Face of the Day: In Honor of NAKED3 Release!

Urban Decay released the new Naked3 palette today! I am so so happy to say that Chris was able to order it before it sold out! It will be my Christmas present so I do not get to play with it until then. But because I am still so excited!!

My Face of the Day features both the original Naked palette and the Naked2 palette. Here goes a little step by step instruction guide for those of you that are interested in recreating this look!

1) I primed my entire lid from eyelashes to browbone with Wet n Wild Fergie eyeshadow primer in "Take on the Day."
2) I took my new limited edition Maybelline Color Tattoo in "Matte Brown" and put it only on my lid below the crease.
3) I brought out my original Naked palette and took the color "Darkhorse" on a flat shader brush and put that on the outer half of my lid and took it a little above the crease. I also took a pencil brush and put that color on the outer half of my lower lash line.
4) Staying in the Naked palette I took sin on a different flat shader brush and put the color "Sin" on the inner half of my lid and blended it into the "Darkhorse." Taking a different pencil brush I put "Sin" on the inner half of my lower lash line.
5) I took a clean blending brush and started to blend those two colors into my crease so that there were no harsh lines.
6) I then took the color "Naked" on the blending brush and blended that into my crease and a little above the crease.
7) I brought out my Naked2 palette and took the color "Bootycall" on a small shader brush and put that next to my tear duct and blended it into the "Sin."
8) Finally I took matte highlight "Foxy" and put that on my brow bone.
9) For eyeliner I lined my upper and lower waterline with New York Color Waterproof Eyeliner Pencil in "Dark Brown."
10) Then I did winged liner using Jordana Fabuliner in "Brown."
12) Finally I curled my lashes and applied my new L'oreal Voluminous Butterfly mascara in "Blackest Black."

Some Extras (not linked):
-Foundation: Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous in "Creamy Natural"
-Concealer: Maybelline Fit Me in "Light"
-Blush: MAC in "Warm Soul"
-BronzerNew York Color in "Sunny"
-Highlight: Hard Candy bronzer in "Tiki"
-Lips: Jordana Twist and Shine Moisturizing Balm Stain in "Cranberry Crush"

Be sure to sign up to be notified when Urban Decay gets Naked3 back in stock!!

Sweater Weather Tag

I saw this tag floating around YouTube and I wanted in on the action! So here goes nothing, this will be my first tag!

1. Favorite candle scent?
I am not allowed to burn candles because I living in the Residence Halls, but I use the car scents from Bath and Body Works and I loved the scent Flannel so much I bought two car scents and the candle for my mom's birthday!

2. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate?
Definitely without a doubt in my mind, coffee. I am an addict. It is the first thing I do on most mornings, get out of bed and make coffee. I am a gold card holder at Starbucks and I do not mind putting $5-10 on my card at any given time if I am in the mood for my coffee fix.

3. Do you switch up your makeup routine for the season?
Not really, I have been experimenting with more jewel-toned eyeshadows recently, but for the most part I stick to my neutral eyes. And every once in a while I will add a bold berry or red lip!

4. Favorite Thanksgiving food?
The turkey sandwiches my family makes three or four hours after family leaves the house. They are the best! There is something about getting leftover Thanksgiving dinner out of the fridge and just pilling stuff on to make a sandwich. My favorite combo: white bread (the only time of year I eat it), turkey, cranberry sauce (the jelly can kind), and mash potatoes. Let me tell you, if you have never had it you should try.

5. Hats or scarves?
Definitely scarves. I get serious hat hair year-round and I have an outrageous scarf collection. I don't wear them too often, but when it is very chilly you will most definitely see me with a scarf! And when I worked at Claire's I bought a ton of scarves (some still have their tags!).

6. Most worn sweater?
I have a cardigan that I bought the day after Christmas my Junior year of high school which is my go-to. My holy grail sweater if you will. I have sewed that thing more times than I can count and it is hanging on by a thread in some areas. But until I can't sew it back together anymore I will wear it!

7. Must have fall nail polish?
I do the Sally Hansen Gel Polish and my two favorite gel polish colors are Wine Not (included in the starter kit I linked!) and Commander in Chic! Wine Not is a deep red with a little sparkle and Commander in Chic is a grey-purple. Both are beautiful and very fall!

8. Football games or jumping into a pile of leaves?
Definitely leaves, when they put the leaves on my school campus in piles I have to tell myself not to just run and jump into them!

