Five On Friday

It's time for another edition of Five on Friday and I do hope you'll join along!

Remember, all you have to do is post about five things on your mind, add our logo (found at the bottom of this post), and join the party using the linky tools below. Easy, and a great way to find new blogs and be found. :)

O N E
Cheers and hurray because this is the last FoF as "A. Liz Adventures"! After blogging under the same name for such a long time, I am definitely excited for a change.

(photo from Christmas, but, appropriate perhaps?
'cause, you know, drinking? cheers?)

And again, to all of you who took my blog survey recently, I am so happy to see that you LOVE our Five On Friday posts and enjoy reading a bit about everything going on in my life. A smidge of this, a smidge of that, as my tagline says.

T W O
Okay, I have two kid-related deals to pass along to you. First of all, do you have a Kid to Kid nearby (here's a store locator)? Well, I went in to one right before Christmas, and I was looking in their book section. I found a totally brand new Pinkalicious book -- the pages hadn't been touched. Well, you better believe I snatched it up for Camille ... she loves that series! The cashier asked me if I had a book club card with them, and if not, would I be interested? Instead of (typically) saying no, I said yes, and she said "okay, then you don't owe us a thing ... you get that book for free!". Apparently you get one book a month that is priced $1.99 or less with your little stamp card. So, join that free VIP  book club!

And secondly, I don't know if you log your Pampers Rewards like I do (seriously every single code I get, I enter!), but if you save yours up, you can get 6 months of Highlights High Five magazine for 1700 points. This magazine is seriously sooooo cute and Camille loves them. I keep one in the back pocket of the passenger seat of my car and she loves "reading a magazine" when we drive. The other day she started laughing hysterically about a drawing of a cat on a bicycle. How cute. It's geared towards kids age 2-6. If you don't do Pampers Rewards, you can also find a 12-month subscription HERE on Amazon. 

T H R E E
Beauty stuff. I had a few people say on my blog survey (open thru 12/31) that they were curious about the hair vitamins and whether I liked them. I used SugarBearHair vitamins (on Amazon here) and took them the entire month. I did feel like my baby hair regrowth from postpartum hair loss got better, but I had no way of actually knowing whether it was from the vitamins or just... you know, patience and time. Being that a month of these cost $33, and I personally didn't love the texture of the gummies, I decided not to continue taking them.

And mascara. I get asked a lot what mascara I use. I curl my lashes with the Shiseido eyelash curler, followed by a coat of the Superstar primer (step one) on top and bottom lashes, and then 2 coats of Voluminous Extra Volume Collagen mascara in Blackest Black. My favorite combo for thick lashes!

F O U R
Raise your hand if you're a mean mom who makes children believe that all Easy Mac packets come with veggies in them? (hand raised)

F I V E

I am so excited that my birthday is around the corner! New Years Day. Thirty five ...  whatcha got for me. Bring it on!

My goals for the blog in 2017 are: introduce my new blog name, potentially have a blog background/layout change, comment/engage more on others' blog posts if I really love them, add in some more Roll Call Mondays, reduce the Saturday Sip and Shops, take off the ads that cover up text and images, better quality photographs, add some "frugal mom who still wants to look cute" style posts, more makeup and beauty posts, more bargain/deal hunting posts, more posts about what we're doing with The Tipsy Bunny, and potentially adding some You Tube videos to the mix to make my blog more dynamic and personable.

TGIF y'all, and hope you will join in on Five on Friday this week! Cheers to the weekend!

Our Christmas Decorations & Christmas Day Recap

Being in a new home for the holidays was ... absolutely great! We had a completely blank canvas to start from, and it was so nice to reuse holiday decor items I've used for five years in a completely new and fresh way.

I didn't add too many holiday decorations to my stash this year, but I do plan to hit up Michaels or Hobby Lobby soon to see what I may be able to score on major sale to use next year!

So here's a glimpse of our home decorated for the holidays, and then some photos from Christmas day. It was an awesome Christmas for us, not because of what was under the tree, but because of the little girls who came down the stairs to see it all.

I decorated our banisters with inexpensive garland from Michaels (I think it ended up taking 6 or 7 bundles), plaid wired ribbon from Michaels, and red mesh ribbon that I nabbed on major sale from Walmart last year after the holidays. I seriously think I got the 3 rolls of 20' for like $0.50-$1.00 each. 

It was my first time of using mesh ribbon, and it was SO easy. Next year I plan to add some to our Christmas tree before the ornaments go on it. 

We have this little shelf at the landing of our staircase. Normally we just have the tobacco basket up there, but we added the lights, a little tree, a large Santa, and a wreath to the mix. I have a feeling once it all comes down, the tobacco basket by itself may look a little plain!

