Summer In A Glance

Good evening, everyone.

I sit cozied up in one my many oversized sweaters, the rain coming and going outside. It sounds louder being here in the camper than it would in a house, but definitely not as loud as it was in the tent. Doesn't matter, though, I love storms.

Well, I haven't blogged for a while and the "me" earlier this year would've been upset but I now realize that I would prefer doing fewer posts with better quality content than many posts that aren't as good. So let me bring you up to date with what's been going on and stay tuned for what's coming up.

My arms are so sore, I cannot raise them above my head without a sharp, pulling pain in my biceps. One of the many things I'm working on this summer, the runner in me has taken a pause while I take to the gym. Thanks to my friends Kelsey Fox of The Foxes Feather (go check out her awesome shop!), and Kara Tolliver, and they're fantastic help in my training, I hope that building good upper body strength as well as strengthening my back more will let me have better form longer as a runner. For those that might not understand, when you run your back is suppose to be straight, but relaxed, your knees high, and foot placement mid-to forefoot. However, come mile 5 or further I start slouching and by mile 10 my form is crap. That's a personal goal, though...

Speaking of running...I did do a half marathon this last May. I hadn't ran for months prior but decided to do it anyways. The Carter Caves Half Marathon was beautiful, but brutal on me with it's increasing elevation and the fact that I left my hydration belt at home! Yep, I wasn't prepared at all. After almost injuring myself, I made it to the finish line. Why would I decide to do an half marathon when I didn't train and wasn't prepared? That's something I actually haven't told anyone or posted about yet. I wanted to prove that I can do whatever I put my mind to - whether I have trained for it or not. This goes for anything in my life, and the race was something I walked away from with more than one lesson learned. The lessons of not being prepared, of the importance of my mindset in everything I do, and even though it slowed my time I'm proud for listening to my body along the way (I walked away injury free because of that).​​

Photo by UglyTent

Also in May, the second workshop hosted by The Healer's Nook took place and I had just as much fun with the second one as I did in the first one. I was so happy to meet Kenny Dietrich of UglyTent in person there, and was able to get the book I have of his signed.

Them crocs though - to be honest we had been in the car all day so please don't judge, haha!

After that, Ryan and I traveled along the eastern seaboard. From North Carolina to Maryland, we had fun walking some of the local trails at Lake Kerr in North Carolina, experiencing wild horses on the beaches of Assateague island and stayed in a cottage at Ocean City, Maryland. If I could, however, I would go back and stay in a bed and breakfast at Chincoteague island, rent a bike for a week, and just explore both islands. ​

The largest bush of shrubby St. John's wort I have ever seen!

Then there's school: both of them. Ryan has finished another semester of Pre-Med strong, keeping his 4.0 gpa and making the president's list, and this time I attended Shawnee State University as well.

I played with the idea of nursing program and was even in the process of enrolling. I figured, Ryan was going to be a doctor so I might as well get my nursing degree to work with him. However, my goal has always been to work for myself, and instead of a nurse I'm like a natural pharmacist....so I'll leave the nursing for those passionate enough for the field and I'll stick to what I'm truly passionate about: alternative medicine.

A professor at the college helped bring me to this realization. I was discussing with him that I was curious about the possible medicinal value of some of the plants in the greenhouse and wanted to test some theories in the chemistry lab but figured I wouldn't have the time when I got into nursing. He was shocked I even mentioned nursing, considering I showed more interest in plants and their constituents. So I took Summer Flora Taxonomy Class, and left with more questions than I started out with. 

August 19th will come and I will finish my education at the American College of Healthcare Sciences. I'm torn to further my education of plants, this time in botany, however I'm still struggling on whether that is right for me or not. So I've decided to take the rest of the year off after August to focus on making The Healer's Nook better for everyone - more content and more events.​ What happens after that? Who knows...what will be, will be. 
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Photo by UglyTent

Let's not forget the awesome hike I was able to co-host with UglyTent himself! The weather was perfect and the incredible people that showed up made the event the highlight of the season for me. I learned so much from them, and I hope they learned something of value from me. Kenny showed us how to build a shelter, how to start a fire, and gave us the opportunity to try some delicious Mountain House food.

We chose the Rock House trail at Lake Vesuvius in the Wayne National Forest. It's a paved trail, specifically chosen so that all ages could come. I really enjoyed it and hope that we can host another, soon. ​

I'm working on more though, and now that I've dropped to two days at my day job I'll be focusing more on The Healer's Nook than I've ever had before. Thank you to everyone for your patience, and please stay tuned for more.