Woke Up Pretty

When going through Hell, keep going.

That’s something Gianna’s Dad told me last Tuesday after returning from the hospital. I can honestly say that the past month up until that point definitely had been Hell for me, but I have gotten out of it and I can only go up from here. Just know that I am doing okay and that I plan on taking up blogging by storm once again. I’m a little behind schedule but all in all, I’m starting off the new year with a new life. I’ve just moved into a new place. I’m in my own room now in a house with three other roommates (and Ziggy of course!). With all this free time from not being able to work you would think I would have sorted out my room? No, not I. I’ve been putting that off and still have quite a bit to unpack. I’m taking things one day at a time and so far. 

Not to leave you thinking the worst, I had to go to the hospital because I slipped on a stair while at work and landed on the top of my foot extending into the ankle. This happened Monday night, and while I did feel some discomfort, I picked myself up and finished my shift without issue. Once I got home (to Gianna’s as I was staying over for a few days) and elevated my foot and put some ice on it, it swelled up like a balloon and turned blue. Not a pretty sight! Her Dad picked us up the next day and took us to the hospital to get my foot checked out. It turned out to be a severe sprain, and they put me in a boot. 

This is what I’ve looked like for the past week now! I actually have a follow-up appointment tomorrow where I’m quite certain I’ll be allowed to go without the boot as early as Thursday. I’m super excited for that. I’m really the worst person that this could have happened to as I can’t stay still for more than a minute; I’m always on the move and have to be doing something. 

I’ve been pretty quiet all around but if you’d like, you can also follow me on Twitter and on Instagram, I’m getting back into the groove of things. Thanks so much for reading; I’m so happy to be back so I’ll see you very soon!

Blogmas Day 18: Black and Gold

I’m tired of being behind so I’ve decided to just completely skip over Blogmas day 17; very little happened anyway so you aren’t missing out on anything. Today started out early. I only had to work in the morning and then I had plans with my Dad in the afternoon. We’ve been having miserable weather for the past few days and this morning was no exception. I went through the Waterfront area of Boston to get to work and I had to take a picture of the Beal Building with everything else hidden by the dense fog of the morning.

I met up with my Dad at a Starbucks to get a drink in my newly beloved travel mug and then we were on our way to Copley for some shopping. I’ve had my heart set on getting a pair of black and gold velvet skinnies from 7 for All Mankind. Why? Because they look fabulous and also so that I can play Sam Sparro’s “Black and Gold” on repeat while wearing them (my all-time favourite song). We went to Lord & Taylor, Saks, and the National Jean Company over on Newbury Street, but alas there was only one pair left and of course it had to the one size smaller than what I needed. So much disappointment. Still intent on shopping, we made our way to the Cambridgeside Galleria where I got myself a black asymmetrical jumper from 2B. My Dad, not one to wait around while I try on a gazillion things, met up with me toting a brand new laptop for me!!! Really awesome and such a surprise. This entire post in fact was composed on it. Even more of a surprise, my Dad also got me a brand new pair of Bose headphones since the pair I have had some wiring issues. To celebrate, we went to our usual Asian restaurant for our dumplings and fried rice plus drinks! I’ve since been home setting up and playing around with my new computer! Thank goodness I have tomorrow off (for Boyfriend’s birthday!) because I’ll probably be up a few more hours. How about some more Blogmas? Here are some lovely ladies that are also participating.

• Nadine from Sunshine in Autumn
• Aimee Louise from AimeeLou62
• Meg from You’re Meaghan Me Crazy
• Clare from The Life of Clare
• Mana from Fashion and Happy Things!
• Hayley from Beauty Rambles
• Anna from The Style Diet

If you are also participating please do let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I’ll add you to the list and follow along. Thanks for reading!

Blogmas Day 16: Rodarte+Starbucks

Still playing catch up here. After working two doubles in a row with a horribly swollen cheek, I was very happy to have a Sunday off, going back to the usual. My Dad and I did our regular routine and went to have breakfast at the same diner as always. French toast with fresh fruit and whipped cream for both of us. We went to Starbucks afterwards for coffee and dessert (a brownie for him and snowman cookie for me!), and he got me this Rodarte+Starbucks travel cup that I’ve been eyeing for a while! I really like it.

After that, we went back to our respective homes. He got ready to go to work and I just curled back under the covers with Ziggy to relax for the rest of the day. I did my nails, Christmas-themed! I’ll post a picture in the next few days. Otherwise I caught up on all the blogs I follow, watched some YouTube videos, and talk with the three ladies in my life: my grandmother, my mother, and my best friend Gianna. The ideal kind of Sunday, if you ask me.

Care for more Blogmas? Here are some lovely ladies that are also participating.

• Nadine from Sunshine in Autumn
• Aimee Louise from AimeeLou62
• Meg from You’re Meaghan Me Crazy
• Clare from The Life of Clare
• Mana from Fashion and Happy Things!
• Hayley from Beauty Rambles
• Anna from The Style Diet

If you are also participating please do let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I’ll add you to the list and follow along. Thanks for reading!

