Goodbye 2017

2017 has been a crazy roller coaster. I've gone through probably every single emotion that one person can experience. I found love, I lost a family member, I traveled more than any other year, I've had health issues, and I've been able to run this blog all in one whole year. Overall, I would say this year has been tough but there were some incredible things that happened to me to make it all worthwhile. I think God challenges you, not because you can't conquer the challenges, but because He knows you can get through them. I am so thankful for everything that has happened this year and I wanted to reflect back on my 2017 blog post, where I listed a few things I wanted to accomplish in 2018.

I promise to love myself. I think that I've loved myself a lot this year. I have been at my lowest and have gotten back up on my own two feet and shown myself how strong I can be. I love myself for being so strong in tough times.

I promise to take every opportunity. I have had many opportunities come my way and I have embraced each and every one of them. One was the chance to possibly go to California for my job and I wasn't sure if I would take it, but I'm absolutely glad that I did.

I promise to go outside my comfort zone. I think this one I can say that I've successfully done. I actually ended up meeting the sweetest man ever because I chose to go outside my comfort zone. I really hate first dates because they can be so awkward, especially when you have never met the person in real life before, but the best decision I've made in 2017 was going on a date with him. It was the best first date of my life and hopefully my last first date. I am so happy that I chose to meet him because he truly has made my life amazing. He is the biggest blessing I got in 2017.

I promise to learn and grow. I believe that I did learn and grow, but not school-wise, but more life-wise. I've learned who is really in my life for good intentions and who isn't. I believe I am a life-long learner so there will always be something to learn in the future, so I don't think I'm done just yet. I feel that I've grown as more of an adult and as a person. I try to be helpful and care for others whenever I can and I hope to continue that because when you are no longer here, people will remember you for how you cared about others, not how many degrees you were able to achieve.

I promise to forgive. I have had many people wrong me but this year, I have forgiven them. I've learned that you can't always hold a grudge (like I love doing) because people are people and they will do what is best for them, even if it means screwing me over. I have accepted that and I have forgiven them for it. I've also forgiven people that don't deserve to be forgiven but I can say that my heart is at peace.

So thank you, 2017. I enjoyed the ride but I am ready to have an even better 2018. I know I had a good feeling about you and I was right. Thanks for all the lessons and all the blessings.

Bosanski Lokumi (Bosnian dessert!)

Well, my Bosnian roots certainly came out with this recipe. These are called Bosnian Lokumi and they are delish. They are very similar to the American cookies called 'Melting Moments'. I know there are a various different number of recipes, but I've decided to share mine. If you end up making them, please share how they turned out!! They came out so great that I made it two nights in one week!! They will absolutely melt in your mouth! :)

Ingredients:
1 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature (2 sticks)
1 cup of flour
1 cup of cornstarch
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of confectioners (powdered) sugar

Optional:
Walnuts - one half cup finely chopped


Directions:

1. In a medium sized glass bowl, mix your flour, cornstarch, and salt together and set aside.

2. Using your electric mixer (or hand mixer and bowl), add in butter and sugar. Beat until it is fluffy. I give it about one to two minutes.

3. Add in vanilla into butter and sugar mixture

4. Add in the dry ingredients (flour mixture) until it is all incorporated. If you wanted to add finely chopped walnuts, you can add them now.

5. Once you have a nice dough, shape it into the glass bowl and cover in the fridge for about 1 hour.

6. Once it has been one hour, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Don't worry, the cookies will be really easy to just slide off

7. Take your cookies and mold them how you want with your hands. I made them into round shaped balls and then used a fork to press down. In the Bosnian fashion, they make a long row and then cut them into pieces. Whatever your preference is, it will due. I recommend making them small because if it's too big, it will take longer to cook.

8. Line all your cookies on the baking sheet. This will make about 2 to 3 dozen cookies, so you will have to either wait for one to be done or have another baking sheet ready. Pop them into the oven for about 13 to 15 minutes. 

9. Take the cookies out to cool. Once they are cooled, sprinkle them with more confectioners sugar on top. (Otherwise the sugar will just melt)

10. Enjoy! :)

Watch out for me, I'm about to glow!

