read more posts by
kendralstricklin
Now that I’m in college, Halloween has again become a big affair. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in about six years, so now I am scrambling to figure out what to dress up as! I think it’s funny how we dress up as kids, stop when we’re teenagers (at least where I live) and then begin dressing up again once we’re young adults! I am definitely looking forward to it this year, because I love this time of year.
Anyway, I have been thinking of what to dress up as for a little while now, so I thought I would give you guys some ideas that I’ve gotten from the internet! (And I absolutely refuse to dress up as any character from Frozen)
Comic Book Character
How cool are these?! I can only imagine the time this actually takes, but the end result is definitely worth it!!
Greek Goddess
This is such a classic and timeless costume – although, I’m sure there will be a lot of Greek Goddesses at parties!
Group Costume: The Seven Dwarves
I think this is such a cute group costume! My group of friends and I are thinking of having a group themed costume, and this would be so perfect!
Any Character From Game of Thrones
Okay, I just had to include this because I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan! The dresses that the actresses get to wear are so pretty – it would be so much fun to dress up as them!
Fifty Shades of Grey Spoof
This is funny on so many different levels (ha ha) and would actually be a really cheap and easy costume to make!
Dobby From Harry Potter
This is also a really cute costume idea, and another one that would be easy and cheap!
Well, these are my ideas for now, but I’m sure I’ll have more soon! I’ll share with you guys what I finally decide on – I’m so excited for Halloween! I’m going home this weekend to go to the pumpkin patch with my family, so I soon get my roasted pumpkin seeds. I’m telling you guys, you need to try them!
What do you want to be for Halloween?
Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day! 🙂
Disclaimer: none of these photos are mine!
I’ve been moved into my dorm for three weeks now, but I finally have all of the decorations just the way I want them! Since it’s all nice and done now I thought I would finally share some pictures with you guys!
The area by the front door, and our little chalkboard/corkboard/key holder thing.
These are our closets, and also the first thing you see when you walk in. To the right is the bathroom.
I know I have dishes drying but I thought that would be nice to show you guys since that’s what that counter space is used for most of the time haha.
Our little “kitchen” area.
It’s really nice being able to have this area, because it actually feels like a little mini kitchen.
My desk area!
I really love the second shelf area since I can store books up there and my perfume as well.
My little perfume area, and also my whale ring holder that I adore.
I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS. I am super happy with how it turned out, and it makes my dorm seem so much more homey! I also love maps, and I really like how the poster blends in with the wall.
I keep my rice cooker, crockpot, pans, and tupperware in this little shelving unit, and I store food, shoes, laundry stuff and extra storage drawers under my bed.
I love my little fox plant holder! 🙂
Broader view of my side of the room.
Close up picture of my wall.
My polaroid frames.
View of the “window wall.”
Overall, I am so happy with how my room turned out! I am loving college life, and having my dorm decorated really helps to make it feel more like home.
Thank you so much for reading, and have a great day! 🙂
It took me forever to finally order this book, Defy, and there really is no good reason for this. I had been interested in it for a while, but had never really gotten around to ordering it, so I finally did! I actually finished this book a couple of weeks ago, however, being busy with college has made this review extremely late!
Getting on with the actual review, this book is set in about the sixteenth century, in the made up kingdom of Antion. This nation is at war with another one, called Bevlon, however the reasons aren’t as clear cut as everyone thinks. The king of Antion is a crooked one, and he declared war on Bevlon when his wife was supposedly killed by a Bevlon assassin. Fast forward a couple of years, and we meet a girl named Alexa, who is made into an orphan, along with her twin brother, when her parents are killed by the Bevlon army. In order to save his sister from being taken to the breeding houses, he cuts off her hair and says they are actually identical twins and both wish to join the army. They had been trained all of their lives by their father, so they’re both very good with swords and quickly move up the ranks in the army. They eventually become apart of the Prince’s personal guard; while very honorable, it is not the best job because Prince Damian fits the role exactly for haughty prince.
Alexa, now known as Alex, gets a special job from Prince Damian to deliver a message. She goes to deliver it, but gets attacked by a jungle cat (the castle is in the middle of a jungle) and has to stay in the jungle for a couple of days with some healers. Prince Damian is livid when she gets back, but she doesn’t tell him she was attacked because she was healed by sorcerers, and the kingdom of Antion hates sorcerers. After a calm couple of weeks, the castle is attacked, and Damian, Alexa, and another guard in the Prince’s guard are captured and taken on a two week trek to Bevlon. Many things happen throughout this journey, and Prince Damian is revealed to be different than his perceived image.
