Jingling of the Bells and All that Jazz

Ho! Ho! Ho! It is Christmas! Yes, the day we've waited for all year. The day that is held to such high standards. The day that you wake up and then a few hours later the festivities are over... I mean lets be real here for a second if we have christmas commercials  that play for months and unrealistic expectations for holiday perfection, why can't we celebrate it for at least a week? Christmas is too short. I love Christmas, and the day seems to disappear too quickly.
(Unlike you mainstream whipper snappers we celebrated Christmas yesterday, January 3rd, so don't be crushing my candy cane.)

This year my whole immediate family was in attendance. That hasn't happened in a few years due to the fact that siblings have moved  away so it makes it difficult to get everyone together. ah logistics.
 This was also the first Christmas with my niece and nephew. (Technically this is my niece's first christmas ever since she is only two months old  but small details.) I love being an aunt, and christmas shopping for your niece or nephew is so much more fun! Everything is smaller and cuter. You just want to spoil them with everything. Your wallet may not agree, but you do.

So  yes, once again my house was invaded by relatives. I love my family, but I had finally gotten the bathroom arranged just right.  Now multiple people are using it and messing it up instead of just one person...me. Now I don't care if you mess up the great room or the kitchen(its not like I use the kitchen anyways), but do not mess up my bathroom. I like having all of my beauty products and lotions in the right place otherwise I end up being late to an occasion because I take forever rearranging the chaos left by others. Being fabulous is a process. You can't just have someone come in and mess up the fab. Not cool.

Holidays can be stressful (not that I should know I'm not really in charge of anything.) But there are many ways to cope with holidays. I have a few ways.. only 3 really so maybe you shouldn't be listening to my advice. You see I'm  more of a hot mess than a functioning adult..well a hot mess minus the hot...and double the mess. But who cares? Lets not get stuck in christmas pudding over small details like my lack of sanity. This is my advice on how I live my life during the holiday season. Its not the best...but its all I've got.

No. 1 Never put the lights on the christmas tree, have someone else put lights on. For example choose a brother or family member who doesn't enjoy decorating, but be in complete control of the ornament enhancement portion.  (If you give someone an annoying task, they won't volunteer to do more decorating. This step is very important for ornament control.)  This is very pivotal moment in tree decorating. It will make or break your  christmas tree. Remember to hang your basic beautiful bulbs and color coordinated ornaments first, then add the touch of family ornaments! You don't want to be to carried away with the handmade ornaments, otherwise it might make your tree look a bit bulky. I mean really the only person who appreciates your homemade  gingerbread man which resembles chuckie after a chainsaw accident, is your mother.

No. 2 If you at any point feel overwhelmed and stressed, embrace it. We have all at one point found ourselves sitting in a dark corner going full Adele on all the presents we need to buy but can't afford. "Never mind!! I'll find someone like you!!!" But don't worry you burst out those Adele lyrics. You don't have time for shame or sanity during the holiday season. Or maybe you can take the T Swizzle approach and just shake it off. Because nothing solves debt and desperation like thrusting your body around in an awkward turkey like fashion.  You normally end up looking  more like you're having a Benny Hinn experience than shaking off your problems. And trust me having a body shaking healing experience is never a good way to start the holidays.. people tend to think you are dying. Its unfortunate.

No. 3 I firmly believe in avoiding the real problem in any given situation. I hate conflict. I like to avoid the problem until it eventually goes away or it completely consumes your life so the pathetic mess, that you have always been, is exposed to the public. It's not pretty folks.. not pretty. But someone has to be the poster child of "how not to deal with responsibilities," and that just so happens to be my job. If your problem gets too stressful to deal with just go hide in your nephews tent fort and watch netflix. Normally by the time your family has figured  out where your "adult" self is hiding the situation will have been resolved. No need for you to get your tinsel in a knot.  Its just holidays folks.

As you can see I have great holiday stress handling skills. (I am still waiting for Oprah to call and have me on her show. I could expound so much wisdom to the masses.)  So if there is anything you need advice on or topics you want me to cover, just ask. I am always up for giving inexperienced but  fabulous advice. I think its my true calling in life.

Queen Diva out.

Stay Saucy, 

              Cherry XOXO

P.S. A sign you might be from Wisconsin is if at your family christmas dinner, you spend a large portion of it discussing cheese and the great things of Wisconsin. We are Wisconsinites. We are loud. We are proud. 

Maybe it's not Maybelline

Dear Divas. Today I wanted to take a moment from the sass, sarcasm, and beauty reviews that are my blog and share with you something different. Something I have thought a lot about. Makeup.  Should we or should we not wear makeup? Does it ruin a woman's self esteem? Are we lying by "covering up" our faces?

