This winter, my skin has been especially dry. My problem areas are my elbows, lower legs, feet, and hands. I'm assuming most of you ladies have the driest skin around these parts too because they are exposed to the cold the most. So let's talk about my winter skin saviors this year. I've never really stuck to a good moisturizing routine, but now that I'm starting to this year, I've noticed that my skin is so much more comfortable and supple. I will apply most of the products below right after I get out of the shower, and of course continue to re-apply my hand cream and lip balm over the course of the day. My skin has never been happier.

Soap & Glory Smoothie Star Deep Moisture Body Milk

Earth Therapeutics Foot Repair Therapeutic Balm

The Body Shop Shea Hand Cream

Burt's Bees Mint Cocoa Moisturizing Lip Balm

Blogmas 2017 : Day 11 : Weekly Meal Prep #2

Hope you guys had a great weekend!

Quick post here, doing round 2 of my weekly meal prep post. It's pretty much the same as last week. That's because I have a lot of leftovers from grocery shopping last week, and because I really liked the souvlaki chicken I made last week for lunch! I have some extra potatoes, bell peppers, and a whole bag of green beans so I thought it would be nice to make this dish again. I'm going to Trader Joe's tonight so I'll pick up some tzatziki sauce to try with the chicken. 

I also opened by Half-Baked Harvest cookbook again, and decided to make some fettucine alfredo this week. I found a lightened-up version of this comfort food staple in the cookbook, so I'll be trying that out and letting you guys know how it goes. I haven't cooked with white pasta in a while, but I'm sure it's going to be delicious no matter what. 

BREAKFAST

Scrambled Eggs with Light Butter

Lightly Buttered Whole Wheat Toast

LUNCH

Greek Chicken Souvlaki & Roasted Potatoes & Green Beans

DINNER

No-Guilt Broccoli Fettucine Alfredo (from my HBH Cookbook!)

SNACKS

Grapes

Baby carrots with ranch dipping sauce

Mild cheddar cheese stick with crackers

Horizon chocolate milk box

Goldfish crackers snack bag

Kettle cooked chips snack bag

Blogmas 2017: Day 8 : Winter Beauty Haul

Hey all. I have an Ulta and Sephora haul to share with you beautiful ladies today.
All these items were purchased before Black Friday. That doesn't mean I didn't do any shopping on Black Friday. Oh no no. I spent wayyyy too much money online shopping as I do every year. Mostly for myself, no shame there. But no, all these goodies below were purchased about a month ago, I've just been too lazy to write this blog post until now.

Let's start with the stuff from Ulta:

Morphe M433 and M504 Brushes
My first ever Morphe brushes! I'm so happy that Ulta finally started carrying the Morphe brand. I've been lusting over their makeup brushes for over a year now, but could never bring myself to pay the hefty shipping price Morphe charges. I haven't used these suckers yet, but I have high hopes. Fingers crossed!

Morphe 35F Fall Into Frost Eyeshadow Palette
Let's just talk about the main feature in this haul here, my very first Morphe palette ahhhhhh. The feeling is surreal. I really hope this palette lives up to my expectations because I've been so excited to start using this. The fall into frost palette was my favorite out of all the current palettes. I think it offers the best shade variety in terms of colors and mattes vs. shimmers. Even the box it comes in is so lustworthy. I so desperately wish this palette came with a mirror on the inside, but I cannot complain since this baby was only $23 for 35 shadows, most of which are very useable shades. I can totally seeing this being my go-to palette this winter.

Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey
This was a freebie gift because I spent more than like $50 on Clinique items. I'm a huge Clinique skincare fan, although I haven't tried a lot of their makeup products besides the foundation and powder. The lipstick is a pretty generous size and a universally flattering berry-brown shade. Not bad for a freebie!

