TWITTER IS MY FAVORITE!

Twitter is my all-time favorite social media platform.  As a social media professional, I work with so many different platforms every single day and aside from that, social media is also my passion/hobby.  For a plethora of reasons, Twitter has made me realize that something so small (yet so big) can establish such a powerful connection.  Whether the connection matters on a larger scale or a smaller one, it's still a connection and isn't that all we're after  in the long run?

Usually when running a twitter for a large company, local business or even for yourself, the bottom line or ultimate goal is to connect with people.  Whether you are trying to uphold or create a brand awareness or just communicate personally with friends or a celebrity you may idolize, it's all done through messages and connection.  Twitter makes it so easy to deliver these messages.

What I also cherish about the platform is the power that it has over you to try and make you think.  Should you be tasked with the objective to deliver a message for a company/brand that is so full of information, you may be caught off guard by the character limit.  Because Twitter obviously only allows the user to tweet 140 characters, you must invest more time in thinking about your message, which may in turn make it that much more meaningful.   Because you only have 140 characters, the message is full of that much more value.

Whether you're managing a corporations twitter or your own, you reserve the right to make a brand come alive.  Giving the brand a personality can be so entertaining and rewarding in many ways.  Searching hashtags or keywords in an area  allows you to enter realtime conversation about people that can be qualified and relevant to your brand, which makes the experience all the better.  Not only do you get enjoyment out of your accomplishments in making the brand come alive, but you have done wonders for the social media presence of said brand.  

Most reasons why people use social media can be attributed to multiple things.  Some use it to keep in touch, some use it to find out about brands, some use it to trust in friends about opinions.  No matter the reason, it's important to ensure that you are looking after your brand reputation.  On Twitter, there are so many opportunities to turn a not so favorable instance for a brand, into something that can flip it around and make it memorable. 

Twitter is just one step down from a conversation that is being had in real-time, face to face.  Short bursts of information back and forth.  Because of twitters simplicity index being so high, it is very user-friendly.  Being able to favorite a tweet that you have enjoyed and want to come back to later is a great way to organize.  Like a tweet someone sent?  Retweet it.  Simple as that.  You have the opportunity to share photos, but they count as part of your 140 characters, so chose the caption wisely.  I like this because the idea of a tweet remains the same, there's no exception.  I like the challenge for me personally and for a brand as well.

Although even sooner than later Twitter is looking at a complete redesign, I will still be completely in love.  And you know what?  The redesign thats coming up is not going to be the last one.  If I remember correctly, the platform has just recently changed to a more 'iOS' look which I actually kind of liked.  The new twitter really looks pretty cool and I can't wait for it to roll out for more people.  I love the fact that there really isn't a necessity for an intricate background for each user.  Who knows, there may be that need eventually with the new platform but I don't seem to think that the background is going to be as essential as it used to be anymore.  

I could go on forever about how much I love twitter.  I love that I can share my life with people, I love that I have the power to tell them where I am, or not.  I love that I can connect with people via short bursts of information and I love the challenge that I have when thinking about the tweet that I want to send.  Granted, I love social media as a whole so I don't really hate any platforms, but I just have to admit that Twitter is my all-time favorite.  My twitter feed is the feed of my life!  Let us not forget, twitter was the birthplace of the hashtag.  You're welcome for that reminder.  

Do you guys feel the same way?  What do you NOT like about twitter?  It would be interesting to find out more about what you think because I want to know what everyone else loves and hates about social media.  Like i said, I am impartial because social media just constantly makes me happy, but I know thats not the case for most.  Send me a tweet and let me know what you think.  You never know, we could be on to something.  Thank you for reading.  

Spring is STILL not here, so I'll wear nail polish to make up for it!

So with a very sarcastic-laden caption, I posted this photo on my Instagram a little earlier showing everyone what my polish of choice was for the day:

I just want spring to come, is that too much to ask?

Polish: Koala Bear-y by OPI

Thanks bestie for this exquisite present for my birthday xoxo.

A Friday in the Springtime!

