july 1, 1980
well, by iowan (CST) time, i'm officially 27... which means i've celebrated 27 years of life... 27 years full of life. lessons learned, on a farm, in the barn, they hayloft, tire swings, lilac bushes, pulleys, tree houses, bunk house, tom boy, dirt, thunderstorms, laura ingalls, green apples, apple trees, cherry tree, grandpa, kato, conrad, brothers, amazing parents, incredible extended family, small community, beautiful friends, fantastic high school, lovely colleges, st. paul, (oh st. paul, how i love thee), united, the nook, sweeney's, muddy pig, grand ol' day, st. patrick's day, conversations, beers, ciders, burgers, piazza, catholicism, lutheranism, youth ministry, long walks, bike rides, mission trip, musicals, snow, sun, rain, ol' mexico, brits, lawn bowling, the local, the liffey, the xcel center, hockey games, africa, NYC, LA, solo plane rides, long road trips, being a roadie (a 56 hope roadie, that is!), nursing assistant, graduating, moving, nurse, chemo, cousins, marriages, baptisms, wedding receptions... love had, love lost, successes, failures, joy, pain, praise, etc... ***sigh*** 
july 1, 2007
to bring in the "new year" with me is my beautiful mother. she flew from iowa, via MSP :) and arrived safely in LAX. we've done quite a bit of just "taking it all in" since she's been here. meaning we've spent a lot of time, actually, the majority of time, outdoors (just the way we like it!). we spent today's early afternoon walking around the area in which i live and making friends with our dining neighbors at cafe buna. yesterday we spent the day soaking up the sun, the ocean, the people, and sand at the beautiful santa monica beach (see below)
tonight we drove to Orange and spent time with the fam. my lifelong-neighbor-practically-family-childhood-and-teenage-friend, Patrick, has also relocated to CA and he joined the family for a huge and tasty mexican-family-style meal prepared by none other than senor seth. you ain't had guacamole till you've had his! wow! 
Brothers Josh and Seth preparing the food..
it was a great time and they even surprised me with my favorite summer drink and strawberry shortcake for a little b-day cele!
here's are the few pics i got.. 
brother josh showing off his silliness
the chef..
sister jill moves to quickly for my slow cam..
is california starting feel like home? maybe...
hi friends.... :) forgive the choppiness of these blogs. it seems there's always so much to say and so little time to write. but i'll do my best. life is good... and here's the latest..
work: getting better. getting used to the crazyily-lack-of-structure-and-sense system.. ;) and still enjoying the co-workers. i've also had some wonderful, wonderful patients.. a blessing, indeed! i've been working a lot in order to get my shifts in so that i can have a bunch of days off, because mom is soon to be on her way to LA.
exploring: have been to a few new places nearby. went on a lovely date with a lovely guy to a phenomenal mom and pop italian restaurant nearby. we had a great time but i could hardly eat my meal i was so enthralled with the garlic/olive oil dip for the bread.. mmm.. and the great smile across the table! ;0) also went to cafe buna.. had this tasty, tasty omelette with rice, beans, plantains, avocado. yum.
got a couple great phone messages that cheered my heart! one from the youth group with whom i volunteered in Woodbury. i got involved with the high school group last year when i traveled with them, as their nurse, on a mission trip to mexico. as we were driving cross country, i had everyone sing songs about each of the states through which we were driving. :) dorky but oh-so-true. i guess they didn't hate it too much because they called me, earlier this week, as they were crossing into Oklahoma and sang for "ooohhk-lahoma where the winds..." it was beautiful. i felt the love, people.. you rock! hope the trip is going well... praying that the border-crossing was less eventful than last year.
i also got an awesome message from lindsey about her and the boys and dollar burgers! loved it! dollar on, my friends... dollar on!
and.. remember my new neighbor who just moved in? i came home from work the other day and there was a beautiful bottle of wine and a cork screw (in a velvet case) on my doorstep! she'd written on the label, "welcome to LA, Laura." how sweet?
