This past week has been such an adventure... and when I say adventure I MEAN MADHOUSE. Work was so overwhelming and yada yada yada but it's done. And TOMORROW IS OFFICIALLY HALLOWEEN! Which means two things 1) this is my second to last blogtober post and 2) I am one day away from reaching my goal of blogging every single day this month. 

My darling little nephew came over Wednesday night to carve pumpkins and since this is sadly my last October 2016 post before my reflections tomorrow I figured I HAD to do something super pumpkiny. And what better way than a pumpkin carving extravaganza!

Sooo as of today it will have been exactly one month since I purchased my DSLR camera. I can truly say it was worth every single penny (even if it was worth a whole lot of pennies). I had always wanted to purchase a nice camera. Especially when I was living in Spain and traveling Europe, the crap point and shoot I owned just didn't take the most incredible pictures. It also ended up breaking the second to last weekend I was there so... there was that.

Oh the joys of writing can be hard to find at times. Not just with blog posts but with articles, creative writing, and even poetry. These tips were just wonderful to read through because as an aspiring creative writer... there is a lot of self doubt. But knowing other people share your thoughts and have gotten through to the other side helps loads. 

Need a little pick-me-up? Have a quick read through these and get an instant boost. My personal favorite "Nobody's perfect - even Jennifer Lawrence has had raging diarrhea. Probably." 

Okay, okay. So this one isn't a link you can click or an article. But I HAD to mention it to you. This episode has to be my favorite of all the seasons. Everything about it had me gushing. I cried, I laughed, I cried again... It was so breathtakingly gorgeous both cinematically and emotionally. If you haven't already, do yourself a huge favor and go watch it. I promise you won't be disappointed. 

There are so many wonderful things to love about Autumn. But I think the most important would have to be the clothes. Winters in New York would make me hate sweaters, boots, and scarves by the time I could finally turn over my closet. But, no matter how much I loathed them, by September I was so ready to be bundled up. It's almost like fashion amnesia. 

I don't ever really do fashion hauls on here because I do repeat pieces quite often (Homegirl got a tight budget) but I went and picked up a few new things I was excited to show you!

Oh that sad, sad day where your beloved product has been scrapped completely clean. They were fun while they lasted but NOTHING feels better than coming home with a new, full bottle of your favorite product. Here are the little lovelies I have used up and that I will be zipping to the store to restock!

Okay so sue me... I'm doing a Christmas post like a week before Halloween. But it's necessary I promise AND it's officially two months until Christmas day. How insane is that!!! I popped in to Lush before work the other day and chatted with the sales people about the new Christmas range for like 30 whole minutes. I grabbed the booklet on my way out so I could sit and stare in awe at all the adorable new items. 

Here are the one's I will drop a whole paycheck on!

Okay... Fall goal realized. Remember all the way back to my 3rd blogtober post when I made my fall bucket list? Well, I have to say I'm pretty proud of all the things I've accomplished on it. I always make these lists and sadly, never get to realize them. But that is just not the case!
This past Saturday I went to Tanaka Farms Pumpkin Patch with my sister and her roommate. It was so. freakin. hot. Like almost passing out in the corn maze hot. But we were persistent and in the end (and after a large strawberry lemonade) had a blast.

PUMPKIN PATCH //

MENTAL HEALTH CHAT // DEPRESSION

There are times like this in my life when I feel compelled to bring up the topic of mental illness on my blog. While I won't share any names or personal details I came home Friday night from work to my mom absolutely devastated. A woman she worked closely with had taken her life the night before. A beautiful and young woman with a loving family and devoted husband.

It, rightly so, gave a somber atmosphere to our home as we discussed and argued about the complexities of depression. There was no right response and there were no wrong conclusions. Digesting this type of information is... well, it's personal. It's your own life experience making sense of the action and the result. Telling someone they don't understand doesn't change how they feel. When the topic of suicide comes up, how can you really ever find a definitive explanation? In my experience, you can't.

I think my body is finally functioning normally again after Thursday. There are honestly hardly any words I could say that can describe how I felt when I first saw a glimpse of this incredible attraction. I may joke with friends about being a "nerd" but at that moment I didn't care if anyone saw how ecstatic I was. Todays Blogtober post will be all about the incredible Harry Potter World experience at Universal Studios Hollywood. 

Are you ready?

