Valentine's Day Gift Guide: 8 small gifts you deserve to have today!

January 30, 2018




I have a love-hate relationship with valentine's day. Sometimes I love this holiday, and sometimes it makes me want to vomit or punch everyone who's in love (just being honest). This year, I'm taking a a positive approach to Valentine's Day. I'm all for it because I'm making it a day all about self-care and showing everyone in my life how much I love them.... without spending a ton of money. So I've put toghter a budget-friendly gift guide for this lovey-dovey day of the year. A mini gift to yourself is a great reminder that you are doing just swell. We might not be perfect, but we still deserve love,  and self-love is just as important as external love. No matter how you spend February 14th, I hope it's full of love and joy.

Shop the gift guide below! This section contains affiliate links, so thank you for 
reading and supporting my blog! 








Weekly Update 01.20.18

January 20, 2018

great sales, stand up for a cause, travel, wellness, money tips, fitness, food




Wanderlust: Need a mini-retreat? I know I do, and these top liked Airbnbs around the world (a lot are right here in the USA) have me checking flight prices.

I also found this article about 5 under-the-radar french cities to visit… I need to go to all of them this year! It’s happening because I said so.

And if you’re looking to check more festivals off your list this year, here are 11 amazing festivals around the world that we should all start saving for.


Smart Money tip of the week (Because you’re too good to be a broke bitch): It's Not Just HQ Trivia: These 10 Apps Will Legit Make You Money - Girlboss.com Multiple streams of income are always better than one honey.

Get fit: Everything you need to know about an anti-inflammatory diet.

Shop til you drop: Spotlight sale of the week: Stuart Weitzman is offering up to 50% off until 1/31, so if you want an investment piece of designer, quality over the knee boots, now’s your chance to get them at a fraction of the price!


And here are some of my favorite budget finds from the week featuring Stuart Weitzman and Shein (an amazing wholesale site) just in time for Valentine’s Day. I love this website, but you have to read every single item’s measurements and reviews because the sizes really vary. If you don’t know your measurements, grab a tape measure from your kitchen so you can know your accurate size. Oh, and this section includes affiliate links.





Live Well: Here’s a cute and helpful infographic breaking down easy ways for us to take care of ourselves. The ABCs to self-care.  

Menu: I heard about Snow Days NYC one day at work this week. Honestly, I don’t care that it’s winter; I need to try this dessert place ASAP!

What the world needs is love: It’s no secret that our world has some pretty f*ed up people in it, but here are two legitimate ways to contribute to making the world a better place today.
  • Help the children. There is a disgusting and heart-breaking epidemic going on in Pakistan right now. If you haven’t heard about the protests in Pakistan to take down a pedophile ring that’s been abusing and killing little children, you can read about it here. I haven't found a site explaining exactly how to help, but we can at least spread awareness and align ourselves with organizations that fight to end human trafficking. #
  • Help Rohingya Refugees in Myanmar and Bangladesh who have gone through actual hell. Read more about the crisis here.

Weekly Wins
1.) This week was my bday! I’m now 24; and oddly, I feel more secure. 23 was a mother effing rough ass year, and 24 already feels calmer. There’s something about even numbered years. Things just seem to fall into place. Plus, I feel more grateful for everything nowadays. My constant “don’t listen to the negative voice inside my head” exercises are finally paying off.  Plus, my birthday is the perfect excuse to treat myself to a few things off my monthly luxe list..aka wish list. Check it out here.


2. ) Riverdale came back. Y’all, my roommate and I are obsessed with this show, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Also, I get so much fashion inspiration from Riverdale. That’s a key factor for me becoming obsessed with a show.


3. I got back in my gym flow. I didn’t make it to all of my classes, but I made it to 3, which is a lot better than zero. And I went to power yoga, which completely whipped my butt. I was limping all day at work, but at least I know I’m one step closer to my fitness goals.


Weekly Ls
1.)Not waking up early. I’ve been trying to wake up around 6am every morning, but it just did not happen this week. I’m getting myself used to a morning routine so I have time to meditate, spend some time surfing the internet, work on my blog and take my time while getting ready for work. Next week, I’m committing to going to bed between 10:30 and 11pm. I know next week is my week to master this.

2.)Blowing my budget. Since it was my birthday week, so I gave myself permission to blow the weekly budget and eat out way more than I should have. Now I'm ready to get back on my meal prepping game and save some precious deniero.

3.)The House of Horrors in California. If you haven’t heard, 13 siblings were held captive and tortured by their parents. It’s a blessing that one of the siblings escaped and now all 13 siblings are receiving medical and psychiatric help. But damn! This family has been through hell. These siblings will never have normal lives, no matter how much professional help they receive. Here is an article breaking down how we can help them. If you guys have found other, legitimate sites that allow us to donate to this family, please link them below in the comments. It’s going to take a lot of financial resources to help them establish a healthy lifestyle, and they deserve it after everything they've experienced.


Quote: “Nothing new can come into your life until you are grateful for what you already have” - Guest on an old episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show

As always, thanks for taking a part of your day to read this. I hope you found some useful information, and if there's a new category that you want me to add to my weekly update/finds, let me know in the comments! I hope you have a lovely weekend! Lots of love my dears!



