In this solo catch-up, Liz shares what’s been going on behind the scenes—moving updates, how her health is really doing, work changes, and end-of-school-year emotions. It’s honest, cozy, and totally unfiltered.

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Welcome to Besties Unfiltered, the podcast where real women share real stories. I'm Liz, and each week we dive into the authentic conversations that help women connect, build community, and feel empowered. Whether it's overcoming challenges, celebrating wins, or simply sharing the ups and downs of life, we're here to support one another, no filter needed. Grab a seat, grab your bestie, and let's get to it.

Hey, okay, welcome to the podcast today. This is going to be a super casual solo episode. Kind of think of it like a FaceTime catch up. That's what we're doing, only you can't actually see me, you're just listening. ⁓ And I just wanna invite you right off the bat to DM me or share me your own life updates on Instagram. Maybe you have a funny story that's happened to you recently.

Okay. basically what has happened is I pre-recorded, I want to say five episodes before I launched so that I would have some wiggle room if I were to have a really bad flare or life got crazy with moving. I knew that that was a strong possibility. What I didn't expect

is how hard I would get hit with health issues, right as I launched the podcast or how stressed out I would be with this move. So I am out of my bank of podcast episodes. I'm actually hoping to kind of have a podcast catch up day and record a whole bunch. So that way this doesn't happen again. But as I was sitting here thinking, what am I going to do? Do I just like power through and.

you know, fake it till you make it, or do I just own that that's real life and that's what's happened and just do a life update? So we're doing a life update because there have been several things and I get questions about episodes we've already had and I would love to kind of update on some of that, like the health stuff. So without further ado, let's start by talking health. am actually so excited to report that for the last, let's see, I'm going to say.

like eight days, I have felt really, really good. And this is significant because I am like two days out from starting my period right now from recording. And I have found that I tend to flare really, really bad. ⁓ I would say anywhere from five to nine days before my period and it'll last several days. And that tends to happen with

estrogen. When estrogen surges, which happens before your period, it can also happen a little, you get little surges with ovulation. likes to release histamine. It's an inhibitor. So if you are someone who is struggling with a histamine intolerance or with

mast cell. Histamine plays a role in that as well. And so if you were to look at a bottle of mitol, there is antihistamines in it. It's fascinating to me. I would love to have someone who is so knowledgeable about this come on and teach us about it. But. ⁓

Basically, I should be flaring really bad right now and I'm not, and I am over the moon because not only should I be flaring really bad according to the calendar of symptoms I have kept for months and months and months. But on top of that, it's pretty high stress over here getting ready to move. And we'll get into some of that. I also a week ago ended up in a minute clinic because I thought I had an ear infection.

And I guess I should put out there, this could be mast cell. I don't think it is. I think it was a separate thing. But who's to say like it is such a wild ride. I don't know. So I thought I had an ear infection. I went in and she was like, no, your ears look good. But like there's definitely like something going on. And she's feeling around my face and my sinuses were kind of sore. And she's like, it might be a sinus infection. I was like, yeah, but also like one side of my

throat, like the lymph node is swollen and the other one wasn't. like full disclosure, anytime I get sick with anything, my lymph nodes do get really, really swollen, but it's always both. I've never had asymmetrical. And so I'm like, yeah, it's kind of weird asymmetrical. And she was like, yeah, that is weird. And she's feeling and she's like, ⁓ yeah, I visually I can see something is going on there. ⁓

And she's feeling around. She's like, I'm actually a little worried your tonsil might be infected. either way, a round of antibiotics should knock out whatever's going on. You know, if you don't get better in four days or whatever, come back in. If you get better, but then after you stop the antibiotics, you, you know, it all comes back, come back in. If you spike a fever or anything

crazy happens, or get really, really bad, go to the emergency room. And she goes, we need to listen to your breathing. And she starts listening to my breathing and goes, your breathing doesn't sound great. It's like really mucusy and also like kind of wheezing. I'm a little concerned that like you may develop into pneumonia. So keep an eye on that, if you have shortness of breath, which I mean, side note,

pots, always have shortness of breath. But she's like, if you have shortness of breath, or again, you spike a fever, anything gets worse, immediately go to the ER. Nothing like carrying that right as you're about to move. Am I right?

So basically, not flaring, but did get sick. I'm on antibiotics still, but they do seem to be working. And I'm super grateful for that. What I think has happened, I was talking to Jimmy about it because I think it's been about eight weeks since I started taking, what is it called?

I'm going to have to look it up. This is embarrassing.

