the Skimm

http://www.theskimm.com/?r=0a39ef2c

Love staying in the loop bug hate wasting time doing it? Try signing up for the Skimm for a daily email for what’s happening and stay in the know! I’ve been a Skimmer for YEARS and absolutely love looking like I spend hours watching the news when really it’s about 3 mins. Happy FRIDAY!!!

New Beauty Awards Box

OK so we allll know the pressure to keep up with the latest skincare, haircare, makeup whatever product. That internal need to BUY everything on every end cap at Walgreens. I too face this struggle.

Sometimes I’ve thought about signing up for a subscription service like BirchBox or Fab Fit Fun, but that extra $$$ flying out of my bank account every month always keeps me from committing.

SO recently I found out about the New Beauty Awards box. Every year, New Beauty puts out a box filled with the products that got their top awards for the year. Stocked with mostly full-size products and all for the low price of $59.95 plus tax, I thought it would be a real steal.

It was SO worth it ya’ll! Let me tell you how excited I was when I opened up my box to find this healing pile of goodies spilled out. Some of the highlights include Kate Somerville Acne Treatment, Sunday Riley Toner, and Brazilian Bum Bum cream!

Literally the only good decision I’ve made since April I swear.

Here’s another pic and the link to snag one yourself!!!

https://www.pubservice.com/PR/Product/OrderForm.aspx?CO=S0&PNO=TTAWARD18

Low budget weekends

Ok SO I know we all get to the weekend and it’s part I wanna go on an adventure and part I wanna sleep for 15 hours. How about something in the middle

I always love going to new places but on a budget that’s hard to do. SOOO I always try to map out unique or interesting small towns within an hour of me.

This past weekend I visited Kenosha, Wi. It’s only 45 mins away from me and it’s a great small town right on Lake Michigan. Small towns are great because they usually have plenty of small business and I always try to support small businesses as much as possible! They also tend not to be super pricey unless you are in a very wealthy area.

We went to Coffee Pot Diner in downtown Kenosha, visited the local apothecary, and hit up the farmers market.

Adorable photo of a donut stand at the farmers market called “The Sweet Life”

Revamp your space on a budget

Ok soooo we all see the damn gorgeous interiors off of insta and we’re like “yeah I have no time, energy, or $$$” to achieve that. I am here to tell you it doesn’t take a zillionnn dollars to get there. You can achieve SO much for very few dollars.

Step 1: Create some kind of brainstorm for whatever your decor project is (I recommend Pinterest because it’s free!)

Step 2: Try to figure out what you already have laying around the house. Some things I always repurpose are Knick knacks & containers. Glass containers or the leftover containers after glass candles burn down are my favorite. You can easily fill them with something (like marbles or stones) or put votives at the bottom. Old/random side tables also can be easily repurposed.

Step 3: Just start rearranging! Block of one hour just to take all of the pieces you have and mix and match them. Below is an example.

Ex: I have always had tons and tons books but I really could never figure out how to place them without it looking like a cluttered mess. So I started with 4 old target bookcases ($15 a piece) , an old mirror form a thrift store ($10). I decided to organize books by color and got inspo off of Pinterest. I separated books by general color and then just started stacking them here and there and moving them around until they look good. I used random, leftover knick knacks I’ve had or received as fillers or bookends. After 30 mins I had a decently insta worthy bookshelf/living room!

Another key to keeping an insta worthy space is making sure clutter is isolated to one area and not all over the place. Even though I can’t keep up with it all the time, it’s clean and clutter free at least half the time!

Keeping It Real

So welcome to the newly revamped Sweetbriar Lane !!! This time around it’s about keeping it casual and keeping it real. So I’m recently graduated college, twenty-something, just trying to adjust to the “real” world and make everyday activities as exciting as possible. Everyone knows the transition to the adult world can bring a lot of boredom and quite honestly a lot of sadness. Day to day life can easily slip into a routine of work, workouts, Netflix, & sleep. But here at Sweetbriar we try to show just how fun and amazing life is, even if we don’t think it is! So stick around for inspo/recipes/pics/or just a reminder to keep doing yo best.

An Amazing St. Lucian Adventure

Recently I was lucky enough to spend an amazing week in St. Lucia with my mom. We booked the trip a couple of months ago on a whim but it was truly amazing!

We stayed at the Ladera Resort which was situated between the two pitons (mountains) on the island. The pitons are a Unesco World Heritage site and after spending a week looking at them I can see why! The Ladera Resort was amazing with only twenty four or so rooms. Each room was ornately decorated and only had three walls. That’s right three walls. The fourth was completely open to the elements but the hotel as engineered so expertly that you never noticed it. Falling asleep every night to the sounds of the island was once in a lifetime.

In addition to the accommodations, the food at the resort was by far some of the best I’ve ever had. Every morning we were treated to fresh island fruit, rain forest juice, and baked island breads and pastries. Dinner was also tremendously good. The homemade ice cream was unlike anything I’ve ever had.

Although I was sad to leave, I was excited to get home and get started on all kinds of summer projects! Stay tuned for more:)

Remember Fashion is Fun!

So many times we get caught up in what other people will think about us when we are picking out an outfit. Am I in style? Am I wearing this trend correctly? But that’s not the point at all. The point to getting dressed every morning is to express who we are through our clothing choices. Fashion is a creative outlet and we need to use it. Not as a way to conform and impress others, but as a way to express who we are to the world around us. So next time you are debating between which necklace or scarf to add to your ensemble, make sure you don’t worry about what others will think. Have fun with it!