ONS Congress

I got to take a few days off of work this week (wed-fri) and come to New Orleans for the ONS  (Oncology Nursing Society) Congress! This is the first time I have attended something like this, and it was a really neat experience. It started on Thursday, and ended on Sunday morning. They have a huge exhibit hall where all sorts of medical companies have booths and give out info and free stuff. The rest of it is scheduled sessions where there is education in all sorts of areas of oncology nursing. There were so many things to choose from, and I learned soooo much! It was pretty fun to be around so many nurses and to hear about all the new and cutting edge processes, resources, drug updates, trials, research, and ideas for practice improvement. I already started a list of things to work on and implement at my office when I get back :). I tagged along with Sylvia, a work friend from my old floor who is the network oncology educator for Seton, and who has become a mentor for me at my current job. She is really cool. Two of her friends (Cindy and Dawn) also rode with and stayed in the room with us. They do community cancer team stuff and are in charge of a lot of things at Seton. So they were great people to hang out with and to get to know. The three of them have been friends for about 20 years and have worked for Seton for a very long time. They were all so fun to be around, and are kinda crazy :). there were also 3 people from my old floor at Seton, so it was fun to see them and hang out with them for the weekend as well.

One of the cool parts of the weekend was when Sylvia won the award for oncology certified nurse of the year. Pretty cool deal b/c that is nationwide award among all the oncology certified nurses. Here's a picture of our group from the award breakfast.

L-R: Victoria, Me, Sylvia, Dawn, Lisa, Karla, and Cindy

After the conference sessions wrapped up each night, we found some time to see a bit of New Orleans. We walked through the French Quarter (and of course down Bourbon street),  rode a trolley through the Garden district, ate dinner at a local restaurant, and walked the riverwalk along the Mississippi river. Here's a few pictures of the fun.

cool balcony in the french quarter

boat on the mississippi

Fun before the trolley ride

I hope I can start going to more conferences so I can get more continuing education hours (I should end up with around 15 hours after I finish all the evals from the weekend- and I need to have 100 hours in 5 years to keep my certification), and so I can keep learning! I really enjoyed hearing all the ideas and all the great things happening in the world of oncology, but I am ready to get home tomorrow. I miss that sweet husband of mine and our pups! Hope everyone has had a great weekend!

A Zipper Project

The pillows on our living room couches are really gross. Since we allow our dogs on the couches (its really just not worth trying to keep them off), they like to take naps with their heads on the pillows. Yes, they think they are people, and I would be lying to you if I tried to act like its not really cute when they do that. The downside is that the pillows are just dirty and have all kinds of fun doggy slobber on them. I can't just throw a whole pillow in the washer, so I decided that I would make removable pillow covers so that I can take them off periodically and wash them. Sounded like a great idea to me, I mean, how hard can it be to sew a little invisible zipper into the side of a pillowcase? I even found a great you-tube tutorial to follow where these ladies made it look like a breeze. Well, let me tell you, its a really frustrating process. Maybe I had a harder time because I was using invisible zippers. Those little boogers are tricky to pin down, and hard to sew straight without getting the thread all tangled up in the little zipper teeth. Plus you have to double-sew them because you pin them down, then baste them by hand, then go back with the machine right along the edge to really secure the zipper. Thank goodness someone invented seam rippers because I used my about 50 times during this project.

Here's some before and after picutres, I wanted to keep the colors the same, so I just found fabric that was the same color, but had a subtle pattern to keep it interesting.

What they looked like before; I had 1 red, 2 brown, and 2 green

Close-up of the zipper- that looks pretty invisible to me!

The same three pillows with the new cases

Close-up of the fabric so you can see the patterns better :)

I am really happy with how they turned out, but I think next time I am using snaps or buttons!

Learning to Sew...

I have been slowly learning how to sew over the past few months. It's becoming a  fun hobby, and I kinda feel like I am starting to get the hang of it! So here's what I have accomplished ....

Purses for my nieces, Abby and Hannah

Baby shoes for Rachel, I found a really great tutorial on a blog that made them very do-able for beginners. 

This baby quilt took me a while to finish, and I learned a ton during the process. It's called a strip quilt and is probably the easiest way to quilt (if you are learning).  I found out that my sewing machine is perfect for making quilts and has some fun attachments to make things easier. Can't wait for Rachel's little Lucy to get here soon!

back of quilt

Front of quilt

close-up of her name

So that's what I have been working on!  I already have a bunch more projects lined up for the next couple of weeks, most of them for baby showers since so many of my friends have decided to have babies. Stay tuned!