 Good morning. Welcome back to another vlog. It feels so good to be home and to pull out the camera. It has been so long every time. Well here you want the tree? We've been out of our routine for so long that I forgot I usually give him a dental chew in the morning after we come back in from our walk. There you go. It hasn't been that long since you've seen me because I had videos pre-recorded that I had scheduled to go up while I was gone, but it's been a month since I've been home in this apartment vlogging. If you missed my last vlog, like I said, it was gone for about a month. I drove up to Pennsylvania with my dog Benny and then I was in Italy with my mom and my brother for two weeks and then flew back to Pennsylvania, stayed there for another week and I just drove back yesterday. My drive back and forth from here to Pennsylvania is about 10 hours, like 9 to 10 depending on traffic, and the flight from JFK to Italy and vice versa was about the same, like nine hours. So I've done a lot of traveling these last couple of weeks and all summer really. Like I am so blessed and grateful, but you know, especially like everything that happened over the last few years with COVID and stuff, like it just kind of put traveling on a halt and I feel like I always say that I want to go on trips and do things and sorry my dog is eating. I swear every time I pull out the camera and start talking is when he decides to like eat and drink. But this year I was like, you know what? I'm gonna stop doing that. I'm gonna actually plan trips. Like rather than just talking about stuff, I'm gonna follow through and if someone invites me on her trip or asks if I want to go somewhere, I'm just gonna start saying yes. So I traveled a lot this summer and it was so fun, but this was it. Like this was my last trip of the year and I'm so glad to be back. I'm so glad to get back into my routine. I went checked the mail. I had some packages waiting for me. So let's do a little unboxing. Ooh, I'm so excited. I got a hair dryer. You can see Leifin. I don't know. I could be totally butchering that. I apologize. But they reached out to me and asked if I wanted to work together and they sent me their blow dryer to test out. So I'm very excited about that. And then I got a package from dossier. Oh, I'm so excited. So they sort of recently, it's been a few months now, but they released re-diffusers. I don't know. I love the look of them. I love that they like are always giving off scent. You don't have to worry about lighting anything and you know you can just leave it there. Whereas like obviously a candle you can only burn for a certain amount of time while you're home, awake, etc. Anyway, so they have re-diffusers that match the perfume scents. Not all of them, but they have a few right now. That's we got the Amberie vanilla, which I think this one is the YSL black opium dupe. Yeah, it smells so good. Cute. And the bottle matches their perfume bottles. So if you guys want to check out dossier and get one of their re-diffusers for yourself, I will have a link in the description along with my discount code SAM5 so you can save 5% off your order. And thank you so much dossier for sponsoring this portion of the video. So anyway, today I need to go grocery shopping obviously because I've been gone for a while so I have no groceries right now. So we need to do a full restock. And I would like to maybe unpack my stuff. I don't know if that's too ambitious of me. Oh, I also need to make a nail appointment but they're closed on Tuesdays so I'll call them tomorrow. But my nails are super super outgrown and long and I think I just want to chop them and I think I want to take the acrylic off and just keep it more like natural low maintenance just doing gel polish. Anyway, I'm gonna go run to the grocery store. I will see you when I get back. Okay, I'm back. I got a lot of stuff. It's heavy. I carried it all up the steps in one trip so a little out of breath. And I also remembered to bring my tote bags inside with me because that was a resolution I had made at the beginning of the year and I kind of fell off from doing that. So trying to, you know, and I reuse the plastic bags anyway for my garbage cans like in my bathroom and bedroom and stuff but I have so many accumulated now that I don't need anymore. So brought the tote bags in with me trying to use less plastic. I also didn't even put my produce in the plastic bags like I normally do. Trying to get better. So let's do a haul. I'm gonna try to run through this stuff quickly because we got a lot but I'm excited because it's a really healthy haul. So I got some green onions, a jalapeno pepper, red onion, sweet potato, some avocados, a zucchini, kale, strawberries, lemons, mushrooms, peppers, baby spinach, parsley and cilantro, garlic. I got the pre-peeled to make my life easier. Celery, carrots, baby carrots. So I don't have to peel them. Baby cucumbers. Then I got some meats. We got chicken breast, salmon, brown turkey, jasmine rice, yellow corn, tortillas, coconut milk, unsweetened. I love this for my smoothies. Eggs. Needed more tissues. Dog treat things. These are Benny's dental chews I give him in the morning and then I saw this little chew thing and I figured I'd get him a little treat. Orzo. I got these to have a little something for my sweet tooth. These are really really good. These are Greek yogurt bars so they have some protein in them. I wanted to switch my regular half and half to oat milk for my coffee in the morning but they didn't have the specific type of oat milk that I like and I didn't want to get something that I wasn't gonna like because then I know I'm not gonna drink it and it's just gonna waste. So I just got a small thing of regular half and half for now. I also want to