Guest Article: Emma Banks

Hello everyone! I hope your week is going fine and dandy; I know mine is, it's my day off. (winkwink) I'm happy to introduce something new to the blog that I haven't done before; a guest writer. I'm very, very excited about the topic in hand. I know that a lot of military families go through this at least once in their lifetime and it's a very stressful experience.
Without any further ado; I'm very happy to introduce our authoress and her article:

Emma is a mid 20-something year old with a passion for life, love, fitness, and helping others. She loves to be active and get involved in as many sport and community activities as possible. Emma is currently studying to become a Career & Life Coach, and loves to network with people from around the world! Check out Emma’s blog at http://smileasithappens.blogspot.com/! 

Post-Military Employment and the Myths That Get in the Way

By: Emma Banks

It’s no secret that transitioning into civilian life following a military career comes with challenges. Regardless of the amount of time you’ve spent in the service, reentering the civilian workforce can appear daunting. Of course, buying into some of the job myths that exist won’t help to lessen any anxiety you may have either. Let’s take a look at some of the myths you’ve probably already heard and learn the truth behind them.

Myth #1: The jobs you can get after a military career are limited and difficult to find.

Truth: Many programs exist to help veterans find employment in a wide array of fields. Dozens of today’s top companies have joined forces to form the 100,000 Jobs Mission, a service that lists information on current job opportunities as well as statistics such as projected growth rates in various fields, average salaries for each field and educational requirements.

Myth #2: You will annoy colleagues and superiors if you ask for referrals.

Truth: Most people who appreciate your skill set and admire the work you have done in the past will be happy to put in a good word for you. Additionally, today’s employers understand that everyone has a busy schedule. In order to make it easier for individuals to get and provide references, many companies have partnered with mobile recruiting services, like JIBE, that allow you to request referrals directly from social networking sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook.

Myth #3: Because of your service-connected disability, no one will hire you.

Truth: Many disabled veterans have found and maintain gainful employment outside the military. The U.S. Department of Veterans offers several programs to help, including rehabilitation services, job coaching, on-the-job training programs, case management for disabled veterans and personal counseling.

Myth #4: You should quote job postings as much as possible in your cover letter.

Truth: All this proves is that you can read. Instead of quoting the job listing, reply to it with specific skills, talents and experiences you can bring to the position. Use your cover letter to illustrate why you are the ideal candidate for the job, by putting in the extra effort to set yourself apart you’ll be sure to rise to the top of the application pile.

If you think civilian life will be markedly different than your life in the military, you are correct. Life does, however, go on and any opportunities will present themselves if you remain open to them. Disregard the rumors you hear, and learn the truth. Success comes more readily to those who prepare for it.

Thanks Emma, we'll (or I know I will) be looking forward to more of your work at http://smileasithappens.blogspot.com/. 

How To: Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Okay, I haven't done a How-To in a while. I feel this one is very, very necessary though. Ladies, listen carefully.
Okay, I have very acne-prone skin. It's a toughy subject for me to talk about because I'm so insecure in this fact. And bad skin isn't something you can just ignore so easily. It's just so...there. On your face and in everyone elses'. So you can understand I go to lengths to cover up my imperfections as much as possible. Meaning: cover up and foundation.
I have a special, very soft brush I use for my foundation. I love it.
However, a week ago I really started noticing how it was feeling on my skin...it was very...gunky feeling. Weighted down. Gross.
When I originally got the brush, it was white. Now, it was dark brownish. Yuck.
So I decided to clean my brush. (And all of my brushes)

I got this method off of Pinterest. (Ah, my love!) It's really easy. All you need is Olive Oil, Water, Shampoo and some Paper Towels.

First, run your brush under some water. You can really see just how dirty it is when the water hits the bristles.

After you've wetted your brush, put some Olive Oil in your hand and twirl the bristles of your brush in the oil. Then you can start massaging the oil into the brush; make sure you do this over sink! It gets messy. You really get to see all of the gunk that gets stuck in your brushes. Yuck!

This was just me, it didn't say to on Pinterest, but I started squeezing out my brush while massaging the oil into it. I did this for a good ten minutes and I was still getting huge globs of makeup out of my brush. I'll be cleaning it more often, I can tell you that much.
After you've massaged your oil into the brush, run it under some water and squeeze the water (and makeup) out of your brush! Hot or cold water, it doesn't matter. You'll be amazed at the gunk that comes out!

