merry Christmas Eve + sort of a room tour

Hey guys! We finished blogmas! *cheers* I know no one will probably read this until after Christmas but I just wanted to come on here and finish strong with one last post: My sister and I have a tradition of setting up the spare bed in my room and having a “Christmas sleepover”, so I thought I would share a few pics from our cute setup for sort of a room tour; sorry for the bad quality, I literally took these 5 minutes ago haha. Anyway, I hope you have a merry Christmas, and thanks for reading!

Merry Christmas Eve!

~grace

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Are you reading this on Christmas Eve? If so, put your phone/computer/whatever down and go enjoy Christmas you idiot. Thoughts? Leave ’em in the comments!

things i’m grateful for this Christmas

Hey guys! It’s so important to take a step back every once and a while and think about all the things we have to be grateful for, so that’s what I’ll be writing about today. Without further ado, here are some things I’m grateful for this Christmas.

Sitting by the fire with a blanket and my family around me, the cozy blaze warming our faces.

Driving through town looking at Christmas lights, listening to Christmas music.

Christmas “parties” in the middle of class.

The way that Christmas trees glitter through people’s windows when you drive down the street.

The realization that it’s not the end of the world to feel lonely at a party.

Hope and anticipation for the new year.

That somehow giving gifts brings more joy than getting ones.

Warm tea and apple cider and hot cocoa.

Family. Good friends. Good people.

The contagious caring spirit that seems to spark in people in December.

Brightly wrapped Christmas gifts, tied up with ribbon and sitting neatly under the tree.

The feeling of completion from finishing school for the semester.

The crisp, clean smell of cold air.

Waking up in the morning to see my dog curled up nearby.

Warm blankets after a long day.

Candlelight services, the whole church dark except for the hundreds of tiny candles flickering with the music.

Dancing around the living room listening to old songs.

That life doesn’t have to be perfect for me to enjoy it.

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What are you grateful for this Christmas? Thoughts? Leave ’em in the comments!

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

~grace

a Christmas road trip

Hey guys! I’ve been out of town the last couple of days, which was really fun, but it’s not so easy to write blogmas posts on the go, so I decided instead of spamming y’all with a bunch of last-minute posts, I would just let y’all know what I’ve been up to these last few days. 😉

So this weekend my family and I went on a road trip to visit my grandparents who live in a city in a state in the USA on planet Earth in the Milky Way in the universe. We got down there late Friday afternoon, and left today (Sunday) so most of these pictures are from yesterday. I’m writing this in the car on the way home right now, so ‘scuse any typos.

Saturday morning I was too lazy tm to get dressed before breakfast so I just unceremoniously went down to breakfast in my pajamas…the whole place was decorated for Christmas so me and my Christmas pjs blended right in haha.

The hotel we usually stay in serves omelettes for breakfast as well as the usual things so my mom got one for me. 🙂

After breakfast we all went to go see a movie: my dad and my brothers and I to Star Wars and everyone else to an animated movie. (my sister is too little to see anything PG-13)

If you haven’t seen the Rise of Skywalker yet, 10/10 would recommend, there were soo many plot twists in that thing, it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.* 🙂

When we got back to my grandparents house (after getting lunch at Chipotle of course ;)- ), we decided to open our “early Christmas” gifts.

My Papa wanted mexican food for dinner so we picked up what ended up being two giant bagsful of food. (I have a big family ;)-)

After we all had had our fill, we went back to our hotel and my mom and I decided to do a quick workout.

Then, after I got all cleaned up, I decided I would use one one of the super cute sheet masks that I got for “1st Christmas”

Then I just read for a bit, went to bed, and that was my day. 🙂

The next morning, (today) was a pretty slow morning, we just helped my grandparents with a few things, then set out on the road again where I’m typing this post right now. 🙂

I know this was a little different from what I usually post, but I hope you guys enjoyed!

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Are you on Christmas Break yet? Have you/are you going anywhere for Christmas this year? Thoughts? Leave ‘em in the comments!

~grace

making gingerbread houses

Hey guys! Sorry this post is going up so late, today has been super busy and I didn’t have time to write a proper blogmas post so I thought I would make this short and sweet and just share a few pics from when my brother and I made gingerbread houses a few days ago…just sit back, grab a cup of coffee/tea/whatever and enjoy this montage of low res photos I put together at the last minute because I refuse to give up on blogmas…hey, don’t judge me, you try taking photos while trying to build a very complex work of art gingerbread house.

