Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

It’s time to talk about healthy living because it’s been awhile! I find this time of year very difficult – do you? First we have all the Halloween candy, my birthday is right after Halloween and that means cake, then Thanksgiving comes around, and then all the Christmas treats that surround me at school and at home. None of this is bad in moderation, but for me, it is a slippery slope. If you give a mouse a cookie…

I am trying to get back to basics until my birthday. I made the mistake of buying some candy corn and some Halloween chocolate for a couple of our candy bowls and now it’s gone, thankfully, and I didn’t do too badly. But, I don’t plan on buying anything else until a couple of days before the trick or treaters come. A holiday is ONE day, Amy – not an entire month! A trick to help with that is to not go in the stores. Use the pick up service!

Here is what I am working on currently:

-getting enough water – this is a constant struggle at school. You simply cannot drink enough water as a teacher because you just can’t get to the rest room as much as you would need to! I am trying to drink a big Tervis tumbler of water before my coffee at home and then at least one Stanley cup at work, followed by 2-3 more Tervis tumblers at home. I am also drinking La Croix on the patio most days in the afternoon, because it feels like a treat.

-getting enough protein – I have really let this slip. I am aiming for 30-40 grams per meal. If I can get this back up, I think my sugar cravings will be lessened.

-I never sit down during the day, so I am very active, but I still need to get back to the gym consistency and add more walking. This is my favorite time to walk, but I just struggle with being so spent by the end of my workday. I realize that walking would give me more energy, but… Teaching is hard, y’all. Teaching has never been harder than in 2022. That’s a separate post, though.

Let’s talk about favorite products and foods!

I am still enjoying two cups of coffee each morning before work. I take a tablespoon of this:

and a splash of a skinny syrup and…

froth it in the bottom of my coffee cup now before starting my Keurig. It is better this way than spooning it on top and I dirty one less cup. I’m serious, you need a frother. Starbucks who?

Thank you to the person who recommended Costco’s Kirkland brand egg whites. They come in a box with 6 of these cartons. I do a mixture of real eggs and this for my burritos and faux egg mcmuffins. If I am home making a breakfast bowl, I usually use one real egg and a couple of splashes of these. They taste great! Yes, I am an egg for breakfast person and I am a breakfast person. I wake up hungry, but wait about 3 hours to eat. On a perfect day, I stop eating at 7 p.m. in the evening, so I am hungry!

I am still taking my iced proffee (protein coffee) to work for my mid morning snack. Current favorites are these:

I usually reserve these for the afternoon because it feels like a treat. Favorites right now are black razzberry and razzcranberry. There are some flavors I don’t like. I think LaCroix is my fave sparkling water.

For an afternoon or evening snack, I like the portion control of the baked box of chips from Costco. I am pretty satisfied with these or the plain flavor.

I have to have a string cheese once a day. Ernie hears that wrapper and comes running. So, I really only have half a string cheese a day!

I have popcorn a few times a week.

I alternate breakfasts that I take to school – faux egg mcmuffins are on tap this week. I use the light Thomas English muffins, a half slice of Kraft American, a square of egg (I made them on a sheet pan in the oven) and two slices of Canadian bacon. Who knew Canadian bacon was so light and provides some protein?

Having these all packed up really makes me happy! My goal is to have as little to do in the morning as possible!

I am still loving Slender Kitchen for my recipes. (Click on the red type to go directly to the site.) Thanks to Erica, fellow Spanish teacher at my school and meal prep partner, for finding it. Tom is amenable to these meals for dinner and he also cares about getting lots of protein and being pretty low carb. He will eat anything, but he does sometimes say things like, “I would rather not see this on my plate again”. He says he just really appreciates not having to make a decision about dinner after making so many during the workday. He is fine with a dinner of frozen Totino’s pizza – the cheapest on the market – or tuna salad, too. He can make these himself if I’m tired!

I cobbled together a few non-light recipes for stuffed peppers this week and subbed cauliflower rice for regular rice. Brown rice would be good, too. These ended up being very low in calories, WW points, and high in protein. I used Laura’s lean ground beef and only did a bit of shredded Mexican cheese. I should have cooked the peppers for longer. You have to cook them before the filling is in and I only did about 30 minutes. I think they need 45-an hour and maybe even the broiler would be good at the end. These would make a great Halloween meal and you could also do orange peppers and yellow peppers. I did yellow here:

All packed up for school:

To keep with the orange theme, I did roasted baby carrots. Roasting any fresh veg just makes them so delicious, in my opinion.

