Friday Things
I feel like it’s been so long since we’ve chatted on a Friday! Between the holiday last week and our power outage the week before, we have so much to catch up on! But first, some recent photos, of course :)
1. So, the power outage was crazy! We were without power for about 30 hours, which I realize for people who have lived through hurricanes and natural disasters, that it sounds like nothing. But, it’s the longest I’ve ever been without power and with three little kids in a cold house, it wasn’t ideal! Luckily we only had to stay away from home one night, but boy did it make me grateful for what we DO have and that we never even have to think about. There were others who were without power for nearly a week. The amount of trees that were down just to due to ice was astounding. We heard crashing in the woods behind our house multiple times, and when all was said and done, there were trees basically littering the roads.
2. When I got back home and started the dreadful process of getting rid of all the food that had spoiled in our refrigerator, I realized that, even though the power had been back on for about 8 hours, the refrigerator wasn’t cold at all. It took GE service until the day before Thanksgiving at 4pm to get here, but we found out the circuit board blew when the power came back on. The guy had another one on his truck and was able to make the quick switch and we could start loading the fridge back up on Thanksgiving morning. Again, felt so grateful that we have a spare refrigerator in our garage that we were able to use, and that we didn’t need to buy a whole new refrigerator!
3. Which leads me to… how was your Thanksgiving??! I want to hear all about your favorite foods! We had a wonderfully fun day with all of our family. I do have this nagging feeling though… I’m starting to think there needs to be some type of chocolate dessert option on Thanksgiving. Is this blasphemy? What do you serve for dessert? It’s always pumpkin pie (which I don’t like), pecan pie (which I do like), and walnut cookies. For some reason this year I was left totally craving chocolate!
4. Do you remember last year when I told you that a picture I had posted years ago of me with my sister and cousins at the kids’ table on Thanksgiving got found somehow and made into a meme that was all over Facebook? Well… it happened again lol!
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5. Fun news! I recorded a podcast with Elaine from Dishing with Delicious, and you can listen to it HERE. I chat a lot about how I started blogging, how it has evolved since I began, and a few “rapid fire” questions at the end with some fun facts about me. I hope you’ll give it a listen!
6. Let’s talk holiday gift guides! I’ve posted a few so far (for foodies, for the home, for him and for her) and have a few more to post through December, but I’m curious – do you like them spread out like this with one or two per week, or would you rather have them all at once before shopping season starts (like leading up to Black Friday)? I’ll make a note for next year :)
7. I’m planning to make some photo books and would love to have some recommendations! I’m currently looking at Shutterfly and Artifact Uprising. Have you used either, both, or another service you loved? Please share!
8. I was surfing through the stations on Sirius in the car one day a couple of weeks ago when “Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms came on the 90’s station. I forgot how much I LOVED that song back in the day… totally underrated.
9. We are all decorated for Christmas here! The Thanksgiving leftovers were barely cold and I was whisking down the pumpkins on the mantle and throwing up lit garland and our stockings. Speaking of! We have been using a mashup of initial stocking for the last handful of years, but since we needed to add new ones for Isabelle and Judith this year, we sprung for personalized stockings from Pottery Barn Kids and they are GORGEOUS. A splurge, but on the order of “things we’ll keep forever”.
10. TGIF! I hope you have a cozy weekend!
OH MY GOODNESS I just love you and your photos of your beautiful family and those pups get me every ….single…..week.
My vote is for Shutterfly. I’ve used them hundreds of times and they never disappoint.
Hoping to see some awesome Christmas recipes. Dinners, elegant desserts, appetizers, cookies – the sky is the limit!
Thanks for all you do for all of us! Happy Holidays!
If you like the Gin Blossoms and have SiriusXM, checkout PopRocks on Channel 17. It plays great music from the 90’s.
Counting Crows, Coldplay, Goo Goo Dolls, Blind Melon…
I’m with you on Pumpkin Pie (don’t like) and Pecan Pie (love). I used to have a recipe for Tollhouse brownie pie which was like a combination of pecan pie and brownies…maybe try that. Chocolate is always good. I also like the Gin Blossoms, my favourite song was Follow You Down. It did feel like a long time since the last Friday Things…which shows how much we enjoy your blog! Glad you got your power back, it is a wake up call to realize how lucky we are with water, heat and power usually when so many others don’t have all the mod cons.
I’ve heard of this tollhouse pie, but I’ve never had it. Now I’m going to need to do some research ;-) Follow You Down is also a great song; I like most of their stuff!
Those are beautiful pictures of your kids by the tree!
We always have some form of Derby pie at Thanksgiving. Either more traditional Walnut Chocolate Bourbon version or a nut free/ alcohol free version (kid approved) made with Chocolate chips and Butterscotch chips. Both are.delicious and satisfy the chocolate dessert need!😆
I always make a chocolate pecan pie, and in my opinion, it is soooo much better than the regular. My mom also used to make pilgrim hat cookies from keebler cookies and a chocolate-diooed marshmallow. You set the marshmallow on top of the upside-down cookie so it looks like a hat and pipe yellow icing to look like A little buckle. Cute and chocolatey!
Those cookies sound so cute, and yessssss to chocolate pecan pie!
So…did you, your sister, and your cousins recreate the Kids’ Table photo this year? I hope so. As for chocolate at Thanksgiving, chocolate fudge will do the trick. Easy to make ahead; easy to balance on the edge of your dessert plate loaded with pie!
We actually have a photo of the four of us toasting at my cousin’s wedding this spring; we intentionally tried to recreate the photo ;-) I’ll have to find it and share it!
I have been reading your blog for a while but normally don’t comment. I wanted to tell you how much I enjoy it. Anyway, I couldn’t stand pumpkin pie until I tried Jessica Collins ‘ recipe and I actually like it now. I always make a chocolate peanut butter mousse pie too.
Chocolate peanut butter mousse pie sounds amaaaaaaaazing!
I’d never thought about chocolate at Thanksgiving until I read Jenny Rosenstrach’s How To Celebrate Everything. Every year her mom made two chocolate pies using Keebler Graham Cracker pie crusts and two boxes of Jello pudding mix. One year Jenny made a chocolate pie from scratch, and while it was eaten, it was only after the other two were gone. Lesson: don’t mess with tradition.
My family has added the chocolate bourbon pecan pie, but haven’t made it to the chocolate cream pie — yet.
My family has always had chocolate cream pie for dessert at Thanksgiving (along with apple and pumpkin and more recently pecan), it’s easy and if you’re already making up crust, it’s a single crust pie. We also always have a box of assorted chocolates (usually from Sees which are hard to find on the east coast sadly, but are in some department stores) which we pass around between the main meal and dessert. This helps with the chocolate need.
My favorite Thanksgiving food is probably the French meat stuffing. So tasty and it’s the only time of year we make it, plus we put it into pies and have those after Thanksgiving. I just love it. I also have a super simple, very yummy bourbon cranberry sauce recipe that I love.
I think it would be great to have all the gift guides earlier so we can get our shopping done. I love your suggestions every year!
I heard Hey Jealousy on Sirius the other day too and thought the same thing!! Man, I love that song. Now it’s running through my head, happily.