While I have discovered many new favourite things this past week {Kate Middleton's wedding dress, Pinterest (thank you, Rachel!), coconut water, feather hair extensions (thank you, Steve Tyler!)... just to name a few!} I'm swooning most this Sunday over all the little {self} discoveries I have made in Tennessee this weekend...
I love how much summer is in the air! The farmers' markets are setting up shop. The patios are coming to life. Freezies are being consumed & my feet are swOOnheart happy in my new jellies when that not-quite-yet-summer-breeze breathes through them.
My summer calendar is filling up with swOOndates. Road trips. San Francisco. Hospital orientation. Weekends in Vegas. Birthday parties. Roommate reunions. San Diego. Weddings. Start of semesters. Boston. Arrivals of new additions. Possibly even a homecoming will be thrown in the mix. This summer is going to be tres swOonworthy & I can't hardly wait!
I'm loving how much this beautiful little lady adds so much joy to my life... & has brought my (at times) almost estranged family, closer together...for the first time in ever at least a decade ... to gush over her adorableness + admire her beauty. With each sugary sweet scrunch face smile, she's teaching us to love one another, unconditionally. With each gentle embrace, she's reminding us to hold tight to the ones you love. With each new milestone, she shows us that life is too precious to miss a single moment; you just have to be present to appreciate them. She is our {restored} common bond. It's a different dynamic... but it's a good different; a swOOn different.
One of the many things I have realized recently about the necessities to my internal happiness is I must be in close proximity to the people who mean the absolute most. It meant the world to me for Jess to spend the day with me today! + her 25-week-along belly... swoon! =)
.... And lastly, I love that I get to start this week off with one more full day with my lovelies & a play-off hockey game on Tuesday....
Happy 1st day of May! Life is in full bloom! =)
((... say in your best Jan C. Gabriel voice...))
After a whirlwind weekend, I'm enjoying a quiet Sunday evening, unwinding with a petite glass of red wine paired with a yummy homecooked meal {not by me, duh!... but a chef I will be introducing you to in the very near future!}, followed by a long hot bath {to wash the parrot feathers out of my hair} & curling up with a good book to practice for four days of R&R&Fun that begins at approximately 3:10 tomorrow afternoon when the girl I've been relaxing with for spring break since I was twelve arrives in Florida...
Now that I've set the perfect {swOOn} setting, here are all the lovelies I'm gushing over lately:
This little man's (who is almost ten. I can hardly believe it. TEN! A decade! A double digit! Ohmyword.) presence in my life. You, my tiny angel, touch the life of every person you meet... and continue to single-handedly inspire the amazing course of my own life's work! Your sweet voice will be heard by tens of thousands HERE this summer and I wouldn't miss it for the world! Can I get a standing 'O'?!
Spirit Airline and their $77 flights from Tampa to Costa FREAKA!! When a fabulous friend of mine texted me recently in dire need of some R&R (I'm a professional R&R'er!) I gleefully obliged to join her at this ahmazing resort for an ENTIRE WEEK of white, sandy beaches! surfing! sunshine! volcanoes! monkeys! Can I get a zipline through a cloud rainforest?! Aahhh yaahh
Mangoes are the new avocado. Truly. Ever since I learned how to properly eat a mango {thank you, YouTube!} & that I'm not severely allergic {thank you, immune system of steel} I have been craaaaving mangoes all. the. time. Raw. In my Greek yogurt. In my smoothies. On top of my froyo. In my salsa. Flavoured my lip balm. My addiction is getting a little out of control... Can I get a fist pump for the Produce Picker Podcasts?! Holla.
I'd like to thank Groupon for allowing me to rekindle my love/hate relationship with hot yoga! Much to my kidneys' dismay, I got an unlimited month {valued at $150} for $40 at a fabulous studio down the street from me casa! In Florida, they don't even have to heat the room for it to reach 105 degrees! I love that I can feel the toxins being rung out of my organs as I twist and contort in all the crazy positions whilst sweating profusely! Can I get a downward dog?! Namaste.