switch to decaf coffee because I don't really feel like I need caffeine in the morning. I just really like having a cup of coffee because I just love the taste of it and something about the hot beverage. It's just a part of my morning that I look forward to every day but I don't think I need the caffeine and I just want to cut back on my caffeine consumption throughout the day. So I have a Nespresso order coming and I got all decaf coffees so another little healthy change I'm trying to make. Then I got vegetable bra, chicken stock, ground turmeric, tomato paste, ground ginger, lentils, sleepy time tea, apples and cinnamon oatmeal, plain Greek yogurt, turkey breakfast, sausage patties, low sodium soy sauce, and last but not least, ollie pop. That is everything that I got so I am gonna go put all of this stuff away and then I'm gonna make myself some breakfast finally This is why I want to move into a bigger apartment. It just has such a limited cabinet space and listen I'm not saying this a complaint I know that I have a great apartment I love it I'm happy here I have I'm so happy with how I decorated it how I've utilized the space and it's great but I just feel like I'm starting to kind of grow out of the space now and it would be nice to have a larger kitchen with some more cabinet space and a pantry because the only space I have to store all of my food including like coffees and teas and seasonings is just this these three shelves right in here and I even like have some other extra stuff that I put on top of the fridge that I don't have space for and there's not I thought about just getting like buying a pantry or some additional shelves or something but there's just no space like there's nowhere for me to put it and I don't want to like buy more furniture if I already know that I am probably gonna move out in a few months so anyway but it's every time I go grocery shopping is when I am reminded of why I want to move we're just gonna keep making do for another few months until my lease is up I got you something good boy is it delicious okay good seems like he likes it that should keep him occupied for at least a few minutes also side note one thing that I'm doing this week is planning out the meals that I'm gonna have so when I went grocery shopping like I always try especially because I live alone so I need to make sure that I am being smart about the groceries that I purchase because otherwise you know things will just end up wasting and I hate throwing food out so I try to get an idea of what kind of stuff I want to eat throughout the week and then buy my groceries accordingly rather than like in the past I would just kind of like aimlessly walk the store and be like oh what do I want oh yeah that sounds good okay whatever and then I would figure it out from there so trying to you know be smarter about what I purchased but also even when I do that I have meals in mind I get what I want for those meals sometimes then I end up forgetting so I wrote down on the whiteboard the meals that I'm planning on having and all the different vegetables and stuff I got whatever I was planning on having like I'm planning on making a lot of bowls so what vegetables do I plan on putting in those bowls with what kind of meats just so that way I'm using everything that I got I'm not forgetting about anything because sometimes stuff gets kind of like buried and lost in there and I should write down my snacks too but yeah I found a recipe on Pinterest for this Greek lemon chicken soup that sounds amazing so I'm gonna make that I also found another recipe for this like spicy detox lentil soup I'm gonna make salmon bowls and that's what I got like the green onion for and I want to saute some kale with that have avocado in it and then I want to make a ground turkey bowl with the sweet potato and sauteed kale shrimp tacos that's what I got those corn tortillas for and the red onion I'm gonna have zucchini on the side with that and avocado with it and then for breakfast I'm gonna do eggs with peppers onions mushrooms and avocado oh and I have the sausage and then for my snacks I have those those greek yogurt cups I can have that with strawberries and then and then I have those mini cucumbers that I also got as a snack so yeah just so that way I am not forgetting the groceries and I will make sure that I'm gonna eat everything that I bought before it goes bad and also that way like if I am in a rut or I'm like oh wait what did I want to make for dinner tonight I have all of these right here in front of me and I can be like oh yeah you know what the shrimp taco sound really good tonight and I got this whiteboard from Target just you know makes eating healthy easier I just finished making that chicken soup I'm so excited it looks and smells amazing um it's like a traditional Greek soup chicken soup with egg and lemon and I make chicken noodle soup all the time but I figured I would just try something a little bit different I found the recipe on Pinterest I will link it in the description it's very very hot but let me do a taste test really good I just love chicken soup can you hear me okay oh echoey okay I moved the microphone closer okay perfect we are recording hello hello it's Friday I didn't vlog the last two days because I've just been non-stop working there's wasn't really anything to vlog I did get my nails done though I chopped them off I took the hard gel because I was getting like that like the structured gel basically acrylic on my nails to keep them nice and hard so that way you know they could stay long and not break but I don't know I just I have been doing that for years straight going every three weeks to get them filled and all of that and I just wanted a break so I took that off cut them super short and