It all started on Sunday… I had the day off, so after sleeping in I spent a few hours just bumming around the house. During that time I decided I was extremely bored and should do something fun…like put on makeup. I rarely ever wear makeup, but I’ve always had fun doing it. So I spent about an hour getting a shower and getting myself “all dolled up.”

After I was done, I decided to send the above picture to my boyfriend along with the caption “sometimes I get bored and cosplay as a girl.” His reaction wasn’t what I expected, it was even better. He ended up telling me that we needed to go out to dinner, so we made plans to meet in Robinson and check out the KMart that’s going out of business and head to Outback.

It was an awesome night. Seto has always called me beautiful/pretty/cute/etc, but the whole night I would catch him staring at me out of the corner of his eye and a few times he just stopped and told me again how nice I looked. I still have quite a few issues with my body and my self-confidence, so him actually stopping and telling me how good I looked basically sent me over the moon. Just one more reminder of why I love him so much and am so happy that he found me.

Unfortunately my awesome story ends there. Apparently while everyone else was thrilled that I wore makeup, my body wasn’t. I woke up the next morning with 8 little pimple-like bumps on my forehead. I’ve never had an acne problem, so I didn’t really think much of it…I do occasionally get pimples here and there, no big deal. I put some of my Philosophy: On a Clear Day on it when I got up and before bed and didn’t think anything of it.

The next morning, those 8 little bumps had turned to more like 20 little bumps. I figured it was just a bad breakout, so I decided to go a little stronger and put some of my Mario Badescu acne treatment on them. And once again, overnight things got much worse to the point where on Wednesday morning my entire forehead was covered in bumps. Over the course of the day they started to get red, my skin started to get splotchy and it began to itch.

By Thursday morning I was desperate. My whole forehead itched and felt like it was on fire and all the bumps were bright red. I ended up going to Ulta and talking  to the staff there and they ended up recommending something called Juice Beauty: Organics to Clear Skin. Its a certified organic beauty line and this is their acne system. It’s supposed to be really good for sensitive skin and I could take it back within 60 days if I didn’t like it…so I decided to try it out. I used it Thursday and today, and I can already see an improvement. The bumps aren’t red anymore, they barely itch, and some of them have even gone away. I’m not saying this is my cure, but so far it seems to be working…still gotta give it some time.

But, with my head woes seemingly coming to an end, of course something else has to happen. Today before work I decided to head to the store and grab a soda and something I could snack on over the course of the night. But as I’m crossing the road to the building, I hear the sound of a car to my right, and turn my head just in time to get plowed into by a bright red Kia. An elderly woman had been driving down one of the parking aisles and didn’t even look before she turned out onto the road…running straight into me. THANKFULLY she can’t have been going more than 5-10 miles an hour and did notice me in time to slam on her breaks. Still, she hit the right side of me and knocked me down pretty hard. I’m not sure who was more shaken up in the end, me or her. But aside from a couple bruises and some minor aches, I seem to be okay. Provided my injuries do not worsen by tomorrow, I won’t be pressing charges against her. I just really hope that in the future, should she choose to continue driving, she is more careful and actually pays attention to where she’s going rather than staring off into the distance as she drives.

Isn’t my life eventful guys?

If there is one thing that I can say with 100% certainty, it’s that being sick absolutely sucks. I don’t have the greatest immune system, so you’d think I’d be used to illness by now… However I’ve been doing pretty well for the past six months or so; no sickness at all besides the normal allergy stuff I deal with every time the seasons start to change. But somehow, a week or so ago, I managed to come down with a case of the flu. And even over a week later, I still don’t feel completely back to normal.

I have absolutely no energy at all, which is a huge hassle considering the fact that I’ve had to close at work a lot this week. I did have Sunday and Monday off, but I spent both days not even moving from my bed because I just didn’t have the strength to get up. Tuesday I had the early shift and ended up coming home and sleeping for the rest of the day because I was so worn out from loading trucks (which truthfully requires very little manual labor on the part of the Home Delivery coworker). Now I’m on a closing stretch and can just feel myself getting more and more exhausted with every passing day.

