Asthma Awareness & My Story

Hi everyone! I know it's been a while since I've updated. This is going to be a serious post, but fear not I promise you will be getting a fun post tomorrow!

I wanted to bring some awareness to a disease that I struggle with and share my story. I know a lot of you on twitter see me bitch about my lungs from time to time, it's finally time to explain why.  Asthma is a common disease but most people don't really know what it is, or how much it sucks. You're probably wondering why I'm randomly bringing this topic up. What sparked this post was something that happened Thursday of last week. I had a bad asthma attack after pushing myself too hard in a work out. That was followed by another, smaller attack on Friday night. I'm still feeling the effects of it and trying to recover from it. 

So what is asthma? Asthma is a common chronic lung disease that millions of people have. There is no cure for it but there are ways to treat it. It can last just through childhood or for a few years or even for a person's entire lifetime. Unfortunately, I've been dealing with it for most of my life and probably always will.  When a person has asthma, their bronchial tubes (aka their airway) become inflamed, narrow and swell when they have an attack. Extra mucus is produced as well, which as you can imagine this all makes it hard to breathe.

Here is a comparison to show you what a normal bronchial tube looks like and what one affected by asthma looks like:

Here's another view so you can get a better idea:

Yeah, it sucks. 

There are certain triggers from allergens, air temperature and exertion that can set off an attack. It varies from person to person. The severity of it also varies. Some people get asthma so bad that they become hospitalized or even pass out. Others like my case are usually easily controlled.

So what is my asthma story? To start with, I have really shitty lungs. When I was about 6 years old I had a bad case of pneumonia. It was really sudden and surprising. It was the end of summer and I was on vacation in Vermont with my parents. Suddenly I became really sick and was vomiting like crazy, so they rushed me home to my doctor. From there I was hospitalized. I was then diagnosed with a lung disease called Emphysema. Emphysema is a type of lung disease classified as COPD (or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). It damages the alveoli (air sacs) in the lungs. Because of that, my body wasn't getting the oxygen it needed and it was difficult to breathe. My right lung also had a small hole in it that was leaking fluid so that had to be patched up in surgery along with a Lung Volume reduction surgery. The doctors pretty much scraped my lungs and removed wedges of damaged lung tissue.

Emphysema is most commonly caused by smoking. My parents were heavy smokers that smoked around me all the time as a kid. They continued to smoke around me despite doctors and surgeons warnings until my dad died when I was 18, and when my mom quit smoking when I was 21. 21 years of heavy secondhand smoke can wreak havoc on your lungs. So please if you smoke and have children or nieces or nephews do not smoke around them. You can cause serious and life long damage.

I honestly don't know a ton about emphysema. I recently started doing research because I was wondering if my illness as a child was still affecting me and my parents weren't too concerned about it after I recovered. No one even told me what it was, just that it made me really sick and I had to have lung surgery because of it. It turns out there is no cure for Emphysema and apparently I still have it and always will. But there are ways to treat it and live with it.

I should mention that typically people don't get Emphysema until they're in their 50s/60s, even in their 40s. It's very rare to be diagnosed with it before 25 let alone as a child. So I'm 22 with the lungs of an old lady. Yay me.

I have asthma as a result of the emphysema. My main triggers are cold air, being sick and major exertion. Winters are absolute hell for me, the cold air makes it so I can't breathe every time I leave the house. When I catch a cold it is usually 10 times worse because my asthma complicates it.

Growing up I was stuck using a Nebulizer, which is a machine that emits a vapor with medication that you breathe in. I had to have breathing treatments from it so often that we had to buy a machine. 

Yup, that's a variation of the machine. It sucks having to use one but they do help. 

I was less reliant on it as I grew older so my parents got rid of it. But now, every once in a while or when I have a bad cold or attack I have to go to my doctor's office for a treatment.

As a kid I also had to take Advair Diskus, which is a Fluctonase/Salmeterol inhaled powder along with another inhaler. It basically was an inhaled steroid to help my lungs. Now, I only use my Proair HFA Albuterol Sulfate rescue inhaler when I feel symptoms coming on or when they persist.

