It Takes a Village...

You know how "they" say it takes a village to raise a child? Well I think it goes beyond that. It takes a village to do anything in life.

It took a village to get me through school. 

Now that I'm officially done with classes for my undergrad degree, I look back on the past seven years of my life and realize, I couldn't have done it alone and I didn't do it alone. 

And it goes beyond just amazing professors. I made some good friends, friends who helped me write papers, who gave me books from their library that they thought would help me through a paper, who gave me books when they purchased two copies of just to give me one, friends who panicked with me when papers were due, or projects needed to be presented. My "career" at my university gave me a friend for life with Gabby, and that's something I'll be forever grateful for.

There's my mom too. I'm sure she was pretty frustrated that I put having a kid on hold to finish my degree she still made it a point to make sure I knew she was proud of me. She paid for all my books (my credit cards thank her for that) she paid for my graduation fee, she was there when I got inducted into honor society and I'm pretty sure it was her hands that were clapping the hardest for me.

It's funny, in my lit class we were reading "Everyman" and long story short its a play about a man who tries to get someone to die with him so he doesn't have to go alone, after death tells him that he is taking him. In the story, no one will go with Everyman, they all have an excuse. When my professor asked us if there was anyone we could think of that would step up and go with us, I told her that I had no doubt in my mind that if I asked my mom (in this hypothetical situation, I'm not talking about suicide pacts here guys...just read the play haha) she would go with me in a heartbeat. Its her devotion that reminds me I'm never alone. There were times when I wanted to just give up and walk away, but it was the idea of her being proud of me for completing this, and accomplishing this, that kept me going. 

Then there's Dave. Quite frankly I'm not sure I would have even been in school if it hadn't been for him. We began dating November 7, 2006. By January 7, 2007 I was enrolled in my first class. He drove me to school the night before my first class and sat with me in the parking lot while I hyper ventilated. Every meltdown, every tear shed over a tough project, every twisted stomach over a presentation due, he was there. He hates reading, is bored by history, and could care less about literature, and yet is the first person to offer to read my 10+ page papers. When I'm stumped or have writers block, he is the one asking what its all about and then outlining my paper for me. 

I don't know how I did it. I look at some of the crazy schedules I made for myself so I could work full time and still take three classes in the day and I wonder how I got through. Then I remember, I wasn't alone. 

When I walk in May and when I get my degree between now and then, it's not MY degree. It's my friends'. It's my mom's.  It's Dave's.  It's the village's.

I leave you with this, it's one of my favorite lines from a poem that I adore. A poem I would have never read, never known about, never liked, had it not been for college:

                                        

Eyebrow Love

I'm sure you've read it/heard it before. Bloggers, makeup people telling you that you should fill in your eyebrows. Now, most of you should know I'm not a big fan of set makeup rules, but if there was one thing I would tell someone they should consistently do, it's fill in your eyebrows. 

Maskcara has preached it, Kate has preached it, even The Beauty Department has posted a few articles about filling in those brows. Like a good lip color or a splash of eye shadow, filling in your brows enhances your gorgeous-ness. Need proof here is a before and after brow pic of me:

I'm going to point out the obvious here so you don't have to: It's the same exact picture, I just used some computer techniques to enhance my brows to make them appear filled in. 
I'm a terrible selfie taker, I take most of my pictures with my iPhone and it didn't matter how hard I tried I could not get a decent 2nd shot of myself with my darn brows filled in.  

But I digress. If you notice in the 2nd photo, everything seems to pop a bit more. I did nothing to the picture itself except enhance the brows, and yet I seem more put together. I feel like my eyes pop more and the structure of my face changes slightly. 

There are plenty of great, easy products out there to help you fill in your brow. It's really not as scary as you may think. 

Benefit Brow Zings

This is what I currently use. It is a bit on the pricey side, but a little goes a very long way and this is something I'll have for years to come. Just a quick dab on each side of the product, then I fill in the brow. 

elf Studio Eyebrow Kit

I've never personally used this, however word on the streets is that it's a perfect dupe for the Benefit Brow Zings. At literally 1/10 the price, it doesn't hurt to try it first and see how you fare. 

Maybelline Master Shape Eyebrow Pencil

I have also personally used this, I didn't like it as much as the Benefit brow kit, but that just my preference. I prefer the brush to using a pencil. It still worked good and did the trick when it came to filling in my brows. 

There are tons of brow fillers to choose from, these are just a few that I've used/seen before. Either way, take the brow challenge! Either pick up your own brow kit/pencil and fill in those suckers, or head to your nearest Ulta/Sephora and have one of the girls there show you. It really does make a difference!

Do you fill in your brows? What products do you use to fill them in?

