The Real Deal

We love the holidays.  And by we, I mean the women in my family!  My mom, grandma, and I would start decorating for Christmas on November 1st if we could.  Excessive?  Absolutely.  But the Christmas season is incredibly short, so we like to soak up as much of it as possible before it’s over. About a month or so ago, my mom made reservations for a pop up Christmas bar in St. Louis.  There are a few around St. Louis, but the one we were going to is called Miracle STL.  We had a kind of off time for a reservation, 4:30 on a Tuesday.  All of the tables in the bar are reservation only, but the bar is first come first serve.  You can also only stay at the table for a certain amount of time, depending on how many people are a part of the reservation.  We had 3 people, so we could stay for an hour and fifteen minutes.  That way people aren’t hogging tables and everyone can get a chance to enjoy the bar! There were two drink menus,...

One thing that I’ve always been obsessed with are Charcuterie boards.  Cheese is one of my favorite foods, and all the different combinations on one plate make for a great appetizer.  I’ve even gone out with my mom and all we’ve eaten is the cheese board and been full and satisfied! I’ve been wanting to make our own charcuterie board since over the summer, and we’ve just never had a good time to do it.  My family is very small, so most of our gatherings are very informal and we didn’t want our board to go to waste.  We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year, and my mom and I thought that this would be the perfect time to finally break out the cheese board.  We did spend quite a large amount on everything for the cheese board, but it was so worth it and it all went over well. CHEESE Brie // This was probably everyone’s favorite out of the entire board.  My mom topped the brie with cranberry sauce (not the jelly, the regular sauce), wrapped it ...

As you all know, I make Spotify playlists seasonally with my favorite songs at the moment.  Instead of including it in my Winter playlists, I have a playlist on Spotify called “Ultimate Christmas”.  This way I get my Christmas music fix in and can keep all of my favorite songs together. I add to it almost every year, so here is what I have on it so far! MISTLETOE // JUSTIN BIEBER ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU // MARIAH CAREY LAST CHRISTMAS // WHAM! ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE // BRENDA LEE HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS // MICHAEL BUBLE SANTA TELL ME // ARIANA GRANDE DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS? // BAND AID STEP INTO CHRISTMAS // ELTON JOHN IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS // MICHAEL BUBLE BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE // IDINA MENZEL, MICHAEL BUBLE HAPPY XMAS (WAR IS OVER) // JOHN LENNON HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS // SAM SMITH COLD DECEMBER NIGHT // MICHAEL BUBLE IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR ...

In case you didn’t know, my family and I (well, mainly my mom and I) are huge Disney fans. We love Disney World and try and go as often as we can. I also used to exclusively watch Disney Channel as a kid, and I have been missing so many classic Disney movies that have entered the Vault. Enter, Disney+. Ever since the release date, I had been begging my mom to get it, and the only response I was getting was “Eventually”. Finally, after it had been out for about two weeks, my wonderful mother made the purchase. We are all so impressed with the service and the amount of movies and shows that are available. My family and I watch something together from Disney+ every single night, and my brother is even excited about it so he can binge all of the Marvel movies. With the incredibly large amount of content available on Disney+, it’s so hard to figure out what exactly to start with. If I shared my list of what I want to watch on Disney+, we would be here forever (it’s 4 pages single-spa...

After months (not even joking, it’s been months) of wanting to try a spin class, I bit the bullet and booked a class for yesterday! I’ve seen so much hype from so many people both in real life and on social media and YouTube. I was worried it would be too hard, it would be too awkward, and that I just wouldn’t know how to do it. My fun fact I tell people is that I never even learned how to ride a bike! Obviously the spin bikes don’t go anywhere, but I was worried that it would feel too foreign or weird to me and that I would make a fool of myself in class. I had also read a lot of reviews that you won’t get the hang of it for four or five classes, and that really intimidated me. I didn’t want to go to a work out class where I would be bad no matter what. I finally decided to try spin because the studio closest to me, MO Cycle Studio, has classes for $12, which is one of the cheapest I have ever seen. It’s also close to home, so it wouldn’t be a long drive, and the class schedule a...

I always love the start of a new month. Although I know you don’t have to wait for a new month or year to start acting on goals, it gives me a good timeline to make sure all of my ducks are in a row so that I can hit the ground running on the first of the month. So without further ado, here are a few things that I have been wanting to accomplish as we get into November.                       TRY A CYCLING CLASS // I’ve always wanted to try cycling, but there’s no Soul Cycle in St. Louis and we have a CycleBar, but neither of them are close to where I live. However, I recently discovered a new studio that is literally 10 minutes from my house, and is not incredibly expensive for memberships or bulk classes. I’ve always thought about trying it out, but never made the jump to do so. So, for November, I want to take my first cycling class. I like work out classes so much better than working out at home or at the gym because...

I used to to favorites posts every month, but I've been slacking on those kind of recently.  So, since it's been awhile since I've updated you on what I've been loving lately, here is a large list of what I am currently loving right now! Apple Watch Nylon Sport Loop // I've been looking for a new Apple Watch band for awhile.  The silicone band that my watch came with was getting really dirty and gross, and I bought a magnetic band last year which I liked, but the magnet would get stuck on random objects which would result in my band loosening or picking up other metal objects along the way.  One of my friends from work had this nylon Apple Watch band which is pretty much what I had been looking for!  It's super affordable, stylish and cute, and can be worn to work out and for everyday use.  The only down side is that it's probably not the best if you like to wear your watch when you swim, but I usually take mine off when I go swimming so that wasn...