To find the answer to this question,  we first must explain what the purpose of makeup is. Makeup was created to enhance the natural beauty of a woman. That means that the beauty is already there, it is just accentuated a little more. It doesn't hide beauty or mask a person's face. It can't change the bone structure of your face or make you have a smaller nose. It is simply powder that you put on in the morning and wash off at night.

I once read an article that said to marry a woman who does't wear makeup. They explained how a woman who didn't wear makeup knew what she wanted out of life, and was more confident than a woman who did wear makeup. Because clearly a woman who doesn't chose to cover her face with  cosmetics is better, right?

False.

Makeup is not the problem. Makeup has never been the problem.  Cosmetics are just cremes and powders we apply to our faces. They can't change our DNA or who we are as people. If you are a sweet and funny person without makeup on you will still be that same sweet and funny person with it on. And if you are mean nasty human being without makeup... Honey.. there isn't a concealer in this world that could cover up an ugly soul. Who you are is who YOU are.  Foundation can't change that. It doesn't have that power.  And to say that a woman who doesn't wear makeup is more confident is absolute rubbish. I wear makeup a majority of the time, and I will be just as fierce and fearless as the confident woman who doesn't wear makeup.  Because who I am is based on how I treat other people and how I choose to react to the situations that I am. Not on my eye shadow choice.

As I've gotten older I've started describing people as beautiful more often. But I wasn't talking about their physical appearances. I was talking about their heart and soul, who they chose to be. I know plenty of beautiful women who choose not to wear makeup. I also know plenty of beautiful women who chose to wear makeup. Their beauty is something deeper than what the eye can see. It is more precious and unique than any physical beauty could ever be.

So if makeup isn't the problem what is? What is ruining a woman's self esteem?

We are. People blame it on society and pop culture, but people forget that we are what makes society. If we want change, we have to make change. Change starts at home, not in magazines or t.v. shows. Because the truth is pop culture gives us what we want. We are not blind sheep who have no will of our own. We are human beings who have the ability to tell  corporations this is not what we want or what we want our daughters to be told. Once people stop buying into the lie  that our beauty is defined by whether or not we wear what comes from a bottle, pop culture will stop as well. It gives us what we have told them we wanted. So it time to make a change.


How have we gotten so far that we judge people on something so irrelevant as whether or not they wear makeup? If you don't like wearing makeup, don't let anyone force you to wear makeup. And if you wear makeup don't let anyone tell you makeup is just a mask  that superficial and insecure people wear.

So to the dear parents out there who are concerned that their daughter might get caught up in the nasty lie that makeup makes a person beautiful, teach your daughter that beauty can't be defined by a bottle. But neither does whether or not they wear what comes from the bottle. Don't teach them that when they look in the mirror all they see is beauty. Teach them that no matter what they are wearing or how they look, that when they look in the mirror all they see is themselves, because that is this most beautiful thing a woman could ever be.
         
                                                          Stay Beautiful,
                                                                    Cherry XOXO

The One with a Deer, Keys, and a Cold

Dear Divas. Winter is here...... and it has brought its blustery breath and white tears with it..... There is no escaping winter when you live in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin. No escaping. You might be thinking but its only November it can't be that bad yet.. and well you're right its not that bad yet. We did have a high of 16 degrees fahrenheit today...so it could be worse. (Trust me it can be.. it got to -50 last winter.... aye nature hates Wisconsin.)

So you may be wondering what have I been doing with my life lately. Well the usual.. ya know working the sass, being fabulous, and running over deer. Nothing too spectacular.  And yes you did read that right. I ran over a deer.  You may be questioning how did you run over a deer? Like I said I live in Wisconsin ok anything is possible when it comes to deer here. (They and those stupid geese rule the roads.)  So  no I did not hit the deer. I ran it over. For me to hit the deer that would have meant the deer would have  been standing and to have been standing the deer would  had to have been alive...........it was not.......not at all.... It was 5:30 in the morning and I was on my way to work. I'm driving along having as grand of time as you can have at that ungodly early  in the morning and then all of a sudden bam! Massive speed bump. If there was ever a doubt that the deer was still alive.. there isn't now..  It's like they say,"If you're going to hit something, you might as well it hard."

Next on my list of failures is getting locked out of my car. Yep, did that.  And there isn't really exciting story other than I was up way too early so I wasn't really thinking and left my keys in the car. And I think my dad is really done with my existence because not only did he have to pick me up from the deer fiasco he had to drive to my work so he could unlock the car. And I think he is just generally done with my existence now that we have a dog. (Yes I am being upstaged by and English Mastiff/ Great Dane puppy mix... this is the life of a youngest child.) I mean he's raised three other children I feel like by the time our parents get to the last one there like, "eh this is old news... as long as they haven't killed themselves or someone else doing something stupid they're fine."

