Breath of fresh air...

I just saw a clip posted on a friend's facebook status of a former Hopkins High Schooler, Chris La Tondresse, on Fox News discussing a possible new direction for evangelical youth today.  (Chris and I happened to be in 2 choirs together in the good old days, and I will vouch for him that he is a very nice guy.) While I am a very liberal, proudly democrat and not a fan of the current stereotypical evangelical philosophy and political dynamic, I was blown away by Chris's explanation of why he voted for Barack Obama this year instead of voting republican as he had before. As I said  before, Chris is a truly great person, and while we don't see eye to eye on all things, I greatly respect and appreciate his current stance on the focus of his religion, which he articulated beautifully in the clip below:

Chris La Tondresse on Fox News

My Lia Sophia website is up!

For those of you who don't know, I've recently begun a new endeavour selling Lia Sophia jewelry.  So far, it's been lots of fun!  The jewelry is beautiful and affordable, and I love helping people pick pieces.  I just got my website up today.  Check out the catalog and let me know if you'd like to order anything! This month, if you buy 2 items full price, you get up to 4 at half price which is a steal!!  Check out my website and the catalog here.

Also, my goal for January is to have 8 parties so my manager will buy me a new display set.  I have 3 in the works so far, but if anyone is interested, let me know!!  

And thanks for everyone's support on my new business!! It will be so helpful for Scott and I during this stressful financial time.

Love,

Lauren

P.S. If anyone is interested in what I get for being a Lia Sophia advisor, don't hesitate to ask!

Plumbing Disaster

Living in New York City, usually in very old buildings, you expect some things to be a little faulty.  A dripping sink, a noisy radiator, even in our last building when the bathroom ceiling caved in from above us due to a neighbor's flooding.  In our current apartment, it's the bathroom.  The sink leaves something to be desired in the draining department....slow, slooowww draining.  And the bathtub is so old, it has the shower head in the middle of the tub and requires 2 shower curtains because of the way it is exposed and not between 2 walls.  Scott and I noticed on Sunday that both our drains seemed a little slow, and after a trip to Target (which left me sore because I bought far too much to carry home with me but did it anyways), we used some draino-type solution and unclogged both the sink and the tub.  We were happy as clams.

Yesterday morning, I noticed water creeping up my ankles as I showered and was saddened to realize after I got out of the shower, that the water was not receding at all.  In denial, I told myself it would go down before Scott showered an hour or two later.  However, while sitting in my Peds class, I received a frantic call from Scott to call our super because we had about 5 inches of water in our tub from both of our showers and the water wasn't going anywhere.  A few minutes later, I received another call from Scott which went to voicemail, and he told me that his wise father, Steve, had suggested we try plunging the drain to see if we could unclog the mess ourselves.  I got home from my 8 hours of pediatrics, and went to plunging. I got out 2 huge hairballs, one that resembled (in shape and size) a mouse.  But the tub would still not drain. And now we had brown crap, assumingly from the pipes, sitting in the water.  At this point, I ran up to the bodega near our apartment to buy some more draino, however all they had was generic extra strength drain cleaner for $2.50.  I wasn't especially hopeful, but I bought the bottle anyways, proceeded to pour the whole thing in the tub and nothing happened. 

So now our tub is full with brown muck and harsh declogging chemicals which are not in fact declogging anything, and Scott reminds me that he has an interview with a voice over agent tomorrow and it would be helpful if he could shower.  His wise father once again suggests to use that we scoop our the water into the toilet and flush it down so at least Scott can stand in the shower tomorrow.  After scooping most of the water our, I continue plunging until I realized I'm only plunging to procrastinate doing my homework. So I stop and write up a careplan and call my sister.  I talk to her husband, also named Steve, who was a plumber's apprentice for about a year, and he says the only thing we can really do without having to call a plumber (we're a little short on funds now) is continue plunging and flush the drain with hot water occasionally.  I try this for a while to no avail.  My arms are now sore, and the plunging action has officially taken the place of my work out for the day.  I think of it like CPR. People don't realize just how exhausting it is!

