A favorite picture...

...of my favorite Boxer.
"Mouser"

Dreaming of sutures...

It's 11:52 PM and I'm on my blog.

I just got home from school (really),
although I really don't remember the drive... :/

I'm so so so tired.
I had this weird feeling that I
posted a strange picture on my blog.
I didn't.

I learned about eight different suture ties tonight in class,
including the interrupted cruciate suture pattern.
:)

I may or may not have also just purchased an expired
vet-med suture pack to practice my skills on bananas.
And when I say may or may not have,
I mean I did.

And I'm out. Night!

Home

...with really pretty clouds.

Big Buddy

This is my dad's dog, Pinner.
He likes water.
A lot.

The Evergreen State!

I forgot to mention something rad!

Flights booked...
hotel rooms reserved...
car rental confirmed...

WASHINGTON!
I'm comin' to see you!
Gotta go tour my new school
and find a place to live. :D

Yep.
About two months
and I'll be in
"The Evergreen State"!

With enough caffeine and weekend sleep...

It's Sunday evening, exactly 6:59 PM as I start this. I'm giving myself 15 minutes to update my blog. It's been so long, that I had to look at what I last posted. Here goes:

I finished up school a couple weeks ago, and started again this week. HA! I managed to get some pretty good grades considering how horrible last quarter was. I started Anesthesiology and Surgery this week...on Tuesday and Thursdays...from 5 PM to 11 PM. Yep. Six hours of lecture, two nights a week. Oy vey! I'm working on planning my classes and externship right now, and it's so close, I can taste it! Hopefully this quarter flies by. With enough caffeine and weekend sleep, I'm sure it will! :D

I had three weeks off in between quarters, which I spent being a maid of honor, moving, biking, and sleeping. It was quite lovely. :) My best friend's wedding went well. It was absolutely, insanely gorgeous! I'm so happy for her and it was so fun to spend time together, laughing and talking while she was here...just like old times. I also moved home. Yep. I'm 30-years old, and back home with my parents. Yeah! LOL! Good thing I love my parents more than anything and actually enjoy spending time with them. It's actually kind of nice to be home and be here with them before I move out of state. Oh and we go biking. My dad is like Lance Armstrong. It's a little annoying how in shape he is, but I've been out a few times with him and my mom on our bikes. Aside from my sore butt, I've enjoyed the rides.

Volunteering at the equine center has been super fabulous. I love all of the horses. Good thing I'm pursuing a career with animals! ;) Our local newspaper ran a story about some kids going to the center a couple weeks ago. My buddy, Skip, was prominently featured with the kids. He got groomed, lead around on some walks, and even came up to the gate to greet the kids. Skip actually used to be afraid of most humans in general, but especially loud people (read: little kids). The owner said it was insane how good he was. I guess there is someone really interested in adopting him. It makes me sad and happy at the same time. I will hate to see him go, but happy for him to get a good, loving home. From there, it'll be onto the next pony...one home at a time. :)

Last week my parents skipped town and left me in charge of the farm. Farm livin' is definitely the life for me...just not on top of full-time work and school. HAHA! It was more than a little crazy. So crazy that I managed to fracture my foot. Yep. I wrangle wild ponies on Saturdays, wrestle pit bulls at night, and I slip in a 2-inch hole on Wednesday and fracture my foot. DOH! I currently have a really pretty, big blue walking shoe right now that I get to rock for the next couple weeks. Oh man. I'm awesome. :}

Lola is currently in "farm dog training". She apparently loves me a lot because when I'm gone...she doesn't like to do anything. My dad is home most of the day, but she doesn't like to leave my room or even the porch step if she gets dragged outside. So he's taken it upon himself to get her out and get her dirty! HAHA! Have no doubt: she loves to play in the fields and splash around in the water when I'm out and about...just not so much when I'm gone. Hopefully she gets over it and hangs out with my dad a little more. :P

Well my fifteen minutes are up. I have a pile of homework sitting on my bed, waiting to be conquered.

Love to all... xoxoxAC

Sweet Peas = Summer

I took my last final last night. *insert GIANT sigh of relief here* I don't know how I did yet, but I feel like I passed. I hope I passed. Pleeeeease let me have passed! :} I'm so happy this quarter is over. It was hellacious and just no fun. I have Surgery & Anesthesiology next quarter - Tuesday & Thursday nights from 5 PM to 11 PM. Yeah, the schedule will be rough, but I'm looking forward to the classes. The best part? I have three (almost four) weeks off in between now and then! WOOHOOOOO!