Blogmas Day 15: Back and forth all day

My day was primarily made up of a particularly long double. The morning started out with catching up with a friend on the bus into town followed by stopping by Starbucks for a venti chai latte (my free drink as part of the rewards program) and my beloved snowman cookie to munch on when taking my medication throughout the day. Here’s a selfie of me in my new jumper from the Gap! It made me feel much better than I was. I’m very happy that the swelling has gone down, even though it’s still noticeable.

I was given a two hour break between 4 and 6 o’clock, in which time I honestly pulled off the impossible. I stopped by Origins to pick up a full size of the VitaZing moisturizer (I’m going to buy the whole store I tell you). Then against everyone’s advice, I hopped on a bus to go home and then come back. Sounds simple enough, right? With the MBTA, that is never the case. there was a point on the ride home that I worried I made a mistake because we hit traffic, but I went all the way regardless. I literally went home just to walk Ziggy since I was gone for the greater majority of the day and that would have been very long for her. Not only did I get home and back, but I stopped by Starbucks for a second snowman cookie (madness!) and got back to work with fifteen minutes to spare. If that isn’t proof enough that I’m amazing, I don’t know what is.

The night ended well. It was a nice level of busy. While I was bored at times, I feel like I would have burned out if it were any busier. The rush can resume once I’m fully recovered. I got out at the same time as my new friend, Peter, so we went to get $1 oysters quickly, which were delightful as oysters always are.

Because I got out so late, I had to wait for the very last bus of the night. There was a drunk but extremely jovial man waiting for the bus who really just wanted to talk. He’s in his twenties and was super talkative. We chatted all the way until I got off at my stop, mostly about the restaurant industry (he’s a server in the area as well) and movies. I’m still not sure how it came up, but he asked me if my boyfriend and I would like to go on a double date with him and his lady. Very random but still pleasant.

Want more Blogmas? Here are some lovely ladies that are also participating.

• Nadine from Sunshine in Autumn
• Aimee Louise from AimeeLou62
• Meg from You’re Meaghan Me Crazy
• Clare from The Life of Clare
• Mana from Fashion and Happy Things!
• Hayley from Beauty Rambles
• Anna from The Style Diet

If you are also participating please do let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I’ll add you to the list and follow along. Thanks for reading!

Blogmas Day 14: Berryline for lunch

You’ll have to excuse the tardiness of this post; I worked a double on Friday and on Saturday while not being in the best of shape. I woke up on Friday, the 14th day of Blogmas, not only still in pain but also with my afflicted cheek three times it’s normal size. If you’ve been following along then you know that I got my bottom right wisdom tooth extracted on Thursday morning. It continues to be awful. Besides that, I was also still bleeding so I had to keep gauze in my cheek which prevented me from talking normally. There was nothing that could be done about it and everyone at work was so nice trying to make me feel better but I was still really self-conscious for the whole day.

I’m on a whole cocktail of drugs to care for it, including Motrin, Penicillin, and Vicodin. During midday, I took the penicillin and Motrin on an empty stomach, which I knew was a stupid idea before I did it but it resulted in me feeling nauseous. My manager kindly let me go on break earlier and I ran to the nearby Berryline. Berryline is the local equivalent of Pinkberry (and therefore better); they do different flavours of frozen yogurt that changes frequently and offer a nice variety of toppings. I got a medium Eggnog with strawberries, kiwis, and mini gummy bears. I definitely enjoyed it.

With some time to spare before having to go back to work, I went into the Gap. Last weekend when they were having that 30% off sale, I went in for a look and saw a jumper that I liked but thought was too pricey. I must have a sixth sense or something because I was hoping that maybe they had another promo going on and lo and behold, they were selling the same jumper for 50% off!! Sold. And best of all, I got it in a size small! (To give you some perspective, I started this year out wearing extra-large, now I’m wearing small!!) Definitely the highlight of my day. You’ll see a picture of it in Blogmas Day 15.

Looking for more Blogmas? Here are some lovely ladies that are also participating.

• Nadine from Sunshine in Autumn
• Aimee Louise from AimeeLou62
• Meg from You’re Meaghan Me Crazy
• Clare from The Life of Clare
• Mana from Fashion and Happy Things!
• Hayley from Beauty Rambles
• Anna from The Style Diet

If you are also participating please do let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I’ll add you to the list and follow along. Thanks for reading!

Blogmas Day 13: Recovery day

Look at this poor little fellow missing his nose! I guess we’re both not doing too hot today. I’m actually glad to say that the wisdom tooth is out. I’m not happy to say that I have just been in agony all day. I can’t say that the extraction went badly; my oral surgeon admitted that it was a tough one to get out but I think he did a good job. He thankfully used a lot of local anesthetic because it required a lot more pushing and pulling and drilling than he had initially thought. Now that it’s gone, it’s just a point of it healing over. My Dad kindly accompanied me, for moral support and as a great distraction.

