5 Halloween Decor Ideas

 

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Halloween is right around the corner! It is time to pull all of your pumpkins, ghosts and goblins out of the closet and decorate! I am loving of the fun ideas I have been finding on Pinterest lately! Oh how I wish I had my very own home to decorate! I know for a fact that I would find someway to use all of these adorable ideas! I am in love with the spooky banister and the painted pumpkins!

What are your favorite Halloween decor ideas?

Tough Topics | This is My Story - Part 4

As I have told you before, that North Dakota made a huge impact on my depression and anxiety. It really was where it spiraled out of control and started to affect my everyday life. I started to see the affects of the disease I live with every single day and there were a lot of points in my life where I still never wanted to admit that I lived with such a disease. I had finally admitted to myself that I knew I had a problem and I needed to get help. 

It was at the end of November that Brecken and I made the decision to break things off. It was the hardest thing I have been through and it is still really hard for me to talk about to this day, because I was a confused and emotional mess when it happened. I didn’t want to leave him, I loved him. I knew though that deep down in my heart, I needed to leave him behind and go home. I knew that I needed to get help for myself and get myself into a better place. 

So, I made the decision to move home. 

Let me tell you – leaving North Dakota was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make. I cried the entire way home. Yep, that is just over 19 hours of crying. I cried for days after I got home too. I was an extremely hard decision to make, but I knew that I had to make it for myself.

Once, I got home and gave myself a few days to settle down, I made a doctor’s appointment. I knew that I needed to not only talk to someone about what was going on emotionally with me, but I also knew that I needed to figure out what had been going on physically and mentally as well. I talked to my doctor whom I have been seeing for years; she thought that I had suffered from depression, but knew that the same time that I have to admit to myself that I struggled with it. 

She and I made the decision to get me on a prescription that would help balance out my body as well as some medication for the anxiety that I have always dealt with. I have always had anxiety attacks, but until I could get myself balanced, we both thought it best to have something to help calm me down if one was to happen. I had more back to back anxiety attacks in the first few months I was home then I had ever had in my entire life. For me, night time was always the worst. It took me such a long time to finally be able to sleep through the entire night without waking up from an anxiety attack. It was horrible to say the least.

Between my regular doctor and my counselor, I am grateful for the support they offered me. There is one thing that both my counselor and my sister offered as advice, write down your feelings. I really recommend this to anyone, doesn’t matter if you suffer from depression or not. Writing down your feelings/problems is such a great way to release those feelings that you are harboring inside of you. There will be times in your life where you need a second to yourself, you need to release those emotions, because they can tend to build and one day it will be too much.

Months went by and I had finally started to understand what was going on with my body. I started to understand my emotions and how to control them. The best part though, I started to feel better and normal. I finally hit that point in my life where I smiled for no reason and could really enjoy every single day. 

During the beginning months I had dedicated to getting myself better; I changed my eating habits, joined a gym and I lost the 30 pounds that I had gained while I was in North Dakota. I could honestly say that I felt amazing inside and out, for the first time in a really long time. This was so important to me. I finally was in a place where I felt happy and ambitious. It was so good to live a balanced life.

Since then – I have officially come off of my depression and anxiety medication and have learned how to handle the ups and downs on my own. Although, I do know that if at any moment, it is too much, I have an amazing support group behind me to get me back on track. I understand that everyone goes through their hardships in life, but I know now to not let it control me. If I have control of it, it will not destroy me. Also, I have been able to keep the weight off and I feel amazing! I am stronger than I was and I am extremely grateful for the trial that I have been through to get me here. I honestly can’t say that I would change a single thing that has happened in my life. I have been through some really hard times, but in the end I am a much stronger person because of it. I am happy and that is important to me. The best thing though, I know that no matter how hard life can get, I know that I can make it through it.

I really have to take a second and thank everyone in my life. I couldn’t have done it without you all, I really don’t know where I would be without you all. I am forever grateful for the support and courage through my journey to getting healthy and happy. I am so thankful for all the talks and non-stop support that I am so blessed to have received. I love you all!

I am sure you are all wondering about the end of our little love story. When Brecken and I reconnected in March, we both knew that we wanted to make sure we weren’t just jumping into something. We took things slow and got to know each other again. Our relationship now is stronger than it has ever been and we are grateful for the time we had apart, because it made us who we are today.  

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I would be more than happy to help you with whatever I can! If you think that there is a possibly you may suffer from depression or anxiety, please do me a favor and contact your doctor just to talk about it. It never hurts to talk to someone outside of your circle about something that is currently going on in your life.

I want to take a second and thank all of you whom have taken the time to read my journey. I know that I am one of many people out there who suffer with depression and I hope that someday, I will be able to inspire someone to get the help they need to get healthy and happy! 

