Big Thangs Poppin

This post is going to be a bit of a let down after all of the anticipation I built up earlier in the week. Oops!

But, I included this photo as a sidebar in the meantime! Does that make up for it? Yeah, I didn't think so! I shot this in a local shop called Pastiche At Main. So many cute things to buy there. You will find mostly home decor items, but there are some adorable baby items, clothing, and shoes to look through as well. Definitely check it out if you are local to Lynchburg. I wanted to post this photo on the blog because I was surprised to see these chalkboard signs on sale here. I posted here about how to turn a mirror into a chalkboard. These chalkboard signs were on sale for about $15. The can of chalkboard paint I used was $10 and it lasts a long time. Believe it or not, these trays are from the dollar store. That's right! I've seen them there several times. This means, you can make this yourself! You're on your own as far as the lettering is concerned. I'm still trying to figure that one out on my end, but I'll post an update on my chalkboard once I get my lettering up to par.

So the big news I was alluding to earlier this week was that I got a chance to shoot my first event as a photographer yesterday! I was a second shooter for my friend Nick George at Date of Dunbar photography. So much fun. I was sooo nervous at first, but ended up having a great time once I found my groove. It was my first shoot ever after owning a DSLR for six months so I'm sure I made plenty of mistakes; but, I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and agreed to do it. Thank you, Nick, for taking a chance on me! Missionettes, I will have the photos for you as soon as I can! I'm just waiting on the okay from the client before I share more details. Stay tuned!

P.S. Oh hey, Missionettes, after the event yesterday, I'm also thinking about getting some business cards for this blog. Although I blog for fun and don't consider this a business, it would be cool to be able to invite the people I meet to read the blog too. What do you think? Is it weird to have business cards if you don't have a business?

This post is not really about anything...

Hmm, you're still reading. That's cool.

To reward you for your dedication to the cause, here's a new watermark on an old photo:

This was from a trip to Houston for a wedding back in July. My husband has too much swag. This picture also kiinda makes him look short *shrugs*. Anyway, I've been playing around with watermarks and I think this is my final one. I posted a few pictures on IG (@myonamission) with my IG handle as my logo and it made the photo look kind of cheap. So, I've decided that I'm just going to watermark all of my photos the same way, with different colors. You guys have seen this one before:

I like this logo so much better than the original version I posted. I think it better compliments the photo. Since I am putting my name out there now, I should probably help you out and post a pronunciation guide. It's {my LEE nuh}. If you're struggling, please  just call me My. You'd probably be surprised by how often people call me Melinda. *le sigh*

So this post didn't have anything to do with my 30 before 30 list, but this is what I've been thinking about/working on for the past couple of days. I know, I know. Watermarks may not be a very interesting thing to read about. I do have some exciting things coming up this weekend -- exciting for me anyways. :) Maybe you'll find it exciting, too. I don't want to say too much  because I don't want to jinx it I'm pretty nervous. I guess this post might give away that it has something to do with photography. You'll see! Thanks for reading!

[#12.] Finding the Perfect Red Lip

So call me an overachiever, but, by George, I think I've done it...twice!

                                    

Shekinah and Courtney, this post is for you.

From the moment I saw the commercial, I knew that these matte lip colors would be amazing. Both of these are from Maybelline's Color Sensational line. They are the Creamy Matte Lip colors. I found them at Kroger for about $5 each, but I imagine you can pick them up at any similar grocery store/convenience store in the makeup aisle. The difference between the colors is subtle, so I tried to accentuate the differences in the photos above. The color on the left (Siren in Scarlet #690) is a brighter red, while the one on the right (Divine Wine #695) has more of a red-violet tint to it. I love them both, though. They are smooth and the creamy texture feels great. The color is long-lasting too, which is hard to find! So so so happy I decided to try these out.

I guess this means that I'll be crossing off half of one of the items on my list. I am still working on an everyday makeup routine, but I think I have all of the elements I need. I just need more practice. How are you faring Missionettes? Have you tried any of the Creamy Matte Line? What's your go-to red lip color? Which of these two colors do you think looks better?

