Help me!!!

I don't know where I should even begin!?!

Today I started my third week at work where I am doing my master's thesis. I work usually from 8-16, but on many days, today being one of them, I finish work after 16, or sometimes even after 17.00.

When am I going to have time to do laundry, to wash dishes, to cook food. I don't even have children to take care of or any pets! When I get home I am exhausted. I don't have the energy to cook, but then before I can do that I need to go buy food. Last summer we started going to the grocery store once a week, but that didn't work for too long, and during last weekends we haven't even had the time to think of planning a weekly menu and grocery list so going to the grocery store hasn't been a realistic option.

I don't know what to do! I can just and just manage to sleep 8 hours, I'd prefer to sleep much longer, but going to sleep earlier than 9.30 pm is impossible! When do I go to the gym!? I always went in the morning because the gym was very empty then. If I go right after work the place is packed, and I'd have to wait for every machine. And going later will disrupt my sleep.

So please! Everyone who works full-time 8-16 or 9-17 or whatever your hours are but a lot, please give me some tips on scheduling my day/week! I am desperate for your tips!


I know I have not been blogging for most of the fall, and I'm afraid it won't change soon. Now I'm working more than then. Or rather my working hours are more restricted than they were then. No set hours. For the whole time of university I had lectures here and there, and exercises, labs etc. Those were the times when I had to be somewhere, usually 25-30 hours. The rest of the day I had free, or "free" as I was doing homework or exercises. But again, I didn't have a lot of specific times on where I had to be and when, my schedule was available for change. I could move things around.

 It looks like my days will be just as packed at least until July because I should graduate in August.


-Serafia

25 things you didn't know about me...

This tag is very popular on youtube at the moment! I thought I'd do this too, since I haven't posted anything for a while.

1. I hate vacuuming with a passion. It is the worst chore there is. I'd rather wash my 7 double windows once a week than vacuum. But I don't do that because my boyfriend has been vacuuming for us. Yay!

2. I have never liked to breathe through my nose. If I do that, soon I will be gasping for air because I do not get enough air through breathing my nose.

Holiday purchases

3. This relates to number two, I sleep with my mouth open, and with that said, I drool. Sexy, eh?

4. I want to get a dog. I've wanted a dog ever since our dog was put to sleep few years ago. I just live in an apartment, and I do not want to get a dog when I don't live in a detached house. I don't like small dogs, a dog has to be at least up to my knee, and that size of a dog does not fit in the apartment we live in now (in my opinion), and I don't want to have a dog when I live in an apartment.

5. I am a fabulous wallpaper remover.

6. I actually like renovating apartments/houses, but I am scared of using power tools, or electric machines that are used while renovating. Give me a paint brush, a knife, sand paper, a screwdriver or anything like that as long as it is not electric.

7. I want to learn to lay down tiles.

Find the mistakes! It is from a belt my boyfriend bought when we were on holiday.

8. I make the best oven-baked vegetables.

9. My legs are quite strong, but my arms are so, so weak. It is starting to get difficult to do legs at the gym when I can't lift the weights onto the machine cause my arms are that weak.

10. We have a drum set in our kitchen.

11. I don't like people very much. :D What I mean is that when I worked as a cashier in a grocery store, my days were 6-9 hour long and I worked 5 days a week. When my shift was finished I just wanted to go home, I couldn't see people anymore. Going out for drinks with my friends was impossible because I was already sick of people. I had no interest in seeing people. Customer service is really not my thing, eventhough I'm fairly good at it. I just can't stand people for 9 hours straight.

12. I got my ears pierced in May 2009.

13. I love shows like CSI, NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, Grey's Anatomy, The Big Bang Theory, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU.

14. I really, really want to go see the Four hills tournament (ski jumping) in Germany and Austria someday in person. It would be the perfect honeymoon, but I know my boyfriend wouldn't like it so we'll have to do something else then. I am a big ski jumping fan, and he isn't.

15.  Work doesn't mean too much for me. I mean, I want to be able to make my own money, I don't want to be supported by my husband unless I am home with kids. But I'm sure once the kids are of some age (which I don't know yet) I would go back to work. I just want to work enough to live well, but I am not a workaholic. If I'm unemployed, I can easily come up with stuff to do, but I wouldn't like that for too long, because then I'd have to rely on unemployment benefits, and I do not want to do that. I am not that work oriented, and that is why I could never be selfemployed completely because I just don't have the drive to work as much as an entreprenour has to. I just want to be able to support myself, but work isn't the love of my life.

