Planning Ahead

Good evening everyone!
Today was a 12 hour shift at the pharmacy, that's why I'm posting so late! I'm super tired....kind of hyper tired you know what I mean!
I really want to share some interesting things I learned about the pharmacist surplus in a pharmacy magazine I was reading today but I will probably do that tomorrow, I need to get some sleep!
Now the title "planning ahead" comes up because I am usually the type of person that likes to have my life planned out. Now with starting a real life full time job I have found that planning ahead is harder than before! Now I have only 2 weeks of vacation to plan the rest of my year around! I have no idea when I want to take it, knowing I want some of it around the holidays. As a retail pharmacist I will have to work one or more of the big holidays like thanksgiving or Christmas, it's hard to decide when I want to take this time off and there's also the fact that what I request has to be approved by the supervisor and if too many people have requested the same weeks, I may not get what I request! This is pretty stressful! I also have to know in October all the weeks I want vacation for the whole next year! Ahh! The only good thing about this is that I get to think about vacation and where I want to go and what I want to do! I think me and the bf are going to plan a long weekend getaway in the fall which I'm excited about!
Well that's it for tonight!

Yours truly,
Amanda

Monday

Happy Monday everyone!
 Yesterday was a stormy day here in Florida. I went to church in the morning then studied most of the afternoon and evening until Real Housewives of New Jersey was on at 10pm. Church was really great yesterday. My favorite priest did the mass and it was all about communion. Unfortunately it was this priest's last day as he is retiring :-(
Yesterday I studied pain meds, seizure meds, vaccines and did math problems. Seizure meds are some of my least favorite to study because they all have a lot of side effects and drug interactions to memorize.
This morning I'll be doing more math problems before I work later this afternoon. Psychiatric disease is the next chapter which I'm putting off because that's another category of drugs that have a lot of side effects and interactions to memorize, lol. Doesn't this all sound so fun!?
Well I better go get stuff done before work!

Have a great day!

Yours Truly,
 Amanda

I Hope You Don't Mind

You know that song by Elton John that goes, "I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words how wonderful life is while you're in the world?" I heard it on my way home today and now it's stuck in my head! At least it is a good song!
Today was pretty uneventful. My mom, my sister and I watched an episode of Real Housewives this morning. Then I got down to studying for the afternoon. This evening we went over to my aunt's house for dinner and got to hang out with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a nice little get together and great food! Now I'm going to try to get one more chapter of studying done before bed...I know, fun Saturday night, huh? Tomorrow will be church and more studying, hopefully a workout in there. Working out is one thing I can't seem to motivate myself to do lately. I think once I join a gym I will be more motivated, I hope! I like to work out and I'm fine once I'm doing it, it's just starting it that's the problem.

Here's a funny picture of Toby...he's yawning, lol.

Have a great night everyone!

Yours Truly,
Amanda

Sunshine

Summer in Florida is HOT! However, I really am enjoying it! I love getting out of a long day of work or studying and see palm trees and take a dip in the pool. It's great shopping at the outdoor malls and eating outside year round! Now that it is summer it is rainy season so there is usually a short thunderstorm that rolls through in the evening and cools everything off which is refreshing. Summer in Florida is technically the bad weather season down here, and let me tell you, I will take too hot over too cold!

Work this morning was very busy which was good because my time went by so fast! I decided to relax for a bit after work before getting to studying. I've been watching the Say Yes To The Dress marathon which is always addicting! I wonder if after you are already married if the whole excitement of these types of shows is still around.
I got good news today that my boyfriend booked his flight to visit down here in two weeks! I can't wait to see him!!! Well I hope everyone has a great Friday night!

Yours Truly,
Amanda

Pharmacy Life

Well today pretty much all I did was work. I was at the pharmacy from 9am until 9pm today. At this pharmacy the pharmacists do a 12 hour shift every week. Let me tell you, by 6pm you start to go a little crazy, lol. It's probably mostly due to dehydration and low blood sugar but still! I don't know how nurses and doctors work 12 hour shifts all the time! I work again tomorrow at 9am but only for a few hours then I'm off for the weekend! I would say I'm excited but the weekend just means I have to study for the boards all day :-( 

On a side note I have a beauty dilemma. I really like to have my nails painted at all times, however my nails chip literally the day after I paint them and it's so frustrating! I use good nail polish (OPI) and a good top coat (Seche Vite) but still they chip. I have had a shellac manicure before which I LOVED but then I read it could be bad for your nails if you do it all the time...Any tips out there?

Yours Truly,
 Amanda

I Survived!