Other than that, moving. Blah! I hate moving! Although while I was moving some stuff to my parents' place last night, I was informed that peas are on. PEAS! MMMM! Sitting by a fire pit eating sweet peas fresh out of the garden? I declare summer officially here. :)

Nope. Not dead.

Although, thanks for keeping tabs on me, ya'll. :) I have honestly been incredibly busy. So busy that this post will (hopefully) be quite to the point. Or at least as condensed as my ramblings can be! HA!

School:
Eh. This quarter has not been my favorite. It started out great, but quickly went down the drain. Hence, my not blogging a lot. I knew if I wrote about it, it'd be negative. To put it mildly, I've been through multiple teachers in BOTH classes, been on the verge of tears a couple times due to crappy grades (being taught one thing and tested on another), and contemplated dropping the classes to just pick up again next quarter. The good news is that I survived - my grades are up and I don't cry after every quiz now. LOL! Finals next week and I'll be done with craptacular quarter! WOOHOOOOO!!

Work:
My brother mentioned the other day that I only call him cuz I'm bored at work...which is why I haven't been calling him so much lately. :} Work is extremely busy. We're hiring new sales people right now and because I have some cosmic wisdom or something, I've been put in charge of training them. It's definitely a compliment, but holy crow! Trying to spend 4-6 hours with someone every day on top of keeping up on my job...ARGH! I've worked more over-time in the last month than I have in the entire four years I've been here. Oh and we have another new person starting next Monday. Greeeat.

Volunteering:
I'm still volunteering on the weekends at the equine center (EC). I love it. I'm working with two horses right now - Skip & Samara. Skip is a short, copper-colored Quarter Horse. His owner apparently used to beat him with 2 X 4's so he's naturally very weary and nervous around humans. Side note: I bet you can imagine what I'd like to do with a couple of 2 X 4's to his ex-bastard-of-an-owner... Anyways, nobody used to be able to catch Skip, but he let's me walk right up to him for some reason. So, Skip and I have become working buddies. I do a lot of groundwork with him and he keeps me on my toes. :] Samara is a big, gray Arabian mare. She was found in a field, tangled in a mess of barbwire, looking hungry and disheveled. Her owner was no where to be found, so she's at the EC now. She's not quite as damaged as Skip, but still needs a lot of work. I spend a lot of time doing groundwork with her too, during which time she thinks it's fun to test my nerves and patience. LOL! I've only been working with them both for a couple weeks, but they've come so far, so fast. So much so that the barn manager gave me keys to the facility and pretty much begs that I come both Saturday and Sunday (and more). It's hard to say no which of course kills my weekends, but it's great to be out working in the weather with horses again. I forgot how much I missed them. :)

Life:
Oy. I'm working on moving my stuff home right now - I have to be moved by the end of the month. I've been moving a little bit at a time, but it's hard because I really don't have a ton of free time right now. I foresee an exhausting weekend of trying to get everything finished up in my near future! LOL! My bestie friend is getting married next weekend. It's going to be a gorgeous event that I get to be the maid of honor for! :D I've got a few days of pedicures, manicures, spray tans and pink dresses coming up! HAHA! I'm really excited for her - and the wedding! I've been lucky enough to get a sneak peak of everything by way of photo shoots, rehearsals, taste-testing, etc. so yeah - it's gonna ROCK! What else? I got a new bike! WOOT! I ride it every chance I get when I'm out at my parents' house. Pretty soon...I shall ride it EVERY DAY!

Lola:
I saved the best for last. :) Lola had a rough spot about two weeks ago. I guess she started feeling the effects of my crazy schedule because she started chewing stuff up! Some of which she threw up in my truck! :/ For about two weeks, I came home to heels missing off of shoes, bra clasps ripped off my favorite bra, straps and buckles chewed off my brand new messenger bag... Ay-yi-yi! It was really frustrating there for a bit, but I realized it wasn't her fault. We spent some much needed "A.C. & Lola-time" together and she seems to be doing better. Yay for that. Love my little sidekick.

So that's that. A super-long post, but kind of condensed? Maybe? Eh. I guess it could be longer. HAHA! :}

Here's to hoping I survive the next two weeks - finals, new hire, moving, and wedding. I might be posting from a hospital bed next time... ;)

Loves!
xoxoxAC

S'mores trump blogging!

So I had good intentions of updating my blog background and posting a new update yesterday. Yeah. That obviously didn't happen. Instead, I set up my new background, helped my mom set up her new blog, did laundry, then prepared for s'mores with the visiting family (mmm...s'mores). It was quite a lovely day.

