What's on Sharyn's Mind?

The Balm TimeBalm Concealer

2010-06-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

Concealer has never been part of my makeup routine but I've been starting to notice some under-eye circles and then the usual redness from blemishes. My friend works at Sephora and she had let my sister know that The Balm has a great concealer. I read the reviews on Sephora and loved what I saw. I purchased this along with my $10 Stila e/s It girl palette. FYI I got the concealer in the Light/Medium shade.

When I received it, I was a bit bummed that the packaging was really plain. It comes in a simple clear pot with a sponge. Hopefully they revamp their packaging for this product because then it would be perfect! Another thing I don't like very much is the smell. It's not awful by any means, but it has a bit of that "makeup smell" to it. The smell is noticeable initially, but goes away after a couple of minutes.

Anyway, I swirled my ring finger into the pot and was surprised it wasn't creamy as others have described. I thought it would be similar to Benefit's Boing concealer, as in super creamy. The consistency feels more like a MAC paint pot. I guess it really depends on where you place your makeup products though. I find that placing it out on my bathroom countertop when I'm in the shower helps soften it to the consistency I prefer. As far as coverage go, I really dig it! It covers up my problem areas and blends into my skin pretty well. This stuff lasts all day long for me too, even after a good run during my lunch break. What I like about this concealer is that it helps even out my skin tone as well. I like to put a little bit on the corners of my nose to cover up the redness and then a little bit over the area above my lip to help even out some of the darkness/shadow.

Time Balm sells for $18 a pop. While this is a bit steep in price, I say it's worth it. There is a good amount of product and a little goes a long way so I'm sure this will last me over a year.

Clarisonic Skin Care Brush

2010-06-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

From the creators of the Sonicare® toothbrush comes the Clarisonic® Skincare Brush. Sonic technology first changed the way we clean our teeth, it's now changing how we cleanse our skin. The sonic frequency moves Clarisonic's soft, gentle brush back and forth at more than 300 times per second, thoroughly clearing pores and skin surface.

Here are some of the benefits this revolutionary skincare tool delivers:
- Removes makeup six times better than traditional methods.
- Clears pores and reduces the appearance of pore size.
- Cleanses so thoroughly that skincare products absorb better.
- Creates noticeably healthier looking skin.

I wanted to buy this about a year ago, but not having a job really prevented me from doing so. I had to put my money on far more important things such as student loans. Now that I have a full-time job, it has allowed me to buy things that I thought were out of reach for me. The Clarisonic comes with a hefty price after all. A $195 price tag. I have kept my eye on it for a really long time and have read reviews from several places so it was definitely something worth buying in my opinion.So far it has been working really well for me. I like that it's easy to use because it has a built in timer that beeps. Once you turn it on, the entire cleansing process takes 60 seconds. 20 for the forehead; 20 for the nose; and, 10 for each cheek. My skin feels so fresh and clean after using it, but without that tight feeling. It just makes your skin glow and soft!

The main reason why I bought it was because I wanted a really deep clean. I have a bad case of clogged pores and blackheads (on my nose). My pores never seem to want to unclog so regular cleansers have never fixed this issue. Although I thought my pores would be completely unclogged after using the Clarisonic for a week, it hasn't happened. I'm sure most of us want the results to happen right away, but it is going to take a bit more time for me to be 100% satisfied. I am sure with constant long-term use that it will prove more effective, so I'm going to be patient and be happy with the results I have seen so far.

2010-06-10T08:44:00.001-07:00

I will be reviewing some items that I just received in the mail. Stay tuned for:

-Clarisonic

-The Balm TimeBalm Concealer

-Stila It Girl Palette (with swatches of course!)

Stila It Girl Palette for $10 at Sephora

2010-06-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

If you want to get a hold of some Stila eyeshadows for a really good price, I suggest you go to sephora.com right now and buy the trio palette that has the award winning Kitten in it! I couldn't resist because I so badly want to have Kitten and it's way cheaper than getting it on its own for $18.

Here is a little breakdown:

The Palette: 3 eyeshadows x 0.107 oz=$10

One Eyeshadow Pan: 0.09 oz=$18

Grab yours before it's gone!

Clarisonic: To buy or Not to buy

2010-05-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

Really debating on if I should purchase the Clarisonic or not. There are such great reviews on it on the web, whether it's from Makeupalley, Sephora, or QVC. I have always wanted it but I just never got to purchasing it because it is so expensive! I just want to see if it lives up to its hype and helps out my skin. I'm leaning more towards getting it but I do have a guilty purchase conscience. Any of you have it and care to share your story?

MAC Mineralize Blush

2010-05-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

I had my day off today and decided to go to the Carlsbad Premium Outlets to check out a few things I was eyeing for awhile. I did some damage! I got some Kenneth Cole peep toe pumps for work, the new Reebok Easytone shoes, and a MAC mineralize blush from the Cosmetics Company Outlet (CCO). The CCO pretty much carries a bunch of lines such as MAC, Estee Lauder, Bobbi Brown, Prescriptives, etc. for less expensive. At MAC stores and Nordstrom's, the mineralize blush goes for $21 but I just bought mine for $15.75. It's relatively cheaper and I love it because you can find a lot of limited edition products there too. Check out this link to see if there is one near you.

The mineralize blush I got is called Earth to Earth from the Grand Duo Collection. The pan is a duo with one half a pretty bronzy peach color and the other half has purple swirls/veins. I thought it looked really dark in the packaging but I fell in love when I swatched it. It's such a perfect shade for the summer because it really gives that sunkissed glow. I believe this product is multi-purpose too and I could definitely use it as an eyeshadow.

Breaking Out

2010-04-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

Any of you allergic to specific makeup items? I just bought a Jane blush from the drugstore because the color was pretty and it was inexpensive. I have been using it for almost a week now and I just recently noticed that my face has broken out with little red bumps. I haven't had this happen to me in such a long time but I'm pretty sure it's the blush. The last time I had this reaction was with a NYX and Revlon blush. I guess I'm done with drugstore brand blushes. I'm a bit bummed because I love saving money :(

I'll stick with my Everyday Minerals (even though it turns orange by the end of the day) and my Flirt! Cosmetics blush.

What makeup has made you break out? Share your story in the comment box.

It Just Became My Best Friend

2010-04-14T19:40:00.000-07:00

I do look quite happy in this picture! Why you ask? I just bought a heating pad and it has become my best friend. You should have seen me earlier today, I was hurtin'. Two words: Fallopian Devils.

Nivea Touch of Sparkle Bodywash

2010-04-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

I just bought Nivea's Touch of Sparkle bodywash and it makes me not want to step out of the shower. I want to stay in the shower forever now because this stuff is that good! If you just ran out of bodywash, pick this up next time you're at your nearest Target or drugstore. The scent is fantastic and leaves your skin and the entire bathroom smelling like white calla blossoms. It's such a soft and feminine scent. They should come out with a body spray because I'd be all over that! I just had to do a quick rave about this stuff!

Clinique Superbalanced Powder Makeup & Bonus

2010-03-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

My friend and I had a pretty long and stressful work week so we decided we were going shopping on Friday. I think we both knew we were going to be spending quite a bit but then again, didn't mind too much because we wanted to spoil ourselves. She got a little postcard from Clinique advertising their bonus gift they were giving away at Macy's with any purchase at their counter over $21.50. At first I was set on not getting any makeup from there because I didn't necessarily need anything. We ended up getting our face color matched for their Superbalanced Powder Makeup. I budged and ended up buying it haha. So below is the Clinique bonus. I can't believe all of the stuff that was part of the gift. I think its retail value is about $67! There were two choices and I chose the one below because of the eyeshadow colors.

The cosmetic bag is so cute. I love the spring design on it. It also came with a smaller bag and you could definitely fit mascara, lip balm, and lipstick in it.

So as part of of the bonus you get the following:

2 bags,

High Lengths Mascara

Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion

Even Better Skin Tone Correcting Moisturizer SPF 20

Raspberry Glace lipstick

and Color Surge Eyeshadow Duo in Strawberry Fudge.

I'm not really sure if I'm going to use the moisturizers because I got really bad reactions with their skincare line a long time ago and promised myself I would never try it again. My face just ended up stinging real bad and turned red all over.

[Shade 03 Natural]

This uses the same technology as the Smashbox powder where it shaves off a certain amount of powder. This gives you fresh powder for every application which I think is so clever. It says on the directions that one click should be enough for one face application, but I don't even do one entire click! I do such a tiny amount because a little goes a long way. I used it this morning only using a tiny amount and it seriously gave me full coverage. I'm not used to full coverage because I don't really need it. I only use foundation/powder for evening out my skin tone. This also claims to control oil, but I'm not too sure about that yet since I have only used this twice. I will try it out for a couple of weeks and get back to this issue.

[eyeshadow duo in Stawberry Fudge, no specific shade name so i'll refer to them as pink and brown]

[swatches from top to bottom: Raspberry Glace lipstick, pink e/s, brown e/s]

The lipstick is a great berry color and it's perfect for the spring season! The e/s colors are really pretty and soft. The pink shade reminds me of NARS Orgasm blush in the case but it is a peachy gold-pink color and the brown color is just a soft brown that is perfect as a crease color or alone.

Bang for Your Buck: Sally Girl Eyeshadows

2010-03-12T22:58:00.000-08:00

I usually prefer MAC or Urban Decay eyeshadows because they are the best I have tried. They are creamy and super pigmented, but quite expensive. I have pretty much stopped buying drugstore brand eyeshadows because I felt like I was wasting money not getting the color payoff that I wanted. I do love buying drugstore brands for other makeup items though!

Anyway I happened to watch a Youtube video on some eyeshadows from Sally Beauty Supply. I was really surprised by the pigmentation and the most surprising thing was the price. Get ready ladies, 99 cents. I was quite hesitant at first but I thought, why not try it? It's only 99 cents. Plus, they got some good reviews on MakeupAlley. So off to Sally Beauty Supply I went. And I came home with these cuties.....

[single eyeshadow]

[I connected the 3 e/s that I bought to make a trio]

[left to right: Champagne, Cinnamon, Brick]

[interlocking grids to connect the eyeshadows]

[pretty good pigmentation for 99 cents huh?]

I really like the idea of the interlocking grids so I could connect the eyeshadows. I am going to keep them connected because they are pretty small and I like the color combination. Each eyeshadow pan is 1.1 grams. For reference, a MAC eyeshadow pan is 1.6 grams. The value of these Sally girl eyeshadows are absolutely amazing. There were a ton of colors at the store and I believe a few formulas as well. The three I got are frosts. I don't know if all the formulas will have the same color payoff as the frosts though. Mattes are a definite hit or miss, but for the unbeatable price, there's some room for experimenting. Go check out your local Sally Beauty Supply Store for this bang for your buck.

My Favorite Products

2010-03-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

CLEANSER: Murad's Energizing Pomegranate Cleanser

I feel like this cleanser really gets the makeup, oil, and dirt off my face. The bottle says it helps tightens pores and while my pores have not disappeared(which would be awesome!), I personally feel like it has reduced the size of my pores. In addition, it smells lovely and I love that its a foam cleanser! Great for removing eye makeup without any stinging!

MOISTURIZER: Zakia's Argan Oil

I use this stuff every morning after I wash my face. It's done wonderful things for my skin. Like I said in previous posts, using oil to moisturize scared me at first because I thought I would end up looking like an oil slick by the end of the day, but it has been the complete opposite. This oil has made me less oily throughout the months and my skin could not be happier. I want to try and use it on my hair next! My hair tends to get pretty dry at the ends, so I may start applying this on my damp hair.

TINTED MOISTURIZER: Neutrogena's Healthy Skin Enhancer Tinted Moisturizer

I needed something that offered a little bit of coverage and some SPF and what can I say, this "makeup" is a blessing. It contains SPF 20 and retinol which are great for the skin. I guess why I love this so much is because it makes my skin glow without me having to cake on makeup. It also prevents my skin from getting too oily throughout the day. I hope they don't discontinue it!

BLUSH: Flirt! in Pink Tutu

I won this blush from Makeupforlife. I thought it was a bit too sparkly when I opened it the first time but I use this about 4 times a week. It works with my complexion so well and gives a great flush to my cheeks. I have read from other blogs, that this is a NARS Orgasm dupe. I don't intend to buy NARS because I feel its a bit overpriced, but if you could save a bit, I would suggest trying Flirt's version. FYI: Flirt is pretty much a dupe for MAC because they are owned by MACs owner, Estee Lauder.

[This picture puts the shade to shame. Its actually looks more like a dark plum in person]

LIPSTICK: MAC Amorous

A perfect shade in my opinion! It's hard to explain but its a lovely mauve color. I like to wear it alone or wear it with my favorite lip gloss, Revlon's Life a Peach. MAC lipsticks are my favorite because they have that great light flavor of vanilla, offer a great range of colors and finishes, and long-lasting.

Now, to you guys....What are some of your all time favorite products? Leave me a comment and let me know :)

Shoe Craze

2010-03-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

I was never that into heels because I never really had to wear them. 23 years of going to school, the last thing I wanted to think about was wearing heels. I mean walking around trying to get to classes that were too far away from one another in heels? The simple thing was to wear a good pair of Vans or flip flops and everything was dandy.

Now that I actually have a job and have to wear work attire, pumps come in super handy. For one thing, it helps to have that height advantage to avoid getting work pants hemmed. Plus, pumps look good with slacks and a good pencil skirt. I'm not obsessed with shoes but I do like to have a few good pairs to choose from. Lately, my black peep toe pump has been painful to wear because the toe area is a bit tight and I've been getting blisters. So I have been searching for its replacement and its been tough. The mall hasn't been offering what I want so I turned to online shopping.

I found a pair of dark gray suede Bandolino pumps on Zappos.com and couldn't resist. I have been getting some overtime hours this week so I figured, why the heck not! I've been wanting to get some gray pumps instead of the basic black because it's still neutral enough to wear with any color. I'm so excited to get these in the mail, but hopefully they fit! Some reviewers stated that they tend to run a bit big and recommended getting them a 1/2 size smaller. They better fit because the size I ordered was the smallest size they sell. Crossing my fingers!

This whole shoe thing may just end up becoming an obsession. Too many cute shoes but I have to watch how I spend my money.

UPDATE:

I wore them for the first time today at work and I can not believe how comfortable they were! It's love! They are about 4 inches high but the platform totally helps! Did I mention they were really cute? I want this shoe in so many colors!

Face of the Day

2010-03-03T17:42:00.001-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I know it's been weeks. I wanted to share my face of the day. This is actually the makeup I wore into the office today. It's pretty neutral but I wanted a pop of green so I decided to wear a nice olive green eyeliner. I like to sneak in a pop of color once in awhile so my makeup isn't so boring. It's really easy to add a pop of color when you have a neutral eye because then you can always line your eye with a dark blue, teal, purple, or green. Just have fun and experiment. This look is pretty quick and probably only took 7-10 minutes.

Products used:

FACE

-Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhancer Tinted Moisturizer in Neutral to Tan 40 (I love this!)