Our chandelier had matte gold ornaments from Hobby Lobby on it, and a few more little details on the mirror and a kissing ball hung in the doorway to the kitchen. 

On the 23rd I had flowers delivered from The Bouqs so they would look nice and fresh on Christmas Day. They are still looking lovely a full week later!

I have the mini version of the Heidi Swapp lightbox and it was so fun to make little holiday messages and stick it around our home. Normally I kept it up at the coffee bar area.  

Upstairs, the girls had matching fun wreaths on their doors. These used to be all purple and silver and they hung on our double front doors at the old house. I added the hot pink and green this year to make them really playful for the girls' bedrooms. 

Some simple decorations on the media console in our playroom were an easy addition.

And our Christmas tree (faux, from the Martha Stewart line at Home Depot) lived in our den and was so colorful and fun. Only one ornament was broken this year ... that's a win. 

In our kitchen, we had the felt Christmas tree we made which I blogged about here. 

Ian's mom was with us this holiday. Christmas Eve, we attended church at 5pm (the family service ... they specifically asked us not to worry about loud or crying children!) and then had she crab soup and barbecue shrimp with cheddar biscuits for dinner. 

Ian took a photo of the girls and me right before they went to sleep. We were setting out cookies and milk (egg nog) for Santa. 

And boy oh boy did he make an appearance! He brought the girls an art easel to share. Camille got a wooden dollhouse, a Dory book, and a paintable Elsa piggy bank that she saw and just HAD to have. 

Charlotte got a new lovey and a ball popper. 

Camille was super excited to come down the stairs on Christmas morning!

We just played with those Santa gifts for the first few hours of the day. After Charlotte's morning nap, I got the girls dressed in outfits that my mom made them (and bows that I made them!) and we opened some of the gifts under the tree.

And after the afternoon naps, we went outside on the screened porch and opened stockings! 

Ian got me some new Converse sneakers, a "best mom ever" mug, and he upgraded my diamond stud earrings two sizes. He got me those earrings several years ago, and our jewelry store lets you trade them in and just pay the difference for the larger size. It's a fun way of working your way up to nice stud earrings without breaking the bank on that first purchase. 

Oh! And I'll share a photo later, but I got Ian a Flags Of Valor wooden flag. They are beautiful works of art and they are made by veterans. Definitely worth checking out!

We'll keep our Christmas decorations up through the new year (at my insistence)! How about at your home -- are decorations still up?

What To Do With Your Christmas Cash

Grandma wrote you a Christmas check and you're thinking "I already Primed everything I want to my own doorstep." What more could you want?

Here are some items I personally LOVE, and the fact that several are on sale, well that doesn't hurt!

This first top is now $39.99 and you can get an extra 50% off using code TREATS. So, twenty bucks, and it's a steal. I'm 5'2" and petite and I bought the Petite XS and it fits great. The 3/4 length sleeves are flattering, you know why? Because they highlight a slim part of your body (wrists) while the tent-shape of the sweatshirt conceals the Christmas cookies you may have enjoyed. :) 

shimmer quilted sweatshirt

Okay, so I bought this adorable crushed velvet off-shoulder top for $39 on December 11, and it's now $23.40 on sale (40% off). I bought the XS and S and ended up keeping the small. It's so cute on. 

You better believe I just started a chat with Nordstrom and took advantage of their price adjustment! They refunded the difference right back to my credit card. Love their customer service. 

If you're looking for a great top for a winter date, I highly recommend this crushed velvet off-shoulder top especially since it's $23.

Next up is something small that is cute and that I use weekly. This Lilly Pulitzer grocery list is $12 and Prime eligible. It's such a cute way for me to jot down our house needs and stay organized at the grocery store. I know it's one of my goals for 2017 to improve my organization. 

And finally, have you used ThredUp yet? I have purchased several items and have been SO pleased with the quality, cleanliness, and "newness" of everything. It's like an online consignment store so prices are slashed drastically, and some items are even new with tags still attached.

Using my referral link will get your your first $10 for free!

Here are some items that are available right now that WILL get snatched up. 

rosalina size 4t (14.99) // lilly pulitzer size 6 (42.99)

maternity size large (16.99) // ariat boots size 7 (38.99)

I mean, what steals! Someone seriously better snatch up those cowboy boots for less than $40. And if you've never made a purchase and you use this link, you get them for $28.99. I bought Ariat boots for Ian a few Christmases ago and they were ... NOT forty bucks. They were almost two hundred, eek! It's one of the best authentic boot brands you can buy. 

So, how are you spending your Christmas cash? Did you take advantage of any of the deals above?