Weekly Reads 12.17.17
December 17, 2017
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Another week has come and gone. Now Christmas is right aroud the corner. I'd be lyibg if I said I had my holiday ish together. I haven't done any of my christmas shopping yet or packed for my trip back to Georgia... Opps! But you know what I have done, enjoyed a lot of pizza and soaked up a lot of hiliday cheer in the NYC area. I hope you've been haing fun in your neighborhood too! Happy Sunday!
Emotional Pickme Up: Let’s Face it, the holidays can be super rough! If you’re having a blue Christmas, read 6 Ways to Cope with The Holidays When You're Feeling Sad on the Everygirl.com. It helped me put a lot of things into perspective.
Smart Money tip of the week (Because you’re too good to be a broke bitch.) Read this or this if you want some tips and tricks to save money this holiday season.
Real Life Ish: Found this article on Jess Ann Kirby's site. And I agree with her… I’m not too sure this is the best way to fix the economy… and this sounds a little too muhc like Handmaid’s tale. God help us all.
Shop til you drop:the best sales this week: Express- Everything is 50% off! I grabbed a stunning red dress for $25 this weekend because I was able to bundle my coupons with the sale! Here are some of my favorite picks from the sale. P.S. This section contains affiliate links.
You deserve a career you love: Not feeling motivated at work? This article might help you push through the apathy when you cannot bring yourself to care about work anymore.
Stay Safe: Experian published a helpful article to help us avoid becoming victims of fraud this holiday season.
December Mood Board
December 12, 2017
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| Photos by:
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There are only 12 days until Christmas!! That means I'm listening to holiday music around the clock, doing guided meditations twice a day and finding small ways to embrace the season. Creating a mood board each month is something I always look forward to. Making time to collect my thoughts and channel my energy towards the experiences and emotions I want to explore each month... man, for some reason, I get a high from this stuff. No matter what you celebrate this time of year, I hope you'll sit down and reflect on how you want to spend the end of the year. Because guess what... we freaking made it. And the last month of the year is full of possibilities! Plus, 2018 is sure to be brighter than 2017. Afterall, we are one year down in our sentence; three more to go! #OprahForPresident2020 I hope you have the merriest December ever, and let me know what you're most excited for this month! As always, thanks for spending a little bit of time today to read my blog. I appreciate you more than you know.
P.S. I like to include some things I've been eyeing during the month too. The section below has affiliate links, so if you shop from it, I get a small commission. Whether you shop or not, I hope the items below inspire you to enjoy the last month of 2017.
December Bucket List: Holiday Edition
December 7, 2017
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| Photo by Toa Heftiba |
Since this December's challenge is to have more fun, I wanted to sit down and create a list of exciting activities that we can do this season. Making time for ourselves and time to have fun can be really hard around the holidays. There's so much travel, you probably have a long list of errands to run, you might have finals or you're trying to finish multiple projects at work. That's why I believe in scheduling fun time. But how can you schedule time to relax or enjoy your hood if you don't know what things to do. That's why I've put together this list of activities to do this December. I like to think of it as my guide to having fun. And since saving money is really fun, I separated this bucket list into three different price-points: free activities, under $50 activities, and splurge experiences. I hope this list saves you some time in figuring out what you want to do this holiday season. If you're feeling fancy, I created this cute holiday bucket list print out that you can write your list on. And be sure to leave a comment letting me know what's on your December bucket list! I'd love to add more expereiences to my list!
PRINT ME
- Grab hot chocolate to sip while walking around the city to look at chritsmas lights, see the window displays on 5th Avenue and see the Rockefeller tree
- Go to all the nyc pop-up exhibitions: Yankee Candle, Festival of Life, Sea of Light
- Walk around Central Park
- Have a holiday movie marathon
- Go to Dyker Heights in Brooklyn to see the famous lights displays
- Volunteer with a new organization (I'm using the app DEED to find opportunities)
- Check out the store Story in NYC - this store has a rotating theme every few weeks! Right now the theme is Home for the Holidays. I love!!
- Go to eataly and visit the rooftop bar/restuarant
- Visit each of these 15 festive rooftop bars
- Go to a "hidden restaurant" aka a speakeasy but in the form of a restaurant instead of a bar.
- Have a holiday craft day
- Have a baking party
- Get dolled up and go to a a swanky jazz club, speakeasy or piano bar
- See a chrsitmas movie in theaters - the Nitehawk is a special exerpeince or see It's A Wonderful Life at IFC
- Get tickets for the NY Botanical Gardens 21+ holiday train show bar cart night!
- Grab a drink at Rolfs
- Have a cocktails at Mace during the Miracle on Ninth Street pop-up
- Go on a date in a YURT
- Go to the opera
- See the Rockefeller Christmas Spectaccular
- Have breakfast at Tiffany's... because this is literally possible now. This can be under $50 if you order something small, but I want the full experience.
- See the Nutcracker
- Go on a holiday brunch cruise
- Host a christmas brunch
- Go to Chritmas High Tea
- Go Christmas shopping for a family in need. Make a basket of food and purchase gift cards - *this can be under $10 if you split the price between multiple people. I did this every year with my Church while I was growing up. It's really fun and a nice way to bring joy to a family.
December Challenge: Have More Fun!
December 4, 2017
Ah! It’s finally December, aka it's socially acceptable to do every single holiday activity we can think of. There’re beautiful decorations everywhere we look, Christmas music is blasting in almost every store and restaurant, holiday movies are playing 24/7, everyone is in a charitable mood and shopping trips become fun adventures. If you’re obsessed with the winter holiday season like mwah, these simple things make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. And I want to soak up all of it!
So this month, I’m challenging all of us to have more fun! The holidays can be a really stressful and sad time (booking flights, finding the perfect Christmas presents, juggling family obligations, missing loved ones who are no longer here) but I’m determined to embrace the positive side of the holidays this year.
My family spent all of Christmas 2014 visiting my dad who was in a state of vegetation until he passed away three months later. We are still trying to find the right balance between honoring his memory while still enjoying the season, a challenge that all families who’ve lost loved ones battle each year. I know how easy it is to spend this season upset, depressed or stressed out, but life is too short and precious to not celebrate while we have the chance.
So its my goal to remind us all of how blessed we are, regardless of the trauma, pain and hardships we’ve faced in the past. I’d be lying to you if I said I was happy for most of the year. 2017, overall, was more brutal than I expected. But I experienced more growth than ever before and realized how important it is to take care of myself before I hit my breaking point. There’s nothing wrong with it, in fact it’s responsible!
I also realized that letting my sorrows get the best of me is stopping me from showing up in life and just having fun! One reason I love this season is because fun activities are all around us and at all price points. It’s hard not to have fun. From ice skating to curling up with a cup of hot chocolate and binge watching Christmas movies, you can embrace a lot of seasonal activities without draining your bank account.
I’m really over being sad or anxious all of time! I’m taking responsibility for my thoughts and my emotions. Although I can’t control what pops up in my heart and head, I can choose to not focus on them or use those thoughts and feelings to steer me in a positive direction. I've already decided that this Christmas is going to be amazing.
I’m making a looooong list of activities that I want to enjoy before the year ends, and I plan to use this list as my guide and embrace December. How are you planning to make time for more play this season?
And in between fun, seasonal activities, when I start feeling overwhelmed, I’ll breathe, take a quick walk around the block and remind myself of how far I’ve come and how much abundance is in my life. I hope you’ll do the same. I'll be checking in with you guys weekly on Instagram Stories to let you know how I'm doing with this challenge and to see what you guys are doing. Happy holidays my friends, and thank you for taking a moment of your day to read this.
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