I'm in love... with Blake Shelton. There's something about the man + all that scruff. He performed at CountryFest last summer & totally redeemed his fiance's awful performance the night before rocked out! He puts on such a fabulous show + he's just so adorable! Every time a commercial for The Voice comes on, I get all excited to hear him talk in his adorbz country accent! & his new single!! ... Can I get a strong+steady, shot-of-whiskey, shade tree, honey bee?! Good night.
Canada I was little delayed to jump on the smartphone bandwagon but when I moved back from the Great, White North I was soo excited to throw my Blackberry on the pavement, run over it, put my car in reverse and hit it again get an iPhone. A lover of all these Apple, I knew I would love it but swoon THIS MUCH, I had noo idea. It makes reading all my favourite blogs so easy. Boarding passes on my phone. Google continuously at my fingertips. Skyping with Reese while I'm laying out. Using it as an iPod while I run following a route I created with my mapmyrun app! Playing Scrabble with Grams on road trips. Rockin' out to Pandora 24/7. Booking cabs with taximagic. Finding restaurants with urbanspoon. Learning my surroundings with AroundMe. Making reservations with opentable. Using all my different cameras: hipstamatic, instagram, etc. I LOVE IT! Can I get a slooow clAPP?! You rock, Steve Jobs!
Okay, that was corny. The vino is kicking in... Cin! Cin!
I was really excited to sWOOn this Sunday over the many fanciful things I've been indulging in lately but ever since Carly called this afternoon to tell me that she was going to join me later this week for 3 days of awesomeness + a little bit of grad school shopping, I can't seem to get Seattle off my mind! All I can think about is space needles + coffee shops + Pike Place markets!! Maybe if I relate everything back to the Emerald City, I'll be able to trick my mind in to wandering elsewhere & get my sWoon on...
If there is one thing Carly + I kick ass at, it is being a savvy traveler. We have been around the world together + have the same "When in Rome" philosophy that enables us to see the Palace of Versailles, the Lourve, the Eiffel Tower + eat fondue in Montmarte all in ONE day! Our get-up-at-dawn, map-reading, public-transit-riding, guidebook-bible-ing, asking-the-locals skills are sWOOn-worthy awesome like that.
I absolutely cannot wait to board a plane Wednesday morning to rendezvous on the Best West Coast! Although Allegiant Air failed me last week when my flight got canceled causing me to miss a coveted shift, they are usually the BEST airline! They fly in to smaller airports & it just so happens that I have lived near these hole-in-the-walls to take full advantage of their non-stop flights averaging $19.99 one way! Fargo to Los Angeles? Check. Grand Forks to Phoenix? Check. Punta Gorda to Knoxville to St. Petersburg? Check. You cannot beat their prices + only having to arrive 30 minutes before take-off? sWOOn.
... but if you need to fly somewhere that Allegiant does not fly in to and it doesn't matter when you get you there I have to recommend bidding on your flight on Priceline!! It is pretty much the most awesome thing ever... the most I have saved is $350 on one flight! The Name Their Own Price option also works on car rentals ($75 with tax for an entire week in LA? Check.) and hotels, too... This is the beauty we bid on: The Grand Hyatt at Pike Place Market retailing $199/night but Carly & I will happily be calling it our home for a shabby $80/night. sWOOn.
One of mine & Carly's favourite things to indulge in together are pedicures! We have spent many afternoons in Burbank having adorable little women primp our toes... but my new obsession is the Shellac Gel Manicure. While I actually have not had one myself, I have seen {and drooled over} how lustrous the UV-set polish turns out & if we pass a nail salon in Seattle, we WILL be stopping in to get one! It lasts so much longer, too... so I hear! =) sWOOOOn.
While we are on the topic of beauty products, the one thing I cannot live without these days is the Benefit "That Gal" face primer. It makes your skin glow & makes your base make-up stay on all day!! I'm talkin' 12 entire hours for the shift working nurses in the world. sWOOn.