I cooked onion and mushroom this week to throw in with eggs or some of our dinner meals, possibly. I like having this on hand.

I truly enjoy the chopping and stirring and find it very relaxing. I want to buy exclusively fresh fruits and veg, but having a few cans and frozen bags of certain things can be so helpful, too.

Ok – I ordered this for $15. I had been very curious. You can only get it online and there are 12 flatbreads in the bag. You have to keep it refrigerated. They are paper, paper thin. I used one as a wrap and it was not that satisfiying, but I made “chips” out of them to dip in hummus and they were so good that way! All I did was spray some Pam and salt them. I think 8 minutes at 350 in the air fryer was what I did.

I am pretty sure that anything you can do with a Cut Da Carb, you can do with my beloved La Banderitas, but I have not tried making chips with them yet. Also, I love to make my own tortilla chips out of very thin corn tortillas. They are seriously better than some of our Mexican restaurants’ chips. All it takes is Pam and salt!

I recently tried this and yum! They taste like buckwheat pancakes and I didn’t think I really needed much syrup. I used some of my spray butter.

I am still taking two of my multivitamins, but I have gone down to only one of my Vitamin D. My Vitamin D levels were low a year ago and this year they have increased tremendously! Yay! My cholesterol is higher than it should be so I am taking this liquid fish oil and getting it re-tested in a few months. I am also still obsessed with taking one Ashwagandha gummy 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime. It contains a bit of Vitamin D, too. I think the Ashwagandha helps me to stay asleep. I really don’t care if it’s a placebo effect!

My WW app stopped working because we had to get a new credit card and I hadn’t changed the billing credit card. I tried for a week to “do it on my own” and “just write it down” but I decided that $20 a month is still worth it for me. Again, I have not yet reached my goal and I think this is the healthiest and most balanced approach. I just don’t think I am ready to be without the app yet.

Erica and I have both been struggling since August 10th when school started to get back on track. She says she is emotionally eating and drinking cocktails because school is hard. Her husband wants to eat out a lot during the week, too, which derails her. She does great during the school week until she goes home ravenous. I am struggling the most with after dinner treats right now.

My jeans all still fit, but they are tighter than they were last spring. I am trying to wear jeans a few times a week for accountability.

I want to repeat that I refuse to eat anything gross. I am not buying a lot of processed, packaged foods, but am cooking most of the stuff I eat myself. I have the time to do this, but honestly it doesn’t take much time. I spend about an hour on a weekend morning doing my breakfast prep and I cook every night for maybe 30 minutes and that gives me two dinners (Tom and I) and two lunches (Erica and I). I was making different things for our lunches and decided to work smarter like Erica had been doing.

My mom reads my blog every day (thanks, Mom!) and recently said “How are you doing on your diet?” I don’t feel that this is a diet, but rather that I am learning to feed my body in a healthier way, thus my blog post title “Healthy Living”.

She then went on to say, “From your blog, it looks like you are on a french fry diet!” That made me think maybe others think that, too! To that I say, I don’t want to live in a world without french fries. I probably have some french fries two-three times a month. I share them with other people and it’s a treat. If there are 21 meals in a week, I am eating a pretty good meal for 18-19 of them. It’s all about balance. That is why WW is so good and why it works. It retrains you about portion size. It lets you live your life. It is sustainable whereas diets are not in my humble opinion.

Of course, I show my treat meals more than my everyday meals in my blog posts because they are more fun to look at. I’m constantly working to figure this lifestyle out. I’m not trying to be fake up in here. I still eat too fast at lunch (we only have 20 minutes) and that sometimes carries over into my other meals. I still think I’m a member of the “Clean Plate Club”. As a child, I think our generation was taught that we had to clean our plate, but now I am working on learning to listen to my body’s fullness cues. I am working to take home half of my restaurant meals. I’m learning that a bite of something sweet does the trick just like the whole darn treat.

