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Hi Everybody! (hi Dr. Nick!) I wanted to inform you guys about some changes that I’ll be making on my Youtube channel and maybe my website. This post will also be sort of a “note” for myself as well.

First of all, I really want to thank all of you out there who visit my site, read my posts, comment, and subscribe to updates. I try to put some effort and time in taking pictures and writing decent (lol) posts for you to read. I really appreciate those who also kept in contact with me even during my downtime on Youtube. You guys rock!

PERSONAL ENTRIES: When I first started this blog, my intention was to write beauty related entries and personal entries as well. That is still the intent even though personal entries have taken a backseat. I’ve got a couple ideas saved but I’ve just been too lazy to start them. It’s like starting to write a paper, which I tend to avoid as much as I possibly can! ha! The “personal” entries might not be what some may think of. It’s not about my daily activities or life. That would be too repetitive and boring as hell. The personal entries are more of my thoughts and opinions on certain subjects. This is just a warning for those who might assume that this is purely a beauty blog. Don’t be too surprised if you see a “personal” entry pop up.

REVIEWS: I won’t be making many video reviews on my Youtube channel. They will be done to either products that I really love or that I strongly hate to get the word out to more people. I’m never good at video reviews. I’m always staring off at the horizon trying to remember everything that needs to be said and I would have to make an outline, rehearse, and do 5 takes if I wanted a decent video made. Also, there are certain products, like mascaras for example, where I feel that written reviews with photos are more appropriate than making a video about them. As a reader of other blogs, I find myself partial to mascara reviews on blogs than watching a video. In the case that I do review a product on Youtube, I will post a written review first.

RANDOM VIDEOS: Some people seem to be getting annoyed over the random videos that I post on my “beauty” YT account (I do try to title my videos appropriately you know…) I’ve had my itsliz89 YT account before I started uploading any video. Ultimately it is my account and the videos that I choose to upload are my decision, but for the sake of organization, I’ve created a new Youtube account, itslizard89, where I will upload my videos that don’t fit within the theme of “beauty”.

SALES: I’m always on the prowl for sales and coupons and try to get the best deals I can. Ever get bummed when I got something for super cheap mentioned in a haul and by the time you found out the deal was over? Well, I’ll try to post things like Ulta coupons, Sephora codes, and other offers that I bump to on my twitter account, itsliz89. I can’t possibly tweet every makeup offer that’s out there. You can’t expect me to tweet about the drugstore sales that they change every week. You can look at your weekly circular for that, but I’ll try to at least share the ones I’m taking advantage of. I do sometimes make ambiguous tweets that are my random thoughts at the moment so don’t get too creeped out

I think that wraps up the changes that I have planned for now. Comments, suggestions? Leave a comment!

nataliedee.com

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toothpastefordinner.com

I love toothpaste for dinner! It’s an awesome daily web comic

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Hey everyone. Just wanted to say that I FINALLY have the winners of the giveaway I hosted for the launch of itsliz89.com. Unfortunately, what I should have done was made the entrants choose which prize they wanted beforehand because now I have to figure out who gets which Huge mistake on my part. Winners will be contacted via email after I post this entry

Thanks for entering!

Finally the site is up! It took a lot of time and effort. In the end, I am so happy with the result. Isn’t the illustration just amazing? The concept was my idea and Claudia did an incredible job of turning my idea into the perfect illustration! She’s so sweet too!

I am very proud of this project because everything was catered to me, therefore being unique. No stock images that you see from time to time on websites or adverts! Well… okay there was some stock use going on with the background. The nebula was from salmon83 of istockphoto.

Isn’t Kenji just the cutest? I love how she even added the little white tip of his tail! Too adorable! And you might be wondering, what are those suits? Well, I was looking at traditional astronaut suits and I thought that they were too bulky and boring to create into an illustration. Then I remembered hearing, a year or two ago, that there was a skin tight suit in the process of being developed. I searched for it and found out that it is called the Biosuit, by MIT. Perfect! A real spacesuit of the future! 10 years from now, those old spacesuits will be looking prehistoric.

Like I said, Claudia is amazing. I sent her one long list of details and she pretty much nailed it on the first sketch! There were very minor adjustments, like the waist being too small and my eyes not slanted enough. Actually, I think those were all the adjustments!

