A few accomplishments

I wish I could have written this post on Sunday night instead of today but Sunday was a crazy day. I wish I could have written this Sunday because I wanted to say that my week had been "grool". You know, a combination of great and cool. It was October 3rd last week, which meant that it was sort of like the unofficial Mean Girls day and I was going to stretch it out for a week. If you don't live under a rock you'll know what I mean. Anyway, it has been no secret that I have had a couple up-and-down weeks in the past. In true Caroline fashion I had been freaking out about my future, my finances, my career choices, everything, but I have also been getting great advice from friends and family and feeling really grateful to have people in my life filled with so much wisdom*. This past week and into this week have felt good for me so far and I have actually accomplished a few things that have made me feel a lot more up than down**.

First off, which I think I have said before and that I didn't accomplish last week but still has made me feel extremely up is the internship I have had for a little over a month. I cannot convey how much I love that internship. Everyone I work with is so nice and welcoming and has never made me feel uncomfortable or made me not want to come in to work. The location is the best. All of the work I've been doing has been enjoyable, even the "boring" stuff. I am so fortunate to have gotten to intern there and have learned so much. I cannot say enough good things about it.

Secondly, I got my first out-of-school paying job. This is big because for a long time I thought the only job I could get was an un-paying one or none at all. Granted, this job will not pay a lot, but it is something. I had orientation the other day and the people I met and who will be working with part-time all seem really friendly and funny and makes me excited to start my job there. It's also in an amazing museum with amazing art. Who (I mean mostly just art history lovers when I say "who") could ask for more?

Thirdly, and finally, I ran my second ever half marathon on Sunday with my dad. I think this was my biggest accomplishment to date. My first half marathon, which wasn't exactly a legitimate one and you can go back and read about a few months ago, was something I was extremely proud of after training for so long in the cold and then in the heat with my running buddy. BUT this time was even better. I wasn't consistently training like I was last time and I even had to stop to walk a bit last time. This time I took off 20 minutes from my time and never stopped to walk after not training as much as I wish I did. A major reason why I did that is because my dad kept with me and motivated me to keep going. Also, he is old so if he just zoomed ahead of me that would just be so mortifying, right? Ha, I'm totally just kidding about that but he was much better trained than I was and he is a lot faster than I am. Crossing the finish line was the best feeling in the world (although for the next few days I had a really hard time moving my legs) and it definitely felt like my biggest accomplishment. I sort of have that, "I can do anything" mentality now. Sort of.

These ups have made me happy to be where I am in life. The hopelessness has gone away for a bit and I can breath easier. And, in true Bilbo Baggins fashion, I think I am quite ready for another adventure.

Until next time,

Caroline


*Don't worry, I am still going to have periods of extreme downs and ups. They always find a way into my life to make my feelings awfully bipolar. This is not the end.

**If all had gone to plan I wouldn't have been writing this post after last night's heartbreaking finale for the Nats. My heart actually felt broken. Last night I didn't want to talk to anyone about it and I still don't want to but as a friend told me today, "baseball never lets you down." That is a little out of context but what he meant is that it will return next year and be there for me again and again and while we seemingly failed last night we have more chances to come back and eventually be the team that everyone expects us to be. It made me feel better.

one step at a time

I have fantastic news. I was offered a job today! It's part-time so it works well with my schedule now and it is in a lovely museum where I will be surrounded by some of the most famous modern art in the world!! It's almost the exact same job I had while at school, but still, wow. It makes me happy to think I'll be doing something (part-time) in an amazing place where I'll get paid. Time will tell if I end up loving it like I think I will. I will report back on the subject.

While that is great news I also have some sort of not really fantastic news. Late last night, before I knew I had the job, I was thinking about how much it will cost me to get to the museum and then I was thinking about how much of my paycheck that will be and then how I don't know if I want to do something like this for the rest of my life and then how I need to save for graduate school and then what exactly I wanted to study in graduate school and then about all of the prerequisites I don't have to get into some programs and how am I going to save for graduate school and then how am I going to save for a car at the same time. That run-on sentence is exactly how my mind was working but maybe 10x worse. I pretty much had a mini panic attack at 1 in the morning. I am going to start this job which is awesome, I have been writing this whole time about how getting a job will make me feel better, but it has pretty much just made me even more scared for the future. I said the future was bright a few posts ago but now it was starting to look a little bleak. I am on a roller coaster with my feelings, no doubt.

