REVAMP '14! #4

What up, what up?!

I hope y'all have had a great weekend so far! My weekend's been great: this has been the first full-weekend I've had in like 3 weeks. Nothing but R&R and hanging out with friends and such!

So there wasn't a REVAMP post last week due to my life's craziness and extreme exhaustion, but I am here to make sure there is one for this week! :D Let's get started...

Caylin's EP Outfit

In a few previous posts, I think I mentioned that Caylin will be recording an EP soon. She's recording it this week, in fact!! And recently, she did a photo shoot for it, and I have to say that I think the pictures look great! We'll only be focusing on one outfit that she wore though, so here it is:

At some point this summer, I exclaimed, "VA-VA-VOOM!" to express something that was fabulous. That exclamation totally applies here! For the revamp, Caylin wanted to focus on her leggings and jacket.

The leggings she's wearing are from Target. I checked the online price and it is currently $12. I need to hop on getting some leggings myself! :)

Her denim jacket with faux leather sleeves is from Belk. The current online price is $50. 

I don't know about you, but just seeing this picture for Caylin's EP is getting me even more excited for the EP itself! (^^)

Bria's Black Drapey Shorts

Ooooo, drapey shorts...

TBH, I thought this was a skirt when I first saw the picture! (^^')

Here's what Bria thinks about them:

Alright, so these shorts are fun. I like to wear them with a tucked in shirt and a belt. They're comfortable, and they're from Old Navy. But, the material wrinkles very easily.  They're part of the Revamp because I needed some new shorts. Sorry, I don't have an actual picture of a whole outfit.

I did a little research and saw that the current online price for these shorts are $24.97 and they actually come in 3 different styles: blackjack, navy paisley, and teal print. Bria owns them in blackjack. 

My Flower-Printed Romper and Black Wedge-Heels

This romper is just too cute. I remember seeing these and thinking to myself that I could never pull one off. But after seeing so many people of different shapes and sizes wear them, I decided I could at least try one out. So I bought this flower-printed romper at Forever21. And I love it! It's a little formal, but still comfy, a great item to wear if you're going out with some friends and you wanna dress up but not be too fancy. The wedge heels were a must for me because ***confession time: I'm the type of girl that just cannot walk in heels. Ask Bria. She's tried coaching me in the art of high-heel walking whenever we have the chance to wear heels, and I've gotten it down slightly, but not fully. I do wish I could walk in heels, but they're just not my type. So! Wedges are my next option if I wanna wear a formal shoe, be able to walk normally, be comfortable and still add some height. And these wedges are perfect for all of those things! They are Mossimo Supply & Co. size 6.5 Sylvia black wedges from Target. 

Small little thing I learned with this whole revamp thing: I buy my shoes a half-size too big. Or at least, I used to until I realized that buying a size 6.5 shoe instead of a size 7 fit me better! I have one foot that fits a 6.5 shoe and the other one fits a 7 shoe, but size 6.5 seems to be better for both in the case of these wedge heels. I'll have to see what I have to do when I buy Converse... :)



Another REVAMP post for the books! I hope that these posts have been interesting for you and have given you another perspective of my life! I'm still looking for more people to join in on this, so please, if you're interested in being featured in these posts, email me!!!! The "Contact Me" forum on the top right is available! Or shoot me an email to mishruss94@gmail.com ! I'd love to see more of my readers/followers get involved in this! It doesn't matter if you're doing a revamp or not. If you love what you wear or are planning on changing your style, you can be a part of the REVAMP posts! :D

I, of course, plan on posting another one of these next weekend, but if it doesn't happen, don't be alarmed. I'll be doing some traveling and may be too exhausted to get a post in, but I will definitely try my hardest!

Hope everyone's weekend was fantastic and that this week proves to be even more so!

luv ya!
~ Mishy (^^) <3

Sweet Tea #6

Wow, I've been so busy with the new REVAMP segment and with work and other life things that I haven't been able to sit down with y'all to have a glass of SWEET TEA! Let's fix that...

My Life

Many of you have probably seen the "my summer so far..." tweets on Twitter? Well, they are pretty accurate. Literally, "my summer so far.." has been this...

...or this...

BUT! I've had some really good times this summer, despite work and the occasional "What should we do today?" Surprisingly, I've gone to the pool only 3 times this summer (last summer, the pool was like my life), but I've watched so. many. movies. Movies I never thought I'd watch, like scary movies (What?!) and sci-fi, action movies (like Star Trek and The Amazing Spiderman). So, I haven't completely drowned my summer in work and boredom haha.

