Kenzie Blogs Life: List

2017

Christmas Wishlist 2017

11:30:00 AM

It's the best time of the year, and that means it's also time for the annual Christmas Wishlist! Last year, I wrote this post. I did eventually get Elephant pants, but from Camden Market when I was in London and I am obsessed with them.

Like every year, it's hard to make a wishlist. Because I honestly don't even know what I want! Return tickets to London? A french bulldog puppy?

Anyway, here is a little list of what I found and put on my wishlist this year!

1. French Bulldog Mug

How cute How cute How cuuuute

2. Birkenstocks

I bought my first pair in Covent Garden and I am obsessed.

3. Love Your Melon Beanie

These hats are the warmest and I love mine so much. I mean, who says you can have too many hats?

4. Food

It's not Christmas if I don't have food on my wishlist! This past year I went to Europe and discovered Paprika Pringles. So if someone wanted to ship them to me, I would be so grateful.

5. Velvet Rompers

I bought one velvet top this year and a dress and I am officially obsessed. I'm still looking for a romper in velvet so if you know where I can get one leave a link down in the comments!

6. French Bulldog Socks

I get socks for Christmas every year and I actually love it. I am looking for French bulldog ones so I can wear them with my birks. ( I know I know)

7. Giftcards.

I know giving giftcards isn't the most fun thing in the world. But personally, I love getting them. I can go to the store and buy whatever I want and it's the best!

I never feel like my Christmas list is super long, but I hope you enjoyed some of these! Do you have similar items on your list? Let me know below!

Do you like giving or receiving better? Personally I love giving and I kind of go overboard!

Christmas

Christmas Playlist

8:00:00 AM

These Christmas-Themed posts are getting me into the spirit one post at a time! Every year I fall in love with Christmas music all over again, there is just something that feels good about listening to it in the car, as the snow on the roads starts to pile up. Here are some of my top ten favorite Christmas songs!

1. White Christmas-Bing Crosby & Michael Buble

2. Silent Night

3.I'll be home for Christmas-Lady Antebellum

4.It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas-Michael Buble

5. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas-Sam Smith

6.My Favorite Things-Julie Andrews

7.The most wonderful time of the year-Pentatonix

8.Happy Xmas (war is over)-John Lennon

9. A Holly Jolly Christmas-Burl Ives

10.Baby It's Cold Outside-Idina Menzel & Michael Buble

*Bonus: Do they Know it's Christmas? -Various Artists

Overall, most of my favorites are from Michael Buble (he's great). Whenever I am home for the holidays, the holiday music is always on in the background. Whether we're baking cookies and other treats or just hanging out.

What songs are you always listening to during the holidays? Do you have a favorite song or artist that sings holiday music? Only a few more weeks until Christmas!

england

Study Abroad Series: The Big Question

8:25:00 AM

There's always that one big question that comes up in the beginning, before applying to study abroad. And that's why? Why should you study abroad,it's going to cost a lot of money. You're going to be away from, home for more than one week. So why should you, or anyone else look into it? Here's why.

1. Living in a foreign country is different than a holiday. You're living, chatting, and going to shops just like the locals do. Instead of sitting around being 100% touristy.

2.Make lifelong friends. Being away from home is scary, but you'll also be with 100 other students who are all in the same boat as you. And they'll become you're best friends for four months.

3.Gain Independence. You will be able to proudly walk through the airports of the future without being overly anxious about whether or not you're in the right terminal.

4.Learn more about yourself. Everyone that has studied abroad has told me that they have learned so much about themselves while being in another country than being at home, in their comfy duvets.

5.An unforgettable experience. One that you can tell your family and friends over and over (and become so annoying they'll probably want you to go back).

6. Exploring more. You're not limited to staying in just one country, for me, I'm able to fly to different countries like Ireland, Spain and Italy on weekend trips while I'm over in England!

7. Future employment. You lived for an extended amount of time in another country by yourself, and that will look really impressive to those who may want to hire you in the future!

8. Experience another culture. I'm going to England, and while the US and Britain both speak English, the way we live is completely different and I cannot wait to see how things are done over there!

