Top Moments of 2014

Last year was the biggest year of my life thus far -- there were so many life changes! I wanted to reflect on what I thought were the top moments of 2014 for me and ring on the New Year in hopes that 2015 could try to beat it!

1 || Graduating from Georgia Tech

An accomplishment, that at points, I never thought I would achieve. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life to walk across that stage and accept my diploma. 

2 || Living with Elizabeth and Working for Georgia Tech

The summer of 2014 was the best summer I've ever spent. I not only got to live with one of my best friends, but I also go to work for and with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about the times Elizabeth and I shared in that gorgeous apartment off of Ponce and the wonderful growth I experienced working at CAE.

3 || Moving to Pennsylvania and Starting a New Job

At the end of the summer, I packed up all my belongings and headed out on my new adventure! Starting a new job and moving 700+ miles all in one blow was a huge step for me, but one well worth it.

4 || Attending Biennial Conclave

Daniel and I got to attend our second Alpha Chi Sigma Biennial Conclave together. We met at the last Biennial and to be able to go back was so much fun.

5 || Adopting Opal

Daniel and I became fur-parents in November and it's been an interesting experience so far, but I wouldn't give up our little furball for anything. 

Going through pictures to put on this post made me realize just how much I loved the past year. I grew so much as a person and was able to experience so much life. I only hope that 2015 helps me continue my adventure of life.

Hope you had a Happy New Year!

A Day in the City

Daniel and I traveled to NYC on Saturday for a day trip. We had the chance to go because of our work offering bus tickets into the city for $25 round trip. I loved the city my previous two times visiting and knew I couldn't pass up a deal like that so I bought us tickets.

It was about a two hour drive into the city. It's still odd for me to think that I live that close! We got to the city around 11:30 and stayed until 7 pm. Besides the fact that it started raining around noon and didn't stop even when we left, we had a delightful day.

Our NYC day in a nutshell:

First we visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. I don't have any pictures from the 9/11 Memorial and Museum out of respect because it just didn't feel right to publicize what I was witnessing in the museum. Hearing the voice recordings from that day and seeing artifacts from the buildings brought me to tears. The Memorial and Museum were so well done and so respectful. It really just made the attacks of that day seem so much more unreal.

On our way to and from the Memorial and Museum, we wandered around NYC on the streets and subways. We wound up at this little hole in the wall Falafel restaurant that Daniel found on google. It was so small it only had enough space to order! It was delicious though.

Christmas trees for sell NYC style -- on the side of the street!

We also got to see the famous tree in Rockefeller Center. It was raining so we didn't get a good picture together but the tree itself was breathtaking. Probably the only thing I've scene in NYC that the movies didn't lie about in size!

(Wizards of Waverly Place, anyone? Daniel didn't get it)

Radio City Music Hall and Time Square were both really packed areas and the umbrellas didn't help the chaos of people. We played a lot of umbrella wars.

Chrysler Building looking awesome against the rainy sky.

I wanted to find a pastry shop so badly. I had my heart set on Magnolia Bakery, but it was packed, so we googled some places and found Paris Baguette. It was delicious! Daniel and I ate the macarons (each for the first time!) on the bus ride home after having our delicious bento boxes.

Overall we had a wonderful wet day. At the end of it I was sufficiently soaked (you can just see the water on my face above!) but extremely happy. I hope we can find some way to make a trip back soon especially since it's so close!

Dean's List VoxBox

I was selected for Influenster's Dean's List VoxBox! This is my second box of goodies to try from Influenster, and I have to say, it was my favorite one. The products in this box were things that I could see myself buying if I came across them in the store, and now that I have owned them I know I will be buying them again.

The items in the box were:

• Playtex Tampons
• Airheads Bites
• Luden's lozenges 
• Softlips Cube
• Sinful Colors #NoTextRed Polish
• KISS Looks So Natural Lashes 
• FriXion Clicker (Erasable Pens)

My favorite items out of the bunch have to be the FriXion pens, Sinful Colors polish, Luden's and the KISS Looks So Natural lashes.

First off, the FriXion pens... they actually work! They are erasable pens that are actually erasable--they aren't like the crappy "erasable" pens I remember having to buy when I was in elementary school! 

The Sinful Colors polish is just a no brainer for me. I already loved Sinful Colors when I happened to find them in the store a few years ago. It's so cheap but is a great quality polish and they have probably every color of the rainbow. I'm excited to have their #NoTextRed color, especially since they are raising awareness to the dangers of texting and driving with the color.

Luden's was already a favorite product of mine. Whenever I get a sore throat, this is my go to product. I usually got the cherry flavor, and I like it, but it did get to be a bit too much cherry if I was sick a lot. I love that Luden's decided to come out with new flavors. The watermelon stays true to the original Luden's that I fell in love with and it's great. I've already needed to have a few drops because of scratchy throat due to weather changing. I don't even mind however, because they taste great and work so well.

I have never used false lashes beyond the crappy kind they sell at the Halloween store, and even those I think I only used once. That's why I was so happy to get my hands on KISS Looks So Natural Lashes! The only thing I was worried about was applying them. Turns out, it's pretty easy even for beginners! All I had to do was pull the lashes from the packaging, put on the glue on with the easy applicator, wait for it to turn blue, and stick them on my eyelids right above my existing lashes. I also used an eyelash curler to curl my natural lashes into the false ones. You can see the final result below:

It was really fun to wear them for a night out.

All of the products in this VoxBox were great and if you happen to pick one of them up the next time you're at the store, I know you won't be disappointed!

**I received all products free from Influenster to test and/or review. All opinions are my own**