My spiritual life has been, to be honest, just okay. There's always room for improvement when it comes to this, and it's so hard to stick to the daily devotional even though I have like all the time in the world after work. But it's never easy. I definitely need to pick up my Bible more than I have been, and pray more often. The school year is fast approaching and good gracious, I am excited, but I feel so unprepared! Something to talk to my Heavenly Father about :)

Speaking of the school year, I need to keep reading the Shakespeare plays for my Shakespeare class and also try to keep writing some fiction before I have no time to write what I want to. 

Tunes

Ahh, one thing I love about summer is the fun of making a SUMMER PLAYLIST. I used to make it on iTunes, but I don't have money to continually buy songs, so I like making my playlists on Spotify now (especially since I took advantage of Spotify's Summer Special and paid only one month's worth of Premium for 3 months! :D)

Hmm...out of all the songs on my playlist, I'd have to say these are my current Top 5:

1. "Maps" by Maroon 5 - I was just scrolling through some of my favorite artists and clicked on Maroon 5 just to see if they had released anything new. And they did. The first time I listened to it, I wasn't too impressed. But as I continued to listen to it, it grew on me. Now? I've got that song on repeat! It just sounds like a summer song to me, ya know? And Adam Levine? Who doesn't love that man's voice??
2. "What's Best For You" by Trey Songz - Like sappy love songs? Well, you'll like this song! The lyrics to this song are so sweet, they just make me happy! I usually don't like listening to love songs too much, but this one has definitely been my slow jam this summer!
3. "Rude" by Magic! - Okay, so I realize I may be a little late in discovering this song. I only found out about it, what, two weeks ago when some family friends were visiting and one of them wanted me to turn up the radio when this song came on so he could sing along. This song is a super chill love song with that reggae vibe. I like to listen to it when I'm relaxing, cooling down/stretching at the gym, or just reminiscing about memories with those family friends (midnight runs to McDonald's and hanging out at the Overlook. Good times!) 
4. "Chandelier" by Sia - This song is just fun. Not to mention, every time I listen to it, I can hear one of my friends singing it in his super-deep voice ("CHANDELIIEEEEEEER!") Such great memories :) But yes, this song just gets me motivated, makes me feel like I can do anything. I don't know. Just seems like another summer song!
5. "Break Free" by Ariana Grande feat. Zedd - I get a "girl power" type feel from this song. Ariana talks about "breaking free" from a guy after they break up. As a single person, I can't relate, but just the "breaking free" part sounds, well, freeing. I love blasting this song in the car with the windows down, my sunglasses on. Yet again, another summer song!!!

The Word

Well, I've already confessed that I haven't been doing too well in my spiritual walk lately. However, I am well into the book of Joshua, farther than I expected. 

***Side note: Joshua is a longer book than I thought it was. I seriously thought it was only like ten chapters at most, but in fact, it's twenty-four chapters long. Crazyyyy.

So, yes, I've been going through that book, slowly but surely. There are certain chapters that have all the action with the battles and the conquering of kings and such...and then there are the chapters that talk about the plots of land that each tribe of Israel got. I'm not gonna say the Bible is boring because there's a reason those records are there, but I'm not going to sit here and lie to you and tell you that I was 100% ecstatic to read about the tribe of Levi inheriting the land "from this mountain all the way to this river."

Threads

Well, if you've been keeping up with my REVAMP segment, I've been reviewing lots of shorts and tanks since it's SUMMER TIME and those are my favorite things to wear. Don't worry, I'm gonna try to show you things other than that, especially when the season starts to change to fall. 

I won't go into too much detail about style since I have my REVAMP segment for that haha ;)

Create!

Sadly, nothing. Ohp! Wait! I guess technically I created the whole "revamp" blog segment thing, so that's one thing. As for things like painting or sewing or gluing...nada. :( I really need to get to a craft store and buy some canvases and paint because I want to paint more Bible verses on them and stuff for other people (or for my dorm room). 

What I'm Watching

Like I said before, I've been watching a lot of horror/scary movies. Weird, right? I never was the type to watch those kinds of movies, but one of my friends wanted us to watch some since we were all together and it's just better to watch a scary movie in a group than by yourself. Some of them actually weren't that scary and had good endings (movies like The Awakening and The Others were so good. I totally recommend them!)

But then we watched Insidious...and Insidious Chapter 2...and those movies...if you can't take scary movies in general, I wouldn't recommend them. I screamed so much. I had a headache after watching those movies. :P Not fun.

