It's started with an apology... followed by advice

Can I just begin by apologizing at how much I let go of the blog! I'm truly sorry, this A&P class has taken over my life and I haven't blogged since. The course is/was 6 weeks, and has been so demanding that every spare second I had was spent studying for the course. I'm a little more than half way through considering that Monday is the last week of Lab and the following Wednesday is my final for the lecture. It's safe to say I've done well enough in the course, the last time I checked *this past Wednesday* I had a 85% in the lab, and an A in the lecture (she didn't give me the percent for that one). I'm hoping I can keep those, or make the 85% better when it comes time to finish the classes. I won't be stress free until I know what grades I got, but I will say this, there's nothing like taking a course, and feeling great through the whole course. I don't think I've ever studied for a class as much as I have for this class. 

If you want my advice, don't take anatomy until your last semester. People might say that's crazy, and you should always take easier classes towards the end, but I think that is bogus! When you start college you're transitioning from high school, and its a big change. You should start off with your basic core curriculum, and make your way up to the higher level, more intense courses. When I started college my first semester was ENC1101 or English Comp, MAC1105 or College Algebra, CHM1032 or General Chemisty (literally just the basics of chemistry), and HCP0001 or Health Careers Core Curriculum, which basically just taught us the basic in health care. How to put sterile gloves on, how to take vitals, how to wash your hands, etc. These classes were all the basic requirements in college, and I took them first, then I went on in my second semester, not knowing how difficult it was going to be, and took A&P 1. It's safe to say that I failed that class, and I can explain why. 

When you start college, your mentality is still the same as when you were in high school. You expect your professors to be as helpful as your high school ones, in that when you miss an assignment, they accept it late and they pretty much baby you. In college, you miss an assignment, then you've missed that assignment, unless you get one of those professor who really don't want to see you fail, and work with you. Regardless, you don't think about studying, and you don't think about working as hard. It really does take the few easy classes in the beginning of your college career to learn just how much you have to put in to school, and how much you have to study. 

The first time I took A&P, I wasn't spending that much time studying, I would go about college the same I did with high school, minimal effort, and to be honest, it worked with the few 'easy' core classes. When I took A&P I learned just how wrong I was about studying, and I had a lot to learn about how to study effectively. For me, it's important you learn that before you take the classes that will effect you in the long run, because you don't want those on the admission committee going through your application wondering, "Why did she get an F?" "Did they not put forth maximum effort?" "Do we want someone like this in our program?" 

It's not to say that you can't ever fail a class, hell I failed A&P with an F in the lecture and a WF (withdrawl fail; I stopped showing up) in the lab, and I'm still going to get in the program. I'm just saying you don't want that on your record because you don't want people to question you and keep a close watch on you. 

I'm retaking the class and hoping that I'm getting an A in the end. This way the nursing admissions committee can see how much I've grown and changed over the years, and they may give me a shot. But speaking from experience, you don't want to be scared about what's going to happen to you because of one grade, just listen to this advice, and when you've learned how to study effectively in college, start taking your more difficult classes. It'll help you so you can pass with flying colors! Trust me! 

I'm not expert, and I'm not a college adviser, but I'm speaking from personal experience! College isn't a joke, it's your future, and you should take responsibility in making sure you have a good experience, but you also have good grades.  

Magic Mike XXL

I just want to announce what a great movie Magic Mike XXL was! I should forewarn whoever is reading this that there may be spoilers and if you haven't seen the movie, you should proceed with caution. Or skip and come back to this post once you've seen the movie. 

Every girl in the world was aware that today was the release date of Magic Mike XXL, and if you weren't, well you were most likely living under a rock somewhere in the desert. This movie was 100x better than the first part in that the story line was better, and people should actually give a shit about it. See Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) had started his furniture company three years ago (the end of Magic Mike) and is now single. His former stripper buddies aren't aware of the recent break up, and 'just so happen to be in town' because their dear MC has ditched them for some foreign place. I believe he left for china, but to be honest it's irrelevant and I don't care. After seeing his buddies, and hearing what their plan is Mike goes home and starts working on some custom order furniture. While in the shop working the piece, he starts dancing (Previews scene) and decides he wants to join the guys on the trip to the "Stripper Convention." Which to be honest I WISH that it was real life, because I would so go to see that! *Especially when the men performing are these men!* 

On the trip these guys go through several bumps, including a slight car accident landing their new MC *Gabriel Iglesias aka Tobias* in the hospital with a concussion. They have to find a new way to get to their convention. They bring up someone from Mikes past, Rome, which apparently Mike used to dance with before leaving her for Dallas (who was played by Matthew McConaughey in the first film). In order to prove he's still got it, she makes him dance for the ladies at her club, and boy does he dance. My sister and I at this moment were totally hating on his wife! I mean the man can totally move! But moving on, we have only seen 2 dance scenes with him, and 1 with Joe Manganiello which was also super hot and smoky, and everything it needed to be! My sister and I started to get a little bit inpatient waiting for the full on dance scenes. It was quite a build up and you get bits and pieces here and there, including scenes with Twitch from SYTYCD dancing, but we wanted the show to start. 

