The last week of October is always a festive time of year with the neighborhood all decked out for Halloween.  I had a busy but fun week embracing the season!  I’d like to share some tidbits from my life last week as well as an accompanying photo recap with selections from my Instagram with you.

This is generally the time of year when the Chicagoland weather transitions into what I call the November Gloom.  While October is generally mild and filled with gorgeous, sunny days, November can be a bit drab and grey between overcast skies and the last of the foliage tucking in to hibernate in preparation for winter.  Fortunately, we enjoyed some beautiful sunny days this past week.  There’s still some colorful leaves on the trees and the hardy annuals and perennials have not all faded.  The colors are just breathtaking!

The temperature continues to drop despite the sunshine and hints of the upcoming winter winds are picking up, making for some chilly morning walks with my pup, Winnie.  I love coming in from a particularly blustery day and enjoying a hot cup of something with a little treat on the side.  I made my first cup of hot chocolate of the season last week.  What a taste treat!

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I did a bit of fun fall shopping last week I thought I’d share about here.  I picked up a couple of autumn-themed Signature Soy candles on sale from Target on a whim.  We’ve already burned halfway through one of them in the family room during our nightly family hangouts to watch TV and read together.  I’m enjoying burning soy candles lately as I find they burn a bit cleaner.

I also stocked up on some of my current favorite skincare items at Ulta thanks to a well-timed coupon I received in the mail.  I absolutely love the Juice Beauty line that I shared about in my recent skincare update.  I’ve gotten into the habit in recent years of switching up most of my skincare products when I run out, but I’ve stuck with Juice Beauty since I’ve been pregnant.  It’s working well for me right now.  I also snagged the new holiday scents in my favorite body moisturizer and hand lotion by Pacifica.  I love special holiday releases like these!

I realize I’ve been neglecting Winnie’s blog this year, which was never my intent, but it gets pushed down on the priority list when time is running short.  I’ve tried posting more photos of her on Instagram lately to make up for it, although I would like to get back into maintaining her blog at least somewhat regularly.  She’s such a beautiful girl and absolutely loves this time of year when the weather gets cooler (“Winnie Weather” as I like to call it) and there’s a lot of leaves to kick up and frolic in at the park.  She’s my autumn princess ❤︎

Winnie gets into the October festiveness with her fun Halloween bow collection from Doggie Bow Ties and Beauty By Paris.  I like to dress her in a different one each day in the week leading up to Halloween.  I can only imagine how much fun it will be when I have two girls to cuddle and get into the festive spirit with!

Speaking of festiveness, I, too, donned my Halloween garb in celebration this past weekend.  I purchased this cute Disney Inspired Mickey Pumpkin Halloween Maternity Shirt from MommasCraftCorner on Etsy.  Lots of trick-or-treaters complimented it! 

We always get a lot of kids in our neighborhood and typically buy about 400 bars of candy each year, which we go through with no problem.  This year was no exception!  We actually ran out of candy, including our mini reserves, 15 minutes before the official trick-or-treating hours ended, but fortunately we didn’t get any more kids at our door after that point.  I like Halloween for its emphasis on fun and frivolity.  What’s better than giving the gift of candy and cheer to children?  Fun times 🎃

I snap-vlogged every day for the month of October over on my Snapchat, prettyneatlivng.  It was a way for me to daily vlog in a super casual way for a change of pace.  I also compiled that footage into a weekly vlog in case you’re not on Snapchat.  Here’s my fifth and final weekly compilation:

I hope you enjoyed this peek at my week!
I’d love to know what made your week special if you care to share.
Happy November!

* This is not a sponsored post.  All opinions are genuinely my own. *