Becca Cosmetics Jaclyn Hill Champagne Pop Shimmering Skin Perfector

My first makeup purchase in over four months had to be for this gorgeous highlighter created by one of my favorite YouTubers in collaboration with Becca Cosmetics. I have been lusting over Becca's highlighters and blushes but haven't been able to spend money on makeup. However, I absolutely could not pass up this opportunity. This shimmering skin perfector is called Champagne Pop and is described as being a soft white gold with pinky peach undertones.

The packaging is beautiful.. in comes in a rose gold box with little water droplets on the box, but the actual packaging for the product is the same as any other Becca highlight or blush. Which I really like, especially since this is my first Becca product. I'm in love with this highlighter. I haven't even used it yet but I can tell I am going to love it. After all, Jaclyn Hill helped create it!

Project Life: How To Print 3x4 Photos At Any Photo Printing Store

I discovered a way to get 3x4 photos printed at my local Walgreens for my Project Life scrapbook. I'm making so much progress on my book and will update you on some of my pages below!

Walgreens only offers standard sizes - like 4x6 and 8x5. The only place I've found that will print 3x4's is Persnickety Prints, but it's really only worth it if you want a bunch of photos printed. I usually only want a few at a time, and like to pick them up right away. Also, I didn't want to get a good printer and ink and paper, so that isn't an option just yet. I was googling some ways to print my photos and found an idea that I could make even easier. A lady wrote that she uses Photoshop to put two 3x4 photos in a 4x6 size document. Genius! I don't have Photoshop because it is so expensive but I do have Google Drawing and it's free! Keep in mind, these prints are not the best quality.. I'm not sure why exactly but they are good enough for now. I don't think they have to be perfect especially since they are a small piece of my scrapbook.

Here's what you do:

1.   Open Google Drive. Everyone who has a Gmail has this.
2.   Go to Google Drawing and open a new document.
3.   Drag and drop any photo from iPhoto into the document.
4.   Do this twice to have two pictures per document. (see below for examples)
5.   Arrange the photos so that they are each 3x4 right next to each other.
6.   Click on "Download As" > "Save as jpeg"
7.   Enter in a title for the photo and move it to desktop or a folder.
8.   Upload photo through Walgreens Photo.
9.   You're done!

These are all works-in-progress, but I wanted to show you how I use my 3x4's in my book. I like to place my photos and journaling cards in first before I write and do the finishing touches. Let me know what you think!

 

Valentine's Day

I have always loved Valentine's Day. Single or not, I have just always loved the holiday. Luckily, my boyfriend knows how much I love holidays and humors me just to make me happy. He originally said that we weren't going to do anything special this year, but I'm glad he changed his mind. We went to our favorite restaurant, the same place we go to for every birthday and celebration, Orient Express, during the week before Valentine's Day. I don't care too much about the actual day to do things, I just like everything leading up to the holiday. I was extremely surprised to find a big box of my favorite Girl Scout cookies on our door step  a few days prior and even more surprised to find roses and a Tiffany's bag on Valentine's Day. Read: Total shock. Five years ago, he gave me a beautiful princess crown Tiffany's necklace but I haven't worn it in a while and it desperately needs cleaning. This necklace that he picked out for me is beyond words. It has two tiny heart tag pendants, one is pink and one is the classic Return to Tiffany & Co tag. I love how tiny and delicate it is, it fits me perfectly.

Project Life Scrapbooking

I was watching Louise's video and she mentioned starting Project Life because she saw this video. I watched Lily Pebbles' other videos about Project Life, rummaged around the internet to find more information and was instantly hooked. I knew I had to make a Project Life scrapbook. I have been looking for an easy way to have my pictures printed and displayed. I always go back and look at my photos from a year ago to see what I was doing this time last year (Am I the only one that does this??). I also get sudden cravings to be creative but I don't really have a good outlet because I am not that talented when it comes to that. I have already started my scrapbook and I am absolutely loving it! It's so perfect for me because it is so easy and simple but has the power to let your creativity shine and become something not-so-simple.

