What a LOVELY day for a BLOG AWARD.

Get it? ;) Get it?! Clever..

It's a pretty nice day today. It was a little chilly, but I logged on to my Blogger (after a few days of vacation *post coming soon*) to the wonderful Nikki @ Fashion.Beauty.Love. including me in a nomination for the One Lovely Blog Award.  I'm new to this whole world, so this is sort of exciting to me (and when I say sort of, I mean a lot.) So here goes nothing!

Rules of The Award. 

1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.

2. List the rules and display the award.

3. Add 7 facts about yourself.

4. Nominate 15 other bloggers.

5. Follow on blogger (or bloglovin if you're not on Blogger!) the person who nominated you.

7 Deadly Facts 

1. I graduated high school at age 17, college at age 20, and will graduate at age 23 with my Master's in Business Admin. 
2. I wear makeup only once a week, on average and only started wearing make up in general this year. 
3. I have 6 brothers. I am the baby and the only girl-child that lived in my household.
4. Blue is my favorite color. Of all time. 
5. I almost cried when I was in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, because I was so excited to be there.
6. I do not want children.
7. Sometimes I wish I could have went to school for digital and graphic design, or video game animation. 

15 Wonderful Blogging Babes

Now, I feel as if I do frequent many of these blogs, but I do not typically comment. Some a new to me and I wanted to establish a relationship with some new people. So, without further adieu: 

1. Hannah at TallGirl97
2. Amy Marshment at Amy E Marshment
3. Merel at It's Fashionx
4. Sally at The Human Mannequin
5. Brittany Ting at A Faith in Fashion
6. Kelly Ross at Endlessly Exploring
7. Janine Harris at Janine Harris
8. Emily Harrison at Drained Beauty
9.  Abigail Johns at Travels, Trainers & Tea
10. Gemma at Gemstone 
11. Ashley Van Slyke at Simple Makeup Junkie
12. Lu Orcheston-Findlay at Backbone
13. Kelly Hussey at The Fashion Inspo
14. Jen Marie at Jenmarier
15. Nicola Marleen at Morning Elegance

If you're not on Blogger, and are on another platform, feel free to add me on Google +, Twitter, Bloglovin, etc.! I'm already following all of you on BlogLovin. :) 

You wonderful ladies have some very natural writing talents and wonderful eyes for fashion, make up, style, etc. 

What Should I do Next?

The question that almost every person asks themselves. Constantly, throughout life, the next big step is always contemplated. Shoot, even the little steps are contemplated. What should I do next? 

For me, it's what do I plan to do next with this blog. Where do I want to take it? How do I want to continue? What do I write about to keep people engaged? There comes a time where you can't just write about your life and you need to write more engaging and more traffic driven posts, sad but true. 

I've been asking myself this for a while. I just recently gained over 100 followers on my BlogLovin account! :) It's not too terribly much, but I'm fairly excited about it.  22, on the way to a Master's degree in Business and Marketing, and between schooling and work, I find time to write randomness on a blog that I'm not sure if many people read.  I know that I have not put as much time into the actual writing and planning of this blog, but I really do not have the time to do such a thing.  With work 40 hours a week and schooling just about the same, I don't find enough time. That's an excuse, a good one, but an excuse none-the-less. 

I think I have a plan. 

I've been toying with the idea of officially writing down the stories that I play out in my head before I finally am able to fall asleep at night.  As I wrote that, I realized how weird that may have sounded to some people... So please, let me clarify. I have a mind that almost never shuts down. I can easily lay in bed all night and think. Whether it was about stupid things or somehow managing to work myself up into a fit because I was worrying too much, I suffered for many years of not being able to sleep. But just like I found ways around (to deal with) my social and nervous anxiety, I found a way around the "restless mind" at night. A few years ago, I found a way that set my mind at easy and actually put me to sleep. 

Some people count sheep, I craft a mental movie including characters, scene settings, dialogue, etc., to lull myself into slumber. I've heard other people do this too, or at least a few, so I know I'm not a total freakizoid.  

Although there have been many different story lines over many different years, I always come back to the same story, with the same characters, and never make it to an ending (I always fall asleep before I can make it to an ending!)  I've written short stories before, some were very dark back in my high school years, with my then best friend; I actually still have those stories saved.  She was always the better writer, but I think I can take what I've learned over the past few years and craft a story line that I can release on my blog. 

I'm not going to say what the overall premise of the story is yet, because I'm a prude and I don't want someone to steal my ideas. But it is also because there would be a large time gap between either now and when I start writing, or now and when I'll write the first few "chapters." I've been thinking about doing some during school breaks, like winter and summer, but we'll see how it goes. I'll never forgot the story line.

