On New Love.

This seems to be a theme with these blog lately. I take months off posting something. Then I come back here with a long-winded way of saying, "hey I'm still alive. Shit has changed. All is good. Whatever."

Since the last time I was here, there really has been a lot that has changed. The drama overtaking my life back in February is a thing of the past (save the chapter it still has in my book). While I don't regret any of the events that happened last winter - they helped me grow immensely - I wish I would have moved on faster than I did. I wish I had more foresight. Hey, you live and you learn. I used to say I wasn't one to kiss and tell, but fuck it. I kissed someone (and may have done a lot more with them) and it fucked me up emotionally. It took me months to figure out what I'd done "wrong," come to find out that I didn't do anything wrong to begin with. I just did something a bit stupid. 

But enough of that. 

We've moved on.

Just before New Years last winter, I said that the only "big change" I'd accept in my life this year was falling in love. While it wasn't the love I expected, it's the love I deserve. 

I won't go too much into it, since we are still kind of on the down-low for a couple of reasons, but I'm happy. I'm excited. He treats me the way I know I should be treated, and I love him to pieces. 

I've been in love once before, back when I was still young and had very little experience with relationships and knowing how you're supposed to be treated. Now that I look back on it, I don't quite know why I stayed in that relationship as long as I did. Maybe it was because I didn't like change. But I've experienced so much in the last two years since moving to the city that I can see a red flag coming from a mile away. 

Nowhere to be found with this one.

It's a tad serendipitous, this new love. When was the last time you saw me use that word? Never. I never use that word. But there really isn't any other word to describe what has happened in the last five months. 

I'll stop talking now, if I keep going much longer I'll spill more beans than I'd like. 

But again, this is one of those posts where I tell the few of you that actually read this thing that I'm alive. 

I'm alive. I'm over it. And I'm happy.

On the single life

I realized yesterday that it was March 5th. For most people, that day doesn't mean anything, unless of course they were like, born on that day...but for me, March 5th represents one year of being a single adult.

Granted, I spent statistically most of my life as a single person, but 3/5/13 marked the end of my first long term relationship (two years), and while it ended in a confusing way, I'm eternally grateful for all the things I got to experience while in that relationship. I learned a lot about myself, and what I want and don't want in a partner. We're still friends, so it's not a toxic relationship, thankfully.

At the time of the breakup, I was a freaking wreck. I actually did an outfit shoot that day, so in a weird way that blog post is the start of my new adult life - as a single lady.

This blog is a great way to see the progression I've gone through this year, both in the way I carry myself and the way my stance and style has changed. I'm not the same person I was a year ago. I'm much more comfortable in my skin, much more up front about what I want, and much more relaxed. A lot of things can be attributed to those changes: my job at Lush, my loyal YouTube subscribers, the constant influx of new people I meet at shows, and the year of me time.

Before I started dating Andy, I was just about as inexperienced in life as one could get. The only thing I'd ever done that most people my age hadn't was end up in the hospital for nine days with a rare auto-immune disorder that could have killed me. But other than that, nadda. I was still in college, I had just been shooting shows for a little over a year, and I was in this weird limbo where I didn't know what I was doing with my life but my best friend was pregnant.

Now that I've experienced so much as an adult, I feel like I'm a more interesting person. I've grown up. And I like it. I like the person that I've transformed into over the last year. And while I'm quite anxious to start dating again (moreso lately because of a recent crush that has gone absolutely nowhere), I'm glad I've spent the last year totally and relentlessly single. Life has been less complicated, less cluttered.

While it's been lonely at times, I've had so much more clarity. And that's a good thing to have that much time to yourself before even thinking about getting into another relationship. But now I'm ready. I'm ready to start dating. I don't necessarily know how to go about doing that, since my first "boyfriend" from college basically just told me that he liked me and we hung out for three months and that was it. And Andy wooed me with a YouTube song, so nothing about my relationships up until now have been normal. I guess it makes life more interesting, when nothing is normal. When nothing starts out normal, and nothing finishes normal.

