These are a few of my favorite things

I've had lots of little things I've wanted to share with you all lately so I thought why not combine them all into one big post?? So here's some things that have gotten me excited lately:

Books:

Goodreads

I am an avid reader. Have been since practically birth. My mom, sister, and I would walk into our local branch library bi-weekly and everyone there knew us by name. We could spend anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours in there and inevitably I would walk out every time with a stack of books all the way up to my chin that I could barely carry. I'm constantly looking for new books to read and this website has everything I could possibly want. You can rate and review books you've read, read other peoples reviews, track your progress in what you're reading now, and reserve books on your "To Read" bookshelf. You can friend or follow people on there with similar tastes to you and you can research lists of books you might like; my personal favorite is the Paranormal Love Stories list. If you're a reader, do yourself a favor and sign up!

Speaking of books, there's two that I would particularly like to recommend. Awhile back I spoke on this blog about The Hunger Games trilogy and why I am such a fan. Well, there is another dystopian trilogy out there and I wanted to devour it from page one. The book is Divergent by Veronica Roth. The second book in the trilogy is called Insurgent and comes out May 1st and sadly I will have to wait until 2013 for the conclusion. The second recommendation ironically is also the first book in a trilogy, though I was unaware of this until the final pages. It's called A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. The sequel comes out this summer and the last one in this series will also be out in 2013. I urge everyone to click the links below to read the descriptions on Amazon:

Divergent

A Discovery of Witches

Movies:

Speaking of Hunger Games...the movie opens March 23rd! I need to get on this and go get my midnight tickets! Because, yes, I am the girl who buys midnight tickets and then makes sure she is not working the following day. Just being honest. If you have somehow not seen the preview by now, please enjoy below:

In other movie news, there is a new Nicholas Sparks movie coming out soon. If you know me at all, you know that I hate Nicholas Sparks books, however I admit that I normally cannot stay away from any movie based on his books. And when you add in Zac Efron looking sexier than I've possibly ever seen him look before, you've pretty much already sold me a ticket. So please enjoy this trailer for The Lucky One:

Other things:

I am admittedly certifiably obsessed with chapstick and though 95% of the time you will see me carrying around my green LipSmacker's strawberry kiwi flavored chapstick (that I buy in bulk) from room to room, I have discovered a new one that I might just be able to fit into rotation. Maybelline has a new line of tinted chapstick called Baby Lips that has the perfect combination of moisturizers, lip renewal, and color. My personal favorite is Grape Vine, but they're definitely all worth checking out. 

Skinnytaste is another one of my new favorite obsessions. I admit that I may have spent an entire afternoon browsing through and printing out recipes for my weekly cook-something-new movement. They have a ridiculous number of recipes that include everything from soups and salads to crock pot recipes to vegetarian dishes to holiday and seasonal themed meals. This is where I got last week's chicken thighs with artichokes and feta recipe from and it was delicious! And tonight is the night I've been waiting for: I'm officially making my Layered Chicken Mexican Lasagna!

Octavia Spencer wins Best Supporting Actress at last night's Oscars! If you haven't seen The Help, go rent it now! And then one up that and go read it! Because, as always, the book is 10x better than the movie and goes into much greater depth. Octavia plays one of my favorite characters, Minnie, and she so deserved this win. I don't always agree with the Academy's choices, so I'm always happy when at least one of my favorites wins.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Monday! After only working 1 day in the past 11, I'm actually looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow and get my RN on!

Love,
KayCee

Philosophies for your life

So awhile back I found a link to this blog post and at the time it was something I really needed to read. Basically this kid (okay, guy that looks probably around my age) wrote a post about 8 simple philosophies that he thinks leads to a healthy life. I don't know if they are something that he came up with on his own or if they're something that he found somewhere and adopted for his own but I think they're all valid and things we could all benefit from reminding ourselves about occasionally.

I recommend you all go to the blog post and look at each of them but there's a few that I identified with in particular.

3. The right person at the wrong time is the wrong person.
This is something I constantly need to remind myself of. After having my heart broken and spending the last two years constantly searching for that happiness that I'd lost, this last week I've found a bit of peace about it. Dating is exhausting and I'm tired of the Three-Dates-and-Out experience that seems to have been on repeat for me. I finally just decided enough is enough and when it's supposed to happen it will. Don't get me wrong, I'm an impatient person by nature and this reprieve will only last so long. It also doesn't mean that I will stop being receptive should I see something positive coming my way, but the active pursuit has worn me down and I'm finally ready to abandon the idea that things Should and Will happen on my time. Okay God, you win.