i was working nights this past weekend so i hadn't really a chance to stop by and thank her, but when i got home yesterday i rang her bell to see if she was in and it turned out that she was. her friend anya was over, as well. three hours and several (and by several i mean more than 2 and less than 4) very tasty bottles of red wine, and we were all instant friends! i'm pretty sure I self-disclosed more than necessary (but what's new, right?! she might as well know the laura everyone else does!), she'd made us some crazy amazing grilled mini-pizza (and i exaggerate not when i say amazing! chicken, cilantro, crushed pepper, mozzarella, almonds, etc.. she said she's like an "italian mama.." loves to cook for people!! who's a happy neighbor?)..
the three of us sat and talked and drank and laughed.. it was great! her mom was a travel nurse in Hawaii who kept renewing her contract there, so she pretty much grew up on the island and surfed every day of her life. sweet.. and guess who's gonna learn to surf???? :) she recommended a hair stylist for me and told me about a place that will pick up, wash, dry, fold, and deliver your laundry. hmmmm..... tempting. anyway, she's awesome.. thoughtful, fun, down-to-earth.. just the kind of neighbors i need.
i also met another traveler on our floor.. a fun, hip, sweet woman and she happens to live just down the hall from us.. i sense an apartment outing coming on...
well, that all i've got friends. i continue to be thankful for this experience, for all whom i've met, and all of your prayers, love, and support! hope all is well with everyone.
love to you..
laura
the boys made this slide show before i moved and i also received from them a picture collage.. anyway.. i had to share this... i love it.. miss you you guys!!!
("the boys" were my neighbors.. they lived upstairs in a huge apt and i lived in a studio downstairs.. we became fast friends :) here are pics of our year)
bryan so kindly made a youtube of it.. yay!
thanks!!!
hi everyone!
well... work was another night of mass chaos.. several of us are trying to talk to our manager about making some improvements and getting the place a bit more organized... so that's hopeful.
i slept a few hours when i got home.. just enough to feel rested but not too much that i couldn't sleep tonight. then friend/co-travel-nurse jamie called.. and Our Adventures of Tuesday began! :)
They started with a trip to Wal Mart in nice city outside of LA.. Crenshaw or something that started with a b.... hmmm.. either. We parked in a ramp and entered the three story Wal Mart.. oh yes.. three stories! aren't you just dying to hear about it? ;) there was one gigantic elevator. of course we were the first in line waiting for it, with our cart, and 3 people, including an employee with a massive cart totally cut in front of us.. argh!
we got up to the 2nd floor and cruised the aisles of all the good stuff we needed for our new apartments! jamie and i have spent a lot of time on the beach so we knew we needed a few things such as beach chairs.. you can only lay flat in the sand for so long. so we tested out a bunch of little chairs, including one called a "myPod" some strange looking thing but quite comfortable.. so we got them. we had fun.. the best part about 3-storied wal mart, though, was the cart escalator. have you seen this before? so that one doesn't have to use the elevator, there were normal escalators for people and crazy little belts that carried the carts up to the next floor, going just a bit slower than the human escalator so as to allow you time to get to the top of the cart-belt before it finished its journey. great fun! our cashier.. not so fun.. or friendly, but that didn't burst our silliness bubble.. we had a blast!
Our original plan was to go on a bike ride after Wal Mart but we decided to try out a little restaurant in a nearby town. the place is called Casablanca. it looked cute on the outside so we ventured in... and it was even cuter on the inside!! themed after its namesake, the movie, there were pictures of Ricks Cafe Americain, Morocco, and much more. Picture of the actors all over.. there was even an older woman in Moroccan style clothing making fresh tortillas on a wood burning stove in the middle of the restaurant! the service was great and those tortillas were the best i have ever had! i mean, amazing!!! i can't wait to take my parents there! or anyone else who visits!
