Nursing School Graduate

Hello BB Readers, 

Wow, it's been a minute since I've been on here and written anything. I remember back at the beginning of nursing school when I scoffed at the director of the nursing program when she said, "We own you for the next year and a half." Well, she was right, and I was propelled into my reality check with course work and study sessions. I also began to neglect this blog. I've really missed coming on here and writing updates. I'm still in a bit of transition at the moment going from school to work life, but I'm hoping I have a little more free time to get on here. 

 I recently completed the nursing program on August 10. I remember being so emotional on the day of my pinning ceremony (graduation). I even overheard a classmate say, "Laura is going to cry, watch." This made me laugh because I do not remember being so emotional before nursing school. It makes me wonder, did nursing school help me break down a wall and let me know that it's okay to share your emotions with patients or others, or was it just the fact that I survived nursing school and was so relieved that I just couldn't hold back the emotions.  I would like to think it was a bit of both. 

It has been an amazing journey of self-discovery and discipline to get to this point. I still remember when I was laid off from my job and feeling so lost. I remember coming to a realization during a long run that I needed to whip myself into gear and work hard to get into nursing school. When I look back, the whole roller coaster ride that was nursing school was worth it. Sure, I cursed the grueling schedule and almost every single exam, but with the help of some great nursing school friends and my amazing supportive husband, I survived. 

Next up: Studying hard and passing the NCLEX examination!! I GOT THIS! 

Hello, Springtime!

What an amazing past couple of weeks! As usual, I've been super busy with school and everything involved with it. However, today I registered for my LAST semester of nursing school! It's amazing how fast it came around. I'm excited, nervous, and happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call from my sister who was visiting San Antonio at the time. With pure enthusiasm she let me know that she had gotten engaged to her boyfriend. I was elated for her! Looks like another Lopez wedding is in the works for next year. It will be an amazing celebration.

Just in time for Easter we received three new additions to our family. Our chicks Lucky Day, Ned Nederlander, and Dusty Bottoms. They have amazing personalities and we are excited to see them grow into beautiful egg laying hens. My husband and I had talked about getting chickens for a while, but never really had the time to execute such a project. My husband never does anything half-ass especially when it comes to building something. He put together an amazing coop for our feathered friends.  We can't wait to go into our backyard and gather up some eggs!

To wrap up this spring post I wanted to share my new love of getting around town on 2-wheels. On March 1st I  made a mini-goal to not fill up my car with gas until mid-April. So far it's been working out well. I enjoy the exercise I get from the hills in my neighborhood and the front row parking at school. The weather is nice and warm right now here in NM, absolutely perfect for a bike ride!

HAPPY SPRING!

Wedding Wednesday: Fiesta Bridal Shower

This is a repost:

On May 5th, 2012 I had my bridal shower and it was so much fun. I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to have bridal shower, but I'm so glad I did. It was a great day filled with family and friends both local and from out of state.

We played Three games..
The first game was He said, She said..Which is a game where the bridal shower guest try to guess who said what phrases. Before hand Patrick and I got together and came up with some phrases that either He said, I said, or we both said. The guest would read the phrases and give their best guess on who said what and then put up their depressor mustache or lips to support their answer.

The second game was Pin the Boutonniere on the groom. After a few sangrias this game proved to be a bit challenging.  My mother got some butcher paper and traced my Señors outline. I guess she forgot how tall he was because she didn't get the right stretch of paper and ended up cutting off his feet.
Guest were then blind folded and would do their best to pin the boutonniere on the groom. The winner Isabella, was such a cutie that we let her go until she won the game. :)

 Isabella: The winner of the Pin the Boutonniere game

The third game was a version of hot potato with a sombrero. I guess we can call it the Sombrero Caliente game. It was a last minute addition and proved to be a lot of fun. It got a bit competitive towards the end, but my brothers girlfriend Jessie came out on top.

Jessie: The winner of Sombrero Caliente game

The girls who attended the bridal shower were so much fun! I had a fantastic time and couldn't be more blessed to be surrounded by such a great group of women during this amazing time of my life.

Thanks to Helin "Mooxie" for the great photos!!

Wedding Wednesday: NM Wedding Blog and Save the Dates!

Here is my first wedding post!  Woo HOO!! Finally, right?!

I wanted to start off by sharing our budget friendly save the dates.
The Señor and I were devastated when we came home from getting engaged in Colorado to find out our big pine tree had died. Our neighbor a few doors down had come over when we were finally having it cut down and told us that he had planted the tree back in 1972. It took every ounce of will power in me to not burst into tears in front of our neighbor. It was sad, but the tree wasn't the same after a harsh winter in 2011 and we were afraid that it might give and fall on our house..or worse someone walking their dog. Yikes!

So TIMMMBBERRRRR it went...

