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!
This week is when the countdown to Christmas begins as we wrap presents to put under the tree and get to sit on the couch enjoying our home all decorated in lights. If you are still shopping for presents, check out my gift guide here. Last weekend my family and I got together on Zoom and made cookies to send to each other. We had so much fun reminiscing, being able to ask about substitutes for ingredients and making a mess in our kitchens virtually together. I recently shared a blog post here about making new holiday traditions here where I shared how my family and I are celebrating Christmas together even though we are all in different states. Over the weekend I did a lot of prep work for scheduled content on the blog and other boring stuff around the house that had to get done so I could have a relaxing week. I hope you are all taking time to enjoy your homes decorated for Christmas and all of the lights. Stay tuned to the blog because I am so excited abut the content and collaborations coming to the blog soon!
Enjoying all of the Housewives on right now.
Caught up on The Spanish Princess on Starz this week when I wasn’t watching a Christmas movie.
At night I’ve been putting on BBC documentaries on Netflix while I’m in bed because they are so relaxing to listen to.
Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water at night to help take off my makeup. Even after I shower I use this on a cotton square and I’m amazed how much junk is still on my face.
My new Kevyn Aucoin mascara is a game changer and I’ve been wearing it every day the last two weeks.
I had some Old Navy cash to use so I picked up a few amazing pieces from Old Navy this week. I did a try on session on Instagram stories and shared pictures and links on the blog here.
This book is the perfect gift for the Hallmark movie lover.
Just ordered a bunch of photo collage magnets on Shutterfly to give to our family and they were very inexpensive because of the sale going on now.
Hot coffee in the morning in a Christmas coffee mug. Over the weekend I rearranged our cabinet so they are all in the front making them easy to grab! Still loving our new Keurig.
Our new sherpa comforter is probably the best thing I bought all year. It keeps us warm all night and makes it impossible to get out of bed in the morning.
This super easy and delicious sugar sprinkle cookie recipe. We added a ton of sprinkles in the dry ingredients to make them sprinkle cookies. With our second batch we used chocolate sprinkles and it gave them a nice hint of chocolate!
The themed place and bake cookies are still the best though 😉
Bedtime stories on the Calm App every night because it’s the only way I can fall asleep these days.
I’ve always loved the day after Thanksgiving because overnight the pumpkins are put back into storage and my family and I would start decorating our house for Christmas. We would watch our favorite movie, A Christmas Story, while we stayed up late into the night putting up garland in all of the rooms and decorating 5 trees throughout the house. With a birthday on Christmas Eve, we took Christmas very seriously in our house growing up. Even to this day, I get obsessed with Christmas traditions because it’s how we have always done things. It’s great to give and receive presents, but this year has taught me just how important having my family around during the holidays. The reason I love our traditions through December is because of the years of memories of spending time with my family. For all of those years that I worked retail, December was our busiest month but I would still give up sleep and work the closing shift so I could spend time with my family during the day.
This year looks different for everyone and Christmas is not going to be spared from this pandemic. My family and I are back to our weekly Sunday Zoom calls and we scheduled a different theme and activity each week to keep us connected during the holidays. I thought it would be fun to share some things my family and I are doing this month to make new traditions and to keep our favorite traditions going even in 2020.
1. Cookie Making On Zoom
One of my favorite things is Christmas cookies and my mom would always make a bunch of different kinds throughout the month. My brother and I would help with icing the sugar cookies and spend more time eating them! My mom, aunt, cousins, and I scheduled a cookie-making Zoom on Sunday and it was so much fun! We were all laughing over kitchen mishaps, my mom and dad made a cocktail while they waited for their cookies to bake and Jake and I spiked our orange juice with vodka and cranberry garnish.
2. Cookie Exchange
This year we learned that we really don’t need anything and if we did, we bought it for ourselves back in June. Our family is sending cookies instead of presents and honestly, this is the best decision ever! Jake had a bit too much fun ordering boxes, bows, and more to properly box up the cookies safely.
3. Gifts With Purpose
I donated money to the Arbor Day Foundation over the summer and got a letter from them recently about their campaign right now where you can buy trees in the rainforest in honor of someone. I thought this would be a great way to spend money on a good cause instead of clutter to wrap and send to someone for Christmas. My parents are donating money to Heifer International to buy a goat for a family in Africa instead of giving presents to extended family members.
