Mini Haul 4/29/12

Happy Sunday everyone! Although I'm quite sad that the weekend is over, I feel like I did nothing. I stopped at the mall today to buy a poster frame and I gave into the shopping gods and bought a few items :)

First off, I want to show you the poster I bought. I've talked about him before but Phillip DeFranco, a super popular youtuber, has a company called For Human Peoples. He teams up with friends and guest designers and he sells t-shirts and posters mostly. I bought one of his posters that I believe he has a part in designing. I love this poster.

This picture is off the website: www.forhumanpeoples.com  If you can't see what the poster says I'll insert that here:

"This is America. There is no reason to lie, cheat, steal, unless you wanna be awesome. But don't fuck people over to get to the middle. You betray everything America is about. We didn't throw Britain's tea into the ocean because we wanted to be a mediocre country. We didn't let those fuckers line up in a line and then shoot 'em in the back, because we didn't want to be one of the best countries in the world. And we're not giving China an IOU, because we actually plan on paying it back. This is America; the land of opportunity to fuck people over. To take what isn't yours. But only if you plan on getting to the top of the mountain and waving what you have and that they don't, in their face. That's America."

The bottom of the poster says Phillip DeFranco 07/01/2010 and under that is www.phillyd.tv
 Sorry if it isn't much of your taste, but I love it. His views on America are pretty much the same as mine. We were once a great country, but we have a lot of idiots who are ruining it for us. They are bringing down the quality of our government and our country and that is why we are not where we used to be.

Anyways!

So what I got from the mall! I first stopped in a store called Francesca's. It is such a cute store with mostly clothing and jewelry and a lot of vintage looking pieces. They also have cute trinkets like mustache straws and wooden boards with sayings on them. I love it. I am really into long sparkly necklaces and I found this:

^ It is a pattern of pearls and crystals all in a gold tone :)









 This is the necklace doubled up because it is so long!



Then I stopped into JCrew because that is my dream closet in a nutshell. And I cannot help myself! I bought a dress on sale and one of their basic t-shirts.

I really like the dress for summer, it is a beautiful color and it is linen so it will be awesome in the heat or at the beach. It has sleeves that end right before the elbows and an elastic waist but you can kind of make it slouchy. It also has two pockets on the sides! The t-shirt is a color combo (forest green and a pinky lavender) I've never seen or had before and I just immediately picked one out of the pile without even thinking!

Hope you Monday goes well! 

Creative writing piece

Found this a while ago, I liked it so I thought I would share it with you guys! Hope you enjoy :)

Still calmness that comes out of nowhere
Unexplainable stillness in a place that used to be my heart
Now just a deep dark hole, what am I to do.
Can you help me fill it with all the things that are supposed to be there?
Can you just love me?

Sunshine, love, and happiness are the things missing,
and I don't know where to look.
Inability to be happy or just being stubborn.
Hard to let yourself love when you don't know if you love yourself.
Confidence is a smokey mirror.

Putting on an act is easier than reality.
If you know how to break the barrier, please do.
Break me down to little pieces, but be the one who can put them back together too.
That way, I can be yours.
Let me be your crazy mess.

Mayor Kardashian?

     Yes, this is not a brand new story, it broke last week I believe but if you know anything about me, I need speak my my peace on the matter.

First of all, what the what?

     Second, it really seems like this is just a publicity stunt for Kim, does she utterly and truly believe she is capable of being in politics? If she has made the decision based on our recent Republican candidates for the Presidential nomination, then well, it is no wonder she thinks she can manage.

     However, she answered the question of which political party she identified with, with this little gem:

“I like both the Democratic and Republican Parties. In fact, I like any party involving a lot of rich people.” 

     Just, wow.  No, it isn't the first time a celebrity has put their hand into the political pot, we have the governator of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Clint Eastwood was mayor of his hometown for a while even. It just doesn't seem like Kim Kardashian has a single clue on how to be mayor of Glendale, CA. It may not take all the political intelligence in the world, but just because she's good at selling a product, i.e. herself, doesn't make her fit to run an entire town/city. The quote above, should be a clear indication that she is not prepared to take on the daily quips of town leadership.

