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lifestyle

My Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes!

Thanksgiving Turkey Tim Sackton — Image Via Tim Sackton

With Thanksgiving a few days away, I thought it would be nice if I shared with you all my favorite holiday recipes for dishes I will be serving at my Thanksgiving dinner this year! If you are looking for a new recipe or some inspiration for meal planning, hopefully this will help you discover a new dish!

Appetizers

Since I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year for my family, I like to have snacks and appetizers out before dinner for people to munch on while they watch tv and chat! My husband has requested shrimp cocktail this year as well as a plate of his favorite cured meats to go along with the baked brie I will be making as a hot appetizer. Baked brie is one of our favorites and I love it because its super easy to make, but it presents very, very well. This is the sort of appetizer that’s great to bring along to parties because you can prepare it ahead of time and once you arrive at the party you can heat it up in the oven for a few minutes!

Baked Brie

Ingredients

1 piece of frozen puff pasty (thawed)
1 package of brie cheese, round
1/4 cup of preserves (apricot or raspberry work very nicely, but use whatever preserves you prefer, you can also omit this if you don’t like preserves!)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425. Lightly grease a baking sheet and place your thawed puff pastry upon it. In the center, place your brie (removed from packaging) and top with preserves (optional). Wrap the pastry up around your brie working in a single direction until the brie is covered completely by the pastry, ensuring there are no holes or cracks for cheese to spill out of. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is fluffy and browned. Make sure to keep an eye on the cheese to make sure it’s not melting out of the pastry excessively (a little spillage is okay, but if rivers are flowing out, remove it immediately!) Let cheese stand 5 minutes once removed from the oven and then serve with your choice of crackers!

Side Dishes

For me, a great Thanksgiving meal is made by the side dishes! Although I am hosting a small gathering of family, I still like to have lots of options! We will have the traditional mashed potatoes, a salad, rolls of course, but two of our favorite sides are always Corn Bread Pudding and Sausage Stuffing!

Corn Bread Pudding

Ingredients

2 sticks of melted butter
2 eggs beaten
1 16oz can of corn (do not drain)
1 16oz can of creamed corn
8oz sour cream
1 box of Jiffy corn bread mix
2 Tbsp sugar

Directions

Combine all ingredients adding the bread mix last, into a large mixing bowl. Bake in greased bowl or pan at 350 for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. Should be a light golden brown on top. Let the pudding rest for 5-10 minutes after removing from the oven!

Sausage Stuffing

Ingredients

1 16oz package of Jimmy Dean sausage (in the log style or use equivalent in Italian sausage style of your choice. I prefer the Jimmy Dean Sage Sausage, but that is just personal preference!)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Box of Stovetop Stuffing (or whichever stuffing recipe you prefer)
Additional Ingredients on stuffing mix box or your preferred style of stuffing!

Directions

In a large pan on the stove, heat oil and distribute on the pan on medium. Place sausage in the pan of heated oil and begin to break it up with a wooden spoon or similar utensil until the sausage is in crumbled, bite size pieces. Cook sausage until browned, drain excess oil and move sausage to the side while preparing your stuffing mix. Prepare stuffing as directed. Once stuffing is cooled, incorporate the cooked sausage and transfer to the serving dish of your choice.

Roast Turkey Recipe — My Turkey via Thanksgiving 2012

The Turkey

If I had to venture a guess, I would say that Turkey is probably the most popular type of meat served on Thanksgiving, however, I have been to several Thanksgiving dinners where it was served alongside a ham or even lamb. I will only be serving one meat option on Thanksgiving, because, let’s be honest, its hard enough to get one meat right on Thanksgiving and turkey is a difficult bird to master! I, however, believe I make one of the best turkeys… ever! I’m just gonna say it, my turkeys are good! They are super moist, filled with flavor and golden browned by the time they exit the oven! I think this has to do with the awesome recipe I developed based off this Alton Brown recipe!

Ingredients

1 frozen Turkey (size doesn’t matter folks, but a rule of thumb is 2 lbs per person you’re feeding. I have made this recipe with a 16 lb turkey to a 23 lb turkey and they have all turned out great!)
1-2 Apples
1-2 Onions
Cinnamon (I prefer ground)
A few cups of water
1-2 Cups of Apple Cider or Apple Juice
Sage (packaged seasoning is fine!)
Rosemary (again, stick to the stuff you have in your cupboard unless you really want fresh!)
A bulb of garlic
1 stick of butter

Directions

Now, I just want to warn you, that for me, this is one of those recipes that is all about judgement calls. I don’t believe you can go wrong with anything except the cooking time, but just do what feels right!

