How do you solve a problem with a name like Maria?

I was originally going to be named Marie, but when I was born, I had huge, dark eyes. My Uncle was also serving in Chile at the time and my parents became inspired to change their minds and the "e" became an "a" for Maria. I think my Mom's obsession with The Sound of Music might have had some influence as well, but she has never admitted this.

While this name has inspired many-a-song from Brooks & Dunn "My Maria" to Sound of Music's "How do you solve a problem like Maria" and the infamous "Maria" from West Side Story (the one I think that suits me the least), it can also put a person of my color (ghastly white) in some random and hilarious situations.

It was a typical afternoon, I was finally reading a FUN book because I have TIME when my phone rang.
"Hello?"
" 'Allo?" said a voice with a very thick South-of-the-Border accent.
"Hello??" I replied, feeling extremely confused.
The Hello's continued for about a minute, me trying to see if this person would realize that I clearly no speaka da Espanol, but he continued on.
" Is this Maria" he said, flipping the "r" as only the Spanish can do.
"Yes..."
"Anna you know the mumble-mumble?"
"Sorry, the what?" My confusion escalated with each sentence.
"Her name-a Charly"he continued
"No, I don't know anyone named Charly. I think you have the wrong number." I rudely interrupted.
"No, no! She your friend! Her name-a C-H.." he spelled her name out- and it wasn't until he got to her last name, that I realized this is a co-worker of mine.
"Oh! Yes, I know her!"
"Si! Yes! She left a bag, I'm taxi driver and she left a bag here. Can you call?"
" Yes, I'll let her know."
"Ok- my number...." He gave me his number and I proceeded to call her and let her know about her lost bag.

Good news: She got the message and got her bag back.
The Better news: There are still honest people in the world today.

I just have to laugh, because he must have assumed since my name is Maria, I spoke a hint of Spanish and proceeded to call me. Poor fellow, he must've been extremely disappointed. I just have to laugh. My name gets me into all sorts of mischief, and I'm sure it will continue till the day I die. Good times.

See these two fabulous people?

They just happened to have two extra tickets to see this fabulous funny guy...Brian Regan!!

So they asked us if we wanted to go and who could possibly say no to that?!

Oh man...he was hilarious!! I laughed SO hard that night! He did a few routines that I'd heard before, but trust me, it is so worth seeing it again in person! He also did some new ones that I LOVED.

We had a FABULOUS night! Thanks again B and J!

Not to brag or anything, but...

This was the final that is King of finals. You see, not only did we have questions from the previous quizzes ( 7 quizzes with 35 questions per test- a grueling total of 7 hours spent with two other friends getting down all the right answers) revised questions, we also had my personal favorite: new questions. Not like a final should be a review of what we've learned the past four months or anything...not at all...

The highest score I'd heard of was a 79%. Yup. 79%. Which, in the grand scheme of things will be fine since she usually adds a generous curve. I recieved:

And I'm pretty proud of it.

SO GLAD FINALS ARE OVER.

One semester down, one to go.

Ramblings

Since it's 2 a.m. and work is going well, I thought I might take this rare opportunity to ramble on about some thoughts that I've had.

First of all, Nursing school. Sorry, hate to beat a stinking, dead horse, but seeing as how it's become my life for now- I definitely have things to say. I think my biggest complaint is clinicals, and mostly because I get up at 4:30 a.m. to go to them. "Four thirty?," you say, " seriously, stop whining." I don't like getting up early and after having worked graves for a YEAR now (yes, I hit my year mark- wahoo!) I'm finding that I really love them. The only (and seriously stinky) drawback is it takes me away from Ty; I will literally go days without seeing him. So, I really don't like getting up early, but the worst part of clinicals are the assignments. I spend a couple hours working on those pests, and most of the information I write down, I make up in my head. Nursing school has taught me to lie, jk.
But I do have to say that overall, I'm really quite glad to be at this point. Light is shining at the end of the tunnel and I can finally see it! Now just to head towards it... I graduate April 22 and I can't wait! I have some great friends who are helping me get through all the online stuff- they are wonderful! I will survive, I will pass, and I will graduate. Finally.

Work: I mentioned above that I have been here, doing L/D & M/B for over a year now. It has been one of the biggest blessings in my life to be here! I love the people I work with and I leave everyday with a great story to tell. I think I have found my niche in the nursing world, I really want to do NICU, but if they offered me a job here I would take it and start out doing some Level II Nursery and Labor and Delivery- which would be fantastic! We'll see how it all plays out.

Ty has started school, and chose to take out Math first. He and I both really detest the subject- our poor kids will have no hope. But he is doing great! He thinks he's decided that he will go to SLCC for Radiology Technician, and then one more year to be an Ultrasonographer. I'm glad we're getting some goals in sight!

Life continues to be busy, but we are keeping up with it and always looking forward to our next vacation! We are so glad to be so blessed with such supportive family and friends!

OH NOOOO!!!

Only three words can initiate this kind of terror...

School starts Monday.

North Carolina part 3

Here it is! The last part of our fabulous trip to North Carolina! Here we are just chillaxin' on the couch. We went on night for a walk on the beach. This is the boardwalk heading to the beach.

I tried to get some pictures of the ocean at night (which is really quite beautiful), but my camera thought otherwise. So I only posted the pictures that turned out semi-decent.

Our last day at the beach! :(

The trip just wouldn't be complete without a flat tire! The boys all got out and started fixing the tire- -K and I entertained ourselves by pulling ugly faces. Enjoy.

This one's a winner....

There was this random tractor close to where we fixed the flat that had a flag attached to it. Mom wanted a picture... The ugly faces continued in the car...

Now, while I think I succeeded in pulling the ugliest faces, K can pull off a mean lazy-eye.

And yes...this concludes our trip to North Carolina! Loved every minute of it and wish we were back there!

North Carolina part 2

We love going to the aquarium! It was so much fun to see the sharks and all the other aquatic life! For some reason, my computer won't let me download the videos I took of the sharks. If it lets me, I'll post them. If not, you'll just have to do with the pics I got. :)

Little C is just so smiley! She didn't mind waiting in the humidity.

They let you stick your hands in and acutally touch the rays!

I feel that this is somewhat representative of nursing school.
Maybe it could be our mascot!

"They in the amazon..."

A sword fish spearing it's prey...

By the end of the day, we were pretty wiped out.

C was really ready to go.

One night, my brother-in-law (who has quite a knack for photography) sat down and taught me some of the finer points of photgraphy. It was fun to learn how you should really take pictures, and some of them, I dare say, turned out quite nicely. K was willing to be our model- and there are some cute ones of her too!

B's impromptu model shot.

I didn't think that there would need to be a part 3 to this adventure, but I was wrong. The best is yet to come!