it must be the heat...

...because today i've already gotten 2 "hottest" emails...one from the massive blog refinery29 NYC edition touting the 29+ hottest eligible bachelors in NYC...not a bad list...only adds to my constant daily twinge to wanna pack it all up and start anew in the big apple. if you're interested...
http://www.refinery29.com/most-eligible-bachelors-in-nyc



the second came from Gawker...another blog that focuses on everything from current events and politics to celebrity dirt. but its dirt all around. intelligent mud, perhaps. this list is from the website "The Hill"...the 50 most beautiful (read: hot) people on the hill, 2011 edition. i managed to read the 50 bios on the train on my way home (ok, well, skim through the last 25...they were clearly just a pretty face) but was most excited about #1! miss amy cheng, hailing from keokuk, iowa! REPRESENT! staffer for my man, Chuck Grassley (R)...she's cute and all, but cross your fingers...maybe next year...

....me with chuck circa 2006...on the hill ;)

just a pic of my two loves...

The Naked And Famous - Young Blood

my new favorite band...straight out of NZ...wanna go there sooo badly. this song and video are so beautiful. i just want to live it.

had a rough night last night at work. also, signed up to take the GRE sept 30...and I'm taking the oncology nursing certification exam aug 25. silly me. both are pretty big deals. why do i do this to myself??
so to relax, ruby and i went to yoga tonight and it was amaze. a new love of mine. good thing the most beautiful studio in salt lake is 2 blocks away. so i ride my bike. and listen to this song on repeat. and it is perfect.

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as promised...

videos from bonnaroo! took forever for me to find a way to get these from my phone to my computer...first tried to send it from my phone to computer using bluetooth but it was in the wrong format and made the file size HUGE, and i was having the worst time converting. finally sent the videos from my phone to youtube, downloaded them from youtube to my computer in the right format, and uploaded them to here...hope someone enjoys this...





...will add a few more as youtube lets me!

hiked up behind red butte gardens for a complimentary show from fleet foxes. good friends, wine, and bacon gouda. this city is so underrated and beautiful. here are some of the pics.

this is what i made.

...i also recently discovered gimp. and found some old scanned photos...

summa summa summatime.

oh how the time flies. it is almost august! where has the summer gone? and i haven't updated since may...disappointing. i feel like there are a million things to say, but nothing extraordinary to speak of. still biking and doing public transit and still feeling great about it. i fear getting a car in the fall because i'm concerned i will become lazy. i will have to think of a way to address that. i still want to bike or take trax when it is nice enough. moved into the house almost a month ago. my closet is filled to the brim but it all works. we are still doing the finishing touches of decorating, but its coming together nicely. we want to start a blog for the house and one for the volkswagon vanagon my roommate just bought...i have trouble enough posting to here but maybe it being a joint effort will help ;)

the dog always finds a way to get into trouble. he has a particular affinity to dirt in its wet form. and chewing up cables...specifically the one to the house internet and my computer's power cord. and waking me up early on my days off. i fear i will never sleep in again. but he's just so damn cute.

my biggest adventure thus far has been bonnaroo. holy crap. i don't even know what to say about this. let me try to sum it up in nonsensical sentences. hot hot humidity. we're talking 95+ degrees everyday. mikey the 1975 GMC RV. mikey breaking down in the middle of missouri. getting escorted by highway patrol. creepy rv parks. gas station food. dirty hippies. didn't take a real shower for 3 days, and this place was the definition of dirty. my hair was one giant dred by the time i washed it. i rinsed off here and there in an outdoor sink and we used a hose from the RV to hook up to said outdoor sink as a make-shift shower. portapotties used by 85,000 dirty hippies for 4 days straight. drinking our weight in water, and wasting a lot of decent alcohol. watching people drop acid for the first time. seeing some of the craziest folks on earth. seeing some of the craziest folks on earth on drugs.concerts galore. my highlights: mumford and sons, eminem, the black keys, matt and kim, neon trees, cold war kids, arcade fire, florence and the machine, alison kraus and union station, sleigh bells, the flavor savers. gosh there were so many and even more that i missed. walking into air conditioning in the southern heat for the first time in 88 hours. pure bliss.nearly running the RV off a roundabout exit ramp just outside of nashville. still not being able to laugh it off a month later. 8 girls on an experience of a lifetime that will never be forgotten.