2-4 Days before cooking, take your turkey out of the freezer and let it defrost in your fridge (the larger the turkey, the more time it needs, 4 days would play it safe, 3 is probably average, 2 days and I would worry about having some frozen innards still!

Day of cooking: Preheat your oven to 500 and make sure the racks of your oven are properly positioned to fit your turkey (there is nothing worse than having to mess with those once they are hot!) Remove the thawed turkey and place it in a completely clean sink (very important that your sink be as clean as possible and I would work with the turkey inside a large container of some sort as well)! Remove the turkey from the packaging and remove the neck and other misc innards from the cavity (if you have plans for those innards, put them aside, if not, toss them)! Rinse out the cavity with cool water to make sure there is no bits of ice or slush in there!

Place the turkey on a roasting rack that’s sitting inside a roasting pan. In a microwavable bowl, place an apple or two (chopped up), an onion (also chopped) mixed with a good amount of cinnamon and some apple juice/cider. This part is all eyeballing it! I like to make more than I think I need, because, trust me, this mixture will not go to waste, so maybe a good estimate is to make about 3-5 cups of this mixture! Cook it in the microwave for 5 minutes and you will start to smell all those lovely aromatics brewing together (that smell is what your turkey is going to taste like once this is all done)! Once that mixture is out of the microwave, spoon out the chunks of apple and onion into the cavity of the bird. Add additional apple and onion slices to fill the cavity if necessary!

Coat the skin of the turkey well with the canola oil. Take apart your bulb of garlic and skin each clove of garlic. Take your butter and cut it into multiple pieces. Then take a small knife and begin to cut deep slits strategically all over the bird. This part requires some thinking on your behalf as to where best to place these slits, because inside each slit you are going to place a pad of butter and a piece of garlic, which will then melt and soak into the meat of the bird. I probably make 1-2 slits on the legs, 1-2 on the wings, and 4-6 around the breast.

The last thing I do before I put the turkey into the oven is I like to put some water and a little bit of the aromatics liquid in the bottom of the pan (about an inch of liquid) along with any excess apples and onions I have chopped up already, and then I cover the turkey and the pan completely with aluminum foil!

Put this into the oven at 500 for 30 minutes.

When the 30 minutes is up, remove the turkey and the aluminum foil (gently, because you are going to put it back on loosely after this) and using the liquid from the aromatics mixture, baste the turkey! I also like to use a flavor injector to actually inject this juice mixture into the meat of the turkey as well, all over!

Lower the temperature on the oven to 350, recover the bird with foil, loosely, and put it back into the oven for the remainder of the cooking time! According to Alton Brown a 14-16 lb turkey needs 2- 2.5 hours of cooking time additional, but double-check that with the size of your turkey against this turkey cooking time-table (you can never be too careful)!

For the remainder of the time the turkey cooks, I like to remove it from the oven every 45 minutes to baste it and flavor inject it with the aromatics liquid! I do not count the time out of the oven as cooking time, I set my timer after the turkey is back in the oven! Also, as a note, during the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, I remove the foil from the bird completely, so that it can get that nice brown color and a crispy skin. You may notice that the skin of your bird may have lighter patches around areas that were sliced for the butter and garlic, and this is normal. You may also get streaking from the aromatics mixture because the skin of the turkey really only browns in areas that lack moisture, and you have been basting yours to keep the meat juicy.

Once the turkey is completely cooked and either the thermometer in the turkey has popped or your own food thermometer (always preferable) indicates an internal temperature of 161 for the turkey, you can remove it from the oven and let is rest for 15 minutes before carving.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my favorite Thanksgiving recipes! Like I said, I will be making all these items and more this year! I would love to know what your favorite family recipes are and what you will be cooking up this Thanksgiving, so feel free to leave me a comment below! Also, if you use any of these recipes, I would love it if you took a picture and sent it to me on Instagram or Twitter! Happy cooking!

xoxo,

This article was first published on Strange & Charmed on November 10th, 2014 and is being reposted as part of my Holiday Prep Hiatus! For the months of November & December I will be recycling some vintage S&C content that you may have missed in order to give myself some extra time to finalize projects and spend time with my family during the holiday season. All reposted content will be marked as such. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past blog post!

DIY lifestyle

7 Ways to Wear a Scarf for Fall + a DIY Blanket Scarf!

It’s that time of year again when we break out our favorite scarves for fall! Although we had something of a long summer into October here in the mid-atlantic, I am excited to report that in the last few days, the weather has started to turn and it officially feels like fall now! This weekend was great- although it rained a bit on Saturday, you couldn’t have asked for more quintessentially fall weather, and I even had the chance to wear my new DIY Blanket Scarf out and about to keep me warm with a light jacket!

