Easy Holiday Storage

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Taking the Christmas decorations out of storage is always a fun time in our house. We wait until we eat Thanksgiving pie and then rush to start unpacking boxes and put up greenery. However, putting it away can be daunting and always feels like more work than taking it out of the box! After years of getting tangled in lights I finally created a system to make it easy to put away holiday decorations without having to worry about anything breaking. 

ornament storage // plastic bins // hanging gift wrap organizer // small plastic storage containers // gift wrap cutter // large ornament storage // gift wrap under bed storage // clear gift wrap storage // tree storage bag

Ornament Storage Boxes

Invest in good ornament storage boxes one time and you will never have to again! Since we have a few trees in our house, we have a container for each tree to make decorating easier for the next year and prevent anything from breaking. 


Clear Small and Medium Plastic Containers

Over time I’ve collected some fragile Christmas decorations so instead of just throwing them in a box and hoping they don’t break, I’m wrapping them up in paper or bubble wrap and putting them in a small plastic container. To prevent lights getting tangled, after rolling them into a ball, I’m putting them into these containers. Also makes them super easy to find next year!In a medium sized container, I have my tissue paper and my ribbon in another. It can be a big purchase buying these bins at first, but I like having all of my stuff in clear containers so I can easily see them and get to the items without much fuss. For all of the cute tree decorations like garland and ribbon, I put everything for each tree in a plastic container 


Gift Wrap Organizers

I purchased the clear gift wrap organizer two years ago and I’m still a fan! It sits in the corner of my basement not taking up a lot of room which was important for us. Since it’s clear I can easily see what gift wrap I have and pull it out without much fuss! This year I got my mom a hanging gift wrap organizer so she now has a system that can hang in her craft room closet.  I’ve been tempted to purchase the underbed gift wrap storage container because I love that it holds gift bags, tissue paper and gift wrap but it just doesn’t work for our space right now.  Choose what works for you and your space! There is an option for everyone to keep your gift wrap organized to make it easy.


Gift Wrap Cutter

My friend and I were talking about this thing all December and could not find it! Should have looked on Amazon, duhh! This little tool makes cutting gift wrap super easy and gives you a straight line each time!


Tree Storage Bags

Since we have a few trees in our house and not a lot of space to store them, I got the largest tree storage bag so it can fit all of our trees. It’s not the greatest solution but I prefer just tripping over one giant bag than three of them ha!


Plastic Storage Bins

Thankful we have a very large basement but it can be frustrating because we don’t have the best way to keep our storage organized. Before we had my off season clothes and holiday decor in cardboard boxes which were a hassle to move and get stuff in and out of. Also not having a car at the moment meant not being able to run to Target to buy plastic storage bins but luckily Jake found an amazing set on Amazon for us. Now I have my decor easily and safely stored away for the next season in plastic bins instead of flimsy cardboard boxes!


Over the years I’ve purchased storage solutions here and there and the next year while I put things away makes me happy I did! Putting away Christmas is no longer a daunting task because I have a system that works for me that can be safely stacked in a corner of the basement collecting dust. I don’t have to worry about anything breaking, water damage or getting lost. 

2020 Thoughts & Goals for the New Year

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This was not the year I was expecting and I am sure my readers will agree.  It was a tough year for me and it made me slow down to find some piece of gratitude each day. While this year had its challenges, by the final days of 2020 I was able to reflect and really understand the saying that everything happens for a reason. I started off this year leaving my job to find a different career path and I quickly went from job interviews to accepting funemployment until there was a vaccine. This was not an easy transition but after sitting down to look at our finances and my mental health, I could use the break to focus on me and we could afford me not working. After years of working long hours, multiple jobs and hustling, it took me a long time to finally breathe and realize you shouldn’t revolve your life around a job.

