Friday Favorites!

Happy Friday Ladies & Gents!

I have a lot of favorites this week that I wanted to share with all of you.  

There is a lot of grace in appreciating the gifts of life, no matter how small.

My list of Friday Favorites

Lavender & Lemongrass oils - I use Lavender (non-filtered, non-delituted Lavender oil) on my daughter and myself before bed, I also will use our air purifier to fill our home with the calming smell of Lavender. I add a few drops to my palms and rub them together before brushing her hair, clothes, bottom of her feet, and then have her inhale it straight from my hands a couple of times to calm her and prepare her for sleep.  I don't want to put the oils directly on her hair and skin, but leave the lingering smell and energy around her aura, this helps calm and prepare her for sleeping soundly through the night.  Since we fell sick last week with colds I used Lemongrass Oil on our defusers and put on my temples.  The smell always makes me smile and it makes me feel alive.   It truly does what it says, "...awaken the senses." 

Unsweetened Matcha Love Green Tea - I drink this daily and love it!  For some, green tea takes a little getting used to, the flavor can be bitter.  I prefer not adding sugar to my teas so I can benefit from everything the tea has to offer and it's grown on me.  It provides me with the boost I need without the jitters and inconsistent energy that coffee tends to have on me.  

Surya Incense - My favorite!  I love the scents early morning while I meditate and throughout the days when I have windows open and the energy of wind cleanse our home.  

Walking - The simple act of walking and being aware has been a gift this week after recovering from being sick for almost a week and waiting for the rain to end.  I never take the ability to explore NYC by foot and embrace it's love and buzzing energy for granted.  When I need stillness I break to the park with my daughter and we love nothing more than to walk through the grass.  

Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar - This is SUCH a huge healing ingredient I love having in our kitchen.  It aids our health and skin and it dresses our salads beautifully.  I am trying to mix it in my homemade lemon-ginger drinks a lot more this spring, as it also helps detoxify.  I'll be sharing a few recipes using this apple cider in the coming weeks!

The Bouqs - Since mother's day was this past Sunday I received lovely flowers from my husband and daughter from Bouqs.  Hubby knows my love for this company, and I've been pleased with those who we have gifted them to expressing gratitude and now being the one to receive them myself I can't tell you how much their flowers bring me joy this week.  

Ice-cream on a warm day - Summer feels so much closer now that we've had a couple of sunny days and reasons to hit the park and relish in the warmth.  Of course, it's raining today but we still get to enjoy ice cream while snuggled up to a movie later this evening. 

What are you appreciative of this week?  

What brings joy into your home or heart?  

 With gratitude 

  

NYC Restaurants I have to try this Summer

NYC has far too many restaurants to try to pack into a lifetime.  A large part of the NYC experience is definitely the food.  I once heard you could go to a new restaurant every day, for every meal, and STILL not try them all.  I believe it.  When we have guests come into town we do food tours for practically every meal because the food here is the highlight when visiting the city.  Of course, our waist bands pay the price at times.  

Here are a few that made my summer "must try" list.  

JUNNON

Photo cred: Yelp

MAREA| Seafood Restaurant

CAPESANTE SCALLOPS (PHOTO BY TED AXELROD)

Blossom

Photo cred: blossom website

Pó

PHOTO CRED: PÓ WEBSITE

MAS (farmhouse)

PHOTO CRED:  goodlifereport.com

central park boat house

PHOTO cred: central park boat house site

​I have a growing list of places I'm trying this summer.  

I also have a few more casual restaurants on the list that I'll 

share with you soon. 

Where do you like to eat when you come to NYC?

Cheers!

Vision Boards & Current Faves

Here's a glimpse what is making me happy this month 

and some things I've added to my vision board.  

Everything COPPER from William Sonoma.  (drool)

I'm dreaming & manifesting my next kitchen haul. ;)

Yogi Chai Green Tea!  This has been my coffee replacement.  Now that the weather is (finally) warming up in NYC I am enjoying my green tea on ice with a slice of lemon.

LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS!!!  

I add lemon to just about everything!  

Guacamole, water, tea, salads, rice, sliced cucumbers 

and I use the scraps to clean sinks and faucet handles. 

I LOVE BOXED!

This delivery service has saved our family lots of money and I have more structure on food planning. Sticking to a budget is important and we HATE for food to go to waste.  I like to shop with purpose and the fact that their express produce can arrive the same day or next day is even better.  I'm constantly catering and inviting family/friends over to join us at the table.  The quality of their products are fantastic and I love that they delivery right to my door.  For NYC living, buying in bulk without a car was always a challenge.  

Not anymore!!

Check them out, see how you can get FREE shipping too!

