RUN!!

Here is a race that I did last month in Atlanta:
(That was last month, right?)

http://www.spartanrace.com/spartan-sprint-obstacle-course-race.html

It was about 4.5 miles long. We were in the last heat. So. Many. Walls.
My team, Gordon Bombay Taught Me How To Quack, was awesome. We stuck together. I won't mention how much of the race I did not run. Those obstacles were hard, but when else would I have decided to crawl underneath a football field length of barbed wire or carry oddly shaped 50 lb sacks of sand? I definitely got over my thing about being self conscious about people watching me climb over stuff.... I used to make people turn around and not watch when I was climbing over things. Here is our post-run pic:

Here is one I am doing in May:
It is a mud run. There are options to do a 5k, 10k, 19k, or marathon. Yes, you guessed correctly. I will be doing the marathon, of course. Who needs toenails anyway?
http://www.xterraplanet.com/xduro/oakmtn.html

[ok. so no marathon for me right now. i lied.]

Here is the race I am particularly excited about...... THE COLOR RUN!

http://thecolorrun.com/
Its only 40 bucks and its a 5k, so do it with me! Who doesn't wanna get sprayed with colors? I need a good something to wear... I'm thinking I want lots of color all over, so I am thinking about trying to find some white knee high socks or something crazy.... we shall see! (Maybe I will break out my Mighty Ducks headband from above pic. Haha!)

I Know This ::Sounds:: Ungrateful On Many Accounts. It is.

I'm so glad the government took 42% of my bonus.

How come they couldn't have just paid me that much more this year?

Its like, "HEY!! LOOK!! We grossed SOOOO much money this year! Lets give half of it to the government in attempt to make our employees less ticked off that they work here!! Ooooooo yeah! Good idea!"

Ya know, I hope 3-4 more grown-up adults get yet another pair of ultra expensive Reeboks purchased at the first of this next month, cuz its on me.
Next time, just pay me more throughout the year. Thanks for my meager, could-be-awesome bonus.

XOXO,
Jen

The Nasty-Nast

i just came to the realization that anchovies and sardines are indeed NOT the same thing.




which means there are TWO kinds of grimey, smelly, canned-whole fish running around.



..........what kind of world do we live in!?!? Why is there a need for more than one variety of such a repugnant, repulsive, and revolting substance!?!?
 
you sardine/achovy lovers are sick....... just sick.

Dessert.

I had something I REALLY liked as a dessert to share with you readers! I use dailyburn.com for nutrition info.

stir together in a small bowl---

*1/2 cup plain 0% Chobani greek yogurt: 70 cal, 0g fat, 4.5 carbs, 11.5g protein

*1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or to taste): 6 cal, 0 fat, .3 carb, 0 protein

*3/4 packet of truvia: 0 cal, 0g fat, 2.3g carbs, 0g protein

Top with---

*1/2 cup raspberries: 31 cal, 0.4g fat, 7.3g carbs, 0.7g protein!!

Thats just 107.5 calories for a satisfying dessert that has filling protein and fiber to boot!

I wanted to wait and take a picture, but I ate it instead!

Must-Haves

My healthy eating must-haves are as follows:

1) Chobani 0% Plain Greek Yogurt: Its awesome and extremely versatile and delicious in a million ways. It has over twice the protein of regular yogurt, less sugar, and more fiber. Did I mention its awesome? I eat it by itself or with cereal or mix in sugar free jello powder or freeze it or use it to make taziki sauce or as a sour cream /mayo substitute in recipes or as a....... SEE? the possibilities are endless. Its the perfect dairy product.

2) Oatmeal: I like to throw in blueberries, cinnamon, and 3/4 of a Truvia packet as I cook it. Whole grain? Check. Protein? Check. Fiber? Check.

3) Tomatoes: I eat these like they are going out of style.

4) Flax seeds: I usually just toss them in to whatever dinner entree I am making or sprinkle some on my sandwich. I just put them into my Greek burgers today, though I thought the texture was a little weird for a burger. But who can say no to the highest plant source of Omega 3 fatty acids?? not to mention the phytochemicals and B vitamins and.... really!! I could keep going.

Hrm.

I've been eating tomatoes like they are going out of style.

I had a hospital stay this week. More on that later, maybe....

Favorite Breakfast

As you could have guessed, I have started to lose weight. I started working nights at the hospital and started to gain a few more pounds. Not only am I losing my "night shift weight," (I have almost lost those pounds completely!) I am going to lose what I need to lose to be awesomely healthy.

Anyway, I think I am going to start to blog about my weight loss journey and see where is gets me.

Goal:  -42 lbs (yeah. 42!!!! wow. i know.)
Where I'm at now:    -7.6 lbs.

