Vacation and some exciting news!

So I went to go visit my family and friends back home.  Most of the trip was awesome unfortunately after 2 days of being there I started to have a gall bladder attack.  Yes I had been going a little off my normal diet enjoying myself while visiting.  Nothing ridiculous though.  Either way I started to have a gall bladder attack.  It wasn't too bad at first but it just wouldn't go away.  

Long story short 4 days later I am still having a gall bladder attack and not able to keep any food down.  It was also getting worse so I asked my brother to take me to the hospital pretty sure that something was wrong.  Never mind the fact that it was 3 in the morning.  Haha  He was just so excited that I woke him up.

In the long run my gall bladder was filling up with fluid which was causing the pain.  Thankfully it wasn't affecting my liver.  In the end they decided that I needed to have surgery though because they weren't able to manage my pain and my gall bladder was only going to get worse. 

Soooooo guess what?

After an hour long surgery and a two day hospital visit I no longer have a gall bladder!!!!

I have been going a little nuts putting hot sauce on anything I can knowing it won't cause a night of tossing and turning in pain.  Did I really want to have my vacation interrupted with having to go to the hospital and spending the rest of the time being lazy while recovering?  No not really.  BUT I am happy to finally have this issue taken care of.  I've only been living with it since I was 19 after all.

While I had a great time seeing everyone I am exciting to be back in my own house and back to work.  

Speaking of home.  We are moving again.  Well sort of, really just moving houses.  We finally found something that we like!  We won't be actually moving until some time in July.  So hopefully everything goes well.  

So that is all that has been going on recently.  Hopefully I will have more exciting things to tell you guys about as the move gets closer.  As of right now its just a slow boring process but I will keep you guys updated.

I hope that you all are well and had a very Happy Easter!  I will try to be back writing again soon.

I hate the snow

Ok so maybe I really don't entirely hate the snow.  I just hate being cold... how dry my hair feels when it is cold, how dry and irritated my skin gets, and most of all I HATE the roads when it snows.  People drive terrible and it is just plain scary.  

I am glad that I have Mister Man who knows how to drive in the snow.  I would have been to nervous if I got caught in the snow like we did today.  Would have pulled into the first restaurant I could find and just stayed there.  Ha ha.

Anyways... not much to write about today.  I felt like mentioning the snow though.  Part of me wants to feel excited like some little kid, run outside and have a snowball fight maybe make some snow angels.  The other part of me just hopes the snow will stop soon and the weather will turn warm.  

I am so ready for spring.

I mean look at that!  And it is still going!  Blah!

Plus the it has been raining as well which just means ice and lots of it.  

Well that is all I really had to write about it.  Just my own little weather rant.  I hope you are all doing alright.  Having a nice weekend.  Staying warm!  Hope to write again soon.

Its been a while...

So I've done it again.  You would think that after so many trips of falling off the face of the planet I would get bored and stop doing it... but well... yeah I'm  not making any promises that it won't happen again.  

So I've been busy for the most part.  Just working to be honest.  Working 11 hour days leaves little motivation to come home and think of interesting things to write about.  After work mainly consist of stuffing my face with delicious food (if available or can be obtained) because for some reason no matter if I eat breakfast and lunch at work I still manage to come home starving...

After the stuffing of my face is over and I've most likely eaten entirely too much (most likely the culprit of recent weight gain.  That is a whole n'other bag of fun no one needs to hear about lol) I try to have quality down time with Mister Man.  Most of the time I'm about ready to just go to sleep.  As much as I love my new job, that thought doesn't keep the alarm from going off way to soon in the morning.  

(Takes a minute to go check and see if I've told you guys about the new job.) 

Oh jeez!  Seriously I am like kicking myself seeing that the last time I posted was in November.  I'm so sorry!  

You can't tell but in my head I totally pictured myself saying that like I was some sort of Disney character.  All super dramatic and like on my knees begging for forgiveness sorta stuff.

Can you picture it now?  Make you want to forgive me?  No?.... not yet?  Ah its alright I'll throw in some puppy eyes later.

Aaaannnnneeeee - waaaaays, I do see that I mentioned the job already along with my beginning trend of absence. 

Still loving the job.  Other than the N family this is the best job I have had in a really long time.  The family is great and the little boy I take care of is awesome as well.  I like that other than the long hours its easy to get up and go to work.