9. Skinny Jeans or leggings?
Definitely leggings. I love my skinny jeans and all, but leggings with boots and a sweater is a classic fall look.

10. Boots or Uggs?
I love how comfortable Uggs look and feel, but I think that they are sometimes glorified slippers. I will literally only wear Uggs for days if given the chance and I am working on presenting myself in a more professional way and that means staying away from my favorite moccasin shoes and Ugg type boods.

11. What is your #1 thing about fall?
Layers! I love dressing in layers. Sweaters are fantastic, you can pull out your favorite boots to wear over leggings, and no one can go wrong with scarves!

12. Do you have a song that gets you in the Fall mood or just a song you're loving at the moment?
I am currently loving "Little Bit of Everything" by Keith Urban! It isn't necessarily fall related, but it's a song I am loving in fall!

13. What is the fall weather like where you currently live?
I am so incredibly blessed to live in Sacramento: the City of Trees. Seriously. I will end this post with some beautiful pictures of my school! (You might recognize this from a post I did last year)

What I Wear to Class

This is my uniform of sorts lately. I will not lie to you, I bought out Target's clearance v-necks in black at the end of the season. But here goes nothing!

-Black V-Neck (similar): This could be any colored t-shirt, but I own about eight or nine black t-shirts, so you could say they are my favorite.

-Rolled Jeans (similar): I found a pair of jeans at a consignment store a month or so ago, they are New York and Co. and I am obsessed with them

-Grey Toms: My mom got these for me on clearance at the end of Summer! I love them so much (mine are a little dirty, I went apple-picking in them!)

-Fossil Watch: This was my gift from Chris last Christmas and I love it! I wear it every day, it goes with everything, and it is reasonably priced (perfect for anyone's Christmas wish list!)

-Cat Earrings (similar): I am OBSESSED with my cat earrings. I wear them multiple times a week. What can I say? I love cats!

Bulletin Boards

My wing bulletin board for the month of October was inspired by this Infograph that I found on Pinterest over the summer and I thought it would make an impactful bulletin board. I originally had nineteen of the facts drawn, colored, cut out, and typed up. Sadly I was only able to fit eleven on my board! If this happens to you a good idea would be to stretch the bulletin board throughout your hallway and just put the remaining facts on construction paper and post them up everywhere.

My floor buddy and I decided on an adaptation to a bulletin board I found on Pinterest (and cannot find the picture!). The board is "Do You Give A Ripppppppppp?" We found a bunch of ad type papers that you are able to rip a portion of the bottom off to get the information. I found the majority of mine on the internet but my floor buddy made all of hers.

This month my floor buddy and I made a "Goal Ball Machine" where residents could write their goals on circles. I thought for the most part it has been successful and we have only had a couple residents that took advantage of the interactive board by writing inappropriate messages.

How to Be A Successful Student Bulletin Board

When I got back to the residence halls for RA Training I realized that my staff meant business and that everyone was going to have exceptional bulletin boards. I love making my bulletin boards so the fact that I was going to have the pleasure of living in a building surrounded by fantastic boards was music to my ears. I was inspired by this picture/chart/thing I found on Pinterest and I took the idea and ran with it.

My board is broken up into the following categories:

-Living Somewhere New

-Living With a Roommate

-Managing Your Time (my personal favorite)

-Getting the most out of college

And in case I had residents that did not want to read the whole board (because those residents are everywhere, right?)

-Surviving the Year Cheat Sheet

I love this board because it allowed me to freehand and trace a ton of pictures and make the board super colorful and eye-grabbing. But if you are looking for your back-to-school bulletin board I hope mine inspires your's!

Sailboat Door Decs!

Hello hello! It is back to school again, and I want to share with all of the RAs that follow my blog my door decs for the semester! I made 45 of these things and it took weeks to complete them. I will warn you that each door dec cost me a little less than $1 so if you are interested in recreating this idea and not spend as much I will be sure to include a cheaper supplies list at the end!

