Let's Chat: January Happenings

It is hard to believe that today is January 12th -- it's nearly the middle of the month! I wish time would slow down. The days seem to be passing by so quickly. Today's blog post is a bit random and in the style of my "Let's Chat" posts. 

First, I want to start with my dad. Most of my friends and nearly everyone who reads my blog knows of the cancer battle my father has been fighting. It started in 2006 in his kidney's. One of his kidney's were removed and he remained cancer free until he almost died in September of 2011. Thank God for the incredibly gifted doctor's at Duke Hospital who saved his life. 

Since then, my father has been fighting terminal cancer. It's in his brain, the bones in his legs, his pelvis, and now it has started aggressively spreading through his liver. He was scheduled for surgery last Thursday on the rod that is in his right leg (the cancer has eaten away the bone). The surgery was immediately cancelled due to a CT scan that showed all of the cancer found in his liver.

I received the call on Wednesday night about all of the findings. The doctor's will not be able to operate on my father anymore. I cried myself to sleep and took the next couple of days to process the information. For years now, my family has been on the rollercoaster of great news, devastating news, great news, devastating news, and now we have received the biggest reality check of it all. 

I hear of cancer killing people all of the time, but I never thought I would have to deal with it, especially right now. I feel like I was 16 yesterday. It was just yesterday that my father and I were fighting over my curfew and what I could wear. I love him so much and I just cannot believe his health has turned into this so quickly. He has told me repeatedly he does not want to die. He has fought so hard and remained so damn strong, positive, and optimistic throughout this, and to see that it is finally coming to this breaks my spirit, my heart, and my soul.

There is nothing I can do to make it better. I can remind him of how much I love him and send little gifts... but does that take away his fear? I can not imagine knowing that I am going to die soon, especially since I know my father wants so desperately to live. There is still so much we have to do... I need him to walk me down the aisle, I want him to become a grandparent. I want to share all of this with him. However, I have to come to the realization that I will not be that lucky.

The past few days of knowing this information has been hard but I have been praying constantly. I made a status on Facebook and I am asking for prayers on my blog, too. I know there is nothing that can be done to make this cancer magically disappear, but if anyone reading this can pray for my father to find peace, strength in his soul, and to feel God's warmth and protection around him, I would truly appreciate it.

A couple of months ago, I was getting ready for work in my bathroom, and I accidentally hit my phone. This resulted in my phone falling screen first on my tile floor. Because it did not have a case on it (that broke a few weeks prior), it cracked badly and since then, little pieces of the screen have been slowly chipping away. I had been using my phone cracked, all while lazily looking over my options. 

On Friday morning at work, I dropped my phone again, and it finally bit the dust. I immediately freaked out because the phone had completely died and I found out I did not have insurance on my account (why? I have no idea). I broke down in my bosses office because I was still a nervous wreck over my father. Now could not be a worse time to be without a phone.

I was touched by an angel, though. I went to Verizon and they let me upgrade my phone four months early, and provided a free "Lifeproof" phone case (which is just like having insurance on your phone). I have a ton more memory on my 5S. I was most thankful because it was a heavy and completely unexpected expense. 

When Johnathan and I arrived home from visiting our families for Christmas, I had my first ever experience "dumpster diving" (I guess you could say). 

My neighbor had a gorgeous black table he was throwing away. It was in perfect condition besides being a little dirty. J asked him if I could have it and my neighbor was more than happy to rid of it. I cleaned and polished it, added decor, and placed it behind my love seat. I think it fits perfectly and I am so happy to have it in my apartment!

Speaking of home decor, my brother and sister-in-law gave me two new Marilyn Monroe pictures to add to my obsession-- I mean collection. I love the quote on the below picture and think it looks perfect on my mini book shelf.

New Year's Eve was low key for J and I. I worked a half day and with it being the end of the month, I was absolutely exhausted by the time I left. Accounting is no fun on the last day of the month, and because of the holidays and a surplus of absenteeism, those of us who worked were in especially stressed and rotten moods. 

Thus an evening at J's mom's in the beautiful mountains of Lake Lure were exactly what we needed. We had a relaxing night with beautiful scenery and great snacks. 

