Fall Bucket List 2018

This is possibly the first time I'm ever writing a Fall Bucket List.

And the third year I'm missing Halloween at Disney World -- life changes are always hard and having something you love so much that you can't go back to is always hard.

I'm enjoying actually being able to feel Fall here in Texas, something that Florida couldn't grant you no matter how much wishing you do!

You can find magic anywhere. If you look hard enough.

This pregnancy delayed my plans to deck my apartment out in Fall decor (it's the 11th and nothing is up yet! I know, fuckin crazy right?) so to get myself in the Fall mood I figure I'd make a list of things I hope to see/do this Fall season!

• Go to a Pumpkin Patch
  I honestly don't remember the last time I actually went to a Pumpkin Patch! Maybe when I was in grade school and we would take school trips to one? And the only reason why I even remember that is because of pictures I've seen!

• Complete my October Reading Challenge
  I look forward to this challenge every year because I always end up finding 1 or 2 books I absolutely fall in love with because of it! So I'm hoping I get a good amount of books read this year because so far this year I've only fallen in love with one book and it makes my soul restless!

• Work on taking Fall aesthetic photos
  I love love LOVE seeing Fall aesthetic photos on Pinterest and on Instagram! Photos always have a way of inspiring me and I love how aesthetic photos make me feel.

• Visit the Dallas Arboretum
  I recently just discovered this place through an Instagram ad (and they say those things aren't useful)! Last year they themed their Pumpkin Patch for OZ! I'm so sad I missed out on it!! This year it's themed after Neverland! I love gardens and such so I'm pretty excited to see this!

• Go to the Texas State Fair
  In Cali our state fair was always in the summer time -- when it was hot and sticky and there were way too many people. Here in Texas it's in October -- thank goodness! It's still pretty warm but it's not hot. There's so much to see/do and eat! I always had "Attend a Texas State Fair" on my bucket list and I never thought I'd see one so it blows my mind that I get to go to them now!

• Bake something
  I'm sure I'm not the only one who pins about a million different "Fall recipes" on Pinterest in hopes to spend afternoons in the kitchen baking up pretty pastries and savory dinners. When in reality we probably won't even get to one of those. WELL NO MORE I SAY! I'm hoping this year I'll get to bake something. At least one thing. Even if it's not until November (cause TECHNICALLY that's still "Fall")!

• Stroll through Trader Joe's and pick up a thing or two
  You can't say Trader Joe's is not the Fall food aesthetic headquarters. You just can't! Granted I haven't been there in the Fall, I don't think. I know I haven't picked up or tried any of their Pumpkin treats yet! So I'm aiming to change that this year AND WHEN I DO better believe there will be a wholeee blog post about my experience! 

• Get my apartment into the zen space I want it to be
  This for some reason is really hard for me right now -- I can't figure out why. I know I had missed out on about 3 months of hope to get anything done around my apartment in terms of tidying, sorting and organizing. But now that I feel pretty much better my OCD is what's holding me back most days. I wish I could explain it in more detail than just leaving it like that but I'm really hoping to fight back some day before this month is over and get it at least somewhat to what I can consider zen. Especially with the baby coming soon...

• Play with more dark and vampy makeup looks
  I haven't been playing with or wearing much makeup as of late and I know it's because I was feeling really crummy up until recently but now with Fall here and Winter just right around the corner I can finally pull out all my dark makeup looks and my beloved dark lipsticks! Oh how I miss the 90's when dark lip colors were acceptable year round!

Gosh this list turned out longer than I thought it would!

What are some things you hope to do this Fall?

We're Pregnant!

I'm currently 13 weeks + 3 days.

We found out some time in the first week of August.

This time I immediately scheduled an appt. The clinic location closer to us was booked until mid September! So I had to opt for the clinic a few cities over to get an appt the following week.

Things were fine, our previous pregnancy (we lost the baby at 10 weeks on Christmas Eve of last year) I did not have any morning sickness whatsoever. I threw up maybe 3 times, 3 MINI times at that so I joked that Bubba's babies don't hate me and don't give me morning sickness.

I definitely had spoken WAY too soon! Two days later morning sickness had kicked in and the following days it REALLY started to kick in, BIG TIME.

Happy October~!

It's FINALLY October 1st!

Which means it's officially THE MOST WONDERFUL TiME OF THE YEAR!

