Meet Zeus Johnston!

Those ears... !!

 This past Saturday, Tony and I adopted a sweet little Corgi/Australian Shepherd/?? mix from Greenville Humane Society. His name is Zeus, he's a few days over two months old, and he is absolutely adorable. While we've talked about our "dream dog" breeds before, and may want to adopt/buy Frenchies and Goldens somewhere down the road, we really hit the jackpot with this little guy - Zeus is such a good boy!!! And besides, we've always said we would rather adopt a shelter/rescue dog as long and (s)he was young enough for us to train ourselves. 

Zeus has warmed up to us quickly, and is a very fast learner. He's quickly learned to "crate up" at night, has only had a couple accidents inside, and will do his best to walk up and down steps with his cute, stubby legs! We had a bit of a scare on the first full day we had him home - I went to take him outside, and as Zeus was rolling in the grass I noticed that he had eaten away the medical glue keeping him from getting at the stitches over his neuter site. We had to take him to the Animal Emergency Clinic on Sunday morning, and Zeus got staples and an e-collar :(  He is not happy about the collar, but luckily he'll be able to take it off tomorrow after his staples are removed. 

Here, I am taking pity on him when he can't get to the treat (peanut butter) inside his Kong chew toy... We can't wait to get that collar off him!

More on Zeus is soon to come... I just wanted to introduce the new addition to our family! 

Welcome, Zeus :)

We've Missed You!

My apologies for not blogging in... Wow, in months! We're really sorry, and hope you haven't missed us too much ;) But we have missed you!

Needless to say, Tony and I have been very busy as of late (what's new?!). Well, actually, there is some news y'all may not be aware of... As planned, Tony moved to Greenville in early July; his MBA classes are held at Clemson's Downtown Greenville campus (right across the suspension bridge from Overlook Grill!).  What was not planned was MY move to Greenville... In early August. I will explain.

After some undeniable enlightenment, and with building concerns for my well-being (and that of my future marriage!), I chose to withdraw from MUSC and am now pursuing the same goal of taking the utmost care of my patients... Just via different means. I have been so deeply impacted by my work in the Neuroscience TRU's I've had the good fortune of affiliating with while at MUSC, I've had a hard time trying to come to terms with being unable to run clinical trials in the future. So I'm coming back to Clemson to pursue that facet of medicine that means so much to me - and so much to patients with (presently) incurable diseases! So, that being said, here's my new career path: I hope to be accepted to CU's Accelerated 2nd Degree BSN (Bachelor's in Nursing) Program, starting next fall. In the meantime, I'll be doing some work with Greenville Hospital System (where I first forayed into clinical research), working, and taking a few prerequisites in the spring. (Who knew that my health education at MUSC wouldn't be enough to cover nutrition, psychology, etc? Oh well, I never did take Statistics... And Anatomy/Physiology is transferring credit at least!).

From there, I may get a Master's at Clemson and become a certified Nurse Practitioner, but the ultimate goal is to get an MSCR (Master of Science in Clinical Research). The great news is: CU's Nursing classes take place at their Greenville campus on Pleasantburg Dr. - less than 10 minutes from our apartment! (Oh yeah, if you hadn't figured it out already, I moved into Tony's apartment). If this is your first time hearing this news, I hope you don't take it personally that I hadn't already told you... It has truly been a whirlwind to get my ducks in a row in such a short span of time! (Without incurring more student loans).

Tony starts classes this coming Monday; I continue to get settled into the new place until I begin working soon. All the while, we're working on squaring away wedding details (travel arrangements for us & our photographers, save-the-dates, etc.). We hope to be sending our guests correspondence within the next couple weeks! So be on the lookout :)

We'll keep you posted on our academic endeavors (borrrring) and wedding details (woohoo!) as we figure things out!

A pic of our apartment complex in Greenville.

Post-Elopement Reception is BOOKED!!!

Official Save-the-Date!  (click to enlarge)

This past week, while I have a small break from rotations, Tony and I took a day trip to Greenville, where we met with the lovely staff at Overlook Grill to discuss a possible reception using their facilities. This restaurant is where we had our first date - needless to say, it was magical! After a brief talk concerning the details (we'll not bore you with that!), it was decided - we're having a cocktail & heavy hors d'oeuvres reception with the Overlook Grill (located within Falls Park on the Reedy River)! It will be held on June 3, 2012... Just a few days after Tony and I return from our nuptials/honeymoon in Puerto Rico!

   

We also visited Skatell's Jewelers to get to work on a custom wedding band to fit my beautiful, unique engagement ring (I never get tired of showing it off - see below!). I had to leave my gorgeous ring with the jeweler, which made me a little sad... I keep freaking out when I realize it's not there! But I'll have it back in a few days :)

Stay tuned for more wedding details - including where to stay, park, etc. as our most special wedding guests!! Love to all,

Nicole

Confession

I have been very selfish as of late, worrying about the future and the "what if's?"... While I don't believe that I take most things for granted, I have not taken the time to tell everyone who's in my "support system" how much they mean to me. I have put the world on my own shoulders, taking your blessings and confidence in my talents in vain. I am so sorry.

