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October was a pretty good month, and the leaves were finally changing colors! I’ve been a bit busy, but I shall share this post now, almost halfway into November! Oopsie.
Skip to other good parts:
Daily Life
October 4: Darby has finally become a cuddler, so this is my view in the mornings:
I had to get gas before my trip, and I had a craving for Starbucks. I got the iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso, and it was the best one I’ve had from here.
October 6: Off to Kingsport! This was the first time that I’ve went on a trip without Darby. I left around 10:30 AM and made it to Kingsport a little after 4:30 PM Eastern time. I made a trip to Scooter’s Coffee for a pick me up. There was a little bit of traffic, but it was still steady and I didn’t come to a stop.
This is the iced Caramelicious, my favorite from here.
My family and I had Cheddar’s for dinner. The croissants were wonderful, and so was my bourbon-glazed salmon!
Mason slept in my room with me! He slept in his bed on the floor, though.
October 7: We had IHOP for breakfast. I tried the egge benedict, the pesto one, and it was surprisingly good!
We ran around to a few places here. After IHOP, we walked around downtown Kingsport because they had an event with tons of vendors.
We wanted to try a new coffee shop, but evidently they are closed on the weekends, which is a major bummer. So, we settled for Urban Brews (previously known as Hibbert-Davis at the beginning. Name was dropped?) and ordered father and me a Caramel Macchiato. I got an iced one, as usual, and father got a hot one.
It was a super chilly morning, but we walked along Broad Street and went to a few shops.
We took father home, then Mom, Callie, Haley, Brandi (Callie’s friend), and I went to a consignment shop and Sam’s Club.
They had super nice furniture for good prices!
I found this Coach purse at a consignment shop! It was such a great deal! The best part, it doesn’t have the brand all over it, and I didn’t even notice it since it was as a tag. I love the look of it, and for $12 it was such a steal!
This bag had a water bottle holder, which was really cool, and it looked brand new! I got it for $6, and I’m thrilled.
For lunch, we went to Cootie Brown’s in Johnson City.
I went crazy and got a Philly Cheesesteak. The house-made chips are so good! It’s been years since I’ve been here, but the chips have always been excellent.
I stayed the night with Haley and Reece at their house, but I went to 7 Brew, and I got father an iced Blondie as well. You can never have too much coffee!!
October 8: We went to parents’ house to spend time with Nick, Hannah, and Levi.
Mother made sausage stars and potato soup for lunch! For dessert, she bought the frozen thing (it did not say it was ice cream) from Aldi. The ice cream flavor was Neopolitan, I think. I definitely tasted strawberry and chocolate. It was super soft.
Since it’s a must, I ordered my Spicy Tofu Glass Noodles from Thai Cuisine. Mom wanted to try some, so I got her one with chicken. Unfortunately, it was too spicy for her.
I wish I could find these noodles in Nashville because they are by far one of my favorites! I told mother I would make her japchae next time because she loves the glass noodles and flavor of this dish. Japchae is similar, as far as I remember, so I will need to make it for her.
Darby has had a difficult time without me. Stephen laid out one of my shirts, and Darby laid on it and wouldn’t go anywhere else. He’s so pitiful.
I stayed with Haley and Reece again.
October 9: Haley and I spent the day at her place. She attempted to study while I did some work. First, get coffee.
Another iced Caramelicious.
My friend, Louise, checked on Darby around lunchtime. She sent me some cute photos. I think he was on his best behavior with her, although he didn’t want to go back inside.
Haley and I visited our mamaw and papaw. I always see them each time I visit. She gave me some really pretty cards that I can use to mail to people.
We had dinner at parents’ house. Mom made manicotti and garlic bread.
It was my last night staying with Haley and Reece. Their dogs, Jill and Susie, followed me around! They convinced me to let them on my bed.
Reece had to get them. I doubt they would have really slept with me, but it would’ve been cute!
October 10: It was my last day with family. We went shopping, then had lunch at Stir Fry. As usual, here are my Tofu Curry Basil Noodles:
I filled up on gas, then headed to 7 Brew because I needed to do some files for work. This time, I got a large Iced Caramel Macchiato.
