 Welcome back to another vlog. I am so excited. I got my new boots in the mail this morning. I've been wanting a pair of boots like this for a while, so I got them as like a Christmas gift to myself. Today is the day after Christmas. They're from Steve Madden. I'm gonna try them on and make sure that they fit. I just got my regular size, a size 7. Ooh, they feel super stretchy. Okay, there we go. They fit. The leg part of the boot is very very stretchy, but even still, they're a tight fit. So I don't know if I could get them zipped if I was wearing pants. Do you really love how they look though, and they feel really comfy? I feel like I could walk around in these all day, and maybe like the more I wear them, this will kind of stretch out a little bit more too, so I think they'll be good. Those are called the Aberdeen boots. I will put a link in the description if you're interested. But yeah, it's the day after Christmas, and this year was my first Christmas celebrating totally by myself and not seeing my family, or at least not, you know, being with them in person. If you're new here, I moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina by myself, just me and my dog. But it was a good day. I just hung out at home the whole day. I FaceTimed with my family, and in some way it did just kind of feel like a normal Christmas because usually on Christmas we just open gifts in the morning, and then we just hang out in our pajamas and chill all day. And that's exactly what I did yesterday. We just did it all through FaceTime. So yeah, I think this vlog is just gonna pick back up where the last one left off, which if you didn't see it, you might want to go check it out, because everything is exactly the same. So my kitchen cabinets are all still completely empty except for this one, with my plates and cups. But everything else is still out here in the living room, still no couch. But I'm really excited for this week because it's supposed to be warm and sunny the entire week, so I definitely want to spend a lot of time outside of the apartment. And again, if you're new here, I am also a hairstylist, but I'm taking a little bit of time off now that I'm down here to just relax, fully get settled, learn the area a little bit more, and just enjoy. So I've been doing YouTube full time. In the meantime, I normally juggle both. And YouTube and social media is definitely still work. It can be very time consuming, but what's nice is I can do it from the comfort of my own home. I can make my own schedule, work whenever I want. I don't have to be somewhere at a certain time, you know. So I'm really, really grateful that I have the opportunity to do this right now. And I want to fully take advantage of that and just be able to go out and enjoy my new town and enjoy this nice weather. Normally this time of year, like especially right after new years, is when my seasonal depression really gets going. And it pretty much continues until like April. So I'm curious to see this year now that I am in the south where it doesn't get as cold and we don't get snow and it actually stays pretty sunny in the winter. How that changes at all. If I still get my winter depression, but I think my best bet is to just be outside, get as much vitamin D as possible, you know. So that's what we're going to do this week. I also really need to get my nails done. The last time I got them done was exactly three weeks ago from today. So they are pretty grown out. I was doing a little bit of research on Instagram and Google and I think I found a place that I want to try out. So I'm going to give them a call tomorrow and see if they have any appointments. But yeah, I think that's pretty much it. So I am going to get myself together, take Benny out for a walk and then I want to go to the beach. My closet is still a disaster. Don't mind that. But going to bring a backpack in my little beach blanket, bringing some water for Benny and I. And then I have this little travel bowl that folds down completely flat. And you can open it up and it has a little like key ring. So you can just hook it to your bag keys. So I'm going to bring this. My car says that it's 78 right now and I'm literally in shorts and a t-shirt and sandals. And as soon as I stepped out here, I immediately like started sweating a little bit. It's so crazy. I can't believe that it is the day after Christmas and it's this hot here. Oh now it's saying 79 and it feels like it. It is beautiful. There's two beaches that are pretty close to me, but I really love going to Carolina Beach because Carolina Beach is just a little bit more chill and I feel like there's more parking, but it's really nice because during the off season, it's free parking and you can bring your dog on the beach. Let's go. Let's get this sunroof open. Yes. Do you see my hair right now? The beach was lovely. I got a little over 9,000 steps in. I had saw there were some bars in the area right near the beach where a lot of people were sitting outside and then like music and I was like, you know, I have food that I can cook at home and I don't really want to spend money when it's not necessary. But I told myself that it was a good opportunity because I'm really trying to put myself out there a little bit more. Being in a new area and going to places that I've never