Life Changes

I've decided to make a couple changes, well one big change. I've recently been trying to get my blog to look a certain way, to get it to look more appealing to you guys but the layouts here on Blogger weren't matching what I wanted my blog to look like so I've decided to move over to Wordpress. I've imported all of my posts over there so this is going to be my last post here on Blogger. 

Blogspot has served be really well and was a great way to start my blogging life/career and I would recommend it to anyone getting started. The vision I have for my blog now has changed and with it I guess my host has to change as well. So here's to hoping everything goes well. So far I'm really excited about how my blog looks right now. I'm still tweaking a couple things but so far so good so check me out over there at

 https://carlacjones.wordpress.com/

to follow what I'm doing!!

Baiii :)

We forgot a suitcase!?!

I DID IT!! It feels weird to say but I no longer live in New York. Yesterday we woke up at 6 to get our flight here to Montreal and it was such an interesting morning. Firstly, I woke up and turned off the alarm on my phone at 6am only to fall straight back to sleep and wake up at 6:18. I had another alarm at 6:30 for my "you should be done getting ready, pack up everything" time so we were already a bit behind. Somehow we were still ready at 7 to leave as planned so we called the Uber since I had a free ride and went to the airport. 

The next interesting thing was that as I was getting out of the car to meet Nick and the driver who was taking the suitcases out, I put my bag on the suitcase and the driver takes off. I look behind Nick for the other carry on suitcase and it isn't there. He forgot it in the front seat so we had to call him to come back. He actually left a message on my phone saying he was coming back but when I made that phone call I was literally shaking. As usual we couldn't do curbside check in but we checked in fine at the counter and went through security which was also fine. The TSA guy there also went to Pace (I was wearing my bright pink Pace hoodie) so we chatted a bit while I was waiting to go through. Everything went well after that. Walked over to the gate and get breakfast before boarding. As usual I slept the entire flight which was only an hour or maybe less. Got through immigration and then it was homeward bound for us. 

I slept most of the day yesterday while Nick was at work so there's nothing much to report about Montreal yet. I went to lunch with Nick and Andrew today and I got Thai Express and then I finished up catching up on all my Youtube videos to watch. Took me a good while actually. While watching Raven Elyse's vlog from her time in NY she had a clip from the club and Ruppee was playing!!! That reminds me, I went to the Young Barbadian Professionals Society event on Saturday with my cousin and I had SUCH a good time!! Hung out with Porgie and Murda for a while and then it was like a Alison Hinds concert for like an hour and a half. 

So yea I got a couple videos of everyone that performed but they don't seem to want to upload to check out my instagram for those (@CarlaCJ21). Basically the entertainment was what saved the event since there was no Bajan food. Not one bit of it. No rice and peas, macaroni pie, fish cakes. Nothing. The server didn't even know what a Banks beer was. I was really disappointed in that aspect of it but what may have saved the day was that there was a little box in a bang hung on each chair and when I opened it I thought it was a chocolate cupcake so I saved it for Nick. Turns out it was a Great Cake cupcake so according to Nick that saved it. Next time I just hope they choose a venue that allows for outside catering so that it can be an authentic Bajan event. 

I'm getting a bit hungry so I'm thinking I'll make myself a sandwich or I can pop over to Subway and buy something since there isn't much to make a sandwich with. I'll decide in a bit. I'm hoping to film a couple videos I had planned to do before I left and packing got crazy but I never got the chance so I'll film them as I unpack. Keep an eye out for them on my Youtube channel.

Until next time... :)

xoxoxo

Movie Reviews!!

This movie post is long overdue but I have a good reason, I was still watching movies. I'm actually watching one while writing this, Blended. For most of it I'm just saying whyyyy a lot but it's still funny. I haven't really been doing much of anything other than packing. I did a vlog for a day about it on my Youtube channel but I didn't do much of packing that day. 

Ok so movie number 1 waaaasssss Fantastic Four, the new one. I was fully prepared for this to fully suck so my standards were already low for it but I think I figured out why it sucked so much. For one, there was really no plot. Everything felt rushed and too coincidental. For one how can Reed build the thing with Ben and not fight for Ben to also come to the special school with him?? Like seriously they found a place for Johnny and he's not super smart or anything, he was just building things which is what Ben does. That would have made for a better reason for Ben being there other than just calling him up and saying "hey we're doing this thing we're not supposed to so imma just get you into my school for the night and strap you into an experiment that we probably shouldn't be doing." I think my way just sounds more copacetic. After that everything was weird like how Reed sneaks out but doesn't try to get anyone else out with him. Then Johnny's whole attitude was weird when he was like "yes, I want to be used by the military like a machine. It's the greatest." That was really weird for me. What I wanna know is what the heck was that planet?? Does it have a name or were they only concerned with the powers and not where or what the planet was. I think that's an important thing to know and since years passed you would think they put some thought into that. 

