Lifestyle – Page 4 – A Chance of Charm

Graphic Tee & Skirt Style

June 2, 2018 No Comments

June kind of sprang up on me. She came out of no where, but let me explain.

You see, I had the entire month of May off from school. I wish I could tell you that I went on vacation and enjoyed a margarita by the pool with my girlfriends, but the month of May was quite the opposite. I’ll let you in on a BIG secret that only close family and friends know… I started my final graduate school research paper 2.5 months late, leaving me with 6 weeks to write the most important paper of my life. So, the first part of May was spent writing and researching (cochlear implants if you’re interested in knowing what my paper was about). Finally, after much back and forth, my research advisor was happy with my work and I made my final submission. What a relief! Of course, I celebrated with a “clean slate” facial at Hiatus spa which was aaaamazing. Then, back to reality.

The last part of May has been equally stressful. If you keep up with my instastories on Instagram, you have seen me working in my apartment lounge, and as of late, a lot more at the UT Dallas library. Why? I’m taking the PRAXIS exam (Speech-Language Pathology certification test) soon and there’s so much to review. So much that I decided to push my test date back from my original June 4th date to a later date. Though hard to admit to myself, and even harder to tell you all, I feel defeated. I realize it’s only temporary and I’m just 2 months away from graduating. I could hold it together for 2 more months, right? 🙂

Does my skirt look familiar to you? I styled it in this blog post back in December! The skirt is an old one from here, but I’ve linked some similar ones below!

XO, Vivian

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Journaling with Transcending Waves

May 9, 2018 No Comments

Every night without fail, an alarm goes off at 12am with the label “planner writing.” And every night (or morning?) I snooze the alarm for an hour and come back to it later. No matter how late it gets or how sleepy I am, I pull my planner out and write something, anything, about the day I had.

Throughout my teenage years and young adult life I have had periods of journaling that ended abruptly because I had too much to write and I didn’t want to “catch up.” It sounds so silly right?! Now that I’m no longer obsessed with writing every detail of my life, it has made writing on a daily basis so much easier! Back in the day I had entire notebooks and their only purpose was to journal. Life in my mid-twenties is much busier and I don’t have the space or time to keep track of a journal and a planner. So, I found something that has BOTH!

Transcending Waves reached out to work with me and I couldn’t say no after looking at their planners! Yes, it is beautiful, but the coolest part is that their planners extend beyond a monthly and weekly view. It features a weekly reflection and a daily layout divided between a morning plan and nightly review. My two planner favorites are the monthly view and daily layout. If I’ve learned one thing about bloggers and blogging, it’s that they LOVE to plan way ahead of time. Things can get crowded when jotting dates down for meet-ups, photos, and workouts, but working with a monthly view is so easy to see which dates I’m still available! No matter how busy my schedule, journaling remains a priority. The daily layout split between a morning plan and nightly review lets me write down things I look forward to in a day and reflect on what actually ended up happening. It’s so cool to see!

I’ve enjoyed using my Transcending Waves planner over the past few weeks and slowly seeing its pages fill with writing. If you’re looking to get organized, accomplish goals, and develop positive habits, I know you’ll love this planner as much as I do! Use my code ACHANCEOF10 at checkout for a 10% discount on your next purchase. Happy journaling!

XO, Vivian

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Last Spring Break Ever

March 16, 2018 No Comments

Hi, friends! It’s been nearly a month since I wrote my last blog post and I’ve missed writing SO much. Over the past month I have gotten settled in at the school where I’m a speech intern. Things are going well at my internship site! My supervisor gave me the 3 P’s at midterm review – positive, professional, and pleasant. I couldn’t be happier! The best thing about midterms? Knowing spring break is right around the corner.

Spring break is usually spent with friends, but this year I spent some time with my family in Nassau and it was wonderful (I even got both sisters AND my brother-in-law to take blog photos for me #winning). The weather wasn’t the best, but we made the most of it. Hugs from my sisters, kisses from my niece, and walks on the beach are always welcome rain or shine. It was the perfect way to spend my last spring break ever! Are ya’ll ready for me to stop talking about school and graduate in August? I know I am!

