2015

Hello, my people! How are you cuties?! 2015 is almost over, and with the end of one year comes the start of another. Since January of 2015, my life has flipped completely upside down. I am here today to talk you through my 2015, make some resolutions for 2016, and give you some of my top tips on how to have a great year! Enjoy!

This time 365 days ago, I thought 2014 was the best year of my life. Although it was a great year, it pales in comparison to 2015! So many major life events have happened in the last 12 months. In April, I got a job and a boyfriend. In May, I got my driver's license. From June to August, I worked up to 35 hours a week and traveled in my spare time. From September to now, I've been creating/developing my beliefs/lifestyle and hardcore planning for my future. During 2014, I finally found myself. During 2015, I actually made something out of myself.

Although 2015 has been difficult, the hard work has definitely paid off.

Be Clean

This year I am challenging myself to maintain a clean room and a clean mind. A clean living space aids in a clear mind, so they kinda go hand in hand! Just having an uncluttered life in general helps to reduce stress and make you happier. Who doesn't want that?

Be Present

In this day and age, we are all far too attached to our gadgets. Our lives are literally a fraction of a millisecond on the timeline of the earth, and if we don't look up from our phones once in a while, we will miss it. I don't want to be someone who looks back on their life and realizes and how unfulfilled they are and how much of their life they wasted online. Although I feel I do a pretty good job of this, a major resolution of mine for 2016 is to be more present. 

Meditate

One way of achieving a clear mind is through meditation. Meditating is something I've been trying to do for years, but my life has always been too chaotic to completely relax and focus. I'm hoping that in 2016, I'll obtain enough willpower to cancel out all of the distractions.

Practice My Irish
Back in 2013, I started teaching myself the glorious Gaelic language. I've always been so proud of my Irish heritage, and I wanted to get more in touch with that part of myself. Over the past couple of years, I haven't been practicing as much. I really want to let back into the swing of it!

Start Off on a Clean Slate

Similar to my first resolution, start off clean. You don't want to begin your year with 2015's baggage! Clean your room, organize your closet, clear out your phone, get rid of all your clutter.

Stop and Stare
You could say this goes along with the resolution of being more present. Take a look around! Make eye contact with the person you're talking to! You might not want to stare at them, but make sure they know you're present in the conversation. Take time to admire and appreciate your surroundings, even if it's something you go past every day. You can always find something new!

Make Time
Make 2016 the year of no excuses. Call up that friend you've been wanting to see for months and invite them out to lunch! Make time to pamper yourself and watch YouTube in the bath. Make more time for whatever makes you happy and relaxed.

I would ask that you reading this would hold me to my resolutions, and in return, I can told you to yours! I hope you take my tips into consideration, not only for 2016, but for all years to come. I hope 2015 treated you well, and I wish you the best in 2016!

See you then!
Jordan x

Jordan's 12 Days of Blogmas- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful day filled with laughter, love and good food. I'll see you soon for my next post!

Merry Blogmas!

Jordan x

Jordan's 12 Days of Blogmas: How To Pretend You Love Your Gifts

Merry Christmas Eve Eve, my little Christmas puddings! After today, there is only one more day of 12 Days of Blogmas! I hope you all have enjoyed it so far.

With Christmas being only two sleeps away, there is a slight possibility you will be gifted some less-than-great presents by relatives you don't see very often. Seeing as you don't spend much time with said relatives, they might not know much about you what kinds of things you're into. (I once received a free ruler from a family member's company for Christmas. I don't think they knew me very well!) You obviously don't want to seem ungrateful, but at the same time you don't want to lie and tell them you love it. Today I am going to be teaching you how to successfully pretend like you love your presents.

Basically, when you receive a crappy gift, all you need to do is makes observations on it. Steer the conversation away from the actual gift and focus on the exterior, or something unique about it. You can make comments such as:

"Oh wow!"

"Woah, I've seen this on TV before!"

"Look at the packaging!"

"Is this real leather?!"

"How did you find this?!"

"Cool!"

And don't forget,

"Thank you!"

Those are a few of my ideas on how to pretend you love your gifts! I hope these work out for you. I'll see you on Christmas for the last Blogmas post! ONLY 2 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS!

Jordan x

Jordan's 12 Days of Blogmas- How To Survive a Family Party

Seasons greetings, my beautiful silver bells! I hope you are all enjoying your December!

The holiday season is party season. With holiday parties comes family. With family comes a few strange relatives. You might have a creepy uncle, a snooty aunt, a judgmental grandmother, or some weird cousins. Most likely if you have this kind of family, you will only be attending said Christmas festivities for the food. Yet still, every good thing comes with a price!

When it comes time for the dreaded interaction with your weird or nosy family members, you most likely want to get out of the conversations as soon as possible. Today, I am going to show you exactly how to do that.

