The holiday season is definitely the thing I’m loving most this week. From festive cookie exchanges to beautiful decorations and twinkling lights, it really does feel like such a magical time of year. I can’t wait to hop in the car next weekend and head to my parents’ place in Jacksonville for the week!
But I’m getting a little ahead of myself… Let’s jump into our usual Friday fun and chat about what we’re loving this week. As always, feel free to share something that is making you smile in the comments section of this post… It just might count as an entry into today’s Happy Holidays Giveaway Week giveaway!
Things I’m Loving Friday
- A New Gym Job (…but I’m still keeping my other gym job, too!)
About a week ago, one of my favorite Pure Barre teachers passed my name along to the manager of a small corporate gym at a local business park. Then, earlier this week, I went in for an interview and am happy to report I’ll be picking up some more classes and working a few days a week at another small local gym! Both gyms where I’ll be working (the one I’ve been working at since November 1 and this new one) are very small and quite different from what I was used to when I taught at the YMCA in Ocala. I am enjoying the change and really like the intimate atmosphere!
These cookies are just the best. I made them for my cookie exchange party earlier this week and baked another batch yesterday before our last Girls On The Run practice of the season. The girls absolutely gobbled them up and raved about them which naturally made my heart happy. My grandma’s oversized, fluffy sugar cookies were my all-time favorite when I was a little girl and I always knew I could expect to see her big glass cookie jar overflowing with them whenever we’d go to Gettysburg to visit. (And yes, that’s Mimi’s handwriting on the recipe card above. Love!)
- Pandora Rockin’ Holidays Station
If you’re looking for an upbeat holiday Pandora station, check out the Rockin’ Holidays station! It’s full of energizing Christmas songs and I’ve been playing it non-stop since the day after Thanksgiving!
- Beautycounter Glow Sugar Scrub
Ryan and I had such a nice time with our friends Amii and Walt over dinner last weekend. As we ate Amii’s amazing baked ziti and sipped on fabulous wine, Amii told me a little bit about some of the beauty and skincare products she’s been loving lately since she’s heard me complain about my skin a time or two. She let me take home a few of her favorite samples to try from Beautycounter (she’s a consultant – and not pushy at all), and I quickly fell in love with the Glow Sugar Scrub and Peppermint Lip Conditioner. The sugar scrub is unreal (it smells like refreshing lemongrass) and only uses real sugar and pure essential oils to exfoliate skin for a healthy glow. The mineral-rich evening primrose, sweet almond, apricot kernel, and sunflower oils leaves my skin feeling soft and so, so hydrated which is much-needed since my skin cannot soak up enough moisturizer in the colder months. I’ve been using it when I shave in the shower and adore it!!
Our realtor is absolutely the best! Earlier this week, I arrived home to find the sweetest package of holiday chocolates sitting on our doorstep from Diane which made me smile. She’s so incredibly thoughtful and clearly has the best taste in chocolate because every single piece of Davidson Chocolate included in the giant solid-chocolate star box I’ve tried so far has been fabulous!
- Happy Holidays Giveaway Week Winners
Congratulations to Bre (grand prize) and Molly and Arianne (runner up), the winners of the Lorna Jane giveaway! And congratulations to Karen G. ($250 gift card) and Rachel W. (Skyscapes), the winners of the Reebok giveaway! All winners were emailed first thing this morning.
- Birchbox Giveaway
I first started subscribing to Birchbox, a monthly subscription beauty box, last year. Each box includes five beauty samples from high-end brands and my ongoing subscription has led to some of my all-time favorite beauty product discoveries, including theBalm Stainiac lip stain, Klorane dry shampoo, Dr. Brandt skincare and more.
It’s so much fun to receive a pretty little box filled with fun beauty samples each month and I think it would make a great gift for the beauty-lover in your life! Thankfully, Birchbox was kind enough to agree to host an awesome giveaway on the blog today in honor of Happy Holidays Giveaway Week!
One grand prize winner will receive a 6-month Birchbox subscription and a Cynthia Rowley Beauty Palette! And a runner-up winner will receive a 3-month Birchbox subscription!
To enter this giveaway, please answer one (or both!) of the following questions:
- What is one beauty product you’d love to see in your first Birchbox? Maybe you’re dying to try a new kind of eyeliner. Or perhaps you could use a better cleanser or lip gloss? Let me know!
- What is one thing you’re loving this week?
I will randomly select a winner next Friday. Good luck!!
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I’d love to try some new skin care products! Especially moisturizers or wrinkle cream! I’m loving that I only have one more week to work before winter break!,
I would love lip gloss or stick. I recently started using it and love it. Thanks for the opportunity!
