This past Thursday, Adam accepted a job in Little Rock with a public accounting firm, so we will be moving in late May/early June! We actually drove down to Little Rock yesterday for a Razorback game, and drove around some. It is so big to me! It will definitely be so different from Fayetteville, but we are excited about this new adventure! Now, I guess the next thing will be for me to find a job there, which is overwhelming to think about already.
The leaves have started to change into their beautiful fall colors- if only the weather would STAY cool. It was so warm today. I can't wait for the cold, I am ready!
One of my clinicals is in a nursing home here in Fayetteville, and I am having a hard time enjoying it. Every week, I discover things that are not quite how they should be, or nurses who don't do what they are supposed to. It frustrates and angers me, because I just don't understand how this is going on, and no one seems to care because it is a 'long-term facility'. What does that mean??! Anyway, sometimes I wonder if I should work in a nursing home so that I could take care of the residents and push people to raise their standards in their caregiving. It breaks my heart, and I'm sure I could go on and on about this. I love caring for these residents and helping them. I hope that I do not become like these nurses after I have been out in the real world for a few years. I mean, I understand that everything is not 'by the book' but...sometimes I wonder why these people are even nurses?

Well, it has been so long it took me forever to remember my password!
A little update on our lives at the moment:
Adam has been interviewing like crazy! He has already had like, 7 interviews..and he has still more to go! We are pretty excited about all of the possibilities, though. Next week, he is going to visit some different accounting firms in tulsa and little rock, and they are even putting him up in embassy suites. wooo!
I have been studying (what's new?) and looking at allrecipes.com(such a great website!) and whatnot. I need a new hobby other than studying though, because I think i do it too much. I need friends. haha. no, i just mean that I miss hanging out with girls, and I hate that nursing school has TAKEN OVER MY LIFE. But it will all be over in a few months, hopefully, and I can have a somewhat-social life. :)
I don't know if anyone reads this thing, but I would like to know how to cook/bake pumpkin.

love, Meredith Argo

I had three days in a row of clinicals this week, and man...I totally just came home and crashed for about 3 hours. Adam is going to the game in Nashville this weekend with his dad and grandpa, so he left right after work today. He called me at 5:30. You know when people call you and wake you up and you insist to them that they didn't? Well, when someone calls and wakes me up, I say a lot of strange things, and later I can't remember what I said. All I know is that I thought that I had slept until saturday night, and I remember freaking out inside for a few seconds until Adam calmed me down and convinced me that it was still friday. I'm telling you, when I get less sleep, I am weird.
Anyway, so I am by myself this weekend until sunday! I think it will be fine, and the only thing that will be strange is sleeping by myself for two nights. I just hope our crazy neighbors don't come yell at me. :)
Grey's Anatomy is my new fav. show. I never have a "show" that I have to watch every week, so this is a new thing for me. We have rented the first two discs of the new season that came out so that we can finish all of them in time for the 3rd season. I like the show, what can I say.

enough of the reading already.

Well, the first week is behind me! Dr. Barta is killing me with all of the reading in my Child & Family Nursing course. I don't think that I have read this much in such a short amount of time in my life. At least I am somewhat interested in the material, though. We have had at least 120 pages for every class with a quiz every day over the reading. Today I sat in Arsaga's at the Fayetteville Public Library for close to 4 hours without even getting out of my chair. I had a large coffee. My legs were shaky when I finally got up and left. I have gotten around 5 hours of sleep the past few nights. I am tired.
Sorry -I did not plan on writing this to complain. I am trying to toughen up! I guess I just forgot how tired I was all of the time last year. I am having a not-so-nice wakeup call.
I have to find a "senior consultant" to meet with over the semester to talk about health. I have to teach them something. They have to be at least 70 years old.
Friday night, I was able to hang out with my dear friends, Jessica and Emily. They are so fun to talk to and be around. I value our friendships.
Saturday, we (Adam, Hope, and I) all drove to LR too see their cousin, Hannah, get married.
Well, this has turned out to be quite a choppy post.
Oh, my car is in the shop again. It's ridiculous- all of the things that can go wrong with cars, that is. Who needs 'em anyway? I think I am just going to start walking.

fall semester begins!

