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I am going to put two posts in one here, since I meant to have my Thanksgiving recap up earlier this week…but that clearly didn’t happen. And I love to link up with my girl Kristen with a What’s New With You.

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are speeding right into Christmas! It was really nice to have some time off to spend with family. I had set out to get a lot done around the house, but that didn’t quite happen. I did get some more things unpacked, and painted Zoe’s playroom.

One of our niece’s took this picture. How incredible is this???

We got to spend a lot of time with Chris’s family. Our nieces were in town, and Zoe was really excited to see them. We went bowling with them on Wednesday, spent the day at his parents house Thursday for the usual Thanksgiving festivities, and were back over there Saturday for the Iron Bowl. I still cant talk about that game.

I also got to go shopping with my mom for awhile on Friday. We didn’t go out all day like we have in the past, but got to hit up a few stores and have a fabulous late lunch at Ferus. Zoe was with us, and was a champ the whole time. She really loves shopping and eating out, so it wasn’t hard to keep her happy. My mom came back over to the house after to help me build a desk and shelf. Neither one was successful. I HATE buying furniture you have to assemble. It is the worst.

Sunday, Zoe and I did our grocery shopping at Aldi and ran some errands to Home Depot and Target. I unpacked boxes while she napped, and when she woke up, my sister came over to hang out with her for awhile so that I could paint the playroom. I was at it until 8pm, and so over it! I got two coats up on most of the walls, but ran out of paint and said screw it. I am leaving two of the slant walls with one coat. The lighting in there isn’t all that great anyways, maybe no one will notice. Except me. I know. I still need to paint my office, and I would really like to paint the dining room and half bath….but I think I am going to take a break for awhile! My hands are covered in blisters and I think I have inhaled enough paint fumes for the time being.

We started Elf on a Shelf this year. We introduced him with a welcome breakfast of waffles, eggs and bacon…Zoe’s favorite! I am not going crazy with him, he is just doing silly little things around the house each night. Occasionally he brings her a little present or candy cane or something.

Zoe’s birthday was yesterday. I can’t believe she is 3!!!! She got a special mermaid donut before school, I sent her with brownies and cookies to share with her friends during snack time, and she came home to a stack of presents to open. Even the Elf had brought her a new pair of boots. I hope she had a good day! We will have her birthday party on Sunday. It is all she has talked about for the last month, so I know she is excited!

This weekend, I am hoping to unpack enough boxes to make room for my car in the garage. I do not like parking outside. My windows ice over, and Zoe is terrified of the dark and hates getting out of the car in the drive way at night. It’s so weird to see her afraid of the dark all of a sudden. I know it is common at this age, but you wonder what has changed that makes them afraid?

It has been fun seeing rooms come together in the new house. Our living room is mostly set. I really hope to get our Christmas tree up in the next few days! It is really late for me this year. I need to pick up a few more things to finish off the half bath on the main floor, and we need to move the furniture in our dining room so that everything is in order for the party! I like that we have a deadline to get things done, but it has been a little stressful. Not going to lie!

This year, we have a lot to be thankful for. Our wonderful kid, health, jobs, and the new roof over our heads. I have been dropping hints on Instastories the last week, but I can officially say on here that we have moved!!! It has been the craziest, most stressful two months ever. It has been a fight on both sides, but it is finally done. I say it was worth it, and we are moved in to our beautiful new home!

This past week we have been moving, cleaning, unboxing, cleaning some more. We have had contractors in our house every day since move in day, ripping up floors, installing new floors, painting, having new furniture delivered. We are slowly getting things set up! And a major plus, I have enjoyed my shorter commute!!!! As I was leaving the daycare last night, my apple watch told me it would be 32 minutes to get home. I was like HAHAHAHA NOPE!!!!! NOT ANYMORE! It takes me exactly 13 minutes to get from my driveway to the daycare parking lot.

Zoe is super excited about her new bedroom, playroom and our awesome piece of land! She was literally just running around this past weekend because she could! I can see many happy memories being made here.

