June Empties and Declutter

I am still on a mission to use up items that I have and declutter anything I know I won't use! I am not on a "no buy" because then I would just be tempted to buy stuff. I am allowed to buy things but my goal is to use what I have before buying new things. 

So here is what I used up this month!

For laundry items I finished up..

Purex Crystals in a full size and a sample which I absolutely love. I can't see paying money for this since they aren't something I really need but I love how amazing they make my clothes smell. If I find a deal on them I will definitely purchase more!

Bounce Dryer Sheets are my absolute favorite dryer sheets because they smell amazing. I have already repurchased these and will continue to.

Downy Crystals which are similar to the Purex but I didn't like them as much. The scent was not as nice and I definitely wouldn't purchase it full size but I did use up these three sample packs.

I recently switched to daily contact lenses from monthly ones and love them. I tried MyDay and Clariti and both were awesome. I picked whatever was the cheapest out of the two because they were both so amazing that I didn't see a difference. (Did you catch that pun?!)

The Macadamia Deep Repair Masque is one of my favorite products ever and I think it's in almost all my empties posts. I use this at least two times a week if not more and it's amazing. It keeps my hair super soft and keeps it from getting tangled.

Lavanila Healthy Deodorant in Pure Vanilla  is a great deodorant and I constantly reorder it from Sephora. I find this is the best natural deodorant on the market (at least for me) and keeps me smelling fresh all day.

Skintimate Strawberry Tangerine Twist is just okay. I'm not picky about shave gel and will just get Skintimate if I can get a deal on it. This scent was kinda nice too, not my favorite but still nice.

I finished up two mini lotions.

The Nivea hand cream was nice and very thick but it was a super small container so it was used up very quickly.

The Victoria's Secret Coconut Passion was an okay lotion but I find all lotions from that brand to be a little greasy. I used this at work though and definitely got my use out of it.

I wasn't able to finish the Seche Vite top coat before it got all goopy so unfortunately I have to toss it. I will definitely be buying a new one though!

I finished three amazing Cake Batter Chapsticks, although that doesn't seem like as many as I normally go through.....maybe I'm getting better at using less?!

The Loreal Infallible Eyeliner in carbon black is a great eyeliner but unfortunately mine broke apart at the end. It is definitely one I will repurchase often though because it's cheap and works great.

Herbal Essence Hello Hydration Shampoo is one of my favorites. it works great and really hydrates my hair.

I liked the Pantene 3 Minute Miracle but not as much as my Macadamia Deep Repair Mask. I thought it was a really thin formula and kind of runny. I would use it again but definitely not purchase it!

The Dove Intense Repair Shampoo and Conditioner samples were nice. They made my hair feel smooth and not tangled which is what I generally look for in these products. I wouldn't necessarily pick them over other options though.

Both of these soaps were just okay.

The Method Cucumber scent was fine. The scent was nothing really special but I do really like Method products and the hand soap is no exception.

Bath and Body Works Warm Vanilla Sugar was not my favorite scent and I definitely like other Bath and Body Works soaps over this one. I would rather purchase different scents from them in the future but I do love their foaming hand soaps.

Another "meh" product is Bath and Body Works Aruba Oceanside candle. This is a few years old so I'm not sure they even make it anymore but I found the scent to be overwhelming and not great. I like subtle beach scents but this was just too intense for me. 

My favorite dish soap currently is this Dawn New Zealand Springs scent which is teal and smells amazing. Since it's my favorite color and I enjoy the smell it makes doing dishes slightly more bearable.

I only use Sensodyne toothpaste and have for years because it prevents canker sores for me. I recommend it to anyone who has mouth issues!

Finally my decluttering items. All five of these are from hotels and I think they are all pretty expired at this point. No need to use them and take a chance on my hair! Time for these to get tossed! (The ones on the right are from when I went to France, which may have been 4 or 5 years ago......)

So that's what I used up and I'm tossing, what products have you used up lately?!

Life Lately

Guys I am loving summer time! I feel like we hibernate all winter  and then finally get out and have a good time in the summer!

We ended up at Sons of Liberty (a local whiskey distillery) on both Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

On Friday night we met up with Dan, Danielle, Ally and Derek and had a great time!

The huge Jenga set they had was a hit with us! It was pretty terrifying to play and got challenging once I had trouble reaching the top!

I took a few pictures because we managed to get it to the point where there were plenty of areas with only one block so it was swaying all over the place!

While we played we also enjoyed yummy drinks. I always get a whiskey drink when we go, but they also have vodka and beer.

