June Favorites

Howdy! You know what time it is; I don't even have to say it. I tried some new things this month that I'd like to share with you, but I've got some items on here that you've definitely seen before. Let's get started!

Lady Speed Stick Invisible Dry antiperspirant, Australian Gold Broad Spectrum SPF30 Sunscreen, Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration After Sun Lotion

With summer on the way, I need a good deodorant and my previous one just wasn't cutting it for me. This one hasn't completely eliminated sweating, but it's improved the problem substantially. To my surprise, I realized that I'm in the market for a natural deodorant. I don't normally give them too much thought as they're usually out of my price range, but with the gap between eco-friendly and regular products starting to close, I'm ready to start testing a couple of them for myself. The Lady Speed Stick has worked better than the Suave and Secret deodorants for me, but I'm still looking for something that's too legit to quit. 

I've mentioned the Australian Gold a couple of times since I received it in a VoxBox last summer, and I'm still digging it today. Works well, smells good, doesn't require too much maintenance when I wear it outdoors. Not much else to say about it. 

The Hawaiian Tropic after sun lotion is another product that I received in a VoxBox and it's worked quite well for me. This summer has felt much hotter than previous years and I've been in it a bit more than I expected so my skin's been peeling when I come inside. The after sun lotion soothes my skin, helps repair the damage done to my skin and smells good to boot. Again, not much else to say about it. 

A Life Intended by Kristin Harmel

It's been awhile since I read a book that pulled at me the way this one did. I read this book a couple of nights ago and there was a sense of urgency because it was only available on XOXO After Dark's Free Reads section for a week so I had to read it in one sitting. I didn't mind at all though; this book was amazing. A Life Intended is about a woman named Kate who, years after losing her beloved husband Patrick in an accident, is in a new relationship with a man named Dan. Dan seems fine enough, but Kate knows something important is missing. Despite that, she agrees to marry him. At night, however, she begins to be plagued by eerie dreams about Patrick. In these dreams, Kate gets a brief glimpse at 'what could have been' with Patrick, but these dreams begin to have increasing importance over her actual life and relationship. These dreams, however, have more importance than Kate initially intended, and the answers may not be the ones she hoped for, but they guide her in the direction she needed to go. This was a beautiful heartbreaker of a book and I loved every minute of it. I don't often re-read books, but this is one I'd love to revisit and I recommend you giving it a go as well. 

Author's Website | Amazon ($10.99) | 

Breaking the Magician's Code: Secrets Revealed

Magic, in the sense of illusions and the like, has never had a serious pull over me. I have always been more interested in how the trick was performed rather than the fact it was performed. So when I saw this show on Netflix, I was all for it. The fact that the magician revealing all of the secrets took great care to conceal his identity helped to amp up the hype factor, and I loved it. The typical tricks you see from your street magicians were revealed, as were the high-tech, elaborate illusions you see in Vegas magician performances. I started to make it a game with myself and try to figure out the trick before it was explained and actually became irritated with myself when I got something incorrect and the answer ended up being a simple one. If you enjoy magic shows for the illusions, I probably wouldn't watch Breaking the Magician's Code because once I know how something works, it kills the mystery. If you're a fan of the 'behind the scenes' part of illusions, however, then I think you'd like this show. 

Megapolis

If you've read a few of my Monthly Favorites posts before then I'm pretty sure you're tired of me including this game, but there have been a lot of recent additions to the game and I've been loving them. A lot of the game's missions are helping to introduce new permanent features that I've really been enjoying, so I've had more fun lately than I have for the past couple of months. I know that Megapolis and many games in that genre are money traps. I know this and up to this point, hadn't even considered spending any money on it. I've had a change of heart. lol I think I've officially hit full on addict status. 

Photosuite

Photosuite isn't a new addition to this list, but it's become one of my favorite apps. As I've said before, Photosuite is the closest thing to GIMP that you'll get in mobile form and it's been a godsend to me. I wish that the app allowed for font customization because this would eliminate me needing to use Phonto entirely, but oh well. Nothing's perfect. 

LibraryThing, Bloggers Required, TCM

I've been using LibraryThing for a few years now; it's actually where I get the majority of my book reviewing jobs (which I have severely been slacking on and I'm sorry). After I realized I had way too many books to review but hadn't reviewed them yet, I stepped back from putting my name in for new books for a few months. I went back in June and won quite a few for review. I'm working my way through them now so I apologize in advance if you suddenly see an overload of book reviews on the site. LibraryThing is largely what kickstarted my 'job,' if you want to refer to it that way, as a book reviewer. I really need to start giving that back and doing what I'm supposed to do. I've read most of the books I won this past month, so the reviews are on the way. 

As for other types of products, Bloggers Required is still the primary source for me to get my reviewing jobs from. Admittedly, it's not the best source as many of the jobs are for bloggers based in the UK and those with larger audiences, but it's the main site I know of that caters specifically to bloggers in need of reviewing jobs. 

Summer Under the Stars is coming up in August and I cover it over on ATV every year (my preview post for the festival just went up today!) so I have to spend quite some time on TCM getting the month's schedule written down. If you're into old films but either don't know what type to start watching or don't often have the time, I strongly recommend checking out All Things Vintage during SUTS. Shameless promo I know, but seriously. For a beginner to retro films there's no better time to start watching them, no better platform for variety, than in August.   

Summer decor, DIY For Cheaper project inspiration

The main DIY-related things I was looking for over the past month concerned summer decor for the 'Touch' portion of my Summer Inspiration post. I try to mix it up a bit every summer because it can be easy to do the same things, look up the same types of projects, for a season and I didn't want to do that. I wanted a healthy mix of both easy and ambitious decor projects, which I hope came across in the Inspiration post. 

DIY For Cheaper is a series I've been looking to start for over a year now, but in order to start it I had to start pricing projects. Even though it's summer, I'm already looking ahead to Halloween because I came across a plethora of DIY For Cheaper inspiration projects last year. I want to get a collection of projects together so that I have a variety to choose from, but I'm also trying to start pricing them so I know where to start. 

