Category: Personal / Information / Etc.

Getting Organized: Budgeting, Debt, Groceries

Posted July 24, 2019 / Goals & Planning, Lifestyle, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

Over the last month, I’ve become kind of addicted to watching Jordan Page’s YouTube channel and reading her blog, both called Fun Cheap or Free. I’ve followed, attempted, and adjusted many of her methods to fit my life. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve struggled with reducing my debt (hi, million-dollar student loans!), curbing my spending, grocery shopping using only the money I need to spend, and just generally budgeting my entire life CORRECTLY. In conjunction with the Artful Agenda (link will work next Wednesday), I’ve organized juuust about everything in my life. I thought it’d be fun (and hopefully helpful for some of you!) to share my favorite videos, explain what I’ve pulled from them, and how I’ve adopted them to my life. Groceries / Meal Planning I want to note before I get into this section that I’m someone who already knows a LOT of grocery shopping tips and hacks. I’ve watched videos before and been like “what? These are real tips people don’t already know?!” so I will say that Jordan Page has some other more basic shopping tip videos if you need those too. The ones I’m linking have some basic things but also include better tips that I’m implementing! How to meal plan using your fridge Summary: This video is about meal planning using what you already have in your fridge, pantry, and freezer. The whole “you’re doing it backwards” thing in the title card is because most people (myself included…) would browse Pinterest or various […]

May-June Bookish Bullet Journal

Posted July 5, 2019 / Features, Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc., Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments

When I mentioned the idea of sharing layouts from my reading-related bullet journal on the blog, most of you seemed interested to read about it! I can’t justify making one post each month dedicated to the 3-4 bujo pages I make during that month, so I thought doing a little bullet journal update every two months would be fun instead! In these posts you will see all of the new pages I added during the past two months. I feel like my bullet journal usage is increasing quite a bit, which is nice! I feel like I was stuck in my rigid selection of page layouts for each month (new release tracker, reading tracker, and TBR), but I’ve been trying to make readathon or challenge-specific pages to enjoy tracking other things! This round-up of layouts will likely be longer and bigger than the previous time I posted about this 😉 May ARCs and New Releases: I really like the way this page turned out at the top! As usual, I tracked my review copies with asterisks next to the titles, highlighted the release weeks, and included other releases I’m excited about. May TBR: Phew this looks like a bad month for reading from my TBR! I don’t remember why I read so off-base but I think this was one of those months where I included too many options, especially review books I wasn’t overly into. May Reading Tracker: Now that I look at how lopsided my tracker is, I can tell […]

Skincare and Makeup Lately: Hits and Misses #2

Posted June 17, 2019 / Health & Beauty, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

It’s WILD to read my previous skincare/makeup post from just MARCH and how much things have changed! I’m still leaning toward a skincare-purchasing kick compared to makeup, but there are definitely new makeup things to report on as well! Some good hits and misses to discuss in general, as well as lessons learned. Skincare Lessons Learned and New Skincare Routine / Products I’ve become slightly addicted to certain subreddits on Reddit lately. My most common place to be scrolling through endlessly is the r/SkincareAddiction page. That’s where I learned that I may have oily skin, but I’m likely overproducing oil because I’ve destroyed my moisture barrier with majorly drying/stripping/harsh products for literal years. The minute I got acne and learned I had oily skin as a preteen, I started using so many cleansers that have probably beaten my skin to death. I just wanted to get some products that I could use successfully to make sure my skin looks better and feels better. I bought the CeraVe Foaming Facial Cleanser to restore my skin to a normal pH level and also some more hydrating products for the evening. I modeled my routine sort of around this person’s (The Ordinary products) and around the general ScA routine that is suggested on Reddit. Trader Joe’s & The Ordinary Hauls In my Reddit reading, I saw some recommendations from The Ordinary and Trader Joe’s skincare selections, so I thought I’d review and discuss them here now that I’ve been trying them for around 3 weeks. […]

Mini Trip Recaps: “BEA” and Bay Area

Posted June 12, 2019 / Lifestyle, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

