theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

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Archives for January 2016

January Favorites

January 29, 2016 filed under: monthly favorites

JanuaryFavorites2016

1. I baked some seeded rolls earlier this month and they’ve become an instant favorite. I’ll share the recipe in a separate post sometime.

2. Have you heard of the Typorama App? This app is awesome. And free. Perfect to help you design blog images or Instagram images when you want to incorporate text.

3. I had been looking for a light-weight infinity scarf for quite a while (because they’re so cozy) and I found the perfect one at Target earlier this month. Also: apparently I have a thing for all things gray.

4. I bought these Gaiam Om Breathe yoga pants a little while back with Kohl’s Cash that was about to expire (and you can always use a new pair of yoga/running pants anyway). I am super-pleased with them. I love the color combo (purple and gray! Two of my favorites) and like how they fit.

5. I am usually not a big fan of buying yarn at Michaels, but I recently found this new Cotton Fair yarn there and I really like it. It’s a lighter weight (which I prefer) and is soft and easy to work with.

6. When I packed up our old apartment in preparation for our move, I found a bottle of  L’Occitane Almond Shower Oil (which I had completely forgotten about)  in my bathroom cabinet. Needless to say, I was thrilled and have been using it since.

11

Review | Target Refresh Beauty Box

January 27, 2016 filed under: beauty, review

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I was lucky enough earlier this month to snatch up another one of the ever-elusive Target Beauty Boxes (and I think by tweeting about it, I was able to get some other people the oportunity to get in on the deal). The Target beauty boxes don’t come out on a regular basis and when they do, you have to act fast, because they sell out in no time. And who is surprised.

Target offered two different boxes this time. The Refresh Beauty Box (which I got) and the Renewal Beauty Box. For the price of $7 (this time), you receive a nice selection of sample goodness (and even the occasional full-size product!).

This time was no different. There were a total of nine items in the box. Valued at $30, this was a steal for just $7 (and I again used a Target giftcard for most of the purchase). 

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So here’s what was in the box (*calculated value of the samples in parenthesis):

Simple Micellar Wipes (FULL SIZE! 25 wipes $6.99)  
This item alone costs normally as much as the whole box. I don’t use makeup remover wipes on a daily basis, but I love to have them on hand for travel! They’re just perfect to stick in your purse or to take them instead of a bottle of liquid makeup remover. I also like the Simple brand. Their products are gentle to the skin and and have no artificial perfumes, dyes or harsh chemicals.

ACURE Day Cream (sample size 1 oz $9.70) regular 1.75 oz $16.99  
I’ve heard about this brand and haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, so I was very pleased that this was part of this box. This is a generous sample size (more than half of the full size version) and the high-price item in this box. This day cream contains gotu kola stem cells and chlorella growth factor to help your skin retain hyaluronic acid and fight environmental damage and free radicals.

Marlowe Extra Moisturizing Lotion (sample size 1 oz $0.67) regular 15. oz $9.99
I love the size of this to throw into my purse or travel bag. It’s never a bad idea to have a moisturizer with revitalizing antioxidants and extracts on hand to help soften and smooth dry skin.

John Frieda Keraflex Hair Spray (sample size 2 oz $1.38 ) regular 13 oz $8.99 
I don’t usually use much hairspray, but I guess it might be useful to have a small bottle around and Joh n Frieda is a reputable brand.

NIVEA In-Shower Body Lotion (sample size 2.7 oz $1.20) regular 13.5 0z $5.99
I like Nivea products, but have not used this in-shower body lotion yet.  It’s supposed to be skin-pampering and enriched with almond oil to give your skin instant moisture that lasts up to 24 hours. Again, great to take with you when you travel.

Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Pads (sample size 5 pads $1.08) regular 60 count $12.99
These radiance-boosting pads are soaked in exfoliating glycolic acid to help retexture and resurface to unveil younger-looking skin. I am up for trying these. 

Scunci Braided Elastic Bands (2 bands $0.96) regular 6 count $2.87
Girls with long hair can never have enough hair ties, esp. the ones without metal.

Clear Total Care Shampoo (sample size 1.7 oz $0.66 ) regular 12.9 oz $4.99
This shampoo is supposed to help restore the scalp’s natural moisture balance, building a foundation for strong, beautiful hair.  I haven’t used this brand before, but that sounds good to me. Another one for the travel bag.

Clear Men 2-in-1 Complete Care (sampe size 1.7 oz $0.66  ) regular 12.9 oz $4.99
Hey look! They actually threw in an item for J this time. He actually likes the 2-in-1 products quite a bit, so that’s a bonus.

The total (actual calculated) value of this box was: $23.30.  
I paid: $2.22 (the rest paid with a $5 Target promotional giftcard).