Fast forward to the show, and can I just tell you that the wait was totally worth it! The build up to the scene of them at the convention was everything I was expecting and more! They all had their own individual segments, and they start off with Tarzan, then move on to Tito (played by Adam Rodriguez; known for his role as Eric in CSI Miami), and then follows Matt Bomers character Ken. I had no idea that Matt can sing, and move the way he did. He was just as hot and steamy as any of us imagined! After Matt was of course Joes character Big Dick Richies turn and I LOVED IT! He started out with a 'marriage skit' and if you watch the movie you know why, and ends with this dominatrix looking contraption that they show him building, and he's just swinging and dancing on that girl in all types of ways. I mean it was getting pretty crazy! Finally saving the best for last was Mike's turn who shared his floor space with Malik played by Stephen 'Twitch' Boss. There are truly NO WORDS to describe their dance! The way they threw and swung, and moved those women for their dance moves was just completely shocking, impressive, and amazing. As my sister said 'I would pay to be that girl.' 

Honestly, if you haven't gone out to see it, I really don't know what you're waiting for. Get your lovely asses to your nearest theater and watch this must see film. Also, by the way they ended this movie, I'm kind of hoping for another part. Hey a girl can dream right?

Study Tips

Today I purchased the books for my A&P class, well didn't purchase, but I put them in my cart to purchase in a few days. Of course purchasing books are pricey, but it's an affordable price this time. Doing this made me realize all the studying I need to do this semester, so I decided to do a post about studying,and tips for effective studying. 

• Get rid of every and any electronic device!

No that doesn't mean keep it at the table with you, nor does it mean to just put it on silent. It means GET RID OF IT! Sorry but keeping it near you is means for distraction! Now unless you need that electronic device for studying, there's no reason to keep it by you! I use my IPAD for studying because I take lecture notes on it. I have yet to find it as a distraction because I turn the wifi off! If I find it starting to cause distraction I tend to print those notes out and use them on paper as opposed to my ipad. If I make any new notes on it or change it I will scan it on my printer and add the document on my note taking app. I don't need my phone or computer for studying, that's what the book and lecture notes are for.

• Take quick and easy notes in class, change them later

Doing this will encourage you to go back and add information that your missing. For example, the professor goes over a definition in class and instead of writing down the definition because you know you can find that later, you write down the examples he gives. Professor that give examples are more likely to use those for the exam as opposed to just asking you to define a word. So write down what he says, and later go back to the book and look for whatever you're missing. Also using this method means you miss less of what he's saying by trying to write everything.

• Read the chapter twice

I know how odd that sounds, reading the chapter twice especially when you have tons to read and not enough time to read it. When I say read, I mean skim through the chapter. When you do this twice, you'll notice more things than before. Actually read each header, and while skimming through the paragraph in that area, find the main ideas. When I skim the first time I don't highlight nor write any notes. When I skim the second time, I highlight or make note of what I find important. I usually do this the second time, because I tend to notice that somethings are obvious which means I don't need to highlight or note those because if I know the main idea of the paragraph, I know the obvious facts. When I note the main ideas, I make bullet points to go with them and write my own facts and understandings of the lecture and chapter. It sounds like a lot of work but it helps to learn the topics of the class.

• Color Coding

Color code everything you write/read. Definitions in green, facts from the notes in purple, facts from the book in pink, facts from your own understanding in blue, etc. I hope you get the point, it just makes things easier to look for. Don't go and write everything in a different color if you don't want to. I write everything in black, but I make the bullet points color, or I write the specific topic in the corresponding color. I use highlighters on the headers of different sections depending on what information it belongs. I just add colors to make it call for more attention, and it helps remembering later because you use a different memory for the different writing methods. It also helps to find information on a fully written on sheet quickly. For example if the professor is asking me for a definition on an assignment, I'll grab the notes for that topic, look for the corresponding header, and look for the green writing or highlight. It makes it easier to look for.

That's all I can really think of right now, but I'm hoping to get some more tips out of my head. I'll write them on my phone as I remember, and update this post with them. I don't normally take pictures of my notes, and I don't really have any notes right now because classes don't start for another 2-3 weeks but I will post pictures of what my notes and stuff look like as soon as I start!

I hope that this helped, and if you want any more specific ideas for studying feel free to contact me; stacyh003@gmail.com!!

How do you study? What do you use? How do you take notes? Do you change it later? Tell me what you do to study, maybe we can collaborate and make a huge studying post! Don't be shy, comment below!

I've become such a planner!

Turns out I really do like to plan and organize my days, so I started actually using my Erin Condren planner. Get your own Erin Condren! It's a pretty pricey planner, but it's totally worth it! This year I'll be getting my second one, and to be honest, they get better and better every year. I've been the type to design my own things, and I once designed my own planner on photoshop, but when I got ahold of an Erin Condren I quite literally wanted to die. I do however create my own stickers for the planner, and if you wanted to get the ones from their website, you can personalize your own. I too personalize my own, though I design them in order to change the shape and style to whatever I want. I've been thinking of opening an Etsy shop to do so, but haven't completely decided. I wish they made the planners a little more customizable, but I think at this point I'm asking for too much. However I have been working on designing one for students in nursing school that has inspiration and quotes to help student nurses when they hit a bump in the road and need a little inspiration. I haven't seen any of those anywhere so it's a possibility. Either way heres what life with a planner has been looking like for me. I just started now in June so no other days/months have stuff written in them and theres still so much more to write but I like planning everything. I feel organized, and structured if that makes an sense!

