Whose nuts?!? This girl!

Most people would relax and enjoy their last night without school work looming over their head, but nope, not me! CG inspired me to declutter, why tonight...who knows? I feel like if I slowly tackle one area a night my house will be stunning by the time my parents arrive in 11 days. I want my house to be spotless when they come because they helped me buy this house and I want them to know that I appreciate and respect the house! So I cannot believe I am going to post this embarrassing before pictures, but you can't get a grasp on all the work I did tonight unless I do. So, without further ado:











After:





















I also made a box of clothing so I could give it away to our local women's shelter. I have Roman in the picture so you can get the size of the box with it's overflow of clothing. Inside this box we have...2 pairs of female sneakers, 1 pair of male sneakers, 2 pairs of female flip flips, 1 pair of black heels, 9 female sweaters, 2 female jackets, 1 male jean shorts, 1 male sweatshirt, 17 female shirts, 2 skirts, 3 pairs of female jeans, 1 pair of female scrub bottoms, 11 female shirts, 3 pairs of female shorts, 1 pair of female PJ bottoms, 1 kid sweatshirt, 6 bras and a partridge in a pear tree. :)



I also organized Roman Noodle's clothing:



Wish me luck tomorrow--getting rid of clutter feels great...jump on board!

It's coming...

School, t-minus 1 day. I have one day of freedom left and how will I spend it? I will most likely spend it getting ready for Tuesday, lol.

I got some of my schedule and it looks like I will be ridiculously busy...at first, it then looks like our schedule dramatically slows down come Feb. I have my peds and psych classes the first half of the semester and then I have my transition (which is our fancy word for internship) the second half. My floor request for transition was the PICU, I still have my fingers crossed because they haven't posted them yet. We were able to put our highest requests, my order went PICU, pediatric oncology, NICU and lastly a normal peds class. I honestly would be happy if I get any of my top three, I am paving the way for a job on either the PICU or pediatric oncology--I am working with the PICU's nursing educator now.

That's enough about school, a bit about the house. I am not sure if I mentioned this, I don't think I did, but we are about to go under a bit of renovation. When Phillip comes to town next weekend we will be ripping the carpet in my livingroom and hallway up as well as taking off the baseboards and then the following weekend, my parents are coming up and Phillip and my Dad will be laying down laminate floors. I am so freaking stoked. This is something I have wanted since I started house hunting over two years ago. Next month will mark my two year anniversary in my cute little house! Just with the dogs and the cats, laminate in more practical, it is easier to clean, it is easier to keep clean, overall, it is just easier. I will definitely post pictures from before...and after.

That's what I have going on, I hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend!

101 in 1001

Everyone has been talking about these lists so I decided to make one too! Here goes nothing. Sorry in advanced if I repeat myself, a list of 101 things is a lot!

Start date: January 2, 2010
End date: September 28, 2012

Travel

1. Visit the Caribbean.
2. Visit the Grand Canyon.
3. Visit 3 states I haven’t been too.
4. Convince Phillip to go skiing (snow).

Food

5. Start cooking more often so people stop making fun of how undomesticated I am…I can be domestic, I just choose not to.
6. Bake cupcakes or cakes for each friend whose birthday happens.
7. Start making and taking lunch with me to school or the hospital whenever I am there over the lunch hour.
8. Make sure Roman gets a raw marrowbone at least once a week.
9. Make a dish to bring to someone’s house whenever we are invited over for a meal.
10. Once the floors are done have friends over for dinner.
11. Make Super one homemade meal a month.

Bettering

12. Beat last years total of money raised for Relay ($900).
13. Start speaking kindly to the people closet to me.
14. Work on lowering my electric bills each month ($270 was the high for the last 12 months, my home is only 1200sq. ft.).
15. Read my assignments the textbooks on the subjects BEFORE they are taught in lecture.
16. Send a card once a month just to make someone smile.
17. Start drinking water when at school or the hospital, bring a reusable water bottle with me daily.
18. Go to the grocery store at least once every 10 days.
19. Bring cloth grocery bags with me to Publix, Target, PetSmart, etc.
20. Floss daily.
21. Read a novel biweekly once I am out of school
22. Be more forgiving of stupid mistakes.
23. Judge less.

