Miley Cyrus is My Spirit Animal

Hello Lovelies,

Now before people see this and think I'm crazy, I have to say this: I am. Ok. Read on.

From a young age I was always told that I have to be a good Christian and love Jesus and be a good girl. I was always told that sexuality wasn't anything to embrace until marriage and even then only in the bedroom and only with your heterosexual partner. Another thing I was told was that I had to look good so that people saw my family a certain way - basically that we were perfect. When I acted in a way they didn't tell me I should or if I thought differently than they told me I should, then I was being a "follower" and was just listening to everything that my friends said and that the public school system was forcing it's "secular agenda" on me. Anyways... you get the idea. I was being forced to form to an image of someone that was not who I really was.

Now that I am an adult, I have the courage to say that I wasn't that person. I wasn't happy being that person. It was not a healthy thing for me to be that person. When I was 15 I started having sex and when my first and I broke up I started sleeping around. Luckily I realized a friend of mine since I was 13 (I was 17 at this time) was someone to build a life with. We are married now but before then he deployed overseas (he was in the military) and I moved in with his family, then in with my parents again, then up to Washington with a friend, then back to my parents place before moving out officially when I got married. When I moved out I started mutilating my hair, drinking and smoking and smoking weed - something I would never have done back then nor is it something I'd tell them I do now.

Now, the point. Miley Cyrus is someone that I can empathize with. She grew up having to play the part of good girl Hannah Montana for Disney Channel and as soon as she ended that contract she got to acknowledge that she wasn't happy and she wasn't that person. She was then out of the spotlight. Now, I think, she got passionate about helping the LBGTQ community and the troubled and homeless teens in this country but she knew that nobody would notice her screaming about her foundation (Happy Hippie) if she didn't do something drastic to get back into the public eye. This is when she created the New Miley Cyrus. The one who was overtly sexual, did drugs, acted out, and was in general a "bad influence". But in the end, she got what she wanted: her voice back but this time with her own words.

Here's the thing people: Miley did what she knew she needed to do to survive and create a new person from who she used to be. She had to find a way to force the world to see her the way she wanted them to. I feel like lately I have had to do that too. I have had to force people around me to see me as the person I am. I admire the courage she had to go wild and not allow people to force her into the mold that they cast for her. While I may not be going nearly as wild as she did - mainly due to being poor as fuck - but I want to say "fuck it" to all the people in this town that I'm back being stuck in (where I grew up) and recreate myself. I may have to literally say "fuck you" to people I used to know in order to move forward. I may have to keep my colorful hair and embrace that I enjoy it instead of let people tell me that I look like shit. Because you know what? Fuck those people.

It's a weird rant I think... but I really do admire her.

Thanks for letting me word vomit.

XOXO - Sarah

A Late Sunday Tea Talk

Today is definitely not a Sunday... sorry about that! But I've been super busy with work and life.

I'm gonna give a brief overview because I'm tired and will probably go into detail sooner rather than later.

Work is going great. I LOVE my coworkers and it already seems like I have potential to one day be a manager. That's awesome. Like today, I was training the newest hire. I've only been there 3 weeks and they are having me do that. That's awesome. :)

The ex thing: I saw him and now I'm no longer afraid. That's pretty much all to say. :)

That's pretty much it right now. :) I am loving life for the most part. Had a falling out with a super important person in my life... but sometimes that happens.

We'll talk soon! <3

Tea Talks: Sunday 10/30/2016

Hello Lovelies!

Let me tell you, this week has been great! I started working at Starbucks in the Safeway store here in town (for those not from the West of the US it's a grocery store). I started on Tuesday and today is my first day off. At first, it was a little hard because I had to be there at 5:30am and I'm used to sleeping for 16ish hours a day. Now that I'm used to sleeping about 8 hours or less a night, I am doing pretty good!

My coworkers are pretty great for the most part! I only really have one person I don't get along with but that's ok. I FINALLY after 4+ jobs have a female manager (in this case 2) that I adore! They're professional but still know when to joke around and have some fun. We also have open communication about work and personal lives without judgement. To me, that's one of the most important things. I know most people reading this don't know me but I am honestly not a judgmental person unless you are horrible to children, special needs folk, or animals. So, being able to not be judged either is a breath of fresh air. I can't tell you how much I like that they are willing to work with me to make sure that I have one day with my husband a week. Basically he works from 7am to 11am, school from 12pm to 2:30pm and then work again from 4pm to 8:30pm... then he has homework. The only day he doesn't work or go to school is on Friday. I can't tell you how grateful I am for a boss/manager who respects and understands that.

I'm trying to think about what I want to do on my days off from here on. Obviously on Friday's I have plans to be made with my man, but other than that, I don't really have many interests.

