can't get you outta my head.

Hey y'all! I had so much fun this past weekend that I didn't have time to get all of my pictures ready for a recap! Don't worry though, I'll have it ready for viewing tomorrow. For now, I want to share some of my favorite songs of the moment. I seriously can't live a day without music. I wish that I had been blessed with the ability to sing or play an instrument or write music...something! Instead I'm stuck belting out the lyrics in the car or the shower or at my desk or at Target. You know. Just wherever really. These are the songs that have been stuck in my head lately.

Brave - Sara Bareilles

I'm obsessed with this song, and the music video is flawless. It's hilarious and just makes you want to dance. Sara did amazing with this one. I forget how much I love her, and then she puts out songs like this, and I can't get enough. Every word is so inspirational.
You can be amazing//You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug//You can be the outcast//Or be the backlash of somebody's lack of love//Or you can start speaking up

I Want Crazy - Hunter Hayes

I want to tweet every lyric of this song, but I think it would be a little obnoxious. I freaking love Hunter Hayes. He just kind of popped up out of nowhere with his amazingness, and I'm not complaining. He's a cutie, and his little southern twang is nothing short of perfection. This is my favorite song he's put out so far. When I sing this song, I always think of Jon. Too cheesy?
I don't want good and I don't want good enough//I want can't sleep, can't breathe without your love//...The world makes all kinds of rules for love//I say you gotta let it do what it does

Treasure - Bruno Mars

I love every Bruno Mars song. I play them until I get tired of them. I haven't gotten tired of this one yet though, and it is seriously on repeat.
Treasure, that is what you are//Honey, you're my golden star//You know you can make my wish come true//If you let me treasure you

Fall Down - Miley Cyrus

Say what you want about the girl, but I'm loving this new ratchet Miley Cyrus. "We Can't Stop" was awesome, and I really love this song too. The lyrics are dumb, but I find myself singing them on the reg.
Boy, you're like an elevator cause you always pick me up//Boy, you're like my doctor, when I'm sick you always stitch me up//You could be my DJ, I'm you're record, come on mix me up//Boy, just be my lollipop, let me let me lick you up//Always on my membrane (Favorite line right there. Membrane? Really? Yes.)

Crash My Party - Luke Bryan

I can't even explain my love for this man and this song. Girly sigh. I'll just leave it at that.
If it's 2 in the morning//And you're feeling lonely//And wondering what I'm doin//Go ahead and call me call me call me//You don't have to worry bout it baby//You can wake me up in the dead of the night//Wreck my plans, baby that's alright

Crazy Kids - Ke$ha

I love Ke$ha. Always have. Always will. Let the hatas hate. All of her songs are catchy, and you know you dance to them at frat parties (or at bars or clubs. Whatever. You dance). They don't call me "Tik Tok" for nothin'.
Hello, wherever you are//Are you dancin on the dance floor or drinkin by the bar//Tonight we do it big and shine like stars//We don't give a [what] cause that's just who we are

What songs have you been obsessing over this summer?

-- tiffanykhyla. 

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things i wish i would've done in high school.

Trust me, I have no desire to go back to high school. Some parts were really fun - making friends (that I still have now), being editor-in-chief of the newspaper, part-time jobs, parties, road trips, etc. etc. etc. Then there were also the really crappy parts - drama, part-time jobs (no free time), being poor, ex-boyfriends, etc. etc. etc. But when I think of some parts of high school, I think of a lot missed opportunities. If I could go back to high school, I would...

...go to football games.
I probably averaged one football game a year. Actually not even that, because I moved to Louisiana after football season had ended, so no football games my freshman year. Sophomore year, my friends didn't go to football games, so I didn't either. Junior year, I think I went to one game. Senior year, I know for sure that I went to one game because my friends and I made shirts.



I definitely wish I would have gone to more. I was not big on school spirit because I liked my school in South Carolina better. My LA high school was a major downgrade, so no football games for Tiffany.

...job shadow.
Granted, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was in high school, but I still wish I would have gotten some job shadowing experience. For my last two years of high school, I wanted to be a journalist. Why didn't I take the opportunity to job shadow someone working at the local newspaper or something? Why?

