What's in my bag (an update)

Hey guys!

And before you ask this is totally not a filler post because I have no idea what to blog about.

Of course not. That's just crazy talk.

Okay, so you caught me. It's been about 4 days since I made my last blog post and I've just been so busy! And I really hate making excuses, so I promise I'm going to do better to post. I just have to figure out what to actually post about now. I've been pretty much chilling at home everyday lately, so I never get dressed up (outside of my workout clothes, which I'm guessing you really don't care about seeing). And I never put make up on.

Therefore, you don't get to be blessed with seeing pictures of my funny looking adorable face! I mean, unless you want to see pictures of me, sweating buckets while I'm dying on the floor of my living room.

No? Didn't think so!

Anyway, so, if you're wondering why I've been busy, I'll fill you in. Of course I've been spending a lot of time working out lately. It's like my new hobby (pretty much completely replaced gaming at the moment, eek). I do my round of 30 Day Shred, then sometimes add in another round if I'm feeling extra daring. Then I'll usually do some cardio, and now lately I'm really into yoga.

And in addition to that, on the 30th, it's actually mine and my boyfriend's 3 year anniversary.

Cue the 'Aww's.

So I've been scrambling trying to get ready for that. And actually, the gift I had planned kind of fell through, because I won't be able to get the materials on time. So now, all of tomorrow I'm going to have to work really hard to create an entirely new gift. I won't tell you guys what it is, but I will say that it requires my (nearly non-existent) sewing skills. I'll probably show you guys after I give it to him. ♥

Oh, and I'll bake. Because he's got a huge sweet tooth.

Alright, so, onto the 'What's in my Bag' topic. I've seen this around on blogs. (Usually in their archives). So I figured I'd show you guys what I carry around. It's nothing too exciting though. Sorry!

1. My purse! I got it for Christmas last year, and I really need a new one. The little gems are falling off of it, and it's just a little too bright for my liking now anyway.
2. A matching wallet for my purse. Which is broken, by the way. Even more of an excuse to buy a new purse/wallet combo!

3. My 3DS XL and all the games I carry around with it. This is by far my favorite thing in my purse. It's my baby. ♥

4. My nail file! Not just any nail file. A nail file with a really pretty design on it!
5. Bobby pins and hair ties. A lot of bobby pins. An unnecessary amount of bobby pins.
6. My cell phone! Complete with it's really pretty case. ♥
7. Movie tickets! Not sure why I still have these in my purse, considering I went to this movie (Warm Bodies) last month.
8. Bracelets! For all accessory related emergencies!
9. A comb. A normal, boring comb.
10. Pencils and eraser. For when the fancy to draw strikes me.

11. Best. Restaurant. Ever. Sad there's only about $3 left.
12. Aaaand, an expired Gamestop Power Up Rewards card. I really need to stop back into Gamestop and renew that.
13. The picture I carry around from Prom of my boyfriend's senior year (I had already graduated). I look horrible in it, but he's a cutie.


So yeah, that's basically it.
Sorry for this rather failtastic blog post. But at least I got to share something about myself. I'll try to post again soon! Promise.

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

How to make a healthy smoothie

Hey guys!

I just wanted to share with you a really yummy smoothie I made today! It's healthy and super simple!

I love simple drinks/meals because I can't cook, at all. And I don't like spending much time in the kitchen. Heck, I didn't even really know how to use the blender very well before today.

(You can tell I grew up mainly on fast food and the microwave, can't you?)

Now, I will state that if you like really sweet smoothies, you're going to have to add something more than what I made. My smoothie was about as sweet as the fruits that were in it. So if that's not sweet enough for you, I'll list some things you can add in to boost up the sweetness.

This is for a Strawberry Banana smoothie by the way! (My favorite!)

I think next, I'll try a peanut butter banana smoothie. Yumm!

Anyway, these are the ingredients you'll need:

•One Banana
• Around a cup of Strawberries

• A cup of almond milk

That's it! I don't use ice because I don't like how the smoothie tastes when it's all watered down. Ick.

So, to make the smoothie, the first thing you'll have to do is cut up the strawberries beforehand. I did it the night before just so it wouldn't take as long this morning.

Take your fresh strawberries and start cutting! I cut nearly the whole container because I wasn't sure how much I wanted to use in my smoothie. It totally depends on you guys how many you want to use. I'm not a huge fan of bananas, but I like that slight hint of banana in my smoothie, so I like to use a lot of strawberries.

My number of strawberries became fewer as I cut them because someone decided to snack on them as I was cutting them up! (Last time I make smoothies around my boyfriend!)

Now, once you've cut off all the tops, put them in a sealed container and stick it in the fridge. Refrigerate until frozen. Or just do what I did and leave them in overnight for the next morning.

Now, once they're all frozen solid, toss them in the blender. All my strawberries ended up getting frozen together, so I had to defrost them a bit.

