Five Things I'm Excited About Right Now

1. Moving to my new apartment in less than two weeks!  It's an open layout which I am stoked about for having friends over and not feeling like I'm exiled in the kitchen.  And it has a pantry, washer and dryer, and full front porch.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm ecstatic about those things either.  Yes, I'm officially a grown-up.  Oh, and did I mention that Chelcey and I will practically be close enough to rig a tin can telephone between our two apartments? 


2. Starting a new workout routine!  I tried out some group fitness classes with Chelcey a couple of weeks ago - yoga, Pilates, and spin - and they were great!  I'm ready to get back into a groove and take this motivation I have right now and run with it.  See what I did there.


3. Making it to work by 8:30 for a week straight!  I'm definitely not a morning person when it comes to getting up and getting myself ready for the day.  My alarm goes off and I lay there in denial for a good 20 minutes until I can finally convince myself that yes, I need to get up and get going.  Luckily, the company I work for is very flexible about everyone's schedule, as long as the work gets done.  Ideally I like to get into the office by 9:00, so I consider 8:30 quite the accomplishment.


4. My free iPhone 5s upgrade!  I got a text from Sprint saying that I qualified for a free upgrade and just rolled my eyes thinking there had to be some kind of catch.  Turns out there was no catch and now I have a shiny new phone.  Plus, I got to trade in my old one for credit towards a new case and car charger.  Not a bad deal at all.


5. My upcoming work trip to Minnesota.  I'm excited about this for a couple of reasons.  First, I love going to the airport and people watching, so I'll have plenty of time for that.  I also love packing a suitcase - is that weird?  To top it off, I am making a connection in Dallas so not only will I get to say that I've been to Minnesota, but I'll also get to cross Texas off of my list.


What do you have going on in your life that you are excited about?


xoxo,
Amanda

A Weekend Trip to Sephora

If you've been keeping up with things around here, you were probably expecting to see an outfits of the week post today.  Well, I failed at documenting my outfits this week so I decided to share my recent Sephora purchase instead!  I haven't stepped foot in a Sephora in the longest time, and even though I only got a couple of things, it was a struggle for me to even decide on buying these items.  Plus I went in wanting a certain Tarte palette, and when they didn't have it available, I kind of lost interest in shopping around.  Either I'm getting rusty or I've still got "no-buy" on the brain.

Here are the goods I picked up - Philosophy Purity Made Simple, Dry Bar VIP Pack, Korres Greek Yogurt, Givenchy Le Rouge.

I was nearly out of the Philosophy cleanser - a bottle I purchased for $10 on Black Friday last year! - so I needed to grab another.  I can't even count how many times I have repurchased this product, it's that amazing.  I don't even have the desire to try anything else.  It's gentle on my sensitive skin but effective nonetheless at removing even my long-wear foundation without the need for a makeup wipe.  The Dry Bar VIP Pack was something I had wanted to get my hands on for the longest time, but every time I popped into Sephora they didn't have it.  Finally, today they did, and that sort of made up for the Tarte palette.  Sort of.  It includes a dry shampoo, volumizing mousse, and hairspray.  Even better, they're all travel size so I can bring them along on my upcoming business trip.  Win win!

At checkout, I had over 1000 points to spend.  If you're familiar with how the Sephora Beauty Insider program works, then you know just how I got those points.  A wide-eyed emoji would be appropriate here.  I will say, I've been accumulating points for a while so I finally decided to grab a couple of perks.  They did have a pretty awesome Marc Jacobs reward, but I would have had to part with all 1000 points, which I couldn't bring myself to do at once.  So, I ended up with the Korres Greek Yogurt Sleeping Facial and Givenchy lipstick.  I was actually looking for the moisturizer to purchase anyway but they didn't carry it in my store, so I figured this would be a good way to try it.  As for the lipstick, well it's hard for this girl to resist an adorable mini lippie.

I'm looking forward to trying out the Dry Bar products and see how they compare to my trusty drugstore faves.  Let me know if you've tried it and what you thought!  And if you've been to Sephora recently, what things have you picked up?

xoxo,

Amanda   

According to Amanda: Five Signs that You're Officially a Grown-up

I just found out that I will be traveling for work in a few weeks to Minnesota.  While I'm far from a jet-setting businesswoman, I can't help but feel a little bit more grown-up and adult-like.  I mean, I've never even flown by myself for crying out loud.  I'm kind of nervous.  Of course this got me thinking - dangerous, I know.  How else can we tell that we've truly entered the real world, besides the obvious bills, bills, bills (I'm looking at you Destiny's Child)?  Leave it to me to create a hopefully humorous list of ways that I personally think solidify your status as an adult.

