Creatives Being Creative

In the past year, people who began their creative career on YouTube have been writing books. From musicians like Austin Mahone to beauty gurus like Michelle Phan.

There have also been several in between from cookbooks to interactive diaries to life advice.

I love the community that YouTube has built that encourages its creators to go beyond online video to other outlets.

I'm a consumer of all of it. I watch their channels. I buy their merch. And I've bought a few books.

The politics and branding behind some of it makes me cranky. I'm choosing to ignore it. I love Zoe Sugg and while I did not purchase her book (mainly because I needed a break from YA novels), she is a kind, beautiful soul who ventured into a new industry. I still love and support her.

It makes me a little sad that she didn't write the book completely by herself but I don't know what her schedule is like and her ability to write. I wouldn't even have a story to give anyone in order for them to write a book.

At the same time, I have even more respect for the workaholics out there maintaining a busy schedule and also writing a book like Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart and now, Mamrie Hart.

If you don't know what I'm referring to, I point you in the direction of this concise Buzzfeed article.

In conclusion, show support for people that inspire you. Sometimes politics will be involved. I choose to be naive about all of that crap. You can do what you want.

xoxo,

Liz

A Holiday Party

Somehow, I went to a holiday party this past weekend and took zero pictures.

I think I snapped everything instead of taking pictures to keep forever. I mean I didn't even Instagram anything. Who am I? I think I was distracted.

Distracted because boys. And crushes. And feelings.

Crushes were easier in high school when you just started a little rumor with one of your friends that would definitely spill the beans and then the dude would find out within 2 days. Then the dude would be like "Hey, I heard you like me" and you would be like "maybe..."

And fall in love and live happily ever after while eating Wendy's and driving around.

Wouldn't that be nice to do as adults?

I think so.

xoxo,

Liz

How To: Survive Thanksgiving

xoxo,

Liz

Families are Complicated

My family is no exception.

On my mom's side of the family, there are three November birthdays that require the family to have an additional gathering to Thanksgiving. 

This gathering happened last night. 

Some people are worriers. My mom, aunt and grandmother on this side take the cake for being the most worried, least relaxed people you have probably ever met. The only exception would be someone that has been clinically diagnosed with OCD.

Last night was rough for me, and I anticipate Thanksgiving will be just as aggravating to those family members that are more laid back and go with the flow.

But hey, that's family.

At least I know what I can expect on Thursday. 

How are your Thanksgiving plans shaping up? Are you traveling? Let me know in the comments if this is a holiday you look forward to or perhaps, one that causes anxiety.

xoxo,

Liz

It's Cold Enough for Christmas Music

I love Kristen Bell. 

I also love this collab she did with Straight No Chaser. 

Happy Wednesday!

I know it's still a week until Thanksgiving but I couldn't help myself. 

xoxo,

Liz

Celebration Station

This past weekend my friends and I celebrated my best friend's 30th birthday. 

Here are some photos...

Chris, Katie & Jeff

Calvin, Me, Kendall & Leslie

Calvin is making a weird face with Shan & Kristen

Daniel, Lloyd, Melissa, Chris, Deliza & Kelsey

Melissa, Neal & Farrah

Erika

Katie

We're terribly back lit.

AT&T buddies

And then this happened...

Fireball... 

Like a champ

Husband & Wife Moments

Melissa is trying to have a deep conversation with Jeff

Spotted.

And now we bowl

Kelsey is getting it

I think it went pretty well. People like beer and bowling. 

xoxo,

Liz

Frustrations

It's incredibly difficult to keep the people in my life as well keep myself happy. I know it may be hard to see sometimes but I'm trying. I am just as frustrated as you are that my life has not ended up how I thought it would when I was seventeen. 

Going into my senior year of high school, I thought I had the perfect five year plan. College would be a breeze because I'm a superstar and I know exactly what I want to be, a pharmacist. And I would fall in love and get married right after school. We would be happy and successful and have the lifestyle of the people on "The O.C." 

Life hasn't worked out like that. I'm not resentful. I'm not living in the past. I'm happy. I love (most of) my life. I cherish the friendships I have made.

Sometimes life isn't how you envision it would be when you were seventeen. 

We move forward. Seek new challenges. Make new plans.

I just needed to write this all out. Thanks for reading!

xoxo, 

Liz 

Go Vote!

Here's a video to inspire you to vote and also dance while you're voting...

