My Christmas Weekend + What I Got

 

     Hey there! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas with family and friends. I enjoyed three consecutive days of Christmas celebrations so it's safe to say I'm ready to relax! Day one was spent with my maternal Grandparents where all ten of their grandchildren celebrated and completed our annual stocking exchange. This tradition began a couple years ago. Each child randomly chooses a name from a hat, but it cannot be a sibling. The exchange entails filling a stocking with small gifts, including candy, and a gift card. My cousin Meagan chose me and she nailed it with all my favorite candies as well as an Amazon gift card.

     Christmas Eve was spent with my paternal grandmother who prepared a perfect Italian Christmas filled with an amazing array of Italian cookies fulfilling all your heart could desire, including my absolute favorite, pizelles! She outdid herself with an amazing meal and thoughtful gifts. As part of our family tradition, she gets each of her grandchildren a Christmas tree ornament. This year mine was a classic red stocking with a monogrammed "M". I also received an amazingly soft pair of PJs, candy, and jewelry.

       On Christmas morning, my younger brother woke us all at 6:30 as he could no longer resist the anticipation of seeing what Santa left under the tree. After presents with my brother and sister I went back to bed for a bit. After mass, my family headed back to my maternal grandparents house for dinner as a family. My Grandma and Grandpa showered me with fabulous treats including a Starbucks gift card to use while away at colleges, a super cute mug (shown above), fuzzy socks and so much more.

What Santa Brought

Fuzzy Pullover- This super cozy pullover was one of the things that I put on my Christmas list for Santa. I've seen a couple people on campus wearing these, but mostly I've been admiring them on social media. Living in the northeast, I knew I needed to get one for myself. On a daily basis I dress pretty casually for class and I detest being cold so I knew this would be a huge asset to my daily attire!

Leggings- To continue the  casual trend, I asked for full length leggings from J. Crew and Lululemon. I have cropped leggings, but it is definitely way too cold to be walking to class in anything less than full length. Navy New Balance leggings from J. Crew were a must as well as purple Lululemon leggings from Santa. I also received a pair of Lululemon black cherry wunder under leggings from my amazing best friends Olivia and Catherine, so now I'm set. 

Zip-Up- The library often gets a bit stuffy so rather than wear my Patagonia or heavy weight options,  Santa brought me a dry-fit material quarter zip. I continued with the navy theme so all my new items coordinate (I'm crazy, I know).  

Books- You know you're starting to get older when you ask for books for Christmas! I had a couple on my Christmas list and Santa delivered on all of them. These are Classic Style, Creative Confidence and The Bad ass Blog Planner. So far I've read Classic Style, which I LOVED and the watercolor images inside are gorgeous. Let me know in the comments if you'd be interested in a book review on any of these new books.   

Robe- I've been wearing a hot pink, polka dot robe from PINK since seventh grade, so it was definitely time for an upgrade! I wanted a plain navy robe to bring back to college. My new robe is incredibly soft and absorb ant making it versatile for all my needs; warmth as well as showering. 

Mirror- It's undeniable my makeup always looks best when done in natural lighting, but this isn't usually feasible at school. When I'm at home, I generally sit on my bedroom floor in front of the windows.  I thought the next best option would a mirror with a ring light to keep on my desk. I love the new one I received and I can't wait to bring it back to school with me.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my family and friends for an amazing Christmas. I'm so thankful to everyone in my life for making our Christmas season so fabulous. As always, thank you for taking the time to check out my newest post, I'll have another new post up on Friday!

Christmas Outfit

       Christmas is officially less than a week! I feel like this holiday season went particular fast for me as a result of me being away at school, and all of a sudden it's here! I took my last final yesterday and now I'm home until mid-January (woohoo!). I'm gonna use the rest of this week off to get the last of my presents for my family and do any other holiday preparation.
     Since we're now only 4 days away from Christmas Eve I'm sharing my final Christmas outfit with you all. I found this super fun, almost metallic looking pants from Old Navy and I was immediately sold. I have these pants in a couple other colors and patterns, but due to their super bright colors and that they hit me right above the ankle I usually just wore them over the summer. These are longer and are definitely a better choice if you live in the North East like me. For shoes, I wore these super affordable red velvet heels from Target (I love Target shoes!), which seemed like the perfect fit for a holiday-themed outfit.
       The coat I'm wearing is under $60! I would go as far to say that this coat is a tiny bit out of my "fashion comfort zone", but I think I'm really feeling it now. It actually really reminded me of an older Kate Spade Coat that I saw on some bloggers in the past, but of course is a fraction of that price. This fur color is also detachable so it can be dressed down too if you want a little more of a casual coat. As for the shirt I really really like I would recommend going a size up. It didn't really fit me as a crop top like the name says it is and I'm 5' 5" so just keep that in mind if you decide to order.

Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a great Christmas with your families!

