2013, A Year End Review

As 2013 is coming to an end I think that everyone stops and looks back on what went on in throughout the year. This is not exactly easy for me as my whole year has seemed to change so quickly in this last week or so. Getting through writing this post may be a bit difficult for me, but I know that I had a great year. I made many great memories this year, and had such a wonderful time.

I am not the type of person that makes a huge new years resolution. I've made small ones every so often, but I think that if you want to make a change you should just do it. Not necessarily on the new year. Going into 2014 I do not think there is much to change. I have had a great year. Things have changed in my life some good, some sad but I know that no matter what God has a plan. 

So here is some of my favorite memories of 2013! (please excuse all of the pictures)

The year started off by a trip to San Francisco with my family, and two of our friends.

Donny and I celebrated his 21st birthday in January by going to Disneyland.

My 19th birthday was in March and I got to celebrate in multiple different ways! My friend who lives in North Carolina came out and we went down to San Deigo just the two of us for a night. It was such a fun girls trip. Donny and I celebrated with a trip to the beach. We built sand castles, and went out to dinner. He gave me my second piece of Tiffany's jewelry. 

Another major event that happened in March was this blog! I cannot believe I have kept to something for so long. I actually have a hobby. This tiny space on the internet means so much to me. So much more then I would have thought when I started.

This year a big change happened with a move! This was the first time I remember ever moving.

In May Donny, my sister, and I got our Disneyland Annual Passes. That is very exciting as I believe most of you know how much I love Disneyland! 

In May we also participated in the 24 hour day spent at Disneyland. We made it 22 hours and then caved in and left.

Over summer there were a few fun beach trips!

There were soooo many awesome Disneyland trips that happened this summer. So many memories made!

This summer my family was also able to buy our new home! 

In July Donny and I celebrated our one year anniversary.

In August I started my job at my school. Something that I had been looking forward to for a really long time!

This year I also started painting wood signs way more often!

Over the summer I also made a new best friend who I love dearly! We were able to reconnect over instagram of all places! It really shows how social media can be used to in a beneficial way.

In October Donny and I dressed up as Mary Poppins and Bert for Halloween. My favorite costume yet!

This year I made a pretty drastic change to my hair...if I do say so myself. 

 My family went on an awesome vacation over Thanksgiving to New York. Something I will not forget!

This year I was able to participate in a really awesome school event called Yule! It was so fun to dress up and see how the event was put together.

Last but not least Christmas time! 

Now the year is coming to an end. By midnight tonight we will have finished with a whole new year. A year that we will not know what is going to happen. Only God can see the big picture. Something that I have learned in the last few weeks is that we just have to let God lead and we must go with the flow. Things may change but we just have to trust him. Even when we don't understand.

So cheers to the new years! May you all have a safe and fun New Years Eve!

Christmas Haul

For Christmas this year I received a lot of beauty gift cards, and gifts. I thought it would be really cool to share these products with you! These are not all of my Christmas gifts, and some of them I purchased myself with gift cards. So lets dive on in!

Obviously these products are not all from the same place. My sister bought me everything on the right from Victoria's Secret. I received the pure seduction mist, the sensual blush lotion, the sheer love body butter, and 8 pink roll on perfumes. The Coco Mademoiselle by Channel was my Christmas present from Donny. The 4 shower gels are from Bath and Body Works. They were having an awesome sale when I went in. The 4 scents I bought were Capri Seaside Citrus,  Twilight Woods (my favorite!!), Paris Nights, and Paris Amour. I think all of these scents are really nice, and I am excited to try them out. With buying those 4 I think I am definitely set on shower gel for awhile!

These two shirts are both from Pacsun. I had received a gift card for Christmas. Pacsun was having a really cool sale buy one shirt get one free. My total came to about $29 which I think is a really good deal for 2 shirts! Each has a lace/mesh material involved. You can kind of see that in the picture. I really liked the red shirt!

AND last but not least, my Ulta and beauty gifts! I received the Clinque from my parents. It is something I had been wanting for a while now. I refuse to try proactive. I just heard so many horrible things about it. Clinque has this really good 100% satisfaction guarantee. I am on day 5 of using it. The box says that in a day you should feel a difference and in a week you should see one. I seriously already feel a difference! My acne is already starting to heal, and my skin looks way smoother. It does make me feel a little dry, but I haven't been using my normal moisturizer to let the Clinque do its own magic. I am really impressed so far!

From Ulta I bought the Not Your Mother's Way to Grow Shampoo and Conditioner. I have heard and read so many good reviews about this stuff. Being that I try soooo hard to grow my hair out I am willing to try anything! I also bought the Tresemme dry shampoo, Revlon color stay foundation, and Maybelline Eyestudio Gel Eyeliner. I already used the black version of this, but I normally prefer brown eyeliner on most days so this was something I have been wanting to purchase. 