I'm thinking about taking up photography again. Maybe that could be something I make a point of doing on my days off/after/before work. That could be super fun now that I'm not doing it for school or work. I could also go to Salem on my free time to shop or just explore. I realize now that I'm back in Oregon that there's a lot I haven't seen or done. So, I want to do that. :)

I might also volunteer at an animal shelter. That could be a lot of fun. :)

Anyways, I will talk to y'all soon. Maybe next time I'll show you what I look like in my "uniform".

XOXO - Sarah

Something To Get Off My Chest

Hello everyone.

Today, I am going to talk about something a little bit tough for me. I'm going to go into a little more depth about my first serious relationship than I have in the past. The thing is, I have been working really hard to gain closure on the relationship and it's hard. This is because the relationship wasn't easy because BOTH of us weren't all that great. I know I was a bit irrationally emotional at times and wasn't super mature in any way. But I was also 15 (he was over 2.5 years older) and it was my first relationship. It lasted exactly 18 months and no. I wasn't perfect. He wasn't either. That's what I'm going to talk about mostly.

When we first met and were talking, he was dating a person that I considered to be my enemy number one. He was talking to me in a flirtatious manner while dating her. He also had a chick friend that he was super into at the time. At one point, he told me that he liked me, but I'd always be his third choice basically. I really liked him at that point so it was hurtful to hear that. Then he and the girl broke up and he decided to date me. So, starting out the relationship I was under the impression that I had to prove that he should like me more than the other two. That I should be his number one. For me, that meant more or less that I should sleep with him to make him like me most.

It was completely consensual, but afterwards, I didn't feel anything emotionally. It was kind of weird because growing up I was always taught that girls are supposed to be in love with their "first" and that we had to stay together. I didn't feel any of that. I then decided to commit to the being his number one even more so because I wanted to prove something. I'm not entirely sure what I was trying to prove, but I was trying to prove something.

He used to lie a lot about things, too. One of the biggest things was how many sexual partners he had in the past. He always told me it was a huge number. He also had nudes and pictures of his exes and girls he liked on his phone still. On top of that, one of the girls he had nudes of he pointed out one day and told me he had a threesome with her and the girl who was his #2. I was a bit bothered by it because I got super insecure and competitive. He finally came clean about 7 months into the relationship. I was not happy because I had JUST come to terms with the idea beforehand.

My family hated him and my friends hated him because of how controlling he was. Nobody liked our relationship. I didn't either. I was pretty submissive to him. He actually used to tell me (we went to church together) that it was "God's will" for the woman to be submissive to the man and that I needed to follow that.

He used to tell that other chick how pretty she was all the time and such and it made me even more insecure. I was getting a lot of people calling me fat and things like that at about the same time so it made me kind of go overboard on trying to be the prettiest and skinniest. So, I basically stopped eating for a while. It got so bad that I could barely keep warm in a heavy coat just walking from class to class. The one thing I can say about him in this though was when he saw me one day, he was super upset because he could see pretty much all my ribs and my spine and basically all my bones. He at that point begged me to eat because I was obviously killing myself.

When it comes to the sex life, I won't talk too much about it. For the most part he was pretty good about it. There was just one or two times where he was aggressive and not really willing to listen to my "no". Those were not good times. I don't want to talk about it, however. So, I won't.

One of the biggest things for me that lead to our breakup was the fact that he started to try and get me to cut off friends in my life. One that he had me cut off is now my husband actually.

I am saying all this to talk about why I broke up with him - which will bring me to the next part. I want to say again that neither of us was perfect by any means. I was definitely not mature at that point, but to my defense I was 15 and he was my first real boyfriend. How was I supposed to know how to act?

Fast forward to our break up. The break up was not pretty initially. He was very upset, which I get. He begged me to be his "fuck buddy" because I wasn't "allowed to ever have sex with another man". He was so possessive that I told him that I cheated on him with my, at the time, best friend (hubby's best friend) to try and get him to be mad enough he'd leave me alone.

At one point I started dying my hair blonde and started doing things I wanted to try and I remember he would say things like "Now that you dumped me you're doing things I always told you would look good on you. I always told you these things because you asked what you could do to make me happier and now that we're broken up you're finally doing them". Looking back, I wish I had said to him "THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!!! I DID NOT MEAN WHAT CAN I DO TO BE MORE APPEALING TO YOU!!" It's like so my being blonde would have made him happier to be with me. I think this speaks pretty well for itself.

We ended up trying to be friends for about three months before his possessiveness and and aggression escalated to a very vicious point. It got so bad he was trying to convince me he was going to die if we didn't get back together, he was always trying to get physical when we hung out, he would get mad at me for random shit, and then not understand when I was not making any effort to be nice to him. I will admit, I was an immature bitch when we were trying to be friends. I guess I just was tired of it. But the thing is, he started to take things way too far.