the summer is not yet over. i will be sure to update more soon.
will also try to add some videos of some of my favorite musical acts of bonnaroo soon!

rain rain go away

no pics for this post...just wanted to update on my life without a car. its been almost 3 weeks that i have been using public transit and about 2 weeks that i've also been using my lovely new bike. all in all, its been really good. that is, of course, not to say its without its challenges, but i'm really enjoying myself. i've gotten to both jobs without any problems...and ridden my bike home twice from the hospital (of course its much easier going downhill...and pretty fun too.) i've been riding my bike around to go to beth's house to play with the pups and run errands. i went to the grocery store with my pannier bag and got a few items...its definitely added weight to the bike, but nothing horrible, and its only about 5 blocks away...and a little uphill on the way back, but just makes me stronger! i also ride it to the gym, which is about a 2.2 mile roundtrip in addition to my normal weights and elliptical routine, so that is only an added plus. i also made some returns of some online purchases i had made..took a bus to gateway and back and it was easy. i've found that i still do just as much as i used to, i just don't do the extra, unnecessary things, like stop at target and browse around, or pick up a chicken burrito from taco bell. im hoping this will save me some money, calories, and maybe even some time!

last weekend i had to take Roscoe to get some vaccinations. I opted to go to the local Petco down in Sugarhouse as they had a vet there that day specifically for vaccinations rather than hike it all the way down to cottonwood heights where the vet i took him to before was. this was my first experience with the car share. i reserved a ford escape hybrid for 2.5hrs. i walked a block to a bus stop and took that bus to within a block of the parked vehicle downtown. they seemed to be having some technical difficulties as my access code wouldn't work, but i called, they gave me a temporary one, and i was off. it was a nice ride. so quiet. i actually didn't know it had started and i was like, shit, its broken. but i went to get my pup, put his crate in the back and we were off to petco. the shots took no time at all and roscoe and i explored a little park behind petco and then went to liberty park for some more exploration. he got a good hours worth of playtime outside and it was a beautiful day. then back to beth's and i returned the car. super painless and it only cost me a little under $15. not bad for something like that...i intend to use it when the bus or bike just won't suffice.

which brings me to what i thought might be a problem...awhile ago, i agreed to do some CNA testing at a high school. at that point, not having a car was not in my future and of course i would be willing to get some extra hours. and normally it would be no problem as both of my job sites are well within easy public transit access. this high school is WAYYYYY down in west jordan. i live at about 100 north 600 east...the high school is 9300 south 3000 west. whoops.

so i figured i would have to do the car share...but that would put me back at least $38, and the car is just sitting there most of the time! dang. but, i looked into bus and trax options, and it actually is right on a bus route that starts at a trax station. very doable. minor glitches are that i will have to be on trax downtown at about 645am to get to the school on time and the other is that its RAINING once again, but its better than $40 or more for one trip. i plan to ride my bike to trax in the morning because its obviously faster than walking and there are no buses that will get me to the stop that early. then i can ride with my bike down there and transfer with it onto the bus that goes within a block or so of the school. will definitely post how that adventure goes.

but i had today to prep myself for rainy riding. we seem to have reverted back to february. yesterday it snowed like crazy for almost 3 hours. then let up and was beautiful. today it is raining and i looked at the 10 day, and looks like rain about 80% of the time. i'm so sick of it already! but today i had to check on the dogs, so i rode my bike down to beths...it was not the most fun i've had in a while, but again, doable. took the dogs for a short walk, and decided they could use a little bath. so i bathed oliver and dried him (even used a hair dryer...and i think he liked it!) and then it was the real dirty boys turn...apparently he has been digging a hole to china next to our neighbor's house...what is it with dogs and digging? anyway, washed him real good too, and dried him. then i cleaned up the back room which had inevitably gotten very dirty with this weather. and the boys were just crazy! im like, i just walked you! and then, right in front of me, roscoe is on the blue fluffy rug in the kitchen and is squatting. i thought he pooped but it was a little pee, and i was like, geez! so, outside they had to go. and after i'd gotten so much cleaned! they were gonna come back in, all muddy again. i put the towels in the wash and the rug in afterwards. then let them back in and dried them the best i could with paper towels and the hair dryer. dang it. this rain ruins everything!

