Monthly Archives

January 2020

fashion, Style

You’re welcome for these PJs

January 23, 2020
is there anything more uncomfortable than taking a pic of yourself in your pajamas? The lengths I go for my blog know no bounds. PLUS, I figured out how to use the timer on my camera tripod so it's on like donkey kong.

Is there anything more uncomfortable than taking a pic of yourself in your pajamas? The lengths I go for my blog know no bounds. PLUS, I figured out how to use the timer on my camera tripod so it’s on like donkey kong from here on out.

Recently, I’m of the mind that my comfy clothes need to be comfy. I have no time anymore for pajamas that are not the coziest, softest, cutest. No cinching, no elastic bottoms that ride up on my calves in my sleep, no tops where I can wake up to find my boob hanging out. I wanted pajamas that felt good and looked good that didn’t cost too much money.

As you’ve probably guessed, these pajamas (top and bottom) from my beloved Asos fit the bill at just $24 for the set. Do I look like I’m wearing surgical scrubs? Yes, I do. I maintain that the most comfortable work uniform in the world is scrubs, so I’m totally fine walking around my house looking a little bit like Meredith Gray. My plan is to buy five more pairs of these so that I have cute jammies to wear every night of the week.

Do you have any other go-to comfy clothes? I’m all ears!

I own this, weekly meal plan, workplace

I found the perfect affordable adult lunch box

January 22, 2020

affordable adult lunch box 1

For the first time in my adult working life, I’m packing my lunch on the regular. After a few weeks of walking into the office carrying a plastic bag of shame, I decided that it was high time for me to get my own lunch box. I immediately pictured myself carrying something like this and I just couldn’t face it. Look, I’m not too proud to admit that I want to look chic and the lunch boxes I carried in middle school are just not the ticket.

When I got down to shopping, I realized that my list of lunchbox needs is long. I needed a pail that would keep my food cool all day. I have a sensitive nose and there’s a peculiar smell in any communal work refrigerator that brings me to my knees, so I needed a lunchbox that would allow me to avoid the office fridge altogether. I also needed space. I like to have lots o’ snacks at work. The best thing in life is an option and I fully subscribe to that statement. I like to bring fruit, yogurt, nuts, jerky and a big ass glass leftovers container to work everyday. Sometimes I eat it all, sometimes I don’t. I also needed it to look cool yet discreet, be easy to clean and, oh, not cost a million and two dollars. Turns out this was a bit of a tall order.

I found lots of interesting options in the $40 price range. Nope, not going to do it. I just couldn’t justify spending that much money when I’m still a lunch-packing newbie. I ended up rolling the dice and taking the Amazon route. You know the random sellers who have mostly good reviews, but then a handful of reviews that make you think that the whole thing is a big scam? In the interest of content for this blog, I took a $14 amazon chance and, thankfully, the odds were in my favor.

affordable adult lunch box

You’ll see that I can fit PLENTY in this little guy. I can easily put multiple snacks, slim ice packs, cutlery and up to two leftover containers. Is this lunch box the sturdiest, most well-made pail that will last me for a decade? Perhaps not. It could be a bit better quality, but it is quite good for the price and I highly recommend.

Do you have any lunch box recommendations? Do you do the plastic bag walk of shame? Do you pack your lunch for work? No judgement here, obviously, as I ate out lunch for the last several years. We’re all just trying our best.

adventure, beauty, Uncategorized, wedding

Our Save the Dates!

January 21, 2020

 

Save the Dates

Can I be a wee bit self-indulgent here and share our Save the Dates? What’s that you say? This entire blog is the very definition of self-indulgence? Well, don’t mind if I do, then.

The fact that we actually sent out our Save the Dates is a miracle in and of itself since I’ve had multiple freak-outs over the past few months about getting married again, which I’ve already covered in this space. I’m proud of myself moving forward despite the fear, so actually sending out these little postcards was a big step for us. We went with Minted for the production, which was easy peasy since we were able to use a pre-selected design that I felt was premium, minimal and fully in line with what we wanted to execute. They have a designer check your print prior to production and I’m annoyed that the designer didn’t flag the fact that Keith was going to basically disappear once our photo was applied to the paper stock I selected. Surely they could’ve edited the photo somehow to make his black skin look as beautiful when printed as it did in the digital photo we used? I almost sent them back when they printed, but we decided to go ahead and move forward.

The memory of when we took these photos this day on the beach will stick with me forever. I was still pretty sick with my vertigo on this trip, but I had a vision. I was captivated by this photo that Gabi Fresh shared on her instagram and was determined to recreate it. I ordered a $200 sequined dress from Asos, packed up our little tripod and got Keith fully on board with the plan. When we were in Cabo, we kept putting off taking the photo until we only had one or two sunsets left. Once we finally decided to take the photo, we got decked out in our room. When I put on the dress, it seriously weighed about twenty pounds! It was so heavy. We were running late getting ready, so we basically had to sprint down to the beach to make it in time for the sunset. Everyone in the resort was looking at me because I was basically a disco ball running through the resort trying not to sweat all of my makeup off. When we got to the beach, we had initially planned to take the photo under the arch where we’ll get married, but they had it all set up already for a candlelight couples dinner, so we had to reassess. I set up the shot and then we kept setting the self timer and then sprinting to get to the shot before the sun went down. Eventually, a nice man came over and offered to take our photo, but we had already clinched the photo above. It was so epic. When Keith and I returned to our room, we were seriously concerned because we were sweating profusely due to the stress of getting the shot (plus my heavy disco ball dress!). We had to just lay naked in the air conditioning for a bit to regroup.

I love that man so much for being so supportive of my crazy ideas. I love that we have this beautiful photo and this sweet memory to attach to our little Save the Date cards. Everything from getting the shot to gathering the addresses to sitting in the post office adding up to 4 stamps to each card to get to the 35 cents we needed for postage is a wonderful memory for me, one that I hope to cherish forever.

When I think of what I want to accomplish with this blog, the first thing I want to do is use this space to gather up all of the sweet memories I have of my beautiful life. I hope that by doing so, I’m able to encourage you all to pause and appreciate all of the special moments in your own life. Life really is beautiful if we take the time to pay attention. Our society is so focused on the bad times, but each of us has little miracles and moments of joy in the everyday. Sometimes I think the best thing I can do to improve the world is to always search, find and share the good and the beautiful.

What’s a beautiful memory you never want to forget? Please feel free to share here in this space. 🙂