What I used to make the Door Decs:

This Template

Colored Cardstock (one piece for each door dec)

Brown Cardstock (bottom piece of boat)

Lighter Brown Cardstock (main boat frame)

Flat craft sticks

Fabric for the sales

Cotton Balls for clouds

I printed the template out onto cardstock and used it to trace out the different parts of the boat and sails. You would think that would be the most tedious part of the whole thing, the tracing and cutting out of all the pieces. Nope! Gluing definitely took the longest, I would glue 15 together and be done fore the night! But once I had them all finished they looked fantastic. To make the clouds you just have to gently pull at a cotton ball until it looks like a cloud and glue it on! I think the template made this so much easier than it would have been if I was just working from scratch.

Here are some more pictures!:

 This was the first one I completed, I was super proud.

 These are the different designs I made for my residents.

My finished works of art taking over the dining room table.

Because I did not want to include a Resident's name or room number on my blog I will show you the personalized door dec I made for myself!

I used two different fonts, one to write the name of the resident and the other to do the room number.

I even included cats!

I know that not many RAs are interested in spending $1 per door dec so here are some different ways that you can make this door dec with cheaper supplies:

Instead of Cardstock, use construction paper! It is much cheaper and you get a lot more for the price.

Instead of fabric, also use construction paper, or possibly tissue paper, get creative!

Hand write your resident's names instead of using computer paper and ink to print them out.

Couple's Bucket List Update!

47. Go to the Zoo

 So in case you did not read my blog post on my Couple's Bucket List you should definitely do that, but a little while back Chris and I went to the Sacramento Zoo! This date was actually part of his anniversary present (which I still need to do a blog post on...a few months late!) but to give you an idea I made up 12 envelopes that each had a date prepared and planned for each month for a year. June's date was to go to the zoo! We had a nice time looking at all of the animals and having a delicious snack of Soft Serve Ice Cream! I do love a nice trip to the Zoo, and I was fortunate enough to be able to go to another zoo with my job! Definitely not as fun as a date at the zoo.

So whether you have been dating your man (or lady) for days, weeks, months, or years, the zoo is a wonderfully simple date that is a great way to bring out the animal lover in everyone!

 The tiger was literally on the other side of the glass. 

 When he stood up!

 Taking a break on a bench, it was almost 100 degrees!

 Trying on a hat to beat the heat!

Looking awesome!

Summer Cleaning... Under the Bathroom Sink

So when I am back home I have to compete for space in the bathroom with my sister. Love her to death but this time when I got home it was like there was absolutely no room for anything I brought! So I talked to my mom and I told her I would put in new Contact paper under the sink and clean out the stuff so that my sister and I could share the space nicely!

What you will need to achieve an organized bathroom sink:

-Containers (preferably the kind with handles so you can easily remove it from under the sink), get enough so that each person using the bathroom will have their own space.

-Roll of Contact paper--your's is probably dated anyway so just buy a new roll

-Box cutter to trim the new contact paper to size

-Garbage bags--you will be throwing stuff out!

How I cleaned out under the bathroom sink:
1) Take EVERYTHING out. I mean everything, do not leave a single bottle or roll of toilet paper in there.
2) If you have old, dated contact paper under the sink, rip that stuff out!
3) Put in the new Contact paper!
4) Organize your beauty products and bathroom supplies by category (bathroom supplies, face stuff, hair stuff, nail stuff, etc.).
5) Throw away anything that has less than 1/4 of product in the bottle (unless you use it every single day).
6) Throw away anything you haven't used in a month.
7) Throw away any products you did not like or know you will not use again.
8) Put remaining items into your bathroom container.
9) Put your bathroom supplies in their own spot under the sink.
10) Put away bathroom containers under sink.

I wish I could show you a Before and After picture, but it did not occur to me to do a blog post until I was in the middle of the mess. The first "During" picture I took is the title picture and as you can tell it was quite the mess... Here is the second "During" picture:

At this point I have separated my sister's things by face, hair, and nail supplies and she just had to toss whatever she did not want to keep anymore!

And the end result... Drumroll Please!

Ta Da! It looks so much better, once again wishing I had that "Before" picture. But my sister and I each have a container (mine is blue!) and we were able to  still have enough space so that the cupbord does not look too cluttered.

So You are Graduating High School Today...Eight Pictures to Take!

So here is Part Two of my High School to College Series that I am writing this summer! If you read Part One I wrote about a Top Ten List of things you should do before graduating high school. But today or in the next few days you will be graduating from high school (or college... these picture ideas will apply to anyone graduating!) and I have eight pictures that you need to have before you take off your cap and gown and start on your next life adventure.