Clinique Stay-Matte Sheer Pressed Powder in "Stay Golden"
I finally used up my old Clinique pressed powder so it was time for a refill. I love using Clinique foundation and powders because they have use good ingredients, are oil-free, have a large variety of shades to pick from, and are relatively affordable. This is holy grail status and a product I'll continue to repurchase over the years because it's just so darn good. It locks in my makeup, removes shine, and adds just a touch of extra coverage to my foundation/concealer regimen.

L'Oreal True Match Super-Blendable Crayon Concealer in "Light/Medium Warm"
My holy grail concealer from Milani was discontinued, so I needed a new concealer. I'm a fan of stick concealers and this one had good reviews. Although the crayon itself has a great formulation and applies very creamy with good coverage, the color is toooooo light for me. I'll be picking up a different shade in this range for sure though because the formula seems promising and similar the Milani Secret Cover Concealer that I've loved over the years.

Moving on to stuff from Sephora:

Fresh Nourishing Naturals Lip Duo
Despite their hefty price tag, the Fresh Sugar lip balms are one of my favorites. Some lip balms end up drying out your lips even more, but this one is extra creamy and rich. I've been meaning to try out their Sugar Cream Lip Treatments, so this set was a perfect opportunity to get one of my favorite lip balms and try out a new lip product.

Tarte Tarteist Pro To Go Amazonian Clay Palette
I got this palette specifically to travel with. I know that ever since losing my Naked palette while on vacation, I've been dead against traveling with high-end makeup products. But I just cannot bring myself to fall in love with drugstore eyeshadow palettes. Therefore, I decided that this $23 mini palette from Tarte is going to be my new travel buddy. I love this for so many reasons. It's tiny, sturdy, it's affordable, it has a mirror inside, and the shadows are right up my alley.

Sephora Collection Baby Z-Palette
Why the heck are Z-palettes are Sephora so cheap?! I got this "baby" size Z-palette to move my blush pans into, so that I could use my second, large-size Z-palette for more eyeshadow pans. But guys, this Z-palette can definitely hold more than 2-3 blush pans and probably even up to 8 eyeshadow pans. I'm very impressed.

Sephora Collection Colorful Eyeshadow in "Good Fortune Cookie"
I'll be honest, the only reason I got this is to boost my order up to free shipping status. I had low hopes for this, but it's actually quite a beautiful shade upon swatching. It has some glitter flecks in it, but isn't dripping with chunks of glitter. It may be too light for my skin tone since it's a light champagne gold, but I can see myself playing this shade especially over the holidays.

Blogmas 2017 : Day 4 : Weekly Meal Prep

Happy Monday! Today I'm post-call so going to be lazy allllll day. Just kidding. My uncle is coming into town, so I plan on sleeping for a few hours then heading into town to get dinner with him.

I wanted to do something different for my post today. I've become a big fan of meal prepping. I feel like whenever I make impromptu decisions about what I want to eat, I always make unhealthy choices. A few months ago, I was pretty consistently meal planning either on a scratch pad or the MyFitnessPal food diary, and I was soooo good about making healthy food choices. I also felt satiety and more energized because I was eating meals at proper intervals and not eating a ton of salt or fat throughout the day.

I wanted to get back into that routine. So for this month, I'm going to try my best to make weekly meal prep posts every Monday. This is also a good way to get your grocery list ready, and to make sure you're getting enough nutrients from all major food groups. I'll let you know how I do at the end of each week!

BREAKFAST

Scrambled Eggs with Light Butter

Whole Wheat Toast with Goat Cheese & Balsamic Vinegar

LUNCH

Greek Chicken Souvlaki & Roasted Potatoes

DINNER

Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

SNACKS
Grapes

Baby Carrots with Ranch Dipping Sauce

Mild Cheddar Cheese Stick with Crackers

Horizon Chocolate Milk Box

Goldfish Crackers Snack Bag

Kettle Cooked Chip Snack Bag

Blogmas 2017: Day 1: Thanksgiving Recollections

Hello and welcome to Blogmas! I know last year I did a terrible job at keeping up with blogging through the holidays, but I'm going to challenge myself to do better this year. We can only improve with each year, right?

