Daily Routine - Day 2

i voted to go a little more simple today, it was my day off after all. there were somethings I skipped on somethings on the list. But Im okay with skipping some things as long as I continue to follow most of them.

Creating a Daily Routine - Day 1

Last night I created a ruotine for everyday of the week. None of these days have all the same things on them. Are are things I'm going to keep up with everyday but not everything. Somethigns Ill do only once a week, twice a week or every other day.
Im in no way going to stick to it 100% if theres something I really dont feel like doing, then I wont, or I wont do it for its full extent. I dont have time limits on much of anything and i dont have a certain time for anything. I probably wont do everything on the list in a certain order, but i have somethings i can do while i am doing other things.
If I miss something on the list, ive decided it wont be the end of the world. My work schedule changes, and ill probably be called in often during the winter, so I know that somedays i will miss some things, and im fine with that. So heres the tuesdays daily routine, for me. Yes.. I started on a tuesday.

Tuesday

• Wake up cuddles for Eric
• Im not waking up at any particular time, just when I do I am going to cuddle my husband before I get out of bed. I try and force myself to go back to sleep once I wake up the first time, I'm going to try and not doing this anymore. When Eric feels me getting out of bed he asks me to come back in and cuddle him, and this makes me fall back asleep again, so im going to cuddle him before im ready to get up.
• Shower
• I have a habbit of showering randomly throughout the day. Im going to shower when I get out of bed, before I go upstairs for good. I'm not going to wash my hair everyday, but img oing to shwoer and wake myself up a bit. Today all I did was put my hair up in a bun so it didnt get wet, and i shaved my legs and brushed my teeth and that was it.
• Makeup/Hair
• I know that if I do my hair and make-up int he morning, I will feel better thorughout the day. I have a habbit of just throwing my hair up in a pony tail, in the comfortable look, but I personally feel better when ive tried to do something with it. And I know I feel  better when I try and do something to look good. Whether I just put on foundation.. or do my full face, it doesnt matter
• Get Dressed
• Im addicted to my pajamas and its a habbit I need to break. I wear my pajamas and slippers to the bar, to my friends houses, to family dinners, everywhere.. I only get dressed 10 minutes before I have to leave for work, and then when I get home I go right back into pajamas. This is a habbit that however much I enjoy it, I have to break it, this will definatly be hard for me.
• Vaccuum
• My dog always rips the little pieces of string out of his rope toys. Im used to excusing myself from the mess when our friends come over everyday. I know I feel much better and more accomplished when the floor is vaccuumed and clean.
• Make Breakfast
• Today I skipped breakfast, I dont like to eat in the morning, it makes me tummy feel funny. I might just switch this to make a meal for now. Until I get more into the habbit of actually waking up in the morning.
• Clean coffee table
• There are 2 blackholes for junk in our house - the coffee table and the microwave. If we dont want to put something away, or just dont want to hold it anymore, it goes in one of those 2 places. Our coffee table is always packed with tihngs on it, theres no room for anything really. I sit on the couch for atleast 10 hours a day, I could totoally clean this off in 2 minutes or less if I just kept up with it.
• Read
• I dont have a time limit on this, becuase I know if I do I wont do it. i could read a book, a news article or whatever I want as long as Im expanding my mind. I spend a lot of my time just watching TV or movies, and I need to think a little bit more. I've been watching the same TV shows and movies for the past 3 years practically, so I need to do something new. Even if it's a book i've had for the past 10 years, or whatever, Just something to keep my mind open.
• Clean Bathroom
• My hair loves to stay in the sink after I brush it. I shed A LOT! This wouldn't be such a burden on my if I kept with it on a bi-weekly basis, and it won't take so much time. I think I am going to try and do this after i get out of the shower, before I go upstairs. I didnt do it yet today though, but I will at some point today
• Make Dinner
• i know on tuesdays if I do work, I wont work really late, and my husband usually has tuesdays off, so making dinner and eating it together is really important to me. We need to start having proper meals, instead of eating at like 10 or 11pm or even later some nights, which is acceptable if thats when he gets off of work, but not when weve both been home all day. I want to eat at the table more often. We moved into this house in August and last night was the 3rd night we ate at the table.
• Clean off shelf on landing
• I guess another place that holds a lot of junk in our house is the shelf on the landing right by the front door. Everything we have in our hands when we walk in the door gets thrown on that shelf. It always looks like it just exploded. I need to keep this clean, because its the first thing you see when you walk in the door and thats not cool at all.
• Go for walk
• This is the number one thing I'm not going to put a time or distance limit on. Especially with the winter coming, I'm not ever going to want to just go for a walk. I'm going to try and not include this with my walk to work, unless its storming all day. If I just want to go to the end of the street and back, thats what I'll do. Just as long as I'm getting outside and getting exercise.
• 1 episode TV/Movie
• I've decided to include this in my daily routine because I'm going to do it anyway. I dont want sitting down and watching a movie to interupt my daily routine, and I feel like I'll resent the list if there are things I want to do way more. Sometimes I just like having the TV on for background noise. I usually write my book, in my journal, or clean while it's on. So I feel if I dont include it, then I won't get to watch something I really want to watch, as asposed to something I've seen a million times and just want to laugh at while i'm busy.
• Write
• this is another thing i didn't put a limit on, but am going to try and do everyday. This could mean I'm going to write in my blog, finish my book for november, or start a new booke once this one is finished being edited at the end of the month. I just want to make sure I'm writing everyday because it's something i love to do.

