In celebration of Momma's Day, I cant help but to share.

I have to brag, bragging that my mom deserves fully.

My mom.

Is beautiful from tip to toe.

The most generous, warm, sympathetic, loving, bold women I know.


I was blessed with my mom 21 years ago. 21 years ago my mom took on the role of being the best idol one could ask for.

On January 20, 1992 I was given the greatest gift. A mother that pours endless love. A mother that puts my life before her own. A mother that runs in circles to make ME happy. A mother that has listened to endless sob stories and still loves unconditionally.  A mother that leaves a smile everywhere she goes. A mother that makes the rough times a time of learning. A mother that understand the definition of a 'good person'.

A mother that makes me the happiest daughter on Earth.

To my mom, may I recognize your hard word, dedication, and love you forever share. Never a day I forget your qualities that I strive to perfect by the time I am a momma.

I thank you for my freckles, my hump nose, my height, my big feet, and my big chubby cheeks.

I honor you in the way you have raised me to be the lady I attempt to be=)

CHEERS

To the women that has my entire heart, that is states away but only a phone call away to save the day!

I love you momma llama, more then all the fish in the sea....

Hope your Mother's Day was rewarding, for you are nothing short of Perfect !!!

Spring Break took me to the beautiful country of Italy.

Traveling around the country seems to be my cup of tea or my peace of mind. As I fasten my seatbelt 9.10.11.12.13.14.15 hours of travel is cake.

This trip we had a small layover in Paris, France(poor us) ha. 
By small I mean a 3 hour layover. We landed I grabbed Jenni's hand and we darted for the first train we saw, keeping our fingers crossed it would be the one that took us to the Eiffel Tower. With Jenni's knowledge, and myself giving her my trust we were on our way. We made it with just enough time to snap a picture and set back to the airport. Was worth the anxiety, if I say so myself. 

Last leg ahead of us, next stop would be Florence, Italy! Oh man were we excited, after that small taste of Paris.

As many scramble with anxiety and fear of flying, I find myself closing my eyes kicking back ,and surrounding my thought process with an imaginary clip of the endless adventures I hope to immerse myself in upon arrival.

This time.
My imaginary clip took toll.

I imagined pasta. loads of pasta. meatballs. rich food forcing the pounds on.
I imagined buildings that reach the sky, cobble stone roads, small arch ways making be feel like a princess of ancient times running around trying to find my prince, churches so beautiful you can only stare, Italian fashion that makes me smile, Italian men that make me smile...more, the imagination went wild. 

Matter of fact my imagination was met. 

One slight bummer, my suitcase decided to take an alternative route and head to Berlin, not to worry Cole and I are the same size, thank the fashion gods for smaller then normal males, or maybe just fashionable men:) I was dressed well for the two days my suitcase was vacationing. 

Landing in Florence we were directed by THE Cole Westerland, to take the bus to the train station to meet up with our tour guide for the week. So we did.

Cute tour guide, dont chya think?

next morning, Florence skies woke me.

Italia.
                   BOLD
                                 HEART-DROPPING 
                                                                        STRIKING 
                                                                                               
Italia.

stole my heart.

Cole insisted that we have "cultural days", days in which we had to Italianize ourselves. 
Cole sat Jenni and I down and made it rather clear how you can pick out an American in a crowd---
 -talk obnoxiously loud, wear Northface anything, have big purses with strap 
across the chest, leggings, baggy jeans, baseball caps, t-shits, backpacks, bad posture, pearl earrings, lots of University apparel, AND my favorite girls posing with their hand on the hip. 

This called for a good laughing, and he was right, Americans are rather noticeable, after the American 101 lesson, it seemed like us Americans had a fat sign pasted to our forehead stating "Hey look at me, I'm American", obviousness at its finest.

I....

I was one of them.

I am a proud American, and like any country we all have our stereotypes and ways we present ourselves.   

Italians you see wear parkas, sweatpants, sneakers, and scarves as a typical everyday outfit. Italians also have a color palette of brown, blue, grey, and black. The men also have this hair thing going on thats like "hey, lets shave the sides of my head damn near bald, and keep this toupee of a style for the top of your head" SOME pulled it off, others shall wear a hat for the remainder of their existence. 


but seriously

Italy was insanely gorgeous, I found it hard to remember to take my phone places to take pictures because seeing these sights in person was way more important, and the actual feel couldn't be captured. So I tired my best.

