30 Day Photo Challenge Week 4!

I can't believe that we are already on week four! I have to say this challenge has been really fun. I love getting the opportunity to be creative with the different days and also being able to look at how other's differed from mine!

Here are my photos for this week:

Day 18, Shoes:

Last week, I was on a plane heading for Ohio to spend time with my family. I always wear my tennis shoes when I travel because they normally take up the most space in my suitcase. 

Day 19, Something orange:

Orange is probably my least favorite color, but I did manage to find some in my suitcase. Even though my beanie is technically coral, I still think it fits. I just got this orange blouse at the thrift store  and my glasses case just happens to be corally-orange, too!

Day 20, Bokeh:

This is my Aunt Denise and I (check out her blog). I am so happy to get to see her!

Day 21, Faceless self portrait: 

I am not very good at messy buns, but my aunt loved it and wanted to take a picture of my bun that day for her Pinterest board.

Day 22, Hands:

This is my hand next to my grandmothers. Isn't it neat!?

(We both have tiny hands, don't we!)

Day 23, Sunflare:

This was taken on Mt. Washington looking at the Pittsburgh skyline.

Check back next Monday for the last week of the challenge! (I'll share today's photo then)

and be sure to check out the Deaf Girl Musings Facebook Page to see all the other participant's photos!

30 Day Photo Challenge, Week 3!

First off, Happy St Patty's day!

It's been a crazy week filled with tons of wonderful memories. If you didn't already know, I spent the past week up at my grandparents mountain retreat. My cousin's spring break just so happened to be the same as ours, so we all drove up for a week of fun! I think I will do a post tomorrow or sometime soon with all the adventures we went on.

 We just got back saturday, and tomorrow I leave to go visit my other side of the family. I am so excited because it's been so long since I've last seen them and I know we will have a blast together. Anyway, here are my pictures from this past week:

Day 11, Something Blue:

This one came out a little blurry because I was zoomed in so much, but my family decided to go bowling and this was our score board. Actually this was only the younger kids one, as we split up into two groups (one with bumpers, one without). It was funny because my papa shocked us all and whooped our butts at bowling! He was scary good and giving us all tips... this is coming from a man who hardly ever bowls! (Must be the engineer in him)

Day 12, Sunset:

I'm cheating on this one because this photo was actually taken back in July while I was in Florida. I'm dreaming of being back at this beach, though!

 Day 13, Yourself with thirteen 'things':

I guess I am also cheating on this one... because I am with people not things, but this one was too good not to share! This was our entire group up on the mountains with us. Here's who is in this picture: My brother Austin, SIL Holly, my cousins Tyler, Matthew, and Jake, myself, my mom, my cousin's friend Michael, My grandfather (papa), my other brother Addison, my aunt Teresa, my nana (grandmother) and family friend Ian way in the back. That makes 12, not including me.... so for the 13 things, I am including Sydney, my dog who so gracefully photobombed this picture! Look at the middle left :) There you have it...myself with 13 things people!

Day 14, Eyes:

 There's an unspoken rule in our family: Never be the last one awake in the mornings. We will make you look silly (these were dog toys) and take your picture. And we will post it all over Facebook. This time it was poor Ian who got it. This makes me laugh because his eyes are perfectly shut and his mouth is open, as if he's in a deep sleep completely unaware of what's going on around him.

Day 15, Silhouette:

I absolutely love this picture! I just think it's so neat. My Papa built a zipline on their property and every time we come out, we always have to ride it. This time it was dusk and this shot was taken of my Papa looking up at the deer stand/ top of the zipline as he was waiting for the next victim, I mean adventurer. 

Day 16, Long Exposure:

This was my failed attempt at long exposure. First, I had to google what that is and then it took about a billion shots just to barely get an acceptable one. Nevertheless, it's still a pretty picture, long exposure or not! This was Cherokee Falls at Cloudland Canyon State Park. It's about 280 steps down to reach it, but it's so worth it! It's absolutely breathtaking and I am lucky enough to get to visit all the time because my grandparents live so close to the park. 

Day 17, Technology:

(Excuse my terrible cell phone quality picture, it was last minute!)

I could give up my cell phone, my nook, my alarm clock and any other technology I have ( I really don't have that much seeing that I had to mention my alarm clock as a piece of technology). But I tell ya, I couldn't live without my laptop. I use it daily and for almost everything. I use it a lot for school (it was a grad present) but I also use it to blog (what I am doing in this picture, it's like a 'blog'-ception!), keep up with social media, watch TV (hulu mostly), listen to music and so much more! 

That's it for this week, check back next monday for Day 17-24!

30 Day Photo Challenge Week 2

I'm a day late, but here I am...week 2!

To see week one's pictures, click here

Day 4, Something Green:

 My mom got these gorgeous daisies (my fav flower) the other day and they make me smile every time I see them!

