doing good = feeling good

I definitely MEANT to write this post before Christmas. But I got completely wrapped up in Christmas Eve and Christmas Day festivities with my family. Technically, it is still the Season to be thinking about our lives, reflecting on our blessings, and sharing what we can with those who are not as fortunate this year.


I think you know by now the last 4 months of my life were probably the most challenging months I have ever had to go through. The constant pressure to study for exams was too much for me at times. I failed to maintain any balance between my studies and everything else that would potentially bring me some balance and peace. The gym? Once a week, if I was feeling truly overwhelmed. Walking the dogs? Every other day. Cooking fresh healthy meals? Ha, right. It was a combination of these things in which I lacked balance that caused me to gain weight and feel like it was a perpetual rainy day in my head. It really truly broke me for a while. I felt inadequate and incapable. But throughout all of my personal struggling, I did have the love and support of my husband, family, friends, and classmates. Without them, I don't think I would have stayed int the program.


I'm sure it seems pathetic to be whining about my life, when really it is a very blessed one. I have a home, a husband who would do anything for me, family with nothing but encouragement for me, and friends who believed in my way more than I did in myself. I'm in a prestigious program that I am grateful to have been selected to be a part of, yet I whine. What really saved me from spiraling down that twisted path of self pity this fall were the times when I was given perspective.


And these opportunities to gain perspective couldn't have had better timing.


In October, which was probably the most difficult month of all of this fall madness, I was given the opportunity to volunteer at a Halloween Party at the Children's Hospital. I dressed in my Tony the Tiger costume, helped set up games and craft stations for the children, and waited. When the kids started to arrive to the party, perspective slammed me in the face like a brick. Here I was, crying over my stressful study schedule...when there are all of these sweet children faced with life threatening medical conditions. I felt like such a fool, and it warmed my heart to do my part to give them a holiday celebration. I painted faces, made crafts, and just talked and laughed with some of these kid. The fact they they were going through their current situation and still managed to keep smiling made me determined to be thankful for my life no matter how much stress I may face.
That volunteer opportunity could not have come for me at a better time. I needed a healthy dose of reality and perspective. My next dose of perspective came in November when I asked my husband what he wanted for his birthday (Dec 13th). He said he would not accept any material gifts this year, and that he wanted everyone who would normally give him a gift to instead donate to a charity of their choice. One that means something to each donor. You see, my husband is this incredibly selfless human who is much better than me at realizing there isn't a whole lot we actually need, so he wanted to be able to help out those truly in need this holiday season.


And what a success his birthday idea was! I chose to donate to Heifer International, one of my favorite charities of all time! If you've never heard of this organization - you should know about it! It's based on the idea that if you give a family in need something that can help them sustain themselves for years to come, that gift is more useful than a one time donation of food or money. The organization donates animals such as camels, water buffalo, cows, llamas, pigs, goat, sheep, rabbits, ducks, chickens, geese, and honeybees. Each animal makes a difference somewhere in the world, and the families that receive them make a promise that they will in turn give a gift of their own. When their gifted animal has offspring, they are supposed to give the offspring to a family in their community that they can see is in need. It is a beautiful cycle of continual gift-giving that has the potential to allow entire communities to thrive. To learn more, go to http://www.heifer.org/


For the other part of Tyler's gift, I donated to PetSmart Charities - an organization aimed at saving homeless puppies. That charity is meaningful to me because we adopted both of our puppies at PetSmart's Second Chance for Love adoption events, and it so important to me that this organization can continue to find puppies new homes. On a side note, our dog Penny became the Pet Adoption story of the month on their facebook page! It is so sweet :) To see her picture and adoption story, click here: https://www.facebook.com/#!/savehomelesspets. Proud mama!!!


For my family's birthday gifts to Tyler, they donated to a variety of organizations! They filled some shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child (gifts of toys, school supplies, and basic hygiene items are sent to children in need all across this world), donated to Adopt-A-Family (a local drive in our high school to gather supplies/food/toys for local families in need), as well as they donated to the Children's Hospital, an area of medicine near and dear to our hearts. To learn more about Operation Christmas Child, please visit  http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/ To donate to The Children's Hospital, please visit http://www.childrenscolorado.org/give/donate.aspx.


Tyler's parents bought a tricycle for Tyler, which we chose to donate to Toys For Tots. We're hoping it made someone's Christmas very very special :)


For one of our personal holiday donations this year, Tyler and I decided to donate to KLove, the local Christian radio station. We can't ever donate as much as we would like to, but I can't tell you how many times listening to KLove on the way to school helped me to at least start the day off on the right foot. It is such a positive way to start your day, so we wanted to express our appreciation to the station.