I am usually very into Black Friday with my mom, but with the move this past week, I will probably be keeping it low key. I have been painting the upstairs myself, and still have Zoe’s playroom to do. So probably hitting that up this weekend. We stay in town and spend Thanksgiving with Chris’s family. Plus, I still have to finish planning Zoe’s birthday party! And I am going to try to channel Sierra, and do a Welcome Breakfast for Zoe’s elf this weekend!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!! May the odds be ever in your favor if you plan to shop Black Friday!

I read some really good ones this month, so let’s jump in! Linking up with Steph and Jana.

The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker

Straight away, this book starts off with characters I could relate to. There are many women in the book who are having to play along with the boys club mentality at work. They have to think before they speak to drop the “likes” and square their shoulders to seem more confident. They are trying to balance their careers with their time they spend with their children. The main women aren’t always the most likable, but that didn’t take away from the book. They are more realistic I suppose.

I really liked the structure of the book. It started out with “If only you had listened to us, none of this would have happened.” The book moves between when it all started, interviews with witnesses and suspects,
deposition transcripts, etc.

Bottom Line: Read it! This sort of reminds me of Big Little Lies.

When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger

I didn’t know this was in the same series as Devil Wears Prada until I saw the top of the cover before I started. I felt like Emily was a strong enough character to have her own book, so that was exciting! I really enjoyed this one. Sort of a novel about second chances for all three of our leading characters. I enjoyed each of the three leading ladies, and was very interested to keep reading to find out how it would all go down.

Bottom Line: Read it! This is a great Chic Lit palette cleanser, and you don’t have to read any of the books in the series to enjoy this one, could definitely be a stand alone.

Midnight Clear by Mary Kay Andrews (Callahan Garrity Mystery #7)

I am still really enjoying this series. To refresh, it follows an ex-cop turned owner of a cleaning business (House Mouse) who does a little PI work on the side. In this book, we meet her younger brother, Brian, who shows up after ten years of not hearing from him. He has a three year old daughter, and his wife turns up murdered shortly after his arrival.

Bottom Line: A very good “cozy mystery” series, definitely one you should check out if you are in to that sort of thing. There is only one more book to go for me, I hope that she continues to write more!

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

This book was so cute! I absolutely loved Stella and Michael. I laughed and smiled and just really enjoyed this entire book. Stella has Asperger’s, and it really added a unique spin to the book. It was deeper than your normal romcom and addressed issues around not wanting to be labeled a certain way. We saw Stella working through her anxiety and issues due to Asperger’s. And Michael had his own issues he was trying to overcome as well. I was really sad when this book ended, I miss the characters.

Bottom Line: Read it! Probably my favorite romcom read of the year so far.

Truth or Beard by Penny Reid

I have had this forever, and was so excited to read it after hearing Kristen and Heather gush about it. I absolutely loved Duane, he may be one of my favorite lead male characters. I had a hard time relating to Jessica because she has wanderlust and I do not. At all. I love to have somewhere to call home and feel settled. I am a homebody. I enjoyed the canter back and forth, and LOL’d several times throughout the book. Really, all the Winston brothers were fabulous. I cant wait to read the rest of the series.

Bottom Line: If romance is your thing, read it!!!IB

Little Bitty Lies by Mary Kay Andrews

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Mary Kay Andrews. (As shown from the series above!) She is usually a solid read for me. I don’t know what it was about this one though, I just didn’t care for it. In fact, I quit about a quarter of the way in. It was just dumb, I didn’t like any of the characters.

Bottom Line: Pass

How to Keep a Secret by Sarah Morgan

This book is all about secrets, and the fallout when they are revealed. It follows three generations of women from the same family. We get to hear from each of the four perspectives, which I really liked. It was easy enough to follow along with the shift from each character, and I felt like you got to know them better. Each had their own secrets and issues they were dealing with. I liked how the secrets were revealed one at a time, it kept you wanting to know more then entire book.

Bottom Line: You have secrets, family drama, teen angst, infertility, tragedy, love. You get it all! Read it!

