Twelve Days Of Christmas // Day Three

    Every year, my mom and I get requests to make fudge. From everyone. Friends, family, our doctor, old teachers... this fudge is loved by many. We're just about to start baking for the holidays, so I thought I would share recipe with you!

1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract1/4 cup Irish Cream liqueur *
2 1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted

     Grease an 8-inch square pan and line with parchment paper so that it hangs over the sides. Stir evaporated milk, brown sugar, white sugar, butter and salt in a sauce pot (heavy bottomed is better). Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often, and cook until 238 °F**. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and Irish Cream* and scrape into a bowl or mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer/electric beaters on low add in the icing sugar in three additions, mixing well after each. Scrape the fudge into the pan and let cool completely before slicing! 

    

*Optional, we usually leave it out, but it is very good with it in. 

** Use a candy thermometer to gauge!

Twelve Days of Christmas // Day Two

        ON THE SECOND DAY OF CHRISTMAS MY TR-- I'm not going to type sing to you, I'm sorry. But hey look at me actually sticking to this whole 12 days of blogging thing. Go me. Go you for reading it. I'm totally failing at ideas right now and I didn't have a whole lot of time today to write, so I'm just going to do a quick list of best ways to spend the night in during the holidays. Because it's cold, and usually snowy and slippery and ain't nobody have time for that.

     1. Decorating!

     If you haven't put up the tree/decorated every square inch of your house yet, this is your time. I started decorating at the beginning of the month but every night I end up adding more decorations to the tree or tweaking the lights outside.

     2. Baking

     Christmas is probably the best (most acceptable) time to make cookies, cake, fudge, and all the other sweets you can think of and eat every single one of them. Do it. New Years is coming and you can make it your resolution to lose all the Christmas weight. You may regret it while working out, but right now, it feels so good. *eats whole bag of marshmallows while writing this post*

     3. Watching Christmas Movies/Vlogmas
   
     Literally all of my spare time is devoted to watching all the Christmas movies I can, and in between I usually squeeze in some Vlogmas videos. My favourites are the lovely Zoella and beautiful Tanya Burr.

     4. Game Night

     With all your family around, it is the best time to have family game night. We have SO many board games at my house and they are rarely used anytime other than the holidays. Our favourites are Monopoly, Scrabble (which I'm finally getting good at) and Trivial Pursuit.

     5. Pamper Yourself!

     Everyone needs a good night to themselves to relax and let go the stress that accumulates over the holidays. Do some yoga, then take a long, hot, bubble bath and go to sleep early. Your body will thank you.

 

Twelve Days of Christmas // Day One

   

      I AM SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS. So excited that I have to use the caps lock. So excited that I have to start doing twelve days of Christmas posts or I might explode from Christmas cheer. So excited that I might have to drink 10 gallons of egg nog. Oh my goodness, I love egg nog.      

      Anyway, since early-mid November I've been watching Christmas movies. Maybe November is too early for Christmas movies, but I swore this year I would watch EVERY CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVER. Then I realized that it was an impossible task and just tried to watch as many as possible. I'm currently at number 55... or 54... who knows anymore. So, I thought I'd count down my top 10 favourite Christmas movies.

     1. Dr. Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas

     I'm sorry to all the Jim Carrey lovers out there, but I'm totally talking about the original cartoon. This movie has always been and will forever be number 1 on my list. It is my go to feel good Christmas movie. It's adorable, funny and doesn't make me cry. Which is wonderful. Because I cry at basically everything.

     2. Jack Frost

     For some strange reason I only started watching this movie last year, but it is definitely in my top three. I recently read a bunch of reviews on this movie and they were all pretty terrible and I honestly have no idea why. I LOVE this movie. Also I cry every single time I watch it. Whatever.

 

     3. The Holiday
     
     Honestly, this movie is wonderful and it makes me want to move to England and marry Jude Law. I mean I want to move to England and marry Jude Law anyways, but this movie really brings it out in me. The Holiday is such a great romcom though and if you've never seen it, you are missing out.

     4. Holidaze 

     Okay, technically, this isn't a Christmas movie so much as a Thanksgiving movie, but it's on at the same time of year and Jennie Garth is the cutest. Also Cameron Mathison ain't too bad either. I really just love movies that have the alternate realities that the protagonist has to learn to live with/love.

     5. The Muppet Christmas Carol

     Who the heck doesn't love the Muppets? And the Christmas Carol? Add them together and it's just the best thing ever.

