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!