Monday, December 15, 2025

It’s Monday and that means linking up with Sarah and Holly to share our weekends in the rearview mirror.

Thursday night we had a winter weather advisory and Mason came down with a cold. He thought chili sounded good and it was!

I think we got almost 4 inches of snow! What a snowy year so far for us! We normally don’t get anything until January and sometimes not even until February. Tom left for work as usual and the schools in our district were online, so it was pretty quiet. I can’t say I hated a quiet morning!

It was a fluffy perfect snow to walk in and we stayed out quite a long time!

I’ve started receiving some Christmas cards and it makes me nostalgic. This photo turned out so good. I got a Groupon (remember those?) and the photographer did such a nice job. Do they look identical to you? They look so different to me. Jack is on the left, Mason is on the right.

This was a Spanish teacher turned photographer friend and she did such a nice job but Tom is smiling like a 19th century person – not. I was wearing a white bra – why Amy? – and it showed up under my knit consignment dress. She fixed it through the magic of photographer sorcery! Look at Ernie! He sat pretty. Remember those Kendra Scott necklaces? I had white, black, and maybe one more. I wore them ALL the time! Jack is on the left again; Mason is on the right again.

My Aunt Sally made a card with this great picture of my mom and her siblings and spouses and the first four cousins – she put more photos on the inside – so sweet!

My mom is in red with her eyes closed and my dad is in the plaid pants, and I have a shag haircut right in front of him! Eek!

Sorry for the bad photo, but it’s a good product! I picked this up while doing stocking stuffers. It’s a little hint of sparkle. Burt’s Bees champagne if you can’t read it very well.

I didn’t leave the house Friday or yesterday – that is some January level vibes for me – but I did shower and put on real clothes. I liked how the stripes look under my new sweater that is soooo soft and warm. It could have used an iron!

Cutie boy!

The snow melted quickly on Friday! We stayed home and had frozen pizza.

I’m really having trouble getting out the door in the cold to go to the gym at 6 am. Add snow to that and yeah, no… but I did make it to the gym later in the day on Saturday. I think this is my 12th week of going to the gym?

I cleaned and got some steps in while Tom had EO out of the house. I can get so much done when Tom takes him on his Saturday long walk. I leave all the doors open (what a luxury!) and smash the cleaning. They got home and we hung out until we had to get ready.

Mason was supposed to go, too, but was still sick. We went to an Argentinian restaurant that was hosting a special paella and flamenco night. They were making a chicken and chorizo paella and a seafood paella while you watched and then you ate while you watched the performance.

Sangria!

You could also order appetizers because you had about an hour to wait to eat. We got their pommes frites with dipping sauces. I asked Tom which sauce was his favorite and he replied “ketchup”. How American!

I got half seafood and half chicken and chorizo and it was so good. They were so sweet to box up a generous portion for us to take home to Mason since we had paid for him.

The performance was so good and rivaled the one we saw in Spain a year ago to be honest! Flamenco involves guitar, singing, dancing, and the rhythm of clapping, foot work, and in some types – castanets, which are the wooden things worn on your hands. They ended with three dancers using castanets. I was really too engrossed to take photos – sorry!

Tom really liked it, too, in surprising Tom news. He was missing the UK/IU basketball game for me.

It had started snowing while we were inside and I didn’t even notice! We had a pretty snowy drive home and my heart was full from “taking a trip to Spain”.

This weekend I got to pick up some library books:

Do you watch Southern Charm on Bravo? Ms. Pat is the matriarch of the show.

Do you know much about The Blue Zones? There are some really good recipes in here, but I like to check out cookbooks from the library for space saving reasons. Some foods that stick out to me that I want to eat more of are beans, kale, and sweet potatoes and they talk about drinking tea – They eat very little meat – in fact this cookbook has no meat – and very little dairy.

In NOT Blue Zone news…

An amazing new find – at Target – these are so awesome! You can spread one on a cracker, put it in your pasta, or use it in an omelet like I did.

And, oh my goodness. I used to order the regular Built bars and my mom did, too. They were so good – almost like eating a candy bar. But, this is even better. I am not a fan of any protein bar so for me to say this is something. I have only tried the cookie dough, and I was only going to have a bite to see what I thought for my something sweet after a meal. I ate the whole thing and ordered a whole box!

I made Jenn’s broccoli soup and it is so good! I didn’t have celery so I used carrot. I could have used more. I used up random cheeses and even put in some good old Velveeta.

I finished this – so cute and it did pick up for me after a brief stall:

And, I started this and I am into it:

It’s a good thing since I only have 7 days!

So, it looks like today we will be up to 30 degrees, and we even have 50s in the forecast this week!