Currently Reading

His Royal Highness by RS Grey

Linking up with Kristin for What’s New With You.

Reading – How to Keep a Secret by Sarah Morgan – Really enjoying this one!

Listening – I have really been enjoying the Coffee + Crumbs podcast lately!

Wearing – I love that animal print is a “trend” this season, because to me, it is a staple neutral anytime of year. Always. A lot of you commented that you liked my leopard cardigan I wore last Saturday, so I thought I would share where I got it. It came from Kohls, and it is on sale AND there is an additional 15% off ( the code is: SAVE15) coupon right now!! Get it here.

I love how it fits, and the feel of it. It is true to size, I am wearing a large. It will definitely be on major replay all fall/winter long!

I also got this one, and I am waiting until it gets a little cooler to wear it since it is heavier. It is SO soft and SOOOOO cute on!!!! I really like the sleeves of this one. (Again, true to size. I got a large.)

Cooking – I have been strong on my meal planning and grocery shopping at Aldi lately. I actually have a few posts coming your way soon on how we have been saving major money on our grocery shopping. I don’t know about you guys, but we were spending a ridiculous amount each and every week. I honestly don’t even know how, because it wasn’t like we were buying a ton of excess. Lately we have been doing a lot of taco bowls, salsa chicken, oven braised pork chops, sun-dried tomato basil chicken and soups. I am excited that acorn squash is back in season too! I love some in the air fryer with olive oil, salt, pepper and a little smoked paprika. I make a spicy mayo (mayo, chili powder and sriracha) to dip it in, and mmmm mmmmm mmmm!

Planning – I have been planning Zoe’s third birthday party!!! She wants to have a princess party, and dress up like Belle and have all her friends come as princesses too. Such a fun idea! I have been gathering up little things here and there to decorate with, and have for treat bags and such. She talks to me all the time about each of the friends that she is inviting, and how much fun they are going to have. It is so sweet to see her friendships blossom at this age!

I think I want to do another set of birthday pictures on my own this year. I think I did pretty good with her smash cake session back when she turned one. Look how little she was. I hate that I didn’t really do any last year. I am trying to do better!

Excited – We are going to Disney on Ice this weekend!!! It will be Zoe’s first time, and she is stoked! I don’t think she fully understands what it is, but all she has to hear is Disney princesses and she is there for it. Chris wanted to make it extra special, we have front row seats so we wont miss a thing! We are taking one of my nephews with us too, so I am looking forward to spending some time with him as well.

I just love their Dream Big campaign!

Does anyone else look at the calendar from November through the end of December and think….whoa. How do we cram so much in to two months?? But, it is also my favorite time of year, so I don’t really mind one bit! It is just a little overwhelming at the start of it.

This weekend was a full one, and kicked it off Saturday when we met Laura and her crew at Ferus Ales for lunch. We enjoyed some delicious appetizers of pork belly, cuban egg rolls, fries and wings. For the main course, I had a burger that had beer cheese and onion rings. DELICIOUS!!!! I tried a Key Lime Gose from Westbrook and blueberry sour that was wonderful as well.

Trying to take pictures of the kids is quite hilarious. This is the best we could do. How sweet are they holding hands???

And Laura reminded me that we haven’t taken a picture together in almost three years. That is unacceptable! So that happened too!

Saturday evening we watched Auburn squeak by Old Miss, and I got some stuff done around the house. Zoe and I took a cold walk outside to see our neighbors Christmas display. Their blow up Monster went down the same day the Santa went up. Zoe is obsessed with going down there every night to say hi, not matter how dark or cold it is. I think we are going to have to decorate outside this year to keep her happy!

Sunday morning, I met my sister at Aldi to do some grocery shopping. We also made a trip to Lowe’s, Target and TJ Maxx. I love that all the Christmas stuff is getting put out! It is my favorite section of the store to walk through. I know some people bitch about rushing the holidays, but honestly, Thanksgiving and Christmas are one BIG holiday for me. They both bring so much togetherness and joy…why delay that? If it isn’t your thing, don’t look at it and let the rest of us be happy!