Welcome to my first Five Things! If you aren’t an avid blog reader like myself, Five Things posts are basically just a list of five random things that I want to share with you guys. They can be life updates, a new obsession that I want to share, announcements, anything really. I read these a lot on other blogs and I always love them. They can go deeper than a simple outfit post and make you connect with that person, or they can be light and fun, which can be refreshing sometimes, so I decided why not start doing them here on PLH? I won’t commit Five Things posts to a specific schedule or anything like that, but I’ll try to sprinkle them in throughout the year and see how it goes. Be sure to let me know what you think/if you like posts like these, and I’ll be sure to include them more frequently! Ok, let’s get into it.

1. I’ve started yoga classes! This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years now but never stuck with. My first yoga studio closed right after my second class there and another one that I tried, I just couldn’t get into. This year I decided to try Y7 classes, which are hot yoga classes set to hip hop music! I found them on Instagram and instantly was intrigued. I’m only two classes in but I’m loving it so far. I’ll try to keep you guys posted on my progress this year if you’d be interested in that.
2. We booked my birthday trip! I teased this over on Instagram the other day but I’m super excited to say that I’ll be spending my 26th birthday in the Dominican Republic next month! Ahh I’m so excited and can’t wait to spend a long weekend soaking up sun and sipping margaritas on the beach with Craig. I’m literally smiling as I type this. Stay tuned for a “what I’m packing for DR” post coming to the blog very soon! We’re staying in Puerto Plata so any recommendations, if you’ve been there before, are absolutely welcome.
3. I’ve been on a huge oatmeal kick this month since trying to get into a healthier lifestyle. Usually I’d just go for the good ‘ole quaker oatmeal packs but after hearing (one million times) how full of sugar and junk they are, I decided to try my hand at making oatmeal from scratch and I’ve been loving it! Seriously a game changer and I don’t think I’ll ever go back TBH. My go-to recipe so far has been: 8 spoonfuls of oats (we don’t have measuring cups at my office where I make my oatmeal lol), about a cup of almond milk (enough to submerge all the oats and a little extra), microwave that mixture for 2 minutes 40 seconds; stir in one spoonful of honey, add a handful of rinsed blueberries and a chopped banana on top and you’re done! So so yummy and filling.
4. My mom got me this Longchamp tote bag for Christmas and it has been my go-to bag this month. I’ve been using it every single day since I got back from FL and it’s pretty much the only bag I use now. It’s great because it has a zipper instead of just staying open like my other tote bag, and it’s compact enough that it doesn’t get in the way on a crowded subway car, but is big enough to hold my change of clothes/shoes for yoga after work! Can’t recommend enough.
5. I finished up another round of these skincare products from ELEMIS (which I wrote an entire blog post on HERE) last month and still can’t believe how great they are! Saw such an improvement in my skin again and am making a conscious effort this time to not pick my face. *Back story: I have a horrible habit of picking things and so whenever I get even the smallest break out or pimple I mess with it so much that I end up with a ton of acne scars on my face. This range has significantly faded my old scars and now I’m trying to work harder to not create any new ones.

And that’s it! What did you think of my first Five Things post? Not too bad right? As usual, let me know what you think in the comments and if you can relate to any of these!

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