hillarygayle | Entries tagged with photos

Thought I would share some photos of our trip to Hot Springs! Bryan spent his days at the Arkansas School for Math, Science & the Arts (ASMSA) while Ganon & I hung out at the RV, drove around Hot Springs hunting for things to improve the RV with, and played around on the free wifi (!) at KOA.

The Hot Springs KOA is an extremely nice place. It's built into the side of a hill and the campsites are terraced. There are several large pull-through sites, which is exactly what I wanted. They sent a person on a golf cart to pilot me into the spot & make sure we could reach the sewer/water/electricity hookups. The campground was super close to the downtown area; it only took 8 minutes to drive Bryan over to the school. Really it was QUITE awesome. I loved the whole experience & I feel like getting a KOA membership was a great idea.

Where there was once a heavy, small-screened CRT television, there is now an empty cabinet with a nice flat screen mounted to it. All thanks to my incredibly creative parents and my dad who just sort of happens to carry a table saw in the back of his truck. Not a joke. The empty cabinet now contains wiring for the Apple TV and any video game systems we want to bring along. My mom said we're supposed to go on vacation to "get away from that stuff," but I disagree. You go to get away from work & stress!

More pictures of the campground & our trip in here!
( Read more... )

Current Mood: cheerful

Four names I go by:
1. Hillary
2. Creech
3. Doc
4. Mama

Four places I have lived:
1. Current house in Jonesboro, AR

2. A rice farm outside Weiner, AR
3. An apartment on Preston Oaks Road in Dallas, TX
4. The "married apartments" at Harding University in Searcy, AR

Four things I love to watch on TV:
1. The Great British Bake Off
2. Anything Star Trek

3. Steven Universe
4. The weather

Four places I have visited this year:
1. Dallas, Texas
2. Chicago, Illinois (my first time!)

3. Memphis, Tennessee
4. Little Rock, Arkansas

Four favorite drinks:
1. Coffee
2. Dr. Pepper
3. Dirty gin martinis

I discovered last night that I like dirty gin martinis!

4. Grapefruit Izze soda

Four favorite foods:
1. Sushi (salmon, tuna, & scallops are my faves)

2. Fruit pie (you name the fruit: apple, cherry, peach, blackberry, raspberry, whatever)
3. Broccoli
4. Fresh baked bread

Four favorite fantasy expenditures if I won a mega lottery:
1. A house. One that LOOKS like a 1970s modern but has all top notch plumbing & electrical & the fanciest smart home stuff. Also I want a hidden room, like behind a cabinet or a bookshelf. :)
2. An Urban Decay lipstick vault
3. A top-of-the-line remodel for St. Mark's kitchen
4. A couple of surgeries for my friends who need them.

I must highly recommend the chocolate chip pancakes at Eggcellent Cafe. Even if I could only finish about a third of the stack!

My chocolate chip pancakes from yesterday. They were so good, but WOW that's a lot of pancake.

The board at work today. 😆 Thanks to Dr. Lane.

Normally they don't write the name of the advanced practice provider (the collective name for NPs/PAs) who's working the main ER up on the board, but Dr. Lane couldn't handle that mine wasn't up there, so this happened. LOL! Unsurprisingly perhaps, incidences of getting called "Creecher" peak around Halloween.

Working on some ARNA educational content this morning. I need more coffee. And maybe a mint Oreo.

Current Mood: awake
Current Music: Aziza Dance ++ Aziza (feat. Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Lionel Loueke, Eric Holland)

Idea from

mairesue, who is one of my Ladiez, and I highly recommend following her. She is a brilliantly insightful, genuine, kind, introspective person. The kind who seeks real wisdom, & in my opinion has found at least some of it (though she would never think that herself!).

Outside my window… Dappled sunlight on the moss of my front yard. Inside my window, my pretty little colorful glass bottles in the windowsill. They're one of my favorite things in the world.

