Chattanooga, TN & First Weeks of School

Hello all,

I know it has been foreverrrr, right? I was laying in bed last night just thinking I hadn't posted in a while so I figured I would give everyone a bit of an update. First I wanted to talk about my mini- vacation that I took with Madi and his family to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was awesome! Chattanooga is definitely one of my favorite places in the world and I have so many good memories there with the Franek family as well as my own family! We were only there for three days and we drove up as we usually do. The first night we went to McKays bookstore, which if you haven't been there you are totally missing out! It is literally a huge old warehouse full of used books, movies, CDs, video games, and old records. It is so legit. They have a bunch of books that aren't even made anymore like The Boxcar Children series and The Babysitters Club to name a few of my personal favorites. We also ate at Lupi's Pizza Pies another place that we always go to. I swear it is the best pizza you will ever eat. Their crust is perfect and the sauce is just right! One of Madi's best friends Michael and his girlfriend Lauren came over that night and joined us for the LONGEST game of UNO ever! We didn't even end up finishing it but it lasted over an hour and a half hah!

The next morning Madi and I got up and Michael showed us around the campus of University of Tennessee- Chattanooga. We got to sit down with admissions and talk about their physical therapy program for Madi which gave us a better insight into the cost and what the program plan was really like. Later that day we headed over to the Tennessee Aquarium which has both a saltwater journey and a freshwater journey. Of course we did both! They had the cutest animals and a butterfly garden which reminded me of the butterfly garden that is on Mackinaw Island in Michigan (another great spot ;) ). Lauren and I took our cameras with us and got some great pictures with the butterflies. Definitely my favorite spot in the museum. Unfortunately the next day we had to leave but it was such a great vacation and so much fun. Lately all I've really been doing is going to school and work! In school we have been learning to give insulin shots and how to give certain medicine doses. I know scary right? I'm not afraid of needles or blood but I am afraid of hurting some one. Ouch. Other than that nothing too exciting to post about as of now but I'm sure I will be posting again soon.

Thanks for keeping up with me!
-Olivia

Happy New Year: 2013

Hello all,

I hope you all had a safe, fun, and happy new year last night! I spent my evening at two of my friends' gorgeous wedding before curling up on the couch with my man to watch the ball drop (and J. Biebs performance of course ;) ). As many people do I thought about what the new year may bring and what I've accomplished this past year; so I decided to share my thoughts with all of you!

2012:

1. I got my first book published!
As many of my friends and family know this is something I have wanted to do for such a long time, and it was something I had on my bucket list. I had such a blast working with the publisher and design team and having a signing was really icing on the cake for me. Such a great time.

2. I got to travel to  Las Vegas, NV and see the Grand Canyon

This was also something that was on my bucket list and was such a fun time. I loved spending the weekend with my cousin and my mom exploring the strip and traveling in the helicopter not only above but through the Grand Canyon. 

3. I completed the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk

60 days of walking with my best friend/ boyfriend in the hot sun and staying the night in tents definitely taught us patience with each other. Together we raised about $5000 for breast cancer. This was added to my bucket list recently about a year and a half ago when my mom got sick. Such an amazing learning experience. Nothing feels as good as crossing that finish line!

4. Getting into USF's College of Nursing

Talk about a relief when I opened that email and it said I was accepted! There have been laughter and tears but what an amazing experience it has been. I 'm so blessed. I also got a $1000 scholarship from the nursing program which was such a financial relief as many of you know I work my butt off to keep myself in school since I pay for everything on my own. 

5. I celebrated my 4 and 4 1/2 year anniversaries with my boyfriend

We've had quite the ride together but that boy has always been here for me and surprises me everyday in the ways that he has been maturing. He's such a blessing and I thank God every night for putting and keeping him in my life.

Those were really the main points of 2012 and here are my goals for 2013:

1. Go to the gym once a week

I would like this goal to be more like go to the gym two or three times a week, or lose X amount of pounds in X amount of time but being a nursing major I need to be realistic and set a goal for once a week. I did start it off well today by doing a 5 mile run so that is good ;)

2. Get a 4.0

I mean this is always my goal for the school year so I want to achieve it this semester!