They were very stubborn strawberries.

So, once you manage to unstick them from each other and toss them in the blender, break apart the banana into a few sections and just toss it in there. Add a cup of almond milk (or more if you want your smoothie really runny. I prefer thick smoothies though.) and turn on the blender!

Remember the lid before you power up the blender though. The lid is pretty important.

And then:

Tada! Your very own delicious Strawberry Banana smoothie. Super low in calories and incredibly delicious.

Now, if you have more of a sweet tooth, but you still want your smoothie to be healthy, there are definitely things to add.

• Honey
• Chocolate/Vanilla Protein Powder
• Agave
• Truvia
• Stevia

If any of you guys knows any good sweeteners, definitely let me know in the comments! I'm a newbie to smoothie making, so I'm always looking for tips! 

Also, 

I wanted to thank you guys for reading my blog! All you guys are so fantastic and I actually reached 50 readers finally! And within just around a month of serious blogging. You guys are so great.

Thank you.

I'll be making the two ingredient cookies soon, so look forward to that. c:

Until Next Time,

Bye Lovelies! ♥

Time to show off my new sunglasses!

Hey guys!

Really exciting news! The sunglasses I won from Lara Lizard's giveaway came in the mail today!

I cannot express how impatient I've been for the last week, waiting for these beauties to arrive. And now I have them. Ack, excited!

Aren't they cute? 

I will admit, as soon as I put them on, I basically feel like a rockstar. Not quite sure why. But as I was looking at myself in the mirror, I was sorely tempted to start playing some air guitar or something. I haven't actually owned a pair of sunglasses in way too long. So I'm super happy about this!

When the package arrived, I was happy to find them wrapped in both plastic, and the sack that came with it. They're from Sunglasses Shop, by the way. And I really love them, so I'm really debating buying more pairs from them. I know I should only need one pair of sunglasses, but I'm so obsessed with them this spring, I really can't help but want more!

They're super reflective, which looks awesome. And they work so good! I pretty much am in love with them.  Madly in love with them.

Does anyone else think I look like a rockstar? No? Just me?

I can't wait to wear them out, once it warms up a bit more and the sun actually comes out. (Which probably won't be this weekend, since it's suppose to snow. Aghhh.) I'll definitely take more pictures then!

Also, I really love the t-shirt I'm wearing today, so I wanted to show you guys.

Isn't it cute? I got it from Wet Seal years ago, but then I gained weight and couldn't wear it. After losing 16 lbs last year, I just discovered it fits pretty well again! It says 'Lost in a Dream', in case you can't tell. Which you probably can't because I was lame and didn't move my hair out of the way. Oops!

But I love Hello Kitty, and I love Alice in Wonderland, so when I saw this t-shirt that combined the two, I had to have it! Even if I hate wearing t-shirt, this is still one of my favorite articles of clothing. Maybe I can try to alter it so it doesn't feel like it's choking me.

Oh! And I made my smoothie today, but it didn't turn out how I wanted to, so you guys don't get to see yet. (It had too much banana taste! Ugh. ) I'll be trying again soon though, and I'll show you guys soon!

Promise. ♥

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

Meeko, Cardio, Sketching (and random chatter)

Hey guys!

How do you guys always figure out what to blog about? Maybe it's just because I'm new to this whole blogging thing, but it takes me so long to figure out what I want to say to you guys.

I debated making a blog post about Skyrim today, but then figured that game was old and you probably wouldn't be interested. Then Harvest Moon: A New Beginning, but I don't know how to take pictures of that game, unlike Style Savvy. -sigh-

I really need to make a new gaming post though. My title 'Girly Gamer' is a little misleading unless I'm talking about video games too! I'll get a gaming post up soon though, I promise! If you guys ever want me to talk about a certain thing in particular, just let me know. I'll definitely look into it. (But expect my unbiased opinions!)

Oh! And good news! I did day 7 of the 30 Day Shred today, and I managed to get through the first 2 minutes of cardio (jumping jacks and jump rope) without taking a break or getting water!

You're probably like 'Two minutes?! That's hardly impressive Michelle!'

But oh, you'd be wrong! I am horribly out of shape. I might have a healthy BMI, but I am so out of shape it's ridiculous. Just two summers ago I mowed the lawn and then nearly passed out. Just pushing a lawn mower around the yard made me exert so much energy in the summer heat (okay, so it wasn't really that hot out) that I... I don't know what happened. Heat stroke? I remember feeling sick to my stomach, the room spinning and everything going really dark/dim until I sat down long enough and took slow breaths.

It wasn't fun.

And, anyway, the first 6 days of the 30 Day Shred, I had to keep taking breaks during the first cardio part. The first day, I felt like I was going to die while doing it and took way too many breaks. But now? Now, I'm awesome.

