Ways to be Productive

One of the things that I - and i'm sure many others - struggle with is being productive. I understand the need for an occasional down day here and there but there is no reason to be sitting on the couch watching Netflix day after day (I wouldn't complain though). I don't know about you, but I find that I need to complete certain steps and precautions in order to make sure that I'm completing everything that I need to. 

This being said, I figured I would put together a list of things that might help others out there remain or become productive. 

1. Lists. Lists are fantastic, I love lists. You can ask my mother this, she will 100% agree. I'm not sure where I got the particular love for lists from, but it's my life saver. Writing down what you need to do in a list and then checking it off as you go along is a great way to visually see exactly what you're getting done and what you still need to do. 

2. Arrange your days ahead of time. Calendars are great for this (they're great regardless, but especially for this). I personally like to take the month calendar and fill it out with my classes, work, coffee dates, mini trips, etc. It definitely helps when it comes to keeping track of what your day contains and it visually helps to solidify a schedule. 

3. Keep a day planner. This is something that I need to get on. Is it weird that I've wanted to splurge on a gorgeous day planner for myself for ages now? I feel like I'm 28, not 18. This goes with the same idea of arranging your days on a calendar, only this one is portable AND cute. I can't really see where one could go wrong with that. As long as it fits in your purse - or man satchel - you're good to go! 

4. Always keep 'me time' in between. Everyone needs to relax. I would love to keep chugging through the days and be the most productive person ever and solve world hunger and things like that, but let's be honest. Not possible. It's okay to give yourself a break here and there. Schedule it in and make sure that you keep it free for yourself so that you don't feel over worked in the future. 

5. Always be reasonable with what you give yourself. You're not going to be able to get done 20 big things in one day, how about shooting for 2 big things and 5 small things. You can balance this out to your liking, but my point is not to over-do it. 

6. Don't worry if you don't complete everything, just re-assign it. As long as you give yourself time before due dates and such, there's no reason why it should be the end of the world if you don't complete something on the day you've scheduled yourself to finish it. If you've had a hectic day and you've completed as many things as you can and you're going to collapse if you don't hop in the bath with a LUSH bath bomb, give yourself a break and take that bath. Deal with whatever task it is in the morning, or the next afternoon. All will be well. 

7. Lastly, if all else fails, bake cookies! That's technically being productive, right? 

Thanks for the read xx

Haley. 

**Please share your ideas for being productive in the comments below so that I can add to my list and you can give each other ideas that I might not have covered. 

My Favourite Things - Julie Andrews

As some of you may know (these "some" would be close personal friends who I would hope devote a bit of time to read my blog posts...oh well) I have a wee bit of an obsession with make up. There's something about going out to Sephora or Shoppers or really anywhere that sells make up and walking up to the till with products just knowing that you're about to go home and put them all on. 

Unlike some others, my make up obsession is a bit more recent I would say. I've always liked make up and wanted to use it from the age that most girls would (others were too cool for that and still hung with the guys) but I never really got in to it. It was more of a slap 'er on and get out the door kind of deal. 

To take this shocking news further (WHAT SHE DIDN'T LOVE MAKEUP WHEN SHE WAS YOUNGER?!) I always vowed to be one of those girls who never spent an hour getting ready in the morning because I thought it was a waste of time. Boy oh boy, was I ever wrong. Make up is amazing. 

So, without further ado, this is my collection. 

Naked  1 Palette (containing virgin, sin, naked, sidecar,
buck, half-baked, smog, dark horse, toasted, hustle,
creep & gunmetal) 

Little Black Book, Urban Decay in Virgin, Elf shadow stick, Pixie shadow stick, Elf shadow stick

Sephora blusher palette (Los Cabos Bronzer, Blushing Pink,
& Coral Punch) & Benefit - Coralista 

Rimmel Wake Me Up Conceller, Rimmel Clean Finish Foundation,
 and Rimmel Stay Matte. Apparently I really like Rimmel.

my beloved Body Shop InstaBlur eye & face primer

Bourjois volumizer mascara 2 step volume - tube #2 me likey

Marcelle Eyebrow stick & L'Oréal liquid liner

Left to Right: Revlon - Siren, Sephora - Samba, Revlon - Pink Sizzle,
Mac - Shanghai Spice, Mabyelline - Peachy Scene, Revlon - Berry Rich
Rimmel (Kate) - 01, Rimmel (Kate) - 107

I realize - and I'm sure some of you may as well - that I don't have an extensive amount of what one might call "high end make up". As much I would like to, I'm a saving university student and school comes first (unless it's Chinese food and then we're in a whole new playing field). However I can say that all of my higher end products are loved to a more extreme level than the others, making it all worth the extra cash. 

I hope you all had a nice time looking over this. I would love to see your make up collections, or get some tips as to what new lovely things I should add to mine to grow and improve. 

Thanks for the read xx

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's Off to School we Go!

I'm sure that not all of you will be able to relate to this, as there may be some of you who are older than me, simply not going to university or some who live in BC (like I do) and are younger, and therefore Christy Clark is being a dink and you're not going to school yet... that's a rant for another day though.

Anywho! Today was the first day of school for many, and for some more specifically, the first day of university or high school, or even middle school. This can be scary stuff! I'm personally going into my second year of university which means i'm fairly settled in when it comes to campus and classes and what not. However, this doesn't mean that it's not nerve wracking.

For those in the more specific category, just remember that you're going to be fine, you'll get used to the changes around you and meet new people and learn new things and all will be well. It's okay if you get lost trying to find a class, or if you have a word fart and pronounce your name wrong when introducing yourself to the people around you. Don't be too hard on yourself today, we're all just living our lives and it'll go on regardless.

All this being said, I hope you had a great first day of school, and many more to come! xx