Today is a very exciting day, it's the 1,000 Subscriber Giveaway!!!! As you can see from the title and above picture, I am giving one lucky subscriber a brand new Michael Kors Handbag. This bag is the
Michael Kors Large Jet Set Pocket Bag, it literally could carry everything I needed in life, its freaking huge! The pocket on the front has a space to store all your credit cards, store cards, i.d. cards, and the large inside has your key clip, cell pocket, zipper pocket, and 3 additional pockets.
To be entered to win this bag all you have to do is be subscribed to my youtube channel, there are ways to earn extra entries as well so click this link and it will take you to a rafflecopter post here on my blog that will show you the multitude of social media ways for you to earn extra entries.
This giveaway ends on February 14, 2016 so get all your entries in before then.
Thank you all so much for supporting my dream of building my blog and youtube channel, and for always leaving me such lovely comments, you guys are seriously the sweetest people ever.
Here is today's Main Channel Video (where I desperately search for the non existent dustcover lol).
Since last week I did my Morning Skin Routine, I thought this week I would show you my Night Time Skin Routine.
A lot of the items I use in my Am are repeated in my PM, according to the skincare goddess Caroline Hirons, thats ok, there are a few items we should change up, like our serums, and eye creams, but also like she said everything is dependent upon budget, as I didn't have a huge budget to put toward my skincare there are the repeats, but I still feel like it's a good skin care routine.
I start with the Aveeno Positively Radiant Wipes, these are great for starting the process of removing makeup, I would never use one of these wipes in place of washing my face, as your just moving makeup around your face, as well as the oil used in the wipes to remove makeup should be removed as well.
Then I use my Emma Hardie Amazing Face Cleansing Balm, I usually allow this to sit on my face whilst I brush my teeth, but I didn't think any of you would care to see that so I did my teeth before this. The reason I like to let this sit, is my skin is so dry, and I notice a huge difference in my skin when I allow to sit for about 3 minutes. I then wet my hands and massage the oil into my skin, I do not throw a ton of water on my face and everywhere else, simply wetting your hands is enough.
I then use a microfiber washcloth (Bought a set of 12 from Ross for about $10), that is lukewarm to remove the cleansing balm.
I then use the Rodan+Fields Reverse Exfoliating Face Wash, I again apply straight to the face, then using wet hands massage it into the skin, then using the same washcloth that has been rinsed in lukewarm water remove it.
Now I use my Rodan+Fields Reverse Toner on a cotton pad, this is used on my face, neck, and chest area.
Then it's time for eye cream I am using the Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Gel. At night I apply this under the eye, on the lid, going up to the brow bone, and winged out at the temple.
Then I use the Rodan+Fields Dual Active Brightening complex.
And finally I finish with the Rodan+Fields Lip Serum, this stuff is so amazing, I would recommend when using it to actually massage it into your lips rather than glossing over really quickly, you will notice a huge difference in the softness and appearance of your lips if you do.
Hello!!! And welcome back, I had a little break from Vlogging and Blogging, because on January 14th my little sister Laura gave birth to the newest member of our family. Little Nicholas Contreras has stolen all of our hearts, and his older sister Sophia has decided he's a keeper lol. I enjoyed my break from Blogging and Vlogging but at the same time really missed speaking to all of you, so on to My Meals Monday.
Today I started off with Oatmeal, I make this on the stove using plain oats, I added in almond milk, raisins, and dried figs, and then a chopped banana. I also had my usual coffee and water.
For lunch I had an egg salad sandwich, at the start of January I decided to give up meat, I am doing really well with that choice and so far don't really miss it, and have quite enjoyed finding new recipes to try, including this sandwich, its so basic yet I had never actually made one, it was very good lol.
For dinner we had eggplant lasagna, this is from whole foods, rather than noodles they used slices of eggplant it was so good.
That is everything I had to eat today, what did you eat today? What are your thoughts on being Vegetarian?