We filled our bellies and had a great time.. then headed back to our apartments for a bike ride. just when i thought the day couldn't get better... we ended up riding on the venice beach bike path while God painted an amazing sunset over the coastal mountains. incredible... in my minds' eye i took many pictures for you all to see.. the moon shining over huge palm trees, the sun setting, the empty beach, the breeze, the crowded little streets of venice.. :) sigh....
we came back and jamie suggested hanging out in our apartment's hot tub.. well, that was a little crowded so we took a dunk in the bath-water-warm pool.
so yes.. seriously... the job.. a bit of pain. a learning experience, of course, and i'm giving a TON chemo so becoming even more comfortable with that, but all the greatness that comes along with this travel nursing gig has been amazing!
OH! I met a new neighbor who was just moving in across the hall. she seems really nice, maybe a few years older than myself, but down-to-earth.. and... after i told her to let me know if she ever needed anything she said, "you, too! I'm a wine broker so..." =) sweet!!
anyway.. it was lovely day thanks to my new friend jamie and the beautiful southern california.
thanks for all of you praying that i'd meet good people and have good neighbors. :)
lots of love
laura
ps.. i also think i found a great little catholic church really close to my apartment.. its a small community of people with a lovely little priest! did i already mention this in a previous blog? either way, i'm so grateful!
my dearest friends,
i hope you all are doing well. i'm still working on getting back to people via-email. know i'm thinking of you all!
things are going well out here.. staying busy! making new friends.. checking out new places. here is a quick re-cap of some highlights:
-Santa Monica beach/pier.. beautiful!!! and also great for people watching!
-we found "the Nook" of Santa Monica!!!!! its a tiny little bar/grill near the Santa Monica pier called Big Dean's Muscle In. its a place for beach-goers to wander into for a cold beer and some fried food. the servers are cool, friendly, goofy, laid-back and not afraid to swear at each other in jest in front of customers. they even wear white and green t-shirts just like at the Nook. their food is cheap, good, fried, and served in little red baskets. water is served from a big water jug. they only have a few beers and wines to choose from. the server recognized the girl i was with who'd been there once! they don't take crap from their customers that offer it. they have the same kind of rude/humorous/vintage signage as the nook. good place....
-new kinds of advertisement that have humored me! planes fly over the coast with banner advertising anything from movies, to TV shows, adult beverages, to baseball games. we even saw a string of four planes just advertising Evan Almighty! another plane used white smoke to spell out "KYLE XY" apparently a new tv series on HBO! Californians also uses human advertising a lot! occasionally in the twin cities you'd see someone standing on grand ave with a sign for a bookstore that was closing, cheap oil changes, etc. that method of obtaining attention of new customers is used a LOT here! every day on my way to work i see this man.. by definition he is "hot (i think he's kinda slimy): good build (and by that i mean extremely buff), super tan (and by that i mean freakishly tan), blonde hair, etc.. the works.. every day he is standing on the street, dressed in a super-hero's uniform and cape, dancing like a freak with a shield of some sort and a radio blasting bad music. i laugh every day. i guess he's a human billboard for a place called west side rentals. i'm starting to wonder if its a rent-a-stripper store! :-/ crazy but funny.. these are just a few examples.. i've seen more super-hero uniforms on more diverse people than i could see in an hour in a comic book store.
-pubs: i drug my co-travel nurses to a pub! i loved it.. they were bored. i'm going to have to make some pub-going friends around here! its an irish pub and all of the servers are irish.. and rude! ha!
-tan: laura has a tan! even after i discovered that SPF 15 is not enough for this girl's hasn't-seen-the-sun-in-a-few-years skin. i lathered up with Consumer Report's top choice of sunblock every hour-and-a-half-ish at the beach and still walked away with a bit-o-burn. oh well.. it really doesn't hurt. i can't imagine how i'd feel sans-sunblock! i still look pasty compared to most!
-california fam. for those of you who don't know.. i have a good friend from college out here who became a part of a "family" made up of some people who are related (and by "some people" i mean some of the coolest, jesus-loving, open, honest, giving, caring, real people i've ever met!), others who work at the church (jill, seth, ingrid, JT all work there), and then other randoms, like me.. and everyone just spends a lot of time together hanging out, helping, talking, celebrating, etc. like a real family. after visiting ingrid 3 times i'd gotten to know the fam pretty well, in fact it was some of the things they said that inspired my move to CA. anyway... i've gotten to spend a little time with everyone so far.. but brandon, who lives in San Diego.. hopefully soon though! its been a blast! big people, little people, mom, sisters, new sisters, food, wine, grill, groceries, lions specials, painting toes, etc.
