Liebster award

It's official. Charlotte from A Love Triangle is the sweetest person I've met through blogging. If you don't already read her blog please do yourself a favor and go do so. She's so talented and smart and kind and funny and just go do it, okay? K.

Thanks to Charlotte, I was nominated for another blogging award. Can't even deal, you guys. I know to some this may not be a big deal but it's just thrilling for me that I have more than two readers so bare with me through my excitement. So, without further ado... onto the rules. 

You must..
- Link back to the blog who nominated you.
- Answer all of their questions.
- Write 11 facts about yourself.
- Link 11 blogs with less than 200 followers and tell them you've nominated them.
- Ask 11 facts for the blogs you nominate to answer.

11 facts: (all of Charlotte's facts were holiday themed which I thought was such a great idea so I'm copying her ;) )

1. Even before my parents divorced we always had two trees in my house. My mom's was in the formal living room and had white lights with coordinating glass ornaments and gold ribbon. So, basically it was the classy tree. My Dad's was in the family room with the big, fat, colored lights and all of our homemade ornaments and mismatched ones we picked out as kids. Basically, the less classy tree ;) Both equally as beautiful and warm. 

Momma's tree feat. my cute momma :)

My Dad's from last year. Definitely smaller than what we normally get but now he likes to pick the "Charlie Brown" trees because he feels bad for them knowing most people won't buy them and take them home.... I know haha but he's kind of the cutest. 

2. Home Alone is my favorite Christmas movie of all time. I can quote most of it. I even have a hard time choosing between the original and the second one. John Hughes was such a genius. 

3. When I look at houses on real estate websites (like I could afford any of them) I pass them right up if I don't think they'll look good in Christmas lights...

..like this one would. If you don't know off hand this is the real Home Alone house. My boyfriend and I stalked visited with friends of ours. I said I was obsessed! 

4. I think snow is the most magical thing. It doesn't bother me in the slightest.
5. On Christmas Eve, my cousins and I would take my Dad's pager (his PAGER people) into the basement where we all hung out and would use it to countdown until midnight when it was officially Christmas. 
6. I get two Christmases :) we celebrate with my Mom's family on Christmas Day and the 26th, deemed the saddest day of the year by my father, is now not the saddest day since we celebrate with him then. 

My dorky siblings and I at my Dad's a few years ago on the 26th

7. I already know how I'm wrapping all of the gifts I'm giving even though I haven't purchased any gifts yet. 

8. Since my Dad's family is German, and we usually see them on Christmas Eve, we participate in the German tradition of finding the pickle ornament one of my aunt's hides in the Christmas tree.

9. I bought my dog reindeer antlers yesterday in the dollar store at Target. He hated them. 

10. I have never been on a sleigh ride but if all goes well I believe I can cross that off my bucket list this December when my boyfriend and I go on our annual Christmas trip :)
11. My favorite Christmas song is called "The Christmas Waltz" and I prefer the Frank Sinatra version (because the Frank Sinatra version of anything is always better). The specific version is on the vinyl of one of his Christmas albums and I love that one in particular because just as the song fades out he says "Merry Christmas!" and if my Grandma is around she always says, "Merry Christmas, Frank!" and it cracks me up and it makes me tear up, I DON'T KNOW WHY, but I guess 'cause she's my favorite and she's so cute and when she's not here one day to do that it will remind me so much of her. Also, I do it when she's not around haha. 

Answering Charlotte's questions:
1. What time is it right now? 3:10 pm
2. Would you rather be a fish or a bird? A bird, for sure. Being able to fly? Absolutely. 
3. What kind of genre of book is your favourite? I love anything with a side of whit and romance. I'm a sucker for romance. And for whit. 
4. When lightening strikes the sea, why don't all the fish die? Could not even begin to answer this haha. It makes me sad because I wish I smart enough to. 
5. What is to the right of you, right now? An empty computer in one of the labs at my university. 
6. Why is your blog called what It's called? I named my blog Ali Rose because I kind of just liked the way it sounded. I hold personal identity very close to my heart so my name means a lot to me as it's representative of who I am as a person. And since my parents are the only people who call me Ali (like seriously, the only two) it feels sweet and nostalgic to me. It was important that my blog seem genuine and I feel that it does. 
7. What goes on-top your Christmas tree? I can't remember which topper belongs to what house but at either my mom or my dad's house we have an art deco, red and green and gold looking glass piece that sits on top (which I love) and at the other house we have an angel (which I also love).
8. What did you leave out for Father Christmas when you were younger? We left him cookies and milk on a special plate. I continued this tradition until I was far too old haha but bless my mother's heart she still took some bites out of those damn cookies. 
9. Which came first the chicken or the egg? I feel like the concept of an egg is much cuter to me so on cuteness alone I'm going to go with the egg. 
10. What is the last film/movie you saw? The last time I saw a movie in a theatre was so long ago which makes me so sad because I love going to the movies (because tubs of popcorn, hello) but I believe it was Let's Be Cops. But, the last movie I watched at home was Home Alone. Twice. Because it's Home Alone. And it's very clear that it gives me the most life. 
11. Your favourite Disney film is....? This is so hard for me because Disney is my shit but whenever I have to choose I pick Cinderella. I hate being cliche but I just love Cinderella. The Little Mermaid and Toy Story are very, very close seconds (along with every other Disney movie because is there even a bad Disney movie? No. No, there is not). 

