Reaching Out

Hey!

So my mind has been out of blogland lately....I've been trying, oh yes- But nothing in my mind has been posing itself as extremely blog worthy. However, if you miss WNB greatly, check out some of my pages above, I've been updating those here and there :)

It's been an....interesting...couple of days. I guess I can't blog much because all the topics right now I really just need to talk about, like just write and write and write my thoughts with no fear of anything....I can't talk about on here. Friends have suggested journals, but, I'm seeking a stranger to just vent to, I think. Like someone that is completely unbiased, someone that knows nothing already. Someone I don't know and never will know and therefore can't judge I guess...sort of? And if they do judge you, then you move on to another stranger. I guess thats the lure some people find in internet relationships? I've never done that but I can see why people do it.


But anyway, I feel like I'm trying to literally just do so many things at once right now, now that I'm not bogged down with overwhelming amounts of homework and I am "free" (kind of), I have so many projects I am trying to tackle. So for my own sanity and your entertainment, I'll try and list everything:

•  re-organize my room and get it ready for moving out this fall (YAY!!!) But this is seriously a huge project
• get all my writing in ONE PLACE. I'm really trying to get a major start again on my strongest novel, and I'm getting so excited about it because I'm getting so many thoughts for its planning and I just want to WRITE IT!! So, yeah. Thats another big project.
• Art, Art, Art. Not only just the drawing- that comes next. But painting too! I want to finish a painting I already started....and I want to try a new abstract style of painting that I can sort of visualize how its going to work in my head....I also want to start working with a new watercolor kit I bought to try and help teach me Watercolours. Yay!
• Drawing! Not only do I have like 2 huge architecture type drawings I want to get started on, but I have a lot of other random collections I want to do and finish. Amazing! Ahhh. Also, I want to start a real "exclusively Pixar-disney" portfolio, by taking screenshots from favorite movies and practicing drawing disney scenes.
• I want to try to put together, somehow, a LARGE portfolio, of ALLLL of my best photographs. So that they are all in ONE place. I'm sick of digging through computer files to try and find the one I'm looking for. So how am I going to do this? I don't know. There has GOT to be over 5,000 of these "best photos" between my high school shots, college shots, disney shots, Europe shots, random shots, etc.....So....yeah. Have to put some thought yet into this.
• I am swamped lately with photography work, mostly photoshoots for actors/actresses and some other random photoshoots. So lately I have been trying to do some work on renovating how I do photoshoots completely, but thats going to take a lot of work. I also want to renovate how my website is formed, as well as my photography facebook page. Whew!
• I am also trying to be a better nurse. Granted, I am a brand new nurse, but all the more reason to be the best one I can be. I am desperately still trying to read up on nursing literature in my spare time because I find it interesting (I really do!) and I truly do want to be a super-nurse.
• I really, really want to learn Latin. Seriously, though. I do.
• I need to friggen learn how to *actually* be a photographer.  

So basically, I will never be bored within the next...5 years?

I feel like so many things are within reach...but I am trying to be so many different people and by doing this, I can only do a so-so job in all. I am noticing myself slacking lately in photography, so I am only a so-so photographer. Only a so-so writer. So-so blogger. So-so artist. So-so nurse. But if i just had the time...if I could just pick one of these personas and stick with it, I could master it, but then I wouldn't be me anymore. I like that I do them all.....i just need about 16 hours more per day to do it all.  I want to be the super nurse, but does the super nurse have time for everything else I'm trying to do? I want to be an actual writer. I want to have this book written by 2 years from now. I want to be a professional photographer. I want to be an artist. And I don't even have KIDS yet! What's going to happen then???? I'll be a nurse and a mom? Or, stay at home mom and artist maybe? But I don't think I could let go of the medical side of me. I love it. I am beginning to really love medicine and I wouldn't ever want to let all that knowledge just dissipate. I want to make a difference in the nursing community. I have a feeling that I can do huge things and go really far.....I just have to reach. I feel like I can reach, but I'm not reaching. Because I'm afraid of failure? Afraid of success? Afraid of the unknown?


So...thats life right now. Wish I could just talk about the other 5,000 things on my mind right now. Yes, there is even more on my mind than everything i just gobbled out..