Family and Family.

24. Do something with my friends each month that doesn’t involved eating out.
25. Take the dogs for a walk at least once a day.
26. Try to make amends with my sister and accept her for who she is.
27. Figure out what to give my parents as a thank you for our wedding.
28. Go on dates once a week that does not involve eating out.
29. Get Phillip to run the 5k with me on Feb 6.
30. Rock Keri’s bridal shower and bachlorette party for her.
31. Do something special for both Caity and Keri for being my MOHs.
32. Do something to thank Phillip and my Dad for installing the floors in my house (fingers crossed, they should be going in two weeks from today!)
33. Make a list of all the birthdays, anniversaries and special card days for everyone in my life.

Money

34. Consolidate my loans.
35. Once I am allowed to work overtime, donate $250 to Animal People a month.
36. Put away an overtime shift’s pay into savings every month.
37. Create an emergency fund…do not touch it!
38. Create a spending account for everything but bills.
40. Live within if not below our means.

Arts and Crafts

41. Work on purchasing handmade gifts for family and friends.
42. Make a scrapbook for Keri’s Bridal Shower.
43. Make a scrapbook for Keri’s Bachlorette Party.
44. Make a scrapbook for our engagement.
45. Take more pictures, make the goal, 50 pictures a month + post processing 25% of them.
46. Enter at least 3 photography contests in Gainesville.
47. Take pictures for friends and family just for fun.
48. Post process the pictures for friends and family and put the pictures on a disc or in a small photo pamphlet.
49. DIY at least 3 projects for our wedding.

Just because

50. Have a dip party.
51. Have a girls weekend with Keri and Caity once I get a job and after Keri returns from her honeymoon.
52. Enjoy Florida weather more, go outside, open up windows.
53. Join Oprah’s book club.
54. Listen to my iPod more.
55. Send flowers to my mom and Phillip’s mom twice a year.
56. Get more blog followers.
57. Take more pictures of Phillip and I, not always dressed up, can be just hanging out.
58. Order our 2009 Christmas ornament before we get our 2010 tree.
59. Listen when people talk/teach me.
60. Send out Christmas cards.
61. Get our wedding thank you cards sent out before the end of 2010.

The House:

62. Paint the inside of the house.
63. Get the carpet ripped out and get floors laid down.
64. Plant a flower garden in the backyard.
65. Work on keeping the house less cluttered.
66. Hang pictures up on the wall, both pictures of Phillip and I and my prints.
67. Keep the flowers out front trimmed more.

Myself:

68. Start working out at least 3 times a week.
69. Start toning myself.
70. Lose 10lbs before the wedding.
71. Feel great in a bikini.
72. Train for races, 4 5ks and 1 half marathons.
73. Feel good about cooking.
74. Start an I’m thankful journal, write in it daily.

Blog:

75. Blog at least 5 times a week, even when I am in school.
76. Comment on more people’s blogs daily.
77. Participate in at least 2 blog carnivals a week.
78. Write one post a week on a social issue.

Misc (anything that didn’t get placed in the right section…can’t mess up the numbering):

79. Go to at least one garage sale a month.
80. Make a new craft project once a month.
81. Take Meghan’s baby pictures, in the hospital, 3 days old, 2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, etc.
82. Take both dogs to the beach twice over the summer.
83. Go to the beach at least once a month once it’s nice.
84. Go to a concert 3 times a year.
85. Get a new outfit once a season.
86. Purchase a new DSLR.
87. Go on a graduation trip.
88. Work with Meghan on little baby Whitaker’s nursery.
89. Go see at least two MLB games in stadiums we’ve never been too.
90. Cook more meat options for Phillip.
91. Set a weekly budget for food eaten outside the house.
92. Create a bucket list.
93. Find a faster way to do my hair.
94. Do not miss anymore then 1 lecture a month.
95. Volunteer for 1 weekend a season at Camp Boggy Creek.
96. Get a birthright trip set up.
97. Figure out a wedding favor that gives back.
98. Get Phillip to start golfing with me.
99. Get out to the driving range at least once a month until Phillip starts golfing with me.
100. Have a movie weekend, one with Phillip and one with Keri.
101. Complete this list.

