I know it's been a while since I last wrote you a letter, and quite a lot has changed since then. I have
grown up and am attempting to represent an adult, although I'm not very sure how well I'm doing.

You must have heard that I am ending school in a few months too, can you believe it Santa? The last time I sent you a letter I was still visiting primary school. How time flies, huh? I'm not 10 years old anymore, I am 18, nearing the 19 with each day passing by. My sister has moved two years ago, so all the sibling fights are history now, and our bond has grown big. I wouldn't know where I was without her, even though we are no twins, it kind of feels like she's my second half, haha. In case you forgot what we look like here's a little photo of me and my sister:



I hope I'm still on your good list and haven't made my way onto your naughty list. Though, I must be honest with you Santa, I haven't been good every day this year. I haven't done illegal or bad things, but I might have not been as nice to specific people like I should have been. But I wouldn't consider me as bad by all means, so I hope you think so too. If not I might be able to tell you some kind things I have done this year.

I have offered several people on the street my help, if they looked like the needed a hand. I made my mum really happy with her birthday present, as I will make one of her biggest dreams come true next year. But my biggest achievement this year was participating in a project called "72 hours without compromise", where I helped to sell really nice paintings from homeless men, half of the income went straight to the artist. Isn't that amazing Santa? I am so happy that I could help those people and they were all so thankful. I guess from time to time we all need that little reminder that everything we own should never be taken for granted because it all can disappear quicker than one might imagine.

You might be wondering what I have been up to the past years, well I have started this online blog, which is called " The Goodway". On this platform I have been sharing all things I'm passionate about and have improved one of my hobbies: photography. I'm trying my best to only upload positive things and get people from all around the world to relax whilst reading my posts.

So Santa, my main wish for this Christmas is for you to just help me grow this blog even more, as I would love to make it my career one day. I love blogging and I love the concept of it and you can make people happy, so what's wrong about that? Anyways, back to what I initially said, that's all I'm really asking for this year but it would be nice if you could make sure that everyone of my family and friends stays healthy and happy, that would mean a lot to me.

I hope you are alright and that you're not in too much of a stress situation, but I guess you know how to do your thing, right?

Thank you Santa, until next time

Mary going offline xx

Hello my shining stars,

and welcome to Blogmas day ❅16❅! *Christmas song playing in the background*
I hope your week has been nothing else than good and that all you are doing really well! Can you believe how close Christmas is by now? It's crazy how quick a week is gone! Anyways, just grab yourself a hot chocolate, get all cosy and keep on reading!

We all love to dress up and glam up, even on Christmas day. Now Christmas parties are already a great occasion to do so but on Christmas day you want to look nice too, don't you? If you're anything like me than I know you will love this bold Christmas makeup which is perfect for celebrating
Christmas with your loved ones!

Gold Smoky Eye & Red Lip

Base:

To even out my skin tone I used my Urban Decay All Nighter Liquid Foundation and blended that in with the usual damp beauty blender. Due to our excitement for Christmas we didn't get enough sleep, so to hide those nasty dark circles I used my Maybelline Fit Me Concealer and, again, blended that in with my beauty blender. We want to make sure that our beautiful base lasts all day so to set everything into place I took my Maybelline Matte Maker Powder, but mainly concentrated it underneath my eyes as the foundation itself dries down to matte finish anyways.

I need a bit of structure to my face so to contour it will be no surprise to you that I used my Sleek Contour Kit in Light and just snatched my face! A red lip can really wash you out so to give me some colour back I used my Clarins Duo Bronzer in Light. For blusher and highlighter I took my Mac Nutcracker Sweet Peach Face Compact and drowned myself in highlighter, cause Mary loves herself a good glow!

Brows:

To fill in any gaps and to give my eyebrows a bit more structure I took my Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Soft Brown and set them into place with some hairspray on a spooly (I love the fact that this is an actual name!).