I'll update this later this week. Maybe with pictures. Maybe. :)

Fly

So I was informed by my grandma and a couple friends that I never really explained the Washington thing in my previous post. As one friend put it so eloquently in a text: "What the hell is this bomb?!" My apologies to everyone! Here's the poop scoop:

After I finish up my classes, I'm required to do an externship in a hospital or clinic in order to graduate. It should last about three months, but could go a little longer, as I'm required to complete a specific number of hours. Last year my program director approached me about a fantastical opportunity in Washington: an externship in an extremely advanced equine facility (for privacy's sake, I'm not going to reveal the name and location on here). I've been working hard since then to maintain my grades, get recommendations, and pretty much jump through hoops. In my meeting this week, I was informed my jumping paid off, as I've been accepted to go! I still need to go through the application formalities, but yes, I will more than likely be moving to Washington next year!

I don't know how long I'll be gone. I honestly hope to get hired on there or somewhere just as advanced. As my teacher put it, "You know you want the cool cases!" LOL! She was right. I want to go far with this. I want to learn and be amazed and challenged in every way possible. If that means packing up and moving across the country, then let's go!

Yes, I'm excited and scared as hell! I've lived in the same place my whole life, with my family no further than a 20-minute drive away. But, if my cute friends like Adrien and Sara Lizbeth, or my lovely cousins Syd and Angie can do it and prosper, then dangit I'm gonna try! To quote a song lyric from Miranda Lambert (yep...going there again!):

"I guess if you don't jump, you'll never know if you can fly!"

Jumping. :)

'Cause Gypsies Never Get Tied Down...

For some reason, I don't want to organize and create neat paragraphs for this post. So yeah, here's a list:

1. I met with the externship coordinator at school yesterday. My grades are good, they have all of my recommendation letters in, and the application paperwork should be here next week. All signs are pointing to "go" for the big move to Washington next year.

2. The thought of leaving Utah, saying goodbye to my friends and family, and trying out a new life is becoming a reality. An exciting, adventurous reality.

3. The thought of leaving Utah, saying goodbye to my friends and family, and trying out a new life is becoming a reality. A scary, heart-breaking reality.

4. I'm moving home in about two months to save some dinero for the big move. I have to start packing. Again. "'Cause gypsies never get tied down..."

5. My new truck is awesome.

6. I hate the weather right now. I never would've survived the massive dust storms in the early 1920's. My eyes feel like they have little sand dunes in them from yesterday's craptacular weather. No makeup, red eyes, messy hair...it's hard being so pretty. :]

7. Two of the Dixie Chicks girls are coming out with a new album soon. Yesss! Oh and Dierks Bentley has a bluegrass album coming out...with Miranda Lambert singing a song on it. Yesss!

8. I tried to get blood from a cat's jugular twice last night. I failed twice last night. F#!&ing cats!

9. Random picture of The Diddle! ---->

10. I turned 30 yesterday and gained some new knowledge. The new knowledge is this: I no longer can claim I'm just young and dumb. I'm old enough to know better now. Greeeat. LOL!

It's time for an update!

Warning: Looong blog post. Long!

I wasn't going to update my blog until I could do it with pretty pictures. I see my friend's and family member's blogs and they're so pretty. Whether it's babies, camping or projects, I love looking at all of the new, nice pictures every day. Then there's mine. Wah-waaah. Lola and I are still wearing snow suits above and it's 75 degrees outside. LOL! Ahhh...whatever! It's time for an update even if I don't have a lot of pictures or a new background!

A lot has happened since I last threw a post up on here. I had a week off of school during which time...*drum roll*...I bought a new truck! WOOHOO! I finally bit the bullet and got a new vehicle. I seriously have been talking about it for years! My dad helped me find a great deal on a 2003 Ford F150. It has four doors, four-wheel drive, and even better...it's not red! I love it so! It rides great and it's comfortable and...it's a truck! YES! :}

I also started school again. I'm actually in my third week already. I am taking Advanced Clinical Skills and Advanced Animal Disease and Hematology this quarter. So...advanced pee and blood. LOL! Good times, huh? I honestly love the classes...again. And yes, I know I always say that! The equine instructor is teaching my Clinical Skills class so obviously that rocks. He always throws in little nuggets of information about equine no matter what we're studying. Like last week when we went to the shelter and learned how to place urine catheters, he taught me how to produce and clean up a sterile environment when I'm doing farm calls with horses. My other class is being taught by one of the attending doctors at the school. I’ve never had a class with her, but I can already tell she's pretty hardcore and we're going to learn a TON in that class!

