Better Late than Never

Happy New Year! (a week late, but none the less, better late than never) As I sit down at the library, with my coffee, my planner, my notebook and various other things I carry around with me, I realize that should be the motivation going into 2015.  “Better late than never”
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We get so busy, wrapped up in daily stress, pleasing everyone else, whether it is your spouse, significant other, family, friends, your boss and a lot of times: Life happens. We start out so motivated to do things we’ve always wanted to do, but something or someone comes along and we get distracted. While distraction is not a bad thing, sometimes it can make you so wrapped up that you forget what you are passionate about. This is something that I have gone through over and over, yet, no matter how many times this happens, I keep going. If you are close to me, you know everything I have been through, the good, the bad and the ugly. No matter what I go through, I always try to stay focused on my goals. Going through situations, and meeting different people have changed my course a few times, but overall, I keep goals in mind. Even if your goals change, or you put them on the back burner, don’t ever lose your enthusiasm or passion for truly makes your heart soar.
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Looking back on 2014 as a whole, so much happened: I started an etsy shop, I opened and closed my own hair art studio, lost and gained clients, filed divorce, moved again, became a distributor of It Works, and so many more moments that made up 2014. Its amazing to me, to think that we are always learning, whether we want to or not. That we learn these lessons we didn’t even realize we needed to. The biggest things I have learned last year was letting go, forgiveness and patience. It’s funny, you don’t even realize you’ve learned it, because you’re too busy feeling the pain of loss, failure, disappointment, and rejections. I felt this way ending my marriage and losing my shop. But I pushed through. Yes, it hurt, but everyday I looked for something good, something to be thankful and grateful for. These losses, forced me to tune back into “ME”. What is it I really want out of life? Thing happen for a reason, which is something I say and write about all the time, so why did these things end? I realized that I wasn’t on the right path. So, how do you recover from this type of loss? The answer to that is focus on yourself (in a non selfish way) and your wants and needs, and then once you know what you want, work on it everyday, no matter how big or small your goals are.  The trick to change is to start out small, do something everyday that pushes you in the direction you want to go. Because while it may not seem significant that you are changing, you don’t even realize times just flies by and when you look back, you’ve already changed.
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I read a lot of great books too to include “The Secret” and the other books written by this author “The Magic” and “The Hero” . These are my absolute FAVORITE books, not just of last year but my FAVORITE PERIOD. If anyone is looking to get their mind seeking positive thoughts and the art of gratitude, the law of attraction, check these books out, either go buy them, rent them, borrow them, download them, whatever you need to do, get these books.
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It is with the practice of gratitude that I feel I have made changes in my life. I just want to share that with anyone reading this. I know when I start writing, I usually have a train of thought I focus on, but of course, the way my brain shifts into the next thought, my typing fingers cant always keep up so I hope you are still following my train of thought.
Now that I have gone through these stages of falling down, and now that I have stood up, what is the next step? It comes down to what I want. What do I want to do with my life? What makes me passionate? Ask yourself this. You may think your dream is not possible. Or there isn’t enough time, or its too late,or you don’t have any money, or blah blah blah what ever your excuse is. GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY. Take everything out of the equation that you think hinders your dreams. Figure out what it is you want, figure out every step it takes to get you there and just go after it. No one else is going to live your life, so don’t let anyone else influence it, unless it is to encourage you and lift you higher. Surround yourself with like-minded people, dive into your passions. Don’t worry about money. Money will follow when you follow your dreams. Maintain positive energy, because that’s when you attract it to you. You can manifest your desires.
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These are just some random thoughts floating around in my head this evening, as I am supposed to be working on some other things, I had the urge to blog for the first time in months, so thank you for stopping by and sharing my thoughts with me.
xoxox, Cecilia

Resetting

I have been trying to write a blog post for a little while and the words are there just not coming out the way I want to. It has been 2 months since my last post. My head just wasn’t in it with all sorts of things happening the past few months. I just wanted to write and let you know I am still here. Just taking a break. I will be back full force soon!

