Love takes many forms

I hate that Valentine's day is dubbed a "couples holiday."  In my opinion, the day should simply be shared with those you love, no matter what form your relationship takes.  I was thankful that I could spend the evening with my roommates who have become an integral part of my urban family and I love them very much.

Last years v-day celebration was a blast and we wanted to keep up the tradition of having a solid, home cooked, soul food meal.  Everyone contributed to the cooking and the special guest this year was Tyler's friend our friend David.  He made green bean casserole and mashed potatoes and surprised us all with valentines personally selected based on our celebrity/tv show obsessions.  We still have them proudly hung on the fridge.  Super cute and very thoughtful.


While Tyler was finishing up frying the chicken in peanut oil, Matt and I busted open the wine and had a mini dance party to pass the time.  He might have been upset that he couldn't make a "cooking contribution" to the meal, but the wine was an integral part and the floral centerpiece and table sets were a special addition.  We sat and had a delicious meal that even beat the one from last year (didn't think that was possible).  It was so good that the boys gorged themselves and left no room for the ice cream dessert I made.  I on the other hand knew better and only succumbed to seconds on the mac and cheese.  All in all it was a great day and a tradition has definitely been born.  Valentines day = soul food and I joked that even if there is a special someone in the picture down the road, we are heading over to spend the night eating fried chicken and drinking wine with Matt and Tyler or vise versa.

Sulky Sunday

Just having one of those days today.  Maybe its because I had such an awesome weekend spending time with all those that I love so much and it's back to reality tomorrow.  Maybe its because I'm hitting week 7 in the quarter and burnt out a little.  Maybe its because while the end is near, it still feels so far away.  Maybe its because I tend to stretch myself thin every once in a while.  Maybe its because I feel like everyone is hitting their next milestone and my personal life has been stagnant for years.  Maybe its because I can no longer ignore that my pants are too tight.  Maybe its because Im dreading the reality of my financial situation and having a student loan payment the size of a mortgage as soon as I graduate.  Maybe its because I'm overwhelming my mind with thinking about what maybe it's because....

Whatever it is, I just haven't felt right.  I've been mopey, emotional, forcing smiles and haven't really wanted to talk to anyone today.  I have a career plan paper due tomorrow at noon and have been staring at the screen for the past three hours with only a few sentences to show for it.  It's hard to write your "self-assessment" when you feel like an emotional wreck.  I'm hoping I can sleep off this slump and attack it with a fresh mind in the morning before I volunteer at the vaccine clinic at U of C again.  Blah.  Well this post was somewhat therapeutic.  Just glad I have an alternative avenue to get it out.  

1st Annual Cider Summit

Whenever I catch up with my grandparents on the phone, both my nani and grandma always ask, "So what are you doing for fun and to relax?"  Well this past weekend I knew exactly what I was going to do for fun.... the Cider Summit at Navy Pier.  I don't remember how I came across the event info, but I knew I had a few cider lovin' friends that would for sure go with me.  One thing I like about living in the city is there are always different things to do.  It unfortunately was my weekend to work, so I planned ahead, packed my backpack with clothes and walked over the Navy Pier after work to meet up with Molly.  Tyler was a little hung over from the night before, but he made it eventually(there's your blog shout out).

There were 26 booths set up with multiple ciders at each booth ranging from 5.5- 16% alcohol.  With our admission we were given 10 tickets to pick and choose our ciders.  Now Molly, bless her honest heart, would walk up to the booth and ask how many tickets each tasting costed.  I on the other hand would only hand over the tickets if they asked for them.  I probably got twice the money's worth in cider that day.  The place was packed, but we would sip our cider as we waited in line at the next booth.  Some were too sweet, some were amazing and some just tasted like feet, but overall it was a great event.  The event originated in Portland, OR and they have expanded for the first time to Chicago underestimating what a drunk city we were.  We met and talked to one of the organizers and he said they had to go out and buy cups twice.  Since we came later, we got stuck with the Dixie cups and not the cute logo ones with stems.  They will definitely be back next year, bigger and better with a band and more spacious room and a store to buy the product.  It was loads of fun and I'm already looking forward to it.  As you can see in the pictures we didn't want it to end and were some of the last ones to leave the event.

Yep, by the look of those eyes you can tell
I've had a few samples by then...