-Everyday Minerals Start to Finish Bronzer

EYES

-Urban Decay Primer Potion

-Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Toasted

-Sephora Waterproof eyeliner in Olive

-Nivea Volume Impact Mascara (from Germany)

LIPS

-Carmex

-Revlon Lipgloss in Life's A Peach

Victoria's Secret: Getting Fitted and Love Rocks Fragrance

2010-02-12T22:24:00.001-08:00

I was at the mall with my sister and we've been talking about wanting to split the bra sale going on at Victoria's Secret. A selection of bras are 2 for $40. I decided to get a bra fitting since I was already there and I was a tiny bit off of what I thought I was. I don't know if many of you know, but I guess about 70% of women are wearing the wrong bra size. That's terrible. Imagine the lack of support our boobies are getting?! Anyways I tried a bra in the right size and I can't believe how much of a difference it makes. I, of course, had to buy that bra and super happy with my purchase. So ladies, if you happen to be at a Victoria's Secret or any department store, make sure to get a bra fitting. You will not regret it.

I also bought the mini sized body mist in their new fragrance, Love Rocks. I was approached by a sales lady to smell their new fragrance and it smells yummy&sexy. My initial thought after seeing the red bottle was that it was going to be way too strong. It's a tad sweet, warm, and also fresh smelling. The Victoria's Secret website describes this fragrance as:

Wild at heart. A punk princess. Rock chick meets très chic in this rebellious riff on vivid plum, hypnotic violet and sensual vanilla, the latest addition to our glamorous Sexy Little Things® fragrance collection. Love out loud in Love Rocks! Domestic.

Fragrance type: fruity floral
Top notes: bergamot, peony, raspberry sorbet
Middle notes: sandalwood flower, jasmine, peach nectar, plum, stephanotis
Low notes: golden amber, violet, cashmere musk, vanilla

I definitely get the fruity notes in the beginning but then the amber, musk, and vanilla take over. I'm not really into sweet smelling perfumes but this has a great balance.

Simple Neutral Eye

2010-02-02T18:08:00.001-08:00

So I was bored and decided to do a simple neutral eye. I have moments where I just experiment and practice my makeup. It can be a bit difficult to find a good eye look for work because I want some color but nothing over the top. I decided to use my Everyday Minerals eyeshadow in Wildflowers. It's a pretty matte taupe/mauve color. I haven't been reaching for this because its a bit out of my reach. My mineral makeup is in a separate makeup case under the sink so I don't often go down there.

I had only used my Stila Smudge pot in bronze for eye makeup to work this morning and I decided to do a neutral look to go with it when I got home to experiment. And sorry in advance, but I didn't want to put mascara on! I really like how it turned out. Hope you guys like it too!

Products used:

-Urban Decay Primer Potion

-Everyday Minerals e/s in Wildflowers

-NYX e/s in Golden Poppy

-Stila Smudge Pot in Bronze

Stila Out of Line Smudge Pot Trio

2010-01-21T18:48:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a rainy week. So glad that I was able to stay dry because my work has a parking garage and I didn't even bother going out to deal with traffic and possibly hydroplaning, etc. I was able to leave early from work and was super excited to be home so I could wait for my package :)

Eyeliners are still something that I've been experimenting with because I haven't found the "perfect" one. Urban Decay's 24/7 do not work on me because they just end up transferring and smudging a few hours after initial application. I tried Wet n Wild's creme eyeliner and had fantastic results, and then came to realize that it was a pain to take off. It is really long-lasting. But....I wanted something that was long-lasting and easy to take off by the end of the day. I am really late on the whole Stila bandwagon. I always hear about popular products such as Kitten eyeshadow and their smudge pots. I went into Sephora last week and took a look at their smudge pots and they looked promising. I researched a bit and many people have these smudge pots as their holy grail of eyeliner. I found an out of line trio set with an eyeliner brush on BeautyCrunch. They have pretty amazing deals on makeup including a bunch of things from Stila. The trio normally sells for $32 but they are selling it for $12. Pretty awesome right? I decided to give it a go, even though the shipping is pretty expensive. I believe it was almost $7 for UPS ground shipping for one item. I guess my tip is to buy more than one thing in order to make up for the expensive shipping. Luckily, the shipping was pretty fast because it was only coming from Pasadena.

The trio comes in black, gray, and bronze. I decided to try it and they are so creamy! It was really easy to put onto my lash line and I love that there was no tugging involved. All the colors are great for everyday wear. I am pretty fair and find the black way too harsh on my eyes so I absolutely love the gray. It almost has this faint blue tint to it that makes it such a gorgeous color. The bronze will be great for an everyday look.

I've been wearing it for about 5 hours now and it has stayed on with minimal smudging since I didn't wear any eye primer. I figure it will last the entire day with a good eye primer on.

December/January Haul

2010-01-09T21:31:00.001-08:00

[MAC eyeshadows in Cranberry and Lovelace]

[Standard button up collared shirt for work, metallic wallet, and owl ring from Forever 21]

[metallic wallet]

[gold&white owl ring]

[H&M black studded crossbody bag]

[Another pair of Worthington shoes I got from JC Penney. They're slowly becoming one of my favorite shoe brands. ]

So I haven't posted many pictures lately and I thought why not let you guys see what I have bought over the past couple of weeks or so.

I have used the Love lace eyeshadow maybe about twice now and am really liking it. It's a graying blue shade and it's really blendable and easy to use with other colors. I have been using it as my entire lid color and then using MAC's Sable eyeshadow as my crease color. Love!!! I have used Cranberry once and it's a gorgeous color. It's pretty intense so I will probably use it more during the night.

2nd Meg's Makeup Gift

2010-01-09T21:18:00.001-08:00

I just received my megsmakeup.com 25o point gift! I was waiting around for it yesterday and the mailman had it! I was so incredibly excited to open my package. I got a 50 ml Zakia's Pure Argan Oil and an X-Large Urban Decay Primer potion. Amazing! and it was all for free! I don't know if I can say it enough, but it's the real deal! Trust me, this has been the 2nd package I have gotten from Meg and it's such a great website. Anyway, these two things together cost $82. The argan oil retails at $60 on the Zakria's website and the primer potion is $22.

I was a bit confused about the argan oil at first but then once I googled it, I knew why I received it. Meg really knows how to personalize these packages. It is specified on my profile page that I have been having trouble with oily skin lately and that nothing has worked. Voila! This argan oil has become a really popular cosmetic item because it helps with wrinkles and fine lines, and most importantly for me, it possesses a sebum regulating action for oily skin. YES! I can't wait to try this out and see if it works on my skin.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:50:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's 2010 already. It came out of nowhere! I'm so ready for this new year and I have such a great feeling about good things coming my way :)

I'm not a big new year's resolution type of person because I feel like my priorities and/or needs change ever so often that I don't want to be stuck with something I promised I would do and not end up doing. Otherwise, it would just be a big disappointment. I'm the type of person that always has to accomplish my goal.

I guess I'll do New Year's wishes instead.

-I wish to be more generous to others and to myself.

-I wish to be healthier and keep on track with my workouts.

-I wish to be a better friend, sister, and daughter.

-I wish to be a kinder person.

I'm wishing all of you a happy and prosperous New Year :)

Happy Holidays

2009-12-23T13:09:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays :) It's that wonderful time of the year again. I hope all of you enjoy it with your friends& family.

I've had a great past week. I went to my work's holiday party and it was a spectacular night. It was held in Downtown San Diego. Our President is part of this fancy club so we had this nice room at the top of this building all to ourselves with a really great view. I ended up taking Bubba (my sister's boyfriend) as my date and it was fun having him with me because he has his social skills down! Yes I took my sister's boyfriend but he's one of my best friends and I knew we'd have fun. Everyone teased me that night too with their "Oh, you're friend huh?" remarks. So typical but it was super funny because no one really knew the real story besides my close friend at work.

We had an open bar and all these yummy hors d'oeuvres. There were mushroom caps with a spinach filling, coconut shrimp, egg rolls, and lamb. Omg that lamb was to die for! Then we had our delicious dinner. That was hands down, the best meal I've ever had. Bubba and I both had the filet mignon with lobster tail. I thought it was going to be a tiny portion, but it was perfect! Sooooooo good! Then we got our dessert sampler which was really good too. There was like a brownie with berry sauce, bread pudding, chocolate dipped strawberry, and a chocolate cake.

When we finished dinner, we got onto our Secret Santa. For some reason, I knew I was going to be the first one to open mine since I'm the newest employee and I was right. I was kind of embarrassed because we also had to guess who our Secret Santa was, but that bit of wine helped me! haha. I ended up getting a MAC cosmetics gift card from my project manager and was super happy about it. I don't exactly know what I'm going to get, but a mineralized eyeshadow duo might be on top of my list. Another great thing that night was that I got a Christmas bonus. I was totally not expecting one because I'm new and I'm an intern. I didn't get my hopes up but I got one anyways and am super stoked. I hope I get hired full-time by next year!

Some Purchases

2009-12-10T16:39:00.001-08:00

I have a holiday work party I'm attending in 2 weeks and I'm super excited. It will be nice to see how my co-workers act out of the office and with a little booze on them or maybe a lot of booze because we're going to have an open bar!

I already bought my dress and shoes for the event and got some good deals doing a little bit of research on retailmenot.com I don't even do any online shopping without first checking out that website because I love getting % offs on my purchases.

Isn't my dress cute? The top is a bow and the skirt part is really fun and flirty.

I got a deal on these shoes. I had originally tried them on at the store but they were too expensive for me at the time. Then I was bored last night and went onto the Jc Penney website and bought them for under $20 when I found a coupon on you know where!

I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to wear for accessories and makeup. I've been experimenting with my Urban Decay shadow box and did a nice brown smokey eye last night with a bit of green as my eyeliner to make my brown eyes pop. If I don't go that route, I may go for something with a bit more color. Maybe some purple?

If you have any recommendations, please share it with me by commenting!

One last thing that I bought was a new straightner. I've had my Solia straightner for about 5 years now and worked great. I think it was a year ago that one of the plates started coming loose and it started to snag my hair. I put up with it because I didn't have a job at the moment and it was still working pretty well. I got an e-mail from Folica that they were having a 10 hour private sale and got an AMAZING deal on a straightner with a couple of extras ;) for $89.99! there weren't even any taxes and shipped for free because it was over $50. Unfortunately, the sale is over but definitely join their mailing list because they always send me emails about sales and coupons. That's my go-to place to buy any hair tools because they have good brands and they have tons of reviews done by customers which I really appreciate. I keep tracking my package like crazy, but thank goodness it's somewhere in Southern CA right now. I'm expecting it in the next 2 days and I can't wait to use it!

Who needs a Boyfriend when you have a soft B. Makowsky?

2009-12-01T16:25:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some pictures of my new B. Makowsky purse. It came in the mail yesterday and it came in a huge box. I started thinking "Did I really buy that big of a purse?" Well I opened the box and was really surprised at how big this purse is. I was really thinking that it would be smaller but I can't complain because it's quite lovely. It is a bit heavy as well and it's because of the hardware. I love the dark brown color of the bag with the rose-toned hardware. It's a great match. And how awesome is the animal print inside? Love it! I've never spent so much on one purse before, but like I said, it is something I bought to celebrate for my new job and my 24th birthday. I really do like the B. Makowsky handbag line so I hope to purchase more in the future. Who needs a boyfriend, when you can just hug this bag instead (it's softer anyway)!

Urban Decay Show Pony Shadow Box

2009-11-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

I just received my Urban Decay Show Pony Shadow Box through the mail today and I'm so pleased with it. I've never tried any eyeshadows from Urban Decay, but I knew they were good and when I saw this shadow box online, I really fell in love with the colors. I've been looking for an emerald green and a ton of neutral colors to wear for work. My favorite shadows are from MAC cosmetics, but these are ranking pretty high. They go on smooth and super pigmented! The swatches I have done don't even have any primer underneath them and they already look vibrant. Imagine wearing primer and these colors are going to be amazing!

So far I'm really liking Snatch because it looks great as an all over eyelid color and it's shimmery, but not too shimmery for my liking. Mildew is looking a bit light and I really wanted a dark emerald green so I'm still going to have to experiment with it to get it darker either by packing the color on or getting a dark base. I haven't tried Flash or Painkiller yet. Smog and Toasted are really pretty. They're nothing special though, because you could find similar colors at a drugstore for much cheaper, but the texture and pigmentation is important to me so I love them. I have a feeling that I'm going to gravitate towards these shadows on a daily basis. I've never even hit pan on any shadows, but since these are a bit smaller, it might just happen.

So for $30 you get:

6 (0.9 grams) of eyeshadow in Snatch, Mildew, Flash, Painkiller, Smog, and Toasted
1 mini size Urban Decay Primer Potion
1 mini size 24/7 Eyeliner in Zero

My 1st big splurge in a long time

2009-11-20T23:41:00.000-08:00

i can't believe i just dropped about $200 on a new purse. i'm not really a big spender on purses or accessories so this was a big splurge in my books. i sort of have this guilty feeling but what the heck! this purchase is going to celebrate that i have a job that i really like and enjoy and as a birthday gift to myself. i went to Macy's or Nordstrom's about a year ago and saw the B. Makowsky handbag line and fell in love after I touched one. the leather is out of this world! it's like nothing i've felt before! after that day i've been trying to canvas around to see where i can get a handbag for a good deal and one day i saw it on QVC and they sell it for way less! luckily i knew that he was going to do a segment and tuned in, and couldn't resist and just purchased it because it was too good of a deal. $100 off retail price and free shipping. come to mama!

Elf Complexion Perfection

2009-11-16T17:47:00.000-08:00

I wanted to try a powder that would help out with my oil slick and shine and have been hearing a good amount of reviews about Elf's Complexion Perfection. It's pretty much this pan of silky powder which has 4 squares in it. There's a pale yellow, mint green, baby blue, and baby pink color. You can use them individually to color correct. For example, use the mint green to cancel out redness. Or you could swirl all the colors together and just even out your skin tone and mattify your skin.

I've been grabbing for this everyday and I really do think that it helps to even out the skin tone and mattify my skin. The product description says that it's pretty sheer in color, but applying too much can definitely wash you out. I have a light skin tone so I haven't had problems with it washing me out, but for tanned or darker skin tones, you may want to use a light hand to prevent that from happening. I typically use this after my moisturizer and before any makeup. But I've been noticing that I will just use this alone just as powder for the entire day. I'm trying to figure out if my Everyday Minerals is causing me to become oily and so far, it seems to be a a factor.

So for $3, this is a great product. It comes with a good amount of product, 13.5 grams, and it comes in a "NARS like" packaging with it's matte black case and a nice sized mirror. I just wish it had come with a puff inside because I can't really take it and use it without taking a regular sized powder brush. I'm probably going to have to invest in the EcoTools travel kabuki.

24th B-day

2009-11-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

I had a pretty nice birthday this year and that's all I wanted! I'm not a crazy birthday celebrator so having a nice lunch with my family was just perfect. We went to Red Robin and had a feast! I got some money and gift cards to Sephora and Starbucks. My cousins know me well :) At night, we had a little celebration for my birthday and the Pacquiao vs. Cotto boxing fight. I don't know why but I love to watch boxing matches and it makes it even better to watch when a fellow Filipino is fighting. Pacquiao is an amazing boxer and he always looks like he's in his element and enjoying it. That match was super intense to watch and my heart was fluttering like crazy! Good thing he won though!

Then on Sunday, we went to my Grandma's house to celebrate again. My Grandma is too cute! She's 79 years old & can't really use her left arm/hand and still cooks me food! Such a sweet woman. I really had a good time just chatting up with her and asking her questions of her life. She has been dreaming about my Grandpa who passed away several years ago and they are such cute dreams. The first one was on his birthday and she dreamt that my Grandpa was asking her to kiss him, but she said she couldn't because she would trip or something (she uses a cane/walker that's why). Then on their wedding anniversary this year, she dreamt that they were on the bed, but he asked her to put a banig ( a Filipino hard blanket) down on the ground so they could sleep and be happy together there ;) and she ended up yelling his name out loud and waking up my aunt. My aunt then wakes my Grandma and says "Mom, dad is dead, why are you calling his name?" My Grandma had a pretty bad health scare earlier this year and we really thought we were going to lose her, so I've been really trying to get to know her on a different level and enjoy her company while she's still healthy. She's such a comedian!