-GREAT highlight!! 3 of my past co-workers called from work last night and left me the sweetest message. they wanted to know how i was doing! i was able to call back and talk to all three of them.. i almost cried!!! :)
-another fantastic highlight: monster cookies from grandma in the mail!! along with a magnet with a map of iowa on it so i won't "forget my roots." awesome!!!!!!!
-i've been able to connect with a few friends via-phone! that's been wonderful.
i'm getting excited for my first visitor: Mom!!! as i told her.. the weather here is like those few spring or fall days in Iowa/Minnesota where you say, "oh its just perfect today." its like that every day here! no humidity. warm sun, cool coastal breeze. its even a little chilly in the shade sometimes. mom's going to love it, among many other things. she did say she was going to just lay in the back seat of the car while we were driving though.. i thought this a better idea than the eye-cover/mask i was going to make her wear! ha! she has a hard time watching cars zoom by! :) she'll be here for my birthday.. couldn't ask for a better gift! oh the places we'll go! ;-)
ok.. time to throw a load of scrubs in so i have something to wear to work!
hope all is well with each of you. as always, i appreciate you checking in.
love from the coast,
laura
hi everyone!
so what i've got to say, after my first week entirely on my own at the hospital.. is that i'm definitely earning the (fantastic) privleges of being a travel nurse. what do i mean by this.. well, though i am sincerely appreciative and am enjoying the great, paid-for apartment in a lovely location, beautiful weather, beaches, fun places to go, and fun people.. this job is crazy!
last week i oriented for 2 shifts with a precptor. now... because a "solid oncology" unit is a new to this hospital.. and because they hired 15 travel RN's, no one really knows what's going on here... and the nurses who were actually hired to work on this floor are all newly chemo certified. we do have a "resource" nurse who's from an oncology unit in an associated hospital but they don't really know the process here either!
anyway, after my 2 nights being "oriented," then my first night on my own last week, i came to work monday night, for my second shift, alone, i was floated to another floor- geriatric telemetry.... c-r-a-z-y..... this hospital is really disorganized compared to United, well, and according to all of the other travel nurses, its disorganized compared to everywhere! and the floor i floated to was worse! people were rude.. my patients were off their rockers.. awful. after my float night i had a whole new appreciation for my "home unit." even though the equipment is old, there are two patients to each room, they don't have lure-locks so we run chemo through"aligators" :-/ the charting was supposed to have changed to computerized but that only lead to double charting because they still use paper charts, too.. so now we have to repeat a lot of stuff, we carry the mars with us.. oh and the MAR's.. they are so bad. its crazy! and its not just me, the other travelers feel the same. :) thank goodness our patients, leaders, and co-workers rock!
overall, thus far.. its a good experience but its been frustrating and challenging. so, cheers to the twin cities for being updated, organized, good facilities, and allina for an awesome conversion from paper to 'puters! tell cappi all of her hard work paid off! oh, and for you past-fellow co-workers.. would you believe that i leave my apartment 45-50 minutes before my shift starts and get here 15-30 minutes before report?! i know! crazy!! its a little different than my 1.5 mile jaunt down grand ave! ;)
i'm now finishing my 2nd string of nights.. and i'm very happy to be done. jamie and i are going to head back to the beach and i'm going to spend my day sleeping there! then out tonight in santa monica with other travelers and ingrid!
i should make a formal apology on here for not getting back to many of you in calls and e-mails.. when i'm working 12-hour nights i literally just go to work, come home, shower, sleep and go back to work. i don't clean, i don't make meals, nothing! so i'm behind in my replies.. but i am always happy to hear how things are going for all of you!! thanks!
love and blessings from CA!
