Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 YouTube Channels

I remember back in the early days of YouTube when it was all cat videos and everything was 3 minutes or less, or else no one would watch it. The YouTube scene has certainly changed a lot since then. YouTube is now dominated by ambitious vloggers, posting multiple times a week to their own branded channels. I subscribe to more than a few channels that I enjoy watching. Here are my top ten favorite YouTube channels!

1. Practical Folks

This is SUCH an underrated channel. The Practical Folks first gained some fame for their Drunk Disney series, in which a group of twenty-somethings watch Disney movies while getting drunk and making hilarious commentary. They recently revamped their channel to include skits and vlogs, as well as a weekly Game of Thrones discussion. They seem really passionate about what they do, and I hope they can get more recognition.


2. My Drunk Kitchen/Hannah Hart

Hannah Hart has a great series of videos where she gets drunks and makes food, while being hilarious and occasionally philosophical. Her channel has gotten huge since I started watching her videos, and she's branched out into other types of videos now. Her videos are always very entertaining, not to mention a little educational with all the cooking tips!


3. Ingrid Nilsen

Ingrid is a great fashion/makeup/lifestyle vlogger who makes really well-produced videos. About a year ago, her video in which she came out went viral. Her channel is a little bit of everything, and I feel like I always come away with some good tips on whatever topic she's speaking about.


4. Fitness Blender

Fitness Blender is my go-to channel for workout videos. They have a great variety of workouts for every body part, every occasion, every person, and every level of fitness. Their videos are fairly simply produced with little distraction, which I appreciate.


5. Miniature Space

You never see this YouTuber, only their hands, holding teeny tiny cooking utensils while cooking teeny tiny food. There's something sort of zen about it sometimes; I mean, cooking tiny amounts of food over a tea light takes some time commitment. The teeny tiny furniture adds to the ambiance of tiny-ness.


6. Tati/GlamLifeGuru

Makeup tutorials used to be the main thing I watched on YouTube (uh, besides cat videos), but now that I've discovered that there's so much more to YouTube, I find myself watching tutorial videos less. Tati, however, is great! Maybe it's because we're similar in age, unlike a lot of the other 20-something youths (Youths!). She reviews a ton of products, from drugstore (which is what I buy) to super-high-end stuff (which I'll never buy but am curious about), and tries out a lot of different looks.


7. Threadbanger

This YouTube channel is run by husband and wife team Rob and Corinne, who each have individual channels as well. They basically try all kinds of Pinterest, DIY, crafty, trending kind of things and record their honest and hilarious results. They are so engaging and fun and irreverent, and it's a great twist on the Pinterest-life that numerous DIY channels emulate.

8. Jenna Marbles

Jenna Marbles has been around longer than most YouTubers, and she is probably my most favorites. She only posts once a week,and they are typically crazy, troll-y videos that I love. Her boyfriend, Julian, posts daily vlogs about their life together (plus their dogs, bonus!). I don't know if it's because she's one of the first real YouTubers I started watching, or if it's just how crazy hilarious all her videos are, but I love her. Her videos are very unique compared to lot of other channels on YouTube.


9. Grace Helbig

Grace is another lifestyle-type vlogger. I like her because not only is she awkward, but she's honest about how awkward she is. 

10. Traci J. Hines

Traci is Helvetica the Hipster Mermaid, and if that's not enough reason to immediately go check out her channel, then I don't know what to do with you. She's also a very prolific Disney cosplayer, singer, and voiceover artist. 

Weekend Roundup - Flower Crowns, Walks, & Kittens

My weekend was rather eventful! My boyfriend had to work all weekend, so instead of just being lazy and becoming one with the couch (like I typically would) I decided to get outside and do a few things!

First up on Saturday was a flower arranging class at Whole Foods! About 10 of us gathered under some tents outside and watched Diana show us how to properly arrange floral bouquets. It was pretty interesting watching her work as she cut off extraneous leaves, trimmed down tea leaves, and placed each flower just so. While she created several beautiful bouquets, she dropped some knowledge. For example, did you know that roses usually have several 'guard petals' that are used only to protect the rest of the petals?

