twenties – Rosie Culture

The Hookup On: Flossolution

I’m about to get pretty real here. After I graduated college, I went to the dentist and found out I had 7 cavities and my teeth were in pretty bad shape thanks to the college lifestyle and an old dentist who wasn’t treating me properly.

Ever since then, I brush my teeth twice a day, floss every day, and use mouth wash every day to protect my gums.

My teeth have always been an area of concern for me. I had the works of dentistry done to me when I was little – including getting a wrong tooth pulled, braces with lots of rubber bands, and more.

I recently got to try the Flossolution Mini and I think my dentist is going to be very happy with me. I floss every day, but let’s face it – I’m lazy. I don’t reach back far enough or wiggle around enough. This little tool is fast and painless and makes flossing so easy! It even comes with a little suction cup so you can attach it to your mirror and always remember to floss! They’re bogo right now at Flossolution.com

I’m trying to avoid the traumatic dentistry experience of my childhood by taking care of my teeth now. It seems so silly to have to stress it, but trust me start taking care of yourself so you don’t have to regret it later.

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are mine.

PostGrad

When Life Hands You Lemons

Life has handed me a lot of lemons lately with very little sugar. If I were to try to make lemonade, let’s just say it would be very bitter.

If I back up and take deep breaths and get out of the moment – there have been plenty of good things that have happened to me recently. A lot of big steps, realizations, and falling back into place when I had felt disheveled. But that bad stuff really just feels like it’s piling up and burying anything good.

It’s at the point where life just feels like hit after hit after hit and nothing can go right. I love my new apartment, I love reconnecting with my friends, I love where I’m at with my job. But then my phone breaks, then I shell out thousands for my car over a three month time period, then I get sick and can’t enjoy the nice weather.

How do you really separate yourself from the bad when the feeling of all those things is so overwhelming? I think it takes a lot of support, a lot of positive vibes, a lot of things I just don’t have anymore or can’t appreciate anymore.

With the downs comes the ups – but how long do I have to hang out in the downs until I start climbing back up again?

PostGrad

My Completed Winter Bucket List

Is spring actually going to come soon because I’m SO sick of the cold! I managed to get most of my bucket list done for winter, even hitting my Instagram followers goal (for now at least) which is always tough for me! Check it out below.

~~Go to Terceira Island!~~
Read about it here
~~Finish 2 books~~
~~Learn to knit/crochet a blanket~~
~~Go somewhere by myself~~
~~Find a new apartment~~
~~Move out~~
Become a better runner
Probably time to accept this will never happen….
~~6,500 Instagram followers~~
2,500 WordPress followers
Only 60 away 🙂
1,000 Twitter followers
I don’t know why I made this goal lol wayyyy out of reach!
~~Plan a weekend trip~~
We went to Orlando!
~~Become more present~~

What’s one thing you’ve accomplished this winter?

travel

How I Afford Traveling

I put off writing this post because:

I think every person who has traveled ever has written it
My advice really isn’t that groundbreaking

But I’m going to tell you anyway. I probably go on a trip every two months, usually only two big/expensive trips a year and a bunch of little trips scattered in between. To many, it seems like I travel a lot. To me, it’s never enough. But I do get asked a lot how I afford to travel.

The kind of trips I take play a big part in affordability. We use Groupon to book our big and out of country trips. The hotel and flight are usually bundled with some other perk and the savings are amazing. We only do these trips once, maybe twice a year, and it’s always during winter. Last year we went to Iceland and this year we went to Portugal. If we do another big trip it will only be because I’m tagging along on one of my boyfriend’s work trips.

I don’t do a lot on the weekends that will cost me money. I know some people enjoy going to the bar with their friends on the weekends, but that’s not exactly my idea of a great time which is where I save money. Instead of dropping $50 on drinks every weekend, that money is saved and put into tiny weekend trips every month or every other month. Traveling is what I enjoy so I choose to stay in most times. The only fun activity I ever really splurge on are concert tickets.

I have a cash back card. I get 1% back on purchases and 1% back when I pay. I take the money I earn from that and use it as spending cash when I’m actually on my trip.

I have two savings accounts. I put money away every month. One savings account is for the future – for a new car, new home, in case of extreme emergencies. The other savings account is for trips, things I want to buy in the future, and extra cash for my checking account which I use to pay my rent, bills, etc.

How I can afford to travel isn’t all that glamorous. I don’t make a lot of money, I don’t have a fancy book of budgeting, I don’t have a top secret website that scores me the best deals. I prioritize what I want to spend money on in my life and then I plan to get the best price – but it works for me so maybe it will work for you too!

travel

My Quick Trip To Orlando

I was lucky enough to ditch the winter weather and head to Orlando for 3 days – it was just the break I needed!

On day 1 we went to Universal solely because we wanted to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Are tickets pricey? Yes. Was going to Hogwarts worth it? Yes.

Here’s a couple things you have to do if you go to Harry Potter world:

Get a butter beer because they are sooo yummy!
Splurge for an interactive wand. It was $55 but doing spells all day and having an awesome wand can’t be beat.
Wait on line for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey 3D ride – this ride was NO JOKE. It felt like a real rollercoaster!
Get ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. I highly recommend the lavender and earl grey flavor!

The next few days I spent poolside and just soaking up the sun at Westgate Lake Spa and Resort which was a really nice place.

I will recommend Dixie Dharma, a vegan restaurant, if you’re in the area! It was so yummy, it’s a bakery, restaurant, and shop and they had a lot of cool local prints, soaps, candles, etc. for sale.

Have you ever been to Orlando? Tell me your favorite part about your trip!

PostGrad

Letting Stress Get The Best Of You

I am a continuously stressed out person. I normally don’t get worked up over small things, but I do get worked up over small things that keep building up higher and higher and I also really feed off other people’s stress. I’m not usually worried until someone else is worried, and when you work at a 9-5 job pretty much everyone is stressed all the time. So now I am stressed all the time.

And it’s really gotten the best of me lately. So much so, I developed an eye twitch for over two weeks – it’s starting to go away for anyone who has been following my complaints on Instagram. I have awfully vivid dreams and don’t sleep well at night. I get migraines that knock me on my butt for hours at a time. All of this from stress and not managing it correctly.

I have things that make me feel happy and organized. I’m a list maker, I plan trips to keep my wanderlust at bay, I have a gratitude journal, I organize my plans far in advance. And yet it still doesn’t seem to be enough in this postgrad world of mine.

I want to put the fun back into life – but even the fun things cause stress now. Everything needs to be scheduled, put in the planner. When unexpected things come up – fun or not so fun – it is a total drain on my energy.

What are your tips for dealing with stress and not letting life weigh too heavily on you? Leave me comments – I always appreciate advice! 🙂

PostGrad

Somewhere In Between

I feel pretty weird about this stage of my life. While I know I don’t need to have everything figured out at 24 years old, I do know that there are some things that I should feel more comfortable with.

But everything is very up and down at the moment. I just moved into a new place, so where I live will be a constant for probably the next two years. Therefore, I really don’t have any big life changes coming down the road – and I kind of thrive on change. I don’t plan on moving, don’t plan on changing jobs, don’t plan on making any relationship steps. Which is all fine, but the lack of change makes me uneasy.

And I feel like I should be more comfortable with my friends, the way I spend my time, the way I look. But I just can’t find a balance.

My friends all have their friends and they all live more than an hour away making pretty much everything hard. I’m tired after work so I don’t really do anything exciting – probably the only thing worth mentioning is my blog but that has become so integrated into my life. And I can’t get past any fitness plateaus, I’m so stagnant.

But what do I do? Join a club at 24 years old? I’ve never been an outgoing person and just the thought of trying to make new friends makes me want to hide under the covers. Do I just accept I’m at a weird transitional part of my life and that the puzzle pieces will fall into place soon? Because so far I’ve learned when you expect things to get easier, they don’t.

Being 24 is weird.