It won't be all glitter, champagne, and parties...unless that is what she decides to do as mayor; it might get a bit expensive around Glendale.

(Picture from kimkardashian.celebuzz.com)

Happiness: Where has it gone?

     I just started reading a book called "The Happiness Project", by Gretchen Rubin. I have to say I really like what I've read so far. Here is the synopsis on the back cover, since I think it gives a better description than I can:

"Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. 'The days are long, but the years are short', she realized. 'Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter.'In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project. 


In this lively and compelling account, Rubin chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Among other things, she found that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that money can help buy happiness, when spent wisely; that outer order contributes to inner calm; and that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference."

     So as I sit here eating a bowl of Cheerios, no milk, I can't help but wonder about my own happiness. If I look at my life as a whole, I'd probably say I was content. Looking at different aspects of my life though, I would say differently.

     My family, my boyfriend, and my dog? I'm extremely happy, I couldn't start to think about my life without them. Work, school, how I feel most days? Not so great. I do like my job, but it is part-time and it isn't what I plan on doing for the rest of my life. The job search is more difficult than ever right now, and for a student almost ready to graduate with very little experience...well you get the picture.  School? I'm at a crossroads right now about whether or not to get my graduate, and I am not even sure what I'd go for yet. Plus, I technically should have been graduating this May but alas it won't happen until December.

     As far as how I feel? Honestly, I feel like crap. I've been physically drained and emotionally drained. I am always tired because I'm constantly running from thing to thing. I'm always in pain because of my Fibromyalgia plus my shoulder hasn't been getting better as fast as I'd hoped. I don't complain to much about it, maybe a comment here or there, but I know that complaining does nothing good for me.

     So maybe Gretchen Rubin is on to something. Maybe we should all take the time to examine our happiness and make a plan to fix what we are unhappy with. As I am starting to learn from her book, most problems come from within. We can't change anyone else, but we can change ourselves and that may be a project I have to take on.

A must watch

Jenna Marbles is forever going to be one of my favorite girls ever. She has such a great sense of humor and even she knows that it's okay to be totally ridiculous. It makes me appreciate my own sense of humor and that's why I don't usually get embarrassed to easily...at least I think!

That's why her Wednesday video is a must see:

I think this could also apply for when we girls have to do our make-up under extreme exhaustion ;)

Curly Hair!

I threw my hair in two braids last night when I got home from Shaun's and this is the end result! I love when my hair is wavy/curly. When I was younger I actually had 2 different perms! But alas, my hair was not having it :(









----> Just because I'm a goof :)

April Birchbox!

My April Birchbox literally just came in the mail! I opened it up and took pictures right away because I was just looking forward to posting about it! This month's Birchbox is all about natural products and I love that. I've really been trying to start using products that have less of the chemicals and are just more healthy and natural.

First item, is the skincare sampler by Befine. I've always wanted to try their stuff and lucky me now I can. They give you 5 huge samples of the products in that box you see above. Like as big as my hand, which is incredible because usually we're stuck with some dinky little packet. There are 3 packets of the Exfoliating Cleanser with brown sugar, sweet almond, and oats. Just the name sounds so yummy and good for you! Then there are two packets of the Daily Moisturizer with SPF 15 and rosemary, pomegranate and rice.

They are both paraben free, have vegetarian proteins and have allergen free fragrance (which is great for my sensitivity to perfumes!)

Next, in the box which was considered a beauty extra was the Yes To Bluberries Brightening Facial Towelettes. I've been using face wipes for a couple of months now on and off between make-up remover. It is a lot more convenient when I stay out at night. Yes To has been another brand I've wanted to try, and while I'm not crazy about blueberries, maybe these will change my mind :)

Again, it is an amazing sample, it is a travel size and gives you 8 wipes. It is paraben-free and contains 99% natural products.

Lastly, in the nice wrapped part of the box, there were three items: Wonderstruck by Taylor Swift, Lavender + Clary Sage Hair Powder by Lulu Organics, and finally a nail polish by Zoya's TRUE Spring Collection.

