Happy blogmas everyone! Blogmas is here and I am signing on yet to do another blogging challenge because why not? So, we are kicking off this challenge with a list of post ideas. You know, in case you ever get writer’s block. Like I do every year, if I am going to be honest. Or, these posts also make great winter/end of rear content as well.
1. 2022 Wrapup.
2. Holiday Book Recommendations.
3. 2023 resolutions.
4. 2022 reading wrapup
5. Holiday party outfit ideas.
6. Winter style essentials.
7. Post about a local holiday event.
8. How to practice self care during this time of year.
9. Gift ideas.
10. Share your holiday decorations.
11. Christmas playlist.
12. Pet holiday photos.
13. Tips to deal with grief during the holidays.
14. How to survive seasonal depression.
15. Book/album/movie review
16. Christmas wishlist.
17. Review on holiday menus at various places.
18. Recipe.
19. 2023 reading goals.
20. Posts about your family traditions during the holidays.
With designer prices continue to sky rocket, the Louis Vuitton Neverfull is now in the 2,000 range, which is insane to think about. However, Madewell has a great tote bag that is less than a tenth of the price (and at the time of writing this, is currently 60 percent off due to Cyber Monday).
That is the Transport Tote, a bag that I have had for over two years at this point. The tote often comes in seasonal colors, but the three basics are English Saddle (a gorgeous caramel brown color that goes with absolutely everything), black, and black brown.
The price point for such a great staple is amazing as well. It is currently priced at $178. However, a little hack is to wait for one of Madewell’s amazing sales, Black Friday/Cyber Monday or a birthday coupon. For a leather bag that is going to last, I think that is amazing. I did not baby mine and it still looks as good as the day I bought it home. With many luxury brands having more and more quality issues, I think paying that price — even at full retail price — isn’t a bad deal for something that you are going to reach for frequently.
I also own the Louis Vuitton Neverfull MM and I do say that this guy is much bigger and holds so much more. This bag is perfect for work and travel, as I was able to fit a Stoney Clover small pouch, my iPad Pro, my Nook and a folio with so much room to spare. However, this is also a good everyday bag to have as well. When I did read physical books, this guy held it with no problems. Same with water bottles, and my MacBook Air. The only bad thing I will say, is that the more that you load into the purse, the heavier it gets. However, this is the same with pretty much every purse.
I currently have the English Saddle, which is my favorite color leather that Madewell currently offers. What I love about the English Saddle is that it just goes with everything. I wear a lot of neutrals so it goes perfectly. However, it even looks great when I wear all black as well.
This was my first bag in the Madewell Transport collection. Since then, I’ve added the Large Transport Camera Bag, and the Crossbody. I do eventually plan to get the transport crossbody in English Saddle, because I just am obsessed with the color.
Overall, if you’re looking for a tote bag that you know will last you for a while and is less than $200, than seriously take a look at the Transport Tote. And, if you do decide to invest in one, also get a bandanna. It is a game changer for sure.
For the first time this holiday season, Christmas lights twinkle and shine brightly in an otherwise dark suburban night in a quiet Milford street. Snowflakes and icicles glisten across the home’s driveway, while the house itself is a backdrop to lights that shine like the star on a Christmas tree. At the edge of the property, there is a clock counting down the days, hours, minutes, and even seconds until the arrival of Christmas Day — right next to Santa Claus himself. That clock is next to a bright red mailbox that is visible even in the dark evening.
This lights display was created by John Krusinski, a Milford native with a passion for Christmas and for giving back to his local community. Krusinski’s passion for Christmas first began when his parents drove him and his sisters around to see Christmas lights when he was a kid himself. Now, his home is one of the lights people would come to see — complete with Santa’s Big Red Mailbox ready for gift donations.
“When I was a kid, my Dad & Grandpas would outline the entire house & fill all the trees, even the basketball hoop, with Christmas lights. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with Christmas Decorations,” said Krusinski.