So other than that not a whole lot has been going on.  Done a few really cool things like I am learning to ice skate!  I think it is pretty exciting even though the ice terrifies me to be perfectly honest.  So far I have fallen like four times.  One of those times was sooooooooo not my fault.  My loving bf was being a goof ball and accidentally checked me into the wall and sent us both down.  Was pretty awesome as much as I give him a hard time about it.  I still suck pretty bad at skating to be honest even though we have gone quite a few times and I am too chicken to leave the wall.

Mister Man bought me my own pair of skates that way I don't have to keep renting them which is great.  Plus I think they look so much cooler than the ugly rentals.  I need to skate in them more though, they really need to be broken in.  So hopefully they will eventually not be so uncomfortable to wear. 

I hope I get better eventually I mean I am sure with practice I will.  Maybe one day I might be able to keep up with the bf who makes it look so easy.

Other than that the only other news that I have is that I will be making a trip home next month.  Super excited about that!  Its a secret though, well sorta trying to surprise my kid sister.  I don't think she reads my blog...  I don't know...

SURPRISE SIS!  In case you do happen to read this, my bad.

So really that is all that is going on.  Not much I know.  I wanted to give you guys an update though and let you know that I am still around.  I finally joined the wonderful world of instagram for those of you who are interested I am a little more active on there.  My user is @WheezingPhantom.

Here's a LINK if it works.

I hope to post again soon.  

Oh before I go in regards to the giveaway that I mentioned before.  I still am planning on doing that for sure.  It may take a little while.  But its definitely going to happen!  Cross my heart and kiss my elbow.  Soon as things are more figured out and set in stone I will give you guys an update.

Again I am really sorry for the lack of posting. *insert puppy eyes*  I will try to post again before another 3 months goes by.  Haha

Hope you are all doing great!

Bloglovin

Finally getting around to getting one of these since it makes it easier to follow all of the blogs that I like.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/6004303/?claim=x9m8ghd2y94">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Shout out!

This photo belongs to Sarah Ray Vargas and the people at Fashion to Figure.

I am sure that some of you have noticed that I am a bit of a YouTube junkie.  I love being able to listen to music, watch funny clips, and watching vlogs are a highlight in my day.  

Today I wanted to give a shout out to one vlogger/blogger in specific, Sarah Rae Vargas.  She is a Mother of two beautiful kids, who makes a wide variety of YouTube videos on topics like plus size fashion, beauty, lifestyle, self empowerment as well as blogging and much more.  She is definitely out spoken and I think she is a great role model and is a big part of the body positivity movement.  

As a plus sized woman myself who just like anyone else had an extremely hard time embracing my body and loving myself for who I am, it is great to see so many people stepping up and sending out the message that you are beautiful just the way you are.  It wasn't until recent years that I finally started to accept my body type as a chunky girl.  While I definitely support a healthy diet and lifestyle I also completely believe that its OK if you are not skinny if you are a 'fat girl' and you should be happy with yourself no matter what.  

As a teenager I hid under baggy clothes not only because I was a rebellious little goth girl but also because I simply had the thought in my head that fat girls can't wear form fitting clothes and look good.  Even when I started going to college I would often where a hoodie over whatever outfit I had picked even in the summer too insecure with my body to go without it.

It wasn't until I hit my 20s that I finally started to embrace who I was and all my curves.  I wouldn't necessarily say I am fashion forward (not even a little bit) or even 100% confident with my body but I have definitely come a long way since high school.  As cheesy as it may sound it really does encourage me as I am sure it does many others to go outside of my box and say you know "I look damn good in these jeans that hug my hips and butt I am going to buy them." or actually getting the top that shows off my arms, thanks to all these amazing vloggers/bloggers who are plus sized women and GORGEOUS.

Anyways I could go on but I am sure you get the point.

I just wanted to give Sarah a shout out and share THIS interview she did with Fashion to Figure because I love everything she said and don't think it could have been said better.  

If you are interested you can check out Sarah's YouTube Channel and she also is on Instagram.

I hope you all are having a wonderful week so far and I will hopefully be back soon to update you guys on giveaway info.

100th Post!

Ok so I have been avoiding actually writing a blog post because I wanted to do something super special for my 100th blog post.  Yep barely getting to my 100th post ahahaha!  But it is still exciting I feel as though I am surely but slowly making blogging progress.  I know that I am not the most active blogger but in the last year or so I have doubled my followers almost hitting 30. ;P  I have also made some great friends.