I just wish I'd start seeing results. But I guess I've been working out less than a week. Not even Jillian Michael's can make me fit into a size 4 this quickly!

In other news, Meeko got a collar finally! (unfortunately, not in pink like I wanted) So now, once it warms up some, I'm going to take him on his very first walk. It's exciting thinking that Meeko is so young, so he's going to be experiencing a whole bunch of firsts. Like his first Spring, and then his first summer, his first walk... I just hope the sounds from his first 4th of July won't frighten him too much!

Doesn't he look happy with his new collar?

I also got really scared today, because I noticed one of the bones he was chewing on was covered in blood! I checked out his mouth and found out it was only because he lost a couple baby teeth! Aww.

I'm actually pretty worried, because his adult teeth seem to already be growing in on his top row of teeth, without the baby teeth falling out. I'm hoping they'll fall out like the two today though. I don't want to have to take him to the vet to get his teeth pulled out. That just wouldn't be fun for him at all!

Oh! And I also wanted to show you guys some of my old drawings. I don't know why. I just like sharing random things from my life with all of you beautiful people, I guess. So here are some drawings I've done:

Anime-style line art (I loved drawing the violin!)

My attempt at a more realistic style!

And just to show you guys how bad totally awesome I am at coloring in Photoshop c:

I never draw anymore, unfortunately. Between video games, blogging, and getting in shape, I just have no time for it. At one point in my life, I was obsessed with it. And I wanted to get to the point where I was good enough to be able to have people commission me to draw for them. But then I got more hobbies, and I just don't have the time to keep working towards that dream anymore.

-sigh-

Oh well.

I think I'm going to go do another hour of 30 Day Shred. Because I sort of pigged out today. Whoops!

(Also, tomorrow, I'll probably be telling you all about the smoothie I'm planning to make. Yum! -excited- )

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

Haircut time! (and Split ends)

So after months of it being long overdue, I decided I wanted to get a haircut today! Now, you probably can't see it in my pictures, but I had horrible split ends. It was bad.

I had never had split ends before. I don't even know what caused it! Maybe because I'm growing my hair out? I guess I'm not sure what causes split ends at all. But my hair was longer than it had ever been before.

And actually, I just checked. I still have split ends. How is this happening?! I don't understand. ._. I just got my hair cut!

I refuse to go any shorter. Agh. I already had enough little miniature panic attacks while watching the lady (who was awesome, by the way. So talkative and informative. Way different than the last place I went!). Should I just grab my scissors and snip away at the individual strands that have split ends? I could spend all night doing that if it would save my poor defenseless hair! Someone help. ._.

I feel so unknowledgeable when it comes to beauty. After all, it wasn't that long ago I actually took an interest in beauty and fashion. So when the women at the hair salon was asking me questions about what to do to my hair, my only answer a lot of times was to stare at her blankly.

I felt so bad! Like I was making her job a lot harder than it should have been. But she was super nice and understanding and explained everything.

And I asked for bangs.(or a fringe. Whatever they're called.)

I am constantly on a lifelong search for the perfect sides wept bangs. And so far, they have completely eluded me. I don't know if my hair just hates being side swept, or if I can't explain what I want well enough, but I have never been able to get them the way I imagine in my head!  (And I'm not nearly talented to do it myself!)

I'm not sure how to feel about my bangs. Part of me loves them, the other part says that they're not fashionable. Maybe I got them too thick.

Or, you know, maybe I'm just too picky.
Always searching for those unattainable, perfect side swept bangs. -sigh-

Anyway, so you can see. Here's a picture of me right before I went to get my haircut:

and here's after:

What do you think? I'm not wearing make up in either of the pictures, so I think I kind of look dead. But don't look at my face! Look at my hair, please! Also, I don't know why my hair is all wavy in the After picture.

So, yeah, how would you guys suggest I get rid of the split ends? And what's your opinion on my hair? Please me brutally honest and give me tips!

I think I might grow my bangs out again.

Oh! And mini Meeko spam, 'cause he really is just so gosh darn cute.

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

Bloglovin' and Fitness

Hey guys!
(Sorry for no pictures in this post!)

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I was almost not going to post tonight either, but here I am. I'm so exhausted. In a good way though, I think. I've been doing the 30 Day Shred for four days now, but today was my sixth time doing it.

(I did two rounds on Day 1 and Day 3)

And wow. I didn't think it would make me that sore! My muscles have been burning! But it's a good kind of burning. I feel great! I really missed exercising daily! Starting today I also started using Blogilates workouts too, to try to fit in as much fitness as possible. My thighs actually felt like they were on fire!

And I love the combination of Jillian and Cassey being my fitness trainers! One's tough while the other is upbeat. I like running to Cassey after Jillian gives me a hard time through the television!

I think I'm getting blisters on my toes though. Ow.
(Maybe I should start working out with shoes on!)