16. I have started to drink more water daily. I have a 0.75 L bottle that I fill up with tap water twice. 1.5 L is enough for me this time of year.

More new purchases

17. Before I leave my house, I need to make sure that every electronic appliance is turned off. Unless I'm only taking out the trash, which takes less than a minute... I don't trust that the coffee machine shuts itself off after a certain time. Ours turns off after 1.5 hours, but there is no way I'd just leave that on and leave my house.

18. I have three autoimmune diseases. Two are fine, the third, and most recent one has caused me big issues. Has done that the past two years. Currently it is quite manageable. I'm not taking pain killers. Yay!

19. We started playing golf this past summer. It is awesome! I named my golf bag 'The Red Devil'. :D You can probably guess what color it is... :D

After 18 holes of golf on the way home.

20. When I applied to university, I applied directly to the Master's program. Naturally I had to do the Bachelor's degree first, or before graduating with a Master's, but I was doing courses for both degree simultaneously. I loved all the master's courses so it didn't take me too long to do them. I absolutely hated some basic courses in the Bachelor's degree, so the very last exam I had to do (and pass) was one belonging to the Bachelor's degree. I now passed it. And I've applied to get the Bachelor's degree confirmed. And that will happen in the beginning of February! Then all I have left is my Master's thesis. Yay!

21. The best gold nailpolish is Gold by Gina Tricot. It is a cool gold if that makes any sense, and it suits me wonderfully.

22. Math can be both infuriating and freaken awesome!

23. I am so, so excited that NHL is finally starting soon!!!

24. I love coffee.

25. I, apparently, have a strange way of washing clothes. Socks and underwear are never, ever washed together. I do not separate colors and whites. I only leave out whites when I am washing something colorful the first few times. After that I put everything together. We have our landlord's washer/dryer set, but we only use the dryer for sheets, and blankets etc. Stuff that's a little difficult to hang to dry. For example sheets that take a lot of space to hang dry.

Finished products - Mid July. October - December 2012

Yeah I haven't been keeping up with the empties for a few months now. I just was over blogging at the time, and threw everything away without typing it on here first. So that is why this is a two part blogpost in one. First is the one product I did manage to finish, and type about. I finished it around July. Then after that the products have been finished from October onwards. Sooo there was a few months of nothing. I did finish products, though.


Hair:

• John Frieda Sheer Blonde Highlight activating, Enhancing conditioner with Light enhancers, platinum to champagne, for lighter shades of natural, colour-treated or highlighted blonde hair, 250 ml

Now starting from October...

All the pictures are from my instagram. And that is why the quality is not always very good.

Body:

• Lumene Berry Refresh Firming Body Lotion, 200 ml
• LOVE THE SCENT!!! Was it firming...? eh. It doesn't work like people assume it would, of course. Firming doesn't mean you can quit going to the gym. It never did mean that. ;) 

Hair:

• XZ Karpalo Kinuski hair conditioner, 250 ml. 
• XZ Karpalo Kinuski hair conditioner, 250 ml
• yes, two of them
• Dove Nutrive Solutions Nourishing Oil Care with weightless Nutri-oils hair conditioner, Argan oil blend, 200 ml
• love it!
• Goldwell Fruits 4 You Papaya shampoo
• Smells like papaya, or puke depending on who you're asking from. But it does not leave your hair smelling like puke.. :D
• Professional Hair Care Hair Repair shampoo, 50 ml
• okay
• Professional Hair Care Hair Repair conditioner, 50 ml, review here.
• love it!  

• Nivea Blow-Dry Styler Volume Sensation, 150 ml
• Eh. Didn't really create too much volume, didn't use this for years, until I started really using up my collection of everything. I'm glad it is done. 

• KMS California Color Vitality shampoo, 300 ml
• I hadn't used this for a while and now I remember why; it was making my psoriasis on my scalp worse. I'm throwing this out before it's completely gone.
• Sunsilk co-creations Lively Clean & Fresh with balancing anti-oxidants, gently cleanses & nourishes, conditioner for normal hair, 200 ml

• Klippoteket dry shampoo
• Definitely not my favorite. It was impossible to not put my hair in a ponytail after using this, so I might as well not have used any.
• Aussie Miracle Moist Conditioner, 75 ml
• Smells way, way too strong. Was impossible to use with the shampoo at the same time.
• John Frieda Sheer Blonde Highlight Activating Enhancing Shampoo with Light Enhancers, Platinum to Shampagne, 250 ml
• I felt I was losing hair when I used this with the matching conditioner. When I used them separately, that didn't happen. 