It's called accolade

Okay, so about eight weeks ago I started taking something called acylate and I think that's like the brand name of it. It's called sephir-lucast. I don't actually know how to say that it's actually an asthma medication but it blocks

Leukotrienes, I'm really hoping I'm saying these right. I might be saying everything wrong, but it blocks the leukotrienes, which are the chemicals in the body that cause inflammation. So in mast cell, have these things releasing, it causes inflammation and swelling and all these things, right? And so taking them regularly can help.

prevent some of that. So I started out on a different version for about three weeks, then I went to the mast cell specialist and he was like, okay, yes, this is a great one, but also I'm gonna switch you to an alternate one. Cause the one I was on has a black box warning on it. And there can be some really scary side effects.

I am now, I just hit eight weeks on this and I am wondering if it's kind of giving me my life back. ⁓ That said, I'm also now hitting, I'm hitting four weeks on a whole bunch of Zyrtecadase and Pepsid. And so I kind of wonder like maybe it's also just some of the antihistamines finally getting

long-term use in my body and maybe helping out a little bit. I don't know. All I know is I'm feeling better than I have in a while and that is really, really exciting. Especially because of how stressful things have been. So physically demanding, emotionally, mentally demanding, this move. Oof. So we are moving in about two weeks. We... ⁓

about a week ago, we're like, we didn't get Jimmy's orders until a week and a half ago. And basically nothing is official in the military until you have orders. We finally get them the same day we sign a lease for a townhome that's in an apartment complex. We're very excited about that. The next day we get everything scheduled. Like we put in the request for the movers, because we're having the military move us this time.

and we call a property manager because we're going to be leasing our house while we're gone.

And then the property manager is like,

when can I come over and do a tour? Now mind you, I have been so sick and Jimmy has been flying a ton and our house was basically trashed and I was like, we cannot have someone come over like this. Like he's gonna have to wait a few days so that we can like do a good cleaning. And then I'm looking around at all the little repairs we have to do before we can even lease. And I'm getting overwhelmed by it. anyways, long story short, my father-in-law came out to help us kind of get the house ready. ⁓

get some things done and he was so incredibly helpful and I'm so grateful, so so grateful that he was able to come and do that for us. That was a really really huge thing and then ⁓ so from there property manager came was kind of gave us a to-do list of some things that we've been working on including a lot of like paint touch-up which we knew we were going to have to do. I

Before I started feeling sick, I started refinishing our kitchen island and then we got busy. I started not feeling good. And if you have followed me for a long time, you know, I love DIY projects and house projects and furniture flipping and all of that kind of stuff. And I have not done any of that in about a year. when I actually sat and thought about that, I was like, Ooh, that's actually like a huge red flag for how I'm feeling physically. If I'm not doing these things that I've always loved doing.

And so this kitchen island I basically used a wood paint and I put grain on it and I was going to stain it and the stain I bought was one I never used and it was awful it did it didn't like blend out nicely it was so bad, so I was like i'm gonna have to re sand this all the way down and start over and my gosh what if it happens again and I was just kind of like what what what this is hard.

And now I have to get it done and the pressures on because it we can't take pictures of our house to list it until I get it done. So I actually just painted it finished up painting it today I stuff to seal it, but we ended up just doing a complimentary color to the cabinets that we have. i'll post pictures but i'm very excited got that done we've got almost all of our painting done we just have some touch ups and a few holes to fill ⁓ but nothing too crazy.

And we have carpet cleaners coming So I'm really excited to kind of start getting things done because it has kind of felt like a little bit of limbo where it's like we want to get stuff done, but you kind of have to wait till the last minute. And now we're kind of in that last minute. We also had a little bit of panic where the movers were like, we won't be able to come out until the end of June. And we were like, well, he has to be there on that date that you're giving. So

are we going to have to DIY this move? So there was a little bit of back and forth with that, but I actually just got a screenshot from Jimmy officially from the movers. They are coming. They're going to spend, they have two days allotted to pack and then a third day to load us up. And we will then turn around and leave. because we are traveling and it's with the military first job, they,

they pay us like travel days, ⁓ not like he's on the clock, but you know, we get reimbursed for travel expenses. And so we are going to kind of take our time and make a little trip of it. And we're really excited about that. And the kids are excited. They are gonna get to go to a bunch of new states. And honestly, I think Jimmy and I are also adding

