FRI-YAY!

Happy Friday! I seriously can't believe that tomorrow is not only Halloween, but also the last day of the month. HOW IS IT OCTOBER 31ST ALREADY??? I swear, one blink and it will be Christmas. This is my very favorite season of all so I hope it doesn't go by quite that fast!

Speaking of fast, I swear this week went by in the blink of an eye as well. Of course it's probably because I had tons to do and no time to do it with work all day and then events at night almost every night this week, it didn't leave me with a lot of extra time. Hopefully I have some extra time this weekend! I'm still playing catch up from being on vacation so don't think I'm crazy if I leave a comment on your post from over a week ago... I still have it bookmarked to read!

But for now, here's my weekly five.

ONE.
For the Love of Fall Box Swap.

I participated in a "For the Love of Fall Box Swap" this month hosted by Desiree, Johannah, and Bri. I was lucky enough to be paired with one of the hosts, Bri. The official link up date was this past Wednesday but I had asked Bri to wait to send my box since I was on vacation all last week and I didn't want the box to sit out for a week while we were gone. My box arrived yesterday and I was so excited to open it! I swear Bri and I only exchanged a couple emails, but we bonded over our love of Starbucks and scarves and I knew we would get along well in real life. But when I opened my package, I was so surprised! She NAILED IT. First of all, she totally wrapped the presents SO CUTE. I mean, look at it? Complete with a cute little card and that awesome stick pencil! Then she totally got me Halloween Oreos! How did she know? I swear we never talked about it so she must have seen it on my Instagram, or maybe she really is just THAT good and we could totally be besties in real life.  She also included that pink flower clip for my mom. Since October is breast cancer awareness month, it's so fitting for it to be pink. And to top it off, she got me a Thirty One iPad holder. Now I just need to steal my iPad back from Mason so I can carry it around in this cute holder. Thank you SO MUCH Bri! I love everything!

TWO.
Costco finds.

We were at Costco the other day and I came across these gems. The first one is a beer advent calendar. How fun would this be to get your husband? Or any beer lover for that matter? I happened to be with Seth when I saw this and I asked him if he wanted it but he didn't like a good amount of the beers in the package so we opted against it, but had he liked more, this would totally be fun for a countdown to Christmas for the man in your life!

Then I came across these ugly sweater cookies. Not really good for a gift, but could be fun for a Christmas party! People are usually all about ugly Christmas sweaters so why not make your own and then... eat it?

THREE.
Hanna Andersson PJ sale.

Make Way Blue // Blue Stripes // Green/White Stripes

Hanna Andersson had a sale (in-store only) last weekend on pajamas. They rarely, if ever, have sales on pajamas so I knew I had to check it out. I'd been wanting to get Mason some long sleeve/long pants ones for a while now, but I find them to be too expensive regularly so when they were on sale 30% off, I bought a few... or three. I'm letting him wear the snow plow trucks and the blue stripes now but I'm saving the green and white stripes for something special.


FOUR.
Sesame Street.

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Last week Sesame Street introduced a new character named Julia. Julia has autism. I think it is so awesome that they introduced a character with autism on the show. I haven't had a chance to watch the clips yet, but I love the message that they are trying to portray here.


FIVE.
October Date.

October slipped away as fast as it started. I'm sure being on vacation for a week and trying to plan an event for work had a lot to do with it, but we didn't want to let October totally pass us by without having some sort of date together. We made it super simple and went to get bagels together last weekend. Simple, easy, delicious, and just the two of us.


SIX.
Halloween.

I seriously can't believe that Halloween is tomorrow! Mason had a little Halloween party at school yesterday and when I picked him up, his teacher said he had the best time trick or treating and even tried to say trick or treat when he walked up to get his candy. Hearing this makes me SO excited to take him out tonight for trunk or treating and tomorrow for trick or treating with his cousins. I feel like he'll really get it this year and will be so excited to walk up to the houses and ask for candy.

And with that I wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween!

The Guys Behind the Blog // October Edition.

A few months ago, I found out through Crystal that Betsy from Heavens to Betsy has this super cool series called The Guys Behind the Blog. Unfortunately it was a little too late to join for March but I joined in April and have been ever since! While I do talk about Seth often, I don't really know if you all know him very well. Enter : this series. Every month Betsy has different prompts that the guys behind the blog answer.

Here are October's questions.

1 // We’re headed into fall, which means cooler temps for most of us…are you a warm weather or cold weather kind of guy?

Seth : We don't have cold weather here.

Me : But you can still like warm weather or cold weather.

Seth : (looks at me funny) Warm weather.

Guess we live in the right place for him!


2 // What's the best Halloween costume you've ever worn?

I was Indiana Jones in 5th grade. I had a big hat and a leather jacket and I even got to take the whip to school!


3 // What's your favorite Halloween candy?

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.


4 // What are your favorite parts of fall (ex: football, the weather, Thanksgiving, etc)?

Football. The weather. Thanksgiving. Etc. And the World Series.

So creative!


5 // How do you feel about pumpkin spice lattes? (As a joke question hahaha)

Go away. They can all go away. Pumpkin and spice anything can go away.

For reference, he said this VERY passionately. Apparently he has a STRONG hatred lol.

And there you have it! Thanks for playing along again Seth!

[Fall Wish List] Check In #1

We're almost halfway done with my self proclaimed Fall season (of October and November) so I thought it would be fitting to have a little check in as to how we are doing on our Fall Wish List.