I hope I can do these. It is a beautiful day here in sunny Florida and I hope everyone has a spectacular weekend!

10...9...8...

No not really, I'm a bit early. It's only 9 here and I can almost guarantee you that I will be asleep before midnight--what can I say, I am definitely a party animal. I am so excited about 2010 starting, there are so many fabulous things that are "supposed" to happen during this new year.

Anyways, I am going to do a (quick) 2009 recap:

Jan-April:

I really have no idea what happened, I was in school.

Clearly it was so really exciting stuff based on my expansive recap (told you it'd be quick!)

Oh, in April, Phillip's parent's home in TN was done. It's beautiful, we are all so thankful that they were able to enjoy sometime in it together.

May:

We went to Tennessee to visit his parents, we had a really nice time. We went white water rafting together, that was a freaking blast! (No pictures though, because my camera...my beautiful camera, wasn't going white water rafting and we weren't paying $40 or something like that for one image).

Here is his parent's beautiful house (in the middle of no where):



Here is beautiful Roman Noodle, posing outside their beautiful home:



Our family friend, sweet little Madison was diagnosed with a Wilm's tumor--it was a kidney tumor. She went and had her right kidney removed, and then underwent 22 or 23 rounds of chemo, here she is pre-treatment:



June:

Nothing that I can remember. Very exciting, I know! You're all jealous of my adventurous life. :)

July:

July was a great month. We started the month down in South Florida--we spent the 4th with my parents, I love the 4th because I love fireworks. We had a great trip. Here are some pictures from then:









THEN...JULY 25, rolled around. Phillip caught me completely off guard (which, mind you, is quite difficult to do) when he asked me to marry him at his sister's house. We ate dinner as a family and then all gathered into the family room and his parents told us the story of their relationship, from when they started dating, to their engagement, marriage, etc. When their story was over he got down on one knee and asked! He had already called my Dad and asked for his blessing...sneaky sneaky boy!







August:

The first weekend in August we threw Phillip's Mom a surprise 60th birthday and holy crap, she was surprised!! Think we got a bit carried away with the silly string, nah!







This is my favorite (probably of all the pictures I've seen of them, maybe I am a bit biased because I was the photographer) and probably last good picture of Wilson and Sherry:



Just a cute family picture to remember this day:



This month I went home and found a wedding venue with my Mom (who rocks BTW)! We also picked a date. Phillip and I will become Mr. and Mrs. Nesom on 12-11-10 at the Dove Creek Lodge in Key Largo, FL!



Then Phillip and I (and I what I mean by Phillip and I, I mean I picked and got the go ahead from his best man Andrew) picked our Photographer. We are using the fabulous Katie of Katie Beyer Photography and we started working with her on August 29 by getting our engagement pictures done. I couldn't have been happier with them! Whenever I look at them, even now, 3+ months after getting them back, I still melt. :)




















Sept:

I can't really remember anything from this month. It was a bit of a blur. Phillip's parents had moved back to Florida and resigned in the fact that they would not be going back to Tennessee as a couple, so we spent every weekend with them. I spent a night in the hospital with Wilson, where he told me a very funny joke when he was high as a kite (I'll close 2009 with a Wilson joke in his memory)!

Phillip turned 25, a quarter century of excellent!

Wilson got admitted into the hospital for the last time before he moved into inpatient hospice.

Sorry for the not so happy recap of September.

