Madness of an Endorphin Junkie

[stardust731]

And here's my SECOND update of the day (yay! go me!) I got my 2nd workout done on my lunch break - 1.5 mile interval run in 20 mins! Woot! Now I can be a lazy bum for the rest of the day....well....sort of....I have class tonight so I don't know how lazy I'll get to be 

[stardust731]

OH - and just because I'm super proud of this, I'm sharing it! We went back to the archery range for the kiddo's birthday & I got to play with a long bow!! No additional wheels to help with the pull and I was strong enough to pull it multiple times!! YAY! I'm kind of proud of myself 

 

 

AND I was super smart & wore an arm guard the whole time so no more nasty bruises for me  ​ 

[stardust731]

So a quick update from me before the holiday weekend:

 

Tuesday was a rest day - so I walked and let my knee rest up a little bit. Yesterday I got in one strength training DVD workout and 20 mins of interval running which felt awesome. 

 

Today is a crazy insane day so I don't think I'll be able to get a DVD workout done. Today I was up at 4am and at work by 5am. I'm only working a half day so I'm gonna run and do some quick lifting after that just so I get a workout done. Then its off to school to watch some HIPPA safety videos before class starts at 3PM. Today I have to turn in a 22 page research paper, a 5 page research paper, a 7 page test and we have a quiz today as well....so definitely busy. Thankfully I'm off tomorrow for the holiday weekend so I can sleep in and recover a little bit 

[Twilight]

My goodness! Good luck!!

[stardust731]

Okay - so its been about a month since I've been able to get in here, but I have finally gotten my butt in here for an update! I'm gonna try to give you all the CliffNotes version, so that its not so long 

 

- School is going SO well! I ended up with an "A" in my Health Assessment and am currently in Pharmacology. As some of you know, Pharm is regularly the hardest, craziest and most demanding class in any nursing program. This is one of the reasons why I've been a stranger for a while. The homework demands for this class are absolutely insane. Each week I have about 15 hours of writing drug cards - and that doesn't include any additional time spent reading, writing papers, working on dosage calculations, class lecture time, lab time or anything else. This class has taken every bit of spare time & extra energy, but its paying off. I currently have a 93% and my final exam is tomorrow afternoon (I got a 98% on my lab practical final last night  )

 

- Because my life has been work/school/sleep for a few weeks, workouts have been scarce. My days consist of being up at 4am, to work by 5am where I usually study all day while I work (so there's 8 hours of studying), any workouts I get happen on my 30 min lunch break (but recently, I've used it for study time), out of work by 130pm, in the classroom by 2pm and I'm there until 6pm (Monday-Thursday), then drive home, hang out with Hubbs while we eat dinner & then plop down with my laptop, drug books & school books to do homework for about 3 hours. Most nights I'm lucky if I get 5 hours of sleep. Needless to say - workouts have been scarce. Most days I don't even hit my 2-3 miles/day walking goal because I'm studying so much

 

- BUT, even though workouts have been scarce, I've kept my eating in line and am officially down about 10 pounds from my original starting weight!! I've been gluten-free since January and I'm feeling incredible - I seriously think that keeping my food good has given me the energy to survive the crazy schedule that I'm on right now! I haven't had time to take any progress pics or measurements, but my scrubs are fitting looser - so I know something is going right!

 

- the dress for the wedding fits beautifully - so I met that goal from the prior challenge! I'll post pics of me in it once the wedding is over 

 

- we didn't run the 10K as planned. Because school consumed my life, I lost that last month of training. So instead of killing myself trying to run a race I wasn't ready for, we dropped down to the 5K and had a fabulous time. I had a head cold, so I couldn't really breathe - but we still finished the race and I was able to run about half of it before I had to stop & catch my breath (which I figured wasn't too shabby for someone who hadn't been able to *really* work out in weeks!)

 

- the knee is holding up alright. It survived the 5K but is a little tweaky right now so I'm probably gonna take it easy for the rest of the week.

 

- Hubbs and I sat down and we realistically talked about how much longer I'll be able to juggle this whole "working full time & going to nursing school" thing. We figured out that we can afford to have me only going to school - so if my class schedule starts to interfere, then I won't worry too much about having to quit my job. Once that happens, I'll be able to devote more time to workouts - but until then, I'm still working and we're putting all of my paychecks into our savings account to build a buffer (every month I work, we are able to save $2600, so I want to try to work as long as possible)

 

- Even if I'm not working, we both decided its important to us to keep our gym memberships & other things that we find "essential". Our gym has 3 locations around town and all the locations have areas that we can lift with no restrictions. I know some gyms ban deadlifts, etc but our gym is always open to all of it as long as you're safe (and there's usually always a trainer there doing their own workout that will help you if you need it) They have classes regularly and we definitely don't want to lose out on that, so we're gonna make sure that gets worked into our budget

 

So, what does this mean for me. As of now, I'm working on my study guide for my final exam for Pharmacology (which is tomorrow afternoon). Next month, I'll be in Nursing Fundamentals 1 - so that will be a nice little breather after Pharm. We'll only be in class 2 nights a week instead of 4 - so hopefully I'll get some sense of normalcy back into my life. 

