Skin Care Favorites

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great 4th of July! It was super hot here in Rockford so I spent my day inside relaxing until Austin and I went to watch fireworks with his sister, Josh and our niece Ella. It gets more fun to take her to fireworks every year because she gets it just a little bit more. This year when smaller fireworks would go off she would yell "that was a bad one" it was so funny. What made it even better was she had headphones on to help with the noise of the fireworks, so she couldn't really tell she was screaming. 

Anyway, today I wanted to share with you my favorite, go to skin care products. Luckily I have never had acne or super difficult skin but I do break out from time to time and it does tend to get dry and oily during different times of the year. As many of you may know my mom became an esthetician a few years ago and since then I have changed the products that I use - based on her advice. My mom uses Bioelements products in her services, so that is what I use at home for the most part and I have loved every product so far! 

I would recommend if you are having severe problems with your skin to see a dermatologist - I am just sharing the products that I like and what has worked for me personally!  

Bioelements is a professional line of skincare products that does not contain any artificial color or fragrance, no parabens, diethanolamine or phthalates - basically their products do not contain the stuff that will irritate your skin. They have so many different products to customize your skin care needs.

To begin my skincare routine, I always start by washing my face. At all times in my shower you will find two (at least) different face washes - a gentle one and an exfoliant. I like to switch between the two every time I wash my face or if I've been sweating or just feel really dirty, I'll go ahead and use my exfoliant! I love this gentle face wash from Green Envee. It is very smooth and calming on my skin. I have always been a fan of St. Ives products! I tend to switch between this green tea scrub and the Apricot one, although I have the oatmeal one under my sink to try next! The green tea and apricot one both have enough scrub power in them that I feel like they leave my skin refreshed, clean and get all of the dead cells off but at the same time doesn't completely strip my face and leave it irritated!   

After my skin is clean I like to use some sort of toner. Lately I've been using the Mario Badescu Rosewater. I absolutely love the smell of this and think it just helps my skin feel really hydrated and fresh. I spray this on before I put on any moisturizer but I also use it as a setting spray for my makeup or just throughout the day if my face is feeling dry or hot!

I have finally found a spot treatment that my skin responds too and I have stuck to it for a solid year or so and that is the Breakout Control from Bioelements. This is a benzoyl peroxide product - which I have read that many people either respond to this or salicylic acid, so if you're not responding to one product try another! 

I have two moisturizers that I alternate between because during the summer my skin tends to get pretty oily and during the winter my skin gets SUPER dry. For the summer I love using Beyond Hydration from Bioelements. It's such a weird moistuizer becuase it is almost a gel and right after you put it on it almost feels like it dries you out but after a little bit your skin bounces back but doesn't get too greasy. During the winter months I stick with my Crucial Moisture. This one is pretty thick and keeps my skin from getting dry patches. 

About three nights a week or so I like to use this Skin Editor product which is a leave on exfoliator. THIS IS AMAZING and probably one of my favorite favorite products. It leaves my skin soo soft and the smell reminds me of a chai tea latte (win win). The Kerafole purge mask is my go to mask. I aim to use this once a week and every few months will do a 7 day purge where I do the mask for 7 days in a row to purge the toxins from my skin. This mask always leaves my skin soft and with a little glow! 

I am a HUGE preacher of sunscreen in the summertime. Especially when it comes to my face, whenever I'm going to be outside I always have it on my face. This one has always been the one that I go back to! I have repurchased it again and again! It goes on nice and smooth, isn't super thick and doesn't leave your face super greasy! 

Well if you're still reading, thank you thank you - I know that was a long one! I just love skincare and have really gotten into it since my mom has started working in the field. I know most of my readers are local, so if you are and are interested in getting any Bioelements products or more information you can check out their website https://www.bioelements.com/ or contact my mom on her skincare facebook page https://www.facebook.com/relaxsimplyskincare/ she uses Bioelements in her services!

