Life in South Carolina: ANDDDD I AM BACK!!!

Well ladies and gentlemen, WE ARE ALIVE! Goodness, I haven't updated in over a month! What is wrong with me?? Well, needless to say, I have been very busy! I finished my last semester of nursing school with another 4.0 (got through nursing school with all A's and 1 B), passed all my exit exams on the first try (never had to retake any ATIs or HESI tests in nursing school), got pinned as a nurse, graduated with honors, and moved all of our belongings to South Carolina! PHEW! Now, we are sitting here looking forward to a wedding in less than 24 days, a honeymoon, and a final goodbye to Tennessee. I am so happy and excited it is unbelievable!

I am starting to think about studying for the NCLEX because I will be scheduling my appointment to take it as soon as I get the approval email. It will be STRESSFUL taking it before the wedding, in between the wedding and honeymoon, or RIGHT after the honeymoon, but it MUST be done. I can't even step foot into the hospital as an employee until they have proof that I passed, meaning that I have to take it about 14 days before my start date of July 9th...oh goodness. So, please pray that I am able to study enough to pass it and to do well on it :) I have faith in myself! A little bit of studying every day will do me well!

I guess I will start with an update about pinning and graduation and save the blog post about the move for another time :) Well, pinning and graduation were amazing! I love that nursing has a special ceremony in which the nursing graduates get pinned. It is such a special occasion and I am so thankful that I helped in the planning of it since I was on the student affairs committee. I received the Nursing Achievement Award for the Accelerated Nursing Program and my roommate and best friend received the Focus Award for the Accelerated Nursing Program. We were 2 of only 3 to receive awards from our class :)

It was such an amazing feeling when the teachers came up to me after the pinning and shared with me the kind words that they did telling me how far I will go and how wonderful I will be. I loved every minute of attending a smaller college for nursing school. I honestly wouldn't have traded the situation for any other. I know I can call any of the teachers anytime for anything even many years down the road after graduation. After pinning, we went to Sonic to get a big ole Route 44 drink and then went home and went to bed...we were EXHAUSTED!

Friday rolled around and it was graduation day! I am SO SO SO thankful that my in-laws were able to come into town for graduation. I felt terrible because graduation was moved inside at 8:30 pm because they were driving home after graduation, but needless to say, they didn't care! It meant to the world to me because they, along with Eric and his brother Phillip, were the only family I had at graduation. I am so thankful for them, beyond what words can express. We went to eat dinner before graduation which was a nice little occasion! During graduation, I was just trying to take everything in. I had a lot of emotions flowing through me that day due to numerous reasons and I was trying to take in the happiness of graduation. I am so thankful for the support that I get from Eric, Mandy, Phillip, Marcia, and Donnie. They ARE my family. Graduation was wonderful!

Anyway, I guess that is about it for this post! New post tomorrow with an update on our BIG MOVE! So glad to be back in the blogging world! Wedding countdown: 24 days!

Oh, speaking of wedding, on the morning of pinning I went for a dress fitting, and after cutting out and bringing the dress down more than 2 dress sizes...IT IS PERFECT!!! :) :) :) It no longer falls off of me :) YAY!

I leave you with some pictures from pinning and graduation!