Either way I think that if you're very type A like myself, an Erin Condren planner is the way to go! Seriously, and I'm willing to give you all some personalized stickers for your planners, whatever you want them to say, whatever shape you want them just email me at stacyh003@fiu.edu and I'll make it. I just have to mail them to you, and I would appreciate if you all would cover the shipping, but aside from shipping, they would be totally free! 

I'll post some examples of what my stickers look like so you all can see what I mean! I'll post them on an update of this post, as well pictures on twitter, and IG if you really want to see what they look like in the planner. My cutting machine has yet to arrive, so those picture might take a while to be posted, but I promise I will post them!

Don't hesitate to comment if you want some stickers! Do you plan your days? What planner do you use? Do you highly recommend it?

Disclaimer: I am in no way getting paid to endorse or promote Erin Condren planners, they never asked me to promote them or any of that. I truly do love the planner and use it. 

One bad day calls for a good next day

Life can be so complicated some times. If you follow my twitter you know that yesterday was a bit of an off day for me. After having a car full of ants and getting stuck in an elevator, I still wasn't able to register for my Anatomy & Physiology class for the semester. I now see the whole school dilemma as a "blessing" because had I not missed the original time offer of the class I wouldn't have noticed that they offered the class at the campus much closer to my house. Now that I can register I was looking at the time slots for class and found one early enough that I'm not on campus late, and late enough that I'm not waking up before sun comes out! 

Now to be completely honest, I'm really nervous for this class. I took this course once a few years ago when I started college (in 2010) and failed. I literally got an 'F' in the course and WF in the lab because I stopped going after failing the course. I'm obviously older now and I would like to say a bit more prepared when it comes to college, but it's still between scary to take a course a second time. There's nothing like failing a course twice. I'm fully prepared to record lectures and play them back like it's my job. I'm also fully prepared to study like I don't have a life, and the good thing is that I'm only taking A&P so I don't have to worry about studying for anything else, except the HESI of course. 

Lets talk about that stupid elevator situation yesterday! In the morning when I parked in the garage, the left elevator had a sign on the door that said "Temporarily out of order" and I really didn't pay mind to it until that door opened for my 'elevator ride.' I sent the elevator down to the first floor, and waited for the other elevator to come up because I was not going to get in that elevator. The other one never came, and this "out of order" one returned. I was already late for work so I got on it and rode to the first floor without a problem. When going back to my car after work, I got on the same elevator with 4 other people. Two of those people got off on the third floor, and the other two got off on the fourth. When the elevator went to stop on the third floor it attempted to open the doors before stopping, causing the elevator to shake. After that happened, I started to panic. When we reached the fourth floor and everyone got off, the doors closed, but stopped inches from being fully closed, and wouldn't move. I was alone in the elevator and was now in full on panic mode. I was smacking the doors, trying to close or open them. Finally after about 5-10 minutes of hitting the doors they began to close slowly. The elevator took me to the fifth floor and I ran out of there before the doors were even fully opened. I stopped only to tell the guy getting on the elevator what happened. He took the stairs. 

Now after all that happened, I sat in my car only to have a million tiny little creatures crawling all over me. If you know me at all, you must know how much I despise creepy crawlers. I hate all insects, and don't care to have them near me. I drove all the way home from work, in rush hour traffic with those ants all over me. I quite literally wanted to die. When I got home, I got one of the "RAID" bombs from the cabinet, and set it off in my car. 

Now I have to leave my car closed for 24 hours, and not drive it. I also have to go get it completely detailed to wash off all the RAID and get rid of all the ants little bodies. It's so cruel that they all died, but I'm not about to drive with them on me all the time. It's just not happening! 

The little RAID bomb was from home depot, and its quite simple. It's not liquid so nothing gets ruined, it's a gas that just spreads through every little spot in the car. It's poisonous so you have to wipe down whatever you touch in your car, and make sure to wash your hands after driving. I have to ride with the windows down for about a week as a precaution, and when I get the car washed I'm going to make sure they're extremely detailed. 

Aside from my eventful day, theres really nothing else going on! Have you ever been stuck in an elevator? For how long? What did you do? Have you ever had an ant infestation in your car? What did you? 

Ordering Transcripts

As most people may know in order to get in to a university, or even register for classes at a community college you must submit transcripts. Whether you're transferring or going straight from high school, they need to see your academic background. Since I'm transferring back to my community college in order to get the missing classes I need for the nursing program I had to order the transcripts from my university. I've order the transcripts 3 times in the span of 2 weeks, and the college has yet to receive them. I purposely ordered them electronic through F.A.S.T.E.R and they still haven't gotten them. I'm so annoyed about the whole situation because I made sure to do everything by my registration appointment so I would be able to pick up the class I wanted. Since my university keeps messing up the transcript delivery, I haven't been able to register for my class, and now the class I wanted to take is full. There are other options, but the time of the class I wanted is taken. I don't see how its fair to me to have to wait for some stupid university to take my classes. I'm frustrated, and completely annoyed with the school I am leaving, and just wish this transition went smoothly. That's why this morning I tweeted "When life throws you curveballs, you catch it and throw it right back" because this is slowing the process down for me to get in to nursing school. 

