http://evysadventuresincooking.wordpress.com/

I’ve seen several people mentioning “Bucket Lists” in the last few days. I assume the idea is based off the movie, but it’s not a bad one. Sit down and make a list of everything you want to do before you die the DO IT. Alright, I might just do that.

1. Graduate from nursing school.

2. Graduate with a Bachelor’s degree.

3. Grow hair long enough to donate and then donate said hair to Locks of Love.

4. Have a “big kid” job.

5. Move out of Ohio, again.

6. Read every novel by Kurt Vonnegut.

7. See as many of my favorite bands as possible live.

8. See RENT on stage.

9. See a Broadway play.

10. Visit at least one other continent.

11. At least pass through every US state.

12. Have or adopt children.

13. Own a home that is large enough, with a yard that is large enough, to take in abandoned animals.

14. Get a Master’s degree.

15. Own my own home.

16. Learn to SCUBA dive.

17. Lose the weight I want to by healthy means.

18. Break a really bad habit.

19. Run a 5k.

20. Graduate with at least a 3.25. Preferably higher.

21. Get over at least one of my fears.

22. Be good enough that I can be someone else’s role model at something I am passionate about.

23. Help on a political campaign.

24. Turn at least one hobby into a skill (photography, cooking, baking, painting, etc.).

25. Learn enough of at least one foreign language to carry on a casual conversation with someone.

This is a photo I took following our February of record snow fall. It's a light post on University of Dayton's campus but I just loved the glow it cast on the snow covered branches around it.

If you are like me, your probably raised the question, “How, exactly, does your ‘secretive’ posting of your bra color and then refusal to explain this silliness to anyone constitute raising awareness?” If you are like me and you did actually ask that question, you probably received a large pile of crap for it too, right? Besides, meaning no offense to anyone who has/had/knows somebody with breast cancer, isn’t breast cancer the single cancer we are MOST “aware” of?

I can’t walk into any public place, from grocery to clothing store, restaurant to to kitchen supply store, without seeing at the very least one item being hawked as promoting breast cancer awareness by simple virtue of the fact that it is pink. Seriously? Seriously? Please don’t misunderstand when I say this, but I think there are many other cancers that deserve some of that limelight and blatant consumerism shot their way. Take for instance a terrible cancer that effects children and which none (or next to none) survive: Neuroblastoma (Links to the blogs for Corey https://www.carepages.com/carepages/coreynickell/patient &Victor https://www.carepages.com/carepages/victorvillarreal both of whom are no longer with us.)

But if we must only pay attention to breast cancer, shouldn’t we at least really be doing something? So, I have decided (and cross-posted this idea facebook and twitter) that for every new comment or ping back I receive for this blog, I will donate $1 to the American Cancer Society.

Thanks.

Find the original at: http://nonadventures.com/2010/01/09/the-breast-intentions/

[EDIT: Please Note: I'm not against pink products at all as long as they do what they promise in the fair amounts. My problem lies more with the companies that raise the price to 150% the original, color the item pink, and then only donate 1 or 2% to research. By simply making it pink and being able to say "yeah, we donate..." they wind up making way more money by playing on people's emotions.

I'm not heartless or uneffected in this matter either; my cousin died at 32 by the hand of a particularly aggressive variety of breast cancer. But I've had my own sister attacked by cervical cancer (which is on the rise again), my grandma die of pancreatic cancer (one of the worst and least treatable cancers in adults), and my grandpa die from lung cancer (by some estimates the number one cause of cancer deaths in adults) and none of those get anywhere near as much attention these days. Or what about the fact that men can and do get breast cancer? We don't talk about that but my high school best friend lost her dad to breast cancer when we were 15 and he was still a young guy. Maybe instead of just saying we are raising awareness, we actually do? You know, teach about early detection and prevention or that men can get it as well? Or you know, maybe just give money directly to the cause?

Anywho, thanks for helping me set aside another dollar. It's funny how every girl I know could post their bra color but couldn't me bothered to click a "like" button on facebook. (Okay, I know that last one isn't fair since that chain mail was sent directly to people and I just posted mine up.)]

1. This year I want to begin to learn to love myself more. I want to try to be happy in my own skin, the way I am, no matter what.

2. This year I want to begin teaching myself how to harbor less anger, hurt, and stress.

3. This year I want to remember to drink my water and take my vitamins.

4. This year I want to really get my feet moving in the right direction to meet my goals regardless of what they are.

That’s it everyone. No grand pronouncements of “This year I will lose 100 pounds, run a marathon, buy a house, and have all A’s while working like a maniac to make lots of money.” That’s just not practical. If I can just get started, just begin to teach myself and learn good techniques for being a happier, and ultimately healthier, person, my resolutions will be kept.

A summary of how I rang in the New Year: Sparkling cider and Cranium with friends.

I grew up in a family in which both parents were in the nursing field – my mother an L/D nurse and my father a CRNA – yet, I never considered being a nurse as a child. The first time I went off to college I “knew” I wanted to be a criminal psychologist, but after 3.5 years at Wittenberg, I was miserable and sick often. Thinking I just needed a break, I left with intentions of returning but life, as it usually does, got in the way. In August of 2007, not long before I intended to return to psychology, my father unexpectedly passed away. We hadn’t been close for some years, but his death put my life into harsh perspective. Though I was so close to completing that psychology degree, I realized it couldn’t make me happy; that I needed to reevaluate and find my bliss. I enrolled in nursing school and graduated in November of 2008. Part way through my program a friend asked me, “What type of nursing do you think you want to do?” I hadn’t really put much thought into, but in that moment I felt at ease and, before my brain had time to process what I was saying, I said, “I think I want to do anesthesia… Like my dad.” From that moment on, that’s been my goal. Since my entry into a nursing track, my grades have rebounded to 3.0 or higher and I’ve been more focused and happy than I had been in years. I am so motivated to pursue this path and have done and will do anything to make this my reality. Thank you.