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3

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I do encourage anyone, to reach out and email me, if you would like to join. I would love to be able to share your voice. This series is about anything that you find as a Tough Topic to talk about. It could be something you deal with daily (mental, physical, or emotional), something that happened to you and you no longer deal with, a relationship (family, friend, or partner), a story about your child, children and/or pregnancy, this series is really meant for anything that you find hardships with. 

Please withhold and refrain from writing/commenting any harsh or unkind words. Any comments that I feel are unwelcoming and not supportive, will be deleted from the post and series. Thank you in advance.

Chili + Corn Bread

Today, I am pairing up with the fabulous Kayla from Mississippi Mrs to bring you some delicious recipes. But, the best part about both of our recipes - They are healthy! Yep, you just read that right! You wont find anything bland or dull about these recipes though, because I believe the trick to loving your healthy lifestyle is variety and flavor! 

I will admit it, when I first started trying to be healthy and eat better; my meals were so plain and boring. No wonder I couldn’t keep to my routine and stay on track. After I had spent some much needed time searching the internet for some fun and flavorful recipes, I had officially found some that I love and turn too all the time! 

I love comfort food, then again who doesn’t. If you are saying you don’t – you’re lying and you know it. I mean when it finally start to cool off at night, I crave a bowl of hearty chill with a side of corn bread. I will be truthful that the chili I always turned too, wasn’t the best for me. Loaded in calories and when I could finish a huge bowl easy (that wasn’t just a single serving) I knew that all the good I had done for the day, just went out the window.

I knew that it had to have a healthy, hearty, flavorful chill that was going to be on hand. Cause, obviously there wouldn’t be any other way around it. I found this recipe last winter that was delicious! It had the perfect amount of heartiness that I desired, thanks to the 3 bean and turkey meat she used. Plus, it had all of these spices and veggies that blended together for the perfect flavorful chili! My mouth is watering just thinking about it…! Do you want to know the best part about this recipe though.. If you don’t have all day to let it slow cook, it takes just under an hour!

Forewarning: Don’t let this long list of ingredients scare you, I found that I had a huge amount of them already in my cupboard (:

ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 onion, diced, plus 1/4 cup for garnish
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
2 carrots, diced
2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon 21 seasoning salute (from trader joes) *Optional*
1 bay leaf
1.2 lbs lean ground beef/turkey
2 1/2 cups water
4 cups diced tomatoes ( I used Pomi brand)
1 chipotle pepper (in adobo sauce), minced
2 1/2 teaspoons adobo sauce
1 can organic kidney beans, rinsed
1 can organic black beans, rinsed
1 can organic pinto beans, rinsed
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream, garnish
cheddar cheese, grated, for garnish

directions

Heat olive oil and garlic in a dutch oven (or heavy saucepan) over medium-high heat, until fragrant.  Add the onions, red/green bell pepper and carrots, stirring until soft, about 10 minutes.  Stir in cumin, thyme and oregano stirring for 1minute.  Add bay leaf, 21 seasoning salute and beef.  Cook beef until no longer pink.  Pour water, diced tomatoes, adobo sauce and chipotle pepper.  Cook partially covered for 30 minutes.
Add black, pinto and kidney beans to chili, cook for an additional 20-25 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with cheddar cheese, diced onions and sour cream. Serve immediately.

recipe and images are via epicurean mom

Tough Topics | This is My Story - Part 3

 

As I told you in before, that North Dakota really made a huge impact on my depression and anxiety. It really was where it spiraled out of control and started to affect my everyday life. I started to see the affects of the disease I live with every single day and there were a lot of points in my life where I still never wanted to admit that I lived with such a disease. It was such an ugly thing to me; I never wanted to admit that I was one of ‘those’ people that had a problem.

Lets rewind just a bit and get a glimpse of Brecken and I's relationship; I haven't ever actually taken the time to write a full one..

December 2009
Brecken and I met.
April/May 2010
Brecken had a job offer in Louisiana that he couldn't turn down.
October 2010
The business Brecken worked for in Louisiana laid everyone off, so he decided to move home.
April 2011
Brecken decided he wanted to move to North Dakota for work.
July 2011
I made the move to North Dakota to be with Brecken.
November 2011
Brecken and I broke up and I decided to move home.
March 2012
Brecken reached out and reconnected with me after over a year of no communication.
May 2012
Brecken came to town for a visit and we hung out. Well - it's pretty much history now, because you all know that we have been together since. 

Okay, now that you now have a small glimpse into our relationship, you will better understand the story I am going to tell.

Brecken and I started a relationship that was really out of left field for both of us. When we met, neither of us was looking to get into a relationship with someone. But, neither of us could help that we fell for each other from the start. He was so handsome and I was totally smitten with him. He was funny and could make me laugh, plus he was interested in really getting to know me. We could talk for hours and we wouldn’t get bored.