Blog improvement articles, used vehicles, summer trends, vlogging, 4th of July clothing, summer inspiration

I've been at the blogging game for a hot minute now (this blog's anniversary is this month!) but I've only been blogging as a career of sorts for a couple of years. I usually didn't pay attention to the various blog improvement articles because I was blogging for fun. Now, though, I'm trying to be as sponge-like as possible because I've realized I really do want to grow my audience and make the best of this platform. I actually think that I've always wanted those things but was too afraid to go after them. Fear will convince you of some crazy shit, friends. 

I feel like I've mentioned used vehicles on a Favorites list before, but I'm still looking so I'm talking about it again. lol It's of the utmost importance to get some reliable transportation in my neck of the woods soon. So if there's a car company out there who wants to pay it forward outside of the Christmas season, I'm game. LOL I kid. 

Summer trends were on the list for a pretty obvious reason; my Summer Inspiration post just posted a few days ago and I wanted to make sure I had enough material so it's one of the main things I've been researching. My list is a mix of things that I like for the season and a few media trends. Same goes with summer inspiration; I find myself inspired by a number of things for each season but it was important to me for the Summer post to be different from the Spring post. I was trying to find things that inspired me in a slightly different way from the Spring post, so I was all over the place. 

For some reason, one of the things that spikes my productivity is watching vlogs. I have my list of favorites to watch, but they always help me when I'm trying to get a blog post finished. I also like the camera tricks and angles; while I've been into photography for quite some time I didn't always pay the same attention to the effort that went into creating videos. If my life was more interesting I might consider doing them myself. My philosophy on it is that those who can't vlog just watch instead. 

Everyone who knows me well knows that the 4th of July is one of my all-time favorite holidays. I go all out most of the time, if not with my outfit than with decorations or how I choose to celebrate the day. I was looking for some inspiration on what I could wear but I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I'm probably going to go to my fallback of a crop top and cutoffs. 

What did I watch this month?

A Girl Like Her, The Life & Crimes of Doris Payne, Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?, Tab Hunter Confessional, Hot Coffee

I watched quite a few documentaries this month, all of which were pretty intriguing. I'll try to give a short synopsis of each one so that I don't keep you here longer than normal. 

A Girl Like Her was my tearjerker docu-film for the month. A Girl Like Her stars Lexi Ainsworth as a high school sophomore named Jessica Burns who is the victim of some pretty intense bullying at her school. The culprit, a popular sophomore named Avery Keller, was once a friend of Jessica's but began to bully her relentlessly once they reached high school. A film crew who was at the school supposedly to capture the life of an everyday high schooler captures the fallout from the drastic measures Jessica takes to end the bullying. That's where the film goes from good to great. What could largely be described as a 'typical' high school scenario (and the film could have taken that angle and still been a good film) is explored from a totally different perspective than I'm used to with these films. As a kid who was bullied by a group of boys, sometimes just for being alive, this film resonated with me so deeply it made me uncomfortable. 

The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne is a firsthand retelling of events by famed career criminal Doris Payne. What I liked about this film was mainly that rather than being told by other people, Doris Payne herself explained how she pulled off her early heists and the psychology in getting her marks to trust her. She was undergoing a trial at the time of the documentary for something that she was adamantly claiming innocence on, so it shone an interesting light on career criminals getting accused for things they actually didn't do. Her trial and innocence claims were juxtaposed with her telling the stories behind the crimes she did admit to. But was she lying about the case she was claiming innocence with? That was the question throughout the doc and I enjoyed the ride.

Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? is pretty self-explanatory. I love a good conspiracy theory but it has to be just that, good or better. I had never even considered the possibility of landing on the moon being a hoax, but I've been seeing it mentioned more and more lately, then I came across this documentary. Landing on the moon was one of those things that, for me, was a given in American history. It had never occurred to me to even consider that it could have been faked. Evidence, some convincing and some a little shaky (imo), was presented to back the theory that the moon landing was faked for a variety of reasons. It's a documentary that is clearly slanted towards the belief that the moon landing was fake, but it also encourages you as the viewer to make your own conclusions.

Tab Hunter Confessional is a documentary that appealed to me as a retro film lover because it got into the hush-hush society surrounding Old Hollywood stars and the gay taboo at the time. The policy with gay actors, especially the debonair, commercially marketable male actors, was very much a "Don't ask, don't tell" situation because an openly gay actor at that time was committing career suicide. They couldn't successfully be marketed as being a heartthrob for women if the public knew they preferred men, so it was more of an open secret amongst the actors themselves. Many of yesteryear's biggest names were suspected of either having same-sex encounters or of being gay, so most of them were given 'studio relationships,' mainly to market films but also to cultivate the actor's image. Many actors suspected of being gay were in what is referred to as 'lavender marriages,' to keep the press off their backs and their secrets safe. I explained all of that to say that the former is what happened to Tab Hunter, a heartthrob of '50s movies. Tab takes us back through his life and career, to the scandal surrounding his sexuality that could have ended his career, to his openness about his sexuality now as an older man out of the public eye. It was an interesting look into the mystique of Old Hollywood and the lengths people had to go to to keep their secrets concealed.

And finally, Hot Coffee is a documentary that explores the various lawsuits that people have filed over time that for the most part, are dismissed by the public as being 'stupid' or 'greedy.' The lawsuit driving the documentary is the case of an elderly woman who ordered a cup of coffee from McDonald's and successfully sued the company afterward when the cup of coffee spilled onto her lap, causing severe burns to the lower half of her body. I have to admit that when I came across this documentary in my Recommended feed, I blew it off too. And I'll be the first to say that you'd be making a mistake if you do the same thing. Not only was there just cause to sue McDonald's for the hot coffee incident, but there are so many other cases within this documentary that deserve attention. This was a good doc to show that you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

So that's what I was digging for the month of June. Honestly, the most interesting part of this month's edition is the last section, where I talk about the documentaries I watched over the past month. There are some new goodies dispersed throughout this month's list, but as always, there are quite a few oldie but goodie entries. I'm having some trouble financially so I'm not sure when I'll be able to add even more new things to the list, but I'm working on it. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this post and were able to find something new to sample for yourself. What were some of your favorite things in June? See you soon!