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Enhancer Tinted Moisturizer

2009-11-04T16:38:00.001-08:00

I was beginning to get super oily half way through the day and I was getting frustrated. I've just been using my Everyday Minerals Foundation and even with primer, I was still an oil slick at the end of the day. I've been wanting to try a tinted moisturizer for a really long time now because it's almost fool-proof. So I went to the drugstore and found the Neutrogena Tinted moisturizer and decided to give it a go. The first time I wore it, I wore it alone with no powder to set it. It felt really light and gave enough color without being too heavy looking. By the end of the day, I wasn't as oily so I really liked that. Then I decided to use my Everyday Minerals foundation/powder over it to set it and I'm liking the results. My face isn't really that oily anymore and not very shiny by the end of the day. Hopefully I'll keep getting the same results!

So I've been working for almost a month now, it will be exactly a month on November 8th. I'm really liking it! I've learned a lot and at this point, they are giving me projects with minimal supervision. An assistant project manager sat down with me for about an hour and a half last month to teach me how to prepare a certain document. Of course, it was way too much information to retain but my notes are really helping. So these past 2 days, I've been working non-stop on the document and finally finished all the parts that I could. I'm just waiting on these 2 technical reports that other consulting firms are working on. I have been popping into the project manager's office once or twice a day to ask for help on some topics and he's super nice and helpful. I'll hopefully finish with this document next week, if not by tomorrow. Talk about an accomplishment! The job's pretty fun though because I like to research and write anyways. That's my update on work! :)

Flirt! Cosmetics

2009-10-29T18:20:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for my Flirt! Cosmetics package that I won from Makeup For Life's Contest Giveaway. I got a UPS postcard telling me that I need to go to the actual store to pick it up because there was some mix up with my address, so I'm going to pick it up after work tomorrow. I'm so excited to see the products!!!

********************************************************************************************************

[Big Flirt Thickening Mascara in #05 Violet Vixen]

[Glamourazzi Exteme Lip Lacquer in #12 Va-Va-Voom]

[Dreamy Eyes Eyeshadows in #20 Glamourazzi and #24 Aquavite]

[Swatches; Left: Glamourazzi, Right: Aquavite]

[Peek-A-Blush Sheer Powder Cheek Color #21 Pink Tutu]

My initial reaction is that the products are super pigmented and the packaging is really cute. I like the sleek black packaging! I'm going to try the products when I go out tonight so I'll let you know how everything works out. I'm excited for the purple mascara!

loving october

2009-10-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

we had such nice weather today! it was pretty cold this morning but this afternoon, i swear i really fell in love with san diego all over again. i have been taking 20 minute walks during my lunch time and i have a good time because i get to see a lot of things. i see a lot of cool buildings, lots and lots of airplanes, and the bay. it's a good way to get myself out of the office and get some fresh air. i love this fall weather. i wish it could be like this everyday! it's warm enough to still wear flip flops, but cool enough to layer up on scarves and cardigans.

I got some new boots from Charlotte Russe that i picked up last week during the buy one shoe regular price, get the 2nd one for $10. i got some black boots while my sis got some cool "Daria" boots as we would like to call them. i haven't been able to wear them quite yet but i'm super excited just thinking about it.

anyways i had the cramps pretty bad this week. i really wanted to leave work early yesterday because i couldn't take it, but i have only been there a couple of weeks and i don't want them to have a bad impression of me so i decided to stay and suffer. i finally called the doctor's to go in for an appointment because i can't take suffering like this every month and it affecting my life. i have tried remedies such as heating pads, taking tylenol, midol, pamprin, and even exercising daily but those haven't really helped much. they seriously help for like 5 minutes but then the pain comes back. i really hope nothing is wrong with me. i guess i'll see what happens when i go see my doctor tomorrow.

NYX Rouge Cream Blush in Natural

2009-10-15T17:04:00.000-07:00

So as promised, here is my personal review on the NYX Rouge cream blush in shade CB02- Natural. I went into a makeup store 20 minutes from my house because it's the only place I knew that sold NYX at a good price. I went in there knowing I wanted to buy a powder blush but after swatching the cream blushes, I ended up liking how it applied and how light it felt on. There were some gorgeous colors and these things are super pigmented so a little goes a long way. I was about to buy a brighter pink, but opted to get something more natural looking, and how perfect is it that the shade is called Natural.

I apply the blush with my Studio Tools duo fiber brush and it works great to pick up just the right amount of product. You could definitely use your fingers to apply and blend, but I don't really like the idea of dipping my fingers into the pot and getting it "dirty." If you do use your fingers, make sure to not press too hard because the product is quite soft and you could easily dent it.

The staying power is pretty good too. I usually have problems with my blushes fading and/or wearing off by the middle or end of the day, but this really held up for me. The color stayed pretty true as well. The main reason why I bought this blush was because I wanted something that would stay the same color throughout the day. My Everyday Minerals blushes tend to turn orange after a few hours which bugs me because I want a pink blush to stay pink, not turn orange.

Also, I don't know if this alone caused me to break out. I did notice some redness and/or red spots on my cheeks after wearing it twice. Mineral oil is an ingredient in this so I'm thinking that it may have caused it. This blush is still on my "trial" period so we'll see what happens in the next couple of weeks or so.

[Top: Blush was swiped, Bottom: Blush was blended with my fingers]

small update

2009-10-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

I started my new job this past Thursday and it was a pretty great day. I'm so excited to be a part of their team and I honestly feel like I'm at the right place. I can't wait to get into the more challenging tasks and really learn all the processes. Everyone at the office is super nice and welcoming. I'm really loving it so far :)

As for updates...I'll try to keep up with them! I know I should be doing more than one per week but I still have to adjust with less "free" time. I'm thinking that the next post will be on the NYX cream blush in Natural. So stay tuned for that one this week.

my lovely gloomy friday night& mint julep masque

2009-10-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

[relaxing with my mint julep masque. i would have smiled but i couldn't move my face! haha]

see what happens when i'm bored on a friday night? We're finally having some Fall weather in San Diego. It's gloomy, cold, and there's a light sprinkle outside. This is one of my favorite types of weather and it was perfect today because i was feeling kind of sick. It justifies me staying in on a Friday night.

I guess I could do a review on Queen Helene's Mint Julep Masque since I brought it up already. This stuff is pretty amazing. I have pretty large pores and always have problems with blackheads on my nose. I try to use this once a week to really clear out the impurities from my skin. It also helps get rid of my excess oil. I always apply this at night after I have cleansed my face. I apply a thick layer around my cheeks and my nose area because that's where I need it the most. I usually keep it on for 15 minutes, but sometimes even 30. When first applied, it is really tingly but it subsides within minutes. I actually love the scent of this because it's minty fresh!

It's pretty easy to recognize when it's ready to wash off because you won't be able to move your face! It is stiff and if you go look in the mirror, you can see all your pores through the mask. That's what I love seeing! All of that gunk stuck in my pores for a week has been pulled out. Just wash it off with a washcloth and voila. You must look and feel your face after you wash it off! My face always feels like it's glowing and really tight. Did I mention a big tube is only $3.99 at your local drug store? If you don't have a mask in your skincare routine, definitely try this out. It has gotten some pretty great customer reviews on Drugstore.com!

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipsticks

2009-09-29T10:20:00.001-07:00

Maybelline's new Color Sensational Lipsticks are really my holy grail lipsticks as of now. I really love MAC lipsticks but sometimes I don't have the money to drop $14 for a tube so I try to find good quality drugstore brand lipstick to fill the void. I believe there was a Buy One Get One Free sale at CVS for Maybelline products so it was about $8-9 bucks for 2 lipsticks. These were a great buy so I highly recommend checking out your drugstore ads to see when they will have another BOGO sale.

These Maybelline lipsticks are really great because they have great color and I find them extremely hydrating. There are so many shades in the store and it seems like a lot of the colors are wearable and will suit many skin tones. Most of the drugstores I've been in have the lipsticks sorted out into their color families so there will be a Pink, Red, Purple, Nude, etc section. It makes it really easy to find shades!

I've been into pink lipsticks lately so I love Pink Petal and Party Pink. I have actually been grabbing for Pink Petal everyday now because it's such a soft wearable pink. I use Party Pink when I want a medium pink. Muave-Ulous is perfect for the fall season. Darker shades are definitely in and this is in my opinion is a must have.

Enjoy the swatches and check these out if you are on a bit of a budget but want high quality lipsticks.

[top to bottom: Pink Petal, Party Pink, Mauve-Ulous]

Glitterized in Hillcrest

2009-09-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

I had a really fun weekend with my friends! On Saturday night Totran, Dante, and Alex went to Hillcrest and let loose! I haven't seen the guys in over a year because Dante had moved to Seattle but I missed them dearly. I remember my last year in college partying up with the guys and they really showed me how to have fun!

I was the first to arrive at Totran's place so we just talked and did some pre-drinking while we waited for the guys to arrive because they had just watched Kathy Griffin. We caught up with each other and then we headed out to Universal. It was too much fun in there. Good music, friends, and drinks. What could be better. Alex bought all of us a Washington apple shot and then a sweet tea. After 4 drinks I was buzzzzzzzed. I haven't felt like that in a really long time so it felt nice and of course the sweet dance moves came.

We decided to go across the street to another club and it was crazy. Such a different scene but lots of fun. There were definitely some crazy characters in there! We noticed when we got through the doors that there was a glitter room and the guys were joking around that we should put some on but I didn't want any because it would be a hot mess. We only stayed for a bit and then we headed outside. It was just me, Totran, and Dante at first so we were wondering where the hell Alex went and next thing you know.....poof! We were glitterized. We were all pretty sweaty so the damn glitter had something to stick to. Alex seriously dumped all the glitter on my boobs. Freakin' hilarious. I will never forget that ever!

Then we walked several blocks to go to Alex's car and hit up the Jack in the Box drive thru because we were hungry. Took the food to Totran's and feasted. It was a great night and it made me realize how much fun I can be if I just put myself out there and stopped being a hermit. Definitely going to have more fun nights like this in the future and be young again!

Glitter.........

alive

2009-09-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

i seriously had a great day today. i felt so uplifted and happy with my life and that hasn't happened in a long time.

i have been in this funk for awhile because I felt discouraged after not being able to find work and pushing forward. the direction i saw myself in after graduating was clear and definite, but after all these months of not being able to find my dream job created a bunch of knots and jumbled my direction in life. i felt like i wasn't good enough for anything out there and just went weeks&months without applying myself. i was almost scared that i would fall into depression but luckily, my family is always there for me and are true supporters.

i've been feeling like i'm letting my life pass me by and the month of august is when i decided to finally do something about it. i looked for jobs and applied to whatever looked like i could qualify for, while trying to find jobs that would actually use my degree. unfortunately, with pretty much no experience in the planning field, you can consider yourself the last person someone wants to hire. it's like someone literally put Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak on you so you knew you were there, but others did not. I finally broke out of that damn invisibility cloak and decided that i needed to be seen.

Well....i believe it worked. I contacted someone from a non-profit organization that does wonderful things to protect natural resources and land use planning.I couldn't believe that I found this organization because their line of work is exactly the kind of thing that i want to do. And you know what? this person actually contacted me and wanted to meet with me to talk about work opportunities. hooray!

I met with him this afternoon and while I thought it was going to be a bunch of awkward silent moments, it turned out really well. when you have similar interests and passions with someone, it's hard not to have a great conversation. i talked about my career aspirations and my interests in the field and he talked about all these opportunities that would be a good fit for me. i can't wait to start working for this organization. i'm beyond excited for the challenges and things i'm going to be learning.

I felt alive and driven by the time our meeting ended. geez where has the real sharyn been in the last year and a half? it drives me nuts thinking about my lack of accomplishments when i know myself to be a hard worker.

lesson learned. i just needed to try harder and i have to always remember that i have to reach out and make my dreams come true because no one but me is going to do that. i can't expect anything to be handed to me without any effort.

life is good, so let's dream and make those dreams come true. give life a bit of elbow grease and it will reward you.

My Makeup Collection

2009-09-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

So here's my makeup collection pictures that I said I would post up. These have been products that I have collected through a couple years and it's growing pretty slow because of the economy, but no complaints because I have more than enough. My makeup is a good mix of drugstore and high end brands. I really have no preference. It just has to work well. I didn't include lip balms and glosses but you can ask if you want to know. Enjoy!

EVERYDAY MINERALS CONCEALERS, FOUNDATION& BLUSHES

[Click picture to enlarge and to see product shades]

EVERYDAY MINERALS EYESHADOWS

MAC EYESHADOWS

1st row from left to right: Nehru, Beauty Marked, Embark, Nocturnelle, Parfait Amour

2nd row: Shale, Silver Ring, Sumptuous Olive, Electric EEl, Orb

NYX EYESHADOWS

From left to right: Root Beer, Cherry, Sunset, Yellow,Golden Poppy

MISC. EYESHADOWS

Top: Sephora eyeshadows in Pearl#7 and Chrome#9

Bottom: Smashbox Trio in Smashing Perspective

LIPSTICKS

1st Column- all NYX: Doll, Milan, Thalia

2nd Column: Revlon Kiss Me Coral, Revlon Black Cherry, Sephora #51

3rd Column-all Maybelline: Mauvelous, Party Pink, Pink Petal

4th Column: MAC High Tea, MAC Amorous, Smashbox Sequel

5h Column-all MAC: Russian Red, Girl About Town, Half and Half

EYELINERS

From left to right:

-ELF Eye Widener

- Jesse's Girl in Seafoam

-Rimmel Spark it Up! in Peridot

-NYC in blue and black

-Sephora in Electro Mauve

-Sephora Retractable Waterproof eyeliner in Olive

-Urban Decay 24/7 in Rockstar

-Urban Decay 24/7 in Zero

-Victoria's Secret Liquid Glitter Liner in Liquid Metal

-Sephora Liquid Liner in Prune Aubergine

-Wet N Wild Mega Eyes Creme Eyeliner in Black

BRUSHES

Back row: Studio Tools Dual Fibre Brush, EcoTools Blush brush, EDM Flat top

Middle row: Sonia Kashuk angled e/l brush, Sonia Kashuk(don't know name), EcoTools Concealer Brush, EcoTools angled e/l brush

First row: Bare Escentuals Concealer brush, Studio Tools eyeshadow brush, ELF eye blender, Essence of Beauty Duo Crease brushes

My Meg's Makeup Package

2009-09-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

I just received my megsmakeup.com gift from redeeming my points and I couldn't be happier. I got some really good products to try out! And how cute is it that Meg writes a handwritten note with the package!

Everyday Minerals Blush in Apple

Moon's Harvest Sweet Heart Bath Bomb shaped as a cupcake. I don't even know if I could ever use this because it's way too cute!

