I’ve been pretty glad about how things have been going with me around here, everything is a little better than I was expecting it to be by now. Like sometime last year I kept wondering about how I pass my time and hoping I could speed things up or have more to do with my time, and by now I finally actually do. I’m getting better at folding things around my time to get things done and stay active around my house and room and just getting out the usual amount too which goes pretty well every week. I finally was able to make time to set-up this photoshoot, with a Coca-Cola graphic tee I turned into a crop top that I got for my birthday (from a friend) in November 2020. I got three shirts from him, one which was already like a crop top (Angel Like Me) and the other which I cut like this one (MTV Pt. 1) and they all turned out really great, in terms of how I cut the shirts and did the photoshoots. I love how all of that went, I was able to do the shoots pretty quickly in 2021 for those two but it took me until now to finally get this one done! It all is looking pretty good though, I think I’m aligning this year really well with my outfit choices. Plus, four of the main things that I wore in this photoshoot are things I haven’t done a shoot with yet, so I was sort of getting a lot done with putting them altogether like that! The fact that they all worked well together like that was a good sign to me, I really wanted to get these things up on my blog eventually. I have this list I go by sometimes of all these items I bought and still haven’t put in a shoot, and it’s up in my room on my whiteboard. I’ve been making progress on it too, especially with how I’m more active on my blog now with photoshooting! At least a couple times a month I’ve been posting since the new year, and I’m pretty good with aligning it all properly. For this one in particular, I like the almost vintage look they’re going for with the Coca-Cola on this soft red t-shirt, and I think the color of these jeans works really well with it. I of course went for gold with this one, which was the first time in a while I’ve done a shoot with gold, and one of my favorites (other than the big gold key from my other friend) is this ‘1998’ necklace I got from MissGuided last year, and I was so excited that it was my year they had in stock! It was almost exactly a year after my order had arrived that I ended up finally getting to shoot and blog about this necklace, but I’m glad I finally am getting it up there today! Lastly, my cheetah sneakers with gold on them are awesome, I got them shipped to me in rehab in like September of 2019 and I loved them there. It took me so long to finally get them into a shoot but I’m so glad about how all of this came together so well this time! It’s even a shoot in a different angle in my room which is rad. Thanks so much for checking out my blog, continue reading to see more of the post!

So the Coca-Cola thing is actually pretty significant to me and my blog, because the first shoot I ever did for Shop For Days was called Original Gangstress, with a cute black hand-distressed Coca-Cola crop top that I cut myself as well. It originally came from Walmart, but I cut it so well with holes and chunks at the bottom and I ended up just really loving this shirt with all my heart! That was back in February of 2015 even, and I of course still really have that shirt. I even did another photoshoot with it here, called Coke-A-Cola, which is the first photoshoot on that post along with two others. That one was in September of 2017, but I’m so glad so many years later I still have that shirt and was able to come back with this one inspired by the first! I have been blogging on here for so long and I really love how I’m doing things now finally, and I know I’ll always be doing my best as long as I keep blogging, but I really just love how it’s been since that. Anyway, I’m glad I finally came back with the Coca-Cola reboot, thanks so much for checking this post out. Let’s get into the collages finally!

