TGIF, everyone and happy first Friday of December! Is it me or everything has ramped up in terms of obligations and stress this past week coming back to work after Thanksgiving? I know I have felt it. Furthermore, here in Connecticut, it is cold and it has been snowy/rainy. I’m not a snow girly, so it’s a bit annoying to me.

That being said, before we turn off our weekday alarms, let’s take a moment to talk about all of my Friday Faves this week:

1. Crocheting Amigrumi: I have been crocheting for about five years at this point. However, something that I have always wanted to try, but have been epically failing at is crocheting amigrumi or plushies. However, as time goes on, I’ve finally gotten the courage to pick up a hook to make a plushie. And now I’m hooked, no pun intended. This is your sign to try that new thing that you’ve been thinking about doing.
2. Coach Laurel Bag: I picked this one up during the Coach Outlet Black Friday sale, and I just switched into it yesterday. Let me tell you, I am obsessed with this bag. I got it in the navy rivets and the black rivets. I love that it can be both a shoulder and a crossbody bag. I also love that it marries both of my favorite bags from retail and outlet Coach: the Teri and the Brooklyn. I highly recommend checking this guy out.
3. The Christmas Fix by Lucy Score: This is my first Christmas read of the year, and I’m enjoying it. This one is about Cat and Noah. Noah is the City Manager of Merry, a town that just suffered a major hurricane. Cat, the host of a DIY TV show, wants to come in and get the town ready for Christmas, their major season of the year. This is enemies to lovers, and I am obsessed with this book. I can’t wait to finish it. Also, it is available to borrow on Kindle Unlimited, which is amazing.
4. Rare Beauty Eye Shadow Stick: I love Rare Beauty. I’ve reached for this shadow stick every day this week, and let me tell you, it’s made my morning routine so much easier. Selena Gomez has done a wonderful job with this brand, and I highly recommend these for an easy but gorgeous eye look.
5. Wonder Crochet YouTube Channel: I love Allison’s patterns, and so I have been binging her YouTube channel as well. There are so many free patterns and tutorials, as well as blogs on there. Furthermore, it’s so motivating to watch her work on her plushies, which are so adorable.
6. Coach Lori Bag: This bag is discontinued by Coach, but I still think it’s worth mentioning. I got this on Poshmark in a gorgeous wine color, and I’m obsessed with this bag. It’s roomy. It has feet. There are compartments. This looks like the Lana’s more adjustable older sister, and I am hear for it,

The fact that it’s December now is mind blowing to me. I am excited for the holiday season, the treats, the cozy vibes, and more. However, it feels like 2024 just flew on by.

While I’m happy to share my favorites for the month of November, I am also happy to announce that I am actually participating in Blogmas this year! Blogmas has been something I’ve done on and off for the past few years of my blogging career. I’ve decided to do it this year, because I’ve noticed my frequency of posting has declined over the last few months, and I want to get into the habit of posting regularly. I may not make it everyday to post, however, anything is better to me than 2-3 posts a month.

That being said, let’s kick off Blogmas with my favorites from November!

Chestnut Springs series: Everyone on Bookstagram, BookTok, and Booktube raves and raves about this series. Up until this month, the first one has been on my Kindle for what it seems like forever. This is one of those series that seems to get better with every book. At the time of writing this, I am on the last one of these, and I am so sad that this series is about to be over to me, because I am not ready to say goodbye to these characters.

Coach Cary Crossbody: This is such an underrated Coach bag. Unfortunately, this one is no longer available on the Coach website, however, you can purchase it at Macy’s, and Bloomingdale’s. I recommend this bag because it’s a bag that goes with everything and can be worn either crossbody or on the shoulder.

Baggu Keychain: Baggu has amazing items. I love this keychain because it not only goes with my bag, but I can easily find my key fob whenever I need to use it.

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuan: This was absolutely amazing. This is a book that tells the story of Helen, whose sister died by suicide by jumping in front of a moving car. Grant was the driver at the car. Thirteen years later, Grant and Helen are brought together by Grant being the writer of the series adaption of Helen’s books. I absolutely loved this book. The end was honestly frustrating, but I enjoyed the series. There are a lot of trigger warnings, don’t get me wrong. However, I do think it was worth the read.

I am ultimate peace when I’m in yoga class. For 50 minutes, I am inhaling and exhaling, completely ignorant to what is going on in the world. My phone is in my bag, on silent. It is there I’m giving myself the permission to breathe and the permission to just be — to be present, to be in the moment, to be relaxed.

I am going to be completely honest here. I have not been taking care of myself these days.

The last three months have been brutal on my physical and mental health. In August of this past year, my doctor switched my antidepressants, in which I had the side effects of losing my hair as well as my train of thought. In September, not only was I switched again to a different antidepressant, but I had to evaluate my relationships and friendships. My anxiety has increased, and over the last few months, my blood pressure (I have high blood pressure, thanks genetics) has spiked, causing an increase of my medications.

Once that happened, it caused me to take a step back to realize that I need to put myself first and do the things I need to do to improve my own physical and mental wellbeing. I needed to drink more water. I needed to add some healthy foods in my overall diet and eliminate the unhealthy ones. I also need to learn how to do the work, give myself grace, and allow myself the opportunity to learn that sometimes, just sometimes, I need to use my voice to either say, hey, I need a moment to breathe or hey, this isn’t working for me.

Needless to say, when my blood pressure spiked it was a huge wake up call for me.

Ever since the pandemic, I feel like the world has become more and more focused on wellness, although I’ve noticed that it has slowly bounced back into the way things were before it with the hustle and bustle. For me, wellness is fully rounded for both physical and mental health. I also believe that one aspect of it can impact the other.

I’ve begun to feel guilty about taking care of myself, which often happens when things begin to ramp up. As my calendar loads up with other tasks and events, I often forget the importance of the simple, obvious things for self-care, such as making time for a workout, drinking water, or hitting the mat for a yoga class.

Nowadays, self-care has changed so much for me. Self care has now evolved to: making sure I get at least 7,500 steps a day, drinking water, making sure I do workout, giving myself permission to rest and to just lie in bed and scroll, journal, make time for medical and mental health appointments, and allow myself some fresh air. All of those are simple, but can get lost in the shuffle.

I’ve preached since the start of this blog that self care is not selfish. I still stand by that. I just need to remember to actually listen to the words that I’ve written.

That being said, I hope that this post reaches someone who needs that reminder that self-care is something that needs to be added back into your routine.