I really miss Thanksgiving. I am so, so, so so drastically ready for the winter. I miss cold. I miss snow, so much. I miss so much.........



Needless to say, this year is going to be very, very Interesting......In so many ways.



~WNB




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What I Learned from Disney

Hello everyone! So sorry I have been completely MIA! Things have been just absolutely a whirlwind of fun and insanity, mixed with no blogging time and also nothing to write about, all at the same time!

I have been *so blessed* enough to have had the opportunity to go to Disney World (the land of Magical magical magical memories) in Florida this past weekend, starting Friday and to just yesterday.

Disney is one of those places. When you travel far to get to Disney, you have that moment when you step into the parks and say, "Oh my goodness. I'm in Disney World. I'm in DISNEY WORLD!" and your happiness meter goes up a LOT. Its a similar feeling of disbelief that when you travel far to finally get to Europe, and you get off the airport in Europe for the first time and can't believe its actually happening.  I guess for people that have to get on a plane to get to Disney world, its something totally out of this world. Disney is usually a very planned vacation, with hotels, and reservations, and planning, so much planning, and so much money, and planning. I mean some families reserve a year in advance and buy the disney books and start planning. Because you need to plan. Without an official experienced tour guide, you can't just walk into Disney and "do it right" the first time.

So knowing all that.....to have just jumped on a plane, with the plane ticket bought 3 weeks in advance, to go to Disney for the weekend, was something so funly (new word) and magical and 20's and so impromptu, it was just so much fun!

But, as you all know, I must have a reflecting session. I always reflect on my life's many experiences, small or large and think about what they mean to me, my past and future. Or just what it all means in general to the rest of the world.


One thing I noticed that happened to be very funny and peculiar is that so many people have this amusing love for Tinker Bell! Its adorable. Like disney is magical, yes- And the shows they put on, incredible- but mid-show, when Tink shows up, the percentage of the audience that squeals, "It's Tink!!" Is very high. Don't get me wrong, Tink is adorable and loveable and so small but standing alongside all of the other characters, I think its interesting everyone squeals when she pops in for some fairy dust.

Disney has showed me, or rather reminded me that the human race still believes in magic. And it makes me smile every time. Even though I have seen the shows and ridden all the rides multiple times prior, I like to go do it all again simply to see kids faces for the first time when they see it. I love hearing the "MOM! ITS MICKEY! MICKEY IS HERE!" and the "Daddy, did you see Captain Hook!?" I love their faces when they know they just met *the* real Princess Belle, or the real Peter Pan. They waited their whole life for that and to them, they just met a friggen celebrity. Their faces are priceless.

Even the adults, too. I love nothing more than to hear the whole entire crowd, full of adults with kids on their shoulders, all synonymously sigh, "OOhh!" or "Ahhh!" When a magical moment happens in the epic famous "Wishes" or "Fantasmic" fireworks show is put on.

It also makes me happy when one of the better ride stops and everybody, adults and all, all clap for such a great ride. They Clap! They had such a good time that everybody claps! How cool is that!? It gives you that human connection, that special bonding, knowing that what you just experienced for the last 90 seconds and loved, everyone else loved it just as much as you and you shared that experience with strangers and you smile together, and continue on with your life. It's kind of magical.

There is something I have to say about video recording. I can't say much, because I am guilty of it myself and am not even sure why. I'm not even sure if its actually a problem or not, I have to think into the psychology of it all a bit first. When watching the parades and shows, I see millions of parents around me, all with their point and shoots and videorecorders, all videotaping the parades and shows. They aren't videotaping their kids faces when they see Mickey come out. They are taping Mickey come out. They are taping just the shows.

Which makes me think....Why do we, as humans, do this? My only thought is that we are so swept away in that magical moment that we think- I have to record this to watch again, and again, to relive it another time. But do we ever watch it again? Will your kids ever actually watch it again, or...is it better and more magical to keep stored in your memory only? Our memory morphs experiences to make them seem even better than they actually were. Wouldn't it make sense then, to leave it to our natural memory to record the experience, rather than let our videorecorders do it, that we may never even watch again? Also, if you are videorecording, you are either having a pretty hard time watching the realhardcopy, ten years later. But what I say is, if you feel you or your kids has lost that magical memory, go back again! Save up for another trip!

