The plant that never blooms, but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers
Author: The Evergreen Guide
A suburban girl who daydreams way too often, inspired by a bit of everything. Equal parts mindfulness and absentmindedness. She/Her/Hers. Fil-Am. 26. Sun in Pisces, Sagittarius moon & Gemini rising. INFP-T. San Francisco Bay Area. Pakikipagkapwa-tao.
In April, I visited my best friend in Santa Cruz County! My partner was so kind to drive us around the entire time, and we booked an Airbnb for one night. I’ll be sharing things we did, reviewing places we visited, and one product review. I’ll also share a powerful incident of tension in my relationship during this trip, but that is for another article (click here!)
(via news.beachboardwalk.com)
Mentioned in this post:
• Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk • Sport-Brella Sun/Weather Shelter • Santa Cruz Massage Harbor • Regal Santa Cruz 9 Theatres • Penny Ice Creamery • Our Airbnb • Roux Dat (Capitola location)
The eco-friendly period conversation continues, this time about the ever-essential panty liner. It’s only natural to consider the environmental costs of a product one uses every single day. When I ran out of liners unexpectedly, I didn’t go to Walgreens due to traffic and roadside construction (for my old go-to for liners, which admittedly were of synthetic material). Instead, I went to my local health foods market, hoping they had the style I liked—lo and behold, they did… but only in this brand! I don’t think I can go back to using synthetic panty liners, and here’s why.
I never thought I’d be staging a photoshoot for panty liners, and yet, here we are…
My bullet journal starts in July, which is approaching fast! I’m trying to minimize purchases and am using any opportunity to save money. Though content with my current one, I do like changing it up… So, I bought Minimalism Art’s City Edition Journal on Amazon. I also had the opportunity to try their Premium Journal when they offered to send it to me after I’d joined their mailing list. Here is an honest review of the two journals.
PLEASE NOTE: Images may look a bit dark, as they’ve been left unaltered to reflect the true colors and opacity of the pages. I tried taking these photos in the best natural lighting I had available.
Enjoy these relaxing melodies taken straight from video games that I’ve played (or watched my sister play!)… I chose these games specifically for nostalgic reasons. It’s comforting to listen to the music which played for hours in the background of your childhood video game endeavors.
Many of these songs are extended between 15 and 30 minutes. Great as background music for bullet journaling & studying! There are no covers or remixes; only the pure, untainted sounds of sweet gaming memories.
Approaching my birthday, I’ve been pondering over how terribly self-conscious and skittish I was in grade school (and how I still am today). It primarily stems from social situations: worrying about how others perceived me, how I project myself and appear to the world… Although I’ve gained more confidence in myself, I still struggle with social anxiety. I’ve gotten better partly by using positive affirmations.
Thinking negatively can make you limit and shrink yourself. Thinking positively can help you become more confident and self-assured, decrease social anxiety, and allow you to foster healthy relationships with others. (via thriveglobal.com)
Illustration by riceisholy (via giphy)
In counseling class last year, I learned how powerful and uplifting positive affirmations can be (Thank you, Mr. Goobs!) When you have low self-esteem, positive affirmations may feel silly to say out loud or even think of at first—but with time, they can help change the way you think about yourself for the better.
Positive affirmations realign and recenter the self when one gets especially lost in anxiety-induced, neurotic thoughts. It’s an effective practice of The Law of Attraction, which is the philosophy that both positive and negative thoughts affect the choices, experiences, and circumstances of your life.
Here are a few positive affirmations revolving around social anxiety. They’re grouped by different fears.
Started off Pisces season the right way, at the de Young Museum with my sisters and cousins!I was especially excited to see the exhibit Monet: The Late Years.Additionally, the museum was hosting another collection Gauguin: A Spiritual Journey.Here are some of my favorites, starting with Claude Monet’s poignant exhibit.
“Water Lilies,” ca. 1914-1917. The free stickers the museum hands out to visitors featured this particular painting.
