Thanksgiving 2023

Listen, I am not a woo-woo girl, which is the preamble I feel like I have to say before I say something decidedly woo-woo. And I've had to say it a lot lately, which would suggest that I am a woo-woo girl, after all. 

I am beginning (just now, near the end of November, deep into Q4) to think that 2023 came along to teach me something inconvenient. Admittedly, most of my "hardships" are largely just annoying, so maybe the great lesson is to roll with the punches. 

This week, over Thanksgiving, I feel like I was finally able to execute what I've forcibly learned over the last several months. Things went very sideways unexpectedly on Thanksgiving morning. A stomach bug developed overnight and rendered some folks too sick to host dinner, and the rest of us too scared to go into their house, lest we all get the pukes. Dinner was canceled and Ryan and I realized we drove 8 hours round trip to basically just camp in my brother in law's front yard for a night. 

Okay, so that wasn't ideal. Duke was crying hard while we packed things up, but Ryan and I whipped up a plan b and I used the opportunity to teach Duke about lemons and lemonade. We made it home in time to mash some potatoes and assemble the dessert I'd packed. Ryan's mom came over with a can of cranberry sauce and a pork roast, and we had a lovely cobbled together Thanksgiving. I also pulled out the Christmas tree to mollify Duke, and we watched both Home Alones after eating. Not bad, you know?

If I can make someone else's illness about me, and whoa big surprise - I can! It felt, self-servingly, like an opportunity to roll with it and maybe because I've had plenty of practice this year, I did. Without even thinking about it. Normally when things veer off plan, I struggle to regroup. But this time, I was able to calmly redirect, amidst the flurry of flying texts at 7:30am and we wound up having a really nice Thanksgiving. 

Then our dog Jack took off, which is a holiday tradition. I don't know if he gets the itch on big calendar days, or we just take our eyes off him, but he traversed my brother-in-law's neighborhood for a good 45 minutes before wandering back into the yard, soaked with twigs stuck in his fur. 

Alls well that ends well, you know? I'm also sort of hoping that I unlocked a level. I learned the thing I'm supposed to learn, right? See universe (I'm not woo-woo)? Carefully laid plans fell apart and I didn't flip out. I completed the quest, so now you can stop throwing fires at me to stomp out. 

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Stay a while -

A sigh heavy walk down Thanksgiving oriented memory lane. 

Related: The Best of 2022. 

The many things I've been grateful for - 2019, 2020, and 2022. 

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(Black Friday/Cyber Week) Shopping Break

Black Friday, wow, what a frenzy! Nothing like following up our national day of being grateful with excessive consumerism! Not a judgement (obviously, I participate), just an observation. Anyway, I suspect it'll last through next week as I keep seeing "cyber week" deals and like, how did Cyber Monday become a whole freaking week??

Here's what I got: this Glossier balm, and the Glossier You rollerball | The "nursing" pajamas I accidentally bought from Target | the zero gravity RC car I bought for Duke for Xmas (very cool - I'm excited to take this thing for a spin on our ceilings myself!)

And all the other sales I got excited about. 

I read an article that called this serum "botox in a bottle." I am skeptical, but also, I'm willing to give it a try. Readily available at Walmart with the previous link, but a noticeably cheaper if you don't mind a longer shipping time at Ulta here. I guess you must ask yourself, can my wrinkles wait? 

While we're feeling bad about ourselves and our wrinkles, may I direct you to Sephora? The conglomerate is running daily sales and at press time, it's MAKE UP FOR EVER that's 30% off. I heard a rumor that starting 12/1, they'll have a 20% across the board sale going on too, so I'll be stalking!

I have this glowy hydrating spray, that viral cry-flash mask, and a highly recommended curling mascara just waiting in my cart for some sale pricing. 

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I've been off work for a week and head back into the office tomorrow. The Sunday scaries have officially started so I'll be off distracting myself for the next 24 hours. 

Happy Sunday!