Speaking of my equine teacher, he hooked me up with a volunteer position. I'm currently on the wait list for the main equine hospital here in Utah, but I want time and experience in the meantime for my resume, so he helped me out. I started working last Saturday at a facility that takes in and rehabilitates abused and neglected horses. The owner of the facility was pretty excited about my horse experience, so in trade for groundwork with the horses and stall cleaning, I get to help out with any medical stuff that comes up. I will DEFINITELY get some pictures posted soon on that. The facility is really nice and the horses (of course) are beautiful!

That pretty much brings me up to last night. Last night was awesome. We had a sick dog come into the school that needed serious treatment and attention. The attending doctor asked my teacher if she could borrow one of us, and another girl and I raised our hands at the same time. Once again, we rock-paper-scissor-ed it and I won! HAHA! I don't know where I’ve gotten my mad game skills all of a sudden! Anyways, the dog had a super high temperature of 105.5, was coughing up mucous & blood, and was incredibly dehydrated. The doctor had me place an IV catheter which was insanely hard and nerve-wracking since the dog's blood pressure had bottomed out and had flat veins. I hit it on my second try and then started giving him various meds and administering fluids, though. The doctor had to finish rounding on the other animals, so she left me with the dog to bring his temperature down, monitor fluids, continue meds and essentially keep him alive! When I write it, it sounds easy, but I honestly was a wreck! We usually get healthy dogs from the shelter, so this was one of the first times I've done real medicine where it definitely mattered if I messed up. Everything went well, though. I was with the dog until about 12 AM this morning. When I left, he was up and moving around, wagging his tail, his temp. had come down to 103.1, and he even went outside and pottied! I never thought I'd be outside in the middle of the night, cheering for an animal that made a poop! LOL! But...I gotta say...I loved every second of it.

Lola is doing well. I don't know if people want to hear about Lola, but I don't care. She's my buddy. Every night when I get home, she'll wake up to greet me, then I usually sit down to check the mail or something. During that time, she will usually run off find a toy to bring to me. Well, the other day she came running in with...a hanger. A plastic hanger. LOL! It's her new favorite toy. Sometimes if there isn't one lying around, I'll hear her whimpering from my closet where she's sitting and staring at all of the glorious hangers that are too high for her to reach. Oh man. She is so crazy, but I love that about her. She is a constant source of entertainment!

So that is our life right now. On top of work, school and volunteering, I've been participating in local vaccination clinics on the weekends lately. They're pretty fun. It's definitely a different experience to work with animals AND their owners! What else? Oh! My favorite (and yours?!), Miranda Lambert, won a bunch of awards on Sunday night at the ACM's. Yeah...she's rad. :) I'm also doing a 5K in a couple weeks for the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. If you want to sponsor me, you should - it's for a good cause - boobs! WOO! THANK YOU to everyone that's already donated. A little or a lot, you ROCK!

I've got my birthday coming up next week. The Dirty Thirty, as everyone keeps putting it. Apparently I'm supposed to do something big. Because I'll be thirty. Ummm... Right now a trip to Subway for a ham sandwich followed by a night at home sounds pretty good! We shall see.... :}

Love yaaaa'll! xoxoxAC

I know...

I haven't updated my blog in for-ev-errr.
Lots of things to talk about,
just not enough time and motivation to do so.

But fear not, my little followers!

I will update it this weekend!
With pictures! Yesss!
I have something shiny to show ya'll! ;)

Oh and here's Lola. I love her. :)

Lovely Happenings

There are a lot of lovely things happening today. For one, I took my last final this morning. YAY! I am DONE with this quarter. This silly quarter that made me want to rip my hair out! I am going to miss my classes. But, the schedule? Let's just say I'm kicking the schedule's ass as it flies out the door! Gooood-bye! Second, my final this morning was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy! I maybe missed one question, which means...*drums*...I GOT ALL A's THIS QUARTER! Woot! Yes, I am very happy about that. Third, I stopped at the greasy gas station on my way into work this morning and bought batteries for my camera. I am finally going to post some pictures from my San Francisco trip...from last month. LOL! I am sooo on top of things! Riiight. Lastly, my week off from school officially began after I finished my final this morning. What? I get to go home after work and hang out with my dog?! WOOHOOOOO!

:)

Cuts

I am scratched up right now.

For some reason, it was a week of particularly sharp, little claws. Whether it was teenager puppy claws or evil, vicious cat claws, my arms and fingers took some abuse this week. People freaked out over my blood, but I just brushed it off. No biggie! They're just flesh wounds! I'm a tough girl!

