You’ve probably seen on Instagram or Facebook that we’ve been overseas in Britain and France for about two weeks now! We’ve been having such a fun time, just returning from a wine tour of the Bordeaux region, and moving into a few days in Paris to end our trip. Blog posts soon to come!
But for now, I’m so excited to share with you a few of my must-have items for travel. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to travel a lot – both domestically and overseas. Every experience has taught me new tips and tricks for travel, including what to bring (and what to leave at home!). Check out my must-have items below!
Does anyone else get incredibly dehydrated while traveling? Especially on long international flights, I’m so guilty of forgetting to drink water. This trip we’ve been dealing with really high heats and limited air conditioning, which is not a great combo! I love to bring my S’well bottle with me, because it’s sturdy and doesn’t leak. There is seriously nothing worse than a leaky water bottle in your bag, so that’s a big deal to me! These keep your water cold for a long time too, and I love that.
I love the Jewelry Snug case for travel! It rolls up and doesn’t take a lot of space, but I feel confident that any jewelry I take along will be safe. The inner compartment is great for earrings, because it keeps each pair separate. My very favorite part is the plastic “sheets” for bracelets and necklaces. Each sheet has two plastic sides that stick to each other, so not only do your items stay safe – necklaces and bracelets don’t get tangled during transport. Ain’t nobody got time to sit there and untangle knotted necklaces. Pure genius! The basic jewelry snug comes with two sheets, which for me is plenty, but you can also buy extra sheets if need be. I will seriously not travel without this!
I’m very selective in my perfume, and I’m not about to leave my favorite scents at home while I travel. But I also don’t want to take a big bottle that will take up room and/or be above the TSA limit if I’m only taking a carry-on. That’s why I love that Jo Malone sells small 1 oz perfume bottles are perfect for travel. Jo Malone is my favorite perfume brand, and Red Roses is my absolute favorite scent (I wore it for my wedding!). It’s so happy and smells like a literal rose garden. I get so many compliments every time I wear it!
It’s no secret that I love dresses, and that doesn’t change when I travel! But there is nothing worse than taking a wrinkled dress out of your suitcase. I recently discovered this travel steamer, and it works like a charm! On this trip I’ve used it on my dresses, but also on a lot of Charlotte’s clothes that got wrinkled. It’s so quick and easy to use which is a definite plus. It’s just big enough that it might be tricky if you’re only using a carry-on, but it’s been a life-saver on this trip!
Congratulations to Chelsey Hall who has won the 17 oz. S’well water bottle of your choice! Please email me at kirsten.bell@thiscelebratedlife.com to claim your prize.
Didn’t win this time? Subscribe here for a chance at next month’s prize!
Did you catch My Favorite Things: Rose Edition? You can check it out here!
This is the first post in my Favorite Things blog series, and I’m so excited to expand the blog and start introducing some new content! As a thank you to those of you who are following along on this journey with me, I’m giving away one featured product every month to a lucky subscriber. The winner is announced at the bottom of the post – make sure to check if it’s you!
If you know me or have been following the blog for a while, you know that I love all things roses! They’re such a beautiful flower, and their scent is so light and fresh. Every once in a while I come across a rose scented product that smells old and stuffy, which is such a shame! I much prefer my products to smell like the actual flower from a garden. If you have this same preference then you will love every product on this list!
Rose Sugar Scrub
I love how this sugar scrub makes my skin feel. After just using it once my skin felt so soft, exfoliated and refreshed. After a few uses I started to feel a really noticeable difference! It’s especially great to use before I shave my legs. I also really love how it smells. The scrub of course smells like roses, but it also has a warm vanilla scent to it, which I didn’t expect and really enjoy! After using this sugar scrub I could still smell just a hint of it on my skin, which was perfect. It’s not too much to interfere with any perfume I might be wearing, but I still like that there’s a little scent left.
Rose Candle
I have a really hard time finding rose scented candles that I like, because a lot of them are way too strong for me! This candle smells like fresh roses and clean laundry. It’s such a clean and light scent, and even my husband likes it! I’m also really particular about my candles – they have to be made from good wax and have cotton wicks for me to feel comfortable burning them in my home, and I love that Rude Candle Company makes safe candles. This candle is a collaboration between Rude Candle Company and Kay & Edna, and it was literally just released! So excuse me while I go buy 10 of them.
Rose Himalayan Salt Mineral Bath Soak
I love a hot, relaxing bath. If I’ve had a long or stressful day it’s my favorite way to unwind. We love bath salts in our family, because they’re an amazing way to de-stress, and also a great way to soak up some extra minerals! I’ve been trying a few different scented salts, and this one is by far my favorite! It’s moderately scented, so while it smells nice in the water, the entire house doesn’t smell like my bath when I’m done. My husband is especially thankful for that haha! I also love that there are dried rose petals in the salts, which re-hydrate when they’re added to the water and add to the bath time ambiance!
Congratulations to Michelle Crowell who has won the rose sugar scrub AND your choice of the candle or bath soak! Please email me at kirsten.bell@thiscelebratedlife.com to claim your prize.
Didn’t win this time? Subscribe here for a chance at next month’s prize!
I launched This Celebrated Life just over six months ago, and wow – I have learned so much about blogging, baking and also myself! I’m having such a great time with it, and I can’t thank you all enough for your support. Every time I see someone subscribe, it literally gives me a thrill of excitement. Because to me, that’s a true indication that I’m doing a good job!
As hinted in the title of this post, you’re going to start seeing a few changes on the blog in the coming months. I wanted to write this post to provide a little update on where This Celebrated Life is headed!
