Busy week – recap! ✨

Hello hello hello!

First of all, Happy Friday!!! We made it through the week!

It’s been a long time since I have been able to sit down and blog. Honestly, I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve even been able to sit down and BREATHE! It’s been such a busy week, I had a two-day training at work Tuesday and Wednesday and yesterday I had a presentation I had to do which was sooooo stressful for me. So I’ve been at work past 5 everyday and it’s been so tiring. I finally get to work from home today and next week will be much more calm where I can go back to my regular hours.

To be honest, I feel so drained that I don’t even know what to do with my life right now. The only thing I’ve been consistently doing is working out and eating right which is a huge plus and is most likely the reason I was able to get through this week!

I want to talk about how working out has affected my mood! I feel much more energized and my sleep is a lot better. I have been taking melatonin at night this week to make sure I am able to fall asleep because I had to get up so early for work, but working out has also tired me out which is a good thing! Working out has also let me clear my mind of my stresses. It felt so good to exercise  after my training days this week because I was stuck in a room all day from 8-5pm and it was mentally draining. As soon as I got to the gym, it’s like everything was out of my head and I felt more relaxed and clear-minded. The weather is still crap here, but I still have the motivation to walk out to my garage and workout even if it’s super cold during the walk! So I have to say exercising and being consistent with it is one of the best choices I’ve made this month!

Let’s get into the topic of public speaking. I absolutely HATE it!! It makes me so stressed out and I’m literally a mess until it’s over with. I’ve hated it ever since college and it’s never gotten easier for me. In yesterday’s presentation, I didn’t even have to stand up, but I was shaking so bad and probably stuttering. I just hate being the center of attention and I hope I don’t have to do another presentation for a really, really long time. Does anyone have any good tips on getting past this? It seems like whatever I do, I’m still as nervous as always.

I’m getting back into blogging after this busy week, so today I’m sitting down and writing a list of the future topics I’ll be talking about. I would love to hear what everyone’s favorite thing I blog about is! I know I’m all over the place, it’s hard for me to choose just one group of topics. I love talking about everything! Let me know in the comments 🙂

This weekend I am taking a lot of time to RELAX after this long, stressful week! I think I’ll do a bath bomb and a face mask with my husband. That always helps me relax and clear my mind. Tonight, my bff’s and I are having a girls night which is going to be lots of fun! We haven’t had one in a while, well I guess our Galentine’s counts, but we went out for pizza. It’ll be fun and a much needed girl time! Saturday, my husband and I will probably go to this game night at his friends house and Sunday will be stay at home and do nothing day (as usual) because Sundayz are for chilling and doing absolutely NOTHING 🙂

There’s my very long update and I need a vacay :b talk to you soon!

My 2019 Vision Board!

Hi all!

I finally got around to finishing my vision board and it’s not the very best, but it’s perfect for me! This time I just put a bunch of pictures/quotes that will motivate me for this year. Last year, I had a lot of pictures of my husband/family and random things, but this way is better. 

Here’s my vision board – I won’t go through each one, but I’ll explain some of them.

Let’s start from the top. A lot of those are about calmness and mindfulness which is something I’d love work on a lot this year. The picture of the woman is about me wanting nicer skin and getting better with my makeup skills. And of course I added something about my husband because he is #1 🙂 As you can see there are a couple things on here about him! 

In the second row, I have a picture of the Kindle which explains me wanting to read more this year. I can happily say that I have read SO much since I have gotten it! Family of course is important so I had to add something about that in here! We are planning to go to NYC this summer, so I added a picture of Central Park in there. And the last one I will mention in this row is the quote, “No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing.” I often get discouraged when I attempt to make some food that I’ve never made before or sometimes even food I’ve made multiple times and it doesn’t turn out the way I thought it would. This is a great quote because it’s true, I will get better with time! 

The third row is just all quotes, so I’ll pick 2-3 that stand out right now. I really want to get rid of any clutter and just make our living space very simple. The picture with Pooh says, “sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” This is referring to my niece and nephew 🙂 And the last one I will mention in this row is the very first quote, life really is precious.

In the fourth row, I have the state of California map because it is one of the best states in my opinion and this map shows a lot of cool places to visit in CA! The woman in the bikini is my fitness goal and it’s very realistic for my body type since I don’t want abs or anything muscular. I feel like I could achieve this in 2019. I used to find really fit people with abs and make them my motivation, but it was too unrealistic and would take YEARS to happen. The picture of the palm trees and beach is a very special place in my heart 🙂 ❤ And the last one is about working out, eating well, and being patient. I’m not patient enough and this is a good reminder to be!