I'm also thinking about starting the 30 day squat challenge.

I think at this point, I'm just trying to torture my poor body!

And do you know what I'm both most excited for, and worrying about the most? The fact that if I lose all these inches and these lbs, that means none of my clothes are going to fit. Which is great, because most of my clothing is ugly anyway, and stuff I've had for forever. And I'd love to go shopping for a brand new wardrobe!

Unfortunately, I have pretty much no money. So shopping is kind of a no go for me, unless my mother decides to be super sweet and lend me some money. But I don't really see that happening. I guess it's time to get more serious about job hunting!

I've also been trying to eat healthy, but it's hard. I think I'm going to attempt to make a strawberry-banana smoothie tomorrow though. (Or maybe the next day.) If I do, I'll be sure to show you guys and let you know how it ended up.

I also want to try the two ingredient cookies. Hopefully I can soon!

Oh! and forgot to tell you guys in my blog post about it. But remember my blog post about buying the 30 Day Shred and the 3 lb weights? I almost walked out of Walmart without paying! I felt so bad!

My friend was the cashier and we were so busy talking that she just handed me my weights in the sack and we said our goodbyes and I walked off, and then like two feet from the door my boyfriend said something like "Uh, weren't you suppose to pay for those?"

My jaw dropped and I quickly hurried back to the friend and practically shoved the money into her hands! I felt so embarrassed and if my boyfriend hadn't been there, I probably wouldn't have even realized until much later!

Yes. I do have many grand adventures in Walmart.

Anyway, onto the subject of Bloglovin'. As some of you might have read, Google is apparently getting rid of Google Reader, I guess. Which, by the way, completely sucks! I just start getting into this blogging thing and they're already changing things around on me. As if this wasn't hard enough for a newbie!

So anyway, I know a lot of people are asking people to follow them on Bloglovin', and I suppose I'm here to do the same. It would seriously suck if I didn't have you awesome folk reading and telling me your thoughts in my comments, so if you like my blog, please be sure to follow me on Bloglovin'! I'm currently semi in the process of following everyone I love on Bloglovin' too. Hopefully I'll be up to date on that soon.

You can follow me on Bloglovin' here:
http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4895391/girly-gamer
Or you can click the Bloglovin' icon at the top of my blog and it will take you to there. Your choice. No pressure.

I've noticed a lot more people following me via Bloglovin', so if you've already followed me that way, well, you're just plain awesome. And if you haven't yet, you'll be awesome as soon as you do! Haha!

You can also follow my Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram by clicking the icons a the top as well. I thought about making a Facebook page, but I don't think I have enough followers to justify doing that yet. ._.

When did you make a Facebook page for your blog?

Wow, this was a lot of text and no pictures so....

Here's meh face. Oh, you're welcome. ♥

Until Next time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

Liebster Award!

Hey guys!

I've got two Liebster Awards to do today. One from Rocketraptor and the other from Smells Like Sushi. I definitely recommend checking out both of their blogs! They're amazing.

• The Rules: 1. Each person must post 11 things about themselves. 2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer 3. Choose eleven people that have under 200 followers and link them in your post. 4. Go to their page and tell them. 5. Remember no tag backs!

Alright! Let's do this! c:

1: The hardest I've cried over a work of fiction was over a video game. Sad, soppy romance movies or even the last Harry Potter book has nothing on Mass Effect 3.

2: I once went to a butterfly garden when they were releasing frozen butterflies from little packages. (I guess that's how they ship butterflies?) and the man releasing them asked me if I wanted to help. Even though insects terrify me (yes, even butterflies), I said yes. I had little butterflies crawling all over my hands and arms until their wings thawed out. It was an amazing experience, and I even resisted the urge of shaking them off of me.

3: Growing up, I had fast food for dinner most nights. Usually Burger King. It was incredibly unhealthy and I was way too chubby throughout my childhood. It was actually only last year I got into a healthy weight range and cut out all fast food (except an occasional stop at Chick-fil-a).

4: I weigh less today than I did during 5th Grade. And yes, I'm insanely proud of that fact. Still another 20 lbs to go though until I'm satisfied. I can do it!

5: Throughout most of Elementary school, I was one of the tallest kids in my grade. When I graduated High School, I was one of the shortest. 

6: March 30th will be mine and my boyfriend's 3 year anniversary. He is also my first boyfriend. (I was adamant throughout high school not to date anyone, until he came along and won me over by being so gosh darn adorable.)

7: I've had a dog throughout my entire life. From the time when I was born to about 3rd grade, I had a dog named Killer. Then from 3rd grade to just a little over a month ago I had an amazing dog named Chomper. Then on Valentine's Day this year, I got a new puppy named Meeko. Who, by the way, makes it very hard to exercise when he sits on my stomach during crunches. 

