Be Straight With Me

I know you all are super surprised to hear this, but there's about to be another alliteration. But before I announce what that is going to be, let me tell you a little about my history and why I decided to start this blog.

When I was younger I got really into watching Youtube videos. The one's I really enjoyed watching the most were the Beauty Guru videos. This is what inspired me to make my own videos, yes I have made youtube videos before for any of my friends that may be reading this. It was never something I really told anyone about and I actually go back and watch them from time to time to give myself a good laugh. I'm so awkward. Anyways, that is part of the reason I decided to transition into Blogging. I tried the Vlogging thing and while it was fun, it was a TON of work to edit the videos and my camera quality isn't the greatest. So I thought Blogging would essentially be the same thing but with a little 'less' work than filming. Plus I don't have to get dressed up and put make up on to write a Blog, I can do it from the comfort of my PJ's and comfy bed.

Now that you know a little more about my background you can understand why I have such a love for Beauty and Fashion. Watching those women really made me fall in love with the Beauty community and made me want to pursue it for myself. So here goes, my Monday alliteration...

Make Me Over Mondays!

I'm such a cheese-ball, I can't even handle myself. The idea behind Monday's is that I will share with you some of my favorite beauty products. This can range anywhere from makeup to hair products to just cool tips or tricks that I may have learned throughout my years.

The first post for Make Me Over Mondays will be about my hair straightener.

I have a love-hate relationship with my hair. I love length, the color, how easily it styles, pretty much everything about it. But like any other girl, I hate my hair sometimes. It doesn't always do what I want it to, it turns into dreads after day 2 of not washing it...I wish I was kidding, and I haven't seem to have perfected the 'let your hair go naturally' look. I'm not sure if it is because I am not confident enough in the way it looks naturally or what but I haven't figured out how to wear it naturally.

A little bit more about my hair type before I go on. I have naturally curly hair. It is not tight ringlets but it also is not waves, I am probably somewhere in-between. I am not like a normal 'beauty guru' who has perfectly straight hair all the time and just 'wishes' it would hold a curl. No, my hair will hold a curl. The problem I have is keeping it straight. I had been struggling with this for the longest time, finding the right straightener and products so that my hair will stay straight throughout the day. Now granted there are some days where the humidity is just insane in North Carolina and those are the days, if I do end up straightening my hair, I will regret it forever (but I've gotten smart enough not to do so). However, for the most part I think I have perfect my straight hair!

The upcoming Mondays I will take you through my hair products and why they help me achieve my perfect head of hair (almost) every time.

My first product and my holy grail, seriously I swear by this, is my hair straightener.

If you click the picture above it will take you to the Folica Website where you can read more about this straightener and why people love it so much.

So this is the Sedu. I know many of you probably are thinking "What is this device, I've never heard of it." That doesn't surprise me. Not a lot of people have. When I was a freshman in High school I was using a Conair hair straightener from target that was probably $20. It would take me over an hour to straighten my hair and it didn't even work that well. Not trying to talk badly about Conair and their beauty products but it just did not work for my hair type. As soon as I stepped outside my hair would turn into one big frizzy mess. All of that time spent trying to get my hair stick straight went right out the window. 

This was around the time that I started getting into watching Beauty videos on Youtube. All of these women had really nice hair straighteners that they swore by. I also asked around to all of my friends, who mostly had Chi's. I wasn't completely impressed with the Chi hair straighteners, yes I do have one for travel because I don't care about it as much as my Sedu, but I don't believe it does as great of a job on my hair. So began my search for the perfect hair straightener. At the time, for what I can remember, my hair was a lot more curly than it is now. Now, this may have been exaggerated throughout the years in my memory, but I had in my mind that my hair was as thick and coarse as a black woman's. I'm not kidding. So when I was searching for straighteners and reading all of the reviews I came across the Sedu. Most of the reviews for this were black women who had very thick and coarse hair that got their hair pin straight because of this product! I was instantly sold.

I purchased my Sedu and haven't gone back since. In fact, I actually added a 'before' and 'after' picture to the website I purchased it off of. It's pretty hilarious. But it worked! It got my hair so straight. It has ceramic plates so it didn't pull on my hair at all, it was so smooth and it works so well for my hair. I'm telling you guys I swear by this straightener and if you have been searching for a straightener like I had and you have similar hair to mine, even way curlier, I would absolutely recommend you check out this product. It is my life saver, my baby, and I love it to death.