So, I’m sure some of you are wondering about my DIY Blanket Scarf, so I will let you in on what that’s all about! I think most of you are probably familiar with the concept of a blanket scarf- Zara sold a wonderful tan and red plaid version last fall and I have been waiting for it to come back for what feels like forever, but apparently, I keep missing it… epic sad face! It just got to the point where I was sick of waiting and decided to take matters into my own hands, so I did the only logical thing I could think of- I headed to the craft store! JoAnn’s Fabrics to be exact, and searched through rows and rows of lovely fall themed plaid fabric until I came across a wonderful super light fleece material that I thought would make a perfect blanket scarf. I believe the Zara variation is made from a woven cotton and is very soft, but not as thick and warm as you might expect (at least, that is what I have heard from friends and around the internet). One thing the Zara Blanket Scarf is, however, is large! Something like 53″ squared! That’s like most of my height people, no wonder they call it a blanket scarf! My lovely fleece material, however, was only something like 45″ wide, so I had to make do with a slightly shorter, although still massive, piece of material. I just had the fabric cut into a square and it cost me something like $6 after I used a coupon! Can’t beat that for a DIY scarf that’s made of warm fleece and only slightly shorter than the original. I’d guess my version saved me something like $30, which I’m pretty happy about!

Now, onto the real meat of this post, the seven ways to wear a scarf! Well, for that, I assembled a very simple tutorial video to walk you through my favorite styles! The first three styles are ways to wear a blanket scarf specifically and then the final four apply to a traditional oblong scarf! The styles range from cozy to super chic, so no matter what weather you’re experiencing you will find a style to wear your favorite scarf that keeps you seasonally dressed and stylish! If you don’t have the time or ability to watch the video right now, just make sure to bookmark this post and refer back to it later on so you can learn these great styles! I know I am always looking for new ways to wear a scarf, so hopefully you learn a new style or two that you can integrate into your wardrobe this fall. Enjoy!

I hope you all enjoyed this video and this DIY Blanket Scarf information. If you have a tutorial with other ways you like to wear your scarves, please feel free to tweet me the link and of course, if you try any of these methods I teach you in the video, be sure to snap a picture and TAG me in it on Instagram so I can check it out!

xoxo,

This article was first published on Strange & Charmed on October 13th, 2014 and is being reposted as part of my Holiday Prep Hiatus! For the months of November & December I will be recycling some vintage S&C content that you may have missed in order to give myself some extra time to finalize projects and spend time with my family during the holiday season. All reposted content will be marked as such. I hope you enjoy this blast from the past blog post!

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: Hello May!

Hello everyone and happy May! Let me tell you how excited I am about this month. It is finally bright and sunny on the North East Coast of the U.S. and I’ve been enjoying the sunshine very much! Starbuck and I have been going on walks, I’ve been hitting the gym in preparation for my trip to Aruba and I’ve been getting some serious work done around Strange & Charmed! So let me catch you up on what is going on at Charmed HQ!

Lately, I have felt like I am making some wonderful progress on so many projects. I have officially launched the third workbook for Empire Building, on the topic of Community Building! The workbook came out so great, I’m so impressed with it myself and I know my Empire Builders are going to love it! It feels so great to have only two remaining workbooks left to publish, and once they are all out, I can’t wait to start on stage two of my master plan for Empire Building! I’ve also been inspired to start a few new series on both my blog and my YouTube channel that focus on educating bloggers and business owners. One of them is going to be a Photoshop course over on YouTube, and another is going to be a business resource guide here on the blog! I’m so excited to get started creating some great content to help my fellow bloggers, YouTubers and social media fanatics learn and grow! I’m also hoping that this month I can finish working on a special passion project of mine that I actually started last year around May, but ended up having to put on the back burner. Obviously, I will explain more as work progresses on that, but never the less, get excited because I’m seriously pumped about May!

Now, speaking of May, did you download my FREE May Planner Insert? If not, I will link it here so you can check it out! It’s adorable, if I say so myself, and it’s actually a list of 31 awesome seasonal things to do in May! Definitely check it out if you are a planner addict like me! Speaking of being a planner addict, I recently posted a video to my YouTube channel all about my Filofax collection. So, if you have been curious as to my planners, you may want to check that video out and meet my 14 (yes, I said 14!) planners!

Finally, I’m sure you are curious to know what Lisamarie and I are up to for the summer! You may have heard that we are going on vacation together to Aruba in June, and we are super excited about that! We will be vlogging it, and we have some awesome things planned for you guys in June to help get you involved with out vacation and such, so make sure you are following both of us on Instagram! We also have one more fun thing to share! On Wednesday May 6^th at 9pm EST, Lisamarie and I will be doing our second Glampire Chat over on her channel! If you missed our last chat, I will link it here, but this time around we are discussing branding, so we hope you will attend the live chat, but you can also watch the reply on my channel if you can’t make it!

