november '25 postcard

goodbye november <3

HIIII EVERYONE !

HOLY MOTHER MEATBALL it is exactly 1:13 pm on Sunday, November 30th and I am just starting this monthly recap. Normally, I’d be stressed because I don’t like to rush things (aha <3). But it’s not like these are ever super polished anyway. Here’s my unedited blog post (full of grammar mistakes and misspellings, I’m sure) as a treat <3. The way god intended, okay *~~***~*~*.

This month was filled with bagels, family, charcuterie boards, VOTING (iktr), watercolors, flower bouquets, a turkey trot, bookstores, nyc style pizza, new fountain pens, lotssss of linocut, soup <3, wedding venues, friends, thanksgiving, and soooo much pumpkin pie (amen).

a couple of november standouts:

1. I didn’t add this in the October recap, but I wanted to add it here: our doggies were bats for halloween. It was so cute. This was my first year ever handing out candy so I was very excited.

   

2. I have 700 subscribers on substack now???? Guys!!!! That’s crazy banana time¹ !!!! I have been nothing but a little too comfortable on this app. I’ve said thank you a bunch and I still mean it. Writing is fun, especially because so many of you respond and let me know how much you enjoy it. I APPRECIATE IT AND I APPRECIATE U. Forehead kisses for all <3 *~**~*~*.

   

3. We hosted thanksgiving and invited all our family and friends to have a meal with us. We were a little late on timing and didn’t have enough seating, but who would even want to go to a perfect thanksgiving?? It’s much more fun to sign up for a lunch that turns into a linner, you know? It was stressful but also rewarding, like most things in life. AND before thanksgiving, I ran the local turkey trot 5k. It was a great day and I am so proud of all of it <3.
   And a special thank you to my family who helped clean, cook, and support us as we navigated our first Thanksgiving!! It really does take a village, y’all.

   AND the biggest thank you to my fiance who cooked majority of the food and is kind and sweet and the best person I know. He’s the first person to read these, so hi, you’re the best <3.

   

   

4. I VOTED AS IS MY CIVIC DUTY. Holy cow, it is so important to vote even in the small city elections. Do I dare to dream of a day that Texas turns blue? I do, I do. </3

   

5. I’ve been trying to get into more art mediums, so this month it was: watercolors. I’m not good by any means nor am I trying to be. I’m just having fun.

   

6. I added two new fountain pens to my collection (which consists of just one other fountain pen). Both are early Christmas gifts from my family, which is really sweet of them. I have been using them all every day.

   

7. I made my holiday cards this month <3 I’m really proud of these, as I’ve been experimenting with linocut for the last few weeks. ART IS SO FUN GUYS!!! TRY NEW MEDIUMS!!!! And share it with your friends.

   

8. My cousin had a friendsgiving and it was indeed giving friends (sry) <3 I had a lot of fun meeting new people and seeing my cousins. I really do love the holiday season!!!

9. And lastly, just the general lovely things from the month:

   

   

song of the month:

Look, I have listened to so much Ethel Cain this year that if she isn’t my top artist, I will be convinced that the yearly wraps are a SCAM. But my favorite song that I listened to a bunch this month is Nettles by Ethel Cain !!!!

These newsletters are so long that I really don’t have the space to do a deep dive into these lyrics and you probably wouldn’t want that anyway <3. I love the way this song sounds, the lyrics, and her voice. Here’s the Apple Music playlist and the Spotify one:

rose, thorn, bud:

Rose: I RAN THE LOCAL TURKEY TROT AFTER BEING SO NERVOUS N SCARED ABOUT IT. I’ve always been a runner (loose term because I enjoy it but don’t do races) but I took some time off after the summer and barely started running again. I was afraid I wouldn’t finish it but SURPRISE! I finished it AND I HAD FUN <3.

Thorn: This month overall was full of wonderful family & friends. I think the hard part for me was having to say bye to family: my parents live around 5 hours away and my brother & his fiance live in North Carolina. It’s hard to spend so much time with everyone and then remember that we all live so far away from each other. It’s strange to think that my brother and I spent every second together as kids and now see each other a few times a year. Growing up sucks.

Bud: I’m excited to start working on holiday gifts for friends & family. My goal is to make as much of it as I can. I want the gifts to be meaningful & thoughtful.

books, poems, etc:

This month I was so busy, but I did read ✨3✨ books this month:

• East of Eden by John Steinbeck

• The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez

• M Train by Patti Smith

All three of these books were phenomenal and I highly recommend reading them. My goal for next year is to branch out and start reading more classics and really taking my time with them.

affirmation/quote of the month:

⭐️ you cannot change what you cannot change ha ha⭐️

⭐️ it’s cool to try something new even if you have no idea what you’re doing and you’ll feel stressed because there is something worth it on the other side ⭐️

Holidays are fun and holidays also bring out a lot of stress. So my goal during thanksgiving was to remember that I can’t change what I can’t change. I can only control my sphere of influence which is how I act/react and what I say! There is nothing like cooking a full thanksgiving meal with the people that know you best to put all of that to the test <3 hehehahahoho.

Second, we did a bunch of new things this month: we hosted thanksgiving & I ran the turkey trot. In my mind, I was like there’s no way I can do both of these things! Who am I to think I could!!! But I did them, and it was a lot of fun.

Something I’ve really tried to incorporate in my life is saying yes more: Yes, we’ll host thanksgiving. Yes, I’ll run the turkey trot. Yes, I’ll start this blog. Yes, I’ll start a snail mail club. Yes, I’ll move to a new place. Yes, I’ll go on a sailing trip and live on a boat even though I’ve never done that before.

Life is often so terrifying. There is a lot that you can’t control or change. But so much of the good stuff is on the other side of all the fear. We hosted family and friends at our house and celebrated community. I ran a race with my future sister in law who is one of the sweetest people I know. I’ve put myself out there in so many ways that I look forward to it now. That’s what life is all about!! Participating in it all fully: the good the bad the ugly the boring.

At the beginning of this year, I made this collage with a quote I had heard somewhere online. It shaped my whole year.

recipe of the month:

IT’S SOUP SZN <3 Okay, I generally am not a soup gal (surprise)…BUT there are 2 exceptions: 1) tomato basil soup <33333 and 2) tortilla soup :).

My fiance makes a spicy af tortilla soup, but I love it and I love him. He was kind enough to share his recipe that he says is very easy and makes enough for lots of leftovers.

Also, I forgot to add chips on the third instruction so just know you need to add tortilla chips to the tortilla soup haha.

I hope u enjoy this recipe & that it keeps you warm and full this cold szn <3.

Thanks for reading all of this!!! And a big extension of HAPPY HOLIDAYS to u and urs.

See u next month! I can’t wait to freak out about how the year is almost over haha <3 ily :)

SAM <3333333

1. crazy banana time is a personal term that refers to how crazy our dogs get when they see me eating a banana that we have to separate them from said banana. They love bananas. It’s so insane and exciting and wild, kinda like having 700 subscribers on substack tbh.