Looking back on my goals for March, I can say I didn't really complete most of them. The month seemed to had just zipped passed me. I wonder if this is just a thing that happens when you older or nah.

G O A L S   R E C A P

--- I did find an apartment luckily on the first day I started looking!

--- I didn't post more videos, I only posted one video in March and it was a video I filmed in January so yeah, though I did post something it wasn't exactly what the goal was.

--- I managed to drink a little more water but that habit ended up falling away, like it normally does. I really need to make this a priority.

--- I managed to post on Instagram a number of times a day but I ended up taking random 3-4 day breaks too, I just needed to step away from the obsession of it also.

--- I didn't meditate.

--- I didn't read. Like, at all.

--- I didn't cancel enough subscription boxes.

--- I paid more attention to Penny \o/

--- I tried to blog more.

--- I still don't know how to incorporate more me in my social media.

--- I should had defined "prep for Easter" a little more...

The big thing was finding an apartment --- which I did. So thank freakin goodness for that! Like I mentioned in my Hello April post, this is the time of year where it goes by quickly and before I know it I'll be sitting in front of moving day so let's hope that I get most of what I set to accomplish this month done. Though I'll admit; a lot of the times I'm unable to complete certain tasks because of my OCD/anxiety so that really makes things difficult. I'm planning on making a few changes through this month that inner me isn't going to like but outer me knows needs to be done. Maybe I'll make a different blog post for that later.

For starters, I got my Yelp Elite badge back!

I lost it last year... my previous relationship was one that held me back from a lot of different things, one of those things being a lot of my goals and things I worked so hard to accomplish. So for me to rebuild my status and to be accepted back into Yelp Elite this year was a huge deal for me! I'm so happy and proud of myself! Now to take back the rest of my previous accomplishments!

It's hard to believe this may be my last trip to Dallas/Fort Worth because the next time I'm in the state I'll be a resident there \o/ I'm happy I was able to get the things I needed to get done in the short amount of time I had this this last time so whew on that. So relieved! And so excited! I'm sad to be leaving Florida; it's been my home for the last 5 years and it's the first place I made a place my home on my own. I've had so many good memories and good times and just usual's here but like I did with Cali as well, all things must come to an end. It's not like I'll never be back, I'll only be a 2 hour flight away! Plus I can't deny that I'm super stoked to start a new adventure... somewhere that's more foodie/Asian food friendly at that!

This is so out of order lol! But the first day I was there; the flight went great. I slept through most of it thankfully. Bubba took me to get Ihop after he picked me up (it wasn't awkward at all seeing each other again, I went straight into constantly hugging him and poking him) and we had breakfast. Then we stopped by a Target to find the TsumTsum Pastel Parade's which weren't at that one we were at but we ended up picking up various other things instead lol! We're such kids it's kind of ridiculous. Also introduced him to my Strawberry Refresher drink that he liked, yay! Went into PetSmart to find Sophie a house and we found some fuzzy ones that we might be able to pull the bottom pillow out of and replace with a scratching pad since she prefers/massively uses those. I'll have to see if I can find a circle one or something. But at least we found something! It might not be seasonally like the box house she had before but it's okay! 

If I had to describe February in one word it would definitely be distracted.

It didn't turn out the way I had wanted and once again I let my emotions take over and make me lose sight on some goals I had this month (as you can see I didn't post any blog posts or videos this month which yes, I am kicking myself about... I'm hoping to do better for Easter/Spring). The reason being... remember how I said I was going to Texas this month to go apartment hunting? Well, it seems as though I had booked my flight one day earlier than I was suppose to and because of all the stressors going on it slipped my mind to check before the departure date like I normally would so I didn't realize I was a no show for my flight until THAT NIGHT meaning all that packing and preparing I was doing that day was for nothing. So yeah, I missed my flight, wasn't refunded the money and I had to pay a $100 penalty for cancelling my hotel reservation "too late". I was pretty disappointed with myself for a LONG time. I still kinda am but what can you do. I was suppose to spend my Valentine's Day with Bubba but since I wasn't able to get to Texas I went online shopping at home by myself instead.

