Category: Productivity

The Hills: A Working Girl’s Lament

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As I opened up LinkedIn for the tenth time in the past two weeks, I had a sudden burst of inspiration: put on “The Hills.” For the uneducated, “The Hills” was the tipping point for modern reality TV. After “The OC” dominated the zeitgeist, MTV produced “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County,” as a way to show the world what it was REALLY like to be a teenager in Orange County, California. Laguna Beach followed the lives of high schoolers Kristin Cavallari and Lauren Conrad, and the drama that comes with growing up, going to high school, and falling in love for all the wrong people. After graduating high school, Lauren Conrad (AKA “LC”) packed up her life and moved to Los Angeles to pursue fashion at FIDM, combined with an internship with Teen Vogue (may she rest in peace).

When I was a tween, going on teen, going on twenty year old, I wanted to be Lauren Conrad. She was the “good girl,” with good sense and great style. I loved that she worked hard, and reaped the benefits that come with hard work in a glamorous world. Spoiler: if you work hard in the fashion industry, EVENTUALLY you get designer clothes and front row seats at fashion week. That said, fashion was never my industry of choice back then. I wanted to be the Lauren Conrad of NBC!

Except, well… did I say “wanted”? I still want that!

So, there I was, sorting through LinkedIn job postings, with “The Hills” playing at the same time. I’ve seen the show at least five times over by now, but I think this is my first time watching in three years. Maybe even four! I don’t know what it was about this viewing, but certain aspects of the show drove me up the wall! I am here to share them all.

  1. “The Hills” is available for streaming through Hulu, but Hulu doesn’t have the rights to all the music on the show. When you’re an MTV show, the music is E S S E N T I A L. How do you get “The Hills” and not have the rights to “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield? It’s ICONIC. In the first episode, Lauren has an interview with “Teen Vogue” regarding her internship, and has to get ready and be there in twenty minutes! Her “get ready and go” montage is set to “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna… but when the scene happened on Hulu, THERE WAS NO RIHANNA. WHERE IS MY RIHANNA? To only have rights to half the music on this show, which went in tandem with it’s inspiration (“The OC”) in terms of defining indie/pop punk music in the mainstream is such nonsense.
  2. This isn’t so much a complaint as it is a notice on the passing of time: back in the early-oughts when this show was popular, LC and the gang were PEAK fashion. They were style icons. Their look now seems so faded! Nothing against them, because again, at the time this style was THE way you wanted to dress, but the eyebrows are so thin, there’s no contouring, black eyeliner on bottom and top, graphics sewn into the back pockets of jeans! I want to dress like this for a week IRL and see what people say. To be fair, I was heavily inspired by Lauren’s look and I think I still carry shades of what she wears even now. I’d say her style on the show is either dated (it was more than ten years ago) or classically pretty (how I attempt to dress now). There’s no in between! “Fashions fade, but style is forever.”
  3. Now let’s get to the meat and potatoes: THE FAKENESS OF THIS SHOW IS H I T T I N G ME THIS REWATCH. In the pilot, Lauren is assigned one job at a Teen Vogue party: guard the VIP table, and don’t let anyone sit there. At all. Not only does she help her bff/roommate Heidi sneak in with her bf and their friends, she lets them sit at the VIP table! She gets caught, and things are made worse when Heidi gets into a drunken argument with her boyfriend at the party. Lauren’s bosses sternly say “We’ll talk about it on Monday,” and she sees no repercussions other than a verbal warning. THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN TODAY. LAUREN WOULD’VE BEEN FIRED ON THE SPOT.
  4. Speaking of, Heidi is a piece of work! I had always liked Lauren more anyway, but this time around I find Heidi’s behavior even worse! Lauren and Heidi move to LA together to attend FIDM and be roommates, but Heidi skips the first day, and even drops out before attending a single class after getting a job. I get that school isn’t for everyone, but to drop out before even giving it a try! If you agree to go to school with a friend, you should at least stick it out for a semester. The job she gets is with a PR firm, and she expects that the role will let her be working in popular clubs, essentially getting paid to be a party girl. She is devastated and shocked to find that it’s a 9-5 assistant job of stuffing envelopes, answering phones, and getting lunches for the boss. At one point, she asks another girl working next to her what she does for the company, to which the other girl responds “I’m an intern, but I go to school full time at FIDM”. Heidi quietly replies “Oh… I just dropped out of there.” It’s just wild to me! She gets so frustrated that her day is spent doing remedial tasks, and thankfully someone sort of puts her in her place and tells her that she has to pay her dues before she gets to the fun stuff. I’ve been in the “paying my dues” phase of my career for four years, and Heidi wants to quit after one day! When she finally gets to work in the club at an event, she balks at it because it’s her and her boyfriend’s six-month anniversary! She’s twenty years old! I would have been thanking my lucky stars and making plans for the night before and the weekend after for my anniversary. The privilege and lack of gratitude. To have MTV connect you with an opportunity and to not send thank you notes for eternity. I CANNOT IMAGINE.