I am positive we will be trying many new restaurants while we are in Seattle but the one place I cannot get enough of in South Tampa is YOGURTOLOGY. It is AHmazing!! My favourite flavour: oatmeal cookie + cheesecake swirled. My favourite topping: oatmeal creme pie {just like from your childhood} + graham cracker crumbs!! double sWOOn.
& when I'm not eating my yogurt frozen, I am consuming it Greek-style with honey. + bananas. It's like eating [cake} for breakfast. But healthy & more time-of-day appropriate. sWoon. sWOOn.
Remember that happy-go-lucky, internally optimistic lover of life that I was super afraid that I had lost frozen stiff in my wild adventure: Tundra 2010? ... Well, not only did I find her again (Welcome back, self!) but she is ALIVE and in love with life on a whole new level... I'm talkin' cosmic... and this post is proof!! =)
With this fully restored pathologically peppy demeanor, I'm discovering that outlets worth swooning over are everywhere these days... not just in running, skyping, Starbucks, baking funfetti... & all my other standard vices... but I'm recognizing the smallest fraction of fancy in the most random of locations... and scattering joy accordingly.
*I did not take this picture but I kid you not, my view looked EXACTLY like this last night!*
1. The super{moon} and the super{sunset} that preceded its arrival. Albeit I was locked in the sterile bubble I call work all day and had not caught wind that there was going to be anything super about the sun or the moon Saturday night, I immediately noticed how massive the sun appeared the second I drove off the island. To my right, the sun's reflection had turned all the buildings that the Tampa Bay skyline is comprised of in to beautiful shades of pink and as I drove West along Bayshore Drive, the vibrant light on my left nearly blinded me as it sloooowly melted in to the horizon... in which I think I started to do the sloooow clap because it was honestly, the most amazing, most fluorescent orange sunset I'd ever seen & it wasn't a quick flash either... it lasted for forever! + then the GIGANTIC moon came out & shined brighter than the aforementioned sun! Nature's night light.
2. Whipped cream vodka... Alcohol that tastes like cake? Yes, please! I could seriously drink it for breakfast, lunch and dinner... but that would make me an alcoholic so I try to limit my W.C.F.V. consumption for the really special occasions... that which my liver feels strong enough to rise to. Like weekends.
Love you, liver!
3. Six words: Josh Kelley's crossover to country music. swoon
4. Anything and everything yellow. Especially in the mustard hue.
"Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness!" - Joseph Pilates
5. Pilates Reformer classes are the new hot yoga... in my life, anyways. I went to one 60-minute private session and my abs hurt so bad afterwards I couldn't even touch them without wincing from the pain. Reformer: 1 Me: 0.
6. Whole Foods Hot Bar. Cuisine from around the world. Bring on the curried seitan, Thai fried tofu, mac & cheese combo. Delish! And what would a meal be without dessert?
7. Yummm. The girl who might have been informally known at her last job as "the girl from California always eating avocadoes?!" Ya, that's me & as for my new favourite way to consume my favorite fruiteggie... as ice cream! I definitely walked around Whole Foods eating a heaping bowl of avocado-flavoured (the flavour of the month!) gelato while I grocery shopped the other night. I highly recommend this method of multi-tasking to everyone.
And this adorable little gourmet popsicle place in Nashville appropriately named Las Paletas? Must. try. it. & my popsicle flavour of choice? Avocado. P.S. How cute is pregnant Jess eating cliche ice cream? You better believe I have photogs of her eating pickles, too.
9. Gator Basketball... fantastic! I was lucky enough to attend the first game of this year's March Madness right here in Tampa... 20 rows up from the court on Thursday! GOOO Gators... sixteen has never been so sweet! =)
10. Braids. I'm fairly certain I have worn a braid in my hair every day for the past month... which makes me also fairly certain that my nickname at my new job will be "the traveler who always has a braid in her hair?"... but I don't mind.
So much to swooon over this Sunday... but as tomorrow makes shift 4/4 and I've had 3 sleepless nights in between said shifts filled of guzzling whoamIkidding nursing green beer, NCAA, and a glimpse at the nightlife that is South Tampa, I'm currently swooning over every feather in my pillow + cannot wait to catch some zzz's!
