Moving!

I've had a really hard time deciding about moving to a Wordpress account or staying here with Blogger. I don't like change, but I've read so many positive reviews about Wordpress and that it is really the way to go with a long-term blog so I decided to give it a try.

I know I don't have many followers yet, but for those of you who do follow me here is the link to the new site. I exported this blog to Wordpress so nothing is lost! Can't wait to see you there!

New Site :)

DIY: Photoshop Glitter Text

I have used Adobe Photoshop and similar programs since I was little for my own personal use. I have always been artsy and enjoyed drawing pictures or creating images on the computer.

Growing up a horse obsessed little girl, I played a couple similar horse games online. In these games, you owned horses and trained them by entering them in shows to earn points. The higher the points, the more valuable the horse. You could then sell your horses breed them to produce valuable offspring. A big part of the game was having extravagant and edited images for your horses and layout. Ya ya.. don't make fun!

Anyways, I wanted to share with all of you how to create Glitter Text in Adobe Photoshop! You can use it for anything, such as event invitations or for some image on your blog. I hope this will help you! I know there's probably many ways to make glitter text, but this is how I do it! I'd love to see some of your finished work!
Open Photoshop. Create a new document.
I selected to create a custom document so I could make it a size that I wanted. Here I'm going to make the banner for my blog! **Note, not the actual image used for my blog as I already made it before deciding to make this blog post!

Meet the Kittens

Two of our fur babies need to be introduced together. Our adorable black sister kittens that we adopted from the Humane Society.

The rare two headed cat

How did we decide to introduce TWO black kittens to our home when we already had a dog and a cat? My boyfriend and I were at the pet store buying litter for my older cat and he pointed out that there was a pet adoption center in the back of the store. He suggested we go inside and look at the animals. I told him that it was a bad idea because I knew I would want to leave with something...

So we headed into the pet adoption center. There were several rooms which housed the older kitties, giving them more space to roam around. At the end of the hallway we turned left into a big room with ferret cages with two kittens in each cage. In the first cage we saw the most adorable sister kittens. It was love at first sight. They were so goofy playing with us through the bars of the cage and reaching out to us. They seemed so attached to each other climbing all over each other playing and cuddling together. I just knew we had to have them.

 My boyfriend and I debated for a while about what to do. I felt like we were making a very impulsive decision adding two more cats to our home. I was worried about what my parents would say. I could not figure out what to do and of course the boyfriend was no help. I also worried about having too many pets in our apartment. I decided we should go home and think things through. As soon as we left I regretted not having them with us, but I still worried about bringing home two more cats. How would the older cat react? How would they react to the dog?

The next day we went back to the pet store with the intention to adopt them, but still uncertain if we were making the right decision. The man working there told us another family had come in earlier looking but wanted to separate them. It broke my heart to think about them being separated, they were obviously very bonded to each other. I walked back out to the store to make my final decision when my boyfriend texted me and said, "If you don't want these kittens you are going to have to pry them from my hands"..

The adoption center was thrilled we were adopting them together, took a final picture of us with our new children, and sent us on our way. They do everything together and look so similar that only certain personality quirks and different meows help us differentiate between the two. We have different color collars on to help!

I could not imagine my life without these fur babies. They are sweet, goofy, loving, and so so funny. They love to cuddle, play, eat, and sleep! Adopting these girls was the best decision we ever made. I am absolutely obsessed with them and take way too many pictures of them.

Bathroom Decor

When my boyfriend and I first moved in to our apartment together, we had almost nothing and had to make several expensive runs to Ikea and Walmart for the basics. We did not have the time or luxury to shop around for nice color schemes and decorations. Our first night in the apartment, we had some beer, a blender, a Brita water filter, and my mattress. We spent the evening setting up our new bed frame from Ikea and eating dinner on the floor. We eventually got all settled buying everything we needed, but I never got around to redecorating.

However, we moved to a new apartment in April and I decided to do the interior decorating I had initially planned. We overlapped apartments a few days so I was able to spend time shopping around and finding what I wanted. Since we had decided not to move closer to the beach, I wanted something to be beach themed in the apartment.

This is what we ended up with! No thanks to my boyfriend, he was no help!

And just for fun, we used these tub slip grips! Bright and colorful and fishes to go with our beach theme!

The kittens love playing with these in the tub!

Hand Towels

Shower Curtain

Curtain Hooks 

Shower Mat

Tub Slip Grips

Towels in teal

Bath mat in teal
 Life's Good at Beach Wall Decor
Hampton Beach Chair Wall Decor 

Review: iOS Upgrade

 I updated my phone to iOS 9 last night and it was a complete disaster. I do not normally do upgrades when they first become available because they tend to be glitchy and I don't like change. I read the description of the upgrade on my phone and it did not seem to have too many cosmetic changes. Some of the positive attributes to upgrading were updated and improved battery life, traffic and maps, Siri features, and the addition of a news app, new multitasking views, and a variety of other features.

My phone had been acting slow recently so I decided to upgrade when I was relaxing after class.

I immediately regretted my decision!
There were several big feature changes that I did not like as well as no real increased phone performance.

1. There were minor differences in the keyboard and fonts. They were not big changes, but they were different and irked me. I could have dealt with these minor changes had it not been for the others listed below.

2. Find Friends was made a mandatory app. I had used the app in the past, but I was extremely irritated that it was a made permanent app that I could not delete. The app is a weird and very creepy and stalkerish way to know where your friends are at any given time. While it can be turned off or you do not have to use the app.. what then is the point of its required presence? This really bothered me because I do not want something to happen and for the app to decide to run itself. I also do not like being required to have apps on my phone that I do not use.

