Livi created this masterpiece on my phone.

It’s either amazing or creepy. I’m not sure I’ve decided which yet.

Today we had very severe weather pass through our town including tornado warnings. There were neighboring towns and neighboring states that were affected so much more than we were. I’m thankful that while I was at work my family was safe at home. I’m thankful that our patients were safe in our building. I’m thankful for the first responders out there helping those in need today. I’m curled up with a blanket and feeling very lucky to be watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Yep, lucky indeed.

I missed a day!! Ugh, I tried really hard but missed posting yesterday. Oh well, maybe I’ll get in two posts today to make up for it.

This week I’ve seen how simple acts can feel very big.

The loss of my friend on Sunday hit hard. It was so sudden and so senseless, it was hard to wrap my mind around. The outpouring of love and seeing the amount of people her life touched was amazing.

The physician I have worked part-time for over the last year had just met Tammy but he knew she was important to myself and another co-worker and he sent flowers. He had barely met her but such a small gesture meant so much.

On a bigger scale there was a story out of San Francisco yesterday about a little boy who has fought leukemia. The Make A Wish Foundation worked with this boy and his family to make his wish come true – to be Batman for a day. He was dubbed Batboy and people from all over the city came together to give that little boy his dream. Not because people knew him but because they cared.

“I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” (Gandalf – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)

Yes, this is just a line from a movie but it is true. It isn’t the big things we try to make happen but it’s in the little, everyday things we do that can touch someone else’s life so greatly. Keep doing the little things, they mean so much.

Friday afternoon I had the honor of catching up with a sweet friend that I hadn’t seen in quite a while.  I am planning to leave my part-time job that I held for the last year because of my current position as an RN.  This sweet friend was going to take over my medical billing position so we met Friday evening to start training.

Of course the start of training included hugging as we met, catching up, and her wanting to see current pics of the kids.  I asked about her husband and she asked about my brother.  When we parted ways she gave me a hug, we said how good it was to see each other, and we made plans to meet for more training on Tuesday evening.

This morning I received a call telling me that my friend was killed yesterday in a motorcycle accident.  I was shocked and sad and walked around in a daze this morning.  This afternoon I found out that the accident was caused by a drunk driver who crossed the center line at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.  And I became angry.  My generous, kind-hearted, easy to laugh friend was taken from this life because someone had too much to drink and decided to get behind the wheel.  It’s not right.  It’s not fair.  It hurts.

My friend, Tammy Hale, touched so very many lives.  I’m thankful that I got to know her and I will forever have my memories of singing along to The Backstreet Boys in the tiny closet we called an office and laughing while doing it.   Tam, you will be missed.

Left-Right: Mindy, Tammy, Jessi, Brandy (we like to associate ourselves with others whose names end in “e”)

I wanted to write something having to do with Throwback Thursday or with being thrifty but I just couldn’t do it. I am TIRED. Daylight Savings time throws me off and I don’t like it. By 8:00 I’m already feeling like it’s bedtime and right now it feels like I’m up super late. In a day or two hopefully I will be adjusted and be able to concentrate again at night. We shall see…

Being a nurse means being limited in what I can wear to work (or at least in my case it does).  I work for an office that requires scrubs in only a few select colors.  I have 3 pairs that I try to mix and match to have different looks but sometimes it gets a little boring.  One nice thing about my uniform is the ability to wear any shoes I want or any hair accessories to jazz up my day.  I love bright headbands but otherwise trying to figure out what to wear is pretty simple.  My newest uniform is black with a little bit of pink accent but the important part of this one was fit.

The mock wrap gives it a fitted feel instead of a big, bulky scrub top, which is no fun to wear at all.  I was able to buy the matching pants and my amazing mother-in-law transformed them in to a skirt.  Scrub skirts online are TERRIBLE.  They are odd lengths and ill-fitting.  It’s so much easier to find a pair of pants I like and then she works her magic so I have a skirt just the right fit and length for me.  Definitely no complaints there.

I love shoes.  I always have and I always will.  When I’m on my feet for a lot of the day though comfort tends to be much more important than it had been previously.  I have been lucky enough to have been given an amazingly cute pair of Dansko’s from a friend and co-worker (in exchange she got a WONDERFUL bag of Starbucks coffee – he he).

I also purchased a pair of Dansko’s so that I could rotate them and not wear them out as quickly as with just having the one pair.  That same friend and co-worker found these and I just had to have them for myself.

