Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Christmas Cookies


This weekend was supposed to be our big cookie day but that universe decided otherwise because I woke up with the worst cold of all time. So the cookie day turned into my mom making all the cookies and myself laying on the couch. I felt terrible both physically and mentally because I couldn’t help and no one wanted my help. But anyways I did watch a little. Mom ended up making the homemade Reese's peanut butter cups, her Italian lemon cookies, peanut butter cookies, and Chocolate chip. My saint of a mother spent the entire day baking cookies even though she can’t eat any of them. The peanut butter with the Hershey kiss is a personal favorite of mine and I have eaten way too many of them.

Confession: This picture of the cookies is from 2016 because I am so sick I didn't think it would be fair to touch all the cookies just to take a picture. 

Monday, December 17, 2018

Favorite Christmas Movies

My all-time favorite Christmas movie is Bing Crosby’s A White Christmas (which you can stream if you have Amazon Prime) and it is currently playing on my TV as I write this post out. I think this is my favorite because of the generosity portrayed throughout the movie but also because of how much my dad loves the movie. It has become a tradition to watch A White Christmas altogether.

I also love an Emmit Otters Jug-Band Christmas and A Christmas Story, these are special because I am 95% sure if you ask my dad to recite both of these movies that he could. We are not allowed to change the channel on Christmas Day from the station that plays A Christmas Story but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And of course, I have to add a new Christmas classic, Elf. I watched this movie on loop last night as I was desperately trying to fall asleep. This is one of those feel-good movies for me and always puts me in the Christmas spirit. I’m not a huge person to quote movies but this is one of the rare movies that I remember lines from. 

Friday, December 14, 2018

Weekly Review | Weekend Happenings


Weekly Review: This past week I did a little more Christmas shopping, I'm almost done just have to get a few last minute things. Other than that I kinda worked the week away!

Weekend Happenings: This weekend all of the boys are going to football games so the girls are going to stay home and have a cookie day. I think my mom mentioned making homemade Reese's peanut butter cups which sound so delicious! I think Kyle and I also may have a date night this weekend which we haven't done in such a long time!

Favorite Finds on the Internet:
  • Homemade Reese's Peanut Butter Cups- Here is a recipe from the recipe critic blog on how to make the homemade Reese's peanut butter cups and they look so good!
  •  The marvelous Mrs. Masiel- If you haven't heard about this show then what are you doing?? This show won multiple Emmy's and the second season was just added on to Amazon Prime!
  • Black Christmas Tree's- I personally think they are pretty especially with the gold balls, I love when people have different themes for their house and if black and gold is your theme then this is perfect!!

Thursday, December 13, 2018

DIY Makeup Wipes

I love giving homemade gifts for Christmas but I love making them even more. If you read my blog then you probably know how sensitive my skin is because I am constantly talking about it on here. So there are some makeup remover wipes that really irritate my face and so one day I was just super over it so I found this on Pinterest and made them and now I don't think I'll ever go back to store bought ones. Plus this is way cheaper. 
What you will need: 
  • refined coconut oil
  • Baby Wash 
  • A mason jar 
  • Cotton pads


First take two tablespoons of the coconut oil, then about 2 squirts of the baby wash into a bowl with two cups of water in it. You can also add an essential oil to give them a smell. 

Once all of the ingredients are in the bowl together microwave the bowl in increments of 10-20 seconds. I had to do this quite a few times but I think it's the coconut oil I used that took a while to melt. 

Once everything is melted, add as many of the cotton pads that you can into a jar, pour the liquid mixture over the top of the pads. You will want to push the pads down and then add more cotton pads and more of the mixture. 

I added cute little Christmas decoration to make this a cute little gift for someone, this could also be a great grab bag gift or housewarming gift!

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Jingle Juice Holiday Drink


Last weekend I threw a small holiday party at my house and made a holiday-inspired drink! I found this one on delish.com and it was definitely delish. The cran-apple juice mixed with the limes to give it the red and green Christmas color! This also calls for cranberries but I'm gonna be honest I don't have them becuase I sent Kyle to the store to get them and he bought dried cranberries which are completely different. 

