Green Team

Yesterday was sooooo HECTIC! Super Service Day was so busy! I was disappointed that I didnt take any pictures. I was so busy all day, I barely had time to even eat! I had 7 guests total, which is ALOT! I promised the first 5 guests that booked with me would get a surprise. I had painted 5 small canvases and gave them to each of my guests. Check them out:

Lightening Bolt!

A Sunset

Water Lily Flowers

A pretty Vibrant Eye

Anchors Away!

I did a color service, 3 conditioning treatments, and 4 haircuts! Which doesnt seem like alot now that I am writing it, but it seemed like all I was doing was going into the washhouse. It was alot of fun! All the teams were dressed in our proud colors! I was GREEN Team baby! We had our rows all decorated and there was music playing, juice and snacks available. Every hour or so, discounts were given on Paul Mitchell Products.

There were mini competitions too, such as who sold the most products, who had the highest ticket sales, which team had the most services and so on.

I am proud to announce that I sold the most products for the first half of the day! I won two pairs of cutting shears! (which are not cheap!) It was an awesome feeling of acomplishment! Another classmate of mine won shears too for having the largest priced ticket!

Other teams won throughout the day, but I am sorry to say that I was busy, I didnt get to find out what and congratulate everyone! I will say one thing though, I need to get some insoles for my shoes, because I dont know how hair stylists can stay on their feet all day. I came home and could barely walk!

We had a big POW WOW and the GREEN Team won for most take home products and most services done yesterday! We won a pizza party for next week! yay oh yay! I love me some pizza!

I came home yesterday and waiting for me on my bed was a box. I opened it to find a beautiful bouquet of purple orchids sent from 1-800-Flowers. My mom sent them from Korea for my birthday tomorrow. They are so vibrant and smell so good. I have never received an orchid before, so I love them even more!

It is nice to receive flowers especially from my mom. I miss her being all the way in Korea. Without my mom, I wouldnt be here. So- Mom, if you are reading this- I love you so much. Thank you for all that you have taught me and given to me. I cant wait until you are home again!

The flowers that fell I put them in my hair! Which goes nicely with the green I wore for school!

Look how bright the colors are!!!! I love it!

That was my busy busy day yesterday! Alot happened today as well, and tomorrow is going to be amazing! My birthday is tomorrow!!!! so, I may not post tomorrow but I will on friday!

Thanks for stopping by!

Quote of the day:

When you have vision it affects your attitude. Your attitude is optimistic rather than pessimistic.

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

In my rainboots

I love my rainboots! I snagged these puppies up last year at Sears and they are so comfy! My son wanted to get a pair of rainboots, but he picked out fireman rainboots which were on sale for $7. He looks so cute!

We are both such Ham's lol

Photo taken by Matthias!

This is so adorable!

I had these on the past few days, because even though the hurricane has passed, we are still getting lil showers here and there. I slipped these on and met up with one of my models a few days ago, and afterwards, I went lookin in MACY's to see if they had any cute pin-upy/50's style dresses. Here are a few I came across. Don't pay attention to my facial expressions! I am deep in thought! hahaha

This one is my fav so far! And it has pockets! (bonus!)

This one is runner up, I like the clash of yellow mixed in it.

So, help me out my friends! Which Dress? 1, 2, 3 or 4?

Here are some other cute things I found browsing around:

I am just diggin these! They would match all my boots!

I spotted this at Old Navy- thinking about pickin it up for Arabella, she loved this animal print

ok, these mannequins just freak me out. I wish I could smack the smiles off of them. Weird lol

Thanks for stopping by! Dont forget to comment on which dress I should get for my pinup party!

Quote of the day:

"What takes us back to the past ...are the memories. What Brings us forward...is our dreams. "
Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

It's Monday?

Here was my makeup/look for today! NUDE LIP- I LOVES!!!!

I just got done making surprises for my first 5 guests for an event we are doing at school tomorrow! I dont remember if I blogged about it, but Rudy & Kelly Paul Mitchell partner school is having what is called a Super Service Day. They wanted to make the school a more realistic salon setting. Usually we only get one guest per day, but not tomorrow. We get to pretend like we actually work in a salon, where we are double booked and have clients ALL day, which is something that most of us have not experienced yet.

They divided us up into teams based on the colors of our product lines. I am on the GREEN Team(which green is for our SUPER SKINNY LINE). Each of us is in charge of our own schedule and whoever gets at least 5 guests booked will be able to have their own station to set up. I know that doesnt sound that much, but with over 100 students, not all of us can use a station, we end up sharing half the time. LOL.

