Category: Other

The blog-aholic award

Published on by Alicia6 Comments

Hello everyone, I’m currently in Ohio and will be taking a tour of Ohio University soon. I’m super excited to see all of campus. Last night my dad and I drove all over campus so we were able to see a bunch of buildings and sort of figure our way around Athens.

Last night, I was nominated for the Blog-aholic award by Sarah at Cups of Confessions, which was created by Esme at The Recipe Hunter. Very big thanks to both of these lovely ladies for the nomination and for the award itself. Be sure to check out both of their blogs at some point! Let’s get started with this award.

Rules

  1. Put the above award logo/image on your blog
  2. List the rules
  3. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog (it can be to the post in which they nominated you or any other post or you can even link to their “About” page)
  4. Mention the creator The Recipe Hunter (Cook & Enjoy) of this award and please provide a link or pingback as I [Esmé of The Recipe Hunter (Cook & Enjoy) ] would love to meet you!
  5. Write a post to show your award
  6. Share a link to your best post(s)
  7. Share 3 interesting and different facts about yourself
  8. Nominate 5-10 fellow bloggers, or more if you wish
  9. Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created.

My Best Posts:

March on

Change is good

Pulchri-what

3 Interesting Facts:

  1. I cry whenever I see any animal
  2. Speaking of crying, the only movies I’ve ever cried during were Marley and Me and The Notebook (but only the first time)
  3. I can’t wait to go to COLLEGEEEEEEE

I Nominate:

Lu          Tiana          Steff          Sarahn          Jess

That’s all for this award. Thanks once more to Sarah for the nomination and I hope you all enjoyed reading this and everyone nominated enjoys making the post

Alicia

Maybe next year

Published on by AliciaLeave a comment

Something that always gets me is when people think that a new year is basically just the only time you can restart yourself or make goals for yourself or make any sort of change. Today, I was browsing facebook looking at the damage control on our country from the last 24 hours, hoping to see at least one cute dog photo in that time, and I stumbled upon this photo of a tweet that said “January was a free trial… I’ll start my new year February 1st”

The person shared it and was like “Time to restart my resolutions.” It’s funny to me that people feel the need to make goals on only the first of the year. I’m not saying that New Year’s Resolutions are overrated since I made a resolutions post but most of these Resolutions are things I had been working on before, however, these people can’t just decide they want to do something and then just do it. They have to wait 29 days or hell 10 months before they can start a new goal.

Why have we as a society, decided that people can’t have ambitions 365 days of the year? Why are we limited to 5 days or so throughout the year?

When we break a resolution (me for example and my sleep schedule haha) I had still been getting crappy sleep so last Wednesday, I was like ‘you are waking up at 8 am tomorrow and liking it.’ I didn’t need to wait until February 1st or even the next Monday to do it. I had something I wanted to accomplish, I had a goal, and I went for it. And hey, almost a week later and my sleep schedule is getting back on track.

Basically, what I’m saying is that is you have a goal jotted down on a sticky note for the start of the month, or next Monday or whatever, start it now. Start it now! And then next month you’ll be happy you did.

Ringing in the New Year Tag

Published on by Alicia6 Comments

Hi everyone, I was just tagged this morning by Sophie from Blame Chocolate for the Ringing in the New Year tag. Now, I’m not really a book blog… I don’t think I’ve ever posted anything book related actually, however, I’m an avid reader and follow quite a few book blogs. So, I figured I’d give a whirl at this tag. Once again thanks to Sophie for the tag and don’t forget to give her blog a look.

Best book/series you’ve read in 2016?

I read the book The Girls by Emma Cline and I really loved it. It’s a book that takes place in the late 60s, about Evie Boyd and her friends. Evie becomes enthralled with a girl Suzanne and her friend group and drops everything to become as close to them as possible. Then shit gets real and I don’t want to spoil anything. I really loved that book and I hope to read more of Cline’s work this year.

Authors that you’ve recently found and would like to read more of in the new year

Emma Cline, as I just said haha.

Most anticipated book turned TV/Movie show

Technically I haven’t yet read the book either, however, a friend has recommended The Mountain Between Us and it is in my top 10 books to read this year. So, if the book does live up to my friend’s rave reviews then I would love to see the movie.

