In April I started my second semester of nursing school and let me tell you, it’s kicking my butt. Having a 5 class course load, two part time jobs and doing my military duty is A LOT. Not to mention finding time to actually sleep, eat, workout and blog! While these classes take up most of my time, I know it will benefit me in the end. To keep track of all my assignments in my classes I use my planner religiously. So far it hasn’t failed me and I’m staying on top of all my assignments. In addition to nursing school I updated my blog a little bit. I decided to give it a makeover and make it look a little nicer and user friendly. June always seems to be a busy month for me, and it’s even busier now with school.
Do you have any summer plans? If so let me know in the comments below! Thanks for stopping by!
My tea always has the nicest and heartwarming quotes. š
Hi everyone! These past few months I have been trying to move more by hiking, going to the gym, getting back into yoga and overall, trying to add more active minutes in my daily life. I love sharing my journey with you and showing you all the things that I come across. Whether it is pictures and hiking trails to new yoga equipment and videos. It gives you new knowledge and thoughts but, also keeps me on my toes and you engaged.
2 fitness influencers I enjoy I have a gym membership to Orange theory that I use as much as I can but, I also like to workout on my own time as well. Sometimes I just donāt feel like leaving the house or I got off work too late and had to cancel my workout time slot at Orange theory. When I decide to work out at home, I normally browse around YouTube for some videos to watch. I always go back to Yoga with Adrienne because I have been following her for years and love her videos. They are easy to follow, have a great variety for all levels and she explains things simply. This month I wanted to revisit and really stick to doing Yoga. I know I sound like a broken record sometime, but this helps with my accountability. While looking for a yoga video to do, I came across a new set of videos she made: MOVE ā A 30 Day Yoga Journey.
I am currently on day 5 and I can feel myself getting back into the flow of things. The weather is getting to be a little warmer, so I am able to go outside and do it in my backyard. Doing yoga outside rather than inside feels so much better to me personally. I think it is because it feels like my own little space, nobody bothers me out there and if the weather is nice, it’s peaceful.
Lets get a MOVE on and start finding our journey within. I look forward to finding my little bits of peace doing yoga outside and under the sunshine.
āYoga begins with listening. When we listen, we are giving space to what is.ā āĀ Richard Freeman
Hi everyone! I recently decided to try avocado toast for the first time. I know, I ām a little late to the game but I am glad I finally gave it a try. Avocado toast is a more rich way to enjoy an easy go-to snack on the run. I personally used avocado toast as an upgrade for my breakfast game. While looking at many pinterest recipes and health benefits for eating this, these are the three I think stood out the most.
1. Itās a great snack for weight management
One of the reasons why itās great for weight management is because it is considered a healthy fat. They help keep you full for longer periods of time and actually feel satisfied after eating. That means less snacking around just to do it. I know because I am terrible at snacking for no reason.
2. Helps with maintaining a healthy heart ā¤
It is important to try to maintain a healthy heart to stay healthy. Avocado toast can help due to its healthy fats. It is filled with vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin C, potassium and folate which is great for lowering blood pressure. Having lower blood pressures can result in a stronger healthier life.
3. They are delicious!
Sometimes eating healthy can be boring. Having avo toast is simple yet so creative. For example, you can have it plain on sourdough toast with some butter. You can also slice it up and put it over sourdough toast with light cheese and add some āEverything on itā seasoning. Whatever you think of, you can do with this.
This was simple to make, took less than 10 minutes and tasted great!
RECIPES! š„
I love to shop for recipes by pictures! Iām a visual person so seeing it will make me want to make it more.
For the avo toast I made:
1 avocado
1 slice of smoked salmon
Handful of cucumbers
Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Everything on it seasoning
2 wedges of lemon
Sourdough toast
I like to mash up my avocado to a nice consistency which is a little chunky and add it to bowl. There I do a pinch of salt, pepper, paprika. Squeeze in the two lemon wedges and stir it up a little more. Then I cut a slice of sourdough and toast the two pieces to where its slightly more crunchy. Once those are done I spread a nice even layer of avocado on the toast, top it with cucumber, then place the smoked salmon on top. After that for the final touch I add the āeverything on itā seasoning. I like to pair it with a coffee or some tea and then I get to enjoy breakfast.
I hope you all enjoy this recipe and some healthy benefits of avocado toast! Give it a try, you might be surprised. š
If you keep good food in your fridge, you will eat good food.ā
Semester one of nursing school was completed. It was a nice and tough semester, especially with my math class. I managed to struggle through and pass with all Aās and a B in math. I surprised myself, to say the least and I’m glad I pushed myself. Thinking back to how my learning styles have changed, I definitely see a pattern on some things. I definitely am a crash course student. What that means to me is that if I cram semi last minute I tend to retain information more and score higher on tests. I think that is a TERRIBLE habit to have, but for some reason it works for me. These last couple months I have tried to curb that habit and I actually did a little better with it. These classes were asynchronous which worked out great with my work schedules. My next semester (which starts in a week) is also asynchronous, so that kind of eases some stress. Are you wondering what asynchronous means, just like I was before taking these? Asynchronous basically means that students are given a time frame, usually a one-week window. During that time frameĀ they need to connect to their class at least once or twice a day. Doing it on your own with a timeline guidance is great for non hands-on classes.Ā
I wanted to keep tabs on how my classes are going and what grades I earn because this is a big journey for me. This also keeps me motivated in a sense to share how nursing school is and what happens throughout it. Iām excited to start my next set of classes and a little nervous as well. Iām taking a full semester with not four, but five classes! So this should be interesting.
