Hi beauties, I’m sorry that my posts have been a bit sporadic lately but a lot (and I mean a lot) has been going on in my life! Of course if you’ve been reading my blog for a while you know that I just recently graduated from college. Which by the way was an amazing and very emotional experience for me. I graduated with a BA in Communication Studies and was searching high and low for a job in Public Relations.
Well, after two weeks of being an Alumnae of my university I found a full-time job as a PR Media Specialist. I have just been so busy with work trips and doing my job that I’ve barely had time for anything else. I have just been trying my best to live my life still while working 40 hours a week. I am somewhat adjusted to the lifestyle of working full-time and now can find a way to balance my work-life- hobby ratio.
I wanted to post everyday since April but that just wasn’t in the cards after getting my job but I am back at it and better than ever. I have to set a schedule for posting content because everyday is impossible at this moment for me. Maybe when I get more comfortable and used to working the 40 hours a week I can finally get back to the constant content. I will be stopping my YouTube channel until further notice as well for the sake of business.
Here is the schedule that I’m sticking to for my blog posts:
Monday @ 3pm
Wednesday @ 2pm
Thursday @ 1pm
Friday @ 11a
Instead of being consistent with YouTube I will be updating everyone on my Instagram account @stephanierussell11 and my Snapchat account @the_stephruss, so make sure to add me and watch my weekly vlogs and posts!
I hope everyone is having an amazing summer and I hope you all enjoyed this post and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content and make sure to comment down below what type of content you want to see!
-Stay Chic,
Today is the day that I graduate college. I honestly wasn’t expecting this to go so quickly and now that it’s here, all I want to do is go back. I want to go back and re-live all of the yesterdays I didn’t appreciate. I want to go back to the days of carefree life and adventure. I want to go back but all I can do is walk through the halls of this school and say goodbye.
Enjoy a poem written by me:
In my next life maybe//
I don’t want to leave although I have to move on.
These halls used to be a jail
but now they’re something that I’m longing to come back to
and I haven’t even gone.
Sometimes I look back and wonder if I should have done more.
I look back and reminisce. —
I don’t want to leave although I must grow up
A phrase that was once a dreamlike bliss
and as scary as that sounds now–
I can’t control it.
I know I will miss this.
I hope you enjoyed this post, wish me luck on my graduation day in the comments down below.
-Stay Chic,
Hey everyone! Happy Easter and for those who do not celebrate Easter– Happy Passover/ Happy Holidays! I hope your holiday season is perfect and you are enjoying your day with your family and friends. Since Easter is one of my favorite holidays, I wanted to share my day with you all and what I usually do on Easter each year.
Good Friday:
This day I usually commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by going to service at my local church. This year Ryan and I also went to my cousins house so I could get eyelash extensions (a post is coming soon– I promise)! Then we went to the mall to see our niece get her Easter bunny pictures taken. She looked absolutely precious. Afterwards, we went back to my cousins house to have some wine and play the escape room game on their Amazon Alexa.
The Day Before Easter:
The day before Easter, I usually visit Ryan’s Grandma with his sister and her boyfriend. We take her to breakfast and enjoy our time together. This year we went for breakfast at a small diner near us. Afterwards, Ryan and I spent the whole day upcycling some furniture (there will definitely be blog posts about the soon)! We then ended our day with a movie night and I finally caught up in watching all Marvel movies. It might be hard to believe but I only saw a handful of Marvel movies and recently Ryan and I watched all the Marvel movies in order so I can see Avengers: End Game. I will also be writing posts on these movies and how I feel about them! I’m also really interested in getting my hair done almost like how Black Widow has it in Avengers: Infinity War but maybe not as short although I love the color!
Easter Sunday:
The morning of Easter I usually go to early mass at 7AM and then meet up with Ryan’s mother with Ryan, his sister and her boyfriend for breakfast. We then meet my family for lunch around 12PM. Afterwards, we all meet at my house to have an Easter egg hunt with my niece and open Easter baskets. Then later on some more family stop by my house and we have dinner and dessert together. This year we went to a cute breakfast place to meet Ryan’s family and I had the best omelet of my life (lol)! We then went to meet my family for lunch at an Italian Restaurant and after we had a ton of fun doing an Easter egg hunt with our niece. We also watched our niece open our Easter basket to her and she had the cutest reactions.
I hope you all have an amazing holiday and please let me know down below what your traditions are in the comments down below. Remember to subscribe for email notifications to be notified when I post new content.