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Summertime Vibes

Hi! I initially wasn't sure I was going to do another seasonal inspiration post because of how much went into creating Spring Inspiration a few months ago but even though it was a lot of work, it was also one of the most fun posts I've ever done. I eventually decided to take on the challenge for summer as well, but I didn't want it to look the same as the spring post so there are a few new elements in the 'See' and 'Hear' portions of the post. With any of my seasonal inspiration posts, as I've mentioned before, I like to involve all of the senses and make it a more immersive experience so this is going to be pretty long. You'd think I was doing something more important than just seasonal inspiration with descriptions like 'involve all of the senses' and 'more immersive experience,' huh? LOL But anyway, let's get to it. As I believe I mentioned in the Spring post, some of the photos and accompanying websites are not from the same post; some are merely there for inspiration. Enjoy!

*Mandy's Note: I've noticed that the saturation levels in some of the photos have changed quite a bit from the raw images on my phone, so I apologize if any of the photos look overly saturated or low-quality on your phones/PCs.* 

Fashion: rompers, cutoffs, crop tops, bodysuits, gladiator sandals and jeweled strapped shoes, gold dangly jewelry

Beauty: Bronzed skin, colorful liner or shadow, thick and long lashes, big eyes, bright lips

Hair: 90s buns, half ponytails, waves, messy/tousled styles

Headspace: on the road/travelling, wanderlust, festivals

I wanted a lot more visual inspiration this time around, which is why there are so many different collages of photos. For fashion, it's been a bit of a mix in terms of inspiration. Being a '90s kid and not seeing much wrong with the fashion then, it's been fun to get back into it now that it's back in style (but truthfully, I never felt it went 'out.' I do what I want. lol) I also like bohemian inspiration for summer because while it's time to flaunt what you have in the tight, form-flattering stuff, I also like the breezy silhouettes that bohemian fashion create especially when mixed with other styles. Cutoffs are my uniform for summer and crop tops are finally starting to be a staple that I'm comfortable with wearing. I've been slow to come around on the resurgence of the bodysuit but I'm here for 'em now. I don't often bother with jewelry because I'm forgetful but I've been moving towards gold, dangly jewelry lately. Initially I wanted to create my own lookbook, but I found the Fashion....art Tumblr, which is where most of the fashion comes from. The accessories are from Charlotte Russe and Forever 21.  

As for beauty, I don't want to see foundations until November. lol It's been bare faced at very least, BB creams at most, and I love it that way. I'm not usually into 'dewy' looks as they just come off a bit sweaty-looking to me but bronzed, highlighted skin is something different and I've been getting into that lately.

Glittery shadows look great against bronzed/tanned skin, bright lips are both a fun touch and on days that you're wearing light makeup can be the focal point of your face, and bringing color to the eyes via liners or shadows spice up a normal everyday look. I'm diggin' it. 

With hair, I've been trying to keep things simple. It's too hot to bother with fussy styles, so something cute (and preferably off the neck) would be better. My favorite style would be Raye Raye's 90s buns, or in Black vernacular, Afro puffs. (By the by, who remembers that song? I begged my mom to give me Afro puffs for a good 6 months the year that song came out) I've already crossed an item off of my Summer Bucket List (a post for that will be up soon), which was to change my hair color. My extensions and wigs are usually black, but I've had black hair for over a year now with not much change in either the length or style.

Now it's a beautiful red ombre, with dark roots and from the ears down, hints of blonde, rose gold and even a little orange, depending on how it hits the light. It looks a little similar to the style in the bottom left corner, just not as bright. I'm in love with it. It's not as short as I was going for, but I'll probably start cutting it later. While we're on the topic of hair, I've been thinking about maybe doing wig and extension reviews on here; what do you think? 

In terms of my headspace, I find myself really inspired by Tumblr bright colors, new adventuring and travelling. Summer is when I find myself the most inspired and when I seem to have the most cabin fever, and I've spent a few too many days imagining just taking off to places unknown. Wind in my hair, radio blasting, empty road ahead of us (because presumably, I'd be travelling alongside someone lol), time on our side and adventures waiting to be had.

Even if the road trip I initially envision doesn't go down (and it usually doesn't lol), the intrigue of day-long adventures and being a tourist in my hometown pulls at me the most during the summer. A good way that I've found to bring the travel to you if you're unable to leave is to put a bit of travel-inspired decor in your home, which I'm going to explore once we get to Touch. 

--upbeat music, an ambient/electronic hybrid

Summer is probably when I discover the most new music, which is probably because it's when I'm the most inspired. So rather than just a playlist, I thought I'd include a few apps for finding some new music in addition to the playlists. I still don't really listen to the radio so these apps have been a lot of help in finding new artists and music. I featured different apps because each app features different artists, so you can then take those back to your usual music app and find them on there. 

Summer, for me, is the season that deserves its own soundtrack and I try to leave my comfort zone as much as possible to find both new sources for music and new artists on those apps. I thought I'd do a little combination here and stick in a few mini-reviews (which have been lacking in the worst way and I'm sorry) as well as some music. 

1. Indie Shuffle

Indie Shuffle covers a pretty wide range of experimental and traditional genres and exposed me to quite a bit of new artists. You might find some mainstream music on the site, but I came across more remixes of the songs than I did actual tracks. What I love about this site is that there are user reviews for the tracks and similar artists if you'd really like to go down the rabbit hole and find new stuff. So if you're looking to widen the range of your music, check Indie Shuffle. 