I’ve been blogging in the last couple of months more these days about how much I’ve been loving doing my makeup more. Last year I started going to meetings all the time in the summer, and that meant that I had somewhere to go starting at 5 days a week, and then getting to be like 3 times a week and finally to twice a week these days (just for meetings). From there I started wearing cuter outfits with my heels and everything, but I finally had a reason to do my makeup all the time. Since then I’ve went through all my lipstick and all my drawers and everything, just trying to use all of what I had in rotation. I’m now to the point where I’ve been through all of my eyeshadow, like each of the palettes, just seeing what I had and finally using it all the time. Now I really love doing my eye makeup, even more these days, but I’m still working through all my lipsticks and lip products once again so that is so fun! I just really loved doing my makeup for this shoot as well after everything. I really see why I went through these phases growing up where I’d buy a lot of makeup or something, and then eventually carry it over 4-5 years later to see what I have(n’t used), but I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing much better with it all this year now that I’ve got this consistency going with this momentum from last year, which I’ve still been doing really great with since. On the bright side of switching to two meetings a week instead of more, I still have days where I see my boyfriend or get to go out to like a concert or something, so sometimes I get to get up and do my makeup more than just that a week so that’s cool too. Including Tuesdays which is when I run errands, it can be like three to five times a week that I end up leaving the house with makeup on, so there’s that too! I’m pretty satisfied with that these days, I think that’s enough time to get out of the house and I really value where I’m at with getting up and getting ready all the time still. I really appreciate everything I do! Like, I used to have way more time at home. I used to drink too much because I spent too much time at home and hated it. It used to be rarely that I’d get to see anyone other than my family. But I’ve really been pushed out of that zone so now I can appreciate time at home, but still be doing so much better since being out of the house as often as I am! It’s all working itself out, and it has been for months. So, my outpatient treatment for addiction with all the meetings ended up really kind of helping me out of something since last summer! Let’s continue on with this photoshoot. I’ll list my makeup and everything later on too.

Outfit Details for Coca-Cola pt. 2 (or x2 more likely) done in March 2022:

• Coca-Cola t-shirt with two bottles on it, one saying the whole name & the other saying Coke. Red graphic tee I got from my friend Toney in November 2020 for my 22nd birthday from Fred Meyer. I cut it myself with scissors into a crop top and tied it in the back with a hair tie too!
• Light blue distressed jeans from Charlotte Russe (in the mall) that I got for my 23rd birthday in November 2021. High-waisted and the perfect color of light blue, the best ones I could find actually. I picked them out with my mom but originally Matt (my boyfriend) had bought me the jeans from the place!
• High-top cheetah sneakers in brown & black with gold detailing from Shoedazzle online. Like I said, I got these in September 2019 shipped to me while I was in rehab. At the airport on the way over to California, I had placed an order for three pairs of shoes since my mom had free credit there, so that was awesome!
• Gold key long necklace that goes with my key jewelry collection that I found at my friend Gordon’s house with another set of keys (as a pendant for jewelry) in July 2020! He ended up letting me have them both which I thought was perfect. My stepmom Jessie then helped me get the pendant onto a long gold chain!
• ‘1998′ gold two-layered necklace from MissGuided that I got in March 2021 from their site online. This was so perfect when I found it, I love this necklace for sure.
• Dainty gold ‘honey’ necklace from Buckle (in the mall) that I got in June 2021 that I draped over the 1998 necklace because I just had to get it in the photoshoot this time! You can see it in some of the pictures for sure.
• Gold coin choker necklace & mismatched gold stud earrings in each ear that I also got from my friend Toney, in probably also the year 2020 if not the next year. My stepmom also helped me put the coin on a chain, this is one of my very favorite chokers too!
• Long gold chain earrings that my stepmom Jessie made for me at one point, with her BKTY jewelry brand, but who knows when. I at first didn’t wear these that often, but then they ended up looking really perfect for this shoot so I was really glad I had them!
• Gold bracelet from my stepmom/Goodwill that I got in like spring or earlier 2019, it’s a little big on me but it fits my arm where my butterfly tattoo is really well.
• Tiger’s Eye gold ring that I got from my friend Tom in June 2019 which fits me perfectly. My favorite ring of all of them, probably, as of what I’ve had since then. I really appreciate this ring for sure.
• Julep nail polish in the shade Beatrix, which is a black glitter with gold glitters in it that I wore by itself! I got most of my Julep nail polish in 2013, not exactly sure for this one though!

My makeup list will be a couple collages down from here.

