New Blog!

So, I know I haven't posted in about a year but I have some awesome news! No, moms, I'm not preggers. I started a beauty blog! It's very pretty and lovely and even though I only have one post up so far, I'm quite proud of it and I know it's gunna turn out to be pretty epic. I included the link in this post for anyone that's interested and I know all the family will be.

I started this blog because I finally realized what my life's passion is and where I want to go in life as far as my career. And it only took me 24 friggin years to discover it. I've always loved makeup but the obsession really started when Sephora opened up in the Boise mall in 2007. I had read about (although, I don't remember where) Urban Decay's Eye Shadow Primer Potion and knew that had to be my first purchase. I was convinced at the time that I just couldn't wear eye shadow anymore due to my oily skin causing my makeup to crease and gunk up within 2 hours. I would wipe it all off and reapply but that was getting to be too much. It was silly really. Who's gunna apply makeup every two hours when they're working an eight hour shift? But I did until I decided to just give up on eye makeup for awhile.

So, I stuck to eyeliner (bottom only), mascara, and some concealer and powder. That's IT. When I found out about the primer I was amped. I thought to myself, "If this truly does what it says it does and keeps my makeup looking fresh all day long until I wash it off, then this will change everything." I really had no idea how much it would change. It literally opened up a whole new world for me. A world where I actually had a passion for something and would do anything I could involving that passion. A world where I felt like I was nearly an expert on something, where I wanted to share my knowledge with others, where I finally could retain mountains of information without even trying, where I actually felt creative and artistic, and a world where I had something to aim for and would strive to make it happen.

It started with that primer and continued with my first giant Sephora eye shadow palette, my Sigma brushes, and Youtube tutorials from the lovely TiffanyD. When we moved here I was pretty bummed out about the lack of beauty stores and the cosmetics department in our tiny BX. But I had just gotten my new palette from my wonderful husband and that was keeping me entertained for awhile. My life with makeup was simpler back then. And cheaper.

Meanwhile, I began aimlessly browsing everything beauty online. I mostly checked Sephora to learn about new brands and products. I then discovered video tutorials and my all-time favorite makeup guru, TiffanyD. She made doing eye shadow looks so easy and fun that I started trying out a few things and realized I had a natural skill for it as well. I could do all the looks but I also wanted more of a challenge.

I ordered my Sigma brushes that she raved about and that's when the real fun began. I had never owned high-quality makeup brushes before. Just a random drugstore brand powder brush here and there but nothing as spectacular as this. They made my eye shadow looks all the more stunning and defined. I fell in love. They made me want to experiment more and see what else I could do with my own personal canvas. Turns out, I could do a lot. Now, when it comes to drawing or painting, I suck. Big time. I was the kid who colored in purple faces with green hair in her Barbie coloring book. But when it comes to my face, I feel like a real artist. I was amazed at myself but wasn't so confident that it looked as good as I thought, yet.

Sometime before the Sigma purchase, the brand new sparkling BX opened up. The second biggest in the world (damn you Rammstein!) and it was extremely exciting. You see, Okinawa doesn't really have malls and we are completely limited when it comes to retail. Things you probably take for granted, we ache for. Like Walmart, different options for grocery stores and drugstores, and finding every day products that you know are gunna be at every store you go to. I can't find a certain Loreal shampoo here that I've been wanting to try cause the BX just doesn't stock it. So, although it was much much bigger, the BX still left a lot to be desired when it came to beauty and skincare.

That being said, there was two things I jumped up and down for when I first entered the new store. Not only did they have a larger cosmetics department, but they now stocked the high-end makeup brands NARS and Smashbox. I couldn't believe it. It was like a breath of fresh air for me. There were so many products I had been aching to purchase but couldn't when I realized (angrily) that Sephora didn't ship to APO addresses. It hadn't yet come to my slow brain that I could've ordered off of the brands' official website. Eventually, Too Faced Cosmetics also joined their high-end sisters in our BX. I was in makeup heaven. Dustin was in makeup hell.

Soon, I began to get many compliments on my makeup. Nearly every time I went out people would say how much they loved my eye shadow colors or my blush. I also heard, "I wish I could do that. I can't do that at all." very often. My response would be, "Yes you can. You just have to practice." because I wasn't always this good. I got a few suggestions that I teach people how to do the looks I wear but I kinda just laughed it off. I didn't take them seriously at all and I knew I could never do something like that due to my Social Anxiety Disorder.

It wasn't until I was sitting around the house, unemployed, praying to God to show me what to do with all my spare time, that I realized that that was exactly what I needed to do. I was going crazy looking for a job and I knew there was a reason I wasn't getting any calls. God didn't want me to just sit around the house during the week as much as I didn't. So I started my makeup classes. I've only taught 3 so far but I believe they are going pretty well. My friends seem to like it and I have some random people interested in future lessons where I actually charge strangers. Pretty scared about that one but I know I can get through it.