Visiting Peaks of Otter, Hiking up Sharp Top Mountain

A while back I posted about my Lynchburgers List, the list of things I want to do before leaving the city. Today, I got a chance to cross one of those things off my list. I didn't take as many photos as I had intended because I had to fight my way to the top. With an elevation of 3,875 feet, I felt like I was climbing straight up instead of winding the trails like we actually did!

I recruited Essence, one of my girls from college, and we made the drive to Bedford. We started off by wandering around Abbott Lake.

What is it the kids say these days? Oh yeah! Hashtag No Filter. I love this season! 

After taking a couple of shots, we wandered through the trails to actually get to the top of this beast.

 This was a little bit of a tease of the view from the top:

And this is what it looks like that moment before you realize you're only halfway there:

Oh, but the views from the top were soooo worth it!

The lake down there. Yeah. That's where we started...

 Ignore the sweat stains. I told y'all this is hard work!

 It took me a minute to build up the courage to stand. The winds up there had you feeling like they could just carry you away..

But I did it!

This one just looks like a natural up there...

However, NO ONE was as brave as these three. Hats off to you, whoever you are...

So that was my day. I'm exhausted and sore, but we made it aaand I got some pretty nice shots of the day. If you are able to make it this way to visit, I would definitely recommend it. Of course a HUGE HUGE shoutout goes out to Essence, who listened to me complain and encouraged me along the way. Without you, I never would have made it. It felt really good to be able to cross something off one of my lists.

I want to see and do it all in Lynchburg before B and I make any major moves. I'm still welcoming any suggestions you have for additions to the Lynchburgers List. I know you guys have already scoped out some other fun things to do. Let me hear them!

#8. Run the Virginia 10-miler

It's time for a fitness update.

I'm not stepping back on the scale until the end of the month, so I'm not really sure where I stand on what I've lost. I realized I hadn't really gone into detail about working out much on the blog. I've been fairly consistent so far this month. I've been working out three to four times a week. I am still struggling with my eating habits, but I'll get there! So far, I have just been running on the treadmill when I go to the gym.

My friend Bri agreed to do the VA 10-miler with me next year. What can I say? My friends are amazing. Anyway, she's already a much more advanced runner than I am, so I need to get my weight up... so to speak ;) My goal is to be able to run a 5k comfortably by the end of the year. Then, I can increase mileage starting in January. So far, I have been using the Couch - to - 5k app I mentioned earlier last month. The point of the app is to take you from not running to being able to run a 5k within a 9-week timeframe. The app keeps the time as you run (not your mileage, which is why I do this on the treadmill) and lets you know when to alternate between running and walking intervals. You do have the chance to add in your mileage at the end, so you can keep track as well. I've been walking/running (mostly walking) two miles so far.

Running the VA 10-miler was one of the goals I kind of decided to accomplish on a whim because we may be moving from Virginia. It's one of the things I want to do while we are still here. As far as fitness goals are concerned, I've been saying for quite some time now that I want to become a runner. I dream of the day when I can just wake up in the morning and run 5 miles without stopping. That may not seem like a huge feat, but as I mentioned before, right now I can't run two miles without walking. One thing I love about the idea of running (since I don't love running itself yet) is that you don't need any equipment or anything. You just let your body work. Another thing I like about this fitness journey is that even if I'm not weighing myself everyday, I can gauge my progress by how much I can do today versus how much I did when I started. It's a great way to build confidence. If you haven't started running, you should try it!

This might seem funny, but I've also tried to find little ways to be more active as well. I have started marching in place or stepping from side to side while I am washing dishes or doing laundry -- just to keep my blood flowing. I am sure it doesn't burn many calories, but it burns more than it would if I was just sitting down or standing there. My job is sedentary in nature, so I try to take advantage of moving around as much as I can when I am off of the clock. What about you? Are there little ways you try to incorporate being active throughout your day? What do your workouts look like in the gym? Let's be intentional about being active today!

#10. Stop procrastinating

Good afternoon, Mission-ettes!

