we're heading to north carolina this evening to celebrate christmas with the acree family! it's stuart's first time back to nc since the wedding, and we're super excited.
can't wait to be there!
12/17/10
12/4/10
"28 feels old."
happy birthday to stuart! he says this is the first birthday that really feels old to him. maybe it's the almost-30-thing, i guess. but we are happy that we both have the whole weekend off to celebrate!
yesterday morning, i was up and about getting the house clean and normal weekend-type things done so that we could relax for the weekend. stuart finished school around 5pm, and we went out to see a movie (in the theater!). we ended up seeing 'unstoppable,' about a run-away train. it was pretty good. and intense. a lady actually screamed in the movie theater. stuart just likes going to the theater because it's big and loud and he gets to eat a lot of popcorn, but we don't do it often. so, that was a birthday treat.
after, we went to stay at the crowne plaza for the night, just because sleeping in a hotel is more fun than sleeping at home. and the crowne plaza gives a discount to UAMS employees. :) we went swimming in the heated outdoor pool, ordered pizza and ate it in bed while watching 'everybody loves raymond' (another favorite of stu's). this morning we ate breakfast in bed and watched the first harry potter movie and 'america's next top model' (both picked by the birthday boy himself).
on our way home from the hotel, we stopped to get gas and stuart went in to buy himself some birthday candy. :) later this afternoon he is going to watch some duke basketball and eat hot wings, then tonight we're going out to eat steak with the pierce family. so, the birthday boy is getting to do a lot of his favorite activities.
happy birthday, love! you're the best husband in the whole land!
addendum: i forgot one funny detail about stuart's birthday weekend. while we were swimming like little kiddies in the pool at the hotel, stu put his hand up on the side of the pool and got STUNG BY A BEE! what a terribly awful birthday present, eh? besides, what are honeybees doing out in little rock in the middle of wintertime? this is the question stuart continued to ask all weekend.
yesterday morning, i was up and about getting the house clean and normal weekend-type things done so that we could relax for the weekend. stuart finished school around 5pm, and we went out to see a movie (in the theater!). we ended up seeing 'unstoppable,' about a run-away train. it was pretty good. and intense. a lady actually screamed in the movie theater. stuart just likes going to the theater because it's big and loud and he gets to eat a lot of popcorn, but we don't do it often. so, that was a birthday treat.
after, we went to stay at the crowne plaza for the night, just because sleeping in a hotel is more fun than sleeping at home. and the crowne plaza gives a discount to UAMS employees. :) we went swimming in the heated outdoor pool, ordered pizza and ate it in bed while watching 'everybody loves raymond' (another favorite of stu's). this morning we ate breakfast in bed and watched the first harry potter movie and 'america's next top model' (both picked by the birthday boy himself).
on our way home from the hotel, we stopped to get gas and stuart went in to buy himself some birthday candy. :) later this afternoon he is going to watch some duke basketball and eat hot wings, then tonight we're going out to eat steak with the pierce family. so, the birthday boy is getting to do a lot of his favorite activities.
happy birthday, love! you're the best husband in the whole land!
addendum: i forgot one funny detail about stuart's birthday weekend. while we were swimming like little kiddies in the pool at the hotel, stu put his hand up on the side of the pool and got STUNG BY A BEE! what a terribly awful birthday present, eh? besides, what are honeybees doing out in little rock in the middle of wintertime? this is the question stuart continued to ask all weekend.
12/1/10
christmas time is here...
happiness and cheer! we in the stuart-pierce-household love christmas time.
stu putting together our tree stand.
we didn't lose our tree on the way home!
this is one of stuart's accomplished-man-moments.(man-handling the christmas tree so that it didn't fly off the car.)
we have a real tree!
pretty!
us and our 1st married christmas season.
this snowman smiles at stuart on his desk while he studies.
pig becomes christmas pig with some ornaments.
stuart's blue christmas tree.
our nutcracker.
we love our nativity scene!
christmas candles.
does it snow in arkansas?
noel poinsetta.
the first gifts under our tree :)
happy christmas season! we've been trying to think about what kinds of special things we want to do in our little family to be sure to really focus on Christ, remembering that all the joy and comfort we feel around christmas time is only a shadow of knowing Him.
