Christmas Eve Table & Tradition

Christmas Eve is definitely one of my favorite times of the year. Growing up we would go to my Grandma and Grandpa Bailey's house and have German food and watch old home videos. "German food" typically consisted of bratwurst, hot potato salad and macaroni salad from Siegfried's Deli on 200 S. in Salt Lake. This has always been the tradition for many years until all the cousins started getting older and we needed more excitement than just each other's company. 

After a few years of Christmas Eve lunches and sleigh rides with or without snow, we decided to restore the tradition. About 2/5 of the Bailey Family along with my Uncle George (my mother's brother) came over to our house on Christmas Eve for a great German feast. 

Here is the tablescape I made for our dinner: 

[please note the olives on the table - this is a Bailey family necessity]

Jingle Bell details on the napkins

[I would recommend not using the sparkled kind - the sparkles get all over the napping]

I had fun adding small, unique accents to the table like the gold coils, jingle bells, Christmas theme glasses (FROM THE DI) and cranberries in each water glass. 

This was the centerpiece of the table - Mistletoe and pine branch with gold jingle bells and cranberries. This seemed very popular on Pinterest and actually smelled very nice. 

This is definitely a Christmas Eve that I won't forget and I have enjoyed each day that I am able to spend it with family and those I love. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pre Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving always comes at the perfect time of year! It's a great opportunity to spend time thinking about everything we are grateful for and to really count the blessings in our life. There are so many things I am thankful for its hard to write them all down or even remember them, but my top 5 things I am grateful for this year are:

Good Health |  Family | The Gospel | Amazing Friends |The Opportunity to Chase My Dreams|

Every year for Thanksgiving my entire extended family travels to St. George and we spend the weekend together going to movies, shooting guns, 4-wheeling, going on hikes, and having a great Thanksgiving feast. 
However, the Sunday before my mom always cooks a Thanksgiving meal with the recipes she learned from her mother and its one of my favorite meals she makes. I had the privilege of decorating the main dining table for this wonderful meal. 

Theme: Simplistic Natural Harvest 

[Because we did dinner family style, I needed space on the table for the food dishes - so I tried to keep the decorations simple. I wanted to evoke fall's abundance so I used pinecones, fall leaves, twigs and burlap to help give it that rustic feel] 

My mom has amazing china & table clothes for just about anything. All the plates, silverware, glasses and napkins were hers. 

I found a great (free) template from TheTomKatStudio for place cards to keep with my simple yet rustic feel.

Coming up with a centerpiece was more of a challenge. I don't particularly love tall centerpieces in intimate settings because I feel like you can't have a conversation with the person across from you. Twigs and Pinecones were the perfect combination and allowed me to add a lot of special details. (also because the craft stores put away their Fall decor with Halloween and only Christmas decorations were out)

My mom makes THE BEST Homemade Apple Pie - which is a recipe that her mother passed down to her. 

I wanted to feature this wonderful pie and so I created a "Pie Display" area in the kitchen. 

These are just a few of the great things we had at dinner - these rolls are also made from scratch and were delicious! My mother is an INCREDIBLE COOK!

Almond Cranberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Spinach

Chopped Cabbage 

Green Onions

Cranberries

Candied Almonds

Grated Parmesan Cheese

Brianna's Homestyle Poppy Seed Dressing 

It was a delicious homemade meal and I seriously credit it all to my mother! She has always been an amazing cook and one day I will learn to be as great as she is. 

Maybe next year I will make some of the food. 

I am thankful for a great year and the opportunity to celebrate this holiday with loved ones.

xoxo

S

The FALL is my favorite time of the year

I definitely don't consider myself a "fashionista" or your typical fashion blogger, but on the list of my top 5 favorite things, I would put shopping 2nd (right above brunch). 

I wanted to post pictures of some of my favorite outfits from the FALL! Not only is that my favorite time of the year, its also my favorite time to shop! Scarves. Booties. Jackets. 

Because I love shopping so much, I have a lot of clothes [but without a big budget] therefore many of my clothes come from discount stores, Forever 21 - H&M - Nordstrom Rack - TJ Maxx. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Banana Republic, The Limited & full line Nordstrom. 

I had a great time this fall going on hikes, wondering Salt Lake City and going on crazy adventures, I thought I would share some of my favorite memories. 

My impromptu photo-op at some random house in SLC. 

These army green pants are SO comfortable and I'm obsessed with my tan, sandal heels. Simple is always the way to go. 

Pants: Nordstrom Rack | Top: H&M | Shoes: SoleSociety.com |

| Bullet Necklace: Uptown Cheapskate |

This was my first time visiting Elephant Rock - which is a hike in Bountiful, Utah. I am obsessed with the fall colors & it was a gorgeous view! 

