Hey There, Chelsie

a blog of beauty, style & surviving

What’s in my Road Trip Tote + License Plate game

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If you follow me on snapchat (add me @cwhit145) then you might have seen a snap a couple weeks ago about another big change that’s coming up for my little family.

We’re moving. Again.

Remember that time we moved three times last year? Yeah? I sure do. And, we’re crazy people and adding another move to our resume this year. Dustin is going back to his summer sales job in Louisiana and we’ll be heading out to Layafette the first weekend of April. I’m not going to lie; I’m not very excited about this move. I love, love, love our home in Arizona and the people we’ve met here and the church we go to here. So, our plan is to come right back in September, like snowbirds! Knowing that we are going to come back makes this move a little less bitter, and with any luck, this job will help us pay off the last of our student debt. Plus, I’m excited to try real Southern food and to live five minutes away from my blogging pal, Taylor at Dear Friends.

It’s all about the bigger picture, am I right?

Since we’re about to add our fourth move to our list in the last 12 months, I wanted to share some of my road trip essentials. After moving from Idaho to California (April 2015,) California to Boston (July 2015,) and then Boston/Idaho to Arizona (September of 2015) and doing 90% of those moves by car, I feel like definitely have road tripping down to a science. So, if you are preparing for an epic road trip/move, here is everything I keep in my road trip tote that has been essential to our sanity and our safety!

Sunnies- We’ll be driving from Arizona through New Mexico and Texas and I expect to be driving through a lot of sunshine. I always have a pair of sunglasses in my road trip tote because they help protect my eyes from the bright light and prevent me from getting headaches from squinting! I love love love these cat-eyed sunnies I picked up at Target just a couple weeks ago to add to my collection; they are fashionable and have a great filter against the sun!

Headphones- Dustin and I take turns driving in 3-4 hour shifts, and while one of us is driving, the other one is trying to get rest. Since Dustin loves to listen to techno music while driving and since techno music isn’t very conducive to sleeping, I need headphones to block out his music so I can sleep!

Dentastix- Thankfully, Dustin and I were blessed with the world’s most perfect road tripping pup. Rosie handles long drives really well, as long as she has her puppy bed and her hedgehog toy in the back. Still, I always keep some Dentastix on hand (some of her favorite treats) to keep her occupied if she gets restless and to help her breath not stink. Trust me, there is nothing worse then being stuck in a car with a panty puppy who has stinky breath!

Mini Lint Roller - Another must when road tripping with a dog! Rosie tends to shed more when traveling from the stress, so we end up with dog hair everywhere. When we stop for dinner or at our hotel, the last thing we want is to drag in excess dog hair. So, I always keep our mini lint roller in my travel tote so that we can quickly get off before going into any public place.

Deodorant- I don’t know about you, but after spending 18 hours in a car, I feel pretty grody. I always, always have to have deodorant in my travel bag tote so that I can make sure that I feel as fresh and clean as possible after spending hours in the car!

Makeup Wipes- This goes hand in hand with the deodorant: my face feels SO grimy after driving for a few hours and eating fast food. Even though I don’t normally travel with makeup on, having the makeup wipes to take off any grime and refresh my skin is so important to my sanity while moving. If I don’t try to take care of the excess oils, I will break out a few days after getting to our new destination and that is NO fun!

Chapstick & Lotion- Like I said, my skin tends to freak out if I don’t take care of it while road tripping. My skin gets more oily and I break out and my lips get so chapped and my hands dry out. It might be the constant change of climates or just extra stress, but I need need need to have chapstick available at all times to prevent split lips.

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Life, Adventures & Rosie: Volume One

I feel like it’s been a while since I sat down and actually did a personal post! I get so caught up with all my fun makeup posts that I forget to take the time to share a little bit about me! I want you to know that there IS a human being behind this blog, who lives an imperfect but happy life with her husband and pup! So, I decided to introduce a blog series called Life, Adventures & Rosie! If this kind of post isn’t your thing, no big deal! But if you want to get to know me and Roo a little better, read on!

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5 Packing Tips for Studying Abroad

In case you missed it, I’m in the middle of the woods this week at a church camp being a counselor. I’ll be back tomorrow, but I’m SUPER excited because my littlest sister is taking over Life with Rosie today and sharing a little bit about her recent study abroad trip to England! Not only did she get to see Stonehenge, Jane Austen’s House and a broadway play, she learned a ton about traveling in different countries. Katie doesn’t have a blog (although I think she should after writing this post for me) but you can follow all of her adventures (and catch the occasional picture of Rosie, too) on her Instagram.

