The Real Deal

Happy 2020, everyone!  I hope you all had a great holiday season!  I seriously cannot believe that the holidays are already over.  Christmas is my favorite holiday and I'm already looking forward to next year's Christmas.  Now that it is a new year, it is time for some new goals.  I like making a post for this every year because it keeps me accountable, and I love looking back on the past year to see if I accomplished what I wanted and made myself that much better.  So, before I get into what I want to accomplish this year, here is a recap of my 2019 goals: BETTER DENTAL HEALTH //  This was probably my top goal for the year since I had surgery at the beginning of the year for not having great dental health.  I now brush my teeth twice a day and incorporate flossing once a day, and have not had any more gum problems since!  I also got a Sonicare electric tooth brush for Christmas so my dental health will continue to get better in 2020! REA...

One thing that I’ve always been obsessed with are Charcuterie boards.  Cheese is one of my favorite foods, and all the different combinations on one plate make for a great appetizer.  I’ve even gone out with my mom and all we’ve eaten is the cheese board and been full and satisfied! I’ve been wanting to make our own charcuterie board since over the summer, and we’ve just never had a good time to do it.  My family is very small, so most of our gatherings are very informal and we didn’t want our board to go to waste.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, and my mom and I thought that this would be the perfect time to finally break out the cheese board.  We did spend quite a large amount on everything for the cheese board, but it was so worth it and it all went over well. CHEESE Brie // This was probably everyone’s favorite out of the entire board.  My mom topped the brie with cranberry sauce (not the jelly, the regular sauce), wrapped it ...

I always love the start of a new month. Although I know you don’t have to wait for a new month or year to start acting on goals, it gives me a good timeline to make sure all of my ducks are in a row so that I can hit the ground running on the first of the month. So without further ado, here are a few things that I have been wanting to accomplish as we get into November.                       TRY A CYCLING CLASS // I’ve always wanted to try cycling, but there’s no Soul Cycle in St. Louis and we have a CycleBar, but neither of them are close to where I live. However, I recently discovered a new studio that is literally 10 minutes from my house, and is not incredibly expensive for memberships or bulk classes. I’ve always thought about trying it out, but never made the jump to do so. So, for November, I want to take my first cycling class. I like work out classes so much better than working out at home or at the gym because...

Hello everyone and happy summer!  I'm still furiously job searching, but since I currently am unemployed, I am trying to take time for myself and do things that are good for me and my body since that will be pretty hard for me today whenever a job or internship opportunity pops up.  I watch Danielle Carolan on YouTube (seriously check her out, love her) and in one of her videos she's talked about doing a "self care summer".  She's doing things for herself and doing what makes her feel good.  So I thought I would come up with a little self care summer routine for myself!  All of these things take very little time, so I'm trying to incorporate them during my busy day of running errands for my parents, job searching, going on interviews, and seeing some friends from high school.  So although each day is a little different, here are somethings that I am incorporating throughout my summer! ONE // Drink Lemon Water A lot of people that I watch on YouTub...

I am very aware that we are very into 2019 already, but I thought it would be fun to do one last little recap of 2018.  I wanted to talk about not only products that were my favorite throughout the year like most people do, but also my experiences and lifestyle changes that I made throughout the year.  So, without further ado, here are my favorite parts of 2018! ONE // FAMILY TIME As a college student, I spend a lot of time out of town in my college town, so family time is hard to come by.  However, in 2018 I feel like I made so much more effort to be with my family and I loved every second of it.  We travelled together all summer, celebrated some big milestones, like my brother graduating from high school and me turning 21.  We had lots of adventures over the summer, not to mention all of the times they came to visit me at school and I came home to see them.  This winter break, though, has seemed extra special to me.  Christmas is my favorite t...

It has officially been a week in 2019!  My 2019 has started off a little rough because I had mouth surgery this past Thursday.  Nothing crazy, it was just a gum graft.  It literally took like 10-15 minutes and I was numbed but eating definitely is a challenge now, especially since the graft was done at the front of my mouth.  I even tried eating really soft mac and cheese the other day and I was so sore from just that little bit of chewing. But anyways, today I will be talking about how I did with my goals for 2018, and what my new goals are for 2019!  So, here is how I did in 2018: FITNESS //  In 2018, I wanted to go to the gym at least once a week that wasn't for dance practice.  I honestly was doing really well with this for the first two months...and then I joined my team's competition team.  Which means I added two more practices a week for a total of five practices a week.  Although I did have two days off, I decided that that was e...