9. Bucket List. You can cross so many things off of your bucket list.

10. You'll learn to appreciate the little things. Like peanut butter. Apparently that's not a thing in England.

If you have any questions about studying abroad, or ideas for posts let me know in the comments or send me an email! I look forward to hearing from you! I hope you're all having a great November, it's nearly Christmas :)

List

Study Abroad Series: Money

8:30:00 AM

Let's talk money.

If you're thinking about going abroad to study, make sure you look at all of your options.

And then you have to look at your bank account.

Because, let's face it, studying abroad is expensive.
My program runs at about thirteen-thousand USD, and that's without the extra traveling that I've paid for and am still going to be paying for.

So here are a few tips on saving up that extra cash!

1. Work. A L O T. If you don't "feel" like getting out of bed and clocking in, then just know that the money you're giving up would probably pay for that trip to a magical destination in a far off land.

2. Half & Half. Put half of your paycheck into a savings account, and keep half of it for spending it on life pre-study abroad.

3. Raise money. Sell cookies to your neighbors, start mowing peoples lawns. They'll all love you for it, and you'll thank them while sipping on a latte outside of a cafe somewhere in Paris.

Now I'm craving cookies!!

4. Apply for Aid. Most schools have scholarships that you can apply for that will give you a nice little chunk of money in your pocket when you need it!

5. Cut down on spending. Know how much you spend each week, while you're at home or at uni and pay attention to what you're spending on. Share rides with friends, you don't need to buy that clothing item because there will probably be one even better overseas (and you can say where it's from once you're back!)

This list is pretty short, I worked a lot this past summer, and will until I leave. It also helps that I do not like spending money. It actually hurt to spend money on a trip to Ireland, but it will be all worth it in the end!
How do you raise money? Any tips and tricks that I missed?
Which countries should I visit while I'm over there?
xx

List

Study Abroad: 5 Worries

7:30:00 AM

You've recently read THIS post, and with the days getting closer and closer to my flight across the pond, I'm getting really excited, having already written my GOALS post, I thought I would also write up my worries post. Because after all, I am flying across the Atlantic Ocean, to a country I have never been to before, with people I hardly know at all.

1. What Ifs? I could make this list an entire page of the inevitable "what ifs". Like what if..my flight is cancelled? What if..I get stranded somewhere? What if...I get attacked? I mean, you can't live your life in fear, but

2. Homesickness. I love coming home every other weekend from my university that is only an hour and a half car ride to my town. I'm definitely worried that this might have a damper on the whole trip. But it's also part of the experience. So hopefully, we'll all just save our tears for the pillow. (dancemoms reference anyone?)

3.Packing. People have been studying abroad for years! But how do they pack for going away for 4 months? How do you plan? Why are there luggage weight limits though? I'm definitely going to have to prioritize which clothes I need to bring.

4. Organzation. I am terrified that I will lose something/ leave it somewhere and will never be reunited with it ever again. This actually is a worry that I have while I'm still here. I constantly lose my school ID. *sigh*

5. Getting Lost. Hello I don't need to reenact the Taken movies. Thanks. As long as I'm in a group of people, I should be fine right??

Yes I know some of these might be silly, They definitely are. Maybe I'll even bump into some bloggers while I'm over there. I am so excited to finally be getting ready to study abroad in England!

What would you worry about if you were going to live overseas? What would you do to combat it?
Make sure to let me know in the comments!

Fun

6 thoughts on a road trip

7:30:00 AM

Searching for Gifs and not doing homework is probably the best way to procrastinate, which leads me to this post. If you've been here since June you know that I kicked off my summer with a family road trip. There were at least 6 thoughts that I had while being in the car for 17 plus hours!

