
Hi everyone!
Can you believe 2018 is upon us?! With the new year coming in, I’m so excited to continue this blog slowly but surely and see where it takes me. Without further ado, here’s the last update of 2017 – cheers! Real quick, forgot to mention what all I got for Christmas last post, oops! So here’s all the camera ones first: Canon Rebel T6 – with wifi capabilities hallelujah! – filters, lenses, a lens hood, a tripod, a remote control, wall charger, memory card, paparazzi flash, a rechargeable battery and a camera bag to put it all in. I’m so stoked to use all this in 2018 – one of my goals is to learn how to use it in manual mode like the pros! Next up, a monogrammed tote – another gift that, although I did not ask for, I am in love with! This tote fit my 15 in Pro, wallet, sunglasses, iPad, skincare essentials, some jewelry, phone & computer charger, headphones and it wasn’t even CLOSE to filled up!! Did I mention it has multiple pockets AND it zips?! I have a feeling I will be doing a carry on bag post in the future with this. To finish out, I got a blowtorch (for the kitchen, I swear!), some candy, a book, body lotion, an eye shadow palette, some face masks, my New Year’s Eve dress (peep below), a cute luggage tag, and last but not least, a card shuffler! My family loves to play cards and I unfortunately can’t shuffle for the life of me so this should help in future games 😂.
Back to regular scheduled programming…
Up until New Year’s I was still enjoying time with all my cousins (yay!) where we ended up going to a staple in St. Louis – Fitz’s! It’s an old school soda shop that does their bottling and everything in house – cool right? Also, let’s just talk about their food – AMAZING. We had to start with toasted ravioli because when in STL right?? After that, I got a Chicken Club sandwich with provolone-topped chicken with Applewood smoked bacon on a Kaiser roll plus the crispiest little fries you ever did see. These are my favorite kind of fries plus their aioli sauce paired perfectly. To finish out a few of us snagged some shakes and sodas – soda is not my thing so Oreo shake for me! Mind you, I split it and it was still this big!! I wish I could have kept the mug but they did give us a freshly bottled ginger ale to take home. Also, please excuse the quality of these photos, the lighting was a bit off since the restaurant is mainly lit up by really cool neon signs!
And now, the new year comes ringing!! I had to start with my best nine since 1) good way to reflect on the year and 2) to thank you guys for your continued support! Woo! I’m so happy that I’ve started to get into regular posting again and Instagram helped a lot in this so I’m super thankful for the love. It’s through these outlets that I’ve been able to go to the events that you see and meet great people along the way.
As for later that evening, after mixing some cute Chambord & champagne cocktails (say that five times fast!), I toasted with some of my family first to a great 2018 before we all went our separate ways for the night. My sister and I made these last year for Christmas and they were a hit – maybe we have a tradition in the works here? It’s super easy: just pour a shot’s worth of Chambord (mine had a little more than desired) and top it with champagne/prosecco! If you want to get fancy, throw a raspberry or cranberry in there for some garnish. It makes the prettiest little pink hue and adding the fruit makes it fizz more too. The little side by side pics are last year’s go at this concoction.

My sister and I toasting the New Year
From my family to yours, Happy 2018!
Local Spots I Checked Out: Fitz’s
Events I’m Looking Forward To: Everything Erica Eataly Meetup, Watching Pitch Perfect 3, Roy’s Furniture Ladies Night Party, HQ – just joined in on this so hope I win something!
See you in the next post!