I have never had an asthma attack bad enough to hospitalize me but I nearly have. When the purple wedding happened on Game of Thrones (I'll be nice and not spoil it for anyone), I became so excited that I had an asthma attack. It was the worst one of my life. I honestly probably should have gone to the hospital but I turned out alright! I coughed like crazy and could barely breathe for a week. I got few hours of sleep each night because it was impossible for me to lie down and still be able to breathe. I would wake up in the middle of the night nearly chocking on coughs. Yeah, that was a real blast.

It typically takes me between a few days to a week to recover from an attack. It depends on the severity of the attack and if I have any aftershocks. An aftershock is what I call a smaller asthma attack as a result of the bigger one. When I have an asthma attack, I have a very hard time breathing and cough like crazy. My chest becomes tight and my lungs feel irritated. It has gotten to the point of me feeling faint before but I've never fainted from one. Sometimes they give me dizzy spells, but a lot of that also has to due with the exhaustion I get as a result of asthma. I usually keep my inhaler in close proximity at all times just in case.

After an attack, during what I call the recovery period I continue to feel the effects from it for at least a few days. My chest will still feel tight and I will have issues breathing sometimes. I'll be wheezy and coughing. Asthma attacks always leave me feeling tired and weak. If I exert myself physically in any way I become in danger of having another attack. Sometimes it is difficult to sleep because it'll be harder to sleep lying down. I also will have mucusy lungs and end up coughing a lot of that up ( I know, it's totally gross). Then there's the fun lung/chest/stomach muscle/back ache I sometimes end up with if I'm coughing really hard or often and from also breathing in more deeply to prevent coughing. Honestly it leaves me feeling pretty horrible. To help speed up the recovery, I try to rest a lot and not do much of anything as well as drink lots of water and use my inhaler.

For the past few years I have felt like my asthma attacks have worsened and become more frequent. But for now, they're controlled fairly easily.

Anyway I hope that this post educated everyone on the seriousness of asthma. If you have a loved one with this disease I feel it's important to educate yourself so you can help them if needed. It also helps to be understanding of it. I know my family doesn't always understand and insists that there is nothing wrong with me when I'm coughing and feeling like shit. If you suspect you could have asthma, get tested. If you have asthma, always keep a form of treatment nearby. Don't be stupid.

To end this on a good note, this video is my new favorite thing xD. [Here's a link in case you can't see the embedded video www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdvogFyZZM ]Keep an eye out for tomorrow's much more fun post!

Xoxo

Stay Creepy <3 

The Gigantic Harry Potter Post

I talk about so many different things on this blog: movies, shows, fashion. But there is one major thing that I don't really discuss: books!! So I am starting with my favorite ones of all time: Harry Potter. This post literally took me weeks to write so I hope you all enjoy it. 

The Harry Potter series consists of 7 books and is written by J.K Rowling. They are about a boy named Harry Potter. He lives a perfectly boring and ordinary life with his horrible and abusive aunt and uncle.  On his 11th birthday he discovers that he is a wizard, that his parents were as well and that they murdered by the evil Lord Voldemort. He goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he meets his best friends Ron and Hermione. Together they always stumble upon mysteries which in the end result in having to save their world or their school. When Voldemort returns, Harry must defeat him and save the future of the entire wizarding world. 

I am a huge Harry Potter fan. I have been for most of my life. When I was in kindergarten, the books started becoming popular. I would go home on the school bus each day and see all of the older children holding the books and discussing them.  I remember the back cover of the Chamber of Secrets used to freak me out a bit for some reason. At the time there were only two books released. I remember them being very controversial when I was that age. Mostly because of the super Christian people being against anything to do with witchcraft and holding book buntings. Book burnings make me sad :(. Oh those poor, misguided, ignorant people. 

