Hi.

Hey everyone! A few quick things:

I know I haven't posted in a reallllyyyy long time but I've been working on the blog: I've created several drafts of posts but have yet to publish any of them, preferring to perfect them first. The problem? They never get finished, much less perfected. Writing has always been somewhat of an escape for me and I've turned to this blog several times since I last posted. I'm going to start publishing what I write instead of holding onto it forever.

Also, this blog has become less and less about makeup; I'm trying to change the theme, name, etc. to better reflect what this blog a) has become and b) what I hope it evolves into.

So yeah. That's about it. Look out for this blog in the future. Thanks for staying here all this time.

-MMM (probably the last time you'll hear that!)

Test Post

Testing one. two. three.

An Announcement from an old, unpublished blog post.

Hey everyone!I have a quick announcement about the blog. I am turning ownership of this blog over to another account. It is still me! I just have a few different accounts, and this one is better suited for the blog. This doesn't mean much as far as the reading of this blog goes. I just wanted to let you know that the "author" of the blog will appear different from now on, but it's still me!

Note: This was written a couple months ago and hasn't been put into effect as of the writing of this and the posting of this. However, it will be put into effect by the 20th or so. 

Check in + Some Announcements

Hey everyone! It's been ages. I'm sorry for the complete and utter lack of attention I have been paying this blog. I can't believe I haven't blogged since March. Honestly, I get so disappointed in myself when I don't blog. I feel like I've let both you and myself down and I apologize for that. I know that I have made countless apologizes and a few broken promises over the course of this blog, and I am not going to do that again. (At least for a while!) Instead, I am going to let you know that I believe I have to establish a blogging routine and perhaps put this blog on some sort of schedule in order to maintain it. I think that I only blog when a) I remember (which does not happen nearly enough) and b) I have something specific to tell you, AKA, inspiration has hit. I think I am learning that I don't need to come up with the "perfect" thing to blog every time I sit down at my computer. Hopefully I will continue to learn that lesson and will sit down to blog even if I don't have something mind blowing to share with you guys. Please let me know what you think of my posts as I write them or just take time to comment something about anything! I absolutely love hearing from you guys.
Next thing, I read through some of posts and I don't think that this blog has really been true to me in terms of how the writing sounds. I am still young and trying to find my writing style for blog-type things, and making sure that my works sounds like it is coming from me, so please bear with me if my posts sound a little different from time to time. :)
Last thing, I actually have a ton of unfinished blog posts, so I will be uploading them over the next few weeks. I think I might not finish them by adding in all I wanted to add, but I'll see. Please let me know what you think of them. Plus, one has an announcement for you guys.

XOXO,
MMM

Stress, Anxiety, and Worry Manegment

Hey everyone! So...I have pretty bad stress issues. Like really bad. For example, today I did not go to school for two reasons: 1) I barely slept last night (plus I'm groggy from the time change) and 2) I was insanely stressed for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I decided working while really stressed and really tired probably wasn't the best idea.

Unfortunately, I get stressed out often and lying in my bed all day isn't always an option. Besides, despite the fact that I'm not at school, I am still extremely stressed. I know other people also have bad stress issues, so I decided to give you a couple tips on stress, anxiety, and worry management.

1) Figure out what works for you. This may sound dumb or obvious, but stress management is different for everyone. You need to experiment with different solutions and figure out what works for you.
2) Breathing. I know everyone says that breathing is the way to deal with stress and it does help, to a point. Personally, deep breathing is not the only thing that helps me deal with stress. It does really relive a huge panic attack, though. I would recommend breathing in for four counts, holding it for three, and breathing out for four counts.
3) Distraction. I really find that distracting myself from stress works immensely, despite the fact that it may not be the healthiest option to deal with stress.I find that by listening to some music, reading a chapter of a book, or researching some facts (that sounds weird but works well!) can help me take my mind of stress. Learning about something new is a great way to distract yourself from worry.
4) Getting to the root of the problem. Anything can get me stressed, from the messiness of my room to a missed homework assignment to a debate club meeting. Getting to the root of the problem is often a starting step for me to solve stress issues. If the problem is easily fixable, I take care of it right away and feel much better. If it's anxiety about something I can't take care of at that second (like a test) I do everything I can to prepare for it and reason out why I should not be worried. I'm a very logical person and so reasoning things out often works at least a little for me.
5) Exercise! Yoga, running, dancing, and stretching all help me cope with stress and are actually pretty fun with some music, even if I'm feeling pretty bad at the beginning.
6) Do what you love. You probably know some things that relax you and make you happy, like taking baths or reading a good book. Do those things! They help distract and relax you.
7) Write it out. Writing out your troubles and the things bothering you can often help and even just writing out this post has helped me tremendously. I'm writing this during a breaks in a TV show and I feel a million times better already.

