and this is love

I just ate so many bad things and it feels like someone stuffed my abdomen with something. Ugh. Why did I choose to torture myself?

So, I thought I would share a little update on my arm…

The swelling/fluid mostly disappeared overnight!  I have a small knot of sorts right where the needle was, but that is to be expected even without all of the iodine filling my arm.  Nothing else has been effected.  So, I am very pleased with how it has all turned out.  Not going to lie, I was crazy paranoid for a while there, just worrying about all of the possibilities. 

So very thankful and ready for my results.  They should be coming today or tomorrow (with any luck).

Again, thanks to everyone that prayed for me…I definitely felt the peace (going into the scan…and then I lost all focus).

Today I was lucky enough to get a CAT Scan/Angiogram with contrast to take a closer look at the blood vessels in my brain.  This is after my MRI with and without contrast came back a bit abnormal and normal.  I say that I am lucky because this is all preventative medicine due to some testing I requested after sharing some family history with my general doctor.

Well, I went to the hospital today with Bubs with the best of hopes and so many people praying that there is nothing wrong with my blood vessels in my brain.  After all, I had been told that the CAT Scan is easier than an MRI.

The IV was no problem…until they added the contrast during the scan.  First of all, it is supposed to make you feel a warm sensation through your arm and body (which it did), make you feel like you are actually peeing your pants (which it really truly did), and you can get a metal taste in your mouth (that didn’t happen to me).  And then I had the most painful sensation in my arm.  Then it stopped and I knew it would happen again…ugh.  It did, and for longer.  I’m not joking it was quite literally the most painful experience in my life.  I was visibly shaking.  When the tech came in to ask how I was at the end of the scan, I shared how painful it was.  After I said, “Wow, I had NO idea it would be so painful.” (With a shake in my voice.)  He immediately got very worried, got me an ice pack, apologized for the error, and told me what to do to get rid of…all of the 20-30 ccs of iodine dye in my ARM!!!  Awesome!  Another nurse came and checked it and told me how to make it go away and what to watch for.  And off I went…to meet Bubs and ball my eyes out!  Literally!  Well, maybe not, cause I still have my eyes. 

Wow, that hurt…bad!  And now I get to look forward to icing every 20 minutes for the day and watching for bad side-effects. 

The good news is that the test was good and I stayed still during the whole scan even though I could have screamed out loud in pain!  Here’s to hoping I don’t EVER have to do that again.

Thanks for all of the prayers! 

I really really want to buy something from Anthropologie one of these days.  Like really really do!  And not a candle, I’ve done that.  I want something to wear.

To tag onto the post below with the bible verse…I just have another thought to share from our time in chapel and I have been chewing on it and just thought I would share.

The speaker at chapel spoke on God’s pursuit of us, of you and me.  He shared passage after passage demonstrating that God is in constant pursuit of us.  But that we never really are able to see people in pursuit of God.  We see people pursue their careers/jobs, relationships, furnishings for their houses, and the like.  But the pursuit of God is a much more personal one.  He then encouraged us to be more open with our pursuit, to challenge others, and to share our experiences (joys, downfalls, and it all) as you are in that pursuit of God.

He then shared a story of how he was set up on a blind date and at the end of the date he was excited to see her again.  After a couple of calls and text messages to her that were not returned, he decided that she “wasn’t that into him.”  He then turned it around on himself and though, “I wonder if God ever looks down on me and says, ‘He just isn’t that into me.’”  Ya, holy cow!  That hit me like a dagger to my heart.  There have been years that I have been in this relationship with God, just floating along thinking I am just fine.  But not really challenging myself or seeking him outside Sunday worship.  And my heart aches that God may have said that same thing about me.  “She just isn’t that into me.” 

Seeking God on a daily basis is hard for me, not gonna lie.  But it is stupid not to. 

I am so thankful for incredible friend that show me the true meaning of God’s love, for a small group that is challenging me to think outside my box, and for a husband that is at the same place…looking for the challenge and taking it in stride to become a better person, friend, co-worker, stranger, neighbor, spouse, child.

That is what I call my sister and brother-in-law.  Monkey means love in our family.  Anyway, I was combing through some old emails and came across an email with the link to my sister’s wedding photos.

The wedding happened before I had this blog…so, I thought I would share the love of the day. 

It was an incredible day on the water Newport, RI.  Let’s go down memory lane, okay?  All of the photos are taken by the talented M. Benedicte Verley Photography team.

We will start with the bride:

The couple…this is my FAVORITE photo of the day.  Hilarious!

Outside the Rosecliff Mansion that housed the party for the night.  The ceremony was on the opposite side of the mansion, overlooking the water.

