Favorite Podcasts

Happy Tuesday everyone! I wrote this blog post a couple months ago, well half way wrote it, but never had time to finish it until today! In this post I wanted to share a couple of my favorite podcasts to listen to. I personally love listening to podcasts in the car, while I'm cooking dinner, while I'm cleaning the house, at the gym - basically anywhere. It makes me feel like I am actually learning something rather than just listening to music but it's also not something that I need to be paying super close attention to like an audiobook. I hope you take a listen to one or all of these and let me know what you think or if you have any that I should add to my list! 

1. What We Said

What We Said is created by Jaci Marie Smith & Chelsea Curtis. Jaci is a social media influencer/creator and Chelsea is a health/wellness coach! They cover sooo many topics, it's something new every week. The two of them have been friends for years and when I listen to the podcast I feel like I'm just sitting in the living room talking with them it's so fun.

2. The Bristows Made a Baby

This podcast no longer produces new episodes but it's still such a fun listen! It is a podcast produced by Becca & Matt Bristow. Becca is a registered dietician who creates Youtube and Instagram content. This podcast followed her pregnancy about a year ago (I listened to this podcast as it was being published), herself and her husband would update every week about whats going on with baby Bristow.

3. Schnitt Talk

So I originally found Ellie on Twitter, which is probably what most people know her from. She went a college that I knew a lot of people at and now works at Barstool Sports! Her podcast is kinda like a guilty pleasure. Ellie definitely is very different from myself - she is single and living in NYC, goes out to bars regularly. It is so fun to hear all of her stories! Her and her cohost always share funny/embarrassing stories from the weekends.

4. Thick & Thin

Thick & Thin is a podcast by Katy Bellotte who I have followed on Instagram and YouTube for years! Fun fact: Katy and I share a birthday and are the same age. She is living in NYC and recently quit her full-time job to work for herself, so she has been sharing about the journey lately! She also just shares what its like being a single, working woman living in the city! Her and I are very similar in the way that we are both kind of old souls.

5. Soul Sugar Podcast

Carrie Rad is another woman who I have followed on Instagram and YouTube for as long as I can remember. She is a couple years older than me and give such good advice! Her podcast focuses on relationships, self care, and bettering yourself. She has such a relaxing voice and I always feel like I come away from her podcast learning something new.

I occasionally listen to a couple of others such as The Rise Podcast by Rachel & Dave Hollis, The Ladygang Podcast, The Bare Podcast, Munchin with Moguls, Living Fully with Mallory Ervin and The Angie Lee Show!

Decade Recap

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a great night celebrating or going to bed at 10pm like we did :) As many of you probably did, I spent a chunk of my time yesterday looking at Instagram posts of people's decade recaps! Every year I make a "top 9" post of my top 9 Instagram photos of the year. I always love looking back on things that happened over the last year, so I thought a whole decade recap would be fun to do! Going through all of these old pictures is really making me appreciate current iPhone photo quality, some of these photos are so bad. I started this decade as a freshman in high school and ended the decade about to start my career as a nurse. I hope you all enjoy taking a peak at my highlight reel of the last 10 years!

2010

I went on my first cruise, started high school, joined student council, and had an ungodly amount of sleepovers with my girlfriends.

2011

I turned 16 & got my drivers license (what an exciting year). 

2012

I attended an amazing weekend long leadership seminar that only 1 student from each high school in IL got to attend, got a position on district student council and went to junior prom!

2013

I started my senior year of high school, turned 18, went to a lot of football games, and planned & decorated for my senior homecoming. 

2014

I bought a brand new car on my own, graduated from high school, took a solo trip to Seattle, Kayli got married, and I started college!

2015

Started dating my soon to be hubby (enjoy our first pic ever together), traveled A LOT (9 cities), my sister got married, and I ran my first half marathon!

Check out my other post all about 2015 https://baileycollette.blogspot.com/2016/01/highlights-of-2015.html

2016

Austin and I celebrated our first anniversary, I graduated with my associates degree, moved into our townhouse, my bestie got married, we bought our house and started renovations right away!

