ChelsReads: The Cousins O'Dwyer Series by Nora Roberts

As mentioned in my November Favorites post, I recently started (and devoured) the Cousins O'Dwyer series by Nora Roberts over my Thanksgiving holiday and couldn't put the books down even after I came back home. These were my first Nora Roberts books, at least that I've read. As I mentioned in my favorites post, there was a Lifetime Movie Series based on her books running around the time I graduated in 2009. As a girl with her own (very) Irish roots, I have a tendency to gravitate toward anything based in the "mother land" but even more so because of the magical component of this series. When I read the description of the first book on Amazon, I immediately clicked the Buy button, but sort of forgot about it until headed down to Fort Bragg.

The series opens in the 13th century with a powerful witch, Sorcha, and her three children: Brannaugh (Bran-ugh), Eamon (Ay-mon), and Teagan. Threatened by a dark sorcerer named Cabhan (Ca-van), who covets not only her great power but her incredible beauty, Sorcha must stop him to keep him away from her children. To keep them safe, Sorcha sends them to live with her cousins, The O'Dwyers, hidden from Cabhan. 

In preparing for what she knows will be her final showdown, she gives her power to her children, creating within them the power of "The Three." While each of them is magically powerful on their own, they are nigh unstoppable when working together. When he comes for her, Sorcha attempts to destroy him, using the last bit of power that she has to poison him but for some unforeseeable reason, he isn't completely destroyed. With her last breath, she curses Cabhan, and all that come from him, to be ended by her bloodline, whether her children or another Three thousands of years later. 

Flash forward to spring of 2013 and the first book of the series, Dark Witch, when petite, blonde Iona Shehan moves from America to Ireland in hopes of finding her destiny and her roots with her cousins, Branna and Connor O'Dwyer. I won't lie to you, the first chapter or so of the book based in Iona's perception are a little hard to get through. I'm not sure if it's because she's so scattered, having been uprooted from her previous life, or if I wasn't used to Roberts' writing style yet, but I wasn't too sure about the book at the beginning. However, once it progressed, I was all in and definitely couldn't put it down. 

Without giving too much away, because I really can't recommend the read more, and want you to find out for yourselves. The current "Three", Iona and her cousins are, as the generations that have come before them, charged with destroying Cabhan once and for all and the three books detail their exploits in trying to do so after Iona makes her way to Ireland and completes the circle. Along the way, because they're Nora Roberts books, everyone falls in love in one way or another and there's a great sense of family, both blood-related and chosen, interwoven throughout the series which I greatly enjoyed. 

If I'm completely honest with you, the second book, Shadow Spell, was my favorite (which is weird for me in trilogies because the second book is almost always filler-y fluff) because I found that I related so much more to Connor O'Dwyer than I did to either one of the women (Roberts centered each of the books around one of the three cousins and how they felt about the whole deal as the drama unfolded). Connor just has such an easy way about him; he's quick and funny and cares about everyone close to him. While I really enjoyed the first book (or I wouldn't have downloaded the entire series before I even left Fort Bragg), it was definitely the second book that made me fall in love with the cousins and the series as a whole. 

While I read the books on my Kindle (they retail on Amazon for $2.50/book in the Kindle format), you can find these books all over and I wholeheartedly recommend reading them if magic is up your alley. 

Cheers! 

Stay tuned for a recipe from the books over on Eat.Drink.Adventure later this week!

True Life: I Suck at Blogmas

Well guys, here we are day 5 and I've already missed two posts. It's completely unintentional. I just have been really busy at work/after work and haven't had time to sit down, brainstorm post ideas and then actually take the time to write/photograph for them. So...I'm calling off Blogmas. Not completely, but I am going to hold back on posting until k have something relevant to post, rather than rando spewing words at you every day. Deal?

Blogmas, Day Three: Winter Skincare

So much for Blogmas, Day Two, guys! I'm so sorry. Yesterday was just such a crazy day for me. I was planning to actually write the post about what I did yesterday....only to not take a single picture of the entire day....so I'm sorry I missed it, BUT I won't do it again, I promise :). Without further ado or apology, here is Blogmas, Day Three, in which I talk about Winter skin care. 

I don't know about y'all, but I get some really dry skin when the cold weather hits and it isn't that it feels dry, it's dry dry. 

My skin will be going along, minding its own business and the second the temperature drops below 70, FLAKES! My lips peel, I get dry skin at the corners of my mouth that cracks (thanks for that one, Accutane), the skin on my hands gets ashy and I'm a WHITE girl already. And let me just say this: I'm in Northern California. By no means am I in extreme weather conditions, at all. The cold weather comes, my skin freaks out and as a result, I have to switch out some products to help out. 

