Review | LuLaRoe Clothing

When it comes to fashion, I have no qualms about dealing with discomfort in the pursuit of a cute outfit. I’ve had dresses I’ve had to tape myself into, I continue to wear cute shoes known to cause blisters, and I’ve spent half an hour getting out of an outfit at the end of the night thanks to several layers of Spanx, undershirts, and insanely difficult zippers.

As much as I really don’t mind a little pain for some fashion gain, it’s always refreshing to find an outfit that is as comfortable as it is cute. I was excited to try out LuLaRoe clothing recently when my friend Courtney sent me some samples, and I am pleased to say the items I tried out fit the comfy-and-cute-as-heck bill perfectly!

LuLaRoe is a direct sales clothing company – so it functions a bit like Avon in that you’ll need to find a consultant to buy from rather than purchase from a central website. If you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of buying product from a network marketing company and discovering it was really sub-par and disappointing, you’ll be glad to know this isn’t a problem with LuLaRoe! All of the garments are well made and durable. You may have also come across some direct sales companies that just leave you feeling gross and sure they’re just a front for a pyramid scheme. From what I’ve seen, there’s no worry with LuLaRoe – the consultants don’t push you to become a consultant yourself, they don’t spam your Facebook feeds with a million posts a day, and they buy stock and sell it, like a regular business.

Tuesday Tidbits | Favorites From Pinterest This Week

For this week’s Tuesday Tidbits, I thought I’d round-up some of my favorite pins from this past week. I try (ha) to not fall into the trap of pinning and never using – I’ve found some amazing recipes, cleaning tricks, and clothing pieces from Pinterest! Here’s what I’ve been pinning this week:

Tuesday Tidbits | Pinterest Favorites

→ My doctor recently recently recommended I check out their office’s Pinterest board for some healthy recipes. Kevin and I tried out this Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potato and holy cow is it amazing! We added some lean ground turkey to the recipe and it fit in well. If you’re looking for a little extra creaminess, I added a dollop of Greek yogurt on top of mine. It tasted and melted just like sour cream on a regular baked potato!

Photo from SkinnyMs.com

Hello Fresh Sample Week Unboxing

Thanks to my awesome Aunt Tink, Kevin and I got to try a free week of Hello Fresh last month. Hello Fresh is a meal subscription service that provides most of the ingredients for you, down to spices – you really only need to have cooking oils, butter, salt, etc. on hand. There are boxes for two people, four people, or families, and you can choose three, four, or five meals a week.

We had a lot of fun with our sample week! For foodies like us, this was a great chance to try some completely new recipes. If you’ve been wondering about trying out Hello Fresh, here’s a rundown of what was in our box and what we thought of the meals.

Our sample week included three meals for two people, which I thought was very generous for a sample size! Based on when I’d signed up for the free week, the box was delivered on a Saturday morning. It was a decent sized package that felt nice and cool as I picked it up.

Beauty Review | Eminence Calendula Oil

Though I haven’t jumped on the oil cleansing band wagon yet, I have done quite a bit of personal research into using oils in my beauty routine. I’m a big proponent of coconut oil masks for your hair, and I used to use a gel-to-oil cleanser from The Body Shop until they betrayed me and stopped making it ( 😦  ).

I currently use cleansers from Paula’s Choice and derma e that I’ve had great experiences with, so shifting to oil cleansing is probably not in my near future. However, thanks to a recent LaurenConrad.com article on skin detoxing, I became interested in trying an oil as a moisturizer.

Wedding Wednesday | Managing the Stress

Welcome to a new series for 2016 – Wedding Wednesday! As a newly engaged lady, I’m quickly discovering that planning a wedding is a very unique time in your life.  It’s a unique kind of stress as well. There’s tons of advice on the internet and resources to dig through, but honestly, even the amount of information is overwhelming. I hope to use this series to not only help my own brain work through the planning process, but to share some advice on how to make your wedding planning experience more fun than ulcer-inducing.

