Books N Bloggers Swap

I am sorry this is late, but I had to wait on my package!!
My partner was Sarita at Chronicles of Sarita The Next Chapter I will link her post as soon as she posts it.
From my Wishlist she got me Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Darkside!  I am so excited about getting this I’ve been wanting to read it for a while now!

Sarita sent me The Night Circus as the book she read that she loved. I had heard of this book and was thinking about getting it so I am loving that she sent it to me!

For Books she hadn’t read she sent me too!! Across The Universe and Tigers Curse. Oh my gosh the covers for these two books are AMAZING!!! I am looking forward to jumping right into them!!

This is my FAVORITE Swap to do of all time!!!

Just a Blah Kind Of Day

Still feeling a little blah, I’ve been extra stressed and depressed lately, although I don’t really have a good reason. I spent the night at work watching Hunchback of Notre Dame, I love that movie, Esmeralda is a good princess… and yes she IS a Disney Princess, she is a gypsy princess.

How have you all been doing? I haven’t had a chance to really talk to you guys in a while!

Another Giveaway!!

I am feeling the heat this summer for sure. Why not giveaway a heat wave eye shadow palette? Enjoy from LeChateauDesFleurs:

 

 

Description:

Turn up the heat, or keep it cool; it's up to you with Smashbox's stunning wet-dry eyeshadow palette! 10 totally on-trend shades in a luxe formula that let you create naturally pretty eyes or amped-up glam looks.

 

RST Outdoor

 

Outdoor living is the new destination retreat for you, your friends and family, and what better way to show your style than with the ultimate patio furniture deep seating set? Perfect for your sun room, outdoor living area or anywhere in your backyard oasis. Is this arrangement just dreamy or is it just me?

 

 Portofino Signature 8 Piece Deep Seating Set

 

Is this arrangement just dreamy or is it just me?   

 

The giveaway is available for both USA and International entrants.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Books and Their Covers

I love to read. I love books, I adore books that are pretty and catch my eyes.  But I despise cover redesigns!

These are a few books I love, whose new covers I hate, or think they just don’t go with the series.

The Immortal Rules: I LOVED this book, and it was a total cover impulse buy, it screams vampire and makes me want to know what the story is inside.

Book 2 in the series; this is just not as eye catching to me and honestly if I saw it and hadn’t read book 1 I’d probably walk right by it.

 

The very first set of books I had problems with the redesigning of a cover was Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander series. I bought the first 4 books in the series before the cover redesigns,

They are whimsical, fun, purple color palates they are pretty. Then after the first 4 they redid the covers for the entire series…. and I wish they had stuck with it…

So to finish the series all the rest of the books look like this… and I’m NOT a fan. They aren’t nearly as interesting to me as the original covers and there is no way for me to get the new books in the original covers. I just wish they had waited until the end of the series to change the look.

 

Now for a few covers I ADORE, these books I am sad to say actually caused me to buy the book with out even reading the back it was love at first view of the cover, a few didn’t stand up to their cover art and I ended up not loving the book but the rest did!

Enchanted was the only one that REALLY didn’t do it for me, but I LOVE the cover. if you want to read my review of it click here!

 

Do you like when covers change? Am I just a strange and obsessive person?

July Goals

June Recap

1. Buy myself a swimsuit I like Success/Fail I bought one I kinda liked and then returned it.
2. Save at least 50 dollars Big old fat FAIL! I had a total of .10 in my savings account all month.
3. have a mini-vacation with Kensei Fail- We went to Anime Blues but he was to busy working to actually spend time with me
4. Enjoy the Anime Blues Con Success!! I had a lot of fun at the con with my dad and Jujube!
5. Take a lot of pictures Success! At the con alone I took over 400 pictures I will do an Anime Blues Convention post if anyone is interested!
6. Read at least 5 books Success! I finished 6 in June!

July Goals!

1. Write at least 1 book review for the blog!
2. eat healthier
3. join the gym I’ve been debating on all year
4. clean the bedroom again
5. Because I know I won’t give up Coke-a-Cola for every can of Coke I drink I need to follow it with a glass of water/green tea
6. start tracking on My Fitness Pal again
7. Clean out my car!
8. Wash and Vacuum it!

What are your goals for July?

15 Shades Of Sephora Giveaway!!!

I am co-hosting this great giveaway this month!! Please enter!

