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Hope you all are having an amazing holiday season! We are partnering with Express today to share this comfortable, but dressed up look you can wear for the holidays and NYE coming up. All of it happens to be on sale right now, so what better time to scoop up some good finds you can wear with other things in your closet.

We love these faux leather cropped pants because they are super comfortable, and they can be dressed up or down. We are wearing size 00 short for reference. We paired them with this fuzzy cowl neck sweater in size xxs that’s seriously so soft and comfy. We love that Express offers tons of sizing options, and petite and short options for shorties, like us!

Since the year is wrapping up (can you believe it?!), we wanted to share ten things we learned in 2020. We know it has been a tough year for everyone, and if you have lost anyone or have been through a couple of rough months, we are thinking of you.

We can live without superficial beauty additions

If you would have told us in February that we wouldn’t be able to get our grey hair covered, our eyelashes done, and our nails manicured, we wouldn’t have believed you. We are not super high maintenance, BUT, we do like to get glammed up just to save time in our everyday routines aka lash extensions and having our nails done and manicured.

We had hair extensions when the quarantine started, and by end of March (when our appointment was supposed to be) we decided to take them out ourselves. After a few weeks having them out of our hair, we decided to just permanently leave them out. We felt like our hair wasn’t growing as much, and it needed a long break. The long break has turned into almost a year of not having them in, and we don’t think we will go back to having them again.

As far as nail and lashes go, we let our lashes fall off, and ended up using false lashes, or eyelash serum to get our natural lashes stronger, and using a good mascara. We took our dip nails off, and ended up purchasing our own dip kit online and attempted to do it ourselves. Did the lashes or nails look the same as getting them done professionally? Absolutely not, but we learned an important thing; we can survive without them, and feel just as beautiful.

It is a good reminder! With that being said, we did go back to our nail tech, but it was a good break!

Family time

Like everyone else, we got lots and lots of family time in during the quarantine. We are so grateful our parents live close by us (only 45 min), so we were able to see them a lot. In March and April, we would come to their house for a few days at at time. Luckily we were able to hang by the pool and enjoy some quality time together.

Even if things get cancelled, you can still accomplish them

We signed up for our first ever half marathon last year around this time. We were so excited to accomplish it since we had been training for four months. By the time the end of March rolled around, our race had been cancelled, and was scheduled to be done virtually. We were so disappointed since we had been training so hard, and really wanted that true “race experience”.

We decided that we would still run it on our own, and accomplish it. We are proud to say we completed the 13.1 miles on our own on our actual race day.

Find new ways to celebrate milestones

Typically for our birthday each year, we travel as a family to celebrate. This year, with everything happening, we weren’t able to travel. We made the best of it and were able to rent a boat for the day on a lake near where our parents live, and it turned out to be one of the best birthdays we have had.

Create new daily walking routine

Before the quarantine, we would walk outside sometimes, but definitely not every day. We started taking daily walks as part of our morning routine. We enjoyed them so much that we continued to go on them every day, and still have kept them going to this day, Now, we feel like something is missing if we don’t go on one.

There is something about a walk that just clears your head and changes your mood in a positive way.

Make health a priority

Health has always been big priority for us, but we took it to an even further level during all of this. We already were taking all sorts of supplements daily, but really were strict with our vitamin c supplement and other ones that we rely on to stay feeling our best.

We also made sure that we were really washing our hands as often as we should be!

Create staycations

We weren’t able to travel most of quarantine, so we made the best of it and made or own staycation at home. We spent time by the pool, did at-home spa treatments, went on the lake, and more. Just because you don’t travel, doesn’t mean you can’t feel like you did.

Mourning the loss of Milly

Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to our family dog this year in September. It was one of the toughest losses, and is still very hard everyday. We are so grateful that we had nine amazing years with her, and she was very loved and always will be. We are so glad that we have Lucy because she made losing Milly much easier to navigate. Milly will always have a special place in our hearts.

Working out at home

We had been working out at home some random days, but definitely not consistently like we are now. We have actually become so used to it now, and are in such a good routine with it. We ended up purchasing a Peloton bike in the summer, so we love using that, as well as doing other workouts on our rebounder, and with weights.

We feel like we are much more efficient with our time now that our gym is right in our kitchen, literally.

Cooking more and ordering takeout

We love cooking, and were already pretty good about cooking at home regularly, but during the quarantine, we definitely cooked more and tried out new recipes. We also supported local businesses and ordered takeout (hello, pizza!).

{ Fuzzy Faux Fur Cowl Neck sweater |Faux Leather Cropped Skinny Ankle Pants | Black Suede Pumps }