I still use all of my regular Lush products. Those aren't going anywhere, anytime soon. My Coal Face soap is a godsend for my face and the Grease Lightning spot treatment is as well. I'm also still using my Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herb and Rosewater as a toner. It's the only thing I've found that my skin actually likes so I'm sticking with it. 

In winter skincare, with cold air and dry skin, you need to make sure you're exfoliating. Luckily, I bought a Clarisonic a few years ago and I use that two or three times a week to help deep clean my skin, exfoliate a bit, and get rid of the dead skin that tends to accumulate. I only really use my Clarisonic when I wash my hair (which is like 2-3 times a week) because 1. I don't want to over exfoliate my skin and 2. it makes it a special treat when I use my Clarisonic and my Burt's Bees Soap Bark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream. 

After cleaning my face, deep clean or otherwise, I need to moisturize. That's a big duh, but in winter, I have to switch my moisturizer from my typical Trader Joe's SPF 15 face lotion to a thicker, more emollient cream like Alba Botanica's Even Better Night Cream for night and Alba Botanica's Good & Healthy Oil-Free Radiance Cream during the day. 

As a rule, I do use a lot of more natural products on my skin. That's mostly because I find that my skin tends to respond better the more natural the products that I'm using on it are. 

Last, but not least, I just discovered Bath and Body Works' My Favorite Night Balm (which I use during the day too) for my lips. I have perpetually dry lips and while I had been using the Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask for a long time, the Night Balm is actually significantly cheaper and I've noticed better results using it than I ever did with my lip mask. 

So there you have it. Nothing too crazy, but definitely some added steps to combat the extra flakiness and dryness of winter skin.

See you guys tomorrow! Cheers!

Blogmas, Day One: November Favorites

On the first day of Blogmas...just kidding! For those of you who don't watch YouTube, Vlogmas is something that YouTube gurus started a few years back, vlogging every day from December 1st through the 25th. It is most definitely one of my favorite parts of the holiday season because you get to see how everyone prepares to celebrate Christmas and generally gets me pretty pumped for the season as a whole.

Today, for my very first post of the month and of Blogmas, we're talking November Favorites. If I'm honest with you...and I always am, I really didn't discover a whole lot of new things this month. November was kind of just a flyover month for me this year. I barely wore makeup, stuck to my winter standby clothing choices and generally kind of mucked through the month at work. But for the very few things that did become favorites this month, I thought that I would put together a little blog post and share them with you. This is going to be super quick, I promise.

Makeup

Sigma Beauty Finishing Touch Eyeliner. I saw this on one of MakeupbyTiffanyD's favorites videos early in the fall and was instantly intrigued by the slightly pink tight line pencil so, naturally, I HAD to order it. 

I'm sure for most makeup mavens (and by that I mean any woman in the world who spends more than 5 minutes of slap-dash on her face), this is a last step in a full on smoky eye look to brighten up the lower lash line and balance out the darkness of the upper eyelids. I, on the other hand, laziest of makeup wearers prefers to use this as a tool to make me look more awake all the time. 

It's pretty rare that I wear makeup to shipment shifts at work because, really, who needs a full face on at 7 am when I won't be seeing customers, but when I do, this is a must-have to make me look like I'm actually alert. You just pop a little bit on your waterline and bam! Instant eye brightening and fake awakeness. 

Sigma F35 Contour Brush. Another YouTube discovery, MeghanRosette talked about this in her November favorites...last year. Initially I thought, contour schmontour. However, in my lazy ass makeup routine, taking the time to contour my cheeks a littl but does actually make a huge difference in my face. I'm still looking for my ace contour product, but thus far, this little brush couldn't make the whole thing more easy if it tried. 

Food

Just as a heads up, all of my food favorites were discovered at the very end of November and they come from Trader Joe's because Trader Joe's, and not Whole Foods, is the mothership.

Trader Joe's Candy Cane Green Tea. This is seriously the best tea ever. First of all, it has a narwhal on the packaging ("Bye Buddy, hope you find your daaaad.") and a really cute little Santa polar bear which is undeniably cute. But most importantly, it is SOOOOOOOOO good! It's minty without being too minty because it's balanced out with vanilla and some other delicious holiday flavors (at least according to the packaging. I really just taste the peppermint and vanilla). I will literally drink at least 3 cups of this each day and have since I got it.

 

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Minty Mallows. This was a horrible mistake. Horrible, horrible, horrible. My mom and I picked these up for snacks on our Thanksgiving trip out to the North Coast and I am obsessed with them. I love dark chocolate as a rule and for whatever reason lately, I've been really liking marshmallows even though I never have previously. So when I saw the box sitting on the shelf, I ran for it and threw it in the cart. Now I'm thinking I'm going to have to be making a trip to Trader Joe's just to stock up on these. 