This is how I have to do crunches. (Please ignore the fuzzy pajama bottoms!)

8: I've moved houses over five times. When I'm older, I really just want to find a charming little house and live there for the rest of my life, with no moving. 

9: Even though I have no desire to move, I want to travel. I have a huge list of places I want to travel to, including Florida (again), California, England, Ireland, Japan, France, and Germany. (And so much more)

10: I have absolutely no idea what I want my career to be. Recently I've entertained the possibilities of Video Game Programmer, clothing store owner, bakery owner, History teacher, create my own online shop, novelist.. There are too many options to be able to pick one thing I want to do for the rest of my life.

11: I've been to an anime convention 4 times. The first time was my favorite though, as me and a group of friends had all dressed up as a group from the same anime and got stopped every five feet to get our picture taken. I pretty much felt like a celebrity, and it was awesome.

Rocketraptor's Questions:

1: What is the most important feature in your own personality?
 I guess the fact I always try to be nice. I hate when someone is rude or mean to me, so I figure other people would hate that too. So I always do my best to put on a smile and be nice to everyone I meet.

2: What kind of trait do you possess that most people don't?
That's hard to answer. I don't think there are any traits that set me drastically apart from everyone else. Maybe my weird sense of humor. Most people never seem to get it. ._.

3: What do you do when no one sees?
Dance! Haha, I love dancing around my room to music (it's a pretty nice work out sometimes too), but I absolutely hate dancing in front of other people. I'd like to learn ballroom dancing though. That I wouldn't mind doing in front of others... I don't think.

4: What is the most valuable item you own?
As in personally valuable or money wise? Money wise, my laptop. But one of my most important items that I own would have to be my teddy bear that my boyfriend took me to make at Build A Bear Workshop. I love that little guy.

5: Is there anything that *never* fails to make you smile?
Whose Line is it Anyway?, dates to Carlos O Kelly's, my boyfriend and Meeko.

6: If you could eat only 3 things for the rest of your life, what would they be? (You could consume vitamin- and other supplements tho ;))
Steak Fajitas (I don't care if this is actually a whole bunch of things that make up one meal, you're not taking my fajitas away!), Brownies, and (do drinks count?) Strawberry-Banana Smoothies ♥

7: If you were a fictive character (an action hero, a mythological creature, anything) who would you be?
Well, I really like elves. They're probably my favorite fantasy race. But if I could chose anything, I would probably chose to be a witch at Hogwarts. c: (preferably after Voldemort was defeated)

8. If you were made into a statue, in which city and which place would you like that statue to stand? How would it look like? What would be written on it?
I'm not really sure what city I'd prefer statue-me to be in. I guess one that doesn't get too hot in the summer? I'd like my statue to be in a large garden or a meadow or something though, surrounded by flowers and nature. Statue-me would have my head bowed and hands folded in prayer and I suppose it would read: "I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars." (One of my favorite quotes by Og Mandino.)

9: If you would make a visit on a famous TV show acting as yourself, what TV show would that be and what would you do/say?
Hmm. I guess I'd like it to be Supernatural, since that's one of my favorite shows. And I would probably have to get saved by Sam/Dean. And then I'd definitely become best friends with Castiel. Definitely.

10: Do you Google yourself? And what do you find out?
I did once before. I found out there was someone else out there with my name and she makes quilts or something.

11: Ask yourself something and answer ^^
What's your favorite flower? Stargazer lilies! c: I love Stargazer lilies. The look and the smell is wonderful.

Questions from Smells Like Sushi

1: What's your favorite make up/beauty product?
Probably Maybelline's Volum' Express Falsies Mascara. I really love having long lashes with it.

2: What can't you leave your house without?
My cell phone. And lately my 3DS. I'm always hoping I get a Street Pass. (It never happens...)

3: Favorite class you took in school (any level)?
Probably Psychology or Medical Terminology. Medical Term. was easy and it was a class of all girls and the teacher was awesome, so most of the time we just all sat there talking about random stuff with the teacher. And when we did do work, it was just memorizing stuff, and it was pretty dang easy. Psychology was fun because I love psychology and because the teacher was pretty awesome too.

4: Cats or Dogs?
I love both, but since I've only owned a cat once, and had dogs all my life, I'm going to have to say dogs. When I get my own house I plan to have both though!

5: If you could be anything in the world, what would it be?
I guess a fashion designer. A popular one. I need to learn to sew first though ._.

6: Most Memorable Experience?
Disney World. My first year going down there (I've been there three times). It was my first time in Florida, which was awesome. I remember getting so excited upon seeing my first palm tree. And then exploring Disney World was amazing. It was like everything I loved in my childhood all in one place. I really want to go again soon.

7: Would you ever swim with sharks? Why or why not?
No. First of all, because sharks scare me like crazy. And secondly, because I don't actually know how to swim. Whenever I go to pools, I just stand around in the shallow areas, enjoying the cold water on hot days.