Just a prewarning, I'm going to try to limit myself on photos but... no promises. They are all just so great! 

Oh October, it feels like I'm always ready for you to arrive and just like that your almost done. I think it's wonderful how much the blogging community embraces seasons. Honestly, many of my friends scoff at me for buying pumpkin scented candles and decorating my room for Halloween. But then I go on Twitter or Instagram and see all the other lovely blogging humans doing the same! If I could give each and every one of you a hug I would. 

I thought it would be fun to post some of the interesting articles I've found throughout this week for you! 

A while back I did a blog post about my daily routine (which you can find here) while I was still in university. Now that I'm out of education, my schedule definitely varies. My job isn't a 9-5 in any way, shape or form so sometimes my routine is changed based on my hours. It does get kind of frustrating, not going to lie, when you want structure but at the same time get bored of the daily grind. 

So I thought I would share both my morning and night time routine on a typical day.

As I was perusing Pinterest for recipes yesterday I stumbled upon this delicious looking recipe. I may not be the best cake decorator or cupcake connoisseur but recipes like this are perfect. No fuss with frostings or sprinkles, just the goods baked altogether in a lovely little bar. 

And I honestly have to say this recipe was so so simple for making it from scratch. Sometimes things can get too moist (lol to the people that hate that word) or dryer than a desert. But these came out beautifully and bonus they're gluten free!

If you didn't know this already about me I really love film. Like, my future career goals are centered around working in the film industry (hence why I'm living at home with my parent's still lol). I even had a *very very short lived* blog that was going to review all of IMDB's top 100 movies! So why not do a little movie review for anyone who is thinking about or has already seen The Girl On the Train? 

So how about we start with the adorable decor of the party BEFORE we dive into the heavy stuff? I honestly believe that the reason Halloween and Christmas are so popular is strictly due to the special decorations that come with them. Would Christmas be nearly as magical without a beautiful tree, strewn with bobbles and ornaments that glisten in the fairy lights? Nope. It wouldn't. 

The same can be said for Halloween! The pumpkin orange, black, and purple are like a sensory pleaser. They actually make you feel different than you do at other times of the year. How incredible is that?

I'm going to attach some pictures of the party decorations below! I hope you find some inspiration in them as well...

This is a very spur of the moment post so... bear with me. I believe I mentioned in my post "Is Blogging Worth It?" that a year ago was really when I started to become more interested in investing time and energy on my blog. I had been following certain accounts for so long and never took time to look at new/upcoming blogs. Once I started following the beauty community more is when I really reached peak inspiration. This experience, I would say, was both good and bad.

Let's be honest here loves, there isn't a person out there that doesn't appreciate a good filter. And as we blogger, well... it needs to be done. Don't get me wrong, if you have the best lighting and setup that allows you to shoot raw images then you are a master at photography and I commend you! But for us picture lovers who maybe don't own studio lighting you can really make your images look special with a fancy little filter and editing.

So I decided for today's blogtober post I would share my favorite editing apps and software. And here we go!

Fall & Halloween Playlist

First off, I am so excited for the TV special of Rocky Horror on Fox in October. My freshman year of college I actually performed in my school's production of Rocky Horror. It was the most fun I had on stage just because of how ridiculous it was! 

That aside I finally got to making my fall/halloween playlist which I am happy to share with you all for blogtober. There is a pretty wide range of music and I will definitely continue to add songs to it throughout the rest of the month. If you have any suggestions I will definitely add them to the playlist! 

For now here are 13 songs for you to listen and enjoy Xoxo Sam

I think there is one dream I have in life that I am pretty positive will never come true. What wish could that be? To find a time machine that would take me back in history. Literally nothing could make me happier than walking around Versailles at the time of Marie Antoinette or walking along the banks in Paris in the 1920's. But alas, that is just not really an actual possibility (still doesn't make me want it any less either).

Why do I bring this up? Well, on Friday I drove down to San Diego to celebrate my step-dads 60th birthday. My mom decided to visit Balboa Park for the day since no one had been for quite a long time and I myself had never been. And lordy lord... IT WAS AMAZING. 

Just some back ground on Balboa Park, it was the site of the World's Fair in 1915. The best part? Nothing has been changed since then and it is incredible. If I ever want to pretend my dream of time traveling was a reality, this is a perfect place to start. Here are some photos I took of this unreal place and I hope you enjoy!