Soooo I have good news! I FIXED THE COMMENTING ISSUE {cue the applause}

Haha thanks for your patience. I'm glad it actually works now, though! The only catch is that I wasn't able to apply the change to posts that already have comments, without deleting the previous comments. If you would like to add a comment/question to a post that already has comments, please use the Anonymous option. If it's okay with you, I'd love for you to still include your name in your comment so I know you stopped by!

Some of you have noted the new banner and logo on the blog. This was all thanks to Keith Bell at http://www.godditcovered.com/. Check out some of his stuff! I've got some talented friends! 

No, that we got the blog business out of the way, today's post is about procrastination. :) It's a trap and a cycle that is so easy for me to fall into. I mentioned yesterday that the mirror I just converted had been sitting in storage for a bit. After talking to my husband, I realized that we bought the mirror as part of a set from Goodwill and it's posted in the pictures we took from 3 years ago. That's embarrassing. It got me thinking about how much time I've wasted.

My habit of procrastination got really bad in school. I would wait until the last minute and then have a late night cram session. Those of you who know me know I'm a lightweight when it comes to late nights, so this never really worked out in my favor. I am an early bird through and through, but I waste so much time. So far, I've been writing lists (like My 30 Before 30). There is something satisfying about crossing items, errands, and projects off of a To-Do list. My planner is my lifeline. Speaking of which, I'm keeping this post short so I can tackle a few assignments!

I'm interested to know if there are any other tips that you all have. I know some of you out there struggle with procrastination. How do you stay focused on the task at hand and see it through? Help me out...and try out the new commenting feature! As always, thanks for reading :)

[#4.] Mirror to Chalkboard

Happy Transformation Tuesday!

As promised, I'll show you how I took this Goodwill find:

And turned it into our chalkboard message board:

Truthfully, this post probably should have been called How not to turn a mirror into a chalkboard. First off, I want to warn you that this post will be long because I went through quite the process with this project. I wouldn't say that the project was difficult, but hopefully, you can learn from some of the mistakes I made :) That said, let's get down to business.

The first step for this project was to sand the frame. Sorry. No pictures of this, but we can go ahead and leave this up to your imagination. After the frame is sanded, be sure to use a damp rag to wipe the area down so that you don't have loose dust on your surface. Next, I painted the first layer of chalkboard paint on the mirror.

This was Mistake #1. If you try this, please prime the mirror first -- the looking glass and the frame all at once. It will save you so much time...and paint. I borrowed the foam paint brush and painter's tape since I started this project at a friend's house. I picked up Valspar Chalkboard paint for $10 at Lowe's. I can already tell that this stuff will last a long time. How do I know? Well, I'm glad you asked. After the first layer dried, I packed up my project and moved it to my kitchen table. This little misadventure happened on the way home.

Shoutout to my girl Essence who saved the day! She was the one who recommended that I put my paint in a plastic bag before I left. Because this mess happened in the bag, I was able to salvage it and pour it back in the can to use it later. Hashtag winning! If this mess happened without the bag, Sylvia would have been a mess. Yes, I named my car. Moving on... To avoid Mistake #2, make sure you tightly close your paint, whether you are transporting or not. This will prevent messes and will prevent the paint from drying out. Once I set up my new workspace. I slapped on another layer before going to bed.

Enter Mistake #3. I think this one actually cost me the most time and money. I didn't have a plan before I started this project. I wasn't set on a color for the frame, so I made the project more difficult than it had to be. I ended up choosing the gold color that you see above, but that meant that I went back and primed over all of the work I had done so far. That probably could have been avoided if I had been more careful. I was priming the frame with spray primer and got some on the chalkboard part. :( So, I went ahead and primed the whole thing. Le sigh.

Next, I sprayed the Rustoleum gold spray paint from the Alphabet Magnets project this past weekend. I did this outside and snapped the picture. The smell is crazy strong.

