Friday Favorites!

Hi y'all! Merry Christmas to you and yours! 

We are having a wonderful time in our home, just being by each other's side. I love these long periods of time when my man gets to be off work! Hooray!

Friday Favorites

ONE

Today, I am absolutely loving our Christmas Eve dinner (we're still munchin' on the leftovers!). We had a Switch It Up version of Mama's Enchiladas. I promise. You've never had 'yummier' enchiladas! 

Just take the original recipe and add green onions and corn to it! Such simple and cheap additions, but they jazz it up just right! 

I even add extra corn on top, and then throw some enchilada sauce on it and cheese and crisp it up in the oven for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. 

My man and I agree, the corn is the best! 

TWO

Our Christmas jammies! This is a tradition in the Fashionista Housewife home. 

On Christmas Eve, we all open new jammies, throw them on, drink some hot chocolate. 

AND watch the Polar Express. Which is my all time favorite Christmas movie :)

Read about how we make Polar Express Night special!

I got the Aria Fleece jammies from Costco!

Mine are black and cheetah print!

THREE

I am so excited that Cole is being a little sponge! We have been working on his training pretty intensively, have I told you how determined we are to have the most well behaved doggy? 

So far, he has learned Sit, Down, Up, Roll Over, and Look At Me. 

Pretty good for being only 8 weeks old, and 3.8 pounds. 

Maybe his weight has nothing to do with it, but in my mind, he seems way too tiny to learn anything. 

(Even though I know that's not true, because he quickly learned how to get out of his crate. Anyone have any advice on how to crate train without them screaming/crying so loud?!!)

FOUR

This hike has been our favorite! It's a bit of a drive from our home, but I feel it's so worth it. 

The path is about a mile long, but look at the end result! 

Not even kidding. This is exactly how it looks in the winter time! Swoon!

FIVE

I have been loving walking into our home after a long hike, or walk with Cole and smelling it! Sound weird? You wouldn't think so if you read my post on How To Make Your Home Smell Amazing!

There's just somethin' about that feeling!




SIX

Need some YUMMY food this week?? Check out my Mozzarella Meatballs. You will NOT regret it!

They're cheesy, and so classic, but honestly, I was surprised at how amazing they came out! Not dry at all, but had a little crunch to them from the outside. The taste was superb!

Easy-peasy for these babies!



SEVEN

My most favorite favorite of all time?!! 

JESUS!!!

Thank you LORD for being born, living a life without sin, and dying on the cross, just so that we could be saved! How selfless is that?!! You cannot have a more selfless act than that. 

Especially on this Christmas, when my mama's in Heaven, you realize the importance of living for Jesus, and loving God with every fiber of your being. 

Plus, once you've lived a life for Jesus, you wonder what you ever did before being saved. Please let me know if you have any questions on being saved or need to be pointed in the right direction to living a life with PURPOSE! I will be more than happy to help you.

Thank you, Jesus, for being the REASON for the season :)

Y'all... what was your favorite part of Christmas, this week, or this season? I would love to hear from you! 

What's Up Wednesday!

Well, y'all, the end of another month is near. Is anyone else still in shock that 2016 is coming so fast?!!! 

I cannot WAIT to see what this year does for my family. And of course yours! 

Let's get started with the LAST What's Up Wednesday of this year! 

What We're Eating This Week

Mozzarella Meatballs

Yep, these are gonna rock your world!!

Honey Teriyaki Seared Chicken

You guys! This stuff is so yummy! And really easy too :)

Tacos

Yes, we really do make these every week. And it's a night off of cooking for me since my man likes to cook these for us. WIN! I also bake these! Makes them so much better!

Just a big 'ol mess of a buncha different foods!

What I'm Reminiscing About

The amazingly WARM weather we had everyday in Hawai'i! It's cold and rainy here now!

This was last year in JANUARY. Yep. I said it. 

This place was 2 miles from our house. It was also where I worked :)

What I'm Loving

Our precious little baby! Coley is home now and we have been having so much fun with him! We absolutely love our baby boy!

What We've Been Up To

Looking at a TON of Christmas lights. There is a large neighborhood about 30 mins from our home, and we have driven there a couple (several) times. We have driven the route, because they have it marked off on which way to go, but we also have put on our heavy coats, beared the cold and walked Cole with us. He loves it!

And bonus, it's gorgeous!

And yes, it does take a couple of hours to get through this neighborhood in the later days of the  month. It's popular around here!

Just so wonderful! We always listen to a Christmas music Pandora station while driving around. I may or may not beg for the Michael Buble Holiday Station...

What I'm Dreading

Wow... I really cannot think of anything I'm dreading. I just feel so thankful for everything right now. Thank you God for this amazing life you've provided me and my little family with :)

What I'm Working On

A couple of things! The first one being this awesome blog! I love the communication that this blog has provided me with the blog world. I also love the creative outlet this has given me. Seriously. It took me so long to start this. Not because I was lazy or anything, but because I was SCARED. I worried that no one would care what I had to say, but once I realized I was doing it for me, it gave me the coolest outlet to express my passions!