This past weekend was difficult. After the news of my father then my phone, I was drained on Friday night. Saturday I felt OK during the day so J and I went to our friends house to watch the Panther's game. After 45 minutes or so, I felt myself growing increasingly weak and shaky and I proceed to throw up 3 times. How wonderful, right? This was after the heel of my favorite boots fell off walking in their house. This was me completely sober too; no wine or anything. I couldn't believe. 

After that we went home, and I was down all day yesterday and today I am still feeling naseous and light-headed. I hope my body is working hard at fighting off any flu that may be trying to lurk; I have never had it before and I do not want to start now. 

I will leave you with a couple of weekend pictures and cute pictures of Marty (since it's been a while).I'll write more this week. What's going on with you guys?

2014 is going to rock, baby!

Happy New Year to all of my amazing blogging babes! Did you guys ring in the new year doing anything fun? What are your resolutions? Me... I don't have one. Ha!

I was off new year's eve so my little vacation started Monday at 5 PM. Since I took a rest day from the gym on Sunday due to feeling like pure crap, I was ready to work, and work hard. It was not a weights day so I did an hour of 20 minutes of mixed cardio and burned a ton of calories. It was awesome! I love to sweat out those toxins.

After the gym I was dead. It was a killer work out, but it took all of me. I spent the evening cleaning and resting at home.

Tuesday morning I woke up early to go see the doctor for my B12 injection. They weighed me. I lost exactly 5 pounds the week of Christmas! Holy crap - 5 pounds?! I was shocked! That means since November 25th, I have lost 20.6 pounds! I felt like a million bucks. 

After leaving my appointment, you would think I felt on top of the world, but I didn't. I still felt like I was sick. I guess pushing too hard the night before was not the best idea, but I don't regret. I picked up more cold medicine then went back to my apartment to rest until my mom arrived.

She came down around noon and is spending the week with me. She brought me a Wii and a Kindle Fire. I am stoked! I get my family's hand-me-down electronics so it was great to get them and for free!

We took our time getting ready and glamorous while listening to fun music and then pre-gammed... with some Powerade Zero! Ha!

I'm ready, baby!

My gorgeous mother... rocking it at 50!

She is also my best friend.

She said; "let's take a selfie where you look one way and I look the other", ha!

Cheese!

We went to our favorite restaurant "The Melting Pot" to ring in 2014. They had a special menu for the night and it was an astonishing 5 course meal.

The first course was a fiesta cheese fondue with bread and vegetables. It was out of this world delicious.

Our second course was a salad. There were four choices to choose from and I chose the "Spinach and mushroom salad". Again, it was delicious!

The third course was a cute tiny dish of Sorbet. I was confused of why we would have this served before the main entree, the meat, and evidently this type of Sorbet increases your appetite for the main course. Who knew! I enjoyed it, but my mom absolutely loved this.

The meat portion was incredible. Steak, chicken, pork tenderloin, mushrooms, broccoli, and tiny pasta bites filled with Gorgonzola cheese. Everything was extremely high quality, fresh, and delicious. 

The meat cooking in the oil

The last part of the meal was the absolute best part - the chocolate. We had the white chocolate and caramel brulee. It was topped with cinnamon and sugar crystals. I literally have no words for this... it was that amazing!

Before we left, we were given a free champagne toast.

Cheers!

Except I only drank a sip of mine because I was having major heartburn at this point.

When we finally left dinner, we decided to go to WalMart to walk off some of the fondue. It was still a little early to hit a bar, so we thought we would walk around and do some shopping.

We decided to ring in the new year at a bar that is literally in the same part of my apartment complex. We went in there around 11 PM so we could have a drink for midnight, but it was so dead. It was not fun looking or hype, and it usually is! 

I was full, tired, bloated, and over it. I told mom we should just go back to my place and ring in the new year. It's so funny because she was disappointed, she was ready to party!

I spent the rest of the night playing on my new Wii!

We finally went to bed at 1:30 AM. And we did not get up until 12:15 PM today. I don't know what in the world happened, maybe it is my blackout curtains?! I never ever sleep that late and neither of us really drank. I suppose we were just in a food coma.

I finally made myself go to the gym for 40 minutes of cardio and an upper body weight circuit. I think I am finally back to myself now to where I can workout without having to take all of the "rest days". I had the song "Work" on repeat today during my training - I decided that is my anthem for this year!