Before/During the Ceremony

The "This is How I Decorated My Cap" Picture: So technically my high school did not allow us to decorate our caps, but I had already finished when they announced the day of graduation that we were not allowed to. This bad boy took me two days of spending three hours a day gluing sequins. Not an exciting job, but the end result was worth it.

The "Walking to Your Seat" Picture: this is where your parents use that zoom on the camera and try and find you in a line of people that look exactly the same. Try and wave to them (if you know where they are sitting) so they know where you are in a sea of caps and gowns!

The "I Got My Diploma!" Picture: I would also suggest if you can to get a picture of you walking to get your diploma and exiting the stage, because of terrible lighting none of my pictures turned out well when I was on the stage. You can also buy a copy if your school has a photographer taking pictures right when you receive your diploma, but I did not buy mine. Also, do not hold your diploma upside down like I did...

The "We Did It!" Picture: This is the most stereotypical picture you can take at a graduation, but I am so happy I have it! There is nothing like capturing the excitement of the end of a graduation.

After the Ceremony

The "Family" Picture: Take a picture with the people who came to show their support! They came to watch you accept your diploma and finish off high school!

The "Sister" Picture: Be sure to take a picture with your sister! I did not take a picture with my brother, which is weird because he was definitely there. Think ahead and plan time to take a picture with each of your siblings.

The "Daddy's Girl" Picture: This could be modified for one parent or both, but I just love this picture of my dad and me!

The "Best Friend" Picture: I know this picture is blurry and that is such a bummer, but I absolutely love how candid it is. We also took the staged side-by-side picture but I chose not to include that one.

So there you have it! Eight pictures you should definitely look into having on your camera before you leave the graduation! There are thousands more I hope you plan on taking, but these are the ones you will always look back on!

Spring Closing Bulletin Board

So this is my Spring Closing Bulletin Board! I got my inspiration from the border that I bought from the dollar tree! It has flowers and bumble bees! The rest was my original ideas. I thought up the title "It's Time to Leave the Nest" and printed out bird coloring pages, colored them in, and wrote all of the RA's names on them. Then I made a garden on the bottom of the board with each of the residents on the floor. Every RA was assigned a color for their residents (I thought this idea was pretty brilliant of me!). I added the closing information that the housing office gave me and that was it! So easy, creative, and wonderful!

Monday Night Date Night: Build-a-Bear Edition

So be warned: This date happened a couple months ago, so my hair is long! I am sorry for waiting so long to post, but I hope you enjoy!

So this date is sweet and simple, but not necessarily something you see couples do all the time! I only see boys going into Build-a-Bear to buy their girlfriends presents and I wanted a Chris Bear and Samantha Bear! There are better times to go to Build-a-Bear, so I would suggest signing up for their email list! And definitely when you pay sign up for a "Fluff for Stuff" or "Stuff for Fluff" card, you get coupons sent to your email!

So here is us at work (and just so you know, Chris wore almost that exact same outfit the other day! I didn't realize how perfect it was!):

Chris with Samantha Bear!

Myself with my Chris Bear!

After the date!

This lady was walking through the mall carrying a CAT. It was awesome.

Now Chris Bear and Samantha Bear live on my bed, it is pretty cute!

Superhero Door Tags

So better late than never... My door tags! The building theme this semester was Superheroes! Each of the RA's needed to think of a way to display the resident's names in a way that went with the theme. I really, really wanted to make each of my residents into their own superhero on their door tag. I wrote their room number on the capes and I made a spotlight (I was thinking it was like the Bat Signal from Batman). I found two different boy superheroes and I traced them from my laptop, and traced another pair and turned them into girl superheroes. Just that alone does take a while, and then personalizing each superhero to make it look like my resident took a few days setting aside a couple hours to work on them. When they were finished they looked fantastic! Here are some larger photos in case you cannot get the full idea from the little one above.

My neat little stack of door tags--so easy to travel with!

All finished! Just need to add names!

Pre-yellow name signals!

Monday Night Date Night: The Great Gatsby Edition

I know I usually wait until Monday to post Date Ideas, but since I saw this movie before it was released I just couldn't wait until next Monday! Be sure to go see this film on your next date night!!

The joys of being an RA and living in the residence halls means that we get to go to early (free!) showings of new movies. This was the first time I have taken advantage of this and Chris and were able to go see The Great Gatsby before it hits theaters May 10! If you become a member of gofobo.com you will be able to see free showings of movies in your area!