Tyler was obsessed with this cider poster.  At the end of the
summit they gave it to him for free since it was all dripped on 

After the summit we I was a little toasty and had a good buzz going on.  We headed to Hubbard Inn to meet some more friends for food and drinks.  I passed on the drinks since I had to be at work the next morning at 7 (The nice thing about drinking early is you have time to sober up and be in tip top shape the next day).  The food was amazing and I gorged on a plethora of small plates.  So many in fact I had to unbutton my pants as soon as we got up to leave because I was convinced they were creating a bowel obstruction.  Im thinking this is a sign and since I have signed up for my first 5K in May.  Ill keep you posted when I start training for it...

Off to a good start

I am about 1/3 of the way done with my last quarter of classes (not that I'm counting or anything).  This quarter seems to be a good test of time management and organization.  While we are only in the classroom for 2 classes, we also have two classes online that we can't forget about.  Let's just say I'd be a nervous wreck without my planner.  While other quarters seemed to be very test heavy, this quarter seems to have a lot more writing and reflection assignments which can be a bit time consuming.  Not to mention that online assignments are easy to push to the side until last minute.  I've learned that to get through this program I need to focus on one thing at a time.  I look at my week and prioritize everything I need to do and when I can do it.  Then I just slowly check things off my list.

I have clinical Monday nights, and while I thought I would use the day to get some work done, I have the tendency to just do some mindless tasks and ease into the week.  Plus, it's nice to not have to set an alarm at least once a week.  After clinical I head to the grocery store and get food for my lunches.  I've found that packing lunches for the entire week at the same time is a time and money saver.  Tuesday I usually work 12 hours so I call that a wash as far school work is concerned.  Sometimes, if I'm sitting with a kid, I can get a little studying in, but it's usually not very productive.  Wednesday I have clinical at 6:45-3:30 and while they're usually exhausting I am getting into a new routine of going over notes and studying with Nadine afterwards.  Thursday is a day of class and Friday is a day of work unless it's my rotation to work weekends.  I like to pile on the work and responsibilities on my busy days so I can completely veg out and reboot on my days off without worrying about doing anything.  It might sound backwards to some, but it's what works for me.

I feel like Im managing fairly well.  I know I'm not as stressed out as I was this time last year, but that doesn't mean I have my moments.  This week was my first test in comprehensive management of health through transitions of care.  This is what I'd like to call my "hard class."  I didn't get much time to study on Tuesday so I crammed on Wednesday after clinical.  I was so beat that when I stopped to pick up a burrito salad for dinner the guy at Chipolte was like, "looks like you've had a long day."  All I could respond was, "yeah, something like that..."  It all paid off though.  I ended up getting an A on my test.  I think this only the second or third A I've gotten in my "hard classes" so I was really pumped.  I'm hoping to keep this up and not have a freak out session at the end of the quarter where whether I pass or not depends on my final exam grade.

"The Most Beautifulest Campus on Earth"

The mission behind public health is to promote physical and mental health to prevent disease, injury and disabilities in a population.  The idea is to fix it before it's broken.  Public health enthusiasts live by the motto prevent, promote and protect to foster healthy communities.  With that being said, we've all been placed in clinical locations where we need to promote health to a specific population.  I have been placed at Misericordia.  For those of you that are unfamiliar, it is a predominately privately funded organization that strives to bring normalcy and maximize the potential of people with developmental disabilities.  It is a campus that accommodates 600 residents in small houses and apartments.  This place is so great that there is a waiting list that is 600 people long to get in.

Now those who know me, know this is not a population I am super comfortable with, but I'm embracing the experience.  I tend to dread the drive up Lakeshore to clinical, but find myself laughing all the way home because of something that happened that night.  We work with the higher functioning residents who live independently is a 60 person apartment complex.  The first couple of times we visited we just hung out and got to know the residents.  They are SOOOO excited to have visitors and very eager to introduce themselves and shake our hands.  It was quite cute how polite they were.  One woman always greats us very enthusiastically saying, "Welcome to Misericordia, the most beautifulest campus on earth!" every single week we come.  One day we made valentines.  I was lucky enough to get one from a resident and then another resident wanted to make one for the children at the hospital I work at.  She thought it was very sad that children have to be at a hospital.

L:  I was asked to write but did the hearts all herself
R: my personal valentine from a special friend 

After hanging out we get to eat dinner with them in the dining room.  It is sometimes hard to hold long conversations with the residents because in orientation we were told to help promote normalcy by talking about things they can relate to.  One of the guys asked what I was doing tomorrow and I said I had to work.  He asked for how long and I said for 12 hours and then he shouted Oh wow! 12 hours! at dinner.  Then a few minutes later, out of nowhere he said it again, it was quite hilarious.  Everyone at Misericordia has a "job" and they take them very seriously.  Some work in the restaurant on campus that raises money for the organization, some cut brownies in the bakery, some work in a grocery store.

