Fashion and Fitness - Couch to 5K with Boohoo!

Happy Monday!
Mondays are always a good day to start a new page in your fitness and health journey! Whenever I start a new training program, I always start on a Monday! If you haven't already noticed from my previous posts, I've been so into working out and living a healthy lifestyle lately. I literally have been living in my gym clothes, to the point where I have been wearing my workout leggings to work, because they are so comfy! When I did my laundry, I noticed 95% of my dirty clothes were all workout gear!! So I was really excited when I got the opportunity to check out another line of new workout clothing from BoohooFIT!
I was so excited when I received my items, a whole outfit that included a sports bra, top, and workout leggings for less than  £30 (about $30)! Can you believe that?! I ordered the Saskia Rainbow elastic hem sports bra (HERE), the Malkah Neon highlight sports running leggings in pink/orange (HERE) and the Lara Fit Sweat Squad Running Vest (HERE). The shirt I LOVED the quote, I've been really into cute quote shirts, and I didn't realize that the back had a cute strap running up the back - and it's cut like a muscle tee, so you really have to wear something underneath it (like the sports bra!). The running leggings were so soft and comfortable! They were super flexible. The sports bra had enough support for me which is what I needed, and a cute rainbow band that I just loved! I loved the way the outfit looked and the bra peeked from underneath!

Travel Diary Part 2 - Having a nice time in Nice, France

Hello!
I am back with Part 2 of my Travel Diary from my recent Euro trip and conference! This time I am talking and sharing about my travels to Nice, in the South of France, after the conference was over!
It has been on my list for some time to travel to the south of France. I had read article after article, photo after photo, about how wonderful and beautiful the beaches are in south France. I had always wanted to go to Nice/Monaco/St Tropez, but never did I think I would go so soon!
After my second year of grad school, I told myself when I graduate, I'm going to go on a euro trip for 6 weeks, and Nice, France was one of my top destinations. When I had the opportunity to go to Portugal for the conference, I said why not extend my trip and check out another city! I knew I wanted to go to France, but I wasn't sure if I should go by myself or not. I ended up convincing my friend to meet me there, and so off I went, to Nice for 3 days before my friend was to meet up with me, and we were going to then drive down the coast to St. Tropez and then take a train to Paris! It was like a dream come true!
One of the fun parts of being in France after the conference in June was that the Euro 2016 Football (Soccer) cup was going on, hosted IN France! It was soo much fun and the atmosphere was electrifying! There were fan zones set up in each city, and I found the fan zones when I was exploring around! The fan zone was basically a place to go watch the games on a super large screen, with lots of screaming fans, and there were little kiosks for food and beer - lots of entertainment. It would get really hot during the day, so at times it was scorching hot so I made sure to keep hydrated, and I had so much fun, even though I was alone. I was in Nice during the games that were hosted in Nice, in particular England was playing Iceland, and all of the English fans came to Nice just for the game, so the atmosphere was very cool. Unfortunately England lost, but it was still fun to be around!

Fashion and Fitness - My cheap therapy

Lately, if you have been following me on Instagram, you have been probably hearing about how I've been really stressed out. Partly the reason why I hadn't been posting as much in the recent months, because life got really out of hand. I got really stressed out, anxious, my project completely changed direction and I thought I would be ready to defend my thesis by the end of the summer, walked at graduation, and now my plans are completely different (or at least delayed).
I guess everything happens for a reason. I didn't get the job I interviewed for (the one that I thought was my perfect match, guess it wasn't so perfect after all), I started getting contradicting (but good I guess) results, I got a dissertation year fellowship, so the fact that all of my Plan A's didn't work out, my Plan B is coming in handy now, even though I didn't appreciate it at first; so now I don't have to worry about TAing while trying to figure out the jumble of confusion that is my life right now.
And while things haven't been working the way I planned (Oh science, that's how you must be, right?), the one thing I HAVE been able to control is my exercise and health routine. I gained some weight from losing my work out momentum, stress, eating whatever I wanted, and I fell back into the stress and anxiety routine I worked so hard to get over. I referred back to my health and fitness community over on facebook and I refound my inspiration. I started a workout program that's available for free on the Beachbody On Demand that I subscribe to, and with the help of 2 other amazing ladies, we are keeping ourselves accountable for getting the workouts done - as in, we have a group chat going and we each message the others when we are pressing play on our workouts and get it done! It has really helped me manage my stress and anxiety and really helped me make time for myself. I have started regarding working out as "Me" time, and a meeting I make with myself, and I'm not allowed to skip it, just as I wouldn't skip a work meeting, etc. While I have been struggling a little still, I am doing a lot better with managing my stress. I am obsessed with my new life style, when I have a rest day, I am just itching to get back to working out!

Beach Chic Essentials - Don't want summer to end!

Hello!
Today I'm bringing you a "Beach Chic Essentials" post, where I'm talking about pieces that I'd wear to the beach! I am totally missing the beaches of Nice and Southern France, I had such a good time (photos to be shared in part II of travel diary coming next post!).

Beach Chic Essentials 

Things I Currently Adore...and a review of my Current Makeup Products

Happy Happy Friday!
I'm so glad it's the weekend!
I'm in dire need of a few days off to relax, lab work has been insane and so busy.
Thought I would put together a post about the current products are my go-to and what I am obsessed with.
I recently had to buy more makeup, but I couldn't afford the hefty price tag of my high end products from Sephora, like my Smashbox CC cream, Dior and Bare Minerals Mascara, or my Urban Decay Palettes, so I had to settle for some cheaper options for my every day looks. I am saving my more expensive makeup for special occasions! See my reviews below and a comparison!
Here's the look from a day in Paris visiting the Eiffel Tower! Photos to come next week for the next parts of my travel diary!