two months

two months ago i was in the midst of my first night shift on my own.

i've never experienced anxiety like what i felt preparing to go in to work that night.

my heart beating a million miles a minute, palms sweating, eyes twitching, i went and faced my fears.

faced my fear that i might make a mistake that hurt, or worse, killed someone.

faced my fear that people might not trust me or think i'm a bad nurse.

i can't believe it's been two months.

it feels like an eternity and just yesterday all at the same time.

i can't believe how much i've learned, and how much i still don't know.

i can't believe how many patients i've cared for, and had impact on, whether good or bad, in just two months.

this job has forced me to face so many of my fears.

fear of failure.

fear of mans' opinion.

mistakes are inevitable.

i've made more in the last two months than i can count, some bigger than others.

some more anxiety producing than others.

but He is growing me.

through the anxiety, pain and hardship i pray i'm becoming more like Jesus.

i'm so thankful for God's faithfulness through these two months.

i'm thankful for peace in the midst of anxiety.

i'm thankful for strength to persevere and continue to step out in faith.

i'm thankful for the humility He is cultivating in me as i make mistakes and become increasingly aware of my shortcomings and dependence on Him. 

praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Craving the Crafty

I went home to San Francisco for Christmas. It was wonderful.And cold. And far too short. 

I drove back wednesday night, along with my recently married friends Cari and Jordan. Thursday night I began working a string of 4 night shifts in a row. Yowza. 
I never even unpacked (still haven't actually) - all I did was sleep, eat and work for 4 days. So you'd THINK when I was done I'd want to clean and organize my life.You'd think. 
But Pinterest strikes again. 
This was my to do and errand list for Tuesday. 

On the back were my Michael's, Joanne's and Walmart craft lists. I'd gone thru my "just do it {yourself}" board on pinterest and picked out some projects I'd been wanting to try. I came home three hours later with the loot.

I was able to complete 4 of the ideas on my list (well, 4 pins, 3 projects... you'll see).And I also dyed a bunch of old shirts I had for another project I'll finish later.
 I started with making handsoap. I know, not that exciting. But VERY practical. 

I used a fun scented bar of soap I found at Walmart, and only did a half batch due to my lack of an empty gallon storage container.

It's kind of hard to show you a picture of the finished product, given my soap dispenser is made of wood and distinctly UN-see-through.  But, trust me, it's very soapy and almost the perfect consistency. 

Next, I got to work making some chalk paint. 

So. Easy. 

My favorite kind of DIY.

I wanted to paint a plaque to put on my door, so I can let my roommates know when I'm sleeping. 

You know, so they don't vacuum at 3pm while I'm trying to catch some shut eye before I go to work.

I saw this idea pinned for the top of a cookie tin and thought it was darling!

So I made my own version.

Third/fourth (third project, fourth pin), and probably my favorite, I decided to take part in the crayon melting pandamonium that has taken over pinterest.Better late than never, right?

I tried to come up with an original idea. And couldn't think of anything. So I did a slightly modified rainbow.

The most difficult part was that I had decided I didn't want to glue the crayons to the board I was doing it on. 
This was my ridiculous set up.

I HIGHLY recommend using s defuser if you try this. Those crayons splatter all over otherwise, even on low power.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. 

Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

Oh yes.... and one more pinterest inspired craft from earlier this month.
My parents gave me a sewing machine for Christmas (YESSSSS!!!!). I'd brought fabric home, hoping they would get one for me. So Christmas night, I used this pin as inspiration: 

to make this scarf:

Kim, Marge and I had an adventure day in Sausalito the day after Christmas, and I wore that newly sewn scarf with pride (did I mention it took about 7 minutes to make???). 

Someone who took these artsy photos may even have gotten a forest green one for Christmas <3.

Welp, I'm exhausted, and you probably are too if you actually go this far in my horrifically long post. 
It's 2am, and I still have a pile of crafts waiting to be done tomorrow, and a whole house to clean while all my housemates are still away! This working girl's got some sleep to catch up on!
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