A Few Of My Favorite Things
By Carolyn Shields
Ahhhh summer. For some reason this feels like the season to indulge, but worry not! The following is a brief list of things I'm currently digging, some of which are totally free, others which cost a pretty penny...not the rhetorical kind of pretty penny, like just cheap. Regardless, they're worth sharing:
1. Freeman's Rejuvenating Face Mask
Cost: $2.89
Once in a blue moon I do a face mask. I've been chastised by my friends for years for never washing my face...but hello, it's called a shower? So once every few months I pull out a face mask that I received usually either in my Easter basket or Christmas stocking. The one I'm going to proclaim on the housetops is Freeman's, specifically the cucumber and pink salt one. With annoyingly sensitive skin, this one actually did what it said! And I can't stop stroking my cheeks. I might have to start using it more often...
2. Monefy
Cost: Free
This summer I'm gettin' serious about money. Retirement, savings, grad school loans...it's time to get my game face on. With that said, I know the first step is tracking my money and where it actually all goes. I put in about a total of three minutes in researching the right app, but I'm loving Monefy. It's exactly what I needed: an incredibly simple way to track my money. It doesn't offer anything but that. And you can categorize your spending too, and see what percentage of your income you spend where.
3. Homemade Lemonade
Cost: What, like, a dollar?
It's like water, but with lemon and sugar! It's simple too. For a single mason jar serving, you need to: buy a lemon. Cut in half. Boil water. Put 2 tablespoons-ish of sugar in your jar. Pour water in and stir to dissolve. Squeeze half the lemon into it, put aside to cool. Meanwhile, be all pinterest-y and cut up the other half of lemon into slices and add it. Mmm!
4. Meal Planning
Cost: Varies
But I can promise you this, it's helped me save a pretty penny! (This time I do mean the rhetorical kind). Plan ahead and not only will you save some cash (read: 2), but you'll eat way better and not find yourself running to the food truck when it's 2pm and you thought you could make it til 5 with only packing chips for lunch. My lunch sandwich last week: a loaf of oatmeal bread, pesto, 2 tomatoes sliced, spinach, mozzarella cheese, preferably toasted.
5. Because I'm Me by the Avalanches
Cost: Free
Admittedly, I have no idea what this song's about even after reading the lyrics several times, but dang it if it isn't an awesome dance song for summer.
6. This Stationary
Cost: $12+
Forever swooning over Carleigh Courey's Designs! Her personal and public instagram accounts are also poppin.' I'm very particular on my style of stationary (why's it so hard to find?!), but totally won over here. Ps, read one of our first articles, The Lost Art of Letter Writing.
7. Our Latest Projects!
Cost: Varies
You've seen the new look for the website, but have you read about why? And not only have we been working away at preparing Vol. IV of {Insights} for its release this July (which, as you know, is a compilation of our most popular articles in print which we sell in order to cover maintenance costs), but we got carried away and totally redid the look of our other booklet, SAINTS, both inside and out! Take a sneak peak here...
8. Late 19th Century Landscape Artists
Cost: Free
Ending with my latest favorite thing (and admittedly most random), if you need some cyber beauty in your life, check out the works of Isaac Levitan and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Those Romantics really had something figured out! Talk about mastering an art.
What is it that you're currently enjoying?