3rd Qtr Favorites 2019

Good morning and Happy end of September/Beginning of October! We have reached the end of another quarter in 2019 and today I’m going to be talking about some of the things that I loved over the past few months. I’m switching things up a little bit and I’ll be doing a separate post talking about books and such that I loved. So, this post will focus on food/drink, makeup/skincare, travel, multimedia (tv/podcast/music/movies), and some kid things.

Food/Drink

Oh hi, I’m going to talk about alcohol. Yep, alcohol. I don’t really drink much, but…ya know…being in Europe/Germany. There is an early “baby” wine that is produced here called Federweißer (Federweisser) that is made up of freshly fermented grapes. It tastes like a carbonated grape juice and is absolutely delicious. It is available from September through to October, although it continues to Ferment as it stands in the bottle, so later batches may taste different and be stronger than earlier batches. I’ve only had the white version, but there is also a Rose and Red. It’s a nice light option if you would like to have a drink, but nothing too strong.

Makeup/Skincare

There isn’t really a lot new on the makeup and skincare front to chat about as I’ve been mostly sticking to our standards. I do want to say; I’ve been using the Gold Bond intense repair hand cream on my poor dry hands (the weather change that comes with cooler weather is NOT kind to my hands) and it’s been working relatively well. We also made copious use of sunscreen over the past few months with the height of summer hitting. I have found that the best sunscreen for both myself and the kids has been the Aveeno sun products. I would like to go a little bit higher end if I can, but honestly with Andrew’s skin being as sensitive as it is, this is what works, and I don’t want to chance changing it.

Travel

I don’t really know what to do with the travel section of my favorites. Do I talk about a favorite spot? A Favorite tour? Or, do I just talk about the trips we’ve taken as a recap? Or, do I talk about an item that I really loved while traveling? Let me know what you think. For today I’ll do a bit of a combo post. We had a couple of trips over the past quarter, our big Summer Holiday, and then a couple smaller day trips. I think my favorite spot of all was our little cottage in The Highlands of Scotland. Scotland has just captured a very special space in my heart. To go along with that, one of the best purchases we’ve made is purchasing Rain Jackets. Not only did they come in handy on our Holiday, but they’ve been very handy at home as well (when we remember them).

TV/Movies

So, we have very limited time with two very active toddlers for TV. This isn’t me trying to be all up in my own attitude, it’s just a statement of fact. Even when we get a chance to turn the TV on to adult related tv, chances are we can watch about 5-10 minutes before needing to handle something for the boys. So, for the most part I am reading or doing re watches of shows that I love and have already seen. For myself I am rewatching Suits, Gilmore Girls, and Friends, depending on what I’m in the mood for/how much time I have. I am actually desperate to watch Mind Hunters as well, but I have to wait for the right time to appear. Together we are re watching Big Bang Theory and first time watching the most recent season of Designated Survivor. Once we finish that, we are going to watch the most recent season of The Ranch.

Podcasts/Music

Ah, I’ve been bouncing between a Classical Music playlist and just a standard Top Alternative playlist lately for music. So, nothing really new there. I guess I could comment on Taylor Swifts new album- not the biggest fan. I only like a couple of the songs off of it. As for podcasts, I’ve been sticking to book related podcasts picking and choosing and then also listening to older episodes of She Percolates.

Kids’ Stuff

A Couple of random things for the kids’ section…they’ve been loving the soccer net that my husband purchased for them for our backyard. They’ve also both found a love for this specific style of swing. It’s like a spider net swing and when they see one, they have to be in it, swinging to new heights.

And that pretty sums up my favorites for the past quarter! I’m sorry it wasn’t the most exciting round up I’ve had, but to be completely honest, aside from July it’s been a pretty bare bones quarter over here. We’ve just been trying to keep our heads above the water as it’s been especially busy. What is something that you’ve been loving over the past quarter?

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Round The Kettle Ep 15 – The Serious Conversations

I had a conversation with a friend this week talking about a couple of things that I haven’t really been able to talk about with friends before. We covered a variety of topics and it was kind of refreshing to just talk with someone else about different topics that have been circling in my head. I’ll be honest- while I haven’t been burrowing into my books (my version of burying your head in the sand), I have definitely avoided certain conversations…

You know the ones…

Politics, Religion, Current Events.

It feels like nowadays if you want to make/keep/cherish a friendship you shy away from these subjects.

Maybe that’s an exaggeration. Maybe our friendships should mean more than the things we disagree on, but I’ve seen so many relationships dissolve over these types of conversations. All out break up? Maybe a smidge dramatic. A slow backing away though? Definitely.

But you know what? I want to have these conversations. I want to hear what others think. I want to learn about others viewpoint, how they learned, what they believe. I WANT TO UNDERSTAND. I want to have these conversations without risking losing a friendship over a differing opinion.

I like to think of myself as an open minded individual. I also like to think of myself who likes to talk deep, go deep in the conversations, to talk about the big issues. When I have a conversation with someone where we disagree, I almost enjoy that more than when we agree on everything. It gives me a chance to learn, to understand something in a different light, to see what has us thinking differently. And sometimes through these conversations, my mind will shift. I may even start to see things differently myself, or see them even more in what I originally thought. Either way, these conversations are GREAT to have.

That is if the other person is willing to be open minded and ready to listen.

You could argue, “Mia, you aren’t choosing your friends wisely if you can’t have these types of conversations without risking friendships”. I don’t know that I necessarily agree with that. I feel like there are different types of friendships and I can have these conversations with some and not with others. That’s ok and I feel like that is pretty normal.

With all of that being said…

Do you know this feeling? Have you ever felt this way? If you have, I’m curious how you handle it? Do you have certain people that you have these conversations with? Do you get really active in the internet world having these conversations?

I’m not going to be bringing this stuff to the blog or anything like that. You will start to see some posts geared towards things that I am passionate about, but haven’t talked a lot about (I’ve mentioned all these things at some point though). BUT I won’t be straying far from what I’ve already been doing. This is just something I’ve been thinking about this past week.

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