Tell me something you did this weekend!

Amy

Friday, December 12, 2025

Linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some favorites and some comedies of errors from my week!

I like to do something fun on Sunday afternoon and Tom and I went to 3rd Turn Oldham Gardens Brewery which had a Christmas market and three different food stalls – pizza, bbq, and grill/bar food. It is the second largest beer garden in the country and the largest in Kentucky.

I purchased two of these painted oyster shells. I think they are so pretty for a jewelry holder or just decor.

Monday morning, we woke to this! I wasn’t expecting it but it was so pretty. The snow kept falling until about 9:00.

Eddie Otis was trying out doggy daycare and was getting evaluated. I dropped him off and went to a coffee shop.

I found my ring that had been lost for about a month! It was tucked in a pocket of my purse!

I had just settled in at the coffee shop when I got a call from doggy daycare. EO wasn’t having fun. He flunked out and I had to go pick him up. He liked one of the trainers and became besties with her but he was nervous with so many new people and dogs and he growled to let them know.

When I picked him up, his new bestie came out to the car with us, and he kept giving her his paw and giving her kisses. It was so sweet. We went home and he didn’t move for several hours. The experience was exhausting for him. I was hoping he would enjoy playing with other dogs.

I was supposed to go tutor that afternoon and my student was sick so that got cancelled.

I was making cod for dinner and I opened up the package and it smelled so bad that I had to throw it out. I did get a refund for my “bad cod” from Kroger. Yes, I did!

But, this was so nice…

a random phone number texted me to see if I wanted crocodile meat!

You just have to laugh at days like Monday. Luckily, I had a book I couldn’t put down:

I read it in two days! It’s been a while since I have had a book that I couldn’t put down. I am going slowly through my Christmas novel – not sure why.

I made these this week and sent them with Tom to work to try to help him be more popular – kidding!

It felt good to donate some clothes this week!

I am happy with my $7 Target candle. If you don’t have a real tree, just light a tree scented candle!

I’ve been using one of these each day! I really like them.

I went to World Market this week and I was so happy! Look what they have! I didn’t get them for myself because I was shopping for others but I think I might go back and get four.

They had so much good stuff!

I found lots of stocking stuffers and a few gifts.

I started this – Do you ever feel like someone is watching you?

This is my husband’s name! That was freaky! His middle name starts with a “J”!

The good news is that no kids are playing on the playground behind our house because the weather is so bad so EO and I have all day to go there.

The bad news is the weather sucks!

We’ve had ice, snow, the coldest rain you can imagine, and wind.

This was Tom’s plate one night. I made broccoli, potatoes, and chicken, but offered him a McDonald’s cheeseburger, too. I told him I wanted to always keep him on his toes and scare him a little. I am taking a broccoli break now. I have been making it so often and I’m tired of the smell.

I don’t know how much longer this is going on, but if you go into your Amazon orders and type in the search bar “thank my driver” you get an option to tip the driver $5! How cool is that?

Someone asked about coconut oil. I put it on my face before showering and I look like a glazed donut.

It melts your makeup right off and you wash your face normally in the shower but it leaves your skin so moist and soft.

If you are a blogger, I am having trouble commenting on some blogs; it’s telling me to “sign in with Google” and I try and it’s not letting me. But, others I am signed in with Google. I will try to figure this out!

Tell me a fave from your week!

Amy

Thursday, December 11, 2025

I am linking up with Kellyann and Jill per usual!

I have moved all my Christmas tops to one section of my closet, and I have worn all but one at this point. I have also included anything red or green in this section. I have my Christmas headband and a couple of other hair doodads laid out to remember to wear. I have one pair of Christmas tree earrings that I haven’t worn yet. And, I am trying to rock a red lip most days!

I’ve been enjoying my two pairs of Matilda Jane red pants this week! I think Matilda Jane is back? They went out of business, came back as something else, and now I am seeing the name again but on Instagram ads, so I’m always cautious with those. Yes, they are the brand that made the cute little girl clothing, but they also carried women’s. The quality is great on the pieces I have of theirs. My mom found an ex-dealer of MJ (not drugs) in her hometown and bought me several things, and I also found several things at a consignment shop! I really don’t need or want more, but I appreciate what I have. I love the flare pants that have what look like different layers at the bottom and you will see those in my first photo.

I wore the dark red flare pants from Matilda Jane with an older Walmart white sweater and my Paris ballcap to go to a coffee shop. I wore my Koolaburra boots because it was snowing.

I found my Amazon ring in the little pocket of a small purse! It had been lost for about a month! Yay! Also, I consider my nails to be part of my fashion!

