graduation city

This is a big year for my friends & family in terms of graduation. My best friend finished her degree in school psychology (side note, I was so focused on writing psychology that I originally spelled "pschool" instead of "school." oops.), and another one of our friends just graduated with her law degree! On another note, I have really smart friends.


My brother Zach finished his degree in Exercise Science from Ottawa University last weekend, so I drove home to help celebrate

Bella helped Zach open up all of his presents!


Next up on the graduation list was Sam, who finished law school this week! I want to write a longer, more involved post about this so I'm going to skip down to my baby brother Nick who graduated from high school on Sunday! Sam and I booked it to KC on Sunday morning after several days of festivities and arrived just in time to get seated and watch the ceremony.

Our "baby brother" is a high school grad! I really can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday he was my show and tell in first grade the month after he was born. I personally think I had the best show and tell of the whole year. 

 Nick with one set of our grandparents :).

 It's hard to believe that it has been 5 years since Zach graduated and SEVEN since I did. I can remember my graduation weekend so clearly, it's like it happened a week ago.

 Family photo.

 Me and all of the graduates! It honestly looks like Sam is just another brother in the family. 

 2013 graduates!

After this whirlwind weekend, I'm ready for a little break! And by break I mean I have to work 6 of the next 7 nights :).

apartment tour: master bedroom

Since Sam and I are moving in the relatively near future, I wanted to post some pictures of our current digs so that a) you all can see where we'll be living for the next 1-2 months :) and b) I can always remember what our very first apartment looked like after about 10 months of me getting rid of all of Sam's stuff adding my personal touches around the apartment :).


Our bedroom is my favorite room in our apartment, which is the way it should be, since this is where I spend the majority of my time. This is the room where I have spent the most time, money, and energy trying to decide I what I wanted to do. It was also the biggest point of contention between Sam and I as far as decorating goes, mostly because it's the area where I asked him his opinion the most.


Our bedding is from Urban Outfitters, our sheets, the throw pillow, and throw blanket are Threshold by Target. These sheets are basically the softest sheets you'll ever feel. I made the artwork above the bed, tutorial coming soon! If you look closely, you can see that we don't have a bedskirt (I probably shouldn't have pointed that out, because I bet you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't!), and our mattress/box springs are resting on the floor. We only like to be halfway grown-ups.

The side with the bedside table is my side, because I'm a girl and I have more stuff :). You'll also notice Sam's sweet telephone/alarm clock combination. Unfortunately (?) the telephone does not work. 

Our huge windows are one of my favorite parts of the apartment. The only bummer is that they are all the way to the ceiling, so we were never sure of what to do as far as curtains. Therefore, we just use the blinds which on really sunny days makes it hard to sleep all day (for night shifts).

You can also see down there in that right hand corner there is a kennel--no we do not have a pet. It's there as a sad reminder that we do not have a cat or a dog in this apartment. 

Opposite the window is our closet/master bathroom. I won't show you the closet because it's completely disorganized at the moment, and I cannot figure out what to do with our shoes.

Across from the bed is our tiny tiny dresser that holds like two shirts (I may be a tad dramatic) and one of our overflowing bookshelves (this one has books that we actually LIKE to read on it). 

Another interesting aspect of our apartment? No overhead lighting. We rely on lamps and makeshift headboards made from Christmas lights :). 

it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

After a really cold and rainy weekend (okay, not a weekend, a winter), the sun broke through the clouds yesterday and it was bright and sunny and a whole 80 degrees! AKA it was glorious. My friend, her sister and I headed over to Forest Park to bask in the sunshine on Art Hill and this was my view for the afternoon. Pretty amazing, huh?

Yesterday evening Sam and I went for a quick 30 minute walk around our neighborhood. I never would have described our neighborhood as "beautiful" when we first moved in, but it definitely is when you walk down the different side streets.

Even our shadows hold hands :).

answering the tough questions

Let's get a little deep on the blog today and answer some tough questions.

Erin over at Living in Yellow (one of my must reads) posted these ten questions yesterday and I decided to take a stab at them. After you read mine, go on over to LIY and check out Erin's ten things and then read the rest of her blog, because it's just that great.

LIY

1. If you could do one thing differently in your life, what would it be?
See yesterday's post about my career choices.  I would have also learned to appreciate my parents & their rules much earlier in life. I would have also never stopped running. 

2. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hopefully married (right Sammy?! :) ) with hopefully a house and hopefully healthy and hopefully with the thought of a brown haired brown eyed baby. Not to rush things, or anything. 

I imagine that my house will look something like this: 

source

Or maybe like this:

source

I guess I also assume nurses will earn about 5x more in 5 years than we do right now.

3. Do you honestly want kids?
See numero dos. Absolutely.

4. What has been the best moment of your life so far?
The minute my mom called me from Washington D.C. and said to me, "Well, it looks like I'll be dancing at your wedding because my tumors are shrinking." I don't often cry from happiness but this was one day I cried an awful lot of happy tears.

Then

And now.

5. What is your life theme song?

Can I just pick my favorite song? This is so hard. All of my favorite songs are depressing songs, sad songs, the songs that make you want to go for a drive on a summer night with your windows down and just let the wind blow in your hair.  Generally, I'm not a depressed person, so picking a favorite song and correlating it to my life isn't easy.

Anyway, I guess I'd pick Paradise by Coldplay. 

When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach so 
She ran away in her sleep
And dreamed of paradise 
...
And so lying underneath those stormy skies
she said "oh oh oh, I know the sun must set to rise." 

Life doesn't happen the way it expects to, but I think what the songwriters are trying to say here is that "when He closes a door He opens a window." That is how I try to live my life--by not counting missed opportunities, but instead focusing on what happened for good instead. 
 

