What I Wore - December Recap

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Well, there was definitely a theme for December’s outfits and I think it’s pretty safe to say that theme was RED.  I always try to dress as festive as possible for the holidays but this year I think I was more festive than ever!  Lots of Christmas graphic tees, lots of buffalo plaids, and lots of RED!  

And I have to say, my VERY favorite piece that I wore all month is this sweater.  Y'all, it's from Walmart and it is only $14.96!!  I don't normally buy clothes at Walmart, but every now and then something will catch my eye.  This sweater is just darling and it's well made.  I bought it in a medium so it's a little oversized and perfect to wear as a tunic!  It comes in four different colors!

My second favorite has to be this grey bell-sleeve top.  It is so elegant yet comfy.  See how I styled it on December 19.

Here are all 31 of my looks from December, and as always, I linked everything that is still available... links are under each picture.

December 1 - Skinny Jeans

December 2 - Zella Live-In Leggings // Booties

December 3 - Skinny Jeans // Converse

December 4 - Skinny Jeans // Lace-up Black Flats 

December 5 - Skinny Jeans

December 6 - Zella Live-In Leggings // Nikes

December 7 - Skinny Jeans // Red Hunter Boots

December 8 - Grey Sweater // Zella Live-In Leggings // Red Hunter Boots

December 9 - White Puffer Vest (Similar) // Skinny Jeans // Boots // Toddler Skinny Jeans // Toddler Boots

December 10 - Booties // Red Dress with Bell Sleeves // Red Bow Flats

December 11 - Peplum Top // Skinny Jeans // Boots

December 12 - Skinny Jeans // Boots

December 13 - Zella Live-In Leggings // Nikes

December 14 - Cross-Front Blouse // Skinny Jeans // Belt // Boots

December 15 - Peplum Top // Skinny Jeans // Boots

December 16 - Booties // Red Bow Flats

December 17 - Gold Bow Necklace // Skinny Jeans // Boots // Toddler Peplum Top // Toddler Boots

December 18 - Skinny Jeans // Red Hunter Boots

December 19 - Grey Bell-Sleeve Top // Scarf (Similar) // Skinny Jeans // Belt // Boots

December 20 - Skinny Jeans // Boots

December 21 - Skinny Jeans

December 22 - White Puffer Vest (Similar) // Skinny Jeans // Boots

December 22 - White Puffer Vest (Similar) // Skinny Jeans // Boots // Toddler Skinny Jeans // Toddler Boots

December 23 - Filthy Animal Top (Similar) // Skinny Jeans // Toddler Skinny Jeans // Toddler Boots

December 24 - Gold Bow Necklace // Booties

December 24 - Gold Bow Necklace // Booties // Red Bow Flats

December 25 - Ruffled Buffalo Plaid Vest // Skinny Jeans // Boots

December 26 - Grey Sweater // Zella Live-In Leggings // Boots // Toddler Boots

December 27 - 

December 28 - Buffalo Plaid Scarf // Skinny Jeans // Boots

December 29 - Skinny Jeans // Toddler Boots // Red Dress with Bell Sleeves

December 30 - Skinny Jeans // Boots

December 31 - Zella Live-In Leggings // Boots

Happy Wednesday, y’all!!

*Linking up with The Pleated Poppy for What I What I Wore, Pumps & Push Ups for Oh, Hey Girl! Link-Up, The Mummy Chronicles, Tucker Up, Shopping My Closet for Style Me Wednesday, Classy Yet Trendy for Trendy Wednesday Link-Up, The Blended Blog and Jessi's Design and Going the Distance for What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday.

Smart Ways to Spend Those Amazon Gift Cards

*This post may contain affiliate links.

Christmas is over and chances are, you probably received some kind of gift card from family or friends.  I don’t know about you, but my absolute favorite gift cards to receive are for Amazon because they have everything!  Sure enough, my father-in-law gave one to me this Christmas and I’m already starting to peruse my wish list to decide what to buy. 

I’m here today to share with you a few items that are in my Amazon wish list and to also share with you some smart ways to spend that money in the new year…

1 – These mixing bowls have been on my wish list forever because they are just so darn cute, and they are perfect for all of the cooking that I will be doing in the new year.  Now that I’m officially a stay-at-home mom I plan to cook at least four nights a week!

2 – This book is already in my cart and I can’t wait to dig in!  One of my goals for 2018 is to clean out and purge every inch of our home and to also make things more functional, and this book is just the inspiration I need to get even more organized than I already am.

3 – These clear organizing trays are perfect for wrangling all little odds and ends and keeping drawers organized as well as functional.