• Urtekram Aloe Vera Conditioner, 250 ml
• I had started to use this in summer of 2011. I was pretty much half done with it. It just did nothing for my hair. So once I was done with all my other fullsized conditioner, I started using this on my hair and I applied it very generously. I just wanted to finish it. Sometimes I even used this when I was shaving my legs. Worked well with that. 

Face:

• Erisan alcohol free toner, 200 ml
• Love it!
• Erboristica face scrub, 100 ml
• Herbina white tea face wash, 75 ml
• Foaming wash. Bought it for when traveling. Liked it at first, then noticed it was too soapy, drying, and possibly caused some irritation and break outs. 
• Eucerin Balancing Toner for sensitive skin, 200 ml
• Didn't use it up completely. My skin did not react well to this. It seems that my (somewhat sensitive) skin gets irritated by anything that says 'for sensitive skin'.

Makeup:

• MSChic Baked Mineral Foundation, 0N Porcelain
• IsaDora Big Bold mascara
• Clinique High Impact Mascara, black, 7 ml
• wonderful!!!
• The Body Shop Sweet Lemon lip butter, 10 ml
• I have had this for a long time. Now it had changed its consistency and scent a little, so I'm just going to throw it away. 

Nails:

• Depend Miljövänlig nailpolish remover, 250 ml
• Mavala 002 protective base, 5 ml
• Essie good to go rapid dry top coat, 13.5 ml
• Gina Tricot base coat, 10 ml

Update!

Hey everyone.

I know I have no posted anything on my blog for a long while, and I honestly do not have a reason other than I have been busy with life and school. 

I can't say when I will resume blogging. I know I am busy at least for another month, probably two. Then I might have a little break, but after the break I'll be busy again. I am sorry. I hope you haven't forgotten about me yet! 

I wanted to come on here and let you guys know of other social media sites where you can keep up with my daily activities.

Twitter

First of all, I am quite active on Twitter. My twitter name is @Serafia_ and you can follow me here:   www.twitter.com/serafia_

Instagram

I am on instagram now as well. My username is serafiasmakeup.

If you have an iPhone, you can get the app from whatever place you usually download the apps on your phone. I have an android phone, and I downloaded it from the Play Store for free. 

The picture is one of my many instagram pictures. This is Sensai's Mokuran eyeshadow palette, that I won from .SENSAISTI.'s blog last week.

Facebook

I am on Facebook, too. The direct link to my page is www.facebook.com/serafiasmakeup

I hope to see you in one of these social media sites. I have linked my Facebook and instagram to Twitter, so everything that I post on instagram or my facebook page, gets posted on Twitter as well.


-Serafia

Yummy fingers!

Essie's new summer collection has fantastic polishes like Bikini So Teeny and Cascade Cool. 

I only know of their new collections if I go see their polish stands, and I was excited to see they had changed their collection set up.

I put on Cascade Cool last Friday, and removed it on Monday morning. Now I have Bikini So Teeny on.

Cascade Cool reminded me of Splash of Grenadine, so I compared the two bottles, and they are different. Cascasde Cool on the left, Splash of Grenadine on the right.

Outdoors, direct sunlight, no flash

Cascade Cool is described on Essie's website as "a creamy, sweet dusty pink".

 

Indoors, with flash

Outdoors, direct sunlight, no flash

It held up really well from Friday to Monday. On Saturday I was helping out at my nephew's birthday party, so I was cleaning, washing dishes, and using my hands a lot before the party.

I used Rimmel's double duty base coat, three coats of Cascade Cool, and one coat of Seche Vite.

Bikini So Teeny is described as "a sparkling, cornflower blue" on Essie's website. The silver reflects are clearly visible in the bottle. I did notice they did not always apply evenly on the nail. I have some glitter clumps, and I think the sparkles show much more in the bottle than on the nail.

Indoors, by a window, no flash

I only took pictures indoors by a window with no flash, because if I had gone outside it would not have made a difference. I am expecting a storm to begin any minute, and it's quite dark and gray outside. I guess I am publishing this blogpost on Tuesday, but writing it on Monday because I published one blogpost yesterday, and don't want to publish two in one day.

Indoors, by a window, no flash

Which polishes did you pick up from this collection? 

-Serafia