Happy 3rd Birthday to the Chrisamor Goodie Jar!

HIIII!!! My blog’s finally 3 years old, hehe it’s still my baby though :). I’ve only recently started posting more often (schedule in the sidebar), participating in blog hops and other communities with fellow bloggers, so in this 3rd year of blogging (especially the summer months) there’s been quite a lot of growth.  Photos are from some of my favourite posts for this year, by the way.

In person, I’m not the most warm and sociable person you would meet, but get me started on a topic and I could go on for ages! Although I’m still very much an introvert (and I swear I experience the oddest things when it comes to humans), this blog has allowed me to reach further than I’ve even imagined myself or my thoughts going. This year, my blog reached persons in U.S.A, Russia, Germany, Canada, France and even parts of Asia! Who’d had thought, right? I keep telling myself that it can’t be true, it feels so surreal. Even my blog views increased during summer, where I tried to push as much new content as possible. I was scared it was just me clicking to view my blog way too often and causing the views to go up, but turns out it wasn’t just me. The hard work of going the extra mile for posts, even outside of my comfort zone and networking with other bloggers worked out.

I’ve noticed an increase in followers on all fronts, GFC, G+ (though I still am figuring that out still), Bloglovin’, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. I am trying to stay on top of all of those, however I don’t talk about beauty 24/7 on my social media. I have to thank you those who do follow my blog, social networks, and those who are reading this, for taking the time out of your day to actually read my blog and comment too. Oh I love comments, even if it’s not a positive one! Let’s be real here, we can’t always agree on everything.

 I especially want to thank persons like Jen, Sarah and Angie who allow people like me to be a co-host in their amazing blog hop and for others like Melissa from TGL who also has a really good hop going every Wednesday! I’ve been invited to some others, but I really don’t know how well I’d be able to keep up with some many blog hops, but in time I will get there. Especially if I have more time after the semester is over. ^__^ Also I want to thank the lovely girls I collaborated with over the summer, and the great people who I met around the blogging community.

Thank you to my supportive friends who silently read my blog (I see you P, hahah) and also to my babe Tyrell, who’s always trying to make sure I have photos for my posts, helping me with the outfit posts and sometimes even suggesting what I write about, that’s always funny. He has really good ideas though!

Look out for a giveaway coming for not only my blog’s birthday but my birthday too. October is a fabulous month! Sorry September, not enough love for you haha.

Aspiration Diaries #10 | Recap

Hey everyone!  I’ve made it to number 10 in this series, a bit of a milestone! Yay! This week w will be looking back at the past posts and see if I was able to follow up on most things. If you were following along with your weekly goals also, check up and see how much progress you have made.

School-related Goals:

Something that has popped up almost every week in my aspiration diaries was my research project. It’s not completely over yet, as I do have to make a presentation (which I will be marked for), but it is mostly done. Over this time I’ve read a ton of research articles, skimmed some others, but thank God it’s over with.

Another thing that appeared for half of the time I’ve been making these posts were events my student committee were planning. I’m really glad that I had a chance to be a part of it, and all of our events, even the ones we were worried about came off well. Everyone from students to lecturers were raving about the week of activities. So I just feel extremely proud and happy to have been a part of it and that it was so successful.

You’d also notice like any student, I had a lot of goals focused around studying. Something that I learnt from a seminar I once went to, was to study and take breaks and time to reward yourself. It motivates you to study more. With this semester being so hectic, sometimes I lost motivation to study and would have to remind myself that it was important. I took breaks by reading some of my favourite blogs, watching the occasional YouTube video, or hanging out with friends. I have yet to see if the results equate to the work and time I put in…

Social Media & Blogging Goals:

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Sadly this year I could not keep up with my YouTube for various reasons, school, time, equipment and editing. I did not get to post my announcement video where I would officially announce my hiatus, simply because time got away from me and it was going to be a hassle. I hope that at some point I can fix this though (probably at the end of my exams).

I joined Instagram when I first got my tablet last year and sadly I was not posting very often, in fact I was just exploiting “liking” pictures haha. So I decided to join photo challenges and even challenged myself to take and post pictures more often. I remember years ago I loved taking pictures and posting to Facebook. Any, I’ve been using Instagram more now, posting more often, face of the days, food, random stuff, and enjoying it! You could see my feed in the side bar, or click the pink camera button on the top right of the page.

If you were following along my blog for a while, you might have noticed that previously my posting was more sporadic and although I’d try to space post, there would be long pauses in between. Well, from March I have been trying to follow a blogging schedule. This is a bit hard, as I sometimes don’t know just what to post about, but it leads me to looking in new places for inspiration. Speaking of which, Pinterest is a  new means of inspiration for me, it’s fairly random and I thought at first that I wouldn’t like it, but it’s growing on me. I could spend hours on there pinning and finding very interesting boards. I’m actually quite glad I joined. These past few weeks my blog posts have not been as consistent as I’d like, but I do hope to rectify this as soon as exams are over. School gotta come first ya know?

Beauty Goals:

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Although my friends like to call me a beauty guru, which I really am not, I do not take that much time for my beauty routine on mornings or even at night. I like to be out of the house as fast as possible because there’s always the chance that you’d miss the bus; and after a hard day of work sometimes removing mascara is the furthest thing from my mind. Even my hair I just get very fed up with, especially when I try a new style that really ends up looking awful to me.

So in my weekly goals I tried to include trying new make up looks, removing my make up before bed and lately taking better care of my hair, as I was slacking off. I also included painting my nails, which I am yet to get to because I hate the wait of drying nails haha. But I have been trying to apply neutral shadows for class, and I have an everyday look, which usually doesn’t include eyeshadow unless I feel like it. I’ve also discovered a new product which seems to help my complexion, the Maybelline BB Cream (finally in Barbados), and I will be doing a review of it soon. I’ve gotten so much better with cleansing my face before bed, and although I still have a bit of clogged pores and dark spots, I’ve seen less acne because of it.

Personal goals:

 

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I wanted to save a lot this semester and although I did save, I lot of my money was spent on food or school supplies and the occasional beauty item. I hope that with a job this summer I can continue to work on saving.

I also mentioned that I worry a lot. Just about everyone who knows me, knows that I do. I like things to work out and be perfect, and of course that’s unrealistic, but I really do appreciate to see something well planned come off. But in reality, everything doesn’t just happen how u analyse it to, and sometimes you have to let things fall into place without giving yourself grey hair over it. So a continuing goal for me will be to worry less. Sometimes I have to physically remind myself to do so, but I will keep trying at it.

Along with worrying, I didn’t let myself have enough fun or hang out and just relax a bit. I was always trying to do too much, so quality time would turn into work time in two twos. Another continuing goal I have for myself is to relax and just enjoy. Hang out with friends and family without thinking about what’s next and what has to be done.

Finally, I had a few minor goals, like baking or cooking something special, play with my make up, just to again, have a bit of fun and relax. I hope that if you were following along with your weekly goals that you have seen some progress in yourself as well as some areas to work on. For me I know I need to work on worrying less, relaxing more, spending quality time with loved ones, balancing my time better when it comes to college and blogging, and being bold enough to try new make up looks and hairstyles. Definitely have send out some killer resumes and find a job to support my beauty habit haha, ok no I’m not actually addicted to make up…

I hope you all enjoyed this very long recap and until next post!