been to before and doing that by myself is a little bit different for me. And I've gone out to eat by myself before, but I don't think I ever actually went to a restaurant and sat down at a table and ordered from a server before by myself. So that's what I did. I went to this cute little place. I ordered a drink and some fish tacos. And I am so appreciative that a lot of places around here are dog friendly. So obviously, Benny was with me. And while I was waiting for a table, there were these two groups of people that weren't even together, but they were just standing near each other and they started talking and I had overheard them talking about how they're from Pennsylvania and where exactly in PA they're from. And I was standing right near them. So I was like, did you guys just say that you're from Pennsylvania? And we started talking and it was really nice. What are the chances that these two groups of people that were not even there together that were just standing right near me were from the same place as me? But I am glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone a little bit. And it was nice to just be out and around people and just striking up little conversations with strangers, especially right now that I am just working from home and I'm by myself a lot of the times in the apartment. I feel like I need to have a little bit of social interaction. Now I feel disgusting. So I'm going to take a shower, maybe make a coffee because I'm really craving a coffee right now. And then I'm just going to chill the rest of the night. I have two shows that I watch every Sunday. So I'm going to watch those, maybe do some laundry, just have a chill night. So the two shows that I've been really into are both on Showtime, Yellow Jackets, and Dexter New Blood. They both have new episodes that come out on Sundays. So that's been my Sunday routine. I usually watch Yellow Jackets first and then Dexter. So highly recommend if you're looking for something new to watch. Gather 50k and await further instructions. I'm about to make some breakfast. I took Benny out for his walk already. So he's all good. He had his breakfast. So I'm going to make myself like a little egg scramble and then I'm going to call and see if I can get a nail appointment. I don't know if I will be able to get them done today, but hopefully at some point this week I can. So I have turkey sausage that I cut up, mushrooms, and asparagus. I usually just find whatever vegetables I have in the fridge, whatever is like going to go bad soon. Saute in here, throw some eggs on top, scramble it up, call it a day. Super easy and extremely filling. This will literally keep me full till dinner time. I'm going to put a little bit of Fiesta Blend cheese on top and that's breakfast. Hi, do you have any appointments today for a fill? 12.30? Okay, okay, perfect. Thank you. All right, nail appointment is set. It's in about 30 minutes, but it's literally right down the road like less than 10 minutes from here. So I'm going to start to get ready. Wish me luck. Hopefully this place is good. It has really good reviews. It has five stars on Google. Here is my before. Here's my outfit. This lighting kind of sucks. I have a t-shirt dress on from Misguided. Black denim jacket also from Misguided and then my new boots. They are kind of tight like getting them on, but once they're on they don't feel uncomfortable at all. They are very stretchy and like I said, I think the more I wear them, they will kind of stretch out a little bit. When are you going to go in your bed? I got to go out and you're going to stay here. Come on. Good boy. He's a good boy. I'll be back soon, okay? I see you when I get back. You stay here like a big boy. I'll see you soon. I've attempted to just leave him in my room to just lay on my bed while I'm gone, but he freaks out and cries. But for whatever reason, when he's in his crate, I think he just feels like that's a safe zone. He's fine. He just goes in there, no problem, doesn't cry, just waits for me to get back. So whatever. I'm just going to roll with it. Now it's time to take a little dinner break and this portion of the blog is sponsored by Hello Fresh. Thank you so much to them. If you've never heard of Hello Fresh before, they are America's number one meal kit. They have 50 different options to choose from each week, including vegetarian, calorie smart, and gourmet meal options. And you get them delivered straight to your door. And each meal comes with a recipe card that breaks down on the back step by step how to make the meal. So it's super simple to follow even if you aren't the best at cooking like me. Hello Fresh is also really flexible. So you can always change your delivery days or your meal preferences or you can even skip a week whenever you want as often as you want to. My favorite part personally about Hello Fresh is the convenience factor. Not only does it save me time from having to grocery shop and meal prep, but because each meal comes with pre portioned ingredients, it cuts back on food waste by at least 25% compared to grocery shopping. And especially for me now that I'm living alone, it can be tricky. I like cooking for myself at home. I like trying out new recipes, but certain recipes will call for ingredients and you only need maybe a tablespoon