Random Favorites

Starbucks Travel Mug. This is part of the Starbucks Holiday collection and when I saw it on the website, I had to have it. I love the metallic flecks all over. They kind of remind me of mermaid scales. I mean, it's a travel mug. There's not much to say. It keeps my drink warm and holds my Trader Joe's tea when I have my second cup of the day. 

The Cousins O'Dwyer Series. When I was graduating from high school in 2009, Lifetime did a set of movies based on Nora Roberts books and I loved them. A few months ago I got a hankering to watch one of them and, after needed to download the second and third books as well, which I did, in the parking lot of the Fort Bragg Starbucks yesterday morning. According to my Kindle Fire, I have 50 minutes left in the second book and will be starting the third one this evening. 

Other than making me feel like its about time I got into a relationship, the book series has been such a great escape and a really good read. I honestly wish there were more books. But for right now, I think I'll content myself by discovering what happens at the end of the second book and start the third. 

doing so decided to look her up on Amazon where I found a series about Irish cousins with a bit of magick going on. Needless to say, as an Irish girl and a big fan of all things magical, I bought it. Aaaaaaaand then forgot all about it until I charged up my Kindle to take with me to Thanksgiving and saw it in my carousel. Soooo I started the first one...and devoured it. Which meant that I

Anyway, guys, that's Blogmas, Day One done. Told you I had very few favorites for last month and I wasn't lying. 

Cheers, and see you tomorrow!

Countdown to Blogmas: Christmas Movies All Around!

I'm tryin' something new this year and I'm going to jump on the Blogmas bandwagon and post every day from December 1st through the 25th with a different holiday post. We'll see how it works out, but  I'm definitely in the planning stages right now. It should be pretty cool. 

You know, this year I tried not to be one of those people who immediately skips from Pumpkin Spice to Peppermint, Jack O' Lanterns to Christmas lights, but I just couldn't help it. Halloween ended and the next day I watched Eloise at Christmastime, my favorite holiday movie....or one of them. I thought that if you were also in the Christmas spirit just a touch early this year, I would share my favorite Christmas movies (that I may...or may not have already watched so far this month).

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

While my mother loves the original, I am definitely partial to the Jim Carrey version of things. Loosely based on the original Grinch, this version relies much more on physical comedy and Carey's mastery of one-liners (who-venile delinquents, anyone?). For some reason, the version that I watch about a billion times online each year and the one ABCFamily uses for 25 Days of Christmas are a little different, so I get to enjoy both several times before the holidays are over.

Eloise at Christmastime

Oh, I absolutely love Eloise! This is, by far, one of my favorite movies, Christmas or otherwise, because I love Eloise. She's precocious and adorable and sees life as black and white (and sometimes, pink!): You love each other? Good, I'll make sure you end up together. If you're not as Disney obsessed as my family, you may not know that this premiered as part of the revival of Wonderful World of Disney over 10 years ago. Sophia Vassilieva plays Eloise and Julie Andrews plays her ever-patient Nanny in the duo of films that they produced in the Eloise series. It's such a sweet movie and I love how she plays the famous six year old.

Year Without a Santa Claus

If you don't love a good Rankin-Bass Christmas movie, you don't have a soul. These are what make Christmas in my eyes, and this particular movie is my absolute favorite of them all, probably because of Heatmiser and Snowmiser. The flamboyant duo who control the temperature of the world are what make this movie.

The Family Stone

I saw this in theaters when it came out (I was much too young to understand the movie) and liked it. Now that I watch it as an adult, there is something about this movie and this family that makes you fall in love with them. Despite their dysfunctionality and the craziness that ensues when they get together, at the end of the day, they love each other and everything turns out alright. I love it and will watch it again and again this season.

Arthur Christmas

Oh, the slippers in this movie! Written about Santa's youngest, most...well-meaning son, this movie shows what happens when three generations of Santa live under the same roof and how the meaning of Christmas is so individual. I love the animation and to be totally honest, the movie reminds me a lot of my childhood even though it came out three years ago.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Dear mainstream media and obnoxious parents, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is not promoting bullying. It's promoting acceptance of differences and dancing to the beat of your own drum. I can't believe that's become a topic of conversation. This is one of my Dad's favorites and I can't help but love it, too. After all, Rankin-Bass rules Christmas. Yukon Cornelius makes this movie for me. With his big, red beard and his can-do attitude, he kinda reminds me of Teddy Roosevelt. Between him and The Bumble, this movie really couldn't get any cuter.

It's a Wonderful Life

True Life: I love Jimmy Stewart. After I saw Harvey like 7 years ago, I fell in love and when I watched this movie for the first time as an adult last year, I just fell in love with him all over again. After all, who is more charming than Jimmy Stewart holding a bathrobe out to a naked woman hiding in a bush?

