My Fall Swap Goodies!

Nicole at Flip Flops & Combat Boots hosted the Fall Swap again this year! I jumped on it since Fall is my favorite season and I love swaps! I mailed off my package to my partner, Sam, last week and I got hers this weekend! Here's what I got!

Fall Sprinkles! I told her I loved baking.

Two sets of pens - always come in handy! 

Chocolates - yummy!!

Yankee Candle car hangings - a girl can never have too many smelly goods!

A cute note pad that says "A Latte To Do Today"

Two Coffee Samplers (cinnamon crumb cake and chocolate donut - drool!)

Cute coffee/tea magnets! I also told her I love coffee!! 

So many cute and yummy things! Thanks Sam and thanks Nicole, for hosting! 

Frustration from the day...

There were a few instances that irked me today. And they just all happened to happen in one day, but all were kind of related. I won't go into detail but I will say this:

ONLY YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR HAPPINESS.

Seems like common sense, right? You'd be surprised. Sure, things that people do or say can contribute, but ultimately, it's your decision to be happy. You can't rely on someone else to make you happy. Life sucks sometimes and surely it hardly ever goes as planned, but attitude is everything. And standing up for what you deserve. If you're in a crappy situation, moping and whining about it isn't going to change anything. I believe that God has a plan for us, and that he helps that plan move along accordingly, but it's up to us to take action in our lives for the plan to truly work. Do we make bad decisions sometimes? Yes. Do we go against God's plan? Sometimes. But you have to face consequences for that, pick up the pieces, accept responsibility for your actions, don't hide stuff from people and move on. If you're being treated badly, don't stay in that situation. You only have one life and do you want to spend it being miserable? I sure wouldn't. Change is hard but in the end, it's worth it.

This has turned into a big ranty mess, but hopefully you get the point. :)

Thursday is the day!

This Thursday I start Nursing School!! I am SO excited for it. I know this is what I'm meant to do with my life and I've known since I was a tiny kid! Just ask my dad how many times he recorded ER or Rescue 911 for me to watch on Saturday mornings instead of cartoons. I had numerous "doctor kits" and made so many of my relatives play doctor with me...sorry guys!!

But this is real. Do I think it's going to be easy? NO. Am I going to hate life at some point? Probably more than once! But am I ready for this? YES.

As most of you know, it took me quite a while to get into nursing school... But I have been through some trying things this year and I have only God to thank for that. Sure, it was frustrating as all get out reading rejection letter after rejection letter. Giving up on the BSN programs and applying to ADN programs and STILL being denied. With a good, not great, GPA...good TEAS and SAT scores...but...

I don't call it luck that I finally got in. It's no coincidence that I'm going to school in Athens, where I had already made up my mind I was moving back to regardless. AND I am in a BSN program. I KNOW He has a plan for me and I know it will not be easy. I'm kind of getting tired of people saying, "Oh just wait" when I say I'm excited. I know this is not going to come easy to me, but I know in the end it will be worth it. I know I'll probably have to work harder than I ever have before. In the last conversation I had with my mom, I told her I was going to be a nurse and take care of people and make her proud. I will NOT let that promise to her be broken. And I won't let myself down either.

I did not give up after 6 rejection letters, and that's right, I am EXCITED to start on Thursday!! :D

Uncertainty

If you know me well, you know that I'm a planner. Yes, I like spontaneity every once and a while, but I usually like to have a general plan for things. Lately, well, most of this year, I've just felt as though I'm being dragged by a rope attached to a speeding car. Pleasant, huh?

With the new school I'm at, it has been obstacle after obstacle getting things done with financial aid. Financial stuff stresses me out more than anything. I guess I'm just lacking stability overall and it's stressing me out.

Nursing school starts August 16th and I'm extremely excited about it. I know it's going to be a lot of work, but it's my passion and I've been waiting years for this. There is a lot to do beforehand, stuff to buy and whatnot, so I've been stressed out about that too!

There are other things that have been relatively stressful/dealing with in general is tough, but I won't go into detail about that here. :/

I feel like pulling my hair out on a daily basis. I know this is a transitional period in my life or whatever, but I just feel so burned out. Bubble baths are seriously my saving graces right now. And Target didn't even have any bubble bath stuff when I went Sunday. :( That's my life. hahaha. Anybody else have any de-stressing tips?

My Pinterest Disaster

If you know me, you know I love baking. I love decorating cakes. I even do wedding cakes like this!

Photo courtesy of |simple elle| photography.

So surely cookies from Pinterest shouldn't be a problem, right? 

Wrong.

I spent Friday afternoon at Washington Farms picking some fresh strawberries I'd been craving! They're seriously the best strawberries in the world. I won't buy store-bought ones. 

So I was feeling bakey and decided to make something with them! After perusing Pinterest for a little while, I found Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies. 

Sounds delightful, right? I thought I'd give it a go! 

