Oh Hey Blog!

So I completely abandoned by blog for several months....but I have a few great excuses of why!

First, I was studying insane amounts for my boards! My life was seriously so boring for a good 3 months--every free second I had, I was studying. Thankfully, it all paid off! I passed both my state and federal exams on the first try! It is very rare for someone to pass both on the first try, usually one or the other. Ever since those stressful exams ended, my life has gotten 10x better. I was promoted to Associate Administrator at my facility and have been loving it!

After I passed my boards, the next week I was off to Europe! A trip of a lifetime that I seriously think about pretty much everyday since I've been back. If I had the opportunity to go back tomorrow, I would. If you hear of any European nursing homes looking for an administrator, let me know....This trip will have a few posts of its own once I get the motivation to write all about it.

Once I got back from Europe, I was in a bad car accident that totaled my car...no my car did not look like what you are probably imagining but enough damage for them not to repair it. I was fine, only have scars from the airbag burns. Being the creature of habit that I am, I ended up buying the same exact car, in the same exact color. But hey, I loved that car so I am happy to have it back. The week after my accident, I had a work conference to attend in Columbus all week so I looked hilarious with my hands all wrapped trying to network and shake people's hands (I looked like I took up boxing as a sport, not to mention I was in a ton of pain when someone would actually shake my hand). I got a few laughs when people believed my story that my accident actually occurred on the autobahn in Germany, not a residential street in Cincinnati...

Trying to recreate a "Hugo"--drink I fell in love with in Germany.

Summer has officially arrived in Cincinnati, all 97 degrees of it...

Schwaben joke from Germany.

My people.

Drunk Stephanie in action.

Since being back in the US, I was able to spend Memorial Day with my family back home which was so nice. The following weekend my two best friends from out of town were in Cincinnati!! Javier came in from Colombia and Kacie was in town from Boston! Our mini reunion made me so happy-that weekend did not last long enough.

Just a quick update on what has been going on. I am going to try and be better with writing on here. I have a ton to write about Europe, so be prepared!!!

One Step Closer!

I officially am one step closer to becoming a licensed nursing home administrator. Leave it up to me to pick the hardest state to get your license in. However, I now see the light at the end of the tunnel!

I just got back from a 3 week conference that was held up in Columbus, Ohio (it is required that you attend this conference before you sit for your licensing exam). Columbus is a bit too far to drive back and forth every day, so I stayed up there during the week and came back to Cincinnati on the weekends. Honestly, I had been dreading this conference and didn't want to go. However, I ended up really enjoying it & had a lot of fun...on top of learning so much that I wanted to cry.

I stayed in an Airbnb like Shelby & I did when we went to Toronto. My loft was so cute & it was located in Short North, a very popular place in Columbus. Overall, I was not a fan of Columbus. It thought it was dirty, the streets were so narrow and parking is terrible. It made me realize how much I truly love Cincinnati and how much it has started to feel like "home". I greatly looked forward to coming home on the weekends. Despite the freezing temperatures, I did try to get out and explore some of what Columbus had to offer. And by the way, Ohio State University did not impress me.

The conference is basically a crash course packed full of everything you need to know in order to be a nursing home administrator. Therefore, the 46 other people in my class are all future administrators like me. It was so neat seeing and talking with others who have the same passion for long-term care as me. On the flip side pretty much all of our speakers told us how this is the most difficult time to get into the industry because of all the new regulations & reimbursement cutbacks, as well as how we will all get sued at least once in our career. Sounds like a great career path right?! IT IS!

I think there is not a more exciting time to join the industry, especially with all of the baby boomers. This is when we are needed most! Yes there will be challenges and lots and lots and lots of laws that we have to follow, but at the end of the day I do this because I want to provide others with a quality life during their most vulnerable time. Our elders deserve it.

As you can see, after 8-9 hours of class, it was necessary to go out and have some fun. It was amazing the connection that formed between our group in such a short period of time. Not only did I made several new friends, but professional contacts--we will all be relying on each other in our future career. Yes, that is future nursing home administrators riding a mechanical bull...scary right?!

After the end of our 3 weeks, they even had a little graduation ceremony for us! Now I truly am one step closer to getting my license!....after I finish studying for the next month and a half.

Year of Goals

2016 is a fresh start to accomplish a years worth of goals. Some of the goals may be fun, others may be a necessity. I am a huge fan of to-do lists, I always have at least one list of something--whether it's for work or my personal life. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to make a list (to-do list) of goals  that I want to accomplish this year. I've had this post as a draft for a while and now that it is already a month into the year, I have already accomplished a few goals.

1. Book Trip to Europe-I've been debating booking a flight for months, constantly checking prices to see when they would drop & one day they did! I found a trip with a layover in the US and roundtrip was half of most of the other flights. When else do you have time as a young adult to travel to Europe with no responsibilities attached??? AND not have to pay for housing, cha ching!--ACCOMPLISHED!
2. Get Life Insurance-odd for someone my age isn't it? Medical reasoning behind it, but on the plus side, if you get life insurance while you're young, you are locked into a super low rate! Of course nothing can be that easy, so when my policy arrived in the mail it stated I was 10 years older than what I was, so the price was a lot higher, umm NOT okay, situation handled and is all fixed now--ACCOMPLISHED!
3. Pass Nursing Home Administrator Licensure Exam-the 2 most intimidating exams of my life that determines my career...please let this be as easy as college.
4. Get a Job as LNHA-providing that I pass ^^ I'd also like to add decent salary to this goal $$
5. Join a Young Professional Society-you're only a young professional once right?! might as well make the most of it. For those of you wondering most groups list young professionals as ages 22-45...not what I thought either. I have been debating between the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald Children's Home "Red Shoe Crew" or the Young Professional American Cancer Society Cincinnati Chapter. Those are two fun and important organizations that I would like to volunteer my time to give back to. I also want to join the American College of Healthcare Executives, but that is for career reasons. 
6. Become an Ohio Resident-this is something that I am dreading but it needs to be done. Not only do I have to get an OH drivers license, retake the written exam, then I need to transfer my title to OH, get car insurance in OH, get 2 car testings done and finally get OH plates. Who knew so much stuff was required to become an Ohio resident?
7. Renew Lease/Move-well when my property management approached me about renewing my lease I had not really thought about it, then I thought why not? I love living here, sure my place is tiny but it has become my "home". I am saving SO much money living here, especially for the sweet location I am in, so I renewed without thinking twice! Figured all the money I save in the next year would be the smarter decision--ACCOMPLISHED!
8. Budget Money-this is always going to be a work in progress but I think I have been doing very well this year. I have this intense Excel spreadsheet that I have been using to track all of my expenses and income. I also started saving all my receipts so I can enter them into my spreadsheet to see where my money is going to. Not only am I just tracking but I set limits for groceries, gas, etc. I've admittedly been driving to the ghetto to go grocery shopping because their Kroger is cheaper. Gotta do what you gotta do right?! I'd rather spend my money on traveling.
9. Become CEAL Certified-so you're probably wondering what a CEAL is...no, not a SEAL, it is a Certified Executive of Assisted Living. It is additional training and exam to get this additional certification. I think it would make me more marketable and a great career move. The building I work at now has assisted living and assisted living is becoming more and more prominent in the long-term care industry. Plus, I am a total nerd and will never want to stop learning.
10. Workout-LOL so typical right?! But I really do want to workout to be healthy. I know I am tiny and do not need to loose weight but the amount of food I can consume can be a bit concerning so for the sake of my arteries some working out would not hurt and I'd like to work on my arms...we'll see how that goes.