1. You get excited about having your own washer and dryer in your apartment.  I'm not talking about the crappy coin-operated ones that everyone can use in your building.  No.  I mean you legit have your own inside your apartment so that you can wash clothes at 3 AM if your heart desires.  Even better, this also means you don't have to lug your laundry basket home to wash your clothes at your parents' house.  It's the little things that mean the most.

2. You give yourself enough time in the morning to have a cup of coffee and maybe even watch the news.  That's right, gone are the days of college when you barely rolled out of bed with enough time to put on a bra and real pants.  Now you actually set an alarm early enough to make yourself look halfway decent

and

see what's going on in the world.  Major props if you do a full makeup routine too (yes, that's so me).

3. No matter what time you go to bed, your biological clock wakes you up at 7:00 AM.  Even on the weekends, when you would finally have a chance to sleep in.  You toss and turn, trying to go back to sleep but to no avail.  By 9 you just decide to get up and make the most of your day.  And as an even worse slap in the face, during the week when you have to be up that early, you feel as though you could sleep in forever.  Oh the irony.

4.  You receive small appliances and other various household goods as gifts for your birthday and Christmas, which may or may not go unused.  Unless it's an indoor grill that doubles as a panini press.  That eases the reality of no more toys and fun presents anymore.  Thanks Mom and Dad.

5. You rationalize purchases in your head before committing and actually swiping your card.  As someone who used to be the biggest impulse shopper around, I can really attest to this one.  Seeing half of my closet have things with the tags still attached is what probably opened my eyes to this the most.  Now I can talk myself out of buying anything more often than not.  It's partially from being frugal, and partially from having anxiety when my bank account dips below a certain level. 

I had to throw in this hilarious e-card too!

Feel free to add to my list in the comments below!

xoxo,

Amanda     

June Favorites

I can't believe June is already over!  That just means I am getting closer and closer to moving to my new apartment, which I am

so

excited about.  I see many trips to World Market, Pier 1 and Home Goods in my future.  In the meantime, though, it's time for another round of monthly favorites.  This month I found myself using a mixture of old gems and new discoveries, a good balance if I do say so myself.  Here they are:

Not Your Mother's Beach Babe Sea Salt Spray

If you can get past the tongue twister of a name, you will find that this stuff is uh-mazing.  I grabbed this from Target on a whim, wanting to take a break from heat styling and embrace my naturally wavy hair.  Well let me tell you, I love the results I got.  I usually go with mousse on days when I let my hair air dry (I have to use

something

or I end up with a frizzy disaster) but sometimes that can leave my hair a little bit crunchy.  Crunchy=yuck.  Your hair should not look like you just got out of the shower.  Anyway, as long as you're careful not to over-spray, this product will enhance your natural waves and leave you with the perfect beach-ready summery look.  I use it once my hair has air-dried for a little bit so that it isn't soaking wet.  If I need to get out the door and can't let it dry on it's own all the way, I'll use my blow dryer with a diffuser on the low setting to help speed along the drying process.  So far, I am really loving the NYM products that I've tried!

Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Tipsy

Keeping with my summer theme, I decided to give this coral blush a whirl for the majority of the month.  It's the first Tarte blush I ever purchased, and I love the quality of the Amazonian Clay line.  The color looks gorgeous against my fair skin and really makes my blue eyes pop.  If you're looking for a new blush for summer, I highly recommend this one.

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette

After rocking the same eye look over and over again from my Naked Palette, I was ready for a change this month.  Enter the Naked Basics Palette.  Somehow this was shoved all the way in the back of my eyeshadow drawer, so I had completely forgotten about it.  Don't worry your pretty little head off though.  I avoided a near-tragedy and brought it back to life, just in time.  Even though it might not seem like a lot, this little sucker packs a lot of punch.  You can easily transition from a daytime to evening look.  My go-to look is W.O.S. all over the lid, Naked 2 as a transition color, and Faint to deepen the crease.  To amp it up a notch, highlight your brow with Venus and smoke out the outer corner with Crave.  

Esteé Lauder Double Wear Foundation

I devoted an entire blog post to this foundation, which you can find

here

.  To sum it up, this stuff is by far my favorite foundation I've ever tried.  And now that I've been wearing it consistently for a couple more weeks, I can say that it definitely has great lasting power, which is enhanced when used in combination with other products such as a setting spray.  I encourage you to run to your nearest Esteé Lauder counter ASAP and get some!

Urban Decay Naked Lip Gloss in Liar

I decided to take a break from lipstick for a while in June and go for lip gloss instead.  I picked this up back in April from Sephora and I'm really glad I did!  It's a nude-pinkish color that compliments any makeup look effortlessly.  It's not too bold, not to faint, it's

just right

.  Goldilocks moment aside, I know there may be similar colors out there, but from my personal collection this one is a winner.

