworkers recommended. It was very delicious. I think I still like Pirhana more, but this place wasn't bad at all. Then, we headed up to the Inwood theatre and had a few drinks at their bar and then caught The Shining at the midnight showing. It was as scary as the first time I saw it. Jack Nicholson can be a very crazy, scary looking man. It was all good times.

Yesterday, Michael and I did a bunch of shopping. We went to Custom Jewelers because we are custom making my wedding band to match my engagement ring. Did any of you ever think you would hear words like that come out of my mouth? "custom made wedding band to match my custom made engagement ring" Crazy stuff, I tell you. :) We did some looking at wedding bands last weekend and it is actually cheaper to custom make it. How crazy is that? Anyway, we are still looking to see what ring Michael wants. We are thinking a ring made of Tungsten would be great since it is the most scratch resistant metal they have. And with Michael being a nurse and all, he needs a scratch resistant ring. :) We also went to REI and I bought a pair of much needed running shoes. My running shoes are so freakin old I cant even remember what year I bought them. :) Then, we hit Target for a couple of items I needed. Then, we went up to Plano to hang out with my cousins from Houston, they are in town for their spring break. It was a great time. We all went to eat at Fadi's and then went back home and played cards all night. It was a lot of fun to spend some time with family. My family and Michael are really getting along well and that is a great thing. They really love him so much. Anyway, it has been good times all around lately. Well, today, I am going to work out, work on the ceremony some more, run some errands, and head up to Plano to hang out with my cousins some more. Anyway, hope you are all well and I will talk to you in a week. :)

Oh yeah, one more thing. The peace corps process is still in the works. Michael and I have both sent in our medical packets, so now we are just waiting to hear back from them. Michael is also taking an accelerated French class this semester because you have to have either 2 semesters of French or Arabic to go to Morocco and that is where we are hoping to go now. They have told us there is a couples placement in Morocco in September of this year. We are both really interested in that placement, so please keep your fingers crosses for us. :)