I am thinking… It's amazing that I have nothing due & no modules open to work ahead on in Biostatistics & Epidemiology. I am also thinking I should be working on Acute Diagnostic Reasoning instead.

I am thankful… for the MacBook Air & iPad getting me through school in the easiest way possible, and for my in-laws who are the source of most of my technology. :)

In the kitchen… Lordamercy, what a mess. That's definitely on my to-do list.

I am wearing… Royal blue scrub pants I don't wear at work anymore (work pants that have been repaired one too many times become house pants) and a neon pink tank top. My hair is parted in the middle, in 2 braids, Pippy Longstocking style. The elastics are black & orange. I am SUPER matchy. :)

I am creating… Annotated PDFs about hemodynamics & types of shock. I discovered Goodreader for the iPad: if you read PDFs for research or class or anything, and you're a highlighting type of person when you read, this app is almost a must. It's been absolutely worth the price ($6-ish on iTunes).

I am going… Nowhere at the moment. Don't remind me. Summer turns me into a homebody; my adventurous nature is at its weakest during the hottest part of the year. Autumn makes me restless; I long to travel. I want to go to the Ozarks. I'm looking forward to October; the ARNA convention is then. Already got my room booked, and Ganon & Bryan are going with me! Unfortunately it's Halloween, so I don't know what we're going to do about that.

I am wondering… When I should start on my paper for Theory & Philosophy.

I am reading/listening… graduate school stuff; I am a big reader, but even I was taken aback by the amount of reading in this program. Keeping up is NECESSARY. Today I am reading about the 4 different types of shock, hemodynamics, & perfusion in the context of mechanical ventilation (i.e. how your blood gets around when you're on life support).

I am hoping… To have a sudden, unexpected burst of energy.

I am looking forward to… whatever it is that Apple is going to release today. Also whether or not Jeff Coffin & the Mu'tet are going to have a fall/winter tour of any kind. Also my next cup of tea. I think it's going to be Lady Grey.

I am learning… more than I thought possible in graduate school. I knew this was going to expand my brain, but I can almost literally feel my mind stretching. It's an amazing feeling.

Around the house… is pretty rough. I'm not the best housekeeper on the best of days, but the house is the worst on the days after I finish working. I have got to handle those dishes & I need to keep the laundry going. In happy news, I think the basement dehumidifier is working quite well, though we were afraid that the 30-pint was an underestimation right after we got it.

I am pondering… how my life will change after I graduate & pass the advanced practice boards. How different my role will be in the care of my patients. How much I'm looking forward to it. :)

A favorite quote for today… is something I retweeted this morning. "Good morning! You're strong & capable & good. Punch today in the face!" That is a most hilarious encouragement. (Source of this timeless wisdom: Brokey McPoverty.

One of my favorite things… Incense. My 3 favorite scents: sandalwood, frankincense, & lavender.

A few plans for the rest of the week… More studying! On Thursday I have a biostats study group that meets at Starbucks. So that's fun. At some point I need to speak with Blue Cross about private insurance coverage, and I need to renew my prescriptions. I'm wondering when the ASU farmer's market midweek market is: Tuesday or Thursday? This might factor into the rest of my week. :)

A peek into my day.

Sitting in the study chair!

Current Mood: pensive
Current Music: "Web of Deception" ++ Thievery Corporation ++ Culture of Fear

e.l.f. recently had an online sale. They do this a lot, and really, it seems totally silly to wait for a sale because LOOK AT THE PRICES ANYWAY. Seriously, though, I got this entire haul for half-price. That means $1.50 per piece in most cases.

There are 2 things I didn't really review in depth: the Praline matte lipstick (I love & highly recommend this lipstick; already have it in almost every other color) and the mist & set, which is also a staple of mine. Everything else here is a new try, so I wanted to call them out specifically.
( And here they are! )

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: "Fripption" ++ Triodes ++ Chunked

This stuff is YUMMY! Thanks for inventing it!

