It's Halloween, but I am daydreaming of all things Christmas

First, let me start off by saying that Halloween is my 2nd favorite holiday of the year. If I had more time, a healthy child, etc. I would totally be dressed up in costume at work today. Well, maybe not for work because it isn't office appropriate but definitely for trick-or-treat!

But since it is actually Halloween and I don't have a costume to wear, and I do have a sick child at home I will not be dressing up. I won't even be taking X out for a few treats :(

Hence, my focus on Christmas.

I have been a pinning nut on Pinterest lately with everything that has to do with Christmas. Check out my board here!

All of these lovely Christmas thoughts and photos got me thinking....why not host a Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange on the blog?!

I adore baking, especially this time of year, and I am always looking for another good recipe to add to my collection.

Please join me for

 

Join me every Thursday during the month of November to share recipes for Christmas cookies, pies, cakes, candy, or whatever dessert you love at Christmas time.

I look forward to seeing what recipes you enjoy!

Are you dressed up for Halloween?

Are you ready to break out the Christmas decor, find the perfect gift, throw on some Christmas carols, and start some holiday baking?

My secret love for HP

Today I am talking about Hogwarts and confessing my love for all things Harry Potter.

I am being forced to admit my love linking up with Kalyn and crew for

Honestly, I should have Mic write this post. He is the original Harry Potter fan.
He only got me to watch them after the 3rd of 4th movie was out on DVD!

While I do like all the movies in the series and how the story comes to a close,
my favorite by far is the first one -
 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

It just has an innocence that I love!

Not to mention the scene in the dining hall at Christmas time is absolutely heavenly!!!

Add the awesome alley that Harry is walking down while collecting his essentials for Hogwarts (may or may not be remodeling our basement to have similar qualities), the moving staircases, the talking photographs on the walls, etc.

Hogwarts is just a wonderful, magical place!

I can only hope that Mic, myself, and X will be dressing up for Halloween in the future as some of the characters in this series.

Me specifically....Hermione Granger.

Heck, I was her in so many ways when I was in school so there really isn't a surprise there.

X would totally make the cutest HP!

And Mic...he is like 10 feet tall, so he would be Hagrid without a doubt :)

But my favorite character of all of them is...

Draco Malfoy

I am of course always rooting for Harry and the gang throughout the movies, but I just can't seem to dislike Draco.

I mean, I LOVE his name!

And what girl doesn't at least secretly dig a bad boy?!

I hope to someday visit Universal Studios and experience

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Maybe we will enjoy a few butter beers as well :)

Recipe found here.

Are you a fan of the Harry Potter movie or book series?

What character do you relate to?

Have you ever had a butter beer?

Birchbox Reviews - September & October

Between vacation, work, life, etc. I just haven't had a chance to write a review on my September Birchbox before my October box arrived :(
So today you are getting 2 for the price of 1!

My September box is all about...

Heritage

Since Birchbox is celebrating their 3 year anniversary,
they decided to revisit some of their favorite products from the past few years.

I received the following items in my box...

Ruffian Nail Lacquer in Fox Hunt (full size $10).
This is the perfect nail color for Fall!


Jouer Moisturizing Lip Gloss in Monaco (full size $20).
This is actually a very sheer gloss with just a hint of pink.

Serge Normant Meta Luxe Hair Spray (full size $25).
This is very flexible spray. Nice, but no hold at all :(

Keratherapy Daily Smoothing Cream (full size $23).
I have used this cream a few times now, but I haven't noticed any difference after blow drying my hair.



Grand Central Beauty S.M.A.R.T. Skin-Perfecting Polisher (full size $38).
I have tried this polish a couple times now it is very light, but an effective way to exfoliate your face.




My October box arrived within days of returning from vacation. At first glance I will say this is my most disappointing box yet :(
The theme is...

Beauty Buzz

Beauty Protector Protect & Shampoo (full size $21.95)
Beauty Protector Protect & Condition (full size $21.95)
Since I color my hair I don't try non-color shampoo and conditioner. These will be handed off unfortunately :(

Evologie Stay Clear Cream (full size $62)
I absolutely love this cream! I have used it in the morning and evening since I received my box and it is great!
I have noticed a big difference in my skin :)

theBalm cosmetics Stainiac in Beauty Queen (full size $17)
Plain and simple, not for me :(
Way too reddish pink for me. I am a gloss/chapstick girl.

Chapstick hydration lock in Vanilla Creme (no cost included)
This is the first product from Birchbox that I knew I would love before I even tried it! I am a Chapstick girl through and through! I rarely wear lipstick or gloss.
I ALWAYS have at least one Chapstick with me at all times!
Usually cherry, but this new Vanilla Creme one is pretty nice too!


Do you subscribe to Birchbox?
Do you receive any other monthly subscriptions?

Sweet Weekend

This weekend was filled with sweets!

From Halloween candy to cupcakes :)

Friday evening Mic and I bundled ourselves and X up and headed to Boo at the Zoo in Columbus.