For Christmas when I was in first grade  my parents gave me the first two books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (called the Philosopher's Stone in the UK) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. At the time, I detested reading. It just bored me so much! I started reading Sorcerer's Stone and for some reason was bored (BLASPHEMY!). But then I decided to pick up Chamber of Secrets. As I read if, I became hooked. It completely changed my life and soon I became an avid reader. I will forever thank my parents and JK Rowling for giving me the gift of the love of reading. It is one of the best gifts I have ever received. After I went back and read the first book, my obsession started. 

The books became a huge sensation with the release of the first four books and soon, the Sorcerer's Stone was released as a movie. I was ecstatic and extremely obsessed. My grandmother brought my cousin and myself to see the movie and I was in awe. There was my beloved Hogwarts and characters that I spent so much of my time with, right there on the screen in front of me. 

I owned a lot of memorabilia from the series, most of it from book illustrations rather than the movie because at the time there wasn't a crazy amount of movie memorabilia. I  had pretty much anything you could imagine: Harry Potter bed set, pillow, a stuffed Hedwig, a cloth poster with an illustration of Harry, dolls (anyone remember the Hermione dolls they came out with back then? They were like Harry Potter barbies.) I'm pretty sure I had action figures, as well as many different play sets like the potion making game set (where you made various candy "potions"). I even had (and still do) these tins designed to look like the books (opened like a book too). I still have a large number of Harry Potter Christmas ornaments that I still proudly display at Christmas time. 

At school during recess in elementary school I would run around the playground with a group of boys, pretending we were flying broomsticks. I remember I used to lecture one kid for saying Voldemort instead of You-Know-Who. I would then come home from school and play with one of my cousins. Though it was freezing cold November/December we would run around outside carrying sticks "dueling" each other. I would pretend to be a Hogwarts student and he pretended he was from Durmstrang. I would often dance around my grandmother's kitchen to the CD of the Sorcerer's Stone soundtrack. I think that everyone in that house became sick of my playing it xD. 

For Halloween at least three times I was Harry Potter. My parents threw together a costume for me which included a horrible black wig,  these super thick plastic black glasses with tape over the bridge (based on some book illustrations) and a black cape. 

As I became older, my love for the books just increased. I often would sit at the kitchen table at my grandparents house with an old typewriter that my grandfather gave me, pretending to be a writer for the Daily Prophet. I would make up many stories that could have happened in the wizarding world. I would interview various family members about nonsensical events for my version of The Daily Prophet. I guess now I see why I nearly became a journalist! 

 With the release of the fifth book The Order of the Phoenix, I began going out at midnight to get the newly released books. My parents were wonderful for doing that for me, I never even asked. My dad decided it would be fun for me, knowing my obsession. So at 11:30 or so at night, we would venture out to get the book. Every year my local bookstore would open at midnight just for the sale of that book. We would drive by and see the longest line of people, many in costume winding around down town. Seriously, it would wrap around the Main Street! Wisely, my dad decided to go to the local Stop N Shop which was across town and had a decent sized book section. They indeed were open late for the release and the line was short. We went there to buy the remaining books each year, getting in and out within 10 minutes. As we drove home we would laugh when we saw the still huge line of people still waiting downtown for the book. 

When the last movie was released, I was excited yet devastated. It was released the summer after I graduated from high school. Of course, the ending of Harry Potter felt like more of an ending to my childhood than my actual graduation did. I luckily had a few movie passes, so I brought some of my close friends with me to see it opening night. We were all dressed up in our favorite Harry Potter gear (I owned a few shirts that I wore quite a bit throughout high school). 

We all also made our own wands to bring with us. This was before Pinterest and its "hot glue over a stick/chopsticks" tutorial. I made mine by carving a stick from my yard, coloring it with a brown crayon, covering in cheap clear nail polish and adding some duct tape on the bottom to make a handle. At the end of the movie, we all stood up with our wands in the air and yelled "Mischief managed!". Surprisingly, quite a few others did the same thing. I remember crying so hard at the ending. Partly because of how beautiful the movie turned out and partly because I was sad that it was all over! The very last scene killed me because it played the same song that was played at the end of the first movie. 

