Thursday, December 5, 2019

I polled my students for you!  Just a little information – they range in age from 15-18. I hope this list helps you!  I may be using it, too!  

Money

Gas gift cards

Food gift cards

Apple Air pods

Disney Plus subscription

Pop socket with car attachment

Concert or festival tickets

Ugg slides

Birkenstocks

College sports hoodie or sweatshirt (college they may go to?)

Vineyard Vines

RedBubble.com – fun stickers for water bottle, laptop

Fun socks

Cool guitar pick

Lanyards or keychains

Good pens

Fountain pen or calligraphy set

Any more suggestions you would add?  

Amy 

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

It is already Wednesday, people!  

Here is a snapshot of what I have been wearing – you have been warned that you have seen most of these before!  But, my outfits are real life.  I actually wear what you see!  

This is a silly picture that my friend and I took at the speakeasy last week.  We used their stage to take these photos when no one else was there yet.  I wore my Hue distressed dark jeggings, old booties, my burgundy top, and my fur vest.  

The next day for errands and the movies I wore my black Target A New Day mules (getting lots of use out of these!), leggings, Old Navy tunic, and vest.

Thanksgiving day was cold and dreary so I went with comfort.  Sam Eddleman boots are old, leggings, Target A New Day poncho made up the outfit. 

And, Thanksgiving Day two was Saturday and it was super rainy.  I did basically the same outfit but added the leopard scarf and Hunters.  

I am loving this lightweight tunic length from Amazon and these new square earrings I have been wearing almost every day!  

Did you see my headband post yesterday?  I really want to order this set for winter!  

So the name of the game this last week has been black leggings, long tops, and vests!  What about you?  Any favorites from my outfits above?  

Thanks for stopping by!

Amy 

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

What do you all think of the headband trend?  My black suede is new this season and it has a little knot on the top.  I also had these older headbands that I pulled out recently.  

Would you try one? 

Amy 

Monday, December 2, 2019

Wow – that went by fast!  Did you think so, too?  I am linking up today with Heather, etc. so go right here!  

Tuesday at 2:20 was the start of my break.  That night I went shopping and to dinner with my dear friend.  She suggested a speakeasy – seriously there was no sign on the door!- and you could order food from the sister restaurant below.  

Look how cool it is inside – It is called Lola’s Kitchen.  

We shared salad, gnocchi and beignets along with a cocktail.  It was soooo good and such a nice way to start the break! 

Wednesday I treated myself to a pedicure along with a grocery trip for a few more things. 

Then, we went to see Knives Out as a family and it was really good! 

Thursday was our meal at Tom’s sister’s house.  We had a nice meal and a nice afternoon together. 

Friday I put out my Christmas decor. 

Saturday we went to my hometown for dinner number 2.  First we did some shopping and stopped at a cute new coffee shop. 

We decided to have a “mashed potato” challenge where the kids judged my two sisters and my mashed potatoes from Thursday.  The kids had to blindly taste each one and then write comments and it was really funny! 

And, Sunday was a day of rest.  I seriously did nothing – or close to it.  Tom bought us a solo stove and we tried it out.  

Now I am trying to get prepared for 3 intense weeks of school stuff and holiday stuff.  

Quick PSA – I came across these for my buffalo plaid lovers.  They are 40% off making them around $59.  How cute!  Just go to the Aerosoles website and you should see the sale.  

How was your holiday?  Any highlights?  I hope it was wonderful with all of the best food and memories.  

Amy 

Friday, November 29, 2019

Do you participate in Black Friday? I do not. For most of my married life Friday was the day for our second Thanksgiving feast so I couldn’t participate even if I had wanted to.  

Sometimes I will order things on Cyber Monday. This year I am really going to try to shop locally.

I will try to shop:  

Little boutiques

Mom and pop hardware store near my house that also has unique gift items

Museum gift shops

Etsy

Not locally owned but great sources for presents:

Book store – also has toys, games, puzzles

Costco

Many years I will do a theme like slippers or blankets for all

Umbrellas make a great gift

Car kit with scraper for the winter

An experience like a play gives family something to look forward to

Membership at zoo or museum is a great gift

A few more favorites this week:

These are so good!  I may not buy them again because they were that irrestible!  

This is what $20 of popcorn looks like.  I treated my students to this while watching a movie during our short week.  It is from GFS – Gordon Food Service.  It is like a warehouse store but without a membership. 

