2013: A quick review

Well everyone.... here we are in the last hours of 2013! For me, there were very high points and some low in this year so I decided to give you guys a quick review of MY 2013.

• I dove face-first into wedding planning, and busted my nose. Lol seriously, I thought I could handle planning my wedding from a distance on my own AND finishing nursing school. I was so wrong. After coming to terms with not being able to do it on my own I linked up with a wedding planner local to East TX and the magic was made!!
• I got married!! In July I pledged my life to the man God placed on this earth especially for me, and I THANK Him everyday for my husband! Our wedding day was the bomb.com and will forever be one of the best days of our life.... The love we share is like no other, and I can't wait to see what is in store for us in 2014!

• I started and finished my last year of nursing school. I am more than happy to be done with nursing school, these past 2 years have really showed how much perseverance I am capable of displaying. Even when I flubbed up and had to repeat a course (completely: lecture and lab) I stuck my chest out and dug my heels in deeper and did better that semester than I imagined. Then by the grace of God I was able to catch up in the summer and graduate on time! I was pinned  earlier this month, and I know I'll have those two important letters behind my name in no time.
• I finally cut my hair. Yes, after subconsciously considering but consciously and verbally putting it off I took the plunge with my last relaxer and got my hair cut evenly. My initial plan was to let my hair grow out as much as possible and then cut in sometime in early 2014.... but I just got tired of it not looking as healthy as I knew it could. So chop! I'm rocking a layered little bob and now I'm currently dealing with under-processed ends that used to be in the middle of my strands. I can't wait for my hair to grow out more so I can keep chopping on these frizzy ends.
• I am becoming more and more at peace with being alone. At the beginning of the year, I felt at times so empty and hurt that I didn't have many (or any) stable friends since coming to San Antonio. I used to make sure my friends knew how I felt about our growing distance and I would whine to my husband about not having any friends while he had turned his coworkers into good friends; It sucked so bad. As the year went on though, I slowly learned that as you grow closer and closer to the person that you were designed to be you may find yourself surrounded by only a few from your past or sometimes no one but your spouse. Its been bittersweet, but I am grateful for clarity. 
• One last thing....... that I can't really share until next year but just know it's great :)

Overall I feel as though 2013 has been more than good to me and my husband and neither one of us can wait for the new year! I pray that we continue to be blessed and grow stronger not only in our faith but in our relationship to one another! Happy New Year to everybody and be safe tonight wherever you were going!

Mind Right Monday

Yay another week down..... And the beginning of a new one! I'm linking up with Dani over at Okdani.com and sharing my goals and the things I am thankful for this week..... Leggo:

Goals for this week:

• Cleanup around the apt and de-clutter at least one room
• Study at least 2hrs everyday I don't work and do 75 practice questions those days as well
• Complete admission application for school
• Send in photos for graduation ceremony
• Schedule appointments I've been putting off for over a month
• Drink at least 2 full water bottles a day..... this will tricky sense I've been craving juice lately
• Do one thing special for myself..... that doesn't include going out to eat!
• Do 1 page for the scrapbook
• Workout at least 2x 
• Create at least 2 more posts for my blog...... this one is tough right now but I will definitely attempt!

I am thankful for:

• This life I'm living right now
• The strange extremely good health I'm in..... after not being seen by a Dr. in YEARS people
• My lovely husband and the time we got to spend together even though he was out on his job
• Water filters
• My job status and the flexibility of being "as needed" right now.... really gives me time to study!
• The things that are on their way in our lives

I'm loaded down this week, right? It's all good though, I love being busy. I will confess that if you read my MRM last week then you noticed I said I would do some scrapbooking..... Never got around to starting it but I am determined to start it this week, I promise!

What are your goals this week? Are you thankful for anything? If you want to do your own MRM don't hesitate to link up here and at Okdani.com so we can check you out and cheer you on! 