I booked 6 people, which are all my family or friends that volunteered to help me out. We are having all sorts of competitions tomorrow like who has sold the most product, who has the most guest, and who made the most (if we actually got paid for the service we are performing, because we dont normally-because were still students)

I am excited because I want to feel the salon experience. I know it wont be how some salons are, but it will give me a rough idea. I went and got the decorations to decorate our row for the GREEN TEAM. Party City had all sorts of cool stuff. I got balloons, glowsticks, bubbles, beads, I dont even know what else- if it was GREEN I grabbed it. LOL!

I met up with one of my models to sign some paperwork at Starbucks inside Barnes and Noble-favorite place to chill and get some work done! of course I ordered my drank (cinnamon dulce frapp) YUM!!!! I gave her a lil gift basket I made all my models: (have I ever posted them???) Well, I will post again!

I just picked up lil things that were cool and funky like POP ROCKS, candy ciggs, nail polish, lil puzzle erasers and just things to make someone smile.

I went and looked around for some ideas on dresses to wear for my birthday party coming up. I am gonna write that and post tomorrow! I found some really cute dresses and also some other cool fashion finds!

This is my GROWL face! Grrrrrrr! "SHOW ME YOUR TEETH"

My Vampire Red is starting to fade into The Great Pumpkin color hair. hahaha Remember the great pumpkin from CHarlie Brown?????

I came home and took a few silly snapshots above! hahaha Yes, I am a dork. I know!

I hope you were inspired today to surrender to your inner artist, or inner geek, or inner whatever you are!

Quote of the Day:

"I shut my eyes in order to see"





Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

After the storm

Hurricane Irene was all talk, but I am glad, we were fortunate enough not to get any severe damages or have our power go out. In fact, our internet stayed on, the Directv went out, but I had a ton of stuff on my DVR I needed to catch up on such as LA INK and International Ghost Hunters. I was able to blog and surf and lounge around. I entered a few contests and was pretty productive. We only had branches fall in our backyard which we have to clean up once hubby is off from work, because theres no way I can do that on my own, unless I get a lil too happy with the chainsaw and go Texas Chain saw Massacre on those branches! lol

I dropped Jermie off to work and he later called me to tell me since Target was out of power for 24 hours, they had to throw away all their groceries: $30,000 worth of food that you have to throw out that expires once not refridgerated or frozen over 24 hours! Isnt that crazy??????

I got the oil changed on the car, then came home cleaned up a bit and decided it was time to clean my makeup brushes. I wash them weekly usually on Sundays or Mondays, or right after a job/photo shoot. From a few different bloggers, it was recommended to use Dr. Bronners Magic Soap. I was at the Heritage Store in Virginia Beach, VA a few weeks ago with my sister getting candles and body wash, I came across this organic soap. I know it is sold at Target and other stores, but it is sold in one size (the largest size) which I believe is like $16. I didnt want to buy the big bottle just so I could try it out, so I bought the 2 fl oz. bottle for $3.

Close up of Dr. Bronners Magic Soap in Lavender

There are other scents such as tea tree and I think there is one more, but I love the smell of lavender much more.

So, here are the steps for washing my brushes:

1. Fill a container up with water and a tsp of this soap. Take your brushes one by one and just soak enough to get the bristles wet (be careful not to put the whole tip in the water so that the glue does not loosen and causes hair to shed out of brush)

2. Once each brush is soaked with soap, I go back through and individually clean them just rubbing them in my palm in a windshiled wiper motion. I gotta say I was SURPRISED at how much pigment and color came out of my brushes, each brush I took a drop of soap in my palm and rubbed them, and even when I thought they were clean, i put a drop of soap and more came out! I was shocked!!!

3. Then I took some Tea Tree Lavender Mint conditioner and took each brush and lathered them up, let them sit for 5 minutes and then rinsed them one last time

Here is the conditioner I used, I didnt use the shampoo since I used the Magic Soap. I got these DUOS on sale for $39, usually priced $33 each bottle. But Paul Mitchell is having a sale on this DUO so go to your nearest salon and pick one up before they are sold out! I got my whole family hooked on this! and all my guests and clients! hehehehehe  Tea Tree will take over the world!!!