So. I shall tell you about my 2 favorite breakfasts.
1) Oatmeal+berries+3/4 Truvia packet, along side 1 egg+ 1 egg white
2) Whole wheat toast (or whole wheat waffle) + reduced fat peanut butter + banana + honey,
     all stacked together like this:

and that's what I'm talking about.

PIZZA!

I am dedicating this post to pizza. I admit pizza is fabulously delicious in practically all its forms. (I find that the crazy-person's grease-lovers pizza is not so nice!) Pizza an excellent food. It deserves its own blog post. You can get a good dose of carbs, veggies, fruit (tomatoes! duh!), and protein all in one punch. These nutrients can be drowned in a lot of fat (especially the saturated kind!!) and unneeded calories. So as much as I LOVE my homemade pizza dough-homemade pizza sauce creations doused with all sorts of cheese and all other goodness, I wanted to provide you (and myself) with easy, healthy, yummy alternatives for when you don't want to go all-out on your calorie and saturated fat intake.

So. I have two favorite low cal pizza recipes so far, and this is one of them:

Friends, meet the ultra-healthy, ultra low-calorie delicious pizza knock-off. Its a variation of an English Muffin Mini-Pizza, except it kicks all the other ones in the butt.
Here is your ingredient/calorie/directions breakdown:

• 4 sprays canola oil: 8 cals
• 100 Calorie English Muffin: 100 cals. duh.
• 2 big ol' tomato slices: 8 cals
• Italian-type seasonings: garlic powder, basil, oregano black pepper: zero cals
• low-fat cheddar cheese
• low-fat mozzarella cheese
• I only used 1/8 cup of shredded cheese combined: 17 cals
• onion slice: 3 cals
• green pepper slice: 3 cals
• 3 slices turkey pepperoni, chopped into tiny bits: 12 cals

Spray the front and back of each muffin half with canola oil cooking spray. Then pile your tomatoes, seasonings, cheese, veggies, and pepperoni. Cook in a 500 degree oven for 6 minutes. I like to give any mini pizzas a 30 second blast of BROIL tacked on to the end of the cooking time. Enjoy!

The nutritive qualities this creation possesses, according to dailyburn.com, where I entered in all the ingredients appropriately:

151 calories. 2.7 grams of fat. 28.2 grams of carbohydrates. 9 grams of protein. 5.2 grams of fiber. 100% yummy.

**add 1 tablespoon of Ragu pizza sauce (not that it needs it, really!) to each half and get:

     176 calories. 3.2 grams of fat. 30.5 grams of carbohydrates 9.5 grams protein. 5.7 grams of fiber.

Nigh Shift Noshing

"I will not steal my coworkers's reese pieces," is the mantra I recite in my head as she goes down to smoke, leaving a rather large, multiple-serving reese pieces bag merely a snatch away.


"Lynn will forget her honey bun exists if i... just..." ::SLAM!!:: bun down the gullet. Chewing may or may not have been involved.... I couldn't possibly remember; it all happened so quickly.

delicous or detestable?

        Who am I? I am the night shift nurse attempting to defy everything my body is telling me to do. By day, I abhor prepackaged "baked goods" and candy bars and anything like unto it. By night, I might swipe the donut as you raise it to your awaiting jaws. Nevermind the raging and/or bottoming-out grehlin and leptin hormones begging my body to consume such filth!
        I have resolved to defy the odds, spurn my inner desires, and meet eyeball-to-eyeball with the brute called night-shift nourishment. Thereby, my body will not amount to epic proportions as my career does. I question the non-existence of snack time! I propose that consuming more than a day's worth of calories during one break is less than optimal! I admonish those who believe caffeine and real food are created equal!
Maybe I'll start the healthiest, most-popular night shift fad lifestyle change my hospital has ever seen!

  .....or maybe I'll continue to do what I am about to do:
                              sneak off to eat a banana by myself.

~cooking~

Little do you know, but I like to cook/bake, and this is why:

1) I'm naturally good at it, if I do say so myself. (P.S. I find that I am minimally talented at a lots and lots of things, as opposed to being ultra-great at any one particular thing. So yeah.)

2) I like making stuff in general, so why wouldn't I like making some food now and again?

3) I like compiling the recipes of the things I make and say how I adapt them.

So yeah-- I have a cookbook that I am writing/adapting. I've been working on it on and off for a year, and I am considering starting a blog with it, but I know you guys want pics of the ultra awesome things I make, which would mean that I need to acquire a camera first. 

Eventually, I will need a name for this book/blog, so please start brainstorming and add your comments.

Note: Pioneer Woman (that title=bleck.) is already taken, along with For The Love of Cooking, Bitten, This Week for Dinner, and Steamy Kitchen.

Shoes, Ships, Sealing Wax, Cabbages, and Kings

I love my XBox Kinect, but it creeps me out because it looks for me when I turn it on.

