Laid Back

Guys, this weekend was amazing! Remember that half I was telling you about, well it happened on Saturday. I managed to get a PR (personal record) and had the most uh-mazing nap after.

In fact a lot of sleeping and eating happened right after the half, can you blame me tho? Also, allergies. They almost made the half impossible but I prevailed without Claritin - still don't know how I was able to breathe. 

After 13.1 miles of running (5 miles of that in the rain) all a girl wants to do is wear birks without offending the office. In fact all I (and my feet) want to do is be comfortable AF. Still, I gotta look, you know presentable.

Top: Viva Aviva  Skirt: c/o Long Tall Sally  Earrings: Target (similar)  Purse: c/o Sakroots  Shoes: Birkenstocks  Belt: Vintage  Sunglasses: Supers  Lipgloss: Buxom Full-On Lip Polish in Megan

Enter this amazing maxi long enough to hide all of my guilty pleasures which consist of my white birks and food baby (running really works up an appetite). I was lucky enough to find this top on sale on Shopbop. I've been eyeing it since NYFW 14 - after a long wait I bit the bullet before buyer's remorse set in. Gotta tell you - there are no regrets either! Since a long weekend lies ahead I've been using this large carry-all from Sakroots to help me keep it together.

But, when Monday (yasss Memorial Day) comes over it'll be my beach tote. What are your plans for the long weekend?

Photos by Briana Balducci.

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Performance Wear

Only a few more days until pounding the pavement for the #airbnbbkhalf!

Training these last few weeks have been rough schedule-wise. You got your AM runs, yoga classes, showroom visits + events, and let's not forget what pays the rent - a 9 to 5 job. Trying to look semi-presentable throughout it all is tough but doable since athlesiure is huge right now - can I get a hallelujah!

Which brings me to Lucy's latest spring collection. You can basically go (#lucyletsgo) from sweat to work to cocktails in it, although I'd recommend having some sort of base under it to do the sweating in and later peeling it off. Otherwise things can get a little stinky (if we're being honest).

Shirt: c/o Lucy  Pants: c/o Lucy  Purse: Zara  Sneakers: Nike  Sunglasses: Asos (similar)  Rings: Rita & Royal  Lipgloss: Buxom Full-On Lip Polish in Megan

I'm living in these Dance Workout Capris from Lucy and if the time calls for a dressier look - strappy heels work wonders. As for the jewelry, I've been skipping necklaces and earrings and opting for gold midi rings from local designer Jewels of June instead. The gold plated rings look best when stacked so make sure to get more than 1 from her site or mix and match with what you have at home.

Photos by Victor Cerejo.
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Real Talk | How to Get Free Samples

Had to do some digging around for a client on subscription boxes which led me to a nice discovery you might all enjoy. 

photo by Lydia Hudgens

I'm sure you all heard about the subscription box trend - I'm particularly fond of the POPSugar Must Have boxes. You pay a subscription fee per season or month for a box full of amazing goodies from new-to-you and well known brands. It's even inspired a slew of unboxing blogs and youtube videos. 

But what if I said you can experience the unboxing of goodies for free? Well, almost free. There's this whole sampling industry that is dying to get samples into your hands in exchange for an honest review, tweet, or instagram. That's where PINCHme comes into the big picture.

There are a few other companies in the market that provide the same services as PINCHme, but what's different is that you'll be able to pick samples you will genuinely use and hopefully love enough to buy again. I'm a member of a few other sampling programs and honestly hate it when I get items I'll never use - such a waste.

The way PINCHme works is really simple (we like simple over here). You sign up, fill out a short questionnaire, and then request samples for your box. Every other Tuesday (at 12pm EST) they seem to offer a new batch of samples to choose from. After trying out the product - return to the site and leave your thoughts. 

In case you were wondering what sort of samples came in a box - here's the assortment that came for me last April. Pretty good right!

If you're loving this freebie train and wondering what other companies I came across in my research, here's a few others worth the sign up for even more samples: PINCHme, influenster, Klout, Crowdtap, Swaggable.