But last night while I was working on my Parasitology project?

OW! OW OW!
A PAPERCUT!!!!!! :(

I have been wincing all day. Forget using my finger to change the radio station! Screw washing my finger with warm water! And I don't even want to talk about trying to bandage a horse's leg this morning!

Seriously? What gives?!
Scratches up and down my arms and I feel nothing!
A tiny papercut and I'm ready to amputate!

GOOOOD MOOOORRRNING! XD

I woke up to the sound of my neighbor's car alarm this morning. I found it quite rude and impolite. Well...until I glanced at my phone and 6:24 AM screamed back at me.

AHHHH! WHAT?!?!?! What happened to 5 AM?!

For the record, I love these mornings. Washing my face, cleaning my ears, and brushing my teeth...at the same time? Talent. Skidding around corners while pulling on socks, pants and a shirt? Skill. Catching my dog sleepily watch the chaos from the warm bed? Pure humor.

*yawn* Good Morning. :)

Ranch Needed

This is a dog at my school right now. He's quiet and seriously sweet. And I want to take him home. This isn't the first time I've fallen in love with a dog at my school, and it won't be the last. I need a ranch. A giant ranch so I can adopt doggies, ponies, goats, and piggies to my heart's desire. Oh and maybe a few cats. You know...to yell at and stuff. ;)

Anyways. Does anyone need a new best friend?

I rule.

So I have spent the last three months studying parasites.

I read strange names...

what they infect...

cringe at transmission methods...

study medications...

and do my best to memorize what they look like...

hundreds of them. Hundreds!

It's honestly boring.

Or it was.

Until last night. :]

Last night, I (me!! ADRIENNE!!)

FOUND and CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED

a parasite in a cat!

After staring through microscopes for months on end,

I found something and knew what it was!

The attending doctor was even there and gave me a,

"Good job! Those are hard to spot - most people miss them!"

YESSSSS!

Yeah, I'm a dork. :}

But it made up for the fact

that I didn't get home until 12:30 PM last night...

and that I still had to wake up at 5 AM. Meh.

Oh and then there's this:

Road trip?!

Sleep? Yes, please.

I am tired. This quarter is kicking my butt. Love the classes, hate the schedule. Day & night classes combined with a full 40-hour work-week squished in between? Meh. I am sooo ready for a normal schedule again.

P.S. San Francisco post still coming. I got about half-way through it last week, when my camera battery died. Wha-whaaa.

Utah Wild Horse & Burro Center

This morning we got to take a field trip to the Wild Horse & Burro Center at the mouth of Butterfield Canyon. We were supposed to lecture on beef cattle nutrition, but apparently while I was in the restroom, my teacher and classmates decided I could make the final decision whether or not we would go on the field trip. Uhhh...duh. :}

I've been around horses my whole life, but never wild ones. We obviously couldn't get too close to the horses, as they wouldn't hesitate to bite, kick, or bowl us over, but we did get to watch them interact. It honestly made me emotional. I have always loved watching a horse just be a horse.

We also got to meet and talk with one of the wild horse wranglers (read: real cowboy). He was great! I was totally enthralled with the whole process of "handling", vaccinating, gelding, hoof trimming, training, etc. He also had some great stories about crazy horses getting loose and causing some serious havoc! ;)

It was a seriously awesome morning! Made coming into my desk job a little hard. :}

Today is better.

Yesterday was a bad day.

I had a lovely vacation in San Francisco to come home to a mess. Did you know CHEVRON (SUCKS) will "ping" your debit card for $100 in San Francisco when you want to pay for gas at the pump? CHEVRON SUCKS. I only needed $7.39 worth of gas, but trying my card twice (or $200 in "pings") at the pump cost me lots more. CHEVRON SUCKS. Meh.

I made it to class last night. I almost didn't. I almost justified my way out of going, which would have been the first time since I started in 2008. Yes, toot my horn, I have a perfect attendance record.

I'm glad I went to class. I had signed up to go early to practice bandages, when in fact a dog got hurt and needed a real bandage. It was a tricky foot bandage that I'd never done before, but my teacher said my bandage skillz ruled. Oh and there was a baby bunny. Oh a cat named "Osmond" who I dubbed "Ozzy" that was fat and lazy and lovable and let me do a physical exam while he played with a paper towel. Oh and a kitten named "Pot Pie" that gave me kitten-high-fives, which in case you didn't know, are the best high-fives around.

Yes, I'm glad I went to class. It made today better and I have a hunch it will make my life a little more lovely in the future. And when I say "a little more lovely", I mean a lot more.