What I’m thankful for:

Tom – he is great at splitting things with me at restaurants, will eat any of my new experiments, and is super supportive.

Erica – it is so great to only have to make lunches two or three times a week. And, we eat like the Queens that we are! Ha! We have helped each other by all the new recipes we have tried. Erica has certain specialties and I have certain specialties.

That I like to cook! I feel for people like my sister Kate who just don’t enjoy it at all. It really makes it easier when you don’t feel like it’s a chore.

The people in my life who are supportive and say nice things. Never underestimate the power of a kind word.

You all! You are included in the above! No one can understand how supportive the blogosphere is if they don’t read and comment on blogs.

What recs do you have for me? Thoughts? I hope I gave one helpful tip today?

Amy

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Sorry it has taken me so long to officially post about this recipe. I have talked about these a lot already, so I apologize!

Erica, my meal prep partner, brought these for our lunch one day in mid-September:

It’s hard to believe that these are healthy and lower calorie, right?

Did you know that wonton wrappers are very low in calories and make a good pasta substitute? Pioneer Woman has been talking about them for sometime and I never really listened. I’m sorry, PW.

I found my wonton wrappers near the cream cheese in my Kroger. Weird, right? Erica found hers at a little Asian food market near our school.

Here is the official recipe. Just click on the red “here”. Did you know that I link many things like this? You just click on the red word or words. I am not trying to insult your intelligence, but I have had some questions and I wanted to clarify.

Erica and I both added Laura’s lean ground beef to get that protein in. The original recipe is meatless. You could customize this in so many ways. I want to try a Mexican lasagna with chicken, corn, black beans, tomatoes (maybe Ro-tel?), and Mexican shredded cheese.

Each muffin tin uses two wonton wrappers so you will need 24 in total.

You put one wrapper down in the tin after spraying Pam and then layer a zucchini/spinach garlic mixture that you sautee, a bit of ricotta, parmesan, and shredded mozzarella, a bit of marinara sauce of your choice, and then I added the beef, you do this again and put another wonton on top, another layer of the zucchini mixture, the ricotta, parm, and mozz, the sauce, the meat. Then, you put a bit more mozz and parm on top and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

The hardest part is just the layering. If you have ever made homemade lasagna before, this was faster and easier.

You can tell that I had to immediately sample one!

Tanya suggested freezing these and pulling out a portion when you needed a quick meal. Genius!

Let me know if you try them! All the credit goes to Erica for finding this recipe!

Amy

Monday, October 10, 2022

Linking up today with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday and many ladies here for Not Just a Mom – How We Host. I have talked about this often and it’s an area I constantly strive to improve.

Let’s go back to Friday…

The day was beautiful – sunny and crisp – and I had made plans for a happy hour with Erica and Elizabeth. Even though Elizabeth is no longer teaching with us, we have been good about seeing each other often.

We headed to Captain’s Quarters (are you tired of seeing it?) because it really is the best view of the river and the closest to our school.

I had a Kentucky lemonade – bourbon and lemonade.

We had some green chili wontons and

split a caprese pizza. Elizabeth took home the leftovers.

We hung out until about 4:30 and then I went home to Tom and we just had random things out of the fridge for dinner and watched tv. I wasn’t hungry so I just had a few bites.

Saturday morning, my sister and her two girls drove my mom to my city for a miniature show. My mom makes scenes out of miniatures and this is a good opportunity to buy the elements of the scenes. We dropped my mom off and then took the girls consignment shopping. Everyone found at least one thing!

I found three blouses that I will show you on Thursday – one was even new with tags!

Then, the girls were getting a bit hungry so we went to my favorite cookie shop called Penny and Pearl’s and took our cookies next door to a mediterranean place and shared some pita and hummus. Lena (the blonde) loves hummus so much!

We sat and laughed and laughed. These girls are seriously funny. They are quick with the jokes and they laugh at everything I say. Molly is really funny and quick, too.

We picked my mom up and she scored big time in her words. She founds lots of good stuff and it all fit in a tiny bag – miniature jokes. We made miniature puns most of the day, by the way.

Then, my mom was hungry and we had only had a few bites of pita and cookie, so we headed to Drake’s which is a sports bar. It was extremely loud, but everyone liked their food. Tom met us there, too.

