Am I living vicariously through myself?!

Newsflash! I love updating my status. On a good day if I am really on one, I might update ten to fifteen times. My close friends know about the crazy days - like before Lent. That happens to be my friend Karen's favorite day of updating - I think I updated every 15 minutes for 24 hours. The only times I don't update is when I am really sad. Updating for me is usually hilarity or inspirational. If I don't update for a week, definitely check in to see if I am still alive.

I don't necessarily do it for the attention but I won't lie and say I don't love the attention I get from it. It seems like I have a following and the feedback I get from these updates it that, generally, people really like reading them. I certainly enjoy getting a good one from someone in my feed.

There are three kinds of status updaters. I consider myself a hybrid of all three. The first kind is generally really annoying. It's the person that in a sense is living vicariously through their own updates. They update their day from start to finish. Every aspect is documented and generally this person is excessively happy.

"Good morning all! Have an amazing day!!"
"I can't wait for dinner tonight with my amazing friends"
"I am having an amazing time at dinner right now with my amazing friends"
"Dinner with my amazing friends was amazing"
"I am tired from SUCH an amazing day. Good night everyone!"

...and so on. Gag worthy at times.

Then there is the depressed updater. This is the one I find most annoying.

"I didn't get enough foam on my cappuccino at Starbucks today. FML"
"UGH! Why are all the people I work with so lame?"
"I am SO bored"
"I hate being single"

...and so on.

Then there is the generic updater. They update song lyrics or just do updates that make no sense all. (I am guilty of this, remember I said I was a hybrid of all three!)

In college, I used to think updating was lame. In fact my friend Vicky had to plea and beg for me to get on Facebook and when I did, I updated once a month if at all. I rarely checked Facebook. Communication changes with the advent of any new technology and with all my friends on Facebook, and it being such a fantastic platform to network and stay in touch, it was hard not to get swept up in it.

Without knowing it, I had turned into the person that updates about every restaurant I ate at, every time I grabbed coffee with girlfriends, everything I bought, everywhere I went, every experience at work, every time I got my hair done...EVERYTHING.

Which brings me to my main thought...am I living vicariously through myself?! Is my life not full enough that I need to let the rest of the world know about my every move and in turn get feedback on it?

Already today I would have updated about how freaked out I am when people reuse their fake eyelashes 15 times and I can see the glue all over their lash line (have the lashes been on there for the last 5 days or are they seriously reusing it that many times?! Gross!), about how much I am loving the items I got in September's BirchBox, and how much I still incredibly, madly, deeply miss Audry...every.single.day.

Don't get me wrong - I like updates and enjoy other peoples. I feel there is a happy medium and I intend to find it. 

XO, 

Rachel

My Subscription ADDICTION!

I am sure you have probably heard of the new up and coming sample subscription services like Birchbox or even BarkBox for dogs. Well let me tell you about my subscription addiction!

On a walk with my neighbor Kirsten this morning, we were talking about how we both want to cut back on unneeded things like a billion channels on our cable that we don't watch and that would free us up to splurge on other things like hair or a mani pedi or whatever we wanted that we usually don't do. My mini splurge each month is my makeup sample subscriptions. If you don't know what it is, every month I get a box in the mail and inside it is beauty products that I am interested in and I get a deluxe size sample so it's usually a half or quarter size of the full size and lasts a long time or in every box, there is also a ful size sample of something that more than pays for the box.

I recommend starting with ipsy! 

With ipsy, its $10.00 a month including shipping and you get a reusable makeup bag full of awesome stuff and a cute bag! You also tailor your profile to products you get are ones you want. Like for me, I am not a huge perfume person so I put no perfume samples on my account and you can  change it if you want to start using perfume.

 Here is my bag from this month. This month, I got a full size eye shadow that more than paid for the whole thing, a Butter London nail polish mini that I LOVE the color for fall (and who doesn't like mini's!), and a couple other things that will be fun to try like liquid eyeliner (also full size) and a lip gloss that is a little too red for me so I am going to save it and give it to a friend! This month got over $50.00 in product.


Here is a link so if you sign up, I get points to use for makeup and if you sign up through that and if you refer your friends, you get your own unique link, too! You can go month to month or for me, I pay for the year up front and then it for some reason feels like more of a gift when it appears every month and I don't have to "pay" for it. If there is a product you love, you can buy the full size at a discounted price, too!

Once I did ipsy for a few months, I was hooked.

I signed up for Birchbox which is also $10.00 and I love it, too! Every month, there is always something I normally wouldn't buy or try so that's the fun of it, trying new things and if you don't like it, it's not like you spent $50 bucks. With Birchbox, sometime you get fun stuff like stationary or a passport holder or super cute hair clips. Here is my August Birchbox and I am getting September today!

Makeup subscriptions make great gifts. I have signed up a few friends for 6 months worth as gifts and they loved it.

There are a million sample subscriptions out there - some are really expensive and some are not. For $10 bucks, these two are a steal.

I will blog later this week with the other ones I use (there is one I just signed up for that is $8.00 a month if you do a whole year and everyone I know that does it says it's incredible!) but I figured this would be a good place to start if you have never heard of this. I recommend trying it out for a few months. It's so nice to get a little treat in the mail every month!

XO,
Rachel

Urban Market! This Saturday at Eron Johnson Antiques!

 

Check out this market this Saturday!! There is no better place to be this weekend! 

See you there!