How to be a house guest holiday edition!

We all love our families and can't wait till holiday time to get together for that last week of December and share this special time with the people we love. The tree, the kids, the snow and the moments that we will always remember for years to come. But, sometimes it doesn't always go as planned.

I mean what about the wet towels on the floor in the bathroom, your husband busting up a suit case leaving his clothes everywhere, the guys ransacking the kitchen, the kids finding the candy-cains before they get to the tree and your kid is the culprit! The man of the house forgetting his job of removing the snow from the walkway because his brother is in town. Not only is the visiting family in a uproar, but also the host family.

Kids are moved from their beds and transferred to a pull out, the bathroom becomes prime real estate, late hours waiting for the kids to sleep so you can actually have a cocktail or a adult conversation without hearing she pulled me, he's touching my stuff.

This can all be very overwhelming and even though I love my family and would do anything for them, visitations can go wrong in the blink of an eye. A question you ask your spouse could cause the other couple to go into a shouting match!! Believe me I know I lived it!!

Before you cancel your family gathering I am going to offer you a survival guide on

How to be a good guest holiday edition:

1. Include yourself and your family in daily chores.
Dishes, taking out the trash, preparing meals, running to the store, cleaning up.
This will ease some of the tension if everyone works together.

2. Keep the kids happy
Rotating who keeps the kids busy with stories, games, silly conversations, holiday crafts, movies, etc..
This keeps the noise down and gives every one a break from being a referee.

3. Keep your stuff in your given area.
Keeping your luggage and personal belongings in a designated area keeps the house from looking like baggage claim of an airport and it helps so you don't leave behind your favorite pajamas when its time to go.
And the host will appreciate it more then you know!

4. Don't change their life styles
Many people live different ways, I say to each their own. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If they eat at 5pm you eat at 5pm. If they don't give their kids a snack before dinner, hold back on the snacks for your kids if any. You don't want to put the family out of sync and you don't want a child to cry when you leave, only because you gave them cookies when the parents said no.

5. Offer your awesome services
Cook a meal, watch the kids while they do some shopping, take the kids to see a holiday movie while they gift wrap. Make your presence valuable not burden some, you do want to be called back next year!!

6. Don't bring up the past
If your family is anything like mine, you know there are certain topics not to bring up, because Christmas will just be canceled after that. If these subjects come up, do your best to skip to something more lighthearted.
You don't want your brother staring you down because you brought up his high school sweet heart do you?

7. Make yourself scarce
Get out of the house for a day if staying more then a week.
Take a drive, go shopping. Do something that will keep you and yours out of the house for a few hours.
Cabin fever with family never ends well.

8. Don't take up to much time of a spouse
Brothers are brothers. Sisters are sisters. Don't take them away during the whole visit from their spouse the holidays are a special time especially for couples, give them their space. If a lovers spat breaks out let it pass, they will mend things on their own.

9. Be like Switzerland
If a argument breaks out and they are asking for advice, the best advice is just to listen and let them blow off steam. Listen to your brother as he claims his wife is a bitch. Listen to your sister as she screams her husband is a ass. Don't take sides, just listen. They will think your nuts and walk away after a while of you not responding to them. Better to be nuts then the reason for a fueling a dying fire.

10. Have fun!!
The holidays are a special time for everyone, a time where memories are made and moments cherished.
Don't bring your worries to the festivities, leave them at the door. A New Year is beginning! A second chance don't let the last year effect the next one. Enjoy your family, friends and holidays!!

I hope this little guide helps! Share this post if you like it, It helps me out and makes me happy :)

Laurie M.

On a personal note

There is something I want to share with you all, something personal, something special to me.
And that is the other side of blogging, the ins and outs the ups and downs.

And I feel that I cannot do that here since this is a beauty blog, I feel it wont be right to combine the two, it may get confusing to the readers and they may not want to know about my personal journey as a beauty blogger.

So I created a personal blog to share my journey as a beauty blogger, wife, mom woman with you all.

