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Road Trip Essentials

Hi! It’s been a while since my last post. I was on vacation in Kelowna and now I am back in town. During my road trip there, I thought I would write up a post about the items that I take with me and just some tips of what to bring…. so here it is, a week later!

I’m writing this post while on a road trip. As I sat here wondering why our dog doesn’t want to hang out with me, I realized that I could write a post of my essentials on a road trip! Thanks for the idea, Tofu!

Entertainment

The number one thing I think about if I’m going on a road trip is how I will entertain myself for hours. There’s a variety of things you can do, the easiest one is to socialize with your car mates. But if that’s not really an option (most people would probably fall asleep and not have to worry about entertaining themselves, lucky people!) then you have to find other fun things to do!

I’m typing this entry on my phone, so I bring that of course. I don’t have data throughout the province (please extend your range, Freedom!), so I’ll edit some photos through Snapseed and listen to music with headphones or earbuds so that I don’t distract anyone. If there’s any offline games I can play (not really) then I’ll play those too.

Of course I’ll probably run out of ideas and photos to edit, so another essential is my Nintendo 3DS. Consider bringing your favourite console and make sure it’s fully charged! I don’t play my 3DS as often, so I usually bring one game cartridge and play whatever trials or games I have installed on my SD card/device. This helps lessen the amount of stuff you need to bring. If you’re curious, I’m currently playing Pokemon Shuffle!

Bring a book! Or an ebook! I’ve brought my KOBO Glo ebook with me preloaded with some books. I prefer ebooks since I only need to bring one item and not multiple books that could take up a lot of space. Once I have access to Internet, I can always download some more books.

Sleeping is also another option. I envy people who can sleep almost the entire ride! I usually like staying awake so that I’m aware of my surroundings, but it is nice to sneak in a nap or two.

Hygiene

If you’re somewhat of a germaphobe like me, this will probably be a priority!

If you will not be stopping at places with washrooms and sinks with soap and paper towels, I recommend bringing some hand sanitizer (73% or more!), paper soap, a few bottles of water, wet wipes and towels. We usually use hand sanitizer and wet wipes after using the outhouse. But if you have paper soap or regular soap and some water bottles that you can use to wash your hands, it would be more effective!

I also bring some Lysol wipes with me to wipe down my phone and other devices, and anything else that isn’t my hands to disinfect. It’s great to have in the car!

Prepare some food!

Pack some food that won’t need a cooler and pack food that will actually keep you full throughout the ride. We usually get some Vietnamese subs and pack apples and bananas. And of course, pack water! I would not recommend freezing water bottles as they make take long to melt. If you want your water to be cool, just put some ice cubes inside a reusable water bottle instead of disposable one.

What are your road trip essentials? Let me know in the comments below!

Links included are Amazon affiliate links.

Girls Night Outfit – Florals

My first post on fashion! I am in no means an expert in fashion, and everyone’s styles are completely different, so do not quote me on anything. 🙂 My style changes from time to time, but I have been really into florals for a while… They are perfect for the summer and the super hot weather we have been getting here lately!

I haven’t been to a girls night out in a very long time, and so I was pretty stumped as to what to wear for a enjoyable evening with the girls. I turned to Pinterest first, and a lot of the results that popped up when I searched “summer girls night out outfits” were a little too much club-like, or full of items I didn’t really feel comfortable wearing out on their own, like spaghetti strap tops and tank tops. I’m afraid of bug bites!

So I dug through my closet and I’m sure some of you can relate what a strange feeling that can be. There will always be outfits you want to wear, but then you may find that they aren’t appropriate for the evening, or they may expose your skin too much to the sun/bugs… but once I stumbled upon my floral jumper that I hadn’t worn in ages, I was set for the night.

Here is me trying to ‘model’ for a decent photo… I should have taken more angles of the outfit, but it’s so simple!

Floral Romper from Forever 21

The back has a nice criss-cross pattern and ties up at the bottom of your back. It took a bit for me to get used to this dress, as I hadn’t worn an off-the-shoulder top or dress before, but I love the shoulder straps, it makes it so much easier to wear the top, especially if you are new to shoulder tops.

In case you’re curious, we ended up going to Trolley 5 for some food and drinks. Their mac and cheese entree with a fried egg is absolutely DEE-LICIOUS! I cannot recommend it enough, go try it if you are a fan of mac and cheese! We also went to Presotea, a new bubbletea place that opened on 17th ave. So many flavours!

What outfit do you have sitting in your closet that you had to give a second try, and why? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: I purchased this dress with my own money, and all opinions are my own. 🙂

 

IPSY x Gudetama July 2017 Bag Opening

Gudetama has been a character that I’ve been an avid fan of since my Japan trip way back in 2015. I was traveling with friends and everywhere we went, the lazy egg would be scattered all over the place! Gudetama was just starting to get popular over here… then I saw Sanrio start promoting it more and now it looks like they’re doing so many collaborations!

I’ve also eyed IPSY bags but never really had the motivation to get one, until I saw Gudetama was doing a collab with Ipsy. I instantly subscribed for my first bag, and received it in the mail a few days ago.

In my metallic pink bubble-wrapped package I found:

A cute Gudetama makeup pouch (it was a bit smelly though…)

Beaute Basics Travel Face Blender
Cougar Cosmetics Liquid Lipstick in Mulberry

Ciaté London Wonderwand Gel-Kohl Hybrid Liner in Black
OFRA Cosmetics Eyeshadow in Gold Rush

TONYMOLY I’m Real Sheet Masks – Green Tea & Lotus

I’m not too sure how I feel about this bag, especially it being my first. A friend of mine got completely different products (other than the liner and bag), and I wanted her products instead! I have too many blending sponges, liquid lipsticks and metallic eyeshadows… so half of this bag was not really for me. However, I’m looking forward to trying the TONYMOLY sheet masks!

Did you get the IPSY July 2017 Gudetama bag? Which products did you get and have you tried them? Let me know in the comments below!

Disclaimer: Product was purchased by me and all opinions are my own.

Summer Essentials

Summer is finally here in Calgary! The sun here is fantastic, but there’s a few days where it just sends a beam straight to the surface of your skin. It’s important to always wear sunscreen with a good SPF and cover yourself as much as you can to protect your skin from the effects of the sun/UV rays and also if you don’t like tanning as much as me! Here’s some of the products I’ve been using for the summer so far:

Vanilla Coconut Sunscreen SPF 31 from Rocky Mountain Soap Company

Natural sunscreen has been my preference for quite a few years now, and I love this one. It’s non-whitening and smells delicious! The smell reminds me of birthday cake icing… (too bad I can’t eat it…) It doesn’t feel greasy when applied and it doesn’t feel heavy at all on my skin.