To conclude, I must share a funny moment with you. My friends and I went and did two of the drawing classes that are offered in Hollywood Studio's in the Disney Animation attraction. What the attraction is, is this studio classroom that holds about 30 people and an instructor with a projector of what he/she is drawing. They then guide you, based on what you can see on their screen, line by line (literally) on what to draw, step by step, to make a pretty good end product.

So the second drawing class we did, it was a surprise on what we were going to draw. As we started drawing each line, the instructor prompted us to keep guessing. Well all we had was a circle on the paper and kids were already shouting out random disney characters, without actually trying to guess. Then, we drew a little more lines on that circle (to start making the face) and it looked like this:

And when we had this, a little bitty voice from the audience shouts, "ITS A TENNIS BALL!" And let me tell you, the cast member instructor couldn't help from stopping her drawing, and bending over to laugh hysterically, along with the entire class. Her only response was, "Yes, Yes it is a tennis ball."  That went down into my top 50 funniest moments of my life. I couldn't tell you what any of the other funny moments are but If there were such a list, this would be in it.

If you are curious, this was our end product:

Eeyore :)

Well, that is all, folks. These next couple weeks....expect to not hear a whole bunch from me. I have three weeks (not even) to study for my *must not fail* test for my license...and time is running out rapidly. My days here on out will either be spent working, or studying. One more test to study for, All or Nothing. 4 years of college into this. fjljwlejfslfj.


Tootalooooo, with love,


~WNB


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Bursting with Happiness

Wow! Okay! Where do I even start? The last week has been a string of hilarious events! I was just telling my  friend the other day that although this summer has had its major downfalls, it has also been probably the best summer of my life. So far.


Previously, the best summer of my life clocked in around 2006, after I graduated high school. My circle of friends had just really started to "form" naturally just before we graduated, so that entire summer was spent nearly every day with each other, (about 5-6 of us) just getting to know every little bit of each other. It was the summer before we all left for college, and we were all just bursting with happiness. Every day felt like a good day to hang out, no matter what. We were 18 and just....free.

I have had good moments, good days, good months since--but have always been searching to get that summer back, that feeling of freedom, happiness and energy. Well, 5 years later- Its totally here.

I have been blessed with seeing so many friends! Although the original friends from 2006 all split off and are doing their own thing, we all still talk and catch up once in awhile-which is wonderful. But- the true blessing is making new friends! Turning people from your past that you barely knew into your best friend tomorrow. I have been doing so many fun things with so many different people-- seeing so many different things, new experiences.... The most important thing is that I have been laughing so much! I love to laugh. What more could I ever ask for?




I guess the only thing I could actually ask for now is to pass my NCLEX coming........*sigh*. I should probably devote some time to that, eh? Yessum.



Signing off for now- Working all day today and then....ready for it......Jersey Shore all week, starting tomorrow! I'll be sure to share lots of beach pictures!



~ A (HAPPY) Writer in a Nurse's Body

Why Allergies are on a Rapid Uprising

I am no stranger to allergies. I experienced my first anaphylactic reaction to peanuts when I was only one year of age. Since then, I have been very much allergic to peanuts and all peanut-related products, (peanut oil, peanut butter, etc.). But this is nothing new to me. So far, for the past 21 years I have been pretty excellent at avoiding peanuts at all costs (despite some close encounters). For some reason, some hot dog joints use peanut oil, and chinese places (some) cook with it too. People are often shocked when they learn I am allergic to what they think is a wonderful thing. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard, "You can't have peanut butter??! OMG I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER."  or  "Are you gonna die if I breath on you after I eat a Reese's Pieces?" , I'd be insanely rich.

The answer is no. I won't die.

21 years after my first discovery of my first allergy, I accepted the conclusion that I was also severely allergic to all kinds of dairy. I tried rice milk as a substitution and it may have been the cause of my hospitalization, so now I stay away from all dairy and dairy substitutes, except the soy milk found in my substitute ice cream.

Now, get this:

Although it is not a documented allergy and would never produce an anaphylactic reaction, I believe I am also allergic to the following:  chocolate, red dye, most all candy, wheat, bananas & oranges, and tomatoes.

