Today was a really good day. Today was the first day this year that I have really felt like, “Hey, it’s summer!” As I have discussed here a few times in the past, I have been feeling exceptionally excited for summer this year. I couldn’t really say why. I don’t have any special plans for this summer. I don’t even really have a very active social life – in fact, I probably have the least active social life I have ever had this summer. Still, there is just something about the summer this year that I am really into. Today was the first time I really saw much of a reason why. You know those classic concepts one has of the summertime, like warm weather and fun times and just kind of soaking up the sun and such? I didn’t have one of those days but I did have a lot of fun. Honestly, those classic concepts of summer, like going to the beach and barbecuing and shit like that really aren’t my style. I’d rather spend a day dressed in my cutest casual warm weather clothes, shopping and having a good time with my friends and such. Today was more of that kind of day, although not exactly.
The day started off earlier than expected. I crashed pretty late last night and wasn’t expecting to wake up until noon or so. So, I was very surprised when I woke up and looked at the clock – it was just after 10am. I wasn’t sure if my Mom was here still or if she had left for church yet, so I went out into the living room to see. She was still here. We talked for a minute and a I laid down on the couch and contemplated going back to sleep. Still, for one reason or another, I didn’t want to. Instead, I caught up on some more of the crap on my DVR. I watched this past week’s episode of “Pretty Little Liars,” which doesn’t seem to actually be going anywhere but is still enjoyable. When I say it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere I mean that it seems like they spent the pilot episode introducing plot points and then spent the next two episodes reiterating that those plot points are there. They haven’t moved them forward at all – they just keep reminding you that they’re there. It’s kind of silly. Still, it’s a cute show. I also watched an episode of “Victorious” from Nickelodeon. I love that show. It’s really cute and the lead actress, Victoria Justice, is gorgeous and funny. Also, there are a few underage hotties on that show and it makes me feel a little creepy to be watching it and thinking to myself, “That guy’s hot,” when I know he is portraying an underage character, whether or not the actor is of age. Anyway… Clearly, this morning was spent catching up on my silly, kid shows. I did that for a while before remembering that I fell asleep last night without finishing or posting last night’s blog. So, I did that until my Mom got home from church. She arrived home just as I was finishing up. I was still a little tired from the fact that I woke up so early and hadn’t gotten dressed or anything. I hadn’t done my morning skin care routine yet. I hadn’t even brushed my teeth yet because I had run out of toothpaste. So, when my Mom got here and started talking about what we wanted to do today, I figured the first thing I needed to do was get into the bathroom and get myself dressed and looking cute. I squeezed out the very last bits of toothpaste that I had, washed my face and all the normal morning stuff, got myself dressed and did my hair and makeup.
I decided to keep it pretty simple today, in terms of makeup. Aside from a little concealer under my eyes and on this giant red blemish that popped up between my eyebrows yesterday, I didn’t put on any face makeup. For my eyes, because it is a summer day and I wanted to go with a bit of a summery look, I used my Urban Decay Summer Of Love palette and did a bronze/gold colored smoky eye look, complete with a “bronze” eyeliner I bought ages ago thinking it was just a regular brown. Once I discovered that it didn’t work quite like a normal brown liner and came out with this shimmering bronze color I didn’t find a lot of reasons to use it before. It was wintertime then and bronze wasn’t the hot look I was working with at the time. Now, on the other hand, I am kind of obsessed with bronze looks and this eyeliner worked beautifully with it. I really loved the way the look came out today, although I would kind of like to try out the look another time with a purple or pink colored liner or something to add some color to it. I think it could look even better with some color added. My Mom came into the bathroom while I was doing my makeup and brought something that she had in her bedroom and never even realized – a Victoria Jackson palette, complete with 12 eyeshadows, two lip colors and, my favorite part, two blushes. The best part is that one of the blushes is a much softer pink color than the one I have been using and the other was pretty much the exact peachy/coral color I have been talking about wanting to use. So, I threw some of that on my cheeks with the look I was wearing and it gave me a really cool, tanned look. It was gorgeous. My Mom even put some on, as well as a little bit of eyeshadow, and looked really good. So, we hopped in the car, threw some Sheryl Crow on the iPod, (because I feel like a lot of her music has a really summery vibe that I wanted to set a mood for the day,) and headed south. My only real goal for today’s trip out was to pick up two things – tinted moisturizer, as a lightweight and more summer-friendly replacement for my foundation, and more toothpaste. My Mom had bought a wireless router a while back from Wal-Mart and it didn’t work for her, so she wanted to go to Wal-Mart and return it. She bought it at the Wal-Mart north of us, on University, but we really wanted to head south today so we figured she could take it back to the Wal-Mart Super Center in Nokomis. We had both kind of decided that we wanted to get Panda Express for dinner, so we figured that Wal-Mart in Nokomis would be on our way.
