Life Lately - November

Well - tomorrow is December 1st. I feel like the month of November has sped by - it just started and it's already coming to a close! Whoa!

What I Read - Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy; two very good books but also two very different books! I also started reading The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin but I'm only about five chapters in... so that one will get finished up in December!

Books on the Shelf - Oh boy this list is a mile long (basically - I have plenty to read). Still waiting to be cracked open are: The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox, The Collective by Alison Gaylin, Everything We Didn't Say by Nicole Baart, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn, Elizabeth & Margaret: The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters by Andrew Morton, My Dear Hamilton by Eliza Kaye & Stephanie Dray... and y'all... there are a couple more! I need to get to work on reading! 

Must See TV - Y'all... I watch nothing! If you'd have told me a couple years ago that I'd be sitting here watching nothing on TV, I'd have laughed at you. Ryan and I started a show on Netflix called The Frankenstein Chronicles and we enjoyed the first few episodes but we haven't really been pulled in... I have also watched an episode of The Great British Baking Show here and there - but there is nothing I'm watching consistently.

I'd love to have the time to watch the second season(s) of both The Great and Witcher - but then again, there are usually other things I'd rather be doing when it comes down to it.

Movies of the Month - The only movie I saw this month was The Eternals... and I have to say that while I enjoyed it, it definitely wouldn't rank near the top of the pile where Marvel movies are concerned. I think I most enjoyed seeing Kit Harington & Richard Madden in a movie together (Game of Thrones - reunited) and it tickled me that they were in a love triangle with a character named Cersi... hehehe. 

What I'm Listening To - Y'all know I've already started to listen to Christmas music...of course! I am always jamming out to holiday tunes as soon as Halloween has ended, ha-ha! I've also been listening to a couple different podcasts: Crime Junkies, American Veteran, That Sounds Fun with Annie Downs and The Big Boo Cast, among others. 

Tasty Treats - Only six pictures y'all... I guess I didn't do too much eating worth documenting this month, huh? I know I did have some divine Pumpkin Pancakes at Whisk earlier in the month and also went to tea at The Tea Cart in Berryville - that was fun and delicious!

I put together some tarts with chocolate and bits of fruit and nuts, we did a champagne toast when I said yes to the dress and honestly - we ate tons of good food in Charleston and I just didn't document it! Poogan's Porch and Poogan's Smokehouse were so very tasty, Hot Little Biscuit was yummy and don't even get me started on our Thanksgiving feast! We also ate at Page's Okra Grill and El Jefe on King Street.

What I'm Looking Forward To - All things Christmas! I'm looking forward to experiencing the holiday season with my fiancé and my family and we have a couple things we are planning to do to enjoy the season! We are seeing Christmas with The Chosen at the movies on December 1st, taking part in a Holiday Market this weekend, celebrating with our life groups with parties and dinners and taking in Enchanted at Nationals Park. 

I am so very excited about what this holiday season will hold and what the New Year has in store.

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Y'all have a blessed and wonderful final month of 2021 - enjoy the Christmas season and prepare for the New Year to come!

Thanksgiving Day - the Charleston Way

Happiest of Mondays - there are only two days left in the entire month of November! Another Thanksgiving is in the books... I've now celebrated 37 of this delightful holiday and this year's celebrations were especially wonderful because they included my future husband and his family.

Ryan and I drove down to Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday to meet up with my parents and Ryan's Mom (and her boyfriend) to celebrate Thanksgiving and explore the city of Charleston - a location that I've never been to before! We arrived around 5 on Wednesday evening (it was a drive of just a little over eight hours) and headed to have dinner at Poogan's Porch at 7:30 - so it was our first glimpse of the city!

Dinner was tasty - although I ended up with way too much fried chicken - but that's neither here nor there, is it? We had great conversation and plenty of laughs over dinner and then headed home where Ryan promptly fell asleep, the other men ended up just lounging around and my Mom, myself and my MIL-to-be played a game of "Pick One" before calling it a night! 

After going to sleep shortly after 10 - Ryan, myself and my parents ended up getting a pretty early start around 8:30. We had some coffee and then once Ryan's Mom woke up, we chatted about plans for the day and agreed we'd do Thanksgiving dinner. The four of us set out to explore the waterfront and the Battery, while Ryan's Mom and her BF set out to bike around the city - so we all ended up seeing the sights!