I think I need to get used to the fragrance by Taylor Swift, it's a little too girlie, if that makes sense. I like more musky and deep scents. However, I think eventually I'll like it. The hair powder seems interesting, I love lavender so hopefully it works out. I do break the hair washing rule, I just cannot go without washing my hair. So we'll see! Finally, the polish looks more blue in the picture but its more of a deep blue/green. It's like teal if it were a pastel teal...with grey in it. It's gorgeous though and I don't have anything like it.

Hope you enjoyed! I'll update when I actually get to try some of it!

Haul/Review

Recently, I needed to go get some things for Spring/Summer. A lot of my old shorts and bras needed to be tossed out so I bought a bunch of stuff. I mostly got everything from Aerie but I'm including some random items I bought and some shoes! So from Aerie, I bought 4 bras, but that's all ya really need to know ;) I also got 5 pairs of shorts (all different colors)

Then I ended up buying some t-shirts. They are so unbelievably comfy and I love the colors. I already know I'll be getting some more colors soon. What I like is they match the shorts, but I wouldn't go monochromatic with them. I like mixing colors.

I also picked up two plain tube tops in green and black, and then a nicer strapless top.

Then I ended up going to Target and JCPenney's and got some things from there. From Target I picked up an Eos shave cream in Pomegranate-Raspberry. I also recently picked up a lip balm from Eos in Summer Fruit, I'm addicted! The Essie nail polish were calling my name and I got two blues - Beach Bum Blue and Aruba Blue. I love these two colors!

 I did have one major regret from Target, and it was a product I thought I was going to really enjoy. I tried the Garnier BB Cream in Medium/Deep. While I am lighter, I had read reviews that lighter girls were using it to get color and it worked well. I don't know what they were doing, but it was like 5 shades too dark for me, so it immediately came off. However, in the 1 minute I had it on my skin, I developed a terrible allergic reaction to it. So bad that I tried it on Monday of this week and now on Friday evening, I still have the itching and hives. Needless to say, that is being returned and never bought again.

Finally, for shoes :) I got three pairs from JCPenney's, a pair of slip on shoes and two pairs of sandals. In total they cost $85 which is actually a great deal considering how expensive some shoes can be.

 So that's my haul/review for now, I am really happy (for the most part) with what I got, and I look forward to trying it all out :)

Surprise! I'm baaack...

Well, well, well, we meet again old friend. Okay so yes, I've taken a long break from this but I'm back and ready to roll. There have been a bunch of things happening so I will do a recap.

First of all, I'd like to mention that I'm dying for the umpteenth time this year. I tried a new foundation on Monday and I instantly broke out in hives and redness. It is Wednesday night and I'm still broken out and itchy as itchy could be. I honestly would rather be in pain right now, than itchy, the problem is that it is everywhere. Ears, face, neck, legs, back, eyes and yeah you get the picture.

Other than dying a slow and itchy death, I've been hard at work trying to get this semester done and over with. There is 10 more days and I will have a month off before Summer classes...boo. However, that means I only have 8 classes left in my degree!

In other school related news, I found my ultimate dream masters program. It also happens to be at my dream school: NYU. The program is a joint MA in International Politics and Journalism...um can you say AMAZING?!? I would absolutely die if I could get into that program. However, I'm still a ways away from that :(

I had my 2nd interview on the 3rd with Public Allies! It went really well, I was happy with it even if it was a 3 hour group interview. Major downside? I have to wait until the end of May to hear anything...

Work is work and now that it is nicer out it seems as though it is getting a little more crazy. I think end of the school year fever is starting to affect the children. But there really is no blaming them, we all are starting to feel that way.

Things haven't been going amazing lately, we've been getting some not so good news on the health front as far as my family goes. My dad is having major issues with his back, and my mom needs surgery again eventually. My shoulder is still not where it should be either which is pretty disappointing. My family goes through hell, but we manage to keep together either way, and I'm thankful for that.

I have had a lot on my mind lately, and I feel like I need to come back and write again. Even if it has nothing to do with what is going on, writing is therapeutic. It helps me forget things and it helps me focus too. Sometimes, all you want to do is talk to that one person but it is just a whole lot easier to talk to a blank page or screen. It isn't as intimidating, at least for me. It is a fresh start in a world where that rarely ever happens...