The Versatile Blogger Award!!!

I'm so excited to have won an award! The Versatile Blogger Award!


This is all thanks to my dear friend Tad (Tarryn) over on 2Bloggeristas.
Such a fun blog!
So, the rules:

Thank the person who gave you the award: Again, thank you girls of 2Bloggeristas!
Share seven (7) things about you See below...
Nominate fifteen (15) newly discovered blogs that you think are fantastic Gah, 15 is a lot, and I'm not sure if I can find 15 that haven't already been nominated, so I may have to do some searching... and update on this in a little bit...
Let your nominees know about the award (why wouldn't you tell them?!)

7 Things about me:

1. Most people don't know that I was home schooled up until my sophomore year of high school. (I hated high school, my town is so trashy I felt like such an outsider... probably why I enjoy the Jessica Darling series totally how I felt about high school).  My family is not religious so not home schooled for that reason it was because my mother really didn't like any of the hick schools around us.

2. I really don't like reality TV by I am seriously obsessed with the Real Housewives of Bravo, especially the New York ladies. I began watching the drama from the very beginning with the cali girls! I love it!!! I don't know why, but it's awesome!

3. I play the violin, viola, and piano. I play weddings whenever they need me with my sister!

4. I can fly a plane! I have my private pilot's license. I'm not current right now cuz I've been so busy you have you fly every couple of months to stay current, but once you're a pilot, you're always a pilot. Its like riding a bike, right?!

5. I love animals, cats, dogs, birds, lizards, horses, etc... if I could have a farm I totally would.  I've had so many pets in my life, lots of cats, some dogs, couple birds, couple lizards, some gerbils, some chickens, and even one time a goat (my mom's idea I think, she had to get rid of it though cuz it attracted a lot of horseflies).  Right now I currently have 3 cats that I've technically rescued cuz I didn't buy them from a breeder or a pet store, rescued on the streets.  I also rescued a dog from the humane society which is currently at my parents cuz she was a crazy pup, so trying to get her back cuz she's calmed down now. 

6. I love cooking.  I think if I could be in a completely different profession I would be a cook.

7. I love red wine! The more you drink wine the more you become a snob for good red wine.  I'm always up for a wine tasting.  My favorite cocktail is a dirty martini, I love the salty flavor of the green olives, highly recommend it if you are someone who likes salty foods.

Will follow up with my list of blogs!

Top 2 Tuesday!

I'm trying to be more active in my blogging and connecting with other bloggers, so following my dear friend Tad over at 2Bloggeristas I'll be taking part in all these fun special days that she's discovering! So, to follow my top 2 favorite books.

This is hard, I love a lot of books! But here are the top picks that I can think of at this time.

First: Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. If you aren't a runner you will want to be a runner after you read this book. Its incredibly inspiring! I know that some reviews have said that its not the best advice for runners, but eh if this Christopher guy went through all the stuff he wrote about, it can't be that bad. Seriously its a great book, I enjoyed it!


Second: The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling. I guess that's not 1 book, but seriously such a good series I could read them repeatedly, I think my favorite was the 4th book when everything got super dark. Its not just for kids. Love it!


Third: The Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty. I couldn't help it I love too many books so another series and I love it! I just relate to her for some reason, except for her relationship issues. She would have been in my high school class, and I would have totally have wanted her to be my best friend!


So, those are my picks for the day!

Day 1 of Detox and Renewal...

So, today I started my guarantee to lose weight rather quickly diet but still be healthy. Its a diet that consists of mainly eating raw veggies and fruits (as much as you want) and fish and seafood (as much as you want). I think I'm only limited to 1 avocado per day, but eh I'll still be having some kind of fat, just trying to include only healthy ones.I started my morning by taking a liver shot as me and my mom call it. This shot consists of a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice from half a fresh lemon. This is suppose to help your liver produce bile (I know gross right) but it helps to get rid of toxins that your body produces when you lose weight. I then proceeded to take a bunch of vitamins. Drank a glass of water with that and for breakfast had a glass of Naked Juices "Green Machine". Its so delicious and sooo good for you!

