Hello April

[ credit: weheartit.com ]

Whoo! It's finally April! My birthday month!

I actually called out of work today because I've been struck with allergy flu-like symptoms since last Thursday night. Thankfully I'm feeling much better than I did this passed weekend and I can finally feel whatever this is leaving my system! I swear, the east coast gives me the weirdest allergy reactions!

It's also April Fools Day and I don't know about everyone else but I was never really a fan of April Fools. Now that I'm much older, I hate it even more. I just see it as an excuse for people to be assholes and place blame on the fact that "it's April Fools Day" yeah well that punch I threw to your face was no joke! Watch it! But really, it's just dumb in my opinion. All these fake headlines and fake news. I mean come on, you're going to post that you got engaged then end it with April Fools! in the end who really looks like the fool? The person who fell for it or the person who thought it would be entertaining to make a fool of THEMSELVES?

Anyway...

I'm not going to give myself some epic to do list this month  because my head has been in the clouds since this year started and that alone has been frustrating. I like being organized and on top of my stuff. I didn't even realize my own birthday was next week so I wasn't able to make the plans I wanted to. Oh well. Maybe next time. So instead I'm settling for something small. I don't know, after 21 your birthday isn't that big of a deal anymore. Besides, I don't live in Cali anymore so there isn't really anything to do here in Florida and I don't really want to spend my birthday at Disney World. I really wanted to go to Vegas, it's going to be my second year not going for my birthday and that's just depressing.

But here are some things I hope to dabble into this month... no pressure though!

• Finish reading City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
• Review 3 NetGalley titles
• Tidy up my half of the living area mess
• Tidy up desk
• Be happy on my birthday!
• Start buying flowers
• Craft something.... anything
• Try out one new recipe 
• Come up with a better income management plan
• Write "About Me" pages for blogs
• Facebook less
• Blog more

So that's about it folks! I've been major slacking with finishing City of Glass even though I flew through the first two books because OMG Clary is pissing me off so hardcore in this one! So much in fact that I'm looking forward to Simon's chapters! Goodness, she's like gone off into Bella lala land and it's just annoying. 

I better get something to eat and get started on my next class readings.... I hope to come up with more content for this blog, I know it's a lifestyle blog so technically I can write about anything. I'm just being picky! 

What are some things you hope to get done this month?

Bonjour Février!

[ made with Rhonna Designs & Studio app ]

Ahh, the beginning of a new month. There's always something refreshing about new beginnings. Is it just me? And there's a lot to look forward to in February --- Valentines Day (who doesn't love seeing pink and red everywhere? There's something that just lifts your mood!), the beginning of Spring, warmer weather, new makeup and fashion launches...

And with every new month I do that thing to myself... where I make a list of goals I may or may not accomplish but it's okay! There is nothing wrong with wanting to work towards something.

• Get back into the habit of sleeping & waking up at a specific time
• Discover 2 new products
• Attempt to make homework the first priority of the week
• Come up with Valentines Day posts and videos
• Tidy the living area
• Make a lightbox
• Build that dresser
• Read more!
• Learn how to knit
• Fix up "About Me" pages
• Make homemade Gum Drops
• Stay focused

That's not too bad... I think I can live with this list. I really need to start sleeping early again and forcing myself to wake up at a certain time instead of constantly hitting the snooze button. I always start my day off late and honestly, it irritates me. 

→ I want to discover at least 2 new products this month mostly because I don't have a January favorites to film since I didn't really discover much. While I have a few products to talk about, I don't have enough to make it worth making a video for and that kinda sucks. 

→ I want to tidy our living area because it's been a mess since... we moved here and it keeps getting worse! We have no storage space at all in our tiny apartment but that doesn't mean that clutter can just build anywhere. I need to get more storage boxes from Target if anything and just start throwing things in a box or away if I really have no use for them. 

→ With that, I also want to tidy it so I can have a place for my light box! Right now I'm just using a desk with left over pretty Christmas garland bunched up and while that's fine, it doesn't give me a big enough range to shoot. 

→ I reallyyyy want to learn how to knit those beanies I love so much. I think that'll be fun! I need to fix up my "About Me" pages for all my blogs. I have one blog where I haven't updated it since 2010. Yeah. Crazy right? So I need to fix that. I kind of feel like your about me page is sort of like a resume. For your blog. 

→ I came across this recipe for homemade Gum Drops. I've never had Gum Drops. But I love homemade confections. And anything rolled in powered sugar so... why not?

→  I lost my focus a bit towards the end of last month because hubby got the flu and I spent a ton of time waiting for it to hit me (which it never did, thank goodness) and I think that in itself caused me to waste a lot of time so this month --- stay focused!

What are some of your goals for this month?

Hello, 2014

[ credit to shutterstock ]

It's 2014.

Am I the only one surprised?

I know my activity on this blog has been way way low. I created this blog to talk about lifestyle stuff. I didn't want to just focus on makeup or books, I wanted a place where I could talk about anything I wanted to talk about. So I created A Fairytale Lifestyle then I got scared that the content I would put up would suck because lifestyle was such a broad subject! Go figure, right?

I'm a little upset I wasn't prepared enough to have seasonal posts/videos when it came to Halloween and Christmas so I'm hoping to do a better job of prepping content this year.