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Rank-Bass, man. This movie was my absolute favorite as a kid. I loved the Winter Warlock and the Burgermeister Meisterburger. It's just such a silly, feel-good movie and I watch it at least twice every holiday season because I love the music and the story of Santa and the explanation of Mrs. Claus. Plus, Santa's a ginge. Of course I'm gonna love the movie, duh!

Rise of the Guardians

Technically, this movie takes place around Easter, but I mean with the giant, Russian Santa and the elves and yetis running around, there's no way it's an Easter movie. I just love this movie. It's one of the funniest, freshest movies that has come out for Christmas in a while. None of the characters are trite, traditional Christmas characters and the way the movie talks about belief and finding out who you are is a great message for kids and adults alike. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas

I mean, the iconic, sad little tree. As a kid, I really wasn't into the Charlie Brown Holiday Specials, but as I've grown up, I've realized how good they are and how poignant and important the messages that they share with us each year are. Christmas isn't about getting a new PlayStation or finding the perfect present. It's about family and coming together to celebrate the feeling of this time of year. 

October Favorites

First of all, how is it November First?! I feel like I was just celebrating New Year's and here I am watching Christmas things on Netflix (yes, I caved early this year. But I bought myself a Fresh Balsam candle at Bath and Body Works, and the Christmas tree scent is killin' me!). 2014 has, so far, been one of the best years of my life. I'm actually thrilled with how my life has turned out so far. 

After that profound little moment, let's move on to my months favorites, shall we? 

-City Classified Ankle Boots. Hi, I'm Chelsea and I spend a lot of time on Pinterest. I see thousands of outfits, and most of the outfits I pin seem to feature adorable ankle boots. Which clearly means I also need adorable ankle boots.  

For the last two fall/winter seasons I've been searching for the perfect ones and accidentally found them in the front window of Tilly's one day last month. 

These are the perfect boots. They're so comfortable, even with the little heel. I think if I had designed them they wouldn't have come out any better. 

-Jack-O-Lantern Charm. I got my first Pandora bracelet 6 months ago on my trip to Punta Cana. Nothing else stood out to me as a souvenir so I went to the Pandora store at the resort looking for a unique charm. 

Unfortunately, there are no unique charms with Pandora, but I've worn my bracelet every day since. I only take it off to shower. I wasn't really interested in other charms from the store (I mean, besides the obvious mermaid charm) until I saw the little Jack-O-Lantern charm they brought out for Halloween. My mom got it for me as payment with helping her out at work, and I've loved the festive little touch he's added to my wrist this month (and for every month from now on).

-ELF Mauve Blush. Basically there is no reason for me to have bought this other than being bored with my entire makeup collection and needing to switch things up. I was all ready to splash out on a Nars or MAC blush until I hit Target one day for something completely unrelated and remembered ELF's $3 blushes. This shade looks like a natural flush on me and gives my every day makeup an edge for the cooler weather.

-About a Boy. Never paid much attention to this show when it premiered. I saw snippets because my mom watches it, but never saw anything good enough to sit down for. 

Bored one day, I clicked on the first season and proceeded to laugh my ass off. The premise of the show is that an independently wealthy man (we later found out he wrote a smash-hit Christmas song) living in San Francisco gets some new neighbors: an overly clingy hippie mother and her 11 year old son who, as you can imagine, desperately needs some male influence in his life. Main character, Will, rescues the boy from bullies one day and their friendship grows from there. It is such a funny and sweet show that I think anyone would like to watch it. 

-Call the Midwife.  I'm definitely a Masterpiece kinda girl. I found this on Netflix and thought I would give it a shot earlier this month. It was fantastic. I don't know what it is about midwives in impoverished South London in the 1950's, but I watched all 3 seasons in a week and have the premiere of season 4 already marked on my calendar...next year. It's a great show with great writing and an interesting cast of characters. Definitely check it out if you enjoy BBC Programming. 

-Last Man Standing. Let's just say it was a really good month for me and Netflix. I watched this show back in the day when it first premiered, but between the first episode of the second season and the new Kristen, Boyd and whatever the heck the obnoxious baby daddy's name is, I couldn't take it anymore. It was just not the same show. 

However, in my post Call the Midwife search for something to watch, I decided to give it a try and loved getting back into it. It's also opened my eyes to the fact that I'm apparently a 60-something year old man on the inside because ALL of Tim Allen's jokes make me laugh.

November is going to be a big month. I have a lot of things going on and you can expect a few blog posts about pre-holiday shenanigans, especially after Thanksgiving. 

My Winter Wishlist

So my last couple of posts have been just quick, little all text guys because I had some thoughts rolling around or I needed to update you on the awesome opportunities I've been afforded lately. Now, I thought that I would put together my Winter Wishlist post to follow up my Fall Wishlist that I did a month or two ago.

