Hello and happy Monday Friends ~
I hope you had a fun weekend! 💗
We spent ours out-of-town visiting my Aunt Mary Jo. She moved almost 2 years ago from our area to St. Joseph, MN. It's such an adorable town next to a bigger city. She lives on a college campus (a little section of senior housing there) and her home is so cute. She's involved on the campus with the nuns there and helping in the chapels etc. And I love that we could walk to the local coffee shop for lunch, did some grocery shopping at the co-op, and even some holiday shopping in a cute Christmas shop. She lives less than a mile from lots of neat things like that. While we walked we heard the chapel bells ringing on the campus and it was very pleasant out. Kind of feels like a Hallmark movie in her area. Lol
She wanted to put me on some bank paperwork (she doesn't have any kids) and it needed to be during work day hours. So Matt and I made a weekend of it to get visiting time with her too. We had visited her earlier this year too. She's loving it there and we always have fun with her. We also helped her with picking out some new furniture for her place, as she was in need of it. She said she is "no good with design things" and wanted my "expertise". Lol She's always been an extra special Auntie in my life and I love that she only lives a few hours away.
We also went out to dinner one night at a fun hibachi place Matt knew, we hung out and played games, went for walks, and just visited and caught up. Then Sunday came too fast and it was time to head home and we listened to the Packers game in the car on the drive. Kind of an ugly win, but we'll take it! 😁 Hey Jean, did you see we pulled a KC for our game ender this week?😂
Then last night the C's invited us to a favorite local pizza place for a little family gathering to celebrate their youngest daughter's bday. So we hung out with them and their relatives and had pizza and cake. Yummy and fun! Not a bad way to end a weekend! 😋
Now on to this week ahead...
THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:
ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:
coffee with sugar-free peppermint mocha creamer, half a bagel (will be back to fasting tomorrow)
ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:
Christmas shopping with my Mom, decorating here and helping at her place, lunch out with a friend, work on Christmas lights outside, hospice work
THINKING ABOUT:
mainly holiday lists on the brain: Thanksgiving and Christmas (meals, shopping plans, decorating, gifts etc)
I've caught the bug, and especially since Thanksgiving is so late, I'm going to decorate (or be working on it) before Thanksgiving this year.
so excited to get the Christmas vibes going ✨
AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE
I'm currently listening to kind of a vintage Christmas music station and Bing Crosby is singing about Holly & Ivy. I also hear the hum of the humidifier. I'm wearing my cozy sweatshirt as it's chilly this morning. It's sunny but there's frost on our deck and on the rooftops of our neighbor's homes. I love how frost glistens like diamonds in the sun. 😍
I'm looking at all the Fall decorations and I think of all the work ahead of me to put it all away, clean (want to shampoo carpets too), and then haul out all the Christmas stuff - and I have A LOT! 🙈 Thank goodness for the help of a strong Hubby!
CURRENTLY READING
need to get back to my book - but still reading holiday magazines and some cookbooks for holiday recipes ahead
ON THE TV TODAY:
Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, Great British Bake Off, Jeopardy, Ghosts, Shark Tank, Grey's Anatomy, Love is Blind, Holiday Baking Championship, Walking Dead catch up
ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:
MONDAY - marinara +meatballs over healthy noodles, foccacia, roasted Italian broccoli
TUESDAY - clean out fridge
WEDNESDAY - maybe breakfast for dinner - egg bake or scramble
THURSDAY - slow cooker pork fajitas (didn't make last week cuz of trip and froze the roast)
FRIDAY - out for dinner with C's and local hockey game
*might bake a new bread recipe for butterscotch pumpkin bread made with browned butter - yum!
TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:
ipad coloring, crafting, Christmas decorating
TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:
We know this well in the northwoods. If you are wondering about the cat litter, it's to add grip for your tires if you're stuck in an icy spot.
FROM THE CAMERA:
some of the fabric samples we brought back to test colors in my Aunt's home
Matt caught pics of our hibachi time!
These pics are outside my Aunt's back door. I was out with her when we let her dog Luna out. The moon was so pretty. That's her cozy back door and I love the warm light looking inside. :)
And this was out her front door. The HOA puts up Christmas lights in the neighborhood each year and they had just put them up that day:
