You know it's true!

Not long ago, the season ender for Downton Abbey aired.
I did not appreciate how the season ended one single bit. It left me angry and upset and with no desire to watch the next season. Which of course, I will watch when it airs because, lets be honest, I couldn't not watch it!

Recently I've been watching The Walking Dead. I'm almost caught up, but have a few more episodes to go.

I know, Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead. What do they possibly have in common? Well, I'll show you with a very badly created Venn diagram which I created during a few moments of down time.

Come on, you know it's true!

Hair

I haven't much talked about my hair lately. It's growing back, and I think rather quickly. But it's got this curl to it.

I know, I know. Some people pay good money to get curls in their hair. And I have in the past curled my hair. But with a curling iron. To get some nice soft, curls. These are crazy curls. That make my hair look kind of big (because it's short but thick!). Long story short, I mostly hate my hair.

I know, I know. It's "only" hair. But it's not, it's so much more. I think most people get it, but every so often I'll hear about how it's only hair or how someone has never been upset with their hair, even after a bad haircut. Well, I think that's awesome (no really, this is not sarcastic). I do not feel that way. Not after losing my hair during chemotherapy, not after it has come back in in this strange form that I am not used to. I am not above being upset about my hair.

A few weeks ago, I treated myself to a haircut. It is only the second cut I've had since losing my hair - the first being about a year ago.

Before I show you that, though, let's take a trip back in time!

Here is a picture from February 2011 (with my oldest daughter)

 

February 2012 (with my mom)

Before and after pictures from haircut this February

This cut made me mostly like my hair again. Granted, it helped that the stylist straightened it for me. I haven't been able to fully recreate it at home, but I can get pretty close with a straightener. Even the husband has admitted he likes it better straight.

After getting a haircut, I got brave and decided to dye my hair too. I will probably never do this again because it didn't work the first time, so we had to redo it and it's still not as even as I would like it, but it's not as bad as it was LOL!

Then I realized my hair was long enough to get a little braid in it. So, um, I might be braiding it a lot lately LOL!



And yes, this excites me. Being able to do something with my hair if I want to. Also, I feel like it's an outward symbol of me getting better and feeling good. You can't look at me anymore and wonder if I'm sick. There is no outward sign. No one stares at my bald head anymore. It really is a great thing!

So it may "only" be hair, but really? It is so much more! 

Face Lift

I gave the blog a little face lift this weekend!
The background, once again, comes from The Cutest Blog On The Block.
I also have 3 columns, which I've always wanted, but used to be near impossible on blogger.
I also went through and edited the tags. They are much broader now - so there are fewer of them.

Hope you all enjoy!

Dare I Put It In Print?

I hesitate to put this in print, to make it "official" but, I feel great. I mean, I really feel great.

I know, you're probably wondering why I would hesitate to share this. Well, it seems that just about every time I think things are starting to look better, wham. Something happens. The last several years have felt like 1 step forward, 3/4ths step back. I'm trying to not dwell on this. I mean, let's face it, life is a series of good and bad things. We hope for the good, but the bad doesn't happen if there's too much good. It just happens because that's how life is.

And right now? Life is feeling pretty good. My energy is coming back. Physically I am feeling great. Mentally I am feeling great. Great. I know I'm using that word far too many times, but I can't stop saying it. I mean, I really do feel great!

Last week was the turning point - I think my body just hit a point where it started to feel healed. I can't lie: having energy and not feeling pain? Is amazing. That in itself was an instant mood lifter. It allowed me to get out of my own head so to speak. {Yes. I was stuck in my own head and it was more than time for me to get unstuck.} So things getting better, helped things get even better, if you can follow that!

It's been good for everyone. It feels like there's a sense of normalcy around the house again. To do lists are being tackled. The house is getting (mostly) cleaned. Schoolwork is getting done. All of this is good, but more importantly, we're having fun again. Laughing, working on fun projects together. I feel like I'm really connecting with my family again.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring. I expect there will be a few more bumps along the way, but I'm not going to think about that now. I'm going to try to enjoy this. This moment. When I'm feeling great.

Just in case though, I'll probably knock on a lot of wood ;-)

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope that whatever today brings you, that you are shown love and are able to share it with others.

3 words ...

Alright, so I know it's February and I'm a little bit behind. To be fair, January wasn't exactly the best month for me.

Anyway, I actually picked these three words a few weeks ago, but haven't managed to make it over here to share with you. {on a related side tangent, I really haven't been on my computer much lately and it's not necessarily a bad thing, other than I haven't been over here much}. But, anyway, last year I picked three words to guide my year. I think they were good ones: celebrate, enjoy, heal. I may not have always been feeling them, but I did more than I didn't.

Sometime in mid-December I started to think about what words I would pick for 2013. Last year the words came to me pretty quickly but this year I had to really think about it. And I thought about it. And thought some more. And then, just a little bit more. But one day it hit me and my words came to me.

Learn. Explore. Grow.

I like these words. I feel like I can head a lot of different directions with them (and they've already helped motivate me to sign-up for some fun things I'll share soon!)

Now, I'm not an artist. I like to play around with drawing and coloring, but I have no hopes of seeing my pictures on a gallery wall somewhere. And I'm really okay with that. I'm still going to play around and have fun. Last year, I talked about turning my words into some sort of artwork and then never did. So this year, almost immediately I did something.

{side note: I used the Paper by fifty three iPad app. I love it. I even bought the extras. And no, I was not compensated to tell you about it. I just love it that much}

So there you go. My words for the year. Can't wait to see where they help take me!

What about you? Any words/resolutions/guides for the new year?