8: Favorite Fruit? Why?
This question is hard to answer, because I go through different stages of liking different fruits. Sometimes my favorite is grapes, sometimes pears, sometimes apples, or oranges. Usually it's oranges though, so I guess I'll go with that.

9: What's the best thing you ever ate and where did you have it? 
Steak Fajitas. I'm serious, I'm obsessed with those things. And I had them at Carlos O' Kelly's. I could eat those every night for the rest of my life.

10: Have you ever farted in public and pretended it wasn't you?
...Well then. That's not very lady-like. ;P

11: How long did it take you to make this post?
Pretty much all day. Started at 11:30am-ish, and now it's 6pm and I still have to put photos, questions, and tags in this thing. (I get easily distracted.)


My Questions
1. Which super villain from comic books is your favorite? Why?
2. Would you rather visit Narnia, Hogwarts, Panem, or Middle Earth? Why?
3. If you could only use one specific beauty product for the rest of your life, which would it be?
4. Which would you rather wear through the warm days of spring: Spring dresses or shorts?
5. If you could marry a fictional character, who would it be?
6. Which Fairy Tale do you wish you could jump into the pages of?
7. Do you like video games? If yes, name the best video game character of all time.
8. What is your favorite hobby? How did you get started doing it?
9. What is your favorite (not most convenient/affordable) way of traveling long distances? (Car, train, airplane, etc.)
10. What's a personal goal you have that you want to see accomplished in the next five years?
11. How exactly are you feeling today?

Tags:
(Sorry in advance if I tag you and you have more than 200 followers! Its hard to tell sometimes. ._. )
My Kawaii Secret
Unzycat
Lolita Next Door
Just a Little Bit Unique
The Otaku Princess
Fizzy Peaches
Cupcakes and Nerf Guns
Kimagure Days
Flow Disruption
COSDesign
Princess Aina Noire

And sorry if I tagged you and you already received a Liebster award! You can decide whether to do it again or not, I guess. c:

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

A Child of Whimsy - Beautiful Accessories and a Discount!

What's your favorite site to buy things online?

One of my favorites would definitely have to be Etsy. It's full of beautiful handmade clothing, accessories, artwork and more that you can't find anywhere else. And the best part is, when you buy from Etsy you support wonderful people that work hard to create beautiful items for you.

 Among my favorite shops, one of them graciously offered to give all of my wonderful readers a discount of 20% off their purchase! A Child of Whimsy is a wonderful shop with items inspired by fairy tales, dreams, myths, and legend. I absolutely love fairy tale related items. If I can wear or use an item that looks like it came right out of the pages of a fairy tale, I'm happy. It's that beautiful, whimsical quality that I look for in everything.

Take a look at some of my favorite items from her store!

I'm sure you can see why I fell in love with her shop! Everything is unbelievably beautiful and every item makes me think of fairy tales from my childhood.

And from now until mid-June 2013, you can get any of the beautiful creations from this shop The Child of Whimsy for 20% off with the coupon code: MYLIFEISAFAIRYTALE

Go check out the shop and tell me in the comments what item is your favorite!

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

Getting fit for 2013

Hey guys! Look what I bought!

I am literally super excited to start using these things. I've always loved Jillian Michaels, ever since I first saw her on the Biggest Loser so many years ago. She's just so passionate about helping people lose weight (and insanely tough on people to get results). Her and Cassey from Blogilates have to be my favorite fitness instructors of all time. I was actually doing a lot of Cassey's videos for a while, but since she's on Youtube, I could only do it in front of my laptop, and it was getting pretty uncomfortable trying to crane my neck to see what she was doing while trying to keep up.

So when I heard about Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, I decided I needed to give it a try. I read a ton of success stories from places like MyFitnessPal and SparkPeople, and it was motivational enough that I decided I could give it a try. The video is pretty cheap at Walmart (less than ten dollars) and the 3lb weights were a little under four dollar each. So in total, not too bad.

I plan to start the video tomorrow and use it everyday for the next 30 days (while maybe throwing in some blogilates as well!) and I'm going to do my best to eat better.

Not tonight though! Tonight, I'm indulging in some delicious brownies with vanilla ice cream. A great start to my weightloss? No. But I'll do better in the coming weeks. I'm hoping to lose in total 20 lbs. I lost 16 lbs around this time last year with some serious hours dedicated to a video game called Dance Central 2. Then I got a new job and just stopped caring about my health since my work was stressing me out. But now it's back to getting fit and healthy.

 I hope to reach a low, healthy weight by the anime convention I'm going to this summer, which takes place at the end of July. So plenty of time to get in shape!

I'll keep you guys updated once a week (maybe little updates more often) as to how it's going. Telling you guys is going to be what helps keeps me motivated! I want to show you guys Before/After pictures that I can be proud of!

