When I'm Not Blogging

Alright, let's be honest, I'm not blogging very often lately, at least not as much as I used to.  Honestly, the world outside the computer has kept me way more fixated lately. But one reason why I haven't been blogging, is because I've been letting my crafty side out, so much that the only posts in my drafts are DIY posts and I'm trying to space them out. My newest craft started one night when I decided I needed a new badge holder for every holiday. My thinking for this is simple. Nursing is hard. Sure, it's rewarding, but the days are long and tiring and some days wear you down. On those days, I want to have something that makes me happy and what's better than having a cheerful name badge holder? So, my idea for my new shop was born. I started making name badge holders. Then I realized that in order to buy fabric for my own, I had to buy at least enough fabric to have 10 of the same badge holder, so I decided to share my designs. Here are some of the ones I've made lately:

Then I decided to start making hair ties and headbands again because one of my friends was asking for some, so I thought, why not add it to my shop?

If you're interested, you can find my new shop here. I will try not to promote my shop too much on my blog, but I do sincerely hope that you'll check it out and maybe think of it this holiday season! Which badge holder is your favorite?

What a Nurse Things of Medical Shows

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For the link up this month, Anna and I decided to talk about our opinions of medical tv shows.
Oh girl, don't even get me started.
As a general rule, nurses aren't portrayed in the best light. Nurse Jackie is a drug addict? Nurses are sex symbols? and idiots?
Uh, right. Okay.
But if we ignore the horrible symbolism of nurses in tv shows and focus just on the medical aspect, I just have to laugh.
One thing that always drives me nuts is the continuous beeping of an EKG monitor.
While its true that machines beep in real life, it does not usually beep in sequence with your heart....at least in the two ICUs and two telemetry floors I've worked on. I mean seriously, can you imagine laying in bed 24 hours a day with a monitor continually beeping with your heart beat? What if your heart beat sped up? Imagine how much more anxious you'd be to hear your heart beat speed up!
Honestly, most of the time, I have to give up on shows getting any kind of medicine right. Cody and I were watching one movie, that I can not remember the name of, and a lady was trying to get away from a kidnapper so she dialed up some insulin on her insulin pen and gave a guy a shot.
Well, first off, I've never seen an insulin pen with a permanent needle attached. On all the ones I've used, you have to attach a new needle and then give yourself your insulin, but there can be different manufacturers so I'll give the movie the benefit of the doubt.
But the thing that got me was, why did this work instantly?! Usually in a pen, you'll either have a mix of regular insulin or intermediate acting insulin or just regular insulin, these are not IMMEDIATELY acting drugs! And why on earth did the guy fall out and pass out instantly? Just no.
As you can probably imagine, I can talk all day about this, but now it's YOUR turn. If you're a nurse/nursing student, link your opinion on medical tv shows up!

Brain Break (There's a VIDEO!)

Disclaimer: Wendy's wanted me to go buy a sandwich, because I love Wendy's I said "Uh, duh! Let me go get my keys!" so all opinions are my own and this story is completely true. So there.
So I have big news.
I passed my boards!!
Say hello to the newest nurse in the blogging world! :) Don't worry, I have plenty of nursing themed posts still coming your way and if you'd like to see any, please let me know what you want to see!
But, I'm on another topic today.
I'm a big fan of brain breaks. My favorite during school? Driving to Wendy's and getting my favorite meal, a cheeseburger without pickles with a sour cream and chive baked potato for the side and a large coke. 
From our old house, it took me 20 minutes to drive to Wendy's on almost all highway so I had plenty of time to blast some music and unwind and then eat my favorite comfort food.
So when Wendy's asked me if I wanted to try their flatbreads and make a video about it, I jumped all over it. A free trip to Wendy's in the middle of studying for boards? Sign me up! 
Cody had tried their flatbreads when they had them out last year some time, so I knew they'd be delicious. It was hard to give up my standard comfort food but I'm glad that I tried something new!
Plus, I got to take a break from studying and stressing to stretch my creative muscles and come up with a fun video. I hope you watch it!

So you might be wondering why I made a video. Well, Wendy's is having a #6secondsflat campaign in which you can win $6,000! Pretty cool huh?
As a bonus the videos were hilarious and were also great brain breaks! If you don't want to enter yourself, you should definitely head on over and watch the entries!
Here's all the details if you're still fuzzy on specifics:
6 seconds could win you $6,000 in Wendy’s #6SecondsFlat Flatbread Sweepstakes.
Tell Wendy’s what you think about their flatbreads in a Vine or Instagram video then send it @Wendys (through twitter, Instagram or Vine) with the #6SecondsFlat tag and my custom hashtag #DoseofPaige. Each week of September, one lucky winner will be randomly selected to receive a $6000 prize.
Visit the sweepstakes landing page for more information and view the “official rules” at the bottom of the page.
Now, I'm gonna go be nursey, aka lay in bed and watch youtube videos on my day off. Holla!
It's been forever since we talked! What have you been up to?

Once Upon A Time...

