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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Pamper Yourself: At Home Spa Day Ideas

Right now it's winter and where I live it is currently 8°F outside. It is really cold, snowy, and icy outside. When the weather is like this my skin gets really dry and dull looking. Since I didn't have school today because of the snow, I decided to pamper myself a little bit with an at home spa day! I thought I would share with you what I did to maybe give you some ideas for your own at home spa day.

One of the first things I knew I wanted to do for my at home spa day was make a face mask. Since my skin has been dry lately, I decided to go for a honey oatmeal facial mask. Both of these ingredients are very good for your skin. Honey is antibacterial, making it good for treating and preventing acne. It also helps open up pores and is very moisturizing. Oatmeal also helps with dry skin and is excellent for cleansing and exfoliating.

To make my mask I used about 1/4 a cup of quick oats and mixed them with a little hot water to make them soft. Then I mixed the oats with about one teaspoon of honey.

Before applying the mask I exfoliated my face with my Refreshing Apricot Scrub then cleansed it with my Clearasil daily face wash. After cleansing my face I applied my face mask.

To relax a bit while I waited for my mask to dry I made a nice, hot cup of the Bigelow brand white tea with tangerine. It was the perfect thing to warm me up with the weather being so cold. Then I picked up my book to pass the time. Right now I am reading Frostbite, the second book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. So far I am liking it better than the first one.

After about 20 minutes it was time to wash off the face mask. I also decided to take a shower at this time. I washed the majority of the mask off before getting into the shower because I was a little worried about too much of the oatmeal going down the drain in the tub.

In case you are interested here are the products I used in the shower: Redken all soft shampoo, Tea Tree Tingle conditioner from Trader Joe's, and Bath and Body Works Vanilla Bean Noel body wash    

After my shower I applied my CVS brand daily moisturizer to my face and put lotion all over my body to help with dry skin. I used St. Ives oatmeal and shea butter naturally soothing body lotion. To exfoliate my lips I mixed a drop of honey with a little bit of sugar and massaged it into my lips with my finger. Then I applied my favorite lip balm, Burt's Bees beeswax lip balm with vitamin E and peppermint, to moisturize them.

Then it was manicure time! First I used my Love and Toast coconut and honey hand creme. This keeps my hands moisturized and it smells really good, it smells like frosting. I had already removed my previous nail polish the night before, so I moved on to my Burt's Bees lemon butter cuticle cream and massaged it onto my cuticles.

I waited a while for everything to soak in before applying my Sally Hansen base coat. Then I used NYC Long Wearing Nail Enamel in the color Tudor City Teal. Then I decided to be a little more creative and make some accent nails by adding some gold polish. Milani in the color Good Morning Sunshine. Then I applied my Sally Hansen top coat. They didn't turn out perfect, but I think it looks pretty good.
And that is everything I did for my at home spa day. I hope that this was helpful and that you got some ideas for your own spa day at home.

Monday, January 6, 2014

Bout of Books 9.0 Updates

Bout of Books

Monday

Books completed: None
Currently reading: Switched by Amanda Hocking
Number of Pages Read Today: 128
Total Number of Pages Read: 128
Thoughts/other updates for the day: I think I have done very well so far considering I wasn't sure if I would even be able to read today because of school and homework. Looking forward to the next few days!

Tuesday

Books completed: None
Currently reading: Switched by Amanda Hocking
Number of Pages Read Today: 112
Total Number of Pages Read: 240
Thoughts/other updates for the day: Today was very busy, but I was happy to read over 100 pages. Hopefully I'll have more time tomorrow!

Wednesday

Books completed: Switched by Amanda Hocking
Currently reading: Torn by Amanda Hocking and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Number of Pages Read Today: 135
Total Number of Pages Read: 375
Thoughts/other updates for the day: I read 21 pages of Into the Wild for school and I finished Switched today and am 36 pages into Torn.

Thursday

Books completed: Switched by Amanda Hocking
Currently reading: Torn by Amanda Hocking and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Number of Pages Read Today: 48
Total Number of Pages Read: 423
Thoughts/other updates for the day: I was extremely busy today and had a ton of homework which didn't allow for much reading time. However, tomorrow is Friday and I'll have lots of time for reading after school to make up for it! 

Friday

Books completed: Switched by Amanda Hocking
Currently reading: Torn by Amanda Hocking and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Number of Pages Read Today: 218
Total Number of Pages Read: 641
Thoughts/other updates for the day: I finally made it over 200 pages! 

Saturday

Books completed: Switched by Amanda Hocking, Torn by Amanda Hocking, Ascend by Amanda Hocking
Currently reading: Nothing (Not sure what I'm going to read tomorrow yet)
Number of Pages Read Today: 348
Total Number of Pages Read: 989
Thoughts/other updates for the day: I finished the Trylle Trilogy like I wanted to! Not sure if I'm going to meet my goal of 1400 pages, but I'm going to try.

