Thanksgiving is this week! I am not going home, which saddens me so much...I am, however, cooking thanksgiving dinner with my "step-godparents"....and one of my very best friends in the world (Sharlie)...Brian Corbett is coming into town (from Miami--a friend of mine from Atlanta who moved to Miami--his brother is here in DC...) and I will get to spend time with him...

Thanksgiving should be interesting...we will be having Lynn/Dianne (step-god-parents), two friends of theirs (who's son I dated briefly when I first moved here--haven't talked to him in a month!), Sharlie and her husband, Courtney (Lynne and Dianne's daughter from Houston), Sharlie's sister, and little ole' me....I am helping with the cooking -- Lynne and I talk Southern Living recipes all the time! Hah...so this is my one chance to prove my cooking skills....

Country is going to the big city--that's right folks...NEW YORK CITY...here I come! About five of us are heading up to NYC on Friday for a little shopping and Broadway....(I should have some interesting stories after this week!) So head up your Christmas lists and send them to me by Friday!

As far as where the wind is taking me next, I thought it was going to be Phoenix--but I got a call from my recruiter and she has an awesome job opportunity in New Hampshire and Seattle also....soooooo....I have a pretty big decision to make within the next week...I don't know what I am going to do...It is really hard to try and decide where you are going to live for the next three months....I do like DC so much more than I did originally, but the hospital is so scary -- I don't know if I can work there for three more months...we'll see...

I would post more pics, but I need to charge the batteries for my camera...so when I get that done--you will have more pics....(Mom, I'll send you the ones from your visit too!) I am excited about this week--I have so much to be thankful for, but that is for another post...off to play in the cold weather!

Ciao,
~Amber

"BABY BABY BABY"....wow, that is what I hear my 15 year old brother say to his girlfriend on the phone....now, for those of you who don't have a younger brother--I will try and describe the cringe that swept up and down my spine. I wouldn't say we were close by any stretch of the imagination, but to hear him talking to a girl like that was definitely a wake up call for me--he's not that annoying little boy anymore...he's growing up to become such a great guy (hopefully he won't be jaded by girls very soon)...My family is in town and to see them is like Godiva chocolate--soooo goood ( in my best Adam Sandler voice)....all the monuments in one day--whew...but, I am going to sleep tonight after being with my momma all day! I am getting my hair did tomorrow morning--pictures will follow...I promise! BABY

I woke up today and it was so beautiful, but I was so melancholy....I have had a hard time meeting people here in DC. It is definitely true what they say about the north!!! (For those of you who don't think DC is the north, you obviously have never lived in the south!) People up here are nice once you get to know them, but they don't go out of their way to make friends. They will run over you in their car, cuss you out for driving like a normal person (and I've been driving in Atlanta for the past three years), and then flip you off just for good measure. The parking is soooo bad around here...I remember getting so frustrated in Atlanta because everywhere was valet parkingl. I get to place up here and am offended they don't have valet parking! The paradox of it all!

The weather has been absolutely breathtaking! The sunshine on my skin, the wind through my hair, and the cool air has been more amazing than words will ever be able to describe. The leaves are starting to change now and the view of the city is becoming more and more pituresque. I spent most of the day by myself today...I started the day by reading a little with my doors open..then went to see Elizabethtown (which I thought was great) and then had one of those moments where you are driving but don't really know where you are going...I wound up at the capitol...It wasn't like it was a premeditated trip...there I was just sitting at a redlight and it was right in front of me!
So magestic in its grace and beauty....it's huge for those of you who have never been. There were people just sitting out and enjoying the day talking to their friends and chilling outside of the capitol like it was their front yard! From the steps you look behind you and you see the national mall...it's absolutely humbling! All the history classes you have ever taken could never prepare you for the grandeur and majesty of it all....thinking about George Washington and all of the great men who have walked exactly where you are standing at that moment! Ok so blah blah...I'm done with my patriotic diatribe...

