It's now mid December and this post is late. December is always a crazy month for content creators, I've always had trouble juggling blogmas, vlogmas, reading, reviewing and trying new eats. Add in being a parent to very active kiddos and running several businesses... yeah it can be a lot lol. But I love what I do, which is why I've been doing it for over 20 years now, happily.

November wasn't as cozy as it could had been, but it was full of things that caught me by surprise and brought joys through out the month.

I also treated myself to a Switch 2 even though I said I wouldn't until the update for Animal Crossing comes out in January but the chance came up to grab one so I did, I deserve it! Working on your shit pays off, and the ability to get myself these two upgrades makes me feel so much more accomplished lol. 

It's been a productive month of blind boxes.

I found some Sanrio ones I was searching for in Plano and had to get them all. Or rather, two or three of each. The Tamagotchi Sanrio one on the top right I had to buy another 3 of because my kiddos stole my other haul of them. These are so cute they light up and they make really cute bag charms. I definitely need to get more! The Pochacco on the bottom right had to be straight up hidden because they would fight over him. So he's hiding on my bookshelf in my room right now lol. I haven't opened the others yet, I'm debating if I want to do unboxing blind box reels.

I blame working at Disney World and at D-Street when blind box Vinylmations was a huge thing. Ah, I miss those days and I miss working there. It was so much fun!

I do love my girls share the excitement and love of blind boxes and aren't sore losers about getting doubles. I just wish they wouldn't lose them lol! 

November was full of Wicked stuff naturally.

Ironically my 6yo was the one who was trying to convince me to go watch it. Act II isn't my favorite. I only like the first part with No Good Deed but everything else having to do with The Wizard I could care less for. Oh, and I want to see the slap happen.

It did hit a point where I was like how much Wicked stuff is TOO MUCH Wicked stuff? The 6yo picked up Wicked bath bombs and all the Glinda bubble bar from LUSH since it doubles as a bubble wand which is pretty cool. I picked up the skincare stuff which smells amazing. I hate how most of these collections at LUSH are super limited edition. I still have the Elphaba glitter broom bath bomb from the collection last year sitting on my shelf and I refuse to use it.

Compartes would do a Wicked collab. They even have an advent calendar on their website. I found these chocolate bars at World Market. There were several others but these were the flavors I was most drawn to. I'll probably put up reviews or a taste test reel up on my foodie blog. 

I haven't had an urge to get on social media all year and tbh, my nervous system has been just a bit more settled since. As someone who's been on social media and doing social media since 1999 and been on Instagram since it was iOS only in 2011, I am burnt out ya'll lol. I love sharing photos and things but on Instagram isn't it anymore for me. Plus with the rise of them just randomly deleting accounts? Yeah, nah. I'm not putting all that time and energy into something I can't control anymore. I've debated on going old school and getting back on Flickr lol. There's Behance but it's only for those with an Adobe Creative Cloud membership -- which isn't such a bad idea at this point. I have always hated the idea of TikTok, I don't know why. Maybe because I'm a Vine-er forever and TikTok is just a bootleg version of Vine lol.

I did find that studies show that being on TikTok does throw your nervous system, if I find the article again I'll come back and link it here.

 Like I mentioned, my gaming pc can now run Infinity Nikki.

I have so many thoughts about this game. I mean, it's a gatcha game so I mean, what could go wrong? My bank account says a lot lol. The fact you have to gatcha 2-3 of each outfit in order to upgrade it is nuts but so so addicting. And tbh I've been overly obsessed with gatcha games since the days of Neopets and GoGaia. Which weren't even games exactly, they were just websites that took your money lmao!

This game is beautiful and the game play itself is wonderfully done. There's SO much to do for a game that is focused on fashion quests and style off's. It's perfect for people like me who love to gather, craft and hunt for resources. The downside is that you cap your insights daily and they're time gated. So something takes weeks to get sometimes. Patience isn't my thing lmao. 

I enjoyed the whole story line with Giovanni and completing the Itzland quests. That whole section was really heartwarming. 

 I still have my eyes on this Oregon Trail ornament because how freakin cute?! If you were a 90's kid and played this on those pc's that only operated in black and green, you know how this tugs at your memories lol! I played it for awhile on my Switch and as an adult, it's much more stressful lmao. But hey, no one's died yet.

