Rummage Sale Deals

Heyo!  This morning from 9:00 to 12:00, I was rummaging with my dad and brother.  We went on our bikes because it was a neighborhood sale, meaning that there were a lot of houses selling in one area so that made it very convenient for us.  Hoping to find some good bargains, I dragged my bum out of bed at that horribly early hour and went rummaging.

The first thing I found is the e.l.f. Matte Lip Color in Nearly Nude.  I've been meaning to get some nude-ish colored lip product for quite some time now, and I felt very lucky to come across this.  

Here's what it looks like on my skin and then on my lips (don't worry, I cleaned it before I used it).

It's super pigmented and is exactly what I was looking for.  But I definitely would recommend exfoliating your lips if their feeling even slightly dry because it will stick to dry patches!  Overall I like it very much and it lasted the entire day after I put it on, so that's good.

Next I got these pretty earrings that have a tiger-eye sort of stone in the middle.  One of the backs fell off as I was trying to get it out of my dad's bag after buying it (I found it eventually), so I'm a little worried that they might be too loose.  I feel kind of silly for not checking the backs before I bought it *sigh*.  Well I'll just have to try them out and see.

After that I bought a mirror because the one in my room mysteriously disappeared a few weeks ago so I've been having to sit on the floor next to my body-length mirror to put my makeup on every morning ugh.  I got it for only .50 cents, so I'd say that's a pretty darn good deal!

Lastly, I decided to buy two bath products; Body Luxuries' Sugared Plum bath salts and bubble bath. I took a bath using these right before I started typing this up, so I can give you some insight.  Honestly, I have never seen this brand before (Body Luxuries) and even after looking it up, still have no idea where it was bought from.  I'm not really sure how I feel about the salts yet... they had a slight chemical smell to them, and it makes me feel a bit strange but the bubble bath smelt ah-mazing!  

The bubbles were as I expected, but (sadly) I have yet to find a bubble bath solution that creates bubbles seen in chick flicks and other movies.  So if anyone knows of a high quality bubble solution that creates A LOT of bubbles, please leave a comment below!  It's kind of like my life goal...

Overall I think today was a great day because I got to check off a few things from my "Want/Need" list.  It may not have seemed like much, but it's not normal to find tons of things at rummage sales so I'm happy with what I found.  Tomorrow I'm organizing my room a bit and then biking over to my friends house just to hang out.

Currently Listening To: LDN by Lily Allen

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Granola for Breakfast!

Good morning, rise and shine sleepyheads of the world!

I woke up this morning feeling spectacular after being sick with a cold for a few days so I decided to get up and do something with my life.  Meaning, make some granola for breakfast and lunch and whenever else I feel hungry and in need for some!

I'm trying out a recipe from a fantastic book I recently rented from the library.

Power Foods -150 delicious recipes with the 38 healthiest ingredients from the editors of whole living magazine, foreword by Martha Stewart. (wow that's long)  It promotes organic ingredients, how to incorporate them into your diet, and why they are beneficial to you.

First of all, I would like to point out that I am very strange and picky about cookbooks.  Usually it takes me at least twenty minutes to find one that I like at the library, and even then I sometimes can't find one!  I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the insanely long and dauntingly foreign ingredient lists.  If my vision starts to swim when I turn to a page, I immediately put it back on the shelf and grab another, no matter how high quality it is.  Also it has to have pictures, or I won't even flip another page.  

I know this all sounds really bad, but it's just the way I am.  I think it's because I find more use in the idea of the recipe, rather than the actual recipe if that makes any sense.  Usually I know how to and can make things, but I can never find appealing enough ideas.  So this is why I was instantly drawn to this book.  I mean, just look at the cover... It's seasoned tomatoes on toasted bread topped with some kind of delicous looking spread.  I personally thought right away, "Wow, I could easily make this simple but yummy recipe in a second!".

Another thing that I LOVED about this book was the way it was organized.  The first sixty or so pages are 'power foods', meaning all the essential foods that are beneficial to you in different groups such as veggies, fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, eggs, yogurt, and fish.  

On each page there's the food and then on the side, a list of all the recipes in the book that included it.  Maybe it's just me, but I don't recall seeing this in any other cookbook so I think it's just wonderfully convenient.  So I'd recommend this book to anyone trying to incorporate more natural ingredients into their everyday diet.

Oops this kind of morphed into a book review haha anyways back to the granola!

