Alyson’s Recent Favorites // July 2019

Holy summer-flying-by! I can’t even believe it. My blogging has been so sporadic. But as frustrating as that is to me, I’m giving myself grace and recognizing that this is just a season. One where other things just had to take precedence. However, that didn’t stop me from enjoying life. Especially when it comes to my recent favorites!

You’ve likely seen on social media that Sarah’s been at sleep away camp all summer in New York, that I’ve done some traveling (including Waco, TX with my brother) and I attended Rachel Hollis’ personal growth conference called Rise! It was transformative in the best way possible. I think we all benefit from taking a step back from our lives, and really digging into our big, audacious dreams. I SO want to do more motivational speaking about overcoming adversity. So, if you’re ever looking for a speaker, or know someone who is, I’d love to be considered. My speaker’s site is here.

In the next few weeks, Evan’s starts kindergarten (yup, freaking out!), and Sarah starts 4th grade. Time is passing quickly, friends, amiright?

So what am I obsessed with lately?! A lot! Here’s just a few things I’ve been meaning to tell you all about.

My Recent Favorites

WEARING: $11 Celine sunglasses dupes (here)

I spotted these on Heather Holt, who does a lot of my blog photography, and loved immediately, assuming they were some pricey designer pair. Nope, they’re $11 from Amazon! Yup, these designer-looking sunglasses are $11 smackaroos! They look so good in person, have great reviews and I’ve heard back from many of you after I shared them on Instagram. So glad you love as much as I do! They come in a few colors and I’m fully ordering a pair or two as backups, though truth: they’ve worn better than $50-$60 pairs that loosen up so fast on my face. The oversized, square vibe is super cool and they block so much sun light. Winner!

WATCHING: What / If

Renee Zellweger’s new thriller has been a hot topic. Desperate to secure funding for her med tech startup, a talented scientist named Lisa and her husband strike an outrageous & steamy deal with a mysterious investor named Ann Montomery (played by Zellweger). It’s the first season, and the episodes go quickly as they give you a glimpse at how these characters got to this place. I’m usually more of a comedy kind-of-tv-girl, but I immediately got hooked on this (and Dead to Me, if you haven’t seen that one with Christina Applegate).

NEW APP: Postagram

Want to easily send a cute photo on your phone to someone as a postcard in about two minutes, and for about two dollars? I downloaded this app initially to send Sarah photos while she’s at sleepaway camp but quickly realized that just utilizing it for that was a bit short sighted. Send a pic and quick note to a best friend, to your parent or grandparent, to a relative, to your child, anyone really. They have postcard templates where you can customize the colors, and then you can write a brief note. Enter in the recipient’s address, and then the app handles the rest. It’s $2 per postcard, well worth it considering the hardest part of snail mail is buying the card, getting the stamp, etc.

BEAUTY: The Billie Razor (here)

Is it weird to be obsessed over a razor?! Actually, I think it might be one of the most logical obsessions, because heck, shaving sucks. Which is why I think this specific recent favorites of mine is something all of you will love!

I tried the Billie razor after seeing in ads, then seeing one or two other bloggers mentioned how much they loved it, and then, in a random FB group or two. In the name of research — and smoother legs! — I went for it, and friends, this five-blade razor is bomb. My skin feels so smooth and even a little less stubly the next day compared to others. I’m also very into the $9 price tag compared to some others, plus it comes in a handful of pretty colors and with a cool magnetic holder that I’m oddly very into using. Check it out here.

ON INSTAGRAM: A Giveaway!! (here)

You likely know I’m passionate about supporting great local businesses, particularly female-owned businesses! Well, to celebrate summer and some of my favorite shops/services, I’m so excited about a very awesome giveaway happening right now on my Instagram feed here. Find me at @themodernsavvy. It’s super easy to enter, and I’m incredibly grateful that so many of my local favs — Alexandra Gioia, Vagaband Boutique, Lashes by Cristel, Flavor Palm Beach, Glo Body by Stefanie and Thrive Power Yoga — are gifting one lucky winner something pretty fabulous! So go enter, share with your friends, and thank you for supporting The Modern Savvy and these talented businesses.

ON MY FEET: Nike Air Max 270 (here)

So I saw these at Nordstrom on display, and darnit, I had to have them. I had been looking for a pair of cool sneaks to wear for my hip hop classes, for leisure/travel, etc and these, my goodness, were them. I’m obsessed with the rainbow vibes and even though I’m not super smart about sneakers, about the Nike Air Max 270s are very cool (after consultation with two fab friends!). I wore them basically my entire trip to visit Sarah on visiting day and around Texas. The soles are comfy, though I honestly swapped mine out for insoles I use in all my sneakers (here; I have two pairs that I rotate). Did I just age a decade right now, or what?! 😉 Anyway, these sneakers are bomb, and legit make my feet so happy.

Nordstrom has about a dozen color options here, and I found a few on sale on Nike’s site here.

ATTENDING: Rise Conference 2020 (here)

One of my other recent favorites was being able to attend this personal growth conference called Rise last week in Dallas. Let me tell you friends, it was life changing. So much so, that I just signed up to attend the Ft. Myers conference in January 2020 with a friend. The conference, led by motivational speaker Rachel Hollis (she wrote the book Girl, Wash Your Face that’s sold 4 million+ books!), was jam-packed with emotion, helpful tools, motivation and dancing…. lots of dancing. Like, DJ-on-site to get you moving.

Along with 7,500 new sisters, we walked through our past and began the steps to own our future. I honestly think this is the type of conference that any woman would benefit from; it was real, raw, not hokey or salesy or any of that crap (ugh, I hate that crap) and was so positive as we all really dug into our selves. It sounds crazy, but 7,500 women felt so united and supported after just two days together. Rachel’s company, The Hollis Co. announced four locations for 2020 that you can see here; tickets are already selling out, so consider it ASAP if you’re interested.

Wheh…. I honestly keep going but I have a few fun posts in the works about some Amazon and Nordstrom purchases that are definitely some recent favorites of mine. Here are a few of them that I them that I love:

Amazon and Nordstrom Recent Favorites

These and these earrings (I wear them both constantly, they’re SO light weight), my favorite wedges are on mega sale in all the colors, my under $20 subtly sexy pjs set, the pom pom tank I’ve been wearing like crazy (they make the best, best cotton tops!) and this lip gloss in jazzy, which adds the most amazing shimmer on its own or layered on top of a lipstick (like this cult fav in Pillow Talk I’ve been wearing regularly).

What are some of your recent favorites? Share in a comment below!