I'm Back!

So before I get back to work here at Charm Hour, I feel I ought to apologize for being MIA for the better part of July and August.  It has been an insanely busy summer, and unfortunately blogging seemed to fall a bit to the wayside.  BUT- although I haven't been posting, I have been a busy bee living life, crafting, and cooking like a fiend and taking pictures all the while, so there will certainly be posts to be made.

First of all, I spent six weeks of June and July working full-time doing 8 hour evening shifts with an incredible preceptor.  I mentioned her a bit in my Crocheted Sunflower Coasters post.  I was working 5 or 6 days a week, and living on a wonky schedule thanks to the evening shifts, so it was hard to find the time to write.  But I did have a fantastic time working as a nurse and learned an unbelievable amount in the process.

Secondly, if you're a fan of Charm Hour on Facebook, you might have heard that Joe and I went to Hawaii for a week.  Joe was presenting his research at a conference, so I went along with him.  My parents were kind enough to use their travel miles to buy my ticket as a graduation present for finishing nursing school.  We spent the majority of the time on the beach, with a little bit of hiking mixed in.

I'll post most on that later, but here's a sneak peek:

view from the hotel 

view from Wa'ahila Ridge 

mid-hike 

Throughout the trip I made a point to set up my hammock basically every time I found two trees at an appropriate distance.  What's life all about if not relaxing in a hammock in a beautiful place?!

Needless to say, we had an amazing time.

Unfortunately for me, on either side of the trip was that kind of working all day, everyday project that makes a ten page paper feel never-ending and seems to require a dozen revisions.  And that research paper is then followed up with a 20-minute powerpoint, so by then all you're doing is thanking your lucky stars you have a partner to share the work (and stress) with.  So that sucked up week before and after our trip, which has delayed me posting about the amazing and beautiful Hawaii just a smidge.

And after our successful presentation, I officially graduated!  I have now acquired my Master's of Science in Nursing, so I can add another set of initials to my credentials.  Now all I have to do is study and wait to take the licensing exam so I can add RN to my name and start hunting for a job!  It's still hard to believe that the program is really over, and I'm totally done with classes.

So after a long weekend of celebrating my accomplishments, it's time to get back on track and start blogging again!