Month in Review: November
It hit me the other day that I’ve never done monthly recaps of my life on the blog. I do annual yearly recaps, but those are more serious and highlight bigger life lessons I learned over the course of the year. Time just seems to fly even faster lately, so I’m gonna try something new by rounding up each month to give you a deeper look into what actually went on the past 30/31 days, and use my Instagram posts to tell the stories behind my pictures (if there’s a story to tell) (JK. There always is).
The month started off with wrapping up a wonderful offsite at work for the Marketing team and getting to meet our counterparts from London, Brazil, and China. It truly was an awesome event and gave us all the chance to get in the same room, have some major brainstorms, and work collaboratively with each other for 3 full days. Of course, the best part was when my manager offered to take a pic of me in my new Everlane coat the brand gifted me from their ReNew line — a line of outerwear (think fleeces, pullovers, jackets) that is made entirely of recycled plastic water bottles. I got the long puffer and have essentially been living and conducting business in it since I received it. A fantastic coat for a great cause.
Next up was my best friends’ annual Friendsgiving feast. For anyone new here, I refer to my best friends as Whataburger because of a very silly text typo gone wrong that ended up solidifying our name in stone forever. We had to have Friendsgiving SUPER early this year (literally the first Saturday of November) because of everyone’s schedules this month + the holiday. But, even though it was early, we all had a GAS. Chris got to experience his first Friendsgiving with Whataburger with all the laughs, wine, screaming, cartwheels, games, brisket > turkey that come with it! It was a really special thing for me to finally bring a guy around for this annual event and not just any guy either — one I like. Very much. Just as he is. I’m so thankful for my group of girls. It took us a while to weed through what seemed like a never-ending field of brush to finally come together and bless the FUCK UP that we did.
Then, something wild happened. After taking a curling wand to my curls for the last 3+ years, I came to the realization that I had fried my curls in a bad way. Suddenly, the wavy effect I had been so good at creating with my locks via heat wasn’t holding anymore. They were dead. Lifeless. On top of that, my natural curls looked very sad and I had no idea how to revitalize them. Then it hit me — mama needs an extreme haircut.
I HATE cutting my hair. All I want is for it grow SO LONG and be a curly, crazy mess. Alas, not cutting my hair healthily wasn’t helping that along at all. So, I walked myself into a curly hair expert’s salon (Hairstory on Henderson, ask for Nina), told her my woes, and she got to work. I’ve never cut my hair like this, so it’s been a bit of a shock to get used to. I literally go back and forth every hour between loving and hating it, but I know in the long run, chopping it like this is the best chance my natural curls have to reinvent themselves. Thank you for taking this hairy journey with me ( < my sign off at the laser hair place I always go to) (jk).
A week after I made the chop, the man’s and I headed down to Georgetown, Texas for one of his college friend’s weddings. This was our first out of town wedding together and, I gotta say, we nailed it. As soon as the music came on, we were out on the floor (and 3-5 drinks deep) movin and groovin like nobody was watching for the rest of the night. We had such a blast that a woman at the wedding came up to me and admiringly said, “I just love watching you two. You look so happy and like you have so much fun together!” And I was all “We are and we do! When I don’t want to murder him.” JK. Didn’t say that last part, but #realtalk.
The hair was a hit, too, earning me the nickname Ilana from the groom’s friends for the duration of the weekend. So.
(click on the picture for my full outfit details)
Next up was my first “Thankful for Marketing” teamgiving with my stellar team at rewardStyle. I’ve never felt so lucky to be a part of a squad like this one. Each is more talented than the next, and we really do all have each other’s backs. Even though I’ve only been here for about 4 months, we’ve done some big things already. In fact, the morning after this picture was taken we launched the product search feature in the LIKEtoKNOW.it app — something we’d been working on since my first day back in August. It was surreal to see it come to life and know my hands had been all over it, as well as so many others. I’m just so proud to be a part of it!
Right before Thanksgiving, my 2nd annual “50 Under $50 Gift Guide" + 15 Over $50 (for the big spenders) went out and, from the feedback, you guys seem to be loving it which makes me sooooooo happy. It’s overwhelming to create one because ideas for gifts big and small are endless, but you have to cut yourself at some point and I hope I made this year’s guide extensive enough for y’all. You still have a SHIT LOAD of time to shop, so get to it!
Sadly, this is the only somewhat family-centric picture anyone took on our Thanksgiving this year. I am very drunk in the background — don’t mind me. This year’s meal went off without a hitch! The food was amazing (Allie baked a pecan pie c/o The Pioneer Woman and turned me into a pecan pie believer for the first time in my life), the company was grand (even though my Grandpa told me my vegetables were cold), and everyone was in good spirits (for the first few days at least). Oh, Thankgiving — you fattening, stress-inducing holiday.
This week, Chris and I celebrated our 9-monthversary on Nov. 27. Well, I shouldn’t say celebrated because I cooked zoodles with turkey bolognese and we watched Netflix, BUT rather acknowledged and hugged about it. Chris isn’t big on monthversaries, which I totally get. But as someone who has been through the ringer and back over the past 8 years of dating, every month that goes by being in something solid with someone you actually want to be with and go through the ups and downs with is nothing short of a miracle. So, sorry bout ‘cha Chris. But actually really just thankful for ya.
And last but not least, I’ve completed ONE month with OrangeTheory! I am loving it so much, y’all. I’ve never worked out this hard and for someone who spent most of their adult lives being completely against any form of group workouts, my world has been changed. I love the accountability, I love the workouts, and I love the overall vibe there.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any results to show you guys yet. To be honest, it’s really frustrating me. But, at the same time, making it so clear to me that it truly is 80% diet and 20% working out. As the terribly annoying saying goes, you can’t out-exercise a bad diet. I have been extremely lax this year which has led me back to where I was 3 years ago before I even started BBG and I know I have no one to blame but myself, but it sucks. I’m working hard going forward with resetting how I eat, and I’m hoping that by month 2 and 3 of OrangeTheory, I have way more to show!
Regardless, though, it’s fantastic!
That about wraps up the past month on my goings-on! Is this something you enjoyed reading? Would you like to see one of these every month? More content, less content? LEMME KNOW in the comments.
xox,
