Snow, Snow, Snow!!!

Whew! A view from my window after the 12/26 East coast blizzard blew through Albany. We got over 10 inches of snow, and other parts of New York up to 24 inches! CRAZY! Apparently, Albany rarely gets more than a few inches of snow a year, and news reports state this is one of the largest snowfalls in the past 4 years! We all REALLY know, however, that they just needed a Minnesotan to move to town. ;) It feels just like home now! Good thing I brought the snow with me. :)

Life has been steadily getting more settled for me here in Albany. In fact, today I went out shopping on my day off and, for the first time, drove EVERYWHERE without using my GPS! I was SO excited!!!! It's nice to feel like I know a little bit of the city, am getting the feel for the Northeast culture, and also settling into work. I've been working about a week or so on my own now, and it has been getting SO much better. I definitely am getting used to the flow more, settling into the norms and standards there, and overall feeling like a "good" nurse again. :) I'm getting back into starting IV's (got 2 difficult one x2-3 attempts the other day, and the other 3 on attempt #1 for all my fellow nursing friends!) and doing assessments and nursing skills work, which has been fantastic. I really missed it in many ways. I miss Minnesota nursing, however and hope to be back there working someday soon. :)

The loneliness has subsided quite a bit, as well, for multiple reasons. One, just getting to know my co-workers and feeling a sense of belonging with them, and working more hours overall (at least 5 days a week) has helped the time pass a bit quicker. In addition, I have been able to do some visiting of nearby friends. :) Laura Coles, a friend of mine from Mercy Ships (the one who actually got me into travel nursing) is travel nursing in Northern Massachusetts. She and I both had Christmas day off and were away from our families, so we decided to spend the holiday together! Yaaayyy! I, in turn, had the privilege of driving through the beautiful Berkshire Mountains Christmas day.



The breathtaking sight from the cold, crystal covered top of the Berkshires. As I was standing at the top, my nose felt numb and I thought to myself, "this feels just like home". :) I WISH Minnesota had these kind of mountains, though. :) That and the ocean too.... hmmmm... ;) We'll have to work on that. ;)


Above, Laura and I on our Christmas day walk at Natural Bridge State Park- an old marble quarry site. I saw my very first marble waterfall(pictured below). It was very much like a walk through Narnia. :)



I'm back to work tomorrow, glad to be busy again, but enjoying the day off as well to do some relaxing. I'll keep you all posted again soon. Much love!