#1 thing I bought this month was Beyonce's album! I remember everyone on Tumblr freaking out when she released her album in December but I never looked into it until I saw all of these GIFs and short video clips people were posting from the album. I watched her Vevo videos that explained her ideas and inspirations behind the album and I knew I needed to buy it. I bought the entire album off of iTunes and a hard copy from Walmart but I was unaware the hard copy is censored and therefore no bueno for me. They were both around $16 and you get 14 songs and 17 music videos. I love all of it. Her music makes you feel completely empowered and confident, like nobody can mess with you. I play the album every time I'm in the car, at the gym, or hanging out on the computer. My favorite songs are XO, Partition, and Jealous! I give the album 2 thumbs up, 5 gold stars and every award on the planet.
I love Swiss Miss in the normal packages but I always hated how I could never completely dissolve all of the powder and then my parents bought a Keurig for Christmas. And then for my birthday my dad gave me two boxes of hot chocolate and in about a month my mom and I have finished an entire box. What's cool with the Keurig too is that you can choose the cup size so you can control how strong or weak your drink is! You can buy these at Target for $12 and you get 16 little cups.
Another Target purchase was this day planner. I have been feeling really overwhelmed with the ridiculous amount of free time I have until school starts. I had multiple people suggest that I start using a day planner to set up my days so that I'm not just sitting around not sure of how to spend my time. It's been really refreshing to be able to write down my plans and organize my days so that I am more productive. I like the idea of having a hard copy of my calendar because using my phone doesn't help me and I often forget what I've put into my calendar. I think this was around $8 to $10 and it comes with monthly and weekly calendars, contact sections, and notes sections. This will definitely come in handy when school starts again too.
Lemon bars! I've made 4 batches in the last week so clearly I have an unhealthy obsession. I made a test batch and didn't like them and then I found the best recipe ever. Mel's Kitchen Cafe is where I found the perfect lemon bar recipe that I will use for the rest of my life. The recipe is pretty straight forward and will only take about an hour to prepare and it is totally worth it. And most of the ingredients are things people normally have in their house anyways!
I love this show. Why does the UK have so many great shows that I can't watch here in the US? So unfair. Once again Tumblr was how I found out about this show. I kept seeing photos and GIFs then finally someone posted a link to all of season one and the first episode of season two and I watched them all in one night. It's nice being able to relate to a show that doesn't have famous actors and actresses done up in makeup and hair and living some unrealistic life. The show will make you laugh a lot, cry and at times make you want to throw the remote at the screen. I hope they continue to create more seasons and become easily available to people in the US.
My sister told me about how every girl in our town was using some great mascara and how it was making all of their eyelashes super long. This is the Loreal Voluminous® Butterfly Mascara. My sister went out and bought it and I tried it out and instantly fell in love with it. It lengthens your lashes but doesn't clump them or make them spidery. I often use this mascara first before layering on two different mascaras. It is the perfect base. The only issue I have is if you don't wipe off excess product before applying it it will clam your lashes together and it's a bit of a pain to remove the clump. But as long as you remember to do that you're good to go! I bought this at Target for $8.
I used to use this Shea Moisture coconut & hibiscus body wash all of the time in the fall but once it ran out I just never repurchased it until this month. My skin had not been doing well for multiple reasons at the beginning of this year. It's probably rained twice in the last 3 months so it's been extremely dry out here in California. I noticed my skin was rough, dry and ashy in some parts and I knew right away I had to start taking care of my skin better. I bought this at Target and lucky for me it was buy one get one 50% off so I bought two of them. The original price was about $10 each and a little goes a long way. You only need a quarter shape amount on a loofa or your hand because it lathers up like crazy. My skin has been feeling and looking so much better thanks to this body wash and the lotion I'm about to talk about.
Another skin favorite. I bought this back at the end of November as a recommendation from a girl I went to school with. My hands were taking a beating from washing them so much throughout the day and then using my hands in flour and hot water and soap. I bought this Hempz Original Herbal Body Moisturizer from Ulta for $23 and I have been in love with it since the day I bought it. It smells so delicious, it's sweet smelling but not perfumey which is what I needed. I apply this right after I shower to my hands, legs, and arms and it makes my skin feel so moisturized but not oily. I use this every day and it is something that I would re-purchase over and over again.
I love greek yogurt. I wasn't a big fan of yogurt when I was growing up because I hated and still hate chunks of fruit in my food. And then when I was in junior high I found out I was lactose-intolerant and I stopped eating anything dairy all together, except ice cream. Who can say no to ice cream? Anyways, I was taking a food and nutrition class at school and learned that some people who are lactose-intolerant can eat greek yogurt! So I went out and bought some and have been eating it for almost 2 years now with no side effects. I was eating the Dannon Oikos vanilla non-fat greek yogurt for the longest time until this month. I became obsessed with key lime and lemon and I saw that they had those flavors in the traditional style so I tried those out. Again, I love this yogurt. It's really thick and creamy and it doesn't have an artificial or overly sweet lemon taste. It's nice to snack on when you crave something sweet! I usually buy these from the grocery store but only when they're on sale for $1 or less.
My last obsession for the month is listening to white noise when I go to bed at night. But not just any white noise, I listen to the sound of rain. I had been having a lot of trouble falling asleep at night. I wasn't going to bed until 2 or 2:30am and once in bed I was constantly getting up and moving around the house because I felt so restless. My doctor recommended I listen to white noise and focus on my breathing and it's been helping me out so much. It makes me so relaxed and it's all I focus on. This video is 10 hours long too so you get an entire nights sleep to the sound of rain. I usually play this on my laptop and put the screen on black and the noise level as low as it can go or on my phone on the lowest volume. Each time I listen to it my phone or laptop only plays for 30-60 minutes but by that time I'm fast asleep. If you have any difficulty sleeping or relaxing in bed I would try this out!
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I wanted to end this post with an important thing I've learned this month. And what I've learned is it is okay to ask for help. I know that sounds silly or simple but it's something I've never liked doing. In elementary school I refused to ask for help because I thought it meant I was stupid. Instead I would do whatever I could to figure out things on my own and sometimes I never found out the right way to do things. This carried on into junior high and high school and into college as well. I started asking for help in culinary school so I could get everything I wanted out of class. I did not want to be wrong. And sometimes I thought I knew the answer but I still asked so that I was entirely sure. And I made mistakes in class but I always asked why and received help when I needed it.
I've always embraced my independence. I always tell myself I need to be able to do or say things because if I won't do or say these things for myself then who will? I love being independent and I dislike being dependent. But I had no choice in January because I had surgery that resulted in me not being able to do much except eat, sleep, walk around and go to the bathroom. And that was frustrating. It was beyond frustrating. I disliked it all. And I had to ask for help for almost everything I did. And at first I fought it, I was determined to not ask for help. But I ultimately told myself I needed help and it was okay to ask. And now I don't feel bad or stupid or annoying when I ask for help. I feel like I'm being mature and responsible for being able to step back and look at a situation and say, "I need to ask for help" or "I can't do this on my own". Being able to ask for help has made life a lot less stressful and I feel like I've learned so much more than if I had just kept my questions to myself. And the other important thing to remember is that there are people in life who want to help and don't mind helping. Your family and friends and teachers like to help. There is no shame in asking for help. It took almost all of the stress and pressure I had placed on myself off. Here are two quotes about asking for help that I love:
"Asking for help does not mean that we are weak or incompetent. It usually indicates an advanced level of honesty and intelligence.”- Anne Wilson Schaef
“The strong individual is the one who asks for help when he needs it.”- Rona Barrett
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