Flannel How Do I Love Thee...

Fall in the South is interesting. As much as you want to break out all the cute fall fashions days in the upper 80's make it difficult. This weekend we had temps in the low 70's so why now break out one of my favorite staples, the flannel shirt.

I adore flannel. There really isn't much else to say about that. I also pulled out my new cowboy-esque boots. My favorite boots finally bit the dust in early spring. I was devastated, so I was on the hunt for something similar. I was able to find something similar at DSW. Big plus they are also real leather. Now to break them in!

Outfit details: Flannel Shirt (Target), Jeans (American Eagle-old), Matisse Willee Western Boot (DSW), Garnet Gemstone Necklace (Dogeared)

Happy Fall, and thanks for reading!

Choo-Choo Choose You

Long time no blog. I left the blog quietly after the loss of my sweet Labrador. I had to start focusing on other things as life became stressful and difficult during that time. I got back to work shooting South Carolina Baseball. My saving grace. I added a new pup to the family. There was a fun trip to Disney World to break that up in April. I ended the regular season working in Nashville. BEST TRIP EVER! I saw our team fall short of their goals and not get out of their home Regional. That was the longest day of work, and it was so heartbreaking. I celebrated my Birthday, dealt with a very personal loss, celebrated more Birthdays, and had many a beach trip. I'm currently covering fall baseball for the Gamecocks, and local youth sports. And that is a very short summary of the last 8 months. Wow, 8 months...where does time go.

So in my comeback here is a chameleon of a color China Glaze's Choo-Choo Choose You. It has a murky blue base and the color shifts from bronze to pink to greenish gold. It's difficult to describe, but I tried my best to capture it in photos.

Thanks for reading!

My Sweet Girl

Dixie 4/4/01-1/27/14

My heart aches beyond words right now. On Monday I lost one of the dearest things in my life, my sweet girl Dixie.

Dixie was a bright eyed 12 (almost 13) year old Labrador. Growing up she was best friends with my first dog, Baron. They were a funny pair that shared a special bond. When we lost Baron in 2007 it was heart wrenching. Dixie missed him greatly and it was very evident. She kept up all of his paths in the backyard and every now and then you'd here her cry a little. She loved him just as much as we did.

When I was ill and had to move back home, Dixie was my nurse pup. She got me outside. We sat, walked, and talked. We shared many hugs, kisses, and belly rubs. She was insanely smart and very protective of her family. She loved supervising all of my Dad's outdoor projects. She was a big bear full of love for her family.

She loved to bark at cows, play in snow, and sit on the front porch and watch the world go by. She would always run from me whenever I would pull out the camera. She was not into selfies but obliged me. When I was well enough and moved back to my home I would talk to her on the phone. She even found one of my baby blankets and slept with it. When I would come home for visits she gave me the best welcome. She'd cock her head and give me this look of pure surprise and joy and then run to me. I'm going to miss that so much.

On Sunday January 26th my parents noticed that something wasn't right. Dixie was ill and had taken to staying in the backyard. My Mom stayed up with her all night, and called me to talk to her. She raised up and perked her ears when I talked. That's my girl. On Monday the 27th my parents got her to the vet. I was preparing to make the drive up to see her because I was terribly worried.

While I was driving I got the devastating call from my Mom. The vet found a large cancerous tumor on her spleen. Apparently this cancer is hard to detect until it's too late. I began to sob and had to pull over. I was in complete shock and disbelief. My husband drove the rest of the way there. The vet was keeping her comfortable, but didn't know if she would make it through the night. My parents made that hard decision, the one no one ever wants to make. On that drive up all I could think about was how I was going to say goodbye to my sweet girl.

My husband and I got to the vets office first. They took me back to see her. She seemed like a shell of herself because of the medicine. I crawled in the little kennel with her and just held her, kissed her, and talked to her. My Mom and Dad got there shortly after. We all talked to her, pet her, and loved on her a lot. She kept giving me her paws to hold or resting them on me. If you knew her you would know she hated having her paws touched so this meant a lot. When it was time the vet gave her the first round of medicine to relax her more. I had crawled back in the kennel with her at this point. She had her paws resting on my leg and she squeezed my leg. Almost like she was telling me it was going to be ok. We all kept telling her how much we loved her and kissed and hugged her. When the doctor came to put the final dose of medicine in I wrapped myself around her and held her. She took a few breaths and then she was gone. It' happened so quickly. I held her forever tracing every little part of her. I didn't want to let her go. We all knew when she was trying to tell us she was ready to go by staying in the backyard Sunday night, but she held on for us. She was so strong and so selfless.

