The Sunday Edit – Volume 21

The Sunday Edit is where I stop by to share with you a few raw and real stories from my week. Stories where I edited struggles into strengths and found Gem moments when shining seemed impossible. In a world where everyone filters what they share online, I want you to see you’re not alone and I want to inspire you to have more good days. You’ll also find what products have been making my life easier, what new Gem finds I’ve come across, and the best sales going on right now!

Outfit photos by Alex Barone

**This is a sponsored post. This post may contain affiliate links (which means I make a small commission when you shop from them) and gifted items (indicated with a c/o) because we all have to pay our bills, and I’d rather keep creating awesome content for you than get a real job. All opinions are my own.**

New Posts on The Gem:

• 7 Easy Ways to Practice Self-Love and Grow into a Happier You
• Gift Guide: Valentine’s Day Gifts for Friends
• Charming Sweaters for Cute Valentine’s Day Outfits
• The Sunday Edit – Volume 20

Life Update & Thoughts:

It’s another Sunday, already?!

I did a lot of chasing the clock this week. The week FLEW by, but I’ll admit I was stressed out for practically all of it – and that’s really not the lifestyle we’re promoting here at The Gem, so I need to get myself in check.

As you’ll read below, my anxiety is definitely getting the best of me lately. Particularly about moving. The last time I moved, Shaun (my now ex-boyfriend, but we still live together) and I were moving in together, so although moving was stressful, it was happy and exciting! There’s no excitement around this move. I don’t really want to be in Pittsburgh, so I’m having a hard time thinking about committing to a lease around here. With that, the best option seems to be moving back in with my mom for a bit so I can save some money and figure out what my next steps are. Not ideal – I love my mom and my sisters, but they also drive me crazy, so I’m certain this transition will come with lots of bumps in the road. But, it seems like the most logical play for now.

It’s so hard to move when it’s not part of an exciting next step (I mean, I know this is the first step to some better, overall outcome, but that seems very far away). I’ve been able to curb some of that stress by doing a lot of dreaming about my future – thinking about the kind of climate I want to live in, all of the details that my dream house holds, and how there will (hopefully) be a husband and kids in it one day. Every time I think about how much I do not want to do anything for this move, I force myself to think about those 10 (or 100) steps down the road. What I find most helpful is to visualize my future home. The other day, I literally lost track of time browsing the Premier Surfaces website for natural granite countertops selecting my ideal kitchen and bathroom options for the house that only exists in my head. Obviously, my top priority is that it makes photographing products easier, so countertops are extremely important to me, haha! Just look at how pretty there are!

Now, let’s get back to this week!

Shines:

• I’ve teamed up with a few amazing women for a giveaway on Instagram. You can win not one, but TWO, Luxe & Bloom gift boxes to one lucky gal! One to keep & one to gift to a friend! I would love it so much if you entered – just click here! ⠀⠀
• The Walking Dead is on tonight and I’m living for it.
• I edited the images and got this inspirational Valentine’s day outfit posted. It’s adorable and I’m so excited to share it!
• THIS IS HUGE. My breakouts have been improving over the past 2 weeks and I could not be more excited. The only thing I’ve changed that could contribute to this is that I’ve added Dermatologica’s Special Cleansing Gel [c/o]  and Dermatologica’s Daily Microfoliant [c/o] to my skincare routine. More in-depth review coming soon!

Struggles:

• My anxiety definitely got the best of me this week. Like, to there point where my little sister has an orchestra concert later today and I literally just texted my mom saying, “my anxiety is so bad today it’s literally making me sick to my stomach. If this is like a 3-hour thing, I physically will not be able to sit through it”. Anxiety has also been keeping me awake at night lately and I’m grateful for coffee more than ever.
• Tears streamed down my face late last night as I hit “save” on a collection of words that I was extremely proud to have written only to find out half of the post completely disappeared ????. After a few minutes of throwing a pity party and mentally beating myself up, I realized this was completely inappropriate because the entire post itself was on self-love. So, I took a deep breath, changed the tone of how I was speaking to myself in my head, and I went back to work. Let me tell you Gems, this one is GOOD. You should totally head over right now and read 7 Easy Ways to Practice Self-Love and Grow into a Happier You.
• The laundry I did last weekend is still sitting in unfolded piles.
• I’m about seven years behind on my inbox.
• Officially freaking out that we have to give notice to our landlord in 2 weeks that we are moving out. I’m not ready.
• Super struggling to stay focused on one task at a time. It’s been a week of having a thousand browser tabs open, picking my phone up in the middle of each task, working on an email but then a blog post but then a social media post and flipping back and forth between everything because IT ALL SEEMS THE SAME LEVEL OF IMPORTANT. And I’m driving myself crazy.

Currently Loving:

Current Sales:

• Bloomingdale’s: Take 20% off items labeled with promo code LOVE. Valid 2/8–2/14. Shop here!
• LOFT: Full priced tops are $29.50 until 2/13!
• Backcountry: It’s Semi-Annual Sale time! So many things are over 50% off and you get an additional 20% off select styles! Here are all the Patagonia things that are up to 30%.
• Reebok: Save up to 70% off and get free shipping on $49+