Friday Night Ritual

Oh, hello! Welcome back! Well, I guess, you should be welcoming me back. It's 2014, everyone! This year has gotten off to a great, but busy, start for me. I am getting settled into my new full-time job as a teller at a credit union. I am always so tired because of the new schedule, but I love my job.
Since the week has a habit of getting tiring and stressful, my Friday nights almost always end in a bath. At the end of the week, the things I use in the bath are different from what I use everyday. You'll see down below what I mean.
Listen. I KNOW that this is Thursday. I'm not crazy. I just really wanted to write this post, and I have plans tomorrow! Sorry!


So, to begin, obviously, I draw up a nice warm bath! It feels so good after you've been out in the cold.

Since I use product in my hair every day, I know that by the end of the week, it is starting to get weighted down. So, I deep-clean it with this (as recommended by Missglammorazzi on YouTube) :

Literally all this shampoo does is strip your hair clean and leave it natural. Since it's a little rough on the hair, I follow up with a deep conditioning masque. This one is a mud masque, and it smells great!

It is recommended that this conditioner stays in your hair for 5 minutes before rinsing. It makes your hair feel super soft and moisturized. 

Next, I shave. Now, I have been shaving with conditioner for a while now, and I gotta say, I love it. I don't buy whole bottles specifically for shaving, but, like this one, I will use up the shampoo that goes with it, but more of both, and have half a bottle of conditioner left. 

This leaves your legs feeling incredibly smooth and smelling awesome!

My green razor. Not much to say here. 

After I'm all hair-free, I follow up with a body scrub from Bath and Body Works. This stuff smells and feels incredible. 

After my body, I gotta get my face clean. I start with this stuff, which is a daily scrub and a mask from Boots. At the end of the week, I use it as a 5 minute mask. I get my face as dry as possible, and then apply it, as the instructions say. I leave it for 5 minutes, then rinse! It feels awesome!

Then I follow up with my daily foaming cleanser from the brand Simple. I HIGHLY recommend it. 

And that's it for the bath! When I get out and dry off, I finish up my facial cleansing, which normally consists of makeup removing wipes, eye makeup remover, and toner, but I seem to be out of everything but the toner. I usually use Simple cleansing wipes and Maybelline oil-free waterproof eye makeup remover. 

This is the toner I use, from Boots. I apply it with exfoliating cotton rounds. 

Next, I get all moisturized, using the greatest smelling lotion in the world from Bath and Body Works.

Now, I'm finally ready to put on my pjs and crawl in bed! My mom got me these super cozy pajamas. It's a long flannel button-down, and sort of waffle-textured leggings. I don't wear the leggings to sleep because the shirt is very much long enough, and sleeping in the leggings stretches them out. 

Yay for being comfy and cozy!

Now, let's make it the best night in ever. 

First, light a candle:

(Party Dress- BBW)

Second, grab refreshments: 

Third, put on your favorite VHS:

(HP and the Chamber of Secrets)

Fourth, make your bed all cozy:

(Don't ya just wanna curl up in it?)

Fifth, turn the lights out and write a blog post! (Or do whatever you want to do.)

Hooray! Yay for the weekend!

Thanks so much for reading! I am so excited to get started on writing again for 2014! 

2013: My Year in Review

Well, that's it. 2013 is officially over. Weird. This year was, by a long shot, the strangest, most unpredictable year of my life. It went by incredibly fast, though, at times, it felt like time could not move quick enough. The year was full of ups and downs in my personal life. Luckily, though, the ups seemed to outweigh the downs. This post is to take a look back on my year and remember those good times. These are basically in chronological order.
When 2013 began, I was heading into my second semester at Judson College. Nothing spectacular was happening, I was working a little bit on the weekends at Chelsea Coffee House.
In February, I got the privilege of being the 8th grade girls D-Now leader with my good friend Emily. This weekend was a ton of fun, and it was an awesome experience.

Emily and I ended up wearing extremely similar colored shirts and pajama pants to sleep in. It was a little strange.

My little seester. You'll see from more pictures later that the kid has changed a LOT this year.