Movie #2 was Mr. Holmes. I've been waiting to watch this for a while so when I got the chance to watch it I was excited. I actually watched it with Nick over Skype. This movie already had 2 pros going for it; its about Sherlock Holmes and it starred Ian Mckellen. The movie was really nice. It was pleasant and funny in parts and sad in others. I really like British comedy and this one had a lot of it. And learning about bees was just the added bonus I guess. All in all it was a good watch. I wouldn't watch it over in a rush but I would recommend it.

Movie #3 was Max. I know I know its not the typical thing to watch and I probably wouldn't have known about it if not for Robbie Amell. For those who don't know he's Stephen Amell's cousin, you know, Oliver Queen in Arrow. Yea so that's how I found out about this. Plus it had a military aspect to it so I probably would have found it eventually. I'm pretty sure I cried in the beginning of it. I kinda figured out the plot once all the players were introduced into the movie but watching it all play out was still interesting unlike in other movies. The acting wasn't bad either so that was great. It's a good movie for dog lovers as well. Also a good thing to aspire to for dog owners. Having a dog so well trained would be cool. It's not a long movie so it would be good for kids as well. 

Number 4 was Paper Towns. I heard all the hype about it and everyone saying they loved it so I thought it was going to be a great movie but honestly it wasn't that great and definitely not as good as The Fault In Our Stars. I was a bit skeptical from the get go when everyone was excited for a movie by a movie when the other one based on the author's work was seriously just released. We didn't even know if it was going to be good yet so why are we so excited about the next one? I think the target audience for this is a little younger than mine. The story was ok. The clues and stuff that Margo left behind were clever but I honestly felt bad that he didn't get the girl in the end. I get it that not everything gets a happy ending but this was just a bit cruel. She blatantly said ummm no I just leave clues for fun, not because I wanted you to find me. 

Almost done. Number 5 was Hot Pursuit. This one made me all out laugh a lot. Sofia Vergara and Reese Witherspoon are hilarious together. I love how there was a MASSIVE twist in the end. I wish I watched it sooner but it was really worth the wait. There's nothing much to say about it other than it was a good watch. I think I spend about 80% of the movie laughing. 

Last but not least was Inside Out. Now Claire already said that she cried while watching it so I was prepared for it but apparently that meant waiting anxiously for a sad part wondering if this is the part that is gonna make me cry which ended in me not crying at all since I was overly prepared for it. This is a movies I would watch again soon. It was a bit long in the plot development but still good. Kids would really like it a lot and it really gives great insight into what goes on inside people's brains :)

Now I can add Blended to my list of movies that I've watched in a two week span. In the end its rather funny and the whole blended family thing is kind of modern and relevant I guess. Yea so that's enough typing for one post. Comment any good movies I should watch or any non popular ones that surprised you. 

Until next time, which might probably be when I get to Canada, have a great weekend since its already Thursday night. It's starting to get cold and smart me packed my winter jacket and my heavy sweaters so I'll be hoping and praying that it doesn't get very cold in the next couple days. 

Baaaiiii!

Life Update :)

Well it's certainly been a minute since my last post. Right now I'm blasting Adele's new song Hello on maximum volume. I've given a break to singing along with her cause my throat started hurting after about a day of screaming at the top of my lungs through the chorus (sorry neighbours). I'm also really happy Mack Wilds was in the video. If you didn't recognize him he was in the 90210 remake that was on CW a couple years ago. 

Anyways, onto what I've been up to. A couple of small stuff happened over the last two weeks. For one, my birthday was a couple days after my last post. I didn't have anything planned since it's just me here so I just wanted to catch up on some movies and maybe splurge and get some food. I did half of what I wanted to do. I woke up in the middle of the night like I usually do to use the bathroom and I realized I was super congested and I had the beginnings of a sore throat so I got a halls to suck on while I slept. I know it sounds dangerous but it sticks to the inside of my cheek as I sleep. I woke up and it was still there almost the same size. By then I had a full sore throat but I was really confident that it was going to pass since I felt fine. I took all my birthday calls and I was fine. By the time I finished breakfast I felt like crap so I went back to bed and took a nap. I'm pretty sure I had a fever since it was really warm outside and I was in a hoodie and under all the covers I could find. I was like that for about two days. By Friday I was pretty much back to normal and my sore throat was gone. 

On Saturday I decided to pop into the city to meet up with my cousins for the day. It was really a fun day to just hang out with them, not having an agenda of things to do or a specific time to do anything. I miss that a lot. For lunch we had thai was I was super happy about. I've been craving Chinese and Thai food recently for some reason. I'm over the pasta and traditional foods I usually eat. 

