Showing posts with label year in review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label year in review. Show all posts

December 31, 2013

2013 Year in Review




As promised, a look back on my year: definitely one of the most fulfilling and the hardest. I'm so excited because this year, I actually blogged consistently. If you remember back to my 2012 Year in Review post, I didn't blog at all from January through April.


 I buckled down and spent the month studying to take the biggest test of my life: the dreaded NCLEX. Read about my time spent doing this here, here, & here.


I took a trip to the Mall of America with my brother & sister. I hadn't been there since the 3rd grade (& I live in MN!).

I developed a serious Starbucks problem.

 

I received a super sweet comment from an Anonymous reader that made my day.

I shared my love for my sisterhood.

I had a much needed GNO (Girls Night Out, for you non-Hannah Montana types!).

 

I pondered what not standing up for something unjust could lead to when an influential teacher at my high school was wrongly fired.


I took the dreaded NCLEX exam on February 6th.

I shared my beauty must-haves.

My dream was realized when I found out I passed the NCLEX and was officially a Registered Nurse.


I gave advice on studying and taking the NCLEX.

 

I celebrated 4 years of blogging.

I shared about my blogging choices & a new blog feature: Notes on Nursing and introduced you all to Misty, Amy, Jackie, & Jenny Beth. (By the way, so fun to go read the interviews with these wonderful ladies & then see where they are at now! Misty & Amy are now rockin' RNs, Jackie moved to Nashville to work.) 

I shared about my toxic friendship from high school. 

We all found out Google Reader was going to die in July and freaked out.

I told you all about my jacked up ear.

My family and I went to the Little Big Town/David Nail concert.



I introduced you to Stephanie, Courtney, Chelsea M., & Chelsea F. in Notes on Nursing.

Lift others up today with your words and actions.

I shared some of my favorite One Tree Hill episodes.

I made the wrong decision and had to right it.


I came up with some cute summer fashion ideas.

Minnesota received almost 14 inches of snow in the beginning of May. Talk about a bummer.

I paid tribute to the teachers who have inspired me.

I celebrated Mother's Day weekend with a baby shower.


Like, oh my gosh, this is definitely blog worthy!

I went back down to Luther to watch the rest of my nursing family get pinned and catch up with my December grads.


College senior or new grad? Here's some advice.

I introduced you to Ashley & Erin in Notes on Nursing. And, hey!, if you're a nursing student, new grad, or a RN/LPN and want to be featured, let me know! Or if you were featured before & want to update everyone, that works too!


Even you can learn some lessons from One Tree Hill.

To Skinny or Not to Skinny? That is the question.

I introduced you to Brandi, Lauren, & Whitney in Notes on Nursing.

We all made mistakes in 2000.

Anyone wanna take me to these great places?


Big Brother was in full force and I wrote about it here and here.

We welcomed a new cousin into the family: Brynn Elizabeth.

I started nannying and fell in love with it.


I took a road trip along Southeastern Minnesota & Southwestern Wisconsin.


If you plan on being admitted to the hospital soon, read this.

I shared some of my favorite things and how music & memories are connected for me.


The art of balancing blogging and life was revealed.

I moved my brother and sister back into college and shared some tips for moving day.

Everyone and their mother blogged about the VMAs and so did I.




 Dear Aaryn Gries....

Brooke Davis and Haley James-Scott gave you fashion advice.

My blog changed.

Miranda and I became BFF when I wrote an ode to her.


Do you remember the 21st night of September?

My family and I went to the Renaissance and it poured.

 



The real life of a nursing school graduate.

I became actively involved in #NOMORE and told you all about a different kind of scary.

Fall fashion is my favorite!


 Glee aired its tribute episode to Cory Monteith and it sparked inspiration in me to write about grief.

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 Superlatives are more than just things you wait for in high school.

I actually went out for Halloween weekend!


Women really should stop doing these ten things.


"Do not stare at a red dot and say the whole painting is just one color."

I chopped my hair off.


I expressed my disdain for Miss Swift.

Thanksgiving celebrations with family are awesome.