WHAT TO DO

Say Your 'Hello's A.S.A.P.

I guarantee that 90% of you are not closely associated with every one of your relatives, especially if there's a lot of them. By saying hello to everyone upon arrival, you're able to make a mad dash for the snack table, stock up on sweets (for a future step), and avoid that awkward, mid-party tension between you and your great aunt who happens to be sitting on the other side of the living room wondering why you haven't said 'hi' to her yet. Just get it out of the way.

Do Not Make Eye Contact
I repeat, do not make eye contact! Everyone knows that when you make eye contact with a person, you then need to have a conversation with said person.

Stuff Your Mouth

If you are courageous enough to stay near the social hub of the house, always act like you're busy. If you're eating food or walking around like you're on a mission, people will most likely not bother you.

Find a Quiet Room

If you're somewhere where people won't find you, there will be no chance of unwanted interactions! Find a secluded area to hide away, whether that's hiding in the shower or sneaking away to someone's bedroom. This step is also great for people with anxiety or people who aren't uncomfortable around their relatives.

If, God forbid the steps above do not work, you must know how to sufficiently interact with your relatives. They will most likely ask you a series of uncomfortable or boring questions about your school/work/love life, and you must find a way to give them what they want to hear while restraining from sounding like a rude jag-bag. Luckily, I'm here to tell you just how to do that!

Q & As

How's School Going/How Are Your Grades?

Always answer with 'Good', or some variation of the word. Regardless if you are failing Chemistry or not, you need to lie your little butt off and pretend like you're having the time of your life. By answering with a simple, positive word, you are able to eliminate several possible questions that they potentially had lined up.

What Do You Do for a Living?

If you actually have a job, this is easy to answer. If you do not have a job, you can answer with something like, "I've been doing a couple of odd jobs here and there; (insert list of made-up jobs). I found them all to be quite mundane for me, so I'm looking for something a little more 'up my street'". By giving them an explanation along with the answer, they have no need to ask more questions. More time for snacking!

Have You Got a 'Special Someone'?

If you do have a special someone, this question is easy to answer. However, if you are slightly older and are as lonely as a wolf, it can be quite embarrassing to admit you're still single. If this is the case, you have two options.

The more drastic option - and one I do not recommend - is to make up your own significant other. This is a bad idea for a number of reasons, but it'll allow you to create your perfect man/woman and make you look super cool for getting such a catch. If they ask where he/she is, you can claim that they're working or their flight is delayed and they can't make it home for Christmas. Of course, you'd have to be a great liar to pull this off.

The second option is to answer with something along the lines of, "No, I'm taking a little break from the dating scene. I need some time to focus on myself (and do what I love/figure out what I want) before committing to anything.". By answering with something like this, you are giving your relative the answer they've been looking for without them having to ask for it. Again, this will save you valuable time that could go towards SNACKS!


Those are a few of my tips on how to survive a family party. If you have any other tips, leave them in the comments section below so we can help each other out!

I love you all, and I hope you make it through your festive family gathering! Tune in on the 23rd where I teach you how to pretend you like your presents!

See you then!
Jordan x

Jordan's 12 Days of Blogmas: Holiday Party Makeup

Hello, my little snow men and women! In my last Blogmas post, I showed you some outfits you could wear to your next holiday party. Today I am going to show you what you can wear on your face!

When I think of a holiday makeup look, I think of flawless skin, a warmed complexion, rosy cheeks, a slight contour, highlighted cheekbones, thick, natural eyebrows, golden eyes, and a statement lip. Today I am going to show you how to get all of those things! This makeup look isn't just for the holiday season. It's perfect for any ol' party, or even a simple night out.

I apologize in advance for my wet, unruly hair. I wanted to make sure I was fresh and clean for you all! Let's get started, shall we?

These were all of the products I used to create my festive face! For this look, you will need a foundation, bronzer, blusher, highlighter, golden eyeshadow, brown eyeshadow, mascara, red lip liner, and a red lipstick. If you have oily skin, it would be a good idea to use a setting powder. If you tend to get oily eyelids, a nude or golden eyeshadow base would help! For equipment, you will need an angled brush, a blush brush, a lip brush, and an eyelash curler if you so choose.

First, you must start with a clean, fresh face. As you can tell by my hair, I took a shower before doing my makeup. I cleansed, exfoliated, toned, and supermoisturised my skin.

It was then time to start on my base. The order I did my foundation went: foundation, bronzer, blusher, highlighter, setting powder.

The foundation I used was a little too matte for my liking, so I mixed it with some moisturizer and applied it with my fingers. If you love the finish of your foundation, feel free to skip the 'adding moisturiser' bit.

I used a bronzer to contour my cheekbones and forehead while warming my skin tone.

