The Month in Moments: November

I have very few photos from November, but it was a beautiful month. Lots of (rich) food, colder days, and my birthday!

autumn leaves — A heart-stoppingly gorgeous tree spotted on a particularly glorious November day.

spread of appetizers — A spread of snacks for Thanksgiving, including some homemade hot honey and some local salmon spread.

christmas tree — Every year on my birthday we get a Christmas tree! It’s become a tradition that I really look forward to. This is the biggest tree we’ve ever gotten– 7 feet! We had to go out and get a new stand immediately because it was too big for the one we had.

potaotes, eggs, bacon, salad — I ate a lot of brunchy lunches this month. I thought this was a very pretty (and tasty) one. I also love this tablecloth from Target (where else?)

dolce and gabbana pasta — I’ve been buying this pasta from my grocery store pretty regularly because it’s delicious and reasonably priced– I realized this night that it’s Dolce and Gabbana pasta (see the lower center of the package).

homemade corn husk wreath — Here’s the corn husk wreath I made!

pretzel and french fries — A giant pretzel, chai mead, and dill french fries at Skal Beer Hall with friends for my birthday…

me on my birthday — …Also for my birthday, an insanely rich chocolate cake with a sparkler from Hot Cakes. I was really dreading my birthday this year because the past few were so hard. I’m crying here because I was so happy. I really had a good one this year.

lit candy cane — This is a really cool decoration that Chris made– a candy cane made of copper wire and solar powered twinkle lights!

salad, burrito with eggs and potatoes — Another brunchy lunch, this one with a dope scrambled egg and hash brown burrito.

More soil testing for the planters in the front yard. As you can see, they’re in serious need of some nitrogen!

I did an amateur seasonal analysis on myself and I think I’m a deep Autumn.

homemade thanksgiving dinner — Thanksgiving dinner!! I was so excited, that’s why this photo is crooked and blurry.

thanksgiving turkey — Our turkey breast this year!

leftover turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes pot pie — Two days post-Thanksgiving, I made my annual Thanksgiving leftovers pot pies, which you can read about here.

experimenting with coloring lightbulbs — Experimenting with painting lights to see if I can make my own custom strand of colored lights! More to come on this soon.

bowls of cream of wheat — Cream of wheat with good butter and maple syrup.

used books from powells — A big ol’ stack of used books from Powell’s online store. I’ve been loving ordering from here!

What I watched, read, and listened to in November:

Anatomy of a Fall

On a cold, wet night I went to see this film with a friend. The theater was freezing, and it felt perfectly on theme with the setting of this film– an isolated, haunting, chalet in the snowy French Alps. I was little afraid to see this movie I’ll admit, because I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But, happily, it turned out to be what I’d hoped it would be, a suspenseful slow burn with plenty of intrigue. Did she or didn’t she? The movie doesn’t tell quite you, and that’s just a little part of what makes it so good.

The Cook of Castamar (La cocinera de Castamar) on Netflix

Okay, so this show is pretty soapy, and the cooking aspects, while decently convincing, are maybe not based in any kind of reality?? I couldn’t find any information on whether or not there’s a real dish the contains egg yolk and lilies. But, the mentions of food are imaginative, like combining truffles and cloves, and that’s enough for me. As for the rest of the show, I have to respect plot lines that make me audibly gasp. Soapy as it may be, I watched this show really fast and really enjoyed it.

Emma by Jane Austen

I finally finished Emma, which I mentioned starting a few months ago in September. I liked it, but I was surprised, given the way the movie versions are laid out, that so much of the book focuses on Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax. I’d love to see a movie or a miniseries that focuses more on Emma’s dynamic with Jane, and that makes Frank out to be more of the infuriating imp that he is in the book. All in all, I didn’t enjoy reading Emma as much as Pride & Prejudice— but even though it was about 200 pages longer than it needed to be, it did put me to sleep every night (in a good way).

Songs of November:

My Favorite Product This Month:

(Not sponsored, I just really like it!)

white waffle robe from the white company

Chris got me this robe for my birthday, and it’s awesome! It’s impossibly light and soft, and somehow absorbs water efficiently too (I put it on when I get out of the shower). The cut is very flattering, so as a bonus I get to feel cute in addition to being ridiculously comfortable.

Thanks for reading! See you next time for December.