Stressed is dessert spelled backwards....

Um....I don't think so. At the end of my day I am not relaxing with dessert, I am piling stress on top of stress. I have been super crazy busy (obviously since my last post was January 1st) and really don't feel like I have accomplished much. I am in my last quarter of school and have two Level II fieldwork's and then I AM DONE!!! At least for now. A lot of changes will be happening in my life in the next couple of weeks so we'll see where my stress level gets me after that! :) My 12 habits are going okay, instead of starting one a month, I am doing them slowly all at the same time. I couldn't decide which one to start with and wanted to do my best at some of them so I am trying and it is I would say 70% successful! Some of the ones I wanted to try right away is read the Bible everyday (I am only 4 days behind and catching up fast), decrease my Dr. Pepper intake (I was going to say pop, but I really only drink the pepper), take my medicine regularly (doing it pretty much 100%), and attempting to get at least 7 hours of sleep (this so far is a great success).

2012 New Year's Resolution

A resolution is a determination or firmness of purpose. Typically upon a new year many individuals resolve to break bad habits, lose weight, quit smoking, etc. I decided that besides the typical resolutions that instead I was going, I am determined to gain or lose (respectively) 12 new or old habits. A habit is a behavior that is repeated on a regular basis and they tend to be subconscious. They say it takes 28 days to gain a habit, thus at the start of each month I am going to either quit a bad habit I have or gain a new one that I have always wanted to do. 12 months + 12 habits = an interesting 2012. I know it is going to be tough, but I have to have the determination or I'll quit while I am ahead. So for the next year, expect posts about my progress and what is going on, I may not say what habits I am working on but I am really excited and interested to see if I can hold up to my resolution for 2012.

Whoa, my blog has a 2012 archive!

So as I was looking through my blog today I got a reality jolt when I realized that following this blog post I will have 1 archive in the year 2012. Talk about a smack to the face! I am so excited and looking forward to this year, last year was a beyond amazing year and I had quite a few downs, but my ups definitely out weighed them. I already have so many plans for 2012 and am looking forward to the surprises that are upon me.

A great great great Christmas

Christmas has passed and I cannot believe it is gone. To me this season did not feel like Christmas at all and I wish that it was still coming, but since I cannot stop time I can only remember the season and plan for the following. To me this sounds really odd because I am not a huge fan of Christmas. I love decorating, the real meaning of Christmas, and giving more than receiving but I just don't think of Christmas as one of my favorite holidays. It is by far one of my favorites in regards to tradition (blogged about this last year) This year I want to describe some of the gifts I received. I spend all year working on Christmas gifts or at least gathering ideas for family and friends and I try to put a lot of effort into what I make or what I come up with. My two young sisters mentioned some items through out the year so I jotted some notes down and got them some items that reminded them of either what they are currently involved in or their childhood. As for some of my friends and family I made them more personal items, but back to what I received. For the past two years I have asked Santa (yes I still "Believe" look for a future post regarding this) for a Crayola Magic Glow Dome, I am a kid at heart and some toys still make me excited. Well finally I actually received the Glow Dome instead of an IOU. I was so excited to get it and color on it. The second gift I received was from my mom, she made my brother and two sisters each a cookbook. She has been trying to come up with the concept for years and she was finally able to create one and I absolutely love it. I was so excited to get that I have already put a lot of recipes I have been hanging onto in the cookbook. Now all I need is my own kitchen to use it in. The last gift I want to talk about was also made by mom and it was definitely an emotional and sentimental gift. In early November, my grandfather (mom's dad) passed away. One thing that we always remember about him is what he wore, he always wore a flannel shirt. So my mom asked my grandmother for some of my grandfather's shirts and she made us each a pillow out of them. It is weird to think of my grandfather as gone but there are still times when all the sudden were caught up in the moment and the tears start to flow. It is definitely a gift that I will be keeping forever.

Guest Blogger of the week!!!