Honestly if I have to order those transcripts one more time, I'm going straight to the office on campus and giving them a piece of my mind! Isn't it enough that they screwed up some one my work before, now they have to screw up me leaving them too! 

I know I'm ranting, but someone from some university must see this and realize how frustrating they can be to students. I just want to make something of my life!

On another note, I've been doing a lot of practice questions for HESI A2 exam. If you don't know what the HESI is, its the entrance exam for the nursing school I want to go. I'm going to buy a book from elsevier.com to study for the exam and hopefully get an amazing passing score to impress the admission committee! Other than that there's nothing new to report! 

Hope everyone is having either a great semester, or a great summer break! Comment below and let me know if you ever had a problem with your college transcripts!  

Name Change

Welcome to the new blog, everything from before still remains, but the name and the point of this blog is completely different. I'm not going to medical school anymore, I've changed my mind to become a nurse instead. Now I know some people are going to think I'm crazy, and possibly criticize me but I know for myself it's the right decision. The reason I want to go in to nursing is because after I spoke to my sister about what happened when her incision got infected after her surgery, she told me that she mostly dealt with the nurses as opposed to the doctor. Doctors get most of the credit for the work they do, but nurses do a lot of work for patients too. I'm not in it for the credit or the pay, I'm in it for the satisfaction after every work day knowing that I did my best to make my patients feel better! I'm not 100% sure what type of nurse I want to be, but I would like labor and delivery nurse! 

I'm so excited but I'm nervous all at the same time. I'm only missing 3 pre-reqs to get in to the nursing program. Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2, so I won't be applying for the program until next summer. I will be taking these classes starting fall 2015. I will be in the nursing program by the time I'm 24, and will be graduating by the time I'm 25, and I plan to go ALL the way and get my doctorates. I wish to become a Nurse Practitioner. 

This blog is going to follow my journey through "pre-nursing" (only 3 classes) and then through my nursing program. I'm beyond excited to go to nursing school, and can't wait to be a nurse! If you look above there is two tabs called "Pre-nursing" and "Nursing school." The point of those tabs is to make sure that if you're here to read about nursing you can just go directly to that, but if you're here about the other post, then you just click "Blog", and nothing about nursing aside from this post will be there! I'm just trying to keep everyone happy! 

If you're pre-nursing, or nursing student please comment and let me know how everything is going for you!! I would love to know!!!! Follow me on twitter!!! *PreStudentNurse*

Tinder

I'm not here to bash tinder, or hate on it or anything. I'm just talking about it because well, Tinder seems a little ridiculous to me. I used it once, and know people who have used it and still use it, but I just don't agree with it. Tinder is supposed to be this like "young" dating app for people to find "significant others" on, or to find a weekend booty call. Whatever you want to use it for is your prerogative, but there are people on there that are a bit stupid. See I recently re-downloaded the app just to see what was on there, and it's really just crap! I mean I came across this guy that was on there "looking for friends," he even writes in his bio "My girlfriend is a club promoter is Soflo," like seriously? What kind of a person goes on a dating/hook up app to find friends?! What does that have to say about todays generation, we can't even make friends in person! Everything is electronic, if it isn't on tinder, it's on Facebook, or twitter, or instagram. Everyone who meets people nowadays isn't because they stumbled across each other at the mall or at starbucks, its because they followed each other on social media! 

My best friend and I met in college, we're part of the same sorority. My friends from high school and I still keep minimal contact, and I still like to make other friends. I've met so many people in classes, and at the stores. Granted we're not going to be BFFL, but it's nice to talk to someone different every now and again who doesn't already know your entire life story. I didn't have to look for them on social media. I haven't met a guy that I've wanted to date yet, which I'm totally okay with because I've put school before anything else, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up on meeting people in person rather than through a small piece of technology. The last date I was on was with someone I met walking to class. Yeah, that's right, face to face communication. I'm not going to say that it isn't hard to make friends, or meet people because people constantly have their head phones in their ears, or are looking at their bright little screen while walking and doing other things instead of looking at other people, but it isn't impossible. I make it a point to smile at people when they look at me, because not only does it promote contact, but it boost a person ego just a bit when someone smiles at them. It's not scientifically proven, but smiles are contagious, and the best way to turn a bad day around is to make someone else happy, which in turn will make you happy. 

So put down the tinder app, and the instagraming, and start talking to people in person. If you can't do that anymore, then theres no hope for the world. Artificial intelligence will eventually take over, and there will be no more reason for human contact with one another other than to procreate. 

Go up to someone today, compliment their shoes or something. Strike up a conversation with a stranger ( in a safe neighborhood, surrounded by people of course), and make some friends. You don't want to stare at a bright little screen all day, aside from being bad for your eyes, its bad for your social life. 

Tell me about someone you met in person? Do you use tinder, or instagram to make friends, or relationships? Do you feel like it's "easier" that way? Don't be afraid to comment with your opinion, it's never a bad thing to express yourself! 

Australia for Medical school?!

Today my school sent out an email about going to medical school in Australia, and that got me thinking! What if I go to medical school somewhere other than America! I mean I would move back home and practice medicine in America, but what if I study somewhere else?! Australia, is obviously an option! Ireland would be so totally awesome! I mean it's been my dream to visit there but imagine living there for four years for school!! 