I’ve sat down a few times to write something that really explains my thoughts as this year comes to an end and another year begins. Nothing really felt right because while I am trying to find the good that came out of a very difficult year, I can’t neglect the bad that also came with it. While this corner of the internet may seem to look like a highlight real, there was a lot of hard conversations, difficult decisions and struggling that happened on my side of a computer. Besides the cancelled trips and staying home for a full year, my relationship had to grow and I had to work on my mental health which wasn’t so good even going into 2020.


I have to give a lot of thanks to Jake because he has been so supportive this year. He has encouraged me to take a year off of work and just enjoy this time.  There were so many days I would feel so guilty that I wasn’t as productive as I thought I should be and he encouraged me to take advantage of this opportunity. His responsibilities at work changed like it did for a lot of other people so he was often working longer hours and was having to adapt to not only working from home, but his coworkers also working from home who he supports with tech requests. We have been enjoying the time in our house that we moved into two years ago but never got to really enjoy because we were either always working or traveling. Looking back at pictures from 2019, we realized how busy we were and how much we spent traveling so we have enjoyed having this year to slow down. 

This year we learned that grocery delivery is a game changer, ordered a lot of food from Philadelphia restaurants to support them and I took a lot of long walks exploring my neighborhood. Since I wasn’t working, I took the opportunity to spend the summer  with my parents in North Carolina. The summer I moved out of my childhood home, they also sold that house and moved to a house I had never seen in North Carolina. I’ve spent 3 day weekends here and there at the house and visiting them but it was never enough time to feel settled. This summer I was able to spend a lot of time outdoors and enjoy their pool, as well as spend some much needed time with my family. I finally was able to decorate my assigned bedroom at my parents house and go through my old things that got sent to North Carolina in the move. My mom and I worked on decorating a few rooms, a few renovation projects and spent a lot of time in the pool drinking sweet tea and reading books. With everything going on in the world, I knew I was lucky to spend this extra time with my family. In late August, my cousins and Jake joined us for a week at my parents house to have a mini family reunion. Since then we have experienced some health issues in our family and I’m grateful for FaceTime and weekly Zoom calls with my family this year. 


In the next few weeks, I’ll go back to applying to jobs since the vaccine is finally here! While I’ve enjoyed this time off, I admit that I’ve missed working and being social with other people besides by roommates (Jake and Ed). I’m making a list of things I am excited to do this year. Even though things didn’t magically improve over night at midnight, I know that we have the drive and tools to make this year a good one. 


As I look forward to 2021, I can’t help but notice how much I’ve learned this past year. I’ve grown as a person and have built up my self confidence. I’m motivated to get back to work and put more effort into my blog. I’ve seen what happens when I commit to a schedule and plan content so I hope to build on top of that. This year I learned to slow down and it’s something that I will take with me going into this new normal. Before I thought that your life revolved around your job and now I want to really find that balance of working and having a life outside of work. Life is too short not to travel and not see family. Jake and I have already booked a cruise for next summer because we wanted to look forward to something. My parents and I have become closer and I have renewed my relationship with my brother. With a world that made us stay apart, we clung to ways to stay connected and schedule time to socialize with each other. I’m grateful for what 2020 has taught me but boy, am I excited to see it go!

G O A L S
Get dressed every day.
Commit to a blog schedule and plan ahead content.
Feel more comfortable on Instagram Stories.
Find a job that fulfills me and allows a good personal/work balance. 
Get back into a fitness routine and eat healthy. 
Continue cooking healthy meals from scratch. 
Weekly baths on Sundays.
Read a book a month. 
Become a morning person. 
Schedule weekly date nights with Jake. 
Buy a car.
Hire a cleaning service to clean the house once it’s safe. 
Be positive. 
Use all the products I have before buying more.

Nordstrom Pajama Set

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Nordstrom Pajama Set

Happy Wednesday! It’s that time of year when we all need some extra coffee to get everything done before Christmas! Last week we baked a ton of cookies to send to our family along with our Christmas cards. Jake had a little too much fun ordering decorative boxes and bows on Amazon to make them all pretty ha! We then had to walk all the way to FedEx to make sure they would get there on time. We thought this would be an easy errand, but lots to do behind the scenes. Now I understand why moms are always so tired this time of year!