On my cheeks, I used a spot of blusher to make me look nice and rosy!

I used a highlighter on top of my cheekbones and down the bridge of my nose. Using a highlighter will help to emphasize your bone structure, and that's exactly what I wanna do!

BROW TIME! Finally, I look like a normal person! I've discovered that the closer you get to the tail of your brow, the darker it should get. On the innermost part of my brows, I used a light brown powder. I then filled in the rest of my brows with a dark brown powder and defined the tails of the brows with black.

After I'd done my eyebrows, I started on my eyes. First, I prepped my eyelids using a nude shadow stick base. Over that, I used a gorgeous, gold, shimmery eyeshadow!

After putting a wash of gold on my eyes, I ran a matte, brown shadow through the sockets. Instead of using an eyeliner, I used a browny-black shadow along my lashline. This creates a softer look.

Then it was time for mascara and eyebrow gel! Mascara for obvious reasons, and eyebrow gel to keep my brow hairs in place. You don't want those things falling down!

That's the base and the eyes, done! Last but not least, the lips. This makeup would look equally as good with a nude lip, but since it's the festive season, I decided to go for a red one. For the lips, take a red lip liner and draw around the 'perimeters' of your lips. At this point, you can overdraw them if you wish! I decided to follow my natural lip line this time around.

After lining your lips, fill them in with your favorite red lipstick. With that, your festive makeup look is complete! You are now ready to rock your holiday party!

Now that you've got the look for your holiday gathering, stick around for my next post where I tell you how to actually survive it!

See you then!

Jordan x

Jordan's 12 Days of Blogmas: Holiday Party Outfits

Hello, you ugly Christmas sweaters! How are you all today? What's that I hear? You can't decide which gay apparel to don for your next Christmas party? Let me help you out!

I may not be a fashion expert, but when it comes to Christmas, I know exactly what to wear. So sit back and relax as I raid your Christmas closet!

A Knitted Dress

If you're a young woman (or a fashionable man), a knitted dress might be the option for you! This is the Louise Roll Neck Marl Knit Jumper Dress from Boohoo. I bought it recently - specifically for the holiday season - and I am in LOVE with it! This is the first item I've ever bought that was a turtleneck/winter dress/fitted dress/beigey color. I've literally never had anything like it before, and it pushed me well out of my comfort zone!

Knit dresses of this style are a great idea for a winter party. The fabric keeps you warm and cozy, the long sleeves and turtleneck keep you classy, and the length and slight tightness makes you positively beguiling. If I do say so myself.

I would pair this dress with black tights. As you would be wearing this to a Christmas party, you could wear green or red tights to be more festive!

A Festive Sweater

This is one of the safest, most comfortable Christmas outfits. You literally can't go wrong with a piece of clothing that's meant to be tacky and weird! Throughout the days following last year's Christmas, I took a lap around my local shopping center and went searching for discounted Christmas gear. I got the first 3 sweaters from Forever 21 for around $4.00 each!

If you love Ed Sheeran, the last sweater is perfect for you! My parents gifted it to me last Christmas, and I absolutely love it!  This is a deceptively unfestive sweater. If your someone that doesn't celebrate the traditional religious Christmas, or just don't like the holiday, this sweater can keep you from being questioned about your unfestiveness. Although Ed Sheeran jumper is kind of rare, you can find festive-but-not-Christmassy sweaters everywhere! I especially love the sweaters from Target.

I paired my sweaters with leggings and boots, although skinny jeans would also work very well. If you're a guy, simply switch out the leggings for a nice pair of khakis!

A Garish Cardigan

As soon as I saw this cardigan in the men's section at Target, I knew I had to buy it! It doesn't necessarily scream "Christmas", but I think it's a great alternative to something covered in snowflakes and Santas. This type of print is also great for non-Christmassy people, or people who are tired of the traditional red and green. I found this glorious ol' thing at Target! Also, thank you to Matt for modeling it for me. Isn't he gorgeous?!

I hope this has helped you pick out your wardrobe for your next holiday party! Now you'll be the most fashionable person at the shindig!

Stay tuned for my next Blomas post where I show you how to get a festive makeup look to go with your outfit!

Until then,
Jordan x

Jordan's 12 Days of Blogmas- The Ultimate Holiday Dessert

Hello, my gingerbread family! Today is a very important installment of Blogmas. In the spirit of the holidays, I am going to share with you my recipe for Millionaire's Shortbread.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this delicious Scottish dessert, it's essentially a crumbly, buttery, shortbread, covered in homemade caramel and topped with chocolate. Being from the United States, I didn't even know such a thing existed until several months ago when I heard about it from a British YouTuber! When I made it myself, it was as if I died and went to Heaven. 

