Our Thanksgiving (+ a Sale!!)

How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was eventful and ended up being okay but not like I expected at all. I woke up early yesterday morning to get my overnight bread dough ready to bake and when I woke up I just felt super crumby. My stomach hurt and I was starting to get a head cold. Well I got my dough ready and then I got back into bed and fell asleep. Clark and I both woke up again around 10:30am and I knew we need to get up so we could get the turkey in the oven. I mean this was my first Thanksgiving dinner that I was making and we were having people over. So we got our turkey in around 11:30 and then my stomach started to feel worse. In the end I came down with the flu and ended up getting sick three times. I realized I as thankful for a husband that will help clean up throw up and also run to the gas station to get blue Gatorade (my fav when sick.)

So we had to disinvite the people to dinner which I was sad about but turns out they all had places they could go instead so that was good. Around 2:30 after some rest and medicine and blue Gatorade I started to feel better. Clark and I both finished up making the dinner. We finished the turkey, made some stuffing, mashed potatoes, and gravy, canned corn and fruit salad. I was going to make sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce but I nixed that idea when I got sick. We headed up eating and watching the parade and then football on TV. I felt better and ate some mashed potatoes and dinner rolls. Then this commercial came on TV and I was like that is this Thanksgiving to a T. Not what you expected but still perfect.

Anyways I know this photos aren’t glamours at all but I wanted to share them because I don’t want to look back on this blog or even on special events and only document the staged and beautiful times. Sometimes a girl just wanted to eat Thanksgiving dinner with no makeup and a big t shirt on. Happy Holidays y’all! Also a coupon for Little Sloth below!! Use code HOLIDAYSEASON at checkout and get 20% off your purchase of $10+ ! Enjoy:)
love, Carlee

Still autumn

It’s still autumn well at least here in North Carolina. I know in most northern states there is snow already and has been for a few weeks. But here in NC it’s still autumn and it’s still November. I guess I don’t think winter until it is December. But people are already putting up Christmas decorations!! I am anxious for Christmas just like everybody else but I am holding out for xmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. I think it makes it that much more exciting! We will probably be one of the people getting our xmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. I do want to enjoy Christmas here in NC with Clark and Knox as much as I can before we go back to Washington for Christmas with our families. We are leaving NC December 20th to go back to WA so you’ll only have about 20 days to enjoy Christmas here and we are gonna celebrate early here and give our gifts to each other earlier too. 

Thanksgiving is tomorrow! I am excited, we are hosting Thanksgiving for ourselves and a few friends. It will be the first time I am making a turkey and a full Thanksgiving! I am excited and also nervous but Clark it going to help me out. I am making the pies today! I am actually making mini apple pies. I have apples still from my dad’s farm and Clark and I aren’t huge pumpkin pie fans so we are gonna have mini apple pies instead and they will save well if not all eaten. Homemade all the way! I am glad to be getting the pies done today though. I have been asking my mom all sorts of questions all week about Thanksgiving. I think I have called her at least 3 times a day since last Saturday. lol. 

I am have these camo green jeggings since august and the last few weeks I have been pulling them out. At first, although super comfortable, I didn’t think they were very flattering but after wearing them enough and then seeing these photos I realized I was just making stuff up in my head. I definitely need a full length mirror. Asking for one for Christmas... haha. Also I feel like this outfit is the opposite version of the outfit I posted Monday. What do y’all think? Happy Wednesday and Happy Thanksgiving:)

love, Carlee

Jeggings & Cardigan: Target

Boots: Sierra Trading Post

Shirt: Marshalls

Hat: Clark's 

Today is Monday

 Yep, I am all the way down here today. Just a quick hello and what’s up from me to you. This weekend was a good one. We had dinner with friends on Friday at Mellow Mushroom and ordered way to much pizza but that was okay because we got to have leftovers all weekend. We went to the shooting range on Saturday with some other friends and then on Sunday Clark and I went and saw Mockingjay Part 1. One of the most underrated candies are Mamba’s (I love them) and I found a pack at Target that had all 4 flavors. If you are familiar with Mamba’s you know there are 4 flavors but only 3 come to a pack well this pack had all 4 and I was like why haven’t they done this from the beginning. Anyways I saved them until Sunday and snuck them into the movies. 
love, Carlee