Scott finally arrives home from his play, to which no one attended so it was cancelled.  Eventually, he takes up the plunging and flushing with hot water.  But still no drainage.  We're about to give up when Scott again talks to his wise father Steve who suggests yet another technique to increase the plunging pressure. We try this late into the night...until about 11:20pm to be exact when we received a phone call from the doorman that our downstairs neighbor had issued a noise complaint. (After speaking with him today, he informed me it sounded like the ceiling was going to come down on him and his wife.)  Scott explained to the doorman that we were having some plumbing problems, to which he was scolded because we shouldn't be doing our own plumbing apparently (though I don't know if plunging can be considered plumbing at this rate.)  He suggests we fill out a work order form (we had already tried to call the super but he never responded, and I was convinced we weren't allowed to have the building maintenance people work on our apartment because of some details in our sublet agreement.)

This morning, around 9am, a friendly maintenance man arrives at our door with some sort of plumbing equipment. Half an hour later, he leaves with the drains perfectly patent.  Scott and I are sore and exhausted.  We have company coming on Thursday and a party to give on Saturday.  Who knew a little work order form could have saved us all that stress (and plunging.) Such is life I suppose!

Halloween '08 in 3 states!!

Happy (belated) Halloween!  I wanted to wait until I could get as many pictures as possible from people before posting this diverse  blog of Halloween experiences.

We start off our Halloween in the wild forests of Wisconsin, as Isaac, Erin and Steve's darling nephew, dressed as a fierce, ferocious tiger...who you just want to squeeze!!

Now we move to the streets of Vadnais Heights, Minnesota and the home of Fifi the poodle (aka McKenna, our good friend Jill's adorable daughter).

It's a tough job staying up late to get candy from strange people.  Sometimes, Mom just has to take over.

And here we are in New York, Halloween day (I didn't dress up until the day after, but I had my nails painted black in the spirit of my costume!) Also in the picture is Pirate, Kristen and Kitty Cat, Jen.  They're not impressed with my lack of costume.

Here are the real spirited Halloweeners, Judy (the school girl), Kristen (the tough pirate, argggg) and Jen (the sweet, yet sour kitty cat). These girls are in my Assessing Clinical Evidence project group and we are all suffering the terrible group project together.

Here I am on party night...being GOTH GIRL!!!! Freaky, I know.

We were the first peeps at the party so we took advantage and got a great pic of some clinical ladies! Emily (catholic school girl), me (goth girl), Alex (Mardi Gras) and Jen (Blair Waldorf of Gossip girl)

Emily was fortunate enough to get a pic with Flavor Flav!! (Jen's nice friend from Jersey.)

And sadly, part way through the night, my makeup started coming off and you can see specs of my pale skin under my white make-up (Thank God for Scott's stage makeup.)  Oh wait...you can't tell the difference? Never mind. Pic with Emily and Jen.

Nursing girls just want to have fun!!!!!  Here is a group of us from the Columbia ETP program showing New York City that we work hard and play hard!

Happy Halloween y'all. And make sure to get out and vote tomorrow!!

Frighteningly accurate....

I swore this wouldn't become a political blog, but this is too good not to post.  Feel free to stop reading at any time if your opinions don't match with mine.  Here is an excerpt from Gov. Palin's interview with Katie Couric the other night:

Katie Couric: Why isn't it better, Gov. Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

Gov. Sarah Palin: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the -- it's got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we've got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we've got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

And HERE is a link to Tina Fey's (and SNLs) interpretation of the same interview.  She could have taken it word for word.  It's sick!! How could this woman possibly become our next president! Please vote responsibly!!!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Find out what it means to me!

This week, I feel that I have encountered more than my share of disrespect.  

There seems to be some people in my program who think that if the professor doesn't condone to their every wish, it gives them the right to be outright rude, which is a terrible representation of our class as a whole as well as down right embarrassing.  Grow up ladies.  This is a higher level of learning and your high school antics aren't going to pass.  Maybe if you'd stop complaining, you'd learn something.

Also, while watching the debates last night, which I must say were pretty darn boring, I noticed that John McCain had QUITE the condescending tone to the very respectful Barack Obama.  I personally think it's just tacky.  And so did some writers at Time.Com who came up with this grading system for the debates.  I whole heartedly agree.

Things I've seen lately...