All the items in my package: Moon's Harvest Sweet Heart bath bomb, EDM blush in Apple & Moon's Harvest Bath Butter in Blackberry Spritzer

labor day weekend/volunteering

2009-09-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

i had a pretty good labor day weekend. the family went on another camping trip and it was fun minus me having to go home early. we got there saturday morning and the food was good and company was great. then by the time i went to bed it was actually quite cold. i didn't really come prepared since i thought it was going to be a warm night. i only brought a thin sheet to use as a blanket and i was freezing my ass off. i got a couple of hours of sleep until i was hearing weird noises. like someone was walking towards my tent and i was freaked out, and of course my tent-mates were sleeping like babies. fortunately, the oldies in the next tent were hearing the same noises and checked outside to see if there was anything out there. they found 5 raccoons near the tent and on the tree right above their tent. haha my mom and aunt were freaking out and couldn't really go back to sleep. i decided to go to their tent in the middle of the night because i was cold and i once again had cramps. everytime i go somewhere fun i swear my stomach gives me problems. i of course wasn't prepared with medicine because i didn't think i was going to need it. it sorta went away but kept coming back several times throughout the night. after eating breakfast and relaxing outside, it would not stop hurting and i asked if my parents could take me home so at least i could be comfortable and have the things i need to help relieve them. i was bummed i only got to stay a day while the rest of them stayed until monday morning. i was at home all by myself suffering, but i tried to enjoy it by watching tons of movies. we recently got Netflix so I was just watching a bunch of movies on Watch Instantly. it's pretty addicting.

Today was a pretty good day too. I woke up around 830 to get my workout in before I had to go volunteer for Habitat for Humanity at 10. I didn't work out for 3 days and i needed to force myself before i stop all together. i don't even know what i'd look like now if i didn't start my daily work out back in April or May. I believe i've lost over 10 pounds already and i'm happy about that. i already reached my weight goal which is pretty amazing, but i'm going to push for another 5. it just makes me happy that i can do this for myself and see results. for me, working out is about boosting my self-confidence because i feel like i lost most of it a couple of years ago. it's a gradual learning experience and i'm enjoying it. anyways i volunteered for a good 3 hours just helping out organize an office. it was a complete mess and i turned it into a well organized one after i was finished. i cut myself terribly this afternoon from all the paper and folders though. i got 2 paper cuts and a deep folder cut under my nail. ewww! it felt nice to actually work and be busy. i'm sick of not having a job and working towards something, but i've been applying to a lot of places lately. it's not necessarily in my field but i'm keeping my options open. oh, i actually emailed someone at a non-profit organization that do projects in my field and he wants to meet up to talk about internship or volunteer opportunities next week so i'm pretty excited about that. i would learn a lot from him and the organization. another one that i just applied to happened to be where i volunteered because my boss happened to mention it to me and forwarded my resume. this past year, i've learned to really push myself and take the initiative. i just need to do so all the time and not be afraid of rejection. i want to live life and experience it....the good and maybe even the bad.

fall trends

2009-08-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

[NARS Fall 2009 collection]

i love the fall season! i can't wait to wear fall clothes :) as much as i'm going to sound like a brat about being over summer and the hot weather, i really love cooler weather. i can't wait to get some grey jeans, scarves, and boots. so some fall trends include lots of purple! purple shirts, purple cardigans, and purple lipstick. yes purple lipstick. I'm not talking about a neon purple though....more like a wine purple. One I've fallen in love with is Revlon's Black Cherry.

Another fall lip trend is fuschia. Look at how beautiful Alexis Bledel rocked it. The trick is to do a super simple eye so it's all about the lips. A recent trip to CVS's BOGO sale surprised me to a pretty pink shade by Maybelline in shade 155-Party Pink. Their new Color Sensational line is moisturizing and offer a variety of beautiful shades. For a splurge, try MAC Girl About Town.

One last trend I want to talk about is the smokey eye with a nude lip. If you're not comfortable with bright lipsticks then play up your eyes. You can even diverge from the grey and black smokey eye by doing a green, purple, or brown smokey eye.

Free Lip Balm

2009-08-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

If anyone wants to get a free mini EOS lip balm then click here. I know there's only a limited number of lip balms they're giving out so sign up for it NOW. I've been hearing good things about it so why not try it for free right?

lovin me some taylor

2009-08-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

thank you taylor swift. i feel like you are singing to my heart&soul. i feel so much better after listening to her music. so at ease.

Review: Bubble and Bee Organics Pit Putty

2009-08-14T23:42:00.001-07:00

[image from http://safemama.com]

It's been two days since I have received my package from Bubble and Bee Organics and everyhing is working out fantastic. Let me say that first of all, I love this company already. Before I ordered anything, I was just on their website and saw a little button that said Stephanie(the owner) was online. I decided to send her a message and right away she responded. That is a very rare thing to encounter now-a-days because you'd probably have to go through customer service and a bunch of people before getting an answer.....and probably would have to wait a few days to week to receive a response too! Anyway, she was very helpful and informative when she answered my questions so already she gets brownie points! So I decided to buy her deodorant duo pack in the Geranium Lime scent after hearing that it was the more feminine scent. I was a bit skeptical on the geranium part because I had no idea what that smelled like, but the scent of limes won me over. I love lime!

So I was waiting for the mail to come and it took exactly 2 days for it come to my mailbox :)

Then the big opening. As expected, I received my 2 deodorants in geranium lime.....and then something dropped....a gift! It was an organic lip balm in Coconut& Lime. It smells sooooo good. It really smells like coconut and lime and the first time I put some on my lips was like heaven. It went on extremely smooth and my lips were moisturized instantly. The greatest thing is that I don't feel bad about constantly licking my lips because it's organic. Win-win situation!!!!

Okay let's get to my review on the deodorant. I lifted up the cap and got a sniff of it. I'm going to tell you the truth, it was a bit too strong at first. And i noticed it had melted a bit from its travel to its new home so I stuck it in the fridge for awhile so it would get stiff. After I tested it's consistency I applied it to my underarms and there was a bit of flaking but I wasn't worried because I was told that it would do that and to just rub it gently onto my underarm. It worked like a charm. The scent changed from the package to my actual skin too. It kind of mellowed out and I definitely smelled that lovely lime scent.

A few hours later.....
I still smelled good. No funk! I couldn't resist smelling my undearms every 5 minutes or so because I just wanted to make sure that it was working. This stuff worked surprisingly well to keep me really dry like an anti-perspirant (but without all those bad chemicals). I really am impressed with the deodorant because I didn't know for certain that it was going to work this great. Like I said in my previous post, I have tried out some natural deodorants in the past and none ever worked for me. This one has got me hooked now. I'm never even going to use those nasty chemical-filled deodorants/anti-perspirants again! Goodbye to Secret, Dove, Degree, and Suave. Hello Bubble&Bee Organic!

natural deodorant

2009-08-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

i've been on the look out for some natural deodorants. i've actually tried a couple in the last couple of years or so but nothing really worked and some smelled so manly that it had to be thrown away. yuck! i guess i'm not the only one that has been having trouble finding a natural deodorant that actually works. it has a lot to do with the natural chemistry of your body, so something that works horrible on one person could actually work really well for another.

my main factor in trying to go natural is trying to get away from all those chemicals. there are many studies that actually link breast cancer and aluminum(main ingredient in drugstore deodorants). that is frightening because my dad's side has women who actually had breast cancer. i mean there's no guarantee that by switching to a natural deodorant that you won't get breast cancer, but it's something to try to prevent it. the chemicals in anti perspirants actually clog your your pores and imagine the toxic build up!

i've done a bunch of research and it looks like a company in Utah, Bubble and Bee have one of the best organic deodorants that work. I just ordered a duo pack in geranium lime for Sheena and I to try today so i have no idea of its effectiveness until i receive them but i'm having high hopes for it. my regular deodorant has kind of stopped working as well as it did, so i'm ready to try something new and organic. i will do a review in a few days so look out for that. hmmm...am i going to be fresh&clean OR musky? i hope it's the first one!

a bit off balance

2009-08-08T12:59:00.001-07:00

i just want everyone to know that i'm feeling a bit crazy right now! damn hormones! i feel like shit. i had really bad cramps last night, night sweats, and i thought i was going to pass out. today i feel like jello, irritable, and i want to cry for no damn reason. being a woman really has its pitfalls. i would like to be tranquilized right about now.

learning some history of my homeland

2009-08-04T00:15:00.000-07:00

it amazes me how little i know about my homeland. i know for sure that it's because i was born there and left at a young age. i can't remember studying the history of the philippines at all and while i think it's a bit unfortunate, it's understandable that i don't remember because i believe i was so young. the reason why i'm writing this is because of recent events. Former president Cory Aquino passed away this weekend. We have Filipino channels at home and every show was interrupted by the news of her passing. I was quite surprised. I didn't know too much about her although I'd hear her name here and there. I then asked my dad if she was an influential figure. He kind of looked at me funny and told me that she was the first female president of the Philippines. She is truly admired by the Filipino people, as probably thousands attend her public viewing at the Manila Cathedral. This admiration made me want to learn more about her and her family. From what I have learned so far, her and her husband were amazing politicians. They were in politics to make changes and her family suffered for that. Her husband was assassinated upon return to the Philippines from a 7 year exile in the U.S--due to allegations of bombings in Manila by President Marcos. Such a tragedy. But with that, came her presidency. She did so many great things even prior to her term that she won Time Magazine's Most Influential Woman of the Year in 1986. She was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize. Amazing woman. R.I.P. President Cory Aquino.

It's these little facts that make me realize that I need to learn more about my birthplace. There are so many events that I don't know and should know. I need to learn about the beginning of our history and its progress through time. The last time I went to the Philippines was about 10 years ago and I didn't even go to the historical sites! I am truly saddened by that, but the next time I go, I'm going to explore my homeland and learn more about it. How exciting!

do you want free makeup?

2009-07-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

https://www.everydayminerals.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=102&func=view&catid=2&id=237746

so i happened to read something on a makeup forum about a makeup review website that will give away free makeup when you accrue points. the way you gain points is through rating products, commenting on articles and the forum, and you even get points for getting your friends to join. check out the link above to see what a member got when she redeemed her points. i mean come on now Urban Decay products for free?! how can a makeup lover resist joining! haha. obviously it's going to take some work from your end to get those points, but it's not very hard at all. you can easily get 20+ points in an hour or so. please let me know if you would like to join and i will send you an invite through your email. leave me your email address in the comment box.

camping weekend

2009-07-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

quick update on the sugaring hair removal. the 1st batch of sugaring wax that i made was not cooked long enough so it wasn't the right consistency. unfortunately, i do have several little bruises on my legs after using that batch the first time. i stuck it in the microwave to cook it for a few more minutes and it worked so much better. *if you don't want to use strips when you sugar( i.e. see the video below), the trick is to cook the ingredients until it's pretty dark.* i was able to remove some patches of hair with little to no pain and after 2 days, there's still no growth. YES! i'm loving it so far!

okay....on to my weekend.

hmmm no surprise! i went camping! what else is new right? hahaha it's become such a favorite activity for my family and i. it's a great stress reliever and sometimes, you just have to get away from the city and enjoy nature. this camping trip was a bit different because we went with bubba's family. every single one of us had such a great time because we had such good food and company. we usually end up eating filipino food, but bubba's aunt was like freakin' iron chef and cooked a good variety of food. haha
here's a detailed list of what we ate during our trip:
FRIDAY NIGHT:
-buttermilk-parmesan crusted fried chicken
-buttermilk potato salad
-fried corn
-cornbread
-sisig
-blueberry cobbler cooked in a dutch oven :)

SATURDAY MORNING:
-garlic fried rice
-filipino red hot dog
-hamonado
-eggs
-bacon
-pandesal
-espada(dried fish)

SATURDAY AFTERNOON:
-grilled corn dogs
-tuna salad
-egg salad
-my mom's famous pork bbq
-bbq chicken
-fried fish
-grilled&fried eggplant

SATURDAY DINNER:
-left overs from lunch
-peach cobbler cooked in a dutch oven......AMAZING!

SUNDAY MORNING:
-fresh blueberry pancakes
-bacon
-hash browns
-scrambled eggs

is that an insane amount of food or what?! our tummies were definitely happy. my mom, aunt, and uncle really enjoyed themselves too because they were able to try different things out this time around. usually they're the only ones cooking! both families ended up learning things from each other which was really cool! bubba's family is pretty new to the camping scene so they wanted to see how we set up camp and then we got to learn how to cook some of their food. oh yeah, i got to meet up with my mini me again! bubba's cousin, Lily was adopted from China about 4 years ago and when they showed us her baby picture, and we were surprised to how much she resembled me when i was a baby. she really could be my daughter! haha i like the way she says my name....she can't say the "R" so she replaces it with a "W" pronounces my name like "SHAWYN"

anyways that's my weekend update. hope to rest of you had a good weekend too!

sugaring

2009-07-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

for some odd reason the hair on my lower legs seem to grow like crazy. i freaking hate it. i'd say maybe 2 or 3 years ago i noticed that they were growing way too fast and it bugged the heck out of me. it just came out of nowhere. now i'm forced to shave everytime i wear shorts, skirts, or dresses. i can't even shave one day and have smooth skin the next day. haha it's that bad. so 2 years ago i tried the Nad's wax, but I felt that it made my leg hair grow even faster. i thought it would have the opposite effect but apparently with my luck, it got worse. so today, i decided to make some sugar paste because i heard sugaring is better than waxing. the sugaring paste only sticks to the hair unlike wax, which sticks to the hair and skin. if you want to try this out the recipe is:

2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup of lemon juice ( do not skip this)

You're going to want to cook it on your stovetop on medium heat for 25 minutes or until it's an amber or golden brown color.

Here's a video of a person performing the sugaring on the legs.

I tried it out on a section of my leg but it didn't work because i think my leg hairs are too short and it was really hot so the paste was just melting on my skin. I'm going to give it another go in a couple of days. What I'm going to do next time is knead the sugar paste until it turns from the amber color to white. Hopefully I will be able to get great results with this hair removal method because i'm sick and tired of shaving! Plus, it is practically free to make the sugar paste and do it on myself!

okay moving on to LOVE.......(great transition from the sugaring huh?)

i've been single for over 2 years now and people are really expecting me to have found another one already. it's actually quite funny to me. i'm not on a constant look out for one, and right now, i'm happy being single. i like the feeling of no one holding me down. of course, i will admit that i get lonely sometimes. it comes and goes. but i know love will happen for me again. he's out there somewhere....we just haven' found each other yet. some people say i'm too picky but i can't help but be that way because i have certain things that i want in someone. it's just a precautionary thing for me, but i know it can harm my chances of finding someone by a lot. and another reason why people want me to have a boyfriend is because they almost feel bad for me like i'm suffering or something. hahaha. i'm perfectly fine people! i don't need a guy in my life to make me happy.....but it wouldn't hurt either huh? all i gotta say is that if you like or have interest in me, you better let me know. hahaha i can be a bit blind sometimes. ;)

hotness

2009-07-21T11:19:00.000-07:00

it's been a hot few days here in san diego. i would love to go to the beach to get some relief from the heat, but i'm stuck in the house during the day because we're not done painting the house. 3 more walls and we're done!

anyway yesterday, sheena, ronell, and i watched the Harry Potter movie yesterday and it was so good! i think it's my favorite one so far, but sheena and ronell weren't so satisfied because they've read the books and a lot of things were missing. I want to go watch it again, but I'd rather get the DVD so I can put the subtitles on so I can understand everything they were saying.

other than that, my summer is going pretty well. I've been able to do some fun things and just get to hang out with my friends. this weekend bubba's family is going camping and it's going to be a good one. there's going to be tons of food, i don't know what i'm going to do with myself haha.

successful day of painting

2009-07-15T22:45:00.000-07:00

my room went through a great transformation today and i'm absolutely thrilled of the outcome. it went from a boring shade of off white to a calming blue-green shade. it took my sis and i about 4-5 hours to get the entire room done. it was fun, but i'm so tired now. i looked up how many calories it burns to paint a room and i think it calculated like over 1,000 for my specific weight.that probably explains why i was feeling light headed. oh well because it was worth it! now i love my room. it looks as though my painting services aren't over yet....i still have to help paint the entire interior of my house. pretty excited about the transformation but i know i'm going to be so tired!

now i'm just listening to some slow Jason Mraz songs to help me relax. it's been a good day. i can't wait until friday because some friends and i are going to PB to hang out and catch up. time to be young and live life!

wet n' wild mega eyes creme eyeliner

2009-07-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

i love wearing eyeliner, but i hate how none seem to stay put. i've tried pencils, liquid, eyeshadow as liner, and even some other cream eyeliners and none have impressed me so far. i even thought that urban decay's 24/7 liner would work but i still have problems with it wearing off and smudging throughout the day. so i've been researching and have heard great reviews about gel/creme eyeliners seeming to work best so i was going to buy the Indelible gel eyeliner online and the websites that sell them suck. Most had a $10 minimum and/or had expensive shipping. the other option i had was buying MAC's black track fluidline for $15, but I skipped on that because I'm waiting until I go to the Carlsbad CCO to get it for under $11 instead. So for the mean time I found out that Wet N Wild sells a pretty darn good dupe of Mac's so I went to Rite Aid and bought the Mega Eyes Creme Eyeliner for a whopping $3.99. hahah i love a bargain.