At least for me ;)

I know I should had have this blog post prepped and ready to go (along with several others) in advanced but you know... morning sickness kicked my ass in all of September. So hard. And it was nowhere near fun.

Oh, morning sickness. Right. I haven't announced it here yet, have I? I'll get to that later on this week!

But for now let's talk October and all things Halloween and happy things!

When did "Hot Cocoa" turn into a "Fall" scent though? I finally got to stop by Kohl's yesterday to see their new Fall candles and these labels are GORG but the thing I don't like about them is that their scent throw lit isn't that strong (at least last years) and the wax tends to tunnel. So while I am IN LOVE with these labels, I grabbed a few wax melts instead. I may go back for some of the jars eventually but yesterday wasn't that day.

As I mentioned September was taken over by morning sickness so my apartment isn't even AT ALL decked out for Fall yet and I'm SO disappointed in myself! I feel like I'm late! And while my nausea has lifted significantly, it's not like it's 100% gone 100% of the time like I'd LIKE it to be. But then, I guess that's part of the pregnancy "fun"... the suffering part.

I'm determined to do #BLOGTOBER this year and a weekly VLOG recap at the end of every week like I did last year. I have a few blog post idea's lined up for blogtober this year, the problem is up dating this blog as well as PLACES AND PEONIES and PXA... oye!

Here's to hopefully a productive October!

Do you plan on doing BLOGTOBER?

Life | Happy 2 years~!

Two years ago I married my best friend in a different world.

I can't believe it's been two whole years since then! Time truly does fly when you're having fun, I guess. Because it definitely doesn't feel like two years. It feels like we just got married. But thinking of the span of time from this day to today and everything that has happened between is crazy.

I'm thankful for this moment. For this day. For the friends that were once family and though they're not anymore I still keep these memories close to me. I'm thankful for the man by my side who did everything in his power to be there for me --- a random girl he met on a video game states away and how he never left my side.

I definitely didn't know what I was getting into when I decided to say yes to Sir Penny'puss.

Life | An Update; moving + mental health + FFXIV

Hai guys.

I feel like I haven't been here in forever. I honestly think the idea of being the "ideal blogger" with the "perfect photos/flat lays" has seriously gotten to me and it's taking a serious toll on my blog and Instagram accounts.

I try to post photos and updates more freely on Twitter, as much as I can/remember to.

A lot has happened since the last time I was here so I'll try and do a quick recap;

Life | Mental Health & Music

When I wrote yesterday's entry I wasn't aware that it was Mental Health Awareness Week. I feel like MHAW/MHAM come and go so often that it's hard to keep track of these things. Not to mention in my world, Mental Health Awareness is pretty much an every day thing.

I feel like my life has all kinds of divides and chapters when I look back on it; from the time I was 13 until my anxiety full force kicked in at 20 I struggled HEAVILY with depression and suicide. I was constantly listening to music. CONSTANTLY. There was rarely ever a time I wasn't playing music. Everything from DDR songs to 80's Light Rock to Hip Hop to R&B to Slow Jams to Techno to Alternative. 

Moving State to State | Review; Coast to Coast Moving & Unique Vanlines

I never really went back and talked about my experience with moving from state to state and with using a moving company.

I was just... really really upset with the outcome and the experience that beyond writing a review on Yelp, I didn't really want to talk about it.

But since it's coming around to that time of the year where I'm getting ready to move again, I figured I'd go back and talk about this.

Moving state to state is hard. Especially when you literally don't know what you're doing. Bubba helped me find a moving company and I had done some searches on Google and on Yelp; but PICKING one is the hardest part. These days it seems like reviews can be more hurtful than helpful and filtering out the reviews that are straight up complaints is hard.

I had a few leads and it came down to two.

When I was contacted by Coast to Coast Moving I was contacted by "Taylor" he break down the cost details and he broke down what the process was like he also stated that they were listed on a website called "Andrea's Choice" which was suppose to make them more "reputable" I guess. After going over inventory for days and finalizing it he quoted me with $1700. Assured me there was going to be no hidden extra charges and $1700 was all I had to come up with.

Here's the part that threw me off; I would call and ask a million questions just to make sure I understood everything COMPLETELY. Had him send emails with proof of the conversation. There was a time I had a question the Sunday before my move and so I called as he stated his phone was always open for questions and he threw out "as you can see it's my day off and I'm still answering my phone for questions." as if it was something he should be applauded for. He seemed like an okay guy who knew his stuff... until I handed over the deposit and it seemed almost instantly like his entire vibe and attitude had changed.