At about the three month mark I believe I told him I just wanted space to do my own thing and move on. He then escalated his possessiveness over me. He started harassing me about being fuck buddies more often, he was obsessive. He was always messaging me - even when I didn't reply. Most of all he was trying to upset me and guilt me into being his girlfriend again because "the doctor said if I don't get over this that I'm going to die". I was such a nervous wreck that I talked to an adult lady that I trusted about it and she advised me to ignore him for a week and then decide what to do. I took her advice and it really set the tone for how I look back at the relationship now.

When he was being ignored he started out annoyed, then got guilt trippy, then got mad, then got angry, then got sobby, then got vicious. Near the end of the week he was texting me about 30x a day, Skype messaging me at least 15x a day, tweeting at me around 10x a day, calling a couple times, fb messaging a lot as well. He was calling me a "heartless bitch" and just a "bitch" and just over all being threatening and vicious. It was so scary that I have a hard time thinking about it. He was posting on my wall frequently too and somehow his mom got involved. She was pretty horrible too. My "sister" at the time told her to back off and that how my ex was acting was horrible and that it needed to stop. She then proceeded to say something about how since he and I broke up I had already slept with 4 guys and that he told her "ew, no." about wanting to get back together with me. Like I had asked him to! So, then he said to say one word to let him know I 100% wanted him out of my life forever and I literally said "out". That was it. He then left me alone.

Since then, I haven't seen him. I've seen him around town before I graduated high school and moved to Texas to live with my husband's family while he was deployed, but not after that. I'm not going to lie. Even after moving, I never got over the feeling I had during that week. It was honestly traumatic. So traumatic that even now I'm scared of him.

From then I moved to Texas and got married and all that jazz. I got back to my home town just 6 months ago and am now working in the small town's Safeway where I know I will eventually see him or his family. I have been super nervous every day going in that I'd see him. I got tired of that so I decided to message him. I was straight up about how I feel and how I am tired of having been afraid for the last 4 1/2 years and that if he's going to be at that Safeway to let me know. The craziest thing, though, of that whole conversation was the fact he said he was sorry. He apologized. I don't know if anyone knows how crazy that felt to me. I didn't know I needed to hear that.

So, I thought that I had reached near closure finally. That is until the inevitable happened and I saw his dad. I panicked and ducked down behind the counter. Then I got mad at myself. Why was I hiding from his dad? He did nothing besides treat me with love and respect throughout the whole time I have known him. So, I stood up and helped him and made his drink and chatted. He then went on his way. I figure that if I'm that startled by someone I really like just because of their affiliation with my ex, then I can't account for how I'll feel when I see my ex - even if he warns me that he'll be there.

I won't say he was the worst person ever, but he was the worst person for me and I think I was for him too. For now, I'll leave it at that, mostly because I blocked out so much from that time that I can't remember more to share.

Thank you guys for reading.
If you have any stories like mine, I'd love to hear them. I'm sorry if you had to deal with something like this.

XOXO - Sarah

Closure is a Funny Thing

Hello Lovelies.

Today is a bit of a different post than I've made before and I know that it's on the "wrong day". However, it's something that I need to talk about right at this second and I figure it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk about it on here.

For those that have known me for years, you know about Josh. If you haven't known me for years, he is my ex. Our relationship was a bit intense and it lasted from when I was just 15 to nearly 17. So, basically a year and a half. There was a lot of drama during the relationship and neither party was perfect. What I do have to say was the worst part of the whole thing, the part that set the tone for how I've seen that relationship when I look back at it and how I have treated relationships for the last 4 1/2 years, was the break up.

This was a particularly difficult and down right horrible time in my life. When we broke up, he got obsessive and aggressive as well as possessive and just plain mean. I got scared. Really scared. It traumatized me. It traumatized me so badly that even when I moved half-way across the country, whenever I saw a car that looked like his, I started to panic. Even the IDEA of seeing his family makes me ill from anxiety. That is, until just now.

I got tired of being anxious to go to my new job in a place in town because of the very thought of seeing him there, so I took initiative. See, I never got closure to the relationship because it was super high emotions from his harassment and verbal abuse, then I cut him off, then nothing else from him. It was one day craziness then the next nothing. I haven't even seen him since then.

But today, I messaged him. I finally got the balls to basically say "Hey, I am back in town and I'm tired of being so fucking scared of seeing you. If you're going to be in the store where I work, let me know because I can't handle seeing you without warning." then we talked and he apologized. Multiple times. He acknowledged everything and was respectful and remorseful. I can't tell you guys just how much that means to me. I feel like 4 1/2 years of anxiety and weight has been lifted.

I am finally free. I finally have closure. I finally have what I need to let go of the situation.

I have closure.

XOXO - Sarah

Tea Talks: Wednesday 10/26/2016

Hello Lovelies!

