I found my happiness

I'm at the point in my life where I should be happy, where I should be looking at everyday like they're all a blessing. Yet I'm sitting here lost and under the weather... Why?... I have a small yet amazing group of friends that I can trust and go to for almost anything, I'm attending my dream school, and I have a family that can support and guide me to achieve my goals. So yeah, I'm borderline lucky but until today, I haven't understood why I've been so down lately. I've been faced with this problem for over a year now and I finally figured out the cause. I'm the type of person that will give almost anyone the benefit of the doubt and believes in second chances. I try to lend a helping hand whenever possible because seeing others happy is, in the end, what makes me smile. These are the qualities that I cherish the most about myself. I'm pretty sure the majority of people that read that will label them as my weaknesses as well, but you know what, not many people can take their weaknesses and turn them into building blocks like I can. Until today I didn't understand why I was not happy with my life and why thinking about the future and life I planned out for myself only gave me short lived moments of joy. Until today, I was living those dreams and aspirations for myself. I planned out everything in life, for myself. Everything I lived for was for me, myself, and I... I didn't realize that being selfish with my dreams, my goals, and my future was the root of the problem. Spending some time to reflect on my best qualities have made me realized that I can't live for myself, I need to live for others as well. My heart belongs to many. Yes, this does make me vulnerable but I assure those who care that I have a tough shell. But like many tough exteriors, I do have my weak points. Let's say through this new view on life, my shell were to crack or my kindness were to be taken advantage of, what would I do then? I know a lot of people in my life would ask me that, so I had to ask myself first. Well, I like to know that what I'm doing in my life right now and for the future will be able to change at least one person's life, and hopefully for the best. I put myself out there for others because I want to change lives, I want to let people know that there is someone out there that wants to make them smile,  and that wishes the best for them. If in the end, I lay out my heart to someone and they decide to unreasonably stab it then I will go home knowing I did what I could for them, they took what they wanted from it, and karma will do the rest. Life has a funny way of fixing the wrongs and rewarding the rights. My shell will be damaged and if broken, all I can do is pick up the pieces, assess the damage, and rebuild. And each time I rebuild my shell, yes it will be stronger but never invincible. I can't hide nor suppress who I really am and what I love to do. No matter the thickness of my shell or how cold my heart may turn, I will never be happy unless I have to ability to make others happy as well. My shell will always have weak spots because I am only human.

Fashion ideas

So I mainly post my outfit of the days on Instagram, but I think it's about time that I started posting them on here as well. That way I can give more description on the outfit and accessories :) Here's the outfit I'll be talking about today:

The chiffon top is from Foreign Exchange and is made by the brand "Mine"

The bottoms are black Skinny Jeans I got from PacSun, they're made by the brand "Bullhead"

The bag is from JustFab. It's one of their own bags, and sadly I don't remember the name of it. Sorry!

I wore this outfit weeks ago to accompany my friends on a job interview. I'd label this outfit as a versatile modern chic outfit. It be toned down for a casual day out or accessorized for a fun night out. This is also something very appropriate for the office as well, just throw on a cardigan or blazer and you're good to go!

Baking

So my birthday is tomorrow and I decided to bake myself a cake, since all my friends who are amazing bakers already left for school :( and why buy a cake when you have all the ingredients to make an AMAZING one at home?!? I finally decided to make a Double Layered Strawberry Vanilla Cheesecake (so much for my freshman negative 15 Lol). I used a springform pan to bake both layers by the way.

Day 1: So I first baked the vanilla cake bottom (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-white-cake/) I made adjusted the servings for 20 people instead of the original 12. While the bottom piece was cooking I made the cheesecake batter (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chantals-new-york-cheesecake/). Once the bottom was fully cooked, I took it out and let it cool for about an hour. After that hour was up I took it out of the pan and positioned it on the white cardboard platter. Before I poured the cheesecake batter into the pan, I cleaned and butter it up. The cheesecake cook for an hour and cooled in the oven (it was off) for another hour. AS A WARNING: don't stick anything into your cheesecake to see if it's done or not. Don't worry if it still jiggles, that's normal. As you can see in my picture I made that mistake and the cake spilt as it was cooling :( Anyways, once the cheesecake was cool enough for me to touch the pan, I put it in the fridge with the vanilla cake to settle until the next morning.

Day 2: I took bottom cakes out the fridge, I then frosted the top of the vanilla cake and layered one layer of fresh strawberries on top (you can do any fruit of your liking, or no fruit at all). After that I took the cheesecake out of the pan, which was a lot harder than it seems. What I recommend to do is to run a knife under the cake, right against the bottom of the springform pan, so that it lifts off nice and clean. once I positioned the cheesecake on top of the bottom layer I started frosting right away. After the frosting I then added graham cracker crumbs to the sides. Once everything was done I placed it in the freezer because the strawberry juices were starting to leak out. 

This is how I made my cake, I do plan on adding more decorations to it but at this point I'm a little too tired to do so Lol Of course you can adjust the recipe and what I did to your liking. Good luck if you decide to try making this cake and I'd love to see how all of yours come out so make sure to tag me in your pictures on either Instagram or Twitter @omgitsbri_bri

And...

Always remember to always be, simply you!

Talk to you guys in my next post. Bye!!! xoxo Simply Briana