I just got a regular gel manicure and it just feels good it's weird because they were so long and I felt like I couldn't really do a lot of stuff because they were just too long but now they feel like too short and I'm having such a hard time texting and typing and like I can't like peel things off because they're just like so so short but it feels really good like my hands just feels so nice and clean and I just feel like fresh and lighter and I really want to take my hair extensions out because they're at the point where they would need to get moved up now because they're really grown out but I just want to take them out and I honestly am highly considering cutting my hair to like here because I am just over the long hair like I just feel so like suffocated right now in life that I just want to feel lighter like I just no more long nails no more long heavy hair and I just want to be more low maintenance I desperately need to wash my hair but I don't have time to do that so I'm just gonna do what I've been doing all week and put it in a low ponytail I just like divided it into and I'm just twisting it and then tying it off with a rubber band just so it kind of looks like I put a little bit of effort into styling my hair there we go so it kind of looks like a little braid like a little twist braid but I just wanted to vent for a second and I this is not me trying to complain or whine I just it's just me like being open and transparent and just honest and like venting a little bit but I'm feeling really tired today and overwhelmed because I don't know this whole week since I've been back I think because I've been letting my dog sleep in my bed I need to stop doing that because I just get terrible sleep because he constantly moves around throughout the night then it wakes me up and I just feel like every night this week I've just been up tossing and turning constantly and then in the morning I wake up and I feel like I got no sleep so I've just been very tired I've been working late because I've been doing front desk the last two nights I'm doing it again today and I don't know I just feel like really blah and like run down today I'm just in one of those moods where I'm just I feel like just irritated and I just want to be able to like stay home and not be around people and you know if I had like a desk job where I could just sit behind a computer it'd be like okay whatever I can just sit there and be in a bad mood and feel tired and it doesn't matter but because I work in a salon and I have to deal with people and I have to be on and I've talked about this before but it just adds like another layer of stress because when you're already just not in the best mood or you're feeling tired you don't have a lot of energy you're feeling drained socially as well like if you're an introvert you totally get what I mean I think that's what it is too I think that I socially feel very drained and even though like I just got back from vacation I was around people constantly like 24-7 and I was trying to like see as much family as I could and friends and all of that and I didn't have any time throughout the past month where I was just home alone in silence and I like as an introvert I need that so desperately and I like now that I'm speaking all this out loud I'm like that's probably what it is too in addition to like just not getting great sleep because I haven't slept in my own bed comfortably alone and I know that's my own fault because I let my dog sleep in my bed but so I think I just haven't gotten like really really good comfortable sleep in a month like oh now it's all adding up and making sense to me but anyway when you work in a field where you're dealing with the public there's that pressure to like push everything down and just pretend like you have your life together and like you're in a really good mood and act your best do your best look your best and that's hard so yeah I don't know again I'm not trying to complain okay like I I understand that like it's it's not that big of a deal it's not important it's just petty but I'm just saying like that's just the mood that I'm in today that's how I'm feeling talking about it though inventing about it and saying it all out loud I'm like okay it's all that serious like you can relax on Sunday it'll be fine you just have to get through two more days anyway that's my update happy Friday oh an update on my re-diffuser it smells incredible and it's been perfect in my bathroom because it's not like overwhelmingly disgustingly strong where I come in here and I'm like oh my god I can't breathe but I just get like hit with a whiff of it I'm like oh it smells so so good and I love this scent it's just like so warm and sweet I'm very happy with that and very impressed with the throw power of it because I feel like re-diffusers can be weak sometimes like I have other ones that I literally can't smell them unless I literally like hold it right up to my face so those ones from dossier are really good oh another thing I wanted to chat about sorry I'm like because I didn't vlog at all the last two days now I'm in a chatty mood I was listening over the last two days to the Britney Spears audio book let me know if you also listen to it and what you thought I mean there weren't too many like bombshells I feel like a lot of it was stuff that was like already confirmed but the whole thing was Justin Timberlake I just love Britney Spears I always will have love for her because she was like my everything as a kid like I was obsessed with her since her first album released and I'll just always like have such a soft spot for her and it's just really sad everything that she went through with her family but that was interesting to listen to and it was nice to be able to just like