Have a fabulous week :)

Mind Right Monday

One day late, but I still want to share my goals and the things I am grateful for with you guys for this week......  Let's go it's Mind Right Monday (Tuesday)

Goals:

• Study at least 3hrs everyday I do not work
• Try and do additional practice questions everyday
• Finish at least 2 pages for scrapbook this week
• Do something fun/exciting/special for myself

I'm grateful for:

• The many blessings that God has showered on us recently
• Getting to spend time with my husband.... Even if it's stolen time :)
• Peace and quietness
• The study floor at the school library...... This place is really a Godsend for me!

This will be my week in a nutshell..... I'm sure it will either go according to plan or be not even close; so far so good right now!

A to Z of Bee

As I was doing my usual blogstalk from my blogger newsfeed, I came across this self-survey that Dani did on her page and decided it was too fun not to repost! 

A. Age: 24

B. Bed size: Full. It was MY bed when I moved to SA then it became OUR bed....Just waiting on a bigger place to bring out the bigger bed!

C. Chore that you hate:  Washing dishes... doesn't everybody though? I hate the way it makes my nails all soggy and bendable.

D. Dogs: None..... yet.

E. Essential start of your day: Saying my prayers; then if Lewis is home waking him up, snuggling and breakfast or if he isn't....... definitely breakfast

F. Favorite color: Purple! Not every shade of it but most. Growing fond of teal too.

G. Gold or Silver: White gold is so pretty to me, but it depends on the outfit.

H. Height: 5'4 1/2..... Halfs count!

I. Instruments you play: I can peck on a piano pretty good, keep a beat on a snare drum and actually am not a terrible drum set player. I was in the percussion section of band in H.S. 

J. Job: At the moment I'm a nurse assistant, but that should change by the end of the year!

K. Kids: None yet :( I have to curb my baby fever by reminding myself that I should probably start my career first

L. Live: San Antonio.

M. Mother’s name:  Gloria. I call her Globug in conversation though lol

N. Nicknames: Bee, Brit, B.Bailey, Body Butter.... whatever slips ya slide lol oh and Babe by Lewis

O. Overnight hospital stays: None.

P. Pet peeves: I got a couple but I can never name one until someone does it. One I can remember right now is when people "scratch" their throats by making that awful snort and suction noise.... you know it when you hear it.

Q. Quote from movie: Too many them all but for this I'll say "Miss Peaches! You better come get this rottweiler" from Low down dirty Shame

R. Right or left-handed. Lefty and proud of my paper-turning-sideways-to-write self!

S. Siblings: 2 brothers from mom and uhm......7 brothers including one of my maternal brothers and 1 sister on dads side 

T. Tattoos: 1 on my left calf.

U. Underwear: Ha! I'm a bikini/boyshorts kinda girl mainly.... but I do enjoy the occasional thong 

V. Vegetable you hate: Green peas! They have no pleasant taste at all! Doesn't matter what you do to them they still taste like shizniie

W. What makes you run late: Most days it's trying to figure out what to do with my hair

X. X-rays you’ve had: Teeth, face, and foot

Y. Yummy food you make: I make a mean batch of nacho/rotel dip, porkchops, and the first food I learned how to make: Spaghetti.

Z. Zoo animal: Sloth. It's slowness frustrates me and cracks me up at the same time. Plus those rape sloth pictures had me reeling for hours when they were circulating lol

I think everybody should do this! If you do one on your page, don't forget to link up to this post to let me know so I can some check you out!

Mind Right Monday

Time for another week of goals and thankfuls....... Get ya mind right Monday!


Goals:

• Study at least 3hrs everyday I don't work
• Do at least 75 practice questions a day
• Up my intake of water
• Start scrapbook

Thankful for:

• This life I have been blessed with 
• My husband
• Little vacations
• Patience
• Wigs.... and their versatility

This is me this week, what are you up to? Link up or comment below! Hope everyone has a great week :)

Series: Updating my life......Protective stylin'

I was growing tired of the hassle that came with the protective styles I was used to wearing:

Individual braids: I first scour the city to find someone I didn't know but halfway trusted to install the braids AND not have to worry about them running a lighter up and down the braid. Then I stress over the amount of money and time I'm about to give up for it swearing "these are going to stay up for months!"..... Only to take them down in 6wks. WOMP.