To start things off, I wanted to ramble on a bit about Thanksgiving weekend. I realized I never blogged last week after the occasion. Even though I was in New York over the holiday, I still had a great weekend with friends turned family. One of my college roommates was visiting so I got drinks and dinner with her and her boyfriend in the city on Wednesday. On Thursday, I drove up to Westchester to have Thanksgiving dinner with one of my best friends' family. He also invited another one of our medical school friends and his girlfriend, so it great catching up with them. His family was very warm, friendly, and inviting. Not to mention the food was delicious. I've never had such moist turkey or mouth-watering stuffing. I even got to network with my friend's aunt, who's a pediatrician up in Westchester. It was so nice to be surrounded by friends this Thanksgiving, and I'm grateful for all the memories I got to make this year.

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I hosted my very first dinner party/Friendsgiving EVER! It was a lot of work, but oh my gosh you guys it was so worth it. I've quickly come to realize that I love hosting. My apartment was decorated for fall, and all my friends loved how cozy my apartment felt. I got "fancy" plastic cutlery, plastic wine glasses, and holiday-themed disposable plates and napkins from Dollar Tree that were super affordable, yet polished. My friends each brought a dish or two. I supplied a mashed potato casserole (holy crap it turned out SO good you guys), dinner rolls, brie with baguette, and some sparkling cider. We popped open three bottles of wine and spent the night playing Cards Against Humanity and Quiplash. Lots of lifelong memories were made and laughs were shared.

Even though I wasn't with my immediate family over the holiday, I spent it with some amazing friends and could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving this year. I genuinely cannot wait until this time next year, and can only pray and hope that it will be as warm as this one. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, and be tuned in tomorrow for some beauty bits and bobs!

Random Rambles: Cozy Fall Night

Just got back home from spending a weekend in Pittsburgh with the family. Oh, the long 800-mile round trip spent listening to Taylor Swift and my old favorite alternative hits from the 2000s. It was a good weekend, although it ended on a sour note with my parents have a flaming argument and horrible driving conditions that forced me to call out from clinic this morning. But nonetheless it was so nice to be surrounded by family and love. I really needed it after how terrible and overworked I was feeling after these last 1.5 months of NICU and ED. I'm back rejuvantaed and ready to just finish the last 2 weeks of ED and start my string of electives coming up. But for now I'm just so happy to be sitting in front of my iMac with my fuzzy slippers on and drinking a cup of toasted almond coffee listening to indie songs on Spotify. Pretty basic, right?

The whole trip just made me reflect on life. I spent my entire life in Pittsburgh, being so antsy to move out and experience something different. I'm finally living on my own, 400 miles away from home, with no family around, just minutes from New York City like I've always dreamt of. But now that I'm living my dream, I can't wait to return home. It's true, absence does make the heart grow fonder. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't have picked a better place to move to. I love living in New York. I feel like I have the world at my fingertips, and not a weekend goes by that I'm bored. It's pretty much impossible to tire of living here. I can do anything I want to here, and this place is a haven for foodies like me. But I miss my family so much. I was joking the other day that if my family moved here to Long Island, my life would be perfect.

Although I still have 1.5 years of residency left, I'm already starting to think about where I want to land up after it ends. As much as I love living in New York, this place is never going to be home for me. Pittsburgh will always be home and my first love. Maybe it's because my family is there but every time I drive back home, I feel so warm, safe, and happy. It's the kind of feeling I've never been able to find here in New York. Let's just say it's going to be a very hard decision about where I want to end up after residency. Although my family and home is in the Burgh, most of my good friends are back here in New York. Good thing I have 1.5 years of residency left to distract me from making that decision! 

