stephanieorefice.net -

Sea to Shining Sea

A few weeks ago Ernie asked me if I’d want to drive to Florida with him. He had a gig and the 9 hour drive and quick turn around would be a lot to do on his own. It took me like half a nanosecond to say yes, so on Saturday we woke up literally before the butt crack of dawn and hit the road.

As we were driving, I commented on the sun rising and I suddenly realized that I would be seeing the sun rise and set on my first day, which was on my 101 in 1001! How. brilliant. I ended up crossing off quite a few things from my 101.. keep reading 🙂

We drove through Georgia, stopping to get some peach cobbler.

We listened, of course, to Bruno Mars most of the way. Naturally, right?! and then we finally hit Florida and made our way to The Club Continental, where Ernie’s gig was. It was so beautiful and despite the bugs and humidity, I probably could have spent a long time looking at how beautiful the place was. I walked around a little bit and took some pictures before getting tired of the bugs and the way the air fogged up my camera.

Ernie’s show was right on the water, and as I watched the sun set, I realized I’d driven all the way from Washington to Florida over the past 3 weeks. Literally sea to shining sea, just like America the Beautiful. I saw it all.

Beautiful, spacious skies? Check!
Amber waves of grain? Check!
Purple mountain’s majesty? Check!
Fruited plains? Check!
Sea to shining sea? Check!

Oh snap!

The evening was pretty fun except for that moment when Ernie started singing “Pony” and I straight up walked out, haha.

I did a little reading and retired to bed early because I’d been so. exhausted. This wasn’t the worst view to wake up to:

“Stand in the Atlantic Ocean” has been on my 101 in 1001 days lists since 2011. There’s no way I was going to be in Florida and not make a case for me standing in the ocean. We didn’t have much time, but I told Ernie that I literally just needed to stand in the Atlantic Ocean, snap a picture and then we could go. So he dropped me off, I walked across a beach like I’ve only seen in a movie (the whitest sand I’ve ever seen and colorful umbrellas and sea shells all over), took my sandals off, let the ocean wash over my feet, took some pictures as proof and ran back to the car.

On our way back we saw signs for the original Chick-fil-A which you know I was all over, and only like 30 seconds later did I have the sobering realization that it was a Sunday and therefore I would not be able to indulge in a chicken sandwich from the first ever Chick-fil-A. But you’d better know that didn’t stop me from still seeing it. What the heck, first Chipotle and now Chick-fil-A? ALL. THE. EYE. ROLL.

Things from my 101 I crossed off on this trip:

Visit a new state
Watch the sun rise + set in the same day
Stand in the Atlantic Ocean

June 13, 2017

2 Comments

My new 101 in 1001 list!

TODAY IS DAY ONE OF A NEW 101 THINGS TO DO IN 1001 DAYS LIST.

This is my THIRD 101 list! That means I’ve spent almost 5.5 years of my adult life living with these lists. My first one, I accomplished 46 of the 101 things. My second one, I accomplished 44. This year, let’s shoot for at least 51 can I get an amen?! I’m learning about what is realistic and what isn’t – basically I keep re-learning what I wrote in my post about what I learned the first time I attempted the 101 in 1001 Days list.

101 in 1001 Part 3.

start date: june 9, 2017
finish date: march 5, 2020
number completed:
percentage completed:
bold ones are works-in-progress.

Finances
1. Have a positive net worth
2. Do a debt free scream
3. Attend Financial Peace University
4. Pay off my car
5. Hit $10,000 total sales on Poshmark
6. Have a No Spend Month
7. Save my change and splurge on day 500 and 1001
8. Earn $250 in free gift cards

Others
9. Hold Lucy & Layla
10. Send 101 letters
11. Leave a $20 tip for a bill under $10
12. Send Hannah a birthday card each year (2018 / 2019)
13. Send Cillian a birthday card each year (2018 / 2019)
14. Send all Wedding Thank You’s
15. Take a picture with my birthday buddies
16. Convince someone to start a 101 in 1001 list
17. Send 101 Christmas cards
18. Send 25 Valentines

Adventure + Explore
19.Sleep under the stars
20. Go on 20 hikes
21. Visit a new state
22. Watch the sun rise and set on the same day
23. Renew my passport
24. Stand in the Atlantic Ocean
25. See Crater Lake
26. Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
27. Create a Day in Vancouver guide and post on my blog

Health + Wellness
28. Complete 2 rounds of Whole 30
29. Lose 45 pounds
30. Go to bed before 10 pm every night for a week
31. Finish 3 StepBet Games
32. Upgrade my Fitbit
33. Complete a TIU Challenge
34. Consume 64 ounces of water every day for 2 weeks
35. Run 101 miles

Blog-related
36. Accomplish my secret social media goals
37. Host a 30 day photo challenge
38. Blog about each completed number
39. Review 5 months of Birchboxes
40. Post 200 new blog posts
41. Clean up my blog’s “draft” folder
42. Do a Project 12
43. Post an empties post every month for a year
44. Set 10 goals a month for a year and finish 90 of them.
45. Organize the files on my external hard drive
46. Post a blog every day for a month

