Speeches

So my little brother got married about a month ago and I just thought I'd share with you the speech that I wrote!

Growing up with 2 brothers and being the only girl wasn’t always easy. I mean ya, Troy did tell me one time while playing barbies that he wished he was a girl but it just wasn’t the same. Being the only girl wasn’t always hard though because I was the middle child with Troy being the baby. Matt, our older brother, and I didn’t always get along and because I was too small to fight back, I took my frustrations out on Troy instead. He was smaller then me at the time which made it pretty easy to do. It didn’t take long for Troy to hit a growth spurt though making him not so small anymore. Needless to say me taking out my frustrations ended pretty quickly. I think I was half expecting to get back everything I had dished out but not surprisingly I didn’t. I say not surprisingly because Troy just isn’t that type of person, he never has been. Troy usually took my healthy sister beatings rather gracefully. I hardly ever got told on and almost never got a Charlie horse in return. These qualities he’s held onto throughout the years and I can say it’s made him a better person. I don’t think I know a more loyal friend then Troy. He’s someone you can count on to always have your back.

Some of you may not know Troy very well so I’m going to take this time to enlighten you on what it was like to grow up with this guy. I think it’s safe to say that Troy isn’t always the…. Brightest person, sometimes the idea is there but he just can’t quite execute it that well. So when you’re younger you usually don’t have a lot of money come Christmas time which is understandable, one Christmas when we were younger Troy thought he was being crafty and got me a bouncy ball as a gift, this was fine, I liked bouncy balls. But then the next year I unwrap my gift… and its another bouncy ball, and I’m thinking to myself I’m starting to see a pattern emerge here, but this time he had gotten even craftier and I recognized this bouncy ball. Turns out Troy had given me one of Matt’s bouncy balls for Christmas. Soooo… thanks for that Troy!

Being the baby of the family has it’s perks and Troy knew how to take full advantage of that, I just remember every time we were asked to do the dishes Troy had 2 back up plans, he would either conveniently have to go poop or have a crying tantrum and he would ALWAYS get out of it. I really don’t remember actually doing dishes with Troy, it was always me and Matt. Even two years ago at Christmas time the boys had to do dishes so, Mark, Matt and Troy…. Oh no wait Troy was in the living room cuz Mom felt sorry for him for having shoulder surgery. He probably planned that surgery.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the time when our parents were trucking and I got a phone call at work from my friend asking why there were fire trucks at my place. I knew Troy was home alone so I started freaking out, I finally got a hold of Troy on the phone and I asked what was going on, he replied with “nothing much.” I then asked about the fire trucks and he said “oh ya, I started a fire in the back yard” After I got home I noticed just how big that fire actually was. Troy had been burning garbage on a windy day and the fire caught a tree, which then caught another tree and also spread through the grass. It got pretty close to the house by the time it was finally put out. I’m just glad he had the sense to call the fire department. Unfortunately he lost that sense that following weekend when we were having a hot tub party and he decided to point the fireworks towards the bushes in front of the house. Good thing we had hot tub water to put out that fire before it spread.

Troy and Nancy have had their share of ups and downs as most couples have and I remember during a down time me and Troy having a conversation about you Nancy. He told me that he had always only loved you. He said that you made him feel complete and it was only you that he wanted. I remember during that time that I wasn’t sure if Troy would ever be able to settle down. And then there you were, taming the wild boy inside of him and helping him to become a man. I get emotional talking about it because I got to see you grow up Troy, I got to see you make mistakes. I got to see you both bring a beautiful little girl into this world and I’m so happy it’s led to this day. That I got to see you both get married, Troy looking so handsome, and Nancy looking gorgeous.

Now I’ve only been married for two years so I’m hardly claiming to be an expert but I do have some advice and I think my husband Mark can agree to this-  Troy, your wife is. Always. Right. And that’s really all the advice I have!

