November 15, 2025

The First Half Of November

I know I usually recap an entire month at a time, but so much has already happened in November and I have the holidays coming up. I know I'll have a ton to blog about - and not a lot of time to do it. So now that I have a few moments, I will catch you all up.
 
The Sunday after Halloween, Doug and I decided to go visit our girl in Atlanta. She wanted us to bring home some things for her for her holiday break. Then she would pack up the rest of her things before she headed home for the break. We also wanted to enjoy a lunch with our girl.
 
We picked her up and headed to Atlantic Station...
 

 
 We ate at a restaurant called BGR The Burger Joint...
 
The food was quite tasty, but it didn't knock my socks off. 

 We stopped in Bath and Body Works...

We stopped at a little coffee shop for drinks. Doug got a pumpkin latte. I got a chocolate chip muffin (which was fabulous)...

It was then time to drop B back off (insert sad face here), so she could finish up the rest of her quarter...
 
The leaves are always at their prettiest in Georgia the first two weeks of November. I love the fall - it is my favorite...
 

We have the wackiest weather in GA. It's been on the warm side and then we had a couple of days of unusual chill. You just never know how to dress. Colder days allowed for some fireplace time though...
 
Doug and I had a delicious meal together a few nights ago at a nearby wine bar...
 
 

Doug was flying home from a business trip in Tampa a little over a week ago and he ended up sitting next to THE Ric Flair on the way home...
 
It was very exciting! Doug said they chatted quite a while. Ric Flair told him a lot of cool stories. Doug told him that he was a big fan and that he saw him wrestle at the Macon Coliseum when he was 13 years old (D was a big wrestling fan in his young life and early adult life). Doug helped him get set up on his WiFi on his phone. Doug said he was so very nice. Honestly, it is so cool when you meet people that you admire and they meet and/or exceed expectations. I told Doug he surprisingly got to experience an incredible moment that others would absolutely love to have. Wish I could have been there, but I was so happy for Doug.

 Going back to Briana, you already know she had a fabulous Halloween. Honestly, she has had the best sophomore year so far. You may remember she had some friend/dorm mate drama last year, so we have been so thrilled that this year has been basically drama free for B. She loves the girls she lives with. She has a large group of friends who go out to dinner together and have game/movie nights. She is just very happy. I can see it in her body language. I told her that when she went to SCAD, she would eventually find her people. She has found them. And that makes my mama heart so happy...
 
She went to a SCAD "Just Dance" game night with her friend E...
 
My introvert isn't quite as introverted anymore.
 
She did a portrait of her roommate M for her figure drawing class...
 
Of course, I need to share some of Bri's meals...

And on Thursday, she drove home for the holidays. She doesn't go back to school until January. She is SO happy to be home and Doug and I are so happy she is home. I know she will miss her buddies so much, but she said she is ready for some "chill at home" time. She plans to stay in touch with her college friends over break - for sure.
 
She is still waiting for all her grades, but she did great. We know of two As for sure. The last class is hopefully an A but could be a high B. It is right on the line and she isn't sure yet.
 
She sure missed her kitty cat...
 
As for me, I am still struggling in the health department. I have decided to go see a functional doctor. I am so tired of going from specialist to specialist trying to figure out a plan to help me. I need someone who maybe can see a whole picture. Of course, functional medicine isn't really covered by insurance (our health system is so freaking broken), but I am willing to take a chance on this. 

I will say, it is still nice to be able to walk. This time last year, I was still in a boot. This year right after Halloween, I decorated my house for fall/Thanksgiving (more on that in an upcoming post)...
 
I love my fall decorations, so I like to keep them up until Thanksgiving. A couple of years ago, I decided to decorate my downstairs Christmas tree before Thanksgiving - because it is such a time consuming job. Last year, I couldn't physically decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving (thanks to my hubby for decorating for Halloween and Thanksgiving last year) due to my surgery. I was never one to mix holiday decorations, but I have had to alter that thinking a bit. I am in my 50s now, and I just need more time - for everything. So, I have decorated my downstairs and upstairs trees and Bri's little tree in her bedroom. I will decorate fully for Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend. I have never decorated my trees so early, but I'm not mad about it. I'm actually relieved it is done. I will go full Santa Claus in a couple of weeks...
  

So that is it for now. I am going to enjoy my girl being home. I am going to see what a functional doctor can do for me. Doug is working hard per usual. The holiday rush/crunch is upon us. Good luck everyone! 

November 10, 2025

The Rest Of October

Well, you know that about 90 percent of October for our family is spent focusing on Halloween. But, there were a few other things we did in October that were not haunting focused.
 
Doug and I captured pictures of the moon on Autumn Moon Festival. Doug was a bit more successful than I was (his pic is on the left and mine is on the right)...
 
As I mentioned in a previous post, Briana came home to visit for a weekend in October. So we made our "moon" cookies while she was here (a few days after Moon Festival)...

I realized after I blogged all about my scrapbooking addiction, I forgot to include an important book! I made a Shutterfly book of Briana's senior portrait session. I have since added it to the post. How could I forget?
 
