Home Decor from T.J.MAXX’s

Posted on by mckennahbybee

Today I’m sharing a TON of great finds from T.J.Maxx’s website that are neutral & would be great addition pieces to any room. I’m always looking for ways to spruce up my space & a couple new pillows or a new rug & a plant can completely change the feel of a room.

1 – Black/Natural Woven 2 – Textured Fringe 3 – Mud Cloth Print 4 – Cream Fringe 5 – Grey Shag 6 – Ellen Fringe 7 – Indigo Pom Pillow 8 – Woven Black 9 – Texture Cotton

1 – Mega Link Grey 2 – Textile Cotton 3 – Chunky Honeycomb 4 – Textured Knit 5 – Boho Cotton 6 – Portugal Stripe

1 – Faux Fern 2 – Aloe Vera 3 – Snake Plant 4 – Faux Areca 5 – Fiddle Leaf Fig 6 – Grass Hanging 7 – Sage in Basket 8 – Faux Elephant Eat

1 – Textile Rug 2 – Boho Runner 3 – Jute & Leather 4 – Transitional Medallion 5 – Tufted Scatter Rug 6 – Tapestry Accent Rug 7 – Textured Medallion 8 – Boho Blue 9 – Flat Weave 10 – Vintage Taupe Weave 11 – Artesian

1 – Boho Poof 2 – Textiles Poof 3 – Cotton Texture 4 – Metallic Poof

Am I the only one who could just scroll and scroll through their website?

Xx, Kennah

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2019 New Year Update!

Posted on by mckennahbybee

Happy 2019 everyone!! Welcome to the new year & the new site! Hopefully everything is a little easier to look at now that all the annoying banners and ads are gone! Woot woot!

I wanted to start this year off by sharing one of my New Year’s Resolutions with you all. It seems like a simple one but I KNOW that it is going to change my life.. Replacing hate or any negative energy with APATHY. What is apathy you ask? As stated by wikipedia Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest or concern about something of great importance. It is a state of indifference.

So what exactly does that mean? By replacing hate or any bad energy that you carry around with apathy it will allow you to let things go & not have power over you. This year I am taking back the reins. I think you should too. Stop worrying about what your moms, dads, friends or family will think if you fail or mess up. GO for what you’re wanting BELIEVE in yourself so madly that you can make anything happen. Already in just the few days we are into 2019 I’ve felt a difference. I will not dwell on the things I cannot change or control or fix. I will accept them and forget them. Letting go of the bad allows you more space to carry around positive energy and along with the law of attraction will bring you good juju for 2019! It will also give you more time to think about what is truly important to you.

Here’s to 2019 it’s O U R year!!!

Xx, Kennah

Social Media

Posted on by mckennahbybee

Navigating social media can be tricky. Social media can be beneficial in so many ways to help us learn and grow, but it also can have such a negative effect we might not even realize. There are 2 main problems with social media that I can see that cause it to become this negative influence :

1- Comparing our lives to others who seem to have the perfect life & make us believe they have it all together.

2- We spend a ridiculous amount of time staring at this tiny screen.

I’ve seen people in my own life struggle with coping with social media in a healthy way. I will be the first to tell you the night and day difference it makes when you have a positive influence from social media versus a negative. If you’re the kind of person who deletes and reposts something because you didn’t get enough likes or if you are constantly tracking who is following and unfollowing you, THESE ARE BAD HABITS. You are relying too much on what others think & I truly believe a nice break from social media will help you get you mind right.

My first tip would be to hit the unfollow button for ANYONE who hurts your self worth or self esteem. Friends, family members, co-workers you name it. If it makes you question yourself or frankly it just irritates you, just unfollow them. You don’t owe anyone anything and there are no rules when it comes to social media & compromising your mental health for something so insignificant. Social media is exactly that media, media that you are choosing to consume. Do not consume the bad media. Get rid of it.

Instead, replace some of these negative influences with positive accounts. A few of my favorite things to see on my timeline are posts from @createthelove with Mark Groves – he talks about healthy relationships & so much more. Another for healthy relationships is @mindfulmft. Overall happy/inspirations @thegoodquote. Funny @memes.com.