Moving on, Troy even though we didn’t always get along when we were younger I really am thankful that we have become friends. Our friendship has taken a while to develop but I can always count on you to make me laugh…. Or for you to ask me for a ride, but I will always say yes because that’s what friends are for. This also means we can share inside jokes like saying “Go to way”, or calling you Chin or you trying to make T-Roy take off,  I’m happy I found a friend in my brother. I’m also happy to have gained a sister out of my friend Nancy. Welcome to the family Nancy and I wish you and Troy a lifetime of happiness together. I love you both. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The speech was received well so that was  a lode off. The wedding came together beautifully and I must say, my brother and his wife are extremely photogenic! The pictures came out gorgeous I just love them!! I still need to see if Nancy will let me print a few pictures to add to my own albums. Although I love planning weddings myself and looking at wedding photos I am not a huge wedding fan. Like the actual day I mean. I don't know why really lol but I'm just glad that it's over. Even though it wasn't my wedding it's just nice to have that 'accomplished' if you will. No more stress for anyone and now the couple is just married and all is well and we can look at pretty pictures and thats good enough!

Sorry I've been MIA for a while, I've just been really focused on my Youtube channel (which is BeautyByDez2 by the way ;)   )  and just other life happenings. Also it's really difficult to keep up with a blog if you don't actually have internet at home ya know!? But that shall soon change as well, as soon as I get a job (ya thats right, I still don't have a job) we will get internet and then I can be more frequent on here. Thanks for stickin in there with me, luv ya!

Liquid Eyeliner Is My B!tch

You know those motivational sayings you hear all the time and think “ya ya whatever!” or “that can’t possibly apply to me, it’s different with me.” And then one day it hits you like a punch to your face and you realize “oh… maybe that can apply to me.” I had such a realization tonight. I feel so foolish and embarrassed with myself, I’ll start from the beginning though so you get a better understanding of what it is I’m actually saying.

I remember the very first time I got my makeup done, it was for me 12^th birthday, my Mom took me to Pharmasave so that I could see how they would apply my makeup so that I could learn that way. Then my mom bought all the products that the women had used on my face so I could use them too, I got a blue eyeliner, a pink eyeshadow quad and mascara (she even took me to get my hair cut, I got the “zig zag shag”), I was so happy with how it turned out that I slept in my makeup so it would look relatively the same and I’d only have to touch up the next day for school. I walked into school and I got so many compliments, I even caught the boy I liked peeking over at me more then usual ;) . That day started my love affair with makeup, thanks Mom (!) I’ll be sure to get Mark to thank you too! Although I will forever love makeup, it did open my eyes to more insecurities. I started with only wearing makeup every now and then, that soon lead to wearing it every day, which led to me wearing makeup as a mask. I hid behind this mask for many, many years. Actually, I hid behind that mask up until a few months ago. One of my biggest insecurities was the size of my eyes, and yes I say was, I can happily say that I am finally happy with the size of my eyes. It may sound so silly on the outside but to me it was a huge milestone. That wasn’t my only insecurity though, along with my fascination with makeup came a developing skill to learn what worked best to enhance the shape of my eyes. I learned to make eyeshadow my secret weapon and for years I treated liquid eyeliner as my enemy. Until today. First off I will say that at one point I did like liquid eyeliner, in highschool to be exact, except I wasn’t so great at making it look flattering. I was oblivious to it though, I thought I looked fabulous so I went on my merry way with my mask.

 Yes, I was that pale, which only made

liquid eyeliner look even worse on me.

 Hard to tell in this pic but lets also take moment

to check out my super skinny brows!

 My brother started dating a girl who was really good at doing her makeup and eventually she showed me how to make eyeshadow my best friend. I ditched liquid eyeliner and never looked back. Fast forward a few years and I started buying liquid eyeliner again, I would apply it, hate it, put it at the bottom of the drawer and move on. Then those flashy ads would speak to my inner makeup junkie and I’d buy the next liquid eyeliner, apply it, hate it, discard it. Fast forward a few more months and I signed up for Instagram. I love me some instagram! I started following makeup artists and revelled in their talents. These women are SO good at what they do, and all of them wear liquid eyeliner. This sparks a fire in me and I go and buy another liquid eyeliner, apply it, hate it, discard it. I’m frustrated at this point wanting liquid eyeliner to be my friend but only getting the cold shoulder so I turn my attention to gel liner. What do I find? A new found love for gel liner. What do I learn how to do? I small wing on the outer corner of my eyes that DOESN’T look bad!!! I can’t do a bigger wing though, my eyes are too small, I just don’t have a good eye shape. I’m content with this though, a small wing is better then no wing. I keep scrolling through pictures on IG (slang for instagram) and I’m jealous. Why did all these girls get blessed with gorgeous huge brown eyes that look sooooo good paired with black liquid eyeliner, it just isn’t fair.