The box in all it’s cardboard glory^

all the supplies

my brother and I decorating the house^

working on the roof^

the finished house

side view ft. uneven squiggles

maybe it’s not insta worthy but time with my brother was worth more than any instagram likes

Only a week until Christmas!

~grace

 

 

3 ways to *spice* up your hot cocoa game

There’s nothing better than sitting around the fire with your family and a mug of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night…but who has the time to make that hot chocolate recipe with all those fancy expensive ingredients that you found on some overachiever chef’s blog? Luckily for you, this post is all about how you can up your hot chocolate game and make that hot chocolate packet taste like it came from your local coffee shop. 😉

*All of these recipes make enough for one mugful, but you can double or triple as needed*

1. White Chocolate Peppermint Hot Cocoa

All you’ll need for this one is:

• A hot chocolate packet of your choice (I used Swiss Miss)
• 2-3 Candy Cane Hershey Kisses
• 1 1/4 milk of your choice
• Marshmallows (optional)

Directions:

Literally just heat up your milk for about a minute and a forty seconds, (you want it to be hot enough to melt your kisses) pour all the ingredients into your mug, and stir until the kisses are melted. If you’re feeling extra fancy you can froth the milk with a handheld frother and top with marshmallows. 🙂

Enjoy!

2. Mexican Hot Chocolate

If you’ve never had Mexican hot chocolate, you are missing out mi amigo. Usually you can only get this drink at specialty coffee shops (or if you make it completely from scratch) but here’s a “cheat” version that will get you the same delicious flavors without the extra effort. Also, don’t be scared off by the chili powder, you can’t taste it once it’s mixed in.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups milk
• hot cocoa mix packet
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• a tiny pinch of chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Mix together your spices in a small bowl while you heat up your milk. Pour the warm milk over the contents of your hot chocolate packet. Add only about 1/2 teaspoon of the spice mix to your drink or to taste.

 

3. Creamy Caramel Hot Coaco

If you love caramel, you’ll love this sweet drink and best of all it’s super simple and easy to make. 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1 hot chocolate packet
• 1 tbsp caramel syrup (you can usually find it with the ice cream toppings, I used Hershey’s)

Directions:

Heat up your milk for about a minute and forty seconds, then combine all ingredients in a mug and stir. That’s it!

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Did you make any of these recipes? Let me know in the comments!

Only a week until Christmas!

~grace

holiday makeup favorites

`Hey guys! Happy 9 days until Christmas! I don’t know about you, but I love getting makeup tips and recommendations from other people so today I’ll be sharing with you guys a few of my favorite beauty products to use around the holidays; so lets dump out my makeup bag (which by the way says “nice” on the other side) and get right into it!

First up is this primer from Milani; it makes a great base for your other makeup and I love to use it year-round because it has an SPF of 30 for added sun protection. Which if you live in the south like I do you know that sun protection is a must. 😉

I honestly had very low expectations for this Wet and Wild Photofocus Foundation…I had never tried liquid foundation before so I just grabbed the cheapest thing on the shelf at Target so that I wouldn’t feel bad if I didn’t like it or wasted it all practicing how to use it, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the shade I picked (which was the lightest) actually matched me and the consistency was not too heavy and not too light. If you’re just starting out with makeup and/or have trouble finding foundations that are light enough for you I would definitely recommend this one.

 

Here’s a photo that better shows the actual shade of the foundation. 🙂

Another great “foundation” is the Bare Minerals concealer…It isn’t technically a foundation but I really like the principal of mineral/naturally based makeup (I’ve found that natural products tend to make me break out less) but Bare Mineral’s shade range is um…not the greatest…so I ended up using their eye brightening concealer because im as pale as a ghost apparently because it was the only thing in their line that was light enough for me lol. It works great as a concealer, and if you just want a really light, natural coverage foundation it also works for that as well.

If you have a place in your heart for sparkly eyeshadows like I do ;)-, you’ll love this loose mineral eyeshadow, also from Bare Minerals. It comes in a ton of different shades and it’s sooooo sparkly and great for a natural glow or for layering into something a bit more glam.

(sorry for my bad swatching skills haha)

Next up are these lipsticks from Origins and Bare Minerals respectively. I just love the packaging on the Origins one and it’s a great shade for everyday. The one from Bare Minerals is more of a bright Christmasy red; it’s one of their mini lipsticks, which I think are really fun for trying new shades.

