New Buys and 2 Recipes

 I know its almost over, but I actually had a very productive Monday and hope everyone's was as fulfilling as mine.

I got a lot of things done for school [which started today]

& got things all set up for my internship [which starts next week]

♥

 So I went apartment shopping today and got a lot of very cute things and promise to post pictures of the apartment as soon as everything comes together, but for now you will just have to wait!!!

I did however, get a few new buys:

 I also got my E.L.F package that I ordered a little bit ago & got some really nice products:

2 nail polishes in Mod Mauve & Chocolate. [Haven't tried yet]

 

Eye Lid Primer [Works very well- $1.00]

 

Facial Wipes [Work very well- $3.00]

Cream Eyeliner in Coffee [Haven't tried yet]

Lipstick in Seductive & Lip Gloss in Blossom [Work well, but don't last super long- both $1.00]

Small brush holder.

♥

I will let everyone know how the rest of the items work once I use them!!

&hearts:

 Recipes:

 

Steak & Blue Cheese Sandwiches & Salad:

1 Ciabatta Break

2 Rib Eye Steaks [7 oz]

Sliced Gorgonzola Cheese

Tsp Olive Oil

Salt & Peper

Lettuce

Blueberries

Crushes Blue Cheese

Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing

[I improvised with what I had in my house] 

[Serves 2]

♥

Sausage & Onion Hash

1lb Sausage

1lb Diced Cooked Potaties

1 bunch Green Onions

1tbs Olive Oil

Salt 7 Pepper

[Serves 4]

♥

Ran my fastest 3 miles ever today. At 3.01 miles in 28:10!! I was so happy that about 9:20 a miles!!

1/2 Marathon is in less than 2 weeks!!

xoxo.

All moved in

Sad to say but I am becoming a pro at moving..

Between school, summer, breaks, and everything in between, I somehow mastered the art of moving in and easily got my bf in, unpacked and decorated accordingly in only a few short days.

The apartment looks great and I am very excited for class and my internship to start!!!
So I believe I mentioned previously that I had partaken in ALOT of back to school shopping!!
Here are some of my purchases:

I also picked up a few different basic tank tops & two pairs of jeans from Hollister.
♥
I have taken a few days off from running. 
I am not happy about this, but I felt I had to.
I did abs the other day, and I am not sure what I did, but my abs have been hurting so badly that it hurts to stand up straight, I must have strained a muscle. So I am putting off running until Monday to heal.
Boo.
♥
Lastly,
Bf & I bought crest white strips & I am eager to see their results.
I thought it would be fun to take pictures to see the difference:

 Ignore my goofy look, I was just about to get into bed and had taken off all my make up and was about to put my hair in a pony for the night!
xoxo.

Quick post

So this is just a quick little post before bf wakes up and we go pack up all of his things and officially move him into our apartment!!!

I am very excited about this and cant not believe it is finally going to be him officially living here. 

[Officially meaning all his stuff will be here, he already stays every night]

I am also toying with the idea of doing a little giveaway for 100 posts which will be coming up shortly.

I am not sure what.

Maybe some E.L.F Makeup?

Would anyone be interested in that!?

Dinner Last Night:

Warm Penne With Basil and Tomatoes

Wheat Thins & Cream Cheese [My obsession]

This was a delicious meal involving.

Penne

Basil

Tomatoes

Olive Oil.

That simple!!

I had a huge back to school clothesmakeup shopping spree yesterday and when I get some free time I will post some pictures of that [I found my camera charger] and also some other product reviews!!!

xoxo.

Product Reviews & 1/2 Marathon Update

In an attempt to save my ridiculously long hair

& keep it in a relatively decent manor before I donate it

[this will be my 2nd time donating my hair to locks of love, however I am growing my hair out quite longer this time in order for it to not be chin length.]
I recently purchased some products to help keep my hair healthy from all the blow drying and straightening that I do to it.
The hair product that I will be reviewing today is:
 
Umberto Beverly Hills Blow Dry Lotion
This is a heat protectant that  you put a nickle size drop into your hair after towel drying it, comb through it and then blow dry it.
 My hair is absurd and is only frizzy near the front kind of where my bangs are so I always have to straighten my bangs after blow drying. 

Here is a picture of my hair before I even straightened it. 
I ended up not even having to straighten my bangs because this lotion did such a good job! 
& it was only $9.99
I love it!!


