Flashback Friday: MySpace Memories

"Things change, times change, people change. I think the people changing is what's affected me the most. People I was friends with years ago are now nothing but mere acquaintances. Was it they who changed or was it I?"

This quote was from my high school graduation speech and it has stuck with me through the years ingrained in my mind. As we move on through different stages in our lives, some people continue on with the journey while others we leave along the way. Sometimes it's they who do not want to keep going forward with us. Sometimes it's us, realizing some relationships need to be cut in order to get where we're going. Sometimes people just drift apart when one season ends and unfolds into another.

I remember reading a quote years ago that said, "The great thing about pictures is that they never change even when the people in them do." It was on that basis I looked for inspiration for today's post.

Do you remember the world before Facebook and Twitter? Some of you may know that before FB really took off, we were all on a site called MySpace. lol. Before MySpace was really big, I had a blog (if I can call it that?) on Xanga.com. I decided to visit both of those locations lately (to see if they were even still there!) And I was both excited and surprised to see everything exactly as I left it from years past.

a Xanga post

My Xanga still talked about trying to find a job after graduation... things that were going on with college boyfriend... I wrote about my feelings when my Grampa passed away... it was so open. So personal. So emotional.

My MySpace was full of notes and comments from people I haven't talked to in years. Of the "top 7 friends" listed on the site, I'm now only friends with three of them... and one of those I haven't talked to in a few months.

my MySpace profile--still pink and girlie like me now lol

But there was my life from 2004 'til early 2009. Frozen in time. Like a little capsule to take me back to people, places, and events I may have otherwise forgotten.

The internet is a crazy place that way. Keeping everything forever. It's comforting to know that no matter where we go in this life or how far we change from who we were, there is still a record to remember who we were, what we did, and where we came from. It is all those experiences--both good and bad--that turn us into the fabulous women and men we become in our adult and later lives.

So, to answer my initial question "was it they who changed or was it I?" I'm sure it's a little bit of both... but as I read things written by the me of the past, I realize my thoughts and feelings about me, others, life in general, have matured over the years. Inside, I'm still that crazy, girlie, drama-filled 21 year old I was in my Xanga days; but I'm also a stronger woman who can recognize the big picture of things and not get so wound up over every day trials.

How about you? Do you have a life time capsule somewhere on the internet? How do you feel you've changed from back in the pre-social-media-everywhere days?:)

Some Encouragement for Friends (and Strangers;)

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to write a super quick note to share a couple things with you! For those of you that missed my SUPER HUGE GIGANTIC SURPRISING NEWS of yesterday, I was featured as an Editor's Pick on bloggers.com!! I'm not sure exactly what this means, or how they determine it, but apparently I was noticed and they decided to spotlight my blog! (yay!) What it meant to me was some extra page views, some new followers (hi everyone!!;) and some kind comments from some sweet people who probably wouldn't have found me otherwise.

If you're a blogger and think no one is reading your blog and no one cares what you have to say, THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE! The Internet is a crazy thing that anyone IN THE WORLD can see what you have to say! There are people that will agree, will disagree, will like you, will hate you, etc. but what you say DOES MATTER!!

You may not have a hundred followers over night.... you may not have a hundred followers ever... you may get four hundred followers in a month and be a huge sensation! You just never know, but there a couple things I've learned:

Promote yourself! You are your own best advertisement! Be active on Twitter, Facebook, whatever social media venue you choose. Tell people about your blog. Invite them to see what you have to say. Encourage them to be a part of it. Reach out to them!

Put yourself out there! There are sooo many different sites you can join and advertise your blog (Blog Train, BlogUpp, Bloggers, just to name a few). They work!

Tell people in real life, too! I keep my blog business cards with me at all times because you never know when someone is going to talk about your nail art, your makeup, or anything else that can lead into a conversation about your blog!

And most importantly, blog because it's what you love and it's what YOU want to do. Don't base it on ANYONE ELSE or you'll struggle the entire time to please others and you won't have any fun at all! Please don't focus on the numbers or if anyone is reading; people will stumble upon you when you least expect it:)

And that concludes this edition of advice from Kristen lol. What have you found is the best way to advertise your blog? What is your favorite thing about blogging? How do you feel about people who try to get followers by any of the following means: follow for follow back; gaining followers just by hosting giveaways; getting people to retweet that they need X number of followers to get to XXX number?

It's a BIG day today!!