  Who doesn't like to binge on some Netflix?  

Honestly, I wish I had the time to binge watch, but I do like to catch up on fabulous shows to choose from while I fold laundry or cook.

I.love.this.soundtrack!  

This vitamin E oil has brought my skin back to life.  I saw a difference in the texture of my skin in one week, but felt the results immediately.

Snapchat is my life!!!  

Our daughter loves to enjoy the selfie features and let me tell you, that alone entertains us.  I don't actually Snapchat as much for a following, but I do love sending family and friends personal messages and especially goof off moments using their facial filters.  Something about it bring out the kid in me.

Add me!  saralydianyc

You'll always find me with a stripped shirt, or several.  I LOVE THEM!!! 

This one from JCrew is on my vision board list.

How rock'n are these overalls!?!?!?? 

I'm still debating if I can pull them off because they are on my vision board. 

I have a deep love for Rock Etiquette in Southern California.  

I first came across their Santa Monica location with a dear friend 2yrs ago 

and I've been a fan ever since! 

Be sure to check them out, in person or online! 

What are some of your May joys??  

Money talks

I've made my share of mistakes and learned the hard way in my 20's when it came to budgeting. It took some time, understanding and much patience to learn and put better choices into action.  I hated being broke or living paycheck to paycheck when I was just starting my young adult life out on my own.  I don't think money problems ever go away, it is a constant exercise we have to stay on top of or else, like our health, it can get away from us if we're not careful.  

Money isn't the root of happiness, but it can definitely relieve a person and family of financial stress and burdens.  Let's be honest, life isn't cheap and it definitely doesn't come free.  We have rent/mortgages, electric/water/gas, grocery/dining out, medical/dental, and education obligations. These bills fall under the "necessities" category that we need to consider first.  I'm sure a few may be missing in here for you, but you get the picture.

So what got me thinking about money lately?  A 6-month fresh wound I am constantly trying to heal.  Let me share wth you a tough moment I had to work through when it came to making a huge money mistake and learning from it.  Sadly, this one is the most recent money mistake, but I'm better for it.

  I used to have a VIP Rouge membership card at Sephora (still love you girl!) and that meant I was spending over $1k a year on beauty products!!!!  Let that sink in for a minute.

Yeah...I know. I'm not even a beauty blogger/vlogger.  WTH?

I don't even feel as if ANY of that necessarily made me feel pretty.  Most of it either expired, was donated, or thrown out once 1/2 used.  That didn't make me feel pretty that's for sure. And we all know sadness and anger lead to wrinkles and I wasn't going to go back and get more face cream.  Clearly, I was buying temporary happiness and not focusing on my budget.

So this bad habit of mine came to my attention when I realized what that membership cost to keep and I put an end to it.  I haven't gone into a Sephora in 6-months.  Before you feel as if this is a small, lame or not so "real money problems" issue let me tell you how much I spent over time.  When I saw in our financial spread sheet the number after 11yrs of spending at ONE store I was shocked.  I mean, I thought the yearly membership status was enough to make me change, but then I read that over the course of 11yrs I had spent over $7K!??  Yes, that's a SEVEN, not a one.  I KNOW!  Me & my husband worked very hard over the course of 11yrs for that number and sadly it went to beauty products.

#lessonlearnedthehardway

#beautyatacost

As tough as it is for me to admit this horrible mistake, it's my life and my lesson and I realize that so I'm easing myself away from beating myself about it.  I hate to think of anyone doing the same, or have done the same, but froze and didn't make a change because they didn't know where to begin. We have to really listen to our money and make smarter choices to feel less stress and more freedom. I say this because it made me feel amazing to fix a huge problem in our finances that I basically ignored because when you're spending even increments of $20, $30, $50 at a time it seems so small...but over time?  WOW!

Some things to think about with your family:

How much you spend on coffee outside the home?  Dining out?  Groceries?  Clothes?  Think of these add up in a week, month, 6-month's time.  How do you save money or invest it? Do you have a way to track your spending monthly or do you just notice your bank account and rely on text notifications?  Does your system really work or is it just comfortable?  There are SO many options are out there depending on how you work best when it comes to managing money.  

Check these out to help get you started and to also motivate you to build better financial habits.  You have big dreams to plan for darling!

Quicken Personal Finance, Money Management

Fun Cheap or Free

MINT 

Don't spend it all in one place! (like I did)

Before your feet hit the ground...

Having already talked in a previous post about making time to do the things that truly matter, and allow me to feel balanced and healthy, I wanted to share a fairly new morning ritual I've recently adopted and it's become my new energy booster before my feet even touch the floor.  