For all of this, though, this show is still just ADDICTING. It’s like a 2000s era time capsule. With that, I’m going to watch one episode right now, and then go do some productive busywork.

The rest? Is still unwritten.

 

Monthly Resolution Wrap Up – August

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August. Not my finest month.

If anything, I’m celebrating that I think this was my worst month. What a relief! I got my worst month done, and now the rest of the year can be great! Right? Right?! I’m right.

1. Read 52 books – I finished two books this month, and I’m working on two more right now! If I finish them by this weekend I’ll feature all four in a monthly reads post.

2. Do pull ups – I am excited that this resolution is slowly getting there. I’m feeling my muscles getting stronger and more capable each day. I’m steadily pushing and I think I’m going to make it by the end of the year. I really do!

3. Spend LESS. TIME. SCROLLING – I don’t think I tracked this a lot this month. I feel like it wasn’t overly bad, but I wouldn’t give myself a gold star? I should really start paying attention to my device metrics to see how much time is spent each week on certain apps (Instagram seems to be the biggest time suck. I also spend inordinate amounts of time on TikTok but allegedly that’s getting banned in the United States by the end of this month? I’m not going to blame Baby Yoda, all I’m saying is that 2020 started going south right around the time “The Mandalorian” ended).

4. Write 104 Blog Posts – Nailed it. Crushed it. Gonna keep crushing it. <- I wrote this last month. Still applies! Yahoo! <- I wrote this last month, too! Still applies! Double yahoo!

5. Romantic trip with Aaron from Dec. 26 2020 – Jan. 2 2021 – A distressing development: my mother cancelled our vacation for the end of the year. Very sad. BUT. She rebooked a beach resort vacation in the same timeframe! I will still be “of the sea” with Aaron to begin 2021. My 2021 New Years Resolution is going to include a new iteration of this resolution where he and I go all out for our two year anniversary. Hopefully by then this pandemic will be over and we’ll be back to a normal, no-fines-for-leaving-the-state society.

6. Stop engaging in schadenfreude – I think I did okay this month? I genuinely can’t remember. I know I did better than I did in July. I know I watched a few schadenfreude videos/read a few Twitter threads, but that’s it. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being better.

7. Take better care of my skin – I went to a dermatologist! I got a prescription! I still have hormonal acne on my jaw and cheek and a few bad boys on my back and I’m hoping it’ll go away in a month otherwise I’m gonna lose my marbles!

8. Go stargazing – I have yet to seriously go stargazing. Aaron doesn’t like bugs but doesn’t want me to go to a dark place at night by myself. However, twice in the past week I’ve gone on a walk early in the morning while the stars are still out and it’s just… sometimes the sky feels like I’m in a dream. I’m not saying I got this done (I told Aaron I want a date night stargazing, and now that it’s September it better start cooling down and getting less buggy it better happen), but I have taken a moment (give or take twenty minutes) to just be in awe of nature.

9. Get a new job – I have kamikaze’d my way through job applications this month. Just full on Han Solo charge, knock out ten in one day, throwing my name out and seeing what happens. Do I have a new job? No. But I have new job prospects and I remain optimistic.

10. Do a handstand – Last month I said I was doing L-handstands against the wall. I have LEFT THE WALL. I have been practicing just kicking up on my own and almost every day I get further up, and further into a better stance! Some mornings I have left the gym feeling like air punching the world because I’m so proud of myself. That’s pretty neat.

