Oh, free time! How I miss you so! Such is the story of my life these days. Being in school and working a full time job on top of freelancing as a makeup artist means a severe lack of free time. Now, instead of hanging with friends or enjoying a meal out with my family, I live and breathe the contents of this bag. I'm intimately familiar with everything in it, and I can rattle off all of the contents without even looking at it.

All this means that I'm building my skills as a nail tech, and can do a mean manicure table set-up and sculptured nail, but for the life of me cannot remember what it's like to carry on a conversation about things that have nothing to do with nails.

I guess you can say that my hectic pace is finally catching up with me, and it's starting to sink in that being a student with so many responsibilities is no easy task! BUT... even with all of that, I'm still excited to see progress in my studies. I can't pass a beauty supply without going in to look at nail products, and just this past Saturday I spent almost 45 minutes in the craft store picking out products for nail art (we start working on that this week), including some absolutely fabulous glitters that are so divine, I lost my breath for a moment! I'm working on keeping my eyes on the prize and knowing that it CAN be done (look at the fabulous Marti... completing her studies AND being a mom... she's a rockstar!).

So, have any of you struggled with the school/work/life balance? How did you handle it?

— LaTia