Pregnancy Update: Weeks 21 - 24

This is going to be kind of short and sweet, as nothing much as been happening the last four weeks. Other that increasing movement from Michael, and increasing growing from me. To the tune of 10 extra pounds, for a total of 18. I'm still on track, and the doctor was concerned for me because of the extra weight, but he said if I hadn't gained it all at once he would not be concerned at all. But since I gained it all so quickly... I just don't know. I hadn't really been eating a lot differently, though it was my 30th birthday the week before my appointment and I did overindulge just a bit. But hopefully it was a fluke and doesn't happen again.
My blood pressure is still great (122/64), and my fundal height is 23, which is still right on track!

During my next update, I should be able to tell you guys all about the lovely Gestational Diabetes test. I've heard mixed reviews, so we'll see!







(I took this on my 30th birthday!)




Seeing all these pictures at the same time really does show how much bigger I've gotten. Wow!

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 19 & 20

Week 19
This is the week we found out we're having a BOY! His name is going to be Michael David, after my husband's best friend (and one of mine) who has passed on. We feel so lucky to get to have a son, and name him for someone that meant so much to both of us.


(The only time you'll ever see my son's junk on the internet... hopefully.)


(His little face. I just want to kiss it already!)

My husband and I also bought him his first teddy bear the evening we found out. Isn't he cute?

His name is Rolth (it's a Jedi name), and he is so, so soft.

Other than finding out he's a boy, this week was fairly uneventful, pregnancy-wise.
Non-pregnancy wise, this weekend was when the Seahawks got into the Superbowl for the second year in a row! WOOHOO!!!




Week 20
The evening before my 20th week kicked off was not fun. I had some stomach issues, and just felt gross in general. Luckily, I had my 20 week appointment with my doctor. I had been jumping around quite a bit more than I should have watching the Seahawk vs Green Bay game, and when I told him that, he said I probably just upset my bowels and that as long as there was no bleeding, I was okay.
I also found out I gained 3lbs since my last appointment, which brings my total pregnancy weight gain up to 8lbs. My blood pressure is still really good at 117/70, and my fundal height was measuring at 19, so I'm right on track.

This weekend I went shopping with my mom and got some really, really cute stuff for the baby. But I might just do an overall baby haul before he's here on the blog, so I don't really want to post pictures of everything right now.




As of writing this post, I am at Week 21. I don't have another doctor's appointment until Week 24, and nothing major coming up.
See you all in 2 weeks!

Pregnancy Update: Weeks 1 - 18!

If you've read my Surprise! post, you know that I am pregnant! And as of this week, I am 19 weeks along (and as of this post, I will be finding out TODAY what we are having). I thought it might be fun to look back at my first weeks of pregnancy to see how much my belly has grown and how I've been feeling. Mostly, this is for me. And my family. But this is for all of you who find this blog and want to see how pregnancy treats real women.

Weeks 1 - 4

Obviously there wasn't much going on in the first couple of weeks, because I didn't know I was pregnant for a majority of them. I will say finding out was not unexpected, because we were trying to get pregnant, but it happened rather quickly after we started trying so it was still a bit of a shock. 

Weeks 5 - 10

This is when I started to get sick. And have the implantation cramping. And just generally not be exciting about being pregnant. Yep, I said it aloud. Being pregnant has not been easy for this girl. I was also exhausted and frequently falling asleep before 8pm.

Mostly the following pics are just bloating, but it is kind of cool to see the absolute progression here.

#WetHairDontCare

Weeks 11 - 14

More feeling sick, but towards the end I started to feel better. This is also when I stopped being able to fit comfortably in most of my regular pants without the help of a belly band. And I made the glorious switch to maternity pants, which I might never take off again in my life. 

We also told our families in week 12 (though our parents knew earlier), and it felt good to be able to talk about it with everyone, finally!


(Oh, hey, new phone!)




(This is the week I decided to take clothed-belly pics only.)

They give you a fake belly if you're not very far along to try on with the pants and tops to see how they may fit later on. It still makes me laugh looking at this picture.

Weeks 15 - 18

Sweet release of morning sickness, but with the gain of stretching and hip pain. Also, on and off sleepiness again, which I attribute to the baby growing. This is when I really started to show, and not just feel fat. I also felt the first little movements in week 17, and they've been sporadic so far. I can't wait to feel the baby more and more.