11. Go see two of my favorite performers – This is still not going to happen and I’m very very bummed. I don’t think I’m an entitled fan, but if my favorites don’t look back at 2020 and think “I owe it to the people who suffered to give them what they want: live performances at relatively decent prices,” then they should reconsider. I’m just joking! OR AM I?!

12. Lose weight – WOW. What a dumpster fire of a month for this. I felt super sad about it. I FEEL super sad about it. I’m tired of feeling this way. I’m letting myself down and that’s so not Raven. I can do better. I AM better. Oof. No.

13. Give Aaron a great 26th birthday – Mission accomplished! I wonder if I should keep mentioning this one, since it happened and I can’t go back and redo it or improve on it. Meh. It’s a part of the list and it will stay on the list.

14. Be a better friend, wife, sister, daughter and granddaughter – I hung out??? With a friend??? Yes! I did! I saw a friend in person for the first time since lockdown this month. It was just for an hour, sitting on my porch and catching up on life. It felt so good to see a friend that I might? Do it again? Another friend wanted to go to this one restaurant where they make insane milkshakes with me when I felt safe to associate with other humans. Now’s as good a time as ever!
See, you look at sentences like that and then item 12 and you gotta think “Wow, the disconnect.” I know I do.
Aaron and I have been going on walks and bike rides together. I’m so grateful to have him as my husband and my partner through the dumpster fire that is 2020. I went home earlier this month and spent time with my family, but I feel like I’ve been on a different wavelength than them since. I also haven’t spoken to my grandparents in a month. I wanted to go visit with them, since I technically could be in the same house with them/quarantine for two weeks as the law requires, but that would still be too risky. I was so ready to go be with them and yet I didn’t call or email once. What is wrong with me?

15. Be happy – It’s weird. I thought this month was my lowest month of the year, but looking at my resolutions, this was a relatively solid month. I think that the family thing, the weight loss, and the job situation all just made me feel so low that I look at the month (maybe as an extension of myself) as a failure. I can’t tell if me being hard on myself is a good thing or a bad thing. Am I disappointed, because I know I can do better? Am I setting myself up for failure by having unrealistic expectations? Either way, the sad feelings don’t really invigorate me to try harder, so maybe just being sad about it is just a waste of time (gee, this sounds familiar).

I feel good about September. These will not be famous last words!

I love you three thousand.

An Experiment in Makeup: Part 4

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In today’s section of the experiment, we have:

  1. BETTER LIGHTING
  2. BETTER RESULTS
  3. PROMISE OF A BETTER TOMORROW, TODAY!

To quote the millenial’s Walter Cronkite, “Let’s just jump into it.”

Today’s look was inspired by this Snitchery video in which she presents a “no-makeup” look. She provides the context that the makeup looks she usually put together and shares on Instagram looks great on camera when filming, but a lot of the time it looks too caked to look good in person. In this video, she explains how she does her makeup when she’s going to be with people, hanging out at home. This is her version of “Hello, I am awake.”

I would say this version of “Hello, I am awake” is a better version of what I do when I want to say “Hello, I am awake.” The purpose of this experiment/series was to elevate my “Hello, I am awake” look, without looking too caked or taking too long, so this video felt like a good way to focus in on this overall goal!

Materials:

Notes On My Procedure:

Yesterday, I was having a blissfully quiet day at work when my coworker informed me there was a Zoom (videochat) meeting in an hour. For this meeting, we were REQUIRED TO BE ON CAMERA. My bare face (complete with breakout) and messy wet hair would not do. I decided to play around with the Bella Hadid tutorial steps, since I felt it would be the most dramatic look that would translate well on camera. I put together this look looking in my webcam! It was then that I discovered that the natural lighting of my workspace and the camera of my computer were a much better environment for makeup application. My makeup looked great, so great that I almost wanted to go to dinner that night just so it wouldn’t go to waste. Naturally, of the eight people on the videochat, only half of us were on video, so it wasn’t even necessary. Hmph.

Today’s look was put together with much better lighting than usual!