Hi Lovelies!! So today is kind of a monumental moment!! Today is my six month bloggiversary!!! Yes, six months ago today was my first every blog post! (please don't go back and read it; lol, I wasn't quite sure what I was doing at the time hahaha)

But! Here I am! Half a year later and still doing it!!! This is a big deal because sometimes I take up a "new hobby"' and get bored doing it.. or feel like I'm not very good at it... (knitting for instance! I was all about doing that and made EVERYONE in my family a scarf for Christmas! hahaha. But I never learned anything other than the regular garter stitch so I got frustrated and stopped...) (Or basketball! I tried that my sophomore year of high school and was horrrrrible at it. hahah Since I wasn't "good" at it, I never played again.) Bottom line, I'm not very good at sticking with things (commitment issues? lol)

ANYWAY, so it's actually a pretty huge accomplishment that I'm still doing this. As many of you who also blog know, there are definitely highs and lows in this arena... highs when your page views keep going up and you gain followers... lows when it feels like nobody is even accidentally visiting your page! Highs when you have huge lists of things to review and write about... lows when you have "writers block" and don't feel like blogging at all. *sigh* We've all been there. But I stuck with it.

And you stuck with me! To those of you who have been with me since the beginning and to those of you who just joined me, thank you so much! Thank you for reading! Thank you for commenting! Thank you for sharing! Thank you for retweeting! Thank you for caring! Thank you for becoming some of the best virtual friends a girl could ever ask for!

Also this week, I hit 100 followers! Yay yay!! (I think I'm up to 103!) I don't know how you all found me, but I'm glad you have! I never imagined this many people would want to read what I write, so this means so much to me:) I hope that I will continue to keep you educated, enlightened, and more than anything entertained:) The moment blogging is no longer fun for me, I know my blog will  no longer be fun for you:)

I'm looking to hopefully re-vamp my whole blog as I start this new chapter (any people good with graphic design that wants to help??;). And also, trying to decide what to do to celebrate my 100 followers! (giveaway? contest? offering an autographed picture of myself? lol jk hahahaha)

Anyhow, seriously, thank you everyone for being here! I hope to have many more celebrations in the future here!!:)

February Birchbox--First Impressions

Hi Lovelies! I got my first ever Birchbox today and wanted to write a quick post to show you what I got and share my first impressions!

A little background, Birchbox was actually the first monthly subscription service I'd heard about and I went to sign up right away. I've been on the wait list for a few months and was super excited to get the chance to join a week or so ago! I filled out the beauty profile and was ready to get my surprises!

Within a week, I got notice that my first box was shipped! I just found that out on Saturday... Today is Wednesday! (+1 for them on BeautyArmy which took FOR EV ER to get here! But, it was shipping from the east coast so it had a shorter distance to go;)

Without further ado, here it is! (I'll show you everything then share some things at the end:)

Here it is first opened!

the welcome card

everything!

perfume, lip gloss, free music downloads

stick on eyeliner, clothing adhesive, powder puff

description of everything I got

So! At first, I was sadly disappointed. Since I got my BeautyArmy kit a little while ago and their "sample" sizes were actually real sizes of stuff that I could use several times to give a good solid review of things. Birchbox "sample" size is more or less nonexistent on some stuff.

My next thought was, when am I even going to use this stuff? I rarely if ever wear clothes that would need adhesive to keep it on... And a random powder puff?

But! I will say, I sprayed a little spritz of the Juicy perfume and I LOVE IT. It is definitely a scent that I enjoy and works well with me! And the lip gloss?? What a perfect color for me!! It's light and makes my lips look wet.

I'll still use everything and give you more thoughts later on. Bottom line right now? I still felt a little let down, but my expectations may have just been a little too high. I'll try it for another month or two, maybe retake my beauty profile, and see if I get some better/different stuff then:)

Valentine's Day Reflections

via Disneyclips.com

Do you remember being in elementary school and making Valentine's Boxes? You know, some place for all your classmates/friends to deliever Valentines to you? Mine was always out of a shoebox with red, pink, and white construction paper. I remember cutting out hearts and using a glue stick and glitter to make that box so perfect. I was always so proud of my creation! Then I'd take it into school and there was always the one kid that did something super fancy like using aluminum foil to make it all shiny. Or the kids who clearly had their parents make their box for them. *sigh* Suddenly, my homemade, hand crafted Valentine's box was just not nearly as exciting as I thought it was.

Doesn't stuff like that still kinda happen to us even now? Not the Valentine's boxes (though, I really do wonder what would happen if I put a box on my desk at work? Would people give me Valentine's or little notes of affection? lol) but that there's sometimes we work really hard on something and are so proud of what we've done, just to see someone else have something better. Or someone else has something that was just given to them. After all our work...

It's frustrating! You start to wonder why even bother if after all that work someone else is still going to be better than you...

It's a saying we've been hearing for years and years and years, "It's what's on the inside that counts." And just like the Valentine's box, it didn't really matter what the outside looked like, the important parts were all on the inside--the card, the candy, the sweet notes from friends, the possibility that maybe that boy we liked dropped a card in the box, too;) Those were the things that mattered!!

