I have been waiting for this Friday for a couple of months! Next week is officially my Spring Break and I actually took off from work so I can have an actual break! WOO HOO. Go me! I had some ideas about things to do next week but we shall see what I actually end up doing.
So… welcome to Flashback Friday’s – the post where I sum up what happened during the week. It was a pretty boring week actually and flew by quickly like last week!
College Life
So I had 1 exam this week and I still have a paper due this weekend that I am in the process of working on – no pressure. I am glad that the exam I had is over and this week was mostly spent in lectures doing some reviews for when we come back from Spring Break. I will be taking time out every day next week to review things and my plan is to get ahead with assignments and papers so when we get back to class the following week I will have less on my plate to do. Wish me luck!
Blog Life
Like I said last week, I am going to spend a bit more time writing blog posts than normal. I have been so focused on school lately that everything else really got behind. I do have some great blog post ideas for here as well as a few for 2BigHeffas.com so stay tuned.
Life, Life
I have no life… ok… I do… but it has been consumed by school work. I have been so exhausted lately from late night study sessions. So much so that two days in a row I came home from work/school and just passed out for a couple hours. I got some exciting news though… my BFF let me know when her wedding is going to be so I am going to start planning that trip ASAP. I can’t wait!
I was looking forward to eating some yummy food and hanging out with family on St. Patrick’s day but I didn’t have the time or the energy to do it – but Easter is coming and that is always an exciting time with family. Speaking of family, my little nephew is growing up so fast. Got to give him some kisses and hugs – his giggles and smiles brightened my day.
Work Life
I got some cool news from the bosses last night about some things that we will be working on in the future. I am happy to be part of something that continues to expand and try different things. I have always wanted to work for a company where I could grow with them and offer the skills that I have as well. It has been a good balance so far and I look forward to what is ahead.
How was your week? Do anything exciting? Have a flashback friday’s type of post on your blog? Link it in the comments!
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.
Hey ya’all! I hope that you had a wonderful week! My week was full of ups and downs – a lot like a roller coaster. I had some of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. But it was a great week to say the least. I was able to finish a lot of things that were on my to-do list (which was A LOT of things). I am so happy that it is the weekend. Even though I won’t really be spending it doing anything too exciting I am going to allow myself to get some much needed rest and relaxation.
Any who, if you are new here, welcome to Flashback Friday’s where I write about how my week was. It is just a fun writing activity I do to share with my readers what is going on in my life. I hope you enjoy it!
College Life
Since I had the flu at the beginning of last month I had so much to catch up on the last couple weeks of the month. I had papers to write, homework to do, chapters to read and exams + quizzes to take. Last weekend I spent so much time on school work that once I was done catching up I just had to sit there and listen to music.
My brain had so many concepts and information floating around in it I had to take a bit of a “brain break.” My favorite way to do that is to either listen to classical music, visit ccoffitivity.com or listen to Focus at will.
I have more exams in a couple of weeks so my brain and eyes really needed that break so that I can prepare for what is next. I can’t wait for Spring Break because I am actually taking a break and possibly doing something fun.
side note: One of my papers that I wrote was about working memory. I read an article and wrote a reaction paper on the effects of daytime naps on working memory performance. The subjects in the study that took daytime naps that led to REM-sleep did significantly better on working memory tasks. So next time you are debating on whether or not you should take that nap – just know that it may be helping you in more ways than you know.
Work Life
Work has been going all right. I really do like my job and I can’t believe I will make a year there this April. It seems like it has only been a couple of months since I started. I was supposed to be looking for another job that can offer me more hours, however, with school it just is not going to work in that manner and I am working super hard on my freelance writing to bring in an income to makeup the hours of work (aka $$) that I am missing since I go to school on certain days that I used to work on.
Speaking for Freelance Writing (and blogging) – I am making a nice amount of money on the side doing something that I enjoy doing. I could be making more, however, because of me being sick for a week and having to play catch up – I wasn’t able to make as much as I wanted to last month but I am really excited about what is happening for me and my side hustling. I’m thinking about sharing my side income here on the blog perhaps in the next couple of months – not sure just yet.
