I feel so stuck.

Stuck and unmotivated even. It feels like a year into a pandemic is finally catching up with me mentally.

I haven’t had a job interview since last March, the week everything shut down and I can’t stop thinking about one topic and that was ambition.

The first book I read this year was HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by Elizabeth Holmes, my best friend got it for me for Christmas, not even knowing it was top of my list, and I just couldn’t put it down! I’m almost upset that I read this book so quickly but I guess that means I have even more time to go back and read it over and over again.

This time last year I was creating this space. I was transferring my old blog that I had for years, to this blog. Going through every post to fix the formatting and re-add photos. Lots of tedious work. And it was all going to be worth it because I was going to make an effort to write as often as possible, take photos, chat about anything on my mind last year.

When you google “are candle toxic?” or “are candles bad for you?” there aren’t very many reputable sources that come up. I couldn’t find any news sources, most seem to be blog posts, or posts from a company/brand trying to sell you their own product in place of candles. Honestly, most of the people I see saying candles on toxic, then try to sell the Young Living essential oils.

Like most of my ideas, this started after seeing a few people talking about the Think Dirty App on Instagram. With that I wanted to turn it into more of a fact-checking series because research is something I love to do. Especially when it comes to things influencers/bloggers share on Instagram. I think it’s always good to hold anyone accountable but especially those who have a big following, and therefore a big influence.

I don’t think I truly understood what Impostor Syndrome was until I started to feel it myself. I noticed, mostly while recording my podcast (not so shameful plug for A Show of Their Own) that I would be hesitant to call myself a journalist and kinda brush it off.

Something about it being hot outside just makes me exhausted and too tired to do anything, even if I’m staying inside. Obviously that is exasperated by being in the middle of a pandemic.

Since being diagnosed with Celiac disease a few years ago, it’s been even more of an adventure. There are a lot of recipes I’ve found on Pinterest that were easy just to make gluten free by changing regular flour to gluten free 1 for 1 flour. But sometimes recipes aren’t easy to switch.

A lot of work I’ve done and still do is freelance and mostly working from home. So I wanted to share some things that I thought might be helpful because I know working from home can be a hard transition for some and especially if that’s just not in your personality to be at home and away from the social aspect of going into work.

After scrolling through social media the last few days, I wanted to share some things I’ve come across to put off boredom and anxiety, while we are all practicing self-quarantine and social distancing. I usually share a lot of this on Instagram stories but putting here feels like it’ll be easier to find and come back to!

So I want to start by saying, these are just things that work for me and I totally understand they might not work for everyone but if even one person finds this useful, it’s worth sharing. Right now I’m still searching for a full-time job and doing freelance work from home so a part of that is I sometimes feel guilty if I don’t feel productive.

I decided to make a list earlier this year of all the books sitting on my bookshelf that I still need to read and/or finish. Kind of as a way to hold myself accountable and have a better visualization of how much I’ve read.

I always have a lot to say after a team I follow postseason run has ended. Sadly, it’s always been after a loss to end the season. I was really hoping this would be different, alas, here we are.

I will say this is much different than the last time I wrote something like this, after the Texas Rangers’ very short lived postseason run in 2016. I said this on the podcast but the 2019-2020 Dallas Stars making it to the Stanley Cup Finals felt a lot like the 2010 Texas Rangers making it to the World Series.

I started a podcast!! Along with my friend Laura, we came up with ‘A Show of Their Own’ after many conversations about women covering sports, our love of sports, and just over all having conversations about everything.

Having one day dedicated to “unconventional fans” is not inclusion, it’s a cop out. It’s used to make the team/league/sport inclusive to make up for the gate keeping. How about we make it inclusive all year round? It’s easier to believe in yourself and your goals and your dreams if there are people that look like you doing it already.

An interesting conversation that’s popped up recently is about critiquing winning teams. Really it’s fair to say it is a conversation that’s been around forever. I think it should be pointed out that there is a large difference between criticism and insults.

Originally this was going to just be a tweet thread on twitter but I had too many thoughts and I haven’t posted here in a while so why not a two for one? Hockey y’all. Dallas. Stars. Hockey. Man did I fall hard for it, huh?