Eyes:

We want to make sure that our eyeshadows last all day long so to prime my eyes I used my usual Urban Decay Primer Potion. I worked with two of my favourite palettes, the Urban Decay Smoky Palette and the Collection Little Mix Love Palette. I started with the shade Thirteen form the UD Smoky palette to set the primer into place and to make sure that all of the shades I add will blend better. For our initial transition colour I took Combust and blended that threw my crease.

For an all over the lid shade I took Dirty Sweet and to lighten that up a bit I used Golden Sand - Collection on the last third of my eye lid. To deepen the whole look I used a mixture of Radar - UD Smoky and Dazzling brown and Cocoa Dream - Collection palette on the outer corners of my eyes. For the lower lashline I used the same brown shades and buffed them underneath my lower lashes.

Creating a fine line of liquid liner with my L'Oreal Super Liner and adding lots of my new favourite Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara to top and bottom lashes.

Lips:

Lastly for lips, to outline them first I just took a Real Techniques Lip Brush and my Clinique Passion Pop Lipstick and afterwards filled in the rest of my lips with the actual bullet of the lipstick. You can definitely make the lip matte by laying a piece of tissue over your lips and dusting some translucent powder over the top!

Quite the model, ain't I? Trying hard... *laughing out loud* is that still a thing though?

I'm in love with this look!

That's it for my bold Christmas makeup look, I hope you enjoyed it, if you did then please share this post over on your social medias! Liked what you read? Then make sure to subscribe and follow my blog on Bloglovin' to keep updated with it! If you recreate this look or just take any inspiration of it make sure snap a photo and to tag me when you post it on any social media, I'd love to them all!

What's your favourite Christmas red lipstick?

Mary tobogganing offline xx

Hello my shining stars,

and welcome to Blogmas day ❅15❅! *Christmas song playing in the background* I hope all of you are doing really really well and that you're having a good time! Without rambling too much today, just grab yourself a hot chocolate, get all cosy and keep on reading today's post!

In all these Santa Clause Christmas movies, they show us how Santa drinks a really nice hot chocolate and some sort of food. Now I have shared my Ultimate Christmas Hot Chocolate recipe last year during Blogmas, so I thought why not try to make a Santa inspired porridge? I'm pretty much positive that all of us have at least a picture in mind of how this porridge would look like if it was Santa's, so I have tried my best in creating something that tastes just like Christmas, I hope you enjoy!





I know that so many people think that porridge is bland and doesn't taste of anything, but honestly it just depends on how you make it and what spices you use. You can make porridge that blows everyone's mind and tastes amazing, and for me this is it! Don't be afraid of experimenting with flavours, ingredients and spices they make it all the better!

And that's how I imagine Santa's porridge would be served and taste! I hope you enjoyed it, if you did then please share this recipe over on your social media's. If you recreate it then make sure to post a photo if it and to tag me in it, I'd love to see all of you amazing photos! Also don't forget to follow my blog on Bloglovin' and to subscribe here, that way you never miss a post of mine!

Do you like porridge? If so what ingredients do you use?

Mary tobogganing offline xx 

Hello my shining stars,

and welcome to Blogmas day❅14❅! *Christmas song playing in the background* 
It's officially only 10 days until Christmas Eve, whoop whoop! I can't actually believe how quick Blogmas is passing by and i still want to do so many amazing things! I hope the lot of you are enjoying the festive content that I have shared over the last two weeks and that you are looking forward to the still upcoming Christmasy goodies! But without further ado, grab yourself a hot chocolate, get all cosy and keep on reading!

You know, it wouldn;t be proper pre-Christmas time if you didn't drink at least one cup of punch. Punch and mulled wine are the most popular and super warming and festive drinks, which you can find during this time of year. I specifically love to have one with my friends whilst strolling around a Christmas market, doesn't that sound inviting? Well I think it does so I wanted to create a recipe so that way you can enjoy one festive drink yourself without having to break the bank (let's be honest, those at the Christmas markets cost a fortune!).