Mia got sushi.

Lena got sliders.

I got a salad with green apple, blue cheese, sunflower seeds – yum!

and some sushi. I took half of both things home with me.

After lunch, we went to TJ Maxx and Bath and Body Works and then came back to our patio where Tom had started a fire. We sat around and then they left.

Jack came home because he had worked nearby and we all sat outside and had take out German food for dinner. Our German restaurant that closed had offered a special take out experience for Octoberfest so we jumped on that. I made the carrots.

I had my first apple cider sangria of the season – but I had to use apple juice because I didn’t buy any cider yet.

I made a s’more for dessert, too!

We watched games outside and then I got cold.

I was also really tired from my big day out!

Mia took this black and white of Ernie and sent it to me.

I fell asleep pretty early and then I was up early – oh well.

I had bought this trio at TJ Maxx and couldn’t wait to try it. I am saving peppermint until after Thanksgiving if I can.

Then, I did some meal prep, which I truly enjoy. I love doing it in the morning when I have my energy.

I did mushrooms and onions for breakfast and other things during the week.

I did a mini sheet pan of eggs for my faux egg mcmuffins.

I did one recipe for the week that will be a dinner for Tom and I and a lunch for Erica and I.

I think this would be a great Halloween meal, too. I cobbled together a couple of different recipes and made it healthier with Laura’s lean ground beef and cauliflower rice.

How We Host:

My house is not great for hosting. If I do have people over, it’s probably just one couple in the dining room for dinner or games. I host on my patio the most because I have a table that seats 6 and a sectional that can seat another 6 or so. We host on our boat with usually no more than 4 other adults. I think we can think outside the box when we use the word “host”. It may not have to be at your home, you know?

If you have trouble hosting and you want to do it more, please read Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist. It really helped me to see that I don’t need to do all that I thought I needed to do. My friend Kara agrees about what this book did for her.

A rare photography of Tom smiling:

He smiles often in real life, but to catch it on camera is truly a feat. He was happy about his nachos, it appears.

We hosted some of Tom’s work peeps recently on the boat. We board, we chat, we park at our riverside restaurant and that makes it super easy.

Tom’s boss: I think he is very afraid of Tom’s position as captain in this arena.

Hosting another couple and their dog this summer:

Here are the types of ways I host:

-happy hours after school with one or two other people usually (on my patio)

-summer brunch or lunch on my patio

-having a few people on the boat

-people over for dinner – sometimes take out and sometimes potluck

A couple things have changed the way I see hosting now. I think the pandemic changed my view on how elaborate or not elaborate it needs to be. I also think I’m doing it less now because I feel more freedom in meeting people out. I hosted a lot during the pandemic. I also think age has made me realize it doesn’t need to be perfect or so complicated. People truly just want you – they really don’t care about the other stuff.

I have included hosting on my Early Fall Bucket list. It really is important to me.

What about you? Weekend highlight? Hosting? I’m here for it all!

Amy

Friday, October 7, 2022

Did someone say Friday? It’s time to link up with the ladies to share what made us smile this week. It’s always such a happy post and I get so many good ideas!

I finished this and despite the ghost in the story, it was probably one of my favorites of hers. Also, in the back of the book, Elin includes her recommendations for a visit to Nantucket. I thought that was a nice touch.

And, then I started this. I think I picked it up on a whim at my library and I am really enjoying it! I loved having time to read outside over my fall break and after school with our wonderful weather. Real question: what am I gonna do when I can’t read outside anymore? I am looking for an armchair for my bedroom but have not had any luck. I really want to use it and not just throw clothes on it or have a place for Tom to put his hideous Tour de Tom biking costume.

I didn’t get a great picture of the beautiful bride and her groom from last weekend, so I stole this one to show you.

Monday I was able to meet my friends for brunch at our new First Watch near my house.

It was really nice and a fun thing to do on my last day of break.

I got back to meal prep and am enjoying breakfast burritos this week. I use a La Banderita brand low carb tortilla, some scrambled eggs, some shredded cheese, one Amylu chicken sausage breakfast link, and a few pieces of microwaved and diced potato. I wrap them up and put them in the freezer and pull one out each morning to take to school.

