a SDCC15 recap

Comic Con is one of those things that's hard to describe without sounding like a crazy person.

It's four and half days of just pure geekery, where like minded people come together and just enjoy the things that they enkjoy, whether it's art and comics to video games and movies. I feel like there's always something in Comic Con for everyone, and the possibility of bumping into your favorite actors is a plus as well.

Like last year, I managed to get in as a volunteer, which meant that in exchange for 3 hours of my time helping out, I was guaranteed a badge for every day I volunteered. Which is honestly a pretty good deal, if you can get in as a volunteer I recommend it. Plus, the volunteer t-shirt (the blue one on top) is always nice to collect. I only went on Preview Night and Saturday, but I seriously had a great con this year!

Warning: this is definitely a doozy of a post ahead!

in rotation #7: products that I gravitate towards

I have this bad habit where I buy new things that are similar, if not completely identical, to the stuff I already own. Like the growing number of sheer, tinted moisturizers that I own, or the half a dozen gray t-shirts that I own or the nearly twenty lipsticks that are pretty similar shades of rosy pink. Does anyone else have this problem?

I try to justify it by telling myself it's a different texture of tinted moisturizer, or a different shape of gray t-shirt or a slightly different shade of rosy pink, but in the end they're pretty much the same thing when they're on. My most recent makeup routine has been pretty much me going for the same look - dewy skin, blush, smudgy liner, my signature you can say.

quarterly favorites #2

You know you haven't blogged in a while when your most popular post is something from 2013. Yeah.

But hi guys, how have you been? Thanks for sticking around, I know I've been MIA for a month or two now. No really good excuses other than a lack of motivation, but what being on an unofficial hiatus has taught me is that I really do like blogging and writing. It's the whole getting it out there that kind of terrifies me, even after almost 3 (!!!) years of blogging. Excuse the quality of the photos and the not so well thought out sentences, but I really wanted to post something and why not something a bit "easy" like favorites?

things I like #2

1. The first thing on my list of things that I like isn't actually pictured here because I only have a digital copy, but it's been the game Bloodborne. It's kind of hard to describe the Souls games (of which this is a part of) other than that they're challenging. There are hundreds of ways to die and the game does not give you too many hints, it's definitely unlike other games out there. I also really like the aesthetic of Bloodborne - it's sort of gothic and steam punk with lots of horror elements. Haven't quite finished it, I'm fighting a boss called The One Reborn, but I've really enjoyed it so far!

2. Another non-beauty like and it's the podcast Radiolab. And oh my god, why haven't I listened to this before? As someone who loves to learn new thigns, Radiolab definitely introduces a wide variety of topics with different takes on them. I honestly learn something new every podcast and I really love it.

3. I didn't think pinky toned neutral eyeshadows were going to be something I liked, but the L'Oreal La Palette Nude 2 exceeds expectations. The only thing that annoys me is that it's definitely a bulky palette, which is annoying because from what I've seen from UK bloggers, it seems much sleeker. Otherwise, I think the quality of the shadows are pretty good and it's been fun experimenting! Other beauty things include: Dior Addict Lipstick in 353 Blush, the Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm and the Bobbi Brown Long Wear Gel-Eyeliner.

4. Unfortunately sold out, this Zara Chambray Button Up with Orange Polk Dots has been seriously worn a lot lately. The shirt is light weight so it's perfect for the season and I think it can work in the office and outside it depending on what else you wear with it. I don't like having clothes that are straight up "just for work", so I think something like this that can go from business to casual depending on your bottoms is perfect.

What are some of the things that you've been liking lately?

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on my reading list

I have to admit, being out of school has really affected my reading habits. Before, I would inhale whatever book I could get my hands on, whether it was for the joy of reading or as a means of procrastinating from school work, I had bookmarks in tons of books. But now, being a few years out of school, I find myself really struggling to sit down and just read a book. My bookshelves are filled with partially read and some unopened novels, which keeps growing bigger and bigger without me actually making too much progress into finishing any of them.

Don't get me wrong, I love to read and I do read everyday (I mean fanfiction totally counts, right?) but sometimes I feel like I don't have the time to just read a damn book.

And of course, like most people of the 21st century, I turned to Google to help me with my problems.

After following several links I found exactly what I was looking for in Ryan Holiday's aptly-named article on "How to Read More", and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. In it, Holiday I think the idea that we can solve our problems through reading is extremely poetic and a lovely one (after all, reading and writing are not new phenomenon: we have thousands of years of knowledge right at our fingertips, and whose to say that the answer to our problems aren't hidden somewhere in some book?) But the biggest thing I gleaned from this article was that getting yourself to read more is more of mental shift than an actual shift in your time. In actuality, I have more time than I think I do. I always give myself free time before I go into work and while that's normally spent on my phone, why couldn't I just change my priority from my phone over to my long list of to-reads?

For me, reading books weren't really high on my list of priorities. But for some reason, checking the same five websites, Instagram, and Twitter were? But I think that shift in attitude was all I needed to get me back into reading (and honestly, blogging) again.

Now I find myself just giving myself that time to read again. I don't know what problems a book about a police officer turned wizard-apprentice, a book on Henrietta Lacks and her famous cells, a book on physics, and a book about the history of the human body, can help me solve, but I am really looking forward to figuring it out.

So, what's on your reading list? Do you find yourself having trouble making time to read? What are some of your favorite genres?

1. Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
3. The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
4. The Universe Within by Neil Shubin

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