April 30, 2018

Spring '18 Semester Favorites

My favorite finds from this semester include the Headspace mediation app, Skimm'd from the Couch and Girlboss Radio podcasts, Walmart grocery pickup, grapefruit la croix, and the new all-in-one travel palette from Urban decay. blogger style. current obsessions. spring 2018 trends. what I'm currently loving. fashion blog. makeup blog. new for spring 2018 | brazenandbrunette.com

Surprise! I'm back!! It's so weird that I haven't blogged in almost a month because the last time I went this long without blogging was on my 1L hiatus. And honestly I didn't even mean to stop blogging but my daily schedule during my externship ended up being wake up, get ready, get to work 6:30-7:30; work 8-5; workout 5:30-6:30; shower 7-7:30; dinner 7:30-8; relax 8-9; bedtime at 9. And I literally haven't been home for like over 6 weekends in a row (my cat hates me) because after Ryan moved out last semester for his job in Houston we were 8 hours a part, and when I go back home to see my parents we're 12 hours a part (honestly sometimes Texas really is too big), so now that I'm only 4 hours away from him it feels like a quick drive across town to get from Dallas to Houston. Anyways, it's been really hard because I've had all these post ideas in my head and no time to write! So I thought an easy transition back in to the swing of things are a few items I've loved this semester :) 


Headspace


So obviously, this past semester has been very busy but in a different way. I feel like during school you have a lot to do but free time throughout the day to get it done but in the real world you don't have as much busywork to do but you somehow end up with less time in the day? It's weird! The feeling of running out of time in the day can be a very overwhelming feeling so I was excited when I found Headspace. It's an app that guides you through short meditations and helps you get out of your head. The guy who recorded it has this very soothing British accent and can calm you instantly. I got in the habit of doing it every night before I go to bed and I swear it helps me fall asleep faster! If you've been feeling overwhelmed (*cough* finals *cough*) then I really suggest you try this.

Podcasts

  

Even though I was lucky enough to be featured in a podcast, I've never really been this huge podcast listener. But as I said above, this semester I've made several trips down to Houston and although 4 hours is relatively a short drive, it can still be a hard drive when I get off work at 5 and have to fight both Dallas and Houston traffic just to see my boyfriend. The radio and Spotify are fine, but eventually I got tired of listening to the same songs over and over again. Then theSkimm came out with their podcast Skimm'd from the Couch and since I loved the last Skimm feature, I decided to give it a try. Podcasts are PERFECT for driving because they aren't repetitive like music, keep you engaged (and awake!), and maybe help you learn something new or better yourself. Skimm'd from the Couch is basically these really successful women talking about some real topics (think, handling finding out you had a miscarriage while at work or getting fired because your boss thinks you're self-promoting too much). 

After listening to such great conversations, I can't get in on all the murder-mystery or comedy podcasts so when I finally got caught up on all of those episodes I found a good runner-up to listen to, Girl Boss Radio. This is along the same line of talking with really powerful women, and while it sometimes gets a little softer and can be just a general conversation, sometimes it also has some great life/career advice. 



Walmart grocery pickup


Was not kidding when I said I've been busy! So this is actually something I've been wanting to try since Ryan and I lived together since we would somehow end up spending four hours getting groceries, but when I first tried it I just went to Walmart's website and when I tried to add like apples to my cart it said that item wasn't available online so I was really confused. Then I found out that they have a separate website for the groceries and it's much easier to use haha. If you order your groceries before 1pm, you can reserve a pickup time for later that evening or if you miss that cutoff you can order them for the future. What's great about this is that means that right as soon as you run out of something, you can instantly add it to your cart so you don't forget about it when it's "grocery day." 

And you get $10 off your first order which coincidentally is how much delivery costs (if you pick it up yourself it's still free to have them go around and gather everything for you) so if you wanted you could just get free delivery on your first order. Speaking of money, I've found that this is much easier to budget with because you can compare prices right beside each other online and it saves you from impulsively adding random crap to your cart that you don't need (lol I'm sure this isn't exactly what they meant to be a selling point) and I've found that my weekly grocery bill is usually about $10 cheaper because of this, which is potentially about $500 in savings a year!!


Grapefruit La Croix


Lol I know I'm so far behind the La Croix trend, but I just got on it and I'm loving it! My little actually introduced me to it (ugh she keeps it young) to help me kick my Dr. Pepper habit. And I'm happy to say that that I almost never have a Dr. Pepper anymore and I'm so happy. I usually don't like flavored water or even tea because it tastes like flavored water but there's something just so crisp and fresh about the La Croix and I really like the grapefruit flavor. In fact, I'm almost kinda addicted to them and I look forward to my mid-day treat during bar prep. If you're trying to kick a Coke habit (lololol just realized how that sounds but in Texas Coke = soda) or just want to add some more water to your day, maybe try this out. The only thing that I would change about La Croix is that there's so many flavors but I don't want to waste money and accidentally pay for a box that I don't like, so I wish that there was a multi-flavor box that came with like one of every flavor so you can more easily try them out. But it is fun to obnoxiously fancy with your ~pamplemousse~.

Urban Decay Backtalk palette

Since I've been traveling so much this semester, I've began to loathe having to pack and unpack all of my makeup every single weekend. Although I have plenty of makeup palettes, I decided that I wanted one to be a dedicated "travel" palette that stays in my makeup bag full time and that I'll only use when I'm on the go so I really did my research to find something that can be multi-use. Enter this palette which is perfection for traveling because it comes with eyeshadow and blush and highlighter all in one! So really all you need is this, mascara, and a lipstick and you are good to go with an everyday look! And I love that it's still the size of a regular palette and doesn't take up hardly any room in a makeup bag. 
let's be friends!


 

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