6. What is one thing you have yet to accomplish that you want to do before you die?

I want to learn and know and live the meaning of the words "Forgive and Forget."

source

 
   
7. If you could choose one thing to be known for, what would it be?
Being a loyal friend & daughter.

8. If you could do anything you wanted right in this very moment (no consequences, no fear, etc), what would it be?
Elope and then move to Europe for at least a year. Preferably planting myself right about here and not moving. Okay, I would move to tour all of the Irish castles. Then I would come right back.

Coast of Ireland

 

9. What has been the most challenging moment in your life?

Learning my mom's cancer we thought was in remission was back and not responsive to treatment two weeks after I graduated from college. I will be forever thankful for the doctors at the National Institutes of Health. Say what you want about our government and health care reform, but know that they are developing life changing treatments for a lot of devastating diagnoses in Washington D.C. 

10. Summarize yourself in one word.
Tenacious.  

   

careers & such

If you look at my "school" book (a book of lists that detail everything from my height to who the president was each year and everything in between), my "career choices" from kindergarten to third grade were to be a librarian or a teacher. To be honest with you, I would still be a librarian if I had the choice.

Mostly because I imagine I could sit around and read Harry Potter all day. Don't judge.

Fine you can judge if you want to, but only if you have actually read Harry Potter. If you haven't, I judge you.

Pretty much after 3rd grade, every entry in that book where it says "What I want to be when I grow up," says "A Doctor!", and every single day until I was about 21 years old and 245 days old (this is an estimate) I would have told you "I want to be a doctor." I feel like for my entire life, until I was 21 years and 245 days old, I was a decisive person.

"William Jewell College or University of Missouri?" Mizzou.
"Soccer or track?" Definitely soccer.
"Date this guy or don't?" Don't.
"Study be to a doctor or explore other options?" Study to be a doctor.

In some ways, my blind ambition has hurt me in life. I never explored any other options during college. While most students are taking random classes their freshman year, I was already pigeonholed into biology because I took so many dual credit classes going into college that I was credit-hour wise a sophomore when I got there. So I met everyone on my dorm floor who were all either pre-med or pre-dental and there was no way I was going to explore other options when everyone else only talked about how they were going to be some sort of doctor and I got swept up in that excitement. This continued on until I got the results from this bad boy:

Ugh. Nightmare. I still have PTSD. I sat on my bed and cried and cried and cried because I studied my ass off for six months for this stupid thing and I still did horrible. So then I half-ass studied for two more months and took it again, to gain a measly three more points on my next one. I cried some more and then the next day and called my mom on my 21 year and 246th day of life and told her,

"I don't want to be a doctor."

She told me I was being dramatic and that I could still apply, so I did, and then I didn't get in, and I said again,

"I don't want to be a doctor."


It was scary to say those words. It was scary to admit something I had wanted for so long wasn't something I wanted anymore. It was scary to have people telling me I was making a big mistake, that I was giving up.

source

After I'd been saying this for about nine months, I guess people started to believe me, and I had to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Trust me, this isn't easy after all you've wanted to do for 13 years of your life is be a doctor. After a lot of conversations with Sam, my parents, my friends, strangers on the street, etc, I decided to go back to nursing school. I know what you're thinking..."what a jump from doctoring to nursing" and I get the skepticism. Whatever. I like nursing. I love it, actually. Mostly I love my unit. I get along with my coworkers, I love the babies, etc. It's hard, it's challenging, and mentally and physically exhausting most days.

I suppose the point of this rambling post is that you don't have to know what you want every single day of your life. You're allowed to change your mind, and go for different things, even if it's something that you've wanted for a very long time. It doesn't have to be because you failed (which is only part of the reason I changed my mind), and it doesn't matter what other people think. If I had a dollar for every time I thought someone was disappointed or looked down on me because I changed career paths, I would have at least $200. I don't care. It's not their lives, ya know?

So now you all know why I'm a nurse, and why it was absolutely the right decision for me. Three day work weeks are just an added bonus.

dear friday letters

Dear Friday,

Thank you for arriving. The fact that I'm in overtime for the second week in a row at work should explain how grateful I am for your arrival.


Dear April Showers,

I love how green you are making everything outside. If it wasn't for my headaches I keep getting from you, I would welcome you to stay far longer.


Dear Smithville,

I hate that you are located so far away from St. Louis and that it makes seeing these two little munchkins so difficult.

Oh, and I suppose my parents as well.



Dear New Bedroom Artwork,

I think I did a pretty good job on you.

However, my back is now absolutely killing me for leaning over a coffee table for 4 hours. Yuck.


Dear Youngest Wallach Brother,

Happy Birthday. I'd say something wittier but I know you and your brother would beat me to it.

Dear Grandpa,

Thank you for making me an awesome trashcan that smells so good. Seriously, it does.

Dear Readers,

I clearly have blogger's block. What do you want me to write about?



Love,
Molly

this is happening!!

So a few weeks ago I mentioned I was thinking of starting a little side business...and it's happening!

That's right, I opened up an Etsy shop!

I honestly just really love doing things like this because it's a great outlet for any stress that I get during my real job (which if you're aware of where I work & what I do, you totally get it...if not, assume it's stressful). I don't really care how much money I make doing it, hence the reason that items in my shop are priced far lower than other things I've seen on Etsy. I've also started a new tab up at the top of my blog so that you can see examples of other wreaths that I've customized for people.

For example:

I have visions of baby announcements and house numbers and all sorts of fun things to make these suitable for all occasions!

Anyway--pass along the message and check out what else I've been up to!


PS: If you have ANY suggestions for me, that would be fabulous!