of it. And then you end up having this whole jar that just ends up going to waste because you just can't use it quickly enough before it ends up going bad. So I highly recommend Hello Fresh. I have been using them long before they ever sponsored me. So I genuinely truly love their service. I feel like I've discovered so many delicious recipes that I never would have thought of trying before. And I've learned a lot about cooking as well from following their recipes. So if you'd like to try out Hello Fresh, use my code SAMVAY16 to get up to 16 free meals plus three free gifts at Hello Fresh. Visit the link in my description for more details. Thank you so much again to Hello Fresh for sponsoring me and supporting my channel. And thank you to you guys for giving me the opportunity to even work with sponsors in the first place. Good morning. I don't think I showed you guys my nails yesterday or told you. About my experience. But here they are. I went with a super dark brown. So in some lighting it almost kind of looks black. But the place I went to was really good. And the woman who did my nails was very nice. I have a feeling she's the owner. She did a good job. They look really good. So I booked my next fill for three weeks. So we will see. That might be my new place. I went to O nails in Wilmington. So I am about to do some under eye patches because I feel so tired today. And I feel like my under eyes have been looking rough lately. It's almost a little bit tingly too. These are the ELF charcoal hydrogel under eye masks. I think they had sent these to me a while ago as PR. It's my first time trying them. They feel pretty good. So let's leave it on for 10 to 15 minutes. So last night I uploaded a new vlog. It's the one where I was talking about my apartment issue. Basically if you didn't see that vlog I have had a very, very minor roach problem in the kitchen. Based on everything that I was reading online and all of the comments you guys were leaving me. It's definitely a minor issue. And I think it's getting to the point now where it's like handled. A lot of you guys were leaving me some really helpful comments and recommending some products to me. So I ordered some stuff from Amazon last night as well. Those should be here by early next week. So yeah, before I like fully relax, I want to really make sure that it is like definitely 100% taking care of. I feel pretty good. At this point I'm feeling like 98% but I want to be at 100, you know. Thank you guys so much. I got so many comments on that video and I sat and I read through every single one and most of them were so helpful and just encouraging. Made me feel so much better. Made me feel less alone. Bugs are kind of impossible to avoid. They're just a part of life unfortunately. And if it's not a roach issue you have then you probably have spiders or stink bugs or wasps or something. And even if it's not like an actual infestation but like you're going to see bugs in your home at some point. It's just, you can't avoid it. Even like where I was living before I moved here, I was in a little cottage in the woods. So as you can imagine, we got bugs all the time there too. So it just, it is what it is. And if it's not one thing then it's something else. A few people were saying like you should move out of there immediately. You should end your lease. You should get a nicer place. I think one person referred to my apartment as a carpeted dump. Um yeah, I am not going to go through all of the trouble to break out of my lease and move out of here and have to find a new place and pay more money and hire movers to help me move all my shit out of here when I just moved in over a minor issue. Especially because that is the only negative thing so far that I've experienced. I love everything else about where I live. I love my carpeted dump. The fact that it has carpet was a pro for me because my dog sheds like crazy. And when I was living in the house before this with all hardwood floors, yeah great, cool hardwood. It looks nice. But when you have a dog that sheds like crazy, you literally just have clumps of hair all over the place and it's impossible to keep up with. So at least with the carpet, you don't see the dog hair as much and it's so much easier to vacuum it and it's not just like flying around in the air. I like this apartment community. It has everything that I wanted and it's quiet and the people here are friendly and I feel like no matter what whenever you move somewhere especially when you're doing apartment living, there's always that risk of there being something wrong or something that you don't love. Whether you have rude neighbors or really loud neighbors or you live on a really loud busy street or your landlord is unresponsive or you know like there's so many things that could go wrong and you never know truly like you can do as much research as you want, you can tour a place, you can read reviews, you never are going to know what it's going to be like to live somewhere until you're actually there. And yeah I could have got a brand new, there's a lot of apartment buildings around here that are getting built all the time. So I could have got a place that was absolutely brand new like newly constructed but I also would be paying like almost a thousand dollars more a month and that to