Since I don't particularly feel like typing up the whole recipe, I'll just do a picture of it:
*also sorry for the super low quality pictures... I couldn't find my camera so I had to use my phone*

HERE is a link I found to the typed up recipe if you can't read my horribly low quality picture HA.

My ingredients (since it can vary):

I used a mix of almonds, flax seed, and later-to-be-added cranberries.

So first I put everything in a bowl and mixed it all together except for the dried fruit (refer back to the recipe for specific directions because there's a special order the ingredients have to be mixed in...).

Next I spread it evenly on baking sheets and popped it into the oven for twenty minutes.  After flipping, they returned again for another ten minutes.  After being cooled, the dried fruits are mixed in and VIOLA, behold the tasty granola!

The recipe was accompanied by an adorable picture of a jar of granola, so I decided to use their idea because I happen to be currently obsessed with jars!  Especially jar cups... see HERE for some adorable ones that I have been begging my mom to buy for me.  My aunt recently bought them and I also saw them at T.J. Maxx, so hopefully those will appear in my kitchen soon *crosses fingers*.
Unfortunately, we did not have any dried fruit at my house at the time so I'm going to run to the store later and add some in (I was thinking cranberries).

Here is the final product of my granola that I will be munching on when I go to my friend's house later today.  Hopefully somebody will make this because it's delicious (and made with naturally sweetened ingredients for all you health nuts)!

Currently Listening To: Elements by Lindsey Stirling

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e.l.f. Neutral Eshadow Compact Review

Today I am writing a review about the e.l.f. Eyeshadow Collection Neutral Eyeshadow Compact (also known as the e.l.f. Essential Beauty School Eyeshadow Compact in Neutral).  I bought this from one of my favorite stores, T.J. Maxx, for three dollars.

I was instantly drawn it's packaging; lately I 've been looking for a neutral compact because most of my colors are too bright for everyday use, so this looked perfect.

It came with a handy mirror and brush for on the go.

More than half of the shades are shimmer which I tend not to like, but that's just a preference of mine (as you can see above, the loose glitter has contaminated the other shades making it hard to see the differences between them so sorry about that!).  This prooved to be not so good; the powder isn't pressed so well and I felt like it was all dusting off my eyes and onto my face agh.

Half of the other reviews I have read for this palette loved it and thought it was very pigmented and held well.  The other half said that it was not pigmented at all and overall didn't like it.  I agree with the non-likers, unfortunately.  I don't know, maybe the colors sort of blended in with my skin tone, but I just felt like they were weak and barely made a difference on my eyes. 

*Sorry for doing the swatches weird... I'm super sun burnt right now from biking and you can also see that my skin is peeling a bit agh.  Anyways, I didn't want to mess up the look of the colors so I did it somewhere in between my forearm and underarm.*

But I did fall in love with one of the shades... the upper right one or the dark middle shade in the swatch above.  It's a soft and creamy matte brown that blends beautifully and is super pigmented.  It reminds me of high quality chocolate and that makes me hungry *stomach growls*.

Overall I did not really like this palette, but I know I will be reaching for the yummy chocolaty shadow a lot!

Currently listening to: Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
(wow that's a mouthful haha)

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Cute AND Easy DIY Chalkboard

For quite some time now, I've been meaning to buy some chalkboard paint.  If you don't know what that is... well, it's a paint that you can put on many surfaces, and once it dries, draw on it with chalk!  It usually comes in black but you can also buy it in white and have it tinted to any color at the store.

Here's how I thought of it.  I was just chilling in my house, studying for my finals when I decided I needed a break.  My dad had just come home from a rummage/garage sale and bought me a used canvas.  He usually gets them for me so I can paint over them or use them for crafts.  So I took it, trying to think of ideas of what to do with it, when I remembered this cute DIY I saw a couple years ago.  It was an entire wall covered in chalkboard paint and colored with designs in chalk.  To be honest, I thought it was the neatest thing I've ever seen and begged me parents to let me do it to my room (which of course they said no to).  While thinking about it today, I realized I could do a mini version of it on a canvas.

So Step 1 is to buy yourself a canvas, or an old thrift shop painting with a relatively flat surface.

Obviously, you're going to need to buy yourself some chalkboard paint (of any color you desire).***Or you could make your own but I don't have any experience with that so I don't know....***  I read on lots of blogs that a foam brush works well with this sort of project.  My dad happened to have one around but you can also buy one at any hardware or paint store for less than a dollar.  You're also going to want a paint stick to SLOWLY mix up the paint.