I’m also pretty much failing in the ‘don’t get hurt’ department. I feel like I’ve managed to injure myself every single day this week in one way or another. Tuesday I bruised my shin with a cart, Wednesday I brush-burned my arm with the rough edge of a cardboard box, and Thursday I smashed my wrist off a door and it STILL hurts. Last night I told Seto that if I could make it through today and Saturday without getting hurt, I’d let myself buy the Hidden Arsenal 7 Yu-Gi-Oh! box we’ve been eyeing. Sure enough, within two hours of work today the lock on the supply cage jammed. In the process of trying to fix it, I managed to pinch the skin on one of my fingers and start bleeding everywhere.

So yeah…

Go me.

Considering it has been such a long time since I’ve been regularly posting, I decided that maybe it would be a good idea to do one big update post as opposed to trying to throw bits and pieces of my life into various updates and potentially forgetting things I wanted to say.

Truthfully I’ve reached a point where I’ve realized that when it comes to my life, I’d much rather be out there living it than in here talking about it. That’s a complete 180 degree turn from how I used to be. I’m still going to try and post as much as possible, but I’m also starting to face the idea that perhaps my time as a “personal blogger” is coming to an end. I’m sure in a week I won’t feel that way, but nobody knows where things will go from here; though, I’m sure excited to find out.

And so without further ado, welcome to the longest post I’ve written in probably a year. State of the Whitters!

Friends
On the friendship front, I’ve actually been doing pretty well lately. I finally met some people in Pittsburgh that I truly consider my friends (and not just people I work with or go to school with or only talk to online or only see occasionally). I’ve been doing my best to hang out with them as often as possible outside of work, but obviously that’s a bit hard because we all have crappy schedules. Even so, we talk and text all the time and I love these guys so much! They’re my little piece of sanity in this crazy crazy life.

As you can also tell from my last entry, I got to see some of my friends from home as well. Dessa and Pam came down to visit for a couple days and I miss them already now that they’re gone. But it was an awesome couple days, including the best part which I didn’t blog about: Dessa proposing to Pam on top of Mt. Washington. It was adorable and despite what she says, she had no clue he was going to do it. Kyle and I, on the other hand, knew exactly when it was gonna happen since we got to be a part of the whole process. Dessa kept us updated the whole time while he was buying the ring, having it sized, deciding where to do it, etc. I’m so happy for them it isn’t even funny!

I’m also making even more friends online (due to playing more multiplayer games, which I’ll talk about a bit later). Some people don’t really consider “online” friends to be real friends, but I do. One of my online friends (which I met through Seto) is even going to be having a layover in Pittsburgh on his way to New York City in April and we’re going to hang out! I love pretty much all of my online friends. But despite the new friends I’ve gained, I’ve also lost a few due to a new resolution of mine. I decided to get myself out of friendships where I know that the other person isn’t interested in putting any effort into the relationship (both online and “IRL” friendships). Friendship isn’t one-sided, and I don’t need those types of people in my life anymore.

Family
Unfortunately, I haven’t seen my family in almost three months. I knew what I was getting myself into when I moved to Pittsburgh, but every once in a while it creeps up on me how far away I really am. Even though it’s not like we’re on opposite sides of the country, I can’t just up and go visit my mom on a whim…and she’s in the same boat. Visits take planning, requesting days off work, and a lot of driving, which neither of us are really keen on (especially when it usually ends up being something like 14 hours of driving in a 72 hour period).

I’ve been trying to convine my mom to come down and visit, but it’s just too hard to plan something like that in the winter. At any second it can go from being 75 and sunny to 20 and snowing…especially in Pittsburgh. I wouldn’t want her to get stuck down here and have to miss work; or even worse: get stuck out in a storm traveling to or from. I’m sure they’ll make the trip sooner or later (since they’re dying to meet Seto)…or I’ll have to schedule a few days off and make the trip up to see them.