Day 5, From a high angle:

This was looking down at one of many jars we have filled with shells that we collected on several beach trips we've taken. They make me think of those fun memories!

Day 6, From a low angle:

Taken on my grandparent's property... they have lots of trees!

 Day 7, Fruit:

 I looooove pineapple. That is all.

Day 8, A bad habit

I have a major sweet tooth. Major. To the point where I have to have something sweet after lunch and dinner. One of these peanut butter cups does the trick!

Day 9, Someone I love:

(he is only holding a BB gun... don't worry!)

This one was hard to narrow down, I love too many people to choose just one!

This is my oldest cousin on my mom's side, Jake. He inspires me every day. As I've said before on here, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 2 years old.  It's a terrible terrible thing to deal with, let alone dealing with it so young. I pray everyday that one day we will find a cure, and I know we will!

 Day 10, Childhood memory:

 My brothers, cousins and I all grew up playing card games together... in fact, we still do! Our favorites are spoons and Uno.

What's in my Travel Makeup Bag?

This month I am planning on doing a lot of traveling, so I figured I'd share with you what I plan on bringing with me! 

As I travel more, I've started to realize that I don't need to bring everything that will fit. I've added so much stress onto myself by overpacking and I've learned to just to bring what I only truly need. This goes for makeup too. As you all know, I am a bit of a makeup junkie and it's really tempting to bring all of my lovely products, but I am not going to do that to myself. So I've vowed to bring products that either are compact, can be doubled up (meaning more than one use), or are small travel sized. 

 Here's what I plan on bringing on my spring break trip:

*Note* What may seem like minimal products for me, may seem like a lot to others. Again, keep in mind I am a bit of a makeup junkie.

I get a ton of travel sized products in my ipsy bags each month, so I made sure to pack them to save space and to get good use out of them. The two mascara samples I brought are this Tarte one and this one (from an ipsy bag). Now, I know I don't need to bring two mascaras, but one is almost out, so I needed to make sure I had a back up. 

 I packed as my highlight, my sample of Benefit High Beam, which I will also use as a cream eyeshadow. Eyeliner is my go to Urban Decay 24/7 pencil which has both brown and black. (Both of which are almost out!) I packed a sample of the Urban Decay Primer Potion that should last me a long time. I also brought a new favorite, the NYX Jumbo eye pencil (shade milk) which I will be talking about on the blog soon. The primer I packed was this sample of the Too Faced Primed and Poreless which I've never tried...so we will see. Of course I had to bring my holy grail foundation (also because I didn't have any foundation samples) the Urban Decay Naked Skin (Shade 0.5). 

 I packed my Nars The Happening Palette (No longer available, I got w/ my mom's discount). I love this because it's so travel friendly! It has both blush and bronzer AND 4 eyeshadows... it also is really compact! 

Again, I know it's not totally necessary to have two blushes, but blushes are my thing and I just wanted options. (Again, I'm a woman and want my options!) The Tarte Amazonian Clay blush shade is Fearless, but it's been discontinued... too bad, it's a favorite! And last is the Bobbi Brown eye shadow palette that is so compact and small... again perfect for travel! (Shade is Champagne Quartz eye quad) I got this as a freebie, and love it. It gives a great neutral eye look.

and I'm not going to go into too much detail here, but these are the brushes I'm bringing with me:

Of course my favorite foundation brush (Real Techniques Expert Face brush) and a few ecotools kabukis for the face thrown in there. For eyes, I packed a mix of ecotools and a random cover girl brush. 

Oh! For makeup bags, I get a ton with my ipsy subscription, but I have always loved Forever 21's selection of cute, affordable bags. (That's where my polka dot one above is from.)

Hopefully you found this post helpful if you plan on traveling anytime soon! 

30 Day Photo Challenge: Week 1

It's only been three days since the challenge began, but it's monday and I figured I'd still share my three pictures with you!

Day one: Self Portrait

I should note that I am a horrible 'selfie' taker. It took me about 39 trys to get one shot that wasn't blurry (this one is still, but it's better than the others) and actually got my face in the frame. 

Day two: What I wore today

Oh lawd, I don't know why I am sharing this picture for the entire internet to see (I really love you Aunt Denise!!) This was sunday and I had just barely gotten out of my pjs for exchange my lounge around the house clothes. This is me sans makeup with a stuffy nose ( I wasn't feeling well) and an uber geeky pose. 

Day three: Clouds

Ahh, that's more like it. Finally a picture that doesn't include my awkward self. Today was a weird day. We had an ice storm the night before and this morning, but by the afternoon, the sun was back out. That's the epitome of Texas weather. (I won't tell you that just saturday I was wearing shorts in the 80* weather). Believe it or not, these were the only clouds I could spot!

Make sure to check out the Deaf Girl Musings Facebook page to check out all the other participant's photos!