Well it's been awhile my friends and I have missed you all so dearly. It's been about 3 years since I last sat down and wrote up a blog post on here. In that space of time I feel I have lived a hundred different lives. So to catch up on all that would be too lengthy and frankly not very interesting. I'm starting fresh with a topic I've been mulling around during this very confusing season of life.

In January of 2020 I started a side hustle with an MLM (which I'm not going to name because I'm just not about defamation) and was thrown into a world of Zoom meetings, three-way calls, social posting, text groups with multitudes of people and a community of strong, entrepreneurial women. 

I am not a sales woman, in any capacity, which they tell you is not what Network Marketing is about. Well, I disagree with that notion. Product --> Market -->  Lead --> Conversion aka a SALE. You make a profit on that sale. You get notifications about the shipment of that sale. So I rest my case, this job is about selling. And with Network Marketing you are asking someone to purchase the good that you have. So... what happens when there is a global pandemic and millions of people have lost their job? 

Morality is a tricky thing when it comes to advertising - which I learned about in my college courses on the Ethics of Advertising. What is "moral" about projecting an image of a product influencing your life? It's a fine, fine line with this and not one that can be easily defined in my opinion. Couple that with a devastating virus ransacking the earth and well that is absolutely the definition of a moral dilemma.

Just to make things more spicy how about we throw in another caveat to conversation. What about the women in this MLM who support their families with this job? What about the women who have lost their jobs and need to pay their bills? There are people still working and there are definitely people looking for a way to make money from their homes while in lockdown. So what does the general public have to say for these entrepreneurs? "Stop working"? Well, they have bills to pay too. "Stop asking people to buy your product"? Well, people still purchase beauty and nutrition products online.

So it's not so cut and dry with the current status of the world because there are two sides to this conversation and each one has its valid points. But how do we as a collective unit identify the ethical and the unethical arguments? It's either all or none for Network Marketing because you either profit or you don't.

Changing the conversation around advertising in the current pandemic is something that needs to happen. We can't pretend that there aren't vulnerable people out there that would be desperate enough to jump head in to a business they see opportunity in. But we also can't be blind to the fact that people don't need products or opportunities marketed to their weaknesses either.

Where do you stand on the subject and what basis do you form that opinion around? I'd be curious to hear additional insight into the conversation because I, quite frankly, am at a loss as to what is appropriate behavior at this time. With that said keeping anger out of this is my main objective - I know how MLM's are viewed to most of the general public and I'm not looking for a lynching. Just a friendly "whatcha think?" answer will suffice.

The Show : Twin Peaks
Episode Count: 38
Seasons: 3
Where to Watch: Netflix

Twin Peaks Travel Poster by Jazzberry Blue

If you haven't ever seen a David Lynch film I would suggest you watch one before giving Twin Peaks a go. He's a brilliant director and there is a ton of symbolism in every single character/plot/setting. With that being said he is not everyone's cup of tea... or coffee - watch the show and you'll get the joke.

As millennials we are constantly appointed with the terms self-obsessed, over-sharers, or the all-about-me-monsters. And for better or worse they aren't wrong. In a world inhabited by Lena Dunham and Kylie Jenner there's no denying these traits are becoming more and more obvious.


Before I get all ranty I just want to say I'm clearly someone who also feels it's important to share my own personal voice with strangers. I use Twitter and Instagram to share even more snippets of who I feel I am. On top of that I have personal accounts for Instagram and Facebook (although I never really share on Facebook anymore) because I want to put something out there from my life that I found interesting, or funny, or sad, or just nice.

Fall Television

Balboa Park

I have absolutely LOVED starting a bullet journal. I think it is such a great way to be creative whilst staying organized. My planner is always jam packed with to do lists but definitely doesn't have a section to put all the books I've read this year. Amongst the pages I wrote down a Fall bucket list I found on Pinterest. I think it is definitely attainable and hopefully I can cross off some of them within the next month or two.
I also plan on doing a whole post on what I put in my bullet journal! Now if anyone can find me a good hayride in Southern California I would be set...

So, like most people, horror movies don't really float my boat. It isn't that I think they're scary but actually quite the opposite. I either find them so unbelievable that I laugh the whole time or am disgusted by how gruesome they are. But of course there are plenty non-horror Halloween movies that are as classic as any Christmas movie out there!
As a film lover I had to compile my top list of movies that centre around this season/holiday... if you consider Halloween a holiday??? So here it is friends:

Hi loves! I hope all is well in your life and that the universe is giving you all the support and guidance you need. As I'm sitting here I am deciding why I feel the need to write this blog post. It's nothing beauty related, no fashion tips will be found here. And yet, writing things out is how I find clarity.
So maybe amongst this jumbled rambling of my own thoughts you will find something that you identify with. We all hold on to toxic things in our lives. It could be a person, a group of people, a community, a lifestyle, etc. But the truth is there are always those aspects of our life that, let's face it, take away from our happiness.
Without getting too into detail (don't think I'm ready to divulge the grim details quite yet) a person, a very important person in my life, has traveled down a very lonely road. For years and years and years I have played the game of completely letting this person fall out of my life and needing to keep them close to me.
It has been a learning lesson, one that has prepared me for many other situations I have faced in life. A model of how not to live, how not to treat others, and most importantly how not to treat myself. Through all the heartbreak, the turmoil, the devastation there have also been very happy memories. Memories I could never think back on without a smile.
It would be unfair to say that this person has always brought me unhappiness. But, the unhappiness speaks volumes compared to the happy times. So... now what?

Take Time

Look Inward

Coping with the Loss

So I feel like I kind of hit a wall in the blogging section of my mind. Honestly, the problem is that I have so many more ideas for fall and winter posts that this awkward, uncomfortably hot, everlasting summer time is just trè trè uninspiring. As I was racking my brain I realized that I have never done a celebrity/blogger/youtuber style post. I have an ENTIRE SECRET Pinterest page just dedicated to celebrity fashion. I have no clue why I keep it on private but Hey we aren't here to ask questions about my weird quirks right? Right.
So as I mentioned in my July Favorites (which can be devoured here) I read "Grace & Style: The Art of Pretending You Have It" and it made my internal gospel choir rejoice. Not only is Grace Helbig unreal gorg but her style tips are so frustratingly sensible! I feel like my style is never ever ever the same and literally changes with my moods so I have a crap ton of random pieces in my closet.

Example:
1. a Woodstock T-shirt for when I channel the flower child vibe
2. button up collared blouse for when I channel my inner preppy vibe
3. vintage dresses from when I wanted to be Zooey Deschanel

It's such a mess and is truly an example of my inner self but I'm telling you the book made me really rethink my shopping habits (as well as a crisis when I literally screamed at my closet for not having anything I liked). So here are some of the pins I have collected of Grace and her fab sense of fashion!

If this post is finally going live it means, my friends, that I have been successful in finishing my endeavor of reading all seven of the beloved series in a row. It was something I had been wanting to do for well... a very long time. I think anyone who has read the series or watched all eight films knows that these books are truly magic.
I can't deny that 2016 has been a year of change in my life. When I made the decision to read the series it was April 8th and I was a little more than a month away from graduating college. There was so much uncertainty in my future. So much that I, frankly, felt out of control of most everything that was coming my way. Choosing to read HP was possibly one of the best decisions I made in the past few months. With so much pressure on the decisions I was making when my education was coming to an end, there needed to be something that was a distraction.