Today my mom and I had a conversation about what I was thinking about last night and of course she had comforting words because she is my mom and she always does. She said that I need to take things once at a time and that I'm young and I have a lot of time to do things. I need to remember that I am young and if somethings don't work out I have my whole life ahead of me to figure things out. This doesn't just go for jobs, it goes for everything. I think working at art camp with 5-11 year olds has made me feel way older than I actually am. Thanks, children, I am not that much older than you! She also said that she and my dad (and of course everyone else in my family) were there for me and it made me really thankful to have such a great home.

From now on I will try to take a step back, breathe, and take things one at a time. You should try that too.

Until next time,

Caroline

September beauty favorites

So it's been a very long time since I've written anything about makeup. Too long! I thought since it is the beginning of the month and I love seeing what products everyone loved for the month then I will post mine too. Some you have seen before if you are a long-time reader. Some are some exciting firsts. Let's see what I've got!

1. Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow palette trios in "Walking on Eggshells" and "Silent Treatment" - This month has been all about wearing eyeshadow for me, especially after the past few months where I only wore mascara on my eyes and then nothing at all. I have been loving it. I wear the eyelid color in "Walking on Eggshells" very often. That and some mascara and you are set! It is very nice. I also wore the eyelid color in "Silent Treatment" when I went out with some of my friends and I loved the look. It was subtly smokey, which is perfect because sometimes I am not a very confident makeup wearer. You have to be a pretty confident makeup wearer to pull off a smokey eye. One day I'll be that person. The formula of these eyeshadows are great, very nice pigmentation with limited fall-out (if you are careful, this pretty much goes for every eyeshadow I find)! They are also about $3 so you can't beat the price. 

2. & 3. Formula 10.0.6 Pores Be Pure Skin-Clarifying Mud Mask with Strawberry + Yarrow AND Freeman Feeling Beautiful Facial Polishing Mask with Charcoal and Black Sugar - Wow, what long titles those two have! I love the combination of these two face masks. I do this about once a week where I'll use the Strawberry mask then afterwards use the Charcoal mask. It might seem a little backwards but I find the Charcoal mask to be a little more moisturizing than the other one. Well, after wearing these two masks together I feel amazing. My skin is soft and looks clean while feeling so unbelievably clean. Afterwards, I will go in with my facial spray and my night moisturizer as I do everynight. I might be crazy but I think it has helped out my skin a little bit. You can get both at Ulta. I highly recommend! 

4. NYC Sunny Bronzer - I have definitely put this in a favorites post before. This is such old news but I love this bronzer. I actually use it more as an eyeshadow than a bronzer and it is the perfect color (remember, this has been the month of loving eyeshadow??). I put it all over the lid with a little more in the crease and it gives my eyes nice definition AND if you also pat on some of the brow bone color from the "Walking on Eggshells" palette with your finger on the middle of the lid it looks beautiful. Stick on some mascara after that and you've got another winning look. 

5. Sponges - I only started doing this recently but I am very impressed. My mom gave me a few sponges to apply my foundation with since I had told her I only use a brush to do it. She pretty much only uses a sponge so I thought I would try it out. It is a lovely finish! Looks very natural and I love that. I have only two gripes; 1. I feel like I have to use more product to evenly apply it all over my face and 2. I'm not sure how cleaning will go. I'll give cleaning a go soon and report back. Besides those two gripes I am very much enjoying the sponge. 

6. Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in "As You Want, Victoria" - I think saved the best for last. This is amazing. I saw it in Target a few weeks ago and could not stop thinking about it. I finally bought it and immediately wore it to the grocery store with my friend just to try it out and I was first amazed by the pigmentation and also amazed by the color. It is a pretty bright pink fuchsia color. In fact, it is the color of bright pink fuchsia roses! I have a picture as evidence. I told you it is amazing! I want to try out more colors from this line. One day when I have a paying job I will!  

Wow, I didn't think I would write so much but last month was a fun one for beauty products. Again, mostly because for the duration of art camp I was wearing little-to-no makeup. It is awfully refreshing to not wear makeup but it is just too much fun to look at and apply and try out new things to never wear it! I will forever love it. 

Until next time,

Caroline