I also wanted to do quick review of some e.l.f products since I mentioned them being so cheap.
I bought the Lengthening & Voluminous Mascara for $3.00.

 [Sorry for the quality- this is my blackberry- I need to find my camera charger]
I am a mascara junkie. I love it & I like to buy good mascara, but this mascara was pretty decent. Its not clumpy and is makes my lashes quite long. You can tell that its cheaper but def. worth the 3 dollars and a great mascara for if your just gonna me around the place or not going somewhere fancy. 
 Lastly, 
I also bout the E.L.F Eye make up remover pads, for $1.00

These little things work great and took off all of my eye make up easily. The only downside is that they are small so if you are using heaving makeup, you may need one pad for each eye and there is only 18, but hey, its only a dollar.

 This may be hard to see because my laptop is right near my window & this is with my webcam, but I have had my lip pierced since I was 18, and haven't worn it in over 2 years and that was for a week after leaving it out for a year. However, it never closes up so I randomly put it back in yesterday!
1/2 Marathon Update
So today was my 12 mile run & I am happy to say I kicked butt.
If you look at my daily mile counter to the left of my page, it took me 2 hrs & 12 minutes. I wasn't aiming for a time but I would say that is pretty good for me.
I am not going to lie though. My knees and ankles are killing me and will be icing and stretching all day!!!
Bf went with me & he is a decathlete in track and was only able to make it to 9 miles, I could see him struggling the entire time, but he is so awesome for staying with me♥  
xoxo.
[more product reviews to come] 

How To Be Frugal.

As a broke Graduate Student, there is a lot of things I do to try and save money..
I thought maybe I would list some of them for you today to try and help anyone else who needs to save money for ridiculous expensive such as college textbooks.

 1. I took defensive driving.
This takes 10% off my car insurance bill every month and only cost me 30 dollars to take. I also get a reduction for being a good student- Meaning as long as I get above a 3.0 I get money taken off of my bill!
Now I currently pay about $50 a month. 


 2. I do not buy bottled water.
Not only is this a huge waste of money, but it is horrible for the environment. Tap water is typically just as good [depending on where you live]. It was worth it for me to just buy a 5 dollar water bottle and bring that everywhere!

3. I buy less expensive makeup.
I am in loooveee with Sephora and MAC and although I love going to splurge there this is not something I can do all the time. E.L.F Cosmetics can usually be found in target or you can visit their site online. Their cosmetics are pretty high quality and really cheap. I got a concealer and a facial whip for one $1 dollar a piece. They also have tweezers, and brushes for really cheap too.


4. I make Lists.

When I need to grocery shop, I find planning out my meals for the week and making lists really helps me cut down the amount of impulse buys I make.

5. I Unplug appliances.
This may seem like a bother but you would be surpised by how much you will save on your electric bill if you just unplug the tv or dvd player when you are not using it!


6. I walk/ride a bike.
Although my bike was recently stolen, if I can avoid driving my car I do. Walking and riding a bike is healthy and saves me money on gas!


7. I do not pay for the gym.
I am training for a 1/2 marathon, so most of the things I do is run. I spent a little extra money and bought a treadmill a couple years back and looking at the cost of gym memberships I would say it did me good. For example the yearly cost to go to the Y is around 500 dollars- my treadmill cost me around 300 dollars... So yeah I save a lot of money by investing at home.


8. I rent my textbooks.
Although for some courses I do have to keep my textbooks for courses that I don't intend on keeping I rent my textbooks from Chegg.com. It is super cheap and you mail the books back for free at the end of the semester. Also if you look up discount codes you can usually get 10% off!!


9. I bring my own bags.
When I chose not to shop at walmart [which I try to do often because I hate that walmart is taking over everything] I found the some stores will actually take off money if you bring your own bags. Its only a few cents but it can add up in the long run!


10. I look for cheap fun activities
Redbox is only a dollar to rent movies and if you put your e-mail down they give you coupons. 
The beach I live near allows students to go in for free.
I go to maitnee movies which are 2 dollars cheaper than regular hour movies.
I look at bowling alleys for days that they have deals.
I go to the library and borrow books instead of always buying them!

So these are just some of the thinks that I do to save money!!
What do you do?
  xoxo.

