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I wore this the weekend before Christmas but pushed back the post since I had a couple "more Christmasy" outfits to share first. One of which features a coat I bought on this day! We hadn't done too many "Christmas" activities this year since we were in Missouri over Thanksgiving and the week after. I had been wanting to go to Strawberry Hollow Farm in Guilford for a while (it's supposed to be SUPER cute in Fall) so we made the trek up there to see what they had for Christmas. I ended up getting an adorable gourd moose.


After that we stopped at the Bishops Orchard farm market and bought some bagels and a Charlie Brown inspired Christmas Tree that was half off - can't beat $15! Since we were in Guilford I decided to finally stop by Marijane Boutique since I've been meaning to check it out for a long time. Lydia works there so it was fun to see her, the last time we saw each other was July....whoops! I ended up buying a gorgeous Burberry coat (that you saw last week!)


We finished our fun day by going to The Chowder Pot for lunch, one of our favorites - the honey butter bread is the BEST. On our way home we decided to do our grocery shopping too so we wouldn't have to leave the house again that weekend, haha!


I should have worn my sunglasses for these photos, the sun was RIGHT in my face. But I was trying to switch things up from my usual.


Vest: French Connection faux-fur vest (Marshalls)

Sweater: Everlane "The Wool-Cashmere Oversized Cable Turtleneck" in Surplus

High Waisted Jeans: J Brand 'Maria' High Rise in Supreme

Boots: Cordani (Roundabout) 

Bag: Emm Kuo 'Calle Bahia' (Roundabout)

Coat: Burberry Brit Wool Minstead Duffle Coat In Military Red (Marijane Boutique)

 








 

 

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Some more photos from the day:

First, a backstory: Back in 2011 I did a "Dream Outfit" for what I'd wear to the Christmas Tree Farm for our Christmas Tree hunt. It featured a really fun Stella McCartney polar bear sweater, red coat, suede leggings and boots. Being a dream outfit, I never imagined I would own it. However, in 2013 I was able to buy the Stella McCartney sweater from The Outnet for $229 (vs $1145) in their Summer sale and it has been a holiday season staple ever since. I love that it will never really go out of style because it's a statement piece.


Fast forward to this past weekend and visiting Marijane Boutique in Guilford. Lydia works there so I've been meaning to visit for over a year - whoops! Christian and I decided to visit a little farm store in Guilford so I figured it would be smart to kill two birds with one stone and stop by after. The store is on a super cute street on the green and is filled with all types of treasures. As I was going through the coat rack I stumbled upon a holy grail - a Burberry wool coat! It was red and very similar to the coat I used in the dream outfit. I actually think I had this coat on my wish list years ago but never bought it because of the price tag. Based on my research it was either $795 or $995 retail, I snagged it for $230 at Marijane Boutique and it is in perfect condition!


Of course the first thing I paired my new bright red Burberry toggle coat with was the Stella McCartney polar bear sweater! Dreams really do come true, especially for those who wait. 11 years later and I was finally able to pull it off! I don't have a red hat yet, but maybe I'll find one. I decided to break out my beloved Chanel for the occasion. Why not feel super fancy for the day, right?! It's crazy to think that this bag has at least doubled in value since 2012 - yikes!


Coat: Burberry Brit Wool Minstead Duffle Coat In Military Red (Marijane Boutique)

Polar Bear Sweater: Stella McCartney 'Polar bear intarsia wool and alpaca-blend sweater' - similar version (The Outnet)

Leggings: old 

Boots: Audrey Brooke 'Mirie' (DSW)

Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika' c/o Shopbop 

Bag: Chanel Classic 2.55 Double Flap (Madison Avenue Couture) 

 




I love a good holiday themed sweater. When Christian and I were visiting his family in Missouri for a couple weeks I needed a bit of "home" so we ran into Marshalls for a quick walk-through one afternoon. We weren't intending on buying anything but the men's section had some great simple not-ugly Christmas sweaters. Christian got a half-zip one with polar bears and I got this one (the only one that they had in a small, haha!)

 

Funnily enough, the main pieces of this outfit are all from Marshall's. The bag and sunglasses are not. I haven't worn these boots in a while. Partly because I haven't really had an occasion and also because the insole is crumpled up so I feel the wrinkle on my foot, haha! I guess that's why they ended up at Marshalls years ago, a small but annoying glue defect. But I deal with it because they're gorgeous.


Sweater: Aspen reindeer Christmas sweater (Marshalls, men's department)

Jeans: Mother Denim 'The Rascal' c/o Marshalls

Boots: Gianvito Rossi 'Finlay' lace-up boot (Marshalls)

Bag: Emm Kuo 'Calle Bahia' (Roundabout)

Sunglasses: Ray Ban 'Erika' c/o Shopbop    












 

So much baking, so little time! We've got some Thanksgiving themed bakes in here as well as some any-time-of-year treats. We'll see what kind of things I whip up for Christmas in my next baking roundup!


Soft Triple Chocolate Cookies 

I'm still trying to bake my way through Tessa of Handle the Heat's cookie handbook and made her triple chocolate cookies. The website doesn't seem to be on her website but you could try her Double Chocolate Cookies instead! They were sooo soft and delicious!

 

Autumnal Birthday Cake

We visited Christian's family for Thanksgiving and this was our contribution to the table.  Maple cake with a maple meringue frosting coated in pecan pieces. It was pretty good, although sometimes too maple-y for me. Christian loved it.


Apple Cider Cake

This was a fun one! Back in October I bought this adorable NordicWare Autumn Delights Cakelet Pan because it was on sale for about $20 at the King Arthur flagship store. I wasn't sure if I'd find a recipe for it, but I needed it. You know how that is, right? When we visited Christian's Mom for Thanksgiving I decided to try this Apple Cider Cake recipe and bake some of the batter in the pan. The recipe was for a bundt cake so I figured it would work here as well. So we had a pan of cute cakelets and then a larger loaf.


