Thursday's Thoughts & Late Weekend Recap

Weekend Recap

Here's a quick {and very late} weekend recap for you! I found this really cute sweater at Forever 21 and I am in love with it! It's only $12.50! I chose the black/tan stripe combo, but there were at least 2 or 3 other color options available. I can't find the sweater on the website so maybe it's only in stores. I think I'll have to head back and get a couple more in different colors.

(that thing on my jeans is actually a sticker or something on the mirror of the fitting room)

Since Saturday was our only sunny day, we drove to Pasadena to do a bike ride around the Rose Bowl and some window shopping. Unfortunately, there was a UCLA game at the Bowl so we weren't able to do the ride we wanted to do. We still got in about 15 miles so it wasn't all bad.

After our ride we were freezing(!!) so we had to get some warm drinks from Starbucks! My first red cup of the season. Although I have to admit, I want to enjoy Thanksgiving before even thinking about Christmas and the holidays. We also bought some yummy cupcakes from a place called Dots. They were so delicious!

On Sunday we watched football ALL DAY. I'm not even kidding. None of my teams won except for Miami! I am extremely nervous about New England's remaining games this season, the way they are playing has me really worried for the Jets game this weekend.

On to Thursday's Thoughts

My Erin Condren planner arrived last week. I am very happy with it so far. It's obvious that a lot of time and effort went into making a functional & beautiful planner. I love that it is so aesthetically pleasing while still having the functionality you need and expect out of a planner. I was surprised with how large and heavy it is, but I've all but gotten used to the added bulk. I was disappointed that the monthly tabs are so easily damaged, but have found a solution for that problem. I'm still uncertain if I would order this again at full price ($50 + shipping), but ask me again in a few months. We will see how relevant it remains in my life. However, if you find a deal like I did on Zulilly ($25 for $50 worth of EC product), then I definitely recommend purchasing this planner!

My Thanksgiving 5K is now only 2 weeks away! I am scared! I have been having constant knee pain since my second week of training, and it has gotten a little bit worse after each session. I'm not sure what to do! After each session I've been icing my knees and stretching like crazy. It seems like my first and last running intervals are the hardest to get through.  Do any of you have knee ailments from running and what was your solution?

I reached 1,000 miles on my bike last weekend! Only 400 more to go until I pay for my bike in gas savings!

That's all for today. We have a busy weekend planned to celebrate C's birthday! Oh, and in other really exciting news, Chick-fil-A finally opened today! I'm going to try to go tonight if it isn't too packed...

Have a great weekend and don't forget to enter my November Giveaway here!

November Giveaway!

I've noticed a few new followers here and I just wanted to say hi to my new readers and thank you for taking the time to follow Sweet Tea Diaries! I hope that you'll leave me a comment and let me know that you are reading! If you have a blog, leave me a link and I'll be sure to stop by!

Only 15 days until Thanksgiving so it's only appropriate that I do a holiday-themed giveaway!

This month, I thought I'd share one of my favorite Williams-Sonoma products - pie crust cutters! These are a great way to spruce up a holiday pie at your Thanksgiving table this year. I always use store-bought pie dough and these cutters are perfect for using up the extra scraps of dough and making a cute design out of it.

I'd love for everyone to enter this giveaway so simply leave a comment and let me know something that you are thankful for this season. I'll announce a winner on November 15, which leaves plenty of time to make use of these for your Thanksgiving celebration! Good luck & thank you for reading!

PS - Happy Birthday to my brother, Todd! I love you very much & hope you are having a wonderful day! See you soon!

Online Deal @ Paper Coterie!

One of my favorite coupon bloggers, Hip2Save, posted about a deal on Paper Coterie for $30 off any purchase through November 13 (not including shipping)! I've only read positive reviews for this company so I decided to check it out. Awhile ago, I thought of this great idea to make a recipe book for Chris' mom for Christmas. We exchange recipes fairly often so I thought a compilation of my favorite baking recipes would be a perfect gift for her. I was delighted to see that Paper Coterie offers custom-made recipe books for only $17.

It was really easy to personalize the book with my own pictures and text. I was able to add 15 recipes to the book, a personalized message, a table of contents page, and 4 full pages of color pictures. Once I added it to my cart, used the promo code, and selected the shipping method, I only paid $6.95 out of pocket! 

Here is an example of one page out of the recipe book:

Paper Coterie has so many other options to purchase, most under $30, so you could be getting a free product(s) if you take advantage of this deal by November 13. With the holidays coming up, I am trying to save money/get deals on everything so I wanted to share this awesome deal with my readers. Hopefully this will help some of you out, too!

Click here for all of the details & the promo code.

Disclaimer: I was not asked by Paper Coterie to write this post, nor was I compensated in any way. 

I wanted to share a positive experience I had with my blog readers.

Scarf Swap Link Up!

I hope by now that everyone has sent & received a scarf for the Fall Scarf Swap I hosted.

(If you haven't received a scarf from your partner, please let me know! I want to be sure that everyone fully participated. If there were any bloggers that signed up and did not participate, I want to be sure that they are not included in any future swaps.)

I hope that you will link up with me today and share the scarf you received from your partner.

If you have already posted about the swap on your blog, feel free to link that post here today!

I was partnered with Keri over at From Jersey Roots to Cowboy Boots, and let me tell you, she completely spoiled me! She sent me three (YES, THREE!) beautiful scarves and I can't wait to wear each one! I love all of the designs so much! Keri also included a Starbucks gift card that I will be using to get my favorite fall lattes.

Thank you so much, Keri!

Now it's your turn to share!

Link up below!

Today feels like a Monday

Since yesterday was the Halloween party at work, it really didn't feel like a Monday. We goofed off for a majority of the morning, had lunch catered, and were hyped up on sugar all day. The best part of the day was winning the costume contest! I now have consecutive wins under my belt!

I submitted my costume photo to the official NE Patriots Facebook page and I'm hoping that by some miracle, Tom Brady sees it and decides he wants to meet me since I'm such a dedicated fan! I mean really, I wore this the day after the Pats lost to the Steelers so that's saying something about my loyalty :)

Chris & I had a nice weekend! I had a coupon for a free steak dinner from Outback so we went on a date Friday after work. I forgot how yummy the Bloomin' Onion is.

Since I've started running recently, I quickly discovered that my worn out running shoes weren't going to cut it for long. I had been looking into shoes on Zappos, but wasn't really committed to shopping online. We happened to go into REI just to look around after dinner, and I found a great brand and style of running shoes (this link is for Zappo's and the price is much higher) that were on clearance (only $63 for my pair). I was so excited and took it as a sign from above! Chris gifted them to me! I've done a couple of runs in them and I can tell a big difference in comfort already.

This is for all SCARF SWAP participants: I will have a link up on my blog this Friday. Please consider participating and sharing your new scarf with all of us! If you have already written a post about your scarf, feel free to link us to that post. I'd love to be able to visit all of you and I'm sure that others would too!