Last on my list of failures was getting sick. I am slowly but surely becoming a hot mess of reaching one new low after another. (My life in a nutshell.) Now getting sick wouldn't have been that bad if I hadn't already had plans to go a concert and had chorus music due. It was such an inconvenient time. And I found it weird because I never get sick this early in flu season but whatever.. I survived. However there was no way I wasn't getting to let sickness get in the way of concerting. I love going to concerts even if I don't know the artist very well. A concert is a concert. Oh and to you two 15 year old girls who were standing in front of me at the concert.....in what world is wearing 5 inch stilettos to a concert a good idea........ like.... I was judging. I may have been sick, but I am never to sick to  silently judge.  (Seriously who wears stilettos to a concert.. a concert?!) Anyways after the concert I spent the next 2 1/2 days in bed... it was great. I got a lot of quality time in with Netflix. You could say our relationship is on a deeper emotional level with all the time we spent together... ahhh love.  But finally after a few days my voice returned and well now I'm here. Oh joy.

Till next time my divas.. Queen Diva out.
           
                               Stay Swazzy,
                                        Cherry XOXO

Autumn Days

 Dear Divas,

 The Autumnal season is upon us and I could not be more thrilled. It is my favorite season and like I stated in my last post, in a perfect world it would be continually Autumn. Few things excite me more than the slight chill you feel in the air or the way the leaves change throughout the weeks. It is beauty. 

I love the way the leaves fall on the grass like they are peacefully floating down to find their spot on the grass. The wind will blow them here or there until the leaves have found the perfect place to watch the world go by. They are finally content. 

I love the mystery of Autumn. It's the way the air hits your face and swirls around your body. It's as it's saying "come find me." The sun begins to hide itself away and the clouds are finding their home back in the sky. The falling darkness holds the mystery in its palm. The mystery has finally returned after the innocence of summer. 

I love the smell of Autumn. Whether it is the aroma of grandma's apple pie or scent of your new candle, they never cease to make you feel at home. You suddenly feel the need to make chili or pumpkin pie to fill your house with the fragrance of fall. 

I love the life of Autumn. Most people think of Autumn as the  season where everything dies. But I see it as the time the colors come alive. Autumn must happen so the green leaves can finally burst into bright colors of red and orange.  Summer must end so neighbors can come together and complete corn mazes or hand out candy to the little ghost and goblins who knock on the door. Autumn must come to welcome the change.

I love Autumn. I love autumn not just for the pumpkins or the way the leaves crunch under your feet, but because Autumn reminds me I am home. Home is where I as child ran through leaf piles and danced as the leaves flew around me. I was in a world of fairies and princes and the leaves were my people. Nothing could stop us. The nostalgia of fall gives peace. It doesn't leave you hoping and waiting for more. With my sweater hugging my body and  my boots warming my feet and the autumn wind wraps around me I am home. Autumn will always be home.

                                               Love,

                                                   Cherry XOXO

 

The Warm and Fuzzies

Hello my dears! How are we today? It's beautiful Sunday today which makes it a perfect day to relax. I am watching Princess Diaries 2  while Odin (my puppy) sleeps at my feet. There are few better ways to relax than watching Chris Pine *insert heart eye emoji* try and steal the crown from Anne Hathaway.  And of course who doesn't love the Queen and Joe's relationship.

"I look like a moose!!"
"But a very cute moose. Make all the boy moose go WHAAAA." 

Life can get a little busy and we forget about the world around us. But sometimes people remind us that not all humanity is bad. The other day I went out to lunch at this yummy Italian place with one of my friends. It was a nice day so we decided to eat at one of the outside tables. Since it was lunch time the place wasn't too busy yet since they are more of a popular night time restaurant. However outside there was a table of 3 women in there 20-30s and another table of a couple and their daughter who looked like she was about 4-5 years old. My friend and I didn't really notice the girl too much since we were being attacked by bees and when we got there the family was almost done and ready to leave. But a few minutes after the little family left I over heard the table of women next to me talking to the waitress asking if they could pay for that table's check.  The waitress was a bit confused on how to do that since the couple had already paid and left, but she got her boss to void the check and let the women pay for the meal. When she asked why the women wanted to pay for the check one of the ladies said that you could tell that the little girl had cancer by the fact that she was wearing a hat and had a large bottle of hand sanitizer and just her physical actions. The lady went on to say that her father in law had just died (or was diagnosed I couldn't catch that part) from cancer, and she wanted to honor him and help this family by doing something even though it was small like paying for their meal. My heart just burst with warmth and respect for this woman.

The greatest thing about it is that the woman didn't do it for the praise from the couple. They had already left and might not ever realize that they got there lunch paid for by a complete stranger. But they don't need too. My faith in humanity was restored a bit that day. And I hope maybe this little story made you feel a little warm and fuzzy inside. I know it made me feel that way.  And maybe it will remind us to look around at other people before we get so suffocated in our own.

