Christmas is in the Air Week 4: Christmas Beauty & Fashion

Christmas really IS in the air now. I can feel it.
I'm currently sitting here drinking coffee (go figure) with peppermint whipped cream, eating a candy cane, listening to Christmas music on Pandora, and hearing Santa out in the hallway of school.
I'm so excited! :)

Anyway, it's Week 4 of Christmas Beauty and Fashion.
As we found out with Pinterest Lately last week, I'm not exactly fashionable.
But here's what I've got.

I just love this idea!

And for giggles, this is my idea of Christmas fashion.

This was taken yesterday during "Ugly Sweater Day" for teachers.

I'm on the left. :)

(Don't mind how obnoxiously huge I look. I was obviously holding the sweater at an awful angle.)

Pinterest Lately & High Five Friday

It's probably against the rules to do two link-ups at a time, but I don't want to post twice in one day because then my posts will get buried and something will be missed.
So, hopefully this is okay. Here's what we're going with.

First of all, the one I'm co-hosting, Pinterest Lately.

This Week: Favorite Holiday Hair & Make-Up Ideas
I'd like to think I'll actually DO one of these this year, but let's face it. Probably won't happen.

I've also here-by decided that nail polish = make-up.

That was surprisingly really difficult to find things for. 

If you want to link-up, go ahead and link to your post and check out some other people's ideas!

The second link-up of the day is High Five for Friday!

This is the link-up where I get to say five (good) things that happened to me this week.

This week has been a mighty stressful one for me so this may be difficult.

1. We had our staff Christmas party last weekend and it was so much fun! My team won the Amazing Race challenge, I beat people at darts, and had a lot of fun. A group of us went dancing afterwards, which wasn't necessarily as fun as it could have been, but it was still a good time getting together with everyone.

2. I FINALLY got to catch up on some of my TV shows this week, specifically How To Get Away With Murder. Wow. Just, wow.

3. We did a drawing for Secret Santas at my daycare, which I'm pretty excited about. I was told who I have and I'm somewhat less excited now, because it's someone I'm not as close to. But I'm still excited! (Mostly because this means I'm going back to the daycare next week!)

4. I have officially made it through my last full week of school before Christmas break. Praise the Lord.

5. Plans are in the works to see one of my best friends/bridesmaids this weekend and I haven't seen her since the wedding!

What did YOU do this week?

30 Before 30

My friend Meghan and I realized that we are now closer to 30 than we are to 13, which is a really sad thing if you start to think about it! We talked a little bit about how we haven't accomplished as much as we would have liked in our short years here on this earth, so we decided to challenge ourselves. Here's a list of 30 things I want to accomplish before my 30th birthday. Here's Meghan's list if you're interested. Feel free to join us! Let us know if you're going to make one and we'll help keep you on track, if you return the favor. :)

1. Become a mommy!

2. Be credit card debt free

3. Run a race (5k)

4. Get to a "healthy weight" - (120-140)

5. Reach 2,500 books on Goodreads (I'm at 1,023)

6. Go on a spa weekend

7. Go somewhere exciting for our 5 year anniversary 

Daniel & I didn't go anywhere super big for our honeymoon (Hannibal caves and St. Louis), so I want to be able to take a decent sized trip for our 5 year anniversary. 

8. Start my Masters Degree 

Ideally, I would love to be FINISHED with my Masters Degree by then. But, I don't plan on returning to school full time. I love teaching so I'll continue to do that, but I do want my Masters, so I'll start going to night class at some point (when it's affordable).

9. Ride a mechanical bull

10. Volunteer 100 hours to charity

11. Buy a house

Buy is maybe a strong word. Rent? Something. Even if it's taking out a loan for a house. I want a house with my family, instead of being in an apartment forever.

12. Adopt a pet from a shelter

13. Speak semi-fluent Spanish

I want to be able to hold a conversation.

14. Read 100 Best Novels (http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/)

I haven't counted how many, but I'm sure I have a head start on this list. I just need to finish it.

15. Do a no-spend month

16. Get a tattoo

17. Go to Las Vegas

18. 100 Years...100 Movies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Year)

Same here. I'm sure I've seen some of these.

19. No TV for one week

20. Complete an entire coloring book

21. Be in two places at once 

My dream would be to accomplish this goal by being on both sides of the equator. But, we'll see. 

22. Sponsor a child with Compassion International

23. "Unplug" for 48 hours

24. Learn to play piano 

I do have some piano skills, but my mom was the one giving me lessons so I kind of gave up really early on!

