Current Candle Crave

 My current candle crave has all to do with the seasons change.  Sense I know I've blogged about my all-time fall favorite from Bath and Body Works (Autumn) before, I figured I would tell you about what I'm burning right now!

For added adorableness, let's talk about the cutest matches you will ever see in your life.  I've seen cute matches like this in the past at places like Francesca's, but this one is holiday happiness in a box.  I don't know if you can tell from the photo but the matches are huge, perfect for lighting the candle.  You don't have to worry about burning your finger as the match will ignite for long enough.  

Excuse the horrible, terrible photo but this candle is absolutely gorgeous.  The packaging is a beautiful royal blue with this metallic opal sticker.  Not to mention the stunning pattern on the side thats gold.  There's nothing that I don't like about it basically.  

Getting into the scent, it reminds me a little bit of something amber-scented.  I'm really bad at describing scents so I don't want to try, but all I will say is that it's an understand amber scent.  I know there is a scent description on the bottom, but I think it's just better than you go and smell it for yourself!  ;)

What have you been burning lately candle-wise?  I can't wait to start burning Christmas scents because they make me the happiest.  Send me a tweet and let me know or leave a comment. -Brit.

VOTE 2014: The impact.

Did you?  I find it very difficult to get most of my friends out to the polls.  Being that I am the only one out of my friend group that is especially involved with politics as much as I am, no one really understands how important it is.  I specifically try and let my influence shine down on them without them knowing, but that never works and I always end up getting into some conversation that I've brought on, rather than them bringing something up to me.

It really stinks that politics is not something people want to willingly talk about (at least in my age group).  It makes me wonder, when did the most important things start becoming so understated?  Politics are important, but most people think that 10-second selfies on a snapchat story are more important.  This ACTUALLY sickens me.  Don't get me wrong, I love having fun and complaining with the rest of them about someone who puts a 10-second selfie on their story.. but then again, if you don't vote you can't complain right?

I've tried to bring up current events, voting and politics with my friends a couple of different ways.  For instance, take friend A for example, he's a big sports fan.  I try to compare it to his favorite sport.  I was all excited because today the Huffington Post said they were adding snaps to their story if you sent one to them and they screenshot mine.  Naturally, I told him about it.  He laughed at me but I told him, "if it was for ______ team, you would do it too" and he agreed.  So things like this work when getting other people to understand the value, but when it comes down to it, you wont get them to think any differently about going out to vote if the issues don't DIRECTLY affect them in that moment.  If I was to tell friend A that his TV service was going to be shut off during the next ______ game if he didn't get out to vote, he still probably wouldn't go, but when his TV service got shut off when the next _______ game came on because he didn't vote, I'll throw that right back into his lap.  If you don't vote, you cannot complain.  

Then there are friends that just think this entire thing is a joke.  I hate when they do that!  I had a conversation about voting today with one of my good friends, let's call her friend B.  I was reminding her to go out and vote today and to make sure that she makes her voice heard.  If anything, Senate and local elections are exciting because they feel more 'community' based.  Does that make any sense?  I don't know.  But anyway, I told her to make sure that she goes out and votes.  During our conversation she told me that she wasn't even registered.  My jaw basically dropped to the floor.  I have known this friend for years now and all of this conversation we've had and she had never told me that she wasn't registered.  I would have had her register online and vote in every election if I knew that was the case.  Minutes later, she reveals that she was kidding and that she is registered to vote but only votes in presidential elections.  Okay, cool.  I don't believe anything she says about voting now lol.  Whatever, I understand that friend B doesn't really like it, but it's certainly not a joke.

Alllllllll this yacking away for what?  Nothing really I guess.  I just want people all over America to understand the impact and pertinence of voting.  No jokes, and certainly no complaints until they do.

Did you vote today?  Tweet me and let me know.  Thanks for reading as always.  -Brit.

Target Beauty Box!

I am so excited to finally get my Target beauty box in the mail!  It was waiting for me when I got home from work today and I was so happy.  I ordered it about two weeks ago and I thought it was taking a little bit of a long time to get here after all that it was (just a box full of sample size beauty products).  After researching it online though, I found out that it was rather popular so that is probably why it took a little bit too long.

I was impressed with the contents of the box and plan to write a review after I've used them a little bit.  I cannot wait to tell you guys how I feel about these products as this could be a great alternative to a birchbox (which I don't hate, but I'm just saying, it's another option).

Let me know if you've ever gotten a Target beauty box by tweeting or leaving a comment.  -Brit.

A Weekend with the Best Friend!

So if you read yesterday's post, you'll know that I spent some time with my best friend that lives up in North Jersey.  I was so happy to finally be there, it was better than video chatting a million times per day/week.  Yes, we video chat waaaaay too much.  Sometimes I feel bad for her boyfriend because I just cannot fathom how he deals with us.  

We took an inapropriate amount of selfies and pictures together because we just never get enough time to.  This was us on the way to The Black Horse in Mendham, NJ.  Have you ever been?  It was great.  We sat at the bar and ordered a glass of wine apiece and two classic appetizers: guacamole and chips and dumplings.  We couldn't have asked for anything more.  We didn't want to order too much because we were going to be eating a ton later in the afternoon. 

