Sick Day:(

Hello!
     Today was a bit of a recovery day for me as I had been feeling quite a bit icky the past couple of days. I mainly had a lot of chest congestion and a cough, and although last night I was feeling a bit better, I decided it would be best if I didn't go in to do my usual volunteering at the children's hospital. So, today brought a lot of sleep and relaxation time, which is exactly what a sick girl needs for recovery:)

     I spent part of the afternoon finishing up my Halloween costume, and watching YouTube videos ( since I am a huge YouTube junkie). One of my absolute favorite channels at the moment is Mimi Ikonn. I believe Mimi originally started making videos with her sister Leyla on a different channel, but her current channel is super awesome since she tends to upload inspiring videos. I don't know about you, but I always love watching motivational videos. They always put me in a good mood, and remind me to keep doing what I want to do in order to reach my goals. So, I thought I'd share one of my favorites from today:

     She makes quite a few good points about being happy, and I always think it's great to hear positive advice. I hope you are having a great day, and you take the time to do something that makes you happy:)

                                                              ~Gen<3

Two-mile mark!

 

     For those of you that have been running for quite some time, two miles might not seem that impressive, but for the people like me that have barely immersed themselves into the world of running, you know it's a pretty big deal when you come up to any kind of milestone. I should definitely preface this post by saying that I picked up running back in January, mostly to see if I could do it and also because I've always wanted to be able to do some of those fun 5Ks. My progress has been moderate, and sometimes I fall off track when life gets in the way, but I can proudly say that out of all the work out regimens that I've tried, running has stuck with me the longest.

     Believe me, it definitely hasn't been a walk in the park, and some days I want to just stop, but my determination to reach my goals always gets me back into it. That's why this week when I tried to go for running two continuous miles and succeeded, I felt incredible. I had spent the summer running outside (which is way harder than treadmill running), and would run a mile, walk 5-10 minutes, and then run another mile on the days that I could squeeze it in between working and MCAT studying, but obviously that made it difficult to improve. When the school year began I was swamped with MCAT studying, but I was determined to get back on track. I would at least do my. mile-walk-mile routine three times a week, and I did that for for about the past two months. Then last week I decided it was time to put those two miles together and I hope to only keep improving:) 

   I've never been the fittest girl, so this is incredible for me. I could barely even run in high school and here I am becoming a runner! What's my point? If I can do it, anybody can. So, if you've always wanted to run, just go ahead and start! You never know, you may think you hate it, and later find out that it's the best thing that could've ever happened to you:)

                        ~Gen<3

 

 

         

This girl is awful at blogging...

     I greatly apologize as I feel that the majority of posts on this blog are about how I suck at blogging, but it's mainly due to the fact that I have been insanely busy!

     So, where have I been? Well, the past couple months I've been juggling school, work, volunteering, a social life ( If we can really call it that), family, and trying to stay sane. The end of the summer/beginning of the school year was dedicated to MCAT prep (I re-took mine in the second week of September) and then the subsequent weeks were spent trying to catch up on everything I had put aside in order to study. The end of September also brought preparations for my trip to D.C. (hopefully I'll blog about that soon!) and then just dealing with midterms.

     Currently, The semester is about to go into ultra-speed (There are only six weeks left!), and I'm sure to have loads to do, but I have to enjoy the moment as it is Senior year and this will be one of the two last end of semester rushes that I'll experience (Until, Med School. Hopefully!). Other than that, I feel as I'm fighting off a slight cold. It might be due to the flu shot I received yesterday ( Hello, artificially acquired immunity anyone?), or just the general lack of sleep that has suppressed my immune system. Either way, it's not fun. With that being said, I'm going to try and get some rest before my next class! I hope everyone has a good day!

~Gen:)

Losing Balance

     So, to say that I am possibly the worst blogger would definitely be an understatement. I know I said that I would be able to blog more over the summer, but surprisingly I've been busier than ever! Mostly due to attempting to balance work, volunteering, MCAT studying, and somewhat of a social life. Let's just say, that as hard as I try I still feel like there aren't enough hours in the day haha. It's definitely all good though! I've been working a lot, which is obviously good because I want to save up money for a trip in the fall, but that has also made it rather difficult when it comes to trying to squeeze in my workouts as well as intense studying. On top of that, trying to spend time with all the people that I want to see over the summer does demand a fair amount of time. Of course I've enjoyed the last portion, so there are definitely no complaints:)
   
    All things said, I definitely think that I would greatly benefit from some life organization and lots of self discipline. Hopefully, that will allow me to be able to blog a little bit more and also to find the balance in my life that I feel that I am missing at the moment.

   On that note, I do want to say that I do know that I am being harder on myself than I probably should be, since I know that I've been trying to balance a lot and I honestly haven't done a terrible job. I just haven't been able to do everything that I want and that's totally okay! I think the most important part is to do as much as you can, and not stress about the things that you should be doing or should have done. Life obviously has gone on just fine without them, so why stress about it?

