Welcome Friends New and Old

So when I had the idea of blogging I didn't think it would be anything more than just my close family and friends reading my thoughts to help encourage me, and to give me the stink eye every time they saw me try to leave the house wearing blavy. (Black and navy, I am a serious repeat offender).

Anyways, it turns out I have quite a few people coming up to me and telling me that they have been reading my blog. Which I have been loving because I have been getting all sorts of recommendations. So please keep them coming! I love hearing what you guys like and think I should try. I have found so many new products that way. I even have been getting requests on things to blog about as well. My friends want me to film myself getting ready in the morning. Actually that might be hilarious, because I average about 5 mascara wand pokes per eye and spend a good portion in front of my mirror crying.

 But seriously, I can't believe how much I am enjoying blogging. I have always been really shy and reserved and I have always struggled with making friends. So I feel that putting myself out there on the internet is a great way to help me make friends and have conversations with new people. I can learn more about them and they can learn more about me and no one has to break out in hives from anxiety! (which is typically me, I get real nervous talking to people).

So I wanted to thank everyone who has been following me and who has given me advice. People who I went to high school with have been reaching out to me, people at my new job have been reaching out to me, and even acquaintances from college have been reaching out to me!

The wild thing is, is that blogger can track what country your viewers are from. I figured my blog would solely be America, but take a look at this!

 

So I want to take the time and say, "Hello" and "Welcome" to everyone that stops by and visits my blog! I hope you have been enjoying my little journey, because I can't tell you how much I enjoy writing it.

 

 

Birthday Haul

I know you guys are probably sick of hearing me drone on about my birthday, but when you are married to an accountant, having one whole month to spend whatever the heck you want is pretty magical. Normally he lectures me about using our extra cash flow to pay off the interest rates on our mortgage, and I find that all terribly boring and stop listening at the part where he tells me I have to be more finically responsible. Yet I was still able to negotiate my way up to a higher amount of spending money. I also still have money from my in-laws to go shopping with, but here is what I got so far for my birthday! I broke the pictures up into jewelry and make-up.

top row going left to right

earrings: JCPennys / bracelet: Target / earrings: Target / necklace: Target

middle row going left to right 

earrings: Target / earrings: Charming Charlie / earrings: Forever 21 / earrings: Forever 21

and both of the bottom two necklaces are from Charming Charlie

 

I am totally obsessed with the gold paper crane necklace. Not that I'm hipster or anything, but the infinity sign, and the lotus flower, and the tree of life are everywhere nowadays. I always wanted a piece of jewelry that could show my earthy side while still being really chic. So when I found this paper crane necklace in Charming Charlie I ugly cried for a little bit and then grabbed Steve's credit card and ran for the checkout. 

 

For those of you that don't know the paper crane is a sign of peace. I once had a goal to make 1000 paper cranes, but it is a lot harder than it sounds and I just stopped at two. Now mind you those two paper cranes are proudly held on display in the Gresh kitchen, but I would have gone mad if I tried to make more.

 

I also really wanted to get some accent jewelry for the days I sleep in and don't have time to wear make-up. Which is actually turning out to be Monday-Friday. I really made an honest effort of looking nice for the first week in January, but this week we are 0-2 again and my warm fleece sheets will win over mascara any day. So while Saturday and Sunday I have been looking all forms of fancy, Monday - Friday I'm a hot mess. So I figured some snazzy looking jewelry would improve my confidence.

 

 

 

 

 

All of the make up has the brand name on it, but if you have any questions just shoot me an email. Honestly it's mostly NXY. I have never heard of them before my little journey, but now I can't imagine buying any other brand. You can also see that the horrible pallet from H&M is the unnamed one. Also the silver lipstick tube is from Mary Kay.

 

I have only tried the "From Dawn till Dusk" pallet and the Mary Kay "Citrus Flirt" lipstick so far (the pallet is the big copper one next to the curling iron). I absolutely love both. The pallet came highly recommend from my cousin's wife, and I trust anything she tells me, so it was about two days after she sent me the recommendation that I drove myself down to Ulta and bought the pallet for myself.