I showed you all what Christmas was like for me as a kid.


I wrote a review of my favorite book and received tremendous support for it.

Empowerment and love are wonderful feelings.

2013 brought with it a lot of great songs, well-received blog posts, and lots of highs and lows. Can't wait to see what 2014 brings: it can only be up from here!

Thanks for sticking with myself & Sweet Silver Lining this year. Have a wonderful and SAFE New Year's Eve & Day and I will be back in 2014!


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December 26, 2013

Top 15 Posts of 2013


I've been sitting here for the past half hour catching up on blog reading & sipping my Caramel Macchiato coffee out of my new Starbucks mug. I came across a few blogs posting their top posts of 2013 & I thought it might be fun to take a look back at what caught most people's attention on Sweet Silver Lining over the past year. I fully intend to do a 2013 "Year in Review" on New Year's Eve (probably just for my own benefit). I will also be back within the next few days showing you my Christmas Haul (anyone know if someone is doing a "Deck Your Haul" type link-up this year??).

By the way, I made two Top 15 lists. The first one is the Top 15 according to pageviews. I used the pageview tracker within Blogger to find the most viewed posts. Of course, I know some of these views are probably inflated due to all those mean old robot pageview things. Sue them, not me.

The second list is the Top 15 posts according to comments and response from readers. Let's be honest, I pay more attention to number of comments than pageviews in determining what topics people are most interested in.

I also excluded giveaway posts, guest posts, and sponsored posts. We're just gonna focus on my own content.

Can you tell I had nothing else to do today????

Top 15 Blog Posts (by pageviews)

15. Fashion of One Tree Hill: Brooke Davis
I understand Brooke has great fashion sense, but how this post got this many pageviews? Don't ask me.

14. Blogger vs. Non-Blogger Thinking
I love this post mainly because it's so freakin' true. 

13. Baby My Love is All For You
Maybe this got a lot of pageviews because O-Town favorited it and followed me on Twitter?

12. Hair Porn
No comment. You know why this got a lot of views....

11. Nursing Wednesday
This post is pretty popular (in my world) on Pinterest. I talked about how I got into nursing school.

10. Oh The Places You'll Go
Who doesn't want to learn more about some pretty awesome cities?

9. Expect the Unexpected
My Big Brother posts have gotten a ton of views. I mean, some BB fans are like crazy addicted and obsessed with the houseguests (& former houseguests) and probably google their names constantly or something...

8. Ignorance, Hatred, & Forgiveness
Another Big Brother post. But I actually love this one, in which I wrote an open letter to Aaryn Gries.

7. One. Tree. Hill
My top One Tree Hill episodes. I guess a lot of people love OTH just as much as I do!

6. Top 12 Lessons I Learned from One Tree Hill
I love this post. OTH fans, show me some love!

5. To Skinny or Not to Skinny?
I compared Starbucks skinny-style drinks vs. the regular ones. Pretty informative and something every Starbucks fiend should know.

4. Top 10 Things the 90's Gave Us
We 80's & 90's children love reading things from our youth.

3. NCLEX Advice
This is another pretty popular post on Pinterest. I highly suggest reading it if you are in nursing school or a recent grad!

2. Racism, Sex, & Catfights: Big Brother 15
Yeah, yeah...again with the s-e-x people! 

1. Big Brother: Where Are They Now?
It's fun to catch up and see what the former houseguests on BB are doing now, but, people, I have way better posts available than this one!

Top 15 Posts (by comments)

15. Hair Porn
I mean...cute hair is loved by everyone, right?

14. He Never Liked Cake
Hands down, one of the top 5 posts I wrote this year in my eyes. I really didn't expect it to get the attention it did from Janna. I also discovered that she posted about it to her family & friends on her personal Facebook page. Her dad (the book was started in response to his accident) even liked the post!

13. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
Apparently I'm not the only one bothered by Ms. Taylor Swift.