This apricot and cranberry punch is particularly warming due to the spices I used. Nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves are very warming spices so they are a great natural warming resource! It's also not as tremendously sweet as the one's you can buy as it's only sweetened with maple syrup, but that's what I love about it so much!


Can we just take a moment to appreciate this adorable mug? I love Starbucks's Christmas mugs, they just do all the Christmas things so right!

That's it for this recipe! I do hope you enjoyed it and that you'll love it just as much as I do! If you do recreate it then please make sure to post a photo of it and to tag me on all the social media's (I'm everywhere, literally, except Facebook!), I'd love to see them! Also make sure you're subscribed to my blog and to follow it on Bloglovin' so you never miss a post from me!

What's your favourite type of punch? 

Mary tobogganing offline xx

Hello my shining stars,

and welcome to Blogmas Day ❅13❅! *Christmas song playing in the background* I hope that all of you are doing really well and that you're as excited about Blogmas just as much as I am! But let me stop rambling now, grab yourself a hot chocolate, get all cosy and keep on reading.

During winter time when it gets all cold outside, not just our wardrobe or makeup staples change, but also our skin. No matter what skin type you are, your skin is naturally prone to get drier threw out the colder months, that's a fact. And so I have decided to share my staple skincare items which I gravitate towards the most during this time of year when I feel like my skin needs that little extra kick of moisture!

1. Avene Cold Creme

This is my new favourite moisturiser for when I have really dry patches on my skin! I don't use this every day as it's quite heavy and really thick in consistency. But seriously, if you have super dry skin or get these very irritating dry patches on your skin then try this one out!

2. Malin + Goetz Lip Moisturiser

I know, I know! The name is weird and I still don't know what it means after all these years of using one of their products. But I'm not gonna question the name of the brand if the product itself is good. And trust me, this lip moisturiser is the bomb! It's not necessarily one of your box standard lip balms, it's more of a cream texture which feels so hydrating and it doesn't leave this weird bit of residue on my lips after the night!

3. Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment With Avocado

An oldie but a goodie for sure! You must be sick of me mentioning this all the time, as I have talked about this eye cream around a million times on my blog already. But for very good reason, it's so creamy and hydrating that nothing else beats this for me! No matter which eye cream I use, I always find myself comparing it to the Kiehl's one and no other is better than this. With its avocado enriched formular it makes the texture of it even creamier!

4. Origins Clean Energy 

I haven't talked baout this on my blog yet, which is crazy if you have a look at the amount I have already used of this! Origins never seem to fail me and I love their whole concept of creating natural and plant based skincare which is super high quality but reasonably priced for the things they do. This makeup removing oil was no exception and only made my love grow bigger to them! It doesn't just remove your makeup beautifully and super easy it also leaves your skin feeling so soft that it feels brand new! Definitely one to try out yourself during this time of year, even for the oily skin types as it doesn't leave an oily film on your skin whatsoever!

5. Lush Santa's Lip Scrub 

A staple of mine but one I barely talk about. I don't think I have ever mentioned any sort of lip scrub on my blog yet. But they are so important, especially to me, as my lips crack during horribly the colder months! I'm talking about actual skin peeling off every day! So a scrub is a great way of getting rid of the dead skin on your lips just like a standard facial peeling would do. If you have dry lips yourself then I highly recommend you look into trying this out from Lush, because they smell lush too!

There are two more skincare items that I want to mention, though I don't have them on me at the moment! The Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask is one of my absolute favourite masks of all time. I have tried it and loved it for a very long time now and I'm definitely always going back to it if I need a pick me up for my skin. The second one I want to talk about is the Daytox Hydrating H Serum, I haven't tried it yet but I really want to! It felt amazing when I tried it on the back of my hand!