While in Italy we visited Viterbo, Siena, Pisa for 20 minutes due to taking an incorrect train, and Florence where we stayed majority of the time. 

Duomo!

Siena!

Italy has taught me 3 things, or maybe has helped enhance 3 things within my life. Regardless.

one. Having zero sense of time.

I never knew what time it was, nor did I care, everyone was late(hours late) and that was okay. I enjoyed the pace of life due to the absence of time. The pace in Italy was sloooow which gave me time each day to really absorb my surroundings, take in every aspect, whether the architecture or the bowl of carbs in front of me.

two. Company.

Beside my dearest friend Cole, who don't get me wrong as filled my heart more with this endless friendship that tickles my toes each time we reunite. The company in Italy was "real". By this, I am reminded of a evening we hung in a local coffee shop, where we had "aperitivo" in other words a cocktail, and appetizer....This older hip dressed man with a pup(everyone has a pooch with them, especially the elder) this man was a musician, and even though he spoke broken english, we chatted as a group the meaning of doing something you love. Yes, this conversation comes up a lot, but this time it was different. This hip older man used so much enthusiasm, hand motions, the largest smiles, the cutest dog, and entertained even me the non italian speaking individual on his views of enjoying what you do for the love of it, not the money it brings. It was pure, exciting, and nothing like I experienced before in random company if you will. Ideally it was a small encounter that opened a massive understanding to me. There is company. and. There is "real" company! 

three. The weight.

As pictured above, sights in Italy were nothing like those you see in America or even other countries. Italy has an architectural design that is jaw dropping, eye widening, and as Cole states faint worthy. Yes people have fainted seeing such sights, such as the Duomo. The weight of this land, this country, this adventure, these landmarks, was insane. I stood at the top of the highest point in Florence over looking the entire city....weight was all I could feel. I was this little human, standing on this platform, over looking the most breathtaking piece of land my eyes have seen this far. Pictures don't do justice, but fill the void. The weight sent chills down my spine, and I have yet to understand the beauty of this land I was surrounded by. The weight has forced me to want more, to travel more, to see more, to feel the weight elsewhere, to understand our Earth. 

Lastly, my trip was ended with a smile

the only way to end such an adventure.

Step by Step...

life has been going, full throttle at that.

Stepping into a new semester, a new home, a new year, a new me. I am happy.

The holidays rested me up for a whole handful of NEW.

 I turned 21 and had an extremely wonderful 21st        party, 1920's themed, it was a success! Then Vegas with a few of my old roommates from Santa Barbara, was a well rounded 21st if I say so myself!

 I chose to move out of my three bedroom two bath house and upgrade per say to a 5 bedroom house with 4 other roommates instead of 2 others. May I say I am thrilled I did. Old neighborhood wasn't working out so much, those of you that remember teardrop old man next door, cat lady on the other side, and ideally not the place for me. 

So I have moved closer to campus with girls that are excellently great! I have a larger room, newly remodeled house, and GUESS WHAT? College age neighbors

 I AM OVERLY FILLED WITH JOY! 

This semester is important, as I should always do good... this semester I need to excel. My educational goal is to become a Nurse, to help those that can't themselves, to travel this world and aide the sick, to give my knowledge in a field I can't get enough of. 

My plan....

 Currently I am on track to complete my bachelors degree in Childhood Development in a bit over a year from now. This sounds lovely, BUT isn't the goal I have for myself.

   I have applied for this next Fall 2013 to many nursing schools all over the face of our country. Im talking from TCU in Texas all the way to MSOE in Milwaukee. 

I will, I will get into Nursing school.

The competition is killer, has me laying awake all hours of the night making

 Plan B

............C

................D

..................EFG

its exhausting.

its my future.

why must it be so hard?

Step by Step I will get there.

SO as of now, I complete my bachelors degree UNLESS I get into a nursing school come Fall then I will transfer once more and be finished in 2 years. Now if I don't hear from a nursing school, after completion of my bachelors degree I will apply to advanced nursing programs(14 months) throughout the country and cross my fingers once more. 