In the same week my ex came and got my phone and PS4 which I didn't mind giving either things back as long as it meant he would stop trying to contact me. He was pretty much abusive our whole relationship and I'd rather not have him contact me, ever again. Though he's the type to pretend like things were all good and "be nice" as long as it benefits him. One of those people. I'd rather just stay away from all of that and him. 

So yeah, that's how my optimistic February went down hill --- fast.

Let's take a look at the goals I had for February in this post.

I'm seriously struggling right now to come up with goals I had achieved this month. Oh bother! Ah well, you can't fit too much into a short month anyway, I suppose.

That said I will be re-attempting to go apartment hunting some time in the following month (don't worry I'll MAKE SURE to book the RIGHT day this time), the little break away from Orlando will be nice. Spring is coming up and the weather here is reflecting that which is always nice, I love Spring and Fall in Orlando the most. Easter is one of my favorite holidays and I'm so ready to deck out as much of my apartment and room in pretty pastel colors as I can. I'm so lucky my roommate doesn't care about the crazy decorations or whatever I put up. She kinda just rolls with it. So yeah.

While I did get my Canon S90 camera back (finally) I've grown pretty attached to my Sony WX300. And I'm thinking of upgrading the Canon to a G9 instead.

I'm going to be doing a series of Monthly Recap on this blog every month to document the things I loved, the things I hated and the things I stumbled across. I love looking back at the end of the year to see the progress I've made and the things I loved and hated. I don't know, it's always been a favorite thing of mine to do! 

With that said, we're going to recap my empties! 

For as long as I've been a beauty/lifestyle blog/vlogger (on and off since 2008, if you're curious) I've always wanted to do this type of recap but I'm so awful at finishing products because I'm scared they'll go away forever. This year I'm trying to ween myself away from hoarding so much stuff. If it never comes back at least I documented my thoughts on it and if it does come back and it's something I loved then great!

I've also started playing with my Sony camera since my ex has yet to give me back my Canon S90... but that's for a word vomit post.

I started off with finishing the Sugared Passionfruit candle from Target's dollar spot ($3!) and I LOVED it! It gave off such a nice scent throw and it was the perfect happy fruity scent to welcome Spring! I of course bought a back up of it.

Next is the Pineapple Meringue candle from Target. They didn't have the usual brand, just this fancier one. On cold sniff it was pretty nice but burning it didn't have a scent throw --- at all! I was so disappointed! Under that is the Limoncello Poptail candle from Bath & Body Works that was from last year's collection I think... I really liked this one; it was like if you were to take a lemon and a lime starburst and make it into a candle! The Sugared Lemon Zest from this Spring's collection is a pretty close dupe for it so I'm certain this type of scent isn't really going anywhere. Above it is the Strawberry Shortcake candle I got from Anthro years ago. I've never burned it because it was so pretty and expensive but I thought --- why not. They still carry it so. It was okay, I wasn't crazy about it. It had a hint of a fakeness to the scent but I am going to take that jar and the Pineapple Meringue jars and use them as storage in my kitchen!

Next we have the Strawberry Lemonade Mainstays candle from Wal-Mart.Which I've already written a review on here.

Next is the Twisted Peppermint hand soap with Olive Oil that I loved! Twisted Peppermint is my favorite holiday/winter/December scent. I get it every single year! This Olive Oil formula was pretty nice on my hands, especially since they dry out a lot in the winter. 

Next to that is the Garnier Whole Blends shampoo in Green Apple & Green Tea. In middle and high school my shampoo was ALWAYS green apple scented. Nowadays it's hard to find one that is! So when I stumbled on this at Publix I HAD to grab it and I'm glad I did! I absolutely love this scent! So much that I got the whole trio set! 

Next is the Twisted Peppermint Body Wash. I don't know what it is about the Twisted Peppermint body wash and the hand and body lotion but I swear the "mint" in it makes your skin tingle. Maybe it's just me, who knows. Either way I love the feeling and the scent! 

