Home

These pictures are from my trip home to Memphis. I feel it so perfectly captures life at home for me. To be more raw than usual, these pictures tug at my heart a little. I miss home. Some days deeply, and some days it's just a thought; but nevertheless, the thought is ever present. I miss the laid back culture, my parents land, the seasons, but mainly my parents and friends. Being away from home is often so lonely. I love Miami, and we have been blessed with wonderful friends here, but the feeling of loneliness sometimes is inexplicable because I'm not literally lonely, I just feel I belong at home. Where I can drive to my mom's for a hug and to my dad for advice. I can count on life long friends, and an overall feeling of belonging and knowing everything there is to know about the town. But living away from home has it perks too. I love being in a big city and experiencing the beauty of it. "You can never go home again, but the truth is you can never leave home, so it's all right."  ~Maya Angelou  

Sweater: Target / Jeans: American Eagle / Shoes: Me Too via Nordstrom 

Christmas Day

dress: cotton on/ boots: hunter (Christmas gift) / bag: angela and roi 

 While a lot of you enjoyed snow, we in Miami were at the beach. Can't complain! It was a lovely Christmas! I got to spend the first of three Christmases with my parents, and it was y dad's first of four in the country. Having them at our house was such a blessing. Hope you all had a wonderful one :)

Christmas Card

Our second Miami Christmas! So thankful to have our family here with us :) Merry Christmas from our home to yours! May your day and families be blessed and full of laughter! xo 

A Cozy Link Up + giveaway

Cozy: Giving a feeling of comfort, warmth, and relaxation. 

Welcome to Neely and my Cozy Holiday Link Up, where you can link up today to show us your cozy obsessions, and one of you who links up will win a $20 Starbucks gift card! 

Five things that have made me cozy on the regular this holiday season:

My wax melter. Burns day and night and my house constantly smells glorious. 

 Wine with your bff. I love her cute table as well. 

 A cupcake from the best cupcake shop in your hometown :)

My favorite view. My favorite mug and glowing Christmas tree.

A coveted set of plates that make all things warm and cozy.
To enter the $20 Starbucks gift card giveaway, you must link up and be a follower of The Chiffon Diary via gfc, and subscribe to Neely's blog. 
Can't wait to sit with with a mug of hot cider and see all your cozy happenings :) a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's my birthday so I'll have a huge giveaway!

Hi y'all!

Happy birthday to me today!!! I am so excited! When I started putting this giveaway together my husband asked "will you get all these things?" Kyle, to answer your question: no, my lovely readers will. Then I couldn't decide if one winner should take all, or have 20 separate winners. Then I pictured 20 different smiles and happy emails, so I went with the quantity because either way they're getting quality. Well played with my words there Nicholl, well played. Well, here are these very generous, very beautiful ladies! Good luck :) 

blog - giving away neon pink infinity scarf from Gap!

Blog- giving away $25 to Target

Blog - giving away $20 to Target AND $20 Visa or Mastercard

Blog - giving away this bracelet!

blog- giving large ad space for 45 days

blog- fuzzy socks/ $10 to Target

blog - $25 to Starbucks

Blog - giving away $10 to Target

Blog - $25 to Ulta

blog- 3 fancy nailpolishes

Blog - giving away custom embroidery hoop/ 2 months ad space

Blog - two months ad space

instagram - giving away this gorgeous bow ring

Blog- custom post signature for your blog

blog- giving away grandma's guac recipe straight from Mexico! 

Blog - giving away set of 3 hair bows. CUTE!!

blog- tribal necklace

Facebook page - hobo inspired tote (all proceeds to cancer from her cancer survivor baby)

blog- giving away $25 to Target or Sephora, winner's choice! 

So many awesome prizes! 

Happy Wednesday! xo

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Neely and Nicholl present a Cozy Holiday Linkup

If one word comes to mind during the holidays, that's cozy. Everything from apparel like leg warmers, thick scarfs, beanies, leggings and sweatshirts to drinks like apple cider, hot chocolate and marshmallows, and a glass of wine by the fire and the glow of the Christmas tree, your favorite Holiday movies, and that ever so seductive red cup. It's all so cozy.

Because Neely and I could basically shower in scarfs, we thought it would be fun to get a Cozy Holiday link up together. To join the fun, all you have to do is share pictures of the coziness in your season on Friday, December 21st and come back and link up for all to see everyones favorite cozy things and meet some new friends! Let's start the Holiday weekend off right!!!!

And to top it off, we will give a lucky cozy person who links up a $20 Starbucks gift card to warm up your days :) The only thing we ask is that you follow both our blogs to enter and link up!

Neely's Blog and Nicholls Blog

Let's get cozy!

Leave a comment below and let us know you are participating so we can start following your blogs too!!!

The new way I curl my hair + giveaway

Although this looks like a hair how-to, what I'm really going to show y'all today is how to piss your husband off. This is how you do it:

1. Get everything on your Christmas list two weeks before Christmas. 

The only thing on my Christmas list was a Jose Eber wand. And turns out they beat Kyle to it and gifted me one. And you would think saving your husband money would make him happy. Today I get to share about this little tool that made my hair get a voice and scream: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?

This thing is awesome. Yes, they gave me it, but that my friends is not why I rant and rave over this baby. It's because it is the best curling iron I've ever used. I mean, this being a professional tool is quite the step up from my Walgreens $9.99 Conair one. Not that I'm not thankful for the sad little tool that gave me years of service and fried ends. But I sure am excited about this new one. And ladies and..well ladies...this is how this thing works. [I feel partially ridiculous telling someone how to wrap a strand of hair around a piece of ceramic, but that's just how I do it] 

**The only important thing here is to always wrap away from face, if not you will have a huge lump, and downwards to create even waves**

(the most unflattering wrinkled nose you'll ever see)

I use this wand.