Now that it's finally cooling down here (I mean really, 90 degrees into the middle of October?!), I've started shopping for more wintery clothing since once it does cool down here, it cools down. Here are a few of the things that I've pinned for my winter wants. Most of these I've actually purchased already because I just couldn't wait. Don't be alarmed that they're mostly from The Gap. I just spend a crap ton of time at Gap and see things I want to buy while I'm at work. No big deal.

Barbara Quilted Rain Boots, Target $39.99

Where I live, we don't get snow at all. But we do get torrential rain, which means that rain boots are a definite necessity. I have a pair of bean boots already but those aren't exactly the most universal of shoes for cold weather so I picked these up at Target. They're super nice looking with the matte texture of the boots and the quilting gives it an extra touch. The only thing to keep in mind is that the sizing is ridiculous. I wear a size 9 normally and I bought these in a 7. No idea how that's a thing. But make sure you size down if you decide to pick them up. 

Black Leather Slip On Sneakers, Gap $49.95

I got these for myself since my trusty Vans have started to fall apart. They won't be the best choice in the rain, but if the drought conditions continue, I don't suppose I'll have to worry about that. They're very comfortable and fit true to size although they only come in whole sizes, so keep that in mind when you're picking them out.

Super Skinny Khakis, Gap $59.95

We got these in at work last week and I am absolutely obsessed with them. They are so soft and comfortable and the fit makes your butt look amazing. I am so excited to get them! They'll go with so many things, and especially for the holiday season, they're going to be perfect. 

Always Skinny Distressed Skimmer Jeans, Gap $69.95

Lately, I've realized that my jeans are either really old, don't fit or, with the last couple of pairs I've bought, are odd colors. I just want a pair of throw on blue jeans that I can wear all the time and I think that's what these are going to be. The fit is really nice (Always Skinny is my favorite cut of our jeans) and I really like the distressing being not at the knees because I always end up ripping huge holes in the knees of my jeans when they're already distressed there.

Marled Raglan Sweater, Gap $44.95

I bought a sweater from work that is literally identical to this as far as the fabric is concerned, but has no pockets. Not gonna lie, I'm a little pissed mine doesn't have pockets on it, but I'll live. I love the navy/white marled look of the sweater. I don't have anything like it in my wardrobe. 

PrimaLoft Luxe Floral Puffer Vest, Gap $52.99

This guy is actually marked down online but not in stores which I find very annoying. But I'm in love with the print on this thing. It doesn't look at all like a traditional puffer vest to me so I feel like I need it in my life. 

And there you have all of the things that I want for the winter time here. Stay tuned for a couple more Fall posts this week and check out my first official food post over here on Eat. Drink. Adventure. 

A New Venture

A few posts back I was talking about my favorite bloggers, one of whom is a good friend of mine, Jullie Anne. She had a food blog called Mangoes and Palm Trees. Over the summer, she had a lot of other things going on and so got a bit sidetracked from food blogging. Late in September, she was talking about relaunching the blog with a few changes and asked me to co-blog with her. Clearly, I jumped at the chance! Her blog was always one of my favorites to read, and I'm always down to spend time in the kitchen. My introductory post went up this morning and I thought I would share it with you guys over here. We should start with actual food posts pretty soon, so keep a look out :)

Sometimes You Have to be a Little Selfish

I've talked about the importance of girlfriends before on this blog, but over the last few weeks, I've definitely found that it doesn't have to be good girlfriends so much as good people that you surround yourself with that make all the difference in your quality of life. You know, the kinds of people who text you good luck on the day of your interview and then text you later on to see how it went. The friends who randomly call to take you out for dinner and drinks when they know you're having a rough week. The people who challenge you to better yourself and become the best possible you there is. Those are the kind of people that you need in your life.

I've said it before and I will say it again. I will always go for quality over quantity where friends are concerned. I'm long past the days where I feel like I need to have a ton of friends in order to feel like I'm popular or have accomplished something. I am fully aware that I have many accomplishments to be proud of and people in my life to be thankful for. I don't need a million Instagram or Twitter followers to feel important. For a long time, I did feel like I needed those things; I needed to be well liked in order to succeed. I felt like if I didn't have a lot of people around then it meant that I wasn't cool enough or funny enough or smart enough. I allowed a lot of people into my life who brought a whole lot of negativity and bullish*t with them and it was a huge mistake. I think that being an adult is coming to grips with that and dealing with it and now I am perfectly content with the amazing group I've surrounded myself with.

I went out for drinks with a friend last week and he commented that since he'd seen me last, I had done a complete 180 in my attitude. I started to say it was because I'm not at a job I hate anymore and I'm taking time for myself to do things that make me happy, like getting a pedicure but then I actually stopped to think about it. I genuinely believe that is because over the last few months, I've slowly but surely weeded out the people in my life who were bringing drama and not making me happy. I graduated from high school an entire year early because I was so tired of the drama that manifests itself around teenagers, no way I was going to continue to let that rule my 22 year old life. I had to make some major changes and kicking those people out of my life was a great first step.