 

I'm gonna keep trying to update this blog as often as I can. I don't think I'll be joining in any of the 6 week challenges until I'm more solid with my schedule. Its hard to make plans and then have school totally wipe them all out. For now, my focus is on continuing to do well in school & work, keeping my nutrition in line and any workout I can get is a blessing. 

 

Anyways, I hope that all of you are doing well. I miss all of you and really hope to be able to have the time to really catch up soon!! I'm sorry I've been a hermit recently, but I promise its paying off! I figure anyone who can pull a 93% in the hardest class in Nursing School deserves to be a little proud of herself 

[Super Destroyer]

I was just wondering about you!  Congrats on the dress.  I am sure you will rock it.  Glad to hear nursing school is going well.  Take care!

[stardust731]

I was just wondering about you!  Congrats on the dress.  I am sure you will rock it.  Glad to hear nursing school is going well.  Take care!

 

Thanks so much! Its good to be back - life was super crazy there for a while. My sister's wedding went really well. We had a lot of fun! She got married out in California, so hubbs & I drove out there after my Pharm class was over (which I ended at a 94% in!!!) We both took the next week off work, so we spent a few days in Cali, a few days in Vegas & spent the 4th of July in Laughlin! It was a fabulous getaway trip & we had a great time! 

 

Once we got back, we jumped back into the work/school craziness & haven't really had much of a break. Clinicals in school start in about 3 weeks, so I've been getting all my paperwork ready for it. I had to get all my immunizations documented, fingerprints filed with the Dept of Health, numerous background checks done & make sure my CPR certs were up to date. So on top of my normal workload, that just meant I was extra busy last week. I haven't been able to work out, but honestly I wasn't planning on really starting a program until my schedule cleared up anyways. I'm up a few pounds in water weight from this past weekend - but overall I didn't gain anything from the fabulous vacation

 

 Overall things are going well. Here's some fun pics from the life of Stardust & slot machines on vacation...enjoy!!! I had more to post, but photobucket is being stupid, so I'll just post those later

 

My $140 win (on the left!) on an American-themed quarter slot machine on the 4th of July!! I was stoked! After that, we won another $70 on another America machine AND another $80 later that night (on the right!!)

 

[stardust731]

Oh my goodness! I feel like a slacker - at least when it comes to my NF friends! I'm sorry everyone! Life just got really crazy for a few weeks. Here's everything that has happened in a nutshell:

 

- I am now a full time student & a full-time housewife. My amazing hubbs & I have financially worked out a budget where I don't have to work for the rest of nursing school. Its a HUGE load off me to not be working full time

 

- I used this first month of not working to overhaul our house. I tackled multiple house projects and now am to the point where I can easily maintain our house with just a few chores a day. I also found lots of DIY stuff on Pinterest and have used those around the house too - I've totally found more cost-effective ways to make my own cleaning products, which is awesome!! I love Pinterest 

 

- Throughout this time, I've kept up with my school work and continue my trend of straight "A's" in Nursing School. Clinicals have started and I am loving every minute of it. At this point in time, I am in class, labs or clinicals 4 days a week with about 40 hours a week of homework, research and studying

 

- I've kept my nutrition in line and I'm feeling really good. I've pretty much adapted to being 100% gluten-free and now if I accidentally slip up, I notice I feel like garbage for a few days. Now that it's transitioning to fall, I'm shifting my diet to more lean meats & veggies since the price of fruit is going up. 

 

- I'm down a few pounds since the last time I logged in and I'm looking forward to keeping up that trend   I have officially dropped 2 jean sizes since the beginning of the year, so that's something to totally celebrate!

 

- Over the past few weeks, I've incorporated regular workouts back into my routine and it helps keeps me sane. I plan on starting the next 6 week challenge with NF, so I'll go into the details of my workout plan when I set that up - but I've got 6 days of workouts and 1 day of rest each week. It seems to be working out well! My workouts have been moved indoors since it's been hotter than Hades here (averaging 95-105 degrees every afternoon!)...I'm just thankful I have a treadmill so I can keep up with my running 

 

- I've started a new photo project to help document all the fabulous life changes that are gonna happen over the next year. I have been photographing the major events that happen every day since my 30th birthday (which was on July 31st) - so I want to invite all of you to swing by there and check out my daily adventures! Here's the link

 

I think that's about it for me. Now that I've got some extra time, I'll be updating this more regularly and can't wait to reconnect with all of you. I hope you all have an amazing day! I've missed you all!! *hugs*

[Twilight]

Welcome back!

 

So many great things happening for you. Congrats on working out a budget (both time and money) for school and work and working out. That's great! Two thumbs up for the weight loss and size loss!! You're doing great! I'm looking forward to following your next challenge thread.

[stardust731]

Welcome back!

 

So many great things happening for you. Congrats on working out a budget (both time and money) for school and work and working out. That's great! Two thumbs up for the weight loss and size loss!! You're doing great! I'm looking forward to following your next challenge thread.

 

Thanks so much Twilight! I'm excited to be able to get some balance in my life again! I made a new challenge thread for the next 6 weeks and you can find it here

 

Can't wait to get caught up with all of you!!