A Little Bit Of Perspective....

Grateful for those calm moments where everything is as it should be...

      Hey Loves...Happy Tuesday! I know...not the most exciting day of the week, but are you healthy, have a job, have a home, etc.? Then see, things are already better! It's really just all in our perspective. So many things happen around us and to us, and it's our responsibility to decide how we react to them. I know for a fact that I've always been one to react too quickly, say things before I think, and at worst make assumptions of things being worse than they are. Ever do that? It's so much easier to go to that negative place than the positive. It really does take effort to be positive and truly feel happy. But being here in Hawaii has truly inspired me to become the best version of myself possible. As humans we are always improving and growing, because if we aren't than we'll just feel stuck which leads to unhappiness. Do you feel stuck in unhappiness right now? Well let's change that!
      So how am I attempting to become this better version of myself who lives a richer life? By going out of my comfort zone and honestly just not giving a F**k what people think or say. You see in life, there will always be the ones who try to keep you exactly where you are. And if you're a chronic people pleaser like me, than this isn't easy at all. So take it day by day, goal by goal, and so on. Act like you're in rehab for people pleasing...and try to just please yourself. YOU know what is right for you. YOU know what fills your soul. We have to give up the old, to allow for the new and for the better. And yes that means working on our psyche as well.
      Let's be real, nobody likes to admit they're envious of someone else, or even a Debbie Downer. It feels shameful and that's never a good feeling. But think of it as a sign to change! When you start feeling that green eyed monster rear it's ugly head, turn it around. Ask yourself, "How can I accomplish what that person has?" And try to take those steps, but put your own spin on it. If you're being super negative, then asks yourself how that is adding to your life? In fact, you may realize it's taking away precious time instead. It may seem easy on the outside for me, because I'm living in this beautiful place, but remember I'm also on an island with JUST my boyfriend. LOL! No family, no girlfriends, no cat, and everything is unfamiliar. It's hard, but so was being back in California with everyone else, while my love was here working. So you see, I could complain either way and I did for a while but than I woke up. I started keeping a list of 5 things I was grateful for each day. I'm trying harder to point out what's positive in a negative situation. I'm also filling my soul and life up with things that make me smile, and make me feel accomplished, like exercising most days of the week. Also don't take things so seriously. Me and my bf fight like every other couple, but laughing certain things off saves a lot of headache.
       So moral of this post? Just relax, smile, pray, and shake things off. If someone is in a bad mood around you, don't get defensive; just give them space. Life can be wasted complaining (believe me I was and still have to check myself on this!) or life can be spent on enjoying even the smallest things. Try to look at life as a kid again...wide eyed and full of possibilities! Get new hobbies or revisit those things that you used to love. Have faith and stop procrastinating on your goals. Time will pass either way. Watch and read things about uplifting stories of people that maybe were in the same situation you once were, but fled free. A lot of those people's situation didn't change, it was just how they saw those situations in a new light. I could of kept on moping around here missing everyone back home, but what good would that do? So I embraced it, and started thinking differently. Come on let's change our perspectives! Why? Because there is no reason not too.

The most beautiful beach by our house...look around & explore nature!

Finding little treasures makes me realize you don't need to spend a bunch of money when treating yourself. Found these books at a $1 bookstore yesterday, as well as these adorable coffee mugs!

Beauties on a Budget....

      Hi Loves...it's almost Friday! Are you guys excited? So I know I have been raving on and on about my recent beauty finds lately...but I'm just so excited! So here's the thing. I will be 32 at the end of the year and as much as I have prided myself on not having to wear coverage like foundation or powder all these years I'm realizing....times are changing. LOL! The thought though of wearing a heavy foundation intimidated me..I didn't even know where to start or what brand. I had been watching Beauty Youtuber Teni Panosian and was getting ideas on how this full coverage thing works. She is amazing btw, if you haven't checked her out yet! Super informative makeup tutorials!
      So I ran into her video on drugstore makeup, and if I recall I believe she has more than one. So I took notes, and started feeling excited and confident that I could do this without having to go somewhere like MAC where half the time the girls there are so snotty that they don't even acknowledge you. (Sorry..lol)  Then I started pulling up other "Drugstore Hauls," they call them; basically where these Beauty Bloggers try and tell you what cheaper brands that are just as good as the pricey stuff. I started to see a pattern too of certain brands and products that kept getting brought up. So I jumped in my car and went on a mission! Here's what I got....

1st Drugstore Haul.....