4. A healthy body is a healthy mind.
Best quote I pulled from his elaboration of this point: "The prefrontal and temporal lobes of your brain typically shrink 1-2% per year as you get older, or even faster if you watch Fox News." *Insert smirk here* But seriously, this blogger also points out that you can actively reverse this trend by exercising regularly and finding the right balance between taking in the right amount of energy your brain needs but not taking in so many calories that your body uses them to lug your weight around instead of saving them for brain power.

5. The race is only with yourself.
This is a big one for me. I'm only 26 and I've already gotten two Bachelor degrees. I have a stable job. I'm pretty successful at that job. I have a nice apartment that I can comfortably afford. There are improvements I would like to make to myself physically, but I'm certainly no slob and I am actively making progress towards my goals. So what if I'm still deciding what I want to be doing in ten years? So what if I'm considering going back to school, which will have me starting over (again) at age 30. So what if I know people my age that are dating, engaged, or married? So what if one of my good friends is a freaking national level figure fitness model. I don't need to compare myself to them. You will always find someone who can beat you at your own game. Learning to be happy with where you are in your life and with what you have accomplished without constantly measuring yourself against others is probably the biggest key to happiness. As a competitive person it's sometimes a hard lesson for me to learn, but definitely a valuable and humbling one.

8. Act the part.
Fake it til you make it. You want to be outgoing? Talk to someone new! You want to sound educated? Research something that's going on in the world. I have always had an issue with being a little shy and very self-conscious but from sorority rush in college to performing onstage at Sea World to becoming a nurse there hasn't really been a lot of time to give in to the more anxious side of my personality. So I developed almost an alter-ego of myself who was happy, confident, and out-going that I could slip into when needed. And you know what? The more the years have passed, the more I realize I've gradually adopted this alter-ego into a true part of my personality where I don't have to consciously apply that persona anymore. So maybe this whole 'act the part' philosophy has some truth to it.

So some food for thought for the evening. And now I'm off to enjoy some wine and the Oscars :)

Love,
KayCee

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Today is my mom's birthday, and no I won't say how many years so she doesn't kill me, but I wanted to take a minute to celebrate her. Both because she's one of my favorite people and also because without her I wouldn't be here! So happy birthday Jane and thank you for being the most amazing mother a girl could ever ask for.

One of my favorite pictures of my mom and I at my first UCF graduation, 2007

And at my Nursing School graduation, 2010

So I'm back on the cooking a new meal a week wagon and while I had planned to tackle Mexican Lasagna last week, my roommate selfishly decided to go see her brother after he returned from 8 months in Afghanistan instead of hanging out with me (ha), so I decided to make a meal that didn't require her hollow leg to help me finish eating. So instead I tried some chicken thighs and artichoke hearts with feta cheese. Turned out pretty well! And super easy. All it requires is a bit of time to marinate the chicken and artichokes together and then about 20 minutes to broil!

Here's the meal ready to enter the oven:

And the finished product, topped with some feta cheese:

And by now you see that I am by no means a chef with presentation talent or a food photographer, but I do my best. I love that I'm discovering healthy meals that are both easy and leave enough leftovers for lunch!

Weddings

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

1 Corinthians 13:13

As many of you know, I was in a sorority while I was in college (love to my Alpha Delta Pi diamond sisters!). Well, yesterday my 'big sister' in ADPi got married and I was honored to be one of her bridesmaids. Paul's letter to the Corinthians is often read at weddings and usually it focuses on the part that states "Love is simple, love is kind..." but a longer portion of the scripture was read at Lisa's wedding, and though I'd heard it before, this particular verse at the end stuck with me. I just think its beautiful and its true. Being single at a wedding is never fun, though I had a hot blonde as my date so I had fun regardless, but it was so amazing to see Chris and Lisa together all night and see how much they love each other and how bright their future will be. It gives me hope for my own future. I pray God will bless them and watch over them and I can't wait to see all the wonderful joys they will be blessed with in the future. But for now - off they go to spend Valentine's and their honeymoon in Paris and Rome! 