Similar Jacket // Shirt // Pants // Shoes // Lipstick // Watch 

Our Christmas Card

       I look forward to taking my Christmas card picture with my brother and sister every single year! This year was a bit different due to the fact that I'm at college, so when I came home for my Thanksgiving break we used that time to snap some pictures for the Christmas card. I'm very thankful we took these pictures the last time I was home due to the fact that it is considerably colder now than the last time I was at home. I hope everyone has a terrific Christmas with their families and I'd love to see all of your Christmas cards too!
       I think this dress absolutely screams Christmas, so of course, it was the perfect thing to wear for this day. I kept it simple with some tights and my tried and true black flats. This dress also comes in shirt form, which I linked down below as well with everything else that I'm wearing.

Reversible Vest

        Once again Vineyard Vines came out with something I couldn't resist buying as soon as I saw it. Seems like I was just looking into my closet and telling myself "you don't need any more vests!", but then I saw this...  I can genuinely say it's nothing like I already own and worth the exception. I don't know what to call the material of the fuzzy side of the vest but I remember first seeing them from Patagonia, then J. Crew and now Vineyard Vines. I always admired them but couldn't get myself to purchase it, but now that I'm getting two vests for the price of one, how could I not? I really like the colors of this plaid too since it's something I can wear all winter since it's not too Christmassy.  The rest of my outfit is things I already own, including my favorite tissue turtleneck, jeans, and Tory Burch flats.

Get a free gift with your purchase from Vineyard Vines when you spend $250 or more!

Also, go check out this beauty blog I have been loving! Elle is so sweet and gives the best insight! 

Casual Weekend Outfit

Woohoo, we're back! My apologies to anyone who tried to access the blog the past two days, as you may have known from my Instagram post I was having some technical problems, but I think I have it all squared away now. As I'm sure you can all tell now from the longevity of my blog I absolutely love using this as a creative outlet where I can share everything I love with all of you. On the other hand, the technical aspect of running a website isn't my strong suit so I had to call in some help, hence the delay. I'm just going to add this to the long list of things I've learned from running my own blog and keep moving forward!

Now let's get to the fun stuff... I tend to post a lot of dressier outfits on my blog because cmon, who doesn't like playing dress up!? But for today I wanted to share a more casual, everyday kind of look that I'd wear to class during the week, on weekends and pretty much any other time. I knew as soon as I took this sweater out of the box that I was going to love it. It's a thick, super good quality sweater that kept me fairly warm considering the temperature outside when I was taking these pictures. Now onto my favorite part of this outfit... the shoes! The color of these shoes just make me think of the holiday season and the bow on them is just the cherry on top. If you plan on ordering them they definitely run true to size and I got them in a size 8 which is what I generally always get in shoes. I linked all the pieces of my outfit below and you can get the sweater for 30% off right now with the code "BUNDLEUP"

Meet my lil friend I made while I was taking pictures! How cute is he??

My Christmas Wish List

Although Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet I wanted to share my Christmas wish list for this year with all of you. I'm sure most all of these items will be on some sort of sale this week for Black Friday (can't wait!), so if you're looking to get them for a friend family, or even yourself, then that would be a great time. I love reading these posts from other bloggers and watching all the videos on Youtube because I get all the best gift ideas for other people and things to put on my own list. I am definitely not putting all of these things on my list for Santa this Christmas but I hope it gives you all a little inspiration for this holiday season.

If you have any ideas for gifts for your friends or know what is on your list this year, comment below!

1. First up is this Tory Burch T purse which has been on my wishlist for quite some time now. Once you see the price tag unfortunately you will understand why it has remained on the wishlist for so long. I fell in love with this bag when I was in New York City and went to the Tory Burch store in the Upper East Side. For me personally if a big is too big I will just accumulate way too many unnecesary things and if it is too small I can't keep everything I'd like inside of it, but this is the perfect size! I should also mention it comes in a smaller size as well if that is more your style.

2. Asking for a matching pajama set every Christmas has become a bit of a tradition for me, as I wear them almost every night! I love love love the color of this particluar pair and is different from all the neutral colors pairs that I already own. You can also add your monogram to these, so does it really get any better than that?

3. Pretty much this exact coat in this color was being sold at J. Crew last year, but with the steep price I could never bite the bullet and make the purchase for myself. A very similar coat is being sold there again this year and is over $200 cheaper at J. Crew Factory. I am also loving this camel color right now and don't own any longer coats that isn't my puffer jacket, which always dresses down and outfit. This coat comes in a variety of colors to choose from, so you're almost guranteed to buy one that fits you best.

4. I do love these particular leggings and I will link them, but this year I am asking for some athlesiure in general. These leggings also have a matching sports bra in the same pattern which I will link as well. As a college student I am wearing more casual/athletic clothes more than I ever have in the past. I'm a huge fan of all the J. Crew x New Balance clothing and sneakers, I mean look how cute it all is!

5. I've seen these pullovers a little bit around campus and on social media and I am always jealous of who is wearing it. I actually wasn't sure of what the exact brand was until the other day, but it is called True Grit. They make clothing for both men and women which all looks pretty comfortable to me. I should also mention it comes in a couple of colors, I just decide to use this blue color becuase it caught my eye.

6. If you can't tell what this is by the picture (trust me, I don't blame you), it's a makeup brush cleaner! I try to be good about cleaning my makeup brushes and this would make the process so much easier and really get all the leftover makeup and any other gross stuff out of it. One of the first things I think of when my skin starts acting up is when's the last time I cleaned my makeup brushes? Usually, the answer to this question is that it's been too long so I would love if this makes the process any faster.