I didn’t end up wearing this Sunday but I put on my New Balances, my Land’s End track pants (navy with a light red stripe down the side), my North Pole Cocktail Club sweatshirt, and my headband. Tom came out more dressed up so I changed…

into my brighter red ruffle Matilda Jane red pants, a black long sleeve tee, and my black/red/green cardigan that I love.

For dinner out I wore jeans, a Green Walmart sweater, and my coatigan with a new scarf my friend gave me for my birthday. I don’t like the booties I wore.

I wore this to an indoor Christmas market and I knew it would get warm inside. I wore Halaras, my new New Balances, a white tee, my Amazon Essentials cardigan, and my headband. Yes, the headband got a lot of use this week!

This is the green sweater I wore under the coatigan to go out to dinner. It’s old from Walmart and has cute little buttons on each side. I wore this earlier in the day to run an errand. Notice I am also enjoying my very old Amazon black purse with my red/green strap that I bought separately.

Before we went to England and Scotland, I purchased a few sweaters from Walmart that were surprisingly good quality and worked great on the trip and beyond.

I bought these “Scotch tape leggings” maybe 10 years ago at a local boutique. I tried the young girl sock thing (socks over leggings) and paired them with a black sweater and a black vest.

I wore the black flare Matilda Janes (like the dark red ones in the first photo), a wine-colored long sleeve tee (hard to tell the color in the light) and my leopard vest to run some errands.

A few years ago I bought several Target A New Day long sleeve tees. They are surprisingly thick and well made and I wear one almost every day in the winter.

In new purchases this week…

I bought a Target sweater that I couldn’t resist! It is so thick and soft and says “Les Alpes” .

I have a friend who is a police officer and she was requesting clothing for some folks in need. I was brutal with fall stuff I never wore this season and some winter stuff I no longer want to wear and I had two coats that I never wear. I dropped off two big bags for her, and I appreciate her helping me out and I am happy that someone else can use them!

I think of my closet as a constantly evolving entity. I try to keep it cleaned out and organized and functional. I like to organize by type of item and color.

What have you been wearing this week? Do you have any favorite outfits of mine?

Amy

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

It’s Hodgepodge with Joyce!

1. Do you struggle with the commercialization of the holiday season? What helps you keep your focus when the season’s busyness and commercialism start to take over? 

I do. When my kids were young, I felt strongly that they receive some gifts of things they needed/practical things. I was very worried about them being spoiled and especially grandparents giving them too much. They always got a new toothbrush, new underwear, new socks, and I liked the “something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read”. They always got clothing, too. I never felt like we went overboard. We always included some surprises, though, because surprises are very important to me. Tom was a big help with ideas and shopping.

Planning for special non-material things helps me. I like to think of the time off, the time at home, movies we enjoy, events we can attend, and things like that.

2. What’s one small thing you want to savor before the year ends? 

I just want to savor the time I have with the people I love. That gets to be less and less as your kids get older. I am hoping for some quality time with both of my kids at the same time and with my extended family.

The decor is everywhere this year and I love it! The gym tree:

3. December 9th is National Christmas Card Day. Do you still send Christmas cards? If so does yours include a photo or is it a more traditional card, or maybe homemade? How do you feel about the tradition of exchanging cards at the holidays? If Hanukkah is the holiday you celebrate in December do you send cards to mark the occasion? 

We did a photo card for many years. It either had just the kids or the whole family. Most years it was just a picture I took or photos we had taken throughout the year. There were two years that we did professional family photos. It was a lot of work to mail them out but I also enjoyed it.

I do miss the tradition of receiving and sending them. We only get about 10 now. And remember that I sent my kids’ quotes for years along with the photo card! Click on the red font if you missed that post. I have more to do a follow up. I do feel like Facebook took some of the fun away from receiving those photo cards.

And, I have framed all of our cards throughout the years. This collection is really special to me!

One of our card photos:

The last one we sent:

I believe this was 2019 right before 2020 and you-know-what.

I think it would be really funny to send one of Tom and Eddie Otis this year – hugging.

4. What’s your least favorite holiday related task? What’s your favorite? 

I really don’t enjoy putting ornaments on the tree. I enjoy wrapping, baking, planning for shopping and then doing the shopping.

5. Let’s do a little holiday this or that? 

• shopping or wrapping – shopping is more fun but I like wrapping, too.
• baking or decorating- baking is more fun to me.
• eggnog or wassail – I like both but wassail is better.
• real tree or artificial – we used my parents’ old artificial tree for about 20 years and then we switched to a pre-lit tree.
• turkey or ham – turkey for Thanksgiving and ham for Christmas
• white lights or colored lights – white but I do like seeing colored lights, too
• ugly sweaters or matching pjs – we have never done matching pjs
• peppermint or cinnamon – both but peppermint more for December
• presents Christmas Eve or presents Christmas Day – we always had to wait until Day when I was a child. I started pjs on Eve with my kids

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My mom was very big on Christmas cards.

