November 2023 Potpourri

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but around here?  Around here things are already gearing up for the holidays.  Let’s chat about it for November 2023 potpourri, shall we?

A lot of really fun activities are popping up and I want to take advantage of every one of them.  Especially if that means spending time with people who are important to me.

But it can also be depleting.  So I’m also taking time to recharge and to keep things under control and keep stress at bay.

For instance, we took some time out to shampoo our bedroom rug and do some clean up in the yard (we got rain this weekend!).  So I skipped Sunday morning exercise class.  My body was feeling a little sore and this is not the time of year to push it.  No sense in getting sick.

But.  On the other hand, a couple of stores had fun open houses this weekend and some of my posse and I got out to enjoy them.

If you are invited to any local open houses, consider attending because they can be great fun. You can get festive with zero stress in having to host a gathering. Or pick up a hostess gift to attend a gathering.

Andrew Z Diamonds is our local jewelry shop.  They had a champagne open house with live music, Crumbl Cookies (yep, I ate one), and just about every person I know from the gym attending.

Since I wasn’t too much in the market for fine jewelry and since the weather was absolutely perfect, I mostly sat on the outdoor sofas and listened to great music.

Oh, and by the way, parking lot concerts are among my favorites. I’ve been to several. You can’t beat them.

Ben Alston is the performer they had and he is a great musician and such a nice guy.  If you have an event coming up, consider hiring him. He’s that good.

Saturday, Evon and I headed over to Ethan Allen to swoon over their displays and join in their little party.

Although it wasn’t Christmas themed, the décor was festive and can I just tell you about the charcuterie?  You know how much I love charcuterie, but this one?  Oh, man.  It was gorgeous.  Stunning.

They used Lian Charcuterie and just check out their site to see true beauty!

And on our way out we each got a rose for attending.

What I’m Reading

On audio I listened to Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy.   This book had a good pace, snappy dialog and so many twists and turns, I didn’t dare skip ahead.  Fun and clever.  Especially if you like a good sociopath.

Also on audio, Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson.  I’m not sure how I came across this but I am glad I did.  The narration is great, the story is so original and the characters are unforgettable.

Dysfunctional family books rate high on my interest list, and this takes dysfunctional to a whole new level.  And it is funny.

I haven’t had a print book interest me in a while and in fact, I put two in the donation stack without reading them.

I’ve got my hooks in one now though and can report back next time.

What I’m Eating

Downshiftology is a great site for healthy, yet edible recipes.  Just in time to use up a bag of apples, Lisa Bryan shared her recipe for Apple Crisp.  It’s gluten free and has reduced sugar so it checked some of our boxes, but it didn’t turn out great.  I think because my apples were smaller than normal, I needed to make less topping and it would have been better.

But if you’re looking for a good, quick recipe, consider this one but don’t let your topping overwhelm it.  And if you do, remedy it like I did with whipped cream.

Wrap Up

Thank you for sharing some of your Thanksgiving week with me.  I hope if life is starting to get busy you can enjoy every single thing you’re doing or you can find a minute to step back and take care of yourself.