I do apologize for missing Tea Talks on Sunday. I mean, it's not like I have let down a bunch of people but for sure I like to keep up with my writing schedule.

I am writing this before heading to work for my second day of training. It's 4:30am and let me tell you: the exhaustion headache is real. I don't feel exhausted (yet) but man my head hurts.

I am working at Starbucks in the Safeway in town and so far it's been a pretty good experience. I have seen only one person so far that I have bad history with... so that's good!!! I am hoping today goes well like yesterday did.

Anyways, I'm headed out. Much love!

XOXO - Sarah

My Style History (for the most part)

Hello Lovelies!

I was thinking about ways to kind of show you more about myself. I would totally say "tell you more about myself", but I'm going to be literally SHOWING you. So, yeah. If you're interested in looking through photos of my past styles, please do! I will be putting them down below. :) They're a bit out of order, but that's more laziness than bad memory to be honest. ;)

XOXO - Sarah

Why I Am Pro-Choice

Hello everyone.

Today I'm going to talk about something that I don't normally like to talk about. Abortion. Why I don't normally talk about my stance on abortion is because I don't want to start drama with my family - whom are almost all SUPER religious and conservative - and because I don't want to start drama in general. Also, I don't like arguing something like this unless I have the proper way and space/time to logically debate this topic in an EDUCATED way. It's hard to do that on places like Facebook and it's hard to do that in person when you get flustered when people are yelling in your face and talking over you and INSULTING you. However, this is MY blog and I can talk about what I want here. 

First off, I want to say that if you comment down below towards me, or towards someone else that you disagree with, do so in an EDUCATED and civilized manner. If you cannot do so, then I will be removing your comments because I will not entertain those who want to use fear mongering to support their point. Ok? Everyone ready? Lets get to it. 

Why I personally believe that abortion is a woman's choice comes down to a lot of different points that I'm going to be talking about in this post. However, I'm going to talk about the most common reason people disagree with abortion first. Religion. A lot of the people that use the reason that they believe that it's wrong is because God said so in the bible. I've also heard almost everyone who's used this reason say also that the US needs to be run by the bible's standards and say that they're being persecuted because they don't have the "religious freedom" to mandate everyone else's religious freedoms. These people also say that there needs to be a separation of church and state without knowing what that really means. It doesn't just mean the government can't tell you what to do with your religious freedoms. It also means that YOU can't use the government to tell everyone else what to do with their religious freedoms if they don't agree with you. If you believe that God doesn't want you to get an abortion, don't get one. That simple.

I believe that everyone has the right to make their own decisions regarding their own health. After all, we only get one life and nobody wants to be told how to live it, so why should anybody have the right to tell someone else how to live theirs? There's always going to be the argument that a fetus is a person or the fetus isn't a person. The truth of the matter is, a fetus is not technically alive until the brain and heart develop and start functioning. If that's not true, if the fetus is "alive" when it's first formed and without those organs, then why is a born person/child/adult who's considered brain dead not considered alive? It's the same thing. There's not a being that can be alive without a brain. Fetus or otherwise. 

I really hate the argument: "If you don't want a baby, then keep your legs closed! Don't have sex if you're not ready to have a baby!" Not all married people are ready for kids, but they're consenting adults and sex is a very healthy and important part of marriage.Marriage is the dedication to your partner for the remainder of your life. It's not the dedication of "I am going to reproduce with you". There are some people that get married that don't ever want kids for various reason. Reasons such as, mental illness, physical illness, inability/lack of desire to nurture etc. Should people with mental illnesses, that they don't want to spread, never get married? Or should they get married and never have sex, which will most likely lead to divorce? As long as the sex is adults consenting between the people involved, it's not anybody else's business. 

Another point that I can make about the religious pro-life advocates, is that if you truly believe that a fetus is a life at conception then why aren't you willing to adopt that child when they're given up or taken and put into the system? If a woman says she can't take care of a child and you force her to carry to term, then you blame her for having a child she can't take care of, you're the problem. The truth of the matter is, people are going to have sex if they want sex. If you don't want people to get pregnant and have abortions, then protection and contraceptives need to be available to all people no matter what. If you don't believe in providing protection etc, then you have no weight when it comes to determining what happens to the result of that. You can't say that a woman has to carry the baby to term and have her put the kid in the foster care system because the baby deserves a chance at life and not adopt. There are SO MANY unloved and unwanted children in the foster care system that nobody is adopting. If every pro-life advocate adopted a child, those numbers would drop by a large number. But here's the thing: they're more concerned about a child being born than they are about the actual child's life. I can say all this especially because I am one of 8 children born to the same woman. 7 of us lived, and 6 of us ended up in the foster care system. 1 of which is wheelchair bound with cerebral palsy. Almost all spent pretty much their whole lives in the system. Only 1 of the 6 of us got adopted. Where were the pro-life advocates then? Why didn't they adopt all of us? Because most pro-lifers are pro-birth. Not pro-life. I have to say, however, I am the only one who got adopted and yes, they are pro-life. Why I don't shit all over them when they say they're pro-life, is because they actually did something about it. They didn't just sit there and say that my birth mother had to give birth and I was on my own after that. They actually did something in accordance to the pro-life stance. 