IT.WAS.COLD!!!!

We filled our bellies with warm food at Mimi's Cafe before hitting up the zoo for some tricks and treats :)

Concentrating on coloring his picture at dinner :)

Mic and our little platypus ;)

"Perry" and mommy at the zoo :)

Saturday was all about running errands and cleaning up the house!

Chores start early in this house ;) Honestly, he just loves to sweep the floor!

Wickedly Handsome! You got that right!

It's Fall people, so of course we ended our day with dinner in a pumpkin!

Sunday was party and game day!
We headed up north to celebrate my little brother's birthday and watch the Browns game.

 We passed this when we were driving to my mom's house....I WANT ONE!!!

X helped my brother open one of his birthday gifts.

It was a new set of pillows, so naturally X had to test it out for him :)

The beginning of X eating his Halloween cupcake....

...the middle...

...the end! Purple stained frosting face!

Mic (being Mic), X, and I with the birthday "boy" (he is 31 now!).

So glad we were able to visit and celebrate with you :)

We arrived back home after witnessing another Browns loss

(at least Campbell looked better than Weeden),

cleaned up, and called it a weekend!

How was your weekend?

Any Halloween parties or trips to the zoo or a haunted house?

Linking up with Sami for

What a (fill in the blank) week!

Did you have a good week?

Was it is productive?

Were you on vacation?

Were you ill?

Complete this sentence for me...

What a _____________ week!

Leave it in the comments below :)

As for me....

What a surprisingly good week!

Pretty Little Liars was back this week in a big way!

The Halloween special was filled with all kinds of crazy things and it was super scary to this wimpy 34 year old!

(Spoiler Alert!) And we finally saw Ali is really alive!!!

Can't wait until the winter premier in January!

Thank you to the wonderful Stephanie @ Not Entirely Perfect for hooking me with the steps I needed to create my media kit for this little blog.

I am excited to have received my first offer for a product review!

I can't wait :)

This little goof ball sat like this the entire time he watched Monster's Inc. with me :) At 22 months he actually sat through an hour and 15 minutes of it (commercials included) before deciding he wanted to play. I think it was only because Mic had just got home from work.

If you follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook you may have seen this photo on Wednesday evening.

It is my "I've died and gone to heaven" drink!

1/2 Bourbon cream & 1/2 Root beer

You must try this now!!!!

We experienced our first dusting of snow on Thursday afternoon and I am not even bummed about it! 

It just means X's birthday, my birthday, and Christmas are almost here!!!

Linking up on this fine Friday with Lauren and Darci.
Do you participate in linky parties?
If so, what ones?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

And remember to fill in the blank in the comment section below :)

Grab your boots folks, we are in Nashville

I LOVE NASHVILLE!!!

I mean, I enjoy cowboy boots, country music, karaoke...

how could I not like Nashville?!?!

We left the smokies early Friday morning and headed to Music City for our final 2 days of vacation.

Honestly, I was waiting for these 2 days the entire week!

We arrived downtown about 10:30am and decided to park the car and head down to Broadway.

This is the street for bars, shops, people watching, etc.

We walked in a few boot shops before stopping for some lunch at the Wildhorse Saloon. It is a 3 story bar/restaurant/concert venue. Unfortunately, they didn't have any live music while we were there but it was still a great piece of Nashville to visit.
Our server told us they do line dancing lessons every night at 5:30pm and live music starts at 7pm.

Oh, and the ribs were AMAZING!!!

Can't lie...Tennessee BBQ is my absolute favorite!!!

After lunch we headed to over to the Country Music Hall of Fame before checking into our hotel.

We began our visit at the Reba exhibit.

I love southern rock!

Guitars and hat from one of my faves...Brad Paisley.

My absolute favorite girl group...Dixie Chicks!!!

The wall of gold/platinum records was too cool for words.

We stayed at the Opryland Hotel and it was gorgeous!

And super huge!!!

There are multiple restaurants, wedding ceremony areas, shops, and more.

My photos won't do this place justice, but you must see it!

Day 2 was just more of the same fun.

We walked around the rest of our hotel (it seriously is huge), ate some more delicious food (so good, but so expensive),

and checked out of few of the little shops.

While we didn't actually go to a show at the Opry, we decided to at least check it out. We missed getting to go on a tour by 20 minutes :(, but it was still a good time checking out the shop and outside area.

He kind of has a thing for Hayden ;)

We enjoyed a nice dinner downtown and picked up my cowboy boots I talked about here before heading back to our hotel for the night.

Downtown Nashville

A few more photos of the hotel before we said goodnight...

The lobby of our hotel was massive!

The hotel rooms lit up in the evening, with a restaurant below them.

Mic and I had a fun, yet relaxing week in Tennessee.

The Smoky Mountains are a great place for a family vacation and Nashville is just plain awesome!

Hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip to both places.

I would love to hear about any road trips or vacations you have planned!

Email me or leave a comment below :)