I absolutely loved this book! The writing was great and the suspense was done just right. I loved all of the politics within the book – it was more than the cliche “nobody knows who I really I am, I have to keep my secret at all costs” and each character had so much depth. The ending is great and I can’t wait for the second book! I thought it was out already and was disappointed to find out that it isn’t coming out until next year! I definitely recommend this book if you like thrillers, or books like The Hunger Games.
What books have you guys been loving lately?
Thank you so much for reading, and I hop you have a great day! 🙂
Yesterday was my first official day of college, since I actually had some of my classes, so I wanted to wear something cute but comfortable! The campus is huge, so comfortable shoes and a warm jacket (with a hood) is vital! However, I also wanted to look cute so this is the outfit I chose to wear!
(I’ll be doing a dorm tour soon once I get a cuter TV stand, but for now, here is a sneak peak!)
Cardigan: Nordstrom
Shirt: Pacsun (Brandy Melville line)
Jeans: American Eagle
Shoes: Macy’s
I’m still trying to figure out where I can take all of my OOTD’s since the campus is really busy everywhere, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out! College has been a blast so far – I don’t think I’ve ever been this busy before!
Thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful day! 🙂
Well, I definitely underestimated how hard and time consuming moving to college would be. I moved in on Thursday, and it has been nonstop activities since! I had about a week before classes start when I moved in (my classes start this Wednesday), but my college has a week of activities for Freshman in order to get adjusted, and probably to help avoid homesickness.
So far college has been really fun! It has been crazy busy and I have met more people than I have remembered names (and I always thought I was so good at remembering names!). My floor is surprisingly quite, which will most likely be really nice during the year, but for now it seems really lonely and my roommate and I don’t know what to do because we really want to meet more people on our floor!
I think this will all get a lot easier once I fall into a routine, since right now I’m still trying to figure out how my routine from home fits in here. I think Thursday night and Friday morning were the hardest for me, since it was my first night and morning away from home. I’m still homesick sometimes, but that’s only when I have a lot of downtime and don’t really know what to do.
I’m pretty excited for my classes on Wednesday, though! I’m not sure how I feel about going back to school and having to do a bunch of work again, but I’m sure I will get used to it like I do every year. However, I think it will be a lot more fun since I’m taking subjects I really want to learn about. It’s just so crazy that I’m at college! I feel like I’m still twelve years old, about to go into middle school. I remember my first day of middle school, and high school, like it was yesterday. Time has really flown! I know my time at college is going to fly as well, so I really want to make the most of it. I’m hoping I get well adjusted soon, and my moments of missing home aren’t quite as striking or sudden. It has been really nice having one of my best friends with me, though. It’s like having a little piece of home in this giant, new city.
Speaking of city, I am not used to all of this street noise! I’m used to coyotes howling and my dogs barking, but not buses running all night and people laughing and screaming on the streets until 2am. But once the colder weather hits, we’ll be able to shut our windows which really blocks out a lot of the noise. For now, our dorm has been super hot! Even when it isn’t that warm outside, our dorm seems about ten degrees hotter. But like I said earlier, the hot weather will be turning to fall very soon, so I’ll probably be wishing for warmer weather anyway!
Well, I just wanted to do a little quick update and let you guys know I wasn’t MIA! Regular posts will resume soon, and I plan on sharing some photos from college so far, soon!
Thank you so much for reading and have a great day! 🙂
A while back I saw some really cool pictures on Tumblr of what I found out to be Flash Tattoos, and I decided I had to order them!
You can go to the website here, and check out all of the different ones that they have, and I highly recommend you do! These are such cool tattoos, and a certain percentage of the profits from each purchase goes towards different charities. So, you get sheets of really cool gold and silver tattoos and help out people at the same time! It was a win-win for me and I do not regret buying them!
The tattoos come in sheets, and I chose the “Sheebani” one (you can find it here) which benefits the Miracle Foundation. I thought all of the henna inspired designs were so gorgeous, and there wasn’t a tattoo I didn’t like!
The quote is “live. love. wander.”
I adore these elephants! I’m thinking I might use them for halloween somehow? Haha I’m really not sure yet.
I love using these “bands” as bracelets and anklets.
I cannot explain to you how difficult it was to photograph these haha. The gold and silver are very shiny and metallic-y, so it was very difficult to get a picture that didn’t have a weird reflection.
