Happy November! Another month down and another month closer to the end of the wildest year of our lives. October was a good one! I crossed some things off the seasonal bucket list, baked a lotttttt of delicious things, and celebrated some of my favorite people. And the most exciting thing, we booked our wedding!!! Definitely a bright spot in this crazy year. October was full of a lot of good things, and for that I am very thankful. Here’s to hoping for more of the same.

READING

  • Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer ***
  • Bright Side by Kim Holden ****
  • One Of Us Is Lying Karen McManus ***
  • And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie ****

BAKING/MAKING

  • My favorite brownies on a football Sunday in desperate need of dessert. Every time I bake these they’re gone within a day or two, they never disappoint!
  • this spaghetti squash bolognese was so good!
  • mom’s apple cake from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook
  • finally finally finally made @grossypelosi’s vodka sawce and it totally lived up to the hype. Kicking myself for not making it sooner, and also making it for every meal for the rest of ever.
  • and because THAT was so amazing, I decided to finally try his chocolate chip cookie recipe. Oh my GOD. You guys. Make these. Please, make them. They are insane. I’ve been making CCC’s for fifteen years and I’ve never been WOW’ed like this.
  • another banana nut bread that was definitely a hit.

EATING

  • fall chopped salad – this has been on repeat for the entire month. I’ve been batch roasting two big sweet potatoes at the beginning of the week and then eating this for lunch throughout! I’ve had so many and I’m still not even a little sick of it.
  • Candy Corn – you guys, I can’t help it. I love it. I only allow myself to eat it from like October 15-Halloween and this year I made it all the way to October 29th before having some. I then ate the better portion of a bag in just two days, but at least it was only one bag this year. Any other candy corn lovers here? I am usually very alone in this… 🎃

DRINKING

  • Pumpkin Beer – and lots of it. For the pumpkin beer tasting we had to buy a six pack of each brand, and only ended up using one of each for the tasting. Meaning, we’re left with a TON of pumpkin beer. Trying to get through a bunch before the end of the season.
  • Silk Oat Yeah the Oatmeal Cookie One Oatmilk Creamer – cannot get enough of this in my morning cup of coffee. It’s definitely not easy to find, but so worth it if you happen to see it. Slightly sweet and just enough creaminess to take the bitter taste out of your black coffee.

LOVING

  • Essie Expressie nail polish in Now Or Never – I am OBSESSED with this nail polish. One of my biggest gripes with at-home manicures is that I feel like it never fully dries! No matter what time in the day I paint them, I always wake up with pillow lines the next day. This quick dry polish dries in just a few minutes and looks perfect for days and days afterwards. Highly recommend!
  • My new 24-70mm lens! Bought this semi on a whim, and couldn’t be happier about it. I haven’t owned a zoom lens in YEARS and forgot what a treat it is. Essentially feels like I bought my camera its own set of legs and I couldn’t love it more.
  • Co-Star horoscopes, but especially the DO/DON’T section. I look at mine every day and take it all very much to heart. Highly recommend if you are into horoscopes!

LISTENING

  • Heart of Glass by Miley Cyrus – obsessed with her cover of this song! It gets stuck in my head so easily and then I have no choice by to play it on a loop for hours afterwards. Can’t get enough of it!
  • Quiver by Super Duper – no idea how I stumbled across this one, but I love it.
  • Funny Thing by Thundercat – a tiktok song that’s been stuck in my head for the entirety of this month

WATCHING

  • Ford v Ferrari – watched this on a whim one night and we loved it! Not something I ever would have thought I’d be into, but the cinematography was so gorgeous I was sucked in right away.
  • Succession – pathetic that it took us this long to watch two seasons, but we finally finished and the ending BLEW my mind!!! This show ended up being such a curve ball, but I am so glad we watched it!
  • Friday Night Lights – officially starting this for the first time and I’m so excited about it. I can’t wait to love it just as much as everyone else does.

DOING

  • Hiked in the Catskills! – crossed if off the fall bucket list and it was amazing. We met Kevin in Woodstock and did the Overlook Mountain Trail. It was the most strenuous, and most rewarding thing I’d done in MONTHS. I was sore for 5 days afterwards. But it totally made me want to be a real hiker. 10/10 recommend.
  • Alllllll the Christmas shopping – really really REALLY trying to get this all done in the next few weeks before it starts to get really crazy. Part of me wanted to hold out for Black Friday/Cyber Monday but part of me thinks it might not even be worth it. The poor post office ain’t even gonna know what’s hit it this year.

CELEBRATING

  • Ed and Mel’s Engagement Party – celebrated two of our favorite people getting engaged!
  • Booking our Wedding Venue!!!! – it’s official!! Let the countdown to September 2022 begin. We are so excited! ❤️❤️❤️
  • EFB Oktoberfest – complete with all the German food you can imagine, our official pumpkin beer tasting, a pumpkin carving contest, late-night poker and the most delicious pumpkin dessert I’ve ever had. Just missing two of our VIP’s!
  • Kiki’s Birthday/Halloween – celebrated with a pizza brunch, German beer, and, of course, late night McDonalds. No birthday is complete without some midnight fast food.

And that’s a wrap! What kinds of posts are you guys hoping to see here for the end of the year? Any requests?!

Sending you hugs, JAK