For every minute I have to work, I need a minute of play. - Autograph, Turn Up The Radio

It's time for an update.

Professional goals:
-Still planning on DUINS after this tour. I think I'll be set up quite nicely. After a few months of "what am I doing?? What program should I apply for??", I came back to realize...Med/Surg CNS. The same program I've wanted to do all along. It's the specialty that isn't highly specialized. I've always enjoyed med/surg. I feel like you get a good range of patients, you're helping them become independent to go home and it's the jack of all trades specialty.
I want to teach some day and this, to me, is the best option. I also can get certificates in holistic nursing, wound care, education, etc. I would love to do wound care and incorporate holistic/alternative medicine in with it.
There is a hospital in Ft Worth using aromatherapy for patients and I think it's awesome!
-Now that I'm on nights I'm able to study a ton. I am studying for some exams this fall. Really nervous about those, but I gotta just study and do it.
-Plan on starting some graduate courses next spring after I take the exams this fall.

Navy goals:
-It has been hard at this command. I feel like I've gotten off to a rocky start, but things are getting better.
-I'm trying to have a positive attitude.
-I've been teaching a few classes here and there at work.
-I should be eligible for LCDR right after my tour here, so I gotta buckle down and get some good fitreps in!

Physical goals:
-I've been with a personal yoga trainer and I have 2 sessions left. It has been great to learn to stretch and balance like that.
-On night shift I'm able to get some working out done in the middle of the night in our physical therapy room.
-We do walk a bit when we take trips to Yokohama or Tokyo. I have to admit I drive the car to work mostly, but it is because it takes half the time and I usually carry a lot with me to work.

Personal goals:
-I still haven't gotten a massage! I need to do that!
-Yoga helps some, but I don't tend to do it on my own, so I need to work on that.
- I have made some great friends already here and I'm so sad that some of them are leaving this fall. :(
-The stress has been an issue. I'm working on it....I still haven't gotten in a groove here and I'm not sure how I fit into Japan. More to come on that later.

Marriage goals:
-On nights it's easier to let Cameron do his thing. I have to allow him to go work on his photography and not bother him. Now that I have some good friends, I just need to go spend time with them when I'm not with him. It will keep me distracted.
-Our communication has grown big time here. The first 2 weeks were probably the hardest of our marriage. I don't know why, but we were just off sync. We grew through it and are in such a good place together here.

Other personal goals:
-I haven't been scrapbooking really. I need to go buy a table that I can put the sewing machine on. I just don't seem to have time for this stuff somehow. I love my own hobby room though. i have my own space to do whatever I want.
-I have made it through all my hiragana/katakana flash cards and know those entire characters. now, to work on some of the kanji. That will be hard. I won't learn all of them, but I want to study the major ones that are used a lot.
-I haven't been working with my rosetta stone as much, but now that I'm on nights, I hope to try that out more. It helps when I use it though, so I just need to keep at it.


We've also made some Japanese friends here, which is interesting. As I'm writing this, I see I still have a long way to go, but I have learned some things. I'm beginning to grow. It's a hard adjustment, but I know here in another 6 months or so, I should have made more advancements.

New goals:
-Make an oustanding on my PRT this fall
-Get out on my own more and explore

I'm gonna hire a wino to decorate our home, so you'll feel more at ease here and you won't need to roam. - David Frizzel, I'm Gonna Hire A Wino

I moved into our house before Cameron arrived. It was February 23rd. I am JUST now feeling that the home is set up enough for me to take pictures and share them! I was unpacked pretty soon, but just feeling like everything was put together took a long time.

Entryway- Take off your shoes! it's in the lease! :)

We have plenty of space for them in our shoe cabinets!

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Living and Dining room



Looking into our tatami room. The previous renters put a pad and carpet down to protect the tatami so we left it. Right now, we're mostly using it for bicycle storage. haha. We'll probably be buying two more bikes soon. Cameron's orange one needs a ton of work to it and my bike doesn't have any gears so it won't work on all the hills here. :( 

Tatami rooms can be used as a dining room and then closed up and futon opened and is used as a guest room. If you come visit, you can stay in here! We close up all the walls and you have a room!

This is what our tatami floors look like without the carpet. they are VERY fragile and expensive to replace, so we will probably leave the carpet. I, actually LOVE the tatami, but Cameron is afraid of messing it up. We'll see...

This kitchen is not like many Japanese kitchens. We actually have counter space and TONS of cabinets! That's why I loved this house! No oven if you notice. Only a fish grill. Maybe we can grill some veggies in it. We have the convection oven.

More counter space! I LOVE it. I'm going to miss our house. We haven't had that much space to cook with at all before our move here.



Downstairs bathroom. i need to make a video of this thing! it's awesome! The sink is outside of the bathroom, but I actually like it where it is.

Both Cameron and I have fallen UP the stairs....and hurt ourselves. I don't know how we did it!

My office/hobby room/yoga and excersise room!

My balcony. Very relaxing. :)

Master bedroom. The bedrooms in our home are very big for a Japanese house.

Cameron's office. J/K! He wouldn't let me put up the photo of his office. It's quite messy. We just have different tidy genes. It's his room. I have my own room to escape in. If he can work in the messy room, whatever. I have to let it go. He does have his own office though, so we each have a "work room". :D

Main bathroom and shower room upstairs. The mirrors even have a button to keep them from fogging up!

Yes. Shower room. It's AWESOME! You have a whole room you shower in and then you soak in the tub if you want. You can't use soap in the tub because it has recirculating heaters, but their idea of bathing is you clean off first and then soak. I love it. I'm REALLY going to miss having all that room to spread out and stretch.

then, these. We found these at Hard Off (kinda like a thrift store here) and they are awesome!

Cameron says they are perfect for me. I guess I'll have fun with it.

That's all. Finally got photos up of our house. You can see pictures of the outside on previous posts. It's so much fun to be in a house vs an apartment. I haven't lived in a house since I left for college in 2002. I don't think we could go back to apartments after all the stuff we've gathered. haha.