Ireland has been my dream for many years, and I was thinking of giving myself the gift to visit for a few weeks after I graduate medical school, but what if I can study there, what if I can live there! So I know this is the World Wide Web, and someone from Ireland can come across this post and be like "What's the big deal about studying here?" but are you kidding me! IT'S IRELAND! 

I mean just look at that picture! It's such a beautiful place! That's not the only place that would be a dream! Australia would be so wonderful to study too! I would love to be there to live for some time. It would really just be a dream to live any where other than america for a few years, and study while doing it. 

Just imagine, going to a school away from home! Yeah it would suck to live away from my family for so long, and not get to visit them often, but the experience would be so worth it! I know it would cost me an arm and a leg to visit, but technology now a days would allow me to see them more often than not. There's so many other places that I would love to go to, but my dream would be Ireland. It's going to be really cool if I get to do this. 

Lets talk about how I'm getting overly excited about this, and yet I still have a while before I even apply to school, but after getting that email I just got so excited. I might actually go to the meeting that my school is hosting to meet the dean of the medical school in Australia, I mean to weigh my options of where I'm going!

What's your opinion about traveling for school? Did you go somewhere else for graduate school? Would you jump at the opportunity? Leave me a comment about what you think!

Opinionated or nah?

I'm not in high school anymore. I haven't been since 2010, and I don't care to live like a high schooler any longer. I'm sorry if you're reading this and are in high school, and once you graduate and move on you'll understand where I'm coming from. The commentary under the breath, the bullshit backstabbing, and the fakeness is all ridiculous. Cutting people out of your life for reason that are beyond stupid, are well beyond stupid. The names in this story I'm about to tell you are changed to protect the privacy of my former, and current friends. 

When I was in high school, I had a small group of close knit friends, there were about 5 of us. Melanie, Yessie, Jennifer, Megan, and myself. Yessie, and Jennifer were best friends since elementary school I believe, and Megan and I were best friends since 7th grade, and then we all met in High school. 

I'm not here to talk about our life in high school, I just needed to give you a quick background. We all became instant friends in Freshman year. Not really instant, but we were all good friends by graduation. The moral of the story is that during middle school, Yessie dated Jennifers cousin, and in high school Melanie dated Jennifers cousin, but when he proposed to her, she said no, and the relationship was over. ( I'm not exactly sure when he proposed, I believe it was sometime after we all graduated, either way, they broke up). I hadn't heard about him for years later, until my best friend from college, whom I adore so much posted a picture of him on Instagram. I was a bit skeptical about if it was him or not, because I never had actually met him ( he lived in New York at the time ), but I knew who he was and knew his whole family. I texted my best friend and asked her what his name was, and low and behold it was the same guy. It's such a small world! They dated for quite sometime, but before he met her, he had enlisted to join the Marines. My friend from high school Melanie, was living in New York for college and dated some guy for quite some time. 

After about a year my best friend and her boyfriend moved to North Carolina, where he was based, and got married. I missed her so much that I flew over there in March over spring break, and spent the week with her and her husband. I had a great time with them, and of course I posted pictures on Instagram. Now lets get something straight, Melanie and I weren't close anymore, the last time her and I had a close deep conversation was the day before she moved to New York, at her going away party. We had the occasional conversation, and would sometimes check in on each other but that was about it. 

When I returned home after my vacation with my best friend, I posted a throwback Thursday of my trip with the couple. A week later Jennifer posted a picture of her and Melanie, and I decided to click on Melanies tag to see what she was up to, and she had blocked me! I did a little digging and her whole family blocked me! I was in complete shock and was just about pissed off because, are we really in high school that you go and block me from social media because I'm best friends by coincidence with your exs wife!? 

That's not the only thing, I called my best friend and told her and she said she knows why she did it. My best friend started telling me the stories of Melanie calling her husband trying to break up her and her husband, by telling him that she made a mistake and wanted him back. He told her it was too late and he was in love with someone else, she then proceeded to send him nudes and repeatedly tried to get back with him ALL WHILE BEING IN A 2 YEAR RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE ELSE. My best friends husband blocked her on his phone and changed his number to avoid contact with her, but I really don't see why she had to stoop down to that level of trying to break a marriage. We're not in High school anymore, this isn't a game, this is an actual marriage! People like that truly piss me off, they don't understand that other people have lives aside from being with them, and other people have feelings that can get hurt by their actions. This girl was in the complete wrong, and I truly hope she stumbles upon my blog and reads this and realizes how wrong she is! 

Although all this happened in March I bring it up because my sister is going through something with her friends/ former friends being fake and I got really upset and needed to vent about this whole ordeal. I won't tell my sisters story cause it's not mine to tell! 

Did you ever go through something with your former High School friends? Don't you wish people would just move on from their former life, and be happy with what they have right now? Leave a comment, and vent about "fake" people!

Cancer, hate it or HATE it!

As I sit here watching "Chasing Life" ( a show about a girl diagnosed with cancer ) I start to think of all the things that people with cancer and their families go through. It's such a sad thing to think about I know, but it's something that everyone at one point in their lives thinks about. My grandfather, who passed away when my father was 5 years old, died of lung cancer. I wasn't affected so much because well I never really met him, but is it weird to say that I love him, and miss him like I had? I've only ever heard stories, and seen some pictures, but he's still such a big part of who I am! Sometimes, and I know this sounds funny, I think that the drive for me to be a doctor, is because of him. He was a radiologist, the only doctor in my family, and I like to think that I'm making him proud by studying to be a doctor. Either way, I don't know if I would ever be strong enough to be a caretaker, and I'm sure all caretakers once thought that themselves, but to see someone you love so dearly go through so much pain, is such a hard thing to do. 