...take art. 
I love to paint now, and I was too scared in high school to take art because I was afraid I wouldn't be good enough. I took art all through middle school in South Carolina, but when I moved to Louisiana, I just wasn't feeling it. During my senior year of college, I started painting random things, just googling images and painting duplicates or adapting my own creations. I took a few watercolor painting classes, and I loved them, in spite of it being the hardest thing I've done ever. Sigh.



This was the magnolia painting that I did for my watercolor class. It was the only painting I finished. I had to quit because I got a promotion, and the classes were from 12:30 to 2:30 on Wednesdays. Can't do that anymore.

...save money.
I was never without a job during high school, so why didn't I have anything to show for it? I was constantly spending money on hanging out with friends. I also insisted on getting a credit card (yikes!) and getting off of my parents' phone plan so that I could get unlimited texting. I was way too quick to fly away from the nest, so I was always po'.

...travel.
The only places I traveled to while I was in high school were Dallas (two road trips with the girls) and South Carolina (to visit the family). I wish I would've saved my money and gone someplace worthy of telling people about like a cross country road trip or a trip to Europe or freaking AUSTRALIA. I will get there someday, dang it!



This is from one of our trips to Dallas. And yea, the girl's hair on the far right is indeed fake. She bought a hair clip. Like a real hair clip if ya catch my drift.

...try out for a lead role in High School Musical.
No, I'm not talking about the movie; we did the play during my senior year at school. I was an extra, a skater to be exact. I still got to be onstage a lot because HSM has all those musical numbers, ya know? I wish I would've tried out for Taylor though. I was too chicken. Clearly I had confidence issues.

--tiffanykhyla. 

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my boyfriend is a hottie {throwback thursday}.

Are y'all tired of hearing about my boyfriend yet? No? Good, because here's another post. Don't worry, this one won't get mushy gushy, but here's a photo diary of our relationship pre-relationship to now.

2010

April 

Our first picture together. Attending a surprise party for our friend.

November

Roadtrip to Shreveport to go to the Red River Revel.

December

Just doing a little shopping in Monroe with some friends.

2011

January

Meeting his family for the first time and helping cook chicken spaghetti for dinner.

March

Our first vaca together with the Tech Fam to Gulf Shores.

April

Our first concert together - Brantley Gilbert and Billy Currington

October

Halloween. Jon never dresses up.

December

My birthday dinner.

2012

March

At his twin's graduation.

April

Spending Easter with his family.

May

My college graduation.

May

Cruise with the Tech Fam.

December

Taking selfies on his computer.

2013

January

We had a late Christmas/anniversary celebration together. 

March

Date night.

May

Supporting me at the PRIDE Awards for work.

July

Our vacation to Galveston.

Ain't he cute?

-- tiffanykhyla.

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august ipsy.

So this was my second month doing Ipsy, and I definitely liked this month's stuff better than last month's. I don't really wear much make-up. I have one of everything - foundation, powder, blush, eyeliner. I don't touch mascara because my eyelashes curve down, not upward and though I do have an eyelash curler, I never learned how to properly use it. Ain't nobody got time for that! I just started wearing lipstick, and of course I went for red to be dramatic, but I've only worn it about four times since I got it.

Anyway, here's my stash:



This month's theme was "Glamour Academy." How cute is that bag?

Noya - Kosher Natural Vanilla Lip Balm
Retail value: $3.99

Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream - 0.34 fl. oz.
Retail value: $16 (for 1 fl. oz.)

Michael Todd True Organics Pumpkin Facial Mask - 1 fl. oz.
Retail value: $34 (for 3.4 fl. oz.)

Pixi Lash Booster Mascara: .105 oz.
Retail value: $17 (for .25 oz.)

NYX Rouge Cream Blush (Orange)
Retail value: $6

I'd say that I got a lot of bang for my buck (or ten bucks rather). I'm pretty excited to try all of these products. Is it dumb that I'm most excited about the lip balm? I'm a lip balm fah-reak.

-- tiffanykhyla.

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way way back.

I actually did stuff this weekend. I know it's shocking since most of my weekends are spent in bed with movies and snacks, and though I did do a lot of that this weekend, I also got out of the house and did stuff.