I tried it yesterday afternoon and I must say that it is really good. It stayed on my waterline people! Other liners usually fade after an hour or so on my waterline so i'm pretty much in love with this product already. It's really creamy and dries pretty fast so you have to work fast and make sure you have a good brush to use. It does come with an eyeliner brush but it was way too firm for me. I use my EcoTools angled eyeliner brush and it works really well. And f.y.i. you have to make sure you keep the lid closed tightly after use because it will dry out since it's in a plastic and not in a glass container. I keep mine in a ziploc bag just in case!

So if you have extremely oily lids and/or have problems with liners staying put....you might want to try this product out. It's a bargain!

it seems like i'm only starting my summer now

2009-07-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

i had an amazing couple of days so far! i just now feel like i have started my summer. i've been sorta being a hermit crab which is no fun some times! so on monday i met up with ali and julia at starbuck's to catch up. i wish all of the girls lived in the same city because not having them around is sad. i only get to see them maybe 3 times a year? anyways we caught up on each other's lives and it was just nice to have girl talk and reminisce. then yesterday me, sheena, and ronell went to watch the hangover. freakin hilarious! i remember seeing previews for it and thinking ehhhh but then i heard so many people saying it was so funny so ronell got us some tickets and the movie was awesome! i NEED that movie on dvd asap! then today was absolutely perfect. me, sheena, ronell, and my 2 nieces went to torrey pines beach. it seems like a tradition now to take the kids out every summer and they really do enjoy themselves. it's fun being a kid! anyways we got our tan on and even got in the water with the kids because they were begging us to. the water was pretty cold at first but it felt so nice after getting used to the temp. i seriously need to go to the beach more because i feel like i don't take advantage of it enough. anyways after that we got In n Out and then we all went home. then i got ready and got nerissa so we could catch up. life is awesome. i'm trying to be better at enjoying life. i know i don't live it to the fullest so cheers to trying from now on!

my 4th of july

2009-07-05T20:04:00.001-07:00

it has been a sad couple of weeks for me since my Lola(grandma) had been admitted to the hospital for a bunch of tests. she had been having problems of falling and just lots of other problems like high blood sugar and her constant trips to the bathroom. we just found out today that she has been taking medication for Parkinson's disease. my cousin, sis, and i have been suspecting that she had Parkinson's for awhile now because her hands tremble, and i guess now her medication explains it. It's been hard on my family but we are trying to keep a positive attitude and we've been visiting my Lola a lot to keep her entertained while she's at the hospital. I believe she might be released tomorrow, but we don't quite know what our plans for her are going to be. She has made it very clear to all of us that she doesn't want to stay at a nursing home so we're trying to see if we can get someone a live-in caregiver so she has assistance in the comfort of her own home. All I can say is that my Lola looks good and she is very aware of her surroundings--meaning she still remembers who all of us are and has a good memory. We're staying strong for her.

In other news, we had a great 4th of July. I went with Sheena to North Island to celebrate with Bubba's family and friends. It was a perfect day. Great weather, great location, great food, and great company. Bubba's family got some rooms in the Navy Lodge and the beach was like a 20 second walk from their rooms. The food was so good! We had some ribs, bbq chicken, potato salad, spaghetti salad, chicken kabobs, burgers, hot dogs, brownies, home made apple and cherry pies, beer, and a bunch of alcoholic drinks. I don't really drink anymore because I'm trying to lose weight but I figured "what the heck for today!" Bubba's dad really tries to make me drink shots whenever I see him so I eventually cracked and took a shot of his Coralejo tequila with Bubba's aunts. Surprisingly, it went down well! hahaha i usually suck so bad at taking shots. Anyway, after taking that shot, the ladies got a little tipsy and we started our girl talk about hot Edward Cullen and then for some reason, the conversation ended up on me about being single and then Bernadette( Bubba's cousin's boyfriend's mom) had the idea of trying to hook me up with her brother. So embarrassing! They kept pointing and telling me to talk to him. hahah. This guy is a bit older than I am and he's super quiet. The age doesn't bother me at all since I need someone who is mature but the quiet thing is something i'm trying to stay away from. I'm a little quiet myself , but I don't want to be with someone who is way too shy to talk. It's so funny that everyone is trying to hook me up now. Even my Lola was trying to hook me up with one of the physical therapists at the hospital. My mom knows better though because she already knows how irritated i can get. I guess I better get used to it though. I'm trying to keep an open mind.

Oh yeah, Arizona update! It was freakin' hot! The temperature was usually over 100 degrees, the highest was probably 112. Yikes! We had a lot of fun exploring some tourists spots and checking out the real estate. It is way more affordable there than here, that's for sure! I still don't know if I could make the move because of the heat, but who knows. I still have to think about relocating.

update on my teef

2009-06-23T22:56:00.001-07:00

so i had my dentist's appointment this afternoon and it went well. It all started last weekend when I was flossing my teeth before bed and I felt like it was stuck in between my teeth. I was trying to wiggle it out nicely, but then......out popped part of my tooth. hahaha. like the inner core of one of my molars! i thought it was originally my filling, but then i stuck my tongue in the whole and it was way too deep. anyways, i went in today and my dentist said it was definitely part of my tooth that came out and that it needed to be filled. my dentist is a big fan of not injecting anesthesia when he drills and of course i trust the guy because he's done so many damn fillings for my cavity-prone mouth. it wasn't at all painful until the end because it was hitting close to the nerve. here comes the scary thing though......i might need a root canal if i feel throbbing pain near that tooth. i guess there isn't too much space left from my tooth to the actual nerve so a root canal could be waiting for me in the future. OUCH! i'm hoping and praying that it won't have to come to that!

some upcoming events

2009-06-22T19:33:00.001-07:00

looks like life might be picking up its pace starting this weekend. i'm so excited! this saturday, a bunch of the geography crew will be at diana's to have a pool party/bbq/get together. i haven't seen any of them in awhile so it's going to be fun to catch up with friends and just relax. then sheena, bubba, and i are gonna head off to Arizona on Monday. We're probably going to check out the Tucson area and feel a vibe of the place, see if there are jobs out there, and to see if we can actually handle the heat. i for one prefer a mild climate, so it could be a hard adjustment. anyways, i'm excited because i'm going to take my car on her first road trip. zoom zoom zoom! i think i'm getting my car back from the shop this week and i can't wait to drive it again. i just miss driving on my own because it can actually be a stress reliever for me. i'll post some pics of the party and the road trip when i can.

i'm finished....now what?!

2009-06-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

so i finished the twilight series last night! i need to get my hands on a hardcopy set soon! i want to read it all over again. now that i finished reading it though, i feel a little out of it. i was so into this fantasy world that the real world seems so mundane. i spent like all the hours of my day reading for the past week that now that i'm done, i'm so bored. t.v. doesn't even do it for me right now! the only way to fix this is to go out and have some fun, but the only problem is that i don't have a car for another week. WAH!

the only other thing i've been focused on this past week is on working out. i'm losing more weight by the look and fit of my clothes. i still have some pair of smaller sized jeans that i didn't throw out because i was intent on getting into them again. i tried them on like 2 days ago and voila....it fit and there's even a little room left over. it probably helped that i cut down on my calorie intake too. i wish i did this a long time ago because it doesn't seem so hard if you really put your mind to it. the only downside of losing weight, is that some clothes are a bit too big now. i bought like 2 pair of Buffalo Jeans last summer and now they're too big. i don't even need to unzip or unbutton them to take them off because they just slide right off. i'm actually really sad that i won't be able to wear them right.

that's my update. uggh life is so mundane right now.

summer reading

2009-06-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

so the last time i posted it was about robert pattinson. well it doesn't stop there. i am now officially obsessed with the twilight books. i can't seem to put them down! i just finished the 3rd book from the series and waiting until i get breaking dawn later this afternoon. they are sooooo good. i'm glad i watched the movie first because now i can imagine r-patz as edward cullen, k stew as bella, etc! so far my favorite book has to be eclipse and i can't wait to read breaking dawn to see what happens in the end. i've been looking around to see where i can get the hardcover set for cheap because i want to own it and it looks like walmart sells it the cheapest. i want to read this series over and over again! sorry for being so obsessive lately but i can't help it.

oh yeah, Team Edward or Team Jacob?

what can i say, i'm back to my old teeny bopper days.

i'm in love.....with a vampire

2009-06-08T23:43:00.001-07:00

i honestly didn't get the whole hype with Twilight and Robert Pattinson but i got sucked into it quickly! i remember him from Harry Potter but didn't really think he was hot....i just thought he was cute. Then he became one of Perez Hilton's muses and all I read and saw was him. Then Sheena borrowed Twilight from her boyfriend's sister and I was super intrigued to watch it. Although I didn't think the actual movie was that great, I actually like it. It was a bit slow but I think it was supposed to play like a novel. I am officially obsessed with Robert Pattinson. It didn't help that I watched the MTV movie awards like a damn teeny bopper and waited for him to be on my tv screen! Everything about him is hot. His English accent, his lovely head of messy-just rolled out of bed hair, and his style. I absolutely love that I don't care if the buttons on my shirt don't line up symmetrically or wrinkly looking. He just has something mysterious about him. I totally understand why girls swoon over him. He's absolutely freaking beautiful!!!

neutral and blue look

2009-06-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be time to do a makeup entry. i thought i would experiment with makeup today since i've been looking pretty crazy lately from being sick. i decided to do a neutral eyeshadow with a nice pop of color for my eyeliner. I hope you guys like it.

eye makeup used:

Urban Decay Primer Potion
All over lid-Everyday Minerals Eyeshadow- In the Garden
Eye Liner for lower lashes-Everyday Minerals Eyeshadow- Anna Karenina
NYC black eyeliner for waterline
Maybelline Great Lash Mascara

Makeup used:

Everyday Minerals Foundation- Golden Medium
Everyday Minerals Blush- All Smiles
Curvy Lip Silicone Lip Gloss- 503 note: this is a Japanese brand lip gloss so I don't necessarily know where it's available since it was a gift

answer to you wanna guess

2009-06-02T20:30:00.000-07:00

well i might have got you thinking really hard about my previous post. i thought i should spill a bit of info out. the big change is not a new job and it's not a new boyfriend. those two things would actually be awesome but as of now, are non-existent. hahaha. i wish though! anyway the big change is actually a big move. while i love san diego and CA in general, i feel like it is not necessarily the right place for me right now. the cost of living and the amount of our state's cut backs are tremendous. i just feel like i can't be what i want to be. i want to be able to find a good paying job and be able to afford to buy a house someday! so i think a move will do great things for me. sheena, bubba, and i are leaning towards arizona because it's still close to CA that we can still drive home once in awhile to visit, they have affordable homes, and cities there are expanding so we might be able to find jobs in our field. it will definitely be hard to be away from my parents but i'm thinking of it as a way to pursue my dream and become financially independent. i never thought i could leave san diego, but it's definitely something i'm considering and planning for. that's the big news guys. don't expect a move this year though. it's still an on going thing we're researching and we still have to drive out there later this month or next month to get a feel for the place.

something bad happened today. i had a car accident. my lovely car is now a bit scratched and banged up. grrr! i went to clairemont this morning to go to a doctor's appointment because my cough has been horrible and won't let me sleep! i got prescribed this nasty cough medicine that doesn't seem to be doing anything for me right now, but i hope it gets rid of my stupid cough soon. so after that i went on the 52 and got onto the Interstate 15 connector. I was just trying to get home to rest, and all of a sudden i feel a car bang onto my passenger side. this guy veered into my lane and messed up my mirror, left a huge black scratch on my front passenger door and left about 3 dents. he totally messed up his mirror too, but his was hanging off his car. anyway i'm glad we were both okay and didn't get hurt. i'm just bummed my car has to go to the shop to get fixed because it won't be the same. i hope whoever fixes it can give it a nice paint job because my car has a pearl mica finish and who knows if the color and finish will match the original.

you want to guess?

2009-05-29T11:07:00.001-07:00

i should be at work but i'm so sick! i really felt like shit the whole day yesterday and the boss told me not to overdo it with work so she told me i should take today off if i wasn't feeling good. it felt great to stay in bed this morning, especially when it's cold and gloomy. i had a terrible night yesterday because my coughing was persistent. bubba suggested i take vitamin C pills but i didn't have any so him and sheena went to CVS and bought me a bottle. i took a vitamin C with my cold medicine and i felt very weird. the room was pretty much spinning. i went to bed to lay down and see if it would go away but it was horrible. i ended up just closing my eyes and fell asleep.

so there might be some changes coming up in my life. i don't want to say too much because i pretty much want to keep it to myself but it's exciting. anyone want to guess?

my body hurts

2009-05-27T21:42:00.000-07:00

uggh everything hurts. i went in this morning for my assignment with a temp agency and it wasn't hard but it took a lot out of me. i pretty much was in the filing room alphabetizing their file folders. unfortunately, this lady dumped all the folders into different sections so it was so damn disorganized. just imagine me filling up one of the file cabinets and then have to rearrange it again because i found extra folders laying in different piles. those damn folders weighed a lot too! it didn't help that i was kind of sick and was already feeling hot and light headed. my whole body hurts now though so i hope i can wake up easily tomorrow morning. i'm definitely wearing less layers and comfortable shoes!

uggh i hate feeling sick. i haven't had a cold in so long so i guess it's well overdue. i'm guessing i got sick because i wore shorts and a tank top to sleep and got too cold. i hope it goes away soon because i am miserable. i feel so lifeless, i don't have my usual energy. anyway today was ronell's birthday so we went to red robin in UTC and had dinner. i really didn't want any red meat because i had way too much during our camping trip so i got the whiskey river bbq chicken wrap instead. it was good but there was way too much cheese in it and the texture was odd. alright i think i'm going to sleep soon. goodnight!

back to school?