Then it came to the designing and coding for the Wordpress template. Gisele (LOVE her name) is also a sweetheart. She’s known to design “cute” styled themes for Wordpress and Blogger. This process was a bit more tedious for I guess the both of us because I really didn’t have a vision for the template. I had a very definite image when it came to the illustration but I was absolutely clueless with the layout. I did tell her the basics, like what size the sidebar and such should be. One thing that I told her was that I wanted the style of the layout to be sort of like the changedotgov Youtube channel but combined with cute lol . Gisele started out working around the image and then we started going back and forth with adjustments. She really helped me with a lot. It was a long yet fun process. We spent a lot of time trying to see if the special commenting plugins and tweaks worked. Mostly it was me trying to figure it out. I do know a little about html and very very little about php you know! Now I and others can reply to other “Space Cadets’ transmissions”

Trying to find hosting was a actually the most complicated process out of this whole project. I wanted a safe amount of bandwidth but get a good deal as well. Once upon a time, I purchased hosting from Uzipp, which I had a good experience with. Unfortunately, they went out of business. I thought I had found a company I wanted to purchase hosting from, but after more research, their uptime was very poor. I then thought I had found another company, but it turns out that their systems got hacked big time and the issue has still not been fixed, over half a year later! On top of that, the company would not admit to it. There was also an issue where a lot of the companies provide a really good discount for new costumers, but they then hack up the rates once the hosting term is over. Another problem was that a lot of the hosting review sites are biased and even owned by hosting companies. It was tough to find honest opinions, but not impossible. A lot of the companies outsource their support team it was difficult to communicate with them. It was hard to really get a grasp on who really ran the company. In the end, I went with Dream Host. Their website gives a hospitable atmosphere. There are pictures of the team and biographies which made me feel more at ease. They are also a green company. They cost a bit more than some of the sites offering amazing deals, but I’d rather spend a bit more for the ease of mind of an honest and reliable company.

Do keep in mind that this is a personal blog first and a beauty blog second. None of that “I woke up and brushed my teeth” crap though. I’ll try to post reviews and hauls (if they exist) on this blog.

Okay, now that the intro is out of the way, on to the giveaway! I know it’s not much, but I wanted to do something to celebrate the launch To check out the prizes check out my video on Youtube.

Basically, there are two prizes. Each person gets a Stila tinted lip balm and an Eyeshadow. Open to anyone in the world! You know it’s serious when I’m willing to wait in line and deal with the grumpy government workers lol.

So just leave a comment on this entry and only comments on this entry will be considered in the giveaway. Comments submitted after February 27th 2009 21:00 PST will not be considered towards the giveaway. BE SURE TO USE A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS WHILE ENTERING COMMENTING INFORMATION. It is the email that I will contact you with if you win. One entry per person PLEASE. And of course, no whining

For those wanting their own icon while commenting, go register at Gravatar.com. Everyone’s dewin it I made the new default icons (space cadet)

If you actually took the time to read this entry, then I sincerely thank you.

I kind of want to make this into a t-shirt lol.

I didn’t have to wait until Feb 3 to listen to the album! It’s available for streaming on VH1.com right NOW!!!!! I love it! I can’t wait until the album actually comes out! I’ve just pre-ordered it. I haven’t been this rightfully excited over an album release in a long time!

I believe Best Buy has the cheapest price. $9.99 PLUS you get a free download for “syndicate”. Yes, cheaper than Amazon and Walmart!

Hi everyone! I have a little secret that I’ve been hiding for a little while but I can’t keep it contained at the moment. I’m currently working on a new blog site for myself and will eventually abandon blogger. It’s a decent free service and all, but there are features that it lacks. I’ll be getting my own site up soon using the ever so popular Wordpress, which means I will be able to use expandable posts. I realize that I like to post a lot of pictures and it must make my blog lag on Blogger. There will also be threaded comments, so that means I (and others) can actually reply to your comments in an organized manner!

It’ll actually be maybe… 70% personal blog and 30% beauty blog. It’s mostly for me. Sorry, I know that sounds selfish. I’ve started realizing how much I like writing about things that really don’t matter

Something that I’ve never told anyone is that I started fiddling with web and graphic design in middle school. At the time, Wordpress did not exist. It was all about b2! Well, I had a good amount of fun for 2 years and got bored with it.

Anyway, this time around, I’m not going to be doing any of the designing or coding. I’m calling in the pros. I’ve commissioned an artist on Deviantart to make an illustration for me. I basically had a vision, explained it thoroughly to the artist, showed some examples, and it’s the artist’s job to turn my vision into a visual image. Well, the artist just sent me the sketch this morning and it looks AMAZING! I’m so happy so far and I can’t wait until she finishes the illustration.

After that, I have a designer who will design and code the overall Wordpress template. Her work is amazing as well. She has created some popular free wordpress templates.

Everything pretty much is made from scratch so there will be no premade templates, no stock vectors that you see everywhere on the internet. Everything will be unique and 100% me! (except I didn’t actually draw, design, or code anything :P)

Things should be completely done in 1-2 months. I’m so exited!