listen to the audio book I think that's the first audio book I actually ever listened to I normally prefer to like actually read because I'm a more visual person but it was kind of nice because I was able to put it on as I was driving and as I was like doing other things anyway I'm gonna go to the salon now I'll see you later good morning happy Saturday I'm feeling better than I was yesterday I think it's like Saturdays are usually good days I usually look forward to them even though I'm working today but there's just still something about like knowing it's the weekend even if I am going into work like I don't know especially when it's a nice sunny day like it just puts me in a good mood I slept a little bit better last night because I didn't let Benny sleep in bed with me but I still kept waking up and kept tossing and turning and just couldn't get comfortable I think I like slept on my neck weird when I was in Pennsylvania because you know I'm like not in my usual bed with my usual pillows and it's still I guess is like kind of bothering me a little bit not like throughout the day like I can still turn it but when I turn it far back to the right like that it does feel a little sore like it feels like I'm pulling a little bit so I probably just need to get a massage I'm hoping that tomorrow when I fully have the day off and I can just sleep in and you know I don't have anywhere to be I can get a proper night's sleep because I also think when I'm just like stressed in general that affects my sleep you know hopefully I'll feel better next week and next week I'm gonna get back in the gym start lifting weights again but today I have a bit of a shorter day because my friend's party is tonight I knew I didn't want to be like rushing around so I blocked out a little bit of time at the end so I only have two clients today they both are my regulars have done both their hair several times before they're both super nice and easy going so it should hopefully be a nice smooth day and they're both just getting their highlights touched up thinking about it now I kind of wish I had just double booked them because I feel like they would be pretty easy to just both do at the same time and then I could have got done even earlier but I didn't do that I just have one after the other but that's okay it'll make the day a little bit less stressful for me and less hectic and then I'll have time to like clean as I go and all of that and then my friend's Halloween party starts at seven tonight so I still need to figure out my costume I have an idea of what I'm probably gonna dress up as but I need to go to the Halloween store and get some accessories so it really just depends what they have in the store because I have this top I'll show you later I have a top that's like off the shoulder and it's frilly and it kind of resembles like a pirate top so I was thinking I could wear that with just like some shorts and boots and then if at the Halloween store they have like a eye patch and maybe like a pirate's hat or something I can just be a pirate nice and easy and simple or if I just find like an easy pre-made costume there that's not too expensive maybe I'll do that so yeah after work I need to stop at the Halloween store and then I also need to stop at the grocery store because I said that I would bring stuff to the party don't know what I'm gonna bring I don't think I'll have enough time to actually like go all out and cook anything maybe I'll just grab like chips and salsa or something easy and a bottle of wine or something because I really don't think I feel like drinking and I really don't want to stay up like crazy late I'm hoping because the party starts at seven like that's pretty early so you know hopefully it won't go on too too late we'll see anyway I'm gonna finish getting ready because I am kind of in a rush and I will see you at the salon so both of my clients on this day actually have a little bit of gray so we do fine baby lights to blend their grays so you can see I was doing like really nice thin foils this was her toner she wanted to go a little bit warmer and more rich this time around so I toned her with a bunch of nice warm golden-y colors this was her final hair you can see those super fine highlights you can't even tell that she has any gray we also did a haircut on her and then for my second client I didn't get any before clips but her natural color is pretty dark like I said she has some grays so I did pretty much the same kind of thing I did on my first client a very similar foiling pattern with just really fine little baby lights to help blend those grays so here I'm just taking her foils out she however likes her blonde to be really icy and cool so this is her toner formula that I like to use 10 vv 10 p and 10 gi so it'll be nice and bright and icy and this is what her final hair looked like again you can't even see the grays it just blends so beautifully so cute you're so cute in here so it is several hours later I just got home not too bad of a day it's 4 30 I actually finished my clients really fast and after I finished the first one I like got done so early that there was a little bit of a gap till my second one came but it was nice everything went smoothly their hair was you know pretty easy um we were just doing touch ups so smooth appointments and I was able to clean as I went so then once I finished my second client just like swept up the hair you know put away my stuff and then I went to target and got some stuff for the party I remembered that my friend who's throwing the party it's also her birthday today so I got her a birthday card need to fill that out and then a bottle of prosecco and a little bow I'm gonna stick on there and then I got a bag of pizza rolls I knew I wasn't gonna really