One of my biggest goals in life is to look hot when I’m 50 years old, without plastic surgery.

That may sound super duper shallow to some, but it’s been a goal of mine since high school and it’s something that I put a lot of time and money into. If I weren’t looking into journalism as a career, I probably would’ve gone to beauty school.

This also means I tend to be very cheap in other areas of my life. For example, I just ordered the new Iphone 5s this week. It will be my first ever smart-phone. The reason I waited so long was because I didn’t like the idea of paying $30-plus per month to get things on my phone that I could get for free on a computer.

Eventually though, I felt really behind the times for being the person in my group of friends without one so I figured I should give in to the peer pressure. I got to the point where I was embarrassed to use my dumb-phone in public for fear of being judged.

Ironically, I have no problem spending $30 on eye cream or $20 on leave-in conditioner, which are two recent purchases of mine. Thankfully, each individual product often lasts me a long time.

$20 per week is my average breakfast budget, because I refuse to get anywhere near Ramen. That pays for almonds, whole grain bagels, protein bars, fruit juice and bananas. I barely ever eat junk food; I’ve actually gone so long without it that I never crave it anymore.

I began using eye-cream at age 19 after reading about the eye area often being the first place people get wrinkles. I also wear big sunglasses and sunscreen every day, even if it’s cloudy or winter, for that same reason. I’ve never used a tanning bed before; seeing girls in my high school looking like they were 25 due to tanning scared me away from it pretty quickly. Except I hate looking like a Twilight extra during the summer, so I spray-tan myself frequently.

Part of me really wishes being pale were more socially acceptable. I got bullied in high school for being pale so when my boyfriend told me he prefers pale girls, I was super shocked. I still assume he’s one of the only guys in the world who thinks that. I’m slowly learning to be comfortable with my natural skin tone though, at least during the winter.

Despite all this, I don’t wear makeup very often. It’s much healthier for skin to let it breathe sometimes and because I take very good care of my skin, I don’t feel like I need makeup every day. I usually only wear it on date night, to parties or to anything where I need to look business-like and professional. Makeup can be super fun though, as a way to express myself creatively!

I sometimes unfairly judge people based on their possessions; especially when I’m surrounded by people who have the latest Iphone and a $1,000-plus Mac laptop, at the same time. I see those items and I immediately think “spoiled rich kid.” I have to remind myself though, that I could probably afford more Mac products too if I didn’t spend so much on beauty products and health food. It’s all a matter of prioritizing.

That and I actually really like my Windows 8 laptop. It’s hot pink and has a touch-screen.

At-home teeth-whitening: So much fun…

My collection of products I use when I take my weekly extended bath. I take a quick shower every day but my weekly extended bath usually takes over an hour.