I am a party waiting to happen as my husband calls me and on my birthday I will go buy myself my own balloons and make it happen! I believe we are gifted life and another year is something to celebrate. We are not guaranteed another second. So why not be loud and party?

Ok, so that is my normal birthday year.. this year something different happened. And as I talk to my friends and others I hear many of you have “birthday blues” too and can’t quite explain why. It had nothing to do with getting “older” or looking in the mirror. I had no idea and it just came on. I learned that a few of my friends feel that way every single year and I was able to process it with them. Make sure to get yourself a couple friends you can talk to about anything. Super helpful.

I turned 43 this month and I’ve heard it’s about this time/age in life when you start to really notice the gradual aging process. The vision, the botox needed, the collagen depletion and the aches and pains not just physically but emotionally. But, does it just happen at 43? No, I believe we all have a different story. We all have times in our lives that we feel better, look better and show up better. That doesn’t mean it happens at age 21 or 30. Some people finally find their fabulous at age 65 or 70 and they feel better at 45 than they did at 25. It all depends on their story in life. I recently got a head shot done and the moment I saw it, I said ” I have this same photo from when I was 23!” I went and found the photo and was surprised at how closely the pictures were and how they were taken. It made me think, I would NEVER go back to being 23. I am exactly where I’m suppose to be at this exact time. I love looking back at pictures. Which is a reminder that I need to print more pictures into books because I there is something about finding “old printed” pictures. I want my kids to have that same experience. It is an experience, finding old pictures. It brings back a lot.

Do you get the birthday blues? I want to know, and what did you learn about yourself from them?

Another thing that’s been happening in my life that I feel you can benefit from is learning to be your own advocate in the medical space. I am not going to spend much energy or time on my experience the past 1.5 years because it’s exhausting financially and emotionally and I’m still nowhere “healed” or have answers. I’ll give you one example, I fired one pain management doctor and I should have done so after the first big let down when they forgot about my appointment. I arrived and the office door was open, noone was the desk in site (out to lunch) The dr was in the back working by himself the whole time….yeah… unbelievable. I’m like yelling…”hello” anyone here for an hour. No joke.

I paid a babysitter and waited a 1.5 hours for them to show up and paid them 1,000 for an injection (that did nothing for me.) They could have at least offered me a couple hundred dollars off and or paid for my sitter. Needles to say, they ordered a new MRI and that was 2 months ago, it took me 1 month to get into schedule the MRI and the Dr. office still has yet to call me about the results… 4 weeks later. Needless to say, I fired them. LOL Moving on. That’s one experience in this process for the last 1.5 years. Bottom line, YOU know your body, you have to find the right people you want to work with. I’m currently waiting 2 weeks from another orthopedic dr for a referral from another dr they are sending me to.” It takes every bit of my mental energy to make these calls because the processes are messed up and they appear to not care and or just don’t have a good system down. Be your own advocate and fight. Fight for your life, fight for your health. Some days I get so tired of it I just want to hit my head against the wall in disgust. It always reminds me to just lean on God and know who my ultimate healer is. Keep showing up. Show up at different practices and ask them who they know. Life is a who do you know game. That’s it. Who do you know. I went to yet another Physical Therapist not because i think i need PT it’s because I wanted to know who they knew and they did find me someone else I am seeing now in hopes of results. Keep showing up and advocating for yourself. g

Let’s move onto something more fun. This Calpack laptop backpack is one of the best things I’ve ever bought. In fact, this is now my second one. I wore the zippers out of the first one so it broke down. I’ve never bought another one of something because I wore it out. It’s one of those items that I get compliments on every time I leave the house. It has a special spot for a laptop and has a rectangular shape. Not ideal for a baby bag; however, now that my kids aren’t babies I do keep one diaper in it and wipes. I prefer not to as it doesn’t have a lot of bulky room. It’s super functional for travel and when I’m by myself. Check out the Calpak’s here. I wanted to get the dragonfruit or guava limited color but as it says..limited and sold out. Boo! So I just got another new blush color.

Lastly, a new find that is super fun are these hot pink flats. I love me some heels but I don’t wear them a lot when I’m with 3 kids out and about not in athletic wear(which is not very often LOL.) These are a great shoe that can be wore with jeans or leggings or dressed up with a dress or dressy pants. I love them. I was shocked at when I got them in the mail at the quality for the fabulous price point. I love some good priced shoes. These look like $800 shoes I’ve seen at Sak’s 5th Avenue. You can find them here.

Don’t forget to include yourself in my news letter below.

Til next time!

Find Your Fabulous!