1. "STAY MATTE" PRIMER by RIMMEL-So I got a primer for under my skin. I only ever knew of eye shadow primer (I know I have been living under a rock..LOL!)  I found it to be very light and it really did the trick to cover my pores and give my skin a silky feel. About $8! 
2. "FIT ME" Foundation by Maybelline-This was recommended by Beauty Blogger Teni Panosian and she raved about it not feeling too heavy as a foundation. It has sunscreen SPF 18 which is great! It made my skin look flawless, but again I don't think foundation is for me everyday. However, if your a foundation gal, try this stuff! About $10!
3. "Sun 'n' Bronze" by NYC-I got this color in "Fire Island Tan," and I was disappointed. It went on so light and was not noticeable at all. About $3!
4. "Copper Excess" Eyeshadow by MILANI-Love this shadow! It was a bronzy gold (I'm wearing it in my pics on this post) and it had a lot of pigment. Great for the daytime. About $5!
5. "Master Glaze" Blush Stick by Maybelline-I cannot rave enough about this cream blush stick! It gave me such a glow, stayed on all night when we went out, and just made me feel super girly! The color I got was "Pinched Pink." About $8!
6. "Rapid Wrinkle Repair" Serum by Neutogena-I LOVE this stuff! It hasn't even been a week and I put it on every night and I literally can FEEL it working! I believe Teni recommended this one too. I have never personally worn a serum, in fact I wasn't even sure what it was for! Well on the box, it says it reduces wrinkles that are deeper than what the typical moisturizer can do, it brightens skin, and you just feel like your skin is drinking it up! This one was about $24 dollars which was a little pricy but it is SO worth it!
7. "Positively Radiant" Tinted Moisturizer by Aveeno-OMG! OMG! OMG! This I actually just googled "drugstore tinted moisturizer because I wasn't sure on what to pick. I had tried the "Laura Mercier" one years ago, and loved it but my skin didn't react well to it. THIS ONE though is amazing! Even my boyfriend told me I was glowing and loved it over my usual heavy blush or bronzer...LOL! It's oil-free with SPF 30, and does it's job of evening skin tone, taking away dullness, but overall just making your skin look and feel hydrated and AMAZING! Only $15!
8. "Facial Clay Mask" Avocado & Oatmeal by Freeman-I loved this lil mask, I felt it was cooling and felt refreshing the minute I put it on! It has vitamin E in it and gets to the dirt deep within the pores. These mask are always fun to try cause they're so cheap too! About $3!

      So there you have it...I hope these great finds help you girls be able to be a "Beauty on a Budget!" Because why shouldn't you be?! I know I promised my skin regime, as well as the second drugstore haul I went on this past week but it would have been way too long of post so I'll be doing another beauty one shortly. Just remember nobody can tell you what looks good on you, so don't force it. Makeup is about trial and error! It should be fun and carefree...just as life!

LOVE this cream blush!

Me with the full primer and foundation look....

The AMAZING Aveeno  Tinted Moisturizer!

PS: Men will never get it...hahaha



An Attitude of Gratitude...

 

Grateful for yummy coffee, as well as "ME" time....

      Good Morning Loves! Happy Monday! I hope that you are all having a good day so far...I meant to write this post last night on gratitude, but by the end of the day my brain was a little fried so I decided to put it off till my thinking was more clearer. So I have been living in Hawaii a little over a month now, and I finally feel like myself again. You see, when I first arrived here I was excited to start a new life with my love...but after that first week it hit me; this truly was a challenge going out of my comfort zone. I broke down, and I fell a little bit into a dark place because my boyfriend would go to work and I'd be at home all day alone. Everything familiar was no more. My parent's house wasn't five minutes away where I could just drop in. My friends weren't a coffee date away. I couldn't just get up and drive to wherever I wanted because well...I didn't have a car yet. But after a few meltdowns, feeling sorry for myself, and sleeping way too much during the day to pass the long hours until my boyfriend got home I finally realized I had to snap out of it!

      I can't say what triggered it, but I just realized how good I really do have it. I have an amazing man who works hard everyday for us, and I am living in Paradise; literally. But that just goes to show you that it isn't outside things that bring us peace, it truly is within ourselves. And truth is there were things in my life that I wasn't happy with, but I was letting those things override all the beauty in my current situation. So I made a list. First, I wrote the things I wasn't happy with...

1. My weight gain over the past year, and most recently in the past few months.
2. Not having a car and feeling trapped.
3. Being lonely and missing my family, friends, and cat.
4. Lastly, feeling lost in a sense of having all this free time, yet not quite feeling motivated to start working on my career goals due to still feeling rejected after I was laid off back in June.