Life, Life
Goodness! The main issue that has really been a problem lately is my car. Things just keep going wrong with it and there has been a lot of time and money going into it. It can be so frustrating. I am blessed to have a family member that can do most of the repairs I have needed recently but you really don’t realize how much you rely on your car until it decides it doesn’t want to behave for you. I am hoping after this week it decides to shape up lol.
The other problem I have been having is not getting enough sleep. I am super tired all the time, however, I just have been having such a difficult time falling asleep or staying asleep. And of course there are those nights I had to stay up a little later because I wanted to get a project done for school – but other than that sleep keeps running in the opposite direction. I hoping that this month I can get my sleep schedule back on track!
Blog Life
I haven’t had a lot of time to work on blogging as I would like to since school is one of my main priorities at the moment. Even though I haven’t really posted much here, I have been working behind the scenes with Kristina on our new project. If you don’t follow me on Twitter you may have missed my little announcement but you are invited to check out our newly launched blog.
2bigheffas.com is a blog about our weight loss journey. It’s about a serious issue but from our funny and sarcastic point-of-view. We wanted to hold ourselves accountable and share our experiences with others because we know we aren’t alone in this journey. We hope you join us!
How was your week? Anything special planned for the weekend? Let me know in the comments.
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.
I hope that you all had a wonderful week! Thank you for stopping in to see what I had going on during the past week. If this is your first time here, welcome! Let me know how you ended up here… Twitter?… Facebook?… A Magical Unicorn Ride? I always like to know how people end up on my blog.
As most of you know, 2016 brought a lot of new “things” into my life. I ended up moving to a new place, I started a new semester at school, I started some new side hustles to supplement my income and lastly my drivers side door decided it no longer wanted to work so I now have to climb through the back door to get into the car.
I have tried to stay calm and not get overwhelmed by everything that is happening in my life and this past week I decided I really just wanted to do some FUN things and enjoy myself. So you will see that theme here.
So… last weekend was really great. I got to take care of my niece and nephew while my sister and her husband spent the weekend together. We spent our time watching a lot of Netflix and playing video games. It was really nice. We watched Jem and the Holograms cartoon shows (from 1985) – it was like I was a little girl again. We also watched a lot of Sponge Bob because they are into that for some reason.
We would take breaks and we would also play a little Just Dance 2016. So we got our workout in for the weekend and it was a blast. They created my own character (not sure what they are called) on there and we challenged each other and cheered each other on. Fun times!
Another thing I have been doing lately is taking a lot of e-courses, attending webinars and online classes related to business and blogging. Last weekend I watched a Visual Strategy for Pinterest. It was excellent! They gave me some great tips and I have loved Pinterest from the first pin I have ever pinned. I used to just pin everything I loved but now I do things a bit differently. I pin smarter!
Last weekend was also my youngest sisters birthday and she chose to go to a museum as her birthday activity. We ended up at the Bishop Museum and after checking out all the Polynesian and Hawaiian exhibits we went to the World of Wearable Art Exhibit. There were so many amazing pieces and the video they had of the event was amazing. It was hard to take pictures of all my favorites because it was dark and my phone was drying lol.
Inkling by Gilian Saunders, New Zealand
I enjoyed myself so much! There was also an area to make your own paper dolls and my family and I had fun drawing and cutting and pasting to “design” wearable art for our paper dolls.
This was a busy week for me at work and school, however, I was able to find moments to do some of my favorite things such as reading, writing and hanging out on Pinterest for a bit. I even ended up using a recipe I found on Pinterest to cook an easy dinner.
What fun things did you do this week?
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.
Happy Friday! I hope that you had a wonderful week and that everything is doing great for you! Can you believe we are already halfway through January? Is 2016 about to speed by like 2015 did? I sorta hope it doesn’t because this year I have a lot of things going on and some of them I want to take my time one – I will get into that in another post – for now I will share just a few of the things that happened in my life this past week.
I moved
Last weekend we packed up a truck with all of my belongings and drove 45 minutes away to my new studio. It was a major workout because it is an old building and we had to go up and down 3 flights of stairs. We somehow made it out alive – my legs felt like jello but I also felt like I had a great workout. Let’s just say I didn’t have gym day until a few days later. I am excited about this new adventure, in a new place but nervous at the same time. I think it will be good for me and one of the cool things about it is that I now live just a 10 minute ride from work. I love it because I can wake up at the same time, but get other things done in the morning – like reading, blogging and so on. Very cool.