You don’t have to spend big bucks to pamper yourself. Making your own beauty & skincare products saves money and can be surprisingly easy, not to mention is highly personalized to your unique skincare needs. Additionally, buying ingredients in bulk and using reusable packaging is eco-friendly by greatly reducing the amount of plastic you consume. In this post, I’ll walk you through how I make my own face and body oil!
Beauty oils have become a preference of mine over lotion, I find them easier to get out of their bottles and a more pleasant application. I also use face oils so frequently and burn through them faster than almost all other skincare products.
After reviewing two expensive oils—Mitchell & Peach’s Flora No. 1 Face Oil and Caudalie’s Divine Oil—and trying a few that I haven’t posted about, I wanted to save money on my next full-size purchase yet still have a high-grade product. The only way to do this was to concoct it myself.
I use this DIY oil on both my face and body! It doesn’t clog my pores and is super lightweight and fast-absorbing. Applying oil on my body with the dropper bottle makes me feel incredibly posh, hehe.
Throughout the long school breaks, I lay out as many upcoming months in my bullet journal so I don’t worry about setting up spreads needed during the semester. I managed to complete through March, which is when my Spring Break begins (when I’ll lay out April and onward.
Above are the “stickers” I used for February and March, with a few stickers for New Year’s and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. When printed at 100% scale, they’ll be the same size as seen in my own journal below. Download these PDFs here for free (for personal use only):
Download February-March 2019 Plan With Me Stickers 1 Download February-March 2019 Plan With Me Stickers 2
How I make these PDFs:
Grab images from various sources (Google, Instagram, Pinterest)
Paste them into a Blank Document in Pages or Microsoft Word
Edit images to the correct size or color needed to match my washi tape
Print them on regular paper, cut them out, and tape them into my bujo—however, you can save time by printing on special sticky-backed paper, like this Avery Sticker Paper 20-pack from Amazon.
Scroll onward to see how I put these stickers to use in my bullet journal! Please enjoy my New Year’s, February & March spreads below~★
For almost the entire year, I’d been ranting and raving about Rothy’s shoes to friends and loved ones. To my excited delight, my sisters got me a gift card for Christmas for my very first pair.
*UPDATE* Since posting these, I have sold these shoes and bought a larger size in a different color (6.5) … I’ve also tried size 7, which was slightly large for me and kept slipping off the heel. Size 6.5 is perfect for me! Don’t be dissuaded by the strange sizing—for those who can’t try them on in-store, Rothy’s has a great 30-day return & exchange policy so long as the shoes are unworn. Rothy’s shoes also have great resale value in the online secondhand market.
I ordered The Point in Mink. For most shoes, I float between size 5½ to 6. I took the advice of sizing up for wide feet and got myself 6’s(again, I later sized up to 6.5 because size 6 was just a touch too small).
Mink is an incredibly beautiful color, described as a “warm taupe” but I think it does lean towards purple in some lights. It’s versatile and can be paired with so many outfits, which is why I chose it.
Have you been curious about thrifting, or you’re already hooked and wanna convince your loved ones to shop secondhand? Here are 3 reasons why buying recycled fashion and other secondhand goods is super beneficial, with a few suggestions that may help you get started.
Shameless plug here for Pick of the Litter in Burlingame—100% of sales benefit the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA. They also have an online eBay store and 100% of proceeds to support our local shelter animals. (via Yelp)
So, the 3 reasons why you should shop secondhand are…
The environment will thank you!
(via classic-play.com)
By extending the life of used goods, you do these 3 key things:
Saving perfectly usable things from the landfill
Reducing your carbon footprint
Opposing chemical pollution & water overuse
New things are constantly manufactured for ever-changing fashion, cultural, design and technological trends. Most things (mass-produced goods) require raw, unprocessed material. This overproduction for material is what makes buying new things problematic.
The Evergreen Guide 