Introducing Dr. Julie Beal

Here's some pictures from graduation. We are working hard to get our practice up and running by May 4th so I've been super busy but I wanted to share these pictures with those who weren't able to come to the graduation.

Keynote Speaker from U of M

Valedictorian (spelling?)

Chiropractic President Dr. Wiles

Northwestern Health Sciences University President

Auditorium and Doctors Present

Crossed the stage and got my diploma

Taking the Chiropractic Oath

Beal Family with the new Doctor

Peterson Family with the new Doctor

The man who helped me get through the whole thing. Thankyou my Jay, I love you.

Ah, tomorrow is the day. THE DAY I GRADUATE from SCHOOL! I will never have to take another exam, practical, test, quiz, BOARDS EXAMS ...

Today is Thursday and I'm sitting in the 70 degree weather in the sunshine and reminiscing. I have been in school for 20 years! A little less than 8 years ago, I decided I was going to go to Chiropractic school and the thoughts running through my head were, "are you seriously going to go to school for eight more years? You're crazy! Don't you want to be done with school? You could just end after a bachelor's degree." But no, I pushed myself and made the decision and submitted my application less than 4 years ago and now here I am soon to be Dr. Julie Beal.

I've never been so proud of myself (I don't mean to sound pompus) because I've been through something that most people will never even get the chance to try to accomplish. So as I sit soaking in the rays and enjoying the moment ... it feels GOOD!

INSANITY!

I haven't posted much recently about my exercise and weight loss goals and I will tell you why.

I am GRADUATING SOON!!!! And I'm honestly going to put myself in the crazy house with everything I have to accomplish within the upcoming 3 weeks.

Here's a list of things we've completed within the last week.
1) We got an A on our business plan which means that we can be granted a business loan.
2) WE GOT OUR LOAN!!! Sweet! Thanks to Chippewa Valley Bank in Wisconsin, they're helping us to make our dreams come true (at a price).
3) We have a space and are slowly moving stuff into the space.
4) We purchased some additional equipment
5) went to seminars about opening business
6) found a lawyer we want to work with.
7) found an accountant we want to work with.


Here's a list of things we have to accomplish within the next 3 weeks.
1) graduate (walk across the stage) EASY
2) exit counseling so we don't "forget" to pay back the school our $120,000 in student loans
3) Take the jurisprudence exam for the state
4) sit down with a lawyer to go over the lease agreement
5) sit down with a lawyer to draw up an entity for the company
6) get a tax ID number
7) file info for our business entity
8) file info for insurance company networks
BUT, until we graduate, we can't do ANY of the above things. Everything depends on that diploma.

So, recently, we've been working our butts off at clinic as well as trying to make everything as easy as possible for when the flood gates open after graduation.

I better hold on, it's going to be quite the ride.

Dr. (almost) Mama Beal :)

San Diego, German for ... (fill in the blank)

So, this post is not about working out, it's not about daycare problems, it's not about school or starting my practice because this post is all about VACATION! And when you're on vacation, it's important to not let your everyday life interfere.

First day, we went DIRECT to SEA WORLD (literally from airport to sea world.)

Shamu

Ashley at this guy for dinner a few days later.

These guys were LOUD! There's a video, below, of one of them trying to get our attention while we were feeding them.

Jen and I in front of the Manatee area.

Did you know that Flamingo's have TEETH? Well, at least these ones did. Weird.

Ohungry's! Best little hole in the wall food joint in Old Mexico San Diego.

The Beach was the perfect weather. Check out the lady in the pink, she just about knocked me over while she was running. She must have been practicing for Bay Watch.

Julie, Emily, Meghan, Jen (where's Miss Montana?)

We went down to eat by the Marina (this is where Ashley ate Sebastian from The Little Mermaid).

We went inland to a small vineyard which was lots of fun and delicious at the same time.

Here's a close up of a bud, (no, not Meghan's Bud).

Inside where the barrels are kept. Just wait, the pictures start to get artsy fartsy after I've had a few samples :)

Merlot!

Yep, those are all the bottles we sampled. And ... Artsy Fartsy ... too bad the wine glass is backwards and you can't read the name of the vineyard. :P

The scenery at the vineyard.

It was so nice not to think about all the stuff going on at home and hang out with my girl friends. But in the end, we all went our separate ways. I can't wait for next year. :)

Motherly Instinct

In my past posts, I'm sure some of you readers remember when Jason and I had to change daycares for Abby because our daycare provider was going to be closing her business. Well, after a few months of stressfully looking into other providers, we came across Susie. We interviewed her and all seemed well except for when we walked through her kitchen, my "Mommy Super-powers" were in overdrive and I thought I smelt a hint of cigarette smoke in the kitchen. So, during the interview, I definately made sure to ask her if anyone in the house uses tobacco products or smokes and she gave me a flat "No" for her answer ... except, those "mommy super-powers" were screaming, "SHE'S LYING, SHE'S LYING!"

When we left the house, I asked Jason if he smelled the smoke and he said he couldn't remember what it smelled like in the house and that he hadn't noticed anything suspicious. So, I tried to control my mommy super-powers and supress them saying, "she's not lying, why would she lie to me?"

After a somewhat difficult transition for Abby in the beginning, you would never know it these days as Abby runs into the house and heads staight for Susie's arms. Susie greets her every morning with a warm embrace so the loving feelings between Susie and Abby are mutual. And this is the exact reason why I am so furious with her.

