Marching On (March And February Favorites)

Hello girls,
I planned on writing this post today, but it seems like that decision was made so long ago... I had a great day. We had a long rehearsal for the musical I talked about in the post When In Rome that I wrote about a week ago. We started doing the dance number where we dance in couples, and one of my most lovely beloved guy friends and I are dancing that number together, which I couldn't be any more happy about.
The problem is... I got some news today, that kind of make it hard to remember all that. I... got the news that a good friend of mine, with whom I got quite close this year, might have gotten cancer. And now... "it sure makes everything else seem so small".
I'm so scared, God, I'm frightened out of my mind. The thing that scares me the most, to be honest, is not the fact that she might be sick, or the fact that I might lose her, God forbid, that scares me a crapload as well, but the thing that frightens me the most is, actually, the fact that I have no idea how to help her. I want to say the words that would heal it all, and would cure her of anything bad. I want to be there for her and hold her hand through anything she might have to face. I just don't know what to say. I just don't know what to do. I just get sick to my stomach just thinking that I might have to find the words.
How can you march on from something like this? How do you get up, and walk on forward, being strong, because you have to be that way for someone else? Moving forward seems like the hardest task in the world right now.
"For all of the times we've stopped, for all of the things I'm not, we put one foot in front of the other, we move like we ain't got no other. We'll go where we'll go- we are marching on".
As long as this is not a sure thing yet, which I hope it will never become a sure thing so bad, I shall now put my thoughts and prayers aside for a second, and go back to something shallow, something that freaks me out a little less, something that will help me forget for a second, and maybe that break will help me find the words, because, otherwise, I really don't have any idea in mind as of what I should do.
March has been, the most fantastic, most amazing, most crazy most hectic, most full of friends and laughter and joy I've had in a long time. I could live this month over and over and over again, and never get bored, because it was full with everything I could ever ask for.
I kind of summed up all that happened in the last post that I linked somewhere up there right above those few lines of simple and honest melt down. There was Rome, and there was quality time with my sister, there were amazing sleepovers, crazy parties, amazing times with friends, boys, rehearsals, dancing, singing, acting, sleeping (barely), there was waking up early for a quick chem class after a crazy night out, there were pubs and bars, there were trip with old friends, and there were trips with new friends, there were family dinners, there was past, and there was future, but, mainly, there was present. I lived in the moment almost every moment of this month, and nothing makes me more grateful to God, (I've been sounding religious in this post, so I'm sorry if that offends you in anyway or angers you, but I do have my beliefs) to my family, to my friends, and anyone who's made this month possible, than the times I've had. This is everything I could ask for.. I just wish it could last forever...
So I'll tell you about a few things that made the past two months (yes February you were pretty darn great yourself, and I was too busy to talk about you, and I'm sorry) into what they were.

#Favorite hair products:

1) Hair mask- Elvive Damage Care hair mask. I have never really had to use a hair mask before, because I have naturally healthy hair, but, when I dyed the ends of it blonde for the Ombre, it drained the life out of my hair. I bought this mask, because I used another conditioner from that company previously, and I loved it, but there wasn't the matching mask to that conditioner, so I took this one. It's helped my ends feel softer, and not so brittle. There are still split ends, because it's not a magical worker, but it helped tremendously. I use it once a week ever since February, and, since you don't need much (about ping pong ball amount-randomest description ever), it still isn't even close to running out, which is great, because you get value for the price you pay, which isn't even that much. I don't remember exactly how much it cost, but it wasn't bad at all.


2) Conditioner- Elvive Damage Care conditioner. From the same range as the hair mask, as you can see. When I saw how great the mask was, I picked up a matching conditioner to try it out, and it is amazing. Not only does it leave your hair really soft, and really easy to detangle, it also has the best scent ever. I am not kidding you about the amount of people who smelled my hair these past two months, and complimented me about how amazing it smells. I also got great compliments on the shine that I have to my hair, which is thanks to both products listed above.

