February 2013 Favorites

February has been such a short (DUH) and hectic month for me, and I've been doing a ton of things this month...which resulted in a ton of favorites. So, without further ado - let's get started.

RueLaLa app I love shopping. That's no secret. And who doesn't love a great bargain?! I know I do. If you don't know about this website and you're a proud shopaholic like me - you have not lived!!! It's basically a website that has different flash sales from designer brands. You can find anything from Prada to Lilly Pulitzer to Tommy Hilfiger there - the discounts are amazing, but you need to be sure to get anything you want right when the sale starts, otherwise it might be out of stock! I've had a problem with that before - whenever I logged in to the website everything was out of my size. So frustrating! But then I found this app - it sends you notifications when the sale of your desired brand starts! My wallet has not been as happy as me this month, that's for sure...

John Green books ("Looking for Alaska" & "The Fault In Our Stars" You know you're reading a good book when it makes you cry. I both love and hate these two books exactly for that reason - they are amazing but they make me cry SO much! And I'm already a big crying person, so this just pours more oil into the fire (is that even a saying...?). After reading "The Fault In Our Stars" I had a hysterical fit for 3 hours! The whole experience (yes, reading these books was an experience) has just been so amazing and definitely unforgettable - I think I found my new favorite author! I've heard so many good things about John Green books, and they definitely do him justice! If you haven't read his books yet - go buy one. Now.

Running I've always wanted to run, but before, whenever I tried I always got terrible side stitches, which lasted for days. But recently I decided to try running again - but this time I made sure to do it right. I found an 8-week program that starts you out with running and that has totally prevented the side stitches for me! I've been running about 3 times a week in the gym (it's too cold to run outside) and I can't wait for the weather to get better so I can take it outside!

Arose186 You may or may not know that I spend 40% of my time on tumblr, 20% studying or working out, and 40% on YouTube. I've been watching YouTube practically every single day since 2009, and needless to say, I abandoned TV a long time ago! Arose186 - or Arden - has been one of my favorite people on YouTube for quite a bit of time already (she does beauty videos if you were wondering), but I've just been watching and re-watching her videos all the time this month! I even had an "Arose186-marathon" where I watched every single one of her videos (even from her vlog channel) from the first one up until the last one she posted! I was sick, and had a lot of free time, okay?

"One Way Or Another" music video Everyone knows I love One Direction. I mean, there aren't many girls between the ages of 7 and 25 that don't like One Direction. They just recently came out with their music video for "One Way Or Another", but I've watched it at least 18 times already, so I think it's okay if I include it in my monthly favorites, am I right ladies? If you haven't seen the video yet - go watch it! It's so funny and just straight up adorable - makes me smile every time! Plus, the song is super catchy!

Nars "Laguna" bronzer I don't usually use bronzer during the winter months, simply because I just get way too pale for it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm super pale in the summer, too, but I'm mega pale in the winter! So if I use bronzer it just looks cakey and fake on me. But after cleaning out my makeup collection - I found my Nars "Laguna" bronzer and decided to try to use it again, even though it's winter. Just putting it out there - I still am mega pale, but "Laguna" just adds that tiny little bit of refreshing summer glow in the winter months (plus, I've been contouring with it, too!) without looking cakey or fake - love it!

YSL Touche Eclait I've been traveling a lot this month (definitely not one of my favorites for the month), so I've been stopping by Duty Free a ton (whoops). The YSL Touche Eclait has been on my list for quite a long time, so one day when I was passing by the makeup counters I just decided to check it out and possibly get it. I tried it out on my hand after seeing how flawlessly it blended out and how it reflected light and I was SOLD. I've been using it every single day since (even on days I don't wear makeup - not even mascara!). It just blends so easily, looks flawless but natural at the same time, highlights, covers blemishes, and is super easy to use due to the brush applicator that is already built in!

I just realized this post was super long, but if you read it 'till the end you are now officially my best friend.

xoxo,
Liz

Why I Eat Healthy and Workout

Someone asked me a question not so long ago. The question was: "You keep going on diets, but no one's ever called you fat - why?". The answer to this question is really simple - I don't diet, I just eat healthy and workout. But why do I do what I do? What motivates me to eat a banana instead of snacking on Doritos? Why do I feel like I need to "diet"? And on that note, what is "dieting"? You will most likely be able to find answers to all of these questions (and more) in this post - hopefully that will help you understand me more.