I can't remember the name of the restaurant but its near 55th and 8th, somewhere around there. As usual I got the pad siew and it was really good. I also like how there were veggies in it so I didn't feel like it was a cheat meal. By the time I got home it was pretty dark so I think I just went to sleep. As usual Sunday was a do nothing day. I was supposed to do laundry but I'm pretty sure it was a play games on my tablet all day, day. 

Monday I went to Pace to sort out some stuff. I kinda knew what the answers to my questions were already but I just wanted to talk to someone in person and not by email or on the phone. I was feeling myself a little, or a lot so I got all dressed up. :)

The red lip is the Nars Velvet Matte lip pencil that I got as my birthday gift from Sephora and I LOVE IT!!! I would seriously go back and buy it since mine is now all gone. The trip to Pace was kind of a dud since they didn't tell me anything new and weren't so keen in helping in any way so it was decided that I'm moving. My 90 day unemployment period is about to be up so its about time I made plans for my next life step. I have a couple more weeks but I don't wanna be scrambling and rushing when the time comes so it's decided I'm going to Montreal with Nick for a couple months. While planning the move I was wondering what I'm gonna do during all that time if I can't find a job or something when the thought of doing a PhD came up. I've only ever thought about doing one during my second semester at Pace when my Professor was talking about hers. I'd never heard of anyone doing one in Finance so I really didn't know it was something I could do but the more I read about it the more it interested me. The ability to do research and to learn more about the financial industry and the trends that are created really interest me. That is now my second option, after finding a job. I'm kind of surprised at how excited I am to do it since I thought I was finished with school and studying. 

On my way home from Pace I got the prettiest pictures that perfectly depict fall.

I saw them on my way to Pace so I was really excited that I got the window seat on the bus to take the pictures. I'm also really happy I got the pictures when I did because since then there was a really stormy day and the trees have lost all their pretty leaves.

I haven't really done much of anything else, well except I started my Youtube channel!!! Yupp I finally did it. I had the videos sitting there, edited for a couple days and I was still doubting whether I should upload them but I did it. There are only two videos up so far but its a start. I have a couple ideas of what else I could film as I pack up all my stuff so I hope to get those done soon and I can also vlog my move so that should be interesting. The link is

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEBKQ1M4hB4Cwq0NGjPPLjA/videos?view_as=subscriber

I just tried it and you can search for me at RoxyCarla. I made that name years ago so I might look into changing that to my actual name ooorrrrr And Then What like I wanted it to be. 

That's about all I've been up to. I think I'm going to do a post later this week on all the movies I've been watching cause there have been a few. Oh I'm thinking about starting a new segment at the end of every post. If you've known me for long enough you know I like to find obscure songs that no one knows about and that isn't that popular. For the past couple days I've been playing More Than Life by Whitley constantly. It is actually the song that was played at the memorial for Sammy on Dance Academy so give it a listen and maybe tell me what you think of it. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF0DjW2Awx4

Have a good week and here's to this week being productive!!

Baaii!!
xoxoxo

BeautyCon NYC 2015

Well, I had a great weekend. On Saturday I went to BeautyCon for the first time. I'd only watched other people's videos on Youtube so I only had a small idea of what to expect but I knew it was going to be a long day. I left home a little later than expected so I got to Pier 36 around 10 and joined the long general admission line. And there I stood until about 12. The doors for general admission were scheduled to open at 12:30pm so I was happy we got to go in a little early since I was FREEZING MY BUTT OFF outside. It wasn't overly cold but standing under a bridge for an extended period of time with high winds can make anyone cold. The meet and greets that others payed extra for were outside so I happily walked right past them into the warmth of the building and was immediately hit by how large the crowd inside actually was. I did a little lap of all the stalls to see what was where and which booths had the longer lines. Then I started out to see what they all had.

My first stop was the inside stage where Jeannie Mai literally walked RIGHT PAST ME to get to the stage. I was in such shock that I didn't even say anything or try to get a picture. I was a little star struck. I was going to stay for the talk but I had already missed the talk I wanted to see so I went to see the booths.

Stop number 1 was the NYX booth. I basically stood in line not knowing what they were giving away or if you had to do anything to get their free sample. Turns out you just had to post a picture to Instagram and use their hashtag, easy enough.

This was the longest line once I got there so I figured they must have been giving away some good stuff. It was a free ice cream and a lipstick.

There were other shades but I don't own a deep read like this so now I do! :) Of course being lactose allergic/intolerant I didn't take the ice cream but the lady gave me a weird look when I said I didn't want one. That and who would want an ice cream if they were only noooowwww defrosting from standing outside for 2 hours??

Right by the NYX booth was the media area so I kinda stalked it out and got really close to Jay Manuel and Chloe Lukasiak.

After that it was time to tackle another long line, Maybelline. Once again I had no idea what was happening at the both but where there is a long line there is usually free things being given away. I somehow got to this line when it was pretty short and right when I got there the line got really long behind me so that was a stroke of luck for me. Heeerrreee I got a makeup pouch and an eye liner.