1. Where are we?

2. What are the people like here?

3. Is there a snapchat filter for this town?

4. How can my sister sleep in the car?

5. What is the capital of this state?

6. The landscape is so different here.

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed scrolling through all of the gifs that are out there! What do you think about when you're travelling? I cannot wait to plan another trip hopefully soon! Are you looking forward to anything this week?
x Kenzie

Benefits

5 benefits of an online class

8:00:00 AM

It's summer. Do we really need to talk about school? For me, I really had a great trip (more posts are still coming) in the beginning of June. Immediately after I had gotten home, I was diving head first into an online math class.
Gross, I know.

Honestly, math has never been my best subject, or even my "i'm just okay at this" subject. I mean I can do the basics, but just don't throw the quadratic formula my way. I also have really bad test anxiety when it comes to math. Which is why, for the last two summers, I have opted to take my math credits online.
Here are some of the benefits that I found, while taking an online class:

1. You can do homework at any time of the day.

2. Usually nothing is due until midnight, which gives you plenty of time

3. You can work ahead and get things done to make room for fun activities.

4. There isn't a lot of peer pressure.

5. The teachers are really nice and quick to answer emails you might have.

Taking classes like this is also nice because you can focus solely on one subject.
What subject was your favorite in school? What one was your worst?
My favorite is definitely English, and my worst was obviously math!
I hope you're having a great summer! Make sure to leave a comment below, I love reading all of them!
x Kenzie

bath

Christmas WishList

10:00:00 AM

Every year I get asked to make my parents a Christmas list, and every year I find it more and more difficult to conjure one up. As I've gotten older, there isn't much that I desperately want or need, I mean I could put a trip to Europe or some tropical destination on there but I have a feeling they would never go for that. I feel really lucky not to need so much for Christmas, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun to online shop and eventually whip up a list anyway! That's what this post is about. My Christmas wishlist. Maybe we have a few of the same things!

I like to split my lists into categories. Firstly there are Clothes.

Though mostly filled with sweaters and cardigans at this time of year, it's always nice to get a giftcard to my favorite shops as well. Those include H&M, Forever 21, Target and Kohl's. Recently I stumbled upon this shop called Spoiled Rotton, and it's online, it has all the above clothing. How cute! I love watermelon, I think throwing on a dress in the summer would be perfect and you can never have enough summer dresses! As well as the pullovers, never can have enough of those in the cold Wisconsin winter months.
Here are the links:
(Watermelon dress) (Elephant Sweater)
(Purple sweater) (Black and White Sweater)

The second category I like to put in is Scents.
I love changing smells throughout the seasons. This year, I recently purchased the Cup of Warmth from Bath and Body Works. It smells amazing, and makes me want to crawl into a warm blanket with a cup of tea or hot chocolate. A lot of my favorite scents come in the car type since I've got a bunch of candles already!

The fourth category for me is Bath.

You all know, if you've been reading my blog for awhile that I love LUSH. I love taking a nice warm bath after work or when the weather is cold and relaxing with some bath bombs. Lush has their christmas ones out. Though many of those are on my list, I also enjoy my all time favorites (that's Fizzbanger, Butterball, and Blackberry).

Links: (Eucalyptus, Vineyard, Caribbean, Vanilla Coconut)

As far as other things on my list, I really don't have anymore ideas. I don't expect any of this stuff to actually end up in my stockings or under the tree but it's fun to pick and choose.

There are also decorative pillows like these that would look nice in my dorm room!

(these come from Target, Kohls and Shopko!)

In all honesty, I think I spent more time on the website of WorldMarket looking for stocking stuffers (because they have food from all over the world) than I did anything else. I mean, dark chocolate? Yes please. Even though I'm cutting back sugar and trying to eat healthy they still had those options for me too!

I really enjoy giving gifts much more than I enjoy receiving them. I like making the gift or buying it off the shelf and wrapping it and handing it off to the person. I love Christmas so much. I can't wait to continue on celebrating all month long!

What kind of things are you asking for for Christmas? Anything that you're excited to give away?

I hope you've all done all your shopping!

x :)

Pages

Christmas Wishlist 2017

Christmas Playlist

Study Abroad Series: The Big Question

Study Abroad Series: Money

Study Abroad: 5 Worries

6 thoughts on a road trip

5 benefits of an online class

Christmas WishList

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