There's twenty-four minutes left of Christmas... I got distracted... now there's eighteen... and I did it! I actually blogged 25 favourite things in 25 days!! This is the first personal goal that I set that I have actually reached in a really long time! {Feel like you're looking at your reflection? Here is a look of complete shock on my face, too!} Things are really starting to look up in my life and it's 100% true what they say... what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. I have given myself six more days to wallow in weeping and then I'm cutting my emotions off. It's time to get over it. It's time to move forward with my life. It's time to stop trying to understand something I may never. It's time to stop trying to control something I truly cannot. + what more wonderful of a time to do it than now-- a time defined by making resolutions, setting new goals, making big changes. Isn't the promise of a new day a beautiful thing? It's my final favourite thing. I cannot wait to get on with the fanciful!!! ... Tomorrow. For right now, I have had too many sugar plums (Wait... are they even edible?) and I am beyond ready to crawl in to bed with Katniss Everdeen.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a fabulous night!
Not everyone is lucky enough to know exactly what they want to do with their lives ... and even those that have figured out this small feat, don't actually get to do it... but I am one of the lucky ones that gets to have her cake and eat it, too so to speak... and that is why Neonatal Nursing is M.F.T. #24. A card reader (yes, you read that right) recently told me that the fact that I have a career that I am passionate about means that I have half of my life figured out, the hardest part... and the idealization that my "job" will never feel, not even for one day, like work will make for a very happy life. =) And I believe it! Being a nurse is an incredibly rewarding profession. How many people get to wake up every day, even if it is before the sun rises, and know that the work that they have in store for them that day will genuinely make a difference in someone's life? How lucky am I to possess the skills and knowledge that enable me to care for the most vulnerable of populations?! How rewarding is it that I am in the business of saving lives... and do just that... every single day! One of the greatest things about being a {neonatal} nurse is that no two days are the same. There is nothing mundane about any shift and to say that I am never bored at work is an understatement. I used to find the amount of infinite learning to be done overwhelming but with 2+ years of experience in my specialty, I finally feel like I have a good grasp on the basics and now I spend the few spare moments in a day refining my skills. The job in itself is fabulous but the passion that drives me to reach my highest potential every day is really my favorite thing about neonatal nursing. I'm soo excited at the prospect of advancing my career this upcoming year! Often people acquire certain jobs because it pays the bills or makes ends meet but to know that money is just an added bonus to doing what I love makes my career wonderful!
Kudos to Coca-Cola for creating such an awesome marketing ploy...Santa Claus came a few days early here (he must of known about the severe weather sweeping Tennessee this morning). While I'm skeptic of the red suit and black boots, I definitely believe in the Naughty or Nice List and here is the expression of someone who personifies the Nice List...
Grams is already the hippest grandma I know ... She's the only sixty-something whose favorite catch phrase is "That is just like so cool." She's known to have done a few jagerbombs in her time and she is often heard overusing the word "smartass". She is up-to-date on all her celebrity gossip and always identifies upcoming fashion trends. She texts me often and has even been dabbling in the stalker tendencies of Facebook recently. If its even possible, she got a whole lot {technologically} cooler this Christmas when Santa brought her a Kindle (ken-dall as she pronounces it!) and a MacBook as a small thank you for all her good deeds this year! Thank you Grams for being so fabulous today and every day!
I have to admit I haven't been in much of the Christmas spirit this year. I didn't hang a single ornament. I didn't pick out coordinating wrapping paper and wrap a bunch of thoughtful presents. I didn't send a single card. I didn't bake any gingerbread cookies (I don't think I ever did this but it sounds like something I should be doing...). I didn't start a countdown and call me Ebenezer!! but until yesterday, I wasn't even sure what day Christmas actually fell on.
