Dug Up from the Drafts: "There's More to Me than Makeup" Tag

Totally random and unrelated photo. View from my bedroom window, taken in January. The window has a screen, 

hence the blurriness. I played with editing, but eventually decided on the original. I hate making posts without pictures!

Hello, dear readers,

I know this is another tag, and an old one at that, but I actually have a fairly decent reason for it. This is the second of the drafts that I promised to post. At last, my "Posts" box will be empty of anything but published blogs. I'm not changing the font on this one, because I rewrote the answers to suit my current situation. 


1. Do you go to school? If yes...what is your favourite subject/ what is your major?
Yes, I go to school. My major is Communications, with a minor in Spanish. Within Communications, I love film classes. However, I'm not going into the film industry; I just find those courses extremely interesting and fun. 

2. Do you work? If yes...what is your job?
I don't work at the moment, but I am looking for a summer job. I hope to find one, but, if not, I may end up taking a class instead. I do have an unpaid blogging internship online for CHAOS Magazine, and I'm applying for a copy editor internship at another website. It's also unpaid, and I'll tell you what it is if I get the position.


3. Do you read? If yes...name a few of your favourite books and/or magazines.
Yes.  Some of my favorite books are the Harry Potter series [in English and Spanish]; Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett; American Gods and Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman;  The Princess Bride, by William Goldman; The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory; Bookends by Jane Green; The Looking Glass Wars trilogy, by Frank Beddor....Honestly the list could go on and on and on.
As for magazines, my favorite is probably Marie Claire. 


4. Can you cook?
I can't properly answer that, because it's not that I can't cook; I just don't cook. I'd like to learn, but I lack motivation.


5. Do you have any siblings?
Yes. I have a sister, aged 24, and a brother, 27.


6. Do you speak any other languages?
If I were to be immersed in a Spanish-speaking environment, I think I would be able to quickly improve my spoken Spanish. I am fairly fluent as far as reading, writing, and understanding, but I could use more practice speaking. I've studied for a little over eight years, so I should hope I would pick it up! 


7. If you could holiday anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
I'd love to travel all over Europe and the UK, just to experience the culture and the sights [The shopping wouldn't hurt either!]. Specifically, I'd like to visit Spain or another Spanish-speaking country for the reasons mentioned above. 


8. What is your idea of the perfect date?
I don't have anything specific in mind. Honestly, I think the most important thing is that it goes well!


9. What is your dream career?
I'm not 100 percent sure, but I would like to explore the world of publishing/publications. I'm also fascinated by the idea of translating books for a career.


10. Are you athletic...do you play sports/work out..or are you a couch bunny?
I'm athletic in the sense that I love working out and keeping fit. I absolutely do not play sports. My hand-eye coordination doesn't exist, and I don't have the patience for team sports.


11. What are your three favourite things (that have nothing to do with makeup/beauty)?
I'm going to skip friends and family, because they're people, not things. As far as tangible "things," I would say film, books, and music. How much more generic can I get here? More intangible things would be singing, traveling, and working out. 


12. What is the BEST thing about you? 
I love the fact that I'm easily amused by pretty much everything, which makes other people laugh as well. That probably isn't the BEST thing about me, but it's one of my personal favorite qualities.


Ahhhh, the sound of complete silence from the "Drafts" area of my profile. How I adore it. I'm not entirely sure when I initially wrote this, but it was probably before or during last fall. Like I said, the answers are up-to-date, having rewritten them yesterday. I didn't think it would be necessary to show you the old one because things have changed, and it no longer contained inaccurate information.


Have you done this tag? I think it's fun to read about the lives, loves, and dreams of other fashion/beauty/lifestyle bloggers. We all have a certain amount of "girliness" in common, but it's nice to see what else is going on with everyone. Maybe we have more in common than we thought [or even less]! 


In any case, enjoy your day, whatever you happen to be doing!


xEsther

And the Concerts Keep Coming: Jon McLaughlin Hits the Road

Hello, dear readers,

As you may have noticed, this post is about yet another concert. I feel like that's all I've been posting lately, but it's so exciting! I'm going to see Jon McLaughlin in Minneapolis, MN, on June 5th, and I am more than thrilled. It's part of his Promising Promises tour to promote the album of the same name that will be launching around that time. McLaughlin is another of my top three favorite male singers. He plays multiple instruments, all wonderfully, I might add, and his lyrics are deeper than your average Top 40 pop hit. That's not to say he doesn't deserve to be in a "Top ..." list; he really does. You may remember his hits "Beat of My Heart" and "Industry" from a few years back; they were played on several radio stations for a long period of time.

