the hunt continues...

I hate to vent, but I have to say: those jobs i've been hunting for seem to be more elusive than I originally thought. I've been applying for nursing jobs since January, Phoenix specifically since March. I graduated in May, passed my boards in June, and here we are (in practically October) and I am haven't moved an inch. I haven't even been asked to interview.

Here's the scoop: no one wants new grads on their units who haven't gone through a new grad program/residency. In Phoenix, there are four hospitals/organizations that do new graduate programs: Phoenix Children's, Banner Health Care (around 15 hospitals in the Phoenix area), Maricopa County Medical Center, and Abrazo Health Care (four hospitals around Phoenix).  Phoenix Children's application was in the beginning of the year. I had the application turned in the first week it was released. It took about a month to hear back. I was rejected (obviously). A few of my friends called HR at Phoenix Children's to find out the scoop, and we learned they had 500 applicants for around 20 slots. So then I geared up for the Maricopa County application. That one was supposed to be opened on May 5th. We then found out two days before, that the program had been cancelled. The hospital couldn't afford it. They said they may or may not open one for the winter graduates. SOOO disappointing. One more opportunity down the drain. The next one I applied for a few weeks later. The Banner program was cool because it fed into all the Banner facilities, including the hospital RIGHT next to my new house. After I applied I quickly got a response that they did not want us unless we had our license. Which was pretty tricky, since we hadn't even graduated yet. That left Abrazo. I had missed the application for the Abrazo program starting in the fall, so a month ago (August 24th?) I submitted my application to the new grad program for Abrazo Health. I felt so much better about it. Now, I'm graduated (with a bachelors degree), I have my license, and ready to rock. Yesterday, I got a rejection, and it sucked! Probably the worst one yet, because I'm a great applicant and I DON'T understand. And these four programs are in addition to the tons of non-new graduate jobs I've applied for (which I'm pretty much automatically turned down for). I've applied for at least 30 to 40 of those.

However, there is nothing to do but be positive. No where to go but up, I suppose. I'm currently training to teach for Teen Outreach Pregnancy Services as a volunteer nurse. I really love the organization and I'm excited to get involved in mommy/baby stuff again. Hopefully something positive will come from it (besides giving teen moms and their babies a better chance for success!).

Thanks for listening to a little bit of what's going on with me. I appreciate everyone's support while I'm working through this.

XO,
Ash

another action packed weekend in tucson.

We just spent another fantastically busy weekend in Tucson. We had Chris' birthday to celebrate with his family, wedding stuff to take care of, Josh's football game, the U of A-Iowa game, birthday lunch for Grandpa Allen/Uncle Mike, and getting our old/new car towed/fixed. We love spending a weekend in Tucson, but it's hard trying to shove a week's worth of work into a few days. If we didn't get to see you this trip down (Sarah O! Kristin!), I'm sorry. Next time!

We did some taste testing with our caterer and finalized our menu for the wedding! It was surprisingly fun and non-stressful. The caterer was able to do everything we asked and the food was amazing. I hope you guys like our choices.  I know I'll be going back for seconds.

We also got to see Josh play basketball for his Secrist Middle School team. He's good! A true jock, now. He's had a try-out with a traveling club basketball team and he made it, so he's busting out the football and now the basketball skills. We're super proud of him. After a tough loss with the Jr. Midget Wildcats that morning, he came back with a fantastic game (like 14 points, I think!) with the basketball team, so that was good.

We also have another car! A 1973 Plymouth Duster (the car I always wanted for my very first car) that we're getting fixed and taking up to Phoenix with us. Uncle Mike and Aunt Veronica are nice enough to store it at their place while we get it fixed. Thanks, guys. You are lifesavers. We are starting to need a second car up there and we're stoked to have a car show car on our hands again. I see the fall months full of cruising and enjoying the Duster.

I never thought I'd be saying these words, but I (staying an extra day to work on wedding stuff) can't wait to get back to Phoenix and Christian tomorrow. I miss him! And my little house, believe it or not.

Still waiting on news for a promising job I applied for about a month ago. Pray, cross fingers, do a dance, whatever you have to do. I want this SOOO bad, it's ridiculous. I'll keep you updated!

Peace and Love,
Ash

the birthday weekend!!!

As many of you probably know, Christian is about to (in a few hours, officially) celebrate his 24th birthday! He has been working so hard at school and putting in a lot of time, so I thought it would be fun to have a birthday weekend preceding his actual birthday, to celebrate and let him relax a little. We invited a group of friends from Tucson to come and visit us for the weekend and it was a ridiculous amount of fun.

