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Weekend Recap+Friendsgiving and Nutcracker Market

nutcracker market mimosa

Happy Monday, friends. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Ours was incredibly busy, but I’m officially in the holiday spirit thanks to a visit to the Nutcracker Market and a Friendsgiving. I’m starting my Monday off with the best holiday duo thanks to Nespresso’s peppermint pinwheel mixed with some peppermint mocha creamer.

Nespresso peppermint pinwheel

This week will be a fun week. I always love the final work stretch to Thanksgiving because I know my reward is a nice, long weekend with uninterrupted family time. I’m not taking any additional Thanksgiving time off this year, but I am planning on taking some extended time around Christmas. As you’ve probably figured, I’m really bad about just sitting still and enjoying some downtime. I’m determined to give myself some of that time this holiday season. So, needless to say, I’m on a bit of a holiday high this week.

Friday

Friday was the best work day. Several of my colleagues were out, so I had a nice, quiet day that wasn’t interrupted by tons of meetings or emails. I knocked out quite a few projects – and snuck in a grocery pickup during my lunch. I was able to get a quick workout in before we met our friend, Mike, for dinner at Jonathan’s the Rub.

Jonathans the rub

Gosh – I love that restaurant. I have not had a bad meal there. I had a glass of pinot noir (or two) with my meal, which consisted of shrimp and grits. Aaron had the chicken fried chicken – and Mike got the chicken fried steak. I haven’t seen Mike in awhile (he’s actually our realtor), and it was so good to catch up. He’s hilarious, and he really did the bests job at finding us a house that we love.

moosie's potatoes

As soon as dinner was over, it was kind of late. But, I needed to start making my Aunt Moosie’s potatoes for a Friendsgiving dinner we had on Saturday. So, around 11 p.m. Friday night, I found myself in the kitchen getting to work. I threw on some Taylor Swift and got busy. While Moosie’s potatoes are far from fat free, they are delicious. So, if you can’t splurge during the holidays – when can you? I’ll share the recipe later this week! So, I got my potatoes prepped and ready so Aaron could just stick them in over right before our Friendsgiving.

I made it to bed around midnight.

Saturday+Nutcracker Market

I had a bright and early start Saturday morning. The Nutcracker Market was back in person this year. And, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s a tradition that I look forward to every year. It’s a lot. The Nutcracker Market is a holiday market on steroids. It has tons of booths, it’s got Christmas music playing and so much more. I got with two of my friends every year – and we always kick our shopping off with a mimosa!

nutcracker market mimosa

And, before COVID, I felt like it was really the same year after year. I was pleasantly surprised at some of the newer vendors this year. And, while I’m not a big fan of a lot of the farmhouse decor they have, there was much less of that stuff this year. I am also not your typical audience for some of the clothing they sell at the market, but I can just bypass those booths, and I’m fine.

nutcracker market

One of my favorite things about the Nutcracker Market is that they have package drop off. You can check your bags, and you drive around to the back when you are done – and they load your packages into your car!

nutcracker market

I picked up quite a few Christmas gifts this year. I found my Baylor ornaments for our annual Baylor ornament exchange, and I picked up some items for my sister and my god kids!

nutcracker market

How cute are these bath bombs I picked up? I also grabbed these for a special little guy. He’s very into dinosaurs, and the chalk is dust free so he can color right on that book. You can wipe it clean after each use.

nutcracker market

Friendsgiving

We shopped all day and headed back around 5. I had to hurry and change because our Friendsgiving started at 6. Luckily, Aaron popped my potatoes in, so they were ready by the time we had to leave.

Friendsgiving

I’ve mentioned before that we have a group of friends here in Houston that were originally college friends – and most of the group has gotten married, so we have added spouses along the way. We have some fun holiday traditions, but Friendsgiving was a first.

Friendsgiving

The spread was delicious. There was a cheese board, salad, potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, pie, veggies and more! My friend Jeremy also received an early birthday cake. We had such a fun night kicking off the holiday season with our friends.

Sunday

So, yesterday, I was exhausted. But, it was commitment Sunday at church – because they are kicking off a new campaign. Aaron and I have been praying about what our two-year commitment to our church might look like, and we finalized what that looks like yesterday. I haven’t always been a faithful tither and have really only committed to a monthly tithe over the last several years. But, it has become a habit, and I really understand and stand by the importance of giving financially to the church. So, while our two-year commitment is going to be a bit of a stretch, I’m faithful that we can make it happen. I also feel confident that our church can do more beneficial things with this gift than we could ourselves. We took a leap of faith, and I’m excited to see where it leads.

golden retrievers

After church, I had a ton of things that needed my attention in the house. My house needed to be cleaned, my dogs needed to be walked, and I have those few pesky boxes left over that need to officially find a place somewhere in our house. I made some very good progress, and I’m hopeful that I can knock out the rest of this project next weekend.

Enjoy your week, friends!

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