We'll see how 2014 goes. I'm just hoping I meet someone at a show. It's so much easier if the person you dig actually likes doing the same stuff as you.

Life Lately: A Day With My Lushies

I spent the day on Sunday up in Seattle, and it was a wonderful day. I went shopping and got doughnuts with my pal Kayla, spent the evening with all my coworkers at Alki Beach, and got to meet the ever-adorable Olan Rogers (see the sexy man below).

As you can tell, Kayla was pretty stoked. Olan makes videos on YouTube, everything from comedic sci-fi shorts and series, to hilarious storytelling vlogs. This summer he went on tour just to meet subscribers. He called it his "Eat A Slice With Me" tour, so what did we do? We ate pizza and drank Jones Soda and met an awesome YouTuber. It's so cool seeing a YouTube personality get really big and stay completely true to himself and not caving to any sort of advertising or gimmick. Who else would plan an entirely free tour just to meet all of his subscribers and eat pizza and chat? Olan's smile is infectious and his hugs are marvelous (which I got two of). It made spending my weekend not at Vidcon a whole lot easier knowing that I got to see him.

Look at those cheeks. Dimples of steel, that one.

Cheesing it up like the dorky fangirls that we are. I highly suggest you check out his vlogs, they are priceless.

After the Olan meetup, we hit up Top Pot Doughnuts and Pike Place, because why the hell not? It was 76 and sunny, and a perfect way to start August.

The lunch of champions - San Pellegrino and a maple bar.

I had to include some cliche Pike Place photos. Hey, at least I didn't include pictures of the gum wall. I've gotten past that tourist habit.

The finale to a splendid day was a barbeque up at Alki, that my boss threw for all us Lush ladies. Have I said how much I love working there?

I'd never been to Alki Beach before, and apart from the nightmare that parking was, it was a really fun night. Seeing Seattle from that view was slightly jarring, and it felt like an entirely different world from the city on the other side of the water.

 Seattle summers are the best. No contest.


People keep telling me - "Abby you're crazy for commuting that far to work." I love my job, and I love the people I work with. I'd rather commute 45 minutes to a job that I love than live 5 minutes away from a job that I hate. That being said, I need to move to Seattle. It's days like this one that are a constant reminder of that.
 

LIFE LATELY: Lush, Cyndi Lauper, and LOVE FOR ALL.

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for almost a week and I haven't had the time or energy to sit down and write it. But today was so exciting I couldn't not sit down and write something about it.

Today is groundbreaking. Today is historical. Today is awesome.

BLOG SALE

I have deleted my old blog sale post so this doesn't get confusing, and if I do add more items, it will all be on this post so it's easier to link that way.

 How the rules will work:

1.  You must be 18 or older or ask permission from your parents (because I will need your address).
2. You need a Paypal account (it's the easiest and safest and quickest way to pay)
3. To reserve an item, leave a comment below with the product you want and what country you live in (this is international, I just need to figure out the exact shipping for your country).
4. Once I have put a crossthrough the item, it has been spoken for and is no longer available.
5. I will send items within a week of purchase, and when I email you about shipping, I'll let you know around how long it should take to get there.
6. I'd prefer sales be over $10 (so two or more small items), but they don't have to be over $10.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL THESE PRODUCTS ARE USED, SOME MORE THAN OTHERS. SO EVEN THOUGH I KEEP THEM RELATIVELY CLEAN, I SUGGEST DISINFECTING THEM WHEN YOU GET THEM IN CASE OF ALLERGENS.

OKAY! Let's get to them products.

The Balm Shady Lady Vol. 2 Palette (used 4-5 times)

$10

 Urban Decay Baked Bronzer (used ~ 10 times)

$10

LIFE LATELY: Seriously? Seriously.

The title of this post has all sorts of connotations, but the main one is referring to my beloved Grey's Anatomy. 

 Those were the good ol' days weren't they?

