Tuesday, April 28, 2015

My Wardrobe Idea

Hello Everyone! 
Today I wanted to share something I am currently doing and sort of shared on Twitter a few days ago:
I share a small closet space with my sister, or rather she shares it with me since she's older, and my closet is always packed with clothing most of which I don't wear. I decided that instead of buying new clothes, I would just use up what I have in my closet and slowly throw things away based on how torn up they are or get. I already threw away a few of my leggings because they ripped (they always rip in the most awkward spot). So now I only have a few comfy pants and then of course my jeans which I don't really wear since it's hot and I'm just home all day. I have a lot more shirts than pants in my closet, but I am also planning to throw out or give away shirts that I don't wear. Since my closet is so small I just want to keep my everyday basics in there. I might have a little cleaning session tomorrow to make my closet space look smaller. 
Once I use up all the clothes (or almost all) I currently have I plan on buying essentials and actually being picky about what I buy. I want to pick things I would actually pick out on a regular basis and wear it without thinking twice. I want to finally have a style and not just be all over the place with my wardrobe. I already know some things I like wearing for example stripes, black, and soft fabrics. 
Next on my list is a "wish list" of clothes I like so that I could narrow down my style and what type of clothes I should buy after a while.

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Hourly updates for Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon {April 2015}

I am participating in Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon this year (this is the first of two) and this year I have decided to post hourly updates on this blog post and use my twitter account just like last year for updates in between. Here are a few things you might want to know.
  • There will be hourly updates on here and I will post updates on twitter as well. (This will be my update post for the entire read-a-thon).
  • I probably won't be up for 24 hours - I will try though. But my plan is to stay awake for as long as I can. 
  • Based on my location I start reading at 5am, to figure out other start times go to this link: http://24hourreadathon.com/start-times/ 
  • Even though this post goes up at the start of the read-a-thon I won't update until after the hour in which I personally start the read-a-thon.
  • There is a slight possibility that I will be working on this day, but I don't figure out until the night before so check my twitter feed @friendlvr, Friday around 6pm (Pacific Time)  to figure out if I will be working.
    • If I do work on Saturday I will have to start the read-a-thon later since I can't read while at work. If I have to work Sunday then I might have to finish reading early in order to get some sleep. [I will announce if I am free all weekend on twitter.]
  • If I don't update during a certain hour assume I'm no where near a WiFi connection or a computer, I will update what I did during those hours once I get a chance (this might happen at the beginning of the read-a-thon because of prior engagements). Again check my Twitter account where I will let you know any moment I plan to go somewhere (AFK). 

I posted an April TBR on YouTube (which has changed a bit) but in case you don't follow me on YouTube I will post it here too:
Physical books:
  
Ebooks:
 
    

Hourly Updates

Hour 1
Currently reading: None
Books finished: None
Pages read: 0
Running total of pages read: 0
Notes: Slept in, hello readathoners and welcome to my blog!

Hour 2
Currently reading:  
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Books finished: None
Pages read: 27
Running total of pages read: 27
Notes: Started reading at 6:30am, might not update the next few hours until I come back home from volunteering. 

Hour 3-7
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Books finished: None
Pages read: 16
Running total of pages read: 44
Notes: This morning I didn't get to read from 7am-11:30am because of volunteer work, but after that I got to read and now I'm back in this read-a-thon. 

Hour 8
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar People 
Books finished: None
Pages read: 15
Running total of pages read: 59
Notes: Had to stop and read a Manuel. Might not update for the next hour (lunchtime).


Hour 9
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None
Pages read: 0
Running total of pages read: 59
Notes: Currently eating pizza๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ•๐Ÿ•


Hour 10
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 16
Running total of pages read: 75
Notes: It's cloudy and windy, it's the perfect reading weather.


Hour 11
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 25
Running total of pages read: 101
Notes: I closed my eyes for a few minutes at the end, I hope I make it to the end.


Hour 12
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 33
Running total of pages read: 135


Hour 13-14
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children  
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 19
Running total of pages read: 155
Notes: I went to church with the family. But now no interruptions until around 10pm when I plan to shower and rest my eyes for a bit. 


Hour 15
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 38
Running total of pages read: 193


Hour 16
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 26
Running total of pages read: 219


Hour 17
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 34
Running total of pages read: 255


Hour 18
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 19
Running total of pages read: 274


Hour 19
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 29
Running total of pages read: 303
Notes: I'm starting to fall asleep, but I'm going to try and stay awake until I finish reading one book. 


Hour 20
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Books finished: None 
Pages read: 20
Running total of pages read: 323

Hour 21
Currently reading: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children  
Books finished: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children 
Pages read: 29
Running total of pages read: 352


Hour 22-24

I finished reading a book in less than 24 hours which is an accomplishment for me since I'm a slow reader (as you can tell) so for the last 3 hours of the read-a-thon I'm going to sleep.
So goodnight, actually Good morning... Wherever you are I hope you had as much fun as me during the read-a-thon and see you later this year for the second Dewey's 24 hour read-a-thon of the year.
๐Ÿ“–๐Ÿ“šmabel๐Ÿ“š๐Ÿ“– 

