IT'S 2021, TIME FOR FUN

 It's 2021!!!

I absolutely cannot believe that I have had this blog since 2012. NINE YEARS. It truly is not thinkable to me that next year this blog is going to be celebrating its 10th anniversary.

There have been so many times that I have thought about shutting this one down and starting new, but to no avail. There's a reason for this. I am a huuuuuuge fan of tradition. Tradition to me makes me feel good, it makes me feel like I am home - and this blog, this tradition, feels so much like home.

4 Things That Kept Me Breathing In Quarantine This Summer

I'm not sure how the hell we got here - to the end of August. I've been saying to almost everyone I come in contact with (socially distanced and via the phone) that time has been nothing but an illusion this summer - there's no better way to describe it. 

Starting a new job in the middle of a global pandemic, navigating some of the other changes in my life (like moving apartments for instance), and just trying to stay in a mentally positive place has been extremely hard - I can't lie. Today I wanted to share some really key pillars for me throughout a socially distant summer that got me through my days (just barely). 

Gracies Garden?

Quarantine has had me thinking about so many things - but to be honest, this is something that I have been thinking about even before I had my own balcony to do it on. Gardening that is - 😂.

Thai Food, Wine, Feeling ... Fine?

I cannot believe that it is Fourth of July weekend, 2020 already. It actually amazes me how fast this year is flying by - but at the same time, how slow it seems. Because we have had so much hurt in this world this year, it can feel both ways at any time when you really think about it; slow and fast.

Sara officially asked me to be her bridesmaid! I am so thrilled for her. She is so important to me and I cannot wait to celebrate her and her wedding. I am going to try on dresses with her over the weekend of July 17th and it's going to be so great. She is getting married in October. I love you JUNKSTER!

The weather this weekend is super hot so far. Today was a day off of work because it was in observance of July 4th (even though today is 7/3) and it just felt nice to be off from meetings for the day. You know how the work of a social media manager goes - social media never sleeps - so there was of course still some things that had to happen today, and of course they did! 

I came down to my dads house yesterday. I can't tell you how good it feels to be here. Ally came over on Wednesday night and we had a fucking great time. It felt so good to just be with my best friend, drinking wine, doing face masks - ugh there's just no better feeling. We ordered Thai food and just hung out. We went to T.J. Maxx (of course with masks, social distancing and I think 50% capacity) and bought a bunch of shit we didn't need. I can't tell you how good it felt. We laughed our asses off and just generally had a wonderful time. 

Ally is my best friend, but really she's my sister. Whenever I spend time with her - I know it's the best time I can possibly have. There's such a special spot for her in my life always. I do feel like I'm always my most vulnerable self with her because I just feel like she listens, she always cares, and she will reach down into the depths of my soul to make sure I am okay when it seems like I am not. That's a feeling that has kept me alive some days - all jokes aside. 

Thursday morning, she drove me down to my dads from my apartment. My dad had originally planned to come up and get me on Friday morning and bring me down - but Ally had some work in a town that was half way between my apartment and my dads house, so she brought me all the way down there. We had lunch and that's about it because I had a ton of calls to be on for work. It was super sad to see her go but she had a meeting as well that she needed to be at. 

Today was another great day, it felt so fulfilling. I woke up late, but it felt so good to sleep. I needed it. I ran downstairs when I finally woke up and honestly, ate a slice of pizza for breakfast with a cup of coffee. I will take no judgements. I had a Target return to make so I brought it back, and then stopped in Homegoods and Michaels. Michaels had me shook to be honest - they had 70% off faux florals - which I actually needed for a project that I hope to share with you soon. 

I met up with sis Angie and we went to Trader Joe's to grab ingredients for the epic charcuterie boards that we plan to make tomorrow for Fourth of July. I fucking love Angela so much it hurts, We have been friends since we were 16 and 17 and we are both 29 and 30. We set our parents up and they have been dating ever since. They are about to be married - we are sisters, we are fucking happy. 

Cannot wait to share photos of this charcuterie board with you. Make sure you are following me on Instagram because IG will definitely see it first. When Ang and I are together we just have such a great time. We also went out in search of High Noon's which we were happy to find at the first place we called/looked - so we were stoked about that. We're excited to have a great day tomorrow. 

Ended the day having food from Rainbow Diner for dinner (best diner in OC, NJ - no questions please). I had a Turkey Club and was seriously craving it for some reason - couldn't explain why. We ate together as a fam: my dad, Terri, Ang and Anthony (we were missing Ben), but it felt so good. It felt like I was really where I needed to be. 

At the end of the night, I needed to do some more work - so I came inside and got it done. After that, I went downstairs to find my dad watching Midsommar (the freakiest fucking movie on this planet that I jokingly started watching with him earlier in the day). We finished watching the movie together and then headed upstairs to bed. 