I think mine might be a little more American than intended; the cheese curds are not the freshest (they're the best I could get, living in Arkansas), and I used beef gravy, which some sources on the internet state is not the preferred. Despite all that, however, it was quite delicious! Might make this at a Creech party next winter; it feels like a very wintery food to me.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Ganon & Pete watching Phineas & Ferb.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Photography alert! wild_photos is a photo community that opens every so often. The idea is that members show off the place they live! This year the dates are July 28-August 4, which MIGHT afford me 2 options: here where I live in Jonesboro, & then shots of Frisco, Texas where my in-laws live (& I consider it a second home, as familiar as I am with it). Thanks much to curiouswombat, community maintainer, who pimped it on her journal!

Waiting on my parents to come over & install the basement wall mount for our TV. I should currently be washing at least 2 sets of scrubs, as I'm working for the next 2 days. One good thing about working every other weekend with a short staffed floor is that they tend to spread us out. That means I'm generally working 2 days in a row all the time. A Tuesday/Wednesday followed by a Saturday/Sunday, then a Thursday/Friday followed by a Wednesday/Tuesday.

I'm having more schedule issues again. I swear, centralized staffing is the devil. They've got me scheduled for 4 days during one week (I'm a 36 hour employee so that's one too many), & of course it's the week of Ganon's birthday so my in-laws will be in town! Now the state nurses' association (ARNA) has called 2 board meetings & since our chapter president is out of town until the end of August, I need to attend both. I'm okay on the August 4th meeting, but the other is July 21 & I was already scheduled for it. T_T So I need them to drop one day during Ganon's birthday week & I've got to trade someone for the 21st...which will be hard because it's a Saturday. Poop.

So anyway the tv! I'm excited because this will mean 3 different entertainment centers. I can accomplish things in the basement (our laundry room is there) while my boys do their things on the other TVs. When I'm back in school (or now, when I'm using the PCCN review course videos), it can also be a quiet place to work on things.

I used to think it was silly when people went all oenophile over wine. "This has subtle notes of oak" or "there's a distinct blueberry on the finish!" then I had to shut my piehole because I got that way about coffee. Now I may be doubly embarrassed because I can see myself getting that way over cider. I don't have access to many different brands, but I'm trying every seasonal blend of Woodchuck I can get my hands on, & thanks to my local liquor store getting all classy on me, I'm getting all of them! I mentioned wishing for the Winter brew & behold, they got it! They've had the Spring & Summer all season, & I have every reason to think they'll have the Autumn & Pumpkin ones this fall! This year's Spring has maple & brown sugar notes on the finish. I don't care for it by itself, but it's delicious with BBQ! The Summer has a bright, clear blueberry flavor right up front. I could drink it by the gallon. Which wouldn't be advisable since hey. It's alcohol. But whatever, YUM.

WELL. Ganon is flipping out for me to play de Blob on the Wii, so I'm off.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Current Location: Home
Current Music: Death Mountain on Hyrule Symphony

So in late March, I went to Eureka Springs with

asqmh &

thejessone, and it was pretty much the ultimate blast. Here are pictures of the town in which I will someday live!

From the top of Basin Spring Park.

Our friend

moogintroll went with us!

( Moog had LOTS more adventures! )

Driving home on Highway 23 is the most beautiful drive ever.

Current Mood: happy
Current Location: Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Current Music: "Tall and Lanky" by Jeff Coffin on Go-Round

Why yes, I am planning to drink this entire pot of coffee. Out of my pot Bryan bought me off Amazon, & my mismatched Fiestaware from the Borg trip to Eureka Springs. Where I am still planning to live after I obtain my doctorate in nursing practice. Just sayin'. Oh, & it's a public pot of coffee because I've chosen to go back to overall public entries unless I have a reason for friends only. There are a lot of people I'd like to read these entries who don't have LJ accounts.