And that's it for my top skincare saviours which I like to crack out during the winter time. I do hope that I could help if you were in need of something specific or that you just enjoyed reading this post. Which ever it was let me know in the comments down below and also whilst your at it why don't tell me what your skincare saviours are? I would love to know and try out something new as well!

Mary tobogganing offline xx

Hello my shining stars,

and welcome to Blogmas Day ❅12❅! *Christmas song playing in the background* Wow, it's officially half term until Christmas Eve! How time flies by! I do hope that all of you are enjoying Blogmas and Christmas time, of course, I most definitely am. I'm so happy and all bubbly (I think my Mum's getting annoyed with me by now, haha ...) because of the festive spirit, I can't even! Anyways, let me stop rambling, grab yourself a hot chocolate, get all cosy and keep on reading!

At the end of a year it's always nice to sit down for a moment and think of the things you have accomplished, reached goals you wanted to and what you actually got up to in that very year. Due to that I thought it would be nice to share these things of my year with you guys today. In addition to that I will also kind of go through my new year's resolutions with you, I have done an update on them in September but I just think it would be nice for you, and me, to have an end result of what I have achieved and what I still have to work on.
So, shall we have a little reflection on Mary's 2016?

Achievements:

• Healthy Eating

I always wanted to be one of those really healthy people, I'm talking about the ones that never lay an eye on chocolate, ever. Well, I'm not necessarily eating absolutely no sweets at all, but I have been eating so much healthier this year and I couldn't be happier with it at the very moment! I have also gained a lot more knowledge of eating healthy and what's good for you, and that you don't have to cut things like chocolate out of your diet completely. So this was, and still is a BIG achievement for me! YES!

• Keeping up with my blog

This blog is my favourite thing ever! If there was only one thing I could keep of entertaining stuff, I would 100% choose my blog. I am so proud of this small platform on the Internet, which I can call my own, and I'm so happy to have gained so many interested readers, yep I'm talking about you, you who's currently reading this! Thank you for being such a big part of my 2016, because you are the ones who keep this blog going and alive!

Even though I have already done a lot of changes on my blog this year, I'm already planning some very very exciting things for next year! But changes are good, aren't they?

• Travel more

YES! I travelled more this year! I finally got to visit one of the cities that is on my "Travel To" list, Prague! It was such an amazing experience and I got to travel there with my mum, so we got to hang out more together. I've also been to Málaga, Spain, this September with my school. Honestly it was a great trip and nobody will ever be able to take the memories I created there but Spain is not for me. I'm just not the hot-weather-all-year-please kinda girl. There might be one more trip planned for this year, though I'm not too sure if it will be possible but I'm hoping it will!

• Photography 

I really think it's save to say that I have improved my photography skills this year! Remember when I told you how much I loved taking photos? Well nothing has changed about that, and I'm positive that by the amount of photos on my laptop are proof of that! I haven't been to a photography class yet though, but as for now don't think I even need one, I'll just keep trying it myself!

Still In Progress:

My YouTube channel... I know I said that this year was going to be the year but there's still that one annoying things that's holding me back. BUT, I've got good news! This annoying problem is going to be fixed this December! Yeaaaaay, so let's pray for my first video still going up this year!



And that's it for my looking back on 2016, I think I did pretty well if I say so myself!

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you did then please make sure to share it over on your social media's and to follow my blog so you won't miss out on all the still upcoming Christmasy goodness and my posts in the new year! Got a blog of your own? Leave it in the comments down below so I can check it out!

How has your 2016 been? Let me know in the comments down below, I would love to read your stories!

Mary tobogganing offline xx 

Hello my shining stars,

and welcome to Blogmas Day ❅11❅! *Christmas song playing in the background* I do hope that all of you are enjoying the pre-Christmas time as much as I am and that you are enjoying Blogmas so far! I'm so happy that I decided to do Blogmas this year, because I'm super excited to share all of the posts I have prepared for you! But without further ado, grab yourself a hot chocolate, get all cosy and keep on reading!

