Notes from me to you

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