Let’s Be Real: Is Daily Harvest an Influencer-Only Cult Food Delivery Option?

According to my screen-time record on my iPhone I spend 8 hours a day on Instagram (It’s my job, don’t @ me, mom). so its no shock I’ve run into so many of those Daily Harvest adds. During one of the adds, I decided to swipe up and take a look. Surprisingly, it’s pretty affordable for normal people! I got 9 cups, weekly, for an intro cost of $45 ($65 after your first order). These are marketed for breakfast or lunch, but I’m mostly using them for dinner. I got a couple breakfast options, but prefer a savory breakfast and smoothies/ oatmeal just ain’t gonna cut it. Here’s what I ordered in my first box:

The best stuff:

Coconut Lemon bites: Not a huge fan of coconut that isn’t sweetened but wow yes to this. Great when you just need a quick little something sweet

Sweet Potato + Wild Rice hash: So good. We’re in a committed relationship now

Cauliflower Rice + Pesto: I’m not a pesto person, but this is amazing.

Mulberry + Dragon Fruit: This was an oat bowl and I’ve never had either of these fruits (cause who’s confident enough to pick up one of those dragon fruit things at the store?). Still not 100% sure what Dragon fruit tastes like, but love mulberry.

Everything I ordered was surprisingly pretty tasty good. For someone who literally only makes food for one person, these are fantastic. The serving sizes are great and everything you need to make it is already in the cup, just add water. Another great thing is it’s all plant based meals, which can be hard to make without buying a million different ingredients that go bad in 7 seconds. Truthfully, I will probably do this about 2X a month so that I have a variety of meals and I’m not overstocking my tiny fridge. Trader Joe’s freezer section has some competition.

Dating App Absolute Gems No. 4

Some real wild ones this week so let’s dive right in!!!! No time to waste:

 

I’m gonna go ahead and say you will never get an Uber with this guy.

 

Big words from a guy who literally took the time to put his own Zodiac in his bio.

This guy matched with me while my job title clearly states that I’m in Social Media?

I don’t know guys, I don’t think he’s gonna find anyone for his niche interests.

These were funny in 2014 for 5 minutes.

When your friend is way hotter than you so you have to cover his face with an emoji. I get it, I see you.

Even the Bumble bio has it’s limits.

 

Mystery, ladies, you ever heard of it?

 

 

And lastly, our Absolute Gem of the Week. I’m bestowing this honor on this guy for not taking the 7 seconds to google Shawn Mendes and then matching with me after I was incredibly snarky. God speed, king.

Dating App Absolute Gems: No. 3

This week features a man that is definitely wearing a toupee and a new segment I’m calling “Absolute Gem of the Week.” Let’s get started:

 

Idk if my standards for men are too low, but I have never seen a drunk guy wash his face before bed. Let’s be honest, I can’t really recall a time I’ve ever seen a guy wash his face.

And on today’s episode of “holy shit, is that a toupee???”

Wow what a mystery, I’d love to be that lounge one day.

Ladies, red flag or deal breaker? This dude has absolutely no brain, but is probably a fun time.

Ugh, guys it’s fine. They’re just homies!!! Also probably the thing he’ll say after the 5th time he cheats on you with her.

 

I’m just gonna leave this one here. His entire profile was just pictures of food. Can’t bear to make fun of it, just bums me out. I hope he finds his food queen.

And last, but not least, this week’s #1 Absolute Gem. He deserved an entire screen recorded video for his profile. I can’t believe he’s single.

 

 

 

 

 

People Still Like Trader Joe’s Lists, Right?

I know people do these constantly, but its one of the few posts I’ll scroll through no matter whose it is. I’m always looking for new stuff to try, especially in the freezer section. There’s a combined Target and Trader Joe’s a few stop away from me, so basically that’s where 90% of my income is going these days. Let begin with the things I buy every time I go:

 

Cauliflower gnocchi: When will I have the dramatic glow-up that cauliflower has had? Pretty much all Trader Joe’s lists worth their salt have this on it. It’s as good as everyone says it is, but pro-tip put it in the oven with olive oil when cooking (trust me).

Organic Brown Rice Pasta: Does eating this make me feel healthy? Big Yes. Is it? Medium Yes. I’m not gluten free or afraid of bread anymore, thank god, but there was a time when I was. This is the pasta I would go with and now that I’m tight with bread again, it’s still my go-to. Mostly just because it’s actually good. Pasta that claims to be good for you is usually trash and basically dissolves in your mouth, no thanks. This one tastes like actual pasta, as it should.