These tattoos are so fun to use! I love how they turn out and mine lasted for a full week (they say on the website that the tattoos are supposed to last 4-6 days). I’m really sad because I lost the photos I had of mine, I have no idea where they went, but they probably got lost when I switched laptops last week 🙁
However, you can kind of see them in my OOTD picture from my VloggerFair Post: I have two on my chest, one on my right ankle, and one on the side of my arm that is of course covered with my cardigan.
Overall, I really recommend buying these if you have a special event coming up, or if you just want to wear them anytime! They go on exactly like every other temporary tattoo, and come off easily with baby oil, or with gentle scrubbing with a rag or loofah in the shower.
I got a lot of compliments and questions about them when I wore them, and some people even thought they were real! If it was actually possible to get real tattoos that looked like these, I would definitely get them in a heartbeat. They are so gorgeous but also subtle, so they are absolutely perfect in my book!
Have you guys ever heard of Flash Tattoos?
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day! 🙂
This is NOT a sponsored post.
Fall is quickly approaching, and I definitely have mixed feelings! I am sad to say goodbye to summer, but I love the fall as well so I’m excited for comfy sweaters and pumpkin everything. I think I have started to like the fall more as I’ve gotten older, and since I’m starting college this year, I’m not dreading the back-to-school season as much.
Throughout the summer – mainly in July and August – I have been getting clothes for the fall, especially at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. I actually really liked getting my fall clothes this way so it wasn’t such a big and stressful event getting clothes for school. So today I thought it would be fun to show you guys what all I got since I’m pretty much done!
 |
| Nordstrom |
I love the look of this sweater, and thought the blue roses were really pretty. I also don’t have a lot of blue clothes, so I really liked the color of this. It’s the perfect touch of old lady chic.
The back is also super gorgeous! I love the little cut out in the back and the lace detail. I think it’s the perfect sweater to wear with a top knot!
 |
| Nordstrom |
I love this one! The color is so beautiful and it’s on the longer side so it will be perfect to wear with leggings and boots. It’s also thin so it will be easily layered upon.
The detail on the side is really cool!
 |
| Nordstrom |
I think this sweater is the perfect basic – it will go with a lot, and it will also be nice to layer. Whether I put a jacket on top, or a collared shirt underneath it, I think I will get a lot of use out of it! I think the solid and more transparent stripes give it a little something other than being beige.
 |
| Nordstrom |
I know this shirt is pretty similar to the longer maroon shirt, but it is cropped and a totally different shape. I think I’ll wear this shirt with skirts and high-waisted pants, or maybe even over a chambray shirt.
I love the maroon and gray shirts – they remind me of Harry Potter haha!
 |
| Pacsun, but it’s from the Brandy Melville line they carry. |
This shirt may look like nothing special, but ohmygoodness is it soft. There are no words to describe how great this material feels. I want to just live in the shirt. And I probably will be doing just that in college.
 |
| Nordstrom |
I love sweaters like these so much! They are perfect for throwing over basically anything, and are great for days with cooler mornings but warmer afternoons. I think the tri-color look is so pretty and all of the different ways the stripes are going is really cool.
 |
| Forever 21 |
Again, I think this shirt will be really great for layering. It’s the perfect fall color, and the material is really soft as well. It also fits really nicely!
 |
| Pacsun, but from the Brandy Melville line as well. |
This. Shirt.
I mean, as soon as I saw it I knew I was buying it. This is the purrfect shirt for me (see what I did there….*insert cringe face*) because I love animals, and of course, cats. I have a black kitty named Angel, so this shirt was just all around meant for me. I’ve also been looking for a “classier” cat shirt, instead of just a shirt with a picture of a cat on it.
You can also see this shirt in action here, where I wore it with an outfit the other day.
 |
| Nordstrom. |
Okay, this sweater was kind of hard to photograph. I promise it looks more normal in person, haha. I love this color and I think it will be great to wear in the fall when I need a pop of color.
