This blog post as been a long time in the making! I wanted to make these personalized coffee mugs as gifts for my friends after I saw these reusable starbucks cups on Amazon. I LOVE how they turned out and at under $5 per cup they are super affordable to make. Keep reading to find out how to make your own. It’s not a problem if you don’t have a silhouette cameo you can also order vinyl stickers from Etsy and add them to your coffee mugs.

Supplies

Below I’ll go into detail about how to make a vinyl sticker if you have a Silhouette Cameo. If you don’t have one, no problem, you can order a vinyl sticker from Etsy for super cheap and add the stickers to your coffee mug! Here are a few vinyl sticker options: Name OR Monogram. read more

Happy Monday!! I’m excited to share 3 business casual outfit ideas to help you get through the work week. I tend to be more productive during the week when I am intentional about my outfits, wearing something that is stylish AND comfortable. Currently, my favorite place to shop for business casual clothes is LOFT.

Outfit #1

Pro tip: If you dress for success you’ll feel more confident at work! I got quite a few compliments on this dress last week. I paired it with my classic Kate Spade tote bag and matching clutch. This dress even has pockets. read more

I’m excited to welcome Alicia Wolf from The Dizzy Cookfor my second guest post! I first met Alicia three years ago, through my boyfriend Justin, and a lot has happened since then. In 2016 Alicia was diagnosed with Vestibular Neuritis and Vestibular Migraine, two vestibular disorders that are not commonly known by the medical community, which makes them difficult to diagnose. To put it simply, your vestibular system (inner ear) is what is responsible for your balance. Vestibular Migraine is not what one would think of as a “migraine headache”, but is characterized by extreme light sensitivity, vertigo, a feeling of imbalance or unsteadiness, a lightheaded or floaty feeling, and dizziness – hence the name “The Dizzy Cook”. This chronic illness would previously leave Alicia bedridden for days. She says, “I’ve gone from bedridden to extremely active by following the Heal Your Headache Diet”. read more

It’s that time of year again and everyone is in full holiday mode. There are so many parties to attend: office parties, family parties, and parties with friends. Don’t be Scrooge and show up in a grey sweater. Put on your holiday best for your next Ugly Christmas Sweater party! Here are a few ideas that aren’t so ugly for your next party.

Hover over image to shop

 

Shop By Category

Dresses

I was obsessed with my dress I found this year. Here are some of my favorite picks from Amazon, Target and more.

Sweaters

Who says your sweater has to be UGLY for the Ugly Christmas sweater parties. Here are a few cute options I found from Shein, Amazon and more.

Accessories

I fell in love with these accessories I found online. I bought the light-up necklace for myself and the bow jewelry as gifts for a few friends.

Many people are shocked to hear that you can shop at Nordstrom Rack ONLINE!! I’ve rounded up my favorite picks from Nordstrom Rack below. Nordstrom Rack has all the same great products and brands from Nordstrom and discounts them after the season is over.  You can get all your favorite brands at discount prices and use your Nordstrom Gift Cards. You do have to pay for shipping and return, but you can return in store if you don’t want to pay the shipping fee. Shipping is a flat fee of $6 and free for orders over $100!

Comment below if you find any great finds at Nordstrom Rack!

The image below is clickable! Hover to see “+” and click the plus sign to go to the product.

Some of my favorite brands I found at Nordstrom Rack

Tory Burch| Urban Decay | Kendra Scott | Madewell

I had a blast changing the guest bedroom into a home office and craft room. My only regret was not doing before/after photos! This room used to be the guest bedroom and had more or less turned into my extended closet. We weren’t using the space so Justin wanted to make a more usable space and turn it into a home office.

 

We raised the curtains all the way to the ceiling to “expand” the room. Older houses or condos have the curtain rod right at the top of the window. However, if you raise the curtain all the way to the ceiling it really expands the room. you can still see the holes in the wall where the curtain rod used to be… cleaning those up next weekend. 🙂

The desk, rug, and dresser all from the Crate & Barrel outlet store in Dallas (linked here). I feel like not too many people in Dallas know about the Crate & Barrel outlet. I’ve found some really good deals there. Some of the furniture has been returned or slightly damaged, but you can get 40% off a sofa or new dining table and fix it up. You also have to arrange for pick-up and delivery, so find a friend with a truck or rent a u-haul if you’re buying a big piece of furniture.

I love this new letterboard that I found at Home Centric. I linked similar ones from Amazon.

My favorite part of the room is this wall with the 9 square photos frames. These photo frames are just under $50 and such a steal! This dresser is full of crafts. I can’t wait to get started on some holiday crafting.

Be sure to follow along on Instagram and Pinterest! Also, don’t forget to sign up for my email list to get notifications about the latest blog posts.

Best,
Rachel

It’s no secret that I love a good glass of Chardonnay. Lately, I’ve been sticking to the same wine labels and haven’t tried anything new until I found out about Winc. Winc is a monthly wine subscription service that delivers 4 bottles of wine right to your door.

Try your first month for $40.

To start, you take a quiz to determine your Palate Profile. Then Winc recommends four bottles of wine for the month. The recommendations improve each month based on your feedback. There is a wide selection to choose from including a variety of “classic blends to obscure, single vineyard fringe projects”-Winc.com

For my first month, I select the wines below

• 2017 Pretty Young Thing Rosé
• 2017 Summer Water Rosé
• 2017 TBT White Wine Blend
• 2017 Pacificana Pinot Noir

You can get a discount on your first month of Winc

I was pretty excited for my first wine delivery and celebrated with my boyfriend. We had a little wine night to celebrate the end of a really big project for him. He has been working crazy hours for the past month so it was nice to relax for a little bit.

The wine from Winc was great. I would definitely recommend getting a subscription if you want to try something new or treat yourself! You can also send a box of wines to a friend for Christmas.

My Favorite Wine “Accessories”

Be sure to follow along on Instagram and Pinterest! Also, don’t forget to sign up for my email list to get notifications about the latest blog posts.

Best,
Rachel

Hey everyone, you might know that my day job is in website analytics and this blog is my hobby. I’d like to share how to analyze your website and social media analytics to achieve success for your own business or blog. “Success” is a broad term and is different for everyone. So the first step is to define “Success” for you. Most people would define success in terms of revenue, but if you’re blogging for a hobby, success might be defined as a number of blog post views. Here are a few definitions.

I feel successful when…

• I’ve achieved X amount of revenue
• I’ve achieved X number of sales
• I’ve achieved X% engagement on Instagram
• I’ve gotten X number of followers on Instagram
• X number of people have read my blog post

Pick a goal and work backward from there. When you have an online business, there are many data points to analyze. However,  when you have a brick and mortar store,  analyzing sales can be more difficult. Maybe you had more sales in your store because the weather was good that day. Sometimes it is difficult to quantify. In this blog post, I’d like to walk through a few examples of how to use your Social media and website analytics to achieve your definition of success.

Website Analytics

There are many ways for bloggers and small business owners to analyze Website analytics.  I use the free Word press analytics tools and Google analytics is also free.

Take a few minutes and go look at your website analytics if you haven’t already and answer the following questions.

What is my most viewed page in the past 30 days?

What pages are directly related to achieving my goal?

read more