It's the Holiday Season!

Hey Everyone!

Holiday season is in full swing and this is by far one of my favorite times of year! So full of tradition and excitement, this season brings with it the promise of love, family, and a fresh start and new year when all is said and done.

This year is definitely not disappointing.

Every year, the weekend before Christmas, my family goes to an old inn called the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, MA (this was our 30^th year!!). This beautiful old building brings with it both nostalgia for my youthful Christmas seasons, as well as a peaceful tranquility I am able to appreciate more now that I am an adult. My days there consist of sitting by the fire in the lobby with a book and chatting with the family and friends who have also made this Inn a staple of their Christmas tradition.

 

I have gained an increasing affinity for red wine this trip, specifically Mark West Pinot Noir, as suggested to me by my cousin!

This year I also took a trip with one of my best friends to NYC for a night to really bring in Christmas week. We stayed at a beautiful hotel, Hotel Sofitel, courtesy of Expedia (we book our tropical vacations through Expedia so used our earned ‘points’ to get a free night at this gorgeous hotel!

We explored the city during the day at night hitting up tourist staples such as Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square.

We also went into the Flatiron district for drinks and dinner, hitting up Rolf’s (which has hands down the best holiday decorations ever, however had a line at 5pm and once you got in you are packed in the bar like sardines). We headed over to Eataly for dinner, but not before we took a quick power nap in the outdoor hammocks!!

The grand finale of our trip was the life taping of Good Morning America’s ugly Christmas sweater party! We woke up at 5:30 to get to check in at 6 (our hotel was 1 block away from the studio in Times Square). However things got hairy when my friend ran to Starbucks for much needed sustenance and we missed our check in and had to wait in standby (which after much lamenting, arguing and sadness, we were finally assigned seats in the seating room!!). It was so much fun to watch the behind the scenes of the show and I even got on camera!!

 

Hope everyone has an amazing Christmas, and here's to resolving to a more consistent blog schedule come 2017!

Xoxo, Bethany

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Go-To Hairstyle for Work (and a Thanksgiving reflection!)

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week! I have a lot to do this week but I am trying to find little moments in the day and enjoy myself. For the past two months I have been really trying to do this more and more.. not huge things but just taking a few minutes longer to do something that I know will make me feel better later on. For example, I have really been trying to take the time to dry and straighten my hair after I wash it, every time. I am usually super lazy and don't want to take the time to do it, but I hate the way my hair looks when I don’t dry it, so I have been really making the extra effort, and I can really tell a difference with my overall mood and confidence!

Speaking of hair, I wanted to do a post today about a quick, go to hairstyle I like to wear when I work at the hospital. I hate having hair in my face during the day and I hate having to fuss about it when I am trying to do other things, so this hairstyle is perfect for me!!

Braids are always a good way to maintain your hair and they usually do a good job of staying put for a while (hello, 12-hour shift), while still looking cute and put together.

I am not the world’s best hairdresser (by any means, my sister can attest to that), but I have definitely been able to up my hair game by researching different styles and learning how to do them on YouTube! Just search what you’re looking for and I am sure you wont be disappointed with the “how- to” results!

On another note, I hope everyone had such a fun Thanksgiving filled with family, friends, love and delicious meals! I had to work on Thanksgiving and was planning on needing to forgo my family traditional Thanksgiving dinner that my parents host at our house. Our managers arranged to have a full Thanksgiving dinner delivered to our unit. It was fun to celebrate this holiday with my work family and the meal was actually super delicious (there was SO much food). However, while at work our census dropped and we were able to send 4 nurses home at 3 pm, and I was one of them!! I called my family and they were so excited. When I got home around 4 pm, it turns out everyone postponed the meal (we usually eat at 2:30) to wait until I got there! I barely had the heart to tell them I had already eaten (but of course I indulged in some more turkey and mashed potatoes!)

It was such a nice gesture of them to ensure that I was included in the meal. When I entered my house, the love was tangible, and it really helped me appreciate the wonderful family I am blessed to be a part of.

Now, it is officially acceptable for me to listen to Christmas music!! Get ready for plenty of Christmas and winter themed posts in the near future! (especially once my finals are done on December 7^th!)

Xoxo, Bethany

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Urban Decay "Vice" Lipstick Palette!!

                                                                Hey Everyone

My sister gave me this beautiful lipstick palette for my birthday and I just haven’t gotten a chance to try it yet! Well, today was the day! The Urban Decay “Vice” lipstick palette comes with 12 colors and a retractable lip brush. The packaging is absolutely beautiful. I love the overlay over the colors that says “lipstick is my vice”. The packaging feels really substantial and expensive feeling. I am a very neutral lip color person. Apart from a red lip, I rarely venture into other colors than nudes and pinks, so when I got this palette I knew it would allow me to try things I never had bef

ore. So, without further ado, lets get into the colors!!