Turns out the line was long because the did the screen printing on the bag there for you which was cool. 

The next line to tackle was the longest, QVC. I figured that since the line was so long that it should be good but it took  me an hour and a half to realize that it wasn't. Others who had gotten through the line explained what we were waiting for but I waited anyways. While waiting we got caught up in the crowd surrounding Bethany Mota and through that I made friends with some of the people around me and we saved the other's spot while they went to other lines and booths. While in line I got to go to the Chic Cosmestics booth for one of their events. I was lucky enough that they handed out tickets for their booth during my 2 hour wait outside but some people weren't so lucky. In all I got some good stuff from their booth.

There were 4 events but I only got to go to 3, I missed the first one. 

When I finally got to the front of the QVC line it was basically 8 products and you got to choose 4. I'm really not adventurous in body washes or face washes so I basically just got lip products. The safest option.

I'm curious to try the Mally lip gloss but the other stuff is basically just to try out. The nail polish was the only thing left that wasn't a body wash. There was also a cookie but I ate it....

Next to QVC was a booth for Wen and they gave away a FULL SIZED bottle!!

I know these usually sell for around $50 so I was really surprised that they gave it away to anyone. I don't use Wen but I know that my aunt does so I want to surprise her with it.

What I thought was my last booth where I heard they were giving away a Taylor Swift bag that was apparently worth $40 so that alone would make my trip worth it. You had to spin a wheel to win it and unlucky for me I won a Justin Bieber hair perfume....

I'm not too sure what I'm going to do with that yet but I'll see if I know anyone that wants it.

I made one last lap of the building and realized that the line for Tarte was pretty short so I stood there and waited to see what was going on since the line was long for the entire day. In less that a minute a nice lady handed me a sample of their translucent powder.

I'm thinking I might give this to Brianna since she's looking for a good one. She's still fixed on the Nars powder but until I can get her that she can try this :). 

On my way out I got a sample from the Garnier booth.

I am also not too sure about how this is going to work with my hair but I'll try it first. The other stuff I picked up was from a brand I'm not familiar with but it was a good bag to put stuff in.

They gave away some dry shampoo, a hot oil treatment, conditioner and a compact. And that was all of the stuff I got. 

Even though I didn't pay for the meetups I still got to meet some of the Youtubers that I watch which was awesome. A win win for me. I first went to the meetup with the GlamTwinz, Kendra and Kelsey at the Carol's Daughter booth.

They were the only ones I thought I was going to see but on my way back from them to the QVC line I saw all the other Youtubers that I watch. 

So I saw Jayla, The Glamaholic, and Bri, Smartista Beauty which was really cool. The ladies in the line with me said I looked really happy when I saw them so there's that. At first I didn't think I would be so excited but I surprised myself. 

So that was my day at BeautyCon. It was a fun experience and I met some cool people while we were in line. Honestly for the amount that I paid it was seriously worth it. Now I'm all excited looking for the next beauty event to go to. 

Anyways, I'm typing this while getting through my Tuesday night tv shows. Three hours to tv to get through in one night is a lot. Sort of like a marathon.

Later!!

xoxoxo

My First Interview!!

Helloooo once again!! I was supposed to do this post about 2 days ago but I was just feeling really tired and exhausted and then I started to do it last night but I was missing a couple pictures I wanted to include so here we are. I was feeling a bit under the weather but not in a cough cough sick way. I felf like I've either been hit by a truck and I'm recovering from injuries or like I was dancing for 3 days straight and now I'm tired. The thing is none of those things happened so I'm at a loss as to why I felt like that. I was tired with no energy whatsoever with no reason why I should be feeling like that. On a Friday afternoon, hungry and procrastinating cleaning my room. Tomorrow is BeautyCon so I'm going to be up extra early to get there by 10. I have a general ticket cause I really wasn't about to spend the $135 and up for the other tickets so hopefully everything goes well tomorrow. I'll try to do a blog post on Sunday all about my day on Saturday. :)

Soooo on Monday was my interview, my first one since graduation in May and finishing summer school in July so I was pretty excited. I spent the whole of last week preparing for it so I wasn't that nervous. I practiced questions and the best ways to answer them so I felt good. I woke up and got my breakfast as usual and then I left home actually on time. The journey there took a whole lot shorter than expected so I got there half an hour early. By the time I got there I had developed a serious blister on my toe from shoes I hadn't worn in over a year so that was distracting while I was waiting. I ended up stuffing some tissue on the side of my shoe to help, which it did a little. The interview itself went well I think. I don't really have anything to compare it to so it was a good start I guess. She asked the usual interview questions and explained the position a little more. If I get past this point then there are gonna be 3 more interviews before they make the offer for the position so now I'm just playing the waiting game.