Thank you so much for reading and keeping up with me on Instagram!

XO, Vivian

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How I Met My Dog

February 5, 2018 No Comments

Be warned: This is an appreciation post for the most handsome little fella I’ve ever had the privilege of loving.

13 years ago, my grandmother’s dog had puppies and she wanted to get rid of them so badly. Neighbors and friends came by to pick up puppies they’d previously called dibs on. There was only one puppy left that someone had “reserved” but they never picked him up. One weekend my mom took me to see my grandma where I played with the nameless puppy all afternoon. Just for giggles, I asked my mom if I could keep him, knowing in my heart of hearts she would say no and she actually said YES. How did that happen?!

Here we are 13 years later where Peewee has been my furry sidekick for 54% of my life. It hasn’t always been sunshine and rainbows, as I’ll be the first to admit my guy has a bad habit here and there. I’ve given up on changing him because 1) you can’t teach an old dog new tricks (haha I just had to add that in somewhere!) and 2) when you teach an animal everything he knows, the couple things that drive you nuts also become the things you love about him (i.e. the water dribble from his chin that forms a trail across the kitchen).

Me and him have a history together. Almost everyday after middle school, I’d leash Peewee up and he’d pull me around my neighborhood in rollerblades. It was a blast! As a college girl, I had many many roommates and Peewee’s duties shifted. He often went 0-60 from being quiet while I studied, to guarding the front door and alerting me of strange voices nearby. Now that we’ve aged, the tables have turned and it’s me that takes care of Peewee. He’s had a ruff life with a slipped disc in his neck, pancreatitis, a grade 3 heart murmur, an enlarged spleen, 14 teeth extractions, and as of May 2017, lymphatic cancer. I’ve been private in regards to Peewee’s health, but he keeps getting better and I’m proud to say he’s in remission! My heart does infinite cartwheels every time I get good news from his oncologist and I’m so thankful that I get to have him for just a little longer. I don’t know how much time I have with him, but he’ll always have my heart! He’s my everyday hero and the light of my life! Happy Birthday to this sweet little angel who fell from heaven!

XO, Vivian

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How to Survive a Long Distance Relationship

January 31, 2018 No Comments

Ok, the first goodbye was hard. I had my car packed and Peewee in the passenger seat and no set plans to see Prashi again. I was 100% positive I would be crying myself to sleep in my new apartment for the rest of the week. The days went by and no tears! In fact, it seemed too easy. I thought to myself, what’s the catch? When does it get hard? After a year of long distance with Prashi, I felt qualified enough to write about this subject. So this is it. 5 ways to survive long distance:

1.Talk

You would think this is an obvious one, but it’s easily overlooked. I love GIF’s, meme’s, and bitmoji characters as much as any other millennial. Sending these to each other is entertaining for a little while, but then you get to a point where you’re justing sending each other random pictures, it leaves you wondering, where did the words go?

Listening to your significant other on the other end of the line is powerful. Listening to their laugh at the end of a long day is a weight off your shoulder. It’s contagious, and it allows you to zone out and forget about the distance for a moment. FaceTime each other, I promise it’s fun!

2.Communicate

Communicating is different from talking, where talking is listening to the other person’s voice and communicating is anything outside of that. Think a little.

A) Are you sending the first text of the day at 7:00pm after work? Much of the time, I wake up and there’s already a text waiting to be read and I quickly reply because my SO made the effort, so I should too. Show interest! I realize not all professions allow you to have access to your phone all day, but if you have time to check Instagram, you have time to send a thoughtful text.

B) Are you getting caught up in happy hour? I love having fun, ya’ll. I like spending time with friends and forgetting what time is, but if I’m getting a phone call from Prashi, I stop what I’m doing to answer (and I have 14 classmates that can attest to this). Now, I’m not saying to leave a party or walk out of a work meeting to talk on the phone endlessly, but acknowledge the phone call and take a few minutes to chat before saying, “I’ll call you back” and actually call back! This should never be an inconvenience!