Beauty Tip - Heat Protectant

an extremely important thing you should always apply to your morning routine is usuing heat protectant in your hair. Any heat protectant spray will work, personally I sware by treseme. I use treseme products for everything, my shampoo and conditioner and all my hair products.

The heat protectant spray helps you protect your hair. When you straighten, curl or blow dry your hair it damages it. Especially when you blow dry with a brush, you need to hold your brush away from your blow dryer because the metal tips on your brush are being directly heated by the metal on  your brush and that BREAKS YOUR HAIR!! This is how you get split ends. So when your blow drying your hair always remember that when you brush your hair while your doing this, dont hold your hair dryer directly ontop of your brush, keep them seperated.

The heat protectant spray helps minimalize everyday damage to your hair. Your should NEVER add heat to your hair without heat protectant spray EVER! Split ends are the number one thing that has killed my hair.

Also, My hair adjusts with the heat outside. When its a really hot day my hair wiill go instantly curly, especialy right around my face, my bangs get really curly. When you are ready for the day and your hair is perfect, you go out and then your hair starts to curl around your face and your like "Well I looked good 30 minutes ago" ... well you dont have to say that anymore, because with heat protectant spray it stops the annoying curls you dont want. Or if your hair is the opposite of mine and it goes straight when you want it curly because of the heat, that will happen less often if you use heat protectant spray.

You dont need a lot of it. You apply it to the top of your hair and all the way to your ends. I always make sure I flip my hair upside down and I spray it underneath. DONT USE A LOT, because your hair will get greasy. You just want to apply enough that you cant feel that your hair is wet, this is very important. if you apply too much the spray will act like hair spray and make your hair greasy.

And just because I sware by treseme doesnt mean you have to do. If you have a brand you stick to, look for it in your brand. I love treseme because its something that has always worked in my hair no questions asked. I have tried many products and tresme is the only kind that doesnt leave a greasy feel in my hair.  

Christmas Photoshoots

If your into photography, need it for a class, would like to pick it up as a hobbie, or just want some cool pictures of your friends for the holidays without spending a lot of money, here are some easy tips and tricks for simple chrismas photoshoots.

- Props
     Gather some of your favourite christmas decorations and try to use them in a creative way. Sya you want some pictures outside. I would suggest bringing some hot chocolate out with you if you dont want to wear your coat, because it would take away from the picture. Youll want to make sure that the subject you are capturing is comfortable with what they are wearing. Add some mittins, hats, scarfs, whatever you want in your picture. All of these can be used as props.

- Photos
     ~ Take some photos of your subject drinking hot chocolate. Make sure it's one of the first things you do, or that the hot chocolate is extremely warm, youll want the steam for a nice effect in the photo. This would make for a better close up shot, than a distant shot. Try to focus on your subjects face, mittins, and hat, for this photo.Be certain to not cut off the head. You dont want to have a great pictures and then realizee that you have cut the head off.
     ~ Play in the snow, throw my snow balls, throw some snow in the air. Have a friend sprinkle snow on your subject for the sake of the picture of course, build a snow mad, just have some fun. Make sure to capture the smiles.

