i'm a college kid.

Well, guys. I'm in college now.

And to be honest, it doesn't feel like real life. I kinda feel like I'm still in high school, but also like I'm at an extended summer camp, and there are also some characteristics that feel like a reality TV show.

All my classes are super easy, like I feel like I was challenged more in high school. But it's fun. I'm enjoying myself. I've met a lot of new people, but I do still hangout with people I already knew.

I've gone to the grocery store twice now, and on my last trip I bought oreos, popsicles, bottled coffee, and milk. The cafeteria food isn't that bad, but I mean it's still cafeteria food.

My schedule most days is class from 8 to about 12 or 2 and then I work usually, but I probably won't be working as much now that the rush at the beginning of the school year is over. Me and my roommate get along really well, and she's super cool.

I can't really think of anything else to tell y'all, but if you have any questions or just want to talk, feel free to call or skype or whatever.

Love y'all lots,
Holly

Pinterest Strikes Again: Magnetic Makeup Board

Okay, so my sister Kristen forwarded me a pin from Pinterest recently.  The idea was ingenious and I had to made my own.  Here's is the inspiration pic.

http://pinterest.com/pin/149885493818736271/

I actually had a bunch of magnets I had bought awhile ago for another project, so I made a trip to Hobby Lobby for a frame (50% off sale) and fabric (30% off sale).  Then I made a confused walk through Home Depot to find a piece of metal for the magnetic piece of the project. I also already had a trusty hot glue gun with plenty of glue sticks.

 

Then, I just removed the glass, glued the metal sheet to the cardboard frame back and covered it with the fabric I chose.  I secured everything with just hot glue.

Then I just pulled all my eye shadows out of my drawer and glued magnets to the backs of them.  Okay, I didn't do this to some of my higher end stuff yet, but we'll see.  It looks great!  I'm already thinking of doing another one with just blushes. 

 

What do you think of this Pinterest project? Leave a comment!

Discard or Repurchase? Revisited

Under my vanity, I have a box that I through all my used up beauty products into to keep track of what I'm using up. I posted last year about what I thought about these used up products and I have another batch to consider.

I still remember a cross-stitch sampler in my grandmother's house with the saying :

Use it up,
Wear it out,
Make it last or
Do without.

I don't know if I got that order right but I'm going to apply this saying to these products. (Likes: WEAR IT OUT & MAKE IT LAST; Dislikes: USE IT UP & DO WITHOUT).



1. got 2b fresh & full Dry Shampoo: MAKE IT LAST. Had a good smell and worked great. I would repurchase this but I think it's been discontinued.

2. Redken Color Extend Rich Recovery: USE IT UP. I got this for free with the shampoo I bought. It was an extra hair treatment. It was nice but I probably won't repurchase this. $15.50 at Ulta

3. Origins VitaZing-SPF 15 Energy-boosting moisturizer: USE IT UP. I used this as an everyday moisturizer. It has a little bit of tint to it. I liked this product but not for the price so probably won't repurchase. $35 at Macy's

4. Almay makeup eraser sticks: WEAR IT OUT. I love these things and there are very affordable. It's absolutely helps clean up the eye makeup you sleep it (bad habit). Even after washing your makeup off, these can help get that remaining mascara. I will repurchase these over and over. I actually had 3 used up packs in my bin. $5.49 at Ulta

5. Aveeno Continuous Protection Sunblock Lotion, Face SPF30: USE IT UP. I got this in my Easter Basket last year (Thanks, Shelley!) and it lasted a long time. It got me in the habit of always wearing some sunscreen. I'm trying another moisturizer with SPF right now but I would repurchase this in the future.$10.99 at Ulta



6. Lancome Hypnose Drama: DO WITHOUT. Nice, but too pricey. $26 at Macy's
7. Buxom Lash in Blue Noir: DO WITHOUT! Smeared blue all over the under-eye area. $19 at Sephora
8. CoverGirl lash blast volume: USE IT UP. $8.99 at Ulta
9. CoverGirl lash exact hydrofuge: USE IT UP. discontinued?
10. NYC City Curls mascara: USE IT UP.



11. Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder in 001 Transparent: WEAR IT OUT. This was great for the price. I bought it in a double pack and still using the other one. $4.99 at Ulta

12. Revlon PhotoReady in 003 Shell: WEAR IT OUT. I really liked this foundation, especially the pump packaging. I will repurchase this. $12.99 at Ulta

13. Anastasia Brow Wiz in Brunette: MAKE IT LAST. This is still my favorite brow pencil. I mentioned it in the last post I did like this and have repurchased it several times. $20 at Ulta

14. Maybelline unstoppable eyeliner in onyx: USE IT UP. This was a good eyeliner but dried out as it got too old. $7.49 at Ulta.

