San Juan Capistrano Mission

Andy and I bought some tickets to the San Juan Capistrano Mission (in San Juan Capistrano, CA). It's the only mission located in Orange County. 

And, boy, let me tell you. It was ga-hor-geous!

From the outside, it doesn't look like it'd be big by any means...but it totally was. We were both amazed at how much was in there.

I, of course, was snapping way at pictures, while Andy was happily listening to his audio tour device. A total win win situation.

That is, until I started getting on his nerves by asking repeatedly, "Can you press Pause and take a pic of me, like, right now?" and, "Ooo! Wait, freeze in that position, I think I have a great shot!!!"

By the look on his face, you'd think I just asked him to show me his chonies and pose like the saints... Sheesh.

ABOVE: I have to say Andy actually got his art on with this picture... Usually when I ask for a picture of myself, he just rolls his eyes, grabs the camera, points and shoots. No countdown, no warning that my hair is all astray, just point and shoot. The picture above is one of his finer moments.

 ABOVE: Inside of this church, Andy was sooooo excited to recognize some of the symbols on the ornaments, walls, etc. that he's read and seen documentaries on. I love how excited he gets when he explains history to me.

ABOVE: We are not catholic, but this was too good of a picture not to take and then post. I love the deep shadowy look this picture gives off. So artsy fartsy.

ABOVE: Another good take from Mr. Andreas... Or maybe I just love pictures of myself...Hmm. :)

ABOVE: I have to say, I got down in this photo!!! Although, I do have to give the credit to my retro camera app I have on my phone that took this picture from being boring and making me look all professional... Apps these days are Ah-mazing. Seriously.

ABOVE: Again, another good pic Andy took.

ABOVE: A shot of Andy on his hand dandy audio tour  walking through what was once the main church building.

ABOVE: Annnnnd, me just being my random self and posting a picture of my feet.

We really liked touring this mission. It's too bad this is the only one in Orange County. To serenely tour the mission, it took us about 2 hours... And this included me bugging Andy alllll along the way to stop and take like a bazillion pictures.We definitely are going to check out other missions in California (most are along the coast). You should too!

Until next time...

Tides of Change...Again

Last night as I lay in bed, I decided to check the status of my YouTube channel that I started not too long ago. I wanted to see who my newest subscriber was.

Note: With every single new subbie, it feels like getting a vote for Prom Queen!!! I get pretty giddy with excitement and feelings of acceptance to the point of jumping up on my bed and giving the hubz a pageant wave to show him how loved I feel.

So after telling him that I got my 7th subbie - yup!!! SEVENTH SUBBIE y'all!!!

Move over, Michelle Phan!!! hahaha

Anywho, the oh so supporting hubz decided to ask me how many videos I've uploaded and I responded coolly, " Seven". you know, no biggie.

And then you know what he did?

He stopped playing his online poker game and gave me the world's most surprised look.

As if he actually couldn't believe that I've made AND uploaded SEVEN VIDEOS on YouTube.

How shocking!

So surprise turned into interest and he said he was going to watch my videos. I nervously handed over my phone so he could watch and proceeded to wait in silence (he was listening with headphones) and decided to critique myself harshly- since I know that that is what was about to happen - might as well prepare myself, right?

But to my pleasant surprise, he told me he thought I evoked the same amount of confidence as the other guru's I follow on YouTube! (For those of you wondering, yeah, he watches the beauty videos with me when he's bored and I am ignoring him).

And then he had a few suggestions for me, which motivated me to write this blog today.

He said he thinks that I need to have a POV (point of view) that will attract and hold subscribers attention. I proceeded to tell him that my POV was "low end chic", because I feel a lot of the girls on YouTube who are good (in my opinion) tend to focus almost all of their reviews, hauls, tutorials, etc. on high end brand makeup. And I know A TON of girls who can't afford that. So that's where I got the motivation to start my channel.

The hubz then made a good point: I still need a general layout or theme in my channel to get others to actually look forward to my videos... Kind of like a set expectation from my channel.

So that really made me think...

What if I created a personal schedule for myself to make 3 videos a week (ambitious, I know) but I would rotate every other week with themed videos.

Let me explain by just showing you my schedule I'm hoping to adopt and maintain:

1st & 3rd week

Make It! Monday - featuring DIY tutorials on everything beauty related

Whatev! Wednesday - featuring anything and everything that you probably wouldn't be able to make into a weekly video such as Hauls, Monthly Fav's, Announcements, etc...