Semi Fancy Dinner Date and 1/2 Marathon Update

Deadlines at work caused a slight lack of postings & thank goodness things slowed down!
Because I was getting slightly anxious over the fact that I had not posted in a few days!
So, bf and I went out the other night and had a lovely dinner a semi-fancy restaurant. 
It was so romantic and delicious.
I didn't bring my camera because I didn't think that would be appropriate but I had.
Appetizer: Shrimp wraped in basil and bacon.
 Meal: Twin Pieces of Filot Mignon with a Sherry and Gorgonzola demi-glace.
Dessert: Homemade Strawberry and Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream
It was a little pricey but so perfect!

Hair: 
My hair is simply thrown up into a messy bun with straightened bangs swept to the side & two soft pieces pulled down.

Makeup:
MAC Studio Fix Foundation in N4
Prestige Mineral Bronzing Powder in Pure Shimmer
Prestige Baked Mineral Blush in Pink
E.L.F Waterproof Eyeliner Pen in Black
MAC Eye Kohl Eyeliner in Smolder

Urban Decay Skyscraper Multi Benefit Mascara in Black

Outfit:
One Sleeved Black and Off-White Tank: Forever 21
Ankle Denim Pants: New York & Company
Ankle Wrap Sandals: Target

My friend also just e-mailed me a picture from when we had gone out while she was here and it made me laugh so I thought I'd share it with you:

You can see my bff tattoo on my wrist its a heart.
My 4 best friends and I have them!<3
1/2 Marathon Update:

So, it is getting down real close!!

My 1/2 marathon is on Sunday not on Saturday so i will have to adjust to that but this is pretty close!!! Eeep!!

Rest day today and 6 miles tomorrow!!

I am going to really try to push the 4 mile on Thursday for as fast as I can go & then just go for completion on this Saturdays 12 mile run!!

Oh my goodness!!!

Wish me luck!! Well its time to get back to work!!

xoxo!

Happy Saturday Everybody =]
I will be spending my whole day at the beach with bf!
Eeep♥

xoxo!

Adventures

As I mentioned previously, 
My bff came down for a couple of days & we had a blast!!
We went cliff jumping, to the beach, to get ice cream, out for cocktails & much more.
I don't see too many of my friends since I graduated so i adore my time with them when they get the chance to come down. Most stopped going to school after 4 years and I am pretty much the only one that went on to pursue my masters degree, so they tend to have a lot more money than I do. 

Black High Wasted Skirt: Forever 21

Gray Sweetheart Tube Top: Hollister
Red Snake Skin Wristlet: New York & Company

 

I look super weird in the beach picture because the sun was seriously blinding me, but I love the beach! 
♥
 It was a really good time. 
One negative part of my friend coming down is that her visit but be quite behind in work and running. 
So I have been working very hard for the past 4 hours trying to get as much work done as I possibly can before I head off to baby sit for 5 hours tonight.
I will also be spending all day tomorrow working, and running as well.
I hope to get in a 5 mile run in tomorrow as I have only run 3 miles this week.
I am however, quite excited for Jersey Shore tonight. 
Its absolutley nonsense and trash.
But it makes me laugh!
 

Blog Award and New Buys

Thanks Jamie at Life As I Know It, 

I received the:

If you haven't checked out Jamie blogs do so asap, she has the most adorable happy posts & really just makes you put a smile on your face!! 

Thanks Jamie ♥ 
 So I am going to pass this award on to a few of ladies:
Melissa at My Life- More Than Just A Paragraph- Her blog is so fun to read with great pictures and just really gives you a sense of what a great person she is & why she is a great blog friend!!
& Also to Julianne at Lace & Leather- Her Blogs are fabulous about fashion, makeup, hair and other fun things and she writes with such a sweet and relaxed manor which is just awesome!!

Yesterday I went on a little shopping spree for internship & for myself:
Here are some of my buys:
NY&Co:

Forever21:

Some of the colors vary because I couldn't find pictures of them on the website but will post when I wear them!!
♥
My best friend is coming today & should be arriving within the next two hours so I am eagerly preparing for her to get here!! We are going to spend the next 3 days roaming the city, running and getting in as much beach time as we possibly can!!
Fun pictures will be posted soon=]

Today:

A 3 mile run
& either a trip to the beach or cliff jumping!!
xoxo.