laura
hi friends!
wow.. it has been an eventful week!
i worked my first string of night shifts at the hospital and well... hmm.. the good things i have to say:
its only three months
there are a lot of travel nurses so its really fun
my preceptor was really nice
the nurse to patient ratio is 3:1 right now
our leaders are awesome
the hospital is small so i can't get lost (unless i'm picking up a med at pharmacy or dropping something off at the lab in either case means i'm winding around a scary, dark, basement without signage.. ugh)
"Izzy's Deli to the stars" is open all night, so if we're desperate for some food or java, or pie, cheesecake, etc.. we have a place to go in the middle of the night!
i get to live in a beautiful apartment for free.. that has great amenities!
i am diggin' the weather and i hear it gets even better
i am really enjoying venice and venice beach..
santa monica is incredible
i get to see my pals from long beach a lot more
i get to hang out with those which i'd consider like nieces and nephews..
i can ride a one-speed bike without dying cause its pretty flat near the coast!
i get to talk to my mom every day as she checks in to make sure i'm "ok" :) hehe..
i could go on and on about the good stuff for a while! the hospital is not ideal.. i really don't think i'd stay there if they asked me to renew after this contract is up.. compared st United, i feel very unsafe.. i'm looking for bigger and better-structured facilities in the area
good news: mom will be here for my birthday! she's flying into LAX by herself (huge deal!)! her layover is in Minneapolis/St. Paul! crazy...
better news: mom and dad will be in CA in august.. i hope the CA and IA fam can meet!
this weekend was great! i went out with one of the travel nurses, Jamie, who lives in my apartment complex who also works on my floor! we hit up a cantina near the beach then the prominade in santa monica where we met some fun pool players! ;)
jamie and i went to venice beach today.. beautiful- absolutely stunning scenery!! then back to the prominade for a little laura-needs-summer-clothes-mini-spree. jamie's a great person so that has been a true blessing! she's originally from Illinois so we have the "midwest girls" thing in common.
then dear friend ingrid made the hike up here from LB and we had dinner at a fab "earthy" restaurant with beautiful outdoor seating in Venice.
some crazy things from this weekend:
-a monkey (like the one from friends) dressed up, in the middle of the ped mall.. displaying no tricks other than tipping his hat before he took the money that was offered him.
-a crazy kid, "evan from heaven" who wanted to teach us how to surf but was as high as a kite, himself
-breakdancers in the street
-a walk-thru-ish starbucks where apparently john mayer and other big liners have played
-a Christian guy with a mic, on the ped street trying to scare people into believing in Jesus.. that made me sad
-a 70-year-old man in a speedo on the beach
-food delivered to us on the beach
-crazy strange people carrying around a briefcase... on the beach
to top off a great weekend, i got a hilarious gift in the mail from my father and a fantastic e-mail from dear friend, lindsey, in st. paul.. who said she'd run into some of my old neighbor boys and that they would all be commencing for dollar burgers tonight as we did each monday at 8:30! oh i will be there in spirit! lindsey's e-mail also contained other news that brought a lot of joy!! thanks, linds!
a great weekend..
thanks for checkin' in!! and thanks to all the phone calls, comments, texts, e-mails, etc.. of love and support.. i miss and love you all!
and thanks to the california fam for taking such good care of me, checking in, letting me hangout at your homes, etc..
yours,
laura
hello again!
praise the Lord the sun in shining today.. no marine layer! the marine layer, in case you don't know, because i didn't, is a thick layer of clouds/fog hanging over the coast that is usually broken up in the early afternoon by the sun's heat. the past few days, however, its stuck around for the entire day.. ugh! but this morning i awoke to sun shining through the window.. i was pretty excited!
yesterday i toured the area of the hospital where i'll be working.. an interesting experience. i didn't expect it to be that much smaller than the hospital in st. paul, but it was! united's set up for their oncology patients is much better than this set up. for you fellow nurses reading this, can you believe they actually have this gigantic filtration (furnace-looking) mechanism in the room- sitting next to the bed! this is their negative air flow system. i was slightly horrified!! AND only two of their 14 rooms are private- crazy! also, they had converted to computerized charting 6 months before we did at united and the physicians still aren't entering their own orders! wow..