So tell me, what is your holy grail beauty item? I'd love to know!

Until next time,

Casey Rose

A Change, A Challenge

Now that we're back with our regular postings, I'm so glad to welcome back 'Sorority Sunday's' to the blog. This week will be more of an informational post more than a fun one, sorry guys.

As you may have seen from my Thanksgiving post, I talked about my heartbreak with not getting slated as Chapter President for this upcoming exec. While it was a shock and it took me a very long time to get over, I was still offered a position on exec. I was offered the position of Vice President of Member Development (VPMD for short). VPMD isn't exactly what VPM was, but in terms of the ability to be creative with the position they are very similar.

VPMD is essentially the first 'Vice President' to the chapter. If the Chapter President is ever absent for any reason, the VPMD steps in to fill her place. She deals mostly with the chapters grades, making sure they chapter is doing their weekly study hours, and is concerned with the overall wellness of the chapter. This includes mental, physical, and emotional health. VPMD is the person that makes sure everyone is doing alright, keeping up with their school work but not getting too stressed out during the process.

While this will be a big change from VPM I am excited to take on the challenge. We officially get sworn in tomorrow at chapter and I am anxious but excited to see how this year is about to unfold. Our executive team is very different than it was last year and I am interested to see how we all work together. While I will miss everyone, I am excited to work with the new girls and excited to see, first hand, our chapter flourish and grow.

PPL&M

Until next time,

Casey Rose

Tiptoe Higher

One thing that really has a big impact on my life is music. I listen to music anytime I can and I am always looking for new stuff to tune into. If you take a look through my iPod you will see a different array of artists ranging from Miley Cyrus to Eminem to AC/DC. I don't normally like to limit myself to one genre because great music comes from anywhere. Yes, I do have my car stations set to Top 40 music, but it doesn't stop me from sifting through the other stations once in a while.

My love of music made me think, maybe there are other people out there who are like me and like tons of different genres of music. So I've decided to dedicate a day of my blog to music. Let's call it 'Serenade Me Saturday'. Wow, do I love some alliterations. Hey, they're fun. I'll stick with them.

The gist is every Saturday I will write about a specific song or album I am really loving for the week. I hope to get some feedback from this in you all commenting on different songs/artist to try or even just commenting below letting me know that you listened to said song/artist and really enjoyed them. That would really make my day to know if someone's music taste benefitted from my post :)

So without further ado, lets get onto this week's music...

Night Visions by Imagine Dragons

The band Imagine Dragons took home 'Best Alternative Group' last Sunday at the AMA's. To say that they are pretty hot right now could be an understatement. Many of their songs from this album, especially Radioactive, have been on the top 10 lists of iTunes for some time now.

When I first heard Radioactive on the radio, like pretty much everyone else, I really liked it. It soon became one of my favorite songs. One of my favorite ways to listen to music is through Spotify. I often like to listen to the Top Lists on Spotify to see what is hot right now. Through Spotify I found a couple other songs from this album that I also really liked: Demons, It's Time, My Fault.

To say I started liking Imagine Dragons a long time ago would be an understatement. I didn't realize until I heard this whole album that a lot of these tracks were played at Francesca's. For those of you who don't know, I used to work at Francesca's Collections. They had a CD that constantly played and repeated while I was at work and songs like Underdog and On Top of the World were on this disc.

It wasn't until earlier this week that I was hanging out with one of my guy friends and he had a song playing on his phone. I was listening to it and realized I really liked it, I looked on his phone and saw that it was Bleeding Out. I started talking to him about it and how he really enjoyed the entire album, so when I got home that night I listened to the whole thing all the way through. Needless to say, I was very impressed.

Bleeding Out probably is my favorite song off of the album but I also really like Tiptoe, Amsterdam, Every Night, and Cha-Ching, to name a few. If you like alternative music or even just Top 40 music, I would highly recommend checking out this album. It's got a lot of diversity to it and I believe everyone can find a track that they like.

So, go ahead, check it out:

Until next time,

Casey Rose

Bleeding Red and White

In honor of the last home football game of the season tomorrow against Maryland, I figured this Fashion Fridays can be dedicated to tailgating attire! Yes, everyones favorite time of year. Football season. Unfortunately it is coming to a close, and I will not be attending the game tomorrow, but it has been a great season thus far.

