Blogtember - Life Lately

Today's prompt for Blogtember: A "life lately" post. What you're up to, how you're feeling, how you're doing on your goals, etc. Bonus points for great photos!

 

What I'm Up To: Not much! Been working hard as my department at work is currently understaffed, which means more workload for the 3 of us still there! But, I'm lucky to enjoy what I do so I'm done compaining! :) This weekend we went to an Ontario Hockey League game for our city's team. We normally go every Saturday that we can; we love our hockey and it's a nice 'date night' for the two of us.

We've also been working hard at making our home our own. We have almost everything unpacked, but not too organized, as of yet. My office is truly horrendous and how I manage to work and find anything in there I will never know.

So far, we have the kitchen, bathroom, our bedroom and living room in order.

 source

Next up is the dining room, then I'll get to work on my office! Focusing on one room at a time is key; it helps to stop me from getting too overwhelmed.

How I'm Feeling: Happy. Happy to be in our own home, and excited to truly make it ours. I've been feeling a little under the weather since the day before we moved in, but I'm finally starting to feel like it's leaving. It's been passing around at work lately, and most people have symptoms that last 3-4 weeks - ahhh! Luckily, I am good now (knock on wood)!

 

   

 

Blogtember: Favourite Online Shops

So, I apparently made a blogger boo-boo and forgot to schedule this post! Anyway, since I wanted to share my favourite shops regardless - here it is, my blogtember prompt from September 11th.

Prompt for Blogtember: Share links to your favourite online shops, preferably with a few photos of your favourite items in each shop.

    So hard to choose this list but here we are:   Etsy  

Etsy is an online marketplace (where I sell too!) of handmade artists. I love so many things and artists on Etsy that my wallet would hate me and my husband would probably divorce me if I bought it all! Here are a few items I am currently lusting after:

 

 1 - Cotton Candy Whipped Body Butter / 2 - Wing Print Slouchy Tee / 3 - Sugar Cookie Epic Vegan Lip Balm / 4 - Teal Bird on Cherry Blossom Pillow / 5 - Light Pink Stripe and Color Block Infinity Scarf / 6 - Purse in Grey Stripe Cotton Canvas     Shabby Apple  

I LOVE Shabby Apple's clothing. Everything is so cute and vintage looking. I'm not sure that I could pull some of their styles off, but here are a few of my favourites:

 

 Top Left: Blushing Bride Skirt / Top Right: Waterfront Dress Bottom Left: Block Party Dress / Bottom Right: Bachelorette Dress     Sephora  

Ahh, who doesn't love Sephora? I could spend so much cash here if I let myself. Here are a few products that I am just dieing to try though:

 

 1. Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray

2. Carol's Daughter Olive Oil Infusion At-Home Treatment
3. Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation SPF15
4. Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara
5. Stila Flower Power Lip Glaze Trio
6. Urban Decay Smoked Eyeshadow Palette
7. Sephora Collection Look Color in the Eye Brush Capsule

    Forever 21  

I have a cart full of stuff that I am just waiting to purchase. Here are a few recent wants I have from their amazing selection:

 

Top (Left to Right): Love Joy Cross Sweatshirt / Basic Raglan Top Bottom (Left to Right): Faux Leather Cowl Top / Jacquard Skinny Trousers / Georgette Tunic w/ Belt    

   

 

Blogtember: A moment when my life took a turn

 Linking up again for Blogtember!   

    Today's prompt is: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

Not to be a downer, but as I was thinking about this prompt, the only 2 moments that came to my mind were regarding my parents. Not that I want to relive them again in words, but it's all I can think of when I try to think of a moment changed my life.

First was the moment I realized that my mom wasn't as unbreakable as I had thought. A little of the back story first: My mom had been sick for months. She tried her best to hide it, blame it on other things - for example, she had fallen out of bed a few times, and blamed the dog, or her mattress topper, anything she could so that people wouldn't worry about her, but we did anyway. It was early November when things really started to get noticeable with her. She almost flooded their house by leaving the water running with the plug in; she started running the dishes and then went to bathroom and completely forgot about it. She almost burned the house down when she was cooking eggs on the stove and then fell asleep on the couch. We knew this wasn't her and something was wrong. We convinced her many times (I think 3 to be exact) to go to the emergency room, which she did after much reluctance.. And each time, they said there was nothing wrong and sent her home, much to everyone's dismay.

I remember one night my dad called me in a panic. He had gone out for a few hours to play cards with his friends, and when he returned home, he discovered my mom had fallen getting out of the shower and she couldn't get up on her own and he couldn't help her up by himself. Barry was at work and I tried desperately to reach him, but luckily, my brother drove out that night and helped her up off the floor. She was covered in bruises from that fall, and it was finally that very next day, that she finally admitted herself that something was wrong, so we called an ambulance. We hoped that if she came into the emergency room on an ambulance that they would take things more seriously, which they did. They ended up giving her a cat scan (she had an appointment to have one done through her family doctor but it wasn't scheduled for months).

I had just gotten home from work that day when my dad called saying that we all needed to talk, and that my brother would be over soon to pick me up and we would be heading up to the hospital to meet him there.