"make it work"...my roller coaster of a week

The last 2 weeks has been a bit of a roller coaster. The part that I would compare to the Dragon at Adventureland amusement park in Des Moines, Iowa (because I don't like roller coasters and this seems like the scariest one I have experienced...its fast and has drops and some upside down parts) has to do with my car...
For a long time I've somewhat known that this may happen...but never realized what it may entail. In Utah, to register your car, you have to pass safety and emissions tests. I passed last year after I got an electrical issue fixed (my brake light was on, but my brakes were fine...I knew that because I drove it for many months with the light on and had no problems with the brakes! Even descending the mountains in winter weather...) Anyway, as soon as I drove away from the DMV, my check engine light came on...really?! Well, $100 later, I found out it was my O2 sensor...that didn't mean much to me, and I asked if I could still drive it, as the repairs were around $200. They said yes, but if my check engine light started blinking, thats when I needed immediate help. Well, it never started blinking, so you can guess what I did...They also quoted me for some other repairs that would be a smart thing to address...around $700 worth. No thank you! So I drove the car and it was fine. Until April rolled around and it was time for re-registration...Can I also mention that April was not the best month for me financially? I owed the government $1200...which I've already covered in a previous post...and I bought a dog. Not cheap.
So I took the car for the safety and emissions, knowing it would not pass. The repairs I needed had increased, and I was quoted about $800 and likely more as there was a code that could only be read by a Ford dealer. Shit. I took it to a Ford dealer, and I was quoted $900. Shit. Did I mention it was April 22 and my tags expired the end of April? Nice.
So I laid in bed, depressed and contemplating my options. With the month I had of bills, these repairs seemed out of my reach, not to mention I didn't really want to spend that on a car I was planning on getting rid of in the fall. There was the other problem. I was planning on getting a car in the fall when I really could afford it...I would be paying about $300 less in rent, as well as be done with a $340 a month loan. Much better position to be having a car payment. But what could I do NOW?
My point in this post brings us to a week later, when my mom was visiting. We didn't do anything too crazy...a Bees game (which was free thanks to my friend Meghan and her boyfriend who in charge of the groundskeeping at the stadium)...a trip to Red Butte Gardens, a visit to the museum of fine arts, and some general hanging out. We also met Tim Gunn, of Project Runway fame. He was doing some promotional stuff with Lucky Jeans...we went, bought some jeans, and were treated with meeting him, getting a signed copy of his new book, and a picture with him. He is honestly a genuinely eloquent and friendly person. Furthermore, his book is about "making it work"... which is where I'm going with this. Tonight I've started reading the first few pages, and it has made me reflect on the last week...so now lets go back to that...