When Pottermore came out (I don't remember exactly when that was), I signed up right away. I was so excited about all of the extra information we would be learning from it. But I was mostly excited that I finally would be able to be sorted into my Hogwarts house. I proudly am a Gryffindor! I thought for sure I would end up a Hufflepuff. 

If you want to add me, my username is: FeatherJinx4398 . I don't go on there so much anymore, since Pottermore doesn't have an app. 

I have always dreamed of going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park. Sadly I have never been so lucky. My mom has mentioned for a few years that she wants to save up for us to go, she knows that it would be a dream come true to go there and see Hogwarts. I would probably cry too! One of my relatives (my mom's cousin's husband) actually worked on building some of the rides in the theme park. 

I have read every single book probably about 20 times. I still cry whenever I read about Dumbledore, Dobby and Sirius dying.  I have even read them in reverse order, which actually in doing so you pick up on some additional things like foreshadowing. I have had to repurchase certain volumes and I have them all on my kindle. I can't bear to be without my beloved books!

They aren't just books to me. They're like a friend. I have spent so much of my life with these books. They have always been there for me when I needed someone. Every single time I needed an escape or I was having a difficult time I always had them to turn to. They are the absolute best books I have ever read and I am still in awe at their greatness  whenever I read them. I constantly have new questions whenever I read the books. 

These books have taught me a lot of things growing up like how important friendship is. Do what is right over what is easy, stand up for yourself and never give up. I love the important bonds that these books create. They allow families to bond as well as new friendships to form. 

I could always count on Albus Dumbledore to instill some sort of wisdom. Sometimes the things he says in the books are things that I have needed to hear. During my recent reread of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone, Dumbledore had me in tears. When he is having a conversation with Harry at the end of the book, he says (referring to Voldemort):

"He didn't realize that love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign...to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever."

So here are some pretty inspiring quotes by the very wise wizard:

• "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live" - Sorcerer's Stone 

• "It's our choices that show us who we truly  are, far more than our abilities" - Chamber of Secrets

• "Of course it is happening inside your head Harry, but why  on earth should that mean it is not real" - Deathly Hallows 

• "Dark times lie ahead of us and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right" - Goblet of Fire 

• "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light" - Prisoner of Azkaban. 

I love the movies nearly as much as I love the books. I say nearly because the books are SO much better. There are many things left out and changed in the movies. The first movie is the most accurate and I feel like they gave up when they got to the fifth movie. 

It does make me sad about some of the things that were changed. It makes me sad that they left Peeves the Poltergeist out. In the books he was always pranking people and being a hilarious nuisance.  They left out the ghosts for the most part after Chamber of Secrets.

These are some other things that purely movie only people will miss:

• Dudley's last words to Harry before he left Privet Drive
• Nearly Headless Nick's Death Day party
• Hermione's SPEW obsession 
• The entire story of Voldemort's mother
• Harry becoming Teddy Lupin (Remus and Tonks' son)'s god father
• Animaguses 
• Who Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are
• Veelas
• Weasley is our king 
• Neville's parents in St. Mungos
• Harry is a huge sarcastic smart ass in the books compared to the movies

There are SO many more things left out, but I'll just leave it at that.

There were also scenes where characters were changed. For example, in the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Neville gives Harry the gillyweed for the 2nd task in the Triwizard Tournament. In the book, Dobby gives it to him. 

Another such scene happened in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. In the book after Malfoy beat Harry and threw the invisibility cloak on him, Tonks found him. In the movie it was Luna. I know these things don't seem to really matter, but they matter to those of us that love the books. 

When Richard Harris (RIP) died it was extremely devastating. Not only because of his loss but he was the perfect Dumbledore! I feel like if he could have lived longer, the movies would have been so much better. Although he did a good job for the most part as Dumbledore, for me Michael Gambon is not the true Dumbledore. He lacked the demeanor of Dumbledore that Richard Harris had and he played a harsher, colder version. I recall in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore CALMLY asked Harry if he put his name into the goblet. Sir Gambon took a much angrier approach to this scene. 

