Let me start this blog with the disclaimer that I am far from a corporate girly. I thrive in my current nursing world always being on my feet, averaging 5 miles a shift at work. I thought that it would be intriguing to see what it would be like to sit at a desk for hours and then send my weekly report off to my boss. I have been wondering how I can switch things up a bit, and was honestly more so thinking of the staff job/go back to school route.. but hey I like to keep an open mind!
So, would you please do me the honors and be my pretend boss and review my weekly report for me?
Would you also let me take some creative liberties and let me tell you about more than just one week (on account of it always takes me longer than just a week to write and publish a blog post). Oh, and would you let me share what I'm Reading, Eating, Playing, Obsessing, Recommending, and Treating? (hehe get it?)
Now I definitely did not come up with this template. I am very much taking advantage of a trend I saw a while back on tiktok (an app I spend far too much time on) but I thought it was just too darn cute to not take advantage of it.
If you're still interested in pretending to be my boss, keep reading. If you're like what the heck nonsense is this that Alex has gotten herself into..... I challenge you to also just keep reading, because it might give you some more insight into the nonsense that is my life.. LOL.. here we go!
READING- I'm reading.. or rather finished reading "I'm Here: Compassionate Communication in Patient Care" by Marcus Engel. This was a book that my mom got for me as part of a Christmas gift. I am not much of a book reader (unlike my youngest sister who has already finished 13 books this year so far), but this book was a quick read and one I would definitely recommend to all of my healthcare friends. The author of this book, Marcus, was in an accident leaving him rather helpless and he writes about his experience describing his struggles while being hospitalized. He talks about how important it was for the people he interacted with to reassure him with the simple words of "I'm here," (among other things, you'll have to read to figure out though!). Marcus lost his vision in the accident and became basically deaf on one side, so the simple touch and reassurance from staff was monumental in his healing. I have always tried oh so very hard to be intentional with my interactions with patients. I also recognize that being hospitalized removes a lot of control and autonomy for patients, so I try to create moments that rebuild those things. I really enjoyed reading from his direct perspective and was intrigued to add a feather of empathy to my nursing cap.
(now I'm a bit of a fraud because I am very much reading "The Mountain Is You" by Brianna Wiest in those first two pictures.. but that's none of your business)
EATING- a lot.. lol (are we surprised??). I will rarely ever turn down an opportunity to eat, especially when it's with one (or multiple) of my pals. Most specifically and most recently I have been eating any salad with Honey Ginger dressing and wasabi peas. I often pair those two with bell peppers, broccoli slaw, salad greens, basmati rice, wonton croutons, almond slivers, and dried pineapple. I know it sounds like a lengthy list of ingredients, but my goodness does it hit the spot especially after a long shift at work. You'll have to imagine what the whole concoction looks like because apparently I've never taken a picture of the finished product.
Other honorable mentions of all the goodies I've been eating (and photographing) are below.
PLAYING- Lizzy McAlpine. Always. I am so freakin excited to see her in concert again (with my little Lizzy) in a few months. Lizzy McAlpine is an artist who was actually born the day after my Lizzy in Philly (small world, I know). She is also incredibly talented and just released a new album! I never quite know what to say when someone asks what kind of music I like to listen to because I don't think it falls into a generic genre category of just "country" or "pop" or what have you. If your music streaming service of choice is Spotify (you're correct lol) you may be familiar with your daylist which is a personally curated playlist based on your recent listening habits for the specific day of the week (and even time of day!). While I'm typing this, mine is "lyricist masterpiece tuesday afternoon" claiming that I listen to spacey and slowed music. I low key feel like that hits the nail on the head. Other things I've been listening to on repeat include, "Land Where I Land" by Novo Amor, "Illicit" by August James, and "Love of Mine" by Benson Boone. Lets face it, I truly just love listening to stuff I can harmonize with or dance to (& oh how I miss dance!!).
OBSESSING- over the NYT game connections! It is one of those popular games like the WORDLE (which I am terrible at) where you get a grid of 16 words and have to make 4 groups of 4. It's mighty tricky when some of the words could go into multiple different categories, but I guess that's the nature of the game. I also suppose I am a little late to the hype, because the game was released almost a year ago, but I am quite liking it. I think what I like most is that both of my sisters play, so we send our results in our sister group chat and get to talk about the game (as if we needed more things to talk about). The purple category is the most challenging and we all got it first one day.. no big deal.
RECOMMENDING- look up at the sky. I will always recommend looking up at the sky. Granted I do not recommend looking up at the sun during the recent eclipse, especially if you want to keep your eyesight, but otherwise, I definitely recommend it. I have recently been heading up to the top of the hospital parking garage as a detour on my walks home to catch a glimpse of the sunsets after a shift. I also always make a point to say hi to Mr Moon when I see him out. Stars, clouds, any of it, I wanna see it. My camera roll is full of pictures and videos of the sky. I guess theres some cliché message in here about always keeping your chin up or looking up to bigger things or something like that, but I'll let you make your own conclusions about why I love it so much. I just know that no matter what kind of funk I'm in, if there is something cool going on in the sky, it will turn my mood right around in an instant. I recommend you give it a try too if you're feeling blue.
TREATING- I suppose this category is supposed to be a nod to Tom and Donna from Parks and Rec so I can highlight my "treat yo self" moment. It is the category however that I am having the hardest time with. I don't get my nails done (team press-on), I don't get my lashes done (hello pro lash 10 day DIY lashes).. I guess I'm overdue to get my hair done (okay but wait can y'all lmk if I should go blonder for summer or tap into a darker color that my color theory season suggested would work well for me).. or maybe I should take myself on a little shopping trip?! I'm truly not even the one who has been treating myself.. my new besties the bartenders at Three Notch'd are the ones who are treating me. I have become a regular at this brewery in town (and may or may not have moved to a different rental closer to the brewery after my first rental wasn't available any more). I discovered it because it was on the Charlottesville Ale Trail (a thing I'll tell you more about in a future post once I finish it). I am a huge fan of their juicy IPA called King of the Clouds, but I truly love any of their beers and like meeting all of their bartenders.. AND like how well they treat me (i.e. one time my tab was literally $0.01... shhhh). I am always a fan of showing up to a bar or a brewery solo and just making the most of it, but I am particularly a fan of this one. In fact, I am writing this section while sitting at the bar during happy hour listening to old country, people watching, and loving life.
Three Notch'd also gets bonus points because it's in Ix Art Park which is home to the concrete butt which always makes me giggle when I see it.
I quite like this trend and especially enjoy how versatile it is. I could probably tap into it in a different way every week if I truly wanted to. I suppose I'll change it up to something completely different for my next blog post (as I do.. I hope you all enjoy reading these as much as I like writing them, I don't publish them very often, but that's because I only do it when I find joy in doing it. This is a philosophy I have tried to live my life by. I am my own boss and truly only need to be responsible for my own happiness. If I can make others happy along the way, that is such a bonus, but I truly only need to worry about myself. That being said, I hope you found some happy this week. If you do, would you report it back to me and let me know? I like seeing you happy. It makes me happier.)
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