With our busy work schedules, adult responsibilities, social calendar and everything else on our lap sometimes we forget to put ourselves first. My weekends are filled with items on my to do list and very little time to just relax and unwind after a work week. We may not have the budget to go out of town or head to the spa, but a staycation is the perfect option to recharge when we need it most. Earlier this week, I felt exhausted even though it was only a Monday. Then I realized that the last time I took a day off work was the day after Christmas and I was in desperate need for a day off. I didn’t have anything I wanted to do or go to. I just wanted a day off to sleep without an alarm and lounge around all day while watching Netflix. It’s been a while since I had a lazy day off and it was so nice to recharge my batteries. Below are some ideas you can do on your staycation to help you get the refresh you need.
Take A Long Shower or Bath
Sounds silly, but I love to take a long shower in the morning with no rush to get out the door for work. It’s the perfect time to actually use that 5 minute conditioner or that body exfoliator. Most nights I am rushing to shower as fast as I can so I can quickly make dinner and get into bed at a reasonable time. Having a day with no plans so I can take a long shower is a luxury I don’t often get.
Binge Watch
There are usually not enough hours in the day to catch up on all of your favorite tv shows or watch that documentary that everyone is talking about. Most nights I fall asleep mid episode of something and need to rewatch. Take a day to get comfy on our bed or couch and catch up on your favorite shows. Snacks are mandatory obviously!
Dedicate Time to your Hobby
If there is a book that you have been wanting to read or a craft idea you found on Pinterest, today is the best day to do it. I love a free afternoon that I can get ahead on some blog posts or plan outfits to shoot for the blog. If you don’t have a hobby, I highly encourage you find something that you love or something to challenge you like learning how to run.
Tidy Up
Maybe this is the last thing you want to do on a relaxing day off but tackle that pile of clean clothes sitting on the chair that you have been avoiding all week. It doesn’t have to be a big spring clean because I am sure there is something you haven’t had the time to straighten up or organize something because of a crazy schedule.
Work on that House Project
I recently took twenty minutes to update my coffee table and hang a picture on the wall after procrastinating for months. I’m sure we all have a few projects we would like to get done around our homes but just never have the time. If you are feeling productive on your staycation, it would be the perfect time to check an item off of your to do list.
I remember my first week living in Philadelphia like it was yesterday. It was similar to that first night in my new dorm room each year at college. Lots of unknowns and a lot of what ifs with that feeling that something magical was about to happen. I can remember going to bed my first night and just smiling because I did it. For years I told myself and others that I would move back to Philly one day and I finally did it. In a two week span, I quit my job, signed a lease on an apartment and got the call that I got a job at a law firm in Philly. My life changed so quickly in just a few weeks that I remember having an out of the body experience with it all.
I barely slept the night before the move while sleeping in a guest bedroom because my bedroom was completely empty. At 3am I was still awake making to do lists and designing my apartment. Movers came to my childhood home on April 15th and in less than two hours all of my belongings and some furniture was put into a truck heading to Philly. My parents and I stood by the front door in the living room for a really long hug because this was the last time I would be calling this house home. My parents and I drove to my apartment in different cars and I remember being nervous, excited and so ready to start this new adventure on my drive down to Philly. For years, I had driven to Philly to see friends that I could do this drive with my eyes closed. For years, I would drive to Philly after work on a Saturday and be up early Sunday so I could get to work on time. Finally, I could call Philly home again and not have to drive back to Jersey. After two years of retail, I would have my weekends back working a normal Monday-Friday job. Having movers was the best decision we made because in less than 2 hours, they had my furniture set up and all of my boxes were in my living room. My mom and I had fun playing house unpacking boxes for my kitchen. Once they set up my bed, my mom immediately put sheets and decorative pillows on my bed so I could get a good nights sleep. I still had a hard time believing that this was my own home because it had been a dream for so long. After the movers finished up and were on their way, my parents and I went out to dinner to toast my new adventure. As we walked back to my apartment and to their car to go back to Jersey, we hugged one more time knowing that this is where I was supposed to be heading in life and that this was the right decision. It was hard to close the book on one chapter, but I am so happy I was brave to move to a new city on my own. As my parents headed back to Jersey, I went back up to my apartment and started to unpack some more boxes because I was excited to make this place my home.
I took some time recently to look back at some blog posts from this time last year and wow, a lot has changed in one year. Those first few months I struggled with being lonely, boredom , creating a routine and needing some help to build some furniture… Instead of worrying about what could go wrong, I put all of my energy into making Philly feel like home. I explored my new city, walked a lot of miles, decorated my new apartment, worked on blog collaborations and started to talk to a boy.
