Five On Friday

Hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving.

A nice and quick Five on Friday to finish out the day :)

Lea Michele's FIRST SINGLE!!! 

Let's just admit that I was in the car with my mom and completely SCREAMED when I saw this on Lea's Instagram. I have been waiting for this honestly SINCE SEASON 1 OF GLEE IN 2009. I love this girl so much I can't even describe and I can't wait to hear all of Louder as well!! So excited!

Aliya IS in Stuttgart!!!

HI THIS IS ALIYA MUSTAFINA & SHE IS MY FAVORITE GIRL IN THE WHOLE WORLD. Like legit. I am so happy the rumors were wrong and that she is in Stuttgart for the World Cup! Her beam is its usual amazingness and umm -- brand new front arial front arial switch leap combo?!? LIKE omg amazing and beautiful and elegant. Love love love her!

Four days left at my current job.

Next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and the following Wednesday and then I am DONE at my job. I have an appointment with HR on Monday at the new place to get my references in and then hopefully get orientation set up soon!! I'm so super excited!

Britney's new album in 4 days!!

I've loved and adored Britney Spears since 1999. I own every single one of her albums and I've seen her twice in concert. Even when she was having struggles, I knew that she was going to come back from it and be just as successful. I've listened to previews of this album on iTunes and OMG it is really some of Britney's best, most honest and true work. I love it all and I can't wait to get it Tuesday.

Frozen

Can't wait to see this amazing movie with my amazing girl in it (IDINA) on Monday!!! 

& an extra ...

God<3

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! 

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. I thank God for all of my blessings everyday, but on Thanksgiving I am doubly grateful for all of the wonderful things He has given me in life. On this year in particular it hits home because last night I was freaking out having agonizing anxiety over a situation in my life that is going on right now. I was dwelling on it the entire night and finally ended up going to bed. I woke up this morning with my head cleared and reminded myself that I am TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED. I can worry about the situation later; today is dedicated to thankful prayer to God for all He has given me and also to spending time with my family and the wonderful people in my life.

God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and my faith.

This could not be more true. Everyday I say thank you to God for all of my blessings. I know that without Him, I would have nothing and all good in my life comes from Him. He has gotten me through so much in my life and so much recently; it gives me strength to know that He is always by my side and that I am never alone. I can always turn to Him for strength and guidance. I am so grateful to know such a loving and forgiving God, and to know and rely on my faith for everything in life.

Family

I am so thankful for my family. I could not love my parents any more, I think they are two of the best people on the planet. I have gotten so close with my siblings throughout the last several years and I am so thankful for that. I believe that God placed the most wonderful man on Earth in my life as my husband and I am blessed beyond belief that he is mine. I am so happy to have had my Nana and Papa in my life for so many years and that they are still healthy at such old ages. I love my family SO much.

Friends

I absolutely LOVE this. I am so blessed to have amazing friends in my life, even though many of them are far away and we don't see each other very often. I'm especially thankful for my rock and my everything, my bestie Bianca -- we've been best friends for almost 8 years now living about a thousand miles apart. We are still there for each other each and every single day and nothing EVER changes. I am also thankful for my Rochester family whom I miss so much and I wish that I could be with today. They are honestly some of the BEST people and friends in the world and I just want to hug them today.  I am also thankful for the lifelong friends that I have made through nursing clinicals this semester. These 4 will always and forever be in my life and I know next semester will only bring us closer together. I cannot wait to take a picture of the 5 of us in May, all graduating together!

Mentors, Inspirations, Role Models - Amazing people.

I couldn't even tell you what my life would be like without the incredible inspiration that I have gotten from some amazing individuals in my life. They are everything that I want to be for so many different reasons, and they give me the motivation to make it though any obstacle that comes my way. The provide me with direction, focus, and goals to get me where I want to be and also support along the way. I am so blessed to have these people in my life, no matter how much or how little I see them or spend time with them. Paula, Maryanne, Beth & Tasha and Elise. They have all changed my life in one way or another, and I am so thankful for them all and their presence in my life.

I am also thankful for many other things that some people take for granted: having a roof over my head, food to eat, water to drink, health, living in America, my education, and having all the EXTRA amenities of life such as a car, a cell phone, camera, laptop, etc.

Hope you all have a wonderful day celebrating with your family and loved ones!

Happy Is What Happens When All Your Dreams Come True ...

I have very exciting news.