Yuck! I sometimes wonder what I'm putting onto my skin...it just looks so...bleh! I can only imagine the bacteria that could just live in that...it makes me sick and so, so glad I did clean my brushes! 

After you rinse your brush pretty good, you don't have to get every out, then you'll move onto shampoo. Try to use a mild shampoo or baby shampoo. You don't want to ruin your brush's bristles. Gently lather the shampoo into your brush and try to keep the shape of your bristles. You don't want to cause breakage. 

Then rinse when you're satisfied. And repeat if you wish. I shampooed mine twice. 

You can then squeeze the water out of your brush with paper towels then lay it out somewhere safe for a couple of ours. My brush took overnight to dry, but it's thick. Yours might dry quicker. 

I'm more confident in my brush now. It's so soft and feels great! You can bet I'll be cleaning it a great deal of a lot more often. At least once every two weeks!

I'm thinking about making a Natural Foundation soon...keep in touch!

Thanks for reading!

 

"Everything"

My God is my everything, but I know I don't always treat Him that way. In fact, that's most of the time.
I'm so ashamed of that. God gives me so, so many blessings; my family, my health, my house, the fact I woke up this morning, I can breathe, I can walk, I can share the gospel freely! God gives me these things and so much more, but I take it all for granted...I take Him for granted. I break His heart daily and somehow, someway, God always finds the patience and mercy to forgive me and love me.
My Lord died for me; why is it so hard to give Him everything? It sounds like it should be so, so easy to just give yourself and everything over to God. For some reason, I always seem to go in circles.
It feels like I get so, so close to Him...and them I mess up and I drift away. Like a slow fade. I don't even notice that it's happening until I'm so low, I'm on my knees crying out for help.
But I've found that's the perfect position to pray. And I always find that He's always there. Always waiting. He didn't walk away, I did. I'm really tired of walking away. Of drifting away...

There's a song by Lifehouse called "Everything". They hosted a skit for their song. It's beautiful. It's so touching.

Every time I watch this I cry. It just reminds me how thankful I am of my God. How much He has given me. How much He protects me from. He takes away dangers I don't even know exist. He's always constantly working for my well-being...and He just wants me to love Him with my whole heart.

So I'm asking for some prayer, because I'm going through a big trial. I've been questioning a lot of things in my life right now, and I've been doing my best to listen to God and do the right thing and make the right decisions. There are things to be taken out of my life...but there are things to be given. I'm just not sure what those are yet.

"-And be amazed and be changed by a perfect God," - "Perfect People" by Natalie Grant

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8:31

Thanks for listening,

-Sarah

Memorial Day

Remembering those who paid the ultimate sacrifice today. There isn't much to say but thank God that there were and are men and women willing to put their lives on the line and give it all.
Remember to take a moment of silence at 3pm today to remember the fallen and their families.

 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:13

Happy Memorial Day Everyone! Safe Travels!

-Sarah

Something That Makes You Sweat

I have so many adventurous things I want to do with this blog I can't think straight! I might just start another one! I already have my May Marine Motivation Challenge side-blog currently hosted on tumblr. I think that's enough for now. I might switch this one up a bit when Austin deploys though. Maybe.

I don't know. I'm just blabbing.

Wishing everyone a good weekend!

-Sarah

Time Zone Clock

I have time for a super-quick post before work!

Well, Austin is in California now. More specifically he's at 29-Palms. It's no different then him being in North Carolina, but it feels different anyway. I'm more anxious than usual. I just want him back home. I miss him. And I hate our different time zones. I feel like that's gonna mess with me...so I put a new California timezone clock on the right bar on the side of the blog.
(Feel free to stare at it for a little while...)

But I must be off to work now! (I said "super-quick"). I just wanted to update you all a little bit!

Ciao! Thanks for reading!

-Sarah

May Motivation Challenge!

Yes, another challenge. As you can imagine. This one is starting tomorrow.

I mentioned that Austin was going to California sometime in early May. Well, I've decided that while he's gone and training across the continent, I'm going to be doing my own "training" here at home. I'll be getting up early, getting my exercise in everyday, and eating healthy-healthy.

