Happy Friday Everyone!
One – Current Happenings
Happy Friday, friends! I hope you’re enjoying this time of year, especially before we get into the hectic days leading up to the holidays! Every fall, I try to take a few walks on nice days and I’ve gotten in 2 of my 3 walks so far! I hope to get the third walk in soon, because it is at a park I just adore! I’ve seen some interesting mushrooms and I even collected some brightly colored fall leaves.
Autumn is really into collecting rocks/crystals right now. It is a huge TikTok trend and she’s really into it. We have gone up to Main Street in St. Charles three times to visit some stores that carry a variety of crystals. It is such a cute street to stroll with decorations, coffee shops and all kinds of other shops and boutiques.
Autumn was a chicken for Halloween! Which is funny, because she is mostly vegetarian! But, her best dance friend was also the same exact chicken for Halloween, so they were a cute pair!
Nathan has wrapped up his second cross country season at school On his second to last race, he medaled at 15th place! He was so excited, because he has never medaled before!
Nathan loves gadgets and collects old phones and Apple devices. He ordered this old Apple phone and took it apart and displayed it on this neat board. So cool!
Nathan got to pick out his class ring! He has a cross country emblem on one side and a clarinet on the other side. He hasn’t ordered it yet, but this is what he designed online. He is really excited to get it!
Every fall and spring I love to go to the outlet malls! This is when I get most of my clothes. Last year when I went during the spring I didn’t find a ton and the stores were kind of bouncing back from Covid, but this fall I had a really good shopping trip and found a lot of great things! The photos above just show a few things I found, such as a cropped flannel button down from American Eagle and this ruffled burgundy dress I found at Express (I’ll definitely be wearing it for the holidays!).
There is this really cute farmhouse boutique store 5 minutes from our house and I hadn’t been in it since before Covid. I popped in right before Halloween and they had so many cute fall and holiday items. I have way too many candles! I came home with this Spirited Pumpkin candle, which is pumpkin spiced with aged bourbon. It smells SO good!
Two – Advent Calendars
Shop Advent Calendar:
I used to get just the kids their advent calendars, but the last few years I’ve been getting some for myself! The Glossybox Advent Calendar is such a GOOD beauty one with several full size products and lots of great brands. This will be my third year getting it and I can’t wait!
Shop Advent Calendars:
I’ve been really into making coffee at home on my SMEG Espresso Machine and so I decided to try out a highly rated (thousands of great reviews!) Yawn Coffee Advent Calendar! You can select how you want your grind (whole beans, french press grind, fine grind (filter) or espresso grind). They have a really fun Instagram page where they’ll post each day and you can share your opinion of the coffee in the comments along with everyone else that is doing it. They also have a Hot Cocoa Advent Calendar and a Tea Advent Calendar! The hot cocoa one has some REALLY neat flavors in it!
Three – Holiday Coffee
One thing I look forward to every holiday is Starbucks launching their new holiday drinks. I was really excited to try the iced sugar cookie latte with almond milk! It is so good! The almond milk gives it a nice nutty flavor, almost like the almond extract you’d add into holiday spritzer cookies! I added whip, because I didn’t want my sprinkles to get wet! Ha! Brian was so sweet and went to the store at 5:00 a.m. on their first day of the holiday drinks and got us all drinks before the kids had school. The kids usually get pink drinks and he had them add holiday sprinkles to the top of them.
I’ve been making myself at home lattes lately, so that I can control how much sugar goes into them. Lately I enjoy making an espresso on my SMEG espresso machine and I add 1 tablespoon of vanilla creamer and 1 tablespoon of pumpkin creamer. Then I whip/froth up 1/4 cup of almondmilk on my SMEG espresso machine and top my latte with a sprinkle of cacao powder on top. It is so good and has only 8 grams of sugar! I put it in my plastic Starbucks cup and it makes me ‘feel’ like I went to Starbucks!
Four – Latest Book & Shows
No books to report, but I’m slowly trying to finish my last summer read, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. Agh! I haven’t had much time at all to read lately!! I really need to finish this book!
And, as for shows…
We are watching The Morning Show and we’re really enjoying it so far! I love that Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston are in it. We are still on the first season and I believe there is two seasons total.
Five – Enter the $340 Cash for Christmas Giveaway (5 Winners!)!
Here are the prizes:
1 – $100 Gift Card
1 – $100 Gift Card
1 – $50 Gift Card
1 – $50 Gift Card
1 – $40 Gift Card
There will be 5 winners in this giveaway. Each winner will choose an e gift card of their choice and receive the code to use either at the online store or at the actual store of their choice.
The giveaway will end at 11:59 pm on November 24th on the day before Thanksgiving. You will have 48 hours to respond to the email claiming the prize. If you respond right away, we will get you the gift card code promptly so that you can shop with it on Black Friday! If we don’t hear in 48 hours, we will have to choose another winner.
Open to anyone who can receive e gift cards from major retailers.
I hope everyone has a nice and relaxing weekend!