  Anyway, I hope to talk to you soon, but for now I'm off to bed:)

~Gen:)

Life Updates:)

     So, I think it goes without saying that I've been incredibly busy! When I had originally started my blog, I was in the midst of studying for my MCAT, finishing up my second semester of Junior year, and starting a new job. Sadly, that resulted in major blog neglect:/ Now that things have settled down a bit, I'm hoping to be able to blog way more, since it is definitely something that I'd like to actually get into:)

 

     Life has been fairly decent recently. I've mainly been working and spending time with friends. Which is quite alright with me:) It's rather nice, since it's one of my first summers that I've been spending a majority of my time in Chicago. I'm originally from the suburbs, so although we've always spent a lot of time in Chicago, I never spent the entire summer up here. I swear that the more time I spend here, the more I fall in love with the city. I'm pretty sure that it'll be rather hard to get me to leave:) Junior year finished quite nicely for me, and I'm enjoying my new job. I'm working at a Lingerie store called Soma (it's the lingerie store for Chicos/White House Black Market), so I do bra fittings and just help customers pick out new bras and panties. It has its moments, but overall no complaints!

     Otherwise, I started volunteering at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital this week which I'm super excited about! I spend my time playing with kids, so what's not to love:) I hope to become a pediatrician one day, so getting the experience to work with kids is great practice:)

     My first MCAT didn't turn out as well as I had wished ( The result of taking it two days after my last final), so I am planning on retaking it in the fall and I've made the decision to postpone my medical school applications until next year. Obviously this isn't ideal, but it isn't the worst thing that could possibly happen either. I'm intrigued to see what I'll end up doing during my year off, but I'm not really worried since I feel that everything happens for a reason and that everything will work out in the end:) 

     I hope you all are having a lovely day/night and I hope to post something else very soon:)

xoxo Gen:)

Ipsy Glam Bag March 2014

Hello:) So today I wanted to do a little review of the Glam bag that I received for March. Glam bags are a monthly beauty subscription where for $10 a month the Ipsy company will send you an adorable, little makeup bag along with a selection of make up products that are selected for that month. Each month has a different theme along with different products. When you sign up for the subscription on the website you take a quiz which is supposed to personalize what you will receive in future bags. It does take a bit to end up on their subscription list, I had to wait a month, but I do believe the wait is well worth it if you are a beauty fanatic like myself, and you love to try new products without breaking the bank:)

This month's theme was in support of local artist Klari Reis who designed the print for this particular bag. I believe this is a new series that Ipsy is trying to launch, and I think it's cool because it results in creative makeup bags.

As far as the products, each month you get about 4-5 deluxe beauty samples in your bag. This month I received four products.

My first product was this Flawless Beauty Primer by Pixi. It is a salmon hued primer that is supposed to go under your foundation to make your foundation last longer as well as give your skin a little pick me up. Typically I'm not a huge fan of primers due to the fact that I have oily skin and at times primers can just make that a thousand times worse, but I was excited to see this because Pixi beauty is well-known for having great products and I'm excited to see how this holds up!

I received a sample of the bareMinerals marvelous Moxie lipstick in the shade get ready. I'll admit the sample is a tad bit on the small side, but considering that the lipstick itself is rather pricey and that they also threw in a coupon it's not too shabby for a $10 beauty subscription:)

The lipstick, which I have swatched above, is a lovely natural berry shade which is one of my favorite colors to wear since it is neutral, but still gives you a pop of color.

I also received a Chella beauty eyeliner pen in the shade Indigo Blue. This pen is a felt tipped liner pen which is perfect if you not only love to line your eyes, but also if you are a fan of winged liner like I am:) the tip on the pen is slender and pretty flexible which will give you a fair amount of control when applying.

The color is bright, but still wearable. Here the color looks a little brighter due to the light, but I think it shouldn't be too bad to wear. I think it'll add a cute little pop of color to your makeup without going all out on the eye makeup. I tested it a bit and it doesn't seem to rub off easily, but obviously I need to fully test it out in the field:) 

For me, the real "prize-winner" for this month's bag was the NYX Love in Rio trio.

The trio is in the color "Barefoot in the sand" and contains a lovely selection of neutral colors. I , being a huge fan of neutrals, love receiving colors like this as they are the ones that I usually tend to gravitate towards for my everyday makeup. I was also excited because I am a huge fan of NYX and I have a couple other palattes from the same line which I already love. These trios retail for about $6.99 so I would say that it made the bag well worth it.

Overall, I would say that I am fairly content with this month's bag, and with my Ipsy experience this far. I am excited to try out these products and to see what is coming next month:)

~Gen:)

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome:)

     

     As this is my very first blog post, I thought it would be quite fitting to take the time to introduce it and myself, so that you can get a glimpse of what you can expect and hopefully enjoy!

     I am a college student from Chicago, born and raised in the south suburbs just outside of the very same lovely city. I am majoring in Biology with a minor in Psychology hoping to head into medical school directly after. I have a slight obsession with anything beauty related and have tried my fair share of beauty products. Naturally as a student of psychology, I quite enjoy discussing life topics and giving my two cents on them. I am interested in a healthy lifestyle, and have also recently become a fan of running. You can possibly expect a fair share of that. I love to cook and bake, although I wouldn't call myself an expert. I'm pretty much a Jill of all trades, calling myself a Jack as the phase is normally used doesn't seem fitting;), and love all sorts of different things. You can pretty much expect a little bit of everything from me, but of course with a touch of sweetness through out it all:)

     I hope that my blog provides a little bit of something for everyone, and that it can at least put a smile on someone's face:) I look forward to posting, and I hope you guys enjoy!

~Gen:)