2009-05-26T17:38:00.001-07:00

i'm in a bit of a funk today. i woke up with a nasty taste in mouth....like really bitter. that pretty much means i'm sick. yuck, nothing tastes right. anyways i had a great memorial day weekend. my family went on another camping trip in orange county and it was a lot of fun. a ton of family actually came out to this trip so there were tons of cousins and little kids running around. oh yeah, can you say the entire trip was a eating festival? i ate way too much and regretted it at times because i was doing so well this past month. me, ate rosalyn, kuya glenn, and ronell went on an early morning run because we all felt like we needed to do it so that felt really good.

lately, i've been thinking about going back to school. i really thought i was done when i graduated last year, but since it's so hard to find a job and i don't have much experience, i'm going to start looking at graduate schools. i will probably have to stay in san diego to save money because i'm already paying off my student loan. i'm just trying to re-focus because i feel like i'm slowly losing direction of my dream/path. we'll see what happens.

an awkward run in with the ex

2009-05-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

i was on youtube and happened to see a video for alanis morissette's you oughta know video in the acoustic version! freakin amazing!

time to work out! i'm feeling good!

okay time to update. i just got home around half an hour ago and had the most amazing time. i met up with jc, nerissa, and mary at starbuck's to hang out and then decided we were going to downtown. of course jc didn't have proper shoes to wear so we had to go look at a few stores to find it. we ate at in and out first because we were all starving. then we hit up target, payless, big 5, and then marshall's. after that i had to go home and change into proper downtown attire and then met up at nerissa's. we drove to downtown, parked, and then started to walk to our destination. this is where it gets a little awkward. as we cross the street, i see my ex, henry, and a girl cross the street from the opposite side we were crossing. can you say awkward. nerissa and i talked to them for a bit but they were on their way home while we just got there. had small talk and then went our separate ways. unfortunately, my ex didn't bother to introduce the girl to me or any of my friends. it doesn't matter if she was just a friend or his girlfriend. i mean i could tell he was a bit nervous seeing me because i was the same way. but let's face it, we're both old enough to do the introduction thing. that's the thing that really irritated me. i have run into my ex a few times here and there already and while it's never a comfortable situation, it gets easier with time. can you really be friends with your ex again? as much i want to be, i feel it is so hard. there is just too much history and pain there. i'm certain my first love will always have a place in my heart though. i can't possibly erase 4 years.

anyways we went to a bar after that and we asked the bartender to make me a surprise drink and it was strong! it took me awhile to drink it because it started getting nasty but i finished it. then mary bought us a white gummy bear shot which was really good. i'm a cheap drunk so i'm pretty buzzed after that shot and from then on, it was all giggles and crazy talk. we stayed at that bar for a good 2 hours or so and then headed over to confidential and red circle. we didn't stay that long because we were pooped out. well that was my fun and spontaneous night. i need more of those. overall it was a great night. time to sleep! nighty night.

house full of estrogen

2009-05-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

so my pops left for the philippines today and i'm going to miss him. now when i wake up in the morning, i won't have anyone to talk to or bother haha. i totally miss the homeland though! i wish i could go there for a vacation, but being jobless won't allow me the pleasure. i'm excited for the goodies he's going to bring back though!

in other news, i interviewed with SDG&E last week and had one of my longest interviews ever. i believe it was around 30 minutes, but it was pretty straightforward. i haven't received a phone call yet so maybe i'll find out this week. i'm trying not to put all my eggs in one basket because that's already happened to me this year and i don't want to get all sad if i don't get this job. it's a weird feeling because in life, you're supposed to have hope for things, but then if you have too much hope and things don't turn out the way you want them to be, then you feel like a failure. that can really screw with your mind. but i guess you aren't human if you've never felt pain or failed at something.

on to makeup. you guys all probably know how much i love everyday minerals. so the next thing i'm going to splurge on when i get some cash is a 6 piece full sized kit. of course i'm going to split it because i don't need 6 things for myself. the newest thing they have launched are their plastic compacts for pressed powders. the pressed powders used to come in these cardboard containers, but i think they weren't sturdy enough. they are launching more foundation colors that are coming in the pressed form, and one is luckily in my shade. it would be nice to have my foundation in the pressed form so i can touch up without the mess of the loose mineral foundation. yikes! so if anyone wants to split a kit with me, let me know. i know i'm going to want 2 things, and sheena will probably want 1-2 things, so the rest could be yours. the 6 piece kit is $34 so that would mean each piece would cost less than $6. i can't believe how much i love makeup now! i mean i used to like it a lot back in the day, but i only wore eyeshadow, mascara, and lip gloss. now, i've expanded to blush, foundation, tons of eyeshadow, lipstick, and eye liner. i'm definitely not one to spend all my money on makeup because i'm way into saving money. but when i do buy, i rarely use my own money. i use gift cards, a very small amount of bday/holiday money, and sometimes i get it for free from entering contests.

in need of some inspiration

2009-05-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

it's midnight and my eyes are feeling droopy but i felt the need to be inspired tonight. so i googled inspirational quotes and a ton of websites came up. i just wanted to share the quotes that gave me a good feeling inside and some that i could relate to in my own life.

"The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them"-Thomas Merton

"The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear" -William Jennings Bryan

"Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead."- Louisa May Alcott

"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Don't fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains two descriptions: might have, and should have." -Louis E. Boone

social anxiety

2009-05-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

do you guys ever feel like you have social anxiety? a couple of years ago, i swear i had it, but i'm trying not to let social situations get the best of me. i guess one of my short comings is that i don't go out enough. i know that for a fact. i am on and off though. one week i'll go out and have so much with my friends, and then next thing you know i have weeks where i don't want to be in social situations. i think it's the weirdest thing ever. i don't remember being so intimidated by people when i was younger. it just came about later in high school and mostly during college. i feel like i lose myself when i'm out and i hate that. me being intimidated means that i can sometimes be a snob..... i hear it alot from family. and yes, i believe i can be a snob. i'm not going to try and deny that. but the thing is, i know i can be so much more friendly towards people--strangers if i didn't have so much anxiety. this is definitely something i'm trying to change about myself. i recognize i have a problem and i'm trying to fix it. it may not happen in a day, but surely i hope i get better over time. the main reason i want to change for the better is to have better relationships with people. i want to be closer to my friends and i want to learn to love myself for who i am. also, i've been getting some pressure to date/find my next boyfriend. i'm only 23 and previously had a 4 1/2 year relationship with someone(give me a break)!!! haha i do understand the reasoning behind it, but i think i need to work on myself a little longer so i can be open to a relationship.

well, that was quite cathartic. not a lot of people know this about me, but i'm glad i shared it with you. *sigh of relief*

mall rat

2009-05-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

well hello there. so nerissa and i had a little adventure in escondido. she had to go to the mall but had to pick something up in san pasqual valley so we decided to do that beforehand. it was pretty fun riding along because we saw some interesting things like an ostrich farm! i didn't even know we had any here in san diego but there was a good size farm out there. i'm fascinated by their legs and how they bend...it's weird but cool at the same time. anyway so we got to our destination pretty early so we were waiting in the car until she could go inside. then after that we went to north county fair. she ended up buying some earrings from Lucky and i bought some cheap-o sunglasses from nordie's. after that we were pretty hungry so we went to sushiya and had some sushi. then she dropped me off at my house.

oh yeah, we had such a funny conversation about getting our lady parts checked. it all started because i told her about my recent visit to the doctor to get my pap smear. let me tell you....it was not pleasant. the whole visit made me a little uncomfortable. it didn't help that i wasn't relaxed so the entire thing hurt like a b-i-t-c-h. i felt violated! i'm glad i got a check up though because i want to know if there is anything wrong with me. i also had to wait half an hour after my appointment to get my first dose of Gardasil. i figured why not? i was already there and i needed the vaccination anyway. in other health related news, i freakin hope i don't have a cavity! my last cleaning was last year and these past couple of days, i've been having a major toothache. i don't know if it's just sensitive or part of my filling came off when i chewed gum or ate something sticky. F!

fitness update

2009-05-01T23:02:00.000-07:00

6 days in a row of running a mile on the treadmill has done me wonders. i can't believe i haven't been doing this before but i feel great. i'm definitely sore at times, but it's really worth it in the end. i should have been suffering from menstrual cramps this week but i'm not! woot woot! i just feel happier and energized now-a-days. i just need to keep up with it, because i do have days where i want to skip a day but end up telling myself that that would be the easy way out. and i guess my mom noticed a difference in my face, well more like my double chin, she says she doesn't see it anymore. hahaha

time to work out on my arms and abs (you can't see them yet but i hope they pop out soon for their debut =] IN MY DREAMS!

what if....

2009-04-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

so as my sis and i were leaving walmart, she spotted...a guy i was like in love with way back in the day(haha like in middle school). at first i wasn't sure but it really was him. i didn't really try to make eye contact because i don't know if he would have remembered me. it pretty much made my day because it brought back memories. let's just say that we were supposed to get together but it never happened because of a previous relationship. of course that's always left me with a "what if." i don't think anything would happen now because we knew each other a long time ago and never kept in contact all these years. i just think it's interesting that when you see someone in your past, there is this big explosion of memories that come back. well, that's all the excitement that happened today that i wanted to share.

Fitness& RLS

2009-04-28T17:03:00.000-07:00

i don't want to jinx myself by saying this but i've been working out for 3 days straight now. i wasn't doing much cardio, but was doing straight up resistance bands and ab workouts last month, but the past 3 days i've been running a mile. it's weird because i hate running, but once i'm into it, it's like such a release of stress. It helps with the frustrations in life. I hope this becomes an addiction for me. I am in that phase in my life where I want to really take care of my body so I've been watching what I eat and trying to exercise daily. I'm feeling good though! Clothes are beginning to fit better and I'm slowly regaining my self-esteem. The only problem I've been having is what I think is Restless Leg Syndrome. I feel it has worsened after I've been running. I'll try to sleep at night and my legs feel weird--it's hard to explain actually. It's like I lay there but there is an urge to move them all the time. This probably explains the lack of sleep lately. I might have to ask my physician about this because it is quite bothersome. Anyways, I just wanted to share that with you all. I am really proud of myself and I hope to live a healthier lifestyle!

girls night out

2009-04-24T23:58:00.000-07:00

me needing some fun in my mundane life actually came true today! finally!!! it was basically mine and courtney's girls night out. we met up at fashion valley and didn't really do much shopping because we were thinking of food. so we decided to eat at hot dog on a stick and then we headed out to point loma to a store called the closet. it was pretty cool. there were some good finds but i didn't end up loving anything. then we went to some music store, i can't remember the name but it had a load of stuff in there. tons of CD's, track records, and surprisingly, a huge selection of movies and DVD box sets. Courtney was seriously needing some good hip hop so she bought CD's by The Roots and Common. I was just eyeing some dvd's in the store and unfortunately they didn't have the season of Gilmore Girls I'm missing in my collection. I only need one more to complete the series! bleh! After that we went to Target and just roamed the aisles. It was a lot of fun in there too because I helped Courtney pick out some makeup. She got an eyeshadow quad, mascara, eyeliner, blush, and the EcoTools brush set. I'm so excited for her to experiment with everything!

After that we both drove to Downtown to do some walking. This was my actual first time driving to downtown by myself and i'm so proud of myself. I have such a fear of driving on one way streets and pedestrians walking all over the place. It wasn't even that scary! I don't know why i was fearing it for this long! I even drove in Downtown L.A. before i drove in Downtown S.D. i'm weird i know. so then we walked for a good half hour until we heard some reggae coming out of this bar. the guy said there was no cover so we went in for awhile. it wasn't crowded but the band was singing no woman no cry so we stayed until they finished the song. then we decided to grab an appetizer and desert at The Spaghetti Factory. Then we went home. I had such a great time though. It has been awhile since I truly hung out with friends so I'm glad I got to share it with Courtney. There's never any drama with us so we always end up having a good time.

needing some fun in my mundane life!

2009-04-23T22:35:00.001-07:00

i need some fun in my life! that's what i've been thinking this entire damn week! after the road trip, i got sick of driving around and going to places, but now, i've been itching to do something fun. it looks like me and courtney might be heading to downtown tomorrow to do some walking around and just good old catching up. who knows what we'll end up doing though. there's a padres game tomorrow night so that's a possibility. i'm excited to do something though, just as long as i get out of the house!

anyway, i'm waiting until sheena and bubba finish watching southland so i can resume Transporter. for some odd reason i've never seen any of the transporter movies. very odd.

over to makeup related news......i have been experimenting a lot lately with bright colored eyeliners. i honestly can't seem to wear black eyeliner because i feel it's way too harsh for my face. so my latest obsession has been turning my bright eyeshadows into eyeliner! it's nice to have a pop of color especially during the spring season so i've already tried a bright blue and green and love how it makes my eyes pop. oh, the possibilities are endless. :) i am not a super crafty person, but i love how creative i can get when it comes to makeup. i sometimes dream of being in my own makeup factory mixing up these intense colors and going just wild with inventing products.

my feet are a hurtin'

2009-04-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

just got home from my late night drive and it was really nice. i love being on the road at night by myself and thinking. best part of it all was i got to blast some Katchafire and S.D.I.B. Such great music to drive to! Anyway my feet are hurting from walking/standing for most of the day. My mom and I were just running errands and shopping. I actually got to purchase something after not being able to for awhile. I just got some tanks and a cute plaid blouse. Imagine me actually getting a paycheck, the damage would be worse. haha. anywho it's late and i want to do a quick workout. goodnight.

i'm back.

i totally forgot to blog about this sweet old man that i met at the dentist office. my mom and i walked in and this man got up from his seat and moved over just so we could sit in the comfortable seats. then he started talking to my mom and how she looked familiar and asked where she's from in the philippines. now if you are filipino, you would understand this because everyone always asks where you live in the philippines. and what a co-in-ki-dink. he was from the same place! he was there with his two grandchildren and once my mom went inside, he started talking to me and telling me a little about his life. what a sweet man! honestly, i have a soft spot for the elderly because they have so much knowledge about the world around us and i love how they can talk your ear off! seeing filipino elders makes me see how great our culture really is. i often have to fight some filipino values because they can be so "old fashioned", but honestly i tend to be more on the conservative side so old fashioned works for me.....well, sometimes. i'm starting to realize that the values i grew up with are values i want to pass along to my kids. values like family being the most important, respecting your elders, and going to church. sometimes it is the simplest things that we forget.

Recap

2009-04-17T22:13:00.001-07:00

so it's been awhile since i've blogged but i was gone for a whole week and then i tried to spend as much time with my relatives from Germany as much as possible before they left. so recap of the road trip....it was amazing. i'm glad i decided to go because i got to see so many places that i probably won't have time to see in the future once i'm working. i posted all the pics on my facebook so check them out of if you have time. the places we went to were Yosemite National Park, Monterey Bay, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon, Sedona, and Laughlin. My favorite was definitely Sedona. It is beautiful out there. It's a cute little place with great views and really friendly people. I wouldn't mind moving out there if there was a job opportunity. It definitely looked like an older crowd but I don't mind that at all. I also enjoyed Vegas because I actually got to do the 21 year old and up thing this time. We had a cousin's night out and we really didn't feel like clubbing and spending tons of money so we went to Mandalay Bay instead and went to the Eye Candy lounge. it was pretty chill and we were lucky because it was happy hour. the deal was buy one drink and get the other free. so all 6 of us had 2 drinks each and let's say i was buzzed by the time i finished my vodka tonics. that is definitely my drink now. i used to like fruity stuff a lot but i can't drink them anymore because they make me feel sick. i often choose to drink beer too but i don't like that bloated feeling i get after drinking it so i've been trying to stay away from it. oh, i almost forgot, i won around $22 playing penny slots! i only started with a $1! freakin' awesome! i know it's not like hundreds or thousands of dollars that i won but for my first time gambling, it was awesome! i can now understand why some people are gamblers! anyway, i'm just glad to be home and to be sleeping in my own bed. there's no place like home!