Pants & Jacket: Marshalls

Shirt: Target

Shoes: Belk

PS: The title of this post sucks but I couldn’t think of anything better....sorry

Playing in the leaves

Finally back with a regular post and I am happy about it! You should see the leaves here in North Carolina they are gorgeous and while these photo, trees, and leaves are beautiful in this post, they definitely don’t do real life justice! Remember back in October when I was complaining about the leaves not turning here yet well I just had to wait until mid November to get the peak colors here. And I got to say that I am happy I am not in those northern states because right now they have snow and while it is cold here I am glad there is no snow yet! Snow can wait until December.

My favorite autumn colors that I have posted on my blog used to be the tree in this post but I think these leaves are now my favorite autumn back drop of any outfit post. What to know something great? Clark spotted these trees while drive home from work the other day and he thought to tell me it would be the perfect location for a photo shoot. What a good guy I have. So we took these photos this past Sunday on the way to the grocery store.

Life lately has been good. Last week Clark was doing a week long training mission on the coast of North Carolina and he is now back (we celebrated with DQ.) I finished reading my most recent library book which was The Question of the Missing Head. It was really good and the first complete fiction book I have read in a long time. It was entertaining and I really enjoyed it. I think Clark and I have also decided to host a small Thanksgiving with some friends next Thursday. I am kind of nervous, I have never made a turkey by myself and have definitely never hosted a major holiday dinner. But I guess there is a first for everything right?
love, Carlee

Jacket: Lucky Brand

Tank: Forever 21

Scarf: old

Jeans: Old Navy

Boots: Famous Footwear

NYC snapshots

So once I get to this point in the sharing of travel, I think geez how long can I drag this out. When it reality I just want to share all my photos here so I can have a great place to look back and remember these times and I also know some of my friends, family, and blog readers like to see these post. Anyways, here is the last installment of my NYC travel post. Just some snapshots of our travels that didn’t fit into any other post. Like subways photos, beautiful ivy covered brownstones, that evening we spent in Washington Square park, Big Gay Ice Cream, Carrie Bradshaw’s stoop, a few more iPhone photos from Central Park, and some night photos I couldn’t not share! 

So that’s all folks. You can view the last time I visited NYC here. Thanks for letting me share my photos and trip with y’all!
love, Carlee

Outfit from photo 1:

Coat, Bag, Sweater,Socks: Target

Boots: Cathy Jean

Jeans: Old Navy

Scar: Forever 21

Financial District

On Monday (our last full day in the city), we spent the first part of our morning walking around the Financial District. We stayed at the Best Western Seaport Inn so we didn’t have to catch a subway or anything we just got to walk around. It was only about .7 miles from our hotel to the 9/11 Memorial, which was our first stop while exploring the Financial District. There is still lots of construction going on around the memorial but you can walk right into the memorial from West Street (it’s all open) without going through security. Three years ago when I was in NYC you had to go through security and wait in line just to go to the memorial. The trees around the memorial were all turning and it was really beautiful. I teared up again. 

After 9/11 Memorial we meandered a while, got some Starbucks and walked to Trinity Church. We walked through the grounds and even into the church. It was amazing and beautiful. I move old tombstones. There were people buried there from 1747, which is before America was even a independent country. Which is amazing to me, to think about the history and how much time has past and yet they still lay there and that church still stands just as it was 300 years earlier. 

We made our way to the New York Stock Exchange and Wall St. We found the Charging Bull downtown and I took a classic photo of Clark touching the bull balls (what can I say, we have class.) Then we hung around Battery Park a while before we caught the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. After the statue and Ellis Island, we walked from Battery Park to a great little pub The Bailey to eat a late lunch. I had the cheeseburger and fries and Clark had the fish and chips (the fries were so bomb.) 

After the Financial District we headed toward the subway and up to Washington Square Park for our last night. Which I will be sharing photos of tomorrow in my last post of NYC titled NYC snapshots.
love, Carlee