Vlogmas 2023: Day 12

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Hello and welcome to vlogmas day [Applause] 12 it is 4:00 I am just walking in the door tonight for dinner we are just having o uh pork coin and I’m going to make some air frer Russel Sprouts where the dogs at they’re out there I think the doggies are outside right

Now and here comes one of them also all of you were yelling at me for letting her play with the hat I understand she can eat every hat hat that I own because in my eyes she does no wrong so there’s that she’s perfect she is perfect she’s

Not she does nothing wrong she does nothing wrong we do nothing wrong perfect she start new and you still be fine with her yes who could do anything you can eat hats who can eat shoes who can eat the couch who do nothing wrong who’s a perfect girl who’s a perfect

Lady who’s a perfect lady we do nothing not bad you do hey you do nothing wrong we do nothing wrong we do nothing wrong who do nothing wrong she does nothing wrong in my eyes so yes frustrated about me letting her bite the Hat well you know what she can

Eat all my hats who can eat all my hats come here bubas bubas Bubbas Bubbas he wants nothing or nonsense for tul we’ve taught her not to take sticks in the house though no drop it drop it drop it good girl good girl cuz she’s perfect cuz you perfect perfect lady perfect lady

Perfect lady and you a old man in other news I rarely ever get pimples but I have a pimple under the skin of my nose and it hurts so bad if you have any remedies for it let me know so we are making just an easy dinner tonight I have some already

Cleaned brussel sprouts I’m just going to have cut them in half and throw them in this bowl I love a brussel sprout so what I’m going to do with these is I’m just going to get them all split and then we’re going to add some oil to

Them some salt some pepper a little bit of garlic powder but what will make these very delicious is we are going to make a quick balsamic reduction essentially a bosam glaze and I think some people get intimidated and don’t even like look into how to make it it is literally the easiest thing

Putting balsamic vinegar on these is fine it just isn’t thick enough so going to cut these last couple I love a crispy brussel sprout it was my least favorite vegetable when I was a kid my sister always has loved them but I was never never a fan and now they’re

Probably my favorite vegetable I’ve been using my little oil and vinegar thing that I got at breathe at home I’m going to put a healthy amount of olive oil and then a decent amount of salt some fresh pepper lots of pepper and then a little bit of garlic powder super super

Simple I love simple week night meals and then I’m just going to give these a quick toss in the oil so that they’re all coated and covered so these are all set and then I’ll show you how we’re going to do the balsamic laye my goal is

To get about a cup of vinegar total so it’s a little less it’s totally fine I have a cup of balsamic vinegar and I’m just going to add that to my pan and I have it on on a very low heat and eventually I want to bring it

To a very slow boil once I get it at a slow boil I’ll reduce the heat the thing with vinegar though is because there are some sugars in it it will burn so I suggest a rubber spatula and just always keep it being stirred so that’s what we’re going to do all right

Add my calendar all right number 12 it’s the 12th what’s this I can’t believe they’re not bothering it what is this treat one treat one for you that’s the gentlest I’ve ever seen for me with the star happy day 12 all right um so I got this to boil and I turned it

Down and now it’s just simmering and it’ll take about 8 8 minutes I am going to start the Brussels sprout so my air fryer 375 dump these in here and what I’m going to do is I’m going to do about 5 minutes Shake It 5 minutes Shake it and about 3 to four

More minutes so I’m going to set it total for a time of 15 just to be safe start that up so 5 minute Shake 5 minute Shake 3 to four minutes to finish cooking all right let’s go ahead and open some Advent calendars we are already at day 12 and

We’re on the third side of this um it is a rocking horse see little rocking horse I will never buy this one again it’s cute like the visuals are cute but it’s fine day 12 of Book Lovers right [Applause] here it’s a little button and it says I

Paused my Audi book to be here that’s amazing I love a pin I and I love an Audi book that is a perfect pin for me all right let’s hit it P some Su in the Name of Love put some sugar on me these are birthday cake

Cookies I also love having so many less Advent calendars this year it’s very nice day 12 so excited this calendar so good it is a shampoo DAV I love a good shampoo though also thank you for the kind words on my hair everyone at work also loved it very very

Happy with it all right I will take my goodies you I will see in a little bit when we have to start editing all right let’s go give our vinegar another stir all right we are almost at the 5 minute Mark so just going to pull it out

Quick give it a little shake and then we’ll go in for another 5 [Applause] Minutes all right look how pretty the color is already on those all right and we’re back in five more minutes and another Shake is second second shake and then I’m probably going to let them go the whole 4 minutes that I have left this is still going it’s it starts to smell less

Vinegar and more sweet as it goes I might actually pull this off pretty soon cuz it’ll keep thickening as it cools a bit feel like it’s in a pretty good spot Let It Go for like I’m going to do two more minutes and then I’m going to pull it off the

Heat and then I’m just going to straight up plate the brussel sprouts right away honestly I might skip the pork all together and just have brussel sprouts what are you doing oh you got a toy that’s what you eat you eat toys not you eat toys not hats you eat toys not hats

You eat toys not hats look how cute she is oh my perfect lady oh my perfect lady you do nothing wrong huh I can’t even see of the last time you did something wrong yesterday no that wasn’t wrong we do everything right we do everything right we do everything right

Everything and you do nothing at all so you are fine he is just so slow anymore all right I’m going to pull this vinegar off like I said as it cools it will also continue to thicken so if it’s not exactly where you want when you pull it off it’s okay it will

Keep thickening up once again week nights are just not glamorous nights I do have a holiday party this Thursday though so that will be glamorous I have yet to pick out my outfit we might actually do that tonight we might go look at some outfit options for the

Holiday party um I want to wear something fun and festive and sparkly so I’ll show you my options and then we’ll decide we are going to go do that you’ll help me decide my holiday outfit um all right Brussels are almost done balsamic glaze is almost done dinner is almost served

Right look how perfect oh they are perfect I don’t love a leftover Brussels sprout because you need it while it is still crispy but I just told Steven I think I’m just going to Brussels sprouts so I’m going to take the extras hi B she’s not very ladylike in the day yes

She is she’s perfect she passed gas let her be she is a lady not in the back bathroom who’s a perfect girl in the office who’s a perfect lady she I wouldn’t say that I mean he’s having all sorts of bathroom issues on the floor he’s an old man we

Are upstairs and I thought I’d show you some of my options that I’m thinking these shirts are all options that I have for my holiday party any of these options I’m either wearing with a navy tuxedo pant or a black tuxedo pant like this like light blue would look so sharp

With a navy blue tuxedo pant so this is option one we’ll call it the silver ice blue shirt with like a navy blue tuxedo pant such a good option this I really love it is a ruffle front tuxedo shirt with a black Velvet Bow this with like a

Black velvet tuxedo pant tucked in with like a loafer so that is option too this one is just a little too subtle I think this is like a light blue subtle it’s like sequin but like they are really pretty um I love that it has a French cuff too

I thought this with a navy blue tuxedo pant is an option we’ll call this like the blue stripe this one is just a straight up navy blue I don’t think this is my option I think this is for New Year’s Eve but it’s like a very beautiful like midnight blue um

Choice but I don’t think I would do that this one was fun this one’s also from Asos I love this one that has like the silver yolk I just think this with perhaps a black tuxedo plant black blazer black like patent shoes could be a really nice option we’ll call this like

The silver and white option then those are like tuxedo pant options so then my other option these are from Asos they’re they’re what they call Smart trousers on the guys line so they’re like slightly tapered and they’re cropped so a little above the ankle with like a chunky

Loafer and I thought like with a half tucked Christmas plaid shirt um these aren’t the shirts I have shirts coming that are not a flannel material that are actually like a dress shirt material but they’re essentially these two prints I thought that could be a really cool

Option with like either a French tuck or just like maybe like tuck one tail in so would love for you guys to tell me what you think I should wear on Thursday night I didn’t end up using the breathe strips maybe tonight is the night that I

Use that so I on my Instagram store St asked for a couple questions so I thought I’d answer them and a bunch have already come in I literally just posted it if I don’t get it too many of them tonight I will save them for tomorrow but some good questions have already

Come in any wallpapering projects I’d love to see ideas for a Fab powder room I have been thinking about wallpaper all the wallpaper I’ve put up except for my grass cloth I’ve taken down um but I love a good wallpaper so always always an option I think wallpaper is the best

In a small space like a powder room a pantry I haven’t loved doing big areas it is never something I’ve stuck with how do you find your personal style clothes jewelry bags Nails all of those things um I think it’s constantly evolving and I’m just always looking for

Inspiration if you follow me on Instagram um which obviously you do CU you asked me the question here I am always just like looking for for it and then saving it so um always just looking for inspiration and also just doing what like I feel like it um I spent so much

Of my life like trying to fit in and be what other people would want you to be professionally personally all those things and at this point in my life I just want to do what brings me joy and as long as it makes me happy and brings

Me joy I’m doing it and I would want you to do the same do you bake Christmas cookies and will you on the Vlog yes so I have like a lot of days scheduled my weekday are just harder to schedule because of work and sometimes my schedule gets a little unpredictable and

I was supposed to travel again this week technically I was supposed to be flying to New York City tomorrow and Thursday but I had to rearrange due to our holiday party I was supposed to be in New York City last week when I was sick um my work schedule just makes it hard

But this weekend I’m baking some of my grandmother’s recipes so yes we’re going to do Christmas baking all of those things I actually have a cookie exchange at work that I have to bake cookies for anyway on Monday so baking is coming how’s Stephen he is doing well

He’s super busy with work as well um this is just like a busy time of year for everyone um but particularly us in our jobs just super super busy what is the most valuable advice you’ve ever been given it’s from my grandmother actually two things she

Always said like she used to always tell me like if it makes you happy do it like she always was someone who was like live life to the fullest I think it’s because in so many circumstances she I think had some regrets or missed opportunities that she wish she would have taken so

She always wanted us too and the other thing she said to me um I was older too she said when the idea of like going off into the unknown is less scary than staying where you are always go into the unknown um and I think that’s always

Like such good advice when it is scarier when the idea of staying is scarier than leaving always leave that is your intuition your gut telling you no Chad’s tea calendar this year I will tell you what friends I was just so busy with work that I really missed the mark on

Ordering Advent calendars but I also knew this vlogmas I didn’t want to have a ton of Advent calendars to open and have to weed through it’s also my least favorite footage to edit so yeah we just didn’t grab one this year doesn’t mean we won’t in years to come but this year

I just didn’t want a ton of Advent calendars I really had selected three and then Danielle bought me that book one so that’s why we have four any trips for vlogmas Planned we have like day and like short trips planned but no like big Journey Stephen and I have really been

Talking about like what is the next trip I well I guess almost many vlogmas we’ve had some big trips we’ve gone we spent vlogmas in Italy we flew to across the country to Utah for the weekend we’ve gone on ski trips I guess almost every vlogmas there’s been some sort of trip

Last year was Utah the year before that I think we went on a ski trip the year before that we probably did Italy I don’t even know but we’ve had some good vlogmas trips what is your favorite Christmas memory um I don’t know if it’s like a favorite memory a funny one that

I think about often is I was a snooper for Christmas presents give me some love in the comments M section if you were a snooper as a kid um uh but anyway I snuck and found all of our Christmas gifts all of them and I remember like begging my sister to let

Me tell her and she wouldn’t let me tell her cuz she didn’t want her Christmas ruined I don’t think I ended up telling her but I found everything one year and my mom knows she knew I was a snooper do you and Stephen plan to live in this

House forever no this is not our forever home we love this home but ultimately Ely this isn’t our forever home how do you think you have changed this year oh I’m going to end with this one I think I’ve changed a lot in 2023 2223 and 23 24 have been two of

Um the worst and best years that I can remember I feel and I when I think about how I’ve changed I really think it’s happened over the last couple months just not willing to postpone my happiness or try to people please as much I usually care so much about pleasing

Other people that I put my things on the back burner I postpone things that make me happy I really do a disservice to myself in order to people please and I really feel that over over the last two years I have felt a little beat up by that and I’m just

Not willing to do it anymore if I don’t want to engage with you I don’t have to engage with you I do not need to attend every argument or bickerment or side conversation you want to have I do not need to attend that and I feel

Like I have kind of stepped into my own of protecting my peace and just not willing to do things that I don’t want to do sometimes no is the best yes and I think that is where I have changed the most I’m just not willing to do that

Anymore and postpone my happiness and I really look at 2024 um with a lot of optimism I will tell you the last two years have have beat me up a bit um it’s one of the reasons I didn’t post so much not because of anything here just things in

My life um I think we can sometimes think of uh a Creator or like see these literal minutes of my life I think that’s one thing people will sometimes make a passing judgment or like say a random comment and I’m like you are seeing five minutes of a week

Um but I’m just not willing anymore to let that stuff bother me I just I don’t know I feel more settled in myself I feel like I’ve really learned who I am and what I’m willing to be a part of and not be a part of and

So I think 2024 is going to be a year of me really making a lot of decisions for me um and finally coming to terms that that’s not selfish and I hope that you can start doing the same because I know many of you we’ve chatted um and I know that you

Guys struggle with being people Pleasers and putting yourselves on the back burners and taking care of everyone else and never thinking about yourself and like ultimately the first priority is you and I know ultimately there will be some people who want to stick around and there are people who will not want to

Stick around and I don’t care um I just want I would if I could make one wish for everyone it would be for them to feel settled and happy in their own skin and make decisions that make them happy because ultimately the happier that they are the

Better and Kinder and nicer they will be to others that’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned in the last year I don’t know how that rambling will help you but that’s it all right friends I will answer more questions I’ll save them and screenshot them so I don’t lose

Them um if you don’t follow me on Instagram hop over there and ask your question I’ll answer as many as I can but I will end this like I end all of take care of yourself take care of others be kind kindness is free give it to everyone until next time which will

Be tomorrow day 13 of vlogmas I can’t believe it’s day 13 oh I forgot to tell you this to make up for my three days mest I’m going to go till the end of the month so I will Vlog until December 30th I’ll make up for it all right I’ll

See you tomorrow bye bye