October:

Unfortunately, October was not good and possibly a bit worse than September. Phillip's Dad passed away on October 11, we had all spent the night before (Oct 10-11) in hospice with him, he waited until everyone but Jessica had gone home and passed with his oldest daughter by his side. It was sad, but honestly, we were so relieved for the suffering to have ended that none of us actually cried when we found out, (not at all saying that we didn't cry a tone during this last 10 months, but when we found out at 1225pm on Oct 11, we went to be with his mom and went about our day).

We then went up to Tennessee the next weekend and spread his ashes on their property and had a big bon fire with their closet family and friends. It was definitely Wilson's way to go out.

Then on Halloween we were up in Michigan to have a memorial service where they had lived when he was diagnosed. This was where he had been working, there was a great turn out, Phillip wrote and read a very sweet eulogy in his Dad's name. We were ecstatic to go home after this knowing that all this death, dying, memorial stuff was DONE!

November:

I was still busting my rear in school. It was incredibly hard for me to have dealt with all this with Wilson while keeping up my grades and trying to keep my head above water in the semester in nursing school where majority of student fail out. No worries, I did and I was quite proud of myself!

We found out my friend Meghan was pregnant. She is so excited, I am so excited for her. She and her husband, Graham, have been married for 2 years and then she went off her BC in June to prepare her body to start trying--needless to say, it worked. She has a bun in the oven and is due July 6!

We spent Thanksgiving at home with my family, it was nice, it had been the first major holiday we spent with my parents in a while. We were only there for 2 days, but I met with my dermatologist to get started on a new med for my psoriasis--hopefully, it'll work (I should get my first delivery of it on Jan 7, I'll keep you all up to date with that).

We kicked FSU's ass on Thanksgiving Saturday--I was watching 5 kids, Phillip was at the Swamp loving his Gators (as it should be)! Madison had finished her last round of chemo a week or so before this, I was just relieved to be able to leave the house with the kids again.

On Saturday evening following the game, we went and got our first real tree together (he WAS a fake tree person, I've converted him), and then we decorated it on Sunday. Here is our Gator pimping tree, it has orange, blue and white lights and that is Albert on the top if you look closely enough!



December:

I spent the first weekend of the month at Shelley and Bill's, I was watching Robbie, Cooper, Jackson, Madison and Fenn! It was a ton of fun, I was tired when they got home two days after they left but I had a great time with them. I miss the boys, I miss seeing them everyday.



I also took a couple of pictures for Ashley and Chip (Shelley's sister and brother in law, a.k.a. Madison and Fenn's parents) of baby Fenn:





Finals sucked, but ended the semester which was incredible! I just hung out--it was incredible. I cleaned my house (long, long...LONG overdue!), read some books, did some Christmas shopping, took care of some sick kids when the boys had a stomach bug and their nanny was also sick--stomach bug=always a blast!

Then we went home to South Florida, I went wedding dress shopping!! It was fantastic, I had such a great day with my Mom! Then we celebrated Christmas, were at my parent's place for Christmas Eve and did presents with them then left Fort Lauderdale at 11:30 pm and drove to Orlando--we woke up Christmas Day morning and drove to Phillip's sister's house and did Christmas Day with them. It was fine, I was just excited on the 26th to head home to my house, I'm a homebody, I love my bed, I love my house...I just love being home.

On a quick sad note, my little sister, Caitlin, lost one of her best friends on the 26th. Her friend Shawn, her boyfriend Oscar and their friend Hayes went out for a motorcycle ride, he took a turn too quickly coming off the interstate and lost his life. He was pronounced at the scene--mind you, these kids (Shawn was 20) wear all the gear, the padded jacket, pants, gloves, SPINE PROTECTOR, HELMET, etc--it was/is terribly sad. They laid him to rest yesterday with a full military ceremony, I forgot to mention, he was a solider.

As far as the end of the year, Phillip got up to GVille yesterday, we fixed one of my toilets which was leaking, went and saw the boys, went to Chili's for dinner and came home.