Here's a video representing a man who doesn't see women as equal. A very important reason I am voting in the midterms is Women's Rights.

Here's a video helping you to find your voting location.

Here's a video of celebs and normal people lip singing to a popular song that should inspire you to vote especially if Tavi makes your rethink all of the successes you may or may not have had as a teenage because she's better than you and me. Or, just me.

Go vote and stuff...

xoxo,

Liz

Wise Women Writing Books

GRWM Vids

Currently obsessing over "Get Ready With Me" videos on YouTube.

I like knowing what people are up to and how they look so put together all of the time. 

I made a GRWM for football season or what the beauty gurus are referring to as "fall" or "autumn."

Happy Tubing!

xoxo,

Liz

Good People Still Exist

I accidentally left my iPad on a plane last February. After checking the airline's lost and found twice after the incident, I came to grips with the fact that it was lost forever. 

On Friday, a man texted me that he found my lost iPad. 

He has mailed it to me. It's going to be back in my arms on Wednesday.

How cool is that?

xoxo,

Liz

High Five for Friday

Favorite Friendstivity

Running with Friends

Favorite Funny Video

Favorite Look

Amy from Dallas Wardrobe

Favorite Podcast

iTunes Link

Chapter 39 features one of my favorite comedians, Lennon Parham. You'll laugh.

Favorite Insta Cat

Vogue.

Happy Friday, everybody!

xoxo,

Liz

Work Life Balance

Jennifer Garner made some news this week by bringing up sexism in Hollywood.

This article goes in to detail about the circumstances and such. 

source

Here is the main point: women get asked about balancing work and family while men do not. I think it's really important that the expectation here change. Men are also a part of families. If the question gets asked, it should be to both parties. If we choose to stop asking the question, then that's okay too. 

Work-life balance is important. Work-family balance is also important. Because I do not have children of my own, I focus on the work-life portion. I think it's important to work and then leave work at work. Parts of my life outside of work that I enjoy are exercising on a regular schedule, spending time with friends and watching all of my TV shows.

Y'all know how important those TV shows are to me. They are essentially my children that require 3-4 hours of attention a night. :) Just kidding. That's excessive. 

In my early twenties, I struggled with finding a balance between work and life. I can home from work, I ate, I zombiafied and I went to sleep. Stress and anxiety about work consumed me and prevented me from having a life. I think most people go through something similar (maybe not as dramatic) when you transition from a student to a full-time employee. 

I urge you to make a list of things that you like doing. Make this list holy. Make time for the list. 

xoxo,

Liz

Grace's Guide

Grace's Guide by Grace Helbig dropped today in a store near you or Amazon.

Mine is the mail.

I'll report back once I've consumed the entire thing in an unhealthy amount of time.

Go getcha some.

xoxo,

Liz

Mr. Worldwide & My Hero

"I can be your hero baby..."

I love Enrique Iglesias. This past weekend, Melissa and I went to the Pitbull & Enrique Iglesias concert in Dallas.

We had a lot of fun singing loudly and dancing in our seats and drinking every time Pitbull said "dale..."

Melissa had a very visceral reaction to Enrique singing a cover of "Stand by Me" and I had a very visceral reaction to just being in the same place as that gorgeous, sexy, Latin man.

Spotify Playlist - Dale

I would greatly appreciate someone finding me a man that can sing and dance. It would be an added person if said man is in fact, Enrique. ;)

I hope you did something fun this weekend! Tell me about it in the comments!

xoxo,

Liz

Fandoms

Fandoms are scary. 

On Urban Dictionary one of the definitions says "hypnotized fans just as addicted as or any other fan are to a specific subject. A large group of unstable and emotional fans that devote half of their time in daily life, loving the thing they are so dedicated to."

Some of the most well known fandoms would be like Harry Potter fans or Whovians or One Directioners. Gaining popularity now are YouTube fandoms. Some of the largest are Tyler Oakley's "people" and then "Hartbig" and Mirfandas and then the British Crew but I don't know if they have a specific name for themselves. I've recently become engrossed in YouTube. Even though I've been watching YouTubers for a couple years now, I now feel like I know them and want to connect with them. Is that weird? I just feel like we would be such good friends...

It's probably because YouTubers are just people that document their lives to some extent and so you feel like your friends. We know each other. 