So I really wanted to do something special for all of you with this post.  Really, I wanted to do a giveaway.  I didn't know what to get all of you though.  I found some great Halloween decorations in a little shopping center but then thought nooo Halloween is over don't do that.  Then I considered something from Etsy but again I had no idea what I would pick.  I am such a random person loving all things whimsical, artsy, handmade, metaphysical and then also things like makeup and unique jewelry.  So I was buzzing with ideas yet had no idea what you, my lovelies, would actually like the chance to win.  I would love to do multiple prizes I was thinking three or at least three winners with different prizes.  But I need a little help.  Tell me things you are interested in, things you would be excited to see, favorite Etsy sellers or some favorite items, I'd even go for gift cards if that is something you would want.  

Of course I make no promise you will get exactly what you list, though I would love to give you all everything you desire.  My wallet is likely not that deep.  ;)

I know this was a short and to the point post but I just couldn't wait any longer to post and say hi.  

Things are still going good with the new job.  It is getting so cold!  I had to do a bit of winter shopping since I literally had nothing suitable for cold weather.  Thanks to Veterans Day Sales though I was able to get quite a bit without breaking the bank account.  

Well I need to go ahead and start getting ready for bed since my alarm no matter how much I beg it not to goes off WAY TOO EARLY!

I hope you all had a great weekend and that this week is a happy one.

New Job...

Seems like every time I get a full-time gig I disappear from the blogging world.  Sorry about that.  In my defense it is really taking an adjustment working from 6:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. Long, long days.   I really like my new job though.  The baby I take care of is adorable and the family is great.  It makes the long days much easier.  We also have found my back up sitter!  In case I ever want a day off or have a sick day she will step in.

I have tried writing quite a few different times this week and just haven't been able to get a post out.  Which is odd to me because I was very excited to share with you guys a few different recipes we tried out not too long ago.  A homemade vegetable stock which was used to make homemade vegetable pot pie and we also made a vegetable lasagna.  All of which were delicious.  Only downside to the pot pie was the neither of us knew how to make the crust so we bought one and it was a tad on the sweet side.  I am very excited to try it again though.

The other exciting news is I won one of Magaly Guerrero's hosted giveaways for the Magical Working Oil Set.  I have had the set for a while now.  Sorry this news has not come sooner!  I just wanted to give a huge thank you to Magaly for hosting the giveaway and to Sharon from Touch of the Goddess for sponsoring.  So far I am in love with the set.  

I was wonderfully surprised also to find that Sharon had thrown a few extra goodies into the box as well as the oil set.  She provided cards that I will be able to keep on hand and give out to recommend her products, as well as an adorable book mark that will definitely be put to good use.

On top of those things she also gave me a coupon for a reading.  I can't wait to take advantage of this.

She also sent a few small crystals which are beautiful.  I was super excited to see a Tiger's Eye stone which is easily one of my favorites.

Last but not least she also sent this Question Feather.  It is a little hard to see in the picture but there is a black and white feather to match a gorgeous black and white bead.

"The Question Feather is a useful tool for finding answers.  Choose your feather, hold it in your hands, and gently blow across it.  Now, ask your question.  Keep your feather with you throughout the day.  Your answer will come to you in your dreams, or as a sudden "aha" moment the next day.  Thank your feather and release it back to Mother Earth, or set it in moonlight to cleanse it to use for another question."

This is very interesting and definitely something new.

I am very grateful for all these beautiful gifts!  Thanks again Sharon and Magaly.

So far out of all the oils Air, Fire and Luna are definitely my favorites.

So other then that nothing too new is going on.  I had the day off today and spent the majority of it with a new found friend exploring.  It was a bit chilly out today but was still a nice day to go out and walk around.

I was able to get a few pictures.  Other then that we went to a few shops and called it a day.

Now I am sitting at home watching Grease on Netflix.  I love this movie and its amazing cheesi-ness!  I can't help but sing along most of the movie.  Ha ha!  

I hope that you all had a wonderful Halloween also.  We didn't do anything this year other then relax and have a nice night.  How about all of you?  Anything exciting?

I have been trying to think of something fun to do for my next post since it will be the 100th post on the blog.  Sure I will think of something.  If anyone has any ideas I am also all ears.

This photo belongs to Shop Dixi

Oh and before I go I also found a very cute new site.  It is called Shop Dixi and I am in love with most of their site.  I could easily get myself into trouble buying tons rings and necklaces.  The bohemian style of their jewelry is right up my alley.  They are a little more expensive for sure.  Based out of the UK if I am correct it is safe to assume the prices they have listed you can double for U.S. dollars.  From what I have read into the site though all the crystals they use for their rings and necklaces are 100% real and not simply colored glass which is nice.  Soon is a get some of the essentials out of the way I have every intention of making a few purchases.  

I hope that you all are having a wonderful week.  Hope to post again soon!