Late this Saturday night...more like early Sunday morning, I was riding the N train with some girls from my program at school (namely Cori, Monica and Kristin, as well as K's girlfriend Elyce) back from a birthday bar crawl in Brooklyn.  Seeing as how I had been at a play earlier and Cori and Monica had been out all day watching Columbia Football as well as Gator Football, we were all exhausted.  Monica and I snagged seats across from a white-trashesque couple, of which the woman was lying across the man's lap presumably passed out.  Part way through the trip, the woman eventually chatted a bit with her boyfriend and the guy next to us (who was either really impressed we all went to Columbia or really appalled that we were paying Columbia tuition to get a nursing degree).  The train was getting more crowded, and had it not been for my keen observational skills, I may not have even noticed that the formerly passed-out woman pulled out a small, circular tupperware container from her bag.  Monica noticed as well, however she chalked it up to being food and lost interest.  I, however, caught the woman opening the lid of the tupperware, only to see a little white mouse with a long tail running around, frightened as hell.  The woman proceeded to close the lid, smile at Mr. White Trash USA (i.e. her boyfriend) who rolled his eyes at her, and we continued on our merry way.

Sadly, I've probably seen stranger in NY. However, thought all my dedicated readers...you know...all 3 of you (*wink*)...would enjoy my little anecdote.

New York Happenings August/September Edition

Hello all!

I guess I'm going to have to settle with only writing these emails every 2 months while I'm in school because it's too tough to find the time to do it every month. And considering all I really have to talkabout is nursing school, I may bore you all if I write more often! School is still going well. Perhaps slightly less stressful and busy than last semester, but that for some reason makes it harder for me to motivate myself. I have a new clinical group so I have been making even more great friends and will post some pics up on my blog as soon as I get some. There are some very wonderful people in my program (and some pretty annoying ones, but that's besides the point.).

My current clinical is adult Med/Surg at Cornell's hospital (part ofthe New York Presbyterian system, #6 in the country) on 68th and York.This hospital is FABULOUS. The unit I'm on is a breath of fresh air (haha..and it's a pulmonary step-down unit) after the somewhat dreary one I was on this summer at Milstein Hospital (at Columbia's campus, also part of the NYP system.) The nurses are so receptive and just show you everything they're doing, and even let you try new things. They're a younger bunch of nurses compared to those from my summer unit, and perhaps that's why they're primed to teach us. Even though I don't particularly want to work on a med/surg unit, I find myself getting REALLY excited to be done with school and be a nurse for a bit! (I still plan to take a 1 year leave of absence after mybachelors program to gain experience.) It looks like so much fun. My clinical instructors are also great for many reasons, but especiallybecause they let us follow nurses in other areas of the hospital. This Wednesday I was in the ER and I LOVED IT! The fast pace just gave me a rush, and Cornell is even a Trauma 1 hospital (which means they get the worst of the worst traumas...completely thrilling if you're an adrenaline junkie like me.) We also got to go visit theNeuroSurg ICU this week, and that was another great experience. Those nurses have to be the most competent nurses, just REALLY on top of their game. I found out that a few of the ICUs at Cornell do hire new grads, which was quite a refreshing discovery! I can't wait to get out there.

A short disclaimer for the nursing profession: although some people may still have the idea of the nurse in all white with the little cap on her head who just follows doctors orders, I'm here to tell you that is not what nursing is about anymore, and hasn't been for a loooonnnnggg time. (Think back to Florence Nightengale days...damn Flo gave some of us a bad name.) The nurses I have met, especially who work on the hospital floors, are smart, competent, caring, strong women and men who are doing one of the hardest but most rewarding jobs in the world. I believe I have found the right profession to utilize my strength (physical and mental), brain and sensitive nature to help people who are ailing. Don't ever undermine a nurse just because he/she is not a doctor. Because quite frankly, he/she does allll the work, and has to use lots of brain power to do so. Stepping off the soap box now.

Scott is doing well. He is currently doing some administrative work for Steven Chaikelson, the head of the theater program at Columbia who also happens to be a producer. Scott worked for him 2 summers ago, andthey took him on this time for about a month and a half which is very helpful. The consistent work is great. Scott has still be auditioning a bit, but nothing has come of it yet. He is also taking voice over classes (you know...the announcers you hear in TV commercials?), and he is really enjoying it. His teachers seem to think he could have a future in the industry, which is apparently even MORE difficult to get into than acting. But he's excited to put himself out there and see what happens.

Not much else going on out here. Can't attend to many wedding plans currently as I've got some more pressing issues to keep up with (i.e.grades.) I did enjoy seeing family at my Grandparent's 60th weddinganniversary party on August and am putting the link to some pics up here: http://newyorkhappenings.blogspot.com/2008/09/reason-to-celebrate.html

We're headed out to a play tonight starring Dylan McDermott and MauraTierney which sadly got bad reviews, but can't let those tickets go to waste! We're also looking forward to Scott's golden birthday next weekend (he'll be 27), and a visit from Erin and Steve in November. Until then, I must hit the books and read some more about anemia and other hematological issues. Good times. Much love to all! Hope the economic situation hasn't hit any of you too hard! (And if it has, go into nursing. Pure job security.)