***SIDE NOTE: Am I the only one who thinks they should put Criminal Minds on Netflix??? I mean, geez, so many people love that show, and you'd think they'd have it, but NO. I just wanna get caught up, I'm like 3 seasons behind *cries*.

Here&Now

Here and now I am...in my bedroom writing up this blog after a long-awaited coffee date with a friend from school and listening to "Tonight I'm Getting Over You" by Carly Ray Jepsen (this song was from my Summer 2013 playlist. I still love it!) I think I'm just gonna chill for the rest of tonight. Maybe even go to bed early! (Or I could work on the Revamp post that's going to go up at some point this weekend LOL).

Mmm, sweet tea...one of the best drinks on the face of this earth! :) I hope you all enjoyed catching up with me and my crazy life. I just realized a couple of things today:

1. I need to start SHOPPING...for SCHOOL. I shed a few invisible tears as I realized that the school year is fast approaching..which means I need new clothes for work (things like nice jeans and blouses and skirts) and text books (*cries* those dreaded things that cost a fortune but are barely used half the time!).
2. ONE MONTH. As of today, I have exactly ONE MONTH until I move into my dorm room, stop working for facilities, and start actively being an O-Team leader (Orientation leader! Aaaahhhh!) I can't believe how fast this summer has gone by. You know what, I'm not gonna even think about it...

So yeah, things are blazing by, and I have responsibilities to fulfill.

Speaking of responsibilities, I have jury duty in like, one week. Pray that I don't get picked so I can spend a relaxing week back home on the beach instead! :D

luv ya!

~ Mishy. (^^) <3

Who Am I?

Okay, so, once again, I'm going to apologize for the tardiness of the REVAMP segment. I feel like the weeks are just getting crazier as the summer goes on. Not only for me, but also for Bria and Caylin. 

So! I'm sorry that this isn't the post you were probably expecting. But! Don't go anywhere, for I was given some awesome insight yesterday when I went to church that I would like to share with all of you....

Who am I?

When some read that, they think of the song "Who Am I?" from Les Miserables. It sort of popped into my head too, I'll admit it. I could hear Hugh Jackman singing this phrase super intensely before belting out: "24601!" LOL, but I'm digressing.

I feel like this is a question I ask myself daily. Some days I think I'm one person, other days, I feel like someone else. It's not like I change my personality in front of different people or anything (I used to play that game in middle school. Yeah, not fun and will never play it ever again), but I'm just lost when it comes to who I am, what my personality really is.

I know my name. I know my ethnicity and family background. I know where I came from, where I am now. I know what I like, what I don't like. I know who my friends are. I know I'm a Christian, what church I go to. I know I'm a junior in college, an English major, psychology minor. 

But, I still don't know, ya know?

For instance, I say I'm a writer. I just feel like a writer, as I write for my blog, or for fun or in my journal. The next day, I feel like a traveler. I just wanna get out. See the world. Be in a place where I don't know anyone and where no one knows me. That same day, I'll feel like a dancer. The right music gets me moving, and I think about how much Bria and I love to memorize KPOP dances and go to Zumba during the school year. 

Am I the only person who feels like this?

Well, yesterday at church, Pastor Ritchie preached a message focused on Ephesians 1 titled "Identity Crisis." Totally fitting for the moods I've been in this summer, the questions of who I really am floating through my mind constantly. I'm gonna try to go through some of the main points of the message, but it definitely won't be as good as Pastor Ritchie preaching it straight to you, I can tell you that much!

Basically, what I got from yesterday was this: I not only was I reminded of who I am, but also of what I have. 

First of all though, it's good to point out that who I am and what I have is all through Christ. Without that main point, I really wouldn't know anything about who I am or what I've been given. 

So, this is what I learned yesterday:

***What do I have/what have I been given?:

- "every spiritual blessing" (v. 3): Pastor Ritchie pointed out here that just because the verse says "every spiritual blessing", it doesn't mean that God doesn't give us both spiritual and material blessings. Too many times we think of God's blessings as only spiritual, when He's blessed us materially as well!

- "redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses" (v. 7): because of His sacrifice, we are redeemed and forgiven of our sins!

- "an inheritance" (v. 11): when Jesus comes back to earth, we Christians, as His children, will be co-heirs with Him on the new earth for 1000 years!

- "sealed with the promised Holy Spirit" (v. 13): once we heard the Gospel and believed it, we were given the Holy Spirit, who now resides inside of us. Pastor Ritchie said that sometimes people say that they wish they could go back to Old Testament times so they could communicate with God one-on-one and actually see the Holy Spirit...but we can see the Holy Spirit inside of every day Christians today. Of course, not physically see the Spirit, but we interact with it every time we come in contact with a fellow brother- or sister-in-Christ.

