Advocare

Today was my first day of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge and here are my thoughts: 

1. Watermelon Spark- good

2. Fiber drink- horrible, glad my Adviser warned me and told me to mix it with some of my spark. 

3. Strawberry meal replacement shake- delicious! 

4. Lots of pills to remember to take.

5. Spark works. 

6. Drinking enough water can be hard. 

What I really like about Advocare is that it encourages eating right. It's not one of those eat junk & lose weight things. 

This weekend I'm going to work on some meal planning. Any ideas will be great.

2014 is gonna be my year

It's time for change. What better time than New Years, right? I'm tired of talking about losing weight and getting in shape. I'm tired of the excuses that are always there. I am starting a new journey today, the road to a new healthier, thinner me.

I'm going to use this blog to lay it all out there, post my progress, my setbacks, my frustrations, my triumphs. I'll be posting good healthy recipes that I find, tips & tricks for fitting exercise it, and I'm going to try my best for a monthly progress report. I want readers that will hold me accountable, encourage me & offer advice. 

I have decided to try the Advocare 24 day challenge.  I am somewhat skeptical of any weight loss pills or whatever.  But this seems a little different to me.  But I am not relying on this for my weight kids, merely as an aid.  So hopefully It will be the jump start I need. 

So here's the starting point: 

Weight: 234.0

:(

It's not painfully obvious that we are not only no longer friends but we were never really friends in the first place. You could have at least pretended to be excited to bump into me when I haven't seen or spoken to you in years. But then again, you've probably forgotten all about me and had no clue who I was. I spent so much time holding on, hoping you'd be the guy I was friends with (well, thought I was friends with). But now I truly see, you are someone completely different than who I thought you were &; it's way past time for me to purge myself of you, and get over it & move on. I've known that our friendship has been over, it still kinda stung.

White crayon

I haven't been here in a while...there's not much to say.  Still no boyfriend or even any prospects.  This pretty much sums me up

So on to other things...work is great, not perfect but overall, I couldn't ask for a better job.  My patient load is picking up & I'm getting busy, which is awesome! 

A couple of weeks ago, I bought my first home...a 2BR/2BA trailer that I moved right next door to my parents. So maybe it isn't perfect or my dream home, but it works.  It's just what I need right now.  It's finally coming together and the power should be on tomorrow...which means move in can happen soon! 

On the other hand, my truck quit on me last week...no idea what's wrong with it. Luckily I have my Daddy's truck to drive til we figure it out...

So many things going on, it'd be easy to lose faith right about now. But I know that my God is still here & still in control so my faith keeps going...honestly my faith is what keeps me going. I'd be lost without it. 

Life as I know it

Since I've last been on here, I've spent 2 1/2 months in the New Orleans area, staying with my boss, I came back home to train some more with my other boss, and now in 1 1/2 weeks I will FINALLY be out on my own!  This job sure has been an adventure, that's for sure.  I do enjoy getting up to go to work everyday, though.  I really can't complain about my job.  It's not perfect, but what job is?

It always seems like I'm so super focused on my career.  But I am ready to switch my focus to my social/love life.  But, seriously, how do you do that when you don't have many close friends and the ones you do have are married?  And my best friend's idea of hanging out is me going over to her house, eating supper with her, her husband, & her little girl, and watching tv.  I love spending time with them, but I'm tired of just sitting around, doing nothing all the time.  And what's even harder is that I'm not the type to go to bars or anything, so I don't know what I want to go out & do, I just know I want to get out of the house.  I need to get out, meet people.  But how do you do that?  I mean, I'm not going to meet my future husband by sitting around my house or my friend's house.  I'm just stuck in a rut--I'm not going to go out by myself to meet people, but I don't have anyone to go out anywhere with me, everyone I'm around has their own family & significant others. Any ideas on how to get out of this rut??

Log 1; Saturn Vue 0

Life has gotten crazy, and I haven't had much time to post on here.

 I'm pretty sure crazy stuff only happens to me.  Friday I was driving on a 4 lane divided highway and in front of me a log truck had turned except one of the logs was sticking way out away from the truck and still in the lane I was driving straight in, and there was a car in the lane beside me.  So I made the choice to hit the log instead of the car.  And here's the result..
.
 

 


Yes, that is part of the log, wedged all up underneath my hood.  I am not sure how bad all the damage is yet.  Hopefully the adjuster from the insurance company will let me know something soon.  Good news is that I wasn't hurt at all, and I have a rental car.

Where I am

In 2010 when I started Nurse Practitioner school, I imagined in October of 2012, I'd be settled into an amazing NP job in family practice, or ideally in pediatrics, in the Jackson area.  Even in August, September, October 2011, this was the goal I was working toward.  As my job search continued & job opportunities were looking slim, I decided that I was supposed to move back home & work in that area.

  So, I started seeing myself working in Meridian or the surrounding area, still in family practice with hopes of pediatrics.  The job search continued...with flashes of promising ideas here & there that always fell through.  By this point I was so confused.  Maybe what I had planned all along had been completely wrong, maybe I'm supposed to be somewhere else in the state of MS or maybe a different state entirely.

So, grudgingly, I began searching for jobs all over MS and even in other southwestern states.  Finally at the end of August 2012 I had a VERY promising option back towards the Jackson, MS area in PEDIATRICS....and then kind of out of the blue it, too, fell through.  I was very heartbroken & discouraged.

 And then one day, shortly after that I was looking on craigslist (of all places), under their job page for Meridian where I found an ad for a NP with an interest in dermatology.  Not that I was particularly interested in dermatology, but I wanted to explore ALL my options.  I sent my resume in & I got an interview with the doctor & she basically gave me the job right there.  As I'm starting to learn more about dermatology, the more I'm interested.

 So now in October 2012, I am just starting my first NP job in the Meridian area, in dermatology.  And now I can see, that even though I'm nowhere near where I thought I'd be...I'm exactly where God had planned for me!