15. Physicians Formula Brow Definer in black-brown: USE IT UP. I used this to alternate brow pencils to make the Anastasia Brow Wiz last longer. $5.99 at Ulta

16. Free Samples: USE IT UP. I had gotten several trial sized products. I have not purchased any of them full size.
Smashbox Photo Finish Color Correcting foundation Primer
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion eyeshadow base
Benefit Stay Don't Stray eyelid primer
Blinc eyeliner

Polish of the Day: Lincoln Park After Dark with A Cut Above

Lincoln Park After Dark by OPI
A Cut Above by Essis luxe effects

I got the pink sparkly nail polish in my Birchbox this month. I tried just an accent nail. This works great when you don't want a full set of glittery nails!

New Landscaping

Over spring break, I pulled up 14 shrubs. Most of them were very sickly looking and as I dug them up, there were lots of grubs. I think the shrubs were just suffering from old age. Anyway, we were going to choose something besides Indian Hawthorne again, but when we saw them at Loew's, they looked so pretty and we decided to get them again. On either side, we put in some Texas Sage. At the time I took this picture, we hadn't planted any annuals, but yesterday I put in a flat of mixed colors of Dianthus. They're pretty small right now, but hopefully will end up looking colorful.

Polish of the Day: Knackered

by Butter London

Where's Andrew?

Okay, so this is a little late but I wanted to post the videos I took of Andrew at his Air Force Basic Training graduation in San Antonio. We were so proud and impressed. See if you can spot him!

The Airman's Run

Sitting up and Hanging out!

Pore Problems and Contour Confusion

I just wanted to share two YouTube videos that I came across while being 'lazy' in bed this morning. I thought they were really good explanations and demonstrations about hiding your pores with makeup and contouring your face with make up. Comment with your opinions and thoughts.

Good Makeup Day?

Do you ever feel like you had a good makeup day? I know I've have bad ones. Mainly when people don't mention to you that you have mascara smeared under your eyes. But sometimes, what I put on in the morning still looks pretty great in the afternoon. Today was a good makeup day. No creased eyeshadow or shiny skin. Even though I forgot to take a pic, I wanted to share what I used and encourage you to post a blog about your Good Makeup Day!



Maybelline: Instant Age Rewind Eraser Treatment Makeup in 130 Buff Beige
Maybelline: Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles in 50 Neutralizer
Palladio: translucent rice powder
Smashbox: Blush/Soft Light Duo in Under/Cover
Tarte: Natural Eye Primer
Maybelline: Color Tattoo 24 hr Eyeshadow in 25 Bad to the Bronze
Napoleon Perdis: Eye Palette in New Orleans
NYX: Lipliner Pencil in 820 Expresso
Stila: Stay All Day Liquid Eyeliner in Dark Brown
Tarte: emphasEYES inner rim eye pencil in Black
Cover Girl: Lip Perfection lip pencil in 205 Smokey Intense
NYX: Lipstick in 556 Iced Honey

Resolution Update

Okay, so one of my resolutions this year was to cook more dinners again. It was spurred on by my refrigerator clean out. It's been going pretty well. Below are some of the things I've made (and remembered to take pictures of).

Chicken Pot Pie

Doesn't look very appetizing in the picture but it was really good. I have a couple of these cooking dishes that make it much easier to half or quarter recipes to make portions for 1-2 people.

Asparagus and Bacon Bake Omelet

I wasn't expecting this to be very good so I added the bacon. It turned out delicious, made me like asparagus more. I would probably cut them smaller next time I make this.

"Fried" Pickles

Okay, this is the first recipe I've tried from my Pinterest pins! Turned out pretty well. Next time, I want to figure out the correct baking times. The recipe I had called for using the broiler, but the pickles themselves were not as hot as I wanted and too crunchy.

So, this resolution has been successful for the month of January!

P.S. Mom, that Cutie clementine you put in my stocking this Christmas got me hooked. I've been eating them all the time. Thanks!

Resolution: Change it Up!

Alright, since Cindy has posted my 'hoard' of nail polish, I decided I need to be sure I use all of them. So these next couple months I'm going to change my nail polish often. I've assigned them all a number and have been randomly painting my nails. The count was 88 nail polishes not counting top coats, crackle coats, or glitter. I think this will help me find new favorites and possible get rid of some I don't like. So far here is what I've worn.

SUNNY by Zoya
SECRET AFFAIR by Essie
TEENY WEENY PINK BIKINI by OPI
SHEER PEARL by Revlon
RUSSIAN NAVY by OPI
JULES by Zoya

(No one at work has mentioned anything ; ) Should I keep going?