I love the lace detail on the bottom!
 |
| Nordstrom |
I think I may have an addiction to this color – it’s just so gorgeous! I couldn’t resist this dress, and I think it will be so nice to wear in the fall and winter. It’ll just be a great dress to have in case there are Christmas parties to go to, or any other formal events, but I think it will easily be dressed down as well.
 |
| Nordstrom |
This dress is super versatile! I actually wore it during the summer, and it was the perfect sundress, but I think it will look adorable with some tights and boots and a big chunky sweater over it. I love the color and the lace at the bottom, and I think I will get a lot of use out of it!
 |
| Pacsun, but the Brandy Melville line. |
This dress may look more summer-y, but I think it’ll be great for the fall. Again, I’ll probably pair it with some tights and a sweater to give it a fall feel. The print is blue roses, so I think it will be really pretty for the winter time as well.
 |
| Forever 21 |
This skirt reminds me of a pumpkin patch, and I don’t really know why. Haha I think it’s all of the reds and oranges. But this skirt will be really nice to add some color to my darker fall outfits, and the material is really cool! It’s that stretchy, polyester type material I think (the tag didn’t specify what kind of material it is).
 |
| Pacsun, from the Kendall and Kylie line. |
This skirt was difficult to photograph as well, but I FINALLY GOT A MAXI SKIRT IN THIS COLOR. If you have read my maxi skirt obsession post here, then you will know that I have been wanting a maxi skirt like this for a while. And, might I add, I got this for a much cheaper price than the Urban Outfitters one, which I am very happy about.
This picture is more true to the actual color of the skirt.
 |
| Nordstrom |
I have been wanting a pair of green army pants for a long time, and I think these are perfect! They fit really nicely and can be worn as is, or cuffed at the bottom, which is probably what I will be doing most of the time.
 |
| American Eagle |
I haven’t gotten a pair of ripped jeans in a long time, but I think these are really nice! I love the color and fit as they are actually high wasted, so I will probably be wearing these a lot!
 |
| Nordstrom |
These are more of a boyfriend-style pair of jeans, and I absolutely love them! I love the cuff at the bottom (it is sewn in) and the color as well. I have a lot of dark wash pants, so I really like this lighter wash.
 |
| Nordstrom |
I have never gotten a skirt like this one before, but I really love it! It fits so nicely, and I promise it does not look promiscuous on haha! This will be the perfect skirt for parties, but it is also easily softened up with a pretty sweater.
Check out my video of this haul!
What are you most excited for this fall?
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a great day! 🙂
I recently had to order some things online, so I decided to add a few books to my order because I am addicted, and there is really no other good reason haha. I like ordering hard cover books online since they are usually cheaper and I can never wait to buy them once they come out in paper back…so really there isn’t anything else to say, just that I probably need to have a separate savings account dedicated to feeding my book addiction. But hey, kids, reading is good for you.
My family used to have all of the Harry Potter books and my brother and I would trade off reading them, but some of them got lost throughout the years, and/or eaten by our animals. I kid you not, he had a hamster that would chew through books like nobody’s business – and he seemed to have an appetite especially for Harry Potter. So, I decided to start ordering the books that are missing from my collection which gives me an excuse to re-read the whole series…
I read the Starcrossed series by Josephine Angelini, and I really loved it so I decided to give her new book a try. It’s about a girl who has some serious health and allergy issues, attempting to get through high school and win over her long time crush (cliche right?). But one day, she is transported to old-world Salem where she is basically the baddest witch around.
I’ve only read the first couple of pages from the book, and so far I’ve really liked it. The main character is really likeable, and it is really easy to sympathize with her as she struggles to get through high school. I haven’t gotten to the whole transported-to-Salem-I’m-the-wicked-witch part yet, so we’ll see how it goes!
I have been wanting to read this book for a while now so I finally decided to order it! It seems to be well-received from people and so far I’ve really liked it. I’ve read the first couple of chapters and have definitely been engrossed in it!
This book follows the main character, Alexa, as she tries to conceal being a girl in the Prince’s guard. Her twin brother, Marcel, and Alexa herself were taken a couple of years ago, as well as the other orphans from her town, to be either soldiers or, in the girls’ cases, “breeders”, by the king’s men. Marcel wanted to protect his sister so he cut off her hair and she has been posing as a boy ever since.
Okay, and I just wanted to take a picture of the inside cover – how pretty is it?!
This is the last book in the Mortal Instruments series, and I have been dying to read it! The release date was in May, but it was super expensive in stores so I wanted to order it online instead. I have really loved this series, so it’s sad to see it come to an end, but this book is around 700 pages so I still have a little while until it’s really over 🙂
Well that’s it for my little haul! I’ll probably do some reviews on some of these once I finish them, so keep a look out for that!
Have you been looking forward to any books lately?