Cauliflower Stir-Fry: Hitting you again with the cauliflower and I’m not done yet. This stuff has the luxury of cauliflower stir fry, without a million individual bags of frozen vegetables to buy. With corn, peppers, peas, ginger and sesame oil in one bag, all you need is soy sauce. Lots and lots of soy sauce,

Orange “Chicken”: I’ve become sort of a vegetarian in recent years. Not necessarily on purpose, but I’m just not a big meat eater anymore. This stuff is vegan and comes with a little sauce packet and it is divine! Put this with Cauli Stir-fry and you’ve got yourself a meal.

Kung Pao Cauliflower: How many cauliflower things can I buy? Many, many cauliflower things. I cook these for about 30 minutes in the oven and pour the sauce packet over them. Longer cook time, but worth the wait.

Dried Apricots, individual packets: I bought these once on a whim and I love them. I need everything to come in tiny serving sizes because I have no self control!! Tastes like candy, but with no added sugar.

Stuff that’s tried, tested, tasty, but not in the regular rotation:

Potato gnocchi stuffed with mozzarella and marinara sauce: These are basically grown-up pizza rolls and I’m not sorry about it. Put some cheese on top and you’ve got yourself an easy meal.

Vegan Pesto: I’m more of a red sauce gall myself, but wanted to try this out anyway. Tastes like normal, almost suspiciously good? If you’re cutting out dairy, this is a god one. If you aren’t, add goat cheese and put it on Cauliflower gnocchi to really lean into #health.

Candy Corn Popcorn: Candy corn, good. Popcorn, good. Candy corn popcorn, so delic. If you don’t like candy corn, let me live! And, alternatively, if you buy the autumn mix candy corn, don’t talk to me either.

 

Let’s Be Real: Should You Only Wash Your Hair Once a Week?

After doing a little research (I googled it), I’ve found some pretty conflicting info about how much you should be washing your hair. Apparently, how much you wash your hair depends on your hair type. If your hair is dry, no more than twice a week. If it’s oily, everyday is fine. If your hair is thick, once a week. If you’re a brunette, no more than twice a week. But what if you have oily, thick, brown hair? Good luck.

The censuses seems to be, less is more. The less you wash, the less you have to style it and the less chance for damage. My hair is naturally very oily or “greasy”, as I fondly, (not fondly), refer to it. Before the beautiful invention of dry shampoo, I used to just put on a headband and wash my hair every other day. Needless to say, I was first-world suffering. Since adding dry shampoo into my life, I’ve been able to wash my hair less and less. I try to go at least 3-ish days and day three was a bun day for sure. Recently, a combo of laziness and honestly just seeing how long I can go, I’ve been going longer and longer between washes. I’ve been doing a wash on Monday and then another towards the end of the week so I can appear to be fresh on the weekends. This past week, I went an entire 7 days without washing it. Here’s my true hollywood story:

Headbands are back and my dirty hair is thriving in the Blair Waldorf of it all. I recently got a bunch of really cute puffy velvet headbands and have been utilizing them to the max. Do they hurt? I’m not gonna lie to you, they give me headaches. So do a lot of other things: people who don’t text back fast enough, when its randomly 40 degrees and you wanted to wear shorts and a light jacket, when the subway doors don’t open for a long pause so you just stand there brimming with anticipation, someone taking a call on speaker in a public place etc. This headache is self-inflicted and I will endure pain for beauty!!

Dry. Sham. Poo. Obviously if this did not exist, I could not not wash my hair. It would drive me nuts. I will say after like day 3, you don’t need as much because it doesn’t, like, evaporate. It sticks around. My favorite is Dove, but it’s all about preference. Gives me the most volume and smells good.

Have good shampoo for when you do actually use it. I’m gonna level with you, my shampoo right now is crappy. It was cheap and I really needed some so I took what I could get. I have a very itchy scalp and dandruff issues, (TMI?) so I really need to switch. Thinking heavily about Function of Beauty again, but tbd.

On that note, probably also get a clarifying shampoo. What the heck is clarifying shampoo, Katie? Well I’ll tell you, dear reader. I discovered it the last time I went to get my hair cut (10 billion years ago) and I told my stylist that my hair looked so gross even though I had washed it that day. Apparently, jus regular ole shampoo doesn’t take all of the stuff out of your hair, so you need to use a clarifying shampoo. Go figure.