11/24/10
giving thanks.
it's our first thanksgiving, and we're having to be a little creative and flexible. i am scheduled to work on thursday & friday (so no turkey OR black friday madness!), although stu will be off both days. he has a lot of family coming into town, especially some favorites that we don't get to see often (shout out to andrew, kristan & the kiddos, and aunt penny & her crew!), so he will likely be spending a lot of thanksgiving time down in pine bluff, while i'm up here in little rock. so, overall we're a little bummed about that.
however, i'm not really upset to be working the holiday. my patients are very dear to me, and what better place to spend an emotional, sentimental day of thanks than with those who may not live to see another one? (i mean, i certainly can think of better places to be - mostly up in ripley, wv, where my entire extended family is coming together to celebrate - miss you all terribly!) so, you all can find me on H7 at UAMS loving on my patients who are fighting cancer. prayers would be appreciated for this day - already this week, emotions have been running high on our unit. it's really tough for these people to be stuck in the hospital over the holidays.
my much-too-short visit home to nc last week was so perfect and lovely. i missed stuart terribly, and we all wished he had been there, too. but i wasn't quite ready to leave when i had to hop a plane back to little rock. we did all kinds of favorite acree-family things... watched lots of movies, went out to dinner at a swanky place we had never been before and judged it harshly (katie and dad particularly love this activity), played outside with the dogs, cooked a lot of good food and made silly videos. also was able to be at CCC on sunday morning and see my favorite people there, had breakfast at foster's market, walked through the farmer's market with katie, and just generally enjoyed my family. being with them then is making it easier to not be with them this week.
anyways... all of this is to say that stuart and i were not about to just give up our first married thanksgiving to my work schedule, so we just had it early this year. my favorite friend, hannah morgan, came to visit for a few days from kansas city, and we cooked a feast! last night we had all the traditionals - turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad (acree recipe), green beans, pumpkin pie & apple cider, and we threw in some butternut squash soup just for fun. it was perfect :)
the makings of our cranberry salad.
me & hannah working hard in the kitchen.
dinner!
my two most favorite goofballs in the world.
stuart's request: pumpkin pie.
however, i'm not really upset to be working the holiday. my patients are very dear to me, and what better place to spend an emotional, sentimental day of thanks than with those who may not live to see another one? (i mean, i certainly can think of better places to be - mostly up in ripley, wv, where my entire extended family is coming together to celebrate - miss you all terribly!) so, you all can find me on H7 at UAMS loving on my patients who are fighting cancer. prayers would be appreciated for this day - already this week, emotions have been running high on our unit. it's really tough for these people to be stuck in the hospital over the holidays.
my much-too-short visit home to nc last week was so perfect and lovely. i missed stuart terribly, and we all wished he had been there, too. but i wasn't quite ready to leave when i had to hop a plane back to little rock. we did all kinds of favorite acree-family things... watched lots of movies, went out to dinner at a swanky place we had never been before and judged it harshly (katie and dad particularly love this activity), played outside with the dogs, cooked a lot of good food and made silly videos. also was able to be at CCC on sunday morning and see my favorite people there, had breakfast at foster's market, walked through the farmer's market with katie, and just generally enjoyed my family. being with them then is making it easier to not be with them this week.
anyways... all of this is to say that stuart and i were not about to just give up our first married thanksgiving to my work schedule, so we just had it early this year. my favorite friend, hannah morgan, came to visit for a few days from kansas city, and we cooked a feast! last night we had all the traditionals - turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry salad (acree recipe), green beans, pumpkin pie & apple cider, and we threw in some butternut squash soup just for fun. it was perfect :)
the makings of our cranberry salad.
me & hannah working hard in the kitchen.
dinner!
my two most favorite goofballs in the world.
stuart's request: pumpkin pie.happy thanksgiving!
11/9/10
it's november!
november is stuart's favorite month. i can't believe it's here already - this means we've been married for well over 4 months. that i've been working for almost 3 months. that christmas is just a FEW WEEKS AWAY! i love this time of year. we've been enjoying it lately by eating apple-cranberry-walnut muffins, drinking apple cider, lighting candles, shopping for electric blankets and turning on the space heater! today i bought some supplies to make our first-christmas-together christmas cards and a few other things to work on some hand-made gifts for some special people. don't get me wrong - i'm not trying to rush autumn away so that christmas is here. but that's one of the joys of later fall... preparing for christmas :) drinking pumpkin spice lattes while making christmas gifts - the best of both worlds.
in a few weeks, it will be thanksgiving, and i'll be at the hospital taking care of my patients! i work both turkey day and the friday after, so here's to hoping for a delicious pot luck with all my nursey friends at UAMS for thanksgiving. my lovely, dearest friend hannah mogan is coming to visit thanksgiving week, though only for a few days, but it will be the highlight of my thanksgiving holiday! i'm thankful for her (heh).
