things I love lately

Hey y'all! I am back from my trip to Colorado and wanted to do a quick post about some things that I am loving right now. So let's dive right in and get down to business.

1. L'Oreal True Match Lumi Foundation

So I have a couple tried and true foundations that I love, but I recently stumbled upon this one and I love it. I can't say enough good things about it. The purpose of this foundation is to give you a glowy, dewy look to your skin. I noticed that my skin was lookin pretty rough a couple weeks ago and for whatever reason it just looked SO dull and so matte, and so just...blah. I picked this up and I am so glad that I did. it gives you an instant glow to your skin and makes you look healthy and fresh. Now a little side note on this product, it is NOT a full coverage foundation. it's rather on the light side, and is slightly build-able to a medium, but your not going to be getting much more than that. I am a full coverage lady over here because of my freckles and dark spots, so when I need a bit more coverage I just mix it with my Laura Mercier silk creme foundation and I am good to go!

2. L'Oreal Magic Lumi concealer

Have a told you that I have been really into highlighting lately? I haven't? Well let me tell you. Go look up a highlight/contour video on YouTube right now, like right now, I'll wait....

So THAT is the reason I am loving it right now. It just opens up your eyes SO much and gives your face perfect lighting constantly. Anyway, at first I thought that any old concealer would do. Nooooooooooo no no no no. I was using my thick wax concealer from my pro makeup kit and realized that it was way to heavy when it was settling in my fine lines and creases and making me look like a 70 year old smoker. That is when I turned to this. It is a little on the watery side, but that is ok because I am just looking for the highlight and I don't have dark circles to cover. I love how it brightens and perfects. Make sure you get at least 1 if not 2 shades lighter than your normal skin tone.

3. L'Oreal Colour Riche "The Balm" in Pink Satin

Man I have been striking it rich in the L'Oreal department lately! SO I have never met a balm I didn't like and when my dearest Ashley pulled this out of her purse on a afternoon get together, I had to have it. It was the perfect amount of sheerness and color. It is a silkier balm than Revlon Lip Butter, but it has a sheerer color to it. Perfect for everyday. I am already on my 2nd tube, but most of that is because Ava ate my last one.

4. John Freida Brilliant Brunette shampoo/conditioner

So I am usually a shampoo snob because I went to cosmetology school for a while (until I got pregnant) and I learned all about the importance of good hair products. While I do believe the right shampoo can make or break your hair, I also think there are number of suitable drugstore options. Example one. I was noticing that my color was looking super dull and not shiny and just all around unhealthy, but I certainly didn't want to dye it again because dying your hair basically the same color it already is, can wreak havoc on your tresses. So I turned to this shampoo. I used to use this a long time ago when I was like 19. I loved it then, but because of how experimental I am with my hair products, I hopped around and forgot what a true gem it is. Ahhhh how easily I forget. In 1 wash I noticed more dimension and vibrancy. Give it a try if you want to wash some life back into your hair:)

5. Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia

My parents got this for me for Christmas. That's all I have to say about that.

So that wraps up my latest thing I love. If you have any favorite things, let me know! I am always on the look out for the next thing I will become obsessed with! P.s. I am leaving to Texas tomorrow for a wedding and won't be on again for a while but you can follow our trip on Instagram @morgansallen

From the Allen family

We are in Colorado right now enjoying time with my family and are looking forward to tomorrow and delicious food, fun presents, and Les Miserables!

I hope everyone has a safe and joyous Christmas!

I thought I was pregnant.

Yes, you read that right. We had a major shocker in our home a few weeks ago when both Scott and I thought I was most certainly big fat PREGO. To say that it was surprise is a slight understatement. To say I was nervous to see a big 'ol + on that test and genuinely concerned? A huge understatement.

It all started when I was grouchy as all hell, and I mean grouchy. For no real reason at all. I have a tendency to wear my feelings on my face, and my body language speaks worlds about my attitude, but this was off the charts. I was flying off the handle, bawling like a prepubescent 10 year old girl over commercials or tv shows that touched me in anyway, and the only time it has ever played out like that? Pregnant.

At first it really didn't cross my mind much. We are not trying right now, and in fact, adding another lulu to the Allen team hasn't really been on our radar at all. Then the cravings happened. Then the heartburn. Then the sore boobs (TMI). Then the nausea every night at bedtime. My skin was changing, my hair was changing.
This carried on for 2 weeks. I have been pregnant twice folks. I know how I feel when I'm pregnant, and I was feeling pretty dang pregnant, and hubby was the first one to point it out.

It became pretty regular that I was demanding Mexican food followed by me apologizing my diva ways, followed by Scottifer replying "It's ok, you're pregnant. You can't help it." I would boldly state "I'm not pregnant!" followed by a "suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure" from the Mr. It was kind of a running joke that aired on the side of all seriousness, but for whatever reason I was in denial. I didn't want to think it was possible, but part of me was genuinely worried it was true. I refused to take a pregnancy test, thinking that if I just ignored it, it would happen.

