November Favorites

Holy cannoli, it’s December already?! I usually try to have my monthly favorites posted on the last day of the month, but November 30^th really snuck up on me, so it’s going up today tonight!

1. Orange Blossom Cloister Honey

For the past two years, I’ve been attending the annual Shopping Spree in Downtown Raleigh at the Convention Center as a start to Christmas shopping, and both years I’ve been, Cloister Honey from Charlotte has been there as a vendor. I bought honey from them both times, and without fail, they keep me wanting more. They are my favorite small business honey makers for sure. This year I purchased the Orange Blossom honey, and have been using it all month in my tea, and also on top of my pie crust cookies (the recipe I shared recently).

2. Archer Farms Skirt Steak

This was actually in 2 WIAW posts not too long ago. It is honestly one of the easiest dinners I’ve made in a long time. I put these skirt steaks in my Crockpot with a small amount of water, turn it on low before I leave for work, and when I get home, it’s done, and ready to serve! It’s so delicious and I love how easy it is to make.  They also have about 5 flavors to choose from and my 2 favorites are Garlic and Herb and Carne Asada.

3. Sugar Lip Serum Advanced Therapy

For about two weeks in November, my lips were so chapped that it felt like they were constantly burning. Nothing I had at home would make the burning stop, and sometimes at night, my lips would crack open when I was sleeping (lovely image, I know). In years past, my basic chap stick options would fix this, but not this year. I discovered the Sugar Lip Serum Advanced Therapy and began using it at morning and at night, and it worked wonders on my lips. No more super chapped lips. Yay!

4. NARS Blush in Orgasm

Gotta love the color names of NARS products. 🙂 I’m sure every beauty guru has mentioned this product at some point or another, and if you’re even somewhat obsessed with makeup, you either already have this product, or have seriously contemplated purchasing it. I only have one other blush that I use, and it’s a matte pink shade in a bronzer/highlighter/blush palette, so I finally made the plunge, and purchased this one, and have been wearing it every day since. It really is a great basic blush for all skin tones.

5. Hollywood Fashion Secrets Sweater Saver

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have mentioned this thing to someone and raved about how awesome it is in the past month. Seriously. If your sweaters are pilling, go to Target or Ulta right now, and buy this bad boy. It’s a lifesaver. I mean sweater saver.

6. Mine Chalkboard Soy Message Ceramic Candle

I got this in my October Pop Sugar Must Have box and wasn’t sure about how excited I was about the scent. Lo and behold, I’ve burned the entire candle already! So now it’s an empty chalkboard jar that I’ll probably turn into a pen holder on my desk. Who knows…DIY project to come!

7. Madewell Sidney Boots in Pecan

I believe I purchased these boots in September, but I’ve probably chosen to wear them 3 out of 7 days of the week every week since. They are extremely comfortable if you’re on your feet all day, and they are also the perfect shaft width if you have no calf muscle whatsoever like me. The brown is also a great color as well and balances well even when wearing a lot of black.

8. Russell + Hazel Desk Calendar

I don’t know why I needed a new desk calendar a month and a half before the end of the year, but I did. I saw this one in The Container Store when I was shopping for Christmas presents, and I had to have it. It’s completely blank. You fill in the days, the month, and pretty much do whatever you want to it. No fancy designs or anything. Which to me, is awesome, because I love doodling and designing my own organizational calendar. There is also a section at the bottom for notes, and a section on the side with each day of the month in a “to-do” list form.

9. Sephora Pro Precision Smudge Brush #29

I needed a new eye shadow brush. I did. I needed it. Because the only other ones I have are by ELF (which for a very affordable brand, has some really good quality items), but the brushes I have from them have bristles that occasionally fall out. The brushes are also meant more for sweeping one color all over your eyelid, and not necessarily providing precision placement of shadows, and ya know, sometimes, I like putting multiple colors of shadow on my lids. This Sephora brush didn’t let me down! And it even comes with a brush cap, so it can stay safe and clean while traveling.

10. Merrick Natural Wet Dog Food

This one isn’t necessarily my favorite, but rather, one of Gabi’s favorites, but I’m putting it here for the world to see. The names and packaging of their wet dog food options are awesome, they are grain free, and they make little cans (which say they are for toy breeds, but really it’s just because of the size of the can) that I can feed to Gabi all at once mixed into her dry food. She’s kinda picky when it comes to wet dog food that has been sitting in the fridge. She even got a Thanksgiving Day Dinner flavor for Thanksgiving!  If you live in Raleigh, you can pick these cute little cans up at Phydeaux.

Let me know if any of you love any of these products as much as I do! And Happy December!

Bows and Arrows,

What I Ate Wednesday, 7/2/14

Hey guys! Happy Wednesday! I hope your week is going well and hopefully this is a short week for most of you guys thanks to Independence Day. Keeping my fingers crossed that this tropical storm threatening to hit the east coast doesn’t ruin all of the fourth of July festivities for us! I had a pretty busy day today between work and running errands, so I actually didn’t eat very much. Here is what I did manage to eat today…

Breakfast

Are you shocked!? It’s not oatmeal. I made some muffins on Monday night and I had a couple left, so I figured I better eat them. These are peanut butter banana muffins, which I made on Monday spur of the moment and just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand. They turned out pretty good. They are not overly sweet, so they’re perfect for breakfast. The recipe I used can be found here. I also had one scrambled egg and some strawberries and delicious blueberries from the farmers market. I had some coffee with organic half and half in my adorable coffee mug from Marshals. If you can’t see it, it says “luv my cup of joe”.

Lunch

I didn’t really eat lunch. I just munched on a bunch of raw mixed nuts. These came from Target. I tend to buy a big huge container of them so there’s always something quick to munch on if I am busy but going into starvation meltdown mode.

Snack

After work I picked up an Americano…just because. Do I need a reason? :-p

Dinner

We picked up food from Jasmin Mediterranean Restaurant for dinner. This is a chicken zaki with a side salad. Oh, how I love Greek and Mediterranean Food! I would eat it everyday if I could afford it. I also had water with this and some throughout the day, although I didn’t drink nearly as much water as I usually do.

I think I will make myself a big glass of water now and call it a night! Thanks for reading.

Bows and Arrows,

Ashley