...okay 'great' may be a bit of a stretch, we pretty much suck this year. But lets be honest, who goes for the game anyways? Yes, I actually do enjoy watching the games, but I won't lie and say I am a hardcore fan - going to all the games, staying the entire time, getting there at least an hour early to get my extra loyalty point. No I am a typical sorority girl. I tailgate, arrive at the game late, and stay till half time (if I'm feeling really into it). So basically, I am the fan that everyone hates. However, since this was my first year where I was able to attend every single football game because I didn't have to work, I figured I would do it right - the sorority way.

Below is the typical tailgating outfit. I will admit, this is more of a 'GDI' attire, sorority girls dress up more - pretty much sundresses and cowboy boots. However, since it is November and I am not into freezing my butt off just to look cute I figured I could break the sorority norm for this one post.

To sum everything up, this outfit covers all of the bases. 

School colors? Check

Cowboy boots? Check

Red Solo Cup? Check

Yup, looks like you've got everything you need to tailgate at NC State. Honestly, the center of the outfit is the cowboy boots. It is a tailgating staple and if you are seen without them on, you might as well be a martian from Carolina. Like, who are you? (I feel like such a brat right now). But I'm not kidding. I know a bunch of guys who make fun of girls for wearing what we do, sundresses and cowboy boots to a football game? Really? Really boys. I know the dress doesn't make sense, but come to a tailgate at NC State and you'll understand why the cowboy boots honestly are the best shoe choice.

Once you have your outfit picked out, grab your favorite alcoholic beverage (if you are of age of course), hit up fraternity row, and you are ready to tailgate. "We're the red and white from State and we know we are the best"...so please, beat Maryland.

Wolfpack by caseyrosexo featuring Illamasqua

Oh, and Go Wolfpack!

Until next time,

Casey Rose

Giving Thanks

In my opinion, Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays of the year. Not only is it a time to reconnect with family and friends that you may not have seen in a while, eat delicious food, and watch countless hours of dog shows and football games. Thanksgiving is a day centered around giving thanks for the things that you have in your life.

I would definitely classify my family as 'well off'. No, we aren't super rich, but we do live a very comfortable life style. Throughout the year I come across many different classes of people in my every day life. Thanksgiving is the one day of the year that I am forced to collect my memories from the past year and reflect on how good I really have it.

Sure there are times in your life where everything does not go according to your plan, but ultimately, and I believe this with all my heart, everything happens for a reason. All of your experiences shape you into the person you are meant to become.

So here goes, what I am the most thankful for this year...

1. My sorority - While there were ups and downs this year I am extremely thankful for the sorority I have become apart of. First off, I am thankful that my parents are able to afford such an organization. That in itself is not a cheap 'hobby'. I am also thankful that his year I was able to serve on my chapters executive board as the Vice President of Membership. Through the experiences that this position has presented to me has really made me grow as a person and helped guide me in the direction I want to take my life. I have learned that I love people, sure they get on your nerves sometimes, but overall I love the company people give. I never want a job that requires me to work alone, I love interacting with people and getting their ideas on things. I think everyone on this planet is special and has something unique to bring to the table. I have found through VPM that I want to work with people, whether that is being a full time mother or working in a business that allows me to be in contact with people on a daily basis. And also, the most important part of my sorority experience, I am most thankful for the friendships I have gained. If I had not joined this organization my life would be completely different than it is now. I would be friends with completely different people, and not saying that it would be a bad thing, but I am so thankful for the women I do have in my life. It's cliche to say that you join a sorority to find your bridesmaids, but that's exactly what I've found. A bridesmaid, to me, is a person who is one of your closest friends. Someone who has been with you through the ups and downs of life and always supports you no matter what. This is what I have found in this group of women, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
   
2. Volleyball - This sport has always been my biggest passion. I started playing at a young age and I never imagined the opportunities it would present me with. It was something that allowed me to meet my best friend. It gave me a constant, fun, work out routine throughout the past few years. And it now has given me my current job. I was the head coach for a local middle school this past season and I am now assistant coaching for a local club team this season. I am so thankful for this coaching opportunity, it has given me a job that I look forward to going to every day. Because as a wise man once said, "Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
   I also am thankful for all of my players. They may not know this, but they have helped me grow more than they could ever imagine. Coaching is such a different experience than playing, and it has actually made me a better player. It has also allowed me to sharpen my leadership skills and has taught me a whole bunch of patience. Those are things that are irreplaceable.
   