The pink sponge is a target dupe for the beauty blender. It was a $5 purchase. I have never used one before, but I am excited to see how it works!

The Mac lipstick is in the shade Retro. I have never ever bought anything from Mac before. I had some money left over to Nordstrom from when Donny bought my perfume. I was able to use it on the lipstick. I really love the way this shade looks on me and I am so excited to wear it!

So there ya go! There's my Christmas haul! What did you get for Christmas? Have you tried any of these products?

Ruined Plans = God's Plan

For someone who is a planner when plans do not go the way you made them it can be frustrating. Donny was a go where every when ever kind of person. We learned to cooperate in this since I liked a plan and he liked to just have fun. Yet even still I planned. I had a plan for tonight last week. I knew what I wanted 2 years from now. And yet...all of those things have changed. My plans are ruined. My plans for tonight, my plans for new years eve and day, my plans for my birthday 3 months away, and my plans for the future. 

Everything I know and was comfortable with has changed.

This trial is very difficult for me. I haven't just lost a boyfriend, but rather a best friend. Someone that was a major part of my life. Now is just gone. Some days that is very hard to cope with and understand. There are little pieces of him everywhere. The cholula sauce in the fridge, the beanie on my desk, the Tiffany earrings that I love so much, or even the many pieces of clothing that he has bought me over the years. Going places that we've been together is hard. Thinking about the fun times, or the arguments that I associate with each place.

Yet, I am learning. I am realizing that I can be strong. I can go a day without crying. I can still have fun and enjoy myself. God is teaching me that he will give me strength. It is true you learn new habits and become closer to God in the midst of a trial. I've learned that I cannot dwell on the memories, or even come up with conversations in my head if he were maybe to talk to me. I just cannot focus on all of that. It only steals my joy and makes me sad. I simply must say "God make me strong!" I must choose joy.

God really does have a plan. A plan far greater than any that I could make. So even when my little planner self fails. I have to give it up to the ultimate planner. He knows all, and he knows the desires of my heart. He will show me his best plan! 

Thank you all for your kind words, best wishes, and prayers. I really appreciate them so much!

A Day Late But Merry Christmas None The Less

Merry Christmas from me to you! I know I am a day late, but I wanted to put up a picture from Christmas morning. So there are two! I hope your Christmas was filled with many blessings, food, and most important the ones you love most. 

What was your favorite part about Christmas this year? What was your favorite present?

For Your Mistletoes-Quick Easy Present

 

 

 

 

These adorable little pedicure in a jar ideas have been all over pinterest! I just love them! You seriously can put anything in a mason jar. I decided to do these little jars as Christmas presents for my 2 best girlfriends. Now I think you really could use this gift for anything just change the tag. I don't think it would be to hard!

 

 



These were the mason jars that I used. Previously they had been to go cups. I liked the idea of giving the gift in these since they could use the mason jars after. You don't have to do it that way it is completely up to you! Also, you can really find mason jars anywhere. My mom has a jar collection so we have tons around my house. Most thrift stores usually have them, or I think you can get them at craft stores now.

This is all the stuff that I put in the jar. I got it all at target. Which made it super easy!

 

I found the little tag online. There were a lot of choices if you just googled mistletoes jar. The link to the pdf that I used is here. I am sure you could even find a tag that has nothing to do with Christmas if you wanted to give this gift for another occasion

Are you all done with your Christmas shopping? Any last minute gifts to get?



A Broken Heart

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I may not always be very deep on this blog. However, this post is a look into my heart. I must warn you now that it isn't a happy side of my heart either. I do not want to have to write this post. I never thought I would even have to say these words. I expected to write a joyous post about marriage before I would ever write out a post like this. I don't even want to think about this. Yet, I know that it is something that I must share.

As of Saturday Donny and I are no longer together.

Typing that out....seeing those words hurt me very much. Getting through typing this post is not easy for me. I am already tearing up. I know that in times like these where I have to explain that God will give me strength. That no matter what he has a plan .

Yet, I still do not understand. At times that statement is a yell with streaming tears. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!! At other times it is simply a cry of help...i do not understand. I am caught off guard. I am lost. In less than a 5 minute conversation it took for the last 2 years and 3 months to seem to just vanish away. I do not understand.

I have no regrets. I am not that kind of girl. I will keep the pictures, the memories, the jewelry, the clothes, and every special moment that we had. I know that the Lord brought Donny into my life for a reason. I also know that I learned a lot through dating him. Both of us have grown so much since the time we had just starting talking and flirting at Marie Calenders. We both changed so much since that day. And maybe, just maybe we did not change as a whole. Maybe what he said was true. Maybe God is showing us different directions.