Name a character that you wouldn’t mind sharing a kiss with at midnight

I feel like every book I read, girls are main characters. Any guy in any book I almost ever read is a douche and I don’t want to kiss them, so shit, maybe Marley from Marley and Me is the only one I’d want to kiss.

What’s on my TBR for 2017?

Okay, I have 25 books that I own that I need to read, and then about 250 links bookmarked to books I need to buy. I don’t have a set list. Basically, I just pick up a book and start reading, so I don’t really have like a set TBR.

How many books do you plan to read in 2017?

My goal is 52, one a week, but I know that things happen where I won’t bring a book on vacation or once school starts up and I’m too busy studying. But for now, my goal is 52.

Will you participate in the Goodreads reading challenge or any other?

I’m participating in the Beat the Backlist challenge this year so I really don’t want to join a ton of challenges, but I would definitely join the Goodreads reading challenge in the future.

Any New Year’s resolutions (bookish, blogging, or otherwise)?

I have my New Year’s Resolutions post up so I have a few for all of those categories 🙂

Well, that tag was actually really fun and it makes me want to sit down and read. I’m not going to tag anyone because I have seen a few people do it and I don’t really know how many of my followers love reading and I don’t want to pressure anyone into doing this tag. So, if you want to have a go at the this tag, be my guest 🙂

Alicia

Blogger Recognition Award

Published on by Alicia17 Comments

Hi everyone, I was nominated by Jamie the other day for the Blogger Recognition award. Thank you so much for nominating me and I definitely recommend checking her blog out, it’s one of my favorites. Let’s get started.

Rules:

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  • Write a post to show your award.
  • Give a brief story of how your blog started.
  • Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
  • Select 15 other bloggers you want to give this award to.
  • Comment on each blog and let them know you have nominated them and provide the link to the post you created.

How I started blogging:

I have been blogging since I was 14. I stumbled upon someone’s summer bucket list blog and I decided that I wanted to make one as well. So, that summer and the summer after, my friend Molly and I made a summer bucket list blog. We are no longer friends, however, I wanted to continue blogging so I have made a few blogs over my lifetime to continue blogging, mainly just random writings and a bit of food tracking. However, last October, I decided that I wanted to document my time in college so that’s how I started this blog.

2 pieces of advice to new bloggers:

The biggest piece of advice I have is to be social. Follow people, like people’s posts, comment on posts, etc. With all of my other blogs I never did that, however, with this blog, I like, comment, and follow so many people’s blogs and have met so many awesome people because of it.

Another thing is to be consistent. If you’re going to post like once a month people really won’t follow you or keep up with you. I’m not saying you have to post daily, but make a schedule and try to stick with it. Yes, there will be times that you won’t be able to maintain it, say during finals or vacations, but definitely try your hardest to stick to a schedule that is pretty frequent.

I nominate:

Lu Reads       Blame Chocolate        Unexpected in Common Hours      Sit Back and Just Live

Fabled Haven       Renxkyoko’s Space          Pirate Patty         Beafree       PTContender

Kisses from Jess        Styled by Lauren        Idiot Views        A Dreamer’s Library

Mermaid Moon Child       Maggie’s Simple Life

 

Once again, thank you to Jamie for nominating me for this award and be sure to check out everyone that I nominated because they are definitely some of my favorite blogs to read!

Alicia

Pulchri-what?

Published on by Alicia5 Comments

I have officially forgotten how to blog. After two months of daily prompts thought up a month or so in advance and now moving to a fresh clean, promptless slate, I have forgotten how to blog. I have sat at my computer for 15 minutes because the only thing I wanted to write about was snow, candy canes, and Christmas.

So, until I regain the ability of blogging, I have decided to write a little blurb about how I chose the title of my blog (I mentioned it in an award post but I guarantee no one reads those so, I’m going to elaborate and write a new one).

Flashback to October 2015, when I first had the idea of creating a blog. After scouring the web for URL ideas, I decided on the URL buddhistvegann. I had originally planned on making my blog about transitioning into the vegan lifestyle and I wanted to talk about how I was following my the teachings of the buddha and things of that nature.

Fast forward to the beginning of June 2016, when I began my social media detox and decided to start a life I wanted to live. I created the name selflovinalicia, because I was, and still am on a journey of self-love. That name lasted for a few months but I soon decided I needed something else. I also didn’t want my name in my URL. No hate or anything to people who include their names in their URLs but it just wasn’t for me.