I used to worship that television show. It was my weekly dose of my TV friends, and it got to an almost unhealthy degree (at least I thought it was almost unhealthy). I own the first three seasons on DVD, and I still say that the second season is my favourite season of a television show ever. Hands down.

But like real friends, my TV friends and I grew up. And the tragic thing about growing up is that you sometimes grow apart. I have missed the past three seasons, ever since Izzie went crazy and George died. I've still got bitter feelings towards Shonda Rhimes for killing George, but whatever, the past is the past. 

One of my favourite things about Grey's Anatomy was the soundtrack. I discovered so many great artists from of that show, because I literally downloaded every song from every episode the first two seasons. That's when I spent a lot of money on iTunes. Tegan and Sara - Grey's Anatomy. Jamie Lidell - Grey's Anatomy. Roisin Murphy, Rilo Kiley, and Brandi Carlile - all because of Grey's Anatomy. It's amazing to think that one show can open your eyes to so many great artists. 

But why exactly is this relevant right now?

Well, this world has come full circle. My good friend Kris Orlowski, a Seattle artist, had his song "Mountains" featured on this week's episode. Seriously. It's so funny too because the first time I played Kris's Pieces We Are EP for my mom, she was all, "This song sounds like it belongs on TV, on like Grey's Anatomy or something." Mom called it.

Here are a couple of gratuitous pictures of Kris, just cause.

Finding out about it this week made me so unbelievably proud of Kris, and proud of Seattle music, and proud of Alexandre Patsavas for picking such an amazing artist to be a part of the phenomenal soundtrack. It gives me all sorts of warm fuzzies. And I thought it was cool with Givers (some more pals of mine) had their song on Glee.

In case you missed the episode last night, here's the clip.

Slow clap for Kris.

So while that was the most exciting thing this week - there is plenty more awesome stuff happening that is definitely worth a proverbial "seriously?"

In case you hadn't seen my channel page on YouTube lately, here's a screenshot.

 I have a banner now! But more importantly, this means that I am officially a network partner with Big Frame now! I've been talking with a couple of girls from the network for a few weeks now and it officially went into effect this week. I'm so happy that my channel has been noticed by big wigs and that it's "taken off" relatively well since I restarted my channel back in August. Soon I will also be joining the ranks of Wonderly, which had their official launch party last night in L.A. A few of my friends got to go, and I'm super jealous.

If you are unfamiliar with Wonderly, I suggest clicking on the link I provided because they do a much better job explaining it than I could, but basically it's a community of smart, witty, entertaining female content creators of all media, not just YouTube. I'm really excited to be in such great company as Kayley, Emily, Kassie, Morgan, and Chelsea. Seriously, go check out their channels. They're smart and wonderful and I like them a lot.

One last thing - if you live in the Seattle area, you should make sure your March 3rd is free. My boyfriend Andy Glover is playing his EP release show at the Rendezvouz in Seattle. The head of Andy's little indie label Grumpy Old Bear Norm has worked so hard to promote this thing, and they've done a really great job. I strongly suggest you come out that night - it's a Sunday night so there won't be a lot of other stuff going on, I can guarantee that. It will be worth your while. Plus, I'm having a meetup at Pike Place at 3 p.m. that day if you want to come hang out!

This ended up being a very long-winded post, but I will be back with a couple of reviews pretty soon (I put in an order for the Stila "In the Know" palette this week and I'm super excited about it).

Best wishes!

-Abby

What's this all about?

So I have a lot of friends who blog regularly - whether it be in a music blog or a beauty blog or a fashion blog, and I like reading their blogs. I thought I would start my own, since I write for another music blog, Back Beat Seattle.

This blog will be what I call a "girly" blog. I will talk about clothes, makeup, garage saleing, cooking, travel, life in general. I have really only recently - and when I say recently, I mean the last year or so - become a bit of a girly girl. I never wore skirts throughout high school and never really wore makeup. It was only when I became friends with a few fashionistas in college and starting watching beauty gurus on YouTube that I became a Girl, with a capital G.

Here are my girlish endeavors.

A