Bathroom Renovation

We finally finished our main bathroom renovation! Austin made my bathroom Pinterest board a reality and I couldn't be more obsessed. It turned out perfect. Unfortunately I was too busy with school to be much help with this project - all I really did was help make decisions and work on the decor details, Austin did all of the hard work. We're so glad to have this bathroom done. The only thing that still needs to be done is were going to have the bathtub sprayed and resealed white, but that probably won't happen for a few more months and I couldn't wait that long to share!

This first photo is the photo from the listing when we bought the house - the very starting point of this bathroom.

If you've seen any pictures of our home, you know we tend to stick with gray, white, black and wood colors... so we didn't stray too far from that in the bathroom either besides from throwing in a pop of navy.

Finding all black hardware can be really tough. All of our towel hooks and toilet paper holder are from Amazon. Our shower head and tub faucet are both Delta but the sink faucet is Pfister. The only thing we didn't get black in the shower curtain rod and that is simply because we already have this one and just didn't feel like buying a new one yet.

We decided to add in an in-the-wall shelf with the same granite as our counter top in the shower and I love how it turned out - I can't wait to put one in our master bath shower!

We found our light fixture at Lowe's and it is actually oil rubbed bronze and not black but it looks black enough and it was super super hard to find a black light fixture that we liked and fit but this one was perfect.

The jars and the "scrub a dub dub" sign are both from Hobby Lobby and the picture frame is from Home Goods and the print I bought from an Etsy shop, OrchardBerry. I think my shelves turned out so cute against the DIY shiplap wall.

Austin made the "shiplap" wall out of plywood, which he just nailed up then painted white. He actually used nickels to make sure the spacing stayed equal. He made it seem like a pretty easy process (like he does with everything) and I think it definitely pulled this whole bathroom together.

Picking out tile for this bathroom was super difficult for me. I was really worried about it clashing with the counter tops and I worried about the bathroom being too busy but at the end of the day I am very happy with our choice! I tend to leave final decisions up to Austin - because of his job he sees so many kitchens and bathrooms, he knows what will looks fine and what won't.

Wedding Day Emergency Kit

Long time no blog! I am so excited for today's post! I wrapped up my first semester of nursing school yesterday, so I finally have time to blog again and I'm so happy. I have so many ideas for posts over the next couple of months while I'm on break. We're finishing up some projects at the house currently and have a few trips planned over summer break! I figured this would be a good post to start with for the summer since wedding season is beginning and this is always one of my favorite gifts to give.  I've tried to post about this before but the photos never turned out how I wanted them to, so I just kept saying "okay I'll do one for the next wedding," and here we are. Being 22, and having friends who are older than me, means that most of my friends are just starting to get married which is super exciting because weddings are definitely one of my favorite things. This gift idea is perfect because for one I just love giving gifts and two I love travel size things (doesn't everyone?). I'm guilty of being a gift giver repeater on this one but I will say every time that I have given this as a gift it has been different! The thing I love about this gift is it's a great idea to give to someone that you've been friends with forever or someone that you just met! It's great because you can change what you put in the bag and change the bag itself to customize it for the bride (and to fit your price range). Over the years of giving these I have found that the best place to usually find a bag is TJ Maxx, they always have a good selection at a great price, or Target. It can sometimes be tough to find the clear bags but you could put the items is any type of bag, box, or anything really!

Some of my favorite things to put in these little emergency kits are of course bobby pins because someones hair always gets messed up between getting ready and the start of the ceremony, tissues because someone's mom always starts to cry, a shot of the bride's favorite to ease the nerves, band aids for blisters, and a nail file always comes in handy.

Some other things that I have put in other bags that may come in handy: mini scissors, Benadryl (especially for outdoor weddings), a couple of granola bars/trail mix, a gift card for coffee,  safety pins, lint roller, hand sanitizer, mini sewing kit, feminine products and eyedrops. 

It would also be super cute to put all of the items in some sort of travel bag as a gift for the bride to use on her honeymoon trip! 

I think this is just the perfect gift and a gift that any bride would appreciate getting. I gave one to one of my best friends last year and we kept it with us the day before the wedding while we were setting up and the day of...we used stuff out of it so many times! 