So far we've...

gone to RISE of the Jack O'Lanterns. This past weekend we had the pleasure of joining Desiree, Scott, Marcus, and Julia for RISE of the Jack O'Lanterns. It was their second time going and our first and seriously, these pictures do not do the event justice. It's just one of those things that you have to see in person to really understand and really take in the whole thing. The basic gist of it is that there are tons of different pumpkin sculptures - they are either single carved pumpkins or pumpkin sculptures made of many carved pumpkins. The detail is amazing and I can only imagine how long it takes to put the whole thing together. Thank you so much for inviting us to tag along, Desiree, we had the best time and were in awe of the beauty!

We've also...

celebrated Halloween with Mickey

decorated for Fall

 made a Halloween craft

 watched a football game (and then some!)

went to TWO pumpkin patches

had some Fall drinks - Caramel Apple Spice and Toasted Graham Latte

OBSESSED with the Fall Starbucks cups! // Fall Starbucks re-useable cup

So far I think we're doing pretty good! I have some Halloween things to check off this weekend and then we're moving on to Thanksgiving! I can't believe it's almost November already... time slow down!

[Countdown to Halloween] Partying with Mickey.

Welcome to week #4 of our Countdown to Halloween link up! I can't believe that the end is nearing and that Halloween is THIS Saturday! Being away for a week sure made it sneak up awfully quickly! Speaking of being away for a week... for those of you who didn't catch my post on Friday, we were gone all last week on our very first Disney cruise! To say it was amazing would be an understatement. We loved it so much in fact that we booked another one!!!! 2017 can't come soon enough!

Today, though, as we nurse our vacation hangover and somehow adjust to reality again (what no ice cream machine or 5 course dinners and dessert???) I wanted to share a little sneak peek into our vacation onboard the Disney Wonder -- Mickey's Halloween Party! When I mentioned this on my Fall Wish List a lot of people thought that I was going to Mickey's Halloween Trick or Treating at Disneyland. I didn't say anything back then because I'm paranoid and didn't want the internet to know I would be gone for a week, but sadly, we did not in fact go trick or treating at Disneyland (though I'd LOVE to one year!), but we in fact went on a Disney cruise and had Halloween on the High Seas! There will be tons more pictures and more details about the cruise in the coming days/weeks, but today, I want to focus on the Halloween party.

Mickey's Halloween Party was on our second full day on the ship which was also our first full sea day. We had just left Ensenada, Mexico and were headed to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and we had a whole day onboard the ship. We woke up late, had breakfast, met some princesses, and then went back to the room to change into our group costumes - T Birds and Pink Ladies from Grease!

Cousins.

After some cousin pictures, we headed down to the main lobby area to wait for the party to start. I didn't take too many pictures during the party but I did take a couple videos. 

After the party was over, we stood in line to get a group picture and attempted to take a couple family pictures before someone was over it and we had to leave to go get some lunch.

The group in our T Birds and Pink Ladies attire.

Someone was over all the picture taking for the day.

Overall, the Halloween Party was super fun! Mason loved the music and danced along and clapped his hands. I thought the choreography was great and they danced a lot, especially for having such large character costumes on.

I'm so happy we got to celebrate Halloween with Mickey and his friends!

Now, link up with us and show us what Halloween fun you've been having!

An InLinkz Link-up

FRI-YAY!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!! I, for one, am actually kinda bummed to see Friday come around this week (and you'll see why in #1 -- my vacation is now over!) but I'm also glad that there's still the weekend before I have to go back to work to get settled back in. Hope everyone had a great week! Here's my weekly five.

ONE.
Disney Cruise.

Sorry for the radio silence around here lately and on Instagram. We were.... on a DISNEY CRUISE! The week finally came that we've been planning for for a year and a half (and of course packed for the night before)! I'm horribly behind in all areas now, so please forgive me as I catch up, and then... get prepared for over posting! I'm warning you now :)

TWO.

M&Ms vs Goldfish.

Most mom's (and dad's) can bribe their kids with candy. Smile for the camera, here's an M&M. Behave while we're at Target, heres a Skittle. But for me? There's no bribing my son with candy, he spits it out and refuses it. Bribery with Mason is in the form of goldfish (and salty snacks) all the way! We're having family pictures this weekend and I plan to bring a whole bag of goldfish with me... just in case!


THREE.
Amy Robach's book.

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Have you guys heard of the book that Amy Robach wrote about her journey fighting breast cancer? It's called Better: How I Let Go of Control, Held On to Hope, and Found Joy in My Darkest Hour and I heard her talking about it the other morning on Good Morning America and on The View and I SO want to read it. She talks about the effects on her, her marriage, her family and what she learned from having breast cancer and it just sounds so raw and inspirational.


FOUR.
Pumpkin everything.

I have to admit, I'm not a big pumpkin spice latte lover. I don't really love pumpkin in my drinks. However, pumpkin food, I'm all about that! So the other day when Whitney shared this recipe for pumpkin doughnut muffins, I knew it was something I wanted to try!


FIVE.
Lily and Val.

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Have you guys heard of Lily and Val? I follow her on Instagram and she makes the most AMAZING chalk drawings! I seriously can't believe what she can do with chalk and I LOVE all her designs. You can check out all of her chalk drawings here.

Happy weekend!