I am so super excited to actually feel like a mostly normal human again. 

Even though I am super happy and feel, well, blessed, to be able to carry a child, I will say pregnancy has not been easy for me, at all. At times I was miserable, and more than once I wondered why I wanted to go through this. But now that I'm out of the woods a bit, I feel a lot better, in general. Feeling everything start to stretch a bit is weird. And seeing my stomach growing is definitely cool, and weird. There's that word again! But it really is just a weird, but cool, experience.

I'm thinking about doing this every couple of weeks. So next time you see one of these posts, I should be able to say whether I am having a girl or a boy! 

Okay, so that was a fail.

I fully intended on coming right back. But once a habit is broken, it's hard to unbreak!


So my sort of New Year's Resolution is to start posting again!
I have a whole quarter of Birchbox and ipsy to show you all. I have stuff with my pregnancy I'd love to share. I've been reading books, and would like to get back into the BATR Book Club posts! (Though, you will have to follow me on Goodreads to see what I am reading, because it does take quite a bit of time to do posts.)

Overall, I just want to come back!

Also, you will notice my ads are gone. And I am no longer an amazon affiliate. I've come to realize I just want this blog to be a hobby.
With that said, Birchbox, ipsy, and Le Tote affiliate links are still up. I am, as of right now, not doing Le Tote due to my pregnancy, but plan on starting again after this is over with. I will only use those affiliate links to get things to review on this blog or give away. Same with Birchbloggers.


I'm currently working on some blogs that you should start seeing after the 1st of January! I'm excited to be back!

Surprise!

I'm so excited to announce, finally, that my husband and I are expecting our first (and possibly only) child!

As you can tell, I've been away from blogging now since October!
A lot of that is due to my pregnancy.


I had horrible morning sickness- I've been on Zofran since week 5, and am still on it. I had a bad day earlier this week on Wednesday, felt better yesterday, and have been good today. My doctor said as soon as I am good for 72 hours, I can start dropping down to one less pill a day, and I currently take four 4mg pills. I'm really anxious to get off of it, but it's also the only way I've really been able to eat real food.
I'm really hoping I'm not one of those women that is sick all the time, but if I am, I'll get through the next 27 weeks as best I can.


So if you're good at math, now you know that I'm 13 weeks along as of this week! I am due in early June.




I pretty much just starting showing late last week/early this week. It's seriously blowing my mind that that's me. It's weird. But in a good way.
I've slowly started transitioning into wearing maternity pants (I got a really great deal on two pairs at Destination Maternity), because they are just way more comfy. I might never ever wear regular pants again! (Okay, I'm joking. But really, maternity pants are amazing.)


I haven't had any crazy cravings yet, other than normal stuff. No pickles and ice cream over here, yet. I really haven't "craved" anything yet, at least no more so than I would when I wasn't pregnant. It's been more like "Yeah, I think I can eat that and it won't make me feel completely awful!"


We don't know what we're having yet, but I do plan on finding out at our anatomy scan- I'm not going to do anything elective on that end.
I did opt to do an NT Scan, and I will complete that sometime between my 16th and 18th week. Other than that, I've had just the initial ultrasound at 9 weeks, and I've heard the heartbeat. That was a total trip.
So far, I haven't cried during any of my appointments, which is amazing to me, because I'm a crier in general. Maybe when we find out the gender?

Speaking of the gender- I personally have no feelings one way or the other right now what gender we are having. Maybe because I know we are probably only going to have one child, I don't want to get my hopes up for one or the other. But mostly because I know that I will be happy either way. I like bow ties and sparkles equally!
Most people think/hope we are having a girl. Especially when they find out how high the heartbeat has been (171 and 169 during my ultrasounds, 183 at my 12 week doctors appointment, but I had just had lunch, and apparently that makes a bit of a difference) and I guess that is one of those old wives tales about guessing gender.



So, what does my pregnancy mean for the blog?
Well, if my morning sickness hadn't have been so bad, it wouldn't have affected anything. Other than after this post, I might have started talking a bit more about pregnancy.
I was considering cutting back on the posts, and go to a more "when I feel like it" type of posting. I will probably still end up posting two or three times a week- but I need to be able to step away if I need to. Especially now since the way I'm feeling is a little touch and go.
I also might do some pregnancy and baby blogs- if I find some product or book I love, I feel like it's completely in line with what my blog already is all about.

