What I’m Loving: June/July Edit

July is coming to a close, and it’s a little hard to believe. It seems like summer has only just begun, and here we are in the dog days.  Since I skipped last month’s “What I’m Loving” post because of traveling and wrapping up my first year of residency, I thought I’d combine June and July into one post! If you missed May’s post, you can read it here. Just as a reminder: each month I’ll be sharing what I’m loving in the moment. It’s a fun way to share my current favorites with you all, and it gives us a place where we can all chat about them because sharing is caring! Below are the things I’m loving right now!

The Vintage Pearl

I have loved this sweet company for years and have purchased several pieces from them both as gifts and for myself. They create customizable handmade jewelry, and they’re based here in Tulsa, Oklahoma! (If you’re not local, don’t worry! They have an online store as well.)

I got my first necklace from them back when I was in college and I wore that thing every single day! It’s held up great over time, and I still get questions about it each time I wear it. I chose this necklace with a hand-stamped heart charm and my initial with a pearl charm. It goes with everything, and I still wear it often.

Recently, I was able to snag a few new pieces from them for summer and I’ve been wearing them a ton! I love dainty gold jewelry this time of year, so I chose this necklace that has a tiny sun on it to remind me to shine bright, even on the dark days! This ring was something I’ve had my eye on for a long time. I love it even more in person, and it goes with so much more than I was expecting. It’s a unique piece that I’ll be able to wear for a long time.

If you’re interested in checking out The Vintage Pearl, you can shop all of their products here! Because all of their pieces are handmade and personalized, they make the greatest gifts. The pieces are really affordable too, so you get high quality without a hefty price tag. I encourage you to give them a look!

European-Style Bedding

When we were on vacation, I discovered one thing that Europeans do differently that has changed my life for the better, and that is they way they make their beds! Most of us here in America grew up with a fitted sheet, flat sheet, maybe a blanket, and then a comforter or duvet on top, right? Well, that’s great and all, but let me give you some back story:

I grew up in a house where I was to make my bed every morning. It was the first thing I did when I woke up, and it gave me a sense of accomplishment to have completed a task each morning! I also prefer to have things tidy around the house, so making the bed was always an important ritual.

Disclaimer: when I sleep, I prefer the sheets be tucked tight, and I like the corners to be perfect, so when I’m sleeping I never really messed up the bed much. BUT, whenever Rob and I got married just over two years ago, things changed.

My sweet husband is what I like to call a “sleep tornado” meaning he pulls out all the sheets and everything gets wrinkly and crooked. *cringe* Though we hardly argue, I’d say that this is our most consistent “discussion”. I gave up on taking the extra time in the morning trying to re-assemble our bedding. So, I stopped. My tolerance for a messy bed has risen, but deep down I have wished for a better solution.

THEN WE WENT TO EUROPE. The beds all have a fitted sheet and a duvet with a cover. That’s it! If it’s cold, just add extra blankets on top. It was so much easier than battling a flat sheet. I know I’m probably late to the game, but my eyes have finally been opened to the promised land of bedding! I am no longer #teamflatsheet. Ever since we’ve come back, I have been on the hunt for new European-style bedding. If anyone has recommendations I would greatly appreciate it! I’ll be sure to keep you guys updated on what I find.

3-Ingredient Homemade Cinnamon Vanilla Latte “Recipe”

Okay, so briefly I shared this on my Instagram stories a while back, but I wanted to share it here on the blog as well! I struggle with calling it a “recipe” because it’s only 3 ingredients, but if you want to spice up your morning coffee (haha, see what I did there?) try following these easy steps:

1. Add a sprinkle of ground cinnamon to your coffee cup. I sometimes add a dash of nutmeg too!
2. Pour in your favorite vanilla creamer! I love this almond milk version at the moment, but I also really love using heavy whipping cream too.
3. Froth that sucker! If you’re cool and have a frother, power to you. I, however, do not have a frother. I typically take my coffee to work with me in the morning, so I just put the creamer and cinnamon in my travel mug, put the lid on, and shake it up haha. If I were to get a frother, it’d be this one. My friend has it, and it works great!
4. Brew your coffee as normal and pour it into your cup. We ditched our Keurig and bought this coffee maker a little over a year ago. We also grind our coffee fresh every morning with this affordable coffee grinder. I know it makes us sound like crazy coffee snobs, but once we started, we couldn’t go back.
5. Enjoy!

The Lion King Live-Action Remake

No spoilers, I promise! I just really enjoyed this movie! I personally thought it was the same as the animated version, but updated to fit the humor of today. If you haven’t been to see it yet, I’d highly recommend it.

Flora

Do you ever feel like you can’t keep your attention on the task at hand because you’re constantly checking your phone for no reason? No shame, I think we’ve all been there a time or two.

After our vacation, I needed help getting back into the daily grind and staying focused. I discovered Flora, which is a free productivity app that rewards you for staying focused and helps you avoid endless scrolling on your phone so you can get things accomplished! You set a pre-determined time to focus, and the app plants a virtual tree on your phone. While you’re focused (i.e. avoiding your phone), the virtual tree grows until your time is up! Then you can add it to your garden as a prize. Kind of fun right? BUT, if you break your focus and unlock your phone before the timer is finished, the tree “dies” and you have to start over.

If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can even bet real money on yourself to make it to the end of your focus session. You keep your wager if you make it to the end of the session! If you crack and have use your phone, Flora uses your wager to plant a real life tree.

There’s also a function that allows multiple people to join the same focus group. This makes it perfect for students! I’m so happy I found this app, because it has majorly increased my productivity at work. I started off with short periods of time and have gradually increased my focus time as I get better at it! You can download it for free here.

That’s it for now! Let me know if you try or already love anything from this month’s list! Hope you all are having a great week so far.

Cheers,

Laura