Yes everyone I survived immunization training! We had to give each other three shots and not only did I pass but I didn't freak out when I was the one receiving the shots! I think it is so important for pharmacists to be able to give vaccines because quite often we are the most accessible healthcare professional. Just walk in to your nearest Walgreens, CVS, grocery store, or big box store and you have someone who is not only knowledgeable about medications but also disease states and we can vaccinate you too! Can you tell I like my profession? Just a little bit ;-) The only down side is that pharmacists in Florida can only give flu shots as of now. There are many people out there who should be getting other vaccines and maybe if pharmacists could give them they would be more apt to get them. I'm hoping this law is changed soon!

Other than training today I just hung out and watched some Real Housewives which I'm sure most of you know I'm addicted to and now I have my mom and sister addicted too!

Lastly, I was a little sad today thinking about my boyfriend. Long distance is super hard...I think so far it is going as well as it can be. We talk on the phone each day but as those of you in relationships know, its just not enough. Especially at this point in my life when I feel like I have everything going for me with my family, my job, being young and healthy, having great friends and an awesome boyfriend. Why can't I have them all in the same place though!?  I pray about everything in my life and in the lives of those close to me. I know it will all work out the way it should...I'm just impatient!

 I'm off to bed early. I have to wake up and study before I work at 2! Have a great night!

P.S. I need to think of a good sign off for all my blog posts...we'll just go with this for now

Yours truly,
 Amanda

Father's Day and Miss USA

Yesterday was father's day and I was really excited to spend the day with family. We went to church in the morning, stopped by my grandparents for a bit and then went to the mall. Guess what store we spent a lot of time in?

That's right, Bass Pro Shop! Basically a huge toy store for men, lol.
After shopping we got some lunch and then just relaxed at home for the rest of the day. It was a nice father's day!

There's no good segway into my next topic here...Miss USA pageant.
The Miss USA pageant was on last night. My sisters and I have always loved watching beauty pageants since we were little. We'd always pick Miss Illinois and if she didn't get to the top then we'd pick based on our favorite evening gown. Now over the years as I've gotten older I still like watching these pageants, but I think I like watching them almost as motivation. (I realize there's no real brain stimulating value to watching these.) I know it sounds bad but the truth is these girls are perfect looking.

It makes me think "Hmm maybe I need to get to the gym more, whiten my teeth and grow 5 inches." Haha. Is that bad? How do you guys feel about these pageants? Am I the only one that watches them?

Anyway, I do want to get into a regular workout routine regardless of Miss USA. I think I'm going to sign up for a gym membership in the next couple of weeks. My parents' neighborhood has a workout room but it's pretty small. I'm thinking L.A. Fitness. In the meantime this is where my workouts are happening

 Well, I'm off to study for the boards the rest of the day. Stay tuned for my post tomorrow after my immunization training. I'm really NOT looking foward to this considering I hate needles and we have to practice on each other :-(. Wish me luck!

Have a great day!

Cheese!

Hi everyone!
 Today was a busy day! I worked 9-6 today. It was good to work on a weekend day because it was just me and the pharmacist so she let me pretty much run the show and helped me along the way. I want to get a feel for the real thing as much as possible so I'm comfortable when I'm on my own! It is a little nerve wracking to think about being the person in charge of the pharmacy. I'm used to always having a pharmacist there to look to for help if needed!
So the reason for the title "cheese" : When I was little my mom and my aunt would go out to a dairy farm and get fresh non-homogenized milk about once a year to make homemade cheese. My mom had the idea to have family over tonight for appetizers and cheese! I like all kinds of cheese but this isn't exactly my favorite, I'll usually just have a few bites. Here's what it looks like!

I was really excited because my grandparents got me a great graduation gift but I didn't get it until tonight! It's a Lladro figurine of a pharmacist!

Well I'm super tired after this long day. I hope you all have a great night!

Getting Started!

Hello!
I've decided to start a blog after a couple of my friends started their own blogs recently! I really like reading their blogs because we don't live near each other any more and it's a great way to keep up with them!
I'm not sure how interesting this blog will be but I like the idea of chronicling my life. This blog will be focused on my job, relationships, travel, etc. There are a lot of new things going on in my life right now. I just graduated pharmacy school and moved from Indiana to Florida!  I've recently started training for my job and I'm also studying for my boards to become a licensed pharmacist. In moving to Florida I'm now closer to my family but I did move away from my friends and my boyfriend so it's been a big transition!

Last weekend I met up with my boyfriend in Rhode Island to meet his family for the first time! I had never been to Rhode Island before and it was really great! We went a toured a mansion built by the Vanderbilt's in 1893, we also shopped, ate seafood and just enjoyed each others company. I'll leave you with a few photos from the trip!