Weight Loss and Health – Calorie Counting Apps

Posted March 21, 2018 / Food & Drink, Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

I started calorie counting back in 2016, I believe, when I saw Lindsey was using Lose It. I loved a lot of elements of this app (more than My Fitness Pal, which my other friends used) and had success for a few months. I lost some weight, and then the holiday season came. Oddly enough, even though I paused the calorie counting, I kept that weight off. I started counting calories again with Lose It when I moved to Maine, for about 200 days (it tells you the streak). Last month, the Bella Twins (some of my fave wrestlers/personalities) posted about a 90 Day Challenge they were doing with LifeSum. It’s another calorie counting app, but they have a bit more in terms of analyzing overall health and lifestyle changes. There are more features (especially when you buy Premium, which I had done with Lose It as well). I’m here today to talk about my weight loss/health journey through these two apps, as well as pros/cons for each one! DISCLAIMER: I will be reviewing both of the apps fully but know that I did upgrade to premium subscriptions for both of them, so some of the information may be for the free versions but some may be for premium only. I also am not a health professional by any means, so don’t take my word for anything in terms of calorie counting being the healthiest or best option for everyone. I know what works for me, so that’s what I do! […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #175: Spring TBR

Posted March 20, 2018 / TBR Lists, Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 6 Comments

Ten A Lot of Books on my Spring TBR Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I love TBR posts like this because it puts the whole season into perspective, instead of just monthly ones like I usually do. I usually have long-range reading goals based on the books I own and need to read, ARCs on my Kindle/shelves, and book club picks. I’m definitely featuring more than ten because that’s how I roll. Book Club Picks: April/May/June Jackaby series (#2, #3, and #4) by William Ritter I already know what book club is reading until we finish this series. I’m including April, May, and June here because we’re going to just blaze through them depending on when I come home each month. We started with JACKABY in March, so there are the rest for the spring into summer! Advanced Copies Coming Up Furyborn by Legrand | Valley Girls by Lemon | Bookish Boyfriends by Schmidt August and Everything After by Doktorkski | The Elizas by Shepard I’m including all of the egalleys that are being published between April and May. I’m keeping away from the June/summer ones just because my list would be… extensive. I know that I WILL read […]

Blog Tour: Finding Felicity

Posted March 19, 2018 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 8 Comments

I knew exactly what I wanted to do for a post when I saw this blog tour announced by the Fantastic Flying Book Club. Felicity is a show I’ve always wanted to watch. I was constantly watching Friends with my mom (when I was way too young to watch it), but I never saw Felicity because she didn’t watch it. I was only 7 years old when the show started so the college-aged main character fascinated me, but was out of my reach at the time. I loved the concept of Finding Felicity when I saw the book’s synopsis a long time ago, and vowed to watch the show before reading the book. As you might have guessed, my role in this fun blog tour is to watch Felicity for the first time and share my feelings before reading the book. I’m going to include a little late 90s outfit Polyvore collage with Cover Colors as well, because I can’t resist. A first time Felicity watcher binges the show The tour was announced at the beginning of March, so I knew I had a few weeks to get going on the show. I decided to keep my live-blogging to just the first episode because it would get out of hand for all the episodes (I learned this very quickly). I embarked on the binge the first weekend of the month when my boyfriend was working (and sleeping, due to his work schedule). Here are my thoughts on season one, starting with a live blog […]

How I “Meal Prep” – AKA Slay the Leftovers Game

Posted March 16, 2018 / Food & Drink, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

I’ve been thinking about this post for a while and seeing Steph’s recently gave me a push to post it. I live with my boyfriend, which means I have to sometimes modify recipes for two people, or make a huge batch of something that we’ll be sick of in a few days. There’s no easy way to cook for two people without extra math or work. I’ve gotten the hang of it recently though. The trick for me is to prepare meats and other ingredients in a more simple way, so the cooking is out of the way early and all in one shot. Here’s how I slay the leftover game so we don’t get sick of eating the same thing for days, and a few recipes I use for multiple day meals. Cooking for Two Modify recipes to fit your ~family size~ aka couple. I do this when it’s really easy to do the math. If there’s a recipe that makes eight chicken breasts with sauce and some kind of side, I will cut the recipe in half so we each can eat two pieces of chicken. (More on that later.) If there’s a recipe for a HUGE batch of soup or stew, I will either cut the recipe in half so we don’t get sick of the leftovers, or freeze it when applicable. Eat “complicated leftovers” meals for lunch the day (duh). I call them “complicated leftovers” when you make a full meal, instead of just basic meat prep that […]

Lauren Lately | March 2018

Posted March 15, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 12 Comments

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ Cooking, relaxing, reading, and coffee shops | The past month has actually been quiet. We went almost a month without skiing, which is weird at this time of year! I’ve been eating healthier and taking more care when choosing recipes/meals. I’ve read decent amount of books (and some really great ones). There’s a new coffee shop down the road (even closer than some of the others I’ve gone to!) and we walked down there on a really nice day before heading home for our February trip. I did a Day in the Life post about it too. February’s trip home | We stayed home from a Wednesday night to Friday night. We didn’t have a lot to do, aside from my book club and me needing to cover part of my boss’s vacation in the office. We went to this amazing soul food place for book club and discussed Renegades! I saw both of […]

Holy Grail Products

Posted March 14, 2018 / Health & Beauty, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