One giant knit pick I have with the movies is Harry's eye color. It is a HUGE detail in the books that his eyes are green...Daniel Radcliffe's are blue. They did try contacts in the first movie, but he had a bad reaction to them. They could have digitally altered his eyes instead! It is a big deal because Harry's mom Lily had green eyes. J.K Rowling did say that  it would be alright as long as Harry and Lily had the same eye color. So what do they do? Give little girl Lily in the last movie brown eyes. UGHHHH! 

Alright, I'm done ranting! But seriously, you movie only people miss out! 

Since they are doing a "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" movie (starring the gorgeous Eddie Redmayne. He was also Marius in Les Mis), I really hope they can make a "Quidditch Through The Ages" movie. I would LOVE to watch some more quidditch. I feel like they left a good chunk of it out of the movies. "Hogwarts, A History" would also be a pretty awesome movie. 

J.K Rowling is my hero. She is a huge inspiration and a wonderful woman. Her twitter account and responses to people are the best, especially when responding to people that hate on Dumbledore being gay. Yes, for those that don't know, Dumbledore is gay which makes SO much sense when reading the last book. 

J.K Rowling has gone through so much. She lost her mother at a young age to Multiple Sclerosis. She survived an abusive marriage. She overcame poverty while being a single mother. 

One day, she was on a train and had the miraculous idea of Harry Potter. From there she wrote the books and planned everything. By the time the first book was finished, she had already had the very last chapter of the seventh book written. 

She would write Harry Potter in cafes with her infant daughter, Jessica. She didn't have a job and couldn't afford child care. She was rejected by many publishers, I think 12. Seriously...people rejected Harry Potter!! She kept going and never gave up, eventually her books became published and she became richer than even the Queen of England. 

She has also donated a huge chunk if not most of her fortune to charities. J.K Rowling gives me so much hope and when I'm feeling down about my own career goals, I remember her story. 

J.K Rowling stands  for Joanne Kathleen Rowling. She was told that boys will not read a novel written by a woman so she had to abbreviate her name and create a pen name  a la R.L Stine style. Ms. Rowling wasn't born with a middle name, so she took her grandmother's name, Kathleen as her middle initial. 

I just admire the woman so much. Even with all of the books written she still has so much knowledge of her world, it's truly amazing. If I didn't have such problems with writers block, she would inspire me to write my own novel. 

I find a lot of the parallels, symbols and metaphors in the book pretty clever (though some took me a while to understand).  Voldemort is basically wizard Hitler. There is a huge parallel between the holocaust and Voldemort's take over and his wanting to round up/kill the muggle borns. 

The dementors also are a metaphor for depression. They over come you, sucking away all of your life and happiness making it feel as if you'll never be cheerful again. 

Anyway, it is time to wrap up this huge post (I did promise a gigantic one after all). I hope you all enjoyed reading about my Potter love and my rambling thoughts. If you're a fellow Harry Potter fan, which book or movie is your favorite? Comment and let me know! 

Until next time (whenever that will be) 

Xoxo

Mischief Managed 

Most played songs of April

Hello my darlings! I have you all had a wonderful weekend and a lovely Monday. I spent most of my weekend reading and watching anime. I started watching more of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars! I had watched the first 8 or so episodes some time ago but never got to finish. I'm hoping the videos don't get removed before I finish the season. This is the only Sailor Moon season that I never got to see before, since it was never released in the US (I seriously can not wait for Viz to finally release it). I also finally finished the entirety of the Sailor Moon manga last week! I have been trying to read that manga for literally years and I finally finished it. Though I read the manga, Sailor Stars isn't what I expected so far. It's totally different from any other season. It focuses more on the Senshi's personal lives and school lives. I think it's pretty cool though that we get to see that side of them instead of just them plotting against the enemy of the season. I was DYING at Sailor Star Maker's "Star Gentle Uterus" attack...yes guys, I shit you not. Her attack is gentle uterus. What even!!? So far I am loving Sailor Star Healer out of the star lights.