4. Christmas House Tour
We decorated our house knowing that Jake and I would be the only ones to really see it and we were okay with that. For fun, my family thought it would be fun to do a house tour so we could see each other’s Christmas decorations. Without trying, my mom is going to win because she always goes all out for Christmas. With the scheduled virtual tour, I like that it gave us a push to all decorate and get it done with time left to enjoy it before Christmas.
5. Send Christmas Cards
Funny enough, this is the first year since moving to Philadelphia that I have Christmas cards with a photo all ready to ship before Christmas! We had to get creative since we wanted to take a photo with a timer of us in our home. While I got ready, Jake moved our couch and propped his phone up with a box so we could get the perfect shot. I was in charge of bribing Ed with treats! My family and I have loved sending snail mail to one another and I appreciate Christmas cards now more than ever.
6. Festive Cocktails
Earlier in the month, I sent Jake a ton of fun cocktails to try that I found on Pinterest and we have been having fun making them on the weekends. After work, we will enjoy dinner on the couch with a seasonal beer while we watch a Christmas movie and it’s been a nice treat.
7. Hot Chocolate Bar
Personally, I don’t like hot chocolate but I know Jake loves it. I went to Target and got hot chocolate mixes, mini marshmallows, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream so he can make himself a special treat. I also picked up a ton of Christmas themed chocolate for us (me).
8. Print Photos
It’s something I’ve been putting off for forever and I finally sat down and printed photos. Update picture frames, send some to family, or create a photo album. Going through photos of 2020 reminded me that there were good parts of this year too.
9. Call your mother
The day before Thanksgiving I broke down crying because I couldn’t find a pie pan. I was late to a family Zoom call because I was searching for the pan and when my mom called to see where I was, I told her about it in between sobs. It was so nice to have her to cry to even if was just over the phone but she was able to calm me down and told me she was having a hard time keeping it together too. When she told me that she was also struggling during this holiday season, I felt a sigh of relief go through my body because it wasn’t just me. Since then I have been Facetiming my mom to show her our tree and just calling to check-in. This time of year isn’t easy for anyone and it feels better to talk about it than pretending everything is fine.
Today I’m doing something I rarely do and sharing an Old Navy try on because the sales right now are so good! I picked up some great pieces for wearing around the house and for when I go back to the office… one day! Almost everything at Old Navy is on sale all month long and featuring daily deals with amazing prices on items!
As a reminder, this post contains affiliate links that help support this blog. Thank you for choosing to shop with my links.
Pixie Pants New and improved with a high waist but with the same stretch that makes them so comfortable.
Pixie Pants It’s a great time to stock up on these work pants while they are on sale. Wearing my usual size 2 and they are a little snug but they stretch during the day as you wear them.
Thermal Knit Leggings Wearing size small and they fit great! I want to note that they are see through so wear nude undies!
<a href="http://<!– wp:paragraph –> <p></p> Color Block Sweater
I want to make it easy to share my recent finds, good deals and purchases in one place so I created this page to share it all! This page will make it easy to get the links and shop anything that I share on Instagram or other items I find!
Happy Friday and most importantly, happy December! I hope you were able to have a good Thanksgiving and make it special in your own way. Jake and I stayed home and cooked a feast for the two of us. The one bummer is that I woke up sick with a terrible headache that made me nauseous all day, so we stayed on the couch in pajamas watching the parade most of the morning. Thank goodness for iPhones because I was able to talk, text, and Facetime my family all day. It was definitely different but after the National Dog Competition, I got up and pushed through to start making dinner. Jake and I cook a lot, and both really enjoy it, so it was fun to make a feast. We purchased a small turkey and made all of the sides since they are our favorite thing. I called my mom and thanked her for getting me the Ikea table that extends to make it longer because we needed every inch of it for all of the food. I had like 5 bites and then had to go back to the couch because I was just so sick. We’ve been living off of leftovers all week and loving it!
Last weekend all I wanted to do was nap because of my bad headache, but I am so happy I pushed through, and decorated our house for Christmas. This year we have three trees up and every room in our house has some Christmas spirit. Seriously, it looks like Christmas exploded in our house and I am loving it!
This weekend I have a family Zoom planned and we are going to bake cookies together. Last week we had a family Zoom to bake pies together for Thanksgiving and I had a complete meltdown because I couldn’t find our pie pan that I have never used but my mom got me as an apartment gift when I moved out. I tried to go into this holiday happy and excited for new traditions but this year is hard and I wanted to be open that I’ve been struggling too.