Volunteer work has always been a HUGE part of my life. Ever since junior high when I started working at local homeless shelters, doing Meals on Wheels, canned food drives, Habitat for Humanity, and many other projects. I have always found myself at peace when I am giving of myself so that others can have more of a chance at life. It is at once selfless and selfish, because while I am putting in my time and money, I get so much more in return. I have definitely been yearning for the opportunity to volunteer for SOMETHING, ANYTHING, and once school was finally over for the fall semester for us, we were finally able to do some hands on volunteer work at the Ronald McDonald House. For all the negative press McDonalds gets these days, I am at least thankful for their part in creating the Ronald McDonald Houses. If you are unfamiliar with what they do, you should definitely check out this link: http://rmhc.org/who-we-are/mission-and-vision/. Ronald McDonald Houses provide lodging and meals for families of children who are staying in hospitals. They also provide programs aimed at strengthening families during these most trying of times, which I think is a wonderful service! So anyway, last Monday Tyler, myself, and some of my PA School classmates went to our local Ronald McDonald house to cook and serve breakfast to the families staying there. It wasn't anything over the top, but it was nice feeling like we were chipping in. These families have to endure so much, and at least they don't have to worry about cooking and cleaning.


I am just so filled with love this time of year. Love for my family, love for my friends, and love for complete strangers who I don't know the first thing about, but whom I know need our love nonetheless. I hope as you count your blessings and your Christmas gifts you've received this year, that you take a minute to share something of yourself with people who need you. Be it a monetary donation or a volunteer activity, it will change your life as well as impact other lives.


Happy Holidays to you - I hope they continue to be very blessed!!!
Cheers :)

taking a break

Since getting out of school at noon on Friday, we have been taking FULL advantage of being on holiday break!!!
I started out the break by going to BJs with my anatomy lab group - we still can't get used to not spending 30 hours a week dissecting together, and I love that we get together every other month and have a lunch/vent session/chatathon!!! :)

Friday evening I did break right by heading to Kona Grill for Happy Hour with some of my girls from my old job at Rose! Best happy hour ever!!!

Loving this chardonnay!!!

Margherita Flatbread, drool. 

Loving seeing my girl Lauren!!! 

We LOVED the giant tree outside of Cherry Creek mall!

It was really exciting at that moment in time.

Saturday we took a trip to Fort Collins to reconnect with friends and visit new hot spots people have been telling us about (okay, not that Tony's is a hot spot, but I was pretty impressed with the heated rooftop bar they now have!!!).

First stop - Ace Gillete's with Robin! My new FAVORITE bar!

Tell me that doesn't look divine. 

A trio of Creme Brulee and a Raspberry Lemonade Martini??? Talked me into it. 

Delicious food. Perfectly made drinks. Beautiful live jazz music. The ultimate ambiance. Obviously, I recommend it. As a bonus, the experience of finding the doorway entrance to the stairs that leads to the brick-lined tiny alley that leads to the entrance to this little gem reminds me of going to Diagon Alley. I'm just saying. :)

I love Fort Collins - and I love holidays - and I love Old Town lit up to sparkle during the holidays! (complete with the random pianos hand painted by local artists!!!)

Sunday we had breakfast at McCoy's (ummm did I really go out to eat 4 times this weekend! Yikes, time to go the gym) then headed over to my in-laws for our 2nd Annual Gingerbread Village Festival! This year we all stepped it up and handcrafted our creations from graham crackers, no premade houses for us (although, legit that was hard, soooo getting a premade ginger house next year)!

My toy shop! It's a little messy inside, but that's because it's Christmas Eve and the shoppers are out of control in there!!!

The Village :)

Sunday night was a lazy movie and couch kind of night, just what we needed!!!

What a weekend...

Cheers to that!









tis' the season

Happy holidays, guys!

I have been kind of MIA on the blog scene, lately. Just busy with the holidays! I hope Thanksgiving was good for you all, it was great for me! My brother was home for the holiday, so it was wonderful to spend time with him before he deploys next month. We ate...a LOT, and my sister and I did the annual Black Friday shopping! We didn't get anything except for tons and tons of movies!

I've been trying to balance work and health and play and relaxation all amidst the crazy holidays! I manged to finish 50 of those peppermint cards and mail them out last week. That was DEFINITELY one of the most time-consuming projects I've ever embarked on...and it will not be something I will do again anytime in the near future. But at least I can say that I have made Christmas cards completely from scratch once in my life!