Preparation for this display began in early November. Krusinski said that he plans out his vision, and then takes a day to work on it while it’s light out. He will then go ahead and add little things to it each night until the grand reveal — Black Friday.
“My rule of thumb is that when the Milford Green turns on, it’s the official start to Christmas and any and all Christmas lights can be turned on for the Season; and that’s when mine go on,” said Krusinski. “The plan is for lots of lights and a call from Clark Griswold.”
On brand with his passion for Christmas, Krusinski runs the Christmas in Milford Facebook group, a group complete with over 8,000 members to date. Christmas in Milford is a group that shares all of the beautifully lit homes in Milford and its surrounding towns. However, it all began simply with a list of homes that he had created back when he moved back home from college and would frequent year after year. Soon enough, Krusinski said that he began getting requests so often that he created the Facebook page.
“This page is dedicated to the many beautifully decorated homes in Milford and even our surrounding cities,” said Krusinski.
Krusinski also runs the Milford Holiday Lights contest, where residents can enter and vote for the most festive house in Milford. Starting on the day after Thanksgiving, residents can visit the Milford Holiday Lights website and enter submissions. The voting, Krusinski says, will commence on December 16, and close on December 30. Then, he will be tasked with driving around to see them firsthand.
Prizes, according to Krusinski, include the following: First place will be a check for $1,000 second place will be a check for $250 and third place will be $100. According to Krusinski, the remaining categories will receive a couple hundred dollars worth of giftcards donated from local businesses and restaurants. Some of the sponsors include Orange Ale House and Flipside Burger.
While the spirit of Christmas is one of Krusinski’s passions, the other is giving back to the community. Krusinski is the founder of Krusinski Cares, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “mission is to give back to the Milford Community through various Fundraisers & events throughout the year, as well as supporting & giving back to our local Emergency Personnel,” according to the website. However, there is no specific organizations that he supports.
“There’s really no specific/singled out organizations I support, I like to support all & everyone,” he said.
While Krusinski himself gives back, since Krusinski Kares was created, Krusinski collected donations for the Milford Police to provide Thanksgiving Dinner in 2021, and created fundraisers for individuals in need — just to name a few.
What really sparked his drive for raising money for charity was his fraternity’s involvement for raising funds for ALS back when he was in college.
“Within the fraternity, was a Non-Profit organization called Iron Phi in which brothers would participate in an athletic event & raise money for ALS, resulting in becoming an Iron Phi. In 2012, after fundraising through local restaurants, I raised $1,000 for ALS and became our chapter’s first Iron Phi,” he said. “From there I became our Chapter’s Philanthropy Chairman for the rest of my College experience and in 2015 created the first Walk for ALS on CCSU Campus, which raised nearly $12,000 for the ALS Association, earning us the title of Iron Chapter, the first in Connecticut. This experience is what really sparked my drive for raising funds for groups & individuals in need.”
In fact, one of the ways that Krusinski gives back during the holiday season is that little mailbox located outside of Krusinski’s home. Santa’s Big Red Mailbox began in fall 2017 when Krusinski was unemployed and decided to register his home as a Toys for Tots drop off location. Due to New England weather conditions, he said he made a trip to Lowe’s to buy a large “red post office style” to “set up outside my home to collect toys.” He said it was made out of “cheap plastic,” so instead he bought the materials, designed and created the mailbox himself.
“Four years later and it’s still outside standing strong and collecting toys,” Krusinski said. “It’s gotten a few coats of paint, a friend of mine sent me Toys for Tots decals to put on it and it’s a big hit and always brings lots of smiles when I put it outside!”
Since its inception, Santa’s Big Red Mailbox has been a huge success according to Krusinski. He credits that since “it’s out there 24/7,” so no one has to “worry about business hours or the door being closed” since many Toys for Tots drop-off locations are placed inside businesses.