 

I also got some candles at Target, but I forgot to take pictures of those, and I really don't think anyone cares to terribly much about the current scent of the Gresh household.

My Birthday!

 

 

 

Today is my birthday!!

 

The weekend has been full of shopping, eating, and celebrating the glorious day of my birth!

 

 

 

That is a newspaper that my parents gave me from the actual day of my birth!

 

 

 

 

 

Let them Eat Cake

So this week I totally failed at being fabulous. I was struck down with strep throat and only made an appearance two days this week to work. I am thankfully starting to feel better, but the issue is since I had a week of laying on the couch, I didn't exercise once, I ate nothing but Oreos, and I am feeling sluggish and fat.

I really didn't see this as a problem until this afternoon when my mom called me and asked me what I wanted to do this weekend. I immediately thought of all the fettuccine alfredo I would be consuming and then sadly looked at my bloated tummy.

However then my thought process continued to keep turning and I decided that it is birthday weekend. And I'll be damned if I don't eat copious amounts cheese. So if that means that I will unable to button my jeans and have to go out and about in my Victoria Secret sweatpants this weekend, then I will throw aside jeans and parade around town in my sweatpants. Because Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake." and you bet that's what I plan on doing.

The Universe's Birthday Present to Me

So over the weekend I believed myself to be victim of strep throat for the second time this year. So when my throat started feeling the same way it did last time around 8:00 Saturday night; the first thing I did Sunday morning was plop myself down at the closet Urgent Care and told them to hook me up with their strongest antibiotics.

Well apparently it takes about 48 hours for strep to fully develop, and the doctor said that the test results wouldn't show anything until then. So they swabbed me, wished me well, and I went on my merry way feeling much better by Monday and then crashing again on Tuesday. Today I went home from work early and as I was mid nap the doctor called and confirmed that it was indeed strep throat and informed me that my antibiotics were waiting for me at my pharmacy.

I guess I am just a little bit annoyed that God would smite me with strep 5 days before my birthday.


Happy birthday to me.

French Manicure Fiasco

I have the day off of work today. My plans were to hang out with my mother and have lunch with her. However I'm still sick, and my mom is taking my uncle to an appointment tomorrow and I didn't want to risk getting him sick, so I decided to just stay home.

So today I slept in, watched Netflix, ordered a textbook, debated joining PETA, made pasta sauce in the crock pot, and called up one of my best friends to talk about her wedding plans. After I finished everything I deep conditioned my hair and painted my nails.

Let's just talk about painting my nails shall we.

 

Keep laughing, it get's better.

 

Now praise baby Jesus that Steve doesn't follow my blog. It's nothing personal, just he has to listen to my thoughts all day, I don't really think he wants to spend his free time reading my thoughts either.

 

Anyways I accepted defeat in the French manicure and decided to move on to a copper color instead. Now I wanted to keep watching Netflix so I broke a Gresh house rule and I painted my nails on the couch in the living room. I was so careful not to get the nail polish anywhere and I did such a great job. As I was finishing up I was chuckling to myself for my sneakiness and I dropped my nail polish and it spilled all over the carpet. The white carpet. In the living room. Where I'm not allowed to paint my nails.

 

Well now I'm done for. So I called Deborah (my mother) in a panic and quite the resourceful woman that she is, she looked online and researched what to do.

 

The answer was hairspray oddly enough. I had to sacrifice my toothbrush, but after five minutes of brushing hairspray into the carpet the stain is finally gone.

 

 Phew.

 

Now I need to buy a toothbrush.

Copycat Lush Lip Exfoliator

So I have found my deathbed to be quite boring. As any girl from the 21st century, I went on Pintrest to cure my boredom. I pinned many things in which I am quite sure I will never look at again, but I also found a recipe for a copycat Lush lip scrub. Now as much as I love Erie, I realize that as far as the economy goes we are not well off. There are many a store that we miss out on in Erie and Lush is definitely one of them. I know Buffalo has a Lush, but I have never been there. So this caught my eye not because I am a Lush lover, because quite frankly I have never tried Lush before, but it did catch my eye because I have been thinking about finding a good lip exfoliator. I have been getting into darker lipsticks and I have noticed that I have many a lip flakes on my lips.