I'll be taking my current weight and BMI and when Austin gets to go back to NC, I'll compare it to my weight and BMI then.
Hopefully we'll see some good results.

But since this isn't a fitness blog, and I don't plan on turning it into one and boring you all with pictures of food everyday, I'll be hosting this challenge on Tumblr.

You can find the page called May Motivation Challenge here! Or copy and paste this link:
http://maymarinemotivation.tumblr.com/

And keep on touch on Facebook too! :)

Thanks for reading!

Harlem Shake...

So, I'm addicted. Alrighty then. Let's share the addiction! 

Then my personal favorite... ;)

Well wishes on your next hour-long adventure on YouTube watching harlem shake video after video...

-Sarah

Intro: Walking Dead 30 Day Challenge

So, I've decided to try something new to keep the blog updating while I'm in this busy state of life, with college, work and some other things I've had to start thinking about. So, please, excuse this lazy-ness; the blog will still resume it's normal momentum of DIY's, Tips, and Tales of my days for the most part.

I've seen a couple of blogs doing these "30 Day Challenges", featuring TV shows. Like, Allie from My Marine and Me is doing a "Doctor Who" 30 day challenge.
I know it's the middle of March, but I'm going to start this one anyway. Don't be judgin'.

Picture Source

Yes, the gory and simply amazing show; The Walking Dead. I love this show! I've been watching it from the beginning (for the most part). I really got into when Austin and I went over to his cousin's house one Sunday after church and just had an eight-hour-or-more marathon of the first season on Netflix.
I was immediately addicted.
For those of you poor, poor people who don't know what the show is, please, click here. Or go to the official AMC page here  and look around. If you love horror, drama, comedy and just a bit of romance then this is the show for you. Beware, it can get gory at times, but that's the beauty of it.

Day 1; March 14, 2013

Favorite Male Character and Why?

**Spoiler alerts! You've been warned!

picture source

I'm not gonna lie, this one is easy; Daryl Dixon.
Now, if you look to the right, you can see the first reason why. He is utterly attractive in a rugged, mhmm-I-can-take-care-of-myself-and-you-way. And a crossbow? Really? He's a man after my own heart. 

On a serious note, I've found that throughout the show, though he's stubborn and seems to not care, he's loyal. Very loyal. I also love his sarcastic humor. It just makes me laugh, and I love men who make me laugh. 

He knows how to hunt and fend for himself. A good 'ole southern boy making it in a post-apocalyptic-world. It would make a good story all on it's own. Honestly, I wish Rick would just kinda...go off somewhere...and Daryl could take over the show as the protagonist.
I am a bit angry at him for running off with Meryl lately though. How dare he do that to Carol? I wanna kick his butt and roll 'round in the sticks with him all at the same time. I'm sticking with Daryl when the zombies come. Better believe that. ;)

Thanks for reading! Check in tomorrow!

-Sarah

How To Dye Fabric With Tea/Coffee

Hello everyone! I'm working on a secret project. 
This project is what's been taking me away from my blogging, all my friends, and everything else I usually do. I won't be able to fully reveal it for a few days, but I can reveal part of the process of my project; tea/coffee dying. I found the process on Pinterest and was really happy with the results.

First you need to pick out your fabric. The dying process works best on natural fabrics. Honestly, I'm not too sure on what kind of fabric I had. It was in the pile of scrap fabrics I keep lying around for special/recycled projects.

What you'll need:

•  Natural Fabric
• Tea (I used black; it tends to have a darker effect)
• Coffee (The kind I used was actually decaf. I don't think it matters.)
• A really big pot or a pot big enough to submerge your fabric in water

 Fill your pot with water and bring it to a boil. Then submerge your fabric in the water, making sure it gets thoroughly soaked through.

Make sure you have some very, very strong coffee brewed. 

Feel free to either brew tea, or toss the tea bags in the pot with the fabric. I used tea bags, a lot of tea bags.

Pour the tea and coffee into the pot with your fabric(s).

Stir the fabric so that the coffee/tea mixture soaks in completely.

Leave the fabric boiling in the pot until your satisfied with the color of your material. (I left mine in for about an hour and a half.) Then I washed the fabric out with cold water until it ran clear. 

