Time to Get Serious: Workout & Study Plan

I'm one of those people who keeps saying how much I need to start working out/going to the gym/etc but never actually get around to it. Or if I do get around to it it only lasts for a few weeks max. Eventually I'd really like to be one of those people who actually enjoys working out and looks forward to it. I really want to get into a regular workout routine now because I have a few trips coming up this summer and I want to be beach ready. My hope is that once I get into a routine I'll really stick with it this time.

There's a couple of routines I have in mind that seem like they could be fun, hold my interest, and not kill me. The first one is the Bar Method (or some variation). I kept seeing people on twitter talking about it so I did a little research and it looks like something I would enjoy. The other is Booty Ballet. Again, something I saw on twitter...lol. Then the most recent one I found is called Socasize, which looks the most fun. It's basically turning Soca dance moves into a workout. It's still pretty new but there is a DVD that you can order on the website.

Then there's the studying thing. I'll be done with nursing school pretty soon which means I'm gonna have to take the NCLEX to get my license. I really need to study and be prepared because I do NOT want to fail this test. They recommend doing 5000 practice questions prior to actually sitting for the exam. So crazy but it can only help right? The problem is that I have a really short attention span when studying and I get distracted really easily. Anyway, the point is that I need to come up with some kind of plan to get this stuff started so here's what I'm thinking:

Start Small - I'm gonna start working out and studying in small increments. I saw a video online called '8 minute Abs' so that might be a good place to start. Then for test questions maybe I'll start doing 10-15 a day then slowly build as the weeks progress.

Discipline - Another problem of mine is that I get lazy about tasks and I'll make up excuses not to do them or put them off. I could probably get a lot more done if I stopped that.

Don't Procrastinate - A HUGE problem I have is procrastination. It's like I'm physically incapable of not putting things off to the last minute. Something I really need to work on.

Stick With It - I really need to try to stick to the plan and goals that I set for myself. I usually start off strong but end up back in the same boat.

Wow, this post is a little on the long side...oh well! Anyway, this is the plan so hopefully I can stick to it this time. Wish me luck!

Music Review: Dawn Richard - A Tell Tale Heart

If you follow Dawn Richard on twitter (formerly of Danity Kane, currently of Dirty Money) you know that she dropped a new mixtape a few days ago. To be honest, I think Dawn is too talented to basically be Diddy's background singer and she was much better as a part of DK than DM but whatever. I'm really glad she's finally putting out some solo music. I truly believe in the Bad Boy curse so I hope she can get from under that man's thumb and make her own way.

Anyway, now on to the mixtape. Overall I really like it. It's something I could blast all the way through in the car but if I'm listening on my iPod I'll probably skip over a few songs, if that makes sense (it probably doesn't but just pretend it does). There's 15 tracks on the mixtape and I really like over half of them which is rare for me. I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail about every single song, you can listen for yourself. For now I'll just list some of my favorites:

#3 - Biggest Fan
#5 - My Myself and Y
#7 - I Know (featuring Kalenna)
#8 - Let Love In
#10 - Superhero
#11 - Runway
#12 - These Tears
#13 - Vibrate

Download it for yourself @ www.dawnrichardblog.com 

~Kat Approved~  

About Grad School......

So, after much deliberation about whether or not I wanted to attend grad school I've decided that yes, I do. It's taken me a while to get here but I realized that as much as I hate the thought of even more school, I REALLY want to get my master's and be a nurse practitioner. Yay me! I'm graduating in May and I'm really not trying to start school up again this fall so I'm gonna take at least a year off before I jump back into the trenches.

After I finally decided that I actually wanted to go to grad school, I had to decide exactly what I want to specialize in which was yet another challenge. At first I wanted to do family health, then for about 5 minutes I thought I wanted to do pediatrics but that must have been a momentary psychotic lapse. I have a job in peds now and I like it but I really don't think I'd want to make that my life's work. It's cool but I'm not really passionate about it. Finally I realized that what I really want to do is women's health. It's perfect because it incorporates by favorite patient population: adolescent girls, women and their babies. I really want to focus on maternity, pre & postpartum and sexual/reproductive health. But I'm also interested in possibly working with domestic abuse victims. Either way women's health is my best bet. Not quite as broad as family health but it's more focused on what I really want to do.

Now the only problem is figuring out where I want to apply....decisions, decisions