High Five for Friday: June 30

Let's see what brought the sparkle this week!

• First of all:

I found out Cinnamon's real name! And her home!

I accidentally stumbled upon Cinnamon, her owner, and Brindle Pinky (apparently Cinny's housemate!) on Tuesday night and couldn't resist the chance to finally get some answers! 

Cinnamon's real name is... Tina. TINA! I'm definitely going to try calling her that the next time she's snoozing at our house and see if that makes her love me. (For the record, she did come a-runnin' when she heard her owner's call!)

• All of that happened on Tuesday after I found out that I have my first cavity in 15 years! Wah! But I was determined not to wallow and went on a cat-and-flower recon walk after getting home from the dentist. There was a time not that long ago when I wallowed over EVERYTHING because everything felt like the end of the world. But it's not, thank goodness. And there's always plants and cats (or whatever YOU like lol) around to help you through it. ❤️

• Ok, let's backtrack now. On Saturday morning, I did my daily Calm meditation (!!) outside and then decided that I wanted go check out this pretty plant around the corner that I'd noticed the night before. So I just went! In my pajamas! (Which included the neon pink shorts at the bottom of this post, no less!) And I saw the pretty flowers and the world didn't end! I talk myself out of even the littlest things so easily, so this was 👌👌👌.

Phlox, said pretty flower! 

• Speaking of flowers, our Rose of Sharon is starting to bloom! But note the location of the bloom. Yeah, the bush is right by our driveway, so I inevitably knock off a few side blooms every time I park. Smart plant.

• I was practically dozing off on my drive to Reading on Sunday, so I wanted to stop at Starbucks before driving home. I also ideally wanted to stop at Target for some drugstore-type things I had run out of. But I don't know where anything is in Reading (besides the Sheetz, natch #notDelco). Much to my delight, I discovered that there was a Target WITH A STARBUCKS ten minutes away! AND they had these sandals in my size (which I hadn't been able to find anywhere near me). Total win.

Hope you have a great weekend! xo

June 2017 budget

In February, I had the realization that I often shop to keep myself stuck, as not having money is a legitimate excuse not to do things. 

I had hoped that revelation would inspire me to get my spending under control, but this month, much like Marshall/Beercules:

Yep. 

It always starts out so well: I make a budget, and I "give every dollar a job" in YNAB like I'm supposed to, but I don't take that budget or those jobs seriously. I just can't seem to stop myself from spending "extra" money, even if I've earmarked it for something else important (like next month's bills). I also just won't check my bank account for days at a time, so that I can go on being irresponsible. COME ON GIRL.

While the damage is actually not as bad as I'd anticipated, the above mindset worries me.

ANYWAY, here's what I got in June: 

1. Bandolino Collindy flat (Marshalls): $22 on sale (It seems that they retail around $50, so 🙌.)
2. Tony Moly Gold Black Sugar Scrub Mask (Ulta): $10 on sale for $9
3. Well Worn Babe Pullover (Target): $6
4. Mad Love Keava Sandal (Target)--and currently on sale!: $23
5. Lanolips 101 Ointment Balm in strawberry (Ulta): $14 on sale for $12

Not pictured:

1. Always Keep Fighting "Love Yourself First" tee: $30 including shipping 
2. Striped Aerie tee (Plato's Closet):  $5
3. Purple Silence + Noise tee (Plato's Closet): $6

TOTAL: $113 - $20 that I got back for returning the Glossier Priming Moisturizer, my least favorite part of the Phase 1 Kit I bought last month

REVISED TOTAL: $93

(I'm only changing the total so that I have an accurate number when I add up my spending at the end of the year, and I don't want to go back and change the May post.)

I'd been looking for new black flats (because my go-to ones are from 2008 nbd), and this was a whole saga because I have really narrow feet and often walk out of flats. So the elastic ankle straps on the Collindy flat are 👌. Bonus that I get to look like a ballerina, which is pretty much always my goal. 

The Keava sandal is not nearly as cute, but it's basically a walking boot in sandal form, what with the tighten-able straps and the rocker sole. The Birkenstock look may be trendy these days, but I definitely bought these to serve an orthopedic function. I'm officially 80 years old.

In that same vein, I got the Babe shirt solely to rock the Miss Arlene Francis and Miss Kitty Carlisle fashion vibe from What's My Line?  

Did anyone else watch these old reruns on Game Show Network as a kid?!

Lanolips is something that I'd always coveted but had never been able to find in the States. So naturally I pounced when I saw it at Ulta!

And finally, the Always Keep Fighting shirt. I feel like a huge poser getting a Supernatural shirt (given that I doubt I've watched a full season of it), but finding out about Jared Padalecki's experiences with suicide and depression, and how much he and the cast have done to normalize mental health issues are truly what keeps me interested in the show. 

#infinitejorts

How do you avoid blowing off your budget? Any suggestions? 😬

Linking up with Fran's Budgeting Bloggers!