I'm hoping that, now that I'm feeling better, I can come back! I hope you're all still out there!

My Life - September 2014

September 1st - September 7thOn the 1st, I went to a local arcade with my husband and some friends. It's a nickel arcade, so all of the games are either two nickels, one nickel, or in some cases, free. You also have to pay a fee to get in, but it's less than 2 dollars. It was a fun way to kill a few hours in the afternoon, and I completely beat the old Simpsons arcade game, so that was kind of cool. When I was younger, I played that game every Tuesday night when my parents were bowling. It definitely brought back memories!
The rest of the week, I basically worked, did some cleaning around my house (which ever ends, but I think I have gotten into a good rhythm with it), and worked on blog posts. I keep trying to get a good jump on them and keep up with products as I'm using/finishing them. Some of those samples get used quick!
The 4th was the first Seahawk game of the year against the Packers, and they won! Woohoo!
On the 5th, it was my roommates birthday, so my husband and I went to dinner with his parents and my friend Jeanette.
Over the weekend, we went to see Coheed and Cambria in Oakland. I wasn't a huge fan of their music initially, but over the past few years, I've gotten pretty into them.




This was the last song of the night. They did Welcome Home, and he broke out the DoubleNeck, which is so freaking sweet. It was a great show, and if you're a fan and have never seen them live, I highly recommend it.


September 8th - September 14th
Both my husband and I had the 8th off to recover from the concert, but we still had to get up early to return our rental car, so we had breakfast burritos at this Greek place by his work. They were definitely worth staying up for! But when I got home, I took an almost 2 hour nap. (We got home from the concert at around 2am.)
Again, it was a week full of mostly work, housework, and working on the blog, but my husband, my roommate, and I did start rewatching Arrow to get ready for the new season.
My little brother also moved in with us this weekend, and will probably stay through the beginning of the year.
A show I forgot to mention my husband and I have started watching is Wizard Wars. Does anyone else watch? I find magic fascinating!
Sunday was Seahawks at the Charges, and they lost. And I made brownies. It was my first time using our Kitchen Aid mixer. I just made from-a-box, but they were still delicious!


September 15th - September 21st
This week was employee appreciation week at my job, and it made it really fun. My boss had a ton of fun activities for us, and a ton of treats- it was a fatty work week!
I had dinner with my friend Jeanette at this local pub called Mad Duck on Friday night. Also, Friday was my grandma's birthday (the one that recently passed away), and I had not been out to see her headstone yet so after some things I had to take care of, I went out there and saw her headstone and talked to her for awhile. I didn't think I'd want to do that, but I really needed it.
On Saturday my husband and I had his dad and stepmom over for a BBQ, and his dad made Fried Okra, which is one of my favorite foods in the whole world. Actually, just Okra in general is one of my favorite foods, I even eat it raw.  This is also when I made the banana pudding that I blogged about.
Sunday night I made a breakfast casserole from a recipe I found on pinterest that I really, really like. I'm not linking it now because I intend on one day doing an Adventures in Cooking post about it, but if you want it feel free to go to my Pinterest board under recipes I've tried.

September 22nd - September 28th 
This felt like such a short week, and work just flew by.
Nashville started again this week, which was exciting for me because I love that show! I love all the drama- my brother was home when I was talking about it (he moved in with us for a couple of months), and I was explaining who everyone was and what their relationships were to each other and just said "wow, this show is nuts."
I went to my Great Aunt's on Friday night to watch Fresno State football and eat pizza, and then was supposed to meet up with friends after but I was feeling absolutely awful so I went home.
Saturday I was feeling a little better and haven't seen my cousin Michelle (who is one of my best friends, also) since we went on our train adventure last month, so she picked me up and we went to a park and then McDonald's with her little ones.
On Sunday, my husband, my roommate Kyle, and I went to our friend's son's first birthday party. We hadn't met him yet (they have an extremely busy life), but he's adorable and it was fun. We didn't stay for a long time, but it was still nice. First birthday's are such a weird concept to me- you want to celebrate it, obviously, but at the same time, kids are not going to remember it. I think when the time comes, Joe and I will just have a small party with cake and ice cream.

September 29th - September 30th
This was a pretty boring couple of days, to be honest. I pretty much just went to work and came home. Though, on Tuesday, I went with my husband and my roommate to Habit Burger and Target. But other than that, same old same old!