I feel somewhat hypocritical this December. While I have forced myself to take time out of every day this month to remind myself of things that make me happy (and how spoiled am I that I have so many favorite people/things in my life!), I have secretly spent the other remaining minutes of each day dwelling on the fact that this Christmas, my heart is breaking... and no amount of carolling or egg nog has allowed me to escape that pain. So I have done the only thing I can do about it and that is to endure it...and it hasn't been pretty. I've channeled some of my sorrow through writing, released some of my anger at the gym but mostly I've spent a vast majority of my days grieving my loss the only way I know how: analyzing/crying/repeat. Sometimes your dreams just isn't what life has planned and as I fall asleep tonight wishing for the one thing I waited all year for... to be waking up in a winter wonderland to the pitter patter of a four-year-old running above me who can hardly contain the excitement of Santa's arrival... I'm reminded of the four-year-old that usually comes out in me on Christmas Eve... when the magic of Christmas comes to life! For Santa Claus comes tonight! My mom was exceptionally good at keeping the mystery of Santa Claus alive. I'm quite certain Kara + I were the last of our friends to believe in St Nic (*Sidenote: as I write this sentence, I actually googled "Santa Claus isn't real" to make sure I am not the first person to post it on the internet!*) and long after my mom knew we were in on her little secret, she still would use her reverse psychology (did anyone else have to deal with a mom who had a degree in neuropsychology growing up?) on us, trying to trick us in to thinking Santa and the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny were real. She had good collateral as they all spoiled us rotten, knowing EXACTLY what we wanted... in the right size and colour... so the thought of them not coming simply because we didn't believe in them was taunting to a 12-year-old. But as I grow older both physically and cognitively, I've never been so sure of my belief in Santa Claus! Not so much in the North Pole, the elves or the reindeer... but the concept of him! A warmth that brings families together. A spirit that inspires you to give to those around you. A season filled with so much cheer. The magic of Christmas is most certainly real and it fills the hearts of everyone who believes in it, even the broken ones.
It is Christmas Eve and I am so lucky to get to spend it with this lovely lady, just her and I... eating Pringles, watching The Proposal and doing each other's make-up in our pajamas. It's not the most conventional way to spend Christmas but one thing certain about our family... there's nothing conventional about it. I often catch myself wishing for the perfect family, one where everyone got along. Everyone loved unconditionally. Divorce was a foreign term. I long for a "childhood home" to retreat to where I would find the Strawberry Shortcake wallpaper still on the walls and one of those hammocks of all the stuffed animals I had growing up. Sometimes I try to imagine what it would be like to have a seemingly "normal" family... one that went on family vacations together and sent out annual Christmas cards.... one that talked on a semi-regular basis and knew the day-to-day details of one another's lives. I wish for this and then I decide it would be boring. To know exactly how we were going to spend your holidays. Who would be in attendance. What food would be served. While these are all things I will definitely strive for in my own family I create one day, I'm okay with the dysfunction of my family. It is our "norm" and while it's entirely unconventional which is challenging at times, I wouldn't have it any other way... for that be normal, which would be weird.
I am not really loyal to any products. I don't belong to any frequent flyer clubs and am not a priority reward member of anything. I change my mind as often as I change my country of residency (I kid. I kid). I have no daily routine that allows me to be able to "locate" the same products every morning for I am the most disorganized person in the world... especially at 6am... so really my discombobulation/scatterbrain/indecisiveness (obvi, I am not a TypeA) wouldn't even allow me to be a loyal consumer if I wanted to be... but there a few things, my bare necessities, that I will spend the extra few minutes looking for each morning under that pile of clothes or digging to the bottom of my purse to find. It's these nine items that make up my personal Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
1. I confess. I might be a bit of a bottled water snob, my favorite brand being Smart Water. I'd say it's the "latte factor" in my life but if you review item #6, you will see I already have a latte factor so I think it's just the bottled water factor on top of my latte factor and probably the reason I don't have a very big nest egg..
2. My Daily Planner - HUGE fan of Peter Pauper Press. The Compact Engagement Calendar is the planner I've used for the past two years - this year in Folk Art Birds!