TIME – it’s something that we cannot replicate or create more of. We can’t stop it we can’t get it back. Our time is precious yet we waste a lot of it scrolling.

The first thing I’ve done recently to work on this issue is place my apps all in one folder so they’re not easily accessible & they’re not the first thing I see to click on.

Apple has also launched an update on the iPhone X that allows you to set a limit on your screen time for the day and once you reach your limits if you click on one of these social apps it brings you to a screen that says you’ve reached you daily limit. It does give you the option to ignore it for 15 minutes or simply ignore for the rest of the day if it’s something urgent.

The next thing I did which I would HIGLY recommend to everyone is to start with a social media fast/cleanse. Whatever you call it, take 1 week off from social media ALL OF IT. After doing so I never realized exactly how much of my time I was wasting on it & how much more productive I was without it. So try it out! Give yourself a reality check, become the person who has more time to get more stuff done. Reach for your goals. Prioritize better. I know once you’re done you’ll feel so much better and you’ll have a new appreciation for putting your phone down and being present in your life.

THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember is that NOBODY is posting their struggles or their bad days. Everyone posts the happy joyus moments in their lives. Looking at my own instagram posts I know my life doesn’t look like that (I have worries and stresses and bad days but we don’t always see both sides) and comparing that little piece to someone else’s little piece is insanity.

Xx, Kennah

You are the Average of the 5 People you Spend Most Time With.

Posted on by mckennahbybee

Have you ever heard the saying you are the sum of the 5 people closest to you? The 5 people we spend the most time with influence and shape our lives much more than you might think. Your mindset, success, and interests are all affected by these people which is why it is so important for you to be picky about who you spend your time with.

Surround yourself with people who you would like to be like and remove those negative or toxic people from your life. It’s essential to your health, happiness and success. Find people who challenge you mentally, befriend the person who makes it to spin class every week, the family chef or the super mom/dad from down the street. Look for mentors who you can learn from and who can guide you, those who have achieved things you would like to also achieve. One quote I heard that has stuck with me is don’t take advice from someone who has not already done what you want to do. They might be between you and where you want to me but they have NOT made it.

Really when you break it down it is common sense. Muscles need to be tried and tested to grow in the gym we lift weights and break down our muscle so that it can rebuild stronger, by surrounding yourself with these people who challenge us we grow and learn and become the best version of ourself. If we live in this comfort zone and we are complacent we can never live up to our full potential.

I don’t know about you but my biggest fear is not taking advantage of my capabilities and the gifts I’ve been given. I want to become the best friend, mom, sister, wife etc. (insert your goals here!) There are books We can read and Ted Talks and YouTube videos and tons of other resources but the most influential is the people who are actually in our life on a day to day basis. Choose wisely.

Xx, Kennah

The Science behind a Vision Board

Posted on by mckennahbybee

For those that don’t know visualization is one of the most powerful things you can do with your mind. In a book I recently bought they talk about the law of attraction and how it is the strongest force in the universe. For some people visualizing things comes easy. From a young age I realized I was what most people call a ‘dreamer’. For a lot of others this creative side doesn’t come as easily and a more structured way to do this is a vision board.

NBA players and olympic athletes even use this visualization practice to help perfect their game. Our cheer coaches used to make us lay on the mat and play the music and have us envision hitting our routine perfectly. After 2 run throughs of visualizing we always improved dramatically or hit a perfect routine.

Why does visualization work you ask?

The neurons in our brains that transmit information see these visualizations and images and interpret them as real life. Our brain then creates new neural pathways that set us up to actually complete these tasks in real life. It also instills a confidence because we have seen what it looks like to achieve these goals.

Creating a vision board is to help you materialize your dreams and bring them to life. When you make your vision board it should not only be things that you want but it should also mirror the way you want to feel. I picked a few different goals in life and highlighted them on my vision board. Both big and small. I’m big on family so I included pictures of happy families that I hope to have one day. I want to travel a lot and picked a few of my tops places I want to visit someday. I want to be able to have a home office one day to be with my kids but still have a job where I can earn money and help support my family, so I included a photo of a home office. The smaller items I included are Disney annual passes, photos of a dog & a Louis Vuttion Bag I’ve been dying for.