Finding a recipe was quite the struggle for various reasons. I ended up taking bits and bobs from several different recipes, and then tailoring those recipes to make up for the ingredients I didn't have (like sugar, who doesn't have sugar?). I ended up with a recipe that was completely different from any other, but the outcome was more than I could've ever hoped for. So without further delay, I now present to you, my perfected formula for Millionaire's Shortbread.

Equipment

- 8x8 in. Baking Dish

- Small Saucepan

- Wooden Spoon or Heat Resistant Spatula

- 1 Large Mixing Bowl

- 1 Glass Bowl

- Liquid Cup Measurer

- Dry Cup Measurer

Ingredients

Shortbread

- 1 cup Plain Flour

- 1 Stick (1/2 Cup) of Butter, Cold and Cubed

- 1 Teaspoon Honey
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons of Water

- Generous Sprinkle of Salt

Caramel

 - 5 Tablespoons of Honey

- 2 Tablespoons of Butter

- 1/3 cup of Heavy Cream

- Generous Sprinkle of Salt

Chocolate Topping

- 1 Cup Semisweet (Dark) Chocolate Chips

- 1 Teaspoon Coconut Oil

- Sprinkle of Salt

Can you tell I'm a fan of sweet and salty?

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 355 degrees Farenheit.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, butter cubes, and salt. Use your fingers to massage the ingredients until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

 3. Add the honey and mix again! Add small splashes of water at a time and mix until the shortbread mixture resembles dough.

4. Grease baking dish with butter, then put in the shortbread. Pack dough evenly and very firmly. Don't forget to poke holes!

5. Bake shortbread for 30 minutes or until it's golden brown around the edges!

6. Once your shortbread is out of the oven, start on your caramel mixture. Melt butter, honey, and salt in a saucepan on  medium heat. When mixture starts to bubble, add heavy cream.

7. Let caramel bubble for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. After the 5 minutes have passed, turn off the burner and let caramel cool, stirring occasionally.

8. Once the shortbread is fully cooled, pour the caramel on top and even out with a knife. Make sure to get all the sides and corners!

9. Once the caramel is cool, start working on the chocolate topping.

10. Melt chocolate chips, coconut oil and salt together. If you're using a microwave, melt in 30 second intervals, stirring in between.

11. Pour chocolate on top of shortbread and even out with a knife.

12. While it's still warm, top the delicious dessert with salt and toffee bits. (Optional, but highly suggested!)

13. Let your beautiful creation cool. I popped mine in the fridge for an hour, but depending on how cool your shortbread and caramel are before adding the chocolate,

14. Cut into desired chunks and enjoy!

If you don't believe how great this dessert is, I have some testimonials from mine and Matt's families.

"Damn Good... Prefect Ratio..." -Adam (Brother)

"The shortbread is sublime and the caramel is criminal!" -Lisa (Mom)

"11/10" -Piper (Sister)

I strongly urge you to try this recipe. It's a perfect dessert to bring to a holiday gathering, and it's guaranteed to make your friends and family love you a whole lot more. You might want to double the recipe straight away, as you will want more.

If you try this recipe, let me know how you love it!

Happy baking!

Jordan x

Jordan's 12 Days of Blogmas: Gift Guide for Women

Hello, everyone! A couple of days ago, I made a Christmas gift guide for men. Now it's time for the women! These gifts are perfect if you aren't sure what to get your girlfriend/sister/mother/other woman in your life. So without further ado, let's go shopping!

Pampering Products

Pampering products make FANTASTIC gifts for your beloved ladies. They give her a reason to relax and take time out of her busy schedule to pamper herself. In my experience, sugar scrubs, bath products, and a nice body lotion are some of the best gifts to give and receive. Try to steer clear of deodorant or toothpaste. You don't want her to think that you think she's disgusting and dirty!

Hot Beverages

Whether it's tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, hot drinks in their 'raw form' (possibly accompanied by a cute mug) make the perfect gift for your girls! You can find great coffee/hot chocolate gift sets in most stores. If you're looking for a tea set, I recommend looking in a coffee shop. Ironic, hey?

Candy

This is a big 'duh'. Women. Love. Candy! As part of your mom/sister/friend/significant other's gift, buy them a king size version of their favorite sweet! If she's a fan of chocolate, I recommend getting her some truffles or a high quality chocolate bar.

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Gift Cards

This is a surefire way to make sure your loved one gets what she wants for Christmas! Personally, I would love to recieve a gift card to the movie theatre, store, or coffee shop, so I'm assuming other females will too! If she's into books or stationary, get her a gift card to her favorite book shop. Get her a gift card for her favorite restaurant, maybe she'll take you there!

Those are a few of my ideas on what to get your beloved women for Christmas. If you decide to use any of these gifts, let me know how it works out for you!

See you in a couple days!

Jordan x