Jingle Juice consists of:
  • 3 cups cran-apple juice
  • A bottle of pink Moscato 
  • A bottle of prosecco 
  • 1/2 cup of vodka (I reduced this to like 2 shots because I didn't want it to have an overwhelming taste of vodka)
  • A few Limes cut up to float in the drink.
The actual recipe which you can read here made a lot more of this drink then what I added here but I felt I would have made to much if I followed the original recipe. I loved it and would definitely make it again.

Drink Responsibly.

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Etsy Personalized Gifts

I have always loved the drawings that you can find on Pinterest of the fashion clothes and any other drawings like this and how cute to have it personalized to your family! I think this is such a cute gift idea and it gets rid of the hassle of trying to get everyone together during the holidays for the photo. Plus I think it would be super cute to see how everyone looks in drawing form. This artist is from the Etsy shop called TinyBuffaloDesignsCo and is so talented you can check out more of their work on their Etsy page!

I personally think this is a great gift idea for any man you may have in your life. I find it so hard to buy gifts for the guys in my family but I do know that all of them would like a personalized custom pocket knife. This knife is from the EngraveMeThis Etsy shop. The front and back can be personalized to say whatever fits the person you are giving this to them most!

Those name necklaces seem to be the on-trend necklace to have and although I do love them this ring may be the next best thing. This would be such a sweet gift for a mom or even a girlfriend or bestie! This ring is from the Etsy shop ivoryMR. You can even pick out different fonts and colors for your ring!
First of all who doesn’t love to get a mug during the holidays (or anytime) and better yet who doesn’t love getting a PERSONALIZED mug! This Etsy shop is ODYSEAstore and they will put your name or pretty much anything else you would like on the back of this rustic mountain mug!

Etsy is a great place to find the most unique and so personal gifts for the holiday season. I have found that communicating with the Etsy shop owners is also a great way to get exactly what you need and I can honestly say I have never had a bad experience with one of them. One way to avoid a bad experience is through the comment, you can almost always get a good feel about the product through the comments.


Monday, December 10, 2018

My Favorite Sweater This Winter

Welcome to Blogmas day 10!! I know I have been flooding the blog with Christmas gift ideas and content so I figured I would sneak another quick and casual outfit in here to break things up a little. I seriously live in big comfy sweaters these days because it is freezing outside.







J.Crew: Rollneck Sweater | Gap: Jeans | Target: Flats | Dooney Bourke: Pebble Grain Charleston 

This J.Crew Factory rollneck sweater is the epitome of a big comfy winter sweater. I am also loving the color which is frosty olive, it's so different than all of the cream and grey sweaters that are filling up my closet. This color is also perfect for the holiday season I actually wore this to my work holiday party last night!

So this week I am finishing up most of my Christmas shopping, I feel like during the month of December I am never actually completely finished shopping and always have that one last thing to get the few days before Christmas. But I secretly kinda love the stress of going shopping and finding that last thing. 

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Stocking Stuffers For Him

See all items below:


Kyle loves funky socks so I always try to put a pair of funny socks into his stocking each year.  Another good idea for men’s stocking stuffers is phone cases, Jack Spade has this navy and red one which is two of Kyles favorite colors so he would love this. I also love to add something special into his stocking and how cute is this old car with the tree ornament? I also found these fan plugins which go in your phone and turn your phone into a fan. I like to add little gadget things like this into Kyles stocking. 

Kyle also loves hats but always seems to lose them so easily, the north face has a bunch of nice hats in all sizes and colors. Kyle also has been keeping his beard (he goes back and forth) and now they sell beard wash which I just think is hysterical. 

For Christmas at my house they boys usually get small things in their stockings like a new toothbrush, scratch-offs, the one year we put a tiny set of legos in their stockings just small stuff they would need but not want to buy themselves!

Saturday, December 8, 2018

Stocking Stuffers For Her

All of these items are below:


  I absolutely love all of the ornaments filled with makeup goodies which are perfect to put into a stocking. I love all of the little goodies that come in a stocking, the stocking is my favorite part of Christmas morning, my mom always fills ours with gum and hair ties and usually a new toothbrush its all the little things you needed but didn't know you did! I love all the little ornaments that come out around Christmas time filled with the makeup or perfume like this Grace one or this chapstick. I received this chapstick in an Ipsy bag one month and it is now my favorite!


