Life lately has been nothing short of lovely. Or I could have said..

Life Lately: Literally Lovely

^ I really love alliteration, folks.

But really, things are good. Things have been good for the last year. I had a slight hiccup with something almost two-ish months ago? Around the time I saw Taylor Swift live with my best friend and then went to Vegas. lol whenever that was. I had an experience while there involving someone I used to be associated with (not that we had a run in in Vegas because we didn't) and I realized how good it is to move on from certain people.

It's really weird when you're happy and in a good place in your life, and then someone from the past unexpectedly walks in and acts like you're the same person, and all of a sudden you go from really happy to feel like you have to walk on eggshells. And then when you get rid of that person as ASAP as possible, you feel happy again.

Hmm. Weiiiiird stuff.

But anyway.

Things are great. I love work, I love school, I love my other work, I love music, I love Muse, I love my family, I love my friends, I love my Heavenly Father, I love life.

So I'm taking some time to jump into the blogosphere and say some words. Since it's been like.. a week. I know, SO LONG.

--

The San Francisco Giants FB page posted today that they won the World Series one year ago today, and I got such a warm feeling in my stomach. I love that dumb team so much. #3in5 And they were like "where were you 365 days ago?" and I'm all "lolz watching the World Series!!!". Although I don't really care about this year. Mets/Royals. Always rooting for the NL team (Mets in this case) because the Giants are NL and plus the Royals were the team the Giants were playing last year. It's cool they can go back to back though. They lead 2-0 so we'll see.

I still thank my uncle for making me watch the World Series last year. You da boss, boss.

Meanwhile, my planner from A Beautiful Mess came in the mail yesterday! And I'm really already in love with it and NEED to have 2016 pop up tomorrow. I posted this on Instagram yesterday to show it off and brag about it, and I'm going to upload the same one. I'm too lazy to take new pictures of it today. Go figure.

I cropped it sort of crappy but oh well. You get the idea of what it's all about. The cover is all floral and adorable! There were three options and this is the one I chose upon pre ordering it. The emojis and arrows are stickers! Emoji stickers. How cool is that? I love the goals list, I love the lined paper at the back, I love the monthly tabs, I love it all!

And I especially love how small it is! I wasn't expecting it to be small. I have another planner that I bought and blogged about and that one has a bigger layout, so I'm using that one for work and this one for my life once 2016 rolls around. I don't have a planner for this year because I'm silly*.

Really the only issue I have with it is that the tabs and monthly cover (see the 'January' picture) aren't laminated. I think I would have literally no issue if they were laminated, but hey. Other than that it's perfect! 9.5/10 for sure. The black and white thing at the lower right is a roll of washi tape that the ABM team threw in for free upon pre order! That'll make it even more fun to plan and play and all the fun stuff!

And literally.. check out out all the space you get for the daily section. My Erin Condren planner for 2014 was in a daily setup, but it was sectioned off into "morning", "afternoon", and "night" areas. Which I did like, but I wasn't sure if I had to move an appointment from the morning into the afternoon, for example. With this, I can easily move and arrange things. Stoked!

Meanwhile, I've really been getting into hair and makeup. Beauty stuff, if you will. I have two cousins who are makeup artists and one of my aunts owns a salon, so between the three of them and myself, I've been having a lot of fun doing makeup, being a makeup model, and doing fun hairstyles. It's really fun to be the guinea pig for my cousin to test makeup on. Even though I sneeze. A lot. Sorry for allergies being a year round thing. I honestly look like a stoner whose job is sneezing for the entire day.

And I couldn't be more excited for the weekend. Enough said, really, but I don't want to go into too much detail. But it's all good things and I'll be with good people and it'll be such a change from what I usually do and I really can't wait. Halloweekend, y'all. I had my first graders go home with a note to their parents saying that they're allowed to dress up a little bit in their Halloween costumes and you couldn't hear yourself think, that's how loud they were when I told them that they could.

Little kids. Too good.

Anywho, I think that's all I have for this blog post. If I have something else to yap about, I'll do so. Today is Cat Day apparently, and I hate cats, so have a gif of Marshawn petting a raccoon.

Love you all!

xx

* = I literally had to Google how to spell the word "competent" the other day and that really shows who I am as a person

Muse-ic saves lives

There are some bands you like.

And there are some bands you love.

--

Muse is that band to me. Muse is that band that I love. Why that sounds grammatically incorrect is probably because it is grammatically incorrect. Whatever.