I am also working on (with the help of my AMAZING man) training our baby Cole! I am determined to have the best behaved pup, but we are going the route of all humane. There's no shock collars or choking chains for us. We could never bear to do that to our babe! We've been using this clicker, with a lot of success, to teach him. We also have been using these bells for potty training. Hooray for progress :)

What I'm Excited About

Again, a couple of things here! The first would be my man getting a new job! I have been praying for him to be led to the job of his dreams (working with Nike. If any of you work there, or know someone who works there, please let me know!). He may have to work his way up, and we may take a huge pay cut, but he is the most passionate and dedicated leader that I know. He was made to work for Nike. Not to mention, it's been his dream since high school. I know that God will lead us where He needs us. Just praying that it includes my man's passions! 

I am also excited for my best (girl) friend to get here! You know how you have a best girl friend and a best male friend? Well of course my man is my BEST FRIEND. But Kowbear, as we lovingly call her, has been my best friend since the first day of Freshman year in high school. We both have recently gone through HUGE tragedy, me losing my mama (best friend) and grandpa within 20 hours of each other, and her losing her 17 year old cousin in a freak accident over night. We are in need of some down time, some girly girl time (manis, pedis, food, jammies, and good convo) and some healing time. I can't wait for our little family to spend some time with her. Plus she'll be meeting Cole for the first time. What's more healing than that sweet baby?

This is Kowbear! She will be my maid of honor, my children's god mother, and she has been a wonderful amazing best friend. In the pic on the left, we were heading to a water fall in Hawai'i, Kowbear is in the back of the car. My man is in the passenger seat. In the pic on the right, we are heading to the beach right after I got out of work! Kowbear is on the left.

What I Have Been Watching/Reading

Well, like any other makeup artist/ makeup lover, I watch Youtube videos all the time! I mean, I'm not sitting around for hours watching them, but just like I keep up with blogs that I like, I weekly catch up with youtubers that I like. If you're interested to know who I'm watchin', I would be happy to share in a blog post! Just for a little teaser, I definitely watch Jaclyn Hill!



I have really been slacking on reading actual books. And I find that sad because I really enjoy reading books. It's like a little escape. I really want to read the book Troublemaker by Leah Remini!





What I'm Listening To

Well, y'all... Of course you know I'm listening to the Michael Buble Christmas Pandora Station... But other than that, here's a list of songs I've been loving!

1. Oceans by Hillsong United
2. Biscuits by Kacey Musgraves
3. Hey Mama by David Guetta
4. Fireproof by One Direction
5. Confident by Demi Lovato
6. Love Yourself by Justin Bieber
7. Sorry by Justin Bieber
8. Cake By The Ocean by DNCE
9. Hello by Adele
10. Cali Get Down by Radical Something


What I'm Wearing

A lot of sweatpants and jammies. I haven't put jeans on in a long time! Not because I can't fit or anything. But I just don't want to. Healing takes a lot of energy out of you, friends. A lot. I guess I thought I would be crying a lot more than I am, but honestly, it's more of just wanting to stay home and cuddled up. Healing has to happen. It's a part of life. I'm just glad God has provided me with the best people who support me and love me no matter what, and has provided me with the time and flexibility to have this down time. Thank you Lord! You are such an amazing provider :)



Been lookin' a lot like this!

What I'm Doing This Weekend

Well, not quite sure yet! Any ideas from you ladies? I think we may go do something to soak up these last moments of the Christmas season!

I know that Christmas Eve, and possibly Christmas day church services will be happening. We just have not found a home church here yet (mostly because we haven't been here long and we plan on moving VERY soon). I would love to find a gorgeous church to hear praises be sung in. I have never been into one of those Catholic churches with the huge stained glass and all of that. I think that would be a super cool thing to experience!





What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month

We are hoping new job, so possibly a new place? That always takes a lot of work, but I would love to find a city that we want to settle down in.

I would absolutely love to move closer to my older sister and brother in law, and my nieces. But the city that they live in is not very desirable. Plus, we have yet to get any job offers there despite sending out a ton of applications! There's just not a ton of places to work out there in my man's expertise. Pray that God leads us where He needs us!



What Else Is New

Well, gosh! Not much. I feel as though I already spilled all those beans to you above! Hmm... How about, instead of trying to think of something else (which I can't think of much else!), y'all share something new that's going on in your lives in the comments!

Can't wait to here from y'all!

Show and Tell Tuesday: Best Gift Ever!

Alright y'all, let me just say that I don't know how I am ever going to beat this 'best gift ever' that was given by my mama. 