I started a new semester
Like most college students around the nation, a new college semester started for me on Monday. I am currently enrolled in one College Algebra course and my other courses are all Psychology courses (my Major is Psychology.) This should be a good semester and I am so happy that I am getting closer to finishing my degree. I was dreading taking another math course, however, I am already enjoying the Professor I have and I think I may actually enjoy the course because of this.
Other happenings
I am currently working on a ton of posts – one is a post about some of my favorite college resources so be sure to check back for that. Make sure you sign up for my mailing list so that you can get new posts directly in your inbox. Or follow me on Twitter to interact with me and you can find out about my new posts there as well.
I hope that you have a beautiful weekend! I plan on finishing putting my place together and getting some much needed rest. What do you have planned for the weekend?
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.
I received a bottle of Valentia True Glow Eye Cream at a discounted price in exchange for an honest product review. All opinions are my own. This post includes affiliate links and I may receive a small commission if you decide to purchase this product.
My friends and family have teased me since I was in my late teens because I am off and on obsessed about skin care [and in my late teens/early 20’s scared to death of getting wrinkles]. I have since calmed down with the obsession but I do feel having a skin care routine is important. If you take care of your skin, you will be so happy with the results for years (and even decades if we are being honest) to come.
I have to be honest, I haven’t been taking great care of my skin lately and for 2016 I plan on really stepping up my game. I want to have smooth, soft skin for as long as I can – great skin care will help with that.
For me, one issue I have had is dark circles and tiny wrinkles under my eyes from late nights (in the past it was insomnia, now it is blogging and working on business ideas.) [Side note: I am trying to do better on the sleeping thing as well.]
Well I recently came across Valentia True Glow Eye Cream and I think that this may be one of my favorite products at the moment. I really noticed a different in the firmness of the skin under my eyes and I do see a slight change in the pigment under them as well.
Valentia True Glow Eye Cream is specially formulated for your the skin under your eyes, however you can also use it on other parts of your face. I have not used it on other parts of my face, however, I think if it may work on your neck as far as skin tightening goes.
I really liked that just one pump gave enough product for both eyes. I always use my pinky finger to apply anything under my eyes. Just put a little product on the tip of your finger, make a few dots and dab until it is absorbed in.
My first time using it I could instantly feel it working on firming up they under eye area. Even though it comes out as almost a mustard color it absorbed into my skin and didn’t leave any strange color.
As I mentioned above – I noticed a slight lightening of the dark circles under my eyes and I think if I am consistent it will be even better in a month or so. This really makes me happy because it is one of the reasons I don’t like to take pictures – you can see the shadows!
So far I am really enjoying Valentia True Glow Eye Cream and I would recommend it to anyone that has issues with the skin under their eyes. I will make sure to let y’all know the final results once I finish up this bottle.
Do you have any issues or concerns about the skin under your eyes? Have you tried Valentia True Glow Eye Cream? What are your thoughts on this product?
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.
It really is amazing how long American Idol has been on television. I am almost in disbelief that this season will be its last. I keep thinking that at the finale they are going to announce that they are actually going to go just… one… more… season. But I have a feeling they really are going to close the curtains and say goodbye. Knowing that this is the end got me thinking to what my favorite American Idol performances were.
For the first 5+ years I would tune in to see my “favorites” every week and vote for them in hopes that they would make it to the next round. I even had a couple of people that I knew through friends and family that went to auditions here in Hawaii (you can see one of the video’s below.) So here are my favorite American Idol Performances (in no particular order.)
Fantasia Barrino – I Believe
This was one of my all time favorite American Idol performances because it was so full of emotion. I felt like I was in church listening to someone’s testimony. It was so touching and powerful. Even through those tears she proved why she deserved that winning spot. *drops mic*
Sing it Tasia:
Kris Allen – Heartless
I loved Kris and after he did this performance, it really sealed the deal for me. He went from trailing behind and being boosted straight into the winner’s circle. His rendition of this Kanye hit was unexpected but done so well.
