Two Months Worth of Favorites

Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves for a favorites super post! Ok, maybe I was just really lazy and didn't feel the need to post after July due to the straight up awkwardness that were my favorite things of July.

To be totally honest, I don't know where summer went. I feel like yesterday was the Fourth and I was going to the rodeo. Now, it's September already and for the first time in...16 years, I'm not going back to school. It's going to be an interesting year for me...adjusting to life without semesters and classes. But I have faith I'll get used to it.

I started to do this back in early August as my July Favorites but my favorites from July were so weird and random that I decided to save them and combine with August's for one big super post. Probably really lazy but whatever.

Anyway, let's chat about my long overdue favorites, shall we?

-Pixi Glow Tonic. I saw this in MeghanRosette's monthly favorites video a couple of months ago and considering she too has been dealing with skin struggles for most of her time on YouTube (and somehow seems to have skin flare ups a the same time that I do) I decided to give it a shot. It doesn't hurt that I got it for 25% off and free shipping with a coupon code I found on RetailMeNot (that site is genius. Check it out next time you're online shopping). I've used it twice a day, maybe not every day, but with relative regularity and have noticed a definite improvement in my skin. It has a very strong floral smell so if that's something that you're not into, I would look elsewhere. Otherwise, it's a great product that works very well and as long as the bottle finishes the way it has started, I will most likely be purchasing this for a long time to come.

-Origins Clear Improvement Mask. For all 0f 2014, I've been struggling with my skin. Not anything too major, but after taking Accutane twice, it's been really annoying. This mask is a godsend for my skin when I'm breaking out a ton. It dries acne out and shrinks my pores and despite the salesgirl telling me that you're not supposed to use it all over your face, I will continue to do so because my skin LOVES it. A lot.

-Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette. This was one of those things I just couldn't be bothered to purchase for $50 when it initially came out. Despite the fact that it was always in the back on my mind as something I'd be interested in having, I never ever would have actually picked it up had I not seen this blog post from Nouveau Cheap with the $20 off coupon and I'm so glad I did. While I haven't really been wearing a ton of makeup this summer, the times that I have taken the time to go all out with the war paint, I've been reaching for this. It is the perfect collection of neutral colors that I can use in my every day routine. In fact, it is going to be featured in a post coming up where I do a little bit of a makeup discussion/tutorial.

-Trader Joe's Coconut Green Tea. Ok, I totally went out and bought this because I saw it on my Trader Joe's app (yes, TJ's now has an app). The packaging was what got me. Then I saw that it said coconut and that was it. I haven't really been drinking hot tea in the last few weeks bed ause of the heat, but for a while there, I was drinking a mug or two every day. It's that good. Now, it's a loose leaf tea so I have to use the little birdy infuser with it and in fact, let's add that to my list of favorites as a combo. Between the two of them, I get my mug of delicious tea with no hassle and can wake myself up with delicious coconut green tea every morning.

If you do run out and get it, keep in mind that the lid pops off like it's made of rubber. Also, I steep it for between 5 and 10 minutes, rather than the suggested 2-3 on the packaging. If you do it for that short of a time, it tastes like water and you're just wasting tea. 

-Numi White Rose Tea. If Disney Princesses had their own tea, this would be it! I was introduced to this tea by my little sister who brought this home after one of her various trips to my grandpa's house. For some reason he gave her a ton of tea that he'd brought down here with him when he moved last fall. It has a light floral taste and smells like a fresh blooming bouquet of roses. I became obsessed. Like hunted it down and bought THREE boxes on Amazon obsessed. It's amazing. This summer, I've been obsessed with rose things, and this tea is no exception. I made it into a pitcher of iced tea before I left for SoCal in July and was drinking three glasses a day of iced white rose tea. Can you go to rehab for tea addiction? Is that a thing? Either way, I'll keep drinking it in the hopes that one day, I'll wake up and be a Disney Princess. 

-My Ursula Mug. As a lifelong lover of Ariel (I spent a good deal of my toddlerdom pretending to be the little mermaid, sitting on the top step of every pool I encountered, flipping my "tail" around and singing the little mermaid song), anything Little Mermaid related gets me. The funny thing is that I always thought that my grandma looked like Ursula. From the puff of white hair to the long nails and red lips, they were literally twins in my eyes...except my grandma obviously wasn't a half octopus hybrid. And recently, I came across this mug online at the Disney Store site and KNEW I had to have it. I was going to get it while I was down south in July, but a very nice friend of ours gave me a free shipping coupon for the site and I figured paying Sacramento tax rate was going to be cheaper than paying for it down in Anaheim since shipping wasn't an issue. Needless to say, when it came in the mail, I was in love. She now lives at my newly reorganized desk area and I couldn't be happier that I ordered her.

-My custom painted "Disney Parks" Starbucks cup. Is this not the most adorable cup in the entire world? I have a girlfriend who decorates the Starbucks travel cups as a side gig and a few months back, she posted a picture of a Starbucks cold cup with the Disney Parks Starbucks pattern on it. Of course, considering my Disneyland obsession, I HAD to have it and ordered one immediately. And since I picked it up from her a couple of weeks ago, it's been the only thing I've been drinking my water out of, which is good since I'm currently in the middle of a 5 day bikini body challenge with my mom and need to be drinking all the water I can get. 

