Workout Playlist

There's nothing I find more motivating that new workout playlists.

I can have the greatest shoes, the cutest headband, or the lightest water bottle, but my workout will just be blah without good music. I'm really enjoying my current playlist and I thought I'd share what I'm listening to and what I'm doing to get spring break ready :)

(in no particular order because I work out with an iPod shuffle)

1. Drunk In Love- Beyonce

2. Sledgehammer- Fifth Harmony

3. Flawless- Beyonce

4. Masterpiece- Jessie J

5. Sundress- Landon Austin

6. Uptown Funk- Bruno Mars

7. Cruise (iTunes Session Version)- Florida Georgia Line

8. 3005- Childish Gambino

9. Blank Space- Taylor Swift

10. Style- Taylor Swift

11. Bad Blood- Taylor Swift

12. Say My Name- Destiny's Child

13. Survivor- Destiny's Child

14. Partition- Beyonce

15. Jealous- Nick Jonas

My workouts rarely last longer than an hour and I change up my playlist frequently so I like to keep it short and sweet. I typically do 60 min on the elliptical at medium to high intensity. After that (or later in the day if I'm working out before class) I'll go back and do yoga and abs. The elliptical works my arms and legs, as does yoga, and then I work abs separately, so I hit every muscle group every day. If you're looking for some good beginner yoga classes, here are a few that I started with and still do to this day!

Runner's World Yoga 1 2 3 4 

Tone It Up Yoga 1 2

There you go! Have fun workin' up a sweat this weekend!  

A Little R&R

It's always nice to come back to school and immediately have a 3-day weekend.

This year it seemed like most of my friends went home or on retreats for the long weekend, leaving me to my Netflix and own agenda. I won't lie, being alone for much of the weekend was a little lonely even for this introvert. But I managed to just relax, get some schoolwork done, and pamper myself a little bit :)

Saturday night I had nothing to do and remembered that I had some very ripe avocados. On a whim, I looked up avocado face/ hair masks just for fun. It just happened that I had all the ingredients in my dorm and most of the ingredients overlapped for face and hair. So, I went ahead and covered myself neck-up in Avocado! I was so happy with the results that I figured I'd share what I did! 

Ingredients:

- 1 avocado

- 2 capfuls of vegetable oil

- a tablespoon of honey

I just mixed these all together in a bowl until it had a sort of baby-food looking consistency. From there, I took off my makeup, and rinsed my face and hair. I didn't really have a method other than to use handfuls to apply to my hair and face. With the hair, I'd advise not getting too close the the roots of your hair... unless you like the greasy look. I then let it sit for 45 minutes (approximately two episodes of Friends), then hopped in the shower and rinsed it all out. I then let my hair air dry.

I didn't really know what to expect when I did this, but I figured my hair and skin couldn't get much worse- I've had horrible acne in my chin area and the ends of my hair are so lifeless. But WOW. I don't know if it's just in my head of what but I swear my split ends are un-split not and my face? Still not flawless but It was less red and much easier to cover even with the light coverage foundation I've been using to try to let that area breathe. Back to my hair, it still definitely needs a salon day, but it's so shiny and soft- so easy to brush through! 

And the biggest change? Well the little piece of hair at the nape of my neck is just always gross. I don't know why, but it's been this ratty little mess for as long as I can remember. It doesn't hold a curl or anything. Anyways, It's smooth and cooperative now! 

I think avocados are the fruit of the body gods because I have yet to see something negative from these little guys. 

Work Smarter, Love Harder

picture via Pinterest

So I'm a little late in getting around to a "resolution list" but I really wanted to put some thought into how I'd like 2015 to be remembered in the scheme of my life. I don't want resolutions that are easy to forget about and I definitely want to branch out from the expected. In 2014, I think I really focused on building healthier habits and taking in all that freshman year of college had to offer. But with a big year of what I like to call "the unknown", I want to make sure that my heart and my mind is in the right place.

On that note, I decided to nix the R-word (resolution, that is) and go with Goal. Still a bit overused, a goal doesn't necessarily start on January 1st... and end by January 21st ;) Goals can be picked up at ones own pace and be dropped just the same- of course, that isn't the "goal" but we're all human right? So I have a few goals on my mind for this year but I can assure you I haven't taken them all on- yet! It will come, but at a pace that is manageable and consistent with life. 

Blah, Blah. Enough with my yammering- here are my personal 2015 goals! 

(post-writing note: this got long and detailed so brace yourself!)

3. Save More; Spend Less

It's no secret that college students are at the lowerest end of the financial spectrum. Especially if you're a full time student and don't have time to work... aka me. There wouldn't be a problem if I didn't like to shop so much....... and if I didn't have such expensive taste (oops). I have an "allowance" that, if budgeted correctly, a majority of can be saved. I figure saving a little bit at school can get me into the habit so that this summer when I do have a regular paycheck, I'll be ready to put a larger percentage of that into my savings. 

Since I do still love my retail therapy, I have these mini goals set in place:

I have a minimum amount that I want to see in my checking account and I can't spend anything that would require it to go below that. This gives me an "emergency buffer" in my checking so that I don't have to transfer from my savings if there is an emergency.

When it comes to shopping: shop online less. Additionally, anything I might be looking at, I keep open in a tab for a week. If I still have the tab up at the end of the week, I can reconsider whether or not it's something I "need" to buy. 

2. Work Smarter & Love Harder

This is a little mantra that I came up with on my own. It's absolutely what I need to work on personally. In the past, I think I've worked hard and loved smart- meaning that I put work before personal relationships and invested in relationships that I saw as important i.e. my parents and a few good friends. 