So, its been fun. But I manage to survive, I still eat.

Anyway, while reading "The New Yorker" this week, I was attracted to This Amazing Article , written by Jerome Groopman titled "The Peanut Puzzle". The article highlights the fact of what I and many informed and in-the-nutrition-loop people already know: that allergies are on a skyrocket. More and more kids are being diagnosed with a food allergy nowadays. Practically every classroom now has at least one kid that is highly allergic to peanuts, let alone the dairy-free kids. Parents can't send their children in with peanut lunches sometimes, or can't put peanut products into bakery items because of this alarming rise over the past couple decades. Not only is peanut allergies rising, but dairy and gluten allergies have never been higher, or more publicized. Hopefully we can only see more improvements in that area.

The article is really very interesting. Unfortunately unless you are a subscriber you cannot access the entire thing in the link provided, but go to the nearest library near you and they might have a copy. One particular point I would like to bring up that the article spent a lot of time discussing is this: Restaurants are the allergen's worst nightmare. Although the food industry has made significant improvements in providing dairy, egg, gluten & peanut free products in the supermarkets, restaurants are really slow and not-interested in getting on the moving boat. The article states that "restaurant incidents result in a quarter of all unintentional exposures to peanuts and half of all fatal reactions." That is completely unnecessary. And why does this happen? Read the following passage:

"...focusing on New York City and Long Island, Sicherer found that about a quarter of managers and workers believed that consuming a small amount of the allergen would be safe; 35% believed that frying would destroy it; and a quarter thought it was safe to remove an allergen from a finished meal, like taking walnuts off a salad. Nearly three-quarters of food workers felt that they knew how to "guarantee" a safe meal. Most states do not require that food providers attend educational programs, and there are no national requirements..." -Jerome Groopman

o_0

so you can see how people are still exposed to their allergens. We can't live in a bubble. I know that during the time that I was temporarily gluten-free, eating at a restaurant was the primary cause of me getting sick. Even today, I tend to feel sick after restaurant food because of the strange things they put milk in.

So, because I don't like presenting problems that I do not have a solution too, here is my 22 year old naive and dimwitted version of a solution:
Like Groopman states, restaurant employees should be required to attend education classes on the following curriculum:

1) what types of food allergies there are (the common ones [peanuts] and uncommon ones [sesames] )
2) how to know what foods these allergens are found in, and sometimes hidden in.
3) Learn how to properly guarantee that cross-contamination has not occurred.
4) learn how to correctly complete someone's meal when they make the effort to tell you (the waiter, manager, or chef) that they are gluten, dairy, egg, or peanut free. OR anything else.

I know there are a couple restaurants that are catching on pretty nicely. Examples off the top of my head include "Outback Steakhouse" that has a gluten-free menu, Uno Pizzeria that has a gluten free pizza, and "Red Robin" who does not have a separate menu but have been more than accommodating to provide alternate menu choices.

The best "company" that I have ever seen accommodate food allergies is Disney. When travelling to disney, I personally met with chefs so that they could personally guarantee my meal was gluten free, and show me what to order. Even on the fast food lines, it was well-advertised what was and was not gluten-free. It was heaven for allergenics. If only all restaurants could learn from Disney...heck, if all companies could learn from Disney, we'd all be a lot better off in more ways than one.

Restaurants need to pick up on this fast growing....trend? problem?...pretty quick or they will not survive in business the next 10-20 years. Not only are there many people with real and serious allergies that could experience an anaphylactic reaction, but more and more people are making the choice  to remove dairy and gluten from their diets, to better their lifestyle. It is becoming more and more popular with adults, as well as young children suffering from autism and ADHD.


Just two years ago when I started gluten-free, unless it was in my imagination because I was "new to the field" it was not easy finding gluten-free products. And when I did find them, they tasted like cardboard. Now, in just two years, not only do supermarkets like Wegmans and WHole Foods make allergenic-shopping a pleasant experience, but ShopRItes "LiveRite" section also makes it easy and enjoyable too. The term "gluten-free" is all over the Internet and in ads everywhere (even on my Facebook page). I have two favorite products, special "K-toos" cookies that are gluten, dairy AND peanut free, and special pretzels that are dairy, gluten, soy, and egg free which is amazing. AND they both TASTE really yummy.