Well lip flakes no more! Let me share with you my magical and sticky evening.

 

Those were all of the ingredients I used. It call for...

1 TB sugar

1 TB honey

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp Vaseline

3 drops food coloring

 

 

I found this tin in my tea cupboard. I bought it last year at this cute little boutique. It was a chocolate cherry tea blend. It sounded all sorts of excellent, but I feel like my ears enjoyed that flavor far more than my taste buds. It was awful and I just ended up throwing the tea away. But the tin was so cute that I knew I had to save it for something.

 

Anyways so I mixed it all together it came out like this.

 

It looks kind of gross but I put it on my lips and it worked wonders.

It actually tasted quite good. I had to keep reminding myself that there was Vaseline in the concoction but if not for that I probably would have licked the whole thing off.

 

All in all it was fantastic and my lips are now super smooth. Now it's back to my death bed.

 

 

NYX

So my first thought was to apologize that I haven't blogged in a week, but then I realized that probably no one has been staying awake at night wondering where my blogs have been. So I take it back. I'm not sorry.

In truth it was report card week. Although the new semester for my masters program starts on Tuesday, so there is a great chance that I might only be blogging on the weekends.

Just a reminder to everyone that my birthday is one week from today. I repeat, one week from today I will be celebrating the glorious day of my birth in case you want to throw a special phone call my way and sing me Happy Birthday.

I actually did something beautiful today, and I got a Birthday Cake Oreo Blizzard. I probably shouldn't be advertising that out loud given the ever growing size of my buttox. But it was delicious and I didn't finish all of it. So what now.

I have decided to take up Steve's offer, and while I am picking out my presents and buying them ahead of time, I am not going to use them until my actual birthday. I know this sounds crazy, but I think I can finally say that I have enough clothes. For those of you that don't know, I have so many clothes that I had to take the spare bedroom and transform it into a walk-in closet. And even then I have more clothes and shoes than that room can fit. I think it finally hit me when I student asked me why I wore the same pair of pants everyday. And the truth of the matter is that I'm not wearing the same pair of pants everyday, I just own 10 pairs of black leggings. So I have decided to cool it on the oversized sweaters and infinity scarves and this year I am buying make-up and jewelry.

Yesterday Steve and I went to Ulta and we checked out NYX make-up, then we went to Pennys and I got some earrings. I am really excited about NYX and I can't wait to try them out. I saw they had everything I used from Sephora like finishing powder and tinted moisturizer, however it was like, way cheaper. So I am super excited. When I run out of my current stuff I'll get the NYX products and I'll let you guys know how I like them. A lot of the beauty YouTubers I have been watching say nothing but excellent things about NYX products.

I also discovered the secret between the mascara brushes! My friend sent me a link so the curvy brush is for if you want to curl your lashes on the ends, and the straight brush is for if you want more volume. I guess I could have figured that out by common sense. My friend also helped me discover the mystery lip color! We believe it is fire cracker, however when I went to order it I fell in love with another color, so I went to order the lipstick in coral instead.

Anyways this was my look for yesterday. I bust out the hair extensions again, although at this point my hair has grown out to the point where the extensions add more body than length.

 

I didn't get a good OOTD for today because I do believe I am the victim of strep throat yet again. I spent two hours in Urgent Care today just for them to tell me that I came in too early and they will have to wait 48 hours to test my swab sample. In the meantime I'm just drinking tea, gargling salt water, and re-writing my will.

Rookie Mistake

So if case you needed a little OOTD to wrap up your Monday, I've got you covered.

