Happy Friday, friends! In honor of the first Friday since my official blog launch, I wanted to post something a little different for you guys. Today I’m sharing a few of my favorite things! Many of these are products that I use every single day, and all of them are things that I absolutely love and highly recommend. Keep reading to get a glimpse of some of my favorite things!
1. Lush Sleepy Lotion – I put this lotion on every night before bed and it is seriously amazing. The lavender scent is delightful and calming enough to make me excited to go to sleep, and it does a great job of moisturizing my hands. I find that my hands sometimes feel dry when I get out of the shower, and slathering this lotion on after a shower is the perfect solution.
2. Old Navy High Rise Leggings – I am extremely picky about leggings, but these ones fit the bill perfectly. They’re high rise, thick (read: not see-through), have the perfect amount of stretch, and are cute enough to wear with a regular outfit but functional enough to work out in. These are my favorite leggings I’ve ever found, and they’re only $32.99 – but I only buy them when they’re on sale, when they’re usually closer to $15 or $20. They come in cropped, 7/8 length, and full length as well as in petite and plus sizes. Pro tip: if you’re super short like me (I’m just under 5’1″), the 7/8 length regular leggings are the perfect length to wear as full length leggings!
3. Vaseline Lip Therapy Rosy Lips – I have had chronically chapped lips for as long as I can remember. I’ve tried everything – Chapstick, Blistex, Burt’s Bees, and a million other products. Nothing worked until I discovered the magic that is Vaseline Lip Therapy. It feels a little icky at first since you have to apply it by dipping your finger in the pot, but once you get over the initial ick factor I promise you won’t regret it. I put a coat of this on every night before bed and wake up with soft, smooth lips. I also put on a coat of regular vaseline during my makeup routine each morning to keep the softness going all day.
4. Joseph Joseph 5-in-1 Utensil – This is my absolute favorite kitchen tool and I use it almost daily. I got one for my dad as a stocking stuffer years ago and we both became obsessed with it pretty quickly. It works as a spatula, spoon, slicer, turner, and slotted spoon all in one, and I use it CONSTANTLY. If I could only have one kitchen tool for the rest of my life, it would definitely be this one! Everyone needs one of these in their kitchen.
5. IKEA Hemnes Shoe Cabinet – Real talk: this is the greatest piece of furniture I’ve ever owned. I’m not kidding. If you’re like me and you hate clutter, you NEED this shoe cabinet! At our old apartment, the neverending pile of shoes by the door used to drive me insane, but realistically, we wanted to keep at least a couple pairs there for the sake of convenience. The IKEA shoe cabinet is perfect because it corrals our shoes in the cabinets, and we can keep other essentials like dog treats and poop bags tucked away in cute containers on top. Styled with a mirror & some greenery, it’s aesthetically pleasing, too!
6. Street Level Reversible Faux Leather Tote – This bag is EVERYTHING. Let me just say that I am super hard on my bags. I basically fill them with junk 24/7 and they take a lot of wear and tear from me constantly shoving my laptop in them as I’m running to work. I’m also not a huge bag person – I literally have one tote, one weekender, and 3 small crossbodies. That’s it. So when I get a new bag, it needs to be able to hold up really well. I’ve had this bag for a year and it still looks like new! It’s also the perfect size, and I love that it can be dressed up for work or down for the weekend. I have it in Cognac! Although it’s reversible, I keep it on the lighter beige side all the time because I don’t love the look of the seams on the side when it’s on the cognac side.
7. DW Home Candles – Have you ever picked up an amazing candle from TJ Maxx or Homegoods and wished you could find it somewhere that you could guarantee it’d be in stock all the time? Chances are, it was probably a DW Home Candle. I recently discovered that you can also buy these online and it’s a total gamechanger. Unfortunately they’re not as inexpensive online as they are at TJ Maxx and Homegoods, but it’s good to know that if I’m ever dying to try a scent again and can’t find it in those stores, I can easily find it online. I recently got the Magic Unicorn scent and I’m obsessed with it!
8. IKEA Korken Jars – I use these jars to store all the dry goods and baking supplies in my pantry and they work perfectly. They come in 3 different sizes, each with a removable rubber ring that can be used to tightly seal them. I use the smallest size for things like baking soda, baking powder, & chocolate chips, the medium size for things like quinoa and chia seeds, and the larger size for things like flour, rice, and sugar. My cabinets look so much more organized, it’s so much easier to find things, and I can easily tell when I’m running low on an ingredient thanks to these clear jars. I even picked up a little booklet of labels from Michaels so they’re all neatly labeled. TIP: tape the cooking instructions to the back of the jar for things like rice, pancake mix, etc., so you can easily find them!
9. Swell Water Bottle – Ok, so I am not a person who would ever spend over $30 on a freaking water bottle. But after hearing rave reviews about the Swell bottle (and spilling water from my dysfunctional water bottle all over myself for the five millionth time), I decided to ask for one for Christmas to see what the fuss was all about. And guys, this seriously lives up to the hype! The opening is small enough that you won’t spill the contents all over yourself, and its ability to keep your drink at the proper temperature is amazing. This easily keeps my water cold for 12+ hours, and once I even left it in my car overnight in the dead of winter and it didn’t even freeze! I have the 17 oz. size and it fits perfectly in my work bag.
10. Cravings by Chrissy Teigen Cookbook – I have a collection of probably about 15 cookbooks that I use fairly regularly, but I use this one more than any of the others. Chrissy may not be a professional chef, but DAMN does she know how to cook a meal! All of the recipes that I’ve tried have been delicious and pretty easy to make. I first got this cookbook when I was living with my parents right after college graduation, and when I moved out my dad texted me asking for recipes from it so many times that I ended up buying him his own copy. It’s that good, people!
11. Daisy Eau So Fresh by Marc Jacobs – I am a creature of habit. For a solid 10 years, I wore the same scent from Bath & Body Works every single day. I was consistent about it to the point that if I got up and got ready while my college roommate was still in bed, she could tell that it was me and not our other roommate simply by the scent of my perfume. Anyways, when Bath & Body Works discontinued the perfume last year I was very distraught at the thought of finding a new scent. After sampling probably every single perfume that Ulta has to offer, I landed on this one. It’s light, fruity, and floral, which is perfect for me since I’m not about the musk. A few sprays of this every morning starts my day off on the right note!
12. GLDNxLayeredandLong Custom Coordinates Necklace – Darian got this for me a few years ago for Christmas and it’s one of my favorite gifts I’ve ever received. Mine has the coordinates of Beaver Stadium in State College, PA (our favorite place), but you can customize the coordinates to be whatever you’d like. I love that it’s so dainty, and it goes with pretty much anything. Overall, it’s really a quality piece that has stood the test of time.