Procedure: 

  1. The base: moisturizer only. No primer!
  2. The face: apply concealer/foundation only where needed (a process called “spot concealer”). Apply where there is discoloration! To conceal under eye discoloration: Just put a few dots of concealer in the bottom outer corner of your eye. Blend out and up, towards your hairline. YOU DO NOT NEED FULL TRIANGLES UNDER YOUR EYE. After blending out and up, blend into the corner of your eye. I used step 9 from part 2 of this experiment to “spot conceal” conceal my acne. Stipple in setting powder after applying foundation (as opposed to after the entire face of makeup).
  3. The brows: Go for natural, hairlike strokes! Pencils over pomade for this look. Add a bit of clear gel to keep the hairs in place.
  4. The eyes: the footage from the video was lost, but Eleanor (Snitchery’s name IRL) explained that it was a “watered down version of her Bella Hadid” eye look. I’ll go more in depth on this process in part 5 of this experiment.
  5. The lashes: fake lashes come into play in this look! The video was sponsored by Glamnetic, so she used (and praised) their lashes. I did not use Glamnetic lashes, but I don’t have the words to say how much magnetic false lashes are a GAME CHANGER.
  6. The contour: Using your fluffiest brush, stipple bronzer along the outer part of your forehead. As opposed to going all the way into the middle of your face, go gently all the way around the perimeter of your face. With a dense brush, add some light color beneath where you typically contour (think of it as inverse contour).
  7. The cheeks: Choose a blush that’s a pinky/orange version of your skin tone. Apply from the inside going up from in to “snatch” your face like Bella Hadid, or go all the way across your face (cheek and nose) to get that “e-girl” look. I applied up from in, with a dash across my nose to give me a sun-kissed glow. 
  8. The lips: Using a demi-matte lipliner, fill in your “gaps” (the space between your lips and where you overline your lips). Moisturize your lips. Add your corresponding lip color (liquid lip was used in the video, I used pencil lipstick) in two or three dots on each lip, and then pat it out with your finger.
  9. The highlighter: Choose something that isn’t very reflective. Rather than using a pointed brush, use a fluffy brush and gently fluff in circles where your highlighter needs to go.

The Results: 

The Person The Before The After
Eleanor Barnes, aka “Snitchery” snitcherynaturalface snitcherymadeupface
Me mynaturalface mymadeupface

Analysis:

Aaron mentioned multiple times that I looked pretty today! That said, I feel like this look didn’t look all that natural. I think you could tell that I put on makeup. Despite using a lot less foundation, I still look like I put on a lot of foundation. It definitely succeeds in an “elevated” version of the “I am awake” look I was going for, but I wonder if I can go even further. This was the best my lashes have looked, and I wore them for roughly ten hours today without smudging and getting the lash applicator liner on my eyelid!

Conclusion: 

I am prepared to do more with less! I am excited to keep improving my technique. I will for sure be employing false lashes on the regular. I’m comforted that I can still repair the “uneven” skin tone I have with less product. I think I’m slowly getting better at making my lips look fuller, but while my lips looked great on camera, I feel like in person I looked like Jynx from Pokemon. Overall, I’m making great progress, but I still have a long way to go.

Coming Up Next:

While out and about with Aaron today, I stopped in at Ulta and picked out a few products… chief among them being a certain makeup brush that is necessary to pull off the Bella Hadid makeup look. Oh yes. Part 5. Let’s get snatched.

 

Late Night Jam Sesh? Late Night Jam Sesh.

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It’s 10 PM on a Wednesday. Do you know where your kids are?

If you’re my mom, you do. One’s tucked into bed, falling asleep to a “Gossip Girl” rerun on the other side of the house. One’s probably brushing his teeth, or enjoying a pre-bedtime chapter-read with his girlfriend in her house in the Hamptons. And then there’s me, heading into her third hour of non-work related screentime.

I have a good defense! I’ve been applying to jobs since 8PM (and a little bit earlier than that, if you consider tackling a few during work lulls). Sometimes I wonder if everyone struggles with the same questions I do:

  • Am I qualified for this job?
  • Does everyone use this vocabulary?
  • Do they actually read cover letters?
  • Why do we need to put our resume in twice, as a resume and a profile?

“Would you fill out one form?”

“Yes. Fine. Yes. How many times are we filling out the form?”

