Greeting Internet world.
I'm in a weird mood today. A good weird? Sure. Just a weird mood. I'm also wearing rain boots and leggings at work, so that may have something to do with it, and it took me an hour to get out of bed this morning. AN HOUR. I need to make my bed.
See? Weird mood.

Alrighty, today is a favorites post because it's Friday and we all need something easy, simple, and ________ (insert word of choice here, like Mad Libs!) on Fridays. Also, I recommend you follow these favorites as steps to you Friday night. Because that is how I am putting them in order. Take that as you may. I took it as finishing the bottle of red wine in my kitchen because it's a screw on top and not a cork, which kind of freaks me out, but it's easy. Get ready for the best transition ever...

First favorite: Corkless wine bottles. I like them. I think that they are meant to be drank in one sitting, which I didn't do, but I like them. They are like CoverGirl, easy, breezy, beautiful.

Second favorite: This song by Lea Michele who I used to envy because, well, I was am in love with Cory Monteith. I cried. You might cry. It's an amazing song and I give her all the credit in the world for being able to record this song, and do all of the amazing things she has since his passing. I am also just obsessed with her, and really want the new Teen Vogue with her on the cover, but no one has it. Ahem, Target, get your $#!% together.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mackenziekruvant/lea-michele-new-song-cory-monteith

Third favorite: Netflix. Well actually (shameless self promotion) this post on Netflix.
http://astoldbykathryn.blogspot.com/2014/02/why-you-need-netflix-in-your-life.html

Fourth favorite: This post/challenge/brilliant idea by Karissa. *cue: I'm cleaning out my clost* I cleaned out my closet last month, just donated all three bags to different charities, and now am going to attempt this 6 month challenge and wear everything. This is hard because I live in two different places, but we'll work with it. Game on.
http://www.karissaandcompany.com/2014/02/closet-challenge-wearing-every-item.html

Fifth favorite (not in the order of things to do): LinkedIn. I'm obsessed. Go connect with me. I'll endorse you for a bunch of cool stuff. I love LinkedIn. I've come to the conclusion that it is my Facebook, because on Facebook people talk about their engagement or their babies, but I like to talk about my internships (if you didn't know...) so LinkedIn is great. Fabulous. Go get you one. Also, I would like to take this moment to make a PSA: My last name is NOT Michel. Michel is my middle name and it is pronounced like Michelle. That is all.

Can I have an un-favorite? My phone is broken. Not shattered, not dead, but finicky about what apps it lets open, and temperamental about when I call people, and has decided to manage who I send texts to... So that's fun.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Intern Adventures part 3?

I am no longer the newbie. I know. Breaking news. This is a big deal.
Yesterday I walked into work (5 minutes early I might add) to be bombarded with "THANK GOODNESS YOU ARE HERE" comments. As nice as those were, I couldn't help but notice the chaos that was going on. There were boxes and bags full of paper everywhere. The time had come. It was office cleaning and reorganizing day. I was given the important task of being in charge of reorganizing and putting things where I felt necessary. This was a big deal. That's like almost ad much commitment as it was to have my voice on the voicemail at work. Well, I took on the challenge, and while I was organizing brochures and pamphlets galore in the back office, I suddenly heard "Kathryn, Kathryn? Oh there's someone I need you to meet!" Much to my surprise and disappointment it wasn't the cute guy from down the hall who I forced to talk to me. It was a new intern! She's French, super cool, and works there every Monday. There are also two other interns who work on Friday, but I don't work Friday's so I will never meet them. What a shame.

Anyways, I kind of got to train her/tell her all the tricks and tips that I wish someone would have told me my first day.

I told her where everything was.
I let her use my badge so she didn't have to ring the bell or knock every time.
I told her she didn't have to answer the phone her first day, because it took me 2 weeks to finally answer the phone.
I told her I liked her outfit.
I told her that our office was really a great environment to work in.
I told her what a typical day consists of.
I told her the other people's names.
I made her feel welcomed and comfortable on her first day.

And you know what? At the end of the day, and when she left, I felt great. She left and said that she can't wait until next Monday, and she is so excited to work there. As much as I wish I had someone say these things to me on my first day/week, I'm glad I had to figure it out for myself so that I could help someone else.

