Hello there friends! I hope you are all doing well. I am doing FANTASTIC. Last week I finished my chemotherapy, RANG THAT BELL, and I am thrilled that from here on out I will be getting stronger every single day. I have a long way to go, but it will only go up from here. Life is SO wonderful!
Let's have a look at what we've been up to:
What We're Eating This Week: Our garden in the backyard has been BUSY! We have had lots of tomatoes, green beans, okra, banana peppers, cucumbers and jalapeños this week. With that, we've been trying some viral TikTok tomato recipes and they've been DELICIOUS! We tried this yummy baked tomato salad, it's very simple: tomatoes, croutons, some olive oil, salt and pepper and burrata.
We of course made the viral baked feta pasta...
We've also been making some simple tomato sandwiches. A French baguette, fresh garden tomato, some mozzarella and fresh garden basil. Yum!
And this goat cheese salmon:
When I look at it on my page it says it has over 2 million views.. not sure why it says fewer from this view? Anyway, it was DELICIOUS!
What I'm Reminiscing About: I am going back to work at my old school this fall and it is giving me all the happy feels to know I'll be back in my "home away from home". It also has me thinking "what am I going to wear?" and thank goodness for this blog, because I was able to backtrack to some old "What I've Been Wearing to Work" posts for outfit inspiration. Thankfully I still have all of these clothes:
Less I will have to buy once the year starts up!
What I'm Loving: Being done with chemo. My next PET scan is in 6 weeks and I am looking forward to getting that "all clear"!
What We've Been Up To: We have been spending a lot of time at our favorite place, the Whitewater Center. Our big girl is really into the rock climbing and she is nailing it! She has no fear!
That's her on the top left in the purple shirt. She just climbs over and over and over again and never gets sick of it. I love seeing her get her energy out doing something active!
What I'm Working On: Recovering my health. My goals for the next month are all health related:
1. Slowly build up my tolerance for more food.
2. Continue daily walks, even if I can't go very far.
3. When it feels right, start doing light yoga again.
4. DON'T RUSH! Give myself a lot of grace. I've been through hell, even though mentally I am ready to be "myself" again, physically it is going to take time.
What I'm Excited About: Going back to school with LG! It'll be so fun to see my sweet first grader walking the halls with her friends while I'm working.
What I'm Watching/Reading: What I'm watching? Nothing. I'm boring and don't watch TV, sorry! Instead we've been staying up talking and planning a trip to an all-inclusive in the Caribbean-- MUCH more fun than TV in my opinion!
What I'm reading...
Hang the Moon. If you like historical fiction, this one's for you! It takes place in the 1920's and has a strong female lead character, who unfortunately lives during a time when strong females were not encouraged. The family in this book has some drama, and I there were multiple times where I was shocked by a plot twist.
What I'm Listening To: A mix of Hollow Coves, Ed Sheehan, Jason Mraz, and Jasmine Thompson (a British singer who does a lot of covers but in an indie-folk style)
What I'm Wearing:
I have to cover up my skin more this summer since apparently the chemotherapy makes my skin ultra sensitive to sunlight. I was very anti-rash gaurd at first but this swimsuit is CUTE and actually very comfortable! I told Devin I will probably continue to wear it even after I don't "have to" anymore.
What I'm Doing This Weekend: We have back-to-back birthday parties on Saturday and then have a more relaxing, chill day planned on Sunday.
What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: Getting into our new routine with school!
What Else is New: We went to the beach last month and had a fabulous time! The kids are at such fun ages for trips like this because they are independent enough to mostly play/swim by themselves. Here are a few pics from the beach:
Grabbing postcards to mail to friends
Best Amazon Purchase: This one is actually a tie-- I couldn't decide between my new weighted blanket...
or my reading pillow.
Both have made climbing into bed to read my book at night super cozy!
Thanks for following along today! I can't wait to catch up with you too!
You look so cute! I am so happy for you! I hope you have a great school year and can't wait to see you get stronger each and every day.
ReplyDeleteYou look just precious. The food looks yummy, the kids look adorable and summer is treating you right!
ReplyDeleteThis is full of great news! I am so happy that you got to ring that bell and are feeling good. You are so wise to give yourself grace to get back to your workout routine as you feel it’s right. Planning a Caribbean vacation sounds way better than watching tv! I bet LG is excited for you to be joining her at school!
ReplyDeleteSarah @ Sunshine & Books
I love how positive you sound! We went rock climbing too - I was scared of the part where you let go and come back to the ground. We played shuffleboard where my parents live in FL - 55+! It was fun though!
ReplyDeleteSeeing you ring that bell brought tears to my eyes, and I hope your physical strength comes back little by little. Loved hearing about your month, and can't wait to hear about the all inclusive beach vacation.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting to ring the bell! And here's to feeling better and being able to do more of what you want to do.
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you. Congrats on going back to work
ReplyDeleteYay for no more chemo!! All those tomato recipes are making me so hungry; is there anything better than garden fresh tomatoes?! I think planning an all inclusive trip to the Caribbean is much better than any TV. I love your attitude about slowly recovering too; you have been through a lot and grace is definitely key. I need a book "set in the roaring 20's" for my book challenge so I'm going to add that one to my list!
ReplyDeleteWe've enjoyed having a garden this year --but all we have are cucumbers and green peppers. Can't wait to read about your trip! Your rashguard is so cute! I hope you continue to feel better...and I know back to school will be a sweet time for you all too.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on ringing that bell!! So excited. I finished chemo on June 1st...and, although I really do feel awesome, I can relate to "just wanting to be myself" again. I read your regarding daily affirmations. Have never really thought about that - but what a good idea. I can get focused on where I want to be rather than how far I have come in just 10 weeks. Praying all goes well when you go back to school...and that each day will find you feeling strong, healthy and more and more like yourself!!
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