Author: blonde rosie

How Going To Bed With A Bedtime Helps Me Sleep Better

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My schedule has looked a bit differently lately and while there some changes that can be nice like having time to actually drink my coffee in the morning before it gets cold, there are some changes that I need to get rid of. One of them is that my bedtime has become later than it should be. Seems silly to say that I have a bedtime at my age but I’ve known for a long time that my body needs sleep and a lot of it. In high school, I went to bed at 9pm and scheduled my classes in college so that I could balance my work load and sleep. A part of growing up is learning that you have to do things for yourself like grocery shopping, cleaning your own home and setting your own bedtime. It’s easy to stay up and watch another episode but you and your body will probably regret it the next day.

I noticed on my Fitbit that my hours of sleep were declining and I was groggy in the morning. Clearly, something needed to change. I needed to get my nights in order so that I could have more productive days. Here are a few things I’ve been doing to make sure I get a good night’s sleep.

Melatonin

Melatonin helps you fall asleep which I think is where most of us struggle. I like to take a gummy an hour before I am going to go to bed and I find that when my head hits the pillow, I quickly fall asleep.

Shower

I like to shower at night and I’ll use a face mask, exfoliate and use a relaxing scented body wash to unwind. It’s my way of telling my body that I am ready to go to bed. There is nothing better than taking a hot shower, putting on fresh pajamas and getting into bed!

Reading

If you want to go to bed and get a good nights sleep, turn off the tv and read a few pages before bed. It’s tempting not to put on movie to fall asleep to at night but I have found that every time I read a chapter before bed, I am asleep after only a few pages.

The Right Bedding

Hopefully you wash and change your bedding once a week to begin with! I like to change my bedding on Sundays so I can start the week with clean sheets. I also wash all of my blankets at least once a month and like to swap them out when the weather changes. I invested in cozy bedding and the perfect pillows since it’s where I spend at least 8 hours a day – I want to be able to enjoy them and be comfortable!

Set an Alarm to go to Bed

Seems silly but I have an alarm set on my Alexa 15 minutes before my bedtime as a reminder to start getting ready for bed. You can also set reminders on your phone with your nighttime routine to keep you on track to going to bed on time. Having the same nighttime routine every night helps train your body to get tired before bed.

These are the things I have been doing that have really helped me go to bed at a normal time and get enough sleep to be in a better mood and have more energy the next day. I hope you find them as helpful as me. The biggest change for me to get a good nights sleep is having a bedtime and sticking to it. Right now I am slowly going to bed a few minutes earlier every few nights so I can wake up earlier to get the most out my mornings. Who knew that when we grew up we would get so excited about going to bed early? 🙂

How Creating an Elevator Pitch can help with Personal Growth

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It was one of those nights that I couldn’t sleep so I was laying in bed making a to do list for myself, my version of counting sheep. This to do list quickly got crowded with a lot of little thought bubbles because I wanted to update my LinkedIn bio and it made me realize I wanted to update my blog’s “about me” page, my Instagram bio and such. It made me ask myself, “Who am I?” and then my mind went blank. I didn’t really have a good answer. So I asked myself “Who is Rosie?” and I thought of the book sitting on my nightstand with the author’s bio on the book jacket with a nice photo of a woman who has the perfect outfit and blow out. If someone had to write my bio on a book jacket, what would they write?

Professionals suggest that you have an elevator pitch ready so that you can quickly summarize your past, present and future goals in a sentence or two that describe who you are. This can be what you do, where you work, what value you have at your job, and something to catch their attention. I thought it would be clever to apply the same elevator pitch strategy to answering the question of “Who am I?” The same elevator pitch is often said when you meet a new person and start to get to know one another. I imagined myself getting coffee with someone and what I would say to introduce yourself. This approach helps make it less business oriented and help explain who you are in a more authentic way.

Once I had a few things in mind, I typed up a little bio of myself similar to what I would see on a book jacket for an author. We are the writers of our own life so why not have the same approach when describing who you are? Since I was writing it as if I was going to have it printed in a book that I wrote, I chose more confident words and highlighted my accomplishments that I often overlooked. I typed it up in an email and sent it to myself to have so I can easily refer to it when I know I will be asked to “Tell me a little bit about yourself” – a question often asked during interviews and mentoring events.

Once I had my book bio page and elevator pitch written, I took the opportunity to see how I could improve myself so I could therefore add anything that would benefit my bio. Is there community service you wish you did? I would do countless of hours of community service as a college student and would like to get back to it. Was fitness once important to you but got pushed aside once life got busy? For years, I was committed to my gym routine and was really strong because of my Pilates classes but now I’m not sure when the last time I took a class was. I could go on but I think you get the point.

I’ve updated my bios and have a prepared paragraph to answer the dreaded “So, tell me a little bit about yourself” question. Instead of being a deer in the headlights, I have something prepared that I am proud of and can be used for my personal growth as well when I see on paper how I am summed up in a few words. By doing this, it can help you look at your career path with fresh eyes and see what hobbies or passions are missing from your life. It was fun for me to do and I hope you get something from it to!

Weekend in New York City

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Growing up in New Jersey meant that New York City was always a quick train ride or drive away. I was lucky to be able to make the trip at least once a year to sight see, walk around Central Park or see a show. You would think that after all of this time that I would grow bored of the City but that is the amazing part of New York City – there is always something new to see or do!

For my birthday, Jake got me tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child along with a booking us a room at a nice hotel room so we could enjoy a long weekend in the city. What was nice about getting a hotel room was that we didn’t have to rush to see it all and got to have a place to go back to during the day to rest. I thought I would write up what we did over our long weekend in New York City because we tried to avoid doing the major touristy things and have a relaxing weekend.

FRIDAY

We took Amtrak into New York and were able to get really affordable tickets because we planned so far in advance. Since we were staying for the weekend, we took a 10am train so it was nice to get the extra sleep and not have to wake up super early like we usually do! After we got into NYC, we went to the hotel to drop off our things. Since Jake does a lot of traveling to New York for work, he has stayed at numerous hotels in the city so he was able to find a really nice hotel for us. We stayed at the Knickerbocker Hotel and everyone who worked there was so nice and friendly! We had planned on walking around the West Village before our dinner reservations at 7pm at Serra at Eataly but it was raining pretty hard by the afternoon. We ended up grabbing a late lunch at one of the food stations at Eataly. We both got pizza and a glass of wine to kill some time before our dinner reservation and stay out of the rain! The seating was limited so we sat at a counter that overlooked where they made the bread and it was fun to interact with the staff and see behind the scenes of the bakery. We made our way back to the hotel to nap a bit before dinner and then make our way back to Eataly for our dinner reservation. Everything on the menu is delicious and definitely get the cheese board! They turn the rooftop into a themed restaurant. In the summer, they have greenery everywhere and the ceiling is removed so you can dine outdoors. We were there when they were changing over from winter greenery to spring greenery but it was still really nice!

SATURDAY

We had tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway and we knew it was going to be a long day since the play is in two parts. We slept in and took our time getting ready to head to the show because our hotel was only two blocks away from the theater. After the first part of the show, we grabbed lunch at The Counter in Times Square. Usually I am anti any restaurant in Times Square because it’s crowded and filled with tourists. The Counter however was amazing and the food was so good! We were able to sit down right away at the counter and had a good chat with the waiter. I try not to eat red meat because it doesn’t agree with my stomach but I have to say, that was probably the best burger I ever had! The staff was really friendly and we didn’t feel rushed which can sometimes happen in restaurants. It was the perfect break in between parts of the show and from there we headed back to the theater. The show was SO GOOD and a must see for any Harry Potter fan out there. After the show, we went to one of Jake’s favorite places to go when he goes to New York for work, Virgil’s BBQ. We definitely went back to the hotel full and ready for bed after a fun filled day!