(I am going to talk about them in the order they are in the palette)

Sheer Shame

This one surprised me because it looks realllly dark in the palette but it actually comes out as a sheer pink/ purple color on the lips (duh… should have realized from the name!). I really liked this one a lot more than I was thinking I would. This color would be great for a little brighter of an every day color, like a fun summer event or something! It also applied nicely and because of the sheerness, it was super easy to hide and mask application mistakes!

Firebird

OMG this color is bright. It is a great basic HOT pink (with a touch of purple)! It has a glossy finish that really catches the light and brings out its brightness/ awesomeness. This would be great for a fun night out with a statement lip. This one was pretty nice to apply as well, however because of the bright color it was harder to hide and fix mistakes.

Big Bang

This is the only color in the palette that had glitter in it, and 10 year old me was super excited. This is a fun bubblegum pink color with lots of iridescent glitter in it. This is a nice color because the glitter doesn’t come off as “disco ball” on your lips but its definitely noticeable. It allows the light to catch this color nicely and really brings the focus to the lips.

Disobedient

This color is a fun Barbie pink color. This one has a glossy finish that is perfect for summer days! Still would be a jump for me to wear this color on the reg but the color is so pretty, and im such a pink fan, I definitely think it can be done!

EZ

Wow, this one is red. This is the glossy red in the palette, and boy is it bright. I thought I was going to like the other color better (714, which is coming up next) because I tend to like more matte lip colors, but I actually liked this one better! I mean, if you’re gonna go red, go RED! And this one definitely does that. Might be wearing this one to a couple holiday parties / events this season! (here’s looking at you MICU holiday part!!)

714

This is the red I was most excited to try, but it kinda fell flat in my opinion. I love a red lip (.. because I think I am Taylor Swift).. and I tend to like matte reds more than glossy ones (they stay better and require less thought and maintenance). This color was dry on the lips, hard to apply because it didn’t go on very evenly, and hard to correct when I made application mistakes.

Vanished

Surprisingly, I am disappointed in this color. As I said, I tend to gravitate toward nudes, but this one is straight up concealer. It is a glossy finish, but I could barely even see it on my lips, and after putting coat after coat on, I finally just gave up.

1993

So this is the first of the “browns” that are in the palette. I was most nervous to try the browns because I have literally never worn a straight up brown lip before, but this palette is full of them (well.. there’s 3). I didn’t hate it as much as I thought, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite of the 3. This was a little darker than I would normally wear, and matte. It was easier to apply than 714 (the other matte color) but still not something I would reach for first.

Ex Girlfriend

This is by far the winner. When I opened the palette this morning, this was the color I applied for the day. I mean, very typical of what I normally wear, so kinda not the point of this post, but this glossy darker pink wore really nicely throughout the day, only requiring 1 reapply, which is pretty good for a glossy color. I mean, I can go on and on about this one, but I wont, because this is the most basic color in the palette!

Amulet

So this is the second of the browns, and I definitely liked this one the best. It is the lightest, glossy and has a little bit of shimmer in it. It actually looks a little pink in the picture (maybe because this was the 11^th color I had on and my lips were raw from makeup remover…) but this is definitely something I would wear on a daily basis. I also like it because it looks much darker in the pot, which makes me feel a little badass if I were going to pick it out!

Conspiracy

This is the third of the browns. This one actually wasn't that bad either. It is the darkest of the three, but I really liked the gloss and a little bit of iridescence it has. I would wear this to a night event or dinner. Looking at the picture it isn't appearing as dark as I thought it was on my lips, so maybe that's a good one! Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be one of my faves!

Blackmail

OK this is the doozie of a color. This is the darkest, vampy-est and most daring color. This is a dark purple that can almost look black (as it does in the pot). I tried this one last because I was so afraid of it. So the verdict? Actually not terrible! It would definitely take a lot for me to wear it, and to the right event, but if I channel my inner Kylie Jenner, I think I would dare to wear this for an evening… so stay tuned, maybe I will one day!!

Well that’s it! I hoped this gave you a good idea of the colors in this palette! I would say its definitely worth the buy, its easy to travel with (comes with its own brush, which by the way I used to apply all the colors) and has a color for pretty much anything you need.

Hope everyone’s having a nice Sunday and preparing for the week ahead!

XOXO, Bethany

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