It is true that - at least for the past 1-2 years - no one has called me fat. I do not consider myself fat nor am I overweight. I do not know my body weight simply because I do not need to know it to be happy or need to know it for any other reason. I eat healthy and workout simply because it makes me feel and look better, and I gain major confidence. As for the "dieting" aspect of my life - I do not diet, nor have or will I ever diet. I do do "challenges" sometimes though, such as "no-cheat _____*any month of the year*" or "Whole 30", etc. Now, I eat healthy 99% of the time. I let myself eat something (usually froyo, chocolate, or macaroons) not-so-healthy every Sunday - but that's pretty much it! Sometimes I get off track and have a french fry or two (this hardly ever happens), but I really never over-eat - and that's the key to everything! You can eat anything you want, just in moderation!

I workout about 5-6 times a week - 3 days of the week I run, and I do strength training (lifting weights, working on certain parts of my body) the other days. It is very important to give yourself at least one day a week to rest from any exercise at all, so Sundays are usually my day off. I try not to overwork myself, but when I do I usually give myself a week or so to rest and relax. Why do I workout? Because I feel amazing when I do. I look amazing after I do. And I believe in doing what's best for my body - which is eating healthy and working out. 

Ah, I can talk about this forever, but I'll have to refrain, since I only have so much free time. Let me know if you have any other questions on this topic!

xoxo,

Liz

Where Is Liz???

This is going to be a really quick post, because I just wanted to explain something very quickly. I haven't been posting for the past week (I think?) because I got super sick - and still kind of am - and literally couldn't get out of bed for the first couple of days. On top of that - February break started in school, and I left to Slovakia to a ski resort with my grandma and sister. Of course, I didn't ski - or even leave my bedroom - for the first 3 days. I felt horrible! So I only got to ski for 2 days, but I'm just trying to get well :)

Anyways, I'll be making another post explaining my new blogging schedule and such - so look out for that!

xoxo,
Liz

P.S. Thank you so much for continuing to read my blog (for those of you who still do), I know what I did was very unprofessional, but I was so sick and stressed - I had to take a break.

Harlem Shake...?

Out with the old, in with the new, right? Well, Gangnam Style might be "so 2012 and late", but I've recently been seeing/hearing this "dance"/song everywhere! This leads us to the next question - is Harlem Shake the new Gangnam Style? 

I say yes! First of all, it's not so super up-beat, which I prefer. Second, it is so much less annoying than Gangnam Style (no offense)! I remember the first time I heard Gangnam Style, I was like "what the...". But when I first heard Harlem Shake it just made me want to dance and go crazy.

You can just go on YouTube and search "Harlem Shake dance" up - you'll find tons of hilarious videos that will want you make to film your own! 

Basically, the whole point of this "dance" is that one person dances weirdly for the first couple of seconds of the song and no one pays attention, and then, after about 15 seconds everyone in the room starts dancing like crazy. And this isn't attractive-Beyonce-single-ladies dance...it's more like a Liz dance. *Liz dance a.k.a this-girl-wishes-she-could-dance-but-she-cant-so-she-just-dances-awkwardly-on-purpose-because-doing-it-on-purpose-is-better-than-unintentionally dance*

The video above is definitely one of my favorites out of the ones that I've seen so far (and I've seen a ton, in case you're wondering)! It's so funny!!! Notice the guy in the lower right corner. And the guy with the giraffe. And the guy in the helmet. And everyone else. It's hilarious!

What are your thoughts and opinions on this new trend? Yay or nay?

xoxo,

Liz

How To: Organize Your Notes

I love note-taking. Love it. I mean, I like discussions and such in class as well, but there's just something about note-taking that I am absolutely obsessed with! Now, I don't take notes directly on the laptop and write them down in this format. First, I just write everything that I need to know in my notebook, then I go through the notes and copy the focal points of the notes into a Word Document. The rest is shown below.

This is a follow-up to a previous post that I wrote yesterday, by the way, so it kind of goes along with the theme. I basically just took a couple of screenshots of one of my older notes from Biology and it clearly shows how I write and organize my notes on my laptop.

In case you didn't know - this is how you split a Word document into two (or more) columns. Just click on the symbol shown above with the red arrow and I'm pretty sure you can figure the rest out yourself - all you have to do it choose how many columns you want to have on a page.

As you can see - in the left column I have the main subject written down (question) and on the right I have the actual material (answer). As I mentioned before, this comes in handy when I quiz myself by covering up the right side, looking at the subject and revising to myself (or, often, writing on another sheet of paper) the material that applies to the subject.

This is just how everything looked overall - much more organized and short (to me, at least) than simple notes.

Let me know if this helped you/if you have any questions!

xoxo,
Liz

How To: Study For A Test

I'll just put it out there now - I very strongly dislike tests and/or exams (such a surprise, right?!), but I love preparing and studying for them! Just something about the whole organization process makes it so fun and interesting for me!