Today was my first day back into the grind of nursing school. Here are the official names of my classes: Nursing Concepts: Older Adult and Illness, Professional Role Implementation V:Manager in the Older Adult Setting Clinical, Nursing Concepts: Care of the Child and Family, Professional Role Implementation IV: Teacher, and Management in Nursing.
I am actually pretty excited about the Child and Family course; I have enjoyed the reading assignments so far..I hope that I continue to like it!
My name has successfully changed to Argo throughout the university's network, so now I am the first one to be called on for everything...such as attendance(which startles me everytime, because I have always been next to last practically) and professors also seem to like to call on the first name on the list to answer questions like,"what is your goal for this class?" and " what is the most valuable idea that you have learned today?" I was very unprepared for this today. I don't think I have ever been called on so much in one day. Is this what it's like if you have your name as the very first one on the list?
At one point in one of my classes, the professor had everyone stand up that had gotten married this summer. There were 6 people, including me. I thought that was interesting. I felt weird standing up. Like I mentioned before, I am not used to this kind of attention in class.
On to other things.... everyone should go to the Fayetteville Public Library. It is wonderful, and you are missing out greatly if you have not been. I just read 'Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man' by Fannie Flagg. It was nice, because it was very light-hearted and entertaining (and hilarious at times). I am interested in reading some of her other books. I also just finished reading this series by Francine Rivers that followed the lives of Tamar, Ruth, Rahab, Bathsheba, and Mary. I can't remember their names though. They were short, but wonderful. It sparked a new interest in some Old Testament books that I haven't read in awhile. So, I have pretty much crammed as much reading in as I could this summer, because from now on, my nursing books tend to take up my reading time. I love reading good books so much. I just get lost in them, and I think they are wonderful.
As you have probably already read, Adam's family came and stayed the weekend with us. They are such a funny and loving family, and I love them. It was such a good time.
As I was driving to school today, I drove by several kindergarten and elementary schools, where I saw many children and their parents walking to school. The parents were taking pictures of their kindergarten kids on their first day at school. It was such a sweet thing to me seeing this at 7:20 this morning.
I have been playing cribbage with Adam almost every day lately. I have been getting very good..even beating Adam several times. And that is definitely something to say, because Adam is very good.

Free Television

We don't pay for cable television. We don't. But that doesn't stop us from watching a few select stations. We have a giant set of "rabbit ears" that pick up NBC, ABC, CBS, and PBS. In the morning we sit on the couch, eating our cereal, watching Good Morning America and the local news. Last night, Thursday night, we watched the 2-hour Grey's Anatomy special. It's a pretty good show, as far as TV shows go. It doesn't matter if it's a great show or not, because it's free television. So this is me telling everyone to discontinue your cable television service, purchase a $9.00 set of rabbit ears, and switch to the Cox internet that is only $24.95 a month. Then, use the money that you save from not paying for a crazy cable bill and put it in a savings accont in order to go on a cruise for 7 nights to celebrate your college graduation. There.

My family is driving in tonight. I think we are going to grill some cheeseburgers for them when they get here. I'm pretty excited.

Yesterday morning, I took Meredith to breakfast. We went to The Sweet Spot Bake Shoppe on 6th Street. It's in that building that also has Mexico Viejo in it, next to Electric Cowboy. I know you ALL know where that place is. Support local restaurants.

Now I have to go. The Good Morning America Summer Concert Series is about to present Christina Aguilera.

Enjoy your last weekend before the fall semester. Don't go see Lady in the Water.

All that's left is duty.

Good morning.

Meredith and I drove to Jonesboro last Friday and had a pleasant stay. We drove home on Tuesday morning in order to make it back in time for work that afternoon. It was a great visit with both of our families. Saturday morning I played golf with my dad and Meredith's dad and her brother. I am terrible, but it was a great time. It was about 75 degrees at 8am and the mist in the air made my father-in-law compare the setting to the British Open.

It was great to be able to stay and sleep over at each others' houses. It was a very relaxing weekend. Skipping work on Monday has made for a short week at work. But I have enough to keep me busy. When Mer and I got back to Fayetteville I had an email from one of my professors telling me that I was supposed to finish a new website for Beta Alpha Psi, an Accounting club that I am an officer in, by the first week of school. I did some work on it this morning and I hope I will be able to scrounge up a "prototype," as my teacher called it, by the first officer meeting.

Beta Alpha Psi is hosting a career fair of sorts in September called "Meet the Firms," in which 13 accounting firms will be on campus hosting interviews to fill positions throughout the surrounding areas. Hopefully I will be able to dress sharp enough and shave close enough to impress the smartest of interviewers. I am a University man, an institutionalized business student, a product of the system. I have been trained to follow down a particular career path, to strive for the highest-paying salary, and to sell myself as a packaged product. My father-in-law and I discussed a scenario in which companies got together to bid on an employee, but sadly, that is not how it works.

Tonight, Mer and I ate dinner at the Ward's apartment. James was there too. We had manicotti. Man, was it good. We had a great time being with true friends. After dinner, Marc and I played a "team" game of Donkey Kong Kountry for SNES. It was fun while it lasted, but every good party must end. James wouldn't believe me when I told him that Terrence Malick is working on a project with Mel Gibson named "Tree of Life." He chooses not to believe it. I don't care if he believes it or not, because in 2008, I will be watching a Terry Malick movie starring Mel Gibson and Colin Farrell. Supposedly, Malick began working on the film in the summer of 1978 under the title "Q," but it has resurfaced under the title "Tree of Life." Any Malick film is guaranteed to be pure gold. This one is rumored to have a $150 million dollar budget. I read online that is being filmed in India and Austin, TX. I really hope it has a huge "Creation of the Earth" theme and has Colin Farrell walking around in Eden. I don't really hope that.

