Wake-Up to Make-Up

Once upon a time, I was a morning person. I'd love waking up early, getting ready, and would always be one of the first people at school. That was a long time ago...

Now, you'd be putting yourself at risk if you try to wake me up in the morning. In the past, I'd kick myself for sleeping in until 10 am on weekends, because half the day was practically wasted! But now I just can't get enough...I do, however, avoid naps during the day, that's where I draw the line.

With the loss of 'getting ready' time in the morning, I've found some short cuts and routines that help me 'catch-up' with time. One, in particular and the reason for this entry, is my make-up routine.

Make-up is one of my favorite things, so I really try not to skip that step in the morning. I'm a sucker for Limited Edition MAC pallets, so I have quite a few of them. So going through each of them trying to figure out what colors I want to use and which brushes and how I want to wear them can take some time, believe it or not. So to save some of the few precious minutes I have in the morning, I've chosen to stick to one make-up look for weekdays. It saves me time and the more and more I do it, the faster I get.

Disclaimer: I'm in no way a professional, nor do I claim to be one. I just know what I like and like to experiment with make-up! Take this as it is...

I'm always in search of a good eyeshadow primer. What I find that works best in my morning routine is MAC's Cash Flow Paint Pot. It goes well with the eyeshadow colors I use and I like that it adds a gold shimmery hint.

And these are the four colors I use. As you can see, all neutral colors so it goes with all outfits. I put Mulch (the darkest MAC) on my lid, Mocha (Motives from Pure Blendz) on the corner, Kid (the lighter brown MAC)blended on the crease, and then finally Rose Blanc as the brow highlight.

And then I top it all off with MAC Black Track Fluidline. This is one of my favorites, I absolutely love this eyeliner. If I'm super late and I have to skip they eye shadow part of my routine, then I'll simply just slap on some black eyeliner.

As you might have noticed, all (with the exception of the Motives shadow) is MAC. I have other brands, but I just really love MAC's eye shadows. :)

Cheers to morning routines that help us save time!

Project 365: Fail!

Surprise, surprise. Although I wish I could capture memory in a photograph everyday this year, but ever since I've been on a hiatus from photography, it's just been hard to keep up with this project. Oh well...it was a nice thought but I'm completely fine with letting this goal off the hook. But never fear, I have a few BIG goals this year that I plan to share...but not right now ;-). Stay tuned...

So speaking of my hiatus from photography, I've been starting to really miss it! There isn't one reason why I took a break, it kind of just happened. One of my excuses is that I don't have a proper photo editing program on my MacBook Pro. I'm still planning to buy Photoshop CS4, but as you know and as I've mentioned in a previous blog, it's so darn expensive! As much as I love taking photos, editing is the icing on the cake for me. Graphic design is so much fun and even funner when you get to work with your own...work.

I kind of wish I realized my passion back in college. But it's never to late, I suppose. I'm still following my dream and, although it's a slow process since I work full-time, am continuing my graphic design certificate program.

Go Go Gadget...GO!

One of my cousins recently commented on my obsession with gadgets. To be exact, she said, "I never noticed that you are gadget-y(I had to add the "-[dash] y" because it just didn' t look right as "gadgety") for a girl." Apparently, the only people who can be gadget-obsessed are males! haha...I kid, I kid.

I wouldn't say I'm the most gadget-y female out there, but I do like to keep up with the times. Although, keeping up with the times can do a number on my debit card. My most recent buy was a Kindle 2. Love, love, love it! The company I work for got a sweet discount, so I just HAD to. That same cousin I mentioned just got the Nook and we compared the two. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, they are both digital readers. Kindle is through Amazon and the Nook is through Barnes and Noble. We are both happy with what we have, but I like the fact that the Nook shows the colored book covers on the bottom touch screen, as opposed to a list of book titles in the reading screen of the Kindle 2. I'm a more visual person so that appeals to me. Another more obvious difference is the Kindle 2 is WAY lighter than the Nook.

