2010 Recap...Welcome 2011!

2010 has definitely been the best year of our lives filled with so many amazing memories.  I knew it would be exciting, but I had no idea just how much we could pack into one year.  In a compact version, here is  a glimpse into what we had going on the past 12 months...

We started out 2010 by going on a vacation to Jamaica!  It was my graduation gift from Matt and we decided to go over my Winter break since we would be so busy after graduation.  We were so right!  Matt had told me my first year of nursing school that when I graduated he would take me anywhere I wanted to go.  Jamaica was paradise!

We spent the year planning our wedding :).  We had an engagement party and I found my beautiful dress in January.  Each month had big milestones for me to check off our list. It was difficult to plan the wedding while trying to finish up my senior year at Purdue.  The work really paid off because our wedding was the best day of our lives and it was more than I ever imagined it would be.

I finished up my nursing degree at Purdue with some of my fabulous friends that moved away after we graduated :(.  Abby moved to San Diego to be a Navy nurse, Amy moved to Nashville to pursue her degree for Family Nurse Practitioner, and Kylie moved to Indy (yay! close to me!) to work at Riley.  In the midst of finishing school I was looking for a job, applying for jobs, interviewing for jobs, and trying to decide what my future in nursing would hold.  Did we want to stay in Lafayette? Did I want to do NICU? Did we want to uproot and move to Indy?  I was offered two NICU positions at two different hospitals in Indy and gladly accepted my RN position on days at St. Vincent Women's in March.  Best decision I ever made! I LOVE my job.

We spent a couple months searching for a place to live in Indy since we decided to move here and not have me drive from Lafayette anymore.  We were nervous at first, but we are really loving Indy and can see it being our place to call home.

I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from Purdue in May and passed my NCLEX in June. I am a real Registered Nurse!  I'll always remember the first piece of paper I signed at work as J.Barrett, RN (later to be J. Dunn, RN which I was so excited to be signing!)




I married my best friend and became Mrs. Dunn on September 18th, the anniversary of our 6th year together!  Our wedding day was absolutely amazing.  We were surrounded by the love of our family and friends and I was able to soak up every little aspect of our special day.  I'm so lucky to call this guy my husband.

We welcomed Jax, the Boston Terrier, into our family in October.  We had always wanted a dog, and one random Sunday we decided we wanted to go get him.  We looked up a breeder on the internet and 2 hours later, we were in northern Indiana picking out our puppy!  I can't imagine not having him around.  He brings us so much happiness and laughter.

We took a belated honeymoon the beginning of November back to Jamaica.  We went to the same Sandals resort we went at the beginning of the year.  It was great get-away and a much needed relaxing vacation after the stress of the wedding and everything else we had done the past year.  We braved hurricane-turned-tropical storm Tomas and had a fantastic vacation, mon!

I am looking forward to 2011, a little because it won't be as jam-packed and a little because there are so many things to look forward to...

-I am excited to become more proficient in the NICU...I get level 3 and 4 trained (the highest level in NICU)  in February and March and then I will be fully trained to take on a baby at the highest acuity.  Scary, but so exciting to be functioning at the same level as my mentors.

-Visiting friends.  San Diego, Nashville, and Georgia are calling our names :).

-Seeing where life takes us.  Will we still be in Indy next summer when our lease is up?  Will we buy a house? Who knows! That's the fun part!

-NOT looking forward to DMB not touring in 2011...guess we will have to find another concert to hold us over until 2012 when they return :).

-Spending more time with Matt in the summers since he will be home more than last summer with his job change.

-Welcoming a friend's new baby into the world next June...congrats to the Hills!! :) 

Tonight, we are ringing in the new year together at home since I work tomorrow on New Year's Day.  Happy New Year to all of you!!

Honeymoon Tomas

Well, this blog is beginning to be a joint effort (barely though). Matt thought of this post title...like Hurricane Tomas, but Honeymoon Tomas instead, get it? His favorite title he thought of was "Jamaicans on jitneys...Man, what a ride!", but I nixed that. (A jitney is a little mini truck type thing that the Jamaicans drive around the resort and transport the guests around. There is not a whole lot holding you inside, no seat belts, and they drive like absolute maniacs...see picture below)

Our honeymoon was amazing! We went back to the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica where we actually visited last December. We were nervous to go with the whole tropical storm thing going on, but it didn't put a damper on our trip at all.  We had a couple days of on and off rain, but that didn't stop us from staying in the pool/ocean and relaxing with an island drink.