I really loved this box.  All of the items (maybe except for the hair spray) are items I will definitely use. I liked that this box offered a bit more variety than the last box and that I would be pretty much set for a weekend trip for almost all areas of skin and body care. I am most curious to try the Acure Day Cream and the Nivea In-Shower body lotion. 

Were you able to snatch up one of the boxes this time around? Which box did you chose?

11

Daily Life | Spending Report 2015

January 25, 2016 filed under: daily life, moneytalk

My friends Lisa and Kyria have both posted about their spending for the last year or two and I am a big fan of talking about important things like money (mainly, because I think it shouldn’t be a taboo and because managing your money is not something that is taught in high school or college (which I think is a big mistake and should be changed, because too many people have problems managing their money in adulthood!).

I think it was very interesting to see how others spent their money. Spending is – as you can see if you do the comparison – a very personal matter and there is really no right or wrong in what you spend your money on. There are of course the necessities, but beyond that, what’s important to one person, might not even show up on the chart for another. 

In attempt to be more transparent about finances and to maybe spark more conversation about it, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and share our 2015 spending report as well.

Spending Report 2015

 

A few notes about our spending. This pie chart was created from my data in YNAB, the budgeting software I’ve been using since April 2015 (and which I reviewed here). I am still using YNAB and very happily so. They recently (as in: this month) came out with a new web-based version and I am trying that out parallel to the old desktop version and so far, I like it. One of the advantages is that you’ll now be able to import transactions directly from your bank account(s) (which didn’t really bother me before, but it is convenient!) and I love having the web-based version available anywhere if I want to look at something. I had a pretty good idea what we were spending before I started using YNAB, but since April, I have literally tracked every penny that went out of our accounts. 

So, just to be clear, this is technically not our full 2015 spending report, but only for about 3/4 of the year, but I think it’s still a pretty good representation of our overall spending habits. 

I also want to point out: these percentages are based on our actually spent money, not income (although this would be also very interesting statistic to explore). Not included are contributions to retirement funds and health care premiums (since they’re taken out of my paycheck before I even see the money) and personal savings.

So here’s the breakdown:

Home: This category included rent, utilities, household items, laundry money and (last year’s) moving-related expenses, which will probably be replaced with home maintenance this year.

Groceries: Yup. This is just our grocery spending (as you can see, dining out is its own category). I was honestly almost relieved that it wasn’t a bigger chunk of our overall spending. I realize, though: for many people that percentage is “a lot”. I mentioned before that we spent a lot at the grocery store, which I partly blame on food prices in California, but also: we like to eat and cook good food. I wrote about our grocery budget here. We meal plan, we do eat (organic) meat and dairy, we like to cook more complicated meals, and we like good coffee.  But for the record, we hardly ever buy booze (which can be expensive). Still, my goal for 2016 would be to push that percentage down just a bit (as a challenge).

Dining Out: We get (cheaper) take-out maybe once a week or every other week, we go out maybe once a month.

Travel: Since my parents visited last summer and we went on a big 3-week adventure, I am not surprised that travel made up a larger chunk of our spending last year. But travel is always worth it.

Personal Care: This category includes all toiletry items, makeup, haircuts, and pedicures.

Shopping & Misc:  This includes all expenses that didn’t really belong in any other category, e.g. impulse purchases,  work lunches, annual membership fees, and parking. I realized that I also stuck many purchases in the ‘Shopping & Misc.” category, whenever I didn’t want to think about where a purchase actually might belong. This – in retrospect – was just the easiest solution at the time, but what I should have done is go back to reassign it to the correct category later (which I didn’t). So, some of the purchases in that category didn’t really belong there, but I didn’t have the time and energy to figure this out for all of our 2015 purchases (putting together this pie chart took me long enough – haha). 

Cellphone: This one got its own category because man, cell phones are freakin’ expensive and it shows in my pie chart. I should add though that I am paying for a family plan with four lines and that I have successfully lowered a big chunk of our bill late last year, so I am hoping for this category to shrink in 2016.

Entertainment: This category includes Internet, cable, and our Netflix subscription. Even though it’s “only” 4% percent of our spending, I know that if we gave up cable, we could easily save some money here.

Donations: I wish this category was a little larger, but I am glad it’s even showing up percentage-wise on this pie chart. Always room to improve!

Transportation: Since I live close to my work, our transportation costs (mainly gas and bus fares) and car upkeep were a fairly small expense last year.

Health and Fitness: This category includes my gym membership and our medical and dental co-payments.

Gifts: This is a pretty straight-forward category and it includes birthday gifts, Christmas gifts and ‘just because’-gifts for family and friends. I like to give gifts.