Sunday

Books completed: Switched by Amanda Hocking, Torn by Amanda Hocking, Ascend by Amanda Hocking, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Currently reading: Nothing (I just finished Thirteen Reasons Why)
Number of Pages Read Today: 304
Total Number of Pages Read: 1293
Thoughts/other updates for the day: If I could stay up later I would continue reading, but I have to go to bed early-ish today because I have school tomorrow :/ I'm a little disappointed that I didn't make it to 1400 pages because I was so close (only 107 to go!), but I am happy with all the reading that I did do. At the beginning I wasn't sure if I would even finish one book never mind 4!  Next time I can try again to meet 1400 pages and I bet I will do it too. 

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Bout of Books 9.0 Goals

Bout of Books

Time Devoted to Reading
I will be reading as much as I can each day. Hopefully I can read at least an hour each day. It will probably be more than that but, I do have school and with that comes homework.

My Goals

  • Read an average of 200 pages a day for at total of 1400 pages
  • Finish 3 books
  • Have fun reading! 

Books to Read

I am hoping to start and finish a trilogy this week. 

The Trylle trilogy by Amanda Hocking:


Switched, Torn, and Ascend by Amanda Hocking


Updates

I will be posting daily updates throughout the read-a-thon. These updates will include:

Books completed:
Currently reading:
Number of Pages Read Today:
Total Number of Pages Read:
Thoughts/other updates for the day:


Bout of Books 9.0

Bout of Books

Hello everyone! I have decided to participate in the Bout of Books 9.0 read-a-thon that will be taking place from January 6th through January 12th. This is my first Bout of Books read-a-thon and I'm very excited to be participating!

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 6th and runs through Sunday, January 12th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 9.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Friday, January 3, 2014

Book Review: Origin by Jessica Khoury

Origin by Jessica Khoury
Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home--and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin--a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost.

I rate this book...            
5 out of 5 stars
                                                     
What I thought...

*Non Spoiler Section*

I really loved this book. It was well paced and full of surprises. 

The setting of this book was beautiful. It was set in the Amazon rain forest and talked about the plants and animal living there. 

I loved the main character Pia. Pia is immortal. Her skin is so strong it cannot be cut through and she never forgets anything. She can still feel pain, but it is not quite the same as a normal human would feel it. 

Despite being called "perfect" constantly by the scientists she lives with at her home in the Little Cam compound, Pia was not always sure of herself. Pia often feels lonely being the only immortal human and knowing the people she loves would die one day as she lives on forever. 

Her dream is to become a part of the team of scientists and help to create a race of immortal people just like her. To do this Pia needs to go through a number of tests to prepare her for this task. Then she will be told the secret to creating immortals like her. 

However, when she sees a hole in the fence surrounding the compound she decides to take a look at the world outside of Little Cam and meets a boy name Eio. Eio lives nearby in a village of native people called Ai'oans. After Pia meets Eio is when the mysteries begin to unravel and Pia learns about her true Origin. Meeting Eio changes Pia's life forever.

*Spoiler Section*

Pia's dad seemed to really care about Pia but I hated Pia's mother. She didn't care for Pia's father at all and they barely talked. The only thing she cared about was Pia helping to create the immortal race and was willing to do anything to make that happen. This including killing that poor kitten for Pia. I'm not going to lie, I was bawling when the kitten was killed. How can you kill a kitten? Pia's mother is plain heartless. Really she was furious that she wasn't the immortal one instead of her daughter.

I didn't like Aunt Harriet at first, but as the story went on I liked her a lot more. She helped Pia in a lot of ways and lied for her to help her see Eio again. She broke a lot of rules to help Pia and she was pretty funny too.

I loved the little village where the Ai'oans lived. It seemed so happy and peaceful compared to the scientific labs and sterile environment in Little Cam. The people were also so welcoming to Pia. 

I was surprised when the rat died when it was given the flower that had made it immortal in the first place. I also wondered though, if it really did kill the rat or if it had just made it become mortal and it died because it was so old. I wasn't sure until the very end when Pia lived after drinking the nectar from the Elysia flower.

I was shocked to find out who Eio father was. Then I was even more in shock when he came bursting in with a gun to protect his son from the scientists trying to kill him to begin creating more immortals.

The end was perfect. When Pia gets rid of all the Elysia flowers and then become mortal.  

This book also brought up a lot of questions and controversial topics. 

Because the book is about genetic engineering to create an immortal race, it made it seem extremely realistic. It also makes you wonder if immortality is something to be desired or not. Pia was so sad thinking that she would be alive watching the ones she loved die.

The scientists that Pia lives with in Little Cam do tests on animals which sometimes push these animals close to death or even kill them. This brings up whether or not animal testing is right or wrong and should it continue or be stopped.

If you have read this book let me know what you thought in the comments.