I didn't get into contact with him after that, I was passed on to someone else who would be handling my move. Someone else who even with the finalized inventory sheet "in front of them" had an incomplete list. So once again, I had to spend time fixing this damn list. He tried charging me extra and when I had protested that Taylor promised it would only be $1700 he "went to talk to his manager" and they "managed to cut me some deals" in order to keep my $1700 quote. On top of this, I had to exclude even MORE stuff.

When the pick up people got here, they were really not friendly at all. They moved stuff and worked very quickly. Didn't ask questions or say anything at all really. By the time they left I had to leave behind pretty much all of my living room furniture. The only things I brought with me were: my bed, my computer chair, one bookcase, my nightstand and my floor lamp. And since they "had to" pack my smaller boxes into a bigger box they charged me an extra $200 for it. Which was ridiculous as I didn't ask them to nor did they ask if it was okay. Boxes marked with "fragile" were completely ignored. Thank goodness I packed everything valuable with blankets. Not to mention that I noticed the paperwork said Unique Vanlines.

After all that time of Taylor bad mouthing brokers look who they are. SURPRISE, I guess.

Instead of the 10 days they said it would take for them to get my things to me, it took them 2 weeks. When it got passed the 10 days, when I'd call I would either get no answer or "they were unable to get into contact with anyone."

When they finally did come to drop my things back off the driver (I suppose) doing the paperwork had me lead him to my apartment to finish filling out the rest of the paperwork.

He very calmly, as if it were normal, told me he would have to charge me ANOTHER additional $150 because the location was over 75 feet away from the truck. I live in apartment complex. With an elevator. THE FUCK YOU MEAN OVER 75 FT FROM THE FUCKIN TRUCK.

I told him I didn't have that; he stated "I can continue to move your stuff into your apartment while you run to the bank if you have to."

1) No bitch, I mean I don't have that PERIOD because your bitch ass people quoted me $1700 which they PROMISED was all I had to pay. 2) THE FUCK YOU MEAN, I'm not leaving strangers in my apartment who already seem sketchy as fuck.

Frustrated and pretty much crying from how stressful this all is suddenly I went downstairs to the property manager and told her what was happening and if I could borrow a storage unit to try and eliminate some of the "steps". She was PISSED. And she went out there and yelled at the guy the whole elevator ride up to the storage unit to which he pretty much called us "stupid girls" and said it was "my fault" for "not reading the agreement" when I READ THE SHIT over and over again. I CALLED and verified HOW MUCH MONEY I NEEDED. I was SO ANGRY. DO NOT make me out to be some irresponsible chick just because you want to scam somebody then get mad when you're called out. He had the audacity to spew out more negativity before yelling down the hall way "fine, whatever, I'll work for free." Take that up with your sender, not me bud.

He ended up taking my stuff to my apartment "for free" by THROWING my boxes into the elevator. Didn't give a damn if they were marked fragile. As you can see the condition of my boxes in the photo above. Not just that, but had the nerve to ask if a piece they brought up was mine. ISNT THAT WHAT THE INVENTORY SHEET IS FOR?! They offered to put my bed together to which I declined and waited for them to leave. I handed them the money orders and slammed the door.

Then I curled up and cried and was so damn over the day that it wasn't even funny anymore.

Bubba came after work to help me unpack. He brought me food. And once most of the boxes were unpacked he shoo'd me off to take a hot bath while he and Sophie went to put the bed together.

It wasn't after all the boxes were put up that I realized I was missing a box full of makeup AND my floor lamp. I called to claim it and they told me to send an email. TO A GMAIL ACCOUNT. Once they "investigated" to which they said that they checked with all the others who shared the truck space and couldn't find my box OR floor lamp (THE WHOLE THING) they directed me to make a claim and when I did citing the cost lost they said they could only go off of weight to which the would only be able to reimburst me $150 because I didn't have insurance WHICH I SWEAR I FUCKIN DID.

There are just so many damn loopholes and so much scamming that is being done with this company and if other companies ARENT like this I feel bad for them. Other companies make people like me hesitant to ever want to hire any moving company ever again.

This entire experience was seriously ridiculous. I honestly wish I had gone with someone else, and even with research done it sucks that you can never be too sure if the reviews posted are legit or fake. After I had posted my review on Yelp, more negative reviews started coming on and with stories FAR WORSE than mine. It's insane that this company is still in business!