As I lay in my bed, I started thinking, what if I didn't have a car...what would I do? Well, Salt Lake has what I've heard a great public transit system. When my mom and I came out here for my interview, we took TRAX, the lightrail system, and it was handy and easy to use the little bit of it that we did. It serves more area than what we used, and is growing quite a bit. Also, my roommate Emily takes the bus to work because she doesn't have a parking pass. She seems to do well. My third thought was a bike...I've been wanting one for awhile just for fun. Last year, I went on a bike ride pub crawl with some friends and strangers in downtown Salt Lake. My purple Schwinn mountain bike from 7th grade broke down, not to mention was ridiculously small. I've grown a bit over the years....and was stolen as I had locked it up at a bar and didn't go back for it for about 2 weeks. Good luck to whoever stole it. It was basically unridable. Anyway, Salt Lake, as it turns out, is a very bike friendly place. There are plenty of roads with bike lanes, you can travel on buses and TRAX with your bike, and there are ample places to lock it up around the city. This was my plan.
A lot of stressful days later (too much to talk about and not very interesting) I have finally done it. I am officially "green". I sold my car to a used dealership yesterday for a whopping $1000...which I actually consider a good deal. I bought the car for $2000, and although I've had to put some money into it (probably not near as much as I could've...it was a year and a half ago and before I set out on my voyage to SLC that I had the oil changed last), but that was also 3 years and about 30,000 miles ago, so I'm feeling pretty good about this. Also consider that it needs all those repairs. Today I returned to a bike shop I had visited when my mom was here, and outfitted the cutest hybrid. It has all I need to run small errands and get me from A to B and then some. I've been taking the bus and TRAX for the last week since my car has been illegal since May 1st, and it has been great. I like public transit here. It is clean and I've mastered a few routes that will get me to all the important places. Yes, I have to plan ahead and make some extra time when I'm traveling, but I don't have to think about driving...I just sit and relax. I feel that this is a great challenge for myself, mentally and physically. Walking and biking will give a little change to my normal workout routine. I've also started to really think about my carbon footprint and the environment and how these actions I am taking can have a positive effect on the Earth.
In addition, I've found the greatest invention since sliced bread... a car share program here in SLC! Its run by U-Haul, and you must pay a small one time fee ($25..but I got it for $10 with a coupon!) and then you can rent any of almost 20 cars parked throughout the city...mostly downtown area and mostly on public transit routes. You rent by the hour and also for extra miles, but it is capped so you never pay more that $11.50 an hour, and less depending on the car. The cars are hybrids or fuel efficient models. You reserve a car for whenever you need it for however long you need it, use a code to get in, and then drive away! I plan on using this program sparingly...because I'd really like to use my other options as they are already paid for...I have a electronic fare card through the U that is entirely paid for...and its $70 a month for one of those out of pocket! But I do think I will use it anytime I need to take Roscoe somewhere...you can have pets in the vehicles if they are in a carrier. And if I need to take a trip somewhere that public transit doesn't access...which is not many places.
I'm really excited to see how my summer goes...I know I will continue to have challenges, I will probably see one or two bizarre things on the bus and train, but I feel really good about this change, and hope I can make some other positive changes in my life because of it. I will be sure to share my experiences on here!
So, as Tim Gunn would say..."make it work!" and I think I have and will continue to do so! Thanks Tim!

So its been awhile since I've posted...what can I say, life happens. And its been busy! To start, I got a puppy. He sure keeps me busy...but he's so darn cute. He's a cockapoo, black and white, and his name is Roscoe. In the month that I've had him, he's pretty much potty trained, has learned to sit, will sometimes (haha) follow the command "come"...that is if whatever he is doing isn't as interesting as what I have in store for him. He is living with my dear friend Beth, who I will be moving in with in about a month and a half. She just bought a house and has a dog as well. Her dog, Oliver, is less than impressed with Roscoe. I think it will get better, they are acting like siblings right now. Although Oliver is only 3, he definitely seems like the old man compared to Roscoe, who is crazy and energetic and not always the best mannered. He just wants to sniff and play and hasn't quite yet learned when to stop. But that will come with time.

The biggest bump in the road with Roscoe is that about a week after I got him, something became apparently wrong with his eye. The inner corner was inflamed or infected...Google soon showed me with about 99% certainty that he has "cherry eye", a common connective tissue problem in breeds such as bulldogs and cockers, among others. So I called around to vets, and was quoted as much as $700 or more for the basically mandatory surgery. I literally started perspiring on the spot. However, some work friends gave me some recommendations, and lucky for me, one vet is a bulldog breeder and expert on cherry eye. So I made an appointment for the next day, and planned to get some vaccinations while I was there. The vet was great, gave me some ointment for his eye, gave Roscoe a good assessment and said he was a good looking dog, and we planned to have the surgery done in about a month and a half (so we're looking at May 23rd or so) when I could also have him neutered and save a little money, since the anesthesia they would use for both procedures is really what costs money. So I'm looking at $400-500 for the total, and he does a less invasive laser type surgery. We still run the risk of Roscoe getting chronic dry eye later in his life, but this is a risk you have to take with this surgery. I can deal with daily eye drops.

Otherwise, he is healthy and I assume happy. I see him almost everyday and walk him or work on training. And I am super thankful for Beth. That is not an easy task to take on! I plan on getting him groomed in the next week, so I will post some updated pics, but until then, here are some that my dear friend Lisa took when she was visiting a few weeks ago...

Trips in retrospect...part 1.