After spending the next couple of months together, he had a job offer that he was going to take in Louisiana. The moment I read his text message saying he had an interview, I started bawling. Yep, full blown out cry session happened at work. It was in that moment that I knew I love him. But, I also knew that having him be gone was going to be really hard.

I was a complete mess for a while, really though, I hated him being gone. I hated not being able to see him all the time and I could burst into tears within seconds. My emotions were on a complete roller coaster at all times. It was kind of crazy. I remember that there were days where I would not sleep but a couple of hours at night, then other nights where I could fall asleep if I sat down. My body was all kinds of screwed up. 

When he finally moved home it was such a good day, but then only a few short months later, he was moving again. This time was different though, I had the intentions of moving with him in a few months. 

July of 2011 is when I finally packed my entire car up and moved to North Dakota. This was a decision I was scared about, yet excited and really kind of nervous at the same time. Brecken had lived at my parents house for a few months before left, but this time was completely different. 

My entire family has always been really close, so being away from them was really difficult. I never realized when I made the decision to move to North Dakota the impact it would make on my emotionally. I was happy to be with Brecken, but I was so sad because I didn’t have my family there too. It was really hard for me and it really would get to me at times.

Winter finally hit North Dakota and I noticed the major impact that it took on me. This is when I really started to notice a huge difference in the way I felt. My emotions were a roller coaster and I couldn’t contain myself. I found myself getting upset over things that I had no reason to get mad about. I found myself distant from everyone around me; friends and Brecken. I would feel just completely off at times and I could never really tell what was wrong. 

This continued through spring and summer, but things would continue to get worse. Of course, I would have really good days and then I would have really bad days. My life was practically a roller coaster ride. I would have all this amazing energy and felt like I was on top of the world, things would go great in my entire world. Then out of nowhere, I just felt like something wasn’t right. I can remember talking to a couple of close friends about it, both of them thought that I suffered from depression. I thought about it for a while, but I still couldn’t admit to myself that I suffered from depression. I still believed that it was such an ‘ugly’ disease and there was no way that I was on of ‘those’ people who suffered from it. I pushed it off and went on with life.

Sadly, my depression really took over my life and affected everything. In early November of 2011 I finally had started to accept that I possibly suffered from depression. I remember sitting inside of a co-workers office and talking to her about my life; everything in my life was wrong. I had made the decision to talk to a counselor about it; she gave me a recommendation as to whom I should be in contact with. The thought of it scared me though, I hadn’t ever talked to some random person about my life in full detail. I put it off for a week or so, then I really started to notice things about how this ‘feeling’ was affecting me. It started to take affect with my friendships and the desire to do anything with my friends. I had been working two jobs for months and then out of nowhere, I couldn’t handle it anymore. I had no desire to cook, clean, do laundry or anything that for that matter. I could care less about any of it; which is really weird considering that I ordinarily made dinner at least 4 times a week and always kept a clean home. 

The worst impact it made though, was on my relationship with Brecken. It completely tore us apart. I had become a completely different person and I had no desire for anything anymore. I didn’t want to talk about anything, just held it all in. I had no desire to try and work through our fights, I would actually hold things again him for weeks. I would get mad at him for thing he had no control over and I blamed him for so many things that I should of taken responsibility for. I had absolutely no desire to try, which is horrible. I put the best thing in my life on the back burner and just let it sit there. I didn’t want to lose him, but because I couldn’t admit to the problem at hand, it destroyed me.

PART 1 | PART 2

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I do encourage anyone, to reach out and email me, if you would like to join. I would love to be able to share your voice. This series is about anything that you find as a Tough Topic to talk about. It could be something you deal with daily (mental, physical, or emotional), something that happened to you and you no longer deal with, a relationship (family, friend, or partner), a story about your child, children and/or pregnancy, this series is really meant for anything that you find hardships with. 

Please withhold and refrain from writing/commenting any harsh or unkind words. Any comments that I feel are unwelcoming and not supportive, will be deleted from the post and series. Thank you in advance.

Boyfriend Jeans + Blazers

When I signed up to become a Pure Romance consultant I knew that I wanted to find a couple of go-to outfits that were a bit more professional and business casual than what I would normally wear every day. I wanted to look clean and polished, yet still have the outfits scream that they were 100% my style! I would never wear them otherwise or I would at least never be myself while I was in them. So, of course, I turned to Pinterest and started searching for business casual outfits.

I loved that I came up with a million Ideas, but I really loved that a lot of the ones I fell in love with were done with boyfriend jeans. Score! I have this new obsession with them; they are so comfortable! I would totally want to dress those up any day!

After spending way more time than I should of looking online – I decided to throw a couple of options together and get everyone’s opinion. Do you think that they business casual outfits are dressy enough to have parties in, yet laid back enough to not feel like I was actually at work? I really do want a good balance of comfort and professionalism..

What's your opinion?

Have any ideas?