12. No Heat Curls
Aunie's Friar Tuck is pretty popular!

11. Oh The Places You'll Go

10. True Life
I like GIF's. And everyone can relate in some way to this post, right?

9. One. Tree. Hill.

8. Boys Boys Boys
My little sob story. But one of my first really personal posts & I really appreciated everyone's comments.

7. To Skinny or Not to Skinny?

6. Blogging Choices
I love sharing my opinion about blogging and getting opinions from others!

5. Advice?
Looking back, I didn't really need any advice on this. And I wish I would have just chosen to wait instead of jumping on the first opportunity that presented itself.

4. 10 Things Women Should Stop Doing
Another great post that I loved writing. 

3. Top 10 Things the 90's Gave Us

2. Don't You Know That You're Toxic?
This post was very cathartic to write. I'm glad so many people could relate.

1. Blogger vs. Non-Blogger Thinking


Obviously, these aren't necessarily my favorites. I'll be sharing some of those during my 2013 Year in Review.


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December 27, 2012

2012 Year in Review


 
 
 
January - April
 
 
I was consumed in my third year of Nursing school here in Rochester. Clinicals, classes, studying....and I managed to pull off a spot on the Dean's List!
Our neighbors tree fell down on New Year's Day and almost destroyed our garage.
I attended the Miranda Lambert, Chris Young, & Jerrod Neiman concert in La Crosse.
 
 
 I also never blogged during this time. Sad day.

May
Our Rochester year of Nursing ended with a bang at our Nursing Party!


June
I attended the pre-screening of People Like Us with my sister.
Minnesota temperature's stayed in the 100's for over a week.

July
I started practicing a few questions for the NCLEX.
I celebrated the 100 degree Fourth of July.
I had a wonderful dinner party with 2 of my best friends, had a Margaritas and Men weekend with another bestie, and I spent a whole day in the sun. I also got the worst sunburn in history.
I was nominated for the Liebster Award.
I had a huge family garage sale & attended my cousin's backyard wedding reception.
The Fierce Five won Gold at the Olympics & my 7 year old self celebrated.

 
August
I got a smart phone.
I had 41 followers. And was so thankful because that was A LOT, at the time, for me.
I attended the pre-screening of The Odd Life of Timothy Green with my sister.
My cousin had her second son, Grayson Robert.
I applied to the Vanderbilt University Nurse Residency Program.
I moved my sister into college and moved myself back down to Luther for my last semester of college. 

 
 

September
Nursing school took over my life once again.
I took a weekend off of school and went to my cousin's 3rd birthday party in La Crosse.
I had some fun clinical experiences including my first OB clinical and getting to restart my first IV.

 

October
This month did not start off very well school-wise.
I started doing Photo a Day on Instagram.
I celebrated my last Luther homecoming as a student.
I participated in my first giveaway.
I cut my fall break short to work on my senior paper.
Immunization clinics became one of my favorite things.
I spent my Halloween witnessing the birth of a baby girl.

 
 

 November
I attended my last Nursing Banquet.
I shared the best gift I've ever received.
I turned 24.
And my senior paper was due the next day. (BTW, I got an A- on it, thankyouverymuch.)


 

December
I reached 100 followers.
I received my Nursing pin and officially graduated from Luther College.
I struggled with not being at Luther anymore.
I applied to my first three adult jobs. And didn't get any offers.
I had a wonderful Christmas and received some awesome gifts.




This has been one of the greatest years of my life so far. I can't believe it's over, but I know 2013 holds some special moments for me.

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August 27, 2012

Nursing School Year in Review

Wrapping up the review of last school year two days before I start my last first-day-of-school. Bittersweet. Here's a look at April & May!




All that freaking out and studying paid off. I ended up on the Dean's List for Spring 2012. I miss Mayo Clinic clinicals so much, especially now that I'll be starting my last semester of clinicals at Winneshiek Hospital, which only has 1 floor of rooms. We have to calculate IV drip rates manually because there aren't enough IV pumps (Mayo uses ALL IV pumps) and we have to manually draw up Insulin to mix (Mayo uses Insulin pens which are super, super easy). We are in for a rude awakening...
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