Favorite Things Friday!

Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I fully embrace being a girly girl! With that though, comes a lot of different (and required) products to keep me oh-so-pretty! Let me share with you some of my favorites! 

1. Tarte BB Cream with SPF 30:

 As a melanoma survivor, skin care is something I am horribly passionate about. Unfortunately, I am VERY sensitive skin and most make up containing sunscreen did nothing but break me out! Then, I stumbled across this gem from Tarte! It feels so fresh and light on my face, leaving my face feeling covered and protected from the sun and his sneaky rays! Tarte's makeup is made of all natural which doesn't hurt either! 

         2. Fake Up by Benefit

As a teacher and the wife of a firefighter, sleep is something that doesn't come easy! It certainly doesn't  help with the naturally dark under eyes I have! Meet Fake Up. This is one of the best concealer I have ever used! The center of the stick is the actual tinted concealer and the outside is a Vitamin E concoction to stop creasing and moisturize under your eyes throughout the day. Talk about love..... 

     3. Naked 3

I cannot say enough about how fabulous this eye-shadow palette is! As a pale girl with reddish hair some of their previous colors were always way too dark for me and then came these lovely shades of pink/rose! They are so much fun to play around with and give me lots of room for variety. A must have in your make-up collection, for sure!

     4. Babylips by Maybelline

This is  my newest obsession! I am a lip gloss junkie, but am always looking for new ways to keep my lips hydrated! Babylips for the win! Not only are the colors so subtly beautiful, but their clear and medicated versions are just as fabulous as well. The biggest bonus? They have an SPF of 20 as well! I love things that keep me protected and kissable at the same time! 

                       5. Victoria's Secret Wild at Heart Body Spray and Lotion

I love things that smell fabulous and this lotion/body spray delivers! It is a mix of red passion fruit and sheer vanilla and I am addicted! My nose loves me. 

             6. Purity Face Wipes by Philosophy

Let's face it! There are nights where we are either too tired or simply just too lazy to wash our face. Right? These totally take that excuse away from me! I love my regular Purity face wash (when I use it). It has the cleanest smell and is super gentle. When I found these I was so excited to try them and they work the exact same way! The convenience is also nice too! Just like a baby wipe, easy to use, and has the same great smell as the actual face wash! 

         7. Not Your Mothers Hair Oil Treatment

 The smell of this product alone is worth every single penny! It smells like summer. It is the perfect scent and I can't even find words to describe what exactly it is, but it is good.... Really good. It also does everything it says it will do. It adds shine, a little lift, and smooths down my hair in ways I didn't know were possible! The best part? It is so affordable! 

Check in next Friday for my favorite home finds! :)

My Story...

I’m one of the lucky ones, they say.  I never had to undergo chemo or radiation, and all my lymph nodes are still in place, but the truth of the matter is that melanoma changed me completely.  I was diagnosed at 18 during my freshman year of college.  The year prior was full of events that required me to be in evening gowns. There was prom, then the yearly pageant my school held, and don’t forget about those awful vocal music dresses that surely looked better on me when my skin was tan. Those moments in a tanning bed, defined my future.  While my friends were vacationing during Spring Break, I was undergoing a wide excision surgery to remove six inches, vertically and horizontally, skin on my back all the way down to the muscle. This surgery was my cure, but it wasn’t completely healing, because the emotional scar runs a bit deeper and has lasted far longer.

 The misconception associated with the word melanoma is that it will simply be cut out and everything  will be fine. I can’t tell you how many of my friends spoke those exact words to me when I shared my diagnosis with them.  Quite frankly, until I had my doctor tell me that there may be a chance that I could only have five to seven years left to live depending on my test results, I didn’t understand the severity either.  My friends couldn’t understand the situation I was in and it wasn’t because I had surrounded myself with people weren’t able to feel empathy; it was because they simply weren’t educated.