- Repositioning
     ~You will have to reposition yourself several times for the same shot. Youll want different angles. A picture is a story, and the story changes when the picture changes. You might have several shots on the same thing, but with the different angles you can choose your favourite. Maybe getting down on the ground will give you a better veiw of the sky, or taking a picture from in a tree, or higher up, youll see all of the beautiful snow below you, and it changes the picture a lot. Your subject may not have moved, but still, the story changes.

Use your imagination, and creativity to choose the pictures you want. Different angles, different props, they will all tell a different story. If youre outside taking pictures for a half hour and your subject changes the colour of their mittins or scarf, and changes into a different sweater, it will all look completely different in the photo. photos are just like snow flakes, no 2 are the same, but unlike snow, we have to work at making things different.

What will make you different from other photographers is your crativity in your positioning and in your angles. Pay attention to the untold story. Focus in on the background nd blur your subject out, do something unexpected, something fun, and youll see it in the picture. youll see if in the face of your subject, youll ee it in the background, youll see it in whatever you chose to be the focal point of your picture.

Christmas Company

No matter who you are you are never too young or too old to throw a christmas party. Whether its your first christmas away from home at college, or youll be surrounded by family all through the holidays, theres always time for friends.

One thing that is important is remembering who your fmaily is, when your away from your family. Those would be the friends that you are surronded by day by day. Even if your broke and you have no money to throw a party, you dont really need much. Christmas isn't about big turkey and ham dinners, its about the people around you, thats what maters.

Pick a theme. You can go casual, or have people dress up. You can decide that everyone at the party has to wear either red or green, or you can do a good old fashioned ugly sweater party. Whichever theme you choose to go with, stick to it when youre getting ready yourself. You dont have to deck out your walls for this, the theme of your party will help you decide on decorations.
     - Casual Party -
      With a casual party you don't want to go all out. If you regularily decorate for the holidays do your regular decorating. A casual get together won't need many decorations. Drinks can be served in regular pitchers, food can be served buffet style.. etc
     - Dress up Dinner Party -
     - For this type of party i would definatly go with elegant decorations. For the night, I would take off the access coloured balls and fun oriments you hung on your tree. Stick to a colour theme, either silver and red or gold and red, for example. Put lots of clear lights on your christmas tree, and still dont forget the coloured lights! Keep up with the decoartions around the house, still you wont need many, but you should have some to continue the theme in atleast one room. Food can still be set up buffet style as it is a conveinience especially in a small space. If you have use of a punch bowl, set that out for drinks. Break out all the fanncy ugly dishes your grandma gave you when you moved into your first apartment.
     -Ugly Sweater Party-
      This is a fun way to celebrate the holidays. A fun thing to do would to be gather small chang or access spending money you might have an go to the second hand store. Buy some ugly platters and glasses. Some fun things to spice up the room. This is another party wher eyou wont have to decorate much, and its quite casual aswell.

no matter what party you are throwing, potluck is a great way to go. have everyone bring their favourite dish, whether its for christmas, or just anything else, youll end up with a fun wide variety of food. If you are going the more elegant approach with a dressy dinner party, put a little mroe control in the menu. Tell your friends you have selected items picked out, and ask each of them to bring a dish. That way all of the food and preparation isnt all on you, and you can enjoy the party aswell.

Once you have the theme to your party picked out,t he rest of self explanitory, You can chose to do whatever it is you would like to do. If a bunch of your friends enjoy the outdoors, dress warmly and play outside. You can do whatever you want, its your party.

Christmas is coming!

So christmas is coming and I would like to know what you would like to see posted in this blog for christmas. I have some ideas that I will be writing posts about, but its that time were im going to be posting a lot of things for christmas. If you would like to see fun christmas partys to throw, christmas makeup ideas, christmas outfits, step by step easy orniment making, anything at all, I will write about it in here and walk you through it!!


I am going to be doing entries about christmas movies, treats, activities, fun times with friends, decorating for the holidays, party planning and much more! so shoot me an email, or a comment and I will write about it!!


I'm excited to finally be able to say

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Take advantage of your surroundings

Something I have always wanted to do is travel. I want to go all around the world and see all the different cool things. Like I want to see every ancient building in Europe and the bridge in sanfrinsisco. things I see on TV and know I would die to admire in person. What I never really thought of was, people sight see in Canada too.

