- - ayiMori - -

With Christmas tomorrow, my friends and family are really excited! I'm happy to be with family and have everyone in the same place, but I know the younger kids are excited to open their presents. And let's be honest, everyone gets some excitement over receiving gifts.


While I've been trying to give you guys gift ideas this whole month, I realized that I haven't shared all the things I've asked for on my wish list this year! My list isn't as large as kids, and it tends to have some more expensive things on it, but hey I guess this is my life as a broke college student!


{Frends Headphones}

Since I've been working out more, I've been trying to drink a lot more water. Now I know I can have any type of water bottle, but I've already broken and gone through 3 different water bottles. Anyways, I saw this water bottle on Pinterest, and so many people rave about it. There are so many different colors and sizes!

Find it here.

The year is ending and so all my reward programs are starting to end too. ULTA is my go to place for makeup and hair products. This year I managed to reach Platinum status with ULTA, and so I celebrated by spending some of my saved points.

If you haven't heard of the program  yet, check it out here.

Anyways, I promise as I go through some of these products (mostly the palettes) I will post a review. But until then here is my haul, with products going from left to right!


{Face Wash}
Philosophy Travel Purity Face Wash

I have yet to use this face wash, but my housemate uses it all the time. She loves this product and has purchased it multiple times, claiming that it really does get off all your makeup without having to do multiple cleanses or use other cleansing products alongside it.


{Dry Shampoo, Original}
Batiste Travel Dry Shampoo

I love Batiste! I know it's probably not the best product or the most environmentally friendly, but it works so well! I use the full size product regularly, to help out with my second and third hair days. I usually use the Fresh scent, but I couldn't find it so I bought the Original instead.


{Tarte Eyes and Face Palette}
Tarte Rainforest After Dark Palette

I haven't used this product, but I've seen a lot of people rave about this product online and youtube. I got this product because it's perfect for travel, seeing as it has blush, bronzer, highlighter, and eye shadows all in one. I'm also hoping that the amazonian clay will help keep my oily face at bay. Anyways, I'll keep you all updated with this one!


{Stila Eye Palette, Soul}
Stila Eyes Are the Window Palette, Soul

This is another product that I got to treat myself. I never heard about this product until I started watching Claire Marshall's youtube channel. She raved about this palette and says that it's useful in so many different looks. Zoella is also a fan of this palette, but she is more in favor of Mind. I love watching Claire's videos, so I'm really hoping that this palette becomes one of my new go- to's. I'll try and review this one too soon!


{Sculpting Brush}
Real Techniques Sculpting Brush

Real Techniques is my go- to makeup brush company. I bought the starter kit a few years ago, when I seriously started getting into makeup. But since then, I've tried a few other brushes too, and I always come back to this brand. Anyways, this year contouring has become really popular, and I have jumped on that bandwagon too. So in order to help my contouring, I bought this brush.


{Starter Brush Kit}
Real Techniques Core Collection

This is the brush kit I started with, that I mentioned above. I didn't actually get this kit for myself however. I ended up getting this kit for my cousin for Christmas, because she is new to makeup and was asking for some brushes.

So I'm sure by now you've been hearing holiday music all around. However, if you're like me you might be getting tired of hearing the same songs over and over again, especially if they're slow and mellow. I mean it is finals, so I really don't want to be listening to festive music that will make me sleepy!

Enter Punk Goes Christmas. This album is part of the Punk Goes... series, where alternative, punk, and rock bands create their own cover versions of popular songs, and in this case Christmas songs. This album is the second of the Christmas variety, and I'm still not exactly sure of how I feel about it.

Hey guys - wow have I dropped the ball on Blogmas. I just wanted to apologize for my lack of posting these past couple days. I have recently gotten home and because of all the people who are back in my house, we crashed the internet. Well now it's up and running, and I will get around to posting again until Christmas!

Stay tuned!

It is sadly that time of year again... finals. Que all the crying and stress that accompanies these exams.

Anyways, I have some quick tips for finals that I follow. And I mean quick, because you should quit procrastinating by reading this and start studying.

{one}
Make a study schedule

Making a study schedule is always a good idea, because it forces you to look at all the stuff you need to review or get ready to write about before hand. That way you know everything that's on your plate, and you can decide how to efficiently tackle it all. I tend to start my study schedule a week before any exam or essay is due, and then I can break apart each task into more reasonable daily tasks, allowing myself to work on just a little bit each day.