āLet no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.ā
March is officially over and we are now into April. It was a busy, stressful and healthy month for myself. I started eating avocado toast more regularly due to its health benefits. Iāve been going back to the gym during the week more and also staying busy with school. The three big things were: eating more home made meals, staying within 90% for my grades and working out moreā¦again.
Avocado Toast: Homemade
Homemade avocado toast and vanilla cold brew with foam.
Iāll usually have this as an after work snack before I start my studies for the day. I was able to make it in less than 10 minutes and go about homework that needed to be completed.
Staying Within 90% for Grades:
With my first semester of nursing school almost complete, I have been striving to stay within 90% or higher with my grades. Iām taking 4 classes and staying above the 90% percentile except for one. My math class grade is a little lower than I wanted, but Iām happy where itās at because I am not the greatest at math. All I can do is keep doing my best and putting all I have into class.
Working Out Moreā¦Again:
I had a little break from working out, which always turns into a longer break and this is what exactly happened. I would work out sporadically or do the bare minimum knowing well that I needed to do more. So far for the month of March I used all my allotted days from Orange Theory Fitness and walked more than I have consistently. It also made me feel better as well.
āLet food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
February was a month of learning and expanding my brain. Part of this month I went on my Navy annual training at Camp Pendletons Hospital. Iām rated as a general Corpsman (medic) which means I donāt have a specialty and I can float around where they need me. This time they needed me in the anesthesia department. Needless to say, I was a little nervous because I had no idea what they would want me to do. Not to mention I have basically zero experience in that department. Fast forward to day one of training and besides being nervous, I am ecstatic. Iāve never set foot in an operating room before! It was super clean, shiny, bright and had a level of organized collective chaos. I dove headfirst and learned everything I could as fast as I could since it was a little understaffed. I was allowed to prep patients in pre op for surgery, learned the restocking methods and was even able to watch a handful of the surgeries that were performed. The days flew by and when I wasnāt working at the hospital, I was out exploring sunny San Diego.
Exploring the tide pools and enjoying the ocean.
Tide pools at Shell Beach in La Jolla.
San Diego was a breathe of fresh air. I was able to explore and adventure around with one of my good friends that actually was training with me. She had some friends that knew cool food places to eat at and beaches to visit. I even managed to spend a few days hanging out with my brother. We tried to eat somewhere different everyday and to keep it local. Down in Encinitas we came across a delicious bakery and an amazing gelato shop.
This was delicious and the staff was so friendly! She gave us a loaf of bread for free! Add them to your list!
Go visit at night! Has amazing flavors of gelato. Fun, cozy atmosphere and only a few blocks from an ocean view.
Instead we found ourselves at dessert and snack shops than actual lunch or dinner places. It kind of kept the surprises of food on a working āvacation.ā I mean we had as much fresh seafood we possibly could have had, we had old school Italian food, amazing pizza and beer too. I also had to try āthe best coffeeā that the San Diego area boasted. The coffee shops are called Better Buzz Coffee and they are scattered around SoCal. Since Iām a caffeine fiend, I of course had to stop in. I wanted to try their Horchata Iced Latte, but sadly they were sold out. I opted for their Mint Infused Iced Coffee instead and let me tell youā¦It was delicious! Not overly sweet, just the right amount of mint and the coffee was strong. It was great. If you ever find yourself in SoCal, give them a try. Hereās a glimpse at their MENU.
Such a fun atmosphere. Kick back and enjoy a nice coffee.
Now I think my favorite dessert place we found which ended up being on our second to last day was called Parlor Doughnuts. These are fancy home made big croissant/doughnut delicacies. I tried the Caramel Turtle and Chocolate Covered Strawberry Shortcake. They were decadent, and not overly sweet. I wish I had more time to bring them back home with me from the trip.
This annual training with the Navy actually turned out to extremely insightful to my job and fun. I managed to learn a lot of new information that made me curious enough to do my own research. I was able to spend time with new friends and went exploring out and about in a newish city! The best part of all though I think was being able to try all the new delicious foods and spend time at the beach to really enjoy it. I hope you enjoy reading about this as much as I enjoyed writing about it. š Kat
āI have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.ā
Blogging is a way to escape. A place where you can write what you’re feeling or think the world should know. When I first started this, I was still finding out what I liked, and what worked best for me. Over that time, things have definitely changed. Im constantly learning new things. How to improve what I read, write and live about. For example, I used to goal orientate my months to the EXTREME. This caused me to panic and stress out when I couldnāt meet those goals. This year I decided against that and to just live and learn through the year.
Just Read
For the month of January I decided to go with the theme of āJust Read.ā I chose this theme because I havenāt been reading as much as Iāve wanted to. With Nursing school starting, Iām bombarded with textbooks instead. While I am learning from them, Iām not relaxing with them. This month I picked up my book of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and started to read. Itās almost the end of January and the book is more than halfway read. One way I kept up on my reading so far was to try something new and kind of fun. Everyday of the month I would read the amount of pages pertaining to the date. For example, today for January 28th I read 28 pages. Itās a nice and straightforward way of keeping up with something.
What was the last book you read for fun? Any books you would suggest to read?
āThe library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.ā
Katie Writes 