I mean, unless I can duplicate this EXACT gift... I don't think I can hold a candle to it with my kids. 

Show and Tell Tuesday

Best Gift Ever

So... it begins. I believe this was around 2007. My younger sister (9) and I (11) were currently stuck half time at our bio father's house (he was abusive and we did not wanna be there). And the other half of the time, we got to be with our mama. Which is exactly where we wanted to be!

My mama was spunky, and fun, and so compassionate. She was all about fun. Not caring about the way it looked to anyone else, just about making memories with her kids (she was all about her kids... since forever!). 

My mama was in the middle of fighting this LONG custody battle to get us to live with her full time (which we eventually won about 7 months later! Yay!) 

That being said... we had literally NO money. 

My older brother had come to live in our basement and help mama pay the bills and take care of all of us. We were in desperate times, about to lose our house and I'm sure we had next to no money for food. 

But you know what? She NEVER let us know that. 

So.. onto the story. 

Christmas Eve, we went to bed in our mama's bed and slept all night.. not hearing anything else!

Christmas morning, we woke up to run and see over the bannister (you could see the living room over the bannister from upstairs, which is where the tree was). We looked over and there were no presents. 

We were a little disappointed, but tried not to show it. We turned around to tell our mama that it was okay, we were just happy to be with her that Christmas. 

And just as we turned around, we saw the dining room (you could see it from the stairway going upstairs. Think big open floor plan). 

A TRAMPOLINE. 

Yep. You heard me. 

A trampoline in the dining room. 

My mama felt we needed something fun (we would come home and cry everyday after school because we did not want to leave her), so she had my brother move all of the furniture out of the dining room and build a trampoline. 

She always said that if she could just get us home from school without crying, then we would get on the trampoline and not cry the rest of the night. 

Everyday was so hard for all of us... Just such a struggle. But my mama was so fun and kind hearted. She just wanted us to be happy. So, we'd get on that trampoline and jump for hours. Every night!

I sadly don't have any pictures of this... but I can remember it so clearly! 

A big 16 foot trampoline (with the net around it) in our dining room. It was so big you could hardly open the front door! 

We constantly had friends and neighbors over to jump on the fabled 'trampoline in the living room'! I mean, could it have been any more fun?!

It stayed in our dining room for about 6 months. Until it was warm enough to jump outside. 

That trampoline was money well spent :)

Just to put a name to the face, that's me and my cute spunky mama. We were doing manis and pedis at chemo :)

I hope you enjoyed hearing this! We made the best memories with that trampoline, and I can remember it like it was yesterday! 

Friday Favorites

I have a LOT of favorites this week. And for that, I am so excited!!!

Wait till you hear these! They're so fun. And you may get some ideas to try during this next week!

Friday Favorites!

One

This may sound like a silly favorite, but the post I wrote yesterday (it's a bit of a long one) has seriously improved my heart. 

Just being able to get the words out on 'paper' really is helping heal me. Please let me know if you have any questions on it (I will answer them!) or if you are going through a similar situation, let's help each other heal!

Healing is exhausting. But it is so worth it. 

So worth it.

If you haven't seen the post, you can find it here. 

Two

Just along with the whole post thing... I must say, we have some pretty interesting posts that went up this week over here at The Fashionista Housewife :)

Especially because I've started a new series. Called Makeup Mondays!

Makeup Mondays will be about anything and everything makeup! I have some detailed makeup looks coming your way, as well as some tips/tricks and how to's! I mean, come on. Who doesn't love makeup? And if you don't, I promise, you can still find something useful in these posts. 

Can't wait to hear what y'all think of these!

Here's the new posts of the week. 

I'll link them for you here. 

Monday: Makeup Monday: How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Tuesday: Cookie Dough Hot Chocolate

Wednesday: Polar Express Night and Polar Express Hot Cocoa

Thursday: Dealing With Grief

Three:

Sweet Cole comes home tomorrow!! And can I express to you how excited I am?!!! 

No I cannot :)

He's such a little nugget! 

Cole is the smallest of the bunch by 3 pounds (that's a lot in puppy world!)

This pic was taken right after he decided to go swimming in his breakfast food! 

He can literally step into the bowl with all four paws and walk around. That's how tiny that little cutie is. 

I cannot wait to pick up our baby!

Four

These lipglosses!!! Hello!!!

Gorgeous! 

I will be doing an in depth Makeup Monday post on them this coming monday. Keep a look out for that fun post :)

Can I just say obsessed?! 

These are from a gift set by Anastasia Beverly Hills. It's 8 full size lip glosses that retail for $16 a piece. 

The gift set sells for $40 making each lipgloss only $5! You really can't even beat that! 

Just take my word for it. You need these!

You can find these at Macys in the Impulse makeup section, or on her website here.

I'm wearing the shade Weekend Barbie.

