#BookWorm: Keeping Faith

Hello fellow readers!

Ahh the frustrations of this book. Keeping Faith was written by Jodi Picoult in 1999, so it is a bit older than most books I've been reading lately. When I was in Michigan, I spotted this book on the shelf and realized somehow I had missed reading it when I went through my Jodi Picoult binge reading phase. Now, I love Jodi Picoult. My favorite book Nineteen Minutes is written by her, and another one in my top list The Pact is also on her writing list. However, this book was frustrating. So, let's just dive right into the review, shall we?

Keeping Faith is about a seven year old girl who's parent's are going through a divorce and suddenly she starts performing miracles. Without giving away too much, she starts talking to God and sees her as female. That is the basic plot. The book is 500 pages long, and it feels like it. It definitely got to the point that you're saying "alright lets just find out what happens". The parts with the Rabbi and the Priest just made me so confused since I am not Catholic or Jewish. Lots of talk about the Vatican and how they determine if someone is actually seeing God or if they are faking, but lots of unanswered questions. Basically every person who interviewed Faith said, IDK. Like seriously a big bucket of IDK. Which is so annoying. And you get to the end of the book, and it leaves SO many things not answered. WHY. I hate that. Especially when it has to do with the main point of the book. I guess Jodi Picoult was trying to get you to decide for yourself based on your religious beliefs? But my beliefs won't change whether Faith was lying or Faith was actually performing miracles. Because the book is fiction.

All in all, this book gets a 7/10 for me. Not awful, some interesting parts, but got really long and didn't give us an answer! If you like Jodi Picoult's writing style of court rooms and character switching like I do, it is a read that you could enjoy. Just be willing to be okay with an ending that doesn't answer everything. Some things get answered. Some don't. Bleh.

So have you read this book? Were you as annoyed with the ending as me? Let me know! Next up I will be reading The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. It's a three book series, and I purchased all three from McKays, so if I like it a lot I may just finish all of them at once and then post about it. We shall see :).

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia

My Random Addictions: Binge Watching TV Shows

Hey guys!

Another random addiction of mine: binge  watching TV shows. This has always been something that I love to do, starting with Gilmore Girls back in 7th grade. But in more recent years with the start of Netflix and HuluPlus people have the ability to do this way easier and cheaper than buying every season of their favorite shows (not kidding I have a lot of TV shows on DVD). Some of my favorite shows to binge watch on Netflix are listed below as suggestions for those of you who are looking for a new show!

1) Gossip Girl

Still haven't finished all of this but tend to watch half a season at a time. You can only get so much one person sleeping with the other person then cheating on their cousin's, brother's, ex-fiancé's mom. But it is interesting in small doses.

2) One Tree Hill

BEST SHOW OF ALL TIME. Hands down. Takes place in NC. I'm in the process of re-watching this with Madi and it is even better than I remembered. OTH is based on a small town brotherhood with a twist. And it has basketball at the center. And was filmed in Wilmington, NC. And the brothers are Chad Michael Murray and James Lafferty (swoon).  Can't get much better!

3) Hart of Dixie
If you like The O.C. and One Tree Hill, this is for you. It's with Rachel Bilson and was on the CW about a doctor who moves from NYC to Alabama to take over her late father's practice. It's quirky, romantic, and hilarious all wrapped into one. Rachel Bilson does such a good job and so does the rest of the cast. Jamie King is in it too, and she is also incredible.

4) New Girl

Have you ever watched this show? It's hilarious. Always keeps you laughing. I watched all of the seasons in like three months. So sad. But so funny. 

5) Parenthood

Currently I am watching through Parenthood, which is SO good. It only ended this year in January but they have all the seasons available, I'm pretty sure. Bomb.

6) Gilmore Girls
Saving the best for last obviously. If you love Lauren Graham in Parenthood, you'll love her even more in her first big hit show Gilmore Girls. If you've never seen an episode, you're missing out. This is a show about a single mother and her teenage daughter growing up in a small town. It's amazing.

Those are my favorites thus far. Have you watched all of those? Well you are a well enlightened Netflixer in my book. Any suggested shows to binge watch? I will keep adding to my list as I have three more weeks til I'm back to work  full time :)

Thanks for reading,

- Olivia 

Moffitt Cancer Center

Hey everyone,

As my journey with Moffitt has come to an end this week I just felt I should reflect on it for myself and for others whether you've ever been to Moffitt, worked at Moffitt, or have just heard the name. Moffitt Cancer Center is an incredible place. I started working there after my mom was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer and I watched how dedicated their staff is. I started as a patient observer AKA a sitter for confused or suicidal people and even back then I found out how special of a place Moffitt is. Working 8 or 12 hour shifts sitting in a room could really suck. At times it's hard to stay awake and it also can be scary too. But what made it all worth it was watching these people and their loved ones go through this journey fully fighting, giving their cancer everything they could. And when it was a case where the fight got the best of them, I would watch as the family came to stay by their sick loved ones side. It's quite humbling, watching people go through such a nasty disease but yet never give up. 

Transitioning from being an observer to a tech taught me so much about working as a team. I had never worked in such a large organization, and floating throughout the hospital I got to learn so much. I still had the interactions with patients that I did before, but got to learn about the aspect of nursing care at a higher level. If you're in nursing school and reading this: get a job as a tech. I've discovered the best nurses usually were a tech (CNA) first and they respect the techs they work with so much more. 

My final Moffitt transition was from tech to nurse and I couldn't have thought of a better place to work. I already knew what an amazing place it was from being in the environment for over a year. When I was offered the job at Moffitt I also had an offer from where I did my final preceptorship. The later was a Magnet facility, highly ranked, very nice. But I couldn't get Moffitt out of my head. I knew that is where I belonged. Nurse to patient ratios are better than any hospital in the area, giving you more time to answer questions for a patient who is going through this scary journey. I find that so important. Just this week I had an out of state patient who had so many questions about her care. She had just received a huge life shocking diagnosis and hightailed it to Moffitt because she had heard how amazing it was. She said, it didn't disappoint. I got to spend almost an hour with her, doing my best to answer her middle of the night questions stemming from fear of the unknown. That is the beauty of it, being able to have a facility that is so dedicated to patient satisfaction, family centered care, and education, it's incredible. Being on both ends from family member to staff, it truly is a one of a kind place. 

I cannot express how lucky I was to have worked at such an amazing hospital for the first portion of my career. I hope one day to be able to come back or give back because being apart of such an amazing place is really life changing. So with that I wanted to say thank you, to the amazing nurses, doctors, techs, secretaries, patients, family members, and instructors: it's been an honor to work with you. 

Today we finally arrived in NC, and as hard of a time it was this week saying goodbye to our Florida friends and family, I am looking forward to spending my time off exploring the Carolina's with Madi and  Nike. I will update as our journey continues! 

Thanks for keeping up,

- Olivia