This is really good.  It does have 150 calories but I was thinking this would make a nice afternoon winter treat on the weekends.  You put the powder in your mug and then brew the coffee on top.

This book may just be one of my favorite Shopaholic books.  It is also a good reminder before the crazy of the holiday. 

We had a beautiful day Monday and I sat outside for a bit after school. 

What were your favorites this week?  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving or that you are still in the midst of your celebrations!

Amy 

Thursday, November 28, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving to my dear readers!  I am thankful for you!

If you do end up with any leftovers, I have two ideas for you:

The Kentucky Hot Brown

4 thick slices of white bread

sliced roasted turkey

Mornay sauce – recipe below 

shredded parmesan cheese

tomato sliced in 4

8 bacon slices, cooked

Preheat oven broiler with rack 6 inches from the heat

Place bread slices on a baking sheet and broil for 1-2 minutes each side or until toasted light golden brown

Top bread with turkey.  Pour sauce over turkey and sprinkle with cheese.

Broil 6 minutes or until bubbly and remove from oven.  Top with tomato slice and bacon and serve immediately.

Mornay Sauce:  

1/2 c. butter

1/3 c. flour

3 and 1/2 cups milk

1/2 c. shred parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper 

Melt butter in saucepan over med-high heat.  Whisk in flour.  Cook, whisking constantly for 1 min.  Gradually whisk in milk.  Bring to a boil and cook down until thickened.  Whisk in cheese, and salt and pepper and you are done!  

Southwestern Turkey Soup

combine cooked and cubed or shredded turkey with:

1 12 oz. jar salsa verde

1 15 oz. can of cannellini beans, drained 

3 cups chicken broth

1 tsp. cumin

Serve with a bit of sour cream and possibly shredded Mexican cheese on top and some tortilla strips

What is your favorite thing to do with leftovers?  

Let me know if you try these!

Amy 

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!  We are off today and hoping to see the movie “Knives Out” this afternoon.  Hub took off work today, too, and I think this is the first time for that!  He had some days to burn up before the end of the year.  I have all of my food shopping done, so I am excited to just enjoy the day.  

Here are a few outfits from last week:

Simply Southern leggings, Amazon long tee, old TJ Maxx vest, Tieks 

New JCP vest, New Kendra Scott necklace, MJ pants, and Target mules

Simply Southern leggings, Old Navy dress, old vest, Target mules

Tory Burch flats, Chico’s pants, black tee, Simply Southern duster

And, finally, this is a serious contender for Thursday but I maybe would wear my dark green Matilda Janes instead of these Old Navy pull on jeggings. This velvet shirt is from Old Navy last season and the kimono is new from Target – identical to my black one from A New Day Target line. I saw this color and fell in love.

What are you wearing tomorrow?

Thanks for reading!

Amy 

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

I thought I would share a fun and easy recipe that I just love.  If you are a long time blog reader, you have seen this before!  I plan to make these with only yellow, brown, and orange.  I already have the ingredients.  If you are looking for an easy recipe to take somewhere these would be great! You can even pick up the ingredients at a CVS or convenience store so you don’t have to go back to the grocery!

You need:

square waffle pretzels

Rolos

M and Ms

You will:

Lay the pretzels out on a cookie sheet while the oven is preheating to 350

Place a Rolo on top of each pretzel

Put in oven for about 5 minutes

When they come out, lightly smush M and Ms on top.

Put in fridge to harden for about an hour.  

We don’t host for Thanksgiving, but I bring a few dishes to each home.  We go to Tom’s sister’s house and to my mom’s house.  

What else I am making:

Mashed potatoes (Pioneer Woman’s recipe is the best and can be made ahead!)

Cranberry sauce with real cranberries (super easy and rewarding because it’s homemade! Again, I use Pioneer Woman’s recipe.  She uses orange juice.)

Corn pudding with Jiffy cornbread mix

Pumpkin fluff dip with baby Nilla wafers (just cool whip, instant vanilla pudding and a can of pumpkin)

Monkey bread for my family in the morning

Charcuterie board in lieu of lunch as we eat around 3

What are you making?  

Amy 

Monday, November 25, 2019

Here we go – 2 day week!  How was your weekend?  Mine was kind of lazy, but good!  

Thursday night our son Jack was in a play called “45 Presidents” that went through every single president in our country’s history and had a lot of history and humor.  He played multiple small parts.  It was cute!  Tom and I ran to the little Mexican restaurant to grab a bite before seeing it.  They did it again Friday night and his brother Mason went that night because he had a school project Thursday night.  

