If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I am the type to draw out celebrating my birthday as long as possible. Not just a day but a week or a month even but not this year. I could title it, “Birthday Interrupted By Chronic Illness.” It was probably the worst birthday on record which is why its taken me so long to talk about it but instead of taking a more negative turn, in true Disney fashion, I’ve taken the liberty to hum an Alice in Wonderland tune while writing this post instead (don’t lie – its in your head now too!)
The morning of my birthday was spent in the CVS Minute Clinic where I was the first person in our area to be diagnosed with the flu since the start of the new flu year (which starts in August by the way). That wouldn’t have sucked as much if it wasn’t for the fact that my husband was in the hospital preparing to undergo surgery to remove a kidney stone and I was now unable to go see him. For countless hospital visits, John has always been by my side sleeping in those God awful chairs to be next to me and for the one time in our marriage that he is in the hospital I was helpless and couldn’t be there for him. My birthday was off to a miserable start.
When I went to the Minute Clinic, I was prepared to have an upper respiratory infection as that is where my pain was centered (it felt like barbed wire around my lungs) so I sported the face mask while I waited just in case. Once they took me in the room and the test machine beeped, they were extremely thankful that I had taken that precaution. I was sent home to be quarantined instead of having a party. Thank goodness my mom was here to save the day. She bleached and housed down the house with Lysol and bounced between caring for me, Abby, and John.
In the midst of all the flu stuff going on, I was also trying to deal with all of falling which meant having an EEG prepped with 24 hour sleep deprivation. On any of my “normal” days, its nothing for me to be up 24 hours straight since my body has seemed to have forgotten how to sleep normally but when I need to be awake 24 hours, all I wanted to do was sleep so my mom took a nap while Abby was in school and stayed up all night with me. It was like having a slumber party. I drank iced coffee and we watched ghost stories. Each show was an hour so it allowed us to count down an hour at a time.
The time for the EEG came and the test was over quickly. Once I was able to wash the electrode gunk out of my hair, I was ready to crawl into bed and sleep for days. I crawled into bed for days alright only it was because the test set off a massive migraine between the sleep deprivation and the test itself.
Finally about two weeks after my birthday, we were finally able to celebrate. My parents gave me an Ulta gift card and even with being bedbound, I had the joy of being able to shop online. Usually, I would have hit up the makeup “aisle” first but if you’ve noticed my new profile pic, I’ve finally changed my hair back dark from purple. I loved rockin’ the purple but I tried to lighten to a silvery-lilac and in the process totally fried my hair so I did a little splurging on haircare to try to nurse my tresses back to health. Luckily they had some good deals! Here are the goodies I scored:
1- Bed Head Blow Out Golden Illuminating Shine Cream
2- TIGI Bed Head Dirty Secret Rockaholic Dry Shampoo
3 – TIGI Catwalk Root Boost Spray
4- EVA*NYC Therapy Session Hair Mask
5- John Frieda Precision Foam Hair Color
6- John Frieda Color Refreshing Gloss
I just dug everything out of the box so I can’t give you my opinions on the products just yet except for the Therapy Session Hair Mask. I have sung its praises in a previous favorites video and when Ulta had it on sale Buy 1 Get 1 Free, it was time to stock up! I still can’t get over how delicious it smells! I purchased the John Frieda Hair Color & Refreshing Gloss on the recommendation of YouTuber Nicole Guerriero so I’ll update you on how it works! I have always loved TIGI/Bed Head products and they were running a promotion so I am especially excited to try out the illuminating shine cream. What’s even better is that with Ebates*, I earned cash back (referral link)! Holla!
So while my birthday didn’t work out exactly the way I had hoped it would, I still have so much to be thankful for. I have been blessed with another year of life. Another year to spend with my family. Another year to fall deeper in love with my husband and another year to watch my baby girl turn into a young lady who is growing so quickly but with a heart full of Christ. I am a lucky, lucky girl.