And for the last two sections, I’ll just talk about 4-5 of them. I added a couple things about traveling because that’s what I’m most looking forward this year and there is a picture in Disney Land because we are planning to go there! The pictures are because I want to take lots and lots of pictures going forward, that is the best way to remember good memories. I NEED to drink more water daily, it’s a huge struggle for me, but I am going to make it a habit. The picture of the hair is because I want long, healthy hair. And the last one I will mention is the plant, I want more plants in my house because plants give off good energy and fresh air.

There you have it, my 2019 vision board! I tried to be as realistic as possible and I think I can for sure accomplish most, if not all of these goals on my board.

Did you make a vision board for 2019? What are your top three things on there? 🙂

Hello February! 💘

Hi everyone!

A little late on the February post, but it’s a new month! In the past, my husband and I never really took Valentine’s Day seriously because we were in high school and college. Now that we’re married, we’re going to celebrate it as best as we can! But aside from Valentine’s Day, new month = new goals. Of course I have my other goals in general, but I like to do specific goals for the month. For example, I want to create a consistent routine for the gym. Our gym is finally completed so I can start working out whenever. Sounds easy, right? Nope! It’s very hard to get yourself in that routine of working out when you haven’t worked out in probably over 6 months. So I need to make a plan, a schedule to keep me motivated and going to the gym.

At this point, I am just trying to be healthy. I’m not getting any younger and neither is my body so I need to take care of it. I wish I had this mentality when I was in college, but who did?! One step at a time, though. It isn’t hard and I can do this! On the plus side, I bought something that I think it’s going to motivate me for the gym – some really good pre-workout that apparently tastes like Mountain Dew and it’s going to be delivered today! Maybe I’ll do a review of it?! Okay, enough of that!

Mirhad and I made a very serious decision last week that we won’t be telling anyone about until it’s time to do it, but it will be in 2020. Big changes coming!!!! We have decided to do this for ourselves because this is what we’ve wanted to do for so long and we are super excited for it! And no, it’s not that we have not decided to have kids! I cannot wait until I can officially make a post about it, it will change everything ☺️

In the meantime, we have lots of work to do until 2020. I am hoping to really take my blog to the next level this year, but I’m not sure where to start. Does anyone have any helpful tips? I would greatly appreciate them!

And one of the last goals I will mention is that I want to spend less time on my phone. I feel like in the last 6 months I’ve noticed (and so has my husband) that I have a slight addiction to my phone. The problem is that I really do spend way too much time browsing social media. It’s okay if it has something to do with my blog, but most of the time it doesn’t. So that’s one of my other goals, to spend less time on my phone and more time talking to my husband, family, and friends.

Do you have any goals for this month? Let me know! 🙂

Creating a whole new routine for 2019! ⭐️

In 2018, I had a great routine set up and it was working well for me. By the end of 2018, I had NO routine. Maybe it was just because it was the end of the year and things were happening all over the place and maybe it was that I was just over my routine. Not following a routine caused everything else to go out of whack. For example, I lost track of when my bills were due at times and I stopped writing to-do lists during the week. This year, I want to create routines that stay throughout the whole year so things like that never happens and I can be as productive as possible. 

Starting with my morning routine. There was a time last year where I was able to wake up at 5am and get my day started before heading out for work. That lasted a good month and it went into the holidays which is where I think it all went downhill. I quit following my routine and I slept in longer than I should’ve. One of my goals this year is to wake up earlier and accomplish a lot of things before I go to work for 8 hours a day. I think the best way for me to follow this is by waking up at 5am and getting in at least 30 minutes of exercise. Our home gym is almost done so that means I literally will walk out my back door, into the garage, and will be able to work out in the comfort of my own house. No having to drive back and forth anywhere – easy. The hardest part will be getting my body to adjust to waking up so early. That means going to bed earlier which won’t be a problem for me since we get into bed by 9pm every night and even 8:30pm at times. So that’s the first step, which is why this week I’m going to train my body to wake up at 5am and just do things before work so it’ll help when the gym is done and I actually work out.