I stopped by mamaw’s again because she forgot to give me another pack of cards and also a pack of pens.
To celebrate Mason’s belated birthday a few weeks ago, I made him a cake! He scarfed it down.
He may not be able to see well, but that sniffer works well. I had it on the counter and he was just standing in front of it and staring up at it. I took some home for Darby.
October 14: It’s my parents’ wedding anniversary today! They took a trip to Gatlinburg for the weekend.
I had dinner with some friends from the corgi group at I Love Sushi. It was my first time eating there, and it was good! I kind of had a late lunch, so I just ordered the agedish tofu appetizer and a salmon skin roll. A salmon skin roll is a must when going to a new restaurant.
October 15: Stephen and I went to watch The Eras Tour Film at 7 PM! Luckily, our theater was pretty tame. Some people did stand and sing starting in the Red era, but it was at a respectful volume and didn’t bother us.
Sadly, they sold out of the popcorn buckets and cups, but that’s okay. Hopefully they went to actual fans and not people wanting to sell them for hundreds of dollars online.
October 19: Stephen and I went to Adventure Science Center for the first time! He’s been wanting to go for a while, but since he’s on his staycation, we decided to go around 12.
My favorite purchase was the glow in the dark rocks! They were only $0.15 each, so I was excited.
For lunch, we went to Degthai for the first time.
We got the crispy tofu as an appetizer. Stephen ordered the Chicken Pad Thai, and I got the Shrimp Tom Yum!
October 20: We took Darby to Centennial Park! I finally got to take a picture with the park bench in honor of Taylor Swift, and so did Darby.
Isn’t he just the cutest!?
Darby did better than I thought he would, and it was such a pretty place! We’ve never actually walked around the park behind the Parthenon. We’ll definitely be back!
I went to fill up my car with gas, and I stopped by Sweet Sofia’s for the strawberry agua fresca. I’m obsessed with it and had to get a 32 ounce size!
I also bought some paletas.
October 21: I saw The Eras film again, but this time with Alexis in Clarksville! I managed to get a movie poster and that was all, sadly. I’m bummed about not getting a popcorn bucket, but I shall live. We shared a large popcorn and each got some icees.
My green apple icee was delicious!
For late lunch/early dinner, we tried Duke’s Thai Food. We split the pork dumplings and pork spring rolls. It didn’t say on the menu we’d get a spring roll with our meal, so that was a pleasant surprise!
Alexis got the Chicken Pad Thai and I tried the Beef Hot Basil Stir Fry, spice level 3 heat. It was perfect! Also, the meals were a great price!
Next up: coffee. We just went to Golly G’s because it was getting late and it was close by and open.
I tried the iced Maple Brown Sugar Latte, and it was good! We then shopped around at a few different places. We hit up Petco, Five Below, and HomeGoods.
At HomeGoods, they had these caramel apple Ghiradelli squares! So, so good!
October 24: I took Darby to Petco and placed him in the cart for the first time. I think he enjoyed it!
It was certainly a less stressful shopping experience for me! This way, I don’t have to worry about him peeing in the floor or pulling to go somewhere constantly.
That night, Stephen and I went to the Lights exhibit at Cheekwood.
The photos are bad, but the lights were beautiful!
October 25: A quick photo of Darby on our morning walk:
Some girl wasn’t paying attention while driving and came close to hitting us. I was livid, especially seeing her speed off out of the complex. She was too busy looking at her phone. Luckily, I was between Darby and the car. Ugh.
I went to Boots & Good Co. to spend some time away from Darby and do a little bit of work.
October 26: It was the last date for the Bellevue farmers’ market, and they had a Thai food truck, Rollin’ Thai! I tried Thai tea. This one tasted like sweet tea kind of, which isn’t what I remember Thai tea tasting like, but it was pretty good! I expected it to have more spices, so I’ll have to try it again.
Stephen ordered the Chicken Pad Thai, and I had the Chicken Lo Mein. We thought our meals were good, especially since we ate it in one sitting, but they weren’t the best we’ve had.
