Wesley Chapel Road Test Experience (First Try in Pasco County, FL)

 

Address: Pasco Tax Collector - 4610 Pet Ln #101, Lutz, FL 33559

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Alltrue Subscription Box Overview & My Summer Welcome Box

 

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of their weekend!  Let me share something with you that I am very excited about!

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Life Updates!

 

Hello everyone! You might be wondering where I might have been because it has been a while since I    posted on this blog. Sorry about that! As usual, life gets in the way.

But now, writing calls to me once more, so I am writing here again. I hope to maintain that momentum and continue to write here on a regular basis.

In this blog post, I wanted to share some life updates -  what I have been doing, what had happened to me, what changes I have embraced, and what are the things that are keeping me busy.

Lets's start by going back to October 2020. I finally left the office world and resigned as a Legal Assistant for my first and real job here in the United States. I was sad to leave behind pears I have known for almost 3 years, but was happy to take on a new path that I was so excited to take - to be a full-time content creator. 

For a while, I was so happy to be home, do the things I love to do, and focus more on improving and growing my Instagram account. I was also in the midst of talking business with my brother and trying to set up an Etsy store. But the latter took an unexpected turn and it never came to fruition. 

Despite not being able to finish setting up a business, I was happy to find a routine that works for me so I can focus more on spiritual things while still doing and improving my content creation. I bought a camera -  (Canon EOS M200), to build my photography game. I had the opportunity to spend more time with close friends, while carrying out our ministry together. I was also able to maintain a clean home and even better care of our fur baby Luke. I was indeed living the life I had longed for and I was happy even in the middle of the pandemic. My mental health improved a great deal and I was finally getting back to my old cheerful self. 

Last September 2020, I finally decided to apply for my US citizenship. I had my interview/exam on April 26 of 2021, I passed and took the Oath on May 6, where I officially became a US citizen. I applied for a US passport the following day and I'm still waiting to get it.

I feel like I was doing really good and I am definitely enjoying being home all day! I was even getting at least 1 paid brand deal every month and I was constantly receiving offers from brands to promote their products and also being added to PR lists. Think of it as a dream come true for an aspiring full-time content creator like myself!

But sometimes, responsibility calls back to you. My husband is still helping her mother and I wanted to help my family in the Philippines financially as well. If it's just me and my husband,  he can take care of us and all our bills.

I tried looking for work from home jobs to have a stable income. Unfortunately, most of them are call center jobs (which demands long hours on the phone and weekend work). And although I can't be picky as we are in the pandemic and everyone needs income, I must take into consideration my mental health and spiritual well-being. 

On top of being anxious about trying to find a job from home, I received the sad news that my father has been in an accident and needed to be operated on as soon as possible. Thankfully, my youngest sister along with the help of my other siblings and my mother was able to get the money and my dad was able to do the operation. But the dilemma did not end there because right after that, my grandmother (my mom's mother) had a stroke. I can't imagine how devastating and saddening, this is for my mother. And since I was too far away, I can't do much - emotionally and financially.

But it must be a blessing in disguise when I was offered a position back on my previous job. After just seven months off, I came back. As I am not yet mentally ready to be a legal assistant again, my supervisor was pleased to accept my request to work at the front desk. As I was writing this, I'm turning three months being back on the job! Do I miss being home? Absolutely! Do I like working back in the outside world, I wasn't thrilled, but honestly, I'm glad. I love what I do and I like the people that I work with. And of course, I'm glad to finally have a regular income so that I can at least give some financial support to my family. 

It's been a struggle keeping up with products and PR reviews in addition to keeping the house clean, but I can still manage. I decided to limit, accepting non-paid brand offers and also to limit my application to free products online. I think I am slowly getting better at it. :) 

One sad life update though, we gave away our precious fur baby Luke. 😔 We had a hard time keeping up with him since we are both back working, so we decided that he has to be in a new family that can give him the space and attention he needs. I cried for three days, but I felt better knowing that he has now found a new family and home that can give him a better life. 

On another note, I started practicing how to drive again! I got my learner's permit way back in 2018 and just stopped practicing because I didn't feel the need to drive. But now that I am back at work, I'm so ready to get that license so I don't have to bother my coworkers by asking them to drop me off at home. I am taking my driving exam next month and I am getting anxious, nervous but excited at the same time. I am going to write everything about it here on my blog. Stay tuned!

So that's it for now! I hope you still find your way back to my blog. Please feel free to share any ideas and suggestions of what you wanted to read here. Let me know in the comments below.