SUNDAY

It was our last day in New York and luckily the weather was amazing! We checked out of the hotel at noon and were able to leave our suitcase with them while we did some walking around. We had coffee at Ralph’s Coffee which was on my to do list for a while now. There was a little bit of a wait for a table but not bad. I was also pleasantly surprised how affordable a coffee and croissant was! It was a short walk to Central Park so it was nice to walk and enjoy the warm sunshine! It was definitely a trip with a lot of eating so it was nice to get some walking in to burn it all off. Since I had never been, Jake took me to Serendipity 3 for an ice cream sundae to finish the trip. We did some window shopping as we made our way back to the hotel to pick up our suitcase and then made our way to the train station.

It was so nice to have a relaxing trip giving us enough time to see a show, walk around and try new restaurants. We have already made plans to visit again next Spring to do some more exploring!

So What Do You Want To Do?

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It’s a question I’ve been getting asked a lot lately and I keep asking myself the same thing because I don’t really know. For a while I did some deep thinking about what I want to do but I couldn’t really think of anything that inspired me. What I want is to wake up in the morning and be excited to go to work. It’s something that I haven’t experienced in a while and I did a brain dump of what causes me stress and what makes me excited about a job. I found this really helpful to see it written down on one page because it helps me look for certain words in the job description and avoid ones that I knew didn’t bring me joy.

I remember feeling confident walking into my office at my first job after graduating college. I was able to multi-task and take on more work than was expected. After just a few months of learning procedures and the day to day, people referred to me as the go-to person and relied on me to have the answers. There were days that I stayed at work late because I didn’t want to go home because I enjoyed getting work completed. Over time, the job got easy and with my free time I realized how isolated I was being alone in my office all day. There were busy days during the summer season but the winters were long and it made me realize how isolated I was.

I left that comfy desk job with normal hours to work in retail because I could not sit at a desk answering phones for much longer. Those 9 hour days flew by and I didn’t mind the weird shift hours. The job was the right amount of repetitive that I felt confident going into work because I knew what to expect. I was surrounded by people who were there for stupid questions and encouraged me constantly. Over time, my bosses saw my potential and taught me how to be a leader and learn about store operations. I was being groomed to climb in the company and getting promoted. But those late nights at the store and working on every holiday made me ask if I was going to do this forever? As much as I loved waking up for work every day, even with those 5am alarms for those early morning shifts, working retail isn’t something I could do long term.

Then I was the customer, not the employee behind the register. I was making more money than I could spend and had a prestigious title that my mom loved to tell her friends about. It was a dream job and I was running around all day making things happen. When I was working retail, from the minute I walked in the doors, the repetitiveness allowed me to fold shirts, clean the store and ring up customers at the register without much thought. I knew what I had to do and the days were so busy that I didn’t have time to do much else. Fast forward to my desk job and I would walk into work with a long to do list with 8 hours to get it done. Some tasks seemed daunting and others couldn’t be completed until someone sent me an email so I had to wait with the task haunting me. In the morning, I just wanted to sit at my desk and slowly drink my coffee to start my day. Instead, I spent most of the day overthinking and my to do list only gets longer and longer no matter how hard I try to accomplish it all.

So here I am asking myself what I want to do. If I could describe what I’m looking for, it would be a mix of walking into work feeling confident, knowing what to expect and with fun coworkers. Is there a job out there that has that work life balance we are all looking for? I want to be confident but comfortable with where I am. Is there a way we can wake up early to enjoy our morning before we go to work instead of feeling rushed? Can we go to work to do our job and walk out the door at 5pm with still energy after work to do other things? Or even step away from our desk for lunch with friends without feeling guilty about the work that isn’t getting done…

I came to realize that the dream job is only there if you make it. That work life balance is only there if you put up boundaries. Those relaxing mornings are only there if you go to bed early and set that morning alarm. Create a list of what you need and what causes you to overthink. Find a way to create the life you want because the truth is, it is a lot easier to make it happen instead of creating excuses why you can’t. What do I want to do? I want to be happy and I’m going to find a way to make it happen. I’m just still working on it.