So I asked myself, how can I get out of this? Simple...try to make little changes daily to fix them. How? By being grateful for what I ALREADY had and use those resources to better everything.

1. My weight-I realized I could sit and wallow over this weight, or be grateful that this was my body's way of asking me to bounce back and tackle the true reason for my weight gain. Sure I could blame it all on my earlier diagnosis of thyroid disease this year, but truly I knew that I also use food to cope and maybe at 31 this was the final time in beating my dependence on it as a coping mechanism.
2. No Car-I didn't want my bf to spend money yet on one for me, because I thought I should wait until my Dad had sold my car back home so we weren't spending more money than we truly needed too. Yet he was offering me a car and so I realized how lucky I was to even have such an option.
3. Feeling lonely-This was truly in my hands, because when I get down on myself, I tend to push people away. So I realized that I was making this worse. So I started making more of an effort to face time, call, text, and send letters to loved ones. In turn, people reciprocated.
4. Feeling lost-Last, but not least I took back my power of letting the rejection of losing my job control me. After all, I had planned on leaving anyways to move here to Hawaii. And now that I have time to really focus on my writing and taking my time to follow my goals I need to utilize it! So I started watching and researching other bloggers that inspired me and it gave me that zest again that I was missing.

Slowly but surely, over the past two weeks I have started to gain perspective and realize how lucky I am. There is so much to be grateful for and the key is to stop focusing on what you are lacking, and focus on what you already have gained. So today I am starting in my journal

The space I made in my journal for my gratitude list each day.

a "30 Day Gratitude List." Everyday I am going to write 5 things in it that am grateful for. I challenge you all to join in on it with me. Even if you're going through really hard times with your finances, your health, and so on; there is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. You may not see it now, but you will. So today start your day with saying, "Thank-you."

 

Hello Again....

A New Kind of Latte...

   Well hello again...welcome to my revamped blog! Gosh, it has been so long since I last blogged & I missed it so. As you can see, I changed things up a bit to give it a little makeover, since life has changed for me as well. Thank you so much for hanging in there as I took a break to gather my thoughts & ideas of what new direction I wanted to go for this blog. I shared a lot about my life and about certain subjects such as my health issues, happy moments, personal feelings, and things of that nature. I did always receive a ton of sweet emails and comments of other women telling me that they related to me, which was the BEST part. And I thank you for that!

   So why did I stop for so long? Honestly...I don't know, there were a few reasons I guess. I felt like I was in deep in terms of being so open and raw about my life, and because of that I felt a little judged. Some couldn't understand why I would want to share so much of myself with people

I didn't know. So I felt myself wanting to filter things so much that I not only erased all of my past posts on instagram that I put so much of my heart into, but I stopped blogging all together. I had built a community of inspiration between fellow instagram followers, as well as my blog followers over the past few years, and within many clicks of the "delete" button, everything was gone. It made me sad after the fact because I didn't listen to my inner gut to not be afraid to just be me. Meaning, writing without worrying about what people thought or did not understand about blogging and how helpful it can be to those who read it.

    I have always overshared, it is who I am. Whether it be through writing or talking, I at times forget not everyone is comfortable with that. But that's okay, because I am not them and they are not me. So here I am, well in a way starting over. I hope that I can gain your trust in my writing again, because truth is I lost trust in my own writing. That it wasn't inspiring enough, too much, or worst of all not enough. Truth is, we are all ENOUGH and at times need to be reminded of that. I am the same Janene, but a little more grown up. Lots of things have happened in the last nine months and I can't wait to start sharing with you all! Thanks for believing in me, and I'll never stop believing in you guys!

   So if your new to my blog, just a quick overview of who I am. I'm a 30-something year old California gal who just recently moved to the beautiful island of Hawaii with my love. I never have had my own place, let alone my own kitchen! Which is so exciting, because I have been on a mission to learn to cook! Scary....I know. LOL! I love yoga and running, and am contemplating taking teacher training for yoga. What scares me a little about that is because of my two autoimmune diseases and my body being so unpredictable at times. But where there's a will, there's a way. I graduated last summer with my AA in liberal arts, and plan to go back to get my BA in English. Sometimes I don't have the best grammar, so please no judgment...haha. I really didn't know for the longest time what I want to be when I grew up, but as of now I would say a writer.  So I'm just going to keep writing for now. We'll see where it takes me. Life is so full of possibilities and I feel like at 31, I'm just beginning.

Just Me! Don't mind the beanie, growing my hair out ;)

The beautiful view from our new porch...I feel blessed everyday.