merry christmas! 🎄

Just wanted to take this moment to say Merry Christmas 🎅🏻and happy holidays to all my sweet readers.

I’m currently listening to Pentatonix “That’s Christmas to Me” and getting really sentimental. So hurry look at this marshmallow I accidentally set on fire!Phew! It has been one heck of a year, hasn’t it? Anyone who knows me personally knows that 2015 was definitely one of my hardest so far. There have been plenty of ups and downs, but I’m gonna focus on alllllll the ups because IT’S CHRISTMAS!

Here are a few things I’m thankful for, besides my Christmas pajamas.

most grateful for them, tbh

Thankful for a year of good health, and the best health of my life so far. We all know I’ve been on a bit of a fitness journey that has taken me to really exciting places… more news to come soon! :)

Thankful for a complete year (almost) of this blog. I started beauty & the beach in January, with zero idea of how to approach this blog. I’d been blogging on my other site for a few years, but I knew I wanted to do something more, something bigger. After about six months of building out content, writing stories, and figuring out a general direction, I started sharing b&b on social media. The response has been incredible…. so much more than I imagined. With that, I’m also…

Thankful for YOU GUYS! To everyone on this site who has clicked through, read a story, left a comment, or given me any kind of feedback, I so much more than appreciate you. To the brands who’ve partnered with me this year, you’re amazing and I’m so honored. Family and friends who have been loyal subscribers and faithful editors, I love you dearly.

I hope you’ve been enjoying these posts this year, and that they’ve helped you discover new and exciting things, or encouraged you to try a new activity like running or yoga!That said, if you do love beauty & the beach, it’d be a lovely Christmas gift to me if you’d subscribe! You’ll get all the posts directly to your inbox so you can stay up to date with all the latest happenings, musings, fitness tips, sales, and self-deprecating jokes.

Here are a few things I’d recommend for festivizing your holiday today (yes I made that word up just go with it):
*Firewood & a nice toasty fire (if you don’t have a fireplace, leech on a friend who does)
*Yankee candle “Home For Christmas” (for some reason it’s only available at Target, boggles me because it’s the best scent) – I buy one every year, it’s delightful.
*Homemade cocoa (refer back to this post for a recipe suggestion). I use heavy cream, half and half, milk, and chocolate chips melted in a sauce pan. Straight to the coronary artery as in IT’S HEART WARMING DUH.
*A little Christmas music: click here for an extensive Christmas playlist on Spotify 🎄
*S’mores. Always s’mores, forever and ever.