Late flights

So i know its almost 3 in the morning. however, i'm not tired just yet (the whole night owl thing) so i figured i would post a quick blog/vent. our flight today from hawaii back to portland was delayed almost two hours. we were already scheduled to get in around 1130 at night which is pretty late, and we ended up getting in at 1am. i know that things happen, but i was just frustrated. it didn't help that i hardly got any sleep the night before because my sister was coughing up a storm (allergies :-( ) and i was hot and various other things. so i'm tired and just want to get home, but the flight is delayed. i again had my grumpy pants, but eventually i got over it.

the strangest thing is i found out that the plane when it was in portland getting ready to leave one of the engines did not turn on, which is why our plane was then running late to go back to portland. want to know how i know this? well because i ran into casey and lauren hurt as they were getting off of the plane from portland. small world huh? i think so. i also found out that a girl i used to work with jenny armstrong is getting married in hawaii in like a week or something.

the hot thing to do right now is going to hawaii. so if you haven't yet, you better do it and invite me along cause i am ready to go back. alright i'm getting tired now. i will post more pictures from the trip and stuff tomorrow or in the next few days. i am back to real life and i start the first of four shifts in a row, so i may just disappear for a few days.

nurse reinke is peacing out for the night.

Surfing part 2

so this is a video that my mom got of me surfing. i think my mom forgot that there is zoom on the camera, but we will get over that. (love you mom :)) anyways, if move your head real close to the screen, i am the person on the very right in yellow, if you are able to make out the color. i think i stand up for just a few seconds, and then another beginner cuts me off, so i have to fall off. this same lady later told me that she wasn't paying attention because she was watching me catch the wave. thanks lady. anyways, here's something different for you all to see. yay for youtube.

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Surfing....

On a whim, i decided i might as well try surfing before we leave hawaii. i made an appt for a lesson this morning, and my sister decided to tag along, which i am glad she did, so that we could laugh with each other as we wiped out. we lucked out and it was just nicole and i with our one instructor, russell, so we had a lot of one on one time, and had many opportunities to catch some gnarly waves (or watch them as we passed by).

surfing was fun, but exhausting. i knew it was going to be work, but i was quite suprised. maybe it had to do with the fact that by the end of the 2 hour lesson i had more than my fair share of saltwater, as well as some nice rashes and scraps from the reef and my surfboard. i did fairly okay in the beginning. i think i was able to get the whole go and then pop up on the board. as time went on and as i got tired i seemed to wipe out more because i wasn't focusing on keeping a wide stance and balancing, instead i was freaking out about the huge wave that my instructor had sent me on. oh well. there was one time when russell was telling me to get up and go for this huge wave, but i wussed out, and watched it past. i'm sorry, but i would like to make it back to the mainland alive and with no broken bones.

despite that it was fun to at least learn the mechanics of surfing. if we had started this earlier in the week, i probably would have done more, but unfortunately we are leaving tomorrow, and there is no way i am going to surf in the freezing cold water of the oregon coast. i guess that means i just need to come back to hawaii or somewhere else that is tropical and sunny. anyone up for it, let me know cause i am game. my sister did fairly well. she got the hang off trying to stand up better than i did. i don't think she was as scared as i was.


at least i can mark this off on my life list of things to do.



so i have included some pictures from surfing that the one of the guys at the rental shop was taking. they have that weird label on top of the pictures so that i can't go and make mass copies of them without paying a pretty penny. however, i don't care about posting them on my blog with those lables, so i'm gonna do it. they are some decent action shots.
my sister and i before we entered the ocean
i can't believe i actually stood up. that is probably why i have such a face of disbelief.
probably one of the many countless times after i wiped out. even though the ocean took me out, it was still a lot of fun, saltwater and all.
cute sister photograph, i'll protect you from the big bad waves nicole.
i forgot to stand up on this wave, so instead i just rode it laying on the board. it was fun.

my sister getting the hang of surfinga good action shot of her falling off, that happened many times for uscute picture nicolehang loose, we actually survived.

Thus concludes my surfing adventure! Hang loose, and aloha from maui.