Dermaplaning with Tinkle

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Recently I have been committed to washing my face with all of the right products and moisturizing every day. Still I felt like I needed to do more because of my skin insecurities I did some research and started to read about dermaplaning and its benefits. I exfoliated every night, but still felt like my skin was bumpy. When I used my other skin products they worked but I could feel the rough, dead skin just a few days later. Dermaplaning can be done by a professional or even at home with a special tool. Dermaplaning is a better way to exfoliate the skin to remove the top layer of skin which is usually dead skin and peach fuzz. After doing it just once, I was shocked by how much dead skin and fuzz there was! My skin felt softer for days and since there is no more barrier of dead skin, I know my moisturizers will be able to absorbed by my skin instead of just sitting on the surface.

If you have ever been jealous of people who can wake up in the morning and can go makeup free, dermaplaning is a way to get there! My skincare routine has not changed much except now I dermaplane once a month with Twinkle razors that I found on Amazon. I’ll continue to use exfoliating products at night and use my Foreo when needed with a gentle acne cleanser in the morning. I can notice a change in my skin because it looks brighter and my pores are smaller.

I watched a few Youtube videos to learn how to do it because it seemed too easy to do. Start with a clean face, I like to do it at night after I shower and then use micellar water and a cotton square to make sure my skin is super clean. Then I lightly scrape my skin with the Twinkle razor at an angle. It takes some time to get used to it and remember to work slowly. I focus on the side of my face near my ears because I always have clogged pores there because of my peach fuzz and anywhere else I have noticed bumpy skin. Once I am done, I apply my usual night time moisturizer and I won’t have to do it again until the next month. The good news is that the hair that is trimmed does not grow back thick or black. Dermaplaning is easy to do and doesn’t need much commitment!

How We Use Our Alexa

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We recently got a few Amazon Alexa’s for Christmas and it’s amazing how useful these things are! Sure, I wish I could just say “hey Alexa, cook dinner” or “hey Alexa, fold my laundry” and it would happen but it does help us out a lot in ways we didn’t even realize. It’s nice to have an assistant who is able to set timers, play music, check the weather and answer questions I may have. I usually ask Alexa to do something or answer a question before I take out my phone. You can also sync it to other technology in your house so we can turn on lights, change the temperature and other systems.

How We Use the Alexa in the Kitchen

We have an Alexa in the kitchen and it can hear us tell it to do things anywhere on the first floor which is really nice. While I unload and load the dishwasher or cook dinner at night, I like to have Alexa play music or play a podcast. Without having to waste time on my phone pressing buttons to play what I want, I just simply have to tell Alexa to play. If I’m cooking, it can tell Alexa to set a timer or ask it a question while my hands are dirty. The volume is great and can be heard throughout the entire first floor and even house so I can go from room to room without missing a tune or missing parts of my podcast.

How We Use the Alexa in our Bedroom

We replaced my very old alarm clock from college with an Alexa and at first I was a little nervous with the change. Are we sure it was going to go off? Was it going to wake me up?? I asked Alexa to set my daily alarm for a certain time and she said she would so I went to sleep. The next morning I woke up to a very pleasant alarm and was happy I swapped out the alarm clocks. I was able to create a morning routine with my Alexa so in the morning I have an alarm that goes off, that I usually hit snooze on and then a few minutes later, Alexa gives me the morning briefing. A customizable feature that shares snippets of news stories. I love it because the noise helps wake me up in the morning better than an annoying alarm going off. You can also create a nighttime routine, I’ll have the evening briefing news play at night which is a sign that I should be getting into bed for the night. Sounds silly, but it’s nice to have something to help me stick to my routine. Alexa is growing in what it is able to do. You can also create lists and easily order items by just saying “Alexa, add diet coke to my grocery list” or “Alexa, order paper towels”.