Check Kris out:
Adam Lambert – Tracks of My Tears
Why Adam didn’t win… ok… not gonna go there. But this version… really people. Adam is a PERFORMER and I was so happy that he did not go overboard with this. [Side note:I don’t see it as overboard, but ya know… American Idol]. There was just enough tenderness in it and I know others enjoyed seeing this side of him. It was a beautiful performance.
Please… let Adam entertain you:
William Hung – She Bangs
So… I remember the exact moment that I was watching this episode. I was sitting in the nail shop getting a pedicure after work. The nail shop wasn’t too busy but there were enough customers and nail technicians there that it felt like we were having a viewing party. When William Hung was being interviewed all I could think to myself was… this… should… be… interesting. I just knew regardless of how great (or horrible) his voice was about to be – Simon was going to grill him. Boy was I right. When William started singing and “banging” around everyone in the nail shop literally stopped what they were doing and stared – I am guessing saying to themselves “is he for real?” – and at the end nearly all of us starting laughing so hard. And along came Simon with his sassy response. I was laughing because it was funny but also because that man was passionate about what he was doing – I thought it was adorable. When Simon chimed in I felt bad, but I still giggled a little. His audition is probably one of my favorite American Idol moments.
Watch William Hung perform Rick Martin’s ‘She Bangs’:
Candice Glover – Lovesong
I really love(this)song [see what I did there?] Unfortunately, so many people have attempted to sing it and failed… miserably. Until Candice gave it life again. Her smooth and jazzy rendition really put me in the feels and I simply do not understand how she is not FAMOUS after that performance. I mean… come on… Mariah Carey went on stage and tossed glitter at her!! Randy Jackson said it was “one of the greatest performance’s in the HISTORY” of American Idol. Come on people. I think I voted for her the most out of any American Idol contestant.
Check Ms. Candice out:
Jessica Sanchez – And I Am Telling You
This young woman had such a big voice coming out of that petite body. Keep in mind she was just 16 years old. She was singing like a grown ass woman. *ahem* It is like she swallowed a soul singer and they are trying to escape her.
Jessica tells you that you’re gonna love her:
Jessica Sanchez – Dance With My Father
If you don’t get the feels hearing her sing this… something is wrong with you. Seriously. I could just write a whole post about Jessica Sanchez on American Idol… maybe I will… ok… no I won’t. But really… she just has a natural talent.
Hearing her sing is really inspirational and you hear her speak – she has some wisdom in her even as a teenager. After I finish this post I need to look up what she has been up to lately. She deserves the best.
Grab some tissues and get in your feelings:
Anoop Desai – Thank You
This was totally unexpected and I laugh every time I hear Simon talking about Anoop’s clothes and totally dismissing his vocal ability. Simon had to find something to say so he didn’t have to immediately admit that he liked what he heard. I liked some of Anoops other performances and really love some of the music he put out but his audition was really great in my opinion. Also… I cannot confirm/deny that I may have had a little crush on him.
Anoop Dawg:
Isaac
Let me say this… I know Isaac… he is a family friend. As far as the person in that audition… I only sorta know him. Ha! I have heard Isaac sing in person – and he is way better than what he sounds like in the audition. Even in the audition he wasn’t as horrible as some people are but that is besides the point. I just found it hilarious that he went out and tried to bring back some “fans” – that actually seems like something he would do – American Idol or not. I loved that he stood up for himself to the very end and didn’t care what anyone else thought.
Isaac’s confidence is what makes his audition one of my favorite American Idol performances:
Bonus: Local Girl, Paula Fuga
I put Paula in here because she is from Hawaii… and… because she has a lovely, soulful voice. Even though she didn’t make it past this audition on American Idol, she did end up with people that appreciated her vocal ability.
Here is Paula’s audition:
Here is Paula Fuga performing ‘Country Road’ with Jack Johnson:
Lastly, Paula Fuga at TEDxMaui speaking about being homeless in Hawaii as a child and reaching her dreams:
After reading about my favorite American Idol performances, what are YOUR favorite American Idol performances?
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.
