I may not be an art student, but I am definitely creative. I love to bake and decorate cakes/cake pops/cupcakes whenever I get the opportunity. As a mother of two, I find creative ways to keep my kids entertained by doing arts and crafts and creating my own unique sensory bins and play areas for my kids to play in. I also LOVE decorating my house and finding unique and aesthetically pleasing storage solutions for my small house and many hobbies including indoor gardening and creating bioactive terrariums for my reptiles. I use creativity on an almost daily basis when it comes to cleaning/organizing, playing with my kids, and baking.

The most helpful financial advice I have gotten is to always put away into an interest-building savings account and to never try and live above your means. When I was a server, my boyfriend and I would always put away $20 into an envelope every day that we worked and if I ever git a $100 bill in my tips I would put that in the envelope too and at the end of every month we deposited that money into a savings account. I also was told to pay off my credit cards after every time that I used them which I always do when I can! There have been a few times in my life that I had to rely on credit cards to get by but I am fortunate enough that I have always been able to recover from those times and pay off my debts. I am a bit obsessed with working on my credit score and I'm glad that is something that I have learned to manipulate and monitor well.

I love nature because it is so pure. There is such a delicate balance to everything in nature yet it can also be so chaotic, it is unpredictable in the best way. When you go on a hike or take a trip somewhere new you never know what you will see. the resilience of everything is also something to be admired, everything about a species is unique to its native habitat and I think that is something to be said about nature's ability to adapt and overcome every change that is thrown it's way. We work so hard to live and inhabit our area, but it is so peaceful to sit and watch all the animals, bugs, and plants go about their day with only the basics of survival on their minds. The sights, sounds, and smells (the pleasant smells anyway) have such power over my emotions and I can't help but feel calm when I am outside. There are very few things in my life that bring me such a sense of calm and nature is easily at the top of the list. So much so that I have filled my house with plants because looking around me and seeing groupings of plants helps bring that calming sensation into my home and it's something I look forward to coming home to every day. I want so badly to protect our planet that I try to make eco-friendly decisions everywhere I can, I even cloth diapered my daughter to keep diapers out of the landfill. hope to instill a love for plants and nature into my children and I hope that they grow up to do the same to their kids and work to save our planet from those who don't appreciate it.

Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of the day I would have a family and a house. These dreams and my hobbies are driving me to push my way through school even though I had children a bit earlier than I probably should have. It hasn't been easy but I just know it is going to be so rewarding the day I get the keys to our very first house and have the money and the time to do fun things with my family. For now, since I don't have the time and the money to do all I want it sometimes gets a little stressful and overwhelming and that is where I turn to my hobbies. I have found a love for indoor gardening, reptiles, and camping. Looking around my house and seeing all of my plants is so relaxing. Knowing I am able to keep all of them alive makes me proud and just seeing all their beautiful green leaves is very calming. I also have a mack snow leopard gecko and a Columbian red tail boa that I love holding, something about how they just want to lay on you and how low maintenance they makes them a very rewarding and ideal pet for someone with a busy lifestyle. Lastly, I make sure I make the time to get out of the house and camp with my family, sometimes we leave the kids with their grandparents and have some adult time with our friends at the desert and it can be so refreshing to be reminded that you are your own person outside of being a student and a parent! Keeping the balance of family and hobbies fuels me through all that life throws my way.

There is no better feeling than helping someone. Being human means needing your community and if you're a human who's reading this I'll bet you could have benefited from a helping hand at some point or another. Communities work best when we help each other out. It can be as simple as holding the door open for someone or paying for their coffee when they forgot their wallet. Giving to others is the most basic form of human decency there is and nothing warms my heart more than to know I was able to help someone accomplish something they couldn't do on their own, take something off of someone's plate, or just do something simple to make them smile. You never know what kind of day someone is having or what they are going through. Your small act of selfishness could change someone's whole day or in extreme cases even save someone's life. It doesn't take much to engage in a selfless act that could start a chain reaction of lasting positivity. The world could always use more positivity and I like to look for the little places I can spread it around to others throughout my day.

My bucket list was not something I thought about until I was older. I happened to start having kids very young and I didn't realize how badly I would end up wanting to travel the world. I have always loved being outside but as I have gotten older I have completely fallen in love with plants. I would absolutely love to travel the world and see all the tropical plants I love in their natural habitats. Once I get my career going I want to make it a goal to go on a bold family vacation every year and show my kids the beauty of this earth before they have to spend their own money to do so. I want to show my kids cenotes, the great wall, the pyramids, coral reefs full of tropical fish, waterfalls, deserts, and all the world has to offer. Maybe if we instilled a love for the planet into all children then we wouldn't have to fight so hard to save it.