Love
Things with Seto are great. It’s honestly hard for me to talk about him without starting to gush, but I’ll try.

Had the first nice Valentine’s Day that I’ve had in two years thanks to him. We didn’t do anything crazy special, but he took me out to dinner and stayed the night. It was just nice having him here because I definitely don’t get to see him nearly as much as I’d like to (due to us both having pretty busy and often conflicting schedules).

But this is the happiest I’ve been in a long time, and for that I am extremely thankful.

Work
Work is the same as ever. Things business-wise have slowed down considerably (as they do around this time every year) and it has led to some pretty boring days. Especially since I’m no longer a cashier and not every customer ends up scheduling Home Delivery. Sometimes I’ll go an entire 7-8 hour shift and only have two or three customers. Sometimes it’s a real struggle trying to find things to keep occupied with. Luckily I’ve been trained in pretty much every single area of Customer Service, so I can help out with returns, cash lanes, Smaland, etc. to pass the time. There’s also a possible opportunity coming up for me at work, but I don’t really have that much information on it yet so I cant talk about it. If it pans out, it’ll be awesome though.

Still keeping my eyes open for web jobs though, and always am willing to do freelance!

Weight Loss
This is one area where I have to admit that I fell off the bandwagon. I haven’t gained any weight, but I haven’t lost any in the past couple weeks either. I’ve also been eating like crap and my body is definitely feeling it. I’ve felt pretty much like crap for the past few days and I know it has to be at least partially due to my shitty diet and the fact that I haven’t been exercising lately either. So it’s time to kick my butt back into gear and start actually trying again.

I’ve got about 15 more pounds to lose to reach my “20lbs by April 15th” goal, and I definitely thing it’s doable. Especially if I really work at it. One of the biggest things I need to do is stop eating at work. The food is too expensive and basically all crap (since the only things I actually like are the chicken tenders, mac & cheese and mashed potatoes)…so not eating there with be healthier and cheaper for me. Instead I’m gonna try and start taking my meals or waiting until I get out of work to eat dinner.

Gaming
I think I officially have the worst gaming ADD ever. I’m currently part way through, playing, or have just started at least 10 different games. Every time I really start to get into one someone ends up suggesting another game and I try it out only to get hooked and forget about the original game.

I also almost ended up getting back into World of Warcraft but luckily dodged that bullet. Though it really didn’t matter in the end because my friend’s Red and Az got me hooked on another MMO, DC Universe Online. At least that one is free to play (unless you want to pay for extra stuff), so it’s not quite as bad as WoW. Though as Seto told me last night “the lesser of two evils is still evil” to which I say “so says the boy who plays TOR in 6-8 hr marathon stretches =P”

Life in General
Like I said before, I’m in a really good place with my life right now. I have awesome friends, an amazing boyfriends, and more things to do than there are hours in the day. I just need to keep pushing towards my goals and keep trying to improve the parts of my life that aren’t 100% where I’d like them to be and I should be just fine.

If the first two months have been any indication…it’s going to be an amazing year.

It has definitely been too long.

Spent the last few days having an absolute blast with a couple of my friends, Dessa and Pam, from back home. They came down Friday morning and stayed with Kyle and I until Sunday.

We didn’t do too much on Friday except run to IKEA. They wanted to do some shopping and I needed to get some replacement parts for Kyle’s bed that decided to start falling apart (the first and only time I’ve ever had an issue with an IKEA product). Then we went to Mad Mex and met up with our friends K and N for dinner. Ended up drinking a *little* bit too much and Pam ended up having to drive us home. The food was great and the drinks were even better, so it was worth it!

Saturday we headed to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. I’ve never been there before and while history really isn’t my “thing” it was pretty cool. Or well, at least the dinosaurs were cool! Afterwards we went to Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens, another place that I’d never been. At first I was a bit worried because typically me and plant life do not get along at all…but I was fine. And the flowers were absolutely gorgeous! Though I really want to go back in the summer time now, when everything outdoors (especially the Japanese Courtyard Garden) are in full bloom.

Afterwards we headed back to the house and Seto joined up with us to head out to dinner. Pam, like me, is a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory, so we decided to take her to Cheesecake Factory since she’d never been there. Well if you know anything about Cheesecake Factory, you know that going there on a weekend night is not recommended (especially because they don’t take reservations). We ended up having to wait two hours for a table. Thankfully this one is attached to a mall so we spent some time in LLBean and then walked around a bit before we could finally be seated. The food was worth it though, especially the cheesecake!

Once dinner was over we all came back to the house and played Cards Against Humanity for a little while. Even though it was Seto’s first time playing, he jumped right in and picked it up quickly. And thus I learned that my boyfriend can have an extremely dirty mind when he wants to. Ended up being insane amounts of fun!

Sunday morning we got up late and headed to Quaker Steak and Lube for brunch. I havent had wings in so long, and they were delicious. We ended up heading back to the house and watching a movie before Pam and Dessa headed home. I dont think they were even in their car yet and Kyle and I were both back in bed napping. I still haven’t caught up on all the sleep I missed.

All in all the weekend was amazing. I got to see my friends, they got to meet Seto, and I really hope that we can all do it again really soon! Or maybe I can convince Seto to visit home with me so he can see how the “hick” half lives!

And below the cut you will find an ABCs meme thingy that I stole from Angie. …continue reading “Long Weekend”

Ever have one of those moments where you feel like you’ve just arrived at a different place? Not necessarily an epiphany, but the knowledge that after a long struggle, you’ve finally gotten to the place you’re supposed to be? I’m not really saying that my life has been a struggle the past year, but I feel like it’s been a slow build up to what it is now. If I look back on 2012, the end of the year was immensely better than the beginning (thanks to a few people who know who they are), but honestly, nothing all that spectacular really happened:

January
- Started my last semester of graduate school
- Faced my fear of falling by climbing a 30ft vertical ladder

February
- Rekindled my Minecraft addiction
- Got absolutely wasted at Kyle’s house (hilarious text messaging ensued)

March
- Reconnected with an “awesome” boy who turned out to be a huge jerk
- Got the flu

April
- Evolved Monster into the three-screened beast she is today
- Had a panic attack at work over a co-worker dressed as the Easter Bunny
- Went to The Devil’s Carnival Road Show with Kyle and pushed him into Terrance Zdunich

May
- Graduated from Duquesne
- Clayton and Pam came to visit for a couple days

June
- Kennywood with Ratana, Bri, Kyle and Kevin
- IKEA Family picnic and playing softball with everyone
- Rode the T for the first time (am mildly terrified of public transportation)

July
- Spent a weekend away shopping with my mother
- Went with Ratana for her first tattoo and got my second
- Kyle moved home

August
- Chris and Kyle came to visit
- Changed to Home Delivery at IKEA

September
- Had the first contact with my father in 26 years…via Facebook
- Kyle moved back to Pittsburgh and in with me (again)

November
- Got wisdom teeth taken out
- Met Seto for the first time
- Met Lucky and Az for the first time (seriously… love these guys)
- My birthday

December
- Early Christmas with the family leading to an actual Christmas Day alone
- Babysat my cousin’s dog Bailey for 2.5 weeks and decided I want a lab

And yet even with my relatively mild year activity wise, I feel like I came leaps and bounds in other areas:

• I let go of a few of my major inhibitions
• I chose to focus on the future instead of what happened to me in the past
• I removed some unhealthy people, or the memories of them, from my life
• I remembered the things that make me happy and utilized them
• I made actual honest-to-God friends in Pittsburgh

I’m at a point in my life where I feel like I’m exactly where I should be. Yeah, there are areas where my life can improve (i.e. I want to continue losing weight and I definitely need a new job), but  I don’t feel like I’m struggling anymore.

This time I really do have my head above the water; it’s not an act.