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Car Trouble Adventures

Last Tuesday afternoon turned out to be an adventure and since the "adventure" officially ended today I thought I would share my little story. 
After posting last week, my dad and I headed to a doctor's appointment he had, we left a bit more than an hour before the actual appointment because there is usually a lot of traffic. We were almost at the doctor's office when all of a sudden our car turned off. It was weird because it still sounded and looked as if the engine was still running, but the car was actually off. So after turning it back on we got back on the road and not even a block away it stopped again. Luckily we were near a small neighborhood so my dad got to turn the car a bit into the street; some officers were there so they pushed the car for us so that we could actually be parked rather than blocking the street. After many attempts to turn the car back on we finally decided to just leave it were we parked and walk to our destination. We tried catching the bus, but we weren't sure when it would pass and how much it cost. We got to the doctor's office 10 minutes later than our appointment and with blisters on our feet (we were both wearing sandals and walking fast). After the appointment my siblings picked us up since they had just gotten out of work. My brother's friend ended up lending us his AAA card in order to get the car towed to our house. 
Today my dad and I fixed the suburban, it took all day, but we fixed it. We had to replace a part in the fuel tank and we also ended up replacing the fuel filter. 




These pictures were taken in the morning when we were still trying to take all the gas out of the tank. We filled three of those little red canisters you see in the pictures and still had a whole bucket of gas left. We ended up spilling so much gas because of the part we were working with, but after hours of working on the car we finally fixed it and it was just a nice day to work on it; it was a cool day so we weren't under the car sweating our butts off.

The main reason why I wanted to share my little adventure is to give you a list of things you should always have in your car in case this ever happens to you. It's very simple and only involves three things, this is for one of those days when you really need to get somewhere and you have no time (or the parts) to fix your car. You should always have...
          1. A comfortable pair of sneakers 
          2. A cellphone
          3. Pocket change (for the bus/taxi)

If you have those three things then you are set, tools would be great to have but they can't always help fix the problem. We actually had to order a part which came yesterday afternoon, so we had to wait a whole week before getting to fix the car. 









This Saturday I will be blogging as well because I am participating in Dewey's 24hour read-a-thon. If you would like to join this wonderful community you can sign-up to be a part of it here:  http://24hourreadathon.com/2015/03/26/april-2015-reader-sign-ups/
I will probably not update my blog post in the morning because I will most definitely still be asleep and then I will be doing volunteer work in the morning, but I will update as soon as I am in reach of a WiFi connection. I will also be doing random updates on my twitter account so follow me @friendlvr

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Bare Faced and Beautiful

Hello Everyone!

I hope you have enjoyed my recent book reviews, which I plan on only doing once a month so as not to bombard you with one every week. 

Today I am planning to do something I saw Grace from UglyFaceofBeauty do a week ago. You can see the post I am talking about here

I don't usually wear makeup, although I do love wearing it and changing my look every once in a while, but I love seeing other women in their natural state. In today's day and age it seems as if girls are wearing makeup at a younger age and go to school worrying about how they look. When I was younger I had no care in the world about my face and how it looked, I didn't even wear makeup to school like every other girl. 

In high school my friends decided to make me up one day and I felt so good on that one day, they didn't do anything extravagant, but for one day people weren't looking at my blemishes and they were looking at me as if I was just another girl. I loved how I looked and I felt more confident. This post isn't me saying everyone should stop wearing makeup, it's just me saying that you shouldn't hide behind your makeup because everyone has flaws and sometimes your flaws aren't as ugly as you might think.

This is me in my natural state...


Natural also means my white streak and the white skin on my forehead...

My everyday look is something like this hair up, natural face (no makeup) flaws and all...
The last thing I want to share is my list of everything I love about myself when I have no makeup on.

ร˜  I love my nose because it reminds me of my dad’s family
ร˜  I love my eyebrows’ weird shape
ร˜  I love my eyes and how small they may seem
ร˜  I love my lips
ร˜  I love the shade of my skin (even my white spot)
ร˜  I love me (:


Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Book Review #3: Inside the O'Briens

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*
Inside the O'Briens is a book about a man, Joe O'Brien, who is diagnosed with Hungtingtons Disease. The story follows him and his family as they all have to deal with the diagnosis and figuring out if any of his children and grandchildren have the DNA that might carry the disease.

This is a gripping story that will leave you wanting more even after having read it. We learn about a family and a disease that is genetic and has no cure. This family of four grown up children has to find out who will and will not have the disease later on in life. We learn the fate of two of the children early on and throughout the rest of the book we are left wondering the fate of Patrick and Kate (the oldest and youngest children). 
It left me wanting to know Patrick's status (I think he has it)...
We spent all this time with Katy and at the end we didn't get the answer (I think she's safe)...

I gave this book a 5/5 because I learned a lot about a disorder I wouldn't have looked into otherwise, in a format that didn't feel like pages of information. This book was different from anything I've ever read just because of the HD facts that made me look at life in a different way.

I love that the book was split into three parts (an example of HD having 3 different stages). 
The first section of the book started off dull, but the last few chapters (of section 1) when the family learned about Joe's diagnosis was sad and made me intrigued to keep reading.
Katie was a great character and I enjoyed the second part because of her story. I related to her since I'm also the youngest in my family and I don't know how I would react if I had to choose to know about my fate and live with the diagnosis.
By the third section of the book I was part of this family's world and I was just hoping for the best.
Even though we don't see the end of any of the characters we catch a glimpse of what that will look like with all of the references to Joe's mother. 
All in all, it's a great book and it shows you that everyone is battling something and unless you know their story, you shouldn't really judge them.

The book is out now, so go grab a copy. It's a great read for those of you who like to learn new things through unexpected storytelling. 

*I recieved a digital copy of the book through NetGalley for review. I am not sponsored by anyone and all opinions are my own.*