Year In Review - Part 1

I stumbled upon Shane's link-up over on Whispering Sweet Nothings and I thought it was a wonderful idea! The link up is basically a year in review, 3 months at a time, or quarterly if you will. I have been thinking about doing something similar anyways on my own, so why not join in the fun and link up!

January

I was not blogging yet so I do not have any favorite posts to share but I can share how my month went.

Started off the new year feeling shiny and bright! Went from birthday mode to new years mode!

I was kitty sitting this little lady all month while her mom was on a work trip!

Everything else I remember from this month was COLD! We had the polar vortex this year so I remember staying indoors as much as possible. Thank goodness for the kitty to keep me warm!

February

 2/7 I hosted a girls night with sangria and baked goodies. We of course had to paint our nails and do each others hair!

2/14 Received these beautiful roses from my love for Valentine's Day!

2/23 I visited Paris! (In ice that is.. ) AND did my very first review blog post! The beginning of my blogging journey! Check out my first post ever HERE!

March

3/4 Mardi Gras happened! We always have a King cake at work and the person who gets the baby has to make the next cake. I got the baby one week so I made this variation of the king cake!
3/16 I was prepping to go on a 3 day weekend getaway so I posted a review on a new ladies razor I had been using. Check it out here: Spring is in the air..  

3/22 I went away with my other half for a long weekend to Baltimore, MD! We had beautiful weather and loved the hotel we stayed in. I was so impressed I wrote a review on it here :)


Well there you have it! The first quarter of my year! Now go check out the rest of my year!



Birthday Traditions

It's that time of year again. Mixed and intertwined in the holidays is my birthday. Last week I told the story of my birth and how hard it can be sharing a birthday with New Years Eve. If it's not New Years its Christmas that is pushing its way into my festivities. There is ALWAYS a party but it is never really for me. I go to parties and people are ready to party and quickly wish me a happy birthday and then it's over. That's where my mom comes in. She always goes out of her way to make me feel special on my birthday.


My mom works for a company that owns a fancy restaurant in the area. Every year she gets $50 to eat at the restaurant as a holiday gift. Since I've moved away we created a new tradition: she saves the gift for the whole year and we go to a fancy lunch for my birthday. Something I always look forward to. This year is a little different, however. My other half is planning something super special and we will be away (Its a surprise on where we are going!). I decided this weekend to go and visit home, and my mom was ready to celebrate my birthday, even if it is a few weeks early!


The restaurant is located on a beautiful lake and has some stunning views throughout the year. They decorate it all up for the holidays making it festive and inviting.


Me and my mom splurged and had some festive drinks to start our celebration. My mom had the "Snowball" and I had the "Festive Spiced Sangria". So yummy!


Next came out appetizer. A crab dip in a pretzel bowl. It was so creamy and delicious! With sides of crackers and breadsticks, this was the perfect start to the lunch,


Next came our yummy lunch. We both went with the grilled tuna sandwich with a side of crispy fries. It was so good and filling, I could only finish half of my sandwich. I finished up my drink and was a happy little person with a full belly. 


What a wonderful weekend I  had, spending it with family and a birthday celebration. How do you celebrate your birthday? Any special traditions?

Thirsty Thursday!

I love to rant and rave about how much I love fall. All of the pumpkin spices and lovely scents. There isn't much that can outshine those favorites.... However one thing that only comes out in the winter months is back in my life, and I couldn't be happier. I am talking about Green Mountain's Golden French Toast coffee. I can't wait to get home on a cold night to brew up a hot cup of this liquid heaven.
(Source)

I love the aroma as it brews. The scent of french toast wafts towards my nose, making me anxious for a taste.  It takes me to Christmas morning, enjoying a big breakfast with my family. When it finally finishes brewing, I add just a splash of whole milk and devour it as if it's my last cup. I have to stock up because once winter is over, so is this amazing cup of Joe.

Do you have anything that only comes around in the winter that you are obsessed with? Have you tried this coffee? Do you have any suggestions to something similar?

Happy Thursday, and drink lots of hot beverages! :)

Netflix!

This week I have decided to take it easy. My Thanksgiving week was pretty stressful and I am using this week to try and get back on track. So today I felt it necessary to talk about all of the shows I have been binge watching on Netflix. Who doesn't love a good Netflix binge?!

Once Upon a Time: I started watching this back when it came out and somehow got away from it in the second season. I decided to go back and give it another try, and so far it has not disappointed!

Lilyhammer: This is a Norwegian television show. Me and the other half started watching it on a whim when we wizzed through House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. It is also a Netflix original. Season 3 was just released and I am loving it. If you love mob shows this is for you!

Revolution: I got into this show late in the game. I watched all of season 1 in like 3 days and went onto Season 2 to find out it was canceled after. I love the concept of the show and can't understand why it got canceled! Darn ratings!

Now I need to find something new to watch! I saw House of Cards comes back at the end of February and no word on Orange is the New Black, so throw me your ideas on new things to binge!

Have a great Wednesday!






Happy December!

Oh my word.. It's December 1st folks! I am so excited to finally make it to December. Not because it's the holidays, but because this is the month of my birthday! I graced the world with my presence on December 31st as a New Years Eve baby! Now don't go asking my mom why she didn't hold out to bring in the first baby of the new year. It will probably result in bodily harm since A. She gets asked that ALL the time and B. She was already in labor with me 26 HOURS when I decided to come out at 2:39 IN THE AFTERNOON. There was NO WAY she was ever going to hold off another 9 1/2 hours to deliver me.

So now that you have heard the story of why I am not a new years baby, I wanted to announce that this month I will host my first ever giveaway on this site. I will go into more detail of that as we get into the month. I want to host something that ends on the 31st, when it will be considered a party! If you have any interest in helping me host my birthday party, e-mail me! I am still kicking around some ideas, but I want to make it a fun and exciting giveaway/celebration.

Now that I got the exciting part posted, I need to talk about the fact that I completely neglected promoting my blog last week. With Thanksgiving and all the crazy that came with it, I completely let me blog down. I wrote some pretty great posts, and yet not many people saw them. So I want to give them all the love they all deserve and promote the heck out of them this week!

First up: Who doesn't love a good gift card? Not only do they make good gifts, there are so many other useful things you can do with them. Check them out here---> The Magic of Giftcards

Next up: Check your body image at the door this holiday season. Reasons why you can still indulge on the holiday and not completely ruin your hard work: Body Image (A little rant)
Last, but certainly not least: Do you consider yourself an Influenster? Blogging comes with some big shoes to fill, so why not influence in positive ways: Find out why I am an Influesnter and how you can be too!

So there you have it folks. December is going to be an awesome month, and I'm starting you off with some pretty awesome posts. I hope you have a great week!