the bacon that changed my life and other thoughts

Stop what you're doing. Right now. Go to the grocery store and buy bacon and brown sugar (unless you have them). Make this recipe. Immediately. It will rock your world.

Last week marked the last day in a hospital working un-paid! I had my last day working in the pediatric intensive care unit, and while the experience was overall really wonderful, I am happy to be done.

Now, instead of doing 12-hour days at the hospital, I'm working furiously on my thesis. 28 days and counting until I have to be done.

Cheesiest (but best) thing I've done in awhile is start the Saucy Supper Society with 2 other lovely ladies. We get together and make delicious (and sometimes not so delicious) food we wouldn't dare make on our own. It's fantastic! Check the picture above to see our lovely Tapas Night spread!

Also, if you don't yet, watch Modern Family. It's my favorite show right now. It will make your life better.

Self-decalred Foodie

I'm claiming it out loud. I'm a foodie.

I've watched three episodes of Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie just today. And baked pecan rolls.

Pathways to joy in work

One of my classes this semester is Leadership and Management in Nursing (or something like that). As I studied a lecture on Motivation for my midterm I found a slide about Pathways to Joy in work. Our book covered Manion's work on personal pathways that individuals used to find joy in work.

Three of these pathways to joy (the love of work pathway, the achievement pathway and the recognition pathway) were pretty average. People find joy from loving their job, people find joy from praise, blah blah blah. But my favorite pathway was the connections pathway. It identifies that relationships were the primary source of joy for all participants in the study. The relationships were with colleagues, patients or families and involved caring for, talking with, relating to, or helping others. All these aspects exemplified the pathway of connections that leads to joy.

I've always known this. I've grown up hearing my dad say "relationships are everything" and have firmly believed in cultivating friendships over dedicating hours to working. Jesus talks about this too, after all He tells us to love one another. And to hear this verified by legitimate study in my textbook is pretty exciting. You can find joy in any job because of relationships. One more thing to look forward to in starting in the real world: finding more joy.

photo link: http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh253/SUZIEPEREZ/jumping-for-joy-6-1.jpg

Confessions of a failure

I failed.

I just stopped taking a picture of day. I could list excuses like school got busy, or my pictures are boring. But there isn't any excuse. I simply failed. Along with 92% of other people who make New Year's resolutions.

Every now and again I may keep posting some but, lets be honest, probably not much.

Here are a few of the last pictures I took:

2.2.10
I really like getting rid of my stuff!

2.7.10
Free flowers from a dear friends' wedding.
lovely

2.8.10
My dad made me a fried egg sandwich with chocolate chips on it...
throwback to childhood

2.11.10
I thought this necklace was lost...but I found it and it was fantastic.

I love the Olympics

A few tidbits about how I feel about the Olympics:

The Olympics are the one time where I choose to put on sports during the year (or every two years I guess). Maybe it's because my sports attention span is about 7.8 minutes.

The spirit is contagious. Within seconds of turning on an event I've picked a favorite (not always the Americans) and my heart is invested. I root for them with my whole being and I may even tear up when, after they win gold, they run into the crowd to hug their loved ones.

I'm constantly amazed at how the tech guys make incredibly moving montages in 5 minutes to play recapping the epic win that happened moments before.

This Olympics in in Vancouver. Since I spent 3 months there this summer I get so nostalgic when they show the cityscapes.

After watching the Olympics I have already made 4 more life goals surrounding the Olympics:
1) Attend an opening ceremony
2) Volunteer at the Olympics
3) Raise a child to be an Olympic athlete (this one is a little iffy...)
4) Participate in a sporting event on a former Olympic field (like skiing in Whistler...)

Home

Whenever I leave my house (in Gilbert) to drive back to my other house (in Tucson) I always feel a little bit sad. I love that I still have a home with my parents even though I'm away about 92% of the year. I'm blessed to have a dad that makes me fried egg sandwiches and doesn't mock me when I'm stupid about car stuff. I also love that I have a mom that is a wonderful example of a compassionate nurse and takes me out for lunch.

Thank You, Pioneer Woman.

Over the summer after eating about 17 cinnamon rolls in Vancouver I decided that I wanted to learn how to make delicious cinnamon rolls.

I started today, in lieu of watching the Superbowl.

The always-popular and super-blogger, Pioneer Woman, has launched me on this journey. I found a link on her page and promptly decided to make them. And OH BOY are they delicious!