It's been years, and always the same story line. 

A Whole New World - That I Never Imagined Possible.

Oh so much! So much has changed.


After losing my last job and finding another, it is quite astounding how much happier I am. It's a world that I never would have imagined existed. I knew I was miserable, but I wasn't exactly sure how miserable that was. I didn't want to get up in the morning to go to work, I didn't want to be around the people I worked with (with the exception of a few people), and I didn't want to interact with anyone. Do not get me wrong, I made some pretty good friendships. I also found out a lot about myself, how I will never run a company, and about what types of people I do not enjoy spending time with.  But sadly my mood was very synonymous with the depression of which I used to suffer.

I wasn't aware that companies could run in any different manner.  I thought all companies were going to be the same.  At one point, I was told that if I was in the business of getting recognition for my accomplishments, I was in the wrong job.  And clearly I was. I'm not sure how that mentality could have been presented to an entire department in a company. Yes, if you're in sales you are the ones "bringing in the money," but without a back office to complete their work, you're company is worthless. With value spread so thinly in certain departments, it's not surprising to me when people leave.

It took months and months of searching, multiple interviews, several times being turned down, a lot of headache, and then a call from a wonderful recruiter, to find the life changing moment that added to the happiness I found outside of work.

5 Reason Why I'm Glad I Got "Fired" 

So let's get this straight, first. I told my boss I was interviewing for a new job and was let go.  I did not put in a notice. So technically I was fired.  Of course it was on good terms and I'm still eligible for re-hire, but I would not go back. Like I said, I'm beyond happy with my life now and it's only been a month since the last day of my employment. I had dinner with my Grandma the night before last and she stated she could tell there was a weight lifted from my shoulders. That's how stressed I was.

1. I'm Treated Like an Actual Employee Now

Crazy, right? To be valued as an employee, even if you're in the "operations department?" Treating someone like an actual employee rather than a pee-on? With my last job, even though I had been an employee for nearly 3 years, I was a perpetual intern with no possible room for growth (or at least, that's what it seemed like.)  Multiple promises and nothing with a follow through. I watched a position that was promised to me, given to someone else -- that hurt.

I'm sure that if I had been or showed interest in being a sales person, I would have been bumped up into a "recruiting" role. But some people don't show interest in that, and it's unfathomable to think that just because a person doesn't want that track that they treat them lesser.

2.  I'm No Longer Bored 

Even though it was rough to sit at home alone, with my cat, for a few weeks while on unemployment between jobs, I was able to actually do productive activities.  I was able to do school work, rather than sitting at work doing almost nothing during the day. I did ask for more work, yet randomly there was nothing that I could do.  In my new job, I have not had a boring day, yet.

3. I Don't Have to Cater to Children 

Adult children, at that.  People who feel like you are literally in their lives to do nothing but cater to their needs. Yes, I dealt with that, and I know that once I open my own business, that shit will be nixed out very quickly.  Everyone has a job to do and everyone needs to do their jobs.

4. I'm Actually Doing Something Productive Toward the Future

If you know me, you know how badly I want to be in the marketing and design fields.  With my new job, I'm doing just that. Gaining so much exposure to different aspects of a field about which I am passionate.  It's.... wonderful.

5. The Stress Reduction is Fantastic. 

I cannot tell you why or how I became so stressed with my last job, but it played over into my personal life. I could not leave work at work because work made me hate people.  I could see values slowly slipping away that I had before I started my job. It was... terribly.


Now, I won't say everything was bad. I learned a lot, I gained experience while I was still in school which helped me into my graduate program, and I met my best friend. I will never run my future company in the manner that this company was run, and I know that for a fact.

I've Got Make Up Questions! 

Ladies, or gentlemen, I've got some questions. I know that I follow quite a few different make up and beauty bloggers (and I hope they follow me, as well.) I am pretty much a noobie at make up. I've got just about no experience with make up other than Bare Minerals, and they made me have terrible acne. BUT! I've got some questions. 

With my new job, I feel like I want to be a bit more professional, and that includes make up! 

1. How do I cover pimples? And what products/brands would you recommend? 
2. I want a foundation that isn't heavy and that won't make me look scaley! What would you recommend? 

We Need Travel Tunes!

With the 9 hour travel to Wizarding World of Harry Potter only A WEEK AWAY, we're in the market for some good traveling tunes.  We're open to pretty much any kind of music, but we're not sure what the best music for road tripping is! What are some of the tunes you listen to while on the drive?  :) 

It's Almost Halloween

And like normal people, we carved pumpkins. I'm not going to picture my boyfriend's because well... it was a disaster. But here is mine. It was my first attempt at scraping the skin of a pumpkin rather than actually carving all the way through. I think Simba turned out pretty well. :) 

What Women Want - Or At Least, This Woman

I've been reading quite a few articles/blog postings/hateful trash recently from many different facets.  Make-up, healthy living, music, entertainment, and recently, a lot of what has been going around my Facebook news feed: What Women Want.