We shall start from the beginning...well, not the beginning beginning, but of this new chapter in my life...meaning the end of my professional education (thus far) and venture into the realworking world. During the last few months of nursing school, I started to feel the pressures of finding a job...you know, being a successful graduate. With this being only 2 years ago this May, if you haven't been living under a rock, the job market was (and still is) rough. I was spending my preceptorship at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, was a little iffy if I wanted to commit to staying there, but of course, once I heard they weren't going to be able to hire me on due to budget issues, I had to have the job. Nothing like not wanting something till its gone. So I promptly started applying to hospitals in NYC, DC, Eastern Virginia, and Boston...but to no avail. No hospitals out east were hiring new grads and some were on complete hiring freezes or even firing nurses. I packed my bags at the end of my internship and trudged back to the Midwest, downtrodden with my tail between my legs.

After applying half-heartedly to jobs in Omaha, and being offered a few, I was disheartened. I wanted the dream job. I was willing to wait...just unsure of how long working as a sales associate at Urban Outfitters while having a better degree than all of my superiors was going to last.

I took my NCLEX about a month after graduation. In true Katie-style, I didn't study as much as I would have liked...or like to admit, and last minute, I proceeded to freak out. (Just ask my dear family friends Bob & Julie...I nearly drove them nuts the night before the test as I stayed with them in Des Moines for the test the next day.) One knotted stomach, 75 questions, and 2 excruciating days later, I found out I was a real, licensed RN. Good one a number of levels...1) it was finally over, 2) my expensive private education had started to pay off, and 3) I could go on the medical volunteer trip to the Dominican Republic I had already signed up for and paid a $500 plane ticket that would depart in 2 weeks.

Flashback to sometime before graduation...I received a call from a jubilantly excited nurse educator...in Utah. Utah? Did I apply for a job there? There were a number of weeks where I was applying to jobs literally all over the country...my only criteria at that point was an academic teaching hospital with a job for a new graduate nurse in oncology. Which is actually more difficult to find than it sounds ;). But, yes, oh yes, I did remember this one, it was for an oncology nurse internship, and I actually was quite interested. And that interest piqued when I realized they were interested in me too! I spoke with this "Gigi" for quite a while, and became enthralled with with this new prospect...never had I even thought of considering visiting Salt Lake City, let alone living there. But, this seemed like a perfect opportunity and I was getting antsy with my other prospects.

I stayed in touch with Gigi and finished my application...and honestly really poured my heart into it...this just felt right and the week before my trip to the DR, I again received a call from Gigi offering me an interview spot. Well heck yes! My mom and I planned a quick trip to Salt Lake after I returned from the DR. This seemed to be falling into place perfectly.

2 days later, and 2 days before my departure out of the country, I got a call from the manager of the unit that I had spent over 320 hours on at Johns Hopkins that spring...with a job offer. I was completely caught off guard. Of course excited, but I was equally excited (and maybe a little more, because of its mystery) about the Salt Lake job. Somehow I gutsily asked to hold the offer. Um...what? Who was I to ask a manager at our nation's #1 hospital for the last 18 years to hold a job for ME? I think this flurry of job offers was getting to my head, but she obliged, and said she would hold it until the end of the month and after my interview in Utah. Wow, was I lucky.

DR was amazing, eye-opening, hot and humid, and an all around great experience. I also brought back an awful collection of bug bites, and as I was leaving the country, began to break out into hives, which for the next week, could only be controlled by round the clock large doses of benadryl and topical benadryl. The hives persisted on and off for well over a year, and even now I still get a random patch on my wrist or ankles.

So, back to job prospects. My mom and I headed for the great unknown. Salt Lake City. Really unsure of what to expect. I'd heard rumors. People had warned me. In fact, my preceptor from Hopkins had gone for her first undergraduate degree to BYU in Orem. Small world. But what we found was a clean, friendly, beautiful city tucked at the foothills of the striking Wasatch Mountains. The Huntsman Cancer Institute and Hospital was situated high above the city with the rest of the University of Utah, and soon I found out from both word of mouth and personal experience, was aptly nicknamed "The Huntsman Hotel". Walk into the lobby and you are met by a sweeping granite staircase, beautifully polished hardwood, and leather appointments. The rest of the hospital echoes this, even in the patient rooms. Fancifully framed original artworks line the halls, and if those aren't enough to look at, the view of the valley and mountains that each room has should suffice. My interview in front of 6 high ranking nursing entities went swimmingly. I was confident, but nervous. I liked this place. And like Brigham Young said some 150 years ago...my heart, head, and gut said this was the place.