To put a damper on this great mood, I was on the bus with my headphones in so that i didn't have to talk to anyone, and some guy starts sign language-ing at me, asking me for a pen. SIR, I wear headphones on the bus so no one talks to me. That is the whole concept here.
I also confronted Mr. Snapchat on standing me up -- he apologized.
I failed at friend-zoning a guy -- what a concept.
I reached out to an old friend, only to realize that maybe time has drifted us apart -- typical.
I was awoken the next morning by jack hammers and proceeded to yell at them -- they were afraid of me.

All that being said, I am on Season two of the West Wing, am very behind on the Bachelor, and am going to get get some frozen yogurt/custard thing.

I just wanted to give you all a virtual hug. You rock my socks off.

Why You Need Netflix In Your Life

As you may or may not know, I am in a serious relationship... with Netflix. It's become sort of, a regular thing, my friends have associated me with Netflix. I'd say things are getting pretty serious. Well, I am willing to share, and this is only because Netflix is a diverse, fantastic creation that has blessed us with it's presence, and I feel that everyone should know why I love Netflix...

*pink flower emoji*

Happy Monday (funday?)! Karl the fog came back yesterday afternoon, which is very upsetting seeing as I was wearing a skirt... Welcome to San Francisco. Anyways, here is a recap of my weekend!

 My roommate got me samoas! Only the best girl scout cookies. Yes yes, I like thin mints, but samoas are the best. Like THE best.

 I also watched Netflix two three nights in a row. Magical, absolutely magical.

 I ate this delicious ice cream cookie sandwich, YUM.

And then returned to my one true love....

Sunday (actual funday) morning, I went to brunch with Alex and Erika to this SUPER cute brunch place called the magic flute, and guess what... I didn't get the French Toast. I got a quiche! yummm.

And then I pretended to be a fashion blogger and have my roommate take pictures of me. Sorry, Erika.

 Sweater/Necklace: Forever 21
Bag: Coach
Chambray: Urban Outfitters
Skirt: JCrew
Flats: Target

 On the way home we saw this view and HELLO PERFECT BACKDROP. I haven't mastered the fashion blogger pose yet. Give me a few chances?

Favorite Things on Friday

Do you know who Karissa is? Well you should, because she is perfect and I adore her style. Yesterday she instagrammed saying she was doing a linkup so of course I was going to participate in it!
So here it is, my Favorite Things on Friday:

HAVE A FANTASTIC WEEKEND! I hope to be very very productive, so wish me luck on that.

Have a great weekend friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

One for you and one for me?

Happy Thursday! This week has been so weird. Like SO weird. I can't believe it's Thursday. Okay, enough excuses, nothing exciting happened this week except for school, my internship, and work.
That;s actually a lie. Something exciting DID happen this week. YOU.

I got this magical email last night, and then proceeded to tweet: If I had 99 cupcakes I would send them to all of you. I say 99 because 1 is my mom..
My mom deserves a whole cake because, well, she's my mom. Hi, mom!

Either way, thank you. Thank you for reading. Thank you for dealing with my craziness. Thank you for understanding. Thank you for comforting me. Thank you for being there. Thank you for being you!

So today I have my three new obsessions:
1.) YOU. Because you're awesome.
2.) Kacey Musgraves and Harry Connick, Jr. for getting me through my homework and serenading me beautifully.
3.) NYMag, The Cut. Especially this article because, who isn't obsessed with Social Media "likes" nowadays. http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/02/addicted-to-likes-social-media-makes-us-needier.html


And because you are all so awesome, and most likely coming to this post through social media....

Giveaway time!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Some questions and some answers

I was going to recap my Valentine's weekend, but that will only take a short sentence: I talked to a cute guy about oreos and that was the extent of our conversation, watched all of House of Cards season two, ate a lot of food, went to the marina three days in a row, painted my nails, and caught up on homework. Oh, and mother nature paid me a visit. TMI? Oh well.