SO thats my exceedingly long post on allergies. But no really, try and read the article if you can. It was fascinating. Lots of good information..As always, thanks for reading.

~A Writer in a Nurse's Body

Related Posts:

Dinner Menu

Deadly Poison

Milk

Meeting with Dietitian

Empire State of Mind

So yesterday I got to travel into the Big Apple, New York City, "Center of the Universe". I love the city, and I love being there, mostly because I love to watch the type of people in the city. But I could never live there. And boy, was it crowded. But here are some edited pictures I took and love and I hope you love too: (And consider this picture of the week, too!)

And my FAVORITE:

This is now the opening screen to my iPhone. :-)

Based off of friend's recent experiences as well, (she had a run-in with Elmo), characters seem to be very common to come across in New York City. The funny part is people walk right along side of them and often don't give them a second glance, because really-what else is new in NYC? Everywhere you look there is something eccentric and odd. And then there was the tourists (me) taking pictures of Minnie. But it was adorable, because guess who she was waving to? Thats right, you guessed it...MICKEY. It was so cute. She started off by making a phone call on the booth behind her, it was so random. And then she turned around to wave to Mickey. We also saw Bugs Bunny while eating lunch. Just randomly walking down the street, with groceries in his hand. I'm serious!

So anyway, as for an update on my life: I learned how to drive stick-shift (Manual!) Whhhhaaaa? YES. I learned a long time ago and get a lesson every now and then, but I usually suck, and its usually in a high-school parking lot. But this time, it was later on at night and my friend who own's the truck suggested that I drive us home....And as nervous as I was, I totally did it! I drove! A manual! Truck! And I only stalled once. I gave myself an A- on my driving experience, but my friend-instructor gave me a B, lol.

But the point of this is that this same friend has taught me something very important that relates to a recent post about being frustrated that I feel I am missing a manual on life. That I don't know how to do anything and therefore am too afraid to try. I told him I felt like this, and this person said flat out, "Do you know how I learned? I just did it. You make mistakes, you screw up and try it again." And with my successful driving experience, after just relaxing and winging it, that made so much more sense and I felt that I could definitely learn how to do more in life. So next challenge that comes along, I am excited to take it. If I don't know how to do something, I'm going to just try. I can figure it out. I guess my biggest fear is that I don't want to cause mass destruction or harm to anyone else in the process of "figuring things out". It's one thing when you are installing a coffee maker by yourself (that was a random example) but its another when you want to learn how to make a fireplace and you burn the entire house down (again, completely random-this never happened).  So I have to find an even balance of being courageous enough to try, but smart enough to know when not to try or too ask for help...Good lesson of the week :-)

New topic:
I am very frustrated lately. I cannot seem to hold on to my dreams. Every day, I wake up and there is this fragment of my dream...barely hanging there, and I catch a small glimpse of it, and the minute I try to grab on to the rest, it goes away. I think its a lot like fishing. Some of the "fragments" I get I know lead to bad dreams I had, and some others I knew were good...either way, I like to remember my dreams and I get frustrated when I don't. And the whole keeping a pencil by your bed is silly. Well its not silly, maybe it works for some but not for me. I am delusional when I am woken up and a pencil and a piece of paper would make no sense to me at whatever time I woke up. So, oh well.

Well I'm totally exhausted. I got all my christmas shopping done today, YAY for productivity.

With love,

~A Writer in a Nurse's Body

Nurse in Disney?

Thought of the day:


Wouldn't it be incredible if I could be a nurse in Disney World? Hells YES! Ah, I should apply for the hell of it. Why not? When I was visiting the parks on my recent trip, I went in and asked them if they hired nurse externs/interns and they said no, but they employed RN's.

HOW FUN WOULD THAT BE? Seriously. In the parks all day :) Treating stuff like heat exhaustion, dehydration, random heart attacks?, anything really.....

but do i want to live in Florida? Thats questionable...

hmmm.....

something to ponder.

Tangled

Tangled is SUCH A GOOD MOVIE!!!





Disney, you will never disappoint. You are the epitome of AWESOME.




GO SEE TANGLED!