My brother and my sister in law picked me up within minutes, we drove back to their place and walked over to the hospital, which was only a block or two away. My sister in law was pushing my niece in her stroller, and my brother ended up walking up ahead and getting across the street before we did. As we waited for the light to change, he went on ahead inside the hospital.

As soon as the automatic doors to emergency opened, I saw my brother and my dad standing there, leaning against a wall. My father was in tears and I knew immediately my life would be forever changed. I wanted to know what was happening, but my dad could hardly speak he was crying to much - this was something I had never seen from him before. He finally managed to get out in between sobs, "Your mother has a brain tumor". I think my brain immediately went into denial, shock and fear all at the same moment. I didn't know what to say or how to react, I just knew that my life would be changed forever from that moment on, and I was right.

Second, was the night my father had his stroke, which was almost exactly 10 months later from when my mom passed away. Barry and I were sitting at home, watching tv .. I think it was around 7pm or 7:30pm. In the evening, we always have our phone ringer off due to a large number of annoying telemarketer calls we receive. I got up from my chair and noticed the phone flashing that there was a new voicemail message.

I checked the callers list and saw that my dad's cellphone had called just a minute or two prior. I called in and listened to the voicemail. That voicemail changed my life forever. It was my dad's friend Karen who left the voicemail, she was with my dad in his car waiting for an ambulance and she said, 'He thinks he has had a heart attack or a stroke.'

I am grateful for whatever strength I had that kept me from falling to the floor. I replayed the message for Barry, and at first, we thought maybe it was a poor joke. My dad was always a joker and played some of the weirdest jokes on people, but I could tell from the fear in her voice that she wasn't acting.

 The next few days were a blur and there were a lot more moments in that time that changed my life, but that initial voicemail was the changer. I knew at that moment that things were going to change, yet again.

I didn't know at the time of either of these moments just the extent of how my life would change and what I would lose, but I knew they had changed my life and everything I had known, somehow.

 

 

Blogtember: Personality Test Results

 I wanted to link up for Blogtember sooner but with the move I wasn't able to, but I'm hoping to keep up for the rest of the month!
Today's Blogtember post: Take this short personality test and respond to your results.  

  As it turns out, my personality type is INFJ - Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging (Introverted Intuition with Extraverted Feeling)   The following portrait of an INFJ has been taken from here:  

The Protector

As an INFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system. 

INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types. 

INFJs place great importance on havings things orderly and systematic in their outer world. They put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives. On the other hand, INFJs operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous. They know things intuitively, without being able to pinpoint why, and without detailed knowledge of the subject at hand. They are usually right, and they usually know it. Consequently, INFJs put a tremendous amount of faith into their instincts and intuitions. This is something of a conflict between the inner and outer worlds, and may result in the INFJ not being as organized as other Judging types tend to be. Or we may see some signs of disarray in an otherwise orderly tendency, such as a consistently messy desk. 

INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature, such as getting strong feelings about there being a problem with a loved one, and discovering later that they were in a car accident. This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized. Consequently, most INFJs are protective of their inner selves, sharing only what they choose to share when they choose to share it. They are deep, complex individuals, who are quite private and typically difficult to understand. INFJs hold back part of themselves, and can be secretive. 

But the INFJ is as genuinely warm as they are complex. INFJs hold a special place in the heart of people who they are close to, who are able to see their special gifts and depth of caring. INFJs are concerned for people's feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone. They are very sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well. Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger. They may tend to internalize conflict into their bodies, and experience health problems when under a lot of stress. 

Because the INFJ has such strong intuitive capabilities, they trust their own instincts above all else. This may result in an INFJ stubborness and tendency to ignore other people's opinions. They believe that they're right. On the other hand, INFJ is a perfectionist who doubts that they are living up to their full potential. INFJs are rarely at complete peace with themselves - there's always something else they should be doing to improve themselves and the world around them. They believe in constant growth, and don't often take time to revel in their accomplishments. They have strong value systems, and need to live their lives in accordance with what they feel is right. In deference to the Feeling aspect of their personalities, INFJs are in some ways gentle and easy going. Conversely, they have very high expectations of themselves, and frequently of their families. They don't believe in compromising their ideals. 

INFJ is a natural nurturer; patient, devoted and protective. They make loving parents and usually have strong bonds with their offspring. They have high expectations of their children, and push them to be the best that they can be. This can sometimes manifest itself in the INFJ being hard-nosed and stubborn. But generally, children of an INFJ get devoted and sincere parental guidance, combined with deep caring. 

In the workplace, the INFJ usually shows up in areas where they can be creative and somewhat independent. They have a natural affinity for art, and many excel in the sciences, where they make use of their intuition. INFJs can also be found in service-oriented professions. They are not good at dealing with minutia or very detailed tasks. The INFJ will either avoid such things, or else go to the other extreme and become enveloped in the details to the extent that they can no longer see the big picture. An INFJ who has gone the route of becoming meticulous about details may be highly critical of other individuals who are not. 

The INFJ individual is gifted in ways that other types are not. Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement. 

My Response:

I have bolded and italicized the key points of the above that I truly relate to. I do believe this is an accurate profile of my personality.. I definitely have a messy desk, love to be creative, work independently, can be a perfectionist, believe in constant growth and improvement, and I am very easygoing and will normally avoid conflicts at all costs.