Blog with pictures on the San Francisco vacay coming soon... :)

And CHEVRON SUCKS.

I know you wanted to know...

Yes, I still listen to Miranda Lambert.
A lot.
As in, her new-ish album has pretty much occupied my CD player about 90% of the time since it came out...last year. :}

Also, Miranda is going on her own tour:
"Roadside Bars & Pink Guitars".
Love it!
No Utah date...yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Lastly, I just found out about this. Ummm...I need one. :)

Medicine Woman

So since the last time I blogged, life went...well...a little nuts! :}

I finished up with my midterms. I did rather well on them. And when I say "well", I mean I got all A's. Yes! HAHA! I actually felt pretty confident going into these ones. Some of the teachers have taken on the opinion that rather than just have us regurgitate information, they're going to give us related case studies and ask one simple question: "What would you do?" I happen to loooove this new approach. It's practical and I can literally think my way through it. I imagine an emergency case coming in, think about its problem, put together what might help to save the animal, then literally run through the clinic, the supply closet, and the procedure...in my mind. I had a lot of "Excellent!" and "Perfect job!" marks on my exams. WOO!

This last weekend I went out to Wendover with some friends. It was a fun little trip, but we had a minor issue on the way out there. As we were passing the small area of Delle, an SUV rolled in front of us. It was going East, we were going West, and it rolled across its highway, through the middle, over our highway, and onto our far shoulder. It was bad. Remembering the headlights flipping and rolling, over and over again, still makes my stomach churn. We immediately started pulling over when my sister-in-law yelled, "Is that someone on the highway?!" Sure enough there was a girl laying in the middle of the highway - she had been thrown out of the vehicle. In my normal emergency-mode manner, I didn't think - I just ran. I'm not sure if the car was even stopped, but I was already running up the highway shoulder and into the middle of the road. I stopped a semi and waved it around the girl, then screamed at some guy that thought it might be a good idea to pull her off the highway. She was dazed, scared, bloody and her left leg was twisted and turned in a scary, awkward way. Human stuff has always freaked me out. I cry, get nauseous, throw up and sometimes pass out. But, that night was different. I immediately flew into medicine mode, thinking about pulse, respiration rate, pupil dilation, pulse deficit, bleeding control... It was my animal medicine, but it was medicine nonetheless. I took control of the situation and helped. I am awesome. If it seems like I'm telling this story in an "epic" fashion, it's because I am. I am damn proud of myself. It was a scary situation, but I handled it. I can't help but think that I might just rock this medical stuff yet. :) Anyways from what I know, the girl is okay. Of course, as is normal with every situation in my life, there was humor involved. Like how I swore at and almost punched a retarded EMT, or how even standing in front of a massive semi and waving it around, I thought, "Dude! My dad would kill me if he saw me doing this!", or how I was ready to tackle some dude NFL-linebacker-style when he thought it might be a good idea to drag the girl out of the road. LOL! So yeah...I was HERE.

My brother, his wife and I are headed to San Francisco this weekend. It's going to be a bittersweet trip. I love S.F. It is one of my favorite places ever. But my cousins that live there make up a huge part of that. And this time, they won’t be there. :( Their grandpa died last Sunday, so they’re coming home to Utah, while we head to S.F. We’re still going to go stay at their place and take on the city, so I know we'll still have a lot of fun. But yeah...going to miss my cute cousins. Love them to pieces.

Oh...on the topic of S.F. I heard hottie Mike Rowe from "Dirty Jobs" lives there. If I ran into Mike, I wouldn't complain. I'm just sayin'. ;)

So that is my discombobulated life as of late. I've been sick the last few days. I don't know what's going on, but I've decided Parasitology has turned me into a hypochondriac. A couple quick urgent trips to the bathroom and I'm stressing over possible protozoan infection. LOL! We're going to the horse barn on Friday morning for my Production Animals class. Thank goodness. I need the quiet calm, familiar smell and fuzziness of a big pony right now. Either that or Lola. One crazy night in Wendover and I missed my bubs like no other. I’m not quite sure what I'd do without my little BT.

Love yaaaa'll. xoxoxAC

A letter...

Dear Blog,

Sometimes I get nervous and it shows in my skin. Stupid skin. I'm nervous about lots of stuff. I feel great responsibility to prove myself in so many different areas right now. I feel like my intelligence, my patience, my hair (hello, two-inch roots), my loyalty, my horsemanship, my physical prowess (I had to look that one up), my willpower, my tears, my steady hands, and my ability to survive on too little sleep are all being tested. Right now. It weighs heavy on my shoulders, but I understand. I know it is all a part of the Great Escape Plan and that someday it will be worth it. I can handle a lot, but seriously...I cannot handle my stupid skin. That's all.