The Easiest Pizza You'll Ever Make (King Arthur Flour)

The day after Thanksgiving (after having leftovers for lunch) we made some pizza dough for dinner. The recipe makes 4 pizzas so we each got our own. I believe this is the first time we've made this particular recipe, but it's fairly similar to all the others out there. Christian and I did pepperoni and bacon but his Mom & her husband used the turkey & ham leftovers to make some fun pizzas! I only took a picture of mine though, haha. We baked them for about 15 minutes at 500 degrees and they were so tasty!


K.I.S.S Brownies

I had some buttermilk in the freezer (from Christian's birthday cake) that I needed to use up so I found this brownie recipe for a bit of it. I tried baking them in one of my Le Creuset baking dishes but I think the shape made them come out a little weird. I baked them 10 minutes longer than the recipe said and they were still very soft and gooey (not a problem for me, but Christian likes brownie edges and very cooked brownies, ha ha.) Probably won't make them again - mostly because I don't keep buttermilk on hand - but they were tasty!


Perfect Buttermilk Biscuits

To use more of the aforementioned buttermilk, I decided to finally try to make "real" biscuits. Normally I do quick drop biscuit recipes but this one required me to do the pat and letter fold method, it was fun, but very messy. I made a few of them look like Christmas trees but it was too annoying to use the cutter so I switched to squares after. I baked a few fresh and the rest were frozen so we could have biscuits on demand whenever we need!


 

Since it's Thursday, I decided to do a throwback to our stay at Disney's Riviera Resort. It is a goal of mine to stay at (almost) all of the Walt Disney World Resort hotels. So far I've stayed at eight of the twenty, not counting Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser or doubles of the same hotel (BoardWalk Inn vs BoardWalk Villas.) There are different levels of resorts - Value, Moderate, Deluxe, Deluxe Villas (DVC) and Campgrounds. My current list, in alphabetical order:

 


Another month gone...this year is going by so fast! This month my extra money was mostly spent on Christmas gifts so not really much for my own purchases. We'll see if I can make it through the rest of the year without buying more clothes. I made it through Black Friday and Cyber Monday without buying any clothes but did splurge on a few Le Creuset pieces using blog income, the easy way for me to spend and not feel bad, haha! 

I bought a Deep Dutch Oven for $200(!!!!) a Classic Enameled Cast Iron Skillet for $120, Mini Pumpkin Cocotte, and a free Holly Mini Cocotte! (Originally, on Black Friday, I also bought a Mini Round Cocotte to get a free Snowflake Platter because I needed to spend $250 for the free gift. Then Cyber Monday came and I liked that gift better so I called to cancel my order and made a new one, I only needed to spend $200 for the free cocotte but still wanted the pumpkin one so I just nixed the plain round cocotte.) I bought the cast iron skillet from Williams Sonoma because I had 10% cash back and the rest from the Le Creuset because they had the colors I wanted and the free gift. So I bought it all for less than the normal price off the dutch oven - WOO! I still really want their round dutch oven (in purple that they don't make anymore,) but for $200 (reg $380) vs $460 or $420 I'll see how I like the slightly smaller size.


I did order some gifted pieces from Aurate for a post coming in January. Always love being able to add more of their pieces to my jewelry collection. They'll be arriving some time in December as they are made to order.


THE (modified) RULES

  1. Be mindful of purchases 
  2. Quality over quantity
  3. Basics are best

 

MY PROGRESS

 

Clothes:

  1. Marc by Marc Jacobs cropped sweater ($12.50, retail $298, used ad money)
  2. J Brand Maria High Rise in Purple Velvet ($7.50, retail $228, used ad money)
  3. Current/Elliott "The Muscle" leopard print tank ($8, retail $75?, used ad money)


Basics:
  1. mīere the label "Frankie" knit sweater in Faded Black ($56.92, $32.15 if we omit shipping)
  2. Madewell Whisper Cotton V-Neck Tee in Spiced Plum ($2, retail $19.50, used ad money)
  3. Madewell Whisper Cotton V-Neck Tee in Sahara Sand  ($2, retail $19.50, used ad money)

 

Shoes:

  1. Ancient Greek Sandals Kore of Berlin ($365, used Shopbop gift cards + ad money + 15% off)


Handbags:

  1. None yet

 

Accessories:
  1. None yet

 
 

Activewear/Swimwear:

  1. Ryka "Belong" Walking Shoe in Plum Red/Burgundy via DSW ($26.58, $79.99 retail)

 

Gifted from Brands:


Spent in November: $0

Spent in 2022: $83.50

Who doesn't love a good festive sweater?! I've had this one from J Crew for quite a few years and always love breaking it out. Usually I wait until after Thanksgiving but I went to the New England Christmas Festival the first weekend of this month and wanted to dress on theme! A lady at the show even commented on my perfect coordination, ha ha. 


Unfortunately, the event was a little lackluster for me overall. Since it's only 1 weekend they don't really decorate the venue all that much. It also was a lot of non-Christmas items and if I'm going to a Christmas Festival I want it to be pretty much all holiday themed and maybe some fun giftable food items. I bought a cute snowman and Christmas tree ornament but not sure if it was really worth the $15 admission fee, but that could just be me. Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem, PA (my photos) was much more fun, but also a lot further away, ha ha.


Llama Jewel Sweater: J.Crew

Jeans: rag & bone high rise ankle skinny jean in burgundy

Boots: Marc by Marc Jacobs Buckle Boot in burgundy (Coco's on the Green) 

Bag: Dark Purple Chloé Faye (eBay) 












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