On our way south I got a text message from my friend, Whitney, telling me that her work, Ulta, had a Stila large eyeshadow trio on sale for only $10. I had never used any Stila products before, mainly because they are $18 for a single eyeshadow normally, but always heard very good things about them. This brand is supposed to be comparable to MAC, so hearing about this kind of deal on a trio of eyeshadows I knew I had to go in there. Fortunately, we hadn’t made it that far south yet and I told my Mom I needed to stop there. When we pulled up to Ulta, there was a sign in the window that they were having a pretty big clearance sale right now. This piqued both of our attention and so we went in to check things out. Whitney was there and spent most of the time that we were in the store talking to us. I picked up the Stila trio, as well as the Covergirl tinted moisturizer I was planning to get while we were at Wal-Mart and two different sets of Eco Tools makeup brushes, which were buy one, get one free. So, let me first discuss the Stila trio. While we were in the store, they had a sample version of this trio out and all I had to do was dip my finger in it to know that I was in love. First of all, it is probably the softest eyeshadow I have ever touched. It felt so gentle and fine on my finger. Then I rubbed it onto my hand. This stuff is pigmented! It looks the same on your hand as it does in the pan. This is brilliant because most eyeshadows don’t do that well, as far as that goes. These ones were gorgeous, though. Then, the shades themselves were perfect. They were basically the same as the colors in my Urban Decay Summer Of Lover palette, only much more pigmented and less glittery, which is a major plus. My main complaint about all of the Urban Decay shadows has always been that they always seem to be more glitter than anything else, so the color doesn’t show up as well as it should and you have glitter flaking off constantly. Also, this palette has the bright gold color, (Maui Wowie by Urban Decay, Lame’ by Stile,) and the dark bronze color, (Smog by Urban Decay, Chloe by Stila,) but instead of a peachy/copper color, (Chopper by Urban Decay,) it comes with this gorgeous, shimmering champagne color called Kitten. It is gorgeous and I can’t wait to give that one a try. I already know that I am going to use it for many different looks. Let me also take a minute to talk about the Eco Tools brush sets I picked up. I got two sets of travel-sized brushes, because I kind of prefer the smaller size of travel brushes. I just feel like I have better control over the brushes in the smaller sizes. Anyway, the Eco Tools brush line is popular because it is all made of organic or recycled materials, which is definitely a good thing. Their handles are all made from bamboo and the sets each come with a travel case made from hemp. It is adorable. Also, these sets both contained several brushes that I have really needed and haven’t managed to get yet, like a proper blush brush and an angled face brush, which I was just talking about needing for proper contouring last night. The bristles on these brushes are incredibly soft and they fit perfectly into the contours of my face. I couldn’t be happier with these purchases today.
While I was checking out at Ulta, I suddenly felt somebody’s hand on my arm and I had no idea what was going on. My Mom and Whitney were both laughing at me. When I turned and looked, it was my dear friend April! Whitney had also text messaged her, letting her know about the Stila sale and she decided to stop in and pick it up. She had dyed her hair and was look gorgeous. I was really excited to see her because it had been a very long time and I was pretty upset that she and Devin didn’t get to come to my dinner part last night. So, we all sat and talked for a few minutes while I was checking out. We were mainly discussing next weekend’s Girl’s Night, which I am really looking forward. Whitney had mentioned wanting Rachel to come, and I told Rachel about it and she was really into the idea, as well. So, I asked April about it and she was cool with that, too. We were talking about maybe going out somewhere for drinks and just hanging out with just the four of us. Very “Sex & The City,” you know? I am really looking forward to that. It was just really good to get a chance to see April and talk with her for a few minutes. When I went outside, I saw that Devin was outside waiting in the car, so I went over and talked with him for a little bit, as well. It was all really cool and I don’t think I realized until seeing them briefly today how much I have really missed being around them all frequently. It was a lot of fun talking with them and I am very excited to try my best to do it more often moving forward. I also spent today telling them all about my upcoming birthday party and making sure everybody knows when it is so they can keep the date clear. I am really excited for that, too. I really need to get on the ball with planning it, though! The one thing that I do know is that I definitely want it to be bigger and better than last year was. I am really excited about it.
After leaving Ulta, and having spent more money than I probably should have, my Mom and I continued south, although we had accomplished everything I had needed to do and my Mom decided that she didn’t want to stop at the Wal-Mart in Nokomis because she would rather go back to the same location she bought the router from. So, basically, the only reason for going south was to go to Panda Express. I think we were both in the mood for driving and music, though, so it worked out well. Like I have discussed here many times in the past, my Mom and I always have our best talks and such while we are driving, so it was a lot of fun. Also, listening to Sheryl Crow in the car really got me excited for her upcoming album, which will be released the day after my birthday. In fact, one song that we listened to, a few times, that I had downloaded and put on my iPod but never really paid much attention to, was the first single from her new album, called “Summer Day.” It was the perfect song for a day like today. It is a really great song and has a really cool, old school soul sound, which works beautifully with Sheryl’s voice. We finally made it to Venice, picked up the food and got drinks from Sonic, then headed back to Sarasota, stopped at Wal-Mart and returned the router without issue and then headed back home. We got home shortly before 6pm. We ate dinner and watched “The Wedding Singer” on FX and just spent the evening relaxing. I adore Drew Barrymore and we have randomly been watching a lot of her movies lately, which is pretty cool. We watched “Never Been Kissed” sometime last week, which is probably my favorite movie of hers, and it kind of started us on a Drew Barrymore kick. After that, as I was winding down for the evening, we watched this week’s episode of “The Soup,” as well as “Kathy Griffin’s My Life On The D-List.” Once those were both over, it was just after 9pm and I figured I should get in here, write this blog and get myself to bed early. It is just about to turn 11pm and I am feeling pretty much ready for bed. I am ready to end the good day I had today and hope for just as good of one tomorrow. Unfortunately, I do have to go to work tomorrow but that doesn’t mean I have to have a bad day. After all, I have another four-day weekend after this week. I am looking forward to plenty more fun-filled, happy summer days like today coming up next weekend and in the rest of the weekends of the summer. So, with that, I bid you goodnight.
Sunday, June 27
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