My friends at work said that this was their favorite look yet. The dress is from Maurices, the shirt is from JCPennys, the tights are from Wal*Mart, and the shoes are from Payless. Everyone said that they liked my make-up the best today too. Although personally I hated the eye shadow I used. My friend also told me to try pink/nude lips, so what do you think!?

 

I am in the market for some eye shadow pallets. I made a rookie mistake over the weekend and went to H&M to buy make-up. In my defense I did look at the reviews online. However I guess we can chalk this experience up as another example where people lie on the internet.

 

Like I said, my birthday is in 13 days. So Steve made a deal with me that I can either spend $60 and be able to wear my presents now, or I can spend $75 and wait to use them on my birthday. Which I am going to have to talk to Steve about this because normally I am able to spend a lot more money on my birthday. I take birthdays very seriously you know. And if case you failed to grasp my not so subtle remarks, my birthday is in 13 days, and I love presents.

 

Speaking of that I am going to have to try and figure out how I want to spend my birthday. It is my golden birthday! I'm turning 25 on the 25th. Maybe Cleopatra themed.

 

Anyways back to the H&M eyes shadow.

 

 

That was everything that I have bought so far for the glorious day of my birth. The eye shadow was the worst. It didn't even show up when I got my brush wet. In hindsight I should have known that anything coming from H&M would be questionable. I just thought that the colors were pretty and the price looked right. So if anyone has some recommendations for good eye shadow pallets please let me know! And hopefully some cheaper ones because I am not in the mood to spend all of my birthday money on the Naked pallet when I will probably only use three colors.

 

Sephora Sample Review

So I told everyone I would review the sample products I got from Sephora. Yesterday almost all my make-up was from samples. It was fantastic. If anyone else has any samples to throw my way, keep them coming! I love trying out new things without having to purchase them. Plus I even found a lipstick that I am in love with, so I am way excited about finding products that I want to buy. Steve hates my love of samples and says I am embarrassing, but the joke is on him because I am the one wearing free products. Actually I guess he doesn't care about make-up samples, but when we go to events like home shows or festivals, I feel no need to purchase any food from vendors because I simply get my fill on pretzels and dip samples. Steve hates it. I love it. Cucumber dill is my favorite by far.

Anyways, first I used the Bare Minerals foundation primer, foundation, and finishing powder. I loved it and thought it left my face looking flawless. I don't know if I was in love with it enough to buy it though. I would like to try some cheaper foundations before I commit to buying something so expensive. Although I only used a little bit and it went really far. But still, I think I want to try True Match next time I have to buy some foundation. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I also used the Dolce and Gabbana Desire perfume sample. It was kind of spicy? That's a terrible review, I know.

I also found a Mary Kay sample of lipstick and I simply LOVED it. However the downside is that I found it in a drawer so it was probably was really old because I don't even remember getting it. The words were smudged off and I have no idea what color it is.

It was beautiful! It lasted all day and didn't even rub off when I ate. I have a friend that sells Mary Kay. So I'm hoping that she can look at this picture and say, "OH! I know exactly what color that is!" So that is our challenge folks! Find out what color this is!

My birthday is in 14 days so if we can identify the color by then that would be a great birthday present. Normally my birthday routine is that I go shopping with my mother and I can pick out whatever I want. This is also our Christmas routine. Steve also hates that. But why spend your money on something they may not want, when you can spend quality time with that person and buy them exactly what they wanted?!?!?

This year Steve is putting his foot down and said that he is going to buy my presents himself, without me. So just to make double sure that I do not receive a stupid shirt that has "Hollster" on the front with a missing "I" where your cleavage will go, (Oh, because that DID happen); I went around Target and took pictures of everything I wanted. Steve will be receiving an email shortly.

In Steve's defense he had no idea that's why the "I" was missing. But I take that example and run with the fact that one should always pick out their own presents.