This year I have also decided to not make resolutions. Instead, I'm participating in One Little Word. I'm pretty excited because to not (for once) have resolutions for an entire year is kinda of scary. I need a guide to what I'm doing and to base it all on one word? That's something different!

My One Little Word for 2014 is ---- Happiness.

Yup, that's it.

If it makes me happy, do it. If it doesn't, don't. I want my year to be that simple. Being an adult can suck hardcore. Paying bills, not making enough money, struggling, dealing with all this other extra stuff on top of worry about bills... it can all just be a lot. And it's so easy to scroll through your Facebook and see all these other people buying their first houses, buying new cars, having amazing weddings, going on honeymoons (which I didn't have a honeymoon), the ability to afford kids and have health insurance and it's easy to be bitter. And jealous because your life is nowhere near that.

Well this year, I will try my hardest to stay off Facebook as much as I can (besides networking duties) and focus on me. On my life. On my happiness and not let everyone elses life, define mine. Because we all have our own paths and dealing with day-to-day stressors can make you forget that. So I want to focus on finding my happiness. In being content with where my life is right now even if it's not where I want it to be. I want to assure myself that that is okay.

I do have a few goals I hope to achieve this year as well! Come on, I had to have some sort of list!

• Read 25 books (for my bookish goals, check the book blog)
• Post a video/vlog 1 - 2 times a week
• Put a little more effort into networking
• Be more organized
• Exercise 2 - 3 times a week
• Eat better
• Learn how to cook more (I'm having fun learning how to cook!)
• Touch up on baking skills
• Be better at couponing (and really learn how to budget)
• Start a savings
• More productivity, less procrastination!
• Continue to learn French

Those are the main ones and you know the basic take more pictures, try to sleep earlier, blahblahblah type of goals that you should be doing anyway.  

I need to take better care of myself this year, bottom line. And I need to stop being so lazy. 

So here's to a year of productivity and happiness!

Do you make resolutions? What are they?

Hello, December

[ credit unknown ]

It is officially the last month of 2013 and just like every December, I can't believe the year went by so quickly! I'm finally on an academic break for a little while and I'll be on another one during Christmas so I'm trying to enjoy this downtime while I can! I got my second A in a row with the class I just finished and I'm so happy, seriously! I wasn't expecting to get another A! Hard work and sacrificing fun things do pay off --- I guess.

Even though it's December, here in Orlando it's still in the 80's. It's cooler but not really cold yet. I've been attempting Vlogmas and I think I'll be posting them on the lifestyle channel instead of the "vlog" channel like I had planned. I'm going to just mash up day 1-7 because they were short vlogs anyway... I'm still trying to get in the habit of actually pointing the camera at me while talking. 

I know I've been seriously slacking on the blog posts here, and I'm hoping since I have so much time off this month that I'll be able to catch up on things! I want 2014 to be as productive and as successful as it can be! And I've already made a resolutions draft. I couldn't help it!

But as for December, here are some things I hope to accomplish before 2013 is over ---

• Read 3-5 books (mostly big 2013 releases and holiday books)
• Get on the ball of posting a lifestyle video twice a week
• Donate $1 to the jar for every mile ran (borrowed this idea from a friend)
• Figure out a budget system for 2014
• Tidy the apartment
• Make homemade Gumdrops
• Make homemade Pillow Mints
• Do a whole lot of 2014 prepping!

What are some things you guys are planning on doing this month to see 2013 off? And what are some things you're planning on doing in 2014?

Hello, July!

I can't believe it's already July! Where has the year gone? Oh right, to working haha! This "internship" is really sucking my free time from me. Ah well, what can you do right? You gotta do what you gotta do to get where you need to go!

Sorry, I had to :P

July is going to be a super busy month for me; car shopping (which hubby did all on his own yesterday annnd came home with no car. He's awful at making decisions, poor thing) on a deadline, packing, moving, working more ridiculous hours and trying to find time to sleep. The last few months have been crazy, I've seen hubby maybe a total of an hour and a half everyday. Half an hour awake lol. And the one day a week we do have off together is usually spent running errands, ah. At least by the end of this month the crazyness of that can stop. But it's getting through this month that's going to be hard part!

I started this blog to be more open about my life and yet I still feel myself holding myself back, censoring myself and I don't get why. I want to share the things I'm going through and experiencing, but I'm having the hardest time doing it. It'll get easier with time, right? Right.

So this month I hope to...

• Get done with packing up clothes and things that don't need to be used now by July 19th
• Put at least $200 in the "just in case" fund
• Find a car by July 12th; obtain a car by July 19th
• Read at least 2-3 books (I miss reading so much)
• Get videos up on the YouTube channel(s)
• Create a resume
• Settle school loan situation
• Be ready to move before the moving day
• Try Dunkin Donuts summer flavors!

I know some of this won't work out the way I want and I really hope I can shape up enough this month to push through the tired-ness and just get everything done. I'll be glad in August if I do! The thing that's really frustrating me are these nonstop storms. Like everyday the last few weeks it's been raining/storming. This passed week we've seen the sun in small bursts and the rest of the day is either downpours or little trickles of rain all day. It's just weird.

So here's to July and hopefully a month of productivity!

It's a little depressing that my list doesn't consist of anything having to do with celebrating summer. Ah, maybe next year.