Jess In Wonderland

Exercise

2015-08-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

Back in May, one of my new friends, Julia, decided that she is going to run a half marathon. She asked me and another friend to join her. My other friend, Katherine, has ran half marathons before so she was all for it. I thought about it for awhile. They both told me the run wouldn't be until November so it would give us time to train. I'm not a big fan of running, and I've always struggled at it because it was just not that fun to me. But after much thought, I decided to join them. 1. Running a half marathon has always been on my bucket list. 2. Julia has never ran either, so she would need a lot of extensive training as well.

I didn't do any runs in May because Julia went home for a month. Julia was the one I really wanted to start training with because we are both on the same level unlike Katherine, who has done this before. So when Julia came back in June, we started our training. The month of June was that time where we ran some, but did a whole lot of walking. I was still in that, 'Eh. Whatever," mindset. Than July came around, and I don't really know what changed. We started really running, Katherine would help to train us, and I got past that "whatever" stage, and really pushed myself. We started to set small short term goals too to help us out on our journey.

By the end of July, Julia and I were able to run 2 miles without stopping. I got better at my running form putting my chest out, lowering my arms, and taking bigger strides. I listened to music and we ran the streets of Nashville, which helped me focus on my surroundings and that helped distract me from my breathing.

Today, at the beginning of August, I have ran 3.31 miles without taking any walking breaks. I am so incredibly proud of myself! It was brutal, but Katherine and Henry (who are both runners) were very

encouraging today and cheered me on telling me I can do it. The run was brutal only because I was already incredibly sore in my calfs, quads, and hamstrings. But I kept pushing on. It felt wonderful when I finished. I was so proud of myself.

Later this month, Katherine and a few of my coworkers are going to run at the Color Run. It's suppose to be more about fun with them, but I'm definitely going to try and run that 5k without having to take walking breaks. It will be another challenge, but it's a great challenge.

By the end of August, I'm hoping I can run 4-5 miles without taking any walking breaks. It will definitely be a lot harder, but I know I can do this if I try my best. It's all a mental game for me, but I have learned to really push myself in the last year or so.

On a similar side note, on the days I'm not running outside, Julia and I are rock climbing to incorporate other activities to cross train. We are also doing interval trainings practicing our sprinting on the treadmill provided at the climbing center. We started regularly climbing back in January, but took a hiatus for about two months. Now we have decided to pick it back up.

I'm super pumped about all these new healthy changes in my life. I really hope it sticks. As of right now, my life feels like it mostly consists of work and training. I'm so happy by that!

Sweets Love

2015-07-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

I sure do love sweets! I have been following the Instagram of Blue Monkey Shaved Ice food truck the last month trying to figure out where they usually are stationed. I have been craving shaved iced recently, and theirs is marvelous.

Here I am holding half of a sour apple/raspberry with snow cream. It was absolutely delicious!

I literally only went to the park just so I can grab some of this. Henry joined me for the first time and thought it was delicious.

Later on in the day, I headed over to my parents place. My sister and I have been craving chamoyada. I have seen pictures of it on Tumblr, but never had any. They look SO good, however, I didn't think we sold any here in Nashville. A few weeks before, a friend on Facebook posted a picture of one. Someone had asked her where she got it, and she gave an address closer to home than I had expected. I told my sister, and she was ready to go try some.

We went to this paleta store called Paletas Tocumbo in Franklin. Omg. It was so worth it! I have always been to only one paletas place in Nashville, so I had to see how this place's watermelon paleta compare to the other place I frequent. It turns out that their watermelon paleta tastes just as good and is bigger! As for the chamoyada, that was so worth it. I am already craving some more, and it's only been one day!

It's Been A Long Time

2015-07-26T22:44:00.001-07:00

Wow. I never realized that I still had this blog site. I haven't updated this in years! I probably won't keep up to date with this all the time, but I'm going to try my best. I have been wanting to write in a journal or something about my life recently, and thought that it was such a waste of my money to try and buy myself a physical journal when I might just stop writing in it at anytime. At least this is free!

So since my last blog post, I graduated from nursing school in May 2012. I got a job shortly afterwards as a nurse in a skilled rehab/nursing facility. I spent two years there very much comfortable and happy, but than realized that I really wanted a challenge and to work in the hospital setting. So I applied after two years and was able to get a job on a medical-surgical floor at one of the main hospitals here. Sure enough, it was one hell of a challenge. I definitely learned a lot on this floor, but I was getting tired of it and really wanted to try out a specialty area. So now I am in the women's and children's building of the hospital on a gynecological medical surgical floor. I started out orienting to mother/baby (really taking care of only mother's), and I absolutely loved it! I know for sure I eventually want to be moved to this floor in the future. This week, I will be orienting to my actual floor. So I guess I'll keep you all posted on how that ends up working out for me.

