The Siberian American: Life Lately: November 2016

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Life Lately: November 2016

I’m not sure how it’s possible today is the last day of November. As much as I love sharing my travels, fashion picks, and favorite reads, I realized I haven’t shared anything about our life lately on the blog in the last month. Today, I wanted to share some highlights of our month.


November was such a fun month filled with family and friends. The month started out with two fun parties: a make-your-own pizza party with the residents in Christopher’s program, and a girls’ lunch put on by a friend. Isn’t this cake from the girls’ lunch adorable?


Date nights with Christopher are my favorite. I am always looking up Groupons and other restaurant deals, so we can go as much as possible. Some favorites this month were Village Burger Bar, CafĂ© Madrid, and Peggy Sue’s Barbecue.


When we aren’t going on dates, we have been cooking together from the new Skinnytaste Cookbook. We love that Skinnytaste Fast and Slow features both quick recipes and delicious crockpot meals. Our favorite meal so far has been the baked fish and chips with slow cooker strawberry and peach cobbler for dessert. When I was flipping through the categories, there were so many unique dishes I wanted to try. We are slowly going through the cookbook, but I can already tell it will be one of my favorites!


I received a free copy of Skinnytaste Fast and Slow through Blogging for Books, but all opinions are my own.

We loved going to a focus group for new brunch items at Taco Diner. It was so fun to try ten different options and share our opinions. My favorite was their new eggs benedict.


After the focus group, Chris and I went on a blate with Emma and her husband, who were visiting from London! It was so fun to get to know them, and I can’t wait to visit them in England sometime!

Christmas came a little early for us this year when we decided to go to ICE! at the Gaylord Texan. A full recap of our visit is here, but we had the best time seeing all the stunning ice sculptures.


Thanksgiving was the best this year. I loved seeing all my Red Army girls and my little brother (more on that here) at our big Russian Thanksgiving. On Friday morning, we headed out of town to visit my in-laws. We had Thanksgiving with them on Friday and had a family Thanksgiving with his dad’s side of the family on Saturday. Chris was able to get Monday off work, so we stayed till Monday afternoon. It was the best to have an extended amount of time with them and not have to rush home quickly!


What was your favorite part of November?

Linking up with Kristen and Gretchen.

17 comments:

  1. I love that you went on a blate with Emma! I wondered where she landed on her US vacation! Next time she should come to Ohio ;)
    You're so clever to use groupon to plan your date nights. Since I'm in a smaller town we don't have many things that apply here, but I'd totally do that! I need to start making K help me in the kitchen, too! Haha!

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  2. It sounds like an amazing month with so much yummy food! I'm always looking for groupons too to use for a date night. That ice sculpture exhibit sounds amazing! Beautifully Candid

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  3. That cake!!!!
    I always forget to look at Groupon for deals on food. Smart!

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  4. This sounds like a good month! We like going out too. I forget to check groupon, but I have enjoyed the times we've used it for dates. We also have an Alamo Draft House (I know they have one in Austin TX... ) but anyhow, we sometimes get groupons for them too. Which is always fun! Meeting bloggers is so fun! Glad you got to meet her! :) Oooh that cookbook sounds great!! XO - Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

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  5. That cake from your girls lunch is too cute, and looks delish! And still loving your pics from going to see ICE! :-D
    Green Fashionista

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  6. Y'all really have been so busy lately! The Skinnytaste Cookbook is seriously so awesome, and I love how everything is either a quick recipe or can be done in the slow cooker! And hooray for getting long weekends with family! They're seriously the best!

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  7. That cake is super cute! I never think to use Groupon for restaurants. I don't know why. I'm going to have to remember that more often.

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  8. This post is making me hungry from all the great food you had this month! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  9. Oh, that cake is adorable! And how unique and fun to be able to be in a food focus group like that - - yum! :)

    ~Kelly//www.leafynotbeefy.com

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    1. We loved the food focus group! It was fun to try out the new items, and we got a gift card for going!

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  10. Looks like November was great between visiting with your friends and family, and all the delicious food. That cook book sounds perfect.

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  11. Your hair, in the red army picture, is so shiny and beautiful!
    That cake looks ALMOST too good to eat! Almost.

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  12. Sounds like you've gotten a lot done in November! Glad y'all got to spend extra time with family for Thanksgiving!

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  13. whaaaat? you got a free copy of Skinnytaste's book? i LOVE her recipes; they're so delicious!!

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  14. oh that cake is totally adorable and it looks SO yummy. such a good idea to use groupon for date nights, i need to try that. sounds like you had an awesome russian thanksgiving :) that eggs benedict looks really good, you know i just had my first poached egg last month! crazy right! it was on an eggs benedict thingy. and it was amazing and now i want to eat all the eggs benedict thingys. hahaha.

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  15. So many great things in your November! That cake is super cute. And a huge hooray for Thanksgiving with family! :)

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