A few days ago, I just happened to pick Abby up when another parent was picking his two sons up. As we left together, he asked me if I had ever noticed that Abby smelled loke cigarette smoke when I picked her up. I know that every once in a while I had noticed a faint smell of smoke but just thought it was maybe the way her house smelled or maybe her husband smoked etc (that's me trying to calm my mommy super-powers again.) He explained that his wife had noticed it as well as some of his friends making comments on the fact that his kids smelled like cigarette smoke. He also explained that some of the other parents had noticed it as well but they hadn't confronted Susie about it. This other parent said he HAD confronted her and she continues to deny it but she seems to deny it half heartedly because she realizes that if she admits it, she could lose her license.

I am sick to my stomach with anger about this whole situation. First of all because I can't believe she'd lie to me especially if it's something SO important to me that I asked it during an interview. Second of all, Abby is a developing child who can be detrimentally affected by second hand smoke and it's not like Abby can speak up for herself to defend herself. Thirdly, I am beating myself up because I can't believe I suppressed my mommy super-powers and ignored them. I KNEW I shouldn't have left her there. I KNEW it smelled like smoke. I KNEW she was lying. I knew, I knew, I knew ... and I STILL left her there. If only I had listened to my gut. I tell new mom's that all the time that if they don't feel something is right with there baby, they are probably correct and they need to listen to their instincts ... and I didn't listen to my own advice. I am furious at the whole situation.

Either way, if we prove Susie has been smoking, Abby needs to go somewhere else for daycare. If we can't prove Susie has been smoking, Abby still needs to go somewhere else for daycare because we can't disprove that she's been smoking.

Now when I drop Abby off, it's frustrating because I want her to love Abby and care for her but if she smokes, she is putting my child in harms way and I honestly could slap her for it. It makes me sick to think about.

Looking for support and advice

~Mama Beal

FINALLY

YEAH!!! I'm super pumped, we finally decided on a location for our business. It's a 1200 square foot space on the first level of an office building. There are two smaller rooms and one bigger room AND it fits our budget. I can't wait to actually sign the lease! (we can't technically sign the lease until we graduate.) My business partner are and I want to specialize in woman's health and pediatrics so it was important to have a similar business in the same building and THERE IS! If anyone has ever heard of Momtalk.com it's a forum women can go to to exchange ideas etc about raising children.

Also, the website is looking fantastic. It's still pretty basic but if you want to get an idea of what it's going to look like, got to http://accelandbewell.health.officelive.com. (remeber it's still basic.)

Anyways, my internship is ... eh, still ... blah! But, I'm getting a ton of activity taking X-rays and working with some pregnant women. Since it's a male run clinic, they all kind of freak-out when a pregnant woman walks through the door and they throw them at me because that's what I'm interested in. Typical. But since the rest of the internship kind of sucks, that's definitely a huge plus! It makes my day whenever I get to work with pregnant women.

Our business plan is also still coming along. It's a hard process. Thank goodness I only have to do this ONCE and when it's done, it's done.

Well, that's all for now. I've been so busy that I only have time to sneak in 3 workouts a week so my weight has kind of stayed steady. I still plan on losing about 10-15 more pounds but I think with everything that's going on, it might have to wait until I graduate. But, continuing to work out definitely helps me coup with all these other stresses I have.

Have a good week and remember ...
Accel and Be Well
Mama Beal

Accel and Be Well

It's been a while, I know, I know ... (sorry).

So, considering my last blog entry, it's obvious I've been sucked dry of my time, energy and yes, I was suckered into buying one of those pyramid scheme detoxes my Doc was selling. I can now say I am an "Associate" in the Isagenics Pyramid Scheme but I did NOT pay the $200 they were going to charge for this detox, I only spent $50. (Which is still a lot but anywho ... stickin' it to the man ... maybe.)

I attempted to do the detox on Saturday (key word "attempted") and UNsuccessfully finished it on ... Saturday (no, not one week later, I stopped the same day I started.) So, lesson learned and the moral of the story is, do not join pyramid scheme. Live and Learn!

Like I said in my past blog, this new internship is more about sticking up for myself and growing emotionally and mentally more than learning the trade. And this Detox thing has completely made me grow emotionally/mentally.

It was a reminder about why I want to be a health care provider.
I want to be a health care provider to HELP people. I want help people to strive to Accel in their Health as well as their every day lives.

It was a reminder as to how I do NOT want to run my practice.
I do NOT want to get into Chiropractic to make money. Of course all careers should have the benefit of making money but I believe that if you love what you do, truely believe in it and do your best, the money will just come. You shouldn't have to "work" for the money, it will come to you if you are doing right by what you believe.

It was a reminder as to what I believe in.
I truely believe every person needs chiropractic and can benefit from chiropractic. If I didn't truely believe this, I honestly wouldn't be able to promote it. I believe in HONESTY and CHIROPRACTIC.

Through all of this, I feel like I am perservering through the tests I've been put up to during this internship. But, through it all, our business plan is coming together and we are narrowing down our location of our future business. We are even finishing our website and have come up with our practice name "Accel and Be Well Chiropractic." Once the website is complete I will post a link.

Accel and Be Well
~Mama Beal