Then, I added two layers of the chalkboard paint...again. This part, I did indoors. I forgot to mention this earlier, but the chalkboard paint has little to no odor. I've heard chalk paint doesn't have a heavy odor too, so I'm planning to try chalk paint to redo the dresser that we're using as a buffet. Forgive the mess in the background. A crafter's gotta craft :)

One key step you'll need to make sure you do is to prime the chalkboard. I bought some cheap chalk at Walmart. I think it was less than a dollar actually. I just rubbed the side of the chalk up and down the board. Let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe it off.

This helps to prepare the chalkboard for writing and erasing. Without it, whatever you write will still show faintly on the board long after you erase it.

So that's how I did it! One thing I should mention is that...I don't really love it haha. I think the gold is a little much so I'm think of painting part of the frame a blue/teal color. I'll keep you posted. What do you all think of the color?

Hopefully, you can avoid some of the mistakes I made to save yourself some time and frustration. I wanted to wait to post this project until I got my chalkboard markers. I ordered Chalk Ink markers from Amazon. After talking to a few people and reading reviews online, these seem like they are the best. I'll let you know when they arrive. That'll give me a chance to learn a thing or two about lettering and write a review. :)

My favorite part of the project was when my husband looked at the mirror and told me he was proud of me. I know that I've gotten kind of a track record of saying I'm going to do things and then failing in the follow-through. You all saw that last month when I declared that I would lose 20 pounds during the month of September. Lofty goal with no follow through. Imagine being married to that. I know it can be a bit discouraging, but I am grateful to God for a husband who shows grace and is happy to acknowledge my accomplishments and keep me motivated toward completing my other goals.

Your turn! Have you completed any projects recently that you'd like to show off? What are you working on for your home?

#21. Work on a Habitat for Humanity project

Happy World Habitat Day!

(source)

Today's post will be short and sweet. This may seem kind of like a random item on my list. Maybe it is *shrugs*, but I have been interested in getting involved with the Habitat for Humanity for a few years now. Maybe this follows some type of train of thought from yesterday's post about owning a home. There's just something about having a place to call your own.

Today seemed as good as any other day to look into this. Then, I also found out it was World Habitat Day, a day geared at raising awareness for those who do not have adequate housing across the world. As it gets colder outside, I find my heart going out to those who don't have a place to stay. Maybe it's this change in weather and the upcoming holidays that stir other people up to give back to others who are less fortunate. I'm not sure how soon I can volunteer or how much time I can commit,but I made the call. Hey, it's about progress, people.

What about you? Have there been any projects to which you've been meaning to commit? What steps are you taking now to accomplish your goal? Working on your own 30 before 30 list?

#4 Purchase and Decorate Our First Home

One of the long-term goals B and I hope to accomplish is to purchase [and decorate] a home of our own. There is not much that we can do to accomplish that at this point since B and I are not yet in a position to buy a home. I posted not long ago about moving to North Carolina in 2016. As we save and pay down some debt, we are hoping to purchase a new home in the summer of 2016 as well.

In the meantime, I've made it my mission to make the most of what we've got. By now a few of you have already seen the seriously outdated pictures of our little 800 square foot apartment. I have lived here since 2011 and B has lived here since 2012. This has been our first home. However, I don't think we've added enough of a personal touch. Our walls are bare and decor is scarce. Until we actually are in a position to buy our first home, my goal will be to really settle into the space we have now.

So, in order to work toward the goal now, I am determined to hone in my skills to make our apartment feel like home. After looking at the pictures I have so far, it became abundantly clear that it was time for an update. I'm hoping to post this for you next week as well. I think B was a little embarrassed that I posted a picture of the living room with that super old TV. Do they even make those anymore?

While I work to make this place feel like home, you will start to see the Tutorials tab at the top fill up. I wanted to start off as easy as possible, and, of course, I immediately thought of spray paint. This weekend, I was able to take these babies from this:

to this:

I almost forgot how big of an impact a little spray paint can make! I've seen this project on quite a few blogs and on Pinterest, so I can't take the credit. I've been loving gold lately, so this project was definitely a no-brainer. First, I laid out all of the letters, magnet side up. I bought 3 packs from Target to make sure I had enough duplicates of each letter (the pack contains one of each letter). I just opened an old shoebox and laid it on plastic tarp...which was overkill now that I think about it. These were my partners in crime:

At less than $3.77 per can from Walmart, I would definitely recommend both of these. The backs of the magnets got a layer of primer. I let them dry for 20 minutes before I flipped them over and sprayed primer on the fronts.