So, now the blog. I want to do everything I can to get experience and my name out there as a self-taught makeup "guru". I researched for a few days about the best ways to generate traffic to my blog. I posted on OkinawaHai, Okinawa yard sales and my facebook. I also joined a few blog search engines. Yesterday, I spent literally all day working on my layout and first post. I didn't think it would be up till tomorrow but I didn't want to stop so it's up now. I am very proud of it so far and I want you guys to know how dedicated I am to it. This is what I want to do with my life so I am putting my heart and soul into this blog. I will also be updating Santillan Adventures as much as I can cause I do miss it.

Be sure to check out all aspects of the new blog and check back often. I'm excited for what I have planned and I think you guys will be very proud of me. :) Love you all!

LoL Dustin...we're so meant to be

The Broke and the Beautiful of Okinawa

Blue drinks Part 2

These are my reactions to blue drinks:
...and my father-in-law.

You're welcome.

Blue drinks

One important thing you should know about me is that I don't do blue drinks. I don't trust them. What the hell is making it that color??? Nothing normal is bright crayon blue so there is no way I will consume anything blue. It's not natural. I cannot stress enough how freaked out I am when I see someone drinking blue drink.

This last weekend I went out with some girlfriends and much to my horror and distress, my friend Sasha did this:

Not cool Sasha. Not cool at all.

For Brittany and Randy

Some people have really missed my blogs and I admit, I've kinda missed writing them. How long has it been now?? I am sorry and will try to update this thing as much as I can now thanks to my sister's blog. I don't really have a choice since she claims she will kill me dead if I don't start writing again.

I kinda fell off the blog bandwagon for some reason. Once you start getting lazy it just turns into procrastination which only gets worse with time. I haven't written in my journal either which is a shocker to me since I love that even more and have had an abundant amount of wasted time to do so. *shrug* I don't know. I've been in an anti-writing funk the last few months, I guess.

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. I feel like that was years ago. Dustin and I went on our honeymoon to Tokyo in February and it was everything and more than I could ever dream of. It was, by far, the best trip we've ever taken in our lives. We spent a lot of time in Disneyland (duh) and got the most out of our money by me graciously injuring my knee. If you follow me on facebook or talk to me at all, you know how we pulled that off. I did really injure myself...at first. haha

Dustin is away right now on his first (and hopefully last for at least awhile) deployment. It's been really hard on me since we've never been apart for this long. The first 3 weeks I cried pretty much every day. Now I'm kinda numb from it and even though I still get into my moods from time to time, I have no more tears left to cry. I'm all friggin' cried out.

We're halfway done with this loneliness and then my baby will come back to me in September. And oh, the joy that will be brought into the Santillan household once again! This has definitely turned out to be a hard journey. I've learned some things about myself though. I've learned that I don't enjoy being in the house by myself at all anymore. Any free time is spent watching movies on the computer and sleeping...a lot. I've learned that I cannot handle walking two dogs at the same time but somehow I'm managed it with limited pain to myself. I've also learned what amazing friends I've made here. They really have my back and without them I would be suffering a whole lot more.

So I've grown closer to the friends I have in the last 2 months, but I have also made some new life long pals. I met my new BFF, Michael, the weekend after Dustin left. He's friends with my good friend, Ivan, who I know from him coming to my job so often and because he's the tallest person on the island. He's kinda hard to forget. These two guys have been my weekend buddies every weekend since Dustin left. These are probably the first guys here I've felt really close to since leaving Idaho. It makes me miss all of those guys too. But when the 3 of us get together we just laugh forever and even if we end up at The Banyan Tree for the night we still have a blast.

Michael came into my life just at the right time. He really is my best friend here and it's been so much fun hanging out with him. He always makes sure I'm having fun when we go out and makes me laugh to the point of tears. He's also very protective of me which is pretty cute. If he sees a guy he doesn't know talking to me he'll come over and pull me away. He feels like its his job or something to make sure I'm looked after while Dustin is away. It's funny but it also makes me feel special in a way. The only issue I have is that he's moving back to the states in September and Dustin won't be able to meet him. It's very upsetting and I'm gunna bawl my eyes out when he leaves. I won't know what to do with myself after he's gone. I just thank God that he brought Michael into my life at such a tough time.

That's basically all that I've been doing. I'll post more when I get out and have some adventures. I have a few things coming up that I may write about. I'll also get back to posting pictures of everything. I feel accomplished having written this. Thanks Britt!

I love getting mail

Because sometimes you get unexpected presents from friends named Michelle who see a Playdoh ice cream maker and automatically think of you.

