Mid-Month Check In - November 2014

This post originally appeared on my Paper Swallow Events blog. I've been divvying up my personal and business blogging, so I'm transferring the personal posts over to this site.

Hello! This is my mid-month post where I stop in to say hey and talk to you about what's been going on in my life recently. I would love for you to share what's been happening in your life in the comments! :)

1. November has been a really good, albeit busy month so far. It started off with what felt like an entire week of Mondays in the worst way (and I normally like Mondays), but the month is looking up so far, which is really good. One good thing that happened that week was a spontaneous movie night with the Baskin boys (Michael, his dad, and brother) to see Interstellar. Interstellar actually ended up being a lot more epic than I had anticipated. I thought it had undertones of 2001: A Space Odyssey but was much more approachable and may have made me tear up at a few points. Have you seen it? What did you think?

2. This past week Michael + I found out that he has to work on Thanksgiving (THE WORST), but his manager is AMAZING and arranged for him to have two days off in a row pre-Thanksgiving that will still enable us to see his extended family. All of the Baskin side of the family congregate at the Grandparents Baskin's home for the entire week and cook, talk around bonfires, and go out on the lake if it's not too cold (which it will be this year.) It's a wonderful tradition of community and connectedness. Even though we won't be there for Thanksgiving, Michael + I are super excited about the time we will have with them!

3. Last Thursday Michael + I had planned to go on the Chattanooga Ghost Tour with some friends, but Tennessee ended up turning into the polar arctic and we changed our plans. Instead we got pizza at our favorite place, went to see Big Hero 6, and cuddled with our friends' cats inside their warm home. We had a wonderful time and will just reschedule the Ghost Tour for sometime in April when it starts to warm up again.

4. My copy of A Beautiful Mess: Happy Handmade Home arrived last week. I've been enjoying digging into it and finding loads of inspiration, as I always do from A Beautiful Mess. What kind of design books do you enjoy?

5. Our Christmas cards arrived and I love them! I can't wait to send them out! Are you doing Christmas cards this year? What did you do for yours?

6. I've been really struggling with pulling together my Christmas list this year for my parents. I think it has to do with how much Michael + I have been trying to only bring in what we absolutely need and we're not really desperate for anything right now. I need to just pick and evening and use it to get some stuff written down. I do know that I want these in black. I have a grey pair and they are my favorite shoes ever!

7. Last night Michael + I watched Moonrise Kingdom with some of our friends, and I adored it. I'm feeling super inspired right now because of its whimsical touches. It was only the second Wes Anderson movie I've seen (Fantastic Mr. Fox is the other, and is a family favorite), and we have plans to see Grand Budapest Hotel soon. What movies really inspire you?

8. The friends we watched Moonrise Kingdom with have an adorable 17-year-old cat named Gracie. She cuddled with me almost the whole evening and Max was very distressed by this when I got home. He kept sniffing and licking my hands trying to get her scent off of me. Currently he's sprawled across my wrists as I type on my lap on my laptop. It's not the most comfortable, but he's purring and I don't have the heart to move him. haha.
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What have you had going on in your life recently?

xoxo,
Stacia