Donna

Sunday Funday: M.A.C Contour Class and Campo Downtown

Usually I work my Sundays away. But this week I took the day off to attend a contouring class put on at M.A.C by my lovely friend Bailey and her beautiful coworker. They did an awesome job, and it was kind of exciting spoiling myself with a bunch of new product. Had a great lunch with my dear friend Jen afterwards in downtown Reno at Campo. Thank you lovely ladies for being a part of my long overdue Sunday Funday! 

M.A.C

Techniques: Take notes

So many beautiful things!!

Salon Chocolat at M.A.C

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Campo | Downtown

Downtown Stroll.

Yours truly plus Jennifred.

Campo: Wine and Cheese, yes please.

Campo: Leave your mark.

Good reads... On the bathroom floor.

Home, and it feels like Christmas morning. <3

Faces of Halloween: Silence of the Lambs

I've never actually watched Silence of the Lambs...

|Hand painted butterfly|

Faces of Halloween: Sugar Skull

Faces of Halloween: Freakshow

Not only are we seventeen days away from Zombie Crawl, and twenty-three days from Halloween, but tonight is also the season premier of American Horror Story: Freakshow. I can't say I'll be tuning in this season, seeing as how everything past season one was more gore than I could handle, but the theme was the inspiration behind this fantasy make up look! 

If you want to set something up your face painting session please call Salon Chocolat at 775.884.3667. 

Who will you be?

Music Monday: It all Comes Down to the Sound

Salvation - Scanners


Salvation has such an eerie tinge to it's sound but I can't.stop.listening.

Home - Dotan


"Feel it crashing and burning, 'til it all collides.
Strike a match lit the fire, shining up the sky...
...Hear the voices surround us, hear them screaming out.
We'll be crying for mercy, we'll be crying out loud.
Burn the bridges in our town 'til the point where we drown.
As it all comes down..."

Before the video starts, there's a text that asks "What if home is not a place, what if home is not there to be found?" The video itself reminds me a lot of the movie "Where the Wild Things Are" and the questions posed seem to coorelate with the theme of searching for a sense of belonging, searching for a sense of love. The sound provokes desperation but the words spark a sense of hope, that in the end we'll all find home.

"Can you feel it coming back?
Through the warmth, through the cold,
Keep running 'til we're there..."

The Good Left Undone - Rise Against


The Good Left Undone is one of my all time favorite songs. It never gets old and this verse makes me melt inside every time...
"All because of you I believe in angels
Not the kind with wings, no not the kind with halos.
The kind that bring you home, when home becomes a strange place
I'll follow your voice, all you have to do is shout it out."

[&] Delinquents - Woe, Is Me


Another old favorite. I'm usually not a fan of screaming and heavier music, but if Tyler Carter's voice is somewhere in the song, I'll keep listening. I don't really follow Woe, Is Me since he left the band, but Number(S) is a regularly played album in my playlist.

"I find no humor in letting yourself stray away,
from those pictures when they cause you to see shame in yourself.
you can run from your problems,
But they'll follow you like a trend,
One shot to forgetting, six shots to falling in the end."

Saturday Night - Natalia Kills


"Teenage Tragedy"
Too true, and too many broken people, but it's all in the sound.

Music Monday

Beggin for Thread - Banks


"So I got edges that scratch
And sometimes I don't got a filter
But I'm so tired of eating all of my mispoken words
I know my disposition gets confusing
My disproportionate reactions fuse with my eager state
That's why you wanna come out and play with me, yeah
Why?

Stooped down and out, you got me beggin for thread
To sew this hole up you ripped in my head
Stupidly think you had it under control
Strapped down to something that you don't understand
Don't know what you were getting yourself into
You should have known, secretly I think you knew..."

Waiting Game - Banks



"Baby, I'm thinking it over
What if the way we started made it something cursed from the start?
What if it only gets colder...
Would you still wrap me up and tell me that you think this is smart?"