Bryan is playing Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands. I am jamming out to Jeff Coffin on my iPad (I didn't know I needed one until I got this one for Christmas, & now it's my freaking baby) & new Gumy headphones. I'm pretty picky about earbuds. They have to sound awesome & not hurt my ears, & almost ALL shapes hurt my ears. I finally found a single brand that meets both requirements: JVC Gumy. They've recently changed them to Gumy Plus & I'm afraid they'll discontinue the original line, so I've bought a bunch from Hastings. :) Hastings has been doing a buyback program for video games, & we took advantage. For every 3 games you sold to them, they'd give you $25 extra in-store credit. So Bryan purged his collection & now we have a boatload of Hastings money. Stuff appears to be cheaper on the website.

So you remember that job I took in December? I'm still that...but I haven't been able to do the job, not even once! The goal is that i would be a "float charge", helping everyone else, doing discharges, & making sure that patient education was being done. We just don't have enough nurses, so they can never afford (budget wise) to let me go without a team. They could technically get a staff support nurse & let me float, but staff support nurses are expensive. Other floors with healthier budgets can do it, but for some reason our budget is just crap. I'd like to see where that money is going. We DO require more nurses per patients (being a progressive care floor, our nurse to patient ratio is 1:4, whereas other floors in the hospital to 1:6 or 1:7), so maybe it's that. We ARE getting new nurses, now that graduation has happened. I'm training one (though that's on hold since she did not pass boards & must wait 45 days to take them again) & I think she'll do well. The other duckling belongs to Angie, but I personally urged her to apply to our floor. She's no nonsense, she's got backbone, & she's hella smart. She WILL do well, & I am going to do everything to make sure she stays on our unit.

We're getting a new TV& I'm all up in this project! Bryan has always wanted a 50" LCD for the living room. We found a great deal on one on target.com (plus we have a Red Card so that's 5% off). We're going to move the one currently in the living room into the basement along with the other Apple TV. That will make it distinctly awesomer to do laundry in the basement for extended periods of time. <3 Also it will be nice when we're stuck down there during crap weather. Usually with my whole family.

Well. Ganon is bored to tears. I think we shall go to Home Depot & buy some impatiens for the front yard planters. Later I'll post my Wakarusa photos. I tried last night, but evidently uploading that many pics from the LJ app was just too much & it disappeared into the ether.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Current Location: US, Arkansas, Jonesboro, Craighead, Clearwood Cove, 2999
Current Music: "Spiderbite" ++ Beats Antique

I took a bunch of pictures of Ganon at his last ball game. Wanna see? I thought you would.

Overlord at bat

( More Pictures )

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: home

via flickr.com

For my first trick...I mean, my first dish with my CSA produce...I present this fruit salad! There weren't a ton of strawberries, so I chopped them along with some pineapple & some bananas. Fruit salad! Check out my parfait!

My 2nd CSA dish was a quiche with bacon, kale, & aged gouda. I LOVED it, but Bryan requests that next time I not use quite so much kale. He's right; it was a bit imbalanced; almost more like a salad than a quiche. ^_^;; Oh well. For a recipe I just sort of cobbled together, I'd say that's not bad. Here's what I did (with apologies to #cookingwithjoanne because that style is too much fun not to mimic just a bit!):

