Today is October 12, 2016.

So much has happened in the past five years or so. Life got pretty busy there for a bit. I decided to go back to school to finish my BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) degree that I had started ten years prior. My intentions were to finish it, and go on to complete my MSN (Masters of Science in Nursing) degree as well. Of course working full time put a slight dent in these plans, as well as the VERY welcome addition of some family dynamic changes. We gained a lovely daughter-in-law in 2009 and in 2011 got our very first grandchild, Kiera! How's that for life-changing??

My degree was supposed to be specializing in Nursing Education, and that is, in fact, what I obtained. I achieved my goal August 13 of this year and will be walking with my class to be presented my MSN degree this Friday, in Phoenix, Arizona. Why Phoenix, you ask? Me living in Los Angeles, it doesn't really make sense, right? But my school in Grand Canyon University, and they offer not only traditional face-to-face classroom settings but also specialize in online learning as well for those of us who are, as we say, time-challenged. It basically means we are super busy people and don't want to give up our full time jobs, family, grandkids, or hobbies for school, but that we would rather sacrifice some sleep for a period of time to earn our advanced degrees.

I have to say that my online education experience was a fantastic one, full of positive people like my student advisor and my course counselors. Grand Canyon University is known as a leading Christian University and their staff reflects their values. I would highly recommend this program to anyone looking for an advanced degree and for a high level of quality education with people who seem to really care while providing academic excellence along the way.

Now that I've been out of school for a couple of months I find myself with some extra time on my agenda. Either that, or I've gotten extremely organized over the past years. However, I think it happens to a lot of us that as younger adults with new families we might seem to never have time and always be running late. As we get older we learn some methods to be 'on time' or even ahead of time. Just like learning how to manage our money, these things take time and experience. It takes just as much time to learn a good habit as it does to learn a bad one, so it is good to learn how to save money, balance budgets, meal plan, all those things that allow us to have stress-free lives.

This big news right now (besides me graduating this week with my highest GPA ever!) is that last night I did something else life-changing.

I joined the ranks of the Stampin' Up Demonstrator. That's right: from now on I can start to plan my own "Make and Take" workshops, gather my own stuff to form a class, and create lots of cards and other gift items...all under the guise of "working!" How great is that?? When I first learned about Stampin' Up many years ago, I had the feeling I would be involved with them for a long time. I loved the product and I loved the wholesome image of the company and it seemed like everyone I had contact with associated with them were just genuinely nice people. As I got busier, I had less time for fun stuff like creating. I never gave my stamps away and always managed to make some homemade cards at least a few times a year to replenish my stock of thank  you and birthday cards. My friends and family always seemed to be so excited to receive them and since I had so much fun making them, I felt it was better to hang on to all my stuff.

Please join me on my continuing journey of LIFE and enter my newest chapter so we can see how far I can go with it. My blog is still here after five years and so am I. The name of the blog might change and might even change locations, but I'm still ME and  happy to have you.

Welcome!