We started at the famous Pineapple Fountain and made our wanderings from there - walking along the piers on the water front for a bit, snapping pictures here and there. The weather was really nice, not too chilly but thankfully not too hot either and made for the perfect day for walking around the city, seeing all the sights and being comfortable.

 

 

We'd all eaten a little bit of something for breakfast but nothing too filling and so as we wandered down Queen Street we stumbled on a spot called Poogan's Smokehouse (yep - same Poogan) and made the executive decision to pop in, grab a couple appetizers and then keep exploring... so we had some BBQ sliders, homemade chips and baked macaroni and cheese and then kept on wandering, making our way to the Charleston City Market.

 

We wandered the market and Ryan and I ended up getting a Charleston Christmas ornament as we explored the booths and then wandered back toward the car, slowly driving past Rainbow Row and the additional waterfront at The Battery. We made our way back to our AirBnB and changed into our stretchy pants to begin cooking and putting together all the delicious Thanksgiving foods!

Our Thanksgiving feast included Roastche (which is an Amish dish consisting of turkey and dressing all cooked together), Ham, Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, Corn Casserole (so much casserole), cranberries, mashed potatoes, green peas and rolls - and it was all so very delicious! Okay - maybe not the green peas because I don't eat those, but the rest was stellar and we all six crowded around our little white table and feasted together!

  

 

Following our feast we played Pictionary - the men against the women - and let me tell you, the women absolutely dominated... much to the angst of the men! Especially my fiancé who is crazy competitive... it tickled me absolutely to watch him get so completely wound up over not winning the game! 

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving Day - and just think - next time Thanksgiving arrives, I'll be a wife!

Watson Wednesday

 

When you just need to get a good count of your presents one more time...

I Said Yes (to the Dress)

Well - it's Thanksgiving Week! Also - I have a wedding dress. *screams with joy and wild abandon* I'm not excited about it or anything... ha-ha! Yet again the weekend passed in a blink - I think that would be the theme for the entire month of November - it has flown by!

Friday night after work Ryan and I ended up running errands and putting together a last minute Christmas gift (or two) before getting dinner at Longhorn and then heading home. I'm not sure quite what was bothering me but I felt out of sorts (emotionally) all evening - thankfully my sweet fiancé is always so wonderful at cheering me up and kept me smiling! He was also smiling, especially when we arrived home and he saw the addition to the mantle for him! 

Saturday morning arrived bright and early - my parents and I headed out from the house around 7:40 to make our way to Lynchburg, Virginia to begin shopping for a wedding dress! The drive to Lynchburg was pretty uneventful and we ended up arriving with some time to spare for a stop to grab my Dad a sausage biscuit and some additional coffee too! We arrived at Ashley Grace Bridal at 10:50 for our 11:00 appointment and the fun began!

 

The entire staff was beyond amazing - so friendly and personable - the whole experience was incredibly special and I enjoyed every moment! My consultant was so kind as she escorted me around the store, asking me questions about what I was looking for... how I was hoping my wedding day would go... and asking questions about Ryan and I. She selected dress after dress... and I selected one dress... and we took them all back to the gigantic fitting room and the process began!

Originally two of my bridesmaids were going to tag along but illness got in the way of that - so I ended up taking my parents and I had my little sister (who is also my Maid of Honor) and my future Mother-in-Law joining via Face Time. They made for a hilarious and opinionated group and some of their reactions were priceless! I tried on all sorts of dresses but there was one dress - when I put it on - the reaction from everyone was pretty much the same reaction I was having in my heart. The dress was absolutely not what I'd thought I'd choose... but oh man - it was exactly what I wanted once I had it on.

Please look at my parents holding on to my sister (on the tablet) and my future MIL (on my phone) so they could share in the moment! So precious! I didn't immediately say "yes" even though I was 99.99% sure that it was "THE DRESS". We had another appointment at 2:30 and since I only intend to look for wedding dresses once - I wanted to take full advantage. We headed into downtown Lynchburg, had lunch at the Depot Grille and then went to Church Street Bridal - and we were only there for twenty minutes before I announced that I was done because I knew my dress and it was at the other store.

We called to tell them we were returning to say "yes to the dress" and they said they'd be ready for us at 4:00 - so we perused Hobby Lobby for a wee bit before heading back to Ashley Grace Bridal, where my dress was displayed prominently by the mirror, I had a champagne toast, an Ashley Grace Bridal t-shirt and got to take pictures with the "I Said Yes" sign! It was so fun - they took measurements and placed the order for MY dress and we all had a little celebration before we headed home! 