October 28: I had lunch with Kylie at Tazikis! It was my first time trying this place, and I really liked it! I need to go back and try something new.
We went to HomeGoods, then she had to pick up Spud from the groomers. It was fun catching up with her! We miss her, Zach, and Spud.
I then went to The Well for a coffee refuel, then headed to Five Below and the World Market. I found so many yummy noodles from the market, so I’m stocked up for a while!
I ended up ordering the 1989 cardigan. I thought about it for a day since the album released yesterday. Even though 1989 isn’t my album, I loved the color of the cardigan! It’s blue, so I felt compelled to get it. I’m wondering how long it’ll take to get here since I’ve read where it can take a while. The originally ship date is mid-December.
That’s all for now!
Books
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, crime
- content warnings: attempted suicide, mental illness
- rating: 3
- I had FOMO. It didn’t live up to the hype for me. I think the twist was clever, but I also felt deceived. I’m not for sure if Theo is meant to be a likable character, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of him from the get-go. He was certainly broken in his own way.
- The premise was interesting. Seriously, why wasn’t Alicia speaking? Unfortunately, it didn’t necessarily pay off for me. She had nothing to say? Right, okay.
- I get the whole metaphor was like her Alcestis painting and how it represents her own predicament, but I felt meh about it.
- I thought it should’ve been shorter. The story crept along and not much really happened. Of course, with the big twist, we would’ve known what had happened in a few pages and skipped this whole goose chase.
- The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston
- genres: romance, magical realism
- content warning: suicide
- rating: 4
- I’m a little bugged that it’s not The Seven-Year Slip because that’s grammatically correct, and there was one other typo at the very beginning with an incorrect apostrophe for “parent’s” when it should’ve been “parents'” that hurt my soul.
- I love stories with time travel, and this one was fun! It was interesting how in this story Clementine was the exact same person meeting Iwan in the past and her present.
- I cannot imagine someone named Iwan with a Southern accent or drawl. That does not register in my brain, especially when some of his twang comes out when he says her nickname, Lemon, or anything else.
After The Seven Year Slip, I didn’t read for like a week. Instead, I worked on sudoku puzzles.
- We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin
- genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, crime
- content warnings: mental illness
- rating:
- Julia Heaberlin has easily become one of my favorite authors, and this makes the second book I’ve read by her.
- I had to sit on the rating for a while because I really enjoyed it, and I cannot believe the big twist that happens at the end of part 2, but overall, it kept my attention and I devoured this book in a few sittings!
October was not a month of reading for me since I was a wee bit busier, but that’s okay!
Music
1989 (Taylor’s Version) (2023) — Taylor Swift
I’m still trying to figure out my album ranking, but I didn’t expect this one to be so high up. I found an old burned CD I made of the deluxe version, and it was so much fun reliving the songs again!
Vault songs (as of writing this part, November 8th):
- “Is It Over Now?” (+0)
- “Slut!” (1+)
- “Suburban Legends” (+2)
- “Now That We Don’t Talk” (-1)
- “Say Don’t Go” (-2)
I’m surprised how my rankings changed so quickly. They are all so good that I can’t help but to have them on repeat!
“Wasting All These Tears (Cassadee’s Version)” — Cassadee Pope
This song showed up on my For You page, so I was curious to see how this was different from the song like a decade ago. This version is less country and more pop punk, which I am really digging.
TV Shows/Movies
Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour (2023)
Did I go see this twice in a week? You bet!
I first went with Stephen, then I visited Alexis in Clarksville and watched it at the theater there.
I was a little worried about how others in the theater would react since singing and dancing were encouraged, but it was tame for Stephen and me on a Sunday at 7 PM!
I’m incredibly happy that I got to actually go to the actual concert, and watching the concert film was super exciting and cool to see the stage performance at a higher quality.
Orders
October 4: I’d been wanting an Echeveria Crispate Beauty for a while, and my seller finally found someone who was selling them! She also added a freebie: Echeveria Ice Green. I had one of these, but it died recently.
Haley said the Crispate Beauty looks like trash. Rude.
