Notes from November '25

What I read, saw, ate, bought, and loved this month

Happy Friday! I’m drinking a cardamom latte and posting from the coffee shop near our house, where I’ve been sneaking away once a week to write and get my to-do lists together. I hope your weekend is cozy and relaxing. Here’s my November — all the things I loved this month.

I went back to work this week. I’m going to write more about it soon, but I mostly had a good (short) week. My office leans towards freezing, so I dressed as warm and comfortably as possible for the transition. I also now carry approximately a hundred pounds of stuff into the office.

I did a little pre-Black Friday shopping, and I’m honestly all BFCM-ed out. I’ve noticed how much more anxious I feel reading a gift guide or seeing all the sales emails pour in, so I’m giving myself the rest of the weekend off from shopping.
Here’s what I did buy: AirPods for my mom’s birthday this week, pajamas for my kids, pointelle tees for me in ivory and brown, and two Lands End totes (a large olive green for me, a medium denim one for baby boy), sneakers for my daughter, who surprised us all by not picking pink but instead, “the ones that look like they’ll make me fastest”.

I also bought baby boy’s first Christmas outfit this month. I finally landed on this one because there’s few things I love more than a baby in a bubble. May my children forgive me for how I dressed them before they could share their opinions.

I’ve been rewatching Real Housewives of SLC from the beginning because I never got past season two and it’s the perfect way to couch rot after returning to work.

I’m not drinking much lately, but every once in a while I’ve been joining my husband for half a martini (a teeny ‘tini, if you will). One year we did a martini taste-test night as a stay at home date, and I really feel strongly that this NYT recipe is the best, but you have to become a both/and person (it’s both gin and vodka).

Re: not drinking — for most of my twenties and early thirties, if I wasn’t pregnant (or trying to be) I had a glass of wine or two most nights. I’m not sure if it’s having two kids or being 37, but my tolerance for that has completely disappeared. I’ll still have a drink if I go out to dinner (rare) or occasionally on a Friday, but for the most part I’ve decided it’s not worth it. I do miss the ritual of having something, though, so I’ve started drinking tea each night. My favorites — this vanilla decaf I found at Target and TJ’s Candy Cane (it’s seasonal, so stock up now!).

I’m still having a hard time committing to books lately, but here are some of my favorite ‘stacks from the last few weeks:

emily north made me laugh a lot

the worst person in the world

Also regularly making me laugh, Aisling Marron.

“The food is not bad but not amazing but it doesn’t matter: you’re not here for the food. You’re here to pretend you’re in a Nora Ephron movie, discussing your ex-husband while jabbing your jumbo shrimp cocktail with a fork.”

5 Bucket List New York restaurants

Kaitlyn Elizabeth wrote the only gift guide that hasn’t spiked my anxiety.

A gift guide for the WHOLE self

Christina Tumminello wrote about parenting and organizing and getting dressed and I am here for all of it.

Getting organized for the season ahead

An older post from Maura Brannigan that made me feel very seen (and came with a few tears on my end).

Am I Getting My Pink Back?

I’ve mostly been reading these when I wake around 4:30am on work days, which is admittedly a bit insane. But, I have to be at work by 7:30, and I really like having some time to acclimate before my kids are up. I’m usually pumping first thing, and I’m trying to habit stack with some reading, journaling and sun lamp time. When I lived in Ithaca, we had sun lamps in the college health center to combat the winter blues, and ever since I’ve tried to use mine.

I spend most of the winter months walking around my house with a microwaveable heating pad on me, and both of my kids love it, too. My son has even taken some naps with it nearby and it seems to help him calm down. I’m planning to buy both of them warmies for Christmas so they can stop stealing mine 😉

Pumpkin muffins — I made these the night before Thanksgiving and we all ate them for breakfast the next morning. It might be a new Thanksgiving tradition for us, along with the ice cream cake.

I mentioned a while back that we were taking family photos. I had pretty low expectations that we would all cooperate, but I was so pleasantly surprised. We used the same photographer who took pictures of us five years ago, when my daughter was a baby, and she did such a good job getting the sweetest shots of my little guys.

The stars of the show: my daughter’s red tights and my mom’s velvet dress from 1962

As always, I’m so grateful to you for reading. If you liked this post, I hope you’ll share it with someone else. I hope you have a restful holiday weekend — I’m planning to watch The Great British Baking Show Holiday episodes and maybe bake some cranberry muffins and some sticky toffee pudding (to stay on theme, obv).

I’d love to know — what was the best part of your November?