C) Are you giving each other life updates? Men are taught from an early age not to share their feelings because “feelings are for girls,” so I found this to be a little difficult for Prashi. There were a couple tough conversations because I’d be filling him in on the details of my small town grad life, and he would bottle up so much of what was going on with work, business endeavors, and personal goals. Eventually it gets to be too much for one person and it just comes out all at once, so don’t let that happen to you. Not every conversation has to be filled with I love you’s and I miss you’s and that’s ok.

3.Plan

This was difficult half the time and I imagine it to be difficult for most couples. I’m a full time graduate student and when I’m not in class, I’m putting in my clinical hours and that’s just “showing my face.” Outside of that, I have studying, paperwork for clinic, assignments, essays, and exams scattered throughout (I can’t believe I voluntarily put myself through all that). I’m only talking about myself here! Prashi on the other hand had an equally busy schedule filled with work meetings that sometimes required him to fly across the country on a weekend and stay there days at a time in a different time zone.

Coordinating with another person is HARD. Phone calls to schedule trips to see each other were disheartening as we slowly eliminated weekends that were out of the question. When we finally found a weekend that worked, it was like the sun coming out from behind the clouds! Plan your next visit to give both of you something to look forward to and stick to it. Don’t let anything come in the way of the plans you’ve set with each other.

4.Be present

OK, so you’ve made it this far using steps 1-3. You’re talking, communicating, planning, and you’re finally face to face. Enjoy your time together! I have friends in Dallas that I like to see when I’m in town. I’m the kind of person that likes to keep in touch and see everyone with any time I have available for them. Unfortunately for us all, I didn’t drive 6.5 hours one way to see friends, I did it to see my boyfriend of 3.5 years. I had a hard time with this one, but I thought about it like this: My friends are not going to marry me, raise my children, or bring me breakfast in bed, only my SO will. So, put the phone down, pencil your friends in for later, and go on a date.

5.Think long term

Both me and Prashi are light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel people so this has been the most important factor for us. Question: why are you in this situation to begin with? I didn’t leave Dallas for a permanent job placement or because I wanted to experience a cool city for an unknown amount of time. My masters program had a start date and an end date, and long distance should too. Long distance is not something you do until one of you gives up. It’s meant to be a bandaid for a cut that will only heal when you and your SO are back together. Do you love this person enough to push through the struggles of long distance? Is there possibility of a future together? If your answers to these questions are yes, I have so much faith that you will survive the long distance!

These are some of the things that have helped me through the past year and I hope you found at least one of these to be useful! I’d love so much to know what has kept your relationship alive if you’ve ever done the long distance thing. Leave a comment below!

XO, Vivian

Blog, Lifestyle

My CaseApp Upgrade

January 18, 2018 No Comments

Ya’ll cannot believe how excited I was when CaseApp reached out to me for a collaboration! If you saw my instastories last week, you might have caught a glimpse of my extremely embarrassing old phone case. It was falling apart, cracked, broken, dirty, and barely even protecting my phone. I needed a serious upgrade and CaseApp came to my rescue (thank goodness!).

CaseApp offers a wide range of phone cases and laptop skins available for your devices, even the latest iPhone X! The ready made cases are so pretty as is, that I decided to get this one and save it for warmer weather. Aren’t the lemons so cute?! I’d be kicking myself if I didn’t design a custom iPhone case for myself, so I customized this plain marble case by adding my initials in a nice grey font. I couldn’t decide if I wanted my initials bigger, smaller, towards the center of the phone – the options are endless! I love the way my case turned out. I think you’d love it too!

Thank you so much to my followers for entering the CaseApp giveaway I hosted on Instagram last week! I want everyone to have a chance to shop CaseApp’s amazing phone cases, so I’ve got a special code for ya’ll to use until 1/31/18. The promo code “ACHANCEOFCHARM20” at caseapp.com will give you a 20% discount from your purchase. Don’t forget to send me a DM on Instagram of whatever you create!

