Steph's Day (Dear Diary)

I want to blog about my typical Monday "DEAR DIARY style."
But first I want to say thanks for all the great feedback in my previous post. I'm glad you all approve of my Chanel glasses selection! :D I should be getting them in two weeks. They had to mail them out to be made since my prescription is .. (-7.0, -7.0). 8D

But back to my average daily life "schedule."

I wake up around 7:45am-8am daily (even weekends)! I don't know what happened to the girl who slept until noon-1pm everyday? lol Maybe waking up early comes with age?
I do go to bed earlier these days at 10:30-11:30pm. Last year this time, I would roll into bed at 3:00-4:00am. That was probably unhealthy. . . not that I'm that much more healthy now or anything. lol

Anyhow, back to the typical Monday. :D
I travel to the living room, open my laptop (my Mac is my life) - check my e-mails, news, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. Turn on the TV to NBC. I watch The Today Show almost every single day with Minh while he gets ready for work. We take the dogs out. Then I prepare myself a cup of chamomile tea, and get ready for the day.

I watch Kathie Lee & Hoda (The Today Show) at exactly 10am, and catch up on Youtube, Blogger, and Perez Hilton during commercials. lol (If I'm feeling motivated I watch my 10am show downstairs in the gym).
Minh usually leaves for work around 9:30am-10am, so it's just me and the dogs at home all day.

At 11am, I turn off the TV and start sorting through customer e-mails and orders. I spend 11am-12:59pm working on admin stuff for the business. Then at 1pm - I tune into The Talk on CBS for one full hour with Youtube and Blogger during commercial breaks. Eat lunch, sometimes meet up with Minh for lunch. I rarely go to the firm anymore because it's boring there. If I do go over there, I arrive around 4 or 5pm.

Our new paralegal is pretty cool, and does his job well. We probably are going to hire another paralegal or legal assistant this summer. The firm is growing pretty fast. They hit a big milestone recently, it took 7 months to reach which is a good sign. I'm a happy camper and really proud, more relieved than anything since we took such a big financial risk in both doing our own separate things so early. It's nice to see results and rewards in a business where you make a living with your brain (which proves how important it is to have an education). The firm is going to be hiring 4 or 5 University of Washington MBA students this summer for some projects. That should be fun. I still come in to the office to take care of my plants. I learned that lucky bamboo plants are the easiest to care for in an office environment. :D

But back to the "at home" scenario of the typical day.
Sometimes, I watch Diggnation if I missed the previous Wednesday Podcast. Nerd, I know. :)
I turn the TV off right after The Talk because the show Let's Make a Deal drives me nuts!
What the heck is up with all those weird costumes? The show doesn't make much sense apart from giving away free stuff to strangers in costumes...


I watch a lot of day time TV...guilty.
Good thing I don't have cable, or else I'd be glued!
I do miss Bravo, and E! Oh, the sacrifices.

I also really like learning from Dr. Oz, but I rather watch clips of his show on Youtube rather than on TV. I want to try this "Green Drink" recipe of his soon. :D

I spend the rest of the day working on the business, cleaning the house, laundry...online browsing & shopping! Talking to my parents on the phone, texting friends. Chatting with blog friends on FB and Twitter! :D

I never expected my "grown up" life to be the way it is, but I feel really blessed to have the flexibility to do what it is that I want to do that day. Minh says the dogs are all spoiled and obnoxious because I spoil them all day long. He's just jealous because they see me as alpha and listen to me over him lol.

I only wish I lived closer to my family. I know one day I will so I stay hopeful. : )
I do feel that I miss out on having co-workers, and a boss to envy? lol

I bought a new point and shoot camera today. I think this brings my camera collection to 7?
I always have the desire to upgrade, and buy the latest point and shoot. I know my sister likes my last camera donation to her. :)

Minh gets home any time between 5-7pm, and we go out and about Seattle, or stay in.

My ideal evening is when it's sunny out and we take the dogs to the dog park.
Wally has SO much fun running around and playing with other dogs. I love how they come home and pass out. lol

We also like to get frozen yogurt a few times a week in the evenings. :D
We watch movies together, or TV episodes on Netflix or Redbox rentals. :)

Thor was awesome by the way. (We buy our movie tickets at Costco $15.99 for two tickets vs $21 at the box office! Great way to save $)
We both though he was hawt stuff. Talk about GOD OF THUNDER. lol
He had a nice. . . everything!