“Every day when I get home from work, there’s a dozen new toys in there or the Mailbox is full,” Krusinski said. “Building it was definitely one of the best ideas I’ve had.”
To donate to Santa’s Big Red Mailbox, please use this link for further information.
TGIF! It has been a while since I’ve written shared my list of weekly favorites, and now, it gets dark before 5 and it’s chilly. Welcome to New England in late fall. It is the week before Thanksgiving, and many stores are exploding with their Black Friday deals – which I know I’m taking advantage of this year. That said, I wanted to pop over on the blog to share some of my weekly favorites:
1. Mejuri Lotus Earrings: These have been on my wishlist from the brand for a while, and I finally snatched these up when I noticed that they were on the leaving soon portion of the website. They are 14k white gold and sapphire, and are very tiny. AKA, they are perfect for my second piercing. I have left these in for a few days, and I love that they go great with whatever other earring is in my first one. I love pairing it with hoops and or studs. I also love that these are different than the little silver ball studs or Diamonique ones that I’ve had for years. Sometimes, it’s good to shake things up, you know?
2. Catching Up On My Television Shows: This is such a general thing, so let me explain myself. When we first moved, I became further behind on my TV shows to the point where it became overwhelming to start them. Well, this week I decided that it was time to actually watch them, I officially finished How I Met Your Father, and will be moving on to either One Tree Hill or The Crown.
3. The Gal’s Guide: I always love sharing some new YouTubers that I watch, and I found a new one that I have been obsessing over. That is The Gal’s Guide, which discusses handbags, which y’all know I am obsessed with luxury bags. It’s ran by a girl named Alyssa, and she reviews and unboxes bags, from Louis Vuitton to Coach. Ever since I discovered her channel, I have been binge watching it.
4. LOLA Evil Eye Pendant: I am a huge fan of the brand LOLA (love one love all) and I think that I found my new favorite out of all my collection. That is the black evil eye one. I got it in the medium and it is the perfect neutral piece. And, of course, we can all use the extra protection.
One of the things that I really wanted when we got engaged was a fall session. Fall is my favorite season and I love fall foliage more than anything. However, because of how my engagement photos happened, I didn’t end up getting to do so (you can read more about that here). Since we saved so much money using the photographer, we (okay fine I) decided to get some fall photos done as well.
I contacted Tara, a photographer who I was considering for our wedding, and she and I arranged a time. Unfortunately due to rain and being sick on my end, we ended up having to move things over.
I then was concerned that the first photo shoot wouldn’t happen (gee thanks anxiety), so I contacted my friend Leah to take some photos of us where I edited them using Lightroom. I then treated her to dinner as payment. I am going to be honest — I am still new at Lightroom. However, I do think I did a great job for my first try.
These are the ones my friend took/i edited:
And, a week later, we met Tara and took yet more photos. I am going to be honest. I am so happy that I went with her as a photographer. She was amazing with Lucy and worked with her to get the best shots you can for a Jack Russell Terrier with a short attention span. However, she was also just really great to talk to, and also got the photos back to us in the span of three days and they came out great. I definitely plan to use her again for any future photo shoots we may have. If you’re looking for an affordable and professional photographer in Connecticut, I highly recommend her.
Photo Credit: Photos by Taralynn
To break things up a bit, we ended up doing one set with Lucy and another set without. When it came to clothing, it didn’t help that we had 70 degree weather so in one we were wearing sweaters and in the others, we were wearing nice short sleeved shirts. In both though, we wore jeans.
Photo Credit: Photos by Taralynn
If you can, I honestly recommend taking extra photos with your significant other, engaged or married. I am so happy that I got these moments captured, and all of the fall photos that my heart desired. For me, it was worth every penny.
Photo Credit: Photos by Taralynn
That said, as I demonstrated, if you or a friend have a nice camera, you could easily go that route.
All of these photos were taken by Photos by Taralynn.
I have been on a plaid kick lately. I used to wear plaid tunics a lot, especially when I was in college, and it was something that I never could do just right.
