Currently [Vol. 6]

You know, I started this post with the intention that it would take very little time and I would at least get another proper post up. And then my inability to do anything unless I do it wholeheartedly got the best of me and now it’s a little over 1,000 words with multiple images and product reviews and it took me at least double the amount of time that it probably should have. Or at least it took much more time than I intended it to. But I guess it’s your win, right? A post with real reviews and updates on my life, even if I probably shouldn’t have put as much effort into it as I did because I have other things to do. Anyway, here are some of the things I’m up to currently, including products I’m loving and what I’m looking forward to and more.

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Currently …

Reading … Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood (the 8th book in the Outlander series), and Big Magic – I’ve mentioned before that I’m participating in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2017 reading challenge, and I chose to do the Reading for Growth plan. I read Cursed Child to complete the requirement for book of poetry, a play, or an essay collection, and I’m working through Written in My Own Heart’s Blood for the book more than 600 pages. I’m listening to the second on Audible since I don’t have time to sit down and really read it on paper, and this way I can read on the train (I get motion sickness). But I do own the paper copy – I just couldn’t finish it because of my life – and I know that it’s well over 600 pages. While it doesn’t fulfill one of the reading challenge’s requirements, I’m rereading Big Magic, but this time I’m reading the paperback version. I listened to it on Audible last year and if it didn’t change my life it got really close to it. I love it. I’m even highlighting it and taking notes as I read so I can go back later when I need inspiration and/or help.

I get why people aren’t pleased by Cursed Child, but I really liked it. I think part of the problem is that while the story is J. K. Rowling’s, she didn’t write the text, and part of why the Harry Potter series is so amazing is her writing. There are a couple things that I sorta side-eyed – Scorpius and Albus are very much into each other, you guys, regardless of how the play ends – but overall I really enjoyed it.

Watching … Ghostbusters, CSI, Supernatural (as you know if you follow me on Snapchat), and Chicago. I’m also watching Safiya Nygaard’s YouTube channel as well as RachhLoves, and I’ve rediscovered my love for Lilly Singh (iiSuperwomanii) and Grace Helbig. Here are some of my favorite YouTube videos right now, both from these channels and from others:

 

Feeling … frustrated with my body, anxious about the next couple of months (my infusion + finals), and sad that season 3 of Outlander won’t come out until September.

Buying … books (for school and for the reading challenge), planner stickers, and beauty products – I used part of my tax refund on a little Sephora haul and picked up Boscia’s charcoal pore-minimizing hydrogel mask, Urban Decay long lasting makeup setting spray (still works great, just has new packaging), Fresh sugar lip treatment in the fourth color I’ve had this product in rose, Sephora rose eye mask, and this Sephora Cleaning Me Softly face brush. The reviews on Sephora and elsewhere on the Interwebs said that using the face brush with your cleanser kinda works as a dupe for the Clarisonic; I haven’t used the Clarisonic before, so I don’t know about dupe, but the brush is definitely great. It gets a deeper clean than my cleansers on their own! If you get the Boscia mask, I suggest being really careful when you open it because when I did part of the mask just completely slid out and I got a lot of stuff on it. I’m not sure if it’s because of that or just because of the mask, but it was a little too intense for my skin, which isn’t usually a problem.

Hoping … that my body cooperates until I have time to deal with it, our country doesn’t become fully fascist,

Planning … advocacy work for chronic pain patients, finals as I’ll need to start researching for my final papers in the next month, and important parts of TLM – I’ve known the plot of TLM is going to go since before I started writing it, but I’ve been a bit hung up on the best way to make the ending happen so that my meaning isn’t misconstrued and the message I’m trying to get out actually gets to readers. I had a burst of inspiration last week that may solve that problem, so that’s very exciting! So long as my summer break is actually as long as it’s supposed to be (aka my health doesn’t cause problems that makes my semester last an extra month or two), I should be able to finish the first draft this year.

Wearing … Too Faced Better than Sex mascara, ColourPop ultra matte lip, Patriots Julian Edelman shirt, scarves on scarves on scarves, and some variation of this most days:

Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer | Kat Von D Lock-It Foundation | AmazingCosmetics Amazing Concealer Color Corrector | Sephora Collection Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer | Laura Mercier setting powder | ColourPop Highlighter in Smoke N Whistles| Rimmel London Exaggerate Waterproof Eyedefiner in Nude | Benefit Cosmetics Gimme Brow Volumizing Fiber Gel | Kat Von D Tattoo Liner eyeliner | Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara | Urban Decay Up All Nghter Setting Spray

(Psssst – you can shop all my favorite makeup, beauty products, clothes, books, etc. in the Shop the Blog page!)

Looking forward to … the Arthritis Foundation Advocacy Summit next week (this is my 3rd time going!), my infusion next week

How are you doing currently?