TRUTH.

27. Participate in a charity event

I'm excited to announce I accomplished my first task off my 30 Before 30 list! Number 27 was "Participate in a Charity Event" and this past Saturday I, along with a number of my coworkers, walked in the American Heart Association's Tampa Bay Heart Walk 2012!

The mission of the American Heart Association (AHA) states "Building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke" which are the #1 and #4 causes of death in the United States. As Neuro nurses, my floor sees the immediate effects of stroke (often secondary to cardiovascular disease) every day and we definitely wanted to step up and help out. We participated as part of the overall TGH team, as well as forming our own mini team, The Brain Trotters.

AHA's goal was to raise more than $1.7 million dollars, and I'm excited to say that the end result of their fundraising efforts was just shy of $2 million dollars! This money will be devoted to education and preventative measures for patients who may not have their own resources.

9A Neuroscience Nurses representing TGH...

...before turning into the Brain Trotters!

Some of my girls before taking our 3 mile walk..Emily, Tiff, Kiersten, and Bridget

We kept it at a leisurely pace with the crowd and finished in about an hour. Not exactly a competitive pace but hey, you know I was participating in a walk not a run, right? Haha. I'm very excited to have crossed something off my list and can't wait to see what my next thing to accomplish will be!!

For more information on the American Heart Association and how you can participate in future events, visit the website here!

Love,
KayCee

Rock the Vote!

(While my political preferences will become quite clear in this post, I promise there will be no preaching or lecturing!)

While creating my 30 Before 30 list, one idea that I considered and then discarding was seeing/meeting the President. I thought it would be a really cool experience but I didn't really know how to make it happen and depending on how this election goes I figure I may or may not really want to hear the President speak. 

To my surprise, a couple weeks ago I heard that President Obama was coming to Tampa to campaign at a grassroots event. I rushed over to my local campaign office and picked up a ticket and prepared to wake up at 5am on my day off to be in line by 6am for a 9am speech. Hey - if I was going to get up early to see the President, I might as well go all out!

My friend Destiny met me and we waited in line for about an hour, surrounded my other like-minded liberals, which was invigorating enough by itself. Eventually we were allowed through the metal-detectors and into an Ybor park where the rally was being held. Around 8 the speakers started which included Florida Governor Charlie Christ and finally around 9, President Obama took the stage. 

His speech was short and to the point. It was not intended to sway undecided voters, but to speak to those of us who had already put our faith in the President and were hoping to continue to do so. He was sincere, charming, educated, persuasive, and surprisingly, very funny. I believe in the President and his policies and today, when I exercised my right to vote, I voted for four more years. Regardless of your political views, I hope everyone put a lot of thought into what they want for our country and who they think the right leader for us is. I am praying for the country's progress to continue in the direction it has in the last four years, but regardless of the outcome, I am thankful to live in a democratic nation that has blessed me beyond words. So please, everyone...get out and vote!!

Love,
KayCee

I voted - And so should you!!!