June has been a super busy month so far and we’re not even halfway through yet! When I was pulling together my Lauren Lately post, I realized that I had quite a bit I could discuss on the vacation/trip front. I went to NYC for a BEA-related event but didn’t actually go to BEA or Bookcon, so that necessitated a post. I also went to the Bay Area for Cristina’s wedding the following weekend and turned that into a long weekend trip with some friends. We split our time between the Livermore area and downtown San Francisco. BEA Party When I was invited to the Big Honcho party during BEA weekend, I knew I had to make it happen this year. I was invited last year when living in Maine but obviously that wasn’t feasible at the time (at least compared to when I live in Connecticut!). I went down to the bottom of the state Friday afternoon and took the Stamford train into the city before the party. I met with Natasha (my friend you’ll see in the SF recap below) for dinner before heading to Madalyn’s hotel. I got to meet her friends Chelsea and Alexa before heading into the party. IT WAS SO GREAT TO MEET MADALYN IRL because she has been one of my favorite people in the community since she joined Novel Ink. Long overdue meeting, folks. We also caught up with various other bloggers and booktubers, including Kristin, Alexa, and Rachel. It was great […]

TV Shows I Probably Won’t Ever Finish

Posted May 20, 2019 / Media, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

I thought I’d do a little break from books to talk about television! I like sharing other hobbies on here, but I guess this post is almost the opposite of that? I wanted to chat about some shows I started watching, got through more than a few episodes, and have since paused watching. Most of the time this isn’t a conscious decision – it’s more like I get in a mood, binge a few (or a bunch) of episodes, get distracted by a new season of another show, and then never go back. I usually tell myself that I will at some point, but these are six shows I’ve decided I most likely won’t ever pick up again for various reasons. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Episodes watched: 12 | Episodes left: 38 I binge-watched a lot of these episodes right around the time the second season came out, maybe? I don’t remember. I was intrigued at first and thought the show was pretty funny but not as funny as everyone else. It’s one of those shows where I just stopped watching it inadvertently, in favor of something else, and I’ll probably never return to it. It’s been like 3+ years and I have not once felt compelled to play the next episode. Orange is the New Black Episodes watched: 33 | Episodes left: 45 If you told me I wanted to quit this show a few years ago, I would have been shocked. Chris and I LOVED and devoured the first […]

March-April Bookish Bullet Journal

Posted May 2, 2019 / Features, Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc., Wrap-Ups / 3 Comments

When I mentioned the idea of sharing layouts from my reading-related bullet journal on the blog, most of you seemed interested to read about it! I can’t justify making one post each month dedicated to the 3-4 bujo pages I make during that month, so I thought doing a little bullet journal update every two months would be fun instead! In these posts you will see all of the new pages I added during the past two months. I shared my first set of bujo pages in the post I linked above, where I talked about the overall layout of my journal and showed my February layouts. I didn’t start the bujo in January, so there ya have it. Here’s what I’ve been doing for the past two months! (Sidenote: I’ll be showing any other pages that get updated in the midpoint of the year too, so the post for the May-June bujo in July will show any yearly challenges or graph pages that I update at the end of the month, just to show midyear trends and such!) March bookstagram: I didn’t end up doing this beyond the first few days of the month, but oh well. I love how the “bookstagram” title came out on the page! That’s worth it alone 😉 I usually will do two columns – one for the actual promp and one for the idea I have for the photo (location, props, and book titles). March TBR: I’ll be keeping this book stack format, with […]

Balancing All the Forms of Entertainment

Posted April 25, 2019 / Media, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

I feel like I’ve discussed this a little bit in the past, but I’m in the mood to talk about it again. I’ve actually developed a pretty decent system for getting ALL of my media time in. I’m looking at books, audiobooks, music, and podcasts. I’ve had really good months and really bad months for reading, and it’s usually based on my current addiction level to something else. 2018 was a big YouTube year for me – I could not stop watching things and didn’t read that much at all. I also got addicted to a few TV shows. This year I’ve been really into podcasts, since I have a commute again, but I’ve also been mixing audiobooks in a LOT. I’ve been also reading many, many books, which means I’m not watching TV or YouTube as much. In the post I linked above, I talked about developing some kind of schedule to balance my hobbies: Between audiobooks, podcasts, regular books, Netflix, and YouTube, I really need to allocate my time better. I need to focus on what’s important and what isn’t. Just because I love Nikkia’s YouTube videos doesn’t mean I NEED to watch her review of a product I’m 90% sure I won’t buy or care about. I don’t have to watch every single creator I love when they post something. I’d love to, but it’s not feasible. Tati posts 5 times per week and I already cut back to just the topics I’m interested in; I should […]