Fabulous Friday - featuring makeup tutorials for going out, events, occasions, etc... (wearable looks)

2nd & 4th week

Tell Me About It! Tuesday - featuring products reviews and explanations on product uses.

Take a Pic! Thursday - featuring makeup tutorial looks that are more artsy and theatrical that you probably wouldn't exactly go out in public with but would be great looks to document by taking pictures of yourself. (beauty shots)

Such a Steal! Saturday - featuring cheap beauty finds worth mentioning.

So whatcha think???

I think it's fabulous and am soooo excited and motivated to get this schedule going.

P.S. What do you think about my front bangs??? I thought I needed a little change and also decided my forehead could use a break from the spotlight.

Until next time...

Redemption

So, a few posts ago, I was kicking myself in the shins (yeah, it is possible to do that) for not stocking up on a great 99cent Only Store find - Nailene Salon Airbrush Glue On Nails with the Striped French Tip.

I originally bought one just to try it out (as I've never used DIY nails before) and I figured if I liked them enough I could go back and stock up... no biggie.

Well, to my despair, after finding out how AWESOME this product is, my local 99cent Only Store was completely out!!! Like, not ONE Striped French Tip remained...Just a few pink tipped w/polka dots and white tipped w/flowers... So I bought one of each but only because I didn't want to waste my time going there and buying NOTHING...Unheard of!

So, I sulked home, wondering when I'd ever get another chance to find a product like that again - for a dollar. 

But little did I know...today was going to be my redemption day!

On my lunch break, I headed over to the 99 and lo and behold, there they were! A whole butt load of the Striped French Tipped Nailene's!!!! I was so giddy! I almost jumped up and down right there. 

But I maintained my dignity and instead proceeded to greedily fill up my basket with about - oh - 12 Nailene items!!! (Although, I would LOVE to have gotten all 30 of the items in stock, I knew that 1.The hubz would NOT be happy with me spending $30 on nail products alone and 2. I didn't want to do to another frugalista what happened to me last week - total and utter sadness to the point of slamming my fists against my dashboard - demanding justice!)

Now I have no need to plan for a trip to the nail salon and get my nails done for the holidays.  And then budgeting for the fills that costs as much as a full set.

Nope! Not me! Beginning November 1st, I will get my nails did by Me, Myself and I!

Anywho, here's a pic of 3 of the 12 items I scored today:

BELOW: I also scored some Apricot Scrub that's supposed to be a dupe for St. Ives Apricot Scrub... Looks legit, but we'll see.

UPDATE: This product sucks... Hardly any "grains" to exfoliate and the cream base itself just did nothing for my skin. Andy tried it as well and agreed. So i threw it away. Skip this product if you see it.

BELOW: I also ended up purchasing 3 wire pencil holders that I am going to be using as my makeup brush holders. I'm going to beautify them a bit to give them a more "me" look and then I'll post those pics soon.

Oh!!! Also, I am going to post some pics of my newly established "beauty" area in my bedroom... I honestly cannot believe I was able to score a spot in my room to be entirely for my use. So happy about it and hopefully that will be more helpful in getting some YouTube beauty videos uploaded faster.

BELOW: Also, I scored a few more random non-beauty related items that I thought were worth mentioning, because this just proves that it's best to shop at the 99 before WalMart, Target, & grocery stores...

All 3 of these babies are brand name, full sized, not expired (always have to be careful when shopping the 99 for expiration dates) and as always - only 99 cents each!!!

(sigh) I don't think I see a cure for this any time soon...

Until next time...

All About Books Tuesday (???)

Hmmm, I'm seriously doubting my creative skills in blog titles right now.

Oh, well, it gets the point across...

As you can tell, right now I seem to be blogging about everything (not just beauty related items).

Like I mentioned before, I think that's what I am going to do until I figure what my niche is in this whole blogging world...Not because I have to, but because I really do enjoy blogging. 

So I'm a big fan of reading...but if I'm going to be honest, it's pretty much YA (young adult) fiction books that attract and hold my attention.

I literally spend almost all my free time doing one of two things because I'm that much of an interesting person.

1. Watching YouTube Beauty videos

2. Reading YA books

Yeah, I like movies, I like hanging out and visiting family and friends, I kind of like hanging with my husband, blah, blah, blah...

What really makes me savor life's sweetest moments is being able to spend countless hours watching YouTube videos and/or being curled up somewhere reading a great book...

And now you are probably navigating your mouse cursor to the X to click out of this blog, never to return...

