Happy Cyber Monday! I hope everyone had an absolutely wonderful holiday weekend : ) The deals just keep on rolling in and I cannot stop shopping! Black Friday deals were all really great but honestly today's Cyber Monday sales I've been seeing have topped Black Friday all together. I do a lot of my shopping online - especially when stores offer free shipping. As I scroll through my endless amounts of emails this morning, I'm realizing how many stores are having deals; some of which I would have never expected!
Cyber Monday has always been a great time to buy electronics and things like that but now you can get everything in major sale or as a lot of stores call them, "doorbusters". I have my laptop and credit cards with me and ready to go all day - this is going to get dangerous and quickly too!
The best of Cyber Monday 2015:
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I hope everyone has the most wonderful holiday with your friends and family! And I am so grateful for all of my readers - whether this is the first post you've read or you've been following along with me since I began 11 short months ago, thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all of your kind comments and for the wonderful friendships I have made through blogging!
The house smells SO amazing and the ovens are overflowing with the most amazing smells - turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole - I can't wait to eat it all! This is officially the best time of year and as it kicks off the holiday season, it is by far one of my favorite holidays. I cannot wait to eat, watch the first Christmas movies of the season and kick off Black Friday too later tonight.
Enjoy your family time, eat tons of yummy food and most importantly enjoy what I hope is a peaceful and relaxing day! Once the dishes are done and you can't move, here's a list of some of the very best sales going on for Black Friday that I cannot wait to shop overnight tonight:
Every year my favorite dessert to make for the holidays are Magic Cookie Bars. While this time of year is so exciting for SO many reasons, the magic cookie bars may take the cake (pun intended) for what I get most excited for! Food wise anyway, ha! I could make these every day and eat an entire tray every. single. day. There is no better dessert and I would make them all year round but they probably wouldn't taste as good (as my mom says)! ;)
My mom has made these during the holidays for as long as I can remember and I always loved to help make them when I was little, so now they're something I make probably 5 or 6 times throughout the next two months. For real, it's an obsession...
Happy Thanksgiving week! This is always such a busy week for me and getting everything done is a serious struggle! Tomorrow I'll be baking for Thursday and I can't wait. Be sure to follow me on Instagram to follow along! : )
Since the holidays are upon us, I've been putting together tons of gift guides - find them with #dailydoseofgifts! Here's some things I'm loving and that are on my own wishlist so far:
Phones and tablets are good for so much more than Snapchatting and Instagramming... while that's all fun, it's also super beneficial (especially during this time of year) to download apps that help make shopping trips easier! Prime example: Black Friday!! Like I mentioned yesterday, there's a ton of things you can do to prepare for Black Friday and downloading some shopping apps is HUGE.
Whether you need to organize your shopping lists or find great deals, there are a ton of apps that you can get to make shopping even easier. I do the majority of my holiday shopping organizing through these apps and it's made such a difference! This year I've also noticed a ton of apps that help you to compare prices which is great for things like TV's and electronics. So sit back, relax and get ready to enjoy your shopping trip(s) this Black Friday. With these apps, even if you're running on an hour of sleep and a Venti Peppermint Mocha Latte, Black Friday shopping will feel like a breeze.
We are less than a week away from the BEST shopping day of the year! Seriously guys, I get so stupidly excited for Black Friday it's kind of crazy. I start getting ready for this mid October and I mean I go ALL out. While there are the awesome deals and crazy amounts of people, there's just something about being at the mall and shopping in the middle of the night! I love it and apparently so do millions of other people.
I have such a sweet tooth and even more so during the holidays. It's so hard to resist any kind of dessert but there's something about the holiday season that makes it all the more difficult to say no! Each year, there's certain desserts that we always make no matter what - chocolate chip cookies, magic cookie bars, apple crumb pie, etc. But I also love to find and try new recipes and new things to bake and what better place to go than Pinterest?!
There is nothing better than getting ready for Thanksgiving, lighting a candle and baking - here's some of my favorite, irresistible and indulgent desserts to bake for Thanksgiving for your friends and family to enjoy after the big meal!
I must sound like a broken record by now, but I honestly cannot believe that Thanksgiving is a week from today!!! The holidays season is here friends!! Since I'm sure everyone is crazy thinking about Thanksgiving plans, different dishes to be made, decorating and cleaning the house for guests, etc I decided to handle the outfit situation! Whether you have a big fancy Thanksgiving with lots of family, a laid back dinner, Friendsgiving or anything else, it's still one of the funnest days to dress up and look cute for. Even if you aren't leaving the house, who doesn't want to take a few Thanksgiving selfies?!