I had so much fun putting together last year's "guide" so I decided to do another one this year. Some of these things I have and love, others are just items on my Christmas list! 

Last Friday I went to my first Rangers game of the season with my best friend, Cassidy. Armed with our cameras, zoom lenses, and giveaway Texas Tech Ranger caps in right field, we spent some innings just snapping away. I really didn't think I had taken that many photos... until I uploaded them Saturday morning and saw almost 800 photos on my memory card.It was so worth it though.

The first book I finished for the year…wait…technically I finished this on New Year’s Eve. Minor details right? The first book I tackled from my tower of recommendations was Ballgame! by Josh Lewin. Obviously I had to start with the Texas Rangers book.

So I'm sure you've seen the million and one gift guides floating around out there. Pretty sure that's the official count. Well make this one million and two. I debated about doing one of these. Mostly because so many people do them, why should I? Also, I'm the worst at coming up with a Christmas list to give my family anyway. But just think of this has a glorified sticky note, my own wishlist I'm writing down on the internet.

Exactly one week ago, I was sitting in the same spot that I'm sitting in now. Exactly one week ago, I was writing this post. Happy Ranger moments. Exactly one week later, not so much. Not sure I appreciate the juxtaposition happening but it's happening either way.The Rangers were eliminated in one of the worst ways possible.I thought the baseball gods were being nice to us for once by letting Bush strikeout Bautista. It had that feeling of "wow it might not end too terribly after all."

The Texas Rangers won the American League West Division for the second year in a row and the fourth time in the last seven seasons. This 2016 team is special and has probably been the most fun to watch.

Much like April’s review, August is starting with an apology. So I have to admit, I wasn’t on the Lucroy (much deserved) bandwagon. *hides behind laptop* And much like with the signing of Desmond, JD has once again made me look pretty stupid.

Now it should be said that along with celiac disease, I also have hypothyroidism, both of which I know have under control so it's helped improve the hair loss. So I'm not entirely giving credit to these products, but I believe they have helped keep my hair healthy.

A couple of weekends ago it was hotter than hot here in North Texas. I was one of the crazies that braved the 113 degree heat to go up to the Rangers ballpark to get an Elvis Andrus bobblehead. And while I was only outside for maybe an hour (I got that bobble and then I left, there was no way I would've survived until the game and through it) I was pleasantly surprised with how my makeup held up.

It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve done a beauty post and talked about my favorite makeup products. I’ve recently tried some new things and gone back to a few old and thought I’d share what I’ve been reaching for daily… or at least the days I’m going my makeup!

I blame YouTube for my makeup obsession. I try to limit it and then suddenly a million new products come out that I need to try.

I'm the worst when it comes to skincare routines. I can keep up with it for a few weeks and then I skip a day and that ruins the routine. Lately, I've been better about it because I've been doing a face mask every day.

Almost immediately after my last hair care routine post, I changed up my hair care routine once again. Kristin Ess, AKA the woman responsible for Lauren Conrad's amazing hair, came out with her own hair care line at Target and who doesn't want hair like LC?

Some time in the last few months I've completely changed up the products I've been using in the morning when getting ready. I'm usually a creature of habit, and 90% of the items I reached for were from the drugstore... somewhere along the way that changed. I'll blame it on Christmas when I got a few things in my stocking, that I'm now obsessed with.

I don't really change up my hair routine often, if anything I'll try a new shampoo and conditioner every once and awhile but other than that I'm a creature of habit. Recently, I've changed pretty much everything from my last post so I decided it was time for a update.

With being sick all last week and still working on a balance for school working on the blog and have time to relax between all of that, I decided the easiest post for today/this week would be another musings post. Since these posts are more of a quick catch up post, I thought it would also be the most fun to share what I'm loving recently and just have a chatty post!

I tried out some new products over the last few weeks and even brought back some things I haven't used in a while and decided to share them with y'all.

The last installment for this makeup collection series, all about makeup palettes.As you'll notice, I really like neutral eye shadow palettes and I switch back and forth between these so often, I don't really make a dent in colors very easily. Mostly because I'm like a kid with a toy, the newest one is always my favorite. For the time being.