Then today happened. I was at my friend Amanda’s house telling her how I bought a liquid eyeliner again even though I don’t like it on me I still continue to buy them. After I left her house it stuck with me that I had said that I still always buy them and thought to myself, I’m going to stop being afraid. I’m not going to let liquid eyeliner call the shots. I’m not going to tell myself I’m not good enough of an artist. I’m not going to tell myself that other girls can do a better job and I might as well not even try. I'm going to stop letting fear control me. I am going to try, and I might fail, but I’m going to try again anyway. My eyes are not too small, I just need to learn how to work with them and make liquid eyeliner my other best friend just like I did with eyeshadow.

So in the past few months I have grown comfortable in my naked face and as of today Thursday, August 15^th at approximately 10pm I made liquid eyeliner my best friend. Not only in just one way though, I made liquid eyeliner bend to MY will in two different ways. If you aren’t following exactly what I mean, I’m trying to say that I applied liquid eyeliner to each eye in two different styles and both worked for my eye shape. I made my short stubby wing into a long pencil thin elegant wing that stretched way outside my comfort zone. Then I laid on the liner thick thick thick on my other eye, Audrey Hepburn style and it rocks my world!

I’m done saying “I can’t” or “I love the style but it just wouldn’t work on me” and instead I’m going to believe in my abilities and this has made me want venture out and try all sorts of things I didn’t think I could do. And I don’t just mean with makeup (although those fake eyelashes are begging for me to master them now) but with all parts of my life! So I’m going to believe in myself instead of bring myself down and I’m going to love being in my own skin. I hope you can all believe in yourselves too, whatever your hurdles may be because you deserve it!

Book Worm

Well it has been a while thats for sure. Whoops. I thought that with not having a job anymore I'd have so much time to work on my blog and make it better but I've actually been quite busy. A lot more busy then I thought I'd be, which is a good thing but seems as though my my blog has suffered. I do have some exciting things I have been working on and hopefully after I've polished that up I will post it on here to share with all of you! And this isn't one of those things where I say I'll do it and I actually don't. I've started working on this project and I intend for it to be an ongoing thing. I'll stop talking about something you don't know about now and start with what I wanted this blog post to actually be about!

BOOOOOOOOKS!!!!!!!!

The last book I read was 'Finale' which is part of a book series by Becca Fitzpatrick. It's a collection of 4 books in order from start to finish- Hush Hush, Crescendo, Silence and Finale. I love book series with 4 books. 5 is almost overkill but 4 is perfect. 4 allows you to connect with the characters, to fall in love with them, then hate them and then fall in love with them all over again. This series follows two lovers Nora and Patch, don't you just love that name?! Sex in a name mmmm mmmmm. It's one of those super natural books, ficitional, and just all around cute. It's a very cute story and I believe all ages can connect with it. Me being 25 loved it, and my mom being 29 ( ;)  ) loved it.

 

The book I finished before 'Finale' was 'City of Lost Souls' by Cassandra Clare. This book is part of a book series that is not yet finished called 'The Mortal Instruments'. This book was number 5 in a 6 book series. And like I said I'm more of a 4 book tap out and it was very difficult to get through 'City of Lost Souls' and it saddens me to say this. I think I started this book and then half a year later finally picked it up to finish it but then didn't and then 3 months later actually finished it. Sometimes my attention span isn't so great so don't let my reading pattern reflect your decision to pick up these books. This book was so great, it wasn't that I didn't love it or anything it was just because of life I guess. It didn't drag on and I was always interested in it, and bonus (!) the first book has been made into a movie and will be out soon!!! I cannot wait to see it, you have no idea!!! So go pick up that first book so you can finish it before the movie cuz lets face it, the books are always better ;) 

 

Also I'd like to make a special mention to the book series also by Cassandra Clare called 'The Infernal Devices'. Thise series is 3 books that will capture your heart, suck you into their world and surround you with goosebumpy feelings. These have to be my all time favorite books. While reading the first book I actually noticed myself writing more like they talk in the book, it was affecting me in ways I hadn't expected. I was transforming my vocabulary to make it more proper and I loved it! It follows a sort of love triangle between Tessa, Will and Jem. I wont even try to explain it, just read the books and you can get sucked in as I did and just enjoy the journey :) 

I know that it's summer and you may not want to be reading but just pick these up to read for winter then! I can hear my mom lecturing me now " you don't read in summer! Go outside!!! Plenty of time to read in winter." No matter the season you read them, just make sure that you do!

