January Favorites

I cannot believe that January is over already!  I started this month back home in San Francisco, and I finished it here in Manhattan.  January is always a bit of a monotonous month.  The holidays are wrapping up, people are going back to school and their jobs.  To be perfectly honest, there isn't much to look forward to, and it's cold!  I found myself curled up reading a book most of the time!

You will see from my post that a lot of this month's favorites are conducive to being chilled out indoors.  I am a California girl who doesn't particularly care for the below freezing temperatures that have been the norm in NYC this month!

My first favorite this month is tea.  Earl Grey, to be more precise! There is really nothing better than a warm cuppa and a soft blanket when there is a blizzard outside!

#ravenclawpride

As I said, I have been curling up with a lot of books this month.   However, my favorite has got to be Tam Lin by Pamela Dean.  This book is actually the reason that my sister decided to go to a small liberal arts school, as it is set at a liberal arts college in the midwest in the 70s.  It is a modern retelling of an old Scottish folk song by the same name.  The original song begins, "I forbid ye maidens all that wear gold in your hair to travel to Carterhaugh, for Young Tam Lin is there..."

I have not just been sitting around reading books, however!  I am working on some pieces of my own writing, for which this Kate Spade notebook (a gift from a friend) has been incredibly helpful!  It is always nice to carry around something that I can jot notes down in when inspiration strikes!

Since I didn't start back at dance officially until the 20th, I spent a lot of time at the gym to keep myself in shape.  I have to take very good care of my feet because they are quite literally my livelihood!  I only recently thought to put my orthotics in my Nike Free 5.0 running shoes, and to be perfectly honest, I don't know why I didn't do this sooner! My knees are less ache-y, and all of my discomfort that I generally have when I exercise has disappeared!

My next favorites are hair related.  I mentioned in my last favorites post that I had recently run out of all of my skincare products.  Well, the same thing happened with my hair products!  I repurchased one of my old holy grail products, the Blue Malva shampoo from AVEDA.  I honestly don't know why I stopped purchasing this!  It smells amazing, and it gets rid of brassy tones in any hair color!  I tend to wash my hair ever day because dancing makes me seriously sweaty, and this shampoo is gentle enough where I can use it daily, but strong enough where I feel like I am getting a really satisfying wash!

My next hair favorite is the Macadamia brand Deep Repair Masque.  I bought a couple sample packs because I didn't want to shell out money on the larger size without knowing whether I liked it or not.  Well, I don't like it.  I love it!  I use it twice a week, and I seriously think that my hair has grown since I started using this product!  I have also gotten a lot of comments about how shiny and luscious my hair looks! It might be too heavy for the summer, but I am loving it for the winter!

I haven't been doing much in the way of makeup.  What's the point, when I'm mostly inside by mylself?  However, when I do go out, I have been loving the Holika Holika brand BB cream with SPF 30.  I have the "clearing" one, which has tea tree oil and sebum controlling powder.  This is probably the best BB cream I have ever used!  The coverage is better than some foundations I have used, and it seriously lasts ages!  The best part? It was only $7!

I have also been loving the Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural lipstick in the color N9 Copper Pink.  This was a birthday present from Sephora, so it is just a mini.  It is very close to my natural lip color, so when I just want a little extra definition, this is what I go for.  A great drugstore dupe for this color is actually the Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in the color 637 Blushing Nude! (Make Up Forever- $20 Revlon- $7).

My last favorite this month is the Vine app.  I honestly don't know why I haven't gotten into Vine sooner, but I am hooked!  I think I spent two hours straight watching six second videos of Thomas Sanders and Arielle Vandenberg! I have no shame!..... OK, maybe I have a little shame...

That is it for this month's favorites!  If you liked it, let me know in the comments below.  What have been your favorites this month?

-Fly high, little birds!

Unboxing- Sephora & Etsy

Hello all!

I recently got some stuff in the mail, and I thought I would share it with you!

First off, I made Dean's List at my university this past semester! For those of you who don't know what that is, it just means that I got straight As!  As a present, my parents got me a pendant to hold my Fitbit.  A Fitbit is one of the many calorie/exercise/sleep trackers out there, and it usually comes with a variety of brightly colored plastic bracelets to choose from.

However, these bracelets are not the prettiest.  This generally means that one either has to suck it up and wear the ugly plastic things out on the town, or one has to forgo recording all of the calories burned on the dance floor!

It seems I am not the only one who has noticed this particular discrepancy in design.  Fitbit recently partnered up with Tory Burch to design a line of chic gold/rose gold/silver jewelry to fix this issue.  However, I wasn't really a big enough fan of any of the designs to drop $175 on one.