Now? I lay here in my bed eating gummy candy. Should I be eating this right now? No. Is it helping to quell the underlying anxiety that I have? Absolutely. Should I rely on food and sugar at 11pm to aide me in this? Absolutely not. I know.

Generally this week I think I did pretty well. I started each morning with a hopeful state of mind - the anxiety was still there. I went to bed a couple nights not skipping my skincare routine - which is so important to me. It feels really good when your face is watched and your oils, serums and toners are on. It was a big step for me to do it at least three nights. Skincare is something I love so much - but wasn't doing it because I didn't value my self enough to get up from bed and go to the bathroom to invest the time in myself and life. This week - I think it did it 3 nights. Huge step for me. Can't wait to get it done every night - I'll take the small win for now. 

How was your week?

June 2020 Update

There are so many things I wish I could say about where I am in life right now. If I was brutally honest, I wouldn't be able to publish this. It's actually shocking how many times I have said that I was going to do things on this blog, but just didn't do them: read more, post more, lose weight, etc. I don't even know where to begin, haha.

I am actually tired of it though! I've been having some thoughts recently that I do actually hope to share on here sometime soon - I really do. I want to be honesty with myself and I want to share some of the things I've been going through and thoughts I've been having - literally just to help and inspire others to know: there's more to life. 

Here are yet another couple of things I want to accomplish moving forward:

• I want to be honest with myself: I have to step up, I have to be better with myself and honest about how I'm feeling, and how I'm doing. How am I going to inspire if I'm not honest with myself?
• Post once! That's it, I just want to post once per week! I think I can do it - I really do.
• Enjoy my time here. I always have and I don't want pressure or feeling shitty to change that.

I'm sure I will think of a million other things to add to this list once I publish and close. That's okay - I will add them as necessary. I can't wait to get this started the way I've always wanted to. I'm on my way.

What I Hope To Accomplish This Week | April 13

This quarantine has me feeling some type of way, but I can't explain the way.

In one breath, I sadly feel like I have been training for something like this. I spend sooooo much time at home, and usually my weekends are spent home trying to relax and quell my fucking anxiety anyway. When I found out this was going to have to be a serious quarantining, self isolation situation for two weeks (now more), I wasn't concerned. Well, of course I was concerned for the well-being of the general public and those susceptible to the virus, but not concerned for me isolating.

I still remain the same. Concerned as shit for the well-being of our nation and the people in my community. Of course, number one being my father and the rest of my family. Not as concerned about my isolation or quarantine.

That being said, this quarantine is making me feel a few things. Mostly, I am feeling the need to just sit here and eat myself out of house and home (ew, that sounds weird, but you get it), but also to mitigate my stress (which I normally do anyway). It took me three full weeks of quarantine though to realize that I should get my shit in gear and maybe start to do more than watch shows and movies. Although, that's an accomplishment for me. Normally, I don't watch things - and it gets me into trouble in social situations. I know absolutely nothing about actors, actresses, movies, etc.

I am excited to share a few things with you that I look forward to accomplishing this week. Hopefully, this can maybe inspire you to get things done and share in it with me. Why not, right? Let's make the best we possibly can out of this, while staying safe, responsible and healthy.

THE F WORDS | THE QUARANTINE KITCHEN

Listen, I've always been a fan of cooking. I've been obsessed with getting cookbooks and Bon Appétit test kitchen videos and trying everything I see. There's something about cooking that is just the right amount of stressful pressure to get it right, combined with the satisfaction when it's done that really gets me going. A stupid way to put it? Probably. Do I care? No.

Anyway! With the quarantine going on right now, I am trying to find the best in everything. This is the perfect time to take out every single cooking tool I have an start making things I've been thinking about making for so long. I am going to call this series The Quarantine Kitchen and I hope you'll follow along! I am hoping to write these maybe once or twice per month with an update on new things I will be trying. Maybe it will turn into something weekly, that would be great.

If you try anything I put here, please share photos with me and use the hashtag #TheQuarantineKitchen! I would love to see how everyone is making these recipes their own.

HOME DECOR | WALL MIRRORS

I've been toying around recently with how I wanted to decorate my apartment. For some reason, I feel like I always have it down pat the way I want it done - beachy, lots of wicker and rattan, light colors. Then, I randomly get targeted on Instagram by this beautiful jewel toned, heavy on the gold living room and I want everything. Woah is me.

FEBRUARY ROUND UP | #BRITSBRAIN

Something I have decided to do (and I am so happy that I did) was keep little notes in my notes app on my phone throughout the month. To be honest, I wanted to write little things each day and pull it all together at the end of the month into a single blog post. I do realize though, in my ever-long process of how I'll manage this revolution of the blog, that it isn't realistic to think I'd write everyday. Thank god I'm realizing that!

Anyway! I am so excited to share my first Monthly Recap (February) with you. These are not going to be meant for any other reason than to share in the thoughts with you that I've been having throughout the month. I feel like maybe, JUST MAYBE they might be able to help you process some things?

WELCOME TO LE SAUVAGE BLOG

Wow. I couldn't be happier to be writing this POST!

Heard It Through The Irvine is BACK everyone, but it's back as something new. It has gone through somewhat of a rebrand, or change. The type of content you will be getting will be in similar categories, or buckets, but the name has changed. 

I am now 'Le Sauvage Blog' and there are so many reasons why. First, I want to say HITTI has given me so much. I loved the name so much because it spoke to me, my name was in it, it was everything to me. It got me through such a tough time in my life that was transitionary from stress at home, to living on my own. As soon as I moved into my first apartment, I wrote a few posts, but I never got on the schedule or the regiment that I always wanted to get on or that I envisioned for myself. It is because of this that I leaned into the laziness - but I am not happy about it at all. 

I decided to 'rebrand' the blog to it's new name because for at least two years I have been saying outloud to friends and to myself 'oh, I can see myself writing about that on Le Sauvage Blog' or 'omg that's savage!' or something that has 'savage' in it. I decided to make it chic and French (because, you know, I'm so chic and French) and I went with it. I couldn't be more excited to be starting things again. I need this so much and for so many reasons.

THE FLOWER FIZZ | BAR BRITTANY

If you're anything like me, you're a champagne kind of girl. I've been thinking of ways to combine my love of champagne and St. Germain (Elderflower Liqour) for a long time, as I know there are many restaurants that serve drinks along this vein.

MY BAR CART | DESIGN + DECOR

If there's one thing I've been thinking about since before I moved, it has got to be how my bar cart is going to look in my first apartment. There's something about the allure, magic and enchantment of seeing beautiful glasses sparkling in the light and thinking about all the different possibilities cocktail recipe wise.

THANKSGIVING AT BIVS

So if you haven't been following me on Instagram, I guess it's time I tell you that... I'VE MOVED! I most definitely plan to write a whole blog post about it and my process, but I am just not there yet at the feelings level. I really can't explain all the emotions inside of me from this move.

If you don't know me, then Hi, I'm Brittany. I'm originally from Brick, NJ and have ben working in New York City BEFORE I even graduated from college. The commute is brutal. It's two and a half hours one way (so total of above 5 hours commuting each day on a GOOD DAY). I'll talk more indepth about this later on in another blog post.

ANYWAY! I am extremely thrilled to say that I have finally moved and have been in this apartment for almost two months already. If we're honest, the time is flippin' flying. I cannot believe Thanksgiving is over already and we are moving on to Christmas already. WOW.

I am also excited to say that I have hosted my first Thanksgiving! Can you believe it? I moved into this apartment in October and I knew from that moment (even from August, when I knew I was moving) that I wanted to host like every single holiday in this apartment. I knew I wasn't going to get away with every single one, but I think I definitely at least wanted to start off with Thanksgiving.

There are a lot of things I have already learned about being a host. My dad had suggested that I keep an ongoing list of things throughout the day that I will need. As we started cooking and preparing, there was something that would pop up that I never thought I would need, but did. To be honest, I was pretty proud, there weren't many! It was good to have that list though, it will certainly help in the future.

I wanted to share a couple of photos from the day with you. They aren't the most professional photos because I really was focussed on having a great time and hosting in general. I don't care though, it was all worth it. Come along! >>

CHICAGO | TRAVEL

If you're from Chicago, you juuuuuust might be cringing your entire way through this post. Maybe you wont? I don't know.

Either way, YES! CHICAGO! I cannot believe I have finally gone. Earlier in September, I took a short trip, literally 12 hours long, for work purposes. I didn't have any time, at all, to spend in actual Chicago. The client I was there to visit was 2.5 hours south of Chicago. That being said, my schedule was: Fly there, rent car directly from airport, drive 2.5 hours to client, have 4 hour meeting, drive 2.5 hours back, fly back home.

This time around, it was another work trip. I was sad it wasn't for fun, but thankful to be traveling again. It's so weird that I haven't been on a plane in about 10 years and I had finally done it again and two times in one month. Being that it was for work, there was a ton of stuff that we had to get done and we BARELY had time to do anything fun, but we found a couple of things to do.

I'm so excited to share some photos from the trip with you. If you're following me on Instagram you may have seen some of these already, but there are a few I haven't posted. Like I said, if you live in the city or are from there, you may just be cringing because these things are so "touristy" I'm sure. Anyway! Let's get on to the photos.

LIFE CHANGES | #IMDOINGTHISAGAIN

As you may have read, I’m at it again. Yes folks, I’m on the healthy eating train again. Ironically enough, I’m also physically on a train at the current moment while I type this. Why was that important to include? I don’t know, I just felt it to be. Also, peep the motivational "skinny pics" above.

Anyway! I thought it important to talk about a couple of things OTHER THAN MY WEIGHT that I hope improve over the course of this journey. It’s been three days of under 1200 calorie intake and I know that some may say it’s not healthy to eat under 1500/day, but this has worked for me in the past and I know it to be a method that just works with my body. (So boo hoo to all the nay sayers - did I spell that right?)

IM DOING THIS AGAIN... | #IMDOINGTHISAGAIN

Welp, I’m doing it again. I approach it this way because I’ve done it so many times before. One of these times being extremely successful, more than the others. The other times? Not successful at all. I began once with a friend as a challenge and that’s where I got the most inspiration. I looked at it as a do or die situation because I held myself accountable against someone else.

I ended up being so happy with the results and looked at the process I created for myself as a scalable one. I of course am talking about losing weight. The weight began what seemed to “melt off” and I couldn’t believe it. I was shocked with the results and couldn’t believe I had created this beautiful process that I must admit, never became EASIER, for myself.

I went through so many phases during this weight loss process about five years ago (wow). I was scared, in denial, emotional, excited, hungry, thrilled, I could go on and on. For a while I honestly didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it through but for some reason, it clicked that time. I bought into the mantra of “When the pain of staying the same hurts more than the change” because it really spoke to me so much.

For now, on leg one of this journey again, let’s talk about some things that I know I’m good at. Because lets be honest, maybe what we need is a little more encouragement from ourselves to start. Maybe that’s what we’re all missing. Imagine if it were that easy? >>

SUN OF A GUN | TRUE CRIME PICKS

Al Capone's Beer Wars, John J. Binder

If you don't already know, I am 100% obsessed with true crime. If you follow me on Goodreads, you would probably be able to pick that up between some of the books I've read, and lots of the ones on my TBR pile. Getting specific, I have this deeper obsession with The Mob and all of the stories associated with it. I read about New York and New Jersey the most, but I've recently picked up some books about Vegas, Chicago and more and I cannot wait to hear stories about different locations as well.

For now, I wanted to share with you some of the upcoming True Crime books I am most looking forward to reading. Being the book obsessed person that I am, you can tell that some of the books pictured have specials deals. Because, you know, if you buy as many books as I do, you have to buy some of them on sale/on sites that give you them for discounts. Let's be honest with ourselves, more books inherently= more happiness. So however we can make that happen, we make that happen.

EATALY & ME | CHARCUTERIE, WINE

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that one of my most frequented places in the city is Flatiron. Mostly because that's where my office is, but also because I do love it! Most of our lunch outings are here, a lot of the cute little shops we love are here and just generally, I love this area.

There are some decent spots to eat around here, but the most touristy spot in what seems like ALL of NYC (food wise) is Eataly and it is located right here in Flatiron. I couldn't be happier about this because to be honest, I love it so much and for so many reasons.

BOOGIE BOOTS ON | COUNTRY I LOVE

So if you know me at all (when am I going to stop beginning my blog posts like this?), you’ll know that I have an undying obsession with country music. To be honest, compared to most country fans, it is a fairly new obsession. I haven’t always been as into the genre as I am now, but I can’t imagine not having country music in my life.

As sick and as corny as this all sounds, it’s incredibly true for so many reasons. Something to know about me is that I am really not an emotional person. For some reason, country music has been one of those things that has gotten me to be a little more emotional. If you listen to the words of these songs, you will quickly realize that they are so incredibly filled with meaning and not just sung for shits and gigs. Yes, some of the music can be pretty sappy, corny and over the top, but what genre/song isn’t sometimes, right?

There’s just something about the hometown, chilled out feel of pretty melodies that make you feel at ease. Driving around town with windows down and country albums blasting is a feeling you can’t quite explain. I feel like I’m in somewhat of a minority of loving country music when I’m in the city, as there aren’t really man fans, but for some reason it makes me feel that much better about it.

That being said! I wanted to share some of my recent favorite songs/albums/artists with you. As explained, I’ve become a huge, extremely dedicated fan of country only about five years or so ago, but that doesn’t really mean anything when it comes to country. I still love it the same.

SUBSCRIPTIONS & SERVICES | WORTH IT?

I’ve really never been much of a subscription/online services type of girl. I definitely get a total sense that it’s a city thing. I always think of things like Blue Apron and Birchbox as total city services that only people who live there use, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I honestly can’t even tell you why I had this premonition.

Now I don’t know the analytics, demographics wise, of these companies and where they are most popular, but I just know that cities could only be the more popular area. While that might be true, don’t get it twisted, ‘burbs and beach girls use the services too.

Today, I wanted to talk about some of the services I’ve used in the past. I wanted to detail why I love them, what’s best about them, and some of them that just didn’t make the cut for me. Just incase you’re nervous about giving them a shot, come along on the journey of this blog post with me and let’s talk about it!