On Tuesday I did my Walmart trip. I left home kinda late, around 2:30pm so it was an interesting time to be on the bus. Kids were coming out of school, people were on their lunch breaks from work and then there was me. Walmart itself was awesome. The lines were short, the shelves were a bit bare but I still found most of what I needed. I didn't get my Uncle Ben's microwave rice that I wanted but I got a new one to try. As usual after Walmart I relaxed in bed and watched tv.

Wednesday was a busy day and a long day. It all started with my hair appointment. To get there I had to switch trains twice because of an "incident" on the E line so I got onto an F train which also had delays. By the time I got off the train it was the time of my appointment and I still had to find an ATM to get cash to pay for my hair so I ended up being half an hour late. Not my brightest moment from that day since I'm usually annoyingly early and on time for things. My hair turned out great though. There wasn't any real breakage in one spot but she said I had a lot of ends which meant a trim which I was expecting. This is the 2nd person to tell me that so I wasn't surprised.

Once I left there I had all intentions of going to Pace and sorting out some business but I stupidly got on the wrong train at Penn Station so once I got to the next stop I got on an E train and went to Time Square to go to Sephora. It looked like it was about to rain so I was trying to get through everything quickly. At Sephora I asked one of the people there if I could get anything as my birthday present and she said yes! She said that I could choose anything and then go up to the counter and say "It's my birthday" and then I'd get that for free....that's not the case. I spent about 20 minutes choosing a colour in a Makeup Forever Ultra HD foundation and then I get to the counter and she pulls out a box and says, "this is gonna be your birthday present." Basically they choose your birthday present so I had to put back the foundation, gotta save up to buy that. So for my birthday from Sephora I got the Nars Matte Lip Pencil.

In it is a really dark red that's really pretty and then there's a light purple-ish and pink one which is a bit too light for me but I think I can make it work. If not I might see if my cousin wants it. 

Also this week I got my Ipsy Glam bag. I can't remember if I got it on Tuesday or Wednesday but I was really excited.

So all of that was my October Glam bag. the little box has in a perfume roller ball which smells really good. I'm also excited to try the mascara and the Browza brow pencil.

That's about it for my week. I started recording things to use for my Youtube channel so I'm gonna be working on that later today. I'm thinking it's gonna be called AndThenWhat to go along with my blog. That way if I forget to vlog or something you can still keep track of what I'm doing with my blog. That and I still want to keep writing. Writing everything down is still therapeutic for me so I'm gonna keep doing it. :) Just keep an eye our for my Youtube videos, I'll put the link in the next post once I have it up and going. 

Soo until next time. :)

xoxoxo

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

It's a nice rainy and thunderstorming night, the perfect night for watching a movie which I'm going to get to riiiiigght after I finish this post. I think tonight is going to be The Age of Adaline. First I wanted to get this post off so that I can finally cross it off my list of things to do.

This week has been pretty quiet. I did my usual trip to Walmart on Monday right after I finally got my camera!!! I spent about 2 months trying to decide which one I should get within a reasonable budget so after a lot of research and watching reviews on Youtube I settled on the Nikon Coolpix 7000. 

This is an upgrade from my last one which stopped working right around the time I decided I wanted to do some vlogging and record things which was terrible timing. That was about 3 months ago, almost exactly since I carried it to get fixed on my way to get my hair done and I'm going to get my hair done next week. I didn't get it fixed since it cost about $100 to replace the lens so I figured I could just buy a new one. 

Anyways so I've been playing with that all week. The most interesting thing to take pictures of since I wasn't doing much outside the house was the fact that the curls I did for the job fair at Pace since the 1st of October lasted an entire week.

This was the state of my curls after 5 days so I was really pleased with myself that I managed to get them to last that long. That's also my new jeans jacket that I bought a couple weeks ago on my excursion to Fulton Street Mall. I always thought it was going to be an actual mall but it was just a street full of stores which work for me as well but it just wasn't what I expected. Yea so my curls were just on point last week. I just washed my hair today and I can now say that my hair was so so soft because of the new Shea Moisture Conditioner. Right now even though my hair has puffed out to be a small afro it is softer that it's been when I have this much new growth. 

On Wednesday I was ready to set up a recording space for videos that I could do for a Youtube channel now that I had a new camera. I couldn't decide on a tripod so I made a makeshift place to put the camera out of boxes but I think I need to actually buy one soon. I did a practice shoot to decide on a spot when I get an email from an employer I gave my resume to at the job fair asking for a time to set up a phone interview for an available position. (Freakout began a little). Then I grab my phone to message someone about this news and I see that I have a missed call and a voicemail. I check it and it's from the recruiting officer. She called and I missed it because my phone was still on vibrate so I quickly call back but there was no answer. (Different kind of freakout began) I waited a while and ate my phone, trying to gather my thoughts before I try calling again. When I call she answers on like the second ring and I start freaking out again but on the inside. The call went well so I now have an interview on Monday. YAAAAAAYYYY!! Finally!! Right when I'm trying to come up with a contingency plan and other countries to apply to I get a call for an interview so hopefully this works out. I really hope it does so please keep your fingers crossed and pray for me!!