We did a few things different this time around:

  One was that we stayed on the opposite side of the resort.  We had a little villa which had a pool! We spent most of our time at the huge pool with the swim-up bar though.  

We did the rock climbing wall! I was nervous, but Matt was set on doing the hardest course they had.  We both made it to the top and conquered the rock wall.  

We also had a $250 spa credit this time around and we used that on a couple aromatherapy massage.  Boy, that was incredible! Matt has never had a massage, so he was in heaven. I have had quite a few, and I will say that was the best massage I have ever had! We were pretty relaxed for the rest of that day.  We both fell asleep on the beach for about an hour or two after that.

We miss being waited on hand and foot in paradise, but are so happy to be back home with our pup.  Lauren and my mom schemed together and my mom surprised Matt and I by picking us up at the airport with Jax! We were soooo happy :). 

I figured I would tell the rest of our honeymoon story through pictures... 

The big pool with the swim-up bar where we spent most of our days.  Normally we would get up, eat breakfast, and then spend the rest of the day at the pool or ocean with a drink in hand, make a pit stop for lunch, and then go back to the water.  Heaven!

The drink man

At a Sandals Select dinner for guests who were coming back for a second time

Dinner menu of one of the 8 restaurants.  We ate dinner at 2 different places EVERY night.  We took advantage of all-inclusive for sure.

Island drinks by day, wine by night.

View of our balcony

Our pool! We actually didn't even get in it since we spent most of our time at the big pool or beach.

The jitneys I was talking about above.  Crazy drivers!!

My cute husband. We went out to these swings over the ocean after breakfast one morning.

Hey they named a sports bar after me!

Out for dinner

Another yummy menu

Weird little fruits on the palm trees

Honeymooners

Absolute relaxation!

Dinner # 1

Dinner # 2 same night

After eating 2 dinners...so full!

Purple Rain! A fantastic island drink I was loving in Jamaica.

Our new friends from Colorado we met.  They were so fun! It was so nice to spend a couple days with them.

The bartender (of 1 of 11 bars on property) had us come behind the bar and make a shot.  We had a contest on who could make the best one :)

Bamboo!

I had to get in a little Aquacise. 

And then skip out half-way through to grab a drink at the swim-up bar.

Taxi ride to downtown Ocho Rios to shop! I felt like a rebel :)

All geared up for rock climbing!

Go Matt Go!

Beautiful! Our last full day there it ended up being gorgeous and sunny.  I love this place!

Sipping on dirty bananas.  Another amazing island drink!

I'm so glad we were able to get away and enjoy a honeymoon together! I can't believe we have been married for almost 2 months already! We are so lucky and blessed and HAPPY.

Liquid Sunshine

Hey Mon!

We have one day of WiFi access so I thought it was only appropriate to do a post before we head out to the Reggae Beach Party tonight.  Jamaica is just as amazing as when we were last here in December.  Tomas is not really putting a damper on anyone's good time.  A few things have been moved inside due to rain, but you will still find the entire resort at the swim-up bar during a rain shower.

A few of our favorites this time around...

1. Purple Rain- a mysterious purple slushie drink that the bartender whips up. It is delicious! I see people walking around with a cool  looking drink and I just say, "I want one of those things".

2. Eating 2 dinners- this is an all-inclusive resort, so make the most of it right? Right! There are about 8 restaurants at the resort (and 11 bars) and also some kind of dinner event every night, so you have a ton of options. Last time we were here we missed out on eating at about 3 restaurants, so we made a point to eat at every. single. one. this time. It's a little embarrassing when you say it out loud to someone (we felt guilty after being stuffed after our second dinner last night, but only because we told another couple that we had been doing it), but we are just getting our money's worth!  Since we had 2 lunches today, we may just have one dinner tonight...doubt it though :).

3. Toughing out the liquid sunshine (what all the Jamaicans call "rain") in the pool and hot tub. It rained off and on all day yesterday, but we were at the pool all day long (9-4) and got the most sun we have since we got here! It's really not a big deal that it's raining when you are already wet in the pool or ocean.