I would love a moisturizer in mine. Winter skin blahs.
This week I am loving the fact that classes are over for the semester! Two more exams tomorrow and I am home free!
1) I’d like to try some higher end skincare as I usually stick to drugstore products like neutrogena.
2) We cooked up yummy steak dinner for my boyfriends and I anniversary so that was definitely a highlight of my week!
Ooooh I’ve been wanting to try Birchbox! Love getting to try different brands of makeup!
I am loving all of the holiday cookies this time of year!
I’m loving being back in my hometown this week to see all my family and friends. The Christmas season can finally begin!
One thing I’m loving this week is holiday baking with my boyfriend’s family!
I would love to try a new lipgloss! I’m currently loving all of the meals that I’ve enjoyed with friends.
In my first birchbox I would love to see a moisturizer that quenches my dry. dry skin. I am loving that I will be graduating from college next weekend and that I am training for my second half-marathon!!! =D
What is one beauty product you’d love to see in your first Birchbox?
I would love to see a wonderfully fresh skin cream!
What is one thing you’re loving this week?
Decorating the christmas tree with my husband and thinking through all the memories the ornaments hold 🙂
I would love to get something for my hair in winter.. it’s fine but wavy and in this weather it’s so blah and flat.
And something I’m loving this week are trader joes organic gingermints. I’m 7 weeks pregnant and these are one of the few things that help me feel less nauseaus.
I am loving all of the holiday themed events my town is having. It’s great to have new things to do to explore parts of my town I didn’t know even existed. Also I love lip gloss so that’s one item I would look forward to in a birchbox.
I am so in need of a new moisturizing chapstick. I just haven’t found one that moisturizes my lips, but also doesnt feel too thick or heavy! That’d be great if a Birchbox had THAT in there 🙂
In my first birchbox I would love to receive a face moisturizer to quench my dry skin. One thing that I am loving this week is that I finished my student teaching and will be graduating from college next weekend!!! =)
I love birchbox, I would love perfume samples. Love trying new scents. I also love nail polishes.
One thing I’m loving this week: the snow!! It finally feels like winter.
i would love to see a new Lip color/gloss!
I would love to try a new mascara or lipstick!
I’m loving the holiday season too! It’s a little hectic but so worth it.
I would love to see a new primer, they always make such a difference and I haven’t found one I absolutely love
I am looking for a new mascara. Haven’t found one I love yet.
I would love to try a new blusher!
I’m always looking of “the perfect gloss”. My favorite got discontinued last year and I’m almost out! Favorite thing this weekend? Mimosa celebration with my classmates after finishing our last PT final of the semester!
I would love to see blush in my birch box should I win. I am looking for a new color…
I would love to see a good concealer!
I would love to see a new mascara–I need something new!
I would love a super moisturizer & an undereye concealer.
I’m loving shopping for presents for loved ones!
A sample of a Nars lipstick would be amazing!
I would love to see an Urban Decay Revolution lipstick! I already own a few and I’d love for all of their subscribers to fall in love with UD’s lipsticks, too(specifically a gorgeous scarlet shade called F-Bomb).
Annnnd–I am loving $1 for any-sized coffee promo at McDonald’s right now. It’s not on that DD level, but it’s still it’s getting the job done for a freaking dollar.
I’m loving that I only have to work 4 days this week!
I doubt I can enter your giveaway since I live in Europe but the one product I still can’t find that suits me is a facial scrub. And i have tried quite a few…
In the winter I’m all about good lotions and creams!
I would love to see a lip color!
I would love to try a new pretty lipstick!
I would love to try a new mascara. This week I’m loving chocolate peppermint macaroons that I made for our Christmas party.
a nice face lotion would be good to get in a box!
I need to change up my routine. I have more acne now (at 34) then I did when I was a teenager! UGH!!!
Eyeshadow!! 🙂
I could use a new mascara or good lip stain 🙂
I would love to try out some new eyeshadows and eyeliners! Pretty much anything for my eyes
I am loving Christmas music and the fact that it is the last week of teaching before winter break!
One thing I’m loving this week is my morning tea!
I would love to try a new lip stain and I’m always looking for ways to tame the mane!
Loving feeling my baby girl flipping around inside of me so much more this week. I am almost 24 weeks and feeling her constantly now. Such a cool feeling!
I’m loving heart-warming food and drinks, especially delicious bowls of oatmeal and pb!
My birchbox subscription just ended so I would love to win another 6 months! One thing I would like in it that I haven’t had in mine for a while would be some new eyeshadows or liners. I always love trying new colors!
I’d love some new nail polish!
I would Love a new perfume sample! I’ve worn the same scent for years and would like to change it up!