Yesterday, the sister and I drove up to LAX to drop off my Auntie Winnie, Sanchia, and Jasmin. After a 3 week vacation here, they were headed home to Germany. I'm going to miss them a lot. I had such a great time hanging out with them. I already have a large family here in San Diego, but the more the merrier right? I absolutely love how close my family is. I often think about people with small families or those that have non-existent relationships with their families and how sad it must be. I have my sister as my best friend and tons of cousins that I'm really close to.

After all this time on the road and spending quality time with my relatives, I have to re-focus on myself. It's been pretty tough not having a job and it's slowly eating at me. I have moments where I'm dandy and optimistic that an opportunity will pop up, and then I have moments, like right now, where I feel so dissapointed and almost depressed that nothing has happened for me yet. Actually, I was supposed to intern at this private firm, but I haven't gotten another call back about a start date because they are so extremely slow right now. Damn this economy! I'm not giving up on that internship, but I'm definitely not going to let it be my ONLY option. I just went to SDG&E 2 days ago to talk with a temp agency about job opportunities. Hopefully they can find me a job there because it's my foot in a door. It's a great company and energy is not going away anytime soon so I'm betting it's pretty stable. They have a lot of departments that I'm interested in as well so that's something to be optimistic about. Another thing I've been focusing on is my health. I've been trying to eat healthier and workout more frequently. I actually think it's working too because people have been telling me that I look like I have lost weight. If you look at my pictures from last year, you can tell a difference. people can always see it in my face! yikes my face was freakin huge! i like how i feel right now, but i would like to lose around 5-10 pounds.

this is a long post. i hope you were able to read through all of it! goodnight.

going away

2009-04-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

yippy! i feel so much better after 2 days of feeling miserable. I'm back to my happy self again. I've been having fun with my relatives for the past couple of days. Yesterday, sheena, sanchia, jasmin, my aunt, and I parked at Fashion Valley and rode the trolley around S.D. We went around Horton Plaza and then got hungry after walking around so much that we stopped by Old Town and ate at Casa Guadalajara. We pretty much got full after eating so much chips& salsa that we barely finished our lunch. I had such a good entree though.....Mango Chipotle Chicken with Arroz Poblano. I wish I could have some right now but my father ate my leftovers hahaha.

Then today the day started with the sis and i heading down to mission valley to go to a job fair. We probably only stayed for a good 5 minutes because it sucked. The only good booth there was the San Diego Zoo. The rest of the booths were all businesses like insurance, etc. The place was packed though! So after that we picked up the foreigners and went to my aunt's house to go visit her. We went to BJ's pizza and had a freakin' feast, it was delicious. We ordered 2 medium pizzas and I ordered a BBQ chicken salad because i really needed some vegetables in my diet after eating out for the past 2 days. I wish I could make that salad at home because I could eat it whenever and at a fraction of the cost! Then we went around Ross to walk off our food and then it was back to my aunt's house for a shopping giveaway! My aunt gave my relatives so many clothes and jewelry! I can't believe she just has that stuff lying around her house. craziness. after a good hour of freebies, we decided to drive home. the drive was definitely a little hard because i was so sleepy! i might not be able to update this until next week because i'm going on a road trip with the relatives for 5 days. i'm so excited because we're hitting up some national parks. bye!

Grumpy

2009-03-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

Sick. I feel sick. It all started last night after I scarfed down my dinner when I skipped breakfast and lunch. Why would I do that in the first place? It was not intentional at all. We left our house around 10:30 a.m. to head up to LAX because we had family arriving from Germany. To make this story short, the information got mixed up so we waited like 4 hours for nothing. We could have gone home around 1 p.m. but instead we left around 4. Of course I was already moody because I was super hungry and didn't want to eat at the airport because I didn't want to do an eat and run in case my family arrived while i was still eating. So we drove to the Red Robin in San Diego and I think we finally ate around 6 or 7. I was so hungry that I ate my food faster than usual. Big freakin' mistake. After an hour after eating I had such a big stomach ache. I didn't know what to do with myself. I just drank some really hot oolong tea and then took a Zantac and that was a big relief. I went to sleep and woke up a couple hours later experiencing menstrual cramps. I just have the best luck! So it's the next day and I'm still suffering from cramps. I honestly don't know how to prevent them. I heard exercising really helps but I have been doing that and I still get cramps. And I know a lot of women use birth control pills to control cramps but I don't want to take birth control because I don't want extra hormones in my body. I've read that cramps are the worst when you're around 18-24 years old so I really hope they will calm down in a couple of years. I just hate the way I feel because I'm pretty much bed ridden, nauseated, and grumpy. No one wants to be around me, and that works vice versa.

It's a beautiful day outside, but I'm scared to step out due to discomfort. I could be out having fun with my relatives from Germany, but I know I'm a miserable sight right now. I think my readers know to expect a cramp&PMS blog every month and I'm sorry for my complaining but blogging my feelings helps me get some of my anger out. Otherwise, I'd be a ticking time bomb. It's been 2 hours since I've taken my Midol and the caffeine is taking some effect to my body. I feel sluggish and my body feels like jello. That is actually a good thing in the state of things.

ab exercises

2009-03-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

I was bored last night and ended up on self magazine's website. It's actually pretty good because they give you a lot of tips on losing weight and healthy eating. I happened to be interested in some ab exercises and found a good video on their site. I tried some of the moves last night and I woke up sore so that's awesome! I get so bored of regular crunches but these moves are actually fun to do.

And I went to PB tonight to meet up with some geography friends. Yvette and I decided to carpool since we live 5 minutes from each other and we had lots of time to catch up. We were talking about having separation anxiety from school and especially our friends. We went from seeing each other every day at school to not seeing each other ever since graduation. But it's so nice that we all try our best to hang out when we can. So we (Totran, Shannon, Yvette, Sebastian, and I) ended up going to Zanzibar Cafe in PB and had some beverages. Then Courtney came and we decided to go next door to some Thai restaurant. I had some of her chicken and spring rolls and it was actually pretty good. Thai food is still something I'm exploring, just like every other Asian cuisine. We had a great time catching up and brainstorming a list of things we're going to be doing together. I believe our #1 is laser tagging in Point Loma. I'm excited!

emoness is grossness

2009-03-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling so effin emo right now. wth. it's probably all the whitney houston, backstreet boys, and boyz II men i've been listening to lately. and then again it could also be my crazy hormones. haha hopefully a little fun&booze with the friends tomorrow will liven up my mood. that's definitely something to look forward to.

O

2009-03-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

So there is this big rave over Nars Orgasm blush. It's supposed to give you that flushed look of just having an orgasm. you get my point. Unfortunately, the cost of one of those classic black packages is going to cost you $25! I would love to own the original for myself but can't seem to let myself buy it because i'm jobless. Fortunately for us recessionistas, there are dupes for this holy grail. According to my research, Milani Cosmetics sells a blush that is very much like Orgasm named Luminous. I saw swatches online and decided that I wanted to get it. CVS sells them for $6.49 and that's where I bought mine. I was lucky because I got the very last one in the store! I'm sure the word has spread of this dupe and who wouldn't want to save some money! I tried it on when I got home and it's pretty pigmented. It is a peachy pink with fine gold shimmer. It's a pretty build-able color so I like that about this blush too. I like that the shimmer is fine because I'm not a big fan of being shiny like a disco ball. So far, I really like this blush and I like that it gives me a healthy glow. So if you've never tried Nars Orgasm and want to try a cheaper version of it, then I highly recommend stopping by CVS and picking up the Milani Luminous blush.

I actually have to try and sleep early tonight because we're going to L.A. tomorrow to visit my dad's aunt. We wanted to visit her before she goes through chemotherapy. It looks like I'm driving up to L.A. once again. blah! I'm taking my car and for some reason, my dad hasn't drove my car yet. I'm pretty sure he's afraid he's going to damage it or something haha. The drive up isn't so terrible....it's just the traffic that makes it unpleasant. I'm hoping for zero to minimal traffic tomorrow. OH pretty please!

crawlies

2009-03-20T17:11:00.001-07:00

i'm so sleepy right now but i feel like i can't fall asleep...it's not cold enough! bleh and i have a headache too. the cause of my sleepiness? Termites.

We recently found some termites in the house. It sorta makes my skin crawl knowing that these things are literally crawling underneath my house and reproducing like crazy. We had made 3 appointments with 3 different pest control companies to come inspect and give us an estimate of the cost of treatment. Unfortunately, we forgot one was for this morning and got an unexpected call that they were on their way. hahaha of course I was sleeping like baby until I was forced to wake up. I don't want a stranger staring at me sleep. That's kinda creepy. So the guy inspected and we decided to go with this particular company so they're going to be working on the house next week. it's such a relief! oh yeah we're fortunate that we're not getting the tent treatment or else we'd have to be out of our house for a couple days...not to mention the cost of the damn thing!

it's a beautiful friday and here i am at home. i don't know what tonight's plans are but i wish it was a bit more chilly so i can get into my blanket and sleep like a baby. a gyro sandwich sounds so delicious right now, but unfortunately it's friday and that means no meat. i'm forced to google image that just to see what it would like it in front of me and wow i wish i could have it for dinner!

how do you drive like that?

2009-03-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

PIC OF THE DAY

HAHA isn't that random? I was driving on the freeway and from really far away, I was totally consumed by how funny that guy's arm looks clinging to his car. who drives like that? it looks totally uncomfortable. what makes it funny is that Sheena was able to take a picture of him trying to switch lanes. He didn't budge his arm at all. It's really weird but I live for moments like that.

Moisturize yo face!

2009-03-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

i was super excited to receive a package in the mail today because:

1. it only cost me a total of $1.01 on iherb.com, instead of like $5 if i bought it at the store

2. i have read GREAT reviews on it

3. and i have high hopes that it will help out my skin

I'm a sucker for face products and although i'm only in my early 20's there's no way I should neglect my skin. i don't want wrinkles when i'm still young, and it's never "too" early to take care of your skin! so moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! What I have gotten more interested in is getting into more natural products. That all started with using Everyday Minerals makeup, then I got into their forum and a lot of the members are into natural and vegan products so it kind of rubbed off on me. I'm slowly getting into the natural skincare and the next thing is definitely going to be shampoo&conditioner. Other things like deodorant, I don't think I could possibly convert. We'll see though!

Okay, you know what sucks? Knowing that carbs can make you gain weight and still eat them anyway! That's what I feel about white rice. How can an asian girl possibly give up eating white rice when it's such a staple in the Asian diet? I mean I can definitely cut down on how much I eat of it but sometimes I imagine (asian) people not eating it at all. It blows my mind! But I did eat a bunch of rice this past week and felt like I had gained weight again. That means I have to cut back again which is okay I guess. The past couple of months I have been eating rice probably 2-3 times a week versus every day and it's helped.

and my last topic of the day is Lady Gaga. She is so freakin' cool. My cousin had a CD and we were listening to it in the car. I thought it was just a mixed CD but it was the Lady Gaga CD and i was so surprised by how diverse her songs were. If he didn't say anything at all, I would have thought each song was by a different artist. I'll be blasting her CD all week. Jason Mraz is out and Lady Gaga is in (for now).

boy bands

2009-03-09T23:17:00.000-07:00

i am embarrassed to say that i am listening to backstreet boys right now. i didn't even like them as much as Nsync but geez their songs just bring me back to my middle school days. i just remember how crazy all the girls were about Nsync....I guess it's comparable to girls today and the Jonas Brothers. what's even more embarrassing is that i can actually sing along to these damn songs. oh well, it's fun!

Oh yeah did you know that pollution is as bad indoors as it is outdoors?

People spend 90 percent of their time indoors, and your home can be two to five times as polluted as the air outside, according to the Environmental Protection Agency

I've heard this fact alot of times already, but I decided to try out one of the many solutions to purify the air inside my house. One easy solution is to have a house plant in the bedroom so I bought a small plant from Target today. My sister bought me this super cute cow mug last year and I wasn't really using it because it was huge! I just had it sitting near the kitchen sink but now it's purpose in life is to be my plant's pot. it's so cute!

this is a snoozer

2009-03-06T23:43:00.000-08:00

i think this one's going to be a snoozer but read on if you are truly bored. i didn't do anything great today except do some cleaning. there's a part of my computer desk that i haven't cleaned in years and there is a ton of stuff in there just collecting dust. i know it's gross! but i decided to do something about it because i was in my cleaning mood. it took a good 20 minutes to go through everything and throw away/re-organize my things. then i decided to go through some textbooks in the garage. my sister and i went on amazon to see if any of them could be sold. we only got lucky with 2 of them and the rest of the books went to the recycling bin. then i just moped around the house. i listened to music here and there and then watched some t.v.

now it's almost midnight and i'm listening to sappy love songs. it might not be the greatest thing to be doing at the moment because it is just a big old reminder that i'm single. bleh!

i told you it was going to be a snoozer! but i guess if you're reading this sentence right now then i applaud you for actually reading this post. have a nice weekend everyone!

bye bye text messages

2009-03-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

my sister and i just disabled text messaging on our phones. haha so don't bother texting us because we won't receive it. i guess it's back to good ol' calling! i didn't like text messaging anyway and it would just make our (my parent's) bill higher! yippy!

hanging with my geogs

2009-02-25T23:56:00.000-08:00

after having a bad day yesterday, today was such the opposite. i was just at home the entire afternoon pretty much suffering from cramps but it went away after awhile. then i got ready to hang out with some geography friends because we haven't seen each other in a couple of months. we met up at yogurt world and i literally drove into that damn parking lot twice hoping i would find a parking space but of course with my luck, it didn't happen. haha so i parked outside on a really dark street. it wasn't far from yogurt world but i wouldn't recommend a young lady walking out there by herself during night time. *in case i ever get into a dangerous situation, i should learn some sweet karate moves.* so i got there safely and totran, tina, gladie&kids, and andrew&kids were already there. we just had some frozen yogurt and talked about life. i miss seeing my geography friends on a daily basis, but we certainly try to hang out whenever possible. i love them! and to think that if i never majored in geography that i wouldn't have these people in my life!!! we ended up talking a lot about job situations and how a majority of us didn't have jobs. poor tina....she was saying how she hates having too much time on her hands since she doesn't have school or a job at the moment. i totally feel for the girl because that's exactly how i felt!

then andrew and gladie left because their kids had to go to bed so totran, tina, and i went to tofu house to eat because we were starving! it was my first time at this restaurant and also my first time eating korean food. it was so good! they brought out like all these side dishes--kimchee, spicy cucumbers, pickled something?, and some fish dish. totran and i ordered rice with bbq and tina ordered a tofu soup with mushroom. it was cool that the food was served on this black stone bowl! it was sizzling hot and i guess that's to help cook the raw egg that it is served with. damn i want another bowl of that stuff. i mean i got really full but i wouldn't mind having it again this week. then courtney came fashionably late as usual and she had the same thing i did and it looked like she liked it too. we just chit chatted for awhile until we all got tired and left. i had such a nice day today minus the cramps. i wish i could have more days like this one.

pretty bad day

2009-02-24T17:22:00.000-08:00

I had jury duty today and it was horrible. It started at 8 a.m. so I got up at 6 this morning to get ready. My name got called before 11 a.m. and was told to go to lunch and to come back at 1:30. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself. I just ate at Pick Up Stix near the courthouse and then decided to drive to Target that was like 5 minutes away to pass up time. And of course by the time I left Target it was only like 11:30. geez! I hate when the time is going so slow! So I just drove back to the courthouse and stayed in my car to listen to music. Then it was just a bunch of waiting until we were told that we were dismissed and that was around 2 p.m. So glad that's over because I was feeling crappy already due to my PMS. Bloating, cramps, and irritability! That's what I have to look forward to each month. And I tend to suffer badly from PMS. Like right now I feel like shit. I am sitting here with a hot water bottle on my tummy to combat my menstrual cramps. Gahhhh it hurts so bad. It hurts so bad that sometimes I want to throw up. This is definitely T.M.I. (too much information) but you love me so you love this entry.

