Coffee Talk: November Edition

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Good morning and happy Friday, my friends! I cannot believe it is the Friday before Thanksgiving! DG and I set our menu this week and we are so excited to be hosting my parents this year for dinner. What are your plans for Thanksgiving this year? Today, I am bringing you the November edition of coffee talk, and quite frankly, I cannot believe we are almost at the end of the year. This series has been a reader favorite, so I am looking forward to continuing this into 2018. Do you have any additional topics you’d like to see covered?

Monday, I posted about my new buffalo check skirt paired with Hipstik tights, and y’all, these tights are the real deal. They are insanely comfortable, especially the waist band, provide excellent coverage, and are made right here in North Carolina. You’re going to be seeing them again on my gift guides for the holidays!

It’s that time again for one of my favorite holiday events, ever! It’s time to buy tickets for the 2017 Oakwood Candelight Tour! DG and I had the best time last year at the home tour and Angela and I had fun at the preview night. See the recap here. This is the 46th Annual Tour, and it runs December 9 & 10 from 1:00-7:00PM. It’s such a fun way to get in the holiday spirit! Get your tickets here.

DG and I are so excited to host our 5th annual Christmas party this year! I’m even more excited that I do not have to do a ton of preparation because Zoe’s Kitchen is providing the goodies! If you are looking for an easy way to host holiday gatherings, check out Zoe’s Kitchen for their awesome catering options. Also, see my girls night dinner here.

DG and I got to check out The Stateview Hotel on N.C. State’s Centennial Campus this week. We took a tour of the space and got to see all of the touches paying homage to N.C. State and its educational offerings. For example, the textiles in the library are to symbolize the college of textiles. The restaurant, Flask & Beaker, is a nod to the Chemistry program. There are industrial touches throughout the hotel and the rooms are called “dens.” It was a great experience and the hotel is gorgeous. I highly recommend checking out the restaurant, because our meal was outstanding.

I ordered a new camera and lens for our Christmas trip this year. Do you have recommendations for places to eat or things to do in New Orleans? I’d love for you to send them my way! I’ve mentioned before that DG & I would rather do something for our Christmas gifts to each other than to exchange material items. Wanna see a recap of past experiences? Our first Christmas we went to Washington D.C., (part 1 & part 2), our second Christmas we gave the gift of relaxation, and last year, we went to Kinston for a stay at the O’Neil and dinner at The Boiler Room.

We are having repairs to the house from the hail damage in September, and after finishing my second round of surgery on Wednesday, I saw a notification from our neighborhood Facebook page. When I went to check it, the post said “Is anyone missing their dogs?” And it was my dogs. I won’t tell you how much I flipped out, but thankfully a dear friend/neighbor was home and found them running around our back yard. The construction crew came over without giving us notice and began work, and through a comedy of errors, our front door ended up wide open and these two went on a quick joy run through our neighborhood, on our normal walk routine. I am incredibly thankful for our neighbors and to our friend Paige, for saving the day for these two knuckleheads. Now that we’ve established their safety, can we talk about Winston’s face? Or the fact Gizmo’s tail is not tucked between his legs and the fact he’s running around with his thundershirt on? Ridiculous.

Yesterday, I attended the Rural Assembly, hosted by the N.C. Rural Center, and attended a breakout session on empowering educational leaders in rural communities, which is something that I have been focusing on in my grad school research and in my current role. Additionally, the key note address was by Vivian Howard. I loved hearing how she has helped revitalize her hometown with her restaurants and her journey through truly understanding the region where she grew up. I will share some of her points that really stood out to me in a later post. It was a really informative day, and I was so glad to be apart of it.