I forgot to add this guy to the snap...

I had high hopes for this candle that were not filled. I mean I guess it's a good candle if you're looking for ambiance which sometimes I forget that candles are used for that too and not just good-smelling-things for your room and home. Still, I'm glad I tried it and this scent in the oil is amazing (they're pictured together in case I forgot what scent it was --- didn't realize there's a sticker on the front of the jar that tells you... doh).

Products that are missing: Bath & Body Works foam bath in Eucalyptus Spearmint and Bath & Body Works foam bath in Tangerine Spearmint --- both of which are my favorite Bath & Body Works (and really overall) bubble baths. I go through so many of these! I haven't gotten a back up just yet. I know that the Tangerine Spearmint is one that only comes out every semi annual sale though so that sucks but it does come back... at some point. 

Unfortunately I didn't finish up anything that was beauty related! I need to get back into the habit of wearing makeup more regularly again. It's not that I don't want to, cause I do... I'm just lazy. And I don't go out much...though that should be enough of a reason TO wear makeup more!

I'm not sure I want to lift my candle buying ban JUST YET, even though I did burn through 5 candles like I said I would.... I just need to get through more products. Plus there's no rush to buy more anyway, the season just started!

>> Found a few favorites

>> Making sure to make lists when I go to the store

>> Started using my Sony WX300 to take product shots

>> I re-caught the attention of the Yelp Elite staff and crossing fingers for my badge back
>> Posted two videos; Unboxing | #SanrioSmallCrate and Unboxing | December 2016 Owlcrate

As far as goals, I didn't meet too many in the month of January. 

My gathering classes on FFXIV are leveling faster than I expected them to but none are capped out at 60 just yet. My Summoner is missing one last il260 piece of gear \o/ then I can work on upgrading it to il270 every week and working on upgrading the gear for either my Bard or my Scholar to il260 next. I'm also working on getting one of the PVP mounts, just the first silver one. I already got a complete gear set for my Bard and my title. Now I just have to win 10 matches.

My apartment has been invaded by house flies so if I've been posting anxiety filled posts it's because of that making my OCD and anxiety sky rocket. We did manage to find the source and clean it up (it was SO DISGUSTING) and I'm going to try to be better at letting my roommate know to keep tidy now that this happened. So now all we can do is wait and hope that the rest of the flies die off. There won't be any new ones --- thank God. But that has been eating up a lot of my mind space, my time and my energy as of late. And I hate it.

 Going back to BurgerFi in my favorite plaza

 All the pretty pinks and reds in Target isles for Valentines Day!

 I'm in love with my culinary glamour!

 He was /embrace-ing me but it looks like he's biting my head lol

 Everyone hates the new raid dungeon but I really like this entry way!

I thought that maybe if I did something like this, a weekly recap post every Sunday I could possibly maybe keep my goals in order and be held accountable for them. We'll see!

>> I've been working on posting up some blog posts on my book blog again and I finally gained access to my food blog again after it being locked for about 5 years (yeah, I know)!

>> I have a few video's planned for filming this week as well. I still need to get those videos edited and up.

>> I'm doing it again! I'm being too focused on if my photos look okay that it's starting to bother me! And that is not the purpose of blogging! So stop it Hazel! Stop it!

I actually haven't spent that much time on FFXIV since I've been busy blogging and catching up on Yelp reviews all week... which is where most of my week went --- to catching up on Yelp reviews. I really want to get my Yelp Elite status back! I'm still mad I lost it!

I've been on the search for my Essie Eternal Optimist nail polish (my fav spring shade) but I can't find it! I can't find the jar I had put some of my polishes in and I swear I knew where it was.... so strange! I need to stop moving so much!

I'm still trying to get my ex to get me my Canon S90 camera back... which sucks that he even has it. I swear I hid it from him, he always hated that camera so imagine my disbelief when he said he had it... how?! Ugh.