My sister, a few years ago, was taken to the hospital because of a pain she had on her right side. We all instantly thought no big deal, probably just appendicitis, surgery would take care of that. What was actually true was much worse. When the ER doctor came in to the room that day, he told my sister and our family that she had a mass on her right ovary, and that she needed to see an Oncologist, to get a biopsy and run some test to make sure it wasn't cancer. To all of us in that room curtain, all we heard was the word cancer and nothing else. My sister instantly started bawling her eyes out the moment the doctor walked out of the room. Followed by tears trailing down my and my mothers face. My father ( who lost his dad to cancer ) was just pale, sitting in the chair staring off in to some sort of distance. My father had already lost someone to cancer (he was young and didn't really understand much at the time but he lost his father to cancer regardless) wasn't ready to lose his daughter as well. We went to see an Oncologist as asked and luckily after all the test and everything, the tumor was a teratoma, which was benign and removed from her ovary through a laparoscopic procedure. We were all extremely lucky at this point, but it doesn't mean we weren't terrified. 

The point of this is just to tell you all that sometimes, others aren't so lucky, and although cancer can be the scariest of things, we all need to be strong enough for those who need us. Those who have cancer, I'm sorry, I know I don't know what you're going through, and I wish telling you that you're going to be okay is enough, but lets be real, who am I to tell you that you're going to be okay? I don't know you, or anything about your cancer, all I know is that you shouldn't be scared to ask those around you for support, they're put in your life for a reason, to be your support system so use them. I say this because the main character in "Chasing Life" didn't want to tell her family that she was diagnosed, she preferred to keep it to herself, and get through it alone. In my personal opinion, although completely inexperienced, don't not tell someone because you don't want that look of pity, tell someone because you need them to be there for you. You're support system is going to have to process that you have cancer the same way you did, but after they do, they will be there for you! I know I would've been there for my sister 100% had that tumor not been benign, it would have been tough on her and the family but thats why we're here. To deal with the messy, the ugly, the bad, and the scary, not just the good things. 

I say we should make some kind of contribution for the cancer society! Go to CVS, and when you pay, add that $1+ donation for lung cancer, or give March of Dimes a few dollars at publix! If you're short on cash, but want to do something, look for the nearest cancer support, and find out how to volunteer to help those fighting cancer. Money isn't the only thing they need, they need love and support, and we as people can do that! 

Do you know someone with cancer? How do you get through your days helping them? Speak your mind about this, thats why I created this post! Cancer really sucks, and all I can say is F**K CANCER!

So I've been a little AWAL

Hey all!  Sorry I've been a little AWAL lately, summer courses have started, and I started a new job. I'm trying to get in to the routine of things, and well the blog was put on the back burner a bit. I've also been working on making a design blogger site, for those who want to start a blog, and need a design or help starting. There's really not much to starting, just as long as you keep consistent with the blog, and you make sure to post often as to not lose your readers. 

My new job is at Campus Life, at my university and its been "chill". I just answer the phone and greet the students who come in to the office. The staff is pretty nice, and they tell me to be forewarned that they're a little psycho, but I haven't seen any craziness yet. I get to work with my sorority big sister, and one of my pledge sisters, so that's pretty awesome! 

As for my fitness, that was actually put on a back burner too, and I don't intend to keep it that way. I've been eating like crap this week and not working out, and that's probably going to continue over the long weekend but I'll be sure to return to normal Tuesday, once I have everything meal prepped, and my time is managed accordingly. I want to make sure I work out before class or work, just so that I don't have an excuse for after work or class because I'm too tired. 

I'll be posting some more "random" post throughout the week, but I'm changing the whole daily segments ordeal, it's not working for me. I may just do some days, and then random post, on random days so there is always something to look forward to! 

Hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend! 

Watch it Wednesday: Private Practice

Lets be real, Shonda Rimes is a genius. Every show that she produces is amazing, its beyond words amazing. Addicting, and tends to last longer than the normal show (i.e Greys Anatomy) because it has so many viewers that it would be criminal! I'm not here to talk about Greys Anatomy, I'm here to talk about its spin off show, Private Practice. It's amazing, and it never got all the credibility that it should have. It's pretty similar to Greys Anatomy, given that it has to do with doctors, but its completely different at the same time. 

It doesn't have the same ridiculous cases that Greys has, but it does have the love and friendship drama. The cases are a bit more realistic, and the things that happen to the characters are insane. The last people that you expect to get together, end up together. Everyone remains on the show the entire series, except for maybe 2, and some new people do join for short periods of time. The original group is always together though, and you sort of get attached to every single one of them. 

When something happens to one of the characters, you freak out because you're so attached to them. This show takes  a little while to get in to, you gotta watch a couple episode before getting hooked, but in my opinion it is a bit better than Greys. Give the show a try and let me know what you think! The whole series is on Netflix! 

Do/did you watch Private Practice? What did you think about it? Love it or hate it? What other shows do you watch? Comment below, I'm always looking for new shows to watch!! 