I am hurt, confused, angry, broken, lost, and sad. Yet, I know that I am strong. I may not feel like it right now or tomorrow or the day after that. But I know that God will get me through this time of heart ache. I do not know what the future holds. I do know that Donny and I had our issues (what couple doesn't?) I know that we both still needed to grow. We obviously were not growing together so now we must grow individually. Maybe we will come back together. I do not know. I do not know what happened to make this decision come about. I feel so lost. The planner inside of me is going haywire. I do know though that no matter what God has someone out there for each of us.

I must now be patient (which I am not so good at). I must now have faith (which I am even worse at). Here I stand with Christ alone and he will hand my heart to the next man who comes seeking him to find it. He will help me make it whole again.

Bows Upon Bows

Today I want to talk about bows. I mean what girl does not love her bows!? I sure do! I love bows. I love hair bows, I love bows on sweaters, shirts, shoes. You name it! So when I saw Chelsea's instagram post of her holiday bows I had a little freak out.

 

These bows are so cute! Chelsea's etsy shop is http://www.prettylovelylittles.com/ I really suggest you all go check these out!

 

Dealing with Chelsea was such a joy! The bows come up on little piece of card board. They were simply beautiful! For a simple Christmas gift they also come a little gift tag. I absolutely have loved wearing them around. Chelsea has offered all of my readers 25% off if you would like to purchase something from her shop! Just use the code MOOSMUSING.

 

 

There are so many ways to wear these awesome bows!

 

 

I hope you all enjoy shopping at Chelsea's shop as much as I did!

Monogram Sign

 

I have had this idea for Christmas for a very long time. I saw a monogram sign on pinterest awhile ago, and I knew I just had to try and paint it!

 

I bought the wood at Lowe's, and my dad was nice enough to cut it for me. The wood was 5.5 inches tall so I multiplied that by three and got 16.5 inches which is how long by dad cut the wood.

 

After this I have no idea what he did. I know that he screwed those silver things on the back and used wood glue to keep them together. The one thing I can say when you are doing this is to watch the length of the screws. You don't want them to come through the other side. This did happen to me. If it happens to you it isn't a big deal! I thought my sign still looked okay.



 

 

After this I stained the wood. That was kind of fun! I had never done this before. I just used an old rag. My mom gave me an glove to wear so I wouldn't dye my fingers.

 

All I did was dip the rag into the stain. Then rub the rag along the wood. My mom taught me to go with the grain! Also I made sure to do the edge around the sign since I want to be able to be hung up.

 

 

 

This was the stain I used.

 

Here is my final product! It is going to be a present for Donny's parents. I am giving it to them tonight. I really hope they like it!

I traced out the letters before I painted them to make sure everything was centered and even. This was a really cool sign to make. I think I am going to make my own parents one.

What do you all thing? Anything you would change?

Thoughts In My Head

Today is a post that really has no point. I haven't done anything as of late that is blog worthy. There are some posts that I have planned, but I cannot show the blog world them yet since they involve Christmas presents for other people. People that I know read this little space of internet.

So here is some ramblings from the brain of Mariah.

 

I really miss New York. Part of my brain thinks that I am insane. I am not a city girl, yet I fell in love with this city. Seeing any one's pictures from New York makes me want to go back already. I know I would freeze in their 28 and snowing weather, but I still long for it. I think that 28 is way more Christmasy than the 84 that California is giving me right now. So here is hoping that I get to see New York again.

So far this break I have done lots of painting. I enjoy it. I like how calming it is. Plus, it makes me feel productive on a very unproductive day.

Green tea. I know it is so good for you, and it will help my skin immensely. But why does it have to taste so funky? I love cold iced green tea. Yet, the minute it is hot it is so gross to me! I don't understand it.

Those are just a few random thoughts floating around in my brain today. How is your Tuesday going?

Another Weekend

The weekend. Oh the weekend. Now that I am on Christmas break the weekend and the weeks seem no different to me. Except that my lovely boyfriend has them off. This weekend was a pretty fun one!

 

On Saturday I had my first day back at Color Me Mine. I will be working there for the Christmas holiday. It was really fun to be back!

 

After I got off work my family, Donny, and some of my sisters friends headed down to the Mission Inn. It is an old mission in the downtown area around here. During the Christmas holiday they do this huge festival of lights. It is so beautiful and so awesome! My family goes to see it every year. 

 

On Sunday I went to church in the morning and then that afternoon D and I had a Christmas party to attend. That night we met up with my best friend Kristin (she guest posted here) and her fiancé to see the Hobbit. I loved it!!! I am so impressed with how well these movies are turning out!

So that was my weekend. I know I lacked pictures! I am sorry! I promise I am working on that!

How was your weekend? Getting your Christmas shopping done?

linking up with Sami and Lisa