If you read my New Years Resolutions post you know that I have a goal of trying something new every week, I am trying to do this "something new" on Monday's so that I can add in any mealtimes to the My Meals Mondays posts, just to spice it up a bit.
This week we went to the Kahala Hotel to try their afternoon tea service, but before we get into that lets talk about what I had for breakfast...
I actually wasn't able to have breakfast today, as I was so busy running errands, but I did stop around 1pm so I had a little quinoa salad, chicken salad, and som shrimp with cocktail sauce. It may look like a lot but the plate I used is intended to be a salad plate so it was just a sampling of each item.
We then went to afternoon tea at the Kahala Hotel, it was so fun trying something different, and it was such a beautiful view that it made the whole tea service that much better. I have to say it was amazing to try something different, but I don't think I would do it again as it was $30 per person, and it was far too much sweet food for me, but I did enjoy having some tea, watching the Dolphins, sea turtles, and sting ray swim about.
For an afternoon snack I tried the Yoplait Greek 100 Whips, it was very mousse like so it was almost like having a dessert in the middle of the day.
Then for dinner I had "Breakfast For Dinner" which consisted of bacon, eggs, and toast. I would like to mention I try to film every video one week in advance, as I do upload/blog daily which means I need to be organized, the day after this video was filmed (Jan 5), I decided to go vegetarian. I have mentioned in my daily vlogs a few times that I was conflicted on my choice to eat meat because of my love for all animals, I also find it difficult to find a source of meat that is not only organic, and given a good life (like free range chickens), but also a good death, and because I am not willing to raise and butcher these animals myself I have decided to stop consuming them. Because this is something I am doing for ethical and health reasons, I hope it lasts quite a while if not forever, but I also don't want to add the pressure of me saying "I will be vegetarian for life", so for now I am choosing to skip the meat section of the grocery store.
For dessert I had a cookie from left over Pizza Hut, these are so good, but because I am making good progress on my weight loss goals, I will not be ordering this any time soon.
I hope none of you were offended by my choice to go vegetarian, I feel like this is a very personal decision and would never want anyone to feel that I was pressuring them to think like me or that I was passing judgement, I also hope that if I choose to go back to eating meat again, that I too will receive no judgement.
Today I am announcing the 900 Subscriber Giveaway!!! I cannot believe that in one months time we actually went from 800 Subscribers to 1,000 subscribers, I cannot thank you all enough, your love and support means the world to me.
For this giveaway there will be 9 winners, the first 8 people will win the Philosophy Purity Face Cleanser, and the 9th person will win this Dolce Vita bag.
Again thank you all so much, it means so much to me, and also keep the comments and social media messages coming, I try to reply to everyone, though lately I have been quite busy packing the 25 Days of Christmas items, I am now done so life can resume as normal.
Also quick note, the 1,000 Subscriber giveaway is going to be held on January 28th, and let me tell you, it's probably the greatest giveaway item any youtuber has ever done, (tooting my own horn a little lol).
Today is the first Stat Saturday of the new year!!! I actually was really excited for this one, (if you have followed me for a while you know I am NEVER excited for a weigh in lol), because its my fresh start that I have been needing, I know that's totally mental but hey what ever works right?
So today I weighed in at 182 Pounds, my goal for the month of January is to lose 10 pounds, I know that sounds massive, but I feel like I am so extra motivated right now, I will take advantage of that and work really hard this month so that the rest of the year my monthly goals will be either 3 pounds, 5 pounds, or 7 pounds. If I am able to stick to the schedule I created for myself I will be completely done with weight loss on November 1, 2016!!!
If you read yesterdays blog post you'll know I have not only weight loss goals but fitness goals as well so I will be doing a post on Wednesday showing my current fitness level and will update it monthly so we can see if I've improved.
Do you have any fitness or weight loss goals this year? Let me know in the comments below.