^the shades are Moxie and Petal Blush (please excuse the condition of the lipsticks, one of them got a bit melted on a recent trip lol)

*update: they don’t sell Moxie anymore but here’s a link to some similar shades*

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What are your favorite makeup products? Thoughts? Leave em’ in the comments 😉

~grace

thoughts on Christmas

Hey guys! For today’s post I thought I would repost something I wrote last year about what Christmas really means…I know that sounds like a cliche Hallmark movie line but it really is important to remember why we celebrate Christmas. I remember being frustrated with the superficiality of the holiday season when i wrote this, so this post is slightly edited by 2019 me for less passive aggressiveness lol.

12/14 /18:

On superficiality||12 Days of Blogmas Day 2

Hey there! For today’s blogmas post, I wanted to talk about something that gets mentioned a lot, but that we don’t really stop to think about: All the superficiality and commercialism during Christmastime. First off I would like to say that I don’t think any of this stuff is “ruining” Christmas. Santa Claus and toy commercials can’t ever take away the fact that Jesus was born 2000 years ago. But I do think we need to change our mindset just a bit. It’s really easy to get wrapped up* in all the presents, Christmas specials, and yummy food and forget about the real meaning of Christmas. Not that I think any of those things are bad…but I think we also need to take the time to remember the birth of Jesus during this season of holiday parties and gift-giving 🙂 He is the true meaning of Christmas, despite what the television shows and hallmark movies may say. This year I’m going to attempt to be better at doing that…by trying to notice things to be thankful to Him for…by doing my best to show love to others…by remembering what He has done for us…even if I may not always be the best at doing that. I know that the holiday season has its faults; all the commercialism, emphasis on getting more stuff, etc. but I think that God uses this season to bring out the best in people…bring them closer to Him and closer to others…and most importantly, remember what He has done for us. Since God should be first in our lives, I want to put Him above all the presents and all the other “stuff” of life…no matter what time of the year it is. 🙂

Thoughts? Put ’em in the comments 😉

-grace

*did you catch my Christmas pun? 😜

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Hope you enjoyed and as always, thoughts are welcome in the comments. 😉

~Grace

 

come Christmas shopping with me/haul/FAMILY DO NOT READ

Okay first:

If you’re family STOP READING NOW **Christmas present spoilers ahead**

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Alright now that they’re gone we can get on with this post…so a friend and I decided to do some Christmas shopping over the break and I thought it would be fun to take y’all along with me…I don’t have very many pictures because half the time i forgot to take pictures and the other half the time i was not brave enough to be that one weirdo taking pictures of the Christmas display in the middle of Target. ;)-

The first (and only stop with pictures) that we went to was Ulta…they had so many cute Christmas gift sets…but I didn’t end up buying any haha.

^these “chocolate” eyeshadow pallets were so cute!

^sum qUaLiTy photo taking skills right there *facepalm*

Haul time!

I hate the word haul lol, it just brings to mind ungratefulness to me, but since this is a haul for other people, I don’t feel so bad about using it. 😉

Alright, first up from Claire’s, I got my sister these adorable sisters’ bracelets. The packaging is a bit beat up but it was the last one they had and I know she won’t mind. 🙂

Then from Bath and Body works I got my mom some mini rose scented body spray and lotion; I also picked up this men’s mini soap for my brother (It’s one of their new scents so this was the only mini they had out in that scent)

From lush I got this bath bomb for my sister; she loves bath bombs so I tried to find the most colorful, fun one they had, I believe this one is from their Christmas line.

 

I ordered this super cute monogrammed makeup bag from Everly Grayce on Etsy for my mom *name scribbled out for privacy* and I’m planning on filling it with all the little beauty/self care goodies I got from the other shops. 🙂

I’m honestly a little jealous of my brother right now cause’ I spotted these adorable fEstive socks at the Walmart and decided I had to get them for him. (he wears glasses so i thought it would be cute) 🙂

And then from TTTTarget I spotted these Star Wars books for my brothers and then got a couple face masks to add to my mom’s present.

Last but not least is this dog toy I got from a local store, it’s a rope toy with two little Christmas lights at the end; I think it’ll work great for keeping my dog distracted while the rest of us open presents. 😉

Also, yes I did get my dad a present, it just hasn’t come yet. 😉

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Do you like Christmas shopping online or do you prefer to shop in person? Thoughts? Leave ’em in the comments! 🙂

Only 2 days until Christmas!