I have new ideas for my life EVERY day, but for some reason I am slow at making decisions right now, so I don't know what I want!!  (main topic of interest: grad school-- where and in what? i dunno!) All of them are pretty exciting ideas.

I bought a new book to read today.

I have ordered some transcripts to be sent out and began a graduate school application today.

I'm about to sign up for the GRE. Maybe the GMAT too.

THIS SUMMER WILL BE EPIC. 
         texas road trip, beach trip, etc.


Maybe I will continue the "12 New Things" blogging this year. I have some catching up to do.

A Shout Out to Carl and Mrs. V.

I don't feel I'm particularly unique or smart or all too talented but I'm not too dumb, I'm good at some things, and you didn't pass 20 of me on the way to work this morning. Furthermore, I DO have a combination of experiences that are definitely unique to me. This being the case, I feel I have some sort of perspective that I can lend to society (in one form or another) and not only does it have a voice-- it has undeniable value. Therefore, presenting what I have learned from my set of experiences is a worthwhile endeavor.


I have had the opportunity to volunteer concerning the tornado disaster in my area with three different organizations. I gave out tetanus shots with one organization, provided general medical assistance with another, and general laboring with another. After the tornado hit, I was anxious to use my semi newly-acquired nursing skills to help the victims. After all, I did not become a nurse to get a paycheck. I threw on my scrubs and stethoscope and got to it in Cordova, Alabama. Later, I donned scrubs once again to go to Shoals Creek, Alabama with a hospital crew. [I got hit in the head twice!! OK. One was my own fault.... darn fence wire!! I'll fight back!] This brings me to the third organization: Mormon Helping Hands.


I have participated in Mormon Helping Hands in Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit. This time the disaster was much closer to home and affected me much more directly. On Highway 22, where I have focused the majority of my relief efforts, 22 people died. Such detrimental losses have been experienced, BUT their hearts are not broken. I met Carl and Mrs. V who lost their home and friends, but somehow survived the storm in a rickety old storage unit as they watched their trailer be wrung out like a rag and dumped upside down before their very eyes. How grateful am I that I met Carl and Mrs. V! I have learned so much from their compassion, attitudes, and their testimony. Their strength in the face of this horrific event is simply inspirational. When I met Carl and Mrs. V, they were sleeping with no roof over their heads on a mattress they salvaged by a fire in a place called "the backyard." (Its not the back of anything now.)  Providing service to them has been such a pleasure and such an overwhelmingly positive experience that I could not imagine a better way to spend my Saturdays. 


By providing aid, I have learned how to receive help when I need it. (In my mind I deem myself as "independent" and "not needing help... ever.") I have seen how to face any and every day with hope and gratitude and humility. Accepting help doesn't mean you're a weak human being. It doesn't mean you've failed, and it doesn't mean you're not good enough. It DOES mean you are human. It means you can let go of your pride and that part of yourself that promotes 100% independence 100% of the time. These concepts are what I have learned from volunteering with Mormon Helping Hands and I would trade 1 MILLION Six Flags trips for it. ;)




                                   .........you know how much I like Seis Banderas, don't you?

Buying a WHAT!?!?!?

yeah. You might have heard. I am thinking about buying a house. I drove buy the particular one I am thinking about today, and I will take a tour on Wednesday!!


I'm excited and SOOOOO unsure if this is what I want.
But is this house awesome? Why yes.                                   yes, it is.


Job update: I just tried a month in an Adolescent Pscyh Acute Care unit. It was a great experience. I definitely grew as an individual and as a nurse. I also revamped their shamefully written handbook, because I couldn't believe my hospital was handing out such a poorly written document! I am starting in the operating room this week! I really hope I like it!


I'm thinking about getting a 
psych nurse practitioner 
neonatal nurse practitioner 
business 
degree. 


I think I am saying that I am DEFINITELY going to start graduate school soon, but I don't know what for yet!


I have been seizing the day. I went cliff jumping. (Check out my facebook for pics!) I am redecorating my dining area and bedroom. I am painting a tray. I'm eating healthier. I visited my brother and his family.




                                                                I love my life.




Side note: I hope to turn this blog into a photography blog soon.

Ahhhhhhh, the good ole days.

Remember when your older brothers would try to convince you to purposefully hyperventilate and let them choke you long enough so you would pass out, but not die?? and then one time you would let them try just so you have a possibility of waking up and they leave you alone?

                                                      


                                                                            wait. you don't??




oh, yeah. that was just me.

Well guess what folks!!! Somebody. Died.

Check it out:    http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/02/mom_wants_to_speak_out_about_d.html

Night Shift

-- I worked my first night shift. More money per hour, but I get an ultra jacked-up sleep schedule.

I'm about to leave for a quick jaunt at the gym, then I'm ready for another night shift hoopla!

