Bringing spring indoors

I love spring, but it doesn't love me! I have horrible (as if there were any other kind) spring allergies, but Flonase® Allergy Relief allows me to be better than my allergies... and bring spring indoors.

My Mom has a green thumb and can make any flower flourish. I wasn't blessed with as much of a green thumb, but I did inherit her appreciation for flowers. At the top of my favorite flowers list are peonies and ranunculus, but daffodils and tulips scream spring to me. Since I can't grow them as well as she can, cut flowers have become an obsession of mine. From simple bouquets, to elaborate displays, to intricate arrangements, the more flowers the better. Having them in vases around my home always makes me smile, and think fondly of my Mom, but my allergies are a drawback to my obsession. At the first hint of spring, it becomes difficult to manage my allergies and I start sniffling, get a runny nose & itchy eyes, and look and feel horrendous. And the sneezing... oh my gosh... is horrible.

Flonase is a simple once-a-day nasal-spray that I use to help me manage my allergies! Just 2 quick sprays in each nostril and I'm able to enjoy spring and be greater than my allergies.

Some other tips that I follow that have been recommended by my doctor to help manage my allergies:

• Keep the windows closed, so no outside air comes in
• Make sure the air filter is changed regularly
• Use a HEPA filter vacuum and vacuum often
• Change clothes after being outdoors (to make sure there was no pollen on them)

I still do these preventative measures, but when I take Flonase daily, I can rest assured that if I bring the outdoors inside, I can still be greater than my allergies. What a relief!

I know I'm not the only one with spring allergies: what are you allergic to and how do you enjoy spring without suffering from allergy symptoms?

XO ~Kim

FLONASE® Allergy Relief compensated me in connection with this blog post.

Scotland

Long time, no talk, am I right? Sorry for the lack of posts this past week, but I have a good excuse… I was traveling all around Scotland. To say Scotland is the most gorgeous place I’ve ever been would be an extreme understatement. Every single place I visited in the country was beyond spectacular. It seriously felt like I was traveling in a dream. So, so beautiful. I actually went with my brother, four other people from school, and three chaperones. It was an Explorica tip through school and it was such an amazing experience. So, the first day we arrived, we got into Glasgow at 6am local time. We then hopped on our bus and traveled to these ginormous horse sculptures called Kelpies. They were absolutely beautiful, but I think we were all a little too jet lagged to fully appreciate their beauty. After we visited the Kelpies, we hopped back on the bus and traveled to a gorgeous church and cemetery. Next, we went to the city center of Glasgow to wonder around and grab lunch. We then traveled all around Glasgow learning about the history of the city and looking at the monuments from the comfort of the bus. Everyone in the group was trying their hardest to not fall asleep, unsuccessfully. Jetlag really sucks. We then arrived at our hotel, ate dinner, and passed out. I’m pretty sure everyone on the trip was in bed and asleep at 9pm.

So the first day was relatively uneventful, but got us all very excited for our next week in the beautiful country of Scotland.

Day two was spent driving to the Highlands where we would spend the next three days and two nights. The drive was absolutely spectacular and we stopped at a gorgeous lake and a few other pretty spots. I can’t even begin to describe how gorgeous Scotland is. 360 degree beauty, for real. We then arrived at the cutest little hotel and wandered around the tiny village that we were staying in. I swear, it was so tiny I probably saw four locals the entire time we were there. One of the highlights of the Highlands was definitely the chance to visit Loch Ness. I convinced our tour guide to let us take a ferry ride on Loch Ness and it was absolutely, hands down, worth it.

After three days in the Highlands, we traveled to Edinburgh. This city is absolutely gorgeous and if you have the chance to visit Scotland, I totally recommend it. The nice thing about our trip was that the counselors let the students wander around the city by ourselves (we just had the buddy system rule) and it really allowed us to feel immersed in the city and not feel like we were on a boring walking tour. While in Edinburgh we went on an underground city tour, climbed up the Gothic Rocket, ate at a ton of little restaurants, shopped in a ton of cute boutiques, and just wandered around aimlessly. I wish we had more time to explore the city because there were so many hidden gems.

On the last day of our trip, we visited St. Andrews. Home of the famous golf course, castle, gorgeous views, and birthplace of the meeting of Will and Kate. I was hoping to find my prince, but unlike Kate, I was unsuccessful. Like I mentioned before, Scotland is seriously the most beautiful country with the most beautiful cities, but St. Andrews stole my heart. It was seriously so beautiful, quaint, home-y, and beachy all in one. If I had a choice of any city to grow up in, I would definitely have picked St. Andrews.

All in all, my Scotland trip was an amazing experience. I wish I could put into words how awesome of a time I had, but I just can’t. It was too perfect. I’m so thankful that I had this opportunity and totally recommend Scotland as a place to visit. I’ll now leave you guys with a ton of pictures!

If you want me to do a post on the "must see" things of Scotland, let me know! Thanks for reading! xox Chloe

Scotland

Hello! Tomorrow I'm going to be jetting off to Scotland and I honestly can't even tell you how excited I am. I've only ever been out of the country once before and it was six years ago to Germany. I'm actually going with four other people from school plus my brother chaperoned by two of the most awesome teachers at my school. It's going to be an adventure to remember for years to come. We'll be visiting castles, and St. Andrews Golf Course, and eating tons and tons of fish and chips. I'm also going to try to find the Loch Ness Monster and spot a few unicorns while I'm there so I'll keep you updates. I don't know how often I'll have access to Instagram, but I'm going to try to post as often as possible (maybe even too often) so be sure to follow me! I will also do a trip recap on the blog so be on the lookout for that in about a week! photo via

In the meantime, I'd love to know what posts you'd like to see on the blog. I've been feeling a little uninspired lately (hence the lack of posts) so I'd love to hear what you want to see!! Thanks for reading. xox Chloe

Happening Currently

Whew… senior year has been a doozy. When I was a freshman, everyone told me that junior year was the worst, but I beg to differ, senior year has definitely been my hardest year yet. From keeping my grades from slipping, to college applications, to committing to a college, to not letting senioritis get the best of me I can confidently say this has been my hardest year. However, it’s also been the best. Weird how that works, right? I’ve done so many fun things, met so many awesome people, and to be honest, I’m just happy to be back in real school after two long years of online school. Here’s what’s happening currently though…

1. I have an interview for a summer job today and I’m SO excited. It’s a little retail shop (I’ll share the name of it if I get the job) across the street from where I live and my fingers are crossed super tight because I want this job so badly.
2. I’m currently on the hunt for prom, graduation, and graduation party dresses. I don’t have a prom date (yet) but dress hunting should start now, regardless.
3. I’m going to Scotland for spring break in t-minus two weeks from last Wednesday. My excitement levels aren’t even scaleable and I’m trying me best not to talk about it every point five seconds. I will definitely be sharing a lot of pictures on here an on Instagram.

So there you have it, three things that are happening currently. I know I’ve kind of fallen off the face of the planent when it comes to blogging, so I apologize! If there’s anything that you want to see on the blog, please let me know!

xox Chloe

Internet Black Hole

I have this whole week off from school. It’s like pre-spring break. The underclassmen have testing to do, so the Seniors don’t really have to come into school except if their AP classes have study sessions. I have three study sessions, one on Monday and two on Tuesday. They’re only an hour and a half long and one of the sessions on Tuesday is a pot luck brunch. Life isn’t so bad when a pot luck brunch is involved. A whole week off from school (basically) means that I have infinite time (otherwise known as 216 hours minus about 4 hours of study sessions) to do whatever the heck I want to do. My friends and I are planning on playing tourist in our city, I plan on hitting up the gym everyday, and every hour in-between I plan on spending my time scrolling through the black hole known as the internet. I started this plan this past weekend and I found a few gems that I want to share with you. I got deep deep down into the depths of the internet black hole, and I hope you enjoy my findings. You’re welome in advance, because I know you’ll love ‘em.

-How to do Instagram the right way. This video was created in 2012 but it’s surprisingly still relevant. If you have time to waste, watch every single one of Casey Neistat’s videos. That’s what I did and I don’t retreat a single second of my time spent doing so.

-Nineteen beautiful book cover designs. I recently had to do a project in my Graphic Design class at school where I had to pick a book and come up with a design for the cover jacket (both front and back). It took me forever just to pick a book and then once I did, I changed my mind a million times. I eventually went with Freakonomics and my design wound up making it to the city wide art show. I now have a whole new appreciation for book cover designs.

-8 yoga poses to do before bed. My friend recently dragged me to a yoga class with her. I guess I should’ve prefaced that with “I HATE YOGA.” Well I did. I hated yoga. And then, surprisingly, I fell in love with it. I don’t know why the switch flipped, but I just lost myself in it and liked it. I used to be afraid of what other people around thought of me and how I was (or wasn’t) pulling off certain moves, but once I stopped caring, I started enjoying.

-Tree branch photo hang-y thing. With college just around the corner, I’ve been brainstorming ideas to decorate my dorm. I want it to be simple but cozy, just like my room at home. I stumbled across this cute little tree branch photo thing and now I want one, badly.

-English bulldogs have stolen my heart. I want one. No, I need one. They are so darn cute and I can’t get over it. Someone buy me a puppy, stat.

That’s all I have for now! I hope you can get lost in internet black hole too so we can be lost together.

Thanks for reading. xox Chloe

FOMO

One of my bloggy besties, Caroline, from the blog Citrus and Style wrote a post recently that really resonated with me. It was basically talking about FOMO (fear of missing out) and how sometimes we have to make decisions based on what we need to do rather than what we want to do. As a senior in high school, going to a certain party or sporting event can seem uber important in the moment. If I don’t go, I might miss out on something big or exciting, I might not have a chance to flirt with the boy I’m crushing on at the moment or socialize with all my besties. However, sometimes it’s important to take a break from everything and just sit at home and catch up on Netflix and sleep.

My mom and I have been talking a lot about how I can’t do everything. I can’t have a sleepover on Friday night and then stay out until 12 Saturday night. I’m at the point in my life where I have to make decisions on what I want to do and whether or not certain things are as important as they are in my mind. FOMO is real, especially with social media, and it’s hard to make these choices. But I’ve realized, through missing things, that sometimes a night alone at home is better than staying out late at a party. Even though, most of the time, it’s hard to make the choice to stay home, when I do I really love it. In fact, I’m writing this at 9 o’clock on a Saturday night. In bed. With Netflix open. And honestly? I’ve never been more content.

I was supposed to go to a concert that a band from school was playing in, but because I had a sleepover last night, my mom said I couldn’t go. Was I mad that my mom wouldn’t let me go? Absolutely. Am I missing something fun? Yep. Do I have a lot of FOMO right now? Not a lot, just a little. Am I ok staying home? You Betcha. So, moral of the story? Sometimes a night at home is better than a night out. Sometimes it’s ok to miss “the biggest party of the year” or “greatest concert of all times” or “best basketball game of the century.” FOMO is real, but staying home is fun too.

Do you have a problem with FOMO? Thanks for reading! xox, Chloe