I teamed up with Marci to complete the Merry Christmas tag. We answer hard hitting Christmas questions from our best/worst gifts to fave vs. real tree and there may be impromptu whisky involved:
(video here)
I teamed up with Marci to complete the Merry Christmas tag. We answer hard hitting Christmas questions from our best/worst gifts to fave vs. real tree and there may be impromptu whisky involved:
(video here)
4. List 6 places on you would love to stay locally with your family.
I’ve mentioned before that I love LOVE vacation rentals. I’m a little obsessive about all of my future plans that will most likely never come to fruition because money. Let’s face it there are a LOT of places I’d like to explore, but if money were not an option here are 9 unique places to stay in Washington state:
Back in January we went sledding at Crystal Mountain and I loved this little Alpine Inn snuggled up there. I can’t ski or snowboard, I’m afraid of heights and speed…BUT isolating myself on a snow covered mountain would be so fun! Any mountain will do.
I don’t care if our oceans are windy and freezing. I want oceanfront and I want it now! Might as well rent this sprawling oceanfront mansion on Useless Bay with 21 of my closest friends.
A photo posted by TreeHouse Point (@treehousepoint) on
This is the real deal. You can stay in a real life treehouse, only better because they’re heated and homey. I’ve had my eye on TreeHouse Point, but since they really promote a serene setting, your kids have to be older than 13.
You’re destined for 360 degrees of amazing views if you’re staying on a houseboat in Seattle. Bucket list!
You can stay in a lighthouse! I want to walk around and pretend to be an inn keeper while sipping my coffee and watching the sunset with a good book in my lap. My kids can come too…they can play at the beach while daydream. I’ll watch them from my telescope.
You can sleep in your own caboose at the Red Caboose getaway. My son would be in heaven!
A photo posted by Nicole Lackey (@nicolereedlackey) on
I want to head into the Olympic Peninsula and stay somewhere like Lake Quinault Lodge where you can tour rainforests and experience a dip in a natural hot spring.
I want to stay somewhere in eastern Washington that overlooks the Columbia River and is nestled into beautiful mountains. The Skamania Lodge will do!
Where do you want to stay?
Marci and I discuss all of the things in life that don’t really matter at all. From self confidence and The Jonas Brothers to Taylor and how I got Jaxed (Vanderpump Rules anyone?) IT FEELS GOOD TO BE FRIVOLOUS:
(video here)
Vlogging prompts are a great way to develop video content ideas for your YouTube channel! Use them to inspire consistency and fuel that creative mind! Below is a list of 31 December vlogging prompts, peek back in next month for a fresh January list!
1. November favorites haul! Share some of your favorite November finds.
2. Compile short clips, Vines, and Instagram videos and make a video that highlights your favorite November moments.
2. Create a timelapse video of your family putting up your holiday decorations.
3. Take us to the Christmas tree farm with you.
4. Make a wreath for your front door!
5. Film yourself (or your kids) making a Gingerbread house.
6. Complete the Sweater Weather Tag (questions here)
7. Attempt a holiday pin you saw on Pinterest.
8. Capture some fun in the snow (we want to see you sledding down a hill…make it happen).
9. Sing your favorite Christmas carol!
10.Create a holiday inspired makeup tutorial.
11. Share a favorite holiday inspired recipe!
12. Complete the Merry Christmas Tag (questions here)
13. Show us some of your favorite holiday lights.
14. Share a holiday drink recipe.
15. Bake Christmas cookies.
16. Attempt some holiday inspired nail art!
17. Put together a holiday inspired craft!
18. Complete the Holly Jolly Christmas Tag (questions here)
19. Vlog something with a cup of hot cocoa in your hand.
20. Take us ice skating!
21. Take us to see Santa.
22. Show us something fun your community puts on for the holidays.
23. Christmas card share! Show us the card you sent out to family and friends this year.
24. Complete the Holiday Style Tag (questions here)
25. Show us the top 9 things that bring you joy this winter.
26. Christmas Haul!
27. Take us on a train ride!
28. Show us how your kids are spending Winter Break.
29. Book review time! What winter read has you snuggled in and turning pages?
30. What was the resolution you made last year, how did you do?
31. Complete the Happy Holidays YouTube Tag (questions here).
Click here for a collection of more fun YouTube Tags!
Happy vlogging!
Writing prompts are a great way to work through writer’s block when it comes to journal writing and blogging. Use them for yourself or share them with your kids to inspire consistency and fuel that creative mind! Below is a list of 31 December writing prompts, peek back in next month for a fresh January list!