Something you should never forget is where you come from. You dont necessarily have to appreciate the crappy town you grew up with, but learn to appreciate the small things in your life. Say you live in a small town and theres nothing really to discover there, travelt o the nearest city and be a tourist for a day. Grab some girlfriends, and some road trip snacks, everyone pool in on gas money and take a trip. Go see a museum, or a really cool club. Perhaps your closest city is ottawa, or youre really into a roadtrip with your buddies. Go to a theme park, a water park, an aqarium. Eat at a really cool resturant, maybe not a fancy one, but if you see a cool 50s diner have some lunch, or stop at a rain forest cafe, somewhere where you can enjoy the scenery and have a great meal

Even if you don't want to spend very much money, take the camera, some really fun props like bubbles, or stuffed animals, really big hats and some out of date dresses, grab some friends and go for a walk down a trail near by.

Taking advantage of your surroundings can be a lot of fun, and youll learn to appreciate the cool things around you.

Things to never forget when you get your own place

    Theres nothing like having your favourite snack in the house. Maybe its something that you always had in your room so no one else would eat it on you, or something your mom would surprise you with. Whats your staple food? Something that if someone picked up a special treat for you from the store, they knew you would love. This is something you should always have around because theres nothing like cuddling up with your favourite blanket, to a good movie, and your faovurite snack to make your tummy really happy. Thats when you can really kick back, relax and really joy your life.

* Decorate for the holidays 

Even if a certain holiday wasnt popular around your house, you should alway make sure you have some sort of figurine or lights, just to make you smile when people come over, or when youc atch a glimpse of what you've done. I always try to make sure I have atleast something out for the holidays. whether its lights around my windows, a christmas tree, or fun things for halloween. If I dont decorate my house Ill make sure that I dress up and collect fun things.

* Add your personal touch to your walls and your furniture. If youre a colourful person buy some couch covers, ones that have a bright colour or a colourful pattern. Add different colours of patterns, differetn colours and different shaped pillows to your couch and chair. Buy some colourful sand, fake flowers and a vase from the dollar store, spice up your coffee table. Do whatever you want, its  your place, finally. Put your favourite pictures of you and your friends on the walls where youll be able to look at them everyday.

* One of lifes little luxeries is juice. I bet you always had atleast one can of juice in your fridge when you lived at home, so when you got bored of water you could make it ad through some flavour into your life. Cans of juice are rather cheap at the grocery store, its always a good idea to throw it on your weekly (or monthly.. we all know grocery shopping isnt our favourite thing in the world) grocery list.

* Another thing to add to your grocery list.. chocolate milk. whether you like the premixed , or the syrup, you should never forget that chocolate milk is super awesome. Whether you had a hard day of classes, or your boss drove you nuts, its always nice to feel like a kid again, it helps us remember that life wont always suck.

* Get a pet. whether its a dog, a snake or a fish, your pet will always be around to listen to your problems. It can be something to laugh at when you need something to smile at. You get home and have had a hard day so you break out the lazer pointer and send your cat flying up and down the walls of your apartment. Sometimes all you need is a friend, and your pet will never leave you. mostly because your the sorce of its food and shelter, but it will love you until the end.

Arguement settlers

Everyone knows that when you move in with your boyfriend youre going to have common arguements come up. You want candles.. he thinks candles are stupid.. You want nice sheets.. he doesnt like them because theyre ugly. You cant decide what movie you want to watch because you want romance, he wants blood and guts. Its hard to adapt to someone else, even if you are used to spending all of you time together, living together is extremely different, so here are some arguement settlers.

TV/movies and video games -
Neither of you want to watcht he same movie, but you still want to spend that quality time together. An easy solution would be someone cuddling upstairs in the bedroom while watching a movie adn the other in the living room playing video games. Youll text back and forth and holler through the stairwell that you love eachother.  another easy solution for this, is not seperation but a compromise. You have one small tv and one bigger one, for a home environment the smaller TV can be tucked behind the larger one, and no one will ever know it. The game console can be hooked up to one, and the cable or dvd player can be hooked up to the other. Everyone gets what they want.