November and December are the absolute busiest months of the year - throw blogging into the mix and I truthfully don't know how we do it! As most of you already know, this is my first holiday season as a blogger and I'm loving every second of it. This is my favorite time of year despite the hectic daily schedules, but there is no better time! On top of getting to start decorating and wearing cozy sweaters and blanktet scarves, my sister's gymnastics season both for club and varsity starts in just a few short weeks and you will quickly learn that I'm the definition of a crazy gym sister! Prepare for many pictures ; )
Some more exciting things going on:
Picking out useful stocking stuffers is one of the hardest parts about holiday shopping! Stocking stuffers are meant to be little extra presents but I also think it's important that stockings be stuffed with things that are actually things they'll love/use and not just a waste of money. For small, "extra" gifts I think it's important to keep it festive and as inexpensive as you'd like. Here's what I'm loving as stocking stuffer ideas for this holiday season:
We are almost halfway through November (say WHAT?!) and you know what that means!!! This is by far the best time of year and starting to see all of the holiday commercials on TV is making me so excited to start my holiday shopping! I know I know, it isn't even Thanksgiving yet but every year it seems like the sales start earlier - I've been seeing sales and even know some people who started to shop mid October. Shopping for the holidays is often stressful but it shouldn't be which is one of the many benefits of shopping earlier rather than later. This way you can also see what you've bought and still need to buy. I always find gift guides super helpful each year, so being able to create my own is so very exciting:
Although I hope to one day be a full time blogger, I think I can speak for a majority of bloggers who are tackling a to-do list during the day when you suddenly stop and say,
"When can I just go home and blog?!"
There are tons of bloggers who get to work on their blogs all day long. Having a full time job with the title "blogger" is a dream come true to a lot of people, but until that actually happens... there is a fine line between getting things done for school or work versus the many things to do daily for your blog. Lets be honest, I would much rather do everything blogging related before any essay or work related thing ever, but it still has to get done.
Putting a couple hours of blogging in on a busy day can seem difficult but if you're anything like me, its totally necessary. I always find myself asking How am I going to do to get everything done today and still find time to write next Tuesday's post?
Happy Tuesday!! I've been super busy this week focusing more and more on scheduling blog posts and social media alike. I cannot believe it, but I have my editorial calendar complete through the end of the year! While I know it'll change a bit over the next month, I'm so happy to have that done.
This week is also the Bloomingdales Friends and Family sale!! Here is what I'm loving from the sale:
TGIF!! I could not be happier that the weekend is here! I also couldn't be happier that there's some crazy awesome deals and sales going on! Veteran's Day sales are going to be coming up, but my mom forwarded me an email yesterday from Neiman Marcus Last Call and they are having THE BEST sale ever. There's 20-50% off of everything on the site and they have so many brands and amazing things to choose from.
I know, I know it's a liiiittle early for holiday shopping... but when you've already started listening to Christmas music nothing is too early! I've even been able to pick up gifts to start my holiday shopping with this sale which is super exciting. I always start holiday shopping early because I have a lot of people to buy for and also because I love to buy gifts! This is the busiest time of year for most of us, so getting a head start on holiday shopping for yourself and for everyone else in your life will cross one of many stressful tasks off your list! I have a bin in my closet that I put all gifts that I buy into over these holiday months and it really helps me to be a bit more organized when gift buying. I always write myself notes on my phone when I think of something that I want to buy someone and this helps to stay organized too. Buying gifts for the holidays can be stressful in trying to get everything in time and not forgetting anything all while staying in your budget. Plus, shopping early is an excuse to shop which I love, naturally!
I've never really been either a morning or night person because I can usually go to bed fairly late and be able to wake up early. In fact, I've never really slept past 10 AM when most people I know say that they're able to sleep until one or two in the afternoon... To each their own, but this is crazy to me! Maybe its the Virgo in me talking, but if I don't get my day started early enough, I feel like my entire day has been wasted. That being said, it's also sometimes really hard to get up in the morning or be motivated at ALL to get out of bed! Especially on a rainy day or a cold winters morning. Having a super comfortable bed with a warm electric blanket doesn't seem to help either!
There are many mornings that I don't get out of bed until 10:30 and I always get so mad at myself! Especially being a blogger on top of school and work, there is always something to be doing. My little sister always says, "you can sleep when you're dead" which I find so funny for her to say yet it's so true.
The only morning it's pretty easy to get up for are Fridays and Saturdays - self explanatory. But for mornings that you do need to get up to get things done or just in general, it's important that you're able to feel motivated, well rested (fat chance of that happening, I know!) and refreshed. With a couple simple things that you can easily implement into your daily life and routines, I think I've found some simple ways to help get out of that warm cozy bed a bit easier!
Okay seriously, wasn't I just making my October goal list?! Where are the months going?! This year has flown by and I really can hardly believe we're in the BEST time of the year!! While I do love summer, there's really nothing better than being able to get your Red Cups at Starbucks (got my first one yesterday!), wearing cozy sweaters and scarves and getting excited about the holidays.
I have some pretty high goals set for myself for November, but I'm 100% dedicated to meeting all of them - especially since I didn't meet all of my October goals! Although I did see improvement which I'm still very happy about. Here's a recap of my October goals:
No matter what hair type you have, you've likely noticed how popular curling wands have become over the years. I love using a curling wand much more than using a curling iron - the curls come out better, more natural and it's much easier and quicker as well. For a long time, all I wanted to do was straighten my hair. My hair is naturally curly but they aren't the same curls you can achieve with a wand, which I do like because it gives me the option of having many different curled looks. Although as I've gotten older, I curl my hair way more than using my straightener mostly because I love when my hair looks full and how curls look good on all types of hair!
Curling your hair or achieving a certain look is often difficult especially if you aren't a seasoned hair curler. (is that even a word?) I'm 21 and it still takes me a few tries when I try a new style! But I will say, curling your own hair with a wand not only gives you more natural looking curls but also is so much quicker.