 

Blogilates Review

So my friend wanted me to try blogilates and then write a review on how I thought of it. At first when I started this blog I didn't think that I would write down much about my exercise regimen. However the more I thought about it the more I realized it is probably a good idea. Part of bettering yourself is eating right and exercising. We had a lesson on respect in my classroom and we touched on respecting ourselves. The kids mentioned exercising and I thought that was a really wise and great thing for a second grader to say. How can we trust others to take us seriously and respect us if we do not take care of our body the way we should? So I think now I will start also blogging about exercising as well because it all comes in the package of being fabulous and reflecting to others who you are.

So today I will be reviewing blogilates.

So for those of you that don't know, blogilates is a YouTube channel where she does 10-15 minute videos focusing on one body part. She also has a website with monthly workout calendars, recipes, and fitness apparel. I even saw she had her own music videos! My friend defines it as a blog on crack. They have a lot to work with! Because I am not quite committed to cutting the Oreos out of my life I only did a few of her exercise videos, but she did mention that 80% of your body is how you eat and the other 20% is exercise and genetics. So after a good cry, and a ceremonial good-bye to the bag of chips I was eating, I did legs, abs, and cardio.

Overall I think this is a great program to do if, 1. You are in a pinch for time and can only squeeze in a few minutes between activities, or 2. Want to supplement your workout routine with a quick focus area to get even better results.

I don't think I would do her cardio workouts again, only because she talked a lot through them and I didn't really think that I was getting a good cardio workout in. However holy moly! As far as focus areas like legs and abs go, this girl really knew her stuff. She had really creative ways to tone your body without doing plain old crunches or lunges. There was no messing around in these videos! These videos were short and sweet but toned your body in all the right places. I highly recommend them if you have your own cardio routine and want to add something more tone an area of your body.

Sephora Sample Haul

I finally got around to the mall to return my beauty blender. If I did not have only good things to say about Sephora, I am just full of love for them now. Their customer service is SO GOOD.

At first when I went to return it they were looking at me like I was mad as I was explaining about the "magic seeping out" of my beauty blender. Then the one lady recognized Steve and then it seemed to all make sense to her that she was dealing with a couple of crazies, because they were totally understand and awesome. Then other lady recognized me from over the holiday break and remembered how I am new to make-up. So they TOTALLY hooked me up with samples.

They gave me two perfume samples, two foundation samples, and one primer sample. I didn't even ask, they just gave it to me! I'll have to try them and let you know if I like them or not.

Can you call something a haul if you didn't buy it? Who knows. But I figured I would do my very first haul out of samples. Which is quite fitting if you know me. I am the sample queen. I remember one time I went to a chocolate convention with my one friend and I was so good at working the samples that the one guy actually took the samples out of my friends hand and put them in my bag. That was the moment that I knew that Saturday afternoons at Sams Club would be my destiny.

On a More Serious Note

Today at work was a success! I put my hair in a sock bun and wore a different brand of lipstick. No swollen lips for me. I even wore a blazer over my yoga pants and some heels. The kids had so much fun with it. They told me things like, "I didn't know you looked like that!" and, "Do you think Mr. Gresh will kiss you now that you look pretty?" A lot of my co-worker had fun with it too. The second grade hallway is like, totally out of the way and annexed off, so the kids were totally loving the fact that a lot of teachers were coming all the way down to our room just to look at me. I even told the kids that I will be looking better just for them. Which isn't actually true, but if I had a nickel for every time I lied to a child I would be a rich retired woman by now.

I wasn't able to get an OOTD (outfit of the day) picture since I had to shovel the driveway as soon as I got home. I tried to take a few photos after, but I was totally wind blown and disheveled looking, so my left eye is all you get.

I think my eyebrows are also looking a lot better. What do you think?

By the way I still didn't get any answers about the two mascara brushes and I honestly have no idea what the difference is between the two.

 

 

 

On a much more serious note, I can't believe how good I felt today. Not in a cocky way like, "Oh I'm so pretty." But I just felt so confident. Which really is what this whole escapade is about. There were a few hiccups throughout the day that normally would have totally unnerved me, but today things just ran smoother. A kid would try to do something and I would just be like, "Come at me bro."