See, it's not that I don't want to have another baby, it's just I have SO much going on in my life right now, and we have so much coming up this year, that a surprise bundle of joy didn't really fit in those plans. Anywhere. I sat down with Scott one night and we had a serious talk. How does he feel about another baby? He expressed concern just like me, but I could tell that there was a hint of excitement. That excitement became more evident after listening to him chat on the phone to a good friend who just informed Scott that his wife is expecting. As they talked Scott walked past me saying to his friend "I'm glad Ava was girl, because if for whatever reason I only had 1 baby, I'm glad it's a girl. But I don't think I'm gonna have a problem having just one baby." As he nudged my arm and gave me a wink.

Well early early the next morning, I crawled back in to bed after mother nature notified me that I was in fact NOT pregnant, and I lightly nudged Scott, "Hey, hey. Guess what? I'm not pregnant! Isn't that great?" His response? "Oh. I guess so."

The whole next day I felt horrible that I was entirely more excited about my monthly gift than he was, and I started to think that the possibility of having another baby so soon didn't seem that bad after all. Scott is an amazing father. Amazing. And well Ava? She is just pretty much the freaking coolest baby on the planet. I wouldn't mind having another one of her for sure. Plus I have been blessed with the amazing gift of being able to get pregnant, and fairly easily at that. I got pregnant with Ava only 2 weeks after I miscarried my first one. Baring children is such a huge blessing and something I shouldn't take for granted since it's something many women struggle with.

I still don't know that right now is the right time to add to our family again, but what I do know is that the Lord has us in mind and whenever he decides to send us another child, even it it's not in the plans, I am going to be grateful have that opportunity and to be a mom again.

p.s...The day after I was not pregnant, all my suspicious prego symptoms just went away. Crazy! My guess? An abnormally crazy bout of PMS.

Never ending week

This week felt like it drug on and on and on! I guess that is what usually happens the week before vacation right? At least it does to me. See I am one of those people who always has to have something on my agenda to help get me through my week. I love to have fun, I love to do. If I don't have something planned coming up, I literally don't know what to do with myself. Even if it just a date with the hubby, it's like a full blown countdown to the day.

It's the little things I suppose. We leave for Colorado to spend Christmas with my family this upcoming Friday, I can hardly contain myself. A little trip is going to be just what the doctor ordered, and I more excited to see my family for Christmas than actual Christmas itself. So since this upcoming Friday was almost 2 weeks away at the beginning of last week, you can see how this week drug it's feet through the mud. Hopefully this week will FLY by, or at least I think it will considering I procrastinate to the last minute and I will be scrambling to pack and get everything together the last 2 days. Wish me luck!

Shirt: Forever 21($17.80)| Sweater: Forever 21($22.80 HERE)|Jeans: Jessica Simpson at TJ Maxx($24.99)| Necklace: C/O Hello Fab(HERE)|Boots: Target($27.99 HERE)

P.S. I recently was sent this necklace from Hello Fab. Is it not gorgeous!? I seriously want to wear it everywhere. Not to mention, pink happens to be my favorite color. There is something perfect about pink that just adds a little bit of femininity to any outfit. That is why I paired this beaut with classic muted colors like tan and black, and I let the necklace make the statement. You have to check out Hello Fab if you have not already! They have the most amazing classy jewelry. Here are a few of my favorites:

That wine bubble necklace is only $12.99 right now. $12.99 girls! You don't get much cheaper than that for those. This store is full of perfect jewelry for yourself or a loved one for Christmas. Happy shopping:)

the in's and out's of having a successful blog

So I recently have had a couple readers email me with questions on how to help grow their blog and gain readership and sponsors, so I thought I would write out a little post today about how it worked for me and maybe it will help you too!

1. Followers DON'T matter Say WHAAAAAAT? Yup. It's true. First thing's first, stop worrying about how many followers you have, because in the end it doesn't make a difference. The only thing that makes a difference at all, is your stats (which I'll get to in a minute). On average I receive 18,000-30,000 views a month and only have 304 public followers via GFC. So as you can see, my followers don't even come close to reflecting my blog's popularity. When I first started a my blog, I always worried about gaining followers, which is important to a degree, but it really doesn't make a dent in how much your page is being viewed, shared, or visited. Plus those followers you see on GFC only show those publicly following you on a google account, which really limits and dwindles down your readership stats when you segregate it that way. It doesn't account for those who are following you privately, or who remember your blog address by heart and are typing it in organically, or searching for your blog via search engine. Think of it this way, (kind of weird analogy coming here), but its like a UFC fight on TV. Perhaps one of your friends has subscribed to the channel and is paying to see the fight, and then they invite 20 friends over to watch it. All the channel knows is it is being ordered and paid for by 1 household, when in reality it is being viewed by 20 people at once. That's kind of the same thing with GFC followers. Just stop worrying about it.