“You’re doing it once, three times. We use all three of them.”

“But why doesn’t the pen just go through, and it’s a copy of all three of them?”

“But sometimes that doesn’t work as well. And the numbers get smudged. You would think in this day and age–”

“FINE FINE FINE FINE. TURN THE POWER BACK ON.”

–Portlandia, Season 3 ep. 11, “Blackout”

I wanted to take a minute to bask in the splendor of my productivity. I had lots of fresh fruit today, a lot of good sugar, and felt very energized to get things done. I woke up this morning for a walk, then did a strength training workout at the gym. It was a quiet day at work, so I was able to stay on task while simultaneously doing some job-hunting and other research. I actually finished my workday at 4PM and decided to take that hour to go for a nice long bike ride! It was such a nice day to get on a bike. I used to love bike riding when I was in college. It feels good to go so fast that you don’t need to pedal, you just let the wheels go and it’s almost like flying.

Aaron and I ordered dinner tonight from a local restaurant, and I had a REALLY good veggie burger. It feels good to do well.

In the spirit of that, I’m thinking I want another early morning walk tomorrow, and it’s 10:26. Time for shut-eye!

An Experiment in Makeup: Part 2

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Two months later, and it’s time to experiment! I am completing a different look with each post.

In this post, I am breaking down the makeup look as described in Tana Mongeau – trying EVERY SINGLE viral Tik Tok beauty hack blackout drunk. 

She is way more experienced at makeup than me, and also has fillers and filters at her disposal to make herself look even better. She also is four years younger than me, more money than me, and a less stressful job than me, so she doesn’t have the same aggravations that I have that make my face so sad.

Materials:

Notes on My Procedure:

There were several products that were used in the video that I did not have at my disposal. These steps were eliminated. The purpose was to test TikTok makeup tips, so an additional step was added to include a separate TikTok makeup tip. I will note where indicated. Tana filled in her brows offscreen, but I use my eyeliner to fill in my brows. It’s close to my natural color!

Procedure:

  1. Roll your face using a jade face roller.
  2. Use facial ice globes under your eyes (I skipped this step as I do not have this product).
  3. Apply Pixie Hydrating Milky Mist (I skipped this step as I do not have this product).
  4. Gua Sha stone your neck down, then gua sha your inner to outer cheek.
  5. Apply Moisturizer.
  6. Apply translucent powder all over the face, but not too much.
  7. Apply setting spray.
  8. After setting spray dries, apply primer.
  9. Apply concealer to individual pimples/correction spots (this was inspired by this Tiktok).
  10. After two minutes, apply foundation.
  11. Apply concealer in bottom corner of your eyes, then create a winged effect with your concealer at the bottom outer corner of your eye.
  12. Apply concealer in a line going up the sides of your cheek from the corner of your mouth (think “Joker” esque smile).
  13. Contour your face (in this video, Tana was testing a contour palette that she didn’t love, and then applied a powder over it to adjust for herself. With that, I just followed my instincts, using the shades Vanilla and Java in my palette, as well as this general how-to for applying contour).
  14. Fill in your brows (Tana also used her brow pencil to apply fake freckles, then used concealer to create an eyebrow ‘scar’ on her face. I skipped this step).
  15. Apply white shadow in the corner of your eyes, and then matte nude colors on your eyelid (In Naked Reloaded palette: white shadow = Bribe, matte nude colors = Blur across eyelid, Boundaries in crease. I also added a bit of Angel Fire right in the bottom center of my eyelid, to add a little shimmer just for me).
  16. Take a dark matte shadow (shade from my palette: End Game) and wing liner into your eye. Blend.
  17. Add white eyeliner in your waterline.
  18. Add mascara.
  19. Apply fake lashes (Tana’s video was sponsored by THIS lash brand, so these were the ones she used).
  20. Add lip plumper.
  21. Line your upper lip straight across your cupid’s bow.
  22. Add lip gloss and top with tinted lip glow.

Let’s compare the “before” and the “after”!