-Stay Chic,
Hey y’all! I wanted to pop in and show you all my Pinterest account. I’m one of those people that are super crazy about aesthetics so I make sure my Pinterest account matches that. I work really hard to get my account to look the way it does and I hope you enjoy it. I will show the overview of my Pinterest and then all of the boards that I have. Enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed a look into my Pinterest account. If you would like to follow any of my boards or my whole Pinterest account in general here is the link: https://www.pinterest.com/shabbychic_steph/ and below is my pin code. Make sure to comment down below which board you’d be most interested in and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content.
-Stay Chic,
We all know the deal when it comes to personal trainers. The first thing that comes to my mind is that it’s expensive to have one and second, celebrities use them to get fit. I always wondered the difference between having a personal trainer and not having one. So, I decided to ask my friend Alexa, owner of AME Fitness Training who is a certified personal trainer to answer some important questions about getting fit with a personal trainer.
How does personal training benefit people who want to get fit?
“A personal trainer provides the drive and knowledge that clients need to reach there goals.”
What ways can a personal trainer help you reach your goal?
“Depending on what you want to work on we use our extensive knowledge of the human body and exercise to fulfil any goal a client desires.”
What are some things that a personal trainer does to help their clients?
“We show our clients the proper technique they need in each excerise to get the most out of it and we motivate and hold them accountable.”
Describe the advantages of having a personal trainer versus not having one.
“The advantage of having a trainer is the ability to have a guide that can show the correct way to excerise and drive the clients to success even when they feel down. Our job is to get clients to there best not just physically but mentally. Another advantage would be having a person who answers can any questions about health and fitness day or night regardless if your in the gym or not. When a person doesnt have a personal trainer they could easily trail off from training and wont see results quickly and efficiently.”
Some think a personal trainer makes things easier— like how celebrities get fit easily because they have trainers. What do you think about that?
“Having a personal trainer doesnt make it easy to workout and train. We push you to your limits to get most out of you in each session. If the training is easy then were not doimg our jobs right.”
What advice do you give someone that might not be able to afford a personal trainer?
“Research as much as possible and then jump right into exercising! What I find most clients have trouble with is consistently going to the gym and starting. Just get up and go! After that, have a consistent schedule so it becomes a habit.”
Why are personal trainers important in the process of getting fit?
“Were important in the process of getting fit since we know how to push the human body without going to far and straining it. We want to see success and will push clients until they see results.”
And there you have it! These are some serious important reasons and answers regarding personal trainers. I can tell after this interview that having a personal trainer actually helps with keeping your workouts on track and help you to work out correctly and get the most out of your workout. Having a guide when it comes to anything is very helpful, so I feel that a having a personal trainer can only be beneficial.
If you want personal training advice and packages from my friend Alexa visit her Instagram page @amefitnesstraining
I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content. Make sure to comment down below if you would like to get some advice from Alexa.
-Stay Chic,
Hey everyone! I hope you are all having an amazing day. I wanted to drop in with a book recommendation for you all. If you’ve been following my blog for a while you know that I’m an avid reader. I read more in the summer season because I am so busy with school during the Fall-Spring. But still I found the time to squeeze in one book recently.
I suggest reading the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. This book is about how the Jon along with some others get stuck on Mount Everest. It’s almost in a journal format and it is a very interesting read. What is most interesting about this book is that it is a real personal account. This is a true story, a non-fiction book.
I won’t explain the plot and some other aspects of the book because I don’t want to seriously spoil it. But, take it from me, it is worth the read. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first page until the last. I remember after I read it, I sat there, astonished at what happened. This is one of those books you can probably read within one day.
I definitely recommend this book to all of you and it is available for purchase on the kindle as well as in bookstores. I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content. Make sure to comment down below if you’re going to read this book!
-Stay Chic,
Hello Not Too Shabby Chic Fashion Fam! I think you know what day it is. It’s the two-year anniversary for Not Too Shabby Chic Fashion and I am thrilled. I accomplished so much in this two year window and I couldn’t have done it without you all. My fellow readers push me to keep producing content. Without you all, this website wouldn’t be where it is today.
I’m elated that I’ve been lucky enough to have my own corner of the internet for two years. I’m also very lucky to have amazing readers that I get to openly share my thoughts and experiences with. This blog has given me purpose and allows me to reach goals as well as heights that I didn’t even know were possible. Not to mention, it has given me more confidence as a person than I could have ever asked for (and I’m a Leo).
I wanted to take some time to describe where I was two years ago and the goals I had for this blog because two years ago things were so different. Two years ago I decided to change my life in a big way and I signed up to start my blog. I was working a part-time job at a pizzeria answering phones and I paid the $120 to own my domain name with my hard earned money. I had about $15 to my name after that but I knew this was something that I needed to do. I coined the name Not Too Shabby Chic Fashion because my father always used to say “That’s not too shabby crabby” when describing something that wasn’t so bad. Also, my sisters and mother used to describe my fashion as “shabby chic” so in turn I made this name. I wanted to share my fashion sense and my love for everything from beauty to lifestyle topics.