I had a spontaneous happy hour Tuesday after school to hear about Erica’s fall break trip upstate New York where she visited family and toured lakes and wineries.

I hadn’t eaten much for lunch that day and was starving. We had their homemade potato chips with dips and…

pretzel sticks and beer cheese.

on a cute patio. Ok Amy, time to get back to normal!

My face has been so dry and painful. I finally slathered this on one night before bed and saw immediate results and relief the next day. I have never had such a dry face so I am trying to figure it out. Any recommendations?

Over break, I used my Bath and Body coupons (usually I can’t make this work – I forget them or they have expired!)

I got this for free:

And, the 3 wick candles were on sale for $13.50 and I had a 20% off.

I got this:

And cinnamon pumpkin. I’m enjoying burning one inside and one outside. I am not into “saving” things. I want to use them now and enjoy them.

One of our lunches this week made by me was this Doritos taco salad. We each only use 5 Doritos and it has iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, a tiny bit of cheese, fat free sour cream, and taco sauce, along with taco meat made with Laura’s lean ground beef.

Super simple and super delicious!

So, what were your faves this week?

Amy

Thursday, October 6, 2022

It’s time to link up with Kellyann and Jill for Fashion Files!

I am kinda excited about this week because I have some outfits from fall break not taken in my classroom!

First off, I have Thursday, my first day of break. I had a hair appointment and lunch outside with a friend. I wore skinny jeans tucked into last year’s suede Western-ish Target boots, my white button down and a consignment vest that is suede-ish that I bought new with tags!

After lunch, I went to my favorite consignment store and found these Kut from the Kloth jeans for $18! I paired them with my new Loft horse sweater! I feel in love at first sight and had to make this sweater mine.

The detail on the jeans and they are the perfect length for me:

I told you in my Prime Purchases yesterday that I bought this sweater vest. I have not worn it out yet. I need to play around with it and see if I like the fit for sure.

I had my faux pearl necklace shortened and have been wearing it like this:

I wore my Nordstrom Wit and Wisdoms for errands and breakfast out. I paired them with my green Target blouse from last spring.

And, for the wedding Saturday I wore my trusty black consignment dress originally from Kohl’s, I think. I topped it with a floral kimono from Target. I wanted to buy a new dress, but I never found just what I wanted. I didn’t look that hard because I knew I had back up!

And, for back to school Tuesday, I wasn’t feeling inspired so I went with palazzo pants and a black top with my new Shu Shop sneakers.

What have you been wearing lately? Do you have a favorite outfit from above? Also, did you notice how many consignment items are in my outfits this week? It does take a bit of a learning curve, but see what you have available. You will walk out empty handed sometimes, but I have found so many good things.

Amy

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

I am linking up with Jennifer for Currently today! She gives us present participles (I just taught these in Spanish! #languagenerdalert!) and we will fill in the blanks!

Anticipating

A fire in my Solo Stove and a bowl of chili! I need a weekend night at home to make this happen. Mason loves my chili so much so I hope he will be here. My college kids have a little fall break coming up, too. I really want the cute little Solo Stove Mesa – it’s a table top version. It is the cutest little thing. I might ask Tom to get me that for my birthday. I would also like to re-create my S’mores charcuterie that I made a couple of years ago. It had the traditional S’mores making stuff and Fudge Stripe cookies and Reese’s. Maybe it needs something with caramel? I am also anticipating making soups and more comfort food meals. I can’t wait to make lasagna soup!

I think one thing that stops me from making a fire is that I just want it for an hour or two. It seems like our fires last for hours and someone has to babysit it.

Admiring

Sorry to keep saying this, but my tricolor mums! I am also admiring other peoples’ Halloween and Fall decor as I drive or walk by.

Spending/Consuming

Too much on groceries! I spent $400 the first month we were empty nesters in the fall of 2020. I spent $800 on groceries last month. So, what does that tell me? I am eating healthier, so that does cost a bit more, but groceries have almost doubled. I am consuming what I have in my freezer, though. I am really trying to continue to cut down on food waste and shop smarter. It’s hard!

Wanting

Another pair of boots or booties, I think. I want them to be easy to slip on/put on. I am thinking more of a Western vibe. If not a full cowboy boot, I think I would like some Western details. If you have a rec, let me know!

