Hey guys! How is it November already?! I’m having a hard time accepting this new month because it is still in the 80s here in North Carolina.
I am looking forward to November for a couple of reasons….
– Daylight savings time <— extra sleep? yes. please.
– Thanksgiving celebration with the fam + lots of good food + get to see my grandmother
– and I am going on vacation!
Before we officially say goodbye to October, I wanted to share a few things that I have really been loving this past month. And the last one involves some skin care tips!
Jessica Simpson Booties
In my quest to become slightly more fashionable, I ordered this pair of Jessica Simpson open-toed booties.
The style is called Keris and the color to Totally Taupe. I ordered them from Off Broadway Shoes when they were having a BOGO half off sale, so I feel like price was definitely reasonable. I have worn them a few times and I really love them. They are the perfect bootie to wear in mild weather and they are pretty comfortable.
Just don’t wear them after doing an intense leg workout the day before! Something about insanely sore calves and quads and 4″ heels did not go over well with me :)
Amazon Locker
Every since moving to my downtown apartment, I’ve had several issues receiving packages. We were told that delivery companies have a keypad code to be able to enter the building to drop off packages but apparently some of them don’t. I realized this one day when I came home to find a bag containing my LuluLemon order laying in a parking space!
A few weeks after that, the package with the triathlon shorts that I ordered from Amazon went missing before I got home from work. I have been avoiding online deliveries since then until I heard of Amazon locker. It’s basically a giant locker where you can go to pick up your Amazon orders. All you have to do is scan the barcode that is emailed to you and your locker door pops right open with the package inside. There are several Amazon lockers in Charlotte now and it has been a great alternative for someone concerned about receiving packages during the day when they’re not home.
Maren Morris
If you are a country fan but don’t love the pop country style then definitely check out Maren Morris’ album, Hero . A few of her songs may be familiar to you from the radio- My Church and 80s Mercedes. Her lyrics remind me a lot of Kacey Musgraves and I love her voice. My two favorite songs are I Could Use a Love Song and I Wish I Was. If you are Amazon Prime member then you can stream the album for free :)
The LadyGang Podcast
I am quickly turning into a podcast addict given how much I commute, and The LadyGang is one of my favorite mindless/entertaining podcasts. There are 3 hosts (Becca Tobin from Glee, Keltie Knight from The Insider, and Jac Vanek, a clothing designer). They talk about everything from celebrity gossip to clothing and they also interview D list celebrities. If you are a Real Housewives lover then you would love the recent episode where they interviewed Dina Manzo.
All three hosts are funny in their own way and the show is a great distraction while sitting in traffic!
New Skincare Products
I have really been looking forward to sharing this info with you guys. Back in the spring (maybe April?) I reached out to John’s cousin, McKenzie, for some skin care advice. My doctor advised me go on hormonal birth control after I had that ovarian cyst removed in January and my skin had become the hot mess express since then. McKenzie is an esthetician and has beautiful skin, so I really trusted her opinion on ways I could improve some of my issues.
Here is some of her advice! 
- You get what you pay for when it comes to skincare, so don’t be afraid to invest a little bit
- Consistency is key- get in the habit of using the same products instead of changing things up all the time (one of the many mistakes I was making)
- Her favorite brands are Clarins, Dermalogica, and SkinCeuticals
- A bare minimum routine for my skin issues should be:
- washing my face in the AM and PM
- followed by a moisturizer after each wash
- exfoliating 3x per week
- Toners are great as long as they aren’t astringents or alcohol-based
I was using Cetaphil at the time, which I thought was a really great skin care line from what I had read in magazines. McKenzie agreed that Cetaphil is good but may also be a little ‘bland’ for the issues I was having. I told her that I really did not want to spend hundreds of dollars on skin care products (I bet an esthetician loves hearing that, lol), and she recommended the No. 7 skin care line that can be found at Target and Ulta. I ended up going with the No. 7 Beautiful Skin line for normal/oily skin. The items I purchased included:
- foaming face wash
- AM moisturizer
- PM moisturizer
- toner
- exfoliating scrub
- a face mask
I got these when they were on sale at Ulta for Buy One, Get One Half Off, so I felt like the purchase was pretty affordable.
I have been using these products for 6 months now and I am really happy with my skin these days. I feel like my skin tone is a lot more even, I have less breakouts and my pores are less noticeable. I’ve repurchased several items over the past 6 months because I like them so much. Just wanted to let you guys know about the line because it is less expensive than other lines and seems to be pretty good. Also, between Target and Ulta, you can find them on sale pretty often.
That’s all for today! Hope you guys have a Happy November!
[Tweet “Check out what Sam was loving in October! @GfruitGranola @theladygang @marenmorris @jessicasimpson”]
What things were you loving in October?
Do you have a favorite skin care line?
Favorite musician/artist right now?
I’ve always wondered what an Amazon locker looked like!
I seriously cannot believe you found your lulu package in the parking lot! That’s so unacceptable!!!
I was kind of intimidated the first time I saw the Amazon locker but it ended up being cool! You just scan your bar code and your door pops right open.
I was really peeved when I found my package in one of the parking spaces. Our complex has covered parking spaces under the 1st floor apartments but they are open to the outside, and that is where the package was. I’m glad I was stalking the tracking to know when it was delivered because someone probably wouldn’t have stolen it if it sat out there longer.