Check out my in depth 2016 recap https://baileycollette.blogspot.com/2017/01/2016-year-in-review.html

2017

Continued house renovations, my brother graduated high school, traveled some more (Boston, St. Louis, FL), cut down our first Christmas tree. 

2018

I started nursing school, traveled even more (MI, CO, TN, FL), and GOT FREAKING ENGAGED!!!

Check out my in depth 2018 year recap https://baileycollette.blogspot.com/2019/01/2018-recap.html

2019

Spent a lot of weekends with our friends, lots of wedding planning, graduated nursing school, one of my best friends had a baby girl.

Although this decade was great, I cannot WAIT to see what all happens in the next 10 years! Austin and I get married, hopefully start a family, flip a couple more houses, and who knows what else!

What's In My Nursing School Clinical Bag

Now that I am officially done with nursing school and cleaning out my clinical bag, I wanted to share what all I have kept in this bad boy for the last 2 years. During nursing school I used this bag for both clinical and work (I worked as a CNA and a nurse intern during school), but both roles required about the same supplies. I recommend a clinical bag that zips shut. Sometimes you don't have a good place to keep your things at clinical and it can be easy for your bag to get tipped over, so having a zipper will keep all your things contained! I have the crossbody tote  from ThirtyOne and have loved it! I also have a short video at the end of the blog post showing you a little more of what's inside my clinical bag :)

1. Pen Pouch - specifically a clear one. I found it so helpful to have a clear pen pouch, it saved me a lot of time from digging around looking for a specific pen. It is also helpful to have all of your writing utensils contained and not thrown all over your bag.
Bag mentioned in my video:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0732YKG96/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2. Medication Bag - I am a preparer and I ALWAYS like to have basic medications with me such as Tylenol, ibuprofen, cold medicine, Tums. Again like my pens, I simply keep them in a bag just to keep them all contained.
Bag mentioned in my video:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S72HGLT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

3. Folder - I found it helpful to have a folder in my bag to have extra clinical paperwork that I needed with me such as care plans, med sheets and any other references!

4. Stethoscope & Name Badge - These are pretty obvious. At my school we were required to have our own stethoscope at clinical and required to wear our name badge

5. Water & Snacks - Clincials at my school were anywhere from 4-12 hours depending on the course, so it was crucial to bring water and at least one snack.

6. Writing Utensils - I think this is another pretty obvious one. I liked to have lots of extra pens just in case. I also carried around a highlighter at clinical, it helped me keep track of my day better!

7. Clipboard - I loved using a folding clipboard during clinical! It was nice to be able to fold it up and slide it in my pocket to keep patient information safe. I'll leave a link below for the one I use.
https://www.amazon.com/WhiteCoat-Clipboard-Pink-Nursing-Edition/dp/B00GWSPT9Q/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=pink+folding+clipboard&qid=1576529578&sr=8-4


My video -->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkPSGALfSek&feature=youtu.be

Baby Shower Gift Basket

One of my best friends is having her first baby in January and I could not be more excited for her! Kayli was my #1 babysitter growing up, I spoke in her wedding, and she will be officiating mine and Austin's wedding in June! It is going to be so fun seeing her and her husband during this next phase of their life! We celebrated over the last couple weekends with a friends baby shower and I was lucky enough to be invited to her family shower as well.

I wanted to make this little post about the gift that my mom and I put together for her. We both really enjoy putting together gift baskets/bags for people, so it was a no brainer that we would put some sort of basket for Kayli as well! My mom actually made Kayli a gift basket when she went away to college and I made her a wedding day emergency kit!

While I was looking at Kayli's baby registry, I got the idea to put together a little shower caddy with all the bath goodies that little babe might need. I chose a lot of the items directly from her registry but also added some other things.

These were some really cute items on her registry! She asked for the waterfall bath rinser, and while shopping for that, I found this cute little duck that tells you if the water is too hot. 

Above and below are some specific items that Kayli had on her registry. The lavender soap & lotion smell soooo good!

I couldn't help myself with the little hooded towel and washcloths. 

I thought this plastic caddy was perfect for those who don't have a lot of storage space in their bathroom - all the baby's stuff can just be kept in the caddy and stored wherever! I love this gift idea because just like my wedding day emergency kit post, the items in the basket/bag can be changed to fit anyone! I think it would also be fun to put together a little diaper changing caddy or a postpartum care bag for the mama. 