I get the best ideas for blog posts when I'm in the shower, just about to fall asleep, or doing homework. All three are very inconvenient, so I make a draft with the subject of the title of this "genius" post and then the next day I go back and say "WHAT DID I MEAN BY THIS!?" It has happened so many times that I just deleted all of my draft posts because the thought process had been lost, the post was irrelevant, or I had no idea what I was thinking in that moment.
While I was thinking about the post you are currently reading, I thought about all of the above, and started asking myself questions. The questions below. If you write a blog, answer these questions! Either to yourself or do a post on it if you really connect with one or some of them! It would make me happy, but I think it would make you happier. OR if you have ever thought about starting a blog, think about these questions too! There are SO many posts about "so you wanna start a blog?" and as great, empowering, and accurate they are, I think if you want to start a blog, you should just go for it. Why? Because of the questions below.

Why do you blog what you blog?
Last week I brought up how I have always wanted to be a beauty blogger. I had a YouTube channel for a year, and posted videos for about 6 months. There were a total of about 28 or so videos, ranging from vlogs, to tutorials, to favorites. Why did I start YouTube? Because I had talked to about 5 or so actual YouTubers and asked why they did it and if they thought I should make a channel. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I wanted it to be "me." 6 months in, it wasn't. I got an amazing camera for Christmas and filmed at least once a week. Editing took the most time, and I ended up enjoying the blooper part of the video more than the actual part. I would do something funny or "real" and there would be noise in the background, the camera wouldn't be recording, whatever it may be, there was always a "take 2." I hated that. I wanted to sit down, do one take, and upload it. But that isn't how YouTube works. 
Alright, so now that that tangent is out of the way, the actual answer to the question: my blog started a month before I went to study abroad. Actually, I started a blog to go along with my YouTube channel, first it was cinderellamakeup11.blogspot, then kathrynmichel.blogspot. They felt like forced posts. I talked about an event like it was my job to, not like it was my life and a few hours of fun i had had that day that i wanted to tell my friends about or remember in a few months. I saw my blog as a journal entry, and that is when As Told By Kathryn came around. I knew I was about to study abroad, and so i started posting to get the hang of it. When I came back, I talked about my life, and it kind of stuck. I still love beauty but I am not an expert and so I will occasionally share my opinions, but they are always personal and relate to my life.

Do you consider blogging a hobby?

A hundred times yes. When I don't have anything else to do, I blog. When I have any feelings, I blog. It has turned into an online journal in a sense, which is what I love about it. 

If you answered no, then why do you do it?

What do you think about blogging as a lifestyle?
If you can make a living out of blogging, all of the power to you. As much as I love my blog, I don't want it to be my life. I want to do things TO blog about, not have to do things so that I can blog about it.

Are you a "blogger"?
I am a twenty year old girl who write a blog. Sometimes I get busy and don't write every day. I don't have a blog schedule, I don't have drafts saved up, I blog when I blog, and that just makes me a girl who sometimes blogs about her life.

Have you ever considered deleting an old post of
yours?
Yes! I have, and if you are shocked by this, don't be. Once something is on the internet, it is out there forever. I know that. But I also know that if I can't "see" it, then I can forget about something that happened or forget about a really bad post that had no relevance to anything.

Have you ever deleted an old post of yours?
Yes! I have also deleted two blogs, the two listed above.

For both above questions- what went through your mind when you re-read that post or actually deleted it?
They weren't me. They were forced. It had no relevance to my life. When I first started blogging on this blog, someone told me that they only read my blog because my personality showed through the text on their computer. The posts I deleted and past two blogs I had didn't do this, and so I deleted them. It wasn't how I wanted to see myself, how I wanted to be portrayed on the internet, and I didn't think it was worth anyone's time to read, if I didn't even want to read it.

What does your blog mean to you?
My blog is my "safe place." That is in quotes because anyone can read it, and I am basically writing my diary on the internet for everyone to read. It is my escape, my place where I can vent. i can sit down and type how I feel, put in some pictures, and hit the publish button. My blog is me. It hasn't always been me, but I am proud of where it has come and where it is going and I hope to keep it that way.

And now, since you got through that, it is GIVEAWAY TIME!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meet My Valentine, Netflix

I jumped the gun and celebrated Valentine's Day yesterday. OOPS. In my defense, I read that St. Valentine's day, not Hallmark's Valentine's Day, can be celebrated at any time of the year! I chose to move it up a day/celebrate the whole weekend!

