Saying Good Bye To My 20's

So, Friday I turned 30.

I'm not going to lie, I was completely dreading it. I'm not exactly sure why, probably because I always just feel like I'm older than everyone else especially when I left Olive Garden -- I was really one of the older people that worked there. Also, since I had my Golden Birthday at age 25, I've been really sad about getting older. However, when the day came I ended up embracing it. I just realized how incredibly blessed my 30 years of life have been so far and how thankful I am for that. 

Thursday night, my clinical besties and I got together to have some drinks and work on a gift that we got for our clinical instructor. They ended up turning it into a little birthday celebration for me! I love these 4 so much, I know that they are going to be my lifelong friends forever.

Friday my friend Nicole (whose house we were at the night before) took me out to lunch for my birthday. We went to Olive Garden and had a great meal and a fun time. She is so sweet and the only way I'd let her pay for my food was to promise that I was going to do the same for her birthday. While we were there I saw one of my friends from my OG who just got promoted. I miss her so much and we got to chat awhile and she bought us dessert and wrote 'Happy Birthday Twin' on it because when she started at OG everyone called us twins. It was so great to see her!

Friday night my dad, stepmom, sister & her boyfriend, stepbrother & his girlfriend, and D & I went out to dinner. It was a really fun meal and a great time with my family. Carol bought a cake and we brought it to the restaurant. My dad and Carol got me a bottle of wine, a gorgeous amethyst ring, and a nice check!! I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband and family.

My best friend Bianca got SO MANY of my favorite gymnasts and celebrities to tweet me on my birthday!! We do this every year for each other, and it is just so amazing how many people tweeted me happy birthday!

It was a WONDERFULLY blessed day, and I am so grateful to God for absolutely everything that He has blessed me with in my life. Nothing would be possible without Him, and I know that and always remember to be grateful for everything in my life.

Next Friday, November 1st, my mom is having a big party for me with her side of the family, my extended family, my friends, and some of my mom and sister's and my mutual friends. She's already started moving furniture and getting decorations out and planning the menu! It's going to be SO MUCH FUN, and I am actually looking forward to it even though I hate being the center of attention for any reason. I will definitely update again after next weekend!

Weekly Wishes

Linking back up for Weekly Wishes!
I honestly don't even remember what my wishes were for two weeks ago,
so I'm just going to start fresh with this week.

1. Start, complete, and turn in my Pharm Apps final assignment (care plan) by 10/25.

2. Finish Tasha's gift this week.

3. Be all caught up on DVR (only 2 episodes to go!!) by Tuesday night.

4. Enjoy my birthday and stop freaking out about turning 30 :(

5. Finish my EFs posts about World's on my gym blog.

Good luck on whatever you are working on this week!

I'm Back!!

HELL WEEK IS OVER!

At least, for this semester. I actually managed to get through it pretty well too!

Monday I had a tutoring group from 9-11. It went pretty well, and more people were there than there were Saturday. After tutoring, I went to visit Paula in the classroom where she was having lecture. They were just getting done, so I chatted with her for a while afterwards, and actually she had to do something on the computer and I didn't have my study group until 3 so I worked on my CET and she worked on her work. Then she had another lecture at 2, and she asked me if I wanted to stay and I did. I haven't seen her since MAY and it was so great spending the day with her! She has supported me so much throughout EVERYTHING and I couldn't be where I am today without her.

Tuesday we didn't go to clinical, we met at GTC. We did a HPS (Human Patient Simulator) experience on ARDS. Everyone was pretty nervous, but I had the worst possible HPS experiences last semester so I knew that there was no way that this one could be worse than those. It ended up going really well and our teacher said we all did great! Then we went into a classroom for the math exam, and one person would go meet with her to go over their CET, one at a time. Well, the math exam was HARD. Like it took me 2 HOURS. But I GOT A 100%!!! I was so so super excited!! Also, I got a 90 on my CET which was WAY more than I thought I would get!! My instructor is amazing and gave me so much positive feedback. Later that night, our clinical group went out for drinks and dinner. We only have 5 people in our group and we are all close. I'm going to be devastated when clinical is over because I will never have another one as amazing as this.

Wednesday I don't know what came over me but I spent 5 hours doing laundry, organizing my closet, switching out my clothes, cleaning and vacuuming my room, etc. After it was done I felt SO GREAT. Then I spent the rest of the day studying for my Mental Health midterm. Thursday I had my midterm and my Skills math exam. I got an 82% on the midterm, which I wasn't proud of, but it's been such a HARD class that all I wanted was to pass, and I did that. So I'm happy with it. I also passed my Skills math too!!! So excited!! I got home last night and almost didn't know what to do with myself!! 

Today D and I went to the pumpkin farm and Holy Hill. I waited until today because it was supposed to be beautiful and sunny ... well, that kind of did not happen. Plus it was FREEZING!!! But we still had a good time anyway!!! I can't believe how quickly Fall has gone :( We just got done carving our pumpkins as well and they turned out pretty good! Leaving you with some pictures of our day. My idiot self didn't charge my camera so we only had my phone. Usually we set up my camera to get pictures, but not an option. You can tell by the pictures how cloudy it was :( Luckily the last few years we've gone it's been sunny so no big deal.

Hope everyone had a great week! I'm going to try and catch up on everyone's blogs!

Just a FYI ...

I most likely will not be blogging until next Friday.

This coming up week starting today and ending Thursday is going to be 3rd semester Hell Week. Tonight I'm going to study with my friend for our 2, that's right, T-W-O math exams we have next week (Tuesday and Thursday). GOD HELP ME YOU GUYS. I have already failed my first math exam (by one question, you can only get two wrong), and now our instructor emailed us today to tell us there are going to be problems on an equation we've never done before. I'm deathly afraid I'm going to fail Clinical and/or Skills all because of a math exam.