Speaking of Switch, I'm so against buying Switch 2 games. I mean $70 a game? In this economy? Ya'll are trippin. I'm thankful that most Switch games come with a free Switch 2 upgrade. I was recently gifted Paper Mario and I'm so excited to play this one! I've wanted it since it was released. 

My 6yo has the same habit as her dad when gaming: she looks at me in game when she's talking to me. I don't remember what we were talking about other than her demanding I get in the car in Roblox. Our Roblox game play is so random and chaotic lol. However she always comes up with the cutest looks and outfits.

November was of course spent decorating for Christmas! This year I went full on glitter. Nutcrackers are a thing I collect and this gold glitter one from Target has been one of my favorite new decor item's I've picked up this year.

Picked up a few of my favorite holiday snacks: I do miss when the Linzer Raspberry cookies had powered sugar on top of them, wonder why they stopped doing that. The Holiday Cookie Collection has been one of my favs since I was a kid but it was the asian market version. Same thing lol! The cookie sprinkled with coconut shavings is my favvvvv... so good.

I introduced the girls to the Terry's chocolate orange and I regret it lmao. In the month of Nov I bought maybe 4 of these because they kept jacking mine and eating it all. Ugh lol. My dad introduced these to me as a kid. I thought the concept of smacking it was so funny and now my kids do the same. 

Overall, November gave me a lot to be thankful for -- even if I didn't get to take my annual Disney World trip this year. I was surrounded by other little joys and things that helped calmed my nervous system as well as things I really needed to upgrade for the sake of my businesses so I can't really complain.

I'm lucky to be able to have and do the things I do, annually my kids take Disney World trips twice a year and that's way more than I got to take at their age, so I'm truly thankful to be able to gift my kids with those memories and experiences as they grow. 

Now to work our way through December and all the challenges that come with the holidays, time management and everything else.

I hope you all are staying warm and cozy this season! 

This year I decided to step outside of my “comfort zone” and get your typical green tree. As much as I wanted a white tree I couldn't find one that was at least 6" and affordable at the time we were looking for one. We got rid of our last one when we moved (no elevator here at the new place so a lot had to go).

This year's color theme was navy blue and bronze/burlap. I was heavy debating on navy blue and ice blue but most of the ice blue ornaments I found weren't icy enough. The only problem with this is that at night the navy blue ornaments kind of blend into the tree. But during the day it doesn't. Still, the tree itself came out really pretty. I really like how my husband uses ribbon, I suck at placing garland so the fact he uses ribbon gives it something extra without looking like a hot mess. Maybe next year I'll go around fairy-fy the tree lights.

I won't say that the tree is complete since it's missing some of my traditional ornaments; but also that I have no idea where they are. I know I have some in some of my vanity bins but I'll have to find them through the week so I can put them up before Christmas!

We usually pick a few special ornaments that match the theme of our tree, those we always keep. Here's a few from this year's theme.

What are some of your plans this month?

• Figure out a direction for my blog and social media
• Come up with my [ onelittleword ] for 2018
• Come up with a SHORT list of SPECIFIC additional resolutions for 2018
• Research remote control jobs
• GO TO THE  DAMN DOCTOR
• Upgrade my glasses (or early next year)
• Get back into meditation
• Get back into night time routine yoga
• Get back into Duolingo
• Get back into making healthier eating choices
• (Basically get back into the mentally healthy plan on things I fell off on)
• TIDY THE APARTMENT
• PUT THE SHIT AWAY
• Go into 2018 a little more ORGANIZED and TIDY
• Read as many books as you can
• Take holiday photos
• Figure out what to bake for Christmas Eve

What are some of your goals this month or goals before the year ends?

What are your plans for tonight?

What is your favorite Christmas movie?
Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Do you have a favorite Christmas memory?
Favorite Christmas gift?
Favorite Christmas scent?
Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?
What tops your tree?
As a kid, what was one crazy gift you asked for but never received?
What the best part of Christmas for you?

Kristine V.
Darrell S.
Sean H.
Becky
Jer M.