After making 3 different bouquets, one with hydrangea, one with roses and baby's breath, and one with lilies and pink roses, she showed us how to make a flower crown before sending us off to some tables filled with jars of various kinds of flowers.

 I really liked the crown I made and I had a lot of fun doing it!

From there ('there' being the Runway Playa Vista outdoor mall thing), I decided to walk over to the Playa Vista rummage sale that takes place annualy at Concert Park. It wasn't too far a walk, and it was a lovely area to walk through anyway. 

I didn't find anything good to buy at the rummage sale, so I walked back to my car, went home, and watched Season 2 of the Unbreakable Kimmy Schimdt netflix show for the rest of the night. And that was my Saturday!

On Sunday, I had a shift at the Kitten Foster program at the animal shelter where I volunteer. I cleaned a few cages, did some laundry, mopped, and then I got to do playgroup with the kittens!! One at a time, each cat condo was emptied of it's kittens into a very tall cage, filled with toys, treats, and me!! My job was pretty much just to watch them, pet them, entertain them, and make sure they didn't get out. It was like heaven. The first group of kittens consisted of a mix bag of 5 kittens, plus their mama cat too. 

The next group consisted of 5 black kittens!! How freaking cute is this little black hole with eyes??

You have no idea how challening it is to photograph a bunch of kittens scampering around.

This one was my favorite. I wanted to put her in my purse and take her home with me!

 Look at that photogenic little face!!!

So that was my flowers, walks, and kittens-filled weekend!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Lip Balms!

Lip balm is one of my favorite, and most necessary, things in life. I always have at least one on me. Even if I'm just walking around somewhere, chances are I have one in my pocket, in addition to the several back-ups in my purse. Burt's Bees used to be my jam, and is the first lip balm that I ever religiously used. I stuck to it for a long time, but eventually branched out to other brands. Here is a list of my top ten favorite lip balms!


1. Chapstick, Cake Batter Flavor

I'm a fairly recent convert to Chapstick. Chapstick really appeals to me due to how soft the balm is, and also because of how many flavors they have. My number one all time favorite now and forever is Cake Batter. It makes me feel like I'm rubbing a soft marshmallow all over my lips!


2. Chapstick, Candy Cane Flavor

I love mint flavors, so the Candy Cane flavored Chapstick is another favorite of mine! And yeah, I'm listing two different flavors of Chapstick. That's how much I like each of them. So there!


3. Hurraw Lip Balm

Hurraw is this great company that only uses organic ingredients and is completely vegan. I love the oval shape of the tube; it's so unique, and it keeps it from rolling off your desk! They have a lot of great and unusual flavors, like Grapefruit, Lime, Root Beer, Orange, Green Tea - there's something for everybody.


4. Eos

These got really popular a few years ago, but I never tried them until recently. The unique round shape of EOS is my most and least favorite thing about it. I like that it's unique, but it does make it awkward to put in your pocket. I do appreciate the wide range of flavors. They've even branched out into lotion and shaving cream.

5. Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer

These lip shimmers from Burt's Bees are great because they not only moisturize your lips like a lip balm, but they also give you a bit of color. No need for lipstick with these babies!

6. Lip Smackers, Dr. Pepper Flavor

Not only does this lip balm from Lip Smackers taste very reminiscent of my favorite carbonated beverage, Dr. Pepper, but it also gives your lips a very subtle tint!


7. Maybelline Baby Lips

These only recently found their way into my collection, but they're pretty great. I love that they're swivel-up kind, so it's almost like you're putting lipstick on. I have one that's a cute pink color, and another nude one. They smell excellent! 

8. Vaseline Lip Therapy

These are also a newer addition to my lip balm hoard. I love Vaseline in general, and this tiny tub was too cute to pass up. I've tried the Rosy Lips one, and it's great! It's just as uber-moisturizing as your regular Vaseline, but it's scented and I believe, slightly tinted. I haven't tried the cocoa butter yet, but you better believe I will soon!