I love reading holy grail posts for beauty, so I wanted to do my own with a little twist. I do have some non-beauty items here, like random technology or kitchen-related purchases. I go through phases where I feel the need to revamp everything and try a bunch of new items (especially as far as beauty goes), but these things have stayed pretty consistent over the years. I’m good at sticking with the stuff that really works. Here are some items I’ve used over the past handful of years that have been repurchased countless times. Products Used for 5+ Years John Freida Frizz-Ease Daily Nourishment Leave-in Conditioning Spray | My hair is naturally very straight and thin, so I don’t have to blow dry or straighten. It dries perfectly straight within an hour of showering. I know, I know, don’t hate me. The one problem I do have though is FRIZZ. If I don’t use this spray, my hair will turn into a frizzy mess ASAP after it dries. I spray this on the bottom 3/4 of my head and comb through. It detangles, makes it smooth, and keeps it smooth all day. Wet Brush | This is my second go-to hair product. I’ve had a Wet Brush for years because it really works so perfectly on wet hair. It detangles nicely without pulling. I can’t imagine using anything else for brushing my hair. I have a couple of these around! iPhones and Apple Products | I’ve been buying iPhones and other Apple products […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #174: Surprising

Posted March 13, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments

Ten Books that Surprised Me Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I like this topic because books can always be a surprise in one way or another. I have two Goodreads shelves for exactly this – books that were a pleasant surprise and books that were super disappointing (aka an unpleasant surprise after I was excited about them). I decided to share the five most recent books that surprised me in a good way and the five that surprised me in a bad way, thanks to my anal retentiveness on Goodreads. (I knew things like this would come in handy for TTT!). Five Pleasant Surprises War of the Cards by Colleen Oakes | I didn’t love this series, but the third book was easily the best one. I was always intrigued at the end of them because there were some cliffhangers, and honestly thought about this series a lot when I wasn’t reading it… but none of them were favorites. The final book was the best one and a very pleasant surprise (even though it wasn’t great). There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins | I didn’t expect to enjoy this one for a few reasons. Most of the early reviews seemed […]

How Moving Has Affected My Reading

Posted March 12, 2018 / Discussions, Features / 1 Comment

I’ve talked about this for a while in different spots, but thought it would be interesting to share all of the ways my reading habits have changed since we moved. (I talked a little about this when I explored where I was getting my books from.) Usually moving from one apartment to another wouldn’t exactly impact your reading habits (unless you moved 20 minutes away from work instead of 40 minutes and have less audiobook time, for example). When we picked up and moved to Maine in July 2017, I knew my reading habits would be changing quite a bit for a few reasons. This wasn’t like any other move. Reasons I anticipated the move would change my reading 1. I would be bringing only a handful of physical books with me, along with my Kindle. I was determined to bring around 10 books and rotate them in and out each month when I’d go home. I would read a handful during the month, bring them back to CT when we’d visit, and I’d replace them with the same amount of books. (More on that part later…) I obviously also had my Kindle for reading egalleys and ebooks, as well as my iPad for other book services (checking out library ebooks or Scribd). I would also have the option to check out physical books from my new library as well. 2. I would end up having two library cards (in two different locations/states) simultaneously. As I mentioned, I got a […]

My New Skincare Routine (After One Month)

Posted March 9, 2018 / Health & Beauty, Personal / Information / Etc. / 7 Comments

After trying some new face cleansers and skincare items in 2017, then deciding they were my favorite after just a month or so, I actually went off and tried a completely new routine for 2018. One of my favorite items that I listed from Lush actually slowly made my face break out (I think – I can’t tell for sure but it’s really the only new thing I was using during that time). I saw this thread on Twitter/Tumblr where a user talked about their skincare routine that seriously cleared up their acne. I don’t have too bad of an acne situation, but there are enough pimples to bug me. I’d love to wear a clean face out for errands and not feel all red/blotchy. I started this new routine on February 9th and now, around a month later, I wanted to share my routine and feelings about it. My Skin Type/Other Details & Goals Before I get into things, I don’t want to lead anyone astray about doing this routine. If you don’t have the following skin conditions/type, then maybe it won’t be the best for you. I’m NOT an expert on things like this and honestly I never cared that much about my skin, which is horrible. Confession: I didn’t even remove my makeup before bed until I was nearly out of college. (I actually had less acne back then; go figure…) Skincare was never a priority for me but I still got angry when I broke out […]

If We Were Having Coffee…

Posted March 8, 2018 / If We Were Having Coffee, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

I LOVE reading personal posts from other bloggers and seeing Jamie’s “If We Were Having Coffee” feature take off is so fun. Laura and Lindsey also have some great spin-offs of this feature too. I was very tempted to also make mine margarita-related (like Lindsey) but coffee is so ingrained in my daily life that it just makes sense to keep it. If you’re not familiar, it basically involves a fake little conversation about what’s been happening in our lives lately. Read on to see what’s been happening lately and feel free to chat back in the comments! If we were having coffee… I’d tell you how I did my first one of these exactly two months ago today! It’s kind of weird how time flies by so quickly. I’ll probably talk more about that later on, but thought it was worth noting that I inadvertently developed a schedule for these posts. I try to keep some posts like these a bit more loose because I should just post them whenever I feel like it, but other memes are more scheduled. I try to have a mix on my blog. Usually the beginning of the month and the end of the month have the most “scheduled” things between wrap-ups, TBRs, and other monthly/quarterly link-ups I participate in. Do you have a blogging schedule? If we were having coffee… I’d obviously talk about booooooks. February was a slow reading month for me because I was basically reading MY PLAIN JANE all month. Whooops. […]