I started off with the Midnight Edition Core Kit and a 12 x 12 scrapbook. I got the core kit for a steal of deal for only $7.99! It was definitely mis-priced so I obviously had to get it. I then ordered the pocket pages in Design A on Amazon for about $10 and used a coupon at Michaels to get the My Favorite Things Core Kit for only $15. However, once I had my printed photos and pocket pages in hand, I realized I rarely take any horizontal photos - and that's all design A has for its regular size photos. I decided to pick up a different pocket page design and mix them up, and I also made a mental note to take more horizontal photos for the future! 

I wanted to get started right away and do parts of 2014 and then continue in the same book with 2015. I am completely ok with it not just being one year. I just picked a few of my favorite times of the year that I had great pictures of and printed them all off at Walgreens.

I got a photo box at Michaels to store all of the cards together.. it's much easier to flip through them all this way. I also keep my favorite glue pen, washi tape, scissors, and exacto knife, and any other items I want to put in my book. 

I thought I would share the beginning stages of a few pages in my book to get a better idea of what Project Life really is! I'm definitely not done.. I still want to add words, notes and other little pieces to make it all come together. But so far, I'm in love with my pages and can't wait to see how they will turn out. :)

Hope you are inspired! I have a post coming soon on how to print pictures to fit in the small slots!

Becoming A Teacher: Spring 2015

I'm in my first semester of being accepted into the early childhood education program at KSU and I'm taking a full load of courses and working part-time. I'm actually taking 20 hours, which is an overload. I think I will be able to juggle it all but it has meant less time for everything else, like blogging and watching YouTube. I have also discovered a few new hobbies that I'm loving and I have so much to share but hardly any time. The classes that I'm taking are Child Development and Early Learning, Curriculum and Assessment, Education of Exceptional Students, Music for Early and Middle Grades, Rational Numbers and Operations, Teaching Reading in Early Grades, and The Preschool Curriculum. It's a lot of work and I have to be ahead in all of the classes or else I will quickly fall behind. I have been learning so much already and am genuinely interested in every course. I also have a ton of field experience hours to complete and have a beautiful new professional wardrobe to go along with it. I am super excited to start my hours and hopefully student each this fall!

I'll leave you with a delicious cookie recipe that I tried out last night.. they didn't come out exactly like they were supposed to but taste amazing, which is really all that matters, right?!

Happy weekend!

Christmas in Georgia 2014

I had the absolute best Christmas of all time and just have to share some pictures. I took a bunch because Corey, Grace and Greta came to Georgia this year and my mom hosted a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day party and sit-down dinner! She worked so hard to make this a special year as it was Greta's first Christmas and Grace's first Christmas with us here. She transformed her studio in the basement into a beautiful dining room. We usually have Christmas Eve dinner at my cousin's house, but everyone came down with something like a flu. Last minute, we all went to Costco and came up with a sit-down dinner plan the day before Christmas Eve! I loved this last-minute craze and can't even explain why. The dinner was a success and I think the party was a hit as well. It certainly brought back so many memories when we used to host Christmas Eve when I was little.

On Christmas morning, Jahmal and I opened our stockings that we gave each other and headed over to my parents' where we had the best breakfast ever. My dad made the most perfect dollar-sized pancakes and we put Nutella and bananas on top. I must have this again tomorrow. Then, we opened our Secret Santa gifts. The six  of us: Mom, Dad, Corey, Grace, Jahmal and I all chose a name using Elfster and we set a price limit of $35. I had so much fun shopping for my person, my mom, as well as helping my mom out with hers. Grace got my name and made me the most incredible thing you will ever see. She made me my very own Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon. No pictures will do this thing justice.. there are so many details. Every time I look at it, I am in disbelief that someone could make this by hand! She is so creative and talented, you'll have to check out her shop to look at her other creations! My mom also hosted Christmas Day for the family and everyone came over for a turkey dinner. We all played a White Elephant game (our budget was only $10) and hung out with everyone until dinner. I loved having Christmas at my parent's house.. my mom really did an amazing job!

This is what was in my stocking!!

Christmas Party!

Wally is such a baby!

The day after Christmas we all went for a walk on the Chattahoochee River. It was perfect weather and Greta loved it!