Enter Etsy!  It was my mother's idea to look there, and I found a plethora of gorgeous designs! I picked a sterling silver pendant from the fitjewelsSF shop.  I love it!

 The other box that I got was from Sephora.  Yes, I know I have a problem.  In my defense, I was replacing two items that I had just run out of!  However, the best part about Sephora, is the free samples that I can get!  I think I got more samples than paid items!

 I got two fragrance samples that I'm super excited about! I like to change my fragrance a LOT, but I don't necessarily like dropping the big bucks on a full-sized bottle.  I got the Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet, which I am so in love with! I just might be getting the full-sized version for the springtime!  It has notes of peony and rose with white musk.  The other is lovely as well, the Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.  I have had a sample of this before, and I loved it.  It is an oriental fragrance, with vanilla, sandalwood, and violet. The other sample pictured below is the Josie Maran Argan Matchmaker Serum Foundation.

 I just finished off my Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask, so I was in the market for a new evening moisturizer.  I have loved everything that I have ever tried from First Aid Beauty, so I decided to try their Facial Radiance Overnight Mask.  Maybe you will see it in a favorites post soon!

I am nearly out of my lovely Touche Éclat Radiant Touch, so I replaced it.  I have the color 1 Luminous Radiance.  I have used the 2.5 Luminous Vanilla in the past.

My rewards points got me these lovely deluxe samples!  I am most excited to try the First Aid Beauty Skin Rescue Deep Cleanser with red clay.  I have heard rave reviews about it!  I also got the Boscia Tsubaki Cleansing Oil-Gel, and a Sephora brand waterproof eyeliner in the color 29 My boyfriend's jeans.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! Have you recently gone and made any exciting purchases? Let me know in the comments!

-Fly high, little birds!

Battling that Sweet Tooth

Nothing satisfies me like a good Diet Coke.  I know that the stuff is awful for you, but there is nothing like that aspartame aftertaste that just is so delicious.  Ironically, I enjoy it way more than normal Coca Cola!

I'm also a huuuuuuuuuge fan of anything sweet!  Chocolate, ice cream, candy, pie, cake, you name it, I love it!  I'm not just into normal sweets.  I like weird sweets too, like salted black licorice.  This means that I usually don't have an excuse like, "Oh, I don't really like chocolate," or "Pie really isn't my thing."

This means that I have to find other way to satisfy my sweet cravings.  For a while, I tried using artificial sweeteners like Splenda.  I figured it was way better than aspartame, and it was made from sugar, so it couldn't be all that bad! Little did I know that these artificial sweeteners actually have shown to cause weight gain and they mess with the super lovely bacteria in our guts.

So, in an effort to create the best me I can be, I have cut out all sugar except that which comes from fruits.  I know. Terrifying, isn't it?

However, what I have found is the less sugar I eat, the less sugar I want to eat!  Not going to lie, it has been really hard!  Especially when the food delivery system here in Manhattan is so amazing! A lovely slice of lemon meringue pie is just a click away...

Fruit infused water has probably been my biggest savior.  As many of you know, what we confuse as hunger signals in our bodies are often just misunderstood thirst signals.  With the flavor of strawberries or cucumber and lemon, I am satisfying my thirst and the unwanted cravings that usually accompany it!

It's certainly not a perfect system, and I still have a long way to go.  I know that many of you probably have new years resolutions about being healthier, and I thought I would put my two cents in about what has been helping me!

Do you have any tips or tricks for me?  Tell me in the comments below!

-Fly high, little birds!

xxx

Soup Du Jour: Curried Zucchini

As some of you may be aware, this blog is dedicated to a whole jumble of random things.  I am not a beauty guru, but I do enjoy makeup.  I am not a professional photographer, but I do enjoy photography.  I am not a chef, but I do enjoy spending time in the kitchen.  In fact, the only thing I can speak on with much authority is classical ballet!

However, that's not going to stop me from sharing some bits and bops that I enjoy in my everyday life.  With that having been said, here is a delicious soup recipe that I threw together yesterday!

Ingredients:

• Zucchini
• Small onion
• Fresh garlic
• Olive oil
• Chicken broth (or whatever type of broth you would like)
• Spices- For this I used thyme and a curry blend, however I have used many other combinations with the same soup.  It is entirely up to you how to spice the soup!
• Coconut milk- optional (any milk would work, including unsweetened condensed milk or cream

Chop onion and one clove of garlic.  Don't worry about how fine you get these, everything will be blended together at the end.  Throw into pot with one shot of oil, and let sweat on medium heat.

 

While onions and garlic are cooking, shred the zucchini with a food processor or a cheese grater.  The idea it to get the pieces small enough where the cooking time is cut down dramatically.

Throw shredded zucchini into the pot with the onions and garlic and sauté on medium-high heat for about three minutes.

Pour enough broth into pot to barely cover the vegetables and add spices.  Let simmer for about an hour.  To reduce cooking time, add less broth.

Add coconut milk, and let simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

Blend together with hand blender or regular blender.

Enjoy!

The thing that I love most about this recipe is that it can be changed to create practically any kind of soup.  For example, instead of zucchini, one could use carrots! Instead of curry, one could use basil and oregano!  The milk is entirely optional as well!  The amount per serving is easily changed; one could adjust it for 12 people or 2!

Do you enjoy cooking?

-Fly high, little birds!

December Favorites

Happy New Year!

I seriously cannot believe that it is already January! Where did December go?  My time back home was certainly not long enough!

Here is what I have been loving this past month.

I ran out of a lot of my everyday products, so I used this opportunity to try some new things!  First up are the Aveeno Clear Complexion Daily Cleansing Pads.  My sister had forgotten to bring her face wash when she came to visit, so she ran to CVS to grab something easy.  She grabbed this, and I'm so glad she did!  I always thought that these pads were kind of like fancy-shmancy make-up wipes, but boy was I wrong!  You get your face wet, then you use either the exfoliating side or the smooth side of the pad to cleanse your face.  It works up a lovely lather that makes your face feel super clean! When you're done, you just throw the pad away!

My second favorite is another face product.  My face has been surprisingly clear as far as break-outs go, but I have awful red spots from the scarring.  I don't pick at my face or anything, but any blemish leaves a red spot that stays for ages!  Enter Kiehl's Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution.  My scars have improved tremendously!  The reason I have been so dubious to purchase this product has been the price, but from what I can tell, you get your money's worth!

My last favorite treatment product is the Clinique Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief.  The one I have is the oil free one, and let me just tell you, my face is in LOVE!  I generally try to avoid anything that is supposed to be intensely hydrating, because I either end up looking like an oil slick, or it breaks me out.  This product, however, has been my skin's savior this past month!  It absorbs quickly, and it's the first gel moisture product that hasn't left my skin feeling tight after using it!  Bravo Clinique, bravo.

My next favorite is a bit random, and a bit weird, but whatever. It's deodorant.  I have started buying men's deodorant because it is so much cheaper than women's.  I have have been loving Old Spice's Hawkridge deodorant and antipersperant.  It smells amazing, and works.  'Nuf said.

My new favorite foundation is the NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in the color 'Deuville.'  I talked about it in my Sephora haul post, so I won't go into too much details about it here.  Basically it's amazing.

My other makeup favorite this month has been Tanya Burr's Lipgloss in the color 'Chic.'  It is a perfect neutral shade, and I just love it a lot!

I actually have two favorite movies this month.  One has actually been around for ages, but I only just saw it for the first time this month... and then proceeded to watch it another three times!  It is Nowhere Boy, the movie about John Lennon with Aaron Taylor Johnson *swoon*.  I thought it was incredibly well done, and it helped me choose my favorite song of the month; an early recording of the Quarrymen (the Beatles before they were The Beatles) singing "In Spite of All the Danger."  I will link a recording of it in the movie caption.

"In Spite of All the Danger"

My second favorite movie this month was The Imitation Game, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Kiera Knightly.  IF THIS MOVIE DOES NOT WIN AN OSCAR I WILL BE SO UPSET!  I don't want to give away any spoilers, but basically it is based on the true story of Alan Turing during World War II.  It's still in theaters, so if you can, go see it!

My book favorites this month have been a series of books by the author David Eddings.  They are some of my favorite fantasy novels I have ever read.  I just can't put them down! I completed all of the books below in just a matter of days!  They are essentially a good vs. evil type series, but the writing is beautiful, and the world that Eddings creates is so incredibly intricate and realistic.  He makes magic seem plausible. I love them!

Last but certainly not least, my people favorites are my friends who I got to visit while I was home: Lacey, Alex, Wei-Wei, Aaron, Max, Christopher, Eri, Shion, Kevin, and several others.  They make me so happy, and they inspire me everyday with what they are doing <3

What have been some of your favorites from the past month?

-Fly high, little birds!