We made this delicious chocolate chex mix at, like, 2:00 that Saturday night because we're crazy like that. 

Moving on to March, I was still at Judson, and Spring Break came and went. The week after my break was my siblings', so I actually got to skip classes part of the next week to go to the beach with my family. Though it rained basically the whole time, it was fun hanging out with all the baby cousins. Mandy also celebrated her 13th birthday while we were there. 

Love these sweet babies! And its always fun to spend vacations with them. 

Somewhere in all of this back and forth to Judson, I went to Winter Jam and met JASON CASTRO! AAAHH! 

Also in March, my suitemate Katelyn and I got to go see Maroon 5 in concert! Honestly, one of the best shows I have ever seen. Love me some Adam Levine. (Or Adam LeFine, as Katelyn and I say.)

Over the next couple months, not much exciting happened. Me, my roommate Elise, and our friends Kimberly and Megan decided to make a 4 hour trip to Mobile just so Elise could go to her orthodontist appointment and we could have CiCis. These are the times I miss most about not being in college. 

We got mustaches at Cicis. This happened on the drive home. 

Also during the my remaining time at Judson, these two pictures happened. They are two of my favorite pictures ever. 

Right at the end of my time there, we celebrated J-Day at Judson, and that night, a crew of us went to Airwalk. 

And this concludes my time at Judson College. It was a hard decision to make, but definitely a necessary one. So began the craziness that was my summer. It started off with getting a job at the marina at Oak Mountain State Park. 

Then came the wedding madness. My best friend Mara got married on June 8, and the weeks leading up to it were fun and, at times, stressful. To let off some steam a few days before, Mara and I made a trip to the thrift store in Alabaster. This is something we did on a regular basis in high school, and this, without fail, always happened:

I know we're weird. But, ya know. 

Now the wedding madness began. The two days before were filled with bachelorette parties and a ton of fun with all of the bridesmaids. 

No pictures from the bachelorette party were taken by me, and if they were, I would not be posting them. Hehe. But, here's one from the shower on the Sunday before. 

And right before the bridal luncheon. 

(That's Mara in the middle if you didn't know.)

Then we blinked and it was wedding time. The day went by really fast. I cried. A lot. 

This was taken at the reception, right after the ceremony had ended. I had just stopped crying, and was a little delirious. 

After the wedding, it was like my summer was allowed to happen as it fell. All of my planning was for the wedding, so the rest was just a ride. 

My uncle came home from Korea in June, and we spent a day on the lake with him and his family. 

(Had to throw in this one of Dad crashing on the knee board, hehe.)

In July, I went to Oaxaca, Mexico with some people from church to help some IMB missionaries spread the gospel around the area. I made some great new friends from other churches that had come to help. 

My Aunt got married just a few days after I got back from Oaxaca. This is one of my favorite pictures of all the girl cousins. 

In August, my family and I packed up once again to go spend a few days at the Hiwassee river in Tennessee. The water was freezing, but it was fun. 

Also in August, one of the greatest things I've ever experienced happened. My sister and I drove to Atlanta to see some of our favorite YouTubers do a concert. AND WE MET THEM ALL! 

(Okay, before we get into this next set of pictures, please excuse my face. I was hot and extremely excited, so I looked a little ridiculous.)

Sam Tsui

LANDON AUSTIN! This guy is INCREDIBLE. He is half of the reason we made the trip to this concert. 

LUKE CONARD! He's the other half of the reason we made this trip.

I had never heard of King the Kid before this. They are amazing, and EXTREMELY nice when you meet them. I was told by Jose (the one in the black shirt) that he "needed my hug to survive." His exact words. 

Other than that, the rest of this year has been filled with small, sweet moments. I have pictures of a few.

My sweet friend Mary had her daughter Aubrey in August. I got the privilege of taking her pictures. I love this baby!

I went to the Fun. concert in Tuscaloosa with my Judson friends in September!

I met this precious little guy who I've babysat quite a few times. I love him!

My brother started dating the beautiful Caitlin, who I have grown to be great friends with (we're best friends on Snapchat!).

Finally, the year was spent making new friends and growing closer to old ones. I love all of my friends and I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us!