Stuff I Like: This and That + Whole30 Wrap Up

Hi there! I'm still reading 1Q84, still working my way through the Bad With Money podcast and lately haven't been watching much TV at all, so I don't have much new stuff to talk about. Instead, just some of this and that! I've also included a Whole30 wrap up at the bottom, so feel free to skip it if you don't curr.

image via www.noahscalin.com

This Friend of Mine Who Should Be Famous
Are any of you in the NYC area? My incredibly talented friend Noah Scalin is going to be part of a group show called dOGUMENTA - an art exhibit for dogs! It's at Brookfield Place August 11-13th. Noah makes incredible portraits out of unconventional materials, so definitely worth checking out.

This Video That Keeping Cracking Me Up
Watching this baseball dude get fucked up by a small grey kitten has been making me laugh all morning. Is he new? Has he never met a cat? Because this cat is NOT COOL WITH IT.

This Dumb Bag I Can't Stop Mentioning
Remember this awesome Foley + Corinna snakeskin weekender bag with leather trim? It's now $22 at TJ Maxx! This is crazy. It's still $117 on the F+C website! Amazon wants $109!

These Tiny Avocados I'm Obsessed With
Did you know that Trader Joe's has bags of teeny tiny avocadoes? TINY BABY AVOCADOES. Aside from being just adorable they're a perfect single serving size and they're the exact right size for a single slice of avocado toast. (My basic bitch avo toast tip: drizzle it with honey or chipotle hot sauce before eating. Delicious.)

This Weird Primer That I Can't Afford
My June Allure Beauty Box included a very generous sample of Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat Blur Primer. It seemed dumb - a clear gel primer with flecks of gold in it. I mean, that shouldn't really work at all. Unfortunately it's awesome and luxurious and works great and gives my face a nice glow. Also unfortunately it's $52 so I'll just use up my sample and cry bitter tears tbh. The usual.

Whole30 Wrap Up
A few of you asked, so I thought I'd write up my Whole30 results. I finished a week ago and I was really glad to be done with it. It gets pretty tedious to be constantly thinking about what you're going to eat but, it wasn't actually that hard. It was boring and took a lot of planning but I ate a lot of really good food and didn't have an massive cravings. My positive results:

• A huge improvement in my sleep. I fall asleep immediately and sleep through the night.
• My GI issues definitely improved.
• My skin is glowing and my rosacea completely disappeared. (I don't know if this was related, but I thought it worth mentioning.) 
• I lost 4lbs which isn't a ton but I was also eating quite a lot. 
• I lost an inch on my waist, stomach and hips.
• The program got me cooking again which has been really fun. I loved going to the store and only buying fresh stuff, nothing processed. 

The not so great results:

• I never got the huge bursts of energy that some people experience. In fact, I felt more fatigued during my workouts. 
• No improvement in muscle soreness. I am still waiting up feeling all crunky every day. Yay, aging.
• It was a total drag, socially. I avoided going out because it wasn't much fun. 
• My grocery bill doubled. It was balanced out with not eating out/buying booze, but it's expensive to do a Whole30.

Now that I've added food groups back in I've definitely noticed that I have a sensitivity to dairy but wheat seems to be fine. I haven't added legumes back yet and I'm still trying to limit sugar but I had a cocktail or two over the weekend and, despite what another Whole30er told me, it tasted EXACTLY like I remember, which is to say it was delicious.