So Very Thankful

Here are the final letters of thankfulness for the ABC's of Thanksgiving.  I know I'm a couple days ahead of myself, but if I leave off the last three or four, I'll totally forget about it.

M - Mom, music, motivation, Modest Mouse, The Mountain Goats.
N - New ideas, my nephew.
O - Obligations, optimism, opportunities, the Office.
P - Patterns and prints, people (the good the bad and the ugly), Parks and Rec.
Q - The queers and the queer movement.  (I love them all.  Is that insensitive?)
R - Red Robin, relations (to people, songs, movies, etc), reliability, Ruby Tuesdays, reading and being able to read.
S - Siblings (because where would I be without them?), sunshine, seasons, simplicity, spontaneity.
T - Time, taste buds, telephones, Tom.
U - Umbrellas.  Seriously.  Also, uno.
V - Variety,
W - The Walking Dead, wigs, women's rights.
X - x-rays and medical technologies.
Y - all of my yesterdays, yearnings, and yes-moments.
Z  - Ze Frank (zefrank on YouTube).  Seriously, sometimes I get weirded out by some of the things he says because that's exactly how I feel.  Sometimes, that's the best feeling in the world.


I'm a little late, but I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

November Playlist

Over the past two weeks, I've noticed myself listening to a lot of the same songs over and over again in a loop.  As I was putting together this playlist, I realized they only sort of belong in the same category, but not really, so it may be worth a look no matter what music you like.  The songs are in no particular order, so feel free to skip around as you see fit.  Here's a list of the songs on the playlist, as well as a link for your listening pleasure.  Happy Monday!

Click here for the YouTube playlist!

1. Greg Laswell - Not Out

~I've had this song on repeat over and over again on its own...  I can't stop playing it.

2. Beirut - Mimizan
~This one I used to listen to all the time when my boyfriend and I first started hanging out.  It's pushed its way back into my music cycle.

3. Ben Howard - The Fear
~I've heard this song a couple times through Pandora, but I hadn't really connected with it until a few days ago.  It came on during a walk through the trails in the area.

4. Bon Iver - Holocene
~This is my 'beach song'.  Seriously, if you ever go for a walk on the beach by yourself, play this song.  Perfection.  I haven't tried it in any other situations, I just really love this song.

5. The Decemberists - Sons and Daughters
~Where do I start...?  I found this song through the Office (season 9, The Farm) and my boyfriend had it on his iTunes playlist.  He looked at how you play the song for both guitar (for him) and ukulele (for me) and we've played it together a few times because we can.  And it's adorable.

6. Katy Perry - Unconditionally
~A very recent addition to my iTunes library.  I hadn't heard this song until I ended up in Oklahoma, and now I can't stop listening to it.  I also watched the Katy Perry movie. Three times so far.

7. Lana Del Rey - Young and Beautiful
~This song is beautiful.  I really, really wanted to not like her because she (in the way I saw it happen) got famous because she was so vintage and old school and made her way around tumblr like wildfire.  Then, I heard this song on the radio and instantly had to know who was singing it.  Now we're here...

8. Miike Snow - Bavarian #1 (Say You Will)
~I first heard this song when I was working at Sephora and a coworker switched the music from the store's channel to her Spotify account.  I think it's the drumming that's so damn catchy and I warn you, it'll be stuck in your head. For forever.

9. The Mountain Goats - So Desperate
~This one reminds me of Tom sooo much.  I won't go into detail, but it's weird how much we can relate to this song.

10. Radical Face - Always Gold
~Out of all of the Radical Face songs I've heard (which, let's be honest, is only 4) I think this one is my favorite.

11. Skylar Grey - Coming Home Part II
~I could listen to this girl's voice all day.  Just beautiful.

12. Sufjan Stevens - Christmas in the Room
~Christmas is coming!  He has a ton of great Christmas/Holiday songs, and I could seriously listen to him for weeks without hearing the same song twice.  He has recorded an insane amount of songs.

13. Walk off the Earth - Wrecking Ball
~Yes, I know what you're thinking.  Yes, this is a Miley Cyrus cover.  Yes, "wrecking ball" is secretly my jam right now.  I'm over it. This cover is brilliant.

14. Zedd ft Hayley Williams - Stay the Night
~Love.  This is my ringtone.  I haven't heard a Zedd song I didn't like yet.  Again, love.

15. The Weepies - Nobody Knows Me At All
~One of the only songs I can kind of, sort of play on the guitar.

16. The Neighbourhood - Sweater Weather
~Randomly heard it on Pandora one day and the next day it was a huge sensation on the radio.  I don't know anything about it or the band besides it's catchy as hell and I love legitimate sweater weather.

And if I could suggest another song... It apparently isn't on YouTube at all, but it's come up on my Pandora stations once or twice and I love it.  I did manage to find it on iTunes, but nowhere else.  The song is called "Fond" by A Weather.  Check out the preview through iTunes!

Today I Believe...

• Too much coffee isn't a bad thing until you start to seriously get dehydrated.

  

  Welcome to the midwest, where everyone drinks from mason jars (this is only sort of true).

• Songs are addicting.  I've been listening to the same few songs on repeat for days.

• The mixture of coffee, familiar songs, and being stuck inside because of an ice storm actually make things seem a little more cozy.

• Missing someone makes you realize just how important they are to you.
  

• The holidays aren't made by what you give and take, but the time you can spend with the family you have.  This Christmas is going to be very different because of far away most of my family is.

• Living in a flat state gives you a reason to chop your hair short or always rock a ponytail.  The wind just makes you eat any loose hair it can blow into your face anyways.