If you’re trying this, now is a great time. Hair + cooler weather = gorgeous hair for days. I don’t know what it is about fall/winter weather, probably the fact that you aren’t sweating anymore, but good hair is imminent. On day six of this journey it was about 40 degrees outside and for some reason my hair looked amazing (its also my featured image in the post thank you very much). If you’re even thinking about washing your hair less, this is a fabulous season to start. Also hello hat season!!!

Start slow. Go an extra day every now and then and work up to a full week without washes. Embrace a ponytail, a bun, a cute puffy headband. It’s better for your hair, better for good ole mother earth and saves some money.

 

Fall Trend Alert: Having Tiny Titties

DISCLAIMER:  I’m not coming for people with tiny boobs. We’re all given a certain amount and we may increase or decrease to our leisure, if you’re willing to pay for it. I would also like to point out that it is 10000X easier to add boob (pushup bra) than take boob away (there’s no “take boob away” bra).

However, when it comes to fashion lately, smaller boobs are more “stylish”. I can think of so many times where I’ve said, I can’t wear that because I have big boobs. I recently watched a IGTV video from an unnamed magazine company where they talked about trends for fall or things that they’re loving as far as clothes go. I would say about half of the things we’re very specifically tailored to people with absolutely nothing up top.

It seems that we always want to add more boob, but in clothing lately it’s trendy to just not have any boobs at all. Here’s some examples:

 Sweaters with just one button to close it, cute! On me? Suggestive.

Imagine trying to wear a bra with this–comical.

            The trend here seems to be tiny strings to hold your top closed. God forbid your boobs fall with gravity and aren’t inline with your eyeballs.

 

   This started trending on Instagram as everyone saying, “look at Katie Holmes being an influencer! So chic!” Instead of how it would be framed if she had my body which would be, “Katie Holmes wardrobe malfunction! Seems a little sloppy.”

 

 

Another trend I’d like to point out is the androgynous dressing, which basically means baggy-suit-wear-so-you-look-like-a-guy. A little easier to pull off, but I’m definitely still gonna look like a girl.

Without getting preachy or talking about something I very much don’t know anything about, this is part of larger issue with fashion. Everything is always made for people of a certain body type and looks wonky on anyone that doesn’t look like that. That’s why it’s cool that some brands now show you the same article of clothing on different body types.  But of course, high fashion and trends really aren’t there yet. Anyone who isn’t rail thin really isn’t considered in designing clothes, it’s always just made bigger in order to fit more bodies. And “thats the tea”, on that.

I Re-watched Sex and the City and It Changed How I Feel About Aiden

I’m Stanford!!!! This is the first time I’ve written in months and if you’re wondering why I’m writing this, of all things, I have no answers. I do, kinda, have a reason for this post.

So let’s go back, why am I re-watching Sex and the City for the 16 billionth time? I started listening to this new podcast called The Bradshaw Boys. It’s 3 straight guys watching Sex and the City for the first time (mostly) and then discussing it. Super hilarious and fun, highly recommend. At first, I wasn’t going to go back and watch the series with them since I’d already seen it multiple times. As they started going through the episodes, I really just couldn’t help myself and jumped in around Season 2.

One of the surprising things is the newfound annoyance with Carrie. I mean, come on girl, how are you trying to make this relationship with Big work if you never tell him how you feel about things? Every fight they ever have is about how she needs/wants something from him emotionally and is too scared to ask for it. This leads to her inevitable explosion and makes it a giant deal. I don’t wanna say the Big is innocent here, not at all. Anytime she does finally ask what the deal is, he’s usually super vague. I don’t, by any means, think their relationship is something to strive for. I do, however, get where she’s coming from a little. Personally, I find when I really like a guy; I hate bringing up any relationship talk. If you’ve been dating around a while, you sort of get the clue that when you bring that stuff up, it can blow up in your face. You either hear something you don’t like, or get rejected, and so it ends up just nagging you until you explode. I will say that sometimes when she does explode on him, it gets her the results she was looking for. For instance, when he doesn’t tell her he loves her in Season 2, she gets pissy and leaves him at a party. The next day, he actually says it over the phone. Thus, starting the cycle of silence, fight and reward. This is extremely toxic and pretty immature behavior, but I’ve been there. Should they have ended up together? No. You cant allow someone to treat you a certain way for X amount of months and then be surprised when they don’t get the hint that it’s not actually what you want.