I spent my first few months learning how to live on my own, who I was and how to live in a city. I’m thankful for this blog because I can go back to old blog posts and read how I was feeling and growing as a person. I grew up a lot in the last year and learned a lot. My first few months here I was a little bored and now I have to plan a weekend to do absolutely nothing! I love being able to come home from work to my own apartment, sit on the couch in my matching pajamas and eat dinner. It’s those little moments that make me realize that I am really living in a city by myself. For some, that would be scary but to me this is a really big accomplishment.
This year has flown by and my life looks completely different than it did on April 14th of last year. I’m still exploring and trying new places here in Philly. There is always so much to do and never enough time. I cannot wait to see what this second year in Philly brings me.
FabFitFun is one of those companies that have amazing marketing because these boxes are everywhere on social media! Usually, I just ignore the constant ads but when I saw the products that were actually in the boxes, I was a little more than interested. This is my fourth Fab Fit Fun box and each time I still get excited when I get one in the mail. There is a good mix of home items, beauty, fitness, and clothing in each box so there is something for everyone. One item in the box alone costs the same price as a fab fit fun box so it makes sense financially.
I love to shop so by subscribing to the fab fit fun boxes it gives me a few new items to enjoy that I would normally purchase anyway for the season. Are the boxes worth it? In my opinion, yes and here’s why.
If you want to get the current season’s fab fit fun box, subscribe right now and you will receive it at a discounted price with a promotional code. If you no longer want the boxes, you can easily unsubscribe without going through a million prompts to cancel.
I for one hate spending money on subscription boxes that are a surprise. Most of them have “free samples” that are tiny and can only be used once. Each season, you can the ability to pick what is in your box and everything is full size – no sample sizes are in the boxes!
The products are from brands that you are already familiar with. From high-end hair products to designer sunglasses, you know you can you are getting a good deal on the products included in the box.
Hi friends! I am definitely ready for the weekend how about you!? This past week was pretty average with the same routine. Hopefully when the weather starts to warm up, I’ll have the motivation (and daylight) to do things after work again. This week I am proud of myself because I started to wake up earlier in the morning before work. It was one of my goals for 2019 and after a few months I am getting better at actually getting out of bed when my alarm goes off! Something that has been really helpful for this new routine is by creating a bedtime on my phone with the alarm app. My phone will go to “sleep” with a reminder to go to bed and the do not disturb setting turns on. I use it as a alarm to apply my evening skincare and get into bed no matter what else is on my to do list. Then my alarm goes off the next morning and my phone starts pinging with all of the notifications that I missed at night. Now I am able to take some time to get ready in the morning and actually eat breakfast before leaving the apartment. Having this extra time in the day totally changes my mood and energy levels during the day.
This weekend, I am hoping to catch up on some sleep, get some errands done and spend some time with friends. Every weekend I feel like there is never enough time to get everything done. The weather is slowly starting to warm up and I am hoping that it will feel like Spring soon. I’m still bundled up in my winter coat and big scarf because anything below 70 degrees is too cold for me! I love talking to my parents who just moved to the South because they eat breakfast outside every day and enjoy walks around their garden. I think my mom has worn a real winter coat only like five times this entire winter. Jealous doesn’t even begin to describe it! For years I knew I would move to the South when I was married and ready to start a family, but now a move down South right now is realllly tempting! This girl needs some warm weather STAT!
What I’m Watching
Last weekend, I finished binge watching Rizzoli and Isles on Hulu and I forgot how much of a void in your life there is when you finish a show like that. I spent the rest of my weekend catching up on my usual shows like Grey’s, The Resident, This Is Us and New Amsterdam. Saturday afternoon, Jake came over and decided to cancel our plans to stay in to finish watching Stranger Things. Jake had never seen it so we have been watching it together and now I am really excited for season 3. After work on Monday, I needed a new show to watch so I started watching Madam Secretary from the beginning. I forgot how amazing this show was! I’m embarrassed to admit how many episodes I have watched this week so far. Jake and I needed a new show to watch together so after work on Wednesday, we started to binge watch Fixer Upper. Jake says he saw the show before but now I need him to get obsessed with the Gaines like my family and I are. Maybe if I watch enough episodes with him, he will build me a house hehe!.
What I’m Listening To
I’m still listening to the Goop podcast on my commute to work. This week’s episodes have covered addiction, family and how to become your future self. Did you know that Dax Shepard has a podcast? I didn’t either until he was on the Goop podcast talking about it. I may have to subscribe because he is so funny and down to earth.
What I’m Loving
Emily Ley revealed new planners and they look beautiful! Yes, this planner is a bit pricey but I love mine and would be truly lost without it.
I’m excited for the Chrisley Know’ Best spin-off, Growing Up Chrisley, premiering on April 2nd. It’s one of my favorite shows to watch over and over whenever I need a funny show to watch.
