Love Letters and Lace

Hey everyone! The past 24+ hours have gone by in such a flurry of excitement and productivity for me, I honestly cannot believe it's already the 24th! All my gifts have been bought, wrapped and placed under the tree. My pumpkin pie is baked and ready to eat and my cake is baked, leveled, stacked and crumb coated! All I have left to do today is to decorate my cake which sounds like a pretty fun Christmas eve activity to me! Along with Christmas eve supper and then Christmas movies and hot chocolate!! I have to say I'm a bit sad that after all this fun buildup, Christmas will be over once again. But the next few days will be tons of fun and I'm super excited! What are you guys doing today? Do you have any Christmas eve traditions? Happy Christmas eve everyone! PS. would anyone be interesting in seeing the final product of my cake once it's decorated? It's a pumpkin and spice cake with a cinnamon cream cheese icing!! xo

Alright, so I'm officially stressing out. Every year for the holidays, I always bake a lot. However this year, I think my plans are a bit too ambitious for the amount of time I have left and the sheer amount of things I need to get done before the 24th. (Which is in 2 days by the way, in case anyone wasn't keeping track.) I figured that writing out this blog post will kind of serve as a bit of a reality check and planning guide for myself to get on track as to where I need to be. Because, I don't know about you guys, but I go all out for Christmas, but I don't usually wait until the very last minute to get started. Here's the situation: What needs to get done in the next 48 hours: -Finish Christmas shopping -Wrap said gifts -Bake gingerbread cookies -Bake a pumpkin pie -Bake a cake -Possibly bake a cheesecake Obstacles in my way: -I work every evening from 5pm-nearly midnight -I have to babysit every day from 11am-4pm and have no means to leave the

Hey everyone! I took a small break from Blogmas the past couple days just to relax and recharge post exams, but I am back now! Yesterday I had such a nice (although hectic) day of Christmas shopping with my boyfriend. The stores are so unbelievably busy, which I'm sure anyone reading this is like, duhhhh, but I'm used to getting my Christmas shopping done well before the last couple weeks of Christmas, so this is new territory for me. It was slightly disappointing to be honest, because besides the fact that the lines to pay (and sometimes even just to get into stores) were insanely long, but also because the stores just seemed so understocked. There were so many things that I expected to find at certain stores and they just didn't have any. I spend the entire day shopping and I'm still missing so much! So now I have to squeeze in shopping time between my work schedule and babysitting my sister who is now done school. Which likely means I'll be finishing my s

A visual representation of me writing my exam Hello hello! Once again, as you are reading this, I'm writing my (thankfully final) final exam of the semester! So unfortunately no fantastic post today (maybe). I should have planned ahead for these posts, oops! I promise to make up for it with awesome (and possibly double!) posts for the next week for Blogmas! Hopefully you're all having a great day! Let me know what you're up to, as I'm sure its far more fun and exciting than what I'm up to! xo

I make gingerbread cookies every year. I love the fun of decorating them and I think they make a really cute little gift to give people when you go over for a visit. I haven't gotten around to making any yet (thanks a lot, exams), but I have been looking around for some inspiration on how I should decorate them this year, and I have found TONS which I thought would be nice to share with you all! How do you decorate your gingerbread cookies? Let me know in the comments! xo

Hello everyone! So, for those of you in a relationship, I completely understand that sometimes its hard to come up with creative date ideas that also keep the season in mind. It can get a bit dull always going out for dinner and a movie all year around. So here are some suggestions for festive date ideas for the winter season! Hopefully you enjoy them and try some of these out! Skating The most typical (and super fun!) date during the wintertime for me is to go skating together. Usually at a festively decorated outdoor skating rink, but it could be indoors if you live somewhere that doesn't necessarily get too cold! It's a fun, active date that you'll both enjoy. Hopefully at least one of you can skate well though, cause it might not be so fun for the both of you ending up falling on your butts! This is definitely a date you should try at least once with your significant other. Stay in and watch holiday movies Ok, hear me out on this one, since I know it doesn