 
Doug and I enjoy taking a day trip to Elijay to eat some BBQ and shop at some of our favorite stores. We miss visiting Ellijay and going apple picking with our girl. Those were some wonderful memories. So, Doug and I just go on our own now, and it is still nice. B is missed though.
 
We stopped first at Poole's BBQ...
 


The restaurant changed ownership a few years ago. The food is very good and the staff super friendly. They are doing some renovating inside the restaurant. They changed the lighting - which made it a bit dark in there. I get where they were going by wanting to change out the harsh lighting, but I think they went a bit too dark.
 
Unfortunately, they have neglected Pig Hill. I was so sad to see all the weeds growing within all the signs. I hope they will find a way to clean it up...
 
Then we went and visited my favorite antique shop. Downtown Ellijay...
 
These guys greeted us on the parking lot...
 
My favorite shop (I bought a number of things!)...
 
And our favorite food/grocery stores (Panorama and Penlands). We did buy a pumpkin and apples that day from Panorama as well as a bunch of other goodies...

We also got a number of things including slushies and hot boiled peanuts from Penlands. The slushies are freaking delicious...
 
It was a really nice day.
 
And as you know, I am a bit of a homebody. With my chronic illness issues, I haven't really traveled anywhere since August. Doug has made several trips for work. Life is just kind of quiet right now. I'm ok with that until I (hopefully) feel better. Hopefully 2026 will be more exciting for me - and not in a going to the hospital kind of way. But, Doug and I do like going out to different restaurants to enjoy food and conversation. We did a bit of that in October.
 
We had Chinese at one of our favorite restaurants...
 
Mongolian Stir Fry...

Italian Food...
 
Southern Coastal...

Everything was so delish. 
 
I also had some catch up lunches with friends and a nice lunch with my mom in October.
 
 So, that was October. I have put all the scary decor away and now I am enjoying my fall decor. Briana will be home in a few days for the rest of the year! I will enjoy having her home for the holidays.
 
Be back with a November update soon! 

November 1, 2025

All About Halloween 2025

 If you have been reading my blog long enough by now, you will know that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I absolutely love that spooky feeling. As I work on this blog post, I am listening to Halloween favorites on my Amazon Alexa.
 
Above, you will see my new addition to my collection of animatronics. She is grave watcher. And I love her as much as I love zombie girl and rocking clown!

So here is my Halloween recap for 2025!

I started the Halloween season in late September when Doug and I once again visited Spirit Halloween. This year, the store set up shop inside our local mall. It is a really nice, large space...

I always have fun seeing all the new animatronics...


I walked out with my grave watcher girlie that day - which Doug convinced me to buy. She is so cool!

Briana came to visit the second weekend of October, and I wanted to have the house decorated for her (full disclosure - I love decorating the house for me too)...



Doug and I visited Ellijay and I found this little guy in my favorite antique shop...
 
This is my newest light up...

I do decorate my bedroom a bit as well...
 
I even dressed up one of my Labubus...

And of course, my lovelies...
 
Doug did try to scare me (and the cat) by moving zombie girl around...
 
 I still don't feel well, but I felt well enough to decorate this year. I can walk again and that part is great.

 While I got the inside of the house decorated, Doug got the outside all spookified...
 


I carved a pumpkin once again... 
 
This was her before cutting and the curly cue stem (I found out the technical term is a peduncle - I did not know that!)...
 
Doug and I went to dinner one evening in October and the traditional Halloween scarecrows were lined up in the local downtown area...


Georgia had a bit of a warm October overall, but the last week and a half of October was quite chilly. The fireplace finally came on...
 
I always get a bit melancholy over Halloween's past. Here are my and Briana's past costumes...
 

This was Briana's costume last year at SCAD - 2024...
 
This year, she decided to be Musa from Winx (SCAD 2025)...
 


She went to a Halloween party at school on Thursday night with her friends...
 
 

Her friend S made her butterfly costume (fashion major)! It was so pretty!
 
The party...
 
 Bri painted pumpkins...
 
Watching her live her best life right now is amazing.
 
On Halloween, I dressed up myself a little and met my bestie Julie for lunch...
 
 Briana texted several times on Halloween and told me that she and her friends were watching scary movies all day and then they were all going out to dinner. Here they are hanging out last night...
 
 I made me and Doug crock-pot chili for dinner and we waited for the trick or treaters. I also baked pumpkin seeds...

My grave watcher entertained (and scared) our neighborhood kids for several hours. Only one little one cried (I felt really bad about it), but some of the little ones were totally fascinated by her...
  
We had SO MANY trick or treaters. Maybe 70? Could have been more (I love how my Ring camera captures everything)...
 
This little one came to my door with her dad. They were obviously Woody and Jessie. She was the cutest thing ever. I answered the door and her dad proudly said "This is her first trick or treat ever!" I think I was her very first door! As you can see, the relative paparazzi was taking pictures and flashes were coming at me everywhere. I loved being a part of this moment for this family...
 
I had a great Halloween season. I truly did. I didn't feel great during a lot of it, but I still soaked everything in as much as I could. And this was the first year I could jump up, go to the door and hand out candy to the kids. The past two years I was dealing with my heel and joint issues. I do not take walking normally for granted anymore.

 Doug and I are seeing Briana tomorrow for lunch and I can't wait! I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! 
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