When I returned to social media in August or September or whenever, a friend of my mom’s commented on a photo (of my family) “What a pleasurable plethora of pulchritude.” Having never heard/seen that word I went and googled it (hoping he wasn’t calling us ugly or annoying) and I found out that pulchritude is defined as beauty. Live pulchritudinously meaning ‘live beautifully’ which is something I aspire to do on the daily, so I decided to change my blog URL to livepulchritudinously as a reminder to live a life full of pulchritude, and it’s a very good conversation starter.

So, there you have it, the reason behind my blog title.

Alicia

Ruff day

Published on by Alicia6 Comments

Yesterday morning I disregarded my alarm clock and decided to sleep in. At around noon (didn’t want to sleep that late) I was awoken by a vibrating phone on my nightstand. Seeing my mom’s caller ID, I answered. The first words I heard yesterday morning were “Well, do you want to come with me and do it?” from my sobbing mother. With no context, I knew it was about my dog.

My first words yesterday morning were “No, you’re kidding me.” I immediately rose from my bed, not sure if I was coherent and the message I just heard was real or not, putting pants on and walking out of my room. I sat at the top of the stairs, where my dog should have been after her vet appointment that morning, and watched as my sister got ready to leave to go to a friend’s house.

What started as a day we had hoped would discover an abscess tooth living inside my dog’s mouth soon turned into a lump in her chest and sores coating her tongue and throat.

As I sat there listening to my mother repeat the message to me, igniting my sobs from leaving my body. I trembled and shook as I learned the fate of my beloved dog. After deciding I had to say goodbye, I tried to do something with my unkempt sleep hair and swollen eyes while waiting for my mom to pick me up to head to the vet.

As I walked into the private room at the veterinary office, a sudden gust of sadness engulfed the room. As I sat on the floor waiting for the receptionist to bring my dog into the room, I remembered why I had worn sunglasses on that gloomy day, so no one could see the red clouds that were my eyes.

This was it. The second I saw my dog, sad, scared, and desperate, I was done, tearing welling in my eyes, hoping to burst past the levies and ignite a flood of emotions I wasn’t prepared to unleash.

After seeing some familiar faces, she took a seat on my lap and all I could do was hug her. Hug her for being the best dog I could ever have, hug her for being sorry that she was in so much pain, and hug her for being so strong.

After we left I cried more. I have tears staining my cheeks, my coat, my pillow, everywhere. The house is quiet and empty and every time the doorbell has been rung I expect to see her getting up to see who is there, or whenever I eat food, I expect to see her wanting some and I keep closing the bathroom door behind me, even though there is no need. It has been a weird day and I know it will be a weird few weeks or months as I get out of the habits I took 9 years to build.

I won’t be able to eat popcorn or carrots the same way again and I will miss our couch cuddles you pushing me off the couch you weren’t even allowed on.  I will miss my slippy slippy lovie girl. She was the greatest joy to come home to. Cancer sucks and I will miss and love you always.

“It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch.”

Persevere

Published on by Alicia4 Comments

This post has been sitting in my drafts for almost a week, with the first two lines edited so many times I cannot count.

One of the NaBloPoMo prompts was to choose a word for 2017. At the time I hadn’t thought about my goals for the New Year because the year wasn’t over and I had no idea what I would want to accomplish in the New Year.

I do now. I know exactly what I want to do. I want need to persevere.

Something I do a lot is start things. I start so many things. I start working out, start eating healthy, start planning for something, start reading a book, start etc. etc. Something I don’t do is finish. I am a quitter. I don’t like to label myself as a quitter, no one does,  but it’s what I am. I quit working out, I quit eating healthy, I quit planning, I quit reading, I quit everything. I quit when the going gets tough and I am sick of it.

I have quit so many things throughout my life and I hate it. I want to persevere. I want to keep going. When the going gets tough, I want to get tougher. Maybe it’s because I put too much on my plate, or maybe it’s because I’m lazy, whatever it is, I need to persevere.