Eat+Read+Watch+Hear
47. 50 different coffee shops
48. Create a signature espresso drink
49. Try 5 new restaurants
50. Try a new recipe every month for a year
51. Grow a plant I can eat
52. Memorize 3 of my favorite recipes
53. Take a cooking class
54. Make macarons
55. Learn how to make my own batch of tea
56. 10 concerts
57. Read 50 books
58. Keep a shelf empty and fill it with books as I read them for a year
59. Re-read the Bible
60. Re-read the Harry Potter series
61. Watch all of the Harry Potters movies
62. Watch 20 movies that Justen wants me to see
63. Throw or attend an Oscars party
64. Watch all of the Oscars best pic nominees before the Oscars
65. Watch all of the Star Wars movies
66. Finish listening to every song in my iTunes library

Self
67. Cancel Netflix for 3 months
68. Buy fresh flowers once a month for (at least) 1 year
69. Work for myself
70. Bowl over 100
71. Wear earrings every day for a month & get rid of any I don’t wear or like
72. Get rid of all but 50 pens
73. Create a new 101 in 1001 list
74. Write 1,000 words a day for a month
75. Make a list of 25 things I like about myself
76. Complete the 5000 survey (found here)
77. Marry Justen Martian
78. Memorize “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
79. Get rid of all but 5 nail polishes and don’t buy any more until I’ve used those up 🙂
80. Wear a different outfit every day for a month
81. Buy 5 things from Etsy
82. Document 5 ordinary days in pictures
83. Celebrate 10 random holidays
84. Attend a pro sports game
85. Donate blood
86. Buy 10 vinyls
87. Complete a 1000+ piece puzzle in one day
88. Take 101 photos with my Instax
89. Learn how to identify 5 different constellations
90. Use up 25 smelly things
91. Incorporate 5 essential oils into my daily routine

Make + Create
92. Turn a skirt into a dress
93. Organize my craft supplies
94. Paint my desk
95. Take 101 pictures of things that make me happy
96. Get a learning to write workbook and finish it with my left hand
97. Send 20 care packages using Birchboxes
98. Finish 2 journals
99. Finish my list of 1001 things I’m thankful for.
100. Make a meal using only food purchased at the Farmer’s Market
101. Write a letter to be opened on day 1001.

June 9, 2017

5 Comments

Day 1001.

Dear Stephanie,

Right now it is the wee morning of Thursday, September 11th, 2014. You’re at the Halter’s 1114 house in Tennessee. Today you almost cried talking to Ernie about how desperately you’d like to move to Nashville. You also had a Chick-fil-a sandwich that messed you up pretty bad.

Of primary interest to me is where you’re currently located on the day this posts, nearly 3 years later. Are you still in Portland, working at Moore Street? or did you decide to stop with all of the plane tickets and relocate to Nashville? Who do you spend the most time with these days?

Today the worries that plague you are: the idea of moving to Nashville, specifically insurance related things. Your dad moving to the Philippines sooner than you’d like. Telling the boy you like how you feel. Do these things matter to you today?

I hope you are full of grace. For others, but primarily – and most difficultly – for yourself. Who cares if you barely crossed off 50 things on your list, like v.1 (oops)? It’s about life, experiencing it wholeheartedly and with a daring sense of adventure even in the mundane, daily tasks. I hope you have completely cut out gluten and dairy, for your own sake. Except, perhaps, for the cheese on Chipotle bowls and now Chick-Fil-A because you’re pretty in love with it today.

Here’s a little bit of what life looks like for you these days:

CURRENTLY
Reading: Holy Curiosity
Listening: just took “Red Meets Blue” off of repeat. Loving Ben Rector like always.
Watching: Depending on the season: Catfish, Hannibal, STUPID Pretty Little Liars (BET YOU STILL DON’T KNOW WHO A IS), trashy Real World challenges and OF COURSE CRIMINAL MINDS.
Wearing: Lauren Conrad everything.
Smelling: Well how about this: you would love Vera Wang Princess.
Eating; CHICK-FIL-A IS AMAZING. But always Chipotle.
Drinking: Pines Coffee. Either a Stephanie Bear or an almond milk Honey Lavender Latte
Missing: everyone. always. all the time. forever.

Love always,

June 8, 2017

2 Comments

June Goals

HEYYYY I’m in Nashville!

It’s crazy to think that the last time I wrote a goals post I was literally on the other side of the country and here I am sitting at a Starbucks in Mt. Juliet, TN… and it feels like it could be in Washington. Let’s be real: all Starbucks kind of feel the same, right?

I’d been kind of riding the struggle bus with my goals and decided to just be SO HONEST with what I really wanted to accomplish in May, so let’s see how that went, shall we?!

~~Get all of my Poshmark closet/supplies organized for when I leave~~
~~Order new polymailers from Amazon for Poshmark~~
Save $600 I ended up saving $455. Definitely not the $600, but I kind of paused saving to make sure I’d have money to get me across the country.
~~Finish my new 101 in 1001 list~~ I can’t wait to start it on Friday!
Clean my room before I leave for Nashville LOL nope.
~~Finish my StepBet~~ (and get my $40 back!) Yes! I did this! It was a pain in my butt, but I did it and I’ll definitely do one again in the future!