I've been a fan of theirs going on ten years. Mid 2005 is when I first heard of them and I became a fan later on that year. I was in 5th grade and I thought I discovered the best band in the world.

And spoiler alert: I totally did. What's up.

Back in 2005, all I listened to was the mainstream stuff on the radio and church music. And I never heard the radio play Muse so I was stoked that I found a band that clearly no one else listened to. And I stayed a fan. And I ended up seeing them live for the first time in 2007. I remember begging and pleading one of my parents to take me because I loved them so much and it was all I ever wanted!!*

It was the coolest first Muse concert ever. I'm 99% sure it was at the Paramount. Too cool.

Fast forward to 2012 (skipping over album releases and seeing them live a few more times):

If you know me, you'd know that 2012 wasn't a fun year for me. 2012 held my junior and senior years of high school, and early to mid 2012 wasn't good. I developed eating disorders and was self harming and eventually I was diagnosed as suicidal. Nothing was going right for me at that time and I was trying to help myself, but I was actually doing more harm to myself than good.

During that summer, the 2012 London Summer Olympics was happening. I'm always a sucker for the Olympics, even if the summer ones are so much better than the winter ones.

//sry//

I knew for awhile that Muse did the official song for those Olympics.

But backstory again.

Elton John (you heard that right) hit up Matt Bellamy to do a collab song for the Olympics like a year prior. And Matt was like "yeah okay cool" but the thing never really panned out and people pulled Elton John from it and when they were recording and shizz for their newest album at the time, Matt was probably like "okay I'll just finish this myself like the hardcore fool I am".

^ that's probably 100% exactly how it happened tbh.

That song ended up being Survival, and it's like.. what a relatable song to have for the Olympics. Idk I thought it was pretty neat when I learned about it. But granted I didn't know it before the Olympics or anything.

I actually saw it post meltdown in my bathroom. I can't remember what day it was, but it was around the starting point of the Olympics in 2012. I was having a massive meltdown crisis in my bathroom and was screaming and crying and other yucky things that don't need to be talked about. I pulled out my phone when I contained myself and saw that it was new on iTunes. OBVIOUSLY since they're my favorite band, I made the purchase immediately. And I listened to it.

And I listened to it again.

And again.

And again.

The lyrics were so fitting for the time, and I can relate to them still. It was so perfect to listen to it in the setting I was in. It was probably the only song I listened to for a straight month.

Some people think it's silly when someone claims that a song or a band saved their life, but music saves lives, people. It really does. I can say without doubt that that song and that band saved my life. You can tell me otherwise, that my inner strength saved myself instead, but the drive to do that came from that song.

I haven't seen them live since Salt Lake City 2013. And now I'm going to be seeing them in Seattle on December 12th. Ten days before my birthday. And I couldn't be more excited already. I had the option of going to Seattle or Vegas to see them (Vegas is on the 6th of December), but I chose Seattle because my family is nearby and I'm always a sucker for seeing my mom, sister, and brother whenever I can. Even though the drive to Vegas would have been much shorter. Oh well!

Muse is just a really great band and they have good lyrics and neat albums. Even though I don't like Drones as much as I did The 2nd Law, the theme of military and government blah blahs is kinda cool. I do have a favorite song or two off the newest album, and if they don't play said song(s), I'll be real pissed.

That's a possible jk.

lolz.

I love Muse. And I can't wait to see them again.

xx

* = always being so overdramatic. (;

hi hey there hello

Hi it's been awhile.

Sorry not sorry I guess. All I really do is work, do classes, and try to have a social life. It's been working, I promise. All of those = no blogging. You should see the deserted blog my private side blog is. I don't know if I've properly written in that thing since like.. March.

Yeah.

But I'm still in the country, so that's cool. I haven't had the need to spontaneously travel anywhere. I don't think I'm planning on going anywhere until winter break either. Maybe I'll see my family over Thanksgiving. Literally who knows.

I'm almost done with a secret project, so at least I'm getting SOMETHING done. But I'm having a lot of fun doing it. I'm not sure when I'll have it all up and on the blog but it'll be sometime, that's for sure.

Anyway, I have nothing really new. I'm thinking about blogging about something specific later on this weekend which might be fun. It'll kill me from embarrassment, but a good embarrassment. Is a good embarrassment even a thing? Oh well. We'll see.

Stay tuned.

YEAH THIS IS SO LAME I KNOW, BUT I ALSO JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I'M ALIVE. And not a ghost. Because duh.