2. Audiomack

If you're looking to try new music within the genres you normally listen to, Audiomack focuses primarily on mainstream artists within the hip-hop, reggae and electronic genres. I like that there are options to download tracks or albums directly from the app, and there's a feature called Audiosnap It!, which allows you to snip a clip from the song and add either music or photos to it. Audiomack isn't my favorite of the music apps on the list but it has features that the others don't and exposes you to new/trending music within a couple of genres. I'd recommend this for the person who prefers mainstream to indie music. 

3. Soundcloud

Good ol' Soundcloud. A few years ago, my music tastes shifted dramatically and I didn't really know where to find the music I was interested in other than YouTube but then I remembered Soundcloud. I dropped Spotify like a bad habit for months after getting lost in Soundcloud. Soundcloud is solely for indie/underground music and covers, as mainstream music that users upload usually gets removed not long afterward. If you're a fan of dubstep, chillstep or ambient instrumentals, you'll find an array of artists who fit the criteria at Soundcloud. 

4. uberHype 4 Hype Machine

This app is a secondary app created by the developers of Hype Machine. The regular Hype Machine site has so many different tracks on the first page that it can be a bit difficult to figure out where to get started. This one has tons of categories and genres, which is cool partially because it means there's so many new places to start, but it can also be a bit overwhelming. There are mainstream tracks on here as well but again, I'm mainly on there for the indie tracks. uberHype is a bit more condensed and its easier to find new music. A pretty cool thing about Hype Machine in general is that it can be found on both Spotify and Soundcloud, so you can condense the music you find on this app on either of the other two sites. 

5. Spotify

Even though I switched it up a bit this time around, I couldn't not include the OG of finding new music. I've found tons of music that I loved through the Spotify playlists I listen to, so that's why I recommend a Spotify playlist every time. You can find and follow user playlists without having to follow the user, and you can search for seasonal lists (one of my personal favorites when doing the seasonal posts) and come up with something good every time. The other sites don't have quite as much mainstream music so it's nice to have a resource in the back pocket that keeps you aware of current tunes. The playlists are much longer and more extensive than the other sites, which is another reason why it's still one of my all-time favorite apps to use for music. 

--grilled meats, cold salads and vegetables, roasted side dishes, fruit-based snacks and desserts, ice creams and snow cones

Sources: 

1. Snow Cones, Hoosier Homemade

2. Herbed Grilled Chicken, Fine Cooking

3. Strawberry Lemonade, PBS

4. Homemade Bomb Pops, Misadventures in Baby Raising

5. Green Chile Cheeseburgers, MyRecipes

6. BBQ Spareribs, Food Network Kitchens

7. Coffee Hazelnut Ice Cream, Top With Cinnamon

8. Horchata, Del Blog a la Mesa

9. Grilled Corn Salad, AllRecipes

10. Infused Ice Cubes, Keurig

I like to put my focus on grilled meats, berry fruits and sweet treats for summer. Despite my raging lactose intolerance, I love the idea--because that's as close as I'll get to ice cream most of the time--of a cold bowl of ice cream on a hot summer day. I love grilling during the summer; it's actually my favorite cooking method for this time of year, so I really enjoy tossing different veggies and cuts of meat on the grill. 

I wanted to include one of my favorite snacks on here, elote en vaso (Mexican corn in a cup), which is a really popular Mexican street food where I live, but I couldn't find a recipe that came close to the ones I eat. I had to leave it off but I wanted to include something with corn on here because if you've never had grilled corn, you're missing out on life. LOL That's what my requirements are for having a 'fulfilled life,' eating grilled corn. smh But anyway, I like a variety of foods during the summer, so I tried to include food items that displayed the range of flavors I like for this time of year. 

--coastal-inspired decor, bright colors, travel-inspired wall art

Sources:

1. Inexpensive Firepit, Thrifty Little Mom

2. Hula Hoop Canopy Fort, Brit + Co (original source link no longer works)

3. Summer Bucket List Blackboard, Gray House Studio (display photo is from Life Love Larson)

4. DIY Movie Projector, Bob Vila 

5. Map Coasters, Martha Stewart

6. 'Firefly' Mason Jars, From Panka With Love

7. Personal S'mores Pot, Bella

8. Outdoor Movie Theater, Running with Scissors

9. Octopus Wall Art, Wanelo 

10. Lighthouse Lantern, Between Naps on the Porch

A lot of my summer projects focus on the outdoors because 1-duh and 2-I'll be outside less and less for the remaining two seasons so I'd like to enjoy it while I can. Warm nights, late sunsets and stargazing. Ahh. Minus the damn mosquitoes, a few of these items can help create the perfect summer night. 

I do have a couple of notes for improvisation: 

Firstly, the blackboard in #3 and the tutorial I included aren't for the same site. The image is from Life Love Larson in a post that mentions summer bucket list items, and the tutorial is for the actual blackboard. The reason why I combined the two is because I wanted a blackboard for seasonal bucket lists, so the image here is for the intended usage of the tutorial I included. 

Second, I'd improvise #5 a bit and rather than just random maps, I'd switch those out to some of my favorite vacay spots to continue with the summer/travel theme. 

Finally, I'd combine the octopus wall art and lantern in the same decor scheme if I was going for something beach/coastal-inspired. 

Sorry for the uneven photo sizes; I edited this in Paint on the fly. It shows,
doesn't it? LOL

Extras: 

Wall Art Gallery, Inspiring Home Ideas (This isn't a link to a tut; it's more for inspiration purposes)

Vintage Summer Postcard Wall Art (this goes along with the wall art gallery)

All of the postcard images are from Zazzle, here's where you can get them:

1. Italy

2. Summer Greetings

3. New England

4. Beach police

5. Hawaii

6. Summertime at the beach

7. Japan

8. Palm trees

9. Cuba

Now what I'd do with this is substitute the canvas print for the vintage postcards. I'd probably try to get larger sizes and make it the focal piece on an entry wall. I like the design of vintage postcards, but the seasonal ones would lend a unique touch to your home. 