I spent my weekend reading a fanfiction as well. I decided to start re-reading my favorite fanfiction and it just consumed me again!! It is a Kakashi one and it's ongoing. If anyone wants to check it out, you can here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8555031/1/The-Saga-of-Sakumo . I also had an exciting venture in trying to make my own Passion tea lemonade like the kind that Starbucks sells. I'm not sure how the one I made compares (it's been a few years since I have gone to a Starbucks) but the one I made was SO good!! If anyone is interested I can share the recipe ^_^.

And before I get to the point of today's post, I made an account on MyAnimeList...or rather I remembered that I had an account and I updated it xD. For those that don't know, MyAnimeList is a site where you can keep track of all of the animes you've seen and all of the manga that you've read. I have seen/read a lot in my life time so I am still working at updating these lists. If you want to check out my profile, you can at: http://myanimelist.net/profile/Lipstickzombie


Anyway...the point of why I am posting!!

I haven't done one of these posts in so long! I listened to a lot of music in April, preparing for my birthday and because I was reading a lot. So here are the songs I was listening to the most!

1. Crazy Crazy Rainbow Star - One Piece Anime 

Okay, I have no idea who sings this song. I just know that it is an opening song for the One Piece anime. I tend to fall asleep around the time that One Piece airs on Toonami. More often than not I fall asleep as I hear this song. It's literally been stuck in my head for a month. But I love it! Crazy crazy rainbow star, twinkle twinkle rainbow star!

2. Juliet - Emilie Autumn

3. Rapunzel - Emilie Autumn

Both Juliet and Rapunzel are the result of me listening to a LOT of Emilie Autumn while planning my birthday party. Emilie Autumn is a very unusual artist who does "victorian industrial" music. Her album Enchant which has Rapunzel and Juliet on it is a renaissance era/fairy tale based album. It's beautiful and I love both songs so much. She is also a very talented violinist, which is why she uses so much violin in her songs. I just love her music so much. Admittedly she's a small part of the reason why I named my cat Autumn.

4. Decretum  - Madoka Magica OST

I listened to the Madoka Magica OST a lot, especially when going to sleep. This song is beautiful and just really stuck out to me...so of course I'd have to play it like 5 times a day.

5. The Slightly Chipped Full Moon - Kuroshitsuji II OST

Amidst my party planning I realized that I didn't have the soundtrack for this season! Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler is one of my favorite animes and I love the soundtrack. This song turned out to be my favorite from it and I became rather obsessed.

6. I'm Just Your Problem - Rock version from Adventure Time 

It's no secret, I love Adventure Time. I'm Just Your Problem is a song Marceline sings aimed at Princess Bubblegum in an episode. There is a rock version of this song . I love it so much, I had a resurgence of love for this song in April.

7. Because - The Beatles

I am a huge Beatles fan. When I could use a smile or just chill music I listen to them. Because is one of my favorite Beatles songs. For quite a few days I had this song on repeat because it's so calming.

8. Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles

Another Beatles song I love. This was due to many nights reading and listening to their music

9. Green Day - Give Me Novacaine

I listened to a lot of Green Day in April. I had been dealing with some health issues and it was very frustrating and depressing me. Green Day's music just sort of helped me to drown that out. I'm a huge Green Day fan. If I'm having a bad day, I tend to end up listening to this song because at times I can relate to it a lot.

10. Green Day - Misery

This is an old favorite Green Day song. Amidst my many GD listens I re-discovered this song. It's one of their more obscure songs which I love so much. It also tells a story.

11. Doki Doki Morning - Babymetal

I love Babymetal. To those that don't know, Babymetal is a Japanese band that combines metal music with idol pop music. It is the oddest thing I have ever heard yet it's totally badass.  I listen to them a lot and this is my favorite song of theirs. I often like to listen to it when I get out of the shower...often singing into my comb to it xD.

12. Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl

Don't ask the reasoning behind this one xD, because I don't even know!

13. Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

I used to HATE Fleetwood Mac (I know, what the hell??!)...but  have always loved Stevie Nicks. I started listening to them more and Go Your Own Way is a fantastic song. It reminds me of my dad (he loved Fleetwood Mac) and I just found myself listening to it a lot.