Back to good ol' socializing

2009-02-20T20:06:00.000-08:00

I went to Jimmy's house for his BBQ last night. It was really fun because there were such good people that attended. I was like the 3rd person there so it was really chill and I got to meet some people that are going to Honduras this Spring Break for the Global Water Brigades. I wish I could go but I'm broke. I hope that one day I will be able to go though. Anyway Jimmy had bought a lot of food from Trader Joe's to cook and it was amazing. We had pepperoni pizza, vegetarian pizza, fried eggplant, chicken and veggie tacos, a grip load of two buck chuck and beer. I wasn't even going to drink that much but the host decided to fill my "glass" like 3/4 full of wine so I drank and enjoyed it. I decided to refill about twice because it was pretty damn good. I had a good buzz going for awhile. Anyway more people came and most of them ended up being international students so that was pretty cool. There were two girls that are from Brazil studying at state and then another girl that is from Japan. It was so cool to hear about their lives and stories from back home. I'm glad I didn't flake out and decided to go last night because I really needed a social event in my life. It has been quite awhile since I've hung out with a large group of people. And this was just a calm-get to know each other party rather than a let's get drunk and not remember anything party so that's always good in my book.

Oh yeah, we were all talking about adding each other on Facebook and it actually happened. I was even surprised that one of the girls I met named Tesia actually graduated my year at the same school. It's a small freakin world! That's pretty awesome though. I'll leave you guys with some pictures.

Pepperoni Pizza

Fresh Mozzarella and Basil Pizza

Our host Jimmy

Courtney chillin'

I was freezing outside!

Jimster&Courtney

Some new friends

Recent Haul

2009-02-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

These are some items I received this month. The NYX lipsticks are from Cherry Culture and the 3 eyeshadows are the ones I won from an Everyday Minerals color challenge.

Nyx lipstick from L-R (Thalia, Doll, Hebe, Milan)&EDM e/s in 10 Items or Less, Autumn Afternoon, and In the Garden

Closer look

I really love these lipsticks. They are creamy and apply smoothly on my lips. I really love Thalia and Milan. Doll&Hebe are gorgeous reds, but I still have to get used to having such vibrant colors on my lips.

I love the eyeshadow colors I received from Everyday Minerals. I really needed a blue e/s in my makeup collection and it's such a beautiful color. The other e/s are brown and they are beautiful as well. They will be perfect for my neutral days.

I did this eye look last week and I thought I'd share. I wanted to experiment using my 10 items or less eyeshadow and this is what I came up with.

UDPP

Applied 10 items or less all over lid

Applied MAC's Nehru e/s on the outer crease

Applied MAC's Electric Eel on the inner lid

Then I blended like crazy

Don't mind my uncurled lashes!!!

And this last portion is going to be so off topic but I don't care. I just want to say how happy I am to be done with school. haha. I hear people complain about reading, studying, and taking tests and I'm like phewww I'm dunzo. I just feel bad for people losing sleep and being super stressed out. But all that hard work really pays off in the end so don't give up folks.

Fiesta Island

2009-02-11T23:07:00.000-08:00

So Jimmy and I decided to go to Fiesta Island to walk his dog Casey. I haven't seen him in awhile, the last time was probably over the summer to go to a Padres game. We just caught up on each other's lives....not too much has changed except a couple little things. Anyways it was super cold at Fiesta Island! My fingers felt like ice but it was worth it. It was nice being outdoors and watching Casey and the other dogs socializing with each other and chasing birds. She's one crazy dog!

After that I went home and then had to pick up Sheena from Bubba's apartment. We had been craving some sort of chocolate pie and we knew that Marie Callender's was having a sale on their pies so we decided to pick one up. Then my mother calls saying she wants us to buy her some cough drops so we went to Rite Aid. We decided to get some In N Out while we were in the area because I was really hungry.

Finally got home and ate my dinner and got to watching some things I had recorded on my DVR. I just finished watching tonight's episode of LOST and it was pretty good. The beginning of this season was kind of a whirl wind just because there was just so much going on, but now it's all starting to fit in. I can't wait to learn more about that damn island! Like what the heck is that monster? I need answers people!!!

To Buy List

2009-02-09T21:12:00.000-08:00

I need to make a list of the things that I want to buy in the future. I see things that I want and then somehow forget about them so I figure this is a good way to remember.

MAC eyeshadow in Shale
Stippling brush- EDM or Silk Naturals
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
NP Set Eyeliner or Styli Style Eyeliner
Navigation system
Black work shoes
Hello Kitty Vinyl Decal
Hello Kitty Floor Mat Set
Spa Nourish Shampoo&Conditioner from Trader Joe's
Clarisonic Skincare Brush

cousin night

2009-02-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENZY!

i had fun last night at my cousin's house. it was his 38th birthday as well as his cousin chris's and the party was super spontaneous. all the cousins came over to celebrate. we had like 2 huge NY style pizzas, ceviche, guacamole, chips, and lots of booze. claudia ended up making some sort of concoction with this t.g.i. friday mudslide mix, starbuck's coffe liquer, kahlua, and vanilla soymilk. it was yum-o (as rachael ray would say)! we called it the milky way, but claudia really insisted on the dirty claudia or something like that. but it was really fun to hang out with the cousins, most of our parentals were at home so we let loose. i didn't really drink that much because i was driving and it was raining cats and dogs last night. i just had a good time talking to everyone and laughing. chris was hilarious last night. it wasn't necessarily his exact birthday but we were really trying to get him to drink. he happens to mention that his limit is when he turns red. He had about 2 drinks and we could hear him getting louder and turning really red. Of course we don't say anything because we want him to keep drinking. We were doing good until his mom tells him he looks drunk and really red. HAHA, then he looked straight at me and my sister with the "aha" face.

chris, benson, claudia

chris really wanted that middle piece haha

claudia under the pool table

I just finished watching the Grammy's and I'm surprised I liked it this year. Award shows have not been entertaining to watch for a few years now but tonight's show was great. I liked that there were so many performances! I really liked the performances by:

Chris Martin/ Jay Z followed by Coldplay
M.I.A. with T.I., Jay Z, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West
Sugarland and Adele
Al Green, JT, Boyz II Men, Keith Urban

And I was sooooo looking forward to see Rihanna perform and see what she was going to wear because she has such great style. But, unfortunately she was hospitalized due to a bruised face!

Urban Decay Primer Potion

2009-02-03T13:11:00.001-08:00

Okay ladies if you own or plan to own the Urban Decay Primer Potion, I suggest you read this. The primer potion is an eye primer that you put on your eye lid prior to applying eyeshadows and any type of eye makeup so it stays put. It prevents your eyeshadow from creasing, smudging, and fading. I highly suggest this to every lady out there. It's a staple! I know I can't live without it because I have SUPER oily lids.

Don't be fooled though. The product's packaging is beautiful, but you may be throwing away money if you think the bottle is empty. The con about this product is that the shape of the bottle is not straight, there are curves to it. The wand applicator is not smart enough to get into those curves. This means that you are only getting 1/3 of the product. The other 2/3? Well let's say you can't retrieve it unless you open the sucker up. There are plenty of blogs and youtube videos that demonstrate how to do this. But since you're here, I'll let you in on how I did it. I've had this bottle for a really long time now, but I thought that I had run out. Good thing I googled it and read on forums that there is a way to get the rest of the product out. Here are the pics.

What you want to do 1st is get a serrated knife and cut it at the widest part of the bottle.

Look at all that product!

Then all you have to do is scrape everything out with something small. I used a little spoonula.

The last thing you want to do is place the product you just scooped out, into a container. I just used my empty everyday minerals sample jars and placed them into a ziploc so it wouldn't dry out.

Working out is hard work

2009-02-02T19:42:00.001-08:00

just got home from bubba's gym and i'm so tired! i haven't worked out hard like that in like one and a half years. i'm tired but i like the feeling afterwards, it's so rewarding. i think we were in the gym for like a good 40 minutes. i just used the elliptical machine, the bicycle, and then lifted some weights. anyways, hopefully i'll be able to work out a few times a week since i have a free gym to go to.

I'm waiting for a few things to come in the mail this week. First is a package from Cherry Culture containing 4 NYX lipsticks. The second package contains some eye brushes and oil blotters from E.L.F. And last but not least is my prize for entering this Everyday Minerals contest. The cool thing is that everyone that submitted a look on the website gets 3 sample size eye shadows of their choice. My obsession for makeup is getting scary! I need to watch the amount of things I buy when I finally get those paychecks! I'll probably post pics when I get my items. Bye!

Mom pants

2009-01-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

You know what I hate shopping for? Work clothes. I always have the hardest time because I'm picky as hell. My mom and I went to the mall last night to start picking out some work pants and blouses. Started our adventure at JC Penney and I must have tried like 6 pants in the women's department with no luck. The pant legs were huge, and I had no ass in them. I also tried like 2 pairs that my mom picked out but they were horrible. They were so high waisted, I was wearing "mom" pants. hahaha. Then my mom kept insisting we look in the Junior's section of work clothes and tried on two pants and they were perfect! I actually had legs and a booty hahaha. Then we went to New York and Company but I didn't end up liking anything so we headed to Forever 21 to look for some blouses. Didn't see anything until I walked near the fitting room. Lo and behold there was a cute blouse and what made it even better was the price. $7.80! You can not go wrong with that. That was all I bought and that was my Friday.

As for today, I think I'm going to church and then hang out with Kacy to catch up. I haven't seen her for a couple years so it's about time for a reunion. I think we're going to have dinner at her house or at a restaurant somewhere.

I'm back for a quick update. Guess what I got in the mail today? A jury summons! Uggh it's bad timing because of this new job, but I'm gonna go as early as I can just in case I get chosen or dismissed all together.

When I was getting ready for church, we got a call from my aunt saying that my godmother had passed away this afternoon. It's sad but I know she lived a good life and I'm glad I got to see her before she passed away. Rest In Peace Ninang Pat.

2009-01-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

Today was quite a sad day. I found out that my godmother was just diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. It honestly took everyone by surprise. I probably last saw her like 4-5 months ago and she looked great. My family visited her today at the ICU and I could tell she was having a really hard time. She had one of those oxygen masks on because she's having a difficult time breathing. It really breaks my heart, and it's hard to see her grandchildren try to cope with it because it reminds me of how I coped with my grandfather's sickness. My grandfather passed away in 2001 from asbestos. That was such a sad time for my entire family and I can just relate to how their family is feeling. I'm just going to keep praying for my godmother and have faith that everything will be okay. It's tough to lose someone you love dearly. But I know my Lolo is in a great place now so I'm thankful that he's not suffering anymore. (Deep Breath)

Something on the happier end of things, I checked my weight today and I am down like 6 pounds. I haven't really been doing anything except drinking oolong tea every day so I hope that's what is making me lose pounds. I'll have to check again later this week to see if it was just water weight though. I hope not hahaha.

Blessed

2009-01-27T19:45:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you all my fantastic day. Well I'm going to cut to the chase and say I HAVE A JOB! hahaha i received a call from the company telling me I'm pretty much hired, with the exception that they have to talk to their President. He says it shouldn't be a big problem so I'm going to hear from them next week or so. I feel like all this weight has been lifted from my shoulders! I'm one happy girl and this could not have come at a better time. It's a new year and it's time for me to make something of myself. Goodbye couch potato days and Hello hard working Sharyn! I'm super excited.

That was part of my great day. The beginning of it all was waking up from a great night of sleep. Like I said in my previous post, I did not get much sleep because of my nervousness. So of course that night after the interview, I slept like a baby. Woke up to the smell of pancakes which Sheena made for breakfast. Then we spontaneously decided to go to the Carlsbad Outlet to check out this makeup store that sells lots of high end makeup such as MAÇ, Bobbi Brown, Estee Lauder, etc. at a lower price. I couldn't believe that I had never gone into this store since I go to that outlet alot, but now I know. I'm never going to spend full price on MAC makeup again. After that we went to North County Mall because we wanted to check out another store and see if they sold this specific brand of makeup and they did. We left empty handed, but that was our intention. We don't necessarily have that kind of money lying around right now. After that we went to my aunt's house because she was having a little dinner get together for my cousin's birthday. Well that's my update for today.

Awesome day!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

Just got back from my interview about an hour ago and I think it went well. They are still trying to figure out what they need for their company so it's going to take them a couple of weeks to finalize their decision. But they are definitely looking for a part-time/ intern to train so I hope that it's me!!! I'm crossing my fingers. If anything though, I'm glad I got to sit with these 2 accomplished planners to hear about their background and their advice.

Happy New Year!!! It's the year of the Ox and I hope it gives me good luck because I happen to be an ox. I signed onto Yahoo! this morning and found that they were doing Chinese horoscopes so the following pertains to my own personal horoscope. Check out your own HERE

Ox Overview

The Ox can do well this year through steady progress. There may be a number of experiences that will provide great joy for the Ox. One area, in particular, is the Ox's personal life. You may see an addition to the family. You will be surrounded by those who care. Look for the early summer months to attend many social occasions, providing many new faces in your social circle. One area of focus is to be open to the advice of others, as you tend to keep your issues to yourself. Overall, your own year can be one that you will look back on with pride and a genuine sense of achievement.

Ox Rating

52% (3 favorable 5 neutral and 4 unfavorable months)

Ox Career

In 2009, the Oxen will be given many opportunities to further your plans and goals, as well as consolidate your position. Steady progress is the position where the Ox is most comfortable and that is where you will find yourself this year. You will also have a chance to impress and gain support from those around you. This is a good year to enhance your skills and add to your repertoire with added training or study. You will be satisfied in knowing that anything you do this year will repay you in this year and the years to come. The months of May, late August and September may mark a change in your career.

Ox Relationships

2009 will be a year of personal happiness. For the single Ox, there may be a chance to engage in new and meaningful friendships, romance, and possibly even marriage. Others will take comfort in their domestic and social lives. Being an Ox year, this is one that will provide enjoyment for you as long as you allow it. Beware of your strong will and do not allow any minor disagreements to escalate and put a damper on a fine year. May is a month that will highly favor a chance meeting or a heightened level in a relationship.

Ox Health

Health matters don't seem to be too much of a concern for the Ox this year, as you are good at implementing some sort of physical activity into your routine. The Ox's discipline does well to carry over into your health. It never hurts to find ways to improve in this area, so don't discount anything that will improve the quality of your life. Even though there may not be any large issues, stress can be a surmounting factor to be aware.

Ox Wealth

The Ox could enjoy an improvement financially, but you may face a number of large expenses over the year. To maneuver your budget through the year of the Ox, exercise care and sensible spending. It would be wise to seek professional advice when it comes to any speculative ventures or risky investments that create some sense of doubt.