At first I felt like that sounded terrible, but it's your responsibility to make your life what you want, not anyone else's. In that same vein, if you allow other people to track their drama and negativity through your life, you are just as at fault as they are. I had to learn that the hard way.Luckily for me, the very last one made their exit this week when she asked me to step down as a bridesmaid. The amount of drama that surrounded that wedding was ridiculous and I was thrilled to be rid of it. Now I can enjoy myself this weekend rather than spending it with people I can't stand and dealing with drama that I shouldn't have to. And you shouldn't either.

Can We Talk about Once Upon a Time for a Second?

As much as I love Frozen, I'm not going to lie, after last season's Wicked Witch detour, I was not excited in the least to see what Once Upon a Time was going to do to the storyline. Don't get me wrong, I started out as a huge fan of the show when it premiered. From the fashion to the story lines, I was obsessed. Then the second season happened and things started to slide downhill, real fast.  I was completely underwhelmed by the follow up story and I felt like they hired a whole new set of writers who had never even seen the first season. The acting was terrible, the plot was swiss cheese most of the time. Much like the characters left in Storybrooke after the curse was lifted, the show was struggling with what to do after the central conflict was suddenly lifted away. After Neverland and a trip to Oz last season, I was pretty much done watching, convinced that there was no way to turn it around.

However, when I found out that Scott Michael Foster, who played Cappie on ABC Family's Greek (OBSESSED with that show) years ago was going to be playing Christoph, I figured I'd give it a go and I have to say, thus far, I'm pretty impressed with the turn around. I think that the addition of Anna to past storylines and bringing Elsa to Storybrooke may be just what the show needs to get its shit together and head back into the direction of where it started.

Don't get me wrong, we're only in the second episode here, and it could easily snowball (hehe) into a heaping mess of badly tangled plot lines. After all, Rapunzel was not the blonde-to-brunette Mandy Moore type we all fell for in Tangled when she made her appearance on the show. I could be speaking too soon, but I really hope I'm not. I watched the first season on Netflix a few weeks ago when I was feeling nostalgic and was struck again by the great thing the writers had going when the show initially launched.

The only thing that irks me is Elsa. I don't want to spoil the show for anyone out there who hasn't watched or caught up, but to speak in general terms, her apparent lack of control on the show completely contradicts the ending of the movie. At the end of the film, Elsa seems more assured and confident in her powers, as well as her role as queen. She creates an entire ice rink in the courtyard of the palace, for crying out loud! The Elsa on the show seems completely off kilter and not at all able to deal with her gifts which doesn't seem right to me.

Anyone out there have any thoughts?

September Favorites

Hooray! This one is actually on time! After last month's super favorites, I figured that this time I'd actually take care of my blog post on time and get my favorites for September up at....the end of September. But how is it already the end of September?! WHERE did the month go? I feel like it was just Labor Day and yet, here I am with my calendar all set for October. 2014 may have been the fastest year of my life.

The first items on my favorites were purchased in the last week but I love them so much, they're  making the cut for this month's favorites anyway. They're all skincare products from Lush.

-Mask of Magnaminty. My skin has never been happier than after using this. I initially went into Sephora last week to pick up another product but after having yet another Sephora employee not help me and instead refer me to a computer to read reviews from their website, I left and headed to Lush where the lovely girls in there suggested Mask of Mag to me. I used that along with the sample of the next product and the next morning, everything on my face had shrank significantly.

-Coal Face Soap. This stuff. This stuff. It's magic. Combined with Mask of Mag, I swear it can cure all that is wrong with the world. Ok, maybe not all that is wrong, but if it's wrong with your face, this will clear it right up. It isn't much to look at, but my skin loves charcoal, which I've mentioned before and as a result, this has been a great week for my face.

-OPI Steady As She Rose Nail Polish. My go-to nail polish color for my almost never manicured nails is a pale, baby pink shade. Except when I busted out my nail polish stash at the end of August thinking I'd like to paint my nails, my cheap little Sally Hansen bottle was gloppy and gross, meaning I needed a new bottle. I'd had my eye on this color when the collection came out in 2011 and  since I needed a new light pink, I ordered it on Amazon. It almost looks like a nude color because of the grey tint in it which I personally think makes it even more wearable. It's been on both sets of nails this month and have enjoyed the neutral polish it gives to my nails.

-Dolce and Gabbana Escape to Panarea Perfume. I blogged about this when I purchased it for myself early in the month but I've worn it literally every day since. The best part about it is that I can't smell it on myself. I mean, I can if I literally sniff myself but unlike my favorite DKNY perfume, I can't constantly smell it all day. To me it doesn't smell so much like perfume as just a person who smells really good, naturally and I love that.