I’ve been keeping our living room TV on Freeform all day to have Christmas movies playing in the background. At night we will watch a Hallmark movie and check them off in our Hallmark app – if you don’t have it, you need to get it!
This week I finished The Crown and I did not want this season to end. I have been watching just one episode a night and then watching documentaries on Netflix about Diana and the Royal Family because there is just so much that The Crown doesn’t include. Now I’m finishing The Queen’s Gambit since that got pushed to the side when The Crown came out.
I finally finished reading The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin. Took a bit longer than normal to read because there was a lot of fluff in the book but I enjoyed getting lost in the story. On my nightstand now I have Girl Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. I tried reading this book like a year ago and just couldn’t get into it. I’m trying it again to see if it’s worth the hype. After watching The Crown and a ton of documentaries on Netflix about the Royal Family, I also have a thick book about Queen Elizabeth on my nightstand that I got at a used book store years ago because it was pretty but now I’m actually motivated to read it.
I love this time of year because it’s the best time to purchase cosmetics, fragrances, and skincare. Not only are they discounted but the kits come with a bunch of great extras too. Lancome reached out to me with a sample of their Lancome Idole perfume and a discount code towards the purchase of a full-size bottle. I immediately fell in love with the perfume after wearing it for a week and decided to treat myself to the full size. While checking out I added a Lancome beauty box to my cart. The kit comes with a bunch of full-size products and it’s something I get every other year since they last forever.
Recently I got a PR package from Kevyn Aucoin in the mail and I’ve been using the contour book and mascara every day. I’m working on a full blog post with a full review and details because I’ve been loving it a lot.
I’ve been noticing that my skin has looked amazing when I’m not wearing makeup and it’s because of my commitment to my skincare routine. I’ve been using Loreal Revitalift moisturizer at night and the Revitalift Derm Intensives Serum in the morning and at night. Loreal sent me them in a PR box in the Spring and I got the serum again because they are so easy to use. My face has been glowing lately and it’s honestly because of the hyaluronic acid products.
The Black Friday deals turned out to be week long deals so I did some Christmas present shopping and got a few things for myself.
Going through my camera roll and going to share a few things I have been loving right now. It’s been a crazy week that has felt like a month and I’m so excited for a relaxing weekend. Jake is working so hard and I’ve been working on this little space on the internet as a passion project because it brings me joy. Every night while we turn off the lights and get ready for bed, Jake will say out loud how much he loves our house. In the last few weeks, I have cleaned, decorated, and added personal touches to our home to make it cozy for this long cold, dark winter. This will be our second Christmas in this house and it finally feels like home. One positive right now is that we get to be home all day to enjoy our scented candles, lit up Christmas trees, and cozy blankets.
Our new $30 flocked tree that I had low expectations about when I ordered it is my new favorite tree. We put this one up in our hallway upstairs and it brings me so much joy. I got an unlit one and it looks like that one is sold out so I am linking a lit tree.
I ordered this inexpensive garland with lights for our banister just to see if it was good quality. Turns out it’s much better than I thought it would be so I ordered a bunch more to go up the stairs and around the banister on the second floor as well as around our headboard.
We are still obsessed with our new sherpa comforter and it’s impossible to get out of bed in the morning.
I created a new Instagram account ( @BlondeRosieinPhilly) where I can post photos of Philadelphia that I take on my walks. It’s not about the followers or the likes, I just love taking photos of Philadelphia, and now they are all in one place.
If you haven’t already, please take a look at my gift guide. I know budgets are tight this year so I am updating it whenever I find a great gift that they will LOVE!
If you love scented candles but don’t have the budget for them, the Glade scented candles are affordable and smell amazing!
I organized my pajamas the other day because it was really getting out of hand. I bought a ton of holiday pajamas because I have no self-control and can’t say no to cute pajamas.
Target is selling fun marshmallows and I was so sad when I walked all the way there and my Target didn’t have them. I don’t like hot chocolate but Jake loves it so I plan on making a little hot chocolate bar for him.
This time of year is always my busiest because I love sharing content with you all. With that comes campaigns and affiliate links that help keep this blog running. I really appreciate every single click and view that allows me to keep doing what I love.
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