The drive home was uneventful and I was more than happy to take a nice bubble bath and then crawl into bed - so splendid. Sunday morning we headed for church, then grabbed some Popeye's and drove by two potential homes that Ryan and I are looking before heading home for a lazy(ish) afternoon. We watched a little football and I ended up wrapping the entirety of the gifts that Ryan and I have purchased for Christmas. We are completely done shopping for Christmas and now everything is wrapped for Christmas - so we can just sit back and enjoy the season!

It was such a fast weekend but a wonderful weekend too. I cannot believe I have a wedding dress - it still seems a little surreal and I keep looking at the pictures on my phone, ha-ha! I also can't believe on Thursday I'll be eating turkey with my love, my family and my future family in Charleston! Whoosh!

Five on Friday

Well y'all - it has been another week. Another crazy week where plans were changed and days didn't quite play out the way they were planned - but Thanksgiving and three days off work are on the horizon and I can make it! I know I can! I am so looking forward to this weekend and then two days of work before we are off for our destination Thanksgiving! 

One. All the Cold Things - This week started off well enough... although I felt a bit stuffy all day on Monday and into the evening, I started to cough. *sigh* I felt pretty crummy on Tuesday but I knew it was just a head cold and so I packed medicine and headed off to the office. I sneezed and snorted through the day and around 2:45 I just couldn't take it anymore and asked to head home - where I promptly laid down and slept... and ended up just lying around all evening.

Ryan worked all night Tuesday night and then got off work and went by the store... and came home with an arsenal of supplies. He set up a vaporizer, had me using a sinus wash system every two hours, eating chicken noodle soup, applying Vicks routinely, taking medicine every four hours and drinking chamomile sinus soother tea. But y'all - it worked! By Wednesday evening I was feeling like a completely different person - it was a miracle!

Two. Flowers - My precious fiancé also brought home more than an arsenal of head cold fighting tools. He also brought home the most beautiful bouquet of flowers, holding them out to me and saying "even though you're sick, you're still beautiful!" 

Call me crazy but there is a part of me that thinks sniffing those flowers throughout the day on Wednesday might actually be what healed me so quickly. Ha-ha! I know - I'm nuts. 

Three. Wedding Dress Shopping - Ooh my! Tomorrow is going to be an experience I've been waiting a long time for! I am going on to two different shops to do wedding dress shopping and I still don't know if I can fully believe it! I think when the stylist helps me into the first dress - I may have a bit of a moment...

It's still early days yet - a little less than a year to go and some might say it's a bit soon, but I plan to enjoy every minute of being engaged and so I am going to enjoy this too! For these first two appointments, my parents are tagging along and I'll have my little sister (also my Maid of Honor) on face time and my future mother-in-law on face time too! It should be exciting!

Four. Weekend Plans - I don't have any! And I'm really thrilled about that, ha-ha! I mean... I am going to Lynchburg on Saturday for the wedding dress shopping but otherwise, my calendar for the weekend is wide open and I'm pretty happy about it. I need to wrap quite a few presents, begin the packing process for our Thanksgiving travels and wash clothes... but I also just want to chill!

Five. Charleston, South Carolina - Our destination for Thanksgiving is Charleston, South Carolina and I am so thrilled! Charleston has long been on my bucket list of places to see and now in just five short days, I'm off to explore this wonderful Southern city with my fiancé, my family and my future family!

I can't wait to check out Rainbow Row, walk along the Battery, see the famous Pineapple Fountain and so much more! We have plans to have dinner on Wednesday night at Poogan's Porch and at some point we are going to check out Magnolia Plantation... but otherwise we are keeping our days open so we can explore! We will be there from late afternoon on Wednesday to early Sunday and I can't wait!

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Can y'all believe we are now less than week from Thanksgiving? Where has November gone?? It seems like the final two months of the year always fly past and this year has certainly been no exception - December will be here before we know it! Enjoy your weekend!

Watson Wednesday

 

Always the little present. Even as he gets older, he still loves creeping under the branches and the twinkle lights each year.

A Weekend in a Blink!

It's Monday - another weekend has whirled away and a new work week has started! I definitely feel like I blinked and this weekend passed... but then, it was filled with so much going on - so that makes sense! Also... the blurriest picture ever of Ryan and I is actually from Tuesday night, not the weekend - but I included it anyway!