XO, Vivian

Blog, Lifestyle

Celebrating the Season of Love with JORD

January 3, 2018 No Comments

This week I made my usual Target run (let’s be honest though, I go to Target at least twice a week!), and guess what I saw! I started seeing bits of pink and red in the aisles which means the season of love is upon us! I love Valentine’s Day and I couldn’t wait another month to pick out a Valentine’s card, so I went ahead and chose the most mushy one I could find.

A lovey dovey card pairs well with a thoughtful gift and I knew a Jord wood watch would be perfect for the occasion. The sleek Hyde series men’s watch was neatly packaged in a smooth, minimalistic wooden box. With the consumer in mind, Jord sent the watch with a microfiber cloth to clean the black face, and a finishing oil brush to preserve the watches beautiful walnut wood.

The men’s wooden watch itself is so gorgeous and unique as is, but I really outdid myself this year. Jord offers caseback engraving on their wooden time pieces and with the season of love in mind, I just had to take them up on that! Personalizing a gift is always sweet, and I love the idea of having something personal on Prashi’s wrist as he goes about his day.

I know first hand how difficult it is to shop for a man. To make it easy for you, I partnered with Jord to offer ya’ll an amazing giveaway! Everyone who enters HERE will have a chance to win a $100 gift code to use on a men’s or women’s wooden watch from Jord. Though there will only be one lucky winner, all participants will receive a promo code for $25 off any purchase from Jord. Good luck!

XO, Vivian

This post is sponsored by JORD wood watches, but all opinions are my own.

Blog, Lifestyle, Style

Talking Resolutions in Jeans & Sneaks (+ 1 year UPDATE)

January 1, 2018 No Comments

Happy New Year! It’s time to make resolutions for ourselves. Here’s what I had in mind:

1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The women in my family recycle. Everyone has a recycling bin in their garage to toss plastic, paper, and glass. Me? I’ve moved in and out of tiny apartments for years and I don’t have the space to have a bin designated for recyclables. Believe it or not, it really bums me out! Watching people use an excessive amount of paper towels hurts my heart. I literally think to myself, “the trees!!!”

With my current routine, I go to the grocery store and mall A LOT. Steve Madden provides you with a reusable bag every time you purchase a pair of shoes. Quite a few of my shoes are from Steve Madden, so as you can imagine, I’ve built up a collection of reusable bags. I use them for everything! Rather than getting a plastic bag from every store I shop at (even though it looks cool), I place all my purchases in one reusable bag. I’ve also learned to keep a couple bags in my car for groceries (1 reusable bag fits ~3 plastic bags worth of groceries). In either of these situations, it feels SO good to know I’m doing my part in taking care of Earth.

What can I do in 2018? I’d love to use less plastic from water bottles and water gallons. I only drink water, but I’m a little picky and I refuse to drink tap water. For a while now, I’ve been drinking a lot less water than I should be drinking because I don’t know what to do with my water bottles since I don’t have a bin at home. It’s a terrible situation to be in and I’m tired of it, so I have a plan. I’ve decided to dust off my water cooler, change the filter, and have two 3 gallon jugs in rotation to keep my hydrated. I really think this will quench my thirst!

UPDATE: (Jan. 2019) Well, I never dusted off that water cooler and never cleaned out the filter. This was the probably the biggest flop for me this year! I ended up getting a Brita filter and I refill it every other day. I carry around a stainless steel water bottle to reduce plastic consumption. I’m proud to say that I only purchased about a half dozen water bottles this year! I don’t drink Starbucks or order sodas from drive thru’s, so my to-go consumption was also fairly low. I’m proud of this!

2. Set a Schedule

In 2017, I set out to “have the most active year of my life” and I did it! How did I do it? I used a flexible definition. I didn’t tell myself lose X amount of inches, workout X amount of days, or anything of the sort. Since I was 17 I’ve had 3 month periods where I am dedicated to the gym, but then go back to being a couch potato, and I flip flop like that. In 2017, I said no more of that! Whether it was walking, running, or weight training, I wanted to be active and I stuck to it. I am not in the best shape I’ve ever been in, but that’s not what I was aiming for in 2017 and I’m ok with that.