The most important thing you can do to encourage those around you is to listen to them and notice how they shine. People are often their own worst critics and if you take the time to point out their star qualities it can go a long way in enhancing their confidence. People need to feel heard so if you can take the time to listen to people about their aspirations and have conversations about their goals, you may help them feel validated and confident in their decisions or even help guide them in the right direction. Someone is more likely to feel inspired when they feel like they are not alone in whatever struggle they are facing. Humans are not solitary creatures and we feel most confident when we have support from those around us so make sure you are telling those around you that you believe in them and are there for them if they need help with their goals!

I used to be very afraid of speaking my mind until I became an adult and realized that in doing so I wasn't being true to myself. I ended up noticing that all of the interests and beliefs I thought were core parts of who I was were actually being heavily influenced by those around me. I used to water myself down to make myself more digestible to others. One day I started being vocal about my opinions and my interests and I started surrounding myself with only those who supported me in doing so. Before I knew it I was cutting off toxic relationships and sticking up for not only myself but those around me. It felt good to feel heard and to use my newfound voice to help others who haven't found a voice of their own. I also thought a lot of lessons this way by confronting ignorant people and educating people on things that they did not actually understand or care to look at from other angles. I will never again let myself be lost in the fear of discomfort.

Growing up I thought I had the ideal life, but as I grew into an adult I realized that although on the outside it seemed I had a lot going for me, I was taking a lot of mental damage along the way. In my family I always had to earn love, I was never shown it unconditionally. My dad picked apart every aspect of my appearance, I needed to play sports, be good at them, be in honors classes and get good grades, have friends they approved of. My sister who has always been smarter and more athletic than me was always the standard I was held to and it seemed impossible to be better at anything than she was. The only place I excelled at over her was making friends so that became my number one priority. Before I knew it I was 18 and hanging out with people below my worth because by comparison I was a great person. I ended up dating a guy that was abusive and not loyal and ended up pregnant at 18 years old. My family berated me every day for months telling me not to keep the baby and to leave the father and I didn't listen. I ended up moving out of state and being isolated and abused for three years before I was able leave him and move back home with my family. I struggled for years after that to get my life back together and to overcome the depression and social anxiety I developed from that time in my life. I am now in a happy healthy relationship, go to therapy, take medication, and I am in school to make something of myself. It is never too late to take back control of your life.

As a working, student, mother of two, it can be very easy to forget to take time for myself. The one thing I keep in mind is that you can't pour from an empty cup and I need to take care of myself in order to put the best version of myself forward. I often struggle asking for help, but this year I have made it a priority to ask for help when I need it so that I can have the time to do the things that make me happy. For me that looks like having a day where I get to relax and take care of my house plants or hold my snake. Having hobbies is an important part of not losing yourself in the chaos of every day responsibilities. Lastly, I take the time to get ready and go out with my boyfriend, friends, or the kids and do something we all enjoy where we can make memories. Self care does not always look like taking baths, doing a facial, getting your nails/hair done, etc. Sometimes it looks like taking time to slow down and enjoy all the good things that you have and resetting your busy mind. Taking care of responsibilities is important, but we all need days to decompress and start over with a fresh mindset.

This was something that I struggled with for a long time, but eventually I realized that I'm never going to grow if I don't push myself to change. Growth and change never come from being in a place of comfort. I used to get discouraged by the amount of time and effort that it would take to better myself, but as the years passed it became apparent that the time was going to pass wether I put in the work or not. I had to make the decision of being in the same place in 5 years, or working hard and being successful in 5 years. I went back to school that year and have worked hard to better myself every day since. There are days where it all feels so overwhelming and I remind myself that I just have to take it day by day and every day, minute and hour that passes gets me closer to my goal. The thing that helps the most is setting small goals for yourself. Short term goals often lead to long-term success. It is easy to get overwhelmed by big goals but if you break that big goal into smaller goals that build stepping stones to the big picture, then you will have a much easier time keeping the motivation of working on your growth and you will reach your goal before you even know it.

The three majors keys for living a long healthy life are nutrition, exercise, and stress management. First and foremost, we need to make sure we are giving our body the proper fuel it needs to function, this can be done by making sure we are eating a variety of nutrient dense, whole foods that allow us to pack in nutrients without overloading on calories. Second, we need to make sure we are getting our bodies moving, especially if you have a desk job. We need to get our blood flowing to help not only our cardiovascular heath, but also the regulation of waste and toxins in our body. The more efficiently our body works the more efficiently we can regulate all of the systems in our body that are designed to keep us alive and healthy. lastly, we need to manage our stress. Stress is already taxing enough on our mental, but a lot of people don't realize it also has many negative physical effects. Stress can lead to headaches, stomach problems, muscle tension, and even weaken your immune system. Stress can be managed by letting go of worries that you have about things you cannot control, meditation, and exercise. Our bodies are designed to keep us alive and we need to make every conscious choice we can to put our bodies in the best position to take care of all the amazing things it does every second of every day and in return we will hope to be given to opportunity to live a long a happy life.