There are no rules and you can put whatever you want on your vision board!!

After you’ve completed your vision board put it somewhere you can see it EVERYDAY! Mine is above the bench where I get dressed every morning. It helps me start my day off right and on hard days it reminds me of why I do what I am doing.

Xx, Kennah

H20 intake

Posted on by mckennahbybee

Something I’ve changed up recently is my water intake! I’ve always been THE WORST when it comes to drinking water throughout the day. The only time I can remember drinking enough was at cheer camp because we were forced and it was HOT working in the sun all day.

The recommended amount depends on your weight, take your weight divided by 2 and that’s how many ounces you need to be drinking in a day. I account for my workouts and increase my water intake during vigorous workouts.

I know a lot of people say you’re “supposed” to drink a gallon a day regardless, but a lot of your water actually comes from your food. I promise your body will get used to it and you won’t be running to the bathroom every 5 seconds after a week.

The results I’ve seen just from one small simple change has made a huge impact on my energy, my skin, and strangely enough I feel like I definitely look leaner than I did before. Maybe not carrying as much water weight? Whatever the reason I’m not complaining one bit. I remember the first week I started this change I had text one of my gym friends that I felt like I could run a marathon after an 8 hour work day. I never thought I would be the person who could wake up at 5 AM and get to the gym before work but now I can sometimes make it. Lol. Better than never right?

Xx, Kennah

How to Build Your Credit

Posted on by mckennahbybee

I posted something on my instastory a few weeks ago about accomplishing another goal of mine. My goal was to get my credit score above 800. I had a few people reach out to me after my post asking how I did it and how to build theirs. Let me just say I was hesitant to make this post because I thought people would think I was bragging, but a good friend of mine gave me the push that I needed and if you don’t like it, leave.

When I first started trying to build my credit I was so confused on how to build it or why I had to put myself into debt to build it. Not everyone has parents who help teach them & we all know the school systems failed us in real world skills so hopefully this helps & let me remind you I’m not an expert. I started by getting a small car loan. If you are paying your parents and the loan is in their name, GET IT IN YOUR NAME! Get on your own insurance. Get on your own phone plan. Start making your own monthly payments. Taking on debt and slowly making your monthly payments proves that you are capable of paying someone back. We start small and next time you will qualify for more. Opening my first credit cards was the next step.

BEFORE YOU DO THIS :

  • Research to find the best card(s) for you. Ones that you can keep long term because closing accounts is not a good thing.
    • For me I found a card that has really good cash back benefits but a higher interest rate because I never carry a balance on this card which means that I buy all my regular stuff that I would use my debit card for but I just pay it off each month so I get the cash back rewards but never interest.
    • I also have a really low interest not really any benefits card that I use for emergencies or larger things I might not be able to pay right away.
    • Another card that works great for me is the best buy card, I love it because they have deals where you have no interest for 2 years or 1 year different things like that. I purchased my camera on it and re-calculated what my payments needed to be to pay it off before I started getting interest charged.
  • Set boundaries for yourself. Do not let yourself go past the limits you set for yourself & keep a level head because it’s not free money you have to pay it back. Trust me when I say I learned from watching other people’s mistakes & its not fun to dig yourself out of a financial mess.

OTHER TIPS

  1. Always make your payments on time. Set up bill pay. Set phone reminders. Automatic payments are amazing. Whatever you need to do.
  2. There is an ebb and flow when it comes to building credit which means your credit score will go down when you open a new credit card or when you get a new car loan but on the back end of things when you’re paying it back it will grow your credit far beyond where it was prior.

My last and final tip….

DOWNLOAD THE CREDIT KARMA APP

It will assess your situation and give you tons of stats based off of your current situation it looks at your total number of accounts, credit history, credit card utilization, payment history etc. If you’re not sure where to start with looking at cards, it will have suggestions for you & other things you can do to improve your credit. They make everything super easy to understand & color coordinate from Red on the bad end to orange, yellow, light green to dark green which is good. Shout out to credit karma for helping me reach my goals!!