Then tomorrow I work 7-3:30 and I'm going right to GTC to tutor Paula's 1st semester Pharm students for their midterm until around 7pm. Sunday I work again. Monday I have another tutoring sesh from 9-12, and then a study group for my midterm for Mental Health at like 3-5. Somewhere between now and Monday I have to write my Midterm CET for clinical. And then we have HPS scenario on Tuesday and the first math exam. Then Thursday I have my Mental Health midterm and the second math exam. PLEASE YOU GUYS SEND ME POSITIVE THOUGHTS & PRAYERS!!

I don't want to lose my mind. 

To put a positive spin on things, I found this online.

It's interesting and I'm happy that I fit into all 6 of these traits.

Motivated. You might choose nursing school for any number of reasons: to make a living helping others. To expand your career opportunities. To carve out a brighter future for your family. When you are genuinely motivated, the hardships of going back to school are a little easier to get through knowing each day brings you closer to your goal.

Positive. There are ups and downs in nursing school. Struggling with a nursing concept, missing an exam question, difficulty managing your schedule – these setbacks are par for the course, but a successful student is one who can get over the humps with a positive attitude. They don’t ignore obstacles, but they find the best solution they can and move on.

Organized. Being intentional with time management goes a long way in school. Students who formally schedule study sessions (both self-study and with a group), have a dedicated space for school at home and take other measures to organize their lives position themselves well for success.

Connected. Successful students build relationships with faculty, staff and classmates. They join study groups, reach out to instructors with questions and ask for extra help in the simulation lab when they need it. They make friends and find strength in numbers.

Realistic. Memorizing facts and formulas isn’t the key to “winning” nursing school, and you will make mistakes. That’s okay! The purpose of nursing school is to learn and practice. Successful students set realistic expectations and remind themselves of the end goal – to retain information that is critical to optimal patient care.

Excited. Many of our students come to nursing after a career in a non-nursing field because they want work that’s more meaningful. They are excited about pursuing a new career, and that excitement helps carry them through the program.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend/week!

Weekly Wishes

Happy Monday lovelies!

Okay, so I did really well on my goals for last week. I even did extra stuff :)

Fold laundry.

I actually ended up folding laundry twice!! 

I did some on Monday and then I did some more on Sunday!

Start working on Tasha's gift.

Friday I went to Hobby Lobby and bought stickers and stuff, and I worked on it both Friday and Saturday night. I'm over halfway done with it and I love it! It looks great so far. Well great for somebody who is super un-artistic like myself ;)

Stay a week ahead in Pharm Apps.

I just turned in my Week 3 work. Week 2 is due tomorrow at 8am.

My teacher probably hates me and thinks I'm so weird! Our big project (a super huge care plan) is due on 10/28 and my goal is to have it done by the end of my next weekend off (10/20). My birthday is 10/25 and I work that whole weekend so I don't want to have to worry about it!

Get my study guide set for tutoring.

I have my study guide from last year's sessions. I emailed the instructor with the material to see if it is the same. She said she'd get back to me but hasn't yet, but I'm almost positive it is. So I'm good there.

Catch up on my DVR.

I did some. I still have 2 episodes of Trophy Wife to watch, one episode of Survivor, and one Parenthood. I'm going to try and do that tomorrow because more shows start this week & next.

In addition to all of this, I am also now a week ahead on my skills check-offs and I met with my friend Tessa on Saturday and we studied math for our next exam AND answered our questions for our HPS scenario for clinical that isn't until 10/15. It was a very productive week!

This week's goals:

1. Get started and finish my mental health care plan for Clinical (due 10/15).

2. Work on my Pharm Apps care plan and finish the last week of assignments.

3. Write my 5 gymnastics blog posts I need to do about Worlds (AA & each EF).

Thankful Thursday

I had such an amazingly blessed day today!!

I decided to do my first edition of Thankful Thursday!

+ I got an 88 on my Mental Health exam today, and it was one of the highest grades in the class! I really needed this since I failed the last exam. I know I will only go up from here. I'm also now a week ahead on my Skills check-offs!! Best feeling ever! I also have so many amazing classmates that are becoming like family to me. I am so grateful for them, and I know that we will be lifelong friends!

+ Fall is in full swing and I am LOVING it. D and I are going to the pumpkin farm and Holy Hill on the 16th and my friend Tessa might join us! It's always the best day of Fall.

+ This weekend I have off work Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and I get to watch all the live broadcasts of Worlds!! I'm so super excited. I'm also going to use the time off to get even more ahead on my school work. I'm going to start my final Pharm project that isn't due until 10/28. I'm going to work on Tasha's birthday gift. And I'm going to prep for my tutoring sessions for the week after next; I'm tutoring for Paula's pharm class again and I'm so excited! I'm on such a productive kick right now and I want to take full advantage of it while it lasts! Lol.

+ I'm going to see Demi Lovato in Chicago in March!!! And my friends Bianca and Nichole are flying to visit me from Rhode Island and we're going to go together and I'm going to get to spend 5 days with them since it's both of our Spring Breaks!! I am so so beyond excited I love Demi and my friends!

+ I have been blessed with yet another AMAZING teacher this semester. I don't know how I am so blessed to cross paths with these people, but I am just SO grateful. I have the same teacher for Skills and clinical and this is the first time EVER I have not been terrified nervous to go to Skills and clinical. I feel so lucky, and I'm trying to remember every single speck of information I'm learning from her.

I'm so blessed and so thankful!!