Well, at least my husband still likes me and thinks of me as heaven sent since my obsessions hobbies allow him time to watch sports without being "nagged" - whatever THAT means.

Ok. Moving on.

Today the third book of the Hush Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick was released. 

I was so tempted to buy it at Target today, but held myself back since another book is being released next week that I want even more than this one.

I must say, this is an interesting series so far.

At first, I was drawn to read the first book based off the cover alone (yup, I'm one of those people). And to my surprise, I liked it enough to read the next book and then happily anticipate the said book above.

Here is a brief description of the first book, Hush Hush, just to give you an overall feel of what this series is about (cuz heaven knows I can't describe 2 paragraphs into a few sentences! Just look where you are at in this post!):

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

So, of course, this kind of reminded me of Twilight (but that's also why I probably ended up reading it) but then again, it's not, since Patch can be weird and rude way longer than Edward was in Twilight.

Anywho, overall it was an interesting read and I honestly am excited for the day when I can pick this book up. 

Have you read any of these books before?

If so, leave me a comment, I'd love to hear from ya!

FYI - I am currently reading a book called Uglies by Scott Westerfield. Good read, so far. I'll probably blog about this book (on a Tuesday - of course) once I am finished.

 

Till next time...

RESULTS/THOUGHTS: Micro-dermabrasion & Deep Cleanse Facial

So, as my previous post stated, I was on my lovely little way to get a micro-dermabrasion and deep cleansing facial at a salon in Old Town Tustin.

I'm sure you are wondering how could a lowly girl claiming to be in a "personal recession" possibly afford a treatment like this???

The thing is, I can't afford services like these. 

At least, not at their full price. I'm happy to say that I purchased this baby off of LivingSocial.com - an awesome website that offers local daily deals to purchase services at a minimum of 50-90% off the normal rates.

CAN I SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE WEBSITES LIKE THIS !?!?!

Anywho, I've heard some really great things about getting micro-dermabrasions done every 2 months or so (depending on what you are looking to achieve with your skin). And since I have combination skin (oily and dry skin), large pores and a few acne scars (because, yes!, I cannot just let a pimple take up valuable real estate on my face without taking some kind of action - so I pick and poke and whatever else I need to do in order to make it go away faster!!!), I decided that a micro-dermabrasion and deep cleansing facial is just what I need to try out and see if this is something that could help me with my daily facial woes...

Here is a picture of me right before I am about to head in to the salon...(I have makeup on but you can still see the oily-ness and redness).

So a little about the procedure... First, the esthetician washed my makeup off and then used this suctioning wand that basically felt like a cat licking you and trying to suck on your cheek simultaneously (it didn't hurt or traumatize me) and what I get the just of it to do is basically peel away dead layers of your skin to reveal fresh, smoother looking skin.

After, she did that, she put on some kind of facial salve to soothe my skin from irritation and then proceeded to start the facial.

If you've gotten a facial before then you know the deal-io, but since this was a deep cleansing facial, she used this blackhead extracting tool (didn't get a look at it since I had all this stuff on my face) to remove any of the obvious blackheads. 

To my disappointment, she didn't spend too much time on this part. I think she only targeted the really obvious blackheads, but I feel like my whole face could've used a run down of this extraction tool. 

In this case, you definitely get what you paid for... (sigh)

Anywho, all the other typical steps to a facial were done and I was left with a glowy, dewy freshly revitalized face.

The remainder of the day I let my face breathe by not putting any makeup on a.k.a. I went straight home and stayed in for the evening...

I also, forgot to take a pic of my face sans makeup so you can see my "after" face. Not that there would've been any noticeable difference in my face since we can't visibly see the layers of our skin.

It's been 3 days since I've had this done and to be quite honest, the only two things I noticed since Saturday morning was that one of my acne scars had slightly faded (yay!) but the skin on my nose was tremendously dry and peeling (boo!).

Other than those two items, I don't see much of any immediate benefit from this service, except to keep going on a bi-monthly basis, which - as mentioned above - I am in no state to maintain.

I think I'm just going to have to save up and invest in the Clarisonic system at Ulta... I've heard some good reviews on it and it'll be much cheaper than going to a salon (even if I can continue to find and purchase the deal I got).

Oh, yeah, here is my skin 3 days later... Again, I'm wearing makeup but I think you can still see my pores pretty good in this pic. Now, that's an attractive thing to point out, I know... (rolling my eyes)

I think I just secretly want you to see me, even in my non-inspiring oily work look! (wink wink)

Until next time...

Stay chic even if it's cheap!