Another solution for this is pulling up a TV show on your smartphone, or playing games on your cellphone while the other is watching TV or playing games.

Sheets -
He doesnt want cotton sheets because they are too hot, silk sheets are too girly.. etc.. Take him shopping for sheets and allow him to pick out some that feel nice. Remind him that when hes laying down and cuddling with you, that it will feel soft and feel nice against his skin..

Scents -
He thinks candles are stupid, and all you want is for your house to smell nice. Take him to the store with you. Allow him to pick out smells that he enjoys. Pumpkin pie, blueberry pie, vanillia frosting, fresh baked cookies. these are all smells he will die for. Before you know it youll be walking out of the store with a different smelling candle for each room, and everyone is happy.


More to come! comment with your ideas and I will update this entry!

Top 10 free andriod apps!

Hey everyone! So we all want to know what everyone elses favroute applications are for their phone, because odds are, someone is hiding a super cool application that they dont want you to know about. So I have downloaded tonnes of applications and narrowed down my top 10, so here they are!
♥ these are all free applications♥

1 ~ Slideit keyboard

 This application makes typing very easy. I will not lie, I downloaded it twice because I hated it the first time. But since I hated the touch screen keyboard I decided to give it another try, but the only thing that made me download this keyboard was because of the skins. I looked up pink keyboards in the andriod market and that was the only thing that came up without me having to buy something. But what sucks is that only the trial verson is free, you do have to purchase the application in order to use it regularily. It was a small fee for my happyness. And when you have a series of free applications and you find one that is very useful, you ccan often find change around the house, in your bedroom or your tip jar to hand to your parents and say "Hey can I borrow you credit card? Heres the money". I really like that you can add any words that you want, you can add short cuts, and basically have your keyboard your favourite colour.

2 ~ My fitness pal

I find this application extremely useful because its for your lifestyle, not for dieting. You can use it for dieting if thats what you want it for, but its a lifestyle tracker. My bestfriend and I decided to do a ;low carb week' and this application helped us log our food and exercise while we did it. It was amazing to ssee the difference in the nutrition guide when you were eating extremely healthy, as apposed to my normal eating habbits. I loike this application because it also has a website so you can update your profile while checking facebook. Another conveinient thing about this application is fast food and chain resturants are right in the application, so if you had a cheeseburger for lunch you can choose, mcdonalds, burger kind, homemade, anything. that way it accuratly keeps track of what youre putting into your body

3 ~ Shazam

 This is one of myf avourite applications because I'm really into music. theres always songs playing on the radio that I love and had no idea what they are called. I dont always have time to type the lyrics into google especially when I am driving. With this application you hold your phone steady and press the big button that shows up when you enter the app. Once you pressed that button and made swure your microphone area is clear you set it down and the application does all of the work. Once it's found the song you are listening to it matches it against the data base and comes up with a title, an artist, an album.. everything. This application odoes not work when you sing the lyrics, and when you are watching a movie. It has to specifically be able to hear the lyrics and the beat in order to work.

4 ~ Pink Pad

 This is another of my most frequently used applications. I really like this one because when your period isn't regular, it's eay to keep track of it this way. It predicts your next period and  you can add symptoms and moods. I use this for tracking depression as well, in the notes section. Another thing that is really convient about this application is that youc an use it to try and get pregnant, and once you are pregnan, you can switch it to track your pregnancy. If you want the full version you do have to pay for the application, but if you are fine with the basics, the aplication is free. Theres no trial period either, the only thing paying for the app does, is give you full access to profile themes, more moods etc. I am perfectly happy with having the 'basic package'.

5 ~ Colour Note

 this is by far my most favourite app ever. If I ever get a new phone and can't have this application I will be super sad. I found this to be a huge life saver nearly every day. I am extremely forgetful and this helps a lot. You can add the a widget to your homescreen of any note you have stored. You can make it small so it's just an icon, or if you for ure don't want to forget you can add a big one, which starts listing off what you have written. When I'm going away and I need to pack, I immediatly add a packing list, a large one, to my home screen. that way when I look at my phone I can see the items I want to pack. with this app you can chose to just add a note, or add a check list. It's colourful, which I like because I'm a colourful person. I am currently involved in the 2011 NaNoWriMo and this app helps me keep track of ideas for my book. Also, I have added a small widget to my homescreen that keeps tracks of my husbands hours, so I just have to unlock my ohone, click on his name just like any other application, and bam, there I am. Easy as pie. you can sort your notes and checklists by nearly anything. you can add a reminder time, and make them whichever colour you want. if you are sorting them by colour, its good to make a theme if you are a highly organized person. Also in the top left corner of the application that says "colour note" if you click on that it will give you more options. You can look in y our recycle bin for notes you deleted, icnase you need to look back at something, or deleted it by accident you can change your theme, use the calendar or search for your notes if you have a lot and dont want to look through them all.