1. Share a quote you love.
2. Write a blog post inspired by the word: snowflake
3. Describe what Friday evenings are like at your house.
4. Best or worst gift you ever gave.
5. List the best places to see holiday lights.
6. How old were you when you stopped believing in Santa?
7. Write a blog post inspired by the last text exchange you responded to.
8. Share a favorite holiday inspired recipe!
9. Create a gift guide.
10. Best or worst gift you ever received.
11. Describe how you would celebrate the holidays if it was totally up to you and money was not a factor.
12. Write a blog post inspired by the word: frozen.
13. Write (or share your child’s) a letter to Santa.
14. Describe a favorite Winter memory.
15. Describe a Christmas tradition that you have started with your own family?
16. List 9 things you love about winter.
17. Write a blog post inspired by the word: shiny
18. Show us your Christmas tree.
19. Recreate a Christmas list you would have written as a child.
20. List your favorite YouTube channels.
21. Have you made a visit to the North Pole yet? Share your Santa pictures!
22. Netflix and chill? What are you binge watching this winter?
23. Christmas card share! Show us the card you sent out to family and friends this year.
24. List the top 7 things that bring you joy.
25. Merry Christmas! Share how you celebrate December 25th.
26. Look back at the resolution you made last year at this time, how did you do?
27. Write a blog post inspired by the word: bitter
28. List 9 Great ways to spend winter break in your city.
29. Book review time! What winter read has you snuggled in and turning pages?
30. A year in review! Compile a years worth of your best blog posts and pictures.
31. Describe how you would spend the perfect New Year’s Eve.
December is often jam packed with things to do, kids home from school, and holiday hangovers. Hopefully this list will cut down on time spent wondering what to write about…too bad it can’t also create the TIME for you to write, but it’s a start. Get busy and have fun!
This week’s Pinterest drink is a pumpkin spice mudslide and a final nod to the pumpkin spice flavoring. Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s definitely time to move on to peppermint:
(video here)
And I forgot to share last week’s special which was a drink that was supposed to be a spiked Arnold Palmer (sweet tea vodka, lemonade) but turned out not to be an Arnold Palmer at all:
(video here)
Cheers and enjoy your weekend!
Happy Thanksgiving!
1. Book review! Share a recent favorite (or least favorite) read.
One of the best decisions I made this year was to start reading again. I shared my books of 2015 part 1 and part 2. Not all of the books I’m reading are new to this year, but they’re all new to me this year. I’ve got about ten years of catching up to do.
1. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
I gave The Nightingale five stars on Goodreads. To me, five stars means the writing, the storytelling, the length, the characters…everything is on point and the finishing that last page leaves me emotionally spent good or bad. This book definitely did that for me. It’s told from a really unique viewpoint and I couldn’t put it down.
2. Red Queen -Victoria Aveyard
Four stars! This is the first in a trilogy I believe, and falls into the young adult Hunger Games type of story. The country is split between Reds and Silvers and there’s loyalty, deception, a hint of a love story, and a fight for justice. I loved it.
3. Firefly Lane -Kristin Hannah
This book was recommended by a friend and it’s about two best friends who navigate their friendship through all sorts of bumps in the road. I gave it three stars. The book starts off with one friend picking up the phone to call the other after a year of not speaking. The entire rest of the book I couldn’t shake my curiosity, what caused them to stop speaking!?! I couldn’t have predicted it. A good read that might bring a few tears and dips into YA lit territory for me and while I enjoy young adult lit…I do get tired of the tone.
4. Station Eleven -Emily St. John Mandel
I game Station Eleven four stars, “An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.” This story is told from a number of different character perspectives. The premise of an apocalyptic life and rebuilding. How humans are drawn to regroup and start over. It was definitely challenging to get into initially and one of the characters were definitely unlikable.
5. Room -Emma Donoghue
I gave this book two stars. It might be my lowest rated book of the year so far, but most people gave it rave reviews. The book is told from a little boy’s perspective. His mom was kidnapped before he was born and they spent their lives living in a tiny room. I think the story told from the boy’s perspective was neat, but got old. Some things just didn’t add up for me. I also wish they had developed the abductor’s character a little more.
6. The Dovekeepers -Alice Hoffman
Five stars! There are writers and then there are WRITERS. Alice Hoffman is a WRITER. Such a beautiful piece of historical fiction that weaves together four strong women and how they came to be together in Masada after the fall of Jerusalem. Loved this book!
7. The Martian -Andy Weir
Three stars…but I’m pretty interested in seeing Matt Damon in this movie, which might be why I chose to read it in the first place. The main character is pretty funny and it was a fairly easy read. Definitely intense and my nerves are shot. I glazed over a little when the book went into detail that involved mathematical equations and space jargon…which happened a lot since it’s a book ABOUT SPACE. It’s not the books fault. But not totally up my alley.
What are you reading?