This year I want to Work Smarter... meaning that I find the study strategies that work for each class and for myself and run with them. I wouldn't say it's the "bare minimum" because that sounds so lazy but it's a similar concept: finding what works to get the grade I'm happy with while giving me a personal life as well. 

Which brings me to the Love Harder part. I've previously worked on being less judgmental, more open minded, being vulnerable etc etc. And I like to think that I've improved on those qualities. Loving harder is more about combining all that was previously mentioned. I need to be willing to be vulnerable with anyone, not just someone who I think deserves my love or whatever mindset I have that determines who I love and who I don't. I want to show true support and compassion to everyone I meet no matter how my personal attitude may be effecting my day. This is going to be a hard one, but it's also exciting.

Side Note: I am aware that Love is a "strong" word but it doesn't have to be. I don't see anything wrong with great expression and once read that we should "fall in love every day with something different". Be it a new flavor of coffee or an actual person, the world is lacking in love so I think big hearts and strong emotions are needed to make up for it. Also, love absolutely doesn't have to be a romantic gesture. End Side Note. 

1. Love Jesus

There's not much explaining to do here other than to work on seeking Him every day. It should be the easiest goal of the year because everything should come second to this. 

There you have it: my three big goals for 2015.

Keep me accountable, will ya? 

My Favorite Pins

It's dead week here at Purdue... which really should be called "I'm dead" week.

But in all honesty, I haven't been all that busy since I've gotten back from Thanksgiving break. Classes have been winding down and I've only been studying a couple hours a day for finals. With all this free time plus study breaks, I've been spending more time on Pinterest.

I thought it'd be fun to share a few of my favorite pins I've come across lately. Hopefully you'll like them,and pin them yourself! If nothing else, they'll surely get you in the holiday mood :)

I'm always looking for yummy, festive recipes. We were loving peppermint bark over Thanksgiving, so I thought this might be a winning recipe in my family... I'll let you know how it goes!

Parisian Chic from Vogue. Because I'm always looking for cute outfit inspiration with pieces that can be found in pretty much any closet. Who knew black with a mini skirt could be so chic?

So I need these booties. I saw these on Nordstrom's website back in October and they've lasted the "wait and see" test. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll be on sale or, at the very least, still available in my size after Christmas. They're not cheap but I'm been wearing my two year old booties multiple times a week lately, and these are just so gorgeous... I've always been a shoe girl. 

Besides the fact that I can't believe I just found out about WhoWhatWear, I came across this list of 35 quotes and oh. my. gosh. I've said before that words have this effect on me... I don't get it but the right words or quote can completely change my perspective. I loved this one by Anna Wintour... especially because I have been making quite a few decisions lately. 

Holiday party attire... this just screams holidays and I love it so much. 

If I had this dress, I don't think I'd ever take it off. 

So, I'm going to get back to studying and get off Pinterest now! You can follow along here. 

Thanks for reading! 

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn keeps popping up in my life recently, which is so random but I'm certainly not complaining! When I was home for Thanksgiving, we made a few trips to the mall and so my mom and I took some time to get lost walk around. Furniture stores used to be forms of punishment at the mall so it's so funny to me that I could probably spend an hour in one section now. I guess that's the price of growing up...

If nothing else, I like to just look at the displays. I'm fascinated with presentation of furniture and odds and ends, just because I don't think I could really "stage" anything very well. I'll stop rambling now and just share the pictures I took that make me want to just move into the showroom.

are the notebooks and coffee table books included?

I said that PB has been popping up in my life and that's no joke! When I came back to school, I overheard a couple girls talking about Pinterest and how they love following Pottery Barn. Okay, so 1) why I have yet to follow PB (I now follow them and you should too!) and 2) I don't have the adequate time needed to look at every. single. pin. So that will be a winter break task, I suppose. I seriously feel like a 30 year old woman when I walk through these stores and think about furnishing a house, but a girl's gotta dream! 

Side note, I didn't take this picture but don't you just want every single one of these blankets? Yeah, me too! 

Books, Books, Books

Words have always been a source of peace for me. 

From the minute I could read, I've had a book in my hand and two more (at least) at home waiting to be cracked open.  The same goes for music. I appreciate great lyrics, whether "great" refers to witty or thought-provoking or both.. although forgive me for my love of sugary pop melodies on occasion. Maybe it's an introvert thing- getting lost in the words and thoughts of others- or maybe it's just a Sarah thing. Whatever it is, there's hardly anything that moves me like words. 

To that point, and the fact that Christmas is coming up, I wanted to share a few of my favorite books and a few that are on my "to-read" list...

Okay number one is the American Girl book... I can't remember which year I got this as a gift but it has got to be one of the best gifts I got as a kid. It has all the original Christmas stories in a single book. It embodies Christmas for me and will surely be something I read to my kids. If you don't own it, I'd highly recommend you make the purchase! 

Currently Reading: the Goldfinch

Next "To-Read": How to be Parisian Wherever You Are

Extended "To Read":

Anna Karenina

the Silkworm

The End of Fashion

The Gospel According to Coco Chanel

Lolita

The Woman I Wanted to Be

Decision Points

See? And my list will continue to grow. Some may find a long list overwhelming, but I find it calming and exciting to be able to look forward to hearing from so many authors and characters. There's nothing more enchanting that I long list of books and a very cold winter forecast forcing me to stay inside and read. 

Posh Thanksgiving

I channelled my inner Blair this Thanksgiving and wore classics with a pop of color. We didn't really do anything big- just lunch with family and then hanging out at my aunt and uncle's house. Regardless, I love the opportunity to dress up and take pictures... and eat a lot :) Big thanks to my sister, the resident photographer while I'm at home. Hope y'all had a happy holiday weekend! 

p.s. how cute is this fruit turkey? My dad did this all on
his own... what a guy.