Well, it's the end of the year. We've made it through 2015, and I did so blogging consistently throughout the year. So, here are my 15 favorite posts in honor of 2015!



1. A Day at the Museum - A fun day trip Andre and I took to Atlanta and all the fun we had.
2. In My Purse - My first peek into my handbag. We'll probably see a new peek next year!
3. The Reverse Bucket List - The awesome things that I've actually done, as compared to things I want to do. It's nice to give yourself credit from time to time.
4. Why I'm Taking His Last Name - A personal essay on why I chose to take Andre's last name once we got married.
5. A Birthday on the Wild Side - A look into my birthday adventure with Andre. This is one of my mostly pictures posts, which I love.
6. Meet Courage (the cowardly cat) - An intro to my beautiful fur baby.
7. What to Pack for a Theme Park Honeymoon - A list of what to pack on a honeymoon to a theme park.
8. Thirty by 30 - Thirty goals that I want to meet by the time I'm 30.
9. A Quick Wedding Recap - Self explanatory.
10. Adventures in Honeymooning: Parts One & Two - Posts with tons of pictures and stories from our honeymoon. (Post two is all about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.)
11. How to Change Your Name After Marriage - My experience changing my name after marriage, and hopefully some good tips.
12. Five Fun & Easy Wedding DIYs - DIYs for a frugal bride.
13. How to Style a Plain Ol' T-Shirt - Five fun ways to wear a tee.
14. Pictures with Santa Paws - I took Courage (see above) to meet Santa. It didn't go as planned.
15. Office Tour & Home Tour Christmas 2015 - A tour of Christmas decorations in both the home and the office.

I hope you keep reading throughout 2016, and I look forward to getting to know more of you!


xx,

Guys! I felt so good about the gifts that Andre and I gave this year. Everyone seemed really pleased, and we even saw some happy tears! It was amazing to give gifts that even pleased our 17 year-old niece and 13 year-old nephew. Those ages are the most difficult to shop for, so pleased teenagers are always an accomplishment.

One (or two rather) of my favorite gifts that we gave were the mini wedding albums I made our moms. I used a small 4x4 "Instagram album," purchased 4x4 wedding photos using mpix.com, and used a mini photo (2 inch by 2 inch slots) sleeve to add in our wedding buttons, which were our favors.

I titled the albums "Meet the Whitters," which I thought was really cute, and the moms loved that! I didn't get too scrapbook-y with them, though. I would have loved to have added more wording and notes, but I didn't have a lot of time to do so. I'm hoping to take more time with our full-size wedding/honeymoon scrapbook.

My biggest disappointment with the albums, was that the label that came on them ripped some of the color off from the front cover.







What were some of your favorite gifts this year, given or received?


xx,

Big news! Today marks 2 years since I restarted blogging, and have kept up consistently blogging. Several years in a row, I had the resolution to blog more, and I would always blog for about two months, and then stop. So I am so proud to say I've consistently posted for two years. Furthermore, I've hit over 10,000 views. I know that so many bloggers are hitting 10,000 views a week or day, but I am proud that I've kept up with the blogging even with a minimal amount of readers. So, yay to me, and here's to even more blogging in 2016!

xx,

This year, I discovered my go-to recipe for family gatherings (ie, holiday dinners) - sweet potato casserole. I made it for more than one Thanksgiving event, as well as for Christmas. It's super easy-peasy and a dish that can be enjoyed by everyone.



Ingredients:
3 cans of cut yams (40 oz each)
1 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
Approximately 1/2 lb marshmallows (large or mini)
Approximately 4 oz of pecans, crushed (these can be removed from the recipe for preference or allergies, etc)


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a 9 x 13 deep dish pan (I use aluminum, because they're always easy to tote and toss), dump 3 cans of drained yams. Smash with a fork.


3. Add and spread brown sugar evenly onto smashed yams. Pour melted butter evenly on top of yams and brown sugar. Let set for 15-20 minutes. (This is one of the most important parts, as it lets the brown sugar and butter soak into the yams.)

After just adding the brown sugar.

After letting the brown sugar and butter sit.

4. Top the mixture with the crushed pecans and marshmallows.


5. Bake the casserole at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until marshmallows are nice and brown.


5. Enjoy!


What's your go-to recipe for get-togethers?

xx,

Y'all, I am so excited to share our wedding thank you cards! We waited so long to send them out, because I was waiting to get our wedding photos back. Since we got them back just a few weeks ago, I took advantage of the fact that it was Christmas-time and chose a Christmas/thank you hybrid card. I used a basic template from Vistaprint that was based on our first married Christmas.