Sigma has a brush drying system where your brushes will dry quicker in this lil holder. Well, I decided to take my brush holder from Paul Mitchell that I got in my kit that I never use until now, and decided to use it to dry my brushes. Check it out:

I am always trying to find a cheaper way to do things and so far these babies are drying really nice!

Here is my makeup for the day: Fun and flirty!

I gotta go, thanks for stopping by Sweet Surrender! I hope you subscribe and comment below!

Quote of the day:

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Richmond Tattoo Arts Festival

2011 show poster by Brian Bruno of Absolute Art Tattoo, Richmond VA

The next Tattoo expo in this area is the Richmond Tattoo Arts Festival for the following weekend:

Friday, Nov 18th: 2pm-10pm Saturday, Nov 19th: 12pm-10pm Sunday, Nov 20th: 12pm-7pm

It will be held at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. The convention center is in the heart of downtown Richmond, VA.

Here are the prices of admission:
One day pass: $20 Three day laminate: $40 Children under 12: FREE Ages 12 - 17: $5

If you need or want any more info, or just wanna stalk their pages here are their Facebook and Website :

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/rvatattooconvention
Website: http://www.rvatattoo.com/

I have been researching which artist I want to work on me during that weekend. I may end up getting my sleeve started that weekend ( I am hoping to) I am thinking about getting a memorial to my grandmother done that weekend which I think will be good because she passed away on November 6, 2009, and the tattoo expo will be a week or two after that.

I have been cyber stalking Studio Evolve website: http://www.studioevolvetattoo.com/

There is an artist named Tanane Whitfield whom I am intrigued to have work done by: Check out some of his work at his website: http://www.tananewhitfield.com/

I love his character work, and the colors! I read that he likes to incorporate crayola crayons into his design because most artists start out with crayons and as they get older they dont use them as much, so in a way its putting them back into your life. I just love it! I am going to start plannign my weekend there. I dont know if anyone who reads my blogs will be in the area, but I am down to do a meet up and get to know other bloggers or readers! Contact me at cecilia@sweetsurrenderart.com!

Quote of the day:

A tattoo is an affirmation: that this body is yours to have and to enjoy while you're here. Nobody else can control what you do with it.

DON ED HARDY, Douglas Kent Hall's Prison Tattoos

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Why, 7 is my Lucky Number

I decided what else better to do while stuck in the house waiting out a Hurricane than to enter a contest! I had alot of fun recreating this look and I hope you like it too! Please go and vote for me or should I say "Feed My EGO" for this NARS Contest! If you enter it too, I will go and vote for you!!!

Here is LOOK 7

And here is my recreation in various shots, but the first one is the one I entered!

This one I was standing outside the door looking out into the wind and rain from Hurricane Irene

I just uploaded it to the NARS website, you can go here and vote for me to win! http://www.makeupyourmind.com/entries/view/4e5953e9-9070-430a-bd9e-0f8fac114224

Thanks guys for all your support and for visiting my blog!

Quote of the day:

Every one of us is going to be a special person to someone we meet in our lives. That doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to grow up and find your Mr. or Mrs. right at the perfect age of 25. It may mean that by following your dreams or goals that you set up for yourself in life that you inspire a nation to do the same. It may mean that as a single father or mother, the most important subject(s) of your life your children will look at you as a superhero. It may mean that your ideas or inventions help the world from generations to come with the survival of those who inhabit it.

We may never truly know how much of an effect that we have had on this world to this day, but you should know that you are definitely important to the people around you, or else they wouldn't be around you. Even if we fail to realize it, as members of society we all are important to our society, and that if we choose to work hard and fight for what we know is right, we will be even more important to it!

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Irene oh dear Irene

It has been a while since I have been in a hurricane, or in the path of one. The last time, I was 15 or 16 years old and it was Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Our house was struck by lightening and there was a lil flooding and the power was out for like a week. Thats all I remember. So, this is the first one since then that I will be involved in as an adult. We just had an earthquake earlier this week, which is strange too.

The update so far is that by the time Irene hits Virginia Beach, it will be down to a category 1. We are not evacuating, although Sandbridge was evacuating, which is a few miles away from us. We got 4 cases of water, tons of food, gas in our tanks, everything tied down, and candles. 

This is a picture a few days ago...I hope Irene keeps this park in good condition!

