Review of my weekend!

So, despite the unpleasant events from Friday night, the rest of my weekend was pretty much awesome. :) Saturday morning I didn't do much except a little bit of cleaning and a lot of sitting around my apartment being bored, ha ha. That afternoon, however, was much more exciting. My little sister came over after she got off work, and we went to one of our favorites, Chick-Fil-A, for a late lunch. After that we got in her little car, and I drove us the hour it takes to get to the nearest mall...one of the things I dislike the most about living in a small town is having no mall any nearer than that.

We get to the mall and decide to look around for a little bit before we start actually shopping for what we went there for in the first place, which was lingerie for our cousin's lingerie party that was today (she's getting married next month.) As we walked through Dillard's (a big department store, for those that don't know) I remembered that a few weeks back when at the mall, I noticed that there had recently been a MAC counter added. Dillard's, as I said, is pretty big...like, 3 stories big. And nearly half of one floor is all make-up and perfume counters (well I might be exaggerating a bit on the "nearly half" part, but they do take up quite a bit of space). In the past it's just been Estee Lauder, Clinique, Kiehl's, Origins, Clarins, and a few others. Needless to say, I was pretty excited when I noticed the MAC counter. I've been wearing make-up for around 10 years, and I've wanted MAC make-up since I first found out they existed (which, truthfully, was only 2 or 3 years after I started wearing make-up.) So of course I had to buy something...and I LOVE what I bought!

The lip liner is in Subculture, and the cremesheen glass is in Fashion Whim. Together, they create the most perfect pink shade on my lips. :) Here's a pic to show it on me.

It's not the best-quality picture, but you get the idea. I have plans to go back very soon and purchase several more items, including but not limited to: eye liner in Smolder, a lipstick, eyeshadow, and whatever else I decide to get. :)

The rest of the afternoon at the mall with my sister was fun. We found what we were looking for, and then headed home. She spent the night with me (aww :3) and then we (being my sisters and me) got up this morning for church. We had every intention of getting there early enough for Sunday school, which is always great, but sadly that didn't happen. Oh well, there's always next week, and we did make the service, which was wonderful today and just what I needed to start my week with. :)

After church today, my little sister had to go to work. However, my twin was with us too, and so we went to my grandparents' house for lunch, like we always do. We stayed there for a couple of hours, then came home and got ready for the lingerie party. Then we went to that, and it was a lot of fun. We missed our nighttime church service, but made it back to the church in time for a meeting we had to attend. After that, Bethany and I went to Colton's Steakhouse and had a nice dinner together. :)

And after that, we came home, and just sat around in our own separate spaces watching YouTube videos or whatever (at least, that's what I was doing lol).

I've got a very sleepy little dog curled up in my lap, and I'm getting tired as well, so I do believe it's time for me to go to bed. If you're going to bed as well, then I hope you have sweet dreams! And if not, then have a good day, wherever you are. :) xoxo, Brittany

Here Comes the Sun...

Well actually, the sun's been out for a good few hours now...I just wanted to put a Beatles reference in this post, ha ha! I am determined to make today a good day, and nothing says "good day" to me like great music. When my baby sister gets off work, she's gonna come over and we're going to go to the mall! I'me excited. :) Anyway, back to the music. If you look at my full profile, I've got a few of my favorite bands listed there. Most of them don't have much in common other than the genre (rock/pop and indie is what I usually listen to) but they do have this in common: great lyrics and awesome beats. I woke up this morning in a Foster the People mood, so that's what I'm listening to right now. Love them! I've also been listening to LIGHTS a lot lately, who I also love. And of course, The Beatles, Lykke Li, Florence + the Machine, Owl City, Relient K, Snow Patrol, and all of the Grey's Anatomy soundtracks. I know that last one sounds weird, but all of the soundtracks have great music on them...and I love the show, so that's an added bonus. :)

So, I still don't know if anyone is reading my blog...but if you are and happened to read my post last night before I edited it, please read it again. Yes, I edited my post. When I wrote that last night, I was in a not-so-good mood...then I woke up this morning and realized how immature it was for me to trash-talk my sister so much on the Internet. So I changed some things in it.

Well, I guess that's about it for now. If you have been reading my blog, tweet me @brittanyl2010 and let me know. I'd love to hear from you! xoxo, Brittany

Quick update before bed!

Well, maybe not so quick...haha. We will see.

I've been unable to post the last few days because of Internet issues, but thankfully those are fixed now. I worked Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night, which means I was pretty much a zombie until sometime Thursday afternoon. The sleep deprivation feeling is the only thing I don't like about working nights. Well, that and the fact that my sister who I live with seems to always want to have disagreements with me right after I wake up and am about to get ready for another night of work.