Instead of telling her goodbye I told her I would see her later just like I would when I'd be getting ready to leave after visiting home. "I'll see you later, Keep everyone in line. I love you." She looked so peaceful, and now she could finally be with Baron again.

When I went to sleep that night I had a dream/vision. Dixie was standing tall and strong. She looked at me as if to say she was ok now and then disappeared. That hit me hard when I woke up. I felt so empty and sad. My eyes were almost swollen shut from all the tears.

The day after she passed it snowed, and it doesn't snow in the south very often. Cruel irony? She loved the snow. And it was so bittersweet watching it fall. It broke my heart that she didn't get to see one more snow day and catch one more snowball. I did my best to enjoy it for her with my little family though.

I'm going to miss everything about my sweet girl. If only I could hug her one more time...

London PixieDust

I picked up London during the the 3 free promo by Zoya. I hadn't tried their textured polish yet and I figured this would be a good start. London is a nice grey with silver glitter. It has a great formula and this was 2 easy coats. It dried fairly quickly and isn't overly gritty. Which is how I prefer my textured polishes. The first two photos are in it's regular state. The last is with topcoat. I've had a thing for grey lately so I think it's quite lovely.

Thanks for reading!

My Life With Chronic Illness

Can you imagine being a 22 year old recent college graduate and having your normal life ripped from you? I know this all too well. I don't like to talk about my illness much but from late 2008 to early 2011 that was my life. It was scary and excruciating. All of the sudden I couldn't function and I was a slave to the couch. What made matters worse was having doctors not believing what you are suffering from is real. I was put through numerous medical tests: EKG’s, various heart tests, MRI’s, blood tests, ultrasounds, ct scans, you name it I probably had it done, and not much was found. I began to suffer from anxiety and became depressed because of all of this. I was put on Cymbalta because my doctor didn't know what else to do. I became a semi-functioning zombie as a result.

After a terrifying episode in late 2010 that put me in the hospital a doctor finally realized something was wrong and put me in the hands of a neurologist that helped me tremendously. He believed me, and to a person suffering from invisible/chronic illness that is huge. My fibromyalgia diagnosis changed my life. My treatment started with Lyrica, and I slowly saw improvement. It was amazing not living in the fetal position on the couch. I gained back weight I had lost and then some. I started to feel like myself again. Or what I thought myself would have been had this not happened. Unfortunately I had some side effects from the Lyrica that I could no longer handle and the doctor weaned me off of it. He decided to help me go a more natural route and my body responded well to that, and still does for the most part.

I have a laundry list of medical issues. I suffered from chronic migraines throughout my childhood as well as OCD. I battle fibromyalgia, IBS, GERD, and asthma. I still have bouts of anxiety, depression, and insomnia as a result of these medical issues. Stress also plays a huge factor in my quality of life. When I have bad IBS or Fibro flares I don’t want to do much of anything. Nausea, stomach and intestinal pain, yeast imbalance, perpetual exhaustion, chronic headaches, muscle aches and sensitivity, numbness, pain and other strange feelings are something I've come to accept on a regular basis. There are days I have a hard time just getting up from a seated position on the floor. My stamina is nothing to right home about, but it does get better when I'm working regularly. It sometimes takes a while to for me to recover from major physical exertion or outings. The weather plays a huge role in how my body feels as well. With that said it doesn't mean I don't have good days. My good day's are just different.

I've suffered more set backs in the last year than I would care to. My emergency appendectomy 7 months ago was very difficult to recovery from because it was so invasive. I've struggled to regain weight I lost, and flares have been more frequent. It also took a toll on me mentally. My work situations have left me with a lot of stress which also causes flares, and unfortunately mild depression, anxiety, and insomnia came to play as well. I'm doing my best to cope now, and not let things consume me. I breathe and focus on the positives. Sometimes you have to put on a smile and push forward no matter how hard things are.

I'll be honest I'm not one to complain about what I'm going through via social media or otherwise. Most people don’t understand it nor do I want to garner sympathy or attention from it. There are times I don't even tell my husband how I'm feeling even though he would like me to. He does so much for me and I simply don't want to burden him with certain things. I'm working on that though. Keeping things to myself isn't always healthy either.