What You Can Expect in Future Posts
When I first launched This Celebrated Life, I started by focusing primarily on baking. It’s always been a love of mine, and I feel incredibly comfortable in the kitchen, so it seemed like a natural beginning. I now feel that the baking portion is solid, so I’m ready to launch the blog fully – meaning future posts will feature a compilation of baking, entertaining, travel and general lifestyle content. I’m so excited about this, because I have so many great things I’ve wanted to share with you, and now I feel like the blog is in a place where I can do that! You will definitely still see a lot of recipes though, never fear!
I’ve mentioned on my Instagram a new series that I’m very excited about, which is called Favorite Things. This will be a monthly series where I’ll showcase my favorite products. Each month will have a different theme, starting with my favorite rose scented products which will go live next week! The best part is, email subscribers will automatically be entered for a chance to win one of the featured products each month! I know you all will love these things as much as I do, and I really can’t wait to share them all with you!
Sponsored Posts
Now this is the part I really want to communicate! I’ve reached a point now in my blogging journey where companies have started reaching out to sponsor posts. I feel very fortunate, because this means more opportunities for the blog, my readers, and myself. But here is the truly important part: I have already turned down offers, because the products weren’t products I would actually use. Your trust, and my integrity are SO important to me, I can’t emphasize it enough. You will only see sponsored posts on my social media or This Celebrated Life if I personally love the product. I would never, ever write something I didn’t truly believe.
Thank you!
This Celebrated Life is still new, and boy do I still have a lot to learn. Something tells me I’ll always be learning! But I’m so happy with where the blog is now, and so excited about its future. Thank you so much for your support – I can’t wait to see where this journey takes us!
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Right now I’m sitting at the table drinking a big cup of coffee, and Charlotte is taking a long nap. Charlotte and I flew home yesterday after spending four really fun days in California! My husband is working down there at the moment, so while it was a bit nerve wracking to fly alone with a baby, it was really nice to see him for a few days.
I didn’t originally plan to write a post about our trip, but this morning I kept re-visiting what went well, what I would change, etc. So I decided while I’m clearly not a seasoned expert on traveling with a baby, maybe what I share can benefit someone else preparing to embark on an adventure with a little one!
Raise Expectations
As I prepared for our trip, I was mentally preparing myself to go on It’s A Small World for two days straight. I had literally no idea how Charlotte would take it, and if even just being in the park would be an overload for her. She’s a really easygoing baby, but you just never know! To my delight, she did WAY better than I thought! She didn’t seem overwhelmed by the crowds or noises, and instead seemed to really love taking it all in! The second ride we went on was the Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin. I didn’t know that it was so jerky, and that there were so many flashing lights and huge loud bangs. During one especially intense moment, I felt her body shaking and I thought oh no, she’s melting down. When I looked down at her, she was laughing! That was maybe one of my favorite moments of the whole trip – realizing that of course she’s still a baby, but she was doing just fine.
Lower Expectations
Ok, so I just said above to raise expectations. Let me explain what I mean. There are all sorts of different travelers and travel “styles” if you will. Some people go on vacation and they want to vacation with sleeping late and ordering room service. Some people have an itinerary planned out to the half hour and when it doesn’t go according to plan freak out. I’ve always tended to be somewhere in the middle – I like to accomplish as much as possible, but still want to be somewhat relaxed and go with the flow. Traveling with Charlotte though, I realized pretty quickly that I needed to take it another big step back. Even as my fingers were itching to make a tentative ride plan, I had to cool it and follow Charlotte’s cues. Sometimes we would arrive at a ride, only to realize she had fallen asleep on the way there. Or when we realized that she was really dying to just move around, so we found a grassy spot at the hotel and let her play for little while (that’s the picture above). Luckily I was traveling with really understanding people, and instead of trying to check rides off the list I just really enjoyed the ones we did get to experience! I was also able to really have fun just being at the park with my little family, and even in minor stressful moments (like when Charlotte’s diaper was at a bad angle and she peed on me – real life, people), I never lost perspective of just how lucky we were to be there.
Ask For Help
Ok, this one really applies mostly to traveling alone with baby, and I should preface by saying I hate asking for help in general. I’m so lucky to stay home with Charlotte, and whether I’m going to a tax appointment or business meeting for the blog, she’s right there with me! So in my mind I thought, if I can occupy her on my lap for a two hour meeting, a flight will be ok! Well, kind of. She actually was a great flier, but there were definitely moments where I thought Kirsten, was this the best idea? Like when I had to go to the bathroom on the plane. As I made my way up the aisle, eyes set on that teeny tiny toilet door, I thought I have literally no idea how I’m going to do this. When I got there, a flight attendant was nearby doing paperwork, and I actually asked her if she wouldn’t mind holding Charlotte for a minute. I was expecting her to begrudgingly agree, but to my surprise she was thrilled and told me it’s her favorite part of having babies on the plane! So Charlotte got a few minutes of peek-a-boo with someone new and exciting (I could hear her laughing on the other side of that thin plastic door), and I didn’t have to figure out mommy-baby Tetris fitting us into that minuscule room. That was a big learning moment for me – that people see you’re traveling alone and doing the best you can, and most people are more than willing to help.
That’s about it! Not rocket science, but just a few observations. We have a big trip to Britain and France coming up this summer – luckily with my husband traveling with us! This short trip to California has really helped me begin to re-calibrate expectations, and better envision how we will all have a super fun and memorable trip like this one.
Have you traveled with kids and learned something new? I’d love to hear about your experience (and tips!) in the comments below!
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