Merona T-Shirt Dress from Target

I'm going to keep this snippet short and sweet.  After hitting up the Esteé Lauder counter, you should continue running onto Target and grab one of these in every color available.  You can't beat getting an entire outfit for $20.  Switch out different belts and statement necklaces, and the possibilities are endless.  See my BaubleBar haul

post

for inspiration.

Pretty Little Liars

I had to find a new show to watch this month, since all of my usual ones are on summer hiatus.  For whatever reason, I chose Pretty Little Liars.  Probably because everyone is always talking about the latest and greatest episode.  I didn't want to be left off of the bandwagon any longer.  And because there have already been several seasons, I have 96 glorious episodes to binge-watch to my heart's content.  I'm about 20ish episodes in so far, and I am completely hooked.  Give me another month, and I'll probably be caught up to the current season.

So, now that you know my June faves, what are some of yours?

xoxo,

Amanda  

Awesome & Awkward: Horse Races, Working Out, and Old Friends

Who's ready for another round of awesome & awkward happenings in my life?  Here we go!

Awesome: Playing the ponies at Churchill Downs night racing with my best friends.  We lived like millionaires for the night in our private box and all, throwing back $12 drinks and placing bets like pros.  Haha, not really, but we did have a private box which was nice.  Winning some money on a few races didn't hurt either, even though I lost money overall.  Womp womp.  And yes, the drinks really were that expensive, but it was still such a fun night! 
Awkward: I don't even know how to consolidate this story into a short enough paragraph so you don't get confused.  Basically, Chelcey had given our friend Stedmon her phone to use while we were up walking around and grabbing some food.  When we came back to our seats, she realized she didn't have said phone, and Stedmon said he didn't have it either.  Being the best friend I am, I called her phone and lo and behold, a girl answered.  Mind you, it was hard for me to hear this person on the other end, but I immediately jumped to the conclusion that some chick just stumbled onto Chelcey's phone and was going to keep it.  It didn't help that she hung up on me when I asked to meet her somewhere so we could get it back.  In a matter of moments I was in protective mode, about to go find this person.  I may have used a few choice words too.  Well, come to find out, our friend Katie, who was literally sitting in front of me, was the girl on the other end.  They had the damn phone the whole time, and I was so caught up in the moment that I just about lost it.  Of course, I apologized profusely to Katie, because obviously I didn't think she was a b-word.  Luckily they all laughed it off and I felt like an idiot for being so gullible.  Lesson learned from this one, for sure.


Awesome: Chelcey and I tried out some new group fitness classes this past week, and I am so excited to get back into an exercise routine.  We did yoga, Pilates and spin.  I was sore as can be at the end of the week, but it felt great.  Surprisingly, spin was my favorite of the three.  I say surprisingly because I usually hate getting really super sweaty and gross.  It interferes with my ability to go a week without washing my hair.  But, I guess that's the point of working out isn't it?  Having an excuse to buy new workout clothes doesn't hurt either.
Awkward: Oh you know, just being way more out of shape than my fitness class counterparts who were more than twice my age.  It was just a tad bit intimidating.  I know it's supposed to be a judgment-free zone in there, but I couldn't help but judge myself and the fact that I sometimes couldn't even do the modified version of certain moves.  But hey, more power to them if they are in that great of shape.  We all have to start somewhere and I hope I can be that way one day.


Awesome: Having a sister date at Moe's, and then shopping for apartment things after.  Since she graduated and got a big girl job, I hardly ever get to see the girl.  Of course that makes me sad, so getting to spend a fun evening with my sister was just what I needed.
Awkward: Running into a guy friend at Moe's I've known since elementary school but haven't really talked to since we graduated high school.  Of course, he was standing in line right in front of us, and I played the whole I'm-gonna-pretend-I-don't-see-you card because I felt awkward and didn't know what to say.  Then when he said something to me later, I felt worse and had to act like I hadn't noticed it was him.  Why must I be so weird?


Awesome: Running into another friend/former manager from my old job while Chelcey and I were out and about taking photos.  It's always good to see someone like that when you haven't seen them in a long time.  Most of my best friends are people I met at that job, and even though I haven't seen this particular person in a while, he's always someone we talk about and wonder what he's up to.
Awkward: Realizing I give awkward pat-on-the-back hugs.  I hadn't noticed before, but when he went in for a hug I caught myself patting him on the back and immediately stopped.  I think it might be a guy thing actually, because now of course I am very aware of it and I realized I also do this with another guy friend.  Does anyone else do this?  Nope, just me.  Cool. 


xoxo,
Amanda