9. Rosebud Salve

Rosebud Salve used to be on everyone's must list a few years ago, and I too had a tin of it in my purse. The great thing about this balm is that you can use it not only on your lips, but also on your cheeks for a hint of color! The only thing I didn't really like is that you have to use your finger to apply it (unless you happen to have a lip brush) and if you have longer nails, it's gonna get gunked up under there. Still, it's a really great, moisturzing lip balm. 

10. Burt's Bees

Sigh. I guess I"ll put this one on the list, if only for being my gateway drug into the world of moisturized lips so many moons ago. I loved the formulation of it back then; it was so smooth and made my lips feel all tingly. However, I'm pretty sure they changed it, and now it just seems waxy and dull to me. Still, I do use it sometimes if it's the only one in arm's reach. Plus, they've expanded into a whole new world of flavors, and they even have lipsticks now!! Good for you, Burt's Bees.


None of these products are sponsored, I just really really love lip balm. 

April Stitch Fix Box - Oh Em Gee

Wow, my Stitch Fix boxes just keep topping themselves! This box was full of awesome items of clothing that I loved! I told my stylist that I've been looking for a nice dress to wear to semi-fancy events, and shorts for the summer time. My stylist, Sarah, somehow managed to read my mind and pick some things that I really loved!

Pixley Dexter Faux Wrap Dress

This was the first goody I pulled out of the box, and I nearly squealed when I saw it. It's this gorgeous, soft, beautiful faux wrap dress in purple, no less. This literally couldn't have been more perfect, like, seriously, for real. 

Loveappella Canon Button Detail Striped Knit Top

I was able to get 3 items in one picture with this one! First, I'll talk about the top. It's a soft striped black and cream t-shirt with button embellishments on the sleeves. It's pretty much a classic me top! As soon as I saw it, I was like, 'Yup, this will be going into my regular rotation.'

Liverpool Kaiden Cuffed Denim Short

These shorts fit like a dream! They're slightly stretchy, despite being denim, so they're not restrictive like denim often feels. They're soft and cozy, and the perfect length too. I have a feeling I'm going to be wearing these a LOT this summer.

Octavia Jolene Zipper Flap Crossbody  Bag in Mint

I love that my stylist sent me this because I pinned something similar in my StitchFix pinterest board. I love this kind of bag, and I'd been looking for a new bag for summer. The color is great; I typically don't have many green things, but this mint color is great for summer, and a nice complement to the purple things I wear! I started using this bag literally the day I got it.

Skies are Blue Ernie Crochet Detail Top

To be honest, I didn't super love this tank top. But with the 'buy all 5' discount, it was actually cheaper to include this in my purchase than to leave it off! That was interesting. It's a nice top, I didn't just didn't particularly love it, especially compared to how much I loved all the other pieces. But tht's okay! 


Overall, this may have been my favorite box so far. I'm definitely going to keep going with my subscription and I can't wait to see what the next box has in store for me! Thanks a ton to my stylist, Sarah!

America's Family Pet Expo 2016

This weekend we went to a Pet Expo at the OC Fair & Event Center. Multiple events were on-going throughout the weekend, including shows like a weiner dog race, bird show, and police dog demonstrations. Several buildings housed many different kind of animals to see and pet!

The very first thing we saw (after some horses and llamas) was a diving dog show. These dogs had been trained to run and leap into the air after a chew toy, landing in the pool below. They didn't always catch it, but darn it, they tried their best!

Next, we walked past some of the rescue shelters areas, where all the dogs out were available for adoption. Then we made our way to one of the buildings where they were showcasing all different kinds of dog breeds. 

Apparently, literally every breed of dog has an advocacy group devoted to it, and most of them were there. All your favorite dog breeds, plus every single one you've heard of and several you didn't, had booths set up, with information about the breed and a few dogs out that you could admire and pet.

I didn't get very many good pictures of dogs because I was much too concerned with trying to pet them. But rest assured, there were SO MANY cute and soft and fluffy dogs.

Including, one of my favorites, CORGIS. If only I'd brought a bigger purse, I could have tried to smuggle one away with me.

