Marvelous Music Monday - Take a chance on me...

Today is a big day.

I turned in my nursing school application today. If I'm accepted, I will be an RN in 2016 (finally!).

I actually turned it in a day early, rather than at the last minute. A little out-of-character for me, but I have to work tomorrow and wouldn't be able to submit it otherwise.

After spending the weekend stressing and fretting over my personal statement and revising it at least twenty times, I just decided I was done, printed it out, and turned the whole packet in.

I've been a little stress case about the whole application process, but now that it's turned in, I can (kinda) relax. I've done the best that I can, and now all I can do is wait until October 18th to find out if I'm in or not.

Oh Heidi, please don't auf me.

My good mood might also be because I managed (for once!) to get a little treadmill session in. For those playing at home, the last time I ran was on September 3rd, the day before school started. It's been awhile, and I forgot how much better I feel after I get a little exercise endorphin going.

This is the song going through my head today. I even listened to it on repeat when I was wogging (walk/jogging, ridiculously slow) along on the treadmill today: "Take a chance on me!"

Since this is a marvelously exciting day, I'm going to go ahead and link up with:

Friday Five 9/27

It's Friday, Friday. Gotta get down on Friday. Both my son and I are so thrilled to be nearly done with school for the week! It's been a doozy. I had a paper due and a test (that I just finished), plus work and phew! I guess kindergarten's been demanding also. We're ready to kick back tomorrow. 

This week's Friday Five is brought to you by one of the best chemicals in the world, caffeine. Besides my fiancé, it's been my best friend this week as I've been waking up at four am to get my ish done. 

And I love organic chemistry.

1. Trader Joe's bottled cold brew coffee has been a lifesaver this week when I've  needed a quick infusion of caffeine and I don't have time or patience for the pot to percolate. I know, making your own concentrate is stupid easy, but I don't always plan ahead.

2. My work participated in a fundraiser yesterday that they called #caffeinateforacause (though I'm unsure why, because I don't think it was promoted on Twitter and hashtags are pointless otherwise). Anyway. I bought Dutch Bros for a good cause. Like Snickers, it's guaranteed to satisfy. 

3. Chocolate covered espresso beans are a crunchy wonderful way to mix it up. I bought a bagful from the bulk bins at Winco for a pretty decent price!

4. Diet Dr Pepper and Diet Pepsi. So sorry, so not anti-artificial sweeteners. One of the EMS guys knows about my addiction and he usually gives me a can if he sees me at work. Yesterday, he gave me FOUR! Maybe I looked extra tired? Heh.

(looking for a good "I'm a Pepper" image turned up this retro ad:

Say what?!

Initial thought: Eww. Blech. ...But I might just have to give it a whirl sometime.)

5. My little moka is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets ever. If you've never seen one before, it is basically an inexpensive Italian stovetop espresso maker. It makes great strong coffee, plus I think it's kinda retro cute. I found out after I bought mine that my mother had one also... that she got as a wedding present. Cool in the Seventies, cool now.

Hurray for the weekend!

Avocado toast: My new "best thing ever."

So, I may be dangerously close to my thirties, but I still have a tendency towards dramatics and hyperbole. I just can't help it at times! It's part of my personality. I've definitely toned it down, and I'd like to redefine it as being "overly enthusiastic."

My best friend gave me this card, and it sums up my feelings so well on so many things:

Anyway, this is my new best thing ever (at least for the week): Avocado + toast + bacon + Tabasco.

This is such a basic and tasty meal! I can't believe how behind the times I am in trying it.

I'm currently trying to use up a plethora of avocados, so I'm googling for all sorts of ways to eat them. I brought guacamole to a potluck we had at work yesterday, and since I have a lot of coworkers, I bought a lot of avocados. Three six-packs from Costco, to be precise. Eight made more than enough guac for the crowd, and left me with ten to use up rapidly (oops?). What a bounty!

Hence, avocado toast has entered my life, and it's not leaving for a while. So easy peasy. I want to add an egg tomorrow.

Essential ingredients:
-Dave's Killer Bread (the Good Seed is what I have right now)
-Ripe fantastic avocado
-S&P
Optional (unless you're in our household. Then it's not):
-Bacon
-Tobasco

This was a great breakfast that held me over and powered me through all my classes today, even though I had to skip lunch. Seriously amazing!

My google-fu suggests that avocado + honey might be an option. Color me intrigued! I think I'll be trying that tomorrow am :)

... trying out a link up! linking up with

Friday Five 9/20*

My Friday thoughts:

1. I'm ordering a new phone! (if not today, then soooooooon). My trusty iPhone 4 is showing its age and the iPhone 5 updates are out. I was initially considering the 5c because BRIGHT! COLORS!! but I'd rather have more fancy innards and gizmos.

The silver one will be mine. Along with a heavy duty case... Life proof?

I'm not gonna lie, I'm going to be a little sad to have the 4 go. We've been through a lot together. Since launch day in 2010, it's seen me through my divorce, three of my son's birthdays, meeting and falling for Michael, little baby J's birth and first almost-eight months, three big moves and lots of other little and big things. It also survived a phone-napping! It's been there to document a lot of my life. It seems silly to feel attached to an electronic device, but I'm willing to bet that some people might feel the same way. Maybe?

2. I'm so proud of my little man (oh excuuuuuuse me, he's eager to correct me to big boy kindergartener). Every day he goes to school, he enthusiastically learns new things and he comes home just so excited to read his books and work on his math. His reading has improved so much in a short time (probably because his teacher is an actual teacher and I am so not**). 

S is also getting very into running. When he was visiting his dad last weekend, he ran a color run, telling me he came in first place! He's also been doing what they call the "principal's mile" on Fridays, telling me Ricky Bobby-style:

I wanna go fast!

