Friday Favorites II

Hi there! How are you? Happy Friday! For many of you, today starts the weekend. Woohoo! Any fun plans?

I thought I would come on here and share some of my favorite things lately. I really want to try and make this a weekly post. I've seen other bloggers do it, and I always loved seeing their favorite things week to week. And, yes I know I keep saying I'm going to post more and blah blah but this time I am serious! I took quite the hiatus from blogging and social media. Behind the scenes, I was still writing posts. In fact, I have maybe twelve posts I wrote but never ended up posting for whatever reason. I'm back now! I have so many things to share about my health, skin, fashion, etc and can't wait to share. So lets dive into my Friday Favorites!

• Fall Candles

 

Fall is my favorite season and I just love everything that encompasses fall. Apple picking, the leaves changing colors, pumpkin patches, Halloween, the cooler weather and delicious smelling fall candles. I've been burning this apple & pumpkin picking candle along with a sweet cream pumpkin one and I just don't want them to run out! 

• Red Wine 

Now that the temperature has been cooler I find myself gravitating towards red wine. Something about 50 degree weather, a fall candle burning, snuggling under a blanket watching a movie drinking a glass of red wine is just glorious. Am I right? My favorite kind has been this Apothic Red. My best friend Carly introduced me to it and as you can see, I am quite the fan. ;) And how cute is this wine stopper? 

• Bluefins Sushi

I love sushi and could easily eat it once a week. I recently went to Bluefins Sushi and Sake Bar in Chatham and was quickly reminded of how much I love it there. They have the best sushi on Cape Cod. The atmosphere, the staff, the decor, the food, the drinks, everything about it is just awesome. And the best part... they're open all year round! If you happen to find yourself at Bluefins, please get the Cape Cod Monster roll or the Surf & Turf roll. You won't regret it! Also, I just saw on their Facebook that Tuesdays is locals night which means you can save 20% off your food. 

• John Legend

Oh this mans voice. He has so many beautiful songs out and he is so incredibly talented. I've been totally obsessed with his new song "Love Me Now". This piano version is just beautiful.

• Cape Cod

I know I have said this a thousand times over but, I really love where I live and am so incredibly lucky to have a family, friends and a career here. Something about a drive to the ocean and a walk on the beach is so overwhelmingly calming. I never want to leave this beautiful place. 

Please share your weekly favorites in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading and following along with me! xoxo

Jenny 

Onto 2016

Three months into the year 2016 and I am finally sitting down to reflect on 2015. I'm not one to set New Years resolutions but, I do like to look back on the year and think about how I can improve myself in the new year. 2015 was a big year for me. From January to May I was pretty much only consumed with nursing school. It was really my only focus. I ate, slept, breathed nursing school. It sounds dramatic but you only know how nursing school is if you're going through it. I wanted to be successful. And I was. I accomplished one of the hardest tasks I have ever done… and it felt damn good. As soon as graduation was over, I was right back studying for my boards. I locked myself in my room hours on end doing questions after questions and tests after tests. It was worth it because I passed.

By July 2015, I had completed two of the hardest things I have ever done. I was on cloud nine. Five years of really dedicating myself to something was finally worth it. By August I had accepted a full time RN position in my dream specialty. The first few weeks of working, and my first few paychecks (lets keep it real) I kept thinking to myself, this is why it was worth it. For the feeling of helping people, for the rush that comes over you when a patient is crashing, even for the exhaustion that comes after working three twelve hour shifts in a row, you know deep down in your heart that you are doing something not many people can do. I loved it, and I was hooked.

A major reason why I was so motivated to complete nursing school, and be successful was because I wanted to have a comfortable life. I was fortunate to grow up and see both my parents work hard to provide their family with everything they needed and more. I wanted that. I had a serious boyfriend throughout college for five years and every time I got down in the dumps and was frustrated with how much studying I was doing and the lack of sleep and social life, I would look at him and quickly be reminded why I was working so hard. I wanted a good life for us. Of course I was doing it for me too but in reality I was doing it for us. We had plans after college. Goals and dreams that we wanted to accomplish and achieve together. I was ready to finish out 2015 was a bang and think "Wow 2015 was my year. Our year". 

Unfortunately, that's not how 2015 ended. It was a rough rest of the year between switching to night shift, a breakup, a family death, etc. It was really tough to swallow. My goals and dreams suddenly needed to be shifted. All of a sudden I was going through this thing called life alone. Of course I had my family and girlfriends by my side but you know what I mean. It was scary and I didn't quite know what to do. The end of 2015 didn't quite end of how it started and it was a big stab to my heart. After accomplishing so much and being on cloud nine, how could it really end up like this?

As this blog states, I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. However, it's a hard concept to believe in when your life completely changes and your world turns upside down. With the start of the new year, I have one concept I want to keep in mind. I don't want to make any resolutions or promises to myself. I want to be able to tell myself that everything gets better with time. Even though yesterday, today, or next week I won't understand why certain things and events happened, I do know that it gets better with time. February was better than December, today was better than yesterday and next month is going to be better than the last.

So here's to 2016! Believing that everything does happen for a reason and it only gets better with time.