Five on Friday!

Let me give you two pieces of advice.

1. If you don't use this angle brush and this MAC fluidline (color: Blacktrack) for your eye makeup, you are totally missing out. I've been using both for years and will never use anything else.

2. If you do use that brush...don't try and rush through applying your liner. You may just accidentally poke your eye ball...and then have a blood shot eye for a few days before your husband begs you to go see the eye doctor. And then you'll end up on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory ointment.

Now that we have all that good advice out of the way...

one.  I've had SO many questions about our Tree Collar for our Christmas tree! I am OBSESSED with it. It's so pretty and it is SO much easier to vacuum under the tree without a skirt! There are only a few left in stock so grab yours now!

two. Every single time I make my Total Wine run one of the sales associates talks me in to a new Sauvignon Blanc. And they've never led me wrong. Per their recommendation, I picked up and loved this Cottesbrook Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc! It's $3 more than I normally spend on a bottle but I had a $10 off coupon and it was totally worth it. Highly recommend.

three. I have purchased so many Christmas jammies from Target this season. Earlier this week the deal was buy one ($12) get one 60% off!! We wear Christmas jams all year so it's never too late for me to stock up on a good deal, plus Thomas wears all of Caroline's hand-me-downs one year later. Anyway, you definitely need some Elf and Santa jammies for your family!

 Santa Pajamas

four. Tuesday night a few of my best mama friends got together for a girls night out. We grabbed dinner at Fresh Chef and then went to see Bad Moms Christmas! It was SO funny and almost as good as Bad Moms (#1) which we all went to see together too!

five. **GIVEAWAY** I've talked about my love for Fulton & Roark products a few times lately on the blog, but today I have to share one more amazing gift idea for the man in your life -- a F&R Holiday Dopp Kit (stuffed with luxury man products). This gift is especially perfect if the man in your life travels a lot. Matt doesn't travel a lot, but has been using a terrible old mesh drawstring bag for his toiletries since I've known him. So this Christmas he is getting UPGRADED to the gorgeous F&R Dopp Kit!

And good news! F&R generously offered to giveaway a Dopp Kit to one lucky reader! Enter using the rafflecopter below!!

***GIVEAWAY*** Enter using the rafflecopter below. The contest will run through Dec. 12 and the winner will be picked at random and announced back here on Dec. 13! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want to snag a dopp kit now or some luxury grooming product stocking stuffers? Use code CHARM at checkout to save 15% on your order through 12/31

Progressive Christmas Dinner Party!

I love our neighborhood SO much. SO much in fact, that I agreed to serve on our HOA board as the social committee co-chair and host the last stop of our neighborhood Christmas progressive dinner party on Sunday night. Trust me, that's a lot of love...

We spent the entire weekend festivizing (I just made that word up) our home for Christmas. Since this is our first Christmas in our new home so we had a LOT of new decorations to purchase! Matt and Caroline spent a full day running back and forth from Walmart and Home Depot buying exterior stuff and hanging everything. Meanwhile, Thomas and I ran all the other party errands and got to work festivizing the inside of our home! As fun and exhausting as it was to get ready, I was glad I had the party deadline to get it all done.

I was especially excited to finally break in our dining room! We just started working on this room about six months ago and it's coming together so beautifully. 

After posting to insta-stories I received a TON of questions asking for sources for things so I'm going to break it down for ya:

Table: I had so much fun blowing everyone's mind with the source for our table -- it's the Pottery Barn Banks Dining Table. Just kidding! It's the most perfect dupe of the PB table...from Home Depot. YES! Home Depot. And I actually purchased it for half that price during an amazing sale. Now I just need my dream chairs to go on sale.

Light Fixture: Duh, it's from Wayfair, just like every other light fixture in our house!

Curtains: The curtains are the real reason I don't have dining room chairs. I fell in love with and splurged on gorgeous Calico Wedgewood fabric by Lacefield Designs and had them custom made. They deserve a post on their own because they are sooooooo unbelievably beautiful and worth every last drop of my decorating budget. Who needs chairs anyway?

Okay, back to the party! I made an early bird trip to Trader Joes to raid the eucalyptus delivery on Friday morning before work. I am not even kidding, I visited TJ's three times last week for eucalyptus and they were sold out by lunch every day. So, bright and early I arrived and practically tackled the poor flower man carrying the boxes outside. I bought 10 bunches of eucalyptus for our banister garland and had two bunches left over so I used it for my tablescape. I simply laid it out in piles (loosely) in between the candles and it turned out so pretty. The gold votives are from Michaels and the tall white candles are from Walmart (thanks, Matt). 