have time or the energy to like actually prepare something so I was like you know what let me just get some pizza rolls I feel like these are always a fan favorite and it'll be so easy and I'll just make a bag of that and just bring the pan and easy and plus that just sounds really good so I got those and then this is the oat milk that I like the Oatly Barista edition it's so good like it tastes really good and it's also creamy so it's the right texture because I don't know I can be picky with the milks in my coffee and I'm pretty sure this is the same oat milk that they use at Starbucks which I love so yeah got that at Target I also needed more toilet paper so I got that and then I went to party city and I got exactly what I needed they had a whole pirate section so it was perfect so I got an eyepatch and this hat which I didn't try on oh yeah perfect fit amazing let me show you the top I have that kind of inspired this costume I haven't tried this outfit on at all so I really hope that it works I think it will this is the top I have so I feel like because it has like you know it's like frilly and like off the shoulder and the sleeves like it gives pirate I think like I said the party is at seven which means I have about two hours till I need to leave so I'm gonna eat some lunch and just sit down and relax and just try to like unwind like now that I am done with work for the week I want to just kind of like breathe because I just feel like I have so much stress in my body and I think that's just like making my neck worse and I don't know now I just feel like all this tightness in my shoulders as well so yeah I want to just release all of that and feel good being in a good mood for this party I'm also going to stick the wine and prosecco in the fridge so that can get cold I will see you later after I get ready okay I think this is coming together nicely doesn't this top look like a pirate top I got it a while ago I want to say like from she in or fashion over one of those sites I think she in so these shorts are from cider just like some plain black like trouser shorts and this belt I already had it's from Zara I feel like once I added the belt it really like brought the outfit together and then I'm wearing my Steve Madden knee-high boots I'm gonna wait to put the eye patch on obviously I'm not gonna drive with it on but here's the full outfit with the hat it's kind of a big obnoxious hat but I'm sure I won't keep it on the whole night you know I'll just wear it when I get there and like for pictures and stuff but there we go I think once I put the eye patch on it'll like really bring it all together but it's obvious when I am right like I look like a pirate I feel like it works that was a nice easy costume so I just need to grab my pizza rolls got those made and this is cool now so be able to carry this I'm just gonna put some tin foil on top I need to grab the prosecco and wine and I filled out her card what this bow cute I'm not gonna lie I do still feel tired and part of me would love to just get my pajamas and like curl up in bed and just go to sleep early um but I am looking forward to seeing my friends because I haven't seen all of them since like way before I left so it's been over a month and I'm looking forward to seeing them and you know having a good night I'm gonna try to make the most of it I just hate when I feel this way like I just felt tired to begin with and I didn't end up drinking much at all because I started to drink a little bit of a mixed drink and I was just like oh my god this is just so gross my body was just like instantly rejecting it so then I switched to a seltzer just had one and that was literally it the whole night not to say like oh I need to drink in order to have a good crime like I can be wild and fun sober don't get me wrong but I just didn't have that natural energy and I was hoping that like once I was there and around everybody like I would just feel better and have energy and I just didn't and my head just started killing me my neck and shoulders were hurting so sorry you are resting on my nivia cream um but we hung out at her house and there was a whole arrangement of snacks so we chilled there played some games got all caught up because like I said I hadn't seen that group of friends in a long time and then we walked down to this bar that's like down the street from her and it was cool to see everybody in their costumes like most of the people there were dressed up I was just starting to feel so tired and just not well my head was killing me I didn't want to drink anything else and I just was like not on everybody else's level and I just felt like such a buzzkill so I got an uber and I came home and everybody else is still out but at least I got to see them for a little bit but it feels so good to be home and to just wash my face get comfy clothes now I am going to fill up my Stanley I'm gonna take some excedrin and an allergy pill because my allergy started acting up and I was having a sneezing attack there is nothing more refreshing than ice cold lemon water I get this on I'm ready for bed no place else I'd rather be this is my ideal Saturday night I'm just at that point in my life I know I've said this in past vlogs I just can't hang anymore like I just have no desire to go out and to drink and stay up late like I just want to be in bed by 10 p.m I am gonna end this vlog here because tomorrow I am just planning on staying my ass home and doing absolutely nothing and I just want to be completely unplugged and just sleep all day and just be lazy and rest thank you guys so much for watching don't forget to check out the description for my link and discount code to dossier and I'll see you really soon in my next video bye good night bye see you good night