Last night, my sorority had our date party of the semester, and we went to the movies! This means we literally took over the movie theatre. #ThetaTakeover. We saw "That Awkward Moment." Don't go see it. Don't do it. Yes, there were funny parts, but I would not have paid money to see that movie. No offense to the actors, I would date Zac or Miles in a HEART BEAT, it just wasn't as good as I expected. I brought my friend Eric and I had a large Icee and popcorn. All I needed to make be happy.

I came home to watch Netflix (I finished the first season of The West Wing uhm hi that was intense, and watched the first three episodes of House of Cards. AMAZING.) And I plan to finish the season this weekend. OOPS. I'll probably then watch the first season again, because I am obsessed. Also, there are some parallels in House of Cards and The West Wing in names of Chief Justices and congressmen. Just putting that out there. I watch too much Netflix.

My plans for today include getting a heart shaped bagel, going to work, watching House of Cards, and then having a nice weekend with my friends! Oh and catching up on homework and writing Tuesdays blog post etc, etc... I really don't have a feeling towards Valentine's Day seeing as I have never had a date on Valentine's Day, but I mean I wouldn't complain if someone gave me flowers and I really love the cards and Starbucks gift cards (THAKS MOM!).

Hope you all have a LOVELY weekend. See what I did there?!

In The Spirit of Loveee | Current Favorites

I would like to mark today as the day I pretend to be the beauty blogger I hope and aspire to be as this post acts as a flashback to my 6 months of YouTube fame life in which I was CinderellaMakeup11. Please, try to search it. I deleted all the videos because I knew I could do better and that they didn't really let my personality shine through. If you are reallly interested though, I do still have them and have actually considered posting them up again. Just having gotten the time to (YouTube takes FOREVER) and haven't figured out if it was worth it or not!

Kathryn, you did YouTube videos?! Yeah. Makeup ones. I'm not a pro I just pretend like I know how to blend really well, and most of the time it turns out looking alright!

[Side note, my boss introduced me as "Our intern, Kathryn" and I went on my first office coffee run.]

Now, when in YouTube land, monthly favorites were a thing. You get your favorite makeup/skincare products and show them to the world and convince makeup obsessed people (I am talking about myself) to go buy it. I would also like to say that this turns into being at Sephora with your friend, and saying "yeah, I heard my friend tell me about this! She said it was great for xyz skin type" (my "friend" referring to someone I watch on YouTube and follow religiously on Twitter and Instagram. 

1. Purity
This cleanser is the bees knees. I love it. It takes off everything, smells like clean (don't look at me like that, you know what I mean.) and is simple but amazing and I love it. And yes, I do have this huge container of it. That's how much I love it. THAT, is commitment. 

2. Caseless-February?
I haven't had a case on my phone for almost a week and a half. I have my Pepe case (he's a french bulldog) in my bag at all times, I just haven't been using a case! I'll probably drop it soon then use a case again....

3. Color. This is weird for me because I usually stick to neutrals, but the past few weeks I've been wearing color! Change in the weather? Who knows, but I kind of like it.

4. Statement necklaces (link to coral one!)

5. New Mascara

6. Matte eyeshadows/wearing eyeshadow in general...

    Lorac Pro and   Naked Basics

  

7. Lip colors/combinations

Butter gloss and Butter lipstick

8. The Skimm
Just the most genius idea ever.

9. West Wing
I asked my mom why I had never watched this show because it's everything I love in a show, and she said that it was on when I had a bed time. Understandable. Sometimes I wished I still had a bedtime... Point being: THIS SHOW IS PERFECT. And there's 7 seasons so it should get me through the semester, right? Also the video it is linked to it C.J. doing "The Jackal" and I just want to have her job. That's all.

10. PRESENTS
Cue: you just got a letter from Blue's Clues and that has been me the past few days! I love presents! And yes, that is a monogram shirt courtesy of the amazing Monogram Meredith and that little heart is a Starbucks gift card because my mom knows my obsession is a problem...

11. This list

12. This tumblr

Also Lauren's twitter, because it's entertaning...

13. This video. Take me back, please? 

Sorry, this is a screenshot, the html to embed the video wasn't working. But yeah, I've watched this about 10 times within the past 24 hours...

Look at that. 13 on February 13th! Let me know if you like the concept of this! I like the makeup aspect but also have had a few random things I've been loving and what better way to share them!