After a long day I love putting on my pajamas and curling up in bed with a cup of tea and a good book. I recently bought this new pair of pajamas because they were on sale. I may have bought them because they were pink but I immediately fell in love with how soft there were! I often find it impossible to get changed into real clothes in the morning because they are so cozy!

Our Rowhome Christmas House Tour

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I thought I would share photos of our home decorated for Christmas. This year we are seeing the positives of staying home all the time and went all out with our Christmas decorations. I should start that growing up Christmas was always a big thing in our house because my family loved Christmas and my birthday is Christmas Eve so it was always a really special time of year. We really wanted to take advantage of this opportunity of being home to enjoy our Christmas decorations so we used what we have accumulated over the years and purchased a few new items to decorate every single room. I love how our home looks and it’s made me very grateful for what we have. On our weekly family Zoom call, we all shared our homes decorated for Christmas so it was good to have a deadline to get everything up!

Linking everything that I can at the bottom of this post!

Living Room Tree
Flocked Christmas Tree
Pink Glitter Poinsettias
Rose Gold Ribbon
Pre-Lit Garland
Bedding
A lot of the smaller items are from the Target Bullseye Bin that I have picked up over the years. I love stocking up on these inexpensive and cute finds!

Lancome Idole is the scent of the strong woman in 2020

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Lancôme Idôle 

I have always loved walking through the big department stores during the holidays. My mom and I would head to the mall on Black Friday early in the morning and buy presents for each other and try the perfume samples on display. In college my mom bought me a Lancome beauty kit that was on sale for Black Friday and it was my first introduction to high end makeup. I loved how it looked on me and sitting on my dresser! A few years ago my mom and I were at the same department store and she bought me the Lancome La Vie Est Belle perfume after I spent a whole year smelling magazine samples! Since my first Lancome purchase, it’s become a tradition that I take advantage of Black Friday sales to treat myself. Once again I’ve been smelling perfume samples in magazines and fell in love with Lancome’s Idole perfume. This year I saw how good the deals were at Macy’s so I gave myself an early birthday present!

I love the combination of hints of rose, pear and vanilla making it a unique refreshing scent. Idole perfume is for the strong woman and this year has taught us we can do anything! It’s a fragrance made my women for women. It was created by 3 women who collaborated to create a scent that was sustainable and made from transparent and traceable. Leave it to women to create a fair trade perfume! The perfume bottle is also refillable for a discounted price so it’s environment friendly which I love!

If you are still looking for a gift for that girl boss in your life, I’ve found the perfect glamorous gift. In an effort for women to support women, this is the way to show it. It’s also the worlds thinnest perfume bottle and looks so chic on my perfume tray! I love that this perfume is long lasting and created to be an everyday scent for all women!

Lipstick can’t solve all problems, but it’s a pretty great start!

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Dress // Lipstick (shade: Casablanca )

Start each day with some lipstick and a smile! I’ve been having fun getting dressed up to run errands or take mail down the street to the mailbox even if I wear a mask that hides it. #2020Problems Lately I’ve starting my morning getting ready at my vanity and drinking my coffee while listening to a Podcast or the new Taylor Swift album. I’ve found doing my hair and makeup can be really therapeutic and I forgot how much fun putting on makeup can be. For family Zoom calls and date nights at home, I’ve been making an effort to dress up because it’s something I have always enjoyed doing. When I get dressed and put on makeup I have so much more energy during the day.

I wanted to share a new lipstick I’ve been wearing a lot because it’s such a great shade for everyday and special occasions. I love the formula in the Tom Ford lipstick because it’s creamy and hydrating. I put it on in the morning and it lasts all day! Even after meals I noticed that the color was still on my lips and did not smudge!

I hope you give this product a try and treat yourself to a new gorgeous lipstick! A quick reminder as we finish up the year to keep smiling and start the day thinking positive. And on the days we need some extra help, put on some mascara and lipstick and you’ll be ready to conquer the day!