That call meant that I've spent the last two days pouring over common interview questions and figuring out the best way to answer them. I'm practicing explaining my resume and trying not to sound lost but to sound knowledgeable about what I've learnt. Just trying to get what I know in my head to be said in the right way. This is also going to be what I'm doing for the weekend. My hair is washed, work clothes clean (just have to iron them) and I can focus on getting these questions done. 

Oh I got my order from Forever 21 package. I honestly thought I only ordered a hoodie and two pairs of leggings but the postman gave me a bigger box than I expected so I was a bit confused. I should have known that I can't stop myself from buying sweaters.

Turns out I bought two sweaters, a hoodie and then the two pairs of leggings. The sweaters are really soft and look comfy. I haven't really tried them on since I've been busy preparing for the interview but I did try on the hoodie since it looked a little small so I'm going to return that this weekend. It's not terribly small but I want it to fit bigger. This is seriously and definitely the last sweaters I'm buying. When I was unpacking my winter suitcase and putting up my sweaters I was kind of shocked at how many I had. I was telling my mum that I hardly had any just two weeks ago because I honestly thought I didn't have many but now I know that I do. And that I need to stop. 

I'm really excited for this interview to turn into something and even if it doesn't I just hope that other calls come in soon. I'm anxious to get a start and to get a job so I can start repaying my dad for some stuff. That and so that I can feel a little less guilty for buying things especially with Christmas coming up. 

Anyways, I'm gonna go get my popcorn and start my snuggle movie night and fall asleep in front of my laptop again. 

Laters!! 
xoxoxo

Feeling Good, Feeling Great!

Helloooo again!! I feel really good right now becaaaauuuusssseee I'm back to planning again. I've always liked planning out my days or making to do lists. It made me feel really accomplished and then it also gave me something to do that day so that I just do fluff around all day. On the other side I had stopped planning and making lists because when I didn't get the things on my list done I felt kind of down and unproductive so I'm going to try my best to be realistic with my lists. So to do all my planning I'm back using my handy dandy weekly planner I got from Barnes and Noble last Christmas. I stopped using it when school was winding down and I didn't have any homework to write in it but I think I need this to avoid another wallowing period.

I feel like by using this it should keep me busy and my spirits up while I look for a job. I also stick some post it notes inside for lists and anything I might need reminding of that doesn't fit into the designated date.

So this is basically what I have planned for tomorrow and next week. I don't plan so far into the future since I have no idea what I want to do until a couple days before. On the big stick note I have a list of things I need to buy from Walmart on Monday and then I can just check the things off my list on my phone in my app Keep since it keeps a list there. I like to do it this way because I don't buy everything every week so the list changes depending on what I ate a lot of that week. The little post it has on topics for my blog to keep track of what happened that week to talk about. 

In other news, my hair is curly!!

This is the final result but before I get ahead of myself I tried two new products this time. As I mentioned before I got the As I Am deep conditioner to try out and I wanted to try the Shea Moisture leave in conditioner from their Jamaican Black Castor Oil line. First was the deep conditioner. When I was applying it after washing my hair I realized it's not a thick conditioner. I'm about 10 weeks post relaxer so I prefer to use thicker deep conditioners when I have this much new growth to help soften my roots so this was a bit of bust but not a complete one. Now I at least know to only use it soon after I get my hair done over. It has the same smell of coconut as the co was so that was good. It comes in a really small container so I don't see it lasting me more than 2 more uses. I can't remember the price but I don't think it was too expensive. I'll have to check. Next came the leave in conditioner. 

This feels really soft in your hands and when it goes in your hair you can really feel a difference. It really conditions your hair well. My hair was soft and relatively manageable. I can't really say how much of a difference it made since I put my moisturizers in right afterwards to de-tangle but when I took the flexi rods out of my hair my curs were softer than they've ever been.

This was after I took out the flexi rods before I separated the curls. I took them out right when I woke up since they were starting to annoy me. It's really not fun sleeping with those things in your head. As usual the middle of my head was still damp somehow but it all turned out great in the end.

I think it's safe to say that I have now maybe perfected doing my hair in this style. This is the second time that I remember it coming out close to perfectly. It could also be the fact that my hair is longer but we'll just say I've gotten better :). 

One thing I'm working on perfecting is using the Real Techniques sponge. I'm still not sure how damp to make it before I use it and I heard that you could use primer water to dampen it or something so I was trying that but it still didn't work that well and I know its just me doing it wrong. The next time I try I'm going to simply try water. Hopefully I can figure it out soon. 