Aside from waking up early, I want to incorporate those things I want to do before going to work. I want to eat breakfast of course, get my lunch ready, drink coffee/tea with my husband, and blog. Blogging in the morning is the best for me because usually after work I have stuff to do and never have time to blog. On Monday mornings, I like to write out the things I have to do for the week and that way I know I won’t forget to do something. This would make be super productive in the morning and I would feel as if my day wasn’t wasted after working all day. 

Now, my skincare morning routine is something I am changing this year as well. My skin has been looking a lot better and I want to keep it that way. I cleanse my face every morning and put on moisturizer right after. Then comes makeup and whatever else. One of my skincare goals for this year is to go to a professional place to remove my acne scarring. That is the #1 thing that makes me insecure, the fact that it’s just around my cheeks and never goes away. Sometimes even makeup doesn’t fully cover it. Being comfortable in your own skin without makeup is something I’ve always dreamed of. I try to wear makeup only a bit during the week and it’s very hard for me to go to work without it, but it’s good for my skin. I was looking at buying the Clarisonic Mia, has anyone else used/tried this? Does it help and is it worth the price? Was thinking it might help with my completion and glow. It also would be nice to know I took all of the makeup off my face! 

So that’s the plan for my morning routine. My night time routine is a bit different. I’ve been doing a great job of going to bed early, it’s easy because I’m tired by 8pm, but sometimes I lay in bed for an hour or two not being able to fall asleep. So I use that time to browse Pinterest or Reddit. I tried melatonin and it helps a lot, but sometimes I forget to take it and I’m too lazy to get up. I also think my phone is a distraction at times, so putting that away and just clearing my head before sleep would be a better thing to do. I am also trying to limit the amount of time I spend on my phone overall, so this would be a big help. So top things I am adding to my routine: be in bed by 8:30-9pm so I can get 8 hours of sleep, take melatonin if needed and don’t be lazy about it, put away the phone, and make sure the room doesn’t have a lot of light. 

As for my night time routine, I am changing that up as well. 

• remove any makeup using coconut oil like a cleanser instead of a coconut oil on a makeup remover wipe – the way I used to do it doesn’t work for me
• after removing makeup with coconut oil, use a wet cloth to wipe down any coconut oil still left on my face 
• wash face with moisturizing cleanser
• put a face mask on (2-3x a week depending on how my skin is feeling)
• add moisturizer and soft lip therapy on lips

My skin is usually very dry in the winter and I haven’t been very good at applying moisturizer before bed. On the days I don’t wear makeup, I’d skip the first two steps. 

2019 is going to be a great year and I plan to do a lot of things. I can’t do those things without a consistent routine, so let’s hope this will keep me going. 

How are your routines and how do you keep yourself motivated to keep them? 

Hello December! ❄️❄️

Hello all!

Happy Monday! Have been wanting to write a December post since the first day of December, but the weekend slipped away from me and now we’re here. I already know this month will fly by, just like November did, but it is one of my favorite months. Everyone is in the holiday cheer, yes it’s COLD, but there are perks to that such as blankets, hot chocolate, etc. So December will be a great month, I have lots going on! My bff’s birthday is coming up, my husband is graduating, my other two best friends are graduating and having parties, I’m going to a baby shower, Christmas, and New Years! So yes, lots of events coming up!!! I feel like I haven’t had this much going on since the beginning of 2018 when I had my bridal shower, went on a couple trips, got married, graduated, and started my new job. I’ll have to write a separate post where I reflect back on 2018 and the great memories that were made, that sounds like it’d be fun. Oh and one more exciting thing to note! My sister-in-laws, sister-in-law had a baby!!! A little baby boy this morning! He is so precious and tomorrow after work we’re going to go meet him! I’m super excited!

So pretty much this whole month will be slow at work, so it won’t be that stressful yay! A lot of people will be taking vacations so the office will be pretty empty which gives me a chance to work from home more AND blog more! Still trying to get up at 5am everyday to make a routine for myself, but it was obviously hard to do when I had the flu so I will keep trying. The goal is to wake up with enough time to blog, eat breakfast, workout, and drink coffee or tea before heading out for work. That way I get a good start to my morning and accomplish a couple things while I’m at it. 

I am currently on keto and didn’t give up last week even when I was sick, but I REALLY REALLY REALLY want some cookies. I hope I don’t give in, I know I’m stronger than this! But it’s so hard 😦 I guess what is motivating is that December will fly by and I’ll have one more month of keto to do. Trying to do only 2 months (until February) and trying to lose as much weight as I can so I can be at a healthy weight for my height. And after that I’ll switch to a normal, balanced diet with a little bit of every food group. 