3. Murad Acne Complex - my favorite face wash, toner, moisturizer! Worth every penny! =)
4. Avocados - I would put them on everything if I could afford it or still lived in California where they seem to be in season year round.
5. Lorac Breakthrough Performance Foundation - the best makeup I have ever owned!
6. Starbucks Caramel Brulee Latte - In order to steal this picture off the Starbucks website, it took me to the calorie calculator for all their drinks and while I have been consuming this holiday drink every day the past month, in order to see any results from M.F.T. #19 I think I will be cutting back on how many of these I consume in a week...
7. My MacBook - 8 Words: Once you go Apple, you never go back.
8: Evolution of Smooth Chapstick - I have chronic chapped lips. I've never been able to find a chapstick with the strength to heal my severity of chapped lips until I found this pretty, little organic/all natural number! It has finally healed the cracks in my lips and they are now kissably smooth.
9. Kenra Silkening Gloss - It smells like cake and makes your hair shine extra silky!!
One of the places I am considering moving to for grad school is Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. On my way to Chicago a couple of weeks ago, I stopped in Nashville for ~24 hours to visit a NNP I worked with at CHLA (It's a small world!) and have a sleepover with Jess, Seth & Diesel! It was delightful, both the NICU and the slumber party! =) The Cain Family moved to Nashville over the summer and showed me such a lovely preview of what life would be like if I lived there. We went for flamingly gay burritos and Jess + I drank yummy margaritas at 1:00 in the afternoon. We shopped at all the cute shops, watched The Sing Off and played Scrabble 'til our heads hurt. The next morning we woke up and went to the YMCA... and to say I am out of shape is an understatement... but with the discipline of a gym partner like Jess I had a fabulous workout... and have FINALLY gotten back in to the routine of going to the gym since returning to Knoxville! When Jess + I first moved to college together during the summer of '04, we quickly realized that being a college student meant you had A LOT of extra time on your hands and no other obligations to take up all your free time! We could only sleep til noon and waste away so many days watching "I Love the 90's" marathons before you really begin to feel worthless so we started going to the gym with some friends of ours. It was here that I was introduced to the wonderful world of "group exercise" and the following semester I became a group fitness instructor!! My love for fitness expanded when Jess + I decided to run a marathon our junior year in which I almost died... and will never do that again... but once I regained use of my feet, I continued teaching classes and working out and running in all my spare time. It's the best hobby ever! =) This past year, I was ice cold and frankly, needed the extra layer of fat I acquired in my time in Winnipeg not to freeze to death. Under the many layers I had to wear every day just to not be cold, never did I "keep warm", I had hardly noticed how out of shape I had become. But now that I am back in a climate that only requires I wear one layer of clothing, I've noticed. I had lost the craving of going to the gym and have even been known to be too tired/hungry/freezing/lazy that I leave the gym parking lot and cross the street in to the McDonald's drive thru this past year. Amy Aerobics would have been so ashamed... but that craving... not for the fast food but for a good workout!... is back and I can honestly say I have consistently gone to the gym this past week and I feel awesome!! Thank you, Jess for your fabulous hospitality and resparking the Amy Aerobics inside me! =)
Everyone has their favorite Christmas Classic: A Christmas Carol. The Grinch. It's a Wonderful Life. ELF. Miracle on 34th Street. The Santa Clause. White Christmas. Home Alone 1, 2, or 3. Charlie Brown Christmas Carol. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The Nightmare Before Christmas.
These are all awesome movies but hands down, my favorite holiday movie is The Holiday! I used to fall asleep to it in college so I have seen the first 35 minutes of it probably about 100 times and the movie in its entirety, a good 20. And as I try to trick my mind in to shutting off so I can fall asleep before sunrise, I will watch it again tonight for the 400th time. I am hoping I will have dreams of meeting Jude Law during a house swap in a quaint, little British town. Good night, Jude moon.
My Favorite Quote from The Holiday: I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true.