Five

My favorite songs for the week! I just love jammin' to these beats. Mainly what gets me to love a song is when the voices harmonize, a catchy beat, and when the artist gets really passionate about the song (about 3/4 of the way through a song).

Check out some of these fun songs :)

1. Forever Like That by Ben Rector

2. Break Up In a Small Town by Sam Hunt

3. Roses by Chainsmokers

4. My House by Flo Rida

5. God Blessed Texas by Little Texas

We used to line dance to that last one in college all the time. I still have my dancin' boots too. Not to toot my own horn or anything...

But I was good ;)

Six

I have some AH-MAZING recipes comin' your way this week!

Are you ready for 'em? 

Here's a sneak peek...

... and that's about all I can say. Because otherwise my mouth will start watering, and I won't be able to keep any surprises!

Just check back if you want the BEST dinner to make your family :)

Seven

Okay... Have Y'all been in Bath and Body Works lately?!!!

You must know that yo' girl loves candles. 

ESPECIALLY Bath and Body Works candles. 

But I have never seen these types... WITH THE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS SPARKLY LIDS?!!!

This mama likes her some sparkles :)

I mean can these get any cuter?!!

Eight

Just wait. Until you see. This scarf. 

I scored. I really did. 

I found this full and voluminous cheetah print scarf at Ross. 

For $6.99.

And it's Vince Camuto!

#allthehearteyes

I'm showing you below the couple of ways that I like to tie it up. 

My jeans in the pic are SO comfy and soft. They are Rock and Revival jeans. Expensive, but worth it. They're stretchy, they're long, they're skinny. Can you get any better? These have already lasted me hundreds of wears throughout 3 years and still look just like new. They wash well too!

My shirt is from the So brand from Kohls from ages ago!

I just tie it in 2 knots. One of top of each other. 

 Just let it hang. No ties or anything. 

The famous wrap around. Just hold the scarf in front of your neck.

Cross the two ends behind your neck and bring them back to the front. Play with it until it looks just right!

Then you go from this...

To this! It's automatically an infinity scarf just by tucking the ends into the scarf. Easy peasy!

 I paired this outfit with my Sperry Rain Boots. They're sparkly up top on that quilted pattern!

It was raining buckets today! But these don't leak at all :)

Well, y'all... my goodness! Let's take a deep breath. Cause I feel like that was a lot...

But it was fun, right?! 

Let me know if you find any inspiration for you and your fam in the comments below! :)

Have a great week you guys!

Polar Express Night and Crockpot Hot Chocolate!

Okay you guys. This is one of our all time favorite Christmas traditions. I know I mentioned it in my post that you can check out here. This is so fun!

It's such an easy going night, and it doesn't take hardly any preparation (except for the hot chocolate, and if you wanna build a fort to watch the movie in ;) 

So stick around to see our most loved tradition in the Fashionista Housewife Home :) 

Polar Express Night

Time for fun!!! Just watch as this night unfolds years of memories for you guys to share! 

First, we get into our most comfy jammies! 

I choose some fleecy jammies with some fuzzy socks. I love to be warm and toasty, and I usually run cold anyways. 

My man chooses shorts and a T-shirt #oppositesattract. 

I make some crockpot hot cocoa, and put it into our Starbucks cups. You know, the ones they sell for $1? I honestly just use them because they have tops on them. Makes it easy to drink in the living room!

We love to bring out our inner kid and build a fort to watch the movie in. It's so cozy and it really gets everyone in the mood to settle in for a night at home! 

We turn on the fireplace. Ours is not real in any case, but that's alright with me! You just press the on button ;) We found this media console (its gorgeous in person too!) at Walmart, of all places! 

I grab a fleece blanket #canyoutellilikefleece that we got from Costco. We love these! I believe they're called the Sherpa lined ones? We have a tan and a maroon one. If you can't find these, Cole has his own blankie from Costco too. But his is just plain fleece and in a dark brown color. His is super soft too! 

The tan sherpa blanket is the one I'm cuddled up in!

Turn on The Polar Express, it's time for the main premiere! 

Enjoy staying cuddled up with your most favorite people on the planet :)

We do this every Christmas Eve!

Crockpot Hot Cocoa

Shopping List

1. 6 cups of 2% milk

2. 1 can sweetened condensed milk

3. 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream

4. 1 1/2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips

5. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6. A dash of salt

Recipe

1. Pour all of these ingredients into your crockpot and cook on low for around 40 mins. Just until your  chocolate chips have melted. 

2. Stir everything to mix together and keep your crockpot on warm to keep it hot for seconds!

3. Ladle these into the mugs of your choice. Fun mugs make it way more interesting!

4. Enjoy!

Super easy peasy! Feel free to top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, peppermint crushings, or marshmallows with some caramel sauce drizzled on top! 

Let me know what your traditions are down below for Christmas Eve. Did you guys add this one to your list?