Take Tuesday night, for example. It was my second night of work, which is sometimes the hardest because I've already worked one and know I still have one left. Anyway, the conversation topic right when I wake up is almost always what do I want for dinner. My sister usually will cook dinner for us or go get something before I have to go to work. I really don't want to get into details, because I think that's immature. Even though this is my blog and I can write about whatever I want, I still have to draw the line at getting into personal details about arguments with my sister.But basically, I just wanted a cheeseburger and fries for dinner...I don't eat fast food more than a couple of times a week, so I didn't think it was a big deal. My sister didn't want to get me a cheeseburger, I got frustrated and was already tired, and yeah, I cried. Couldn't help it, because I've always been like that. If I'm sad, extremely angry, frustrated, or any other unpleasant emotion, I just break down into tears. And she knows this! So why she called me a picky little child, I don't know. But anyway, my little sister was there and told her to stop being so mean to me (love you Hannah!) and she eventually went to Burger King, and I got my junior cheeseburger and fries.

Also...I've been excited about having a girls night with my sisters since about 2 weeks ago when we planned it. Even though Bethany and I live together and Hannah is just a short drive away, we all have pretty busy schedules and hardly ever have time to go out. So we planned to go out to eat at our favorite sushi restaurant in town, shop a little bit, and go to the movies and see The Help. And this part will get a little more personal, just because. If you knew my sister (Bethany) you would know that she has a reputation for being late or barely on time EVERYWHERE she goes. It's awful. And I'll be the first to tell you that I used to be that way, too, but I've grown up a bit since then and don't do that anymore. So, the "early" showing of The Help was supposed to start at 6:45. We were going to go eat, go see the movie, and then shop. She wasn't ready to walk out the door until 6:20. I told her that there was no way we would have time to eat before the movie, and that maybe we should just go to the late one instead...it started at 9:30, and it's not like we live very far away, so we would still be home at a decent-ish time. She agreed to that, and I said that we should eat, shop, and then go to the movie. She needed to stop at Bath and Body Works to get something, so we went there and then went to Sushi Cafe, where we met Hannah for dinner.

This is where it gets bad. When we're almost done eating, Bethany decides that maybe it's not a good idea to go to the movies tonight, since she has to get up "really early" in the morning to go see her boyfriend. Needless to say, I got pretty mad, and told her that it was best not to talk to me at that moment. And we didn't go to the movie.

So we did our shopping and came home. I'm still kind of ticked off, because I got all dolled up and even wore my new wedge heels...just to eat sushi and shop for some beauty products? No, just no. I'm going to a bigger city that's about an hour away tomorrow with Hannah...we're going to the mall to get a gift for our cousin, who's getting married soon. Anyway, I think I might just take Hannah to the movies, if she wants to go.

Okay, I think I've ranted enough for one night. My next post will be much better, I promise. :) I'm thinking of doing another "favorites" post, but with make-up and hair products. I'll also try to post a better pic of myself sometime in the near future.

Have a lovely night! xoxo, Brittany

Blah...so tired!

Last night at work was one of those nights where I had to remind myself that I chose nursing as my profession to help people, and for nothing else. I really don't like nights like that. I like it much better when I go in to work, have a decent group of patients, and don't stay too busy all night. This was not the case. I walked in to work and had one patient that had just arrived, one that was about to leave, and another on the way. Aah! I seriously wanted to scream and cry and pull my hair out or something. And it's not that my group of patients was bad...they were all really sweet people. It's just the fact of the quick turnover like that, right at shift change, that gets me. Anyway, despite all of this, I ended up having a fairly good night after the craziness of admissions died down.

Also, on a semi-related note...I do believe that I mentioned in my "Intro" post that one of the things I dislike is having to spend all my hard-earned money paying bills. Well, this is why. I got paid last weekend, and this morning when I checked my mail, there were 3 bills in there, two of which are my responsibility to pay. Yes, one of them is my credit card bill and doesn't really count, but still. I just would like, for once, to be able to keep my whole paycheck and go spend it on some new clothes and make-up or something. But sadly, I am an "adult" or something like that, and I have things that have to be done to live the kind of life I like to live, and that includes paying for electricity.

Speaking of paying for things...in 2-3 weeks I will be buying my first brand-new car!!! YAY I'm sooo excited! It's a Nissan Versa, and I'm getting it in Arctic Blue. I would post a picture, but the ones online don't do it justice, so I'll wait until I can post a picture of my actual car. :)

Well, that's all for today. I'm going to finish my delicious, nutritious breakfast of orange juice and oatmeal (okay, so the oatmeal is maple and brown sugar flavored and I put a little bit of butter in it...but it's still good for me right? :P). While I do that, I'm gonna browse around on Beautylish and probably watch some videos, then do whatever else online for a bit, and then go take a shower and go to bed! Have a wonderful day. :)

xoxo, Brittany

Good morning!

