If you watch my Instagram stories, you’ve probably seen a bunch of my favorite candles featured there. I am so addicted to candles, and they are my go-to gift as well. You can never go wrong with a Le Labo, Diptyque, or Jo Malone candles. The quality is unbeatable. When it comes to fragrance, I have high standards. It must smell expensive. I am not a fan of vanilla, overly sweet candles, pumpkin spice, ya know what I mean. Let me know if you want me to share a round up of my favorite candles?
The title of this blog post honestly makes me want to roll my eyes. BUT, I found this information so useful, and had to share. I had no idea that there was a proper way to burn and care for your candles, until I purchased a Jo Malone candle at Nordstrom, and was given a lesson.
HOW TO BURN CANDLES THE RIGHT WAY:
♡ Use the right tools. You’ll find out why below, but investing in a wick trimmer and a snuffer is so important.
♡ Make sure the wick is trimmed. Why? To eliminate smoke and soot. Keep the wick trimmed to 1/8 inch at all times. The wick should be trimmed every 4 hours of burn time, and if you see smoke, extinguish the flame, let the candle come to room temperature, and trim the wick to 1/8 of inch before relighting.
♡ Light it up and keep the flame going. When you burn a candle for the first time, you should let it burn for 3 hours, unless it is a small candle. In this case, 2 hours should do the trick. Why? When the candle burns for the first time, you’ll want an even layer of melted wax to avoid uneven surfaces. Burning for 3 hours will maximize the lifespan of your candle.
♡ Use a snuffer to extinguish. Why? Blowing your candles out can make the wax become uneven, and can cause lots of smoke.
♡ Light your candles with matches. I had used a lighter for so long (mostly because I am scared of matches. That is a story for a different day), BUT using a match helps avoid that black ring around the inside of your candles.
I had never met someone who loves weddings more than I do until I met Marissa.
When Marissa and I met, we instantly bonded over business, Instagram aesthetics, and yep, WEDDINGS. Marissa has offered so much advice to me as I plan my destination wedding, and she helps her clients live out the weddings of their dreams. Seriously, she is so talented at bringing a creative vision to life.
I had to bring Marissa on the podcast to share her insight on wedding planning, tips, trends, and valuable advice on being a wedding planner.
Intermittent Fasting is EVERYWHERE these days. When I first heard about it a couple of years ago, I had zero interest in trying it because not eating for long periods of time set off my anxiety. BUT, curiosity caught the cat and here we are. I have been practicing intermittent fasting for 6 months and I fucking love it.
This is my experience. Please consult with your doctor and look into the topic more if you are interested in giving it a try.
If you’re new to intermittent fasting, here is the definition {source}:
Intermittent fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of fasting and eating.
It doesn’t specify which foods you should eat but rather when you should eat them.
In this respect, it’s not a diet in the conventional sense but more accurately described as an eating pattern.
Common intermittent fasting methods involve daily 16-hour fasts or fasting for 24 hours, twice per week.
Fasting has been a practice throughout human evolution. Ancient hunter-gatherers didn’t have supermarkets, refrigerators or food available year-round. Sometimes they couldn’t find anything to eat.
As a result, humans evolved to be able to function without food for extended periods of time.
In fact, fasting from time to time is more natural than always eating 3–4 (or more) meals per day.
The method that I choose is the 16 hour fast, 5-7 days per week. We already “fast” while we sleep, so that 8 hours of sleep accounts for half of this time. My usual routine is to eat my first meal at 12 pm and my last meal by 8 pm.
HOWEVER. I can’t quit coffee, so I do have a cup of coffee right when I wake up, and I do add a little Califa Farms unsweetened almond milk.
I thought for sure I would feel shaky, uncomfortable, and anxious not eating for 16 whole hours, but I have been so surprised by how easy and calming it is. One of the most amazing parts is that I had always wanted to do consistent fasted workouts, but was too scared of passing out to try it. I’ve felt faint before while working out later in the day because I hadn’t eaten enough, but this is different. As long as I work out first thing in the morning, I am golden.
The benefits I have experienced:
♡ Increased energy: I have noticed that I have so much more energy during my morning workouts – and I burn more calories than if I work out after eating.
♡ No cramping during workouts: Before, even if I had eaten a handful of hours before working out, I would still get cramps while running. Not with IF.
♡ Increased productivity: I feel WAY more productive, especially in the mornings. I don’t have to worry about food until lunch time, and I have experienced the elimination of brain fog.
