Jun12

June 2018 Funky Time Jams

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June 2018 Funky Time Jams

Hello!! Warm weather brings the best listening to music scenarios in existence: 1) Outdoor concerts. And 2) Driving with your windows down and your music loud. I am still basking in the glory of being front and center at X Fest, and I am so looking forward to seeing Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie next month. But, for now, I have been revisiting some old and new favorites as we make our way through June. Like the following:

(And, as always, I have no rights to these songs or videos!)

I got to see lovelytheband at X Fest and I am SO glad that I did, because their music fucking slaps. The song “Broken” is so damn catchy and I can’t wait to explore their songs more once I get my hands on their LP “Everything I Could Never Say”. Really good stuff. And, of course, I’m on an even bigger Jack White kick than usual since I got to breathe the same air as him a little over a week ago!! What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man. :*)

What concerts are you attending this summer? What are some of your summer anthems? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun11

New Pixi Eyeliner

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New Pixi Eyeliner

Hello everyone and happy Monday! My mom is a big fan of Pixi cosmetics and always scores super awesome deals when shopping their products online. She always manages to get some type of freebie or percentage off of her order, making the purchasing of a more expensive makeup line totally worthwhile. During her last online haul, my mom got two mini eyeliners for free, and bequeathed the black one onto me since she wouldn’t use it. Take a look:

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I have to say, this Endless Silky Liner by Pixi offers the smoothest application that I’ve experienced from any drugstore brand. Although I use similar eyeliners to this one, you can definitely tell that they are a pencil. Not the case with this one. The liner itself feels so creamy and the color is so pure and I can kind of see why people would spend about fourteen dollars for a full sized one of these.

Would I ever venture into purchasing from the Pixi brand after I finish this eyeliner? Maybe if it was a really amazing deal. But, I’m okay with sticking to my CoverGirl eyeliner for now! 🙂

What brand of eyeliner do you use? Do you use a liquid liner or a pencil? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun10

Birthday Freebies

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Birthday Freebies

Hi everyone! As you all know, Lil Red balls on a budget and that means embracing rewards programs at my favorites stores and eateries like it’s my job. So, it’s no surprise that when my birthday month comes around, I get bombarded with all of the deals and freebies like nobody’s business. If you sign up for the different apps and rewards programs listed below, you can get in on the freebies, too!

  • Small popcorn at Regal movie theaters
  • One burrito from Moe’s
  • Free dessert from the Olive Garden
  • Small smoothie from Robek’s
  • Drink of choice from Starbucks
  • Makeup product from Sephora
  • Makeup product from Ulta
  • Bread sticks from Pizza Hut
  • Medium pizza from Hungry Howie’s

Obviously, I have been eating REALLY good lately and the price has always been right when you don’t pay a cent for it! Happy birthday to me, INDEED! 😀

What other stores and restaurants offer birthday rewards? Which rewards programs are you registered to? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun9

X Fest Birthday Bash

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X Fest Birthday Bash

Hello everyone and happy weekend! Exactly one week ago, my sister, Kristen, and I were in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania for X Fest – a music festival featuring Lovelytheband, Sir Sly, AWOLNATION, Cold War Kids, and Jack White. My parents were kind enough to treat me to FRONT PIT tickets to the show for my birthday, which resulted in my sister and I being mere feet in front of the stage for the entire seven hour duration of the festival. It. Was. Amazing. If you don’t believe me, take a look for yourself:

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^^^ Lol at Aaron Bruno’s pelvic thrust pictures and Sir Sly straight GETTIN’ IT with his hands in the air! 😀

What was cool about X Fest, is that it featured such a fantastic lineup. Obviously, I would have gone just to see Jack White, since he’s one of my all time favorites. But, the fact that another one of my favorites, AWOLNATION, and two other bands that I thoroughly enjoy, Sir Sly and Cold War Kids, was there made it so much sweeter. And, then, you add being literally right in front of the stage into the mix, and it turns into being one of the best days of my life.