This blog will help other bloggers with tips and advice on creating and setting up their blogs and well as all the things I go through to keep themakeupsquid.com going.

Makeupbeautyandme.blogspot.com

I would love for you to check it out and share your insight with me and also I will be able to answer any blogging questions you may have. Hope to see you there.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

A blog is born

I started my beauty blog www.themakeupsquid.com in august of 2013.

I did not know what I was doing, I did not know where to begin, so I did what I always do.

I jumped right in and went for it.

I chose a name the makeup squid. How did I pick that name?

I went to a site that helps you pick screen names, I found it through Google.

I typed in my key word Makeup, then a few interests and then nothing, for hours.

I asked people to describe me in one word and all I got back was, straightforward, bitchy and real.

Nothing clicked. So I just started searching Google and while browsing I saw the site Squidoo.com and it happened, I asked my daughter what do you think about themakeupsquid? 

She immediately said yes and I liked it too.

I knew it was different and no one in the world had a name like that for anything beauty related, so I signed up with blogger, twitter, Facebook, instagram, pintrest and tumblr. I know that's a lot of social networks but I wanted to tie up the name.

I got all that down, now I needed a look. My beauty blog has the same layout as this blog.

I like the clean layout, even though my other blog can get pretty cluttered in the side bars, I go in there every so often and clean it up.

I joined bloglovin and themakeupsquid was born.

After a few weeks I wanted a personal domain name, leaving the blogger URL in a signature just looked strange to me and I wanted it to spike curiosity not a eyesore.

Once I got the domain name I hooked it up to blogger and lost every comment I ever got up until that point.

It was a very bittersweet moment for me, happy I got my domain, sad that all my comments were gone.

I wrote a few posts on beauty blogging that got some good attention and some beauty posts.

But I had to choose who I wanted as my main audience, bloggers or people who wanted beauty advice?

This all depends on the type of post you write. If I write a post on 10 best blogging tips, I get other bloggers.

If I write a post on 10 best eye liners, I get people looking for advice.

I love helping people, but I don't want to get stuck there. I want to help my fellow bloggers as well as non bloggers. I learned that your early readers will be other bloggers.

This blog is going to be about my journey as a beauty blogger, I hope you stay and visit often as this will be a behind the scenes look of a beauty blogger.

It wont be flawless or perfect, but it will be genuine.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Laurie M.

Just to say thanks!

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has followed my blog, followed me on twitter, liked me on Facbook, Instagram, Pintrest, Tumblr and any other social network I am on.

My family and I have been going through a lot these past few months. There have been times where I have looked around and said Oh, my God, I need a break. A break from life and all the havoc it can bring in the blink of an eye to a once peaceful life. I always wanted to blog and vlog about beauty but never had the guts or the right frame of mind to do so. I love it so much I cannot even comprehend a life without it. I mean I feel that if I don't do this something inside of me will die.

Right now isn't the best time to do this, But it gives me a peace of mind and the courage to face anything that life brings my way. You guys give me that whether its in a comment, re-tweet, sub or a like. You guys have become my strength. I just want to say thanks for being who you are, because you being you helps me be a better me :)

Now, don't get me wrong I am not perfect at it. But, I know how passionate I am about it.
I know that  now, after I have started no one and I mean no one can take this away from me.
It's not only the blog or vlog that has me feeling this, it is you guys and gals.

Everyone of you inspire me to become more then where I come from, more then what I was told I could be.
This is a very big and important thing for me, to know that you support me and are there for me even though it is just makeup.

Everyday I make a new friend, learn something new from someone thousands of miles away and I love each and everyone of you for it. So the next time someone tells me "its just makeup". I will respond "No it isn't and it is sad that you don't understand".

I love all the friends I have made and cherish everyone of you and If I forget to add you to a shout out or a tweet please understand that my list of friends is growing everyday and twitter only gives me 140 characters!

Love you guys <3

Thanks for listening :)