Here is one:

She kept doing photo cards of her travels with my dad and pictures of all the grandkids. She even wrote a poem each year. She thought it was horrible when I stopped sending them! I like that she did this.

Here was one she did when she only had two grandchildren – my kids:

“We whisk you a Happy New Year” – pretty sure they were fighting over the whisk.

This one was funny – she had all the grandkids pout:

Molly’s first or second card:

One of Kate’s cards – her daughter Nora exhausted from shopping at Target:

Also, I have a confession…I collected braggy Christmas newsletters and then liked to perform/read them aloud. One year my sisters and I wrote our own newsletter from our family as a joke.

I even asked friends to give me really good ones. One was three pages long – single spaced.

I got such a kick out of this slip of paper addendum:

“While the information provided in our newsletter was correct, it was outdated by the influence of _____’s recovery from her bout with food poisoning. Because the time available for mailing has been further reduced, a new newsletter is not possible. At this point ____ is essentially recovered.”

Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like sharing your food poisoning that got left out of the newsletter.

I also like the use of the third person in the newsletters. Who wrote it? The dog?

Amy

Tuesday, December 9. 2025

Spoiler – I have already done some of them since this post is late!

I will do another one for Winter in general!

These are just the fun things that go along with the true meaning of Christmas. Those are obvious so I am not listing those.

Go to holiday open houses/events – when I see announcements I put them in my calendar and try to go

Go to hotel lobbies to see decor (sounds weird but they always have beautiful decor) – not talking about Best Western, you know? The Brown, The Seelbach, The Omni, Hotel Genevieve – those are some I could go to in my city of Louisville, KY

Have a drink in said hotel lobby bar for bonus points

Go to Miracle on Market – holiday pop up bar that is so kitschy and the drinks are $$$

Do festive nails

Go to Whirling Tiger – went last year and I was delighted. It looks like your Grandma’s 70s living room. They had adult juice pouches called “Naughty” or “Nice”. I’m a sucker for stuff like that.

Re-read the Fiona Ferris Christmas book

Read Christmas or seasonal novels

Have a fire in the Solo Stove outside

Add more lighting to my dark living room for the evenings

Go through Christmas decor and donate what doesn’t make my heart sing

Buy all the seasonal products that make me happy – hand soap, kitchen cleaner, cranberry Sprite, etc.

Make gift list and buy gifts

Turn my errands into outings and include/ask a friend or make a date of it with Tom

Wear my festive clothing, headband, and earrings

Make baking list, buy supplies, enjoy baking while watching a Christmas movie

Watch all my faves – The Holiday, While You Were Sleeping, etc.

Wrap presents leisurely while watching movies

Make holiday plans – plan the activities and itinerary for the Airbnb with my side of the family

Plan meals and make grocery lists

Get my yearly one Chick Fil A peppermint shake

Get my yearly one Starbuck’s peppermint mocha

I think that’s it! What’s on your list?

Monday, December 8, 2025

It’s Monday and that means it’s time to link up with Sarah and Holly and it is already December 8th so that means we are even closer to Christmas! I have got to work on some shopping! I have the traditional pajamas for my kids (well now just pajama pants) and I have something for Eddie Otis but that’s about it! I think I have some ideas now so that’s a start.

I am happy with my mantel now. I love turning the lights on in the morning and evening. I have a white glittery deer head panting I bought at a craft fair, fake greenery, bottle brush trees, my 20 plus year-old stocking holders and my 23-year-old Pottery Barn stockings. I splurged and I am so glad I did. These are the only ones we’ve ever had! The photo is weird, but just trust me on the contents.

I did a final run through of my decor on Friday night and I have a donation pile. I put some decor away that I’m not using this year. Done. Friday night I made dinner at home – ham and Swiss sliders with Hawaiian buns (the ham was frozen from my Thanksgiving re-do meal), homemade potato chips air fried, and apple slices.

Saturday morning I had a Target pick up, a Kroger pick up, and a library pick up. I was tickled to see someone had built a snowman atop the book return:

I picked up:

Sorry for the weird lights – I took the pics near the book scanner. Thanks to my blogger friends for all my recommendations! I wouldn’t know what to request without you.

I ran my errands and was home by 11 or so. Saturday morning my friend Victoria had texted me about attending a holiday fair at 1. I am so glad she texted me. I had wanted to go but hadn’t made any plans.

A good reminder that sometimes last minute works out!