66%! Better than I was doing, plus I did the stuff that really was important to me.

So here I am, across the country, and about to start a new 101 list and have so much potential for exploring and adventures! So here are my goals for this month:

June Goals // stephanieorefice.net

Post 7 blog posts
Visit 2 coffee shops
Visit a new state
Read a book of the Bible
Finish Harry Potter + the Order of Phoenix
Start the 5000 Survey (more on that on Friday!)
Paint my nails
Send 5 letters
Hit $1950 in total Poshmark sales
Visit a new state

June 7, 2017

2 Comments

Empties v12 pt 1

Before I left for the summer, I decided to clear out my little tub of Empties and snap some photos so I could share them here. When I came to Nashville, I brought a few of my regular staples but I made sure to bring a TON of my samples so that I’d use those and be able to return with a crap ton less than I brought! Super excited to watch my little stash deplete 🙂

There was actually a BUNCH of stuff for this post but I decided to keep it to one picture since it was so overwhelming – I’ll do a part 2 like I had to do with my 11th round up. Too bad I couldn’t get my shhhh together to just post it like every month or something, amiright?! eye roll emoji here 🙂

Lots of great stuff to go through this time, so here we go!

Biore Baking Soda Cleansing Scrub (I blogged about it here) – loved this stuff! I loved being able to control how scrubby it was.
Root Pretty Face Cleanser (USE THIS LINK to get 10% off your first $25+ purchase) – tried this stuff out… I really loved the orange-y scent of this stuff, I just tend to lean towards cleansers and washes that have a scrub to them.
Lollia Hand Cream in Wish – LOVE. I LOVE this stuff! This small tube is $8 so I definitely call this a splurge. One day I’ll buy more than just the small tube of it, but I absolutely love the scent of this and the way it’s not super greasy.
Love + Sunshine Bath & Body Works lotion – it’s a nice, springy, happy scent! I don’t need any more lotion, though. And I’ve started figuring out that I’d rather pay full price and buy scents I like than buy whatever’s on clearance at the outlet.
Derma E Purifying Detox Scrub – YUP! I LOVE DermaE. I’ve used their products for awhile, and I received this in a Birchbox and was SO EXCITED to try it. I absolutely loved this stuff – it’s scrubby! I’ll definitely be trying this once my current Derma-E face scrub runs out.
Fabuloso Platinum Blonde Intensifying Conditioner – Well. I don’t think I actually have blonde hair in the slightest. I think I maybe used to dye my hair more blonde, but yeah. I think this stuff was purple, which is really cool. But… hard pass.
Malin + Goetz clay mask – I actually really liked this stuff! I’m still of the idea that most face masks are like every other face mask, so I don’t think I’d ever purchase this on its own.
St. Ives Fresh Skin Body Scrub – I bought this on sale or at a cheap store or something. I was like OMG ST IVES BODY SCRUB because don’t we ALL love St. Ives face scrub?! This was just like the face scrub but I felt like the scrubby bits were less intense. It was alright, but apparently while I love scrubby face scrubs, I’m not a huge fan of scrubby stuff on my body. Unless it’s a coffee scrub.
Whish Body Butter in Coconut – IDK, coconut scents are hit or miss. I loved how thick this body butter was, and I really loved that it was in a tube unlike most of my other body butters which are in jars.
The Healing Garden Sanctuary spray – This just had to go. I’ve had this for so long and it made me sneeze. I actually used it to spray on my shower curtain… I guess like a cheap Febreze. I was so excited for this to be empty because it was HUGE and took up SO MUCH SPACE and literally ALWAYS made me sneeze. Bye, Felicia!
The Body Shop Banana Shampoo + Conditioner – IDK maybe I’m all about weird things but I LOVE banana scented stuff, and this shampoo/conditioner smelled BOMB DOT COM.
Peter Lamas Pumpkin Scrub – I first reviewed this here and was so excited to stumble upon another small bottle of it. I absolutely LOVE this stuff – it smells amazing and has just the right amount of scrub.
Neutrogena Ultra Light Cleansing Oil – I got this to try and replace the Garnier cleansing oil I love so much. This was okay, but it wasn’t great to use on my eyes like the other stuff was (have you figured out yet just how much I LOVE the Garnier stuff?!). I’ll keep trying to find something, but this wouldn’t be a terrible replacement.
Root Pretty Organic Coconut Sugar Scrub – if you haven’t caught on, I love scrubby things. I was really excited to try this out (as I wrote here) but I wasn’t as impressed with it as I’d planned on being. I did find another Root scrub I love, though… so that will come in time!
Batiste Wild Cherry Dry Shampoo – OK y’all, I think Batiste is literally the best dry shampoo in the world. I love that they have super fun scents. I like this one and the tropical one. What do you guys think?

Shop this post:

June 5, 2017