14. Kill Paradise - Candy Land Wedding

I randomly had this song on my ipod. Okay, technically not during April but I had this song on repeat for two hours one night because it's so damn catchy and chill. I've been listening to it a lot lately while I'm reading. This is one of the surviving songs from my scene kid phase.

15. My Chemical Romance - The Light Behind Your Eyes

I love this song <3.  My Chemical Romance is my favorite band of all time. Their music always, always helps me. When I was having issues last month, I listened to this and "The World Is Ugly" and it made me feel better.

What songs have you all been listening to a lot lately? Comment and let me know!

Xoxo
Moon prism power, makeup!

Steven Universe + My weekend

Hello my dears! Today I was planning to put up a post about my birthday party. Sadly, I can't write that post. I had to postpone my party because I was very very sick this weekend. I don't even think I felt this sick when I had pneumonia as a kid. I had a very bad reaction to a medication and my body just sort of freaked the fuck out. I was very sick on my birthday as well, which totally ruined it and made it a horrible day. Trust me, I was very upset. I couldn't do anything but sit on the couch and watch anime. 
But I did have company! It would have been 10 times worse if I were ill and alone on my birthday. One of my friends slept over the night before and we hung out, watching Sailor Moon. The night before (before I got really sick) was a lot of fun. She spoiled the crap out of me and gave me some Lush products, a tea infuser, some Teavanna tea, scones and a Pumpkin Spice spray as a gift. I normally dislike anything pumpkin flavored/scented but I am ADDICTED to the scent of this spray!! 

One of my other close friends was very sweet and surprised me with a huge vase of flowers on Sunday. He originally planned for me to use it as a center piece at my birthday party and he carefully picked the flowers. My friends are seriously the best <3. 

[One of my roses. It's perfect *^*, roses are my favorite] 

Fear not, I am doing SO much better than I was over the weekend. I am still sick and fighting off the bit of the bad reactions but each day I'm slowly getting better and more towards normal. 

Although I was extremely sick on Saturday (it was the absolute worst on Saturday. I felt like I was going to die and nearly went to the hospital), I did a prom makeup job. Apparently sticking it out makes me hardcore. Even sick, I still managed to make my client and her mother very happy. I heard today that her mother is still raving about how great a job I did and so many girls at the prom complimented my client on her makeup. I feel so proud!! 

I feel like I worked three times as hard and I went above and beyond what I normally do (i.e using some of my personal products.) But as a makeup artist, customer service/a happy customer is my #1 priority. I feel like that is my biggest selling point, aside from being super cleanly with my tools and product. 

You're probably wondering why I didn't cancel when I was so sick. As a makeup artist, people rely on you. If you cancel on them last minute they're fucked and you could possibly have ruined their big day. It also is horrible for business. So I stuck it out and did my very best. I don't have any pictures for you all, sadly. My client was under aged and I didn't ask for permission to post pictures of her on this blog so I wouldn't feel right. I did however do this: an eye look with nude pink shades on the lid, with a dark smokey purple in the crease and a very subtle winged eyeliner. Natural, lightly shaded brows. A natural looking but flawless face. No lip color, light barely there blush and some highlighter.

Anyway - to the point of today's post! I have become obsessed with a show called Steven Universe. It is a Cartoon Network cartoon. It really is such a fantastic show, that I needed to share my love of it.

When the show first premiered, I wasn't really into it. But some friends urged me to give it another try and I love it!! I binge watched the show over the course of a few weeks and I'm totally obsessed. It has definitely definitely another one of my happy shows (my happy shows are shows that I love, that I watch when I need comfort.).

Steven Universe is about a little boy named Steven. He's something called a gem, well he's a half gem. His mother Rose was a gem and his father Greg is a human. A gem is basically an awesome alien with super powers, all with a gemstone imbedded into their body to give them these powers. Steven lives with the Crystal Gems who are Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl. They are committed to protecting Earth from other gems. 

