 It's been a long time since I've posted a reading list, so I figured now would be a good time to update you on what I plan to read this fall and winter. Like always, I have about a million books on my to-read list on Goodreads. Actually, my reading wish list is currently at 366 books right now, but it feels like it only ever gets longer and not any shorter! If you'd like to connect with me on Goodreads, here's a link to my profile. I'd love to see what you're reading so I can keep adding to my list :-) I'm lucky enough to get 2 weeks off work over the holidays, so I'm already making big plans on all the books I'll finish and all the shows I'll catch up on. Here are the 10 books that I'm hoping to finish before spring hits:
Keep reading for a quick summary of why I want to read each book and a link to all the books on Amazon.
Practical Magic is still one of my favorite movies from when I was younger and surprisingly I never got around to reading the book. Alice Hoffman recently released a prequel to this novel called The Rules of Magic, so I figured now would be a good time to read both books. I've already finished the first book and I did like it even though it was different than I expected. There were a few big differences from the movie, but overall it was an enjoyable book to read and I am looking forward to reading the next one.  The Alchemist is a book I've heard about from time to time over the years, but I never really knew what it was about. It's come to my attention more and more over the last year, so I decided it's about time I get around to reading it. Other than knowing it's about the quest of a young shepard boy, I don't know much else about it. Based on the positive reviews and recommendations I've seen over the years, I am excited to check it out for myself.  The White Queen is one of Philippa Gregory's historical fiction novels that I haven't read yet. The book has been made into a TV series on Starz that I've been meaning to watch, but I decided that I would try and read the book first. I've loved every other book that I've read by Philippa Gregory, so I've got high hopes for this one!  Origin is Dan Brown's latest novel and I knew it would be on my reading list as soon as it came out. All of his books have been really good so it didn't even matter to me what it was about. I'll only start this one when I'm ready to get sucked into the story and not re-emerge until I've read the whole thing.  A Wrinkle In Time is the only book on this list that I have already read before. I read it at some point a long time ago and I barely remember anything about it. When I heard that they are making a movie from the book I knew I needed to re-read it! I just saw the movie trailer over the weekend and it looks like it's going to be good. I've already started this book and only have a few more days before I have to return it to the library. Thankfully, it's a relatively short book, so I'm sure I can sprint through the rest fairly quickly.  Letters to the Lost is a recent addition to my to-read list. I saw it in one of the reading lists I found on Pinterest recently and I liked how it sounded. It's a Young Adult novel and also a romance, which are two of my favorite genres, so I'm excited to see how well the author tells the story.  Moxie is another YA book on my list that I'm excited to read. This is also another author I've never read before. It sounds like the book is highly relevant to today's issues and topics, mostly because it tells the story of a teenage girl who starts a feminist revolution in her Texas high school. I'm hoping the story is as interesting as it sounds!  Ringer is the second book in the Replica series. I read the first book a few months ago and really loved the concept, so I was excited to see that the next book was scheduled to come out in October. Just like the first book, this one is split into two separate stories from two different characters. The book is literally split into two pieces, so you can read one story and then flip the book over and read the other one. The jacket says you can either read the chapters in both books by alternating between the two or you can also read one whole side and then the other. I read this book in only 3 or 4 sittings, so it is definitely a quick read and a good story to get sucked into!  Go Set a Watchman is Harper Lee's sequel to the well-known To Kill A Mockingbird. I bought both of them as audio books a while ago. The first book is narrated by Sissy Spacek and this one is narrated by Reese Witherspoon. Like most people, I read To Kill A Mockingbird back in school, but I wanted to re-read it as an adult. Now that I've listened to the audio book and reacquainted myself with the characters, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to them twenty years later in this book. And that's the end! Those are the 10 books that I have read or plan on reading for this fall and winter. Let me know in the comments if you've read any of these books or if you have your own reading list that you are working on!