#Makeup Products:

1) Eyeshadow- Charcoal Brown by MAC. I will be honest now, the most I did with this eyeshadow was really not eye related. I contoured with it. I know it sounds freaky since it's really pigmented, and dark, but what I did was place it in a thin line with my finger right below the jaw bone, and then blended it in really well with a blush brush. I also have a really high brow so I blend this in right at the bottom of
the brow bone, and a little into the crease if I want to look more put together. I love this shadow to pieces

2) Blush- Fleur Power by MAC. I was really into cheeks this month, which is quite an odd thing to say, but for the first time, if I hadn't done my cheeks I wouldn't have felt complete. This blush is absolutely gorgeous. It is really pigmented, especially if I use my Ecotools blush brush, for some reason, so you need to use it with a really light hand. I apply it a little off of my apples and more on the outer part of my cheek bones, and blend it onto my temples, because it makes you look younger than when applying to the apples themselves. I love this blush. It is a peachy, rosey, pink matte blush, which I love, because it looks natural, and I hate high shimmer on my cheeks.

3) Lipsticks:

*Media by MAC. It is a dark vempy color. It suits my olive skin tone so well, and makes my teeth look whiter. I love it, even though, when going into spring I was supposed to ditch the dark lip colors. I don't care. I sometimes play it down in the day time by putting Vaseline on first, and then it looks light and glossier. It's a satin finish, by the way.

*Racy by MAC. Unfortunately it is a limited collection lipstick. WHYYYY?!! It is from a collection that came out in 2008 I think, I found it in my sister's stuff, unopened, untouched, fabulous and ready for me to steal it from her, which I obviously did. Beautiful deep red color with golden shimmer running through it. Of course I can't find it now, and I can't find what finish it is online, but I think it might be frost. Doesn't matter, because you can't buy it anymore... *ANGRY*

*On Hold, also by MAC. Lovely lovely cranberry pink shade. Looks like the color of my lips but a few shades deeper. I love it for everyday, because it looks quite springy, but still a bit dark, because light lipsticks look pasty on me. It looks far too dark in the picture, but, oh well. It's a cremesheen finish. It's freaking lovely and comfortable to wear.

#Beauty:

 1) Perfume- Tresor Midnight Rose by Lancome. It smells freaking delicious, and I've been complimented on the smell of it, as well as the smell of my hair because of the conditioner, so many times it's gotten ridiculous. It smells like roses obviously, but not an overwhelming scent of roses, because I, myself don't like rosey scents all that much. I like deeper sweeter scents in general, so if you don't like a sweet scent, this could be quite sickening to you. It also smells like raspberries, and a little bit like vanilla and woody scents. I have not worn ANY other perfume since I got it last month, and I am one to choose perfume by mood, so I basically usually change it daily.

 #Entertainment:

1) Musician- Ed Sheeran. He is.... He is just... Unbelievable, and unbelievably talented. Not only does he sing like an angel, his lyrics are phenomenal, and his compositions are heartbreaking, he can cover any song like nothing in the world. I just... adore him. I've been listening to Miss You, Kiss Me, Small Bump, Give Me Love, Cold Coffee, Little Bird, his cover to Thrift Shop with another great artist, Passanger, that was in January's favorites, and to his cover of Don't Think Twice It's alright. He's one beautiful ginger man

2) Song-  Surprisingly, not by Ed, is the beautiful A Thing For Me by Metronomy, but not the original one, although I love it, as well. I am talking about the remix. It's the best thing, most catchy thing this world invented. It's my cookie to crumble if you know what I mean.

3) Movie- 21 Jump Street. I watched it for the first time about two weeks ago, and I laughed my eyes out. I just loved it.

4)T.V. Shows-

*Smallville. Started watching it again. Best show ever.

*Everwood. Had a fun time going back in time watching that show. Quite a crappy teen show but I liked it.

*New Girl. The new episodes just crack me up like nothing else.