Meal Prep Steak Bowls

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite lunch prep meals! Like many I loveee Chipotle but let's be honest...their portions are huge! And it can get a little pricey eating it all of the time, so I decided to create a little something that I can make from home! These are so easy and filling to take to school or work. 

To make these bowls, I start with marinating my steak for at least a couple of hours. The amount of steak depends on how many bowls I make and how much steak I put in each container. I typically put about 3oz of steak in each bowl!

Once the steak has had time to marinate, I cook it on the stove top with a tiny bit of oil. The marinade I use is from Trader Joe's and it is the Chili Lime seasoning blend and it is SO GOOD. While I'm cooking the steak I add a little more of the seasoning blend.

While the steak is cooking I get my veggies cut. I always do red onion and some sort of bell pepper. I slice them up nice and thin and cook them with a little oil! I also add a little bit of the seasoning blend to the veggies because I'm obsessed. 

Once everything is cooked up I add it all to my container with some Monterey Jack cheese. I meal prep lunches for Austin every Sunday and make cilantro lime rice so I like to add that to my bowls. I'll link the recipe I use for the rice here: https://www.serenabakessimplyfromscratch.com/2015/08/cilantro-lime-rice.html

So that's my take on my DIY steak chipotle bowls! Side note: I usually do add a lime wedge to squeeze over the whole bowl after I reheat it but today I unfortunately forgot to pick up a lime. Hope you enjoy!

Mac 'n' Pea Pasta Salad

Today I wanted to share my favorite pasta salad recipe! I don't remember where I found the original recipe but I have tweaked it several times to make it my own and I think I've finally found the right combination of ingredients. This is my go-to pasta - I make it for work potlucks, family cookouts, as a dinner side...honestly whenever! It doesn't have a lot of ingredients and is pretty customizable! Hope you all enjoy :)

 

What you're going to need for this pasta salad is:

2 C of Elbow Noodles, dry

2 T Milk

1/4 C Mayo

1/4 C Sour Cream 

1/2 C Diced Bell Pepper (any color)

1/2 C Diced Red Onion

1/2 C Frozen Green Peas

1/2 Block of Cheddar Cheese, cubed small

Salt & Pepper to taste 

First, cook the pasta according to box directions and drain. After the noodles are drained, keep them in the strainer and rinse with cold water until all noodles are cool. 

While the noodles are cooking, get your veggies and cheese chopped up! 

Mix up the milk, sour cream and mayo in a separate small bowl until well combined. 

Once the noodles are cool, the veggies are chopped and the dressing is mixed - its time to throw it all in a big bowl! 

Make sure to mix everything up really well & store in the fridge!

I usually make it the morning of or the night before I am going to be serving it. Sometimes it does dry up a little overnight - I just add a splash of milk and mix it in. The great part about this pasta salad is that you can alter the amount of ingredients to make it your own! Depending on who I'm making it for I sometimes add more noodles to make the salad less creamy. Or if you like it more creamy I would only do 1 1/2 C of pasta. 

Bridesmaid Proposals

Whooohooo I finally asked all of my bridesmaids! I wanted to share my bridesmaid proposals mainly because I had a hard time finding beach related ideas on Pinterest. I am having a beach wedding, so I wanted my proposals to be beach themed, I also didn't want them to be something super common. I asked my matron of honor over Christmas break because I don't see her very often - I quickly learned that it is hard to beach buckets either in store or online. No one had them. I ended up just getting this simple bucket from Hobby Lobby. I asked the rest of my bridesmaids in May and was able to find actual beach buckets! I also got these buckets from Hobby Lobby. In all of the buckets I put a sunscreen, a sunscreen lip balm, a flamingo coozie, a White Claw & a treat. For my matron of honor bucket I made a cute beach sugar cookie and was planning on making those for my other buckets as well but kind of ran out of time so I ended up doing peach rings (they're my fave and cute/bright). I also made different "card" for each bucket! I'm really happy with how these turned out and I think my bridesmaids liked them too :)