365: November (most of it)

Nov 7 - Found this cute little guy @ Yankee Candle...my weakness!

Nov 8 - Candle shade/one of the only Thanksgiving decorations I had out this year.

Nov 9 - Arugula raviolis, seafood blend mix, & spinach sauteed in olive oil! MMmmm!!

Nov 10 - Chex Mix time at our house!! Secret recipe for the best chex mix around!!
(as I write this we are already out of it...time to make batch #2!!)

Nov 11 - I just love my new district!!

Nov 12 - Crate and Barrel Christmas shopping - Yes, Please!!!!

Nov 13 - Annual holiday mug set I buy each year from Crate and Barrel

Nov 14 - Ribs cookin' away in the crock pot for 10 hours = AMAZING!! Literally fell right off the bone!

Nov 15 - Sick day from school also meant opportunity to grade the 133 pillowcases that were turned in!! (this is just a small representation)

Nov 16 - Roses from Jack :)

Nov 17 - Hot chocolate & jingles cookies = one of my favorite things about Christmas-time!!

Nov 18 - Today we met Ivy (our friends Courtney & Andrew's new puppy)!! She's adorable! We got her this antler you see in the picture and she loved it! Sadie on the other hand was not too fond of Ivy and her "puppy ways" haha, but it was cute to watch!

Nov 19 - 3rd Annual November Wine Trail - this time the group doubled in size!

Nov 20 - My wine trail favorites!! :)

Nov 21 - Pillowcases I lined the hallway with outside my room. There are SO many more I wasn't able to hang, but I wanted the kids to be able to take them home to show their families over break. (not the best quality of pic, but take my word for it...it looked awesome in person!)

Nov 22 - Sadie girl!!

Nov 23 - Pasta, seafood blend, spinach and curry sauce

Nov 24 - Dessert wine we drank this Thanksgiving. Story behind it is that 3 years ago Jack was working for a different company and was out in San Diego for the month of November. I was student teaching but had that week off so I flew out and stayed with him for Thanksgiving break. We went to Disney, the San Diego Zoo, this winery, La Jolla, and downtown San Diego. We ate our Thanksgiving FISH that year on a pier over the Pacific Ocean...which I always remind him was my favorite Thanksgiving ever! We didn't really plan it out special to bring this bottle for this years Thanksgiving, it just worked out that way and when we were about to open it we remembered how special it really was!! :)

Nov 25 - Black Friday deals at Loft - I'm there!!

Nov 26 - Sadie's new sock monkey toy that she is obsessed with! Her parents sure do take good care of her! :)

Nov 27 - New tree (2nd in our house) that I'm in love with. It's my "pretty tree" because we have our huge "family tree" and I wanted one in the main room we're in a lot.

Nov 28 - Wine bottle decor for the holidays - snowman topper and scarf

365 Continues On!!

Oct 20 - Polenta Casserole. Went to Trader Joe's right after school and this was their sample. I tasked it, fell in love - with the taste and easiness of the recipe, and there it was...DINNER!!! Done and done!

Oct 21 - Sadie got spoiled today when I picked her up from school and we took a little detour before going home to my favorite pet boutique. They finally had her favorite sweet potato treats back in stock!

Oct 22 - Menards afternoon of shopping with Jack.

Oct 23 - We went on a little "date" to this hot wings place I drive by on my way to work. My students told me it's "amazing"...so we tried it out. It really was great!! Nice meaty wings, very spicy choices to pick from, and lots of tv's for Jack to watch the football games. It really was perfect! While I love dates that you get dressed up for, hot wings, beer and my husband are almost just more fun to me sometimes!! Simple is underrated sometimes, I'm trying to change that haha

Oct 24 - Steak, potatoes, and salad = Monday night dinner! We start off the week strong with good meals.

Oct 25 - And so begins another 8 week class of my Master's program. 3 lovely books. (Sadie wouldn't move when I was trying to take this picture)

Oct 26 - Jack worked late, no dinner was planned, I was hungry...so Joe's-O's (Spaghettio's) it was!! Mmmmm!!! It really just hit the spot!!

Oct 27 - No, we were not conducting a science project. Sadie has turned into the biggest brat when it comes to eating. We get samples, she seems to like some so we buy a bag of it. We get through about 3 days of it and then she decides she doesn't like it anymore. And so now after about 4 months of this we decided - fine!! We will just lay out samples and you pick what you'd like to eat that night. And so...that's what this is. Sadie being a damn princess!! haha...at least she's cute!!

Oct 28 - Still some leaves left on the tree!

Oct 29 - Octoberfest back in my parent's neighborhood. A one-of-a-kind tradition!!

Oct 30 - Back at Menards, looking at lights! I love Christmas decorations!!

Oct 31 - Little Miss Spooky shirt I couldn't resist buying, so it was a perfect choice to wear to school on Halloween!!!

Nov 1 - Macadamia Nuts a student's parents brought back for me from Hawaii since they found out how in love I am with it, haha, too nice!!!

Nov 2 - Turkey and stuffing for dinner. A little early, but Jack was happy to have his favorite meal!

Nov 3 - Taffy apples = fall = happy me!!!

Nov 4 - Who doesn't like to cut 1 lb's of butter up into the 4 sticks?! It's cheaper for me to get these for school than the already cut ones, so this is how I spend my nights sometimes!!

Nov 5 - Best cookie(s) ever!!! My neighbor (in my parent's 'hood) made these...omg yum! They've got everything in them (can't see it but they do) and oouuuu are they AMAZING!!!

Nov 6 - Waffles for breakfast with the hubby!! Mmmmmm!!!

"Thanks-for-giving" me lessons I need

So it turns out...it's REALLY hard to get my blog updated as often as I'd like. I really am starting to believe and see that since everyone is individual, everyone has their own definition of what is "too much on the plate" and this past month I've found my definition! I hate to think way back to a conversation I once had with my mom where I said, "I want to be busy all the time, I think it'd be so fun!" ....WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING!??! Now I'm saying, "Oh my gosh....I want to have some down time, I think that would be SPECTACULAR!!" haha...oh, how times change! My lesson...be careful what you wish for!

Working full-time, being married to a full-time worker, being in graduate school, having a whole house to maintain, a dog to take care of and just simply keeping up with "life"...it's a lot sometimes (or a lot of the time!)! But I am thankful that I have all of those things to be busy with, I'm blessed and thankful!!!

While I know everyone has their plates full at different times or all the time, for me, I've truly been tested these past 6 weeks. I've had some major breakdowns and "why me" talks, and "I'm not sure I can keep living this way..." and the list goes on. But then eventually things start to take a turn for the better: the sun comes out, I go on a shopping spree, I finish writing papers faster than I expected to, Sadie does something totally funny, my students remind me why I love my job so much, Jack brings me home flowers just because, etc....

But it's those days that just aren't going well that I sometimes really forget all the good, and that it really will all work out. Maybe not in that moment of "AAHHHH", but all in do time, it will work out. I am really learning to trust in myself, God, and the Universe.
It takes time for things to be back on the "up swing" and it takes time for all of us to grow and learn life lessons and more about ourselves. So, while I don't always enjoying the process of learning a lesson in life or about myself, I do love the "end product" and how it turns out, for the most part!
For that, I am thankful!! :)

Here's to chuggin' along on the path called life and oh, what a glorious life it is!!! :)