So, I think that about wraps up my news for May! Remember, schedule May 6^th at 9pm EST in your planner so you can hang out with me and Lisamarie! Come with your questions and make sure to join us in using the hashtag #GlampireChat to celebrate our second event and send us questions! Can’t wait to see you on Wednesday!

xoxo,

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: Welcome to Spring

Hello my Strange & Charmed Ones! April is here which means the first quarter of the year has come to a close. I’m not sure about you, but I had a wonderful start to the year and I am feeling energized for the Spring. The weather in the Northeast of the U.S. where I live has been slowly starting to turn from blistering winter to a much calmer spring like season, which I’m looking forward to! I can’t wait to go on daily walks with Starbuck around our neighborhood and finally leave the house without my winter coat and lots of layers. Although this winter was pretty brutal, I would say that it was still very productive for me. I was able to accomplish many of the goals I laid out for myself at the start of the year, which makes me proud! I hope you as well were able to make some headway on your goals as well, and if your start wasn’t as successful as mine, I hope you are able to regroup with the change of season and get down to work!

In case you haven’t seen it yet, my April free printable is up over on my shop. It is a Spring Cleaning Essentials Checklist with 30 commonly overlooked tasks to help get your home clean and in order this season! Tackle one task per day or spread it out over the next few months to get a fresh start feeling in your home!

Another piece of fun news I wanted to let you all know about is that today actually, an interview is going live with me on the Fearless Launching Show Podcast with Anne Samoilov! Anne is a business launching guru whom I have been getting to know very well this year, and she had me on her show to discuss how I was able to successfully launch my business using my social media community and no email list- which is something of an online marketing faux pas! I would love it if you would check out the episode of the podcast and let me know what you thought! I’m still getting used to doing live interviews so your feedback would be awesome for me!

Also speaking of live interviews, in case you missed it, you definitely need to check out the hour and a half long Google Hangout that Lisamarie from Paper & Glam and I had last night. We have started a series called “Glampire Chat” where we talk about building a business and firing it all in with a busy life, and last night was the first episode where we discussed starting your #sidehustle. If you are not familiar, the #sidehustle is a term for a side business that you may start as a passion project or with the hopes of building it up into your main job one day, but in the meantime you still have a traditional 9-5 or other full time job that is your main source of income. Both Lisamarie and myself started our businesses as a side hustle and while I was able to take my business full time, Lisamarie is currently rocking the side hustle as she works by day for a Fortune 500 company. If you are interested in starting a business and would like our advice, definitely check out the video!

So, I think that is everything new with me! Now I want to hear what has been going on with you! How did Q1 of 2015 pan out for you? Did you feel productive and energized or did you fall short on some of your goals? How can I help you to achieve your goals through blog posts and content in the future? I would love to know so leave me a comment down below!

xoxo,

Letter from the Editor

Letter From the Editor: In Like a Lion

In like a Lion…

As I sit in my living room writing this post to you all, I’m all bundled up in layers of pajamas, blankets, and a warm little puppy on my lap, also trying to fight the cold and snow that’s roaring outside. Like they say, March is in like a lion, and I hope it goes out like a lamb sooner rather than later! But it doesn’t matter how cold and icy it is outside because March is here and it’s one of my favorite months of the year. Why? Because my birthday is in March, which I am looking forward to. Friday the 13^th this year, which would perhaps be a bad omen for some people, except for me, 13 has always been my lucky number, and I consider Friday the 13^th an auspicious day! I think I may throw myself some sort of horror movie themed birthday party or at least dress up like Wednesday Addams that day! Feel free to leave me some good party ideas down in the comments, they would be appreciated!

This month I also have a few important projects going on, like my #CharmedGTD photo challenge on Instagram that you still have time to get in on! I was blown away to find that by the first day, there was already over 120 pictures using the hashtag and so many more added every hour! I’m blown away by the support of my friends in the planner community, so thank you all if you are participating. I honestly can’t thank you enough for helping me celebrate this month in such a fantastic and inspirational way!

Also, if you missed it, I already announced my March Free Printable entitled “Make Your Own Luck” which you can check out here. And of course, I also recently announced a new addition to my online shop, Printable Inspirational Wall Art. If you are looking to add some positive motivation to your office or home, check these out and start your own gallery wall!

