This year I got a lot of different amazing gifts from the people that I love. One of my favorite gifts that I had to share with you all is chocolate. Not just any type of chocolate... chocolate from around the world. Seems hard to find... but it's not! It's actually from Trader Joe's! Ah yes.. the amazing Trader Joe's. I have to admit, I'm obsessed with this place. Not only does it have foods to help my dietary needs (being gluten-free) but the produce is always fresh! I was really excited to find out that this chocolate is from there!

I can't even explain how amazing this chocolate is. It is for sure one of my favorite and different gifts! On the front of them it has a brief description of what is in the chocolate and even says what type of drink is good to pair with it! How awesome?! The different countries are Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Ghana, Dominican Republic, Papua New Guinea, São Tomé, and Tanzania. Check out these chocolates!

Peru: Jasmin notes and a clean finish

Ecuador: deep chocolate aroma with floral and fruit notes

Venezuela: unique, mild taste with hints of floral and dried grasses

Ghana: peppery notes and spicy aromas with a bitter dark chocolate bite

Dominican Republic: slightly nutty notes and a sharp finish

Papua New Guinea: marked fruity taste with a touch of spice

São Tomé: intense cocoa flavor with an exciting bitterness

Tanzania: subtle fruitiness with a fine hint of vanilla

The chocolates range from from 60-73% cacao dark chocolate and you can really tell a difference! To me, some of the chocolates tasted very similar to one another. However, my two favorites were from Ghana and the Dominican Republic. They're amazing and soo different! If you try these chocolates let me know which ones are your favorites!!

xo

Olivia

December Monthly Goals

I can't believe that November is over already! It went by soo quickly. Now that December is rolling in, that means that it's time for the holidays! I celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas with both my family and my boyfriend's. However, this also means that it's time for my finals to finish up my semester... YUCK! Like always, here are my monthly goals!

November Goals

Unplug for 2 hours a day I can successfully say I've done this one!!

Continue to take more scenic pictures Now that I have my new iPhone 6 I take more pictures!

Make a dish for Thanksgiving Made an amazing squash casserole that I'll be posting the recipe soon!

Finish the Ellen Degeneres book along with another book

Remember to make my bed every morning Didn't exactly do it every day... oops!

Get back on my blogging schedule Minus the break for Thanksgiving

Cross something off my 25 before 25 list

December Goals

Take a cute holiday pic with Ky

Figure out what to get Ky for the holidays

Finish the Ellen Degeneres book (I'm almost done!)

Get 20 more followers on bloglovin'

Don't procrastinate for my finals

Have someone guest post on my blog

Excited it being the beginning of December and for the holidays!

xo

Olivia

Holiday Music Playlist

Hey guys! I know it's been awhile since I posted last. I decided to take a little vacation break while I was home from school for Thanksgiving! I had a great week and I hope everyone did as well! Since Thanksgiving is over it now means that the holiday season is in full throttle! Here are some holiday music to help you get in the holiday mood!!

- It' Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas by Michael Bublé
- This Christmas by Chris Brown
- Winter Wonderland by Jason Mraz
- White Christmas by Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby (such a classic and a great movie!)
- Blue Christmas by Elvis Presley
- The First Noel by Frank Sinatra
- Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town by Bruce Springsteen
- Frosty The Snowman by The Ronettes
- Baby! It's Christmas by Jessie James Decker (LOVE)

I know some of my readers are Jewish like me! I know the list isn't as long but here are some songs to help get in the Hanukkah spirit!
- The Chanukah Song by Adam Sandler
- Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah by Glee Cast
- Hanukkah Blessings by Barenaked Ladies (weird name but good)
- I Have A Little Dreidel by Barenaked Ladies
- The Hanukkah Waltz by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

Have a great Monday Everyone!