3. Take a trip to NC with Madi

This is something we've wanted to do for a long time so I am hoping that we will be able to as long as finances are there!

4. Finish and publish book #2

I really want book two to come out this summer so I am hoping that I will be able to make that happen between now and then!

5. Do more volunteer activities with nursing or USF in general

I want to be super involved before I start my last year and things get super crazy! It also will look great on my resume once I graduate and so I need to go through with everything. 

So that's it! Let the year commence! Share your resolutions or goals with me I can't wait to hear :)!

<3 Olivia

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas: Alpena, MI 12-22-2012-->12-28-2012

Hello fellow bloggers!

So I just spent the last week up in my hometown of Alpena, MI with my mom's entire side of the family (minus a few). Sixteen people. Twelve in one house. Yeah, as you can see it was pretty packed. I just can't even believe that we all made it work without any big drama! Crazy right? So the first day my mom, Uncle John, and I spent the night in Frankenmuth, MI, a cute little German town an hour or so north of Detroit. While we were there we went to a cute little shopping center home of Season 7 of Cupcake War Winner's: Sugar High. It was pretty cute and they had AMAZING cupcakes. For those of you who don't know, cake is one of my favoriteeeee foods (or sweets really ;) ). They also had an ENTIRE store of all Tervis Tumblers (I guess those are common but I had never seen one) so I picked up a Duke tumbler for Madison! We also stopped by Bronner's Christmasland the biggest Christmas store in the entire country! It was crazy. We went on the 23rd so it was super packed since it was the two days before Christmas. As some of you know, Madison and I have started collecting pieces of the Grinch land for our apartment and so I got to see the whole set up of Whoville and buy some pieces that are not available anywhere else. Here are some pictures from Bronner's and Frankenmuth:

That same day we went to a lighthouse in Harrisville and saw a beautiful lighthouse (one of my favorite things). It was really different seeing one in the snow but it was breathtaking. Near the lighthouse was a little school house that was set up just as it would have been back in the day. That was a really cool experience that I was not planning on having so it was a bonus for sure!

Next we spent most of the other days hanging out Ristow style which means playing lots of card games and dominoes as well as eating lots of ice cream and playing Donkey Kong (which we finally upgraded to the Wii thanks to Reegan). I got to go and visit the bookstore where I had my first signing and they still had everything up and displayed in the local authors section which was super cool for me. On Christmas Eve we went to the candle light service at my Grandma's church. Which was really neat but we sang probably ten verses of Oh Holy Night (I didn't know that many existed). Afterwards we went to leave and my Aunt's car didn't start so while it was getting jumped I taught my grandma how to wobble in the parking lot while it snowed. Awesome. Later I got to decorate sugar cookies with some of my cousins which was also fun but we definitely had WAY to many cookies in that household. Probably three quarters of them didn't get eaten by the time we all left. Also Latoya and I tried making a baby snowman out of the pathetic snow that had landed, but it still was a white Christmas in our minds! I got to go and have a lunch date with my oldest girl friend at Mandarin Garden a local Chinese restaurant that has been our favorite lunch date location since two thousand and eight. Then we went to see This Is 40 which my whole family hated, but I actually loved it! It really portrayed the age time and the kids are so dang cute. And if you've seen knocked up, Jodi returns who was one of my favorite characters from that movie and made this movie super hilarious also. That night my for real oldest friend Cam came over to play dominoes and catch up which was awesome since I didn't get to see him when I was in Michigan in July. The next morning we headed back to Detroit and flew back this morning! So crazy. Of course we ran into delays but that was alright we made it home and that is what matters. 

It was such a nice Christmas spent with my whole family in one of my favorite spots in the whole world. The memories in that house all come rushing back when everyone is there, some good some bad, but it definitely made me appreciate it more. It was the first Christmas I have spent up there since we moved which means that my last Christmas there was in 1998! So fourteen years! So insane. Well thats all for now! Can't wait to share more adventures soon!

Xoxo, 

Olivia :)