The List

I debated actually doing this post but then thought to myself "this is my blog, I can do whatever I want!" so there you have it! This is a post about makeup so Mark, feel free to stop reading right about here. I recently compiled a list of all the name brand makeup I'd like to accumulate eventually. Obviously I'd like it sooner then later but I'm not rich aight?! So slowly but surely I will come to collect, I will collect you aaaallll!!!!!!!! Wanna see a list of all the awesome stuff I want? You do?! Great cause I just so happen to make lists, and I also happen to like posting lists for all to see :) I also had wanted to make a list of all the drugstore brand stuff that I want but I was also including prices and I just wasn't finding those as easily as I had hoped for those brands so I left that out. The grand total for all this makeup was roughly around $900 (pick up jaw off of floor now), and I divided that into 12 months equalling roughly $75/month but is still a bit excessive but I do plan to take some stuff from that list and ask for it on Christmas lists and stuff like that. I am also planning on keeping an eye out for deals on websites to get this stuff cheaper. Since I'm talking about websites how about I compile a list of sites I like to frequent?!

hautelook.com

benefitcosmetics.com

toofaced.com

sephora.com

ulta.com

coastalscents.com

houseoflashes.com

mac.com

overstock.com

ebay.ca <---- I always compare everything

 to ebay. After shipping it could be cheaper 

then after shipping on                                        

   the brand name website. 

So here is the list and I'll break it down into brands. 

Benefit Cosmetics

Blush- Coralista $28

 Fakeup Concealer $24





 Porefessional Primer $30 (on order! woop!)

Too Faced Cosmetics

 Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer$30

Shadow Insurance Primer $20

Boudoir Eyes Palette $36 (would ask for as a gift)

  Naked Eye Palette $35 (would ask for as a gift)

  Natural Eye Palette $36 (would ask for as a gift)

MAC Cosmetics

Betty- Cream Soda Blush $26

  RiRi Woo Lipstick $18

Viva Glam Nicki Lipstick $18

Hey Sailor- Fleet Fast Blush $38

 Lady Danger Lipstick $18

Kat Von D Cosmetics

Hellbent Lipstick $23 

Lock It Tattoo Foundation $41

Tattoo Eye Liner $22

Lock It Tattoo Concealer $30

Lime Crime Cosmetics

I actually only want Unicorn, Countessa, Cosmopop,

and Geradium- $16/each

The Balm Cosmetics

Betty-Lou Manizer Bronzer $24

Bahama Mama Bronzer $20

FratBoy Blush $21

Put A Lid On It Primer $18

Argyle Petal Blush $22

                Toile Blush $22

Nude'Tude Palette $36 (also as a gift)

Urban Decay Cosmetics

Chill Finishing Spray $29

Deslick Matte Powder $32

Mushroom Eyeshadow $18

     Sin Eyeshadow $18

And there you have it! These are all the things I've been pining over for a while now. I don't normally buy name brand products because they are so expensive, I usually stick to drugstore, but I really do find that the higher end makeup is a bit better quality. So this is my wish list/slowly build up myself list. 

In other, related news- tomorrow I'm going to Ikea to pick up a new makeup vanity!! Woop Woop!! SO excited you have no idea! And I will also hopefully be starting on a few projects in my makeup room to make it more of a room I like to be in. Updates on that will be sure to come!

Hope everyone has a good long weekend! 

And This Too Shall Come To An End

My time working at Berg's is quickly coming to an end, and as a bit of a farewell I wanted to write a little sum'pn sum'pn to ma bestie! Are you ready to get deep?! (wow, that came off way dirtier then I intended...).