He always makes things better. After getting out, he took me to Starbucks to pick up a Peppermint Brownie Cake Pop to have as a treat later and dropped me off at Walgreens to fill the prescriptions I was given. I’ve since just been in bed cuddling with Ziggy. I managed to fall asleep very briefly which was nice. I’ve been watching videos on YouTube, following everything on Twitter, and trying to keep myself busy. Anything to keep myself distracted from the pain. While I am taking pain killers, they are not helping nearly as much as I would like. I really hope that I get a solid night of sleep as I’m going back to work for a double tomorrow.

Want more Blogmas? Here are some lovely ladies that are also participating.

• Nadine from Sunshine in Autumn
• Aimee Louise from AimeeLou62
• Meg from You’re Meaghan Me Crazy
• Clare from The Life of Clare
• Mana from Fashion and Happy Things!
• Hayley from Beauty Rambles
• Anna from The Style Diet

If you are also participating please do let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I’ll add you to the list and follow along. Thanks for reading!

Blogmas Day 12: Origins mini-facial rundown

I need it put down in the records that today, the 12th of December in the year 2012 (the last repetitive date of the century, by the way; I found that to be kind of sad when I found out), is the day that I signed my life away to Origins. Lily from What I Heart Today is a known Origins fanatic and I now completely understand why. I feel like I’ve been born again or something. I will be posting a preview of their Christmas Ornament that I got on Saturday soon and here I’m going to go into depth about the mini-facial I got this evening. But before I go into that, I’ll tell you about the rest of my day to keep things in order.

I was supposed to work this morning but I managed to get myself the day off. I was hoping to be able to get my pesky wisdom tooth taken care of but the best I could get was tomorrow. But I certainly did not waste this day off. I slept straight through the night and woke up at about 8:30, then decided to sleep some more and didn’t wake up again until noon. I got a quick bite to eat with my Dad before he had to go to work and then I ran some errands. I went to my bank, Walgreens, and Shop & Shop. Let me tell you something, I am never going back to Stop & Shop. I really never go to Stop & Shop, it was just in the area and I didn’t want to make any detours. I am never stepping foot in one again because they have canned pasta (what even) and they have this:

This is heresy. Jif, what are you doing? Mind your own damn business. As a life-long Nutella worshipper, I personally find this quite offensive. Shaw’s better not wouldn’t do this.

Now, onto the highlight of my day! My mini-facial wasn’t until 6. I stopped by Starbucks for a snowman cookie and one of their new eggnog lattes (which I didn’t care for) before heading over. Upon entering the store, I was warmly welcomed by all the ladies in the shoppe. Immediately, my coat was hung for me and I was seated in a lounge chair. These mini-facials are free for everyone and last about a half hour. To start, I was asked what my skin goals are and what my current regimen is. Then Tanya, the lovely lady who took care of me, created a complete routine based on my answers. She was so knowledgable about every single product and taught me so many things about the purpose of each ingredient and gave me some useful pointers. In chronological order, here are all the products that were used on me:

• We started with Peace of Mind, an instant relief for worries and stress.
• Checks & Balances Frothy face wash to cleanse
• Modern Friction to exfoliate
• She used two masks on me, Clear Improvement on my T-zone and Out of Trouble on my chin and cheeks.
• Purifying Tonic
• Since one of my major concerns is preventing the signs of aging, she brought out the Plantsciption line starting with the Anti-aging serum.
• I learned that you’re supposed to apply eye creams before face creams; I’ve been doing it wrong for months! She recommended the GinZing refreshing eye cream, saying that it’s like coffee for the eyes.
• To finish, she used the VitaZing Energy-boosting moisturizer with SPF 15 which is really cool in that it changes to the colour of your skin! I love the description on the website, “slip it on first thing tomorrow - you’ll look like you eat right, sleep tight, and don’t have a worry in sight”.

Let me just say, each and every product smell amazing without being overwhelming. My skin feels and looks better than it has in years and remember that I’m only 22. My goal now is to buy the whole store. The entire experience was just so pleasant and to make it even better, she sent me home with samples of the Out of Trouble mask, Plantscription anti-aging serum, Dr. Weil for Origins skin tone correcting serum, Plantscription moisturizer, VitaZing SPF 15, and two little pots of Ginger Rush because I loved it so much - all for free!

I bought the Check & Balance face wash to get started in my Origins takeover. I think it’s only proper to purchase something after these sorts of complimentary services, especially one that is such good quality.

I’ve since just been home taking it easy. I made myself baby star pasta with just butter and mozzarella for dinner. I’ve learnt that it’s the seasonings that make pasta, no other way around it. I’m starting to get really nervous about dealing with my wisdom tooth tomorrow. I had one extracted last summer and it went horribly wrong so I’m honestly terrified. In the meantime, I’m just going to continue gushing over everything Origins.

Want more Blogmas? Here are some lovely ladies that are also participating.

• Nadine from Sunshine in Autumn
• Aimee Louise from AimeeLou62
• Meg from You’re Meaghan Me Crazy
• Clare from The Life of Clare
• Mana from Fashion and Happy Things!
• Hayley from Beauty Rambles
• Anna from The Style Diet

If you are also participating please do let me know in the comments or on Twitter. I’ll add you to the list and follow along. Wish me luck for tomorrow!