Beautiful Life

It's been a few weeks since I last posted. Sadly, my grandmother passed away last weekend. After a long battle with metastatic bone cancer, my Mom-Mom went home to heaven to be with God and Pop-Pop. She fought bravely and her faith never once wavered. She was surrounded by a house filled with family and friends who loved her in her final moments on earth. I miss her more every minute, but I can still feel her with me as I do my daily activities.

Her senior portrait from 1944. She's gorgeous.

Through everything that's happened in the last two weeks, I feel closer to God than ever. During her final week of life, we saw Mom-Mom smile at angels we couldn't see. I feel like that's the closest to heaven I'll ever get while I'm here and it was phenomenal. She was the most incredible woman I've ever been blessed to know and I know she'll continue to watch over me.

 For a long time, Mom-Mom had been telling me that she wanted me to sing Schubert's Ave Maria at her funeral, when she died. I was never prepared to sing it because the thought of her dying was too much to handle. I grew up a lot this month and I told her I'd sing it, but that when the time came, she'd have to help me through it. I don't know how I sang without bursting into tears, but I know she was with me. She gave me the strength I needed to honor her beautiful memory. Everyone said she'd be proud of me and I believe it.

Strawberry Daquiri

Some of the last words my grandmom spoke were,"I had a beautiful life." My goal is to live as she did, appreciating everything I have at any given moment. I hope that in my last moments on earth, whenever they will be, I will be able to say the same thing.

Live life beautifully.

XO - Monnny

Still Into You

The week before finals is usually super stressful for me. It's easier to study for finals than it is to finish all my final projects. Last week was especially horrible because on top of all the academic things I had to finish, I took a day off from school to spend time with my family. To make a long story short, my grandmother was put on hospice, or end-of-life-care, on Friday. Needless to say, I was/am a complete emotional wreck. When I was at work on Saturday, I was able to take my mind off of it for a little while, but I did leave early.

Thankfully, my friend Sarah picked me up from work for dinner and some good old-fashioned retail therapy . 

First we went to Panera Bread. We both got the mac and cheese and I got a super delicious ice green tea.

Tangy white cheddar mac and cheese

Then, we stopped at Target for about an hour and then hit the mall to go to Forever21. 4 hours (and $100) later, we were exhausted! We had such a great time making fun of random fashions and tweens who walk the mall for entertainment. It was totally worth standing for hours.

This ootd is just part of my haul.

    

Top: Target
Tank: Forever 21
Jeans: Forever 21
Shoes: Steve Madden
Bracelet: Boardwalk Mall
Nail polish: Japanese Rose Garden by OPI

 

One weird thing is that I was so reluctant to spend my money. I'm not used to spending a huge chunk of change all at once so I talked myself out of buying a few things Am I the only one with this problem?

"I should be over all the butterflies

But I'm into you." - Paramore

XO - Monnny