A Christmas Favorite!

Today I'm over at The Blended Blog sharing a favorite of Christmas!  Check out the Christmas baking tradition I have with my sisters {here}!

What I've Been Wearing Lately

It's been awhile since I've posted about worn.  But I've looked through my phone and realized I have a bunch of selfies on there that never made it on the blog....until now!

I have been wearing this buffalo check button down a lot this fall.  This day I tried the half tuck!  HA!  And wore it with my booties!

With the exception of the above outfit, all I've worn lately is LEGGINGS!!  Yes...the weather is 'a changin'...

This Piper Street Shop Sweater has totally become my rainy day uniform!!  It's perfect paired with leggings and rain boots!

It rained a lot in November!  

This is another fun outfit to wear on rainy days!  Super cozy!  I just love me some Piper Street!!

I bought this tank during the summer at a little local shop and actually wore it for the first time at the end of November for dinner and a night out!  I wore a longer sweater over it, but it was hot and crowded, so I did end up taking it off.

I hope now that I'm back to blogging, I'll be posting more looks, more often!!

Now I'm off to figure out what to wear for Parent-Teacher conferences...ugh!!

Linking up today!

Becky @ bybmg

Carrie @ A Lovely Little Wardrobe

Carrie for Thursday Fashion Files

The Pleated Poppy

Alice @ Happiness at Mid Life

Fabulous Friday on A Pocketful of Polka Dots

Today I'm taking back the blog!!

WELL HELLO THERE!!

 If you're reading this, I THANK YOU!  Because lately, I have not been the best blogger out there!!  I took a little bit of a blog break!  And I'm not going to lie...it was longer than I intended.  But I am not going to write down all my excuses about why, or how life got in the way...I'm just going to take back the blog and promise to be better going forward!

With the holidays in full swing, there's lots of fun stuff coming up both here and over at The Blended Blog that I can't wait to share with you!

Today's post is totally out there, but thought I'd be a fun way to get back into it.




{In full disclosure this post is a running list of random.  I started it a while back and have added to it as I thought of things!  I am not sure anyone will want to read it, but thought I'd publish it anyway...it's quirky- like me!!  And so Solitary Life!} 

• I have known for a while now that I'm a serious over-exclamation point-er!!  When writing emails, commenting on blogs, I always use too many exclamation points. Like for every sentence...And I double it.  I have been trying to be more diligent about switching them out now.  But I guess I'm an excitable person!! SeewhatIdidthere??

• Every time I take a selfie, I think...I really need a photographer for this blog!  Thumbs Down for Solitary Life!! 

How could I NOT have inserted a Selfie here?? ;)

•  My neighbors above used to be very quiet people.  These days they're not.  I'll be honest, it's starting to piss me off!!  They are getting the place painted and I guess moving crap around.  And can I just say that it's the girl who is loudest.  When she goes out, she must wear her heaviest shoes, because I can hear her stomping around.  The joys of condo living....but I wouldn't trade my little house for anything!!

• I'm not ashamed to admit that Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas is one of my favorite things.  But I get so mad at the stupid titles of the movies!  They give everything away!!!  UGH!!

• With the exception of Countdown to Christmas, I haven't watched real TV in months.  I have however spent an ungodly amount of time on YouTube.  God Bless Chromecast!  I actually listen to music other than country.  But I also feel better about myself knowing I wasn't the one who created this 4 hour Christmas music playlist!!

• Someone told me recently that I had a lot of coats!  I'll never see that jerk again...LOL (since then I may have bought three more puffer vests and a North Face jacket...THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

• I have a three word phrase that I say to myself every morning, that if anybody ever heard, might definitely think I was crazy.  But hey, it's gets me outta bed in the morning!!

• By now I'm fully Christmas-fied!  I look around the place and think to myself, I really should invite people over!!  I'll never do it.  I have a lot of good ideas but executing them is the hard part!  HA!

• Google Hangout is Super Cool!!  Shout out to my bloggy friends, Deena, Shaunacey, Lana and Carrie,  for a fun Saturday night!  (And the distraction from Report Cards....EW! Yes, when you live a Solitary Life, you do report cards on Saturday nights!)

• My favorite thing about Fall and Winter is not having to shave my legs everyday!  Oddly enough, I've been doing it!  I'm not sure why...maybe in my head I think Santa's gonna bring me a man for Christmas?!?! 
  

• My mom would be mortified if she knew the reputation I had amongst my colleagues at work as the "Wine Drinker"!  (now she does...she's my number one blog reader and is very quick to tell me when I have typos!) I tried to dispel this the other day.  I don't wake up everyday intending to have a glass of wine after work.  In fact I say to myself, " this is the night, I'm gonna make a big ol' pitcher of iced tea"!  But then I get to work and things happen and people happen and after the day I had the only thing to look forward to is that glass of wine!  I know I'm not alone in this!!  And don't worry ma....I'm the comedian of the group too!!

• My girl crush on Adele is in full effect!!  Love her new album!!  I bought it forgetting I didn't have a CD player anymore...DUH!!  But put it right into my iTunes!  
  

Thanks for reading and for sticking with me!!  Have a happy Tuesday!!