My Life, August 2014

I liked separating by week last month, so I'm going to keep it that way!

August 1st - 3rd
We saw Guardians of the Galaxy! And I loved it, so much. It was action-packed, and funny. And the soundtrack is awesome. After the movie, Joe and I drove down to San Diego to visit my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and nephew. It was a long drive- usually we get there in around 5 hours, and this trip took us like 7 and a half. Mainly due to traffic in Valencia and Los Angeles, and we also stopped and ate because it got close to dinner time, when we had planned on eating dinner in San Diego.
The trip itself was a lot of fun. Saturday we went sailing- it was Joe's and my first time, but the in-laws are pros! Jenna's brother was our captain. It actually rained on us! But I think that made it fun, and I didn't get sunburned so that was nice.


(Me, taking a selfie after sailing.)

The next day, we got donuts at The Donut Bar (I got Homer's Donut and a Cronut), and then we went to Balboa Park to eat the donuts and walk around.


(My donuts- for reference, the Cronut is the size of your average donut. And Homer's Donut tastes like birthday cake and was fluffy and delicious.)


(Me and Joe at Balboa Park)

We walked around in the Botanical Building, and then went over to the Air & Space Museum where they had a Ripley's Believe It Or Not! thing. I really enjoyed going through that- I used to read Ripley's in the newspaper (I would read it second after Calvin and Hobbes, and after that ended, I would usually go to it first), so it was fun going through and seeing all the different displays.
I had a lot of fun at Balboa Park and there are so many things to do there! It's definitely a place I can see going back to when we visit again.

August 4th - August 10th
The 4th was spent driving home- and it took us a long time again. We hit some traffic through Los Angeles (which we kind of expected), and then we stopped to eat at Denny's and discovered that one of my favorite things ever, The Hobbit Hole Breakfast, is now a regular item! It's just 'egg in a basket', but it's in a cheddar biscuit and it seriously amazing. When we got home, we pretty much just did laundry and I worked on the blog.
The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, I basically just worked, came home, and vegged out.
On the 8th, Joe and I went to Lush, and then went to a local used movie store that we frequent. (You can see my purchases on my 2nd Lush Haul.) Then we hung out with my brother and our roommate and watched a movie.
On the 9th, I had to take my car in to get serviced- the tube to my evaporator was clogged up, so they had to clear that out for me, and there was over a gallon of water in there! I also apparently didn't have a cabin air filter, so they gave me one of those. I went to Target and got a little handheld mirror for my bathroom (I never had one because someone else always did or I lived in a house where there were mirrors you could arrange to see the back of your hair). Then Joe, our roommate, and myself went to dinner with a friend of ours that is moving to Oklahoma, and it might be the last time we see him for a very, very long time. Then my brother came over and we watched a movie and hung out again.
This is also the day I got my LE TOTE, so in between doing all of those other things, I tried everything on, rated everything, and got my blog post for that started (which you'll see next week).
Sunday's are always low-key for us- mainly we do grocery shopping and laundry, and prepare for the next day for work.

August 11th - August 17th
More work. The maintenance guy had to come out to our house to fix a couple of things, and we had a guy also come out this week to spray for spiders, again. I'm really arachnophobic so everytime I see a spider in our house, I get really freaked out and anxious, and there have been a lot since we moved in. Not like, one a week. More like one or more in a day. Hopefully this time they stay away.
Franklin and Bash came back this week. I didn't think the first episode was as funny as the last seasons, but I still like the show.
Friday night I did some shopping with my husband and spent way too much money at Target, and then bought a range extender for my wireless internet at Best Buy. And now I have internet in my bedroom upstairs and I can watch Netflix on my TV, FINALLY.
Saturday I pretty much worked on my blog and hung out with my brother and husband, and Sunday was the usual low-key day, only my brother's birthday was Friday, so we celebrated Sunday with dinner and swimming at our aunts house. My brother is 24... super crazy to think about!

August 18th - August 24th
I went to Hanford, CA on Tuesday, the 19th, to have an adventure with my grandparents for my grandma's birthday. We went on the train, had lunch at the retirement home my cousin works at, and then had ice cream at Superior Dairy, which is a local favorite.

My grandparents. They've been married 57 years.


Me, my cousin, and her daughter.


This is one scoop of Rocky Road at Superior Dairy.


My cousin's daughter smiling and posing in her conductor hat.