In any case, if you're in Minneapolis, you should check out his concert. Tickets are available here, and if you don't live there, here's his tour schedule. If he's playing near you, and you've never heard him before, check him out on YouTube and see what you think. I'm biased because I have seen him perform, but it was a short set at a free event.

For the record, no one is paying me to mention any concerts. McLaughlin and Eric Hutchinson just happen to be two of my favorites [Jason Mraz is the third, but I'm not thrilled with his new album.]. I'm super enthusiastic about going to concerts, especially because I've hardly been to any, so I want to share with you what I truly believe is fantastic music.

My posts will be beauty related shortly, but I find it fun to write about my interests and the goings-on in my life. I enjoy the fact that it makes me feel closer to my readers, even though I can't see any of you!

So see if you like his music, and definitely get tickets in Minneapolis if you'll be there on June 5th. What if we ran into each other?

I hope you have a lovely weekend!

xEsther

Rockin' Out with Eric Hutchinson

Meeting Eric Hutchinson!  (I'm on the right; my friend, Beth, is on the left)

Hello, dear readers,

Today's post is just an update on the Eric Hutchinson concert and what it was like to meet him and see him perform. I've been singing all of the songs on his new album non-stop since Monday, April 23, so I feel like this is an appropriate topic. As it turns out, my friend and I were not the only winners of the "Meet Eric Hutchinson" contest. In fact, the other girl and her guest were already tipsy when we went to meet him behind the kitchen area. It was quite a strange meeting place. They were also much louder and bigger than we were. In general, they were much more aggressive in conversation. We only really got to say "Hi, nice to meet you" and our names before the other girls started talking.

We had also wanted to sing one of his songs for him, because we harmonize to them all the time. Needless to say, we didn't get the chance. As for feeling starstruck, it didn't happen. He showed absolutely no personality, and he looks happier in this picture than he did actually talking. It was a meeting of approximately five minutes. He also came out after the show so anyone could meet him, which I felt negated the purpose of the contest. Maybe no one else got pictures, or the line was so long that not everyone stayed. 

We were pretty disappointed after meeting him, simply because we barely got the chance to say anything, and he exhibited about as much charisma as a doorknob. However, we changed our minds a bit after the concert. He was amazing, a completely fantastic performer and entertainer. He must have been saving his energy for that. [We can hope, right?] We had a wonderful time dancing and singing along at the top of our lungs. He sang somewhere around 20 songs, I believe, three of which were not his own. It lasted an hour and a half, after a very subpar, 45-minute, opening act. 

Overall, I think I can speak for us both when I say that we're pretty thrilled to have met him, despite his lack of enthusiasm before the concert. And, hey, we came away with a great picture of us!

That just about sums up the event. I can't really do it justice through a blog post, but I can tell you that we had an absolute blast! I'm going to buy his new album today; listening to it on Spotify was only acceptable in order to learn the songs before heading to the concert.

Well, that's all, folks.

Have a thrilling Thursday!

xEsther

About Me

Hello readers,

As I was struggling to come up with a new idea for a post, I thought, wouldn't it be fun to do another survey? Floating around YouTube these days is the "About Me" tag, so I decided to post my answers right here on my blog.

Here goes:

1. Do you have a middle name? 
I do indeed. My middle name is Meira. Just about no one is able to pronounce it when I tell them.

2. What is your Favorite subject in school?
Currently my favorite subjects are Intro to Communication and Culture and an English literature class focused solely on William Faulkner. All my friends think I'm insane because they can't stand Faulkner.

3. Whats your Favorite drink?
Water!

4. What is your Favorite song at the moment?
Well this isn't a new song, but my favorite at the moment is "Melody" by Kate Earl. It was free on iTunes in the summer and I quite like it.

5. What would you name your kids?
I really don't know. I used to think about this much more carefully when I was younger, ironically enough. I can't even remember the names I used to think of but they were the weirdest names. Truly. I  obsessed over my family's name dictionary as a child, picking out the strangest sounding ones, but I don't recall the names now.

6. Do you participate in any sports?
This one gives me a giggle. I've got absolutely no hand-eye coordination and I'm rubbish at sports. In P.E. in middle school and high school I just ran around pretending I knew what I was doing and letting everyone else play. I really appreciated that we got to choose P.E. junior and senior year, so I took dance. I danced when I was young, and I consider that a sport, but otherwise I much prefer exercise on my own to any kind of team sports. Well, that was a long answer to a yes/no question.

