Wordless Wednesday | Birthday Edition!

Here are a few more pictures from my birthday party a couple weeks ago.
I had so much fun and I'm so grateful for the amazing friends and family I have.

Enjoy! :)

Right before they sang "Happy Birthday".

A very candid shot of us getting ready for a picture. Lol!

My best friend and the hostess of my amazing party. Love her!

Everyone was calling him Luigi! Haha!

My goofy friends that I love so much!

Hope you're having a great day!

Hey there!

I've been thinking about coming back to the blog for a while now. I just feel so behind. I haven't been feeling very well and reading my favorite blogs hit the back burner. Do you ever feel so behind it seems overwhelming just thinking about catching up? Yea, that's where I'm at.

Anyways, I thought I would start by catching you up on what I've been up to since my time off from "blogland". Warning: It's pretty picture heavy! :)

At the end of April, a friend of mine who attends a make-up design school, asked me to be her model for a 1940s/50s photo shoot for her portfolio. I was honored and a little nervous! I've never done anything like this before but I'm so glad I did. It was so much fun! I felt so beautiful that day!

This was the first look. A very glamorous 1950s housewife.

The second look was a glammed up Rosie the Riveter.

I still haven't received the pictures from the shoot back yet, but when I do I'll be sure to share them here!

In May my husband was honored with being chosen as the Best Representative for Judo by his Judo Club.  Martial Arts has always been something my husband is very passionate about and he  dedicates all of his free time to not only learning but also teaching. It was an honor for me to attend the award ceremony with him that was for all the clubs in the Southern California area.

The end of May into early June I started to embrace change a little more and get ready for my birthday. I make a big deal out of my birthday because my Mom always made me feel like it's supposed to be your special day. No other day in the year is just about you.

So as I started to think more and more about my birthday the only thing I wanted to do is look good! Haha! I've lost 43lbs and I may not always know how to feel about my new body but on my birthday at least I know I'll look good!

I started by a haircut and coloring my hair back to red. I had it red for so many years and decided that it's time to go back. I love it!

I also bought my first pair of shorts in well over 10 years! They're not short shorts but they're perfect for me and where I'm at with my body image. :)

The week of my birthday finally rolled around and my best friend decided to have a dinner at her house for me the night before. What I didn't know was that she had invited some of our closest friends to surprise me! It was amazing and I cried! Haha. Here are some tidbits from that night. Comment below if you'd like to follow me on instagram for more. :)

It was an amazing night and I felt so incredibly blessed to have so much love in my life.


The next day on my actual birthday, I enjoyed a lovely lunch with my Dad and brothers and a great dinner with my husband and close friends.

The following day was my final birthday celebration with my family. My Dad likes to cook and entertain so he offered to have a get together at his house. He's the best. :)

My Aunt brought the most delicious birthday cake!

My Uncle who is 78 years old gifted me his mothers graduation pin from 1924. As he was telling me the story of the pin he began to cry and then I started to cry! My Aunt (Dad's sister) and Uncle never had children. As my Uncle is getting older he is starting to gift a lot of his things to close family and friends. I am so honored he chose me for such a sentimental gift. I will post pictures of it soon!

It's been a great couple of months. I'm trying to live a little more and not let my disability limit me too much from doing things I enjoy. The cherry on top of all of this is of course:

My favorite hockey team, the Los Angeles Kings, won the Stanley Cup!

It was a tough season but they got through it and came out on top. I'm so proud to be born and raised in a city that has such an amazing team. I'm hoping I can get out to meet some of the players and of course the Stanley Cup sometime this summer. :)

Hope you enjoyed catching up with me! I'll try not to leave so much time between posts next time but no promises. I would also love to catch up with all of my favorite blog friends. Be prepared for lots of comments from me!

Hope you're having a great week!

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!