My husband works at the Target down by the Oceanfront, and everything got wiped out: water, flashlights, batteries, coolers, candles(tealights) and whatever else needed for hurricane supplies. In fact, I had to go to a few stores to look for tealight candles, until I remembered that Micheals Craft Store will have them! and I was right! I found a 100 count box of tealights for only $5! so I grabbed 2 boxes and went on my way. I love Micheals, and what was cool is that it was not crowded at all, it was like my secret hiding place where only I could get them!!! well, and my aunt too, because I called her and told her to get them too!

I never got a chance to post that I did my whole head RED (well, actually its Vampire Red, from Hot Topic) and a cute lil updo I did!

The kids went with me while I ran last minute errands, plus they wanted Cookie Crisp cereal, which  sounded really good!

While I was driving, I asked the kids how they felt if I got their names tattooed on me and I figured they wouldve liked it, but they said they would prefer a picture of them on me which the idea I like way better, but I thought it was adorable that they suggested it! I have been on tattoo fever lately! So, I will keep that in mind for a portrait tattoo when the tattoo expo comes around in November. (I will do a post on that soon!)

Oh, and cool thing that happened to me today was that another blog I followed gave me a lil shoutout!
See his blog here http://ecentrikarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/tropical-paradise-aka-original-tropical.html
He makes the most unique custom shoes ever and I stumbled upon his blog sometimes last year, I dont even know how or when, but since then I draw inspiration from him and his site. I like to be in contact with other artists, it helps to get my creative juices flowing! So, thanks Elom!

Well, Just in case anyone keeps tabs on my blog, I may be absent for a few days due to Hurricane Irene. I will prolly do another post later tonight. Thanks for stopping by, subscribe or comment if you would like to leave any feedback!

Quote of the day:

Taking chances is one of the hardest aspects of life not only to understand, but may also be difficult to actually use effectively as well. Taking a chance is leaving a safety net and stepping out into the unknown. Sometimes the unknown is better than where you were before, and sometimes it simply isn't. Taking chances though is absolutely necessary to advancing in life.

Without doing so we would never make our lives better than before, our lives would simply be at a stand still. There are many ways that you can take chances throughout your day in order to change. From accepting a new job, or to buying a different kind of soft drink at the gas station, the smallest decisions to the biggest decisions change our lives everyday directly and indirectly. Make sure that your life is full of taking chances and calculated risks, in order to maximize growth and success.

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Earthquakes are good luck?

Anyone who has heard, yes the northern eastcoast had a lil earthquake measuring at 5.9. I cant believe we had an earthquake! I have only been in a small one before while visiting my grandparents in California when I was real young. My hubby and I were at the bank when I felt it. I thought that maybe I was dizzy because I was real hungry, but then I see everything swaying and it was just wild. Something totally out of the ordinary, like when there was a tornado in Brooklyn a few years ago. Its been a long time since Virginia Beach has had a quake. And I guess we are also gonna be having a hurricane too impact our area soon. Crazy. We even had the power go out for no reason a few days ago....very strange.

My makeup today, just very natural with blue eyeline to make it pop and of course my usual colored eyebrows!

So, my husband said that after a quake, its considered lucky because we "survived" hahahaha so he bought a lottery scratchoff ticket for a $1 and won $5. Man, too bad we couldnt play for a bigger lottery. hahahaha

well, last night I finished the memorial angel tattoo with the shading and a hint of color, but I am not sure I like the sunset rays in it. I may just redo that part.

We went and saw Captain America today and we spent more on soda and popcorn than we did for our actual movie tickets. But we had a good time. I love the plot of the movie and the era it is filmed in, but as far as some of the action scenes, it couldve had a bit more BOOM-POW- for me and maybe a few more scenes with Captain America shirtless. :) hehehehe Amazing body

well, that was my day pretty much, with all the excitement and buzz of the earthquake, this girl is pooped! lol did I really just write pooped, well, you know what I mean, I am tired!

Quote of the Day:

Every moment that passes by is a moment that we will never get back. It should be a huge priority for everyone to cherish every moment that we possibly can. Make sure that you spend that time with your loved ones. Yes, it is important to work, but sometimes sacrifices must be made in order to just be there for the people that we love, and that know really need our support.

Don't waste time in the pursuit of your dreams. They may seem out of reach at the moment, but the farther along that you progress, the less the distance will be to the finish line. Never stop, or let anything stop you from doing what you love, with the people that you love and that truly love you. Cherish every single moment in your life, because you never know when it will end, and because time is something that when spent, can never be recouped.

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.