Hey friends. I hope your week is off to a great start.
I’m backtracking to the weekend for this post…it was a very happy and very sad weekend. Happy because I got all of my Christmas decorations up and my house is feeling festive and sad because the Dawgs lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship. That was a HUGE bummer, especially since we were playing so well for most of the game.
Here are some photos of our weekend, including my Christmas decor and the cutest little Bulldog fan!
Here is my living room fireplace/mantle decor. I picked up these initial monogram stockings at Target last week and I love them! I did big ones for Finn and myself and small ones for the girls.
A friend who is moving to Arizona gave me some of her Christmas decorations, including this nativity scene. I am in love with it!
And thank you guys, so very much, for the encouragement to go for an artificial tree this year. It’s the first time in my life that I haven’t had a real tree but I also really appreciated the ease of bringing this home and getting it set up…and I think it looks pretty darn nice! My favorite thing about it is that you can switch between white and colored lights and also set it to do light shows, which I am sure Finn will love!
I was somewhat dreading pulling out all of the Christmas decorations and doing the holiday stuff this year but I have to say that it wasn’t nearly as unpleasant as I’d thought it would be and I actually loved doing it. I’m embracing the season and making memories with my sweet boy!
Virginia came over for dinner on Friday night and I made chicken thighs (using my spiced chicken recipe…so easy and good!), roasted broccoli and roasted sweet potatoes.
Finn and I headed over to Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen on Saturday morning for a free brunch event.
I met Alyssa over seven years ago when I first started teaching yoga. It’s been so much fun to watch her career take off here in Charlotte. She and her husband own and operate Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen. They offer amazing cooking classes, kids camps, corporate catering and now Saturday brunch! I got to try some of the brunch menu items and they were delicious. I had a southern bowl with mixed potatoes, brussels sprouts, housemade bacon and an egg. I also had a gluten-free sorghum blueberry muffin. While I did not order the pancake tacos, I had to take a photo of them because what a genius idea!!!!
They just moved into a new space four months ago and it’s incredible! Super bright, clean and open. I am going to have to get myself to one of her classes soon! And I’ll definitely be back for brunch.
Related…Finn was an excellent brunch date. Just in the last few weeks he has started making consonant sounds and is “talking” up a storm. He was babbling to me the whole time I was eating. Also related, I loved listening to this podcast about baby talk on Hidden Brain.
The rest of my Saturday included a coffee meeting + watching the very, very sad game.
I ended the evening on the couch and made another veggie burger bowl with leftovers from last week. This time I also added a dollop of hummus.
This is what most of our mornings look like. This is a delivery/nursing robe from Pink Blush but you would never know that it was made for that because it fits like a normal robe!
Our morning activity was a trip to Ikea to buy the cheap high chair that everyone raves about. I seriously received so many Instagram DMs about this thing so we are giving it a try. At $23, it’s a steal and everyone loves that it doesn’t have fabric and is easy to hose off. We also stopped by Old Navy and Marshall’s.
Finn took such a long afternoon nap that it was dark by the time I got him fed and headed out for our walk. I threw on my reflective vest for safety and enjoyed looking at the Christmas lights on our walk. It was also unseasonably warm, which was nice!
My weekend ended with cake and an early bedtime.
Which all the creatures in the house were on board with.
See you guys again tomorrow! 🙂
Do you have your Christmas decorations up?
Any reflective products you love for dark runs/walks? (I’m trying to figure out how to light up the stroller…haha)
Love Finn’s UGA gear!! 🙂
Thank you! A little Dawg fan in the making!
I think your decorations look great. We put ours up this weekend too. Your friends business looks very appealing and her food is something that I would like to try if I ever get to that area. I am sorry to hear about your team losing. That’s always a bummer.
I would love to take some night walks with my kids but it’s so cold here. I am so jealous. ?
Take care!
Thank you so much! It always makes the house so warm and cheery! 🙂
I buy cheap packs of clip on flashing LED lights from Amazon and clip them to my girls, dog and stroller for evening walks. Highly recommend! ?
Perfect! Thank you!
Your home looks so cozy and festive! We actually decided not to put up our Christmas tree this year… Our son is 9 months old and he’s crawling and into everything. He’s usually up when I’m getting ready and my husband is in the shower so I go back and forth from the bathroom and living room to keep an eye on him but he’s gotten so fast at crawling that he inevitably gets into things so we figured the tree would make monitoring him while I get ready so much harder. I feel a little Grinchy for not having a tree but I remind myself that he won’t remember it and it will make my life a little easier to not worry about him pulling on the tree. We are celebrating Christmas at my parents so at least he’ll see the tree there! I think he’ll love the lights!
It’s so dang cold here already (highs are in the 20s in Minnesota) so we haven’t gone on any walks after dark. But I wish that was something we could do as I struggle to fit walks into my day. Plus our son goes to bed an hour after we get home from work since he doesn’t nap well at daycare. 🙁 But someday we’ll be able to take walks after work – maybe by the spring or summer!
Finn is on the verge of crawling and I know that is going to be such a game changer!!! I can understand a tree being a recipe for disaster with a mobile baby!
I’m sorry it’s so cold and dark there. 🙁
I need an honest review of the IKEA highchair! I’ve seen bloggers rave about it, but when we visited it in person it didn’t seem as sturdy as we need for our very boisterous kiddo (we have carpet in our dining area, which we felt would make it less stable). Otherwise, it seemed amazing – cleaning our high chair is a pain and $23 is a steal!
I will be sure to report back after we’ve used it for a while!
I just got those monogram stockings from Target, too! Yours look great!
Thanks! I think they’re so cute!
Sounds like a great weekend! After a few weeks of use with the high chair, I would love a brief review. With a little one on the way, a $23 high chair would be GREAT if it lives up to the hype & is durable, easy to assemble, & safe. Thanks in advance!
Dear Jen, your Christmas decorations look lovely and there’s such a warm, positive energy about your place. I know some things are hard right now, but also there’s so much to be grateful for. Finn looks like such a lovely, chill baby, you seem to be going from strength to strength, so I hope you have absoluely lovely holidays, and that you’ll have time for yourself to enjoy and relax too. Everything is as it should be, and you when a door closes, it’s because there’s an even better, bigger door waiting for you to walk through in your future. I have a good feeling about this coming year, and wish you and your babies (furry and human) all the best! xx
Maya – thank you so very much for this comment and for your very kind, positive and loving words. Although I do wish that I could hit the fast forward button sometimes and see what is next, I am staying grounded in this present moment and trying to learn the lessons that I need to learn so that I will be open and ready for whatever that next thing is. <3
Sending love! xo