gnome for the holidays.

Tabitha C. Overby RN, BSN.

On Thursday, December 8th 2011, I proudly accepted, in my right hand to be exact, a diploma that proclaims to everyone in this big beautiful world that I, Tabitha C. Overby, have successfully earned a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. My grin was cheesy, that cap was squeezy, and the gown, quite breezy. But walking across that stage with my eye on the prize? Oh, so easy. :-) Thank you sweet Jesus for carrying me through these past 3.5 years! AND for blessing me with family and friends who have supported me a billion percent through my fears and tears.

        

                      Nursing School banner                                                                                                 Ready to get this show on the road!

the anticipation ...

the pinning ...

the sprint! ...

success!!!

My sweet family and best lady frand came to cheer me on...

       

After the ceremony, my parents hosted a banging BBQ graduation celebration, and the combo of pulled pork, baked beans, potato salad, and buttercream cake was scrumdilliumptious! Thank you to everyone who showed up to hug my neck and watch me oogle at my pretty, new diploma! I feel so loved and blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family. :-)

And because I'm still grinning about them, I must introduce my new, shiny Cracker Barrel rocking chairs!!! Thanks Ma and Pa!

Picture this... relaxing in one of these sa-weet rockers on a cool, breezy afternoon wrapped in a cozy sweater, cup of cocoa in hand, hubby at my side, puppies at my feet, and absolutely NO TEXTBOOKS IN SIGHT. Halle-stinking-lujah!

And one more thing!

All of these pics were taken on my brand new Canon EOS Rebel T3i! Much thanks to my Mr. Overby. Now I just need to use my free time learning how to use it!

gettin' our hollyday on.

The tree is trimmed! The halls are decked! The presents are wrapped! well, only just a few.
This weekend, Justin and I decided to pull out our petite collection of Christmas decorations and sprinkle some holiday cheer on our humble abode. Because we chose to forego the Christmas hooplah last year due to our state of miserable separation boo maryland, this is our first Christmas to decorate as married peoples. How fun!  So Justin pulled out the boxes, I cranked up the Christmas tunes, and we got to work. Little did we know, however, that our decorating binge was headed for a quick derailment.
The culprit: the tree.
The tree that worked so well for 3522 Peachtree Drive looked somewhat ... wonky ... in our new home. It's not that it doesn't have character in its own quirky way. It's simply a smidge ... sparse/crooked/vertically challenged. After struggling a bit to get it in place, we looked at the tree, looked at each other, looked back at the tree, and nodded. It was time for a new tree! We did some research online for the best prices, made a trip to the Home Depot, and bought our first Christmas tree together. Silly me forgot to take a picture of the quirky tree for comparison, but here is our twinkly new beaut all gussied up.

  

Christmas in charming color. Love that!

We're hoping to accrue a sweet little collection of ornaments of the random variety for next year so that it's not so matchy-matchy, but until that happens, this works for us!

After trimming the tree, I threw some ornaments and pine cones in a bowl for the coffee table ...

 tossed a Black Friday steal Christmas-y pillow on the couch ...

only 5 bucks for this cute thang!

tied some festive ribbon on the lamps...

and decked the foyer with what decor we had left!

Now, I must give kudos where kudos are due. It's about time that everyone on this planet Earth knows a little secret about my Mr. Overby.

Justin is the best gift wrapper ever! Believe it or not! So much so that I , with all my particular tendencies, happily sit back, chin in hands, and simply watch as he works his elf-like magic.

See that box on the left? It looks just as snazzy as the boxes on the right, and those are pre-wrapped! Man, he's got some skillz. Not only is he precise, but he's also Mr. Speedy Gonzales too. Maybe I'm just a freak with my two left thumbs who winds up with crooked seams, gaping paper, and more tape on my fingers than on the package itself. Be that as it may, I find it to be such a fascinating skill and am envious of those who master it!

Now that our home is all twinkly and festive, we can sit back, sip some hot chocolate, and revel in all the warm fuzzies of Christmastime ... family and friends, laughter and love, and most of all, the birth of our wonderful Savior! Merry Christmas y'all!

jubilation R/T graduation AEB smiling and skipping and doing a little dance

Almost, people! I am almost there! Tuesday is my FINAL final for forever. Like forever forever. well unless I grow some kahunas and get my masters. I am so ready to resume my lovely little life that has been patiently chilling on stand-by for the past, oh, say three millenia years. In just 2.5 weeks I will be fa-la-la-la free to embrace the holidays, catch up on blogging, read at my leisure, put my kitchen to good use, help my frand plan her nuptials, and snuggle with my loves. And, of course, I will be squeezing in study time galore in the midst of all that freedom so I can pass the boards on my first attempt. please, oh please, oh please
I am beyond ready to find a j-o-b and put my degree to good use. Watch out world! This new nurse is going to wipe some hineys, shanghai some veins, and change some lives!!! And when those shifts become an eternity and those patients get cranky, I shall slap on a smile and go with the Flow!

Florence Nightingale Pledge

 I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly,

to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain

from whatever is deleterious and mischevious, and will not take or knowingly

administer any harmful drugs. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate

the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters

committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the

practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his

work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care.       

The one where Tabitha felt jipped.

I've never seen an epsiode of Friends. Ever. Until just a couple of weeks ago, that is. One night, after a long day at clinical and a scalding hot shower to rid myself of hospital funk, I channel surfed and stumbled upon this t.v. treasure circa 1994. And I feel so jipped! Like it was a secret I was never privy to or a birthday present I never received. Sure, I was quite the tween when the show became a hit, but what a calamity! I completely missed out on pretty much my perfect sitcom. I find myself slapping my leg, pointing and clapping, squawking laughing out loud at the hilarity of these six quirky people. Perhaps I'm a teeny bit trigger happy with my sense of humor, but who loves a great laugh? This girl right here. *points to self with thumbs* And of course, as I do with any bright new shiny thing, I'm kinda obsessing. I've IMDb'd all the trivia and famous quotes in case I'm ever on Jeopardy, you see and priced out the complete series on DVD which would make a tee-rrific Christmas gift, and set my DVR to record each and every syndicated episode to catch up on the last 10 years. duh.
So what if it's soo 1990s? Don't judge. When I like something, I really  like something.

Bloopers. Gotta love bloopers.