My questions: 
1. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
2. What is your favorite thing to cook?
3. What are your holiday essentials?
4. If you could go anywhere, right now, where would you go?
5. What was/is your favorite subject in school?
6. What is your favorite holiday memory and/or tradition?
7. What are some of your guilty pleasures?
8. If you could pick another name for yourself what would it be?
9. If I handed you a $100 dollar bill what is the first thing you would buy?
10. Who is one of your favorite bloggers?
11. What is (or some of) your must have beauty essentials?

My nominations: (I didn't hit 11 sorry guys! I found as many of my daily reads as I could)
Life With Lolo
A Splash of Mimosa
Raindrops on Roses
Tay Meets World
Andiamo
The Mosby's in China
Sincerely & Sarcastically 

Sorry that was wordy. I'm wordy in general. Gotta work on that. 
Thank you again, Charlotte! You're seriously the best.

There are some seriously festive link-ups coming up (some starting tomorrow!) in this blog land of ours and I will be back tomorrow participating because I eventually want to throw up from all my participation in the festivities. This is how much I love the holidays. The love is real.

I'm definitely off to take a hot, hot bath tonight since the temperature, with the windchill, was supposed to be -1 here in Chicago according to the barista at Starbucks who served me my Chestnut Praline Latte. Not sure where she was getting her information from but who am I to question the woman who makes me a drink that tastes like Christmas magic? Plus, my legs have been numb since 9am when I wandered the city streets in circles in search of said Starbucks. So I believe her.

Happy Monday, loves! Stay warm and toasty and go watch Home Alone.

lack of apps & meatloaf

Hey, guys. I'm comin' to ya late with a post for #blogtober14 because today was my first day at my new internship (at the best little children's book publisher in Chicago!!) and I just got home. It was a great first day & I'm so glad to be there.

Also, I wasn't suuuper excited to write this post, haha. As  new blogger I don't have a ton of editing apps partly because I'm not really educated in which ones I should have and because I was convinced the play store didn't have all the same apps the apple store had (I'm still partly convinced) until I just searched for VSCOcam and found it... uh, when did that become available? Anway, I have Instagram, Aviary, and I like to use the Pic Monkey website but I also really love the A Beautiful Mess app.

With this app, you can add beautiful text (and do other things that I probably don't understand or know how to do) to your pictures and they end up looking super gorgeous and graphic designer-y.

Bottom line... I'm not super tech-y, and while I know you don't technically have to be in order to use editing apps, I just don't like to spend so much time editing one single picture. Does that make me a bad blogger?! I happen to think Instagram does just fine. I already feel like I spend a lot (maybe too much sometimes) of time connected to my phone, computer, and/or social media that I don't want to spend even more time editing a picture of the vegetarian meatloaf I just made in order to make it appear more appetizing because 1, no filter will make it look appetizing and 2, I'm hungry. And I just want to live. So, editing apps, let this drama queen me live!

for the record, although I doubt anyone cares, this is "raw" and it does taste much better than it looks 

aaand being the hypocrite I am I just spent ten minutes too long editing (see...it didn't help ;) ) the lovely snapchat of the vegetarian meatloaf I will eat tonight as my family eats regular meatloaf while also making fun of me for making said vegetarian meatloaf. Whatever. PeaceLoveCows.

But to all you bloggers who have stunning photos and make it seem so effortless... how do you do it?! I look forward to reading all of your guys' posts from today and learn from you all!

*

Link up with Taylor, Helene, & the rest of us for #blogtober14!

one lovely blog award

I can't even you guys.

Like I've mentioned before, I've been reading blogs for years now and I've seen bloggers post about being nominated for different blogger awards like the Liebster Award and always thought wouldn't it be nice to be nominated for an award like that... wouldn't it be nice to be recognized? Okay, I know... dramatic. But I wished for it regardless.