~grace

hi i’m back

Uh…Hi again…It’s been a while since i disappeared off the face of the blogging earth and I’m pretty sure most people have forgotten that this blog exists…so if you’re new or if you forgot i exist which would be totally fair because…i disappeared for three months lol  Hi I’m Grace, this is my blog where i blog about things. Mostly lifestyle (which is such a vague category, I know, but i like to write about whatever is on my mind.)

Anyway, I decided that the best way to get back into blogging was to jump straight into blogmas. Now whoa wait, before you close this tab going “yeah thats dumbest idea i’ve ever heard” This may come as a shock….but I actually decided to learn from last years failed attempt and pLaN aHead by writing most of these during Thanksgiving break. 😉

So get ready for some fun festive posts coming this Friday, and be sure to follow this blog and follow me on insta @grace.elysa so you don’t miss anything!

~grace

 

books i’m looking forward to reading because fall✨

Hey it’s been a while, y’all probably forgot I existed haha ;)- Obviously I took a break over the summer, and I don’t really have a good reason for doing so other than “I wanted to take a break” so I’m not gonna try to make a bunch of excuses, I’m just really glad to be back!

Since fall is now here in full swing yes i know that its literally 92 degrees outside where i live but thats irrelevant and fall obviously means curling up with a book and a hot drink, and there are so many new releases coming out this season, I thought that I would share the books I’m looking forward to reading with you guys. sometimes it seems like every publisher on the face of the earth collectively decided to release all the best books in fall

Okay so I lied, this post isn’t only about books; there are were so many good movies I’m looking forward to seeing that I just had to include them too. 😉

DISCLAIMER before we begin though: I obviously have not read all of these books or seen these movies yet, so for the most part I have no idea of the content (and if i have read the prequel/s i don’t necessarily approve of/agree with everything in it) …basically what I’m saying is nobody come at me if any of these turn out to have some really…uh…questionable content.

b o o k s

Starsight by Brandon Sanderson

As it says on the cover, this is the sequel im really hoping for a trilogy y’all to Skyward which I was pleasantly surprised by…a few parts were cliche, but it had some huge plot twists that I wasn’t expecting. If you’re down for a sci-fi adventure story with no romance, unique characters, and is clean to boot, this series is for you.

Goodreads

American Royals by Katharine McGee

This story takes place in an alternate reality where instead of becoming the President, George Washington is crowned king of America. The story follows his descendants, the royal family, in modern day America.

I’m really excited to read this one because it’s a very unique concept and I’ve never read anything like it before…If y’all want a book review let me know down in the comments, and I’ll try to write one as soon as I can check out a copy.

Goodreads

Supernova by Marissa Meyer

Ahhhhh I’ve been so excited for this book since the last one came out!….this is the final book in the Renegades trilogy, which is basically like…a superhero story but like? not ur average everyday one i guess? and with better characters and plot? just go read it okay, Marissa Meyer is one of my favorite authors. I also love how this book has juust the right amount of romance to complicate things but it doesn’t get in the way of the story too much.

 

Also: content disclaimer: in the story one of the character’s has two dads, *See above disclaimer about not agreeing with everything in every book* no hate, no tea, I believe that is not a Christ-like way to live, and also that everyone should be treated with kindness and respect. If anyone has an issue with that and feels the need to express their opinion please do so through the contact form and not in the comments because this is a post about books for Pete’s sake. Or just use the contact form to say hi. :)-

100 Days of Sunlight

I feel like I’m the only person on the entire internet who hasn’t read Abbie Emmon’s book yet…hopefully I can get a copy soon, I mean just look at that gorgeous cover 🙂

m o v i e s

Yesterday

This sounds like such a cool movie and I can’t wait to watch it! I’m just gonna leave the little wiki blurb here since it explains it way better than I could 😉

“Jack Malik is a struggling singer-songwriter in an English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie. After a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, Jack becomes on overnight sensation with a little help from his agent.”

 

Frozen 2

Y’all already know what this is about so I’m not even going to bother putting the blurb in here. 😉

Yes I am aware that this is a children’s movie; yes, I am aware that I am 16 and not 5…am I still going to watch it with as much excitement as a 5 year old? yes.

Star Wars IV

guyyys that last trailer though. Technically, this doesn’t come out until wintertime but I thought I would just throw it in here because of how excited I am to watch it. ;)-

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what books/movies are you looking forward to? what is your favorite thing to do in fall?

adios for now,