TIMES NEW JEN

Finally made the leap!

2016-01-06T21:12:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone!!

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! After a super long hiatus, I faced one of my fears and finally filmed my first video! It's a huge Sephora haul from when they had their VIB sale and when they offered a $25 gift card on a $50 purchase. Please feel free to subscribe to my channel as I'm hoping to do more of these types of videos in the future.

Here are the items I purchased in the Sephora Haul:

Hope you guys enjoyed the haul and I'll see you soon in the next one! Please comment below with any good products you've discovered or recommend! Thanks for reading and watching!

Plan With Me | Huge Etsy Sticker Haul!

2015-07-08T23:32:00.000-07:00

As you all know I've started this planner journey to help myself out to be a productive human in society. Since the year started I've been feeling a cloud of depression that seemed to be looming over me. Planning has been keeping me on track and even though I only get thru half the to-do lists I put in my planner, at least I'm getting stuff done!

I recently got the Me and My Big Ideas Happy Planner and I love it! It's a great alternative to the Erin Condren Life Planner and it's much cheaper. I did a huge Etsy haul of planner stickers and I wanted to share it with you all. Check it out and hopefully I'll be posting some Plan With Me's soon!

Thank you for your readership!

Wanderlust Wednesdays: Oahu 2015 Day 1

2015-06-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I took a mini trip to Hawaii to not only get some much needed r&r but also to celebrate my friend's dirty 30! It was a short trip but since I have been going every year since graduation, we weren't planning on doing anything crazy touristy so it was very relaxing.

It was my first time flying to Hawaii on United and it was less than stellar but I was able to get to Honolulu at 11:30am so it was a good trade off. I usually fly on Hawaiian or Alaska and most all flights fly out of San Diego at 9 or 10am so you don't get to Hawaii until 2-3pm so you lose some precious time to get settled. I started off the day flying from San Diego at 6:20am to LA and then transferred to a jumbo plane to fly to Honolulu. We were delayed for about 30 minutes. On the plane, they ran out of hot food so I was pretty much starving by the time we landed. Luckily, my friends were on the same wave length so we headed to Curry House. Noms. Got too hungry to take pictures but curry never really looks too appetizing lol.

After lunch we went to the store to purchase some snacks and beverages before heading to Aulani. It was the first time we stayed during the start of the busy season so it was crazy to see so many people there. We checked in and our room wasn't ready so to continue the #YOLO tradition of these trips, we headed to the bar. We were lucky enough to grab a seat and some desserts on the Mouse!

Treats from the Mouse included chocolate cake, macarons, chocolate dipped strawberries and pineapple pound cake. I don't have a sweet tooth but I still enjoyed all of it!

While we were enjoying our drinks, we got a text that our room was ready so we headed to the front desk and we were placed in room 842. This was the first time we got an Ocean View room and let me just say it was worth every penny. The view is absolutely beautiful. If you're going on your honeymoon and plan on spending a decent amount of time in the room *wink wink*, know that you aren't missing much. Enjoy a sip of coffee or a cocktail from your balcony. Make sure you head down to the infinity pool to watch the sunset since it's something you won't be able to see from this side of the resort.

We unpacked our stuff and changed into our swimwear and headed to the nearby beach to try to spot some sea turtles which I've missed every time I've been. Unfortunately even though it was high tide around 5pm, there were no turtles so we headed back to Aulani to enjoy the lazy pool.

The day was coming to an end so we went to the community center to borrow 2 movies and headed out to grab dinner. We were going to grab shabu shabu but the wait was close to 45 minutes (on a Thursday!) so we opted to grab boba and Aiea Bowl to-go. Twas delicious and we called it a night since I had been up for almost 24 hours.

Stay tuned for Day 2 on Oahu!

Wanderlust Wednesday: Traveler's Notebook

2015-06-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'll be doing some traveling in June and I really wanted to document my travels thru the use of a traveler's notebook. Instead of collecting a bunch of trinkets to put into a scrapbook when I return home from vacation (which ends up sitting in a shoe box under the bed collecting dust), I'll be taking my traveler's notebook with me and creating this scrapbook as I travel.

This will be my first traveler's notebook so I actually made it using a small address book that came with my Mother's Organizer planner that I got at CVS. I really like the size of it because it's slightly larger than the regular midori traveler's notebooks that you can find on Amazon giving you a little more space for "regular" sized photos (i.e. 4x6) rather than just the Instax photos. As you can see below, the entire book is just used for addresses but who really uses an address book these days? Instead of recycling it, I decided to tape over the majority of it to my liking.