Firstly, I do not think you can simply write a list of things that will fit every single one person/reader that is attentive to your blog/websites.  I've read many articles, many from the good ole Huffington Post, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about them.  I'm also not entirely certain how I feel about most of the writers who work with Huff Post. In all honesty, I find the mass amount of these articles offending! I'm not sure how the women who write and read these articles can agree and see themselves in the light that authors write them in, but if that's how they feel then sure.  I suppose that is a generational thing, but many of these articles are extremely sexist.  Surprisingly, there are more written by men than you would assume.

After the Jeopardy column a few weeks ago (which I was pretty disappointed about, read here [yes I realize it's a Huff Post article]), I couldn't help but write something like this.

So here it goes: What Women REALLY want. Or at least, what this woman wants.  These are in no particular order. All play an equal part, in my happiness, at least. It's really all about Maslow and his Hierarchy. Just like men, women want the world, that's why there is such a power struggle. And that power struggle shouldn't really be, but it is.

1. A Loving Relationship

Regardless of if it is with a man, a woman, food, herself, or her animal (not sexually, you nasty), a woman wants to be loved. But that is nothing different than what any other person wants. Women, men, transgender, etc. all want to be loved, deep down.  And if a women is in love, she doesn't want to hear what you have to think. Regardless of whom a women loves, she doesn't really want your input into their/her relationship. Unless of course you are her mother. Then she has to listen.

And if she doesn't want to be in a relationship, leave her alone. It's absolutely fine for a woman to be in love with herself or her career and not be interested in a long term commitment with another being. IT'S ACCEPTABLE and leave her alone.

2. Self-Worth

This is a really difficult category.  Self-worth comes in many ways, and many of those ways are stated below. But woman really do want to love the way they look, feel, and their understanding of their body, mind, and soul.  Equal alignment of the three is a great way in which a woman (or man) can gain self-worth.  Naturally, this is one of the hardest portions of personal acceptableness that a person can come along.

3. Equality

You should have already realized that I've mentioned she AND he in this article. If you had not, I just told you.  And there is a reason. Most woman want to be seen as EQUAL to every counterpart that they run into. From work to personal relationships, women in this day and age want to be see as an equal counterpart.  Yes there are the outer rim that don't feel this is necessary, but I am damn sure not one of those people.

Women and men, alike, should all have the same abilities in life.  But this does not stop at jobs and pay.  I feel that men and women should be held to the same accountability in all of their life decisions and choices, but that's a completely different subject.

4. A Rewarding Career

And it's not just the 9 to 5 type of jobs of which I'm speaking.  If a woman, or man, wants to be a stay at home mother/father, and that's rewarding to that person, then leave them alone about it. If that's how someone feels most rewarded, then that's the career that is meant for them.  If someone is able to provide the love and life that a child needs and gains great personal reward from that, then that's a career.

But on the flip side, if a woman or man doesn't want children and puts their heart and sole into the career for which they are passionate, then that's perfectly okay too.  I'm in this category and I could not feel more rewarded after coming home from a day's work.

5. A Friendship That Will Last the Ages

Moms, best friends, girl friends, or boy friends, woman really do want that person or those people who will be there with them throughout the years.  Friendship can add fun and passion to a woman's life (or at least it does to mine) and boyfriends/girlfriends can be that friend.  The joy a person can gain from friendship is like no other. It's like the love of an animal, but from a person that can actually speak human back to you. I mean, that's kinda cool.

6. Independence

From men, from the world, from her mind, from her family (financially), women want to be free.  If she wants to run around naked, she wants to be free to do it. Free to make her own decisions and free to do as she pleases. If she wants to plant a garden in the back yard, she's going to do it. If she wants to build a car, she's going to do that, too. Being held down isn't cool, man.

7. To Contribute 

Financially, physically, emotionally, and mentally, she wants to provide whatever it is that she can.  And she REALLY doesn't want to be put down and made fun of because she isn't able to contribute as much as someone else.  Whether it's a friendship or relationship, but wants to contribute.  Some women, if they're like me, might even dislike the fact that she's not able to contribute as much and will push herself or attempt to grow in order to do so.


And Sure, we do love a good pair of jeans, thanks Jeopardy. But who doesn't? Men love jeans, too. Don't get me wrong, this isn't ALL women want. These are just 7 things that I could think of off the top of my head.

I don't know about all women, but I do know about my friends and myself. Many of us fit into these few things.