Ceremony

Our dad is so proud to walk her down the aisle…this is just minutes before they started the long walk down the aisle.

The flowers were GORGEOUS!!

The ballroom was GORGEOUS too!  She had half tall and half short centerpieces.

The desserts were set up in another room…little creme brules in the mini cups, wedding cake, fresh fruit, and something else.  It was amazing.  And the flowers, again, are beautiful.

See, I told you he was proud! 

The party was so so fun!  During the cocktail hour and dinner, they hired a jazz band with a vocalist.  They were incredibly talented and set the mood just right.  Then the party started with a club DJ.  See, we had fun (once the Matron-of-Honor speech was over…I was nervous to speak in front of all of their well-educated friends, family, and co-workers…I think I nailed it)!

Oh, it was a beautiful day filled with the unexpected (I caught her veil mid-air when it flew out of her hair as they started to leave the alter during the ceremony, ha), tons of love (their friends are incredible), and the blending of two families (I loved catching my brother-in-law’s dad in full grin watching all of us dance like fools). 

This marriage was truly created by God and we are so lucky to have G as our brother-monkey!

So, it has been over a month since our 30 day adventure with Paleo…and I never gave you the promised review.  I’m sorry.  I hate it when people don’t follow through.  So, here it is!!! 

Disclaimer: There is a lot of personal stuff in here about bodily functions, so if you don’t want to know that stuff about me than stop reading right now.

PALEO REVIEW:

*These are my thoughts and feelings, but I will try to interject a bit of what I have heard about how Bubs’ is feeling at the same time. 

I’m the kind of person that has to try hard to notice or realize if I feel any better, so I’m probably not the prime person to ask.  But with that said, I have noticed things…

• Bloating is gone:  I can see my hip bones more than ever…oh, and it certainly helps with the fit of my booty tight jeans. I think I have been bloated 2 times this month and had an easy time targeting what it was that made me bloated.  And when we came back from the midwest for Christmas, man were we bloated!!  We felt sick the whole time we were there and we weren’t eating crazy bad things.  Just a lot of processed and we had already cut the majority of that out before we went.
• Gas is less: I know you don’t know this about me, but I am a very gassy person. Haha.  I probably have 1/2 of the amount of gas that I used to have.  I honestly didn’t expect this to happen because I just thought that was how I was and with eating more veggies, I was sure I would have worse gas.  Bubs has non-existent gas, but he had way less than me to start.  In addition to that, we both practically cut out any carbonated drinks, so that may have something to do with it.
• I don’t have headaches:  I think I have had 2 last month and it was because I didn’t drink any water the day before.  I was having daily headaches.   (I just recently started getting headaches, but I believe they are sinus headaches.  So, other than that I have been good.)  I also notice that if I splurge on sugar I get an instant headache, so I have been trying to remember that and cut that out.
  
• Nausea is gone: My stomach aches have gone away – I have had 1 stomach ache this month and it was due to stress and nerves.  This the biggest deal for me!!  (This morning was the first time in a LONG time that I have had a stomach ache and I didn’t like it…I didn’t realize how used to the aching I had become.  But I am thankful that it is gone.)
  
• Energy is increased:  I feel like I have more energy, but not TONS more.  But definitely don’t crash in the afternoons.  Sure, when it hits 3pm I don’t want to work anymore, but it isn’t because I’m tired…it is because I want to leave and do stuff at  home.  Rather than before it was that I wanted to leave and take a nap. 
• I miss: I only miss chips, I like the crunch, but am learning to replace that crunch with nuts.  (But too many nuts can be bad too, so I am trying to replace the crunch with baby carrots.)  Okay, I miss bagels too…but I can have one every once in a while if I want. 
  
• Room for improvement:  We should be removing more sugar from our diets to see our insulin levels stay consistent more than they are.  (I have been trying to have sugar with cinnamon to help keep our glucose levels from spiking and I think that has been helping as well.) 
  
• Adjustment in thinking:  This is not a low fat diet, so it takes some mental shift to use butter and fatty things (like hamburgers…I had one in a blue moon, but now I have a hamburger patty on a weekly basis…no bread please). 
  