Saturday was grey and rainy!  Mason had a quick recall tournament all day and Jack had theatre all day.  I ran some errands alone in the morning and then Tom and I ran some together in the afternoon.  

I love my see through umbrella.  Have you seen these?  They are great because your vision isn’t blocked!  

One of my errands was Thanksgiving foods.  I have to prepare about 5 things between our two sides of the family.  I was really happy because I got all of this for $9!  I used my rewards checks and some coupons I accumulated.  More money for clothes now, right?  

What luck!  I have been on the waiting list for this book and my youngest sister found it at her library and I was jealous.  I walked into my library and there it was on the shelf for me.  My sister and I have read all of these books and they are just fun!  

Jack, Tom, and I went to a tavern to watch a little bit of football while waiting for Mason.  

These were probably the worst nachos I have ever had.  Why am I showing them?  I didn’t take many photos this weekend!  

Saturday night Mason got home and then immediately got a phone call to celebrate a friend’s birthday so he left again.  I am getting a glimpse into what life will be like next year.  

Sunday morning I went to my happy place – Target – just to wander around.  I hadn’t done this in ages.  I bought two things and I will show you if I decide to keep them.  

The rest of the day was laundry, cleaning, school work, and reading my book.  

I decided not to do meal prep with only 2 days of school.  

Tell me what you did this weekend!  There seemed to be a lot of people scurrying about buying food for the holiday and some even doing Christmas shopping, too.  I think people are frantic with less time between the two holidays this year.  

Thanks for visiting me!

Amy

Friday, November 22, 2019

3 more school days until Thanksgiving break!  I am linking up today with Andrea, etc. for one of my favorite link ups – where everyone shares their favorites of the week.  I love the positivity and I often get ideas for my own life!  Go here to check out some other posts!  

As always, thank you for reading and commenting!  It is definitely a highlight of my week every week to engage with my readers.  This is just a hobby for me – but one that has enriched my life so much.  I have made genuine friendships which sounds crazy.  Please pray for a very special blog friend of mine who is going through a tough time.  Also, please know that I realize the holidays are super hard for many.  If you are one of those, please know that you are in my thoughts, too.  

Today my favorites are a little bit different.  I wanted to share with you what I did with the remainder of my birthday money.  I talked about my other purchases here.  Maybe some of these things will serve as gift ideas for you.

O.k. so the flat lay (laying items out for a photo) is harder than it looks.  Do you notice anything different about my background?  I am using my new floors in the new master bedroom!  No, we are not moved in yet, but I am taking advantage of the light from the many windows and doors and the beautiful (to me) wood floors!  

Do not, I repeat, do not pay full price in the store at Old Navy.  They are practically giving things away online.  There is always some sort of extra percent off. I got the first three things for about $40!  That might be less than at a consignment store!  You can see me wearing many of these items here.  

This is the Old Navy loose fit tunic length button down.  I love buffalo plaid and this is the perfect length and perfect material.  I think this will be worn a lot!  I would really like to get another pattern.  Tip:  My work friend is very tall and orders tall versions from Old Navy.  If you are looking for longer length tops, this might be an option for you.  Tip:  I like to buy things with black in them because I know I have black bottoms.  Boring, maybe, but also smart.  

This is perfect for the woman who over heats easily.  You can take a cardigan off if needed and still look seasonal.  I just love black watch plaid.

These jeans/jeggings in petite are the perfect length for me.  I ordered regular size but in the petite/short length.

And, I ordered these two vests from JCPenney for $40 for both.  I avoided shipping costs by having them sent to my local store.  The great thing about these is the sweater material in the back and surprise! – they have pockets.  They are the Liz Claiborne brand which I think is really good quality at JCP.

What do you think?  These items came to about $80 and change.  That is pretty good for 5 items!  I think I used my birthday money wisely and had fun doing so.

So, those are my favorites from the week for the material things.  

For the non-material things, my favorites were my senior boys whose year is flying by (sadly), my hard working husband who is working hard on our renovation on the weekends, my sweet and funny students, a job that I love most days, and so much more!  

What are your weekend plans?  Our son is in a play tonight at school and then has theatre all day Saturday.  Our other son is in a quick recall/academic team match all day Saturday.  And, we will see where else the weekend takes us!

Thanks for reading,

Amy