What I’m Loving Lately

Hello, and happy Thursday friends! My week is flying by and I am not complaining! I wanted to pop in and share a few things I am loving lately.

Hanukkah

The first night of Hanukkah was on Tuesday evening. To be honest, I get pretty homesick for my family during any holiday I am away from them – I miss our traditions! In college, sometimes I would FaceTime my parents as we lit our respective menorahs, but now that we have a three-hour time difference, that isn’t really possible.

I told Travis that I really didn’t want any presents this year, but he completely made my night on Tuesday when he came home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a Hanukkah card. This small gesture meant the world to me, and immediately my homesickness went away. Note: for those of you who will understand this, the card says “I love you latkes!”

 

Rain in Los Angeles

It’s been raining a LOT in SoCal recently and I LOOOOOOOVE it! Don’t get me wrong, the sunny 70 degree weather is great, but sometimes you just need a good rainy day as an excuse to get cozy and stay inside. We’re suffering from a serious drought here in California, so the rain is welcomed by everyone. Plus, I’ve been able to whip out my bright-colored rain boots and umbrella that have been hiding in the back of my closet!

A little tip for those of you with tiny feet like me – buy the kid’s Hunter rain boots! They are half the price and the boot’s shaft doesn’t come quite as high up your calves, which is great for those of us who are petite.

 

Homeland

Travis and I used to watch Homeland religiously together on Sunday nights. When we started watching this current season in October, both of us hated it. We thought the story line was unbelievably stupid and the first two episodes were painfully slow, so we stopped watching it. However, when I was home in Boston for Thanksgiving, my whole family insisted that I start watching it again because, according to them, it got really really good again.

So, last weekend Travis and I sat down on the couch and picked up where we left off and quickly realized that my family was right! Immediately, we were hooked again and we must have binge-watched at least 7 episodes in a matter of a few days. Yeah, there are some parts that are pretty unrealistic, but hey, it makes for great TV! Now that we are all caught up, I have to wait until Sunday to find out what happens next! Gah! And that’s why we all love binge-watching…

For those of you who watch the show, what do you think? Are you into this current season or do you wish it was more like seasons 1 and 2?

 

Quality Time with Bessie

I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that Bessie showed up on this list, but I really have been loving her more than usual lately (which I didn’t even know was possible). It probably stems from the fact that we’ve started letting her sleep in our bed. One night back in October, I was feeling upset about something, so Travis plopped her in the bed next to me and she immediately started licking my face. It was like instant therapy. Ever since that night, Bessie has slept right between us – she sometimes even tries to share one of our pillows! We will have to reevaluate this situation come summer when she starts shedding again….but for now she’s staying in the bed!

 

Holiday Cookie Baking

This past weekend my friend, Kelly, came over and we baked SO. MANY. COOKIES. It was so much fun! Honestly, I am not sure how we turned out 5 different batches of cookies from my small kitchen and oven, but we made it work.

We made:

– Molasses Spice Cookies

– Peanut Butter Blossoms

– Peppermint Bark

– Decorated Holiday Sugar Cookies (we used Christmas tree, star, dreidel, snowmen, snowflake, and menorah cookie cutters)

– Oatmeal, Cranberry, Pistachio, White Chocolate Chip Cookies (shown above)

Kelly took half of what we made home with her, but I was still left with SO MANY. I gave away most of the cookies as holiday gifts and I think they were a hit! I’ll be sure to share one these recipes with you soon!

 

That’s it from me! What’s one thing you’ve been loving lately?