4) Books-

*Divergent and Insurgent. Once I finally had time I read through them as fast as lightening. Love them both for their distopian creativity, and the amount of detail put into the book in order to create that world.

*Uglies. Another distopian series. I've just started Uglies, and I freaking love the book so much. I hope to read through them fast, but I barely got time. Again, so much detail put into the description of the place, but not in a boring dragging it too long kind of way. Love it.

*Kindle. Took it to Rome with me and read every night until I fell asleep holding it. I love that little thing. It holds up greatness. 


Hope with all of my heart that you have a great weekend, and that you are safe, and healthy, and surrounded by people you love. If there's ever a time of need go to the Contact Me page. I'm here!
XOXO Roni J.

When In Rome

Hello dear loved ones.
I'm sorry this has taken me literally ages to get to write this post but hectic doesn't begin to describe the state of my past few weeks. I mean, since the trip to Rome itself I've be to a thousand other places, and done a thousand other things, but I guess I should start somewhere, and the trip to Rome is a great place to start.
It was just me and my sister, as kind of a birthday present for the both of us from our parents, which was very gracious of them. We bought a deal for four days and three nights with a flight and all. We stayed at a sweet little hotel really close to Fontana di Trevi, which is on the east bank of the Tevere (Tiber), and real close to the Spanish steps, both of which are absolutely freaking beautiful.
Every day on the trip, we'd wake up to an amazing day, we'd go eat breakfast at the hotel, go touring the city, sit at a cafe to have a small lunch, go on touring the city, sit down to eat fabulous dinners in sweet authentic restaurants, and we had loads of fun.
We really didn't get to do much shopping, because most of the places that we knew of were very high fashion, which is not really in neither of our price ranges, and I am 18, I really don't need to walk around with a Chanel bag. I bought a few things at Brandy Melville, and a few in this really cool thrift shop we found, and I will show all of it in a soon summer haul I will post (sooner than the time it took me until I posted this post hopefully).
We sat in a few wine bars, which is something we're not really used to. To be honest, I don't really like wine, but my sister enjoys it so we'd have it anyways so that she could get the full effect of her Rome experience. My sister and I had some really deep conversations about life, and boys, obviously, boys, and a lot of it. She got a new boyfriend not too long ago, and he's the complete opposite of her ex. Her ex was reserved and never told her how he felt, while her new boyfriend is so open and clear about what he wants, which is good because she, herself, is quite shy, and doesn't like talking about her feeling at all.
Since the trip, I had been extremely freaking busy. I have my school's play coming up April 18th, and because it's a little bit of a musical there are also dance number I participate in, which means I have both acting and dance rehearsals either from noon till 5 in the after noon or going way past that into the late afternoon hours.
Except for those rehearsals, us girl have been going out a whole freaking bunch, because the reharsals start at around noon, and we don't have school before hand because it's the senior musical, and most seniors are in it. So we get to wake up fairly late as opposed to every other day, and we just went out to a few bars (not that I had anything alcoholic to drink, you kinda know my opinion of it), and parties, which I will go into explicit deta