Since March is such an important month for me, I have planned a lot of great content for you all on my blog and YouTube channel. If you haven’t already seen it, I recently started a series on YouTube called Plan Like an Entrepreneur, where I show you how I plan for my week and then answer your questions about business and entrepreneurship! On the blog this month, I have some great productivity tips coming your way, including tips on how to be a better photographer, books you need to read, and my take on staying inspired as a creative! This month is going to be packed with great content, so I hope you stop by regularly to see what I have created for you!

xoxo,

lifestyle

The BEST Edible RAW Cookie Dough Recipe!

Confession time. I really love eating raw cookie dough! I know, I know, although it may be delicious, its not always a wise choice because cookie dough it intended to be baked for a reason, but it’s just so delicious I have to admit, it has been one of my guilty pleasures in life. That is, until I came across this awesome recipe for RAW Cookie Dough that is 100% safe to eat and actually a very healthy and nutritious alternative! Oh, and did I mention, when I saw RAW, I mean made with natural ingredients, no sugar, eggs, flour- basically, none of the bad things that real cookie dough contains! Although I absolutely love the original recipe as I discovered it a few years ago on Pinterest, every now and again I like to switch up the recipe and play around with it, and I think I have uncovered the perfect blend for me, so I thought I would share it. Now, just a quick warning, this is one of those weird “healthy” recipes where you pretty much have to ignore the ingredients that you are using so that you can really enjoy and appreciate the end result! Yes, the base of this recipe is weird, but once everything is mixed together, the flavor is so good that you will question your grip on reality! Okay, so let’s just jump into this, shall we?!?

For this recipe, as adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie, you will need more or less of the following items:

1 Can of White Beans, drained (I use cannellini beans, but you can also use Chickpeas!)
1/8 tsp of baking soda
1/8 tsp of salt
1 Tbsp Vanilla extract (I use the artificial stuff but pure is also good)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil (I use canola, and I highly suggest NOT using Olive Oil, but palm oil may work!)
1 Cup of Pitted Dates (You can use fresh or dried, find them packaged or in the bulk section of your grocery store)
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips (the more the merrier, feel free to up this quantity if you wish!)
2 Tbsp Quaker Oaks
1 Tsp Stevia or another alternate sweetener in granular form (sugar is also an option, but use sparingly)

Directions:

This recipe is all about blending your two main ingredients, the dates and the beans so that they are smooth without turning to mush. In order to soften the dates for a smooth finish, soak them overnight in about 1/2 cup of water. I suggest blending the dates and their liquid in a food processor first to make sure there are no large pieces of date before adding the rest of the ingredients on the day of preparation. Once the dates are blended down, I then add the beans (drained) and blend the two together briefly before adding all the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips and the stevia. Blend so that all the ingredients are well mixed and semi smooth, but they still retain a bit of shape and texture! Once this is achieved, move the mixture to a separate bowl and add the granulated sweetener of your choice with the chocolate chips and mix those in with a spatula. At this point, I suggest tasting the flavor of the mixture to check for sweetness, and adding more sweetener as needed. At this point the mix will not have a fully developed flavor, but you can get a general sense of it. In order to let the final flavor develop, leave the mixture in a bowl in your refrigerator for a few hours so that it can sit and chill. The mixture will slightly harden, but will still be easily spooned out.

I literally eat this cookie dough with a spoon, maybe a half cup serving at a time! It’s delicious and makes the perfect guilt free dessert! You can also use this as a dip and eat it with sweet biscuits or fruit as you desire. Seriously though, I’m old fashioned and something of a raw cookie dough purist, so a spoon is all I need!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as it really is one of my favorite guilt free treats! Just make sure you drink a good amount of water when you eat this because this recipe is loaded with fiber which is a good thing if you’re trying to watch what you’re eating! Okay, so let me know what you think in the comments! I know the ingredients are a little untraditional, but in the end, the flavor and texture actually works really well for my sweet tooth! Make sure to check out the original recipe as well that I developed my variation from, because you may find it works better for you and your tastes, but mine is perfect for me.

xoxo,

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: Love is in the Air!