1) Chopped a bunch of kale. Like, a LOT. Probably too much.
2) Chopped some bacon. Like, a lot. There is never too much bacon.
3) Removed a purchased pie crust from my fridge. I can't make that stuff. When I do, the results are terrifying & non-pie-crust-like.
4) Fried the bacon, just like I'd brown ground meat or whatever.
5) Put the kale on the bacon to wilt. Put a lid on that mess.
6) Crack 4 eggs in a bowl. In hindsight I should've used 5.
7) Dump some milk on that. How much? I have no idea. Till it looks good.
8) Grate some Robusto gouda. Grate some more. What applies to bacon also applies to cheese, y'all.
9) Put the pie crust in a pie plate.
10) Toss the kale & bacon all together until it's good & messy. Dump that bacon-y mess into the pie crust.
11) Dump the cheese-y mess onto the bacony-mess.
12) Make a giant egg-y mess out of the whole thing by pouring on the egg/milk mixture. It should look giant, goopy, and slightly gross except for the fact that it's made entirely of delicious produce, bacon, eggs & cheese.
13) Poke that sucker in the oven for 30 minutes on 350ºF because that is my default "time & temperature" for cooking things. Actually check it at 20 minutes because WHO KNOWS? I just kept wiggling it & poking it until it looked reasonably done. THIS WAS AN EXPERIMENT; WORK WITH ME HERE.
14) Get it out, let it stand until it can be cut, then EAT THAT BACON-Y MESSY GOODNESS IN A CRUST.

Adjust kale to taste, or taste of significant others, children, or other household personages.

Posted via web from What I Need is All Around Me

Edit to add: Did anyone else notice I randomly switched tense/voice in the middle of that? I went from declarative past tense to...command statements?

Current Mood: chipper

( More pics behind the cut )

Current Mood: productive
Current Music: "Bartender"++Dave Matthews Band++DMB FanTrax: The Woodlands, TX: Sept 21, 2007

Photo dump from our day yesterday. We went to Mammoth Spring, where my grandmother lives. It's GORGEOUS out there, and yesterday was a ridiculously beautiful day. We all went down to the river and hung out. Perfect time for me to practice photographing other humans.

( The rest behind the cut )

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Mammoth Spring, AR
Current Music: "Gimme Stitches"++Foo Fighters++There Is Nothing Left to Lose

Highlights from my day of photography on Saturday!

( Behind the cut... )

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Weiner, AR
Current Music: "Big Eyed Fish"++Dave Matthews Band++Tour 2002: Shake The Foundations

On Saturday, Bryan & Ganon & I went to the Memphis Botanic Garden. Whatever else you can say about Memphis, it has an INCREDIBLE garden, y'all. It's $5 to get in, and the Japanese Garden & koi pond are worth it by themselves. It's a massive place, taking several hours to fully explore, and there's something for everyone. There are formal rose gardens, a native plant trail, wilderness areas, a sensory garden that appeals to more senses than just sight (sound & touch & smell; it's amazing), and My Big Backyard, an AWESOME playground & exploring area for kids & parents alike. Soon as it warms up toward the end of this month or into April, I'm determined to get Family 2.0 together & go.

girlwithoutfear & I want some camera time (I specifically want some practice with lighting & portrait-style shots). The place is PERFECT for a picnic. They made sure there were picnic tables everywhere. I'm seeing a trip to Whole Foods for picnic food, then off to the garden. (Okay mostly that's just me wanting more Mediterranean tuna salad BUT IT'S STILL A GOOD IDEA.)

We did eat at Whole Foods first, but we didn't do the picnic thing. It was rather cold & looked like it might rain. Ganon did some people watching while we ate. Talking about this is making me want more of that macaroni & cheese. They have the best mac & cheese ever, bar none.

Ganon had the best time I've seen in a long time. The Overlord ran EVERYWHERE. He was in charge of the map, and every time we got to a fork in the road, we let him decide which way to go. He felt this was a VERY important duty, and took it very seriously. :) He can't stop talking about the red bridge, the stone path up Daffodil Hill, the Pixie Sticks playhouse, the wavy brick wall, and the bird house with the giant ramp.

So here I have pictures.

He actually was looking at this cookie and saying "This cookie is scrumptious!" The people in the next booth over laughed out loud.

( More photos! )

Current Mood: rejuvenated
Current Music: "Bartender"++Dave Matthews Band++DMB FanTrax: The Woodlands, TX: Sept 21, 2007

Bryan & I went to the Dairy Shack to order supper for everyone. When we got back & opened Momma's "shrimp basket" this is what we found. I lost it, because really--how surreal to expect shrimp & fries and then get like 3 lbs of bacon.

