recipes made:

  • this cranberry almond biscotti– the recipe called for pistachios but I used almonds instead and it was absolutely delicious. I really don’t think a full batch of cookies has ever disappeared so quickly in our house! A huge hit, and I will definitely be making these for Christmas.
  • this chocolate chip banana bread– also
  • these chocolate chip cookies– which seriously may be the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever tried. It has earned it page in my handmade cookbook and I will definitely be revisiting this one when I need the perfect cookie recipe.
  • the crinkle sprinkle cookies from The Pretty Dish cookbook (one of my favorite cookbooks!!)
  • the carnitas nachos and guacamole from What’s Gaby Cooking: Everyday California Food— I did a similar take on these with ground turkey since I didn’t have the 4 hours to make the pork. But YUM. And the guacamole was the perfect pair. This is another one of my favorite cookbooks and definitely worth checking out if you love Mexican inspired food as much as I do.
  • these classic Spritz cookies– we NEVER make Spritz cookies unless it’s Christmas around here. I’m not sure why, but it has always just been a Christmas-baking-day kind of cookie. But when we DO make them for Christmas, they are our favorite. I am constantly picking at them and breaking pieces off (I love the burnt ones!) So I decided to make these on a random WFH day and could not have been happier. I need to remember that they aren’t JUST a Christmas cookie.

books read:

  • Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire– I totally didn’t love this book, although I still flew through it all the same. I really didn’t care for any of the characters but I was into the story and had to know how it ended. Predictably, by the way.
  • An American Marriage by Tayari Jones– I was really into this story. I loved how it was told and was captivated from the very beginning chapters. With that being said, I really disliked all of the characters in this book too! In some respects I felt sorry for everyone, but also felt like they were all acting completely ridiculous. If I had know any of these people in real life, I would have probably gone crazy.
  • Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng– I really enjoyed this. I’m not sure that it live up to the hype for me, but I feel like I may have had impossible expectations for it. Overall, I loooooved all of the characters in this book. There were quite a few, and they were all so well written, I was actually sad when it ended. Definitely not my favorite book of the year, but one I think I will read again somewhere down the line.
  • Me Before You by Jojo Moyes– I had started-and-never-finished this book when it first came out and finally decided to pick it back up. I started over since it had been years since I tried to read it and was surprised at how little I remembered about it. And let me say, it was GOOD. This was a really unique story and one that definitely tugged on the heart strings. And it did make me cry a few times… throughout. So glad I got around to finishing this!

products used:

  • Peach Perfect Mattifying Setting Powder— bought this on a whim and because crazy obsessed in no time at all. It works so well with my oily skin and keeps me more shine-free throughout the day than any other powder I’ve used. I love the whole Peach Perfect line, but this is definitely one of the best of the bunch.

music:

  • Khurangbin– this was the group that opened up for the Leon Bridges concert we went to and I was intrigued enough in the half hour we saw them play, to look them up afterwards. I have to say, it’s definitely out there for me but it has been SO relaxing to listen to music without words/singing. It’s perfect to zone out to on the subway and has been especially helpful for my mile-a-minute brain lately.

other things:

  • Two Little Red Hens Bakery– ever since Ryan has been living on the Upper East Side, I have been DYING to try this bakery. I could just tell by the outside that it was going to be delish and I was not wrong! I was out of control and got a plain vanilla cupcake, a Brooklyn blackout cupcake, a peanut butter fudge cupcake and a snickerdoodle…. don’t judge me. It was a rough day. But I seriously think they were the best cupcakes I have EVER had!! I will definitely be making another stop there before we say out goodbyes to the Upper East Side. And probably a few visits after that, too!
  • Bullet Journaling– we’re back! Back to finally getting my life organized and not feeling like I have a total whirlwind brain 24/7. I only really got back on this wagon at the end of the month, but it has already done wonders for me. I feel so much more relaxed and organized when I have my schedule written down on actual paper. I wish I had never stopped doing these!

the main events:

  • Leon Bridges concert at Radio City Music Hall– this was better than I ever could have imagined it being!! I pretty much stalked StubHub for five days waiting for the ticket prices to go down, and let me just say that I would have paid WAY more than I ddi to see this show. He sounded just a good as he does recorded and was so entertaining. Ryan had never heard a single one of his songs before we went and said he would 100% see him again. Now, that may have been the bottle of wine we killed talking, but that’s a win in my book.
  • an update on apartment touring 10/17– it’s a nightmare! And I hope we don’t have to look for another apartment for a very long time. I think we have seen around 30 places at this point and I am slowly starting to lose my mind. We’ve definitely LOVED a few so far, but I’ve been so indecisive and such a pain in the ass. I can’t believe that Ryan still wants to talk to me, no less live with me. But I think we are finally finally finally making progress and have decided to stick to Brooklyn. Small victories!

  • an update on apartment touring 10/23– I think we finally found it!!!! I am going to see it again tomorrow to make sure, but bringing a check for the security deposit because I am OPTIMISTIC!

  • Halloween Weekend 1 and 2– I ended up having two weekends of Halloween this year for some reason. First we had gone to a party at home and dressed up in 90’s hip-hop clothes. It was a ditch effort but fun to wear and easy! Then we had plans to use the same costume for Halloween weekend 2 in Brooklyn, and Ryan forgot the star of the show: his gold foil parachute pants. So at the last second we were running around getting a costume ready and ended up being Centereach cougars, our high school mascot. It was definitely the most fun costume and we had the best night celebrating Kiki’s birthday!