{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings: November 2025

 November 2025:

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Highs of the Month:

• Our wonderful first anniversary trip to Mexico! This was our big vacation for 2025, and we had been looking forward to it for months. It did not disappoint! We were so lucky to have a smooth travel process, and the resort we stayed at very much exceeded our expectations! But the absolute best part of the trip? The fact that it was a free trip, thanks to the knowledge I've taught myself the past couple of years about how to maximize credit card points and travel hack free vacations! We paid for our resort and flights entirely on points. I can't wait to share both a full review of our resort and all the details of how I used our points here on the blog with you this winter!
• My friend Bri and I attended a fun local event over Thanksgiving weekend. A local wedding venue, Gala 417, hosted a wedding dress themed charity gala to benefit the Salvation Army. It was a essentially a giant ladies-only dance party where everyone wore wedding dresses! One of the most unique I've events I've ever been to, but so fun. Bri and I both wore our shorter reception dresses from our own weddings, but if this event happens again in a future year I plan to wear my actual long wedding dress. 
• We went out for two nicer dinners locally in November! We hadn't been out to eat at a nicer restaurant for a few months, since we'd been so busy with house projects and then our move itself. We celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday at a new-to-us restaurant, Coastal Grill. And we had dinner for our first anniversary at the restaurant that we'd had our rehearsal dinner at, La Bella Italia. I am hoping we will be able to make nicer date nights more frequent again in 2026!

Lows of the Month:

• I didn't have time to golf at all in November, there was just a lot going on during the weekends! I was just bummed since a lot of the weekends in November had perfect golf weather. 
• This is such a first-world type problem, but I put a lot of pressure on myself in November for feeling like I failed a bit as an influencer for a busy month of sales. With our Mexico trip, my day job being unexpectedly busy the whole month, and Thanksgiving family plans, I didn't have as much time as I hoped to share sales and gift ideas compared to some other influencers that I follow. I'm hoping that next year I can take a day or two off of work in the month of November to really work on all of this type of stuff and feel more prepared for the holiday season as a content creator! But trying to give myself grace that this was a year that I just couldn't do it all.
• One of the worst things about living in Virginia is having to pay personal property tax annually on your car (separate from registration and inspection fees). Of course we got our personal property tax bills in early November, not even a month after moving into our new house! Taxes always show up at the most annoying times, right? 😉

 

November Weekend Recaps:

• Oct 31st-Nov 2nd - We had a great first Halloween handing out candy at our new house to trick-or-treaters on Friday night. Saturday morning got off to a productive start. I grabbed coffee with my friend Bri, and then we went together to a local polling spot to do early voting for the Virginia governor's election! Ryan and I went out for a nice dinner Saturday night with my in-laws for my mother-in-law's birthday. On Sunday I went to church, and then went over to my friend Abby's new place to help her with some unpacking and organizing after her recent move. 
• 7th-9th - We had a productive Friday evening after I got off work- we bought a new couch set for our family room in our house! On Saturday, I drove up to Richmond for the day to visit my dear friend Caroline and meet her baby boy for the first time! We hung out at her house and then went out for lunch together before I headed home. I caught up on some home organization projects and chores on Sunday. 
• 14th-16th - Our first anniversary weekend! I ran errands earlier in the day on Saturday, and then we went out to dinner Saturday night to celebrate. We had a quiet day at home on Sunday, I spent most of it packing for our Mexico trip! We also got our new wooden blinds installed in our master bedroom which was great. 
• 21st-23rd - We were enjoying our last full day in Mexico on Friday! On Saturday, we had a long (but thankfully smooth!) travel day getting from Mexico back home to Virginia. I'm excited to recap more about our trip here on the blog this winter! Sunday was a very chill day at home of catching up around the house and unpacking. 
• 28th-30th - Thanksgiving Weekend! We had a lot to do and catch up on since this was the weekend between our two bigger trips of the year (Mexico and Maine). I still made time for some fun though! On the afternoon of Black Friday I went to a fireside outdoor hangout with some of our new neighbors. That night I got to attend the wedding dress themed charity gala with my friend Bri at a local wedding venue! It was such a blast. On Saturday, I met my friend Alex for a Pure Barre class in the morning, and then we grabbed coffee together after. I spent the rest of the weekend catching up at home and also finishing decorating our house for Christmas! 

November Purchases:

• I didn't get too much for myself with the Black Friday / Cyber Weekend sales this year (since we got so much for our house!), but I did get a few things I'm excited about. Since skinny jeans went out of style a few years ago, I've grown accustomed to wearing straight jeans or stovepipe jean styles. But I finally want to be more open to wide leg jeans! I ordered this style and I'm excited to try them. I also got this straight leg pair.
• I ordered these cute sparkly shoes after seeing they were under $30 with the Cyber Week sales... but I quickly returned them because they were sadly not super comfortable on my feet. 😓
• Some not as exciting but very useful purchases: I restocked my favorite shampoo and conditioner, and another pair of tights for winter outfits. 
• We bought a lot for the house on Black Friday!! Here are all of our recent home purchases:
• Twin mattress and twin daybed frame for one of our extra bedrooms
• Six-person dining set (Much needed as our four-person table and chairs from our apartment looks too small in our dining room!)
• Scalloped end tables 
• Set of two blue ceramic table lamps 
• Rattan storage cabinet / console
• White storage cabinet / console
• We were recently gifted a smaller blue and green rug as a housewarming gift, and I loved it so much that I bought the larger sized rug for our formal living room!

November Wishlist:

• This bow-back ornament themed dress might be one of the most unique and stunning Christmas formal dresses that I've ever seen. How fun would this be to wear to a formal Christmas party or a holiday wedding! It isn't cheap, but it is under $250.
• I am obsessed with this two-toned colorful workout set! It was on such a deal for Black Friday, and it's still marked down a good bit. I probably would've bought it for my fitness classes if so much of my Black Friday budget hadn't gone to the house. 😉
• I almost ordered this blue bow quilted jacket on Black Friday, but really tried to hold off on a lot of purchases for myself with all of our house purchases. It's so cute though!! 
• I am not a fan of the aesthetic / fashion vibes for most styles of Lake Pajamas. (Based on how they look alone, I really do not get why they are so beloved! Unpopular opinion I know.) However, I do think that their basic striped bathrobes are very chic. This is an under $30 dupe for a Lake Pajamas robe!! Cannot believe the price, I might just have to order it for myself soon. 
• A wishlist item for my house that is definitely not a necessity but would look so cute outside the front door: this pair of faux topiaries! They look pretty realistic for being fake, and it's such a classic item that I'd have for years.

November Blog Posts: 

• Wedding Wednesday: One Year Since Our Wedding + Our Formal Wedding Portraits

• 2025 Cyber Week Sales + What We Did for Thanksgiving 

Current Discount Codes: 

• Echo of Pink (Block Print Dresses made sustainably in India) - Use code ANNALIESE20 for 20% off your purchase!

• Loopy Case (My absolute favorite phone cases) - Use code missalk at check-out for 10% off your purchase! 
• Maggy London (Classic and chic work + special occasion dresses) - Use code ANNALIESE15 for 15% off your purchase!

• SelectBlinds (Affordable window blinds and shades) - Use code ANNALIESE5 for 5% off their already low prices on window treatments!

     God Bless,

   

     xoxo Annaliese