My Top 5

The go-to conversation starter in my inner circle as of late is what are your top 5. Top 5 movies first, which then leads into TV Shows. But, I also love to find out peoples generic top 5 things in life.  Here are mine.

image via

Movies: 
1.  Father of the Bride Part II (The part 2 part is very important. I love the first one but the second one reigns supreme)
2.  It’s Complicated
3.  You’ve Got Mail
4.  That Thing You Do
5.  Remember the Titans

10 important life lessons from laguna beach and the hills

TV Shows:
1.  Gilmore Girls
2.  Barefoot Contessa
3.  The Hills/Laguna Beach
4.  Parenthood
5.  Friday Night Lights

In General: 
1.  Mornings (I sleep with my blinds open because I love being woken up by the sun. I’ve been an early riser my whole life. I used to get annoyed I couldn’t sleep in and now I love it. I love mornings so much I even wrote whole posts on them you can read here and here.
2.  Washington D.C.  My love for this city will never die. 
3.  Watching Food Network (especially on Saturday mornings in bed with a cup of coffee or tea)
4.  Cooking/Baking (duh)
5.  That feeling when you slip between the covers and lay your head on your pillow after a long day. 

Your turn. Let me here it in the comments below! 

Annie

What's In My Bag?

I've always loved those articles in magazines "what's in their bag," that give you a peak inside what a celebrity carries in their purse. Maybe it's creepy that I enjoy knowing what somewhere totes around all day, but I'm also the weirdo that loves knowing what's in someone's fridge. It says a lot about a person.

Purse: Who What Wear Mini Shopper

Snacks: RX Kids bar, these are the best purse size snack. I try to always have a bar or baggy of nuts in my car or purse. #alwayspacksnack I also often have tea bags in my purse and work bag. It's an easy way to cure the mid-day slump and cure my issue of always being cold. 

Brush: Conair mini brush. The one thing that is ALWAYS in my purse, and always gets transferred from day to evening bag too. A quick brush through your hair can really make you feel better.

Sunglasses: Cheaper than cheap from Forever 21. Despite the fact that I have a really good track record with sunglasses, I still can't bring myself to spend money on them. These were $3. 

Meds: Epi-pen, inhaler, Benadryl, allergies are fun! 

Gum: Extra Spearmint, each piece eaten in 1/3s cause I'm a freak. But hey, it makes a pack last almost 3 weeks, but the amount of gum wrappers I accumulate are uncanny. 

Lips: e.l.f Aqua Beauty Lip Stain in Dewy Berry and Rouge Radiance (creates this watercolor type lip stain that I love), Glossier coconut balm dotcom, MAC lipstick in twig, and Dior Addict Lip Glow (the coolest lip stain that enhances your natural lip color). 

Wallet: Mine is a discontinued style from SCOUT bags, but I love their stuff so much, find similar options here. 

This post idea originated back in the fall of 2014 when I was a senior in college. See my first "what's in my bag" here. Honestly not much has changed, at all. Same gum, similar wallet, cheap sunglasses, bright blue purse, and the same pink snakeskin hair brush is still going strong 4 years later. Is that gross?

What's in your bag?

Annie

Beauty Bites

When it comes to beauty and skincare, I am not a "product person." I'm a drug store mascara, forget to wash my face, sometimes my teeth, never get facials kind of person. As I'm getting more into my 20's, I'm trying my best to change my old ways. Every article I read turns into some rant about how important your skin regimen is, or "what I would have told my 23 year old self" turns into a lesson on taking care of your skin. I don't want wrinkles by the time I'm 30, so looks like it is time to grow up. at

Like I said, I've really been trying to invest in better products, take more time with my skin regimen and care more about what I'm putting on my face and body. Below is a list of my current "beauty bites." While I'm still a girl on a budget, one product is a pantry staple and nothing is over $30. 

LAZY DRY SHAMPOO
I am new to the dry shampoo world. I always swore it didn't work for me. My hair gets greasy after 24 hours, and have always washed my hair everyday if I want it to look decent. Once I joined the working world, washing and drying my hair everyday became a long and daunting task. Enter dry shampoo. It took a few weeks to get my hair used to every other day washes, but with some trial and error I've found some dry shampoos that actually work and help prolong the washing process. My current obsession is Lazy Dry Shampoo. It's all natural ingredients and locally made in OKC! You apply the powder with a soft brush at night, then you wake up and voila, non-greasy hair! It comes in two versions for light and dark hair. Lazy Dry Shampoo can be ordered here. 

RODAN + FIELDS FOAMING TANNER
I get pale in the winter, like sickly pale. When spring hits I get eager to add some color to my washed out winter skin, but it's not that easy. It takes weeks in the summer to get a tan. With my roommate's bachelorette trip in Scottsdale this weekend, I am in desperate need for some base color before being fully exposed to the sun. My good friend Bailey recently started selling R+F and raved about this tanner. I love that is is a foam, making it so easier to apply. The color shows up almost instantly giving me the color I dreadfully need.  Shop from Bailey directly here. 

COCONUT OIL
You've probably seen a million articles about all the benefits and ways you can use coconut oil, well it's true. I've recently started using coconut oil outside of just cooking with and more for topical use. Coconut oil has replaced my old make up remover. I have a jar in my bathroom that I use every night to wipe away my make up. It works better than any bottle remover you can buy at the store.  I have really dry skin so something that gently removes my makeup and moisturizes at the same time is a win win. I also apply a little extra on my lips and sometimes use it on my cuticles and elbows. 

DIY LAVENDER BODY SCRUB
My other roommate gifted me some lavender body scrub for Valentine's Day. Made from just coconut oil, sugar and lavender oil. My dry skin was obsessed. It became my ritual to go to hot yoga, come home light a candle in the bathroom, and use my lavender body scrub in a long hot steamy shower. A little home spa action. I found my skin not needing as much lotion post-shower because the scrub helped get off dead skin and moisturize with the coconut oil base. I ran out fast, but plan on using this recipe to make more on my own!

Annie

Why You Should Join StudioHop

photo cred KGC Photography

If you follow me anywhere on social media then you have probably seen me hopping around town taking full advantage of my new obsession StudioHop. What's StudioHop you ask? It's a monthly membership to the best of best fitness classes in the city. Say you like spin but love to get your flow on in a hot yoga class. Tired of paying for two memberships or drop-in classes here there and all over. Ya, me too. Welllll, now that StudioHop has touched down in OKC you can get all the benefits of different studios with only paying one price. SIGN. ME. UP. 

StudioHop hand selects their favorite studios so you know you are getting the best of the best. Take a look here, to see the studios Oklahoma City has to offer. In the past month I have been hopping back and forth from Beyond Studios to Soul Yoga and Union Performance to Yoga at Tiffany's. I love getting my cardio in at the Beyond 500 classes, but love nothing more than a 6am sweat sesh in hot yoga. Union Performance is new to me, but I try to fit in their bootcamp class at lunchtime for a mid day pick me up. My girl Chelsea gives you a full body workout that you will be feeling the next day! 

I read an article a few weeks ago about how switching up your workout routine is the ticket to start seeing results. In a study done on people performing the same exercise day in and day out, individuals bodies simply stopped responding. When they were then exposed to different exercises, their fitness only improved!

I had been in a rut lately of doing the same thing, barre mixed with moderate cardio. I enjoyed my workout regime and could go on about my love for barre workouts for hours, but it was getting a little boring as well as results become stagnant. My favorite part of StudioHop and the #1 reason why I think you should join, is the change! The ability to change up your workout everyday, every week. Spin on Monday followed by a hot yoga flow on Tuesday. Bootcamp Wednesday and pilates Thursday. Your body will love you for keeping it challenged and never getting settled into one form of exercise. The most economical way to make this changing routine happen is by joining StudioHop. One price, once a month, but instead of one workout class you get a multitude of different workout options! Join me, you won't regret it. 

Photo Cred KGC Photography

StudioHop offers a monthly unlimited package for $135 as well as a 4 class bundle and 8 class bundle package. More info about pricing can be found here. If you have any questions about how the packages work or what studios have limitations, you can get answers in their FAQ or feel free to ask me in the comments below!

StudioHop is like the gift that keeps on giving! And to keep the giving going, use my code anniehopokc in checkout to get $20 off your first month! This code can be used for class bundles or the monthly unlimited package. That means access to the best studios all about town for $115, WIN! (Hurry and sign up, code expires 3/6). Give StudioHop a follow on insta and a like on Facebook, and make sure to sign up for their newsletter (just scroll to the bottom of the page)!

Now, hop to it!

Annie

What I'm Listening To

Wednesday last week I posted up at Starbucks to GSD. It was pouring rain, it was hump day, I had a green tea in hand, and Starbucks was killing the mood playlist. I love a good rainy day playlist that gets all the vibes going. Cue ILYSB comes on.

The song was familiar, but I had no idea who sang it or what it was called. I'm not one to ever really listen to the words of a song or pay attention to the title of it. Shazam works wonders for people like me. Found out it was ILYSB (I love you so bad) by LANY (pronounced Lay-Nee). This group loves a good acronym. Annnnnyway, I added it to my Spotify and have listened to it over and over and over since. I'm just a few listens short of being completely sick of it. I linked the live version above, but you can find ILYSB on itunes, Spotify, SoundCloud etc. 

Annie