In case you were not planning on going to see this movie you must change your mind! The music alone is worth the price of admission! Leo does a fantastic job, as always, and the move is spot on with the book for the most part.

I do not recommend seeing this movie instead of reading the book but if you want to read the book and see the movie I will say you will be prepared for any tests!

This particular date started off with sun and wonderful company with my Christopher love.

Then the downpour started...and we got a little wet.

 A picture of Chris and Myself while we were in line in the pouring rain (take note of how sunny it still seems...weirdest weather ever!)

It was pouring!

So You're About to Graduate High School...A Top Ten List for almost grads

I can hardly believe I graduated high school almost three years ago. My little sister is graduating this year and I cannot be more excited for her to go off to college! I am going to start a continuing series that will have some tips I have making the transition from ending high school and graduating to moving into and living in your first Residence Hall! The following list is filled with some things  that I was able to do before I graduated high school!

10) Go to a Water Park! 

It's that time of year when the weather is heating up! Grab a few of your friends and head over to a water park and work on your pre-graduation tan and have fun on some water slides!

This is a picture of my friends Jen and Emily with me when we went to Waterworld in our area!

9) Go to a Concert!

I love concerts! The music, spending time with friends, and people watching! A couple weeks before i graduated high school I got to go see Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum! My friends and I were next to a crazy group of girls, which made the night even more fun!

 Those are the girls I was talking about.

I went to the concert with my friends Emily, Jen (not pictured), and Nathan!

8) Go to a Broadway Musical!

Have you ever heard of the musical Wicked? It was showing in San Francisco when I was about to graduate and my awesome family got us tickets! We had a blast spending the day in the city and going to see the most incredible musical ever!

A picture of myself and my sister outside the theater.

7) Go to your Senior Ball/Senior Prom!

This is huge thing in my hometown and I think that even if you never went to any school dances you should definitely go to this one. There is usually food served and other activities, so you won't have to just be dancing. And you get to buy a dress and new shoes!

My sister and I at the Pre-Party for my Senior Ball

6) Go on a Hike!

I am lucky enough to live close to a mountain! So going hiking and other activities is very common for the youth in my area. So even if you just go on a walk with a group of friends and get some fresh air that is still a great experience!

Rock City is a hike that you can take close to my house, my friends and I took a lot of silly pictures that day.

5) Go on a Day Trip to a Lake!

Or the ocean, or river, or pool. Any body of water really, just enjoy the warm weather and have a picnic! My friend's family has a cabin and a boat and we got to spend a whole weekend on a mini trip. It was awesome and I faced my fear of deep water more than once!

Please note that I am probably five feet away from the water on a trunk that was wobbling beneath me! Scary!!

4) Go to a Midnight Movie Release!

I went to the last four Harry Potter midnight releases. Two of them happened when I was in high school! I loved the excitement of staying out late and going to see a movie with people who were as passionate about the film as I was. I'm not going to lie, I dressed up (photo evidence below). So if you have a movie that you want to see (ahem...The Great Gatsby) just bite the bullet and go!

I went with a few friends, Jen was one of them!

3) Go on an Adventure!

I am leaving this vague on purpose because an adventure to you is different than an adventure for me. I went on an adventure down a mountain, on a bike. Biking down a mountain is probably one of the most terrifying things I have ever done, but I did it! My hands were killing me at the end from gripping my breaks, but I felt so accomplished and it is an awesome memory I took away from my adolescence.

I went with my friends Thomas and Jen! You can tell that we are way high up!

2) Do Something Extremely School Spirited!

I was in marching band in high school, and up until my senior year that was about as school spirited as I got... But my senior year I wanted to be as school spirited as possible. Which for me involved painting my whole body yellow and participating in a rally. So awesome! So just once do something crazy school spirited! You won't regret the story you have to share!

Yep, awesome.

1) Be Acknowledged for the Hard Work You Have Done!

Being in marching band means when you have your last home game as a senior you get pinned with a yellow rose. I worked for that rose for my first three years of college and I was so excited for the Senior Game. Be sure to acknowledge the hard work you have put into high school even if it means grabbing a group of friends and treating yourselves to a nice dinner! You earned it!

That is a photo of my teacher pinning me with my rose!

Do you have any activities you are planning to do to celebrate the end of high school? Anything you want to do before you graduate?