7. Favorite Book? 
The Harry Potter series are some of my favorite books, especially the seventh but I do love them all. I also love anything by Neil Gaiman. I wish I had more time to read for pleasure, but these days homework gets in the way.

8. Favorite Color?
I really like aqua and turquoise. Very beautiful and calming.

9. Favorite Animal?
When I was younger it was always horses. I'd say I still like horses quite a lot, as well as monkeys. As for an animal I could actually have, definitely dogs.

10. Favorite Perfume? 
I really don't own too many, and I generally prefer body splash/body spray, but my favorite of those I own has got to be Strawberry Champagne from Victoria's Secret.

11. Favorite Holiday?
Thanksgiving. My birthday occasionally falls on Thanksgiving. It's done so at least twice, and will again next year. It used to bother me a lot for some reason, but now I think it's a wonderful treat.

12. Have you graduated high school?
Yes I have.

13. Have you ever been out of the country? if so how many times? 
I've only ever been out of the country twice: once with my family to Canada, and once with a group of students from across the U.S. on a trip I won to Peru. I'd like to travel more, though, and I'm contemplating study abroad for my junior year of college.

14. Do you speak any other language?
I can speak Spanish, but since I've only taken literature and linguistics classes in Spanish this year, I'm a bit rusty at the moment. I can read and write and understand fluently, but speaking comes slower for me. This is my eighth year studying the language.

15. How many siblings do you have?
Two: a brother and a sister, both older.

16. What is your favorite store? 
I love Ulta and Target, as well as Barnes and Noble. I do also like Forever 21.

17. Favorite restaurant? 
I think it's local to where I live, so I won't say it here, but it's Italian.

18. Do you like school?
I do like my school. I was absolutely in love with it first semester, but this semester is a bit tougher and friends are transferring to other universities for various reasons so it's like starting over again.

19. Favorite youtuber? 
I can't pick one favorite! But I do love Anna Saccone, EGHearts, Community Channel, A Model Recommends, Pinkiecharm and SlightlyScented. There are many more, of course.

20. Favorite movie?
Again, I love the Harry Potter movies and "The Princess Bride". I also love "27 Dresses", "The King's Speech", "The Devil Wears Prada", "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Alice In Wonderland" [the new one], "Megamind," and "Tangled," to name just a few.

21. Favorite TV show? 
It was "That 70s Show" when that was still on. I rather enjoyed watching both seasons of the discontinued "Flight of the Conchords" this year as well. Now I'd have to say "Castle" is my all-time favorite, as well as "America's Next Top Model." I am partial to "Glee," but some of the recent episodes have just been disastrous.

22. PC or Mac?
Mac! Before my family got our first Mac, I was terrified of them. Now I've got a MacBook of my own and I love it!

23. What kind of phone do you have?
A rather unexciting red little Samsung sliding phone. It's cute and it does the job, so I don't feel the need to get a fancier one.

24. How tall are you?
5'3." I still consider that average, even though I'm pretty sure average is actually 5'4." Call me vertically challenged; what can I say.


I hope you enjoyed that little tag, and if you'd like to do it, I'd be thrilled to read your answers!


Hope you're having a lovely weekend.


xEsther

Questionnaire

Hello readers!

Clearly I have not yet gone to bed, and I've been reading blogs, so I decided to do this questionnaire from the blog Amarixe. You can find her questionnaire here.

Here are my answers:

1.) Mood: a mixture of happy and sad, bittersweet I guess, with a dash of excitement for tomorrow thrown in
2.) Do you have a subscription to any magazines? Seventeen, and I'm considering Allure
3.) Name one thing you are looking forward to in the near future. Seeing my best friend tomorrow after a couple months apart at school!
4.) Current nail polish: I don't know the name but it's a bright pink by OPI.
5.) Do you know how to identify any constellations? I know how you're supposed to identify the Big and Little Dippers and I can't remember the others. I probably wouldn't be able to, though.
6.) Do you like the idea of electronic reading (Kindle, iPad, etc.) or prefer an old-fashioned book? I prefer an old-fashioned book, but I understand the appeal of the Kindle.
7.) Current outfit: Pajamas!
8.) Do you like karaoke? I used to hate it, but I've gotten more confident about my singing voice so now I love it! I mess up the words all the time!
9.) What was your favorite cereal as a kid? I liked Lucky Charms and Oreo O's. Deliciously unhealthy.
10.) Weekly goals: I'm working on feeling better about myself and treating my body better.


That's all for now, folks. Please respond if you'd like, or you can head over to Amarixe to read hers.

xEsther