Love yas,
Lauren

Larger than life...

My friends are totally famous, and I'm quite proud which is why I'm featuring them in my blog.

My friend Mary, currently getting her masters in Library Science from the University of British Columbia, volunteered last year in Peru, wrote an article about it for the local Peruvian newspaper, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that an internet travel magazine wanted to publish it!!  Click here to read!

Another of my friends, Mary Clare, was featured with a lovely picture in the local NY mag, Time Out New York. They did a feature on what New Yorkers associate with certain locales in the NYC area.  Click here to check out her cuteness and wittiness.

Keep up the famousness ladies!!

Fearing the future...

I promise this will not become a political blog because there are plenty of those around, and I know I have family and friends who read my blog who are not of the same political mindset I am.  This is fine, and this is their right.  And if you are afraid after that intro about what is to come in this blog, I suggest you stop reading now.  I'm not here to offend, but to voice my fears.

In recent weeks, I have been watching the news of Sarah Palin's VP run, and I am honestly frightened.  I am frightened that this person, who could easily become the president of the United States is in denial about what is really happening in this world (global warming, evolution, multiculturalism).  Conservative is one thing.  Closed-minded is another.  Scientists have proven that global warming is occurring.  Deny all you want that evolution has happened because that's not what the bible says, but again, science has all the proof we need.  And the most atrocious I think is her supposed desire to rejoin church and state.  We are a multicultural, multiethnic, multireligious country. We provide many opportunities for many people living in more oppressive conditions.  DO NOT ALLOW SOMEONE TO TAKE THIS AWAY. Whether you do or don't believe another person's religion, another person's cultural views, or another person's political views, please at least allow them to have them.  If not, that is taking away everything that America is based on, and that would be a complacent end to the land of the free and the home of the brave.  

Of course I am happy that a woman is in the running to become vice president.  But I hope that my female peers don't only base their decision on her gender, because she may be female, but she is also a human who is not in touch with what this country is and what it stands for. 

Eve Ensler summarizes most of my fears in this article.  Read if you want a more articulate version of this message.

HAAIIIR! Flow it...show it...loooonnng as I can grow it my HAAAIIIIRRR

On August 31st, Scott and I, being the crazy kids that we are, arrived at Central Park at 6am to wait in line to get tickets to Hair, which is part of these year's Shakespeare In the Park season. This rendition was directed (quite well I may add) by Diane Paulus who also happened to direct Scott's thesis production, Another Country. I just found out yesterday, thanks to PerezHilton.com that the show is transferring to Broadway. This is well deserved I think! There are spectacular performances by the actors who play Berger, Wolf and Jeanie, and many of the others as well. So here are the pics of our fun day together which began around 5:15am!!

Scott in the cab on the way to Central Park. Yes, it is still dark, but the West Side Highway has a beautiful view of the river at that time of morning!

Here is the tree that we sat underneath in line which proceeded to drop numerous acorns on us throughout the morning. Scott was convinced he would develop PTSD from the acorn attacks.

This one landed on me. I am not happy.

Scott, ducking for cover!!

Here is the sweeeetest puppy in the world, Otter, who was in line next to us. We watched him all morning and he never failed to entertain us. I want one, just like him. Unfortunately my eosinophils and basophils won't allow it.

Scott and I with our snacks. Woot for Teddy Grahams!

While we sat there for 7 hours, we had to come up with ways to entertain ourselves. I created Pepe, the acorn/stick man. He died eventually.

Scott made a collection of all of the intact acorns that he found pictured above. It was a long wait people.

But it was nice to have each other's company!

Here is the line, perhaps hard to see but let's just say it was LOOOONNNGGG. Not everyone gets tickets. It pays to get there at 6am.

Scott and I after we finally got our tickets. We are sooo happy that we get to go home and nap!

Sing and Huling came with us to the show. They get to wait in line for us next year. Sweet!

Scott sniffing the flower that was actually given to Huling by one of the character's in the show, and he then gave it to me, and we went onstage to dance at the end to "LEEETTT THE SUUUNNNSHINNNEE!" What a feel good experience!

A reason to celebrate...

