I've Added a New Hobby!!!

        
          So my last semester of college proved to be much more time consuming than I'd imagined. I didn't get any blogging done, nor did I get any vlogging or make up videos done. :/ What a disappointment I am to myself and to all who read my blog! But there is good news, I have more to vlog and blog about! I have started doing ballet!!!
          Needless to say, I'm really, really excited! I have done a one hour class per week over the summer, but am going to try to add at least another one hour class per week, (preferably I would have 3 classes) so that I can get better, faster.
         My goal, like every other girl, is to start en pointe as soon as possible. I realize this may take several years, but I can always hope I will be one of those girls who can start in 8 months because I am strong enough and I practice enough.
          If you have any tips for me, I would greatly appreciate them! And for all of you who think that you are too old to do something you always wanted to do as a child, I am almost 20 now, and this is one of the best decisions of my life!

Happy Holidays!

          On to a happier post! I hope the holidays are going well for everyone, whatever you celebrate and where ever you are. My family doesn't really have many traditions, if any over the holiday season. It is just me and my mom in our state, and I come home to live with her over all my breaks because I know she misses me and I miss her. With so few traditions I am wondering what I am going to do with my kids over the holiday season. Leave me a comment and tell me what your family does for the holidays and what you think is a good tradition you have passed on or want to pass on to others.

The situation...

              Hey guys, long time no post! Well the holiday season is upon us, and I have had one of the most stressful months of my life. I'll do a little recap here:
          So in several of my videos I have made comments about how me and my room mate do not get along. She allowed her boyfriend to freeload and live with us for 6 weeks without my permission. Now, anyone who has been to college knows how small a typical dorm room is. Barely enough room for two people, let alone three, one of which being of a different gender. Anyway, if I had said, "No, Shelby, your boyfriend can't live with us any longer," he would have become homeless. I couldn't, in good conscience, allow him to be homeless. Anyway, the 6 weeks are up, their names are on the lease to an apartment across from campus and they both move out. But here's the kicker: she left me with her full trash, all of her full sized framed posters of Michael Jackson (who I do not particularly care for), and all of her dirty laundry.
          I had told her that I was going to clean (she was absolutely slovenly) and rearrange and gave her a time and date to get all of her stuff out of our room by. The date came and went, so I went to the front desk of our building and put all of her dirty laundry and anything else of hers I found on the floor, in the bag and put the bag in her closet. I then put her trash on top of it.
          It took her two weeks, but she finally came back and decided that it was a good day to fight with me about what I had done. She was unreasonable, rude, and downright vulgar in front of one of my friends visiting from another college, and when she went down the hall to try to get help from some guys on our floor she began talking more trash about what a horrible person I was among other things. I put her things in the hall and latched the door closed because I didn't think that confrontation was the best idea.
          She came back and tried to kick the door down. When that didn't work, she tried to get the guys she went and got to kick the door down with her. Needless to say it didn't work, and she was asked to turn in her keys that day.
          I can easily say that she was the cause for most of my suffering this semester of college. But I need to look on the bright side, she is gone, so is her boyfriend, and I never ever have to talk to either one of them again.
          Now that the smoke has cleared somewhat, I am disappointed to say that I no longer trust my college to take care of me when I have issues, conflicts or problems that effect my physical or emotional well being. I know that I am only a number to them, a number that directly reflects how much I pay in tuition and other fees every year, and that as far as conflict goes, I am on my own to protect myself and my stuff.
          But, this has made me a stronger person. I had to deal with some of the worst people I have and will ever have to deal with in my life. I learned about conflict when living with someone, and how revenge tactics are a direct measure of intelligence.
          Talking about what has happened this semester makes me feel better, but I am still pretty shaken up. If you have any bad room mate stories, or any advice for me please let me know.

Piecy Side Fishtail...

I uploaded this tutorial on my youtube channel earlier today! Check it out!

It's always good to try something new...