3. Heartbreaks - This one may seem odd at the start but bare with me. I am thankful for the biggest heartbreaks I have ever gone through. The first one this year was when my boyfriend and I broke up over the summer. While it was extremely hard, and it still is to this day, I am thankful for the experience. It has made me grow as a person, reflecting on that relationship and seeing how I can be a better girlfriend in the future. You learn something from every experience you go through and without that experience I would have most likely done the same thing with the next guy I dated. But I reflected, saw what needed work, and vowed to myself that I will be different the next go-around. I am also thankful for heartbreak because it means I found love. Not everyone can say they have experienced that and for me to have found it at such a young age, well I consider myself very lucky. Love opens your eyes in a very different way, something that is very hard to explain, but once you've felt it you know what I mean. 
   The second heart break I experienced this year was the loss of my dog, Rosey. She was the greatest dog in the world and losing her opened my eyes to how precious life is. We got her when I was in second grade and for me to be able to see her life progress from a puppy to an elderly dog and then transitioning to death is something not everyone gets to experience. 
   The last heartbreak I wish to share from this year is when I did not get my dream position of Chapter President. This is something new that I have not shared on this blog before. I have had my heart set on the position of Chapter President for a while now and when slating season came around for the new executive council, I was not slated. While this is extremely hard to get over and come to terms with, in fact I still am not completely over it, it has made me realize that I have a lot more growing to do. If I was ready, I would have gotten slated, but the fact that I wasn't proved to me that I have a lot more to work on. So, again everything is a learning experience, I will reflect on the reasons I did not get it and use that to better myself for future endeavors. The fact that I was even in the running to be considered for the position speaks volumes in itself and for that opportunity I am still very grateful.
   
4. My loved ones - I know everyone uses this one and it may seem super cliche, but I am so thankful for the people I have in my life. It is so hard to find true friends and I am so thankful that I have. They have been with me through the ups and the downs and I wouldn't trade them for the world. I honestly wouldn't be alive today without them. This may seem a little extreme but it's true. The same goes for my family. I have the most loving family I could have ever asked for. I have a mother and father would I could go to for anything and love me unconditionally. I have a great relationship with both of my brothers, something that not a lot of people can say they have. So thank you friends and family, for making my life even more worth while.

I could go on and on at all of the things in my life I am thankful for, but that would just be a nightmare to read. So for now those are my Top 4. I am truly blessed and wouldn't change anything in my life. I know not a lot of people can't say that and actually mean it.

Last, and most certainly not least, I am thankful for you! If you have gotten through this entire post I am so thankful :) It was a long one and I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy day to read what I have to say.

So, enough about me, what are you thankful for?

Until next time,

Casey Rose

What does the fox say?

Confession time. I have this slight obsession with the site Polyvore.com. It is a site where you can search by the type of item you are looking for, i.e. Peplum top, and find tons of different options from all over the internet with what you are searching for. It makes life so much easier rather than sifting through tons of sites and trying to find that exact item. Sometimes the greatest treasures can be found in the most obscure places.

Another great feature of this site is what I have posted below. You basically make a collage of different items throughout the site. I like to make mine look basically like this every time, almost like an outfit of the day that I don't actually own. This is so much fun to mix and match different outfits together, it really is attractive to poor college students like myself just wishing they had endless amounts of money to spend on clothes and fashion.

So I think for any kind of Fashion Fridays/other random days, I will post something from Polyvore if I don't have pictures of my outfit of the day.

Today's outfit was inspired by this fox dress. I'm not sure if you all have heard of that song called The Fox by Ylvis. It started out as this viral video on Youtube and has now hit number 71 on Spotify. Basically moral of this story is I am obsessed with that song. It's actually hilarious and if you have not seen the video I urge you to check it out right now...in fact I will add the video below just so you really have no excuse but to go watch it right away.

HILAR? RIGHT? Just me? Oh, okay, cool guys...

Anyways...back to this outfit. It was essentially inspired by this song. I saw this fox dress on the front page of the polyvore website, thought "What does the fox say?" and then proceeded to think "I need to create an outfit around this dress", and so became this post.