The Road to Hana

So today we drove the road to hana. now for those of you who have not been to maui, the road to hana isn't necessarily about getting to hana, but it is about the different, amazing viewpoints, waterfalls, beaches, etc. of hawaii. many of the different locations have spectacular views, which i am sure are adorned of lots of postcards everywhere. the road to hana is very curvy, long, and i think about half of the road is a one lane road where you have to be a courteous driver and let others pass depending on who was there first. my mom did amazing driving and we made it out alive. at times i thought we were going to die only because of the other crazy drivers. there were many different places where you could semi-pull off the road and see things. a couple of them that were recommended in our guide ended up being closed or gated, so that was an adventure. all in all it was worth it, even when i started getting my grumpy pants towards the end of the trip because i was hungry/tired/nauseous (not a good combo).
this is my serious face, i was figuring out the plan for our trip on the road to hana
one of the pools at the sacred seven pools
a couple more of the pools and falls, at the sacred seven pools
cool waterfalls
my brother and i hiking up boulders/rocks

so pretty
again, pretty
the family
black sand beachessister and I

nice pose Nicole
my parents and their matching beaver shirts, go beavs, national champs 2007
that is a part of the road we drive on, talk about crazy
another black sand beach

Snorkeling....

So on Sunday the family and i woke up at the crack of dawn to head down to the dock to go on a snorkeling trip out to Molokini crater, which is a sunken volcano crater thing. The crater has a coral reef with awesome tropical fish, so of course it is perfect for snorkeling. I was pretty excited to go snorkeling. I had never done it before, and heard that is was pretty amazing. I still will not forget the feeling of when you first get in the water and have to train yourself to breathe in through your mouth and not your nose. it is kind of this weird panicky, hyperventilating feeling that you get. its funny really. the snorkeling guide on our boat had to remind to chill out and breathe nice and slow. after that i totally got the hang of it. it was great floating along looking at all the different types of fish and coral. i wish i had bought a underwater camera, but i didn't. oh well, i guess that means i just have to come back :)

after the crater, the guides then took over to the "turtle cleaning station." this was an area of water where huge turtles would have their shells cleaned by two different types of fish. the turtles would hangout at the bottom of the ocean, and all these fish would swarm them and clean of their shells. then eventually they would come back up to the top of the water and hangout. at one point i looked down and this was this huge turtle swimming like 10 feet underneath me. i had to remind myself not to flip out. it was pretty crazy though. after most people had returned to the boat, my brother and i were hanging out and four turtles were right near us swimming to the surface. it was pretty crazy. i could have stayed in there forever, minus the fact that the water temperature was pretty cold. oh well. i might even make another trip out there before we leave, however that is a maybe.

so just a side story about my dad. for those of you who know my dad, know that he is an awesome man and i truly love him, although he does have his blonde moments at times. i have to share this one. so it is six in the morning and we are at the dive shop picking up our snorkeling gear. and the lady is having us try on the fins and masks. she instructs us to put the mask on and then take a deep breath in and let go of the mask (this is to make sure there are no leaks in our masks because that would mean water would then leak in.) anyways, all four us have tried on our masks and demonstrated to the lady that they fit (now this lady was not a very bright and cheery one, and probably could have worked on her customer service, but thats another story). so its my dads turn and he seems to be having trouble following directions. he breathes in, but then doesn't move his hands and then takes the mask off. pretty much the lady cannont tell if it fits right or not. she instructs him to do it again but to remove his hands. however, he does it the wrong way again. he does it this way one more time and at this point the lady is quite frustrated. it takes me demonstrating it to him for him to understand, and then of course it works. i realize this isnt as funny as it seems, i guess its one of those had to be there moments. i had to throw in a story about my dad for those alan fans out there.

now a brief story about my mother. my mom got seasick and left a part of herself in the ocean if you know what i mean. i think she might have overdone it with 6 gingerroot capsules, instead of the recommended 2 capsules. clearly a family a blondes.

I am pretty sure my sister and i are laughing at something funny my dad said.

just one of the many turtles hanging out. they were huge.

ALOHA....

Maui...we made it. So yesterday we flew into Maui. Let me tell you i was pretty exhausted. We stopped at costco to stock up on essential groceries, checked into our villa, walked around the local area, and got settled in. By the end of the day i was pretty beat. I had been awake for over 24 hours because i went pretty much straight from work to the airport without much sleep on the plane. My bedtime last night was like fiveish. Oh well, this is vacation right? At least I'm well rested for the duration of my vacation.

This morning my sister, mom and i went on a walk along the beach, and then stopped at local shops, looked at souveneirs that we could get, and picked up some coffee. After that the fam and i went back to the beach and played in the ocean, sunbathed, and relaxed (which was much needed). Today was much more low key because we have many things planned for later on this week. This also means i actually have some time to blog. Its a good thing we have internet. Hopefully i will be able to keep up on this, so then i don't have to play catch up, however, i'm not making any promises.

Oh the beautiful sites of Maui.