4. Being together...and away from life's stresses at home. It has been nice to be away from work etc. and we have actually enjoyed not being able to use the computer or our phones. One day  of internet is good enough in Jamaica! We are just having so much fun being together and enjoying this beautiful vacation together. It's nice being a newlywed :).

There are probably a lot of things I am forgetting, but to be honest I need to get off this computer and finish getting ready for the beach party!

braving Tomas

Tomas has turned from a hurricane to a tropical storm in the Caribbean. Yay!...kind of. We still have to deal with a tropical storm and it's rain and wind, but we don't have to deal with a hurricane.  He could always decide to turn back in to a hurricane if he really wanted to, but I ask that he don't.  I actually ask that he turn around and disappear and let us enjoy our honeymoon and leave all the Caribbean people alone. Too much to ask?

We have to go drop Jax off with Janet so he can stay with her while we are gone. I'm sure he will have visitors, especially his other grandma :). We will miss him so much, but know he will be in good hands.



Sad to leave this..... 
































But so happy to see this...

And this :)...

Hello Blogging World!

Well, I figured now was a better time than ever to jump on the blogging train.  2010 was quite an exciting and eventful year, and with us living in Indy now we thought a blog would be a great way to keep our family and friends in touch with what is going on in our lives! We are still getting used to being "husband and wife" and we are loving being newlyweds :).  Let's do a run-through of what 2010 has had in store for us so far...

1. I worked on finishing up my last year of nursing school at Purdue University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing in May (with a 4.0!). I think Matt may have been a little more relieved than me-he said my studying stressed him out...ha! I also had to see a couple of my close nursing friends move away :(. Darn real world! 

2. I studied my brains out and passed the NCLEX (state boards for Registered Nurses) in June. I never never never want to have to do that again.

3. While I was trying to finish up school and study for boards-I was interviewing for jobs! Ah! I interviewed at a couple different NICUs in Indy and ended up getting my dream job at St. Vincent Women's Hospital as an RN. I am certain I work with the world's best group of women, nurses, and friends.  The staff is amazing and the teamwork in this unit is just unbelievable. I can honestly say I LOVE my job! I love that my patients are teeny babies and that I am working to make their lives, and the lives of their families, better.  

4. We packed up and moved down to the north side of Indianapolis from West Lafayette.  We moved away from our family and friends to start our new life in a new city. Exciting, but scary all at the same time. Matt wasn't too excited to move at first, but after we got settled in we are really liking it here. 

5. We got MARRIED on September 18 on the anniversary date of our 6th year together.  We have come a long way in these 6 years and I can't imagine my life with any one else. Our wedding day was absolutely amazing and more than we every imagined it would be.  Having our friends and family together to celebrate with us was just the absolute best.  I love my husband!

6. We added a member to the Dunn family in October.  A Boston Terrier puppy, Jax! Jax is named after Jacksonville which is the vacation destination where Matt and I fell in love.  It was a long time coming and all we needed was a little Florida sunshine to spark the flame. We started dating a week after we got back and the rest is history! Anyways, we had been talking about getting a dog for 2 years, but our house in Lafayette wouldn't let us have one.  We were sitting around the house on a Sunday afternoon and after looking on a few websites we found ourselves in the car on the way to Claypool, IN (2 hour drive) to go pick up our Boston puppy.  Spur of the moment for sure. He is currently making this post difficult because he is laying on my lap and keeps putting his chin on the laptop.  I love this dog :).

7. We are leaving for our honeymoon (belated) to Ocho Rios, Jamaica this week. I didn't have enough vacation time to go right after the wedding, so we waited until I had some built up.  We are going back to the Sandals resort we went to last December.  We had so much fun, we couldn't imagine going anywhere else! There are still so many things we didn't get a chance to do that we have planned for this time...IF we go at all.

...I got a text this morning from my mother-"Omg hurricane heading to Jamaica by wed or thurs". WHAT?!! I thought she was kidding, but after I checked weather.com I believed her :(. There is a tropical storm and a hurricane in the Atlantic right now and the hurricane is projected to hit Jamaica by Wednesday.  Just our luck. I called 1-888-SANDALS today to ask what we should do about this and her response was "Just wait and see. Call back tomorrow or Monday and we will know more". Well, our Jamaican vacation is in limbo at the moment, but I am a wishful thinker (a hurricane can stop, turn around, and go the other way without leaving any rain or clouds right?). 

Welcome to our new blog! :)