My Looks Lately

First of all, let me tell you, this glitter loving girly girl is loving that glitter nail polish is IN. Thank you, OPI! At first, I thought "Teenage Dream" from the Katy Perry collection for OPI was all that and a bag of potato chips when it came out because it was glitter, but it had some bigger pieces of glitter in it. I was in love and wore it for about 3 weeks in a row which is a big deal for me when I usually change just about every week. Two years later and OPI is coming out with bigger and better (literally) glitter! It is almost a given that their newest collection will include a glitter.

I recommend:
The Living Daylights from the James Bond collection
Polka.com from the Euro Centrale collection
Lights of Emerald City from the Oz collection
When Monkey Fly from the Oz collection
Minnie Style from the Couture de Minnie collection

The Living Daylights

Polka.com

Lights of Emerald City

When Monkeys Fly!

Minnie Style

Towards the end of the semester, you enter in banquet season. Banquets and celebrations galore! So I had fun figuring out at least 5 different dresses to wear to various events I was to attend. Mom told me I could get a new dress and I absolutely fell in love with the Calvin Klein dress I came across. I was so excited to premiere it and look forward to gracing it again at the dinner and dance in New Orleans for the CASE ASAP conference in August!
I love the bold teal paired with the black. I wore black opened toed heels with it.

I also liked that it came up pretty high on chest and almost to my neck. I endured a dinner with a strapless dress where my cleavage was prominent. It was uncomfortable for me and probably uncomfortable for the others at the table! For dresses for dinners especially the formal ones I attend, I like dresses that cover me up because it is professional and I don't have to worry about how much is showing and the guests don't have to be distracted! We can focus on conversation and any other event that is going on at the time!

I usually keep my hair down. I rarely will pull it up for an occasion. I decided to pull it up for my interview for the President's office. I was going for the Sandra Bullock look in The Proposal when she has her hair pulled back and she looks professional in the office setting. I pulled my hair up and left a chunk out and then wrapped it around the band. This made it more sleek and put together plus hid the fact that I was wearing a hot pink hair tie!

Summer is here finally! Sammie did a buy one get two free pairs of shoes at Charming Charlies in the winter and she let me pick a pair out. I got these super cute pink sandals and I have been anxious to break them out! Now I wear them often! This is from their first day out on campus :)
I wore a lavender v-neck and teal necklace. I had purple toe nails going on. I played with bold colors.

Over Christmas break I got two new pairs of sunglasses from American Eagle. I got a patterned one that is navy blue with white hearts on them and then plain black ones. I love the hearts pair because they are so fun and I love the colors. I usually wear them the most especially on campus. The black ones I will wear when I am more dressy or going into a professional setting or wearing a professional outfit!

Occasionally I have to go with a laid back look like a braid and throw on my Aladdin sweatshirt! I continue to get compliments on it. I will Snapchat people when I am wearing it and a lot of people will make a comment about it!

I recently got my hair done finally! It had been way overdue since I was able to pull on my hair lightly and get a few split ends to come off! Don't let your hair get like that! I got it trimmed and colored the usual dark brown. Then got some highlights this time. They are pretty bold and gave me a little more edge. This picture doesn't really do it justice but snapped it tonight for the post!

Today I went to an awesome boutique here in Emporia called Twisted Sisters and got a couple bracelets I am in love with! Been wearing them ever since I got them and still need to plan my outfit for tomorrow to wear with them. :) Man I gotta take them off to sleep? One is a wrap around bracelet from the "Good Work(s)" brand. Part of the money is supposed to go to a good cause. It has a lot of encouraging words and phrases on it. For example: believe, faith, plant peace, come together, truth, accept diversity. I love the encouragement and reminders especially as I am about to enter my senior year and as I begin to focus on myself this summer. I have seen these bracelets at The Buckle and I am sure they could be found in other places and online. I also got a small bracelet that I paired with it that has a cross. I strayed away from my religion this semester as I got caught up in everything else and this was a great way to kick off the summer as I reconnect with God and and my spiritual being. Here's a pic!

As for my fashion wishlist this summer, I have my eyes on a pair of Sperry's (yes, I think I may break down and get some), a fossil watch possibly, and I really need to invest in some plain flip flops. I don't own any anymore!

Questions, feedback, suggestions, topic ideas, and more can be emailed to:
glitterandthegirlygirl@gmail.com

Thank you for reading! :)
Sparkle & Shine.
Rachel
@rachelnmsparkle

Where Do The Butterflies Live?

My poetry journey continues. This semester, I challenged myself and my poetry in different ways. The last poem of the semester that we did was the lyric poem. I was on a mission to make mine short and concise. I was inspired by one of the football players in my poetry classes. I loved how he could write short and concise poems with a big impact. So I wanted to shoot for something like him. Then I wanted to try to be more abstract in my thinking and in my poem as a whole. I tend to write in a narrative style and  also in the confessional mode. I am usually story telling or capturing a moment and telling the readers in a straight forward way. Most of the time, I am spelling it out for you. So I wanted to be more abstract like other famous poets. So here was my attempt at the short and concise while trying to be abstract in a lyric style poem. 