You thought this post was about metaphorically glowing in life? Well, you're wrong. I mean, I could do a post on it, but we will save that for some other time. Today, we're talking about makeup! I love using highlighters and making myself glow as much as I can, but I wanted to share one little bottle that I use that really enhances my glow and helps me achieve that. It's called Cover FX Customer Enhancer Drops in the color Moonlight.

This little guy helps a LOT if you are wanting a glowing or dewy look. I, personally, am into matte's 24/7, but I mixed a little bit of this into my foundation one day and I was glowing. I looked really dewy but not oily. It was absolutely amazing. What I first started to do with it, was put it on top of all my makeup when I was finished and highlight it on my cheekbones. I would then blend it out with a damp beauty blender and pat down with a highlighter, usually the Jaclyn Hill Champagne Pop highlighter. I would then blend it out with a beauty blender again to make sure it has set in. You can still do this method and I can assure you, your cheekbones will be poppin.

What I have started doing more recently was mixing it with foundation on the back of my hand and then putting the mixture on my face. I have found that this really brings out the dewy look. I only do this sometimes, as this little guy is $46 and it is quite a small bottle. It probably is a little bigger than my palm, so I try to use as little as possible. Also, a little bit goes a long way. If you overdo any of the drops, your face will end up being sparkly and not dewy. Trust me, I've done it.

I recommend this product and would purchase it again if I could. I chose Moonstone, just because it seemed to be the most universal color, but you can go through and pick through 10 different colors to see which one will look best on you. If you are wanting to use it, I caution you to use very little at first and then you can see how it looks and add more to your liking. This product is very well put together and is of really great quality, so that's why the price is so high. To be honest, this is absolutely unnecessary if you already use a really great highlighter, but if you are wanting to get an even more glow, this is the product I would recommend for you.

Office Essentials

I apologize for not being able to blog but I’ve had so much going on! I really do miss blogging and I have told myself to commit to it at least 2-3 times per week. I have many ideas coming up and I hope to share them very soon!

I wanted to share what my office essentials were. I know many people work in office settings or, if you’re like me, and you didn’t until recently and you were super excited and wanted to buy everything at once! I have been working at my current office job since February of 2015 and I have bought everything from decorations for different seasons to binders and notebooks and so much stuff. I have cut down quite a lot but I thought I would share what the basics I find to be necessary.

                        

Hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. These are probably two of the most important things you will need in the office. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to move desks and the person before me was a total slob. I am neat freak and when I see crumbs, dust, and junk all over your place of work, it grosses me out. I have used the disinfecting wipes several times when moving desks, as well as my own desk. Sometimes I get food on my desk (I use a plate, don’t worry, things happen and spill) and I use the wipes to clean it up. I will sometimes just have a dusty desk from the vents above and the wipes come in really handy to clean it up. I use my hand sanitizer every day before eating my lunch and snacks, even after washing my hands. If I could only have 2 things on my desk, it would be those two.

Sticky notes. You can never go wrong with sticky notes. I think the first thing we all think to buy is sticky notes, to be honest. When I first started, I swear that I used 2 to 3 packs and stick it wherever I had room.. to my monitor, to my desk, to my shelves and cabinets. As I started to get more familiar with my job, I started tossing them. I now probably have about 4 sticky notes and that’s just for new information that I know I will forget. I found that using my sticky notes and writing stuff now, with being able to refer to it later, really helped me gain knowledge and confidence in my job.

                 

Pens/Pencils/Highlighters. Although I use a lot of things on my computer and information is all stored on there, I sometimes need to write down information so I can refer to it later. The pens really help in those situations. I don’t really need all of them but sometimes on my calendar, I like to write things out in different colors so that’s why I keep them all there. You won’t need as many as I have but I love having a variety to chose from.

Water. I was going to write water bottle, however, mine is more of water cup..holder..thing. (Edit: It's called a Tumblr!) I love mine because I get to drink from a straw. I can sometimes be clumsy and tip over things so if this were to ever tip over, it would take a long time for all of the water to spill out. I got this guy from Walmart and it was around $5. I loved it so much that I bought a second one for myself to have at home in a pink color. You can get any container that you want but having water is really important because if you’re not getting at least half your body weight, in ounces, you’re considered dehydrated. For example, if you weigh 120, you would need to drink at least 60 oz of water per day, minimum.

