Happy November!
I hope you all had an amazing Halloween weekend! I see so many people on Instagram already putting up the Christmas stuff! I’m going to ride fall out until after Thanksgiving. I hurry up and click out of Christmas posts because I don’t want to get into the holiday spirit just yet!
Before I start today’s recap blog, I wanted to mention two things!
- Bookclub picks will be announced on Wednesday! 😊
- I hope you checked out my new post about editing photos + if you didn’t see the announcement, my presets are finally available!
Now, let’s get this recap post started!
Most of my week was spent behind the computer screen working on the launch of my preset shop, walking outside, planning some holiday projects, catching up on book club, playing piano, and walking!
In the past few weeks, I’ve had the weirdest pain/electricity feeling in my leg throughout the day. It turns out I have a herniated disk that causes sciatica. I’ll be doing a lot of stretching, walking (with good posture and good shoes), and taking it easy on strength training for a while. It’s gotten a bit better since taking some medicine and applying heat, but it’s such a weird and uncomfortable feeling.
The more walking I do, the better it gets.
For dinner on Monday night, I made spaghetti squash with turkey and garlic tomato sauce. I ate this for dinner just about every single night this week, which is why I don’t have a ton of dinner pictures to share.
And Monday & Tuesday nights are always dedicated to Dancing with the Stars & The Bachelorette. (let me know in the comments if you’re watching either show and what your thoughts are!) Lots of errands on Tuesday! I have been SO obsessed with Suja’s Organic Probiotic Juice lately. This flavor and the lemon cayenne are my favorites. The Mint Perfect bars are also delicious! I had to pick something up since I was out too long, and it’s never good to go to a grocery store hungry.
On Tuesday night, I fit in 7 miles with my neighbor! The walks always go by so fast because we talk a lot, and there is so much to look at in the neighborhood! Plus, we have the trails by the water.
Popcorn, tea, and The Bachelor to end the evening!Fast-forward to Halloween!
I spent ALL weekend cleaning the house! If you follow me on Instagram, you saw the mess! I did some fun “tap to clean” stories! If you need any cleaning inspo, watch those!
Our neighborhood did the trick or treat and reverse trick or treat. Most houses set out candy on the porch or a table at the end of the driveway. For kids who were not participating, they left a “reverse trick or treating” sign for people to drop off candy to them.
My neighbors went all out! The entire neighborhood was decorated and transformed into a spooky place to trick or treat. I had fun walking around the neighborhood and checking out all the decorations.
I wore my polka dot dress from Asos (the dress runs large!), black boots, a witch hat, and extra makeup to get festive!
My dogs were not fans of my hat. I had to take it off around them because they just kept barking at it. 😆🍂Those leaves!
We ordered grilled chicken salads and buffalo wings from Killington’s for dinner!
I made some Harney & Son’s cinnamon tea (it tastes like red hots! 😋) and headed out for a long walk around the hood! If you’re in the market for a good tea, this one is it. I have hooked SO MANY people on it!
I had another tap to clean the day on Sunday!
The first thing I did was take down ALL the Halloween decorations. I’m so happy to say goodbye to those cobwebs and bats. While working a bit on the computer, I had a fresh-pressed juice! It had carrots, lemon, cayenne, celery, cucumber, ginger, and water. I run water through the juicer at the end to grab all the extra pieces hanging around.
Ignore the hair! 😆 but the pups sat next to me so I had to get a picture.
After doing more cleaning on Sunday, I meal prepped a salad for the week and made pumpkin muffins. I’ll make sure to get those recipes up asap!
I hope you all have a fantastic week! The book club will be announced on Wednesday! no questions
for you!
- How was your Halloween?
- Did you dress up this year?
- Have you voted?!
Sorry to hear about the leg pain! Just know you’re not alone, I had pulled something in my neck a couple weeks ago, and this past Wednesday severely sprained my ankle so I was pretty stagnant for Halloween 🎃
I am voting tomorrow! There is only one place open to vote in person now in my county and the line is SO long, and I don’t want to mail in a ballot!
The bachelorette is a nightmare and I think this is my least favorite season as of now lol im excited to see how they bring Tayisha in!!
I just got over neck pain a week ago 😆 Can’t catch a break!
We tried to vote on Satruday morning but the line was 4 hours long. Voting today in our district will be much easier!
I am so with you on that! But I bet the Bachelor regrets editing Tayisha the way they did in Colton’s season!
Just a few words: CLARE NEEDS TO GO! (That’s the only thought I have on the bachelorette right now!)
For Halloween this year my boyfriend and I were vampires!
And yes I voted 🙂
The salad looks soooo good!!!!
Hi, Kristen!
GIRL YASSSS. She’s a hot mess. Every time she has a conversation with someone she turns it back around her and talks about her OR DALE! 🤮
I bet those costumes looked great!