Purging/Deleting

Some of my older fall clothes and shoes! I keep a bag in my closet and as a new season rolls around, if an item no longer fits me or my style, I put it in the bag to either be donated or sold. Most of my fall clothes were new last season and I still like them, thankfully! I am constantly deleting emails and texts. I don’t like a full inbox or text stream. I can’t stand the visual clutter. I also desperately need to go through some spaces in my house and purge. I clean out the fridge and freezer on a weekly basis, too, before I decide what to add to my Kroger pick up order.

What about you? Any of these you want to comment on? Thanks for the fun link up, Jennifer!

Amy

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

It is the first Tuesday of the month and that means it is time to link up with Tanya for Prime Purchases.

I did not buy much in the month of September! But, what I did buy is really, really good.

One of my best friends, Heather, turned 50 and I did a “Favorites” theme. I typed up 50 favorite things about her/memories we share, too.

I bought her the Donna Karan cashmere mist deoderant because she also really appreciates nice smells like I do. Also, this is something that many won’t buy for themselves. I was not implying that she stinks at all! Also, I bought mine at the end of May and I still have some product left. I think that makes it way less per wear than some other ones I have used.

She loves Tyler candles and the Diva laundry soap, so I got her a 3 pack of the air freshener.

And, I got her the beaded champagne earrings like I have.

I think she really liked my kinda hodgepodge gift!

And, I have been wanting a sweater vest…

I ordered this one and it is super soft and not scratchy at all. I am deciding if I need to go down a size because it is kinda long.

I plan to wear it just as she is with one of my button downs under it!

What have you purchased this month?

Amy

Monday, October 3, 2022

My weekend started last Wednesday after school and it’s not over yet! Today is my last day of my little fall break and then I will have a 4 day week. I am linking up with Holly and Sarah to share a bit about what I’ve been up to.

At first, I thought a fall break from September 29-October 3 seemed a bit early, but it occurred right after our first grading period ended and during what I think of as probably our best weather around here!

I am always trying to do better at achieving work/life balance and it has been so nice. What is it about having a weekday off that just feels different?

Let’s go back to Wednesday evening…I was feeling a bit celebratory but Tom had a long day at work, so my buddy Heather met me for the sailboat race at Captain’s Quarters. It was beautiful sitting at an outdoor table and watching the sailboats go out to the course and then come back in as the sun was setting. Ah…. I just love being around water. It is so calming.

We split some onion rings and a spinach salmon salad and then Heath loves dessert (as do I) and picked this to share and we could not believe it when it arrived!

Thursday morning was hair day! Yay!

Then, I met Elizabeth for lunch at Caffe Classico, which is a Euopean cafe.

Balance – Belgian frites, wine, and salad.

Then, we went to my favorite consignment store and I found Kut From the Kloth jeans for $18. They were the perfect length!

I finished this and it was so cute. I do recommend it! If you read The Authenticity Project, it is the same author.

I started this! I was so excited when my library came through with this request just in time for my break. Why another ghost in your story, Elin?

Thursday night I made a random dinner for Tom and I of some stuff we had around.

Friday morning my college kids agreed to have lunch with me! We tried a new to us Mexican place. Mason had Mexican coffee and we shared chips and queso. We spoke Spanish most of the time and had the sweetest server from Mexico. She was tickled that we were speaking Spanish.

They had Mexican breakfast, too, so I got a breakfast dish that was amazing.

Jack got shrimp tostadas…

and Mason got a salmon spinach salad.

Tom wanted me to teach them Spanish when they were little and I kind of did. I used lots of Spanglish with them and we had lots of books in Spanish around the house. But, I also didn’t want to force what I love onto them. They both chose to take it in high school and took 4 years. I got to teach them in their final year. I am so happy that they truly love the language and they are the ones that start conversations with me in Spanish. They are both really good!

Friday night Tom and I went to dinner and I had a burger (didn’t eat the bun) and green beans. Tom got meatloaf and was in love!

They have an ice cream parlour upstairs and Tom got a milkshake, too! All of his favorites were present!