22 Things Learned by 22

Happy Friday and happy birthday to me! I'm currently writing this blog post on my birthday from Panera because Comed decided to shut off our power today to do some work I guess, so here I am beginning my celebrating with a bagel and a coffee. I thought this would be a fun post to do because I really feel like I've grown a lot in the last year between moving out and learning to balance that with working full time and going to school. I turn 22 today and looking back I remember being 13-14 and just having such a hard time with everything, so today I decided to kind of write a letter to my younger self sharing some things that I've learned over the last 22 years.

1. Spending time with family is always a good idea whether it's spending a weekend at home or just an hour getting lunch with mom.

2. You don't always have to wear makeup. Sooner or later you'll just get more comfortable without it or become too lazy to always put it on. Either way, go you.

3. Getting a complement about your personality makes you feel a lot better than getting one based off of your looks.

4. Having a few great friends is better than having a lot of not so great friends.

5. What other people think of you really doesn't matter, if you do your own thing you'll be so much happier.

6. Some (if not most) things won't go as you planned but just try to go with the flow, everything will work out eventually.

7. Dad is right 98% of the time... "people suck."

8. When you get the chance to travel DO IT. It might be the only chance you ever get.

9. Don't get sucked into people who are manipulative. Even if you think he's the greatest thing ever, listen to your girlfriends when they tell you to get rid of him.

10. Hold the door open for people, say hello, smile at strangers..it makes everyone happier.

11. Getting drunk at home on a Saturday night in your pajamas is completely okay.

12. So is laying in bed hungover on a Sunday.

13. If your gut is telling you something is wrong or right, listen to it.

14. You will meet the most important people in your life in college, so not having the best time in high school is not a big deal.

15. Your annoying little brother will turn out to be one of your best friends.

16. Drink more water, your skin will thank you.

17. You'll grow apart from people that you thought you never would and that's okay.

18. Staying home for college  will give you a whole new definition of the "college experience" and it's not too bad. You'll get to do a lot of things that others don't get to do.

19. You've always been cautious, you're always going to be cautious. Enjoy being the mom of the group for life.

20. Wait for the guy that you can sing as loud as you want to in the car and he'll sing along with you.

21. Mom's always right. She's always your supporter. She's always going to be there.

22. There's always time and room in your brain to learn more. Learn as much as you can while you can.

                                  

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Happy Monday everyone! Today I'm writing a post that I've wanted to write for a long time, I'm finally sharing my favorite baked potato soup recipe! I don't remember where I originally got this recipe from but I've made a couple little tweaks since first making it. The first time I made this was probably about a year ago and it quickly became one of mine and Austin's favorites. I actually had never had loaded baked potato soup before I made this and I didn't realize that there were actually pieces of potato in it. Let me know if you try this recipe out and whatchya think!

The most time consuming part of this soup is dicing all of the potatoes. It takes me about 20 minutes, I obviously need  to figure out a faster way to do this.

All of the ingredients needed:
3 Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 C All purpose flour
3 1/2 C Milk
2 Green onions, chopped (I always end up using more than 2, you can really use any many as you'd like)
1 C Shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 C Sour cream
Salt & pepper to taste

Melt butter in large pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour until lightly browned (about 1 minute). Gradually whisk in milk, and cook, whisking constantly until thickened (about 1-2 minutes). 

 

Stir in potatoes and green onion. 

 

Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Stir in cheese, sour cream and salt and pepper.

 

Spoon into bowl and top with green onion, bacon bits and cheese.

October 12 Things :)

I think every time I write a blog post I get into the mind set that I am going to try to be more consistent with blogging...here we are again. I really do love blogging because it gives me somewhere to be creative (other than home decor). I'm currently staying at my parents house for a couple of nights because I haven't seen them in over two weeks and they are about to go out of town on a trip! While my mom is passed out on the couch and my dad is watching the Cubs game, I've been sitting here on my computer catching up on all of my favorite blogs. Two of my favorite bloggers, Amber Fillerup (http://www.barefootblonde.com/) and Aspyn Ovard (http://aspynovard.com/), have done a post called "12 Things" and you literally just write about 12 random things! I always love reading their posts so I wanted to do one of my own!