Almost two weeks until my trip, I need to start gathering information and setting aside the things to pack to make this easier on myself soon. Sigh. I can't believe I'm getting ready to travel again so soon! The thought is tiring but exciting! I don't know how people travel for work so much, I can't imagine how tiring that must be to pack and unpack just to pack again! Then again it might be tiring for me because of my anxiety as well....

Speaking of! My anxiety was kicking my ass all week. The kitchen was wrecked so I went and swept, mopped, did the dishes (that weren't mine) and scrubbed the stove (that I hardly ever use) and I didn't feel the anxiety ease off until about the next day. I don't know why it's so hard to keep my kitchen tidy but it's driving me nuts and definitely giving me a bit of anxiety. The next place I have I'm getting carpet and keeping my kitchen spotless. I CAN NOT handle a messy kitchen it is definitely one of my BIGGEST pet peeves!

My anxiety has calmed down a bit since then, so that's good. I just need to tidy my room and sort my closet a bit more, hopefully before my trip! I also hate coming home to a messy room. I always make sure to clean, tidy and make my bed when I go on vacation. Just weird habits I have.

I've also put myself on a candle buying ban after going on a bit of a spree yesterday. I need to burn and finish 5 candles before I can buy another one. Also I can't buy backups of anything that I know is permanent. I do plan on burning some of my LE ones too just because candles with wax is heavy and I'm moving soon so I want to make this move as easy on me as possible. 

But here are some goodies I found at Wal-Mart yesterday I'm excited about. Glade came out with some new scents and a new collection!

I love the packaging to it! So far Sweet Pea Pear is my favorite on cold sniff but we'll see how it works out when I actually start using them!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

I was waiting for Bubz to get home from work but he ended up caught up in family stuff so... no dailies and no movie tonight /shrug. Haha long distance probs! It's all good though, I'll stay up to open gifts still. Just, three more hours!

I'll probably craft some on FFXIV and run my crafting dailies. I need to make that gil yo.

I ordered Chinese take out too.

I realized I don't really have any Christmas Eve/Day food traditions or any Christmas Eve/Day traditions at all really. Like I said before, I never was really into the idea of actual Christmas. So this is kinda, new. Surprisingly. I do tend to eat Chinese though, but I also crave it on Christmas. It's just a little harder when you don't have family or anything with you. Even if it has been 3 years in a row, it doesn't really get any easier.

It's totally fine though.

Peace and quiet is nice too.

I haven't watched any of my Christmas/Winter movies yet which kinda sucks. I kinda forgot about them and I didn't read Dash and Lily's Book of Dares this year either.

But like I also mentioned, this year has been kinda rough. So I can't really expect myself to dabble in the same usual things and that's fine. There's always next year. Hell, I celebrate Christmas up until the first week of January, there's still time!

I'm really looking forward to Spring colors and Valentines Day and Spring scents now lol. But that will come soon enough.

For tonight I'll do some FFXIV stuff, read a little and maybe watch Serendipity while I wait for midnight to roll by.

Weekly Recap use to be a weekly thing I did on this blog and my previous lifestyle blog a few years ago. I recently haven't been able to find time to keep up with it that regularly so I stopped. It is something I would like to get back into, especially since these seem to be some of my favorite posts from other bloggers as well!

This weekend I got sick. 

And apparently a lot more than I thought happened, happened.

Sunday's lately have been for relaxing; which is nice. I usually end up rushing around on Sunday's getting homework and doing some chores done. This last Sunday we took a walk around a plaza we frequent and I was able to pick up the pretty pastel Ulta makeup bag they were giving out for free with a purchase of $20 in Ulta brand beauty products. I ended up picking up this palette on a whim but I am heavily excited about the quality! I can't wait to play with it!

In addition to celebrating the ten year death anniversary of my baby hamster Flix (I wish I had a post to refer back to about how much he means to me but I never wrote one on this blog --- goes to show I need to write more!), my mom informed me that my baby girl back home Chammy has passed. My mom doesn't like telling me these things... a few years ago I completely flipped out when I found out my first cat passed while I was living across the country doing an internship with Disney World. I took it really badly and it took me forever to heal. But my anxiety was at an all time high back then and my new husband was showing his true useless colors. It was just a bad time in my life.

