Pinning Ceremony

On Friday I participated in the time honored tradition of the nursing school pinning ceremony. It was wonderful to see our class together one last time before we fly off in our individual directions. Even though I was sick it was still a wonderful day! I had the honor of being voted as our class speaker and even though public speaking is not my strong suit, I have to say I did a fantastic job and feel like I was able to speak honestly and with conviction.

Below are a couple of photos & a link to the full album. Also, if you want you can watch the speech I delivered as my momma captured it on her camera. You may need to crank up the sound to hear it but I promise it's well worth it! :)

My fellow students & most awesome support crew!
I could not have done it without these ladies:
Lisa, Stacey & Laura

The man who made it all possible and without whom there are many things in my life that would not have been possible, ever. I love you baby!

Another one of the crew - just because we're so cute!

Getting antsy to get the show on the road!

You can view my speech here:



And you can see Matt pinning me here


And click here to find all the photos from the pinning ceremony.


At our school, the faculty have not always been that supportive of the pinning ceremony. Since it is linked back to diploma programs they feel that graduation is a more important event since we are a bachelor's program. I agree that the bachelor's degree is of the utmost importance however having graduation 3 months after you've finished the program is anticlimatic, to say the least. Every year though we seem to gather a little bit more support and I'm grateful for that! I am thankful to the faculty who came and participated in our ceremony and hope that the tradition grows and continues for those who come after us!

In sickness for health

So my wonderful hubby gave me his wonderful cold. I can get myself revved up for about 2 hours and then I crash. Today I'm a sad lump sitting on the sofa, trying to get myself motivated to clean the house as my mom is arriving in two days!

As far as my training goes, I made it as far as driving to the gym to do my cross training yesterday. I figured I could sit on a bike for a while at least. But alas, the parking was full and I was not motivated enough to look (and pay) for street parking. So that was a bust. And today, while I'm not feeling much better I know I need to get out there. So I will, even though the weather is wet & cold & rainy. It's only 35 minutes. I can do 35 minutes.

Training & Fundraising update!

Thanks to all of you so far for your generous donations. To date I'm 30% of the way toward my personal goal. Yeehaw!

I've set a new deadline for myself - I want to be at 75% of my fund raising goal by Thursday, March 24th. And with your help, I know it can be done! Here is how the math breaks down:

• 75% of $3000 = $2250
• $2250 - $895 = $1355
• $1355/$25 = 54.2

If I can get 55 people to click HERE and donate $25 to my fund right now, I'll be sitting pretty!

So to entice you to donate I've got a special deal - hand knitted goods! I'll be giving away three knitted dishcloths between now and St. Patty's day. You can win in one of three categories:

• First person to donate after I post this update
• Person to donate the highest dollar amount between now and March 17th
• Person who makes the wittiest and/or most supportive comment when making their online donation

Just think, one of those winners could be you! I hope it will be!

Training has been going well. There have been some "challenges" (runner lingo for HILLS) and I've been learning a lot about shin splints (unfortunately the hard way) but I am so honored to be a part of this group. I had the privilege of meeting some of our team honorees last weekend at a brunch and they are amazing an inspirational. Some are in remission from Leukemia or Lymphoma and some are currently undergoing treatment. I think that the magnitude of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society really hit home for me when I learned that two of the honorees are taking a medication developed by the money raised by the LLS. Talk about a direct effect of effort and fund raising for the cause - it blows my mind!

So please take a moment to donate now so that we can continue to help the LLS develop new treatments and save lives!

And for your viewing pleasure, a couple of pictures from last weekend's run!

Love - Myla

Here you can see me on the left trudging up yet another hill!

And this is the glorious rest/refuel station. I was so glad to see it!

I couldn't ask for a better setting to wheeze and trudge my way through. This kind of view makes up for most/all the pain!