I recently discovered how much I love flannel! It adds character and style to any basic outfit.

|Flannel: Forever 21|

These beautiful yellow leaves can be found driving up Alpine Loop in American Fork, Utah. I may have gotten very nauseous on this drive but it was definitely worth it for the view. 

Out of all my Fall outfits - this one is probably my favorite! It is simple, classic and has a little bit of the fall colors. Plus, I am obsessed with these tan boots. 

|Shirt, Paige Jeans, Boots & Scarf : Nordstrom Rack|

I am sad that the fall is over and we are starting to get snow and freezing temperatures. The great thing about the winter is that I can still wear my scarves and boots. 

xoxo,

S

Topic: Hashtagging for TV

What is a hashtag and what is it used for?

According to www.hashtags.org a hashtag is “an easy way for Twitter users to categorize Tweets that share a common topic or belong to a particular group. The hashtag is used to highlight keywords or topics within a Tweet, and can be placed anywhere within a post.”

Hashtags are very helpful when you want to search Twitter for specific topics.

“Any Tweet posted on a public account can be searched by anyone, and posters often use hashtags to help direct searches to their posts. For example, Twitter users can elect to follow all Tweets that include the hashtag #WhiteSox to receive updates about the Chicago White Sox baseball team.”

I personally love hashtags and use them frequently. The most interesting thing I’ve noticed is that TV shows and movies are often using hashtags in their advertising to help create a “buzz” about the specific scenes or the premiere of a movie. Viewers enjoy the synchronized interactive experience they have created on Twitter.

The ABC Family Show, Pretty Little Liars, is the perfect example of this. While each new episode is airing, they show about 3-4 new hashtags that they want viewers to use in their tweets. This has made Pretty Little Liars the “#1 all-time for most comments for a cable drama season 3 premiere, according to Bluefin Signals. The ABC Family series' June 5 season premiere racked up a record 534,000 tweets during airtime." (source)

The sharp spikes in this graph correspond to the East Coast airings of new episodes. 

This next graph shows the tweeting zoomed in – showing that the majority of tweets about the show happen in the first 15-30 minutes before and after the airing of a new episode. 

Twitter.com keeps track of popular hashtags from the years. Some popular hashtags from 2012 include - #nowplaying, #throwbackthursday, #gop2012, #romney, #familyguy, #nfl, #thehungergames, #rickross, #hiphop, #ihop, #starbucks, #at&t, #iphone, #instagram, and #syria. 

Hashtags are a great way to search for any topic to find out what people are saying about it. They aren't only used on Twitter but also Instagram, Blogs and other social media outlets. 

Topic: Blogging

I have never really been a person who is into blogging. I can barley keep up with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so blogging was something that I never had time for. Plus, I didn’t think that people were interested in hearing about how my day went, who I am dating or what I ate for dinner.

So what is blogging anyways? According to Dictionary.com blogging, the verb “is to maintain or add new entries to a blog.” Therefore, a blog, the noun, is a “website containing the writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other Websites.” I thought this was an interesting definition because I feel like a blog can be way more then what was defined. From what I can tell a blog is anything and everything that a person wants it to be.

This got me thinking, what are some of the top blogs created Blogs.com has made lists of the 10 Ten blogs in many different categories. From DIY Renovation, Stylish Food, Travel for Hedonists, Madrid, Games, Family Crafts, Daily Inspirations, and many more. One blog that was interesting to me was the “Top 10 iPhone Photo (iPhoneography) Blogs. These are blogs that display images that are taken and edited only with an iPhone.

Basically, anyone can write a blog about anything and I’m sure someone will read it. Wordpress.com, which is another blog creation engine gives 6 tips on basic blogging.

1.                    Post regularly, but don't post if you have nothing worth posting about.

2.                    Stick with only a few specific genres to talk about.

3.                    Don't put 'subscribe' and 'vote me' links all over the front page until you have people that like your blog

4.                    Use a clean and simple theme if at all possible.

5.                    Enjoy, blog for fun, comment on other peoples' blogs

6.                    Have fun blogging and remember, there are no rules to what you post on your blog!

Now, since this is all about blogging and I have never been one to have a blog, I still enjoy checking out what other’s have to say on their own blogs.

Here are some of the blogs that I have subscribed to that you might like as well (some of them are more girly than others):

-       http://threadethic.com/

o  a blog created by Desirae and Melody (two of the siblings from the piano playing group “The 5 Browns”) who created a modest fashion blog.

-       http://www.huntsmanschool.blogspot.com/

o        Being a business student, I always like to know what is going on at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. This blog always has great stories, ideas and tips about the business world. 

-       http://www.jordanchristy.com/blog/

o  Jordan Christy is the author of “How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World,” a fantastic book and blog on how to live with style, class and grace.