January Favorites

Can you believe 1/12 of the year has already come and gone? Yep, January is over and I gotta say this year is already the best one yet! God is good and life is amazing! I have so much to be thankful for and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has in store! This month, I had a TON of favorites I wanted to share with you but I narrowed it down to my top 10 for the month and they are...

1. Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara - This mascara has a tiny wand and bristles specifically made for your lower lashes! It doesn't smear or clump and really makes your eyes pop! Love it!
2. Maybelline master GLAZE by Face Studio in "Make A Mauve" - I've been loving this berry color cheek tint for the winter! I just put it high up on my cheekbones and blend with my fingers - looks incredibly natural and dewey on my fair skin.
3. MAC Mineral Blush in "Love Joy" - Absolutely GORGEOUS blush that I love using on my cheeks and for contouring at times because it's so pigmented and I love how it warms up my face. It has undertones of gold shimmer which just gives you an amazing radiant and glowy look.
4. Dorco Razors - Since I have sensitive skin, I love using men's razors. My dad told me about these when I was researching more affordable razor options like Dollar Shave Club. I HIGHLY recommend these! Found on Amazon, they are great quality razors for an INCREDIBLE price! 
5. Spiced Apple Toddy Candle from Bath & Body Works - Holidays are over but that doesn't mean I'm ready to let them go! This smells like Christmas to me and I plan on burning it all throughout the winter!
6. Brown American Eagle Outfitters Combat Boots - I have been wanting a pair of combat boots FOREVER! These are amazing - super comfortable, affordable, easy to wear, and go with just about anything!
7. Inateck Grey Felt Macbook Case Sleeve Bag - So obsessed with with this! I think it just looks so grown up and classy! The price is also terrific especially for what looks and feels like such a high quality product! Also love that it has multiple pockets (I'll sometimes put both my iPad and phone it in as well as pens or memory cards) and the little pouch for chargers and cords is a cute bonus!
8. The Star Wars Graphic Novel - Based on the rough draft script by George Lucas, this is an entirely story than the one we all know and love. Incredibly fast moving with lots of action and interesting characters who, though their names may be familiar, are pretty different from their movie counterparts. Great read!
9. Jane the Virgin - Very underrated and charming show with a super likable and talented lead in Gina Rodriguez. Despite the telenovella-like storytelling, it is incredibly grounded with fleshed out characters that never seems like caricatures.
10. Imitation Game - Maybe not the best movie of the year, but one that I incredibly enjoyed. Tragic story of a brilliant and fascinating (count how many times I say that in my video) man with phenomenal performances - especially Benedict Cumberbath - probably his best screen acting to date.

To hear more about my favorites this month, don't forget to check out my video below!

What were your favorites this last month?

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I'm still posting about Christmas. After posting about my outfit and makeup, I'm finally sharing with you all my actual Christmas day experience with my family.

To get the gist of my Christmas morning, you can go ahead and watch my recent Get Ready With Me video so I won't bore you with too many details here. Note about the Santa letter though - it's a tradition that my sister and I leave out letters with questionnaires for "Santa" to write back. Some of the examples of questions we ask are "If you could switch places with someone who would it be?" Santa's response? "Your dad seems pretty cool." Haha.

This year, Christmas dinner started exactly on time at 4pm. If you know my family and I, that is quite an accomplishment. My dad made turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie while my mother brought over our family-tradition noodles and homemade cranberry sauce. Everything was delicious and quickly eaten.

Once we were all full of yummy food, we gathered around the tree and opened presents. My sister and I first checked our stockings - they were full of chocolate-covered marshmallow Santa bars and 6 mini flashlights... "Santa" continued to show a sense of humor through his gifts as I later received 2 more full-sized flashlights, a cat clapboard, a scary cat face hoodie, a "Cat Crazy" t-shirt, and the movie "Cat Women Of the Moon." One thing is for certain, Santa knows I love cats.

When we were all done with gifts, we headed out to the movie theater to see "Mockingjay Pt One." Unfortunately, we were running a bit late and upon arriving, there was a HUGE ticket line. Seeing as there was no way we'd be able to get a ticket before the movie started, we decided to head back home and watch a movie on Netflix instead.

Pretty standard, nothing too exciting, but it was still a wonderful Christmas to me because I got to spend it with my family. Check out the photos from throughout the day below!

My sister loved her new Star Trek Spock change purse! Gotta say, I'm a little jealous! 

Got my own copy of my all-time favorite Christmas album!

Two of my favorite geeky gifts - a TARDIS beanie and a 2TB External Hard Drive!

One of my gifts to my sister - a new bath rug!

My gift to my dad - he got some good laughs out of it xD

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday!

Six Flags Magic Mountain!

My eye looks so excited to be riding this roller coaster!

 I made the cross-country drive from California to Florida for the holidays, I decided to have one last hoorah with some friends by going to Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park. This was my second trip to Six Flags – I had gone for the first time maybe two months ago after purchasing a fantastic Labor Day (I think?) Gold membership deal that included the rest of the year plus all of 2015 as well as VIP Parking (and with $20 minimum for parking, that was a HUGE bonus!). The last trip was fun but we only went on 4 rides before my sister wasn't feeling too well. Being a huge fan of roller coasters, I have been looking forward to going back so when my friend Luke invited me to go, I jumped at the chance.