Here is the photo we chose for our cards!

One of my college roommates is getting married this weekend, and it is a Friday --> Monday event, so it has prompted me to get Christmas taken care of nice and early! With cards out and shopping finished, I am looking forward to enjoying myself in the mountains this weekend with friends!

Also, today is my husband's birthday! Happy 25th to the love of my life! Boy am I thankful that he was born! :) 

I hope you are all doing well and finding time to remember the reason for the season! Hugging your loved ones and enjoying the Christmas lights & cocoa, candy canes and Nativity Scenes :)

Speaking of Nativity Scenes, I saw this stone one at Target..and I LOVE IT! We don't yet have one of our own, so hopefully I'll find one on sale after the holidays!

Isn't it gorgeous? Anyway, hope your holiday season is off to a fun and enjoyable start!!! 

Cheers :)

 Like our Christmas tree?

christmas cards!

Hello, hello!

I hope you all have had an enjoyable weekend :) I'll blog about my weekend adventures later. This blog post is a step-by-step look at how I am hand-making my Christmas cards this year! Keep in mind, I'm a novice :) But since I will be in PA School {and busy as hell} for the next 3 Christmases, I figured the time to be crafty for Christmas is now!

Without further ado, I give you my Peppermint Christmas Cards!

I started with blank white cards & envelopes...

My cute stamp {Michaels's for all supplies seen here!}

Stamped the inside of cards with green ink, then colored in a yellow star at the top of the Christmas tree

Then I wrote a personal note in metallic pens, and stamped puppy paws, too!

Cut lots of red and green ribbon

And glued to the fronts of the cards

Used glitter and glitter glue to create the wrapper effect for the peppermints

Then I drew a peppermint design and filled it in with glue {Martha Stewart Crafts Ballpoint-Tip Glue Pen has been a lifesaver! It allows you to do really intricate things with glue and glitter!} then used liberal amounts of red glitter :)

Lastly, I colored green strips in along the red swirls!

VOILA!

I am also including a picture of our little family on the inside, but we have yet to pick out our photo, so I'll keep you posted when we find the one we will use! Oh, and just for fun, click here to see our holiday photo from last year! It was before we had Gryffin :) So just Tyler, Penny, and me! 

Oh, and we can't just forget about the envelopes! I found a cute snowflake stamp and used metallic silver ink to stamp on the corner of the envelope. 

Then just for some extra sparkle, I stuck on cute green rhinestones on the envelope flaps!

The end.

There's my craftiness for the rest of the year! 

Are any of you doing any cute holiday crafts?

Cheers :)

operation christmas child

Hey guys! So I have a fabulous donation opportunity for ALL of you to participate in. Have any of you ever heard of Operation Christmas Child? If you have - YAY! If not - then pretty please - read on...

Operation Christmas Child is an organization that affords impoverished children worldwide the opportunity to experience the joy of receiving a Christmas gift. These kids often don't own any toys, and for this one time, they have a gift to call their own. And the gifts are the doing of the kind hearts of people.

Last year, over 8 million children received shoeboxes.

Just think about the child's life you could affect by filling an old shoebox with a stuffed animal so they can snuggle with something for comfort, a coloring book & crayons to add brightness to their day, and health items we take for granted: toothbrush & toothpaste.

Okay, I know that was cheesy, but here's the deal. You have a shoebox lying around your house. Decide on whether you want to give a gift to a boy or a girl, and choose an age range. Fill the box with treasures a child can enjoy halfway across the world. Then drop off at a local drop-site near you.

Easy as 1, 2, 3...and you'll give a child a Christmas they'll never forget. 

Here is the link to find out more information and where a drop-site is near you:

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

Operation Christmas Child is dedicated to its mission: to demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

It's so simple. And so beautiful. Aren't the simplest things always the most beautiful? Last night, my husband and I wrapped 7 shoeboxes:

Tonight we're going to go get school supplies and hair pretties and matchbox cars and stuffed animals to fill the boxes with joy :) If it's too much effort to fill the shoebox, you can always donate money to the cause or volunteer at a local distribution center near you. 

Shoeboxes need to be turned in to a collection site by the middle of November so they can be prepped and shipped out in time for Christmas, so get to it!

I love this project, and I hope you will too. ***Please pass on this information via your blogs! Think of how many hundreds of boxes we could get donated just by raising awareness on our blogs!!!

Do you have any favorite volunteer activities or organizations?

Tis the season to start thinking about giving!!!

Cheers :)