Dear Nellitello,

      It feels like ages ago we were sitting at a booth in Smitty's and me talking about hating my job, and then you telling me about an opening at your office. I remember the excitement I felt to have the opportunity to possibly work with my friend again! Soon to follow was my interview and soon after that I was offered the job. I feel so blessed to have been able to work side by side for 3 years, they have been some of the best work years of my life. Sadly I know that no job in my future will compare, I'm sure there are jobs that I will like but there's nothing like coming to work and feeling like you're just hanging out all day. I'm hoping the results of us both moving on will open doors for us to connect on a different level. We'll have to be sure to carve out some NelliDezzo time (Yes, I just made that up and yes, I'm pretty proud of myself).
     Somehow I know that in my future life, any time I'll see a water cooler I'll think of our water cooler discussion times... times? Maybe it was just time (singular) but regardless, I'll think of it. Any time I have some down time I know I'll miss slowly walking over to your desk just to talk away my boredom. If my future job holds an office for me I'm sure I'll miss having you walk in to just chat even though you're super busy and swamped. I'm gonna miss making fun of the guys in the shop behind their backs and imitating them. I'm going to miss those breaks in my work day where I'm laughing so hard I can't breathe. I'm going to miss making fun of you to your face after you've said something dumb and/or said a word wrong (I know I can still do this when we  hang out but its so much more fun at work). I'm NOT going to miss seeing you come in every morning an hour later then me and leaving work an hour earlier then me though that's for sure! I will miss going into the bathroom at work and taking videos of ourselves to send to each other.... while both at work lol. I'm gonna miss telling you what to do ;) . I'm going to miss the friendships that we've built with these people at work, I know it wouldn't have been the same had we not been side by side. I'm reeeaaaaally going to miss being able to vent to each other every time someone annoys us, it was a great way to not just explode. I'm going to miss being able to spend our breaks together and getting each other subway. I'm also going to miss our mom's stopping in to bring us both coffee's and then staying to visit, I really liked those times. I'm going to miss waking up in the morning and looking forward to coming to work, I know it wouldn't have been the same had we not worked together. Monday mornings are probably just going to be crappy 'ol Monday mornings now. I'm so going to miss when either of us would do something embarrassing not realizing there's a window into the shop and other people can see us. I'm going to miss being able to be weird and not feel weird about it. I'm going to miss having you text me in the morning asking me if I want breakfast. I'm gonna miss how you don't judge me when I hit my limbs on immobile objects and make pterodactyl noises, can you imagine the looks I'll get when doing that in front of new people lol ??!!??



    Aside from all the fun times and good work memories we've made I just wanted you to know that I really love working with you Nellie. Coming to work has always been a highlight for me and I owe it to you for that. I truly have been blessed and it makes me sad to know this will soon come to an end but like me, you and Matt said, maybe one day we will all reunite. Until then I'll cherish the next week we have together and pray that we both move on to bigger and better. To us!

This And That

Hello Lovelies!

Today will be just a bit of this and that post. That makes sense right? A little bit of this, and a little bit of that lol. I've done a few things around the house lately, and hopefully today I get more done, we'll see how that pans out though. Anyway, I just wanted to share a few things that I've done with all of you!

If you follow me on IG (instagram) you would have seen a picture I posted of all my shoes needing a home. I knew I wanted a concealed storage unit to put in my makeup room so I could put a little decore on the top of it. I've been wanting to add more personal touches to that room so that seemed like a good way to be able to do it. While in the Grand Forks this past weekend we picked up a cabinet thingy to make a home for my shoesies. I built it almost completely by myself and only made one minor mistake. Unfortunately it looks a bit cheaper then I thought it would but oh well, it will do for now. 

 View from the outside.

 View from the inside. I don't think you can notice from

this photo but I put the backing on the

wrong way so its a light grey instead of white but

it will be closed all the time anyway.

 

And view from the inside which as you can

see houses my boots. 