--fruity-based scents with floral accents, sweet notes and citrus, ocean/water-based notes

Watermelon Lemonade--watermelon, raspberries and lemon
Seaside Gardenia--gardenia, sea air and bamboo
Raspberry Citrus Swirl--raspberry, citrus, passionfruit juice
Black Sands--ocean mist, amber and cedarwood
Summer Boardwalk--caramel-glazed popcorn, taffy apples, salted sweet cream
Sparkling Waves--citrus, bergamot and musk

Pina Colada Smoothie--mango nectar, pineapple and grapefruit
Sunny Coconut--orange, vanilla and coconut
Mango Coconut Cooler--coconut, mango and island spice

For summer, I try to keep it light and stay away from musk/wood based scents. Now when they're used as secondary/accent notes, like in Black Sands or Sparkling Waves, it can make a scent more rounded out, but as the primary notes I just find them a little too strong. I love Bath and Body Works candles, even though they're not the most environmentally brand on the market, but they fit the sort of seasonal vibes that I'm looking for when I do these posts. There are always more than enough scent profiles for me to choose from when I do these, and most of the candles I've tried from there smell like little slices of heaven. I think one of the main reasons why I always feature B&BW candles is because the scent carries, it lasts, and don't burn themselves out as quickly as cheaper brands. 

That's what I've been inspired by for this season. This took me so damn long to finish that I worried summer would be over by the time I was able to publish it. I'm starting Fall's post in August. lol If you'll indulge me in a minor horn toot for a second, I'm really pleased with the results of this post but I feel like I can do better. 

I would like this to become a regular staple on the blog; I don't see too many bloggers taking on the 'inspiration' theme quite like I do and I like that. With everything that's going on in the world today, it was really important for me to try and create something that allowed us to remember and enjoy a few simple pleasures of life, whether it be a roadtrip, rainbow-colored ice cream or an outdoor movie night. 

Okay, horn toot over. Anyway, per usual, I hope that you enjoyed this post and were able to take something useful from it. I'd like to know, what inspires you for summer? 

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May Favorites

Hi! It's Favorites time again already. I really wish this year would slow down a little bit, it feels like yesterday I was putting on a sweater and now I'm staving off daily heat migraines. I'm not here for it and I didn't sign up for any of it either. I tried out a few new things this month but per usual, there are a few oldies but goodies. Let's get started!

Whish Revitalizing Cleansing Oil, Nuxe Multi-Purpose Dry Oil for Face, Body & Hair

These two products will be in an upcoming post so I won't go into too much detail about them here, but this was the month of oils I've never tried before because those were my favorite beauty products this month. The Whish oil is a makeup remover that I've really enjoyed so far. The Nuxe oil is a dry oil and I've never been moved to try one before, but this works well with matte foundations. I haven't worn makeup too many times this month, but I've used both of these on the few occasions that I did wear any. The dry oil works when applying the makeup and the cleansing oil works when it's time to remove it. No complaints on either product. 

Afraid to Fly by S. L. Jennings

Afraid to Fly is a romance novel and I know I don't typically talk about those here but it was probably one of the only books I read this past month and the only one I could clearly remember. lol I actually read it late in April but I'd already finalized that month's favorites so I just pushed it back to May's. This book tells the story of Dominic and Raven, two very troubled souls with more than a few skeletons in their closets. Raven has a mute brother Toby, who's dealing with his own demons but for some reason begins to open up to Dominic. Dom's interest in Raven is piqued by her blatant disinterest in him (because that's just how these things always go), and Raven's reason for her blatant disinterest deals with a shared past that she suspects Dom doesn't even remember. I enjoyed this book because for once, rather than it being the female with obstacles to overcome, it was the male. The switch was intriguing to read and I enjoyed how the plot came together. I might post a full review on this sometime; I'm not sure yet. 

Brickleberry

I haven't been watching too many series this month, on network tv or on Netflix, so I don't have anything new to add here. I mentioned Brickleberry during last month's favorites so I don't feel the need to rehash it but I'm still binge-watching.....then repeating....the show. lol I really wish there were more than 3 seasons. If Netflix picked this up for a couple more seasons, I wouldn't be mad at that at all.

Farm Heroes Saga for Android

I'm not entirely sure why I enjoy this game so much since I already have both Candy Crush and Cookie Jam and those are nearly identical to this game, but I do. The little farm characters are adorable and I like how various farm materials are given purpose within the game, like the bakery materials in Cookie Jam. It's a fun way to waste a little time, and I enjoy it.

Phonto, Instagram

On the occasions that my phone's allowed me to edit my blog photos, I've been taking advantage of it and trying to get the hardest part, the fonts, taken care of first. I've been downloading a lot of new fonts lately and Phonto is the primary font-adding app that I use, so I've been using it a lot. I'm looking to build a post in the future with Android apps similar to Phonto sometime this summer so that I have some options, but for now Phonto's doing most of the work.

I've also been on Instagram a lot but not for the reason most folks are (or the reason I'm supposed to be on there lol). I'm trying to create a bit of a niche with the sort of beauty reviews that I do, so I've been looking for up and coming beauty supply companies and brands so I can eventually review some of their products. You can find drugstore and high-end beauty product reviews on every social media platform, but there are tons of companies that are just starting out and it'd be cool to start reviewing those. I already have a few that I intend to review soon but if you know of any others I should check out, let me know!

Creative Market, Reddit

If you're into graphics of any kind, whether it be vectors, fonts, themes or add-ons for your photo editing needs, check out Creative Market. This isn't a new site to me; I've known about it for awhile but realized I've never featured it on here. With a new season of reviews (hopefully) on the way, I'm looking to change up my graphics to reflect summer so I've been on Creative Market a lot. Many of the items available on the website are paid, but they're affordable and worth the price in terms of quality and value. There are free goods as well, which I usually check out every week, but the difference in value between those and the paid items is no different.

While last month I featured the Reddit app, this month I've been on the website more often. I've realized that Reddit is a treasure trove of information on all kinds of topics, from audiobooks and voice acting to DIY projects and Internet silliness. I'm still fairly new to the website so I'm still exploring the subreddits and it seems like I'll never discover them all. It's been fun nosing around, though.

