It's November

Well hello! It's mid-November, apparently, and we are hosting Cora's 12th birthday party at our house in 2 hours.

It's a pool party - might as well embrace the absurdity of a high of 86 on November 16th - and so far I have heated the pool, ordered a cake that James will pick up at 10, ordered Taco Deli that Landon will pick up at 12, and ordered two giant flamingo floats that someone who isn't me will blow up. Oh and I have some cute hawaiian theme plates and napkins. So, done! They really just want to swim and eat tacos.

Her actual birthday was on Wednesday. I picked her up after school and we got pedicures and then watched Freakier Friday at home, which was very fun.

It's been a tough year of transition to a new school and we're so proud of how hard she's working and how brave she's being every day.

And with all these high schoolers in my house, and knowing in 2.5 years both of them will be in college, it really is lovely to have a third baby who will live here for a few more years and just wants to hang out with her parents and watch Disney Plus movies on the couch together.

I remain unabashadly pro third-baby.

Also cats!

Moose continues to sleep with Cora every night, which delights her, and be more social during the day. We're very proud of him for bravely risking a defenseless moment of rest near the people who have loved and doted on him since he was a kitten.

Murphy jumped in my chair while I was working and I believe this counts as a cuddle. We are touching. He is purring. He remained for many minutes. It was very exciting for everyone and I took 100 pictures.

He then decided to settle on the pile of things on my desk, so we were not touching anymore, but he was very nearby and supervising all my finger clicks on my keyboard. He is so regal.

Truly a well-dressed king.

Speaking of helping me work, the kids remain drawn to my office whenever I am typing my fastest. It's like a siren call to them.

Obviously I pretend I don't love the distraction, but it is the best. In that picture all 3 animals were also in the room. Who doesn't need a teen, a tween, a bulldog, and two cats to help them review risk factors in a Form 10-Q?

Other bits of randomness:

I strap my work into a seatbelt when I bring it home so it doesn't fly off the seat if I need to break in the crazy Dallas traffic. This has been very effective and always makes me smile. Safety first!

This is the best sparkling water flavor available right now. I will accept no alterntives.

My friend Vanessa hosted a Dia de los Muertos dinner at her home on November 1st and it was the lovliest night.

She made a great meal and even better margaritas and we all brought pictures of our loved ones who had passed and spoke about them. When you make friends as an adult you often don't know the stories that shaped them along the way and it was really special to hear about parents and grandparents, friends and family, who lived their lives before I met the person they're connected to, and to all learn about them, and laugh and cry and remember.

Sharing stories of my 3 grandparents who are gone brought them back for a night and I'm so glad.

Claire and Cora both had to make ofrendas for school (Claire for Spanish II and Cora for her World Cultures class) and Claire made one for Milo and Cora did my Grandma Mary.

I've decided next year as a family we're going to do a similar dinner. I mention my grandparents often, but there's something special about purposefully setting aside time to share stories.

I spent last night at the United Way 100 Year Gala event in Dallas. There was a giant sit-down dinner, Andra Day sang live right in front of me and was incredible, and then we walked to the Cotton Bowl for floor seats to a Blake Shelton and Janet Jackson concert.

It was a good time!

The dress code was "concert chic with comfortable shoes" so well all took that in different directions - as did every other guest we saw. I grabbed an Uber home about 9:45 pm, which was right when Janet finally came on, but I was tired and that's my bedtime. I am glad to note that at 42 my FOMO has subsided enough that I will leave an event when I'm done and sleepy and very happily go home to crawl into bed with my sleepy husband and snuggle and go to sleep. That's actually a huge step for me. What a great Saturday night.

Last topic before I go make sure the party prep is being done, clothes and accessories!

I have slowly collected a couple holiday-themed accessories in my 40's and I was wearing these spider earrings I bought for a party last year at work on Halloween when I realized halfway through a video call with a brand new client that the neck-up view from the video conference camera was really highlighting the faux-rhinestone spiders in a way that might require an explanation?

The client loved them. I also wore these adorable little ghosts to a recruiting event earlier in the week. I'm into a touch of whimsy. Now looking for a pair of Christmas earrings that will provide the same.

Which brings me to outfits! Ayron came by to do some new styling for me a couple weeks ago and I adore what she put together. She is so, so good at combining the clothes I own into outfits that look chic and professional but are also very comfortable and feel like me.

I loved every one of these:

Purple with that gold/tan skirt? Would never have thought of it. Or layering the purple sleeveless turtleneck that was bought at a different store in a different year than the purple blazer. This is why we love an expert- she makes magic.

And now it's time for some birthday party magic- Happy Sunday to everyone!

Faux Fall and other things

Why hello there.

(That's really how he sits when he hangs out. Such a dude bro. And also maybe he doesn't know how to cat? We introduced him to his first outfit and he tolerated it only as long as I was actively feeding him a treat. Once the churu tube was empty he flipped himself around in circles until he was naked again.)