                                              

End of the Week Roundup

This week has been so hectic and crazy...with school winding down and everything else with life popping up this week I feel like the world is spinning really fast like a roundabout on the playground and I'm just along for the ride. Here's the round up for the week!

1. As I mentioned school is winding down. Monday night in my education class I had to complete my final project, which was teaching a lesson to the class. I don't normally like to toot my own horn but I nailed it! And I'm not just saying that, I aced it and got a ton of compliments from my teacher and fellow classmates. 

2. As of right now the only thing standing between me and my undergrad degree is one final and one paper. I already have once class finished and the grade to go with it (an "A"!! eeek!!!). My weekend will consist of finishing up these two things and then I'm free....well free until I have to go back for my certification. But free for now! 

3. Wednesday night, I hosted the holiday party for the teen book club. I got all the kids "The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear" for a gift and pizza. The teens brought in treats and we played Cranium. It was such a blast, and it reminded me how awesome my teens are and how lucky I am to be a part of their lives. 

4. Speaking of the TBC and the party...one of the teens created this Triceratops. I was so impressed by her skills with the sculpting clay! She also paid me a huge compliment at the end of the night. She said, "You're going to be an amazing teacher someday". Wow, just wow you guys, it totally made my night. 

5. Big hugs from Nibbler!

How was your week? 

 Linking up with Lauren and Lauren and Jennie!

                                       

Chats with my Cats

I've mentioned before that I'm a self proclaimed "CCL", if you have any doubts about that this post should probably cement that for you....

I'm sure I'm not the only person out there who has conversations with her cats I've always been a firm believer that our pets are family members and should be treated as such. That means morning greetings, goodbye loves, welcome home kisses, and lot's of "how are you, I've missed you". It also goes beyond that and that's where this post comes in at. I present to you some golden nuggets from conversations with Nibbler and Squishee:

"I'm so proud of you but also incredibly disgusted"- What I said to Nibbler upon watching him catch a fly that was buzzing around with his paws and then shove said fly into his mouth with his paws. 

"Steal my birth control one more time and I'll have a kid just to spite you!"- I'm not sure which one does it but I keep my pack on my nightstand and for a period of time they would knock it off and leave it in random places, like under my bed or under my dresser. After I said this the daily heist of my pill pack seemed to stop. 

"Nibbler, this is not Flashdance and you are not Jennifer Beals. Move please."-Nibbler loves water. Loves it. Which means if you accidentally spill water on him, he thinks it's a treat. This also means that when I have to put his water bowl down most mornings he's standing directly underneath the bowl, preventing me from putting it down. 

"Dude, why does your breath smell like Doritos?"-Dave asked Squishee this the other day. No, I don't know why his breath smelled like Doritos, but it was pretty funny.

Squish's first Halloween. It was the last time I dressed them up. His face should explain why.

Do you ever talk to your pets?


                                       

Mineral Foundation

When I posted about my favorite makeup items, I had a few people ask me about mineral foundation. I'm going to throw this out there now, I am no makeup expert. Everything I know is through experience and asking others opinions. 

Without further ado, here is my review on different mineral foundations that I have personally tried:

Bare Minerals 

I wanted to love Bare Minerals, I really did. It did a great job covering up my blemishes and evening out my skin tone. The problem? It made me break out so bad. I know a ton of people who swear by Bare Minerals, so I would still recommend it but for me personally, my skin did not like it. 

Aveda Inner Light Mineral Foundation

I swore by this stuff for years. I still do love it, but the problem is that it doesn't have very good staying power. That, coupled with the fact that I have oily skin and my makeup fades because of that anyway, meant that by mid morning it didn't look like I had put anything on. Primers and using another mineral makeup on top of that (which is next on the list) did help a little but quite frankly, why should I buy two different foundations to do the job that one should do? Plus, this foundation seemed to empty out pretty quickly, like every other month I'd have to buy a new one. It was just getting too expensive for me. This foundation covered great, applied easily, and was good to my face. If it stayed on better, it would be my one and only. 

Pur Minerals Pressed Powder

I bought this stuff to go over top my Aveda foundation to try to help keep it on longer. I didn't like it on it's own, it didn't cover very well  and it took forever to build up enough coverage to get an even tone. However, when I put it on top of my Aveda powder, it did something magical. It gave me a nice glow, covered up any imperfections that the Aveda powder missed, and softened the size of my big ol pores. The only reason I don' use the combo anymore is because they're expensive on their own and then paired up together I was paying ridiculous amounts of money to do what one foundation could do on its own. 

Tarte Amazonian Clay 

My current go to foundation. The packaging helps prevent spillage and the netting in the base helps control how much goes on the brush so you aren't losing precious makeup. The foundation builds very easily so it covers nicely, and it does a great job of evening out my skin tone without washing me out, and my skin seems to like it, no random breakouts. 

What foundation do you like to use?