So, when I found these plaid leggings from Loft (the leggings I personally am wearing are sold out, so here’s a similar pair), I decided to snag them up. And, unlike the tunics, it just worked.
I styled these with a pair of black flats and a black Aerie sweater. With these, I wanted to keep everything else simple just to let these shine.
Overall, I love this leggings for work, and I am so glad to have them in my fall and winter wardrobe.
I have been an Uggs girly back in 2008 when the boots were all the rage. In fact, I have been wearing them even when they weren’t that cool because they are so comfy.
So, when one of my favorite influencers, Alexa LeConche, debuted these slippers on her page, it was an add to cart moment for me. I have seen these around quite a bit, but seeing her style them made me pull the trigger. Thankfully, I had a ton of Nordstrom notes, so I ended up purchasing them for $21.
Now, I get the hype and hope the chestnut ones come back in stock soon because I want them soo badly. They are so comfortable, it feels like I am wearing my house slippers on the go. And, yes I do wear Ugg Slippers. If you can get your hands on them, definitely do so.
The one thing that I did notice was that these do run on the small size. Case in point, I am a size 9 and a half, and I ended up getting the ten for a perfect fit. I am typically a ten in either Ugg or Bearpaw shoes, and these fit okay.
The Ways I Wore Them:
The ways to wear these shoes/slippers are endless. When I wore them to work, I paired them with a pair of Spanx skinny pants and a long Aerie sweater.
I also paired them with a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt to be comfy while running errands.
In addition, I can see this going so great with a pair of jeans and a cozy shirt.
If you ask anyone, they will tell you that the true love of my life is my dog Lucy. Apologies to my fiancé. So, when it came time for us to do our engagement photos, the most important thing was including Lucy in the photos.
Photo by Sonia Agli
However, it can be tricky to get the most important member in the family to cooperate. Or in Lucy’s case, to look at the camera. So, here are some tips to have the process go semi-smoothly.
Photo by Sonia Agli
1. Bring a person with you. We had my mother in law with us to handle Lucy. She held her when we took photos by ourselves, or even helped get her attention when we needed Lucy to look at the camera. Which is a challenge.
2. Bring treats. Lots of treats. Having someone look at the camera, especially a dog who does their own thing, is a struggle. That said, treats help get their attention so that they can at least look interested in what’s going on.
3. Hope that they don’t find a squirrel. This one is self explanatory.
4. Take action shots. Whether it’s walking with them, playing with them, or more, the action shots are definitely something that helps a lot when it comes to capture more of the “real and raw” shots. Those are always fun to have and always look authentic to me.
5. Positive reinforcement. This one is easy, but basically this just means praising your dog more than usual.
6. Get a fun bandana for them — if they allow it that is. Last but not least, try to get them a fun bandana that says something cute like my humans are getting married or dog of honor. Of course, this last one is entirely dependent on whether or not your dog will actually wear or let you put something on, so for this, proceed with caution.
TGIF everyone! I am in the home stretch of Blogtober, which is exciting and a huge relief. I am looking forward to getting back to a more regulated and relaxed schedule when it comes to blogging, because your girl is burnt out.
This week’s favorites are a bit all over the place, which are my favorite favorites to talk about! So, without further a due, let’s get right into them:
1. It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover: I am a huge fan of Colleen Hoover. Call me basic, but I just love her books. I am aware of the issues with her son, and I am not a fan of her as a person. But, I really enjoyed this book. It continues right where It Ends With Us ended. If you enjoyed It Ends With Us, then you would enjoy this one too.
2. Ello Covered Mug: I love this mug. I was in the market for a larger travel mug that would fit into my cup holder, and I found this one at Target. So far, it’s been great to drink coffee and tea in, and I love that it looks so sleek.
