Speaking of the holiday season, it is blowing my mind that Christmas is just over two weeks away. My mind is admittedly way more wrapped up in our upcoming move than the holidays at the moment. We are hoping to be in our new house before Christmas and have to be in by the end of December because our lease is up. We’re still trying to do all the things to make Christmas feel magical because we LOVE Christmas in our house and thankfully our boys make it easy to remember the magic of the holiday season is about family, love, the birth of Jesus and togetherness. The only decorations we have up in our house at the moment is a fake Christmas tree with zero ornaments but that is enough.
Now let’s keep things rolling and dive into this week’s roundup of Friday favorites! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with holiday fun!!
Things I’m Loving Friday
Pepper is our entire family’s favorite thing on the planet lately. She is just beyond adorable and with each day that passes, we’re seeing more of her personality unfold and it’s a wonderful blend of cute puppy playfulness and hysterical chaotic mayhem. We were so used to a big, floppy puppy so Ryan and I joke that Pepper feels more like a hamster to us than a dog and, truth be told, she’s been really, really easy so far. Her size makes her feel a lot more manageable as our only point of comparison to Pepper puppy is Sadie puppy who was 10-out-of-10 crazy (and I mean that in the best way because Sadie was also 10-out-of-10 wonderful). Vizslas need so much exercise and Sadie’s energy level was out of this world. Pepper is energetic for sure but her energy looks like little hamster sprints and bunny hops of playfulness that have the boys in hysterics. She loves chasing our feet under blankets, playing her own version of the “hand game” and cuddling right up against us for hours.
We took Pepper in for her first puppy vet appointment on Tuesday afternoon and our vet told us we hit the jackpot with our new girl. We could not agree more. Our veterinarian also thinks Pepper is possibly a mix of cairn terrier, Norwich terrier and chihuahua and now I’m way too tempted to do one of those doggie DNA tests on her! Whatever she is, she’s proving to be the perfect mix for our family and I’m continually blown away by how much she genuinely seems to enjoy our boys!
Our one obstacle with Pepper at the moment is potty training. She’s so small and quiet that she can easily slip away from us and sneak off to go potty in the house. She won’t go in her crate (guys, we are actually sticking to crate training this time!!) but when she can roam around the house, she’ll leave little surprises for us to find sometimes. Our vet recommended sectioning off a part o the house so she doesn’t have access to the whole house when we’re home with her so we can stay on top of her a little easier for potty training. We did the bell method with Sadie where we touched her nose to a bell we hung on the door before taking her out and she very quickly learned to ring the bell if she needed to go out but potty training Pepper is a little trickier! If you have any magical tips that have worked well for potty training a small dog, I’m all ears!
Every holiday season for the past fast 5 or so years, my girlfriends and I have come together for a white elephant holiday mug exchange. It’s a simple way to be together, celebrate the season and leave with a little something special. I love using my holiday mugs every year and also really enjoy shopping for a cute mug to bring to the exchange! We always make the exchange “white elephant style” where we draw numbers and can swap/steal mugs which only adds to the fun. I’m already looking forward to this year’s exchange in a week or so!
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Organic White Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Bars
Ice cream is my all-time favorite food and when seasonal holiday flavors come out, I cannot resist. I picked up a box of these white chocolate peppermint ice cream bars at Whole Foods earlier this week and they disappeared FAST. They were perfectly minty and creamy with a lovely crunch on the outside from the white chocolate. I would’ve preferred a dark chocolate exterior to the white chocolate but still thoroughly enjoyed these bars, especially after letting them sit out on the counter for 5 minutes or so to let the ice cream slightly soften beneath the white chocolate coating.
My rating: A-
Okay, Colleen Hoover fanatics, which Colleen Hoover book should I read next because I really, really liked this one!? Colleen Hoover is a mega-popular author right now and her books are often highly recommended by you guys for me to read. I’ve admittedly steered clear of her books for more than a year after I didn’t love Verity (you may read my thoughts on Verity here) but I figured I should give her books another chance. I borrowed It Ends with Us through the Libby app and found myself looking forward to reading this one at the end of each day. I found myself invested in the main characters happiness and the way the plotline developed had me thinking deeply about everything from abusive relationships to the importance of helping others. For a book I thought would read more like a love story, it was far more than that with greater depth, not-too-predictable relationship development and thought-provoking sub-topics.
The book begins when Lily Bloom unexpectedly meets Ryle Kincaid, a handsome neurosurgeon, in the midst of what he thinks is a private breakdown on the rooftop of a building in Boston. When he spots Lily, the two begin talking and their chance meeting changes everything for both of them. Prompted to share “naked truths” with each other, Lily and Ryle open up to each other and share dark thoughts they never anticipated voicing publicly, let alone to a complete stranger.
Acknowledging they want different things in life, Lily and Ryle go their separate ways but when Lily opens her own business and Ryle comes back into her life in the most unexpected way, she’s not sure she can resist the pull she feels toward him. As she begins to entertain a real relationship with Ryle, she runs into her teenage love, Atlas Corrigan, the boy she hasn’t seen since she was 16 who captured her heart and changed her life. Will a chance meeting with Atlas threaten her new-but-powerful relationship? Is what she had with Atlas still there, buried under years of heartache and pain? Is Ryle as incredible as he seems and worth putting these questions in Lily’s heart away forever?
Below you will find a recap of the top 10 most popular blog posts and your top 10 favorite items from November 2022! Hopefully this will help you check out some blog posts you may have missed or help you easily locate an item I’ve mentioned in the past that got buried in blog/social media mayhem.
BLOG POSTS:
YOUR TOP 10 FAVORITES:
Our Favorite Christmas Books for Kids (A roundup of some of our all-time favorite holiday books to read with the boys!)
Holiday Pretzel Treats (I made these for the new neighbors on our street this year! We owe them a load of gratitude for handing the mayhem surrounding the construction of our new home over the past 2 years so I packaged them up nicely and included a holiday candle in the mix as well.)
Question of the Day
What is one thing making you smile this week?