I already put up my tree, I moved it to an even better place in my house, I’ll have to upload some pictures soon. So far, there are 3 presents underneath it! One of my goals for 2019 is to start taking more pictures, whether that be of nature, the city, or people. Also want to start recording more of my life to have for memories. So taking pictures of my tree will be a great start! 

Until next time! 

Happy Tuesday! :)

Good morning!!!!

Woke up at 7 this morning to do something for work (have to put something together every other Tuesday for a meeting the following day) so I’ve been up for about an hour and 30 min. Finished my thing for work about 15 mins ago and made myself a cup of coffee. I’m trying to cut down on sugar from like creamers and stuff like that, so this time I only used real brown sugar, milk, and whipping cream. It actually doesn’t taste bad at all!

So the plan is to work out today, probably around 9ish. Was going to work out yesterday, but I came home and fell asleep lol. But it’s okay, I’ll do it eventually hahaha. Today is a bit colder outside, so I’ll have to bundle up to go out there. 

What else?? I GOT MY SD CARD WITH ALL MY PICS AND FOOTAGE!!!!! WHICH MEANS I’LL 100% BE FINISHING THE BLOG POST TODAY AND STARTING ON MY VIDEO TO UPLOAD TO YOUTUBE!! WOOHOO!!!! I’ve been waiting for it and I made Mirhad go get it last night after class at 10 😂 so I’l be doing that as soon as I’m done with this post. 

This weekend was super busy, we had a surprise baby shower for my sister in laws sister in law hahaha. She was totally surprised and it was so sweet. Can’t wait to meet that little munchkin! After the baby shower, we went to my bff’s parents house and chilled there for a bit. Her mom made delicious food (as always) and we just stayed until like 9ish when Sanela left for the Djani concert. Overall, it was a fun but busy day. Hoping next weekend I can take more time to relax than anything.

This week will probably fly by, so I’ve made a quick to do list and wrote it in my journal. Hope I can cross off A LOT so I don’t have to move it to next week lol. Have been eating healthy and already feel better. I just want my skin to improve, it’s such shit right now. I always forget to do face masks, but it’s my goal to do one weekly. Also need to put a mask on my hair too, as it feels pretty dry sometimes. 

So this is a quick post as I’m eager to start doing the other things, talk to you soon! 🙂

Tuesday morning + updates!

Hi there!

It’s almost noon and I am having my first cup of coffee. Work started at 7:45am this morning (WFH) and I didn’t need coffee that early for energy, I’m surprised! I mean I don’t even need it right now for energy, I just love coffee lol.

Yesterday, we went to the gym at 6am and so we woke up at 5:45am which was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in a while. Waking up at 6 for work is hard enough, but that 15 mins early than usual was horrible lol. BUT I do have to say that I did feel better throughout the day and I wasn’t really tired. It’s much easier to go to the gym earlier when I am WFH, but on the days I have to go into the office it’s tricky because I like to go in at 7:30 so like when would I even make time to get ready + eat + go to the gym?! It would be crammed, so I think on those days we’ll just work out after work/school. 

We have been trying to get into the routine of working out daily, for multiple reasons of course, but mainly to get our heart pumping and blood running through our veins! Hopefully we can keep it going, it’s really hard to get into a routine, but anyone can do it! 

I made a to-do list for today and I am trying to keep it small otherwise I probably won’t get everything done. The good thing is that I can just move it to tomorrow and it’ll get done 🙂 

Our trip is pretty much done planning with the flights/cars/where we’re staying parts. The only thing left to do for me is to write it out in my notebook so it’s all laid out in front of me and I know what’s going on. Today I am going to go look at carry on suitcases for us – we literally only own one suitcase and my mom borrowed it for her trip to Bosnia. So we need 2 since this trip is 5 days long and I just want to bring my own stuff. We usually can fit both of our stuff together, but oh well.. what if we go to DSW in Dallas (the best) and buy some more shoes (LOL Mirhad) like where are we going to fit them if we don’t have two suitcases?! 😜

I also need to return my diffuser because it’s way too big. I liked the old one I had, but I gave it to my sister – she still needs to buy essential oils for it since I took mine with me. This one is good because of the size, but it’s too much work flipping it upside down to remove the water and add the essential oils. Before I just opened the top and added it – simple. So I am going to look for another one today too. 