*I decided to add one section explaining why building your credit is important especially when you’re young. INTEREST RATES. Being 21 I think a lot of people are surprised by the car I drive but for me it’s a super easy payment to make and one of the things that plays into it is that I qualified for the lowest interest rate they even make for car loans. Another benefit is being financially set up for those of you who want to get married or start a family one day. I have a high enough credit score I could buy a house when that time comes. I promise it will pay off and save you money by building your credit!!

Xx, Kennah

Places you can get Student Discounts!!

Posted on by mckennahbybee

Being a student money is tight and you don’t have a ton of time, so I’ve compiled this list to help with both of these things. The 2 websites I use for student discounts are UNiDAYS and Student Beans. They always have new deals and discounts going on & its so nice to have them all in one place. Be sure to set up an account if you don’t have one already so you can get the codes, all you have to do is have an institution email & confirm the link they send to you. I’ve linked my favorite discounts below!

  1. 20% discount off Hunter Original.
  2. Apple music for 1/2 off! I use this every month. They also have up to $300 off a Mac or $20 off an iPad Pro.
  3. 30% off adidas (this one is so good it’s only for a limited time!)
  4. PINK – Victoria’s Secret 15% off.
  5. 10% off Finish Line, they have the BEST shoes.
  6. MAC Cosmetics, no I’m not joking.
  7. Urban Outfitters! My favorite, 10% off.
  8. 20% off Joe’s Jeans & 15% off Levi’s.
  9. $100 in delivery credit for Postmates. When I travel anywhere I ALWAYS use postmates and let me just tell you it’s changed my life. Pancakes delivered at 12 pm along with Cake. Cookies brought to your hotel room. I LOVE it.
  10. 10% off at PacSun & Forever 21.
  11. Gym Shark, I just found this one out & I’m so excited to use it!
  12. 1-800-Flowers 15% off! For you mom or guy.. when you want to make your girls day, I got you.
  13. 10% off ASOS which is already cheap & has deals allll the time.
  14. 20% off at American Eagle, their the dye t-shirts are so soft & cute!
  15. Show Me Your Mumu, I would buy everything if I could.
  16. $15 off your first Uber Ride.
  17. $15% off every box at HelloFresh!!

They even have discounts for things like hotels & travel, tech gear, and software.

 

Xx,

Kennah

 

Why I switched to an All Natural Deodorant

Posted on by mckennahbybee

Did you know after being diagnosed with breast cancer one of the first things they tell you is to stop using regular deodorant? Although the research connecting the two is inconclusive they are still asked to stop using deodorants with aluminum because of the way it can react with radiation. Many people also believe after shaving if you cut yourself it’s easier for your body to absorb toxic ingredients in your deodorants.

After finding this out switching to an all-natural deodorant was a no brainer because I was already leaning that way anyways. Not only do you feel better knowing exactly what’s in it, it seems to work a lot better for me. I’ve tried every kind and brand of deodorant including clinical strength options. Below are a few natural deodorants I’ve used/had recommended to me.

  1. Schmidt’s Naturals – I’ve been using the cedar + juniper, but I think next time I will order the rose + vanilla or the ylang-ylang + calendula. If you have sensitive skin they also have a fragrance-free version!
  2. Kopari Beauty Coconut Deodorant – I’ve heard amazing things about this aluminum-free deodorant and it has an auto-ship option which is great for me because I always forget until I’m completely out. I’m going to try the ship every 2 months option and see how I like it. Also love that its coconut, for some reason I’ve found coconut seems to work best for me at lasting all day, is that a real thing? or in my head? Lol.
  3. Lavanila Deodorant – Aluminum-free and Kourtney Kardashian approved.
  4. Malin+Goetz Eucalyptus Deodorant – Recently tested out a few other products from them & I’m betting this one is just as good.
  5. Native Deodorant – 4.69 out of 5 stars with 6,332 reviews. I’d say this one is definitely worth me testing. Also comes in yummy flavors. (Coconut & Vanilla, Rose & Lavender, and Gardenia & Orchid).

