Weekday Grub: Cauliflower, snap peas and beef

It's really more like a stirfry.

Today was the first time R noticed that I cook barefoot.  Like my mama!  She's to blame for my dinnerware pattern and cute PJ tendencies too.

Influenster Spring Beauty VoxBox

I recently signed up for the Spring Beauty Voxbox from Influenster. And it came today!

I love free stuff.  I've been waiting for this box for almost a month now, when I saw it peeking out of my mailbox today, I couldn't wait to open it.  Influenster sends out sample boxes to its members to review.

This was the highlight of my day.

Here's what I got:

Sheer Cover Duo Concealer - I knew that a concealer was included in this box because I had to answer a questionnaire to determine my skin tone.  I've seen this available as a MyGlam sample, but I'm not dying to try it.  I'm a loyal creature and tend to stick to brands I know will work well on me.
Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash - This is a deluxe sized sample.  I always read good reviews for Aveeno, so I'm sure this one will be good.
Chapstick Lip Shield 365 - I've never been a Chapstick fan.  I like a little color and/or a little flavor to my lip products, so this isn't what I usually go for.  I might try it once, but it'll probably find its way into R's snowboarding gear.
Sally Hansen Salon Effects - I always read reviews about how easy it is to apply these things.  I tried once and it all fell apart.  What am I doing wrong?
Bath & Body Works Fine Fragrance Mist - I'm not a fan of the Pink Chiffon scent, which is a shame because this is a full-size sample!  All is not lost though, it'll go towards making my apartment smell nice.
Soyjoy Bar - I once got a sample, so I'm familiar with Soyjoy.  I'll be munching on this one soon.

Weekday Grub: Chicken Stirfry

I didn't eat this all by myself.  I shared with R, that's why there's 2 forks. 

Skinny Jeans

I was so excited to put on my jeans this morning.  There were no muffin tops or donuts to mock me. Now I just need to keep the weight off. Hrmmm...

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Birchbox!

I got my Birchbox today! I get excited every time I see a box peeking out of my mailbox. It reminds me of when we were younger and bought surprise bags from Sanrio.  It's a perfect storm of excitement from getting something I wouldn't normally pick up combined with getting lots of cute little tchotchkes for less than regular price.    

Anyways, I'm not that impressed with this month's Gossip Girl edition.  I love Stila eyeliners, so I will definitely use that.  The other things? Eh, we'll see.

Surgery, Pt.2

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Not much happened between scheduling the surgery and the actual surgery itself.  I made a point to enjoy all the too-greasy foods I'd be banned from after my surgery, drank too much alcohol, and generally enjoyed myself.  I almost didn't want to go through with it.

When I notified everyone that needed to know about the surgery, the big question kept coming up: "Are you nervous?" I wasn't nervous for the 3 weeks leading up to it.  I don't know why, it didn't seem to make sense, since being nervous wouldn't solve anything.  Besides, R was worked up enough.

The night before my sugery, I could barely sleep.  It wasn't nerves, it just seemed like a laundry list of to-do items.  My surgery was scheduled for 8am in the morning and I arrived at 6:30 for registration.  I changed my clothes, got connected to an IV, and just talked to R to kill the time.  The nurse wheeled me into the operating wait area and we waited for my surgeon to arrive.  Most of the nurses I was passed off to found it strange that I was removing gallbladder.  Apparently, most patients are female, overweight, and over the age of forty.  I only fit into one of those categories.

My anesthesiologist was nice, he was happy to describe what his role was and how my body would react to the anesthesia.  My surgeon was 10 minutes late, but who was really counting?  After I maneuvered myself onto the table, the anesthesiologist gave me a mask and I was knocked out less than a minute later.

When I woke up, I was very drowsy and could barely answer the nurse's questions.  After a quick wound check, I was wheeled up to my room.  A group of nurses assembled in my room to transfer me from gurney to bed.  It was so awkward.  I'm glad I was so drowsy, I'm sure my butt was exposed through my untied gown as I shuffled.

R came just as I was settling in.  I fell asleep after the nurse injected painkillers into my IV stream.  I was tethered to that wretched IV, trips to the restroom were extremely difficult.  In between naps and family visits, I was quite uncomfortable.  I just wanted to go home.  When R left, I could barely sleep. The room was really close to the nurses' station and it was noisy all night.  It was a very rough night.

