WOW! The years fly by faster and faster every passing year. I am hoping a lot of wonderful things will be happening in 2012. Most of them have to do with my amazing family. However, this blog is all about ME! So, what does 2012 mean to me? Well, I will tell you. The first thing that comes to my mind is that I will be turning the big 3-0 in April. When I think of turning 30 I first reflect on the last ten years and what they meant to me. I cannot believe how many changes happened in those 10 years. When I turned 20 I was attending Winona State University. I had great friends, countless sorority sisters, and a wonderful roommate. I was working on a degree that I wasn't 100% sure of. I enjoyed business,marketing, and politics but was it what I wanted to do forever? Not really. After talking with a counselor she brought it up how my face and eyes light up when I talk about helping people. I told her I always wanted to be in healthcare. Either in sports medicine or a Midwife. She really encouraged me to look further into "my dreams" and I did. I made the biggest decision of my life up to that point. I wanted to be a Nurse. I left WSU and moved home. It took a few hard years of transferring schools and trying to figure out what program I could get into. Nursing schools were in such high demand and many had very long waiting lists. A very unexpected twist came in the summer of 2004. A school in Iowa had changed their admission requirements into their RN program. As a result many of their students no longer qualified to start the program and they were recruiting students in Minnesota. I had already received my Association in Arts degree and completed my pre-reqs for nursing. I met with the admission counselor and was accepted on the spot! I couldn't believe it! I had 6 days to move to Iowa!!! Those next 2 and half years were full of ups and downs and in December of 2006 I graduated with my Associate Degree in Nursing. I later passed my boards and accepted a position at a hospital back home. About that time I had also discovered Facebook. Fun lil addiction that is. I was able to reconnect with a lot of people from high school and college, including my high school crush, Ian. As people say the rest is history. Over the next 5 years we dated, got married, had 2 kids, bought a house, bought a car. We both have stress filled jobs but they allow us to come home and enjoy our family without bringing our work home. Now that we are caught up on the last ten years lets talk about the present. Having my 2 children has been the greatest adventure of my life. Truth be told having kids has not been so great to my body. I have put them first and let myself go quite a bit. This is the year that all changes!!! It is 2012 I'm turning 30 and I need to get my life back! I want to be able to play with my kids for endless amounts of time. I want to not hate going shopping. I want to not be embarrassed to take a family picture or A picture for that matter. FYI, the last picture that was taken that included my lil family of 4 was taken almost 15 months ago when I was laying in a hospital bed the day after I had our son. Our daughter had a project for school recently and needed a family picture and we had to dig out an old Christmas card that included that picture. We have not taken a family picture since October 2010! I am always behind the camera, never in front of it. I want to be in front of the camera. I want to take pictures with my husband and children. Most importantly I want to be healthy!!! As a Cardiac Care nurse I see too many young people that have destroyed their health by living unhealthy lives. I REFUSE to be one of those people. My husband is a firefighter and an endurance athlete. I want to be able to keep up with him. Maybe a new hobby could be in my future???? OK so I have a goal but where do I go from here? I need something that makes sense. I need something that keeps me motivated, that is fun, and that I WANT to do. What I found I am really excited about!!! The P.I.N.K. Method is a new wellness program that uses a 3 phase exercise program plus a diet plan to transform women's bodies! More about the program itself to follow in an upcoming blog entry. My best friend, jEn, and I are starting this new journey together. I could not be more excited. Be sure to stayed tuned to what progress I make! I can not wait to see what 2012 has in store for me!!!