The nice thing about the set lists for all of the bands that performed, was that they didn’t just strictly play songs from their most recently released albums. It was more of a fan favorite lineup, where crowd pleasers were played, as well as a wide array from a variety of albums. It was so much fun to be able to hear throwback favorites like Sir Sly’s “Gold” during his set or Cold War Kids’ “Miracle Mile” and “Hang Me Up To Dry” live, because it was such a firm reminder of why I enjoy these bands in the first place.

Sir Sly and Cold War Kids were awesome. They were. But, my loyalty will always lie with AWOLNATION and Jack White for what would be considered the highlights of my day. X Fest was actually my second time seeing AWOLNATION live, and they were just as fantastic as I remember them being.

AWOLNATION’s set was filled, as per usual, with Aaron Bruno interpretive dancing, running around the stage like a mad man, and singing his beautiful heart out. Their set was eight songs long, and I sure wish that it could have been longer! Four of the songs were off of AWOLNATION’s latest album, “Here Come The Runts” while the remaining half was from “Run” and “Megalithic Symphony”.

Almost all of the songs were fast paced, hype you up songs, until things slowed down for “Handyman”. During this song, Aaron Bruno acquired a fistful of pink roses and threw the very first and last of the five or six to ME!! I seriously could have cried – I honestly can’t believe that I didn’t. I got TWO ROSES from Aaron Bruno, one of my major man crushes. It doesn’t get much better than that.

The five bands that played before Jack White all probably performed for a half hour to forty-five minutes, respectively. Jack, however, played for an entire hour and a half and it was pure magic from start to finish. Despite his latest album, “Boarding House Reach” being released recently, Jack White played songs from all three of his solo albums and bands, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and The White Stripes.

Although Jack White’s entire performance was a major highlight, some of my most favorite songs that he played included “My Doorbell”, “Steady As She Goes”, “Lazaretto”, “I Cut Like A Buffalo”, and his opener of “Over And Over And Over”. And, it wouldn’t be a Jack White concert if he didn’t close with “Seven Nation Army”!

It was so insane to be standing directly in front of the man that you’ve had a crush on since grace school. It seriously didn’t even feel real that Jack White was playing within six feet of me. The same goes for every band that performed. I was literally right there. I got to spend the day with my sister enjoying amazing music and seeing some of my favorite bands. I can’t believe how lucky I am, and I wish that I could go back in time and relive the day a million more times.

Who else has attended X Fest before? What concerts are you going to this summer? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun8

Unique Differences In U.S. Military Weddings

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Unique Differences In U.S. Military Weddings

Each of us is dreaming and planning of how to make our special day stand out and worth remembering for everyone. But, sometimes, it’s easier said than done. However, if you are serving in the military, you are an ex-Army officer, or you’re a cadet in the Academy, you are entitled to have a wedding ceremony in a military fashion. Military weddings in the States are different than the typical civil weddings in many ways.

Although they proved to be very hard to organize and plan due to the uncertainty and dynamics of living the military life, there is a big chance that everyone present at the wedding will remember it for all of those little things that are applicable only to these types of weddings. In this article, we’ll give you a number of brief examples of all of the traditions related to military-themed weddings:

Dress Code:

If you’re in the military and you decide to marry your beloved, you will be expected to wear your unit’s uniform, along with all of the medals or ribbons that you might have. And, as there will probably be lots of other military members (most commonly, the best man), they are also expected to wear their Army suits.

In cases when the bride is the one serving her country, there is a tradition that calls for a bride wearing military boots under her beautiful wedding dress. Apart from that, when attending a military-themed wedding, all attendees should wear formal attire if they’re not members of the military.

Arch From the Drawn Swords:

The feeling of walking down the aisle and saying that fateful ‘’yes’’ is even better when you know that there will be a memorable moment after that where you and your beloved will march down the arch made of drawn swords and sabres. Truly a sight to behold and relatable only to military weddings.

Army Insignia:

To spice things up even more and make everyone feel like part of the Army tradition, couples can also opt for engraving custom insignia on challenge coins and presenting a coin to each guest. Professional yet affordable coins can be made by Embleholics on your big day.

It’s also worth noting here that military couples do enjoy some benefits in the form of numerous discounts when it comes to finding a professional makeup artist for the wedding or acquiring pearl wedding rings.

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Unsplash Image

Getting Married on Base:

Military bases of operation usually provide everything for the wedding ceremony and the reception that comes after that. You won’t have a chance of attending a wedding ceremony on base if you are invited to a civilian wedding!

There are many other things that we didn’t mention in this article, but we will leave the rest for you to imagine (although we are pretty sure that you already know of many things that should be added to our little list here). The bottom line, is that military weddings are truly different than other weddings. They never fail to create unforgettable memories and experiences for everyone.

Featured Image By: Unsplash

Jun8

BFF Birthday Haul

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BFF Birthday Haul

Hiii everyone and TGIF! My best friend, Lea, and I have been gifting birthday and Christmas presents to each other since our Freshman year of high school in 2008. So, of course, this year was no exception! We always seem to know exactly what to get each other, so it was no surprise that I loved her birthday presents to me seen below:

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The Haul:

  • A bottle of moscato (My favorite!)
  • A bag of vanilla Starbucks coffee grounds (Also my favorite!)
  • A darling new coffee mug (My other favorite!)
  • A Starbucks gift card (My most favorite!)

The best part about Lea’s gifts, is that they are always things that I wouldn’t buy for myself. And, in my opinion, that makes for the perfect present. I have so many amazingly cute mugs and knick knacks from Lea throughout the years of our friendship and I cherish all of them and have them displayed proudly in my room. I am obsessed with the stonewear “Hello Gorgeous” mug that will be perfect to hold my morning coffee in. The bronze pineapples add an amazing touch of summer fun, which is great for my early summer birthday!

And, of course, who doesn’t love wine?! 😉

What kind of prezzies do you love to gift your BFF with? How long have you been friends with your bestie? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jun7

Happy 24th Birthday To Me!!

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Happy 24th Birthday To Me!!

Hello!!! Today is a wonderful day for planet Earth, because it’s my 24th birthday! Although I’m not too keen on getting older, birthdays are still a time for celebration – and I do love celebrating myself. 😀 These past few years have been a royal shit show for yours truly so, even though going into a new year is scary, I am looking forward to things *hopefully* going up from here!

Thanks again to all of my wonderful readers for all of the love and I hope you guys have an amazing day – I’m sure going to try to!

Happy birthday to meeeeee!!!!!!!!

Jun6

Designing Your Own Custom T-Shirts

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Designing Your Own Custom T-Shirts

Designing a few custom t-shirts can be a great way to promote your brand, represent your favorite local club, or just have some unique articles of clothing in your wardrobe. Regardless of what purpose you’ll be using your custom shirts for, there are some particulars you’ll want to consider beforehand. Here’s what you should be keeping in mind:

What’s Your Goal?

You might think a t-shirt is just a t-shirt, but it pays to think about your goals before jumping into your design phase. If you’re going to be marketing your custom shirts as a sale item, you’ll want to craft them with that purpose in mind. Techie has a great write-up that covers how you can craft shirts that will sell well, with some choice tips being that you should concentrate on basic colors (like black) and simple designs.

If you’re going to be using your shirts to market your brand, as part of a unifying outfit for an organization, or just for your own enjoyment, however, you can experiment more with colors, font choices, patterns, and the like. The more personal to yourself you intend the final product to be, the more leeway you’ll have in this regard.

What About Your Design?

No matter your goals, you’re going to want whatever shirt you design to be high quality. If you have a measure of graphic design talent yourself, you can get to work devising your t-shirt art, remembering to keep in mind some of the best practices for doing so. Both 99designs and Creative Bloq have excellent guides that can set you on the right track. Above all else, you’ll want to take the tone and personality you’re trying to convey into account:

“You want to make sure your t-shirt design communicates clearly…Is your brand playful or serious? Edgy or conservative? Luxurious or affordable? A focused t-shirt design can answer all of these questions at a glance.”

You can convey a great deal of information with the right graphics. Do your research if you’re going for any sort of symbolism, and don’t go too “on-the-nose” if you’re trying to attempt something humorous. Remember: the small details matter, but subtlety and simplicity will help you win the day when it comes to designing the best t-shirt you possibly can.