Hey! My name is Katie, and I am Chelsie’s youngest sister. I am now sophomore at BYU-Idaho, and I am majoring in Music Education. I feel so lucky to be a guest writer on her blog, because she is such a strong and incredible woman, and I strive to gain her qualities all the time. aw, shucks, Katie!

Recently, I had the amazing opportunity to travel abroad to England, Ireland, and Scotland for 3 weeks! BYU-Idaho has amazing programs that allow students to travel with a group from the school, while also taking a few class credits. And let me tell you, it was an adventure of a lifetime.

In a nutshell, we were able to see huge cathedrals, quant little towns, amazing landscapes and gardens, the Queen herself, some bar hopping, and lots of afternoon tea! But the one thing that I wish I were more prepared for was living out of a carry-on suitcase.

 

I asked people that have traveled before how they packed, and got some great tips on what to do. All together, I have a list of my top 5 packing tips for studying abroad

1.) Bring a raincoat

The weather is very unpredictable over in the United Kingdom, and we were caught in many rainstorms. Even on the sunniest of days, 60% of the time the afternoon brought some type of rain. So definitely pack something that will not only keep you dry, but will also keep you warm and shielded from the weather.

2.) Pack boots

I thought about bringing rain boots, but that would have taken up WAY too much valuable space in my little suitcase. So I brought my pair of black army boots. They kept my feet dry on rainy days, helped me on our long walks/hikes, and everything else in between.

3.) Febreeze or Footspray

I never really thought that I had smelly feet! I always had clean socks and tried to air out my shoes after long days of walking. But in a room of 10 girls, certain smells started to build and eventually took over our room. Hence the febreeze or footspray! You can’t travel with it on planes, so the easiest way to get some would be from a pound store, or convenient stores (they are everywhere). Trust me, you don’t want that smell lingering in your room.

4.) Converter

If you don’t bring a converter, you won’t be able to charge anything! Also, if you want your hair to look nice, bring a surge protector for your straighteners, blow dryers, etc. Without the protector, they will potentiallyexplode or melt because of the amount of heat and energy they produce because of the different outlets.

5.) Items you are willing to leave behind

I didn’t think that I was going to buy the amount of clothes that I did, but I couldn’t resist! So I packed things that I was okay with leaving behind. I brought cheap $4.00 shirts from Walmart, and other things that I would have donated when I got home. I left behind some shirts, a pair of pants, and my boots that were falling apart in my last hostel. It was hard to leave things behind, but bringing home souvenirs and new clothes seemed more important!

I loved every second of this trip, and I definitely learned some very valuable and useful things that I will use for the rest of my life. Adventure sure is out there, and I hope all of you find it!

Have you traveled abroad? What are your must haves or packing tips for studying abroad ?

 

Travel Oregon: 5 Places to Visit

Some of my closest friends from college are from Oregon and ever since my first trip to visit them back in 2009, I have been absolutely smitten by the state. While New England will always be home, Oregon has completely stolen my heart. When we moved to California, I realized we were only a few hours from the border of Oregon and since Dustin had never been to Oregon, I convinced him to travel Oregon during Memorial Day weekend so I could show him all my favorite parts of the state. I love to road trip and when there is a long weekend, I think it’s waste to not be going somewhere! There is so much to experience in this life and I want to see as much of it as I can.

One of my favorite things about Oregon is how alive the state is. Everything is SO green (none of these pictures are edited besides the one above). The people may be a little weirdy, but they are, for the most part, welcoming and kind. And Oregon is EXTREMELY dog friendly! We didn’t take Rosie with us on this trip because we were going to be driving a ton, but after seeing how many places were dog friendly, we will definitely take her next time. Dustin and I got to experience so many things in Oregon in one short weekend; places that I would recommend to anyone that they have to see if they are going to Oregon.

1. Multnomah Falls. One of the most iconic waterfalls in Oregon, this waterfall is located about 40 minutes outside of Portland in the Columbia River gorge. It has really nice paved walkways and is handicapped accessible. You can take about 30 minutes to walk around, get up to the bridge and peruse the gift shop. It’s gorgeous!

2. Oneonta Gorge. This is literally the most beautiful place I have ever seen; to the point that Dustin and I were both almost in tears at the sheer beauty of it. This is just down the road from Multnomah Falls and a bit harder to hike. BE PREPARED (we weren’t) to get wet. Wear water shoes and a bathing suit! You literally hike through the gorge in the river. Most of it is shallow, but there was one part that got up to our knees and another part that reached up to our ribs. There is about a 10-foot high log jam at the beginning of the gorge that you have to climb over, which was so scary, but Dustin helped me every step of the way (and I climbed on my butt the whole time. It’s fun to take back small things that cancer has taken away from me, like getting over a scary log jam!)