As always, thank you so much for reading and have a wonderful day! 🙂
This seems so crazy to be typing, but I have started my YouTube channel, Stnkrbug! I have been wanting to start my channel for so long, so I finally did! I’ve been watching YouTube for a while and I remember when I put up little videos with my friends when I was 12 and I thought “Wow this is actually kind of fun!” but I never got into it since I was busy with other things. Now, however, since I have been blogging for a year, I decided it would be the perfect time to start my channel, especially since I’ll be starting college soon. I thought it would be really great to have these memories forever, and I have found that I really love making and editing videos!
And a quick note on the name of my channel – I have said before in some of my very first posts that my nickname from my family is “Stinkerbug” so that’s why I called my blog “It’s a Bug’s Life”, but I thought that was too long of a channel name, so I just used “Stnkrbug” instead. Yes, I know it is spelled wrong, but I have always spelled my usernames like that because “Stinkerbug” wasn’t available for my very first email, so I had to forgo a couple of letters, and it just kind of stuck throughout the years, and that’s how I spell all of my usernames. Plus, it usually is never taken so I don’t have to worry about adding any crazy letters or numbers at the end. I know, unnecessary information but I wanted to explain haha.
So, without further ado, here is my very first YouTube video!
Thank you so much for reading and watching, and I hope you have a great day! 🙂
Recently I read Stolen Songbird, and I honestly wasn’t expecting that much. I just got it because I thought it would be a quick read that would be entertaining enough for the time being, since I’m waiting to buy some books online.
Boy was I wrong.
I absolutely loved this book! It had everything and more that a great book should: a strong main character, a plot that wasn’t just about a girl slowly falling in love with a boy, and issues that really make you think.
Stolen Songbird is about a girl, Cecile, who lives with her father, brother, and sister in a small countryside town (probably around the 17th century-ish time period, there isn’t a specific era given, but horses and horse-drawn carriages are the main modes of transportation). She is an aspiring singer and has a very beautiful voice which has been carefully trained by vocal instructors her mother, who lives in the city and is a singer herself, has sent to teach her; however, Cecile’s mother finally feels she is ready to be trained in the city, since she is seventeen.
The book starts out when Cecile is on her way to the main part of town, by herself, in order to get eggs for her last dinner at home, when she is kidnapped by a boy named Luc. He ties Cecile up and throws her on his horse and takes her to the mountain, called Forsaken Mountain, near their town. There, he takes her into mysterious tunnels in order to get to the elusive city of Trollus, a city full of, you guessed it, trolls.
These trolls aren’t the ones of fairy-tales with hunched backs (although the royal family does seem to have many birth defects due to inbreeding) and green skin, but creatures that look like normal humans, other than their silver eyes. Trollus is under the Forsaken Mountain, and was cursed by a witch centuries ago, causing no troll to be able to escape past the city limits. Humans are free to come and go, many of whom the trolls depend upon to deliver goods and foods, but anyone with a drop of troll blood is not able to get out.
The whole reason Cecile is brought to Trollus is to be bonded and wed to the prince, Tristan. His aunt is known to tell prophecies, and she predicted that the curse will be broken once the prince is bonded to “one of the sun”, meaning a human girl. Cecile has stunning red hair and green eyes, which is a big difference to the trolls’ darker looks. The trolls believe Cecile’s bond (and marriage) with Tristan will break the curse, and are very disappointed when it doesn’t immediately happen. However, Tristan is relieved, which Cecile feels since their bond also bound their emotions together, enabling them to know what the other is feeling.
Cecile goes through the next couple of weeks with Tristan treating her horribly, and soon finds out there is a large group of rebels fighting for half-human half-troll rights. She joins the cause, and also begins to learn more about the curse, and the witch that cursed Trollus.
I loved this book so much, because it was more than a simple cliche “she hates him but loves him” love story; it had depth in the issues within Trollus and showed how corrupt any society can be. The way the halflings are treated is a direct mirror to how minorities in our world have been treated throughout history, and it really shows the courage rebel leaders have, and what it takes to achieve equality for everyone. Danielle L. Jensen really created a world that was believable and complex, and I love her writing style. There was always something interesting going on, and I found myself not being able to put this book down, and would read it for hours each time I picked it up. There are also some really funny and lighthearted moments that weren’t forced at all.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to everyone! It’s a great read that entertains you and makes you think at the same time.
What have you read recently that you have really liked?
Thank you so much for reading, and have a great day! 🙂