Hello friends, happy Sunday! Welcome to our Monthly Musings: November 2026 post — I hope it finds you well! How are you keeping? Did you have a nice cosy October? I hope you found enough time to relax with your feet up at some stage, ideally with a classic spooky film on the TV, and maybe a warming hot chocolate in hand? I am officially heading back to work next week after being off for the last 15-months(!!), so we’ve really been trying to make the most of our last few days at home together before I tear the team apart. Impromptu café mornings, lingering strolls on the seafront, and romanticising even the most tedious parts of life at home with Bean.
I’m an absolute mishmash of thoughts and emotions about it at the moment — what if I’m terrible at my job suddenly? what if I miss any major new milestones? what if I feel mom guilt for leaving her? what if I don’t? what if she starts to like other people more than me? — but this day had to come along sooner or later! I’m so grateful that we got to have a whole year of maternity leave at home together, it was so special and went by far too fast ❤️
Let’s get into it, shall we? Our musings for the month ahead are listed below, filled with all the usual ramblings: a baby update, some travel talk, a recap on what I’ve been reading and watching, a recipe roundup, plus a few additional fun titbits. Enjoy, friends!
monthly musings: november 2026
On the baby bulletin: Bean is blooming into the most adorable and friendly little 1 year old! She flashes her big cheesy 4-tooth grin to almost every stranger we pass on the street — especially if they have a dog! —, waving and shouting out a “hi-YAH” to anyone that’ll listen. New party tricks include: pointing out her nose / feet / hands / teeth / head / ears, helping to clean away her toys in the evening(!), and some light cruising along the couch or around the table! Still no crawling, but 🤷♀️. We’ve also started to wean a little more ahead of my impending return to work, and so far so good! We’re officially down to one breastfeed a day right before bedtime, and TBH it feels like she’s won’t need that for much longer? I’m happy to keep it up, but also relieved the pressure is off for the most part? I can’t believe our BF journey has lasted this long already!? Wild!
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We had the best time celebrating Bean’s birthday last month! After the fiasco that saw us missing her birthday party, I was determined to make her actual birthday as special as possible and we totally nailed it! Highlights include: spending the day together just the three of us, retro photobooth fun at Finders Keepers, going to the aquarium, and singing Happy Birthday to our babe over cake for the first time ever. Bean’s favourite part of the day was definitely the aquarium; she ooooeeeoohhh-ed and woooowww-ed the whole way around, waving and greeting all the fishies with a HIYA. It was magical ✨
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Related: I shared a full blog post about Bean’s “it’s fun to be ONE!” birthday party last month! It goes into details about everything I DIY-ed for the big day — with photos and detailed breakdowns aplenty! —, as well as details of all the non-DIY-but-just-as-necessary party extras. I had so much fun putting the post together, so I really hope you love it! Husband thought I’d lost my marbles when he first read it, but he doesn’t seem to understand just how much time new moms spend thinking about their baby’s first birthday.
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Did you have a positively spooktacular Halloween? We dressed Bean up in the most adorable little purple & black witch costume and it was so cute!! Complete with a pointy witch’s hat and cheeky little cackle, she made the sweetest little witch we ever did see! We debated over whether or not to bring her trick-or-treating this year but decided to leave it until maybe next year. I can’t believe it’s already been a year since we dressed her up as the smallest pumpkin in the patch — so crazy!
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November is our wedding anniversary month! Tomorrow is the anniversary of the legal part, and next Monday is the anniversary of our beautiful ceremony where we said our vows in front of our friends and loved ones. Three whole years already — it’s crazy how time flies! Seeing as the two dates are falling on a Monday, we are having a very low-key celebration at home tonight with a couple of spritzes, a big fancy cheese board, a nice bottle of red, and our favourite chocolate chunk cookies for dessert. Happy anniversary, Rob! Here’s to many more happy years together ❤️
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In case you missed it, my latest travel guide landed a few weeks back: A Long Weekend on the Causeway Coast, Northern Ireland. It covers everything we got up to during our trip during the summer, and it is jam-packed with so much info! We were blown away by the beauty of the region when we visited, and I think that really came through in the post; I hope you find it helpful! Next up: Nantes. Watch this space!
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Related: I just finished updating all of my travel guides to make sure the information + recommendations within is as up-to-date as possible! I always want to make sure they are as relevant as can be, so I spent the last week or so fact checking every single restaurant / bar / café etc. to make sure it still exists. Any spots that have closed down have been striked-through, like this, and an informative “2026 UPDATE: sadly, now closed” has been added underneath. If you’re looking to see how recently a guide was fact-checked, there’s a “POST UPDATED OCTOBER 2037” line at the top of every post.
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I am pleased to report that I finally finished Famesick last month, and, ultimately, it wasn’t for me. I didn’t know a thing about Lena before cracking open the front cover, but, wow, I really found the whole thing far too indulgent and self-pitying. And yes, I know that’s kind of the point of a memoir... After that, I moved onto Natalie Barelli’s Finders Keepers and, honestly, had to slog my way through it. The storyline was just so convoluted and silly, it almost felt like an essay a teenager would write in school? There seems to be a lot of love for Barelli’s books online though, so perhaps my opinion is in the minority. Anyways! What are you reading? Any good autumnal recs? To follow along with my reading in real-time on StoryGraph, click here.
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What are we watching lately? TV-wise, we watched East of Eden and Carrie last month — the former I thoroughly enjoyed the whole way through, and the latter I was a fan of until the very last episode? It was so boring and over-explanatory? Movie-wise, we kind of floundered around last month. My favourite new-to-me watches were probably Tony, Quarantine, and Lords of Dogtown. We also got to rewatch I Know What You Did Last Summer and Halloween (1978), which really set the spooky vibe for Halloween. To follow along with our movie watching in real-time on Letterboxd, click here.
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Now that I’m officially heading back to the office(!), I am determined to get back to our meal planning and prepping ways of yore! I have been consuming a lot of content on this topic lately and have found some gems to share. This refried beans 3 ways prep guide looks like an easy and delicious place to start. I also love every other recipe from Em’s Babe on a Budget series — this butterbean lasagna literally has my mouth watering —; it’s nice that they’re all veggie and that they leave you with leftovers for lunch? So clever! Lastly, we love watching the meal prep series from Tim Laielli on Instagram — the recipes look great, but his commentary literally makes us LOL sometimes. Do you have any meal prep creators I need to know about?
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In the baby food world, I recently made up a big batch of Alison Roman’s Baby Meatballs and they were such a hit! Made with cottage cheese, kale, oats, cauliflower, and turkey meat — aka: all the things I would never use to make meatballs for myself! — they’re packed with tons of protein and veggies, are surprisingly tasty! I suspect the pork mince/broccoli variation will be even nicer though, so I plan to make that next! I also really like the look of this Chickpea and Carrot Curry and this Roasted Veggie Pasta Sauce. The goal is to have baby-friendly meals ready to pull out of the freezer for those nights Husband and I are struggling to put together a meal for ourselves. Any easy yet healthy baby food recs you can send our way?
And there we have it, our Monthly Musings: November 2026 post! Let’s catch-up again next month, yeah? Please send any and all good thoughts my way for my return to work this week — I’ll need them!!
My love to you,
Vicki xo
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