Thanksgiving traditions I was fortunate to enjoy this year
1. Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with my family. It’s not a tradition in Brian’s family for good reasons, but it’s such an integral part of my holiday. When I asked my sister weeks prior Thanksgiving what she wanted to do over our long weekend together, she simply said she wanted to watch the parade
2. Black Friday shopping for my first time ever. We opted to leave at 6:30 instead of the crack of dawn, which was nice. I did well at Jo-Ann Fabrics where I picked up fabric for curtains along with some other sewing accessories it turns out I need and Reny’s, where we purchased the game Forbidden Desert which is more enjoyable than I ever expected.
Cyber Monday purchases I’m really excited about
1. The first personal laptop I’ve owned since college. It became increasingly apparent that this blogger and her gamer husband could not live together with just one desktop and our work laptops. While that may be a sad commentary on how connected we are to the internet, I’m really excited about having a machine on which I can install my own programs, utilize Hulu and YouTube and not interrupt Brian’s gaming to do so. My productivity has been much better already.
2. The 4 tins of loose tea we ordered (with some difficulty because their site was having major problems) from Harney and Sons. Our tea supply has been somewhat low (in my opinion) for awhile now but we knew holiday sales were coming so we waited. Our patience was rewarded with 25% off and free shipping.
Tasks I avoided last week because I was in the depths of end of semester grad school projects And those tasks are now completed!
1. Unpacking from our Thanksgiving trip to Maine to visit with my family. As of this weekend, most of the items have been put away, but they definitely sat where I put them when we walked in the door for way too long.
2. Cooking any meals, which was taken on by my husband who is the best person ever. This week I’m back to cooking which is awesome.
Holiday projects I accomplished recently, later than I wanted to
1. Starting the annual addressing of the Christmas cards – I always get excited about designing them and ordering them, but I forget how unmotivated I am to actually write and send them.
2. Hanging my first ever set of outdoor Christmas lights! We’re using the 3M outdoor light clips with mixed success (we just put them up on Sunday and we’ve put new adhesive on two of the clips already), but I love the look.
Baking projects I will be completing this week because it’s that time of year
1. Ginger snaps for the CDNYEatDrinkBlog cookie swap. I am so excited to see everyone!
2. Smitten Kitchen’s Cheesecake Swirl Brownies and Mark Bittman’s brownies — modified for with gluten-free flour–for my grad class’ end of the semester pot luck
Ways I’ll be celebrating Relishments 5 year anniversary with all of you at the end of the month
1. Offering 20% off any sponsor ads. You can get a head start now by using the code 5YEARS when you purchase a sponsor spot.
2. THREE giveaways from some of my favorite bloggers. I’m so thrilled that my blog friends have provided me with such awesome items to share with you all!