6 ~ Tiny flashlight

 This app is exactly how it sounds, its a tiny flah light. But out of all the flashlights I downloaded this one is the brightest. I also like it because there are different lights you can use. You can use colour, traffic lights, police lights, and light bulbs. Its fun for kids to play with aswell. I think its conveient to always have handy right there on your homescreen. I find its nice for when its night time and youve realized that you ran out of windsheild washer fluid and you need a light, you have one handy. its also nice for when youve dropped something into a dark place and dont want to go looking everywhere for a flashlight.

7 ~ Picsay

<-- Before  <-- After

I really enjoy this app because I can make my own backgrounds for my phone, I can edit pictures when I dont have access to a computer, and I can easily brighten my pictures up. I find this one a lot of fun. It's really fun when you accompany it with other photo editing applications, like I did with the first picture shown.  Which brings me to my number 8.

8 ~ Pixir-o-matic

I really enjoy this app because you can do nearly anything with your photos. It is certain preset effects that sometimes gets frustrating because you have to save the picture to add ore than one effect to the picture, but usually all you need is one. you can add effects, and then you can add spot light glow, glitter, twinkles.. and then the boarders are really cool because they are original. The boarders arent youre regular boarders, they actually add effects to the picture that really pull it together in the end. This app doesn't have an option where you can add words, or brighten the picture, for that I accomapny this with picsay, together they are the best editing program I have com across

9 ~ Zedge

 this is the best app I have found that allows you to search a wide range of wallpapers, notification sounds and ring tones. You can search for nearly anything and it will come up with atleast 1 result for you. For halloween, my best friend and I were the ghost busters, and zedge was the first plac eI went looking for a theme song. It can really help you get into the holidays, aswell. It has christmas and halloween songs, and those fun little songs that you forgot about as you grew up. There are quotes from your favourite movies and shows, and even wall papers from your favourite shows and movies.

10 ~ Netflix

 You of course have to have an account for this to be on your phone. But its a super easy way to never leave your favourite tv shows and movies at home. If you are babysitting, and the baby is sleeping and nothiung good is on TV and all you want to know is what happens in the next episode of your show, its right there on  your phone. This avoids downloading TV shows into your video gallery, and saves space on your phone.

Those are my top 10 andriod apps. In the near furute I may do another top 10 post, if I find cooler applications. I have been doing research on this post for 7 months, and these are what I have come up with them. Some are widley known, some not so much. Some of these apps you may have a different version of, on your phone, and thats okay to. Just  because these are my top 10 doesnt mean that they are yours to. Leave a comment with your facourite app and I will check it out and write a post about it!

~ Some of these applications require internet useage, and for that I highly reccomend the application called 3g watch dog. For this you have to know your billing date, and how much internet useage you have access to in your contract, or plan. This application is always running and can be easily accessed through your notification window. If keeps track of how much internet you have used, and lets you know if you are close to being over. Also if you go right into the application you can see how much you have gone through, and how much you will go through if you keep usuing your regular amount of data.

So I guess this has turned into top 11 applications. Hope you all enjoyed it! Let me know what your favourite applications are! And let me know how you liked these ones!

xoxo

Quotes to live by ♥♥

♥ 11:11 comes around twice a day because everyone deserves a second chance

~* everyone needs a chance to make a wish, and you always deserve a chance to start over again.

♥ do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail

~* You are your own person, and because you are pushed in one direction, that doesnt mean that you dont deserve your own chance to make a ripple in the world. Make your own path, make your own desieicions and be your own person

♥ Life isnt about waiting for the storms to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

~* When your down, and you feel like you have nothing left to move forward, learn to dance, because when you dance, you loose yourself in the music and you have a chance to grow into the beautiful person you want to be.