A.C.

Some Stuff

First. Midterms are already here. Yep. Already been at this AWESOME quarter for six weeks. :)

Second. My equine teacher asked me to help out at a big vaccination clinic tomorrow. He said it wasn't that big of deal so I tried to hide the fact that I'm really, really excited to go play with needles tomorrow. BUWAHAHA!

Third. I love my family. Anyone who knows me or reads this blog should know that, but I feel the need to repeat it...a lot. It never escapes me just how lucky I am to have parents who love and SUPPORT my decisions and a baby brother that always laughs at my lame jokes.

Hey Blondie!

I love me. Seriously. I keep myself (and apparently others) very, very entertained.

So about a year ago, a very good friend passed away. In honor of his memory, his lovely wife Sally decided to throw a memorial of sorts at a local bar. I got off work yesterday and literally started running because of all I needed to get done before I went to the bar. I took Lola on a 3-mile jog. Yes, I jogged. In the panic of wanting to get all my errands done, walking was not fast enough last night. Go me. :) After that, I came home and threw together dinner. I always try to cook a big meal on Wednesday nights to eat for the rest of the week. After dinner, I ran to WalMart for some necessary household supplies, then sped home to get cleaned up. About half-way through curling my hair and putting on makeup, I texted my baby brother to see if he wanted to ride together to the bar. He wasn't sure and said he'd call me back. I continued getting ready, then about five minutes later, I got two texts:

Zachey Boy: "You're up in the night sweet pea...it's next week."
Calvin: "Cruzr's is next Wednesday AC!!"

Duuuurrrrr. Yep. I was getting dressed up for an event that's happening NEXT week. LOL! My friends thought it was so funny, they conference called me to laugh about it.

*sigh*
Me and my blonde-haired ways.
Life's never dull here at Space Camp.

Oh Happy Day!

So it's Friday. Eh. I love Fridays, but what I love even more...

Sleeping past 5 AM. WOOOOOOOO!

YAY for weekends!

I hope everyone has a great one! xoxoxAC

Scissors! YESSSS!

I am currently on an adrenaline-high. I was at school laaaate last night...until about 12:30 actually. I woke up this morning at 5 AM a little tired, but then remembered what I got to do last night and literally popped out of bed. Last night I placed an IV catheter and endogastric tube in a dog. It. Was. AWESOME. It really isn't that big of deal, I suppose, but it was thrilling and exciting for me. It's a procedure that we learn as a group so we're not placing unnecessary tube after tube into healthy dogs. But...after my professor demoed it, she said she'd let one student do it... Another guy and I pretty much jumped straight up and shot our hands into the air. My teacher said she wouldn't choose, so we battled it out old school style: Rock-Paper-Scissors. LOL! Yes, I played R.P.S. in a full-on surgical suite last night, complete with scrub gear and latex gloves in front of the attending doctor. I won. I rule. :) It was a little scary. I was lucky in that we had already placed an endotracheal tube so I didn't have as big of risk of going into the lungs, but it was still nerve-racking! It was definitely a little harder than I thought it would be, but I managed to get the tube into the stomach on the first try. Go me!

Aside from that excitement, I'm also busy learning about parasites. It's a lot of microscope work which I'm sure is prematurely aging my eyes (hello, wrinkles!), but what are you gonna do? Scanning for the cause of a disease is kind of cool. Finding the cause of a disease is definitely cool! As much as I dislike staring through a microscope, it turns out I'm pretty good at scanning slides and finding tiny eggs to help diagnose problems.

Lastly, Production Animals class. Awww...large animals. :) I'm learning more behavioral characteristics and general medicine on different large animals in that class. It may not be the exciting new procedures of the other classes, but I still love it. I find large animals insanely fascinating. So much so that I have a hard time wanting to do homework and concentrate on my other classes sometimes! The equine teacher gave me one of his old text books this week, and I don't want to put the thing down! I can't wait to graduate and pretty much focus solely on horses!

Aside from school, I had jury duty last week. Wah-waaah. I was herded into a room of 35 people and told only 4 would be picked. Good odds on not having to do it, right? Wrong! I got picked and had to sit in on a day-long case involving an undercover prostitution bust. Good times, good times.

