Quarters

  I was born in Kodiak, Alaska in 1993. I guess that information wouldn't mean much to anybody, except for me, of course. Kodiak was my favorite place! So naturally every time Alaska is mentioned, be it in movies or documentaries or by anybody that I pass by, I get excited and listen to almost every word.
  But recently, last night (or was it early this morning?) I realized that there have been two quarters in my pocket for the last week. I had been carrying around fifty cents and had nothing to do with it, so i extracted them from y pocket.
  i wasn't overly shocked that the first quarter I looked at was the 2008 collectible quarter Alaska. Those have become so commonplace it's not surprising to find them lying around here and there. But I thought to myself, 'Wouldn't it be strange if the second quarter was a 1993 mint?' And sure enough, when I turned it over to squint (for I was extremely tired. Why do all the good shows on the science and weather channel only come on in the middle of the night/early morning?) at the face, I saw a nice 1993 under the bust of George Washington. Now, I don't exactly believe in signs or hidden meanings in the goings on of every day life, but I have to admit that I was very surprised by this and had a feeling of worth as I turned them over in my hands.
  Or, of course, it could mean nothing and be mere coincidence.
  You never know.
  Alice out!

Attention W***e

Usually when I do my makeup and I am particularly pleased with what I have done, I tend to take tons of photos. Here is a small album on one of my more attention-grabbing looks. Enjoy!

Alice Elric

Creativity 2

 A lot of the time, I don't even know what look I'm going for when i sit down to play with my makeup.

 By the time I got done with the series above, I was so tired my eyes were red, and I didn't have any redness relieving eye drops. Ugh, I could have benefited from that a looooooong time ago!

 The punkish look really wasn't an uncommon one for me. I dressed like this more often than I realized until I looked back at my photos. Also, it looks weird to me no because this was before I learned how to do my eyebrows. But I have to say, turquoise and electric blue are still my favorite lip colors!

 You know when your color contacts arrive and you have to do a look just because you are so excited to have them? Yeah, that's why I have a mixture of hair-chalk and eye shadow in my hair...

Growing up, I never really liked color unless I was drawing a picture or painting. And then I discovered that I can draw and paint on my face, and then suddenly the rainbow didn't seem to burn my skin so much.

I saw something similar to this a while back and decided to copy. I have to say, it looks better on me, jk!

Alice Elric

Nostalgia

      Just like any high school student, I was excited to graduate and have what I would liken to a nightmare end. Even though I was excited, I was also incredibly worried. I didn't know if I was going to graduate. I had missed most of freshman and sophomore years that I failed nearly every class.

     No, I was not out skipping class. I was actually at home taking care of my siblings. The adults that were supposed to be around pulled me out of class to babysit very often and I often missed due to staying up wondering when those morons would return home so I could sleep knowing that they didn't get killed in a bar fight somewhere, so I eventually gave up on my dreams.

     Before going into high school, I told myself that I was going to get straight A's and be able to study abroad in Japan.

     Because of my lack of attendance, my grades suffered dramatically and, like I said, I gave up. I felt that because of my dad and his girlfriend being selfish as always, I couldn't do what I wanted.

     And then I was sent to a therapeutic group home. I really hated it there, but at least I had time every day to do my homework, which I was not used to. The habit of studying after school carried on into my next foster home where I aged out. It definitely paid off, because I did end up graduating, even after all those nights tearing my hair out and not letting myself sleep for fear that I forgot some of my homework.

     That last week of school was the most stressful for me. I visited the councilor every day to make sure that I was going o graduate, and no matter how many times he assured me that nothing in my records indicated that I wasn't going to, I couldn't help crying my worries out to him every day.

     I was terrified. I only had junior and senior years to finish nearly all of the classes required to graduate, and I crammed with online classes and extras, adding summer jobs in for credit. It all worked, and I passed out as soon as I got home.

     The next step for me after that was looking for a job because us foster kids aren't really allowed to stay with our foster parents after we turn 18, so we're basically tossed out into the world with no know-how for anything.

     I graduated. I still can't wrap my head around that and it's already been almost three years!

I had a lot of goals growing up, a lot of which never really came to fruition because of my lack of support. I didn't have the loving, doting parents that believe that their kid was the best thing there was. But at least I got to fulfill a few of them, and the rest I am still working on.

I guess I was feeling nostalgic, or maybe I just wanted to remind myself that I really can do what I set my mind to, and that worrying myself over it to the point of staying awake for several days isn't necessary, because I can, and I will.

And you can, too.

Alice Elric

Range

 Sometimes I am surprised at the range of looks I can give myself....

 And sometimes I'm incredibly struck by how long my eyelashes are. I'm glad they're not short, otherwise I'd be complaining about that.

 This last picture is what I looked like during my high school graduation. Of course, My hair was down and it was curled, but my makeup was pink, which was unheard of by my family. I never wore pink. It's my least favorite color, so I don't have a lot of it.

Alice Elric

Creativity

 I believe very strongly in creativity and having fun. I know, I'm like, 20 years old, but I have no intentions of ever growing up. Just what, exactly, does growing up entail? I feel like I can function well enough in society to do what I want, and that includes never growing up. 

 A lot of us tend to allow the world to form us into something that can see what we want to be, but cannot take the steps to getting there. It's unfortunate.

 I decided to pose with this awesome statue at a Mary Kay convention I attended for being a consultant.

 Even though this is a picture of me taking a selfie in the mirror, I had meant for the focus of the picture to be my nails, which I had just gilded. But it ended up looking like the focus could have either been me, or my phone which I had just finished personalizing. Looks cool either way!

 I don't have many colored contacts, but these blue ones are my favorite.

As much as this short series of photos may freak some of you out, I feel it was the most fun to do. It was simple, and I got to eat some mint-flavored blood. Jk, that stuff tasted like mildly mint flavored goo. It wasn't all that good...

 There was a time there when my hair was a series of colors. I had to redo the color every two weeks to keep it fresh.

 I feel like having my eyes in gray-scale made it look like I was looking at the past. I don't really know why, but it sort of does... right?

 I went to the annual Festival of the Dead like this. It took me 4 hours to do my makeup like this, but it was worth it. People were asking me if they could take my picture and of course I'm all like, "YES! PLEASE DO!"

Hahaha. I hope this was fun to look at. I enjoyed doing all of them in person.

Alice Elric