Pricey VS. Priceless

One of my favorite stores around Memphis is Bella Vita. Thanks to my wonderful friend, Lauren Flatt, I discovered this amazing sanctuary of adorable furniture and household items in Collierville. Unfortunately, this adorable boutique is just a tad out of my price range these days (or ever). This normally does not pose a problem. Instead of buying all the super cute items I spot at Bella Vita... I use the store as a source of inspiration and ideas for my own projects. This saves me a lot of time and is a super fun hobby (some of my own projects will be exhibited on the blog in the near future). Lately, though, I have been in a small bind. I found the most beautiful paintings there that would be just PERFECT for my living room. Unfortunately again... they were a bit to pricey. The big one that I wanted was priced at $800 and the smaller 2 were somewhere between $300 and $400. Even if I were up for spending that much for a painting (which I'm not), there is no way in the world my thrifty hubby would ever go for it. This was all a problem because while I can make and decorate furniture and other household items all day long... I am definitely NOT a painter! So normally the story would simply end here...and I would have to settle for some lesser decor for above my couch. Lucky for me... it doesn't end here.

I have an incredibly talented brother that turned my pricey dilemma into a priceless experience! After seeing the paintings I had my eye on, he created gorgeous replicas that are practically identical! See if you can tell the difference!!!

Isn't that crazy? If the picture of mine was a closer shot, you would see the detailed texture that is present on the Bella Vita paintings as well. I still am in shock at how incredible they turned out! So I am happy to say that I have some priceless (instead of pricey) paintings hanging above my couch that make my living room look all the more gorgeous!!!!

THANKS, LOGAN!!!!!

Wishful thinking...

So I guess that maybe it was wishful thinking on my part when I said I would be posting more often. Technically, this is still "more often" but once every month or two isn't that great of a track record. I'll keep working on that...

Now, for all of you that have been hanging by a string waiting to hear about my boards... good news... I PASSED. I'm now officially-

KELSEY HOPKINS, RN

It was one stressful experience. For those of you who are not nurses, you can get between 75 and 250ish questions. Every person gets 75. The testing program continues to give you questions until it has enough info to determine if you actually know what you are doing or until it knows that no matter how many questions it gives you, you are going to fail. SO, you can get 150 questions and pass or 150 questions and fail. I got 75 questions, which meant that I either did great or did absolutely terrible- which would be totally embarrassing. Thankfully, I came out on top! Take that NCLEX! I apparently am a "safe practioner" which is still debatable... I have a lot to still learn before anyone should be setting me loose with my own ICU patients!!! :) Thankfully I have wonderful teachers at work that really want me to learn as much as possible and to become a wonderful nurse! I just can't wait to actually know what I am doing!!!

Thanks for the prayers and encouragement!!!

I FINISHED!

So I'm not sure what is more shocking, the fact that I am making a new post, or that I actually survived Nursing School?!?

So here is the first of hopefully (fingers crossed) many more posts to follow in my new found free time.

On Dec. 12, 2009 I graduated Summa Cum Laude with my BSN and here are some pictures to prove it!

Me and my wonderful, helpful, supportive husband. I really don't know what I would have done without him cheering my along the whole way! What a wondeful man!




My amazing sister who flew in just for the occasion.




Marci (Smith's mom) came in all the way from South Carolina to support me.



Erin brought along some special cargo to support Aunt Kelsey. I was happy to share the spotlight with such a precious boy!

Even with the long hours, boring reading, bed baths, foley care, sushi lunches, white marshmellow uniforms, the "i don't know ANYTHING" freak out moments, contraction counting, med calculations, test questions with 4 right answers, ATIs, ENDLESS paper work and care plans, group projects, ugly white shoes, pockets so full my pants almost fell down, and dreams of IVs, catherizations, and NG tubes... I can say it was TOTALLY worth it and I am so glad to be a NURSE!

I started a job at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in January and I am loving it. Such a wonderful place to work!

I take my NCLEX boards this Wednesday so please keep my in your thoughts and prayers as I take this last step in becoming an RN!

Thanks to everyone that encouraged and supported me through the past year. Thanks to my family for always providing a fun distraction from all my stress. Thanks to Erin for calming my fears with each new step of nursing. Thanks to Smith for constantly loving me even when I was riduculous, for being the "house wife" when I couldn't, and working so hard so that we could have a great year.

Hopefully in a few days I will be sharing the good news of passing the boards!!!! Stay tuned! (but not too close incase it takes me a couple weeks to actually make a post haha!)