He Is Risen!

Happy Easter, everyone! He is Risen!

Easter is definitely at the top of my favorite holidays list. I love the feeling of renewal and love! I also love dying eggs, eating friend chicken and deviled eggs with the family, and of course my dad's (and mine) favorite hymn is sung at church on Easter.

Side note: not my church, but this arrangement is very similar to the one our church uses.

My dad walks around the house humming this all day. And his imitation of the trumpets at church always cracks me up.

I tried to pick my favorite verse to post here, but I can't pick a favorite. They're all so wonderful and fill me with God's overwhelmingly powerful love! I guess I'd have to go with this one though...
"Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!"

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter with your friends and families.

Yummalicious!

The other night, a few friends and I got together for a little homemade dinner and laughs (we're hilarious, trust me). My friend, Lindsay, provided the main entree (some DELISH sandwiches), a veggie, and some deviled eggs and I made some Funfetti brownies. But I have to tell you about these sandwiches. She found the recipe on Pinterest, so I'm sharing the pin so you can all make them. They were SO good and look super easy to make.

Source: sundaybaker.net viaLindsay on Pinterest

The recipe calls for only ham, but Lindsay made some turkey sandwiches, too. I ate the turkey and it was delightful. I'm not a cheese fan, so she left the cheese off of a few for me (which I greatly appreciate), and they were SO good. They're called Funeral Sandwiches, but these are anything but depressing. The marinade/glaze on them was so good.

And deviled eggs are a good side for anything, let's be real.

Have you ever tried this recipe before? Does it look like something you'd try? I'll definitely be trying these on my own some time (and Lindsay says they're her new go-to party food).

Grad School, Here I Come!

I'M GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL!!!!!!!

I just got my official acceptance to TCU and I'm feeling AWESOME. (I'd like to think my excitement about grad school is how newly engaged couples feel - THAT's how excited I am!)

I got rejected from one school just before all of my hospital junk happened, so I was starting to feel discouraged about grad school and life in general what with all the fun of the last month(literally, it's been exactly 4 weeks since I was admitted to the hospital).

I have until May 4 to decide, but let's be real, Fort Worth is calling my naaaaame!

This has seriously made my day. I wasn't feeling too great and this just totally lifted my spirits!

Things to Remember

Since I'm kind of living day-to-day on how I'm feeling these days, I thought I'd post some quotes that I'm finding inspirational and remind me to push through the weakness I feel so easily. (Also, how about some applause for getting out of the hospital a week ago! Sleeping in a hospital is the worst and I've SO enjoyed my own bed this week.)

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Frances on Pinterest

This is SO true. I couldn't (and still can't) thank my friends enough for their visits and flowers and well wishes. It meant (and still means) the world to me and seriously brightened my life last week).

Source: polyvore.com via Frances on Pinterest

Everyone should believe this about themselves.

Source: sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net via Frances on Pinterest

Loved this movie. I want to read the book, but since I know it'll be so much better, I want to wait until the movie is fully out of my head (anyone else like that?).

Source: artoflovely.com via Frances on Pinterest

This is a big one for me right now.

Source: galileogst.tumblr.com via Frances on Pinterest

I am the absolute biggest worry-wart. Anyone else?

I hope these quotes are as helpful to you as they are to me. Pinterest has the best quotes (and some are even super cute)!

Sunday Social

I'm linking up for Sunday Social again! This week's theme is "Never Have I Ever"-type questions!

1. What is one movie you are terrified to watch? I'm a really big baby. I HATE scary movies. I can't even watch the trailers for them. I'll mute the TV, change the channel, close my eyes, etc to avoid them at home. If I'm at the movie theater I either get on my phone one last time before the movie actually starts or I stare at whatever treat I'm enjoying. I hate scary movies.

2. What is one TV show you have always wanted to get into but haven't yet? Dr. Who, but thanks to Lindsay I've seen the first two episodes. She gave me fair warning that it took her 6 or 7 episodes to get into, but I can see from the two I've seen that it has definite potential. I'm excited to watch more. I've also heard wonderful things about Downton Abbey. The things is, I already watch a TON of TV shows, it's kind of ridiculous. That's what deters me from starting anything else new.

The Ninth Doctor and the TARDIS

3. What is one daring activity on your bucket list? You can see my Bucket List here, but that most daring thing on it at the moment is to go parasailing. I'm slightly afraid of heights, but people make it sound like a blast!

