2014 (April - June)

April

The first thing that happened this month was I got my new phone. I had gotten a phone in June of 2013, but I dropped it on the cement in August? September? Anyway, the LED went out about 7 months later. I called AT&T and was able to get a new phone for just a few extra dollars a month. I went with the same phone (Galaxy S4 Active), just in a different color. I had quite a chuckle once I named my phone (really, did I have any other choice?):

Anyway, the phone works great, and I am super thankful that I have always gotten super helpful customer service reps when I call AT&T.

The next thing I remember from April is visiting my elementary school.

Here's a back-story: In April of 2013, I had to write a Target grant for one of my reading classes (I wanted to be an elementary school teacher and had a reading minor). In August of 2013, I received an email saying I got the grant! My elementary school has a lot of ESL (English as a second language) students, so I helped them get a few copies of a program called Heidi Songs (they already had 1 copy, I think) to help teach the students through music.

I was able to visit the students in April, and I was given a gift of beautiful notes from each student. 1 set of notes was from the beginning of the year, and there was another note from April. I was able to see the progress that had happened from using the program, and I cried. All of the students were absolutely precious, and there is one story that has stuck with me:

One Kindergarten student came in at the beginning of the year speaking absolutely no English at all. By April, he was at the top of his class because of Heidi Songs.

I ended April on a good note: spending Easter with my nephew. I have either been away at school, or my nephew was with his parents for Easter. This year he was here, and I had a blast setting things up for him and getting everything ready for when he woke up. We did a couple different projects and got him really excited for the day. I think my favorite was coloring eggs with him. He's so precious and makes me so happy (the eggs say 'Kenny' and 'Auntie Jen').

May

I hit 2 of my big goals in life in May. The first goal was that I wanted to do a 5k before I turned 30. Well, I did my first 5k on May 10th, 2014 :) I have two friends, Jen and Lisa, who have a YouTube channel. They did the first 'Roadie Run' in May, and I decided to take part. It was a virtual 5k, so people were able to do the 5k from wherever they were in the world. Here is the medal I received :) :)

The second, and most important, goal I hit in May was that I graduated from university! I started in community college (graduated with an AS) and went to university after. Since I couldn't afford to go back my final year, I didn't think it would ever happen. But I finally did it (8 years after graduating high school), and I was the first person in my family to receive my bachelors degree (I graduated with a BA). I also received my first bouquet of flowers ever from my aunt and uncle (can you tell my favorite color is orange? Shorty is a nick name I have for my aunt):

June

My birthday month! I'm not one of those people who celebrates a birthday month, not even a birthday week, but I do enjoy when it rolls around. I happened to turn 26 this birthday. I don't feel 26. I know it's not old, but it's weird to think I'm actually 26...can I say 26 enough? Haha.

The first thing that happened this month that is super exciting for me, and probably boring to everyone else, is I started cross stitching this month! I have three friends, Kristian, Melodie, and Hannah, who are really into sewing and cross stitching and they got me interested. I've always loved being crafty, but I've never been good at being crafty...does that even make sense? Anyway, I bought my first cross stitching kit and made a little duck. I ended up LOVING it, so I invested in a bunch of thread and cloth, and I have made a few of projects since. I gave the duck to my nephew, and it's somewhere in his bedroom at home:

I also started Shaklee this month. I have talked about Shaklee before, and I will talk about Shaklee again (I actually already have a blog post in mind, I just need to do the work for it first) because I love it. I haven't been too involved lately (I got really busy at nights, but now my nights are super free, so I'll start up again), but the people are amazing and they make me feel great about myself.

I was actually told about Shaklee in May, but I didn't get any products until June. I did their learn and earn program, and got some products to try and I loved them. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford any more products because I had no job, but they were willing to work with me, help me, and give me advice anyway. They're really great :) Since my reason for trying Shaklee was weight loss, I got some of their weight loss stuff, and I lost about 5-6 pounds in the 2 weeks I was using their products. I can't wait to get back into the groove of things and talk with my Shaklee peeps more :) I miss them in my life! Here is what I tried for those 2 weeks:

If you're interested in Shaklee, please let me know! It's not just for weight loss, so I can give you all the information I have, and if I can't figure something out for you, I know plenty of wonderful people who can ;)

Click here for January - March
Click here for July - September
Click here for October - December

What are your best memories from this past year? I would love to read them!

XOXO

Jen