First off, Happy Veterans Day Weekend. Although this post focuses on the amazing Veterans Day sales, I don’t want that to outshine the true meaning and purpose of what this day/weekend is really about. I am so thankful to all who serve and have served and can’t imagine making the sacrifices that military members and their families make in order to benefit us all. Before I dive into the sales, I wanted to highlight a few businesses that are thanking our veterans and active members by offering them freebies, in case anyone who’s reading this happens to fall into one of those two categories: Dunkin Donuts, Chipotle, Chili’s, Applebee’s  Buffalo Wild Wings, Cracker Barrel, Friendly’s, Little Caesars, On the Border, & many more!

I was lucky enough to have a four day weekend this weekend so I have plenty of time to peruse the sales. One brand that I don’t see many bloggers cover is Forever 21 {this sort of frustrates me, anyone else feel the same?}. Although I don’t think I’ll be ordering anything from Forever this weekend I wanted to highlight some of my favorite picks because there really are so many good deals on the website. I recently ordered over 10 tops from Forever a few weekends ago {for under $90} when they were having a similar sale and luckily some of the things that I ordered are still available. For example, the top that I’m wearing in the picture is now on sale for $9 {It was $6 when I bought it but I would still highly recommend it for $9}.

Below I’ve broken the sale items down into a few different categories. I honestly struggle to shop the Forever 21 sale section because there’s about 70 pages of deals so I hope that by highlighting my favorites below it helps you a lot. All of these items are under $25 and most of them are under $10. The images are clickable and will take you right to that item. I love shopping for tops, going-out outfits, dresses/jumpsuits, and accessories during the Forever 21 sales. There were also many jeans and active wear items on sale but I don’t feel as comfortable recommending those because I haven’t tried them myself.

Picks from my recent order

Tops

Holiday Event Outfits

Accessories

I hope that you found this helpful and I’d love to hear what you bought from the sale if you end up buying anything! I may create a part two post if I have time today/tomorrow so be on the lookout for that!

 

 

These two ingredient bagels are about to change your life. If you’re obsessed with bagels like I am then this will be your new favorite recipe. I just learned about this life-changing recipe from one of my preceptors but I guess this recipe has been around for a while and it blew up with the Weight Watchers crowd because they’re only 3 points. Not only is this recipe healthy but it’s incredibly easy too. This was my first time making bagels and it was a success.

I’ve included the recipe & directions below along with some progress pictures if you keep scrolling. Keep in mind it’s very difficult to screw this recipe up so if you’re not exactly comfortable in the kitchen then this is a great recipe for you to start with. Also, the great thing about this recipe is there are so many different ways that you can make these bagels. You can make them gluten-free by using gluten-free flour and you can make different types of bagels like cinnamon raisin {2 tbsp raisins + 1/2 tsp cinnamon for every cup of yogurt/flour}, poppy-seed, sesame seed, french toast bagels {maple syrup, cinnamon, brown sugar}, and Asiago bagels.

Before you jump into the recipe here are some additional notes/tips. You can make your own self-rising flour using 1 cup all purpose flour + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp table salt {this makes 1 cup of self-rising flour}. Also, I used a pizza stone to cook one of my batches and those came out way better than the ones that I put on a baking sheet. They were more golden-brown instead of brown-brown. Last but not least, you can use parchment paper to line your baking sheet or a ton of spray-on olive oil!

If you have any questions please feel free to message me and if you do get around to making these delicious bagels feel free to give me feedback/tag me in your photos so I can see how they come out!

XOXO ~

Note: I do not take credit for the creation of this recipe.

I am a huge fan of handmade items and tassel earrings so I was ecstatic when one of my favorite New England instagrammers asked me if I would like to collaborate with her. I’ve had my eyes on these large, high-quality tassel earrings since Heather started posting about them on both her personal instagram and her shop’s instagram.

Heather of Mermaids & Madeleines and Heather Marie in the Making, is a very talented and sweet artisan. She sells her creations on Etsy and has the cutest instagram where she displays them as well. Her Etsy shop actually just relaunched this past week and I think it’s perfect timing with the holiday season approaching. I know a bunch of girlies who would love to rock her pieces.

One thing that really impresses me about these earrings {and I’m sure her bracelets follow suit} is the amazing quality and of course, her super cute packaging. The tassels are made with the softest thread, they don’t get tangled, and they hang to the perfect length. The silver fish hook that Heather uses to make these earrings is super high quality too {unlike those flimsy ones that a lot of other brands use and I used to use when I made jewelry as a kid}. Honestly, I think that every earring lover needs a pair of these.

Aside form Heather’s amazing tassel earrings she also sells unique handmade bracelets and the cutest hair ties {the hair ties would make amazing stocking stuffers}. I love that she calls her daintier bracelets “String Bikini Bracelets“. As a Mainer at heart, all of Heather’s work has a chic coastal touch to it.

Be sure to check out Heather’s site and use the code Sarah15 at checkout for 15% off. If you have any questions about Mermaids & Madeleine feel free to reach out to Heather or myself. Heather is super friendly & super sweet so I highly suggest following her on Instagram if you don’t already!