Shot taken from my stats page this morning

2. Watch your stats Now THIS is what really matters. Your stats are where you can really look to for guidance on where your blog is at with popularity. There are 2 ways to go about this. Blogger has a stats section on its homepage, so make sure you are looking at that frequently if you are trying to grow your blog. This page will show you everything from how many views a day you get, how many a month you get, how many views to date you have received, and where your traffic is coming from. To go even more in depth, you sign up for a free account from statcounter.com. I get an email weekly from them and I can go in a see where my readers are coming from, where they are going, and how long they are staying. These stats are vital if you want to outsource for sponsorship, and to put on your sponsor page for other bloggers to see if you plan on charging for ad space.

Shot taken of my statcounter this morning

3. Shamelessly self promote When trying to gear up your blog, don't be afraid to put yourself out there! Make a Facebook page for your blog, make a Twitter if you use that (I still don't get it), and by all means pin, pin, and pin some more! Most of my traffic comes from Pinterest, so make a board for your blog, and pin whatever you want to it, and people will repin, ultimately reaching people you don't even know! With Facebook, ask your friends to share your page, follow you, or like it. Friends and family can help a lot. I had a lot of friends helping me promote my blog in the beginning, and a little help can go a long way.

Shot taken from browsing the women's fashion section on Pinterest today (I don't know who pinned this particular pin)

4. Reach out to other bloggers When starting out your blog, the best way to grow quickly is to hook up with other blogs! Find some blogs you like, and see if they do button swaps, and that way you can help each other by swapping readers. If there is a particular big blog that you really want to be associated with, be willing to pay out to put ad space on their blog! I would not pay any more than $15 dollars though, because NO blog is worth shelling out precious money just to get more views, try to remember even bigger blogs are by NO means celebrities, and if it's gonna cost you more than 15 bucks just to have a little button there, it's just not worth it.

5. Advertising Once your blog has soaring stats, it's time you can start charging, but don't expect to be making thousands of dollars, and keep your expectations reasonable! When I first stated my blog, I thought that you made money from companies paying you to advertise, but actually it is other bloggers that you make your money from! I was using a ad space service called Passionfruit to help me organzine my payments for ad space. I recently did away with it for now and am only doing button swaps, because I simply do not have time to offer guest posts or shout outs on social media. But if you do go this route, make sure to offer different sizes and prices for your ads. For example, you can offer large ads that cost more that include a guest post on your blog, and social media media mentions, or whatever you want, whereas a smaller ad offers no guest post or mentions. Make it easy to purchase for any budget. When I was using Passionfruit I was making about $40-$50 a month, so eventually it is possible to bring in money.

6.Sponsors In the beginning your blog is not going to have the stats or the popularity to back being sponsored by a company, so there are a couple different routes you can take to get there. First of all, readers LOVE a giveaway. LOVE IT! But since your blog isn't yet getting material from companies to give away, you need to giveaway your own things. Sounds sad, and it is, but it is one of the few things that can boost your faithful readership. I started out spending my own money on jewelry to give away on my blog. I would do one about once a month, so I was spending on average about $10 a month purely on giveaways. Unfortunately with building your blog, sometimes you have to be willing to pay out until you get sponsorship. At first sponsors are not going to come to you, you are going to have to go to them. Once you have a number of followers/good stats, start by reaching out to Etsy shops that you like! Find a smaller Etsy shop and write them a message. Try to be professional as possible and let them that you love their shop, tell them about your stats, and let them know that you would love to do a review or host a giveaway for them on your blog. Let them know that this would be beneficial for both parties and you are excited to work with them. Be prepared to be turned down by some shops, but be grateful and genuine to those who do accept your offer. Once you have been doing reviews and giveaways for a while, sponsors will come to you:)

A few of my actual sponsors

7. Be patient I can't tell you how stressful trying to figuring out how to grow your blog can be, but if you are going through it right now, then you know. There were countless times that I just wanted to give up and delete my blog. I was tired of working so hard, seeing slow growth, and it just felt like it was going no where. Then I remembered that I wasn't doing this for other people, I was doing this for me, and I wanted to love what I was doing, not loathing it like a chore! Once I kept that in mind, it brought me a lot more happiness and joy doing the blog. So lay off the pressure and let it happen.

I hope these tips helped those of you looking for it. Sorry it was long, but I wish you the best of luck and success in your journey to making your blog a hit!
xoxo, Morgan

some recent favorites

I thought about doing an outfit post today. That was before I stepped outside for church and realized that I had been miraculously transported to a frozen tundra! No way Jose, not happenin.