on a positive note.. several people i met told me i would enjoy working on the oncology floor there. i'm assuming this is because of the leaders as all of the nurses getting this floor up and running are travelers, with the exception of the few resource nurses from a nearby clinic. as i was sitting in my current leader's office, i noticed the many awards she'd received as "leader of the year" "director of the year" etc. that was encouraging. also, she's quite down-to-earth, a quality i very much appreciate! she asked where i was living and when i told her she said "oh.. there's a nurse working today that lives there" and she made sure i was introduced to her! how sweet!? when i met this nurse, she invited me out this weekend with her and a few other travel nurses for someone's birthday. a few of us are in the same complex, eveen! so.. with any job, it seems this one will follow suit with positives and negatives. :) kind of nice that i'm only committed for three months!
over all.. i'm looking forward to the new experience and can't say for sure that i would stay if they asked! we'll see! I am interested to see what its like working in a teaching hospital.
on the way home, i stopped at a drive-thru starbucks to order a latte (thanks to gift certificates from past co-workers:) !!) when i got to the window, i gave my card to the guy from which i ordered and he informed me that my coffee would just be a minute. no problem.. i sat and stared at all the pretty bikes across the street at the bike store and dazed off for a few minutes.
i was snapped out of my daze when a different guy, a strikingly gorgeous guy, leans out the window, smiling at me, cradling my latte as though it were a personal gift he'd been working on.. just for me, hoping i would love it as much as he thinks i will, practically leans into my car, and says in a (i kid you not) come-hither tone, "here you go." and gently, but with clear masculinity, places my latte in my hands.
hmmm...ok
i smile back. i thank him.. i am in shock. did that just happen?? lol.. are you seducing me with starbucks? i stare ahead in disbelief for a moment then drive away laughing, thinking "what exactly is going on in this city?" ha!
i guess i know where i'll be getting my starbucks from now on! lol...
i'm off for a bike ride on my new old bike.. then its nap time in order to prepare for my first 12 hour night shift. oy!
blessings to you all...
love
laura
hello friends..
thanks again for checking in. all is well in CA... i continue to learn more every day! :)
yesterday, as i was finishing unpacking, i had a craving for sushi. i figured it'd be good for me to force myself outside of my comfort zone (my apartment), so i "citysearched" and found a place less than a block away! ha! the area i'm living in is pretty busy so i hadn't been brave enough to venture out, on foot, until i had to go find my sushi bar. it was as i was walking to the restaurant that i happened upon a GREAT outdoor shopping center.. the gap, express, DSW.. what more could a girl ask for? ;-) so i made a few "necessary" purchases, dropped my things off at home and went back for some sushi.
the bar tender was great... i had to admit that this was my first time ever eating sushi alone so i wasn't sure what to order for one. she made a recommendation and then asked me if i had just moved here. how could she tell? ;) she was super nice and we talked the whole time i was there. she warned me to be careful and even gave me a phone number of a taxi driver whom i could trust as she'd once had a bad experience with another. she invited me to go out with her tonight in the downtown area in which i live. i thought about going, but i'm not sure i'm feeling that adventurous yet. oh Nook, how i miss thy familiar faces.
today i went to a church that someone had recommended.. and it was one hip happenin' catholic church. lots of young people so i suppose that was the reason for the recommendation; however, i tend to favor the more traditional type worship and this service was more rockin' praise and worship. beautiful service and church.. though i'm not sure its where i'll continue to go.
i drove around awhile and found the hospital where i'll be starting wednesday.
this afternoon i drove down to a friends house and hung out with "little people" and one of the moms while the other parents were working. fun times with 5 kiddos.. 5 very active and sleep-lacking kiddos!