Blogmas photo set

Published on by Alicia3 Comments

Good morning friends (if I ever get good enough wifi to post this), I am with my family and a friend up in Wisconsin to ring in the New Year but I still have time to blog, considering only my mother, dog and I awake right now. I’ve decided I wanted to document Blogmas in photo form. I write day in and day out on this blog and I wanted to switch it up by just showing my entire month of Blogmas in photos (and captions of course…alas… I am still a writer) Let’s get to it.


That was Blogmas.
Alicia

Blogmas wrap-up post of sorts

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Hi everyone, I realized I never really reflected on Blogmas, or even did a ceremonial extinguishing of the Blogmas torch. I have been so busy with family and friends and stuff I have had no time. I know I said I wanted to post every day during December but honestly, that wasn’t realistic. On the 24th, 25th, and 26th, I basically woke up, had breakfast, got ready, and left my house for the entire day, so there has been no time to do much of anything, let alone writing.So, I do have a few year-end posts but other than that Blogmas and Blogging in general for 2016 is done.

I’m honestly really proud of myself for blogging for 24 days in a row (especially since I had done NaBloPoMo which was every day during November and I was sort of blogged out). My initial plans were to blog every day in December like I said, but honestly, I’d much rather see friends and family than be glued to my computer for an hour or more each day. Basically, I’m pretty proud of Blogmas, and basically the entire latter for 2016 in blogging terms. I’ve been consistent, and obviously, I won’t be blogging daily in 2017, but more consistently than 1-5 times a month.

Basically, this is a total shout out to me post, toot my own horn, pat myself on the back, for not sucking at Blogmas like I initially thought I would. So, there may be another post today, there may be one tomorrow, I’m not quite sure. But I do want to make a post sharing a couple of my fave things I got for Christmas and then some 2017 goals and things you know, making resolutions that everyone and their mother know won’t happen.

Until my next post, whenever that may be.

Alicia

Waking up on Christmas

Published on by Alicia1 Comment

8:09 am: my door cracks open, letting in a line of light directly hitting my face, awakening me from my slumber

8:10 am: my sister coughs and mumbles something along the lines of “It’s Christmas come on.”

8:10 am: I jolt out of bed, wiping the sleep from my eyes, putting on my new bathrobe, pulling her into a Christmas hug as we descend down the stairs to our living room

8:15 am: Hannah Montana plays in the background (A Christmas tradition) as my sister and I peek in our stockings, hers revealing a new beauty blender and some anime figurines, and mine revealing the same beauty blender and some Play-Doh.

8:17 am: As my dog hears us ruffling through our stockings, she senses the possibility of some left over paper she can eat, and tramples down the stairs to see what all the ruckus is about. Despite her being sick she still has some pep in her step and tons of kisses to dish out.

8:30 am: I hear my mom cough and I immediately call up to her seeing if she is awake, to which I receive a heavy groan followed by a hmph

8:47 am: My father returns from Dunkin Donuts carting in a tray full of drinks for the four of us and some donuts for the three of them

9:00 am: My mother mopes downstairs finally after smelling the sweet iced coffee calling her name.

9:05 am: I am situated in front of the tree as everyone takes their seats on our furniture and my dog on my lap, I begin my role as Santa and begin to pass out presents.

9:45 am: Presents are unwrapped, coffee has been drunk, wrapping paper litters the floor, and smiles are all around.

Real Neat Blog Award

Published on by Alicia7 Comments

Hi everyone, this morning I received a nomination from rniks24I14 for the Real Neat Blog Award. So thank you so much for the nomination and I can’t wait to complete this award. Let’s get started.

The Rules:

  • Put the award logo on your blog.
  • Answer 7 questions asked by the person who nominated you.
  • Thank the people who nominated you, linking to their blogs.
  • Nominate any number of bloggers you like, linking to their blogs.
  • Let them know you nominated them

My Answers:

  1. Why did you start Blogging? I wanted a way to put my feelings and life down and in words so I figured why have a 30 page google doc when I could have a blog?
  2. Who do you love a lot in your Life? This is really lame but my dog.
  3. Who is your oldest friend with whom you wanna spend maximum time? My friend Cassie. She is about a year younger than me and I’ve known her since she was born
  4. What are your extracurricular activities? I used to play a lot of sports like golf, basketball, badminton, and water polo. Right now I just like to write, exercise, read, listen to music, take photos, things like that
  5. What country would you love to live in? Finland
  6. What are some words for this world’s behavior for female gender? I don’t really understand this question. I think women’s words for the female gender would be empowered, feminist, inspiring. However I think men’s words would be slutty, conceited, weak

My Questions:

  1. How long have you been blogging?
  2. What type of phone do you have?
  3. Do you have any pets? If so, what are they?
  4. Do you watch YouTube videos? If so, who are your favorite Youtubers?
  5. Are you excited for the holidays to be over, or do you wish they would go on forever?
  6. What is your favorite season?
  7. What is your favorite sports team?