 After playing Jenga for a bit we all were hungry so we headed over to the Mews Tavern. I requested a picture of the three girls...

because we all had basically the same outfit on! How we all showed up in black tank tops, blue jeans, brown bags, and sandals I have no idea! Ally and I even had the same exact pair of sandals from Old Navy on.

At least we all look cute!

On Saturday we met up with my parents for another round of Jenga and some corn hole.

It was fun to see my moms reactions she was a nervous wreck as we played!

We hung out for a couple of hours playing games and drinking...

And then Tim and I went to get Dels! If you're not a native Rhode Islander then you might not be familiar with Dels but their watermelon lemonade is amazing so if you are ever in my neck of the woods give it a try!

Saturday night Tim and I went to see Wonder Woman in theaters. It was an amazing movie! I highly recommend it if you're looking for a night out at the movies.

On Sunday after breakfast and a brief shopping trip with Tim I headed off to Brittni's 29th birthday party while Tim went to play golf.

How cute is this kid? I can't even handle her.

I spent most of my time out on the lawn with all the kids moving around water toys and washing off outdoor toys.

Seconds after this picture was taken Emma dumped water from the bucket all over herself. So soon after she ended up in the kiddie pool with Bella.

After playing and some delicious food it was time for truffle that Brit's mom makes. I don't eat peanut butter cups (I know I'm weird but chocolate and peanut butter do NOT go together!) so Brit's mom made me my own version without them inside.

Don't be fooled but the 28 on her cake, she is 29!

It was such a fun afternoon and I enjoyed celebrating with one my oldest friends! (oldest as in longest!)

What have you been up to lately?!

Mini Sephora Haul

Last Friday a new Sephora opened up not too far from me so I decided to stop by and check it out! I really went to see if I could get a bag full of free samples but unfortunately they were all out by the time I got there. I had a couple of things I knew I wanted to buy so I picked those up as well as a 100 point perk and thought I would share with you guys!

I've heard amazing things about Living Proof Restore Perfecting Spray so I knew I wanted to pick this up. I am currently using a Tresemme heat protectant and I hate it so I can't wait to finish it up and try this!

I love Benefit's Roller Lash Mascara so I thought I would pick up another one while I was in there. This mascara is on the drier side which I love although it does dry out faster then other mascaras. I will take the drying up fast though if it works well while I have it.

Lastly, my 100 point perk is Smashbox Photo Finish primer which I decided to get since I don't have a ton of primer in my collection. I can't wait to see how this helps my foundation application :)

Have you picked up any products lately?

Once And For All by Sarah Dessen (Signed Copy and Freebies!)

I absolutely love Sarah Dessen and all of her books so when I heard her newest book would be released at the beginning of June I was super excited!

I decided to not only order it on my Kindle so I could read it right away but I also decided to order a signed copy from Sarah Dessen's local book store Flyleaf Books. 

This was my first signed book and when it arrived on Wednesday I was bouncing up and down.

Once and For All is a novel about a girl Louna who is a pessimist when it comes to love. Her mother and the only adult male "father" figure she has ever known run a wedding business where they create dream days for their clients but are all pessimists about how long the marriages will last.

I found this book extremely witty and an easy summer read. I have enjoyed every one of Sarah's books and how they all focus on family relationships but also have a love story.

Sarah even wrote it out to me specifically! I am so unbelievably thrilled. When I opened my package I was surprised to find a complete Sarah Dessen set of products (completely free with my order).

If you've been reading her books you'll recognize the CBY sticker as a Colby sticker (the setting for many of her books), a button with Hey Dude (from Saint Anything) and the key necklace from Lock and Key. Also included were sunglasses, a candle, candied almonds, stickers with Once and For All on them, and a postcard with a quote from Saint Anything.

What awesome items to receive with my book purchase! I highly recommend ordering books from Flyleaf Books in North Carolina. They are a dream to work with and go above and beyond to make sure your order is amazing. 

What books have you been reading lately? I have been terrible at updating my recent reads but I will try to catch up with that again soon....

CVS Couponing Week of 5/18/17

On Tuesday I took a trip to CVS to score some of their weekly deals....