I’ve never really been “big” on Big, but on the “Big vs. Aiden” debacle, I’ve always been Team Aiden. He was so sweet and soon much better than Big! I would argue Carrie was over correcting. By that, I mean she hated how badly she was treated by Big, so she went super left field. She needed the opposite of Big and she definitely got it. I always thought he was great, but in actuality, he’s kinda blah. He’s just there all the time. In her space and her life, but doesn’t really add anything. I don’t think he could ever actually hang out with her and her friends. He immediately tried to change her with the smoking thing. Literally all they do is lounge around her place being boring. We give “nice” guys such a huge pass, simply because they’re nice, but let’s please up the bar ladies. Maybe if we did, there’d be more nice guys to go around! Nice should be base level, what else does he have besides nice? I think Carrie stayed with him half of the time, just because he was nice, and then the rest of the time, just because she felt bad for him because he was nice. Think about when she first said, “I love you” to him. She said it right after he did and she had just cheated on him with Big. She didn’t love him, clearly. Also, they just truly did not mesh well. He didn’t like smokers; he liked the outdoors and loved staying in with his dog. She liked to party, smoke and be glamorous. She literally never went to a single party or outing when they were together, I mean what up with that? At least Big could keep up with her, her friends and her lifestyle. I get it nice is so refreshing. Dating a bunch of crappy dudes will really have you reaching for some boredom in your love life. It’s easier and you think that’ll mean predictability and that it’ll work out better. Spoiler alert, it doesn’t. Nice just translates to “I’m saving myself from getting hurt this time” which isn’t always the case, especially with Carrie.

It’s probably true that every time you watch a series again, you get something different out of it. You hopefully have different experiences all the time, so you watch things though a different perspective. I know Carrie’s overcorrecting because I’ve been there myself. On the Big vs. Aiden thing, I’m neither. I’m more of a Harry-Smith-Steve gal myself.

Read and Review: May Reading List

Finally May! Feels like the year is going quick but also not at the same time? It’s technically spring but I’m still freezing my butt off in NYC otherwise known as the arctic tundra. Hope it’s all warm and sunny wherever you are, but don’t rub it in.

Read a bunch of stuff recently and figured I should share my yes and no’s for the month’s reading list!

The Death of Mrs. Westaway

The Gist: Tarot Card reader down on her luck receives a letter claiming she is to inherit a fortune, however,she immediately finds out they have the wrong person.

Thoughts and Feels: I got about half way through this book before I was like “I can’t.” I hate not finishing books, but this one was just so boring. The characterization of the main girl was bad, so I really wasn’t invested in what happened to her. If I don’t care about the main character, it’s a really hard read. I would say she was better at describing scenery than characters. I also kept getting confused on the time period because it sounded like the early 1900s but it was actually the 90s.

Rating: 0/10 just skip it. nothing interesting about it

The Proposal

The Gist: Girl gets randomly proposed to at a baseball game by her boyfriend on the jumbo tron and rejects the guy. It’s a love story, don’t worry.

Thoughts and Feels: This one I liked! It was cute, but predictable. Sometimes you just need a good rom-com after all the thrillers and murder mysteries

Rating: 8/10 cute, but like not the best thing I’ve ever read

The Outsider

The Gist: A boy is brutally murdered in a small town. Police think they have the suspect, but that’s just the beginning. 

Thoughts and Feels: I’m embarrassed to say this was my first Stephen King. Also embarrassed to say it did freak me out for a couple nights trying to sleep. It starts off like a normal murder mystery, but he adds a supernatural element towards the middle. Not gonna give anything away but it’s pretty creepy stuff. As I assume with all Stephen King novels, it was very well written. Switches between a few character perspectives, fantastic character development and just all around good story. Longest book I’ve read in a while, but worth it. 

Rating: 10/10 creepy in the best way

The Lying Game

The Gist: Woman goes back to her childhood boarding school in order to help her friend.

Thoughts and Feels: If you think that description is weirdly short, you’re right. There’s no other way to describe it without giving anything away other than saying very little. Managed to finish this one, but really wasn’t super into it. Ruth Ware books have a way of jumping right into the story, but not making it a very interesting one. The main character also brings her 6 month old baby everywhere which seemed very unnecessary? Not great, but the idea was pretty okay-ish.

Rating: 5/10 probably just skip it

Where the Crawdads Sing

The Gist: For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens

Thoughts and Feels: Had to copy and paste the actual summary because my “gist” was going to be something along the lines of “girl who grows up utterly alone find love. Also someone dies?” which sounds like a stupid book. Not gonna lie, when I saw this on the best seller list, I rolled my eyes. I hate the word “craw-dad,” but since its not based in Louisiana, I let it slide. I’m glad I did because this book was phenomenal. Reads almost like a biography, switching from the past to the current state A.K.A the murder. Couldn’t put it down and loved the ending.