Saturday we had a road trip to a wedding and stopped halfway for German food! Look how cute their little gift shop is as you enter the restaurant:

We sat down and looked at the wall and Tom was sitting right by his birthplace – Wiesbaden, Germany!

And, this is where his family lives:

I got a German beer:

And some sides! I took much of it home!

We went to my cousin’s daughter’s wedding. Mother of the bride, but she looks too young to be, right?

They did cupcakes and a small wedding cake for the bride and groom to cut.

The bride was beautiful!

Sunday morning I had my coffee on the patio despite the cool morning.

More Hotel Nantucket!

Then, just Tom and I took the boat out and had lunch on the river. It was so beautiful! I just want to bottle up this weather, you know?

What was the highlight of your weekend?

Amy

Friday, September 30, 2022

Happy Friday! It is the day we link up with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites.

First, I want to say I am thinking of all of my friends in the path of Hurricane Ian. I know that is not enough to say that, but I hope everyone is safe out there, and I am thinking of you.

Here are some things that were my favorites this week:

Sunday night, we got to help celebrate my friend Heather’s 50th birthday. She had a few of us over and it was really sweet. It is rare to get to celebrate on ones’ actual birthday, so that was really special.

This cake is called a shadow cake from a local bakery and it is to die for!

I brought the cheese and the raspberry brie in puff pastry to put on the board:

Gorgeous setting!

This week our PTA gave us some treats in the lounge and I think this is my new favorite La Croix flavor – Black Razzberry.

And, I tried lime flavored potato chips and they were surprisingly good!

I broke out the Target Universal Thread dress and boots one day. It felt very fall out, so I wanted to break out the fall clothes!

And, another fall outfit:

I bought some Danskos about a month ago and finally got to wear them:

This is really good! I think they changed the label, but it has a tiny bit of sparkling essence to it and it’s a screw top!

I picked this up for Heather at Trader Joe’s because I asked if I could help. It’s really good! Peach Bellini is the flavor. I think you can only get it at TJ’s and I plan to get it again for myself.

I had my faux pearls shortened. I took them to a local jeweler who said they had to all be individually re-tied and that very few people in town do this anymore.

Hall bath has had drywall applied!

This isn’t a favorite, but…

My next door neighbor at school told me about “quiet quitting” your job. You don’t actually quit, but you stop doing anything beyond your workday. You basically do the bare minimum.

Have you heard of this? Is this because employees think they have the power now because so many fields are hurting for people? I am trying to have more work/life balance this year, but I always want to bring my best.

What were your favorites this week?

Amy

Thursday, September 29, 2022

It is time to link up here for Monthly Musings!

This month’s topic is Fall Decor and Halloween!

I gotta admit that I wasn’t feeling it until last weekend. And, even then, I only put out some of my stuff. I just try to go with my gut each year. Some years I am more into it than other years.

I love to decorate a bit on my front porch. I have Jack O’Lantern lanterns from Target years ago and I have a pumpkin flag. I also have a haunted house flag that I may change to in October. I have a very small front porch so I don’t do much at all.

Inside, I always do my mantle. I love the idea to take old Scrabble letters and spell out different things. I have 20 Scrabble boards in my classroom (Spanish version) so I stole a few tiles from these games. It’s ok! I still have plenty for the kids!

I love this little sign from a boutique in my hometown that my mom bought for me.

Pretty glass pumpkin:

I will add candy soon to these little dishes on my long charcuterie board.

Framed fall photos of my family:

The dough bowl I bought looks great with my plastic pumpkins and I love this melamine fall serving dish.

I have Day of the Dead pillows from last year so I decked out both patios with these.

Another flag:

I decided to keep the mums and pumpkins in the back where I will get enjoyment from seeing them.

It’s not much, but my decor is making me happy!

What about you?

For Halloween dinner, I almost always make chili, but I have also made mummy dogs! Yum!

I love chocolate and I loved the variety my kids used to bring home from trick or treating. Fun size all the way! I love Reese’s, Take 5, Milky Way probably the most!

I think it’s a great idea to take pictures of your decor for the next year if you have a lot of decor. I also like to put my leftover napkins, handsoap, candles, and things like that in my Fall/Halloween tub. That way I am sure to use them.

Yes to pumpkin spice! Love it!

Amy