Now, if you aren’t particularly savvy when it comes to design, but still have some ideas that you think would look amazing printed, you might have to turn to a third party to help bring your vision to life. Companies like The Teehive (and others) are generally regarded as specialists when it comes to putting designs onto clothing. Normally, working with such a business to complete your designs grants a few options.

You could, for instance, select one of the designs that they have available, applying subtle (or sweeping) customizations to make them more personal and applicable to your brand.

This might be a good option if you don’t need anything overly-distinct, but if you have something more innovative in mind, a better option would be to work with a designer directly. You could describe your idea to them and they would use your input to draft something that fits what you’re going for.

If you decide to go the third-party route, remember that the tried-and-true wisdom on selecting the right graphic designer to work with you is always applicable in such scenarios, and you should probably prioritize quality and professionalism over pricing in most situations.

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Chillin’

What About Getting Your Shirts Printed?

Unless you’ve got a screenprinting business set up in your back office, you’ll need to turn to the pros for this final step. Again, there are plenty of companies that can assist — from your local print shops to bigger names like The Teehive — and a skilled touch is exactly what you’ll need to bring your shirts to life. Just remember, there are plenty of options when it comes to t-shirt fabrics, weights, sizes, labeling, etc. that will affect the look of your end product and total costs. Make sure you take all of these into consideration to ensure that you end up with custom t-shirts that make you satisfied.

Wrapping Up:

Going the custom t-shirt route for your brand, club, or personal enjoyment has its intricacies but, when done right, it can be a worthwhile endeavor. Keep some of these tips and considerations in mind and, above all else, you should try to create something that speaks to you — just a bit of thought in this regard will go a long way in ensuring the best quality.

Featured Image By: Pexels

Jun6

Creative Ways To Save For Travel

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Creative Ways To Save For Travel

You can travel with debt, but taking steps to reduce your debt before traveling is advisable. Loan consolidation makes a lot of sense, and could save you enough capital for a trip over time. Generally, when you’ve got any debt, your best strategy to liberate yourself will be to live beneath your means until the cost has been overcome.

For example: say you make $2,000 a month. $800 goes to rent and utilities, $200 goes to gasoline, $500 goes to food. What do you do with that additional $500? Do you spend it, or save it? Well, if you’re living beneath your means, you save it. That, or you put it toward paying off any debt you owe.

Something you additionally want to do is find ways to cut down on regular bills. For example, if you’re paying $200 a month in gas, but you only live two miles from where you work, and this is your primary reason for driving, see if you can cut that number in half. A 250-mile tank can make 125 two-mile trips or 62.5 consecutive work-days.

If you’re only working 20 days a month, then you can make it to and from work and still have 80+ miles left over for whatever you like. If you’ve got a conventional car, a tank is only around $50. So, if you can cut down your time spent driving, you can preserve the lifespan of your vehicle while reducing your monthly expenses, allowing you to either save money or pay off debt with greater expedience.

Practical Considerations:

Certainly, this is easier said than done. Once you’ve established the non-negotiables of your budget, it’s time to see what you’ve got leftover and what you can do with it. Even if you have relatively little, proper planning can help you attain necessary capital for a vacation. Funds for your trip could come from smart, short term budgeting for a weekend getaway. Or, perhaps you would like to explore luxury holidays to Iceland. A big trip means planning to the letter, budgeting until you have the means and then some, and making long term changes to your lifestyle.

If after you streamline your budget, you can only add an extra $200 to your expendable income, that is still $2,400 in a year; or enough for a pretty decent vacation. You might also find that budgeting paid off during your travel itself. If you travel abroad and have extra money left over, you could convert old currency to cash to put towards your next adventure.

While you are considering your travel budget, you might want to think about group travel to cut back costs on lodging. Vacation rental properties like those offered by christina lake rentals (or a similar option in the place you are traveling to) offer places with a maximum occupancy of eleven. The cost per night divided by a group of friends can result in huge savings for you. The same goes for the cost of practical necessities like rental cars and gas.

Transportation:

Another important thing to consider in your budget is your car itself. If you feel like you are constantly shelling out for repairs and a full tank isn’t getting you far, you might be due for an upgrade. A great first step is researching “preapproval car loan” to find dealerships near you where you know you can purchase from. You can also look into how much money you will get towards a better vehicle if you trade your car in. Newer models of cars are safer and more economic and can end up saving you money in the long run. Not to mention you will want a safe car when you are driving to your vacation destination!