Let's be honest with each other, even if you are a winter fan, you are excited for it to end this year.  To be honest, I don't care where you're from, the winter has sucked this year in New Jersey.  That sentence was not me trying to be mean.  Moving on, I could not be more enthusiastic about the longer, sunnier and warmer days that are coming our way.  This just makes me so happy.  So feeling as inspired as I was with these nice past couple of days I posted a photo on Instagram that just made me feel that much happier.  What have you been rocking on your nails and for army candy lately?

Nail Polish: Sinful Colors, 'Most Sinful'

I really like this polish.  I have been wearing it for three days now (Thurs-Sat).  There is very minimal chipping with no top coat and those polishes are always the best.  Sinful Colors can basically be found anywhere and they are so affordable.  Something different about this Sinful Colors polish though is that it is from their 'Gel Finish' line.  I would definitely give these polishes a try.

Watch: MK 5605

Bracelet: BCBG

Send me a tweet and let me know what you've been wearing to enjoy the first couple of days of spring.  I like spring because it always just makes me so happy leading up to summer.  Who doesn't?

  

St Patrick's Day Cupcake Wars at the Office!

So I 100% wanted to make sure that I saved this post for today of course!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I don't know if any of you are Irish but I am a little bit.  We don't normally celebrate at my house or anything but at my office this year, we had a cupcake decorating contest!  This was someone on the executive teams idea and when he first approached me about sending out a mass e-mail to get everyone involved, I must admit that I was nervous.  I honestly didn't think that anyone was going to participate but I was completely wrong, a couple of people did.  I was so excited!

So instead of each person on my team at work making separate cupcakes, we decided to get together and make them together and we are so happy that we did.  I looked up some ideas on Pinterest and I couldn't find anything better than these, so we decided to go with it.  The competition was on Friday at the office so Thursday during lunch we went to the supermarket and got the ingredients and after work, we went to my coworkers house and started baking/decorating!

This is what the inside ended up looking like.  We were so excited when we finally got the batter to actually look like this orange color.  Must admit, I used SO MUCH yellow with a little bit of red and it took a lot of mixing to get it to this point.  I love it although it took so long.  The green took two seconds because of course it didn't involve mixing any colors.  Of course if you get the color too dark, you can always add more yellow but this didn't involve any of that.  

Here's what the final product looked like after adding the Rolos for the pots of gold!  We were impressed with them but what we did realize was that it was so hard to get the rainbows to stand up.  We used the AirHead rainbow candies and we think it might have been the wrong ones or something because they were a little bit 'gummier?'  Hahaha, I don't know.  

Overall I was really happy with the way they came out!  I had suggested that they stay in the fridge over night but we didn't end up doing that and I think it would have helped.  We ended up winning second place in the contest to someone who made ALMOST THE SAME EXACT cupcakes.  The only difference was that the batter was funfetti (not as cool as our tie dye, hahaha), the icing was green, and there were Lucky Charms on it instead of pots of gold.  The biggest thing was that a guy made it, hahah so he won!  It's healthy competition so we didn't mind, it was altogether really fun and we love doing this kind of stuff in the office to hang out with everyone.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  If you are doing anything to celebrate let me know in the comments or send me a photo/tweet on twitter!  I hope you enjoy the holiday and I'll talk to you soon!

ECZEMA and DRY SKIN care for the dreaded winter!

I have been talking a lot lately about dry skin and let me tell you, I just about feel like the authority.  Ever since I was a kid, I have always had eczema.  When I was younger, I had it awful.  It was all over my hands and that was the only place, but it was SEVERE.  I used to sleep with socks on my hands and vaseline covering them until it just wouldn't go away so my dad took me to the doctor and I got something prescribed.  For what seems like all through my teenage years, I didn't get it as bad and only through the winters.  Because I hated going and getting something prescribed, I tried to always just use lotion on my hands or vaseline but it never did the trick as well as a prescription of course.  For the past couple of years of my 20's I have had it a small amount during the winter just like during my teen years, but this winter it has been the worst it has ever been in my entire life.

I'm sure if you have previously read my posts, you will see that I wrote about a cleanser that burned my eyes.  That ended up not being the case.  What happened was, I got eczema on my face this year.  I don't necessarily know if it had transferred onto my face from my hands, because normally it isn't a 'contact dermatitis' type condition, I think that it definitely just has developed onto my face.  This has never happened before and it was BRUTAL all winter long.  I have also noticed that if I was to fall asleep without removing makeup (bad anyway), the eczema will flare up even worse.