on my way home i took a detour to check out an old bike i'd seen on craigslist. and i drove home with a big, ol bike in the back of the car.. :) its an old schwinn beach cruiser, one speed, white-wall tires with a rusting white basket. PERFECT! watch out so-cal.. its been a long time since i've back-peddeled in order to break! ;)
oh! i almost forgot to mention that in the elevator today, i asked a woman how to get to the interstate and she said it was in the direction of a restaurant of which i was unfamiliar. i had to give the ol, "i just moved here" excuse. she asked from where i'd moved and i told her. she said she was also from MN- edina, to be exact! that was great! we would have talked more but the elevator door was closing as i had arrived to my destined floor, so we exchanged apartment numbers and "hope to see you again"-s. i never did understand where the interstate was.. oh, and here is where you ask, "why don't you have a map, laura?"
another fantastic question, friends, as in fact, i did! ingrid's lovely grandma gave us an atlas since our rental car was not equipped with one, and ingrid graciously let me have it! then on friday, when i had to return the car, i hadn't yet taken the atlas out, and since there wasn't any time to hike it all the way back up to my apartment, i hid it behind a pole in the secured, underground parking. oh.. just take a guess.. you bet! it was totally gone when i got home from the airport friday night. seriously.....
anyway, all in all, my first sunday in CA was a good and productive day, including a stop at another, less "city" target.. but you better believe i didn't walk out of eye-sight from cart!
blessings to all..
love
laura
oh friends, forgive me for the long blog... its been quite a ride, thus far. i'm ready for things to calm down, but the following is my account of the last few days... so interesting for this farm-girl-at-heart.
if you should get bored mid-way.. at least read the second-to-last paragraph! ;-)
Thursday's events: Ingrid helped me move my stuff into my lovely (thanks, travel nursing company) apartment! its not huge, but its bigger (and nicer) than the studio on Grand, though i'm pretty sure this one doesn't come with 6 fantastic neighbor boys. despite this, i'm definitely enjoying the fact that i'm not paying for this great place of residency.
once everything was moved in, ingrid took off for work and i ventured to target, after getting directions to "the nice one" from a lovely woman working in the apartment complex office.
the directions were very good but "nice" target ended up being farrrrrr away.. like West Hollywood/LA far away! i had to park underground, take a parking ticket, and an elevator to get into the store. like seth mentioned in his blog, it was certainly comforting to walk into a very familiar setting..... at least... so i thought.
i'd been in target for 15 minutes browsing the "home goods" looking for items to replace that which i was unable to bring with (fan, towels, bath rugs, shelves, etc), when suddenly, i was unable to locate my empty cart. you know the drill.. you leave your cart in one aisle for a few minutes while you meander down another, and you come back to it. right? oh no.. apparently not in LA! my cart was g-o-n-e. nowhere to be found.. argh!!
it was only a few minutes of back tracking to get another one, but seriously.. who does that? i wondered if perhaps a target personnel assumed that someone had just left an empty cart. either way, a new one was obtained. tied to the handle of this new cart, was little piece of a plastic bag. "good," i thought, "this way i'd remember my cart and wouldn't lose it."
so i put the few things i'd chosen, thus far, in the new cart and headed back to the home section. i figured this time no one would take my cart containing items, because they'd know it was actually being used. hmmm... guess not! (("I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.")) my cart was swiped- AGAIN! i'm sure you're thinking, "well, laura.. why did you leave it unattended?" and that's a great question, friends... but i haven't a great answer.. :/
so.. i was fairly frustrated by this point and wanting to cry on the inside, just a little. i began looking for my things thinking someone would have just dumped them off somewhere. after 4 minutes of this searching, i remember the plastic bag tied to the handle and i spot the bandit. she was a middle-aged latino woman. strangely enough, i didn't hesitate at all to call her out on it: "excuse me, ma'am, i believe this is my cart. it had a few things in it." "oh yes," she says, i put them back." confused, i wonder if she works there.. oh no.. she just took my cart. quite kindly (i say sarcastically), she retrieved my items for me, as she knew exactly where she'd put them, took her things out, and the cart back to me. i thanked her and said i'd just moved from minnesota and wasn't used to that happening, to which she laughingly replied, "well you're in the city, now, girl. people will take it and run if you don't hang on to it."