The happiest baby in the world.

I pretty much worked the rest of the week. Friday night, my friend Jeanette, my roommate Kyle, Joe and I went back to Superior Dairy after a delicious dinner at Habit Burger. My friend Jeanette and I shared a two scoop sundae, with Cookies & Vanilla ice cream. It was delicious.


This is what two scoops looks like.

I spent the rest of the weekend bumming around, watching #EverySimpsonsEver on FXX with my husband and roommate. Well, we didn't watch it the whole weekend, but pretty much.

August 25th - August 31st
I didn't do a whole lot the last week of August, except work, and come home. Though, I did get my hair cut and colored at Ulta. Well, trimmed. I got the front trimmed up and the rest textured and trimmed.

Friday night I met my friends Jeanette and Amanda, and Amanda's boyfriend Russ, at Starbucks, and we caught up and talked about stuff.
Saturday my husband put together my new bookshelves and I organized my Nora Robert's books and put them all away.
Saturday night I watched Fresno State get slaughtered by USC (it was pretty bad).
Sunday, since regular season football hasn't started yet, we just all hung out and did nothing, pretty much, though I did work on my blog a bit.

My Life, July 2014

July 1st - July 5th
More unpacking fun! Sometimes I feel like I'm going to be unpacking for the rest of my life! We still have a few boxes in our spare room that need to be sorted through, but for the most part, we're all done!
This weekend was the 4th of July, and I had the day off. My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and nephew came up to visit from San Diego, so we all went over to my husband's Aunt and Uncle's house to celebrate the 4th with good food, beer, and fireworks. But OMG it was so hot! I think it got up to 106 that day. It was miserable, and we spent a fairly good portion of it either inside or in the shade. We also had a get together in my new house with my husband's dad's family (including Joe's stepsister and her family), where we ate pizza, vaped (Yep, vaping is a thing we do over here! Though I'm really not one to do it much at all, probably because I was never a smoker, but I'd rather be around that than cigarettes any day!), and just hung out together. Oh, and drank more beer (or wine, in my sister-in-law's case). We really enjoyed spending time with them, and we're planning on taking a weekend trip down to San Diego at the beginning of August. 
I finished My Real Children this week.



July 6th - July 12th
This was the week I realized I liked vacuuming... seriously! We had to buy a new vacuum, and went with the Shark Rotator Pro Complete Lift-Away Upright Vac (and yes, we did buy from Fingerhut!). It really got my really dirty floors totally clean, and sucked up everything! Our floors hadn't been vacuumed since we moved in on the 20th of June, so it was way overdue! 
I worked a lot of overtime this week at work, which is always good for the paycheck, but bad for the sleep schedule. I felt exhausted all week. 
My mom had been wanting to take me shopping to buy some kitchen essentials (like kitchen towels), so I drove down to Porterville, where she lives, after work on the 11th, and then on the 12th we drove up to the Tulare Outlet Center.  I ended up spending a lot of money at the Gap outlet shopping, because I realized I was going sailing at the beginning of August and really didn't own anything appropriate (I didn't even own a single pair of non-exercise shorts. Seriously.), but, luckily, my sis-in-law is a veteran, and helped me pick out some stuff via text pictures. I always send her pics when I'm shopping, especially if I'm alone. Even my husband helps me when we shop (and he really picks good things, too!). I also get really frustrated when trying on clothes, so it helps to have someone else that even is talking with me at the same time. It's not that I have a complicated figure to shop for, but I'm usually in between sizes and it's just a pain in the ass.
(If I remember, I'll take a picture to add to the blog. I realized that's what these posts are missing.)


July 13th - July 19th
More work, and overtime. I spent the beginning of the week combating some major cramps! I never got them as a teenager, so it really sucks. And the rest of the workweek was pretty boring-other than blogging and putting some books away, I really did nothing of interest until the weekend.
The morning of the 19th I went on a nice walk with my cousin, Michelle, and her daughter, Scarlet. And then that evening, my husband and I played Cards Against Humanity with my cousin, Jonalyn, and her fiance, Adam. We own all of the expansions, including the Bigger Blacker Box. We have quite a few games, but this one definitely has gotten the most use. My husband prefers to play with a smaller group of people, though. (You have to read cards, and he feels that after a certain number of people. the enthusiasm of reading the cards is lost.)