stuart is in the midst of week 3 in pine bluff doing his family medicine rotation. the most exciting thing he's done so far is put 2 stitches in a lady's knee that got busted up somehow. thursday of this week, we're going to see Wicked (the broadway show) and we're pumped! then, saturday, in the wee hours of the morning, i will hop a flight: little rock > memphis > RALEIGH/DURHAM! oh my heart, i can't wait to see my home state again. and those who dwell there.
here's to hoping for mama to make some chili, pumpkin pie and apple cider; for katie to show me the newest trends (that she always somehow pulls off flawlessly, and that i always look silly for trying) and sharing the newest, most exciting news about her life plans; for daddy to tell me amazing stories from his everyday life and make me laugh to the point of tears; for matthew graham to make a surprise appearance and come to zebulon while i'm home!
in a few weeks, it will be thanksgiving, and i'll be at the hospital taking care of my patients! i work both turkey day and the friday after, so here's to hoping for a delicious pot luck with all my nursey friends at UAMS for thanksgiving. my lovely, dearest friend hannah mogan is coming to visit thanksgiving week, though only for a few days, but it will be the highlight of my thanksgiving holiday! i'm thankful for her (heh).
stuart is in the midst of week 3 in pine bluff doing his family medicine rotation. the most exciting thing he's done so far is put 2 stitches in a lady's knee that got busted up somehow. thursday of this week, we're going to see Wicked (the broadway show) and we're pumped! then, saturday, in the wee hours of the morning, i will hop a flight: little rock > memphis > RALEIGH/DURHAM! oh my heart, i can't wait to see my home state again. and those who dwell there.
here's to hoping for mama to make some chili, pumpkin pie and apple cider; for katie to show me the newest trends (that she always somehow pulls off flawlessly, and that i always look silly for trying) and sharing the newest, most exciting news about her life plans; for daddy to tell me amazing stories from his everyday life and make me laugh to the point of tears; for matthew graham to make a surprise appearance and come to zebulon while i'm home!
10/27/10
brief update.
just a quick note to let you all know what we're up to this week:
stuart is in pine bluff, just beginning his family medicine rotation. it works out super great, because stu's parents live in PB, so he is staying with them and getting to spend a bit of time with them (and mimi, too!) which he has missed the last couple of months because school up in little rock has been so busy and time-consuming on the weekends.
tomorrow is my very first, big-girl RN shift! i'm officially off of orientation, so tomorrow i have my own patients all by myself. i was really excited about this, until last night when i had a dream that i was assigned more patients than the typical workload, and all the patients were spread out all over the floor, so i spent all day running back and forth between all of my many, many patients and it was awful. i don't anticipate that tomorrow will be anything like that, but the bad dream was just enough to make me anxious.
earlier this week, i was down in pine bluff with stuart, working for pop in his OB-GYN office. the ladies in his office are just so great, and stu's mom works there, too, so it's just a fun time all around. i work my "real" job th/fri/sat this week, so i am back up in little rock all on my own. friday, stuart is heading up to fayetteville (home of the razorbacks - woo pig sooie!) straight from pb with some family for the football game. he'll return late saturday night, so until then i am just a hard-workin' woman in little rock, all on my own! oh, except for oz - derek and beth's dog. they're out of town, so i'm puppy-sitting, and i'm thankful for ozzie to keep me company.
i'm visiting nc the 2nd week in november for a short, short trip because i miss my mama and dad. too much. so i am just hopping out there for a few days to see them. and little katie, too. i just love my family. (matthew - wish i could see you, too, bo.) i think i've done pretty good to go almost 4 months without seeing them. so, i deserve the trip. :) i may try to be at christ community sunday, nov. 14 if i'm able (i know a lot of folks will be gone for the conference - boo). just a heads up!
i'm off to visit oz one last time for the evening... pray for my first week as a big-girl nurse! i'm pretty anxious about it! anxious, but excited. :)
stuart is in pine bluff, just beginning his family medicine rotation. it works out super great, because stu's parents live in PB, so he is staying with them and getting to spend a bit of time with them (and mimi, too!) which he has missed the last couple of months because school up in little rock has been so busy and time-consuming on the weekends.
tomorrow is my very first, big-girl RN shift! i'm officially off of orientation, so tomorrow i have my own patients all by myself. i was really excited about this, until last night when i had a dream that i was assigned more patients than the typical workload, and all the patients were spread out all over the floor, so i spent all day running back and forth between all of my many, many patients and it was awful. i don't anticipate that tomorrow will be anything like that, but the bad dream was just enough to make me anxious.