After building rapport with the residents we have begun health club where we pair up with another student and prepare a health promotion lesson for all the residents.  Stephanie and I had portion control. We get there at 3 and have been paired up to do a health promotion lesson.  We took feedback from the previous pair that presented and were really excited to present.  We have a lot of props and visuals.  One of the activities was to have them pretend they were at dinner and draw the size their chicken would be on their plate and how much pasta they usually put on their plate.  After explaining instructions step by step his is what they drew...

Very few actually drew the food.  Needless to say it was a liiiiittle too abstract and we wrapped that activity up pretty quick.  I wasn't really sure how well they picked up the concept but then we were in line to get dinner and the resident who asked me to sit with her was like, look at this portion.  The pasta covered up much more of the plate than it should have.  Clearly she wasn't the one when drew the cat...

Purple Affair for the Bear!

It has been a hectic couple of days and school was kinda been put on the side this past weekend.  The Bear Necessities auxiliary board just had our big event of the year, Purple Affair for the Bear.  We had been planning this event for months so everyone was so excited that it was finally here.  On Thursday I went to the  office to help assemble silent auction baskets, do inventory on all our donated alcohol, cups etc, but together VIP bags and work on some decorations.  I was there until midnight when they kinda kicked me out because they knew I worked at 7 the next morning.  There were still a few people that ended up staying until 3am.  Friday I went to work and then straight to babysit because it was Nicole's birthday.

Saturday was the big day and it started at 9 am when a group of us met back at the office to bring all the decor, silent auction items and alcohol over to the River East Art Center.  After several trips up and down the elevator, my car was packed and ready to go... and then my car didn't start.  The past few days it was starting funny, but I just thought that was because it was so cold outside.  Luckily one of the guys that was still at the BN office had jumper cables.  

A work in progress

As we discussed what to do, a man waiting in a car right in front of me, conveniently with his window cracked came out to help.  He was a mechanic, talk about luck!  Turns out it wasn't a dead battery as most would think, it was corrosion that was preventing the positive connection.  He got out a few wrenches, went to work and half an hour later we were back on track.  Of course we treated the man to some starbucks for being such a good Samaritan.  Then I headed off to the venue to unload and help set up.  There was a lot of stringing of lights around the railings and confetti bears for the tables, setting up all the silent auction stuff etc.  Needless to say there was a lot to do.  I left around 3:30 so I had plenty of time to get ready but there were still a bunch of people working and some even brought their dresses so they could just change there.

It was nice walking into the River East Art Center all dressed up and seeing the fruits of our labor.  All the board members got together to take a group picture and then we hung out waiting for our guests to arrive.  We sold 450 tickets, which is about 100 more than we sold last year.  We had some fun entertainment with jugglers and acrobats that put a show on for us in the middle of the evening.  We had Miss Illinois USA as our MC for the evening.  While I didn't get a chance to talk to her, I heard she was very friendly and down to earth.

Miss Illinois with President and VP of Bear Necessities

Everyone seemed to have a blast and the night flew by way too fast.  Before I knew it they were calling last call on the silent auction, which my blanket ended up selling for $250.  The couple who bought it were taking pictures with it so I went to go introduce myself.  They insisted that I jump in on the pictures.  Then I took the time to tell them about all the drawings the kids made.  They were so appreciative and said the stories made the quilt that much more valuable.  I felt really good that I could make something so special and help raise money for pediatric cancer.

Amazing Future Nurses

I wish I had more time to enjoy the company of my friends, but I was spread thin with various jobs and visiting with different groups.  Three of my lovely nursing friends from Rush came out to support me and this wonderful cause I care so much about.  I am so appreciative to have made these great friends.  Alexis came with her husband as a special surprise for his birthday, Nadine came and and extended the invite to her entire family who all were in attendance as well and Mary, after some contemplation about the tickets, decided to join the festivities after all.  It kinda felt like Christmas day where you plan and plan and plan and just like that it is over and you just don't want it to end.  When all was said and done, we ended up raising $58,500 for the foundation.  It's the highest we've ever made and only after talking to a few guests did I realize how phenomenal this auxiliary board really is.  I am privileged to be able to work with such wonderful and mindful people for this amazing cause.  I can't wait to see what next year's event will have in store.