mother's day.

Twice in my life I've had to face the reality that I might lose my mom sooner than I'd planned. Fortunately I have made it to the other side of both of those battles with my mom still by my side. Most recently the battle was breast cancer. Today my mom is healthy and wears her battle scars proudly (and with humor). She recently came to a doctors appointment with me (yes, I'm 25 and still have my mom come to the doctor with me sometimes) and when her cancer came up the doctor looked at her and said, 'you look so happy and healthy' to which my mom replied simply, 'I am.' The interaction made me smile and remember how lucky I am to have that warrior woman as my mother. 

My mom is the most inspiring woman I know. She is strong and elegant. She is quietly fierce. She is gentle and nurturing. She is strong in her faith and a beautiful example of love and grace. I am proud to call her my mother.

This Sunday and every day after it I will strive to relentlessly show my mom the love and admiration I have for her. To not only tell her I love her but show her too. To make sure she feels cherished and never taken for granted. To let her know in every way I can that I am grateful to have her in my life and proud when I start to recognized some of her qualities in myself. 

Happy Mother's Day Mama, I love you so much.

M is for...

Mike.
and Mancrush Monday.
and Mushy cuz it's about to get real mushy around here.

Since it's Monday and social media has deemed it the day of the week you're allowed to post about a male you're crushin on I'm going to post about my favorite male that I crush on everyday. 

Also, because today is our second anniversary!

This is Mike.

Isn't he handsome? :)

I am so truly blessed to have this wonderful guy in my life. 

Everyday he challenges me and helps me grow. 

He is sweet and thoughtful and encouraging. 

He is constantly making me laugh, or blush, or smile until my face hurts. 

My favorite moments are when we lay around talking for hours, pouring our hearts out about everything and nothing until we both start yawning and realize we've talked all through the night into the morning. 

When I hate everyone he's the only one I can stand and actually want to be around. 

He helps calm my crazy brain and kisses away my worries. 

He is my favorite human.

I am so thankful I get to call him mine.

I love you ever so much sweet boy, thank you for loving me.

the big C.

I know it's been a while since I posted and I'm sorry to come back on such a somber note but I feel like there's some things I need to write down and get off my chest. 

What a sick bit of irony that is...

13 years ago my mom had a brain aneurysm. 

I remember when I found out, and when I was sitting in the hospital, and when I was waiting at home that mostly I just felt scared. I was 11 at the time and didn't really understand words like hemorrhaging, aneurysm, neurological surgeon. I remember getting out my children's picture dictionary and looking up the words to try and understand what it all meant and what was happening hoping to find some comfort or reassurance but mostly I was just scared. Scared that I would lose my mom.

Three weeks ago I went to an appointment with my mom to have her biopsy results read to us and at that appointment we were told that she has breast cancer. Two weeks ago she had a mastectomy on her right breast. 

Once again I find myself hearing adults and doctors and other people using long, unfamiliar words and I am reminded of that fear I felt 13 years ago. I feel like I'm 11 years old again. I feel small and scared and I don't know what's going to happen. 

The surgery went well although it was more extensive than they had originally thought and we have a plan for further treatment, but when the doctor talked to us after the surgery she expressed some concerns about the cancer metastasizing which is a big scary word for spreading that fills me with dread.

I feel kind of lost, like maybe I'm floating or I'm numb. Words people use to describe non-feelings, but none of them really seem to be right. I don't think there is one right word to describe how I'm feeling. Scared for sure, that's a definite one but it's more than that. I feel confused and unsure and helpless and I hate feeling all of those things. But one thing that I feel is coming up stronger than all of those is anger. I hate this stupid cancer and I'm mad at it for invading my mom's body and I'm kind of mad at God because we've been down this road before where I had to sit in a waiting room while my mom was in surgery for a life-threatening situation and here we are again. I'm mad at life for being so unfair and I'm mad because I feel helpless, because I feel scared, because I feel confused. 

I would like to say that this anger is making me stronger. That it's going to make me a better fighter and soldier for my mom in this battle against cancer. But right now it's not making me feel stronger, it's making me feel smaller.

lately.

Hey guess what?

I've finally worked out my life so that I can have time to blog and give you the attention you deserve! Hooray!!

So let's get caught up.

Here's what's been happening since the last time we hung out.

-I turned 24...woo mid twenties.

-I'm still living in AZ at my mom's house...but saving desperately so that I can get my own place as. soon. as. possible. Don't get me wrong, I love my mom, she's one of my best friends, but I am SO ready to have my own space it's not even funny. Anyway...I'll keep you updated.
-Weston was born!

-I no longer work at the elementary school and instead have a big girl job working for the most wonderful loan officer ever. ( I have never loved a job as much as I love this one. I ENJOY getting up each morning to come into work and I am NOT a morning person)

(first day selfie)

-I'm no longer getting my degree in art education and instead I'm pursuing a certificate in personal styling. (More on that later)
-I still have that wonderful guy in my life. We just went to Ohio last week for his cousin's wedding and I got to meet his family. T'was a wonderful trip :)

-I was in the musical 9 to 5 in May and am currently rehearsing for CATS(I know, so appropriate for this cat lady) which opens at the end of this month.

Aaaand I think that pretty much covers it! Talk to you soon! (really, for reals, I promise)

DIY: paper bunting sign.

I don't know if this is even necessary but I made a paper bunting sign for Weston's Baby Shower and took pictures of the process so just in case, here's a how to if you'd need some guidance.

step one:

choose your papers

 The colors for Weston's shower were a light teal and lime green so I chose a few different patterned papers in those colors.

step two:

trace triangles

 Make a triangle to trace onto the back of the patterned papers. I just used a straight edge and eyeballed it to make my triangle but if you have something triangle shaped you can trace that. I made mine on a piece of poster paper so that the paper was a bit heavier and easier to trace onto the patterned papers.

step three:
cut out triangles

step four:

add letters

Ok, I apologize I kind of skipped a step or two in here but I was so absorbed in making it that I forgot to take pictures so I'll explain it and if you need me to clarify please let me know.

So for the letters I took the solid green and teal papers and traced circles on them. I looked around my house for a circle that would fit best on my triangles and found that the lid to a mason jar worked best. Once I had traced and cut out my circles I laid them out onto the triangles so that a green circle was on each teal triangle and a teal circle was on each green triangle and glued them down. Then I arranged the triangles in the order I wanted them to hang. Next I wrote the letters on the circles so that they spelled out "Welcome Weston"(I intentionally left three triangles blank so I could have one on each end of the sign and one in between the words). 

Once the triangles were set I strung them on a piece of yarn and tada, it was ready to hang.

welcoming weston.

Earlier this month my cousin and I hosted a baby shower for her sister who is due at the beginning of April. She's having a little boy named Weston(the boy likes to call him Kanye Weston) and we are so excited to have a baby in the family(although this will definitely change the dynamics of EVERYTHING since I am currently the youngest).

Look how cute and preggers she is :)

Grandma-to-be made this friggin adorbz tractor and letters out of diapers and washcloths and bibs and other cute baby things. Love it.

So like, is there a game show where you play baby shower games? Because if there is I need to get on that show ASAP because I pretty much dominated in all the games. And in case you were wondering, no I was not the one who planned the games I just happened to rock at them, thank you very much.

The "Furrow" girls.

It was a lovely day filled with cuteness and now we're all even more excited for the babe to get here.

:)

about me.

So I guess this is the part where I introduce myself.

Hi, I'm Cristen.

(I like lists so I'm going to do this list style)

-I'm 23, creeping up on 24

-I'm an Arizona native

-I live at my mom's house with my two cats, a dog and a teeny baby tortoise

  Here are some pictures of those cuties:

-I love things that sparkle(hence, the glitter part of glitter and glasses)
-I am bespectacled(and that's where the glasses part came from)
-I work at an elementary school as the lunch lady and in the after school program

-I'm working on a degree in art education
-I also do personal styling from time to time

-I love to read and own close to 500 books

-My favorite color is teal

-I'm a total cat lady

-I collect collections

-I am often described as eclectic
-I have gypsy spirit

-I'm an introvert

-I currently have 7 pillows on my bed

-I have the most wonderful boyfriend

-I love handmade cards and rarely ever give someone a card that I didn't make

-I am a word nerd

-I am a space nerd

-I use hashtags in text messages

-All of my favorite foods involve cheese

-I am kitchen illiterate

-I am skilled in procrastination

-I cry for every emotion, happy, sad, hungry, out of breath...

I think that pretty much covers it. I'm kind of weird but in an endearing way right? ;) Hopefully I haven't scared you off yet and if so then welcome to this adventure!