Hi guys! How have you all been? We’ve been doing pretty well here and spent a quiet Thanksgiving with family (where I “cooked” aka reheated a Thanksgiving meal set from Whole Foods). This was our first super quiet, stay-at-home-with-minimal-guests kind of Thanksgiving and I have to say I loved it. It was super chill and it perfectly suited the introvert in me. I wouldn’t mind spending Thanksgivings like that more often.

As for my shopping during the Black Friday sales, I did alright I guess. I probably spent more than I did last year and I started shopping the sales early (as early as the previous Monday). I don’t have all the items I bought listed in my last post since I sometimes return things and don’t like to count that towards my “What I Bought” posts (though I’m wondering if I should 🤔). My best purchases (for myself) were the Two Days Off Haruko dress (at 30% off with a free bento bag!) and another Mate the Label sweatshirt along with a matching one for Emi (also 30% off). I’m glad I saved both purchases until Black Friday even though I had been thinking of buying them ages ago. Also, I want to again apologize (I mentioned it on Insta stories) for shaming anyone for buying on Black Friday with my past boycott Black Friday messages. Back when I used to shop just for deals, I thought Black Friday was a marketing scam. But now that I delay and save up for purchases more often, I see that Black Friday may be the only time of year that people can afford some of the things they’ve been eyeing for awhile.

In other news, Emi’s preschool required all unvaccinated kids and members of households to have a negative covid test before going back to school after Thanksgiving break (a requirement I gladly accepted since it not only safeguards our kids but also hopefully prevents any school shutdowns). So I bought these easy OTC covid tests and am happy with their convenience and ease of use. Also Emi was much more chill about me doing a nose swab at home rather than going to a drive-thru testing site where I had to do one from her car seat. I also used one another time I felt a bit sick and was relieved to know it wasn’t covid. I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to have some tests on hand for peace of mind, are planning to travel this holiday season, or are gathering with a vulnerable family member (and this is especially true now because even if you’re vaccinated you may still be able to catch the Omicron virus and spread it to others—though the magnitude of this is yet to be determined).

And lastly I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but I decided to move my weekly posts to Tuesday (instead of Wednesday). I originally wanted to go back to posting two reviews a week (one on Tues and one on Thurs) like I used to do. But I’m still playing catch-up and don’t have enough written to post two times a week. Once I can, you’ll be seeing a Thursday post as well but for now just Tuesdays it is.

So how was your Thanksgiving and how did your Black Friday shopping go?