Here's a quick snapshot of the evening:

Wedding hair and makeup

With the beautiful bride

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Chris Farkas!

My wonderful wedding date and I at the reception

What I look like after 12+ hours of wedding festivities and removing 61 bobby pins from my hair

In other news, my task of cooking a new meal a week is still in effect. Unfortunately last week I was literally out of the house for work, plans, or wedding festivities every night of the week, so I had to skip a week but next week its on for some Mexican lasagna! I'll let you all know how it goes!

Healthy Me

So, after reading my previous blog entry, I was informed by my mom that its not possible for me to reach either of my goals of becoming a nun or a crazy cat lady. Apparently the fact that I'm not Catholic would prevent me from joining a convent. She also informed me that being at the relatively young age of 26 and owning only one cat precludes me from being known as a crazy cat lady. Damn! All my hopes and dreams shattered. Guess I really do have to look into that ARNP thing now...

In other news, last fall I started the process of (very slowly) trying to improve my overall health. Being a bit more active, watching what I ate just a little more closely. Well 2012 is here baby and its time to kick this plan into high gear! To begin, I've joined Weight Watchers. I've heard of great success with that program, and while I tend to stay close to the days allotted "points" naturally, its been helpful in meal planning for me. I've always eaten relatively well (which I partially contribute to growing up with two vegetarian parents) but the hardest part is coming up with new, creative, relatively easy meal plans (i.e. don't just heat up something from a can or a frozen box, even if it does say Healthy Choice on the outside). So last weekend I sat down and went through 1,000+ dinner ideas on the WW website and printed out around 20 of my favorites. Yes, I'm that picky. So my new goal is to try one new recipe a week and last night was my WW recipe initiation. I picked something relatively simple to start: Beef tip and broccoli stir-fry with parmesan couscous on the side. And I have to say it turned out pretty darn well. And if you didn't know, couscous is officially the easiest side dish I have ever made, with the exception of throwing a bag of frozen food in the microwave. So here is the result of my first venture:

(Nothing too special to look at, 

but it was delicious!)

The harder hill for me to climb in my becoming-more-healthy challenge has always been increasing my activity. I'm not a couch potato by any means, but in my hey day (aka high school, ha) I was dancing and doing aerobic activity 12+ hours a week, easy. So now that I don't have multiple competition dance teams that I'm a part of, I have to initiate the activity on my own. I joined a gym where a few of my friends attend and have begun participating in classes. Group fitness always challenges me more because in the back of my mind I feel like I'm in competition with the rest of the room. I don't necessarily have to "win" but I definitely can't fall behind the middle of the pack. Granted, its still a challenge to get my butt to the gym some days, but getting to group fitness has been wildly more successful than getting on a treadmill to run. Largely because the chances of me ever having any motivation, interest, or enjoyment in the act of just running comes out to exactly zero.

So here we are...in a place of moderate health and fitness, and looking to make significant improvements.  I think its possible...just gotta start with baby steps.

Welcome to 2012

No I didn't die, or have any sort of 'Taken' situation happen to me while I was abroad, though it may seem that way since I haven't been heard from since I was in Europe. The trip was utterly amazing, but the idea of trying to encompass the entire experience in a blog when I returned seemed way too daunting a task. From there I was launched into a month of craziness at work as we transitioned into the 21st century and went from paper charting to being fully computerized which involved constant overtime to compensate for needing more nurses on the floor. This was immediately followed by the holidays, which need no elaboration on why my free time was few and far between and all of a sudden, I find myself at the end of January and severely tardy on my blog. So hi! Please forgive my absence.

2012 has been a year of lessons so far. Which is great because the world is supposed to end in 11 months anyway (unless of course you don't put your entire faith of our existence in the hands of the Mayans) so I may as well learn as much as I can about myself and life while I still have the opportunity. Where to begin?