Or afternoon, or evening, or whatever time of the day it is where you are! (Ha ha, I don't even know if anyone is reading this...but if you are, thank you!) Today I don't have anything planned at all...in fact, I'm still sitting in bed in my pajamas, even though it's after 11 and I've been awake since around 9:30 lol. My little sister came over for a little bit earlier, after chapel, which she has to attend at her university every morning (it's a Christian college). Today was her first day of class. She said she was going to come back here for lunch. I love it when she comes and visits me. :) Even though I live with my twin sister, sometimes I wish it was my younger sister (who's name is Hannah, by the way) that was my roommate. Lately we've been getting along really well...actually, ever since January, when Bethany and I moved out.

This past weekend, Hannah had to deal with a tough break-up. :\ The guy is someone she went to school with, and she really liked him and cared for him, and thought he cared about her, too. I think he still does, but he's scared. To make matters worse, he's doing that confusing boy thing where he says "well I don't want to date anyone else, I just need to work out some things in my life" and "I don't think we'll be broken up forever" and blah blah blah. I absolutely cannot stand the random, vague comments like this that have seemed to come with my most recent break-ups, except where I was the one doing the breaking up. If there are any boys reading this, PLEASE don't ever do that to a girl if you break up with her! It's the most confusing thing in the world, and drives us crazy! I don't think you even realize. After you tell us something vague like that, we sit around crying because the relationship is over, but at the same time, we're like, well does he still like me? Will we get back together? Is he dating other girls? We just don't know. And it's no fun! If there's any girls reading this and you're going through a break-up, please have the guy read this.

In other news...I went out to lunch and then shopping with my mom on Saturday. :) I love my mommy, so much! She's one of my favorite people in the world, and as much as I love living on my own, sometimes I wish I was still at home. To me, "home" will always be where my family is, until the day that I have my own family. Then, I will have two homes. Anyway, back to the shopping. We only went to two stores, and one of them was Wal-Mart so it doesn't count, ha ha. The other store we went to was Rue 21. I'm not sure how many of them there are around the US/world, but I do know that it's a chain, and it's a pretty good store that you can get clothes and accessories at for a fairly decent price. I got two shirts there, and this ring that is just adorable!

Isn't it cute?! My little sister works at Rue 21 and was working at the time my mom and I were in there. She told me not to get the ring because "those rings are annoying and I don't like them." Well, anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE anything purple, and that I'm very much a girly-girl. So...purple and a bow together in an adorable ring? I'm definitely gonna get it! So I did. :)

Tonight, tomorrow night, and Wednesday night are work nights for me...blah. Most of the time I really do love my job, but working 3 nights in a row is all kinds of difficult. I sleep pretty well during the day, but on Thursday I will be a zombie, no lie. After this week, though, I won't be working any more 3 in a row weeks. This is because my twin sister and I teach a class at our church on Wednesday nights. The class is called AWANA, which is a Bible verse memorization program for kids ages 3-6th grade. We are lucky and get to teach the sweet little 3 and 4 year olds. :) They're adorable. Anyway, the class runs through the school year, and we start again next week. I'm excited to see all the new faces!

It is now nearly 11:30, so I think it's way past time for me to have some coffee and something for breakfast...I'm thinking peach Chobani Greek yogurt...one of my favorites! Hope you all have a wonderful day! xoxo, Brittany

A Few Of My Favorite Things...

So, I just got done taking a bath and making myself all moisturized and smelling good, lol. And it made me think of sharing some of my favorite bath and beauty products! So here we go...

Body Wash: I love pretty much anything that smells good. My favorite scents are tropical ones, vanilla, and sweet scents. Today I used my Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake shampoo/body wash...I got it from Sephora on my birthday this year. :) It looks like this:

The smell is FANTASTIC! Sadly though, I'm almost out of it...it's a fairly small bottle. Next time I go to Sephora, I'll definitely be buying a big bottle of it. :)

Shampoo/Conditioner: Ok, I didn't actually wash my hair tonight (yeah...I'm one of those weird people who doesn't shampoo daily...but it's actually better for your hair!) but when I do, I use any kind of blonde shampoo. Right now I have the Redken kind...it smells very citrus-y, kind of like grapefruit. I also use blonde conditioner, but not necessarily the same brand as my shampoo. The conditioner I have at the moment is Sheer Blonde Go Blonder from John Frieda. I'm a natural blonde, but do get highlights about every 3-5 months. Any blonde shampoo and conditioner that I've used has kept my blonde nice and bright, which I love. :) My favorite, though, would have to be Bed Head Dumb Blonde. Not only does it have a fun name, it also smells good and does a good job on my hair. Also, about once every two weeks, I use Suave Clarifying Shampoo, just for extra cleaning. On days I don't shampoo and condition, I use dry shampoo, which in my opinion is one of the best inventions ever! The one I have right now is by Tresseme, and I got it from Wal-Mart. I really want to try Rockaholic Dirty Secret and the dry shampoo by Kenra (can't remember what it's called).