  

  I've been playing around with some ideas...

• Sometimes buying clothes you normally wouldn't helps you find new wardrobe staples.

Through time and space...

• Not a lot of things can boost your confidence like a good hair/makeup day.

• Goals are important, and I'm starting to get serious about mine.

Catching Up

I've made it to Oklahoma.  Today was my first full day living in a new state, which started off with a job interview at Target.  Run of the mill, holiday hire, I should start next week.  

Anyways, I have a few pictures from yesterday and today that I wanted to share.  The traveling was fairly uneventful.  My boyfriend and I woke up at 4 in the morning Sunday to drive to the airport, sad goodbyes and no pictures from that (because who wants to see that?) and I forgot to get a real breakfast before I boarded the first flight south.

Found this is the Dallas airport. I want one for my house.

Welcome to Texas

I went on a little walk around part of the base, and found some semi-sketchy buildings.  

 I've decided this place would be great for shooting a horror movie.  It's got the very quaint feel to it while still managing to be super creepy.

And, I just remembered I'm a day late on my Thankful days list so here is D through L to cover tomorrow, too:

D - I'm thankful for my dad for being so helpful through the moving process and everything else in my life.

E - Elephants for being so damn cute I could die.

F - Friends and family for being there when the shit hits the fan (and when it doesn't, but mostly when it
does) and distracting me when I need to be distracted.

G - Grandma! I'm so thankful I got to spend time with my grandma before I left.

H - I'm thankful for Hannah and hamburgers and having hands.

I - Ice cream, ice, iced coffee (if you know me, this is no surprise), iPhones, aaaand instagram.

J - Jeans that fit well, justice, Jones soda.

K - Kevin Hart, Katy Perry (I just watched her movie, soo good), and kindness.

L - Love, lazy days, lessons, learning, Lindt chocolate.

This list may have seemed a little less deep than some people on Facebook, I was just trying to think outside the box a little more and I'm totally serious about all of them.  Happy Monday (which is really Tuesday for a lot of you) and I hope you have a good week!

Coming Up Quick!

So, as we close in on my last 48 hours in Connecticut, I figured I should post something considering I said I'd try to post daily while I had the time off and obviously haven't been keeping up with that promise.  Here's what I've been up to in the last two days.

Wednesday, I did a whole lot of nothing... Like, laid in bed all day kind of nothing...

But today, my grandma and I went on a lunch date to Nunu's Bistro in Colchester.  It's an adorable little bistro tucked behind another building.  It was a house at one point, but they renovated it into this cute little business space. 

 After my date with my grandma, I took my younger brother and sister out to Denny's one last time.  That was always our special little spot if we just wanted something to do and get away from the house for an hour or two, or a stop on the way home from a day out.

They decided to fill my cup with all of their ice...

..and we drew on our place mats.

 This picture was from the other day, before I had a phone interview.  I was playing with my camera waiting for the call.  I am really loving this lip color right now, it's a really pretty terracotta red by Nars.

And a little peek into the makeup I did for Halloween.. My sister was zombie Pinkie Pie and her boyfriend was just zombie Devin.

Tom and I went to a bonfire at his aunt's house.  I didn't get any decent pictures of my makeup, but here's a picture of him in his costume.  The face is really what pulls the whole thing together.

Tomorrow, I get my tattoo and see my family for the last time before I leave, so hopefully there will be plenty to show you tomorrow night/Saturday morning.  Also, Saturday plans are still up in the air, but hopefully Tom and I do something together on our last day before I go.  Until then, have a great Friday!

Five Days + Update

So, with five days left in Connecticut, I figured I would take a minute to show you some stuff I've been up to in the past month.

I have been doing a lot of makeup (mostly on myself for work) but I'm pretty proud of them.

Zombie Pinkie Pie and zombie Devin

Sugar skull for work 

Fairy inspired.  Unfortunately the light purple blush and glitter didn't show up very well.

Inspired by Vintage or Tacky (Cora) of vintageortacky.com

Tom and I went hiking at Sleeping Giant again.  This was where we went for our first 'date' so we decided to come back to it before I left for a while.

On top of the mountain!

And a few weeks before our hike, I went to New York for a Makeup Forever class, which was all Halloween makeup, with my friend, Cali.  It was a lot of fun and I hope I'll get the chance to go to New York again before I leave, I'm trying to convince Tom to go on Saturday, but we'll see how it goes.

This week I have plans to see a few Sephora girls again, have a little lunch date with my grandma, get a tattoo and hopefully have one last adventure with my siblings in Connecticut before I'm off to see my sister and brother-in-law in Oklahoma.  More pictures and updates to come, probably on a daily basis this week.

I hope you're all having a safe Monday.

ABC's of Thanks

So, I have seen this going around on Facebook and decided it will keep me motivated to write here a little more often.  I know I fell off the wagon with my weekly random act of kindness, which I hope to bring back in the future, but this seems a little less active (and less expensive, too!).

So, this Sunday marks day 3, so we'll start with A, B, and C.

A - I am thankful for autumn because it all feels new and motivating.
B - I am thankful for my brother-in-law (and sister) for giving me a place to live for a while.
C - I am thankful for coworkers for being so supportive and helpful through a not-so-smooth transition into moving away.

Next Sunday I will be going through the next 7 letters (up to J!) and hopefully before then I'll give you guys an update on what I've been up to.  I have a lot of pictures, and even more to come this coming week!  I also have a lot of plans coming up that I'm excited to tell you about and hopefully you'll be able to help me out with even more ideas.  Happy Sunday!