Saturday
Sister and I went to see a movie at the Robinson Film Center. RFC usually shows independent films and other films that you don't see in a Regal or Tinseltown. We watched Perks of Being of Wallflower there awhile back because it wasn't showing the main theaters. We went and saw The Way, Way Back. I had never even heard of it before, but I just wanted to go watch something at RFC. It ended up being really cute. I really enjoyed it. There were a lot of good people in it.



After the movie, we went to eat at Abby Singer's, which is the restaurant on the second floor of theater. Neither of us had ever been before. I ordered chicken and waffles, and it was freaking amazing. I was so mad when I got full because I wanted to eat all of it.

High quality iPhone photo.

I also got some new flats at Target for $17. They're nude, and they're cute.

Sunday
Yesterday was my friend, Amanda's birthday. She turned 23. She had a pool party at her friend's house. It was a blast. I ate a lot and spent almost 4 hours just lounging in the pool. One of her friend's boyfriends is a DJ, so we had background music and everything.

Me and Amanda, the birthday girl. 

Me, Amanda, Sarah.

Haley, Amanda, Me, Sarah. 

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become a better writer - follow these editings tips {guest post}.

Happy Friday, lovelies. It's been a long week, and I'm definitely ready to enjoy my weekend. Today, Sandra Miller will be guest posting on my blog, so for all of you bookworms and future authors, I hope you enjoy this treat. Everyone have an amazing weekend!

-- tiffanykhyla.

**********

Sandra Miller is a freelance writer, lives in New York. Two times a year watches Friends sitcom, loves salsa. Uses editing service to write great material. Her passion is Latin American culture.

Become a better writer: follow our editing tips!
It’s no secret that modern people barely know how to write well. If you ask me, there are people who have great ideas and are talented enough to present them in a creative way, but the problem occurs when the editing part takes its turn. I wouldn’t go as far to say that people today don’t know how to write; I would just say that they simply don’t know how to edit their writing properly.

Don’t be afraid that editing would kill the flow of your sentences, because that is not going to happen. Have you heard of Marcel Proust? He was working on his books for a very long time and edited the sentences to perfection. I can’t say that he made them more readable, but that was probably not his purpose. This example proves that even the greatest writers know that they can always do better and even if it takes months to get a single chapter right, it’s all worth it if you deliver a better final product.

Writing courses can teach you a lot about creative writing, but they rarely mention something about editing. That’s too bad, because editing is what makes the real difference between mediocre writers and Umberto Eco, Salman Rushdie, Erich Maria Remarque and other impressive names. Many people can think of a great story – not many of them can find the perfect way of interpreting it.

Implement our simple tips that will make you a better editor, and you will definitely become a better writer!

Reading in reverse and reading out loud
Many writers use a little controversial technique that helps them edit their work: they read backwards. Well, no one said that writers were common people with boring ideas, right? This interesting technique can work wonders in editing, because it can help you to bypass the tendency of your brain to fill in the expected and miss the obvious mistakes.

Although reverse reading is great for catching spelling errors, it won’t do you any good when it comes to content. This is where reading out loud comes into the picture. Reading your work out loud will put you in the reader’s role and you will be able to catch the passages and phrases that seem awkward or too pretentious.

Take a creative break
Don’t start editing your work as soon as you finish writing it. To take a “creative break” means that you should wait at least for a night or two before you start the editing process. The ideal advice is to forget about what you wrote and see it from a different aspect when you go back to it. That way, your brain won’t see the expected sentences and phrases, but it will see the real writing.

If you start the editing process too soon after you finish writing, your brain will still be filled with arguments, examples and ideas that won’t let you approach your writing with a clear mind.

Don’t add, but edit out
Writers are usually too wordy – all of them! You can feel free to add few words and phrases while editing, but make sure to keep the additions to minimum and focus on removing the unnecessary words.

Let’s compare Proust and Dostoevsky for an example: Proust is complicated, dense and heavy, while Dostoevsky is concise and his sentences are straight to the point. These styles are different and both of them are extremely powerful, but Dostoevsky’s clean style has reached many more people and literally changed their lives.

