labor day weekend and an anticipated guest.

This weekend I worked every day. The walk to/from work is my favorite part.

While I was originally scheduled for four days in a row, they called me off Monday due to low patient census.  This is a good thing, we want people to be healthy! But this also means us temporary nurses have concern that our job could be on the line.  There are more night shift travelers than day shift, and some of the nurses have been told they may be cancelled if we don't fill the units back up.  Makes me realize how odd it is that as a nurse, I promote health and healing, yet if people aren't sick, I don't have a job..

Anyway, so with Monday off, I was productive and cleaned, then in the evening I went into downtown Denver for A Taste of Colorado.

There was a stage playing jazz, so I got a beer, my first buffalo burger (made from buffalo meat), and headed to the stage.

It turned out to be jazz fusion, not my favorite, so instead of sitting and listening, I wandered all around the festival enjoying people watching and browsing the tents.

After walking around I decided to give in and get a cupcake from this vendor I kept passing.  Once I bought it, I walked over to a table and set it down so I could sort through my bag. A strong sweeping wind blasted through and knocked over my cupcake icing side down. The ladies at the cupcake tent saw it happen, and before I could shed a single tear, one of them held out a whole new cupcake.
Ahh, the kindness of cake people to a lonely pig in the city :)

 I sat in the grass, eating my lemon cupcake and reading. Afterwards I walked around some more, and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine. Suddenly, I was getting splashed by large cold rain drops. When all of us in the crowd looked up, we saw huge thunder heads rolling in, so I left for my car and headed home for the night.

Tuesday I started off with a nice long hike at Green Mountain.

It's so beautiful there. I can't get tired of it.

Mt Evans in the far off distance

Last night I went out for tacos and drinks with some fellow travelers and their friends.

It was really fun hanging out with them and hearing their tales of travel. Jessica and Rachael are from Georgia and have been traveling for the past 5 years. They've been everywhere from Florida, West Virginia, Philadelphia, Boston, Alaska, Northern and Southern California, so many places! They love Denver too and want to try to stay through the winter.

Speaking of staying, it doesn't look like I will be a mountain nurse this winter.  The clinics I mentioned previously want me to get 3 certifications in emergency, trauma, and pediatric care, which I would gladly do if it wouldn't cost me over $500.  There also doesn't seem to be time to accomplish all of these in the next 4 weeks. My last hope was the hospital in Frisco which opens an extra unit in the winter. Well it turns out they are only looking to hire per diem so they can avoid offering benefits and fulfilling full-time requirements. If a miracle happens and they allow me to work in the clinics with only one or none of the certifications, or if the hospital decides to offer me a full time with benefits position, (both of which seem highly unlikely) looks like I'll be moving on to another city, hospital, and adventure.

Tonight is an exciting night!! My old traveling buddy, Ashley, is arriving in Denver for a week of Colorado fun!

  It's been exactly 32 days since I've seen someone from home in person. Sure there's skype, face time, and frequent phone calls, but we all know that's not the same. With this month + that I've been alone, a lot of crazy has grown in my heart, and I've been trying to prepare Ashley for it. She's going to have to face the brunt of a girl who hasn't hugged someone in 32 days. And I am a hugger. I'm so excited to see my friend again, and to show someone in person what my Colorado life is like :)