Motivation Monday: Pictures

Pictures are worth a thousand words they say, and using them to your advantage as your motivation is highly recommended. I have a million pictures where I see how much I let my self go, and whenever I feel like letting go and going back to my old ways, I look at those pictures and I see why I started. You also have progress photos, taking a picture almost everyday is also highly recommended, because all in due time, you can put your pictures side by side and see the immense progress you've made. Something you can't see when you're just looking in the mirror. Measurements are also very motivating but I'll talk about that on next weeks motivation Monday. 

This is one of the first pictures I took that I saw how far I had let myself go, and if you follow my Instagram, you would see that I posted it, and wrote this message about it: "So this is the photo that actually made me change my ways. Seeing this made me realize the way I've let myself go. It made me super upset about the fact that I let myself get to this point. Many people might look at this picture and not see what I see but I see it and that's what counts. Everything I think about giving up or quitting because it gets too hard I will look back at this picture!" Seeing this made me realize that I just didn't care anymore. I've gotten very much over this picture based on the look, but the way that I felt in the picture, and the way I feel now are still important. In the picture, I'm exhausted constantly out of breath, and with constant heart burn. Now I don't suffer as much heart burn as before, I'm not always out of breath, and I'm more energized than ever before. 

There are more pictures that I look at and hate myself for letting me get to that point, but I won't share them all because I have to keep some things private. Use your pictures, take them everyday, it'll help you through I promise!

Is there any pictures you use? Would you like to share them? Comment below I would love to hear your story! 

Fitness Friday: 21 Day fix

Fitness Friday is a segment that I incorporated in order to talk about the FAD diets that are out there, or the fitness programs (whether they work or not) and what I think about them. Whether I recommend them, or whether I don't. Todays fitness Friday is a program called 21 Day Fix. It's not uncommon and I'm sure you've heard of it, hell it's all over the place. All you gotta do is look at Instagram. "21 Day Fix" is a program by the company BeachBody, and it's a 21 day program where you eat healthy and follow the exercise program to lose weight. You can repeat it after the 21 days is over, making it your second round, or third, or whatever round you're on. This program includes color coated containers, they signify the food you should eat, and how much of it. For example the green containers, are vegetables, and for my specific calorie intake, I have about 6 of those containers throughout the day. 

There are 7 containers, and in the "meal plan" book, it explains how to calculate the amount of calories you should be having. Once that is calculated it explains how many servings you can have of each container throughout the day. It also explains that in order for your body to be hydrated, you should consume about 1/2 your body weight. So if you divide your body weight by two, your total will be the amount of water you drink in oz. I usually drink a little more than that, just because I get thirsty, but it helps to know how much I need, just to know I'm keeping my self hydrated. 

The reason I like this program is because it's realistic. There's nothing temporary in this program, well maybe the workouts, but the lifestyle is something you can practice forever. These containers are just measurements, and once you learn to portion your food correctly, it becomes a habit. The reason that the program is 21 days, is because its takes 21 days to form and break habits. Autumn Calabrese (the creator of the genius program) is well a genius to have come up with this system. It's simple, easy to follow, and as I said before realistic. She doesn't tell you that you can't eat anything, she explains how to portion out that sweet tooth craving so you're not going for a king size snickers everyday. She makes it easy to lose weight, at a reasonable pace, all while teaching you how to live your life the right way. I would buy this program for everyone if I could, but I can't and thats unfortunate. What I can do, is if you really want to purchase the program, you should contact me, so I can lead you in the right direction to getting it from the right person! *Stacyh003@gmail.com* email me there for info on how to get this program. 

At the end of the 21 days, I promise to post a picture of my before and after, that won't be until Monday May 18! Which I'll be starting round 2 of my 21 day fix!!!

 One thing I can't forget to mention is the workouts, they're 7 days a week, and theres one for everyday. They're difficult, but they're good, and they work. I can tell you that they work because I've been sore since day one! I love the workouts because they're 30 mins, and she makes it possible! You see the others in the video, those that are fit and healthy, struggle with the exercise and do the modified version, even for just a little. It gives you hope and strength to know that you're not the only one that struggles with it, and one day you'll be able to do the exercises without having to modify, or struggle in the middle of it! Trust me, these workouts are totally worth every drop of sweat you drip! 

Did you do the 21 day fix? Are you still doing it? Do you love it or hate it? What do you think of the workouts? What other program have you done? What program would you like to hear about? Leave a comment below, and lets chat about the different weight loss programs out there, good or bad! 

Thoughtful Thursday: Coding and Armed Forces

Hey all!

Today is Thoughtful Thursday, a segment I wanted to incorporate in the blog. Everyday I'm constantly thinking about all sorts of different things. Like my life, my school, my future. And so I wanted to just vent out what goes through my head, but instead of doing that everyday and boring everyone, I figure I'll just do it on Thursdays. Hence Thoughtful Thursdays came to mind. Today I was really struggling in my head because I'm not in love with the look for the blog, the layout, the colors, the appearance, they all just don't look right. I've been practicing writing my own code, and until I get it down packed I know I'm not going to like the look of the blog. I'll get over it, but I want to make sure I make it look as nice and user friendly as possible for my readers. Writing your own code for your blog isn't easy, and there isn't a lot of tutorials (that I can find) to help you learn, and therefore once I do learn and have it mastered I will be making my own tutorial on how write / create your own blogger template from scratch. I know HTML and CSS extensively. I don't really know much about XML or JAVASCRIPT but I'm learning, or trying to. I altered a code on my old blog (Champagnemedicine.com) which was run on wordpress but I never mastered that because it was so many files for just the one template. Once I get blogger down packed I want to learn to code my own wordpress. If I do that, then I will also make a tutorial on how to create your own Wordpress theme. I'm getting way ahead of myself here, and I shouldn't be making so many promises, especially if I can't deliver, but I want the motivation to deliver these tutorials and therefore I'm making promises.

