Weekly Favorites 2.19.16

Lately, I've been attempting to make the perfect at-home latte. I think I mentioned before that Tommy's sister gifted me an espresso maker (this one) for Christmas and ever since I have been trying to achieve a Starbucks comparable latte! I had purchased a few syrups in the past but they just didn't taste quite right to me, so I finally decided to get vanilla syrup from Starbucks...game changer! I've played around with milk amounts, espresso amounts and syrup amounts to get the taste to my liking. I'm usually a black coffee drinker, so I don't normally like overly sweet lattes...so I started out fairly conservative on the syrup. The recipe I've found that I like the best is half a cup of steamed milk, half a cup of espresso and about 1 tablespoon (1 pump) of syrup...obviously this can differ depending upon the size of your mug and I usually increase the amount of syrup for a travel mug. I've yet to master latte art yet, but I've been watching a few tutorials on making a heart, rosetta, and tulip. 

A few weeks ago, I received a fun package of new hair products from Strivectin. If you're not familiar with them, they have been around for 30+ years and have produced several popular face serums, creams, etc. Via their website: they source high-performance skincare solutions from around the world to transform skin from the inside out. Recently they have expanded their line of products to include hair care items. I was thrilled to try out the Max Volume line which includes a Shampoo, Conditioner, Root Lifting Spray, and Bodifying Radiance Serum. You can also purchase all of these in a starter trio (only $30!), to try them all out. I already use a volume enhancing shampoo, so I haven't seen a huge difference with that, but I am amazed with the root lifting spray and radiance serum! I saw instant results with both after only using them for a few days. Be on the lookout for a full review post coming soon, I can't wait to share my results with y'all after trying these products for a full month, I can definitely already tell you though, y'all are going to want to check this stuff out!

I have come across a few articles recently about minimalism that have intrigued me (you can read about minimalism here). Since we are still fresh into the new year, I've been thinking about making a few fresh starts and conscious efforts to improve my mind + body. I feel like everything and everyone in today's society is so connected that sometimes we just need to take a step back for a minute. At this point in my life, I definitely wouldn't consider myself a minimalist..but I have been reading and bookmarking some tips and tricks on eliminating clutter, both physical and mental, in your life. I think there a quite a few elements of the minimalistic lifestyle that can benefit my own. From, decluttering tricks, a 5 step wardrobe cleanse, to 10 questions to ask yourself before buying..there are a ton of articles on tips to adding minimalism to your daily life. To get started I've decided to participate in the 30-Day Minimalism Challenge. These simple assignments are designed to help you dip your toes into minimalism and discover lots of new things about yourself. Have any of you looked into adding a minimalism aspect to your life, what are your thoughts? I plan on doing a separate post sharing with y'all about my experience and any challenges/insights.


I'm curious how many of y'all use Wordpress as your blogging platform? When I first started blogging (in 2010..wow!) blogger was the only platform I really knew about. Then through my job, I started working with Wordpress and learning the basics of publishing on there. I feel like the things I can do with blogger are limited and are beginning to not fully meet my needs, where wordpress would be able to. For the most part, my HTML knowledge is self-taught..(shoutout to those Myspace theme days, lol) with a bit being knowledge shared via previous coworkers. Actually, I recently added to enroll and complete an HTML/CSS/SQL professional course to My Life List. So far, every design aspect and change that has appeared on Belle in the City has been done on my own (no fancy web designer here). I'm obviously no professional (#iwish), but I've been happy with everything so far. Last week, I decided to begin to make the transition over to wordpress and am still in the process of migrating everything. (Shout out to Rachel for sharing some of her tips with me!) If you've made the switch from blogger to wordpress, do you have any advice?


I've really been wanting to share some more DIY projects with you all and if you follow me on Pinterest - belleinthecity I have been pinning up a storm to my DIY board and Recipe board. Are there any things in specific y'all want to see? A few things on my list right now are, a wooden framed floor mirror, a striped accent wall, brush lettering tutorial, and at-home face exfoliator scrub, along with a few recipes I've tried recently. 

What are your favorites this week? xo, S

Linking up with Christina, Amanda and Jennie.