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Budget wisely!

Avoiding Creature Comforts:

Still, this is a fairly ideal circumstance, and cutting down your monthly expenditures in terms of food and gas can be difficult. So, you must find ways that you can eliminate discretionary spending. You may be surprised at how many unnecessary things you buy. Don’t think about creature comforts, think about living at a bare minimum.

For $100, you can eat well for a month as an individual, should you be careful enough in purchasing and preparing your own meals. You can combine such a budget with EBT or food bank sustenance to increase the amount of food you have access to. You can additionally seek options beyond your income to help you acquire what you need.

You may be surprised to find what you actually qualify for, especially if you’re a low-income family, there may be support solutions out there for you. Here’s the AUS Benefits website; it can help you to see if you’re eligible for financial assistance in certain areas of life. Sometimes, this can come in the form of direct support or tax breaks.

Something else that can help you save money is where you choose to travel. You don’t have to stay in the highest dollar accommodations available. You may look for friends, relatives, or look for special offers such as these. There are also after-market type hotel situations which, though perhaps not ideal, can save you a few hundred dollars.

Although travel is a luxury, it can be more attainable with the above tips!

Featured Image By: Pixabay

Jun6

How To Organize Your Photography Portfolio

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How To Organize Your Photography Portfolio

Whether you are a professional photographer or an amateur snapper with ambition, it is sensible to have a portfolio of work that you can show clients, friends, and anyone else who shows an interest. These days, photography is mainly digital, so an online portfolio is the way to go, but even if you still develop your photographs the old-fashioned way, the same tips apply:

Quality Control:

The best thing about digital photography, is that you can take hundreds of photos in a very short time. The bad thing is, that you end up with thousands. Be honest: most of your photos are not worthy of a place in a portfolio. This is not to say that they are no good, but the whole point of creating a portfolio is that you are highlighting your very best work.

The first step in creating a portfolio is to curate your work. Go through your best shots and select the ones that you think are worthy of a place in your portfolio. Don’t just rely on your own judgment, as it will almost certainly be biased. Instead, ask a selection of people to choose their favorite shots based on artistic qualities and technical ability. The photos that make the grade should tick the right boxes for everyone.

Quality control isn’t just about your pictures itself but employing best practices at every shoot so you can continue to grow your portfolio. Come prepared to smile, be engaging, and have fun. Don’t forget backup equipment because nothing halts a photo shoot like technical problems. However, if you forget a spare film camera battery, it’s worth noting that many film cameras can still function, allowing you to take pictures even without a working light meter. Your clients have the potential to review you via word of mouth and online so you always want to put your best, most professional face forward.

Professional Portfolios:

If you are a professional photographer, or you have aspirations to become one, you need to organize your photos to fit your business model. For example, a Suffolk Wedding Photographer wouldn’t include images of edgy urban scenes, as clients are not going to be interested. Instead, he/she would make sure that there were plenty of wedding themed photos in the portfolio so potential clients know exactly what they are getting when they book the photographer.

Organize into Themes and Galleries:

Check out Virtualphotographystudio.Com to see how to organize your work into galleries. Themed galleries are very important, as they help clients and viewers find the images that they want to see.

Using our example of a wedding photographer, we might have separate galleries for couples’ shots, family portraits, and perhaps miscellaneous photos of kids, animals, and even wedding cakes. If you have several existing clients, you might choose to organize your work by the client rather than subject matter. This would be applicable to a fashion photographer. You could also organize by creative theme. For example, if you have a series of images of Tuscan villas or Canadian landscapes, add them in separate folders.

A portfolio needs to be easy to navigate. Use a main menu and sub-menus. The harder it is to find images, the more likely you are to lose a viewer.

Caption Images:

Images should be captioned with key details such as title, the year it was taken, etc. If you have an online portfolio, images also need an image tag so that search engines can identify what they are and include them in search results.

Choose the right portfolio design. There are many themes to choose from if you decide to create an online portfolio, so select the best one for your business model and impress the socks off of potential clients!

Featured Image By: Pexels