Other things that have been on my mind lately, joining the United States Army, or Air Force, or even the Navy. When I graduated high school, I wanted to join the Navy but was convinced otherwise by family and friends. To this day I always think about how different my life would be had I joined, hell if I joined when I graduated, I would have served and left the Navy by now. I'm thinking of doing it, and becoming a medic in the military. Theres so many opportunities as a medic for the US military, and although it's scary to deploy and be away from family, I will be serving my country alongside doing something I love. Medicine is something that I've wanted to do/study for a very long time, and I really want to take advantage of being a doctor (in the future) and help out everyone who needs it. Aside from those rural areas, the US military could really use doctors in their fields. I'm truly thinking about doing this, but I need to think about it A LOT because I would be leaving my family, and thats something thats really hard for me. Plus for every year of medical school, its another year serving the military, so four years of medical school = four years in service, and possibly more. There are perks of joining the military to go to medical school, and they are extreme but thats not the reason I would do it, so I'd rather not talk about them. I wouldn't want to give people the wrong idea about why I would want to join the service. I don't know, its really something to think about and I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Are you a blogger? Did you write your own theme code? How did you learn? Are you in the Armed forces? Are you a Medic in the US military? What do you think about being a medic for the US military? I want to hear your thoughts, they really are important to me! 

Watch It Wednesday: Army Wives

Hey all,

It's watch it Wednesday, a new segment I want to add to the blog. I watch A LOT of TV shows, and when I say A LOT, I literally mean A LOT! I watch in no specific order;

• Army Wives
• Secrets and Lies
• Private Practice
• Greys Anatomy
• Vampire Diaries
• Jane the Virgin
• Pretty Little Liars
• Chicago PD 
• Law and Order SVU (Yes that show is still going 16 seasons strong) 
• Scandal
• How to Get Away With Murder
• Revenge (I heard it's getting canceled this season) 
• and many more...

I also watched but these shows were canceled or ended:

• Gossip Girl 
• 90210
• Sex and the City 
• Veronica Mars 
• Degrassi (for many many years) 
• and many more...

The reason I write many more at the end of the lists is because theres so many shows that I can't recall all the names. This isn't to say that I don't do other things and all I do is vegetable in front of the TV but its just something I do on my spare time. Majority of the time I'll start a show, and I won't finish it while it's still running, just cause I hate the waiting game. Once the full series is on Netflix, I'll binge watch it, although there are plenty of shows I watch live just cause they're that good. So I figure that I should review some of the shows that I've watched over time, or some of the shows that I'm currently watching just in case you're looking for something new to watch and you just don't know what to watch.

This weeks Watch it Wednesday is Army Wives. I love this show, it went above and beyond my expectations. It started in 2007, and was canceled in 2013 right after it's 7th season ( if you hate having so many questions after a show ends because it was canceled, my recommendation is not to watch it because it left me with so many unanswered questions.

To be honest a lot of shows do that, Nip Tuck, Veronica Mars, and so many others got canceled and left me with questions).  This show is about 4 women and 1 man, who are spouses of men and women in uniform. They live in Fort Marshall which is an Army post in North Carolina. The show shows the daily struggle that we don't know the army families go through. The struggle that wives, and husbands go through when their significant other is away in Afghanistan or Iraq. It's really not an easy ordeal, I speak from very slight experience having a cousin in the army, and always worrying about him while he's away. This show depicts the life of those who go through the struggle. The four women, Claudia Joy Holden, Roxy Leblanc, Pamela Moran, Denise Sherwood, and the one male, Roland Burton, all lead their own lives, but when they come together, they support each other and build such a strong bond within one another. The first episode is named "The Tribe is Born" and its the episode we see Roxy marry her husband Trevor after knowing him "all of 17 days" and Pamela give birth to a set of twins, which she was carrying as a surrogate. The whole group came together in the funniest way helping Pamela birth the babies on a pool table. That's all I'm going to say about the show in specifics so I don't ruin it for someone who wants to watch it, but that was from the first episode. These women build this bond of support, they lean on one another in times of need, and they give each other the support they need. When I finished the show, a piece of me was disappointed that it was canceled, and I wish I could bring it back, but I'm glad I watched it! It was a great show to watch and I 100% recommend watching it! It's based on a book called "Under the Sabers" by Tanya Biank, which I purchased after watching the show. I got it as an ebook for 7.99 on my iPad, I haven't read it completely, and once I do I will let you know how much I like it compared to the show!

Have you ever seen Army Wives? What did you think about it? Did you like it? What shows do you watch/recommend to watch? Comment below, maybe I've seen it, or maybe I haven't! I'm always looking for a new show to watch!