Tissues. I keep tissues literally glued to me. Ok, not literally, but my nose is always having issues whether it’s runny or stuffy, I have to have tissues with me. Sometimes, I use the tissues for non-nose related things like wiping off food I spill or if my makeup is runny, I can use the tissue to touch it up. This is not one I personally bought, but rather it was given to me by the company I work for. These are actually quite rough, not soft as it says, so I recommend getting soothing tissues for when you need it.

A Mirror. I just love looking at myself. Just kidding!! I love having a mirror at my desk because sometimes I have food in my teeth, or lipstick, or my makeup is smudging, or whatever the case may be, I need a mirror to be able to take care of that stuff right away. I let someone borrow mine for a couple hours and my desk looked naked. I think having a mirror is a great thing to keep because it can be very useful to have at your desk instead of getting up and going to the bathroom. The mirror I have was gifted to me but you can find them anywhere.

Charging port. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten bored at played on my phone or looked at memes throughout the day. (sorry!) With all that fun, my phone’s battery has completely drained. I remember on my old phone, I had to dim the brightness to the lowest setting so I could use my phone by the time I left for the day. I quickly learned how important it is to have your phone charger and a charging port at work. Now, I can leave my phone charging and look at memes and still go home with 100% battery life. That is called being a winner. Lol!!

Folder holder. I didn’t know what to call this one but this thing literally holds my folders. I guess you can call it a magazine holder but I use it to keep all my important documents and fun coloring sheets. I bought the neon colored folders at Walmart, I believe, and the folder holder was from Gordmans. Both I got when they were on sale so it was really cheap, I would say less than $10 for both. I use to have a really big 3-ring binder with all my important documents but as I progressed within my job, I learned that all of that paperwork was not needed so I shredded/recycled it and made them into small folders. Now, I have folders for new trainings I get and anything I know that I am going to forget.

I also wanted to mention that I use lotion because my hands get really dry in this Colorado weather. It’s not really a necessity but it’s nice to have when your hands are dry. I also have air freshener crystal beads that I keep by my desk. I like it because the fragrance is not overpowering but smells just nice enough that I smell fresh linen at my desk! The last thing I wanted to mention is push pins. I know that not everybody has a desk that you can hang stuff up with push pins, but they are great to have when you need important documents hung up. I got my push pins from Target. 

DIY Makeup Brush Holder!

As I started collecting makeup, my brushes were stored in a small bin that I kept on top of my makeup table. I soon realized that I wanted them to look nicer and instead of having them just lay in a bin and get dusty, and possibly a higher risk of infection, I made my own makeup brush holders. Most of the supplies are right from the dollar store and cost little to nothing. 

You will need:

1 candle holder. I think this one would be perfect. You can also use this one that is more open or even a square one. Just keep in mind how long your brushes are and how long the container is. I know the square one is quite short in height so if you have tall brushes, I wouldn't recommend getting that one.

1 bag of filler. You can use this Ashland Diamond Filler from Michael’s or the Colorful Mini Decorative Accent Pebbles from the Dollar Tree. You can fill your brush holder with anything you want or not fill it at all. It's up to you.

Couple spools of ribbon in the color of your choosing. I chose white and pink but you can chose whatever colors work best for you.

A hot glue gun

Decorations such as Ashland™ Diamond Acrylic Fillers. I cut up a bracelet and put it as a bead in the middle

Optional: Candle stick holder to give height to your brushes. I did this for one of mine, that is square shaped, and I ended up using it as my q-tip holder, instead of a brush holder.

What to do:

1. Clean and dry your candle holder out thoroughly because you never know who’s used it last.
2. Take your ribbon and measure it once and glue it around the middle of your candle holder.
3. (Optional) Measure about 10 inches (give or take) of a different colored ribbon and make a bow. Glue your bow to the ribbon already on the candle holder.
4. Glue your decorations to your ribbon. I chose 1 diamond bead in the middle. You can make yours all around or just in the center, how I did.
5. (Optional) Glue your candle stick holder to the bottom. If you plan on having many brushes in one, I don’t recommend putting is underneath but it’s up to you.
6. Put your filler in your candle holder and fill your brushes!