Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Blogmas

I though I would share what I did these past two holidays and what I will be doing leading up to Christmas. 

HALLOWEEN

I actually vlogged during the entire week of Halloween (which you can watch on my YouTube channel: COWmabelVACA), but here are three costumes I did just for fun.

A Doll

My sister came over with her makeup kit and a bunch of contact lenses. I got to use a pair of blue contacts and I loved how they made my eyes look. My natural eye color mixed with the blue which made them look like a green hazel shade. 

We then decided to mess around with the makeup and here is what happened...

Emily (The Corpse Bride)

During that same week I decided to watch a few Tim Burton films, which led me to my recreation of The Corpse Bride using regular makeup.

I didn't go all out and do her eyes because I just wanted to see if the blue would work and if I would have enough. I didn't dress like her for Halloween since I don't have a wedding dress lying around or a white dress for that matter.

For the actual day of Halloween I decided to go for a Harry Potter character since I will finish the entire series for the first time this year. So I went with...

Bellatrix Lestrange

I even did her tattoos, and later realized that I had drawn one on backwards (thanks mirrors).

To see the full video of my Halloween Week go over to my YouTube channel where I vlogged it along with a few other weekly vlogs. 

THANKSGIVING

The day before Thanksgiving my sister and I went to more than five stores in order to buy the ingredients for our meal. We don't have a working oven so instead of making an entire turkey we decided to make turkey legs. I took on the task of grilling them which took a long time because I had to keep turning them every 8 minutes and adding the BBQ sauce. In the end they were so good, yet so big that one leg was way more than enough for each person. I didn't even finish mine.

The meal was so good and I was so hungry by that time that I forgot to take a picture of my plate. Other than turkey legs my sister made a Crockpot Ham, Potato Broccoli Casserole, Stuffing, and Pie. This week was so fun especially because my nephews slept over almost all week since they didn't have to go to school. 

We played board games, we played pretend, we played with their DSi and my brother's Playstation 3 and we just had loads of fun. We also played Heads Up last night with my older siblings which was just hilarious. 

Blogmas 

Last year I did Blogmas here instead of Vlogmas on YouTube and I decided to do it again since I had so much fun last year and I haven't had a good opportunity to write on my blog for such a long time until now. I won't be able to blog up until Christmas Day just like last year because we will be going to Mexico yet again, but I will be blogging everyday up until the day we leave. I will let you know what day that is once it's confirmed, but for now I'm excited to do it come Monday. 

See you for Blogmas Day 1!

24hr Read-a-thon 2014

This Saturday, October 18, 2014 I will be taking part in the 24hr read-a-thon hosted by 24hourreadathon.com and I wanted to let everyone know about it since today is the last day to sign up for it. I signed up to it this past weekend and talked about it in my recent vlog, but I wanted to write a bit more about it here. My goal is to read three books, one of which I already started. I am a slow reader and Saturdays are usually spent with family so I'm suspecting to only finish one-two books. Here are the books I plan on reading...

I started reading the Harry Potter series while I was on vacation and I didn't get to finish reading them since I went to Mexico for the last few weeks. I want to finish reading this book so that once I go on vacation again I can take my time on the last book. I am currently reading this so that I won't be rushing myself on Saturday and I can actually enjoy it while everyone is working and not making any noise. 

I read the first book from this series a while back and have wanted to read this book, but I tend to stop reading whilst in school. The first book was Anna Dressed in Blood. I decided to read it now because it's the closest to a horror (Halloween) related book which I am in the mood for. 

The last book I plan on reading is a novella from the House of Night series. I was waiting for my library to get this in since it barely came out a few months ago (July 29th to be exact). I want to read it before my vacation as well because the final book in the series came out yesterday (October 14th). So if they already had this one, my library will definitely have the other novel soon and I want to be ready to read it.

Those are the books I plan on reading make sure to follow me on Twitter where I will be updating throughout the day as to how much I have read and which books I actually finished.

To sign up and be a part of the read-a-thon go to: http://24hourreadathon.com/2014/09/17/october-2014-reader-sign-ups/  

My Summer Vacation

I have no idea what to write about anymore and that is why I don't update as much. When I'm on vacation I don't do much except watch TV/movies and read books. When I'm in school I do the same as well as going to school and completing assignments. So I have no life, basically.