{two}
Sleep

You've probably heard this a lot already, but sleep is really important for you. I know that pulling a late night to cram in those final notes seems important, but in reality the next morning if you're so tired you can barely function, are you really going to be able to efficiently recall everything you were studying. My professor has told us countless stories of students falling asleep during her morning finals, or just not showing up altogether. With that in mind, what I do is follow my study schedule, and then the night before the exam I go to bed a reasonable hour. The next morning I quickly skim through my notes and read my TLDR review sheet during breakfast, right before my exam.


{three}
Workout and eat right

This also sounds like your parents preaching to you.. but it is important! Working out can relieve stress, whether it be running or yoga. This is a great way to help your body, but also give yourself a short break. Another reason why this is important is because of all the things people tend to eat during finals. I myself am guilty of this, but when exams hit I eat anything, and I don't care if it's healthy or not. This is bad because not only am I consuming bad things in excess for my body, but when you stress your body already naturally produces more glucose. This means you have extra sugar, that will get converted into fat if you're not working out or eating right. Besides, an excess of sugar can also make you feel more sluggish and tired, two feelings that you don't want while studying.


{four}
Study groups

I'm sometimes a bit iffy on study groups. I think if you're the type of person who will benefit it, plan some! It will force you to pick a time to study or write with other people, and you have to stick to these plans! Plus you also get to work with other people, so if you are unsure about something, you can always ask them for help.

However, my concern with study groups is feeling overwhelmed. I have found myself in a few instances where everyone is stressing out so much, that I leave the study group feeling more stressed out than I did in the first place. Definitely not something that helps.


{five}
Use your professors

If this is something you haven't been doing all year, you should probably start now. Professors and TAs are around and willing to help you out with your exam. No one actively is going out of their way to fail you, so you minus as well use all the resources you have and ask for help! I'm currently a TA and I have to say that students who ask me questions tend to do better, because I can clarify and reinforce things they were wondering about. I know that professors also will do the same, and sometimes better than TAs. Everyone understands that finals are stressful, they just want to be able to help you.

Well you did it, you waited until the week before Christmas to decide to finish up your shopping. Hopefully you have some ideas of gifts to get for those left on your list, but if you are clueless on where to start, hopefully I can help!

While there are plenty of things you can grab last minute, you still want your gift to be a little thoughtful right? Otherwise, you'll be like my friends and family - a huge fan of Amazon Prime. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But if you're trying to save some time and money last minute, try some of these gifts!

{one}
DIY gifts
DIY is really popular lately, and it's probably because you can make anything and everything that you want! Some of my suggestions are home made body scrubs, any knitted goods, planters, or even jewelry! Since there are so many different types of projects, I don't think I can do any of them justice by linking just one. Instead I recommend checking popular sites like Pinterest or Buzzfeed for ideas and instructions.


{two}
Gift cards

While some people argue that gift cards are impersonal, I tend to disagree. As a college student, who always welcomes monetary gifts, I think that gift cards are a great gift. You can buy gift cards for certain stores, which you know the recipient will enjoy. Besides, with buying gift cards you can personalize to the store, but then you don't have to worry about getting something that may be regifted later.


{three}
"Coupons"


Everyone loves coupons, and I mean who wouldn't! They have some perks that can better your life. So while it may be strange to give someone a coupon book for Target, why not make some coupons personalized to your recipient. My friends and I made some "cookie coupons" this year that we gave to friends, basically allowing them to ask us to bake them a fresh batch of cookies any time next semester. You can make coupons for anything: date nights, baked goods, or breakfast in bed! If you don't feel like making your own, you can always find pre- made templates online!

{four}
Helpful services


This gift will cost you nothing at all and will be a big help to whoever you give it to! If you offer your services to anyone as a gift, they will greatly appreciate this. Feel free to let them know that you can babysit, help clean, help cook or even house or plant sit for them! All it takes is a card and a simple explanation!  It will help reduce their stress in the future, and it will allow you give a wonderful and thoughtful gift that will definitely be loved.

{five}
Donations or sponsorships


This gift is for that person who seems to have everything! After all what can you get someone who already has everything they want! Lots of charities are looking for donations during the holidays, so what better way than to give a donation in the name of your family member or friend. If you're not sure what charity to visit, you can always sponsor somebody too! Lots of 5Ks or events like Polar Bear Plunge ask its participants to give donations, which can be provided by sponsorships. This way, you can help them achieve their goals and help somebody else too!

So the inevitable has happened, I forgot a day of blogmas. I'm really sorry guys!

