10 Goals for 2010

I'm usually not one for New Year's resolutions, but this year I thought I might be able to just call them goals and go for it. :) So, I made a list of 10 goals I'd like to accomplish sometime within the next 365 days:

1. Redecorate my room - this is something I've wanted to do since we got this place back in June. Whenever I move to a new place (which has been pretty often over the past six years!), the first thing I do after unpacking is redecorate. Interior design is something I love and what I would probably be doing if I wasn't in the medical field. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to do much of anything this time around. I'm really excited to start on this one!
   
2. Finish a novel - those who know me pretty well know that I've been writing since childhood. To this day, I still have not completed an entire novel from start to finish (aside from the books in the mini-series Katie and I wrote in elementary and middle school ;) ). I've come close a couple of times lately, but something always gets in the way or I can't figure out a part of it, so really all I have are a bunch of beginnings and middles. This year, I'm determined to finally have one that's complete from start to finish!
   
3. Read 10 books - I used to read ALL the time. Nowadays, not so much (thanks, college). I felt like 10 was a good number to start at for the year. Now I just need to make a list!
   
4. Have a successful May Indy Tweetup - Winter Indy Tweetup went so well and was so much fun (something I really only noticed after it was over, since I was so busy during the actual weekend itself!). I had so much fun planning it with Monica this year that it didn't even feel like work. It was amazing to see everything come together in the end too, and have the response we did. We have a lot of good plans in the making for May, and I think it has the potential to be REALLY great!
   
5. Start an Etsy store - something I've wanted to do since I discovered the site early last year. I've always been into attempting my own handmade/craft-y stuff, so I thought it might be fun and challenging to come up with new things and market them.
   
6. Volunteer for a cause I really believe in - I have a couple of options that I'm thinking of right now - one is as a counselor/resident nurse at a weekend summer camp for kids who have recently lost a loved one and the other is at the Humane Society of Indianapolis, where I used to volunteer when I was younger. Ideally, I'd do both.
   
7. Get a different hairstyle - I've had essentially the same one for the past 6 years, but haven't had the guts to try something new. I now have a friend who is a very talented hair stylist, so one day I'm going to bite the bullet and do something different.
   
8. Wear cute pajamas every night - don't laugh. Some things are just fun to do for yourself, even if no one else is even going to notice or care. :)
   
9. Go to the gym at least 3 days every week - not for weight loss or anything, just to be more in shape. I started yoga last year and loved it, so I'll hopefully throw in a yoga class this year, too. Thankfully the gym isn't far away and (at this point at least) my schedule makes it seem like this'll be pretty realistic to work in there somewhere.
   
10. Write in a journal every day - handwriting is a lost art, even on me and I used to handwrite all of my own novels. So I'm going to give journaling a shot, which will also hopefully be a nice stress relief.

So, I plan on doing all of this, in addition to graduating from nursing school, getting a new job, buying a car, and God knows what else is in store for me this year! And I'm really excited. :)

The Best is Yet to Come...

Roommate's right, I tend to only blog when I'm at work.
I think it's because it's one of the very few times per month that I have to be in one place for several consecutive hours. I can't study, get on Facebook, or call anyone outside of the hospital, but I have a computer, the Internet, and about 8.5 hours of nothing to do (weekends are slow at the blood bank).

Today I ended up on one of my old blogs. I think I've mentioned on here before that I used to blog a LOT back in the day. I had a public Xanga from 2002-2008, and a semi-private blog on another site from 2005-2008ish. I'd write at least once or twice a week, sometimes multiple times a day.
Now I'm so glad to have those little recordings of my past because I can go back and read through the memories and how I felt about them as they happened.

So, like I said, today I ended up going through one of them that I hadn't seen for a while. It was from my sophomore and junior years at Purdue, a time that I now look back on as being the "good old days".