 My family, they became my saviors, the people I laughed with to distract me from the constant terror I felt in my stomach, the people who held me when I cried, and the people who found strength  for me when I couldn’t find it in myself. In fact, it was my mom, who saved me. She was the one who had noticed the mole on my upper back that had gradually became dark black and she was the one who called me with the information from the doctor of my diagnosis. Often times, I still wonder how she found the strength to call me, her only daughter, to tell me I had cancer.  My melanoma diagnosis didn’t just emotionally scar me; it scarred every person in my family.

Life after melanoma is different to say the least. I’m far more cautious and I’m often fearful of reoccurrence. For the rest of my life, every six months, I will visit my dermatologist. I sit undressed in a brightly lit exam room while my doctor goes over every inch of my skin. These checks, more often than not, end with a biopsy of a something that looks suspicious leaving an open wound on my skin that takes weeks to heal. I then prepare myself to tell my loved ones that we are, yet againhedule my next 6 month appointment, I normally take 20 minutes to emotionally breakdown in my car before driving home to my family that we are, again, waiting for pathology results. I will do this every 6 months for the rest of my life. Sounds super fun, huh? All that for the sake of tan. Be smart with your skin because trust me, you don't want my routine.hedule my next 6 month appointment, I normally take 20 minutes to emotionally breakdown in my car before driving home to my family that we are, again, waiting for pathology results. I will do this every 6 months for the rest of my life. Sounds super fun, huh? All that for the sake of tan. Be smart with your skin because trust me, you don't want my routine. waiting on pathology reports. The chance of reoccurrence for me is 2% and while that may seem like a very small number, it is actually quite large in relation to melanoma.

I never dreamed that before I graduated college and said I do, I would be a cancer survivor, but it is my reality.  I wasn’t lucky, I was blessed and I feel strongly that I am meant to educate others on how to care for your skin. Unfortunately, I wasn’t educated on the effects of tanning, but don’t let that be your excuse. Don’t be like me. Your desire shouldn’t be getting tan. Your desire should be to stay alive because it is that serious. Educate yourself before you find yourself in a situation that educates you.

My defining moment (part one)

 Part One: I was eighteen and a freshman in college when I was diagnosed with melanoma. That was my defining moment. I suddenly went from worrying about mid-terms and how I would spend my first spring break,to worrying about how much time I had left to live. This moment shaped who I have become and who I will be. The repercussions were immense. During my scariest moments, I started to write about the things I wanted to accomplish in my life. In such a saddening time, I was fighting for my future and below are the things I couldn't imagine leaving this world without experiencing.  The words below I wrote 6 years ago....

• " I want to explore all the beautiful places I have never seen. I want to travel the world and experience other cultures. I want to love the feeling of coming back to Oklahoma and knowing that no matter how far I go it will always be home.
•  I want to graduate from college a teacher with the attitude that making a living is not making a life. I want to have my own classroom where children come in feeling safe and appreciated for being indivuals with their own view of the world. I want to make a difference in someone's life.
• I want to fall in love with a man who becomes my best friend and lover. I want to find the man who feels like my favorite blanket, whose arms make me feel safe, whose intelligence challenges me to new thoughts, and who most importantly loves God more than he loves me. I want to build a life with him,take his last name, and be proud to call ourselves husband and wife. I want to dance barefoot in the kitchen with him.I want to fall asleep to the sound of his hearbeat and wake up to his voice. I want to kiss him in the middle of an arguement with the intention of making it impossible for either one of us to stay angry.I want passionate, intimate moments that allow us to truly feel alive. I want to experience the world as a part of someone else, not just an individual. I want to buy a home on acres of green land with a blue front door and a front porch with a swing. A place to call ours that together, we make a home.
• I want to be a mom. I want to have a huge baby belly, spend way too much money on nursery decorations and precious little clothes. I want to feel a life growing inside me and know that I am being given the greatest blessing. I want to fall in love with my husband all over again when I first see our child in his arms. I want the sleepless nights of rocking my baby to sleep in my arms while quietly humming the lullabies that were sang to me as a child.I want to have tonka trucks and barbies dolls scattered through my living room floor. I want to watch my children grow to be people who love their God,who know they are loved unconditionally, and who know that without their prescence in my life, I would have lived feeeling incomplete."

Part Two coming soon...