Untitled: For a Reason

As some of you may know, I am almost done with this semester. Woohoo! I only have two more finals left, on Monday and Tuesday. One of them is actually a speech, so I only need to study for the other. And if you know me well enough, I probably won't start until Saturday ;)

So with all this extra time, what have I been doing?

I'm trying to make time pass. I've played games, I've napped, I've watched tons of episodes of Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Simpsons on Hulu.com. Not productive at all, I know. But other than that, I've been thinking about my blog. My blog doesn't exactly fit into a category. It's a mixture of reviews and things I want, but mostly I just talk about myself. Like what I'm doing right now.

I would love to have a beauty blog like my friend Lainey's, but I don't have that many beauty products. Fashion? I am not fashionable in any way. I could be, but I don't have the money to. Because I don't exactly have a motive for my blog, I lack encouragement sometimes. There were a few times when I think about deleting my blog altogether. I just feel like I don't have anything to say anymore. To some people, a blog is like a diary. A diary can be a great idea, but in my opinion, it's much too personal. I don't want to gossip about my classmates or rant about my parents to the world. Besides, I don't even think anyone would like to read about that.

Don't you ever feel discouraged sometimes?

Maintaining a blog is a huge commitment and requires extensive dedication, and often, I just feel I don't have enough of either. I have the time and mindset for a blog, but I lack a motive and drive. I think having a themed-blog is so much easier.

I wish I had strawberries & whipped cream! Source

Reminder: Giveaway Ends!

Hello there! This is a reminder that my giveaway ends this Saturday, the 15th. I will pick a winner (whoever comments on the post the most) on Saturday and will ship out the goodies ASAP, after I've contacted and received the address of the winner :)

Anyways, I think I deserve some relaxing time after finals! I did my nails and my favorite facial :) Sorry the quality is terrible, my camera is back home :(

• Alba Papaya Enzyme Mask
• Wet 'n Wild Wild Shine (Blazed)
• Wet 'n Wild Wild Shine (Clear)
• Ulta (Starstruck)

My nails make me feel like a princess, tehe! After a base color, I dabbed the glitter along my cuticle line. Then I used the clear coat and applied it like normal: cuticle to the tip of my fingernails :) I kept messing up on the thumbs for some reason :(

What do you think?

Good Morning!

At 2 in the afternoon... tehe! I had my first final of the semester today. Here's what I did...

• Got out of bed yesterday around noon and "worked" on my take-home half of the final until 2 AM.
• Went to sleep a little past 2.
• Woke up at 6:30 AM. Stupid iPod alarm didn't work...
• Showered, got ready, etc. Done by 7 AM.
• Ate two granola bars. 
• Left apartment at 7:10 AM.
• Reached classroom around 7:25.
• Waited for the final exam at 8 AM.
• Finished and left at 8:25. I swear, people were finished after 10 minutes!
• Went to the student bookstore and bought me and my roommate orange juice :)
• Home. Nap. 

And here I am, waking up at 2 PM! And I had planned to do an all-nighter... bad idea! The truth is, I wasn't really tired or sleepy yet. I was in the kitchen by myself, in the dark and it was quiet. I do not like that combination. At all. So, I started to freak out and right after I finished my work, I went straight to bed. It's stupid, I know. But I couldn't help it! 

Well anyways, the final exam was fine. Only 25 multiple choice questions. The take-home part was a four-part essay. Now that one took forever. I can't say I'm too confident because it's American history... there is just too much that happened. 

What am I doing right now? Munching on Bugles and drinking orange juice! Bugles aren't really popular anymore. I found these by chance. Have you ever had any?

Goodbye Fall Semester!

Today is my last day of classes! My first class (at 9 AM) got cancelled because our professor has jury duty and so, I will start school at 12 PM today :) My weekend had been a little rough. Everything I ate made my stomach hurt :( I'm getting better, but I'm still scared to eat. I have no clue what it is. I haven't done anything different, really. All I did was wait it out. It went away after about 2 days. I tried to research online what it could be, but there's so many different stomach problems! I do hope this won't turn into anything serious.