     6. The Nightmare Before Christmas

     I think everyone that knows me, knows that I absolutely love Tim Burton. So obviously The Nightmare Before Christmas had to be on this list. It's the perfect mix between Halloween and Christmas, AKA my two favourite holidays.

     7. Elf
   
     Okay, so I have to admit, I'm not the biggest Will Ferrell fan. And by not the biggest fan I mean there are very few Will Ferrell movies I actually like. For a few years, Elf was not one of those movies, but this year I actually really enjoyed it. I'm not sure what changed, but I think it's a pretty good Christmas movie.

     8. Arthur Christmas

     I actually just watched this for the first time yesterday, and I wish that it was around when I had started doubting Santa Claus. It's so cool, and almost logical and totally would have had me believing for a few years more. Also it's just super cute and may have made me cry. Oops. 

      9. Home Alone

      If this isn't on your top ten list, you're crazy. Home Alone is one of the only Christmas movies that breaks from the traditional girl and boy don't like each other, then fall in love and kiss in the magical snow fall. Kevin McCallister is the most badass 8 year old and I think everyone at some point wanted to be him.

     10. The Santa Claus 

     Technically I include all three of these movies because you have to watch them marathon style or it's just not the same, I think these should actually be higher in the list because I absolutely adore them so much, but since I'm counting all of them as one I figured I'd leave it for the end.

     That was so much harder than I expected it to be. What are some of your favourites? Let me know in the comments!

Lipsy Loves Michelle Review

    So I've been obsessing over the Lipsy Loves Michelle line since it came out. For about a year I went back and forth, making lists of everything I wanted, converting the price into Canadian, and then re-making lists because I obviously can't spend $7,000 on clothes. I decided that for my first purchase, I would buy the Chunky Bardot Jumper in green ($45.75*), the Faux Fur Trim Jumper in khaki ($135.75*),  and the Highneck Jumpsuit in black ($107.20*).

Chunky Bardot Jumper

Faux Fur Trim Parker

Highneck Jumpsuit

     I ordered them last Monday, and got the coat and the jumper 8 days later, and the jumpsuit came 1-2 days later (I'm not sure because it was in my mailbox and I'm absolutely terrible at checking it!).

     I really love the coat! It's warm and the material seems like it's good quality and it fits me so perfectly. I'm really in love with it. The jumper is so soft, the colour is beautiful, but it doesn't 100% fit right. It's a little tight around the shoulders so I wear it with only one shoulder exposed instead of both. I'm really impressed with the jumpsuit. I think the lace is really beautiful at the top and the pants are so comfy. My mom was concerned that the waist was too high but I think it's really cute. 

     I feel a little stupid because I didn't realize that I would have to pay customs. When the packages got delivered and I was told I had to pay an extra $95.37, my jaw may have hit the floor. Basically, for the 3 items, plus shipping and customs, I paid around $390, when I thought that it would be under $300. So I'm not sure if I will order from Lipsy again. It was great quality and I really love the Michelle Keegan line but spending a third of my order price on customs is ridiculous. I definitely would recommend it if you live in the UK or can pay customs though! If you want to look at the whole line click HERE!

*Prices in CAD.

*all opinions are my own and I purchased all of these products myself.* 

Fabletics Review

     This is my first actual website and product review & it's super late, so bear with me!

     In August, I ordered the Lunada Bra, Naaru Shorts and the Muara Tank from Fabletics, Kate Hudson's new active-wear line. They have a promotion on for first time buyers, where you get your first outfit for $25. How could I pass that up?

     When you sign up for the first time, you do a quiz so you can get personalized outfits. I really like that every month they have a new group of outfits that I can choose from, that are designed for exactly how and where I work out and what body type I am. 

     So they came three days later, and I still am absolutely in love with them. They're super comfy, true to size and the sports bra is incredibly supportive. I wear it all the time, regardless of working out or not. I actually love it so much that I just ordered another outfit which will hopefully be here in a few days! 

     I definitely recommend Fabletics, but if you join the VIP membership make sure you read the fine print! Every month they send you an email with your new outfits, and you have until the fifth to chose whether or not you want to buy an outfit or they take $50 from your bank account/credit card unless you hit the "skip this month" button. You can skip as many months as you want. But if not, the $50 will be in your store credit. 

    If you want to check it out and hopefully get some super rad workout clothes, click HERE

*all opinions are my own and I purchased all of these products myself.*