-MAC blush in Harmony. This is an oldie but a goodie for me. I bought it about 3 years ago when I was going through a phase where every blush I owned was "too pink" on me. Enter Harmony which looks scary dark in the pan but on looks like a gorgeous natural flush on the skin. Once it gets to be autumn, I typically switch from peachy and pink toned blushes to more natural shades and this is my go-to right now.

-Clinique Longwear Lipstick in Creamy Nude.  After an entire summer of Kylie Jenner's lips being a trending topic on just about every social media, I decided I needed a new, matte-ish lip color to wear for Fall and after many trial and error experiences at the Clinique counter, I landed on Creamy Nude. It's a pinky brown shade that gives me a my lips but better look and it lasts for a long, long time.

-Bath and Body Works Triple Moisture Cream in Comfort. One of my coworkers wears this all the time and I kept smelling it at work and finally had to find out what it was. Supposedly it is supposed to smell like a pumpkin latte with marshmallows but to me, it smells like a better, more autumnal version of Pink Sugar. I bought one bottle and then had a coupon for 20% off and did the buy 2 get 1 free just so I could have more. I'm obsessed!

-Apple Donuts. I started September at Apple Hill. I kept bringing it up and bugging my family so my parents and I went on Labor day, specifically for apple donuts from High Hill Ranch. Clearly we got a dozen of them! The crumb was my favorite, but the glazed and cinnamon sugar were really good too. Unfortunately, with the King Fire going on, I haven't been able to go back up, but the plan is to go back up next month just for more donuts ;)

-Celestial Seasonings Pumpkin Harvest Tea. I discovered this tea last year when I snagged it on a whim at the grocery store and immediately loved it. It's pumpkin-y without being overly so and the spices make it a truly unique tea. I typically make myself a mug every morning with my cereal.

-Tazo Vanilla Caramel Chai Tea. Another tea picked up on a whim, I bought a box the last time I was at Target with my mom shopping with our 5% off coupon and I'm OBSESSED! To me, it doesn't really taste like vanilla caramel, it tastes more like maple...but I really don't mind that at all. My only problem is that I've been making lattes with it using Trader Joe's brand coconut milk but I don't want to have a half gallon of coconut milk in the fridge for just lattes. That's silly. The tea on its own is ok. But the latte is amazing.

-Rich Kids of Beverly Hills. I've loved this show for a while, but the second season finally premiered at the end of August and I've been watching it all month long. I tell you, this show is better than the stupid Kardashians any day of the week. I think that I love it because in spite of the ridiculousness of their lifestyles and spending habits, there are moments on the show where they're really just human, especially Morgan Stewart, who I just love. I'm bummed that the seasons are just so short.

-SacconeJoly Vlogs. I have a confession to make. This month I've discovered the Saccone Jolys on YouTube and have quickly fallen in love with their family, especially their two year old littler girl, Emilia. They post new vlogs every day at 6pm their time, which means 10am my time and I've had a blast starting my mornings with baby antics. They're just such a sweet family and the kids are stinkin' cute too!

Let's Geek Out: Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus

As a lifetime lover of books and all things magical, I decided that I'd like to start talking about my favorite series of books and also television every now and again and I thought that I would start with Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series for my first Let's Geek Out post. 

For those who aren't familiar with Percy Jackson, or maybe saw the awful movies they made that don't measure up at all to the books, I'll give a little bit of background. To me, it is almost similar to Harry Potter in that it is about a seemingly ordinary young man with extraordinary origins who is faced with challenges that we mere mortals could not even dream of. Except that Rick Riordan did. Percy Jackson and his friends are demigods, or the offspring of both god and mortal parents. In the books, they face a series of challenges that echo classic Greek myth and deal with them in new and interesting ways. I don't want to give too much away in case anyone out there does want to read them but that's the gist of it. 

Considering that I, yet again, preordered Rick Riordan's next book on Amazon the other day, I felt it only fair that I should probably write a bit about his book series since I think it is also safe to say that it is one of my favorites. 

I initially picked up the Percy Jackson series of books in 2010 when my family was headed to Florida to go to DisneyWorld. I'm a travel reader and wanted to make sure that I would have enough material to encompass all the downtime we had on the planes and outside of the parks which meant boxed set. I started and finished all of the first three books in the series and immediately checked out the rest from the library when I got home. 

Being a longtime mythology nerd (especially Greek mythology), reading and listening to the stories was doubly fun because I knew which myths they were mentioning and recognized the parallels between the story arch I was reading and the one that originated thousands of years ago. While it's a series for young adults, it is definitely a great series of books and an interesting way to brush up or learn about mythology as you go. 