Project | Chalkboard Cutting Board

I am a sentimental fool, in all honesty.

I get attached to material items that are past their usage date, that I don’t have room for, that I absolutely do not need, simply because I end up nostalgic about memories tied to the item. Recently, this tendency reared its head in the form of a broken cutting board.

The wooden cutting board is one I bought near the end of my second Disney College Program in 2011 in Orlando, FL. I love the Disney kitchen collection and picked it up in addition to an adorable tea kettle, on the basis that they were more “usable” souvenirs of my time there. The items traveled with me to three states over the next four years, and were definitely more usable than some of the other knick-knacks I accumulated. That is, until the cutting board split apart slightly.

Kevin rightly told me the split made the cutting board harder to clean thoroughly, and it was just going to get worse. Still, my attachment to things is a force to be reckoned with, and I proclaimed I would find a new use for the cutting board so it wouldn’t have to go in the trash. Thanks to Pinterest, I came up with a craft project to save my cutting board, and add decoration to our apartment.

I decided to turn the cutting board into a chalkboard that I could hang in our kitchen and draw cute designs on for each new season. The project turned out to be a pretty simple process, with only one unexpected step.

As we already had a sanding block at home, the only supplies I picked up at Michael’s were a can of chalkboard spray paint and a pack of plain white chalk.

Tuesday Tidbits | Cooking Tips & Ideas

As fall settles in, I find myself interested in home cooked meals more than ever. We do a pretty good job of cooking most of our dinners at home, but the cooler weather is a great excuse to break out the crock pot and try some new ideas. This week’s Tuesday Tidbits is a round up of cooking related links, recipes, news, and ideas.

Happy cooking!

Tuesday Tidbits | Cooking Tips & Ideas

Photo from Bon Appetit

→ One of my favorite food magazines, Bon Appetit, published an interesting piece this week on cooking myths you can let go of. I found several on the list that I incorporate and use frequently!

→ One of my recent favorite dinners is a from scratch baked ziti that only needs one pan. It’s nice, warm comfort food when the weather turns cooler. The gluten free noodles I use hold up well, and it makes a TON of food!

→ Living in Oregon, we are able to visit our local farmer’s market through November. This means we have access to some awesome fresh, seasonal produce that is best in fall! Cooking Light has a useful guide to what’s in season, like pumpkins, apples, and sweet potatoes.

Photo from Fine Cooking

→ I have a growing interest in learning to make my own soup, and recently made a successful batch of chicken noodle from scratch. Fine Cooking has a collection of recipes that are fall ready to try your own.

→ I dream of having my own Kitchen Aid mixer one day, and recently found a shop that does custom paint jobs on mixers. What a great (if pricey) idea! It’s also great inspiration for your own at home paint job ideas.

Have a great week!

 

 

 

Book Review | Leave Your Mark – Aliza Licht

Leave Your Mark by Aliza Licht

Book Finished: August 2015

Rating: 5/5

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This book was a breath of fresh air, right when I needed it the most.

Written by one of the most influential women in fashion and social media, Aliza Licht, this book covers how to launch your career, what challenges to expect along the way, and how to utilize social media platforms to their full capabilities. Licht was the voice behind the well known Twitter account @DKNYPRGIRL, which provided an anonymous look into the world of fashion public relations. The account was a major game changer in terms of what it means to be a brand on social media, and set the standard for engagement and interaction techniques.

As a PR girl myself, Licht is someone I greatly admire, even if my main interests aren’t in fashion. I’ve interacted with her on Twitter before, and she is approachable, kind, and engaging. She mentions in the beginning of the book that she is very interested in being a a mentor, and publishing her book was a major part of that goal. In my current job search, I’ve been able to network with some wonderful women in the Portland area, and was able to add Licht to my list of mentors after finishing her book.

Reading List | September 2015

Welcome to September – my favorite month of the year!

Not only is this month home to my birthday, it’s the kick off for fall, the holiday season, and a fantastic time to focus on reading and books. September 27th is the start of this year’s Banned Books Week, an event I’m particularly passionate about.

