Hello from London! It has been quite cold here the last few days, but I'm loving the reprieve from the unseasonably warm New Orleans weather. As tomorrow is New Years Eve, I just wanted to do a quick post on a few items that I am loving at the moment and would be the perfect purchase for anybody this new year.
Merry Christmas!
Hi everyone! Christmas is upon us and as today is Christmas Eve I wanted to do a little post in the spirit of the holiday! As I write this I'm watching It's A Wonderful Life which has become such an integral part of the season for so many people since it came out in the 1940's.
Everybody who celebrates has their own traditions on Christmas. These could be things passed down through generations or something you experienced in another country that you decided to bring back home. What's most important is that everyone is happy and enjoys their day with whomever they choose to celebrate.
In my family we have a pretty traditional Christmas Eve and Day, but with a bit of a Louisiana twist. My mom cooks chicken and sausage gumbo for my immediate family on Christmas Eve, we all open one gift after dinner, watch my favourite film Love Actually before bed, then turn in. In the morning we open any remaining gifts and head off to extended family's house.
Last year I spent Christmas alone in London and while it wasn't horrible or terribly lonely, it did make me appreciate my family and our traditions so much more.
What are your favourite Christmas traditions? Have you ever spent the holiday with another family or friends and wanted to integrate those traditions into your celebrations? I would love to hear about them!
I hope everyone has an amazing holiday season, whatever you celebrate!
Sarah xx
p.s. I have decided to try to post once or twice while I am in London. I will not have my computer with me, but I'm hoping to occasionally have access to one. Please bear with me during this time. I hope you all have a very happy New Year!
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| (image via Pinterest) |
Everybody who celebrates has their own traditions on Christmas. These could be things passed down through generations or something you experienced in another country that you decided to bring back home. What's most important is that everyone is happy and enjoys their day with whomever they choose to celebrate.
In my family we have a pretty traditional Christmas Eve and Day, but with a bit of a Louisiana twist. My mom cooks chicken and sausage gumbo for my immediate family on Christmas Eve, we all open one gift after dinner, watch my favourite film Love Actually before bed, then turn in. In the morning we open any remaining gifts and head off to extended family's house.
Last year I spent Christmas alone in London and while it wasn't horrible or terribly lonely, it did make me appreciate my family and our traditions so much more.
What are your favourite Christmas traditions? Have you ever spent the holiday with another family or friends and wanted to integrate those traditions into your celebrations? I would love to hear about them!
I hope everyone has an amazing holiday season, whatever you celebrate!
Sarah xx
p.s. I have decided to try to post once or twice while I am in London. I will not have my computer with me, but I'm hoping to occasionally have access to one. Please bear with me during this time. I hope you all have a very happy New Year!
Sarah's Travel Essentials
The holidays are the most popular time for travelling which makes them one of the most hectic as well. There are some essentials that I always have on hand when travelling just to make things a bit easier. Hopefully my experiences will help you a bit next time you travel!
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| (image via Pinterest) |
A Few of My Favourite Things - December 2014
Hi everyone! I apologise for not posting on Saturday like usual. The holidays are in full swing and that means things are getting busy. But don't worry, I am back this week with my favourite things for this month!
Holiday Gift Guide 2014
Hi friends! As you all know the holidays are coming up so I
wanted to do something most bloggers are probably doing right now – a gift
guide! Usually if there are too many posts out there on one subject it can get
really redundant really fast, but the great thing about so many gift guides is
you are getting a multitude of options from people with a multitude of
individual styles.
I’m only going to be doing a female gift guide right now as
the only boy in my life I have to buy for is my brother Harry, thus I’m not
super well-versed in what guys look for in presents. That said, let’s dive in!
Sephora Holiday Faves
Hi! Earlier this week I received a coupon in the mail from Sephora which they sent out to their VIB "Very Important Beauty" Insiders for the holidays. I decided that was the perfect excuse to pop in and grab a couple of items I've had my eye on as well as some of their holiday favourites. This isn't, by any means, a haul since Sephora tends to get very pricey very fast, but I wanted to show you all the few items I bought.
Why I love...ASOS
For this Wednesday's post I just wanted to write a little something dedicated to my favourite online shop, ASOS. The company is based out of London and sells hundreds of brands in addition to their own label. Seriously, anything I need for almost any occasion I can find at ASOS.
Here is a quick overview of some of the reasons why I fell in love with ASOS:
- Fast & affordable shipping to the US...It's rare that I need to have something shipped to the States that isn't already carried by one retailer or another here, but when I do shipping tends to cost as much if not more than the item I'm having shipped. I recently placed an order from ASOS on a Monday and it arrived at my doorstop on Thursday. That two-day shipping only set me back $12!! I think that's one heck of a deal for the amount of items I ordered and how fast I received them.
- Huge range of styles...As I said above, I can find almost anything I need at ASOS. The company has a number of stylists with their own individual tastes curating their regular "picks" for the season so you can always find something on-trend that fits your personal style.
- Plus size collections...I was first introduced to ASOS by my sister Emily who read about the store on a blog she followed. When she said that they carried plus size clothes that were actually tailored for women around my age I couldn't have been happier! I used to work at a plus size store and, while I appreciated all the effort the company put in to make women feel good in what they were wearing, most of the clothes weren't age-appropriate. ASOS was like an answer to all of my prayers. I used to be so envious of clothes my skinny friends wore or fabulous the outfits I would see girls out and about wearing, but now my closet is chock-full of outfits that I feel good and look good in!
- There are always promotions...I feel like ASOS almost always has one promotion or another going on. Just recently they were doing 25% off everything (excluding sale items) and then a week later they ran Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals where you received 30% off of your entire order.
- Participates in UNiDAYS...In addition to their sales, ASOS partners with UNiDAYS to give students 10% off of every purchase. It has saved me so much money over the past few years of ordering clothes from them. As a university student on a budget, I really appreciate any company that is willing to help out a bit.
- Easy returns...I have never had a problem when returning a product to ASOS. They include a prepaid shipping label in every package as a quick and easy way to get items back to them asap!
- Helpful customer service...Any time I've had a problem with an order (which, granted, has been very rare), ASOS customer care is there to help. All you have to do is shoot them an email and they reply almost as soon as you've sent it...or at least it seems that way.
I'm so glad that I discovered this wonderful slice of online shopping heaven as it has become my go-to when it comes to my fashion needs. I hope that everyone who shops online has as great of an experience as I have had with ASOS, but if not, ASOS may be your calling! If you have shopped with ASOS (or maybe another online retailer), I want to hear about it! Leave me a comment and let me know about all of your fab finds or suggestions you may have.
Sarah xx
Product Review: Lorac PRO Palette
Hi pals! Sorry I didn't update on Saturday; my sister hosted her second annual Friendsgiving so I was busy helping her prepare for that. I've also been trying to make the most of my time at home with my family before I have to go back to uni.
I've recently been on the hunt for a new eye shadow palette. I'm a big fan of matte neutrals that I can use for a casual everyday look, but I found that all of the super popular palettes are mostly made up of shimmery, dark colours. I own a few of those palettes and adore them, but I feel like they're mainly suited for a night out or the occasional dramatic smokey eye. Since I knew Black Friday was coming up and most stores have unbelievable deals I figured it was time to do a bit of research to find a great palette that I could hopefully get without breaking the bank. After looking around I decided that the palette that best fit my needs was the Lorac PRO Palette.