Steven's mother was basically like family to the Crystal Gems, she was their leader and lived with them. I'm pretty sure that she took care of them all, like a big sister. She had to give up her physical form in order for Steven to be born. He actually possesses Rose's gem, he was born with Rose's gem as his bellybutton. So being a gem, he went to live with the Crystal Gems. His dad Greg is still in the picture but he's a washed up rockstar that lives in his van and runs a car wash. He's really nervous around anything to do with "gem stuff" and the Crystal Gems still blame him for getting with Rose, which lead to her death.

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl....and Steven! (Haha, little joke from the theme song) live in Beach city which is a boardwalk city by the ocean. There are many different characters such as Ronaldo Fryman who is obessed with the odd things that occur in Beach City (pretty much always caused by the gems) and writes a blog (Keep Beach City Weird) on them.

 There's also his younger brother PeeDee who is always stuck working at their family's french fry shop on the board walk.

 There's Sadie and Lars, Steven's older friends that work at the donut shop. Sadie has feelings for Lars but Lars is usually oblivious. She does so many things for him but he usually screws her over or hurts her feelings in return.

[Lars, Steven, Sour Cream, Jenny and Buck] 

There are the popular teens that Steven hangs out with sometimes: Sour Cream, Jenny and Buck. Sour Cream is obsessed with raving and he often complains of his step dad who wants him to become a fisherman. Jenny's family owns Fish Stew Pizza. She's very fun loving ,mostly caring about hanging out with her cool friends and she hates working at her family's shop. Buck is Mayor Dewey's son, he certainly has issues with his dad. Otherwise he's usually really relaxed and chill. Lars is always trying to hang out with the popular kids and often ditching Sadie to do so.

There's this weird little kid named Onion, his step brother is Sour Cream. He doesn't really talk. To me he's kind of a little shit.

There is also Connie, Steven's best friend and love interest. I love Connie so much. She is a very intelligent young girl. She's opinionated, shy and a feminist. She's dorky and book loving. She is so much more mature than her age. She just makes me proud, I'm glad to have a character like her represented on this show.

                      [Lapis Lazuli]

Of course there are other gems such as Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, Jasper, Sapphire and Ruby.

Steven Universe has everything pretty much. Action, comedy, romance and drama. One episode can be really funny and seemingly pointless while the next is action packed with gem fighting. But it's such a fun show you'll even love the seemingly pointless episodes. It can be very serious at times and deep which I absolutely love! It deals with some important and emotional topics. It goes where other shows are afraid to. 

There is a lesbian couple on the show - Saphhire and Ruby. When they fuse together, they become Garnet. A fusion is when two gems combine their bodies to become one. It's often used in battle to become more powerful. But Saphire and Ruby love each other so much that they can't stand to be apart and they are one being. It's so terribly romantic.

                         [Opal]

There are some other fusions in the show. I love the episode where Steven fuses with Connie to become Stevonnie. Amethyst and Pearl fuse to create Opal. I love Opal, she looks so graceful and beautiful *^*.

There are references in the show - quite a few anime ones. Some of the music reminds me of the music from Studio Ghibli films. This show also does have some music, which to me was expected because the creator Rebecca Sugar used to write some of the music for Adventure Time. The music is great though. I LOVE the Lapis Lazuli song Steven sings in the episode The Message.

Rose Quartz (AKA Rose, Steven's mom) is my favorite character. She was such a badass yet sweet and loving. Plus she's majorly gorgeous *^*. Steven never got to meet her and since she is dead (though some people theorize that she's not dead, just isn't in a physical form.) we only see her through flashbacks. I love whenever we hear tidbits about her and see her. My favorite episode is a recent one called Story for Steven where Greg tells Steven how he met Rose.

So there you have it! I do watch some American cartoons, not just anime. I also love watching Adventure Time, Bob's Burgers (one of my favorites), American Dad and Regular Show. I could probably do an entire post on my love for Adventure Time. If you haven't seen SU I highly recommend checking it out. Episodes are only 15 minutes long (unless you are watching online, then it's more like 12 minutes without commercials).

Xoxo,
Moon prism power makeup!

P.S: If the formatting on this post is a little wonky, I'm sorry! I had to post via app rather than my computer.