I’m going to nominate some of my most recent followers: Welcome!

Lauren           Jessica            Marcella               Katie            Ciarra

Talk to you all soon

Alicia

Chrimbus memories

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Hi everyone. Happy Christmas Eve, or for everyone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas, Happy December 24th. Since it is Chrimbus Eve, I have decided to take a trip down memory lane, and visit all the ghosts of Christmas past by sharing some of my favorite Christmas memories. Let’s get started.

My first Christmas memory I was probably 5 years old. I remember pulling up to my grandparents’ house carrying a ton of my gifts from Santa Claus. I was wearing pink Barbie sunglasses, had a pink Barbie purse, and desperately wanted to wear the pink Barbie heels I had also received, however it was snowing out, so my dad forbid it. I remember my grandparents and aunts and uncles coming up to me asking if I had gotten this for Christmas. I remarked to them that I wasn’t allowed to bring all my gifts with me (because they didn’t know that of course) but I had brought the important ones.

My next Christmas memory is a personal favorite of my sister’s. Preface: my sister was/is a HUGE Cody Simpson fan (Australian pop singer). Basically, my sister had requested anything Cody Simpson related for Christmas. Santa decided a life-size Cody Simpson cutout would suffice. When I awoke on Christmas morning, I scurried down the stairs only to be met with a dark figure hiding behind my Christmas tree. Mouth agape, I ran upstairs, to wake my sister up (why call my parents or the police when you can get help from your 10 year-old sibling when the Grimm Reaper is in your living room). We crept back down the stairs, believing someone had broken into our house, turned the living room light on, only to see that Australian pop singer in cardboard form was standing behind the tree. Thanks Santa, for the cardboard cutout of Cody, and the cardiac arrest for my sister and I. Really sweet of you.

This past Christmas was one for the books. Not only was I able to see all of my friends and family I hadn’t seen in 4 months, I was also able to receive a Shrek pillow pet. I am an avid Shrek fan (can’t believe I used avid fan and Shrek in the same sentence) and have no qualms about sharing my passion. Anyways, my sister gave me the Shrek pillowpet and I gave her a Donkey pillowpet (for those of you foreign in all things Shrek related, Donkey is Shrek’s noble steed). Shrek and Donkey currently live on the papasan chair in my bedroom. Quality gift and they have not once startled me upon walking into a room (Cody cutout reference).

I luv chrimbus and u. Bye

What’s in my winter makeup bag

Published on by Alicia2 Comments

Hi everyone, winter, while full of amazing elements, is the time of staticy hair, dry skin, and chapped lips. I can without a doubt say that none of those three things appeal to me, so I need to have some products with me at all times to combat the harsh conditions winter brings forth on our bodies. Here are my top 7 items in my makeup bag during the winter months.

FullSizeRender.jpg

Mirror- this is a staple for every season, whether I need to re-part my hair after being outside in the wind, fix an eyebrow, or see if I have food in my teeth, my mirror is my best friend

Brush/comb- Chicago is such a windy city and just from walking out the door of my house to my car can create quite a mess of my hair. With my handy dandy brush/comb (comb usually) I am able to fix this before I start to resemble a tumbleweed.

Lotion- My skin is normally dry anyway, but add the wind and lack of humidity that winter brings, and my skin dries out completely. I bring a lotion bottle or two everywhere I go just in case my skin is feeling extra parched.

Chapstick- When I was younger, I used to lick my lips when they were chapped so people would call me “triple lip.” Now that I’m older and really really really really don’t want that nickname to make a comeback, I like to keep a thing of chapstick or vaseline in my bag to prevent my lips from chapping.

Tissue- Getting sick sucks, and having a runny nose while out and about is even worse. Always make sure to have tissues on you… just in case.