This is life, no rush as my mom says, but I'm a girl with a plan, a plan that has me twisted with frustration. 

                 My time will come, and then I shall shine.

WORK, or for me PLAY...

I have a 6 family operation here in Sacramento, California. And let me tell you all it's setting off. I work daily. Yes, every single day! I work/play hard and love what I do. 

Families 1-4, are all best friends each family has 2 kids. This occupies me Monday-Thursday. I learn a lot. Or should I say I get tested a lot.

My Patience level

My Respect level

My Tolerance level

My Discipline level

....all things I never really focused on. 

Families 5 and 6 are sporadic and tend to fall on weekends if they aren't taken by families 1-4. 

I learn the tedious yet meaningful attributes of little ones. I run 573 miles per minute and cannot get enough. I wake up at the crack of dawn to either babysit then school, or school then babysit. 

I tend to dream of children games or how that Childhood Development lecture can apply to my kiddos. I'm learning hands on in my eyes.

On top of this multi-family operation I have become a Certified Instructor for this after school program for Elementary aged children. I work with two different schools, once a week per school for only an 1 1/2 hours at a time. Monday mom is the owner and got me onboard. I enjoy it. The program is called Early Engineers, this structure of program is to power the imagination of youngsters by applying a mini lesson of a type of structure maybe a car or a pagoda(Asian cultures building...this was last weeks) 

Once the lesson is displayed they are given the proper building pieces and are sent to work. The kids love it! I love watching the minds of K-2nd graders work diligently, and successfully. 

..........

With the good, comes a not so good. One of the schools is in the cuts or lets be direct the HOOD of Sacramento. This school is work, and going through three gates of security, multiple questioning, ID badge and paperwork I'm allowed on campus.

Stomach churning issue is THIS IS A ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PEOPLE. 

Once entering the classroom I was urgently ushered to close the curtains over the windows that surround the entire class, I asked why....my answer was "honey we've had instances, and it's an after school program we have to take precaution."

So last Thursday I was shaking and barely made it through the class, especially when told by a 6 year old " miss your ass is in my way" or "miss you have to help me build or I will tell my brother...he is in a gang! " I didn't know if this was going to exactly work! 

I kept my cool, and only peed my pants a tiny bit. 

I have decided that this school was given to me to teach because I can handle it! I wrote down rules, bought some prizes and this Thursday I will have a classroom full of 13 unprivileged elementary kids ready to show respect as well as have respect in a learning environment.  

And that is that! 

                   ________________________________________________

Made it back to Tejas for a good ol weekend with the folks as well as the pups. It was needed.

Mom also turned 30 so it was kind of a big deal! Many laughs, a spa day(with a male therapist my same age...twas interesting), nails, food food food, and some quality bonding. 

Bliss. 

Mom has me on a great new thing called Zeal, Highly recommend to all. Mom has  had many health issues that all never seemed to be cured unless meds and multiple pain killers were taken. Its a powder substance thats to be taken with water daily, its delicious and a days worth of all your vitamins and energy needed,  naturally. 

 Mom has been using Zeal for a few months and is on zero medication and no longer popping pain killers. Health being a primary key to my major this had me jumping with joy, totally AWESOME! Get on the Zeal bus today:)

Life can only be lived once therefore I try to live mine in a way that leaves fingerprints. 

I love being the girl in the local Starbucks that babysits for 4 best friends, I like being the girl that has reviews on Care.com that make me cry happy tears, I love being that girl that will speak up for a group of shy girls in class.

As any human, we feed off compliments, but as I Step into this new vamped, energized new year. I realize that some of the biggest compliments are those you don't hear. The ones that make eyebrows raise and people applaud. I started life here in Sacramento, California this past August in a rut, in a hole that buried me. 

Slowly.

Step by step, I am making a difference in my community,and each day that ends I proudly pat my back because the BEST recognition to me is the silent kind that really squeezes your heart! 

It's a challenge.

The reward though is endless. I see the good in those surrounding me, I see the bad in others, I feel it is my job (such as the unfortunate elementary school)to make a change. 

I can.

I will.

Step by Step.