Reverse sleep in

Some people find it crazy, and maybe it is...When I am approaching a night shift with less than 24 hours to adjust my body clock I "reward myself" with a reverse sleep in. Rather than sleeping in really late on the morning of my first night shift, I go to bed crazy early the night before. 

So, my first night shift was Saturday night. I got to go to bed almost as soon as I get off work on Friday. It turns out that Friday was a a particularly tumultuous day, and my fit-bit heart rate tracker can attest to that. We had a code blue that went on for several hours, and you can see my heart rate spike. The spike parallels my own stress level that day.  This meant that me going to bed early, basically as soon as I got home from work, was pretty easy.

 Then, I got up in the wee hours of Saturday morning, before sunrise, and tried to be as productive as I could for between 8-12 hours. This included going to explore the waterfront at sunrise with Tom. 

The skies were particularly beautiful, a refreshing breath of fresh air after the stress and loss felt in the ICU the night before

 Before going home for a really long nap prior to the night shift, Tom and I got to explore the Seafood fest at India Point Park. A plate of jambalaya...

 ....and a giant lobster grilled cheese sandwich were the perfect recipe for me to go home and sleep!

The tag line for the event #SureAmHungry quickly became #SureAmFull in my mind

By the last night shift (my 9th shift in a row) I was ready for getting back to daylight hours (what am I going to do when I'm on the schedule for a full month of nights???). We celebrated after my last night by walking to an adorable little diner in North Providence

French toast, I'm convinced, fixes all ailments

We still aren't used to missing out on Seattle sports, and I'm not sure we ever will be. Our 12th man flag hangs proudly though!

We weren't able to get the Seahawks broadcast, so Tom watched the stats updates online and I came home to him watching a pirated version of the game on a youtube channel disguised as a balloon video on Monday morning. ...sigh...you've gotta do what you've gotta do....

 In other news, we thoroughly enjoyed two full days in a row off of work. I found a trail by our house that's kind of cute :)

 And Tom and I explored a town called East Greenwich (that I am convinced should be pronounced phonetically but is actually pronounced like "Grenich"...)

 We basked in the sun in the harbor

That is, until the clouds rolled in. Then we literally sprinted (well, as fast as one can sprint while wearing flip flops and a dress) back to the car before we got soaking wet from the downpour!

We dried off from the rain storm in one of the cutest coffee shops we'd seen in a while.

We sat in the open air atmosphere and soaked in the sights and smells of a summer rain storm

 We also explored Phantom Farms. We were in search of some early-season apple picking.

 Sadly, their crop got hit hard by the weather this year and they didn't have any u-pick apples

but they did have an adorable porch and seating area where we took full advantage of the apple-baked goods.

 

And a cute little maze to walk through

complete with planters full of mums in the sunshine

The farm was also home to these little sparrows that seemed to have no awareness of how close they were to getting smashed by the rocking chairs on the porch!

 Today we were on the hunt for some running shoes--I haven't purchased a new pair that wasn't from goodwill (with who-knows-how-many-miles already put on them) in I don't know how long. So, obviously we found ourselves at the premium outlet stores. 

Tom caught me in all sorts of faces (some much more flattering than others) while we were looking around

I joked with him that I couldn't possibly walk in heels. He challenged me to it...so of course I accepted. And, I didn't fall! (I also only wore them for a few feet of distance...)

 

And then he took the most un-flattering (and also hilarious) photo of me that I think has ever been taken. Are you kidding me!

 

 We rounded it all out at Costco, because we can't seem to stay away from it! And with cuddly oversized bears, who could?

  

 Tom has big news to round off this post! His publication arrived in print at our door (different than the publication I posted about last time...but I understand your confusion if you thought this was the same as the last one...because he's had A LOT!)

 

 But in even bigger news--he is EMPLOYED! I'll let him share the specifics but let's just say that on Monday he will be a litigation associate in Providence and we couldn't be more excited!