Here are some more benefits of intermittent fasting:
• Increases autophaghy. Autophagy is the process that your body uses to recycle cells. It’s linked to many health benefits including reduced risk of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. {source}
• Can increase human growth hormone. Human growth hormone helps increase energy, increase bone density, and increase/retain muscle. {source}
There are so many different options if you’re wondering what’s right for you when it comes to timing. Try different time intervals out if you’re not sure what will be most comfortable to you. And never starve yourself. There is a huge difference between fasting and starvation. I want to note here that while I was researching intermittent fasting, it is advised that those with eating disorders proceed with caution as IF can disrupt progress you’ve made.
I have loved IF and plan to continue until I feel that it is not working for me — I will always listen to my body. And I want you to do the same.
Have you tried intermittent fasting? If so, what has your experience been like?
Over the years, my style has become balanced. What do I mean? A little edgy and a little feminine. It used to be 100% feminine, and the look started to seem stale and overdone. I would wear outfits that were all pink, ruffles, bows, you get it. No more. Adding juxtapositions to your outfits just adds interest and it looks a whole lot more effortless. And natural.
This ‘style’ has brought me to LOVE the athleisure trend because there is so much masculinity to the trend, but you can totally put your own spin on it with colors and accessories.
So, what is athleisure? The formal definition of athleisure goes something like this: Athletic apparel or casual, comfortable clothing that’s suitable for both exercise and everyday wear.
When I think of athleisure, I think of the Kardashians — I think they made this ‘trend’ happen when they were photographed leaving the gym wearing cute Nikes, leggings, and a flannel tied around their waist.
From there it made its way to Pinterest and the rest is history. Athleisure has evolved into such a popular style because it can be chic, easy, and affordable. And you don’t have to be working out in order to wear these clothes!
My favorite way to wear this ‘trend’ is to wear a ‘normal’ outfit and pair it with one or two athletic pieces. This instantly dresses down your look and gives BALANCE. Some examples of this include: pairing a T-shirt and a denim jacket with athletic pants, or a dress paired with sneakers.
My best tips for styling athleisure looks:
Color coordinate: The #1 easiest way to do this is by dressing monochromatically. Meaning: wear the same color from head to toe. This doesn’t have to mean exactly the same shade. It can be different hues of one color, like hot pink, some blush, and a little nude. Another way to color coordinate is to wear a neutral and add a pop of color.
Wear flattering clothes: This one is HUGE. Stay away from all baggy, ill-fitting pieces because you will look like a hot mess. This look should look effortless, but put some thought into what fits your body well. If you’re wearing leggings, maybe pair them with a boyfriend style denim jacket.
Ok, so here is a list to get started. Think your athleisure starter pack:
Attention offbeat brides: it’s freaking HARD to find invites that are not overdone and boring. At least it was for me.
Our wedding is going to be dark and dramatic, and there was not much to turn to as far as invitation inspiration goes. I am so lucky that Jeff has amazing graphic design skills, and that my dad owns a printing business.
But then they had to deal with me. The pickiest client ever. Yes, those are words straight from my dad’s mouth.
I LOVE how our invitation suite turned out. I wanted them to be modern, glam, and dramatic. The entire suite was designed by myself and Jeff, but I wanted to share some tips and steps that could be useful whether you’re designing your own invitation suite, or picking them out to be customized for you.
Step 1: Choose your color theme
One of our colors is black, and since I wanted some drama, we went with black for the main invitation and for the information card. The black paper is letter-pressed with gold foil, and I love the contrast!
Step 2: Pick your style
Picking out what style you want for your suite will help set the tone of your wedding once you have your color(s) picked. Going with a modern and dramatic theme, we picked out three fonts that reflect modern and dramatic: a sans serif font and two scripty fonts. If you’re designing your own invitations, I highly recommend using 2-3 fonts to make your suite more “design-y”.
Step 3: Include all information needed & package your suite
The information that should be included on your invitation should include:
WHO: You’ll obviously want to include your names, but also perhaps your hosts, such as your parents.
WHAT: A wedding of course! State a line inviting guests to a wedding, or get creative with different wording.
WHEN: A formal invitation would have the full date and time spelled out, but this is your preference. As long as you have the month, day, year and ceremony start time.
WHERE: Your venue location would be listed here, but not necessarily the full address on a modern invitation. But do list the city and state underneath.
OPTIONAL: Add a quick note about reception to follow and/or make a note about attire on the very bottom, if you want to communicate this information.
The information card includes an invite to our welcome party and our wedding website details, along with our wedding hashtag. And then there’s the map. A map is definitely not necessary, however, since our wedding is a destination wedding, we thought it would be helpful for our guests.
Packaging: I have always loved the look of vellum (transluscent paper), and knew I wanted it included with the suite. I had researched so many different ways to tie all of the paperwork together neatly, I really love the look of a simple tri-fold envelopment. The vellum outer layer gives a little sneak peek at what’s inside, sealed with a bronze wax seal.
P.S. If you want to see how we did the wax seals, watch my Instastories under my “wedding” stories on Instagram.