January Luxe List

January 17, 2018




Shopping List, Wish List, Winter Must haves

Winter Musthaves, January wish list


I'm going to keep  today's post short and simple. This month, I've been craving a few items that legitimately bring me joy. Everything in this month's list are things that have been on my wish list for months. My rule of thumb is, if something has been on my mind for multiple weeks, I give myself permission to buy it without feeling guilty. It's nice to treat yourself every now and then (or frequently because life is short), and honestly, the snow boots are a necessaity this winter in the NYC area. The only thing I won't be getting this month is the Chanel bag... but I am starting a savings account dedicated to buying it. Now it's only a matter of time until that classic bag is mine. What's on your wish list this month? And btw, the items below are affiliate links, so if you shop below, I get a small commission. Thank you for supporting my blog; I love you guys more than you know. Until next time my loves!


Dear Diary: How to Bounce Back from the Struggle Bus

January 11, 2018

how to overcome defeat
Photo by Photo by Saz B 

The start of a new year is always exciting. We get to leave our past mistakes behind and start off on a fresh, energetic foot. I admire the people who have been disciplined enough to tackle the beginning of 2018 with insane productivity, but I’ve still been struggling... a lot. And if you’ve been struggling too, I just want to let you know that it’s ok! We will get there. Baby steps are still steps in the right direction, and we won't be taking baby steps forever. 

For me, my biggest obstacles for the past few weeks have been time management, lack of energy and self-discipline. And these three things react off of one another. If I don't practice self-discipline when it comes to sticking to my schedule (aka time management), then I waste the time when I have the most energy. It's a vicious cycle that I'm fighting to break. I want to keep practicing when to say no, not overbooking myself, and treating my body right. The funny thing about breaking bad habits is they are relatively simple to fix, but a simple plan can still feel like pulling teeth when we don’t feel like doing the things we know we should do.


I wish I had all the answers to know how to push myself to be better. I really fucking don’t, but I’m taking small steps each day because those small steps will snowball into huge results. A rolling start is still momentum. We will figure this out together. Now, let’s do this, and if we're lucky, we'll even have fun on the way. We woke up today with another chance to chase our dreams. I hope you're chasing yours, and thank you for reading. You're helping me chase mine. Until next time my dear! 

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P.S. If you're having trouble getting out of bed this morning like I did, try listening to a podcast. Here is my weekly podcast schedule. These shows help me get a running start to the day. They are like virtual coffee. I hope they help you start your day too. 



2017 Reflection: 7 Lessons To Take Away From The Year

January 1, 2018


Gold sequin NYE dress


I used to be gung-ho about creating New Year’s resolutions. Like, I got a high from doing it (it’s the type A, neurotic part of me that helps me to get so much shit done) but this year, I’m kind of over making resolutions. Instead, I wanted to reflect on what I learned/experienced in 2017 and apply it to the first month of 2018. I like to set monthly goals for myself based on what's going on in my life at that time. This way, I don’t feel overwhelmed and can devote tunnel vision focus on one goal at a time. For January 2018, I’m focusing on letting go. And I am so ready to let go of 2017. I think it’s unfair and ungrateful to say that 2017 was a bad year. Yes, it was full of a lot of stress and pain, but it was also full of a lot of amazing lessons, victories, and growth. And that’s something I’ll never take for granted. 

To honor this past year, I did a 25 question reflection exercise created by Maxie McCoy (which you can find here). Honestly, I put off doing this exercise because I was afraid to revisit the past. I wanted to avoid the painful lessons that I had in 2017, but as soon as I finished the questions, I felt stronger and grateful for everything I experienced during the year. Yes, I cried a lot while reflecting, but those tears needed to be shed in order for me to really move the hell on and GTF over it. The last question in the exercise asks us to share what we’ve learned about life, love and ourselves, and I wanted to share 7 truths that I learned in 2017. 

1. Run towards the things and people who bring us joy.
2. Make more time for fun or else I’ll burn the f*** out. 
3. We have to let go in order to invite something or someone new into our lives. 
4. Gratitude + discipline is the recipe for creating our dream life. We have to ask for what we want, believe we deserve and can have it, take positive action over and over again to get it and then we will receive it. It’s literally that simple, but "simple" doesn’t necessarily mean easy. 
5. If I don’t take care of myself, I lose myself and check out of life. #boringselfcare is a must for me. Above all, we have to love and respect ourselves. 
6. God will continue to put the same obstacles in front of us until we learn how to overcome them. Trust me on this, I kept facing the same freaking issues, again and again, this year because I kept avoiding my disappointments, pains, and failures instead of learning from them. 
7. Jealousy, comparison, and greed are a waste of energy because there’s enough good in the world to go around. No one else can have what’s meant for you; I have to remind myself this every single damn day in order to stay sane. 

Now I’d love to hear what you learned about life, love or yourself this year, so please share in the comments below. I'm wishing you an amazing year filled with ease and flow. We've got this. And thanks for reading; I appreciate you more than you know!

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