I then put the fabric in the dryer and I loved the end result! (This isn't really a very good picture. The "before and after" photo really shows the fabric better)

Ta-da! That's how you dye fabric with tea and coffee! Oh, and whatever you decide to do with the fabric will smell like coffee. And tea. It'll smell good. I love it; it's all earthy and ahhhh...

Feel free to comment or email me any questions!

Til' next time, thanks for reading!

-Sarah

Crazy About Pinterest

 Hello everyone!Yes, this post is about the awesome site Pinterest!

I love lists. List make my world go 'round and 'round. Without them I would be nothing (sorry Aust!). So when I discovered Pinterest a few months back I was in awe. Suddenly I was surrounded with lists on top of organized lists. Of everything and anything you could imagine.


Yesterday I went through my Pinterest and made a couple of boards. I went a little crazy. Everyone following me was probably thinking how much of a Pinterest nerd I am, but whatever. It's an awesome site, I love it.

You can check out my Pinterest page here!

 

I also made a cute board calling Making It Work<3.
It's made for all of the Marine girlfriends/bestfriends/
wives out there. It's full of gear, tips and cute quotes to conquer the "military love" lifestyle.
I've pinned a lot of pins for the upcoming deployment in January. It's so far away, but I'm afraid that it's going to sneak up on me and before I know it all my time to spend with Austin before he goes away for a year will be gone. In a way, I kind of want him to go ahead and leave so he can come home and be back already...as weird as that sounds. I just want to get it over with. (I'm sure he feels the same-getting it over with) 
If you're on Pinterest and have an significant other in the military, you should follow my board. I update it frequently (as frequently as I'm on pinterest-which is everyday).

Well, I also have another board that you all might want to check it. It's all green and eco-friendly. It's full of natural and homemade beauty products you can make at home! I made this board for my upcoming life-style turn around. With all of the reading I've been doing lately, I finally notice just how bad a lot of the everyday products you use are for you!
I've been checking labels and ingredients every time I get something at the store now. If they have it, I get the most natural and organic brand they have at the market of the product I want. It's a bit more pricey but it's better for you and the amazing green Earth God made for us. :)
Over the course of time, I'll probably post up some DIY's using the technics from this board. You'll probably see the homemade translucent powder really soon (as soon as I find the green clay!). You can make so much of it for so little; it'll really be better than buying the really expensive stuff from the store. What I'm looking at in the mean-time are all of the Tea Tree Oil recipes. There are so many uses for it!

The last board I'm going to share with you is my Workouts/Health Foods :). It's full of fun exercises and workout plans to get you in the best shape! Most of them are pretty easy too and only require 15 minutes a day or so. (Because I know I don't have enough time in the day to spend three hours exercising...) I have a few yoga sequences to go through too. I haven't tried any yoga, but I've been thinking about it.
I'm just not sure though, because yoga is originally a practice of some other religion and I really don't want to be un-knowingly or knowingly worshiping another religion...
(I don't want to get into a whole religious philosophic thing, so we'll save that for another post.)
But feel free to follow any of my boards and I'll follow yours too!

Just email me at slhallphotography@gmail.com and let me know about your pins and boards! Also, feel free to ask me any questions about anything else you might want to know!

Thanks for reading and go check out Pinterest! Now!

-Sarah

How To Improve The Taste Of Water

Evening everyone! I'm going to make this post short and simple.

So many people complain about drinking water, which I understand. It does have sort of a "blah" taste, but it's so good for you! You really need to drink about a gallon of water at least everyday. It de-toxifies your body and keeps you hydrated and feeling good!

I added grapefruit and blueberries this time.
A very good combination!

It can also help your acne and you'll find that you feel more energetic every day!

I know a few simple tricks to make that "blah-blah" taste of water go away:

• Add fresh fruits! This seriously is the best thing. I usually leave mine in overnight with a bunch of ice in the picture to keep it fresh and cold. I usually use lemons (and I toss in a bit of mint if I can get my hands on some!), but you can use any fruit of your personal preference! 
• You can buy flavored drops to put in your water now specifically made to make it taste better. Though I would watch which brands you buy and look at the ingredients first. Some of those flavorings are really, really un-healthy and completely take away the point of drinking water.  
• Adding fruit juice is a good way tot improve the taste of water too, so you don't have to go through the hassle of buying expensive fresh fruits. 
• Make your water bubbly! Some people prefer the taste of sparkling water to regular. Though again, watch which brand you buy and check your ingredients! 
• Flavor your ice cubes. Put in store bought flavoring before freezing, or take the fruit idea from above and chop it up into your water before freezing your cubes. You can have different tastes to choose from each time you get a drink! 
• To get your water intake, you don't necessarily have to drink water. You can drink tea. Fruit and herbal teas are known to be better for you then "black tea" or "English tea". There are tons of flavors to choose from! 