I used this cardstock paper I bought at Michael's with one of their 40% off coupons. I had been looking into a reason to use this paper so it was perfect.

Here are a few samples of the paper I used to cover up the address pages. I basically repeated this patterned papered twice. The book came out to 17 pages.

I started working on the cover as well as some of the pages inside the book so that there would be a starting point once I was on the trip. The cover was just a paper bag that I wrapped over the address book. The stickers are mostly Mambi stickers that I picked up from Michael's. You can see what the stickers looked like in the packaging in this post. I used 3 stickers from the Mambi sticker packs: the airplane, the "destination" sticker, and the suit case. The 4 little strips were from a travel Mambi pack that I bought a long long time ago so I'm not sure if it is still available.

When you open up the notebook, I have a Hawaii foam sticker from a Recollections sticker set and the flower is also from another Recollections sticker set. On the left hand side where I have the brown paper bag, I want to put a little pocket for any keepsakes that just don't fit into the theme of the notebook.

For the second page, I had picked a background paper from the cardstock stack and I didn't really like how it looked since it was on the busier side so I cut out part of this map of Oahu (free from AAA if you have a membership) of the Ko'olina area where I'll be staying.

I really love how this page came out so I got a close up :D.

On the right side of the map I left some blank space *wink wink nudge nudge* (T swizzle reference). I wanted to be able to remember the date that I'm leaving for Hawaii so I put down a little date sticker as well as a Thursday tabby on the side. I'll probably jot down some notes on my flight to Hawaii and maybe include my boarding pass. Since this will be a straight up be a vegetable trip for us, we don't have an itinerary planned so I won't be decorating anything else in the notebook.

To hold all the stickers and embellishments I'll be using on my trip, I bought this photo album from Walmart. Here are some of the stickers I was able to fit into the album and bring with me to Hawaii.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post! Please let me know if you'd like to see more of these posts!

Thanks so much for reading and planning along with me!

Plan With Me | May 18-24

2015-05-25T16:19:00.002-07:00

So it's been a couple of weeks since I last showed you my planning but the planning hasn't stopped. Here's the before and after for week May 11th-17th.

Before:

After:

Here's some pictures to take you thru the week. Fun times at Linh and Kyle's wedding and some stuff in between.

french onion soup on a cold "winter" day

lattes at birdrock coffee

potluck at john & donna's place

heart guestbook

the beautiful couple

pill pushers off duty :P

yummyn wedding food

photobooth fun!

more photobooth fun!

Here's the final look for week May 18th-24th. I didn't get a chance to take a before picture for this week but it was pretty hectic one so there wasn't much going on besides work.

I'll be heading out of town in a week or so so I'm really looking forward to sharing that time with you guys! Have a great week and hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend!

Plan With Me | May 11-17

2015-05-11T10:16:00.002-07:00

Here's a look at my last week.

Before

After

Here's a look at my planner for this week. It's pretty empty so far so lots of room to decorate!

Hope you guys are enjoying these posts and have a great week!

Plan With Me | The First

2015-05-07T08:33:00.001-07:00

Life. One word and yet you already know this post is going to be a jump and a skip away from the deep end. Lately, life has been exhausting. Since this year started, I've felt unmotivated. I've been tired. I've felt... dead. I wasn't depressed because I didn't really have anything to be depressed about. Work wasn't horrible. Friends and family were doing fine. Relationship is good. There wasn't anything to complain about yet something was off. I was disappointed with mediocre ("I don't want no mediocre..."). I wanted... more.

Because I've been so tired, I wasn't as productive as I would have liked to be. It wasn't until the start of May that I started having a spurt of energy. I bought a new planner and started my planner journey. I can honestly say that I feel rejuvenated. I've been more productive and in turn, that has given me more energy. Finally, things are starting to look up.

I thought I'd share with you what my planner looks like from week to week. It's sort of similar to how I would do my week/month in reviews except now you get to see it in writing instead of pictures. Maybe I'll add in pictures from my phone or something.

My planner isn't anything crazy special. I bought it at CVS for $9.99 (full price) so I'm pretty sure you can use coupons and pretty much get it for free. It's the PlanAhead Mother's Organizer. It's an 18-month calendar and has a monthly section as well as a weekly section. I actually like this set up and I'm debating whether I want an Erin Condren planner just for the easy access to stickers but for now I'm ok with my cheapy planner.