New Favorite Brand

I forgot to mention that on my shopping trip Monday, I stopped at Sally's to see if they had some nail polish on sale. I picked two. The first was an iridescent, which was just okay. The other was a purple shade. As it turned out, I loved it! Even with the SV topcoat, it looked great. But of course the topcoat makes any color look better. Anyway, here are the pictures. The polish looks blue, but trust me, it is the prettiest shade of purple. I can't stop looking at my nails. I'm going to pick up some other shades and see if I like them as well.

My Favorite Beauty Guru

Tony and I had the best time visiting Amy for her birthday. She has a very impressive make up and nail polish collections. Just have to share a couple of pictures, but stay tuned for her own tour of all her make up.

Fashion Show, Fashion Show, Fashion Show on H.A.C.K.

I hadn't been shopping in awhile. Sometimes when I go too often, I just see the same things. So I went to my favorite store, Marshalls, and tried on several pants and a skirt, but didn't like them. Then I went to Ross, which might now have earned recognition as my new favorite store. First I found an eye shadow palette by ELF. Amy told me that Target had carried them, but I couldn't find them at ours. Anyway, I picked it up for $4.99. Then I grabbed a few dresses off the rack. It's hard to find dresses anymore, but I loved the one I got. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's gray jersey. the top has kind of a double breasted detail with four buttons. It was $7.99. I have a pair of grey and black tights that go perfect with it. The shoes, I call them shooties, are black leather and black canvas, so very casual. Again, the shoes are cuter in real life. I picked up the pant suit because I loved the jacket, 3/4 length sleeve, double breasted, and it fit perfectly. I would have gotten the jacket just by itself because I have other black pants, but the ones that came with it are really good quality and I like how they fit. I will be getting rid of my other black pants because these really are nicer. The suit was $39.99. Oh, and the shoes were about $15, I think. I also went to Sally's Beauty and got a couple of new nail polishes, but I'll post those later, after I try them out. Shopping is so much fun!

2012

It's a new year! And I have to say I think it's off to a really good start. Last week I went to the Passion 2012 conference in Atlanta, Georgia, and it was amazing. I decided I wanted to make a post telling you guys about it, but I think it might have to be several posts, just because there was so much that happened that I want to share with you. It was only 5 days, but those 5 days were packed with stuff, and it might take me a while to get through it all, but I think I can manage.

Just to start things off, let me tell you a little about Passion. Basically it's a conference directed to students between 18 and 25. It's hosted in Atlanta, Georgia, and this year they held it in the Georgia Dome. 45,000 people were there this year. That is a lot of people. And that's a lot of people together for one purpose, and that purpose being to glorify God.

The day was broken up into segments called main sessions and community groups. Main sessions were like a worship service. There was music followed by speaking of some sort followed by more music. Music was led by Christ Tomlin, Matt Redman, Charlie Hall, Kristian Stanfill, Christy Nockels, David Crowder Band, Hillsong United and Lecrae. Speakers included Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, John Piper, and Christine Caine. Community groups were divided into where you were in school or something, so I was in the gold community group for high school seniors. Within those community groups you broke into family groups of about 8 people and with those people you had Bible study and discussion with. That was pretty much what all the day had.

Here's a sample of the schedule:
Jan 02 :
- 7:00p Main Session
- 9:30p Community Groups
\- 11:30p Late Night Options
Jan 03/04 :
- 9:00a Community Groups
- 10:45a Main Session
- 2:00p Main Session
- 7:00p Main Session
- 9:30p Community Groups
- 11:30p Late Night Options
Jan 05 :
- 9:00a Community Groups
- 10:45a Main Session

We went to bed around like 3 almost every night then had to be ready to leave at 8 the next morning, so we were pretty exhausted.

Every year, Passion does this thing called Do Something Now. In their own words, "Do Something Now is a movement rooted  in the belief  that together we are a force for good. Both here and beyond Passion 2012 we want to be for the kind of worship that weds songs with action." They always have a cause they support and raise money for and this year it was freedom. I'll get into more detail about that another time, but basically, today there are 27 million people living in slavery all around the world, even in the US. During the conference they shared stories and testimonies of people who had lived in slavery, and they shared about the various organizations that they partnered with to prevent, rescue, and restore. So they asked us to donate, and their goal was 1 million dollars. By the end of the conference 45,000 students raised 3 million dollars. That blows my mind.

Passion was an absolutely amazing experience, and I'll probably post about it more, because there is so much to say, that one post won't suffice.