Tag #dailyinsight
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Fresh February
New Adventures and New Learning Experiences
February was a month of learning and expanding my brain. Part of this month I went on my Navy annual training at Camp Pendletons Hospital. I’m rated as a general Corpsman (medic) which means I don’t have a specialty and I can float around where they need me. This time they needed me in the anesthesia department. Needless to say, I was a little nervous because I had no idea what they would want me to do. Not to mention I have basically zero experience in that department. Fast forward to day one of training and besides being nervous, I am ecstatic. I’ve never set foot in an operating room before! It was super clean, shiny, bright and had a level of organized collective chaos. I dove headfirst and learned everything I could as fast as I could since it was a little understaffed. I was allowed to prep patients in pre op for surgery, learned the restocking methods and was even able to watch a handful of the surgeries that were performed. The days flew by and when I wasn’t working at the hospital, I was out exploring sunny San Diego.
Exploring the tide pools and enjoying the ocean.
Tide pools at Shell Beach in La Jolla.
San Diego was a breathe of fresh air. I was able to explore and adventure around with one of my good friends that actually was training with me. She had some friends that knew cool food places to eat at and beaches to visit. I even managed to spend a few days hanging out with my brother. We tried to eat somewhere different everyday and to keep it local. Down in Encinitas we came across a delicious bakery and an amazing gelato shop.
This was delicious and the staff was so friendly! She gave us a loaf of bread for free! Add them to your list!
Go visit at night! Has amazing flavors of gelato. Fun, cozy atmosphere and only a few blocks from an ocean view.
Instead we found ourselves at dessert and snack shops than actual lunch or dinner places. It kind of kept the surprises of food on a working ”vacation.” I mean we had as much fresh seafood we possibly could have had, we had old school Italian food, amazing pizza and beer too. I also had to try ”the best coffee” that the San Diego area boasted. The coffee shops are called Better Buzz Coffee and they are scattered around SoCal. Since I’m a caffeine fiend, I of course had to stop in. I wanted to try their Horchata Iced Latte, but sadly they were sold out. I opted for their Mint Infused Iced Coffee instead and let me tell you…It was delicious! Not overly sweet, just the right amount of mint and the coffee was strong. It was great. If you ever find yourself in SoCal, give them a try. Here’s a glimpse at their MENU.
Such a fun atmosphere. Kick back and enjoy a nice coffee.
Now I think my favorite dessert place we found which ended up being on our second to last day was called Parlor Doughnuts. These are fancy home made big croissant/doughnut delicacies. I tried the Caramel Turtle and Chocolate Covered Strawberry Shortcake. They were decadent, and not overly sweet. I wish I had more time to bring them back home with me from the trip.
This annual training with the Navy actually turned out to extremely insightful to my job and fun. I managed to learn a lot of new information that made me curious enough to do my own research. I was able to spend time with new friends and went exploring out and about in a newish city! The best part of all though I think was being able to try all the new delicious foods and spend time at the beach to really enjoy it. I hope you enjoy reading about this as much as I enjoyed writing about it. 💚 Kat
“I have seafoam in my veins, I understand the language of waves.”
– Le Testament d’Orphée
End of Training
Day 3: Learning about anesthesia
Day 2 : CPNH
Military Training
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January: Just Read
Blogging is a way to escape. A place where you can write what you’re feeling or think the world should know. When I first started this, I was still finding out what I liked, and what worked best for me. Over that time, things have definitely changed. Im constantly learning new things. How to improve what I read, write and live about. For example, I used to goal orientate my months to the EXTREME. This caused me to panic and stress out when I couldn’t meet those goals. This year I decided against that and to just live and learn through the year.
Just Read
For the month of January I decided to go with the theme of “Just Read.” I chose this theme because I haven’t been reading as much as I’ve wanted to. With Nursing school starting, I’m bombarded with textbooks instead. While I am learning from them, I’m not relaxing with them. This month I picked up my book of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and started to read. It’s almost the end of January and the book is more than halfway read. One way I kept up on my reading so far was to try something new and kind of fun. Everyday of the month I would read the amount of pages pertaining to the date. For example, today for January 28th I read 28 pages. It’s a nice and straightforward way of keeping up with something.
What was the last book you read for fun? Any books you would suggest to read?
“The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.”
Isabel Allende
Happy 2022!
Time to Ring in the New Year
I hope everyone celebrated the new year safely and happily. This new year I will be doing it a little differently. I usually like to make resolutions to try and achieve by the end of the year. However, I tend to undershoot and end up disappointed that I didn’t set out to do. Instead, I will be doing my normal life and just being as positive and proactive as I can be. This takes some stress off of my shoulders and will hopefully let me spend this year better. I’m seeing this as a trial period and how it turns out.
How did you celebrate the new year? Any goals or new ways to spend the year?
You can get excited about the future. The past won’t mind.” ―Hillary DePiano
The Last of the Tea 🍵
The journey of my tea advent calendar has finally come to an end. I finished the last of the teas. I enjoyed this advent calendar more so than the traditional chocolate ones. One of the reasons is because each day was something new to try and look forward to. A new flavor and a new saying that goes with each one.
- Day 13 – wild apple & cinnamon – From old orchards apples come with sweet and spicy cinnamon. Perfect Christmas heaven.
- Day 14 – peppermint & licorice – Minty cool, sweet with delight. The perfect post feast treat.
- Day 15 – lemongrass & ginger – Herbs to bring a little Christmas zing to your day- a lemony kick to stir your soul.
- Day 16 – relax – Find a quiet moment. Let marshmallow root and chamomile flowers be your gentle calm.
- Day 17 – Chamomile vanilla & manuka honey – dusky vanilla infused chamomile. Sweet manuka to bring a smile.
- Day 18 – licorice & cinnamon – Cinnamon and cacoa- sweeter still with licorice. No more heavenly brew than this.
- Day 19 – tulsi clarity – For when all is frantic. Let sacred herbs bring clarity to your Christmas.
- Day 20 – three chamomile – Sit back on a bed of flowers. Chamomile will let the hours gently flow.
- Day 21 – cleanse – Here is a tea of cool mint green. Sparkle and glow with a Christmas sheen.
- Day 22 – after dinner – Tea for after dinner.
- Day 23 – three licorice – As sweet as sweet can be with three forms of licorice blended beautifully for tea.
- Day 24 – three fennel – Only Santa need be awake. These are the herbs to magic you to Christmas Day.
I hope everyone had a safe and amazing Christmas. With New Years on the way stay safe, celebrate and ring in the New Year! To trying new things, and always looking forward to new things.
Freshly-cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin— inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night.
– John J. Geddes
Kat Naps and Fires 