Anyway, I have recently taken a dive back into the world of photo booking which means that if I ever have 5 free minutes all I can do is log into Shutterfly to work on a page so I can get the kids' books done before Christmas. But my blog is one of my home pages when I open the internet and the lack of updates make me sad. I miss y'all. Also life has been full of fun and excellent things I would like to to commemorate.

(Like our family pictures that we were taking when I snagged the selfie above. So excited to see them!)

Jumping in (which means jumping back) - I went to Chicago for work a couple weeks ago and the first thing I did was walk to Garrett's Popcorn on Michigan Ave to buy and then inhale a bag of Chicago Mix because truly the FIRST "is X gluten-free" google I made when I was diagnosed with Celiac was for Garrett's Chicago Mix popcorn and YES it is gluten free. I have since googled a variation on that phrase one million times. Most recently, "is candy corn gluten free?" (also generally yes).

I also had a work event in Dallas at Cafe Dior which was VERY fancy and fun. I even ran into a friend! (I cannot tell you how much it matters to me that I can now do things in Dallas and run into people I already know; that was the hardest part about moving for me, the feeling of being a stranger everywhere I went)

AND I got a mini Dior scarf for attending and it is so beautiful I haven't even taken it out of the box yet.

On the home front, Cora is doing well. I bought her this pair of jeans and top online (she flatly refuses to go shopping with me) and when she put them on she suddenly looked so much older. Who is this almost-teenager in my house?

She joyfully announced on Monday that she now has two friends at her new school, so that is great. Cora struggles with change more than any of my kids and while she has absolutely excelled at her wonderful new school, the social aspect has been hard.

Also maybe 6th grade is just hard? Luckily Moose has sensed the struggle and stepped up as a snuggle cat in our beloved Milo's absence.

He's still a little awkward about it, but I think maybe Moose is just awkward? He's got a little bit of 6th grade in him too.

Landon placed his order for his cap and gown yesterday and we got our senior yard sign, so that's an emotional bomb I wasn't expecting on a random Tuesday in October. Having a senior is way more emotionally impacting than I expected. Maybe it's because 18 is my new favorite age? How can he possibly not live here a year from now?

Claire had homecoming last weekend, which she said was "fun" and that remains all the detail I have received. I did get a few more pictures that seem to back her up.

My parents visited a couple weeks ago (or maybe a week and half ago? What is time?) and we had so much fun! They arrived Friday afternoon and went to Landon's swim meet that night and then we all had a big family dinner at home.

On Saturday morning I knew my mom and I would want to do our traditional shopping, so I set up a golf playdate for my dad while the kids were all at the meet with James.

It was adorable.

My mom and I were on our way to the magical underground Marshall's when we came upon the same Sample Sale I attended with my sister a couple months ago. Back then it was Farm Rio and so fun, but I hadn't been back- apparently I need a Rice Lady to go with me.

That weekend it was Rails, a brand I love, and they had such great things!! All bottoms were $15 and I got a perfect pair of light colored jeans, plus a denim skirt (I've been wanting one), and two patterened skirts. Every one of those items was usually close to (or move than) $200. I also got a couple button-down tops and a dress.

Then, when we decided we clearly didn't need to visit Marshall's, we walked back to my car to head home and accidentally stumbled across a consignment store.

The BEST consignment store! Clothes Circuit in Dallas, which has been in existence since 1983 (which, coincidentally, is also how long I have been in existence!) is AMAZING. Gorgeous clothes, perfectly organized, and in pristine condition.

We both got the dresses we're wearing in this picture and I got two work blouses- one Alice & Olivia and another Veronica Beard.

This is the Alice & Olivia one and the pattern is so pretty! It's from several years ago and still had the tags on it. I wore it to a client event this week with a brown faux leather skirt I've had in my closet forever and it made me so happy.

After our shopping we drove back out to the meet to watch the girls swim their events and then on Sunday we got to watch Landon swim his 100 fly and eat brunch together before they headed back home! It was a great weekend.

This past weekend Ayron came and did a styling appointment with me on Saturday and she did magical things to marry my new items with my old and I can't wait to wear them all!

James's birthday was also on Saturday!

We couldn't really celebrate that day due to swimming and soccer games and homecoming, so we made an executive decision to make October 18th happen on Sunday this year.

We did an early Forced Family Fun Time at the Arboretum before lunch and then had a family dinner that night with homemade gluten-free funfetti cake, braised short ribs, and presents.

We love him so much!

And that's some of the last month or so! Except my amazing trip to NYC with my Rice Ladies (mom, sister, sister-in-law) to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday that I am desperately hoping to capture in another post, our family picures which I just got back since I started this draft and LOVE, and probably many other things.

Until my next photobooking break! Happy Thursday/October to you all,