It seems quite silly that I’m so excited about deodorant, but seriously I can’t wait to try all of them and see how they compare. I already have 8 sticks in my bathroom drawer. I’ll keep you updated on which ones I’m loving.

Xx, Kennah

Learning ‘Risk Tolerance’

Posted on by mckennahbybee

Recently a good friend of mine taught me what ‘risk tolerance’ means and it’s completely changed my thought process. I decided to share because I think it will be a great conversation starter for those of us who get it or something great to learn for those who don’t. Risk tolerance is just that, learning how to tolerate risks to then get the reward. There’s what I like to call a sweet spot when deciding to take on a risk (such as chasing a dream or buying a car). This sweet spot is sandwiched between being in over your head and not taking advantage enough to really get anywhere. The balance is crucial because being in over your head is where the danger comes and not diving in deep enough to actually reap any benefits becomes pointless.

With anything you do in life there are risks involved. Falling in love, taking a new job, buying a new house ect. This newer generation has the entrepreneurial mind set and understands to really succeed one must learn to take and tolerate risks. A few weeks ago at a family party I sat back and listened to my family talk about these young couples in their twenties buying expensive houses, driving nice cars and how they’re all in over their heads and one day all of their nice things will be taken away. I’m sure in some cases this could be true, but I was disappointed to hear this older generation be so assumptive about something extremely negative. To be honest I was surprised people really care or think about what others are doing, but it caused me to really start thinking. This generation works smarter not harder. Our parents worked 9-5 their whole lives while everything passed them by. The way we have learned and evolved from our parents is amazing. We understand this term risk tolerance and that’s how so many younger people are living these amazing lives where they have time to spend with their families creating memories.

Many of my friends have their typical jobs like I do, but that isn’t all we do with our time. I have a friend who recently got his real estate license while working at a completely different sales job. I sell clothes, am learning to edit videos and blog on my time off from my regular job. 2 of my friends own their own companies and are doing so well for themselves, neither of which attended college. I have many friends and siblings who have taken the alternative route and skipped college and do better than a lot of people who did go to college. This is not the case for everyone and I see the benefits a lot of my friends have from going to college but the path is not the same for us all. We all have our hands in many different things investing time and money multiple places and using our risk tolerance to exceed beyond what our parents and grandparents thought was possible.

Sometimes I am embarrassed of the things that come from my generation, but this is not one of them. I know tons of people who have risked it all and chase their dreams and it’s working. They are not afraid, they do not second guess themselves and they will not fail because they can’t. One of these people is the owner of Rev Motoring, where I bought my car. He started from nothing, took on the risk which has only grown more and more as he is succeeding. There have been set backs like anything else but they’ve pushed through everything to get where they are. People only fail when they start to waiver or when they get in over their head. (There is a difference between a set back and true failure). I know people who have done this as well, they get too confident too quickly and lose everything. I cannot stress how important the sweet spot is.

As you probably know, I’ve really taken an interest in videography. I purchased an online workshop course to learn how to edit videos and the influencer who put it on, Indy Blue, explained something that I loved as well. She told a story how she went and purchased a very nice very expensive camera to make her videos. As her video quality and editing skills have continued to get better, she was able to make her money back quickly by creating wedding videos. She now has a camera which is paid for to use for her personal trips and documenting as well as future weddings and work related projects.

You have to do whatever it takes to make it work, for me that means buying editing workshops online and camera gear and lenses and gimbals and spending hours in iMovie and on YouTube.

When buying my car, I drove a crappy car longer than needed because I knew what I wanted. I could afford more than I was driving at the time but I didn’t want something mediocre so I waited a little longer and exercised my risk tolerance and now I have a car that’s nicer than my moms (no offense mom, but you haven’t learned risk tolerance yet). I’m building my credit to be able to buy a house hopefully next year and I’ll be again taking on a risk.

You can take risks too. Whatever it is that you’ve been wanting to do, you can. You just have to want it bad enough. Take out a loan and get working because an idea in your head with no action will never make you money. Creativity fuels the world we live in.

Xx,

Kennah