Weekend Wrap Up and Festivities

Sunday is always a fun day but once it reaches 10 p.m. I become a little down because I know its back to the 5 a.m. alarm tomorrow. Luckily for me I only have two weeks left before winter break for my girls starts and I will be home with them. I opted to work from home for the two weeks. I can't wait because I have a lot of fun stuff planned with my girls along with some cool stuff for my blog and work. I recently was given a new account and I am super excited to be able to head up my first marketing and promotional gig for a local designer. We have been working on curating some beautiful stuff for her online shop along with some revamping of her Miami store front. It's going to be a lot of fun and great experience for my portfolio. 

I have finally finished decorating my home for the holidays. We got the outdoor decor complete and both trees are up with all the ornaments, stocking are hung by the fireplace and I have mostly all the rooms accessorized with some old decor we have had along with some fun new pieces from Target I highlighted in a previous post. I will be sure to take more photos this week of some of my favorites to share with everyone. 

It's funny because we got this tree new this year from Walmart on sale for $77. Our old tree had most of the lights burnt out and was getting to be a pain so we needed something new, I didn't want to spend a fortune since I would rather spend on gifts for the kids so we got this Black Friday deal without seeing it first. I am so pleased with the tree, it is full, has realistic branches and it can be colored or white LED lights. We love it. After decorating it with the family I kept thinking something was missing, sure enough when decorating the second tree for our family room I found my ribbon I have used the last few years in a box. I was going to add it but now I think it looks good the way it is. 

Above is our second tree in our family room. This tree has more of a Christmas winter theme with a snowman hat on top and lots of hand painted ornaments from Poland. I got all the decorations and tree on clearance nine years ago at Dillard's. I love the white garland with the white lights it looks like snow glistening on the tree. My stocking holder is from Kirkland's and I have had this for over a decade. Its perfect since we have a fake electric fire place my hubby got me awhile back because I have always wanted a real one but in Florida it's not really needed and it would be so hot. This fake one is perfect because it gives the warm feeling to the family room and effect it wanted for the holidays.

A family tradition for many and has been one for my family for many years is the Elf on the shelf. We have a plush one and an original one. They have lots of fun and get into a lot of craziness over the month leading to Christmas morning. 

As you can see even our Elf loves graphic tees. She has many different outfits but this year she has changed a couple of times already. Got these cute tees and a small suitcase for them at Target. 

Saturday planned to do a photo shoot I have been working on down in Miami for my blog but got rained out. Instead I spent the day at the salon, I had my new color touched up and tweaked a little. Wanted some meek dark red underneath with some bright red mixed in and to remove some of the color that runs into the blonde which looked magenta almost. My hair feels so amazing thanks to Olaplex and Pravana. 

This is all my own hair, I have been growing it out since I started using the Olaplex a little over a year ago when my stylist first told me about it. I have been so many colors and with lots of bleaching to remove colors it is still silky soft and has very little damage. I have gotten so many compliments on my new color. In was nervous because red has never been my favorite but I love this combo. My gorgeous necklace is by my Etsy fave FawninginLove link in my favorite shops and many prior posts.  Her work is unique and just fabulous she really keeps me looking well accessorized always.  

My Sunday was festive with shopping, a visit to Santa and his elves, Christmas crafts and of course some Christmas wrapping when I got home. Even had time for a nail appointment with my oldest daughter. My sweater above is from a company I came across on FB last fall called 2chicksandacause, love that they donate proceeds to different charities every month. My jeans are Vigoss tomboy jeans with distressed finish in black, boots are last season Freebird by Madden, necklace is from Precious Heart Shop and my bracelets are all Alex and Ani. My bag is my fringe tote from Bohemian Vibe Boutique. Since it is late I will be sure to add links for shopping and where to find my look or similar looks tomorrow.

Quickly want to say thank you to everyone who has used my Sand Cloud promo code to purchase items from Sand Cloud, my code is Wanderlust25 for 25% off your order.  I am over the moon to say I am about to get another reward to use for more items.  I just got one last week and then one two weeks before that not to mention the two I already used.  You have all been really supporting me with this company and would love if you would help support with Smile Sciences and PuraVida also.  Check my favorite shops side bar here on my blog, I have lots of links and promo codes for discounts.

I am off to bed. I wanted to thank you for coming by. If you missed my previous post I have teamed up with Smile Sciences, link in the next post and my favorite shops in side bar. I will add a link below also. If you use my exclusive promo code GYPSYSTYLE you can save 90% off the retail price of $299 and get your own kit for $29. I am excited for my kit to arrive and share my whiter smile with everyone. I have sensitive teeth and my dentist told me that this product would work great. You can chose between bubblegum and peppermint, kit includes everything you need and the LED light which is magic. If you have used this product I would love to hear what you think or about your own results.