In other news, my boyfriend and I just had our two year anniversary on Friday. He surprised me with a nice fancy dinner at a steakhouse in downtown. While we were there, I asked him why he picked this restaurant over some other popular ones I had heard of, and he said it was because the place had history and character. He sure wasn't wrong about it! The food was delicious! I absolutely loved that he put some thought and time into planning this out. Here are pictures from the evening:

My fried green tomato with crab cake as my appetizer.

My main dish: mini file mignon with bacon and brussels sprouts in balsamic.

Henry's standard filet mignon.

Our shared dessert: red velvet cookie with vanilla bean ice cream.

Post Updates

2012-02-05T21:18:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! I'm sorry that I have not been keeping up with my blog. My weeks have been loaded with a lot of course work, and I have continuously had Saturday clinicals, which makes it difficult for me to have even one day to just relax or do anything fun. This is just a post to let everyone know that I'm still keeping this blog running. It just might be awhile before I blog again.

Thank you for still sticking around if you do!

Birthday Dinner

2012-01-22T02:03:00.000-08:00

This past Monday was Rachel's 22nd birthday dinner. We went out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Of course, since it was a special occasion, I had an excuse to dress up.

Sorry for the lack of detail and outfit pictures. My sister's boyfriend took them for me. I wore an American Rag dress, New York and Company cardigan, black tights, Xhilaration Shannon platform pumps, AE Women's AEO Horseshoe Wrap Bracelet, AE purple charm bracelet, AE crystal studded bracelet, and replica of Tiffany & Co. charm bracelet.

Wedding Dinner Makeup

2012-01-19T22:20:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has taken me awhile to post again. I wanted to participate in the StopSOPA/PIPA, so I didn't bother posting anything yesterday. Anyways, here is the eyeshadow look I did for the wedding dinner I went to last Sunday.

I used my Maybelline Eyestudio in Give Me Gold. This is pretty much my go-to eyeshadow look for any regular day when I have time to.

I will post my eyeliner look I wear if I get lazy and decide not to put any eyeshadow on.

Thanks for reading!

Wedding Dinner

2012-01-16T22:24:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, one of my mom's friends/ waiter got married. She didn't have that traditional wedding ceremony, but we had a small wedding dinner at the restaurant. I didn't know exactly how I was suppose to dress, but I can't help wanting to look pretty. So here is what I wore:

Forever21 blouse, Forever21 Knee Length Lace Overlay skirt, black tights, H&M bow bracelet, gold bracelets from a family friend, and M.P.S. Karida heels

Outfit of the Day

2012-01-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I spent the majority of my day with my best friend. We didn't really do much, but go to the mall and out to eat. However, it was a great excuse for me to actually dress up. My outfit isn't exactly the most "dressy" outfit or anything, but it sure was comfortable!

Sketched Chihuahua Heathered Sweatshirt, Forever 21 dark brown fit pants with buttons on them, Bare Traps Dark Brown Jaline Boots, Betsey Johnson 'Bling Bling Time' Bracelet Watch, American Eagle bracelets.

Eyeshadow Look Using M.A.C.

2012-01-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! School has officially started back for me so I don't know how much I will be updating this blog. Normally, when I'm in school, I don't really tend to get dressed, put eye makeup on, or even cook at all because I'm so busy stressing out from all my classes. Anyways, I decided to do a quick eye makeup using three M.A.C. eyeshadows that I own. These are the eyeshadows that I used:

Star Violet

Shale

Beauty Marked

Here is the look that I came up with using these three shades:

Avocado with Bell Peppers and Tomatoes

2012-01-01T01:14:00.000-08:00

I'm not a cook, but I've really been into cooking lately. It's probably because I'm on break right now, and I don't have much else going on. Well tonight, this is what I made as a little appetizer:

It was absolutely delicious. Here is where I got it from: Avocado with Bell Peppers and Tomatoes. Enjoy!

NYE

2012-01-01T01:03:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a good NYE. This is what I wore tonight.

Navy JCrew schoolboy blazer, Rachel Roy Heather dress, black tights, Xhilaration Shannon platform pumps, Betsey Johnson "Bling Bling Time" silver watch, and necklace a friend gave me.