Hope this helps some people with their water dilemma. I know regular water can get a little boring, but honestly, the possibilities for water flavoring are endless. You just have to find your favorite!

Thanks for reading,

-Sarah

A Cause: Human Trafficking Awareness

Awareness. If you know; then you're more apt to do something about it.

I've been researching a topic for the last two weeks that really breaks my heart. Human Sex Trafficking.

Human trafficking or human sex trafficking is the illegal trade and buying of humans through various means. Victims are abducted, persuaded by various means through fraud or false promises, and are even forced or threatened. 

found on google.com

Men and women of all ages, mostly 17 years or younger, are forced into the commercial sex trade by their captures or pimps. They are bought, sold and passed around like products in the market. In many nations over seas, children in the trade are worth less than cattle.

There are 27 million people involved in sex trafficking in the USA alone. There are 10 million known sex traffic brothels overseas. There are at least 2,000 people being sold into slavery everyday.

There are more human slaves now then any other time known in history.

I want to give Mariah Dawn a big hand for her video on Sex Trafficking Awareness. You can find her on YouTube. I love her videos. The one posted below is her second Sex Trafficking Awareness video. Or you can click here to watch the link on YouTube.

This is a bit different then my usual posts, but when I got reading more and more about this injustice, I knew I couldn't keep it myself. I literally get tears in my eyes when I think about these people go through. Being forced away from your family and friends, being sold, beaten and raped everyday. On some accounts, you're killed.
You can find out more about Sex Trafficking at the I Stop Traffic Page.
Feel free to follow this link too:  http://istoptraffic.com/home.html

found on google.com

You can purchase blue ribbons here at the Blue Ribbon Campaign to help spread awareness.

Also, I will supporting Sex Trafficking Awareness by disappearing from any social media sites all day on Feb 27th. That means I will not be posting on Tuesday. You can join the official page on Facebook here at the Disappear From Social Media Day Page on Facebook.

Also if you're interested in tshirts spreading awareness for Human Trafficking or other causes, check out Sevenly (http://www.sevenly.org/). It's a website dedicated to helping charities. You can help by buying tshirts and other products they sell.

Thanks for reading everyone.

-Sarah

Our Trip to the Hollows

 If you guys haven't been updated yet, my sister (Rachael) and I went to Cincinnati yesterday-ahem-the Hollows yesterday to see Kim Harrison at her book signing. It was all the way in Crestview Hills but our drive wasn't too bad. About 2 1/2 hours. Honestly I find the interstate fun. We just put point totals on all the cars and added them up as I passed....I ended up with about 3,000 points if you're curious ;)

Since my narrator skills are a bit...well...newbish, I'll just go ahead and put the pictures up.

Waiting for Kim Harrison to arrive! The wait was the worst part!

Rachael posing with her book.

We got some coffee to pass the time. It was so good! Raspberry Macadamia Mocha Latte!

And then...she showed.

And there was much rejoicing!

Q&A time with Ms. Harrison. So many questions answered! So glad she didn't agree on a movie/tv series. They were gonna take Jenks out!!! :((

This is Guy. Taking pictures of Kim during her speech.

...he shook my hand :)

Waiting in line to see Kim and get the book signed...

Still waiting...

While in line, we were teased with a bunch of products you couldn't look at because if you moved you'd lose your spot in line.

I was impressed with Joseph Beth's ceramic cat army.

This is my soul-cup. We resonated. I almost bought it.

I need this.

This is Galileo. A philosopher and astronomer. I thought of Austin when I saw it. Almost bought it for him. Almost.

Then the fog lifted and the sun shown overhead. I was overwhelmed and in awe of such majesty...

Finally. My life is complete.

 Yes, and you can find a video on my YouTube channel of Kim explaining how to say Algaliarept's name correctly. Enjoy!

And...

Happy late Christmas to my best friend and sister.

It really was a perfect day.