I haven't tried to post since July 31, the day I wrote the four sentences above. And the tiny draft that wasn't posted is still true to this day... I want to blog, but I have no idea what I want to blog about. So, for today I'll update you with what I did these past few months. July/August consisted of books and TV/movies daily, it was getting boring. So, nearing the end of August my parents decided to go to Mexico and asked me if I wanted to tag along. Obviously, I took their offer and on August 27 we got on a plane and headed down to Mexico. We were there for three weeks, which was great because the town my parents are from has a certain celebration that lasts an entire week, but the weeks before it everyone is getting ready and enjoying themselves. So I got to be there and enjoy the town and my family while it was calm and then the last week was spent with an entire town of people. That may sound awful, but it's one of those moments when you just want the whole world to experience it (the more the merrier type of complex) because fun things were occurring. For example a large greased up pole was mounted in front of the town square and people would try to climb it to get what was on the tippy-top (that was a game they did one afternoon). That same afternoon my parents and I went to see a fireworks display that they do every year. I wish you could all see the display, but videos don't do it justice and we can't all fly there just to see fireworks. I loved it because the fireworks were mounted on a Castle type display were each row or column of it had different fireworks and at the top the fireworks got bigger and brighter and the lights from the fireworks would fall to the floor in large quantities making it seem as if the stars where coming down to earth (magical)! I actually did a lot and I wrote a journal while I was there so I might just post a few things I have written down since there is so much more that I want to share, but that will be on a different post since this one is already to long. I also want to share pictures even though there won't be many, but I want to try. Anyways we came back the last week of September since I started school that Thursday and so now I've been in school for a bit more than two weeks.  So that's what I've been up to, here are a few pictures I have near me of the trip...

Most of the pictures were taken by my little cousins so, I'll show what I can which isn't much. This first picture was taken one of the first days when I went to visit my grandma. I look so amused, or NOT.

It was avocado season so I made lots of guacamole, until I couldn't finish the last batch and had to stop.

Here's the town square, full of people waiting to see the Vigin Mary who is taken around the square for everyone to see.

My cousin came over and we had a sleep over so as usual we took pictures of our funny faces.

On the second to last day, I rode my aunts and uncles horse which he wasn't to happy about.

And I wasn't to happy about coming back, I miss my town. I'll be back there soon enough, but for now I'll share stories and more pictures of this trip. 

I'll share those soon,

mabel

June Favorites

I have never done a "monthly favorites" post, but I want to start blogging more now that I am on vacation and I thought I would start at the beginning of the month with something simple and new to my blog. The following things are not in any particular order.

FAVORITE #1: SWEET ICED TEA
I have been in love with sweet tea for some reason these past few months and I found that the Walmart brand is my favorite out of all the iced tea gallons they have. I tend to buy two pairs of gallons each Sunday in order for me to drink tea throughout the week.

FAVORITE #2: Large McDonald's Iced Sweet Tea

McDonald's has their $1 any size drink deal once again and I am taking full advantage of this. When I was in high school my best friend and I would go to McDonald's and buy the largest cup of sweet iced tea from McDonald's and just drive around in his car drinking this glorious beverage and I still love their iced tea now and buy it whenever my sister and I go out on a hot day. 

FAVORITE #3: Silly Straw Mason Jar 

I also bought this a while back, but I fell in love instantly. I went to Dollar Tree and found these and I loved how it looked that I ended up buying a green one (now I wish I would have bought all the colors and then some). It is my favorite cup now and I tend to drink my sweet tea from this all the time. I also love that on the times when I have dropped it and it was full of tea, only a few drops fell out of the top instead of the entire thing spilling. I can't explain why, but I am IN LOVE with this cup and I really do wish I had more than one.

FAVORITE #4: Irregular Jelly Beans

My mouth is literally watering right now. During the beginning of June I was still in school and since that's typically around the time when we have huge projects, I was always at school working on assignments. So, I bought a bunch of bags of Belly Flops and I would sit behind the computer and edit videos while I ate jelly beans as a quick and small snack. Even after I finished all my projects and started my vacation I am obsessed with these packs of jelly beans. 

FAVORITE #5: Supernatural

Another thing that happens to me while I am about to finish school is that I get hooked on something (an app, a song, a hobby, a show, etc.) and once again I got hooked on something. I wanted to watch this show since it first started years ago, but I shared a TV with my sister and brother and they hate "scary" shows/movies/anything. So, I finally decided to watch the show especially since I knew I was going to be on a 3 month vacation after I was done. And let me just say I love it and I am obsessed I am already on Season 5 (I try not to binge watch because I don't want them to be over so soon). Although, I know I have to be done before October 7 because that's when Season 10 starts.  

FAVORITE #6: Straw Sandals

I bought 6 different pairs of these types of sandals about two months ago and I have been wearing them nonstop ever since I graduated, it's hot here in California so I just want to lounge around my house in these comfy pair of shoes. I think I'm on my third pair, two other pairs already ripped. The first pair (red ones) ripped the day I went to Dollar Tree and got my awesome cup, my brother actually stepped on one of them while we were walking in and so I walked through the store with a ripped sandal. Then the second pair (orange ones) ripped at the beginning of June when my brother and nephew stepped on my sandals. Now I am wearing a pair of gold sandals which look great with black nail polish.