(Our downstairs coat closet pretty much just has games in it.)
I finished reading The Second Summer of the Sisterhood this week.

July 20th - July 26th
My husband went to The Yardhouse for the first time this week! I have been several times, meeting up with friends for happy hour or dinner, and I'm glad he finally got to go. It's a really good restaurant, but their claim to fame is that they have over 100 beers on tap. And during happy hour, it's really reasonable to get a shorty or two to try a couple of different ones. 
I also got to meet up with a really good friend of mine for about an hour at Starbucks, which was great because I hadn't seen her since her wedding in March!
Over the weekend, I had some plans that got cancelled last minute, so my husband and I ended up going to dinner with our roommate at a restaurant called The Silver Dollar Hofbrau. Their pretty much known around town for their french dip sandwiches, but I'm not a big "dip" person, so I usually just get ham, but OMG it is tasty. And then our friend came over and hung out and we watched The Lego Movie.


July 27th - July 31st
On the 27th, my family had a birthday get together for my Grandpa, two of my aunts, and one of my cousins birthdays. It was outside, and it was hot. (Over 100 degrees). So the next day, I was in migraine city! It made work a whole lot of fun. I also worked more overtime this week- I am taking full advantage while I can, that is for sure! I also went through the last of my boxes that were left to organize and decide what to donate and what to keep, and all I have to say is this- parents keep stuff that their kids do not care about as adults. I threw away so many papers from my classes. I did get a really good laugh reading through mine and my husband's yearbooks, though.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent doing laundry and packing for our trip to San Diego! We are going over the 1st to the 4th.
This week I read Girls In Pants (the third Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book).



In retrospect, July was a pretty busy month filled with fun family times! Hopefully August will be as much fun, starting with San Diego and our sailing trip!

My Life, June 2014

I'm going to try something different with this month's My Life update- separate by week!


June 1st - June 7th, 2014
This week I worked all week (and got in a few OT hours, which is always nice on the paycheck!).
My husband and I also, for personal and financial reasons, have decided to put off buying a house for a while and rent. So this week, I went to an open house and found a rental! We are renting with a good friend of ours, and I'm really excited about it. It's a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home, and the master bath has both a shower and a sunken tub, as well as a walk-in closet. I'm definitely excited to test out that bath with some fun bath stuff, and will definitely do reviews. I also have a few ideas for my makeup storage and set up that I'l post all about once I get settled and am able.
One of my cousins surprised us this week by showing up at my grandparent's with her kids from Hawaii! They might be moving back soon (her husband is in the army), but they've been gone on and off for two years, so it's really nice to know she may be coming home soon. I went to dinner with her and her sister to Olive Garden, and it's been so long since I've been there that I ate practically my whole dinner (usually I get at least two to three meals out of one bowl of pasta from there).
And also, this week.... Orange is the New Black Season 2 came out! I spent pretty much the whole weekend watching, and I finished it. And holy shit, that ending! I laughed and clapped. It was great.
This week for books I read The Collector. I didn't read as much as I wanted to, and actually had to turn in this book late to the library (which I hate doing!).

June 8th - June 14th, 2014
The 8th was my husband's birthday, but he didn't really want to do anything (he's not all about his birthday), so we just did our normal Sunday routine which is grocery shopping, laundry, and vegging out.
I worked on my blog a lot this week because we found out we are officially getting the keys to our rental on the 20th so I want to try and get as many blog posts ready as possible in case we have internet issues or if I'm just too tired to post.
I saw The Fault in our Stars with my friend Jeanette on Wednesday. It was incredible, such an amazing adaptation, and it really kept in everything I hoped it would. I also woke up the next morning really puffy because of all the crying.
I got my hair trimmed Friday.
I went to a coworker's daughter's high school graduation party on Saturday.
Sunday was father's day, and I spent it with my father-in-law.
I read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants this week. I have never read it but love the movies, and want to read the most recent one, so I figured I might as well start from the beginning!


June 15th - June 21st, 2014
WE GOT OUR KEYS THIS WEEK!
We also did the walk-thru, got our lease signed, and all that other unfun stuff. Ahhhhh my own place!
We pretty much packed all week after work (we don't have much stuff at my in-laws, but enough that we had to get boxes and pack it away for the trip across town), and I took Friday off to get the keys and get some of our things over there. Then we pretty much moved stuff all weekend, and unpacked, and shopped for stuff for our place.