West Coast - Lana Del Rey

We've Got It - Cults

"I bet you think that you're the only ones
That the brightests lights will keep on burning for you
You keep on weaving out the smoking gun
Go on and let them talk, we'll give them something to do
There's no one else for me but you,
There's only you, my love
There's no one else that's really here
There's only you, my dear..."

Stolen Dance - Milky Chance



"Coldest winter for me, no sun is shining anymore
The only thing I feel is pain, caused by absence of you
Suspense controlling my mind, I cannot find the way out of here
I want you by my side, so that I never feel alone again...

Hell and Back - Kid Ink

Because I just really like Kid Ink...

Music Monday

If it doesn't make you feel something... 

Heart Out - The 1975

"You got something to say? 

Why don't you speak it out loud, instead of living in your head. 

It's always the same... 

Why don't you rip your heart out, instead of living in your head." 

Chandelier - Sia 

Chills anyone?

"I'm gonna live like tomorrow doesn't exist... 

I'm gonna flylike a bird through the night, feel my tears as they dry... 

I'm holding on for dear life, 

won't look down, won't open my eyes...

 ...I'm just holding on for tonight." 

You+Me - You and Me

City and Color and Pink? 

Umm yes... 

"You can be flawed enough but perfect for a person. Someone who will be there for you when you fall apart..." 

Ki: Theory - Stand by Me 

I know I've probably shared this song with my friends numerous times before, but if it's not in your Ipod yet, you're missing out. You also may remember hearing it if you attended Salon Chocolat's 3rd Annual Runway Show: In Reverie. The louder, the better... UH-MAZE-ING. 

For Me This is Heaven- Jimmy Eat World

And I know it's a oldie, but this is my all time favorite song on the planet. In fact it's the song behind my most recent tattoo, for all my friends who have been wondering. 

"The first star I see, may not be a star. 

Can't do a thing but wait, so let's wait for one more. 

The time such clumsy time, when deciding if it's time. 

I'm careful but not sure how it goes, you can lose yourself in your courage. 

When the time we have now ends, when the big hang goes 'round again... 

Can you still feel the butterflies? 

Can you still hear the last goodnight? 

And the mindless comfort grows, when I'm alone with my great plans.

And this is what she said gets her through it, 

'If I don't let myself be happy now, then when? 

If not now, when?'"

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Until next Monday music lovers.

San Francisco

"Journee, have you ever been on BART?"

"Grandpa, I don't even know what a 'BART' is..."

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Hello San Francisco, my most favorite place on the West Coast. Last Monday Journee and I had the pleasure of traveling with my dad via BART from Walnut Creek area (where we were visiting some dear friends) to the city. Earlier in our vacation, one of the girls which we were visiting was telling me about her fairly new job in the city and how she commuted daily and I commented that I didn't think giving up an hour of my time twice a day to get to work was something I could ever enjoy doing. However, once on BART, I may have changed my mind... Public transportation is SO entertaining. As long as I had a pen and paper, I could travel back and forth all day just watching and documenting the people that spilled on and off of the subway cars. It was interesting to see in the mornings how every.single.person was on their cell phones or tablets. I stared people up and down and I don't think one person looked up at all to make eye contact with me. Journee and I began playing a game where we guessed what each person's name might be, like the "Mike" the tall fair skinned and freckly kid about my age with a long red beard and orange band tee who was propped up on his clearly well used bicycle. Or "Lisa," the Asian lady with the newscaster hair and plumb colored sweater who's eyes didn't leave her cell phone from the second she walked into the car from the second I could no longer see her walking away. Because her eyes were so lost in her technology she didn't even bother to look for a place to sit, and leaned right up against the doors in front of the "DANGER: do not lean on doors" sign. It definitely took some guts on Lisa's part, my overactive imagination had me glued to my seat, with the fear that hitting the wrong bump would send those doors flying open and anyone near them plummeting to their death. Thankfully, she and her cell phone made it safely to their designated stop. As for us, naming people and imagining what their lives were like and where they were headed was just the beginning of our people watching fun. San Francisco is just one of the most fascinating places I have ever been. From the second we stepped onto the streets we were bombarded with diversity. There are so many beautiful people who looked like they just stepped out of a magazine advertisement. People in pajama pants, people in suits. People to every extreme. As we walked up the stairs from the subway onto Powell street a stalky-tattooed-islander looking man was screaming into a megaphone about Obama. I could hardly make out any words of which he was speaking, but it was clear he wasn't too fond of the president. A black man sitting on the ground a few feet away started telling him to leave Obama alone. The man with the megaphone screamed at him to shut up. I think the immediate experience may have slightly frightened my child, but I couldn't help but giggle. This is San Francisco. 

  

We did a little bit of walking around before catching a trolley down to Fisherman's Warf. The trolley ride, and building viewing was just as entertaining as the people watching for me. The architecture through out the city is incredible. Even the not so glamorous buildings are just beautiful. What I wouldn't give to make this city my home...

I don't think Journee was particularly found of the smell down by the water. Everytime I looked down at her she had such a disgusted look on her face and kept pulling her sweatshirt over her nose to block out the not so pleasant smell of fresh fish.

We spent a little bit of time walking around an old arcade down on one of the  piers. The games weren't too exciting, in fact many of them were quite strange (yes, like the Bimbo Box where twenty-five cents sends a bunch of stuffed animal monkeys into a dancing fit), but playing tourist and checking things out was entertaining within itself.

Making wishes in the fountain.

We enjoyed some melt-in-your-mouth cupcakes from Kara's Cupcakes shop in Giradelli Square.

We did a little walk through of the Bueno Vista hoping to grab one of their famous Irish coffees but the place was so packed and with my little mini still being quite underage, the only available bar seats weren't an option. However, the small cafe did provide us with an awesome suprise when we ended up running into our amazing friend Caron who watches Journee a few days a week after school. Can anyone say small world? 

One of my absolute favorite parts about the city was all of the art galleries. I wasn't really allowed to take pictures inside of any of them, but I could've spent hours just gawking at the artwork. Wall sized paintings by Phillipe Pasqua, 3D metal art by David Kracov. I didn't catch the name of the artist in the above picture so if anyone recognizes the work, fill this lady in.

We tired much more quickly than usual, probably because of the few hot days spent around the pool proceeding our visit into the city, so we ended up calling our day somewhat early. But needless to say, the trip was entertaining as San Francisco usually is.

I will be back, and next time I won't forget my camera or my notebook. Until next time San Francisco.

Sister.

Lesson of the day...

Hello Birthday

Twenty-Seven. Gaaahhhh, I'm getting OLD. Ok, ok... let me explain because I know many of my friends are getting really sick of me saying this. It's kind of like when your super hot friend who obviously never misses a workout (not mentioning any names) comes around saying she's getting fat and you want to knock her out because if that's what "fat" looks like, I want to be fat too. But then she always tell me, "You know what I mean... not fat, I'm just not where I want to be right now." Yea... I know exactly what you mean. Maybe in the broad spectrum of what this world calls life, twenty-seven is hardly old. But according to my own personal scale of life acomplishments, I'm not where I thought I'd be right now. Well, wait. Let me jump back a few years... About a month before my twenty-fifth birthday I cried almost daily up until the big day. It sounds awfully dramatic and while it totally was, in my own little world I was devestated. I went into what I like to call my "Quarter Century Life Crisis." Looking back, it doesn't even seem that bad. Yet, at the time I was struggling to get through the hell some call beauty school, in between second jobs, broke as hell and pretty broken. I was no longer in my early twenties and I could see thirty right around the corner. I had already acomplished a failed marriage, was in the middle of a crumbling relationship and I felt like everything else that the movies tell you you're supposed to have before your thirties (you know... that fancy car, a snazzy husband, nice career and white picket-fenced house) were no where near my grasp. I was a twenty-five year old 24/7 single mom who was struggling to make my car payment, fighting to keep a relationship, find a second job, and just struggling in general to find myself. Twenty-five ended up being a really hard year. I focused a lot on what I wasn't acomplishing, and had to be hit pretty hard with some pretty big lessons. And I'm a stubborn girl. I like to think of myself as being smart- educated and logical- but let's be practical here... sometimes I can be my own worst enemy and sometimes I can be a really big idiot. And it just so happens that for the whole twenty-fifth year of my life, I was nothing short of an idiot. I put my energy and focus into the wrong people and wrong things, BUT it ended up being one of the most developmental years of my life. I grew a lot as a mother, as a friend, and as a human being. I lost a lot, let go of a lot, and learned what was really important in life. I've learned to let go of those life expectations. I may not be married or own a house. Accoriding to society, my family may be considered "broken" but in reality it's far from that. I am happy. I'm in no rush to settle down. Theres a guy in my life who makes me smile and friends who I know will never let me down. I'm in the beginning of an awesome career that I love, I (almost) own my car, and I am the mother to the funniest, most amazing, loving little girl on the planet. She views her life as fortunate, she knows she's blessed, well taken care of, and her attitude reflects gratitude. We're far from broken. We're exactly where we need to be. I'm exactly where I need to be. It may not be where I thought I'd be at twenty-seven, but if I've learned one thing in the past few years of growing up it's that trying to make life plans is just setting yourself up for dissapointment. Set goals and work hard, but take each day as it comes and enjoy it to it's fullest. You can't control the future, and life isn't always smooth sailing. But don't take the good for granted despite any struggles you may encounter. I really started to appreciate all I had during my twenty-sixth year of life. I laughed a lot more, and enjoyed the people around me. I also got to know myself a lot better and nothing beats that. At this point I can say I'm somewhat excited at this getting older business and can't wait to see what twenty-seven entails.

Five Songs I Have Not Been Able to Get Out of My Head

1. Wild Belle - Keep You

Every time this song plays on my ipod I get suuuuper pumped. Brother and sister duo, Elliot and Natalie Bergman who make up the indie-rock band Wild Belle are full of musical talent. With Natalie's gorgeous voice, reggae vibes and a heavy jazz influence in "Keep You" I can't help but start it over and over again before I finally let my ipod move on to another song.

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2. Lady Gaga - Applause

Lady Gaga's newest hit reminds me of why I fell in love with Gaga's music in the first place. She may be quirky, controversial, and just downright odd sometimes but the lady is talented. She has such a unique perception on art and it definitely shows in her videos. And this song really does make me want to get up and dance and "put my hands up and make them touch."

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3. Early Morning Rebel - Life Boat

Early Morning Rebel has easily become one of my new favorite bands. I'm especially obsessed with Life Boat and how the song strongly expresses that exhausting feeling of trying to "save."

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4. Anberlin - Impossible

I already love Anberlin like crazy, but this song takes the cake. Straight forward and real, the lyrics lay down the challenges of a relationship gone wrong. "Not so easy to forgive, harder to forget." Good shit. And to top it off, the video's pretty rad as well.

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5. Foster the People - I Would Do Anything For You

I could listen to this song on repeat all day long. With no exception to the rest of their music, "I Would Do Anything For You" is upbeat and catchy, yet so easy going at the same time.

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So that's what has been playing on my ipod regularly this past week! What's been your recent top five favorite songs?

Donna

Keep your head up, my love

Pretty Little Sunshine

It's been a busy summer. Last night while playing out in the backyard with the kiddo and the dog, I finally decided to pick up my camera and snap a couple shots. Just wanted to share this picture of our pretty little Sunshine, the world's sweetest dog. :)

Kai

Kony? Educate Yourselves.

After seeing posts on Facebook all week about the Kony 2012 campaign, I was finally able to sit down today and watch the nearly 30 minute documentary created by the Invisible Children. I've had strong feelings on related issues for quite some time now and have been eager to put out a few of my own words, yet felt that I hadn't yet learned enough about this new widespread movement to put in my two cents. After watching the documentary and reading further into additonal articles both criticing and encouraging the campaign, as well as articles concerning Uganda, the LRA, RUF, Sierra Leonne (one article led to another, but lets not stray too far from the topic) I finally feel that I've become well enough informed to voice my opinion on the subject.

I'm going to start by saying that it baffles me that so many people act as if this turmoil on African soil is brand new big news! Come on guys! This sort of stuff has been going on for decades! And the Invisible Children's video isn't the first bit of media to touch on the subject! There were major motion pictures made (Blood Diamond staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Hotel Rwanda starring Don Cheadle) that showed extremely real portrayals of extremely recent related issues in Africa. I've read numerous books about people my own age, who, while I was building forts in my backyard, were being recruited for wars in Africa, not only by rebel armies like the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) or RUF (Revolutionary United Front) but also by the NRA (National Resistance Army - also know as the Ugandan Army that the Invisible Children's video talks about). A few years ago I actually spent a whole semester studying the subject of the wars in Sierra Leonne which greatly resemble the wars that the video talks about in Uganda. This is not new people, it's been going on for a long time, yet sadly without much attention being paid to it. However, the fact that this has been going on for so long without much recognition does lead me to commend someone for finally doing something to draw attention the the issue!

Thank you Invisible Children for opening the world's eyes and sparking a desire to help others who are greatly in need! I'm going to be honest, during the documentary I cried. Watching Jacob talk about his brother and not wanting to live broke my heart. Knowing that thousands of children in Africa probably feel the exact same way really broke my heart. I agree, as I'm sure would any other person that this brutality needs to be stopped. Kony should pay for the terrible things he's done to children, women, men and entire families in Africa. But sadly, stopping Kony does not stop the armies that support him. Kony is not the first and he will not be the last. Does that mean we give up? Not by any means. But my view on this may be very different from the next person's. My faith in this campaign may not be as high as many others, my choice whether or not to financially support this specific charity may differ from many other's choices. I personally believe it comes down to the issue of wanting to help others who are hurting and struggling, and I think that if this campaign sparks that desire in millions of people, it's amazing. But I personally feel that people need to
research more! We are a talented, intelligent and strong generation!! Don't be ignorant... watch more than one video, read more than one article or more than one book and EDUCATE yourselves on what is going on in this world! Millions of people are hurting and there are a million organizations out there that truly do want to help. I'm not here to push my opinion on you, who and what you decide to support is ultimately up to you, but don't think that just because everyone else is doing it, it's the right thing to do. Find out exactly where your money is going and if it's worth it to you! Maybe Invisible Children is the right choice for you, maybe a different charity is instead, that choice is each our own! Most of us can't go to Africa and save these children from being recruited into war and being drugged, tortured, raped or murdered. But every single one of us can look at our own community and help out the children, women and men around us who are also in need. We can dig deeper and look at the clothes, jewelry, toys, and food we buy and see exactly what it is supporting (maybe one of these days I'll find the time to touch on my very extensive views on the diamond industry). I'm not here to condemn Invisible Children's video, campaign or efforts. If it's something that's causing people to open their eyes, I think that's incredible. I am however encouraging all of you to research a lot more, educate yourselves a lot more on what you are supporting!

Here's a few articles that explore a little deeper and I suggest you checking them all out...

http://trainingleadersinternational.org/blog/192/kony-2012-and-social-media-think-before-you-post#.T1jxZgcQL5A.facebook

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2012/03/problem-stop-kony/49634/

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/politics-raising-children/2012/mar/9/joseph-kony-uganda-mirrors-lra-sierra-leone/

Also check out these books (These are a few that I have read and found extremely insightful on factual and personal levels):
-A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
-The House on Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper
-Blood Diamonds: Tracing the Path of the World's Most Deadly Stone by Greg Campbell

And in case you haven't yet seen the video by Invisible Children...