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My Favorite Editing Apps for my Instagram Posts

 

Do you struggle to get that perfect photo to posts on your social media channels? Do you lack the tools that most content creators have like a ring light for brighter photos, a professional camera, or even a phone with a good camera? Or you just don't have time to catch that natural sunlight or golden hour for better-looking photos?

Whatever your struggles are, know that you are not alone. Even with years of posting on my social media channels, I still struggle to get that "one" photo that will just feel right sometimes. And believe me, there will be just days that you won't like any photo you take no matter what.

But it's good to know that there are some apps out there that can help us step up our photography game. Today, I'm gonna be sharing some of the editing apps I used for my Instagram photo and video posts. Please note that I am not a professional in editing photos or videos, but with practice and persistence in learning these apps, YOU can be one. 😉

1. Lightroom 

   This app is what I usually used for all my photo editing needs. You can control your photo's color temperature and tint, adjust brightness, apply effects, and even apply presets that you have. I don't play that much in all of these settings right now because I was blessed enough to get presets from @nickypresets. She has a wonderful selection and I love using her Bright and Airy preset for my current feed. The bottom line, you have a lot of control over this app and it's user-friendly and not complicated to use at all plus it's free.

2. Snapseed

            Just like Lightroom, this app is free and super easy to use too. Upon opening the app and uploading your photo, you are already given different filters you can choose from. But if nothing from them caught your detailed-eyes, you can go ahead and explore more of their different filters or manually edit your photo easily under Tools. You can tune up your image, adjust contrast and brightness or make it vintage-like, HDR scape, glamour glow, grainy film, or retroflux. My favorite feature in this app would be the vignette and lens blur. Lens blur was my most used feature in this app (before I bought my Mirrorless camera) as I sometimes don't like my background and with this feature, I can easily blur it.

3. A Color Story

    I haven't tried this editing app as much as Lightroom and Snapseed but this is quite a favorite of a lot of content creators. You have access to limited but enough free filters and effects to choose from, then the rest of the selection within the app is paid ($2.99 or more). If you are just starting out, the free filters are already good enough. But, if by all means, you found something that calls for you and matches the aesthetic of your Instagram feed, go ahead and get it. It's only a low investment you have to make.

4. Fotorus

    Do you need to do a photo collage, maybe a before and after, or wanted to beautify a photo? This free editing app can do that for you. It was actually one of the first apps I used when I was just starting out. Now, I still love to use it for a before and after photo collage and if I wanted to include captions within my photos.

5. Meitu

    Do you have something in your photo that you wish was never there? Behold, this app can erase it for you! I discovered this app while watching some Tiktok videos and was amazed at how easy it is to erase unwanted things on your photo. Although I use this app mainly for that feature, it has more to offer. You can easily edit your videos in this app and make them extra with transitions, music, effects, stickers, and texts. This is what I used to create my low-key L'oreal Infallible foundation reel and my Statusphere Unboxing IGTV on Instagram.

6. Go Pro App

    If you watched my previous Instagram reels (like this one), I made those videos using this app. I don't even have an account because I don't have a Go Pro camera but it lets me edit my videos seamlessly. When you uploaded your videos, it will automatically choose transitions and music for you but you can manually edit them on your own. It has limited capability I might say but it's perfect for a total noob like me who knows nothing about creating amazing videos like others.😁

Bonus:

StoryLuxe

This is another app I found from watching Tiktok videos. It's not an editing app that you can use to fully edit your photos but it's more like an Instagram story template app. It has some cool templates for your Instagram story although you have to get the paid version if you want to have more access. It's pretty basic and using it is a no-brainer. Just choose your template and upload your photos and your Instagram story is ready to go.

Canva

              This is one of my favorite apps to use and many content creators would agree that Canva is one of the best free sites/applications where you can do so much more than editing photos. Canva offers tons of free templates for your Instagram feed post or story post. I love that they also have animated ones that can spice up your posts. They also have templates for Instagram story polls and questions you are free to use. It is super easy to use!

            Have you tried any of these? Let me know your favorite editing apps to use!

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My Favorite Makeup Brands to Follow on Instagram! (TOP 8)

 

As you might already know, I love beauty and started to love makeup not long before I started my Instagram page (which is about 5 years in the making). 

As I spent more time on Instagram and tried different makeup, I have come to love some makeup brand pages and I am going to share them with you on today's blog. I have Top 8 to share, let's go!

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