Father's Day gifts, summer decor

Father's Day is next month and while the day has no personal significance because my sperm donor and I are playing level 99 of Estranged: IRL, my sisters-in-law and I usually get together to do a little something for my brother. We put the babies' hand and footprints in a little puzzle for him to solve then frame last year, but this year I was all thumbs. I struggle to buy regular gifts for people, both monetarily and creatively, and I've always found it was easier to just create a gift. My sisters-in-law like creating gifts for my brother as well, so it makes things much easier and more fun.

With summer rapidly coming over the horizon, I've been looking for material for my Summer Inspiration post, which should be up later this month. I've been in a beachy sort of mood this month, so I've been looking for ways to try and integrate that into the home. I've been looking forward to doing the Summer Inspiration post for awhile, but I've been having a hard time with coming up with DIY projects for the season. Here's hoping I can come up with something by the time the post is scheduled to go live. lol

Polyamory-related gifts (random AF, right? LOL), used vehicles, bug killers, rockabilly everything, couples' photo shoots

As you saw me mention earlier, I come together with my sisters-in-law every year to do a Father's Day gift for my brother. My brother and SIL's are in a bi-polyfidelitous relationship, which means that the three of them are in a committed relationship with each other where one or more of the parties is bisexual. If that's something you have a problem with, I'd like to invite you to either scroll past my post or leave the page entirely. You are not invited, however, to make intolerant and/or ignorant comments so if that's what you've got in mind, save it. Moving on, their anniversary falls on Father's Day this year and they initially planned to scrap celebrating at all, but I stepped in and suggested moving their anniversary celebration to Saturday so I could plan something for them. I fully admit to not really knowing much about polyamory so I've been trying to learn as much as I can so that I can give them something that properly symbolizes the relationship.

I don't think I've mentioned it, but my uncle's car was recently lost in a court case, so we lost our only bit of transportation. With my health conditions being as they are, it's very difficult for me to do too much of anything but I really need to find a used car. For all the troubles my health issues cause, my mom's cause twice as many so it's important that I get some kind of car soon.

I talked about this last year but every spring and summer, the bugs and our family engage in all-out war. This year has been particularly bad, so I'm trying to find that magical nuke potion that bombs the everloving f^$# out of 'em. lol

The theme over on ATV for May was rockabilly and its subcultures, so for a lot of the time that I was online over the past month it was to do research on one of those areas of vintage. If you're into vintage or pinup culture at all, I suggest giving rockabilly a once-over.

While I was looking into rockabilly for one of my Files posts, I kept coming across photo shoots of couples dressed in full rockabilly fashion and I loved them. Since I'm #TeamForeverAlone I can't take these photos with my 12-packs of Dr. Pepper but I'd love to dress my brother's family up and get a bunch of shots with them in the rockabilly style. I love how a photographer and couple can come together and with a few directions, create a series of shots with so much personality and I love how that combines with the rockabilly/vintage style. For myself I don't think I'd ever be a 'couples photo shoot' kind of person because my firm opinion is that I am much more beautiful behind a camera, but I love looking at other couples' results. 

What did I watch this month?

Team Foxcatcher, Requiem for the American Dream, 1971, The Champions

Team Foxcatcher is a documentary that expands on both the 2014 film Foxcatcher and the ESPN Films documentary Prince of Pennsylvania, the latter of which I featured in a Favorites post sometime last year. I've never seen the movie but I enjoyed the ESPN Films take on the story and I really liked this documentary. This is a more in-depth take on the whole Foxcatcher tragedy and John duPont's relationship with his wrestlers before murdering Dave Schultz. A couple of new perspectives join the documentary and information that wasn't included in Prince of Pennsylvania was inserted into the story. Footage recorded during that time was inserted into this documentary and people who knew John, not just his former wrestlers, got their minute to speak.

Requiem for the American Dream is definitely out of my preferred genre of documentary, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. This Noam Chomsky documentary explores the concept of "The American Dream" and how wealth and power is both attained and distributed. I'm not big into economics and will be the first to admit that while I find it a little interesting, I also feel a little too unintelligent to understand it, but this was something I could understand. If you're into economics and how it plays into wealth and power in today's society, give Requiem for an American Dream a look. 

1971 is a documentary that satisfies the conspiracy theorist inside me, as it follows the story of several individuals who broke into the FBI's private files and exposed them to the world. In today's society such a feat is nearly impossible unless the leak is internal, but back in 1971 it wasn't that difficult. The FBI's history of intimidating citizens and hiding valuable information was exposed to the public via the newspapers, and a very public scandal and manhunt followed that. 

The Champions was the tearjerker documentary that I watched this month. The dogfighting scandal that Michael Vick was embroiled in a decade ago nearly ended his career and resulted in more public attention being paid to dogfighting rings. But there wasn't quite as much attention being paid to what happened to the dogs who were removed from the property following the scandal. The Champions takes the viewer on the journey of several dogs and the effort by individuals and organizations to find them a loving forever home. 

So that's what I've been into this past month. This was a very random collection of items, but I'm satisfied that it wasn't full of same ol' same items that I've included month after month. I'm hoping to have more newbies on the list for June's favorites. I hope you check out some of the stuff I mentioned in this post and as always, I hope you enjoyed. See you soon!

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April Favorites

How in hell is it May already? This year's passing by too damn fast for me. It felt like just yesterday it was January, and now it's May. Dafuq. But anywho, let's get to my favorites for April. As promised, there are finally a few newbies on the list! 

DG Beauty Makeup Remover Wipes

I didn't try out any new makeup products this month, so the star of the show for me has been removing what I do wear at the end of the day. These are a generic brand of makeup remover wipes from Dollar General, but for a makeup removal product under $2 these work quite well. They remove all of my makeup when I'm wearing light makeup, but they're pretty good at loosening the 99 layers of mascara I wear during full makeup days. I don't have to scrub at my eyes, they don't burn like other removers, and make the rest of my removal routine much easier. They're not the best makeup remover wipes I've ever used, but they work much better than I expected them to. 