After one coat, I could still see some of the old paint showing through after only one coat...

So I did one more and let it dry overnight.

Once it's completely dry, you should 'condition' it to toughen it up a bit.  I found many horror stories from other bloggers who hadn't conditioned their chalkboard before using it... Once they drew a line, it stayed there and wouldn't come off!  So don't skip this step because it is vital to having a functioning chalkboard.  ***If you plan on making a chalkboard that will be just for decoration, then skip this step and continue on to decorating.***  All you need is a piece of chalk; just turn it on it's side and scrape it all over the painted area.

You can see that after this step that it looks less like a black painting and more like a chalkboard.

But of course, it's not complete without drawing on it a bit!

And there you have it, a cute DIY Chalkboard!  I hope you all enjoyed this post, because I definitely had fun making this!  If you don't like the idea of painting on a canvas, you can make a chalkboard on other bases...

A mirror, a piece of wood, and even a mug are all good alternatives (although the steps might be a bit different, but it's the same basics)

Currently jamming to: Upside Down by Jack Johnson

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Sorry, I've Been A Busy Bee

Sorry for not posting consistently for this last week... My school just ended on Friday, so I was busy studying the whole time that week (ugh).  And all today my mom made me do some 'spring cleaning' because my room has been such a mess lately.  I literally haven't cleaned my desk since a month ago so things have been piling up to the point where I can't even see any of it's surface!  But I finally got that out of the way so that's good.  Yesterday after my last exam, I went shopping with my mom and my sister and got some sweet items which I'll blog about later...  I'm really happy about my blog right now; the design still needs to be tweaked but whenever I post, I feel accomplished and like I'm doing something rather than just sitting around all day.  

This was a short one, but I didn't want anyone to think I was being lazy and slacking off with my posting.  Overall, I'm super excited to be done with school because I am soo ready for summer!  By the way, I will definitely be more active now that I actually have time to blog.


Currently listening to: Fidelity by Regina Spektor

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Laptop Problems Aghh

So my laptop has been doing this really strange thing to me lately and I kind of want to throw it at a wall and chuck rocks at it grr.

First, let me backup.  I have a Windows 8 (touchscreen) that I bought around Christmas time 2013.  I have been loving it because of it's convenience.  Actually, I often forget what I am doing whenever I'm using any other computer... I'll try to touch the screen and then get confused when it doesn't work. My friends always laugh at me for it haha.  Hopefully I will train myself to only touch a screen when I am using my laptop in the comfort of my own home.  

Moving on.  So I was just typing up a paper for school when all of a sudden, the document went down (like into the little bar at the bottom; not completely exited out).  At first, I though maybe I had accidentally touched something, but then it happened again!  Since the screen makes a little circle whenever you touch it, I could see where it was freaking out (the upper right area).  I probably dropped it hard or banged it against something on accident, causing some kind of hardware problem. Hopefully it's not any kind of water damage.

WOW IT JUST DID IT AGAIN AGH THANKS LAPTOP FOR ALMOST DELETING THIS ENTIRE POST.  Thank god for auto-save!

I'm crossing my fingers that I won't have to go out and buy a new one :/

UPDATE:

So I figured out that this only happens the first time I use my laptop... if I close it to take a break and come back a few minutes later, the problem's gone!  Yay!  It is a bit annoying, but I can live with it.  :)

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It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Spring!

Hooray!

I was just walking home from my bus stop after school today when I noticed a few things.

• First of all, I wasn't shivering; rather I was on the verge of sweating because it was a bit humid.
• It wasn't raining or snowing or any other type of weather that ISN'T supposed to be happening in Spring (as it has been for the last month)
• The birds were singing pleasantly *chirp chirp* 

• There was a gorgeous cherry blossom tree starting to bloom in the front yard of my neighbors house.

• Green was popping up everywhere and my street was looking absolutely gorgeous.

• And I even saw a cute wittle bunny chewing the grass from my front yard!

So overall it was a great day, and I was really feeling the good weather!  The weather channel had said it was going to rain, but then it didn't so ya.  I also turned in a gigantic project for school, so I am going to take a relaxing bath tonight.  I'll probably post something about that later...

See ya!

UPDATE:

So it did end up raining... to the point of flash flood warnings for two hours.

While my dog was freaking out from the lightning/thunder, I managed to get this sweet shot!  It hailed for a little bit so I didn't take a bath being as I wouldn't be able to relax from all the noise.  I guess it'll just have to be postponed til another day *sigh*.  

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