This outfit not only incorporates a fox, but it also is centered around my greatest love: 'hipster' style. I have posted about this before, how I wish I could dress like this but it is simply not going to happen for me. So instead I like to live my life through these collages thinking about what could have been......man that was depressing. Either way, I hope you enjoy my fox dress collage.

What does the fox say? by caseyrosexo featuring cable socks

Until next time,

Casey Rose

God is Great, Beer is Good, and People are Crazy

Most days are good days. I am naturally a positive person, I like to see the good in people and I rarely have a bad day. But when I do have a bad day, it's really bad. I think it comes from the fact that I am so naive about certain things that when the real world comes crashing into me, it hits me like a ton of bricks. This is the cause of my bad day today.

There are moments in life where I absolutely hate being a girl. Yes it has its perks, men pay for you on dates (if he's a gentleman), you can get get out of a ticket just by lowering the neckline of your shirt just at tad, and "I'm on my period" works as an excuse for pretty much anything. However, there are other moments that absolutely suck. But the funny part is, most of these problems occur when dealing with other women.

On the outside we may seem like sweet, innocent creatures but on the inside we are manipulative, cruel little bitches. When we know what we want and we will do almost anything to make it happen. For men, you are helpless. Because, for the most part, when it comes to dealing with a woman - she will almost always get her way. But this is where conflict resides. When women stand in the way of what another woman wants. That's when the claws come out, again, ever so slyly.

This is basically my situation with having to deal with manipulative girls. But for confidentiality purposes, lets just put this into clothing terms. Say there is this girl, lets name her Susie. Susie is getting a gorgeous new dress as a present. She already knows she is getting it and is more than thrilled about it, so she proceeds to tell everyone about how much she is excited about this dress! Well then we have Brittany. Brittany has been eyeing that dress ever since she saw it online the first day the collection came out but she knows that she could never afford that dress. So prior to this day there was no hope for her to ever get her hands on it. However, she catches wind about how Susie is getting this gorgeous dress as a gift. Now there's some back story that you must know about. Susie and Brittany haven't had the best history. Brittany had borrowed Susie's favorite skirt and had carelessly gotten dirt and mud on the skirt that just would not come off. Needless to say, it was ruined. Susie told Brittany she wasn't allowed to borrow anything else of hers because she carelessly mistreated her favorite skirt. Well Brittany was furious. She began telling everyone that Susie was being absolutely ridiculous and the only reason she said that was because she thought Brittany was too fat and would stretch her clothes.

Left field right? Like where did that even come from, no where. Classic example of girls and how they react to innocent situations where they don't get what they want. Anyway's back to the story...

So now that everyone has heard from Brittany how 'mean' Susie is, they jump to Brittany's side and completely stop talking to Susie. After this happens, Susie is confused as to what is happening. All of her supposed 'friend' aren't talking to her for what seems like no reason! That is until Susie hears from a mutual friend of them both that Brittany is saying all of these untrue things about Susie. Needless to say, Susie is furious but is the bigger person. If these people want to believe Brittany's lies then they can do so, they clearly weren't good enough friends to begin with to hear both sides. So Susie lets it slide making sure that Brittany has no idea of the knowledge she just gained

But enough with the back story, continuing onto the original story...

So Brittany catches wind of how Susie is getting this great dress! Well until this point Brittany had been rude and completely ignoring Susie. But now that she hears about this dress, she slowly starts to become friendly to Susie - hanging out with her, having lunch with her, etc. Susie acted normal, but in the back of her mind knew that this was because all Brittany wanted was to borrow that dress. She knew from the start how much Brittany loved it. So what is Susie to do? Call Brittany out on being a fake ass bitch or play along and let her think she has a chance to borrow that dress, but in reality there's no way in hell after she mistreated her skirt and she said all those nasty things about her.

If you're a boy reading this, welcome to Girl World. I bet I just blew your mind. Girls, I bet you read this and thought of at least 100 situations where this happened to you or a friend in your own life. It's so sad to think that you cannot trust your own gender. Guys, I wish we were like you. You have a problem with another guy, you say "Hey man (explain your concerns)", talk it out and boom! You're good to go! I'm not sure if its our desire to have drama in our lives at all times but we just love to fester on stupid, little things that in 5 years will not matter in the slightest. But I guess there is just nothing we can do about it. Boys will be Boys and Girls will be Crazy.

Until next time,

Casey Rose