A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book, The Anxiety Toolkit, The Mayo Clinic Happiness Handbook

As I mentioned in my review of this book, A Beautiful Mess is one of my all-time favorite sites. I find it insanely inspiring in terms of the design, personality and content. But the problem with me is that I follow so many websites that I don't often remember to check out the individual sites, so I wasn't aware that they'd released a book full of photo ideas. I found this at the library earlier in the month and it's quickly become a favorite. It's chock full of ideas and inspiration, for both the casual photographer and the blogger, and summer would be a perfect time to try out some of those tips.

The Anxiety Toolkit is going to be included in an upcoming post about anxiety and relaxation tips as well as its own separate review, and even though I haven't finished it yet I've enjoyed it so far. It's full of different tips on how to get to the root of your anxiety and successfully manage it on a daily basis. Even though I haven't seen many anxiety-related help books that helped me significantly, I have been enjoying this one.

Finally, the Mayo Clinic Happiness Handbook is another book that's going to have its own review in addition to being included in the anxiety/relaxation post and I think I've been enjoying this one more than The Anxiety Toolkit. I've always loved handbooks; they help me to be more aware of my habits and behaviors and fix them accordingly. This month was full of books from the library that I'd rather "lose" than return but I'm not a complete jerk. I'll take 'em back. Eventually. lol 

Marriage Contract, Miss Granny, Brickleberry

This was another month in which K-dramas ruled my tv, because I was obsessed with them this past month. Marriage Contract focused on the life of a single mother who signs a marriage contract in order to secure financial freedom for herself and her young daughter in exchange for her liver. Her own health issues put a private rush on the procedure when she finds out that she has a terminal brain tumor. She decides not to tell anyone about her own diagnosis and instead tries to navigate around keeping her illness a secret from everyone, keeping her contract marriage a secret from everyone, and trying at all costs to keep from falling in love with her boss, who also happens to be her faux husband in the arrangement. Marriage Contract is the first real K-drama that I ever watched the entire way through and while I enjoyed it, it did take a little while to get moving. Regardless of my few complaints with it though, I can't deny that I was obsessed with it and couldn't wait for the new episodes to hit Drama Fever every Monday.

Miss Granny is a Chinese flick I found on Netflix about a cantankerous old woman who, for the most part, has become a pain to everyone around her. She has no f*cks to give, she's a bit bitter, and she's quite hilarious. After finding a mysterious photo studio one evening, she goes into it to have her photo taken but emerges as her 20-year-old self. Her mind remains intact but to the rest of the world, she's just another 20-year-old girl. The rest of the movie follows her journey as she gets an opportunity to do things she was unable to do when she really was 20, this time alongsideszwe3 her grandson, who is clearly her pride and joy (even though he's completely unaware that the cute, kinda weird girl that he tries to check out at first is actually his grandma lol). This was such a cute movie and I enjoyed watching it.

Lastly, I kept coming across Brickleberry on my Netflix recommended list but the show description didn't really appeal to me and I thought it would be like Family Guy so I kept scrolling past it. I forget what caused me to change my mind, but I'm so glad I did. I guess you could say I hate-watched the first episode because I was already expecting to dislike it. I'm not a Tosh fan and similar shows (Family Guy, American Dad, etc.) aren't funny at all to me so I didn't have high expectations for Brickleberry at all but I ended up loving it. This show about the daily ins and outs of an incompetent ranger team and its talking bear sidekick is politically incorrect as shit, it's bigoted, sexist, rude as all hell and features characters with some of the most shakiest moral foundations I've ever seen. It's also one of the funniest shows I've seen in a very long time. I wish I'd found it while the show was still on the air. In such a PC society (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), shows like Brickleberry seem all the more risque, and I kinda liked that it wasn't afraid to offend people. It also wasn't picky about who it offended; nobody was safe. Some of the jokes were clearly inserted just for the purpose of making a joke, but I also appreciated the approach that Brickleberry took to displaying the obtuse opinions that we hear being spouted on a daily basis as well as popular topics in the world today. If you're trying to find a show that doesn't just dabble but jumps headfirst into dark comedy, give Brickleberry a whirl. It's not everyone's cup of tea, that's for damn sure. 

None this month!

I haven't played anything new this month on either the PS3 or mobile, so I have nothing new to add here. 

Reddit

Reddit recently released an app for the site, and since I don't feel entirely intimidated by the site anymore, I finally joined and downloaded the app. For downloading and using the app during its launch week I got three months of Reddit Gold out of it, which was pretty cool. I like the app because rather than a small, condensed and difficult to navigate version of the site, a major complaint of mine with many sites that develop their own apps, Reddit's is practically the same. For a newbie like me who's just now getting a hang of the site, I appreciate the continuity (?--Hope that's the right descriptor) between the site and the app.

Hootsuite

If you're a blogger like me or just depend on social media as part of your job, then Hootsuite is a tool that I believe wouldn't be bad to utilize. I found Hootsuite earlier this month and tried it out, and I kinda liked it. Hootsuite combines different social media networks so that you can manage and post to them at the same time rather than having to open all of the sites individually and copy+paste the same message. Because I have social media networks for both blogs, this kind of site is right up my alley because it can be difficult to keep up with them, since I don't have the social media sites for both blogs. I primarily use Instagram to promote this site (although I know I've been doing a shit job with it and I'm really sorry for that) and Twitter for ATV. I use Bloglovin' and Google Plus for both sites but it's nice to be able to keep up with each site and its networks at the same time. The free version only supports 3 networks so I don't get to see all of my stuff for both blogs, but it's an investment I'd be willing to make at some point in the future. 

