Is anyone watching The Carrie Diaries on the CW? I am completely obsessed with this show. I read the book a couple of years ago and now I am completely hooked on the show. Granted it doesn't stick to the book, which is a good thing because it broke my heart.
Why do I love this show so much? Let me break it down.
I love that it's set in the 80's. It makes me wish that I had Carrie's cute wardrobe.
The music is fantastic. Not only do they use original music but they also use some great cover songs.
I love AnnaSofia Robb - she does such a great job as Carrie.
You know how much I love writing in my journal and does one Carrie Bradshaw.
And let's not forget about her purse. That amazing purse! Me want.
If you haven't watched it, give it a chance. I hope you do. So today's soundtrack theme is totally 80's in honor of The Carrie Diaries. Enjoy!
As you know, per my last post, I have not had a real boyfriend since the original 90210 was on the air. I can't believe I actually admitted that out loud. Oh well, it's now out there.
This brings me to something that I discovered about a year ago. One day I was talking my friend Tobs about our pets. She has a Boston Terrier and of course as you know, I have my squatter, Oliver. I think we starting talking about the image below that I posted on my facebook page. We laughed at how her dog, Bel gives her the stink eye too.
We laughed about how pets tend to have some people traits. Somehow we came to the conclusion that some pets have really bad boyfriend traits. I've told this to a few people and they have all laughed. Then I thought, I really need to get this in writing. So below is my list of why my cat, Oliver is like a really bad boyfriend.
He doesn't have a job.
He sleeps all the time.
He expects me to buy his dinner and feed him.
He stinks up my apartment.
I have to clean up his "office".
He sleeps everywhere.
The only time he really wants to spend time with me is when I'm in bed.
Now that you know all about my slacker, you need to check him out. I present, Oliver.
There you have it. My cat is the equivalent of the worst boyfriend. I kind feel like David Letterman. Minus the talent and the ca-jillion dollars in my bank account. So for today's soundtrack, it's all about the boys. Enjoy!
I have lots of things going on in my life and in my head. As you know, I gave my notice and my last official work day was on Friday, March 15th. It was kinda odd to leave without anything in mind but it was a really great day. My boss took me and the staff out to lunch. Then some of my co-workers gave me a card with a $50 Target gift card. SCORE!! This chica needed a new pair of shoes.
Once I drove away, it was a strange feeling. So what did I do when I got home? Absolutely nothing. I sat on my couch and watched TV. I just vegged. Yup, pretty much my norm.
Today is my 3rd day of unemployment but I've been really busy the last two days. I've had two interviews and have been getting my household and car in order. Speaking of my car, did you know that if you buy tires at Discount Tire that they will rotate them for free? I completely forgot until I received an email about it. That was a nice perk. No job and I still got something for free. Woo!!
Back to my job search. Both interviews went really well. What do I do next? Well, I'm gonna keep looking to find my perfect job and do a lot of praying about the interviews. I want to be absolutely sure about this next career move. Like I said before, I want to be a blessing at my next job and take everything I've learned and help build the company to the next level. Wow, I have high aspirations don't I? Who do I think I am?
What's next on my mind? I have a really good friend that I have known for years. And I mean years. We met in elementary school. I don't even want to do the math. Anyhoozlebees, her name is Charee and is someone that I can call/email/message and we can pick up right where we left off the last time. She was the first person to ever invite me to church. I've never told her this but it was because of her invitation, I found Christ. Her persistence of inviting and getting me to church all those years ago paid off for me. So lady, thank you for being God's go to person for me.
The reason I am bring her up is because she has done something really cool. Chareeis also a blogger and was nominated for Liebster Award. It's an award given to a blogger to help that particular blogger get to know other bloggers. It's kind like a "get to know you" thing. And she has nominated little ol' me. So thank you Charee!!
Below is the basic jist of it:
1. Thank the person who nominated you & link your post to their blog. (See Above)
2. List 11 facts about yourself then answer the 11 questions given to you.
3. Create 11 more questions for your nominees, all of whom have 200 or less followers.
4. Comment on their blogs to inform them of their Liebster Award nomination.
Let's get started:
11 Facts about Julie
1. I grew up without a father and was surrounded by really strong women. I equate it to living on the Isle of Wonder Women. These women had jobs, took care of us, fed us, took us to run errands, etc. I had no idea that it was not the norm until I was about 13 or 14 when I started hanging out at my friend's homes.
2. I don't get the appeal of I Love Lucy. I do not love Lucy. She's a brat and both her and Ricky are too conniving. YUCK!
3. I am not a pack rat but I have kept every single greeting card I have ever received. Now that we have this wonderful invention called, pinterest.com and have a little bit of time, I might just be doing this.
4. I will watch any episode of Seinfeld at any time.
5. I love photography and I have always wanted to be a professional photographer. But I am a bit lazy so I have not pursued it as I really want to do.
6. I have not had a real boyfriend since the 90's. Don't get me wrong, I've dated guys but there has not been one guy since then that I could say, "He was myboyfriend".
