Thanksgiving is in 3 days! Can you believe it? That means Christmas is only 34 days away. Are you ready?

If you're like me, you are already in overdrive getting everything into order. You see, this is my first holiday season married. We are hosting our families this year for both holidays. I made this request last holiday season, when we had to travel from house to house, day to day.

It was exhausting! I am cutting out my stress by staying home (Although I know for some, this makes people more stressed out, but for me, I love to entertain in my own home).

Today I want to share with you 3 stress relief options to get you through whether you are hosting or traveling to visit friends and family.

What do you do to keep the stress at bay? Share you thoughts in the comments!

It's that time of year again! The weather is getting chilly, it's getting dark at 4:30pm (I hope you turned your clocks back this weekend or you're early today!), and the holidays are right around the corner. I can only think of one way to make that better, and that's with a big cup of hot tea! Today I am brining back my holiday tea swap.


If you aren't familiar with my tea swaps, this is the third annual holiday swap and the fourth total I have offered on my site.  I am a sucker for holiday teas and thought it would be fun to share my love with you all. The swap allows you to be partnered up with another tea loving buddy to swap your favorite teas.

New this year is adding the option of coffee. It is not required, but you will see on the form you can check if you are open to receiving some coffee as well with your swap. You may also sent K-Cups in any form if your swapper indicated they have a Keurig.

Sign ups start today and will close on Monday, November 28th. I will get all buddies emailed no later than November 30th. All packages must me mailed by December 12th. If this will be a problem, PLEASE let me and your swap buddy know.

There are a few rules (Only to make this a fun and fair experience for everyone!):

I am asking that everyone provides at least 4-5 bags of tea for your buddy to sample. You may include more.  You can do this in anyway you choose, but I ask that you include a little blurb about each so your buddy knows what it is they are sampling.

If you are not going to meet the deadline or have any issues, please send me an email ASAP. I want to make this an great experience for everyone involved.

Last year I asked everyone to include a Christmas card with their packages since this will be arriving right around Christmas. This is optional, but a nice touch for your buddy. You may also include anything else that you feel either goes with your tea choices or you just feel like putting a smile on your buddies face.

If you have a blog, I am going to host a link up at the end of this. It would be fun to see what everyone gets! If you post about it, use the hash tag #TLTeaSwap2016

That's it! Have fun with this! Let's get the holiday season started off right! Please fill out the form below to get signed up! Happy sampling!

I could write about my weekend or maybe how my Thanksgiving went, but today I want to write about my trip to the book store. I know that may sound weird, but I went into a Barnes and Noble this weekend and it was like walking into a candy store as a child. Anyone else feel like that?


Me and R were running errands and I had this urge to stop in and browse. I didn't have anything in mind to buy, but it doesn't matter to me. Book stores are magical this time of year. It doesn't matter if you walk into a small private boutique book store or a large chain. They are all decked out for the holidays and feel warm and inviting.

I am a sucker for all of the little gifts and paper goods. Planners, journals, games, and books. It doesn't matter to me. They suck me in. I wandered around for what seemed like hours losing myself in all kinds of creative thoughts. I was amazed to see all of the adult coloring books and adult connect the dot books. These all made me smile and laugh at the same time. So many feel good memories coming out of these things. I began to make a mental wish list. Things I needed to have. Things I wanted to give as gifts.

The book store reminded me that the world is still a place of mystery. We can read books to help us discover some of these wonders. I enjoy escaping into these stories. They help me flex my creative muscles and remind me to keep on dreaming.

I left the bookstore reminding myself that books can help us. From readings someone else's story to reading a fantasy that doesn't really exist. We can relate to these stories and work them into our own lives. We can work on coloring books and relax our minds. We can write in journals and create our own stories. Everything is magic when you enter a book store. Do you agree?

Now I need to write about what I put on my mental wish list. That is for another day though!

Also as a reminder, when you pick up those new books, you mat want to have a big hot cup of tea..  Don't forget to get signed up for my 2015 Holiday Tea Swap! It's a little magical itself.

Happy Monday Folks!

Now that I have recovered from my food coma, stayed up WAY to late shopping online deals, and have a quiet house to enjoy, I figured it's time to get the Holiday Tea swap under way!


If you aren't familiar with my tea swaps, this is the 2nd annual holiday swap and the third total I have offered on my site.  I am a sucker for holiday teas and thought it would be fun to share my love with you all. The swap allows you to be partnered up with another tea loving buddy to swap your favorite teas.

Sign ups start today and will close on Saturday, December 5th. I will get all buddies emailed no later than December 6th.

There are a few rules (Only to make this a fun and fair experience for everyone!):

I am asking that everyone provides at least 4-5 bags of tea for your buddy to sample. You may include more.  You can do this in anyway you choose, but I ask that you include a little blurb about each so your buddy knows what it is they are sampling.

Please have packages sent out no later than Wednesday, December 16th.

Last year I asked everyone to include a Christmas card with their packages since this will be arriving right around Christmas. This is optional, but a nice touch for your buddy.

If you have any questions or concerns please let me know. As always use this as a way to have fun!

Sign up for the 2015 Holiday Tea Swap!