After the gym I went back to my apartment to scoop up Mama and we went to McAlisters. I had my favorite salad; the Savannah chopped salad (OMG, yum!) and mom had this "loaded spud"... it looked amazing. Afterwards we went to Target so I could get "Mario Cart" for the Wii.

The first Target was sold out.

Next we went to Game Stop. It was closed.

We then went to ANOTHER Target and victory was finally mine.

Now it's time to get ready for bed because I have to work tomorrow and Friday, which totally sucks after being off the last two days... it just feels wrong to be going back to work! Especially since I slept until noon today. Wish me luck, I hope I am not a zombie tomorrow! 

In celebration of the 1 Year Anniversary of Till Then Smile Often and Wonder What's Next we joined forces to give back. We teamed up with three other amazing bloggers to give away $75 Target or Visa Gift Card (Winner's Choice) to one lucky winner!I am so grateful for what this past year has given me through blogging and the amazing people I have met and talked to through blogging. I look forward to what this next year brings and all the things I hope to share. Good luck!

Kerry - Till Then Smile Often // Jessica - Wonder What's Next

Steph - Life According to Steph // Liz - Fitness Blondie // Maddie - The Whimsy One

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Nothing says 'Christmas' like faux fur and red streaks!

I love the holidays. They are hard, but I love them. My family has changed so much over the past 5 years, but change is good. Christmas 2011 is when I found out my dad's cancer was not curable. And last week I was told by my step-mom that there is another tumor on my dad's brain. It was unbelievable shock to hear that when she called me because I thought she was calling to finalize Christmas plans. However, the surgery is a good thing because that means we finally know what is causing my father to have so many seizures. The tumor will be gone and my dad will go back to normal.... well as normal as he can be. Thank God for wonderful advances in cancer medication and for the amazing team of doctor's at Duke Medical that take such wonderful care of him.

I went to the doctor on Monday for my B12 injection and I lost 2.5 pounds last week! I am down 16.1 pounds total in the past 28 days!

My Christmas break started Monday at 4:30 PM. I hit the gym for cardio and a weight circuit. As I was leaving, I could not help but snap a picture of the beautiful sunset we had. It rained and rained all day, so the beautiful sunset was welcome!

I then came home to two wonderful packages. I buy ALL of my tops and dresses from Venus and I ordered this amazing new faux fur sweatshirt, I thought it looked perfect for the holidays. I love it!

Christmas Eve morning I woke up early and hit the gym for 45 minutes of cardio. I had to do preventative damage control because my step mom was making my favorite Christmas snack; sausage balls. After I came back to get ready and drive up north to my hometown. 

Oh and I got my red steaks touched up, they are so fabulous!

When I arrived in my hometown, my first stop was to see my best friend Anna and her adorable daughter, Alaina. She is unbelievably adorable and never cries. 

After I left Anna's, it was finally time to go stay with my dad and step-mom, and victory was mine. I finally indulged in my sausage balls!

My sister and her boyfriend were also there with us and we stayed up so late talking and laughing. I had such a great time. I only got 5 hours of sleep!

I loved their beautiful tree!

Christmas morning I was up at 7 AM. It was time to leave my dads and go to my mom's so we could go to my Papa's for our annual Christmas breakfast. I am 24 years old and I have never missed a Christmas breakfast at my Papa's!

My step dad and brothers at Papa's breakfast!

My brother and my nephew at Papa's

Papa handing out gifts!

My step-grandmother Dixie makes this sausage, cheese, and egg casserole each year and I swear it's laced with crack, it is so delicious. I ate way too much of it. 

After breakfast at Papa's, I went to my mom's for the day. Since I only had 5 hours of sleep at my dads and I had a carb overload from breakfast, I napped for a long time at her house. When I woke up, my brother, sister-in-law and nephew came over for Christmas lunch and exchanged gifts.

My mom made her famous mexican dip for lunch, it. is. amazing.

Around 3PM it was time for me to take off for Charlotte. I missed my cat and I wanted to get the drive over with so I would not have to make it today. 