& everything is going to the beat

Hoo dang, has it been a long.. week, thereabouts. More like a long five days, but it's felt longer than that. More like five months. So here, in one huge blog post, are the drafts I've had in my reserves, combined into one huge thing. I've been wanting to make several blog posts but I've never got around to it. Y'all I still have to upload pictures from when I was in Hawaii. In August.

I'm so behind. But who cares, so here are some words.

I realize I haven't properly blogged in awhile, not since sorority recruitment, at least. My bad, y'all. I've been busy. Way too stinking busy.

But anyway. Classes are crazy and so is work and.. oh yeah. I went to Paris and told hardly anyone.

Paris, France.

Yeeeeeah.

I was literally given an offer I couldn't refuse so I took it and ran with it. Yes, it had something to do with Paris Fashion Week. No, I wasn't in it. Sry. I wish my modeling skillz were that great. Or my makeup skillz. Or any skillz, really. But I was able to take pictures at some fashion shows and was also able to go behind the scenes of some shows so that was really cool.

And you know.. the whole "be a tourist in Paris in general" thing as well.

Overall, it was nice.

Until early this week when I sort of became mentally unstable. Not so new info for people who know me, but to the people who really don't know me: I have a couple things wrong with me, mentally, and usually I'm really chipper and upbeat and overall just a joy to be around but that can drop on a dime, and this time it probably dropped on a one dollar coin.

I'm just in a huge funk. On my flights back home, I tried to sleep and that didn't really work too well so I tried to relax by watching some of my shows on my iPad, like normal people do, and that seemed to work best. I just did what I could until I touched down at home. I won't lie, I cried a lot on the way home and I probably scared the crap out of my friend who picked me up. Props to him for not dumping me on the side of the road and speeding off for real.

So I've been sad and annoyed at everyone for no reason (thx to my friends for dealing with me, y'all're the real MVP's) and while I haven't been wanting to talk to people, I did want to text one of my friends back.

Something about my friend: I love her and I adore her and I would totally go for her if she didn't have a boyfriend and we both were into girls. Aaaand she knows what I mean when I say that if she's reading this. (: She's the greatest. She's my twin, my older sister that Heavenly Father forgot to give me, and my soul sister. Just a burst of sunshine and the happiest person I've ever seen. I'd probably kill someone for her and she'd probably do the same for me. Love her.

I could go on and on about her but anyway!!!! We were talking and I mentioned how stressed I am and she gave me some really good yoga and meditation ideas and links and people to look at on Instagram, and I thought that that was so great because I never //really// thought about yoga or meditation when I'm stressed.

Wtf, Lil. That's literally what the point of yoga and meditation is, you nimrod.

So I'm definitely going to be taking her advice on that, especially when I have the cutest yoga mat ya ever did see! It's got a Cherry Blossom tree on it and I bought it on Amazon and I've probably already said that! But I'm happy that I'll be able to get more use out of it. And then take the best bubble bath ever afterwards!

And hey. If I survived 2014, I can survive anything, honestly.

Something that I try and do whenever I can is when I'm feeling really stressed, I'll pack a small bag full of some things, drive around the town I live, find a parking lot (honestly it'll usually be a church building or the Temple), park, and just.. read scriptures. Go over my favorite ones, highlight things and sticky note things that pop out at me, try to find new favorites, etc.

I've reached out to a couple of my friends just to ask for some guidance and what their favorite quotes and scriptures are, and I immediately go in and find them and read them out loud and highlight, highlight, HIGHLIGHT! Especially now, and I'll go over some of my favorite things that were said at Conference recently.

And please be proud of me, because before I left for Europe I went to Bath & Body Works and ordered some things for my friend. They're having the B3G2 and I had a coupon and I wanted to get her Christmas shopping out of the way early. October. Yeah. That's a good time to start Christmas shopping.

//yay//

And while I was tempted, I only bought ONE thing for myself. O N E. Even though I want to buy Wallflowers. I bought a Forever Red shower gel because I feel like that's a sultry, winter-y scent that you'd wear out and hey. Can never have too many winter shower gels. Since I only have one in Twisted Peppermint and Vanilla Bean Noel. Even though I have an EXTREME throwback Vanilla Bean Noel in the body wash/bubble bath container. It looks like a snowglobe, that's how throwback it is.

I'm actually not sure how old it is, but I think it's starting to change colors and not as fresh smelling as my newer one so I think I'm going to bust that out the day after Thanksgiving and work on it. I DO love me a good bubble bath. So we'll see. If it's newer, then it's already somewhat going bad. Plus there's glitter in it! Maybe a little annoying but whooooo caaares.