So, I started the morning out right, also had a cup of green tea in my super cute new travel mug that I got at this fun boutique in my home town.

It's such a cute mug and I think its made of porcelain so it just feels so nice! So, I had a pretty descent day at work, saw a lot of patients. I made one lady very happy because she finally got out of bed and into a wheelchair, with a good deal of help, due to her legs being paralyzed from cancer :( so that was kind of a highlight of my day!
I had a delicious lunch consisting of romaine lettuce, some arugula, cherry tomatoes, and avocado. I topped it off with this delicious salad dressing I got from Whole Foods. Its a new brand I haven't tried before and its really delicious!

I think I had the Organic Creamy Miso, so delicious and made with whole ingredients which makes it that much better for you.

I'm now so freaking hungry cuz I went for a 5 mile run in the heat! I haven't had anything to eat since my salad at lunch so now I gotta bug my husband hurry up and make some dinner or I'm gonna eat without him!

Return to Blogging

It seems that blogging is like trying to keep a journal, I always seem to put it off and forget to keep up with it. I doubt anyone even reads this anymore, maybe I should change the lay out? Well, I've decided to return to blogging cuz I've become so inspired by reading my dear friend's blog as well as all these many other cute blogs I've found through her blog. http://2bloggeristas.blogspot.com/ so cute and fun!

Well, all sorts of things are inspiring me this week. I've been working on becoming a runner, well a better runner. I've been running for a few years, but I'm extremely slow! I participated in the St.Louis Half Marathon this past April. I'm already signed up for another one next weekend on the North Shore in Chicago.


So, as I was saying my husband also got me this fun item that has also for some reason inspired me to run. See, I haven't been the best at keeping with my training schedule. I'm a little inconsistent. I've gone way too many days without running that I'm not making much head way sometimes. It's also gotten super humid and hot here already, and I hate running in the heat. I would give running in the snow any day instead of the suffocating heat. I'm adjusting through. So, my husband Jeff got me this really cute "Life Is Good" mug that for some reason makes me have that feeling of "Gotta run!"

Mug from my Hubby

I guess that's weird, but whatever works right?! Sometimes when I've gone too many days without running I start dreaming about needing to do it, and actually running in my dream. I went for a run today and my legs felt like lead for some reason and the weather was actually kind of nice. I think I only went about 2 miles or so.

Well, more to come on bettering my fitness level.

Happy Hump Day!

Well, I'm on to Day 3 of FLYLady.  Its pretty simple, I'm kind of thinking of beginning Day 4 to get ahead! I still have a messy house, but my kitchen is clean!  I still have a lot of work ahead of me with getting my shit together and Finally Loving Myself, which is what FLY stands for on FLYLady. 

Well, I had a long day at work. I stayed too late!  Its just so hard to get enough patients in when you only work 8 hours a day.  There are too many patients and too many Doctors thinking that we need to see people stat!  Usually not the case.  Oh, and getting pooped on by patients that are returning to a nursing home, why did I have to evaluate them? I probably should of just skipped them cuz they were out of the hospital by the time I left form work.  I've become so unfeeling at times when working in a huge hospital with soooo many different types of patient, probably due to the harsh reality of what really happens in health care. However, I still love my job, I did have a patient who was very excited that I got them walking today when they haven't walked in about 2 weeks because they were confined to their bed in the ICU!  She even remembered who I was! That is very exciting when you work on the neuro floors and most people don't remember things after you leave the room. 

Day 2 of FlyLady

I think I forgot to put a link to this FlyLady site http://flylady.net/index.asp

So, Day 2 is just getting fully dressed for the day first thing in the morning.  I pretty much have that one down because I have to work 5 days a week by 7 am so I'm dressed pretty quickly after I get out of bed.  However, weekends are a different story, I like to stay in my pjs and robe and sit on the deck with breakfast.  I can take 1 day off a week at least!