Lola is lovely. Up to her normal ways. She got a new camouflage sweatshirt to wear when we go out walking. I found a $3 toddler sweatshirt, made a few cuts, sewed a few lines and Lola got a cheap, new sweatshirt. YUSSS! Besides that, she pretty much rules the household right now. My guilt of not being home a lot translates into MORE: more treats, more walks, and more sleeping in the big bed. :}

So that is life as of late. My schedule is crazy and I'm tired a lot. I'm never home because even in my "free time", I'm going to the gym and trying to maintain a social life. It's stressful and hard sometimes, but...I wouldn't change it for anything. Even when I'm wrestling a big dog that flings snot and has stinky breath, I laugh at how much fun I'm having. I absolutely love what I'm doing. It makes everything else worth it. :) If there is one thought about my current situation that rings true and crosses my mind often, it is this: "It's never too late to change your life."

xoxoxAC

WHOA! Snow!

I haven't posted in a bit. I have a lot of stuff to write about, but right now...

I just really want to go see all of the snow in Monticello. :)

You know...horse stuff!

Waiting to graduate is dumb. Dumb I tell you!

We lectured on equine medicine this morning - four hours worth - not enough in my book! Thank goodness there's a WHOLE other class devoted just to horses. I'm fired up and ready to do stuff! You know...horse stuff! GEH! I'm ready to graduate! XD

Wrestling Dogs

I've commented on this before, but I'm just going to bring it up again: I live a crazy life. I spend my days in an office wearing nice clothes and using big words. I'm professional and gracious. At night? Ehhh...not so much. I spent Monday night looking at poo under a microscope...and was utterly fascinated. In fact, I seem to remember uttering such eloquent words as, "Whoa!" or "RAD!" or "Dude! Come look at this!" Tuesday night I wrestled dogs. Big dogs. We moved from placing IV catheters in lifeless Care Bears to 100-pound Pit Bulls and Hound dogs. I had the pleasure of restraining said Hound Dog. I spent fifteen minutes crouched in an unnatural position and holding him down while my classmate did her first IV catheter. He writhed and wiggled while my legs burned and my back ached. At the end I was rewarded with a tackle and chin-to-forehead lick, complete with drool and hair. :} Tomorrow morning we'll be lecturing on horse breeds and characteristics in Production Animals. If you've followed this blog for more than two minutes, there's no need to tell you how I’m feeling about that lecture. Okay, I’ll tell you: EEEEE! HAHA!

Oh how I love this lovely life... :)

Beeeeeeef.

I started my Production Animals class this morning...

...and it was AWESOME. :)

YES! My Care Bear is NOT dehydrated!

Well I'm already back in school again. A new, fresh quarter...only one week after the last one ended. I was feeling a little bummed about it until class started. My schedule is crazy and I definitely get a little wiped out sometimes, but what I do each night in class totally makes up for it. On Monday nights, I have Parasitology this quarter. Our first class was spent lecturing about and learning how to do different fecal collections, and then what we'll do with them. Who knew there were so many things to do with poop?! LOL! Yes, it's the smelly, un-pretty side of the job, but definitely important...and interesting. :} Last night I had Small Animal Nutrition & Nursing which is already shaping up to be one of my all-time favorite classes. We lectured on and learned how to place intravenous (IV) catheters. I didn't think it would be too difficult, but yeah...I was wrong. When my professor first pulled out stuffed animals rigged up to fake blood and rubber veins, I thought it was boring. After my first attempt at placing a catheter and subsequently mopping up the pool of "blood" all over my table, let's just say I loooooved the stuffed animals. LOL! I learned that doing this takes speed and precision - oh and a little strength since you CAN NOT let go of the animal no matter what. Unlike humans, you can't just tell an animal to sit still...mostly because they don't speak English. My professor demonstrated this (on me first, of course) by coming over and shaking and pulling my animal's leg. I held on, but I made a mess of the vein and had issues getting my adaptor on so yeah...I had a pool of Kool-Aid blood to clean up afterwards. I did improve, though. I am now a speedy IV catheter-placing-and-taping-freak...on my writhing Care Bear. :) Friday morning, I start Production Animals. YUSSSSSS! I am sooo excited for that class. I love dogs and cats (well, some cats), but large animals are where it's at for me. This quarter is shaping up to ROCK!

New Years Day 'Round Here

Lola. And her toy.

Zachey Boy & Bo.

Pinner Buddies!

Some weirdo...

Mixins.

Cranberries from a can.

Terrifying Guard Dogs.

String Bean & Sweet Potato Casserole-love. Mmmm...

Turkey connoisseurs.

Delicious, delicious rolls.

3 F's: Football, Food, Family. :)