Why I'm even writing about this in the first place is because last night the third presidential debate took place and Trump said some very uneducated fear-mongering things about late-term abortions. He took Clinton's words and he made things up and then twisted all of the words together. First of all, there's no procedure called a "partial birth". There's something called a Dilation and Extraction where the fetus is NOT in fact "torn from the mother's womb", but rather humanely removed, in tact, from the womb - usually in form of c-section. This procedure only ever happens if the life of the mother is in danger or if the fetus isn't going to survive outside the womb or is already dead. The law prohibits abortion past 24 weeks because before then a baby cannot survive outside the womb, and after 24 weeks, there's a slight chance, but it's still possible. So, if a woman wants to have an abortion days before her due date like Trump keeps saying they can, she simply can't. You'll never find a doctor who will abort a healthy fetus from a healthy mother once the baby is able to live outside of the womb. Not even Planned Parenthood will do that. I also need to mention that Clinton said she supports a woman's choice in her own healthcare. She never said that she supports aborting on a whim. She said she supports Roe v. Wade because it's says that there are to be regulations on abortions as long as the health and safety of the mother are taken into account. For those who don't understand what that means, it means that yes, there should be regulations on abortion - ie abortion shouldn't be legal past a certain point, 24 weeks - but the health and safety of the mother should be considered and made exceptions for as well - ie if she's going to die if she takes the fetus to term or if she was raped etc. She didn't say that abortion should be legal no matter what, when and why. She said it should be regulated as long as it doesn't compromise the health of the mother. Mr. Trump: Clinton did not say that it's okay to terminate the life of a healthy baby. It's not murdering the baby if the baby is already dead or won't survive outside the womb without extreme pain for longer than a few seconds, minutes or even an hour. And lastly, she said that basically it's up to the woman to decide in accordance with her family and her FAITH and medical advice if she should have a late term abortion or not. And no, Mr. Trump. Nobody has the right to take apart a healthy, viable, living fetus from a healthy mother ever. But that's not what that law is about, now is it? Please educate yourself on abortion like you were educated in 1999 when you said that you hated abortion, but you thought that it was the woman's choice. You seemed like an alright guy back then.

Lastly, the argument that abortion should only be reserved for rape and incest, I think, is a bit of a cop out. Most people who say that do because that's when they'd say that it's their choice because of what happened to their body. These people seem to ignore the fact that they think the fetus is viable at the moment of fertilization in these cases. If that really is a living baby that should have a choice in any other situation, then why isn't it living and why doesn't it have a choice now? Yes, abortion should be allowed for cases of rape and incest, but up until 12 weeks, it should be allowed anyways for whatever the woman's reason. It's her business.

I am not sure if I have touched on every topic regarding abortion, but these are the main points I wanted to make as to why I am pro-choice. Feel free to let me know what you think below, but remember: keep it civil, keep it educated, and keep it on point. I don't care what your political stance is when it comes to other topics. I only want to hear about this one. Otherwise, I will be deleting your comments and all comments responding to yours. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Sarah

Taping Method Do's and Do Not's

Hello Lovelies!

Welcome back to my blog! Today we are going to be talking more about ear stretching.

But FIRST: I am not a licensed piercer and cannot give you the same professional advice that a licensed piercer can. Everything that I share about my piercings and advice relating to piercings that I share are things I have either learned from my own experiences, researched, or been told by a piercer.

Today, we are talking about using the taping method. This method is honestly one of the absolute best for stretching past the 0g point. At about the point of 0g, the taper method can potentially damaging (more so than before - especially if you’re being irresponsible) so it’s best to move to the taping method. It allows you to move as fast or slow as your ears want/need to as you stretch up rather than making a 2mm stretch in one go… like tapers start doing at about 0g.

What you will need:

1. PTFT Tape or Bondage Tape
   
   
2. SINGLE flared plug or eyelet
3. Lubricant

As usual you’re going to need to wash your jewelry and ear before you put anything in your ear. Just common sense, but I still have to say it. ALSO: DO NOT USE DUCT TAPE, OR ANY TAPE LIKE IT OR JUST SIMPLY ANY TAPE OTHER THAN WHAT I JUST TOLD YOU ABOUT ABOVE. This will keep your ears from getting irritated and dry and infected.