If you have any questions comment and I'll email you :) [and if you want to pin this, my pin it button is now at the bottom of each post]

Discount:

Use code CHIFFON15 for 15% off any tool 

Giveaway:

one lucky winner will get ANY tool of their own. Straightener or curler! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christmas tags & tips

I have been looking for cute tags to add to my presents. But can I get an amen that by the time you find cute wrapping paper, ribbon, tags...you are another $50 down. And as much as am I believer of everything cute, I'm a bigger believer in saving. So in a fit of boredom and anxiety, I made my own tags. I am a design misfit. And I did my own. They took 10 minutes. This is for the best of them, y'all.  It is true that I was having apple cider with rum while at it. It is also true that I was having a solo Christmas dance party. Those two go together. 
1. google image "white square" and save one to your desktop. 2. picmonkey.com, edit photo. 

 3. Click on the "P" tab.

4. Add text

5. I used different add text boxes for every line so I could easily move them, center them, and use different fonts.

6. save your image to desktop and open a word document. 

7. Copy and paste your picture from your desktop to the document.

8. highlight the whole page and paste it onto as many pages as you need, then print and cut.

9. Voila! 

This is probably the only time you will see me try to teach someone how to make anything. But I do hope it saves someone some money and make cute little tags!  And now on to business. Here is a lady on my sidebar. A hilarious one at that. She is sharing the most practical fashion tips I ever heard...you will get a laugh out of this. And you'll like it even more if you check out her blog. You're welcome. 

Why hello there.

The name is Bonnie Blackburn Larsen and writing nonsense is my game.  Sometimes I get in trouble for what I write, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles.  The husband's name is Greg and I've been told I would be a fool for letting the internet Gods know my husband's name because now they can steal our identities and invade our home, GASP!  Therefore, to protect us from cyber devils and because it seems somehow hip I have named him Hubs.  I pride myself on originality.

This is me in my very sexiest form.  I look like this about 0.0021% of my life.  Maybe less.

This is me in my ugliest form- dressed up as Voldemort for midnight Harry Potter premieres. 

I just felt like from the get go you needed to know me in my best and worst forms.  Just know that usually I am somewhere in the middle of those two extremities, but creeping over more into the Voldemort side, no doubt.

If you are still interested in me, (oh this sounds so romantic!) you have a couple of options from here.

Option #1: I've noticed Nicholl is quite the fashion blogger. She struts her stuff like she was born in high heels!  Well, heck, I can be a fashion blogger too!  Keep reading where I will show you how to look hot in any situation.  Trust me, you're going to want to read up.

Option #2: Visit my blog where you may read all my rambling to your heart's content.  You might wanna check out this post which will give you a very personal, loving tour of the blog and a guide to the greatest posts- the romantic ones about my Hub-a-dubs, the ones about teaching high school to bratty teenagers, and even the scandalous ones.

Option #3:  While at my blog, enter Wednesday's giveaway- jewelry galore, Starbucks, and Target.  What more could a girl want?!?

Option #4:  All of the above

(Pick #4!  Pick #4)

Let's dive right in, shall we?

HOW TO LOOK HOT NO MATTER WHAT YOU'RE DOING

BY BONNIE BLACKBURN LARSEN

In the above picture I am playing tennis with Hubs.  My outfit is very stylin as you can tell.

I feel bad for anybody who doesn't look one hundred percent rocking 24/7.  I have the whole fashion thing down pat so I figured it's time to share my knowledge with the blogging world.  You all are clearly in need of an expert.  The Chiffon Diary, watch out, I'm taking over your reign as cutest fashion blogger ever!

 To copy my above outfit you will need the following:

1.  A pair of ambiguous pants.  Are they long pants?  No... not quite.  Shorts?  No, not that either.  Capris?  Too baggy for that.  WHAT IN SAM'S HILL ARE THEY?  Guess we'll never know which makes them that much cuter!  Remember, the more confused people are by your look, the cuter it is!

(Answer:  They are Hubs' shorts.  And if you think it's pretty messed up that I have the same size of waist as Hubs, you are not alone.)

2. A big, brown, bulky belt.  None of these cute, skinny belts.  No cool colors like blue or orange- you will need just a big brown clunker.  This makes your waist look bigger than normal, which as we all know, is the perfect complement to any look.

3.  A shirt that is too tight for you.  Although you can't see it in this picture, a tight grey T-shirt is the best thing to wear when participating in any physical activity.  It allows for maximum under arm sweat stains that everyone can see when you raise your arms.  Tacos=the new trend in fashion.  Try to keep up, will you?

4.  Neon shoelaces.  The whole outfit should be a very blah, somber color EXCEPT the shoelaces.  Look for a gray or black outfit and then add a bit of neon to really confuse everybody who looks at you.  In my case, I chose neon pink.  Neon green and neon blue are also great.  If you're really daring you can try polka dotted or striped shoelaces to really set you apart from the crowd.

5.  Don't forget the hair barrette clipped to your pocket and the alien looking sunglasses.  These accessories really complete the outfit.  Remember, confusion=cuteness.

There you have it, folks!  How to look like a million bucks no matter what you are up to.  I'm full of stylish advice and wisdom so make sure to visit my blog often to see all my super cute looks!  Next week I might even show you the sweats, flip flops, and bandana that I wear when I wash my car.   Spicy!