Happy New Year everyone!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am to have a new year in which to create new goals for. I was going to call this post 2016 Resolutions, but I have noticed how a multitude of other bloggers/vloggers have been joking about how nobody ever keeps their resolutions, and I am so apart of that group, so I have decided to create a list of "goals" rather than "Resolutions", they are very much the same thing, but mentally it feels different.
So lets crack on with my list of 2016 Goals:
1. Photo/Video Editing.
This year I would like to really learn all the bells and whistles that Final Cut Pro and PhotoShop have to offer, I use both for editing but I feel like I can not only improve my skills but it will bring so much more value to the content I create.
2. Continue Daily Vlogging.
I started "for real" daily vlogging at the end of August and haven't missed a day yet, what made me want to do it was rewatching old vlogmas videos, seeing my niece Sophia experience her first snow, and watching everyone open their gifts via Skype, it's actually an amazing gift to be able to look back on a moment that at the time may seem so trivial but a few years later to actually re-experience that memory with all the wisdom you have gained over time, is truly priceless.
3.Do Something Different Each Week.
I live in Honolulu Hawaii, most people would say it's the most beautiful place on earth, and I couldn't agree more, but as with most people I can get lost in my day to day life, so I want to make a point to do something different each week. I have already made plans to attend my first English Tea Service, as well as go Kayaking, I would like to be able to push myself as far out of my comfort zone as possible, maybe even Scuba Diving (my brain is screaming at me right now lol).
4. Health and Fitness
I have decided I am tired of being unhappy with myself, I'm tired of always feeling guilty for how I look, and what I eat, so today I am retaking control of my life and happiness, I am going to learn to love myself and change what I do not love. So in 2016 I want to get fit, not in the skinny sense of the word, although lets be honest who doesn't want that, but I want to be able to walk up the 8 floors in my building without feeling like I'm dying, and I want to be able to complete 50 pushes in one go. In order to achieve those goals I need to become more active and eat healthier. I'm actually really excited about working on becoming more active because that means more beach days with the dogs, which they will love, and exploring more of what Hawaii has to offer.
5. Take the dogs to the beach every Wednesday, not only is this something that is good for them, but it's also good for me to run around the beach, take a dip in the ocean and just relax.
So those are my four goals for 2016, they are lofty ones and feel a little daunting, but at the same time , I'm so excited to start my new journey and can't wait to see where 2016 takes me!
I received my Anna Saccone Necklace on Monday and I figured what better way to celebrate than to do an unboxing and review for my lovely readers.
As you can see the necklace came very nicely packaged, and I loved reading the story about her dad. I have been looking for a necklace like Anna's since I first started watching the SacconeJoly's over 3 years ago, sadly after searching every high end department store and jewelry store I could think of I never could find anything comparable, so when she announced she was launching her own line I knew I had to have one.
Now that I have worn this everyday since receiving it, I can say with all honesty I love this necklace and I am so happy I chose to purchase it. The only complaint that I have is the pendant gets hooked on the chain so it doesn't slide easily, (watch the video below for a demonstration of what I mean), I know for many that is a non issue, but for me personally, it's something that I do find slightly annoying, but not enough to not wear it daily.
Though I am completely thrilled with the necklace and will be purchasing another in Rose Gold with the Medium chain, I am disappointed in the company Stilnests handling of the holiday rush. I like so many that ordered the day it came out, encountered some website issues, which actually isn't something that bothered me at all, I figured we would all go crazy and want one the moment they launched, I was just surprised that the company didn't anticipate the increased web traffic, as well as it seemed like it was cutting it a bit close to Christmas, by launching on November 24th, especially knowing they would have a minimum 2 week design process, before each necklace could be shipped out.
The shipping issue was something that set Twitter ablaze, I was actually really surprised how many people were angry with Anna, as she had absolutely no control over that, (it would be similar to me freaking out on Michael Kors because my Nordstrom order was late). Basically Stilest said order by blank date and receive your order before Christmas, well that ended up not working out and there were quite a few people left without their gift.