The night was a huge success and we had about 35 neighbors attend the progressive party! The first stop of the party was happy hour and appetizers -- hosted by my friend and social co-chair, Brooke! Her fam lives directly across the street from us so it couldn't have been more convenient for all the party goers.

I brought my favorite Hot Corn Dip appetizer!

The next and final stop was our house for dinner and dessert! A huge kudos to Matt for working hard to pry open every painted shut window to hang those wreaths!

For dinner, neighbors brought over SIX crock pots of chilis! Want to know one of the best benefits of hosting the dinner portion of the event? Leftover chili. For daysssssssss.

I made my favorite Wendy's chili and 50 corn bread muffins for the party too. 

We ended the party with a ton of delicious dessert!

Five on Friday!

 Oh, hello!

one. It's been a whirlwind of a week over here. We flew home from Florida on Monday and upon landing headed straight to the doctor (per usual) to confirm our google diagnosis that Caroline had a terrible (first) case of croup. And because she's an overachiever she also got diagnosed with stridor, which almost took us to the ER the evening before but instead Matt slept zero hours while he watched her like a hawk. Anyway, the severity of her condition qualified us for an extra strong steroid shot to the leg and thankfully she slept like a baby that night with minimal seal bark coughs. By the next morning her 103 temperature had finally gone away and she was feeling 99% better, but Matt decided to keep her home for a movie marathon day while I traveled the entire week between Raleigh and Wilmington. Sooo, shout out to the most amazing husband and daddy who was already a week behind in work but took a sick day to be with Caroline and handled ALL the duties while I was away.

two. I forgot to pause my HelloFresh box this week since I knew I was going to be out of town every night, so you can imagine my surprise when Wednesday night Matt sent me the following photos while I was at a work dinner...

 Pronto Pasta Amatriciana!

If my husband can do it, yours can too. Also, I should mention that HelloFresh would be a great Christmas gift for the person that loves to cook! And if that person is your husband it's a double gift win! Use promo code MG8GKD at checkout for $40 off your first box! That means you can try out HelloFresh for $29 and then cancel after your box arrives or keep on going.

three. While downloading all of my iPhone photos I realized I forgot to blog about Mel's Supper Club! Just before Thanksgiving Mel hosted the ladies for a night of make your own pizzas!

 

four. I have two amazing Old Navy finds for you! First up, a dress that I love so much that I purchased it in 3 colors! There are 8 colors to pick from and the dress also comes in a textured version and in plus size too! I love how flattering and versatile this dress is. I style mine for work, date night and even our Christmas cards! It's SO loose and flowy which I appreciate too.

Next up, these adorable and comfortable pointy ballet flats! I purchased mine for $10!!! Oh, and these also come in 8 colors.

Wearing them here...

I always get a lot of questions about this cowlneck sweater. I own it in 3 colors. It's from Gap. It's from last year and no longer sold, but there is the shaker stich version!

five. McKinsey's annual gift exchange is quickly approaching and I need a good $35 gift for girls to bring fight over!  Below is a list of the big hits from last year. Now the hunt is on for what to bring this year...

Gift Cards: Target, Starbucks, Nail Salon, etc. Some girls bring a $35 gift card while others include a $5 gift card with a gift -- both are always big hits!

Stemless Wine Glasses: Shatterproof // Cooling Set // Rubber Sleeved Set (my favorite!!).

S'well Insulated Water Bottle: 9 oz // 17 oz
Insulated Totes: Casserole Carrier // Cooler Bag
Fun Jewelry: Bracelet ideas: 1 / 2 / 3 | Necklace ideas: 1 / 2 / 3
Cosmetics: Ideas: Lip Scrub // Eye Palette // Smashbox Eye Palette // MAC Eye Palette // Urban Decay Eye Palette // NARS Blush + Bronzer Duo // Lip Scrub
Coffee Mugs & Tumblers: Ideas 1 /  2 
Scarves: Ideas 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
Candles: Rewined // Aquiesse // Volcano // Nest

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I accidentally volunteered to host a dinner party this weekend for 35+ people so I better go pick out a Christmas tree, decorate my house for Christmas, figure out what to cook, buy some booze, vacuum and hide all my clutter under beds and in closets. Oh, and maybe track down some folding chairs, ya know, because we still don't have any chairs for our dining room...