Hello my Strange & Charmed Ones and welcome to the start of February! If you haven’t noticed, February is really setting itself up to be the perfect month. With its 28 days, it may be the shortest month of the year, but when you take a look at your calendar, it starts on a Sunday, and ends four complete weeks later on a Saturday, making it literally a perfect calendar month! I don’t know about you, but I’m taking that as a sign! I plan to make the most of this little month and fill it with love and laughter and I hope you join me.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I just released my February FREE Filofax printable task list entitled “28 Ways to Love Yourself!” I hope you will go and check it out and use it in your planner to add some extra meaning to the month. I know we all get wrapped up in Valentine’s Day and spreading love to our friends and partners, but we can’t forget about ourselves and this February I am going to be making myself a priority. I know that may sound a little funny, but I sincerely hope you do as well! One of my Instagram followers who downloaded the insert made a very good suggestion that we should start a hashtag and tag photos of our progress with the tasks to IG! So, if you would like to play along, tag your photos with the hashtag #28waystoloveyourself and of course make sure to also tag me @MissTrenchcoat so I can see your IG photos, comment and like them! Other than my free printable, I currently have another great piece of planner related content out for you, my latest YouTube video which is all about making reusable to do lists for your Filofax or planner! This video outlines a technique I use to create and utilize these awesome planner additions, and I even give you a peak into how I use mine!

So, you may be wondering what I have in store for you this month on the blog? Well, glad you asked! This month I am going to be doing a few very informative posts pertaining to blogging and youtube! You will be getting a very rare book post from me as well coming up soon that I hope you enjoy. I’m very excited about this months Picture Perfect post, which is going to be some helpful tips for you fashion bloggers & amateur photographers, so make sure to keep an eye out for that! We’re going to talk about love a little more this month (can’t help it, it is February after all!) and I even have a fun and delicious recipe to share for any of you who LOVE eating cooking dough!

Well, I think that is enough of a monthly preview for you! I don’t want to spoil all the fun, and there are even a few surprises I didn’t mention, so I hope that keeps you on the edge of your seat! One major thing I did want to say, however before I leave you, is how overwhelmed I am with the amount of love and support you all have been showing to my Instagram account! I work so hard to create interesting and beautiful images for you all and apparently you noticed because suddenly I am over 6,000 followers on Instagram! So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart! I feel so lucky to have a wonderful group of friends as supportive and encouraging as each and every one of you! Well, that will be it for now, so make sure you stay tuned for all of the great content I have in store for you this month!

xoxo,

lifestyle

Cliche Life Lessons that are Actually True!

I really feel like cliches get a bad wrap! When something is cliche, it’s often overused, or mocked as being unoriginal or stereotypical, however, I think cliches become cliche for a reason, because more often than not, they are true! Sometimes, when it comes to people, we can hear something over and over again, and never really understand what it means, but once you do, it can be a very powerful experience. This has happened to me time and time again when it comes to certain cliche life lessons. So, I thought today I would share with you some of the cliche life lessons I have personally had experience with, why they are true and why you should be paying more attention to them in your own life!

Who you were in high school doesn’t matter

Now, it’s been years since I was in high school. Heck, it’s been years since I was in college! But I still remember my grandfather blowing my world wide open when he sat me down to tell me about why it wasn’t important for me to be the best or brightest person in my high school class. “I take the fact that you don’t get straight A’s as a good thing,” he told me. “Because you never end up hearing about those straight A students after high school is over. It’s the one’s like you, who are flying just below the radar that end up doing great things later on in college and beyond.” Now, I was a very good student, don’t get me wrong. I was the kind of kid that got mostly A’s and then a few B+s or sometimes the unfortunate B, but it often worried me that I wasn’t a straight A student. This news sort of rocked my world, but it went to much beyond grades! In high school, you think its important to be popular and well liked, as if being popular in high school is going to ever mean anything later on, but it doesn’t. All the popular kids from my school are (to be completely honest) basically nobody’s now. I’m sure they have great lives and all, but when I check my Facebook feed sporadically, I see that they all still live in the same small town, have an underwhelming career, and (not so much of a shocker) still hang out with the same crowd of people they were friends with in high school. It’s clear to me that not much has changed or improved in their lives and it appears that their glory days are all behind them! But you know who does have cool and interesting lives whenever I check in on Facebook? The offbeats. The kids who were flying under the radar, the ones who were decidedly unpopular. Instead of worrying about chasing the crowd in high school, they focused on doing their own thing and then in college, they continued to blossom in their own uniqueness! To me, this is why the cliche is true! Who you were in high school doesn’t matter, it’s four years of your life that may be hard and painful and awkward, but seriously, it determines nothing for you!

Love finds you when you’re not looking

For this next cliche, I have been something of a poster child! When I got to college, the last thing I was looking for was a relationship! I wanted to focus on my studies, get involved in the groups and activities that interested me, and the last thing I wanted was a boyfriend, but the thing is that love always seems to find you when you’re not looking. Specifically, when you are out and about, happy and cheerful, doing the things you love and letting your light shine on the world! I’ve watched so many lovely, smart and talented women waste their time trying to pursue opportunities for relationships all because that was what they thought they needed and/or wanted. All of them wound up empty handed, and you know why? Because love is not something you can find, it’s something you attract. It’s an energy like so many other intangibles in life and when you look for it, you can’t find it because its not something you can see! If you really want to find love and a meaningful relationship, try falling in love with yourself and your life and I bet you someone special will begin to notice!