Wish me luck! (Now I'm off to enjoy some yummy brownies and build a farm in Minecraft. The hard work starts tomorrow!)

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

Curly Hair and Cosplay

First off, I really need to say/shout this:

I won Rocketraptor's Giveaway!

A new pair of super cute sunglasses are all mine! And if you saw my last blog post, I'm sure you'll understand how completely excited I was when I got the email telling me I had won. And once I receive them, I'll be sure to put up a ton of pictures showing off how adorable they are. So you can look forward to a lot of picture spam that day!

Now onto the topic of this post, so I don't go on a rant about how cute those sunglasses are.

So, my huge accomplishment of the day? I put on liquid eyeliner! I have never been able to do this before without getting the liner way too far away from my lash line, or without blinking and causing a lovely vertical black streak on my eyelid. I'm not saying it was applied perfectly, because it definitely wasn't, but it was acceptable, so I'm quite proud of myself!

So anyway, I prettied myself up today. Put on make up, curled my hair, threw on a dress. I didn't have any plans today, other than to stay home with the boyfriend and play video games, but it just felt like one of those days where I just wanted to look gorgeous for absolutely no reason.

Do you guys ever get those random days?

On a side note, I really need to wax my eyebrows again soon..

I realize looking back at these pictures now, that my hair actually looks pretty messy. Probably should have run a comb through my hair when I came back inside. It was so windy today. (Not the best kind of day to wear a dress!)

Since I wanted to take a decent outfit picture, I braved the wind and the cold and stepped outside so I could  get a nice shot. (My house is way too dark for my crappy camera!) It. Was. Freezing.

So, after a while, I decided that I wanted to go through my old cosplay stuff. Because just yesterday, me and my boyfriend reserved a room for an anime convention!

 Ack, I'm excited. I haven't gone to a convention in two years. And I'm basically a huge geek. I'm not really into anime much anymore, except the occasional series with a good story, but I love the video game panels and the Dealer's Room. I could spend waaaay too much money in that place. There's video game related things, super cute things, and usually a couple vendors selling steampunk merchandise.

Have I told you guys how obsessed I am with Steampunk clothing? I don't think I have. Well, I have a major love for anything steampunk related. Actually, steampunk was one of the fashion styles that got me interested in fashion. The other two were lolita and gyaru.

Anyway, as I was going through my cosplays, I decided 'Hey, why not try them on and show my readers?'. So I only got pictures in about half of my cosplays/outfits, because I was too lazy to put on the more detailed ones. I'll show the others to you eventually, I promise. But for today, it's only the cosplay of male characters.

Yes, when I got into cosplay, I cosplayed exclusively males. And now I cosplay exclusively females. Not sure why the change, but I'm happy with it. No more uncomfortable binding! So without further adieu, my old cosplays:

This was my very first cosplay, way back from 2008. Hikaru Hitachiin (from Ouran High School Host Club) was basically my favorite anime character ever, so I decided to cosplay him. Actually, I went in a big group and we had almost everyone from the Ouran group. We were missing Hunny, and I think Mori.

Anyway, I figured I could put a picture of me from back then. But it's the only old picture you guys get! Those were my chubby, awkward years that I don't much like seeing pictures of. And before you look at the next picture, you should know: Yes, that is my actual hair. I cut off all my hair, dyed what remained red, and ta-da! Hikaru Hitachiin:

Don't laugh!

 It was my first cosplay. I had no idea what I was doing. The year after this one, I brought that cosplay back briefly, but I bought a wig for it! I couldn't cut my hair that short again, and now I'm practically terrified to ever get my hair cut! -sigh- I still have the wig, but no wig cap. I actually have the wig to each of the cosplays I'll show you in this post. So maybe someday I'll show you guys pictures of me in the whole getup, but not today!

Next is Belphegor from Katekyo Hitman Reborn:

Or, well, in this picture it could be any of the Varia members, since I'm not wearing his shirt, or the wig, but still.

And then Wolfram from Kyo Kara Maoh!

All of these outfits were bought by the way. I'm a beginner when it comes to sewing, so there's no way I could have done this. For my next cosplay though, I'm hoping to make it myself. -fingers crossed-

Some time in the future I'll show you guys my female cosplay too: Maylene from Black Butler. And then my Steampunk Lolita, and I can show you the rest of my lolita too. And if I get a cosplay for this year, you guys will be the first to know!

So I'll leave you guys with one more picture of me, from Instagram. Holy crap, I love Instagram. You can follow me by clicking here, or by clicking the Instagram icon at the top of my blog! Thanks for reading this huge wall of text!

Until Next Time,
Bye Lovelies! ♥

What I'm Obsessed with Right Now - Sunglasses!