We headed into the next building, which was full of reptiles! They had snakes you could buy, and they stored them in these weird plexiglass containers. I've never seen anything like it before! 

The next section had fish, which was pretty boring, but they did have some very cool tanks set up, like this one with neon fish and neon rocks.

The building next to that was the cat building! They had a few breed groups, like the dogs, but most seemed to be rescue groups with cages full of cats. There was even a corner for bunnies!

They also showcased some dog houses you could buy that look better than most people's actual homes.

The Pet Expo was pretty fun, though it was extremely crowded. The aisles were often hard to traverse with everyone gawking at the cute dogs, which is understandable. The sheer amount and variety of pets was pretty astonishing. There was something for everyone!

Disney California Adventure's Food & Wine Festival - Kurt Russell Q&A!

This past weekend, we attended the Food & Wine Festival at California Adventure. This is the first time in several years that they've held this festival, due to all the construction that took place. This festival celebrates all things food and wine. They have a festival marketplace set up near Cars Land, where you can purchase bites of all kinds of culinary delights, as well as glasses of wine! The festival also offers beverage seminars, where you can learn about wine, beer, and spirits from experts, and celebrity kitchen seminars, where you can learn about food from top chefs!

This was actually our second visit to this festival this year, but the first time was not nearly as exciting as this time. Our first visit, we went to a special tasting hosted by the Silverado Winery, which is owned by Ron Miller and Diane Disney (Walt's daughter). The head winemaker gave a short talk about the winery and how they operate, and we had 3 tastings of wine while sitting outside at the beautiful Sonoma Terrace.

The Blue Sky Cellar is also a special AP-only area, much like during the recent AP days, where annual passholders can get a special pin, sit for a while, and charge your phone. They also had a cool display showing the design process for a recent Mickey balloon-shaped popcorn bucket.

During the trip this weekend, we went to a special celebrity kitchen with none other than Kurt Russell! Kurt is an apprentice winemaker and has his own winery, GoGi Wines.

The event, held in Stag 17, had several rows of chairs and tables set up, with forks, napkins, and water glasses already in place, along with a notepad and Disneyland Hotel pen.

A bearded Kurt Russell spoke for about an hour and a half about how he first became interested in wine while on vacation in France, about opening up his winery, and even got super technical, talking about what kind of dirt the grapes are grown in, the all the different clones of merlot. 

We first got 2 tastings of his Chardonnay, called Goldie, and a viognier that he only makes for his mother! He had to ask her to spare a few cases for this event, which is why it wasn't as full a glass as the other tastings were. Both were delicious!

We also got a full plate of food, to taste along with the wine and see how different flavors were brought out by each. There were several kinds of cheese, nuts, raisins, dried pineapple, strawberries, and cheese on a piece of toast.

The 90 minutes flew by, and before we knew it, it was time for some Q&A. People asked him questions about his early career, when he was a kid working for Disney. He talked about Walt Disney congratulating him on his baseball championship win, and about playing catch with Elvis. What a life he's had!!

We also got a nice tasting of his red wine as well, plus a chocolate dessert!!

At the end, everyone got to have their picture taken with him and chat for a quick second. During our turn, my boyfriend mentioned that we'd recently bought a bottle of Tiger for a friends' dinner party, and Kurt laughed and said he loved drinking that wine!

And now for a bonus duck story!! While having a glass of wine prior to the Kurt Russell event at Sonoma Terrace, we saw 4 little baby ducklings quacking along. Everyone in the vicinity, self included, immediately started 'awwww'-ing. But where was their mother??

The ducks wandered off into some bushes, and then the momma duck came down a nearby flight of stairs with two yellow baby ducks in tow, quacking what I can only assume meant "where are you damn kids?" in duck-language. She walked around and people tried to shepherd her over to where the baby ducks had been.

I lost track of them until we were heading out, and saw this happy sight of the momma duck reunited with her lost ducklings. It's like a Disney movie!!

Bonus Fun Wheel at night picture! Ooooh.