Along with the chilly weather, holiday music and festive decorations, December also brings along another yearly favourite: Holiday parties. Be it for work, with friends or with family, you will most likely attend a holiday party/get together or two during the month of December. So, be it formal or casual, evening or daytime, if you're looking for some fashion inspiration, you've come to the right place! I've gathered a few of my favourite formal and casual looks that will be perfect for any holiday party. A lot of these would also look fantastic on New Years Eve too! As you'll probably notice, I'm loving cute sweaters when it comes to casual looks and when it comes to formal holiday wear, I'm all about sequins! I can't resist a little sparkle! Which ones your favourite? Casual looks: Formal looks: Happy partying! xo

Dear overwhelmed college students swamped in studying for finals, I feel you. Finals season sucks. And it sucks the fun out of the anticipation of the upcoming holidays. It's not fun having to debate; "do I go out and do my Christmas shopping, or continue working my way though this never-ending pile of notes to prepare for this exam?". It's really hard to get in the holiday spirit with these looming deadlines and exam dates approaching far too quickly. 15 weeks worth of Nursing classes and 15 weeks worth of Microbiology in a span of 4 days? No thanks. So shout out to all you students out there still hanging on and looking forward to the break. Know that soon all those all-nighters, countless cups of coffee, endless note taking and highlighting will all be worth it as you follow your dreams! And congrats to those of you who have made it through your finals and are getting much deserved rest! Please remember that your grades do not define you and as long as you t

Hi everyone! So as you all know, I'm very into Pinterest and trying out tons of recipes, and I have just been drowning in tons of amazing holiday recipes that I just had to share with you all. Super festive and delicious! These would all look so nice on a holiday dinner table! Let me know in the comments if you'd like me to share more! (Cause believe me, there is many many more) Enjoy!! xo 1) Pear, Pomegranate and Spinach Salad Recipe here 2) Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups Recipe here 3) Chicken Parmesan Meatballs Recipe here 4) Honey Roasted Butternut Squash with Cranberries and Feta Recipe here 5) Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Shallots, Poached Pears, and Blue Cheese  Recipe here 

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE wrapping gifts. I'm the sort of person who goes all out with this; pretty paper, ribbons, bows, name tags and all. Does anyone else love wrapping gifts all pretty? Especially with some Christmas music (or Vlogmas videos) in the background! And I must say, I'm pretty good at wrapping them too, so I'm usually the designated gift wrapper in my house (minus my own, of course). Although, can we all just take a minute to acknowledge the most frustrating things about gift wrapping? Awkwardly shaped gifts Cutting wrapping paper too short Running out of tape halfway through a gift Running out of wrapping paper or ribbon and not being able to finish a gift Cheap/Thin wrapping paper that doesn't glide with the scissor when you cut it I just want to say that I think that actually taking the time to wrap a gift and make it look nice is so important. The effort of doing that really shows that you care and lets be honest, it looks SO

Hello and welcome to Blogmas Day 8! I did a post like this back in the fall and I really felt like doing another one! With the help of my lovely best friend Tracy, we came up with a list of the absolute best things about the Holiday season! Hopefully you all agree! Let me know what your favourite things about the holiday season are in the comments!  Festive decorations everywhere! Christmas movies on TV The food The first snowfall Time off from school Wrapping gifts with pretty wrapping paper and bows (even if you're not great at it) Advent calendars The smell of freshly baked cookies (and Christmas dinner!) Baking gingerbread cookies Christmas music Decorating the tree Putting cookies out for Santa on Christmas eve Warm sweaters and fuzzy socks Hot chocolate Christmas scented candles! Ugly christmas sweaters Stockings filled with little gifts Christmas shopping! Waking up on Christmas day Decorating gingerbread houses Spending tim

I used to be the kind of person who refused to have a job during school semesters. I explained it by saying I wanted to be completely focused on school and not have any other distractions keeping me from getting the highest grades possible. I would work during my summers, but as soon as the fall semester rolled around, I'd remain unemployed so I could put all my time into my studies. However, as you get older, life happens and your parents can't support you 100% forever. So having a job became necessary for me. Maybe I've just been spoiled and everyone reading this right now is like well duhhhh. But for all you lazy girls like me who don't want to work during the semester, have a quick read. I now realize that not only is having a job while you're in school totally possible, it's actually beneficial. And here's why. I'm not suggesting you work 30+ hours while also going to College full time. While I do know some people who can somehow manage this, I