Justify yourself and stop being pretentious
When I mentioned Proust in the previous example, I didn’t do it with the intention of saying that he sounded pretentious. Few writers have had the talent to express such a rich style without sounding ridiculous. As for modern and inexperienced writers, they often get stuck to the academic language, they use words they don’t even understand and try too hard to look smart, which ends up looking silly.

Every word you write, every point, joke and statement has to be justified in your writing! If the sentence can keep its meaning without a certain word, then don’t be afraid to get rid of it and make the structure simpler. The readers don’t want you to waste their time.

Conclusion: Good editing is just as important as good writing
There is no good writing without good editing involved! Editing takes a real talent and practice, but the effort is completely justified with the final result. If you manage to become a good editor, your writing will be more effective, more capturing and more striking. Ultimately, your writing will be more likely to reach out to more readers if you edit it well; and that’s the most important thing at the end of the road.

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the carrie diares {TV vs. book}.

I've always been a fan of Sex and the City. I envied her lifestyle - hanging out with her three closest girlfriends every day, going out and having the time of her life every night, being an established writer known throughout the city. I've never read the book, but I watched the series and the movies. When I found out that they were making a Carrie Diaries series, I was quick to keep up and watch. Plus, I love AnnaSophia Robb. She's just a precious peach.

When I first started reading this book, I was bored. It wasn't quite holding my attention at the beginning. When I got about midway through, I couldn't put it down. I just needed to see what happened in her little group of friends. The book was completely different from the TV series. Other than a few of the characters and a couple scenarios, it may as well be a completely separate entity.

First of all, in the book, Carrie has two sisters, Missy and Dorrit, while in the TV series, she only has one. I guess I can understand why Missy was cut out of the book. Carrie is the eldest of the three sisters and Missy is the middle child. Her presence in the book isn't exactly necessary. Her only "significant" part in the book is taking up too much time in the bathroom when Carrie is trying to get ready for her date.

In the TV series, Lali doesn't exist. I think this is strange because she has such a huge role in the book. She is Carrie's best friend and teammate on the swim team. The swim team is pretty insignificant in the TV series, so I guess Lali went with it. Then because Lali doesn't exist to break-up Carrie and Sebastian, Maggie is the one that steps in on TV to make-out with Sebastian. I liked it better when Lali did it.

Walt and Donna LaDonna don't become buddy buddy in the book. I kind of liked the idea of them becoming friends even though Donna got on my nerves. It showed her softer side because she was willing to keep Walt's sexuality a secret and she was able to sympathize and relate to him because she had a brother or cousin or someone that she's close to that was gay as well.

Carrie and Donna LaDonna bond in the book. They take a random photography class together and get paired with one another. Barriers break and they have a mutual respect for each other and are able to be friendly. Not friends, but friendly. On TV, nothing remotely close happens.

Carrie never goes to NYC in the book. NYC is a goal that she wants to obtain, but it's kind of on the back-burner. Yeah, she has applied to The New School a couple times, but NYC is only mentioned a couple times throughout the book. She doesn't work for her dad's friend at a law firm or get mistaken for a college student and work for Larissa Louglin at Interview Magazine. She doesn't get to the city until the very end.

Maggie gets on my nerves in both the book and TV series. She's a little skanky and attention-seeking in both. In the movie, she's messing around with someone who her dad works with. In the book, she messes around with a guy named Peter, who doesn't exist in the TV show.

The dad isn't as significant in the book. He's obviously very important, but he doesn't have his own story line so to speak. In the TV show, he is trying to move on and dad other women. In the book, he's just the typical overprotective dad who doesn't know how to cope with his wife's death and is struggling to raise his three teenage daughters on his own.

There are a lot of differences between the book and TV show, but I think I'll stop there. Now that I've watched both TV series and read this book, all I want is to see what happens to Carrie next. I just can't picture AnnaSophia Robb growing up into Sarah Jessica Parker. I see The Carrie Diaries and Sex and the City as two separate entities. I want to know more of Carrie's story, but I just don't see her growing up into the character in Sex and the City.

-- tiffanykhyla.

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