Aw man, that stinks about the sciatica. That’s fantastic about walking helping though!! Your Halloween decorations are so cute!
We voted early, but lines were crazy! Thankfully we’d gotten there early but I thoroughly appreciated how safe they tried to make the process, covid-wise!! We did end up leaving candy out for Halloween, though–we have one of those video doorbells, so we got notifications whenever someone came up to get candy. It was especially cute when one of the kids screamed thank you and then started questioning out loud why he said that to a door, lol.
Thanks, Krista!
That is awesome to hear!
I bet that was so funny to watch!!
I love seeing how everyone celebrated Halloween! We did candy hunts in our yard and lical park for our kids and they loved it.
Taralynn, for your sciatic pain I recommend searching YouTube for SarahBeth Yoga’s sciatic yoga routine. My father in law had awful herniated discs and sciatic pain. He started doing those yoga routines and the pain is completely gone! Now he does them every single day and the pain only comes back if he skips a few days. Good luck!
Aw that is such a cute idea!
Thank you so much for that recommendation! I will check that out today! I’ve been looking for something like that.
I love Halloween so much that I always take the week off work! Though things were different this year, I spent the week carving pumpkins, roasting pumpkin seeds and making Halloween-themed desserts, visiting a socially distanced corn maze/pumpkin patch, watching horror movies, and hunting down really cool yard displays! I didn’t exactly dress up, but I used a bunch of fake scars and makeup to create a gory effect.
I have voted already!
Your Halloween sounds like it was really fun. I just love how vibrant the fall colors in your photos are. And the juice you made sounds so delicious!
Hi, Breeanna!
I think your Halloween sounded perfect.
& thank you so much! I’ve been on that juice kick for a while! 😊
Looks like you had a great Halloween, Taralynn! 💕 I actually didn’t dress up or celebrate this year – wasn’t feeling well so I had an early night! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Hope you’re feeling better, Charmaine!
Hi Taralynn,
Happy November. We had a wonderful HALLOWEEN at home. We watched classic horror movies, made mixed drinks and delicious meals for ourselves, and put out a bowl of candy with decorations for the trick or treaters. It went as perfectly as I hoped it could go.
Bachelorette is a total nightmare (and my friends and I are LOVING it- watching, texting, discussing virtually all week long as everyone catches up on each episode). Clare was a total train wreck of a choice- well done Bachelor franchise LOL. Now, where’s Tayshia… the real bachelorette for this year 🙂
We are headed with pre-filled ballots to vote TODAY. My husband didn’t want to mail them in after some news that boxes were being burned and such so we are taking them to the polling place ourselves.
And one more thing, I JUST GOT THE NEW B.A. PARIS “the dilemma” in the mail so I’m super excited to dig into that book in the weeks ahead. YAYAYAYAYA!
Thank you for your constant attention on making the best of everyday and finding joy in the little things– this blog is forever uplifting to me when I come and read and keeps me focused on veggies, walking/stretching, and self-care in a world that would normally drive me to eat poorly, sit on my couch binge watching 24/7 and have me feeling down. Your blog is the POSITIVE balance, a refuge, that I need in a world of everyday chaos– thank you 🙂
UGH is all I have to say about the Bachelorette. The season has been so boring so far! I am BEYOND ready for Tayshia to take over. I am not a fan of Clare at all. This is what, her 6th time being on the bachelor franchise!? I also hate how she keeps saying “I know what I want etc” in regards to Dale… well, that doesn’t make for good tv! Hopefully Tayshia can save the season!
I SO AGREE!!!
Roll it out! I love my foam roller/ I may also use my kitchen bread roller occasionally 🤦🏻♀️ But it’s totally worth it!
When is too early to put up Christmas decorations?!?!
hahaha I mean in 2020 all things go!
I took the plunge and started decorating and our neighbor decided to do the same! We just need some cozy cheer lately. And it’s getting cold in Maine. Ps- I have used the same hobby lobby wreaths on all of our barnhouse- our house use to be a barn and was converted- windows (I believe they are 11.99 but I always get when they are 50% off). I just added a bow to each and it really adds so much with doing so little.
Hi Taralynn, I am a DPT and would love to help you with your herniated disc. With blogging, it requires you to sit a lot- which is the worst thing for your back right now. The longer you sit, the further your disc will herniate, putting more pressure on your sciatic nerve. That is why walking helps, the spinal position takes the pressure off the nerve. Look up press ups- although everyone is different, they should help to move the disc back into place. Do not stretch your back with forward bends- it will get worse. Strength training is actually very good for you, just avoid super low squats.
I would really like to help you more. Treatment for this is not a “one size fits all” so any video catered to a crowd will only help so much. You can always email me for more help! Goodluck!