I know I’ve been missing and I apologize for my absence. With school, the holidays, and just feeling a little down about blogging, I haven’t had much time (or motivation) to post anything but, hopefully, I’m back in full swing. I do have a presentation and two final exams in the this week but then I’m off for a month-long winter break!

It isn’t Sunday but I still wanted to serenade you. Today’s song is Contact High by Allen Stone. I think I like this song so much because it reminds me that it isn’t things that make me happy, but being around the people I care about and experiencing life. So, dear readers, get out there and keep experiencing life!

This Week’s Top 5 Things (that make me happy):

1. Family. Ok, this one is kind of a given, since it was just Thanksgiving, but I’m really close to mine and I haven’t seen them as often as usual since I started grad school. It was almost a relief to get to spend so much time with them!

2. My nephew. This definitely goes with family, but I’ve always wanted to be an aunt (I know it sounds crazy) and now I have a three-year-old nephew. He’s a trip and I love him so much. He lives back in my hometown so I don’t get to see him very much either, except for FaceTime, so I love getting to hang out with him. He’s so smart and funny, he’s definitely an awesome little person.

3. FaceTime. As I mentioned above, I get to talk to my nephew a lot on FaceTime since I don’t get to see him very often, so that makes me very happy!

4. White chocolate and raspberry flavored anything. It’s the best right now and I can’t seem to get enough of it!.

5. The end of the semester. It’s almost here! One semester down, three more to go!

Photo of the Week:

Found on Pinterest

I found this on Pinterest and related to it immediately. I’m constantly reminding myself that I have to keep moving forward, especially when something feels right.

Have a great week, everyone! I’m off to study.

It’s Sunday! And you know what that means? If you’re me, you have a huge term paper due 2 days and a huge group project due in 3 days. For that reason, the blog will probably be pretty quiet this week. I’ll try to get some outfit photos up around Wednesday or Thursday.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with “Black and Gold” by Sam Sparro. According to wikipedia, it “explores the relationship between reason, spirituality, and love” but I just think it has a funky cool grove that I like. Plus, it’s about love and I’m all about love songs!

This Week’s Top 5 Things (that make me happy):

1. Gingerbread lattes with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Ok, let’s be honest, when I have my way with it, it isn’t just a sprinkle of cinnamon, its like 2 tablespoons! I love the spicy flavors of ginger and cinnamon together. The Pumpkin Spice Latte ain’t got nothing on this!

2. Excellent group members. Grad school is notorious for goup work. When I was still employeed and told my coworkers that I was going back, they told me all about the joys of group work. Luckily, I have AMAZING group members. We work incredibly well together and are really good and bouncing ideas off of each other until we come up with awesome work. And that makes me happy.

3. Shrimp tacos and sangria. Seriously, after a long night of classes, you just need a pick-me-up. Mine is delicious shrimp tacos and sangria from my favorite Mexican restaurant.

4. Snow. Y’all, it SNOWED in my neck of the woods on Tuesday. Can you believe it? I’ve lived in NC my entire life and it hasn’t snowed in November in as long as I can remember. Then it was back in the 70s by Friday. Craziness.

5. Warm socks. Remember how it snowed? Yeah, I’m glad I had on warm socks! I hate cold feet.

Photo of the Week:

This is the snow that had accumulated on my car when I got out of class Tuesday night. I was so excited that I snapped a quick pic as soon as I got in.

Salutations!

For today’s Sunday Morning Serenade, I’m sharing the song I’ve been listening to on repeat all week: “Stay the Night” by Zedd featuring Hayley Williams. Seriously, I’ve been listening to it over and over and, somehow, I’m still not tired of it. I love the line,”Don’t dull the sparkle in your eyes” because I think it’s great advice.

This Week’s Top 5 Things (that make me happy):

1. Autumn. It’s my favorite season and it’s finally here in full swing. There’s a constant chill in the air and I can comfortably wear a blazer all day. There are leaves and pumpkins and apple cider. Lots to love this time of year.
2. Booties. Yes, it’s finally boots weather. This year I’m embracing booties/ankle boots in my wardrobe. Up until now, I’ve owned one pair of gray booties that I’ve only worn a few times. I got two new pairs over the weekend so don’t be surprised if you see them on the blog very often.
3. Clean sheets. Really, there’s nothing better than clean, warm sheets on your bed. Maybe it’s just my imagination but I think I sleep better when the sheets are fresh out of the dryer. Mia really likes them, too, because she curls up right in the middle of the pile before I even have a chance to make the bed.
4. Long walks. At least once a week we try to take the dogs for a long walk around the neighborhood. Not only is it good exercise for them (and us), but it allows Nick and I time to contemplate life choices and have great conversations that we’re sometimes too busy to do during the week.
5. Mexican food. It’s at the top of my list of my favorite foods (second only to Sushi) and we just discovered a new Mexican restaurant that opened up near our house. We had dinner there last night and it was delicious. The gorditas were authentic and the pinto beans were so flavorful. It might be my new favorite place.

Photo of the Week:

Look at this beautiful sky! How could one not love nature?

The Sunday Morning Serenade series is where I present you with music and a list of happy things to help start your week off on a positive note.