Hey everyone! Welcome to Blogmas day 6! As I mentioned in a previous post, today I'm going to be sharing some inspiration for Christmas tree decoration! There are honestly some incredibly gorgeous trees online and it makes me so envious! I wish my house was bigger so I could have a huge tree like some of these! But regardless, if you're looking for some decoration inspiration, or you just love looking at Christmassy things like me, enjoy! :) p.s how cute was that ombre/rainbow one? I'm in love! xo

Before I begin with my suggestions, I think it's important to mention that no matter how difficult you think it may be to shop for a girl, it's actually pretty simple. And here's the best thing you can do: go on a shopping trip with them. Girls are pretty vocal about things they like and dislike, so you will definitely hear a few of the "Oh my god, I love this" and "I want this soooo much!" and even "How cute is this???". Take these as your hints. Not only will you be getting her something you know for sure that she will like, but you will get bonus points for being attentive, listening and remembering the things she liked. If this fails, here are a few of my suggestions that I personally think would make great gifts. Of course, not all these apply to every girl, and maybe none of these will apply for your girlfriend. But what I personally believe is that if it shows that you put some thought into it and tried to buy her something she would l

Hello everyone! Guess what I did today! I guess the title of this post was kind of a give-away, but yes, I finally decorated my Christmas tree! I decorate my Christmas tree as early in December as I can because it just gets me in the most festive mood and I want to keep it around as much as I can! I love seeing other people's Christmas trees so I encourage everyone to make a blog post showing off your tree and leave me the links in the comments below! I'll also be posting a collection of beautiful trees I find on Pinterest cause I'm a Christmas addict like that! Our Christmas tree is a mix of silver, gold and pearls. I love how it looks so classy but also really fun and sparkly! Let me know what you think and how you'd decorate your ideal Christmas tree! xo (Apologies for my sub-par photo quality! My good camera has broken so I'm stuck taking photos with my phone! Anyone have any recommendations for a good quality camera that won't break the bank?)

Hi everyone! Now I know for the most part, Blogmas is usually a time for more festive holiday posts, but there are a few things I've really been wanting to write about for a while now that I haven't gotten around to and since I'm making the effort to publish one post a day, I figured this is the time to do it. So, as you can assume from the title, this isn't a holiday-related post. But it's something I feel is very important, and I really felt like writing about it today! I've reached a point in my life where I'm very happy with all the people who are currently in my life. But it hasn't always been that way. A really hard thing to come to terms with, especially in your teenage years, is that no matter how convinced you are of otherwise, many of your friendships will not stand the test of time, and 2, 5, 10 years from now they (and you) will be completely different people. There are two things we need to work on: Realizing its time to move away

I'm pretty good at shopping for gifts, especially when it comes to Christmas gifts. I'm very attentive to the things people like and I really love choosing gifts that are both thoughtful and useful. However this skill, or talent if you will, clearly does not apply when it comes to shopping for my boyfriend. Because I am truly clueless. If you're looking for some kind of guide for the ideal gifts to buy your boyfriend, I am very sorry because what you have stumbled across here is far from that; this is a rant. Because I am truly confused, why is it so hard to shop for your boyfriend?? Maybe I'm alone here and I'm sounding crazy. And it's not that my boyfriend is overly picky or has high expectations. However I'm used to being able to find the perfect gift for everyone on my list and for some reason I just can't put my finger on what it would be. I can think of things he would like, sure. But I'm after that kind of gift that has that 'wow'

  Hello there! Welcome to the beginning of a brand new month and also the first day of Blogmas! No better way to start a new month than to share what I loved throughout last month! I haven't done a favourites post is quite a while and there was a lot of new products I tried (and loved) during the month of November! So here we go.... 1) Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in 'Copenhagen' Anyone who knows me knows I've been on the hunt for the perfect autumnal dark red lip colour. Seriously, I think I own about 8 wine-coloured lipsticks that I bought, tried a few times and liked, but ultimately were not exactly what I was looking for. Well I can finally say that I've found it. The perfect dark wine/berry lip. I also totally adore Nyx's Soft Matte Lip Cream formulations (seriously, if you haven't tried them, definitely pick one up! They have tons of different colours and they're incredible) 2) Benefit Erase Paste An oldie but I goodie. I used to be in lo