me is just not worth it. I'd rather just be comfortable and not be stressed every month. We will see. I'm hoping that things are okay and nothing gets any worse and hopefully I don't have any other issues here because I do really like it here. I don't know that I'm going to necessarily renew my lease after the year. Only time will tell but I don't have any intention, at least right now, of trying to go through the stress of breaking my lease because then I could move somewhere else and then who's to say that I'm not gonna have any, who's to say I'm not gonna have the same issue or a worse issue somewhere else? You know just wanted to vent about that for a little bit. A lot of people were saying that it's a good thing that I got the HVAC system repaired because if it was leaking then that could have been like contributing to the problem too and that is a really good point. I hadn't even made that connection but yeah duh of course so I'm glad that I got taken care of ASAP. Today though it's supposed to be another really beautiful, warm sunny day so I think I want to take Benny to the dog park. I absolutely love this park so much and they have walking trails all along the park so after he goes and plays for a little while maybe we'll take a nice long walk and then there is a Trader Joe's very close to the park and I've been meaning to go there and check it out because I haven't been to Trader Joe's in years and I just kind of want to go and see like what fun snacks they have. I know that they have a lot of good like frozen quick things which I try to not eat often but I think it is always good to just like have stuff like that on hand just in case. I'm gonna go finish my coffee, get dressed and I'll see you when it's time to go to the park. Here's my outfit for the park. Flannel is from Boohoo and then underneath I just have this matching set like a little cropped tank top sports bra sort of thing and some biker shorts. There you can see. The set is from Cotton On and then my bag is from Target, sneakers, Arditas. I think these are the sunglasses I'm gonna wear. Let's see. Oh yeah these are cute. These are from Desi Perkins line. I'll link them in the description. Cute. All right let's go. Trader Joe's haul. I love it in there. They have so much stuff and the prices are actually pretty good. I just kind of walked through really quick because I had Benny in the car so I obviously didn't want to leave him in there for long so I was like in and out in maybe 10 minutes but I just grabbed a few things that seemed interesting and I wanted to specifically get when we shut the door. I tried to keep an eye out for things that I always hear people talk about. So first I got some fresh eucalyptus. I got two bunches of it because I have the fake eucalyptus in my shower and I wanted to get the real stuff. My shower is going to be smelling so good tonight so I got one to put in the shower to hang for my shower head and then another one I was thinking I could just kind of like stick this in a vase maybe in my bedroom or something. Then I got a bag of ciabatta rolls and then I got these chili and lime rolled tortilla chips. This is one of those things that I feel like is super famous from Trader Joe's that everybody talks about and says how good they are. So we'll do a taste test of those in a minute. Then I got some chicken chow mein. Then I saw this portuccini mushroom and truffle ravioli which sounded amazing. Then we got some dog treats. Any. You want one? Sit. Speak. Mr. Good Boy. Here you go. He seems very into it. That's good. These are smoked chicken tenders. Try to get him stuff that looks as less processed as possible. Then I got this frozen butter chicken with basmati rice. I think this is another thing that's pretty popular there. I also saw this which just looked and sounded so good. Front style flatbread with ham, caramelized onions, Swiss style greer cheese. I don't know. Just kind of like a flatbread pizza sort of thing. Then I got the Trader Joe's mac and cheese. Again, another thing that I know people rave about. I got these almond windmill cookies because I love anything almond flavored. Buttery tender cookies topped with crunchy almonds. Oh my god, sounds so good. We're gonna have to taste test that as well. Then I got this coconut creamer because it just sounded good. Wanted to try it. We got some dark chocolate covered espresso beans. Something that I loved very much. I haven't had that in a really long time. And then maybe arguably one of the most famous things from Trader Joe's. Many hold the cone. Ice cream cones. Everyone in their mother talks about these. Oh, a serving is three cones. Holy shit. Okay, that's pretty cool. I mean, I guess if they're super tiny, let's see. Oh, yeah, they are really small, but still three is like a really decent amount. And it's 260 calories for three cones. And that was everything that I got. I'm gonna put the frozen stuff away, wash my hands, and then we'll taste test some of the little snack things. And then I have a story to tell you. Okay, let's try these chips first. These are essentially takis, but I like these better. I've only had takis once before. Because there's another thing that people were just raving about. And I was like, all right, let me try these. And they just like, I don't know, they