The Highlights #7

Aloha! I'm feeling super chipper today and I'm very grateful for that! I've had quite a wonderful week and I hope you have as well! <3 The absolute highlight of the week had to be getting my driver's license finally!!! This is a huge deal for me because I'm about seven years late on getting my license, so to finally have it after all of the procrastination and fear is amazing. My family and friends, I'm sure, are super stoked because they won't have to drive me around anymore. LOL But in all seriousness, they are all very proud of me. :)

I have a bit of an announcement about my little blog here. This will be the last post for a little while (I know, shock horror, I'm taking another blog break, who would've guessed? LOL). I started blogging again wanting to be consistent and organized about it and I've somewhat achieved that, but I'm not feeling very passionate about what I write about. I want to continue blogging, but I want to be proud of what I write and put out into the world. I'll be taking a little break just to regroup and figure out what I really want to do with my little corner of the internet.  While I'm away, check out my very good and talented friend, Nala's blog! I took some photos for her most recent post and it was such a pleasure to photograph such beautiful work! Check it out!

I'll see you all very soon and if you still want to keep up with me, I will still be very active on my Youtube channel, so go ahead and subscribe if you fancy! All the love! xx

The Highlights #6

I do apologize I have yet another post a day late! Please be gentle, I'm still getting used to have a blogging schedule. LOL Last week, was a hard week, but a blessed week. I found myself struggling with both my addiction program and my eating disorder program, but both of the women who mentor me in either program were so incredibly understanding and encouraging. They're guiding me in my recovery day by day and I couldn't be more grateful for these incredible women in my life.

I'm also very grateful for my mom and my best friend, Dalton because early in the week, I took a big blow to my self-esteem, which already isn't very high as it is. They were both very supportive and comforting and reminded me that I can change my life and they believe me which is always a comfort.

I spent some time with my friend Nala as well who I adore! She is the cutest person ever and so knowledgeable about all things beauty! We took some photos for her new blog, makeupbynala.com, and I've got to say the photos turned out beautifully! That's mainly down to Nala's makeup skills, but I'll give myself a pat on the back as well for having a tiny bit of a photographic eye. LOL

Overall, a week that I can only be grateful for. I hope you're all well! xx

The Highlights #5

This is a bit of a cheat, but this Sunday's post caught me so off guard (hence, the posting at nearly 12am)! Watch my newest weekly vlog to see a bit what I got up to this week! If you like silly dancing to current pop hits, you'll like this one. ;)

xx

The Highlights #3

Besides both my parents and I being sick, I've had a wonderful week! I spent a lot of time with Dalton as per usual and as I took care of him when he was sick last week, he sort of did this same for me this week. LOL Before we all got sick, I drove around town quite a bit running errands, so I actually put makeup on which is a rarity these days. Something I've realized is, I feel so, so much more confident with makeup on. I'm not trying to hide anything (if you watch my vlogs, you'll know I'm very comfortable makeup free), but having makeup on just gives a boost of self confidence; it adds a bit of a pep in my step.

FYI the septum is fake 😜

One benefit of being sick with my parents is that I spent a lot of time with my mom; we caught up on the current season of Criminal Minds because we were mega behind and still sort of are, but we're getting there. I really do enjoy spending time with my mom; we've both been showing an insane amount of gratitude towards each other this week. She sincerely thanked me many, many times for taking care of the house since she's been a bit out of commission the past several months so to speak. I've been trying to show appreciation in every way possible to all of my loved ones, especially my mom. I mentioned last week that, through my buddhist practice, I want to become a more appreciative, compassionate person and I feel I'm making progress. I've been chanting every day which is a huge step for me. 

As far as my recovery from my eating disorders and trying to get healthy, I'm making small steps. I got a sponsor in my program that I'm part of and she's meant to help me with meal planning and staying abstinent from foods that I binge on and from purging. I have hope that I can do this and become a healthy person. 

It's been a good week, not too eventful, but good and that's all I can ask for. I'm grateful for what and  who I have today in my life and I am determined to further enrich my life. I hope you're all doing well! Ta for now!

The Highlights #2

Hello, hello! This past week was completely unproductive! 😑 I spent most of the week in bed with my best friend/old roommate, Dalton, who got pretty sick around Monday. He just recently moved out, but he still spends a lot of time with me and my family and once he got sick, he figured it was easier to spend his days sick in my bed than in his own. I do love him, so. We spent our time sleeping and watching Criminal Minds episode after episode.

Today, so far has been awesome! I went to a Buddhist meeting at my friend's house and I am so grateful that I went! Over the past two weeks or so, I've been having a bit of trouble with my faith. Faith, of any kind, is fairly new to me as I hadn't practiced any religion since I was 15 many, many moons ago. I've only been practicing Buddhism since August of last year and a few weeks ago, when my mom was at worst with her sickness, I found myself questioning why am I doing this? So I've avoided sitting in front of my Gohonzon (a scroll/altar we chant to in order to bring out our best version of ourselves) and chanting all this time and today I was reminded why we have faith. We make certain causes in our lives that then reap effects, good or bad, but we make those causes every day. We can make a cause to be a more appreciative, compassionate human being, for example, and I was reminded today that I want to be that. Sure, I can do that without Buddhism, but I WANT to practice Buddhism again and reap the benefits of having faith in something outside of myself.

As far as goals from last week, I completely failed on all of them other than the cutting back on smoking. THAT! I did accomplish a bit! I cut back a lot, I'll come up with a number for you in next week's highlights, but I can tell I definitely smoked less. So thumbs up there! Other than that, my eating was mostly all over the place at the beginning of the week, but according to my weekly food diary, I started eating better over the past few days. Progress not perfection, eh?

I'm going grocery shopping tonight to grab some HEALTHY options for the week and I'm happy to say my list is the healthiest it's looked in a long time. I'm going to be cooking two meals for my mom and I, but besides those I'll be keeping it fairly simple with breakfast smoothies and tuna salad. Before I go to bed, I'm also going to map out what support groups I'll be attending this week, which is what I've done every Sunday for about a month now, but tonight I'm going to put a little more in depth thinking and research into them so I'm more likely to go. Thumbs up all around!

Since my goals weren't fully met (to say the least), I'm going to transfer them to this week's goals along with a few others. ☺️

GOALS:

• Eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner every day.
• Continue cutting back on smoking cigarettes.
• Ice and wrap my ankle every day.
• Practice driving and read the driver's manual for my test on Thursday! (EXCITED!)
• Chant and meditate daily.
• Read more books!
• Attend 4 - 5 support groups.

Lastly, here are the few photos I snapped last week!

Mmm, apples and peanut butter = current favorite snack!

Yoghurt and granola = best quick and easy breakfast!

Since 1D's newest album was released, it was easy for me to forget their old ones. How did I ever let that happen?? Midnight Memories is still so good! :)

You've got to love that SoCal weather!

Hope you're all well! xx