In the meantime, we're looking for a new apartment! I know, our lease is 1 year, but we've been through so much... broken fridge, cockroaches, bed bugs, broken window, some unknown kind of bug, etc. We feel that our landlord owes us because he didn't really take care of these problems. My roommates and I had to deal with them on our own. Four little girls with no fridge and bugs everywhere? It's beyond scary. We did learn from this experience and know what to expect, but it shouldn't have been this way.

Rule #1: If you want to be a landlord, do your very best because someone's home can be awesome or hell. Someone's comfort and safety is in your hands. Nobody wants to come home depressed every day because of bug problems.

Speaking of rules... let's move on to self-promoters. I support and allow self-promoting, which is posting your link on another site in hopes to bring in more readers and followers. In fact, I leave my url on other blogs sometimes when I comment. However, there are rules. Here's a few I came up with:

Rule #1: Be respectful and considerate. Always reread your comments and messages. If you are going to leave your link and name, make sure you are respectful and considerate. Some people are more sensitive about this issue and you could eventually deal with anger, pain, and a hurt reputation.

Rule #2: If I can see you have an inappropriate url, I will not publish it on my blog. This is not about being sensitive, it's about keeping my blog a safe environment for my readers. I mean, does it look like my blog needs something rated-X on it? I think not.

Rule #3: Do not spam. Nobody likes spammers. Sure, self-promote yourself maybe once a day on one website or blog, but any more than that can irritate the authors/ owners.

Please keep in mind that I do moderate comments. If I find a comment that breaks any of the above rules, I will not publish them. I want to keep my blog a safe, welcoming environment. I believe one of the biggest responsibilities of a blogger is to think of their readers first.

Let's end with a kitty picture, shall we? :)

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Christmas Wishlist 2012

Hey there! I only have two more days of class left and then comes finals week. I am so excited! I will try to blog during finals week, if I have time or if I think of something interesting. I don't think anyone wants to hear about stress or hear me reciting history notes.

I have had a great time this semester. Living in my own place was definitely the biggest change. It has taught me to manage time, be more organized, and to live with new people! I had a wide range of different classes this time around; some were way better than I expected and some... I just can't wait to be done with. For example, I have come to absolutely love my communications class! I'm not a great public speaker and I usually tend to be super nervous, but I've learned so much in this class. I've learned how to be more prepared on speech days, how to present professionally, and how to be more comfortable and confident.

Well, let's get started on my wishlist! I might add or change a few things as Christmas nears... tehehe.

1. Somebody pleasepleasePLEASE get me Once Upon a Time (Season 1)! This is number one on my list, even before a tablet and boots! I got hooked on this show during Thanksgiving break and I MUST HAVE IT. The story-line is just... indescribably amazing. Source of first picture. Second picture.

2. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is second on my wishlist. It's a want, not a need like my Once Upon a Time, hehe. Jon showed me this tablet a while back and it's simply gorgeous! I saw it in person once during class. The guy next to me said it's much better than the iPad (he had the first generation). A tablet, to me, is more like a luxury. It would be nice to have, but it's not a must. Source of picture here. You can buy this here.

3. A new camera. Mine is just so outdated and it's red. Not my kind of thing. I found one that's sleek with great specs: the Canon PowerShot A4000IS. It is priced at $100 on Amazon.com currently. 16 MP, 8x optical stabilized zoom, 3-inch LCD screen, and it comes in five different colors! Source of picture + where you can buy this here.

4. The first three are my main wants/needs. Other things on my wishlist include: riding boots, a new journal (cute ones!), coats + sweaters, scarves, etc. I don't exactly have any specifics ones I want (because there's so many to choose from!), so I can't put up pictures, but here are some cute ones I found on Polyvore:

Sources: 1/2/3/4/5

I hope you enjoyed my wishlist this year! Got a wishlist for Christmas? Link me!

Tips to Save Money During the Holidays

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Hey guys! I promised to make a post about saving money this season. Who doesn't need to save money during Christmas?! There's presents, Christmas trees and decorations, and food! Here are some great tips I've learned over the years (I'll probably edit this tomorrow or add some more):

1. Bring cash: If you bring cash, you basically have a physical budget. That way you won't overspend with a credit card. This is one of the easiest trick to saving money!