A couple weeks ago I applied online for a different intern job. This job is honestly anything I've ever wanted since I decided I wanted to be a nurse. It is an Extern position with the company that all 3 of my parents (my mom, dad, and stepmom) have worked at for over 15 years. I have ALWAYS wanted to work for this company, but it's pretty hard to get into, especially with little to no experience. It is also in OB ... which is what I want to do for the rest of my life. So I filled out the application not expecting much to come of it.

Last Wednesday, I got a text from my former teacher (the one that I really love and that I tutor for) telling me to e-mail my resume and cover letter to the manager of the OB floor. She had a clinical group there that morning and I guess had told the manager about me and that I applied for the job. Well, she must have said AMAZING things, because 2 hours later I had an interview set up for Monday (yesterday).

Yesterday I went in and met with the manager, and by the end of the interview she was writing down my winter break dates to give HR to try and get me into orientation and trained before I go back to school on January 15th. She told me that I will be working/trained in L&D and postpartum and then once I graduate she will have a job for me. I sat in my car afterward just like in disbelief. This is one of the biggest dreams I've ever had in my life and it's coming true!!!

I'll share more details later, but I just wanted to freak out over it a little on my blog haha :)

Five On Friday

I'm finally back for an edition of Five On Friday!

1. KELLY CLARKSON IS PREGNANT!!

 I seriously screamed when I read her tweet!! I have loved Kelly so much for so long, of course for her music but also because she has been so REAL throughout her entire rise to fame. She has always, always stayed true to herself and who she is, and I admire her so much for that. I cried when she won her Grammys, obsessed when she got engaged, etc ... So this news was just like AMAZING!! I just know that her and Brandon are going to be the best best parents, they are seriously adorable.

And let me just add ... 

2. Kelly's Christmas Album -- Wrapped in Red. 

This album is magical. I just love it so much and there are so many original songs on it!!! Underneath the Tree totally reminds me of a Mariah Christmas tune, which is obviously the best Christmas music out there! Oh and CLEARLY My Favorite Things .. which was done amazingly and now both her and Lea Michele have sang it <3 Also love Winter Dreams, 4 Carats, and Just For Now. O Come O Come Emmanuel has ALWAYS been a favorite and I'm so glad she did it (but I wish she did the whole song)

3. My new Coach purchases.

I went to Coach last Friday to spend some of my birthday money and I ended up getting the best deal that I have ever gotten at Coach EVER. I got a purse (originally $298), a makeup bag thing that I'm going to use to put my wallet and credit card holder in (originally $130), and a phone case (originally $40) all for $120 TOTAL!!! I was so so super happy and I am loving all of it!

& lets throw it back to pregnancy excitement ...

4. GINNIFER GOODWIN JOSH DALLAS ARE EXPECTING!!

Like, OMG .. If I get anymore celeb pregnancy announcements in the next week I SERIOUSLY MIGHT DIE. These two are quite possibly the most adorable celeb couple at the moment!! They play Snow White and Prince Charming in Once Upon a Time. I knew they were dating when I began watching the show a few months ago. Then just recently they got engaged, and I was like .. Nothing can top this. THEN THEY BOTH ANNOUNCED IT ON TWITTER ON WEDNESDAY that she is pregnant!! AAAH! I also love love this because there is a potential storyline going along with this for Once, so she wouldn't have to be written out of the show as early, if at all! LOOK AT THEM.

Josh and Ginny on the show as Snow and Charming.

Real life shot of Ginny and Josh.

And last but not least, in keeping with the theme ...

5. I had my pre-conception appointment on Tuesday.

I met with my NP and dietician on Tuesday and everything looks good to go for us to start trying to conceive in January. I will need to do weekly levels during December but I'm pretty sure they will be what they are supposed to be which means I'm doing everything right. I'm so excited! I got the schedule as far as ultrasounds and appointments go as well and a book to help me with the PKU aspect of my pregnancy. I'm so blessed to have Susan (my NP) and Nikki (dietician) to help me through this journey.

Thankful Thursday

GOD IS SO GOOD.

I got a 100% on my last Mental Health exam before the final! 

If you've kept up with my blog, you know that MH has been my most challenging class of the semester and I've been scared the entire semester about failing it. It is getting even more scary now that I have registered for my LAST semester at GTC and all of my besties are in my classes and I just so badly want to move on with all of them and graduate all together in May. Well, I got a 100% today and then also our instructor gave us a point back on our last exam so I now have a 96% on that one! I have prayed about this so much and just pray for strength and for God to be with me and I can honestly feel His calming presence during my exams. Just the final left to go and I'm home free!