‘Progress’ is something that I really love sometimes in terms of the word and how I could use it. Starting around this year or so I started writing ‘progress!’ in the ‘Notes’ section every time I signed the sheet saying I had attended a meeting for Narcotic’s Anonymous, and I just really love shit like that. I’ve noticed a lot to do with sobriety since July 2021 which is when I started ‘IOP’ or my ‘outpatient program’, because it’s been almost 10 months (next week) since I last did a hard drug, and like 8 months since I’ve touched alcohol. Since then, my brain has had a lot of time to heal, and a lot of opportunities to regenerate in certain ways so I could start from a fresher start in some areas in ways that I process or, like, feel with anything. My habits are way better than ever now, like how I’m so persistent with always washing my face or even just brushing my teeth these days, I’ve had so much time since then to get that down perfectly. And I love it these days too, I’ve loved it for the majority of that time that I’ve been sober. Like that’s around when I started picking up the pace because I started meetings all the time when I finally dropped alcohol. So that was a pretty easy one, but now I walk around my room and do better with certain areas and move certain stuff more often to finally dissect my room a bit. I never really had the motivation to worry about those things when I was still all over the place, I just let things kind of sit for myself to eventually come on back to them to think about them. I now have better plans for so much of my stuff, and I’ve finally looked through certain things, and I keep track of everything better. I still haven’t exactly reorganized my room in terms of placement, but I finally sift through each area once in a while or work on my journals/vision journaling and I love where I’m at with all of that. I get it really right and it’s rad to me how I do that. I’m really grateful for everything and I just love taking time to appreciate certain things by actually paying attention to them more. Like how people love to get rid of stuff, I love to remember what I have and utilize it. Even with makeup and everything I’m just doing so much better knowing what I have, and using all of it up more often. Eventually I will get to the point where I will want to clean or re-organize finally, but I really love where everything is at in my room so it could just still be like this! No better way to do it than just to trust that I love it like this I guess. My dad might end up moving sometime this year though (if he can), so maybe I could just finally move in with him again, we’ll see! Either way I am glad about how I’ve been doing with everything at hand and at home these days.

Makeup Details for Coca-Cola x2:

• Purlisse BB Base Primer which is my favorite primer out of all that I have. I love this brand too, but I’ve already used up the other three products I’ve had from their line, so this is the only one I have left right now!
• Seraphine Botanicals Orange & Cream Lip Polish which I also really love, one of two things from the brand that I used this day.
• Becca Cosmetics Under Eye Brightening Corrector, this used to be one of my favorite things. This would be the second one I’ve had but I don’t use it as much anymore
• Tarte Cosmetics Shape Tape Concealer in the shade 20B light which I got for Christmas 2021 in a small size. Shape tape is also my favorite concealer, I have another full sized one.
• Tarte Cosmetics Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Foundation with SPF 15 in it, which I’ve had since early 2017 probably!
• Givenchy Prisme Libre Setting & Finishing Loose Powder in the color-correcting shade that I’ve also had for a long time
• Basic Beauty Bronzy AF bronzer palette in the second shade which I got last year in an Ipsy bag
• Seraphine Botanics Sakura + Sage eyeshadow palette using the blush in the shade ‘Dawn’ and like 4-5 of the eyeshadows including ‘Carob’ and ‘Pecan’
• Space Case Cosmetics‘s Seen From Space 1A highlighter which I am actually very close to done with! I’ve been running out of it for a while, but it’s one of my favorites. I got it from Ipsy in like 2020.
• Doucce Ultra-Precision Eyeliner in the shade 500, a black color of course
• House of Lashes Iconic Lashes most likely, I’m pretty sure it’s these ones but I’m not sure about any of the names of the 6 I have! Except like two of them pretty much.
• Rare Beauty Brow Harmony Pencil & Gel in the shade ‘Warm Brown’ which is my new favorite brow pencil for sure, from Selena Gomez’s makeup line!
• Tarte Cosmetics Pearly Girl vegan teeth whitening pen that I got from my dad & stepmom on my 23rd birthday in November 2021! I will use this for all of my photoshoots at least, I definitely had been needing something like this.
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Primer which is the only lip primer I use nowadays
• Lord & Berry Ultimate Lip Liner in the shade ‘Nude’ which is a dark-ish shade, and one that I don’t use too much, but I definitely love it once in a while
• Realher‘s Girlpower Moisturizing Lipstick in the shade ‘Deep Mauve’ which I liked a lot with my eyeshadow. This is a pink shade that’s almost raspberry to me, but I really like using this one. I plan on it to be one of my go-to’s.