My friends and I all arrived at the park bright and early around 9:30am. Unfortunately, the park didn't open until 10:30. On that particular day, however, they were letting Season Pass holders in half an hour early to ride the popular X2 roller coaster. My friend Kyle and I were the only pass holders and as much as we love our friends, we couldn’t say no to the early access. Unfortunately, X2 was closed due to the wind that day, so we instead got to ride Full Throttle which is the world’s highest vertical loop roller coaster. Since there was barely a line, we got to sit in the very front – something I always want to but rarely do because of the extra long wait – not an issue this time! In short, Full Throttle was AWESOME!

NO LINES!! Why can't rides always look like this?

Front row with Kyle on Full Throttle!

Afterwards, Kyle and I went to check on X2 but it was still closed and didn’t look like it was going to be running anytime soon (it did not run the entire day). Since we liked Full Throttle so much, once our other friends were let in, we decided to ride it again with them. The second time, I decided to ride it from the very back. Once again, it was awesome (although front row is definitely the way to go).

Next up was Superman. You are accelerated in reverse from 0 to 100+mph in seven seconds and climb nearly 41 stories into the air before plunging back down. This is a ride that Kyle, our Six Flags and roller coaster connoisseur has never ridden for one reason or another. Last trip, it was down for maintenance. This time around, not only did we get to ride it, but the wait time was the shortest out of all the rides we went on that day (minus the early access Full Throttle). Despite the short duration time, it was still quite the thrill. Little piece of advice though if you ever go on it yourself - try to sit in one of the inside seats. I was on the outside and your outer arm is closed off so you can’t lift it or move it much and it feels very awkward. I wanted to raise my hands up during the ride (like I do on most roller coasters) but could not all while feeling very uncomfortable.

Everyone (Kyle, Kaleb, Sammy, Chelsea, me, and Luke) in front of the Superman ride

Goliath was next on the list. This was the only roller coaster from the day that I had been on from my first trip. It features an opening drop of 255 feet into a underground tunnel and multiple steep banking turns. I'm glad I got to go on it again as I feel this was probably favorite ride of the day because it felt the longest and also seemed to have the most variety. Luke and I made it our goal to try and look as bored as possible when the camera took our picture during the ride. Since I had never ridden this coaster before, I didn’t know where the camera would be. I had a split second to make a face and I think my bored face came off more as disgust. I quite like it. I also like how peaceful Luke looks. I had to be sneaky about taking a picture of the screen so sorry for the terrible quality.

Luke and mine's "bored" faces

After Goliath, we were ready to tackle Tatsu. It is known as the world’s tallest, fastest, and longest flying coaster, the only flying roller coaster to feature a zero-gravity roll, and has the world’s highest pretzel loop. So lots of accolades. Impressive. I have never been on a "flying" roller coaster. Apparently, this is a type of roller coaster that is meant to simulate flight by harnessing you into a prone position with your back parallel to the track. Interesting. We waited in line for about two hours before we finally made it to the front of the line. There were only three people ahead of me so we were up next. Then, the announcement we all dread hearing was made. The ride was shut down for maintenance. NOOOOO. We waited a bit before giving up and deciding to have lunch.

While I had packed a few snacks, I didn’t have any “real” food so I dished out $12 for some overpriced Panda Express – something I’ve only had once before. Luckily, I was able to get two meals out of it later so that helped justify the cost in my head somewhat. Not really.

It had been getting colder and windier as the day progressed. Most rides seemed to be closed – we actually had quite a difficult time trying to find one that was open. We finally saw Apocalypse, currently Six Flags only wooden roller coaster, was running.  While there were no crazy loops, it was still a very intense and aggressive ride that I really enjoyed - perhaps helped by the fact that I was once again in my favorite spot, the front!

 

All of us waiting in line for the Apocalypse ride

After Apocolypse, we circled the park again looking for more rides that were actually open. Tatsu by that time was back up and running. Alright, Take Two. We waited another hour and a half, but we eventually did make it! I have to say this was definitely the scariest out of all the roller coasters I've ever ridden. Since the cars are suspended below the track, you have no idea where you're going or what’s coming next on the coaster which was scary and thrilling at the same time. It was dark so a little difficult to see, but they fly you over trees which are really beautiful and since there’s no track you can see in front of you, just whatever is below you and open air, it almost feels like you’re flying through a forest.

How GORGEOUS was this sky?

With the park closing in an hour or so, we were debating whether or not to squeeze in one more ride. Chelsea and her boyfriend, Sammy, were done for the day and decided to get funnel cake – not a bad decision, but the rest of us decided to head to Batman. The wait was relatively short as was the ride (although it wasn’t Superman short). There were some intense corkscrew spins and I’m not sure if it was the wind or the ride itself, but there were some parts of the ride where the pressure was so much I couldn’t even raise up my arms.

With that, our day at Six Flags was over and it was time for me to go back to my place, finish packing, and start my insane road trip back home to Florida! Thank goodness, I did not have to worry about driving, just managing the Spotify playlist - which if you don't know about yet, there is a 99 cent for 3 months premium deal for first time users that is an absolute STEAL. As I post this, I am currently in Louisiana, just another 11 hours or so from home!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!