That one time our basement flooded...

Hi Family (and friends)! 

So this last weekend in the Burgh was the weekend they celebrate St. Patricks day. You might be thinking okay.....cool, but so what? if you live in Arkansas because lets be honest...St. Patty day St. Schmatty day amiright? Well in Pittsburgh, St. Patty's day is like a two week celebration. The first night we were here the woman working at a coffee shop we visited told us "Oh you guys are in town just in time for the best holiday!" She then went on to tell us all about St. Practice day (Yeah that's right). Its the weekend before the big weekend where people test out their alcoholic fortitude and decide what bars they want to bar hop to and from. They basically practice for the real thing. So this tells me that people in the burgh just really want to party....everyday. 

Jussus and I weren't really in the market for celebrating St. Practice day due to the fact that we had to study for our boards. So we studied and studied our butts off and then we took our big, huge, life changing test last Thursday at 8am. Then I immediately threw up. The lady at the testing site said I wasn't the first to throw up that day...I couldn't help but laugh thinking about how many people had thrown up breakfast before/after taking these kinds of exams. The thing about the boards, for me, is that you don't get immediate scores so you have to wait. The waiting is the worst, you guys. Juss and I tried to go out to celebrate being done at last, but you can't help but have that feeling in the back of your mind that you didn't pass. I mean this test, this monster of an exam, is so HARD. Its a competency exam for our nursing license and its so ridiculous the amount of information that can be tested over that their is no way you could possibly know everything. So you sit down and you just answer these questions even though you've never heard of this drug or that kind of traction device and your test just turns off at 75 or 78 or 265 questions ( well really any number of questions after 75, just enough to show you can or you can't ) and then you sit and stare at a blank screen because that's it. You did your best, you hope, or you just floundered and now you have to pay $200 to retake the test. So that's why you can't really celebrate being done...because are you really done? In my opinion you aren't done until you see a RN behind your name.  Never the less here's a picture of Juss putting on a brave face at Fatheads after the test. Its such an attractive face right?

Blueberry brews :)

So that next day (Friday) Jussus had to work at the base and when he got home he had the BEST news ever. He had gotten a call from UPMC for a job interview. I  screamed at the top of my lungs because this was such a relief. We both are currently unemployed (as far as nursing goes) and are tumbling towards desperation (not really but you catch my drift). Then J connected the most important dots....He said " Its weird because I haven't applied for a job in like 2 months. I wonder if they know something I don't?" In Arkansas your board results will post to the state nursing board in 48-72 hours so you can check usually check the site. We had no clue what Pennsylvania did but we certainly hadn't thought to check the NEXT day.  So we logged on and I typed in Sanchez, state PA and nothing. Hmmm......Then I tried Petitjean and skipped the state box and BOOM! You guys...I PASSED MY BOARDS! AHHHH! miniature party in my head because at first I thought I passed but my husband didn't. oh no....He was so brave. You would have never been able to tell he was devastated. I wasn't ready to face defeat yet so I thought well lets check yours again. So this time I typed in Sanchez, no state and lo and behold their it was in all its glory. Jussus Sanchez, RN. Their was jumping on the bed, and crying, and calling of our parents. Best day ever :)

Saturday was St. Patricks day celebration day and we were prepared to celebrate in style. Let me tell you why. Our basement flooded....like our pipes froze, unfroze, and then burst the previous week. Our landlord, R, is such a nice guy and this is his first rental property (bless his heart). He got us a hotel room at a very nice hotel down the street so that the plumbers could basically undo all the work Ive done unpacking and decorating our apartment. They had to re pipe the bathroom and put it upstairs instead of downstairs...Its a mess in our apartment right now. I am prone to anxiety and stress induced temper tantrums that end in me crying under the blankets while Jussus tries to convince me life is not over. At this point you should all be realizing how amazing of a man I married because letsbehonest...I'm a handful, and not always in a good way. ANYWAYS. We avoided all that because we stayed away for the weekend. Check out this view from our hotel suite. Isn't Pittsburgh beautiful?

Downtown Pittsburgh from the Sheraton in Station square

The only part of the weekend I would change if I could, would be the rain but the Sanchez family made the best of it...we even caught about 15 minutes of the parade before we bailed and day drank instead. I'm  happy to announce that my drinking all night and into the early morning days are long past me because we lasted until around 10:30p before we both collapsed into a bundle of down comforters, glasses and face creams in our fancy, free king suite. Here's some pictures of our St. Patricks day fun

Kegs and Eggs at Excuses

Sanchez Trio at the St. Patricks day parade :)

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO,

Natasha Sanchez