For my group of friends, we actually take turns doing scrapbooks for each other's birthdays and I was being a super procrastinator so I barely finished mine which was due this past weekend. I had to buy some embellishments for it hence going to Michael's. I went a little crazy and bought a bunch of stickers for my trip to Hawaii next month. I really want to do a traveler's notebook (example) for this trip and I've been super addicted to watching videos on YouTube on how people document their travels. I have a pretty good idea of how I want to do mine but usually things will change depending on how many trinkets (business cards, room keys, etc) I collect while I'm there. Here are some of the stickers I got. I had a 40% off one item coupon as well as their $5 of $25 for filling out their survey so all of the stickers below ended up costing less than $20.

I hope you liked this post and I'm extremely excited to start planning with ya'll. The June gloom arrived early in San Diego and I'm absolutely loving it. This entire winter has felt like summer so I'm excited for the cool down. Now if it would just freakin' rain! Hope to talk to ya'll soon!

Money Mondays: April 2015 Budget Verdict

2015-05-04T08:50:00.002-07:00

April was an unpredictably spendy month. We took a small vacation. I decided to finally purchase a new camera to replace the one that I had lost on the plane ride back from Hawaii. I decided to splurge on a present for the significant other. I've just finished tallying everything up and man oh man O_O. Looks like I went a tad crazy this month. Luckily, we have 3 paychecks in May! Hooray!

One of the things I haven't been so good about doing is analyzing my spending. Sure it's great to track and see what I'm actually purchasing and the bills I'm paying but what about doing something to attack what's sucking all your money? For this month, one of the major money suckers was eating out. It's something that has definitely been difficult to control. We've moved to an area that has high walkability and every day that I get out early is an opportunity to go to happy hour. For the month of May, we definitely need to start cooking more at home as well as packing a lunch. I think that will be the thing that will help us decrease our spending the most.

Here's to getting shit together in May! Happy Monday!

Fitness Fridays: The Little Black Dress Challenge

2015-05-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Wedding season is upon us once again! And there's no better time than now to get that body into shape. I think the sense of urgency helps. I have two weddings to attend at the end of the month and I'm far from ready but I'm motivated to be ready when the weddings are here. And to knock down two birds with one stone since swimsuit season is coming right up!

I found this 30 Day Little Black Dress Challenge and I think it would be perfect for the month of May. They also have many other 30 Day Challenges on their site so definitely check them out.

TGIF and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wanderlust Wednesday: Ensenada

2015-04-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went on a little vacation to Ensenada on the Carnival Imagination. It was a 3 night cruise leaving out of Long Beach, CA. I've been itching to go somewhere but I didn't have much time off so this was just perfect. The cruise started on Thursday and we came back Sunday morning. This would be my 4th cruise and 3rd with Carnival. I've been a big fan of cruises since my very first one because of the convenience. You don't have to worry about lodging, food, or basically anything! Despite getting sea sick on every single one of the cruises I've been on (I took meclizine too!), I was still able to enjoy all of them.

no waiting in a separate line to get our sign and sail cards since our rooms were already ready!

This was the view from our room on the Riviera Deck (Deck 4).

We opted for the beverage program on the ship which was 15 alcoholic beverages (valued at $10 or less) for $50 per day. Each person in that cabin must also enter the beverage program. We weren't able to drink all 15 drinks each day but it was a stress-free way to not have to lug a bunch of alcohol in our luggage.

muster station selfie!

menu on the first night

The towel animals are usually my favorite surprise of any Carnival cruise! You never know what you'll get! On the first night we got this fellow. We think he might be a lobster. What do you think?

We arrived in Ensenada around 9am and would be leaving again at 6pm. We weren't sure what we would be doing that day yet so we decided to check out the shore excursions desk. We ended up deciding to go horseback riding in the mountains. I've only been horseback riding once before (in Santa Barbara for a bestie's bachelorette party) but it should be like riding a bike? lol.

we were wondering why mr. potato head doing there and his significance to mexico lol

Getting off the ship is sometimes a long process so we had breakfast and explored the ship a little since we had some time before our excursion started.

On the ranch

After horseback riding, we wanted to eat some seafood and decided to pick the brain of our tour guide. He recommended Haliotis which turned out to be this really high end restaurant but super delicious food. We felt bad because we were dressed in workout attire and everyone else there was dressed in business attire! Luckily the staff made us feel right at home and didn't look at us like some dirty Americans lol.

fish ceviche

Formal night ended up being on the same night that we were ported! That was really weird but we still managed to do it and snap a few shots around at all the booths. Our photos were much to hideous to post lol.

Formal night means unlimited lobster!

Then we find this cool guy waiting for us in the room.