What can I do in 2018? I’d be happy to run 3 half marathons this year! The passionate runner in me wants to do more, but I need to be realistic with my schedule. Fitness is important to me, and I plan to reach this goal by being consistent with myself. Writing down gym dates with myself is nice, but my planner isn’t always on me and it’s easy to overbook myself when I’m having a conversation with someone. Creating a calendar invite using iCal on my iPhone might be the kind of reminder I need to show up for my run (or Orange Theory!).

UPDATE: (Jan. 2019) I failed this one pretty miserably. I PR’d in my first half marathon of the year with a time of 1:41 (more on this day here). In my mind, I still had 2 races to go, and I was certain 2018 would be year I run a sub 1:40. Big ole NOPE. I started yoga in July to cross-train my runs, but I liked yoga much more than I thought I would and my running fell off to the side. I only ran one more half marathon and it was physically and mentally exhausting due to my unpreparedness.

3. Be a Better Friend

Of my resolutions, I know this one will be the hardest. Between school, personal goals, family, and spending time with the SO, it’s so easy to let friendships slip up. I broke up with a friend recently and it made me want to be a better friend to the gals that are supportive and care about me.

What can I do in 2018? Conversations via text quickly go stale, so I hope to call up my friends more often. Every time I call a friend, it’s been way too long since our last conversation and I insist on getting caught up on all the time we haven’t talked. I’d like to have more frequent conversations for shorter periods, and feel like I’m part of my friends’ lives, listening to stories as they develop rather than listening to everything at a later time. I just think life things will always come up and it will only get harder to create and maintain friendships. I’m making this a priority this year to take special care of the connections I have right now.

UPDATE: (Jan. 2019) Me and people just didn’t work out in 2018. I lost two friends this year for no specific reasons other than miscommunication and lack of caring. I’m not big on “one door closes, another door opens,” but the big man upstairs came through for me. He blessed me with two new friendships in 2018. I couldn’t be happier! Me and Prashi had quite the heated arguments in 2018 too, but we survived and settled our beef (or lack thereof!) for 2019.

Can you relate to any of my resolutions? Above all, I’d just like to be healthy and happy! Let’s make it an incredible year, ya’ll!

XO, Vivian

UPDATE: (Jan. 2019) Yes, I failed ALL my resolutions this year. They were so simple too, I almost cant’ believe it! Cooling it with the resolutions this year though. Thanks for reading my updates!

Blog, Lifestyle, Style

Riding Boots + Christmas Playlist

November 29, 2017 2 Comments

Hello, friends! How was your Thanksgiving? I got to spend a few days in Dallas and it was just what I needed! I had a paper due over my break and of course I waited until the last day to get my thoughts together, so I ended up working and submitting my paper on Thanksgiving day. It was terrible! Even with the paper in the back of my mind, I got to spend the holiday with Prashi and his family and it was a lovely afternoon. I even got Prashi to take a few photos of what I wore because I just had to show ya’ll my riding boots! I always walk around the shoe aisles at Target even though I never have luck finding shoes I like, but I fell in love with these boots. Could it have been because they were only $39? Possibly, but they’re also so comfy and pair well with nearly everything. A pretty pair of riding boots can be so expensive so I wasn’t in the market to purchase a pair, but these boots fit my narrow calves so well that I couldn’t say no to such a sweet deal. If you’re looking to splurge a little, I linked another beautiful boot that looks similar to the ones I’m wearing. Either way, I can’t wait to get more use out of these boots!

Also, the struggle of find the perfect Christmas playlist is REAL. I know from experience! I made this playlist last year around this time and I’ve added a few songs since then. I grew up in a religious home and had little to no exposure to Christmas music until recently. Because I discovered the magic of holiday music so late in life, I LOVE all the classics! In my “Christmas in Texas” playlist you’ll find over an hour and a half of all the Christmas classics. Enjoy!

XO, Vivian

Sweater – Banana Republic (cute and cuter)

Jeans – Abercrombie & Fitch

Boots – Merona / Target (splurge)

Handbag – Louis Vuitton

Lipstick – L’oreal in Saucy Mauve

Watch – Kapten & Son

Necklace – Tiffany & Co.