"you're in the city, now, girl." that was my piece of advice for the day.
so i got my stuff and got out of the crazy city target. despite the frustration, i was strangely sort of proud of myself like a 4-year-old who's just learned to tie her shoes for the first time, after making my first successful trip to target. is that odd? :)
i then made a quick jaunt to the grocery store before dark last night because its so close i could walk. i purchased only the necessities: red wine, frozen pizza, broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, milk, and cereal. came home, crashed with the pizza and wine and went to bed.
Friday:
got up "at the butt crack of dawn," drove to the airport, followed signs all around the place to drop my rental car off (good-bye fival!). by the time i followed all of the signs get to the area where the car belonged, i was pretty sure i wasn't even in LA anymore!
it was there that i had to pretend i was moving to Honduras in the very near future, so as to avoid giving my phone number to the nice gentleman working at the car return! that did not work, however, as he said he'd been "wanting to go to honduras.." to this i replied, "well, there's always a lot of volunteering opportunity." then he said he didn't want to live there, he just wanted to visit it! of course!! i then told him i wasn't dating because i was probably becoming a nun! ha... that didn't work, either, so then i just had to say, "i don't think so, i'm sorry!" i smiled and shook his hand. mom asked me if he was "a freak or something?" ha.. no.. but if you meet a guy and 30 seconds later he's following you and trying to schmooze you're number out of you.. i'm not sure its a good idea to follow that lead.. well, its not my style anyway! i later concluded that he and his counterparts probably have a daily contest to see who can get the most numbers!! oh LA...
then i flew to sacramento where i jumped through hoops and crawled through tunnels to get my CA nursing license endorsement for a temporary license. i won't even get into all of that but let's just sum it up:
$30 for a 5 mile cab ride
fingerprint scanning place was closed so i was told i had to go into the city of sacramento (12 miles away...can you imagine that cab tab?)
so i asked a complete stranger, who i heard also had to go there, if i could ride with her. she said yes!
found out i had to verify my MN license online and there wasn't a computer to be found for public use so i had to ask brother brian get online and enter all of my personal data into a website
had my fingerprints scanned
back to the nursing board
gave them more paperwork
waited for an hour with a bunch of other fun travel rn's
was then scanned into splitting a cab with another girl to the airport
prayed for an hour straight for a fax machine to be fixed so i could fax my newly obtained ca license to florida so my recruiter could fax it back to the CA hospital
my prayers were answered after an hour or so when the machine was fixed
had a well-deserved, tasty beer and an unfortunately tasteless sandwich at a bar in the airport
met a super nice gentleman who was flying to Tuscon to drive his daughter's car back to CA as she had been diagnosed with cancer and her and her mom were flying back in between chemo/radiation treatments while her counts were high (prayers for her, their only child!)
caught an earlier flight back to LA (praise be! or i probably would have sat in the bar until my plane left at 8pm)
sister sarah picked me up at the airport and drove me to our friends' house where my new-to-borrow vehicle was waiting and where i got to hang with some of the CA fam..
the fortunate thing was that with every bump in the road or hurdle i faced today, the bond of travel nurses was quite a blessing!
and now i'm home. :) yay! still a mess from the move but its home! for the first time, i have a patio (yay!) so i was sitting outside with my computer when something caught my eye. i looked over and there i saw my version of Friend's "naked guy." oh yes.. i have a neighbor across the courtyard/pool, who was meandering around his apartment in his very tan birthday suit with his blinds open and lights on. i was shocked, of course, so i had to look again with hopes that i'd be proven wrong. but alas.... my eyes hath not deceived me.
and that pretty much sums up my first few days in LA! how about that big, warm welcome to sunny CA!? going well, so far! i'm missing st. paul and my family.... i was on the verge of tears all day thursday but i just kept in prayer, remembering that i was never alone and that wonderful, dear friends are just 30 miles away.
i still miss you all!
love
laura