Anyhoo, we live simple, repetitive work lives in Seattle.
We haven't really gone on a vacation together in a while. Only family related trips. We haven't even gone to Vancouver, BC in 2 full years and it's only 2.5 hours away.

I do want to visit San Francisco, CA this summer. I haven't been!
I also want to spend more time outside.

Now in boring homebody people's fun news!

I had one of these Strawberry Yogurt bars today that we bought from Costco.
They are so delicious. Minh liked them a lot too. You must try it!
I had a package waiting for me downstairs today, but I never pick up my own packages lol.
Minh picks it up for me when he comes home from work. My amazing friend Lara from Malta sent me all these wonderful gifts. :D Am I a lucky girl or what? She's the best!
Thank you Lara!

The new season of the Bachelorette aired at 9pm so naturally I refused to go to Barnes and Nobles with Minh tonight lol. I didn't want to miss my show! He came home with two magazines for me. :D

Bethany is also freaking rich. I read about her Skinnygirl 100 million dollar deal everywhere I look. lol Lucky bitch!

There's a great article in Inc. on the cupcake business if anyone is interested in cupcakes!
I really enjoy Entrepreneur magazine, but Minh failed to bring that one home. I no longer subscribe to magazines because I couldn't keep up with them and they just ended up taking up space until taken out to be recycled. It's more fun and exciting to look forward to picking up a magazine from the news stand.

Speaking of cupcakes, check out this creative cupcake display at Michael Buble's wedding reception!

I wonder how she went to the bathroom that night. lol

My current foundations in my makeup rotation,
Chanel Pro Lumiere $54- A shade too dark for me right now, but it makes my skin a bit oily. The coverage is amazing though, flawless.

Chanel Mat Lumiere $54 - The perfect foundation for me right now.

NARS Sheer Matte (Stromboli) $42 - I love this just as much as Mat Lumiere, they're tied. I just wish I had a pump for my NARS foundations.

For Sale: NARS Sheer Glow $42 (Stromboli (I'm MAC NC40)) - This worked for me well at first, but it started to break me out. There's about 75% of foundation left in the bottle left, so if anyone is interested, it's yours! $20

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MAC Pro Longwear Concealer - Where has this concealer been all my life? lol Granted it is new, but I wish I had gotten it sooner! It's such an amazing concealer; it blows all other MAC concealers out of the water.
Guerlain Parure Extreme $57- two shades too dark for me right now, but it's a very liquid-y foundation with great coverage and staying power.

MAC Studio Sculpt ~$25? - I really like the coverage of this foundation, but it breaks me out at random...by at random I mean when I forget to take my makeup off before bed.
I know it might sound like a bad way to judge the quality of makeup, but I can tell if a product works for me when it doesn't do too much damage my skin the morning after. lol

MUFE HD $40..as you can tell..I've tried 3 different shades already lol
Great foundation, very liquid-y as well, I have no problem with it! I do, however like NARS Sheer Mat and Chanel Pro Lumiere over the MUFE HD foundations.

I forgot to picture MUFE Mat Velvet -- two thumbs up!
The Chanel foundations have been really impressive, I would repurchase Mat Lumiere.
I recently picked up a sample of a YSL liquid foundation, I will have to let you know how it goes.
I want to try Dior foundations as well, I've never tried them before.
I love makeup with fancy caps. :D Now, if only I could keep them finger print and dust free life would be even more amazing than it already is!

As of right now, the only foundations I plan to repurchase are NARS Sheer Mat, and Chanel Mat Lumiere. I do like MUFE Mat Velvet, but I haven't found the perfect shade to match my skintone.

I do set my liquid foundation with a powder, always. I can't stand liquid foundation alone. I need to matte it out with powder. I like to use MAC Mineralized Powder or Cargo Blu_ray Press Powder.

I do have some of my Blu-ray movies posted for sale at my Blog Sale if anyone is interested:
http://www.dskblogsale.blogspot.com/
I rarely re-watch movies that I buy, so I'm going to try and calm down on the movie purchases from now on.

I do however, watch The Princess Diaries, Wedding Crashers, Vegas Vacation, You've Got Mail, and Twilight over and over. lol
Those are my keeper movies!

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday! I hope to post a new EOTD this week. I haven't been too creative with my makeup lately. I definitely want to try out my new makeup from Lara though! :)

Talk to you all soon! -Steph :D