I know I'm adding a couple new states. don't think, I think Jimmy's adding at least one. I don't think he's been to Michigan. We're going to Michigan on our thing, because we're going to be right there and we have the time. we were like, we're going to have one day that's a short day and we're just going to be tourists and have fun in Ann Arbor. So if you have any suggestions about things to do around Ann Arbor, please let us know. So we're super excited. And I guess that kind of leads into like,

It's the end of the school year. My kids, my elementary kids get out tomorrow and they just have like a little half day. I seriously think they're there for like three hours. And then my oldest finishes on Thursday and again, it's a half day. And then he's actually flying out to Oregon to spend a couple of weeks with his cousins for his 12th birthday.

very excited for him but also part of me it just feels crazy that I'm about to have a 12 year old and he's going to be gone and he'll get in the day before we move so that's kind of crazy too it's just gonna be busy and all over the place but I'm excited and I think one thing I'm gonna do while he's gone since he gets to go on this fun trip

I think I'm going to take my younger two. just remembered that we had a gift card from Christmas to a movie theater and it's a local theater. So I think I'm going to take them to go see a kid movie. Sometime in the next week or two ⁓ debating which one to take them to probably Lilo and Stitch. I don't know if you have suggestions. Let me know. And then yeah, we're just gonna

We're just going to have fun this summer. decided once we're there, the apartments that we're leasing from have a pool and I think we will be spending a lot of time there. So also we're just excited to explore a new area. And if you know me, you know, I love going out and finding new things to do. And it's going to be super fun. We are going to be located in a place called Hamilton Township in New Jersey. So we're kind of in between.

Trenton and Princeton, a little bit closer to the Princeton side. So there's a lot to do right there, but you're also, want to say it's like 40-ish minutes to Philadelphia, and there's a train really close to where we're at that is direct to New York City. And it's like a 90-minute train ride. So we're in a pretty cool location, I think. my gosh.

So many updates. But I'm excited. ⁓ Just, I guess, rapid fire, because that's my favorite thing when I interview people is the rapid fire just to hear what people are doing. So I put in chat GPT, I said, ask me some rapid fire questions. What have I been reading lately or wanting to read? I have been doing a reread of A Court of Silver Flames. It has been super fun.

I decided I wasn't going to listen to it at all or read it on my Kindle. I'm reading my paperback copy that I have marked up previously. Some of it is marked up from cross references for other series that this author has written. I also marked like, I don't know, I marked the spicy scenes just for fun. And then I marked the scenes that just had

quotes and things that I really like from it. And it's been really fun rereading it and seeing what I've marked previously and finding new things where I'm like, ⁓ I really like this line or what have you. I am just about to start part three. So super fun. ⁓ I'm trying to decide. I think I need to pick out a series to listen to when I'm driving.

to New Jersey, Jimmy and I are both gonna be driving. have two cars, so we're both gonna be driving. So I don't know. I can't decide if I want to just listen to a series I've already listened to, because sometimes that's kind of fun. Or if I wanna start a new series, I don't know. If you have suggestions, let me know. I would prefer series that are finished at this point, because I have so many series that are not finished that I need something finished. Yeah.

That's my update, think. ⁓

All right besties, I think that's it for today's little life catch up. If you're still listening, I just wanna say thank you. Whether you tune in every week or just pop in when you can, it really truly means so much that you're here and part of this growing unfiltered little community we're building. Before you go, just a couple of quick reminders. Number one, I'm gathering stories and thoughts from you on a couple of upcoming episodes. One about motherhood and one on adult friendships.

If you've got something to share, a story, a struggle, or just a hot take, I'd love to hear it. You can DM me on Instagram, or you can use the link in the show notes or in my bio. It is completely anonymous if you use the form. Number two, don't forget about the limited edition podcast merch. It is available only until June 15th. June 15th. At that point then, it is gone. And once it is gone, it is gone forever.

This is it, okay? I cannot wait to do a live unboxing on Instagram when I get mine. I'm hoping in the next day or two. So be sure to grab your favorite before the pre-order window closes. And then lastly, if you've been loving the show and you ever feel like tossing a little support my way, I just set up a page on a website called buymeacoffee.com. It's not actually coffee specific. That's just a cute name for it. Totally no pressure.

But it's there if you ever want to help fuel future episodes, both literally and figuratively. There's a link in the show notes for that too. Thanks again for showing up, for listening and for being a part of Besties Unfiltered. I'll talk to you soon.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Besties Unfiltered. I hope today's conversation left you feeling inspired and connected. Remember, we're all in this together and there's power in sharing our stories. If you loved today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your besties. And as always, keep being real, keep being you, and I'll catch you next time. No filter, just friendship.