Love these shoes for spring and they are perfect for the office. I am also sharing these loafer slides because I have three of them from last year and they are my most worn style shoe!
I neeeeed these earrings because I somehow lost all of my other pearl studs.
Tell me I don’t need this pillow! I really hope I can find time this weekend to do some decorating around my apartment for Spring.
Everyone’s favorite cami is now in chambray for spring! Buy it ASAP because it will sell out again.
With a cup of coffee in my hand and my planner in front of me, I am ready to plan this week. Errands, the gym, trying a new face product and meal prep all are added to my planner so I can see what needs to be done this week. If it is not in my planner there is a good chance I will completely forget about it. Oops! Here I put a few ways to plan a productive week together for you. Have a good week everyone!
Plan Something Fun First Thing in the Morning I hate waking up early on the weekends and will avoid it as much as I can. However, I have found that planning something in the morning with a friend is a good reason to get out of bed before noon. Plan to get brunch or make a date with yourself and try a new coffee shop in town. Find a reason to get out of your apartment so you don’t feel like you got nothing done all day. And while you are out, now is the best time to get those errands done!
Get the Errands out of the Way Throughout the week, I keep a post it in my planner that has a list of everything I need to purchase. In my planner, I keep a list of places and errands I need to run on the weekend so I can see ahead of time what the best day is to get everything done. On Fridays, I will order as much as I can on Target.com so it can be shipped to my apartment and then I can just shop for produce and other items that cannot be shipped. My goal is to get everything done as soon as possible on Saturday so I can enjoy my Sundays.
Do Laundry and Immediately Put it Away I have never hated laundry and I really don’t mind doing it. However, I find that I am always getting distracted and never find time to actually put it away. My new goal is to fold and put away as soon as it comes out of the dryer so I don’t have to stare at a pile of clean laundry on my bed!
Wash Your Sheets & Make Your Bed Get in the habit of cleaning your sheets every weekend. My preference is to do them on Sunday evenings so I can crawl into a nice warm bed! My bed will never be made in the morning because I am too lazy but I do like making it on Sunday nights. It makes me a lot more eager to get into bed.
Get Snacks & Lunches Ready for the Week While I cook dinner on Sunday, I like to cut up veggies and put them in tupperware and organize my fridge so I can easily grab food in the morning before i leave for work. I started to buy snack size containers of apple sauce and fruit cups that I can keep at my desk. I’ll also make popcorn and put handfuls in plastic bags so I can have easy snacks. I try to make everything easy to grab and go on Sunday nights so I don’t have to worry about lunches during the week.
Clean Your Apartment Now that I clean my apartment every single week, it makes this weekly task much more manageable. I talk a little bit about it more here, but I basically take a few minutes to walk around and collect dishes before running the dishwasher, throwing in a load of laundry, wiping down counters and then quickly vacuuming all before I sit down to have breakfast. It seems like a long list, but once I made a routine, it became super manageable.
Write a To Do List for the Week I would be lost without my planner! On Sundays, I like to look at what I have going on during the week so then I can make a to do list for each day. This way I can plan ahead to make sure I don’t forget anything and plan days to go to the gym. This is also a perfect time to text friends to plan coffee and dinner plans for the week.
Catch Up on Sleep But Don’t Sleep All Day I love to sleep late on the weekends, but I found that I get so much more done when I wake up and immediately get moving! Another perk is that you will be able to go to bed early or at a reasonable time instead of staying up late because you slept all day.
Go To Bed Early I actually have a few timers that go off to let me know when to go to bed. Even if I am not asleep by the second alarm, I know that I should be in bed by this time. It holds me accountable and I know that I am the worst when I don’t get enough sleep at night.
Happy Friday and most importantly Happy Spring! One of my goals for 2019 is to explore more of Philly and I think I definitely did that this week. I’m slowly working on making Blonde Rosie a source for affordable styles, beauty and a guide to Philly. There is so much to do in this city so I am constantly doing my research to find out where to go and what to see. Hopefully with this warmer weather I will have the opportunity to see it all and share on the blog. I would also like to know what you would like to see more of on Blonde Rosie. Send me a message or leave a comment on some topics you would like to see on my blog. Hope you all have something fun and exciting planned this weekend!
What I’m Watching
One of my favorite things to do is to go to the movies. It’s something I grew up doing a lot with my parents and my dad would spoil me with my own Coke and popcorn. Luckily, it’s something Jake and I both enjoy doing together. Do you know how nice it is to find someone who enjoys going to the movies? Over the weekend, Jake and I saw Captain Marvel. I am so behind on this superhero series but it is something that Jake follows so we saw it and I promised to catch up on the other movies asap. It was actually really good and since it was an origin story, you don’t need to watch the other movies to understand what is happening. Good mix of humor and story.
Since Jake and I had a very busy Saturday, we decided to finally watch the 2 Fyre Festival Documentaries that night. Not sure what took me so long to watch them because they are really good at explaining how this con snowballed into this failed festival. It also was a great reminder to not hire your friend instead of an event planner.
What I’m Listening To
I have an easy commute to work, about 30 minutes each way and I use this time to catch up on my Podcasts. Right now, I am really into the Goop podcasts because they have a mix of science, health and some upbeat knowledge. My usual go to podcasts are The New York Times The Daily and Pod Save America, but lately I have been wanting something to motivate me and the news does no good for my mood. Also the Captain Marvel soundtrack was amazing. It is full of hits that you completely forgot about it and makes you feel realllyyy old. You can find it on Spotify.
What I’m Loving
About once a month I use my car to do a big grocery run and this trunk organizer would be super helpful!
I really want to get a wagon for groceries to make it easier to transport items especially living in the city where I rarely use my car.
I just ordered these fridge bins after getting fridge envy on Instagram.
I did some spending this week. Oops! Loft is having a sale so I made a few purchases for my work wardrobe : a pink blazer, pants with a tie waist, and a top that went to clearance!
It was a very fun filled weekend and I am still trying to recover from it! On Friday, I was up late cleaning my apartment because I knew I wouldn’t have any free time on Saturday or Sunday. Fridays have turned into my new favorite day to be productive around the apartment because I never have the motivation to go out and I can still get into bed late because I don’t have to set an alarm the next day. One of my favorite things to do is to not have to set an alarm on a Saturday morning. My friend Lola and I had brunch plans but were both flexible on what time we would meet up. Then I started to feel something and it was my cat standing over me hitting me and meowing. I didn’t have a digital alarm go off that morning but my own personal alarm clock was not okay with me sleeping past 9am! We ended up going to Sabrina’s and even with checking in line on Yelp before we left my apartment, we still had an hour wait! It was actually good though because we had plenty of time to catch up and talk.
After brunch, I got a few of Jake’s friends to go to Philly Barcade for his birthday. I had never been but it looked really cool on Google! Our plan was to spend a little time there and then head on over to Frankford Hall for a drink. We ended up staying at the barcade for 3+ hours and it was the perfect environment for us. The games were like 25 cents to play and we had fun trying the different beers on tap. Highly recommend if you are looking for something to do with a group of friends!
One of the perks of waking up early on a Saturday is that there are so many hours in the day! We got back to my place around 7 and were shocked on how it was still light outside. I needed a minute to sober up and then we were on our way to dinner. We keep a list of restaurants that we want to try and we have been rescheduling a taco date night for forever! We went to Rosy’s Taco Barand ate so much food! It was comical walking home because everyone was out for St. Patrick’s Day. We saw people throwing up in bushes, running out into the street and girls in short dresses wearing uncomfortable heels. Jake and I laughed and got so excited to put on our pajamas when we got home. There was a time in my life that I would have been that girl, but a night on the couch with Jake sounds a lot better these days! We watched bothFyre documentariesthat night and we made a list of vacations we could go on with the amount of money they spend on the festival!
We had a slow Sunday and enjoyed breakfast on the couch while watching The Office. Then we took a train to Jake’s apartment in the suburbs to pick up his roommate so we could all see a movie. It wasn’t my first choice, but I really did enjoy Captain Marvel. I’m so behind on this movie series and I was afraid I would have no clue what was going on , but luckily it was an origin story so you don’t need to watch the other ones first. After the movie, I took a train back to my apartment so I could shower and meal prep for the upcoming week. I was so behind on personal to do list that I stayed up until 3am just so I could wash my sheets and get everything prepped for the upcoming week.
On Monday, I was really proud of myself for waking up earlier than I normally do on a weekday. My goal is to give myself two hours in the morning before work so I am not rushing out the door first thing in my day. Last summer, I used to be so good at this early morning thing! I would eat breakfast, watch an episode of something, take my time getting ready and feel energized going to work. I blame the cold and lack of sun during the winter for turning into a horrible morning person!
Luckily this week flew by really quickly. Work has been busy and I am speaking up to take on more work. Nothing all that exciting happened this week but I needed an easy week after a fun filled weekend. I got a haircut after work on Wednesday and got a few things done around the apartment after work during the week. After seeing everyone rave about this cleaner from Target on Instagram, I finally picked it up while I was running errands. Guys, it is soooo good! It smells like the Anthropologie Capri Blue candle so I couldn’t stop myself from cleaning every surface in my apartment with it! This gloomy weather hasn’t been that good for my energy levels lately so I am hoping we get some sunshine soon!
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