Five Favorites

This week has been pretty great. I got a day and a half off from work because of snow, so I got to spend some extra time with my boyfriend :)

Also, I was at a conference for work on Thursday, and I got to hear from a really interesting man named Jaime Casap. He works for Google in their education department and thinks through how google products can be used in education. He was talking to some Philadelphia students about college and beating the odds.

He was a very dynamic speaker and I was completely engaged the whe time. The most poignant thing he said was that he never asked people what they want to do in the future; rather, he asks them "what problem do you want to solve?" And from there you plan what field to go into, what to study, and where to work in order to solve that problem.

 As someone who is still wondering what to do long term in my life, it really got me thinking about what problem I wanted to solve. You can read Mr. Casap's blog at www.jcasap.com

Anyway, all inspirational speeches aside, here are five things I'm loving this week.

Dr. Jart's Black Label Detox BB Cream

After searching endlessly through paulaschoice.com (a super helpful makeup review website) I finally found a moisturizer/brightener/anti-aging BB Cream that was rated "Best" on their website and didn't cost a fortune. I love the light tint to this moisturizer, it leaves my skin looking flawless and helps lighten the red marks on my face! Also, I bought this with my Birchbox points so it only cost me $6 instead of $36.

Eco Skin Rescue Serum

I bought this serum on a whim from Marshall's, but I've been pleasantly surprised with it. I like the smell of it and it's been doing a good job of helping to moisturize my super dry winter skin.

Peanut Butter Patties (Tagalongs) Girl Scout Cookies

It's Girl Scout Cookie season and time for my favorite of all the cookies, the Tagalongs. What's not to love? I get my chocolate/peanut butter/baked good fix while supporting young, female entrepreneurship, at least that's what I tell myself when I suck down a box of these.

Semi-Homemade French Onion Soup

Fact: French onion soup can be eaten for any meal (trust me, I've had it from everywhere for brunch to 2AM drunk munchies); it's transcendental.  Fact: you can buy crocks for about $1 each at your local thrift shop. Fact: French Onion soup is easy to make at home. You just need some French Onion soup mix or premade (we added onion slices to Pacifico's Organic FOS), a crusty baguette, and some gruyere cheese. We broiled these suckers on low for 5-6 minutes. Voile! 

Why Oh Why? Podcast

At first I thought I was just going to love to hate Andrea Silenzi, the host of this podcast. The first episode was cringe-worthy awkward in many different ways. But as I listened to the second and third podcasts I realized I was beginning to really enjoy this podcast.

The podcast is about Andrea and her friends' trials and tribulations of being young 20-somethings in Brooklyn looking for love. Think Girls mixed with Sex and the City. A lot of the podcast is filmed while Andrea and her friends share hilarious dating debacles over brunch or sitting on a couch. You feel like you're one of the girls, and the stories are both relate-able and completely ridiculous. I recommend you give this podcast a try! (Even my boyfriend enjoyed listening to some of it ;)