Stoked for the fact that my Seahawks are starting to win! Always a good feeling when your team is 0-2 and then wins two in a row. Being 2-2 isn't ideal, but I'll accept it. Especially when we handed Detroit their fourth loss of the season. But then again, we're going to Cincinnati this week and they're 4-0 so it'd be right nice to hand them a loss!

While I'm happy that my Haws are winning, I'm sad that my San Francisco Giants didn't make it to the MLB playoffs. I KNOW IT'S PROBLEMATIC that I love the Seahawks, hate the 49ers, love the Giants, and don't like the Mariners. I KNOW. It's fine.

I was at my aunt and uncle's house last October and my uncle was watching the World Series, Giants vs Royals. I didn't care about baseball but I accepted it. My uncle goes "Hey Lily, there's a pitcher who plays for the Giants who I think you would probably have a crush on!!" and while it's sad that my uncle knows my type of men, he wasn't wrong.

The pitcher turned out to be Tim Lincecum, and I haven't looked back when I developed a crush on him. I was so sad when he got hurt back in June. His season was literally over then, although it was never confirmed. Plus he's a free agent going into this offseason so I really hope that with rehab, he'll resign a smaller contract with the Giants. But I'll also be okay because we still have MadBum, Posey, Crawford, and Duffy (Duffy for Rookie of the Year pls) and like.. everyone else. Plus Panik and Pence will be back (ily Panik even though Tomlinson is my everything and more <3333).

Links on links on links.

So I still have my boys and I still love them all.

Also I have a burning hatred for the Dodgers and would love to see them all suffer in the postseason #beatla

//and I definitely DON'T love Timmy because he and I grew up in the same dang place. RENTON HOMIES FOR LIFE, SON. ONCE YOU'RE RENTON YOU'RE RENTON FOR LIFE//

Even though... I know no one there anymore and I haven't gone back there since I moved away hahahaha OH WELL.

But really, it's just a fun fact that I love those two sports teams but not each place's respective football and baseball team. I could write a list that was little facts about me, and maybe I will someday. Remember those two super secret projects I've been working on? Y'all done thought I ditched them, huh? Well I didn't. I've been working on one and I'm like... halfway done with it. You'll know when it's done. I'll be super dramatic about it like "lOoK aT tHiS aWeSoMe ThInG i DiD i HoPe YoU'rE pRoUd Of It!!!!!!".

//////////////////////yeah//////////////////////

I'm also realizing that there are a few things right now, songs specifically, that can perfectly sum up how I've been feeling for the last several weeks. Especially this song. Actually more like only this song lol. You have to tweak a few words and substitute some for another, but it's generally pretty accurate. I am the best baby they never got to keep. Lolololol. Also this song for good measure, I guess.

Look at me, getting into mainstream music. I also like that Can't Feel My Face song AND I still love the Cheerleader song AND the Uptown Funk song AND the Pharrell Happy song. We all know it's not actually called the "Pharrell Happy Song", but that's just what I call it it's okay. Yes. I still love that song. It was never crammed down my throat on the radio so it was never overplayed for me. And yes. When my friends are in the car with me I just blare it.

About a week or so ago on Tumblr, I reblogged an ask prompt thing that was like.. autumn/fall related, and one of the questions was basically "what song or album do you listen to in the fall?" and I replied with Taylor Swift's album 1989. It was the ONLY thing I listened to in my car last fall. Catch me in the place I live with that thing just blared. For the ENTIRE season. Well.. from when it came out to pretty much the middle of winter. And it was so great because one of my very good friends (again, I could go on about this heaven sent friend of mine.. literally I could write a book about every single friend I have, I love them so much) reblogged the same ask prompt, got asked the same question, and SAID THE SAME ANSWER.

So basically we were destined to be besties and it's great because she's moving here (to the state, probably not where I live, but that would be fun as well!) and we can go camping and listen to Taylor Swift and bake (maybe not bake while camping but what a plot twist that would be! Catch us on the Food Network's new show about camp baking what's good!) and be the gorgeous little fairies we are. <3

But that's all I really have to say right now. I didn't all type this right now, I got a lot of it done last night and put some finishing touches on it. But that's okay. A blog post is a blog post, right? I love you all and I hope to blog again super soon.

Also: Props if you know what the blog title is without using a search engine.

xx