Monday Motivation: April

One of my favorite things about blogging is the ability to make an impact on someone with just words. I started this 'Monday Motivation' series last year with that idea in mind - to inspire people to live. 

I once read that you can be alive but not living. Personally, I think to really be living, you need to do things that make YOU happy. Today, I want to share something that happened to me early this month. I've been working the same job for almost two years and initially, I loved it but as time went on, it felt like I had to drag myself to work. I thought that everyone felt that way so I pushed through it. I kept looking forward to the weekends, or rather 'weekend' since I only got to have a day off. What I was doing didn't excite me anymore and more importantly, it didn't challenge me - I was doing it just for the money. I took a month off work and on my first day back, I had an epiphany, if you may, and said to myself "what are you doing?". I wasn't enjoying what I was doing anymore and it wasn't making me happy. So that day, I decided to quit my job. At the time, I didn't know what I would do next but I knew it didn't feel right staying there anymore. Since then, I found a job in a different field and it seems like a right place to be. It's been really challenging so far but I'm excited to learn and just see what this chapter of my life holds for me. 

Long story short, I just wanted to tell you guys that if something isn't making you happy, stop doing it. It really doesn't need to be more complicated than that. I'm not just talking about a job. Whether it's people, things or situations that's making you unhappy, find the courage to allow yourself to let go of them and finally give yourself a chance to truly be alive.

On a much lighter note, I hope you all are having a lovely day, wherever you are! I missed doing these motivation posts and I hope today's post helped you somehow! If not, please enjoy this video of a beluga whale being serenaded by a Mariachi band.

Kisses,

S

My Spring Soundtrack: A Guest Post by The Girl in The Moonlight

*Waves shyly and clears throat.* The awesome Shirley has invited me onto her blog to talk spring and sunshine and music!

While sunshine is accompanying us a bit more often in England, sunny music is my best friend. As both Shirley and I enjoy sunshine and music, we thought it would be an awesome idea to exchange each of our playlists that we'll be listening to for the next couple of months. You can check out Shirley's HERE!

The Way You Make Me Feel - McFly
No Worries - McFly
Something New - Tom Fletcher 

Be Who You Are - You Me At Six
Boys in Books are Better - Carrie Hope Fletcher
He's the One I'm Bringing Back - Nina Nesbitt
Glue - Nina Nesbitt
A Permanent Hug From You - Dodie Clark
A Year And A Day - Wayward Daughter
Never Met You - Tom Law 

Way Back When - Kodaline  
I Blame You - Plug in Stereo

Fixer Upper - Frozen 

Girls Who Play Guitars - Maximo Park

Something That We're Not - Demi Lovato
Not a Bad Thing - Justin Timberlake
Waste of Time - Eliza Doolittle
Ain't It Fun - Paramore

Thank you SO MUCH for having me on your blog Shirley! I love your blog; it's the sunshine that makes any rainy day better! This was a lot of fun and I'm glad we've worked together! It would be great to do so again!

What songs will be brightening up your days this spring?

Bunnies & Green Grass,

The Girl in the Moonlight.

What I Loved in March!

Happy April, everyone! Ahh, I've missed the sound of my fingers tapping away against my keypad! I recently just got back from holiday and as incredible and much needed as it was, it feels great to be back home. I wanted to take this time to make a post about the things I enjoyed last month! :)

Great Weather

Before I left for the Philippines, Kuwait's weather was starting to warm up a little and it got me excited! I was so over the cold already so imagine my excitement when I was welcomed by the tropical heat in the Philippines! It was the perfect amount of sun and breeze so thank YOU, weather, for being amazing last month!

Products

I finally got the time to play around with new beauty products last month and I found a few new favorites I'm happy about! I brought all these items along with me on my trip and they truly served me well! ;)

Sunscreen, although very important, can sometimes be a chore to apply! This spray sunscreen from Bath and Body Works was a God send. It's so easy to apply and it smells so yummy!

I've been using the same foundation for the past 5 years so it was time to try something new. I picked up this one from Cover Girl and I've been loving it so far! It blends in perfectly with my skin tone and what I love about it most is it dries to a powder finish so it looks very natural. It's also weightless - you can't even feel you're wearing anything!

I only brought two eye shadow palettes with me when I traveled and this was one of them! The colors in this are stunning! It was my first time trying shadows from Wet n Wild and I was really impressed by the pigmentation and the lasting power. I pretty much used this palette every day. This one is called 'Walking on Eggshells' if you're interested!

One of my best friends (she also blogs!) gave me this lip balm/stain from Jordana! It's a beautiful coral color that's perfect for this time of year! It's also really moisturizing and stays on all day. I've been wearing it a lot since then so thank you, Kareen, if you're reading this! :)

Music

5 Seconds of Summer came out with some new songs last month and they're all so fun and catchy, I've been obsessed. My favorites so far include "She Looks So Perfect" and "Heartache On the Big Screen".

Movies

I saw two movies this past month that stood out to me! The first one was About Time. Honestly speaking though, I was only looking forward to seeing this movie because one of my favorite actresses, Rachel McAdams, plays the leading lady. However, it turned out to be quite an interesting and heartwarming movie. It revolves around a guy, who at the age of 21, discovers that he can travel time. So, he uses that in his advantage to find love. Ah, if only things were that easy in the real world.

I also saw Divergent last month! I only read a few chapters of the book beforehand so I'm not in a place to compare the two but it was still such a good movie! Post-apocalyptic story lines have been quite popular over the past few years, and I love the spin Divergent puts on this topic. I'm already looking forward to seeing the next one but it might be a while so I guess I really need to catch up on my reading!

Short Hair

I cut off a total of 9 inches of my hair last month and although it felt scary at first, it's very liberating! I can't even remember the last time I had my hair this short! It's very low maintenance and this might sound odd, but my head feels so much lighter now - it's amazing.

While we're talking about hair, I also wanted to quickly mention a curling wand I recently purchased from Remington! I used it to style my hair in the photo above. It creates beautiful curls and I've just been really getting a lot of use out of it recently!

Time Off

After working straight evening shifts for over a year, I FINALLY got time off work. I used this time to do my favorite thing - be lazy. I can't stress how incredible it felt not to have to set alarms! I also got to travel to one of my favorite places - Philippines. I'm planning on making a separate post about that but I posted a few pictures that you can see HERE.

Overall, March treated me really well. I only hope April can do the same! I want to know, what stood out to YOU  last month? What are you looking forward to this month? Tell me in the comments below!

Kisses,

S