• How I was able to stick to it:  I have an easier time making the change because I know what the grains are doing to my system now.  I wouldn’t be able to do it without that. 
• Weight Loss:  In the first 2 weeks, I dropped the 6 pounds I put on over Christmas (ya, that is crazy).  I think it was all bloat, so it was nice to have that gone.  But since then, I haven’t lost anything more (again, I need to cut out more sugar and nuts).  I changed my workout at the same exact time that we started Paleo.  Since I have changed up my workout, I can definitely see that I am building muscle faster than before, but I am doing more weight training type activities as well.  But the high protein intake causes this too.  I have only lost maybe 2-3 pounds more in the last 2 months. 
  I have never seen such rapid change in my body as I am seeing right now.  I have trained for 2 half marathons and not seen this much change!  I know that I wasn’t doing as much core/arms/back strength training during my half marathon training because it was all I could do to keep up with the mileage.  So, I think that my current workout and Paleo are a great pair.  But I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to drop another 10 pounds.  I am 12 pounds away from a target weight that I have had for 2 years.  I have lost a total of 20 pounds in the last year.

Some other side effects that are supposed to result from Paleo and that I haven’t really noticed because I didn’t necessarily had a problem with them are:

• Better sounder sleep (they recommend sleeping 9 hours a night).  I’m already a very sound sleeper and love to get 9 hours of rest.  So, I have no problem with this.
  
• Leveling of hormone levels and increased fertility (especially good for women with endometriosis or cystic uterine issues.  I don’t experience these specific issues.  If and when we start trying to get pregnant I will be able to update on the fertility issue.  My periods have changed a bit over the last two months from how they have been the last 4 years.  The first month was worse and this last month was way better.  So, we shall see what happens next month. 
  
• Also helps with depression or anxiety issues (again, hormone levels and detoxing).
• Lowers high blood pressure.  I am usually on the low blood pressure side, so I don’t have an issue with this. 
  

So, there you have it.  Now you know more about me than you ever wanted to know.  Did I miss anything?  I’m already an open book, so feel free to ask.

What did you do this Monday evening?

This Monday evening, I was planning on mopping the floor AND BOY DID I…

Lucky for me, the washing machine malfunctioned and not only allowed me to clean behind and under the washing machine itself, but also the fridge.  I guess it needed to be done anyway, so why not, right?!  Ugh.  And then I had so many wet towels that I just mopped the kitchen floor on my hands and knees.

I took advantage of being down on the floor and cleaned the baseboards and doorways as well.

So, once we were all cleaned up and couldn’t find the issue…we did another load of laundry and in the 2 minutes we walked away…yup, it flooded again. 

Guess I get to reorganize the linen closet too (since all of the towels are gone on one of the shelves (1 of the 4), so might as well do that project too.  But maybe tomorrow.

I guess it is fitting that we did some spring cleaning on the first day of SPRING!

*Thank God that I have Bubs to help me when things like this go wrong!

Invisible Children is an incredible organization and there is just so much going on right now.  I used to work for a small non-profit and if ANY smallish non-profit were to suddenly put out a video that attracted 80 million views and ALL that goes along with it they would be shocked to say the least. (I haven’t even watched the full campaign video and I know all about it…so imagine how many people really know about this).

Not that you care what I think, but I don’t have an opinion at this point, and am trying not to jump to conclusions.  I simply pray that God prevails and that satan is no longer evident in the situation. 

I’m going to make these tonight…homemade lara bars. 

I have been looking at so many Paleo snack ideas lately that I knew that if I purchased pitted dates and organic cocoa that I would have something to make…I just didn’t know what exactly.

Hot Fudge Brownie Bars

I’ll let you know what I think of them.

If you are interested, the recipe can be found at Chocolate-Covered Katie, the healthy dessert blog.

—————————-

Update:

I made them and they are delish!  Bubs saw me make them and when I gave him one for dessert he asked me if it was a brownie.  Mine did not look very nice or appetizing….more like a chunky large tootsie roll.  But the taste was similar to a brownie that is a little bit under done.  Very rich and oh so yummy! 

It literally took me 5 minutes to make them…food processor and all.  Probably will take longer to clean up than to make them (ya, I haven’t cleaned up yet).

Ya, pun intended…because today I thought I would talk about how I decorated my desk at work.  I know I have mentioned it briefly.  But I really do think it is a nice balance between work items and pretty items that coordinate with the work items (ie. computer, huge bulky computer stand, additional screen, files).  Not that I have it all perfect, but it is well on its way.

So, don’t let your desk be bland and uninspired…after all, you spend most of your days sitting there in that environment.  Make it yours!

This is my desk at work:

(Yes, I left all of the clutter out of the photo.)

See, I have all of my necessities…my Starbucks, my water bottle, my phone, my computer (listed in order of importance, just kidding), but then I add in a bit of personal touch too. 

You see my brown paper bag flowers that I made (thanks to my finds on Pinterest).  The two by my computer are in my direct view all day long and I love it that way.  I’m a flower girl (ahem Buds & Blooms), so they add some cheer.