earlier this week, i was down in pine bluff with stuart, working for pop in his OB-GYN office. the ladies in his office are just so great, and stu's mom works there, too, so it's just a fun time all around. i work my "real" job th/fri/sat this week, so i am back up in little rock all on my own. friday, stuart is heading up to fayetteville (home of the razorbacks - woo pig sooie!) straight from pb with some family for the football game. he'll return late saturday night, so until then i am just a hard-workin' woman in little rock, all on my own! oh, except for oz - derek and beth's dog. they're out of town, so i'm puppy-sitting, and i'm thankful for ozzie to keep me company.
i'm visiting nc the 2nd week in november for a short, short trip because i miss my mama and dad. too much. so i am just hopping out there for a few days to see them. and little katie, too. i just love my family. (matthew - wish i could see you, too, bo.) i think i've done pretty good to go almost 4 months without seeing them. so, i deserve the trip. :) i may try to be at christ community sunday, nov. 14 if i'm able (i know a lot of folks will be gone for the conference - boo). just a heads up!
i'm off to visit oz one last time for the evening... pray for my first week as a big-girl nurse! i'm pretty anxious about it! anxious, but excited. :)
10/19/10
recent events: arkansas state fair.
2 weekends ago, mama and daddy acree were supposed to visit, but several unforeseen circumstances kept them from visiting the lovely state of AR. stuart and i ended up doing at least one of the things we were going to do with them: visit the state fair.
the arkansas state fair was rather enjoyable for many reasons, number 1 being the opportunity for people watching. oh, all kinds were observed. funny how one event can bring out people from all walks of life to enjoy wildly expensive gross food and crazy rides.
here are some images to help you feel like you were there with us:
stuart getting some cash from the ATM - a necessity when visiting the fair.
scoping it out.
kim & eddie.
goat.
stu & bunny.
oh my!
i wanted to buy one of the rabbits labeled as "unshowable" because they had a little scar or their nose, but were otherwise perfectly lovely and cute. only $10. stuart said no.
petting the giant cow.
cow show!
us! taking in everything arkansan.
mengarellis.
yum-o funnel cake.
the arkansas state fair was rather enjoyable for many reasons, number 1 being the opportunity for people watching. oh, all kinds were observed. funny how one event can bring out people from all walks of life to enjoy wildly expensive gross food and crazy rides.
here are some images to help you feel like you were there with us:
stuart getting some cash from the ATM - a necessity when visiting the fair.
scoping it out.
kim & eddie.
goat.
stu & bunny.
oh my!
i wanted to buy one of the rabbits labeled as "unshowable" because they had a little scar or their nose, but were otherwise perfectly lovely and cute. only $10. stuart said no.
petting the giant cow.
cow show!
us! taking in everything arkansan.
mengarellis.
yum-o funnel cake.okay, so it looks like all we did was look at animals. we did other stuff, too... but maybe we mostly looked at animals. :)
recent events: pumpkin carving at the mengarelli's.
kim & eddie mengarelli are a couple that we are good friends with from our church here in LR. eddie is also in medical school, a year behind stuart. kim works for an organization that gives grants to rural communities in AR so they can purchase things like firetrucks and other necessary community-type items. kim & eddie are really great. one of my favorite things about them is that i can look out the front window of our apartment and see their house - they live so close by!
a few weeks ago, they had some folks over from church to to carve pumpkins. we drowned ourselves in apple cider, pumpkin cookies and banana bread and got our creative juices flowing... photos from the event:
getting ready with my pumpkin.
grant and jessica lewis, rob bradsher all working on their pumpkins.
rob, eddie and stu.
stuart performing a delicate surgery on his pumpkin.
cleaning out the guts.
P! (for pierce, duh.)
eddie working on his creepy-face pumpkin.
kim working on her pumpkin.
cuteface.
grant and jessica finish first!
our jack-o-lantern family.
close up of my P and stu's batman sign.
one of the mengarelli kitties. she is the halloween cat. the flash was too bright for her.
a few weeks ago, they had some folks over from church to to carve pumpkins. we drowned ourselves in apple cider, pumpkin cookies and banana bread and got our creative juices flowing... photos from the event:
getting ready with my pumpkin.
grant and jessica lewis, rob bradsher all working on their pumpkins.
rob, eddie and stu.
stuart performing a delicate surgery on his pumpkin.
cleaning out the guts.
