I Bought A Bangle That Matches My Blog! – An Update

As I mentioned I would be a blog posts ago, I’ve been a bit absent over the past few weeks. I’ve mostly been really busy getting my condo ready to go on the market (success!), traveling for work, DC United games, reading, working on my new hobby, and relaxing in between.

As soon as my place is under contract, hopefully sooner rather than later, I plan to start apartment hunting downtown. Anyone have any good apartment hunting tips?

Here’s my thought for the week, something I put into action yesterday and had a major work victory.

 

Maya Cosmetics Swatches and Review!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a nail polish post. That’s mostly because I’ve not been painting my nails very often with all of the traveling, working, and house renovations I’ve been doing. It’s taken me almost 4.5 weeks to do 5 manicures. I’ve been known to do that many in a week.

When I got my raise back in March, I splurged and bought 5 colors from the new line of colors from Maya Cosmetics. It’s no secret that I am a fan of Kat’s polishes, and I had a really difficult time limiting myself to 5. Ultimately I went with 3 work appropriate colors, a subtle glitter, and a traditional glitter.

Up first I have Cupcake Violent. It’s a lavender shimmer with really subtle silver hex glitter.  My boss always comments when I wear glitter polish into the office and he didn’t even notice when I wore this one. Bonus! Here I used 2 coats and it wore like iron for 5 days. In fact, the only reason I didn’t wear this longer is because I had to paint my nails red for Mexico.

 

Up next I wore Imagine. I wore this immediately upon returning from Mexico as I felt it made a really nice Easter polish. Even if my Easter was lunch at Panda Express and then watching the season premiere of Game of Thrones. I used 2 coats of Imagine, and you can see I still have a visible nail line. If that’s something that bothers you, I’d recommend doing a coat of white underneath. The formula is a bit goopy, but nothing that a steady hand won’t be able to deal with. I really like how springy this polish is. And if you don’t put a top coat over it, it’s definitely bumpy and would make a really cool substitute for all the texture polishes that are on trend this year.

This is Vintage, AND IT’S A ONE COATER, FRIENDS. Sorry, I always feel that type of thing deserves all caps. Vintage is a dusty plum color and has a really subtle holo. I would normally consider this an “old lady color” but the holo takes it up a notch, and I’m glad to have it as part of my collection. I might use this one to give my grandma a manicure the next time I see her!

Turbo Classy is just that. It’s a really classy nude cream with a silver shimmer and brown/pink micro flakes. I used two coats here, and while the first coat was a little goopy, the second coat leveled out nicely on its own. This is definitely one of those polishes where it’s better to do thinner coats. However, I think it’s worth the patience as it’s a great neutral color. Every girl should have 1 (or 7) of those!

And last, but certainly not least, we have Once Upon A Lullaby. A wonderful rainbow glitter named after Somewhere Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, OUAL is a fantastic micro glitter that just makes you smile. As I’m in training for the next two days, I’m currently rocking this manicure and I love it!! OUAL has a great payoff, and you can have a really dense coat, or a light coat with the same amount of effort. I also prefer wearing glitters like this over nudes because white is SO. STARK. on my skin tone. I can’t wait to try this over other colors though.

Again, it’s one big love fest for Maya Cosmetics polishes. I am running out of room in my helmer, but I will always make room for Kat’s polishes. You can pick these, and other colors, up at the Maya Cosmetics Online Shop. They retail for $9.50 a bottle.

SotW: Resentment – Beyonce

Remember that time when this song was supposed to be on Victoria Beckham’s solo album that was never released and then it fell into Bey’s lap? Yeah, that was a good play, Universe.

I absolutely LOVE this song, and it’s probably my #1 fave song by her, after Love On Top. I probably identify with this one more, however, having “been there.” I’m sharing the live version over the studio version because it’s A) longer and B) has a few lyrical additions that make the song even better than it was.

Life Without Cable?

I had quite the productive weekend this weekend, getting ready to put my condo on the market and move to downtown DC. One of the things I did was figure out a budget that had DC rent, at the higher end of my budget, worked into it. My friends, the numbers were not pretty. Granted, I did the numbers based on not selling my condo (renting it out instead), and therefore not paying off my car, credit card, and small personal loan in one swoop and still having those payments to deal with for the short-term. Basically, I did the budget off the worst case scenario. So I began looking at  my budget with a more critical eye to see where I could cut back. Birchbox and SquareHue, as much as I love them, would be the first two things to go. But that only saves $25 a month which in my DC Chillin Budget is not very much. I could cut out eating out, but since that’s part of spending time with my friends I would prefer not to. Then I came to Cable/Internet.

As a person that watches a lot of TV, I really don’t watch a lot. I almost always have it on in the background, but I’m usually doing other stuff and not paying it much mind. So I pay a ridiculous amount of money for Verizon FiOS TV and internet to watch 4 sporting events a week, and my DVRed shows on the weekend. Add in my HBO subscription I currently have because GAME OF THRONES, and I’m paying upwards of $160/month for cable service. That’s just stupid.