Mind Right Monday

A new week is here and it's time to get ya mind right for it......

Mind Right Monday!

Mind Right Monday

Another week is upon us and as always I feel as though I need to prepare my mind to tackle the week....... 

It's MIND RIGHT MONDAY!

Goals:

• Take and pass my FINAL final exam of nursing school
• Run errands
• Start brainstorming new goals
• Love on my husband
• Drink water
• Exercise at least 2x this week

Thankful:

• My life, health and strength
• Lewis and his never ending love and support
• Soft beds and pillows
• For everyone who ever created a way to do a task without spending gobs of money (the cheap person inside of my thanks you guys a lot!)

If you haven't caught it yet, I am officially INITO with nursing school!! Don't worry a post about that will be here shortly......

Mind Right Monday

Excuse me for missing last week, by the time I go time to post it was late in the week..... Nobody wants a mind right Monday on a Thursday, right? Didn't think so either.

Time to get ya mind right for the week! Got some goals and thankfuls for you guys here they go:

Goals:

• Study at least 1 hr everyday for my final
• Take as many practice exams as I can before my exit exam on Wed
• Clean up around the house
• Drink plenty of water
• Exercise at least 2x

I'm thankful for:

• Life, health and strength
• Lewis
• Finally being at the end of nursing school
• Our Brita water filtering container...... ya'll just don't know how much money we save by not having to buy water bottles!
• Having a job......  no matter how frustrated I get some shifts

So those are my goals and thankfuls, what are yours? Don't forget you can link up to this post below to share yours or feel free to comment!

Have a fabulous week :)

Relaxer update

After having my sew-in  up for around 4 weeks I had no other choice but to take it down, it was becoming difficult to blend my leave out with the hair since I wasn't flat ironing it. At the take down I was 10 wks post relaxer and I felt like 13 wks! My hair was so unmanageable, along with the tangles from shed hair that hadn't been allowed to escape for 4 weeks was my new growth and the under processed portions of my hair that were NOT allowing me to accurately comb through my hair without unnecessary breakage. So I decided not to wait any longer and got a relaxer at 11 wks.

Mind Right Monday

It's been months since I've done one of these..... I feel kind of bad because I think folks really liked them. Guess it's time to dust off my template lol

It 's Monday people and although I've been seriously slacking on this, I want to get back into the habit of getting my mind right for the week! What better way than to share my goals and what I am thankful for.....

Let's begin:

Goals:

• Study class material BEFORE class
• Brush up on my public speaking skills before my presentations this week
• Grocery shop/ run errands
• Take bridal gown to cleaners..... don't judge me!
• Work out at least 2x
• Relax
• Drink more water

I am grateful for:

• My husband and the time we get to spend together.... even if it's a small window
• Almost being done with school- 2 more weeks!!
• A soft bed when I'm tired
• Our Brita water filter
• Netflix

This is pretty much my week! What are goals for this week? Are you grateful for anything? Remember you can comment or link up to this page with your own MRM!! Make this week count!

Schools back in....

And it marks the beginning of the countdown til I finish my program!

I had my last first day of school yesterday and it felt weird. Just to know that in a few short months I'll be finished with school..... makes me feel a combination of excited, nervous, anxious and relieved emotions on any given day. I won't know how to act when I finish......

Wait, yes I will

AAAYYYEEEE!! *In my loud ratchet voice* Lol

Right now though I need to focus on completing this one last class which I am currently in the swing of now. So far my clinical experience MAY not be what I hoped for, for the sake of graduating though I plan to grin and bear it..... with LOTS of prayer! <----- No lie.

Wishing everyone returning to school this fall success this semester!!!

 

Series: Updating my life

There comes a time in every woman's life when they evaluate and strategize (if necessary) about if and how they need to make changes to themselves..... 

Getting married has brought something to my attention: I need an update.