The good news is that we didn't waste any part of our old tree. We have used the trunk for firewood during the winter and we used the branches to create our lovely save the dates.

When we first started thinking about getting our save the dates, I wasn't quite sure where to start looking or what we wanted. I wanted to do something outside the box and creative. So I started looking on Etsy and found some great wood save the date magnets! However, the prices were not anywhere close to being within our budget. Thankfully, I thought of our dear ol' dead pine tree and got inspired to make our own save the dates with the help of my future husband.

 Here is how we did it:

• We had a custom stamp made on Etsy with our wedding date on it.
• Bought some pretty bronze ink at a local craft store and a magnet roll
• I had the Señor cut our pine tree branches into cool little round disc and sand them down.
• I stamped each of the wood disc with the nifty stamp and secured a strip of magnet to the back of each wood disc with wood glue. (we used super glue at first, but that didn't work as well) 
• We also printed out a free printable from weddingchicks.com that included our wedding website and venue information. 
• Voilà!!! Simple, environmentally and budget friendly save the dates! 

Our friends and family loved our creative save the dates and so did our wallets.

Next up: NM Wedding Blog and Teresa Romero. 

Yesterday, when I first started creating this post I saw some very exciting news on Facebook.  My lovely friend and wedding dress designer Teresa Romero was going to be featured on NMweddingblog.com in a podcast interview. When I listened to the interview this morning it brought back so many great memories of having my dress custom made and the unique and wonderful experience I had. Teresa really captured the vintage and classic look I was going for. I felt so comfortable in my wedding dress that it was easy to celebrate and dance on my wedding day. 

Please check out the wonderful NMweddingblog.com website for amazing information about getting married in New Mexico and to listen to the podcast featuring the talented Teresa Romero. 

Check out Teresa's wonderful blog: The Deisgner's Lounge. 

My wedding dress sketch by Teresa Romero

Photo by Mooxie Photography

Thank you guys!! I hope you enjoyed my first Wedding Wednesday blog post! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR: Highlights of 2012

Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed ringing in the new year with your loved ones. We enjoyed ringing in the new year wearing our yoga/pajama pants. It was lazy and perfect.

2012 was such an amazing year for me, so I really couldn't move forward into 2013 without looking back on the past year.

I married my strong and handsome Señor
      I know that I was supposed to write a post about my wedding, but I would just end up sitting in front of my computer thinking about the day and not writing about it. You see the day was so special to me that writing a post to share my special day wouldn't even be a close reflection of how amazing our wedding day was. I'm sure i'll still write a wedding post, but for now I'll just share a few photos. 

Shed Dog
In February we gained an unexpected new member of our family. The Señor and I had talked about owning a dog before, and we both felt it was a bad idea. We assumed that we would be bad parents and wouldn't be able to find enough time to spend with the dog. However, that all changed when Shed dog came into our lives and adopted us. For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you already know how obsessed I am with this dog. I'm pretty sure I take a photo of her everyday. She is such a ham. For the full story on Shed dog (click here).

Hiked the La Luz Trail
Since I started this blog it has been a goal of mine to hike up the La Luz trail. I would run in the foothills and just stare up at the point where the La Luz trail ends and contemplate hiking up the mountain. I always thought it was kind of sad that I had lived here so long and hadn't done it. After my bachelorette party in May, the Señor and I hiked up the mountain. Shed dog led the way and we were up the mountain in about 4 hours. Hiking up this trail sparked up my goal of running up the trail. When I will actually do this is yet to be determined, but the challenge has me excited. :) 

Nursing School

The start of the summer 2012 semester was the beginning of my journey into nursing school. It's been a roller coaster of emotions, frustration, and fun. Sounds crazy right? It really is.  However, the challenges and the long coffee driven nights will all be worth it in the end. Currently I'm 1/2 way to becoming a nurse and I can't wait to write RN at the end of my name. 

Running (I'm back in the game) 

Thanks to my friend Cassy, I got back into the running game. She convinced me to sign up for a Halloween fun run and I got hooked again. I dressed up in a Witch costume and ran a simple 5k. That was all the kick I needed to get back into running. I did attempt a running streak during the holiday season, but it wasn't that successful for me considering I got a little sick right after Christmas. Oh well, It was nice attempt. I'll most likely keep trying the running streaks until I complete one correctly. I'm not quite sure what running has in store for me this year, but I'm thinking a few more fun runs and maybe another half? My handsome husband just bought me some amazing new running shoes for Christmas. We shall see where these bright beauties take me! 

One of my best friends got married

2012 was the BEST year to get married! Okay, I'm a little bit bias, but still. It was so much fun having my good friend Amalia as a bridesmaid in my wedding, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Last week we traveled to the rainy NW to take part in her beautiful Seattle wedding.  She looked absolutely classic and the ceremony was stunning! 

You sure were fabulous 2012!

Cheers to a LUCKY 2013!