Hi everyone!
Welcome back to Lavendaire.
It's Aileen.
Today I'm going to share
some favorites from the month of September.
This month was a little bit better than last month.
I felt like last month was a struggle.
This month was eventful and fun,
and just trying to get the momentum going.
I have been hibernating a little bit more
on social media because I've been working on the next year's Artist of Life Workbook.
Something cool I got to do this month was speak in Englewood at an event
organized by Femscholar.
Femscholar is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering young women
to achieve success through education and it focuses on young women in the community,
so I got to speak with a lot of seniors in high school from Englewood,
just sharing tips and advice on school and how to organize your life.
Honestly, I felt really honored to be there.
I was really inspired by the women there
because it wasn't just me.
There were other mentors there, and there's something special
about women supporting women, women empowering each other, coming together
and feeling for each other, even if we come from different backgrounds.
So that was pretty cool.
Moving on: My first favorite of the month is in a similar vein.
It's something online
that all you guys should definitely check out.
It's called TIME Firsts:
Women Who Are Changing the World.
It's just a bunch of features and interviews
and content on women who are badass, who are succeeding in life,
doing something really cool, changing the world.
And I love that it features women
in all different areas.
There's women in the arts, in science, in sports, in business.
And I think it's just so incredibly inspiring.
If you are a woman who wants to
do something with your life or do something in the world, definitely check out this website.
Go through all the interviews.
You don't have to read them all.
I didn't read through them all.
I only watched the videos and I picked the people that I was curious about.
But I was also pleasantly surprised to read about people I've never heard about,
like astronauts or oceanographers and race car drivers.
It was just so cool
and it just reminded me that women are so cool.
We are so badass.
We are strong,
we are smart, we are capable.
We are so multifaceted, multi-talented.
And we each have our own unique gifts that we should use or share with the world in some
way.
It all comes down to figuring out what your strengths and weaknesses are,
and what you can do in the world, and then doing that to the best of your ability.
I was just super inspired reading this.
You guys will definitely, definitely love it.
And I'm so, so happy that TIME is posting more collections like this.
I always follow those "30 under 30" or "TIME’s Most Influential People".
I love those lists because I aspire to be in the same world as those people.
I don't know, I love it.
It's just so much fuel for my dreams.
3:06 My next favorite is this coconut water face
toner that I found on Thrive Market for six dollars.
That is so cheap for toner.
And I even bought another toner, but I like this one more
because of its spray.
The spray just mists your face in such fine, liquid particles.
The particles are so tiny.
It doesn't splash on your face.
It literally is like the perfect mist.
That's the reason why I like this toner, because I don't have to put the toner on a cotton
pad
or on my hand and do this.
I feel like the water drips around.
I like to put on toner–
first I'll do it with a cotton pad.
But second, third, or more times, I'll use my hands.
So with this, I will just spray it on my face, pat it in, spray it on my face, pat it in.
And the reason I'm doing multiple layers of toner is another recent discovery.
The lady who does my nails is also in beauty and makeup, and she gives seminars on skincare.
And she told me that she puts on over five layers of toner every time.
Me, personally, before,
I would just swipe on one layer of toner and then I'll go on with essence and serum
and all the other stuff.
And she's like, "No, your skin needs to drink.
Your skin needs to drink the water."
So she just does multiple layers.
So I tried to do that, and I love it.
It makes a difference.
It does take
considerably more amount of time, but I mean, I have fun doing skincare so I have fun spraying,
patting, spraying, patting.
It's really fun for me.
I also looked it up on Google,
and I found out it's a real thing.
In Korean beauty, they do pack on layers and layers
of toner and essence, which are the more watery products.
This entire time,
whenever I saw a headline like "Korean 9-Step Skincare Routine" or 9-step this,
7-step this, 15-step this, I thought it was because they had nine different products,
because Koreans do have a lot of different products.
And it can go up to 7-10 layers,
but I realized that part of the steps is repeating the same toner four, five, or more layers.
Anyway, and since I mentioned my nail lady, honestly these nails are my favorite.
I feel like every time I get new nails, I mention them as my favorite,
so it might get old for you guys.
But this is a new style and I'm really enjoying it.
It's super cute and I feel like I could grow them out and they would still look good.
I like to grow my nails out for like five weeks, four to six weeks.
The last time I went to do it,
I had them grown out for six weeks and they were so long, but I'm just kind of lazy
going back to the nail place.
It's a commitment, but I think it's worth it.
My next favorite is an app called Trello.
Trello is an organization and productivity app
where you can organize your to-dos, organize your projects, organize different areas of
your life.
You can really do a lot with it because of its flexible interface.
There are cards you can organize.
I like having a list of things,
but I also like rearranging that list constantly.
You can create labels
and color-coordinate everything.
You can sort things by their due date.
And I personally love using it because I'm using it to organize my workbook project to-dos.
And also, I've created another board for content ideas.
For a long time,
I've been using Google Docs and Google spreadsheets to organize my content ideas.
But Google Sheets can get really messy, plus it's hard to move things around.
It's hard to write notes where you want them, attach links and attach images
where you want them.
With Trello, I find that there's more flexibility in doing things like this.
And also, Trello is great for collaborating with other people, so if you work on a team,
it'd be really helpful to have a shared Trello board together.
Honestly, there are so many different ways you can use Trello.
I've seen people use them
for meal planning, for planning a remodel of their home, job-hunting,
and just any creative projects.
Like if you're working on a film,
there are different parts that you have to constantly be in touch with.
Lastly, I'm going to repeat my favorite from last month.
It's Kevin Hart's audiobook,
I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons.
I mentioned it last month
because I just started listening to it.
Well, this month I finished listening to the entire book
and I can wholeheartedly, 1000% recommend listening to this audiobook because
1) You will laugh.
You will laugh so much and 2) you will learn so much.
Kevin Hart is inspiring.
He's hard-working.
He gives a lot of words of wisdom,
and he pairs it with his realness with his comedy.
And he's not afraid to be so vulnerable
that he shows the bad parts of himself, the parts that I know everyone listening
will probably judge him a little bit, because he shares his flaws.
He shares his mistakes.
He shares everything.
He shares the good, he shares the bad.
He shares the most wise
and inspirational parts of himself, but he also shares the worst parts of himself,
the parts where he hates himself for.
And it's not something
that a lot of people are comfortable sharing.
And so, he is definitely doing
something really refreshing with this audiobook.
After listening to it,
you'll fully see the journey of a man who had nothing, who grew up in this place
and ended up all the way up here, and just the ups and downs
that came along the way because, even when he's successful, nothing's perfect.
He has a lot of issues and a lot of problems that he shares.
So it's so fascinating.
I think it just gives you a whole view of a human being, that nobody is perfect.
Nobody's life is perfect.
But at the same time, you can still live a life that's full
and inspiring and still on the move.
At the end of this book, he said,
"I'm not done yet.
I'm just getting started."
He wants to create so much more with his life
and do so much more.
And listening to that, I think, at the end of it,
the most inspiring part was to remember to not rest on your laurels.
Never stop.
Just continue to strive, continue to do better than you were before.
Don't get too comfortable,
even if you've reached success, even if you've made in the traditional sense.
There's still so much more to reach for.
Alright, so that's the first time I've ever recommending something twice,
which means you know it's really, really good and it's really worth listening to.
Plus, Kevin Hart is so relatable that I think the average person can relate to him.
Alright, that's it for today.
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Love you all and I'll see you next time.
Bye!