My husband has an obsession forwarding me articles on how to be a morning person, it's comical how often these make it to my inbox.  I think he's been trying to tell me something, no?  My honey man wakes up at 4:30am daily, occasionally weekends too, and this has been going on since he was in high school!!  He is the most disciplined person I know, I admire that about him most, but it's not something I felt I could attempt without feeling like a fraud.  I'm a night owl at heart, but honestly my energy is better in the morning.  Naturally, it took time to reach the point of productivity.  

Although I liked my evening time for me I was finding and realizing that I was irritated because I was still so sleep deprived.  My energy was non-existent by the time 7pm rolled around.  Plus, late nights were unproductive since it wasn't like I could use that time to tackle large home projects or chores.  I'd end up watching TV in bed while my family slept soundly.  By the time night came and my daughter was asleep I had zero patience to read my own books, pamper myself with that face mask I've been dying to try, or even attempt to sleep before 1am because again it was "me" time I felt I deserved.  I was wired and imbalanced.  Something had to give.

It's funny how ZERO sleep had me fooled to think it was rewarding because I had a few extra hours of being awake without anyone needing something from me that sitting in bed and watching TV was supposed to feel rewarding.  So backwards, right?

When another one of those fabulous "how to be a morning person" articles arrived in my inbox, by none other than my adoring husband, I decided to give it a try.  This one happened to be by Amy Cuddy, a Harvard Psychologist, and it seemed too easy to work, but I committed to trying it the next morning.  I have to say, I've done what she recommended every morning since and it works!  Other rituals came into play as well, but we'll get into those in another post.

Check out the original article from TechInsider  and be sure to check out her TEDtalk on how your body language shapes who you are.  I love finding new ways to build confidence, start my days off on the right foot, and I have appreciated my mornings while I have healthy energy and feel rewarded for a good night's rest.  Hopefully if you decide to give this exercise a try it will spark a little confidence in your day ahead or have you thinking of ways to change how you start your mornings.  If anything it's an additional tool in your tool box when you need it. ;)

Are you a morning person?  How do you start your morning off on the right foot and make that motivation and positivity last all day?  

Happy waking!

Books, books and more books!

Here's a look at what I'm reading this month, May 2016.  

I love books that motivate and give me reasons to stay healthy and balanced, as well as books that ignite my interest to try new things.  You never know what nuggets of knowledge that might help spark some self-love and encouragement.

What books do you love that you found to be helpful and motivating?  I'd love some new recommendations to add to my list for June!  

With gratitude

Roots of time

Time seems to travel at such a greater pace these days.  Before I know it weeks, months, years have gone by where there is little time for much else than what's in front of me.  Do you ever feel time is the greatest battle on your side?  Yeah, I've been guilty allowing time to be the blame for lack of productivity.  When we have time we probably rather watch TV than go organize that closet screaming for a revamping.  

The root to our struggles can run deep when it comes to creating a routine that works in the AM or PM, but it doesn't mean you can't nurture those roots in order to thrive and succeed to beat the stress of time.  I'm a laid back person, but I can tackle anything I set my mind to when I reach deep and find the time and energy.  Knowing this about myself is what motivated me to find a solution.  I got tired of never being satisfied with how I was running my life and household.  You may have read, heard or even said yourself "it's never too late".  Well, my friend, it's true.  It's never too late to look at time differently and have it work for you for a change.  

Making time for all areas of your life can make a world of difference.  You would be amaze what you can accomplish in 5min.   Below I listed some ideas and helpful exercises that helped me have a better relationship with the ticking clock.  It's really time we heal our roots so we can get to the things we not only desire to have time for, but deserve in order to feel a balance of wellness and happiness.

* Waking up early and starting the day off before the world gets busy.  Start with increments of 10-15min at a time until you reach the exact hour that makes sense for you and your schedule.  I wake at 6am, sometimes 5am, to have two hours before my daughter wakes so I can meditate, read and catch up on emails.  

* When cleaning, set an alarm.  I find when I set a timer I can get through chores much more efficiently and you realize it doesn't take as long as it feels before actually doing the chore. 

*  Calendar phone calls, emails & appointments every week or month, depending how far in advance you can plan.  

*  Calendar your "me" time and make good use of it.  If you already used your down time and you have unexpected down time happen in your hectic day be sure to use it wisely.  Maybe set the timer for those chores you keep putting off.  There's always something to do, as my mom would always tell us growing up when we screamed how bored we were. 

*  Find a routine that works for you.  It will save you time, energy and your sanity.

Hopefully these are a few helpful ideas for you to try.  What are some helpful things you do to save you time that are helpful to your busy day(s)? 

With gratitude