Christmas time isn't Christmas time without watching Christmas movies like a million times! There are so many Christmas movies out there and all of them are without a doubt classic, cult and absolutely amazing. But there are a few that I specifically like which I'm going to share with you today!

The Santa Clause 1,2 & 3

Somehow he finds himself killing Santa a week before Christmas. Next day he wakes up as Santa himself and needs to face all the goodies and badies that come with the Santa life, it's not all sparkly and filled with hot chocolates in front of an open fire. He needs to rescue Christmas and together with his son he's going to have a journey full of love, joy and fun.


OMG! I LOVE "The Santa Clause" so much! I used to go crazy about these movies when I was a kid, not gonna lie I still do now... *chuckle* It's just such a cute story and who doesn't love a good happy ending? Definitely give these a watch if you haven't already as they are some of the cult and classic Christmas movies out there!

Elf

Do I even need to say anything about this? I'm pretty sure that everyone knows and loves "Elf" just as much as I do!

He's like the cutest little big baby (if that makes any sense at all, haha) who's searching for his father "Father Christmas". The only downside? He has to find him in the real world where so many people are dressed like Father Christmas, especially during this time of year!

A MUST for everyone!

The Holiday

Desperate to escape all the men and drama in their life, two women decide to swap their houses during Christmas time.

One heartbroken and crying over a man who never loved her back living on the countryside in England, the other cheated by her husband and not able to shed a single tear living in LA, California.

They couldn't be any more different. But both will soon see themselves faced with all the love and Christmas spirit.


Who doesn't love a witty romance? I love this movie! It's the first one I watch as soon as we write December! So if you haven't watched it already then I highly recommend you do!

Home Alone & Home Alone 2

Classic, cult and everyone's favourite! Left at home by accident, Kevin couldn't be happier. He can eat what he wants, play as long as he wants, turn up the music as loud as he wants and doesn't have to go to bed when he's told too. Two burglars make the most of the Holiday season and steal as many goods as they can find, Kevin's house will soon be under attack too. What they don't know is that Kevin is prepared and has some good comebacks coming their way.

I love it, you love it, my mum loves it, your grandparents love it, we all love it!

Deck The Halls

New neighbors are never a real pleasure. But when they try to compete everyone in their Christmas decoration, then it's getting dirty.

I don't want to give too much away, as the story line can be told in 5 sentences. Though I'm pretty sure that all of you know it anyways, but if you happen to not know it, well then hurry and give it a watch. One of the funniest movies ever produced!

Love Actually

Love in every corner. New love. Old love. Died love. Finding love. Love in every shape and that all during Christmas time. This can only mean something good!

A classic one and, again, a favourite of a lot of people, including me! But if you do count to the people who haven't seen it yet, then now is your time to jump on the bandwagon!

Jingle All The Way

A dad who's on the hunt for the ONE present his child so desperately wants? Well that's going to be a funny, long and difficult task to achieve. And turning into the toy itself doesn't make things easier then they are.


A Christmas movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger? Uhm, yes please!

A Christmas Carol

It couldn't get any more classic than that! The old and cult story of "A Christmas Carol" in its most beautiful state. This is a must for everyone out there, no matter how old you are, you're never too old for this!

Ice Sculpture Christmas

This is a fairly new movie and I only took notice of it by Netflix. Ah, good old Netflix what would I do without you during Christmas time?

A young woman is desperate to live her dream, her father meanwhile wants to make his wife, who sadly died a few years ago, dream become reality. Both of them working hard together and meeting an old friend along the way, they might be able to achieve their goals.

This just one of the cutest movies I have ever seen in my life! I plead you to watch this movie, please give it a go, I guarantee you won't be disappointed!










Which Christmas movies are you going to watch non-stop this season? Let me know in the comments down below, I'd love to watch some of your recommendations! Also don't forget to follow my blog so you don't miss out on the still upcoming additions to Blogmas!

Mary tobogganing offline xx