Right so the reason my hair was curly in the first place was for the job and internship fair at Pace on Thursday. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of my full outfit but it was ENTIRELY from Express except for the shoes. I really should take a picture of it next time and do some marketing for them lol. As usual the fair can be stressful at first before you figure out which companies are there and what they're looking for. It's always easier to tackle the upper level first since they have fewer companies there and not a lot of them are finance related so it's a quick intro for the day. The lower level had a lot more companies which took me about two hours to get through and I still didn't get to go to a company I was interested in because the line was so long. 

There are a few things I don't like about the fairs at Pace and this is my 3rd or 4th time going. Firstly the majority of the employers want undergraduates. Once you mention that you're a graduate student and say the word Master's you can see their face change and they write you off a little bit. In a way it makes me work a little harder to sell myself and convince them that I'd be the better choice but they still only want undergraduates. Secondly if you mention that you are an international student, next to none of the companies there sponsor. I tried to explain my situation with my work permit but that got me no where and they left it as "well if your situation changes". How with my situation change if I don't get a job somewhere? And if I do get a job somewhere why would I be contacting a company that still won't sponsor me? That's always been a hard thing since there were a couple cool places that really seemed interested until the sponsorship thing came up. Even if nothing comes from going to the fair it's still good practice for cold interviews and quick introductions which I really needed practice on. 

Right now there is a party going on downstairs but I'm not really in a party mood. It feels like a Netflix and chill night with my bed but the music is too loud so I'm going to try to get some writing done instead. I think in my next post I'll finally explain what writing I've been doing. 

Anyways, I think I'm going to pop downstairs for some food soon and then maybe go to sleep. Knowing me I can sleep through the entire party no problem.

Baii!! xoxoxo

Getting Packages and Over This Cold!!

Today marks two weeks of feeling symptoms of being sick. Exactly 2 weeks ago I got a stupid sore throat while at the mall with my Momma and silly me thought it was just because of the dry air but no, it was a warning. Today I tried to get me some antibiotics to help clear it up but they said I don't have an infection so no antibiotics for me. Basically I just have to keep up with the Mucinex and my inhaler and I should be fine in a couple days.

On a brighter note, let me just say I looooove getting packages. I think that's the main reason I order things online. Just to open up the boxes and envelopes. Once I open them whatever I ordered usually just lays around for a while until I work up the energy to put everything up. Right so today I got 3 packages. I was kind of surprised since I haven't been tracking my orders so I was only expecting 1 but he gave me 3 :)

In package number 1 was something I'm really excited to try out. You know how you could watch all these makeup videos on Youtube but you can't really afford the products they use so it could all become depressing after a while. This time I found something I can buy! :)

It's the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge which is supposed to be a dupe for the expensive beauty blender from Sephora which I can't afford. I've recently been trying to do more makeup wise for when I go out. I tried it for 2 days now but I don't really like how it's coming out yet so they're no pictures. I still feel weird wearing powder on my face so I gotta find a look that I actually like. Maybe a different translucent powder because the one from Elf makes me look like a ghost. My birthday is coming up so I can probably get a good one from Sephora for my free gift. Here's to hoping. Until then I'll try to figure something out with what I have. 

In package number 2 was a repurchase of my leave in conditioner.

I've been using the It's a 10 plus keratin for just over a year now and I still really love it. I've even gotten my whole family using it now. It's great for when I just get my hair done over but I think I want to try a thicker one along with this because I find myself using a lot of it when I get more new growth and my hair needs doing over. I thought I ordered it but I want to try to one by Shea Moisture from their Jamaican Black Castor Oil line. I'll have to pick it up from Walmart tomorrow if I ever get myself to leave the house. 

Inside of package number 3 was also a hair product, one that I've been meaning to buy for a while but I've been putting it off since it's kind of expensive.

My hair really likes this oil and I can really tell it's missed it while I've been trying the OGX oil. This one is thicker and leaves my hair feeling so much softer that any other oil I've tried. I want to try coconut oil since I've always been hearing good reviews on it and it is hell of a lot cheaper than this so I might try it out soon.

Keeping with hair product purchases I got a new deep conditioner since my supply has been seriously running low, only 3 left. Coming from my usual 5 or 6 having 3 was giving me a bit of anxiety so I got one the last time I was at Walmart.

This is the As I Am Hydration Elation Intensive Conditioner. I like their co-wash even though I don't use it much anymore and I'm curious to see how this is going to work. I stopped using it because I just don't co-wash my hair anymore. I already wash my hair once a week which for me is a lot and any more I feel like it's just too much on my hair and scalp. I feel like either my hair texture is changing or it's trying to tell me something so I'm trying to figure out what's up with that. 

I finally got myself a jeans jacket and  pea coat that actually fits me yesterday so those were some good buys. (I'll put in the pictures tomorrow when the light it better).