These are both cute but also SO very comfortable to wear.  At the end of a 8-10 hour day my feet aren’t killing me and I’m not ready to rip them off from discomfort.  I think that says a LOT.

So as a nurse, while I may have limits in the uniform department, it is still fun to find ways to show my style and have fun with it.

Halloween at Grandma’s house.

This blog was born from a conversation with my husband about living modestly.  We dress modestly (yes, even he doesn’t show off his body in public), we try to be modest with the money we spend (and I’ve been a student so living the life of a pauper was necessary), and throughout life I try to do things in moderation.  I think that can carry over to almost any area of life and that includes time in the sun (or in artificial sun).

Today I read an article that just made me sad.  Apparently there are people that even after having had skin cancer, will go back to tanning booths.  This has become such an addiction that even when they have had their health threatened, they continue to go back for more.

Please don’t get me wrong, I adore being out in the sun!  I love feeling the warmth on my face and feeling the blues go away as my body produces that wonderful thing called Vitamin D.  When I was in my early to mid-20’s I was also a regular partaker of tanning beds (oh the horror!) and was quite tan.

Here’s the thing though, my natural skin tone is PALE (I mean, scare small children and glow in the dark white) so for me to be tan it takes a pretty good amount of sun exposure.  As good as the beautiful sun feels on my pale skin, there are so many drawbacks that it’s so easy to talk ourselves out of recognizing.

• Sun exposure causes wrinkles!  This isn’t crazy new news but a recent study came out showing that just putting on sunscreen regularly helps reduce wrinkles.  That is a major pro in my book.

• Skin cancer is a real.  It’s so real and it’s so scary.  I have friends that have had melanoma and have been lucky enough to beat it but it’s now there and a part of their lives.  Melanoma is the big one but there are other skin cancers that don’t metastasize but do leave a scar when it has to be removed and do increase the risk of the really bad cancers.  Who wants more scars and to up cancer risks??

• You don’t want to go blind.  Continued sun exposure can result in cataracts, eye cancer, and other eye conditions.  Seeing is a gift, don’t let it be taken away.

• Damage to your skin has an affect on your immunity.  Your skin is one of the biggest protectors you have to outside invaders.  It is a lot of real estate on your body and damaging it takes out some of your natural protection.  Crazy infections and super bugs seem to be running rampant lately, why damage something that’s naturally there to protect you?

I know we all have vises, I’m not saying that we should shun the sun but how about we take steps to reduce risks?  Sunscreen should be a must for anyone spending more than 30 minutes in the sun (that much allows us to help produce the vitamin D we need), avoid going out during mid-day, wear hats and sunglasses (and lip balm with SPF!), and stop going to the tanning beds.  These things don’t cut out the sun altogether, they just help us all stay a little safer and hopefully avoid something that is potentially avoidable.

This is my first time participating in Medical Mondays but I have been following for quite a while now.  I know I’ve mentioned it here before but I don’t talk about nursing school a lot for a variety of reasons.  I would LOVE to talk about something today though and it being Medical Monday made it all the more special.

Today I registered for a criminal background check, made an appointment to be fingerprinted, and paid for my national licensing exam – the NCLEX-RN!!!

This is all very exciting and scary at the same time.  I am scheduled to graduate from nursing school May 17th with my last day of class being May 10th.  That’s just 66 days until it’s over and 73 days until I get my diploma!  I will have my associate’s degree and the ability to sit for the licensing exam so that I can become a registered nurse.  That.  Is.  HUGE!!

I have been going to school for four years (the first two years were part-time while doing my pre-req’s, the second two years were full-time while in the nursing program) and it really feels like all of it comes down to one moment, one test, and that is a scary thought.  But I know I have been preparing all this time and that I can do it.  I don’t have any other option!

Gabe’s book is free again but only for a short time.  For two days you can get it for your Kindle (or Kindle app on a phone or computer!) absolutely free!  All you have to do is head on over to Amazon and download it.  Seriously, it’s just that easy.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008SLF2QA?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

You already have his book you say?  It’s absolutely awesome and you’d love to share that with the world?  Then leave a review!  All you  have to do is follow that same link to the Amazon page and scroll down to the review section.

You’ve already read the book and left a review, so what else can y0u do??  Well, share it with all your friends of course.  Please feel free to share the link on your blogs and on your Facebook pages.  I’m about 99% sure Gabe would appreciate it as much as I do.  🙂