I always feel so culinarily advanced when I chop fruit and vegetables. :|

The first thing that I thought was odd was that the batter was like...batter. Not cookie dough. But alas, I popped them in the oven, and out they came! ... Looking like bologna. :| 

I have no idea what went wrong. I followed the recipe exactly. And this is what came out.  They didn't taste awful, but weren't very sweet to be a cookie. And they were the WEIRDEST texture. If you know me, you also know that I have a texture issue with food. It was like rubber. So weird. I'm not sure if that was because of the cream cheese in the recipe, but it was weird.

So, I took this as a perfect opportunity to submit my disaster to Craft Fail! They have a Pinterest Projects Gone Wrong page and it's absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend checking it out if you have a funny bone in your body! Perhaps my lovely cookie attempt will be showcased!

XOXO,

Nic

The Difference Happy Makes!

So finals have ended and I have moved to Athens! 2012 has proven to be WAY different than I EVER imagined it, but sometimes you have to realize that the plan you have for yourself doesn't exist. The plan that God has for you, does.

Where I'm getting with this, is that in say, November 2011, I thought I was a happy camper. Granted, I hadn't gotten into nursing school yet like I'd hoped, everything else was going well. Then my world flipped itself upside down in a matter of about a month. Many things were shaken - my self-esteem, life plan, finances, living arrangements (I'd never lived alone before), and much more. I believe that throughout it all, I've come out on top of the situation. I feel better about myself physically and mentally. Call it what you will, but I finally got in nursing school. Was something holding me back all along? Or did God know what was coming and who the person I was with really was, and protected me from having all that happen in the middle of nursing school?

It is amazing what letting go of such a negative thing in your life, can do for your life. It sounds cheesy and cliche, but letting the toxic people go makes a world of difference. Like I said, my self-esteem is back, I've met and reconnected with so many people I had let go of, because certain people didn't want me to talk to them. I've realized what I had been missing out on. I am so much more happy now, than I was then, and I had no idea I was even unhappy. When life throws you for a loop, don't think it's the end of the world! You never know when there could be something better in store. :) Looking through pictures, I think I even look happier now! This picture is from September....

And this is me a few weeks ago, going to my first Brave's game!

Do you see a difference? Or am I just being weird? I mean obviously my hair is curly in one and straight in the other, but I think there's a little more of a difference than that! You be the judge!

What's Your Song? Link Up!

So I've missed all these little weekly posts! My song this week has turned into my ANTHEM! The video just came out yesterday, but I've been listening to it non-stop the last few weeks. It's just perfect for my situation! I also really like Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger" when I'm in this kind of mood, but this one rings truer to me!

Thursday Five!

Oh it has been so long! But I'm back, and so are my Thursday Five posts! :)

Outstanding

Proud

Energized

Splendid

Wonderful

The weather this week has been outstanding! It has been so nice that I spent hours outside of Starbucks yesterday studying!

I am proud to say that I was awarded a nursing scholarship at my new school!! Just another blessing!

I am SO energized about moving back to Athens. I want to NOW!!

My Scentsy team is doing absolutely SPLENDID! It has doubled in size in the last 3 months! :)

I did a surprisingly wonderful job on my test last week! The professor told us the highest grade, and when I got my paper back, it was me! Yay! 

Go link up with the other Nicole and tell us about your week!! 

My Big News!

I'm back, blogging world! It almost feels weird to be blogging again, but I feel good about it. I haven't written anything in such a long time! I'll start off with the best news I have gotten in YEARS...

I GOT INTO NURSING SCHOOL!!!!!!!

Most everyone who has known me or read my previous blog knows my struggle with this. This was my 6th attempt, and finally, it was a successful one! This school was my first that had an interview, so I think that helped me out. And maybe the suit I dropped $160 bucks on the day before (ouch!). TOTALLY worth it.  I got to tell them why I wanted to be a nurse, about my volunteer experience and experience with my mom being sick for so many years and show my personality. The rest of the schools I had applied to only looked at 3 things: GPA, SAT (you know, that test you take when you're freaking 16 years old?! Yeah, apparently it still matters when you're 22 and have been in college for 5 years...ahem) and a pre-nursing test called the TEAS. My GPA is above a 3.0, SAT is good and TEAS was good, but nursing school is HIGHLY competitive. But, no more worries because I FINALLY got in!!! I got chills, screamed, squealed, cried, all the good stuff. I actually wasn't expecting the letter when it came, which made it even more surprising! I thought surely an early letter meant an early rejection. You know, weed out the definite no's before sending the acceptances. WRONG!! I am beyond excited about this! I can't wait to start the program in the Fall! I have to take 3 non-nursing classes over the Summer, but I really don't mind!! This all really couldn't have happened at a better time. With my four year relationship/marriage ending, manyyyy failed attempts during it, and right after, the acceptance... It really weirds me out to an extent, but I know that God has a plan for me, and sometimes, I'm just not meant to understand it! It definitely gives me something to look forward to, AND I get to move back home!! I don't really like the city I live in now, never really have, and I'm so excited to be moving back. I had previously applied all OVER the state, and even looked out of state, and to get into the school IN Athens is freaking awesome!!! I still can't believe it all! 

Testing...

This is just a little test post! :) Yay new blog!