Self confidence makes a difference

I think their is a misunderstanding in the world that confidence comes from experience. While I do find that many confident people have a wealth of life experience, when it comes to some people, no amount of experience ever seems to bring them confidence! I think I need to let you in on a little secret; confidence is a choice. Like waking up and choosing what shirt to put on in the morning, or what cereal you want to put in your bowl for breakfast, you must choose whether or not you are going to be confident. Now, of course, their is some skill to it, which is why practice makes perfect, but their is no reason why you shouldn’t be waking up each morning and choosing confidence. Why? Because confidence matters. Confidence is the difference between making decisions and being told what to do. It’s the difference between taking a comment as positive praise or negative snark. Imagine a life where you felt like you were in control? That’s the feeling confidence gives you, that no matter what life throws as you, you can take it! So, choose confidence everyday, in as many situations that you can. You will being to see an immediate difference and eventually it will become second nature!

Haters gonna hate

As someone who has been putting their writing, thoughts, and creative energy out onto the internet for years, it took me a surprisingly long time to understand this one! Whenever I would hear the phrase “Haters Gonna Hate” I would immediately ask “What does that even mean?” Well, I think I am finally beginning to understand. It is a true universally acknowledged that in life, there are some people who only spread hate and negativity. Now, these people may be very blatant about it, and hate everyone and everything equally and with sincere fervor, or these people may be very cunning about it, wrapping up their negativity in a sweet little package that looks so tempting you may actually want to buy into what they are saying. But the thing is, these people and their opinions (especially if the opinions are opposing you) do not matter. Why? Because their will always be people in the world who don’t agree with you. Even if you are the most innocent, non controversial being on the planet, some people will find something to dislike about you. Just ignore them, it is in their nature and you can’t stop it, nor can you change them or counter them in any way.

You can’t please everyone

Hands down, this has been the hardest lesson for me to learn and sometimes I still feel like I am learning how to live with it. It may be the most popular cliche ever, but its true, you can’t please everyone. Now, this is due to several factors, usually surrounding the fact that people come from different backgrounds and were taught to value completely different things. The most complicated element of this cliche, however, is not just that people are different, but that when you boil it down, people can have completely opposite view points and can still be correct. In life, there is no cut and dry right or wrong most of the time, and because of this, it is inevitable that you won’t be able to please everyone. The quicker you learn this, the less hurt you will be when people disagree with you, the less time you will waste trying to change people’s minds and the less effort you will spend trying to tailor your life and your choices to fit the opinions of others.

Now it’s time for you to tell me which cliche lessons hold the most truth for you! Let me know in the comments below or send me a tweet! I’d love to get your insight and perhaps even learn something new myself!

xoxo,

lifestyle

{In the Bag} Black and White Basics for Winter

I feel like it has been quite a while since I did a normal What’s in My Bag post. You may remember my last WIMB was all about my “Blogger Bag” that acts as my own personal work bag, and before that, I shared a themed post with a “Back to School Bag!” This time I thought I would start the year off with what I carry in my everyday bag!

You may remember this bag from my November Favorites, I picked it up for a really great price during a sale at Old Navy during the fall. I love the overall shape, it reminds me a lot of the Givenchy Antigona bag, but it was thousands of dollars less and a surprisingly good quality. I don’t normally purchase bags like this from clothing retailers, but when I saw this one, I couldn’t resist! Of course, I had to dress up the exterior a bit with my cute teal tassel that I purchased from Kate Spade. Ironically enough, I think that tassel was more expensive than the bag itself, which was something like $17! It’s currently on sale as well right now, so if you want to snag it, I’d act fast!

This bag is a really great size for me. It fits a variety of items and pouches and has a few key pockets that are nice and roomy! Of course, I normally carry my personal sized planner with me, and it fits very well in this bag. I especially like how my planner can stand up in the bag, which I think helps keep the bag organized and compartmentalized! Right now I am going through a very strong black and white phase as well with a lot of my accessories. Of course, I always have a pop of turquoise and pink in my bag out of habit! I just think this color scheme is great for Winter. It’s simple and clean, which is exactly what I want in the colder months.

Here are the complete contents of my bag. Since it is winter, I keep a pair of leather gloves from Kate Spade in my bag at all times. I also keep a few pouches with makeup necessities for on the go, plus a backup iPhone charger from Ban.do, a mint box that stores my pills, my favorite chapstick (another winter necessity), a Baggu, extra card cases, my Rebecca Minkoff glasses case (holds my Rx sunglasses from Warby Parker) and wallet, my Kate Spade stationery pouch, and of course my planner and cell phone!