I am not brave enough yet to share pictures with you of what my eyes look like when they are swollen and red, so I won't do that, but maybe eventually.  You may also remember last Monday when I wrote about going to the eye doctor.  At that visit, she gave me a new, more 'allergy-friendly' contact solution which seems to actually have helped the situation and that makes me a little happier as well.

Moving into some products to help combat dry skin.  Let me start by saying that First Aid Beauty literally is exactly what it says: First Aid.  I was using Aveeno for a while which was working fine, but when I started to get the dry skin and eczema on my face, it was all of a sudden not working for me.  Perhaps come warmer weather I can start using it again but I have to be honest and say that I probably won't do that again because I have fallen in love with First Aid Beauty.  I plan to do a full post about their products because I have just yesterday purchased two more things from the line that I want to try out before I write more and comment.

Neosporin has never been anything special to me.  I mean, when do you ever use Neosporin for anything other than cuts and scrapes when you were a kid right?  Well, now there is another reason.  I was walking down the Cortizone aisle at Target looking for their version of Eczema-specialized cream when I saw the Neosporin one instead.  I saw that on the packaging it said 'Eczema Essentials' and I felt like it was a match made in heaven.  This is ridiculous but when you have eczema, it's the little things.  This stuff is MAGIC.  Nothing has helped me the way this has.  Not only does it ease the pain of the condition, but it moisturizes with irritation and improves your skin LEAPS and BOUNDS.  

Cortizone is in here because I figured I would mention that it's the only thing that works on my face.  The Neosporin cannot be put near your eyes, so I have the Cortizone for that.  I actually consulted my doctor and she said that Cortizone is fine to put near the eyes so I trusted her and it helps so much.  Not only does it reduce the swelling, but it calms the skin and slowly takes away the redness.  It does sting extremely horribly when you apply it I must say, but the momentary pain is 5000% worth it in the end.  I would definitely recommend Cortizone 10 Intensive Healing Formula, it's safe for the face.  

Just a quick statement on the products that I have tried by them though: they are amazing.  These products are very tolerant to sensitive skin.  The reason why I picked them up is because I heard about them online.  I knew that if the brand was called 'First Aid Beauty,' there had to be a reason.  When I went and checked the brand out in Sephora, I saw most of it said 'Safe for sensitive skin' or 'dermatologically tested' and instantly I was so happy.  I started with just the moisturizer, then I bought the cleanser and then I bought the redness serum and I am obsessed.  More to come about them later but for now you shall know that they are eczema friendly products and that makes me happy.

I picked up Mario Badescu 'Hydrating Hand Cream' while I was at Blue Mercury not too long ago and as you can see, I have torn halfway through it.  I love this stuff because the scent isn't too bad, which I will talk about with the next product.  This doesn't irritate your hands and it hydrates very nicely.  I really like the application and I feel like a little bit goes a long way.  I think the peppermint element calms and soothes your hands so that makes me the happiest when I know I don't have to worry about something smelling great irritating my hands.  This is definitely great to have at my desk at work and another one in my purse or car for on the go.  Thank you Mario!  

This is my last and final product to talk about.  I LOVE this stuff, it's called 'Dream Cream' by Lush.  Although now I have found the Neosporin, this was what I first purchased and it made such a huge difference.  I immediately got results when I put this on my hand because of the calamine elements woven within the lotion.  The one bad thing I have to say about this though is that the smell is terrible.  I used to have this in my desk at work because it worked so well but it wasn't user-friendly and it did NOT smell good, so I switched to the Mario Badescu, but I switched right back because this one made a better impact and difference on my skin.  Thank you Lush!

Overall, I am so happy that I have found these products as they have made my eczema suffering suck a LOT less.  Although there really is no way to make eczema go away if you don't go to the doctor, these products have made the winter a little more tolerable.  I am going to get back under the covers of my couch and get ready to watch the newly premiering 'Crisis' tonight, you guys stay here!  Send me a tweet and let me know if I'm missing anything.  Talk to you soon and thank you for reading!