Start by cutting a piece of tape that fits your jewelry and is long enough to wrap around it twice. As time goes on and your ears start stretching and being ready to move up in size, just keep adding one to two wraps worth of tape. Each person waits different amounts of time between adding layers (when adding layers, you take off the old layers and add all new layers) but I would recommend a week or so between. Once you’re at the size you want to be, put in the new (CLEAN) jewelry!

If you have any further questions, let me know!

XOXO - Sarah

Tea Talks: Wednesday 10/19/2016

Hello Lovelies!

Guess who officially finished signing paperwork and went in to do computer training today. ME! Yayyyyyy!!!!! I went in this morning and started everything. After I was done, I waited until my new friend was off work (she is a new hire too and was training on the floor today) and then we went on a walk. We went to a little gas station and then some guy tried flirting with me then she was driven home by a friend and I just walked away.... Okay, that was a pointless thing to detail... but that's okay. :)

I feel like my life is going to start moving forward and that I'm going to be really be doing something with my time.

This Saturday I should be going to Salem and be going to orientation. I'm not going to be enjoying this drive, but at least it's the only time I'll be making it.

Oh, I found an AMAZING tattoo artist that I'm going to be booking an appointment with soon. She seems super nice and professional (we've been e-mailing back and forth) and I'm super excited.

Thank you guys for just reading and commenting every once in a while. While it would be cool to have a lot of communication and activity on my blog, I love and appreciate the communication and activity that does exist. If you think we'd get along and think we could be friends, feel free to contact me and spark a conversation through one of the places listed in my "follow me" tab. :)

XOXO - Sarah

Makeup Inspiration

Hello Lovelies!

Today is my first makeup post (YAY!!!!) and I'm going to just say a little about what I plan on talking about.

I don't plan on posting about makeup every week, or even every other week, to be honest. However, when I do post, I will try and make it fun! Sometimes I might include a video showing how I did a certain look. Other days I may just link a video someone else made. I may also talk about products or simply show you photos that inspire me. Like today!

Below will be photos that show you what types of looks to look forward to from me! Enjoy!

XOXO - Sarah
P.S. I took all the photos from Pinterest. None of them are mine.

Tea Talks: Sunday 10/15/2016

Hello Lovelies.

Today I feel like being completely honest with you guys: I have had a few blogs start and end within a couple months in the past and I REALLY don't want to do that with this blog. That's why I've been trying to stick to a schedule.

I plan on sitting down at least twice a week and write. Sundays and Wednesdays are already designated blogging days, so those will probably end up being the days I just write.

So, an actual update on life: I still haven't begun work. In fact, I'm not officially hired yet either. The website/program used to hire at Safeway has been acting up and has been giving me issues with my profile, so I haven't been able to finish the hiring paperwork. I was supposed to go to orientation today in Salem, but again, I haven't finished the paperwork so I couldn't go. I'm honestly a little bit frustrated, BUT as I now realize the pants that I bought myself for work from Goodwill don't fit at all.... I am so freaking relieved. (Side note, I bought a Venus Fly Trap to eat these darn fruit fly gnat things... WHY IS IT NOT DOING ITS JOB???)

Hopefully, this week will work out for me and I will be able to start work soon. WISH ME LUCK LOVELIES!

XOXO - Sarah

P.s. I will definitely try to start putting more photos in my posts. I know that sometimes it's not as fun to just read with nothing to just LOOK at. I get it. :) Today I included a photo of Starbucks cups because... well I'm about to start working there. :)

Shelter Cat Photography Idea

Hello Lovelies!

I don’t know if you can guess by now, but I am a crazy cat lady. I love cats so much that sometimes I think I may actually be super weird. But then I realize I don’t care if I’m weird as long as I have cats to be weird around.

Basically, I have been wanting to do something to help find homeless kitties some homes, but because I don’t have my own home, it’s been a little bit difficult.

SO. What I’m thinking about doing is getting somewhere set-up for me to take a kitty from the shelter for a couple hours and take photos of them to help them get adopted! I think that would be super fun and be really rewarding in the meantime.

Let me know if you think that’s a good idea and if you think that may help. I think, honestly, it could. Below, I will insert photos of my rescue babies.

THESE PHOTOS ARE NOT THE QUALITY THAT I WILL BE TAKING OF THE SHELTER BABIES. THESE ARE CELL PHONE PHOTOS. I WILL TAKE PHOTOS OF THE SHELTER CATS WITH MY HDSLR CAMERA. THANK YOU. :)

XOXO - Sarah

Tea Talks: Sunday 19/9/2016

Hello Lovelies!

Today's post will be a lot like my recent ones in the way that it's going to be short.

I am starting work, not this Monday, but the next. So that's awesome.

Yep. That's about it. :)

XOXO - Sarah

Tea Talks: Wednesday 10/5/2016

HELLOOOOO Lovelies!