P! (for pierce, duh.)
eddie working on his creepy-face pumpkin.
kim working on her pumpkin.
cuteface.
grant and jessica finish first!
our jack-o-lantern family.
close up of my P and stu's batman sign.
one of the mengarelli kitties. she is the halloween cat. the flash was too bright for her.a rainy morning.
it's super rainy here today, so instead of my morning jog (i've been so good lately!), i'll update everyone on what we've been up to here in LR...
stuart is finishing up his last week of internal medicine on the wards of UAMS. he's liking this much better than the similar rotation he did at the VA a few weeks back. i like it, too, because he comes to visit me on my floor at work a few times a day :) this week is my last week of orientation, so next week i start as a real, big-girl nurse! my schedule will be changing, too. i have been doing w/th/f every week, but starting next week it will be different each week. i guess it will be nice to have a change in my routine (?? not really - i'm kinda bummed that i won't have a set schedule every week. oh, the hardships of being the new girl.)
the last few weeks at work, i've mainly been rocking in the IV start department, so that's been fun! usually a nurse will call someone else to come help if their patient seems to be a "hard stick," so often they will call my preceptor since they know that she has a little more free time since i am doing all the work to take care of her patients these days ;) but the last few weeks, she has called me to try and start the IV so i could get some experience. i've gotten all of them on the first stick! i even had a patient tell me i was "good at that." a nice, new-nurse ego boost.
next week stuart starts family medicine, which will be based in pine bluff. so, he'll be in pine bluff staying with his parents m-f for the next 4 weeks. there are a few weeks that my work schedule has me off for a few days in a row, so i'll go down with him and maybe work for pop in his office those days. family medicine will be a nice change of pace - mostly 8-5pm hours, no weekends (we think).
we've been up to so much these last few weeks (i've just neglected blogging about it... oops) and i have a bunch of photos to put up! i'll start with one event and save the rest for later.
earlier in october, little rock hosted the harvest festival on kavanaugh in hillcrest (this is our neighborhood). jenna and colin came up from pine bluff, and derek and beth brought ozzie out and we spent the day out in our neighborhood celebrating fall with a street festival.
there were street vendors selling locally-made things and good food.
we had lunch at u.s. pizza on kavanaugh.
us at u.s. pizza. :)
beth and derek at u.s. pizza.
beth enjoying some kettle corn and local music.
music on kavanaugh. me, jenna, colin.
ozzie pup snuggling with stuart.
jenna and stuart at the fountain on kavanaugh.
(these cousins could be TWINS!)
stuart is finishing up his last week of internal medicine on the wards of UAMS. he's liking this much better than the similar rotation he did at the VA a few weeks back. i like it, too, because he comes to visit me on my floor at work a few times a day :) this week is my last week of orientation, so next week i start as a real, big-girl nurse! my schedule will be changing, too. i have been doing w/th/f every week, but starting next week it will be different each week. i guess it will be nice to have a change in my routine (?? not really - i'm kinda bummed that i won't have a set schedule every week. oh, the hardships of being the new girl.)
the last few weeks at work, i've mainly been rocking in the IV start department, so that's been fun! usually a nurse will call someone else to come help if their patient seems to be a "hard stick," so often they will call my preceptor since they know that she has a little more free time since i am doing all the work to take care of her patients these days ;) but the last few weeks, she has called me to try and start the IV so i could get some experience. i've gotten all of them on the first stick! i even had a patient tell me i was "good at that." a nice, new-nurse ego boost.
next week stuart starts family medicine, which will be based in pine bluff. so, he'll be in pine bluff staying with his parents m-f for the next 4 weeks. there are a few weeks that my work schedule has me off for a few days in a row, so i'll go down with him and maybe work for pop in his office those days. family medicine will be a nice change of pace - mostly 8-5pm hours, no weekends (we think).
we've been up to so much these last few weeks (i've just neglected blogging about it... oops) and i have a bunch of photos to put up! i'll start with one event and save the rest for later.
earlier in october, little rock hosted the harvest festival on kavanaugh in hillcrest (this is our neighborhood). jenna and colin came up from pine bluff, and derek and beth brought ozzie out and we spent the day out in our neighborhood celebrating fall with a street festival.
there were street vendors selling locally-made things and good food.
we had lunch at u.s. pizza on kavanaugh.
us at u.s. pizza. :)
beth and derek at u.s. pizza.
beth enjoying some kettle corn and local music.
music on kavanaugh. me, jenna, colin.
ozzie pup snuggling with stuart.
jenna and stuart at the fountain on kavanaugh.(these cousins could be TWINS!)
more recent events (and photos) to come...!
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