The fair was really good, but as you can see it was really crowded. We both got a bit overwhelmed. I didn’t buy anything but Victoria got a few gifts and I did enjoy looking at all the stuff.

They even had a holiday bar set up, but we refrained.

I stopped at Haymarket on the way home and they were having Christmas tree sales and a winter fair so it was quite festive.

The snow was really melting Saturday! Yay!

I started watching With Love, Meghan: Holiday Collection Friday (in time to add some things to my Kroger order) and I enjoyed the first part of the first episode where she made puppy chow/muddy buddies/reindeer chow and cacio e pepe gougeres and Christmas crackers (the British kind that you pull apart and find a little toy inside). I have made regular cheese gougeres before and they are worth it and not really that hard. I have the New York Times recipe written out by hand because I don’t have a membership and there is a pay wall. It is similar to this recipe.

Anyway, I don’t love the show, but I did enjoy the content that I talked about above. There is just something off about her.

Saturday after the holiday market, I enjoyed some of my Meghan Markle Reindeer Chow.

Tom and I had a comical time trying to take each others’ passport photos from my iphone at home. Did you know that you might be able to renew your passport from home totally online without sending in your old passport? Ours qualify but the sticking point will be the photo.

After attempting our photos we went out…

We went to a favorite neighborhood to try to go to a particular restaurant but it was too busy at 5:30! We ended up at Alchemy which I really like because it is Venezuelan and my former student waited on us so that was nice, too.

We got the fried yucca appetizer and Tom got empanadas, beans, and plantains for his meal and I got…

a salad with chicken. It wasn’t the best salad of my life but it was fine.

We went home and fed Eddie Otis his dinner and then the three of us had a fire and watched tv and then the IU/Ohio State game came on. My niece Samira is a sophomore at OSU.

I went and finished my Netflix movie in the basement after a while – My Secret Santa. Don’t judge. Lol.

Sunday morning I got to use my new creamer!

I added a few sprinkles!

I did some cleaning and then Tom and I went to a small Christmas market…

His friend makes these beautiful boards:

It was at the second largest beer garden in the country and the biggest in KY. There isn’t much indoor space, though.

I got the pineapple upside down mimosa again:

And, we split a really yummy pizza:

They have three different food stand options.

Then, we left and did an REI return for Tom and went home and I read/napped and he watched football.

Long PSA:

I spent a good deal of the last few days trying to get out of a cult.

Do you remember me telling you about seeing a deal for $19 for 3 hours of house cleaning? I had a fairly good experience on the day the cleaner came but after she left, I saw that the job was not very well done and I’m not even that picky. It was November 12. Well, I had originally had another person scheduled for November 1 and they cancelled on me last minute so I had to get a new person and wait 11 days. Not that big of a deal. The November 12 cleaner agreed to come back December 3 – a little more than two weeks apart but that was ok.

She then cancelled that day and made a plan to come back December 8. Then December 5 she cancelled for December 8 and made a new plan to come back December 22. At this point I felt I was being played and I was done.

I also didn’t realize that the $19 voucher (by the way I tipped $40 ) would sign me up for a $59 a month “forever clean” that you were locked into for 6 months.

I was told that in order to cancel I would need to pay $110. I wrote a not nice email to the company because there is no customer service number. I repeat, there is no customer service number. I also found some bad reports on Instagram and on the BBB website that I should have checked before ever joining the cult back in October.

Do not do Homeaglow! I really hope no one did it on my recommendation.

I got them to only charge me $54 instead of $110 and just said lose my credit card number and get me out. So, $19, $40, $59, $54 = $172 and I got 3 hours of house cleaning out of that.

Hangs head and goes to grab her cleaning supplies…

Tell me something you did this weekend! Did you also get out of a cult?

Amy

Friday, December 5, 2025

It’s Friday and link up day with Andrea and Erika! Let’s share some favorites from the week!

Monday marked December first and it was time to start advent calendars…

This is the tea advent calendar I found at Aldi for like $8 as opposed to $40 from World Market. Mason was so tickled! He gets two tea bags each day. He has had fun opening to see what type it is and then having them that day. He is 23 going on 65. He has always been an old soul. Did I ever tell you that he did a break-dancing routine to a Ray Charles song in kindergarten?

I had my second week of tutoring a high school boy in Spanish this week. We meet at a Starbucks. I get there a bit early, get a coffee in a real mug, and get prepared.

He drives himself so I texted his mom afterward to tell her how it went. Her response made me feel good.

Driving home Monday evening there was brine on the road which only means one thing..

Snow Day! Just kidding – every day is a snow day for me! But this is a significant amount of snow for us and on December first, no less!