Well, I'm also suppose to keep my sink clean and shiny, and right now I have it all cleaned, the counters are cleared of dishes and are clean! So, doing well there! I just need to really get the rest of my house in shape, but that's why its baby steps!! Although, I do have a guest coming Saturday and I probably need to have things a little cleaner for when she comes.  

Writing all this stuff in my blog, may not be that exciting but it does help me want to stay on track!  I must be boring everyone though, especially if you are an organized tidy person, not like myself!

Baby steps: FLYLady

So, I've decided to begin the "FlyLady" baby steps.  Its suppose to be this really simple way of becoming more routine with organizing and getting your house in order.  I'm not someone who was "born organized" as some people are (FlyLady calls them BOs).  I wish I could have been born organized, because its hard to be and stay organized if you aren't. 

So, day 1 is Shining my sink! I need o go do that right nowl

So, off I go now o shine the sink and start some dinner for this bbq I'm going to this evening!

Lazy Sunday

I'm sitting at my parents' house playing on my computer, teaching my mom some fun tricks with her apple laptop.  I know I've been so bad at updating lately, new things in my life is my awesome new patio dining table!

It doesn't have the umbrella since I don't need one because my back deck is covered by a roof.  I wish I were black instead of the tan color that it is, but I figured I may just spray paint it black sometime. It really looks pretty good, especially considering the price I got it for, everything outdoors is on sale right now, if anything is left. It looks so much better on deck than what I had before.  I had a bunch of those folding lawn chairs that you take for camping/outdoor events, and this table my husband made out of half a wood door that was rotting because it was water damaged.

I have to work tomorrow on Labor Day. Blah, not looking forward to it.  I have to cover the Cardiopulmonary part of the hospital. I'm pretty sure it will be the ICU which isn't so bad, its just kind of a pain in the butt to get these people up because they have like 10 different lines you have to arrange and sometimes the nurses aren't always nice.  Most of the nurses are nice and helpful and excited you are there to help, but others I don't know how they like their patient's handled so I'm hesitant to get them up so then I feel like I've missed a bunch of patients.  But whatever, I'm going to have greek food for lunch!  There is greek church right next to the hospital and they have a festival every labor day weekend.  I'm going with a group of my co-workers to take a long break for lunch! Why not?! I know most people aren't going to want to do much tomorrow. I just hope there aren't very many people to see since it was a holiday weekend.

Back From Germany

Well, I've been back from Germany since midnight this past Sunday. I've been so jet lagged and busy with work that I just today uploaded the pictures from my camera onto my computer. Here is one of my nearing the end of our trip at a festival in a small town, Wissenburg.  The festival is 10 days long and way better than any oktoberfest we could ever try and pull off here.

      

Yes I am wearing a driendel which germans at the festival were actually wearing as well. It was sooooo much fun.  I miss Germany already.  My husband and I have decided that we must learn German so that we can move to either there or Switzerland to work because Europe is so much more our pace than any other place! 

I miss the restaurants, the cafes, the breakfasts that are sooooo delicious, and I really miss the slow relaxed pace of it all.  I could post more pictures but there are soooo many! We did so much!  Maybe I'll write the highlights at some point.  For now I need to get my husband off the couch away from video games to go make some dinner, I'm hungry!

Inspirational Women

This lady is 83 years old and has been teaching yoga for 40 years! Wow, I totally want to be like that! I have so much work ahead of me, I don't even know how people do get that strong but I really want to be able to stand on my head!

  

I'm really looking forward to getting my yoga books in soon, I hope I get them in before I leave for Germany this Wednesday. 

Other crazy inspirational women is the 88 y.o. mayor of Mississauga in Canada. She's been major for 31 years and the city doesn't have any debt.  We need more people like her running things!