The feelings of sadness I experienced after I finished the books was intense. Only to find out that he had released a whole new series of books that now incorporated Roman myth as well as the Greek called the Heroes of Olympus. I learned about this while I was still working at the college bookstore and luckily was able to read the first two books for free during my work hours at the desk (this is also how I read the Hunger Games series and Divergent). Since quitting that job over two years ago, I've had to start paying for my literature and I don't mind at all. 

It bothers me immensely that these are out of order. Son of Neptune is the second book, then The Mark of Athena. 

I've preordered and devoured the last three, now four, books that have been released in the series on my Kindle and I can't wait till October 7th to read the next one! 

I have a feeling that The Blood of Olympus will be the last book in the series and that bums me out a bit but I think that it should be a really exciting read nonetheless. 

Products Actually Worth Buying

Happy Friday, guys! I've been off for the last two days so I've been able to get a little bit done on the blog so we don't have quite as many scheduling snafus as we have the last couple of weeks. Anyway, since it's Friday and we've talked about products and treating yourself this week, I thought this post was incredibly appropriate.

As a 22 year old woman, I've bought my fair share of beauty products. I mean, we all do it. A new product comes out, promising to make you look like Blake Lively or Gisele but better and we run out and buy it immediately. And most of the time, they turn out to be complete and utter crap. Most of the time, I end up with like 5 of the same type of product just stockpiled in my bathroom trying to use them up or give them away. Lately, I've been working on finishing the stuff that I already have so I haven't been buying a lot of new products. But when I do, they're typically not so much new as products that I've bought before and continue to buy because they're the best. There aren't that many since I've yet to find a perfect product in every category but these are the ones I've found so far.

Haircare

OGX Coconut Milk Shampoo: I've talked about this stuff before in a favorites post and possibly even a haircare one as well but it is that good. Almost 2 years ago, a girl I was friends with told me that her mom was capable enough to color my hair for me. I ended up with patchy black hair that I had to have double processed to fix and a scalp so dry disturbed from chemical burns that it was flaking and dandruffy for almost a year afterward. It was October of last year that I decided to give this stuff a shot. I'd seen it around and my stylist at the time told me that coconut oil might help with the massive amounts of flaking I still  had going on after my horrific dye job. So I snagged it at Target on sale and a month later, the flaking was almost gone. In fact, it's been gone for months but I still use this shampoo because it smells amazing and it keeps my hair soft and my scalp hydrated. Three bottles later and I just bought the economy size because I need it in my life.

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle: For $3, this product can't be beat. This is my go to conditioner during the cold months because of how thick and moisturizing it is on my thick, coarse hair, and now that there are a bunch of new versions of it on the market, I will definitely be trying a few out.

Clear Scalp and Hair Intense Hydration Nourishing Mask: I picked this up after getting home from Punta Cana in April. Between the travel and the climate there, my hair freaked out and I had to wash it just about every day to combat the mess and frizz it turned into. By the time we got home, my hair wasn't sure what to do with itself. It was dry and my scalp was not happy with me so on a whim, I grabbed this mask because it was meant to be massaged into the scalp. It worked so well that I've repurchased it twice and I use it as my regular conditioner.

Garnier Hydrarecharge 1 Minute Moistureplenish Treatment: This is my go-to deep conditioner in the summer months. It's light, quick and easy and it smells like apple. It works perfectly in the hot months when I don't need quite as much moisture in my hair but want to give it a pick me up. 

Bodycare

Secret Outlast Deodorant in Completely Clean: This has been my go-to deodorant for years. It truly does last all day long. I've just recently switched over to a new scent from the same line for a change, but when it's gone, I'll certainly be going back to the old standby.

Nair Brazilian Clay Shower Power Hair Removal Cream: I've talked about this before and I can't stress how good it is for lazy girls like me who don't want to shave their legs ever. You just pop it on before you get in the shower and you can either use it like I do and shave it off, or you can use the nifty sponge that Nair provides you with. I personally use a razor just because it gets every single hair.

Beauty

Skin79 Gold Label BB Cream: This is one of the real deal BB creams from Asia. I started using it a few years ago when Allison Anderson, or Amarixe as she's known on YouTube, demonstrated it in one of her videos. We're the same shade in a lot of foundations so I thought I would give it a shot and have loved it ever since. It's super quick to apply (I use my Real Techniques sponge) and I don't even need to set it with a powder. I just sponge it on and get the rest of my makeup on. Right now I'm slightly too dark for it but by the end of the month, I'll be able to use it again no problem. I already ordered a new bottle for a backup for the winter months since it's all I use. 

Covergirl Lashblast Length Mascara: I'm not super picky about mascara since I have fairly good natural lashes, but when I find one that makes my lashes look as good as this stuff does, I stick to it. Most people don't like it but if you have long, curly lashes already, it gives perfect definition and adds a little bit of length as well. I love that it defines my eyes without making them look spidery.