But then just above is just some general styling frames that I love.  I created the monogram by finding a burlap photo online and dropping a B in my favorite font (Pegsanna) onto it, and made the color of the b match the heart in the other frame, and waalaa!  The larger frame has a little print from the internet as well, that states: Give all to love; obey thy heart. - Ralph Waldo Emerson.  My favorite phrase ever (thus I got a tattoo with part of it).  So it is a nice reminder and I enjoy the artwork.  So sorry for the awful lighting reflection, don’t you just love florescent lighting?!

To the right side of my desk, I have a phone (I just got a new phone…the old was was huge and ugly and I am very happy with the new one because it coordinates much better…I know, I’m sick, but it is important), a couple of photos, and a small basket holding the cards that I use on a regular basis to write thank you notes to donors.  Before I thought of the basket, I just had them on my desk in the regular stationary boxes.  Can we say boring?  Ya!  So, off I went to Walmart and grabbed this cute basket that is lined with white fabric and dropped the cards into it. I chose the basket color because I knew it would coordinate with the paper flowers on the wall and left cabinet.  The larger frame matches the larger 8x10 frame that is up on the shelf.  I added my babes, Mya moomers.  She is my child at this point, so I have to show her off.  And then an old photo of my college girls (well, some of them).  The colors of our dresses in the photo matched the color of the green frames, so that is ultimately why it won and was placed there.  The black frame was an old frame that I had at home.  All of the other frames were found at Home Goods. I do love me some Home Goods!

There is one area that I haven’t shared yet…the left side of my desk, below the cabinet with the paper flower on it….

And that is why.  Because it is ugly and don’t have anything exciting.  But sometimes you just need one area with all of your go to quick references and the like.  Now, I may need to get coordinating green push pins or something to help pull it all together.  We shall see.  Any suggestions?

So, there you have it…that is how I “work it”, at least in one area of my life.  Do you have your office decorated?

That’s right, I may just have to get on the neon train and make these…

Am I right?  Seriously cute!

My favorite wedding blog, Green Wedding Shoes, posted this great DIY and I just had to share.  So, click on the photos or the link above to get the full DIY process.  GWS does a great job explaining the step by step process with photos.

Here are the shoes taped and spray painted.  My only problem would be trying to not scuff them once they were painted on my pretty lil’ feet, right?  I’m pretty hard on my shoes, so I may have to get an inexpensive pair of shoes to try it on. 

I could even do this to flats!!  Ah hah moment!

Thanks Green Wedding Shoes for the super cute idea.

(Photo Source)

It is about time that I share one of my latest projects…my new necklace organizer.  And I love it! 

When I first got into Pinterest, I kept coming across all of these cute rakes holding necklaces like the one below that was posted by Twig Home (or at least that is who I found it from).

What’s not to love about an old antique rake…well, besides trying to find one.  So, I broadened my search and came across towel racks like the one listed below that someone pinned from a full measure of happiness (love that blog name).

So, off I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond with my 20% off coupon in hand.  I love to rummage the clearance racks and came across a miniature sized curtain rod and miniature little finials for the end, which happen to be the same ones we have on our rod over the windows.  It was perfect, especially for $2.59 and the finials were only $1.59.  Then I rounded the corner to find the shower curtain items and found just the perfect hooks to hold all of my necklaces and for only $9.99.  I was so excited to get this on the wall and get rid of my old necklace pushpin cork board that wasn’t cutting it anymore.  It was similar to the one below, but brown, much uglier, and little push pins held up all of my necklaces.  I was so over it, I didn’t even take a picture before pulling it off the wall!

Of course the clearance rod was the wrong color…gold!  I needed it to be white, so I pulled out my trusty spray paint and went to town.  I did a coat of primer, 2 in fact, and 2-3 coats of the white semigloss to create the final product.  Once it was dry, I immediately went to my bedroom and started drilling the holes to hang it.  Take a look, isn’t it cute!! 

Here is a closer look at the type of hooks I purchased.  I didn’t want ones that had the same size hook on either side because I didn’t want the hook to swing much.  So, I just took this type of hook and put them on the rod upside down.  It was the perfect solution for me.

So, that is one of my latest projects…more to come, I’m always working on something!!

Sometimes when I am looking at items pinned on Pinterest I think bad thoughts…like:

• yuck, that looks gross
• stupid, that’s a stupid idea
• why would you make that?

And I even often want to take it to the next level and tell the people that post these things just how I feel.  I’m not a mean person, really!  I am an honest person.  But what is wrong with me.  I’m sure I’m not alone in this, but still.  This isn’t okay.

That’s my confession for this Saturday morning.

I pray for your peace, God. For your infinitely perfect timing in every part of our lives.