Tom came back in the house before he left for work and shut Eddie Otis in the bedroom on accident. I couldn’t find him and opened the door, and little boy was just chilling.

Can you spot Tom’s spine device? He lays on it for back pain. Ouch! Can you spot EO’s alligator? Her name is “Ally-Gator”.

My two Christmas magazines arrived on the snowy day! How fun is that?

All of our labs have loved snow. It’s so fun to see EO frolic in the snow!

I’m weird about snow. I only like it on the first day and then it gets ugly and a pain in the butt. It has been so cold this week that there has been no melting of any kind. We have rain and higher temps in the forecast in a few days so it will be gone soon enough.

Do you remember I found these rolls at Walmart? Why would you? Well, they have them at Kroger now, too. They are so good – too good.

This is really good salmon rub – use it sparingly.

The complete meal:

Good old comfort food – spaghetti:

I also made chicken cordon bleu and then after three nights of a pretty decent meal I was done. I decided to order our favorite mediterranean last night.

Sadly, Tom and I finished A Man on the Inside this week – it was so cute! I think I liked the second season more than the first, but they were both heartwarming.

I went to the mall this week and it looked pretty!

I went in Anthropologie. I usually just look and rarely buy.

I went in Sephora where I easily get overwhelmed. But I found a new fave product. Well, I found two new fave products. The Ilia Lip Sketch Hydrating Crayon is amazing. I bought it in the color Untitled. It is a liner and a color, I think. I think I will buy an Ilia sharpener (for its bigger size than a standard one could sharpen) and another color. I am very picky about my lip products – texture and smell. I have recently gone through old lip products – I save them way too long – and thrown several old and mediocre ones away.

And this Selena Gomez Rare Beauty gloss has the perfect texture and smells amazing. I am putting mine over a dark lip and you can see it has stained the applicator, but that’s ok. I love buying lip products but… fun fact… Since I started using coconut oil twice a day on my face which encompasses my lips, I don’t need Chapstick of any kind. I don’t even need my Laneige.

While I was in Sephora, I also bought the iconic Clique Black Honey. My cousin Julie, the makeup guru, will be glad I finally got it! It’s a great everyday color and works on everyone apparently and it’s called “Almost Lipstick” so it’s a very light formula.

Here is Black Honey:

Here is Black Honey with Selena Gomez Rare Beauty gloss:

“Honey Gomez”, “Selena Honey”, “Black Beauty”, “Rare Black Honey Beauty”, Rare Selena Honey” – Anyway, Clinique and Selena, call me. By the way, it’s hard to take a lip photo and even harder to look at it.

This all started because I wanted a nice red lip for the holidays. If you give a mouse a cookie…

Did you notice that I purchased nothing red?

Let’s talk Black Friday/Cyber Monday! My kids still haven’t given me their wishlist so I am kind of at a stand still for gift purchasing. I do have a few ideas for each of them, but I’m still thinking.

I have had New Balance 530s on my wishlist for quite a while. I still had some birthday money to use, too. I went to Dick’s and tried them on, but they didn’t have the color I wanted. I went to my car, googled the model I wanted, and a Macy’s ad came up for half off the price of what I thought I would have to pay.

The 90s called!

I’m in love and I’m also loving wearing longer socks. They are so much warmer than the little socks.

I’m still reading this and it’s cute.

Tell me a favorite of yours from the week!

Amy

Thursday, December 4, 2025

I am happy to be back today linking up with Kellyann and Jill to share a bit of what I have worn this week.

I wore this to the German Christmas Market as it was pretty warm out. I have on Halaras, my TJ Maxx faux Birk clogs, a fun graphic tee that I found in store at Old Navy a few weeks ago – it has stars, bows, cherries, wine glasses, etc. and I thought it was a bit Christmasey so let’s pretend it is – and the best cardigan for the best price. I have always loved Amazon Essentials brand and I wanted a red cardigan. It was $17 and it’s the pretty heft and length.

I wore this outfit – Halara jeans, beige Adidas, black tank, star cardigan on the Monday before Thanksgiving.

A shoutout to my sister Molly on our closing day and adventure in our hometown. She is wearing the Nikes I gave her for her birthday, really cute jeans (can’t remember where she found them) and the cutest $12 TJ Maxx sweater with a crocheted-looking collar.

I forgot to get my photo this day, but I ended up spilling coffee on my shirt so that was not cute.

Sunday, I wore my “North Pole Cocktail Club” sweatshirt, red Matilda Jane pants, Adidas, and red/green barrette to do some shopping.

Hair:

Monday I wore Halaras, barefeet apparently! (No, I put on the faux Birks), a white t-shirt, and my Christmas tree button sweater that is 3 years old maybe.