Saturday, my sister had her graduation ceremony from her Physician Assistant Program at South College here in Knoxville, TN. My entire family was here for the celebration and it was a lovely weekend commemorating Kara's HUGE accomplishment. Master Kara, as I now refer to her since she holds a masters degree that gives her a bunch of fancy letters behind her name, has worked incredibly hard the last 2+ years and all the stress and sleep-deprivation has finally paid off now that she has walked across this stage!
Kara {and all her accomplishments!} are my favorite thing #17. Kara is only a year and a half older than me and while we spent a good portion of our childhood with a line of duct tape down the middle of the room we shared, teenage years with a lock on her closet so I "wouldn't steal her clothes!" and college years not on speaking terms (sad but true.) she has been my rock and the one thing consistent in my life from the time I was born. If I had to compile a list of all the things I needed to thank her for, I would start by thanking her for teaching me how to read. Thank you for holding my hand on the first day of school when Mom sent me to kindergarten at the age of 4. Thank you for cooking Mac 'n Cheese for me after school + thank you for paving a shiny, yellow brick road for me to follow down.
It was because of Kara I joined leadership and Interact, a committee for community service, in high school. It was because of Kara I joined the medical academy that led me to my wonderful career. It was because of Kara I applied for every scholarship my senior year... and won them all. Just like she did the year before!
Kara kept herself incredibly busy in university juggling a full-time job, a full course load and an insanely busy social life but she managed to allot the hours she would normally reserve for studying/sleeping to get involved! She spent her weekends at Camp Boggy Creek, helping kids with special needs! She spearheaded a campaign to get more students to become organ donors and she helped out with the March of Dimes, too!
Getting in to a PA program is incredibly competitive and I was sooo proud of her when she got accepted 2 summers ago! Obtaining a degree at a graduate level is soo hard. It's very demanding and very stressful how quickly they move through the material. Once she survived the didactic portion of her program with flying colors, she excelled in her clinical portion this last year wowing the faculty with her superb skills!
Combining school with pregnancy and then with a newborn is something only Kara would be organized enough to handle + I'm soo proud of all of her accomplishments!!! I never thought after high school that we would ever get the chance to be roommates again but I'm so excited to stay with her (and Creed and Reese!) these next couple of months. I couldn't be prouder of who she has become and I'm lucky to have her as my first friend. my best friend. my sister!
I'm not sure who invented Skype (I wish it was me who did!) but it is seriously the greatest innovation since Virgin America Airline. My ultra-cool Auntie from Vangroovy (is there anything not cool about Vancouver?) introduced me to it a few years back and I never had much use for it (as I do not have friends all over the world like she does!) until I started moving away from all my loved ones once a year. Kara + I skyped a lot when I was in LA + she was in Tennessee. Living in Canada this past year, I depended on Skype to see my besties and had tons of "Skype Dates" with Megan + Carly (Get with the 21st century program, Jess!)!! Starting next Tuesday, Grams' house won't be a 3 hour drive away anymore (cue flood of tears) but now that she is a proud owner of a MacBook!!!!, I intend to do a lot of out-of-province Scrabble Skyping with her! I spent ~ 4 hours tonight on Skype talking to my magnificent Mrs. Lucas + before I could disconnect, I finally got to catch up with my awesome friend Deidre who moved to Australia in October!! Skype has allowed me to see my cousin's apartment in France and my favorite Skype moment was being able to be in the delivery room when Sweet Baby Reese was born in September!!
**This beautiful memory is why the beauty of skype is my sweet sixteenth favorite thing! =)
My latest obsession is hair accessories! What started as a cute way to hide my growing out of the crazy bangs pictured here has turned in to an all-out fetish for headbands/barrettes/clips. The feathery, the flowery, the flashier the better! I've started planning all my outfits around what hair accessory I will be donning that day! My favorite place to shop for headbands and pins are tasha (for the fun, funky, bedazzled) and Anthropologie (for the vintage, crocheted, amazing)! By combining M.F.T. #1 with #15, I've passed my little personal style on to baby Reese and voila! the cutest thing you've ever seen was made... =)