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 It seems like the latest trend I've been seeing on Pinterest is capsule wardrobes. If you haven't heard of them, they are basically a small collection of clothes that can all be mixed and matched so you have lots of different options to choose from without having an overflowing closet. I've been hearing about capsule wardrobes for at least a year and I always thought it was a neat idea. Who wouldn't want more outfit options with less clothes? And why wouldn't I want every piece of clothing in my closet to fit me well and make me feel good when wearing it? Like I mentioned in my last post, a few weeks ago I decided to give this idea a try. Before I started, I went through my closet and counted how many pieces I had hanging up. There were 114 hanging items in my closet!! This blew me away because the majority of the clothes hadn't been worn in 6 months or even longer. So why was I wasting all this closet space with clothes that I wasn't even wearing? By the time I was done weeding out the unnecessary clothes, I had a much sleeker looking closet with a grand total of 27 items (including pants & shoes). It was a huge sigh of relief! Every time I open my closet I can clearly see every piece of clothing to choose from. I know that everything fits me and that I have many different combinations to choose from for my outfit that day. If you'd like to give this a try in your own closet, keep reading to get the step-by-step process for creating your own capsule wardrobe.  Like a lot of people, fall is my absolute favorite season. I look forward to it all summer long and always get excited on that first day when you can feel a chill in the air. Over the last couple of weeks the weather in Denver has finally cooled off and I was able to start wearing some new fall outfits. I might end up writing another post about my fall capsule wardrobe in case anyone is interested in seeing how it works. I basically weeded out 75% of the clothes in my closet and have less than 30 pieces hanging in there now. I am really enjoying the cleaner, more streamlined set of options I have. You'd think less options would make it harder to pick an outfit, but it actually makes it much easier! Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see a post on that. But for today's post, I wanted to share my fall bucket list with you. I started this list a full month before it was officially fall, back when the weather was still 95+ degrees outside and I was already daydreaming about it being cool enough to wear cozy slippers and drink hot tea. The full list has 41 items on it, but I'll be sharing the top 10 with you today.  Without further ado, here is my 2017 Fall Bucket List:
I've already started a few of these and I'm loving every minute of it. Another post I might write is my fall reading list. Comment below if you'd be interested in seeing what I'll be reading over the next couple of months. Also, share in the comments what you've got on your fall bucket list. I'd love to hear what you're up to!   My obsession with makeup and beauty products has been very well documented on my blog over the last few years. From buying makeup, to organizing my collection, and even making wish lists of everything I want to buy, I've done a little bit of everything on here when it comes to beauty products! With it being so long since I posted on here, I figured I would start with something fun and exciting...to me, anyway! I recently got an email from Tarte about their holiday collection coming out and I made the mistake of clicking on the link to their site, which then led to me promptly falling in love with pretty much everything. Tarte is one of my favorite makeup brands because their products are high-quality, but also affordable (at least compared to some high-end beauty brands). As an added bonus, their products are pure & cruelty free. Here is a snapshot from one of their emails about the ingredients they never use:  If you're thinking of checking out their new products, I would recommend taking advantage of the free shipping offer they have until tomorrow, September 4. If you miss this offer, they generally have free shipping on orders of $25+ (or maybe it's $50+), which isn't too hard to reach once you see how much great stuff they have! Another great money-saving tip for any type of shopping trip is eBates. Have you ever heard of them? Basically, you go to their website and choose which store where you want to do your online shopping. They've got deals for most major online stores, plus even some travel sites as well. Once you click on the link to that store you will see a window pop up saying that you're being redirected. And that's it!! You can do your online shopping like you usually would and checkout through that store's website. Depending on which store you're shopping on, you can earn cash back from your purchase, sometimes up to 10%!! If you'd like to check out eBates, here's a link where you can access the site and sign up. Let me know in the comments if you try it!! Okay...enough talk of sales & free shipping. Let's get to the actual makeup, which is probably why you're here, right? I ended up getting a few things on this shopping trip and I'm already counting down the days anxiously until my package gets delivered. First up, the lip products (my fav): Next, here are the two palettes I ordered: And that's everything! Now that I'm putting it all on one page it doesn't look like nearly enough, but I can always go back and buy more if I 'need' to.