4 – Label all the things with this label maker!!  Perfect for all of your files, spices, bins, drawers, and everything else!

5 – This might not necessarily be a smart way to use your gift cards, but it’s surely a cute way to use them!  January and February are just pure misery, so if you’re always cold like me, you need this sweatshirt to keep you nice and cozy.  ;o)

6 – I have heard nothing but amazing things about the Amazon Echo.  B and I don’t have one yet, but I’m so tempted to snag one since everyone keeps raving about how helpful they are.  Did you know that you can link all of your lights and other electronics to the Echo so that way when you leave the house or get home, all you have to do is tell Alexa to turn everything off/on?  Saaaay whaaaat?!

7 – Eating healthier is always a huge resolution for people, and the one way to ensure that you stick with it is to meal plan.  These mealplanning Bento boxes are perfect for this!  And they’re so cheap!

8 – Letter boards are still all the rage and now people are offering them in different colors of felt.  This pink one is just darling and it comes in several other shades.  If you’ve been wanting to join in with the letter board craze, now is your chance!  I’m still having a blast with mine almost a year later!

9 – Organizing digital files is something that I always stay on top of, and I wouldn’t be able to do it without the help of my external hard drives.  I keep all of our old pictures, videos, and other files on one of these so they don’t bog down my computer.  As a matter of fact, we have two of them – one to keep in my office, and another one to keep in our fire-proof safe.  It gives me peace of mind to know that everything is backed up on two different drives in case one stops working, gets lost, or broken.

10 – Another major New Year’s resolution is to get in shape!  I bought this stair stepper last year and I have been loving it ever since!  The definition in my legs is incredible since I started using it, and in addition to building leg muscle, I also feel like I get a pretty good cardio workout with it as well… I’m always huffing and puffing by the time I get off!  I highly recommend having one of these… just store it in your living room and hop on for a few minutes while you watch TV in the evening.  Bonus, it also works your arms!!!!

11 – Is one of your resolutions to have a chemical-free household in 2018?  While I wouldn’t say I’m going to try to be totally chemical-free, I would love to start dabbling in essential oils.  I always hear great things about them and they are so versatile – from house cleaning, to getting rid of germs, to easing symptoms of headaches and different sicknesses, they can do so much for you and your family.  This oil diffuser is just gorgeous to me!

12 – Finally, where are all my paper planner nerds?!  I got a new Plum Paper Planner for 2018 and I’m really looking forward to color-coding everything and getting ultra-organized.  These pens are perfect for aaaallll the color-coding… look how many different shades!!

So tell me, did y’all receive any Amazon gift cards for Christmas?  Do you know what you’re planning to buy yet?  Tell me if there’s anything earth-shattering that I need to know about before I spend mine!

New Year’s Bar Cart + Link-Up Announcement

Happy New Year, friends!!!! 

2018 is here and we are welcoming it with open arms!  As I mentioned in my last post, I was not a huge fan of 2017 so I’m excited for a fresh start and new opportunities. 

In honor of the new year, today I’m sharing my New Year’s bar cart that I threw together this past weekend.  Decorating and designing new spaces makes me so happy and I always feel like I’m in my element when I’m doing it, so I had a really fun time putting this together. 

Once I had it all decorated I photographed it, and then I thought it would be cute to add my letter board to the mix, so I’m going to share the cart two ways today, first without the letter board and then with it.  Here it is without:

And here it is with the letter board.  I still can’t decide which way I like it better.

As you can also see, the twinkle lights are staying for now.  I polled all of you on my Instagram Stories a few days ago to see if I should take the twinkle lights off of the bar cart when I take down the Christmas decorations or leave them up year-round and the overwhelming majority (93%) said to leave them up.  While I don’t know if I’ll leave them up for the entire year, I figured it was still safe to have them up for the duration of winter… it’s dark out so much, so it’s nice to have the extra twinkle.  :o)

If you want to see my bar cart on a regular day you can see that here and if you want to shop my bar cart, you can do that here.

And finally, before I go, I wanted to announce that I am now co-hosting a new link-up this year!!  Heather at My Glittery Heart and Johanna at The Sirois Family invited me to co-host their Hello Monday link-up!  I’ll mostly be using it for weekend updates, but I’m sure there will also be times where I will use it for other topics.  As for you, feel free to write about anything your little heart desires and join us!  We would love to have you!  Just grab the graphic and link-up below!

Happy Monday and HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!  Thank you so much for reading!!  

*Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending and HoHo Runs for Weekly Wrap.

An InLinkz Link-up