ils in a bit.
 We also planned two weekend trips, one with my friends and the other one with my next year's college mates. On the first trip we were only two girls and seven guys from my grade (including Mr. Guy, surprise surprise). We stayed in the woods that are like ten minutes away from my house, and it was a lot of fun. The guys brought a lot of beers, but I stayed clear as usual, and then Mr. Guy asked "are you going to drink tonight". Obviously I replied with a simple "no", but then the other guys commented that by him asking me that it pretty much means that he was planning on making a move on me, if I got drunk. Ew. The moment they said that I was like.... If he's that much of a wimp, like a bigger wimp than I am, then I really don't think I can continue being attracted to that. I really don't think I can. We had fun that night, and we even had a little bit of a scary moment hearing a girl singing in the woods, which we really thought was a ghost for a few seconds, and it made us shiver our pants off, but soon after we realized it's just a Karaoke party taking place nearby. When we woke up in the morning, we had a short hike in the woods to the nearby village where they have real good restaurants. We got to a sweet cheap restaurant at around 2pm, where they serve Paella. We ordered two plates of it to share, Mr. Guy and I shared one, and two other guy friends of mine shared, as well. When the two dishes reached the table we realized they are FREAKING HUMONGOUS, like a mountain of rice and goodness.
So we start eating, and I'm eating like a true lady, one bite at a time, and then we realize that me and Mr. Guy have had more than the other couple, which makes it a little bit of a challenge for them and they try to beat us by having more, but soon they are more than done. And then they realize we beat them more so because I had a lot to eat, more so than because Mr. Guy had a lot to eat, and then he sees that as a challenge. In the end he barely beats me, and they are all astounded. They never thought a girl that's actually rather thin could beat them in an eating competition, and that realllyy hurt their pride... Boohoo. The funnier thing about it is that Mr. Guy walked out of the restaurant barely holding himself up he was so full, and on the other hand there's me, almost skipping my way out the restaurant, all light and breezy. The entire car ride home he barely manages to say anything, but when he does say something he says something along the lines of "you're insane". Got beat by a girl, and tries to make her look bad in order to get his self esteem up.... Real attractive and manly qualities (NOT.... ).
Later that Saturday, we all went to a party, and when I got there my friend was talking to him. My friend has a boyfriend that wasn't coming to the party (probably too tired of the trip earlier that day, and possibly ashamed of his defeat, being one of the guys in the other couple who share that very same dish). So Mr. Guy, who's really good friends with that guy, whispered to her "shame you got no one to make out with", and then she said "at least you do", and pushed him towards me, not knowing that I'm not interested in him anymore because the entire day he was acting like a sissy. Anyways I was really pretty, wearing a cute, white summer dress, that has white mash or lace detailing around the neck, and it's flowy and in the ultraviolet lighting it was all purple and flaring. So after he's been pushed towards me he comes and whispers in my ear "you're absolutely nuts", and I look at him in the most sheepish look like Hey, I'm innocent, and he says "I know you're not innocent", and looks me in the eyes with his electric blue eyes, and for a second all I can think of is hormonal, rather forgetting that he was acting like a girl an instant ago, and then he caresses my waist, and I walk away.


The picture is of the place where the party took place before it started, one of my friends sent me.

The entire party a ton of guys started hitting on me, which was really flattering, but nothing came out of it. The party over all was really tons of fun. They handed out body paint that glows in the dark, and everybody was really colorful, and glowing, which always makes your heart light up a little. The music was much better than in the past few parties that I've been to, and that always makes me feel better in a party, when I can sing the lyrics out and all.
Then I was in the college trip. It's a real small college, and it's rather a year of studies, but you get no degree from it. So there's only one year, and only like 48 people in that year. Anyways, the people are almost all very lovely, but I got scared out of my mind and really depressed, realizing that I am not going to be in high school forever, and live at home forever, in the same familiar environment that I oh so love and appreciate.
We also went to the big city one night to celebrate one of the girls' birthday, and we took her to see stand up comedy. The opening act was actually better than the guy we came to see, but it was really funny anyways. There was a lot of drama with a few of the girls, and they did what pisses me off the most, where they decided everything for the birthday girl, because she's considerate, and doesn't want them to be upset, but they kinda forgot it's her day along the way. We then went out to eat, and it was really nice. We got back so late that there were no more buses from the train station back home.
Sorry that it has taken me so long to post this, and I really crammed it all in here but I had a lot of fun the past few weeks, and I had gone on a lot of adventures, and I hope you're having as good of a time as I am having. Have a great Easter tomorrow, if you're celebrating it, great ending of Passover if you're celebrating, and if you're Bahai, which would be really cool, hope you had a great New Year's on March 21st, the day of the equinox.
Happy 1st birthday to my blog! <3 XOXO Roni J.