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!