First, I've learned that it appears I have a never-ending thirst for knowledge. Either that or I'm the most indecisive person ever when it comes to what I want to do with my life. Yes, after being out of school for only about a year and a half, I am yet again thinking about returning to academia. If things keep going this way, by the time I'm 30 I will have spent 9-10 years pursuing higher education and only 3 years working full-time without participating in some sort of class at the same time. Definitely not what I ever thought I'd be doing. But recently I've been heavily considering pursuing my ARNP (Nurse Practitioner for you non-medically minded folk). There's a few programs in the Tampa area that I could pursue part-time, while still working full-time, and be done in 3 years. I basically fell into nursing and am so glad that I did because I really enjoy it, but I've never had a solid plan about what I want to do with my degree. But I've been on the floor for a year and a half now, it'll be 2 years if/when I start classes, and will be 5 years by the time I'm done. I know that I want to continue working in the field but not sure if I want to be on the floor past 5 years. Pursuing this degree will allow me more options in the future, better scheduling opportunities, and of course making twice the paycheck doesn't hurt either. And if I start this year I can achieve my ARNP with a Masters degree instead of pursing a Doctorate in Nursing, which is going to become law in the near future. So its definitely something I've been thinking and praying about recently.

Other things I've learned...disillusionment has been a big theme this year. I am not the girl who thinks she needs a man in her life to be complete or happy. However, I did spend almost all of my time between the ages of 16-24 in one serious relationship or another. So these last two years have been a harsh lesson in independence for me. And while I don't need a man to feel whole, I have definitely realized that I'm happier when I have that person in my life to share the triumphs and tragedies with. So instead of waiting around for him to find me (remember, I'm not the girl who thinks 'things happen for a reason' or 'if its meant to be, it will be'...I'm too cynical for that) I've tried to be proactive in putting myself out there to meet other similar minded people. Granted, I still have a lot of progress to be made in getting myself out of my comfort zone, but thats another story, the point is I'm trying. However, so far every dating situation I've found myself in has not been successful. And by not successful I mean has ended badly. Why is it that guys work so hard to get your attention, to get you to trust them, to make you believe they have good intentions and as soon as they accomplish this they change their minds, decide you're not what they want, get scared of where this is heading, or think you're not worth the risk. If you don't know what you want, if you just want a physical relationship, even if you want to date more than one person...I'm not going to condemn you for any of these things, but just be up front about it! Or even if you do a complete 180 about what you want in the middle of being involved with someone, I completely respect that...if you're up front about it. The only thing I ask for is honesty up-front. But apparently it is unrealistic to expect such behaviors in this day and age. I'm exhausted and heavily considering joining a convent. Or becoming a crazy cat-lady. I'm still undecided.

On the bright side...2012 is looking great for me in terms of friendships. I still have a kick-ass roommate that I adore, my best friend is staying in Tampa long-term, I have a budding relationship with one of my coworkers that I'm super excited about, and I'm just optimistic about expanding my social circle in general. Despite a somewhat shaky beginning, I have high hopes for this year. New Years Eve isn't my favorite holiday just for the party. New beginnings have always been intoxicating for me and I'm finally ready to embrace this one. 2012...here goes nothing!

Libre Los toros!!

Greetings from Barcelona! I just wanted to write a quick note to explain my recent absence. My Europe adventure has officially begun. Ireland has been covered and I'm now in Barcelona. Next up is Greece in a few days. Traveling abroad for the first time has certainly been an experience and I already have a ton of stories to tell. But I wanted to say that there will probably be radio silence for the next few weeks until I'm back in the states because whO wants to be stuck on a computer when there's so much to see here!

However here are a few of the interesting things I've learned so far on the way...

Wear comfortable shoes!!

Public transportation is acceptable abroad however most people really do walk everywhere. I feel like I haven't stopped walking since I got here and my feet are protesting loudly with another two weeks to go.

Hostels have water timers in their showers. Basically...you press a button into a wall and the water runs for the amount of time it takes for the button to push itself back out to it's starting position...aka about 15-20 seconds. And then you hav to push the button again. And again. And once again. It does make for efficient showers though.

Stick shift + driving on the wrong side of the road = nausea.

People in Ireland wear very strange stockings. And are often hard to understand.

Things are waaaay too expensive on this side of the pond. However wine is often cheaper than soda. Or water for that matter.

While it is apparently technically illegal...no one will stop you from buying bottles of wine or sangria and walking around with them on the street drinking from coffee cups.

Alright friends, I am off. Our first actual vacation day on this vacation starts tomorrow...beach, picnic, shopping, and pub crawls!