How was your weekend? We were in the D.C. area for the weekend visiting family and getting some much needed city time in. We had an amazing time just catching up, touring the city nightlife, and of course, squeezing in a Barre3 visit–even with the 97 degree weather!
Curated boxes are such a fun treat to subscribe to so when POPSUGAR sent me this Must Have Box to try, I jumped at the chance to share it with you all.
The POPSUGAR Must Have Boxes are a monthly subscription box filled with lifestyle, beauty, fashion, and food items curated by the POPSUGAR editors, one of my fav lifestyle blogs. Each box costs $39.95 if you pay monthly, or you can save up to $25 if you purchase a 6-month subscription.
Here’s what was in the June box:
Pacifica Underarm Deodorant Wipes ($9 value). These will make the perfect travel companion and the packaging is adorable. Plus, I love that they have coconut milk and kale extract.
NCLA Born on the 4th Nail Lacquer ($16 value). I can’t wait to try this for 4th of July festivities–it’s perfect!
Hat Attack Neutral Diamond Print Sarong ($58 value). This was my favorite item in the box. It’s a great size and while I can see myself wearing it as a swim cover-up as intended (see graphic below), I think I’ll get much more use out of it as a lightweight scarf.
Ridley Games Who Am I? ($13 value). This game was a fun addition and looks very simple to play, which is always a bonus.
Sisters of Los Angeles Cheers Gold Bottle Opener ($12 value). Our go-to bottle opener is getting a little worn out, but this one is so pretty that I’m hesitant to use it! It’s definitely sitting pretty on the bar cart for now.
Knock Knock Are You Ready (For Your Close-up?) Compact ($10 value). This was probably my least favorite item but I know it will come in useful in my purse.
Pressels Sriracha Pretzel Chips($1.29 value). These were delicious, though I probably wouldn’t purchase them on my own.
Sorry for going MIA for a little while. We’ve been in Colorado and California visiting family and friends for the past week and getting some much needed vacation time in.
As always, we stopped by a few breweries and even made it up to my family’s cabin for the 4th of July holiday–it was pretty much exactly what we needed!
The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale early access started yesterday (get all the inside info here). I’ll be sharing some of my fav pics throughout the next few weeks but for now, here are a few must have items that are sure to sell out in the first weeks of the sale!
How was your weekend? We took a 3-day weekend for a little belated anniversary celebration in Charlottesville on Friday & Saturday. It’s hard to believe it’s already been 6 years since we got married–and we’ve now officially spent more anniversaries in Virginia than in Cali!
I had a chiro appointment first thing Friday morning so as soon as I was done, we headed out to Blue Mountain Brewery for lunch. They have a gorgeous outdoor seating area and their wood fired pizza is insanely good.
Before heading back to town, we made a quick stop at Starr Hill as well, another one of our favorite local breweries.
For dinner, we revisited an old favorite–The Whisky Jar. I had the special, a crab cake (with Maryland crab) salad and Jeff had a burger with collards on the side. It is definitely southern cooking at its finest!
Hey all, POPSUGAR sent me this Must Have Box to try (read the June review here!) and I’m so excited to get to share all of the details with you all because this month’s box was especially fabulous!
I love getting curated boxes in the mail and POPSUGAR definitely has one of the best monthly boxes out there. For those of you new to the POPSUGAR Must Have Boxes, they are a monthly subscription box filled with lifestyle, beauty, fashion, and food items curated by the POPSUGAR editors, one of my fav lifestyle blogs. Each box costs $39.95 if you pay monthly, or you can save up to $25 if you purchase a 6-month subscription.
Here’s what the July box included:
Sachajuan Hair in the Sun. This is a UV-filter formula to keep your hair color vibrant by protecting color from damaging UV rays–I can’t wait to try it on my next vacay!
House of Pom Emoji Cocktail Napkins. These napkins are seriously the cutest and scream summer.
Michael Stars Porcelain Skinny Scarf in White. This scarf is like the skinny version of the one included in the June box and I know I will get a ton of use out of it–skinny scarves are super on trend at the moment too.
Pintail Pineapple Pin. Adorable, no?
Sunnylife Inflatable Swan Drink Holder. I need a pool in my life to try this out, stat.
European Wax Center Oh My Brow! Brow Highlighter in Pearl. I use a brow highlighter everyday and this one definitely does the trick. It’s a full size sample–and they included a free eyebrow wax gift card as well!
Joe Chips Classic Sea Salt Retro Potato Chips. It’s like they knew I had a special weakness for sea salt kettle chips!
Trove $20 Gift card. Trove is a customizable jewelry brand.
If you’re interested in getting a box of your own, you can use the coupon code SHOP5 to get $5 off your 1st Must Have Box.
I’ll only be around sporadically next week after a fun trip to D.C. for the Wanderlust festival this weekend (details when I return!) and to catch up on some work!
How was your weekend? I spent most of my weekend working on my thesis, so I wanted to share with you my last weekend festivities when I went to Washington, D.C. to attend the Wanderlust 108 Festival and visit the new Barre3 Alexandria studio.
My last year as a graduate student is as hectic as ever, so when I heard that the Wanderlust festival was coming to D.C. andBarre3 was opening a new studio in Alexandria and offering a free class the same weekend, I knew I had to make a trip up.
For those of you who don’t know, Barre3 is pretty much my religion–the focus on mindfulness, connection, intention, and body/mind awareness coupled with a highly effective workout keeps me focused and grounded during all of the chaos of my daily life, and I try to do at least 1 workout each day online.
Since the studio in Alexandria wasn’t quite open yet, we did the free class Saturday morning in the atrium of the building. It was so fun to be near people who had the same values and participate in the community workout instead of just doing the online videos that I typically do.
I also managed to get a little shopping and touring done while I was in Alexandria before heading to the Wanderlust festival the next day.
The Wanderlust 108 festivals are billed as a mindful triathlon and include a 5k, yoga, and meditation. It had been pretty rainy the day before, but the rain held off the morning of the event, thankfully, and the sun broke out just as we were finishing.
You also had the option to sign up for additional “classes” after the main triathlon so I signed up for yet another mini Barre3 class to finish off the day.
I definitely was more than a little sore the next few days, but left feeling much more refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the semester!
Even when the weather hasn’t cooled down quite far enough to warrant true layering, I try to instill a little bit of fall fashion into fabric choices, texture, and color, like here with this maroon cardigan and velvet camisole underneath.
This velvet cami was actually my first ever Zara purchase. I’d heard everyone rave about it, of course, but sometimes am a bit gun shy about online shopping on different sites than I’m used to. But, as I’ve learned through this process, Zara has the most amazing return policy–free shipping and super fast credit to your account, something that should be the standard these days, but unfortunately isn’t!
And this velvet cami has definitely kick started a velvet obsession for the fall. I’ve picked up a velvet dress, loafers, and have my eye on these red velvet leggings. I’ve rounded up a few more options below if you want to join in the velvet obsession!