There's a little known fact about me, when I was younger, I always wanted to be a teacher. As a girl, I used to force my brother to play school with me while I made up lesson plans and schedules for our summer days. I'm sure it was a thrill for him to play school on his summer break, right?
By the time I graduated high school, my dream had changed quite a bit. I wanted to be a nurse practitioner. At the time, I don't think I really knew what a nurse did.
What does a nurse do? We teach. All the time. Sure, we don't do it in the traditional classroom setting but we teach our patients and our patient's families all about disease, health and so much more.
In nursing school, inevitably, my love of teaching came out even more and I can definitely say that I want to teach clinical groups one day. I'd love to teach students in their first adult health clinical as they learn how to care for a patient.
I had two teachers in nursing school that have helped me come to this realization.

One was my own first adult health clinical instructor. Boy, was she tough! She always expected our absolute best on the floor and now that I've graduated, I realize why. She was trying to impart to us that we were saving people's lives and that we should take that seriously.
The other teacher that made me realize that I wanted to be a clinical instructor was my maternal-newborn instructor. She was the first that treated me like a nurse. She realized that we all had a year under our belt and she asked us what we thought about certain things, all while guiding us when we looked at her like we were clueless. She was one of the most nurturing women I've ever met and I'd love to follow in her footsteps and be a clinical instructor one day.
And of course, I can't forget my two amazing preceptors. One made me do all the assessments and things like that on our patients, even on days I felt unsure of myself and the other quizzed me continuously and allowed me to try procedures all on my own.
All of these women made me realize that just because I went with a new dream, being a nurse, didn't mean I had to give up what I wanted as a child and I could still be a teacher, just a different kind of teachers.
Teachers come in all shapes and sizes but they definitely shape the way we live our lives, our values and even our hopes and dreams.
That's why when I found out about this amazing documentary called TEACH I knew I had to share it with all of you. 
"TEACH, Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim’s third documentary film about education in America asks the question: What Does It Take to Be A Great Teacher Today?
Following four dedicated teachers from different schools across the country over the course of one school year, TEACH gives viewers a window into the challenges, demands and rewards of teaching, with the purpose of elevating and promoting the profession, as well as engaging new teachers and supporting current teachers.  We see that for the best teachers, it’s not just a job but a mission. 
As intense as it is emotional, this year in the life of four public-school teachers illustrates how tenacity, passion and a belief in innovation drive these educators as they navigate the daily ups and downs of the 2012-2013 school year. These educators use conventional and unconventional methods and do whatever it takes to overcome obstacles and strive for success."

I'm so excited to be partnering with Participant Media to spread the word about the importance of good teachers! Did you ever want to be a teacher? What teachers have you had that impacted your life?

What I Wore: Nursing Pinning/Graduation

To continue the festivities of recaps, I thought I'd do a post about what I wore for my nursing pinning and graduation because let's face it, that dress rocked.

The dress itself came from Dillards, while the shoes were a lucky find at Ross.

 I painted Mint Candy Apple from Essie on my nails which was almost a perfect match from my Betsey Melville purse which was a birthday present from Cody for my birthday.

I kept my jewelry simple and only wore my champagne colored Pandora bracelet and a small sterling silver necklace I wear everyday with a little "T" on it.

Nursing Pinning and Graduation

In case you missed my lovely toast yesterday and are therefore in the dark, I graduated this past weekend!
And it feels amazing to be able to say that I officially have a BSN.
This is going to be a very picture heavy post, but this is one of those posts that needs it and stay tuned because at the end, I'll tell you what I'll be doing next!
If you're not familiar, a Pinning Ceremony or Nursing Convocation is a special ceremony just for nurses to welcome nurses into the profession. Essentially, we say a pledge and get pinned by a professor of our school as a symbol that we are officially nurses (of course it's not TECHNICALLY official until we pass boards)
My school does that before the actual college graduation.

Above is when we entered into the ballroom where the ceremony was held.

On the left is one of our amazing advisers. I met with her after one of our critical care tests, which I bombed horribly after studying from 5-12 hours a day for the previous two weeks. I literally broke down in her office and she sat with me for about two hours, making all of her other appointments wait.

On the right is when I got pinned by my critical care teacher. When I saw she was the one that was going to pin me, I got so excited! As she put my pin on my gown, she was like "I'm so proud of you! You did it!" and then gave me a huge hug!

Here is where we say the pledge. We simply hold our right hands up and say it at the same time together. It's really long or I'd post it here.

Then it was time for pictures! Cody was trying to be silly but my friend snapped this picture and it turned out be perfect! I met Cody the summer before nursing school so he's been here for the entire time. I'm so grateful I had him to support me through out school!

This is my younger brother. I swear there was a conspiracy between him and Cody to ruin pictures.

This is my Mom! (The woman in the blue dress) I'm so glad she was able to make it!

You already saw my mom and the woman in the picture on the right is my grandmother.

These are two of my good friends that didn't graduate with me!

And these are two friends that did!

Then it was off to graduation!

My class sitting at graduation. 

Graduation was long but at least I had fun! Someone brought "illegal" confetti that we all threw up at the end!

Here's me in my cap and gown and then with my other grandparents and then me with a wreath I made that I'll have a tutorial up for later on!

Anddd drummm rollll pleaseee!

I'M GOING TO BE A CARDIAC NURSE!

I start my job next week at one of the top cardiac hospitals in the country! I'm super excited!