After leaving the Ward's, we went to Hog Haus to celebrate Stephen's birthday. He turned 22 and I stood up and gave a toast. Happy Birthday, Stephen. I talked to Austin Bell and Nick Rhodes (How do you spell your name?) and Stephen about playing golf soon. Stephen used to work on a course in Rogers and they still let him and his friends play for free. That is the only reason I am friends with him. Happy Birthday.

Class starts Monday. This will be the start of my second-to-last semester. My parents and my two sisters are coming to Fayetteville this weekend to stay with me and Meredith. They are really coming to move my sister Hope in to her new dorm, but it will be good to spend some more time with them and have them stay at our apartment. It's still funny to say "our apartment," because it still very new to be living with Meredith. It is absolutely wonderful to say to people, "This is my wife. We live together. We got married in June. We love each other."

Let's all enjoy the time we have together. Let's say the things we want to say and not let moments pass without saying them. Let's tell stories with our friends and kiss our loved ones. Let's stay up past our bedtimes and sit under summer moons playing cribbage and drinking tea. I told someone tonight that this has been the "best summer of my life," and it was true.

oh, to laugh at work.

This summer, I have been working at a daycare/preschool at the Methodist church on Dickson. It's quite a lot of fun, because I love the kids I work with and because they are very amusing.
Here are some quotes..
"Do you want to see how run I can fast?"
"When are you going to get done brooming?"
"This is my song Mrs. Merduf, this is my song!!"(said in response to a rap song on the radio, right before excessive dancing ensued...making me wonder, where did they learn to dance like that? they are 4 years old!!)
"awesome! Awesome! AWESOME!!!!" ( they boys can't seem to stop saying this for at least 5 minutes straightwhen they are playing 'hot wheels'...it is said in this really funny voice that is impossible for me to imitate.)
"hey, my mommy has that ring!"
"I have a little baby boyfriend!"
"I like to move it, move it. I like to...MOVE IT!" (they sing this ALL of the time.)
"Can you call mommy to come pick me up?"(first thing a little girl told her dad when he came to get her in the afternoon.)

Seriously, these kids make me laugh everyday. It has been a very frustrating, yet enjoyable experience working with them this summer. My last day is next Thursday before school starts, because I can't fit it in my schedule to work there once clinicals begin. But it has been really fun to me. I like kids alot. I'm thinking about maybe doing some kind of pediatric nursing. I don't know though. It's just a thought.

a new journal, a new entry..

We had a very eventful weekend. Friday, Adam surprised me and took me to Lawrence, Kansas to the Bleeding Kansas Arts & Music Festival. It was very fun being surprised, and going to a new place that we had never been before. We stayed at the Golden Rule Motel, where we think that someone siphoned(sp?) some of Adam's gas overnight in the parking lot. Weird. However, we decided that if they needed it that bad, they must have had to get somewhere important, so we would let them have some.
We ate at the Free State Brewing Company, and headed out to the Festival. Now, I will have you know that I had a great time overall at the Festival, and getting to see Mates of State was definitely worth the trip and the heat. But for the first 3 hours we were there, it was probably 100+ degrees, and I was roasting. It was pretty miserable, and I am not one for sitting out in the sun with this kind of heat. But, at around 5, it cooled down to probably about 90, and it was much more tolerable because of the increasing clouds. But back to Mates of State....they were so good!!Adam had never seen them live, and I think that he liked them too. We also got to see Broken Social Scene, Appleseed Cast, Keane, Death Cab for Cutie, and some other bands thatI didn't recognize, but that Adam knew and liked. All in all, it was a wonderful day!
The next morning we ate breakfast at this awesome local bakery, and got some bread to take home! I LOVE homeade bread (we got wheat walnut raisin) and I am very excited about eating some.
Last night, after we got back into town, we went to see Talladega Nights, which we liked very much. It is funny, and worth going to see at the theater. We went to Rogers and ate at On The Border, were I ate tooo much and was punished later, but we got a FLAT tire on the way back home! However, Adam changed our tire, and all was well. I'm just glad it didn't happen on the way home from Kansas.
(I spilt coffee on the laptop. I'm sorry Adam! Now none of the keys will work!) We are going to Jonesboro this weekend, and it will be the first time we will have seen anyone since the wedding, which should be nice.
I wish we had another month of summer left. I love just being married and going to work and not having to worry about school or homework. It is wonderful, and it makes me look forward to graduating when it can be like this again.