Lotion: My favorite moisturizer is definitely Neutrogena Deep Moisture Body Cream! I started using it about a month ago after reading a review on http://beautylish.com that said it was comparable to La Mer body cream. I've never used La Mer, but this Neutrogena body cream is absolutely phenomenal. Before I used it, my skin stayed pretty dry, especially my elbows, upper arms, and legs...but now it's soft and pretty. :) I even used it when I was on vacation at the beach, and when I had a bit of a sunburn it kept my skin from peeling as much. I got mine at Target, but it's probably at most drug stores too. The lotion is really thick and kind of smells like frosting. I love it. This is what it looks like:

Face Products: For morning, I use Clean and Clear Morning Burst Fruit Infusions...it's the hyrating cleanser in the yellow bottle. It smells sooo good...it's almost like I'm washing my face with a smoothie, ha ha! I've not been using it very long, but ever since I've started using it, my face has been clearer than it usually is. I also use YES to Carrots moisturizer in the morning, which is an amazing product as well. At night, I use Aveeno Clear Complexion cream cleanser...just bought it yesterday, actually. So far it seems to be working okay, but we'll see. I have fairly sensitive skin, so I have to be really careful with what I put on my face. The moisturizer I use at night is Murad Skin Perfecting Lotion...I had been using the entire Murad acne system for a few months, but decided it didn't really work well enough for what it's priced. Morning and night, I use Sea Breeze astringent for sensitive skin, and at night I also use Clean and Clear Advantage acne spot treatment. It clears up pimples better than anything I've ever used! About once a week, I use Queen Helene Mint Julep mask. I love how it smells...reminds me of spearmint gum...and it works well.

Random products: I use Bare Foot foot scrub...not sure what scent it is...I'm thinking something like tea berry and mint? Anyway, it feels really good on my feet, especially after I've worked all night. Another thing I use that's just a random product is by Murad...it's a spray that's for body acne. I use it on my chest and shoulders where I get little blemishes sometimes, and usually they are gone by the next day. My razor is the Venus Embrace, in case anyone wanted to know lol. And I use Skintimate or Satin Care shaving cream.

Well, that's all for now! This was a rather long post, but I don't really mind. :) I wanted to share some of my favorite products, and don't feel like I could properly do that without giving a brief description of each. I'll be doing another post like this sometime in the near future, but for that one I'll talk about my favorite make-up and hair styling products. Also, for any of you cynical people out there...as nice as it would be to rave about my favorite products and get paid by these companies for it, I'm not, ha ha.

Have a wonderful day! xoxo, Brittany

Hello :)

So...this is my first post on here! I'm not quite sure what the subject matter of this blog will be, but most likely it'll just be a mixture of things I love, stuff going on in my life, and random rants about whatever.

Anyway, now for an introduction! My name is Brittany. I'm 23 years old, and other than Tumblr, this is my first blog...well, in a way. I've done LiveJournal before but didn't ever post on it more than once or twice. I plan to keep up with this one though. :) I am a Registered Nurse at a hospital in Arkansas, which is where I live. I work on a cardiac floor...it's challenging at times of course, but for the most part I love my job. The most important thing to me is my relationship with my Heavenly Father...yep, I'm a Christian, and I'm not afraid to say so. Because of this, I try to love all people, regardless of race, age, gender, etc. and I try not to judge people. I say "try" because, after all, I am only human and far from perfect.

Let's see, what else...I have an amazing family, great friends, and a spoiled rotten 4-year-old Yorkshire Terrier named Mia. You will hear lots about all of them on this blog, especially Mia, because she is quite silly and I like to talk about her. :) I live in an apartment with my twin sister, Bethany, and her dog Jasmine, and of course Mia.

Some things I love: music (anything besides rap and most country), fashion, make-up, reading, sunshine, snow, flip-flops, boots, shorts, jeans, tank tops, sweaters, doing my hair, getting my nails done, snuggling with my sweet little dog, cooking, spoiling myself, movies, watching TV, photography, coffee, tea, popcorn, pizza, sushi, and lots of other things.

Some things I could care less about: cleaning, tornadoes, bugs (especially spiders...eww!), snakes, seeing my loved ones hurt, being sick, spending my hard-earned money paying bills, getting into disagreements, drama at work...and I think that's about it.

Well, I think that about sums up this "introduction post." I can't promise that I'll be writing every day, but I will definitely try!

xoxo, Brittany