what we’re eating
This is so extremely random but there’s a lot of these two things being consumed in my household lately. The nutella & go is so good, J & I have been hiding/hoarding it from our kids hahah. We got a giant Costco pack of them and they’re my favorite afternoon pick me up to have with my coffee. The Vital Farms egg bites microwave quickly and are super tasty for a quick breakfast on the go. I typically have time to make whatever breakfast I want to eat but some mornings I’m on a time crunch and in those mornings, these are great!
what i’m reminiscing about
This will seem random but I’ve been thinking about our first dog Spartan a lot lately and reminiscing over him. He was the BEST dog and we took him for granted while he was still alive. I don’t know that we’ll ever have another dog like him… he’s truly one of those animals that you’d be lucky to have even once in a lifetime and he was our once in a lifetime. 🥺
what i’m loving
We had a TON of rain over the weekend, something like 6 inches? California is in a major, major drought so that rain was definitely much needed. I love the way the air smells after it rains and also love that rainy weather gives us a reason to stay inside and be cozy (the enneagram 9 in me is throwing all the praise hands). I took Kylo for a walk the other day on our local trail; this little waterfall has been sad and dry for the last 2-ish years but huzzah! Look, there was water flowing!
I’ve also been loving this new limited edition color called “Fig Ranch” by Olive & June. I painted my nails real quick because they were looking a little rough and naked and I really like this shade for fall! I think the name accurately captures the color … it’s figgy 😉
And last for what I’ve been loving … this tiny ballerina. Because how could you not 😍
what we’ve been up to
Last week, on a total whim … I completely rearranged the furniture in my house. Okay, maybe not COMPLETELY but I basically swapped the two main couches that we have in our home. We have one in our playroom and one in our living room and for some reason, I became convinced that these two couches were in the wrong rooms and needed to be swapped. Hubby was SO skeptical – the thing is that our playroom is larger than our living room so logically, it would make sense that the bigger couch also goes in the playroom (which is how we had it set up). But I think that because the living room is smaller, having the bigger couch in there would actually help to ground the space visually a bit. Did I have any idea what I was talking about? No. Did I still think it would look & work better for us? Yes. So I forced J to help me move it. (Tip to wives: If you want your husband to do something and he says no or that he’ll do it later, just start doing it on your own and then they’ll come and help you and it’ll be done in the way and time you wanted it 😏).
So I don’t have any before pics unfortunately but here is the space after. So much better, right? I also love that there’s more seating room in our living room now for when guests come over. Our playroom has two nuggets that our kids/guests’ kids can use if need be but the living room only has what you see available.
what i’m dreading
Listen. It’s about to be the most wonderful time of the year. I am not dreading anything at all in this moment.
what i’m working on
My podcast cohost and I made some changes to our podcast format/content and this months’s episode was the first where we launched with the tweaks we made. It’s a really good episode so make sure to give it a listen! We also fixed the website subscription button at penandpagegals.com so be sure to enter your email to get regular updates from us.
what i’m excited about
Next Monday, not only will it be November 1 aka officially the holiday season, but my kids will have the day off from school so we can just spend our day taking it slow AND … I will be decorating my house for Christmas. I AM SO EXCITED I cannot even explain to you how much I am looking forward to it!
what i’m watching/reading
I will have a full October reading recap on the blog later this week with all the books that I’ve been reading, and of course, I’ve also been reading my monthly book club pick for PPG. As for what I’m watching, I started watching Ted Lasso after being told that I NEEDEEEDDD to watch it over and over again and I have to say … I am really enjoying it 🙂
I ALSO have endeavored to watch every single new 2021 Christmas movie that Hallmark releases this year. They have an app with a checklist that you can tick off as you’ve watched each one… I am planning on doing a whole blog post recapping this experience along with the reason why I wanted to do it but suffice to say… I’m having fun with the experiment so far 🙂
what i’m listening to
C’mon now. Do I even have to say it? I’m excited to decorate for Christmas … I’ve started watching Christmas movies … does it surprise anyone that I’m listening to Christmas music? I’ve carefully curated a list of my favorite Christmas hits over the last ten-ish years and that playlist is saved on my phone so every year, it’s ready for me to hit play and start listening. HOHOHOHO. As you can see, there’s a ton of Pentatonix on there 🙂
what i’m wearing
It finally got colder and chillier this month so I am basking in all the cozy clothing that I CAN GET! Here are a couple of my favorites:
Free People Easy Street Tunic (I have this one in ALL THE COLORS)
what i’m doing this weekend
Well, it’s Halloween this weekend so we are going to be going to the pumpkin patch on Saturday and trick-or-treating after church on Sunday. We’ve been going to the same pumpkin patch every year since E was 6 months old … last year the pumpkin patch opted not to open in the midst of the pandemic but this year they’re open again and I am excited to go! We’re going to be going with our FRamily friends and I’ll have lots of pictures along with a weekend recap next week so make sure to check back for that!
what i’m looking forward to next month
We have big things happening next month, one of which includes the anticipated birth of our FIRST EVER NIECE 🤩 Oh my goodness, we are so excited to meet the newest addition to the cousin crew. We have two nephews but it will be the first niece for us/first daughter for my sister in law and her family. We’ll be spending Thanksgiving down in Socal this year so that we can officially meet her and say hi in person. Fun fact: She has the same first name as E’s middle name (spelled differently though) so E is SO SUPER pumped about that. All the cousins are looking forward to meeting the newest baby when she arrives.
what else is new
We also may or may not have our OWN new addition coming to our house next month… that’s all I’ll say about it for now but be ready for some fun blog (and IG) updates explaining everything once she’s here! 😏
Last little bit of what’s new … and it’s actually just a bit of housekeeping. I’m sure most of you are reading my blog posts through the email subscription/RSS feed that gets sent to you. If you can, I’d encourage you to click through to the actual blog post link to read the posts, though. A lot of the formatting and fun GIFs, etc, get lost in the RSS feed (I have no control over it) so you’re realllllly not getting the full effect if you’re just reading the email. It would be like reading a movie script instead of watching the film as a whole 😘 Thanks for reading and supporting my blog, though – in whatever form you choose to do it!
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Yay for a new niece and I’m going to have to check out that Hallmark app. I don’t know that I’ll endeavour to watch every new movie but it would be a good way to keep track of what I’ve seen. And looking forward to seeing what your new addition is…