To my family, especially my future husband Tony, thank you for doing your best to keep me from losing my mind. I don't even want to think about where I may be today if it weren't for you! And, I want to say that I'm sorry for not always being grateful for today and how wonderful life is at this very moment; I have been trying so hard to stop worrying for the future, that there are greater powers who have wonderful plans for me (my friendship/relationship with Tony is undeniable proof of this!). I am going to put my worries out there and let the universe take care of them; God knows I have done my part, as have all of you, to get here, to this very point in time. I am finally taking that leap of faith and entrusting my troubles to the Powers That Be. And this (truly, finally) gives me great peace and an overwhelming feeling of the love I have from you all. I hope you feel it coming right back to you, today and every day!

Happy Easter, everyone :)

Thoughts of the Day

You have had the pleasure of reading some wonderful and sweet writing from Nicole so I figured it was time to add something myself. First off, you will have to excuse the writing style as Nicole is much more eloquent than me. I have been thinking for the past couple days what I wanted to write about and I have decided to take this opportunity to brag about my future wife.

I believe with all my heart that my future wife is the most amazing, kind, beautiful, and intelligent person (that’s person, not just woman) in the world. I have thought these things for a long time but she seems to constantly do things to remind me of how wonderful she is.

The months of November and December are fairly busy for the both of us because our birthdays, anniversary, and Christmas all occur in that span. We are poor medical and graduate students so we have taken to the tradition of a “birthaversmas” gift- yep that’s exactly what you think it is, a combination of birthday, anniversary, and Christmas- the name was her idea by the way. So for birthaversmas a year and a half ago, Nicole got me a homebrewing kit. Now for a beer loving chemical engineer, there isn’t a better gift on this planet. To this day one of my favorite things to do is to brew a batch of beer with my future wife.

I can continue to write things she does every day to make me a happy man but I would be writing for a long time and I have a thesis to work on eventually. I do, however, have one more quick story to share, a story about a seagull. Nicole and I took a trip to Islamorada, Florida and Old San Juan, Puerto Rico to check out a couple of potential spots for our wedding. We were about to leave Islamorada to head to Puerto Rico but wanted to make a quick stop at the place we had eaten the night before to see it in the daytime. We were walking by the water when we noticed some splashing right off the shore. Nicole saw what appeared to be an injured seagull and instantly was taking off her shoes and wading into cold water to save this bird. Now let me add this, Nicole does not like seagulls at all and definitely is not a fan of cold water but she instantly disregarded whatever hesitations she had for a single seagull. Some of you may have had a moment in life that verifies every decision you have made in the past, well this was that type of moment for me. If this woman is willing to do this for a random seagull, I can’t even imagine what she would do for me. By the way, we were able to remove a fishing hook from the seagull’s wing and it flew away just fine.

Needless to say, I cannot believe how lucky I am to have found such an amazing woman. I mean, wouldn’t you marry the woman I described above because that is who she is every day. Besides, she is all mine so you have to go find your own.

Tony

Some Big News!!

After months of silence, we have a couple big announcements to make... First, though, we apologize that it has been SO long since our last post (Christmas!). While there is no valid excuse, Tony and I have been pretty busy in school! He's hoping to finish his thesis by the end of summer... I know he will :) After his thesis is written and he's officially done with the Environmental Engineering Dept. at CU, he'll be moving to Greenville to finish his last year of grad school: MBA! I'm sorry for rambling so much, I'm just so proud...!

So, onto our announcements... First, we have decided to get married in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico!! We fell in LOVE with the city in the mere two days we were there, and after spending a couple days we found it: "Our Spot". It is a lovely overlook along Old San Juan's La Muralla (City Wall), and what a beautiful view it is! We absolutely can't wait to stand up there on The Big Day, just the two of us and our witnesses...

Which leads me to our next big announcement: We are eloping! (But not in the "Vegas fashion"!) Our ceremony will be as meticulously planned out as any other; the main difference being that our wonderful photographers, Craig & Lindsey Mahaffey of Sposa Bella Photography, will be our only two witnesses. Add in the officiant, and there will be five of us total... Oh, but let's not forget the guards who will ensure our privacy at this historic location. You get the idea. It is going to be perfect, because it is just us!

Don't get me wrong - Tony and I love our families sososo much, and we can't wait to celebrate with everyone when we get home! We'll be having two receptions - one in Greenville, SC and the other in OH (where Tony's family now resides); these will be held in the weeks after our honeymoon.

I think most happy, closer-than close couples would understand our reasons completely after walking around this beautifully-preserved, romantic city. As we spent more time in Old San Juan and met more people both in our hotel and along the streets, we knew this was where we were getting married. It was such an amazing experience (and in less than two days!), we could only dream of how special and intimate our experience of a lifetime would be if it were just us. And so that's what we're doing! Starting our married life as just the two of us... So happy and new, as getting married should be.

So while we hope you are so happy for us that we've discovered exactly what we want our wedding to be, we are sorry if it does not make you happy. We've told our families and close friends, and they're absolutely thrilled... And we'd love to hear what you have to say, as long as it is respectful of our plans. Eloping is certainly not for everyone, but it is perfect for us. Thanks for reading!

Nicole & Tony

t minus 1 year, 47 days... Feel free to visit our Registries!   ;)