Have a fabulous week and again thank you for the support. I really have loved all the kind words from everyone and emails. I got a few touching emails this week after some saw some comments left and my migraine post. I really do love how kind everyone is and I am so grateful. Thanks to all of you I am able to share my love for fashion, decor, bargain shopping and photography. You all really rock and you should be proud of your kindness. Kisses and hugs xoxo ❤️😘✌️

Smiles Sciences use promo code GYPSYSTYLE for 90% off

Pam&Gela 20% link

Holiday decor and crafts

So sorry it has been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been extremely busy pursuing my passions, taking care of my business and most important of all being a mom to my two amazing girls. This year I bit off a lot more than usual and have been learning the best way to find balance and time for myself also.

2014 is going to be an important year for me, I love my baking, event planning and decor business a lot but it is so hard to run solo and I never like to do anything half hearted or have to say no to anyone. My cousin had moved back down here and was helping me out but she let me know that she was heading back north for awhile and isn't sure when she will return. With that being said it is hard to find anyone else I trust enough to work with me and help me with this business. I had been ready to start my photography business but decided to put the on the bam burner and continue to grow artistically and gain more experience first while focusing more on the business I already have established. I will still be making cakes, decor and doing design stuff along with my crafts cause they are all passions of mine, but 2014 I am really going to focus on starting the photography business. 

I have been shooting a lot and working on running shoot specials to build my portfolio. My true passion is landscape and scenic photography, I consider myself more an artist then a photographer but photography has been an amazing outlet for me to show my creative and artistic talents. I will be doing  lifestyle and family portraits as my focus and I prefer outdoor, natural light photography. This will be and include family photos, maternity, engagement, bridal, senior and children portraits. There will be a lot more to come about this after the New Year, along with launching a website and other surprises. I can't wait to share. 

My main focus has been on my daughters and family. This year my youngest started kindergarten and my oldest is in her last year of middle school. My amazing husband has been very busy with work and that means I am extremely busy with my girls. I took on being class mom for my youngest, volunteering a lot at the school, then my oldest is cheering right now so that has my schedule all over going to games and picking her up from practices along with my youngest daughter's schedule it is hectic.

For Christmas we got our daughters a puppy! It is very exciting but also again time consuming. We got them a mini schnauzer, my oldest has bad allergies and they are hypo allergenic and one of the only smaller to mid sized hypo allergenic dogs my hubby liked. She has been an amazing addition to our family. We named her Piper and we have had her a little over a week now, she is amazing. I have never had such a sweet, smart and well behaved puppy in my life. She is already house broken, trained to sit and crate trained. I adore her and this is huge cause I am not a dog person. 

I started my holiday decor the week of thanksgiving. It took me some time because I love the holidays and love to go all out for my girls. I want them to always remember the holidays being very happy times and joyful. We have two large trees along with three smaller trees inside, each of my girls has a tree in their room and I had a small one left over fr my youngest room that she doesn't use now that she has her pink tree that was small enough to use in the kitchen. Every room in my home except my bedroom is Christmas crazy:). 

Below I am posting some of my decor photos along with some photos of some simple easy diy crafts I do every year. I am still working on a wreath made with the handprints of all the children in my daughters kindergarten class, which I am going to give to the teacher, some ornaments made out light bulbs and goody bags for the class.

I made some amazing jars with lights, potpourri, ornaments and berries for the bathrooms, vases from dollar store with ornaments in them, custom snowman wreath (similar to the ones I sell every year), and some other cute ideas.  We also have my grandma's Anna Lee elf that we use as our elf on the shelf that my youngest named Edward:). He has been found in some amazing places or getting into trouble since Dec started and I have some photos below to share. Let me apologize for the photos being all scattered and not labeled cause I am using my iPhone to post this since time is not something I have a lot of and wanted to get a post in before my hectic week begins. I plan to spend a lot of quality time making crafts, doing family things, planning our Christmas Eve party, making desserts, and just enjoying every secondy girls are off for Christmas break. 

Enjoy my photos and I will have more photos, crafts and a post on holiday gift wrapping coming once I get thru this week. I hope everyone has an amazing holiday and winter break. Remember the holidays are all about family and enjoying time with the ones we love. Enjoy every moment and cherish the small things and all the memories. Happy holidays and have a safe New Years:). 

That's just a few and more to come tomorrow night along with some of my wreaths I made this year, the pictured I threw together last minute for myself and didn't have any white lights left so used white garland and colored led mini lights that I love:). They are battery operated and have a timer amazing.

Ending this with a football comment I have been a FSU fan since I was five or six for over thirty years basically and was lucky to be present at the orange bowl when they won a national title years ago, I am over the moon and so proud to be a Seminole fan we have had an amazing season. Winston winning the Heisman and now heading to Pasadena to play for the title, all I have to say is GO NOLES! Couldn't be a happier or prouder fan.