First, let me apologize for… the entire month of March. I traveled internationally – twice! – and was away from work for nearly half of the month. That means we completely skipped not only the monthly newsletter, but also skipped the monthly playlist and What I’m Into! Oh, the shame in it all!
For the record, I hit the two easiest countries to get to from the USA: Mexico and Canada, in that order. I spent 9 days in San Jose del Cabo (and one day at Mango Deck in Cabo San Lucas during Spring Break which… I can’t talk about here).
As my first international flight, it was a monumental experience that was way overdue. Mexico is an incredibly beautiful and warm place, both in temperature and in hospitality. I fell in love with everything about the Baja Sur. There are even some “souvenirs” in this post! Honorable mention goes out to true, Mexican tortillas. They make the tortillas in the states seem like fluffy, enriched flatbreads. Life will never be the same.
Then, I spent a few days in Vancouver to see the Canucks’ last home game against Ohio! Despite my national affiliations, we are a Canucks family over here – and they won in overtime! And I got to eat donuts! Two equally exciting international events.
Anyway, here we are about to hit the middle of April, so it’s time for an on-time list five things that I’m feelin’ this month.
Salsa Huichol Hot Sauce, $6.36 for 2 bottles
Right of the bat, we have one of my most prized Mexican discoveries: Salsa Huichol. As a hot sauce connoiseur, trust me when I say that I currently reach for this over my steadfast Cholula, Tapatio, and even my previous fave, Secret Aardvark.
It’s made in Xalisco, Mexico, uses Cascabel chiles (along with a healthy dose of secret ingredients) to create a really deep, earthy, almost smokey flavor that isn’t super hot. This stuff is all about the chilies, and I can’t think of something that it doesn’t – or wouldn’t – taste good on. Plus, like all good hot sauces, it’s dirt cheap and available pretty readily online.
Are you as into hot sauce as I am? Have you already tried Salsa Huichol?! Hit me up and let’s talk about hot sauce while we shop for outfits, thanks.
First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Lip Treatment, $12
If you’ve ever left a grape on the counter by accident, you know what happened to my lips almost immediately as we exited the plane in Mexico. Over the course of nine days, my lips got battered by the sand, heat, and salt water. Luckily, this First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Lip Treatment (and air conditioned bedrooms) saved us.
It’s not thick like other super-intensive lip repair treatments are, it’s actually more of a cream. As weird as that sounds, it sinks into my dry lips immediately, and instead of leaving them to get re-dry, it retains that moisturized feel while it goes to work on your damage.
For a lip balm, it’s kind of pricey at $12… But if you use it like an actual treatment when your lips are really bad, you’ll get a ton of use out of it. I keep losing it and re-finding it, so mine has lasted me well over a year!
Derma E 3-in-1 Hair Protecting Serum, $10.99
Derma E Organic Argan Oil Blend, $15.99
Recently, I bit the bullet and threw an ombré onto the ends of my hair. It’s been years since I dyed my hair and I was incredibly stubborn when it came to doing it myself. After years and years of procrastination, I realized that I was 32 and still hadn’t had candy-colored hair. So, over three sessions and two months, I finally have bleached ends, and have fully immersed myself into the conditioner and moisturizer obsession.
Derma E sent these over right before I got peroxided. The Argan oil blend is made from Argan, obviously, Jojoba oil and Kukui oil. You can use it pretty much anywhere on your body, but 100% of it has gone directly into the bottom half of my hair.
The 3-in-1 Hair Protection Serum is more like a leave-in conditioner that helps strengthen and moisturizer really damaged or dry hair. I throw it in after towel-drying, and the result is hair that looks silky and not totally fried. Plus, the prices for these hard-working products is more than fair. It’s why Derma E is one of my favorite drugstore beauty brands!
The Best Compostable Reusable Coffee Cups, $12.99 for 2 16oz. Cups
Can’t have a What I’m Into without talking about coffee, right? Well, I have found the perfect reusable travel mugs that fit all of my nerdy coffee-related, price-related, and environment-related criteria.
If you are constantly aware that your coffee addiction produces actual craploads of garbage every year, then you probably have your fair share of reusable travel mugs. (Sometimes they get you a discount on coffee in shops, FYI!) But those travel mugs are eventually going to end up in the garbage too, right? Am I the only one who can’t sleep sometimes because they think about garbage? #questionsformytherapist
Basically, the travel mugs I found randomly on Amazon are biodegradable and compostable. These cups are made from rice husk materials and won’t impart any flavor into your coffee, tea, hot toddy – whatever it is that you take on the go. It’s recommended that you replace them once per year because of how they actually, truly (very slowly) degrade over time, especially when they’re filled over and over with hot liquids.
I’ve been using these almost daily, including taking them on vacations with me, and while they’re not the cutest travel mugs in my cabinet, it’s definitely the one I like the most!
Fortnite: Battle Royale
Twitch Streamer: KittyPlays
I’m the type of person who constantly needs something playing in the background while I work – I don’t do well with dead air unless it’s high pressure deadline time… And even, then, I have a playlist for that.
Lately, though, I’ve been nurturing a happy little addiction to Fortnite: Battle Royale, a free online multiplayer game for consoles, PC, and iOS. It’s all I think about. 100 players run around an open world trying to kill each other, but aside from the awesome gameplay and creative combat, there are amazing skins and outfits for your player. Play in squads with your friends, or duos, or just hunker down in your basement playing solo for hours. Whatever!
Unfortunately for me, this “work” crap keeps getting in the way of my warlording, so I have to rely on KittyPlays, aka Kristen Michaela, who plays Fortnite on Twitch for like 8 hours a day (just like I do in my dreams.)
In case you didn’t know, I am a proud nerd and gamer, and being a lady geek right now is kiiiind of awesome. Not only are there more and more inclusive games, but there are also more female gamers rising to the top. Kitty has nearly 800,000 followers on Twitch, and that number is growing by thousands per week.
Gaming obsessions aside, if you want to be inspired by someone’s hustle, she’s your gal. On top of her daily, full-time Twitch job, she is a daily YouTuber, lifestyle blogger, and entrepreneur. This girl injects positivity and inspiration into her daily streams with rigor! And thanks to a gaming background playing games like Counter-Strike, she’s kind of a really good player. Give her a follow or a sub if you love strong women who kick ass!
Tell me what you’re into!
Can’t stop thinking about something you discovered this month (or, um, last month)? Tell me in the comments, or find me on Twitter so I can share it!