Fall Coffee Date: Recent World Travels Edition (with great links, recipes, photos, and fun)
Well hello there..end of Novemeber!? Now that’s just crazy.
How are you guys?
My fall has been anything but typical. The theme, it seems, has been TRAVEL. A lot of travel…some planned, some mostly-last-minute.
If you follow on social media, you know I just returned from a 3 week trip to both Waco, Texas, and then on to Ericeira, Portugal. Now, that’s an interesting travel package, isn’t it? 🙂
Well, I went to Waco with Luke and Dave for the Rip Curl National Surf Championships at the Wave Pool at the BSR surf resort. It also happened to be my birthday that week, so my sweet husband spoiled me with a day trip to Magnolia for lunch, shopping, and a delicious cupcake. SO FUN.
A few pics from my time there…
The Wave Pool at BSR– (find out more at their site!)
And I wish we could have our Coffee Date here… (the Magnolia Press Coffee shop had just opened the week I was there!)
(and…That’s 49 for ya! 🙂 ^^^
After Waco, Dave returned home to work, and Luke and I flew on to Portugal for the Quiksilver Young Guns competition. That trip requires much more than I can fit in a coffee date post, so find my trip notes and a ton of really gorgeous photos (thanks to real photographers who were on the trip with us!) in this PORTGUGAL POST over in my Travel Column!
Just a couple highlights…
And more coffee (in this case, daily cappuccinos!) I wish you could have joined me for!
After a quick stop back in Hawaii, I am NOW rounding out my crazy fall travels in Washington state (hometown: Gig Harbor) for 12 days of speaking (gulp: 5 events!) as well as Thanksgiving with all of my boys and my family here! So, so special. And a tad COLD too.
Hope you can follow on Instagram to see the Swansons wearing things like: warm hats and real jackets. 🙂
Like I said, none of this has been typical, and I am incredibly grateful for the blessing it has been to travel with family for such memorable times….
(However, when this season of travel is over I may not leave my simple home on my (warm, tropical) island for a long time!
Other things…
Thank you again, so, so much for reading and sharing Boy Mom. Your support is what is helping this book spread from one Mom to the next, and momentum is continuing to build. 😉 Yay. It has been listed as an Amazon “TOP PICK” for expectant mothers for most of the fall. (I love that idea!) Maybe you can keep it in mind for Christmas gifts as well!?
I also hope you caught my Boy Mom Podcast Episode with Kate Merrick this last week (I’m hearing so much positive feedback from our chat — It’s a good one to catch before the holidays if possible!) ** If you do listen, could you take a quick second to leave a quick rating or review on Apple Podcasts? THANK YOU!
I’ve got a few fun links for you below, and some holiday recipes and ideas I think are worth checking out.
LINKS:
Best Podcasts for Kids (from Jessica Smartt) I get asked about this all the time and I LOVE this list Jessica put together!
10 Ways to Enjoy the Holidays without Regrets (Rhonda Stoppe) Solid stuff in here.
THIS ARTICLE over at Family Life inspired me to consider what I am “clothing myself” with, and also gave me some great ideas for talking to my kids about the topic.
Any Audio Adrenaline fans out there? (me, me!!) My friend (and incredibly gifted writer) Roger Thompson, teamed up with Mark Stuart to write this brand new book: Losing My Voice to Find It: How a Rockstar Discovered His Greatest Purpose This is Mark’s story of losing his actual VOICE at the peak of his professional music career. I promise it will be a good read.
Speaking of rockstars….I’m on this week’s GRACEOLOGIE PODCAST! Gwen Smith (a rockstar in her own right) is one of my favorite new friends — she is beautiful, funny, she SINGS, and she hosts such a fantastic podcast. I’m this week’s guest, and you’ll see quickly why I was so nervous about the “lightning round” questions at the beginning… (I’m so terrible when I’m put on the spot! :))) Find the podcast episode HERE!
Books my family will be “unwrapping” this Advent:
(I’m SO excited about both of these!)
Unwrapping the Names of Jesus: An Advent Devotional
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas
FOOD!?
Mini-Cheese Ball Apetizers (these look so tasty, fun — and easy!) *From Five Heart Home.
Squash salad with kale and chickpeas (some of my very favorite ingredients!) from Pinch of Yum.
LOADED SWEET POTATO SOUP Thanks, Wellness Mama
Pumpkin Scones (a great way to kick of Thanksgiving morning…I LOVE these!) — from my blog! 🙂
4-Layer Pumpkin Dessert (If you haven’t decided on a Thanksgiving dessert, I highly recommend this one!) — By ME! 🙂
My favorite from Instagram this week…
*So true, right?
YOUR TURN…
Please please please...hop into comments and tell me something..anything from your end! Have you had a good fall? What is your family up to? Sports? Travel for Thanksgiving? What are you cooking or reading or doing these days? I read every comment so please take half a second to say hi! 🙂 (THANK YOU!)
One final reminder: Though I use these seasonal coffee date posts to update readers on ALL kinds of things, did you know that I email my BLOG SUBSCRIBERS once a week with brief updates, fun links and usually a couple photos/funnies to spread a little aloha!?
If you haven’t yet, I’d LOVE for you to join my subscriber community!
Keep an eye out for a short/sweet THANKSGIVING PODCAST EPISODE (with my hubby!) next week. Until then, stay warm, have fun, and be grateful…
*Note: Any links I share may be affiliate links (to books etc) as I am an Amazon Affiliate. Thank you so much!
XO
Aloha Monica,
Welcome back from your world travels! You’re a true blessing this holiday season, and we are thankful for your blogs, and podcasts.
Happy Thanksgiving in Gig Harbor!
As Ever, Penny
What an adventure-filled fall you are having! We have not been in a season of travel here but we do have a bunch of my husband’s family from England in town so we are sightseeing and learning more about our very own city, San Diego. Then we are off to England for Christmas, which is a huge change for us. In the meantime, we have soccer tournaments for my son, circus classes for one of my daughters, and swim team and Red Cross leadership training for my oldest daughter who is away with the Red Cross this weekend at a leadership conference. Who knew (not me) that the Red Cross offered all of this to kids, they are seriously amazing. As for me, I am preparing for a full house as we introduce the Thanksgiving holiday to our English family❤️. Then rest. January will be for resting! Thank you for all of your posts, and I continue to gift your book to everyone I know who has boys 🙂
Oh your season sounds dreamy as well. I love hosting and I bet Thanksgiving will be so much fun. And England to look ahead too? Amazing!! Thanks for commenting and truly thank you for sharing my book! xo
My oldest is a freshman this year getting to play as a starter on his high school soccer team with almost all seniors. And today… they are playing in the WA state 2B championship game! What an incredible experience this has been for this 14-year old and his parents!
With all this on top of club soccer, tennis, teaching and training with Bible Study Fellowship, and just life in general, this family’s life is fun but full! I keep stopping to say to my husband, in all this crazy, are we doing ok? Yup. Ok, back at it!
Hey Katie– Wow, you have real athlete there– that is so exciting! Hope the weekend went well. 😉
It is a crazy season but pretty sure we’ll all miss these days later! Much aloha and Happy Thanksgiving! xo