Where Do The Butterflies Live? 
Where do the butterflies live?
And how can I set them free?
I want to see them take flight,
I want to feel them in me.
They’ll burst bright into the open
like colorful confetti in the air.
I want to twirl around, be a little girl
and let them dance in my hair.
They can be ballerinas too
and bounce gracefully in pink tutus.
Let them swim in my brown ocean waves
to visit the mermaids in my mind.
They know the sweetest silence—
don’t share words of wisdom.
They left them in their cocoons.
They don’t need anything else
besides feelings and fluttering wings.
They are ready to fly, faithfully anywhere,
to spark something magical, to share
this feeling they’ve always felt. 
Can I let them loose all by myself or
does somebody else have to ignite
the light to let them flood free?

Sparkle & Shine.

Rachel

 

Semester Sweep

I knew going in that this semester would be my most challenging. For starters here was the leadership roles & other things I was filling:

Ambassadors - Vice President

Blue Key - Vice President & National Board Rep

BUILD Beauty - President 

Lambda Pi Eta - Member

Student Wellness Committee Member

Working as an assistant recruitment intern in the Admissions office

Writing/modeling for the fashion blog

Being put on the Homecoming committee towards the end of semester for next year

...and going to those six classes in between time. 

Those were just my roles, jobs, and duties to fulfill. There were times I felt pretty strained and I ran myself thin. I was also being stretched thin emotionally. Friendships have been tested and my reputation and who I am publicly have been tested. I took a leadership class this semester and I learned the costs for me as a leader has been time, stamina, and being visible in so many ways. On campus, out and about, and through the many social media outlets we have. 

There was also a death in the family. We lost a great man, my grandma's husband, whom was a grandfather to me. I haven't had much experience and tried hard to get through it for myself and also be there for my family. It showed me a lot. And it showed me love. 

I learned a lot academically too. I took a lot of core classes for my communication major and took my first public relations class. One of my classes was small group communication. We were assigned groups on day 2 of the class and we were to work as a group for the whole entire semester. This included taking tests as a group, writing papers, doing 10 hours of community service and doing a final presentation together for our final. This class kicked my butt and definitely showed me the ropes when it comes to working in groups. We formed a bond and even called our group Team Hammerpunch. I don't even know how many hours I spent with this group. It was very intense! Then I had a group for public relations and we had a real life client, the Granada Coffee Company. We got to work with them and present our PR plan to them as our final. Again, another challenging group project and my first hands on experience working in the PR world. It was fun and I plan to continue to keep up to date with the Granada Coffee Co.! 

Other highlights...

• Seeing Lady Gaga in concert TWICE!
  
• Escorting a Kansas Board of Regent when they visited Emporia State
  
• Starting my new job in the President's office
• Being selected to be a part of the Faces of ESU campaign and getting to do a photo shoot and filming for postcards and possible commercials
• Getting to help put on the Blue Key banquet recognizing 150 students at ESU
  
• Having dinner with Blue Key alums
• Becoming a member at my church in Kansas City
• Hosting the first "Guy Panel" for BUILD Beauty
  
• Going to the 150th Gala for ESU
  
• Having 3 poems published in Quivira, our student literary journal
  

The Blue Key banquet was amazing. Being on the other side and reading through the scholarship applications was really a neat experience. It was very inspiring reading over resumes, essays, and recommendation letters. It was definitely an amazing feeling to be a part of the selection process to narrow down who would potentially get scholarships. I loved giving back. And I can't wait to do it more often in the future. 

For my leadership final, we had to make a video about our leadership journey and what not. I had a blast making mine and going back and visiting old pictures and videos and reflecting on my journey, I was amazed at how much I've done and how much I've grown. Also, I love seeing all the pictures of the people in my life. I've been missing my family a lot lately and I was so happy they came and visited me last weekend. Yesterday, I was able to FaceTime my family as they were having a gathering at my house in Kansas City and tears were rolling down my face just being able to see them. I am glad it was invented. Now that I have digressed, I am going to include my video of my journey!

Our roommate has moved out and Kirsten will be moving in soon. I will be working here over the summer. Next year, I will be the public relations chair for Ambassadors and the President of Blue Key while I have Kristy lead BUILD Beauty. I will also be the scholarship chair for Lambda Pi Eta. I am anxious to see what the next year entails with the new leadership positions and changes in the my life! 

Kristy - Passing the BUILD Beauty torch to her!

New member retreat for Blue Key - Can't wait to lead these awesome people!

Thank you to everyone that has been a part of my journey and getting me through. Thank you to all that send me random messages and texts of encouragement or just random thinking of yous. It means a lot! You guys are the best!

Sparkle & Shine,

Rachel 

@rachelnmsparkle