*I sort of talked about it in this post*

Since I have identified and am now fully aware of my need, it's time to figure out what exactly needs to change and where I should start...... Simple right? You'd be surprised how complicated I tend to make things :)

These are the things I feel as though need some updating:

• Wardrobe/accessories/shoes
• Home decor
• Hair

My wardrobe issue is actually an ongoing thing, since the beginning of the year I've been trying to get that together..... and failed miserably. Plus in the past 6 months I've given away alot of my clothes so it causes me to look like a rerun more often than not...... BUT! It doesn't stop me from trying again.... and again..... and again lol My main issue is that whenever I go into a store I don't see anything I like or I feel like whatever I do see that has potential, there are like 3 other girls right behind me picking up the same item and they are about 5 or 6 years younger! Does this mean I still have high school style? Or am I shopping in the wrong department? 

 Our apt decor could definitely use an update mainly because, well we don't actually have any. What I mean is there isn't much...... flow. Sure there are a few decorations but nothing really goes together, on purpose? I struggle with this because our space is not massive so if there is too much going on, it makes the place look junky and I hate that! So really the deal is to find ways to decorate while keeping the space as open and de-cluttered as possible. There's a challenge...... 

My hair. Nothing is wrong with my hair, it's growing fine and recovering rather nicely thank you ! It's just....  boring. I think that's my real problem; I am bored with my hair. No, I don't want to cut it and although I've been thinking of color I don't plan to do anything permanent at the moment. My hairstyles are what have me in a funk about my entire head. I'm always putting my hair up in some type of bun or clip, I can't ever find anything cute to do with it! Then I can never think of anything cute and quick to do if hubby and I want to go out to eat or decide to do something spontaneous. It's frustrating. Maybe I should start back going to the salon on a more regular basis..... I don't know yet though.

I'm sure there are other areas in my little life that need some updating but right now I feel as though these need the most attention so I'll focus here first. Really excited about rerouting my energy towards things that will help in my quest of channeling the wife inside of me.... Cause right now I still don't feel like one.

Is that normal? Let's not even think about what's normal and what isn't lol..... I will try to update on this topic at least once a week so be on the look out for it:)

I'm ready to update my life.... are you? You should join me! I would love to have some buddies in this journey; you don't have to do the same ones as me, you could update any area of your life whether it be work, school, or personal-related.... we can all use some updating! Leave a comment, link up to this page or do both!! 

Full speed ahead

Suddenly this is what my life is doing.... MOVING.

It seems like two weeks ago, I really had nothing going on and now....... things are becoming a blur because everything is going so quickly. Time has come to send out wedding invitations, I got accepted into summer school (3 days before the class started) I HAVE A BIRTHDAY COMING UP,  Lewis and I are currently making plans for after the wedding and we have 52 days until we get married. 

It may not actually seem like a lot but in my little mind, these things are definitely piling up..... and fast. I welcome all of it though because this building stress leads to good results! I just need to handle one thing at a time as much as possible and not let good stress turn into bad stress.

It's unreal to me how I am about to accomplish all the major goals I set for myself a few years ago.... I found myself asking "what will I do once I complete the last goal?" The answer is super simple: create new ones! I am less than 4 months out from finishing this chapter in my life....... It only makes sense to begin a new chapter and that's what I plan to do :)

Have a good day!!

My strange jealousy

A few of my friends are pregnant right now, which is the beginning of such an exciting and beautiful time in their lives. As a friend it's my JOB to be overly excited for them and ask lots of questions and listen to their concerns and hope and aspirations for the unborn child.......So why was I instead strangely jealous of them?

Weekend plans

1 exam down, 3 more to go! And if I keep making grades like the one I made this week, the other exams should be something to look forward to!!

Since I unofficially don't have to study for anything this weekend (I should ALWAYS be studying, but I just took an exam and I don't have the next one for another week and a half) my weekend plans are as follows:

• Finish my critical thinking paper
• Clean up the house 
• Pay bills
• Run errands that I've been putting off because of studying
• Treat myself to some retail therapy
• Wash my hair
• Workout......

In no particular order of course! My favorite item on that list: Retail therapy! Lewis told me I could get myself something nice.... on him! Love that man :)

After all that is said and done it's back to just chilling at home, surfing the web and preparing for my next week of work, clinical and class.

Hope you all have a dashing weekend!!!! Do you have any plans this weekend?