Hmm, what else?? On Sunday, we had the BEST weather so far. I got to open up all of the windows and the breeze was so nice. It’s pretty much going to be in the 70’s for the next 2 weeks, except maybe like 2 days where it’s mid 80’s. But I’m not complaining, this weather is great! Trying to convince Mirhad for us to exercise outside today by playing soccer or something just so we can enjoy the weather (if you’re reading this Mirhad, plz let’s go). 😀

See ya! 🙂

 

Tuesday + plans

Hello!!!

Happy Tuesday! Just got home from work and I actually had a really good day! Going to work from home a day or two this week. I have this huge project I have to finish by Thursday and present it to my team, so I have lots of work to do tomorrow and Thursday till noon. 

It’s SUPER hot outside again today, like can it just be fall weather already?? Makes me not want to leave the house, but I really want to work out today. Ugh. I might just go take a run somewhere or go to the gym, we’ll see how I’m feeling lol.

I keep telling Mirhad we need to book the rest of our flights and we always forget, so I am making it a goal to do it by tomorrow night. The closer it gets the more excited I am!!! 🙂

I also need to go buy some outfits too, I really want some nice ripped jeans that won’t suffocate me hahaha. I’ll probably get them at American Eagle, I always find good jeans there and yeah they’re expensive, but they last for so long and are always SO comfortable! Plus, I can never find a good pair of jeans anywhere else that won’t fade or shrink after a couple washes. 

So yeah, that’s it! See ya! 🙂 

Saturday April 7, 2018

Good morning!

It’s a very chilly Saturday and it makes me want to just stay inside and binge on a show… but we can’t do that! That would be a waste of a day. Especially when I have a lot to finish in the house today. Tomorrow I have to spend the day studying and doing my homework for financial management because I need a really good grade on this test. 

I won’t be working on the house until like 3ish today so I am thinking of going to the gym for a bit after I finish this episode of This is Us because I just feel like crap right now and maybe exercising will help. I tried so hard to wake up at 7 this morning to go to the gym, but it was 20 degrees and I just couldn’t bring myself to bear the cold. 

I went to Ulta earlier this morning to get the Mac fix+ (I think that’s what it’s called) facial spray because it was 50% off so it made it $13 which is a steal because it was always too expensive for me to try it out and this way I can see how well it works. 

So I’m off to the gym now, yay!

See ya! 🙂 

Monday March 26, 2018 🌼

Hey hey hey!!

Happy Monday everyone! I feel like it’s been the longest day ever. Set an alarm to wake up at 6 am to go to the gym and that didn’t happen… I’ll try again tomorrow. Instead, I went back to sleep until I had to wake up for class and going to class was basically pointless because it wasn’t much help for the study guide. But, it doesn’t matter, still went. After that I came home and ate 3 eggs and then went to go run some errands with Mirhad. Did everything except go move our delivery date of our appliances to a later date because we are not even close to being done with the kitchen. I have soooo much to do before I leave this weekend 😵

So in Chicago it’s going to be rainy and cold, which sucks, but when we went for Vildana’s birthday last summer it was rainy as well and we still had a good time even though it was much warmer. So the rain won’t be stopping us, we’ll still have fun! I need to plan my outfits since it’s going to be more winter type clothing, so I’ll be doing that probably Thursday after my class. I also need to change my windshield wipers before we leave since it’s going to rain and mine are so bad for some reason even though I changed it like 6 months ago I feel like. 🤔

I need to study for my micro test a little bit more the next 2 days and get that over with. I also have to finish the homework that’s due tomorrow & then make sure I’m caught up for next week since I’ll be gone. I wonder if my teacher would give me the problem set earlier?? Hopefully, I can just finish it while I’m gone because when I come back I have a test, ugh I feel like she flies through the material, but seriously we just had a test 2 weeks ago!!!! 😐

Anyways, it’s going to rain for the next 2 weeks and I’m already annoyed. But I guess this seasons saying will be “April showers bring May flowers,” so bring on the flowers!!!

So we came up to Washu and both of us forgot our computer chargers and mine is on 44% and his is on 20% 😦 so I can’t even use my computer for long to continue blogging 😦

But yeah, I’m going to go finish this homework and study!! Bye! 🙂