Looking through our spending and trying to consolidate it into categories definitely has given me some food for thought on how I want to organize our budgeting categories better this year.  As I mentioned, many things got put in the “Shopping & Misc.” category, even though they probably should have been recorded elsewhere. I definitely want to be more mindful about this in 2016.

I think the biggest areas of opportunity for us to make some changes are groceries, our cell phone bill, and entertainment. I realize that those are not all the biggest pieces of our pie, but they’re areas where I see some “easy” savings. I also don’t expect for the travel category to be that big in 2016 (although travel would not be something I’d necessarily want to cut out). I am, however, curious to see how home ownership will shape our spending this coming year.

I hope this post was at least remotely interesting for you. I personally enjoy these kind of honest posts.

What is the biggest piece of your spending pie? Do you have a budget and/or track your expenses? 

20

Currently | January

January 20, 2016 filed under: currently

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obsessing over my new coffee mug. It just makes mornings so much better.

reading On the corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I had this book sitting on my bookshelf for a while and decided to start it while I am waiting for the new book for my bookclub.

watching nothing in particular. I’ve been talking with J about wanting to start a new series (preferably on Netflix, so we can watch on our own time), but we haven’t been able to decide on a series. It’s always so hard to get started, right? Although, this reminds me… I haven’t finished Parenthood yet. Mmh. 

recommending to always schedule in a little me-time into your day, even if it’s only 15 minutes.

wearing boots and scarves and loving it.

working on upping my running game a bit again. I took a little break from running after my 10k at the end of November (which I should have seen coming) and only went for a few shorter runs over the holidays and during the moving process. I definitely need to get in some longer runs again. The longest I’ve run in the last 8 weeks was 45 minutes, which is not bad, but I need to build up my mileage.

eating all the random goodies that my Mom sent in her belated Christmas package. I am a moderator when it comes to sweets, so I know these goodies will last me a long while (which is a good thing!).

drinking lots and lots of tea. It’s that time of the year.

loving all the rain that we’ve been getting here in California. We need it.

knitting a cowl for a yarn group that I am part of. It’s the first time in months that I feel like I had the time and leisure to get out my yarn and I am excited. Maybe I’ll even finish my striped cardigan that I started last winter.

keeping in mind that we just moved into a house and the spending will eventually go down again. Haha.

12

January Link Love

January 18, 2016 filed under: link love

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As a geography nerd, I find this so fascinating. I used to spend hours flipping through my world atlas when I was a teenager. 10 maps which will change how you view the world.

Mini turkey meatball vegetable soup. The perfect dinner for a chilly night.

Have you ever thought about the difference between routines vs. rituals? I like both, but I see how they can be very different.

Here’s what happened when I slept for an extra hour each night. This is intriguing. How many hours of sleep do you get on a regular basis?

This was a fun read. As much as I complain about the postal service sometimes, I do recognize and appreciate what a miracle it is that I can put a letter in a blue box on a street corner and that through some magic that letter will end up in my parents’/friend’s mailbox halfway across the world! Send more mail, people!

I eat most of my lunches at my desk at work. I think this guide to upgrade your midday meal is genius.

I loved Erin’s perspective on grieving those we never met.

17 kitchen cheat sheets everyone should know about. These are so handy!

Were you a fan of Mailbox? Are you sad it’s going to shut down in 38 days?

Do you use buttermilk? If not, you should reconsider. What it is, why it’s good and how to use it.

Why rejection hurts so much – and what to do about it. We’ve all been there, haven’t we?

7

Things I love Thursday

January 14, 2016 filed under: TILT

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Well, well, regular posting has yet to resume on this ol’ blog, but I might as well use it as an excuse to bring back the “Things I love Thursday”-posts which I have skipped for quite a while now. I personally don’t have anything against posts that point out things that are awesome, so here we go.

This week I am loving…

… the “Postal bookclub” that I’ve been participating in for well over year now. It has helped me to get back into reading and I’ve enjoyed all of the books that I’ve been sent over the last few months. Books, I probably wouldn’t have picked out myself, but which were worthwhile none the less!

… my new running path at the park in my new neighborhood. The path around the park is a little over 1 mile, which makes for great lap running, and there are pretty houses and friendly people, and people with dogs and kids. It’s my current impression that it’s not quite as busy as the park at which I used to run and I like it.

… soups. It’s that kind of weather where a nice hot soup (or stew) is just the right thing to concoct in the evening. Also, makes great leftovers for lunch.

… Barack Obama’s last SOTU address on Tuesday. I just love to hear him speak publicly. He’s eloquent, funny and charismatic. Not many presidents are.

… my 2016 Inkwell Press Planner. I am so excited I can finally use it. Which planner do you use?

… our new kitchen. I’ve dreamed of a bigger kitchen for years and to finally have a kitchen, where two people can comfortably work next to each other preparing a meal and still have extra free counter space? It’s absolutely fantastic.

… afternoon tea. I am currently bringing a thermos with hot (cinnamon & vanilla) tea to work (and sometimes a cookie or two) and it’s my favorite afternoon ritual right now to get me through the long work days.

… some unexpected mail in my mailbox. That always makes my day!

What are you loving this week?

16

One Little Word® for 2016: BREATHE

January 8, 2016 filed under: about me, OLW

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Goodbye 2015, hello 2016.

So, here’s my first post of 2016, finally. Don’t you love how everything seems to slow down some during the last week of the year (between Christmas and New Year’s), only to speed up again with rapid acceleration once New Year’s Day rolls around?

I mean, how is it January, 8th already (and why haven’t I been able to say a ‘peep’ here in over a week)? I’ve been plenty busy what with our move and setting up of our new home, and I am grateful that I was ‘forced’ to use up some accumulated comp time between Christmas and New Year’s, but as exciting as it has all been, it didn’t feel much like a vacation. It is, however, a great feeling to have a fresh start into a new year in a new home. We dropped off the keys to our apartment on Sunday and with that, that chapter is also finally closed. I know it was good and necessary for us to move on, but here I am feeling a little nostalgic for the place that I wanted to move from so badly, all of a sudden.

So silly.

Maybe it’s good that I didn’t post and add to the “clutter” in anyone else’s feed reader… as it stands, my Feedly account is up to 499 unread blog posts again and it will take me a little while to comb through all of them (as you know, I am not the “mark-all-as-read”-kinda girl, although I was pretty impressed to hear that some of my blog friends decided to delete all blogs from their readers and start with a blank slate for 2016. Impressive. Not sure that I’d be able to do that.).

Anyway, a new year always begs for the obligatory New Year’s resolutions… which I repeatedly stated to not buy into (because the truth is, I make resolutions all the time, all year round), but January, 1st still is a good day for a collective reflection and setting of some new goals and intentions for the year ahead. And come on, I know you enjoy these “intention”-posts as much as I do.

If I am honest, I’ve been holding my breath a lot these last few years. Waiting to see what was going to happen with some challenges in my personal life, my job situation, our living situation…. it just felt like many, many balls were up in the air at all times for a long time, but then in 2015 a lot of pieces finally, magically fell into place.

Last year, I picked a word for the year which was supposed to be a guiding term for the following months. Apparently, there has been an official online project created by Ali Edwards and it’s called One Little Word®, so I wanna give proper credit. I’ve been thinking and thinking what the new word for 2016 should be and it came to me in a sort of duh!-moment.

My word for 2016 will be BREATHE.

It seems so fitting in so many different ways. Let me explain. It feels like a lot of weight has been lifted off my shoulders in the last 6 months and I feel like I can finally breathe a little easier and more freely again. What better time than to dedicate 2016 to more breathing in all possible ways.

I want to pause and breathe in life. Fully inhale our new home, our new routines, our new neighborhood. I want to consciously take a breath; pause, assess, evaluate, and appreciate what’s behind me and what before me.

I want to breathe; feel free of restraint and worry. I feel like this year I might have the peace of mind to take things more slowly and relax a little, let go of some of the tension I feel like I’ve been carrying around. But I also know that I can breathe through anything this new year will throw at me. When something frustrates me, breathing deeply and with intention will remind me that I can get through it. I have done it before.

I want to breathe life into new rituals and habits, try new things. I get a lot of satisfaction out of rituals and habits and pausing to take a breath will remind me to act with intention and purpose and to savor every moment.

I want to take a deep breath and think every time before I write – may it be a blog post, an email, or a comment; before I speak – may it be in conversation or in dialog with myself; before I act or react; before I decide things big or small, and before I let go of something. I want to be aware and intentional.

Breathing also will come in very handy when it comes to running. Mind-blowing realization, I know. I want to breathe in and out with intention; feel how every breath – and every stride – makes me stronger. I ran 425 miles in 2015 and completed my first official 10k race. It felt good to be in a regular running routine and to see my endurance (and body) change with it. I want to beat that mileage in 2016 (which means running an average of 36 miles/month). I haven’t set myself any other specific goals yet, but I want to run more miles than in 2015 and maybe I’ll sign up for another race or two. Running has been such an awesome – physical, but also mental – component of my life last year and I definitely want to keep it up.

Did you pick a guiding word for 2016? Would you mind sharing it with me?

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Hi, I am San – German native, dual-citizen living in beautiful Northern California. Runner. Knitter. Crafter. Reader. Writer. Proud aunt, sister, and friend.

I’ve been blogging since 2004 and don’t intend to stop any time soon. If you are looking for personal content and making a  genuine connection, you’ve come to the right place.

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