Better Together

On Thursday, my husband and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We took a little extra time with each other and tried not to let the little moments pass. Sometimes life can get so busy and in my case painful that I can easily forget to give my husband some attention. It was a gentle reminder that we need to stop every once in a while and just be together.

It was such a perfect night. We headed out to our favorite Sushi restaurant in the rain! As you know, we live in Southern California. It has been dry, windy and hot for most of the month. I'm sure those on the east coast have no sympathy but this drought is rough! I was so happy to see the rain!

Colors shone with exceptional clarity in the rain. The ground was a deep black, the pine branches a brilliant green, the people wrapped in yellow looking like special spirits that were allowed to wander over the earth on rainy mornings only
 • Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

We enjoyed our favorite meal while talking and laughing. It was a perfect night. An escape from all the distractions.

So happy I get to spend the rest of my life with this guy <3

My Beauty Favorites of the Moment

During my blogging break I've discovered a new love for beauty and make-up! It's been a lot of fun trying out new products, watching YouTube tutorials and overall just feeling really great lately. I thought it would be cool to mention some of my beauty favorites of the moment here on the blog. :)

These are the items that are currently sitting in my Sephora Beauty Bag plus a few extras ;). I'll link to everything in case you want to check some of them out.



Josie Maran
100 percent Pure Argan Oil Light

This product is a miracle worker! I have dry combination skin and lately my face has been feeling really tight and looking flaky. I stopped in Sephora and picked up a sample of this beauty. I started adding a few drops to my moisturizer every night and it has made a huge difference! It also looks like my skin is clearing up and evening out too. Like I said, a miracle worker!

Origins
Clear Improvement™ Active Charcoal Mask To Clear Pores

I had been hearing great things about this mask for quite some time and when I reached 100pts on my Sephora Beauty Insider card I decided to try the sample. It's a great mask! For a while I was getting little foil packets of an off brand at Target for my weekly masks. I was never too impressed by them and felt like they weren't doing much for my skin issues. This mask definitely checks all the boxes! It removes those pesky black heads, exfoliates and treats acne as well. It is a clay mask so it gets pretty tight on the skin and tingles a bit but I think it's a small price to pay for the long term benefits. I'll definitely be getting the full size one!

Dr. Jart+ Water Fuse Beauty Balm SPF 25+

I recently cashed in some of my Birchbox points for a few things I had tried as samples. I got this in a kit with three other BB Creams. I've only tried two and so far this is my favorite one. It's prefect for my dry skin and it's formulated to automatically match your skin tone. Because I'm still working on getting my skin well enough to wear foundation, I think BB Creams are a great starting point when you want light coverage.

Revlon Colorburst Balm Stain
Honey

An absolute favorite of mine lately is the Revlon Colorburst Balm Stains. Per a YouTube recommendation I tried the shade in Honey. It has perfect light coverage and stays a while without having to retouch. This Honey color is the perfect pinky-nude, great for everyday wear.

Here I am wearing the face oil, bb cream and balm stain.

I had so much fun creating this post and hope you enjoyed it! I'd love to hear what you've been loving lately!

 

Hope you have a great day!

Three Amazing Years

Today marks 3 years to the day that I married my best friend!  

 

1.30.11 <3

We have been through so much these past few years and

I'm so happy we are getting through this life together.

 

 

"It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing it's always better when we're together"

-Jack Johnson "Better Together"


Wordless Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!

 

Here's a little bit of what I've been up to. :)

 

Brought in the New Year feeling great!

Declared 2014 the "Year of the Selfie" ;)

Lots of driving around with this cutie <3

More "Selfies"

Reuniting with my college roomie after 8 years!

 

Hope you have a great day!



Motivational Monday: My Journey...So Far

I'm back! Lol. I really am this time! I finally got a new computer and it's small enough for me to carry everywhere and be comfortable on the couch when my back is really sore. :)

I've been pretty busy lately! It's mostly due in part to getting a good handle on my depression. I've been able to cope better and losing weight has definitely boosted my confidence. That's right, this girl has lost 22lbs! Yay! I've been on Jenny Craig since September 24th and I've been loving it. It was really hard at first but like anything new, it takes some getting used to.

I plan on posting before and after pictures eventually, but I think I'll wait until I reach one of my goals.

 



Right now I'm keeping busy with trying to walk at least three times a week. Working through the pain is difficult but I'm getting through it. :) My Dad is finally getting a good hold of his health issues and my husband and I are taking turns with helping him get to his appointments and run errands. I never realized how hard it would be trying to take care of myself and my chronic pain while also trying to help my Dad deal with his issues. Tough stuff! It's all part of the journey I guess.

 

This has really been resonating with me lately. I am doing it.

I can finally say I see an end in site and with a few more pounds to lose I'm almost there! Once I reach my weight loss goal I'll be getting ready to meet with a surgeon. I've exhausted all my recovery options these past two years and I'm looking forward to finally feeling like something might work.

 

It feels so good to be back blogging and finally catching up with my dear friends in the blog world. I've missed you! Stay tuned for Wednesday's post!

 

Hope you have a great day!

Happy Holidays and more!

I'm back! Yay! I know in my last post I promised to blog soon and of course life got in the way. But I'm here and plan to update you all on what I've been up to!

I'd like to do separate posts about everything but I'll try to sum it up here to give you a bit of a preview. :)

I officially started Jenny Craig at the end of September and I'm 3 months in! I've lost 15lbs and feel wonderful! I'm learning how to eat all over again and exercising a lot of self control! Dieting like this during the holidays is a challenge and I'm so proud of what I've accomplished so far.


For Thanksgiving I headed out to Colorado Springs, CO to visit my sister and mom. I got stuck in my first snow storm and was constantly amazed by the beautiful snow-filled landscape. My sisters German Shepherd, Kilo, kept me entertained and gave me lots of love when I was missing my fur-baby at home. I also met up with a friend I met through Facebook when our husbands went through training together! It was a great day! I'll give you a full update on my trip as soon as I can. :)

My sisters front yard :)

Look at that face! My "nephew", Kilo. :)

Amanda and I. Love this girl!

As soon as I got back from my trip I began decorating for Christmas! I absolutely love this time of year! I decorated the house and sent out holiday cards to friends, family and Amanda's Somewhere Over the Camo holiday card exchange. I also made a cake for my brother-in-laws 15th birthday and went to a "costume" party for my best friends birthday. That was all in the last couple of weeks! This past Friday my husband and I also went to his Judo Club's holiday party and had so much fun! :)

My sweet boy in front of our tree.

Holiday cards were sent out!

My brother-in-law's birthday cake.
 

"Costume" Party with my Bestie! :)

This week my Mom has been in town and we've been spending a lot of time together. Tonight we will be having dinner at my brother's house and then it's Christmas! I'm so happy to be back blogging and hope I can catch you up even more in the next coming weeks.

Happy Holidays!

I'm still here!

It's been so long since I've blogged or visited my favorite bloggers! I think of it everyday!

Life is keeping me busy and no wifi on top of that is really why I've been gone so long. 

I can't wait to get back soon! I'm still on my weight loss journey, went to Colorado for a week and I'm finally tackling my Christmas decorations! I'll be planning a few blog posts in the next week and I hope some of you have stuck around. :)

Happy Holidays! <3