Banned Books Week was created by the American Library Association to draw attention to (and hopefully prevent) literary censorship. Each year, the event encourages you to read books that have been challenged or banned and includes a list of the previous year’s most challenged books. The purpose is to ensure the future of free exchange of ideas, and remind us that censorship can be dangerous.

I fully support your right to read whatever you choose. Reading opens new worlds to you, boosts your creativity, and makes you a more understanding person. There may be books out there that I don’t have any interest in reading because of the content, but that certainly doesn’t mean I should be able to keep others from reading them. Parents should put age-appropriate limits on what their kids read (based on research of the books in question), but they should never have the ability to keep others’ kids from reading whatever they and their families choose.

The challenges to books on the ALA’s list each year include complaints that the books are “anti-family,” not age-appropriate, “satanic/include witchcraft,” and “anti-authority.” Again, if someone doesn’t want to read books of this nature, that’s fine – but it should scare you that people out there want to make sure you can’t read them either. Typically, the challenges seek to remove the books from libraries or schools. Even worse, this list frequently includes books you probably consider classics; the Harry Potter series, Catcher in the Rye, Grapes of Wrath, and To Kill a Mockingbird have all made the list previously.

I challenge you to read a banned book or two this month. Whether it’s Harry Potter, 50 Shades of Grey, or the Anarchist Cookbook (actually a book I plan to read when I’m able to find it), read away! Encourage the youth you know to read and read frequently. Stand up against book challenges in your community, and support your local library. Books represent the voices of all of us, even those we disagree with. My reading list this month includes a few books on the ALA’s list, as well as some new releases (and maybe this will at long last be the month I get to read Girl on a Train!)

Kaeng Raeng Detoxfoliant Scrub | Review

Over the past few years, I’ve gained a love of body scrubs. Adding exfoliation to your shower routine is an easy way to make your regular day feel more spa-like. Combined with dry brushing, body scrubs can soften skin and boost your body’s natural detoxing abilities. I always feel more energized and awake when I remember to dry brush before showering, and use a scrub once or twice a week. It’s particularly nice in the fall and winter, when the air is more dry.

I have a scrub from The Body Shop I am particularly fond of (and it smells like snickerdoodles!), but I am always on the lookout for new options. The folks at Kaeng Raeng recently sent me a sample of their Detoxfoliant scrub to try out. I have seen Lauren Conrad’s reviews of their products before, and was eager to test the brand myself.

Detoxfoliant is marketed as a companion product to their cleanse program, on the basis that exfoliation can boost your detox results. I was excited to note that the ingredients list on the label is very short. It only includes salt, shea butter, and a few essential oils. It’s important to remember that what you put on your skin gets in your body, and this product fits the “natural” label well. The brand also positions itself as cruelty free, gluten free, and vegan friendly.

The lavender-vanilla scent is definitely unique. I wasn’t sure I liked it at first, but it did grow on me. The scrub itself is a light pink, thanks to the Himalayan salt in the formula. With body scrubs, I am used to some of the abrasive component remaining behind before rinsing (even if it comes from natural sources like nut shells). With Detoxfoliant, the salt melts away as you scrub, so there’s no particles to rinse down the drain. After rinsing and drying off, a moisturizing layer of the oils stays behind. I didn’t even feel the need for lotion! A faint scent also remained on my skin, which was a pleasant after effect.

Because of the moisturizing oils, this scrub may be a bit heavy for summer use – but it’s perfect for fall and winter! I would also recommend avoiding the scrub on the days you shave. If you manage to get a few micro nicks or scrapes and then use the scrub, you will learn the true meaning of “rubbing salt in a wound.”

My scrub sample and my Kaeng Raeng water bottle that I won in a giveaway!

I love this scrub, and would absolutely recommend it for your winter routine! It feels luxurious, and keeps skin smooth. I am looking forward to adding this to my regular skin care products.