With the promise of sunny days right around the corner, I find myself becoming increasingly obsessed with a simple accessory that before this year I never really gave much thought to.

And if you read the title of this post, you'll know I'm talking about sunglasses.

What kind of sunglasses? I'm not really sure. Like I said above, I never really gave much thought to them before. I never used to wear sunglasses at all, even in summer with the sun blazing down on me, making me squint to see anything. I still never bothered to pick up a pair at the shops.

Why? I just don't think I ever really considered them a priority. And it was only recently I actually started becoming interested in fashion (which is pretty obvious if you look in my closet and see a bunch of oversized t-shirts and hoodies).

But this year things are different. And I'm in love with all things fashion related. And sunglasses are a huge obsession for me right now. Why I'm focusing in on something small like sunglasses, I'm not sure. But along with all the pastels and floral prints that spring brings, sunglasses are right along with those as things I'm dying to own this spring!

So what pair of sunglasses got me hooked? I actually know the answer to that! And it's all because of these beauties:

(Image from Vogue.uk)

Through pinterest I stumbled across an amazing blog with a DIY tutorial for these very glasses! Yeah, I was excited. I mean, just look at those things. That blog was HonestlyWTF and the tutorial is located here. 

I fully intend to get the supplies and make sunglasses like these. They're too adorable not to make! And once I do attempt to make them, you guys will be the first to see the outcome, whether it's good or bad. So look forward to that! 

And now I've been getting into sunglasses like crazy. And all different kinds because I haven't the faintest clue as to what looks good on me or what suits my personality best. So I already know that this spring, trips to the mall will include a lot of time in front of the mirrors trying on sunglasses.

And of course there's also the sunglasses giveaway that Rocketraptor and MyKawaiiSecret are having. I'm really hoping to win either one, because I need sunglasses to feed my new addiction! Fingers crossed! ♥ 

What sunglasses can you not live without? Let me know in the comments below!

Until Next Time,

Bye Lovelies! ♥

My new iPhone case/charm!

About two weeks ago on February 24th, I placed an order on an Etsy store named CocoonByWL for both an iPhone 4 case, and a cute phone charm. It was the first time I had ever gotten a phone charm or a phone case, so I was really excited to personalize my new iPhone 4 exactly the way I wanted to. And just yesterday I received my package in the mail! I probably should have taken a picture of the package to show you guys too, but I was too excited to look inside to bother taking pictures at that point.

Here's what all I got:

I got my case, my phone charm, and I even got another small purple gem as another phone charm. The seller was nice enough to send a little thank you note with that gift attached. Which was a relief because unfortunately, even though that kitten is one of the cutest phone charms I've ever seen, it doesn't fit on my iPhone because of the case I got. The case is apparently too large!

Here's a closer look at the adorable charm:

It fits great on my iPhone without a case, and there's a small gap, so I know it would be able to fit on a thin case, just not one as thick as mine. So I gave it to my mom for her new iPhone, as she seems to love it just as much as I did. It's seriously the cutest charm ever! 

The gift charm they sent me is great too, and fits my phone and my tastes really well. I'll probably end up buying a different phone charm from this same store again, because they have some seriously cute phone charms like this or this. But for now, I'm extremely happy with this pretty charm on my phone.

But what I'm most pleased about is the beautiful case. It took me so long to find a case that I wanted more than any other, and when I found this case, I instantly fell in love. The elegant floral design is just too perfect for me. 

The case actually covers the volume buttons and the power buttons, which I don't really like, but they're still super easy to press, so it doesn't really bother me. It borders the front of my iPhone beautifully and the back is gorgeous to look at. In fact, I keep turning my phone over just to look! I'm extremely happy with this purchase. It was super cheap too! I paid less than $15 for both the case and charm combined, plus a gift charm on top of that! 

Decided to take a quick picture with the phone right after I woke up. Ignore the messy hair!

Overall, if I were to rate it, I would give this purchase:

Shipping time: 5/5 The seller is located in a completely different country. They told me when they shipped it that it would take 2-3 weeks, and it took two. 

Communication: 5/5 The seller was super sweet and answered all of my questions very promptly. 

Product: 5/5 Even though the charm didn't fit my phone with the case on, I can't very well blame the seller for that. The gift I received is cute enough and both products are exactly as they were advertised. 

Price: 5/5 Super affordable and I got both things for 30% off! A lot cheaper than many phone cases and charms! 

So, overall, I definitely give this purchase a 5/5. CocoonByWL is an excellent Etsy shop to buy from, and I strongly encourage all of you to go check out their cases and charms! 

Until Next Time,

Bye Lovelies! ♥

Update!

CocoonByWL contacted me after I posted this review and were kind enough to give me a coupon code specifically for my readers! So if you fall in love with their products like I did, you can use the following code to take an extra 15% off a purchase over $20! Yay! 

GIRLYGAMERREADERS