3. Iliza Shlesinger Netflix Specials: TikTok made me watch the latest one, Iliza Shlesinger: Hot Forever, and now I’m watching her backlog. And, I’m really enjoying them. They are hilarious and something to check out if you’re looking for something to pick you up after a rough day.
4. James Avery Rings: I got a few new rings in my rotation from James Avery. The first is an anniversary gift from my fiancé, which is the ring that says “love is patient, love is kind.” The second is the angel wing one that is about to be retired, which is sad, because I am obsessed with it. Both of these rings are engraved. The love is patient, love is kind one is engraved with my wedding date, and the other is engraved with my mom’s initials. I love these rings because James Avery rings have amazing quality.
5. James Avery Necklaces: Yes, I am sharing more James Avery pieces, because I am obsessed with these as well. The other gift that I got for my anniversary is a little heart necklace with my fiancé and I’s initials engraved on it. I also recently purchased the cross necklace as well, and I am obsessed with layering it with this piece. If you have any questions about James Avery, the only thing that I would like to add is that they are some of the best jewelry pieces that I’ve purchased to date.
6. Midnights by Taylor Swift: I am a Swiftie and I can not stop listening to this album. My favorites are Anti-Hero, Lavender Haze and Vigliante Shit.
I was going back and forth on whether or not I wanted engagement photos, simply because back in 2021, my fiancé had won a contest where we won a free photo shoot. Plus, it was a struggle even booking a photographer, because you had to book a session the minute you got engaged. Needless to say, I procrastinated a lot about wedding planning because I both moved and switched jobs within the span of three months, so these went to the bottom of the to-do list. Oops.
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
However, one day while scrolling on Facebook, a friend mentioned that her daughter was home for the summer and was taking some photos. I asked her if she could take our engagement photos, and she said yes.
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
We took them in Edgerton Park in New Haven, which was a great location. We did have Lucy, which was something really important to me, because she was such a huge part of our lives and relationship. Eric’s mom thankfully also came with us so that we can get some shots by ourselves, which is something that I recommend as well.
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
What We Wore:
I picked the brains of so many brides about what to wear and what to have him wear. None of them felt right to me, because I’m a very casual person, and we’re casual people. We ended up going with a simple sundress from Old Navy that I previously wore for a bridal shower, and he wore shorts and a blue shirt. It was more important for me to have photos that represented who we truly were, versus a more formal version of ourselves. I also wore a bangle bracelet, a family heirloom ring, small hoop earrings, along with a necklace that my fiancé purchased for me as a Valentine’s Day gift. Lucy even wore a bandana from Amazon that said my humans are getting married.
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
The Photos:
All of the photos here were taken by Sonia Agli Photography. She did an amazing job, honestly. I also wanted to note that inspiration for this post came from Moriah Robinson.
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
Tips and Tricks:
I will share a ton of tips about having your dog be a part of the engagement photo shoot in a later post. But, I have some more, should you be interested and/or be like me and have no idea what you’re doing:
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
1. Figure out what kind of wedding you want. I knew that when I was taking my engagement photos, I was not going to have a black tie wedding. Therefore, I wanted my engagement photos to reflect that I’m going to have an outside of the box wedding. Therefore, I wore a sundress and he wore shorts.
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
2. Be yourselves. I offered during our engagement photo shoot for my fiancé to have a Red Sox hat on in a few photos simply because he’s a Sox fan. I think that’s way more important than just the stiff casual photos where every hair is in place. Now, Eric did not end up doing that. But, I wanted the photos to reflect who we really were, versus who we’re supposed to be.
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
3. Bring the dog. The dog is a part of the family, so I think it’s important for them to be included in the photos, especially if you’re not planning to have the dog be a part of the ceremony.
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
4. Use them as gifts. Christmas is coming and these photos make great gifts for parents, and grandparents. Sorry if you’re one of our parents or grandparents reading this. . .
Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography Photo Credit: Sonia Agli PhotographyPhoto Credit: Sonia Agli Photography Photo Credit: Sonia Agli Photography
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