          I will start this post by saying I am not a terrible cook. Or maybe I am just saying that to try and encourage myself to keep trying, when really, I am hopeless in the kitchen. I am not wonderful, but it has never been something that I have wanted to get better at. I'm not sure why, but lately I have developed more of an interest in cooking for myself and my mom. It's probably because my mom is so whacked out (my grandma just had a stroke, and that side of the family is in uproar) and this is my way of feeling like I'm helping her.
          Last night I made dinner, something I almost never do, and it was good for once! I made garlic-butter noodles with honey peas as a side. REALLY simple, but tasted good all the same. Both turned out alright, but I made way too much food for the three people (including myself) who I was feeding. Oh well, right? Better more food for later than less food now!
          Well, right now I am trying my hand at deviled eggs. I am following a recipe from my mother's "The Joy of Cooking," and am already having some troubles. I started with boiling my eggs, which shouldn't be too hard, and I know you are supposed to poke a hole in all of them to begin with so they don't crack and spew everywhere, which I did, but almost all of them cracked anyway. After cooking them for as long as they needed to be hard boiled and not medium boiled (gross!!!) I let them cool, looked in the pot, and couldn't keep myself from laughing.

          Just look at how much egg isn't inside the shell!!!           

          On the upside, poached eggs: eggs boiled outside the shell, are my favorite kind of eggs, so I inadvertently taught myself how to poach an egg!

          I peeled the shells, rinsed and halved the eggs. Then I punctured most of the eggs, on accident, getting the halved yolks out and mixed in most of the ingredients suggested by the Joy of Cooking. Because I was bored, and wanted the mixture to look a little yellow-er, I added some yellow dye, which actually made the eggs look a little greener. Finally, I scooped in the deviled part, sprinkled a little pepper and curry on top, and arranged the eggs in a somewhat decorative fashion.

          Now time for the taste test. They were definitely a little sour and I determined this was because I added too much Dijon mustard (which my aunt sent to me from England), which I thought would be an okay choice, but really wasn't. I suppose it wasn't a complete failure, I do really like the taste of sour-er things, but now I'm going to give them away to family members to see what they all think.

First beauty vlog...

          I just did my first youtube video blog, vlog, and I cannot tell you how exhilerated I am right now. Vlogging is something I've wanted to do for the longest time, but have never had the courage to start, and I finally made the decision today to just go for it. What I worry about is the number of people who don't make it in the beauty world. There are tons and tons of beauty videos out there and I can't help thinking, "what if I just get lost in the crowd?" I mean, this is something I have my heart set on, and I don't want my little balloon of happiness to be burst by the fact that no one cares what I'm posting about.
          I suppose I really shouldn't care what other people think, right? That's a lesson preached throughout the years, do what you like and don't care if others don't like who you are, or something like that. For right now I need to be happy with the amount of attention I do get because I know that it is hard to get any attention when you are just starting something. I am happy with the outcome for right now, and I'll try and keep updates on both my youtube channel and here on blogger. 

An early morning yield...

          I woke up a little early this morning to study for a Spanish test and to take a shower, which I had neglected to do the previous night. When done doing my morning routine, I decided to do my makeup a little differently: more show than everyday, but a little combination of the two.
          To prep my face I applied a concealer, by studio gear, and my moisturizing foundation, also by studio gear, with SPF. Because I don't like the way my face feels with just the liquid foundation, I then patted on some of my Mineral i.d. powder foundation. This extra step, I find, makes the face feel smooth as well as absorbing any oily spots that you may have missed when you washed your face (of course we always do this before we apply makeup) or applied concealer. I have combination skin, so I also find this helps with coverage and endurance throughout the day. I then applied Painterly Paint Pot, by MAC, from corner to corner, eyelash to brow on both eyes.
          I decided to use my 88 Warm palette, by Coastal Scents, and patted on a very wine-stain purple. I covered my entire eyelid all the way to the brow (it didn't stay like that) and then patted a lighter and more metallic purple into the inner corners of my lids and a darker, more metallic purple onto the outer corners.
          Because eyelash to brow color is a little extreme, I decided to take some of the color off. The beauty of applying all the way to the lid, however, is that you can decide how extreme you want to be. Do you want to remove all but a thin strip? Or do you want to leave big, dramatic swoops over your lids for an evening event? Well, I choose in-between. I took a makeup removing wipe, from MAC, and pulled it tight around my first finger so as to make my lines more accurate. I then drew a curved line, matching my brow line, with my first finger, removing all the eyeshadow along with it. I did this for both eyes, and touched up the lines as needed. With a angled eyeliner brush, I lined my bottom lids with the wine-stain color, bringing out the bright blue of my eyes in their splash of purples.
          Finally, I applied a light lavender as a highlight along my brow line and in the very inner corner of my lids. I finished off the look by applying pencil eyeliner on my waterlines, darkening my eyebrows, and applying mascara to all four sets of lashes. A touch of clear lip gloss and I was out the door!