2. Make a shopping list: Bring a pen to check off items on your list. At the end of the day, reward yourself with hot cocoa if you bought things only on the list. This allows you to buy only what you need.

3. Shop alone: This might not seem too appealing, but shopping with a friend can make you feel pressured! Often times, friends make suggestions which are hard to say no to. Sound familiar? And what about taking your time in particular store because your friend wants to try on a million things? Shopping alone will not only keep the pressure away, you will be able to zoom through stores and finish shopping in no time :)

4. Sign up for coupons: Got an email account you don't really use? Dedicate it to email coupons from stores like Bath and Body Works, Macy's, and more. You can usually sign up for these on the homepage of the store's website. I've gotten free lip gloss from Bath and Body and free undies from Victoria Secret before! Don't feel like printing out coupons? Most stores will still accept the coupons if you show it to them on your phone.

5. Use reward cards: American Eagle and Sephora have reward cards which allows for discounts or freebies after reaching a certain amount of points. I know, it's hard to reach that goal! And to reach it, you must buy more! But just remember to swipe your reward cards every time you shop - watch those points rack up as you shop for your friends and family. And maybe, you'll be able to get yourself a little something with those rewards! ;)

6. Make it yourself: Handmade gifts are much more meaningful. A few ideas are: cookies in a glass jar (tied with a ribbon!), coupon books for your boyfriend or girlfriend, knitted/ crocheted scarves (or mittens and socks if you're good!), and jewelry! I really like the cookie in a jar idea; it's also really cute to make hot cocoa mix. To do that, fill a glass jar halfway with cocoa powder and fill the rest of the jar with marshmallows! You can add cinnamon, wafer sticks, etc.

7. Try to buy everything in one day: Dedicate one day to buy everything on your shopping list to save on gas and time. Also, this will prevent you from adding on to your shopping list! ;) That would be considered cheating!

8. Save receipts: Keep these instead of throwing them away. What if you bought a shirt in the wrong size? Or what if you accidentally bought too many glass jars for your cookies? Return them! Yes, that means waiting in line for half an hour because it is holiday season, but hey. You can save a lot of money that way!

I hope this list will do its part and save you money this year :) I honestly sat down in the library and wrote these tips down, so please credit me if you wish to share!

Happy shopping (and saving!) <3

IT'S ALIVE

Yes, the internet works! It only took exactly one week. Seriously, right to the minute. Now I can proceed with my plans! Last Wednesday while I was sitting at the library, I planned out a few blog posts. This includes a wishlist for Christmas and ways to save money during holiday season. I will create separate posts for those two probably later tonight or tomorrow. I don't think I've ever created a Christmas wishlist before. My family doesn't really celebrate it, but I wish we did. I want the full experience: setting up the tree, climbing up an unreliable ladder to put up lights, wearing ugly reindeer sweaters, and having a Christmas dinner!

When the internet started working about an hour ago, my roommate went to do her usual things: check email and read the news. She suddenly exclaimed (exclaiming is not in her nature, lol) and commanded I go on Yahoo.com to read an article because it was cute. And it was! A boy wrote a girl a love letter in the sixth grade and twenty-years later... they get married! You can read the article here. How sweet is that?! If only Jon and I went to the same elementary school... no, just kidding!

Jon actually went to the same elementary school as my cousin did. My cousin is the same age as me and Jon. She and I were basically best friends when we were younger and she told me about everyone at her school. So that's how I knew Jon existed. Come middle school, all three of us actually went to the same one. Apparently, I had three classes with Jon (we found this out recently when we thought about our class schedules!). But that's not the cute part (hehehe). Jon has had a crush on me since the first day of seventh grade. It's almost as cute as the article, right? Ha! Well, I think it's the cutest thing ever. I had a secret admirer for years and I had no clue! We are now second-years in college, so that makes it... eight years. Huh. That's a really long time...