I hope you enjoyed my haul and maybe found some inspiration for upcoming fall & holiday makeup trends. (Side note: raise your hand if you're super excited about fall almost being here! Me, too!!) Let me know in the comments if you decide to buy anything I shared above. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Tarte, eBates, and pretty much anything else :-)
Ever since I was little I have been making wish lists for myself. Not only are they fun to make, they are also useful when it comes time to give people ideas for birthday or Christmas presents. I decided to make a wish list for all of the beauty products I've been hearing about lately. It seems like this is the time of year when Sephora and Ulta first get their gift guides put together and I always find a ton of stuff I want. Instead of going out and buying everything, which would cost a small fortune, I'm going to "window shop" and show you what I find. Here are the products I am drooling over at the moment from Sephora:
And here are the products I am wishing for at Ulta:
And that is everything I currently have on my beauty product wish list! I hope you found something you like. Let me know in the comments below which beauty products you have found that I should go check out.
 It's hard to believe how quickly this year is going! It hardly seems possible that it's already October and winter is around the corner. In order to prepare myself for the cold temperatures that are quickly approaching, I ordered a couple of items online. I heard about the first item on a YouTube video from Zoella and immediately went to the website for Marks & Spencer (a company in the UK) to see if I could get shipping to the US for a reasonable price. They actually offer free shipping on orders over £35, so I went ahead and placed my order. Here's what I got:  This is the Luxury Hooded Shimmer Dressing Gown. Zoella put this on during her YouTube video for her September favorites and I knew I had to have it. I especially loved the hood. It doesn't hurt that she said it's the softest thing she's ever felt!  The other item I bought is a pair of the Cable Knit Toggle Slipper Boots. These were too cute to pass up and I figured as a bonus they will look cute with the dressing gown. Here is the YouTube video on Zoella's channel in case you want to see what else she was loving last month: Now I feel like I'm prepared for the weather to get colder, but am hoping fall will last as long as possible because it's my favorite time of year!
Hopefully I'll be writing another Something For Yourself post sometime soon, so please stay tuned for more!  Sorry for being radio silent for the last couple of weeks. Life got crazy and now I'm finally back in action! I am so happy that fall is finally here! It's my favorite time of year and I have already found myself appreciating the comforts that come with this season, so I thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you. First of all, I love tea all year long, but now is the time of year when I can't get enough. I already had a huge tea collection thanks to all of my trips to Celestial Seasonings in Boulder and I have recently expanded my choices to include some Tazo chai teas as well. Here's a look at my jam-packed tea cupboard (yes, I have an entire cupboard dedicated to just tea)! And further down is a picture of my favorite London mug and cute tea pot along with my new seasonal teas:
  In addition to tea, some of my other favorite fall comforts include candles, bubble baths, and fires in the fireplace. I'm entirely too lazy to build a real fire in my fireplace, so instead I put on a Netflix favorite called Fireplace For Your Home. It's a nice way to get the sights and sounds of a real fire without having the hassle and mess that comes along with a real one. If I really want to mellow out in the evening I will take a candlelit bubble bath. Right now my favorite product to add to the bathtub is Philosophy's Peppermint Stick scent. I've seen it in stores during this time of year before but had never actually smelled it. I finally checked it out when I was at Ulta the other day and had to get it! Now is also the time of year when Bath & Body Works seems to constantly have their 3-wick candles on sale at 2 for $22, so I have been stocking up. My all-time favorite is Marshmallow Fireside and I love burning it in my new leaf candle holder that I just got. It makes the glow of the candle even cheerier. I stacked up my store of candles in my closet because I was running out of room to keep them. It definitely makes my closet smell good!   And that's it for my favorite fall comforts! What are some of your favorite ways to celebrate this time of year? I am hoping to have a new post for you tomorrow so I can show you my purchases from Sephora and Lush. The 20% off VIB sales starts tomorrow at Sephora, so I'm already strategizing on all the things I want to get while I'm there. It helps that they sent a catalog with some amazing ideas, so I think I've got a long enough list already! I've also been inspired by some recent October favorite videos on YouTube to go to Lush and get some of their holiday bath bombs, so I'll hopefully have some of those to share as well!
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AuthorMy name is Beth and I live in Denver. I am a single lady in my 30's and wanted to start sharing my awesome and amazing life through a blog. Categories
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