I buy merch. I subscribe to podcasts. I make incredibly long "Watch  Later" playlists on YouTube just trying to stay caught up with everyone. I incessantly check Twitter and Instagram. And yes, twice now, I've paid money to see them live and in person. 

I'm the same age if not older than most of the people I follow along with via the Internet. Maybe I'm so intrigued because they are living exciting lives and making a living and making amazing friends and raising money for the world to suck less and I'm just inspired. 

Are you a part of a fandom? Do you want to be?

I think it's pretty cool...

xoxo,

Liz

Football & Friends

I love football. College football that is. And sometimes the NFL. But not always.

This weekend I fell into the gloriousness that is college football. The weather got cooler and the couch called my name and the chips and the dips was in full force. I spent Saturday laying on a couch, watching football and then napping and then watching more football. 

Do you like football? I think you should give it a try. 

xoxo, 

Liz 

Dance. It's Friday.

Get up and get movin'. Or awkwardly chair dance at your desk at work. 

It's up to you.

xoxo,

Liz

A Little Wine with My Whine

I'm boldly putting this phrase on the Internet. I think it's going to be my new segment on YouTube. Hazel has Tipsy Talk and Ashley has Beer And A Chat and Taryn has Internet Therapy, often accompanied by a glass of wine, so I needed something where I could have a beverage and speak candidly.

So here's my phrase I guess for those times where I give a little more of myself to the Internet without just listing off favorite things or how-to tips. 

I need a graphic. I don't have Photoshop so we'll see what kind of Paint Frame I can dream up for this deal. 

More to come...

xoxo,

Liz

September Favorites

I made this thing...

Hope you like it.

xoxo,
Liz

Part 2 - Agra, The City with the Taj Mahal

Let's journey back in time once again for another chunk of my adventure in India. On Day Three, we left New Delhi in a large van toward the city of Agra. Agra is technically 2.5 hours away from New Delhi. An easy jaunt south of the big city in order to see one of the wonders of the world, the Taj. Did it take 2.5 hours to get? No, it did not. It took closer to 5. This is one of the many lessons I learned while I was traveling around India. Here are some others:

1. Plan for five hours to get from any city to another city. The roads are terrible. 

2. Do NOT take pictures of animals when they are being pressed upon the windows of the vehicle because people will want money for those photos you just snapped.

3. Sometimes, your driver will pull over and exit his vehicle in order to pay a tax. You have no idea this is happening or where he goes or how he knows to pay a tax. It simply just happens.

4. There are a lot of speed bumps and pot holes. Prepare your stomach accordingly.

5. Have snacks. Lots of snacks.

In the van ready to go!

Nick ignoring monkeys

Agra Fort

Agra Fort

Agra Fort

Our Tour Guide - We are looking interested

Agra Fort

After Dinner at the Oberai Hotel

And then the next day, we saw the Taj!

It was overcast the day we saw the Taj Mahal but it was still beautiful.

#WorthIt

We saw the grounds and all the buildings and then we headed to the van to go to Jaipur. I'll probably get that post up in like a month. :)

Love you, mean it.

xoxo,

Liz

#HeForShe

I'm just going to put this here. 

And look at that, I posted about feminism. In a post a couple weeks ago, I responded to an article about inadequacy and how I do not feel like taking on more serious topics.

Times are a changing. It's a lot easier to talk about serious topics when someone, Emma Watson, so eloquently speaks about serious topics and defines things and makes me proud to be a human.

If you would like to support equality between the sexes, check out the new campaign, #HeForShe. 

http://www.heforshe.org/

I support it. 

xoxo,

Liz

I Made a Video

I made a video with my advice on how to survive your high school reunion. YouTube is kind of frustrating because of all the copyright stuff so I continue to learn what music I can use and how much of it I can use and when I shouldn't use it at all. I have not turned on AdSense so I'm not making any money from the videos I post on YouTube but at the same time, I don't want my channel to be tagged as breaking rules and stuff.

Which begs the question, how do people get away with lip syncs and covers and all that stuff??

Also, I'm still waiting to be able to customize my thumbnails so these ugly ones can be done with. Sorry, this post turned in to a little bit of a frustration rant.

I'm making my September Favorites video this week so plan on that for Thursdayish. :)

xoxo,
Liz

OKTOBERFEST HAPPENED!

I love holidays that include dark beer and meat on sticks. 

That's what I did this weekend. What'd you do?

xoxo,

Liz