November 2020: Recap + On My Shelves
2020 has been a whirlwind! This year has passed in a blink for me, but I'm excited to end the year on a celebratory note with all my favorite holiday traditions. But before I jump ahead, let's chat a little about November first!
1. Movie Night with Kelly – Back in April or March, Kelly and I had our first long-distance movie night. A few months later, we decided to do it again and have since made it a monthly date! In November, we watched Molly's Game based on my mom's recommendation, and it was amazing. It's been way too long since I've seen Kelly, but I always look forward to special things like our movie nights and our daily (x5) phone calls and FaceTimes.
2. Reading Weekend with My Sister – The one thing I kept telling my husband that I wanted to do was go away for the weekend and read. Well, it finally happened in November! My sister and I went to the mountains together and had the best time reading, eating, online shopping, and sitting around. I am so thankful to Nick for being the best dad to our boys! They had the best time together, and I loved having the chance to relax with my sis.
3. Thankful Turkey + Thanksgiving – I didn't take a single photo on Thanksgiving, even though we were all dressed cute. Whoops! It was very different this year – we'd usually have family get togethers on three different days, but that didn't happen this year. We still saw our immediate family though, which was nice. My favorite new thing we did this year was this Thankful Turkey inspired by Busy Toddler. We loved our big boy's answers.
4. Decorating for Christmas – Even though this is a photo of my sister's dog all cozy underneath my parents' Christmas tree, we did decorate our own tree in November! Our big boy loved putting up all the ornaments and hanging the stockings. And the night before December 1, I set out our basket of Christmas books to read each night + a cute holiday tee for both boys when they came downstairs the next morning. A favorite tradition!
Read 14 Books | Favorites:
The Witch Elm by Tana French
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
“The thing is, I suppose,” he said, “that one gets into the habit of being oneself.
It takes some great upheaval to crack that shell and force us to discover what else might be underneath.”
The Witch Elm by Tana French
“We only need to be one person.
We only need to feel one existence.
We don't have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite.
While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.”
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
“Children, I came to understand, need you around, even if they ignore you.
In fact they need you around so they can ignore you.”
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
“That was the danger. Not that betrayals happened, not that cruel things happened,
but that they could outweigh all the good. That we could forget the good and only remember the bad.”
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
“The problem with saving someone, Bella thinks, is that they so often refuse to remain saved.
They careen back out into the perilous world, inviting every danger and calamity,
quite careless of the labor it took to rescue them in the first place.”
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
“How much more courage it took to be kind than to be cruel.”
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
“Armand Gamache had always held unfashionable beliefs.
He believed the light would banish the shadows. That kindness was more powerful than cruelty,
and that goodness existed, even in the most desperate places. He believed that evil had its limits.”
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny
“After spending most of her life scanning the horizon for slights and threats,
genuine and imagined, she knew the real threat to her happiness came not from the dot in the distance,
but from looking for it. Expecting it. Waiting for it. And in some cases, creating it.
Her father had jokingly accused her of living in the wreckage of her future.
Until one day she’d looked deep into his eyes and saw he wasn’t joking. He was warning her.”
The Long Way Home by Louise Penny
After finding my blogging groove, I completely lost it. I typically get most of my blogging done at night, but in November I spent that time doing projects around my house and Christmas shopping. So I was productive, just not in the way I'd planned – and that's okay! I did share my October 2020 recap and my November 2020 goals. And then I put all that time I spent Christmas shopping to good use by sharing two gift editions of So Obsessed With: a wishlist for my boys and a wishlist for myself. My biggest fail was that I never shared any reviews, so you'll be getting the October and November editions of Quick Lit and Tales & Tiger Lily in December. Stay tuned!
Favorite Songs: "Can't Look Back / Grand Canyon" by Mat Kearney
I obsessively look for new music from Kearney and was rewarded in November.
I love both of these songs and can't wait for a full-length album to follow.
The Old Guard (2020) starring Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, and Luca Marinelli – Nick and I couldn't decide what to watch one night until I suggested this movie, which seemed up his alley. I think it's based on a comic book? He typically loves stuff like that! I figured I'd multitask while we watched, but I got pretty invested in the story. It's definitely action heavy, but I loved the group dynamics and discussions surrounding immortality. This was a surprise win, and I'd love if they made a sequel!
Molly's Game (2017) starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, and Kevin Costner – This movie was amazing, and it will definitely be on my list of favorite things I've watched in 2020. My mom isn't a big movie person, so I know to pay attention if she pushes something on me. And she was spot on with this recommendation! I loved Jessica Chastain in it, the high-stakes world of poker, and watching how the legal case against her played out. Kelly and I kept raving about it to one another over text during our movie night. I can't wait to watch it again!
Book of the Month: This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens, The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman, and The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
Amazon/Target Sale: A Lady's Guide to Mayhem and Murder by Manda Collins, None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney, A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Namey Taylor, The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March, and HRH: So Many Thoughts on Royal Style by Elizabeth Holmes (not pictured)
Used Bookstore: Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
Audible: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (not pictured)
NetGalley: Meet Me in Bombay by Jenny Ashcroft, Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly, You Have a Match by Emma Lord, Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon, Ten Rules for Faking It by Sophie Sullivan
Macky is obsessed with The Old Guard! I haven't had the chance to watch it yet, but the premise sounds really interesting. Also, I love that you and your sister were able to have a reading getaway!
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