25. Adopt a species from World Wildlife Foundation (December 2014)

26. Go on a mission trip with my church

27. Be a vegetarian for a month

28. Go on a cruise

29. Visit a haunted place

30. Play laser tag

Christmas Is In The Air Week 3: Food

This week's link-up for Christmas is in the Air has to do with one of my favorite things - FOOD.
I probably won't be making anything new this year (though wait for the new year because I have some ideas), but here's what my family is planning for this year.

We're a little different than others. We do all our turkey, casserole, etc. for Thanksgiving. For Christmas, SOUP! :D

Chili - Mmmmmm

Broccoli Cheese

Clam Chowder

I'm pretty sure those are the 3 that I was told we'd be having this year.

Aside from that, we just snack on things all day - nachos, little hot dogs, crackers & cheese, etc.

Pretty excited!

Pinterest (Late)ly

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<a href="http://www.rebekaheliz.com" title="Rebekah Elizabeth"><img src="http://i1278.photobucket.com/albums/y502/rebekaheliz/PL_zpse586e8b0.jpg" alt="Rebekah Elizabeth" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Alright everyone. I'm super sorry that this is so extremely late.
My life has been ridiculously hectic.
But I'm super excited to post now and I'm also excited that I get the honor to co-host this month!!

If this is your first time coming to my site, I apologize.
I'm working very hard on getting a design, but for now, this is what I have.

Anyway, this week's topic is Cold Weather Accessories.
Now, I don't accessorize well (or at all), but I browsed through my "Accessorize" and my "Baby It's Cold Outside" boards to see what I could come up with.

That's all I've got for this one haha.

Hopefully I can get this week's done ON TIME.

And get my head in the game to blog more in general.

(It'll help once I have a pretty page to come to!)

Thanks for joining! I can't wait to see your picks!

Christmas is in the Air

Today, I discovered (via my best friend Meghan) a new link up for the Christmas season.
I love link-ups because:

a.) They're fun.

b.) They tell me what to post about so I don't have to come up with ideas.

c.) They give me reasons to post.

So for the remainder of this season, I plan to link up for Christmas is in the Air.

This week's topic?
Favorite Christmas Movie!
Seeing this post made me realize it's literally been years since I've sat down and watched Christmas movies. :( Growing up, we watched Christmas movies non-stop. Frosty, Rudolph, the Grinch, you name it. Lately, I've watched approximately one Christmas movie a year. Which movie?

I watch this about a thousand times every year because TBS likes to run a 24 hour marathon over Christmas Eve/Christmas. I literally watch it 2-3 times in a row, fall asleep watching it, then wake up and watch it as I'm dragging myself out of bed.
But you've got to admit. This movie is a classic. :)
If I think back to the rest of my life and consider which Christmas movie is my favorite, there's definitely a clear winner. And that, my friends, is:

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas! And while I do enjoy the live action version, I gotta give it up for the animated. You're the real hero of Christmas time.

What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Definitely December

Brrrr.
It's definitely December.
Temperatures dropping. Ice forming.
IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

New month = new goals.
How did I do last month?

1. Participate in the Winter Reading Challenge - Well, I've sorta been reading for it. Have I finished a book? Well, no. But I work 3 jobs!

2. Get 7-8 hours of sleep at least 3-4 times a week. - I guess I didn't actually keep track of this. Though I do know I've been sleeping more than I was.

3. Get moving! - lol

4. Get more into blogging! - haha You tell me.

So, about 2/4? Sort of.
Okay. How about December?

1. Finish reading the New Testament with Daniel. - We are on track to finish during December but we are only human and do miss a day of reading every once in a while.

2. Drink 80 oz. of water daily. I'm told this will help many things - my weight, my complexion, etc. As of posting (9:30 pm) I'm at approximately 48 oz. I didn't really think of this one until too late in the day obviously. But I'm the queen of procrastination and finishing just in time! Maybe I can still make it!

3. Hit 100 miles on Nike run. This is SUPER ambitious. But I'm sitting at 80ish right now and I have a little girl depending on me.

4. Get my budget/spending in order and get out of debt. I'm making good steps on this. But I need to make sure I see them through. There's no possible way I'll be out of debt in December (It's going to take a couple years) but taking the right steps is what I want to see.

5. Complete the 30 day challenges I started today. They're already hard. Ha! I'm attempting all of them (for now)