Clippers- With dry hands, come hangnails, and there is nothing worse than having a painful hangnail with no clippers to snip that guy in the butt.

Tweezers- I keep these in my bag anyway, however long car rides to family parties or vacations leave plenty of room for perfecting that brow arch

Naturally,  some of these stay in my bag year round and I have other things in my makeup bag from day-to-day such as concealer, eyebrow pencils, eyeliner, and my lip of choice, but these are specific to the season/they serve a certain purpose each season.

Also, winter is here. Or was here two days ago. I completely forgot until I saw a post about the solstice right after yesterday’s post was finished. Yay, the days now begin getting longer and it might stay light out past 400 tomorrow.

Until tomorrow

Alicia

Guide to Christmas with my family

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Hi everyone, the other day I was doing some fall cleaning, and stumbled upon a letter my friend had written me a few years back. I was going to visit her family with her where her mom grew up. Basically, she wrote a guide on how to survive a week with her family by telling me who everyone was, what they do, and just random things I should know. Since Christmas is a time when boyfriends and girlfriends meet families, I figured I would make a guide to my family, not that I have a significant other that is going to meet them this year, but maybe I’ll be able to use this in the future. So, here we have a guide to some of my family members I spend Christmas with.

Terry- My grandfather. We have Christmas at his house (and my grandma Barb’s) every year. He is allergic to chocolate but eats it anyways. Always compliment his brownies and ask him about his life as a teacher/principal and you’ll be fine. Also, if his water bottle is empty, ask if he wants a new one. He will.

Barb- My grandma. She cooks everything and doesn’t sit down to eat until literally forced to by my mother. Very nice but will call you a “little shit” if you beat her in cards. Volunteer to help with dishes and she may start crying.

Liz- My aunt. She is usually nice but can be very judgemental (especially of hair colors, tattoos, and piercings). She will eat any Rice Krispie treat that comes in her path and drinks a lot of wine.

Jason- My uncle (Liz’s husband). Can be a tool Usually is a tool who yells at the television nonstop, drinks a lot of alcohol, and is a very sore loser (he flipped the game of life and the wooden table on top of me when I got it for Christmas when I was 9). He is also known for not being a vegan supporter and giving vegans shit for being vegan. Jason has two kids- Megan and Jacob. Megan is married and Jacob changes where he lives every three months it seems.

Jim and Kelly- Jim is my mom and aunt’s brother but he’s sort of just there and they don’t spend a lot of time with the rest of the family. They are sort of irrelevant and Kelly just likes to complain about life so ignore them. They have three kids Ashley (love of my life), Luke (he said Hillary Clinton sucks so screw him), and Sean (my literally favorite cousin)

Alan and Lorene- my parentals. Pretty chill. My dad also yells at the TV (sports lol) and will probably fall asleep on the couch at some point during the day. My mom drinks a lot of wine and beer, eats too much, and the complains about how much she ate for the next 3 days.

Madi- my sister. Does not talk a lot. Usually on her phone. Doesn’t eat much. Talk to her about anime or Doctor Who and she will love you forever

Bill and Suzie- Suzie is my grandpa’s sister and Bill is her fiance. Suzie had a stroke a few months ago and is recovering. Her arm is still in a sling and she can’t speak very well, but she is doing good. Bill, just like my dad, will also most likely fall asleep on the couch at some point during the day.

Kristy- My Aunt Suzie’s daughter (not Bill’s). She has two kids (Will and Nathan) who typically don’t come because they spend Christmas with their dad. She sometimes brings a new boyfriend (she has a type- tattoos and piercings with lots and lots of hair gel, who are always super nice) and typically doesn’t bring them back. She is super nice though and is never judgey on anything. She also has really cool tattoos.

Robin and Ed- Robin is Kristy’s sister, who also has 2 kids (Kaylin(the love of my life) and Kira). Robin is super sweet and always wear high heels and dresses super nice, even when the rest of us are wearing jeans. Ed, on the other hand is very conservative, tags liberals in gun photos, and my mom and I have both unfriended him on Facebook. Do not talk to Ed… ever.

Kathy and Gary- Kathy is also my grandpa’s sister and Gary is her husband. The only thing Gary and I talk about is golf. He is always the one to cut the turkey and ham and I don’t know why. Kathy posts a lot of controversial things on Facebook followed by Buddha quotes which really pisses my mom off. No one really likes talking to her but we all have to anyways. She usuallt just talks to the adults but if a child walks in her line of sight, she can and will talk your ear off.

