Wordless Wednesday

Spending my days with this sleepy head is the best.

 

He's using my sweater as a pillow.
So spoiled :)

Hope you have a great day!

Motivational Monday | Picking Up the Pieces

In my last post I mentioned how overwhelmed I've been feeling. Although retail therapy is a great release of stress, it's also just temporary.  When I'm feeling like everything is falling apart I try to remember all the coping mechanisms I have stored away to help me get through it. Sometimes they help, and sometimes they don't.

I know that hiding under a rock or sleeping the day away is not going to fix my problems. Addressing them and moving forward is what needs to be done. I got horrible new last week regarding my disability issues and it could mean there will be a lot of changes coming my way. Change is hard, especially when it's not welcome. After taking a few days to hide from my  problems, I finally tackled what needed to be done. Thank goodness for my Mom, she can be really tough on me when I need it.

I know that whatever happens I'm going to be okay. Things may not be going the way I planned them to be but I'm going to learn from this experience and move forward. It's time to pick up the pieces and not give up.

I've lost enough weight for surgery and have already had an MRI to assess how my injury is looking. Now it's time to wait some more and pray for good news. Living life with chronic pain is really hard but I need to keep living. It's going to get better. :)

 

I hope you have a great week!

Retail Therapy

After a bit of a break, I decided to come on to tell you that I was feeling inspired! It's been a while where I felt like I had something fun or interesting to share on the blog and today it just came to me. Not when I was trying to fall asleep (don't you hate that!), but when I could actually get on and share with you right away! :)

 

I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately. It's mentally and physically exhausting. I know things will get better and my life will feel like it's on track once again but right now, things kinda suck. So when I'm feeling a million different emotions all at once, I go shopping!

 

My Mom loves to shop. She used to take my sister and I shopping whenever we were feeling down. It's also a way for her and I to bond. My parents divorced when I was 7 and although all 3 of my siblings moved with my Mom, Daddy's Girl stayed with her Dad. So weekends and vacations were spent with my Mom shopping and doing girly things. Hence my love for shopping!

 

I have also lost 37 pounds in 6 months and nothing fits! Don't you love those excuses ;).

 

Here are some things that I've picked up lately that I'm loving:

Forever 21+

This sweater feeds my love for Americana.
 It's super comfy too. :)

Love this outfit! I have the jeans in black too.

I also picked up some cute scarves and earrings for next to nothing! I was very pleased with my bargain hunting skills at this store. :)

 

Old Navy

 

I love ON jeans
(even better when they're on sale!)

Victoria's Secret



Love Spell Hand and
Body Cream

Pure Seduction Mist

Love Spell Mist



These scents are oldies but goodies and I love how quick and easy body spray is. I already have a travel size container to take these on the go. :)

 

My Mom is in town and plans on coming over later to help me clear some clutter and down size my closet. Spring cleaning in full swing! I am going to try to make a habit of donating more clothes as my style (and size) evolves and I start adding new pieces.

 

I hope you have great day!

It's Okay

I've taken yet another blogging break and I'm totally okay with that. I realized that I'm not an everyday blogger right now. Life is moving right along and I don't have much to talk about these days.

Learning to let things go and be okay with certain things has always been a struggle for me. This journey I'm on with dealing with an injury and waiting for surgery is hard. Maintaining everything is hard. I'm learning to be okay with the fact that things aren't always going to go the way I want them to and I need to keep moving forward.

Last week sucked. I had my weekly weigh-in with Jenny Craig and I gained! I was heartbroken. So many questions and so much disappointment. I cried off and on all day. The stress and pressure to lose weight for surgery finally broke me. I'd like to say I'm losing weight to get healthy and fit and although that is a plus it's not why I'm losing the weight. I'm doing this to qualify for surgery and finally be pain free.

After a lot of thinking I finally realized that it's okay that I had a gain. It's all part of life right? There are going to be ups and downs with everything. I need to just keep moving forward and go with the flow. It'll all work out. I know it.

This weeks weigh-in was a little different than my past ones. Although I wanted a loss, I knew that I'd be okay with whatever I got. I have worked so hard these past few months. It's time to stop second guessing myself.

I ended up losing the most weight I have since I started the program and made up for last weeks gain. :)

I'm not sure why I gained or if it even matters at this point. Staying consistent is going to be my main focus. The pounds will come off on their own. Consistency will be my biggest focus.


I can do it.

My thoughts are kind of all over the place right now so this post may not make the most sense but putting them down on "paper" is such a benefit to me. I can't wait to look back and see how far I've come.

Hope you're having a great week!

Wordless Wednesday | Rediscovering

Over the last two years dealing with my back injury I put on a good deal of weight. All my clothes eventually ended up in storage and sadly, yoga pants and oversized shirts became the norm.

 

With my recent weight loss I've pulled some clothes out of storage and I'm having so much fun shopping in my own closet!

 

My favorite band shirt and comfy skinny jeans made a come back!

I paired an Old Navy cardigan and Lane Bryant boots with some old staples I'm so happy to be wearing again.

 

Hope you have a great Wednesday!

Motivational Monday: Bossy Pants

Many nights I lay in bed thinking. Sometimes the pain won't let me sleep and I start thinking about everything I had done that day and mostly what I have to do the next day. I'm a worrier. I worry about everything. But last night was different, last night I started thinking about my blog and all the great ideas I had for posts. One thing that I couldn't get my mind off of was a picture I saw on Facebook the other day:

 

I was that little girl being told she was bossy all the time. My Mom said I get that quality from her. I'm a planner, a doer and I really like things to be done a certain way. When I started working in high school and even into my first job as an adult this idea of me being bossy was one of my biggest insecurities. I would go out of my way to make sure I wasn't being bossy. It was hard and probably deterred my growth in the companies.

 

When I was 19 I was working in a retail store and because of the quick turn around with employees I ended up becoming the Senior Sales Associate. What that meant was that all the new employees were encouraged to come to me for training and help. I had never led any training before so I just showed them what I knew. In no way was I trying to be bossy. I was just doing my job. This eventually led to a talk with the Assistant Manager that the girls were complaining about how bossy I was. I couldn't believe it. This further deepened my insecurity.

My job at the Museum is one of the best jobs I have ever had. I had never worked somewhere where growth and the sharing of ideas was so encouraged. Most of the heads of the divisions and the departments are women. They're bossy women too. I began to think how this idea of being bossy wasn't such a bad thing. I've always been a leader and loved that quality about myself. I never realized that being passionate, ambitious and often times pretty OCD made me who I am. If those qualities make me bossy then I'll go ahead and let people call me that. No more insecurities. I'm proud of what I have accomplished for myself. Mrs. Bossy Pants at your service. ;)

 

Hope you have a great week!

 

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