Kristle - Tales of My Everyday Life

Happy Mother's Day! I'm so thankful to have an amazing mother. I'm foregoing sleep to spend time with her and the fam before working my 12 shift tonight. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Be Thankful Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire, If you did, what would there be to look forward to? Be thankful when you don't know something For it gives you the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow. Be thankful for your limitations Because they give you opportunities for improvement. Be thankful for each new challenge Because it will build your strength and character. Be thankful for your mistakes They will teach you valuable lessons. Be thankful when you're tired and weary Because it means you've made a difference. It is easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks. GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles and they can become your blessings. ~ Author Unknown ~

I am deeply thankful to God for giving me a life full of so much love and blessings. Happy Easter!

Rest I'm finally well-rested! I requested the day off from work Sunday just so I could rest. I've had two nights in a row of good sleep. I was exhausted from a busy weekend. I had been running errands, working, and helping set up for Jenn's birthday party. Career outlook I know I don't work that much, but there is something about working nights that isn't working for me anymore. I love being a critical care nurse and I'm thankful to have a great job, but I'm feeling a nudge to try something new. I've always been the type of person who always likes to try and learn new things. I'm not sure what I want to pursue yet (it's been a challenge to narrow it down at the moment), but I'm open to any interesting new opportunities. Some job preferences I hope to find include: full-time, day shift, 8 or 10 hour shifts, no weekends or one weekend a month, and flexible scheduling. I like flexibility, but I also want something with a more consistent, stable ...

Actually, it's raining life lessons in my life right now. I've been on a roller coaster of emotions for awhile now. I won't explain the details of my life that got me to this point, but I will reflect on the lessons learned to make the best of it. Recently, I've been dealing with my share of personal and professional disappointments. Everything has been coming at me at the same time into one collective burnt out feeling. Time is rolling by and life is passing by so fast for me. Sometimes it's so fast that I feel like I can barely catch up, process it, and stay on top of it all. I'm learning many things simultaneously about respect, patience, trust, happiness, dealing with fear, following my heart, honesty, frustration, disappointment, grief, rejection, taking risks/chances, pain, conflict, communication, professionalism, friendship, love, acceptance, letting go, the change process, taking responsibility for myself, not settling for anything less than what I want...

Daydreaming of the beach It's mid March. Today is a beautifully sunny day. When I see clear blue skies and sunny weather, I immediately think--beach. If I had my choice, I'd either be enjoying a lazy day at the beach or running at the beach right now. Okay, I also enjoy long walks too, haha. I look forward to beautiful weather in the months to come, when I'm ready to enjoy it to the fullest. Spring Cleaning I feel good today. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me before and after I graduate school, but I also know I have a lot to be thankful for and look forward to. I decided to clean out this "survival mode" stuff. It's not just not me. Last month was not the easiest month for me. Being sick more than half the month was a challenge. I choose to let my challenges inspire me. I'm learning from what didn't work for me, which was lack of sleep and stress. Learning to get enough sleep has made a huge difference. Making sure I eat also helped. Next, I pla...

February is halfway through. Happy Valentine's Day, Single Awareness Day...whatever people want to call it. I'm not into Valentine's Day even if I am acknowledging it today and I am a hopeless romantic at heart. I don't agree with the idea of Valentine's Day because I don't think one day should be the main focus. I think love should be an everyday thing. I personally believe in telling the people you love that you do love them every chance you get, that means anyone and everyone you care about. It's about making time for the important people in your life. I was sick earlier this month. I keep getting sick because I lack good sleep most of the time. I know it's because my body can't handle working nights anymore no matter what I do. Getting sick made me behind with assignments and stuff. And I also couldn't go out. Life definitely felt like it was on hold for awhile, so I don't like it when I get sick. Obviously nobody does. I'm still adju...

My thoughts and prayers are with my friends and their families through these recent times because they are dealing with a loss in the family or a significant health issue. I feel sad thinking about it right now. Even though I can't be there for everyone all the time or at the same time, I do care and I will be there for my loved ones as much as I possibly can. This type of news and events are the kind that definitely get to me as they would to anyone who has a heart. I guess that's why I'm here writing about it right now. I've been thinking about how precious life is and how much I care about the people I love. I can't help but think of the saying like in the song, "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone..." I really pray that my friends and their families are okay through these difficult and challenging times. Even though I'm not dealing directly with the kind of issues that my friends and their families are coping with, I'm still...

Even though there's no possible way to truly measure how much fun I've been having, here's what my awesome winter break looked like... 2 Disneyland visits 3 Laker games 4 Snowboarding days 1 Concert 2 Clubbing nights and many other fun times in between. Now compare that with... 4 days of work this month 1 day of school this month It's been a fun and fulfilling month. February is approaching and I always enjoy taking a moment to appreciate how wonderful my life is right now. I'm so thankful for it all.

I went to the John Legend concert (including special guest Estelle) last night at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City. The show was awesome. It was a lot of fun. My cousin Anne and I had great seats, so that means we got pictures! I LOVE John Legend and after last night, I'm still on a John Legend high. His performance, his voice, his style, and just him....he's just so HOT. Last night's concert just reminded me how much I love attending live events and hearing live music. Music is definitely the remedy to the stress in my life lately and I'm glad it's there exactly when I need it! Memories from the show... John showing off his piano skills John and Estelle performing "No Other Love" (one of my fav songs!) me and Ate Anne random...hahaha John singing "Everybody Knows"

Slumdog Millionaire is a good movie and I recommend it. I watched it last night having no prior knowledge of what it was about or that it even received acclaim from critics. Critic's choice award for best picture. Interesting story. Well-developed characters. Action, comedy, drama, and romance. What else could you ask for? Oh yeah, and it's a rags to riches story too.

My night at work is going well. Not as hectic as nights over the past few weeks. I mean I even have time to update this, which almost never happens. Anyhow, something interesting happened earlier. I just received a very nice gift from one the family members of a patient I cared for months ago. She came back because she wanted to apologize for being so rude to me when I took care of her husband. I don't even remember what she specifically said to me, but I do remember that it was challenging to reassure her about everything I was doing when I took care of her husband at the time. She thanked me for taking very good care of her husband. Apparently, she bumped into one of the CNAs in the cafeteria, specifically asked if I was working and tracked me me down in the unit I'm working at to deliver a little statue called "the angel of caring." It was a sweet and thoughtful gift. It's just nice to be reminded from time to time that your patients and/or their families act...

NYE It's starting to sink in with me that it is a new year. I was working and my night was busy enough that the ICU doc I work directly with ended up being the one to tell me midnight had passed. To me, time is flying by! Snowboarding I finally got to go snowboarding for the first time in 2 years on Friday. I really missed it! It's kinda sad that I still don't know how to carve yet, I mean I kinda was able to in the past, but some times the incline freaks me out. I haven't been boarding much in the last 4 years and it would help if I got more practice. Anyways, I'm going to conquer my fears and give it my best shot next time. Dang, I can't wait to go boarding again. I wish I was going tomorrow! It's amazing though, I swear with how much I was leafing it down the hill on all my runs that my quadriceps would have been super sore, but my legs were fine. I'm ready to fall and do whatever it takes to learn. Wedding crasher Yesterday I went with my friends Edw...