Christmas Gift Guide for Her 2014

Holiday shopping can be stressful, wait, I mean, it is totally stressful, and if you're like me, you like to wait to the last minute to find any and everyone a gift. Between tying things up at the office before vacation, Christmas parties where you drink too much eggnog and end up embarrassing yourself, and stuffing your face with cookies to justify your holiday weight, putting off buying presents is understandable at this time of year. That is why I have collaborated a list of some of the best, hottest, and most affordable gifts around for HER for you guys to enjoy. You will find the store's links are correlated with each gift item for convenience!

Gift: BaubleBar 'Classic Everyday Bracelet Set'

Great For: The fashionista, or maybe someone who needs help with the fashionista if you know what I mean.  First of all, I love that Bauble Bar is being sold at Nordstroms this season, because Nordstroms is easy and has ridiculous customer service making the holidays as painless as possible, plus free shipping, (you will notice a lot of my wish list items are from Nordys)! They come in a few different styles, but my personal favorite is gold. Also, ridiculously affordable. 

Price: $58.00 -- holler.

Gift: Kate Spade Boxed Socks

Great for: Stocking stuffers, coworkers, girlfriends. Everyone obvy needs socks, and these are so adorable that it would actually be wrong to not give as a gift to someone. They come in a few different variety packs and are so cute, they don't even need to be wrapped.

 Price: $30.00 for 3 pairs

Gift: Jo Malone Cologne

Great for: Mom, mother in law, female boss, someone who smells bad? This perfume is so amazing, and although the bottles are small, they are super potent and therefore last a while. They come in a variety because you are suppose to mix them together to create your own scent. It is a heavenly package that has been flying off the shelves this season.

Price: $135 for five scents

Gift: Fresh Face Mask Essentials

Great for: Any human being alive, people with skin. This line is probably, no definitely,  my favorite skincare line. It is so gentle, and so beautifully made with only the finest ingredients. I have had a few of these masks and they smell amazing, and put your spirit and skin into a state of bliss! If you get this from me- don't be surprised if one of the jars is gone and hidden in my stocking as well.

Price: $120 for 3 jars

Gift: Lulu Lemon Wild Tank

Great for: Someone who works out, someone who needs to work out, any female alive. Trust me, if she has the XX chromosome, she'll want lulu. This tank is adorable for working out, and cute enough to wear out running errands. Plus, it's one of their less expensive tanks so you look like you spent over $100, and you didn't (cue- mwaha laugh) Tip: Buy a size bigger than you think, Lulu tends to run small.

Price: $64.00

Gift: Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

Great for: Stocking stuffer, little sister, anyone who likes make up, anyone is pale. All the fad recently has been contouring the face. This is a perfect new kit that even the best makeup artists use. The colors are great for literally any skin tone, and it's Anastasia, who is the queen of the make up world, well, at least one of them.

Price: $40.00

Gift: Gleaming Isla Anthropologie Candle

Great for: Coworkers, stocking stuffers, moms, yourself. Oh, hello adorable pineapple candle that smells wonderful and would look cute anywhere for the spring. This is a great and easy gift that everyone is sure to love, plus, it doubles as a pineapple, like, um precious.

Price: $24-$36 depending on size

Gift: Anthropologie Recipe Box

Great for: The cook, moms (because all moms cook). This is a totally affordable gift that is cute and absolutely useful. If she likes to be in the kitchen, she will love being able to store her favorite recipes in this little handy recipe box, and it comes with recipe cards as well for convenience. Easy shmeazy!
Price: $58.00

Gift: Anthropologie Tack Storage Wine Rack

Great for: The drinker, the wine connoisseur. I love wine, but at this age, there is no way I can keep more than 5 bottles at a time. Partially because I cannot afford to be buying that much wine, and partially because I will drink it if I have it. I would love this as a gift (hint hint) to hang in my kitchen and show off my favorite grapes!
Price: $98.00










Gift: Anthropologie Pearled Treble Ring

Great for: The classy broad, the girlfriend. This is beautiful and timeless and is totally affordable for pearls and real gold. This will make any girl perfectly happy and forget about that one time you accidentally forgot to call her for a week.
Price: $218.00











Gift: Fitbit Exercise Bracelet

Great for: The girl who loves being in shape. Not only does this bracelet have amazing technology, it has a style that is so simple and cute, you can literally wear it everyday without being called a butch. The Fitbit counts your activity, calories burned, as well as how many hours you get of sleep! Tory Burch made an adorable cuff that can slip over it to make it a bit more fashionable friendly as well.
Price: $100.00











Gift: Sony SRSX5 Portable Speaker

Great for: Anyone that wants to jam in their jammies. I am personally asking for this for Christmas because it has gotten amazing reviews, and is so cute and tiny! Plus, who doesn't love music while getting ready, cleaning, and sobbing their eyes out with a glass of chardonnay in the bathtub, (just kidding, sort of). This is a for sure win without having to break the bank. The one I like is red, but they also come in a few additional colors as well.
Price: $160.00

Alright my precious little snow angels, I hope you enjoyed my holiday gift guide and you have the most wonderful Christmas!
Remember kindness is contagious, so do something lovely for someone this season for no reason :)







XX,
Kathryn Lane
For more of Kathryn Lane's writing, go to www.babehair.blogspot.com

Sometimes we are taken into troubled waters not to drown, but to be cleansed.