I’m pretty sure I’m doing the right thing for myself in most other aspects of my life. When it comes down to it, blogging will always be my favorite passion, and I’m so glad I’m making progress with it. These days I rarely ever even buy anything new anyway, I’m really into utilizing what I already have mostly. Once in a while I get something that’s new, but I just think it’s so awesome to get things into my photoshoots and take pictures of them to catalog everything I own. I see why I’m the kind of person who used to buy certain things just for a photoshoot, and I still totally get that, but I don’t want to as much as try to make everything I have seem different and make better progress with styling things like my graphic tees. I’ll eventually want to start buying things again, ordering boxes of clothes or whatever online but I just rarely ever buy anything! I like the fact that I’m sizing down sometimes, with getting rid of things once in a while but more-so just using what I have. My closet is definitely full and I can’t even worry about buying another merch shirt for a while until I shoot some more of them, but I’m glad about what I have and there’s always one I haven’t worn in a while! So much to my name actually, and I see why I really like makeup these days. You really feel the use of makeup, and eventually you throw clothes away too but that is so unlikely. I’m fine with getting rid of things but I’d really just like to schedule a week of clothes from my closet using what I rarely ever use and that’d be awesome. I’d never do it ahead of time, but that’s what I’d really call rotation! Most of the time I just go by whatever makeup or jewelry I want to use next to plan my entire outfit around them that day and it all falls together really well. That’s the best way for me I’ve found, because I have some lip products that don’t look good with much except this or that, and some jewelry pieces I’ve just recently fixed with my dad and stepmom so those I haven’t worn in a long time actually! So it’s great to finally get to use things like that again. I just have so much of it, so many jewelry items and lip products, and I just really want to go around and use all of them as much as I can. I know I will because I’m really good at it! So that’s pretty much how and why I do all that.

That’s pretty much everything I have for this post in early March, thanks so much for reading! I’m excited to see how the rest of the month will go and if I end up doing another post, which I know I probably will. There’s usually time to do something like that, and I do have a few ideas in mind. I even sometimes come up with a good name for a blog post or idea, but I need to start writing them down in a journal of mine to keep track. Merchandise I really want to get back into shooting as soon as I can, but my last one with a merch shirt was January. It’s easy to name those after songs and stuff too so that’s pretty cool, and I do have some ideas of which shirts I want to shoot, but it all really depends on how well I work in my regular outfits outside of that. I used to just know words and phrases that were awesome to write about, and maybe one day I’ll get back into that but I only sometimes have good ideas like that. I really like how I’ve been working around my room though, I’m getting good angles in with each shoot and I’m doing it really well. The lighting will always be different in each part of my room, but I still like how different everything looks from shoot to shoot as I go through with them. There’s so many angles of my room, I used to kind of put everything in one area and then get some pictures outside, but it’s way more creative than that. I’m really starting to put my creative juices to work sober since I just have this energy to me that I love, so I try things easier and end up with better luck with my photoshoots and everything. It’s just getting to be so much better these days to try, with pretty much anything that I want to try with. I’ll see how it goes as I do more with my blogging and journaling, just in terms of what comes next. I know where I’m at right now and I’m making better progress always, so I’m glad about what I’m doing! Thanks again for reading, and goodnight to everyone!

PS. – This ended up being my 200th blog post on Shop For Days, and I’m so glad it was the legendary Coca-Cola crop top sequel!