 

 



For those of you who don't know, I struggle with confidence issues. In fact my confidence is so low that I suffer from a lot of anxiety as well. Now when I say I have confidence issues I don't mean to say that I believe that I am ugly or stupid or anything like that. I just find myself to be more of a follower, and I have a lot of trouble taking control or making decisions. I'm always afraid that people won't like me and therefore I have stopped voicing an opinion or having any of my own thoughts. My biggest fear isn't death or public speaking, it's conflict. I hold myself in a passive, submissive way and I refuse to tell anyone what I am really thinking.

 

Therefore the whole reasoning behind this journey is to build my confidence.

 

I know this is really deep for a Tuesday night blog, but I do have a point to bearing my heart out here on the internet. 

Last night the Mormon missionaries stopped by my house. The missionaries stop by our house every few weeks and see how we are doing. Even though deep down I know that the reason they are visiting us is to get us to go to church, I really like it when they stop by. They're just teenage boys sharing their love of Christ with others. It sets a good mood into our house, you know? 

Anyways, we had an awesome conversation about confidence and they even gave me an article to read. I won't post the article on here because it's religious, and I don't want to get into anything religious or political or anything like that on my blog, but if you are curious you can always email me and I would be happy to send it to you.

Anyways, as we were talking about confidence, I was telling them about my beauty escapades. I was honest with them in the fact that quite frankly, the fact that I am spending so much time on my outward appearance lately kind of makes me feel uncomfortable. I feel like it should be selfish and shallow of me to do this, but for some reason I just know that I need to. I can't quite but my finger on why I need to work on my outward appearance, but I do.

The one missionary then explained to me that our physical appearance shouldn't be who we are, but it should reflect who we are and what we know. Then he gave me that article that talked about confidence, and physical appearance was a section in the article. I thought it was great. I'm not on this journey so I can have the confidence that everyone thinks I look pretty. I just want to reflect what is on the inside for me. I know that I am a kind and caring and nurturing person. I know that when my time has come I will be okay with facing my maker, and I know that I am trying my hardest in life to make sure that I leave this world just a little bit better then I came into it.

So please don't think me shallow for my sudden interest with sock buns and lipstick. I just want to be able to reflect how I feel on the inside to how I look on the outside.

My Life

In case anyone was in need of a good laugh today I thought I should fill you in with the spectacle that is my life.

So I wake up and start T25 again. It was fine, really nothing to report. Then I shower, get ready, and head out to my car. Now I know I promised that I was going to start doing my hair and whatnot, but I figured I would hide my wet frizzy hair with some new red lipstick.

Well.

In case anyone was ever curious about what the weather is like in Northwestern Pennsylvania in January, let me just assure you that it's cold. Damn cold.

So I go open my car and I can't even turn my key because it is so frozen solid. So there I am. 6:55 in the morning, without gloves and wet hair. I was a victim of noseicicles I tell you, and I felt that mother nature was out to sabotage my day. So for 45 minutes I spent going back and forth boiling water and throwing it on my keyhole. I have heard horror stories when I lived in Idaho about girls who would walk to class in the winter with their hair wet, and then their hair would freeze and simply snap off. So on top of freezing off my you know what, I was also in constant fear the whole time that the last five years I have spent nurturing and caring for my 1/2 inch per year hair growth would be taken from me in seconds.

So I roll up to work late and almost immediately I begin to notice a painful prickling feeling in my lips. So now on top of my frozen block of hair on my head I am having an allergic reaction to the lipstick. I wiped it off but it still stung for the rest of the day. I wasn't able to see myself in a mirror since teachers don't pee, but no one said anything to me about my lips swelling. I did feel a constant thump in my top right side of my lip throughout the day though. So day one and I have already failed from my goal.

The day went on fine other than having numb lips. Then as I was leaving work, I walked up to my car only to see that I was in the very same predicament that I was in this morning. My locks were frozen shut. Oh, and my FOB wouldn't let me back in the school. So there I was. Sitting outside in negative 10 degrees with no hat, no gloves, and only a pair of riding boots for comfort, sitting there thinking that I would have to wait outside until Steve could pick me up at 5:30. I thought surely that would be the end of me. My life was going to end right there, spending my final moments in the back entrance to the Charter School. Luckily a janitor opened up the door to throw something out and I ran back inside until Steve was able to come save me. He brought a lighter with him and we lit up my key with fire to unfreeze my keyhole.