Falling and changing leaves

Like almost every time I sit down in front of my computer to blog, I realize how much time has passed. Once again, a whole month has flown by and I am flabbergasted that I have let so much time lapse in between my posts. The weather is getting cooler here, and I have been trying to get things done at the shop. I have been doing a lot of hair and tattoos lately so I want to share them now with you!
(I didn’t even realize how much hair Ive been doing until I uploaded al these shots! Pretty awesome!)
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Lets not forget some of the facepainting I have been doing too! Between school, church and private parties, I have been busy with that as well. I managed to take some photos of some of the designs!
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Now, I just need to take all my facepaint designs and make a display for when I facepaint for events! I just gotta add that to my long list of things to do!
October will be filled with tons of fun things and I am excited for fun themes and bodypaint concepts, along with tons of candy and watching Hocus Pocus a thousand and one times. Oh, and I finally jumped on the “Pumpkin Spice” bandwagon…and I am ADDICTED!!!!
What is your favorite things about October?
Xoxoxox, Cecilia Marie
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Sweet September

Last weekend, I celebrated my 31st Birthday (Sept 1st is my actual bday) and I had such a great time relaxing and being with my family and loved ones. I am so blessed to be where I am today. I look back on this past year, even this past decade, and I am astonished at how much I am changed, what I have gone through and how strong I became due to my struggles. I am blessed and grateful for everything.
Saturday, we had a soft opening for LAHCIA Studios, nothing too major just some friends and family, food and drinks and music. We got an open sign and have ordered a banner to put up while I look around for quotes for a sign.
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During the tattoo expo, I ran into an old friend, Tracie who works with IT Works Body Wraps and I had her come by and set up a table. I have decided I would like to carry It Works products in the salon because I love the body wraps.
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I have sold 3 wraps already to go towards my start up costs to become a distributor, and I cant wait to sell the last one for me to start up. Adding this to the salon is going to be a lot of fun, so that my clients can get wrapped while they get their hair and nails done. I really love the facial ones as well.
September is already starting out lovely as I was booked up yesterday with a few haircuts and wraps. My stepdad even sent some flowers to me for my birthday as a surprise while he is deployed.
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I am getting our internet set up this week and I cannot wait! I definetly need internet to get things done, especially our website, and for marketing. I hope everyone is having a great week and I will see you in the next post!
Xoxox, Cecilia

I love Monday’s

Some people dread when Mondays rear it’s ugly head around the corner, but for me, Mondays are my rest days. I use my time to catch up on sleep, read and respond to emails, and reset my brain. Summer time is finally ending, it has been a busy one and I am thankful that it is almost September. My kiddos started school today, and I cant believe how fast they are growing up!
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I had to rest because this weekend was full of facepainting and pinup hair! I had the pleasure of facepainting at the Pridefest here in Norfolk on Saturday! I was there for 6 hours! I saw a few friends and even ran into an old friend from high school!
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I wish I had more pics, but was just too busy! But I found some of these online. I heard Deborah Cox singing and everyone was dancing and having a great time.
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I even met a few people that follow me on my instagram, and they made me feel like a lil celebrity, which totally made my day.
I got up early on both saturday and sunday to do some fun pinup hair on a young model, Madison, she was the official Pin Up Girl for the Hot Rod Show in Hampton.
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We are having our Grand Opening of LAHCIA STUDIOS this coming Saturday and I am so excited about it. Even though we don’t have everything the exact way we want, it is a working progress and we want to go ahead and have it. The sooner the better! Now that the summer is winding down, I can shift my focus on the shop. It’s time to let people know we are open for business and ready to help you with all your beauty and art needs!
I have started painting our windows at the shop until we get our vinyl up. I haven’t been up there much due to my busy schedule…but this is what I have up so far. (Don’t judge me, this is my first time painting  a window display.
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I’m watching The Emmy’s and just enjoying my night. I have a huge week ahead of me, so I am off to finish my night and I hope you have a good night and great rest of the week!
XOXOX, Cecilia
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Painted Faces and Skin Wars

Summer time is usually the busiest for facepainters and this summer was no exception. The past few years, my love for art and painting has expanded. If you would’ve told me 5 years ago that I would be a full time artist, self employed, doing hair, makeup, face and body painting and opening my own shop, I wouldn’t have believed you. I have truly been blessed to get to where I am today and it is just the beginning.
I wanted to show some pictures from this past summer that I managed to take of my facepainting adventures. Enjoy!
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Most of the time, I am not able to stop and take a photo, but these were some I was able to take a snapshot of.
I really want to take my painting to the next level and invest in more paints so I can do more body painting. Have you guys seen SKIN WARS? It’s a new body painting competition and it’s awesome. Check out some of these images:
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And what is really cool, is my favorite youtube guru, Kandee Johnson hosts the aftershow “The Naked Truth” on youtube, where she talks about the highlights of the show.
I cant find as many images as I would like to to show you guys, I think the show is too new to have any! hahaha
Have you guys tuned in to see it? What do you think?
As for me, I have tons of ideas in mind for Halloween looks this year, so I need to get to planning. Have a great Wednesday yall and see ya in the next post!
xoxoxo, Cecilia
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