The day after my return to Omaha, I got a call offering me a position in the internship. I accepted both knowing and being blissfully unaware that my life would forever change. In a moment's time, I went from floating aimlessly along, fearing what my next steps would be, and would soon be moving to Salt Lake City. To start my new adventure...

...to be continued.

So I recently ventured with two friends down to the exotic lush island of St Lucia in the West Indies. This was a trip for my friends, Cameron and Ruby, to do some scuba diving for which they had just been certified. For me, I have indubitably been bitten by the foreign travel bug. Someone could offer me the chance to go to Egypt or Libya right now, and I would probably still consider it. Having just returned less than 2 months prior from the UK (which I'll blog shortly about later, just cuz its so cool), and having spent about 3 weeks a year and a half earlier in the Dominican Republic on a medical volunteer trip, my abroad adventures have been limited, but I have made a decisive decision to change that promptly.

I have always loved traveling domestically and have been very fortunate to have done it often while growing up. Since starting to work as a nurse, my income has significantly grown from being a cash-strapped college student, and my schedule couldn't be more conducive. Despite some of my friends questioning whether I actually work full-time...I, in fact, do. However, my full time is 36 hours a week, or three 12 hour shifts. I can schedule myself for the first 3 days of a work week and then the last 3 days of the next work week, giving me the option to have 8 days off in a row without even having touched my PTO or vacation. Awe-some.

Let me recount some of my adventures in my first year and a half as a nurse: moving road trip with my mother in my Taurus and the U-Haul from Iowa through the Black Hills of South Dakota, multiple national parks and mountains of northern Wyoming, down through Yellowstone and Jackson Hole, Wy, and crossing the Wasatch front into my new home of Salt Lake City; my virginal trip to Las Vegas on my 23rd birthday; another virginal trip to California to see my dear friend Kara who is studying film archiving at UCLA; family road trip in my favorite vehicle of all time (the 'burban) to Carmel-by-the-Sea, Ca; a second trip to Cali to see Kara; a short weekend to Denver for my little Rachie's birthday; a work-related trip to Atlanta, GA and swung by Chicago for 5 days to see my loves Lisa and Alex; my first transcontinental voyage to the UK for 2 weeks; another memorable weekend in Vegas; and finally my most recent excursion to St Lucia...plus mini trips and hikes to places that surround my habitat in Utah...which is absolutely incredible and largely underrated.

This blog is mainly existent to share my experiences of traveling and adventures, as well as my love for photography. The next couple of posts will highlight some of my best of those topics, and I only expect to continue to travel and share...still haven't decided on my next big trip...

Death and Taxes

As the saying goes...only 2 things in life are guaranteed...death and taxes. Well, I have recently experienced one of those...2 guesses...its taxes. In my younger years, my mom would have my taxes done when she had hers, and without much effort on my half, I would always end up with a few hundred dollars in the end. I thought this was the most awesome thing, and didn't know what other people had to complain about. Last year, I had to do my taxes on my own. For the year of 2009, I spent half the year in school, working part time at Urban Outfitters and as a CNA. Once graduated, I took my time finding my dream job and only worked about 3 months of the fiscal year. So, the tax year was good to me. With the government instilled HOPE tax credit and minimal income for the year, when my H&R Block accountant told me my refund would be $3100, I could've kissed her. More amazingly, the day I got my refund, I was in the dressing room of an H&M in Los Angeles. It was perfection.

This year...different story. Apparently, a single girl with no children or dependents shouldn't claim "2" on her W-4...I know, I know! But no one told me these things! It was my first full year of working as a nurse, and that official tax jargon was about as foreign to me as Swahili. So, as I did my taxes on-line, my face began to flush and I started to get my anxiety hives...looks like I was owing the government just slightly under $1200. What!?!? I was blindsided. How did this happen? Again, I maybe should've taken to account that I have nothing more to claim than myself in the government's eyes...which equates to about zero. How comforting.