 

It wouldn't be the holidays around here on The Trish List without talking about freebies. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't tell you all that there are LOADS of freebies and giveaways around the holidays. Companies new and old want you to buy with THEM and them alone. They will offer up all kinds of goodies and shiny discounts to nab your attention. Now I'm here to show you how it's done.


First thing you want to do is "like" all of your favorite brands on Facebook and "follow" them on Twitter. This will let you be the first to know when they are giving away stuff or offering amazing discounts. You aren't anyone until you have tons of social media friends. #AmIRight? This is one of the main sources for those free holiday gifts. True story. I have won many of my presents over the years.

Next thing you want to do is Google "25 Days of Christmas". Yes I know I am little late on this post, but you still have plenty of time to get in on some pretty sweet giveaways. Many companies host these types of giveaways along with Advent Calender type offers. Every day they "open" a new gift for you. The good news is, is once you are registered for these events, all you need to do is enter your email each time you enter.

The last thing I highly recommend if becoming members of a couple of sites. These sites are always looking for people to review products and will offer up some pretty cool swag. The holidays seem to be a good time to come out with a bunch of neat things. On Monday alone I received 2 boxes full of goodies to try and review, all free.

Check out Influenster. They offer up "VoxBoxes" that come with an assortment of products and have been know to send out Keurigs!

Another favorite is BzzAgent! They have been giving out lots of toys for the holidays.

And FINALLY check out Smiley360. They have some pretty cool campaigns and I have certainly been included in a lot of great studies.

So what are you all waiting for? Get out there and get some freebies!

I have always thought of myself as a crafty do it your-selfer. I can navigate myself through the craft stores like its nobodies business and if there is a sale on sparkly things, its all over! Once Pinterest was born, it became even more evident that I could make stuff and have it come out well. There have been numerous projects I have taken on and surprisingly succeeded at. No Pinterest fails yet...

So over the weekend I decided to get all my crafting stuff out. We are only a few days into August and I am already starting to think about Christmas presents. Yes I said the "C' word. I craft my way right through the holidays using my ninja crafting skills. Homemade gifts to me are more personal and tend to get more use. I find it more successful to make something for my friends and family rather than trying to pester them into telling me what they really want.


This year I wanted to get started early because I have SO many great ideas. I need to plan out my ideas in order to get them all done in time for the holidays. Homemade gifts can sometimes take some time, but that's the magic of the gift. Seeing the person fall in love with something you made for them. Something you put your time and energy into just for them. If that is not a gift, I don't know what is.

Everyone has a skill. Whether you realize it or not, you probably can do something that your friends can't. Use this to your advantage when thinking about gifts. Just in case you can't think of something right off the bat, here are so ideas for gifts using different skills..

*Are you crafty? I'm sure you own some scrap booking paper and modge podge. Use these items to make coasters! There are so many variations to them online. Find one you like and get to it!

*Do you like to bake?: Who doesn't like food around the holidays? Whether you decided to bake cookies or throw together one of those cute little jars with all the ingredients, its sure to be a hit with everyone on your list.

*Are you an artist?: Do you paint or draw? You could always frame some of your prints and give them as gifts. People love art, but a lot of time won't spend the money on it. Pay attention to your friends when you show them your latest master piece. They may be hinting they want something for their living room. Instant gift idea!

*Do you like to take photos? Same concept from above. People love stuff with great images, but not everyone  has the eye for a really great shot. Use your photos to make personalized gifts.

*Can you knit or crochet? Make scarves!  These a great gifts for the holidays and people love them! You can personalize these into colors you know the recipients will love.

 Now those are just a few ideas. There are so many options. Search Pinterest and you will have more ideas than you have time for. Spend some time looking and planning and you will have yourself some great homemade gifts come Christmas time!

Welcome back to another week of Fit-Trish. A weekly series where I talk about fitness on a budget! Today is a very special day here in America. It is America's birthday! So today I want to talk about ways to stay healthy AND have fun on a holiday weekend.


I know most of you are heading out to a BBQ or other outing with friends and family this weekend. There will likely be endless amounts of food and alcoholic beverages. Here are a few quick tips to enjoy your day out without going overboard.

• Bring a large bottle of water. You will most likely be outdoors. The bottle of water will not only help keep you hydrated, but will help keep your stomach feeling full. It will help you limit yourself from having that third helping of potato salad!

• Only fill your plate with what you know you will eat. There is no need to overfill your plate and then either waste food or feel you need to eat it all. Small portions are key here. If you are still by chance hungry after eating, then drink more water. 

• Limit your alcohol/sugary drink consumption. Use alternatives like seltzer or water enhancers if you need a break from water. Replace soda with seltzer in mixed drinks to help cut out the sugar that come in regular sodas. Read my post on water alternatives (here).

•  Be active. If there is a game of volleyball going on or swimming, get involved. There is no better way to have fun AND get exercise than to join in a group of others.

•  Remember to let all the stress go away and enjoy your time off! Spending time around loved ones can always help release some steam and get you refueled and back on track. Laugh until your stomach hurts and then count it as an ab workout! You will thank me later for that one :)

I hope these tips help you stick to your healthy goals over the holiday weekend! Now get out there and have some fun! Stay safe and make good choices ya'll!