Currently… On My iPhone

Posted March 28, 2019 / Currently, Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

On My iPhone | March 25, 2019 I really enjoy writing “Currently” posts, where you share the things you’re loving, watching, wearing, etc. in a very straightforward format. Plenty of bloggers do them and they’re some of my favorite posts to read too! I thought it might be fun to share an iPhone-oriented version of this, where I screenshot various things on my iPhone to show what I’m currently seeing on there, favorite apps I’m using, things I’m listening to, etc. On my Lock & Home Screens Lock screen: Even though we’re out of football season, this has remained on my lock screen! Chris and I haven’t taken a lot of great photos lately (lol) and I really enjoy having him on my front screen. This is when we went to Charlotte for my birthday and got to meet Sir Purr, the mascot! Home screen: This is my main group of best friends from college. I always have them on my home screen too. This photo is also from September, from Natasha’s wedding. This is one of the pictures from the professional photographer and we all look so good. On my Podcast List Currently listening (bottom bar): I usually listen to podcasts on Tuesday and Wednesday (sometimes Saturday/Monday depending on what I get to), so I only have a quick one from this morning. I listened to the preview/intro to the Bellas new podcast! By the time this posts, it will have had its first episode already. Up next: I have a weird […]

Skincare and Makeup Lately: Hits and Misses

Posted March 22, 2019 / Health & Beauty, Personal / Information / Etc. / 8 Comments

Skincare My focus lately, for the most part, has been on new skincare items and routines. I have this problem where if something doesn’t work immediately (or breaks me out initially), I quit using it and assume it won’t work. I really need to give things a fair shake and see if they last. Tatcha’s Starter Kit After reading Sydney’s post about her experience with Tatcha, a brand I’ve been looking to try, I decided to buy the two week starter kit. I have oily skin but it’s been very tame in the winter months this year. This is probably due to a combination of a few things, which I’ll talk more about later, but it starts with skincare. The Starter Ritual Set (Normal to Oily Skin): I think I’ll talk about each item individually because I have mixed feelings about some of them. I like the kit in general though because the small-ish sizes are big enough to definitely last more than two weeks, in my opinion. Pure One Step Camellia Cleansing Oil: 👎🏼 So I’ll admit that cleansing balms and oils are just not for me. People who wear a LOT of makeup on a regular basis – do any of these work nicely for you?! I have to use 5 pumps to get everything off, I hate using it on eye makeup, and it just feels weird on my skin. It’s not the oil’s fault here because it’s ALL oils and balms, but I won’t bother with this in the […]

How I Use Google Keep for Organizing My Life

Posted March 14, 2019 / Goals & Planning, Lifestyle, Personal / Information / Etc. / 7 Comments

I’m a big proponent of Google’s document services and other apps. I love that I can sync everything up on my phone or computer instead of having things in one place, like when I use Microsoft Office. I’ve talked a lot about how I organize my bookish life with Google Sheets, but I figured I’d share some of my Google Keep love today! If you don’t know, it’s an app and website service from Google that essentially makes various sticky notes on a board. They can be lists, plain text, drawings, and more. I use the checklist option the most because I frequently use it for groceries and weekly to-dos. I know there are more sophisticated planning apps that use calendars and such, but this one really works for me for now. Here’s how I use it. Pinned Notes – Priorities When you make a note, you have a bunch of color and style options, as well as the ability to pin it to the top. I like this for my priority items for the week. As you can see below, I have different grocery shopping lists for each store I frequent. I also have a list of meal plans for the week. Sometimes the meal planning note lists out each meal for each day (like below) and other times it’s just a list of ideas for dinner based on groceries I have on hand. The pinned ones below show the weekly meals, priority shopping list for Target the day […]