 

3. Ecola State Park. This is about 2 hours outside of Portland on the coast. It’s where they filmed the Goonies! You feel like you are driving through a rainforest to get to the coast, but it’s beautiful. There are two look out options; one gives you a perfect view of Haystack Rock and the other one is a beautiful rocky beach where the Goonies was filmed. You can bring a picnic lunch, watch the surfers and look for sand dollars. This is one of my favorite places to go in Oregon, because I love the way the ocean makes me feel; small, but like I count for something anyway.

4. Seaside. Seaside, Oregon is a super cute beach town right outside Astoria. It has a ton of small shops, seafood, candy stores and an arcade! We got fresh fish and chips from The Crabby Oyster and ate dinner at a delicious Irish restaurant called McKowen’s. There is a candy store that had over 100 flavors of saltwater taffy and walked along the promenade in the sunshine. You could easily spend a few days here, if you wanted!

5. Tillamook. We drove along the Oregon Coast Highway from Seaside to Tillamook and it was beautiful. At Tillamook, we spent a whole afternoon touring the cheese factory! We got to see how the cheese was made, sample a ton of different kinds, eat grilled cheese sandwiches and get Tillamook icecream cones. It was delicious and fun experience! Definitely worth the stop for the cheese and ice cream!

We had the best trip and it was so fun to watch Dustin experience Oregon for the first time. He was blown away at all of the beautiful places we got to see! We spent a day in Portland, as well, but there is so much to that city that it’s should have it’s own blog post. Oregon is so alive and it makes me feel alive being there and so grateful for a second chance at life to see it!

Have you been to Oregon? Have you seen these places? What other places have you been to? We want to go back before we move away from California!

 

Chelsie travels China //1

This weekend was the three year mark of the day I left on one of the greatest adventures of my life. After getting my left knee totally replaced, courtesy of my tumor, I finally felt like I was ready to take on the world and shove it right back in cancer’s face. I was going to take back my life and everything that cancer had told me that I would never be able to accomplish or do.

So, as any logical early twenty year-old would do, I deferred from school for two semesters and went to live in China for five months. Why China? Well, I knew I wanted to study abroad and I found an amazing program called International Language Programs that was more like a “service abroad.” They offered programs in several countries at the time: Russia, Ukraine, Mexico and China. I didn’t want to go to Russia in the cold and Mexico wasn’t far away enough for me, so that left me with China. Maybe it wasn’t the most well researched plan I’ve come up with, but it was something and I was finally healthy enough and strong enough to go for it.

The primary goal of going to China through ILP was to teach English to children. I had the amazing opportunity to teach English to 60 of the cutest Chinese 2nd and 3rd graders in the whole country. I lived with 19 other American teachers at the boarding school that we taught in a small (by Chinese standards) city of 4 million people called Weihai. I only had to teach for three hours a day and we had monthly vacations, so I got to really learn and experience and interact with the Chinese culture, which is totally and completely different from America.

For example:

You might be in China if you constantly see English words on notebooks, clothing, boxes, cookware, random objects and it makes absolutely no sense. It’s what we fondly refer to as “Chinglish.” The Chinese love English words but don’t know how to use them correctly.

 

You might be in China if the Bank of China refuses to exchange your American money for Chinese yuan because they are EXTREMELY picky about the condition of your dollar billz, yo. They flat out refused to exchange 80 dollars of my green cash because my money was “broken.” In other words, it was worn and frayed on the edges, with creases down the middle from being folded. Future note for any future travelers: don’t bring broken money.

You might be in China if you see Santa all over the place months after Christmas. The Chinese love Santa and they would play Christmas music over the loudspeakers on campus between classes, like Jingle Bell rock.

You might be in China if you travel via sleeper bus a la Harry Potter’s Knight Bus to get to Beijing or Shanghai for the weekend. Also, you will probably be too tall to sleep in the bed on the bus because Chinese people are small. And the bathroom on the sleeper bus is a squatty potty. Try peeing on a moving bus while squatting…not a fond memory.

You might be in China is you spend every day with faces like these, who depend on the English language to further them in their lives and give them a chance to live above the poverty line. My students were the brightest memories from China and their love was endless. In China, these kids get sent to boarding school starting at kindergarten age. They sleep on their floor with their teachers and rarely get to go home on the weekends. Not only did I teach these kids, but I ate meals with them and tucked them in at night. They were the best part about China and I miss them all of the time.

There is so much more to China then I could write in one blog post, so I’m considering making this into a series of randoms facts/stories from my life in China and the things I learned from living abroad.

Have you been to China or traveled abroad? What culture norms surprised or shocked you?

Everywhere