We all go through difficult times in our lives. Times where our hearts are broken, our souls are shaken, and our spirit seems to be hiding cowardly behind our child-like self that desperately just wants to run off and hide in hopes that it will all go away. There are moments where we are so deep in stirred waters, we don't know how the hell we will catch our breath and survive. Life is going to try us. It is going to test us beyond our core, to see if we can handle it, if our faith shakes, if we throw in the towel and give up. And it is only up to us to figure out how to stand so deep-rooted in the ground during the flood, that nothing or no one can ever make our spirit completely break.
This past week was one of the more tough weeks I have had in my life. It started off freshly ending another relationship with a guy who I thought was someone he was not. We'll call this guy, 'Joe'. Joe was brilliant. He was in the medical field, good looking, smart, witty, and kind. He listened to all my stories, laughed at my jokes, asked all of the right questions, took me to the most fun restaurants in town, but from day one- I had a weird hesitation with fully letting my walls down with him. I knew he was stressed about being his profession, working too hard, and just moving to a brand new city where he knew only a handful of people. All of these things seemed completely relevant and normal to me, until I realized there were many more demons that he was struggling with. I started to feel as though it was really affecting our relationship and I was beginning to be taken somewhat advantage of. It unfortunately got to the point to where I had to end things because of the bit of darkness I began to see, and because of his actions, or lack there of. We dated only for a short period of time, maybe four months, I stuck by him because of how stressed he was, and because we cared about each other, but nevertheless ending things still sucked. Feeling so disappointed, and let down by another relationship of unfulfilled promises- I started the week out feeling a bit blue.
Tuesday morning before sales meeting, I felt a sudden pain in my right side. If you know me, you know that I have intense energy, anxiety, and can be, how you say, a bit of a hypochondriac. This pain was a dull pain that ached throughout the day, and that evening progressed to sharp unbearable pains to where I knew I was not just freaking out, something was wrong. I met my best friend at the ER, and numerous blood tests and CT scans later--surprise! I had appendicitis. I was being admitted to have emergency surgery, which I had never been under anesthesia before, was terrified, ill, and was feeling very broken. The next day, (because I had a dbag doctor that made me wait 12+ hours to get the operation), I was being prepped for surgery. I was scared, I was hurting, all while still being upset that this guy, Joe, who I had stuck by throughout his difficult times, times where he bitched and complained and was sad, and stabbing my eyeballs out would literally have been more enjoyable, was absolutely no where to be found. No calls, one text after I got out of surgery saying, "yay" (can't make this stuff up people), and no stop-bys to see me. It was disappointing, it was sad, but I found myself feeling suddenly that it was blissfully eye-opening. Not only did I wake up from the surgery with zero complications, I woke up with my friends and family by my side; holding my hand, wiping my tears, listening to me freak out on anesthesia and throw ice at people (hey, I can't help the way my body reacts to it), and assist me heal. I woke up to dozens of flowers, candies, cookies, missed calls and texts....and after all was said and done, I realized, I woke up to love. Real love. Unconditional, non-judgmental, there for you even during the hard shit love. From people who want to be in my life, who deserve to be in my life, who I need in my life.
The whole point of this is, I woke up from my surgery not only a little wacko, I woke up with a different attitude. An attitude of gratitude, if you will. I woke up thinking, life is too short to fight for people who don't want to be there in the first place, because there are SO many awesome people who do. True colors come out in people when something traumatic happens. You find out people's strength and weaknesses, their real feelings for you, their compassion and kindness, and you really get to see their raw character.  I may not have seen the best in Joe while this occurred, but it was completely omitted by all of the other amazing people I have in my life who did give a damn about what was going on with me. Sometimes, paper perfect people end up being the most broken. And unfortunately, that's just what I found out during this.
Sometimes, God takes something really messy, that we can see no shape or form or good to, and creates something ridiculously beautiful, something that we could have never imagined, something life changing. Since my surgery, my anxiety has been so minimal (which is a huge deal), and I have remembered the important things in life, as well as important people. It has been such a blessing, that I am actually incredibly thankful for my crappy week. The next time you think the world is ending, your appendix is rupturing, and you are oh so alone; you might wake up the next day, throw some ice at your recovery nurses, feel ridiculously loved, and be a healed person.

You belong somewhere you feel free- Tom Petty

 

Only in darkness can you see the stars

  

Our fingerprints don't fade from the lives we've touched.

XX,

Kathryn Lane

For more writing, go to www.babehairbootcamp.blogspot.com

Red flags in relationships.

You might be dating a d-bag when:

Over the years, I have dated my fair share of men. I have been with the good, the bad, and the ugly, (and the hot, the possibly gay, the foreign, etc. etc.). After ending the relationship, I have had time to reflect on each one and think, "what went wrong?"  No matter who it was, they all have one thing in common; there was a firework show of red flags that I looked past.