My mom and i walking along the liquid hot magma (at least, that is what it used to be)
Mom and I
Sis and I (i'm the one on the left...man we are really starting to look more alike)
Sibs

My brother and sister body surfing....
My sister being smashed by the wave....my brother sort of got the hang of it

This is the view from one of the decks at our condo/villa thingy. Anyways, the beachfront is just past those buildings and across the street. pretty nice eh? anyways, can't wait for more sunshine. and i will try and keep you posted. well its early mornings here, so i am off to bed.

Maui here we come....

So we are on our way to Hawaii, finally. I had a rough night at the hospital. oh well though. i raced to the airport, and we are on our way. more pictures to come. this is us on the airplane.

thanks ren for adidas

So my roommate jen works for adidas every now and then and this past weekend she got a pass for the employee store. she was nice enough to let me use it and i loved it. i got a new pair of shoes, shorts, and new capris, which of course coordinate. (i think i am beginning to become one of those girls at the gym who likes to have their entire outfit matching. nah, until i start wearing makeup to the gym and my hair down, i think i am i the clear) anyways, it was good times, and i love the 50% of discount. and of course i wore my new gym clothes the next day. yay for discounts.

On call...

So last night i did my first on call shift. I was kind of bummed that i did not get to work, but hey i was getting paid to sleep. i thought i was going to make the entire shift without getting called in, but unfortunately i got a call about 245 in the morning asking to come in for the last four hours. i got my sleep drunk self up, grabbed some starbucks (luckily i know where the only 24 hour starbucks is in town) and worked for four hours. so how bout that. just another adventure for nurse reinke :)

5 days and counting....

Until i leave for Hawaii. I am going on vacation to Maui with my family on Thursday morning. I can't wait. I work the next four nights and then i am off for vacation. Yay!!!!

Harry Potter #7

I did it! I finished reading the seventh and last installment of the Harry Potter books. Let me tell you i did not expect what happened int he end. I will not talk about what happened since i know some are still reading it. If you haven't started reading this series you probably should.

Calling Nurse Tiff

So this last week was my first week as a nurse all by myself. There was no one watching over me or checking in on my me. It has been so good thus far. The first two nights were fairly easy because i had some very stable patients. The third night was pretty busy. About two hours before change of shift, one of my patients starting bleeding. I ended up holding pressure on the site for an hour because it would not stop bleeding. Eventually the charge nurse informed me that there is a special device that will hold pressure, so that the nurses do not have to. It was definately a busy time. And to top it off i even got a small amount of blood on my scrubs. That is probably weird to the rest of the world, but in the nursing world, I think i had my official initiation.
I have been working a ton. In two weeks, I will have worked 10 shifts. So i pretty much have disappeared from the world because i work all the time.
But no complaining becasue I'm a nurse and I love it.

Updates Part 3 Megan's going away party

So my best friend in portland, Megan has already moved to Houston, but of course we had to send her out with a bang. We threw her a going away party last friday. We went down to the bite of oregon on the riverfront, tried some good win and food, and then headed over to the gypsy, which is on 21st. We used to go to the gypsy all the time. So it was great to celebrate there. Here are some pictures from this such event.

Me, Megan, Holly, Michel, and Sarah
Ramy and I (can you tell she just got back from her honeymoon in Mexico?)
Mitch, Megan, and Matt (the M club)
Me, Megan, and Ramy (my BFFs)

Megan and I (this is our classic pose, i'm sure going to miss it)
Mitch and Michel (He's a doctor, she's a nurse. They met at OHSU, how cute :))
Megan and Mike dancing, its what they do best
Me, Mike and Megan, love these two
Cool moustache megan.

Updates Part 2 Home is where the heart is

The first weekend in August i was able to venture home for a couple of days and visit the family and friends. I celebrated Jenna's 23rd bday by bowling, hung out with the parents, had a little belated bday celebration with the girls, got to see Abby and Denny's new house (so cute), and got to see Abby's softball team win their first playoff game. It was a great time and very relaxing. It makes me miss everyone and being far away, but at the same time I love being in Portland.

Ramy and Ryan's Wedding Part 3

Saturday Night

This was the reception and much more like the traditional American ceremony. Ramy had two different outfits during this ceremony. There was good food and dancing, including Cambodian dancing. All in all it was a great time.

The happy bride and groom.

This is Dylan. How freaking cute. He is my friend Chris' baby. My friend Chris, the murse. That is his wife Keri.
Megan and I at the wedding.
My friend Ashwini and her daughter Sanaya. Oh by the way she is pregnant with twins! Can't wait.
Cutting the cake.

Their first dance together.

Greeting the guests at the reception. Outfit number 7! Doesn't she look like a princess?

So that concludes Ramy and Ryan's wedding. It was the most fun wedding i have been to. It ended my wedding season with a bang.