Thankful Thursday

I've pretty much taken a blog break this week, but this being Thanksgiving, I couldn't let the final Thursday of November go by without a post!  Time for another edition of Thankful Thursday!!

There are so many things in life to be thankful for! One of them is certainly this blog and the blogging community.  

Three short years ago I started this blog on a whim.  Admittedly, the first two years, the posts were  few and far between.  But then I started following more and more blogs and discovered link-ups.  These link ups introduced a whole new group to my blog and introduced me to a bunch of new awesome bloggers as well.  I love reading blogs and connecting with others from all over.

Another blessing in my life is the fact that this this blogging community has connected me to bloggers, who although I have never met, I consider friends.  It  with these women that my blogging has expanded into The Blended Blog!  Never in a million years did I think that would have ever happened!!I am so thankful to have them in my life!

To all the readers, from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!  For following along on this crazy with me.  Thank you for reading, laughing, and commenting!  It means more to me than you will ever know!!


Have a Blessed Thanksgiving! Gobble til You Wobble, Drink til You Fall Down! =)

Katie


Linking up with with Shelly and Holly today!

Friday is FINALLY here!!

YAY!!  Finally...did anyone think this was a pretty SLOW week?!?    But Friday's here...WOOOO  HOOOO, so on with the show!!  Five things friday....I'm focusing on the good...



//ONE//  This past weekend was a doozy!!  Friendsgiving was celebrated on Saturday and Fakesgiving Thanksgiving with my mom and dad, on Sunday!!  Check out my recaps of both here and here!

//TWO//  Because this weekend was so crazy, I thought I'd give myself the day on Monday!  So I took off and had my mom and dad over for a few hours.  Dad did some work around the house and mom put up my Christmas tree...YAY!!  So right now my house might just be a hybrid of Thanksgiving and Christmas!! (The peapod guy enjoyed it...LOL)

//THREE//  Have you heard Adele's words on body image?? Read it here! Go her, right?!?  I read about the article on brit+co and then saw this video after.  This lady is knockin' out the hits!  I didn't cry when I heard Hello, like so many others did, but I kinda shed a tear after this one!!  I think it was the line about getting older....





//FOUR//  I just finished this yesterday and am giddy about how it came out, I just had to share it!!

Last year at this time I picked up this lesson from Teachers Pay Teachers...and never used it!  This year I was able to.  We read The Gratitude Tree as a class in library, then for the checkout assignment, we wrote what we were grateful for on leaves.  I love this lesson.  It's great for a variety of grade levels, perfect for library!


//FIVE//  And in a tough week that has seen political debate, countries on edge and people divided, I thought I'd share my favorite feel good story!  A video of special ed teacher, Chris Ulmer,  praising his students, has been all over the web.  Having CP myself and being an aunt to 2 girls with special needs, I wish I could shake this guy's hand!  What a great role model.  He and his students will change the world! Take a moment to watch the video and all the sweet videos on his facebook page, Special Books by Special Kids!  It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face!!  I look forward to following their journey!!


Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Linking up for all the Friday Fun with:

Erika, Andrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites 

September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday!

April and the girls for Five on Friday

Jennie for Friday Favorites

Caitlin and the girls for High Five for Friday

Thankful Thursday: Family

For the third installment of my Thankful Thursday series, my focus is on family. So many times blogging, I've written about my family...thanks for letting me do so!


 With so much happening in our world right now, we can't afford to take anything for granted. All too often we don't take the opportunities we should, to tell our loved ones just how much they mean to us. I joke about this solitary life, but hey, I got my family...and that's pretty much everything!!

My mom and dad recently moved away to spend their retirement in Florida, leaving us kids behind. They're having a grand ol' time, but this means we obviously don't see them as much and subsequently, don't see each other as much either!

 This Thanksgiving mom and dad will be spending the holiday in Florida, but this past weekend they were home (they watched my nephews while my sister and brother-in-law were away), so we had family thanksgiving. A holiday that my dad and I dubbed “fakesgiving”, which mom, of course, hated!! LOL (All in good fun Ma!!)

It was the first time we were all together since Happy Heart Day in early August.

It was just like the real Thanksgiving! It was LOUD! There was turkey, there were drinks, and there was football!! And of course we prayed for our blessings and the opportunity to be together.  But most of all it was fun!!  We always laugh when we're together!


We will still be celebrating Thanksgiving at my sister's house on the actual day but, something will undoubtedly be missing...just like when we celebrated Thanksgiving in the Outer Bank last year and my sister Meghan and her family were not there.  But I suppose it's not the holiday that matters, just the moments spent together.

Here's just a few pics to share from the day!

These are my people....

And since my mom took these pics and isn't featured, I thought I'd share this one!  To get the party started, Mom and I enjoyed the pumpkin martinis I posted about over on The Blended Blog! =)

It was certainly a great day!!


ICYMI:
Thankful Thursday Week 1
Thankful Thursday Week 2


Linking up with:
Shelly and Holly & Vanessa and Penny Today!

Friendsgiving!

Good Morning!!

Today I'm over at The Blended Blog  talking all about my Friendsgiving Tradition!  Check it out here!

Have a great day!  See you back here tomorrow for Thankful Thursday!!

Relive Friendsgiving 2014 here!