I am in a pretty good mood as I write this. Tomorrow my collectors edition of Harry Potter books should be coming in the mail and I. Am. STOKED!!! I watched all the HP movies recently and am so obsessed! By the way, I am a Ravenclaw.



I am really looking forward to getting to know the character of Luna Lovegood. She seems like someone that would be my best friend. Actually, my best friend is a lot like her from what I have seen and heard. To the right is the picture of said friend and myself. (I'm the one in the black jacket, of course)

I have to get some clothes for work whenever Jay gets paid next. It should be simple and cheap. Black pants and two black polo shirts. I'm not too worried.

Anyways, I have very little to do. But I am busy to do it.

XOXO - Sarah

Tea Talks Sunday: 10/02/2016

Hello Lovelies,

I have an announcement to make. Ready?

READY?

I. Sarah. Have a... JOB! Yes! Woohoo!!! I am so happy!!!

So basically, I sign papers on Saturday at 10a.m. and then as soon as the background check goes through, I start! Oh, by the way, my job is at the Safeway Starbucks.

I wish I had more to talk about today, but that's seriously the best thing that has happened in years.

Anyways, I will talk to all of you later.

XOXO - Sarah

Ear Stretching 101: The Taper Method

Hello Lovelies!

It’s that time again! Welcome back to Ear Stretching 101!!!

But FIRST: I am not a licensed piercer and cannot give you the same professional advice that a licensed piercer can. Everything that I share about my piercings and advice relating to piercings that I share are things I have either learned from my own experiences, researched, or been told by a piercer.

Now that’s over we can get to it! This week is about the Taper Method.

First off, you can go to a professional piercer to help you stretch your ears. If you want to be sure you’re doing it correctly and safely and are nervous about doing it yourself, go to a professional. I however, never did that and opted to stretch my ears at home. The following in this post (and pretty much every post from here on this topic) is all information that I have gathered from my own experiences or from someone telling me how to do it. There has been a lot of trial and error and just simply dumb things done on my part while stretching my ears… so hopefully I can lend my experiences to you so you don’t make the same mistakes.

Ok. Things you will need to stretch your ears:

• Taper Kit - I got mine on Amazon (Link) ONLY GET STAINLESS STEEL TAPERS, PLUGS, EYELETS/TUNNELS ETC. Especially on a freshly stretched ear -yes that includes the first stretch- cheap materials like acrylic can cause infection, irritation, and other problems. It is too porous for a newly stretched ear and can trap bacteria in there as well as omit toxins into your ear as it heats up with your body. Just do not use acrylic. EVER.
• Lobe Lubricant - The best $2 I ever spent was on Lobe Lube (Link) At the beginning I had a pretty painful couple times stretching my ears. There was a lot of friction and some blood and it was all because I didn’t research enough to know that you need to lubricate your taper and jewelry before you put it through your ear. It helps it go in without creating friction and tears, which result in scars. DO NOT USE PETROLEUM JELLY/CHAPSTICK/JOJOBA OIL/ETC AS A LUBRICANT.
• Unscented antibacterial soap - You can find it at Wal-Mart or places like that.
• Non-Iodized sea salt - H2Ocean is good for this. You can find it at Hot Topic, Spencers, and even your local piercing shop.
• I have to make special mention to never, EVER use alcohol based products to clean your ears. EVER. Period. This dries them out and causes a lot of problems. Just look it up on Google.

You really don’t need anything else. If you want fancy plugs/eyelets by all means use them. Just remember, NO ACRYLIC.

Also, NEVER EVER EVER wear your tapers as jewelry! EVER. They are not pieces of jewelry. They are a stretching device. If you wear them as jewelry, your ears can become torn or deformed. DO NOT DO IT.

Now… What you’ve been waiting for: How to stretch your ears with the taper method step-by-step!!!!

1. Wash your hands then wash your taper(s) and jewelry with hot water and antibacterial soap.
2. Take out whatever jewelry you have and clean the piercing in your earlobe with the antibacterial soap and sea salt spray.
3. Lubricate the taper and your ear and gently put it through your lobe. If you have to push hard or feel pain that’s more than a slight pinch, stop. If it’s your first stretch and it’s really painful then you may need to start at a smaller gauge than what you have from the stretching kit. If it’s not your first stretch, wait another week or 2 and try again.
4. Flush the end of the jewelry with the end of the taper and push through gently.
5. Put the o-ring on the front and back of your jewelry as needed.
6. Spray some H2Ocean on a clean q-tip and gently clean around the jewelry to get rid of excess lubricant.
7. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EARS FOR AT LEAST 24 HOURS. That includes to clean them. They will be red and swollen most likely and will need to be left alone. The most you should go without cleaning them is 2 days. Then clean them 2x a day with a H2Ocean q-tip and no more than that. I would clean with the soap 1x a week for the first week. After that you can do it daily if you really think you need to. When you clean them, only clean around the piercing/jewelry. DO NOT TAKE OUT THE JEWELRY TO CLEAN until at least 3 weeks later or your ears will shrink.
8. Wait at LEAST 3 weeks (this is if you’re impatient and being irresponsible but still don’t want to completely ruin your ears) before your next stretch. Ideally you should wait 1 to 2 months between stretches.
9. DO NOT SKIP SIZES. This is the most irresponsible thing you could do. It can make your ears tear and bleed and just simply hurt you and your ears. Don’t do it. Ever.
10. If you have any concerns or difficulty and need some help, go to your local piercer.