Favorites | Fall Edition 2017

Hellooo, it's October. Not quite the ideal fall weather yet here in New York, but the mornings and nights are getting chilly with crisper air, so that means fall is officially starting. It's no secret that I love fall. As my mom says "it's my season". It's such a cozy time of year. Bundling up, spending time with loved ones, sipping hot tea, and the warmth of fall colors all around you. I'm really sad that my fall is going to be super busy with heavy rotations, but I'm trying to have some fall fun in the bits of time I have off. But as a tradeoff, I'll have a lot of free time during the Christmas/winter season, which I'm very happy about. I also have real Thanksgiving plans this year unlike last year. I'm going to one of my best friends' house for Thanksgiving dinner and then planning on hosting Friendsgiving at my place on the Saturday after.

Moving on to fall favorites, you'll notice that a lot of these are more lifestyle favorites. I've gone through a bit of makeup breakup in the past few months. I just haven't felt like wearing makeup and have been going bare faced to work most days. Working on changing that, but for now these are the things I've been calling my true loves this end of summer/fall season.

NARS Blush in 'Sin' - plummy-golden blush that's perfect for autumn looks

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blush in 'Flushed'  -- a brightening, beautiful coral-pink blush perfect for days you need a little pick me up.

ColourPop Pressed Powder Shadows in 'You Know The Drill', 'Wake Up Call', 'Bel Air' -- creamy, beautiful, blendable, richly pigmented, and only $5 a pop. Enough said. My two favorite mattes are "Wake Up Call" and "Bel Air" which work great as transition shades or even by themselves for a soft everyday look. "You Know the Drill" is a beautiful champagne-rose gold that is the perfect shimmery shade for everyday looks. I never get complimented on my makeup, but whenever I wear this shade I get multiple compliments a day, no joke. 

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in 'Radiant Light' -- you guys know I'm not a highlighter fan but this highlight just lifts up the cheeks for a very subtle, office-appropriate glow

OGX Thick and Full Biotin & Collagen Shampoo and Conditioner -- I've only used these once but I'm already obsessed. Even after one use, my hair feels so much stronger and fuller. I can't wait to see how this fixes my hair with continued use.

OGX Nourishing Coconut Oil Weightless Hydrating Oil Mist -- coconut oil has a bad reputation of weighing down hair. This product, however, adds a ton of shine to hair, but is uber light and smells amaaaazing. Another fave OGX product.

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte & Maple Pecan Latte -- what's a fall favorites post without some sort of Starbucks drink? This year, both the classic PSL and the new maple pecan latte have been my favorites. The maple pecan latte sounds like it would give you a toothache, but it's a very warm blend of spices and nutty flavors with just a hint of sweetness. Really a must try this fall season! 

Spotify Autumn Acoustic Playlist -- Guys, I have to say that subbing to Spotify Premium is one of the best investments I make each month. This month I have been obsessed with the "Autumn Acoustic" playlist. I listen to it constantly when I'm at my desk just internet surfing or catching up on work. It's a super relaxing playlist full of acoustic indie tracks, and feels absolutely heart-warming on cold fall mornings and nights.

Bath & Body Works 3-Wick Candle in 'Pumpkin Pecan Waffles' -- Each year I have a favorite BBW candle and this year, Pumpkin Pecan Waffles take the prize. Smells like a bakery inside your house and has a very strong throw!

Half Baked Harvest Cookbook by Tieghan Gerard -- Last but certainly not least is this cookbook...aka my new obsession. I'm trying to get into cooking and healthy eating, but I can't stand a lot of "diet" blogs because they make such bland, disgusting food. Enter HBH. She has so many recipes that are easy to make, easy to add vegetables to/customize, healthy but still delicious, and best of all they're very comfort-type of foods, which are my favorite. The way she presents the recipes is perfection. I kid you not, every recipe I try off her book or blog turns out delicious. If you're like me and want to start eating healthier, but still want flavorful, easy to make food, go check out her blog and buy her book. Best $20 ever spent.