Blogmas Day 1: How to make your home festive for December

Happy Blogmas everyone!

Can you believe it's already December?!?! How has another year almost come to a close? I hope everyone is just as excited as I am for Christmas!

For my first blog post of this very festive and fun month I wanted to talk about how to add little touches to your home to make it cozy and festive by sharing what we have done around our apartment and maybe it can give you guys some good decorating inspiration!

There is nothing better than coming home after a long day of work to a beautifully lit Christmas tree. That is definitely the number one thing to put up first! This year was my first year being able to decorate a Christmas tree in my own apartment instead of at my parents house and so I think it made me all the more excited to decorate for the season! My roommates and I picked a woodsy/rustic theme this year and I am in love!

My roommate Booker made our tree topper from elements we bought at Hobby Lobby. He made it from this post on Pinterest (https://pin.it/hafsoo4q744fxm). We got the gingham burlap to "ribbon" around the tree from Jo Ann's. We also got rustic ornaments from Hobby Lobby and Jo Ann's Fabric store to decorate it. I honestly think this is one of my favorite trees I have ever had!

We also added small touches around the apartment to make the whole thing feel more cozy and christmassy! If you don't have the room or budget to do a huge tree like that then you could do smaller things such as a tiny tree on your counter like we have on ours.

We just bought a tiny fake tree, a tube of tiny ornaments, small strand of lights and a small bow and voila! The whole tree was about $20 total. It adds the perfect touch of Christmas without going overboard if you want something more simple or, if you're like us, it just adds another element of Christmas to another area of the house! We got everything for this tree from Hobby Lobby!

Another thing we LOVE decorating is our dining room table. Each holiday we always like to add a little centerpiece to celebrate the holiday and of course Christmas is no different! 

It just adds a nice touch of Christmas to the dining room table since it is one of the first things you see when you walk into our apartment. We added a bit of fake snow, some fake christmas tree pieces, and the cutest bear ornament to tie into our rustic themed Christmas tree. If you want something quick, simple, and festive this is definitely a great idea to consider!

I also added a few cute things from Target to my bathroom. They have some really adorable Christmas bath mats and bath towels so I decided to get them to add a little festive cheer into my bathroom! 

It just adds the right bit of festive and the bathmat was only $7.59! They had two other options and you can shop them all here! 

What are some things you are doing around your house to put you in the festive spirit? Let me know!

Comment down below or tweet me @thejesslauren!

xoxo Jess

Top five favorite things to do in Disney World's Magic Kingdom

I'm sure that many of you know that I am a Disney fanatic and if you don't know then where have you been?!

I took my first trip to the magical world of Disney in 2015 with my bestie Amber and I never looked back! I have been a total of 4 times now and I feel like I have developed my top 5 favorite things to do while in the Magic Kingdom and I wanted to share those with you today!

1. My absolute hands down number one favorite is watching Wishes. Wishes is the fireworks show that happens at Cinderella's castle every night. I cry and sing a long and any trip I go on to Disney I HAVE to see Wishes. There is just something so magical and Disney-esque about it and even when I'm not at Disney I will watch YouTube videos of the fireworks show because I just love it that much!

2. Ariel's Under the Sea ride. Even though Aurora is my favorite princess Ariel is my second favorite princess so I always have to find time to make it to this ride. I normally want to ride this one at least twice because the lines are usually never more than a 15 minute wait and being that Ariel is one of my favorite princesses I love being able to ride through the movie of The Little Mermaid!

3. Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster is, according to me, the best roller coaster at Disney's Magic Kingdom. It has the best turns and drops of any of the other rides in this particular park and the best spot to ride is is the back. When Daniel and I went for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween (Which you can read about here) there was no wait time, which is unusual, for this ride and we rode it 3 times in a row and it was awesome. Any time I am going I always reserve a fastpass for this ride because it is a very popular one with long wait times.

4. Meeting characters. Since I didn't start going to Disney World until my adult life I have had an anxiety about meeting characters for the first time and for the first few trips I made I was always terrified and didn't know what to say when meeting them. It was only this last trip I took, less than a month ago, that I really became comfortable with meeting characters and I started to enjoy it. During my last trip to Disney it rained a little bit towards the end of the day and so lines to meet characters were super short and I met a total of 8 characters in Magic Kingdom 5 of which I had never met before!

5. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. This is the other roller coaster type ride in Disney's Magic Kingdom and I always use a fastpass for this ride because wait times are normally 60 plus minutes long. It is a fun ride but it is a more tame version of a roller coaster. I love being able to watch the dwarfs sing heigh-ho in the middle of the ride and see Snow White in the dwarves house at the end of the ride. It is a really quick ride but definitely one to do when at Magic Kingdom.

What are some of your favorite things to do in Disney's Magic Kingdom? Did I mention your favorite thing or ride? Let me know! Let's talk about all things Disney! Tweet me (@thejesslauren) or leave a comment!

xoxo Jess

Christmas Time! (Winter favorites)

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year! So I decided to do a winter favorites blog post to let you know of a few things I am loving this holiday season and every year around this time!

The first thing is Christmas music!
I am currently obsessed with the new Pentatonix Christmas CD "That's Christmas to Me"

I have been absolutely loving this CD and I have been blaring it in my car every time I get in and I listen to it when I'm working on anything as well. It has some really great new twists to some of my all time favorite Christmas songs! The song I am loving the most is a tie between "White Winter Hymnal" and "Mary Did You Know" both are just SO good!

The next thing I have been loving this Christmas season is scarves!

Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a slight obsession with scarves but I just LOVE them especially in the colder months! They are a staple in my winter wardrobe and I am currently obsessed with the sweater/knitted thicker type scarves right now. They just add that nice finished touch to any outfit.

The next favorite I have is any and everything bright and sparkly!

In my wardrobe I have noticed I have been picking up more items that have sparkle in them or shimmer. I have recently just bought a really gorgeous gold shimmer top from Forever XXI (Below)

Forever XXI

I have also been buying really shimmery cardigans and little throw over a shirt type over-sized jackets that I have been in love with ( My favorite online boutique for those is www.mintjulepboutique.com) . I just think it adds just a little bit more to each outfit and helps to add to the feel of the season!

Another favorite this time of year is all things comfy and cozy. I have recently bought a few super comfy and cute Victoria's Secret sleep shirts and I have been living in them during these chilly winter nights! They have the cutest sayings on them and are great for people who get hot at night!

Victoria's Secret

Another holiday favorite of mine is a place in my city. It is Bellingrath Gardens. It is a place where you can go and walk through a beautiful historic home and garden and look at TONS of Christmas lights! It is always a tradition to go with me and my friends and we went this past weekend and it was so magical!

It is always such a magical experience and I love going and having fun spending time with friends and enjoying the spirit of the holiday season.

Another absolute favorite during the holiday season is buying everyone's gifts! For me, I really enjoy buying gifts for my friends and then wrapping them really cutely and giving it to them! I love surprises and giving gifts is just so enjoyable for me! I really love sentimental things and so this time of year really makes me want to craft and make the cutest gifts for friends! I have been really busy this past week trying to get everyone's gifts figured out and bought so that I don't have to worry about rushing around as it gets nearer and nearer to Christmas day!

Some of my next favorites are makeup and skin care products! Some of the things I have been LOVING recently are the really yummy holiday scents and colors!

First is a new fragrance by Bath and Body Works called A Thousand Wishes. It smells so heavenly and it has a sweeter scent but it is still very strong and is something that just smells so great. I also got this in a shimmer body lotion because who doesn't want their skin to glow!

Bath and Body Works

Another favorite I am loving right now is the Urban Decay Naked 3 palate. It just has so many Christmassy colors and festive bright colors and I have been wearing it every day for the past month it is SUCH a good purchase!

Urban Decay

This palate is mostly rosy tones and I am loving that so much right now. It also has some really nice subtle darker colors that are great for blending into your eye crease to make a nice smoky eye.

Another favorite makeup product I am loving is something that I think everyone should have in their makeup drawer! A good concealer is something that is super hard to find and I have been loving the Benefit 'Stay Don't Stray'  in light/medium as an amazing under eye concealer.

Benefit Cosmetics

A favorite winter relaxation product line that I have fallen in love with is Lush Cosmetics. They have some of the most amazing bubble bath and bath bombs I have ever tried. They always smell so good and leave your skin feeling so refreshed afterwards! The best thing about it is they have the cutest holiday themed bath products!

Lush Christmas

Not only are they amazing products but they also are festively shaped and scented! Such a great little gift idea too!

These are just a few of the great things I am loving right now during the holiday season! I have also left links under all of the products I have shared in case you want to go check out these awesome products!

What are some things you are loving this holiday season?

xoxo Jess