So, that is everything I carry in my bag! I won’t be doing a video on this, but I am thinking about giving you guys a more frequent peek into my bag whenever I switch them out! I know everyone likes a good What’s in My Bag post, so perhaps we will make this an ongoing series as well! Let me know what you think about this post and of course, let me know about your purse necessities. Carrying a new bag I need to know about? Let me know in the comments below or take a picture of your bag and contents and tag me on Instagram @MissTrenchcoat!

xoxo,

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: Welcome to 2015!

Welcome to 2015

Hello Everyone and Welcome to 2015! I have to admit, I have been anxious for 2015 to arrive for quite some time now, as I’ve been craving the fresh start that the New Year brings. For what feels like the first time in a long time, I feel like my internal clock is finally in time with the real world because we both hit the reset button at midnight! In reality of course, there is nothing new or special about January 1^st that wasn’t already there December 31^st— it’s just another day— but the new year gives us reason to pause and evaluate our situations and mental baggage and decide what is going with us into 2015 and what is staying behind in 2014. If you had a rough year for one reason or another and have been feeling weighed down by pressure, stress or negativity that resided in 2014, now is the time to let it go (queue the ice queen)! Get a piece of paper out and a pen and write down whatever it was that happened (or didn’t happen) in 2014, all the negative emotions you have associated with the year and describe them on paper. Spill your guts as they say onto the paper in whichever style you prefer (journal, bullet point, sonnet, etc) and as you write feel yourself unpacking those events and feelings onto the paper like a mental inventory. When you’re done fold up your piece of paper into a nice little square and write 2014 on the outside. Now, I want you to dispose of this paper square in whichever means you find most convenient or cathartic. Burn it (safety), flush it down the toilet, rip it up into little pieces, send it through the shredder, take it outside and step on it, roll over it with your car, whatever will make you feel like you are destroying that paper and disposing of it along with all the mental and emotion baggage that was unpacked onto it!

Now, if you had a great year in 2014, or if you had some great moments and happy positive feelings, memories, etc that are associated with the year, I want you to perform the same example of writing it down, but this time in a more positive and permanent place. A page in your planner, a document on your phone, a notepad in your office, wherever you can write these good feelings down that is more permanent, do it! Why? Because I want you to be able to look at this list and reference it as you enter into 2015. Do you need to keep it all year? If you’d like, but really I just want you to have a record of all the good things from the previous year that you want to migrate with you into the new one. This list is going to be filled with all the emotions and memories you want to continue to manifest and live on in 2015! Okay, so what if you feel like you didn’t have any good moments in 2014 or any happy memories or positive feelings associated with the year? Well, if you feel that way, what I want you to do is write a wish list of events, emotions, positive moments you would love to achieve in 2015. Try to go into detail as much as possible and include a short brainstorm of things you can do or actions you can take in the new year that you believe will help you to achieve these happy thoughts. Use these as part of your resolutions or think of them as a blueprint for an action plan for 2015 and work them into your planner for the year. Like actually schedule out things to do on specific days to help you reach those happy feelings you want to manifest in 2015. If need be, get friends and family involved by sharing part of your wish list with them and explaining how they can help you achieve these goals by their support or cooperation. Remember, this is your list, so ultimately you are responsible for it, however, sharing with those close to you that can lend support and encouragement is a great way to help motivate and keep yourself in check!

I hope this little exercise is helpful for you as we move into 2015. Remember, I’m all about this year being the best year of your life (and mine!) and if you want to keep that message at the forefront of your mind as well, make sure to grab a set of my tech wallpapers for your gadgets! In case you were also unaware, I just recently added a new printable product to my Shop, a set of 2015 Monthly Journaling Cards. They are an elegant month at a glance design that you can keep in your planner to help with no-spend months, photo challenges, health or life tracking, etc, or use in a scrapbook or project life spread! Since they are printable, you can go ahead and print as many as you need each month for various projects! Of course, if you’re still in need of a new calendar system for your Filofax or equivalent planner system, make sure to also check out my offerings for Monthly, weekly, and daily planner pages, as well as my selection of task trackers and project planning inserts that will help make your life more organized and your goals more achievable in 2015! Oh and don’t forget to download my January free insert, a Resolution a Day to test out a variety of popular resolutions in January to narrow down your own!

Well, like I said earlier, I have been anxious for this year to begin and perhaps you have been too, so I will let us go now so we can go ahead and make out our lists and action plans and get to work making 2015 the best year yet!