Enjoying the time.

So I haven't taken any pictures yet, I probably will tonight. The lectures we have been attending today and yesterday have, for the most part, been superb. There is always the occasional bad/boring one, but most are excellent and enjoyable. I have been taking notes at each one to keep my attention! As I said, there are SO many nurses here that when you stand up and look out at the floor when we're all together it's astonishing.

Last night when we finished we met my friend Emily (the one who's wedding I attended on Saturday) for dinner. It was delicious!! It was a place of chineseish appetizers so we got quite an assortment and shared. Perfect. I still couldn't have a coctail as I just wasn't quite right yet.

This morning we got up early to attend a Sunrise Session about Army nursing- expecting to hear about experiences and such, but alas, it didn't live up to expectations. It was more about managing and running army nursing stations and about quality improvement, etc. Awful- I could care less about that!

They opened the exhibits today- lots of exciting new products and info to look at as well as things to purchase. There's a nail/cuticle kit that I don't think I'll be able to ultimately resist (if you know my chewing issues you might understand) and there are scrubs, shoes, lotions, etc. I'm proud of myself because I've only spent 3 dollars today (on ONE diet coke). Yesterday I spent a lot because the food situation was messed up and we went out.... :(

So now we're tired from getting up early and we have our certification celebration dinner tonight. It should be fun. We have a free drink ticket- a glass of wine sounds good in theory, but I'm not sure I can handle it yet......so sad.

Tomorrow is more of the same- the afternoon is nurses night out at the Smithsonian where there are 3 of the museums that will stay open until 10:30 just for us. It starts at 4:30 but we will not go until about 5:30 because there's a lecture on Pediatric Echo's for the bedside nurse that I refuse to miss! It will be fun to finally have some time to sight see a bit. We will sleep in tomorrow to be ready! We could always skip classes to sight see, but the CEU's are pretty important as I have to renew my certification this year. PLUS, the weather has been horrendous- COLD and rainy. I had to buy an umbrella last night for 14.99 at CVS. Terrible. But it has proved a necessary investment. Even if I wanted to go out and walk around, I wouldn't because I'd be drenched and I didn't bring a jacket.

More later!