February 2016 Budget

YOU GUYS. I think I had a breakthrough this month. Or I lost my mind... either/or. 

I'm not sure why, but I suddenly didn't want to buy things this month. My usual cravings for retail therapy and wanting all the things just weren't there. I don't feel like I did much differently in February, but here's one thing that might have helped: at the end of January, I made a list of a few things I was interested in buying. Having that list to refer back to helped keep me away from a lot of impulse buys, which is usually where I get into trouble. I also didn't really feel like I needed more clothes in February... perhaps because I have like the same 5 tops on rotation, haha!

With all that said, I did still buy things this month, so let's get on to the fun stuff! :)

1. Moda Luxe Zipper Flap Crossbody Bag (Target): $40 on sale for $30
2. Purple Druzy Necklace (Etsy): $27
3. Benton Snail Bee High Content Steam Cream (Amazon): $11
4. Paige Denim (20% off $22 = $18) and Madewell (20% off $15 = $12) skinny jeans (Plato's Closet)
5. C.O. Bigelow My Favorite Night Balm (Bath and Body Works): $8

Not pictured:

1. Cynthia Rowley leggings (Plato's Closet): 20% off $12 = $10

TOTAL: $116

Instead of doing my usual favorite/least favorite reviews, I'm just going to ramble a bit! First off, here is the list I made back in January:

And I only wound up purchasing two items from that list, hurrah! I had been coveting the Target bag since the fall, but it was always out-of-stock in black. As soon as it was back and went on sale (like two weeks later), I pounced! And I had been obsessing over a druzy necklace for awhile, so I finally bit the bullet. I'm pretty happy with the one I picked--it's so sparkly and pretty! (And PURPLE!) Plus, the pendant isn't huge, and the seller's listing had included a picture of it with a penny for scale--super helpful in determining the proportions of a piece you're thinking of buying! (I don't love chunky jewelry.)

The Benton cream (actually all Benton products) are something I've been contemplating for MONTHS, back when I first got on my K-Beauty kick. Some people have tagged Benton's stuff as holy grail, while others apparently got contaminated batches that broke out their skin horribly. EEK. I haven't had any bad reactions, thank the lord, but the cream is sort of greasy on my skin... and I only use a very little bit, on the areas of my face that tend toward redness and breakouts. Sigh. But it's only been a week, so I do need to test it out more.

The jeans are AWESOME, I've been wearing them like every other day. I'm always on the hunt for high-end jeans at secondhand stores (ever since scoring my beloved pair of Citizens of Humanity skinnies at Buffalo Exchange), so I almost audibly gasped when I found both Paige Denim and Madewell pairs in my size! And I've been using the Night Balm almost every night and really like it, especially at that $8 price point! :)

What did you buy this month??

Linking up with Fran's Budgeting Bloggers!

High Five for Friday: February 26

This week was somehow both fast and slow. But who cares about that because it's finally Fri-yay!! (Wut.) Here's what put the sparkle into my week:

• Inspired by Mattie in the comments of last week's H54F post, I broke out my OC DVDs and had a wild Friday night partying like it's 2003!

Californiaaaa here we come...

• I actually dragged myself out of bed earlyish on Saturday morning and went to yoga! And who did I see on my way back home, but Gingy!! Gingy is a rarely seen neighborhood cat so, much like in Neko Atsume, it's thrilling when she makes an appearance! She came right over and started rubbing up on me, and I was all heart-eyes emoji. (#HALP. #catervention)

Look at the splotches on her sweet little face!! <3

• I got a facial this week, at the awesome massage place with the tea! (I wanted a massage, but they only had facials available on the day I could come in... which is kind of hilarious because, when I got a massage there in January, I had actually called about a facial! Someday we'll be on the same page!) It was great, of course, but at one point, the esthetician used these cooling globe things on my face, which felt awesome and are supposed to help with redness (one of my major skin issues). I think this might be them... they seriously look like those water-holder things you sometimes see in plants, haha! Imagine my surprise when the esthetician showed me what they looked like!