7. A makeup mirror, but not just any makeup mirror, a gold one! This might be slightly extra but it would just match everything else in my room and I don't think you can deny how cute it is. I have a makeup mirror right now but the lights in it are very dim and really doesn't help very much. The worst thing is when you think your makeup looks good at home and after you leave the house and you see your reflection and it startles you a little bit. My dorm is pretty poorly lit whereas I was used to doing my makeup in natural lighting at home so this would be pretty perfect if I do say so myself.

8. This is one of the items that I'm not so sure will make it on my own list for Santa, but is something I will definitely want at some point or would make a fantastic gift for an avid traveler in your life. This comes in three colors: the navy color I showed in the collage above, army green and cream. Although I really think I liked the cream the best I think it's undeniable that it would get dirty and not stay as nice as I'd like. Also, you'll, of course, know it's your luggage while you're at the airport considering it has your initials on it, so that's always a win.

9. I had a gold monogram necklace before (pretty much looked just like this), but unfortunately it started to tarnish and then it got misplaced. I hope to eventually get a real gold one in the future that I'll be able to have for a long time, but for now I'd just love another one like this. Marley Lilly also has super cute acrylic monogram necklaces that you should check out.

10. This past fall I got Tory Burch flats and wore them practically every day, so my thought was these would be great for the colder weather when it's just too chilly out to have the whole top of my foot exposed. Tory Burch riding boots have always been the dream, but I especially love these and they also happen to be on sale right now. They, of course, have the classic Tory Burch symbol on the top and the perfect small heel.

11. This one may seem a bit random compared to the rest but I really want flannel sheets for my dorm. Although I am really not a fan of the winter I always look forward to putting my soft flannel sheets on my bed once the chilly weather arrives. Due to the fact that I'm in college now my flannel sheets from home won't fit on my twin XL bed at school. I honestly think this would be a great thing to buy for yourself as a college student or as a gift for a college student in your life.

Holiday Outfit Ideas

While searching for the perfect Christmas card outfit to wear in my family's annual card, it occurred to me this would be a great blog post to share with all of you. I'm a sucker for red and green plaid and everything Christmas related, so finding the perfect Christmassy outfit is very exciting. I also love the thrill of the search, its the final decision that is often difficult for me...I want it all!

Each of the items showcased would  be great for Christmas card pictures as well as Christmas and holiday parties. I haven't revealed my final personal choice, for that, you'll all have to stay tuned for a separate holiday post which will include our official Christmas card photo for 2017. But without further ado, here are all my favorites for the 2017 holiday season; I hope you love them as much as I do!

Bows and Plaid

Over the past two winters Talbots has become one of my favorite places to get unique sweaters, so I obviously couldn't help myself when it came to this sweater. I have one or two white sweaters already but none had any fun details like these bows on the sleeve. I also couldn't help but notice how well this gorgeous plaid scarf would match my Lisi Lerch earrings! I wore these two things with my favorite dark jeans and nude flats from J. Crew Factory. 

Stripes and Suede

      During my weekend home this past week I went to my favorite place in the fall, Indian Ladder Farms. All you can eat apple cider doughnuts, crisp apples and apple cider, what more could you ask for? 

      I wore one of my go-to fall outfits but added a new twist this time, these amazing suede leggings. I looked at a couple of pairs last year but never got them, but I decided this year they would be the perfect addition to my fall wardrobe. I often wear khakis throughout the fall and winter with many outfits but these are adding a new twist and it certainly helps that they are super comfortable while still looking put together. 

Fall Dress

      Fall is extra special for me this year because October 13th marks the one year anniversary of my blog. I'm so pleased with the growth I've made over the past year and I can't wait to see what the future holds for my blog. As I've started my freshman year of college it has been a bit harder to have consistent content, but I'm hoping as time goes on I will get the hang of balancing work and blogging.  I'm very lucky that I go to college about an hour and a half from home which allows me to come home more often to take pictures and see my family.

Favorite Fall Look

I had lots of fun on this day picking out pumpkins and doing other classic fall activities with my family. Another fall has come around and this navy vest is an essential in my fall wardrobe yet again! I really can't recommend it enough and it was certainly worth every penny. I wore it for some extra warmth since this was a cooler day in Upstate New York when I took these pictures. I kept it simple and wore it with my current favorite pants and favorite flats. 

Tani Pajama's

There are many pros and cons to changing of the seasons, but in my estimation, the coming of the fall is more negative than a positive, until now! I've never been shy about my love for summer, but there is one wonderful garment that I am enjoying beyond words. Thanks to the amazing people at Tani, I have the most luxurious pair of pajamas a girl could ever own! Especially now as a college student, I spend a lot of late nights doing homework where I, of course, want to be as comfortable as possible and when I'm home for the weekend it the perfect thing to relax in.  

This pair I have would also make the perfect gift around the holidays in my opinion. I've linked the pair I have on below and some of my other favorites from Tani!

My pajamas // More pajamas // Leggings // Shirt