1. The weather this week has been PERFECT. Fall weather is easily my favorite; I love being able to wear leggings and a sweater.

2. Austin and I are going to St. Louis next Friday for my birthday/Halloween/to visit Hannah and John...I'm so excited! I feel like we haven't seen them in forever. And for some reason I'm super excited to dress up for Halloween, with my birthday being a couple days before Halloween I usually don't care for it too much but Austin and I have never dressed up (were being Forrest Gump and Jenny), so it should be super fun.

3. Travel fever has been a real thing lately. I am just ready to pack my bags, go to the airport and fly anywhere.

4. I got to see my little brother for the first time in several weeks tonight. He's already becoming so much more mature since starting college.

5. I get to see my sister on Friday which I am super excited about. We always go on super long walks and talk about everything, it's one of my favorite things to do.

6. How am I going to be 22 in 9 days?

7. This last semester my college plans had a little bit of a set back which was disappointing because I always thought I would be one of those people who was in and out of college in 4 years but here I am on year 4 and still have 2 more to go.

8. I was going through pictures on my phone today and realized that I really need to start taking more pictures.

9. I created the fall bucket list photo at the top of this post to put in a frame in my kitchen! If anyone wants a PDF copy to print for yourself just let me know :)

10. I definitely fell out of my fitness routine when I moved out over a year ago and am having SUCH A HARD TIME getting back into it and it sucks.

11. I really want to start creating more videos similar to my travel and wedding videos but I just don't know what to make them about (check out my youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNaGI0XAuJSGdur6YhJrohw?view_as=subscriber)

12. I got to Facetime with Ash today and it made my day :)

Thanks for reading! 

Kitchen Renovation

Well, 10 months after buying our first house....OUR KITCHEN IS FINALLY DONE!! This is the first room in our house that is completely done and we could not be more happy with how it turned out. Not even going to lie, Austin did 99% of the work in the kitchen; my help came more from picking out decor and helping make the decisions. He did an amazing job with everything, I'm so obsessed. Apologizing in advance for the long post!

The first time we looked at the kitchen in this house our brains immediately starting coming up with ideas of everything we wanted to do to it. First things first, we knew we needed to move some things around. The fridge was tucked in the corner by the garage door and covered part of the door, so we decided to move the stove and microwave over to the other wall of the kitchen and move the fridge to the middle of the wall that it was already on (moving the gas line was luckily all we had to hire someone to do, Austin was able to do everything else). With moving the appliances, we had to move/replace a couple of cabinets. Next came painting all of the cabinets white and replacing all of the hardware. 

Since Austin works at a granite shop there was no doubt that we were going to be getting new counter tops. We actually spent a day in Schaumburg at the granite distributors that work with Austin's work to find the perfect slabs for our house. I had in my mind what I wanted, which was more of a standard granite that is in a lot of homes, darker gray and black tones. Austin had white in mind and wanted something unique. I didn't know if I liked the idea of white counters and white cabinets but at the end of the day I let Austin decide and it's absolutely perfect.

There originally was no back splash in the kitchen, so we decided to stick to a simple design and did white subway tile with black grout. We also got rid of the peel and stick tile that was in the kitchen and replaced it with tile that looks like gray hardwood. The last major change we did was the light fixtures. Putting in can lights opened up the room a lot. The last home owners also had a small eating area that had a hanging light fixture and since we knew we just wanted to extend the breakfast bar for seating, we removed that light and added two over the bar instead.

Another small addition that was made was this open shelf, which I think is my favorite part of the kitchen. We placed it over where we keep our Keurig and I'm so excited to have a place to display my flea market coffee and tea jar finds!

Here are some before and afters :) the before photos are the ones from the original house listing, so the quality is a little rough but I forgot to get good ones before we started destroying the place!