Then today, New Years Eve, we fixed my dryer which apparently decided it just wasn't going to produce heat anymore--crappy decision on it's part. We made cinnamon rolls, watched a bit of Wedding Crashers, I spent $110 on groceries (it is a new years resolution for me to start eating at home...here is to good starts!), then we made frozen pizza, popped some bubbly and enjoyed the Wii! Oh and I forgot to mention today, Phillip and I have been dating 3 years! Happy Anniversary my love, here is a picture from exactly 3 years ago when we were going on our first real date (I consider it a real date since he worked up the nerve to kiss me, we had gone out a few times before this night):



2009 had it's ups and lows, but more importantly it's ups. :)

Happy happy new years, to you and yours. I hope you have a healthy and safe night bringing in 2010.

Oh yeah, I promised to close with Wilson's joke. Wilson was high as a kite, it was a bit past midnight and I was sleeping in the hospital with him--he had just gotten his every 3 hour basal dose of 100mg of morphine and as I was falling asleep he said "If you float right side up," I was obviously a bit confused replied with "huh" (I didn't even know he was awake), he said, "listen now," I said "um, ok." He continues with "if you float right side up, do you drown wrong side down?" I just sat there...what the hell?!?!...I then replied like 30 seconds later with "I don't know, do you?" he just looked at me pondering for a few seconds and said "I'm still figuring that one out, think about it."

RIP Wilson Nesom, we all miss you. Last picture, I promise (well for tonight), here is Phillip and his Dad about a year ago.



Good night everyone!

Finally Christmas is Done

I picked up the last of my Christmas presents today. I had taken pictures for Shelley and Bill (I do pictures for them every Christmas) and today I went and printed them. I had originally planned on making paper weights with each boys picture on them, but today I decided to put the pictures in frames. I just got 3 all black 5x7 friends and put one picture of each kid in them. Last year and the year before I did big picture pieces that they hung up on the wall--I didn't want to keep taking up wall space. I figured with these they can put it on their desk or book shelf or Shelley's dresser. They are supposed to break ground on a 1,000 sq ft. addition just after the new year and I figured I can do another set of pictures once we have more wall space.

Anyways, here are the pictures of the kids. My favorite this year is of Jackson, not just because he is the baby, but I think it is the best picture (you can click on them to see them larger).



These guys are such family to me--more so than most my extended family. As soon as they found out that Phillip and I got engaged she immediately wanted to throw us an engagement party. I thought the offer was super sweet. So...with this present all put together (it'll be wrapped up tomorrow) Christmas is officially over. :)

Phalenopsis...Orchids

I love Grey's Anatomy and I love it even more when Lifetime has a Grey's marathon--how fabulous! I can watch the same episodes over and over again and I still love them. The episode that is on now is so sad and breaks my heart every time I see it, the episode on now is the one where Izzy plans Meredith and Derek's wedding and then they have Alex and Izzy get married at the end. It makes me cry, it breaks my heart--I <3 it!

The flowers that I am thinking about carrying are phalaenopsis, a.k.a. an orchid. I am thinking about carrying all white orchids with just a few pink ones scattered in. Here is a picture of them, not the bouquet I want, just the flowers:
I think I will have Keri and Caity carry a bouquet of pink and orange orchids. Love beach wedding...love beach wedding flowers...love it!

Phillip and I have already registered at one store, we've registered at Crate and Barrel but then we are planning on registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond also this week. We want to make sure that there are enough items in all different price ranges. I don't want to just have one registry with all these expensive items and make people feel obligated to buy expensive stuff--you know?!?

Tomorrow Lifetime is playing Father of the Bride, I own the movie, but it is so much fun!! I think I am going to have to put Father of the Bride on my winter break watch list. T-minus 7 days of break left, better get watching. :)

A little Skitz!

Ok, I am definitely coming across a little skitzo--I had moved to the blog that was attached to our wedding site and now, I've moved back. I didn't like the blog over there, there weren't a lot of ways for me to decorate or design my own blog--besides, I feel at home here.