• Continuing with my newfound love of Supernatural, I made B show me some "fun" episodes over the weekend. (So I am watching the series entirely out of order nbd.) One such episode was "Mystery Spot," featuring the sweet sounds of Asia! ("I know, no Asia. This station sucks!") I can't even with comedic Jensen Ackles--his pouty pretty-boy face re: Asia just cracks me up every time. Who knew that watching him die repeatedly would be so entertaining?!

• Speaking of things that crack me up, let's usher in the weekend with one of my favorite Simpsons moments ever, courtesy of "In the Garden of Eden by I. Ron Butterfly!" :D

"Wait a minute... this sounds like rock and/or roll!" Can't pull the wool over on Rev. Lovejoy!

Have a great weekend erreybody! xoxo

Let the sunshine in

(My dad was telling me that it's the age of Aquarius again? "You mean, the moon is in the seventh house? And Jupiter aligns with Mars?!" All I know about the Age of Aquarius, I learned from the 5th Dimension #preach. And I have no idea where Pops heard this/if it is actually the age of Aquarius. My astrological knowledge consists of googling "Is Mercury in retrograde?" whenever my life is weird, lol.)

Wow, it's been awhile since I've done an OOTD post--my last one was before Christmas! Yikes! I sure was productive back then.

Considering I'm consistently more depressed in the winter months, I've begun to think that I suffer from SAD, at least on some level. February has been better than January, but I've still been really unmotivated. Enter sunshine and 60 degree weather this past weekend, though, and I was practically doing cartwheels! (I now realize that this was a prime opportunity to dance joyously to "Let the Sunshine In" ala The 40 Year Old Virgin, rats.) I got so much done! I took outfit pics, and bugged the neighborhood cats, and went to both yoga AND Trader Joe's (and I am legit scared of the latter because it's always insanely packed)!

Here are said outfit pics, wherein I revel in the warm weather and chase the light around my backyard!

Sweater: Old Navy (2015) 

Jeans: Target (2015) 

Shoes: Toms (2015)

Necklace: Target (2015; sold out) 

Watch: Target (2015) 

Nail polish: Essie, "Splash of Grenadine" (one of my all-time faves!)

I love the color of these pants--such a subtle pop of color. (They're actually light green, in case they read grey.) And the sweater is pretty lightweight, so it was perfect for such a balmy day. Plus, it has that cute back detail! Did you ever notice how hard it is to look cute while taking a picture of your back? Well, spoiler: it is! Sexy back is hard to come by, believe me. I guess that's why JT was so deadset on finding and restoring it. ;)

High Five for Friday: February 19

What an odd week. I worked from home a lot and eventually realized that I hadn't left the house (save a Wawa run) in four days? Oops? I also found out that my beloved therapist, the one I've been seeing for several years, is leaving her practice and will not be able to continue seeing me weekly. Total.shock. BUT! There were some good/fun things that happened this week, so let's focus on them, shall we?!

• I didn't really have any Valentine's plans with B because V-Day is also my dad's birthday, and this year was a milestone one, so the B and I spent the day with my dad... which meant unexpected music lessons because Pops has been tinkering with the piano lately. This quickly devolved into B and I smacking random keys, and me shouting out songs that I thought of as Pops hit certain notes. ("That's totally the beginning of 'Breakfast in America,' I swear!") Later on, the three of us wound up watching Frozen, which my dad hadn't seen before. I had been feeling anxious when I woke up, because we didn't have any real plans for the day, but it all worked out :)

Do you wanna build a snowmaaaan? It doesn't have to be a snowman... Ok, bye :( :(

• Sadly, I've fallen off the bandwagon with the #RockYourHandwriting challenge, but I'm perhaps most proud of what I came up with for the prompt "Thank you note" ;)

Fun fact: My high school yearbook quote was lyrics from "Thank You" :)

• So, as I mentioned last week, B has been trying to get me into Supernatural. I had seen a few episodes and liked them but not enough to tear me away from Grey's and the other shows we watch on Netflix. Plus, I'd had a visceral initial reaction to Dean Winchester, and I had never liked Dean on Gilmore Girls, and the fact that Jared Padalecki does not play BOTH Deans was a major source of confusion. Well, apparently, all I needed was to see were some of the ridiculous clips of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles from assorted conventions because they are hilarious, and I now want to be their bff. I also wish Supernatural was just 42 minutes of them being ridiculous together.