I got back to Charlotte around 6 PM and was lazy for the rest of the night watching my new favorite show, "Total Diva's". I can definitely tell I ate way too much because I went to bed at 9:30 PM and did not get up today until 9:30 AM. I never sleep 12 hours, but after a lot of food and driving, I could not get enough of it.

I was so happy to be off today. I took full advantage of it by getting ahead on cleaning and putting up my Christmas goodies. I also managed to get in a killer leg work out. It felt great to be back in my health grind - clean eating and hard work out's. 

Marty and I were happy to relax once I finished all of that.

I am back at work tomorrow, but at least it is only one day! I have a jam packed weekend ahead and New Year's. My sister is staying with me this weekend and my mom will be staying with me next week! It looks like this new year will be coming in great!

Twas the week before Christmas and it's been nonstop!

Hello my loves! How is everyone doing this week? My week has been fantastic but nonstop. But now that I think of it, when is it ever? It is a good thing I am a naturally hyper person, otherwise I would not be able to keep up. I am stoked the Friday is almost here and that it will be another two weeks before I have a full work week again. Christmas and New Years will be here in the blink of an eye so that is wonderful and I am getting my hair done tonight - touching up my roots and getting the red streaks re-added. Ah! I am so happy, lots of awesome things going on!

I bought a new table last week. I found it on Craigslist for $60. I then found two chairs on Amazon for $43 plus free two-day shipping with my Amazon prime. To complete my dining room, I needed to find the perfect centerpieces which I showed you guys on Sunday from the weekend blog entry. That totaled only $25. My chairs unfortunately arrived late so I did not receive them until Monday (it was supposed to be Friday) thankfully, I have an amazing boss who put them together for me! It was hilarious seeing the president of my company in a suit and tie putting together dining room chairs in his office. 

Since I am a diva on a budget, I am excited to say my dining room is finally complete and I only spent $128.00 on all of my dining attire!

I go to my wellness clinic on Monday's to receive my B12 injection. Since I have been back on track 100% with health and fitness and just overall trying to improve myself from a rough year, I have them weigh me. I lost 3.5 pounds last week! My total pounds down in the last 21 days= 14.1! How amazing. I am so excited! I cannot wait to keep going. I feel so damn good. I feel better about myself than I have in a long, long time.

I know my muscle is looking semi pathetic, but I have lost a lot of fat in them. My arms are a big trouble spot for me, along with my lower stomach, so seeing this progress means a lot!

My company had our holiday luncheon and 2014 benefits meeting yesterday. Since I am the Office mom, I mean manager, I had to order the food, set up everything, and then clean it all. Our company has 50 employees and cleaning up after Hurricane "Holiday lunch" was absolutely exhausting. Thankfully it went smoothly, we had a lot of fun, everyone brought delicious holiday desserts (that I did NOT partake in), and our company is growing. I was proud of my decor!

We had a local italian company cater pizza for our luncheon today and everyone brought a holiday dessert. I normally let myself have two "cheat meals" a week so I decided to make yesterday one of them. Usually my "cheat meals" are like a steak and bleu salad from Panera or a grilled chicken panini - nothing too heavy or crazy. However, I love pizza and I hear good things about this company so I decided to go for it. I had two slices of mushroom and cheese pizza and I. was. miserable. I do not eat a lot of carbohydrates. I certainly do not deprive myself, but I just do not want to eat them. After I ate, I was literally falling asleep. I absolutely hated the way I felt. My body is clean of the grease and toxins now, so I just felt crappy after. Most days I have a vegetarian meat substitute (such as GardenIn products) for lunch and a side of vegetables. I feel extremely energetic after, I never crash or get fatigued, but I did today. Luckily, I was so miserable after that I did not partake in the desserts. I will save my treats for my mother's amazing treats on Christmas! Before this was never me. And seeing these changes are absolutely incredible.

Last weekend I decided to get groceries at Target since I was there getting a lot of other things anyway. I was so surprised, the prices are fantastic and they had a lot of items that I was not familiar with. One of them being a flat bread with brie and balsamic vinegar. Holy mother of tastebuds, it was the most delicious flat I have ever eaten! Half of it is only 350 calories and it goes perfect with a side salad. If you have a Target near you, go try it ASAP! 

That is all I have for now!