Rating:10/10 devoured it

The Woman in Cabin 10

The Gist: Woman goes on a luxury trip on a yacht for work that turns into a possible murder mystery.

Thoughts and Feels: Here we are with another Ruth Ware. Went on a kind of rampage reading them. This one I’d say was the best one. Didn’t hate the main character, although there were times where I wished she’d kept her damn cool–if that makes any sense. Not predictable and went through it pretty quickly.

Rating: 6/10 no Karin Slaughter, but pretty decent

 

Let’s Be Real: Is ClassPass Worth It?

Starting a new series today, whoop! I was trying to do what I did with the “Sunday Summary” that I used to do, but maybe make it less lame? Trying new things is my favorite thing so this is more of an in-depth at the stuff I like. Enjoy, nerds.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been a workout person for about 10 years now. I’ve done pretty much everything from pilates, weight training, running, back to pilates, cardio HITT, and back to weight training. A couple of years ago, I started trying workout classes at my college gym. I started with a 7 AM cycling class and pretty soon I was doing any one I could fit into my schedule. Who knew I would like sweating with other people? Luckily for me, that gym was in my tuition and so none of those classes ever cost me an extra dime. Unfortunately, you can’t stay in college and live the good life forever.

Since moving to the city, I didn’t have the luxury of a free gym with free classes. Gym memberships that included classes were a little steep for me, so I stuck to taking about one workout class a month. Your basic first time class at an NYC studio is around 30 bucks a class–sometimes free if you’re lucky. Every place will have some sort of package, but the only way to get an unlimited amount of classes is to pay upwards of $300. That cuts right into my booze and outfit money, so, hard pass. Also you can only take that certain class–cycling, barre, yoga etc.

ClassPass, here to solve all of your problems. It’s a place where you pay a certain amount a month, which gives you a certain amount of “credits” to book any kind of workout class you can dream of in the city. I have the lowest plan where you pay 50 bucks a month to get 27 credits. I usually can book around 2-3 classes a month since most classes are 10 credits. You might be saying, wait only 3 classes a month? That’s nothing. Yes, Deborah, you’re right that’s not a lot, but keep in mind I was spending around $30 on one class. In my research for this I also discovered you can get a Blink all access gym membership (which is the gym I go to) and get 45 credits a month for $94. Which I’m switching to as soon as my membership runs out this month, spoiler alert. I’ve done HITT classes, barre, yoga sculpt, cycling and I’m trying boxing this week!

So let’s be real:  If you love going to workout classes and hate spending a trillion dollars, yes! I wish I would’ve done this sooner

Live From New York It’s the Skin Update

Well hey, its been literally over two months since I posted anything on here… Do I have any explanation? Lack of inspiration? Not really knowing what to talk about? Feeling like  I’ve been just writing things for the sake of writing things? Haven’t been meditating and my mind is all over the place? Yes, yes, yes, and YES.

Honestly, I kept putting it off and then it got to a point where I was like, okay now it’d be lame if I posted that after THIS long. I do really feel I should update you on my skin situation. Let’s start with the bad news?

I don’t use honey as face wash anymore. I’m not sure why, but once winter came, my jawline was breaking out so bad I was getting super self-conscious about it. I tried to ride it out, but at some point I had to go with my skin and try other things. For now, I’ve moved back to good ole soap. I use this in the morning and this at night. My skin still isn’t perfect, but my jawline cleared up almost immediately. Which was a sign I really needed to switch. I’m thinking about going to oil based cleansers in the near future.

My skin responds really well to two things, coconut oil and lemon juice. I’m not sure why, but I’ve been using coconut oil as a moisturizer as well and its been amazing! My skin is normally super oily, but lately its been dry in patches on my t-zone area. All of that to say, I’ll be using both until my–hopefully–timely death, thanks.

The last thing that has been a real game changer for me: Collagen. I would say this is one thing thats transformed my skin and gotten rid of scarring the best. Some people really like it for hair, nail and eyelash growth! I’m pretty blessed in those departments, so the most apparent change has been in my skin. I recently switched to this kind and I just pop it into my coffee every morning!

That’s a wrap! Starting a new series late this week (probably next week) so stay tuned for that!