This was also a request, so I decided, why not write a post about this? Just as my last post - this isn't a very thorough post that explains every single detail of each topic - just a quick step-by-step/overview. I will try to make a more in-depth post about each of these (or at least a couple) topics, so be on a lookout for that!

Now onto the actual post.

Know exactly what to study. This is pretty self-explanatory - if you don't know what to study, well, you'll most likely fail the test (or whatever you're studying for). Ask your teacher about the material if you have any questions or if you missed some notes/material (teachers love it when you ask them questions) - they should be able to help you out. I usually just make a bullet point list of what notes to use to study.

Do not procrastinate - start studying right as you get the material. I know this is hard, and I'll be honest - I am a huge procrastinator! I think I'm getting better at it, though! The whole trick is to go slow and study a tiny bit each day - not to cram it all in the night before the test. I usually do end up cramming the night before, but it never hurts to try! I know some people who actually do better on their tests when they cram the night before than if they study consistently for weeks - so just do whatever works best for you!

Organize notes. I will definitely do a huge, long post on this - it's just too long to explain in this post! Basically, all you need to do is organize your notes in whichever way works best for you - for me, typing it up on my laptop and printing them out is more comfortable - but more on that tomorrow (or sooner or later). The main point is to organize your notes in a way that is comfortable for you to read and review.

Make study guide. This will also be another blog post, because it's another thing that needs to be explained more thoroughly. Basically, there are a couple of ways to make a study guide - one of them is making a Microsoft Word document and separating it into two columns, then writing the topic of each subtopic (sorry this is confusing - it's late and I'm tired) in the left column and then writing about that subtopic in the right column. To study by using this method - you just cover the right column up (after you print the document) and revise the material by looking at the topic on the left column. I use this method, but I also usually make a study guide with questions for myself - but more on this later, since this paragraph is getting way too long and is probably confusing most of you.

Read notes for 5-10 minutes every night before bed for about a week before the test/exam. This one is easy and pretty self-explanatory - just go over the study guide/notes that you made prior and read them for a couple of minutes. Not too long, though - you don't want to overload your brain with information - just a little at a time.

I am so incredibly sorry if this post was confusing or hard to understand (let me know if it is!) - I've had no time to blog lately, but no worries! I am slowly sorting everything out, so I'll be back to normal, non-sleepy post soon!

xoxo,
Liz

How To: Clean Your Room

It's Monday - which means a whole new week! And a whole new week means a fresh start. And to get a fresh start you need to start off...well, fresh! And even though I usually like cleaning my room on Sundays (simply because I have, literally, no time on weekdays), this week I made an exception since I'm leaving for vacation on Saturday. 

I know, the idea may sound stupid: "How to clean your room". You may be thinking, "I know how to clean my room", but this was a request, so I'm just sharing some of my tips and tricks of how I like to clean up.

Step one.  Crank some tunes. Music always helps. It sets the mood! If it's a sad, rainy day - turn on some happy, bright music! It will not only make your day better, but will also set the right mood and make cleaning up more fun (remember the "clean up, clean up" song?)!

Step two. Take all of your things out of your drawers and take everything off of your hangers. Next, sort your clothes in three piles - to give away, to keep, and to get rid of. Just throw away all of the clothes you don't need anymore or that are just...well, useless, and leave the rest on the bed. After that, put all of the clothes that you can give away into a trash bag and donate them to charity or something of the sort. Then sort through all of your "keep" clothes and organize them however you feel suits you best - by color, sleeve length, whatever (I can make another post on this later on if that will help you guys!).

Step three. Clear everything off of the bed and make it. Once you're done with that - clear everything under the bed. You'll be amazed at how many things you can find under there! Sort through all of that, and move on to the next step:

Step four. The shelves. Clear everything off of your shelves and then dust everything (I mean, if you feel like it) with a duster - don't you just love those fluffy things?! You can also polish the furniture if you want to, but I only do that about once every two months. 

Step five. Vacuum. I hate vacuuming with a passion, but since all you have to do is quickly slide that thing around the room floor - it's pretty fast and easy to do. Don't forget to vacuum in places you would otherwise forget - under the bed, under the desk, under the rug, in the corners, etc.

Step six. Tidy up the little spaces - your desk, your dresser, nightstands - places like that. I will most likely also do a post on how I organize my desk, so I won't go too deep in on that, but just make sure to have everything neat, full of free space, and organized.

Hope you guys found this somewhat helpful and interesting to read - 11 days of blogging has really been kicking my butt!

xoxo,

Liz