BUT

I promise to make it up to you! I will be heading home for the holidays soon, which means I promise that I will post double for this upcoming weekend!

Until then good luck with finals and holidays craziness everyone!

Smiles from our Snowman

This week's post seems to revolve around holiday parties. So I hope you don't mind! But even if you did, I don't think anyone would mind if I share a few recipes for delicious and fun holiday treats!

Below are a few of the treats that my friends and I prepared for our own holiday party this year!

{snowman cupcake}
I've given two recipes for our cupcakes that are pictured above. Why? Well because we like to mix and match to make sure everything comes out the best it can be! The first recipe is for the chocolate cake part, and the second recipe is for the cream cheese frosting.

After making both, we decorated our snowman with sugar crystal sprinkles, chocolate chips, and peach rings.

Cake
Frosting - although we tweaked this one until we thought it tasted delicious


{peppermint puppy chow}
I'm slowly starting to learn that puppy chow may be a treat that only midwesterner's know. So if you haven't tried it, I highly suggest it! However, for our holiday party we decided that peppermint was the best choice of flavor! It's quite an addicting treat - so we made an extra batch that we kept for ourselves and didn't put out to share!

Puppy Chow


{melting cookies}
Cookies are always a fan favorite! So why not have some holiday themed ones! I snagged this recipe from pinterest, so you definitely know there's a ton of different variations to it out there. But we decided to stick with the simple sugar cookies and snow people theme! However, I really liked the reindeer chocolate chip idea, so that may be making an appearance at next year's party!

Cookies

{apple cider}
And of course, to end the holidays you always need a warm drink! While hot chocolate is usually a go to, we had about 30 people over, and we had no idea how to make bulk hot chocolate for everyone. So instead we opted for slow cooker apple cider - which perfectly feed everyone in attendance. Think punch bowl, but with warm liquid.

The recipe we used from this actually came from a guy at Trader Joe's, and then we tweaked it a bit to our liking, so I'll just type it for you below. I highly recommend this, as I think this was the favorite of the night.

- 1 bottle apple juice
- 2 bottles apple cider, we used the Trader Joe's Honeycrisp apple cider
- 1 cup sugar
- Cinnamon sticks, or cinnamon to taste
- 750mL of vodka
- Spiced rum to taste, we used 6 oz and left the bottle out for people who wanted more
- 1 oz of bourbon

Add all ingredients besides vodka into slow cooker. If using cinnamon powder, stir into the mixture. Leave on high for 1 hour, then turn to low for the remaining time. We "cooked" ours for a total of 4 hours. Immediately before serving, add the vodka.

We let our guests serve themselves, so we also set up a "cider" bar next to the slow cooker. There was more cinnamon, vodka, rum, bourbon, and apple cider so they could customize the drink more to their liking.

Friends & Co.

This past weekend, my housemates and I decided to throw a end of semester slash holiday party for all of our friends. Along with that, my friend and I are in charge of throwing a holiday party for the Chemistry department at our school and a few weeks ago we had a pizza and beer night get together to celebrate some friends' birthdays.

While we had a lot of fun, there are some tips and other things that I'd like to share with you guys to help plan your own parties or any other get togethers!

Food
Getting food for people is always a really difficult thing, you're never sure how much to get for people, what type of food, or how much you even want to spend! As college kids, none of us have the means to throw a party without help from the guests. So we usually ask people to chip in a few dollars to help pay for food.

So my tips for you guys are...
- Never be afraid to ask people to chip in for food. The more people, the less money you should ask for.
- If you want to bake or prepare your own food, make it a party itself! We baked tons of treats the night before, and some of our friends came over, we opened some wine and all worked together.
- Food can be made, ordered, or catered. Never be afraid to grab some pizza, and if you need help figuring out how much, click here.
- Don't think you always need to have dinner food! Sometimes appetizers and other small things are okay.
- Never forget drinks! But remember that alcohol is expensive!


Music
Music is always nice to have in the background of get togethers, whether it be pop music or holiday music. Music can be fun to just have some noise floating around, or in the case of our party last week, it's fun to all just sit around together and occasionally sing a Christmas song.

