I hope your Monday was a good one – especially if you were coming off of an extended holiday weekend. I had a really solid day that included preschool drop off, lifting at the gym, teaching yoga, preschool pickup, yard work, lots of Play-Doh, holiday decorating, computer work and now I’m watching the Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network. It’s my most favorite reality TV show and I look forward to it all year long (much more enjoyable than Love Is Blind if I’m being honest). Feel good entertainment!
Play-Doh extravaganza. Finn’s current obsession is rolling Play-Doh into lots of little balls and keeping them in a Tupperware. Today he smushed all of the balls flat, lined them up and asked me to re-roll them all. Fun times but also mindlessly relaxing. 🙂
I’m going to backtrack and share what my long weekend back in Charlotte looked like after I traveled home from Florida.
Before leaving Florida, I got my grandmother’s cute little tree decorated. It’s so lovely to pull out ornaments and decorations that I’ve seen for my whole life.
I flew back to Charlotte on Friday morning. It’s always really hard to leave but I was excited to see Finn and it was nice to know that we’ll be back in a few weeks to celebrate Christmas! The Destin/Fort Walton Beach Airport is small and easy to navigate and since I wasn’t checking a bag, I was able to arrive at the airport just 45 minutes before my flight. I was out of my mom’s car, through security, quick bathroom stop, coffee run and in my seat in 15 minutes. Call me old school but sometimes I love writing in a notebook. I spent my flight writing out workouts for the relaunch of my fitness platform (stay tuned – details very soon).
When I got home I had just enough time to get settled in and get the dogs out for a walk before picking Finn up.
Always so sweet to be reunited. We went out for a “Finn and Mommy” dinner at Brixx Pizza.
We were out running errands on Saturday morning. We hit the carwash, Target and ALDI. I stopped at Starbucks to pick up a mobile order. I had an oat milk latte with one pump of sugar cookie syrup. I’d been seeing the sugar cookie syrup all over social media so decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t overly sweet (especially with just one pump) and had a hint of sugar cookie flavor – nothing overpowering at all.
I am in the market for a new coffee maker. Mine bit the dust right before I left for Florida. I’ve always had the Cusinart 10-Cup Grind and Brew. Trying to decide whether to get the same thing or their new grind and brew single cup coffee maker. You can use fresh coffee beans or K-Cups! Let me know if you love your coffee maker. It’s pretty important for me to be able to use whole beans.
The rest of Saturday included a long late afternoon walk with the dogs and holiday decorating.
Target had all of their artificial trees 50% off on Black Friday so I ordered this little three foot flocked tree for my bedroom. It’s my first time doing a bedroom tree and I love it. Finn picked out the blue lights.
My Saturday ended on the couch with homemade hot chocolate. Here’s what went into my mug…
1 cup oat milk
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips
Pinch of salt
Marshmallows
I heated the oat milk, cocoa powder, sugar, salt and vanilla in a saucepan. Once the mixture was nice and warm, I whisked in the chocolate chips and stirred until they were melted. It was so good!
Sunday brought more holiday decorating (we’ve been doing a little every day). Finn was excited to help with the tree.
Gotta love his ornament placement. 😉
We spent Sunday afternoon and evening walking with Virginia, doing the outside lights and baking chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin banana muffins.
Finn had a blast running around in the font yard while I was doing the lights. He yelled “Happy holidays!” to every single person that walked by. At one point he went to the back yard and got his kid-sized Adirondack chair. He put it on the front walk and sat down with his can of sparkling water. He said, “Mommy, I’m sunbathing. Do you know what that means? It’s when you sit in the sun and relax.” I was cracking up.
Love doing life with this little one and can’t wait for all of the fun and adventure that the holiday season has to bring!
Have a great week, y’all!
QUESTIONS
Did you do any Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping? (it was a little overwhelming!)
Coffee maker recommendations?
Do you decorate your bedroom for Christmas?
You really are the most amazing parent to Finn, Jen. These simple days spent together creating Holiday traditions, however small, are priceless for your little boy. And you! But it takes patience and kindness and letting all the other stuff you have on your ‘to do’ list go…and you really seem to get it. If I could turn the clock back I would do more of this and let the other stuff wait! Happy Holidays to you and your adorable wee chap xxx
Thank you so much for these incredibly kind words Vicki. They brought tears to my eyes. My parents did a really great job of making simple special and it makes me feel happy to think I am doing that for Finn too. <3
I think I am better able to let some things go to focus on Finn because he's not with me all the time. I really cherish the time I have with him and want to be as present as I can for it. I certainly don't get it right all the time but we are doing okay.
Thank you for your reminders to keep prioritizing simple days and quality time. I appreciate you a lot. <3
Happy holidays and sending love.
I’m loving all of your holiday decorations, Jen! I have such fond memories of decorating our tree as a child so I know Finn will grow up with the happiest memories of the holidays with you! <3
I am also in the market for a new coffee maker so I’m very interested in the coffee maker recommendations. I will definitely be trying your hot chocolate recipe this week! I’m in Tennessee and the weather forecast says we’ll dip into the 20s the next couple of days so hot chocolate will be the perfect way to warm up in the evenings.
I also love writing things down vs typing on a computer or phone! I think there’s just something so soothing about handwriting. This is also off topic but are you still looking to take online training clients? Would love to work with you in person but I’m not in Charlotte!
Have a wonderful week! 🙂
Aw, thanks Megan. They are making me so happy! And sharing the Christmas season with Finn is just the best. <3
I ended up with the same Cuisinart 10-cup grind and brew with a stainless steel carafe that I've had for my last two coffee makers. I just like it a lot.
You will LOVE the hot chocolate. Such a wonderful cold weather treat. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season!
Hi!! I recently had to get a new coffee maker & grinder & decided (with high recommendations!) to get them separately. I got the Breville Precision Brew & the Smart Grinder Pro & LOVE them. A bit of an investment, but we use it every day & I like that it’s got lots of adjustability in the grinder. Also looks nice out on your counter!
Oh this is interesting! Thank you for sharing this.
Just want to say your skin looks amazing!!!
Thank you so much Kerr! <3
Hi Jen! Your decorations are so pretty and you have just prompted me to get a smaller tree for our family room since the big tree goes in our front window. Now we can enjoy a tree in both rooms. Although I do have lots of baby trees in all the rooms and other Christmas decorations. I have a Breville coffee maker and we have had it for 5 or 6 years and it is great! Grinds the beans fresh to make the coffee, has different strength and cup settings. You can even use ground coffee in it! You can make 1 cup of coffee at a time if that is what you choose. There is 2 people in my household so I make a pot each morning and the pot is stainless steel. No more worrying about breaking the glass pot!
Hope you find a maker that you love!
Enjoy the holidays!
Thank you Connie! The smaller trees are a fun way to add a little more festivity to other rooms. Thank you for the coffee maker recommendation. I love a stainless steel carafe as well – and keeps the coffee warm without it sitting on a burner and getting so stale!
Happy holidays to you as well. <3