 

 

Coconut lick worthy lipstick has me dreaming of the beach. I feel it is a perfect time to giveaway 15 Shades of Sephora. Enjoy from LeChateauDesFleurs:

 

What it is:

A collector’s edition of iconic lip colors spanning 15 years.

 

What it does:

This lip library includes everything from rich reds to natural nudes all in Bite’s lick-worthy Lush Fruit Lip Gloss formulation. Instant nutrition for lips, this formula contains the same healthy ingredients you’d find in a pure fruit smoothie: real coconut, mango, and strawberry infused with seven nourishing fruit oils for a tropical concoction delicious enough to eat. Rich, vibrant, and juicy, this modern formula is highly pigmented—what you see in the container is the color you’ll see on your lips.

 

This set contains:

- 15 x 0.06 oz Lip Gloss

Rain Shadow Labs

Rain Shadow Labs provides the highest quality wholesale cosmetics. They offer lotions, washes, cremes, candles, soaps, gels, essential oils and so much more. http://rainshadowlabs.com/

 

I want to highlight an amazing moisturizing product this week from Rain Shadow Labs the ARH Hyaluronic Acid Serum, 98% natural/72% organic (whole foods).

Hyaluronic Acid makes up fifty percent of this high quality formulation. Holding up to 1000 times its weight in water and drawing moisture out of the environment and onto the surface of your skin, there is not a more effective moisturizing agent on the world market today. Non-comedogenic, penetrates deeply, and activates collagen production for a fresher, younger, firmer, brighter complexion.

 

The giveaway is available for both US and International entrants.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please see official terms and conditions in above Rafflecopter.

When Did You Stop Feeling Beautiful?

It is a well known fact in my friends and family that I take the Dove "Real Beauty" campaign with a grain of salt. I respect the message but I feel like there is another under lying message of Buy Dove products and you will be prettier. But this latest commercial actually struck a cord with me. Go ahead watch it, I'll wait:

So the teens, and older people spin, hide, and in some cases actually run from the camera, and then you see the kids, smiling enjoying themselves, posing and loving being in the camera’s light.

I started to think about when it was that I shyed away from the camera, there are home movies of me, that I set up recording dance practices, playing with relatives, pictures from when I was younger with real smiles on my face, not the I have to smile I am being taken a picture of smile I do now.

So when was it? While I was thinking about it I realized it was around the same time I started having my other body issues.

I was a very active child, I did dance from when I was 2 at 6 I went from just ballet to ballet, tap and jazz. I played Tennis from age 8 and volleyball from 10 I was on swim team from when I was 10 until 13. When I was 13 I had to stop everything. I had to walk my brother home from school because he was getting bullied and beat up every day, and so I quit volleyball, tennis and swim team because I couldn’t go to the practices. I had to stop dance because my mother got into an argument with the director of the school and pulled me out of Company (which I had just made and I LOVED being in Company)

I just stopped being active, and then I started gaining weight, I hit puberty, I was diagnosed with PCOS and I just wanted to hide and not be seen. That is when I stopped loving being in pictures and being photographed. When I stopped believing I was beautiful.

I still have so many issues and still find it hard to think I am pretty.  It is something I need to work on, because I don’t want my future kids to see me hide from the camera and think that is what they need to do too.

When did you stop? Do you still believe you are beautiful? I would love to read your stories.

I feel….

So I haven’t had a real post in a while, and I’m sorry. This one is probably not going to be a real post either. I have been really depressed lately and that’s not a good thing for me.

My dad and my sister came to visit me and we had a lot of fun.

Kensei and me… I just don’t know right now… living together is not working out how I planned…. it is kind of like me visiting for a really really long time, but not actually living here ya know? I still have almost 95% of my stuff in moving boxes and I’ve been here since November.

On top of that it is a little on the tough side that he doesn’t seem to want to make the changes he talks about, like school and a new job, or even cleaning up the house.

If I bring up anything I get told “we agreed that I wouldn’t attempt to “shrink” him and to leave it alone” 

To make matters worse I don’t really have any friends here, and my 2 best friends Eri and M I don’t really talk to much anymore… M is busy with her job, new boyfriend and niece, and Eri is loving living with her boyfriend and her new job.

I have no one to really talk to about the issues in my life and I think that is part of my depressed mood.

anyways sorry for the pity me post I will try to post more often I promise. 

Subscription Box Share!!

This month I have 4 boxes to share with you!! I signed up for Ipsy, I have two Birchboxes and I also got the Target Beauty Box!