When R came back the next morning, I could not wait to leave.  I had a liquid breakfast and waited for my surgeon to come and change my dressings.  Unfortunately, the hospital did not give me solids as my doctor requested, so I had to stay for lunch.  I had to prove that I could eat solid foods and keep it down.  After I signed the discharge papers, I still had to wait an eternity for my meds prescription and my father-in-law.  The trip home seemed to take a lot longer than the actual 5 minute drive.

When R opened the door, I was glad to be home.  It also helped that I cleaned like a furious madwoman before the surgery.

Surgery, Pt.1

I've decided to use a few blog posts to write about my surgery.  It isn't really graphic, but isn't very interesting either.  I just wanted to be able to reflect on my thinking process.

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It's been a little over a month since my surgery.  The procedure is called a laparoscopic cholecystectomy, a fancy way of saying they took out my gallbladder.  A few months prior, I was experiencing really horrible abdominal pains.  It felt like my intestines were strangling themselves.  Since most of the pain happened in the middle of the night and disappeared by morning, I thought it was due an upset stomach.  Then, for about 2 weeks in January, the pain became consistent.  After a trip to my PCP and to the ER, I still had no diagnosis.  My blood tests revealed nothing and I could not schedule an ultrasound until after my birthday.  Poor R bought me a heating pad which became my constant companion for 2 weeks.  


I worried that the pain would interfere and spoil my birthday plans, but they miraculously disappeared by then.  After a lovely weekend celebrating my birthday, I went in for an ultrasound.  The tech was a young woman about my age.  She didn't seem to have many patients, I still don't know why I had to schedule the ultrasound three weeks out.  She told me that my gallbladder was impacted by gallstones, but the report would not be official until a week later.  


I spent the entire week googling "gallstones."  When the report became official, my PCP referred me to a gastrointerologist.  He spent a good 5 minutes with me.  He told me that I had a gallstone the size of a dime, pressed on a few areas near my gallbladder, and asked if I were in any pain.  Since I was no longer experiencing pain, he recommended an elective surgery to remove it. Then he asked me which surgeon I wanted.  I let him choose.


I called the surgeon's office and scheduled an appointment.  3 weeks out again.  Because I wasn't in pain, he didn't need to see me immediately.  It was a very long wait, R and I discussed the option on many occasion.  We decided to remove it because he couldn't bear to see me in that much pain again.

Weekday Grub: Sugar snap peas & cauliflower stir-fry

I ate a big heaping plate of veggies for dinner today.  I totally meant to capture it before I ate, but I forgot.  Here's my plate after I ate 2/3 of it.

Since my surgery, I've drastically cut carbs from my diet.  When R ordered Texas toast for lunch today, I eyed the buttered slices with very eager eyes.  Being the wonderful husband he is, he offered me a bite and I stopped after 4 bites.  It was delicious.  This carb thing is still a work in progress.

While we're still talking about my dinner, that's a roll of mailing tape near my veggies.  We've developed this bad habit of eating at the coffee table in front of the TV.  At one point during our newlywed bliss, we were pretty consistent eating in the kitchen on our dinner table.  Then the table became a dumping ground for items with no home.  I've been meaning to clear off the table so that we can go back to eating in the kitchen.  For MONTHS now.  I'll get to it, I promise.

Batter Bakery

R and I went to Batter Bakery a few weeks ago.  We had some time to kill and popped in.  I really wanted to try the the chocolate cake (because it was one of those days).  I didn't end up getting any cake.  I was distracted by the bagged cookie ends section.

I got a bag of Meyer lemon pink salt and a bag of vanilla and lavender sea salt.  I ate the whole bag of Meyer lemon pink salt (over the course of 4 days!), but I didn't care much for the vanilla and lavender.  I don't think I'm a lavender anything fan.

Occupational slump

About a year ago, I walked across the stage with a placeholder diploma (my official graduation was in July, but the ceremony was in May).  Since then, I've been on a slew of interviews and whatnots.  After about the fifth rejection, something snapped.  I felt like I lost my confidence, my future, and my livelihood. I've lost track of how many applications I've submitted into the the abyss since then.  I can't quite describe it, it was like this  small spark that I had going into interviews.  Not saying I aced them all, but I always went in and left feeling like I had accomplished something.

I noticed how I just couldn't seem shake off the nerves and the gloomy uncertain future in the last two interviews I went to. I've been searching for that spark, but I've mostly found little flickers with larger doses of despair and negativity, it's like condemning myself before the interview starts!

I'd like to think that I'm working on finding my spark, it's definitely a work in progress.