I CAN'T REMEMBER IF THERE IS ANYTHING ELSE! If I remember I'll let you all know in another post.

I am about to go somewhere with my brother and sister (maybe the park) so I will talk to you all soon.
Mabel

I'm Bored Already!

Hello Again!
I am finally on Summer vacation and I can already tell that I am going to get bored fast. So the first thing I did was go to the library and stock up on books. I am definitely going to be walking to the library a bunch of times during my vacation. I got a few books and I decided to do a video about it. I'm thinking I might do a vlog the next time I go to the library just because I can post things now that I have time. So, for now you can go to my YouTube page and watch the Library Book Haul.

As far as UPDATES, I am graduating this Saturday morning and I am so excited. I'll try to post pictures of my outfit that day because I love the dress and shoes I bought for the occasion. I am still going back to school in the Fall because I need two elective classes in order to get all the graduation credits.

Another thing I talked about a while back and forgot to UPDATE everyone on is the birth of my niece. She is so beautiful and tiny even though it has already been a month since she was born. And I guess I should introduce her to the blog as I'm sure she'll come up often. So without further ado meet Priscilla...

 Look at that smile...

I'll talk to you all soon,
Mabel

Bout of Books 10 Read-a-thon

We'll hello there, the read-a-thon has ended and I am here to update you with my goals and my actual results. I was planning to read three books and possibly two others if I had the chance. I choose the wrong week to try to read as it is nearing the end of the quarter. Let me just say, this was my first time trying to participate in a read-a-thon and I failed miserably. I finished reading one book out of the three I had in my Overdrive app, and I finished reading it today. In other words I didn't finish a book in the given time I needed to finish it. I started reading it before the read-a-thon began, but stopped because I don't really read during the weekends because my house is pretty noisy. Then on Monday I read a bit as well as on Tuesday, but afterwards I stopped reading. Which book did I actually read and try to finish during the Bout of Books read-a-thon? A simple book called The Originals by Cat Patrick. It was a good book and if I had actually tried I would have finished reading it in less than two days, but I didn't. Basically, it's a book of three teenage girls who are clones and who are living as a single person, meaning they each take turns going out during the day so that people think that Lizzie, Betsey, and Ella are all one girl named Elizabeth Violet Best. They end up looking for answers about "the original" girl that they share DNA with and who is dead according to their mother, the mother who was part of the group of scientists who cloned the girls and later took the girls from the lab to keep them safe. The girls are also trying to be normal and live their lives which means falling in love, which gets tricky. The whole story is cute and awesome and is a perfect read about teenagers who actually have problems that others can't relate to.
I hope to be part of another read-a-thon later on, hopefully while I am on vacation (so....soon).
Mabel

Bout of Books 10

Hello everyone!

I know it has been a while since I checked in and I have tried a bunch of times. I was going to share a recipe on my blog, but I wasn't home at the time I decided to write it so I only had the pictures of the ingredients I use, but the amount needed was hard to recall. 

Anyways, it is now May and I have exciting things in my life coming up. One of which is a new person, my sister is going to be having her baby girl (the first girl!) this week, hopefully on Wednesday, but labor usually lasts a long time so it might end up happening sometime afterwards. I am so excited for her and excited to see what the baby looks like and just to be able to hold her is going to be so amazing. Another event that is a month away is my graduation. My older sister got me my graduation present already and I am in love. It's an iPad mini!

It's so cute and I love it, she even got me a cute case to go along with it. I mainly use it to watch YouTube videos and read blogs I follow. 

Recently, I found an app called Overdrive where I can borrow audiobooks and/or ebooks from my local library with just my library card. This is perfect for me because it has recently been too hot to actually go out and walk to the library. Also, since I am still in school it's hard to actually just go to the library since I'm either at school or working on assignments at home. Because of this app and some BookTubers I follow I have become so interested in many new books. I started reading Dorothy must die

by Danielle Paige and I got hooked sadly it was a sample (4 chapters) so now I have to wait in the hold queue to continue reading it. There are a bunch of books that I want to read so I decided to join a read-a-thon which will be held from Monday, May 12th-Sunday, May 18th by the Bout of Books. It was organized by Amanda from On a Book Bender and Kelly from Reading the Paranormal. So, basically it's a whole week were you get to read as many books as you can and beat your record of books read in one week. If anyone is interested to join me and many others just know that there are also challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize that you can also choose to be a part of. To sign up and/or learn more about the read-a-thon go to:

boutofbooks.blogspot.com/2014/04/bout-of-books-10-sign-up.html

There will be a recap of what I got to read during the book-a-thon, the Monday after it ends. So expect a post from me Monday, May 19. Leave me a comment if you plan on participating and what your TBR books are. I still don't know what I am reading, but you'll all know soon enough.

Mabel(: