SCS 💐🤍

Solo Dates🤍

Showing yourself a little bit of self love is important. Nothing drastic, just a solo date can never go wrong. I occasionally take myself on solo dates and I have been implementing them on myself a little more now. Sometimes I go shopping, a mini drive, or taking myself for a little treat. There are a few things that I enjoy doing when going out solo.

Mini Coffee Runs

It cannot be a solo date without a coffee or matcha. Depending on what your favorite drink is. For me, the drink that I get depends on my mood. Sometimes I want to get a coffee, there are times where I get a matcha, or I switch it up to either a tea or refresher. Going to a coffee shop close by or trying a new one is the perfect way to get this started. They can be local coffee shop, a pop up, or small business. 

Skin Care Shopping

One of my favorite solo dates is skin care shopping. Whenever I run out of products to use, I go shopping to get a new set. The number one thing that I can never run out of is face masks. These are my favorite thing to add in my skin care routine and shopping for these is what I enjoy the most. Eye masks are another thing that I enjoy shopping for and one that runs out fairly quickly. Of course there is my moisturizer, cleanser, toner, and sunscreen that I go buy. Even getting a new body wash, exfoliator, lotion, or body cream. Going solo to purchase these is even better when I get to take my time to enjoy looking around the store and smelling the new fragrances. The stores that I go to when buying my skin care or any hygiene product is Ulta, Target, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, or Bath & Body Works. You can never go wrong with any of these stores!!

Flowers

There was a time where I wasn't a big fond of receiving flowers. Then again I was a kid and was a little to focus on school and volleyball. Starting my sorority experience and buying flowers for the newest members that we helped throughout there process changed my mindset a little. Going out with my friends to local areas around campus and coming across flower shops was another step. We would all purchase little bouquets for ourselves and there was one that was always our favorite. There was a shop where we were able to chose the flowers we wanted for our own bouquet and that made it special for me. Now, when I get the chance, I take advantage on my solo dates to buy myself some flowers as a sign of self love and enjoying the day. It also makes your home look lively.

SCS💐🤍

Self Care Day

After a tiring week, you are going to want to relax and enjoy a day off doing what you love the most. There is no better way than doing a little bit of self care. You can be reading a book, watching a series, or doing your skincare. There are countless ways of having a self care day. Here are some of my personal favorites.

Books

For anyone who is a reader, this may be your best way of taking care of yourself. Reading a good book is always the best way to relax and ease your mind. It can be a book that you are excited about or a continuation to a series that you have started. For me, reading is a moment where I can escape reality and enjoy time off my phone. Now choosing the right book is where things change and can sometimes be a little tricky but it also depends on the mood that I am in and what kind of book I want to start reading. Sometimes it is romance, mystery, thriller, or fantasy. Or sometimes it can be something different, like a movie.

T.V. Shows/Series/Movies

Catching up on a T.V. show that you are watching is the best or watching a movie that you have been waiting to see. Some of the shows or series that I like to watch are my go to for comfort. My most recent watch was a Korean drama titled "Perfect Crown". Literally such a funny and cute drama. Even though I watched the drama in 3 days, I'm already getting the urge to re-watch it again as it had me laughing and kicking my feet.

Skin Care

If it is one thing that I love doing the most is my skin care. Researching more on what products I like to use or which ones work better for me has given me a better idea of how to take care of my skin. The best way that I enjoy a good skin care evening/night. After cleansing my face, I like to have 2 options ready. Option 1 is after a good cleanse and toner, I like to wear a face mask. All the face masks that I have work differently. There are some that are for hydration, moisturizing, purifying, irritation, collagen, etc. The list really goes on. The ones that I have always used are hydration (especially during the summer, with sunburns), moisturizing, calming, and irritation. Adding in some eye patches to my routine are always the best and gives the best feeling cooling effect. 

SCS💐🤍

  Journaling✨

Past blogs you may have noticed that I journal. Well in almost every WIML and Self Care Sunday. Today I'll go more in depth of what materials I used, how to structure your journals, and what benefits it has to you. This isn't something that you should be forced to do. Use journaling as your safe space to vent, give gratitude, or write whatever thoughts you have wandering. There is no right or wrong on how to journal. What I have on this blog are ideas based on how I journal.

  Materials

Honestly, any sort of writing material works when journaling. You can use any journal or notebook that you have lying around in your room. Personally for me, I like to have a journal with a minimal or modern design to remind me to write my thoughts. Most of the journals that I own, I have bought them at Marshalls. You can honestly find pretty covers with minimal or modern designs for pretty cheap. I recommend to start with a small journal to get you adjusted to a new routine.

When it comes to highlighters, pens, or pencils, it does not matter. If you are new to journaling, lets keep it simple to the supplies you have at home. The writing supplies that I use are gel pens (color and black), regular ballpoint pens, and highlighters. It is very rare when I do use pencils to write. I do make mistakes and use white out. Sometimes I just cross out the words I misspell or don't want to use instead of using white out. There are no specific brands to what I used, it is mostly the stuff that I have lying around or impulsive bought items. 

  Types of Journaling

There are many different types of journaling. I'll be breaking the ones that I know.

Junk Journaling: This can be a way to scrapbook with items that you collect along your day. For example you can have a page set for a restaurant that you tried. On the page you can add in the receipt, pictures of the food that you had, a piece of the napkin that you took (believe me, I have seen people do this for this type of journaling), and pictures of the place you went at.

Self Care Journaling: You personalize this journal to your liking. This can be where you have self care prompts that you want to respond to and better understand yourself. You can add your self care goals that you set out for yourself and how to improve on becoming a better version of yourself. 

Morning/Night Journal: I have seen people and this journal myself. It is called "The Five Minute Journal" and it will already have the prompts for you. Every page is dedicated to the day (the start of your day) and night (to rewind and prepare for the following day).

Reading Journal: This is perfect for all the readers. This journal can be bought or made on your own. After finishing a book, you have a page dedicated for each book you read and fill out the information such as name of the book, author, genre, pages, start/end date, format, etc. These are perfect to write what you like about the book you read and your favorite quotes.

Journal a Day: One journal that I started to work on during my last semester of college was a small reflection entry daily. This was tied in with a poetry book that I have. The 3 questions that I would add is "what line stood out to me?", "why?", and "how to incorporate the line to my lifestyle?"

Benefits

There are a lot of different benefits to journaling. One of the main reasons that I like to journal is for improvement on mental health and reduce stress. Writing down my thoughts or answering prompts have helped me from stressful moments. There is something about writing that makes me feel better after a tiring day. 

SCS

 Self Care Day: 2

Beautiful Sunday for a beautiful self care day!!! Nothing feels better than to journal in the morning and plan my week. I will be starting a new journal as well and it has felt exciting to design the first month cover!! Sunday has really been a day to give yourself a refresh from the past couple of days and creating a week to look forward too!!

First thing on the list is planning your week. This can be done on your phone (calendar app), on an iPad, planner, or a notebook. The way that I like to plan out my week is to write down all my work shifts on my planner in red. Any hangouts with friends, I like to use pink. When in comes to planning all of the blogs, I use a blackberry jam color (oddly specific). These colors make it easier to differentiate all of my events.

Self Care Sunday💐🤍

 Self Care Day

Sundays are often seen as reset day and getting to catch up on any pending tasks. To me there is more to that. Sundays are also my self care and mental health days. These are moments to give my skin and hair a a break from products that I used constantly throughout the week. From Monday - Saturday, I'm constantly adding something to myself to make me look a bit more awake or presentable. This goes from styling my hair to adding makeup. If I am wearing clusters I take them off to give my lashes a break before starting a new set if I am planning on wearing the upcoming week. Same thing goes for my hair. Giving my hair a break from heavy hair care product and heat exposure (such as curls).  

As a mental health day, I do so much more than just taking a break from products. Journaling and reading are also two things that I incorporate into my Self Care Sunday. By doing these, it gives me a break from being on my phone. With all my notebooks lying around, I started to use them and write journal prompts as a form of self care. Working on these prompts have given an opportunity to clear my mind from everything going around me. The best places to look for journaling prompts are Instagram and Pinterest. These 2 platforms work best for any form of self care prompts and self growth. Starting a little bit self care journaling in the mornings is a perfect way to start a Sunday morning.