High Five for Friday: June 23

Oh, what a week it's been! Let's see what brought the sparkle:

• Last Friday, I didn't feel like going straight home after work, so I found the Home Goods near work and hung out there! (I never go to Home Goods, so I don't know what got into me!) I somehow did not buy unicorn + donut wrapping paper but could not resist this little box with what is clearly my spirit animal on it:

Pink and purple! Sparkles! Unicorn! 💯

I also bought this sparkly amethyst-y rock from the sale rack because I'd been wanting something like it for awhile! (Also, purple sparkles. Need I say more?)

Casual Thursday sparkles 👌💜✨

A post shared by Jess (@jessie_face4) on Jun 22, 2017 at 7:00am PDT

• I went shopping in my closet this week too, rediscovering these constellation earrings and the Live and Conquer midi ring below!

• Father's Day was super chill and included watching the US Open (😴) and getting ice cream from Pops' fave place. I have to say, Pops is truly the best. When I was a kid, he totally embraced the both-mom-and-dad role that opens up following a divorce (as I lived with him most of the time) and is just the kindest, most optimistic person there is. I can very easily be a Negative Nelly, so I really hope to be more like him one day. 

Rocking a fine sun hat, like a true fashion blogger in the making 😂 

• On Monday, I had a great textversation with one of my dear grad school friends, which was much appreciated after a real Come to Jesus therapy session earlier in the day. Ashley's positivity and commiseration were just what I needed. 💖 

• And lastly, a Weird-Ass Movie of the Week! St. Elmo's Fire was randomly on on Saturday, and it's so dumb but somehow way more engaging than I remember. And this line will never get old (as I've texted it to my poor friend Kristin almost every day since): 

Chris Traeger would never approve of this behavior!

Hope you have a great weekend! xo

High Five for Friday: June 16

I definitely lost my mind this week, and yet, it contributed to the sparkle!

• Despite my love of flowers, I am not an outdoorsy person. My fear of bugs and ability to sunburn in two seconds really puts a damper on outdoor time usually. But for some reason, I really wanted to hang out in our backyard on Saturday. And I wanted to meditate! WUT. Totally lost it. And it was delightful.

I just took my yoga mat outside, found a shady spot, and listened to the Calm app. Afterward, I worked on Lavendaire's questions about finding your life's purpose (one of my June goals). It was an unexpectedly great afternoon! 

• Speaking of the Calm app, the following quote from it really stuck with me, as someone whose anxiety is perpetually at war with the present moment. 

• I also made it back to the 7 AM hatha class this week! Yay! Maybe the meditation/insanity helped! 😂

• In addition to not being an outdoorsy person, I'm also not a theater person. Like, I wouldn't know who Patti LuPone is if not for Will and Grace. But when Pitch Perfect was on last week and Pops happened to mention that my boy Benji (aka Ben Platt) was up for a Tony ("How do you know that?!" "Oh, it was in the USA Today!" #duh), I was like WE HAVE TO WATCH! So obviously I was psyched that he won! And his speech was so great!

"The things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful." PREACH 🙌❤️

• Lastly, this week's Weird-Ass Song of the Week is a Bee Gees' song I'd somehow never heard before! When I was at the Rite-Aid on Tuesday afternoon getting Peanut M&Ms (as one does), "Lonely Days" happened to be playing, and I was like WHAT IS THIS CATCHY SONG?! I promptly went back to my desk and googled it. And it has been stuck in my head ever since. And the video is morose '70s perfection. You're welcome.

Oh, and in case you missed it, I'm celebrating one year with my lil' babydoll car! ☺️🚗

Hope you have a great weekend! xo

One year!

May 31st was my one-year car-iversary!! Which is still slightly hard to believe given my previous fear of driving! (You can read about how I did exposure therapy for that here.)

I thought it might be fun to look at year one (and my history with driving overall) by the numbers, so here they are!

1: Number of tries it took me to get my license (...after many driving lessons)

19: Age at which I got my license

29: Age at which I bought my car

23: Age at which I first drove by myself

3: Months of exposure therapy

10: Months between ending exposure and buying a car (😮 totally did not anticipate that when I started exposure!)

Hop in, Calico Pinky!

28.8: Miles to work every day

21: Number of highway miles to work

5:50: Time I used to get up in the morning for my public transportation commute 😴

8:15: Time I usually get up now

2:10: Typical length of my commute via public transportation

:40: Typical length of my commute via car

1: Number of passengers I've had that are not related to me (shout-out to Kate Reynolds!)

66: Miles one way on my longest drive to date

14,976: Total miles driven in year 1 (+ two weeks)

1: Number of times I popped the hood instead of the gas tank 😂

1: Legitimate near-accidents (a number my scared-of-driving-self thought would be much higher!)

12: Months as a car owner 🎂

Even though I wasn't driving before 2015, I had always thought that I would drive eventually--just some time in the very distant future. So when I got the keychain above as a present at Ring Mass in high school, I put it away because it was so pretty that I only wanted to use it on my future car keys. Fast-forward to me finding it a few weeks ago and honoring my 17-year-old self's wishes by adding it to my car keys. ❤️ Those "someday" dreams can definitely come true.