Lucky for me hubby did not object to it either and we stayed snuggly warm inside enjoying our weirdly overly hyper baby, and watching Christmas Vacation, complete with a family nap.

Now I do promise some new stuff coming your way, don't you worry, but in the meantime, I thought I would just share a few of my most recent favorite finds. Your welcome:)

Man oh man do I love me some stripes. I love J Crew for that fact that their clothing fits so well. I love J Crew Factory more because they fit well and it's not crazy expensive. Lucky this guy is only $29.50 right now, and you can find it here. If you want an even less expensive alternative, this one HERE is a pretty good match.

This week I was looking for a good makeup bag for our holiday travels. Good meaning better than a plastic bag, but roughly the same price. I found this one at Forever 21 and I was smitten. I love the brown, and the glitter looks really classy in that color. Get it here.

I don't feel like I have ever been one to love patterned pants. Maybe that's because I don't own any, and maybe if I did I would love them. Even with that in mind, I kinda of really love these ones. For some reason I think they just would look really cute with a big white sweater and boots. Not to mention I actually saw them in the store and they felt super comfy, almost fleece like. I didn't get any, but I thought about them a lot. I decided to go back and get them the next day, and would you know what? Gone. All of them. Boo. But you can still get them here, and even better? They are on sale.

I actually got these a little bit ago. I don't know that I LOVE how high the waist is. I'm not a high waist lover except on pencil skirts, BUT I do love the polka dots and I thought they were so cheap, how could I pass up? Want them? Click here. I know you want polka dots too!

Last but not least, I have been in the market for new jeans. It has been a very very very long time since I have invested in nice pair of good fitting jeans that don't stretch. Part of it is weight changing constantly, and part of it just down right not wanting to put down the money on jeans that I can't wear if I get pregnant again (not anytime soon) or can't wear for quite a while after I have had a baby. I guess things were different 5 years ago when my body was exactly the same all the time for like...5 years and I got a lot of use out of expensive jeans without fear of wondering if they will fit next week. Well, I think I'm ready to take the plunge again. It's gonna be hard for me to do, but if I do, I think I'm gonna go for these ones HERE from J Crew Factory. I love the wash, and I love fit, the price? ehhhhhhhh, but I'll manage. But all in all, I'm just ready to wear jeans again that actually have structure to them as opposed to being painted to my legs.

Welp, hope you all enjoyed my latest favs. Do you have anything you have seen lately that you love? If you do, I would love to hear!

P.S. I am no longer at deaths door. I got a blessing from good ol' Scottifer at the peak of my sickness, and BAM! The next day I felt worlds better. It's amazing how that works.

should've got a flu shot...

Welcome to day 2 of my own personal hell. The Flu has taken over my body and I feel like I am dying from the inside out.

What started out Monday as a slight sore throat, has now developed into full blown walking death. Muscle aches, fever, chills, nausea, sore throat, bowling ball brain, stuffy nose, and black lung. I think my favorite thing is that it feels like someone took a steel pipe to the back of my head. Even lifting myself from my bed takes every bit of my energy, and no amount of dayquil (or nyquil-my personal favorite) is helping. It's so pitiful in fact, that sweet Scottifer had to help lift my limp body out of the bathtub today cause I couldn't even get to my feet.

I just got out of my 5th shower today. I am slightly concerned to see our water bill this upcoming month. All I do is lay there in the tub and try and soak in every single bit of heat. Right now I CANNOT be warm enough. Like ideally, I would like to just be laying in sauna or steam room right now. This is madness. I also feel like I haven't seen my baby girl in days. Between time at daycare, Ashley's house, Scott watching her while I sleep, and Ember taking her all day today while I slept(thanks heavens for Ember), I feel like everyone is helping raise my child but me. It is SO sad. I miss her, but I fear getting her sick.
Today my boss Courtney told me to skip work and get some rest. Bless your soul Courtney. I'm fairly certain that I would have passed out at my desk had I been there today. Ugh. Hopefully this day of bumming around will boost my body into sickness butt kicking overdrive.

And to make matters even worse? Over the last 2 days I have received more and more sponsor jewelry that I can do nothing with right now. Considering that no one and I mean NO ONE would want to see a picture of me right now, the only thing I can do is admire the beautiful jewelry and fantasize about wearing them...while looking cute...which sounds like a very distant goal.

Oh, and just in case you want perspective on how miserable I look/feel? Today before Scott left for work, I was laying sprawled out on the couch, pulling the toilet paper up both nostrils trick to combat my laziness of blowing my nose, and Scott turns to me and sweetly says, "You're so pretty....well not right now, but usually."

Aaaaaaand that's where we're at folks. Please pray for my speedy recovery.