On August 23rd, much of the Maderak clan joined in the celebration of my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. So much to live up to! But at least we all have good role models in terms of a committed, and obviously loving relationship.  Here are some pics of the event:

The lovely couple, Grandma Catie and Grandpa Joe...smooching.

As you can see, he can still make her laugh. So sweet!

Some cousins! Myself, Eli (a freshman football player!), Shannon, Erin and Hayley

Colleen and I keeping our eyes on Mallory (2.5 years old) who is one of the most darling little ladies I've ever met.  She can't swim on her own but man those pink wings did her good.

My mom and one cute hunk of a baby, Thomas, son of my cousin Maggie and her husband Jerry.

If this pic is any indication of what a good dad my brother-in-law, Steve, will be, then I say bring on the nieces and nephews!!

Ellie and Mallory, chillin' out.

Me, Suzee (honorary cousin-in-law...not YET by marriage, but hopefully some day!) and my sister, Erin. She has our approval.

My money grubbing cousins, Hayley and Ellie, and their dad, Mike. They sure know all the tricks at their young ages!

My grandparents are presented with their gift from the kids, a digital frame, and react by saying, "What the hell is this?" Ok, not really. But that was the general idea.  They now know what it is and appreciate it greatly.

Mallory and Uncle Jim who sadly broke BOTH of his heels at different times the day of the party.  Hope your heels heal Uncle Jim!

The fam, Grandpa Joe, Grandma Catie, Uncle Joe, Aunt Janie,  Uncle John, Mom, Uncle Jim, Aunt Joanie and Uncle Mike. They only had 7 kids in their family. Geesh.

GParents and cousins, Stephen (who is moving to New Jersey! Woot woot for East Coast family!), me, Grandma and Grandpa, Erin and Joe.

The "Good Girls" as we were called by my sister, Katelyn and I.  We are shopping machines!

Suzee and Joe (he looovves to have his picture taken. Can't you tell?)

Grandpa Joe, Shannon and Great Uncle Spike (gotta love having a Great Uncle Spike in the family) the day after the par-tay.

Grandpa and Steve. They are besties.

And finally Steve, ready to get the hell out of Dodge...or just ready to hit the road for the 8 hour drive back to Mn.

Good times had by all, and as always, great to see family.  I was also quite anxious to get back to my soon to be family (e.g. Scott) and our reunion after 2.5 weeks was a great one!  Wish he could have partied with the Maderaks!

August in Minnesota

While In Minnesota for the first 2.5 weeks of August, I spent about 5 busy days with Scott doing wedding stuff before he returned to New York. The rest of the time, I laid around, watched Heroes on DVD, read 1.5 books, laid out at a couple pools and caught up with some friends. Those friends not pictured include Jodie Murray (aka Flaherty), Lauren Anderson, Kim Roszell, Geoff Wilson, Jack Tillman (and the future Mrs. Tillman, Laura) and Lindsey Streamer.  And it was so lovely to see those people and to see how people REALLY don't change. Just circumstances it seems.

For those I did see, I have some wonderful pictures that I'd like to share with all of you!

Scott and I at my Dad's b-day get together

My first shot as a drummer playing Rock Band at Emily and Stan's. Good times!

Erin and I hanging out at Jon Snover's lovely new apartment in Uptown

Jon and Kate's wonder dog, Bianca

Jon and I were both missing our significant others and had to pretend to be out with each other instead.

The bro-in-law, Steve and Erin out in uptown with Jon and I

Steve, Erin and I at Pittsburgh Blue in Maple Grove

If someone had told me we were taking family pics at Pittsburgh Blue, maybe I would have showered after being at the pool all day.

Erin and her sugar daddy....no, not Steve...the drink

You mess with the bull (at Pittsburgh Blue), you get the horns!

Dad couldn't give the bull bunny ears so he had to settled for an interesting facial expression instead.

The ladies of Ann Lane!  Anne and Kaye Cain Nielsen, Erin Baker, Meredith Cain-Nielsen and meee. Minus the bronze one in the middle, we could all be mistaken as sisters...I mean..the ones who actually aren't sisters....nevermind.

Nerdy Bachnick love of KG!

The Bachnick girls and the Snover boys, minus 1. Dad filled in Marc's place.

Kate, Jon, Mom and Eric. Awwww.

And there you have it!  After all this excitement, my family and I traveled to Kansas City, Kansas for some more family excitement...pictures to come.