xo
Olivia

My Halloween Weekend

As everyone knows this past weekend was Halloween! For those who don't know, it just happens to be my favorite holiday of all time. I just love being able to dress up however you want and not be worried about people judging you. For me, it is a time of the year that I can be a kid again. Over the years (when I was younger) I had a system when it came to trick or treating. After getting as much candy as I could (using puppy dog eyes for more than 2 pieces of candy a house) I would proceed home to start my project. And this project was organizing. Yes, a 4 year old was organizing her candy! I would literally split the candy up by what they were and then count how many of each candy to write down on my list. And it gets better. After I would eat a piece of candy, I would change the number to how many there were left. Of course it was so I knew if anyone ate my candy! Hint hint Jimmy Kimmel. 

Now enough from the past.. On to my Halloween weekend from this year! I had a great weekend! I spent most of it with my friends and had a blast! I saw some people that I haven't seen in forever and my best friend, Mish, came to visit!! Thursday night I was a mime, Friday night I was cleopatra, and I didn't go out on Saturday. I had to be productive on Sunday and didn't want to be too tired. Unfortunately I didn't take that many pictures but I will use one that actually turned out okay! And it was Instagram worthy! 

How was everyone's Halloween weekend? And what did you all dress up as?? Feel free to leave your answers in the comments below!

Xo
Olivia

Halloween Costumes

The month of October puts everyone in a great mood. One of the main reasons for this is because of Halloween!! This is actually my favorite holiday so I'm a little biased haha. I love dressing up and I really go all out. Halloween decorations are some of my favorite things to shop for! They're all soo fun and I love everything about it! Ky, however, absolutely HATES Halloween and refuses to ever dress up. We'll see if I can get him to change his mind. Here are a few of my favorite Halloween costumes that I've seen in the past. I hope they will help give you all some ideas for costumes!

These pictures are from this past weekend. I know it's not Halloween yet but you have to love multiple Halloween parties! This means many different outfits! I went as goth, my roommate went as a playboy bunny... (yeah idk), and then 2 other people went as Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly Odd Parents! How funny?! For my look I did heavy dark brown eye shadow and black eyeliner for the eyes. For my lips I actually used eyeliner and then put on lip gloss to make it shine! For my outfit I just wore combat boots, black high waisted jeans, and a black crop top. For the chocker I cut the top part off of black tights! 

 These were Halloween costumes from my Freshman year (right) and Sophomore year (left) in college. Freshman year I went as a cat and my friend went as a school girl. I just used eyeliner for the whiskers, pink lipstick for my nose, and did the cat eye look with my eyeliner on my eyes. For the paws I cut the fingertips off of a pair of gloves from CVS or Walgreens. The cat ears and cat tail (not shown) are from a Halloween store. My sophomore year I went as batman. I'm obsessed with Batman. For this look I got the leggings with mesh on them from Charlotte Russe. The shirt and cape came as a pack from either Spencers or Hot Topic. For the face mask I actually used black eyeliner to draw the Batman symbol and then colored it all in with eyeliner as well. Eyelids, eyebrows, skin and all. I actually use baby whips to take off my makeup because I feel as though they're more natural and softer for the skin.

 Here are some costume ideas for younger kids! These are my cousins that I'm obsessed with. They're the cutest things. This year is on the left and last year is on the right. I couldn't find a good pic of Brody's costume from last year. Last year Leighton went as Mr. Funny Bones. It's one of his favorite characters from whatever movie it's from haha. I think it would be cool to spice it up a bit and spray paint all of the white bones with glow in the dark paint. That will definitely make it easy for you to find your kids in the dark while trick-or-treating! This year Brody is going as Maleficent from the new movie Maleficent. For the makeup her mom used a sparkly, purple eyeshadow and a darker, purple eyeliner and winged it out like the horns on her head. For Leighton, he's going as a stormtrooper from Star Wars. Such a little guy costume. Loving these kids so much and always love seeing what they come up with for Halloween costumes!

What are you guys dressing up as for Halloween??

xo
Olivia