tasted like chemicals to me a little bit. And it had so much powder and seasoning on them that it was like, it was too overpowering. But these are really, really good. Next up, the dark chocolate covered espresso beans. If you don't like coffee, though, you would obviously hate those. Then let's try these almond butter cookies. They're shaped like little windmills. So cute. I love almonds so much. And these are really good because they're not insanely sweet or like too rich. So let me tell you my quick little story. So we were at the dog park, which by the way, I know some people are probably going to comment like, you shouldn't go to the dog park. It can be dangerous. Some people are very anti dog park. And I totally get it. And I understand why I try to be as cautious as possible when we get there. I wait, I let the dogs kind of come over and let them all sniff each other, feel each other out, make sure everyone's good. And then I do not take my eyes off of him for a single second the entire time we're there. For me, like the pros outweigh the cons because it is really good for him to socialize, especially because it's just me and him here. We're in an apartment. He doesn't have like a big backyard that he can just go and run free in. So before you comment anything like, I, I know, I get it. I respect your opinion. Anyway, at this particular dog park, there's two separate entrances on either side. One is for large dogs. One is for small dogs. And they are separated. So there are a few dogs in the large dog area. And they were all playing great, getting along fine. And then this couple comes in with this little tiny puppy. So cute. And they were saying how, oh, it's his first time in the dog park. And the puppy seemed fine. You're like a little scared at times. But all the dogs were playing really great. And Benny is an angel. He is so sweet. He is so well behaved. He plays so well with dogs of all different sizes. And he knows his size. He understands when he's playing with a dog that's a lot smaller than him. He knows to be gentle. Like he is not a rough player at all. You could tell that like the guy that this puppy belonged to was like being a little paranoid, which I understand, like you should be that way, especially in the beginning, you know? But he was just being a little too over the top. And at one point, Benny was just over by the puppy, not jumping on it, not being aggressive, not being like obnoxious or anything, literally was just sniffing it, just like trying to say hello. And the guy is like freaking out. And he's like yelling at Benny, like get away from my dog. And then he's saying, who's dog is this? Who's dog is this? And I'm like, I'm sorry, what is the problem? You brought your dog into a dog park for what? To socialize and be around other dogs, right? To meet other dogs, to play with other dogs. Your dog is fine. My dog is not doing anything to harm or bully your dog in any way. What's wrong? I don't know. Like some people look at him and automatically can tell that he has pitbull in him. So I don't know if it was because of that. He just like fat freaked him out and he thought that maybe he was going to do something. I have no idea. And then it was just annoying to me too, because I'm like, okay, if you don't want your little puppy playing around these big dogs, take him to the small dog side. And there are little dogs in there. Like what the why? Why are you going to bring him over here? You come to a dog park, you go in the large dog section, and then you're getting all like angry and pissed off and like telling other dogs to get away from your dog. That was my story. These cookies are really good. Cute. It's a mess up here, so don't mind that, but that looks so nice. The vase is from at home. And then here's the eucalyptus in the shower. Looks so beautiful. Good morning. Every morning I just wake up and step outside on the balcony, and I am just so happy to be somewhere where it's warm and the birds are out chirping and there's clear blue skies and just like something about the smell of the air too. It just reminds me a lot of springtime in like early summer back in Pennsylvania. And that always is like one of my favorite times of the year because it's like when I start to feel alive again, you know, like after a long freezing, miserable winter, that's always like the time of year that I am finally like, oh, thank God, it just feels good to be somewhere where I can skip past the cold winter part. I'm just so grateful and I still can't even believe that I really did this and I moved here by myself, made it happen. And here I am. Like I really live here now. So crazy. I finished working out and I feel very accomplished, especially because I really didn't feel like working out. I didn't feel like getting sweaty, but I'm glad that I did it and just got it over with. One of my friends from high school is a personal trainer and I started working out with her in person in September, but then I moved, obviously, but she's been sending me workouts that I can do at home so that I can just continue with the progress that I've been making and appreciate it so much. I use my shampoo and conditioner bottles as dumbbells if you caught that and I feel like for the longest time, I always had it in my brain that a workout had to