Mountain Trip 2010

   Two of my favorite things: the mountains and Fall weather.

Andrews, NC.

Upcoming Events

I know we're only a week into October but I'm already loving it. Fall weather always put me in good spirits, it's my favorite season. I'm really looking forward to some awesome upcoming make-up opportunities and well as photography ones. On the 22nd & 23rd, I'll be participating along with some of my Sephora ladies doing the Simon Mall Fashion Show...

 After doing the Belk Fashion Show that Tim Gunn hosted in May, I was really looking forward to doing another one and my Store Director informed me today that I'll be doing makeup for it. Needless to say, I'm very excited. That same weekend I'm going to be working along with the very talented Sunny Hutchinson, Founder of Themba Imagery doing a modern day bridal look with a classic twist. To end the weekend I'll be doing photos of my Store Directors little boys. They are truly adorable, both of them look like that could be be in Baby Gap ads, just precious.

Since Holiday is around the corner, which in the retail world means working longer hours, dealing with even more ridiculous clients but then those checks are oh so wonderful. I'm in dire need of some new photo equipment and I'd figured I would start to buy things in bits and pieces. The first thing on my list is a new flash, I greatly appreciate the one Katie gave me (that I even forgot I had for a while) but I want to buy one for myself. I found one a good on B&H that's in my price range so I'll probably get that within the next month a diffuser but that isn't expensive. 

Business Card!

My first business card courtesy of Vistaprint! Since these are just my "starter" cards I'd figured I would be keep it simple and to the point. I plan to get more professional ones made in the future but I'm very content for now!

Chimney Rock

Sunday afternoon Katie and I ventured to the cute little mountain town of Chimney Rock, North Carolina. The mountains are one of my favorite places to go in the Fall and I've never been to Chimney Rock and Katie said her family used to go every year. The drive was only about two and a half hours and even though the sky was slighty overcast, the weather was beautiful. I took a lot of photos, many of them on my iPhone with the Hipstamitc application. It was the most productive yet relaxing Sunday I've had a long time. Here are some photos from the trip:

On the road!

We pulled over to take photos of the fields...

Creepy rustic barn

Almost there!

Some of the shops...

You've got to do better than this CR!!!

Rainy day rainbow leading us home.

Venomous Villains

I picked up my pre-ordered wonderfulness (yes, I know that's not a word but it fits my purchase perfectly) from MAC today. I haven't been this excited for a makeup purchase in a long time and a buy makeup pretty often. Their newest limited edition collection is called Venomous Villains and it's theme is based on the villains in Disney movies, it's fitting seeing as how Halloween is just a month away. I love the Evil Queen and Maleficent the most from the collection, I do find it funny because Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were two of my least favorite Disney movies. I was more of an Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast type of girl.

Gloss: Revenge is Sweet

Eyeshadow duo: She Who Dares

Lipstick:  Toxic Tale

Blush: Bite of an Apple

This lipstick is definitely not for the lady who is afraid of color! I'm a fan of bright lips so this was right up my alley. I do enjoy the color by itself but I applied some of the gloss on top and that sealed the deal for me, perfect!

Bite of an Apple, a matte pinky coral blush that would work well on most skin tones.

I'm probably going to wear this mineralize eye shadow duo tomorrow because these colors are gorgeous, a deep cobalt blue and a rich hunter green. Their mineralize eye shadows are highly pigmented even with all the shimmer. I'm glad I was able to get a hold of some collection before certain pieces sold out.

24

Birthday dinner at Ru Sans

This weekend couldn't have been more amazing, I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face the entire time. Friday, I turned 24 and the 24th! Funny huh? That morning I picked my sister up from Greensboro and we had a lovely sister bonding day that consisted of college life conversations, spending way too much money (luckily I had an awesome coupon) at Torrid and dinner at Wild Wings. 

We're cool :)

Saturday was all about primping and being fabulous. I'm lucky to have such talented friends that made me look gorgeous for my birthday festivities. As you can see, I recently decided to chop off my hair- I was ready for change and I've been debating cutting my hair for a few months now finally decided to do it two weeks ago. Chop, Chop! I'm loving having short hair again. That afternoon I took Topaz to get her hair cut with the very talented Kendrick Black and as a birthday gift he gave my hair a little sprucing! When he was done I felt like I was channeling my inner Janelle Monae.

Hair was fresh and I was off to get my makeup done at Nordstroms by Smashbox's resident artist Eric Decker. I'm always very hesitant when getting my makeup done by another artist because you become so used to doing your own makeup you know you like and how you want it. You can only hope that when explaining your ideal look that it comes out the way you have envisioned in your mind. I didn't have a preference going in, I just wanted the look to be sultry and I wanted to incorporate my signature pink lip. The end result was beautiful, I loved the pop of pink on the cheek and after wearing it I NEED to have that blush. That color would be versatile on every skin tone. The blush (which you can only get in a limited edition Burlesque themed train case) is going to be exclusive to Nordstroms in October.

Pink

Dinner was at Ru Sans and that ended up being a great turn out. Initially the service was only so-so, it took around 15 minutes to get drinks and then the dinner itself took a while but everyone was in good spirits. I could tell the waiters were trying especially since we had such a large group. I told Katie earlier last week that I'm probably going to cry at dinner and I did- happy tears though, happy tears! This year has been very trying and I was so happy to have most of the people that I love in one place and I just got overwhelmed with emotion. After dinner the majority of us ventured to Wet Wellies in the Music Factory. The music there was a bust and and even my strong slushy drink couldn't make it better. We did try to make the best out a bad music situation but I still had a little party left in me! A few ladies and I headed next door to Butter and that was more my pace, everyone there was dancing and all I really wanted to do was dance! I ended my birthday weekend with a family dinner at Olive Garden Sunday afternoon and not a bit hungover! I was truly surprised because I consumed quite a few drinks- a mild headache did hit me in the middle of the day but that was it. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the night:

And done

On my 25th, I'll be in NYC living the dream and struggling to live but that makes life more exciting right? Ha! I hope so!