I take some real blog quality pictures if I must say so myself.

 

Beauty Blender Drama

So a lot of the YouTubers I follow have given nothing but excellent reviews on the beauty blender. Therefore I figured that this $25 egg shaped sponge would be well worth the investment.

 

It really truly is. I don't care what you are doing. Please drop everything and go out and buy one of these. I even convinced one of my best friends to purchase this little beauty, and she is a die hard brush fan. In fact, the moment she realized that I didn't own my own make-up brush she ran out to Ulta and bought me one. It was really sweet, so I did feel a wee bit of betrayal as I purchased this beauty blender.

Anyways, this little sponge did more amazing things for me than I could ever do on my own with a brush. However, I went to clean it for the first time yesterday, and instead of make-up washing off of the beauty blender, pink liquid was coming out of it instead. I was using the correct soap and everything. Worried that this was a defect and the pink liquid was the magic behind the beauty blender seeping out, I emailed Sephora and asked if my beauty blender was losing it's magic.

 

Turns out it was a defect, and it is indeed losing it's magic. :( whomp whomp.

 

However, might I add HUGE kudos to Sephora's customer service? I sent that email on a Sunday night and they got back to me within the hour.

 

Alas, I am not going to have time to run to the mall tomorrow,but at some point this week I'll get over there and exchange it. I have to go to the library too, so that will work out perfectly.

 

Okay I have been super distracted typing this blog, and it's taking me forever. Steve and I are half playing trivia crack and half watching this ocean documentary on Netflix. I'm going to go now, see what these sharks are up to.



Mascara Help?

Does anyone know the difference between these two mascara brushes? What differences do they make, and what is easier to use?

Thanks!

Returning to Work

After two glorious weeks off, Steve and I both return to work tomorrow.

whomp whomp

Actually we both love our jobs, don't get us wrong. It was just two weeks off together for Christmas has truly been great. This must be what life is like for my dogs.

We woke up, went to the bathroom, went back to bed, ate, napped some more, watched TV, went on a walk, went to the bathroom again, took another nap, ate more.

Just joking, we did do a lot more than that. But being able to watch Netflix until 4 pm on a Tuesday was an experience I have never had before, and it was GREAT.

This is my first year being a teacher, so if this is what a taste of summer vacation is going to be like I think I have chosen the best profession in the world. Someone told me once that you don't chose your career, your career choses you. If that's the case then I have a new found respect for powers behind eenie meenie miney mo.

Anyways, tomorrow I begin getting back into my early morning workouts. I took the break off of working out because really, it's pointless. When you shovel down as many cookies as I eat over the holidays it's easier to accept defeat and start again in the New Year.

I like taking the whole month of December off because I feel that it keeps working out fun and interesting. I never dread going on a run. I really like T25, so I think I am going to start that program up again tomorrow. We'll see.

So! Tomorrow begins the true test for if I can keep up my new goal. For now I'm going to aim for looking nice 2-3 days a week at work. I don't know if I am ever going to retire my yoga pants though. Most of the time I just wear sneakers, yoga pants, and an oversized sweater to work. I know it's not super professional, but I move around a lot when I teach, so I like to wear clothes that allow me to zip around the room. So wish me luck tomorrow!

New Years Eve

So I put on my party pants for New Years and I was 50% social. Not bad considering last year I was 0% social.

Steve and I received three different invitations and while we really wanted to ring in the New Year with EVERYBODY, we lack the ability to be in three different places at once. This is where it would be nice if Harry Potter was real because then we could have a time turner. Although if I am correct those were made illegal in the wizarding world in 1988? Right? If I did my math correctly the battle of Hogwarts was in 1993, and that was their seventh year. So if you move backwards to their third year that would lead you to 1988. Are there any other diehard Potter fans out there? I feel like I am quite alone in my love for Harry Potter. It fills me with such sadness knowing I have few others to share my witty Potter jokes with. There are so many good horcrux jokes out there and alas I am alone in understanding them.