Seeing a good angle to get me more into the show, B then showed me the amazing episode "Changing Channels", which even includes a spoof of Grey's called "Dr. Sexy" (!!) and features them them being ridiculous for at least 30 minutes, so, #winning!

• I hadn't seen The O.C. in forever, so when the first few episodes were on TV this week, I was totally sucked in! "Welcome to the O.C., bitch!" Seth Cohen being an adorable, hopeless nerd! That scene with "Honey and the Moon"! Ah! My therapist once asked me what my ideal fictional family would be, and I said the Cohens, haha! :)

If you weren't real, I would make you up :( :(

• And finally, the saddest/most hilarious picture of the week: my friend Timmi's poor, bundled-up dog Mieze, who is SO OVER the Chicago winter.

Kitten mittons, you'll be smitten!

That's a wrap! Hope you all have a great weekend! xoxo

Empties

I always love reading about other people's "must-have" products, so I finally got my act together to write about a few of my own! Granted, they're not all "empties" in the picture, but I have repurchased all of them before. Also, I only started wearing eyeliner/mascara regularly three years ago (at age 26, mind you), so the fact that I love both so much now cracks me up! :)

Some of the following links are affiliate links, so I get a few pennies if you click on them! Just FYI!

Cover Girl Lash Blast Volume Mascara : Being a pale redhead, I really like brown mascara, and Cover Girl is the only drugstore brand I've found that makes a legit brown (not black/brown). I've tried a few of different types by Cover Girl, but I always come back to the Lash Blast. I just really like the brush and how it separates your lashes, while giving them a little curl. 

Poshe Super Fast-Drying Top Coat : My friend Piper introduced me to Poshe a few years ago, back when I was barely painting my nails because I hated how quickly they would chip or get all smushy. OH MAN, has Poshe been a game-changer! I have no patience to wait for my nails to dry, and Poshe really does dry in minutes. Not to mention that it makes your nails look super-shiny and amazing. It was a disappointing day when they stopped selling it at Ulta, but you can still find it in a few random stores, and of course, on Amazon, along with everything ever!

EOS Ulta-Moisturizing Shave Cream : I have pretty sensitive skin, so shaving often irritates it. But this EOS stuff is fantastic for me and doesn't turn my legs into a literal hot (as in, burning) mess!

Maybelline Define-A-Line Eyeliner : To be honest, I haven't tried many eyeliners, but I love how soft and easily smudgeable this one is. So I was like "hey, this works!" and never looked back, haha! Now, in eyeliner, I do like a black-brown, go figure.

Make Up Forever Sens'Eyes : The only eye makeup remover that doesn't bother my eyes!

Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap in Lavender : I usually shower at night, so the lavender scent is perfect before bed. (I also really like Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap, but because it's so cooling, I only use it in the summer.) It may seem weird to just have the little travel bottle, since I like the product so much, but I get intimidated by the other size, which is roughly a ten-gallon drum! (If you've seen it, you know what I mean!)

Zoya Remove Plus : I tried to go back just regular drugstore nail polish remover recently, and I couldn't do it; after about a month, I broke down and bought the Zoya again! The top on it is awesome because it's so minimally messy, and it has a pretty unoffensive scent too. (To me, it just smells like a cleaner you'd use around the house, which is clutch since my dad hates the smell of nail polish and traditional nail polish remover! I used to paint my nails sitting next to an open window, like the stereotypical person smoking in secret!)

So, what are your faves? What beauty products do I need to try like yesterday?!