Nannying, Maid of Honoring, & Cooking

Here's a random selfie :)

The past months have been pretty fast-paced and astounding.  Where should I even begin to start? Hmmm... I have had the opportunity to be hired as a nanny for two families.  I nanny Monday mornings and Friday or Saturday nights for one family.  They aren't offering many hours, but that extra money is going into my savings weekly!  The other family I work three to four days a week and that job covers all my bills and extra expenses.  Nannying (along with having five nephews and seven nieces) has made me realize I am waiting awhile for kids.

Aside from working,  I recently wrote my appeal letter and gathered all the paperwork for my appeal process late this month.  I surpassed 90 attempted hours, so all financial aid was cut off.  I'm praying that everything clears up so I can get the money I desperately need!

I registered for my HESI exam, which I will be taking July 16th.  I have all the study material, so instead of reading or Netflix binge watching in my spare time I will have my nose in my study material.  God willing, I will be able to send my HESI results to UT Health, Lone Star, San Jacinto, and HCC.   Once my HESI exam test is over and passed I will be starting all my applications.  I'll have to do multiple drug screenings, background checks, order transcripts, put together my shot records, and make copies of my CPR certificate.  It will be pretty pricey, but thank goodness my second job is bringing in a decent amount every week.  I am so happy to be finishing my pre-requisites and potentially starting on my path to my dream career.

I'm the maid of honor in my best friend's upcoming wedding and I have so much to do.  I've been slacking and I feel so bad.  Next weekend is the bridal shower, I am the hostess (even though the invitation doesn't say my name?) and I am super excited about the gifts I got for her.  Below is a picture of where my inspiration stemmed from:

The Best Bridal Shower Gift For A Spring Wedding

On the bride and groom's registry I found they wanted a slow cooker and used a 20% off coupon to buy it at a great price.  I have to use coupons and free shipping, otherwise I am not buying.  (Yeah, I am that shopper.)  I got the slow cooker from Bed, Bath and Beyond and ordered the exact cocktail glasses from Furbish Studio for $22, plus shipping and used a 10% coupon.  Along with the cocktail glasses I also purchased The Southerner's Handbook: A Guide to Living the Good Life by the editors of Garden and Gun off of Amazon.  Since I had cash back rewards on my credit card, I was able to only pay $0.22 cents for it along with free prime shipping.  If y'all do not have a Prime membership, you need to get one.  There's so many advantages and discounts!

Mr. & Mrs. Cocktail Glass Set, $22.00

The Southerner's Handbook, $18.34

I don't think I will be added champagne or alcohol so I am at a dead end on what else to get.  I am trying to find cute and non-obnixous Bridal shower games.  I am hoping to go my best friend's this weekend to do some planning and prep work.

My friends and I have started a new tradition, that I am dying to blog about.  We meet Tuesday nights to cook, bake and watch one episode of each of our favorite T.V. series.  Last week we made some scrumptious desserts and food that were, get this... HEALTHY.  We watched an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate SG1, and Grimm.  To oldies and a new goodie!  Now the best part was my dish, protein-rich, gluten free, almost 100% vegan cookie dough dip.

Recipe from Chocolate Covered Kate

The real kicker is the base ingredient was chickpeas.  Yeah, you heard me correctly. CHICKPEAS! I can't believe how delicious it turned out.  The chocolate chips were not vegan and the graham crackers were not gluten free, but the dough was!  It was almost 100% guilt free, well I feel no guilt for anything I eat but my friends are not the same.  I tweaked her recipe a bit from her site, she also has a sugar free recipe.  I used Stevia so I didn't feel as bad for using sugar!  We also made buffalo cauliflower bites and pumpkin pie smoothies.  All were so delicious and the shows were fantastic.  I am looking forward to tomorrow, I will be making Chocolate Avocado Mousse with mint and raspberry garnish.

My friends and I are going to make a recipe binder and add all our pictures we take of the food!  I am so in love with this new tradition.  It is such a relief to have friends in their early twenties that can hang out without going out or getting plastered all the time.

Well that is all for this post. I meant to add a book review, juicy life experiences, Etsy reviews and some river trip pictures but I am too tired to think straight. I'll have to blog more so I don't get so behind on my life happenings.