Wash day: The struggle

Oh straight hair, how I will miss thee...... Does anyone else feel sad whenever they do the first wash after the relaxer? Or is that just me? Rollersets, airdrying and clipped up hair are the only spice in my future. I feel kinda down because I know once the water hits it, it won't be straight like that for weeks.... maybe even longer.  And even then my hair will not get THAT straight again until I get another relaxer! Lewis gets a little frustrated too, he decided to tell me the day I got it done "Please let me just enjoy seeing you with your hair down for a few days before you put it away for the next 3 months!" That made me feel bad :/

Refraining from heat is for the health of my hair though so I should really be like "no pain, no gain"...... Right?

The struggle is real!!

Relaxer update

Decided to take me sew-in down after 4 wks because my scalp was itchy something awful...... and since I'm in a no heat challenge blending my hair with the weave was becoming more and more difficult. The style I wore is great as a protective style for me and I plan to definitely re-visit it again! My hair was 10wks post when  I took the sew-in out but I wanted to make sure my scalp and hair was really clean and pre-treated so I waited an extra week to relax. I was looking for a chelating shampoo locally but ended up settling for a hard water shampoo from Sally's by Ion when I couldn't find one. In my opinion, that shampoo was money well spent! I hadn't felt my hair hold moisture like that in.......EVER lol. It got my hair way cleaner than the clarifier I had been using (since the beginning of my hair journey) but when I think about it then I was dealing with different water too so, I won't trash talk my old faithful!

I went back to Amanda (who did my last relaxer) and she hooked me up like last time. She actually gave me a complimentary DC which I was appreciative of! I tried to explain to her that my hair was still underprocessed but I guess because she couldn't flat out see the texture difference (when my hair isn't straightened, it's very hard to see what's new growth and what's relaxed... O.o awh lawd) when applying the relaxer, she didn't get to go over the underprocessed hair like we planned. She could really see what I was talking about once she fully washed my hair and was getting ready to put me under the dryer.

"Oh wow. You have about 2 1/2 inches of underprocessed hair all over!" was her response after she examined my strands.......Finally somebody sees what I see! We talked about what I should do about it and came up with a plan. I feel like I'm in good hands!


Enough babbling, on to the results!

I am thrilled to have such noticeable growth from one stretch to the next! Although my hair is still uneven, it's filling it nicely and that is something to be happy about. The longest piece measures down to APL and the rest of my hair is not too far behind it! Amanda took the courtesy of showing me the broken strands that are the reason behind my thin and uneven strands..... So now I know what I need to focus on.

My next relaxer will be 1-2wks before my wedding, which puts me at either 14 or 15 wks post...... I think baggying my ends and putting my hair away is the best way for me to retain most if not all of the length I gain this stretch!

I'm ready.

Easter Sunday

Today is the day that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ rose from the dead after dying on the cross for our sins! I just feel so blessed that I serve a God who is capable of all things!!! I hope you all are having a delightful Easter and enjoying the time you have with family and loved ones :)

Lewis was able to come back in town for the holiday weekend after going back out to work, which is great for us because we get to spend that much more time together! We attended early service this morning so we have just been lounging around every since then. I did a little bit of school work for my clinical and now I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with some potatoes for dinner...... I should hurry up and figure it out because it won't be long before my little bear comes out of hibernation searching for food lol.......

Just wanted to wish everyone a very lovely Happy Easter!!

My hair, currently.

Remember when I talked about getting a bob? I went ahead and took the plunge and got it installed last weekend. At first I didn't like the length or the amount of hair left out to blend, but with all new things I try I had to let it grow on me. Now I love my hair! Best thing is everyone around me love my hair too (thought it was real!) which puts more confidence in my hair style.....Lewis didn't even recognize me at first glance ::role play anyone?:: 

Added from my Google+

Via instagram: @mrsbeeimme

I plan to leave the hair in for about 5-6wks. Hopefully it lasts that long without much problem. Now to get my sew-in regimen together! If anybody has in tips on how to take care of your hair while wearing a sew-in PLEASE don't hesitate to comment! Thanks!