Note to self: never look for a fun photo to put up with your night shift nurse post. never. 

Resolution of 2011: An Even Better, HEALTHIER version of Jen.

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul” G.K. Chesterton

OK. So I don't have a HUGE plan, but I want to be healthier. Like the ultimate healthy person machine.

However, I am referring to all aspects of health. The plan is to make some small goals each month and incorporate them into my life long-term if it is beneficial.

This month I shall focus on physical health--

--Eating healthier by cooking all-out balanced meals 2 times a week. That way I can have healthy left-overs too.

--Hitting the gym 3x's/wk. So far this week, I have gone once.

--Filling my cabinets with healthy food and taking food with me (snack/lunch) to work!!

K! So lets see how it goes..

Gym and grocery shopping tomorrow.

(I'm also about to start working at the heart transplant unit on nights... eek! So I shall install a crazy good curtain in my room so I can sleep!)

2010 Resolutions: 12 New Things

Ok. so I DID do 12 new things last year I swear. I think I was on number 8 and stopped blogging about the things that I did.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters hasn't been done because I missed my appointment and I never rescheduled. BUT... I'm still not opposed to doing it...

I WAS going to go skydiving for the first time-- I had a day picked out and folks to go with, etc etc, and then my electrophysicist  told me not to!! Initially I was going to go anyway (if you know me, you would expect this to be my initial reaction) but ultimately, I figured I shouldn't defy my electrophysicist and kept my feet firmly planted on solid ground.

So. I think I was on number 8???
8) KRUNK! Dance class-- i like it, its fun. I attended semi-regularly at one point. One day I took the class from the creator of Krunk herself!!
9) Buying my first car (Yes I have had a car before, but I admit that it was a wonderful gift from my parents, one that I appreciate them greatly for) I heart my corolla. RIP my dear, dear focus :(
10) Living in Vestavia!! I have a new apartment in Vestavia and I love it. Except for listening to this couple banging upstairs... yeah. I'm NOT listening in, but you can't help but notice..... ew. Needless to say, I have a difficult time looking my upstairs neighbors in the eye.
11) Solo road trip!! I drove up to Memphis by myself to stay with Em. Its only a 4 hour drive by myself, but it is the only time I have gone on a road trip with just me in the car. It was nice. I love road trips and Em and I did a lot of fun things.
12) Buying something off of CraigsList... hrm. It was good. I bought a kitchen table. Little did Julie know that I would be painting her beautiful maple table solid black!!! hahahaha.

Well 2010 was more excellent than even I could imagine, and originally I said that the only resolution I was gonna make was to make no more resolutions...
However, I think shall. I liked my 12 New Things in a year thing. I liked the one-a-monthness of it. Even though I didn't always write about them on my blog, maybe I shall continue a new once-a-month check-in type of thing.

New resolutions to follow.
Much loaf, my dear readers :)

• I'm an incredibly happy person.

• I love what I'm doing. I like the decisions I've made.

• I worked hard to get here and I freakin deserve it.

• Here's to hoping you get where I am with my life:      loving. it.

Memphis with Em

Support local artists!! Buy their $700 rings. This was fun.

I'm gonna have to try any food item that deems itself to be TASTEE.

Beale Street: alcohol is available everywhere of course!! Its the place to go if you want to see a few goats or  purchase some genital candles!

The goats are located here at this wonderful restaurant! We ate some BBQ nachos and o-rings.
It's good for you AND yummy.

Our best festivity of all was going to see WICKED at the Orpheum Theatre.

The ~GORGEOUS~ Orpheum Theatre!

New Thing Number 8: Being a Nurse

So here is the timeline:
July 12th: interview for highly sought-after job.
July 27th: JOB OFFER!!  (My job offer got extended a week later than other people, so I assumed I did not get it... hrm.)
August 6th: Senior Recognition-- the most interesting graduation speeches ever... hum...
August 7th: My official graduation date!!
Sept 1st: Pre-employment physical. It was a little bit of a hassle because when they were taking my blood pressure, they happened to have noticed my heart beating only 42 times a minute.... so yes. hassle.
Sept 13th: Orientation began. I am still in orientation today. We did computer training. Some people forget that I already know how to right click and scroll.

I'm passing my boards on the 27th. Notice that I did not say may or may NOT pass. I am passing. Mostly because not passing boards is not an option.

So yes. New thing number 8 of the year is being a nurse. So far so good and I am glad to be making some monies. Now I have a lot of decisions to make regarding housing, car, grad school, life, etc etc etc!!! AAAAAHHHH!!! Lol. I am loving it.

Erica is about to come over to study!! We have been pretty good NCLEX study buddies the past little bit...

I'll be honest... its the most productive studying I've done post nursing school.
We are awesome and we are passing boards on the first time.
Congrats to my friends who have already taken their test and passed!!