4. Would you ever travel alone? I guess I have already. My senior year of high school I flew from KC, MO back to Love Field in Dallas by myself on New Year's Eve so I could celebrate my last high school NYE with my high school friends. I've also driven seven hours to camp by myself about four times. I don't think I'd want to go on vacation or something by myself though. I'm already an only child and tend to get bored just by myself. Plus vacations are more fun with people anyway (unless that's a family cruise with your step-sisters in the smallest, interior room known to man - word of advice: never share an interior room on a cruise with two other females).

5. What activities do you like to do alone? Nap. One day I'm sure Nappy will want to cuddle, but for now he's a no-cuddle, no-nonsense pup when it comes to sleep. Plus I like to sleep at a diagonal in my bed (anyone else do this?). Real activities though? Seeing movies (especially sad movies) all by my lonesome isn't too bad - I've become quite the solo movie pro since graduating from college.


Are you linking up for Social Sunday?

Listen to Your Body

Ok so, as you may have noticed I kind of disappeared from the Blog World the past two weeks. I didn't do any link ups and only posted that funny screaming goat video (aside from my "sorry I'm MIA" post below).

Almost three weeks ago, I felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach. I was having excruciating stomach cramps. I've had my fair share of stomach cramps and have seen a gastroenterologist for them for almost 8 years now, but this was BEYOND that and much more painful. I also have a really low pain tolerance, so this was the worst pain I'd experienced to date. Things got better that weekend and I even had an appetite as close to normal as I'd had in weeks probably.

When I woke up last Tuesday, my body ached from soreness. I can only describe it as "uncomfortable," but it was WAY more than that. Nothing I did, no stretching or moving, would alleviate the soreness all over my torso. I went to the doctor and she ordered a CT Scan. It was supposed to happen Thursday, but Wednesday the soreness was THAT much more intense and I couldn't keep what little breakfast I had eaten down so my scan got squeezed in at the end of the day. The radiologist said I had a "small" abscess on my small intestine and I should go to the ER for IV antibiotics.

My mom and I went home to feed the dog and she changed out of her work clothes and we headed to the ER. Thank God I got a flu shot this year, y'all. There were some sick people in there! The ER doctor came and talked to us and hooked me up to an IV with fluids and antibiotics. He said my abscess was about an inch big (which sounds huge to me, but I know it could have been so much bigger). Then they admitted me to the hospital. I cried because originally I would told I'd be there through the weekend. I was going to miss a party for work that we'd been planning for over a month and my seester's senior deb presentation that I'd been looking forward to for about a year.

Monday night I had a second Cat Scan to see if the antibiotics were working and to determine a more concrete leaving time. At this point I was told Wednesday morning I'd be going home. Tuesday I was told my original abscess was gone, but there was a spot in my liver, but since everything filters through the liver, it was probably just bacteria from the original. But this may move my discharge date back several more days. to say I had cabin fever is a MAJOR understatement. I hadn't seen Nappy since I fed him Wednesday night and whoever said sleeping in a hospital is nearly impossible wasn't kidding. So I cried again.

We missed each other! Love this pup!

Wednesday came and so did my doctor to say he wanted me to get my morning IV antibiotic Thursday morning and then I could go him (with a TON of prescriptions). Thursday came and let's just say those four hours hooked up to the IV were the slowest four hours ever. Waiting the last thirty minutes was worse than waiting for my parents at the end of camp (any campers out there?).

Anyway, I'm out of the hospital. Definitely still recovering. I'll be having another Cat Scan in the next month to make sure everything that shouldn't be there is gone and probably a colonoscopy to see if anything else is going on that shouldn't be.

As I move forward with the many, MANY pills I'll be taking over the next month, please send good vibes and prayers my way - it would be so greatly appreciated. I'm so ready to be back at 100% and to have a nice glass of wine or a rum and coke (I can't have ANY alcohol because one of my meds and alcohol will make me violently ill). So thank you in advance for any and all positivity sent this way! It's appreciated more than you will ever know. And here's to hoping I never spend 8 days in the hospital ever again! (Previously the longest I had been in the hospital was when I was born via C-section and back then they kept my mom to recover for 6 days, so this was a big shock - haha)

If you've made it this far, I applaud you. The moral of this story is to ALWAYS listen to your body. If something feels wrong or painful, go to the doctor.

Missing in Action

So I've been a little MIA lately. I'll give more of an update later. I'll hopefully be back home by Wednesday afternoon. Good vibes seriously appreciated!