With everyone having different tastes in music though, it can be hard to decide on one thing to play throughout the party. So here are some of my tips for music...
- Have a pre-made playlist. This way no one can mess with the music, and you don't have to go through the hassle of constantly choosing the next song. If you don't have time to make one, Pandora and Spotify will do it for you!
- If you're using an iPad or computer, keep it out of reach. With the music up on a mantel or tucked away, people won't have as much access to it, and the songs won't keep changing every so many minutes.
- Yes music is great, but don't have it too loud! You don't want to try and have a conversation with someone, but end up screaming in their ear because the music is too loud!
ter - keep it out of reach


Activities
Sometimes having friends over means a celebration, other times it just means hanging out. Not every get together has to have pre- planned ideas or activities, but for more specialized parties sometimes it is a good idea to have some ideas on hold, just in case there's a lull or in case people are getting restless.

A few of the fun things that we have done in the past are...
- White elephant or Secret Santa gift exchange
- Any card games, we're a fan of Cards Against Humanity
- Movies
- Nerf guns. I know this sounds weird, but a few of nights have totally ended up in people running around and chasing each other down with these foam toys.


Etc.
While there are so many things to think about for a party, it doesn't have to be stressful! You can plan or not plan as much as you want, it really comes down to your personality and the type of event you want to have. My suggestion would be though, also try to gauge how many people are coming. Whether this be through an invite list, or an email chain, it is a good idea to know how many guests there will be so you can plan accordingly for food and drinks, or anything else that will require quantity measurements.

With the holidays coming up, everyone seems to be in the celebrating mood - even YouTubers! So here's a list of a few of my favorite YouTubers that are celebrating the holidays in their own way, whether it be vlogmas, gift guides, or other videos!


{heyclaire}
Claire Marshal | heyclaire


Sophia is another YouTuber that I enjoy watching. While she's not as well established as some of the other California bloggers, her style is really enjoyable, especially because she doesn't use the most expensive brands. She's more relatable, since a lot of her looks use drugstore or simpler name brand makeup. This year Sophia is doing traditional vlogmas  - so she is posting a video every day of just what's going on in her life.


{Lisa Elderidge}
Makeup with Lisa Elderidge

Every year at school, my friends and I have had a holiday party to celebrate the end of the year and also the end of the semester. To make things more fun, along with food and drink we have always incorporated a type of gift exchange. Last year we had a secret santa party, but this year we are going to have a white elephant exchange because we will have more people joining us this year.

For everyone else that is also doing a party, or are just looking for smaller gifts - here are some ideas for gifts in the ~$10 range to surprise and impress your friends!

{one}
Adult coloring books



{two}
Fun Notebooks or Folders

Hey guys! This is a quick post - but I promised a post a day so here it is!

My shameless self promotions! If you enjoy my blog, here are some of my other social medias too. Feel free to check any of them out, or follow me there too!

Blog: AyiMori

Instagram: Minnie Kawaii

Tumblr: Minnie Kawaii

Good Reads: User Profile

Fitbit: User Profile

That's it for now, I can't think of any other things I have at the moment... but yea! Sorry for being quick! Comment below with your social media so I can check out yours too!

{uncommon goods}
uncommongoods.com



{etsy}
etsy.com


Most people are familiar with Etsy now, and how addicting Etsy can actually be! But if you aren't familiar with this site, Etsy is an online wonder where everything is made by small store owner and then hosted online. You can find anything from paper products to wedding cakes or dresses! Last year for Valentine's day I got matching Lego heart keychains for me and my boyfriend.

Check this out: T- Rex Menorah


{threadless}
threadless.com

View of the River from Museum Island

CIEE does a good job of keeping things interesting for their students. It was Week 3 of the program, and they tell us to pack our bags for our ICE weekend. What that stands for is Intercultural Emersion weekend, or something to that extent. Basically for us it means that the program is taking us to another country for the weekend! So we all hopped onto a bus - for about six hours - and drove from Prague, Czech Republic to Berlin, Germany for the weekend!

When we first arrived in Berlin, we unpacked and stayed at a hostel - which is understandable considering there were a little more than 100 students. But as soon as we arrived, the CIEE Berlin staff whisked us through orientation and then they handed us off to some tour guides and we began our walking tours of the city!

Graffiti House - in East AND West Berlin

The next day we went on more cultural walking tours, and I opted to visit the alternative spaces tour, which basically showed us neat buildings and small community gardens and such. That night we celebrated my birthday... by going to the free opera. Which in my opinion was cool, for about 30 minutes. It was difficult because we ended up staying and watching the whole opera, which was 4 hours and in German. Rough. Most people had bowed out by then, but my friends and I didn't want to be rude. Oh well.

The Brandenburg Gate

So this post isn't really a list of top holiday songs... it's really just my housemate pushing for her favorite Christmas CD.