Have a great day! :) My giveaway is still going on until December 15th!

Here's a picture quote I found from my tumblr (it goes with this post!):

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Unproductive Weekend

The Comcast guy finally came and fixed our internet, but it stopped working again when he left. He didn't exactly explain the problem either... so I guess we're stuck sitting by our front door, hoping to get good connection from our friend's internet upstairs. This past weekend has been rainy nonstop and I didn't get any homework done; I laid in bed most of the time playing Plants Vs. Zombies. And one of my roommates got me ice cream! Mint with Oreos! Yeah, a little crazy to be eating ice cream in this weather, but it's mint! My other two favorite ice cream flavors are vanilla and green tea. Yum.

On another note, my boyfriend and I got into a little fight. We don't normally fight. It's usually little disagreements here and there, and me just being cranky. I guess I can say the fight we just had was our biggest. It's hard to actually fight with my boyfriend since we are 119 miles apart. I told him I wanted a break last night and I barely slept because I was crying, etc. We eventually did talk things out this afternoon and we shall see if the problem will be resolved or not :)

Make sure you check out my giveaway, which ends December 15! If you do not have a Blogger or Google+ account, you can still enter! When you comment, select Anonymous and just leave me your information :) Good luck!

UPDATE

Oh, I almost forgot: I'm supposed to upload pictures with all my blog posts! I found an adorable kitty picture on tumblr today:

I am such a cat person, hehe! Source

GIVEAWAY: BB+W Hand Sanitizers and Mini Notebook

Hey there! I would like to hold a giveaway for my amazing followers and readers :) It will be a little Christmas present from me. 

Sorry the picture isn't the great quality. I left my camera back home and used my iPod instead :(

I will be giving away:

• Bath and Body Hand Sanitizer (Colada)
• Bath and Body Hand Sanitizer (Sugar Lemon)
• One mini Korean-style notebook (pick one)

Rules:

1. You must live in the United States (sorry, international friends!)

2. You must comment on this blog post telling me what you like about my blog/ what I should improve on. OR you can tell me about your day, what your favorite part of December is, etc. Just comment!

3. You must leave your email with your comment! (Or I will contact you through Blogger to get your email, but that will take longer!)

4. Your comment will not count if you spam me with irrelevant  comments or say anything rude/ offensive.

I will choose one winner on December 15. The winner will be whoever comments the most. In other words, it's a commenting contest! If you are the winner, I will email you for your address and choice of notebook. Then I will mail your presents ASAP! 

Good luck! <3

UPDATE

I decided to throw in some tea and instant hot chocolate too! :)

December Is Here!

I only have about two more weeks of school left! That means final exams, essays that are assigned last minute, and... winter break! An entire month of break. I can't wait! :) Jon will be in Oklahoma for two weeks, so I don't exactly get to spend the entire thirty days with him, but that's okay. I'm bittersweet about him leaving two days after I get back because I do want him to see his family in Oklahoma, but I really want to spend our first Christmas together. It would be magical...

The other day, an idea popped into my mind: I thought it would be cool to have a new blogging goal every year, as part of my New Year's resolution. I know, not a lot of people keep their resolutions, but I really want to try my best! I already have an idea of what I want my new goal to be. My current goal is to get more pageviews than the previous month, but I think I need something more challenging. Not only do I want more pageviews, I want more followers. I've been reading my past blog posts and I've noticed nothing really stands out. That is why I installed a new template yesterday (my other reason is because I was getting tired of the green!). Also, I want to bold and italicize certain words. That way, the words won't all look the same! One more thing I want to do... I need more pictures! The reason why I don't upload a lot of pictures is because my camera sucks and I feel that most of my blog posts don't need a random picture of my face. However, I've found a way around that: I will do my best to post at least one picture with every blog post, using tumblr! If I don't post my own pictures in a blog post, I will find a cool, cute, funny, or weird picture from my tumblr dashboard!

Hopefully starting on my New Year's resolutions early will give me a head start in achieving my goals. Let's get started on those pictures!

I found a really cool December challenge:

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Hmm, sounds like something I might want to do!

Happy December :)