The frames on the top of that aren't staying, in fact they are already gone, I was just trying different things out. This is the room I wanted to work on today so maybe I'll have pics up soon of how I rearrange everything. I just don't really know what I want to do with it yet so we'll see how far I get. I spend a lot of time in there so I want to be happy when I walk into that room :) 

We finally found a frame for a picture I bought in New York. I'm not sure if I shared this story already but I'll do a re-cap. I bought a 10X20 picture off of little cart on the corner near Times Square and it was framed and everything. After carefully packing it away it proved to not be good enough and the glass on the frame shattered while in bag check. After searching high and low for the size frame (which is IMPOSSIBLE), we found a frame that was verrrry close to that size while in Grand Forks. It actually had a different picture in it (also of a building in New York lol) which I wanted to keep and use it for something else but it ended up being attached to the backing of the frame so I ended up having to tape my picture onto the existing picture. It was kind of unfortunate but I'll live. This is the finished product:

That's the placement of it anyway, hard to tell exactly where it is since its a close up of the wall but whatever. It's kind of blurry, maybe this close up shot will look better.... no never mind it looked just as bad so I deleted it. 

Moving on... I went to Shoppers Drugmart a few days ago and picked up a few things, my friend had told me about this end bunk they have thats filled with perfume/cologne for $20. It's decent sized bottles and good ones too so I picked myself up a bottle of Lovely by Sara Jessica Parker. Now that my perfume collection is growing I'd like to get a cute tray to put them on to sort of better display them. I love perfume bottles, they look so pretty :) Shoppers also has these brown bags full of makeup products for only $5!!! Its a donation for... I forget what for but what better excuse to buy makeup then for it being a donation?! So naturally, I grabbed a bag for myself. It's such a cool deal because practically each item in the bag is over $5 in value so you are sssooo getting your moneys worth out of it. And there is like 5ish items in each bag I think. That would be like a $50 value. Granted you wont like everything in the bag but you can always give it away as a gift or something. This is the stuff that I got: 

This is the lot of it it, 3 lipsticks, 1 mascara, 1 nail polish

1 concealer, 1 foundation. 

The mascara is actually brown, which I never get, but I tried it out on my bottom lashes and found out I actually like using that on the bottom for a softer affect. The Maybelline Age Rewind concealer I have really wanted in a larger bottle but its a really dark color, I'll have to see if I can use it when I'm more tan. The maybelline foam foundation is super dark too, I don't even know anybody I could give that to so I'm not sure what I'll do with it. The Sally Hansen nail polish is a really pretty nude color and the lipsticks are Maybelline, Revlon and the other one I forget and it wasn't familiar to me too. I tested them out and really like 2 out of the 3. Here's some swatches for ya: 

 

It's probaby really hard to tell the color from these pictures but the 

Maybelline is really pretty light pink, it goes on really smooth, I liked it. The cool

thing is is that I wouldn't normally have bought this, and ended up liking it. 

 

The Revlon was a really nice red color, not too

in your face red, more of a softer red. I forget which one this was but

its the lipsticks with the lip balm in the middle. I've been wanting to try

this out actually and I really like it. It goes on so smooth and 

really helps for not looking too chappy. I'd definitely get more of these. 

 

This one was more of a brown color and I was going to give it to 

my mom before I even tried it on but after trying it on I noticed

it's complete crap. I did tell my mom about it and she said

she'd still try it out anyway. It was really hard to get on my 

lips and after I finally got enough coverage I noticed it had a

very sticky consistency. Not a fan at all. 

This was the $20 perfume I got as well as a Benefit

They're Real mascara <- big fan!

That same day I also went to Dollarama and picked up a few things. Just some random things, I went specifically for a picture frame but ended up grabbing some other stuff as well. 

 

I picked up a bag thingy to put on your heard when you have a headache. I thought this would come in handy when Mark and I get migraines, I think you can put hot or cold water in it. Then I got a cute makeup bag, I wanted something small enough to go in my purse but big enough to at least be able to hold brushes. I got double sided foam tape and 2 picture frames as well as a canvas thingy, its not actually a canvas it's wood but I don't know what you would call it. I thought it would be a cute addition for my makeup room since I want it to be travel themed. Now I just got to figure out where to put it. 

Well thats all for today, hope you enjoyed everything. I've actually got 2 blog posts brewing up in my head so those should be up next week. I really want to be more regular with this whole posting thing. Hope everyone has a happy weekend!!!!