Well, today my wish came true as I was nominated for the One Lovely Blog award thanks to Martina over at A Splash of Mimosa!! Thank you so much, girl! She's hilarious so you guys should really go check her out.

& now there are rules I have to follow...

1. You must thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog. 

2. You must list the rules and display the award. 

3. You must had 7 facts about yourself. 

4. You must nominate 15 other bloggers and comment on one of their posts to let me know they have been nominated. 

5. You must display the award logo. 

My 7 (random as hell) facts:

// I usually dream in black and white

// I've never read any of the Harry Potter books (I know, I know)

// I think Steven Tyler is extremely handsome 

// I have a hyphenated last name. My mother's is a city in Sicily and my father's is a German beer.

// I get choked up after sitcom theme songs. I.have.no.idea.

// I'm beauty obsessed and have been ever since I became obsessed with Jaclyn Hill & Casey Holmes.

// I've passed eight kidney stones. Old man status, what, what. 

My nominees:

// The Parisian Wannabe

// A Love Triangle

// Musings of a Wanderer

// Andiamo

// Wonderfully Made

// Girl in the Kentish Kitchen

// The Unsophisticated Blogger

// Sincerely and Sarcastically

// Life with Lolo

// Boho Chic Cafe

// The Road to There

// Xo Kerry

// Tay Meets World

// Always, Al

// Raindrops on Roses

Thanks again to Martina! I'm thrilled to get my first blogging award. xo

I never thought blogging would...

Finally caught up with #Blogtober14! Today's prompt is "I never thought blogging would..."

As I've said, I'm a new blogger but that doesn't mean I haven't made observations even in the last few days about blogging.

One of the biggest things I thought I knew about blogging, but was mistaken about, was in regards to time. It takes a lot of time to blog (hence playing catch up on #blogtober14)! After thinking up creative, original ideas, writing each post, reading other blogs (which I loooove to do, don't get me wrong), commenting on blog posts, sharing through social media, it gets to be a lot!

Although it is time consuming, I never thought blogging would be as easy as it is for me. Now, I'm not saying blogging is easy. In fact, it's harder than I thought it would be. I guess what I mean is that I never thought I would be able to press publish as easy as I have been able to. I tend to be somewhat neurotic (people who know me are laughing at the word "somewhat") and controlling. I also experience a lot of anxiety so putting myself out there has always resulted in me second guessing myself. I'm always nit picking and over analyzing myself. I've always talked myself out of starting a blog because maybe it wouldn't as fun as reading everyone else's because mine wouldn't be as good. Or because it wouldn't fit together with the kind of writer I hope to one day be.

Blogging has allowed me to partly silence my inner critic which has been crucial for me. It has taught me a lot about putting myself out there and being proud of who I am. It hasn't been long but I know blogging is going to be wonderful for me and documenting my journey.

blogging goals

Here we are on day 6 of #Blogtober14 hosted by Taylor & Helene.

I'm going to try and make today's prompt (10 Things You'd Tell Yourself When You Started Blogging) apply to me. Since I just starting blogging last week, I don't really have any advice for myself just yet. I thought I would switch this up a bit and make a list of goals for myself as a blogger. Hopefully it's a list I can look back on after I've been blogging for a while.

1. Write often

Hopefully this can be a space where I feel I can write freely and often so I can always be practicing something I honestly love to do. This is something I love to preach but don't always practice. This blog just might be the thing to keep me honest ;)

2. Invest in this space 

I know important aesthetics are in blogland. I'm guilty of passing up a blog because it isn't "pretty" or easy to navigate (shameful, I know). I'd love to have the image of Ali Rose grow as I do which would involve paying someone else to give me said look because god knows I can't do it.

3. Take criticism 

I've never been one to take criticism well but now that my little blog has gone public I have to be open to criticism in all forms. I want to remember that this will be good practice for the inevitable criticism that will come if  when I become a published author.

4. Be patient

I quit clarinet in the fourth grade when people got better than me. I quit basketball when the other girls started getting taller. Basically, I was a brat as a child. But, if things don't come extremely easy to me I get frustrated and quit. I'd love for this blog to take off and have a bunch of followers but I have to remember that things take time. There are blogs out there that have been worked hard on and I'm not the only one who wants recognition in this world. Maybe one day some recognition will come but until then this is my space to enjoy and have fun with... for me (and perhaps my mother... hi mom!)

5. Make friends

This is probably the biggest goal I have for myself throughout this blogging journey. I see so often on other people's blogs that they have turned "blogger friends" into "real friends". I love the ability women have to bond and create friendships so easily. I've read only nice and positive things about this blogging community and I can't wait to be apart of it!


What did I miss? Any advice you'd give this newbie? :)