The Gilded Age

(Amy) On Thursday Dave, Mom, Dad, and I headed to Newport, Rhode Island.  The drive up was beautiful and Newport is just gorgeous!  We first went to the Cliff Walk where Dad noticed what appeared to be a cave in the side of the cliff.  We decided to climb down to check it out.  As we were walking on some mossy rock Dave slipped and slid right into the ocean!   I slipped on the moss right after him, but luckily I was able to stop myself before I fell in the water too!  You can see in the picture that Dave's pants are soaking wet and moss-stained; I got away with only the back of my jeans being stained.  Needless to say, we looked a little ragged for our tours of the mansions the rest of the day!
We toured four mansions, which may not seem like a lot but required a ton of walking and we were pretty tired afterwards.  The mansions were amazing but we all agree with Mark Twain who was rightfully disgusted by the opulence of Newport when he said, "The golden gleam of the gilded surface hides the cheapness of the metal underneath."

The Breakers was Cornelius Vanderbilt's "Summer Cottage."  It has about 65,000 square feet of living space!

Here's the view from the back patio of the Breakers.

The Elms mansion had a breathtaking yard.  It belonged to the Berwind family who made their money in the coal industry.

Marble House was built as a 39th birthday present for William Vanderbilt's wife Alva!  She divorced Vanderbilt just 3 years later and moved to another mansion a block away with her new husband (who happened to be one of Vanderbilt's good friends).  Alva continued to use the Marble House as a closet for her massive wardrobe!

  
The view from the backyard of the Marble House, it would be so relaxing to sit out there with a good book and listen to the ocean!

Rosecliff was our last mansion tour of the day, it has a beautiful ballroom that has been used in a lot of movies including "The Great Gatsby," "True Lies," and most recently "27 Dresses."  I've never seen any of those movies but we want to rent "The Great Gatsby" and be on the lookout for the Rosecliff!

Pinning Ceremony

(Amy) On Wednesday (May 20th) my nursing program had its pinning ceremony.  A pinning ceremony is a symbolic welcoming of newly-graduated nurses into the nursing profession.  It was a really nice evening and I felt so proud of myself and my classmates for surviving nursing school.  My parents were able to come from Utah for the ceremony and it meant a lot to me to have them there!

Sue was my clinical instructor this last semester.  I admire her so much and hope to be half the nurse that she is!  She is a wonderful educator and I'm so grateful to her.

Reciting the nurse's pledge with my classmates.  

Dave was my unfailing support throughout nursing school, I couldn't have done it without him!

I felt like the luckiest girl to have my parents there that night!  Thanks so much for making the trip Mom and Dad!

Short Stuff

(Amy)  There's something about this time of year that makes me feel a bit wild and spontaneous.  The weather and sunshine always stirs something in me and causes my heart to long for flips-flops, popsicles, scraped knees, and lots of time soaking up the glorious warmth.  It also makes me want to cut my hair in a short, playful style.  I told Dave that I wanted to do something drastic to my hair a few weeks ago and on Mother's Day Dave gave me a gift card to Soho Salon!  I love Dave so much!  Today I decided to call Soho to see if I could get an appointment for Saturday, the receptionist told me they had an unexpected opening at 1:30 today if I'd like it; I'd been studying for my nursing final all day and decided a hair appointment would be the perfect break and I took the appointment!  I can't wait for Dave to come home and see my new look.  Here's a before and after of my new 'do:

Hard To Believe

(Amy) Today was my last day of clinical for nursing school!  From watching the birth of a baby to performing chest compressions during a cardiac code, I have had so many wonderful and challenging experiences through clinical.   I'm so grateful for my many clinical instructors, they were wonderful educators and I respect them all so much.   

  I've made some wonderful friends in nursing school and am going to miss seeing them on a regular basis.  Nursing school is an unique experience and you really get close to your peers as you go through everything together.

  Here are some pictures from my clinical group's last week together:

In the front lobby at Hospital of Saint Raphael.

Practicing our skills on poor "Choking Charlie." (Don't worry, he's just a mannequin!)

Getting pizza at BAR after our official last day of clinical!  We made it!