Wall art, home decor, home cleaners and fragrances

I love the concept of DIY For Cheaper wall art. I'm not an art aficionado by any means, but I do love wall art. It's makeup for the home. But what I don't love are insane prices for simple artwork. I don't like exact copies, but I like something similar that gives the art a sense of individuality yet still evokes the feeling of what I liked about the original without ripping off the artist. I also love the concept of creating something that looks high-end for a low-end price, which is the sole motivation behind why I'm trying to create the DIY For Cheaper series. It's fun to be creative and see how close I can come to a high priced item on a low budget. It's also a more subtle way to bring out a theme, color scheme or play on seasonal elements, which I like. Wall art is easy, gives you a chance to express yourself, and costs pennies compared to what's in a lot of stores.

The same thought can be applied to home decor, something else that I like. It's my goal to have my home full of products that look high-end, like I paid a pretty penny for them, but I actually made them myself. I also like to reflect color or seasonal themes in my decor, so I've been looking for items that I can create myself. This is another element that I'd like to add to the DIY For Cheaper series and I've enjoyed trying to find more inspiration for it.

Finally, home cleaners and fragrances are still on my DIY list because even though my Spring Cleaning series is over (although you probably have yet to see it lol), I'm still on the hunt for different cleaners that may work better than the ones I featured. I had a lot of fun with them last month and I see these recipes popping up everywhere now, so maybe I'll do a part 2 of the cleaners and fragrances post so I can add on the new ones that I've tested. 

Cookbooks, photography equipment, Mother's Day gifts, artistic makeup looks, braids, eyeglasses, yoga, compression socks

I've talked about both my obsession with cookbooks and my offline business plans with building a food truck, so it shouldn't be a surprise to find cookbooks on this month's list. Food is one of those things to me that can never get tiring to discuss, will never not be inspiring to me, and will always light a fire under my ass. You can give a simple item, say tofu, to ten recipe creators or chefs and tell them to fix something with it. You would then get ten totally different recipes created with that tofu. It still blows my mind that one food item can be turned into so many different things, can be made to taste so many different ways. I love blogging and business seems to be a natural extension of who I am, but I always have this sense of reconfirmation that food is my true passion. 

Photography equipment is another element that I'd like to add to the DIY For Cheaper series because said equipment is by far the most expensive expense I'd need for these blogs. A lot of the equipment isn't hard to replicate with cheaper items as long as they can provide the same effect and there are tons of filter/backdrop hacks to utilize.

Mother's Day is coming up and per usual, I don't have a lot of money so I have to be resourceful with finding a gift for my madre. She has simple tastes but it's still insanely hard to find something useful for her, which means whatever I do come up with has to be good.

I love makeup--clearly, or one of the sections on this site wouldn't be beauty--but usually, I'm looking for makeup looks that make me want to step my everyday game up. Lately though I've been more into artistic beauty looks. I struggled with them before because they weren't practical, wouldn't be seen anywhere except for in photos, and I didn't see the point of working so hard on a look that you couldn't wear anywhere. I also struggled with what my idea of an 'artistic' look was. But I've had these three makeup looks in my brain for months now, and I won't be able to finish out the year without trying them out. So I've been looking at different 'artistic' makeup looks and trying to have a more open mind, so I can challenge myself more often.

Braids are everywhere again all of a sudden, but I've always been a fan of the braid. With the rise of these 'Instagram baddies' and the like, Dutch and fishtail braids have been filling up my various social media feeds. I don't know how to do anything except the basic braid but I've finally started to try them out. YouTube's an amazing teacher. lol

I've been on the hunt for a new pair of glasses for quite some time. I can only have an eye exam every two years but because of my eyesight, I usually have to pay extra to get my lenses shaved. I wasn't able to do that the last time I had an eye appointment, so I had the prescription and no new glasses. I tried out Firmoo for the first time due to a sale on frames, but all I will say about the experience is that the frames I chose looked cuter on the site than they do on me.

I took part in a week-long yoga challenge this month with Brett Larkin (who is an amazing yoga instructor--or is it called a yogi? and I enjoyed it. I always intend to continue on with some sort of physical activity after I finish a fitness challenge of any kind, but it never happens. I'm leaning more towards yoga being what I need; it targets both the physical and mental, both of which I need help with. My doctor recommended yoga to me some time ago but I didn't notice a difference in how I felt day-to-day. I'm willing to give it another go now and see how it helps.

My uncle bought me some socks earlier in the month to help with my feet. Seems 29 years of being mostly barefoot on all kinds of surfaces has finally caught up with me, because now I have near constant pain in both feet when I walk anywhere. My uncle got me some socks from Wish to help give my feet some support and they worked for a little while, but they're very thick so I wouldn't recommend wearing them during the summer. 

What documentaries did I watch this month?

Chuck Norris v Communism, Love Hotel

Chuck Norris v Communism gives me a new perspective on the pettiness of America's #firstworldproblems. Back in the day when Romania was still being ruled as a Communist nation, all Western media was banned from the country. A few very clever folks found a way around the law and brought those movies to Romania, where they were translated and distributed to the locals. This documentary focused on the viewpoint of the residents and what those couple of hours of secret entertainment meant to them, as well as the collective memories of the woman responsible for translating all of those films over the years. We were over here complaining about too-teased hair in the '80s, Romanians were facing serious jail time for watching an American movie. Makes you think.

Love Hotel focused on the ins and outs (pun not intended but still relevant lol) of a pleasure hotel called Angel Love Hotel in Japan, where the environment is increasingly conservative as time goes by. Love Hotel was meant to be a safe haven from the judgmental eyes of the outside world, a place where people could safely indulge in their varied sexual interests. But due to the government crackdown on establishments like Love Hotel, changes have to be made that usually end up killing the business. What I liked about this is that it was a full view into Love Hotel, from the people who clean it to the people who dirty it and the people overseeing all of it. Both of the links go to trailers for the films. 

So those were my favorites for April. There are a bunch of newbies on the list this month, but I wish I could have found even more. Next month there'll be a few more, I promise. I hope you check out some of the things I enjoyed this month and I'll see you soon!

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