-Lake Tahoe. About two months ago, one of my girlfriends and I decided we wanted to go to Lake Tahoe for a day trip when we both had the day off...except that turned from a day out to going back the very next week to spend yet another day out in South Lake. I can easily say that Tahoe is definitely my speed. It's laid back and vacation-y without being too boring and the food we've had up there is to die for. I just feel so at peace up there that I want to go back all the time.

-Netflix. For almost two years, I've been using Amazon Prime, rather than Netflix because it was cheaper to have Amazon Prime and I thought I wasn't missing much. WRONG. I got the free trial of Netflix again this month to watch Orange is the New Black as I mentioned above and I haven't been on Amazon Prime once since getting it. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm going to cancel Amazon Prime and go back to Netflix. Amazon Prime used to be able to compete, I'll give it that. But now that Netflix has its own content and has contracted with Disney, Amazon Prime has nowhere to go. Sorry Amazon. I'll miss you. Maybe.

-Orange is the New Black. Not being a Netflix user (I know, I know, but Amazon Prime was cheaper while I was a student.), I hadn't actually had the chance to watch the show at all. However, when I was down in Southern California this month, I watched the pilot with my girlfriend and was hooked. I've blown through both seasons online and can't wait to see what comes next.

-The Red Band Society.  I'm pretty sure I'm the last person I know to have heard about this show. I was watching the Pilot on Hulu the other day and when I told my sister how good it was she told me that the ads on Pandora were getting ridiculous and at the beginning of the episode, one of the cast members informs you that they've raised a ton of money thanks to all the people who sent in donations. Despite being the last person in the world to know this was even happening, I loved the pilot for the show and can't wait for more episodes. The show centers on teenage kids living in a hospital. The reasons for each kids' residence there is different, from kids living with cancer to a bitchy cheerleader with a heart condition. The cast of characters they've brought together is sensational and I found myself instantly hooked into the storyline. OH! PS, if you're a 90's kid like me, you'll see a familiar face show up and be pleasantly surprised. If you miss him, you're 90's kid card is hereby revoked because you definitely should have seen his movies.

-Chef. This movie came out of nowhere for me. I had never heard of it before my mom suggested that we go see it on one of the $6 Tuesday movie nights that our local theaters put on. Going in completely blind, I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I absolutely loved it. As I mentioned in my literary wish list post, I'm a foodie at my core and watching a movie about a wayward chef and father finding his way by opening a traditional Cuban food truck was totally up my alley. 

-The Hundred-Foot Journey. Yet another food movie, I also mentioned this in my literary wish list post. This one was one of those "too big to fail" pictures that could have gone either way. With Oprah and Steven Spielberg producing it, I was sure that it had to be good, but then again, sometimes when it's supposed to be the next Titanic, it is, literally. Nonetheless, I was really excited to see this and I took my mom two weeks ago. Other than some major lower back pain after sitting for the length of the movies, I had absolutely no complaints and was, in fact, in love with the story. I put the book on my literary wish list so that I can read it and see how it stacks up to one of my new favorite movies. 

-Maddie and Tae. I saw a Yahoo! feature about these ladies earlier this month and was immediately impressed with them and their story. Their single, "Girl in a Country Song", became available on iTunes while I was in Southern California two weeks ago. I only just now got around to downloading it but when I did, I listened to it 10 times in a row.  In fact, as a self-proclaimed music pirate who makes it a point of pride that I don't buy music from iTunes, the fact that I paid to own their single speaks for itself. If you for some reason haven't already heard it, stop reading and watch the video really quick. Ok, you watched? Sweet, so you now understand why this is epic. As a country music lover, this song cracks me up. If you listen closely, you can tell exactly which artists they're calling out in. But, if you don't have two country presets in your car like I do, that's fine too. Regardless of your musical alliances, this is a really well done song. It isn't in your face or immature, it just frankly and directly points out what has been happening in country and really all genres of music lately: making women into objects, rather than people. Maddie and Tae do it in a fun and silly way, especially with the video, that makes their message clear but isn't Sarah Palin in it's delivery.

-Hunter Hayes. On the other side of the coin, after talking about how men in the country music world are objectifying the ladies and treating them like bimbos, I'm including Hunter Hayes in my favorites this month (even though he's a favorite literally all the time, I LOVE him) because he's kind of the exception. Number one, he's a fantastic musician. On his debut album, he played all of the instruments in the songs...it came out to something like 32 instruments that he played. And to top it off,  all of his songs are so sweet and heartfelt and the way he writes about women is refreshing. He reminds me of that first boyfriend (most girls, not me, I had a drug dealer asshole) that you have that just loves you to death and is so damn sweet and brings you carnations to the date and pulls out your chair for you and knows what your coffee order is and brings it to you. Tangent alert! But seriously, if you haven't checked him out or have been living under a rock for the last two years, get your butt to his YouTube channel and watch his #FortheLoveofMusic videos. You'll fall in love too. He's just so darn endearing.