Chammy was rescued in 2012. She was the runt of the two litters. She was really tiny but she loved food and she was very active as a kitten. Then one day she just... wasn't. She didn't play but she loved treats. She stayed tiny. She was always throwing up and sick but she was a happy girl who kept my mom company and was her little healer. Chammy lived to be 3 1/2 years, which is a hell of a lot longer than we thought she would make it. She will always be missed. She inspired me to adopt Sophie, since Sophie is so tiny and throws up a lot she reminded me of Chammy. I don't regret adopting Sophie no matter how much of a handful she is and we never regretted rescuing Chammy no matter what she got into. We love you Chammy girl, always.

I got a lot of loves the next few days from Jane and Sophie. It's nice to be surrounded by fur babies. This particular morning Nick and I woke up to toys from Jane scattered around. She likes leaving him toys at night. As if Jane could get ANY more adorbs, right?!

It's been nice this week. Nick has been watching a few vlogs lately and I'm hoping it'll inspire him to start his own... so he picked up the dSLR and played with it a bit.

I went with Nick to work on Thursday. I was having issues with my bank card --- honestly I was having issues with Bank of America since the day I signed up, I'm so done with them --- and I wasn't able to pay for my lunch. So I called my bank to see what was going on. I was on the phone for 45 mins. The lady who was taking my order ended up just giving me my meal for free. She was like "I was waiting for you to get off the phone to tell you I was just going to handle it for you, I'm not going to let anyone starve!" I was SO touched. Like, I was having a rough 24 hours and the fact that she did this nice thing for me seriously was going to make me cry. I was uber thankful for her sweet gesture. I love how when I'm feeling down and out a stranger always comes along and reminds me of why I shouldn't give up. It's the universe giving you little memos along the way, you've just gotta listen.

So to the kind lady at the bagel place, thank you SO much. You did so much more than you could ever imagine for me that day!

Managed to give this drink a try. Didn't realize that there was milk in it and ended up getting sick. Apparently my lactose intolerance has come back. Full force.

I also did a candle exchange at Bath & Body Works I was disappointed in. Usually if I do product for product even exchange it's not a problem. Candle for candle. But the lady at this store decided to scan the candles and went off their price. So for the two I went in to exchange she only let me get one. That's never in the years I've been shopping at BBW ever happen!! I love BBW but I've noticed lately that they haven't been that great with in store exchanges or customer service. I'm a little glad I've been loving Yankee Candle a bit more recently. They don't pull shady crap like that.

*edit. I just called customer service about it and they said I was suppose to get two candles for my two. Strange.

 I was hit with intense stomach pains for hours so Nick made me a fluffy nest on the couch and some creamy chicken soup. I couldn't move so I couldn't feed myself so he handed me Norman to help. Who's in worse shape than I'm in lol. He legit filmed the entire struggle of me trying to get this straw-to-soup thing to work though.

Woke up to this email! Nick and I made it on the Influensters email! How cool is that?!? You can watch the review we did here!

I can't get over the look on Sophie's face here. Nick grabbed her for kisses and she was struggling then she just... gave up. She looks like she's smiling but she also looked really really scared lmfao!

Of course all was forgiven with the help of her favorite food in the world --- cheese. She will literally jump on you for it. And steal it out of your hand.

Woke up with a migraine Saturday morning so decided to do some lightweight cleaning and laundry and lit candles around the apartment. Anything to make it more zen and peaceful. 

I'm loving this new scent from Bath & Body Works Spring collection this year. This was one Nick actually picked up and liked (he's totally anti BBW and pro Yankee Candle). Plus it's pink so it fits on my vanity prefectly. Also, I can never find my NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk. I swear every time I use it, it grows legs and walks away right after...

Here's to hoping I feel better soon!