The card of course plays off from "Merry & Bright." I thought it was too cute! The back is a solid red (to math the banner at the bottom that state "The Whitters," and says "Merry Christmas & the Happiest New Year." I used the back to write personalized thank yous to each person that brought a gift or made a major impact on the wedding running smoothly.


Front:

 Back:


I've sent out the cards, so hopefully everyone has received them by now! Right now, holiday cards are 50% off on Vistaprint, using code CARD50. If you're hoping to send out cards for the new year, now is the perfect time!



Merry Christmas, all!

xx,

At work recently, we had a Christmas celebration and we played a game where we each had a Christmas-related question we had to answer. Mine was "It just wouldn't be Christmas without ______." My answer? Christmas sweaters! So many people wear them ironically, but I truly love my Christmas sweaters. They are such a fun, simple way to share the Christmas spirit, and why wouldn't you want to do that?

Here, I picked the blue out of the sweater, coordinated it with a blue dress, threw on black tights to tone it all down, and accessorized with basic tan shoes and a belt.

I love fragrances. I'm always on the hunt for my signature scent, and while I'm not so sure I've found it yet, I love to always have new fragrances. This Harvey Prince Sincerely fragrance is listed as a "complex blend of Indian tuberose, Turkish cyclamen, and Spanish mandarin." This scent is very, very subtle, which means I'm not a fan. I want to smell great and I want those around me to say "Oh my gosh, who smells so good?" I am not a fan of a subtle scent.


I'm not huge on hair products. I use shampoo and conditioner and dry shampoo, but I never buy other hair products. I always try to use all my samples, though, and this was no exception. This amika Nourishing Mask had enough product for more than one use, which is always nice in a sample size. My problem with hair masks, is you have to put them in and leave them, then wash them out. I hate washing my hair, so having to put this on and letting it sit just seems so extra to me.


More hand cream. Okay, I get it. People have dry skin in the winter. I have accumulated enough hand cream this year to last a lifetime. Any sample box I receive always has hand cream in it. I gave away several hand creams to my bridesmaids in their gift bags. I have one in my office, two in my purse, and several under the bathroom sink. That being said, I like a nice hand cream that is super thick so I only need a pea-size. This Soap & Paper Factory Shea Butter Hand Cream is one of those super thick hand creams, which I love! I received the green tea scent, which is oddly not on the Birchbox site. I have enjoyed this hand cream so far. It smells so fresh and clean (so fresh, and so clean, clean).



The product I got to choose this month was a Coastal Scents styleEYES product. I chose the eye shadow sampler in socialEYES. This set included a silver and black shadow, which I figured would create the perfect smokey eye look. I'm usually a fan of browns and neutrals in eyeshadows, so I thought this set would be perfect to mix it up for the holidays. I haven't used it yet, since I don't really wear make up to work, but I think this will look great during the next few weeks for holiday events.


The product I was most excited to receive in my box this month was the Eyeko Fat Liquid Eyeliner. I'm surprised that they threw in a full-size product, especially one that is so popular (it's currently out of stock and there's a waiting list. This liner goes on perfect and so smooth. The color is fully pigmented and looks so great. Plus, the liner being in pen-form makes it's super easy to apply!


Are you ready to try Birchbox? Get your first box for only $5 by signing up here.



xx,

The show is lit by over 8 million lights. It's gorgeous, and I would definitely like to go back in the future when we have a kid or two. I loved the lit trees, and how they reflected on the water.



I also loved Snowflake Lane and all the light strings that looked like falling snowflakes. It was magical!




The light show was so magical, we had a Christmas miracle-a smiling hubby!


Next year, I'd love to go to the lights at the Botanical Gardens in Atlanta!


xx,

I don't know about y'all, but I basically live in my office. I'm there at least 9 hours each day, if not closer to 10 or 11 hours. Since I'm in my office so much, it's really important to me that it feels homey. On a regular basis, my office is decked out in pictures and fun little nick-nacks, but I also brought in some extras for Christmas to keep me in the spirit at work.


It's important to me that my office smells good. I have a super cute wax melter, and I change out the scents with the season. I get a ton of compliments because the scents can usually be smelled throughout the building. Right now I'm using Febreze Frosted Pine. It is one of my favorite smells in the world, so I love when it's Christmas time and I get to use it.







This awesome cardboard moose head came from the dollar area at Target. It was there with the Christmas items, but truly, I think I'll leave it up after the holidays. It's just so dang cute.

And no Christmas spirit is complete without the music to back it up. Truly, the Christmas music is one of the major things I miss about working retail at Christmas. I love the fun, poppy Christmas music! Check out my CHRISTMAS! playlist on Spotify. I've been listening to it on repeat.

How do you share your Christmas spirit at work?


xx,