I hope that this helps! Tune in next week for the next part in the series: General Questions and Concerns such as: Why are my ears red, swollen, and sore? I waited 3 weeks between stretches, why isn’t the taper going through? Are my ears infected? How to go from 8g to 6g? Why is my jewelry falling out at night/in general? Why are my ears bleeding/what to do if your ears start bleeding? And potentially more!

XOXO!!! Sarah

PHOTOS ARE NOT MINE. THEY ARE FROM eartapers.com

Tea Talks: Wednesday 9/21/2016

Hello Lovelies!

Today, I actually have something worth updating you all on.

I got a call yesterday from the hiring manager at Safeway and she said she was looking at my application and that I should finish applying so she can do a formal interview. I hope that means that she is interested in me.

That's about it. I don't really have time to talk because I'm really busy today. I still wanted to make a post, though.

XOXO - Sarah

Tea Talks: Sunday 9/18/2016

Hello Lovelies!

Today, I actually have tea to drink while typing this up! It's called Mint Majesty and it's by Teavana. I picked it up when I went to Starbucks this morning. Normally, I don't like Starbucks, but I was in my pj pants and didn't want to go somewhere nice looking like that. Yeah, Starbucks can be nice, but in this town... it's eh.

Random funny story. Ready? My hubby is starting college this next week. That's not the funny part. He is starting college next week and it hadn't even occurred to him that he might need notebooks, pencils and a calculator. *sigh* How would he survive without me?

Things I want/need to do this week:

• Actually finish cleaning my room
• Continue job searching
• Actually schedule at least 2 non-tea talks posts

Things I hope for this week:

• We get the rest of our check
• I get called for an interview anywhere I applied

So... yeah. There's not much on my mind right now. I'm a bit sick so I'm trying to relax so I don't get sicker. Which will happen if I don't just CHILL. 

Oh, and the tea? SO GOOD! OH MY GOD IT IS SOOOO GOOD. I love mint teas. I have currently 3 containers of different mint teas with one coming in the mail. I'm OBSESSED.

Also, the website for Paypal isn't responding. I think that may be a sign. 

Anyways, much love to you guys! I've already scheduled the next Ear Stretching 101 post for this Thursday (I CANNOT believe that I forgot it last week!!!) so you have that to look forward to! :)

XOXO!!! Sarah

I'm a Hipster BUT...

Hello Lovelies!

I just wanted to make a post that tells you more about the person behind this blog!

I have been called a “hipster” on many more than one occasion by more than one person. Though, I do have to mention that the person who calls me that the most is my husband. No competition. Douche. Just kidding. Kind of. Anyway!

I may just be a hipster because of how I look and the things that I find an interest in… but I really don’t conform to other things that hipsters are known to do/be.

I’m a hipster but…

1. I don’t care what music you like. I personally like Folk-Indie etc music, but that doesn’t mean I think I’m better than you for it. If you like the top 40, then that’s what you like! It’s not me listening to it so why should I care? (On a side note, my guilty pleasures are Britney Spears and N’Sync etc… so who am I to judge?)
2. If you dress like a “prep” or in the current fashion trends, that’s your business. I personally don’t like those styles, but that’s why I don’t wear them. If you like them, then you should dress that way. It’s your body after all!
3. If you haven’t heard of an obscure band or movie that I love, then I won’t give you crap. At some point I didn’t know about that band or movie either so… yeah. However, that is one pet peeve of mine. I HATE IT when people mention a popular movie and when I tell them I haven’t seen it they get all obnoxious. I was a VERY sheltered child so fuck off. :P
4. I’m not your Manic Pixie Dream Girl. I am not ditching the trope, as I identify strongly with it, but I am not YOUR mpdg. I’m my own person and I’m married so I’m not here to be YOUR mpdg. I believe in a healthy relationship (that I already am in) and don’t think that anyone should project that on me anymore.

Anyways, I hope that this was interesting at least and that you got a bit of a taste of what I think of other people’s choices. :P

Are any of you “hipsters” too? If so, let me know what your “but…”s are if you have any!

XOXO!!! Sarah