Lately, with this new batch of stress I've been under (does that EVER really change? I hope so...), I've been getting really nostalgic about the good old days. I've missed the times at Purdue, that I now look back and think how safe and predictable it all was. How easy it was then, compared to now. But was it really?
Reading through the old entries, it was so interesting to see all the struggles I had back then. I was trying to figure out how to have a normal adult relationship, dealing with roommate issues, studying my ass off, and wondering if med school was the right choice for me. It seemed I'd usually write when I was either really happy or really frustrated, but it was an eye-opener for me to see how much it wasn't really the "good old days." It was just growing up. Figuring out the world and how to deal with the people in it.

So maybe the good old days are yet to come. I'll always get a little nostalgic about my Purdue days, but now I think it's because I learned and grew so much while I was there. And clearly I still have some things to figure out. But I feel somewhat better now about looking into the past, because I know that the future is going to be so much more exciting in many ways.

Mini-Vacation!

Well, as of right now, the weather forecast in Miami has cleared up considerably! It's still supposed to be insanely hot and humid, but that's better than rain!!

Woke up a couple of hours later than planned this morning. I'm trying to balance rest with all of the things I have to do before early EARLY tomorrow morning when we leave for the airport!

Still have all of the packing to do, plus some shopping...time to start the day!

I'm Still Crazy...

...but at least I'm flying out to Miami instead of driving!

Everything for this trip has worked out beautifully:

• * I just happened to have Thursday and Friday off since it just happened to be the one week between oncology and peds clinicals where we have nothing scheduled...
• * Monica just happened to also be free at that time, too...
• * We found a flight that got us out to Miami on Friday in plenty of time to see quals and somehow got a direct flight back on Sunday...
• * ...direct flight back just happens to be one of the IRL charters, so Roommate and an assortment of other IRL homies will be on it too!
• * Renting a car was cheap as hell.
• * Hotel stay worked out because Roommate has a 2-bed room all to himself!
• * Got the pit passes once again from my favorite team

It's all working out so perfectly, right?!

Wrong.

Let's hope the forecast changes!! Let's REALLY hope!!! Really.

btw, what's the difference between 'isolated' and 'scattered' storms? Which is better if you're, say, trying to avoid them?

New Show

I started out watching FlashForward the other day because I think Joseph Fiennes is hot (I could watch Shakespeare In Love all day). To my surprise, though, it turned out to be a really awesome show. Nice combo of an intriguing plotline, action shots, and interesting characters. I hope it continues to be as good throughout the season!

Everyone should go watch it.

Am I Crazy?

Really, am I??

Back From A Little Break...

I used to be so good at blogging. Seriously.

First of all, so much has gone on that I can't possibly catch up with it all on here! I spent a wonderful week on vacation in San Fransisco and Sonoma...

Went to the race in Sonoma and watched my KV Racing buddies get P4 (and of course reprising my umbrella girl role)...

(me, looking like a huge dork on the starting grid...unfortunately probably the best pic of me from the weekend)

Went to the race in Chicagoland with my dad and got to be there for the exciting P3 finish (no umbrella girl this time, since it was a night race...)

Evidence of night race

Evidence of P3 (!)

After that was the start of a new semester (#3 out of 5...10 months to go!) and getting into the swing of my awesome new job as a student nurse in the OR. This was all followed by a great Labor Day weekend with a trip to Purdue with the roommate for a football game and some nostalgia, a fun BBQ, and dinner with awesome new friends.

SO, as you can see, I haven't had much time for the ol' blog. And when I have, I'm usually just too tired to try.

There have been quite a few times that I've started blog posts only to end up leaving them unfinished. Tonight is no exception; this is actually the second one I've started (though it looks more promising that I'll actually finish it - I went to the trouble of actually adding a few pictures).

Unfortunately, along with all of the good stuff that's been going on, there's been some bad stuff too, and some really bad stuff. Today I found out that my Nana probably doesn't have much longer to live. Hours, maybe days left. I got a chance to go down and visit with her and my family today, which is priceless. I'm so glad I got a chance to see her and talk with her one more time. It's hard - one of the hardest things I've ever done - and I don't really feel like writing too coherently or being eloquent about it at the moment.

So, for now, that's all. More to come, seriously.