 It is hard starting a new relationship, because we are learning about each other, and wondering if a red flag was just a mistake, or some weird incidence, maybe he was wrongly accused of stabbing someone, peeing on a playground in front of a child, or cheating on you with a stripper named Candy Cane. And as women, we are pretty forgiving, naturally...unfortunately. Most of us want to see the best in people, and hope that they are changed and want to do better and be better for us, that we will be the ones that will make them the man of our dreams, and we're so ready to settle down, we are completely looking past all of the warning signs that are indicators that this relationship might not work. I hate to say this- but people are innately who they are, they may improve slightly, but they usually revert back to past behaviors, (the past is truly the best indication of the future). After all of my research on red flags in my relationships, as well as my friend's relationships, I compiled a list of some that I think are important that we tend to overlook. Enjoy. (Guys, the same list pretty much applies to girls as well).

1. He is aggressively sexual. If a man respects you, he respects your boundaries. If he is aggressively sexual, he might be A. a freak, B. using you C. a brotha just might need to be told to chill out.

2. He is not sexual at all. This is also weird. He might be gay. Or have diabetes. He should be sexually attracted to you, but at a healthy balance of so.

3. He has a past of cheating numerous times or has cheated on you. Everyone can screw up once, but there is NO need for an explanation for this, we are smarter than that.

4. He treats people he doesn't know like they're crap. This is indicative of his character, and is a very unattractive trait that will end up with you being treated poorly.

5. He treats you like you're crap. Run. This won't change. He should be treating you like a queen in the beginning, showing you all of his best cards and trying his hardest. If he's already treating you with no effort, buzzards are going off everywhere, run Forrest, run!

6. He is lazy. If he's lazy in life, he'll sure as hell be lazy in your relationship. Also, what a turn off.

7. The only time he hangs out with you is after 10 pm. Hi. you're a booty call.

8. He doesn't want to commit. He just isn't ready (and it's been 3+ months), he's been too hurt, he doesn't want to hurt you, he is really focusing on work, his dog is really time consuming, he might be moving out of the country for work, but hey- he likes you a lot and still wants to hang out..this means, Hi. I like hanging out with you (hooking up with you) but want no commitment whatsoever. If you're cool with that, more power to ya, if not, back off.  

9. You catch him in numerous lies. Even if they're little lies, it's weird. And if he'll lie about little things, why wouldn't he lie about big things? Usually people lie because they're guilty, or because they're insecure, both will affect the relationship. 

9. He doesn't want to hang out with your friends ever. He might be selfish, or your friends just might suck. But figure that out.

10. He doesn't have friends. ....Why.

11. He does have friends, but they all suck. We choose who we surround ourselves with, so if his friends suck, he probably does too.

12. He is cocky. If he's confident, Awesome. If he's cocky, he's insecure and looking for an ego-fill. Don't be that ego-fill, it's a void he needs to figure out himself. 

13. He has not worked for ANY of his money. There is something different about a man who has money because he has worked hard for it. He knows he has to work hard for you too vs. a man who has had EVERYTHING given to him. It unfortunately usually rolls into the relationship, if not now, most likely later on.

14. He has no faith, and does not care to explore the true meaning of life. This is a problem to me because it is important that you are able to grow together, that he is open to exploring new things. Having a belief in something is critical to living a fruitful life together. 

15. He is insanely jealous or controlling. Usually guys are like this because they are either wounded and very insecure, or doing something wrong themselves. Don't ever let someone control you.

16. He does not care when a guy slaps your ass in public, and offers his friends to touch your boobs (this has ACTUALLY happened to me.) He doesn't respect you basically, and this is weird as shit, so peace out.

17. It is always on his time table when you hang out. Don't be waitin' around for his call girl, make your own plans, if he wants to see you, he will work around it.

18. He never takes you on dates. Being in college, this was kind of the norm. You'd meet up at a bar or party, and end up making out and eventually you'd date. We're in the real world now. A man should want to court you and date you to dinner, coffee, lunch, some sort of effort to show that he is interested.

19. You don't sleep with him, and he becomes disinterested. He definitely is not wanting to date you, and he's a sleaze. And you should light dog poop on fire and leave it on his front door step.

20. Every ex he has dated is a "bitch" or "crazy" or a "crazy bitch." Either he has terrible luck, or there's a reason that each relationship ends so poorly, and there's only one thing in common: him.

21. You catch him checking out women in front of you all of the time. On occasion, it's normal. Guys like a nice booty do. But if it's on the reg and he's obvious about it, this should make you concerned. A wandering eye can lead to bad places.

22. He treats his mom like a pig. Look at your future, because that is it.

Okay my little lovers, note these red flags and fly away into dating land. Remember to always love people first, and with that comes trust, but perk your little ears up a bit more, be a tad more cautious about jumping into a relationship, get to know someone! If you see any of the above warning signs, plus your own list, really think about what it could mean for the future and for your happiness. We don't ever need to settle or compromise, because as tough as dating can be, there are plenty of good people out there that have similar "non-negotiables" as ours. 

XX,

Kathryn Lane

For more of Kathryn Lane's writing, go to www.babehair.blogspot.com