It's Always Something

It has been an interesting few months filled with ups, downs, and to-be-continueds. Such is life, there will always be challenges and obstacles to overcome. I never expected child-rearing; however, to be something I needed to constantly work hard and improve upon. Previously, raising kids has always come intuitively. I didn't think about how I wanted to raise my kids or how to parent them. I just did. Over the past three years, however, I have noticed myself become increasingly over-concerned with my daughter's education. So much so that I have started stressing my 4th grader into tears over schoolwork, more specifically math. Perhaps it's because I believe the higher success in math translates to a higher success-rate in other subjects inevitably meaning a higher success-rate in life. Or perhaps I have gotten myself caught up in an entirely different rat race of life. I have somehow enlisted myself into a small yet overwhelming demographic of parents who believe school gra...

I haven't been able to sleep well ever since nursing school ended earlier this month. At first, I thought my body was used to the late nights/early mornings routine. But it has been almost 3 weeks since pinning now, and I am still up... thinking. I started doing yoga in the mornings. Nothing fancy, just whatever is available for free OnDemand. I am hoping some daily meditation will help clear my mind or at least organize it. So much to do and I finally have the time to do it all, but I don't. Instead I spend my days (and nights) distracting myself by starting new projects that I know I will never finish. Today, I thought it would be a good idea to look through an enormous library of personal photos and organize them. That task took precedence over looking for a job, studying for the state boards test, or doing my taxes. And after an all day walk through memory lane, those photos are no more organized than when I found them. Now, I lay here at 3:30am feeling guilty I wasted anot...

Five years ago I started an annual holiday tradition- a gift wrapping party with my closest friends. Over the last year or so, I have lost touch with several girlfriends. Life + family keeps all of us pretty busy it seems. So this year, that party consisted of just me + the kiddo. To try and keep our wrapping Eco-friendly and cost-effective, we wrapped our gifts in old newspapers + red yarn. We made the tags out of brown paper bags + stamps. And the final touch was a tree branch from our Christmas tree. The result was eye-catching practical gift wrapping with a personal touch. The downside to using newspapers as gift wrap is black fingers from the newsprint. It rubs off easily, so be sure to wash hands immediately after wrapping before touching + grabbing other things. Other than that, we were very pleased with our earth conscience choice. - xoxo

#1- Just when you think you've got it figured out, you don't. This summer, Brooklynn learned how to ride her bike without training wheels. As the weeks passed, we rode and rode to get her comfortable with controlling her speed, turning left and right, and abrupt stops. After a few months of consistent riding, we took our regular evening ride. Laughing as we rode, pushed ourselves up hills and took turns sharper and faster. And just like that, Brooklynn falls. The look on her face spoke a thousand words. Surprise. Confused. Embarrassed. She looked over to me for reassurance, which I gladly gave with a smile and nod, and she picked herself up, got back on, and peddled away. In that brief moment, I was reminded that no matter how much we think we're on autopilot and comfortable in life, there will be a corner we take too fast and we will fall. We will be shooken up, possibly embarrassed. We'll get up and keep going. Cautiously at first, then eventually catching our stride ...

It could happen. The end of civilization as we know it could be wiped away almost instantly by Mother Nature. No matter how well our house is built or how much food and water we have stored away, WE WILL NOT BE PREPARED ENOUGH. And when it happens, we will turn on each other like zombies. In preparation for the end of the world, I have decided to try and learn some self-sustaining skills that will separate myself from your average zombie. I plan on covering the basics: food, water, shelter, and safety. 1. Gardening- Let's face it. We are spoiled. We're so accustomed to buying everything from a grocery store that if the giant quake were to happen right now, we'd be living off canned beans from our pantry. After we attack our neighbors and eat their canned beans, we will eventually die a slow death from hypertension-related diseases. Zombies can't grow food. This means we must learn to do it. 2. Camping- I'm not talking RV living. I mean backpacking in for a few miles...

I passed pre-reqs with a 91% average. Although the material wasn't too difficult, it was very time consuming. 8 hrs of lecture + 2 hrs of reading every day. Plus, quizzes everyday. It was an intense month. On Monday, I started core, semester 1. Three months of 2 days in lecture (8 hrs each day) and 3 days in clinicals plus tests on Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays. I anticipate this is where it begins to get interesting. Wish me luck.

This morning I got together with some of my girlfriends to attend another girlfriend's kickboxing group exercise class. I have not been to the gym nor consistently exercised for over two years and completely underestimated how HARD exercise can be for me! Like math, it appears that if you do not use it, you definitely LOSE it. Only 30 minutes into the routine, I felt lightheaded and nauseous and had to sit down to catch my breath. As I sat there and watched my energizer-bunny friend teach the class, I realized that I do not want to make my life more complicated than it has to be by not taking care of my health. I don't want to stroke out. I don't want to be out of breath when I walk up 5+ flights of stairs. I don't want back pain, joint pain, or any other type of pain that stems from lack of exercise and poor diet. I don't want stints in my body to hold my arteries open. I don't want chemicals coursing through my veins to regulate my blood, hormones, or we...