THIRTY . . . and 2

Does anyone else hear the Jaws theme song in the background?!? Well, it happened on Friday . . . I turned 3 whole decades old!! I remember when I thought 20 was "OLD" and 30 was "one foot in the grave". Well, I'm hear to tell you, it's NOT the end of the world! It was actually a nice day. (aside from being sick and having no voice) :-)

I went home for a couple days to celebrate/mourn (depending on how you look at it) this milestone. Admittedly, I'm not where I thought I'd be at this age. In most respects, I'm in a better place, though. I've gotten to do and see amazing things as well as meet incredible people, and for this I am grateful! Friday night, we had some family over for a cookout and cake. YUM!!

My dad (the Grill Maestro) and Papa Joe

It was great to visit with everyone and hear updates from their lives. After everyone left, I got out my new birthday toy and played a little. Fellow croppers, card makers, and otherwise crafty people . . . prepare to drool a little! :-)

Yep . . . my amazing parents got me a Cricut. How fun is that?!?!? Of course I had to play with it a little before going to bed that night. :-) I guess the thrill of playing with new toys doesn't go away with age. It was a great few days at home, and now I'm back in Virginia resting up to go back to work - hopefully tomorrow night (if my voice decides to return).

So . . . this brings me to another type of anniversary that happens to be today. I left Texas 2 years ago this morning to start this thing called "travel nursing". It's funny to think that I'm about 10 miles west of where I was on this exact day last year.

One of the tigers at the National Zoo

I started this "travel year" living in Arlington, VA, and working in DC. Now, I'm finishing up the "travel year" living in Fairfax, VA, and working in Falls Church, VA. (literally 10 miles down the road) I spent the majority of this year in North Carolina, though.

I got to work at a hospital in Greenville, NC, from last August through this March. Needless to say, I really enjoyed living in North Carolina. So, here are a few shots from the past year.

My little piece of heaven . . . Ocracoke Island

One of the many NC lighthouses

Neuse River near Raleigh

Now, back to the DC area . . .

Our Capitol on a beautiful day

That's my year in a nutshell. It's been a mostly good year, and it's fun to complete my traveling in the same place (well, almost) that I started it two years ago. Like coming full circle. :-) Now, the "fun" task of finding a real job.