Enter...

For those who enjoy the outdoors...

Ice skating
Ice skating is such a fun and classic winter activity. I may be biased (since I used to figure skate) but I think that ice skating is one of the most enjoyable winter sports.


Ice skating is something you can do either indoors or outdoors. While it may initially cold, moving around will get your blood pumping and you will soon warm up.  Also, in the words of my brother, go ice skating with people who don't know how to - then you can impress them with your skills or you get to hold their hands and help them. So there's that for an idea...

Snow shoeing
Another adventurous idea is snow shoeing! I highly recommend doing this regardless if you've tried before or not.


I first tried snow shoeing with friends during the polar vortex a couple years ago. And while it was probably the coldest thing I ever tried, it was a lot of fun! There is something so unique and cool about walking across yards of snow and sheets of ice. This is definitely something to try if you enjoy hiking or other outdoor activities.

Snow Tubing
Snow tubing is defintely for anyone - young, old, adventurous, childish, whoever! Sledding is the biggest childhood winter activity that everyone (who has snow) grew up with. But snow tubing is by far the more extreme and more fun version!



Snow tubing is like extreme sledding - maybe without the dangers I imagine extreme sledding would come with. You can either get in a tube individually, or with others and ride it all the way down the hill. It's a quick and fun ride down the hill, but riding up is also fun too! You usually get strapped to a moving line and slowly ride your way up passing all the other people that you know will be your tube in a few moments!


For those who enjoy the indoors...

Make hot coca and cookies
One of the best things to do to stay warm in the winter is of course to drink hot coca!


Staying in and baking together is a fun way to spend the day. Not only will you stay warm, but you will get some tasty treats out of it too! Bonus points if you take the time and build a gingerbread house together too - don't be shy, most places sell pre-made kits!

Movie Night
This is probably a go to, regardless of the weather or time of year, but it's such a classic idea that everyone will keep coming back to it no matter what.


Regardless if you watch a movie in or go out to see one, you can spend time together enjoying popcorn and a cool film. Movies are a nice way to hang out and relax together, a nice no effort evening. You can even snuggle together - or if you're lucky enough to have a Lazy Boy theater near you, you can just bring in your blanket and recline for the night.

Hang out at the mall
Okay - before you go and panic at seeing the word mall, yes I'm thinking of all the men out there... just calm down and let me explain myself first.


Yes the mall is a huge building full of not only bajillions of stores, it is also filled with at least twice as many shoppers, especially during the holiday season. However, visiting the mall doesn't have to be scary. You can go to the mall to window shop together and possibly get gift ideas for each other. There's always a food court somewhere, and for some reason mall food is always like a glowing beacon. Or for the more adventurous people, grab some more friends and do a scavenger hunt! I did this with some friends and we had a lot of happy and confused strangers help us out.

We all know people like this, they don't like clutter, they say they don't need anything as gifts, they have everything they need, they rather enjoy there gift then have it sit on a shelf. Yes, these are our practical people. These people enjoy things they can use, not things that will cause clutter and collect dust.

So here are my suggestions for gift's for all the practical people in your life!


{one}
Tickets

Tickets are always a good idea, it allows the receiver to decide their own usage. Movie tickets are getting more and more expensive each year, so this isn't such a bad idea. Or you can get them play tickets, concert tickets, or tickets for any other events.

{two}
Subscription boxes


Subscription boxes have definitely grown in popularity these past few years. These boxes allow subscribers to try many new and different things, without having to pay the price of a full sized object. There are now subscription boxes for everything; makeup, food, sports, shaving! I'm personally a fan of graze, a food subscription box I get every month.

{three}
Food baskets


Similar to subscription boxes, food baskets allow the receiver to try many different types of food, all for the fraction of the price. This gift is the ultimate present for a practical person because not only can they eat all of the present, but they are left with a basket that they can put to use later to store blankets, fruits, or other items.

{four}
Class Tuition


As a college student, the first thing I think of when someone says class tuition means less work for me to pay off my debt! But not everyone is a college student. However, that doesn't mean you still can't enjoy class! There are many different classes out there you could pay for someone to join for the holidays; cooking class, bartending school, yoga class, pottery class.

{five}
Cleaning supplies/ services


Not everyone enjoys cleaning, so why not gift them something to make their life easier. There are so many different cleaning services out there or even there are some new cleaning supplies that have been on the market. With new organic supplies out there, or new cleaning tools like Swiffer, giving cleaning as a gift doesn't have to be boring.