This week I was honored to be the guest blogger of the week for Flying Horse Farms. I know I have already blogged once on here regarding my experience there but here is the new one, enjoy :) Volunteering at camp: How to describe the indescribable When anyone asks me about Flying Horse Farms and the experience I had at camp, I can only say one thing: it’s indescribable. I knew I was going to have a great experience when I drove through the gates this summer for a hematology/oncology week. But I couldn’t have imagined everything I felt and still feel today about camp. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about camp and all the amazing people I met there: from the medical staff to the grounds crew, the Alcoa fellows, the volunteers, and definitely to the children. Beyond a doubt, I was changed forever. And one story in particular showed me why this place is so magical. For the first half of the week, one of the younger boy campers struggled with homesickness. Even though I was an activities counselor, not one of his cabin counselors, the cabin adopted me early on. So I spent a lot of time with them and noticed that whenever he was kept busy he was always having fun. So his counselors and I did our best to get his mind away from being at home and keep him occupied so he would have a great time. His homesickness started to fade around day three and he started having a noticeably better time. It was amazing to see his transformation from a camper struggling and wanting to leave to one who began volunteering for games and wanted to participate. At the last campfire of the week, we all wrote wishes on our wish sticks. I wished for more times like this (the ones that most definitely make us feel human). The formerly homesick boy sat next to me and scribbled on his stick. When he finished, he showed me what he’d written. It said: “for all the kids to get better.” While you’re at Flying Horse Farms you sometimes forget the challenges these campers face in their daily lives. After all, they look like any other child walking down the street. So when I read his wish stick it struck me: camp actually gave these kids a week of freedom. Freedom from the hospital, the doctors, the “how are you feeling” questions, things that I don’t always think about because I don’t experience them on a daily basis. Through Flying Horse Farms we let kids have fun, be creative, dream, imagine, and hope. But most important of all, we let them be kids. Guest Blogger Amanda Ghiloni is a program volunteer at Flying Horse Farms.

10 States in 2 Weeks

For a few weeks in November I was a travel monkey! I visited or traveled through ten different states. Why? Well the first trip was to Providence, RI for the AOTA Student Conclave and two other ladies and I drove. The second was to tailgate for the Michigan vs. Ohio State game (I am for Michigan). On our way to Rhode Island we traveled through 9 states: Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Wondering why that is only 7 states and not nine, well on our way home we went through Massachusetts for like 10 minutes and then we decided to take a detour (mainly on accident) and ended up in Delaware. So there are nine states and the tenth was to Michigan 2 weeks later. Definitely had an amazing time in all of these states and traveling!

""Quads""

For the past 24 and a half years I have been very fortunate to say that I have both sets of grandparents and one great grandparent in my life. Yesterday though, I lost my first grandparent, my grandfather on my mom's side. I always felt bad when talking with friends about our families and seeing their faces when I told them that I had 5 grandparents still living. Many were "jealous" (not really jealous but always commented at how lucky I was). I know I was lucky, I was able to make some great memories with my grandparents and I would not change that for the world. It is very surreal to think that now I only have four but the past couple of days I have been hoping and praying that when I have children or my siblings have children they will be just as fortunate as I and my siblings and cousins are. My grandfather was a great man in his own way, he served in the Navy and worked for the local newspaper for years (probably the better half of my childhood). He also was a mechanic on the side and loved to help anyone and everyone with their car. I always remember going over to his house as a kid and he would be underneath the hood of someone's car tinkering away. He always played with us when we were over at his house and he always called me Mandy (which no one ever called me because according to my mom that was not my name). The past few years were rough with my grandfather, but we still spent a great amount of time with him and my grandmother cherishing every extra holiday we got with them. This coming Friday on 11/11/11, they would have been married 50 years. It is amazing to think about today's society and look back at my grandparents. Both sets have had their trials and tribulations, but they both have survived them (both sets of my grandparents saw 50 years of marriage to the same person). Who can say that now? I hope that when I find the one I marry, that I will be able to be married for 50 years and look at my kids and grand kids and say well done, just like I know my grandfather did to my grandmother. So in honor of my grandpa instead of saying "deuces," I say ""quads."" I love and will miss you!