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

Reflections, Resolutions, and Absence

Hey everybody! I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. It may not seem like it, but I really missed you all. I've just been insanely swamped with all kinds of things. Anyway, it's 2014! Can you believe it?!?! I'm  not very good at writing reflections, so all I have to say to you about New Year is that it seems crazy we're already here. 2013 passed us by so fast and New Years is a great example of the fact that we really have to seize the day. We've been given an entire, well, new year, and so we have to make the mstof it.
In a year from now, when I look back on 2014 I want to be able to say, "Oh, yeah, 2014! Wow, that was a great year. It was the year I did this, and that, and this really cool thing! It was the year that I finally did this and I had a blast doing that!"
Do you think that the New Year is more about beginnings or endings? I used to think of it as all about endings. I used to think of the New Year as the end of a year, and the end of those memories. Now, though, I realize it's so much more; it's a whole entire new year in which to make memories and have new beginnings.
As part of my New Year's resolutions, I will try to blog at least once a week. However, I think that New Years resolutions just fade away. I don't want to promise you that I'll blog once a week, so I'm going to be honest with you; my New Year's resolutions only say to never let an entire month go by without blogging. And by that I mean, blog at least once in January, once in February, and so on. I will try to have a post at least once a week, but no promises! I tend to come on here once in a while, but then post 3 posts or so. I need to learn to be careful about how many posts I do at once, so I can blog more often.
Anyway, that's my little update on why I've been gone and what you have to look forward. Have an incredible 2014!

-MMM

Sephora, new products, and olive oil

So yesterday I was at the mall shopping for Christmas gifts (I couldn't make it out on Black Friday). I had to quickly duck into Sephora to grab some more of Urban Decay's eye shadow primer potion. I love that stuff and was pretty much out. Plus I needed it for my holiday makeup look that I'll be wearing today. As I was there I saw something else I had to grab (because of course it's impossible to run into Sephora for one thing and not get anything else!). I really wanted to grab a few other things while I was in there and play with some new makeup but I really didn't have time. All I got besides the primer potion was the LaVanilla mini deo trio. I have wanted to try a natural deodorant for quite some time and thought that this would be the perfect way. It comes with 3 different scents and they're all travel size!
I just used it for the first time this morning and will be sneaking a mini dove antiperspirant into my purse today in case I need to touch up! I will keep you posted on its effectiveness but I can tell you that I have already vacuumed most of my apartment and done a good load of dishes and so far I still smell as fresh as a daisy! I really love how this is a little bit powdery because that helps keep my underarms dry without having to add anything extra. When I'm going to dance class I might have to use a regular deodorant, though.
Now onto the second part of this post: olive oil. I have recently discovered the benefits of using olive oil as a beauty product thanks to Cara at Maskcara. She has a great blog that you should definitely check out. Last night I took a shower and used olive oil as a deep conditioner. I looovvveee my hair today, it's amazing! I also used it as a moisturizer after I shaved my legs and olive oil is now my only eye makeup remover.
Anyway, just wanted to share these things with you. Have a great Thanksgiving!

XOXO,
MMM

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and get to spend some time with your friends and family no matter where you are. Thank you so much for reading and supporting this blog and helping my dream come true. I love you all more than you'll ever know. Wishing you all the best Turkey Day ever!




XOXO,
MMM

Image from drawingstep.com

AHHH!

OK, reallllyyyyy quick post here. Just wanted to let you know Lush's Christmas stuff is up! So amazing! My thoughts will come soon. Check out the products online. 

XOXO,
MMM

Fall Nails!

Hey everyone!
I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long. I miss you guys! This evening I decided to spend some time with my family. We flopped down on the couch and watched project runway and then one of  my favorite shows, Modern Family (suggested by my dad in an attempt to escape Project Runway.) I pained my nails a beautiful Essie color, Bahama Mama. Despite the summery sounding name, it is a great color for fall. After that was done I decided to paint on a sparkly coat to give my nails a little oomph. I used a Sally Hanson nail polish in Disco Ball. I actually thought it was white (and as you'll see it looks white in the bottle) but it's colored. I'm a little dissapointed, but I do like the way it turned out. Here are some pictures.

Here are some pictures of the polishes I used:

And I have been loving Lush's lemony flutter cuticle butter. This is just a sample sized container, but you can see the lovely consistency of the cuticle cream: 

XOXO,

MMM