Blog, Lifestyle, Style

How to Clean Out Your Closet

November 17, 2017 2 Comments

I didn’t realize how hard (or hot) it is to layer clothes. I mean, no wonder mock layers are a thing! They’re total time savers and it looks just as cute. I’m still experiencing 85+ degree weather down here in Kingsville so I’ll be sticking to mock layers until it starts to cool down. Both my v-neck sweater and button down shirt were pieces I hadn’t loved on recently. It was one of those things where you have so much in your closet that you being to lose track of even the good things! So, I did the unthinkable and finally cleaned out my closet. Though I’ve tossed out a lot, I feel like theres so much more for me to get rid of. I finally move back to Dallas in a few weeks and it makes me giddy knowing I’ll have less to pack and drag along with me. Getting rid of stuff was SO easy, ya’ll! I can’t believe I avoided it for so long! Black Friday and Cyber Monday are days away and I know you’ll need to make space for all the clothes you bought, so here are some things to consider to help YOU clean out your closet:

1. Tags

How long have the tags been on your clothes? This happens to me! For example: I bought something to wear for some made up occasion and the occasion never came, so this new piece just hangs there for X amount of time. It’s too late to make the return, I don’t know where the receipt is at, and I’m still hopeful the occasion will come. Sell it!

2. Old

Things don’t fit me. I never gained the “Freshmen 15” (or at least not all of ‘em!) so a lot of old clothes technically fit. Yeah, buttons close, but some pieces just aren’t as flattering as they once were. Be honest with yourself here. I personally don’t like putting clothes on that show a pudge here or a roll there, or that doesn’t make be feel good about myself. Toss it!

3. Fit

Also in my closet are a lot of pieces that are big from the moment I buy them. I swear to myself I’ll take my dress, jeans, or whatever it is, to go get hemmed but I only get that far 50% of the time. This leaves me with a pile of clothes that fit awkwardly! Set this pile aside and determine if these pieces means enough to you to spend $50 getting them tailored. If not, sell it!

4. Unwearable

I’m embarrassed to say that have this one sweater that has a giant hole in the arm. I just wore it last week! I only wear it because I can roll the sleeve up and completely cover the hole. BUT, when the time comes (hopefully soon), I’m going to toss it. If theres a hole or a stain in a spot that you can’t hide, toss it!

5. Undergarments

Undies get stretchy and wearing a pair that bunches up in your jeans is not flattering, toss it. Women are strange and own upwards of a dozen bras, yet we only wear 4 of them. I get it! They’re the most comfortable! It’s important to have a couple black ones, nudes, strapless, plunge options. But if it’s bright yellow and shows through everything, toss it! Also, you’re never going to wear a bra with a million rhinestones stuck to it, so toss that one too!

6. Shoes

Boy did I get rid of shoes! Shoes go out of style SO quickly! It’s really crazy what these designers come up with to keep me spending money, but it works. If your shoes are hanging on by a thread and you love them, take them to a cobbler. I did this over the summer. I desperately wanted to save a pair of wedges and the sweet man said he couldn’t save them. As much as it hurt me, I tossed the shoes in the trashcan he had and walked away. If it can’t be fixed, toss it! I think I got rid of 5 pairs of tennis shoes. I wear tennis shoes every single day to school. And if I didn’t have school, I’d wear them to workout. And if I didn’t workout, I’d wear them with an athleisure look to run errands. As you can see, I wear a lot of tennis shoes! They all fit differently, they’re all different colors… Believe me when I say I had a million excuses not to throw out my shoes. BUT, I’m getting older and I need to take care of my feet. All the shoes I tossed had over 400 miles on them and zero cushion, so I tossed them!

I hope this helps ya’ll find the strength to toss out clothes! What are your best tips to cleaning out your closet? Leave a comment down below!

XO, Vivian

Sweater – Forever 21 (similar)

Button down – Abercrombie and Fitch

Jeans – Banana Republic (and a lighter wash)

Booties – Vince Camuto / Nordstrom ( and similar)

Handbag – Louis Vuitton

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