Mornings started at the omelette station. It reminded me of the good 'ole days at Covel at UCLA.

Overall we had a nice little getaway to Ensenada. We were able to try some really great food. We were a bit disappointed with the quality of the ship as well as the quality of the food on the 3 day cruise (Baja Mexico) versus the 7 day cruises (Mexican Riveria). But if you're not impressed with the food on the 3 day cruises, don't let that deter you from going on the 7 day cruises. The food is SIGNIFICANTLY better on the 7 day cruises. I was also disappointed that there was no sushi bar! That was one of the highlights on the 7 day cruises for me. It was a nice appetizer before dinner especially if you had the later dinner. I would probably do the same cruise again if I had a 4 day weekend to spare and do a different excursion (probably visit the blowhole).

The quality of the ship was also a disappointment. This ship must have been decades old and as much as they tried to maintain it, it still looked really dated. Again, the cruise ships that they use for the longer cruises are also much newer so don't let this kind of cruise deter you from future cruising. You pretty much get what you pay for.

Because the cruise wasn't really up to par with what I had expected, the travel bug is latched on and not letting go. Not sure where we're off to next but we're off to brainstorming!

Happy Hump Day friends! Hope the rest of your week will fly by!

Money Mondays: April Check-Up

2015-04-13T10:45:00.004-07:00

April is just flying by! Can you believe almost half the month is already gone?! Seriously where is the time going. So far it looks like April will be another spendy month. March was a month for splurging on myself but it looks like April is the time for some much needed r&r. If you can spare the time and money, I think it's nice to take a little vacation every quarter. It gives you a chance to recharge. Work has been pretty crazy so we booked a little mini-vacay to get away (think back to those Southwest "Want to Get Away" commercials.) The way this month is headed, I'm really looking forward to getting 3 paychecks in May!

Hope your April isn't turning out as spendy as mine!

Still got another 17 days to go O_O lol.

Let's tackle this week and Happy Monday!

Wanderlust Wednesday: NYC

2015-04-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

So I might have mentioned that I would be starting this series this year a few moons ago lol and I've just been so caught up in dealing with life that I haven't had the chance. We're in the midst of preparing for a lot of life events which require a lot of funds so our vacation planning has been put on hold for the time being. In the meantime I thought I'd post our New York Vlog from back in August. I got a Surface in October (as a birthday present to myself) and I've had the vlog collecting dust on my old laptop. I finally got a chance to export it this weekend so wah-lah! Hope you enjoy this video!

P.S, I've been looking at my 2014 Hawaii trip videos and I think I may have enough footage to make a video. I'm having some trouble with Windows Movie Maker because it's somehow converting my HD footage to a really crappy quality. I may have to finally use iMovie (which I have no idea how to use). Picking the music is the hardest part though :/ so we'll see!

P.P.S. If you'd like to do some additional reminiscing, here are the original blog posts of our time in NYC in August. [ nyc part 1 | nyc part 2 ]

Money Mondays: March 2015 Budget Verdict

2015-04-06T09:51:00.001-07:00

March has come and gone and it's time to tally up my expenses for the month. I spent a little more this month because I did receive a check from Uncle Sam and I also got my bonus this month. In February I spent $1919.52. April may either be a super frugal month or a super spendy month so we'll see. We're either trying to save up for a trip or actually go on a trip.

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Spring 2015 Fashion: Fringe and Trench Coats

2015-04-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

If you watch a lot of YouTube videos, you probably know of Jenn Im of ClothesEncounters. She's got an amazing fashion sense but everything she wears is a little out of my comfort zone as well as out of my price range. She recently posted a video of her Spring 2015 Outfits and I really loved the army green trench that she was wearing from Bardot. The trench is on sale for $99 (reg. $149.95) and there's only one size left so I started my hunt for an alternative. Luckily, light trenches are SUPER in this Spring and while browsing thru my Feedly, I found Wendy from Wendy's Lookbook wearing something similar to what I want and from Forever 21 for $32.90! Here's a side by side image of the two trenches.

draper trench (item: 32120JBX) from bardot (link); draped-lapel trench (item: 2000120399) from forever 21 (link)

Obviously the Forever 21 version isn't as good quality and it looks like the Bardot version has pockets (which is definitely something I would miss) but style wise, you could style the two similarly.