Registration was just as stressful as it always is but I am SO THANKFUL because I got each and every single class, section, and instructor I wanted!! All of my clinical besties are in ALL of my classes and I honestly could not be more grateful. I also get to have my amazing instructor from CHA, Skills, and Clinical this semester for clinical next semester -- I am purely overjoyed!! I will have classes Wednesday from 12:45-4:45, Thursday 4:40-7:40, and Saturday from 7am-7pm. It is just so perfect. Oh and PS I want that ^^ when I graduate :)

Wicked x 5 and 6?? YES PLEASE!!!

Wicked is coming to Chicago (actually it's been there for a month or so), and of course I planned on going. I'm going with my friend Holly, who I always go to musicals with. We just got our tickets for December 3rd the other night. Today, one of my clinical besties Char told me that our friends Josh and Nicole really want to go see it and Josh's birthday is coming up so she was thinking we could all go and pay for his ticket as his gift. We still have to finalize plans, but it looks like I will be going for my 5th and now 6th time!!! I'm so so grateful to have been able to see this amazing show so many times, and especially for the opportunities I had to see them in NYC.

To conclude, I am very thankful for my dietician and that I am meeting with her next week. We are going to discuss upping my calorie consumption per day in order to get my levels down so I will be ready to start trying to get pregnant in January. So many things I've been waiting for for so long are finally so close, and I'm so excited and SO grateful for everything in my life.

Happy Thursday everyone!

My Manic Monday

Wow, today was insane.

First off, this happened ...

Today was registration for my [hopefully] LAST semester at GTC!

Seriously, I can't even believe it. I mean I can because I've been there forever, but it's almost surreal that I'm going to graduate in May (if by the will of God I pass all of my remaining classes). 

So I got up at like 0430 to get signed on, and at 0630 they opened the classes. After a few mini-heart attacks and a couple hours later I ended up with every single class I wanted. Another amazing thing is that my clinical besties are in all of my same classes next semester! We're so excited to hopefully graduate together.

But I need to finish this semester strong and PASS MENTAL HEALTH. I have another quiz/exam on Thursday and honestly it's hard for me to even sit and study it because its all like easy stuff like drug abuse and anger and whatnot but I went to a study group tonight, tomorrow night I'm going to do my study guide, and I have all day Wednesday to study my butt off, and Tessa's even going to study with me even though she already passed that class last semester.

Tomorrow is my final last day of my wonderful clinical :( We have an HPS scenario and then evals with our instructor. Afterwards, we and our instructor are all going out to lunch to celebrate our last day and we have a couple gifts for her. She was so amazing and I'm going to miss having her.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

xo.

More 30th Celebrations

Friday was my 30th birthday bash!! 

It was at my mom's house and it did not disappoint!

First of all, my brother flew home from Arizona for my birthday for the second year in a row! I was so excited to see him and so grateful that he made the trip. Then my mom invited my clinical group and my best friend Melissa unbeknownst to me (because I wanted to keep it just family) but I was so happy she did because we all had a great time. I did NOT want presents, but obviously no one listened to me. I got a few checks, 3 bottles of wine, a bottle of Smirnoff, and a bottle of Fireball. I also got a scrapbook my Nana makes for all the grandchildren on their 30th birthday, and my mom got me new purple Nike running shoes and a USAG team jacket! :) 

Here are some pictures from the party, my mom and Lee outdid themselves again.

The bar not fully set up haha. I loved the pumpkin beer inside the real pumpkin. AND THE PURPLE.

 Me and Beau :)

 ONE of the food tables. There was so much DELICIOUS food.

 Me and my brother :)

 Two of my mom's work friends .. RNs that I love to death!

 My daddy came too :) Love him!

 Haven't had a good picture with Sawyer in I don't even know how long!!<3

 Melissa came even though she has a 4 week old daughter at home. So happy to see her.

 My Nana and Papa, they are everything to me!

 My friends Nicole and Char, we have the best clinical group ever :)

 The sibs!! Love them so much!

 Sisters/Cousins :)

Selfie with my hubby.

Another one of my hubby and I.

I was so grateful to everyone who came and celebrated with me, it was such a good time. Saturday I had to go to a pediatric conference for clinical that lasted most of the day, and then I went out for dinner with my family. Sunday we went to a bar to watch football and then over to my dad's for dinner. It was a great weekend! 

This week I have kind of a slower week than normal. Today I'm going to work on some HPS questions for next week with Tessa, then watching the Packer game. Tomorrow and Wednesday I have clinical and work to do for it. Then no test in Mental Health this week. But I work this weekend and I have a clinical eval due Friday, a CET due next Tuesday, and a Mental Health exam next Thursday so I'll be busy again quick. I want to finish Tasha's gift this week/end as well. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week<3