A couple months ago I made the switch from PC to Mac. I've actually worked on both, but 80% of the time on a PC. So I traded my Sony VAIO CR-Series Valentine Edition laptop for a MacBook Pro. I love it and haven't regretted the change. Except for the fact that my Adobe CS3 programs are PC versions!!!!!! I know, tragic, right?! I do plan to purchase the Adobe CS4 creative suite for the Mac, but as you know (or maybe you don't), they are so freaken expensive! I haven't been able to edit photos...I'm Photoshop deprived right now. I'm hoping in the next month or two I'll be back in action. Did you want to make a donation?!?! No? Yeah, I figured...well enjoy two photos to Project 365...
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PROJECT 365

01-07-10
I must say, this is an absolute first for me. On this day, I received my first bouquet of used flowers. That's right, I said "used." Haha...it was actually a very sweet gesture. On of my colleagues got promoted this week and she received said flowers as a 'congratulations.' Well, being it was Thursday and she was going to leave on Friday for a long weekend, no one would be around to enjoy the pretty-ness of the flowers. So she left them with me to enjoy. Told you, sweet, right?


























01-08-10
Apparently, my mother has turned me into the bad guy! She calls me to punish my nieces when they are bad (of course when their mother isn't around) instead of punishing them herself. I'm sure you all recognize Tates. She got in trouble, by me, today. What did she do? Well, in her words, she "stole my sistahs bind-a (aka binder) and punch ha (aka her) in ha back." Her punshiment was to sit in her chair and face the wall. Look at her chillin with her legs crossed like she's grown! This one...she's trouble...lol!

Project 365...and GO!

I want to thank wedding photographer Catie Ronquillo for the inspiration for this fun project!

I first read about Project 365 from her blog and thought it was such a cool idea, and left it at that. Earlier today I was on Facebook and saw that another person was participating in this project as well and figured it was a sign that I, too, should partake.

So what's my mission that I choose to accept? I shall take a picture everyday this year and post it right here on my blog! I'm a few days late, so I don't have one for all 6 days, but I'm letting myself off the hook for those. But from this day on, I will not miss a day!

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January 1, 2010
I'd like to introduce you to Time, the absolutely-best-game-ever-at-the-moment. Okay, okay, it's not called Time, it's official name is Tangram Master. Me and my family put a new spin on this classic game by racing to complete the puzzle and the first one to finish yells out, "TIME!" heh..get it?

























January 4, 2010
Sticky fingers herself! Literally, sticky fingers. No matter how many times I tell her not to touch my things, she never listens. This is her "Yeah, I'm touching your laptop and not even trying to hide it" look.
























January 5, 2010
As you might have read from my previous entry, I talked about the Kat Von D make-up I got for Christmas. I only showed the eyeshadow pallet I got, so now I'd like to present the Underage Red lipstick! Isn't it gorgeous?! I like it because it isn't wet or glossy looking and doesn't come off easily. Like a matte stain...FAB!!!



































January 6, 2010
And finally today...it's from my phone and is a bit blurry because my subject was moving. There's a story behind every picture, and this one was me being random and silly. I had to pick my mom up today from Share's apartment. So Share told me to BBM her right when mother gets in my car. I thought it was a ridiculous request, and so instead of BBMing her, I took a picture of my mom right when she got in my car and sent it to Share. Happy? She's in my car!

There you are, 2010!

Happy new year! It's been quite some time since I've blogged, hasn't it? Now, I could have my first entry be about my new years resolutions, but I haven't decided yet if I want to share those. So instead, I want to show off one of the Christmas gifts I got from my sister, Share (you can check her out at Share's Tabo List)! There is kind of a story behind it, that I'm a bit embarrassed to share, but here it goes anyways.

I like to watch make-up tutorials on youtube.com (that's not the embarrassing part!), and one night I randomly came across this one chick's channel. She's 16 years old, and after I watched one of her videos, I was just annoyed! They way she talks, her expressions, everything! But (the embarrassing part), I kept watching her videos. Like, she's so annoying that it's kind of entertaining and I actually now subscribe to her channel. So I watched a couple more and learned a thing or two! I love make-up and shopping for make-up, but there is so much out there, I never know which one to try. I watched her review on Kat Von D's make-up and I just had to have a pallet of my own! hah! So I put it on my wishlist and viola, I got it and LOVE IT.

Here's the pallet I got, Beethoven (also got the Underage Red lipstick):

Thank you JuicyStar07 a.k.a Blair.