I feel like on here I can chit chat with everyone a bit more and trade comments and stuff like that way easier. When I went to our other blog I felt disconnected to the blogging community and so now that I am back on here I feel reconnected.

Anyways, hello everyone. I, yet again, am going to try the hardest possible to stay up to date on things here way better than I have been. So, here we go!

Holidays were fine, nothing to exciting, I came back home yesterday and I am psyched to be home. I love being in my little house with my kitties and my house around me. I have a week left...just one week left of break...that's so sad, but at the same time, the sooner I throw myself back into the fire the sooner I graduate (April 30!!). I definitely ready to be done.

As far as wedding stuff goes, there isn't too much I've done. We've book our ceremony/reception site, book our photographer and I've also tried on wedding gowns. I feel in love with a dress and I am going back down south in Jan or Feb to go back to the dress store. The store I'm shopping at is expected a new designer's line to arrive in early Jan so I'll go home and try on some of those gowns and if I don't like any than I am going to buy this fabulous dress! I would post more about it here, but Phillip logs in every once in a while and I want him to be completely in the dark when it comes to my dress. :)

I think that's about it. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, spent some fabulous time with family and are almost ready for 2010! A new year, I cannot wait. There are so many great things to come in 2010, I graduate nursing school, sit for my boards, get my first nursing job, am the MOH in my best friend's wedding, Phillip moves to GVille, and of course...we get married. Woo-hoo for 2010! :)

We've Moved!

We've moved...
www.phillipandmeghan.com

I'm back!

I am not sure if I can promise to be back anytime soon, but...I'm here for now! I just wanted to write a quick update on things.

Phillip's Dad passed away on October 11, we had all spent the night before with him and he passed away peacefully on Oct 11 at 1228. It is incredibly sad, but honestly, it was a relief--it was time. He had been fighting for 10 months and 2 days on the day he passed away. We just got back last night from Michigan for his memorial service, then two weeks before that we went to Tennessee to spread his ashes. We are all thankful to be home and to be done with everything. Back to reality.

I am done with acute care...DONE! I missed at least half the lectures between September and now because of everything with Phillip's dad, spending time with him, back and forth between the hospital stays and then when he was in hospice. Well even though I missed all those lectures, it was one of my best semesters. There is rumor that we will be losing around 25 out of our class of 145. I feel so bad, because a lot of them are friends. :( The big thing is that I did well and honestly, I can only take care of myself.

Next, the hair--the curls are amazingly beautiful. I will try to take a picture (Phillip has my camera right now) when he gets back into town with my camera. I have spiraled, tight, springy curls--I get compliments all the time. I am so glad that I took the time to embrace what I have naturally.

Lastly, there isn't much wedding stuff going on. I wish I could say there was more, but with everything going on I haven't had much time for fun. I am not thrilled with the colors we picked, we're going to have to play again (I know Phillip is thrilled...not!). Luckily, Phillip is a trooper so I am very thankful for that.

That's all I really have time for, I should be working on my 30 page OB paper--I'm off!


Here is Wilson's obituary, we all wrote it together on the afternoon he passed away:

Wilson Franklin Nesom
ORLANDO, FLA. - Wilson Franklin Nesom passed away on October 11, 2009, he had bravely battled cancer for 10 months and 2 days. He served proudly in the United States Navy before receiving his Bachelors degree in Chemistry from Louisiana College. He put his degree to work at BASF in Wyandotte, Mich. He was greeted in heaven by Albert Einstein and Arvie Electra Red. He leaves behind his high school sweetheart and wife of 40 years, Sherry Ann of Ocoee, Tenn.; and his three loving children, Jessica Renee, 34, Allisha Sue, 26, and Phillip Brandon 25; and his adoring grandson, Zachary Thomas, 8. He will be laid to rest in Ocoee, Tenn on October 17. A memorial service will be held in his honor in Canton, Mich., on October 31, 2009. In lieu of flowers a donation may be made in his name to MD Anderson Cancer Center, Orlando.