It Takes A Community

I feel like I'm always talking about Relay for Life, and year after year I make this post, and I was a little worried about making it yet again, because maybe doing so was resulting in diminishing returns and/or reader boredom. But then, last week at our committee meeting, we heard a really great story about a successful single mom who was putting her two kids through college, who was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. The two kids spoke with their local American Cancer Society office, and ACS not only managed to get her rides to her appointments, into the Look Good...Feel Better program to cope with physical concerns with cancer treatment, and even paid for her kids to come home for the holidays twice a year. 

So then I got to thinking, if people can go through that, and their families and children and loved ones can pluck up the courage to deal with a situation of that magnitude without feeling they are getting diminishing returns (even if, sadly, they might be), then I have no excuse to not make this post. I have no excuse not to try my hardest to support a great cause that I believe in very much. I should not feel like I'm harassing anyone, when the result could be in better research, education, advocacy, and wellness for individuals, their families, and their communities. I should stand as boldly behind my goal now, though I have had the fortune of not having immediate family affected by cancer, as I would if any of them had or did. "It takes a community to ensure health" is something that's been a major theme in my education lately, and I urge you to support your community. Please consider joining a Relay for Life event near you or you can donate to me, if you'd like, HERE.

If you read all that, thank you very much. I appreciate it a lot.

Mardi Gras!

This past weekend, I got to unwind a little from the stressful couple weeks I've been having. One of my friends here is a native Louisianan, so we had a little Mardi Gras party on Saturday!

I did my nails accordingly, of course. We made gumbo, which turned out pretty good! Sadly, I have no pictures of it, but that's okay because we thought it would be fine to use jambalaya mix instead of gumbo mix...so unfortunately the rice expanded a ton (but don't you steal the name gumbalaya, because we're patenting).
I was introduced to the tradition of King Cake. It's more or less like a giant glazed cinnamon roll. There's a little figurine of a baby hidden inside it and apparently, the tradition is that whoever gets the baby in their piece buys the next King Cake. The baby in ours was definitely male and more than a little creepy, but the cake was delicious.  We also had some delicious biscuits and beer and cheese grits, so really, what more could a girl ask for, right? Turned out to be a really fun, relaxing night! But now...back to the grind.

Inspiration

I have been grasping for inspiration lately. A recent personal setback has created this intense wealth of motivation and desire to prove myself in my professional and academic life. This has resulted in some of the most efficient studying, planning, and self-improvement I've ever done, but somehow I just can't seem to come up with anything to post on this blog right now. I think a lot of it has to do with stress. My stress level is at a baseline 8 on the 1-10 scale these days, so there's always something a little more pressing than blogging, even if it's just giving myself a well-deserved 20 minute tv break while I eat. Obviously, in this vein, today's 20-min break is dedicated to finding (and sharing) inspiration instead of watching yet another episode of Parks and Recreation.

-"Roll the Dice" by Charles Bukowski. Just read it and feel the adrenaline.

-Aaron Christopher Judd's "(365) Days of Tumblr" Project. Part One. Part Two. Okay, they're a little hipster...don't judge.

-Can you tell I like the picture quotes yet?