I also love getting mail because you sometimes get your $100 worth of Hanson merchandise earlier than expected.

And then you get to show off your new Hanson, zip-up hoodie.

And your comfy new Hanson shirt which actually doesn't say Hanson anywhere on it so no one will ever know.

And because you're a freak and like to plan years in advance, you receive the ever popular Hanson one-sie for your first born who hasn't even been planned yet. This is the first thing your baby will wear as soon as you poop him or her outta your vagina. Let the brainwashing begin!

The few pictures I took on Christmas...

Although we claimed this would be "THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVERRRRRRR!!" we kinda failed. Don't get me wrong, this Christmas was pretty much perfect for us this year as far as Christmases without friends or family goes. But it wasn't, by any means, the best or even one of the best that we've had.

Swaroski Crystal Mickey necklace! By far, my favourite gift from Dustin.

But it was nice. We opened presents, snuggled and watched Christmas movies. Then fell asleep numerous times during the movies that we originally were so excited to watch. Then I gathered up the strength to make a mini-feast for Dustin and I. Dustin actually helped me in the kitchen which was awesome because I almost said, "'eff it! I'm too tired and lazy to cook!". I'm glad we did though because everything was delicious. I made this awesome corn casserole, my sweet potatos, ham, and cream cheese mashed potatos (Mommy O'Brien's recipe :)). Then we ate waaaay too much and got sleepy again.

That's when my mom called. lol. I was able to hear everyone open their presents from us and their excited reactions. That was probably the highlight of the day for me. I'm glad I'm so good at buying people gifts. Just hearing the younger kids laughing with excitement over the things I got them, makes paying the thousands of dollars in shipping totally worth it. OK, I exagerated just a tad. But shipping was a buttload. Next year I'm just ordering everything from amazon.uk.com. Or sending money and gift cards.

Later on we called Dustin's family hoping to get our revenge on them for calling us a bunch of times starting at 7am that morning. I was furious because I had worked until 230am the night before and I just hate being woken up in general because I suck at sleeping anyways. I almost cried when my phone rang the second time an hour later and asked Dustin why his mom was being such a meany head and how come she didn't like us anymore. I tend to get dramatic when I'm cranky. I also tried to convince him to "disown her". You know, normal early morning tantrum talk. Merry Christmas!

So we planned to call Dustin's mom and wake her up super early like she did to us. We called when it was 530am her time, thinking she would be dead asleep and hopefully as cranky as I was when we's scream festive greetings into her ear. Surprisingly to us, she answered the phone and actually seemed wide awake. Let me tell you...that was a HUGE disappointment. But never fear, we will get our revenge some day! Just you wait and see. But, we did end up talking to her and the rest of the family for pretty much the rest of the night. We were able to listen to them open up their presents from us as well and I think we did a pretty damn good job. Unless, everyone's just really amazing actors.

So, it was a lazy day that started off with some rage but I was quite content by the time we got to bed. There are so many things that made this year better than last year. List time!

1) We were in an actual home with all our things

2) We were able to decorate and even had two trees this year!

3) Dustin was able to have his cinnamon bun Christmas breakfast tradition

4) I was able to bake cookies and share them with people at work

5) I was able to bake and make Christmas dinner!

6) Since we have cable, we were able to watch all the Christmas shows and movies that we love

7) We had phones to call family! That's the most important of course!

8) We have a dog to spoil with his own stocking

9) I wasn't suffering from a crazy allergy attack

10) We have so much to look forward to in the new year :)

Pretty Christmas Eve Makeup

So, tonight we went to the Southeast Botanical Gardens (coming soon to a blog near you!) with some friends to see their light display that they do every year. I used it as an excuse to test out my eyeshadow plan for Christmas Eve night since I'll be working till 2:30 and I wanna look as festive as possible.

I was going for very sparkly, icy blue. I could see it clearly in my mind but a lot of times it comes out nothing like I envisioned it. Sometimes it's good and sometimes is devastating to me. This time it was exactly how I pictured it and wanted it. I was proud.

They match my earrings too! I'm planning on wearing my Bumble shirt (from Rudolph) that is white and blue and sparkly also. AND, it lights up whenever I move! It's the ultimate Christmas shirt. I bought it at Walmart last year before we came here. lol

I just wanted to show you my work of art. I'm super into makeup and I'm the happiest person when it comes out just the way I want it to. I was worried too because I realized I didn't have as many blue shades as I thought. I only had four so I used them all!

I used this crazy silvery glitter one too. I got it from England many moons ago and haven't been able to find anything like it since. Also, this picture makes me realized that I really need to do my eyebrows. Ooops.

Yea, I went a little overboard on the close-ups but I was so dang pleased with myself. And I hope you're all pleased with this pointless post. :)