Just me.

“I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?”

Sad, but I feel like that quote from 10 Things I Hate About You pretty well somes up how I feel right now. I have alot going on… ALOT. I’m working two jobs (for the time being), both of which are rather demanding of my time; I’m going to school full-time; I’m trying to maintain some social contact with people; and I have a metric ton of reading, studying, paper writing, and homework to get finished. But, with all that, I don’t feel quite as overwhelmed as logic and reason and past experience seem to dictate I should be.

Perhaps I’m in denial? The sad truth of how many more sleepless nights I have to look forward to until mid-November simply hasn’t sunken in yet? Yep, I think that’s it.

And now for something entirely different:

Cuddling on my bed.

This photo was taken on August 24, 2009 at sunset over the marshes on the western side of Chincoteague Island, off the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

As the caption states, this was taken on the western side of Chincoteague Island, Virginia. It is off the coast of the northern portion of Virginia’s Eastern Shore. It’s looking over the marshy ocean waterway between there and Wallop’s Island, where one of the NASA facilities is located.

John and I had gone on vacation to a bed and breakfast on the southern most tip of the Eastern Shore (Cape Charles, VA) and decided to take a day trip up on a lark. Our initial aim was to get back to our B&B in time to watch the sunset there, as it was overlooking the Chesapeake Bay and was rather spectacular to see, but plans ran long, as they often do, and we “settled” for watching from where we were. In the end, I’m glad we did because I have a myriad of photos just as beautiful as this one.

Here I will share just the very choicest of those photos. =D

I'm really proud of this one. =)

1. Sunshine, especially after endless days of gray.

2. The salty smell of an ocean breeze.

3. Beach sand.

4. The sound waves make, particularly on a rocky beach.

5. Decon Lo.

6. Gary Patrick.

7. Figaro Q Ambley.

8. My mom and brother.

9. My sister and her family.

10. Kittens.

11. Puppies.

12. Penguins.

13. Cute babies.

14. Who am I kidding, cute baby animals of all kinds.

15. The ocean.

16. Mango.

17. John.

18. Farah.

19. Savanah.

20. Happy surprises.

21. Baking.

22. Making something that other people respect/appreciate.

23. Cuddles.

24. Ducks.

25. Butt wiggles.

26. Good memories from my KD days.

27. Web comics.

28. A good book.

29. Sushi.

30. Koala cookies.

31. These weird mango coconut jelly snacks John introduced me too.

33. Siopao. Om nom nom.

34. Finding a new recipe and having it turn out just how I imagined in my head.

35. Caring for someone.

36. Love.

37. All of my friends.

38. San Francisco. I really did leave a piece of my heart there.

39. “To you this is just a rose, but to me it is a piece of my heart.” Truer words were never spoken.

40. Friendships that may fade into the background but are quickly rekindled to all their former glory after years without contact.

41. Aquariums.

42. Zoos.

43. Christmas lights.

44. Funfetti cake.

45. Funfetti pearls icing.

46. Ice cream.

47. Grater’s Strawberry Chip ice cream.

48. Lilies.

49. Orchids.

50. William Sonoma.

51. The kitchen section of Home Depot.

52. The color Green.

53. Pretty shinies.

54. Fields of wild flowers.

55. Celtic music. Traditional, modern, rock, and punk. I like it all.

56. Gaelic names.

57. That websites like facebook, myspace, and twitter make it infinitely easier for my sorry ass to keep in touch with people. Even though I still manage to suck at it.

58. Indian food.

59. Sunsets, particularly over the ocean.

60. Del Mar, California.

61. San Juan, Puerto Rico.

62. The Eastern Shore of Virginia.

63. Pensacola, Florida.

64. Horse back riding.

65. The simple, line drawn paintings by Van Gogh.

66. Skyline after a night of drinking.

67. How, even though he inevitably wakes me up and drives me insane with it, Decon cuddles my head when he wants to be snuggly.

68. Waffle House. Don’t judge me!

69. Smoothies.

70. My pillow.

71. Ikea.

72. The way certain guys smell even when they aren’t wearing any smelly goods.

73. That my hair is getting curlier as I’m getting older.

74. Reconnecting with “long lost” friends, near and far.

75. Teva mush flip flops.

76. My car.

77. Those neat little one serving drink packets.

78. Blue mint gums.

79. The way my teeth feel right after the dentist.

80. All the friends I haven’t spoken to in ages but still think about all the time.

81. My mom’s cats.

82. Abby cat’s baby kittie, 2 of whom are now my baby kitties: Paolo and Sadie.

83. Baby laughs.

84. Celtic knots.

85. Fondue.

86. Sheepies.

87. Dancing.

88. Singing, no matter how poorly I do it, while speeding down the highway.

89. Gardening.

88. Discovering you have so much in common with people you thought were so different from you.

89. Wittenberg’s campus, particularly in the spring.

90. The first time you get into a fresh bed.

91. Music.

92. Wii.

93. That I finally have people to play “board” games with.

94. The Short North.

95. Hookahs.

96. Banana bread.

97. Helping my mom make Thanksgiving dinner.

98. PostSecret.

99. Discovering new music in the most unexpected ways.

100. That this may inspire others to do the same.

"And when we go back to the sea whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came." -JFK