Twenty minutes later, I sprayed a layer of the gold:

That was probably the simplest project I've ever done. The only real drawback of using the spray paint is that there is a lot that is wasted. It is a necessary evil to make sure that you have good coverage on the sides... maybe I can think of a craft to do with my cardboard now...hmm. If you've never spray painted anything before, there are a few things you need to know:

• A well-ventilated workspace is a must. I usually use my balcony or the grass outside the apartment.
• If you don't prime your surface before you paint, the paint will chip. 
• Don't hold the can too close to the item you are spraying. You will start to see drips in the paint and those are no fun. 
• There are some weather conditions that are not spray paint friendly. Read the can very carefully. Watch out for wind, extreme heat, and extreme cold. 

One thing I love about finding a spray paint color I like it that I can use it on multiple projects. Next up, I have an old mirror that I purchased from Goodwill a couple of years back. I actually bought the mirror with a dresser as a set for $40. Then, it sat in storage for about two years. Two long years.

Please excuse the dust on the mirror. I just pulled it out of storage. I'm working on turning it into a chalkboard to hang next to the kitchen table. [Oh, and there's the TV we upgraded to two years ago. Happy, B?] I'm almost done with this project, so I'll be able to post the update and a tutorial soon. Stay tuned!

#12. Find the "Perfect Red Lip Look" look [Develop an everyday makeup routine]

Happy Friday! Let's talk makeup. My husband is not a huge fan of makeup to begin with [after seeing some photos of what celebrities really look like without it]. He says he likes the fact that with me, what you see is what you get. [In fact, if you look closely at this picture I posted last month, you can see the delightful little section of my head where I accidentally branded myself with my curling iron many moons ago.]

Don't laugh! That said, one of my main goals in developing a makeup routine is to make sure it looks natural. I hate seeing pictures [of women of color especially] where the face looks grey, and then the neck is the person's regular skin tone. Sad day. I attended an event locally with a friend a couple of months ago where I received a pallet of way more eyeshadows that I know what to do with:

Please excuse the blurriness. I need to play around with my depth of field.

During a trip to Houston back in July, I dropped by the MAC counter to get some recommendations as well. Something I had never considered before was a powder foundation. The make up artist I spoke with recommended this foundation and mascara:

 I've got to say that I definitely prefer the powder to the liquid foundation I had been trying. It feels much more natural. Even the hubby noticed that the powder looked better on my skin than liquid foundation does. 

I also recently stumbled upon lip butters by Revlon. I'm a fan. They last throughout the day and add just a touch of color. It's basically a step up from chapstick in my opinion. I purchased the Pink Truffle (#001) and the Red Velvet (#040). Mmm don't those sound delicious?! :)

I'll be honest. I bought the Red Velvet because I hoped it would be just that easy to find my Perfect Red Lip Look, but it is a no-go. Don't get me wrong. I love it and I'll use it in the meantime, but it's not that final look I am wanting. I think the Pink Truffle will work because it's nude enough for an everyday look, but for the Perfect Red Lip Look I want something bold and fun.

Well, here comes the embarrassing part. To get an idea of my most recent experimentation with makeup, check out the images below, which were taken back in August. 

THOSE. EYEBROWS. whew! Step away from the eyebrow pencil, My!

This was a failed attempt to mask the fact that my eyebrows were looking a little rough. Obviously, I just made them worse. Next time, I'll have to just get them done... or learn how to do them myself. I also need to learn to either go much lighter on the concealer or learn how to blend better. 

So, I guess I'll just keep on looking and keep on practicing. What about you? Is there a favorite red lip that you recommend? What other makeup products are you using on your face?