Posted via email from What I Need is All Around Me

Current Mood: stunned

On September 29, 2009, the marvelous

asqmh and I attended a fabulous Dave Matthws Band concert in North Little Rock, Arkansas, at Dickey-Stephens Stadium. HOW SO FUN?!

First of all: I ditched a computer training course at the hospital for this. Come on. How could I not?

We left at like 1:30 or 2-ish and drove to Little Rock. Q kept trying to take a nap but the fact that we cannot HELP but talk about fascinating & important subjects (like makeup, politics, cupcakes, religion, attractive men, fashion, and world peace) hindered the nap greatly. When we arrived in Little Rock we found the stadium right away. I yelled out the window to ask the waiting fans what time the doors opened, and they yelled back that it would be 5pm. We drove across the bridge to find a bathroom & kill a bit of time at the River Market, which I maintain is one of the coolest places in any large city. Seriously, anyone who comes to visit me from now on is getting a River Market visit. I love it so. We bought souvenirs there; beaded necklaces & earrings from a nice lady named Becky and sunglasses from a little tourist trap called Shop the Rock. Mostly so Q's retinas would not become charbroiled.

At about 4:45 we got back in the car and crossed the bridge again...very very slowly this time. Traffic was getting very bad in anticipation of the concert. We still got a pretty choice parking spot. I'm glad we chose to come down early & get in as the doors opened.
( This is long & has a metric buttload of photos )

Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: "Sweet Magnolias" ++ Jeff Coffin Mu'tet

I'll have to do a full, major review later because I go in to work tonight at 7 and I'm currently making supper for me & Bryan & Ganon. There are two things I'm going to mention now, though.

Sisters
Looking at some photos from yesterday, I'm beginning to "get" why people always ask if Q & I are sisters. Last night's count: 3 times.

Camera Smuggling
They camera checked me on the way in. Told me I couldn't bring my DSLR inside; "No cameras or video". I made with the puppy dog face. I pointed out how many people were wearing point & shoot cameras on their wrists. No dice. Seriously, they let people WEAR their cameras in but made me take the love of my life camera back to the damn car. I took the camera back out to the car and looked at it sadly. Then, two things kicked in: The Hillary Determination and my immense desire for a really good photo of Jeff Coffin. Q called me and asked what was taking so long; I told her "I am NOT coming back in without this camera." She sounded immensely amused. I'm sure she knows me well enough to realize I was scowling and working as fast as I could to hide that camera. I broke it down (the lens comes off the camera itself & makes 2 smaller pieces), put the camera half into a blood pressure cuff pouch in the bottom of my purse & put the lens in the inside (tampon) zipper of the purse itself. Back at the gate, I went back to the same lady who'd checked me first time. I opened my purse nervously & made big innocent eyes. "It was too big to hide," I lied. "I tried." She looked at me. She KNEW I had that camera. I let the purse flap drop and she waved her hands in that "I didn't see nothin', so it ain't there" way. They let me through. I looked at Q like "DUDE did you see what I got away with?" and Q was like "OMG she totally knew."

And then I took 403 pictures. I will post links.

Current Mood: jubilant

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HillaryGayle

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She Makes the Best of What's Around

With Open Arms & Open Eyes

Entries tagged with photos

Hot Springs: Our First RV Trip!

Pictures!

The Illustrated Meme

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It's a journal entry…THAT'S LIKE A JOURNAL ENTRY!

Frivolous Makeup Post--GO!

Dear Canadians...

Buddies

Where my peeps at?!

The Borg Assimilates Eureka Springs

A public pot of coffee

Ganon the Baseball Overlord

My couchside table

Photos from Memphis Botanic Garden

Pictures

Pictures from Saturday

In the gardens

Not a shrimp basket

DMB: Little Rock, September 29, 2009

Two Quick Stories

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July 2018

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