Tuesday, I wore my other red Matilda Jane pants, my short Koolaburra by Ugg boots, my Prosecc Ho Ho Ho shirt, a red/green headband, and my fuzzy vest. I look kinda crazy but I was warm and comfy.

Yesterday I wore my “Merry and Bright” sweater with light Halara jeans and sneakers.

My Black Friday 40% off Impress nails order came in! I may have gone too much in on the reds and burgundies. I have a red with sparkle, burgundy, burgundy with some white accents (I probably won’t use), a holiday set, a milky white, a navy, a blush pink, and a blue French mani. The blue French will have to stay a bit longer than I prefer or I would cut off the blue tips.

My niece Brooke came over Tuesday for a tutorial! How fun! Here is my blog post where I explain my method.

My new lifestyle is very casual, but I am trying to dress each day/get out of workout clothes and actually put on an outfit, albeit a casual one.

It’s fun to move the stuff in your closet to one section – all your reds, greens, holiday attire – and it’s often shocking how much you have. I think it helps me get into the spirit. And, then I turn more to my blues, blacks, whites, greys in January. It just mixes up my winter clothing for me, you know?

What have you been wearing lately?

Amy

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Today is Hodgepodge with Joyce and Currently with Jenn!

1. What does it mean to have the ‘holiday spirit’? On a scale of 1-10 how is yours this year? (10=off the charts, 1=still looking for it)

I don’t like the idea of only having a “holiday spirit” at Christmas or the major holidays. I want to have that spirit most of the time. Life should be celebrated, and the little things are the big things – deep thoughts, but celebrate it all. Maybe I am getting away from the question, but the holiday spirit means that you have a generous heart, and you are open to all the gifts of the Christmas season that are not material or tangible. But, shouldn’t we always have a generous heart?

I feel like I am getting some holiday spirit now! I would say I am currently at a 7. I am going to take what I learned at Thanksgiving this year and apply it to my planning for Christmas.

This photo is from last year, but I am starting to wear my Christmas sweaters, clothing, headband, and earrings. That helps!

2. What’s your favorite character from a (December) holiday-themed movie, book, or TV special? Tell us why. 

I like the mom from Christmas with the Kranks and think it’s such a cute movie! I am definitely putting it on my list to watch!

3. Do you like gingerbread? Are gingerbread houses part of your holiday tradition? 

It’s just ok for me. I’m not a big fan. No – I find them frustrating. I am not an architect. We did them with the boys a couple of years but it was never a big tradition.

4. Much of our vocabulary is determined by where we live or where we grew up. What say you-

Since I consider myself a language person, I find this an interesting topic. My mom was born and raised in Chicago and my Dad in Southern Indiana at the far other end of the state from my hometown. My cousins in the Chicago area said some words that my sisters and I found funny. My cousins in Southern Indiana sounded normal to us.

sprinkles or jimmies? sprinkles! I had never heard “jimmies” until recently. “Jimmies” means my two besties named Jim for forever probably since 7th grade – Jim W. and Jim G. – we used to call both of them “Jimmy” but as they got older they wanted to be called “Jim”. Love these two guys so much!

lightning bugs or fireflies? lightning bugs! Yes, I did catch them in a glass jar and put Saran Wrap on top.

soda or pop? neither – what feels most natural to me is to say “soft drink”. Or, I think I have been known to call everything a Coke.

sneakers, trainers, or tennis shoes? tennis shoes – I grew up using that term. Now I say sneakers sometimes, too.

sub, hoagie, grinder, or hero? sandwich? If I say one, it’s sub but it’s followed by sandwich as in “sub sandwich”

freeway, highway, or motorway? highway

frosting or icing? frosting

sauce or gravy? sauce for anything tomato based and gravy for anything meat based

5. Share a favorite holiday memory from your childhood. 

We loved Christmas Eve. We would attend church and then have neighbors and friends over to play our player piano and eat appetizers many years. We especially loved it when it snowed.

We also loved Christmas morning, of course. My mom went all out and would often stage our new gifts under the tree with something we already had – like put an old doll into a new doll stroller.

I think I was 7 or 8, Kate was 4, and Molly was 1 in this photo.

I was always the first one awake and then I would wake up Kate (the middle) and she was a big late sleeper so it was hard, and then we would wake up Molly (the youngest) and tell her she had to wake Mom and Dad since she was the cutest. I changed the clocks a couple of times, too!

6.  Insert your own random thought here.  

We always left our house on Christmas Day to head to my Dad’s side (all of them lived in Evansville, Indiana except for us) and then we would go directly to Chicago to my mom’s side. I think we were gone a week total, but we had so much fun and we felt like most of our gifts were new again when we got home!