The Person The Before The After
Tana Mongeau tanamongeautiktokbefore tanamongeauafter
Me mybefore1 myafter2

Analysis:

There’s an obvious difference in MY after compared to Tana’s. That said, she has professional lighting and, as stated previously, a better hand at makeup. She was apparently drunk while filming, so the fact that she has a stronger makeup hand when inebriated compared to my bright and sunny morning hand is… disappointing? I don’t know. I do think my face looks slimmer (from contouring) and my skin tone looks more even (from concealer rand foundation). I do not think my lips look fuller, which is the intention with connecting your cupid’s bow at the top. The BIGGEST note I have is that the lashes make all the difference in the world.

I did not use the same brands of products that she used (with a few exceptions), and I don’t think that my tools would make the look better. That said, she had good things to say about the palette she used to fix her contouring, as well as the lip products she used. I might try the lip products in the future!

How does it fare in the wild, you may ask? I asked Aaron for feedback, and this was his response (with the caveat that yes, I always look pretty, and I don’t need to wear makeup for him to like me, etc.):

  1. The lip shape was throwing him off a little.
  2. I should play around to make it more natural.
  3. The white liner on the waterline is to make your eyes look bigger. Aaron said my eyes didn’t look bigger, but they did look brighter!
    Once I had practiced more…
  4. The “After” photo had Aaron saying I looked pretty all day. That’s all I need to hear.

Conclusion:

Tana Mongeau has her flaws and problematic past (some would also say problematic present), but her makeup almost always looks good. The purpose of this experiment is to elevate my every day look with something that looks more eye-catching, that falls neatly between “she is awake” and “she straight up drew a new person on her face.” I would use the lip tips in the future, as well as the concealer tip. Also… fake lashes are an absolute game changer.

Coming Up Next: 

How to look SNATCHED like Bella Hadid! I have tried working on the contouring skills mentioned in this video, and I like the results so far. I’m excited to see where this one goes!

July Resolution Review!

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We have three days left in this month! I can’t believe I’m more than halfway through the year. Time flies when you’re… in quarantine for five months. Golly. July was a decent month for my resolution goals. It kicked a few of the others in the butt, but I’m feeling strong about the rest!

Let’s take a looky loo:

1. Read 52 books – It’s down to the wire, but I think I’m going to pull it off. See you August 31st for the summer book haul!

2. Do pull ups – I am slowly getting better! I’ve been working on my pull-up strength at the gym roughly twice a week, with baby goals to mark the way. I’m gonna hit this month’s baby goal! It’s exciting!

3. Spend LESS. TIME. SCROLLING – I feel like I did slightly better this month! Taking Twitter off of my phone has helped immensely, and I’ve been cognizant of putting my phone down when other people are talking. That said, Aaron’s mom did chastise me a little bit for being on my phone so much at one point during her visit, so I clearly have a long way to go!

4. Write 104 Blog Posts – Nailed it. Crushed it. Gonna keep crushing it. <- I wrote this last month. Still applies! Yahoo!

5. Romantic trip with Aaron from Dec. 26 2020 – Jan. 2 2021 – My friend Christine said she would watch the cats if Aaron’s family doesn’t visit us for long this holiday season. I’m so excited.

6. Stop engaging in schadenfreude – This one just… RAVAGED me. I mentioned last month that there’s crazy internet things happening right now, and I have more than indulged a little bit, I’ve gone down full rabbit holes. Just last night, I wasn’t feeling well, but rather than go to bed early, I played on my phone and watched some gossip videos (okay, I still went to bed early, but I could have gone to bed earlier). As much as I want a more final conclusion, I don’t think I’m going to get one. In August, I’m going to stay away from it.

7. Take better care of my skin – In the past two weeks, my skin has gone from good to mediocre. I’ve honestly felt fed up with it. My skin care is expensive, and I’ve been taking decent care to apply it. My scars are still prominent, and I’m still experiencing breakouts on my chest and back!

8. Go stargazing – I want to see the stars tonight. It’s two different meteor showers tonight! I might wake up early and go to a field to enjoy them.

9. Get a new job – Emotionally broken down because of this one. I’ve been applying to jobs, but I feel like I hit a breaking point yesterday. I want something new, and I’m ready to move forward with something more suited to what I like doing!