I've been on lots of different prescription medications throughout my life, and I've found that I would rather work with natural supplements as much as possible at this point. My supplement regimen has fluctuated over the last couple of years to see what works and what doesn't. I take magnesium (500mg) daily for nerve and muscle function as well as Vitamin D. I also take probiotics for my digestive health. I have found Kefir is also good to have on rotation. I drink chamomile or cinnamon tea's in moderation for health benefits. I try to keep up my vitamin c intake but that can occasionally be irritating to my stomach. I also try to drink Ensure Plus regularly. I've recently started using arnica gel. I massage it in areas that may be particularly painful and I do get some relief. Stretching (yoga) and light exercise has also been helpful but I don't do it as regularly as I should. I found the book Yoga Cures by Tara Stiles particularly helpful for me. None of this is 100% effective but it helps me in my everyday battle.

I felt compelled to share my story because it may help or be relatable to someone else, and most importantly to help myself. People suffer with things we can’t always see. Don’t judge them. You will never know what it’s like to walk in the shoes of someone who suffers from chronic illness or a disability if you have not experienced it. A little respect and understanding can go a long way.

Thank you for reading.

White Cap

So back in 2011 I bought China Glaze's White Cap from the Anchor's Away Collection. I remember it being quite a big deal then. Funny thing is I never wore it. I have no clue why. I went through my stash to find it the other night because I wanted something clean and pretty to wear that I wouldn't have to worry so much about.
I used one coat of White Cap over one coat of OPI's Don't Touch My Tutu! and that was it. White cap is a white jelly like polish with a gold flash, and flake like shimmer. Clean, simple, and pretty.

Thanks for reading!

Wintermint

While I was on the hunt for the remaining NOPI Carrie Underwood polishes (no luck), I happened upon the newer scented Revlon polishes. I'm generally not one for scented polishes because I'm quite sensitive to smell, but I decided to give one a try.
I grabbed Wintermint because I love mint and it was the most intriguing color. It was sheer on the first coat but finished off nicely with the second coat. Once it dried it had a lovely mint scent that wasn't overpowering. I polished Saturday night and as of today I can no longer smell the scent. I'm ok with that though. As for color it's lovely mint green with aqua hex glitter and smaller gold glitter that seems to shift in color.

How do you feel about this polish or just scented polish in general?

Thanks for reading!

Southern Charm

The Carrie Underwood collection for Nicole by OPI has started popping up around here. I happened upon a half display the other day, and I'm still on the hunt for a few more. I really just wanted some of theses polishes for the names. They are so cute.

Today I'm going to show you Southern Charm. This polish is a neutral that leans a bit blush/brown on me. It has a good easy to work with formula. I only needed 2 coats. I dig it.

I'm quite a fan of this collection, and I think there is a little something for everyone.

Thanks for reading!

Sparkle In The Sky

I popped into Sally's yesterday to renew my card. I hadn't been keeping up with the Finger Paints collections as of late. I saw the Enchanted Winter display, and had to grab a couple.

I decided that I had to use Sparkle In The Sky last night. It was so gorgeous in the bottle. I wasn't aware that it was textured polish. (See I told you I haven't been keeping up with things. Haha.) It's the kind of texture I like, not overly gross and gritty like some I've tried. It has a good formula and went on with 2 easy coats and dry time is fairly quick since its a textured polish. I used one coat of top coat in the photos. It still has the texture effect with just a tad more shine.

I'm in love with this polish . It's a deep navy with various pink, green and gold sparkle. The sparkle really is something else. It also reminded me of one of my favorite Vincent van Gogh paintings, Starry Night Over The Rhone 1888. If I could bottle this painting this is what it would look like. That made my soul happy. It really is the little things sometimes.

Background: Starry Night Over The Rhone 1888

Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year! - A Glitter Gradient

I rocked out to Kool & The Gang, watched fireworks, and rang in the new year with my Husband and best friends. What did I do with my nails you ask? Well since I wasn't wearing any major bling I decided I should at least have some sparkly nails!

I started with a base of OPI's Mimosas for Mr. & Mrs. I then tried my hand at a glitter gradient with Orly's Halo. I think it turned out nicely and there was plenty of sparkle.

Here's wishing you all a happy and healthy 2014!