We enjoyed driving there as we sat together in the car and cherished the new memories we were making together.  We saw all of the kids walking around the community and getting ready for their Halloween parades.  It was just the best time.  After we were done getting food, we headed out to the Bridgewater Commons, Target and TJ Maxx.  Where I live, I have NO excellent malls.  The best one would have to be the Freehold Raceway Mall which is about 40 minutes away from me.  Where Ally lives, there are about 10 amazing malls in the general vicinity of where she lives.  SO jealous.

At Target I picked up this adorable little outfit for Kristin's baby shower.  I couldn't resist the adorable little jacket it has and I figured it would be perfect for the season in which he will be born.  I couldn't get enough of it.  While I was checking out, Ally decided that she was going to randomly take photos of me because she was annoyed that I was taking so many stalker photos of her.  I mean come on, isn't that what best friends do to one another?  The answer to that is absolutely yes.

This is Ally's response to my obnoxiousness.

We sent this picture to Ally's boyfriend who sadly wasn't with us as he was traveling with his family in California while I was up visiting.  He loved the little update and it was just nice for Ally to be able to say hey to him and have him know that I came up and we're having a great time.  

These are two selfies that we took in the car like weirdoes when we left target.

Ally's always said that she has the hardest time growing her nails (it's true).  I told her that she should use a nail growth strengthener and she never listened so when I came up I brought her one.  She ended up asking me to paint her nails which inevitably I did but guess what we forgot to do?  Put on the base coat of the nail straightener.  I told her she's going to have to just redo them during the week because she didn't have any nail polish remover for us to start over again.

The above photos are from the shower that I blogged about yesterday.  It was absolutely adorable and such great fun.  Hard to believe that November is here.  Today I got my first #redcup and in it had my first Gingerbread Latte (!!!), I couldn't have been happier!

Let me know what you've done this weekend.  I have had a fantastic weekend and I couldn't have been happier with the way things were.  Follow me on Twitter and Instagram and let me know what you're up to.  Leave a comment below and tell me what you're most excited for in the holiday season that's coming up!  Talk to you soon and thanks for reading.  -Brit.  

Baby Shower!

Today I was lucky enough to attend a beautiful baby shower that was to honor my best friend Ally's sister, Kristin.  She is SUCH a sweetheart and she is due mid-December, she cannot wait to have her beautiful little baby boy.  Ally lives in North Jersey, too far if you ask me.  We always talk about how much it stinks to not be so close to each other all the time just incase we want to pop out for lunch or errands together.  We met in college and we have basically been pretty much inseparable since then.  We video chat waaaaaay too much, it's sick actually.  Maybe one day she will do the best friend tag with me on my YouTube channel.  

ANYWAY!  Back to the shower.  It was held in a beautiful clubhouse up north.  We went in the day before to help with getting things ready because as you can see there was a lot to do before all of the guests were set to come at 1pm the next day.  Want to hear something insane?  Ally's mom cooked EVERYTHING.  She cooked all of the food for about 45-50 people and she brought everything to the clubhouse.  It was really nice to have someone there to help her so she hired a sweet woman who was there to help with set up, serving and cleaning.

The above is a panoramic view of the entire room where the shower was taking place.  It really was an adorable space.  I don't know if you can tell but there is a little alcove in the bottom section there where theres a fireplace that was lit for the guests and thats also the area where they kept the food.

When you first walked in the door as a guest you saw the desert table to the immediate right.  It was adorably lined with a gorgeous cake, mini cupcakes, cookies, apple crumb and coffee.  What an amazing taste to start off fall with.  As you walk further into the venue you would have seen the cutest little fish net and the walkway lined with lit candles.  How could I have forgotten to mention the adorable little buoys that were strategically planted in random places in the room for an added touch to the theme.  Don't mind Ally randomly on her phone here, sorting out last minute stuff. 

Probably one of my favorite things about the shower, aside from the theme as a whole, was this clothing line that was hung up along the windows.  All of the clothes were purchased by Kristin's mom and hung up along the windows.  She is going to spoil this baby rotten and it is ADORABLE.  I wish I had gotten closer to take some more pictures but some of the outfits and onesies were so cute saying things like 'Whine Expert' with grapes on it, etc.  How cute are those lanterns on the table!?

Look close and you'll see unexpected details like the royal blue napkins wrapped up in twine, perfectly fitting the theme.  Also, the votives surrounding the centerpieces that were cute little lighthouses.  Not to mention the tablecloths were even beautiful!

Mmmm, look at that taffy!  It was delicious.  Also, how cute are these mason jars?!  I know this is super trendy but I don't know, I think it's SUPER cute.  The little details and the personalization make it so adorable and fun.  These could be taken home as favors if guests really wanted to and were perfect for the Prosecco and other assorted alcoholic beverages for the non-pregnant.  ;)

I wish I had taken more photos of the food and the champagne bar, the homemade sangria and the water/sparkling water section, the gifts and the desert.  I didn't though but my best friend and I were happy to have spent some time together as we live so far away from one another and we never get to.  I also wish I took some photos of my outfit because it was a really cute one!  I'll leave you with these photos.  One is the two of us at the head table and the other, just a selfie.  :)

Thanks for reading!  I cannot believe it's November already, the holiday season is coming up.  Are you ready?  Did you start your shopping?  I know it's sick for me to ask that but.. it's now a relevant question.  I cannot wait to start obsessively baking, decorating and just enjoying everything.  Thanksgiving is going to be wonderful as well and I just cannot wait to spend time with my family.  Send me a tweet or leave a comment and let me know what you're excited for.  -Brit.