Make Me Up Monday | May 18, 2015

My Skin Care Routine

There are few things I love more than the feeling of a fresh, clean face. Whether it's waking up in the morning and washing all the tired away or taking all my makeup off after a long day, washing my face just instantly puts me in a good mood. I spend more time on my skin care than I do on my makeup because I have this mind set that I only have one face and one skin so I need to take care of them the best I can.

Morning 

I keep my morning skin care fairly simple. I begin by cleansing with my Clinique bar soap in very mild (for dry skin). I dampen my face with water first, then I rub the bar between my hands to get some soap on them, then I just use my hands and fingers to wash my face with the soap. I will then take a warm, damp cotton wash cloth and use circular motions to wash the face. Then I rinse off the cleanser with warm water.

To follow up after cleansing, I use the Clinque dramatically different moisturizing gel for my whole face, neck, ears, and chest. Then I apply the Clinique all about eyes with my ring finger all the way around my eyes.

That's all I do in the mornings for skin care, it is quite simple and quick but it is very effective. I love all the products I use as I think Clinique is the best skin care brand for my face.

Evening

To start off in the evening, I remove my make up. I dampen my face and fingers just slightly and then use a pea sized amount of the Clinque take the day off cleansing milk on my finger tips and work that all over the face (yes even the eyes!). I then take a warm, damp flannel -mine is from the The Body Shop- and rub my whole face down with it. These two products together in this way act like a makeup removing wipe; the makeup wipes right off onto the flannel.

I then use my Clinique bar soap again as I did the morning half of my skin care. I use the cloth again, warm and damp, and rub my skin in circular motions to exfoliate any dead skin away. I find using an exfoliating product every day is too much for my sensitive skin, but I need daily exfoliation because my skin is also quite dry, so using a cotton cloth has become my happy medium and works very well for me.

Every two to three days I will go in with my deep cleansing brush. This brush is one that my dermatologist gave me so unfortunately I don't know the brand of it. I really do love using this brush. After I do I feel that my skin looks so glowing and it feels really clean. I don't use this every day because, again, my skin is quite sensitive and this can be a bit intense.

I finish off my evening skin care by applying my Clinique gel moisturizer to my face, ears, neck and chest, and my Clinique all about eyes all around my eye area. I love my evening skin care routine because it leaves my skin feeling smooth, soft, and very clean. I find it very difficult to sleep at night if my skin doesn't feel clean. 

I think having a skin care routine is so important as it gives your skin some homeostasis. It allows your skin to really get used to the way you are treating it and so it can adjust accordingly. Finding skin care products that work for your skin type is so important so please do your research to find out what skin type you have and what products will work best for you (I had a consultation done by a dermatologist). Having dull, spotty skin can be a major insecurity for a lot of people -men and women- so I highly recommend finding products and a routine that will work for you.

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

52 Weeks of Gratitude Challenge | May 17, 2015

4. A Family Member

This is myself and my cousin, Ila (ages ago). My whole life I have always looked up to both her and her sister, but lately I have become closer and closer with Ila. She is that person that I call or text when something goes wrong or when I'm having a bad day. We go for walks together, we talk about everything together, and because she's family, even when we argue we still love each other. I never had a sister but I'm sure our relationship as cousins is pretty to close to that of sisters. I am so grateful to have her in my life as a cousin and as a friend. She is a beautiful person with a heart of gold.

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Food Friday | May 15, 2015

My Go-To Lunch

Lunch is one of my favourite meals of the day (probably because it's one of my biggest ha ha ha). I try to wack in a bunch of vegetables and protein into my lunches to get me through until dinner. 

This is what I ate for lunch just yesterday! I use about 11/2 - 2 cups of romaine lettuce for every salad as that's my favourite type of lettuce. I then add some meat (usually leftovers) to my salad. Yesterday we had no leftover meat in the fridge so I fried up some bacon (good excuse to eat bacon eh? ha ha ha). I then added some skim milk mozzarella cheese cubes. I topped it with some canola oil and white vinegar. It's delicious with the crisp lettuce, warm bacon, and slightly melty mozzarella! This lunch provides protein, vitamins, and calcium.