I feel like I have a switch in my head, I am either completely uninterested in something or I am completely obsessed. No in-between for this girl. For Christmas I really wanted a big poster of the English Monarch line starting with William, the first King of England, and going all the way to the modern day Queen Elizabeth. I know that sounds SUPER nerdy, but it would really make all of the Philippa Gregory books I read a lot easier to understand.

 I did get a lot of make-up for Christmas though, so I can't complain. I was totally starting from scratch in my collection, so it is safe so say that I spent hundreds of dollars on make-up this month. I know that sounds like a lot, but I really didn't have much to begin with. And it's an investment! My new theory is you are only young once so you might as well look your best, right?  So be gone with you lion mane hair days! Plus Steve is being super supportive about this and letting me buy anything I want, which is totally unheard of for him. He is the biggest penny pincher I know. Which I guess is fine because with all of our savings we were able to buy a house when we were 21, and we go on a nice vacation every year for our anniversary. But anyways, the fact that he is letting me spend whatever I want on beauty products probably speaks volumes of how horrendous I looked going to work and whatnot. So I am taking this opportunity and running with it. Literally. I ran all the way through the parking lot and into the warm welcoming arms of the staff at Ulta.

Anyways, I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year!

 

I bust out my hair extensions for the evening and attempted to curl them. I also gave my new contouring set a try. However I think I look shiny in my pictures. Does anyone have any advice on how to not look so shiny in pictures? In real life I didn't look so shiny.

 

 

Bilbo Baggins: My Spirit Animal

So my little brother accuses me of not having a sense of adventure. That's correct Jameson! You have been caught! Mother told me what you think! Now perhaps my idea of an adventure is somewhat skewed, but I must say that my commando days were pretty wild. And these last few days of eyebrows and nail polish have been nothing short of a true adventure. So here I am!

 

Bilbo and I on our way to journey this adventure! Off to uncover the world where there is a difference between lipstick and lip stain and how to truly tell the difference between the two. I have dubbed Bilbo as my spirit animal and I think I made an excellent choice if I must say so myself.


So to get started I spent about a month telling everyone that I was going to start looking better but never actually doing anything. Got to keep people on their toes, you know. Then I spent Thanksgiving to Christmas break scouting the shelves of Sephora and finding different YouTube channels that I like.

Am I allowed to write who I like or is that a copy right issue? Anyways, I found two. My cousins wife has a beauty YouTube channel, so I will ask her if I can link her page on mine. The other channel I really liked was Ciaoobellaxo. I do not know her and she has almost 1 million subscribers, so I feel it is okay if I mention her.

Now that I come armed with foundation primers, tinted moisturizers, a brush set, and eye pallets, I feel that I am ready to embark on the next step of my adventure. Application.

So this is what we have to work with.

 

Please note that this blog has NOTHING to do with self esteem. The whole reason why I went so long without make-up was because I felt quite beautiful in my own skin.

 

 

Adventure One: Nail Polish

 

So I thought I would start small with painting my nails. Good Greif. It took FOREVER to get them to dry. Every time I thought I was safe to begin my life again I would do something and smudge my nails and have to start all over again. It was awful. At one point I got glitter nail polish in my eye while I was on the phone with my mother. I started screaming, my mom started laughing, my eye started swelling, and Steve threw me fully clothed into the shower. So right now my enthusiasm for nail polish is anything less than thrilling. I have heard advice on nail drying liquid but when I went to Sally's I felt skeptical that a liquid would dry a liquid so I saved that purchase for another day. All in all, my eye survived and my nails look great. So who knows, perhaps another nail polishing stint will occur soon.

 

Adventure Two: Eyebrows

 

 

All in all this is all you need to know.