2 Tide Detergents
on sale 2 for $11.88
used $1 off $6 laundry CVS coupon
used $2 off household CVS coupon
Paid $8.88 and received $3 ECB back

2 Oral B Indicator Value Pack Toothbrushes (2 count) $4.99 each $9.98 total
Paid $9.98 and received $6 ECB back

2 Ziploc Bags
on sale 2 for $6
used $1/2 ziploc from coupons.com 
Paid $5 and received $3 ECB back

My total before coupons would have been $27.86 for these six items.
I used 9 coupons total....
$1 off $6 laundry CVS coupon
$2 off household CVS coupon
$1/2 ziploc from coupons.com
$6 ECB
$5 Beauty Club ECB
$5 ECB
$4 ECB
$3 ECB
$2 ECB
$1 ECB
25% off CVS coupon (only taking off 44 cents)

I paid $1.78 out of pocket and received $12 ECB to use on my next trip to CVS.

There's still time to head out and get these deals- they run though Saturday! I highly recommend CVS as an amazing place to coupon because rolling rewards week to week allows you to get so many things for free!

Happy couponing! :)

Life Lately!

Happy Monday! 

Just popping in to share some pictures of our life lately. I love these posts because they update everyone as to what we've been up to but they also serve as memories for me to look back on. I'll always have this little corner of the internet and be able to see all the things we've done!

After work one night Tim and I headed to Ruby Tuesdays which is not my favorite restaurant. It had been a really rough day at work so I decided to have a nice dessert. Tim was nice enough to split this with me, well, not really... I ate most of it...it was delicious!

Last Sunday we had Tim's sisters graduation party. Brittany's party ended with a fire in their backyard firepit which was super nice. I can't wait until we have a backyard and have an area outside to hang out in! :)

This boy is my best friend in the entire world and I am so lucky to have him in my life! We always have fun when we are together.

My mom brought me some gorgeous peonies last week.

They brightened up my office and smell amazing! I think these are my favorite flowers of all time and hate that they're only around for a short period of time each year.

This past week we had several family events. On Wednesday night Tim had a softball game and I chatted with his brothers girlfriend Danielle the entire game. On Thursday night I went to a ladies lobster night with Tim's family. On Friday night Tim and I had dinner at Outback and fell asleep before 10...

On Saturday we attended Tim's grandfathers memorial service and then went back to Brittany's house for lunch. Later on Saturday night we went to the beach house Tim's family has been renting and hung around with his extended family and drank some mudslides.

Isn't my Photo Booth creation cool?! I found an app called Insta Booth where you can turn photos into photo booth pictures which I think is super cool. Especially if you take a ton of selfies together they come out very neat :)

On Sunday my brother Dan and I took my dad out to breakfast at a local restaurant Hungry Haven.

Then I went to lunch with my mom's side of the family to celebrate my Papa

Pretty nice selfie right? My mom wanted a picture of all of us and this is the best we managed to get.

Now we're on to another week and I am excited about all the up-coming summer events we have planned! I will keep you updated on all of them- have a great day everybody!

My Morning Pickup Routine

Happy Monday everyone!

Today is a happy monday for me since I am using one of my vacation days :)

Since I had the day off I decided to set up the tripod and take some pictures of my morning pickup routine to share it with you! 

Every morning whether I work or not I try to get three things done before I leave my apartment. Let's get real though...sometimes these things don't happen. Our apartment is not always perfect, it's not always clean but when I get these three things done before I leave for the day I know I'm walking in to a picked up apartment.

1. Make The Bed

The first thing I do is make our bed. Sometimes Tim will help me when we are getting ready in the morning. We basically just pull all the blankets up. I don't like to feel tucked into my bed, I prefer to have the sheets loose so as long as it looks neat I don't get fussy with it!

I also fold my pajamas and place them on the bed. This way I'm ready to get in my comfy clothes when I'm in for the night.

2.  Pickup The Living Room

It doesn't take long for us to make a mess of our living room. The pillows get out of whack, the throw blankets end up where they don't belong, and junk just gets left on every surface.

So much junk.

I have a specific order I like the pillows and how I think they look best so I always put them back in their places.

Folding the blankets is a quick way to make the space look better and organized.

This table tends to collect all of our junk. There is always trash waiting to be thrown away, stuff I haven't put away, water bottles, etc..If you can't tell Tim bought me Beauty and The Beast this weekend! Love that guy :)

Once everything is put away though, it looks so much better!

Doesn't that look way better? Much nicer to walk into that after a long day at work then the mess I started with!

3. Dishes

Even if there are only a couple of things in the sink I try to do the dishes before I leave. If I get them all done and in the drying rack it just makes the kitchen so much cleaner looking. 

So, those are the three parts of my morning pickup routine and the three things that help me keep a clean apartment. It usually takes me less then 10 minutes and is such a quick thing to do which has such a big impact.