This week I'm really going to try to get back into a routine of being productive and exercising since I should be getting over this cold soon. I was going to go to the gym at Pace but I'm starting to rethink that since its an hour and a half away but I might still go. I don't think I'm going to do the ballet classes just yet. I want to make sure I'm at a certain level of fitness before I commit to paying for a class. That and I have to find all my stuff and order ballet shoes so it looks like the gym or at home pilates is it for me. 

Anyways I'm rambling. I have to go clean up the explosion of sweaters in my room and get ready for the FIVE HOURS OF TV i have ahead of me. It's not exactly 5 hours, just 5 shows I wanna watch. 

If you want you can follow my mini blog aka my twitter to get all my random thoughts @Dancer_21 and get the random pictures I take on my instagram @CarlaCJ21.

Until next time :)

It Was a Long Time Coming

So I haven't done a blog post since Nick left and that was over 3 weeks ago and quite a bit has happened. 

Firstly I had about just over a week in between when Nick left and when my momma came to visit which I used to mostly do nothing. I didn't go to Walmart, I didn't exercise much and I didn't wash my hair until the day she got in. I was in a bit of a funk and feeling kinda down. It's hard when you apply for all these jobs and the only thing you hear back is "you sound great but you're not for us" or "I'm sure you're awesome but we went with someone else". It makes you wonder and doubt about all the choices you made in the past like "did I really need to do all those dance classes during the summer instead of finding a job?" or stuff like "maybe I should have been a dancer since that was what I know". I took about 3 days of doing absolutely nothing and just wallowing in my life and just getting it all out of my system before I picked myself up to get ready to head over to Jersey.  I didn't even really have time to get over that before my mom came so it was just going from one thing to another. 

Once I got to Jersey I felt kind of like myself again. I was around family and everyone was happy which made me feel normal. I didn't stay with my mom simply because I didn't want the empty feeling when she left. Whenever my family leaves I always need a couple days to get over the panic and anxiety of being alone again. By not staying with her but just being close I got the best of both worlds. I saw her almost every day but I didn't get the dependent feeling again and when I left her yesterday there wasn't that pang of being alone that I usually get so it seemed to have worked out well. While in Jersey I mostly just hung out with my family, did some unexpected shopping and read a little. I got some work clothes so that when the elusive call for an interview comes in I will at least look pretty :). I got a couple sweaters as well for the winter and I'm thinking I may look for a scarf or a plain colored sweater.  I still haven't unpacked my bags to really see what I bought because....I'm sick.

I started to get a sore throat around the first Tuesday I as there. It was ok since that was the only symptom I was getting, no coughing, no sneezing and no noticeable fever so I was still optimistic that I could get over it. I got some medicine on Wednesday and hoped that it was pass. By Friday I think I had decided that I was definitely sick. On Saturday I bought some different medicine since I had now somehow developed a cough that sounded like thunder. I don't even know how I got sick. By Sunday I had resolved that I needed to go to the doctor for some meds and to get checked out. Unlucky for me I got the nurse that didn't want to give me any antibiotics so I still had to go back today because I started wheezing which is never a good sign. So today I had to go on the nebulizer and I got me an inhaler. Yay me...

Can I just say that both the nebulizer and the inhaler taste disgusting. They've already helped and it's only been about half a day but I could do without the taste. I've almost had an inhaler a couple times but now that I actually have one it's weird. I grew up with so many people around me being asthmatic, it was sort of like an inner circle I was never part of but now that I sort of maybe kind of am part of it now it feels weird. Sort of like it seems bigger and more important that it is to other people because I built it up in my mind when I was younger and now that I have it I shouldn't feel good about it but the child in me does. Sort of finally feeling part of the group of friends I never fit in with. Maybe this is karma telling me I shouldn't be wishing for things like this.

Apart from being sick I honestly had a really good time with my family. My only regret is that I may have gotten them sick but overall it was a much needed distraction from my usual mundane life. There was still talk about finding a job but it wasn't all consuming and the topic of every conversation. There weren't those expecting and waiting eyes to see when I was going to get a job. There wasn't any pressure to apply for a certain number of jobs a day and the constant checking to see if I'd done it. Don't get me wrong I still did my applications but there wasn't that pressure. It felt good. 

While on my mini-vacation I was able to start and finish watching an entire season of a new series, Madam Secretary. 

I really love this show. I remember when it first premiered and I told myself I wanted to watch it but I never did. Now that I have I can recommend it to everyone, go watch it! It's really interesting to see how all these international relations are handled and how intertwined they could be. This show could basically make anyone want to be the new Secretary of State.

Now that I'm back home I have to get over this cold/sickness or whatever you want to call it and get into a routine that keeps my spirits up so I don't fall back into my need for wallowing. I don't know if I want to call it depression yet since it wasn't diagnosed or anything but it felt like it. Anyway, I've got medicine to take and sleep to get to so that I can be up and at 'em tomorrow. 

Baaaiiiii