Well my divas until next time. I hope you have a fabulous rest of the day. Queen Diva out.
   
                             Stay Swazzy,
                                      Cherry XOXO

P.S. I got this candle from ShopKo. It's called Autumn Hayride. It smells soooo good and I love it! I love candles in general. I mean I really love candles.  I burn them almost every night before I go to bed. There is just something about candles that is so calming.  Ahhhh relaxing candle bliss.

Frustrations

Hello divas! How are you beautiful people doing? If you are like me you have been super busy, and will be even busier in the next few weeks. I will becoming a workaholic and work 6 days a week this summer..why you may ask... and the answer is not a complex one.. in fact its very simple.. I'm too poor...to pay for things like  school. And a phone. And gas. living practically... I mean I'm 18 how am I supposed to pay for all these things? However don't worry this post isn't about me ranting about money its about a completely different rant topic. Relationships. Thats right ladies its time to take out those fake hair extension because its about to get real....and hairy.

So I have been single for a while now... very long while. And I'm not complaining because to be honest its kinda nice being single. However what annoys me is these women who get into relationships and all of a sudden they think their life is complete. They think themselves so wise because now they are in a committed a relationships. I mean really if you can get a guy to like you must certainly know the answer to every problem I have ever had! (note the sarcasm.) You know what I mean those people who come up to you with pity and say "don't worry one day you'll find that special guy who will sweep you off your feet" or one of my personal faves "you'll understand one day honey." Now I'm not hating on all couples and saying single is the best thing ever, because I honestly am one of the biggest hopeless romantics you'll ever meet. I am just stating that just because you are in a relationship doesn't not me that you have won at life.  It is not the end all.


Single people are not doing less with their life because they don't have a significant other.We are fine. We don't need people to pity us with that sad look in your eyes. I am not bitter at all towards couples or people in relationships. I mean if you are in a relationship go you! You commit to your relationship. Have fun. Get to know each other better. But do NOT and I mean do NOT shame single people with the fact that they are single.  Because honestly it doesn't matter. So you are in a relationship and I'm not... big whoop. Life goes on. I am happy. And you know what its very freeing not being in a relationship and having to worry about interacting with your significant other.  Work the life you got, but just remember that just because you are in a relationship it does not give you the right to comment on your single friends life like you are all wise.

End of my rant.
                      Stay Wonderful,
                                    Cherry XOXO



P.S  if you're read this going "oh what a sad pathetic desperate girl this is" then you clearly have missed the point of this post.

Freedom

Hello Loves!  Are you feeling divalicous today? And if you haven't been why aren't you?! Work it. Strut what the good Lord gave you. Because girl you are fabulous! I mean not as fabulous as me, but well you know.. you're pretty fab.

Today for the first time in years I have to co-habitate with all of my siblings. I mean yes they have come back to visit my parents and I since the two oldest got married and the 3rd went away to college, but we haven't all stayed in the same house in probably close to 5 years. Am I ready for this? I am the youngest and it took me a lot of work to get rid of all of them and now they are just coming back! Don't get me wrong I love my siblings. Its just that I've grown accustomed to being able to sleep in whatever room I choose too. My choice of sleeping in 5 rooms went down to one..my own. And thats just.... so not fabulous.

Being the youngest is a great thing.. and sometimes annoying. I mean its great because sometimes you get to do stuff your older siblings didn't get to do.. but yet no one appreciates your witty remarks or fabulous behavior because most of the times people forget about the last child. "You must be so proud of Rusty, Anna, and  Josh for all they accomplished.  oh you have another child named Cherry? oh how unfortunate." Like I am standing right here people! And how can one forget about me?! I am marvelous!

One of the great things about my sister coming is that my little nephew is here too! As I am typing this I'm holding little Reno  (wren-o its my nickname for him) as we blog and watch Mulan together. I'm teaching him the ways of the Diva. It is our responsibility to train the young, and I am just doing my small part in making sure my nephew knows how to be sassy and classy. Its the simple things.

The second great thing about them being here is that it means my graduation party is almost here! I am finally graduating from this horrendous experience known as high school. People say its the easiest part of your life because you don't have responsibilities.  I mean sure.. its great not having to pay a mortgage but do you think its easy having to attend classes with a bunch of hormonal induced citizens who think the FFA is the coolest and greatest thing you could ever be a part of? I mean I just can't help myself from swooning whenever a teenage boy in cameo drives by with a lifted truck and country music blaring. (*note the sarcasm)  These people don't need a diploma. They need a fashion intervention!!! But alas my days of high school of tacky social events are over! *diva claps*  I am finally FREE!!

Well I am sorry but that is all I have for now!
Blowing kisses to our fearless little divas.
           
       Stay Fearless,
            Cherry & Reno