3. Still extremely slow. After my update had been completed, the phone was running as slow if not slower than before the update on the old iOS. I did give it a little while to settle but nothing changed, my phone kept freezing. It seems as though Apple wants everyone to upgrade to newer phones that will run smoother with the new updates.

4. I did not notice this myself, but after some Google research I read that the iOS9 platform drained battery life from peoples iPhones. This was one of the key factors in why many people updated the software and Apple did not follow through.


After playing around on the new platform and disliking it, I decided to restore my iOS back to the 8.4.1 version I had been using. I read a lot of directions and peoples reviews on this process and it seemed to work fine! However, there would be a limited time to downgrade as Apple only supports old iOS platforms for a few weeks after introducing new software. After successfully restoring my iPhone to the old iOS, iTunes was unable to find my most recent back up so I lost all my text messages from the last 3 months. I had thankfully uploaded all my pictures separately and they were all saved. My downgrading back to the old iOS after a short period of time is why I was unable to see for myself the draining of battery.

To be fair, I did not give the new iOS9 a fair shot, but with my initial dislike I did not care to try. I did not feel that the improvements outweighed the things I disliked about the update. Maybe I am biased because I do not like change, but most of the changes did not even affect the appearance of the phone.

I have debated upgrading to a new phone because I am due for an upgrade and I dislike my phone running so slowly, but I really dislike the size of the newest iPhones. I have an iPad mini, I don't need a phone that is getting close to the same size.

Has anyone else updated to the new iOS? What do you think? What are your thoughts on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus? Suggestions on other phones you like?

House Keeping

We all look forward to the weekend because they mean no school and hopefully no work! Weekends are the time to unwind and relax after a long week. So who wants to spend their weekend cleaning their house? I admit it can be hard to find the motivation to clean. Here are a few tips to help you!

1. Split it up!

Try and do some small things throughout the week to make cleaning on the weekend easier and less time consuming. I like to vacuum several times throughout the week because of the animals. While keeping the amount of dust and animal hair down, vacuumed floors make the apartment look and feel cleaner. Regular vacuuming requires you to pick up things that might accumulate on the floor throughout the week. My boyfriend throws all his dirty clothes on the floor next to the laundry basket (men!). In order to vacuum, you need to put everything away first which in turn helps to keep the house clean.

 I also clean a different area of the house on different days. If you clean something very thoroughly during the week, you either will not have to do anything on the weekend or you can just wipe down that area. Cleaning one area daily means that you can spend less than twenty minutes cleaning a day and still have a clean home!

2. Weeknight Laundry

Another way to keep your cleaning load down on the weekends is to try and do laundry throughout the week. It is very easy to put a load in and swap them around while watching tv. I also like to watch tv while folding laundry and pairing socks, it makes for a good distraction.

3. Have friends/family over
Nothing motivates me to clean our home more than inviting people over. I want my house to be clean and welcoming so that people continue to come over for dinner, watch games, or just to hang out.

4. Rearrange
I get bored easily so I like to rearrange the furniture, mainly in the bedroom. Although we will be rearranging the living room and dining area when our new couch comes in! While rearranging, I vacuum a lot so I need to put everything away. I am typically more motivated to keep a newly arranged room clean because it is still fresh and exciting.

5. Make the bed daily
Making your bed every morning keeps your room looking organized. When the bed looks nice I am more inspired to keep the rest of the room neat and tidy.

Of course Callie had to be in the picture :)

Buy comforter here!
Throw Pillow Here!

6. Plan it out
I love lists. I write everything down in lists, in multiple places. I will write the same list on my white board, in my planner, and in the notes on my phone. I feel so accomplished when I can delete something from the list or cross it off.

 Planner here

Sometimes life gets in the way and your laundry sat in the basket all week and you were unable to clean. Just set aside a few hours on Saturday or Sunday and do a good cleaning and start over next week! A clean home is welcoming and relaxing. The absence of clutter and chaos in your home, especially in your room, is less stressful and can help you sleep better at night! Just know how great everything is going to look when it is cleaned!

Birthday

My birthday was on Wednesday and I had an overall great day. I was able to sleep in and spend the morning relaxing at home. I had to go to class in the afternoon but we got out early! My boyfriend surprised me with tickets to the San Francisco Giants game!! He told me to be ready when he got home from work. As I was getting ready I realized that I could not find any of my Giants shirts anywhere! I asked my boyfriend what I should wear and he told me jeans but that he would pick out the rest when he got home.

I got really excited because it sounded to me like he got me something Giants to wear! He showed up at home as I was drying my hair and surprised me with a goodie bag of presents! I will post better pictures later!

First was an awesome Giants jersey of my favorite player which I was able to wear to the game! It even has the World Series badge on the shoulder!

He also got me a camo Giants hat which I didn't wear to the game but I probably should have with all the rain. Both the Giants jersey and hat can be bought in person at the Giants dugout store, I was unable to find them online!

Buy it here

Then there was a camo Browning sweatshirt I can wear hunting! While my favorite color is pink, his reasoning for the purple logo was that the pink one had pink inside the hood and I would not be able to wear it hunting. I love it anyways and I especially love his reasoning :)

Buy it here

Last was a new duck call for hunting. And of course, it's pink!

While I am not materialistic and the presents were not what was important to me, I loved everything he got me and was so excited at all the thought he put into getting me presents. My favorite part of my birthday was getting to go to the Giants game with my favorite person! I also loved that the Giants won!!