five photo friday: spring!

Finally finally finally spring is here! These are some photos I took at my parent's house on Easter.




Have a great weekend!

 
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my daily beauty routine.

I've been using the same face/beauty routine for a couple months now, so I figured I would share it! Also, all of these products are cruelty free.

For starters, here's an unedited picture of my face on a typical weekday:

1. Milk Makeup Blur Stick (Mini) / $14 / Sephora

I put this on after my moisturizer has dried and it's a great primer for blurring my pores.

2. NYX BB Cream / $13 / Ulta

This is a pretty opaque BB cream so I use it as a foundation because it's not too heavy.

3. Tarte Shape Tape Contour Concealer / $27 / Ulta

I absolutely love this concealer—it's the perfect companion to the BB cream because it provides more intense coverage in areas where I need it—particularly my under-eyes because the dark circles struggle is real.

4. NYX No Filter Finishing Powder / $12 / Ulta

This keeps the BB cream and the concealer in place, and adds a little extra blurring.

5. Pixi Natural Brow Duo / $16 / Target

I went back to this after a stint with Colourpop's Brow Boss because even though it's a bit pricier, it's so reliable for both filling in my brows and keeping them in place.

6. Colourpop Call Me Creme Gel Liner / $5 / Colourpop

I use this dark brown liner pencil for my under-eye line so that it doesn't compete with the black of the top liner—without the under-eye line, I end up looking a bit weird. 

7. Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper / $20 / Sephora

I have tried a lot of black liquid eyeliners over the years, and this one is my favorite—once it goes on, it does not move at all. 

8. Urban Decay Troublemaker Mascara (Travel Size) / $11 / Ulta

I've been trying to find the perfect mascara, and this is the latest contender—so far, I'm very impressed! Bonus points for the pretty packaging.

This lineup does not include eyeshadow (which honestly I don't put on as much as I'd like to because I'm running on a tight schedule most mornings), but if I have time for it it goes in in between steps 5 and 6.

 
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porgs.

This sweater is one of my favorite nerdy pieces of clothing, I think you can see why—adorable Star Wars critters and a peter pan collar.

 

What I'm wearing:

Sweater: Her Universe

Skirt: Loft

Tights: Target

Shoes: DSW

Earrings: LouLou, old

I've worn this outfit twice in the past month, I love it so much. And I tend not to repeat outfits too often. I need to find a few other things to style this porg cardigan with, but for now, this blue skirt is a perfect fit.

 
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five photo friday: Sonoma, CA

Happy Friday! Here are a few photos from our trip to Sonoma, California last month. It's really hard to pick just five because we did a lot in a week, and I took a lot of pictures.



Have a great weekend!

 
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luna love.

I'm about twenty years late to the Sailor Moon bandwagon, but here we are. Naturally, my favorite character is Luna, and so I couldn't resist this Luna top (from Hot Topic, of all places).

What I'm wearing:

Top: Hot Topic

Dress: H&M

Tights: old

Heels: DSW

This outfit is an interesting mix of super casual and then kind of fancy shoes. But I think it works. More importantly, how cute is this shirt? It's definitely the layering over dresses type of shirt, but it will work with a few different dresses.

 
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Favorite home decor finds from Target.

Since we have a few large home improvement projects that we're kind of in limbo on right now, I've been focusing more on doing small improvements to make our space look better. Here are a couple of finds from Target I got last month that I love—and if you're trying to not feed your Target addiction, don't read on.

Glass & Metal Vanity Tray / $20

I got this to hold and sort my now ridiculously sized pin collection—it just looks so much better than the plastic container I was repurposing. Since it sits on the top of my dresser, I like it to double as decor, and this looks really nice.

2 Shelf Bookcase / $67

My small tv in my loft/office was previously sitting precariously on two stacked IKEA file holders, and when I saw this bookcase on sale I thought it was time for an upgrade. This piece is really nice for the price and makes it look more like an office than a dorm.

Herringbone Throw Blanket / $20

We have a nice wingback chair in our living room that I love, but the cats get the most use out of it, so I got this throw to add some flair to the chair and serve as a barrier for the cat hair (we have enough furniture with their hair embedded into it, I'm not looking to continue that).

Large Woven Storage Basket / $11.69

We have this corner next to our entertainment center that is just the cat toy corner, and it was kind of a hot mess before. Putting everything in this (which is a good size) hides the toys, makes it look nice, and makes it easy for the cats to go pick things out when they want. They're super spoiled, so there's a lot of toys.

Frosted Wastebasket / $10

This is going to sound stupid (my husband thought I was crazy), but nice trash cans really impact a room. I was getting so tired of the ugly plastic ones we had (particularly the oversize one in our bedroom) so I finally bought two of these and they're the perfect size and look so much nicer. If you can't hide your trash can, you may as well have a nice looking one, right?

What are your favorite house improvements/additions?

 
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long time no see.

Oh hi—long time no post, eh? I knew I hadn't blogged in a long time, but I didn't realize it had been almost two months. I honestly don't know where the second half of February went, then my husband & I took a trip out to California to spend time with my West Coast family for a week, and then not long after we got back, my grandfather's health took a turn for the worst, and so I took a couple trips up to New York—once to see him before it was too late (which I'm so glad I did), and one to lay him to rest and spend time with my East Coast family.

So, some good things happened—great trip to California, I got promoted at work—and some really difficult things happened—my grandfather passed away. It's been a mixed bag, but I've barely had time to take any time for myself and thus blogging took a major backseat. So far back that I kind of forgot about it for a while.

In an effort to regain one of my creative outlets, I decided I didn't want to just let this blog fade away (plus, I've been keeping it going for so long now). I don't have as much time to take outfit photos as I used to (mainly due to my work & workout schedule), so the content is going to be a bit more varied, like it has been the past few months.

So, that's what I've been up to for the past two months. Regular posts will resume this week, but for now I'll leave you with my favorite song of the past month:

 

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