7. I became an aunt when I was 6 years old.
8. I am one of those people that really love to work out. I can't help it. I lurve it!
9. I really do want to find my soul mate and get married. Where is he all ready?
10. I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up.
11. Growing up, I always had a feeling that I would somehow meet celebrities. Thanks to my past career choices, I did achieve that dream.
11 Questions given to me to answer:
1. What motto do you live by? All things happen for a reason.
2. Give me a favorite quote! "Don't be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try" - Michael Jordan.
3. Favorite book (like one of your top 10).. Whoa so many, so I will name a few.
The Diary of Anne Frank - no explanation necessary on this one.
Love is a Mixed Tape by Rob Sheffield. It's about love and music and I read it almost every year.
Pretty in Plaid and Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster - I love this woman. She is an 80's child and hilarious.
4. When was the last time you were inspired? Tell me about it. A few weeks ago at church, one of our pastors had a great sermon about serving others and how to look for opportunities to leverage your own power to help server others. It got me so motivated.
5. Name your style. Copy cat - I really don't think I have a style. I just copy from all sorts of other people.
6. What music are you listening to these days? Why do you like those artists? Right now it's a Fort Worth band called The Burning Hotels. I started listening to them in 2011 and was hooked. They remind me of Depeche Mode.
7. If you could win a real award, why would you win it? (Screen writing? Acting? Singing? ??) I would love to win an Oscar for a screenplay. I have never even written one, wouldn't know where to start but I would like to win one for it.
8. Tell me something about yourself that would surprise me. I just started liking avocados. All these years, I just hated them. Now, I can't get enough of them.
9. If you could retire today and know that you could live comfortably, what would you do with your time? I would love to be a photographer - concentrating on people/portraits.
10. Biggest pet peeve? People that let their kids run around and are completely oblivious to it, while the rest of us have to deal with it. Geesh! Come on people. If I am a restaurant, I really don't need a child running around like an chicken with it's head cut off.
11. What is one major change you'd like to make in the next 2 years? I would like finally settle down get a place of my own.
And my questions for her:
1. What is your favorite childhood memory?
2. What is your a favorite quote?
3. Favorite Movie?
4. When was the last time you were inspired? Tell me about it.
5. Name your style.
6. Do you have any phobias?
7. What was the most dangerous or most
challenging thing that you have ever done?
8. Tell me something about yourself that would surprise me.
9. If you could retire today and know that you could live comfortably, what
would you do with your time?
10. Biggest pet peeve?
11. What is one major change you'd like to make in the next 2 years?
Whew! This was a lot of stuff. I hope you hung with me. Since today's blog was all over the map, so will my soundtrack. Enjoy!
Big doins' in Julie land. After my diagnosis, I took a long hard look at my life. I realized that 2012 basically was one big suckfest! And 2013 wasn't looking any better. As I told you before, it seemed like I was sick all the time. A few days after my diagnosis, I decided that I needed a huge change.
What was I doing with my life? Where am I going? What do I want to? So I walked into work and gave my notice. And get this, I don't have a clue as to where I am going to land. Yes I quit my job without a net.
Am I scared? No, not at all. I am really excited to see what's out there for me. All I know is that I want to be blessing to whatever company hires me. Now don't get me wrong, I will go temp in the meantime and continue to figure out my next step.
For the first time in I don't know how long, I am truly and completely happy. Shaking things can be good for the soul. Every morning I wake up with a purpose. Here's to throwing caution to the wind and living. So like a snow globe, the theme is shaking things up. Enjoy!!
2013! Where the heck did the time go? And where was I all this time? If you haven't noticed, I haven't been actively blogging since October. And here is why. I am going to be a blunt so hang on to your drawers.
I will be honest, 2012 wasn't the greatest year for me. I couldn't put my finger on it but I just didn't feel right. I went to the doctor a several times and during one of my visits, I found out that I was low on Vitamin D. So bring on the large dose of daily Vitamin D. That kinda helped but things were still not right.
During the course of the year, I was under the weather so many times. It seemed like I kept getting sick around the holidays. I kept complaining to my sisters how tired I was and how I just wasn't myself. I just began to think that it was my old age. I thought "Well, I'm 42 years old and maybe my body is just now going downhill. That's life, right?" So I just kept doing the same things I've always done: eating healthy, taking my Vitamin D and working out.
With the all of that, nothing helped. But I pushed through anyway. I kept hoping and praying that something would change. I kept telling myself, 2013 would be lucky 13! I just knew it would be better. On New Year's Eve, I just knew that things were going to change. But little did I know how it was going to change.
The last weekend of January, I started feeling sick. I wasn't eating, not sleeping, I was exhausted (had no energy) and I have to be blunt, I had diarrhea. I waited a few days hoping that it would pass. It didn't so I decided to go see a doctor. When arrived at my appointment, I had lost about 2 - 3 pounds. The doctor said it was a stomach virus and prescribed antibiotics. I began taking them and waited. Another few days and still the same thing. But I felt worse. Then the worst happened. I began to see blood. It scared the life out of me. So I made an appointment to see a digestion specialist and told him my symptoms and he said I would need to set up a colonoscopy.WHAT? Damn it!!
