January Budget

January was apparently a good month of shoes for me. Both trips to Target taken to buy traveling essentials found me in the shoe section coming home with pairs of shoes that are styles I have been keeping an eye out for. And both pairs were under $9! So even though my goal was to limit any spending outside of my trip to Jerusalem, I did end up buying shoes... #noregrets Other than shoes, I was able to get a few beautiful pieces from my journeys in the Holy Land including two scarves, a pair of earrings, and a beautiful, reversible  wrap skirt that I am pretty obsessed with. The patterns are a little mismatched which normally drives me nuts, but for whatever reason, I really liked...

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Product Review: Covergirl Plumpify Mascara and Colorlicious Oh Sugar! Lip Balm

I didn't start wearing mascara until graduate school with the exception of maybe three school dances. To be fair, it wasn't until recently that I even began wearing much beyond coverup for the dark circles under my eyes. And though I've begun wearing makeup on a more regular basis, I still try to keep it very minimalist and natural looking which basically means that I cover up the dark circles, brush on a little bronzer, add a touch of mascara and a bit of color to my lips and call it a day. If I'm feeling really fancy, I might add some eye shadow and a bolder lip, but this is still new territory. I'm very much still learning and have been loving trying out new products from the recommendation...

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 13

Hello friends! I'm currently writing to you from a bus on my way from the Dead Sea and a relaxing afternoon floating in the water! (Spoiler alert, that will be most likely be on the list next week...) We've been using the same bus for travel days the whole trip and I just found out that there's wifi aboard which is fine because I'm typically the one glued to the window of the bus making audible ooh's and ah's. Since it's a bit darker and dusty on the ride back, I thought I'd do a brief check-in with this week's graces.  1) Hospitality I've said it before, and I'll say it again, nothing compares to the hospitality of strangers I have received while traveling abroad. I do know...

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 12

Greetings from Jerusalem friends! My class and I arrived on Thursday after a looooong day of travel and have been loving every minute of our time here. It's such a holy place filled with amazing people. As you can probably tell, I won't be posting as regularly until we return. Thanks for understanding! I did want to post this week's graces so that I can both reflect on fun things happening and keep up with the habit. 1) Jerusalem I don't think much explanation is necessary here. This place is so rich with history and religion - it's unbelievable. We've barely even chipped away at our trip and already my heart is so full from the people we've met and the places we've seen....

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Beautiful New Friends and a Gift Swap

I've only been blogging for about 9 months, but already it has brought so many amazing opportunities and people into my life. And by far my favorite aspect of this blogging world is the beautiful people I have had the pleasure to get to know and become friends with. One of those wonderful people is Nina who writes over at hugsandlattes. If you don't already follow her blog, I highly recommend it. She's a great writer and hilarious - seriously though, the amount of times I've literally laughed out loud at her posts is slightly embarrassing... You know those people who exude passion in all they do? That's Nina. We've only briefly gotten to know one another via email and our blogs, but everything...

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5 Weekly Graces Vol. 11

Happy New Year everyone! I have a feeling 2016 is going to be a good one.  I'm actually typing this in the airport while I wait for my connection back home to Berkeley. Where did the time go? It feels like just yesterday I was finishing my final papers and preparing for Christmas in Ohio and now it's over. On a very exciting note, Wednesday I leave for Jerusalem with my classmates for what I am certain will be a trip of a lifetime and I can't wait! All I need to do is get to my apartment, unpack, and pack again - and maybe do some post vacation school prep. We'll see.  As you can imagine, the last week of my time with family and friends was jam packed with love and laughter....

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