10. Do a handstand – I genuinely think I’m going to pull this off by the end of the year. I’ve been working on pushing off the wall at the gym, and at some points it feels like I’m going to stay up, even for a second. It’s totally mind over matter, but like the pull-ups, I’m making tiny goals for each month. I accomplished this month’s tiny goal, so now I need to see about what my next tiny goal should be for August. I can hold an L stand just fine, but does that mean I now balance with only my knee? Hold it more with just the edge of my sneaker? Research is needed!

11. Go see two of my favorite performers – Big L on this one. I take pride knowing this isn’t my fault, but I really want some live music. Today I was thinking about how much I would hate, but still want to try, going to Coachella. I’d be hot and insecure about my body the whole time, from the looks of it everyone who goes is on drugs, and the team behind Coachella has a shady history. In 2021, assuming the world returns to normal, I’m hoping all my favorite artists and stand up comedians have new material for me to enjoy in person!

12. Lose weight – I’m slowly getting there. I mathematically won’t hit my goal weight by Dec. 31st without making potentially life-threatening decisions, but I’m still shooting to an adjacent goal.

13. Give Aaron a great 26th birthday – Um… see previous post. I did it!

14. Be a better friend, wife, sister, daughter and granddaughter – I spoke with friends on Skype, I spoke a handful of times with my mom, and I’ve spoken to my grandparents three times this month. My sister came to stay with us for July 4th Weekend and she loved it! I’m planning another trip home with her and my mom for next weekend, so I’m optimistic about August, too. I think I’ve been doing a great job with Aaron too, between a good birthday and just general support and love and attention.

15. Be happy – I think July was a good month, but while Aaron’s parents were here, I thought a lot about what I want for my future, physically, mentally and emotionally. It kind of hurt my heart to think about things in the negative that way. That said, the rest of the month was light, fun, and I felt relaxed, if not happy!

I’ll talk a little bit more about this in an upcoming post, but one of the books I read this month taught me something about the importance of priorities. If you have too many priorities, you have none. That in mind, I want to make getting a new job, speaking to my grandparents, and losing weight my top priorities for the rest of the year. Of course I won’t ignore my other resolutions/goals, but I want to keep those three at the forefront of my mind for the rest of the year. Let’s see how that translates into my next resolution posts!

Minimalist Wardrobe: The Purge Occurred

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Yesterday, I woke up early and went for a long walk. I came home, took a nice shower, and put on a pair of jeans and a fitted tee shirt. I did my makeup nicely and blew out my hair.

I was ready.

I turned on my “Office Ladies” podcast, and created a mountain of all of my clothes. The purge commenced.

Rather than split items into four or five categories, I kept it simple: “Keep it” or “Donate.” I did set aside a handful of tee shirts that I want to recycle into a quilt! I found multiple companies that do this for you (it seems like a craft that I should outsource. I can fix a basic hem but stitching together a full blanket is too advanced for my skills!). Prices are on a sliding scale, so we’ll see how that goes.

While sorting my clothes, I kept this color palette in my head:

minimalistcolorpalette

As you can see, no bright colors, no neon shades, and (finally) no navy. Navy makes me feel like an old woman. Some girls can rock it, but most navy clothes my size can also be found on cranky moms who are one tantrum away from a breakdown.

I eliminated a lot of clothes that were faded in fashion and color. I kept a few things that would work if I lost a few pounds, but my goal is to pare down further as I slim down more. I even donated a few higher quality items! I’m honestly not sure if any of my items would get me any kind of money at a consignment store, and to be honest, I’d rather someone shopping at Goodwill find my gently used tunics for six dollars than see it gouged out at a Fashion Planet.

A few items I bade farewell to were sentimental: a jersey I got in college as a gift from my Dad, my old college sweatshirt (with a bleach stain), and a pair of comfy pajamas were the ones I held in a hug and said thank you to before putting them in with the rest of the donation items. My “ideal” self can appreciate sentiment, so I took pictures of each one, too!

All in all, my two drawers that could barely hold my pants became two neatly condensed shelves, and I narrowed down my shirts to one drawer! I now have a whole drawer for my sports/at home bras. That’s an ideal situation when all I do is work from home and work out at the gym!

Currently, I have two garbage bags sat at the foot of my staircase to be given to Goodwill. My closet ONLY has clothes that I want to wear. Honestly, I feel pretty darn great!