He also told me that he wants to practice on the treadmill so he can be the fastest and he needs faster shoes. I'm trying to encourage him without going psycho-helicopter overboard. 

3. Speaking of running, I desperately need/want a jogging stroller since the air is cooling down and little baby J is big enough to ride along. I have my eye set on one of the BOB strollers, but cash is tight. I'm trying to find a deal on craigslist and scrounge up the cash before the baby is five and the stroller thing is pointless. 

4. Okay so one of the reasons cash is a little tight is because we finally got a new dresser. Actually, we got a whole bedroom set because the whole shebang was not that much more than just the dresser. 

Anyway, we've been dresser-less for months since we tossed the old one in the move, and I am beyond thrilled to have a place to finally stash underpants besides messy boxes. It was delivered today, and I'm actually looking forward to organizing tomorrow. 

5. What is the obsession with mustaches everywhere lately?! I saw a car with what looks like mustache-shaped tail lights, like so:

Sorry, grainy nighttime picture. Obviously need that new phone.

Seriously. What the actual eff. And I swear if I see one more piece of merchandise that say "I mustache you a question," I'mma gonna lose it. I don't get it. 

As a related note, I'm very glad my nineteen-year-old self did not give into the impulse to tattoo a mustache on the side of my index finger when I first saw it on iam.BME almost ten years ago. Don't get me wrong, I love beautifully done tattoos, but tattoos on the hands, neck and face tend to scream "I don't want to be employed!!" to me nowadays. I'm getting cranky in my old age. 

Have a good weekend!

*I composed this entire post on trusty 4. Dedication.  

**related topics: "Why I Won't/Can't Homeschool" and "Yes, I majored in English; No, I don't want to be a teacher."

Five things Friday 9/13

So I wrote this last Friday, and apparently I never posted it!

1. Candy corn is in stores, and I am in trouble! I know candy corn is a very polarizing sweet, but for whatever reason, I adore it. I saw an empty display for these:

and I can't get them out of my mind!

2. I'm taking the TEAS tomorrow. It's required for entrance into nursing school, and I need to do well. I'm only panicking a little bit. You know, no big, only might mean the difference between starting nursing school in January or having to wait until 2015. I'm not quite to Jessie Spano levels, but when I think of that little factoid, I get close.

I guess this new version of the test tells you your score instantaneously. So I'll know immediately if I need to dance or cry. [Edited: DANCE!] Either way, I'm going to go get chocolate-covered candy corn afterwards. [display still empty. I will check again tomorrow]

3. School is going well so far. My world civ class has introduced me to the YouTube wonder that is John Green.  Apparently everyone else had heard of him, which makes me wonder what rock I've been living under. I'm going to have to pick up one of his books and soon!

How come this wasn't around when I was in high school/early college?!

4. There are some crazy wildfires raging in this corner of Northern California, and they are uncomfortably close to my parents' house. Fire season always makes me nervous, no matter where they are located, but these ones are so close to home. I'm keeping everyone in my thoughts. [Fire contained, parents' house safe. Phew!]
 

5. After a week of good running, I fell off the wagon again with school starting. I haven't figured out how to fit workouts into my new schedule yet, especially since homework (both mine and my kindergartner's!) is really cutting into any free time. 

I did take a baby step and signed up for the YMCA so at least I'm not limited to my garage treadmill in the early AM. Our garage is approximately 120 degrees by 10am and yeah, summer temps lead to fall PRs and all that, but 100+ is pushing it. I'm not stupid! (Plus 4am has become my time to do my last minute homework. So sorry, so little time, so last minute.)

[still struggling with gym and run time. C'est la vie and YOLO, etc. I just desperately miss my running.]

It's Labor Day!

(aka my last day before school starts and I really lose free time!)

Saturday was an oddly nostalgic day. I had both orientation for my new school and my ten year high school reunion. While walking around the new campus and seeing all the new freshman settling into their dorms, it was interesting reflecting back to my freshman year of college. You know, the excitement of being officially an adult and on my own, and having my real life beginning, away from my hometown. Oh college! The accomplishment I had been looking forward to for essentially my whole life. Oh the cockiness of an eighteen year old. I thought I had all my ish figured out, and I'd never move back.

Ten years later, I'm starting over again at a new school, but I'm back in my hometown. Trust me, when I thought of my eventual reunion, I really didn't think I'd be back here.

I had a lot more fun at my reunion than I thought I would. Most of my close high school friends were no-shows, but I did connect with a lot of people who I had known casually. It was a really low key affair. Our class president dropped the ball on planning it, so one of his buddies threw it together last minute. We had food brought in from a local restaurant, two kegs, a (very lame) DJ, and a full cash bar available, and it was still great! Although no one ever danced (really, the DJ was sooooper lame), my classmates and I still had a fun time chatting and drinking.

I spent yesterday dealing with a rolling stomach from that beer-drinking. Beer and I are not friends for whatever reason. It just really tears up my poor stomach, and I'm also not twenty-one anymore. Anyway, I had grand plans to have an energizing run in the morning, and instead I spent the day recuperating. Lesson learned!

I did that run this morning, and it felt terrific. It really reminded me of how much I love running, and how it really helps with my mood throughout the day.

Well, I'm off to another orientation session at the college. My first class is at 0800 on Wednesday, and tomorrow I have work, so today's the day I have to get everything together for the week. I'm dreading tomorrow's work day because there's planned downtime of our computer system, and so for several hours we will be going back to paper charting. I keep telling myself that the paper system worked for years so it can't be that bad, but people get so cranky when their routine is usurped!