Friday, December 7, 2018

Weekly Review | Weekend Happening


Weekly Review: This week was a pretty big week, I found out that I officially got accepted into the social works masters program at my college. This past semester I took two masters classes without being in an actual program because I had decided to go to school so late in the summer. But now I am admitted into the program and I am so excited.

Weekend Happenings: This weekend I am having some friends over for a small Christmas party and I have a super fun surprise which I'll try to take pictures of. Then on Saturday, I think we may do some Christmas shopping. Sunday I have my work Christmas party, I have a weekend filled with Christmas activities.

Favorite Things on the Internet:

  • Dad gets excited for Santa: I think this video of this dad on Christmas morning is the funniest thing ever. It so reminds me of something that my dad would do. You have to watch it till the end to hear the one daughter completely lose it on her father. 
  • Real Christmas trees over fake ones: I love this article about how special it is to get a real Christmas tree and the memories behind going to get the tree and the scent that then fills the house of pine. That to me is Christmas. 


Thursday, December 6, 2018

Board Games

Each year we get a new board game under the tree and it is honestly the best thing we get. After our dinner and dessert, we all play one of the games we got and we usually laugh until it hurts. One of our favorites that honestly will be so hard to beat is telestrations. Telestrations is pretty much telephone and Pictionary put together and it is the funniest game I have ever played. They make the regular game and an adult version which are both hysterical. Another favorite is Family Feud. This was another amazing Christmas present, which we played after dinner. An added bonus to this game is if you google “family feud soundboard” all the sound effects of the television show and it adds so much more to the game. 

I added a couple in here that are brand new like Don’t Lose Your Cool, which I saw Carly play on her Instagram story and it looked so funny. I also read about The Sock Game which I think is for smaller children because it talked a lot about sensory activities but it looks so cute! I love the idea of games as gifts because they bring people together in a way that nothing else can. 

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Navy Fuzzy Vest





Vest: J.Crew | Pants: Nordstrom | White Tee: Old Navy | Boots: J.Crew | Bag: Micheal Korrs

Coming at you today with another J.Crew factory vest does it surprise you that I'm completely in love with this one..... yeah doesn't surprise me either. This fuzzy faux-fur vest is so different than all of my other vests I just had to have it in my closet. My mom actually got it in pink and I got it in the Navy so that we could share. Also, my all-time favorite J.Crew sawyer suede booties are looking a little rough lately. Is there any tips or tricks for washing them??

I hope that everyone is loving the blogmas this year! I have worked really hard on this years and although it's only the fifth day I am loving every minute of it. Stay tuned for more Christmas filled content coming all the way until Christmas!


Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Holiday Makeup Sets

I love to browse through the holiday makeup sets, I especially love the green and red ones which look like a Christmas gift. How adorable is the old-fashioned tub filled with bath goodies?? Another bonus is that usually with makeup sets you get multiple items for a reduced price. The IT cosmetics set is only 68$ and is valued at 100$ and they are all full sized products which is an amazing deal. 

Too Faced always has the best holiday sets, like the packaging of this Christmas cracker and this makeup bag. Not to mention their gingerbread themed eyeshadow pallet. All of there items are festive they really make it feel like Christmas!

The beauty blender gift set is an amazing deal for anyone who is a beauty blender fan, there is also this one which even comes with a cleaner which is so convenient. I have to be honest I am not a huge beauty blender person but I have recently been using like a cheaper brand and I have heard there is a big difference in quality between the knock off’s and the actual beauty blender itself. 

I think I put this perfume sampler in every gift guide but I think it is such a good idea. If you don’t know what scent a person is into or if they want to try a different scent this is the perfect gift. It comes with 15 samples of all different perfumes this way you can try out and smell each scent. Then there is also a coupon inside to take back to Sephora and get a full size of the scent you liked the best.


Monday, December 3, 2018

Christmas Pj's





Each year my mom buys the girls matching Christmas pj’s, it’s my favorite Christmas tradition. This year we went with these penguin pajamas from gap factory, we even all have matching socks. Except for Kaitlin, we kept calling her tacky from the book "Tacky the Penguin" because she was the odd one out and that I guess is the storyline in the book (I've never read it). We are also not allowed to wear our pajamas until the night of Christmas Eve but mom made an exception for these pics. We all had so much fun taking these pictures while we were on our trip to Vermont. 

Here's a blooper: