HOW is Christmas right around the corner?! While I ponder that, here’s what brought the sparkle this week:

Saturday was our annual Christmas party—10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION! A bunch of my grade school pals came (direct from a trip to Germany, no less!), as did several of the yoga teacher training gals, which was delightful! Overall, though, parties take a lot out of me—I need introvert quiet time afterward to recover!

Pops, on the other hand, is an excellent host!

But there’s no rest for the weary during the holidays! On Sunday, Maggie had a party, which also meant a reunion with everyone’s favorite velvet loaf, PUDGE! Poor Pudge was not in a partying mood, though. She was hiding upstairs, so I detoured from the house tour to stay with her. After a bit, she started purring and demanding pets. OH, MY SWEET PUDGESICLE. It’s possible that I love her an unhealthy amount (considering, you know, that she’s someone else’s cat!). 😂

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As @maggie_hegney was giving me the grand tour of her new abode, we found PUDGE! Hiding from everyone at the party in a darkened bedroom (hence the godawful quality of the video). 😭😭 I stayed behind and sat with her, and eventually she began accepting pets and purring. And then she began demanding pets, which is more her usual style. 😂 I just love this sweet being so much. I had been having a rough day, and she cheered me right up! 💖😭🥰 Maybe we’re each other’s therapy cats! 😂 . . #catfriends #catsthatarentmine #catsofinstagram #tabby #catsagram #therapycat

A post shared by Jess (@jessie_face4) on Dec 9, 2019 at 6:09am PST

IMPORTANT BOOTS UPDATE: THEY FIT! Hooray! They’re quite stiff, but at least they’re not too big or too small. And most importantly, they’re cute!

Thursday was a rough anxiety day, but it had some bright spots, like my ever-patient friend Alana helping me to make sense of my feelings, and Bri posting this:

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Back when in what feels like a lifetime ago, when I used to blog consistently, and participated in blogger gift swaps, I was given @jessie_face4 not once, but twice, to send a gift to. I naturally started following her blog & she quickly became one of my favorites. Even though it’s been a hot minute since I wrote a blog post, my last one was actually only even written because she asked for an update, when I saw one of the @fatmumslim prompts was “sparkle” I knew I wanted to take a page from Jess’ blog & share what’s bringing the sparkle to my life right now... besides just my nails... Tomorrow I’m going to do something that I have never done in my adult life. I’m two parts excited and one part terrified. And while I’m not going to say just yet what it is, I’m hoping that it leads to a brand new chapter in my life!

A post shared by Bri (@northstargirllonestarworld) on Dec 12, 2019 at 4:37pm PST

I LOVE hearing about the sparkle in other people’s lives! It makes my heart so happy to know that my blog has been a means of connection with somebody else! ❤️

Lastly, this week’s trip down General Hospital memory lane takes us back to a particularly dramalicious moment in 1999: Carly catches Liz dancing with Jason (to *NSYNC, no less—SCANDALOUS) and turns around and SLEEPS WITH SONNY, starting their relationship. Jason then gets shot in a mob ambush (of course), prompting college-student Liz to start harboring him in her art studio. I remember watching this in real-time back when I was 13, and I was RIVETED. (I was such a weird kid, but now I look back on it and I love it! haha)

Hope you have a great weekend! xo