be like super, super difficult and intense and really long in order for it to be worth it. I always felt like, oh, if I'm just going to do like a 10, 20 minute workout, then that's like, what's even the point then, you know? Like if I'm not doing at least an hour and I'm not like fully red in the face and dripping sweat by the end of it, then it wasn't a good workout. And even though logically, I know that isn't true. Like it's better to do something than nothing at all. Like the key really is to just be consistent and my issue was I would always just get really obsessed and I would be like really, really strict and intense with working out and then I would just burn out really fast. Like I couldn't stay consistent with it because it just wasn't sustainable. It wasn't realistic for me. So I would go through these cycles where I would like get in pretty good shape, but then I would fall off and just reverse all of the progress that I had made. But since I started working out with Bailey, all of the workouts that she has me doing are not easy. I mean, they're definitely challenging and I definitely get my heart rate up and they get me sweating, but it's not anything that's like so intense that I can't realistically stick to it. Like they're all relatively quick, you know, like that I think took me maybe 30 minutes to do and it wasn't like an intimidating workout. And from doing this consistently, I have definitely been seeing results and that is what is keeping me going and keeping my brain away from thinking like no, you need to be doing at least an hour and it has to be super intense, you know. Trying to just stick with it and just incorporate it in my everyday routine and not look at working out as such like a big deal and such like an intimidating thing that has to take up so much of my day and also, you know, just going out, walking more, spending more time outside just being active. And I've been wearing my Fitbit so I can track my steps and see how active I'm being and just make sure that I'm like moving throughout the day and I've just been feeling really good. And I think finally for like the first time in my life, I'm not viewing exercise as a punishment or with just like weight loss in mind because I actually really have been loving how my body looks lately. And even though I know I'm like not perfectly in shape, I know that I technically am overweight for my height, but I really have just been embracing my curves and falling in love with my body like genuinely for the first time in my life. And I think too, like as I'm getting older, like now as I'm approaching 30, I really am just like, okay, I want to take care of myself because I want to make sure that I stay healthy and that I age gracefully. I'm gonna go take a shower now and finally wash my hair. Also, look how funny this is. Benny, are you ready to take a bath? Are you ready for your bath? We're gonna take a bath now. Come on, it's bath time. He hates taking baths. He just hates water in general. He does not like to get wet. So anytime he even hears the word bath, he goes and hides and is great. I'm telling you that's his little safe space. It's cute. Here is the aftermath of filming. I just recorded two tutorials back to back. I feel very productive. Today started out as one of those days where I just kind of wanted to lay in bed and do nothing all day. I toned my hair. Oh, okay. The camera is picking it up. Real warm. Oh, and now the sun has set, so we don't even have any natural lighting. Oh, there we go. I don't know if you can tell a difference, but I definitely could while I was blow drying it. I was like, oh, damn. So I used a purple shampoo because I just felt like, no, no, it was kind of looking like my toner was fading a tiny bit and it was starting to look a little bit brassy. So I used the Finola No Orange blue shampoo because my hair is not light enough to do a purple shampoo. So yeah, blue shampoo just left it on my hair in the shower for a couple of minutes, and then I gave myself some long curtain bangs. I already kind of had like a face frame going on, but I just made it a little bit shorter. The tutorial on that already will be up by the time you're watching this. So if you haven't seen it and you want to, go check it out. Should be the video that I posted right before this one. And then I did a dry shampoo video, sharing all of my tips and hacks for dry shampoo to get the best results. Now I feel good. I feel like I had a nice productive day. So now I'm going to clean all of this stuff up, take many out for a walk, and then heat up some dinner because my stomach is literally hurting. Like, I have hunger pains. That's how hungry I am. Good morning. I had ordered some airtight food containers from Amazon, and they just got here this morning. So I'm going to put my stuff in these. So we got oatmeal packets. Beautiful. And I'm going to put my teas in another one. I want to get like an actual little tea organizer thing. But in the meantime, I'm just going to put them in these things. I'm going to wrap up the vlog here though. I woke up to the start of my period. Kind of got some cramps. So I'm just going to allow myself to have a chill day and just hang out in bed. Thank you guys so much for watching. I hope that you enjoyed. I will see you in my next one. Bye.