So maybe some girl has more shoes than you or a more expensive purse. Maybe her hair is shinier and her waist skinnier. Maybe someone has a better job/house/husband/child/car/nose than you, but it really is what's on the inside. Focus on the things that make you happy!

Happy Valentine's Day! May your day be filled with love for YOU--who you are and what you have:) Because you are simply amazing:)

via

Even if you are a shoe box covered with construction paper, glue stick, and glitter:)

Friendship Series: Pt 1--My Story

When I was little I had a TON of friends. Everyone I met became my friend! At that time, I become  the best friends with girls who liked roller skating and riding bikes, reading American Girl and Baby Sitter Club books, playing with stuffed animals and Barbies... but then, in the late '80s and early '90s, wasn't that pretty much EVERY girl??

As I got older, girls started falling in to various groups--the athletic girls, the nerdy girls, the girls with boyfriends, the girls with expensive clothes, the girls with cars, etc... And friends became more separated. There were the friends from school, the friends from work, the friends from church--I had friends everywhere! I was always going somewhere doing something with someone.

College was like a friend smorgasbord! I was forced to become friends with (or at least learn to live peaceably with) the roommates I was given (and actually I had pretty fab roommates and girls that lived in my unit). But then there were people from all over the world that came to one place! I'd meet people in class then meet my new friends' friends and suddenly, my social circle had multiplied immensely!

Then... I was an adult... then, I started this horrible "revolving door friendship." Now, before I go too far, let me explain to you this "revolving door friendship" theory that I have. To me, making friends is kind of like dating. You meet someone, you hang out with her in groups, maybe a little one on one.. kinda try it out for a while and see if you two actually *fit* together. You don't have to like ALLLL the same stuff, but do you at least have some shared interests? Laugh at the same things? etc. While I've had several boyfriends, I go through girl friends like the skankiest person alive. I call it a revolving door, because I'll meet a girl and think I really like her. We'll hang out for a while and then something happens (usually nothing dramatic like an actual break up) and we just kinda drift apart. This happened a lot when I got my first real/career'y type job. I would be friends with someone for a few months, then kinda stop talking and meet someone else. Then I'd be her "friend" for a while 'til something would happen, she'd be gone and I'd meet someone else... on and on...

It started happening so much, that I really started to think it was me. Like, okay, something must be wrong with ME because obviously I (for whatever reason) can no longer keep friends. Make them? Sure, no problem! I love meeting new people, learning things about people, caring about people... but keeping them? That was the problem...

So, I took a long hard look at me, and the pattern and what the situations had in common. And the truth was clear as day:

I make shallow, superficial friendships.

There. I admitted it.

But what does it mean, really? It means, I can be "friends" with anybody. I always made the friends that I could *do* stuff with. I had shopping friends, friends to eat with, friends to go out with, etc. But I didn't have the friends that I would open my heart and share what I was really thinking (ha, irony since I'm opening up so much to all of you whom I hardly know hahaha).

Sure, I love getting to know people, but I don't love people getting to know me. I'll sit any listen to anyone's life story and remember it in great detail, but I'll give random, generic answers if people try to get to know me. Why? Sadly, I think it's because I have such a need to be liked, that the fear of people *not* liking who I really am keeps me more closed up.

This is getting super lengthy, so I'm going to wrap it up here. But have you ever felt like that? Do you have true blue friends you can call crying at 3AM? Or do you have the friends that you can call up to go to happy hour?

**disclaimer, this has just to do with girl friendships. I have much less of a problem opening up to boys and keeping them around longer. But that's probably another issue for another time. lol:) These are just my observations/opinions and are in no way meant to offend/insult/upset anyone.

Friendship Series--Prologue

Happy Saturday, lovelies! I hope you're having a super fun weekend! Today's topic isn't really beauty related, but from talking/Tweeting with many of you, I think there's several of you that may be able to relate to this. I want to talk about friendships. Since I don't have a scheduled topic for Saturdays yet, I thought it would be good to introduce this and increase my weekend postings. These are the tentative topics for the Friendship Series (order subject to change):

• Finding Friends
• Making Friends 
• Lasting Friendships
• Losing Friends
• Time Alone vs Time with Friends

Now, I don't know if you're like I am, but do you feel that it becomes harder to make friends as you get older? When you're little, you're friends with all the neighborhood kids that live near you. When you're in school, you're friends with the other kids in your class. When you're in college/military, you're friends with the people you live with/train with. Then you enter the real world. You might move to take a job. You work with people your parents' age. You find yourself starting over.

How do *you* find and make friends???