Now for Currently with Jenn!

Loving

My Christmas clothes! I have two cardigans, one sweater, one sweatshirt, one long sleeved tee, and two short sleeved tees. I have earrings, a headband, and a barrette. I think that’s enough, right? I hope I can not be tempted to add more!

This sweater has Christmas trees as buttons and I wore it on Monday:

I wore this in my hair on Sunday:

Hoping

I am hoping I can plan a nice Eve, Day, trip to Tom’s parents, and a…

stay in my hometown with my sisters and their families and my family. This is the Airbnb that I booked. It’s the entire third floor of a building on Main Street. You better believe there will be a Google Doc that I will be sharing with my sisters.

Doing

finishing decor and deciding what to donate, planning to shop for gifts, shopping for gifts, and planning which Christmas markets and events to attend.

Wearing

Oops – I jumped the gun on this one!

See above! But, I am wearing Halara jeans most days or my red Matilda Jane pants along with my Christmas capsule.

Seeing

The four walls of my house! I’m missing my outdoor time, but I feel pretty sure it will get mild again before it stays cold.

When I go out I am seeing all the decor! I feel like businesses have really gotten into the spirit this year!

Look at sweet Tom under the Christmas tree!

Tom and my boys were blondies as chidren. Do you see the resemblance? I think Tom has a narrower face as a child. Tom has blue eyes (a really pretty dark navy blue) and they got my brown eyes. I would love to go back and squeeze these little guys!

Thanks for reading!

Amy

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

This is merely a list! I am including my favorite gifts I have received and gifts that I have given others that were well received.

I am team “Shop between Thanksgiving and Christmas” and somehow it always gets done. Of course, I don’t buy for that many people anymore. Some of you might be done or almost done so I apologize if my ideas are coming to you too late!

If you missed it, you might want to go back to my Saturday post – I shared 4 Somethings that are all holiday related!

Try to shop locally if you can and have that choice to make. We have a hardware store that also has some unique gift ideas – Brownsboro Hardware. They have had road construction affecting the entry to their parking lot so I really want to push them among my local friends. Think outside of the box – a boating store might have a cool gift for someone to anticipate for next summer – Marine Sales and Service if you are local. We bought Molly a float one year and she loved it and it was like she got a gift again when summer rolled around! Or, just go big and buy someone a boat!

A hair salon – they have curling irons, rollers, fancy shampoos and conditioners – J. Estell Salon for example, which is my salon and has great products and even hair styling tools. My mom always used to buy us Aveda products from her salon. What a treat! I have heard that some hair products from Amazon are fake or watered down. Eek!

A local restaurant gift card would be a treat!

Playthings Toy Store has unique toys that kids love! I am seeing more and more small businesses close up shop, you all. Let’s all vow to at least shop small for one gift.

I also think you can shop second hand for some gifts – toys for sure. Sometimes you can find clothes with tags that also fit the person you are shopping for.

Listen, I also really don’t think it’s about the gifts. If you have traditionally gotten gifts for friends, why not say “let’s just make a reservation for January and enjoy each others’ company and have something to look forward to”. It might be awkward, but I bet they would love this idea.

People love homemade food gifts especially. You can make spice blends, Chex Mix, cookies, simmer pot mixes, etc.

coffee maker/accessories to create a coffee bar (could be good for a teen or young adult)

coffee frother – handheld or the small appliance kind that you have to plug in (I love mine!)

bread maker

automatic trashcan

photo calendar

grandchildren birthstone necklace or ring

technology that makes life easier for an older person – just be careful that it isn’t too complicated to work

monogrammed things – Marley Lilly, Etsy – notepads, bracelet, tote bag

winter cozy things – heated vest, gloves, spa socks, fuzzy blanket

spa things – hair towel, silk pillowcase, good smelling bath products

sunglasses

really nice laundry detergent like Diva

good olive oil or a set – I love Graza

good balsamic vinegar – to to a specialty market if the person is a foodie and you might find all kinds of inspo

think outside the season – what do they love to do in the summer?

car accessories – phone stands, mats, good smelling things, vacuum kit

grilling stuff

kit to make your own smoked cocktails

leather dopp kit

leather handbag – Clayton and Crume, Bonhomia

pickle ball set

When I think of my favorite gifts over the years, it wasn’t just about the gift. It was about the giver really “seeing” me or “knowing me”. It wasn’t about the amount they spent, but the fact that they paid attention. Does that make sense?

My mom gave me so many gifts – she was really big on gift giving! My Dad gave me a few things that really stand out (or I found out they were his idea) my first Keurig, my Kindle, and my breadmaker.

Have I given you any ideas today?

Leave your ideas in the comments, please!

Amy