For myself I wasn't so concerned as I had ordered it for myself, but I was annoyed that I ordered the day they came out and then received an email from Stilest saying they weren't going to ship them out as a first come first serve order (like they had originally said), they decided to ship to the furthest destinations first and then the closer ones last. Which for me put America 2nd to last, and living in Hawaii meant I would probably be one of the last "launch day orders" to arrive.
It did however arrive, which I am so happy about, I just feel that Stilest should have stuck to the original order, as well as I honestly felt their customer service was a little lacking. I actually sent them an email because they sent me something saying "heres your tracking number" but they didn't add in the tracking number, and they still have not emailed me back, while now I no longer need them too, I have to say if I was still waiting I would be a bit more than annoyed.
All in all the necklace is amazing, I am purchasing another, and now that the holiday rush is over I'm hoping there aren't any shipping issues***Fingers Crossed***
One of my goals this year is to improve my overall health and fitness, and so I thought it would be fun to monitor my actual fitness abilities by creating a little fitness test I can do on the first Wednesday of each month, and then I will be able to track whether or not I am improving.
For my fitness test I will be Jumping Rope, doing Push Ups, doing Burpees, and Planking.
After doing this for the first time, I realized how truly out of shape I am, so I can't wait to see what I'm like in February, fingers crossed I improve.
Today I thought I would share with you guys my morning skin routine. When it comes to skincare we should all have a good morning and night routine, but whats also just as important is, how you go through that routine, thanks to Caroline Hirons blog I have realized I was washing my face all wrong and now after about 1-2 years of correctly washing my face I can actually see a difference, it's just all about how you layer everything.
Quick note: I could have sworn her post said eye cream last, and now I see it actually said don't do eye cream last (cue super angry face moment), thank goodness I went to get this link for you guys and ended up rereading this post again lol.
It feels so good to be back in the swing of things, but I'm also a little sad the holiday season is over and we all have to go back to our normal lives for another 12 months.
The My Meals Monday that I filmed was on New Years Eve, we had very exciting plans of going to a party and ringing in the new year properly, unfortunately I live in Hawaii, where fireworks are not only legal, they are almost mandated on New Years, so as you can imagine children and parents alike were so eager to play with their bomb-sounding fireworks that they began at 3 pm and didn't stop until almost 2 am, which for me meant I had a very anxious puppy to contend with. While Charlie can walk past a firework exploding and not blink an eye, Louis on the other hand can sense if someone is just thinking about it, so we ended up canceling our plans and staying in on the couch with Louis wrapped in a blanket on top of me, and the tv up very loud.
So now that you know I had a very boring New Years Eve, lets jump into what I ate on New Years Eve...
I started off with my usual oatmeal, coffee, and water, but lately I have been making my oatmeal on the stove rather than the instant, which means I get to have fun and "pimp out" my oatmeal (has anyone ever said "I pimped out my oatmeal" before lol), anyway I like it, so today I added banana, raisins, and cinnamon, if you do this make sure you add the raisins to the pan when you add the oats, so they plump up a bit.
I had a very late lunch at 3pm which was Subway, I got the Spicy Italian on Honey Oat bread with bell pepper, onions, cucumber, olives, pickles, and banana peppers, it was nothing short of amazing.
Because I had had such a late lunch by the time dinner rolled around I wasn't very hungry so I had my last Hot Chocolate On A Spoon from Starbucks, it was ok, but I prefer the Milk Chocolate better than the dark.
Finally I decided to have a little snack of French Baguette with Spinach and Artichoke dip on it, it was very yummy and was the perfect late evening snack.
All in all I have to say staying home was kinda nice, not only did I have my 3 boys (1 husband, and 2 dogs), but it just felt nice to relax and not feel like I HAD to go to a party to be part of the in crowd, 2015 was kind of a year of learning to except myself, my flaws, and my challenges, and forgetting custom was nice for a change.
What about you, what did you get up to on New Years Eve?
