Attempting to create the greatest life I can.

After reading Danielle’s post about nothing, I felt inspired to write one of my own.

I feel like I’m at a bit of a strange impasse in my life. A fork in the road. I am feeling the most extreme pull that I ever have – one that tells me that I need to make a choice, and soon. A choice to either continue down the road I’m on, working but dreaming of a life without a job, truly making my own way in this wide world.

As far as dreams go, I have been dreaming excessively in the past few years of a life without the necessity of a 40-hour a week paycheck, creating my own life and making my own way from the ground up. My dream job is one that involves a whole lot of crafting, writing, and being able to use my mind and talents to make a great life. Not punching a clock and letting someone else write my history for me.

That’s a big reason why I started this blog – I love writing. Since I haven’t been published in magazines in a couple of years, I needed an outlet to get out my thoughts, ideas, and to put these crazy thoughts of mine down somewhere. I do everything that I can to lead an honest life, and I hope that it translates into my blog, as well. That’s why I want to increase my number of posts, as well – I want to gain readers, and have that feeling of community I feel that I lack on occasion.

Since I was a kid, I’ve always felt like a bit of an outcast. I’ve always had strange anxieties about dealing with people, like I’m always being made fun of, or at the very least, that I’m not part of the crowd. I want to build a group of friends from all over the place! And every day, with every post, I hope to continue to build on what I already have.  

I just want to have a life that I can feel good about. That I can be proud of. Not that I am not proud of myself at this point, but I feel like I could do, and can be, so much more than I am.

It’s so funny to think that this post was supposed to be something about nothing, but in reality living my best life is one of the biggest things on my mind every day.

Have you ever felt this way? Like you were meant for more? What are you doing about it?

Get Pretty Version 3.0

I haven’t posted a Get Pretty makeup post in awhile, so I figured we were due! And I would have had it posted last night, except my night got away from me since Wednesdays are evenings I work two jobs! So, apologies – but – here we go!

I wore this look out last night, actually, to host my evening trivia show at a local restaurant! It is a pretty simple post to pull off for yourself, if you feel so inclined!

Here’s the list of products that I used:

Face:

Foundation – Revlon Photoready Airbrush in Vanilla

Brows – BeneFit Eye Zings in Medium

Finishing – Bare Minerals Matte Foundation in Fairly Light

Eyes:

Lid Primer – Bare Minerals Prime Time

Allover – Kat Von D Sugar Skull (from Memento Mori palette)

Blending – Kat Von D Meditation (from Memento Mori palette)

Outer corner/crease – Kat Von D Hard Luck (from Memento Mori palette)

Waterline Liner – Ulta Smokey Eyes in Black

Mascara – Prestige My Biggest Lashes in Black

All Kat Von D eyeshadows are available at Sephora, and most other items are available at drugstores or Ulta.

Since I’m not one for outfit posts, for the most part, but I’m definitely a girly girl once and awhile, and love to share my makeup selections - be sure to keep checking back for more Get Pretty makeup posts, as well as Get Pretty Reviews!

How I Blog: Blog Calendar

Since I've been looking for a way to get motivated to blog more, I decided to take a cue from Kaylah at The Dainty Squid and pick up a calendar to plan out my blog posts, as well as some small Post-Its to move around prospective posts. Last night, I put it together and planned an entire months' worth of posts! I am already incredibly motivated to keep myself to a post per day.

I am a bit of a stickler for a good planner, it took a few trips to different shops to find the perfect one. I went to both Target and OfficeMax, and it took a second Target trip to finally find what I was looking for.

I wanted a planner with calendar squares large enough for Post-It notes, and as an added bonus this one has cute tabs for the months as well as weekly pages, so I can use them for brainstorming! The extra space is great.

Overall, this particular project cost me around $10-12, depending on how much the planner you choose is. With all of the new things going on here at An Epic Liz, I figured now was as good a time as any to get organized!

Epic Service Announcement: New Blog Changes

In the time I've tried to be more serious about blogging, I've come to realize a couple of things: I've been sticking to doing about two different posts, and that's it (those being my Book Club Mondays and How To Tuesdays). That isn't all that I want out of this blog, however, so I came up with some great new ideas that I'm very excited to share with you!

First off, I'm going to continue to do Book Club Mondays every Monday, but am going to take a break from How To Tuesdays every week, and instead going to do them every two. In the meantime, I'm bringing in a new bi-weekly post called How I Blog - filled with motivation and my own ideas to stay motivated, and hopefully help someone else!

Besides all that, I'm bringing back Get Pretty posts of various makeup looks, and also Get Pretty Reviews, where I review some of my new (and old) favorites!

Among all of those new things, there are still others that I want to keep secret. According to my calendar, there will be a post every day for the entire post of July, and I'm going to do everything that I can to stick to that plan!

Un-blog related, but I'm also planning to do something really special with that novel I wrote a couple of years ago... stay tuned for more!

Book Club Mondays: The Mill River Recluse

After reading the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, I wanted a standalone read that would be able to capture my attention and help rid me of the memory of ever reading said trilogy. Brain bleach, if you will. Upon flipping through my Kindle looking for a new read, I happened upon The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan. I had downloaded it months ago with every intention of reading it, but it didn’t quite happen.  

A self-published novel that’s made it to both the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, The Mill River Recluse is highly regarded both via Amazon reviews and word of mouth. It is a self-published marvel that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies digitally, without a single hard copy published as of yet. It’s a bit of an amazing story, and as someone who has an unpublished novel sitting on the hard drive of my computer, a bit inspirational! But of course, we’re not here to talk about me (for now), we’re talking about this great book.

The Mill River Recluse takes place in fictional Mill River, Vermont, and tells the story of agoraphobic, reclusive Mary McAllister, a widow who lives atop a large hill in a marble house built by her late husband. Turned from just a shy girl into a full-on recluse after being disfigured by her abusive husband, Mary refused to leave that marble house on the hill. She read and rode her horse, Ebony, to pass the time, and used her wealth to help the entire town of Mill River, though they didn’t know it at the time.  

An unlikely cast of characters included Father O’Brien, the town’s priest whose kleptomaniacal tendencies left no spoon in Mill River safe. He was one of Mary’s only views into the outside world past her window, and took responsibility for her care for at least 40 years. There is also ‘Crazy Daisy’, a girl who had an absolutely refreshing view – after being left somewhat brain damaged from birth, her lackadaisical attitude brought a great deal of light into an already great story. She spent her time creating ‘magic potions’, really by just mixing a lot of random things together. There were others in the town (obviously), including the newest police officer, his daughter, and a new teacher who held their own storyline along with Leroy, another police officer with a mean, jealous streak that leads to some of his own trouble.

From the characters to the writing, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Mill River Recluse. It is definitely one of those books that you either love or hate – there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. One thing I loved, and that was much different than other novels, is the way it was written. One chapter would begin with a story about Mary, growing up and giving the reader an idea of how she got the way she did. The next would was a third-person representation of what was happening around her. It reminded me a bit of the writing in Chuck Palahniuk’s Pygmy (and trust me, if you didn’t know that’s what you were walking into, that book was incredibly confusing). It was kind of a fun way to read, since you were getting history and back story in between reading in the present tense.

As of right now, the book is $2.99 in the Kindle store – don’t try to get a hard copy, though, since they don’t exist (yet). If you’re looking for a thoroughly enjoyable read that both won’t take long and will leave you incredibly satisfied at the story’s end, check out The Mill River Recluse. You will be so glad you did.