Hello and happy Tuesday friends! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend and got some good deals doing your Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping. I mentioned in my last post that I’m not a big Black Friday shopper, but I did order some stuff online both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And no, I won’t say what it was because some was Christmas presents and you never know who is reading this blog!
We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. My parents came to visit and we showed them around our new home state. (To be technical, it’s my mom and my stepdad. They got married when I was 11. I have no idea why he wanted to have 2 preteen girls as stepdaughters. We were awful. He deserves a medal.) They didn’t get here until late Friday night since it’s a 12 hour drive. Saturday we went to show them some houses in Cabot and then went to downtown Little Rock. Since it was Small Business Saturday, they had 2 blocks of President Clinton Avenue blocked off for vendors. All of the local stores were open and the Downtown Little Rock Partnership had a beer and mimosa tent. I took advantage of that. Walking around downtown with a mimosa seemed like a good way to start the day. It was a perfect day as the weather was 65 degrees and we had fun browsing in the stores. We had a lunch at Big Whiskeys downtown. So good! If you ever get there, order the chicken strips.
James and I on Junction Bridge 
Little Rock Downtown 
Brad, me, and Mom on Junction Bridge
On Sunday, we ventured down to Hot Springs and took in the scenery there. Hot Springs is absolutely gorgeous! James and I went there about a month ago but we had fun seeing new things. We took a walk on the Grand Promenade where we had incredible views. After shopping (yes, we do that a lot!) for some more Christmas presents and things, we ate lunch at the Ohio Club. Last time we were there we had an appetizer but this time we got a whole meal. Their Bloody Mary’s were delicious!
Walkway of the Grand Promenade 
View from the Grand Promenade 
Another view from the Grand Promenade
When James and I told everyone we were moving to Arkansas, we got a lot of interesting reactions. Most people asked why we’d want to move there and if we were going to become hillbillies. I have to laugh because it’s exactly the opposite here. We live in a nice house and the homes we’re looking at are all in nice subdivisions. I’ve found more culture in Little Rock than I’ve found in a lot of cities and there are so many things to do here! Arkansas has shown us beautiful scenery, awesome weather, and the people here are super friendly. My mom was even impressed by how nice the area is. So far, the weather has also been amazing. Any time I can walk around in late November with 60 degree temps is good for me! It seems little weird to see bright fall leaves mixed in with Christmas decorations but I’ll have to get used to it.
Speaking of Christmas decorating, I spent awhile on Friday decorating our house for Christmas. I said in my very first blog post that this blog wouldn’t be about home decorating because I wasn’t good at it. Turn out I am. Did not see that one coming. I love decorating this house and I’m excited that next year we’ll have a new house to decorate. When we moved, I donated a lot of my old Christmas decorations. Since then, I’ve purchased some more updated ones. I’ve gotten them all at Amazon, Walmart, or Marshalls. The most expensive piece I bought was $25. And in case you can’t tell, I love Buffalo plaid. I really like the throw pillow covers I got on Amazon. My sister introduced me to the covers and I like them because they’re easier to clean and store than regular throw pillows. My mom brought me some new Iowa State Christmas ornaments so I was happy to put those on the tree.
Our Christmas Tree 
My sister gave this to me! 
Deuce getting in on the action 
I got this table runner, box, garland and filler all at WalMart 
Placemat from Walmart and tree from Marshalls
I also tried a new recipe last weekend. I love pumpkin cheesecake so decided to make a low carb version. I found a recipe online but tweaked it a little bit to make it exactly the way I wanted to. It’s really easy and it went over really well with my husband and parents. No one could tell it was low carb! Make this for your Christmas party. No one will know you’re trying to be healthy and cheesecake always seems super fancy.
Low Carb/Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake
Base Layer Ingredients:
2 TBSP Serve Confectioners
3 TBSP butter, melted
1 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
Top Layer Ingredients:
2 cups cream cheese, softened
1 cup Swerve Confectioners
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 large eggs (let them sit a bit so they come to room temp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Directions: Preheat over to 325 degrees. Line a pie pan or an 8×8 pan with parchment paper or grease with butter. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, Swerve, almond flour and pumpkin spice. Press into pie pan and bake for 10 minutes then set it aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese, Swerve, pumpkin, eggs, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and vanilla and whip until smooth. Pour into the crust and spread evenly. Bake for 40 minutes. Edges should be firm and the cheesecake should look dry on the top. Set aside to cool. Then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4-6 hours before serving. Serve with whipped cream if desired.
Not the greatest pic but it will do!
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kariwasmund.com 
You probably love to decorate now because you love where you live. It’s hard to get excited to decorate somewhere you aren’t that happy with. 😀
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[…] afterward. We’re making turkey, escalloped corn, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts salad, and pumpkin cheesecake. Wednesday, I’m going to attempt to flock our Christmas tree so I may do a post on this (if […]
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