Happy Friday Everyone!
The holidays are behind us and it is almost February! I’m going to recap our holidays a little here today, share some of my Christmas gifts, the books I read in 2024 AND some of my latest finds. Let’s get started!
One – Holiday Recap!
I have A LOT of holiday photos I could share on here, but I’m going to keep it simple since it is almost February and you are all probably over holiday stuff! We always host for our house on Christmas and it is a lot of fun! This year I REALLY wanted to get a Boarderie Charcuterie Board and it was SO fun!!! I got the meat and cheese board and it was delivered on time and everything was wrapped in a way that everything stayed fresh. I really enjoyed trying all of the different cheeses. I loved it SO much that I think I may be ordering a smaller board for 2 for my birthday!!
We went to the Christmas Eve Service that evening and then had a delicious dinner at Ruth Chris afterwards. Our bellies were full and happy!
Christmas morning I made a breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls and we had egg nog, champagne and orange juice for mimosas. (Well, the champagne was for the grown ups!)
On New Year’s Eve we always go to Top Golf! It was a little chilly and I wore my new bow beanie!
Two – NEW DRIVER!
Well, we have a NEW driver in our house!! Autumn passed her driver’s test over Christmas break. She was SO excited!! She practiced with her permit for over 200 hours, so she was ready. She is now driving herself to school and I will admit, it saves me a ton of time in the morning… but, it is SO weird to not drive either of my teens anymore! I am so proud of her!
Three – My Christmas Gifts
I wanted to share some of my Christmas gifts I was gifted on here. First, Brian totally surprised me with a new ‘initial C’ necklace from the same jeweler we got our wedding rings from. The chain is REALLY nice as is the ‘initial C’ on it. This will go with about anything I wear and it’ll look super cute layered. It was so sweet of Brian to think of this sweet and thoughtful gift for me.
I’ve been really into running lately and my mom gifted me a Garmin Forerunner 265S for Christmas. I’ve been wearing it on my left wrist when I run and my Apple Watch on my right wrist to kind of compare the metrics after each run. The Garmin gives SO MANY metrics and specific details on your run, so I have been enjoying that. Plus, when I do my speed workouts, I can program what I’m doing into the Garmin so that it makes it much smoother. It also figures out your VO2 Max, which is really hot right now. I was excited that my VO2 Max has been around 40-42 after completing a few outdoor runs. It has SO many more buttons on it than the Apple Watch, so it definitely takes some getting used to.
All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker – I think this is one of my favorite books I read in 2024! It’s a murder mystery with a little bit of a love story tied to it and just not a usual read for me. I listened to it on audio and it took me a bit to get used to the authors voice, but after that I really enjoyed it. The story is set in a small town in Missouri in the 70’s and is about Patch, a child that wears an eye patch and Saint, a girl obsessed with bees. This unlikely pair becomes friends, but their friendship is tested over and over again in the book. A murderer strikes their town and nearby towns and when Patch steps in to help Misty, the most popular girl in town… it changes their lives forever. This is a LONG book and you’ll follow Patch and Saint’s lives into their adulthoods. It’s SO rich, beautifully written and you’ll fall in love with the characters and story.
I love using Goodreads to keep track of my books and it made this pretty image for me of the 17 books I read last year. I don’t set a reading goal for myself, just I try to always have one book on my Kindle and one on audio to listen to in the car. I would say out of ALL of these books, my ABSOLUTE faves were The Bible Recap, The Women and All the Colors of the Dark.
Five – Latest Finds
I follow an Iced Coffee Facebook Group and THIS Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cold Foam Creamer is ALL the rage lately!!! It is supposed to taste like a chocolate chip cookie melted over your coffee. I can’t wait to try it!!
I also follow some Protein Facebook groups and this Legendary Protein Pastry has been a hot item lately too. It isn’t TOO terrible, but I wouldn’t have one more than once a week. It has a lot of protein and fiber, and hardly any saturated fat and no sugar! DO NOT toast these in your toaster oven, the icing will just melt off into your toaster! It says on the box to microwave them 15-20 seconds. OH MY!!! I’ve tried BOTH of these and the Birthday Cake one is SO good! I like the Chocolate Cake one too, but they have SO many flavors.
I’ve been really into the bow trend and I saw these adorable bow coasters in the Target Dollar Spot and had to have them. Although, I was in Homegoods and it seems there is a ‘cherries’ trend going on now too! Who knew?!
While in HomeGoods, I was trying to find some new Valentine’s Day decor. I don’t know if I was late to the game, but I just didn’t see as many cute things as I did last year. I did settle on this adorable white kitty heart mug!
I hope everyone had a good start to the year in January! Ours has been a little wonky, but we have made the best of it. With all the ice that hasn’t melted still from January 5th and my poor dad in the hospital again, it’s been a little rough!