June 22nd - June 28th, 2014
We got our cable and internet installed this week! Which meant that I could resume blogging!
We also got our things out of storage, so all of my books, and our wedding gifts, are now back in my possession! Hooray! Some of these things I haven't seen since 2008 when they were originally put into storage, so it's nice to finally have them back.
This was also the week that I discovered that rentals aren't always what they seem, and sometimes you have to call your property management about outlets that don't work. Or light switches where the switches don't stay up. Or spiders that are coming out of God-only-knows where, and you are deathly afraid of them. But, they were very quick to respond and I'm still so happy to be here!
I saw the new Transformers movie with my husband, my roommate, and a friend of ours, and I really enjoyed it! It was darker than the last three, and even though it was three hours, it didn't seem overly long. Was it world class, Oscar-worthy cinema? Of course not. But it was a great summer action flick, and since my husband is a huge fan of the franchise, I've sort of inherited his love for it.

June 29th - June 30th, 2014
Sunday was basically just unpacking, grocery shopping, and laundry day, and Monday was work, and more unpacking and organizing. Looking around my house and seeing all the stuff that we still need gets a little overwhelming, but I know it will come together soon!


This month ended up being a lot better than last month. My husband and I are finally in our own space, and slowly getting settled in. I celebrated my One Year Blog Anniversary, and have a lot of fun things planned for the next year!

My Life, May 2014

This series is actually getting quite a few views (though not a lot of comments- don't be so shy!) so I've decided to keep on.
These are kind of "stream of consciousness" posts, so my apologizes for any rambling.

The biggest thing that happened this month is that my grandmother passed away. I talked about it a little in this post. She's the first grandparent I have that has passed away- I am fortunate enough to have been able to grow up with my full sets, including my "bonus" grandma, who is my step grandma on my mom's side. The grandma that passed away is my maternal grandmother. I spent a lot of time with her as a child, and she basically helped my mom raise my younger brother and I, and lived with us for years after my parents separated. So, in a way, it's very much like my mom passed away.
Something I haven't touched on at all is that I lost my father five years ago this year. It was a hard loss, to be sure, but I wasn't as close to my dad as I wish that I was, and there was so much left unsaid between us. With my grandma, I spent a lot of time with her growing up, and recently. She's the reason I love football and the Seahawks, so it's pretty special that this year they won the Superbowl- she got to see it with us! But when I think about her not being around come next football season, it's pretty upsetting to me.
I won't go on and on about this on my blog much more. But it is a profound loss in my life, and it is something I am struggling with greatly, and something I don't see myself really getting over. She was my grandma, a mom, and really one of my very best friends. I'm fortunate that I was with her when they made her comfortable at the hospital, and got to kiss her and tell her I love her, and one of the last things she said was that she loved me, too. And I'll always have that and cherish that forever.

I saw a couple of movies this month- The Amazing Spider Man 2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past. I really loved both of them! There are seriously so many movies coming out this summer that I want to see. Godzilla and Neighbors both came out this month, and I haven't seen them yet but I really want to! I also want to see A Million Ways To Die in the West, and Maleficent.
As far as TV goes, the season finale of 2 Broke Girls was this month, and it was pretty good. The Arrow Season Finale was SO FREAKING AMAZING, even though they totally teased all of us "Olicity" fans. The Supernatural Finale... meh. I'm not a fan of the very end, but it will be interesting seeing where they take the show next season. And the Big Bang Theory Finale was pretty good.
I also finished rewatching Orange Is The New Black Season One, so I'm all ready for Season 2 that starts in June! And Sailor Moon came on Hulu so I've been pretty much about that, as well. I also started watching an anime on Netflix called Attack On Titan, and I'm still kind of getting into it so I'll probably get more into that next month.
Oh! My husband and I also watched the Jim Hensen's Creature Studio Challenge, and I was pretty much in love with it! I'm pretty happy with who won, and I loved seeing how everything was made.

For books, I read Orange is the New Black, re-read The Fault in our stars, read The King, and The Collector.

I didn't really get out and walk this month, but I'm going to try to change that going into the summer.


I am also thinking about posting recipes and stuff here on off days, as well. And my sister-in-law gave me a great idea for a new series, that will probably start after I get settled in my own space, so I can check lighting and all that. I'm really excited about it and already have a bunch of ideas on how to make it work!


I think that's pretty much it for May. Obviously a black cloud hung over May in a big way, and I'm hoping I can turn that into some sunshine next month.

My Life - Update

Hi everyone-

There should be a New Beauty Test Tube post here, but I don't have it finished yet.

My grandmother passed away unexpectedly but peacefully last Friday night, May 16th. I have been busy, helping with preparations, mourning the loss of an amazing woman, and just generally being busy.
Usually I have posts finished a week to two weeks in advance, but unfortunately, more important issues arose and I was unable to finish the post in time.

So for the first time, I'm putting up a post saying there won't be a post today- because we are celebrating the life she lived on this day, and mourning her loss.




The New Beauty post will appear sometime over the long Memorial Day weekend, most likely either Saturday or Sunday.

Thank you all for understanding.

New Series: My Life, April 2014

I've been trying to think of a new series I can incorporate into my blog- since I got rid of my eye makeup series, I've been brainstorming a bit.

Now, my favorite bloggers are the bloggers that mainly talk about what their blog is about, but let you peek into their lives, just a little bit. I never set out to make this a personal blog (I have one of those on LiveJournal that I've had for years and I'm happy with it), but I would like you all to get to know me and my interests a little bit better. I think it makes it more fun, you know? So, here is my new series!




This month, I started walking as exercise. I haven't been exercising lately (in way longer than I care to admit, actually), but I like walking more than running (and it's easier on me), and I've really enjoyed it! I bought a really good pair of running shoes, the Brooks Ghost 6, and they make a huge difference! Before I got them, my legs were so sore. Good shoes really do make a difference!
I really want to start doing some toning exercises, and possibility start incorporating some light yoga into my routine, but I'm just trying to do a little at a time so I don't get too sore or overwhelmed.

My husband, brother, cousin, and myself saw Captain America: Winter Soldier, and I really enjoyed it! The Marvel movies keep getting better and better, and I'm really excited for the ones coming up! (Especially Guardians of the Galaxy.) I'm pretty into all the comic book movies coming out. I'm really, really excited for the new Amazing Spiderman 2 movie coming out! And The X-Men: Days of Future Past looks really good, too. 
I also saw The Other Woman with my friends Jeanette and Amanda. It was way better than I expected it to be, and I liked it a lot. 
There are seriously so many good movies coming out!

I read a few books (Concealed In Death, When Audrey Met Alice, and Don't Even Think About It), spent a good amount of time working on my blog, and played Neopets. (Oh, so that's something weird about me- I still play Neopets at least once or twice a week, and have had my account for 13 years. I've had periods of time where I haven't played for awhile, but I've been playing pretty consistently for the last 5 years or so.) 

I spent a lot of time with my little brother this month, and that's been really great. I love my little brother a lot and really like spending time with him. We don't get to often because we work on different schedules (I work a day shift, he works swing). I went on a really nice, 6 mile walk with he and his dog, and it was cool just to chat and walk. 

I feel like I watched a lot of TV this month. My husband and I have a "date night" of sorts on Wednesday to watch Arrow, which is one of our favorites, and typically watch Supernatural the same night. (I really, really miss them being on the same night!) 
The series finales of How I Met Your Mother and Being Human were this month. I'm still a little upset thinking about the HIMYM finale (Yes, I'm one of those people that was unhappy with it), but the Being Human finale was great! 
19 Kids and Counting and Mad Men came back this month as well, so those are back on my DVR. 
I also watched a few movies - Jobs (which was okay), Take This Waltz (which was also okay, and I saw way more of Michelle Williams and Sarah Silverman than I ever thought I would), and The Negotiator (my first time seeing it, and I really liked it), among others.

I had a day off on the 18th due to my office moving buildings, so that was really nice (I haven't had one since February), and I had my car detailed that day. My car is 6 years old, so I figured it was time. It turned out really good, and I wish I had it done sooner. I definitely will be doing it again in another couple of years!

I get migraines every so often (I was actually out of work for the better part of 2009 because of them), and got hit with one pretty hard towards the end of the month.

My husband and I are on track to start the home buying process at the end of next month! It's really exciting, and I'm a little nervous. But definitely looking forward to it.
I'll share what I'm comfortable sharing, but this entire process is new to the both of us so we're kind of learning as we go!


Hope you all had good Aprils, and I'm definitely looking forward to what May has in store (including my 2 year wedding anniversary with my husband)!