I have PCOS, but I will never be PCOS: My story

Well, this explains why you haven’t had your period in seven months. You have PCOS.

A tall, thin middle-aged lady with curly blonde hair, my midwife, Linda, continued to keep her eyes—which were masked by reading glasses—on the laptop screen in front of her. I immediately broke down in tears as I lay on that cold, hard table with my legs spread in the stirrups. My mother was in the room with me, too, teary-eyed and saddened by my reaction to the news. I had read about polycystic ovarian syndrome and all that it does to women. I read stories of women who never had babies and would never become mothers. Hearing Linda tell me that PCOS is super common and that many women have it didn’t make me feel any better. In a sort of dazed stupor, I sent Brian a text:

I have PCOS.

My Favorite Photo in 2015: A Photo Diary of my Cruise to Bermuda!

When I was browsing the stunning Social Print Studio website, I was challenged and compelled to write this post. I've used some "pretty pictures" in various blog posts, including, "Why 'Growing Up' Isn't as Bad as it Seems." See, I love taking pictures. I love taking selfies, and landscape photos, and pictures of my pets, and basically everything. But, unfortunately, I don't have a special camera (yet!) or Photoshop on this computer, so I just use my phone and do what I can to take a stellar photo when I'm desiring to take one.

So, there was one simple question that I needed to answer: "What was your favorite photo that you took in 2015?"

I immediately thought about one of the best experiences of my 2015 year: my cruise to Bermuda. Goodness, I could move there and live there forever. The place is so, so beautiful, and so full of culture and life. It's an island that never sleeps, and there's always a new place to explore. When we cruised there on the Norwegian Breakaway, we docked at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda for three days.

Being the diva that I am, I said in a balcony room with my bestie, so we had the most amazing view ever from the ship. I was on the 10th floor, so we were high up, which allowed me to capture really great shots from my balcony. I remember our first morning docked; I woke up and the curtains were drawn. The room was essentially pitch black (those curtains were insane!). The boat wasn't rocking at all, and I heard people through the glass door to our balcony. I got up, still kind of half-asleep, and stumbled my way over to the window. I stepped outside and saw this:

Click the image to enlarge it!

Some of my old makeup looks!

Eye model: Angela Sasso | Makeup by: Holly Anne Silva

Things have been crazy busy for me! Between my volunteer work, my full-time job, my SECOND job (it was only seasonal, so I'm back now!) and the move into my house, I've barely had time for anything.

I wanted to use this post (and this bandwidth LOL) to show y'all some of the old makeup looks I've done, but never had a chance to blog about.

If you want any step-by-step tutorials for these, or simply want to know that products I used, leave a comment below and I'll tell ya!