I set up the appointment for March 8th. Why? Because I'm poor and because I was waiting on my tax refund. Which by the way, I was so excited to get my refund because I had planned on buying a new wardrobe. Not so much now.
A week after that appointment, I still had all the same symptoms and I made another appointment to see my regular doctor in hopes that she could do something else. I lost another 3 pounds when I got there. More antibiotics and was told to come back in two days.
I went back two days later and that's when it all came to a head. This whole time, I had a bunch of lab work done and it was coming back with nothing. Health mystery unsolved. This was on a Wednesday afternoon. I was upset and telling the doctor and she was pretty much a cold bitch. No bedside manner whatsoever. She said, something like "we've done all we can do, you need to get the colonoscopy. What more do you expect me to do?" Basically I wanted just some comfort. Didn't get any of that. She basically scared me the shit out of me.
After that, I called my sister; Barb and told her what had happened. Bottom line I had to change my appointment and get in as soon as I could. All I wanted was to know what exactly was wrong with me.
Thursday morning, I was up early and began calling my doctor trying to move up my appointment. By the Grace of God, there was a appointment at 7:00 a.m. the very next morning. I couldn't believe it. I was so relieved. It happened so fast. Thank you God!
Since I started getting sick, I didn't have one night of full rest. I was up at least 4 - 6 times a night. But that night, I slept through the night. I felt so peaceful. I had so many people praying for me and I felt it. I wasn't scared.
I had to be at the hospital at 5:15 a.m. Thank God for my sisters. Linda picked me up and went with me to check in at the hospital. I began to get nervous but that passed once we arrived. I felt very calm. Of course making that huge payment woke me up. Thank God I had the money. Thanks Uncle Sam!
They took all my stats and turns out I actually lost about 11 pounds. She stayed with me until they wheeled me back. The last thing I remember was the anesthesiologist telling me he was giving me something and I would be asleep in 1 - 2 minutes. Honestly, I know that it wasn't that long. LOL!
Next thing I heard was my Dr. calling my name. I think it was about 8:30 a.m. or so. Maybe...still not sure. As I was waking up, he began to tell me that he was pretty confident that I had colitis. I immediately began crying. I was so relieved to finally know what was wrong with me. After almost 3 weeks of being in the dark, I finally knew. I began thanking and praising God. It's something that could be controlled.
Turns out all my healthy eating was pretty much killing my large intestine. Are you kidding me? Here I am thinking, I am doing exactly what I am supposed to do and then it knocks me on my butt. (pun completely intended). Now I am on medications (steroids and colitis medication) and I have change all my eating habits. I am getting a little nervous because I am afraid of gaining weight because of the steroids and all the carbs have to eat. What a girly thing to say but it's true.
I was told that most people that have this condition do well but once they start feeling better they stop taking their meds. That is not an option for me. I pretty much have to stay on this for the rest of my life.
Back to my day. My sister Iris met us at the hospital and was there when I woke up. Linda had to leave for work (thank you for getting up so damn early). By the time I was released from the hospital, I was starving. It was the first time in 3 weeks that I really wanted to eat. I had not had much of an appetite so that was a welcome change. We were off to grab some breakfast and get my prescriptions filled. She stayed with me a few hours then had to head out. Which was fine by me because I proceeded to sleep for 2 hours straight. I knew I had not moved because I had pillow face.
Then my sister Barb came over after work, brought me some dinner and stayed with me for a few more hours. Over that weekend, I don't know what I wouldn't have done if my sisters had not been there with me. They did my laundry, brought me dinner and bought my groceries. I was completely spoiled.
It's been a little over a week and I am still adjusting to it. No more wheat, oatmeal, deli meat, grilled meats, raw veggies, raw fruit, nuts, spicy food or fried foods for me. No chocolate (that one's gonna hurt - I don't know if I can handle this one), no caffeine (not a biggie because I rarely drink sodas and if I do it's Sprite) and no alcohol (really not a problem for me since over I would say the last last few years, I have tapered off considerably). But I get to eat white bread and pasta. Bright side!!
Not gonna lie, it's gonna be a bit difficult for me because all my go to meals and snacks are pretty much oatmeal, raw veggies and raw fruits. I am allowed to eat chicken and fish, so that means I will have to start cooking (well learning to cook) and planning out my meals. No more spontaneous meals. I am a planner but this might be a little harder for me. I never thought I would be the person that had such a restrictive diet. I like every other arrogant human being thinks, "I'm fine, nothings going to happen to me." What an idiot!
I am still a little tired (I have to remind myself that for 3 weeks, I was not sleeping or eating) and I get a little frustrated that I can't do as many things as I want to do. But I am not going to let that get me down. I'm just gonna keep working on structuring my diet and getting my energy back so that I can get back to my Zumba classes.
I will not let this define me as a person. It's just part of my life. I will say that now I know what I have, I can begin my life again. It was a very scary time for me. Never in my life had I faced a health scare like that. It's time to get live!!
I appreciate anyone that has still stuck around even though I have been a huge slacker. Here is my soundtrack to my new life! Enjoy!
