I haven’t been motivated to update here in the last few months, but I am trying to turn over a new leaf. Don’t expect this to be a New Year’s resolution or anything, but a real lifestyle journey. Updates are in order! 🙂

Home + Lifestyle

Since September, things in my world have been upside down when it comes to home life. Following Hurricane Ida an uprooted tree came down on our home and all but cut it in half. It was such a scary situation having to be awaken by something like that at 2am. I try not to dwell on it..but the fact of the matter is our lives were spared. Most of the damages took place to Mr. Right’s office space. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that he happened to not be awake working at that time. It’s very unlikely that he’s asleep next to me in bed, but God and our guardian angel mothers were watching over us that night. We made it in time (with some of our belongings) before the roof caved in.

The next obstacles to follow revolved around our home insurer issuing funds to repair the damage and dealing with an inconsistent general contractor. I wish this type of situation on no one, but the reality is a lot of families went through this struggle after the hurricane. Honestly, we are blessed to have our home back as I know that was not the outcome for many.

Love + Relationships

Since these last five months, I’ve grown a new appreciation for my relationship with the Mister. Right before things took place with the hurricane (and evacuating our home), we weren’t on the best of terms. So much has happened to us in 2020, we lost our selves in the grief and it changed us. Despite this tough situation it allowed us to grow together, and truly commit to one another and bettering our relationship. The wedding date has still not be planned yet, but for now it is not what’s important. I will admit it still makes me sad to know that we’ve planned this marriage two years in a row and still have not crossed that line. As always, God has a plan and I must wait for it.

Things with my family, are what they are. I can’t say anything bad but I do long for the closeness and frequent companionship I had with my Mom. I just don’t have that any more. As much as I’d like to see and spend time with my brother more..that’s just not possible. I am thankful for a loving aunt who’s been a second Mother to me, and my cousin (and God sister!) who’s been such a great support. I don’t reach out to them as much as I should as I don’t want to burden them with my random bouts of sadness. If they are happy and content, I don’t want to disturb anyone’s peace or have them worrying about me.

Work Life + Career

I have a few of my coworkers follow me on social media and know I have a blog. I am not sure if they visit here, but since it’s my space I won’t filter my feelings here. Work has been literal dog shit. Things have been on a consistent decline since the start of the pandemic and a lot of it I feel could be handled more professionally and with more concern for the workers’ overall health/well being. Our Human Resources are anything but a resource or treat us like humans. Upper management is a real circus. From the poor work conditions to the lack of respect and concern, its a wonder this place is a revolving door for new hires. I never expected to witness such behavior here; especially since I was so happy when I joined the team in 2018. I’ve learned this is just another notch on my belt of work experience and its time for me to look elsewhere for better opportunities. Even if I find a job with the same pay or slightly less, finding something local to where I live that doesn’t have an hour long commute in both directions is still better than the current state of things.

On the flip side I am excited, albeit nervous, about getting back to my freelance artwork and opening up commissions again. There are a couple projects that I have to finish that were on hold during the hiatus, but for the most part I’ll be available! I can’t wait to get to creating again. Now, what I’ll be creating is a mystery for us all. 😛 Ultimately, I’d like to create YouTube content about my artwork and process. I’ll be revamping my “doll nursery” into a more suitable space with art vibes in mind. There’s a lot to be done and it’ll be a long slow process to work around my regular bills, but it’ll be worth it.

Health + Fitness

I have fallen behind in such a big way since 2019. With each passing month I get farther away from my goals. Life surely knows how to derail your efforts! I refuse to believe all is lost, though. I’ve committed to weightloss journeys before and have had results so I will just do it again. In the last couple of months I’ve done a sleep study assessment to get some insight over the issues I’m having there. No real helpful results so I can only imagine its due to stress and weight gain. Mr. Right and I both have agreed to change our eating habits and start routine walking. The weather and the pandemic has had a part in putting a kink in that plan, but we’re starting off slow with what we can manage around our work schedules. It’s a start!

Finances

I never really talk money on here. Mainly because I’m no expert and I’m usually broke from bad spending habits. Mr. Right has bailed me out of debt several times and I’ve promised him to make a lasting change. Being conscious of my spending allowed me to save up money a lot quicker than I expected. Its been a lot less stressful knowing I have funds incase a doctor’s visit comes up or an unexpected bill.

In April we have plans to fly to Boston for the PAX East convention. I am so excited! This will be our first real vacation since 2018. I definitely want to enjoy myself while Im there so I am going to do my best to have my savings up to par. That will mean no new hobby purchases for awhile. I should be fine on the makeup collecting as around my birthday in December I invested in a few new palettes from BeautyBay that I have yet to crack open.

Overall, I am so grateful to be back home and looking forward to happier things to come in the near future. I look forward to getting back to my beauty blogging and sharing *more* of my life, instead of just being quiet. After all, this is my diary! If I can’t talk to myself, I don’t know who I can confide in. 😀