So, WHO AM I?

Well, if we look at the above section, it kind of speaks for itself...

I am a Christian, therefore, through Christ...

I am blessed abundantly.

I am redeemed and forgiven.

I am a co-heir of the kingdom to come.

I am a temple for the Holy Spirit.

And if I can focus the core of who I am on all of these things, I'll be able to trust God when it comes to my identity or personality regarding things like writing, traveling, or dancing.

But if you ask me, those three things seem rather insignificant when I look at the bigger picture.


I hope you all are reminded of who you are and what you've been given through Christ. Even though with every day life can distract us from remembering this, it is a comfort and an encouragement to know that our identity isn't based off of those things. Work, school, a career path, a hobby, friends, family, etc. - NONE of these things define who you are, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ.

Look to Him for your identity. And I can guaratnee you that you will like what you see far better when you focus on Him than on other things.

I love you all! I hope you have an amazing week! I'll definitely try to post something revamp-ish this week or this weekend! Thanks for bearing with me!

luv ya!
~ Mishy (^^) <3

REVAMP '14! #3: 4th of July Edition

Hey guys!

*sigh* this whole staying on schedule thing is harder than I thought it would be! I know I didn't post anything "revamp-ish" this past Friday, mostly because it was the Fourth of July and I had my family and some awesome family friends over and basically this week has been a HUGE BLUR. It was awesome and fun, but man, as soon as everyone left this morning, everything was so quiet. And all the nights of staying up late caught up to me.

So, today was a semi-lazy day. That "semi-" prefix is there because I eventually got out of the house (thanks to my friend Michael and McDonald's).

ANYWAYS!

Welcome to REVAMP '14!: Fourth of July Edition! We're gonna take a look at a couple of Fourth of July outfits that me and Caylin wore to celebrate the independence of our great nation! :)

Shall we get started?

Caylin's Paisly Patterned Top

Umm, first of all, beautiful picture of one of the SHAWTIES! Just sayin'! :D And I love, love, LOVE this top! It's totally flattering to Caylin's figure!

Here's what she had to say about it:

"I was immediately drawn to this shirt. I saw it at Target and especially loved the fact that it had longer sleeves, but still looked feminine. he sunglasses are Ray Bans and I think they are nice because they spice up an outfit."

My Anchors Away Tank and Patterned Shorts

LOL, don't mind my crazy sister and friend in the background :)

My tank is from Kohl's. They had all their spring/summer stuff out, and I saw this and knew that I had to have it. Can't remember how much I paid for it, but it's definitely one of my faves! I've always worn well-fitted tanks, but I love the flowiness of this tank!

You can kinda see the pattern of my shorts. If you take a quick glance, it looks like a tye dye pattern, but it's not, and it's not a paisley pattern either. It's some sort of fancy pattern, and on each leg, it's a little ripped or shredded. They came from Forever21, and I'm pretty sure they were on sale since I wasn't able to use the 20% coupon they were passing out in the store ('twas tragic, really).

My stepdad kind of made me realize this, but my outfit has the perfect red, white, and blue balance. And yes, you read that right: my stepdad noticed how much work I put into this outfit for the Fourth (probably because he's been reading the past few REVAMP posts haha). I subconsciously thought of all of this: do I have enough blue? Is there too much red? Should I go with dark shorts or light shorts since I don't really have a lot of blue, but I don't have any white? These are the questions that must be asked when picking an outfit for an event such as the Fourth of July.

But that concludes the 4th of July edition of REVAMP '14! Remember, if you're participating in the Revamp, or if you really like your style and are wanting to be a part of the blog, contact me in the contact box at the top right-hand corner of the blog. Send me your name; your age; the piece of clothing or whatever you want to share; and a short description of what it is, why you bought it/why it's a part of your revamp, where you got it from, and how much it is. You don't have to be doing an "official" revamp, but if ya love the clothes you wear, then share them with us! We'd love to hear from you!!

Well, there ya go. Two days late on the revamp post this time. So sorry for the wait! I'll try harder this week to get it done by Friday, but I won't make any promises! 

Hope everyone's fourth of July weekend was good! It's JULY already. That is so crazy to me! Summer goes by way too fast for my liking, but I'm gonna enjoy every day I have left, even if I do have to go to work LOL.

Praying that you all have an amazing week!

luv ya!

*~.Mishy.~* (^^) <3