We went to see Eternals - I'm a huge Marvel fan and Ryan is a pretty strong fan himself - we were split on this movie though. I think Ryan absolutely disliked it. I didn't think it was the worst Marvel movie ever but it doesn't rank very high on my life... I think one of the only things that made it worthwhile for me was that it reunited Jon Snow and Robb Stark, ha-ha! 

 

The work week was pretty exhausting and by Thursday evening I was just mentally worn out - and with plans for a Lauren Daigle concert on Friday night and Sight & Sound Theater on Saturday, Ryan decreed that staying in on Thursday night and relaxing would be the best choice - and I'm so glad he encouraged that. As soon as the clock flipped over to 5:00 on Friday - I was out the door and into my parent's car to make the 2+ hour drive to Hershey, PA for the Lauren Daigle concert. It started at 7:30 - and we rolled into the parking lot at the Giant Center at 7:32! *sheesh*

 

The concert was absolutely spectacular - Lauren Daigle was so entertaining and her voice sounds just like the radio! I especially love seeing people in concert when they actually sound like their songs... you know, they actually have talent! The show was upbeat, had great energy and was also worshipful and incredible - it was just such an excellent concert! 

We scooted out of the Hershey area and over to the "Harrisburg" area to stay at the Red Lion for the night. We were up early the next morning - although not really on purpose - but it turned out well because I was able to introduce my parents to Whisk Café! Ryan and I loved Whisk and went a couple times when I visited him when he still lived in PA - and I was definitely excited to sample their Autumn menu! I had the Pumpkin Pancakes with Cinnamon Spice Whipped Cream and a Smores Latte - both were excellent... and don't even get me started on my Mom's Apple Butter Brioche French Toast! 

 

After our delicious (although probably not nutritious) breakfast, we scooted up the road to Ronks (although Ryan says it's really in Strasburg) and the Sight and Sound Theater to see Queen Esther. The theater performs Broadway style shows that tell Bible stories - and boy do they bring the Bible to life - it's incredible! The stages were expansive and so life-like, there were animals and the costumes were stunning - it was definitely a sight to take it all in!

 

My Dad did have to use the intermission to check in on the MSU football game - and they ended up coming back from a 28-3 deficit to beat Auburn 43-34! So that was pretty spectacular. Also, don't tell anyone but you aren't really supposed to take pictures... but I decided to be a bit sneaky! 

Seriously though - how could I let a royal blue train like that not be photographed? That picture is from the scene where Esther approaches the King unbidden; she risked her very life to plead for the lives of her people. I just thought the image of her looking so regal but bowing to the King was really lovely and couldn't resist snapping a little image! *smiles*

Saturday started dreary but thankfully while we were in the theater the sun came out - although the rain that passed through made it pretty chilly! We headed home for Virginia and got home in perfect time to grab Ryan from the house and go get Mexican food for dinner - yummy! We watched the movie The Upside - which everyone but me had already seen - it was hilarious and heartwarming! And then I was thrilled to be able to crawl into my own bed for the night. 

Sunday dawned chilly and bright - after some coffee and breakfast it was off to church! We grabbed a quick lunch at Zaxby's and then headed home so my Mom and I could change and then we were off to afternoon tea at The Tea Cart in Berryville! The whole set up was so cute and The Queen herself was even there - I made sure to curtsy to her, ha-ha!

 

I spotted Downton painted on the back wall and couldn't resist snapping a goofy picture! We had some really delicious teas: Shenandoah Blue, Tower of London and Crème de Caramel - I think Shenandoah Blue was my favorite! We also had lovely savories, some divine sweets and of course - a scone with clotted cream and jam! So very tasty - each and every thing! The tea was the November event for the Bible Study that I attend in my neighborhood and we all had such a lovely time - of course, I especially enjoyed being asked about my wedding planning! 

We came home and I ended up helping my Mom with some vegetable beef soup (I mostly helped in that I opened cans and set the table) while the men watched football. The soup was the perfect dinner for a chilly night and afterwards, Ryan and I watched a second episode of the show The Frankenstein Chronicles on Netflix - we are trying it out and we're intrigued so far. 

It was an early night for me as I'm trying desperately to stave off a cold from settling in - but I don't know if I'm going to conquer it quite yet! Fingers crossed and y'all have a nice week!