My other go to lunch is 2 poached eggs on 12 grain toast with some sort of veg. Again, I like romaine lettuce with some oil and vinegar on top. But, I also really like to heat up some frozen Green Giant vegetables. Frozen vegetables are good because they're picked at their ripest and then frozen. They are still jam packed with all their vitamins and nutrients like they were if you picked them yourself. Although in season, fresh veg is always best, frozen will get you through those times when fresh just isn't an option (about 8 months of the year up here in Canada ha ha ha), plus they aren't having to be imported from somewhere else. This lunch is full of vitamins, protein, and good cholesterol.

I hope you enjoy these lunch ideas and if you have any suggestions of how I can mix this up a bit do let me know!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Random Thought Thursday | May 14, 2015

Places I Want to Travel

I want to travel. So badly do I want to travel but I've never really gotten the opportunity to travel outside of North America. Heck, I haven't really gotten the opportunity to travel within North America! I've made a list of the top 25 places in the world I'd like to see and today I thought I'd share that list with you!

1. Fairy Pools - Isle of Skye, Scotland

2. Glass beach - California USA

3. Glow worm cave - New Zealand

4. Atlantic ocean road - Norway

5. Valley of 10 peaks - Banff, Canada

6. Nottingham castle - England

7. Glacier national park - Montana, USA

8. Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Germany

9. Fingal's cave - Scotland

10. Athabasca falls - Alberta, Canada

11. The dark hedges - Northern Ireland

12. White haven beach - Australia

13. The narrows - Texas Hill Country

14. Havasu falls - Arizona, USA

15. Preacher's rock - Norway

16. Neuschwanstein castle - Germany

17. Beachy head - England

18. Wind cathedrals - Namibia, South Africa

19. Dunnottar castle - Scotland

20. Wicklow national park - Ireland

21. Sea cliffs - Etretat, France

22. Coastal potholes - California, USA

23. Waterfall castle - Poland

24. Mystic forest - Netherlands

25. Zion national park - Utah, USA

This certainly isn't all the places I would dream of visiting but I had to narrow it down for the sake of a post ha ha. If there are any you think I should add to my list please do let me know!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

What I'm Wearing Wednesday | May 13, 2015

#OOTD

 Today I am wearing my favourite jeans from Forever 21, a cute baby doll top with a ruffle detail from American Eagle, and my beige cardigan from Urban Planet. I'm really enjoying the simplicity and sophistication of this outfit!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

Chatty Tuesday | May 12, 2015

Lola

So... yesterday I had a make me up Monday post planned that I was really excited about however, my plan got derailed around 8:30 am. About a week ago we found out that my dog, Lola, had a huge tumor on her spleen with a very aggressive cancer cell. Unfortunately yesterday, we lost her. We tried the cancer medications that were prescribed but the cancer was far too aggressive. Yesterday morning when we woke up she was unable to sit down or lay down because she was so uncomfortable. She was also panting quite hard and walking as if she were drunk. We took her in to the vet clinic and they found she was bleeding in to her abdomen and that she had very little red blood cells left at all. We put her down yesterday morning at 8:45 am; if we hadn't put her down she would have continued to bleed out into herself and would have had a harder passing. She would have most likely been gone by the end of the day because there would have been so much blood in her abdomen it would have collapsed her lungs. We decided as a family that it was the best decision to let her go so she wasn't any longer in pain. We will miss her so much, she was a huge part of our family for 12 years and her passing is incredibly hard. Pets become a part of a family unit and losing them is so difficult. I take comfort knowing that she is in a better place. Love you forever Lola girl.

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn

52 Weeks of Gratitude Challenge | May 10, 2015

3. Family

It's so hard to express my gratitude toward my family with words. I'm a firm believer in family comes first and family is everything. I am so blessed to have a solid support system within my family, immediate and extended. Of course members with in my family do argue (loudly ha ha ha), but it's amazing to know that no matter what the problem is we all still love each other unconditionally and at the end of the day we are all there for each other through the good and the bad.

There's so many amazing memories I can recall with my family. Some of my most fond memories are out at camp when loads of the extended family would come over and we would do a big barbecue and play games, and go to the beach, and then end the night around the bonfire. There was always tonnes of laughter and fun. As much as I used to gripe about going to camp (no cell service, no friends, blah blah blah) most of my best memories are from there.

I honestly can not express how grateful I am for my family. They are an amazing bunch; kind, loving, supportive, and always good for a laugh! I'm so looking forward to all the exciting things I will do with my family this summer!

Thanks for reading, xo, Katelyn