So, I'll just come out and say it-- I miss Atlanta...I miss my friends and the familiar places...I miss having fifty people I could call on a saturday night and go anywhere I want and have someone to hang out with. I miss the hot men and the gorgeous women--I miss my gym with all the eye candy it possessed...I have met only a handful of people here and they are pretty much all the same. They are more concerned with how many people they are dating than the quality of the people they are dating. Watching the movie today, I laughed out loud at so many things other people turned around at me for...and I realized half way through the movie -- the reason they didn't laugh is because they didn't understand...the funniest part of the movie was because I "knew" those people....going back to small town Mississippi! The great-uncle you don't remember, but you pretend to as he is pinching your cheeks....the song "Freebird"...everyone always yells that anytime any live band is playing! I miss the south, but I am not giving up just yet! My mamaw (grandmother for those of you who don't know what a mamaw is) called me today and just checked in on me --she asked me about cute "nawthawn" boys...I told her I hadn't met any! She laughed and told me I should move back closer to home! Anything to get me closer to home--just like my mom...I miss you too! I'll be home soon!

The land of cherry blossoms and politics has been a whirlwind so far...the Smithsonian, the museum of modern art and design, the national monument, the National Air and Space Museum, old town Alexandria...the list goes on and on...so much to do--I know it has been a while since my last post, but getting here and getting everything set up and working has put me at this point...a cool, breezy Sunday afternoon with my french doors open and the sun shining on my face. It is a beautiful time of year -- the leaves are just now starting to change....and it has been sunny since I have been here.
The hospital I am working at is very different than Atlanta. I definitely know that my love is in cardiology and not general PICU. The people are generally nice...but of course there have been some sour apples...The new cardiac unit has opened and I was down there all last week. I worked four days and I saw things that should have been the simplest tasks turn into monumental upheavals. I always knew the cardiac unit in Atlanta had great nurses, but didn't realize I learned from THE BEST!! I do miss Atlanta, but I am having fun up here. I have had a rough couple of days and I work about ten times as hard as I did (because the unit in Atlanta is so well run), but all in all I have met some great people!

I met a girl from Colorado and her brother the first day of orientation. It's nice they are here because it has given me some people to hang out with...we have had so much fun just hanging out -- playing a lot of pool! The apartments are very nice--they have a "pub" that has a pool table and darts and a couple of other games and tv's...we stop by and fix coffee before we take a hike across the field to the metro for an hour's ride to work.

Let's get this started the right way...

1. Packing sucks!
2. Chocolate and strawberries fix EVERYTHING!
3. Packing still sucks...(yes mom, I said sucks)
4. Moving from a city you like to a city you've never been to is scary...
5. The unknown is always exciting--scary, but exciting...
6. ABC family movies are retarded...especially when Melissa Joan Hart is trying to act in them...
7. Staying home on a Saturday night to pack when your friends keep calling you to go out is crap!
8. Vacuum storage bags really do work...no really, they do...
9. Thank God for the Oxygen network on a Saturday night....hah hah...the chick flick station...
10. I think after watching the MTV music awards 25.6 times I could re-enact R.Kelly's "In the Closet" better than he did!

So if you haven't gathered...I am taking a huge leap of faith and moving from Atlanta, Ga to Washington, DC. I have never been to DC, but have a great job opportunity. I hear that DC has lots to offer a single girl like myself....what, with all the museums and restaurants and social gatherings. I am not so sure about a southern girl who has never felt temperatures below 32 degrees in the north during the winter months....but we southern women adapt--to whatever is thrown at us.

The picture is my new haircut (here you go mom) and I am with my awesome friend Natalie...her little girl has been through soooo much...she was a heart patient of mine who would not be alive today without the constant faith and prayer of her family and friends! I'll put her carepage link up in case anybody wants to see her cute little face! I'll have more pictures of us after friday! I'm having dinner with Natalie and Chris, Chuck and Laura, and Jill and Steve...I'll miss you guys!

I am moving in the next week and a half...i don't know how often I will be able to post -- not that I have any readers anyhow, but it was nice to think they might be out there. =)

oh yeah, 11. Harry Connick Jr. is HOT (watching Hope Floats on the "oxygen network"...I can't believe I am that big of a loser!

Ciao,
~Amber