So I started thinking about what life without cable would be like. And I honestly don’t think it would be difficult. I only watch Doctor Who, HBO Sunday Night Programming, Project Runway, and hockey/soccer on cable. All my other shows are on NBC/Fox/CBS. Everything I watch I would either be able to stream (the sports) or easily download or stream the next day, for free or a minimal cost. I already occasionally rent TV shows I DVR for the convenience of watching them during my commute. I also know I can survive without a TV at all because I did it while living in England for a year. But there’s no need to be drastic. At least once a month I like to throw the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice up on my HDTV because Matthew MacFayden. Plus, I can stream my Amazon Prime Instant Videos on my TV through my Wii and get an HD antenna pretty cheaply to watch New Girl and How I Met Your Mother.

But the more and more I think about it, the more I warm to the idea of not having cable. It will get me out of the house for DC United Away games, I’ll be able to spend more time reading and doing my crafty things. I’d like to think I’ll exercise a bit more, either with my Wii Fit, workout DVDs, or at the gym in my complex. Maybe with the nice weather, I’ll spend more time outside. There are definite benefits besides the financial savings. I’ll even be spared commercials!

So I’m thinking I may cancel my cable service now while still living in the ‘burbs. The cost savings would go a long way towards the deposit I will need to put down on an apartment, and I could spend the free time I’m not in front of the TV getting my condo ready to show.

Do y’all think I’m crazy? Have you gone without cable before?

 

¡Hola Mis Amigos!

Hi friends! Long time no see, eh?

I’ve been a bad blogger over the past 3 weeks. I know this, and I apologize. Every once in a while life just gets the kind of ridiculous you can’t really prepare for. And I should have been prepared since I knew most of it was.

Since I last posted, I’ve been to NYC and Mexico City (posts soon!), had an allergy attack before I left for Mexico and then had a 3 day bug when I got back from Mexico, and seriously stepped up my preparations for moving this summer. My renovation team parents are in town this weekend helping me with the last little bits and getting some needless furniture out of the apartment so I can get it ready to show.

I’ve been posting things on Craigslist, Threadflip, and eBay like a fiend trying to make any $$ I can in my efforts to declutter and downsize. They say on all the minimalist blogs I read that decluttering is difficult and to take your time, but you never realize how hard it is to purge your stuff.

And remember how I was going to read 6-8 books on my To-Read shelf? Yeeeeeeah. I read nothing. Nothing except Entertainment Weekly and my blogs. I did start High Fidelity yesterday, which is my selection for book club this month!

And in between all of that, I have been watching Arrested Development! It’s one of those shows that all my friends have watched and reference at least once every time we hang out (which is all the time) and I figured my life would make more sense once I’ve watched it. So I promised them I’d have it completed by the time the new season is released on Netflix, on May 26, 2013. Very nice of them to released it on a Federal Holiday weekend! As of today, I only have the season 3 finale left to watch.

There’s one other reason I haven’t blogged in 3ish weeks, but I have a whole post dedicated to that, so you’ll find out why soon!

You may also notice a new look for Made In The 80s, if you read on the site and not through email or Google Reader. I’d been a little bored with my other theme for a while now, so every time WordPress released a new theme, I’d check it out, only to either hate it on sight, or be really meh on it once I was in the live preview. When they released Adelle yesterday, I gasped in excitement and couldn’t change the theme fast enough! Polka dots are one of my most favorite things and I like how this theme has a few at the top instead of looking like a unicorn vomited all over background. Plus, mint and pink is one of my favorite color combos and great for the spring season. I hope I have some time to sit down and tweak it a little bit. Then again, I may just spend the weekend chasing my parents puppies around the apartment trying to make them love me.

The 32 Greatest Justin Timberlake Dance Moves OF ALL TIME

The Timberlake Tornado

I apologize in advance, even though I’m not really all that sorry, for the abundance of Justin Timberlake that’s likely to happen on this blog over the next 2 weeks or so. Especially once the album comes out and I’m all “ermagerd it’s the best album evaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr!!!” See, Justin Timberlake and Leo DiCaps are IT for me. Like, they could probably murder people, and I’d still love them long time. So I’m a happy girl right now with JT being everywhere right now. Saturday Night Live, talk shows, websites… I came across this BuzzFeed article about The 32 Greatest Justin Timberlake Dance Moves of All Time. I can probably pull off half of them without slipping a disc.

 

Monday Mapping Activity

 

Last week, a co-worker made me a world map display. I’ve had an obnoxiously large world map poster for several years, but never the money to properly frame it, or mount it onto something that you could stick pins into. Thanks to my co-worker, I now have a map of a more manageable size, and mounted on a sturdy styrofoam board.

I took Monday off because I woke up physically drained, and mentally exhausted. After sleeping in until 10:15, I ran a couple of necessary errands, and picked up little pins at Staples. After lunch, I finally sat down and took the time to map out everywhere I’ve been (red), where I’ve lived (white), and where I’m planning to go this year (green). There should be a white pin in Liverpool, so the picture above on the left isn’t entirely accurate.

I like to think of myself as well-traveled, and people always tell me they are jealous of where I’ve been or the next trip I’m planning. But sitting down and pinning where I’ve been really showed that I’ve hardly seen anything yet! I want to see more of eastern Europe, and go to the Middle East. I want to go haggle in markets in Morocco, and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. I want to walk the Great Wall in China, and sip fruity drinks on the beaches of Fiji. I want to attend World Cups in Brazil (already sorted) and Russia. I want to do it all!

Now, who wants to pay to get my new map framed?