Patty and Mike- Patty is my grandpa’s final sister and Mike is her husband. My aunt Patty handmakes Christmas ornaments for everyone in the family. They take like 8 months for her to make them so we always remember to compliment the ornaments, not that we wouldn’t to begin with (she is very skilled and always makes amazing designs). Mike usually doesn’t come because he either has to work (no clue what he does) or is sick. So most people don’t have to worry about him.

But in the end, anyone under 20 hides in the basement until we are called up for linner (lunch/dinner) so there isn’t much to worry about. We basically spend the few hours watching Emperor’s New Groove and Princess Diaries until we are called up. When the elder people start filing out, we start playing cards and my grandparents start swearing.

Until tomorrow,

Alicia

Favorite red lippies

Published on by Alicia5 Comments

Hi, everyone. Something that so many people seem to be on the lookout for, is the perfect red lipstick. Christmas day comes and you see so many women on social media donning jingly earrings and a perfect red lip. Which lipsticks are they using?

I’m sort of a lipstick connoisseur owning quite a few brands in quite a few shades. After doing so much research on lipsticks, anyone will tell you that most brands have perfected the red lipstick color and formula. If a brand doesn’t have their red formula down to a T, don’t buy from them because it is the easiest formula there is. Despite knowing most brands can in fact pull thru when it comes to a red lipstick, people still want to know what the best color is. So, I have decided to share my absolute favorite red lipsticks of all time with you all.

When I was in high school, I lived in a red Clinique chubby stick. I wore it all the time, because I A. wanted to be Marilyn Monroe (I was her for Halloween one year) and B. That was one of if not the only lip product that I had other than chapstick. I still have that product but no longer use it (Clinique tests on animals) and as I have matured, my taste in lip products has also matured to  actual lipsticks.So, let’s get to it.(All of the following products are cruelty free)

Favorite Solid Red lipstick- Colourpop Matte X Lippie Stix in “Trust Me”

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Okay okay, okay. Some of you may be thinking, “Alicia, of all of the lipsticks in the world, you are going to choose one that retails for $5??” Yes, yes I am. Colourpop lipstick colors can definitely be hit or miss. I love a ton of their products and while most of their proucts are phenomenal, some of their other ones are not as good. However, of all of their products their lippie stix are always amazing, no matter the color. Their formula is phenomenal, non-drying, dries matte (not all but this color does) and is only $5! Not only that but colourpop is vegan and cruelty-free which sends it skyrocketing towards the top in my book.

Favorite Liquid Red lipstick– Smashbox Always on Liquid Lipstick in “Bawse”

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I have used tons and tons and tons of red liquid lipsticks. However none come close to Smashbox’s. This formula is beyond perfect (and carries along with their other colors too). It is long-wear, non-drying (infused with lip-smoothing Primer Oil), dries on matte, does not budge, and can last for up to 8 hours (that’s what the website claims, but mine has lasted for 12). If you are a liquid lippie lover, this needs to be added to your collection.

Favorite Red Lip Gloss- Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss in “Punchy Red”

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I am not too much of a lipgloss wearer. I am not a fan of the sticky feeling glosses usually bring, however this Anastasia gloss (I don’t know about the other colors as I only have this color) isn’t nearly as sticky as any other brand I have tried. It also smells amazing (vanilla) and is non drying as well. I also like putting this gloss over liquid liptsicks if I want a bit of shine.

Favorite Misc Red Lipstick- Who is She Cosmetics Lip Composite in “Georgia Tea”

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Most of, if not all of you have probably never heard of this brand. This lip composite is from a brand called Who is She Cosmetics. I discovered them a few months back and have been absolutely obsessed with the brand. These lip composites are part lipstick, part lipgloss, all rolled into one cute little pot. I bought a few different colors of these, ranging from a silvery pink, a purple, a glitter, and of course this color, Georgia Tea. I have used almost the entire pot of this in the past few months. It is amazing, not transfer proof, but it doesn’t claim to be, and not drying. This doesn’t fit into any of the categories but I still wanted to share this as one of my favorites!

Until tomorrow

Alicia