So those are my tips! I also sometimes like to put a hot water bottle on my stomach if the worry in my stomach is bothering me, but other than that those are pretty much my tips. I hope that this post helped you if you suffer from any kind of stress. Remember the first tip. Everyone is different and you most likely won't have the same coping strategies as me, but just play with them and try them out and see what works for you.

XOXO,
MMM

Hello! An ins and outs

Well, I'm in a completely different space as I type this. That's right. I moved! Well actually, technically speaking, I'm not in a completely new space. I'm actually in what has (sort of) been my bedroom for over a year and a half.
My house was built in the 1930s I believe, and we decided to renovate it a little bit. Since it was so old, we needed new plumbing and wires and since there were exactly 0 rooms with proper floors and walls for a while, we moved out. For what ended up being 6 months. Now, we're back in the house and I sit here gazing at my new blue wall and gorgeous modern lamp. Unfortunately, only 1/2  of our house is actually done, and we have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and no blinds.
The real reason I wrote this post was to update you a bit on my life. So now, here is an ins and outs list

Ins:
-The house! Finally we are back and I have my own sanctuary again, albeit cluttered with bags and boxes.
-The weekend. Thanks to snow, moving because both easier and more difficult. We had 2 days off, giving us more time to sort, plus our lease ends the day after tomorrow, but the snow made it harder to drive, park, and move things. However, the long weekend itself is amazing, as it gives us more time
-Elfa. I assembled my closet using The Container Store's Elfa system and it was incredible. It was certainly expensive, but I think it was definitely worth it. Without even coming to our house (they looked at drawings of it) they designed our closets completely. Plus, they listened to what we really wanted. For example, I use drawers and shelves waaayyyy more than hanging space and so they included many drawers and shelves in my closet. Then, we did a self assemble.
-Alone time. Alone time is hard to come by now, but whether it is for unpacking or relaxing (which is reaalllyyy hard to come by now) it is so nice. I actually have my own bedroom now, so you'd think I'd be getting more alone time, but I'm installing every one's closets and moving things over from the apartment, so alone time is really valued (plus I'm an introvert, so I really need some alone time or I get really drained). The time for relaxing alone? Priceless.

Outs:
-Disorganization. I am an extremely organized person and I don't deal with disorganization well. As you might guess, that can be a little hard when moving. Especially since things from the floors that are not completed are in my room. I am trying and trying to organize, but I don't have nearly enough time, especially since I have so much other work to do.
-Other work. I have a 12 page research paper due in about 3 days and I've written about 3 pages of it. I have actually roughly 6 pages of solid information I've written up, but I haven't finished the analyzation pages yet. Procrastination me.
-Food. I know what you're thinking: how can food ever be an "out"? Believe me when I tell you it can be. You're probably going to think I'm even more insane when I tell you why food is an out; we are eating out all the time. It's only been a couple of days but I am pretty certain I am going to get sick of eating out. Since we currently don't have a kitchen, it's what we have to do for now.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this little ins and outs post. Talk to you soon!

XOXO,
MMM

Stress Managing Techniques

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since I've posted. It's often hard for me to keep up with everything I have in my life, which brings me to this post. When there are so many things going on in one's life stress can often become a huge overwhelming concern.
I have problems like this all the time. I've always been very stressed and stress has always affected me in an overwhelming way. In addition, I've had trouble sleeping for as long as I can remember. Finally, finally I have found something that is a solution to both problems. FINALLY! The solution is... (drumroll please) guided meditations or guided relaxations. It's crazy how amazing these meditations are.
There are guided meditations that focus on all kinds of things.There are meditations that target stress, sleeping issues, soreness, and so on. There are even "mind vacations" that take you somewhere in your mind. Below I have linked a few meditations I have founds.

Stress: Here is a great stress meditation I have found. Although she stumbles a little bit, this is truly a great meditation. This instantly eased my worries, which is an incredible thing.

Muscle Relaxation: Here is a great guided meditation and progressive muscle relaxation. It's really great and instantly relaxed me.

And here is the vacation one I talked about.

There are a TON. Try searching for guided meditations or guided relaxations. You can also look for specific, targeted ones.

Anyway, that's my post. I've only listened to a couple so far, but there are so many to try. I can't wait to hear some more.

XOXO,
MMM