Wendy also styled a sleeveless version (check out additional photos here) which I'm also eye-ing online. What I appreciate about the sleeveless version is that it has pockets!

dropped-lapel trench vest (item: 2000097194) from forever 21 (link)

I was reading an article about Kendall Jenner's stylist, Monica Rose, and her top 3 recommendations for spring. One of them happens to be fringe. I had this fringe purse that I purchased from Target and it definitely served me well during the festival season. I have since donated that purse but there are a few fringe items I'd like to add to my wardrobe. I'm not quite brave enough to wear fringe as a clothing item but I did see a few pair of shoes that I liked.

women's sam & libby hughes gladiator fringe sandals from target (link)

women's mossimo supply co. ruthie fringe bootie from target (link)

There were also a couple of purses I liked as well.

Fringed Faux Leather Backpack from Forever 21 (link)

Fringed Faux Leather Crossbody from Forever 21 (link)

I found one fringe top that wasn't too out there that I could possibly wear.

Southwestern-Embroidered Fringe Cami from Forever 21 (link)

Hope you enjoyed this fringe and trench coat edition of Spring 2015 Fashion.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Fitness Fridays: April is for ARMS

2015-03-30T21:01:00.003-07:00

Now that March is almost done, it's time to start prepping for what we'll be doing fitness wise for April. March was a bit of a fail for me. It was an extremely busy month with work consuming most of my energy and time. For April, I picked a 21-Day Arm Sculpting Challenge that I found on Popsugar. I decided to not post this on Friday so that we could start the challenge on the first. I originally wanted to post this last Friday but life and sickness got in the way so here ya go!

The Moves:
Visit the link above to see how to perform the actual moves.

Bicep Curl
Upright Row
Triceps Kickback
Overhead Shoulder Press
Bent-over Reverse Fly

The Plan:

I actually started this workout the end of last week just to see how if I could actually complete the challenge this time and it's very doable! I actually started off doing 10 reps of each move (3x) so I will probably modify this a bit (the dumbbells I have are probably too light). I guess my arms aren't as weak as I thought.

Because March was such a fail and my booty isn't looking any nicer/bigger, I'll also be doing a squat challenge that I found from FitnessFashionista.com. You can actually download a whole set of exercises on the site so I would definitely check them out.

I hope everyone's week started off well! I'm unfortunately fighting off a cold that is making me super lethargic but I'm trying my best to still get some exercise in. I'm hoping that I'll be back in full jurassic mode when April starts. Looking forward to completing this month's challenge!

Spring 2015 Fashion

2015-03-29T15:24:00.001-07:00

Spring is here! Or if you live in Southern California, it seriously feels like summer already. I had a chance to go shopping lately for some Spring stuff (as well as some non-spring items) and I thought I'd do a little haul.

I have TJMaxx right by my work and it's a real shame that I don't go there more often. This particular TJMaxx always has really great stuff (mostly clothes, not so much for the home section though). I'm absolutely in love with Spendid shirts made from the modal material and this store usually has a bunch. This time, I was inspired to go shopping for some looks I saw from the Spring "Looks We Love" section of their site. I really love this pink ensemble from their site.

So when I went shopping, I was looking to add a bit of color to my usual white, grey, black palette that I have going on. I ended up buying this American Eagle Aerie Favorite T (similar) in the v-neck style ($6.99). I have extremely sensitive skin to the point where there are certain clothes that I buy that I wear once and I never wear it again because it irritates my skin so much. There are certain shirts and pants that I have to cut off all the tags, otherwise I get itch-crazy. This tee is made of 60% cotton and 40% polyester and it's extremely comfortable. It does look like a shrinker so I'd be aware when washing/drying especially if you are looking for a looser fit shirt.

I'm guessing I'm really into the bright pink/coral color for spring because I ended up purchasing a second tee that looks very similar to the Aerie tee. This one isn't that "washed out" material of the Aerie one so it would be a great option for going out without that beachy/casual look.

I couldn't steer clear of the whites for long. I love all things white and the trouble I have with white pants or shorts are that they seem to always show my underwear. I haven't been able to find a pair of shorts that aren't practically see-through. While I was browsing, I picked up a pair of high-waisted scalloped shorts just for shits and giggles and I ended up loving them! They actually matched really well with the pink/coral shirts I had picked out. The great thing about solid white shorts is the versatility. If you want to look more put together, I'd go for an all-white monochromatic outfit. For a more fun look, pair the shorts with a floral/printed top.

This is all the Spring/Summer items I have bought so far. There are a few more items I'm looking to add to my wardrobe this season like some culottes (which I could also be good for work as well), fringe stuff, a maxi dress, nice sweat-proof sandles (I have a hyperhidrosis problem) and a jumpsuit. I'll keep ya'll updated! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Money Mondays: March Check-up

2015-03-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

There's about a week left in March but it's still a good time to see how we are doing so far.

I did purchase a bit of stuff this month for myself. I splurged on some flats for work as well as a purse I'd been wanting. I've also been shopping around for some more suitable work clothes. Looks like I'm still doing ok but I should be cutting some spending, especially since next month is a rent month. Just one more week! Save save save!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Don't forget that it's tax season! Don't procrastinate!

My Life Lately...

2015-03-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been both stressful and rewarding. Work has been quite hectic and I haven't really gotten a chance to recharge. I took a few days off two weeks ago when my friend came from Hawaii to visit and we headed up to Disneyland. Every time I set foot into that place, I get sucked back into getting an annual pass. This time, I made the jump and got a pass. I'm definitely feeling the itch to go back now that I have a pass but now it's about finding the time to go.

March was going to be the time when I started all my changes. Maybe that was a little too ambitious of me. This year surprised me because usually January is super stressful because there are a lot of changes going on at work. However, this year, it seems like as the year progresses, the stress levels are increasing. One of my favorite YouTubers, Ingrid Nilsen, read my mind and made a video on Relaxing and Letting Go. I found her tips to be really helpful and it was like a little hug to let me know that I'm not alone when it comes being stressed and overwhelmed.

Let's take a look at a few of my goals this year and how they've been coming along.

Finances

My finances are actually going quite swimmingly. I've been following my budget of 50-25-25 (debt, save, fun, respectively) although I've been trying to put a bit more towards debt than 50%. I still have my goal of being debt free by 33 and I'm really close to being able to reach that goal.
I've been speaking with friends and just gathering information on what I should do in terms of putting money into my 401k or putting money into a Roth IRA. I looked into how much I had actually put into for 401k last year (vs. the total including my company match) and I was NOWHERE near the maximum of $17,500 in 2014 ($18,000 in 2015). In 2014, I put 5% of my pay towards my 401k. This past month, I increased it to 15%. My reasoning for this is that it will drop my taxable income down drastically since these are before-tax contributions.

Food

Initially we thought that we'd be able to spend our Saturdays heading out to buy our groceries for the week at the farmer's market. However, looking at how costly some of the stuff is, we've decided against it. The prices at the market were double what we'd pay for at, for example, Sprouts.
We have been exploring the area quite a bit but I haven't posted any of my foodsplorations because I wanted to at least try a place out twice (to a few times) before giving it a review.
I actually cooked a bit more in January than February so I'll hopefully be posting some of those up soon. We've been having out of town guests and exploring the neighborhood so that usually doesn't leave much time for cooking.

Fitness

Wow. This has been absolutely non-existent! I made a whole calendar for March and I haven't even done one day of booty exercises. Well, sometimes life throws some curve-balls at you but that doesn't mean the game is over. Step back up to that plate with your game face on.

Travel

With all this budgeting and finance talk, a vacation seems less and less likely this year. I'll still probably plan for my annual Hawaii trip sometime in the fall when fares drop to their cheapest but as for right now, a Peru trip seems very far from fruition. I was looking at it and it would cost approximately $4,500 for the two of us to head out to Peru. Ideally, we would want to go in May and it seems very unlikely. I was researching and it seems that the best time to go to Peru is in May. I feel like saving that kind of money for a vacation in the latter part of the year would be much easier than shelling out the money up front. But as of right now, we have no plans to do any sort of traveling this year :/.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I'll talk to ya'lls very soon!

Money Mondays: February 2015 Budget Verdict

2015-03-02T06:30:00.000-08:00

March is officially here! Quite scary for me since I'm basically supposed to be starting all of my changes this month. But first, I'll reflect on how I did for February. Like I had said previously, I wanted to make sure to keep my spending low in the beginning of the month because I knew I would be spending quite a bit a money during the end of the month (take a look at my "Out of Town" expenses).

Tony and I switch off paying rent (one month I'll pay, and the next month he'll pay) so money is a bit tighter on rent months. I was still able to pay much more on my loan payment which is good. However, I was in the negatives in terms of money rolling over to next month. This isn't such a big deal since I know for March, I don't have to pay rent so I'll be able to save a bit more.

So far so good! Hope everyone had a great weekend!

I'm ready for you, March!

Fitness Fridays: March Calendar

2015-02-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

March has officially creeped itself into the picture :/. It's the month that I'll be implementing all my crazy life changes so we'll see how that goes!

For today's post I wanted to go ahead and post my booty workout/challenge I'll be doing. I'll probably be doing these right when I get home from work. I feel like when I just get home from work, I'm still running off that high of running around all day. On the days that I work the late shift, I'll probably do these right when I get up, that way I can hop into the shower right after and get the day started.

sorry this is so small. i was having technical difficulties lol

Feel free to join me this month and get your booty into shape!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Money Mondays: February Check-up

2015-02-23T06:30:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the month again when we take a look at how we're doing in terms of spending. Looking at the total, it's a tad more than I'd like to have spent. I have to prepare for some high spending events at the end of February so I'd like to have a good chunk saved up. However, around this time last month I was already past $1,000 so this month is a bit of a improvement but we'll have to see how the entire month comes out. Until then, how is your February budget panning out?

Less than 15 days to go until the end of the month! Let's make it under $1200 this month!

2015 Goals: Fitness Fridays

2015-02-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

One of my big goals this year is to start working out. I've been doing a lot of Pinterest-ing and I've found some really good stuff. First off, I'm going to say I'm definitely no expert in regards to fitness. If anything I'm currently being awarded the "Sloth of the Year" award. I haven't worked out since I've moved to San Diego O_O. So yeah... I thought I'd make a real effort to work out this year.

Fitness Membership

I bought a Groupon for a barre workout place that's walking distance from our apartment. It's 1 month of unlimited use. Plus, under the conditions it states that I can purchase and use the same Groupon every 6 months so if I really enjoy this place, I can purchase another Groupon in 6 months. This place sounds really promising so I'm excited. Right now I'm planning to start using the service in April (but we'll see).

Calendar of Fitness

So I've been trying to plan a simple workout to start in March. I've basically looked online and I actually found a site with a really great Fitness Tracker you can just print out. They even have some 30 day challenges like squats, wall sit, plank, etc. If you're more on the lazy side and can only commit to one thing a month, this might be a good option for you.

Start Small

I've been slowly trying to integrate exercises into my daily activities, especially when I'm sitting at the couch watching television. I usually try to do some arm exercises with dumbbells or leg raises with some ankle weights.

Research

The hardest part of starting is that I basically have no idea what exercises to do. I've been pinning a crap load of stuff but videos are even more helpful if you're short on time. For instance, I'm trying to tone my arms (living in Southern California, you can pretty much wear a tank top every single day of the year) and I actually found this pretty good 10-minute Tone: Arm Workout. I'll be doing an arm workout as well as a butt challenge for March and I'll post more about it next week.

Hope everyone's week has been going well and TGIF!

Whether you love or hate Valentine's Day, make an effort to love and appreciate yourself.

No matter what has happened up until this point, you've survived! Just keep swimming.

Have a great weekend!

Money Mondays: January 2015 Budget Verdict

2015-02-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

January is officially over! Can't believe how fast it has flown by. Now is the time to take a look at your January spending and do some analyzing.

First off, let's look at how much we had to work with. For the month of January, I took home approximately $3,000 biweekly after taxes. For me, I did the 50-25-25 rule so 50% towards debt, 25% towards savings, and 25% towards fun. However, I was also paying off a lot of holiday debt this month (spending due to the holidays, ie,, presents, etc). My 50% towards debt doesn't include my credit cards; the 50% of my income towards debt goes straight towards paying off my loans. The 25% towards "fun" represents all of my credit card debt whether it's bills that I have to pay or clothes or eating out. I figure it's easier this way since I'm trying to pay off my student loans ASAP and I don't usually spend that much money on myself anyways. Here's how everything was came out.

Based on the 50-25-25 rule, I would've had $3,000 to go towards debt which is just going towards my loans so I ended up exceeding that by about $500 dollars. I was just a tad short of saving the "budgeted" amount. With that being said, that left me with about $1,000 to spend on "fun" stuff rather than the budgeted $1,500.

For January, I also didn't have to pay rent since we switch off paying rent so we don't have to write a billion checks. But that also means I should have saved enough rent money for February. Luckily I had enough money to cover rent for February without having to dig into my savings.

I would say I was pretty successful this month with keeping to my budget. However I do get a little anxious knowing that every single dollar is accounted for and that there is no "cushion". I feel like maybe I should subtract out a couple hundred dollars to account for emergencies/unexpected purchases. I like having a little cushion in my checking account just in case. It's a work in progress this budgeting thing so hopefully it will get easier!

Hope everyone stuck to their January budgets! Whatever goals you want to accomplish this year, I hope you're all on your way!

