Come put a little love in my glovebox

Felt as if I were in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! FOR NARNIA!

My travel buddy-he is a white blood cell! BFF.

Day one outfit! Comfy enough for the drive up but still nice enough to make me feel glamorous-well, until my left heel got caught in the floorboards of a restaurant. That was embarrassing.

Dancing in the living room:)

Don't judge me. The shadow looked cool. And this is how I feel inside. Can't be tamed(Miley Cyrus anyone?).

Day two outfit. Again, comfy-but it was chilly so I had to mix and match with what I had brought.

This window would cast hundreds of little tiny rainbows around the bedroom every morning.

Day three outfit. I kinda dressed it up and somehow ended up wearing my pimp hat? Also I am working fall colors into my wardrobe. It gives me mixed feelings. I am excited for fall but I still cling to summer because I will miss it dearly:(

I am wearing my grandma shirt which is SUPERCOMFY and goes with everything. I adore it so much<3 Also my Urban Outfitters skirt is a necessary item in my closet. Ahh I love myself a good pair of tights.

Road trip to Duluth with my grandma, my mother, and my 'lil sis! The four of us stayed in a supercute manor house? It was portioned off and we ended up renting the bottom level which included the kitchen, the dining room, and a couple of sitting rooms. Two of the sitting rooms had been converted into makeshift bedrooms. OH and we had this perfect little porch to sit in!! Anyway it was marvelous. We ate too much, laughed a lot, danced a bit, and did some light shopping. School starts on Wed for me and I am somewhat looking forward to it! However, it is going to be rough for me to get used to picking 'school appropriate' outfits(meaning no shoulders showing and pretty much no heels because the hallways are so dang slippery). Also I heard from my mother that everyone's schedules are being switched but I will investigate myself before I freak out over it.
<3
P.S. I felt good again this weekend! It is annoying to transport my medicine but it's fine:P I am glad that I have felt so good for the past couple weeks but it makes me nervous that I will crash sometime soon? If that makes sense...Hmm...
-Lo

Countdown

Sleepover with my girls:) Summer is almost over but for us it is not the only event we are counting down to. The little brunette, Cecily, is moving to Italia in a little over a week. We are going to miss her so so so much...Last night we dug up this old notebook that the three of us used to pass around in middle school-like passing notes but sneakier;) We were so dorky and LAME! But I suppose it is a faze we all have to go through? What I like to go by: "Life is like a big 'ol zit: It has to get worse before it gets better"...I think that applies to what I'm talking about...Anyway this is what I wore out with Sylena and Cec for a bite out at Potbellies(YUMMM). This shirt is an old concert T that I wear literally once a week. It goes with everything. Then the tap shorts are also one of my faves because they look fabulous with everything and they totally confuse people on whether or not they are shorts or a skirt or what? I like the look of something more glamorous(like the necklace) with a plain T. It is my go-to. Also we watched Some Like it Hot. Along with it being my first Marilyn movie, it was also super fantastic. Def in my fave 20:) But in it she hides a flask in her thigh-high nylons (or whatever its called) so we were overjoyed when we spotted the sketchy flasks they sell in Icing. ALSO the first pic: out of Zink! magazine-I decided that if I died my hair I would dye it this color. Loud 'n proud.
<3
P.S. My grandma dropped off my new car! It is a blue sparkly Lexus. I am so looking forward to spending some quality time with it.
P.P.S. On a neutropenic note: I felt good today! Not quite all the way wonderful(that rarely happens) but well enough to live a normal day. I am trying to be thankful for days like this:) On a little bit less fantastic note:I skipped my shot last night. Should not have done that. I hope I do not end up regretting it:/

Neutropenia or bust

So I believe that I neglected to mention that I have a disease called Cyclic Neutropenia which takes up a good portion of my life. I was born with this ailment, fortunately enough for me. I don't really understand it so well but basically Neutropenia is a reduced number or lack of neutrophils(a type of blood cell that defend the body against bacterial infections). I have the Cyclic version of this which means that the amount of neutrophils that I have varies depending upon where I am in my cycle. My personal cycle runs within approximately a 14-day period. So it takes me 14 days to get from a good amount of neutrophils to a low amount of neutrophils and back again. I was born with absolutely no neutrophils in my body so I spent my first couple weeks in an incubator receiving frequent visits from needles wherever they could fit them into my tiny body. I grew up basically being in and out of the hospital, becoming stronger and stronger as I became older.
Since I have inherited this from my father, who was generous enough to share it with me, the two of us have a special understanding of each other. I am blessed to know someone close to me who can understand what I go through. The symptoms I feel when I 'go low' vary. Every time I go low it is different in an indescribable way. The common symptoms for me are: fatigue, fever, aches, mouth ulcers, infection of any cuts and scrapes one may have on their body, and I am sure more than what I can think of. Sometimes I swear I can almost feel my bone marrow squeezing(because that is where the white blood cells aka neutrophils are made). I take a shot of GCSF every night which keeps me going. Without it I am fairly certain I would not be alive today. I am very fortunate to have it but at the same time I am so dependent on it and it makes me only halfway better it feels. I now do not belong in either the sick world or the well world. I am stuck in between and it can be so frustrating because I never know which one I am going to be in tomorrow or  a week from now or six months from now. It makes it hard to make commitments and plan ahead. Anyway I will post about this more often because it is a large part of my life whether I want it to be or not...The top pic is of the needles I use and the vile that holds my magic medicine, the second one is of my name tag from a Neutropenia convention last summer, and the third is the little card that I keep in my wallet in case I have an emergency. Just wanted to provide some visuals.
<3
P.S. More information/donations/success stories go here .