Not Too Shabby Chic Fashion was something that meant a lot to me and it means even more to me today. I had big goals for this blog and I hoped that one day to at least have 100 page views and at least 20 subscribers– here I am now with over 10,000 page views, 228 blog subscribers and over 2,000 people following my social media pages. It is really humbling to see where I came from and comparing it to where I am now.
I am more than lucky to have you all as subscribers and I can’t wait to see how much my blog grows over the course of this year. Thank you all so much for reading and now that it is the two year anniversary I will be going back to posting everyday after today. I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content. Make sure to comment down below how long you’ve been following my blog!
-Stay Chic,
Hey beauties! I wanted to share my favorite pre-workout meal with you all. I have been working out recently and I’ve felt that I don’t have enough energy so I sought out to find the perfect pre-workout meal. I needed something lightweight but still filling enough so I didn’t feel hungry after a workout and something to give me that desired energy. All of that plus needing it to be healthy, it was definitely a difficult search but I finally found my go-to pre-workout meal.
I get an açaà bowl from Playa Bowls! It’s lightweight, healthy, gives me energy yet still keeps me full after a workout. Açaà is a great fruit to have as it is high in healthy fats and low in sugar plus it has tons of antioxidants. Playa Bowls so far has the best açaà bowl that I’ve had and I now sometimes ask for blueberries to be added on top.
I recommend trying this fruit bowl and you can even make these yourself at home. Many grocery stores carry açaà smoothie packages and you can just grab some banana, fresh coconut shavings, honey, and granola. You’d be all set to have an açaà bowl in the comfort of your own home! I hope you enjoyed this post and remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content and make sure to comment down below what your pre-workout meal is.
-Stay Chic,
Hey everyone! I just wanted to drop in and say Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all. As you all may or may not know I am 55% Irish which means I will be gladly celebrating my heritage with my family today as well as St. Patrick. Today will be a day full of corned beef, cabbage, shepherds pie, boiled potatoes, and Irish soda bread.
For today’s post I wanted to talk a little about my traditions, where I come from in Ireland and keep it short since I want to spend the holiday surrounded by my family.
Of course every family has their traditions but St. Patrick’s Day is more seriously celebrated than Thanksgiving in my family. My family’s traditions are deep rooted and I personally take them very seriously. During the day we cook our food for later on in the night while listening to Irish folk music. By the time dinner comes around we are all sitting down at the table and ready to eat everything we’ve prepared. After dinner we all sit as a family and watch the movie The Quiet Man. This is tradition and it is so important to me to keep that tradition alive.
I had recently done an ancestry DNA test last year which told me I was 50% Irish. But it had later recalibrated my DNA results and it turns out I’m actually 55% Irish. I will share my updated results in a different post but I found out that my family had actually come from Galway. So now I tell Ryan (who is mostly English and German) that I’m his Galway girl (cue the Ed Sheran song).
I hope you all have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day and if you don’t celebrate I hope you have a wonderful day in general. Remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content and make sure to comment down below what you did to celebrate today or what you do to celebrate a holiday that means a lot to you!
-Stay Chic,
Hey everyone! Yesterday it was Ryan’s 21st birthday and I wanted to make a special blog post to celebrate him. Without Ryan I wouldn’t be where I am today– he is such an amazing guy and I’m so lucky to have him in my life. So without further ado, HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!
For his 21st birthday we went to some bars and did a small bar crawl with his family. I am not necessarily a bar person but I did have fun nonetheless. I especially had fun because Ryan was having such a blast. Ryan said that he is definitely a bar person. For my outfit I wore a green long sleeve crop top, orange bell bottom pants, and a pair of converse.
Ryan’s 21st Birthday was a success and he had a blast. That’s all him and I could have asked for, a smooth sailing 21st. His birthday was actually on our towns St. Patrick’s Day Parade (which is taken pretty seriously in our town). I’m so happy that the birthday shenanigans is not over yet because I still have other plans for Ryan’s birthday week. If you want to see what I have planned visit my post Ryan’s Birthday Planning.
All day we were surrounded by family and friends. Ryan is super family oriented so having spent his birthday around family made him so happy. Ryan also said that he is happy that he can finally go out with me to bars and clubs. At the moment his choice drink is a Miller Lite beer. On another note, the drink he didn’t like the most was Jameson whiskey.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Remember to subscribe for email notifications for when I post new content. Please comment down below and help me wish Ryan a happy birthday by saying happy birthday!
-Stay Chic,