Get Going With Me! A Typical Errand Day

2015-02-08T09:49:00.003-08:00

8:00am
I thought I'd let you have a sneak peak into an average errand day/day off in my life. I'm hoping that because I'm working on this post, it'll actually make more productive. Already started off the morning in bed reading thru all my emails and writing down a list of to-do's for the day.

Since it's payday for me, I've already gone ahead and divvied up my paycheck into its respective categories. I had some money left over in my account last month ($2,955.16 minus rent $1,320 = $1,635.16). My automatic loan payment which is $1,506.60 is taken out mid month so that is completely covered by the remaining amount on my account (leaving me with $128.56). My first paycheck for February came out to $2,443.52. Half ($1,221.76) goes to debt, a quarter ($610.88) goes to savings, and a quarter goes towards fun. I went ahead and already set up a transfer to my savings. So Friday finances are in check!

Next up, tackling the to-do list. First up, taking down the Christmas decorations. You're probably thinking "It's the beginning of February and you still have your Christmas decorations up?!". Yes, I do lol. I was trying to make up for the lack of Christmas celebrating in December due to the move so I moved all the Christmas celebrating to January. That was kind of a fail because it definitely doesn't feel the same. So now it's time to clean up that mess.

Done.

Time for a potty break. I like to multitask so when it comes to a bathroom break, I'm usually browsing my Facebook feed. I came across a great article today and it behooves you to read it. Here is an excerpt:

Be old school. Don’t whine, complain or wish you were elsewhere. You are where you are for a good reason. What we have and where we are right now is where we deserve to be – good or bad. But this is not where we’re going to end up. Keep pushing. Whatever you want to accomplish in life, whether it be a career, family or general hustle. Focus. Let nothing stand in your way: not even jealousy, laziness or our burning desire to complain.

9:49am
Shiz nizzles! Is it almost 10am already? Time to make the bed and get dressed. Nothing slows down the "getting out of the house" process more than being in your robe. There are days where I can literally sit in my robe and watch Netflix until the day has just flown by. Not today. Let's get out and be productive!

....

Ok, maybe just breakfast with half an episode on Gilmore Girls... it IS my day off :P.

11:16am
Fixing myself some lunch before I head out. Trying not to eat out so often and plus it's never a good idea to run errands on an empty stomach. Don't want to be on the road hangry.

1:10pm
Just woke up from a nap. Food coma hit me hard. Time to get ready to go out!

4:07pm
Just got back from Fashion Valley. My phone battery was dying about 5 hours into the day even after a full charge so I took it back to the Apple Store and they were able to replace my battery free of charge (I'm not sure if this was part of their warranty since they had that recall recently or part of my Apple Care). After that I went over to Sephora. I recently used up my Stila Liquid eyeliner as well as the Kat Von D Tattoo Liner. I actually didn't like the Kat Von D liner at all. I liked the brush but for some reason the liquid didn't come out :(. The Stila liquid eyeliner was great until the felt tip brush got super nasty. If they could just combine the two that would be lovely! Now that those two liquid liners are done, I'm going back to using my Bobbi Brown gel liner. It's a little bit dried up :/. I was using the Bobbi Brown brush that came with it but I didn't like the brush so I ended up purchasing 2 Sephora eyeliner brushes as well as a daily brush cleaner.

4:30pm
Time to test out this brush cleaner. It's been a super long time since I've washed my brushes :/.

5:06pm
Heading out to Happy Hour at Craft and Commerce.

7:18pm
Back at the apartment cooking dinner and eating.

9:16pm
TKO.

Tasty Tuesdays: Noodle Dishes

2015-02-03T06:30:00.000-08:00

If I had to eat one staple for the rest of my life, it'd probably have to be noodles. I remember back in my college days I would eat 2 bags of Happy Mie (this brand of dry instant noodles) every day. This probably wasn't the healthiest of diets but it's now time to change that. I've been Pinterest-ing quite a few noodle dishes. Hopefully I'll get a chance to make these soon because they look friggin delish!

1. Dan Dan Noodles (link)

2. Easy Lo Mein (link)

3. Beef Chow Fun (link)

4. CPK's Kung Pao Chicken Copycat (link)

5. Drunken Noodles (link)

6. Chicken Pad Thai (link)

7. Pad See Ew (link)

8. Singapore Noodles (link)

9. Black Pepper Stir-Fried Noodles (link)

10. Yaki Udon (link)

Hope you enjoyed these recipes! I know I will when I do start cooking these!

I'm salivating just posting these pictures! Have a great week!

note: all photos belong to their rightful owners. please click on link to see original recipe.