Robert, Marissa, Nick, Danny, and Keith drove up on Friday afternoon. We went out to dinner at z pizza, a fantastic place with two locations near our house. They have some great vegan pizza as well as the regular stuff, so we all were stuffed and happy. We went back to the house, watched some movies, and had what I believe to be the biggest sleepover our house has seen thus far. Robert and Marissa snagged the guest room, while the other boys slept on a luxurious bed of blankets (thanks, Mom, for the sending up the blankets!). SO much fun. I don't think anyone was too crowded and it was tons of fun having that many friends crammed into our house. I felt like I was 12 again.

Christian REALLY wanted to go Salt River tubing and we knew that it was most likely one of the very last weekends of the season, so our friends happily agreed and we had a fantastic time on the river. I wish I had photos, but I wasn't brave enough to venture out with any camera I own. I need a waterproof guy for next time. We had a few minor casualties, including me and Nick getting separated from the group during a particularly nasty rapid and  crawling through the bush to find a horse trail allowing us to catch up further down the river. Also, Danny lost his left shoe. Poor guy, rocking one shoe the rest of the afternoon.

After the river drained us, we went to Green in Tempe and stuffed our faces. The food was delicious (as usual). And then it was time to say goodbye. We had a GREAT time with those guys and hope they come to see us again soon.

After trying desperately to watch the U of A game versus The Citadel that night (I guess it wasn't in the cards for us), we had a late night snack, tried to watch the delayed broadcast on Fox Sports (started at 11 PM, I fell asleep at halftime), then the day caught up with us. Sun, friends, and fantastic food equaled the best night's sleep I've had in a while.

Today, Clinton and Courtney came over and had dinner with us. It was so nice to catch up and spend some time hanging out. Clinton baked Chris some amazing brownie cookies with Reeses Pieces inside. Speaking of baking, shout out to Grammy for those Snicker-doodles (and other treats). Let me tell you, they've been receiving complements all weekend and the birthday boy loves them. :)

All in all, I think Christian had a great weekend and is very happy, which means I had a great weekend and am subsequently very happy! He works hard all the time, not just in school but in life, and is such a fantastic partner to me. It feels nice to be able to make him feel special for the entire weekend. He opened his present from me early and has been playing Metroid: Other M for Wii since about 9 PM. He's also been generally unresponsive to me since about 9 PM. I think he likes it. He got some other cool presents (a gift card and two SWEET coyotes caps) and I'm making him save his present from my folks, Meg/Kyle, and my Grammy until tomorrow (so he has something to open).

Thank you to everyone who made this weekend and fantastic for the both of us. You all better be blowing up his phone tomorrow with mad birthday wishes. You only turn 24 once!

xxoo,
Ash

labor day weekend.

We're coming to the close of a fantastic Labor Day weekend. Chris and I had a great time in Tucson with our families. He had an exam (his second one of the semester) on Friday, and the minute it was over we all booked it home to Tucson for some family time. My dad came back from his 8 week course in Alabama on Thursday and spent a few days with us in Phoenix before we all headed home. We were super excited to show him the house and it was nice being able to spend some time together.

I committed a most terrible sin by forgetting my camera this weekend. I botched photo ops for Josh's Saturday football game (beat the Broncos 18 - 6!!!!), hanging out with the the in-laws, and a barbecue with the family today. I'm still kicking myself for it. Hopefully, we won't be in such a rush next time and I'll remember to grab it.

Despite our lack of pictures to prove it, we had such a relaxing and wonderful weekend here in Tucson and hope to have some friends from town join us next weekend in Phoenix for a birthday sleepover weekend. Christian's birthday is Monday (September 13th) and he's turning 24! Which means he gets to be older than me for three months (which, unfortunately, also means our wedding is rapidly approaching as we're getting married three weeks before my 24th birthday.)

We decided that in order to get a few serious wedding things done, I would stay in Tucson for a few extra days and my mom will bring me back up to Phoenix when we're done. So I'm sitting here on my couch relaxing and digesting this SERIOUS food baby while my poor honey is probably in the neighborhood of Casa Grande, driving back to our house in Phoenix. I wish we had more time to do some of these wedding things together, but I'm glad Christian trusts my judgement and will be a phone call away.

I hope our plants didn't die while we were gone.

I hope everyone else enjoyed their Labor Day weekend and is ready to get back to the grind tomorrow. I wish I had a grind to return to! (my unemployed sorry-for-myself moment of the day)

Love,
Ash